Chapter Twenty-Eight
"I'm bored."
"Tell me something I don't know," Daniel didn't bother to glance over as he replied.
"That's not very nice." He could hear the pout in Vala's voice and ignored it.
"You asked to come."
SG-1 had joined Bra'tac after he made contact with the SGC regarding intel on a meeting happening between the remaining Systems Lords at the Hasara space station, making it a perfect opportunity to enact a few, but critical, surprise attacks. The mission was to aid in the attack of one of the System Lords. The only problem was that too much time had elapsed, and they should have heard something by now.
"Actually, I didn't." Her contradiction made him look away from the book he was reading. "You had me come to the briefing and after it, Samantha directly told me to gear up. So, you see, I was just doing as ordered. You can't blame me for this…or my boredom."
Damn, she was right. He frowned internally as he tried to pinpoint the moment when she automatically became an unofficial member and they all expected her to join them on missions. The integration was almost seamless.
"Huh," was all he could come up with as a reply.
Vala smacked his arm after he went back to his book. "Talk to me!"
His response was a glare. "About what?"
She shrugged. "I don't know – just talk."
"Helpful."
She huffed. "Well, we could talk about the fact that Samantha is still mad at you and Jack," she threw out. She knew it would evoke a reaction from him and he hated proving her right.
"That's not my fault!" he stated again. Seriously, how long was she, or even Vala, going to hold it against him? "I didn't know she didn't know! Why am I being punished?"
"Or we could talk about how she's been avoiding you for the past few days." She was purposely ignoring him and rubbing it in. It was like she was trying to get a reaction out of him.
Well, she was getting one.
"I've apologized!" Like a hundred times, so why was Sam still so upset with him? He didn't know! "What more can I do?"
"Your problem is that you apologized too soon," Vala's statement made him bite back a retort. Presumably seeing his confused expression, she elaborated. "You barely gave her time to process it before offering your apologies. She just learned something critical about the man she's marrying, something you knew. Now, I'm not saying you were at fault, but she had to go through a process of disbelief, denial, anger, and acceptance before she could properly think. She was still coming to terms with it all when you made your apologies and wasn't ready to think rationally. Now that she's done that, I think you'll find her to be more receptive."
She made it sound like Sam was going through the stages of grief. Though she did have a point. "When did you become the Sam Carter whisperer?"
Vala smiled sympathetically at him. "I know she's a soldier – a kickass one at that – as well as a brilliant scientist. I know she's tough, a hero to your planet, but she's still a woman. Samantha's bound to have moments when she reacts like one and you shouldn't judge her when she does."
"I wasn't judging!" Despite his denial, he quickly ran over the whole scenario in his mind. Well, at least not in that way. He had wondered why it upset Sam as much as it did and did have the expectation that she would…get over it. Ah, damn it! "At least I didn't mean to or for it to come out like that."
"Of course, you didn't." Her voice was understanding. "I don't think any of you grasped just how much Pete's initial stalking hurt her. I'm not even sure she did until this new issue came to light. It put a whole new twist on that incident, and it could no longer be seen as it once was. It made what he did that much worse, and she's having a hard time with it all."
Vala's insight into Sam was almost fascinating. "Did she tell you this?"
"Not exactly." He didn't know what to make of her vague statement. "Try apologizing now. I'm sure it will go better this time."
If someone had told him months ago that he would be taking advice from Vala Mal Doran, he would have called them crazy, but now, as he stared at the woman next to him, he realized the growth she had experienced – that he had experienced. The moment Hammond told him that he offered Vala a job, Daniel never once thought that it would lead to this – to this exceptional woman before him. Every day, they grew a little closer, and he was at the point where he couldn't imagine her not being in his life.
How crazy was that?
How terrifying?
Daniel gave her an appreciative smile. "Maybe I'll just go do that," he said and it earned him another smile from her.
o0o
"They are late," Teal'c stated the obvious as he and the rest joined Bra'tac.
"Or they're not coming," Daniel retorted before Vala could come up with some sort of quip.
"Were that the case, Rak'nor would have sent word."
"If he were able to do so," Bra'tac stole the words right out of her mouth and Vala frowned.
Sam suggested they reconsider the mission and Vala was about to second it – it seemed to be a bust anyway – but Teal'c kindly reminded them that it wasn't an SGC mission and that wasn't an option. Daniel jumped in, acknowledging that the first few surprise attacks were crucial, and Sam interjected that while they just may be observers, the fact remained that if they decided to take on the System Lord without proper backup, they could very well end up getting themselves killed.
"Us observers, too," while Daniel said it lightly, Vala could hear the undertone of seriousness in his voice.
"I, for one, would rather not die," she offered in case anyone cared, but received no reaction from the others. Vala pouted.
"Many such attacks have been coordinated simultaneously across the galaxy," Bra'tac informed them. "Each one designed to create a strategic weakness in the forces of the System Lords"
Vala recognized the same potential risk as Daniel – she had seen similar situations both as a host to Qetesh and in her former line of work, and she shared the same concerns as he did. He seemed to be doing an adequate job of getting his point across, but Teal'c had confidence and reminded them of the length the Rebel Jaffa had gone through to acquire the necessary codes to make this work. Teal'c even went as far as to remind them of the mission details, with Bra'tac chiming in for further detail.
There were still several places for error – Vala knew this very well.
"Isn't the fact we haven't heard from Rak'nor kind of a bad sign?" Samantha voiced the question before Vala could.
