Within the tetrahedral hull of the Ha'tak vessel floating in orbit above Kevlin Minor, the rings in a transportation room suddenly sprang to life as the floor opened up and the stack of five circles shot up into the air. The two guards stationed at the door jumped in surprise and brought their staff weapons to bear as the bright white light flashed within the column. As the rings fell back down, the room was suddenly filled with the roaring staccato of P-90s and the thunder of multiple staff blasts. The energy blasts went flying harmlessly over the heads of SG-1 as the bullet-ridden guards lost control of their weapons. The two sentries fell in heaps on either side of the doorway, their silver armor gleaming in the lights from the ceiling.
Silence settled again over the room the team spread out quickly from the ring platform. Teal'c pulled Hak'tan back to his feet as Sam and Daniel rushed over to the arched doorway, taking up positions on either side. They peered out into the corridor, pointing their weapons down its length. Looking back into the room, Sam announced just above a whisper, "The hallway's empty."
Vala walked quickly towards the door. "We need to get out of here. They'll have detected our matter stream's arrival in the Pel'tak."
Catching up to her, Mitchell grabbed her arm and pulled her to a stop just as she was walking out of the room "Woah, hold on there…"
Spinning on her heel and breaking free of his grip, Vala stared daggers at Cam, interrupting him. "We need to get off of this level; they'll be sending troops here without delay. I know these ships like the back of my hand…"
"So does Teal'c…" Mitchell cut in, but found himself quickly overrun again.
"Teal'c and Hak'tan are both Jaffa and they don't know about all of the secret little goodies that the Goa'uld hide in these monstrosities," she answered impatiently. "I can quickly and secretly get us out of here to somewhere safe. There we can regroup and get our wits about us. So put your male ego aside and let me save our necks, will you?"
After a moment's hesitation, Cam made a sweeping motion with his hands for her to proceed as she had been. Nodding curtly to him, she walked quickly down the hallway as the rest of the team fell in behind. Cam waited with Daniel as the rest of the team left the room, catching by the arm as he went to go. He said quietly, "I gotta tell you, I don't know what you see in that chick."
Grinning at him with an amused expression, Daniel paused as he answered, "It's hard to explain." He then walked off, falling in with the rest of the team. Cam's mouth fell open as he heard Daniel's reply, having expected the archaeologist to deny any hint of feelings for the woman. After a moment's hesitation, he followed behind Daniel, watching him with a perplexed brow.
Vala lead them down the corridor in silence, pausing at the end where it formed a tee with another hallway. She peeked around the corner with her P-90 as Sam did the same down the opposite way. First glancing back at Sam who nodded to her, Vala then proceeded down the way she had looked. The rest of the team followed behind, glancing about in concern as they kept waiting for enemy troops to show up at the next moment.
As they walked, the corridor started to arc. Walking down its length, Vala began to glide her fingers over the hieroglyphics covering one of the walls. After a few steps, she suddenly stopped in the middle of the hallway. She examined the wall carefully, studying the symbols and tracing her hands over some of them. Daniel came up behind her, studying the wall with her, reading the symbols. "Vala, it's all gibberish…" he started.
"Shush, darling," she said absentmindedly, interrupting him as she continued to look over the wall. Moving a few feet further she continued to trace her hands over the pictographs she searched. Her eyebrows knitted together in deep thought. Suddenly down the far side of the corridor, they could hear the distant ring of many boots on the floor, getting louder with every passing moment.
Cam and Sam moved quickly to the other side of Vala, readying their weapons. Cam whispered, "I really don't want to rush you there, but…"
Ignoring him, the raven-haired woman moved her fingers over the symbols yet again. The sound of the boots continued to get louder as she searched. After just another moment's pause, she suddenly started to push in a series of hieroglyphs spaced apart over two square feet of the wall. Part of the wall immediately to her side suddenly fell back into the rest of the wall and slid open to reveal a passage way. Glancing at the door and then turning back to Cam, she grinned as she answered in a hushed whisper, "I don't mean to rush you, but you might want to get inside."
The Colonel gave her an annoyed look as Teal'c and Hak'tan entered the passage. Cam tapped Sam on the shoulder, motioning for her to go next, following behind her as she darted in. Daniel waited for Vala, but she immediately started to push him inside, whispering to him, "I've got to be the last one to enter. Get in there, go…" He hesitated for a split second but then went through, allowing her to move him along. Vala pushed him in, passing through the opening even as the sounds of the boots got louder and louder. As soon as she entered, the wall slid shut and closed back up behind her.
