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

Chapter 16

"Vala!...Vala, I got you." Daniel's heart was pounding furiously. When she first started screaming, he was certain that he was killing her and he feared pulling the device out completely, but after several moments of her wails piercing the air of the cargo bay, she lay still in his arms, unconscious. He laid her down and checked for a pulse. It was there and it was strong, but fast. Walter stripped off his coat, tearing out some of the lining and handing the strip to Daniel to use as make-shift bandages around Vala's head. Daniel pressed the satin into the wounds on her forehead, the slick material was a poor substitute for the absorbency one would find in a field dressing, but it would have to do. He just hoped he could stop the flow of blood that threatened to dye her white hair red.

Just as he began to worry that she might be out for quite a while, she groaned and her eyes fluttered open. She stared at him, her tears beginning to fill her eyes and spilling over."

"Can you hear me?" She made an attempt at a nod. It was a slight movement, but it gave him hope that she might recover from this.

"Dan-yul" She tried to speak, his named coming out disjointed and slow, but she smiled, her eyes lighting up as she realized she was under her own control again. Daniel immediately felt guilt and shame for giving up on her, for thinking that she had been nothing more than a mindless robot. She had been in there all this time, locked inside of her head, a prisoner of her own body. How must the years have been for her? He could not imagine such a hell, but her knew Vala was a fighter and she had been a victim of Goa'uld possession before, she could survive this.

"It's me, Vala."

"F-Free?"

"Yes, you're free." She closed her eyes, the tears falling in large drops, streaking down her pale face. When she opened her eyes again, a new look of determination filled them and she slowly reached a hand up and grabbed the fabric of Daniel's sleeve.

"S-Sorlish....be baack....l-lock doors." He could see that it was frustrating her to use the voice that had been silent for so long, but it was already much improved over their previous attempts at communication. "H-help...up." She tried to pull herself up using his sleeve, but she was still too weak. Daniel pushed her back down.

"It's okay. You want me to lock the doors?" She nodded.

"Okay, where, how?" Again she raised her arms, wanting assistance to help her up.

"No. You stay here. I can do it, just tell me what I need do. How do we keep the Sorlish from opening the doors once we lock them?"

"N-new...code. I can do it." She kept her arms raised.

"Vala..."

"Pleeeze....Help." Daniel new there was no arguing with her and she was right, he wouldn't know where to begin to program a new code into the door locks. He bent down and braced and arm behind her shoulders, sitting her up. She swayed a bit, but manged to stay upright as he tightened the strip of cloth over her forehead to keep the bleeding at bay. Next he wrapped his arms around her waiste and hoisted her up to a standing position. She could barely take any of her own weight and leaned heavily into his arms.

"Where do we go?" He asked

"There." She pointed to panel in the bulkhead across the bay and they slowly made their way over to the opposite side. The crowd of people had increased in number and several times on their journey to the other side, Daniel had to shout in different languages for the people to make way. When they finally made it to the panel at last, Vala was nearly spent. He eyes drooped and sweat beaded up on her brow, wetting the already soaked strip of cloth on her forehead.

"Let's take break before we do this okay." He suggested, concerned by her pale and clammy features. She just shook her head, giving him that determined look once more.

"No..time." She said.

She reached for the panel and punched in a code. A hidden door slid aside into the wall revealing a viewscreen and console. He helped her move closer to the screen and aided her in remaining on her feet. He could feel every bone in her frail body and she trembled like an aspen leaf from the effort it caused her, but with a sense of urgency, she entered instructions into the computer. He wasn't sure what she was actually doing, the language on the viewscreen was like none he had seen before, but she navigated the system with relative ease, the only thing slowing her down, being her fingers' responce to her commands.

After a few minutes she finally stopped, turning her eyes to him. "Doors are locked...for now." She was out of breath, heaving in and out. Daniel caught her as her knees gave out and she started to fall backward. He gently laid her down on the floor next to the wall.

"You did well, Vala." He told her. "You need to rest." She smiled weakly and her eyes slid shut. Walter joined them moments later and covered her with his coat.

"Is she going to be alright?" He asked.

"I don't know." he stated, shaking his head. "She bought us a little bit of time, but it won't be too long before the Sorlish figure out how to open the doors. In the mean time, we should think of a way to get us out of here."

Walter nodded, but if he was anything like Daniel, then he had no idea how they were supposed to get off this ship.

"T-transport." a weak voice issued from Vala, her eyes still closed.

"Shhh. You need to sleep." Her eyes snapped open again, fighting against her exhaustion.

