Chapter Four
"Someone tell me what the bloody hell is going on!" Vala demanded loudly, "What's wrong with my baby? What's an Orici?"
SG-1 stared at her, sympathy and pity lacing their expressions, before three of them focused their gaze on Daniel, volunteering him to explain. He hated his friends in that moment. This was the last thing he wanted to do, but if he didn't do it, no one would. Sighing, he looked down at his feet before giving Vala the answers she asked for.
"Vala, the Ori did this to you," Daniel said hesitantly, sparing her a glance. "They provided the other part of the genetic material needed to conceive the baby. I'm not exactly sure how, but they're essentially the father."
"I guessed as much," she commented, "but there's more to it, something you're not telling me."
"The Ori embedded the baby with as much Ori knowledge as she could handle," he explained, "They used you to try and bring her into our galaxy where she would lead the crusade. Based on our intel, she'll be pure evil, merciless,"
"She? It's a girl?" Vala gasped and tried to grasp what Daniel was telling her.
"Shit," he muttered, closing his eyes, "sorry, I didn't mean to tell you that."
"But it's a baby, she's a baby," Vala argued as it dawned on her what Daniel's earlier words meant. They wanted to kill her child. "I'll have time to teach her, to show her that what they're doing is wrong. I can be a good mother to her. I know you all don't believe me, but I know I can be."
Daniel shook his head in protest, his heart going out to her, even breaking a bit. "The Ori genetically altered her," he clarified, "and within twenty-four hours of her birth, she'll be a fully grown adult, mentally and physically."
"They what?" she breathed out, aghast, tears brimming in her eyes as she rubbed her belly. "Are you telling me that those fucking bastards wanted to use me as a damn shipping container to sneak one of their own across the galaxy line?"
"I'm so sorry, Vala," Daniel said sincerely. "It was the only way they could do it without the Ancients interfering."
"And you want to kill her?" she asked, voice going stoic, "You want to kill my baby?"
"We have to," Sam stepped in, prompting the alien to look at the Colonel, "I know this is incredibly hard to hear and I won't pretend to know what you're going through, but we can't allow the Orici to live. We just destroyed the Ori and allowing one to be born would undo everything we just did."
"The baby would have the knowledge of the Ori; the knowledge and ability to ascend," Teal'c continued after Sam, "When the child chooses to ascend, she will gain all the power from the Ori worshippers. Without anyone else to share it with, she will become a most powerful being. We cannot allow this to happen."
"There has to be another way," Vala tried to argue, fully in denial.
"Vala, there is no other way," Daniel reasoned, forcing his voice to stay calm.
"Then find one!" she yelled, "You are not killing my baby!"
"Look Princess," Mitchell stepped forward, "with or without your cooperation, the Orici will not be allowed the chance to be born," he stated matter-of-factly.
"Cam!" both Sam and Daniel snapped at him and his harsh tone.
"Daniel, please," Vala pleaded softly and he looked at her, "find another way, one that doesn't require my baby to die. There has to be one."
Her expression, it reminded Daniel of the other Vala when she was telling him that under no circumstances should he allow the Orici to live. There's irony for ya. He wondered if she'd say the same thing after finding out that another version of herself was the mother of the Orici. Daniel remembered her passionate words of caution and her imploring him to do this, saying it was a necessary evil. As he replayed the conversation in his head, other Vala's words gave him an idea. "If you can find a way to undo the genetic alterations the Ori did to the baby, then do it. Freeze it in stasis for all I care but don't let it be born until it isn't a threat anymore," were her words. Maybe they could, remove the genetic alternations the Ori had done to the baby, they being the Asgard. Maybe the Asgard could remove the baby from Vala, put in stasis as other Vala suggested until they knew how to make the baby fully human. Only one way to find out.
"Maybe there is," he mumbled as he jumped up from his seat and fled the room.
"Daniel?" Vala and Sam called out at the same time while Mitchell snapped, "Jackson!"
Mitchell stared at Sam. "Just what the hell is he talking about and where is he going?"
"I honestly have no idea," Sam responded, just as baffled as the rest.
o0o
"Thor, no offense but I don't care about statistics and probabilities," Daniel interrupted the alien impatiently, "I just need to know if it's even possible and if you have the technology to do it."
