Till We Run out of Road

Chapter 5

Plan B, after a few minutes' frantic brainstorming, turned out to be abandoning the Odyssey.

Sam was reluctant, but Jack was very reasonable. "Look, if it's Vala, we come back, finish fixing the damn thing, and fly away as one big happy--whatever. If it's someone else, we hide, wait them out, and hopefully sneak back to the ship or through the 'gate. But if we stay with the ship, we're trapped."

"We can also attempt to stage an ambush if it's a small party," Teal'c said.

It was decided.

They waited by a section of the path, hiding behind chunks of rock piled up by the Odyssey's crash--Teal'c and Cam to one side, and Sam and Jack on the other.

Cam craned his neck to keep an eye out for whoever might be coming while the rest of them waited out of sight.

To Sam, it felt like they had to wait forever, but finally Cam jerked his whole body back behind the rock he was leaning against. He mouthed, Ori.

Sam shot him a questioning look. He shook his head. Not Vala, then. Sam tensed as he carefully looked again, making sure to keep low and move slowly. He motioned seven, and Sam let out a breath. Even with a Prior, seven might not be too many.

She adjusted her grip on her P-90, and watched the others check their weapons. She'd been doing this so long that she knew exactly where the group was in relation to SG-1 by the sound of their footsteps. They waited until the group of soldiers saw them and then moved.

It was quick--Sam took out one and saw three more fall, heard her team's weapons as a distant noise. The last three had time to get their weapons up, but now they were too close to use them--so was SG-1--and the team had already changed tactics, Teal'c clobbering one on the back of his head, Sam smashing another across the face with the body of her weapon, and Cam dropping one with a move Sam recognized as Sodan.

It was almost easy. Something wasn't right--Sam caught her teammate's eyes as she stood and turned--and her weapon flexed out of her hands, crunched and twisted, and landed feet away from where it would do her any good, in heap with three other useless weapons.

Sam finished turning before she registered any of this and was the first one to see the figure step around the bend in the path, the dark hair, the sweeping skirts.

Adria.

She stopped just out of arm's reach and surveyed their group, two more soldiers flanking her and aiming their weapons at the group, keeping them trained on Jack and Cam, since they were farthest. Sam guessed they knew Adria was more than capable of defending herself against all of them, let alone herself and Teal'c.

The confident smirk Sam had seen too often recently appeared. "Well, well. We find you alone after all. And my mother was under the impression that all of Earth's survivors would be here. She told me a lot of things, though, before--" Adria let her sentence trail off.

"I should have guessed you killed her as soon as you showed your ugly face here," Cam said roughly.

Adria's smirk became more pronounced. "Oh, she's not dead, not like Daniel Jackson."

Cam flinched.

"No. I couldn't kill my ownmother. All I wanted, after all, was for her to know the truth. It took some persuasion, but she finally understood."

Sam's heart sank.

Adria gestured, and Vala came around the bend, dressed in a long robe with a hood pulled over her hair. As she did, she stepped neatly over one of the crevices--one that Sam had noted earlier but hadn't thought about. Suddenly, Daniel's voice came back to her.

Some cultures on Earth built features into the land to honor gods or to keep evil spirits away.

The lines, written in Ancient--words of protection--

Adria looked straight at Sam, and Sam knew, no matter what she was thinking, Adria certainly wasn't without her powers.

Adria gave a confident half-smile. "It's true. This place is protected against the power of the Ori. But did you think that we would not know of such things, or that I would not be protected in turn against them?" And she lifted her hand halfway to her throat, where her necklace rested. "I have more than enough power to keep you here until my ships arrive."

Vala stepped by Adria's side, lifted her head, let the hood fall back. "Hallowed are the Ori," she said. Her voice was expressionless, her eyes blank.

Adria gloated. "She came to me. She held deceit in her heart, but the will of the Ori swayed her."

Sam shivered. It didn't take much effort to imagine the kind of persuasion Adria had used on Vala. She calculated angles, caught the edge of Jack's eye, felt Cam and Teal'c just behind her doing the same. Maybe they would be captured, but maybe they could find some way to escape, to destroy the Ori ships later.

Even as she thought it, Sam knew there wouldn't be that kind of chance. Adria wouldn't underestimate them again--Vala's presence proved that.

Adria gestured at each of them in turn. "The brave SG-1. More like stupid and lucky. Why else would you keep fighting when there is no hope that you can win, and no righteous reason to pursue your cause?"

Jack snorted. "We've heard that before."

Adria smiled. "Ah yes. O'Neill. Mother mentioned you and how you fought against the Goa'uld, what you gave up to win."

Her eyes flicked to Sam and back. Sam wondered if Vala had told her about that, too, or if it was merely a guess.

Jack glowered. "We did beat them. We're resourceful like that."

"You still boast! Yet the Ori are much more powerful than the former rulers of this galaxy. They are also more merciful. If you will but bend to their will, they will forgive."

"I will not bow down to false gods," Teal'c intoned.

Cam spoke up. "What he said."

Adria's expression darkened. "If that is your answer--I planned to execute you publicly as an example of what happens to non-believers, but maybe I should just get it over with. I can always display your bodies." Adria lifted her arm. Her eyes glowed--not like the Goa'uld, but with their own brand of fervor.

