Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate SG1 or any of it's characters, I post this strictly for entertainment purposes.

Chapter 13

After the blinding light, it was dark. Too dark to see anything and Daniel feared at first that he might be blind. However, there was just enough light that he could make out his hand when it was right in front of his face. He had to breathe deeply in order to force down the panicky feeling that was rising from the pit of his stomach. Steeling his nerves and feeling the cold floor beneath him, he smoothed his hands along it blindly until he found a wall. It too was smooth and cold, but gave him little clues as to the identity of his captors. His mind raced, he must be in the alien vessel, he surmised. But why would they take him?

He sat against the wall, head throbbing, his concussion doing little to improve his situation. He focused his thoughts on Sam and prayed that she hadn't been taken too, these aliens whoever they were, had been responsible for destroying his life once, now they were back to ruin what was left and it made his blood boil in a rage against them. Daniel was not a man that hated easily, but he could say with conviction that he hated these aliens with a passion greater than that he had ever felt for the Goa'uld or the Ori and he had never even seen their faces.

For hours he sat for what felt like hours but he couldn't be certain, time had no meaning in this place, only darkness and cold. He shivered, the temperature seemed to be falling, or he was going into shock, either way, it was not a good sign.

He drifted in and out of sleep, it being so dark, he hardly knew when his eyes were open and when they were closed. It wasn't until a crack of light appeared at the other that Daniel could tell where the door was, the light from outside his cell causing his head to explode in pain. He felt himself being lifted and forced to walk towards the door, the light still blinding him and keeping him from identifying his abductors.

After a few moments as his eyes adjusted to the light and he was pushed forward down a long corridor, he finally got a good look at the aliens. They were mostly humanoid looking, but they had no hair on their bodies and they glistened as though coated with a fine sheet of oil. Their skin was beyond pale, translucent may have been a better term, for he could see every blood vessel that lay just under the surface of their skin, even the irises of their eyes were clear, no color at all to them. All at once they repulsed and intrigued him.

The aliens also appeared to have some sort of device attached to their forehead, just above their eyes where eyebrows would have been if they had any hair. Daniel could only guess as to its purpose, but he cared little about it at the moment, focused as he was on where they were taking him and why.

"Who are you?" He asked them, but they ignored him.

Rounding a corner and coming to a stop in front of a smooth door, one of the aliens tapped in a code before it slid open, revealing a largely empty room save for a table in the center and the tell-tale straps that had him groaning inwardly when he saw them. He knew what a torture chamber looked like, not matter how futuristic or clinical it first seemed.

Roughly, the aliens pushed him inside. He protested when they began to take off his clothes, but there were too many of them to resist and they had him down to just his underwear in seconds. He fought them unsuccessfully, as they dragged him to the table and strapped him securely by his hands, feet and head to its freezing surface. Without a word or emotion expressed by the pale creatures, they left the room, leaving him alone again, cold and shivering from his nakedness and fighting the persistent pounding in his head.

Daniel couldn't tell how much time passed before the door opened again. He couldn't turn his head far enough under the restraints to see anything until a pale alien face appeared before him.

"What do you want with me?" He asked. The alien said nothing, but smoothly grabbed a device identical to the ones they wore above their brows and he placed it on Daniel's forehead and pressed a button, activating the device. A white light flashed before his eyes as the instrument fed information directly into his brain. His senses were assaulted and he cried out, overwhelmed by a multitude of voices, too many for him to comprehend what they were saying. The alien tapped in a few controls and the pain and voices in his head began to lessen until he could hear just one.

"Can you hear me?" The voice asked. Daniel came to the realization that the alien over him must be speaking to him through the device, for his mouth never moved. This must be how they communicate with each other, he surmised

"Who are you?" Daniel demanded to know.

"We are Sorlish."

"What do you want with us? Why did you attack us?"

"You are primitive and easily subdued, your species will make profitable slaves in our galaxy. Our advance parties indicated your galaxy was rife with your kind, numbering in the billions on this world alone. Your planet is rich in resources and shall be harvested for our was necessary to fire upon your territories in order to render your cities defenseless. Now that your military has been conquered, we can collect the slaves and harvest the planet's resources."

