Chapter Thirty-Five

The plan had been to send SG-1 to retrieve the remaining members of SG-7, but then Jacob Carter became sick – in fact, they discovered he was dying, and Sam refused to leave. Teal'c agreed to join SG-3 and Vala to go, but Bra'tac needed his support back on Dakara to try and convince them to destroy the weapon. Vala going alone without any of the members of her team didn't sit well with Jack, but he couldn't do anything to dissuade her.

"I know Ba'al," she told him as she geared up with SG-3. "I know the layout for many of his compounds."

"Things may have changed since you were a host," he argued. He didn't deny that he was worried about her. Whether she wanted to acknowledge it or not, Daniel's disappearance was affecting her more keenly that she let on or even knew. He would feel a lot better if someone else from SG-1 could be with her, but it wasn't possible at the moment.

Time to come a-waltzing, Danny-boy, he practically pleaded.

Vala smirked slightly. "What makes you think my knowledge is from that far back?"

Jack raised his brows. "It isn't?"

She chuckled mirthlessly as she loaded her P-90. "Quite the opposite, in fact."

Damn, it must have been recent, judging by the expression on her face. "Should I be worried?" he asked, not caring that he sounded concerned.

She shook her head and strapped on the vest. He noticed she paid special attention to ensuring it was fastened properly – just like Daniel taught her. "Ba'al didn't catch them personally – his Jaffa did," she reminded him. "I highly doubt he's going to come from under whatever rock he crawled under to hide for a team of little consequence – no offense to SG-7."

Jack hadn't thought of that, and she did make some sense. He felt himself relax a little at the thought. "Just don't do anything crazy…or heroic," he ordered gently. He wouldn't put it past her. "Follow Reynolds' lead, okay? He's in charge of this rescue mission."

Vala met his gaze and stared for a long moment before consenting.

Satisfied, he nodded. "Good. Now, are ya sure we don't need to send another team?"

"No, this should be fine. Ba'al is most likely not there. Remember, he's lost a significant portion of his Jaffa, and I don't anticipate there being much resistance. With my knowledge of the place, we can sneak in, rescue SG-7, and sneak out without being spotted. Easy."

"Easy," he repeated and quickly got a bad feeling after. "Just…stay safe."

"Promise."

o0o

Things never did go according to plan.

Anubis was kicking their asses and the Rebel Jaffa wouldn't be able to hold onto Dakara, despite what they believed – and they still refused to destroy the weapon. They had no way of stopping him.

But that wasn't it.

Shortly after Vala departed with SG-3, Kerry had come to his office and confessed she overheard his conversation with the alien woman. Long story short, she let him off the hook, and even gave him an idea on how he could be with Sam and still retain his job. He wanted to share his plan with Sam, but it hadn't been the right time. Jacob was worse, and Jack ended up holding her as he slowly passed and afterwards – well, as much as it was deemed appropriate for a CO.

Bringing up the idea hadn't seemed right at the moment – especially when they had another unscheduled off world activation. Because when it rained, it poured.

SG-3 returned along with the rest of SG-7, but Vala Mal Doran was nowhere to be seen. Sam, being already on edge from losing not only one teammate, but also her father, demanded to know what happened.

"Ms. Mal Doran was wrong," Reynolds said solemnly, and his guilt was paramount. "Ba'al was there, and we were caught as well. It was almost as if he was waiting for us."

"That doesn't explain why you're here and Vala isn't," Sam practically snapped.

The returning members of the SGC all shared a look.

"Ma'am, Ms. Mal Doran negotiated our release," Reynolds informed them gently. It was obvious he didn't want to be the bearer of bad news.

Both Jack and Sam went stiff.

"Negotiated how?" Jack demanded. That couldn't be good.

The Colonel shifted uncomfortably. "She offered herself in exchange for our release." The man obviously wasn't happy with the turn of events. "We tried to talk her out of it, but she was adamant and wouldn't relent – especially when Ba'al agreed."

"What?" Jack said, outraged. "Why in the hell would he do that?"

"He has a bit of an obsession with her," Sam supplied, grimacing.

"Fuck," the General sighed. That wasn't good. "There's more isn't there?" There always was.

Reynolds winced. "Ms. Mal Doran told him she wouldn't try to escape," he finished and hesitated before adding, "She sounded sincere, sir. Ba'al even believed her, but he made us watch him take her onto his ship and leave. We've no idea where he went, sir."

"God damnit!" Sam yelled and stormed out of the room.

Easy my ass, Jack thought to himself. SG-1 did not need this. Hell, Carter didn't need this.

Daniel was gonna kick his ass when he finally made an appearance.

o0o

It wasn't that she didn't want to escape – it was more than she didn't think she'd be able to this time around.

Ba'al may be a pompous, self-absorbed, prick of a being, but he wasn't stupid and probably had personally seen to it that she wouldn't be able to escape. It wasn't the first time he had captured Vala Mal Doran, nor the second. Each time he had her, she found a way to escape, and his ego could only take so much. Unlike most of the Goa'uld, Ba'al didn't mind doing his own dirty work. In fact, he enjoyed coming up and testing with new ways to torture his prisoners. It was fun for him, and he would be damned if he let one of his subordinates have all the fun in coming up with them. He designed his compounds himself (with some input from others) and checked in with the progress from time to time.