Honestly, she wasn't on her game today. She normally was much more vocal on missions.
Samantha's question seemed to make the two Jaffa pause for a moment, but they didn't have long to ponder her question, for the screen began beeping and drew their attention, along with Vala's.
"What is it?" Daniel questioned.
"The ship's sensors have picked up a vessel and it's closing in," Vala answered for the pilot and didn't care that Bra'tac appeared put out by her. "It's a Hatak class ship."
"Rak'nor?" Daniel's voice portrayed both curiosity and a bit of concern.
"Unlikely," Teal'c replied. "Rak'nor would have hailed long before his approach."
"Then it has to be Amaterasu," Sam declared, and looked at everyone expectantly. "Shouldn't we get out of here?"
The Jaffa shared a look.
"Teal'c, the odds are not in our favor," Daniel tried to get his friend to see the seriousness of their situation.
Teal'c almost smirked – a sight that would have had Vala gaping in surprise if the situation hadn't been as dire as it appeared. "They never are, Daniel Jackson."
Daniel took a second to think on it before shrugging slightly,
"Daniel's right, Muscles," Vala interjected but kept her tone gentle. "We can't take out the rest of them if we're dead."
He didn't react to her statement.
Bra'tac announced he was hailing them before sending over the security codes that were supposed to help ensure their safety. It was only seconds later when they felt the ship rock. "They fired on us," Bra'tac said just before another shot was taken. "Shield strength is down 60%."
"How is that possible?" Vala and Teal'c said simultaneously.
"What the hell did they hit us with?" Sam voiced Vala's next question. There shouldn't be any way for two hits to deplete their shields like this.
Teal'c immediately moved to the weapons station. "Returning fire." He fired a few shots, but Vala could tell from the screen that they weren't effective – Teal'c stated as much.
Another hit took out their shields.
"Who the hell are they and what are they hitting us with?" Vala asked what was on everyone's mind. No Goa'uld to her knowledge had the level of technology to take out another ship's shields with only a few hits to them.
"Now can we get out of here?" Samantha asked again.
"Navigational controls aren't responding," Bra'tac stated.
Of course they weren't – that would be too easy.
Another hit rocked the ship. "So, what do we do?" Vala asked. It was the first time she had been in a grave situation with SG-1 and didn't quite know how to act or respond.
Bra'tac announced that they must evacuate and Vala barely retained an eye roll – of course they needed to evacuate. Daniel was quick to suggest the Glider Bay, to which Teal'c dismissed almost immediately and declared that ringing down to the planet and escaping through the Stargate would be a better option. He didn't give anyone a chance to argue before storming off, leaving the rest to follow.
Halfway to the Rings, Teal'c paused and held up an arm to halt the rest of them.
"What is it?" Samantha asked as she and the rest of them took a look around.
Seconds after she voiced her question, the doors in front of them opened to reveal…bugs! Vala wasn't proud of the screech she let out but she sincerely hated bugs, especially ginormous spiders. "What the hell are those?" she asked as she backed away.
Instead of answering, the rest stared as the mechanical bugs continued closing in on them. "That's not good." Vala didn't appreciate Daniel's dry and sarcastic remark.
"This way," Teal'c instructed before leading them away.
Vala followed but kept glancing behind them. "Daniel, what are those?"
"Replicators," he answered, sounding tense to her.
"How the fuck did they get aboard?"
"One of the hits the ship took must've included them," Samantha answered instead, and she noticed her friend kept a close eye on the creatures behind them. "It's how they board ships."
"How do we kill them?" was what Vala wanted to know.
"Your P-90," Daniel replied and motioned to the gun she held tightly in her hands. "Shoot until they break into pieces, but don't stop – just keep shooting."
They came to a point where they were able to get into a defensive position. Since Teal'c didn't have his P-90 with him, Vala took his place and stood between the two humans and followed their lead as they started shooting at the approaching bugs. The stream of Replicators seemed never ending and she had only been firing her weapon for less than a minute. But that wasn't even the worst of it.
Without warning, Daniel suddenly disappeared in a flash of light.
Shocked, Vala barely registered Samantha's cry for Daniel. Where'd he go? Better yet, who took him? It certainly wasn't one of the Tau'ri vessels.
"Colonel Carter," Teal'c deep voice penetrated her stunned state. "Vala Mal Doran. This way."
But Vala didn't move. She seemed unable to fully process what was actually happening. Next thing she knew, she was being yanked in one direction.
"Vala, let's go!" Samantha said with urgency.
Go? Without Daniel? Vala tried to pull her arm from the Colonel's grasp but failed. "What about Daniel?" she questioned. She knew she sounded accusatory but how could they leave him? "We can't just leave him!" she voiced her thoughts.
Samantha continued to pull her along. "We can't stay here!"
"But Daniel!"
"He isn't here anymore!" the Colonel used her commanding voice. "And there isn't anything we can do right now except save our own asses so we can get him back!"
Vala acknowledged the Colonel was right, but it didn't make it any easier to leave. "What the fuck happened to him?" she asked as she followed the rest, all the while keeping an eye out for the mechanical spiders behind them.
"I'll explain once we're out of here," Samantha promised. "But we'll get him back."
Her promise did nothing to reassure Vala, for she heard the doubt in her friend's voice, but she decided to cling to it – the alternative was something she couldn't even begin to consider.