LIBERTINES AND LIBERATION – Vala at the Barre – CHAPTER 29
DISCLAIMER: I do not own any Stargate characters, ideas or themes. As a matter of fact, Stargate can have my ideas if they want them (wouldn't that be great). All standard applicable disclaimers apply to this piece. I have tried to source any materials quoted in furtherance of this story.
Spoilers: Probably some for Season 10 and beyond
Summary: Vala and Daniel centered storyline adventure (hopefully); relationship (okay yes); angst (yup); comfort; etc.
Rating: R to NC-17 in some parts.
Author's Note: This is my first Stargate fiction. My beta is an actual fish. Thanks E, for the beta assist. This story will have multiple chapters.
I took inspiration from Milena D's Misappropriation of Lives and a short story called Believe by Random. I really wish those two authors would write more on those two story lines.
A deep fog clung to the ground around the simple tents of Ishta's people, the children of Hak'tyl. The fog made the camp smell damp, but was welcomed since it brought a significant amount of the moisture needed to nourish to this planet. It was mid-morning, so the camp had been up and about its business for several hours; however from the looks of things, the camp was in disarray. Half cooked meals were burning on camp fires; babies cried untended. Some Jaffa lay holding themselves and rocking gently, while some were pacing and acting as if they might fight a duel.
Those unaffected by this apparent madness were doing what they could to tend the afflicted.
Ishta's second in command was writhing on the ground near her tent, while her third and fourth in command were eyeing each other near the fire as they circled each other with staff weapons.
A young Jaffa ran to Ishta's tent to summon her in this emergency. Ishta greeted her with eyes that were dilated and wild looking. "Teal'c, Teal'c, Teal'c, Teal'c . . . ." Ishta screamed over and over as she rocked on the ground of her tent.
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SG-1, SG-3, SG-5, SG-6 and SG-16, Dr. Carolyn Lam and Brae'tac sat in General Landry's briefing room listening to the plight of Ishta's village.
"That was two days ago," Lo'calo, one of Ishta's villagers, told those present in the SGC briefing room.
"The madness impacts more and more Jaffa daily." Anama another of Ishta's clan said. Suddenly Anama doubled over in pain, "I have only recently begun to suffer the impacts of the madness, but soon I will follow the others."
"We first learned of tritonen from the Tau'ri, and we seek your knowledge of why it no longer heals us as our symbiotes would." Lo'calo stated.
Dr. Lam approached Anama to examine her and said, "General Landry please call for my medical team."
General Landry complied with his daughter's request and then said, "Dr. Lam, I want you to head this investigation as soon as Anama has been stabilized. SG-1 will take the lead off world. Be ready to move out in one hour."
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Dr. Lam's medical team was moving between the beds in the infirmary tent set up on Ishta's new home world. Blood work had been taken from the affected Jaffa.
"Teal'c had been sitting vigil at Ishta's bedside, leaving only to attend to Ishta's clan and seek Dr. Lam's updates.
"Dr. Lam, are we any closer to determining what has caused this illness in Ishta and her people?" Teal'c asked in a stoic voice.
SG-1, Brae'tac and Teal'c listened as Dr. Lam outlined her preliminary findings.
"I've been able to stabilize Ishta and the others, but so far I haven't been able to identify any pathogen that would cause such madness and render tritonen ineffective. In the meantime, I'm considering increasing their tritonen levels in the short term to see if that has any impact."
"Have you checked for contaminants in the tritonen?" Sam asked.
"I'm still waiting for my toxicology screens; those tests take longer," Dr. Lam said.
"We can test a sample of their tritonen supplies," Sam suggested.
"Dr. Lam! We have another critical here!"
"Rya'c!" Daniel called, causing Teal'c to move quickly to the side of the stretcher where his son lay writhing in pain.
"Nurse, get a morphine drip now!" Dr. Lam commanded as Cameron looked on.
