Chapter Thirty-One
Vala wanted to punch his smug face the second he appeared.
Too bad Ba'al was merely a hologram.
He caught sight of her, just like he had back at the SGC, and he seemed pleased at her presence. "Qetesh, we meet again."
She knew it shouldn't have gotten to her, but she was sick of being called by that thing's name. "Fuck you." She said it calmly and managed to keep the hatred and disgust out, but it took almost all her will power.
Ba'al smirked. "But I would rather much fuck you," he crudely responded, and she knew it was meant to get a rise out of her.
But as much as she wanted to give in, she refused to give him the satisfaction. "Unfortunately, I've already had that experience before and there was…much to be desired," she said as flippantly as she could. She would never let him know the nightmares he and Qetesh caused her. "Qetesh wasn't that impressed either. You were merely a plaything – a pawn in her pursuit to gain power."
He sneered at her, and she cheered internally at the sight. "I'd be more than happy to prove you wrong."
She pretended to think on it. "Hard pass. Much to lack luster for me."
"You will come to regret those words."
"And you will as well if you don't leave her the hell alone," Samantha interjected. It was easy to detect the anger in her voice and Vala appreciated her friend's support. "Now, I assume Teal'c told you the plan," she switched to all business.
It took some convincing, but Samantha finally got Ba'al to agree to the plan.
o0o
When it came time to reprogram the DHD, Vala took the opportunity to escape Ba'al's presence. She wasn't proud of it, but he was the one Goa'uld she truly couldn't stomach – thank you Qetesh. Being around him didn't just bring up unpleasant memories, it physically made her uncomfortable and his presence made her skin crawl. She didn't have high hopes of getting over it anytime soon. The years spent as a host had involved him more than she liked to admit, and the experience had tainted her in a way that she didn't like to acknowledge. But she was getting better at dealing with it…at least she hoped she was.
Not enough to where Samantha didn't notice her discomfort. "You doing okay over there?"
Vala didn't bother to look away from the amount of wires she was messing with. "The least the Ancients could have done was color code the damn things," she said in way of reply, being evasive on purpose.
"You know damn well that's not what I meant." Ooh, she didn't sound happy. "You're avoiding Ba'al."
"Who wouldn't?" Yes, stick with the flippant attitude, Vala. That won't make her more suspicious at all.
All sounds ceased from the side Samantha was on and Vala speculated that she was staring at her, but she didn't bother checking. "He and Qetesh had a history, huh?" While phrased like a question, it was certainly not, and based on her tone, Samantha expected an answer.
Vala snorted. "He had an obsession with her, and she used it against him for her own gain," she corrected, doing her best to stay detached – though it was always harder than she anticipated. "He always underestimated her…and me."
There was a short pause. "What does that mean?" Samantha's tentative voice asked.
"It means this isn't the first time we've seen each other since I was freed," Vala retorted dryly. "He thought I could be so easily contained without a symbiote – that I was too weak, scarred, or fragile after my time as host. He got a nasty shock when I subdued him and took off with one of his Al'kesh."
"Damn girl," Samantha said appreciatively, clearly impressed if her tone could be believed, which Vala did. "Bet he wasn't all too happy after that."
"I think it's why he keeps insisting on calling me by that thing's name," Vala mused aloud. "That, and he's still a bit obsessed."
"If the Goa'uld hate one thing, it's not getting what they want," Samantha sent her a smirk. "They're like toddlers in that regard."
They both shared a laugh before Samantha asked Vala to hand her a tool.
Vala handed it over and got back to work on her end. "Do you think this will work?"
"Well, Ba'al has done it before." Samantha didn't sound too happy about that.
The alien chuckled. "I can't believe the Tau'ri started that mess," she shook her head in disbelief as she remembered when the Stargate system went down. "I'm not surprised he used it to his advantage, but I would have never thought you lot were ultimately responsible for it. Do you know what kind of deal you all cost me? Damn it, Samantha, I had a deadline to deliver the goods and you cost me that. There was a lot of money riding on that."
It was the Colonel's turn to chuckle. "Sorry," she said but didn't sound a bit sorry to Vala. "But back to your original question, it should work. We just have to get the DHD in order and make sure the weapon is recalibrated to target the Replicators and Bob's your uncle."
Vala glanced over with a frown. "Who's Bob?" she asked, knowing she sounded confused. "And why would he be my uncle?"
Samantha bit her lip, presumably to hold back a laugh, judging by her face. "It's an expression," yep, there was definitely amusement in her voice.
"Then why can't you just say what you mean instead of those oddly worded phrases?" Honestly, it would be so much easier to understand them. "So, that will take care of the nasty buggers on the planets, but they have ships. How is it going to take care of those? Won't they just start over again on the planets once they're numbers are back up? We'll be back to the beginning."
"Vala," the gentle, yet cautious tone, made Vala pause and turned back to Samantha, "if this works, it will take out the Replicators on the planets and in space. It's how it was designed."