The six of them found themselves in a narrow corridor, dimly lit from the ceiling. The walls, ceiling, and floor were all featureless and black, causing what little light there was to seem even less significant. The space was only wide enough for one person to squeeze through at a time, so Vala found herself at the end of the column, behind Daniel. Every little sound they made echoed noisily within the tight space, so much so that Cam whispered, "Quiet!" They all froze, standing utterly still in silence as they heard the marching boots getting louder and louder outside the door. The sound of the column of troops passing by outside reverberated throughout the small space and each of them held their breath, waiting.
Daniel's hand found Vala's in the shadows, hesitantly touching her. Smiling as she felt him reach out to her, she immediately grasped his hand in hers, entwining her fingers with his. Daniel squeezed back, turning back to find her looking up at him. In silence they shared an intimate gaze, all the while the jackbooted sounds from outside continued to ring through the tight passage. As he looked into her eyes, he couldn't help but feel foolish for the way he reacted to her words before. Now that he had a moment to stop and think, he realized how trivial the matter really was. He wished desperately that he could say something now, but the sounds of the marching boots outside the door were a foreboding reminder of the need for silence.
After several more moments, the sound started to slowly fade. Finally, they found themselves only listening to the sounds of their own breathing, each relaxing slightly as the tension left with the sound of the boots.
"Alright, I take it we can go down the corridor safely?" Cam whispered down the line to Vala, looking past Daniel in an attempt to see her.
The woman pulled her gaze away from the archaeologist at this, returning Mitchell's look and nodding in reply. "Yes, the way forward should be clear." She released his hand as she spoke, and he looked forward again.
The six then moved forward slowly and quietly. Teal'c lead the way in silence, using the twin lights of his two P-90s to better illuminate their way down the passageway. After several minutes of walking, the corridor opened up into a smallish, circular room, perhaps about ten feet in diameter. The room was as dimly lit as the rest of the passages. Other hallways like the one they just left branched off from the space, leading six other directions, evenly spaced about the room's singular wall. Filling out of the hallway, they entered the room one by one, each pausing as they waited for Vala to emerge.
Looking around thoughtfully for a moment, Vala then nodded to herself and said, "This is as good of a place as any to rest for a bit and figure out what we're going to do next."
Daniel spoke up as she finished and asked, "Uhm, wait a minute." Turning to look at him, Vala raised an eyebrow. "You said this was one of the many secrets that the Goa'uld hid in their mother ships, secrets that they wouldn't tell their Jaffa, even their First Primes." The raven-haired woman nodded wordlessly at this as he continued, "Wouldn't it stand to reason that they'd have ways of knowing when someone else used their secret…stuff?"
She grinned at him, "True, one would think that. Sometimes the ships have such alarms, and sometimes they don't, it all depends. Whether they do or not, however, even if there is a Goa'uld running this ship and he or she figures out we're here, they can't very well go sending their troops in after us, can they? It'd kind of ruin the secret."
Nodding at her, Mitchell replied, "So we're just going to have to stay on our toes and hope a glowing-eyed costumed freak doesn't come looking to kill us."
Vala paused, then nodded, "Pretty much."
Looking back over at Daniel, Cam shared a pained expression with him though both knew they didn't really have any other options. Mitchell then looked about the group. "Alright, let's all just sit down for a few minutes and take a breather. I want everyone to take stock of their ammo situation. Consolidate your clips, sort out your gear. Everyone gives me a bullet and grenade count in five minutes." At this, he removed his backpack and sat down against one of the spaces of wall between corridors, setting about doing what he just asked the rest to do. Sam and Teal'c did likewise, choosing the spaces of wall nearest to where they happened to be standing. Hak'tan moved to sit near Teal'c, the two talking quietly as Teal'c went about his task.
Vala walked over to the far side of the room, opposite the rest of the group, removing her pack and sitting down against the wall there. After only a moment's hesitation, Daniel followed, coming to stand before her. She looked up at him, raising an eyebrow.
"Is that seat taken?" he said quietly, gesturing to the space next to her.
She smirked up at him, glancing at the spot of floor next to her then back to him. Feigning a sigh, she answered, "I suppose not…"
Removing his pack and seating himself next to her, he started to pull out all of his clips from his vest, avoiding her gaze. After a moment's hesitation, he said in a hushed voice, "Look, I'm sorry I blew you off back at the cargo ship when you tried to apologize." He focused intently on what he was doing as he spoke, emptying various partial clips and filling up others to full. "I really should have just accepted your apology and told you how what you said was no big deal, that I blew it all out of proportion…" he glanced back up at her as he ran out of words to say.