Teal'c went to his son's bedside with a parent's depth of concern. Rya'c's wife was off world on a trading mission. So for the time being, Teal'c would sit this vigil without her.
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"Alright we're fanning out looking for signs of this illness among those still not showing full-blown symptoms; let's interview everyone and get some sort of handle on the onset of symptoms." Cam began with a determined set to his jaw, "Daniel and Vala, with SG-16; Sam and I are with SG-5; let's go people."
"I'd like to go through some of the tents of those already critical and see if we can identify any contaminants." Daniel said to SG-16. "Vala can help me clear some of the tents while you guys start some interviews."
SG-16 moved out. While Daniel and Vala headed to Ishta's tent.
"What are we looking for?" Vala asked Daniel.
"I'm not sure; I guess anything out of the ordinary," Daniel told her.
"It looks like Ishta recycles the shot canisters, Daniel." Vala called from the corner where she found a sack containing empty tritonen canisters."
"Let me see," Daniel ordered.
Daniel inspected the canisters. "That's interesting; most of these canisters have little green "x" marks on the bottom, do you see that?"
"Hm, hm, so?" Vala asked.
"So, it may be nothing, but can you look for the box of tritonen canisters that Ishta is currently using?"
Vala found Ishta's unused tritonen and picked up one of the canisters, "These canisters are missing the green x on the bottom Daniel."
"Bring a couple of those too." Daniel told her, "Can you run this stuff over to Sam while I keep searching?"
"Sure," Vala gave him a small smile as she left the tent.
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Vala entered the tent Sam had set up as a lab. The sides of the temporary lab were supported by a heavy frame and it was made of a modified polymer that allowed Sam to work with volatile chemicals without fear that it would combust. Sam was wearing a lab coat and goggles when Vala entered.
"Hi Sam," Vala said, "Daniel sent me over with some tritonen canisters. The ones in the sack are empty. And here are two full ones from the opened box in Ishta's tent. And, Sam, Daniel noticed that some of the canisters are marked with a green x on the bottom, see." Vala turned over one of the empty canisters for Sam.
Just then Dr. Lam walked in with Teal'c. I got the tox screens back on Ishta and some of the other Jaffa. They've all tested positive for kassa.
"Kassa!" Vala said looking at Teal'c, surprised by Dr. Lam's mention of the highly addictive, psychotropic corn pushed by the Lucian Alliance.
"It is unlikely that Ishta and her people ingested kassa Dr. Lam." Teal'c said simply.
"Carolyn I visited here with Teal'c recently and there were no signs of kassa abuse." Vala said.
"Well I didn't identify it at first either," Dr. Lam said.
"Cameron, Daniel, come in please," Vala radioed her teammates.
"Mitchell, what's up Vala?" Cameron's voice came over the radio.
"Cameron, can you and Daniel come to Sam's lab, Dr. Lam has found something?" Vala asked.
"Be right there," Cameron said.
"Yeah Vala, I'm coming too." Daniel radioed.
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"Kassa?" Daniel questioned in an incredulous tone.
"Well that's what my initial toxicology screens indicate; I'll run the labs again, but it isn't likely they're wrong given the number of tox screens we've run today." Dr. Lam stated a bit irritated by Daniel's tone.
"Is it possible someone is lacing the food supply and they're ingesting kassa without knowing it?" Vala asked.
"It is possible, but unlikely, Vala Mal Doran. Food preparation is a duty rotated among many. It would be extremely difficult to hide that kind of lacing in a village of this size for an extended period." Teal'c explained.
"Yeah, and I just went to the food preparation tents, everything seems to be in order," Daniel added.
"Yeah, we haven't found any signs of the Junky Jiffy Pop," Cameron added.
"Alright, well everyone keep looking and bring anything suspicious to Sam. I'll rerun the tox screens and maybe run some other tests on stomach contents. Until we figure this out, I'm going to ask the SGC for another supply of tritonen in case there is contamination," Dr. Lam said.
