Finally I'm back from camp! It was fun, but I'm glad to be home and be able to write. So anyway, sorry it's been a couple of weeks. Here's the next chapter. I hope you enjoy it, and please review if you do so I know what you think and if I should go on! Thanks! Later!

Chapter 5

"O…kay," Jack said slowly. "So what do we do about it?"

"We stop it," Daniel answered immediately. "We have to. We can't let it get anywhere near Earth. We have to destroy it somehow."

"Yeah, how?" Mitchell questioned.

Sam spoke up again as well. "And how close is it? How much time do we have?"

General Landry sighed. "The ship remained invisible to our sensors until it was well inside our galaxy. It will only take a couple of days to get to on the Odyssey, which you'll have to depart on first thing in the morning to reach it in time to do something about it before it reaches Earth. You have three days total until it is that close."

"That little time?" Vala said in dismay. "How are we supposed to stop it? We don't even have time to come up with a good plan."

"Bring plenty of bombs," O'Neill smiled.

"Jack, it's not that simple and you know it," Daniel said.

"He's right," Sam agreed. "We have no idea exactly what we're up against. We'll need anti-Prior devices, we'll have to make sure the program we installed on the Odyssey that allowed us to beam nukes onto Ori ships still works. (I sure hope it does 'cause it took us two years to figure out how to get through their shields.) And we have no idea how many foot soldiers that ship is holding..."

Landry held up a hand. "Yes, Colonel Carter, we get the idea. And unfortunately besides hauling everything we've got out there along with our best team-you five-we have no other plan. Constructing one will be your job on the trip."

Vala raised a finger in question. "Uhm, general?"

Landry stopped and looked at her, raising an eyebrow. "Yes, Vala?"

"I know this might not be such a good question to ask right now, but…uh…is this a 'use everything we've got and the ship should blow up pretty easily' type of plan, or a 'throw everything we've got and hope it works even though there's not much chance of it because we have to try or the Earth is going to be destroyed and if we fail it will be and we all die' type of thing?"

Daniel groaned. "Vala…" But everyone else was looking at General Landry, whose eyes had lowered to the table. Suddenly Jackson looked concerned as well. "General…?"

Landry looked up at them again, and suddenly the temperature in the room dropped; the tension could have been cut with a knife. "Before I was interrupted, I was getting to the answer to that question--because it's a very good one: That ship is showing power readings that are off the scale. It's more heavily protected and armed than anything we've ever encountered before. And Colonel Carter is right, that we don't know what we're up against."

"Hank…" Jack said slowly. "Are you trying to tell us that we're not sure if we can stop this thing?"

"As much as I hate it, that's exactly what I'm saying, Jack."

O'Neill winced. "Ouch."

"Whoa, wait," Cameron cut it. "You're telling us there really is a big chance we might not be able to do this--we might not come back and the earth could be destroyed anyway?"

Sam gulped. "Yeah, I think that's what he's saying, Cam. I kinda figured..."

"But we can do this," Daniel said adamantly. "We've beaten impossible odds more than once before, haven't we? And these odds aren't even impossible!"

"Calm down, Jackson. We're not being pessimistic, just stating facts," Mitchell pointed out.

Daniel slumped in his chair. "I'm sorry, guys. I guess the mention of Ori again just kind of freaked me out…I mean, of course we all believe we can do this…"

"Bad dreams," Vala stated simply, gently rubbing his back.

"Ah," the rest of the table answered collectively. They all knew. They'd all had there share of nightmares in that department.

The room fell into silence for several moments, until finally O'Neill broke it.

"So, general, is there anything else we should know?"

Landry shook his head. "Only that the Odyssey leaves at 0900, and that this mission is not an order; I know the risks involved."

There were solemn nods around the table as the team looked at each other, silently coming to a decision. Jack stood.

"Then I guess we're all going."

Landry nodded and smiled, standing as well. "I thought you might. Good luck, SG-1."

Daniel found himself lost in thought as he and Vala walked from his office, where they had gone after the briefing so he could retrieve his glasses. He was thinking so intensely that he barely noticed how uncomfortable the glasses felt on his face after not wearing them for so long. It took Vala shaking the arm she held onto and calling his name for the archaeologist to snap out of it.

"Daniel, what is it?" she questioned.

Jackson sighed. "Vala…I've been thinking…"

"Uh-oh."

He glared at her briefly. "Stop it. I'm serious."

"All right, all right. What's on your mind?"

Daniel stopped walking, which forced her to stop walking and face him. He hesitated another moment or so before answering. "I think maybe you should stay here," he admitted.

"What? Why? We're going to need all the help we can get out there. Beside, Daniel, I worked to hard to become an official member of SG-1 to let the rest of you go without me."

"Vala, you heard the General Landry. You know the facts. You know what the chances of all of us making it back safely are--bottom line, they're not good."

"I know that, but the more of us go, the better the chance we'll get back all right."

"Sure, better chance, but I don't even want to take the chance of both of us being killed. I told you what happened to my parents, and you know how I feel about leaving Janet alone like that."

