Chapter Nineteen

"Yo Princess!" Mitchell called out, taking a break from digging, "Any freaky voodoo pointing you in the right direction?"

Vala rolled her eyes but didn't pause in her task of trying to locate any energy signatures. "We've been through this," she retorted over her shoulder, "if Alora knew where it was, we're screwed. Keep digging."

"How 'bout we switch?" he suggested instead.

She turned to him and arched a brow. "Do you know how to read this properly?" she challenged, waving the device.

That made him pause. "No…" he dragged out.

"Then Samantha and I will continue to do this and you boys randomly dig on this mountain side," she said chipperly.

He scowled at her. "I like it better when your daughter gave you all the answers and you spat them out as needed," he grumbled.

Vala's playful mood dimmed and she turned away from him. "Yes, well, glad someone enjoyed that," she muttered and walked away from them.

She didn't think anyone heard her, but Daniel did, and he watched her as she walked over to a cliff overhang and stared out into the distance.

He frowned, worried about her sudden change in demeanor. He shoved his shovel into the dirt. "I'll be right back," he told Teal'c and Mitchell, ignoring the Colonel's protest. Once he was beside her, he knew there was something wrong and couldn't figure out what it was. "Vala, what's going on?" he asked gently.

She spared him a quick glance and continued to stare at the view before her. "Nothing," she answered, "I'm fine."

"You're not fine," he refuted, and when she wouldn't acknowledge him, his fingers caught her chin and guided it until they were looking at each other, "What is it?"

She hesitated, struggling with whether she wanted to tell him or not, and with her words as well. "I know she was just trying to help, but I kind of wish she hadn't," she admitted, "which is wrong, I know."

Daniel's brows furrowed in confusion. "What?" he asked, "What're you talking about?"

"Alora," she specified, "I didn't like not having control."

"Okay, Vala, I'm still not getting it," he told her patiently, "You're gonna have to give me more than that."

"I don't like not having control over my own body," she tried again, "I've been through that before, and it was horrible. I have had words spoken with my mouth without my permission, have had my body do things I didn't want to do, and I couldn't do a damn thing to stop any of it. I know she only meant to help, but I wished she hadn't done this to me, I wish there had been another way. I didn't like feeling like that, I don't like not having control over my body, it brings back too many painful memories."

Oh…she was talking about what happened aboard the Odyssey and how she would blurt out the answers to the things they needed to know. "I didn't…I didn't think about that," he confessed, feeling guilty that he had found her frustration amusing at the time, "I'm sorry. That must've brought back some not so pleasant memories."

Vala chuckled ruefully. "Not so much," she agreed, "I know it was different, that it pales in comparison, and it was for a good cause, but I still hated not having control. I've already had that happen to me, had a parasite use my voice to speak unspeakable things and to give out horrible orders, sentencing thousands to death."

Daniel's heart squeezed at her tone. He often forgot what she had been through and the hardships she had faced before they met, and he had no idea how to help her. "Vala," he said softly, wishing for the right words to come to him.

"I think what makes it worse is that came from a child that was forced upon me," she continued, "I didn't get a say in that either and while I love her to death, you know I do, it's hard to forget that my body had to be violated for her to exist, and though I would do it again to have her, I wish there had been another way," she turned to him, tears in her eyes, "Am I a bad mother for wanting that?"

His answer was instantaneous. "No," he said vehemently, "You wanted her to be born on your terms, whether by accident or intentional, and most importantly, you wanted a say in who fathered her. There's nothing wrong with that, it's perfectly normal."

"I love her, you know that, right?" she asked as if she was pleading for him to believe her.

Daniel couldn't fight the urge anymore and pulled her into a hug. "Of course I know that," he murmured, resting his cheek against her head, "We all do – no one could doubt that."

Vala sniffed and burrowed further into his shoulder. "I'm sorry," she mumbled, "I don't know what's wrong with me."

A small smile came to him. "You miss her, nothing wrong about that," he deduced, "and some repressed feelings regarding your time as host were triggered, so perfectly normal. Don't apologize for being human."

