Chapter Twenty-Nine

Vala and the others emerged on the other side of the wormhole and were greeted by the General and a man wearing a brown leather outfit – the style was suspiciously familiar. As they got closer, she sensed it, and knew why she recognized the outfit – Tok'ra. She knew the Tau'ri were allies with them, but there were still some unresolved issues there and she didn't see herself getting over it any time soon. The Tok'ra being on Earth was the last thing she needed right now.

"Dad," Samantha greeted in surprise and headed for the Tok'ra, causing Vala to become puzzled.

"Hey kiddo," the man greeted lovingly and went for a hug. Vala's puzzlement doubled at the man's reaction. She had never seen a Tok'ra be so…human.

"So…" Jack paused for dramatic effect, but she clearly heard the confusion, "what the heck happened? Didn't you guys have a ship?"

They all hesitated.

"And by the way, where's Daniel?" Jack may have said it casually, but his concern couldn't fully be masked.

"He was beamed away before our very eyes," Bra'tac informed him, sounding a little dramatic to Vala.

"By Replicators," Teal'c added just as dramatically.

Jack sighed in displeasure.

"Just Daniel?" Samantha's dad inquired, his curiosity was easily detected.

She didn't know, but she couldn't bear to go through this again. Vala knew what happened and she saw it for herself – she was standing right next to him for Ra's sake! And there wasn't a damn thing she could do to stop it. "Excuse me," she mumbled, unable to be there anymore, and quickly made her escape.

"Vala?" Samantha called out, sounding like she couldn't decide whether or not to be firm or concerned for her.

"Let me know when the debrief is," Vala said over her shoulder but didn't pause in her strides. She would apologize for her insubordination later, but right now, she couldn't care less.

She would let the Colonel inform the General on what happened. Samantha already told her the theory on why he was taken. She wasn't interested in reliving that moment or why it happened – she was only interested in how they were going to get her Daniel back.

o0o

When they gave Vala access to security, she also gained access to all of the SGC files, including SG-1's mission reports. She hadn't had the time to read all of them through, but once she was cleared by medical, she immediately grabbed the stack of files pertaining to their missions and searched their first encounter with the Replicators before reading it and every report on them. Know your enemy, right? She took notes as she read, wanting to document anything that could prove to be useful. She acknowledged that the rest already knew everything, and her notes wouldn't do them any good, but she had to know. She needed to be the loop if she was going to be any help getting Daniel back.

She was called into the debriefing not long after she started and she hated pausing, but the Tok'ra was here for some reason, and she probably should see why. What she really wanted to discuss is how they were going to get Daniel back, but they barely mentioned it. How could they not care? Was she the only one who was concerned? Yes, she knew there were bigger problems happening in the galaxy at the moment but…it was Daniel!

It felt like a waste of time to her. The only thing that might prove to be useful in finding Daniel was Samantha contacting the Asgard. So, what if the main intention of doing so was to help put a stop to the nasty bugs? Maybe they would be able help track down the ship that took him. But she wasn't holding her breath. She wouldn't be helpful with Teal'c and the Rebel Jaffa problems. She couldn't assist Samantha with a weapon to defeat the Replicators – that was way out of her skillset. The only thing she could do was learn as much as she could about the enemy, learn how best to deal with them, and hopefully see something the others hadn't – she didn't have high hopes, but it was all she could do.

Vala didn't know how long she had been studying the reports – long enough to go through them at least twice – but hadn't found much that would prove to be useful. She huffed in frustration as she shoved one of the reports harshly to the side.

"We'll find him," a voice said in a calm and gentle tone.

Vala didn't bother glancing over. "You've already said that." That's all they had said, but what they hadn't said was how. "How is everyone so calm about it? Daniel was taken, Samantha!"

The Colonel came up to the desk. "We've been through this a few times. I guess we're a little used to it," while Samantha tried to make light of it, Vala still heard the worry underneath it all. "No one has given up on finding him."

Vala met her friend's gaze. "It feels like it."

Samantha smiled ruefully. "As horrible as it sounds, we're prioritizing," she was right, it did sound horrible to the alien. "Before you go off on me, know that Daniel would want it this way. He would rather we focus on finding a way to stop the Replicators than finding him. Besides, we have a better chance of finding him this way."

She's probably right, Vala conceded. It didn't make it any easier though. She turned back to the report, fingering the paper. "You'd know better than I." She really did try not to sound bitter but heard it in her own voice as she spoke.

Samantha must have heard it as well because Vala could feel the penetrating gaze on her. "Are you alright?"

In a rare moment of honesty, she replied, "No." Vala wasn't proud of how weak her voice sounded.

The next thing she knew, her friend laid a comforting hand on her shoulder and squeezed. "It's going to be okay." Samantha sounded so confident that Vala envied her. "It's just going to take time. We'll figure this out." The 'We have to' was heavily implied.

"You mean you'll figure this out." Gods, could she have sounded pettier?

"What does that mean?"

Poor Samantha, she really didn't see it. Vala moved out of her hold before standing up and taking a few steps away. "It means you'll be the one to solve this, not me, not us. I can't help you, Samantha. I may have a rudimentary understanding of science and technology, but nowhere near what you have, and I have nothing to offer."

"That's not true."

Vala smiled sadly at her friend's attempt at reassurance. "It is this time and we both know it."

Samantha sighed unhappily. "I'll concede to your point," though she didn't sound happy about it, "but you can help – you just haven't figured out how."

"And I suppose you know?"

"No, but you're not going to find it here, moping around." Vala looked away and she heard Samantha sigh again. "I understand the feeling of helplessness. I've been there and I've learned sitting around doesn't do much."

Vala snorted. "I can't imagine you sitting around doing nothing."