"Alright, let's think outside of the box here people." Cameron said.
"Teal'c how are Ishta and Rya'c doing?" Daniel asked.
"Dr. Lam has made them comfortable, but their conditions have not changed.
"We'll figure this out Teal'c." Daniel told him.
"They're all going to be fine Muscles." Vala smiled at him.
"Thank you for your assistance Daniel Jackson and Vala Mal Doran." Teal'c said.
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The SGC teams were all in the mess tent. They had been tending mad Jaffa and investigating possible sources of kassa contamination for 24 hours, mostly without sleep. Everyone was exhausted and regrouping in the mess. So far no one had any new ideas about the source of the kassa contamination. Teal'c had been in and out of the infirmary all day with Ishta, and Rya'c.
Daniel was wondering about Vala. She wasn't in the mess tent, and dinner was nearly over. The last he'd seen of her she was talking to some of the younger Jaffa. Apparently, she hiked with them on her earlier visit here. But Daniel hadn't seen Vala since then, and that had been two hours ago. And, it wasn't like Vala to skip meals.
Daniel had had little time to think about last weekend and their "non-date". He hadn't had time to think about the ballet class he had made her go to on the following Monday night. But as Daniel finished dinner and kept a lookout for Vala, he let his mind drift to what he had seen in Vala's ballet class.
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In spite of Vala's promises, she had tried to cancel the ballet class twice on Monday before Daniel finally put his foot down.
"Vala, are you welching on our deal after I dealt with Maria and Luis Saturday night?" Daniel had challenged her, mimicking Maria's Argentinean accent as he did so.
"No, I'm not welching! But Daniel, don't' you think it's unfair to send me to ballet when we both know how much you enjoyed our tango?" While Vala spoke she walked up to Daniel and nervously fingered the zipper on the leather jacket he was wearing. She didn't look at Daniel as she repeatedly slid the heavy clasp of the zipper up and down the left side of his jacket.
She's nervous. Daniel thought as he grabbed her hand away from his jacket.
"Whether I had a good time is beside the point. A deal is a deal; so be at the guard desk in ten minutes." Daniel said with a furrowed brow to emphasize his point.
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Professor Chalone had looked at him strangely when he'd first asked her to assess Vala. "Can't you just ask her yourself?"
"It's complicated and there's some memory issues involved," Daniel answered evasively.
Daniel sat in the chairs reserved for proud parents who observed the children's class and waited for his charge to emerge from the studio's locker room.
Vala stomped into the studio in new toe shoes, which Daniel had just present to her, and dressed in a body hugging dance leotard that was cut high revealing smooth, bare legs. She was doing her best to ignore Daniel's presence and focus on Professor Chalone.
"Vala to the barre please," Professor Chalone instructed.
Vala involuntarily looked over to Daniel with a grimace before following to the barre.
As if channeling the energy of all the parents whose bottoms had preceded him on this particular chair, Daniel smiled at Vala reassuringly and gave her a "go ahead" gesture.
"First we shall warm up," Professor Chalone told Vala, "Do my movements seem familiar to you?"
Vala merely shrugged but followed Chalone's example with ease.
"Alright, let's start a center practice." Professor Chalone ordered and began without explanation, patting the barre as an indication that Vala should follow. Vala hesitated, and then turned her body to the barre and began the center practice routine. Shortly into the routine, Professor Chalone stopped moving with Vala; and observed that Vala was able to continue on her own center practice by filling in subsequent movements without prompts. Professor Chalone gave Daniel a look that told him this was significant.
"Vala that was quite a complicated center practice routine you just ran through," Professor Chalone pointed out to her.
Vala just shrugged and looked confused.
"Now let me see you run through the basic positions please." Professor Chalone started her out by demonstrating first position.
Vala mimicked first position, and then as if she were on auto pilot her feet automatically went through the other positions.
"Wonderful," Professor Chalone told her looking at Daniel and nodding.
