Chapter Thirty

She shouldn't have, but Vala laughed when Jack informed them that Anubis was alive.

But not for reasons the others assumed. She also hadn't been able to help it. She understood the gravity of what this meant, but all she could think of when she learned of it was Ba'al. He was Anubis' little puppet. No wonder he had such success taking over the galaxy these past couple months – it wasn't him at all. Vala enjoyed knowing that the pretentious parasite was nothing but a lacky and how he must hate it. Ba'al had a lot of pride, always did and always would, and being in this position must be killing him.

Her pleasure in the knowledge soon began to fade and her priorities shifted to the main problem…well, problems. It was now a matter of prioritizing which bad guy they needed to deal with first. It would be easier if one of them would stop getting in the way of the other. As much as she wanted to help stop the Replicators and find Daniel, Anubis wiping out all life in the galaxy probably should be their top priority – it wouldn't do Daniel any good in the long run if they allowed it.

It also wouldn't do for the Replicators to get it either.

It only left one option – find the weapon and destroy it if possible. It seemed like they were going to Dakara and be reunited with Teal'c. The Jaffa informed them it was a former planet of the Ancients, and Vala assumed there would be writings, so before she and Samantha headed out, she grabbed what materials she thought might be useful from Daniel's office on the old dialects to help the translations go faster. Her hand paused on one of his books as a thought came to her – she spent so much time in here with him that she knew exactly where everything was. She couldn't remember the last time she felt this familiar with…anything – this comfortable.

It truly did almost feel like home.

Vala shook her head out those thoughts – she couldn't afford to be that at ease with anything. She slowly extracted one of Daniel's old notebooks, almost hearing him telling her to be careful, and smiled to herself. She gently placed it in the backpack with the others before zipping it. It was weird preparing for a mission like this without Daniel and she didn't like it. It wasn't the same without him.

"Hey, you ready?" Samantha's voice came from the entrance of the lab. Her expression turned concerned at what Vala could only assume was her melancholy face. "You okay?"

Vala nodded. "It's just…weird without him, you know?" she looked around at the empty office. It was still cluttered, the way he left it, and you would never know he was missing. "He lived for this – translating old dialects of Ancient writings. He should be here."

Samantha took a step into the office. "He should," she agreed, "but there's nothing we can do at the moment except for ensuring that this weapon doesn't fall into the wrong hands."

"I know." She did, but it didn't mean she had to like it. "We should go. The sooner we do this, the sooner we can find Daniel."

Samantha gave her a look to which Vala had a hard time deciphering what it meant. If she didn't know any better, she would assume she was showing her emotions too openly, but Vala Mal Doran didn't show emotions…well, at least she hadn't until she came to Earth.

Fuck. Well, there went her reputation.

o0o

Teal'c warned them that the writings appeared to be old, and while he didn't have the most knowledge when it came to Ancient dialects, Vala believed him to be right. Her fingers gently brushed across the writings as she smiled ruefully. Daniel would have loved this. She could picture his gleeful face at the prospects of translating it. It wasn't fair that he couldn't be here – he should be here.

"Deciphering it, however, is another matter," Teal'c voice penetrated her thoughts.

"Vala packed Daniel's notebooks," Samantha informed and Vala bit her lip – like his notebooks could replace him. "With those, as well as dad's and Vala's help, hopefully we'll get lucky."

Vala turned and met Samantha's eyes. "I'm not Daniel," she told her friend, "and neither is your father, so don't expect us to be him." She knew she shouldn't have said it, but she felt like she needed to state it.

Instead of being angry or upset with her, Samantha seemed to understand and stared at her sympathetically. "I know and I would never expect you to, but right now, you two are the best we got."

"This dialect looks very old," Selmak, the symbiote, stated, and oddly enough, the sound of her voice didn't make Vala cringe. Maybe there was something different about this Tok'ra. "It may take some time."

"I will leave you to it," Teal'c stated before bowing and walking away.

Vala sighed and set down the heavy backpack full of Daniel's notebooks. Better get started.

o0o

There was a lot to translate and when they got into it, Vala second guessed their translations more and more each time something was translated, but what did she know of the Ancients? There most likely a purpose to it all and they were barely a third of the way into it, so maybe it would make sense once all of it was done.