Samantha ignored her quip. "Sitting around feeling sorry for yourself doesn't help either." Vala glared at the accusatory tone. "I'm responsible for her taking him. She knows about Daniel and his Ancient knowledge because my stupid mistake, but do you see me doing nothing?"

"What do you suggest I do?"

The Colonel shrugged. "Only you can figure that out," she said gently. She glanced at her watch and gave Vala a rueful look. "I have to go talk to the General. Think about what I said."

Vala nodded. "I will."

o0o

"How's Vala doing?" Jack asked as he blatantly shifted the direction of the conversation away from Carter's self-loathing over Daniel's disappearance. "She seems a little…off."

The look she gave him told him that she knew what he was doing but didn't comment. "Not good. She feels helpless, like there's nothing she can do to get him back."

He sat further back into his chair. "You know, I didn't see that coming," he mused aloud. "I knew there was potentially something on his side, but I admit, I hadn't thought much about her side. Sure, she was physically attracted to him, I just didn't give her much thought in that regard."

"She's a tough one to crack," Sam agreed. "But you and Hammond were right. I see more every time they're together and I think that's why she's taking it so hard."

Jack hummed thoughtfully. "It's hard doing nothing when the ones you care about are in trouble, and you can't do a thing about it." He hadn't meant for it to come out the way it did – too soft, too…meaningful, especially with the way he looked at her, and he knew she understood what he was saying.

Damn it.

Thankfully, Walter interrupted, and Thor beamed Carter away seconds afterwards and he didn't have to deal with the ramifications of his statement. Thank God.

o0o

Samantha was right – sitting in Daniel's office, doing essentially nothing, wasn't going to help matters. While she couldn't make herself useful Samantha and Thor or with Teal'c and the Rebel Jaffa, she could lend a hand to the General and Samantha's father…who was also a Tok'ra. She needed to hear that story – later. For now, she would try to help the two men brainstorm something in hopes of…saving them she guessed.

Jacob/Selmak explained Ba'al's strategy when taking on the Replicators battle and how he was going about it all wrong. He even suggested they send the egotistical snake head a message to correct his battle plan.

It made Vala snort and for Jacob to shoot her an annoyed look. "Something funny about that?"

"You make it sound like he'd listen." Vala didn't appreciate his condescending tone. Hers probably didn't help the situation either. "This is Ba'al we're talking about."

"He's thinking like a System Lord and doesn't know what he's dealing with," Jacob explained as if she and Jack were children.

"Because Ba'al loves to be told when he's wrong." She didn't bother to disguise her sarcasm.

Another ship went out on the screen.

"We have to try!" Jacob insisted. "This could buy Sam the time she needs to come up with something."

"And if he retreats, where do you think he'll fall back to?" Jack questioned. He obviously knew the validity of Jacob's claim, but she suspected, and now knew his hesitancy was due to Teal'c.

While Vala understood where Jacob was coming from, and if her friend wasn't in the crosshairs, she might be inclined to agree, but she didn't appreciate the Tok'ra's insistence that the Jaffa Rebellion had already failed or his willingness to put Teal'c's life in danger, even if it meant giving the galaxy more time to come up with a solution. She couldn't fault the man – his concern wasn't just for certain people, but for the whole galaxy, so that was at least something. She just couldn't fathom giving up Teal'c. Besides, she was absolutely positive that Ba'al wouldn't listen anyway.

Their argument was cut short by an unscheduled off world activation and all three headed for the Control room.

"Now, what do you got, Walter?" Jack asked once they were in the room.

"Some kind of – " Walter stopped short by a hologram of Ba'al appearing in the 'gate room.

"Oh. Ba'al," Jack said it so flippantly, like he was expecting him, and here Vala was silently cursing the intruder in her head.

Nevertheless, she followed the two Generals to the 'gate room.

"Stand down, boys," Jack ordered. Again, so casual. Was this normal? "Ba'al, buddy. We were just talking about you." Vala assumed this was his normal manner of dealing with serious and/or stressful situations. "All good."

But Ba'al wasn't paying attention to him. No, his focus had been on her since the moment he spotted her. She did her best to ignore it, but she knew Ba'al, and he wouldn't leave it alone. "Qetesh." The pleasantness in his voice made her want to kill him…and take a shower.

"Qetesh is dead," her normal reply came out as a reflex. "I should know – I was there. I personally got to see her thrown into a collapsing Tok'ra tunnel and torn to shreds…slowly."

His mouth twitching in displeasure was the only reaction he gave before he began his pitch in regard to the Replicators. Vala stood idly by, observing the conversation. She had to hold in her amusement with Jack and his quips, especially when it seemed to piss Ba'al off – but then again, she loved it whenever Ba'al was pissed and couldn't do anything about it. She secretly loved that he was getting his ass kicked. She loved that he had come to the Tau'ri for help, even though he phrased it differently. She couldn't stop the snort once he had. It earned her a glare, but she brushed it off.

Jacob seemed open to the idea of working together in the hope of defeating a greater enemy, but Jack ultimately chose Teal'c, which she fully supported. Afterall, Ba'al couldn't be trusted, no matter the end goal.

"…sit around and watch you get your ass kicked?" Jack finished with such a light touch. "That way, you'll be dead, and we'll be glad."

"I vote on that option," she interjected, matching Jack's tone and attitude. "I personally would love to watch it with a bowl of popcorn."

Jack glanced at her. "We could have cake."

"And pie."

They shared a grin.

Ba'al scoffed and tried once more to convince them, but Jack wasn't having it, and the Goa'uld disappeared in a huff.

Jacob wasn't happy with the turn of events, but Jack told him that he wasn't ready to sacrifice Teal'c just yet. After losing Daniel, Vala wasn't either.