Thursday, November 26, 2020, cont.
Vala entered the small cargo ship she'd secured several weeks ago. By her calculations, it would be Thanksgiving on Earth. She'd been looking forward to her first Thanksgiving with Daniel. Had hoped it would be a time to set aside their busy lives and just enjoy being a couple.
Now, she was on the other side of the galaxy.
Back to her old tricks.
She unwrapped the rations she'd hidden in the pocket of her skirt when she'd been acting like a tavern keeper an hour or so earlier. Crust of bread. Stick of smoked meat. Crumbles of aged cheese. Dried fruit. A pittance compared with the extravagant meal she remembered Sam putting on the table a few years back when she'd been on Earth and invited all the members of SG-1 past and present to the O'Neill-Carter home for a holiday meal.
She wondered how Sam was doing. If she'd been strong enough to fight the virus. If she'd joined the ranks of the thousands of people who had died because of it. If Samantha and her husband, Jack, were hosting another SG-1 Thanksgiving this year.
Vala might never know.
She looked up as her sensors picked up movement outside the al'kesh. Squirreled away what would have to pass for dinner. Then, activated the device against her collarbone. She wished she could change into the black, Kull warrior armor she'd been wearing when she first met Daniel, but this subterfuge would have to suffice.
She armed herself with a zatnik'tel at her side as the stranger requested entry, which she granted. He didn't bat an eye as he walked into the belly of the cargo ship. "I would have preferred to make this exchange in a more public setting."
The voice modulator of the device she'd activated made her sound male. "If we had done this in a more public setting, then the Tau'ri would have discovered your plan. How you not only used their scientists' research against them but also that you took advantage of their current circumstances to extend your reach across the galaxy."
The man's eyebrow twitched upward. "My reach? I think you mean, our reach, old friend. It was your idea to use those Tau'ri scientists to create a more powerful strain of kassa and make preparations to disseminate it to Earth while they struggle under the weight of their current illness."
He spat the word as if the idea of sequestering a planet so they could develop immunity to a mere microbe was stupidity at its finest. Like somehow, the military minds charged with protecting their planet had failed their people in allowing such a widespread quarantine and isolation procedure to be put in place.
Vala couldn't quite figure out how she felt about it, even now, but she couldn't deny the way her heart ached at the thought of people who were sick and dying. She would have done anything to protect them, including stay on the base if necessary. Had spent the first two weeks off-world sequestering herself in one of her many intergalactic safe houses, careful to keep her face covered while avoiding being any closer than six feet to the nearest person.
That had been a harder task when the rest of the galaxy didn't know that was what you were trying to do. Or why you were trying to do it.
His hands clasped behind his back, his back tall, the man walked up to the front of the al'kesh and looked out the viewing screen. "You have the crystal, I presume."
She didn't respond right away, just turned the question back on him. "You have the naquadah?"
If she didn't know better, she might have suspected that what glinted in his eyes was grudging respect. "Nearby."
She frowned. "That is not what we agreed to."
The man splayed his hands as if in affection and trust. "You asked me to come alone. The amount of naquadah you required of me would not permit me to bring it myself. The crystal, however, does not require the same logistical considerations."
She raised an eyebrow. "You would have me turn over my crystal before you let me inspect the naquadah, old friend?"
She put emphasis on the words old friend as if to call the other man out on his mistrust.
The Lucian Alliance lieutenant's lip curled into an amused half-smile. "When one is as hunted as I, it can never hurt to be too careful. The naquadah will only be released on my command."
Bingo.
Without giving the man any warning, she raised the zatnik'tel and fired. The man collapsed in a heap on the ground. Vala turned her image inducer off, then ran a handheld scanner the length of the man's body. Then, she reactivated the device. A quick glance at her hands and arms, now clad in an outfit identical to the unconscious pirate, told her that she'd been successful.
With only a minor hesitation, she raised the zatnik'tel again. If she was right, she was only one more rung away from infiltrating the Lucian Alliance at the highest levels.
Perhaps her nightmare was almost over.
…After she got a message through to Earth to watch for some nebulous plan to infect the planet with kassa.
Vala set the audio playback device on the steps of the stargate. Left the handwritten message in a jar beside it. She suspected her message would go through the Air Force before they finally sent it to Daniel. At least she was clever enough to encode the message so they'd be forced to send it to him. Only hoped he'd be wise enough to look at the jar for clues to the cipher.
She dialed the alpha site. Remotely activated the playback. A simple message. This is Vala Mal Doran. I have intelligence on the Lucian Alliance. By the time you receive this, I will already have left. Do not attempt to follow me.
A description of the jar she'd left.
She stepped away from the gate, her disguise firmly in place as she waited for the message to play through to the alpha site.
She wondered who they would send. Had Daniel and the rest of SG-1 been recalled to active duty? Was he still sitting in his house, trying to decipher the Asgard database? Was he searching the galaxy to find her?
As the wormhole shut off, Vala's heart panged with a longing that she hadn't thought she was capable of anymore. Not since she'd been a girl, wishing that her father would have stayed home just a little longer.
They'd talked about a feeling similar to this once. When Teal'c had talked about how long it had been since he had seen his son, Rya'c. Daniel had called it homesickness. An infliction she couldn't have had until now. After all, she'd never really had a home. Not until she'd joined SG-1.
The stargate activated again. The lights on each chevron activating one by one before the wormhole engaged.
An SG-team. Nobody she recognized. Probably people from the Alpha Site.
One of them, a woman with almost black hair crouched beside the jar where Vala had placed her note. "I think this is what Vala Mal Doran wanted us to find."
The man who had his P-90 raised scanned the horizon. Likely the leader of the SG-team. "Assuming she was the one to send the message in the first place."
A head snapped up. Someone other than the other two team members Vala had already noticed. "You think it's a trap?"
The man taking the lead turned back to the rest of his team. "I think our mission is to find Vala Mal Doran and bring her home. Short of that, we bring the message. Let Dr. Jackson and the rest of SG-1 figure out if she really sent it or not."
Her loneliness threatened to overwhelm her as she thought of her friends. Of Daniel.
All she had to do was drop her disguise. All she had to do was reveal herself to them. They'd even admitted that she was their first priority. She was the mission.
But if she left now— If she walked away from her systematic infiltration of the Lucian Alliance, what would it all be for?
"Sir, there's no evidence of Vala anywhere near the stargate, but this artifact looks like it's of Ancient design. It could be important in its own right."
"Satterfield, our mission is to locate Vala Mal Doran. Figure out how she was able to send us a message from here without being physically present."
The woman on the steps pointed to the second device. "Actually, it's possible she paid someone to play the message for her."
"And it's possible that she's just hiding nearby, Satterfield. Secure the device and the artifact. Then, help us locate her."
Satterfield's disapproval gave way to a dispassionate acceptance of her orders. "Yes, sir."
Vala's heart sank as the group fanned away from her position. Her success at evading capture was bittersweet. After all, she was free to complete her mission, but she wasn't going home to be with Daniel. Not this Thanksgiving, anyway.
She turned her back against the rock and rested her head against her knees. She'd give herself a single second to give into her disappointment. Just one. Then, she'd get back to work.