"No. No time...to sleep. Transport beam. Send people... and You... Back." As if to make her point clear, there was a resounding thud from outside the locked doors. The Sorlish must have discovered the deactivation of Vala's device when she failed to bring him back for another try with the mind probe and now they were at the doors. It was only a matter of time now before they broke through.

"Can we activate the transporter from in here?" He asked her. She nodded and tried to sit up. Daniel helped her to her feet and she went to back to work on the computer console. "Can't transport them all at once." She said he voice getting a little stronger, but it was still a struggle for her speak. "I can only send a few hundred at a time." Daniel nodded.

"Do what you need to." He told her. He turned to the Sergeant beside them. "Walter, go with the first group and try to keep everyone organized."

"What about you two?" Walter asked with concern.

"If we don't make it back, get everyone to safety."

"Alright Dr. Jackson, good luck."

"Thanks Walter, for everything." He nodded and in a flash of light, Walter disappeared and hundreds of other vanished with him.

"Where did you send them?" He asked Vala.

"The Mountain." She replied succinctly, focusing on the viewscreen as another group of people were transported. At the sound of another thud at the door, Daniel silently prayed that Vala would be able to get everyone out in time.

The sounds at the door increased and a shower of sparks spewed across the floor. The masses of people ran to the back of the bay in a panic as the Sorlish attempted to cut their way through the sealed entrance.

Flash after flash later, and there were only a few hundred people left. He could see the strain on her face as she sent four more groups to the surface and he was nearly supporting all of her weight, holding her tight around the waist as the final group vanished. Then she collapsed. He sat her down, aware that the Sorlish would be upon them in mere moments.

"Help back up." Vala ordered him tiredly, breathing heavily. "Need to send you back."

"I'm not leaving you here Vala, you're coming back with me." She shook her head. "I'm going to kill Sorlish... all of them."

"How?" He asked. "You can barely stand."

"Have to try." She tried to smile at him. More sparks flew from the door, the Sorlish were close to cutting all the way through the door and they would be recaptured, there was no way he would let that happen. He scooped Vala up and placed her in front of the screen.

"C'mon, Vala. We can worry about killing these guys after we get back. Let's get out of here!" With a few taps to the controls before her, she depressed the activation button and she and Daniel were swallowed by a familiar light, his last sight of the alien ship being the pale faces of the Sorlish as they burst through the doorway.

OOOOO

Sam sat back and inspected her work, satisfied that everything was in working order. Thinking it best that they use the old Asgard transporter that had been lying in storage in the SGC since the Daedalus was retrofitted with a new one a few years ago, rather than the ring transporter, since it had a greater range and would be more likely to penetrate any shields the Aliens had around their vessel.

The Tel'tak was ready to go, all they needed to do now was wait for the Jaffa fleet to attack, using that as a diversion to fly in under cloak and get in close enough to transport onto their vessel. The Jaffa fleet, having arrived only a few hours ago, sat poised just outside of Earth gravity field, ready to strike at any moment. Everyone was holding their breath, praying the aliens wouldn't detect them, but so far, their was still no response from them.

Many years had passed since her last mission with SG1, but it felt just like yesterday since she last put on the uniform and donned the gear, and like an old pair of sneakers, she felt comfortable in the old role and it hadn't occurred to her how much she had missed the excitement and the adreneline rush that came with the dangerous missions that she used to take part in on a regular basis when she had been in the military. She had to admit, she missed it, but all that really mattered to her now, was getting Daniel back and killing any of these aliens that got in their way.

Just as she was putting the finishing touches on her transporter installation, Teal'c came into the engine room to find her.

"SamanthaCarter, I have an urgent message from the SGC."

"What is it, Teal'c?" Sam listened with her heart beat picking up speed as her old friend relayed the message to her. The next thing she knew, she was testing out the Asgard transporter and appearing in the halls of the SGC. A few people gasped to see her appear out of nowhere, but she paid them no mind and ran down the corridor towards the infirmary. Rounding the corner, a familiar figure exited through the infirmary doors. She came to a halt, making sure it was him before calling out and sprinting towards him.

"Daniel!" he looked up just in time to find her launching herself into his arms.

"Sam!" He held her tight to him, rocking her from side to side. She could feel his heart pounding through his chest and realized hers was beating just as furiously. They could have remained there for an eternity for all she cared, but she pulled back and through teary eyes, inspected his face and ran her fingers through his hair, making sure he was really here and not just a figment of her imagination. She gathered him towards her again and locked her lips to his. He responded in kind, relief in finding each other again flooding through every fiber of their beings.

"I was afraid I would never see you again." She said after they broke apart.

"Me too." He replied.

"How did you get out? How did all of these people get here?" For the first time, Sam was noticing the inordinate number of civilians walking around, some in a half daze, while others sat along the walls in the corridors, waiting for some kind of instructions as to what to do next.