"You've killed millions of people!" Daniel cried.

"Collateral damage was to be expected." The alien delivered without batting an eye.

"Collateral damage!?"

"Your concerns are of little consequence to us."

"You bastards!" Daniel struggled against his restraints, if only he could move his hands, then he could strangle the being hovering over him. However, Daniel could only throw verbal punches, but the Sorlish paid no attention to his insults.

"What do you want with me?"

"Some years ago, on one of our reconaissance sweeps of your galaxy we captured a member of your species. She was able to provide us with much information regarding your planet, its defenses and in particular, she helped us to locate you."

"Me?" Daniel had a sinking feeling in his stomach, but he was unprepared for what came next. The alien looked behind him, an unspoken conversation took place and he heard the door open and close, a figure approached and he gasped, tears springing to his eyes.

"You recognize this human?" the Sorlish asked. Her hair was shockingly white and she was thin and withered looking, but their was no denying who she was. He whispered her name.

"Vala."

OOOOO

Sam sat on the cold shower floor, letting the water tumble down her hair and face, washing the blood, soot and tears off her body, watching it numbly as it swirled down the drain. She couldn't be sure how long she had been in here, it had been long enough for the water to run cold, not that she cared. Nothing really mattered anymore. Her world was gone, Daniel was gone, all that was left was the pain in her head and the hole in her heart.

"Sam?" She heard Carolyn call out from the locker room. "Are you in here?"

She didn't feel like answering her, so she sat, allowing the water to cascade down. Closing her eyes she let her head fall back against the tile wall.

"Sam?" She heard her call again. This time the voice was closer and suddenly the water was turned off. Sam looked up to see Carolyn's concerned face. "C'mon. This water is freezing. Let's get you dressed before you catch pneumonia."

She pulled Sam off the floor and grabbed a near-by towel, wrapping it around her. Sam shivered and shook, the cold air hitting her skin and causing her flesh to rise in goosebumps. Carolyn rubbed her arms to dry her and warm her up at the same time. Sam did little to help her. She just didn't care anymore.

When she was finished, Carolyn went to Sam's locker and pulled out a set of clothes and underwear. Sam put on the underwear and clothes mindlessly and with out saying a word to her friend before she sat back down on the bench, tears filling her eyes. Carolyn knelt down to Sam's eye level and took her face in her hands.

"Sam." She said, trying to get her attention. "Sam!" She said more forcefully. Finally, she ventured to look into her friend's eyes. "I know you're hurting. But we got to pull it together. We're going to find Daniel and we going to bring him home, then when we're done, we'll kick some major alien ass. Are you listening to me?" Sam nodded, but she failed to feel the optimism Carolyn was showing. The aliens, who still had yet to identify themselves had destroyed all of Earth's defenses, even the outpost the Ancient's left behind had been destroyed. There was no way of fighting back.

Carolyn reached into the locker again, this time coming back with a hair brush and carefully began brushing Sam's hair as she tried to avoid the gash and lump on her head that she sustained in their crash.

Sam shook her head and looked up at Carolyn, when she finished with her hair, feeling deafeated. "I just don't understand the universe." She told her. "I understand the physics of it all, I understand wormholes and technology, but for the life of me I don't get why it wants to see us suffer."

"I don't know what the universe or God or whatever you want to call it has in store for us, but I remember a phrase that my grandmother loved to quote from the bible that said something like 'suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope.'" Carolyn took Sam's hand in hers "We're going to see hard times, but we can't give up hope. Not yet. Daniel wouldn't. You know that." Sam nodded through her tears and pulled her friend into a tight embrace.

"Thank-you. You're right. Daniel would never give up and I won't either." Grateful for the doctor's wise words, she pulled back and gave Carolyn a slight smile and wiped away her tears. She would get Daniel back she promised herself, they had done this before and they could do it again, beaten the odds when they were against them, but weren't they always?

"Let's go see Cam, okay?" Carolyn suggested. "He's trying to get a hold of our allies and he's going to need your help. We all are."

Hey guys, thanks for all of the reviews. I'm feeling better, but I'm still kinda yucky, however, writing this chapter has been a good distraction so I hope you like it. :)