"We do, though we have never attempted to use the technology in this way, but yes, I believe it is possible," Thor answered, "Whether or not it will be successful remains unknown and could result in loss of life for the fetus."
"It's at least a shot, a chance for Vala's child to live" Daniel noted.
"Yes."
"Jackson!" Mitchell exclaimed, storming onto the bridge, "mind telling us what the hell is going on?"
"I think there's a chance for us to get rid of the Orici without Vala having to sacrifice her daughter's life," Daniel rushed out.
"Wanna clue us in?" Mitchell inquired impatiently.
"The Asgard have the technology that could potentially remove any Ori genetic manipulations, alternations, DNA, whatever, leaving behind only the human part. The baby would then be completely human, growing at a normal pace with no knowledge of the Ori whatsoever. A normal child."
"That's possible?" Sam asked, intrigued and turned to Thor, "You can do that? And it would work?"
"Possibly," answered Thor, "while I can certainly attempt this, the outcome of the fetus is unknown. The device has not been used in this manner before, nor was it meant to, but it is possible."
"This would be the only chance my baby has to survive, is it not?" Vala asked from behind, them standing at the doorway with Dr. Lam.
The room looked towards the mother to be. "It would appear so," Thor was the one to answer, "Allowing the fetus to live in its current state would not be prudent as we have no way to stop it once born."
Daniel was quickly at her side. "You should be in the infirmary, especially with what you just been through," and he sent a small glare to the doctor, who shot one back at him for questioning her.
Vala ignored his concern. "So, it's either this or let you kill her?"
"I'm afraid those are the only options we have," Sam replied regrettably.
"Well, I'm not allowing you to kill my daughter," Vala declared after a moment of silence and turn to Thor, "What do you need me to do?"
o0o
Thor had Vala lay on an almost flat table with the top curve upwards in the medical bay of the ship. The Asgard rarely utilized any of the rooms – they normally relied on their stasis pods for any type of injury or illness (did the even get sick?), so it was a small room but had the necessary equipment for the task at hand. Thor stood at a control console, using one of the instruments to scan Vala and the baby, trying to figure out what he were working with. SG-1, along with Dr. Lam, stood off to the side, watching and waiting.
The rest of the SG teams had returned to the planet with Reynolds in charge and were tasked with getting the Ark into play. Apparently, all it took was for one Prior to look inside and it would be transmitted to the others in this galaxy via the jewel in their staffs. All of the staffs were somehow connected. It wouldn't transmit over galaxies so they had to bring it back, but while they waited for Thor to do the procedure, the least they could do was help the people with the chaos that would follow the Ori's destruction and set the Priors straight.
The instrument Thor had been using was moved to the side at his command and a different one came into play; the image it projected made Earth's best sonograms look like a joke. It was like Thor was projecting the fetus as a hologram; it was amazing. The image zoomed in and out and all around, Thor taking in every detail, making notes on its genetic structure, everything.
"Is that my baby?" Vala asked in awe.
"Yes," Thor replied simply, "The way the fetus was created is quite complex. The Ori intertwined their genetic material with yours quite skillfully. It is impressive."
"Do you think you'll still be able to remove the Ori parts of the baby?" Daniel asked, walking up to Vala and taking her hand, giving it a squeeze. He saw the worry and distress on her face at Thor's words.
"I believe so. It still appears to be possible, but I still need more data before attempting."
Vala sighed in relief. "Take as long as you need," she told him, "Whatever it takes to save my daughter."
"I will be done collecting the necessary data momentarily," Thor stated as his gaze never wondered from the images he was projecting.
"Vala?" an unknown man asked from the doorway, SG-3 chaperoning him.
This unknown man caught the attention of everyone in the room, asides from Thor, who was still fully focused on the task asked of him. Daniel recognized the man from the planet. He had been the one who called out to Vala just before Thor beamed them back up to the ship. Vala had referred to him as Tomin and told Daniel that the man was her husband.
Vala sat up straighter and stared at the newcomer, stunned, as if she couldn't believe he was here. "Tomin?"
"I'm sorry for the interruption but he insisted that he'd be taken to his wife," Colonel Reynolds apologized, explaining his reasons for beaming the man up.
"It's okay, Reynolds," Sam assured him.