"Let me see your Plie," Professor Chalone ordered, demonstrating the movement; Vala complied, bending her knees with the plie.
"Grand Plie," Professor Chalone ordered, Vala planted her heels on the floor and bent deeply.
"Alright, let's try some work en pointe if you please Vala." Professor Chalone barked demonstrating what she wanted.
Vala complied and stood on her toes in the point shoes at the barre. Daniel observed the muscles in Vala's calves and thighs. As her feet went onto the toes of her shoes, she looked well defined and her body had a taut grace.
"Well that takes a lot of training to do that properly and that is a beautiful position," Professor Chalone told her. Chalone made eye contact with Daniel again nodding the significance of Vala's move.
"Alright, to the center of the floor," Professor Chalone directed, and Vala walked to the center of the floor.
"Releve," Professor Chalone ordered and Vala rose from a plie to balance on one foot.
"Arabesque," Professor Chalone ordered next, and Vala extended one leg behind her body; her knee straight.
"Arabesque a la hauteur," Professor Chalone ordered next, and Vala's back leg extended to a 90 degree angle.
"Aabesque penchee," Professor Chalone ordered next, and Vala's back leg extended past a 90 degree angle.
Daniel let himself just enjoy how truly graceful and beautiful Vala was. He was relaxing into the enjoyable sensations as he watched Vala's body demonstrate the dance movements. But then, his brain was calling him back to reality and reminding him, that she's a flirt and libertine. Anything conventional would bore her silly – you bore her with your books and translations.
Professor Chalone began calling out more complicated dance positions more quickly:
"Fouette," Professor Chalone ordered, and Vala made a quick turn kicking her leg out and back in.
"Jete," Vala leapt from one foot to the other.
Daniel watched in amazement as Vala executed the moves with grace, agility and speed. Her face was a study of confusion as she complied with the barked commands. It was Vala's confused expression that concerned Daniel.
"Rond de jambe à terre; Rond de jambe en l' air," Professor Chalone continued to bark orders; Vala continued to execute moves, and the confusion on her face became more pronounced. Daniel watched more and more concerned with the glazed expression on Vala's face.
"Fouette en tournant," Professor Chalone ordered. Vala began a series of fast turns; the momentum keeping her going as she repeatedly kicked her leg out and bent it back to keep the other leg turning.
"Jete! Grande Jete!" Professor Chalone shouted. Vala made a large leap, essentially doing the splits in the air and landing on the other foot. Daniel saw Vala's sweaty hair sticking to her forehead. She looked completely dazed, and as she landed from the jump she went into a roll and bounced up into Sleeping Warrior Stance where she waited at the ready.
Professor Chalone looked at Daniel, "Well that's definitely not part of a classical ballerina's training."
Daniel jumped up and moved toward Vala and, slowing his approach spoke, "I think that's enough for today, Professor Chalone; can you give us a moment alone before you and I speak?"
"Certainly, come see me in my office when you are ready," Professor Chalone looked puzzled, but left the studio to give them some privacy.
"Vala, it's Daniel; I'm here." Daniel slipped his arms around Vala, but she didn't respond to him. He felt his heart start pounding with fear that he'd broken her somehow. He walked her over to the chairs and sat down, drawing her onto his lap, enveloping her in his arms. He felt the sweat from her body soaking his shirt as she began shaking.
Then her breath hitched in deeply and her eyes snapped to attention. "Daniel?" She looked at him with confusion evident in her eyes.
"Vala," Daniel said with relief and he ran his hand soothingly over her forehead, "What's the last thing you remember?"
Vala looked around at the studio with a little shudder and said, "It doesn't matter when I'm sitting in your lap, darling." Vala evaded with a seductive flirt.
Daniel squeezed her around the waist to emphasize that he didn't want any nonsense, but repeated calmly, "Vala, what's the last thing you remember?"
