OMG, I am so sorry! I didn't notice until right this moment that it'd been 2 weeks since I last updated! I left y'all hangin for way too long!

Well, you won't have to put up with that for too much longer. There should only be 2 more chapters to this story! But don't worry, I'm planning a sequel... Which will actually be set in Atlantis, not the SGC.

Anyway, on to the chapter.

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Energy

Despite the barely clotting scratches along her forearms, Marla held her P-90 firmly aimed at the Prior on the Gate's ramp. She noted briefly that the Stargate was no longer open, and found some small measure of relief in that fact. She kept her gaze firm even when Prior's pasty face turned towards her and his frightening milky eyes stared at her. She would not waver, she would not back down. If this cost her life, then so be it. But she would not go down without a fight.

Marla opened her mouth to say something to the Prior, but was interrupted by the familiar squeak of a wheelchair. Instantly, she whirled towards the sound, but still kept her gun on the Prior.

"VALA!" she erupted.

Vala stopped almost immediately. "You're not facing this alone," she said.

Marla's eyes flicked towards the blast door sliding closed between them and the others, and then over her shoulder towards the Prior who was causing it. And then, her eyes moved back to Vala.

"Well, then what about Daniel?" she said very sharply.

Realization dawned on Vala's face, and she slowly opened her mouth. But before any sound escaped it, her eyes rolled back and then closed as she fell unconscious. Her body slowly began to slump forward, though the restraints on her wheelchair kept her from falling out.

Marla swore viciously under her breath, and quickly turned back towards the enemy. She slowly sidestepped so that she was planted squarely between Vala and the Prior. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she found it amusing that she now had to defend Vala with her life for a second time.

Vala, you so owe me, she thought.

"Your defense is futile, Marla Jameson," the man said flatly. "You and Vala Mal Doran will fall to the Ori this day for your insolence. You cannot escape your fate."

"That is where I will have to disagree," she snapped back.

The Prior's eyes narrowed ever so slightly, and he said, "Very well." The tip of his staff began to glow and he lifted it into the air. Instantly Marla tensed and her finger hovered over the trigger on her gun as the Prior began making small circular motions with the end of the staff.

She had no idea what he was doing until she felt a sharp gust of air hit her from behind. Barely managing to stay on her feet, Marla pulled the trigger and let a couple of bullets fly in the Prior's direction.

They never reached him, and were instead swept around and past him by the wind to land against the far wall.

The wind hit Marla again from behind, but this time did not fall away after a few seconds. Instead, it was continuous. And then, as she slowly fell to her knees, Marla realized that the Prior was creating a tornado—or rather a swirling whirlpool in the air—with himself at its very center. There was a scraping noise behind her, and Marla struggled to turn enough to see in that direction. And she saw that the noise was caused by Vala's wheelchair as the strong winds easily tipped it over.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, Marla thought the restraints holding Vala to the chair were a great thing. Without them, Vala's limp body would surely have been tossed around, but with the extra weight of the wheelchair, she was fairly safe.

Then the wind grew stronger and Marla could think of nothing but standing her ground. She bit curses under her breath and then gritted her teeth as she strained to keep herself from blowing away with the wind. She knew that she would have to stop this Prior fast—very fast—if defenseless Vala—and Daniel to whom she was bound—was to have any chance of surviving this attack.

Automatically correcting for the wind's pull, Marla pressed her finger hard against her P-90's trigger and let loose a volley of bullets.

She half-expected them to all strike and crumple against some invisible barrier the Prior had raised, as many had done before. Well, that was if they didn't all blow away with the wind anyway, but they didn't. The majority of them still curved around, but a couple found their way into their target: the Prior's mid-section. Three small trickles of milky blood leaked down his robe, and Marla grinned inwardly at the small triumph.

But then the wind rushing past her became suddenly and inexplicably hot. Not quite hot enough to burn, but definitely enough to put her in pain.

And she knew that now was the moment.

But as she reached towards the pocket where she had hidden the C4 charges, something she had never expected to see again appeared before her eyes, freezing her instantly.

In the midst of the swirling wind, just in front of the Prior stood the one man for whom she was willing to do anything. From the unruly dark hair to the smiling dark eyes, his face was just as she remembered it. From the familiar uniform with the SG-6 patch sewn onto the sleeve to the scuffed combat boots, he was just as she remembered him.

"Chris," she breathed, taking a step towards him.

She felt lightheaded, and was dangerously close to flying away with the wind as every feeling that she had held inside since the Ori fortress came bursting out. Tears blurred her vision of the man who was slowly walking towards her, and her voice broke as she repeated his name over and over again. Finally, he was close enough and her hand slowly reached out to touch him…

"Will you surrender, Marla Jameson?" the Prior's voice said.

Unconsciously, the word yes started to form on her lips.

But before the word came completely out of her mouth, reality coldly gripped her, and her sense returned. This couldn't be real. Christopher Grouper was dead. She had watched him die with her own eyes.

This had to be either a hallucination, or some sort of trick by the Prior.

And, as her fingertips passed through Chris instead of brushing against him, she knew it was true.

Tears still filled her eyes as the hallucination of Chris disappeared, and she looked up with anger towards the Prior. Her heart closed off, and in her mind she knew that it was truly now, or never. Thus, resolved, she let herself be carried into the swirl of the wind as she reached deep into her pocket for the pair of C4 charges. Her hand wrapped tightly around them, and she pulled them out quickly. She armed them, and as the wind carried her past the Prior and towards the wall, she hurled them towards him.

She honestly didn't expect the plan to work, but all she could do was hope it would.

She quickly passed the Prior and the pair of charges.

I hope I make it to heaven, she thought as she braced herself for the pain she thought she would have to experience before she died.

Behind her, the charges detonated and she felt the heat on her back as she was rapidly thrown against the wall of the room. Every inch of her struck metal and pain spread throughout her from head to foot before she fell away into unthinking darkness.

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OMG, another cliffie? I'm dead, aren't I?