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

Chapter 15

Sam caught sight of Mitchell pacing in the control room and he nodded to her as she entered.

"Good to see you up and about Sam. How's your head?"

"Better." She replied. "What's going on? Any word for any of our allies?"

"Actually, we should be hearing from one, any minute now." Just as Cam finished his sentence the gate tech at the computer announced an incoming wormhole. "That must be him now."

"IDC confirmed, sir." The tech informed him.

"Great, open her up." Cam slapped the tech on the shoulder and headed for the gateroom with Sam close at his heels.

"Who is it?" She asked as they came to a stop at the end of the ramp.

"Take a wild guess." He told her with a cockeyed grin just as a large robed figured emerged through the event horizon. A smile spread across her face and for once, she could feel hope rise up again. She rushed up the ramp to him and threw her arms around his broad shoulders.

"Teal'c!" She cried as his powerful arms wrapped around her.

"SamanthaCarter, it is good to see you again. I have indeed missed you very much and I must apologize for being unable to attend your nuptuals with DanielJackson." Sam found it too hard to keep the tears at bay as he mentioned the interrupted wedding and her missing fiance, but having him here renewed her hope that they would be able to get him back. "But we shall prevail to return him back to Earth and vanquish the enemy in your skies." All she could do was nod.

"I'm so glad you're here." She was finally able to say and look up into his face.

"As am I."

"Hey buddy. How 'bout a hug for me?" Cam asked as he ascended the ramp towards the two old friends and they shared a quick and friendly embrace. "Let's go to the conference room. We've got a lot to discuss."

"Indeed." Cam led them back to the conference table and they each took a seat.

"Teal'c if there's any thing the Jaffa can do for us, we'd really appreciate it. These guys have knocked out just about any military resource we have here on the planet and we're out of options. We need your help, big time."

"We are very fortunate that our people have amassed a great deal of Goa'uld ships that were abandoned as the last of them have perished or disappeared over the years. We have also ventured to build new ships on our own as well and I am proud of the accomplishments we have been able to achieve in just a few years.. It has been a long road for the Jaffa, but we are strong once again and willing to assist you in your fight."

"Great!" Mitchell exclaimed. "So what you got to help us?"

"Six Ha'Tak, more than a hundred Al-Kesh and nearly a thousand gliders. However, I am afraid that is the extent of our resources at the moment."

"Teal'c, " Sam began raising her eyebrows in surprise. "That must be your entire fleet!"

"Indeed, it is. The Jaffa people owe a large debt to the Tau'ri, we would not be free if not for you and we would be remiss if we did not provide aid to you at this time. It would also be wise for us to eliminate the threat of these aliens before they attempt to overthrow any other planets in our galaxy."

"Well, we truly appreciate it. We could use all the help we can get, and six motherships, I would think, could put a serious dent in these Aliens' plans."

"I agree. The fleet should arrive under cloak within a day. If all goes well, we should have the element of surprise on our side."

"What about Daniel?" Sam reminded them. "We have to get him out before you attack and we don't even know which ship he's on."

"A small covert team might be able to use the ring transporter on a cloaked Tel'Tak in order to infiltrate the largest vessel in orbit. I would assume that DanielJackson would have been transported onto that ship rather than the smaller ones currently over your cities. However, the biggest difficulty would lie in being able to fly the vessel close enough to the alien ship without being detected"

"You're probably right Teal'c. But we can only hope the rings would penetrate any of their shields. Plus, we don't know much about their defenses or even if your cloaks won't be discovered."

"There are many factors that are unknown, and it would indeed be very dangerous. However, I am more than willing to lead such a team if it meant recovering DanielJackson. I owe him my life many times over."

"I want to go too." Sam spoke up.

"Sam...."

"Don't you dare tell me no, Cam. I'm going." Cam shook his head, she was just as stubborn as her fiance.

"Alright, Sam." Mitchell sighed in defeat, the look of determination in her eyes convincing him that she would have it no other way than to allow her to go on the rescue mission. They continued to discuss their strategy for hours, coming up with what they thought might be a feasible plan. Sam prayed that they were right, that they could find Daniel. The longer he was gone the more she thought the worst, they had to get him back soon. In her anxiousness, she knew the hardest part of this whole operation for her would be waiting for the Jaffa fleet to arrive.

