"Looks like we were right to leave," Cameron commented. After trying to explain to General Landry what had happened, Landry had ordered them back to the planet to try to figure out what was going on. Sam had tried to point out they didn't know if Vala and Daniel were alive, much less still on the planet, but Landry wouldn't budge.
Now they had returned. Before Emmerson had beamed them down, they had noted, with surprise, that the Ori ship was still on the planet. But that was insignificant compared to what they found in the village they had left.
"What happened here?" Cameron muttered.
"Who knows," Sam replied. "It looks like a massacre."
"Without the bodies," Teal'c added.
Sam and Teal'c were right. There was blood splattered everywhere and the village itself was in ruins. But, as Teal'c pointed out, there were no bodies. It was deathly quiet and it vaguely reminded Cameron of their mission to Vagon Brei.
"Stick together," he ordered. "We don't want whatever happened to them to happen to us."
Sam didn't even bother to point out whatever it was obviously didn't care about numbers.
The team wandered the area, trying to find a clue to what happened. When they reached the center of the village, they halted.
"Well, that wasn't there before," Cameron commented.
Earlier, a large and beautiful, running fountain had been in the center of the plaza. Now an Ancient chair device had taken its place.
"Emmerson," Cameron said into his radio. "Beam us out."
They did so and Sam walked immediately up to him.
"The village is vacant, it's like there was a massacre, without any human remains. But we found an Ancient chair device in the center. None of us here have the Ancient gene," she explained. Emmerson looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to continue and then realized where she was getting at. He nodded.
"I'll contact Stargate Command."
XxXxX
Vala paced back and forth from one wall to another. She had been doing this for the past two and a half hours. Finally, she stopped and looked at Daniel who was still sitting on the windowsill.
"I'm bored," she informed him. He looked up with mild interest.
"You said that five minutes ago."
Vala frowned. "Well I'm still bored."
"Sorry," Daniel said.
"You said that five minutes ago," Vala mimicked.
"Well I'm still sorry," Daniel threw back, narrowing his eyes.
Vala glared at him. "What is wrong with you?"
Daniel shook his head, smiling tightly, staring out the window.
"We've been through this, Vala," he said through gritted teeth. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Vala opened her mouth to talk but was cut off by the hissing of the door opening. Both she and Daniel turned to see a familiar male stride into the room.
"Tomin!" Vala exclaimed, walking towards him. Tomin didn't even glance her way. Instead, he stalked up to Daniel and unsheathed a sword. This got a reaction out the archeologist. He stood abruptly and flicked his eyes between the large sword and Tomin's neutral expression.
"Tomin?" Vala asked, frowning. What was up with everyone? Daniel, Tomin…. Everyone was action so odd.
Tomin drew back the sword and struck. Neither Daniel nor Vala were expecting the results… and Daniel couldn't react.
A short and high, horrified scream pierced the air as Daniel's head rolled to the floor, his body toppling into a heap. Vala took a step backwards, collided with the wall, her hand to her mouth, her eyes darting between Daniel's body and Tomin. Tomin turned around, glancing at Vala and walked out the room.
After the door hissed closed, reality hit Vala. She glanced at the heap in the back of the room and had to look away. She chocked down a sob and collapsed on the floor. Only after that did she let the tears flow.
A/N: I love reviewers and live for constructive criticism!