For her part, Vala had only really managed to pull out all of her clips. They sat in a pile on her lap as she watched him speak, listening to his words intently. She met his gaze as he looked at her and he found himself unable to look away. Smiling at him, she answered quietly, "No, you really did deserve that apology, Daniel. I crossed the line with that remark, even though I didn't mean it that way when I said it." She chuckled as she looked down, starting fumble with her clips, trying to pull the bullets out as he was. "I was just making a bad joke about the damned tank exploding. It didn't even occur to me how it would sound to you until after I said it…I should have thought about it first."
Daniel watched her fumble with the cartridges and saw she was having some difficulty. "Here, there's a little trick to it," he said, leaning in and reaching over to show her how with the clip she had in her hands, "It took me forever to get the knack of this." As they fumbled with a few bullets, their hands brushed against each other. He grinned, "Jack never had any patience with me. Sam finally had to help me with it several times; Jack wouldn't even let me ask after the first time." After only a few tries, however, Vala had mastered the motion and set about the rest easily enough. He watched her for a few moments, only able to get out, "Huh."
Looking at him as he still leaned close to her, she winked, "I guess you're just not mechanically minded, darling."
Returning her gaze, he grinned at her. "I guess not."
Her smile faded as she stopped working on the clip. Taking his hand in hers, she looked at him very seriously. "I am sorry, Daniel," she said, a heartfelt look in her eyes.
Squeezing her hand tightly, he smiled warmly at her words. "I'm sorry too, Vala," he replied softly, looking back into her gaze tenderly. For a moment, Vala thought he might kiss her, but he suddenly seemed to remember the audience just across the room. Glancing away for a moment at the others across the way, and particularly noting Cam's glare, he withdrew his hand from hers. Starting to pull away, he began, "I think we'd better…"
As she cast an irritated glance at the others across the room, Vala interrupted him, "Not so fast, darling." With that she grabbed his vest and pulled him to back her, pressing her lips to his, kissing him passionately. At first Daniel was stunned by this, but within moments he found he was unable to resist, kissing back just as intensely. Forgetting where he was or who was watching, he reached up with one hand and caressed her cheek, weaving his fingers into her hair as their tongues wrestled together. Vala smiled as she felt his touch, kissing him more even insistently as she moaned softly against his lips.
After a while, Vala pulled away slowly, letting her lips linger against his in the final moments. She grinned from ear to ear as she straightened out his vest. Looking into his eyes, she said with a wink as she caressed his cheek, "Now we've made up." Picking up her clips, she set about getting back to work. For his part, Daniel was still in shock, his glasses askew upon his face. It was a very slow process for him to finally sit up straight again as he tried to figure out what just happened. As he glanced back across the room, he saw the others working on their gear, Mitchell scowling while Sam smiled sweetly. Teal'c simply ignored the whole affair, while Hak'tan looked away, completely disinterested.
The archaeologist suddenly felt incredibly embarrassed, his cheeks flushing as he looked back at Vala. The woman looked up as she felt his gaze upon her, grinning at him as she saw his blush. "Are you alright, dear?" Looking down at the untouched pile of clips in his lap, she teased him, "You should really get finished there, Colonel Mitchell's going to be rather annoyed if you're not done in two minutes." He blinked at her words, opening his mouth to say something, but finding no words to use. Instead he cleared his throat as he straightened out his glasses. Looking down at the cartridges in his lap, he slowly started to get back to his task. He looked like he was in a fog, as if he still hadn't quite collected his wits yet. Vala continued to smile sweetly as her gaze lingered on him for a while, until she finally set back about her gear.
Over on the other side of the room, Sam then looked over to Cam with a smile. He glanced at her with an annoyed expression. Sam frowned at this, whispering, "Would you relax?" Mitchell frowned a little more, but he did look like he was reluctantly considering her point. Sighing, he looked back down to finish his work.
After the five minutes were done, Cam polled the room asking what people had. Everyone had most of their grenades, but they all had about half the ammo they had started with. "Yeah, that's what I was afraid of," Mitchell said, leaning his head back against the wall behind him. "That damned firefight back on the planet was a mistake; we should have just pulled out right away."
"It is easy with the benefit of experience to judge a prior decision as an error, Colonel Mitchell," Teal'c began, "You should not punish yourself for what now appears to have been a mistake. There was no reason to believe we could not have won such a battle, it has happened before."