She should have known that, especially with the way they had been talking back at the device, but it was almost like she had been obtuse deliberately – and she knew why. "Daniel is aboard their ship," she reminded her coldly as she realized what this would mean for him. "If the reports I read are true, it's a ship made out of Replicator blocks. It will disintegrate along with the rest of them, killing Daniel in the process!"
Based on the Colonel's expression, this wasn't news to her. "We don't know that," she spoke with hesitance. "He could be on another ship for all we know – one commandeered from the Goa'uld."
Vala glared at the other woman. "Your duplicate took him for his Ancient knowledge. Would she really dig it out of him on a fucking Goa'uld ship?" She gave up on controlling her emotions. "We both know the answer to that. He's on that ship and if we do this, he's going to die!"
"I know," Samantha mumbled in resignation. "But Daniel's has beaten the odds before and I have to believe he'll find a way out of this."
"But you're willing to let him die!"
"We have no choice!" Vala had never seen Samantha snapped like that. "We can't choose him over the entire galaxy, and he wouldn't want us to!"
She was right, Vala hated to admit it, but… "Samantha, it's Daniel."
Samantha huffed a humorless chuckle. "You think I don't know that?" It was the first time Vala saw how truly upset she was by the fact. "I've watched him die an agonizing death for less – for a planet whose stupidly is still baffling and there was only one person was worth saving, but Daniel didn't see it that way. He still doesn't and wouldn't want us to jeopardize the fate of the galaxy in hopes of saving him."
"And I'm just supposed to be okay with that?" Vala challenged, hating how her voice hitched. "I'm just supposed to live with the knowledge that I played a part in killing him?"
Samantha sighed and finished up whatever she had been working on before she began to close the panels of the DHD. "It's not like that, and you know it." Her voice brooked no arguments. "It's easy for you – for all of us – to risk or even sacrifice our lives if it means others will live, but what's not easy is watching the ones you care about doing the same. That's what being a teammate is like. It never gets any easier, but now you know what it's like to be a part of this team. Congratulations – you really are one of us."
With that, Samantha closed up the DHD and headed back to the chamber, leaving Vala to think on her words.
Sacrificing oneself was easy, if it meant the ones you cared about lived, but she had never found herself in this position – the position that she actually cared about what happened to someone. It was easier being the hero – you controlled the narrative and the outcome when you played the sacrificial lamb. She didn't like being on the opposite side.
She didn't like the emotions that came with it.
o0o
"Oh, that's just great," Vala commented mockingly to herself as she watched a ship shaped like a ginormous Replicator land near the temple on Dakara. "How very disturbing," she mused as she noticed hundreds of them heading their way. She took a defensive position before radioing Samantha. "We've got company."
The warning did little since the mechanical beings forced her and the rest of the men to retreat further back until they were at the chamber's entrance. Soon, the only sounds were that of P-90s firing full force at the swarm bugs. Their efforts did little to hold them off and it was a battle they were quickly losing.
"Where are we?" Vala shouted over the deafening noise.
"We're almost there!" Samantha glanced behind her for a brief moment. "We just need to hold them off for a little longer!"
"We're running out of time!" she stated the obvious. "We can't hold them off for much longer!"
No sooner than the words were out, all of the Replicators froze.
"What the hell?" Samantha mumbled but didn't waste the time and quickly reloaded her weapon. "Reload and then keep firing."
They all were quick to do as she said.
"What do you think happened?" Vala asked.
Before she could answer, Teal'c radioed in, questioning if they had been successful, giving them the impression that it wasn't just them who were affected.
"What the bloody hell is happening?" Vala asked again.
"I don't know but keep shooting," Sam ordered. It would be a shame to lose the opportunity to gain some ground. "Dad?" she called behind her.
"Almost there!" the Tok'ra replied.
It didn't take long for the Replicators to start moving again, but at least they had taken care of most of the ones who had entered the temple. Whatever happened, they hoped it was enough time for Jacob and Selmak to finish up. But it was starting to look more and more bleak as the enemy approached faster and in greater numbers. Ammo was running low and the bugs were almost on top of them.
Vala always assumed she would die as a result of her occupation – some deal gone wrong or her conning the wrong person. She never once thought it would be in the noble pursuit of trying to save the entire galaxy. She had done a lot in these past months with the Tau'ri. Took down a few Goa'uld, shared knowledge on an old, advanced, but dead race, helped them learn the language so they could learn from them, and gave them intel on the Lucien Alliance – for all the good it would do them now. She rather liked knowing her last few were spent in such a way.
Only if she could've been with Daniel when it ended.
But it didn't end. Jacob finally got the weapon to where it needed to be and wasted little time in activating it. The temple had shook but few took their eyes off of the enemy, not wanting to risk the chance of them getting to the weapon. Suddenly, a wave of…energy shot forth and reduced all the Replicators into blocks. It was done. It was over. They were gone.
Daniel was gone.