He pointed to the projected fetus. "Is that our child?" Tomin asked Vala, ignoring the rest of the room as we went to her but stopped a few feet from her when he spotted Vala's hand in Daniel's. He stared at their hands intertwined and shot Vala an accusatory look.
Vala ignored his silent accusation. "It's my baby, yes," she told him gently, "Thor here is trying to save her life."
Tomin finally looked over at the other alien and stumbled back in shock. "Oh my goodness!" he gaped and stumbled for words before saying, "What is that? What is it doing to you?"
Thor didn't even acknowledge the man nor the insult sent his way.
"Relax, he's on our side," Daniel tried to calm the man down, "This is Thor, Supreme Commander of the Asgard fleet and he's trying to help Vala and the baby."
"What is wrong with the baby?" Tomin asked.
Silence fell, no one wanting to shed light on the situation. Tomin missed Vala's subtle correction after he referred to the baby as theirs. That or he was in denial. Telling him would definitely crush an illusion he had. Daniel sighed, knowing it would be him that would end up telling the man. The rest of SG-1 didn't care and after what Vala had been through the past few days, Daniel wouldn't make her do this.
"Tomin, my name is Dr. Daniel Jackson," he began, bringing the other man's attention to him, "Vala is originally from a different galaxy, my galaxy. She ended up here by accident and somewhere between leaving our galaxy and waking up in yours, the Ori impregnated her against her knowledge. Somehow, the baby is half human and half Ori."
"The baby is Orici?" Tomin guessed, awed. "The will of the Ori?"
"Eh, I guess you could look at it that way," Daniel gave him that, "but the Ori are not gods. They're dead and gone forever. Because of this and how the child was created and what she'll be once born, we can't allow her to be born as she is. Thor is attempting to remove any Ori manipulation done to the baby."
Tomin shook his head. "How can this be? The Ori are gods and cannot be destroyed!"
Daniel glanced over at Reynolds. "Did he witness the Priors with the Ark?" he inquired, wondering if the man was simply in denial or hadn't heard it from the Priors itself that Origin was all a lie on the Ori's part.
"He demanded to be taken to Ms. Mal Doran and wouldn't take no for an answer and wasn't there when SG-2 opened the Ark," Reynolds replied.
"Tomin, believe me, the Ori are gone for good," Daniel tried to reason.
"What about the Orici?" Tomin argued, "She will lead us in our crusade and in the path of enlightenment. You cannot harm her; I will not allow it!"
"See now," Mitchell cut in, "you don't have a say in this. Either that baby gets all Ori badness removed from it or it dies. I'm not big on killing a currently harmless infant but I will do whatever it takes to ensure that my people, my planet, and galaxy are safe form the Ori threat and just know that if you try to interfere in anyway, I will not hesitate to take you out."
A tense moment fell as Mitchell's words sunk in.
"I have collected the necessary data I need," Thor broke silence, "I will need time to go through all of it and come up with the most efficient strategy. Vala Mal Doran, you may get up. I will alert you when I am ready to begin."
Daniel helped her sit up all the way and off the table. She was still fairly weak from her three days chained to an altar. Tomin rushed to her other side, taking her arm.
"I wish to speak with my wife," he declared firmly.
"Vala?" Daniel murmured quietly to her.
"It's alright, Daniel," she reassured him, "I'll be fine. I'll come and find you when I'm done."
Daniel reluctantly let her go with Tomin, with a sigh, hating that the man had a right to her. "I'll be close by if you need anything," he promised and shot a warning look at Tomin. He didn't trust the man. Come on, the man had left his pregnant wife chained to an altar for three days with no water or food and that was before he knew that the child she carried wasn't his.
Vala gave him a tight smile and squeezed his hands before leading Tomin out of the room and back to Dr. Lam's makeshift infirmary. She was not looking forward to the conversation headed her way.
o0o
Author's Note: So I have no freaking clue what I'm talking about in regards to all the science stuff. I am and will be BS-ing my way through it and hopefully it will sound believable! But if the Asgard can create their own clones as well as human ones, I fully believe they could do something like this, especially since they spend a huge amount of time on figuring out their own cloning problem and probably had a crap ton of medical type equipment.
As always, thoughts?