Vala cleared her throat, chiming in, "you might say that hindsight is twenty-twenty…" She smiled sweetly at everyone as they turned at her voice, looking positively proud at herself for summing that all up with yet another Earth idiom.
The Jaffa looked ruffled at this, raising an eyebrow at her disdainfully. "Indeed," was all he said in a low voice.
"Well, either way, it's a done deal now," Cam said, closing the matter. "The way I figure it, our next order of business is to get the hell out of here and back to a planet with a Stargate." He paused, looking around while asking, "Any ideas?"
Vala spoke up again. "Well, we could always try and steal a cargo ship or a few death gliders, maybe try and make it back to Kevlin Prime."
"It is exceedingly questionable whether we could do that without detection," Teal'c answered her, "We certainly would not be able to outrun a Ha'tak vessel the distance from here back to the first planet."
Frowning at the Jaffa, Vala replied, "Well I know that. I was just throwing out the first thing that came into my head," as the words left her lips, she turned her head and shot a warning glare at Daniel. The archaeologist had opened his mouth but then snapped it shut again as she stared at him. He smiled overly sweetly at her, a smile she returned in kind.
"Okay, any other suggestions?" Mitchell asked, looking around, his gaze lingering on Sam.
Suddenly realizing he was waiting on her, she asked defensively, "What?"
Cam shrugged, "Well, we need a clever idea and you've had a pretty good history in that department…"
She rolled her eyes in response, "Geez, come on. I don't always come up with the idea to save the day."
Teal'c and Daniel shared a look at this. The archaeologist turned back to Sam and opened up his mouth to say something when she shot him a glare in early reply. He closed his mouth with a clack of his teeth, looking a little annoyed now.
Vala grinned from ear to ear as she watched the wordless exchange, looking over at Sam. "I wouldn't worry about it, Sam. Obviously the boys know that when it comes down to it, they need us ladies to save their sorry behinds." The blonde-haired Colonel grinned back at Vala. Vala glanced over to Daniel, her smile broadening, "Though what cute behinds they do have."
Cam rolled his eyes at this and opened his mouth to say something but suddenly Daniel jumped in, beating him to it, "Vala, about your idea to steal a cargo ship and make a run for it..." The archaeologist had a deeply thoughtful expression as he spoke, turning to look at the woman next to him.
She glared at him, replying in irritation with a warning voice, "Daniel…"
Blinking in surprise at her reaction, he quickly added, "What? No, no, it's not like that, I really think you were on to something…"
"Daniel," she said with strained patience, "Teal'c is right, there's no way we could pull that off without being detected. Once we left the launch bay, if we even got that far, then we'd have no chance of outrunning the Ha'tak. Never mind the squadrons of death gliders that it would send out after us" She took a deep breath and said, "It was a ridiculous idea." It was clear from the sound of her voice that the admission was a painful one.
Daniel watched her as he listened. After she finished speaking, he grinned knowingly, saying nothing at first. She furrowed her brow at this, regarding him with a mixture of confusion, irritation, and curiosity.
Glancing from her to the others and back, he said simply with a smile, "So we blow the Ha'tak."
"Well that's certainly good news considering the circumstances," General Landry said as Bra'tac watched him on the terminal's display. The light from the open wormhole in the Stargate on Dakara cast its undulating light about the large stone room. The dead and wounded had long been removed, and Jaffa were busy about the whole room, cleaning the floors and walls of the countless bloodstains.
Nodding, the old Jaffa replied, "Indeed, but I fear I must tell you that there is also news that is not so good." His expression grew dark as Landry's brows furrowed upon hearing his words.
The General asked, "Oh?" After a moment's hesitation, he added further, "I expect this is going to have to do with SG-1 and their mission to your hatchery…"
Hesitating, Bra'tac answered, "You are correct, Hank Landry. We have attempted several times to contact our facility there, but we have not been able to connect with the Chappa'ai." After hesitating, he answered, "I fear the worst for your people and mine."
Sighing, Landry paused for a moment. He then said, "Well, I'm not going to worry about that until we know something more definite. From what George and Jack have told me about SG-1's history over the years, it'd be a mistake to count them out until you see them actually dead." Chuckling, he added as an afterthought, "and sometimes not even then." Growing serious, he continued, "As to your people, I'm sure that SG-1 will do all that they can to ensure their safety."