Vala hesitated, but then looked at Daniel before she bit her lower lip and said, "The last thing I remember is putting on these shoes and walking into this room. Everything else is a bit fuzzy." Then Vala let out a big hitched breath as if stifling her panic.
Daniel instinctively moved his arms to gather her closer and bring her head to his chest. "Vala we're going to figure this out."
"Do you think I'm wonko Daniel?" Vala asked still panicked by what had happened.
"No, you're not wonko; something is going on, but you're not crazy." Daniel reassured her.
"Daniel, please don't tell anyone about this! They won't let me go with you off world. They'll lock me up. And then I'll have to leave you Daniel. Please Daniel," Vala said with fat tears threatening to spill out of her eyes.
Daniel held the side of her face with his hands. "Okay Vala, for now this is between us, don't cry. Whatever this stuff is, it's never impacted your performance. You and I will figure it out." Daniel looked into Vala's eyes to reassure her.
"I'm not coming back here Daniel," Vala said sternly, but her voice sounded on the edge of hysteria and more tears.
"I won't make you come back, if you don't want to. Just promise me that we'll talk about it later, when you're ready," Daniel said, giving her that look that melted her; that made her do what Daniel wanted; that calmed her like nothing else.
Vala nodded.
Daniel sat with Vala on his lap for some time waiting for her to calm. They sat quietly listened to one another breathing while Daniel rubbed comforting circles over Vala's back. Then Daniel nudged her arm, "Go change and let's get out of here."
Vala nodded and hopped down from Daniel's lap heading for the locker room.
Daniel knocked on Professor Chalone's office.
"Hi, can we talk a few minutes about your assessment?" Daniel asked.
"Come in; have a seat. How is Ms. Mal Doran feeling?" Professor Chalone asked.
"She's fine now, thank you." Daniel responded.
"Well Ms. Mal Doran's flexibility and skills are definitely those of a seriously trained, classical ballerina, although I must say some of the forms were not from any school of dance I could identify. She is a tad rusty, but it is clear she has considerable talent and training. Of course, her flexibility has suffered from minor disuse." Professor Chalone opined.
"Could what we saw today be the product of Vala's innate talent without any training?" Daniel asked.
"She has a dancer's body and grace. That's training Dr. Jackson. Those movements simply do not come from a natural ability. It comes from years of training and discipline; it comes from muscle memory." Professor Chalone opined. "I would be very interested in working with her."
"Yeah, thanks, we'll let you know when we're ready to come back," Daniel said standing up and shaking her hand.
"One other thing," Daniel asked, "Can you tell me what age Vala might have started her ballet training?"
"I would say very young, perhaps as young as 4 or 5, though many think that is ill advised." Professor Chalone said.
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Daniel came out of his thoughts to find that Vala still had not shown up in the mess tent.
Finally, Daniel gave up and headed out of the mess.
"Cam, where's Vala, do you know?" Daniel asked Cameron outside the mess tent.
"I was about to ask you," Cam told him, "I just tried to reach her on the walkie and there was no response."
Daniel looked concerned, "I saw her two hours ago with some of the younger Jaffa, she said she'd met them when she visited with Teal'c. I'll ask Teal'c who they are."
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TWO HOURS AGO
"Hey Nesa, how are you?" Vala greeted one of her Jaffa friends.
"I am well, except for these trying events in my village, Vala Mal Doran." Nesa, a young Jaffa woman with short blond hair replied to Vala.
"Yes, it is very troubling; we're trying to get to the bottom of it. Any thoughts on what might be causing the madness," Vala asked.
"No I do not," Nesa responded in a somewhat defensive manner. Vala raised an inner eyebrow as her intuition told her that Nesa was lying.
Nesa appeared to be getting ready to leave the village.
"So Nesa, do you mind if I walk with you for a little bit and catch up." Vala asked.
"You may accompany me for a short distance, Vala Mal Doran," Nesa replied.
"Are you doing anything special or just walking?" Vala asked Nesa somewhat rudely after about twenty minutes of hiking on a trail leading out of the village.