Sam had been watching Vala throughout the exchange. She couldn't help morbidly wondering what had finally broken her the other woman. She couldn't imagine anything worse than being a host, and shivered at the thought that Adria had succeeded where years of being trapped in her own body had failed.

As she watched, Vala raised her head, and where there had been only emptiness, there was a spark. Sam caught her eyes as they swept past, and Vala's expression made her mouth go dry. She recognized that look of pure hatred, had felt something like it herself.

Sam reacted without thinking. She threw herself at Adria, knowing even as she did so that it was hopeless.

Even as she moved, Teal'c moved with her, and although Adria sent Sam flying with a sweep of her wrist, she wasn't fast enough to avoid the three hundred pounds of Jaffa hurtling her way.

Adria went down, and as she fell, a hand reached up and grasped her necklace. It tore away, and Adria twisted, hit the ground with a loud crack.

Jack and Cam had dodged the soldiers' shots and were wrestling for control of their weapons, almost getting shot as the armored men tried to wrestle control back. Cam was closer to Sam, and she struggled to sit up, feeling something--blood--trickle down the side of her head where she'd hit it. She managed to clear her vision just in time for the Ori soldier to step close to her leg, and she kicked out, feeling the kneecap pop and snap under her foot.

He fell, Cam twisting his arm and shooting, and then he lay on the ground, his face slack. Dead.

Cam gave Sam an arm, and hauled her to her feet. Her ankle twinged unpleasantly, but she ignored it. Jack was just standing up, the other soldier dead at his feet.

Jack said, "Guess Bra'tac was right about youth being no match for experience," he said. Sam gave him the ghost of a smile, and they turned toward Adria, having no time to waste.

Teal'c held her on the ground, his hands on her shoulders. Vala held the necklace, her eyes darting between Adria and it. Adria was reaching for it, her eyes wide, her hand shaking.

"Give it to me," she commanded, but her voice was weak. Blood flowed from her temple, sticking strands of hair against her face and neck. Sam knew that if they gave her the necklace back, she could heal herself. "I'll give you--"

"Vala," Sam warned, and Vala glanced at her for just a second. Then she took the necklace and threw it as far away from her as she could.

Adria was gasping, her fingers turning white as she tried to claw at Teal'c's hands, at her own throat. She spasmed, turned an imploring look to Vala. "Mother!"

"She can't breathe," Cam said, horrified. It was more than just the wound on her head, then--something about the place--

For the first time since Sam had been on the scorching planet, she shivered.

"Help--" Adria choked out. She looked nothing like the self-assured leader of a moment ago. She looked scared, and young.

Vala looked down at her, her eyes hard. For one long moment, Sam thought Vala was just going to stand by Adria's side while she choked to death, but then Vala dropped to her knees, picked up Adria's head. Adria turned toward her mother, her breathing still sounding tortured, Vala smoothing back her hair.

Sam couldn't look away. Adria's face was a picture of utter anguish as her mouth gaped. She was beyond talking now.

Teal'c let go. Vala paid him no attention, still cradling Adria, who jerked a couple more times, and then lay still in her mother's arms.

No one spoke or moved for one long moment.

Then Vala leaned in close to Adria and closed her eyes, her hand hesitating a moment over Adria's skin. Vala pushed herself to her feet unsteadily, accepting Teal'c's arm only after she'd regained her feet.

Teal'c kept a tight grip on her. "Vala Maldoran," he said. "I am sorry."

Vala gave a short, bitter laugh. "For what? She was the Orici. She was evil."

Sam winced and looked away, as did Jack and Cam. Teal'c merely inclined his head. "Nevertheless, she was your daughter."

Vala looked down at Adria. She looked uncertain, but she finally nodded and relaxed into Teal'c's embrace.

Sam stepped over to Jack, who took her hand and held it tightly.

"Back to the ship?" she asked.

Jack looked her over, and she knew he was categorizing all her wounds, just as she took in new bruises and scrapes on his hands and face. She saw his anger flare, and he just as quickly started to put his mask in place. But instead of accepting this, she kept her own face open, squeezed his hand, and his expression softened.

Jack nodded. "Back we go."

Even as he spoke, Sam heard the high-pitched whine of a ship's engines working overtime to set down on a planet. She looked up. An Ori mothership, settling to the ground between them and the Odyssey.

"Oh, we have the worst luck," Cam said. "A dead Orici, which these guys are not going to be happy about, no weapons, and no way back to our ship--which may or may not kill us if we try to take off--except directly through them."

Teal'c and Sam gave him a look. Jack just grinned, and if it was a bit forced, it was something. "Sounds about right. So--anyone have a plan B?"

Vala raised an eyebrow. "You people are crazy, you know that?"

A lazy grin spread on Cam's face. "Oh, yeah."

"Indeed."

Sam couldn't help herself. She laughed.

Jack cleared his throat. "You know--all I ever asked was to save the universe."

Despite the circumstances, Sam smiled. "That's all, huh?"

A slow smile tugged at the corners of his lips. "Well--I might have asked to get the girl, too."

"Oh. Well, if that's all," Sam quipped, and they grinned at each other.

Jack squeezed her hand again, and they started arguing about impossible plans.

She wouldn't have it any other way.

The End

Author's Note: Thank you so much for reading!