Bra'tac nodded, "I know that they will, Hank Landry. Let us hope that you are right about the luck of SG-1."
"I suspect we'll hear from them soon enough." The General then asked, "So you're ready to send us the prisoners?"
The wizened Jaffa answered, "We are. We have questioned ourselves for some time now, and they are most uncooperative. I would like to see what you can make of them."
Nodding, Landry said, "We'll do what we can. For the smuggler you recaptured, we'll have Vala take a crack at him when SG-1 returns. For the other, we'll see what we can do to convince him that talking is in his best interests."
"Very well," Bra'tac replied. "If you will open your iris, my guards will bring them through."
Looking off screen, Landry instructed the tech, "Open the iris." The sound of the iris opening could be heard through the terminal's audio. Looking back at Bra'tac, Landry said, "All clear, Master Bra'tac. Send them on through."
Turning behind him, Bra'tac looked upon the two prisoners that were bound and watched closely by several Jaffa guards holding staff weapons aimed at them. The first prisoner was dressed completely in leather, his garments having many straps and buckles. The other was dressed in the same silvery armor as the ones that had attacked Dakara just hours before. "Take them to the Tau'ri," Bra'tac said.
The other five in the room glanced back and forth at Daniel's suggestion, sharing incredulous looks. Vala smiled kindly at him, leaning in and placing her hand on his arm. "Darling, while we all admire your enthusiasm, don't you think you're being a little too ambitious?"
Grinning at her, Daniel shook his head. "Not really. We've done it before, actually." He glanced over to Sam and Teal'c, "Right?"
Carter sat up at this, looking a little uncomfortable as everyone's eye suddenly turned back to her. "Well…" she stared, hesitating sharing glances with Teal'c, "I mean, yes we did, but..." she looked over to Daniel, "You know that we got extremely lucky on that." Sam glanced over to Teal'c at this, who nodded.
"Indeed, Daniel Jackson," he began in his deep baritone voice. "You should remember that we had a distinct advantage then. We were exceedingly fortunate to have discovered that Master Bra'tac was there to help us. It was only through his assistance that we were able to destroy both Ha'tak vessels and affect our escape. Had he not been there, we would have all perished ten years ago, and your Earth would be no more. Even with his assistance, we almost lost our lives in the gamble."
The archaeologist sat up at this, speaking more quickly, "Yes, but that's my point," he said in an excited tone. "We've got the advantage this time, too." He looked back to Vala at this with a big smile.
She blinked at his implication, asking in a shocked voice, "What, you mean me?" Pausing, she continued, "Well, I'm flattered Daniel, but I hardly think…"
Interrupting her, he continued, "You know secrets that only the Goa'uld know about these ships. Considering the way secret passages have been done in countless civilizations throughout history, I'm guessing these corridors weave their way throughout the entire ship, leading to every critical area…the ring rooms, the engine room, the hangar bays…"
Vala paused, thinking for a moment. "Well," she started hesitantly, "you're mostly right. I mean, it does differ from ship to ship, but for the post part…yes." She looked back at him with a pensive gaze as she started to consider his idea more seriously.
Grinning at her, Daniel continued, "I'm guessing there are more secrets here that you know beyond just a maze of secret passages, too." Raising an eyebrow at her, he waited until she reluctantly nodded at his assertion, returning his smile sheepishly. "So we can go about the ship relatively undisturbed, and we have a few other advantages, whatever they turn out to be. We make our way to the engine room, plant our C-4 just like we did the last time, and then make our way to the hangar bay and steal either a bunch of death gliders or a cargo ship."
Mitchell spoke up at this with a wary voice, "Daniel, even if we were able to pull that off, for all we know there's more Ha'tak around. We could be jumping right out of the frying pan into the fire. They might have squadrons of death gliders deployed on constant patrol. We just don't know what's out there."
Turning to Cam, he replied, "That's thing I was thinking about. We've got an ideal opportunity here to learn something about our enemy. So we use these passages to make our way to a computer terminal. From there we can learn about these people, find out what they've got in the area, and why they're here." Glancing back to Vala, he said with a smile, "Now don't tell me you can't hack your way into a Goa'uld computer."
Leaning back against the wall behind her, she brought up her knees and crossed her arms on top of them. Grinning back at him, she looked at him with a furtive glance. "I suppose I might be able to manage something," she answered slyly. The two shared a lingering glance as her smile blossomed, watching him thoughtfully as he continued.