Vala sighed. "Yes, Daniel, but I'm not letting you go on this mission by yourself."

"I won't be alone; I'll be with the others-"

"That's beside the point. You know what I'm talking about."

"Vala…"

"I'm not going to do it, Daniel. Please…don't make me stay. I want to help. I can't explain it, Daniel…but something tells me that I need to go."

Daniel looked at her for a moment. "You're not messing with me, are you?"

She shook her head firmly. "No, Daniel, I'm not. I'm serious too. I don't know what it is, but I just have a feeling…"

The couple looked at each other for another few seconds, until finally Daniel sighed. "All right; we both go."

"Thank you," Vala smiled, pecking him on the cheek. "So, how much of this are we going to tell Janet before we leave?"

"I'm not sure," Daniel frowned. "General Landry said that was up to us…but I just don't know." He sighed. "But anyway, we can't wake her up now. It's only four, and the general also said that we should all try to get whatever sleep we could before we left--we'll need it."

Vala nodded. "Right." Then her face lit up. "Race you to the nearest VIP room!"

"As long as it happens to be the same one Janet's in."

"I know that!" Vala called, already several feet ahead of him. Daniel smiled and followed her, his worries forgotten for the moment.

"Daddy, it's time to wake up!" an excited young voice yelled above him. Daniel groaned and rolled away from it.

"What time is it?" his muffled voice filtered out from under his pillow.

"It's 0700! Come on, dad, I have to get ready for school, and you and mommy have work to do, right? How am I gonna get to school from here?" Janet asked, bouncing up and down on the bed in one of the spare VIP rooms of the SGC.

Vala was actually the first to sit up this morning. "Well, isn't this wonderful. We have an eight-year old daughter who knows military time, has a mother who's from another planet and at this very moment is trying to wake a father who's died more times in his career than a cat--just your typical American family, eh, Daniel?"

"Don't start," Daniel said, finally pulling the pillow off his face and sitting up. Rubbing his eyes, he reached for the glasses that sat on the bedside table and slipped them on a moment later. He glanced down at his buttoned shirt that had come halfway unbuttoned, and the collar of which was sticking out like a sore thumb and refused to be smoothed. The scientist sighed. "Now I remember why sleeping fully dressed is not recommended."

"Oh come on, Daniel, you've done enough of it on the desk or couch in your office after pulling all-nighters."

Daniel rolled his eyes. "Whatever. It was just a joke." He reached up to smooth down his mussed hair, but Janet was already doing it for him.

"There you go, dad," the girl said, smiling as she sat back down when she was through.

"Thank you," Daniel smiled, pulling her into a hug and kissing her cheek. Janet hugged him in return and gave him a kiss as well.

"You're welcome. So…what are we doing here? Why did we have to come to the SGC?"

Vala frowned and Daniel stiffened, suddenly remembering the reason.

"Daddy, mom?" their daughter asked, confused with their behavior.

Finally Daniel sighed. "Janet, there was an…emergency, and your mom and I have to go on a mission in a couple of hours."

"Oh. Okay. You'll have time to take me to school before you go?"

Both shook their heads. Vala answered. "Someone else will bring you this morning, and bring you back here after school. Cassie's going to keep you while we're gone, and you'll have to hang out here with her in the afternoons. All right?"

"I know mommy; I always stay with Cassie. What's different? Why did we have to come here in the middle of the night?"

"Well, it's a…big mission…" Daniel started.

"Big is cool."

"Not really--not this time, anyway."

"Why not?"

"Uhm…Janet, there's just a lot of trouble somewhere, and…ah…we have to go try and get rid of it."

The girl's eyebrows went up. "Oh! You mean it's really dangerous or something?"

"You could say that."

That was when Janet reached out and hugged both of her parents together. "It's okay," she said confidently. "You'll be okay. I'll be fine until you get back, because you always come back because you're the coolest parents in the world, right?"

Daniel tried to answer, but suddenly found that he couldn't speak past the lump that formed in his throat. So Vala answered first.

"Of course," she smiled, ruffling her daughter's hair. But when she looked Daniel, he could see what hid behind the smile--the uncertainty.

Daniel swallowed hard. "We'll do our best, Janet," he said quietly, kissing her again.

Janet pulled back, sat down and smiled. "I know you will."

But what both of her parents were wondering was…would it be enough?

"Bye mom, bye dad!" Janet called later that morning after hugging and kissing her parents again, turning to go with the airman that was to take her to school. Daniel and Vala, now changed and clad in black BDUs for the mission, watched her follow the young woman down the corridor toward the elevator, smiling and waving goodbye.

Vala clung to her husband a moment later as the elevator doors slid shut on their daughter's smiling face.

"Daniel, tell me it'll be all right. Tell me she'll be safe, that we'll see her again…" she pleaded.

Daniel held onto her, hoping with all his heart that they would. "We will," he said, with more confidence than he felt. He just didn't know. This whole Ori ship situation just felt wrong. "It'll be okay." I hope.