"I do not know what you are referring to Vala Mal Doran," Nesa replied.
Vala looked straight in her eyes. "Nesa I know your heart is with your people. And if you knew or suspect something that might be causing the madness, you would say something right?"
"I do not know anything," Nesa said adamantly. "We must part here Vala Mal Doran."
"Well, it was good talking to you Nesa," Vala said as Nesa nodded and journeyed further down the trail away from Vala.
Vala let Nesa get a little ways ahead before she decided to trail her and see what she was hiding.
Vala trailed Nesa for about an hour as Nesa hiked towards the local cliffs. The cliffs were full of unstable caves and crevices. Nesa had lit a small torch for light as the day turned to twilight, but Vala had to be extremely careful.
Finally, Nesa came to the entrance of a cave. Vala could see another silhouette greeting Nesa. Vala was too far away to see any identifying features. Suddenly, Cameron's voice came over Vala's radio; she quickly shut it off, fearing discovery.
Nesa and the other figure appeared to be arguing. Then they disappeared into the cave. Vala got closer to get a better look and try to hear what the argument was about. Vala made her way to the mouth of the cave, where she heard Nesa raise her voice sternly to the silhouette.
"I trusted you with the safety of my people, what did you do? What has tainted them?" Nesa accused the silhouette.
"It is best you do not challenge me! I found enough tritonen for all your people and you repay me with distrust? This is my reward for this generosity -- Jaffa mistrust from you? This is how you repay the risk I have taken to love you Nesa?" The silhouette's voice sounded familiar to Vala, but she could not immediately identify it. "Say nothing of this Nesa, or your people will have no source of tritonen at all! My very existence depends on your silence!"
"My people are suffering; I must speak, I must speak." Nesa said firmly.
Then the silhouette took out a zat and shot Nesa who crumpled to the ground.
And Vala was completely surprised when the silhouette turned and quickly zatted Vala in the side of her head, which she had thought was barely sticking up.
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Vala and Nesa woke up deep in the cave. They were on a narrow ledge only a few feet wide. There were deep crevices on either side of the ledge. The distance to the actual cave floor was too great for the women to jump from the ledge.
"Nesa, are you alright?" Vala asked taking inventory of herself. She no longer had her radio or weapon, but other than that everything was intact.
"I am fine, and you Vala Mal Doran?" Nesa asked.
"I'm alright." Vala smiled. "Nesa who was that man?"
Nesa shook her head, and then said, "It does not matter now, we will die here and I have betrayed my people. I did not save them when I had the chance."
"Don't give up Nesa, people will come looking for us," Vala said with a confidence she did not feel as she repeated, "Who was the man Nesa?"
"There were so many to care for and more each season; there was such demand and the season produced little for trade. I was in charge of procuring supplies for the tritonen." Nesa explained stoically, not looking at Vala.
Vala nodded her head encouragingly for Nesa to continue.
"The last time I procured the tritonen supplies from the Tok'ra, I could not meet their price, could not obtain all we needed. And as I left, I met Oswan; he and I were of one spirit, or so I thought." Nesa shook her head. "He told me that he had other tritonen sources and that we could purchase the tritonen with an agreement for next seasons yields. And I did so." Nesa said.
"It was understandable that you tried to meet the need from another source. Commendable even," Vala said coaxingly.
"But I did not bring the matter to Ishta; instead I made the decision myself and received the praise of all for strongly negotiating with our trading partners. It does not matter now. I have shamed my people and many will die at my hand. I should have spoken of my suspicion at the onset of the madness. People became ill as I interchanged the supplies of tritonen." Nesa shook her head in shame.
"Nesa we'll fix this; the others will come for us." Vala nodded.
"Vala Mal Doran these caves are very unstable and subject to collapse. With our weight, this ledge is likely to collapse." Nesa explained.
"Why did you meet him here?" Vala asked annoyed.
"Because we never ventured into the unstable part and Oswan always liked it here." Nesa explained.