Looking back to the rest of the group, Daniel watched as they all considered his scheme. Seeing their hesitation, he added, "Look, when are we going to get another opportunity like this? We know almost nothing about our new enemy, except that they're suddenly all over the place, they're aggressive, and they're very powerful." Mitchell and Sam shared a thoughtful look at this. Daniel pressed on, "There are so many unanswered questions right now, like why are they attacking the Jaffa? What happened to the Goa'uld in the hatchery? What are their plans? How did they manage to get to this planet when they did with the nebula around it? Where are their strongholds? How are the Goa'uld tied into this? What about…"
"Alright, Jackson," Mitchell interrupted, losing patience, "we get it." Frowning for a bit, he nodded reluctantly, "and you're right about all of it. We really should take the time to figure out what we're up against and then do some damage while we can." He stood as he finished and the rest of the team stood with him. Sighing as he turned to Vala, he asked, "So how do you think we should go about this?"
The raven-haired woman thought about it for a moment, looking around at the various nondescript passage ways as she did. "Well what's the plan, do we plant the explosives first or we find the computer terminal?"
"Explosives," Mitchell answered without hesitation, "that way we have an ace in the hole."
"Uhm, wait a minute," Daniel interjected. "Maybe we should check their computers first, find out what exactly it is we're up against." Cam hesitated at this, as did the rest of the team, "I mean, you said it yourself, Cam. We could be just getting ourselves into more trouble if we go into this without knowing what's out there."
Sighing in reply, Cam nodded, "Yeah, you're right. We'd best figure out what we're dealing with out there."
"Right then, so our plan is…" Vala started, pausing to draw a deep breath. Her tone more than more than a little bit farcical as she continued, "making our way through secret passages we find a computer terminal where we learn all we can about our latest adversaries, then plant our explosives in the power core and the engine room, then go to the hangar, all without being caught or killed mind you, where we steal a cargo ship or death gliders, though which is still to be determined, and then make our getaway while blowing up the mother ship and evading any pursuing craft, to make it all the way back to Kevlin Prime after a 16 hour journey so that we can and ring down and walk back down that 2-hour dreadfully long corridor to gate home, where we'll all be safe and sound." At the very last she gasped for breath, looking just a touch dizzy. Daniel hesitantly looked from her to Mitchell and Sam, blinking.
"Hey, don't look at me, Jackson," Cam began, grinning while holding up his hands defensively, "It's your plan."
"Uh…yeah," was all he could say, looking more than just a little embarrassed now that he heard it all said like that. Rubbing the back of his neck, he said, "You know, we could come up with something else…"
"Nonsense!" Vala proclaimed, flinging her arms about his neck. Grinning up at him, she smiled at him, "I think it's a brilliant plan, darling. Doubtlessly, it will go off without a hitch." Her eyes were filled with mischief as she looked at him, continuing, "I mean, it's so simple and elegant, what could possibly go wrong?" Daniel glowered at her as she smiled back up at him shamelessly, leaning in to rub her nose against his.
Sighing, Mitchell said, "Well, we'd best get to it. The longer we stay here, the more likely it is we'll get attacked by the Goa'uld that's probably larking about up in the Pel'tak."
Sam blinked, repeating quietly, "Larking about?"
Ignoring her, Cam turned to the Jaffa and said, "Teal'c, I want you on point."
"Nope," Vala said, removing her arms from Daniel, spinning on her heel to face Cam. "To open those doors at the end of these passages you need to have naquadah in your blood, surprise, surprise."
At this, Mitchell made a sweeping motion with his hand, "After you, then."
Grinning from ear to ear, she turned the opposite of the way he motioned and approached one of the hallways on that side of the room. "This way, Colonel," she grinned over her shoulder. Chuckling, she asked idly, "Now what were the odds of that working out so perfectly?"
"Oh, probably fifty-fifty," Daniel smirked as he came up behind her, the rest of the team falling into a line behind him as they all filed into the passage. Vala turned back to glare at him, huffing irritably in reply.
As they formed the end of the line, Hak'tan stopped Teal'c with a hand on his arm, asking quietly, "Are the Tau'ri always like this?"
Glancing back at his fellow Jaffa, Teal'c gave him a tired look, though the faintest hint of a smile played at his lips. "Indeed," he said simply and quietly.