She let out a shuddery breath. "I just want this to be over."

"I know," he said softly, "So why don't we go find ourselves an Ark and do just that?"

She gave him a short squeeze before pulling away, quickly swiping at her cheeks. "Thank you, Daniel," she told him sincerely.

"I'm here for you, you know that, right?" he said and brushed his hand against the side of her face, swiping back some hair as he went, "Always," he added almost inaudibly.

Vala gave him a soft smile and leaned in close, planting a small kiss on his cheek. "I know, darling," she told him and stepped back, "Better get back to it. The Ark won't find itself."

With that, she walked away, leaving behind a bewildered Daniel who gently touched the place where her lips had touched, a small grin forming on his face.

o0o

She hadn't noticed it, she had been too preoccupied in scanning the area for any clues as to where the Ark was, but Sam called out to her and when she shot the Colonel a questioning look, Sam pointed in the direction of Daniel, who appeared to be staring at nothing. Appeared being the operative word. Vala frowned and slowly approached him. Once at his side, she looked in the general direction he was staring in but didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

"Daniel?" she questioned gingerly.

"Do you see that?" he asked curiously.

She tried again but still didn't see anything. "No," she replied, "What do you see, darling?"

He didn't reply and walked away, heading in the direction he had been staring at.

Sam and the boys appeared at her side.

"What've we got?" Sam asked quietly.

Vala shrugged. "I'm not sure," she admitted, "He saw something but didn't say what."

They all hurried over to his position when Daniel called them over and tapped a large piece of stone with his shovel. He looked at Teal'c. "Help me with this?" he asked.

Teal'c crouched down and tested to see if it would move. When it did, he shoved it to one side, opening up an entrance to something underground. Once the opening was big enough, they all grabbed the flashlights and shined them down the dark cavern.

"I think we're supposed to go down there," Daniel said.

Mitchell gave him a piercing look. "Now you're the one with voodoo powers?"

"Stop calling it voodoo," Daniel retorted impatiently, "I think it might be Merlin's memories being triggered."

"I thought they were gone," Sam interjected.

"Maybe he buried some that would prove to be useful," Vala surmised, thinking of her own situation with Alora.

"Possibly," Daniel conceded, "but whatever it is, we should go down here. It's the first sign of an entrance we've found, so it has to mean something."

The rest didn't debate or argue with the idea and they checked their weapons before turning on the light at the end of the P-90. Daniel went first, aiming his weapon as he went, followed by Teal'c, Vala, and then the two Colonels. It was a tunnel and it appeared to have suffered some damage, but that made sense if this mountain had indeed been blown up.

"This looks promising," Daniel noted, taking a good look around him.

"Indeed," Teal'c agreed.

They traveled in relative silence until they came to what seemed like an end but was blocked by rubble and was the only way forward. Vala hummed, shining her P-90 torch at it. "What do you think, Muscles?"

Teal'c glanced at her before grabbing C-4 from his vest and was about to pull the tab.

"Wait, wait, wait! You can't do that!" Daniel quickly stopped him, "We don't know how stable this tunnel is," he pointed out.

Teal'c gave him a look. "Shall we turn back then, Daniel Jackson?" he questioned, essentially rhetorically.

Daniel thought about it for a second and then raised his brows. "Bombs away," he said casually.

Teal'c didn't get any arguments from the Colonels. He set the charge and they all took cover before he set it off. It did the trick, the entrance became unblocked, and they all moved forward. They entered a big room filled with rubble everywhere. As Teal'c moved further in, something caught his attention. He called Daniel over and when the archaeologist got closer, he saw it too. Together, they removed a few stones from what looked like a chest.

Looking at it uncovered, Daniel knew. "This is it," he stated.

"Daniel, are you sure?" Vala asked.

"Definitely," he said confidently, "We found it."

"Well, what're we waiting for?" Vala clipped her P-90 to her uniform and made a show of rolling up her sleeves, "Let's get out of there."