"Nesa did you have another kind of relationship with Oswan." Vala asked.
"I trusted him; he claimed a love for me. And I claimed a love for him. But, we are forbidden from mingling; he is a Tok'ra." Nesa responded reluctantly.
Oswan; Vala knew no Oswan, yet the voice was familiar.
"You're heart is true Nesa; you had good intentions." Vala soothed the young Jaffa, "Right now let's turn our minds to getting off this ledge so we can save your people."
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Daniel and Teal'c traced Vala's steps and found someone who saw her speaking to Nesa. According to witnesses, they had headed out of the village together. From there it was an easy matter for Teal'c to follow the trail, after being started off by Nesa's friends.
It was dark before Daniel turned on his walkie to inform Cameron that they may have a lead on Vala and explain the situation.
"Let's get some light on the subject." Cameron said.
"Daniel, I'm sending SG-5 over with some strong lanterns. Let me know what else you need." Cameron told him.
"Okay Cam," Daniel responded.
Vala had been missing more than six hours now.
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"What's that rumbling?" Vala said anxiously as the ground of the ledge shook under her.
"The ground shakes before the cave collapses," Nesa said stoically.
The darkened ledge shook and shook as Nesa and Vala clung to the back of the ledge which touched a cave wall. After what seemed like an eternity a great rumbling like a train began and half the ledge was torn away.
Vala broke out in a cold sweat. Surely this wasn't how her life would end?
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Daniel and Teal'c were tracking Vala's as best they could. It was difficult going with only artificial light. It was now 0400. They had been painstakingly following he trail for hours, and they had back tracked several times when suspected paths had turned out to be dead ends.
Now the trail led them to the mouth of a cave at the head of the cliffs.
"Daniel Jackson!" Teal'c said holding up something shiny in his hand. It was one of Vala's rhinestone clips.
Daniel took the shiny clip from Teal'c's hand. He studied its three jeweled rhinestone flowers. Daniel had never been happier at Vala's little extravagance. The clip was the first real sign that they were on the right track.
"It appears that a struggle occurred here Daniel Jackson." Teal'c said bringing a worried furrow to Daniel's brows. Then the ground began to shake and from deep within the cave they heard voices.
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As another segment of the ledge collapsed separating Vala from Nesa this time, Nesa began shaking her head and looking into Vala's eyes. "I am sorry you will die because of my shame, Vala Mal Doran. My people will never know the depths of my sorrow," Nesa said mournfully.
"Nesa! Don't give up," Vala told her. Vala was exhausted; she was filthy and she was thirsty. She wanted dinner, wine and a movie. She wanted to see Daniel; she'd been holding it together for hours on this retched ledge and she wanted off. She wanted Daniel. Vala started to panic a little before forcing thoughts of Daniel from her mind and forcing herself to think calmly. The problem was that she'd been forcing calm and trying to come up with a solution to no avail. There was no way off this ledge without help.
And then the ground started shaking violently again.
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As Daniel and Teal'c made their way further back in the cave they started to hear the voices more distinctly.
"Do not call out Daniel Jackson, these caves and ledges are very unstable." Teal'c instructed.
Then the ground started to shake, and they heard a scream as if someone had fallen a great distance, "Nesa! Nesa! Nesa!"
"Vala!" Daniel could not restrain his call as he ran ahead trying to discern the direction of the voice in the echoing cave. He could not tell if Vala was the one who had fallen, or if she was the one calling to assist her fallen friend.
"This way Daniel Jackson," Teal'c said urgently.
They came across Vala Mal Doran as she was still calling into a crevice for Nesa.
"Vala!" Daniel called, "Be Quiet!"
"Daniel" Vala called. "Daniel it's the tritonen, there's something about the tritonen and a Tok'ra called Oswan, but I recognized the voice, Daniel." Vala called from her shaking ledge.
"Later Vala, let's focus on getting you off there." Daniel ordered.