At least she wasn't the only one to question it. Samantha also seemed to have doubts, and while Jacob/Selmak seemed confident in their translations, he too seemed confused – but it is what the wall said. Both her and Jacob had consulted on several strange phrases and they both had agreed that there hadn't been a mistake when translating it.

"Are you saying this whole wall of writing is nonsense?" Samantha asked, her skepticism and disbelief was evident, and Vala couldn't blame her nor disagree.

"I don't know what I'm saying," Jacob too was frustrated.

"Is it possible that one of you made a mistake?"

Selmak beat her to the sarcastic retort. "Would you care to try?" He offered her the clipboard and Vala smiled. Selmak went on to explain the text was difficult and he hadn't been able to find an organizing principle in Daniel's notes.

"He definitely has his own systems," Samantha declared.

"One that I know. He began teaching me it after we came back from Maybourne's planet," Vala ignored the slight pang of…whatever as she remembered the times they had spent together. "I don't think we're missing anything. It's being translated properly, but I don't know why it's gibberish. Maybe it's in code? Maybe we need a cipher to read it properly."

Teal'c interrupted them before they could comment on her theory. Teal'c and the Rebel Jaffa had picked up Ba'al's fleet on their long-range scanners – he would be there within the hour.

Vala sighed. "We need to figure this out," she stated the obvious in frustration. Maybe they needed to approach it differently, and if they had time to come up with something, she would suggest it, but they had an hour at the most, and it wouldn't be beneficial at this point.

"Maybe Vala's right," the woman in question looked up from her clipboard and at the Colonel's pensive statement.

"About what?" Vala inquired. Had she voiced her previous thoughts?

"About it being a code," Samantha replied as she stepped closer to the wall. Vala had seen that look before and had a feeling they just might get a break.

"Something that could only be deciphered by someone who knew the language," Selmak added, sounding as if he agreed.

"So how do we crack it?" Vala questioned. "We need a cipher."

Well, that is until Samantha noticed when upside down, the word and its meaning became something entirely, and it made sense. Jacob argued that it wasn't what the wall said, and Vala had to agree. Samantha and her genius brain again discovered certain sections of the wall could actually be moved, changing the translation along with it. It now wasn't just a translation of writings, but a puzzle as well. A combination that they needed to solve.

Vala and Jacob worked together to translate as fast as they could in order to figure out the combination. They didn't want to randomly guess, not knowing if the Ancients had put in a failsafe for such tampering. During it, Teal'c had radioed to let them know Ba'al had arrived but appeared to be holding his position. While she was curious, she didn't allow herself to think on it more, for she had more pressing issues to deal with.

Believing they had finally come up with the correct combination, Samantha turned the last one, and the result was almost instantaneous. The temple began to shake and the Colonel voiced she hoped it was a good thing. The wall they had been translating suddenly lifted and another set parted before revealing a secret chamber with an Ancient device inside. They cautiously approached and once she was close enough, Vala noticed more Ancient writing on the device.

Vala carefully ran her hand over the old stone-type material. "This must be it."

"Looks like we're in business," Samantha said and Vala could hear the small relief in her words. "I need to contact the SGC and let General O'Neill we found it." She was gone before anyone could comment.

The thought saddened her, and it wasn't due to her usual reasons. "It's a shame really," she mumbled as she gently traced the engravings.

"What is?" Jacob asked curiously.

"That we have to destroy it." A few months ago, all she would have cared about was that something valuable had to be destroyed, but it was different now – she was different. "I suspect the general purpose of this was to create life, not destroy it. It was meant to be something good, and now because of a power hungry and non-corporeal being, we have to destroy it."

"It's a necessary evil," Selmak replied this time, but he still studied the device.

She smiled ruefully. "I know," and she did. "I just wish we didn't have to…and that Daniel could've had a chance to see it – study it."

The man glanced at her but didn't get the chance to reply. Samantha came in, dragging along the bomb they had brought. As she began to unpack it, Jacob's hand ran over a certain set of controls which prompted a screen with more Ancient writing to appear. Vala tilted her head at it and took a step closer

"Sam," Jacob said but didn't take his eyes off the screen, "you might want to hold off on that for a minute."