The six made their way down the narrow passageway. They quickly grew quiet and serious as they walked the length of it, the gravity of their situation weighing down upon them again as the darkness of the crypt-like corridor closed in. After just a few minutes of walking, Vala suddenly turned, seeming to walk into the wall itself as she entered another corridor that was almost completely invisible to the rest of the team. The others followed through tentatively, almost unsure there was even an opening. The raven-haired woman led them through several such twists and turns, until finally they came to the dark end of the hallway. The interior of the door was almost completely pitch-black, except for a small dot of light. Vala started to lean in, but Daniel put his hand on her shoulder, stopping her. Leaning in, he whispered quietly, "What's that?" pointing at the pinpoint.
Leaning back to him, brushing her cheek against his, she whispered in reply, "It's a tiny display that shows what's outside in the corridor." Daniel nodded at this as he pulled back, Vala looking annoyed as he did so without any reaction to her touch. Sighing, she leaned in, looking into the light. The other five waited in silence as tension filled the air.
Suddenly Vala stood up straight and backed up as the door way fell back into the hallway and slid open. The corridor beyond was deathly quiet, with not a sound to be heard. Nonetheless, the raven-haired woman hesitated.
Daniel leaned in and asked in a hushed whisper, "What's wrong?"
Glancing back at him with a furrowed brow, she answered just as quietly, "I've got to be the last one through again."
Looking back from her to the line behind them, he turned back and raised an eyebrow. "Kinda the wrong time to be thinking about that…"
Vala glared at him, snapping back in a slightly louder whisper, "Well, of course…!"
"What's going on up there?" Mitchell asked quietly, though his voice was sharp in its tone.
Turning to look at Cam behind him, Daniel answered, "We need to go around Vala. She has to be the last to leave since the door will shut after she goes through."
Rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands, Mitchell leaned against the wall and sighed, "Well of course she does…" The weariness in his voice was palpable.
Turning back to Vala, Daniel said, "Maybe just squat down and we can climb over you."
Looking at him with an annoyed expression, she answered tightly, "Daniel, while I may relish the idea of you climbing all over me, the thought of the rest of your merry band doing so is rather unappealing."
Shrugging, he asked, "Do you have any better ideas? Or should we sit here and wait for a solider to walk by so he can give us a suggestion…?" he glanced at the open doorway as he spoke.
Sighing sharply in frustration, Vala squatted down as low as she could. Pausing for a moment as if to gather his willpower, Daniel then swung his one leg over her so that he was straddling her shoulder. As he started to bring his other leg around, he suddenly stopped and yelped in surprise, bending over as he dropped his leg back down behind Vala while grabbing the wall for support. Closing his eyes for a moment, he drew in a deep breath. He then opened his eyes again and looked down at the woman below him angrily. From her vantage point between his legs, she smiled up at him devilishly and shrugged, whispering, "Did you really think I'd pass up an opportunity like that?" Her eyes strayed from his, falling down his body until she looked at what was eye-level with her, admiring the results of her handiwork with a raised eyebrow. Pursing his lips in frustration, Daniel swung his other leg over and started to peer out into the hallway, though not before Vala reached up again, this time grabbing his bottom. He jumped again, paused, and then quickly moved out into the hallway, leading the way with his P-90.
Cam stepped up next and looked down at Vala warily. For her part, she looked back up at him with disdain. "Don't worry, Colonel, you have nothing to fear." With that, she ducked her head down between her knees, crossing her arms around her head. Mitchell passed by without incident, as did Sam shortly thereafter, although she had to lean more on Vala's shoulders than the other two had.
When Teal'c reached Vala, he paused, considering the obstacle before him. As she sensed the hesitation, Vala lifted her head up from between her knees, looked up at him and said, "Well?" Teal'c turned back to share a look with Hak'tan, raising an eyebrow. The other nodded. Vala yelped as she suddenly found herself lifted up over Teal'c's head. The first Jaffa passed her back to Hak'tan as if the two were passing a beach-ball between them. Teal'c walked through the doorway, followed by his fellow, who carried Vala with him. The door shut behind them as he placed her on the ground.
The woman stood up as soon as her feet were on the floorboards. Looking a little ruffled but no worse for wear, Vala tugged on her vest as she tried to recover her dignity. Looking up, she found herself looking into Daniel's eyes. He was grinning from ear to ear, his eyes full of glee. She walked up to him, pressing her finger against his chest. "Not one word," she whispered slowly and dangerously. Still smiling widely, Daniel held up his hands, trying desperately to keep from laughing.
The six were in a long corridor, ending on either side in an intersection with other corridors. Sam and Mitchell had already taken up positions on either side, watching the lengths of hallway warily. "Let's move," Cam said tensely, reminding everyone of their situation.