"It's a long story Sam, but I have to show you someone." He grabbed her by the hand and led her into the infirmary. He took her to a bed at the very end of the bay and she took in a sharp breath.

"Oh my God." She exclaimed, seeing her old friend, Vala Mal Doran, fast asleep. She looked so much older than she recalled, her white hair, bandaged head and frail looking body made her nearly unrecognizable, but Sam was amazed to see her. She shot a concerned look to Daniel, who's face was a mixture of conflict. Sam knew that Daniel loved her, but what did this mean now that Vala was back? She knew from looking at him that he loved Vala too and was worried over her condition.

"She was a slave to them, Sam. She had her body taken from her by a device they implanted on her head. She was with them all this time..." She grabbed his hand and held it tight. "she saved us all, got us all out of there."

Sam didn't know what to say or what to do. Vala stirred in bed and opened her eyes, Daniel went to her side while Sam stayed at the foot of the bed.

"Daniel...I need to go back...I can kill them..." Vala's voice was slow and Sam could hear that she had difficulty forming the words she wanted to say.

"Vala, you're safe. You're in the SGC. You remember Carolyn, she here, she going to help you."

Vala grabbed Daniel by the arm and looked deep into his eyes with desperation.

"L-listen to me...we can kill Sorlish..."

"You know how we can defeat them?" She nodded, but she seemed to be fading. Her eyes closing halfway. "How?" he asked shaking her shoulder lightly "Vala?" She snapped awake again and licked her lips, quietly continuing "They think as one...there is a computer....destroy the mainframe....they can't think on their own... kills the Sorlish."

Sam took the opportunity to come near to Vala and ask her more about this computer. "So, there's a mainframe computer on their ship that controls all of the aliens?" She asked her.

Vala nodded. "They will die without it..."

Taking a chair next to the bed opposite of Daniel, she leaned in further so it would be easier to hear Vala's weak voice. She turned to Sam, suddenly recognizing her.

"Sam..."

"It's me, Vala." Vala's face took on another expression, confusion, like she had just realized where she was.

"Home?" she asked

"Yes, you're home." Vala looked intensely between Sam and Daniel.

"You look different....older...how long?" It had never occurred to Sam that Vala may not have any sense of how much time had passed since she was taken. She hesitated in answering, unsure if telling her would upset her or not, but she decided she deserved to know.

"They took you over thirteen years ago, Vala."

"Thirt-thirteen?" Vala's eyes were wide.

"Yeah...it's been a very long time....but you're here now. That's what matters." Daniel clasped her shoulder.

"I don't have long...." Vala told him, shaking her head, her eyes growing heavy once again "I had device...too long...no one survives.. I've seen it before."

"No, Vala. You're going to be fine."

"Daniel..."

"Vala, please..."

"There isn't time. The mainframe is on largest ship....Third level...you must take me...I have access codes."

"No. Vala. We can do it." Sam told her. "We have an Asgard transporter on a Tel'tak. We were going to use it to rescue Daniel, but we can use it to get on the ship and destroy the computer."

"Might work." Vala conceded. The radio on Sam's flak vest came to life and Teal'c voice sounded out over it.

"SamanthaCarter, this is Teal'c. Please come in." Sam toggled her radio and spoke into it.

"Go ahead, Teal'c"

"The Aliens have powered the weapons and their appears to be some movement from them the vessels over the cities." As soon as Teal'c finished his report, there was a distant rumble and the Earth shook. Knowing that they were buried so deep underground, there must have been huge explosions occurring on the surface in order for it to be felt from their position. "They have begun to fire. I am ordering the fleet to move in and begin the attack"

"Teal'c, we have a new plan, beam me back to the Tel'Tak."

"I'm going with you, Sam." Daniel turned to her, she didn't even bother with trying to argue with him and she just nodded. He looked back at Vala, who was wide awake again.

"We're going to go and take care of these guys for you, okay?.... Just hold on." He pleaded softly. Vala watched him with her eyes as he stood up, giving her a kiss on the top of the head. "We'll be back."

"You better." She whispered.

With a backwards glance towards Vala, he watched as she slipped back into sleep. Daniel looked to Sam with sad eyes. She could see that he was coming to the conclusion she was dying, that her body and mind had been too damaged by the device, but he couldn't say it out loud. Taking his hand in hers, she gave him a sympathetic look. She may not know what to say or what she was feeling, there was no time to analyze it right now, but she could be there for him, if nothing else. With her free hand she toggled her radio and called for Teal'c to transport them to the cargo ship and hand-in-hand they disappeared from the infirmary.

Hope you've enjoyed this latest chapter, more to come soon. :)