Every time he caught her, it was harder to escape, and she was lucky last time. Vala gained some help last time which made it tremendously easier. But she had no hope of that this time around. Ba'al would have ensured that every last one of his remaining Jaffa were loyal to him after losing most of them – meaning she was shit out of luck this time around. She also didn't know if he was true to his word.

Back on the last planet, she had demanded to see her people through the 'gate, but Ba'al refused, and she had no way of knowing if he had honored his promise – he was a Goa'uld, so she wouldn't be surprised. Vala couldn't risk escaping if they still were within his grasp. If they were and she did, that would mean their death, and she refused to be the cause of any more death. The SGC had already lost their number one archeologist and she wouldn't pile onto that. Jack was already in denial over Daniel, and he would blame himself if SG-3 and 7 didn't make it.

Vala had no concerns for herself. Despite what they all said, she truly wasn't one of them, and it was better this way.

And who knew – maybe she'd run into Daniel in the afterlife once Ba'al was done with her.

"My guards tell me you haven't once tried to escape," Ba'al's deep voice filled the small space, but she didn't react, and just kept staring at the wall in front of her. "I must say, I am surprised." She'd give him that – he did sound surprised…and curious.

"Did you allow the Tau'ri to return to Earth?" she purposely kept herself detached.

"I did."

She huffed a mirthless laugh. "I suppose I have no choice but to believe you." She didn't but she had no choice but to. Ignorance was bliss, as the Tau'ri expression went…or so she thought.

"I have always honored my side of the deal when it came to the Tau'ri," he said forcefully.

"But you didn't make a deal with the Tau'ri," she contradicted and finally looked at him. "You made a deal with me."

Ba'al smirked and she got the feeling there was something else to it – she just didn't know what. "You are as much Tau'ri as the Shol'va is." He opened her cage and came to stand in front of her before crouching down to her level. "A mistake you will soon come to regret."

Vala forced herself not to react as he ran a finger down her cheek. She forced herself not to say anything – even when all she wanted to do was kill him, but not after telling him she would never regret her choice to join the Tau'ri.

"Let's have some fun, shall we?"

o0o

Anubis gained control of Dakara and the weapon. As if things could get any worse.

Don't test it, Jack warned himself. He swore the universe could hear him.

He wanted to shove the biggest nuke they had through the Stargate to Dakara, but Teal'c just had to point out that Anubis would have protected the 'gate on that side with the force shield. It was only a matter of time before he used the weapon to wipe out all life in the galaxy. The only thing they could do was to prevent Earth and the Alpha Site from being hit by dialing each other. They would only have thirty-eight minutes, but it was better than nothing.

But they were too late, and the only option left it seemed was to set the self-destruct. It only had the smallest chance at disengaging the wormhole, but no matter the odds, they had to try to save Earth.

Without warning, the self-destruct countdown slowed before freezing altogether, and the Stargate shut down.

Carter and the rest of the brainiacs didn't have the faintest idea what happened, but Jack had his own suspicions, and they only grew when Bra'tac gated in hours later to fill him in on the latest news. Dakara had been retaken. The Kull Warriors had become disoriented and confused. Teal'c speculated that it was because they no longer had a master to serve.

"I still don't quite understand what happened," Carter confessed. "One minute, Anubis is about to push the button to end all life in the galaxy, and then the next minute he's just…gone."

"Indeed. It is a great mystery," Teal'c concurred. He shared a look with Carter before they directed their gaze at Jack.

"You think?" Carter asked and he knew she was trying her best not to get her hopes up.

"I do," he replied, trying his best not to be smug. What had he been telling them from the start?

"It's the only thing that would explain the self-destruct not going off," she added as if she needed more evidence to convince him.

From the corner of his eye, Jack caught the inquiring look Bra'tac sent Teal'c before redirecting it at them. "Of what do you speak?"

"O'Neill believes that Daniel Jackson is somehow responsible," Teal'c supplied.

"Nope. It wasn't me," Daniel's voice echoed from somewhere around them.

They all looked at each other.

"Did you all hear that?" Jack asked.

"I'm in here!" Daniel continued.

Turns out, he was alive again…and naked.

Jack was relieved to know he wasn't the only one uncomfortable at Daniel's state of undress. The only one who wouldn't have been was…Vala. Damn, was she going to be upset when she found out.

Speaking of which. "Where's Vala?" Daniel asked as he surveyed the room for the former space pirate.

Shit. The rest of them all glanced at each other, silently playing tag.

Apparently Daniel caught on to the tense moment. "Guys," he said forcefully, "where's Vala?"

Jack awkwardly placed a hand on the man's naked shoulder and gave a gentle push towards the table. "You should sit down," he suggested gently.

He knew Daniel was going to kill him when he found out. He just thought he had more time.

o0o

Author's Note:

Somebody's in trouble...