OOOOO

Daniel woke several hours later, his head still throbbing. Hovering over him was Walter, who knelt down and looked him in the eye.

"Feeling any better?" He asked. Daniel groaned, giving the Sergeant his answer. "That bad, huh?"

"Concussion...alien mind probe...not good for the 'ol noggin, I'm afraid." Walter nodded. "Thanks for letting me sleep."

"No problem. The people here are pretty scared, but I was able to convince them that you needed some space."

"Thanks again. At least I'll be a little refreshed before Vala comes back for round two."

"If you don't mind me asking, what happened to her? What did you mean that she's not who she is?"

"She's under the control of that device on her head. I don't think she's in there anymore."

"What about these aliens, what do they want with all of us?"

"The aliens call themselves the Sorlish. They want to turn us all into slaves and take everything else on the planet for themselves, you know the usual bad guy stuff."

"I was afraid you were going to say something like that."

"We're going to have to find a way out of here"

"You think Ms. Mal Doran will be back?"

"I'm counting on it. The Aliens want information from my brain, but couldn't get to it because of my concussion. I figure that they'll want to try again soon."

"What do you have planned?" Walter asked, pushing up his glasses. Daniel eyed him with an apprehensive face. He didn't want to have to do this, he didn't want to hurt her, but he had no other choice.

"How good are you at hand-to-hand combat?"

OOOOO

Vala sat in the dark, thinking. It was all she could do anyway. She had a plan, it wasn't much of one and she would most likely fail. However, she knew that the Sorlish would send her back again to the bay to retrieve Daniel for another go with the mind probe and when she went, she wanted to be ready. She would only get one chance with this.

She had found in recent years that she could move her arm if she concentrated, she couldn't move it far, but it might be enough to convey her message to him. I would take almost all of her energy and she would need to focus hard and not allow her emotions to interfere. She hoped she could pull it off, Daniel was always good at interpretations, but even this might not be enough for him to recognize. If she could just point to her head and the contraption plastered to it, maybe he would understand.

It wasn't long after she entered her dark room that the device triggered her body into sleep and she was pulled involuntarily into a deep slumber. She wasn't sure how much later it was when the device woke her. She never really knew, but just as she suspected, she found her body leading her once again to the bay filled with people, weapon in hand.

Opening the doors, she pointed the weapon at the crowd and the people backed off, fearing the gun in her hand. Her eyes searched the vast holding area, scanning individual faces until they settled on a figure in one corner, sitting against a wall. It was him. Now was her moment.

Her legs walked her over to Daniel, his eyes were closed but roused when he felt her nudge his shoulder with the weapon. He still looked pale and in pain as he cracked open his eyes. A shadow caught her attention and approached her from behind and she turned quickly to see a figure flying towards her. The device kicked into overdrive as she and the man tumbled to the ground. They rolled until she found him over top of her, straddling her midsection. She was surprised that she recognized the man, Harrison, she thought, no, Harriman, Walter, from the SGC.

He punched her square in the face, her vision blackened for a moment, but she felt no pain. She was surprised by his apparent strength, he had never seemed the type to do so well in a fight, but he was holding his own. She thrust back at him, plowing a fist into his gut. He doubled over with a huge gust of breath and landed on top of her, pinning her to the ground. Without warning, Daniel jumped up, his hands holding her arms down as the Sergeant recovered enough to pry the weapon from her fingers.

He pointed the weapon at her, but her body switched into a defensive mode, surging adreneline into her bloodstream, increasing her strength to near inhuman proportions to her tiny body. Her arms wiggled out from under Daniel's grasp and she kicked out, landing a knee into Walter's groin, he rolled off of her with a loud grunt and she sprang up to her feet.

Without her cooperation, her body threw a punch into Daniel's face, sending him skidding across the floor. Many others in the bay had taken notice of the commotion and were now attempting to bring her down as well, but she fended them off with kicks and whirling backhands.

She saw Daniel get up, blood flooding from his nose, coming at her again. As her body charged after him, she found herself falling to the ground without warning, her body freezing up, all of her muscles locked locked in a tight contraction. It was then that she realized that Walter had fired the weapon on her.