"Carefully!" Daniel snapped.

"Of course, darling," Vala feigned innocence, "What do you take me for?"

"You really don't want me answering that," he quipped, a small playful smile forming.

Vala didn't reply but merely stuck her tongue at him.

Together, they work to unbury it from the rubble on top of it and once it was out, Teal'c and Daniel grabbed an end and set it on top of a flat rock. Daniel blew off the dust, trying to get a better look at the markings. He grabbed his brush from his vest and began dusting off the last of the dirt and dust.

"For goodness sakes', Daniel, why don't you just open it?" Vala sighed.

"Because we don't know what that'll do," he replied, distracted with the chest.

"But you said you were sure this was it, so…" she trailed off and lifted the lid before he could do anything.

"Wait, wait, wait!" he said but was already too late.

But nothing happened when the lid opened so he opened it all the way, revealing nothing whatsoever.

"What was supposed to happen?" Mitchell inquired curiously.

Daniel thought about it for a second. "Nothing," he said, "I don't think it's turned on."

"Or maybe it's broken," Vala threw that out there.

"Perhaps its power source has been depleted," Teal'c speculated.

"Well, it is millions of years old," Vala added to Teal'c's assessment.

"I don't think it's turned on," Daniel repeated confidently. When Vala told him to turn it on, he went on to explain what he thought was going on.

He didn't get very far since the tunnel started to make rumbling sounds and a few rocks started to fall, making Teal'c suggest they return to the surface. They all grabbed a side of the Ark and booked it out of the tunnel. Once on the surface, Daniel knelt down to take a closer look, and Vala and Sam joined him.

"What're we thinking?" Sam asked, scanning it with one of her instruments.

"That it's disabled," Daniel responded, distracted by the device, "Powered off somehow. We just need to figure out how to turn it on."

"And how do we do that?" Vala asked, using a different instrument on the device, "I'm not picking up any readings. Samantha?"

It took Sam a moment to respond as she studied her readings. After Vala repeated her name, she finally looked away. "I have faint energy readings," she said.

"So, the power source is dead," Mitchell said, "or at least it's about to be."

"No, I don't think so," she replied, "In my experience, many Ancient devices that appear to be powered off usually give off faint energy signatures consistent with the ones I'm getting. I think Daniel's right," she concluded.

"So, how long is it gonna take?" Mitchell asked.

"A while," Daniel responded without taking his focus off the Ark.

After ten minutes with nothing, Daniel punched a random symbol in frustration and suddenly, it lit up. Daniel, Vala, and Sam all shied away from it and looked at each other.

"What did you do?" they said together.

"I thought it was you," Sam said.

"I thought it was you," Daniel said back and eyed Vala.

"It wasn't me!" she denied.

"I didn't do anything, at least not to my knowledge," Sam stated.

"Same," he said distractedly, staring at the device.

"So, what now?" Mitchell asked, stepping closer.

"I don't kn– " his eyes widened when seven symbols lit up on their own. "What the – ?" he muttered to himself, quickly memorizing the lit up symbols.

"Jackson, what's going on?" Mitchell questioned, "Why's it doing that?"

"I've no idea," he mumbled, staring at the device in confusion, "Give me a few minutes," he told them and began to think what the seven symbols meant.

Mitchell turned to Sam. "Carter?"

She shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine."

"Vala, you got anything?" Daniel asked, his fingers brushing across the symbols that lit up.

Vala took a closer look at each individual symbol. "It's a code comprised of the symbols that lit up," she surmised.

"Figured as much," Daniel remarked, "and the code would be?"

"Origin," she blurted out and sighed after. "I'm getting really tired of that," she told Daniel quietly.

He turned to her and gave her a concerned look. "You okay?" he asked in a low tone that only she heard.

She focused on the device. "I will be once this is over," she replied, "Now enter the combination."

Daniel did, sighing in relief when it worked, and that they finally seemed to be nearing the end of this horrible journey with the Ori.