Vala squinted. "Am I reading this right?" she didn't bother to hide her confusion. It couldn't be right…could it?

"You see it too?" Jacob asked and she could feel his stare on her, but she didn't remove her eyes and just nodded.

"Dad?" Samantha prompted, sounding impatient.

"If we're reading this right…" he went on to explain how the weapon was intended to work and to what extent.

Samantha's face twisted. "That sounds bad."

"That may be, but isn't it similar to how the weapon against the Replicators works? Or used to work?" Vala interjected as she tried to remember if she was recalling the correct details.

Apparently she did recall correctly, and Samantha even went as far as to suggest the possibility of modifying the weapon to target only the Replicators.

"Is that possible?" Vala regretted the cynicism in her words, but could you blame her. "This device is capable of wiping out all life. Should we really be attempting to mess with it? We could do so much more harm than good." When had she become so…practical, for the lack of a better word? Maybe cautious was a better word.

"I don't know, but I hate to blow it up before we could get a chance to see," Jacob said pragmatically. "I understand the concern, but do we have much of a choice? Either Anubis or the Replicators are going to destroy us, so what do we have to lose?"

He had a point. Vala shrugged in resignation.

Samantha quickly radioed Teal'c to update him on the change of plans before she grabbed some of her equipment. "Let's get started."

o0o

Interfacing their computer with the device proved to be more difficult than Jacob or Selmak anticipated. Vala could hear him struggling with the laptop, but she was trying to write down the words on the screen, adding their translation alongside it. Despite being a Tok'ra and having all that knowledge, he conceded control and had Samantha take over, mentioning something about blowing up a sun. Assuming it was the man's attempt at being funny, she felt herself crack a smile.

"Ya know, you blow up one sun, and suddenly everyone expects you to walk on water," while it was said as a quip, Vala also heard the truth ring through Samantha's remark.

Vala twisted her head in their direction. "You've blown up a sun?" she couldn't hide her surprise or curiosity. "On purpose?"

Samantha apparently was successful, and her dad looked at her proudly. "There you go."

She looked proud of herself. She glanced at Vala. "Yup," Samantha popped the 'p.' "I'll find the mission file for you when we get home."

Home… "I'd like that."

It wasn't long before the two of them began talking in what Vala could only attribute to a code. Of course, she understood it was just them being all…science-y, but it might as well have been a different language altogether. She tried to follow along, she really did, but Qetesh hadn't particularly cared for the brainiac stuff. No, she had been more into treasure, power, and sex. While being her host had given Vala a better understanding of technology, not to mention languages, it hadn't been enough to understand Samantha and her genius brain. Though, thanks to Qetesh, she did have the ability to comprehend if she chose to learn it, it just would take longer than time currently allowed.

Vala perked up in moments when she actually understood some of what they were saying, mainly that if they wanted to use the device on the Replicators, it had to be at the same time. Jacob questioned how they were supposed to do that before Vala could. It seemed like they were in their own little world with the way they kept bouncing questions, ideas, and answers off each other, so she decided to keep quiet. It was a little fascinating to watch – a little. She saw it quickly becoming tedious. Just give it time.

What it boiled down to was that they needed to hit all the Stargates in the galaxy at the same time to have any hope of destroying the Replicators! Samantha had gone wonko. "Do you know what altering the Stargate's function to that effect would entail?" Vala finally cut in. "Do you know the level of skills it would take?"

"She's right," Selmak agreed, looking baffled at the suggestion. "I don't know of anyone who can."

Samantha grimaced. "I think I know someone." Her reluctance was prominent and Vala got a bad feeling.

"We're not going to like this, are we?" Vala felt dread fill her, and she already knew the answer to her question.

The Colonel cringed again. "You're not," she didn't bother to sugar coat it. "It's Ba'al."

Vala closed her eyes and her hands balled in anger. "No."

"Vala – "

"No!" she denied again. Anyone but him! "Do not make me work with him, Samantha!"

Her friend's sympathetic and apologetic looks being aimed at her did nothing to affect her. "I'm sorry, Vala, but we have to."

She didn't doubt the Colonel's sincerity, but it didn't mean she had to like it. Vala watched in resignation as Samantha began talking into her radio to relay to Teal'c the evil necessary that had to happen.

Just fucking perfect.