Her mind flashed a bright white light across her eyes and she cried out. It surprised her to hear her voice, it had been so long since it had been used, the sound was distant and hollow to her ears, but it was her voice none the less. Her screams increased as every synapse and nerve ending in her body fired off at once, sending her body into spasms and for the first time in many, many years, she felt physical pain.

Then all at once it stopped.

She hadn't noticed, but Daniel was over her now limp body, concern and horror written over his face. It was then that she felt it. His hand held hers and she was able to feel it's warmth and she could squeeze back. What else could she do? she wondered. She concentrated on blinking her eyes. She could do it! Next she attempted to fix her gaze on him and look into his eyes. She could do that too! Her heart beat faster as she came to the conclusion that her body was hers, at least partially. The discharge from the weapon must have shorted out the device. Maybe she should try talking. It had been so long, would she be able actually form any words after all this time?

"Vala?" Yes! Daniel had to notice that she was still in here. She wanted to shout out his name, but all she could manage was a purse of the lips and a low gutteral sound that emanated from the back of her throat. It didn't even sound human to her ears, but she had made that noise. She had done it. Not the device. She could feel tears welling up in her eyes and spilling freely down her cheeks.

"Oh my God" Daniel whispered, drawing her up into an embrace. She relished in the feel of his arms around her and she wanted to stay here forever. However, she had no idea if the device was permanently disabled by the weapon's blast or just temporarily offline, so she knew she needed to get her message across to Daniel before it was too late. She fought hard to concentrate and activate long forgotten signals from her own brain back into her muscles and she pushed against him. He laid her back down on the ground and she again attempted to speak. Carefully choosing words that she might be able to use without too much difficulty.

"Daaaa...." She tried, it was frustrating, but she just needed to concentrate harder on forming the words with her mouth and tongue. "Daan-ul"

"Yes, its me Vala." Good, he seemed to recognized his own name, she tried to move on to the next word.

"t-taayk. Awwf." Would he understand her? She could barely make out what she was saying herself.

"What?" Daniel was making that face she remembered he always made when a translation was difficult or when he encountered a language he never heard before. She could see he was focusing on pronouncing the words to himself. "Take off? Is that what you said?"

She attempted a nod, but she could already feel the device beginning to activate once again. She had to hurry, make him understand.

"H-hed."

"Head?" He asked. She could only blink in response. Once again, the control she had over her body was slipping, her mouth would not respond to form any more words and her ability to even blink on her own accord was fading.

"Vala? Vala!" She could tell that he knew that she was losing her ability to communicate with him. "What do you mean?" He muttered to himself "Take..off...head?" Her eyes fixed on his as she saw the light of understanding come to them. "Take off the device?" He asked. "I don't know how, Vala. I could hurt you. Are you sure?

She blinked as rapidly and as desperately as she could until her eyelids would no longer obey her commands.

"I sure hope that was a yes."

Yes! He got it! Could he do it though? She knew it would be painful and she wasn't even sure if she would survive, but she was beyond caring about her own survival, she had to get him out of here and all these people too. She could do it, she knew things about the Sorlish and their ship, she could get them out. She just needed to be free of the device first.

He probed around the edges of it, trying to pry at it with his fingers, but it wasn't budging. Daniel turned to the crowd that had formed around them "Does anyone have a knife or something sharp?" The people looked around at each other. Daniel asked again this time in a much louder voice and in several different languages. Finally, a Swiss Army knife was produced and passed up to him. He unfolded the knife and looked deep into her eyes. She tried to plead with him with her eyes. 'Don't be afraid', she wanted to tell him. 'Just do it!'

"I'm sorry, Vala. I'm not really sure what I'm doing here, but it's probably going to hurt. I'm so sorry."

He kept repeating the words "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." to her over and over again like a mantra as he began to work. He slid the knife underneath the device and dug around the edges, prying at it until it began to loosen up. Tears slid down his face and she could feel blood trickle down her forehead and into her hair, but no pain yet, the device was still active and buried in deep. He dug in some more and with a mighty yank, he pulled hard and an electrode snapped out of her head. White light again flooded her vision and she lost sight of Daniel and she panicked. He pulled again and two more electrodes came out. Now she felt pain. He gave one more forceful tug and the device was free from her head. She wasn't even aware of her shrieks or of Daniel calling her name as her world dissolved into darkness.

I know this chapter is kinda dark, but I hope you liked it anyway. Let me know what you think. :)