"I've tried Daniel, but it's too far and the ledge keeps collapsing." Vala said finally giving up, but trying to remain calm.
"Teal'c can you hold me while I try to reach Vala?" Daniel asked desperately. Vala couldn't die like this.
Teal'c nodded.
"On my count Teal'c swing me over the crevice," Daniel told him. The ground continued to shake and they all knew Vala's ledge would collapse at any second.
"Daniel! Now or never darling," Vala cried. They all knew she was trying to remain calm as the shaking became more violent.
"Vala, listen to my voice, and do what I say." Daniel called ordering calm from Vala, "Okay Teal'c swing me out on my nod." Daniel told Teal'c. Daniel stood on his pack at the cave's edge. Teal'c bent to grab Daniel's ankles, placing him in a hand stand.
In his best Professor Chalone voice, Daniel began to put Vala through the ballet moves he had seen on Monday starting at "plie" Daniel barked and Vala obeyed.
"Grand plie" Daniel barked and Vala followed.
Then Daniel nodded to Teal'c. Teal'c picked Daniel up by the ankles and swung him out like a sack of potatoes over the black opening of the crevice. As Daniel loomed over the edge of the abyss, he barked "Jete" and Vala obeyed. Then the ledge began to disintegrate at the edges, and Vala let out a gasp.
"Vala, baby, when I tell you, jump to me, baby." Daniel told her and then barked loudly "Grand jete!"
Vala leaped off the ledge in a perfect split and forceful jump towards Daniel as Teal'c swung Daniel out as hard as he could towards her. Just as Vala leaped the rest of the ledge collapsed. Daniel held his breath as he reached for Vala and felt himself barely grasp her hands before gripping them so tightly he thought he might have broken a finger.
"Swing us in Teal'c," Daniel shouted and then he felt Teal'c swing him up on the cave floor as he pulled Vala on top of himself, holding her to his body and placing his cheek on the top of her head. Vala climbed deeper into Daniel's arms realizing how close she came to suffering Nesa's fate.
"We should move Daniel Jackson; this cave is on the verge of collapse." Teal'c said as he pulled his two teammates up and started dragging them out of the cave.
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Daniel gave Vala some water as they sat outside the entrance of the cave and she leaned into him. She was tired, dirty and scraped up, but otherwise no worse for the wear.
"Why didn't you radio your location," Daniel yelled at Vala, grabbing her shoulders in a hard grip with a stern look born of fear.
Teal'c stood by quietly to one side listening to Daniel's melt down, and not completely sure about what he saw in the cave.
"I was following Nesa." Then, Vala explained what she had seen. And as she finished she remembered where she had heard the voice of the silhouette that had stranded her on the ledge. "Daniel, the Tok'ra that Nesa knew as Oswan was Las Pul'gas!" Vala exclaimed in realization of where she had heard the voice before.
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Fewer of Ishta's people became ill as the source of the kassa contamination was confirmed – kassa contaminated tritonen. With pure supplies, Ishta, Ryac and the others recovered quickly with intensive tritonen therapies designed by Dr. Lam. However, Dr. Lam indicated that the detox from kassa would be the same as if they had directly ingested the junky Jiffy Pop as Cam now called it.
Teal'c's teammates remained with him on Ishta's home world through the remembrance ceremony for Nesa.
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SG-1 had been back at the SGC for two days.
Sam had isolated the kassa compound in the tritonen and come up with a test to verify the purity of tritonen supplies
SG-1's routine was interrupted by repeated briefings to recount their findings on the kassa contaminated tritonen and Vala's experience in the cave with Nesa. There were briefings with the SGC command, with Washington brass, with Tok'ra brass, with Jaffa brass and with IOA brass.
The Tok'ra were not forthcoming with information on Las Pul'gas. And theories abounded as to his motives for contaminating the tritonen with kassa, but no one knew Las Pul'gas' true motives or why he had targeted Ishta's people.