"Right then," Vala whispered, looking back and forth to get her bearings. "This way," she whispered, walking down the side that Cam happened to be guarding. The rest of the group fell in behind her, and they walked briskly down half the length of the hallway until they reached a door, which opened automatically as Vala approached. The team followed behind and the door closed as the last person entered.
They found themselves in a small room that contained a large monitor on one wall with a series of controls before it. Coming to stand before the display, Vala hovered her hands over the controls. As she did, the screen sprang to life, displaying a few lines of text, written in Goa'uld hieroglypics. Vala considered the screen for a moment, then navigated through a few of the options available. After a few deft commands on her part, the display suddenly changed to show a schematic of the Ha'tak. "Very nice," Mitchell said as he watched.
Vala grinned at this, glancing over at Daniel, who came to stand by her. "Knew you could do it," he said to her quietly as he looked down at her with a smile. She beamed up at him, winking. She then moved her hands over the controls and the display changed again, showing lines of Goa'uld hieroglyphics. The archaeologist watched intently, reading the writing as she started navigating her way through the system. Glancing down at her, he suddenly saw that she had a very troubled, perplexed expression on her face. "What's wrong?" he asked with a concerned voice.
"This is nothing like any Goa'uld computer system I've ever been on," she answered, looking increasingly confused as she worked.
The rest of the team shared troubled glances at this. "What do you mean?" Cam asked. "Is it the Lucien Alliance we're dealing with here?"
The dark hair shimmered in the light of the computer as she shook her head. "No," she said with certainty, continuing, "no, definitely not." She paused, moving through screen after screen more quickly, skimming here and there. Her voice grew slightly panicked. "This is very different. Everything is organized and thorough…"
"So what, this Goa'uld is a neat freak?" Cam asked, noticing Daniel was starting to look concerned too as he read the screens that few by.
Vala answered in an irritated and frustrated voice, "No." She sighed, searching for the way to explain. "The information in here is highly structured and detailed. There's information about this ship and about other ships. Where they've been, where they're going." She paused, reading through the screen she had stopped on. "There's quite a few of them, too. Whoever these people are, they have many dozen Ha'tak at their disposal..."
She paused for a moment. Daniel pointed at the display, "There, follow that link," he said although she was already nodding as her hands moved over the controls.
She then continued explaining herself as she flipped to the next screen, "There are also extremely detailed accountings of things like the death gliders on board and the combat, service, and maintenance records for each craft."
She flipped to the next screen and Daniel jumped in, "Look, lists of stores, from food stuffs to medical supplies."
Vala nodded as she moved her hands over the controls again. She picked up, "There's a thorough roster of the crew on board, their names, their…ranks and who they report to…" her expression grew more and more worried as she stopped talking, reading what was on the screen in disbelief. Daniel too was reading the screen with a troubled gaze, his eyebrows knitted together.
"Okay, so what?" Mitchell asked, "That all sounds like what I'd expect, actually…"
Turning from the screen to look at him, Vala said, exasperated, "You don't understand. The Goa'uld don't keep records like this. They're egomaniacal but their society is simplistic; they don't really have nor need great organizational skills. There is no real bureaucracy in their civilization. The Jaffa have rather flat command structures, everyone reports directly to legion commanders, they to the First Prime and he to the Goa'uld. They don't keep track of rudimentary things like this, they don't even think about it. Things are actually very chaotic within Goa'uld society."
Shrugging, Cam said, "Okay, so maybe this guy's followers took some initiative…"
Shaking her head, Vala said, "No, a Goa'uld would not permit this kind of organization and structure. It would make it too easy for their slaves to revolt." Turning back to the console she flipped through a few more screens, saying, "See here? These are medical records for the crew. The entire crew has a full medical history and…" her voice died off as she read the screen before her, the color draining from her face. Daniel reached up and gripped her shoulder as he read the scrolling list on the display with her, his eyes growing wide. Vala reached up and gripped his hand, her mouth hanging open as she continued to read.
"What?!?" Cam asked as he watched Teal'c and Hak'tan reading the screen with the same disbelief. Looking over at Sam, who was just as frustrated, he looked around the room as he said, "Will someone please tell us what the hell is…"
Vala cut him off as she said in breathless disbelief, "they're all Goa'uld…"
Cam looked at her incredulously, asking, "What do you mean, that they're all Goa'uld?"
Turning to Mitchell, she looked him dead in the eyes. "Every one of the three-thousand crewmembers on this ship is Goa'uld…"