Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad Q?
Author's Note: Thanks to all for your interest in my stories. While rereading to decide how much to include in the next chapters, I realized I forgot something, so I have to rewrite a bit.
Quashing One Challenge and Qualifying for Another
"What are we going to do?" Vala asked as the team minus Sam trooped to the transport.
"I don't know," Daniel answered.
"Shouldn't we have a plan before we go storming-"
"We're not storming anywhere."
"Then what are we going to do?"
"I don't know."
The team entered the transport.
"Shouldn't we know before we get there?"
"If you'd shut-up, maybe we can think of something."
"Hmph." Vala slumped against the back wall of the transport.
SG-1 exited the transport and dashed into hiding, Teal'c and Vala in one alcove, Daniel and Mitchell into another.
Mitchell peeked out. "What's he doin'?" he whispered.
The Prior stood in the middle of the hall with his eyes closed.
"Trying to lower the force field," Daniel answered, poking his head beneath Mitchell's elbow.
"How you doin' Sam?" Mitchell whispered into his radio.
"I'm trying to keep him out," Sam replied. "It's not working so good," she continued, panting with effort.
Teal'c and Mitchell burst from the alcoves, weapons raised.
"That won't be necessary." The Prior was suddenly directly in front of them. "It's too late."
"Sam?" Daniel said into his radio. He didn't get an answer. "Sam?!"
The Prior smiled. "I told you it was too late."
Everyone bounced off the walls as the ship lurched to a halt. Even the Prior swayed a bit.
"We will be returning to the rest of the army," he stated.
Teal'c took a step forward, aiming his staff weapon at the Prior's chest. "What have you done to Colonel Carter?"
The Prior laughed. "Your pathetic devices may prevent me from destroying you at the moment. But the effect won't last."
Teal'c activated his staff.
"Now wait a minute, Teal'c." Mitchell tried to take the weapon. "Get back to Carter," he ordered Daniel and Vala and turned back to Teal'c. "I'd love to shoot him too, but we need him."
"I won't help you." The Prior raised his staff and pointed it at Teal'c..
Mitchell kicked the staff out of his hand and landed a punch to his stomach.
The Prior doubled over, and Teal'c deactivated his staff as Mitchell punched the Prior again. Teal'c growled and ran head first at the Prior. Their heads met with a crack that sent the Prior swaying against one wall.
Teal'c grabbed the Prior's arm and slammed him against the opposite wall.
Mitchell tried to land another punch, but Teal'c already had the Prior flying through the air again. He hit the wall and slumped to the ground.
"Nice job," Mitchell said.
"Your effort was adequate, Colonel Mitchell."
"Adequate?" Mitchell whined.
"What's going on? What did you do to him?" Two men ran out of the chapel and down the hall.
Mitchell zatted them and aimed the gun at the other people who'd emerged. "Stay in the chapel, and you won't be harmed."
The people cowered back, and Teal'c and Mitchell dragged the Prior to the transport.
"Vala, get a force field around the chapel," Mitchell said via radio.
"That may not work again," Daniel said.
"It will for now. The Prior won't be interfering anytime soon."
"If he tries, I will incapacitate him again."
"And I'll provide adequate backup," Mitchell groused.
Daniel entered the holding cell, leaned against the wall beside Mitchell, and glanced at the unconscious Prior. "Things aren't so good."
"Tell me somethin' I don't know. Like how he accessed that device."
"I don't know. I wasn't paying much attention when Q explained how it works."
Mitchell pretended to glare at Daniel.
"Well, Sam understood him, so…" Daniel shrugged.
"How is she?"
"Unconscious but pulse is steady."
"Vala get the ship turned around?"
"Yeah."
Mitchell glanced at the Prior. "So, he's not in control?"
"He's unconscious; his mind can't make anything happen anymore."
"Anymore?"
"During his brief takeover, he sent a signal to the fleet. Vala detected eight ships headed our way."
"Damn."
The two stood in thoughtful silence.
"There is a way we can diminish his chances of taking over again," Daniel said.
"Now, that I didn't know."
"You want to do what?" Vala asked.
"Lock onto the Prior's location and send a feedback loop to sever any connection he might still have with the ship," Daniel repeated.
"Can you do it?" Mitchell asked.
"Of course I can do it. I'm just surprised this was Daniel's idea. Considering this could kill him and all."
"The feedback doesn't have to be lethal. Does it?"
"Well, once the loop is started, you can't really control the outcome."
"Ok, I know it's risky, and we may be blowing Sam's only chance-"
"But we need to know if he's still connected," Mitchell finished.
"What if Samantha is still connected to the ship?"
"That's why we need a localized feedback loop."
Vala nodded and smiled. "I like it." She pecked Daniel's cheek and scampered to the appropriate controls.
Daniel couldn't seem to decide how to react to Vala's kiss.
"It is a pretty good idea," Mitchell said.
"I just hope it works. And it doesn't actually kill him."
"He's probably done worse to innocent people without second thoughts," Mitchell said.
"Yeah."
"Ready," Vala said.
Mitchell looked to Daniel.
Daniel gave it one last thought. "Do it."
Teal'c stood just outside the bars and glared at the semi-conscious form inside the cage.
"We're about to do it," Mitchell said over Teal'c's radio.
"Understood."
The Prior struggled to sit up. He focused on Teal'c and seemed to be trying to read his mind.
Teal'c didn't back down. Didn't move at all.
The Prior shrieked and spasmed onto the floor as blue and white electricity arced through his body.
Only then did Teal'c step back.
The Prior gasped and went limp.
"The Prior is dead," Teal'c said, entering the bridge.
Daniel dropped his head.
"Hey, at least we know he can't take over the ship," Mitchell said.
Daniel nodded and stood. He walked across the bridge to the window, going as far as he could from the knot he, Mitchell and Vala had formed around Sam.
Teal'c watched him, concerned. "He was the enemy, Daniel Jackson."
"You can't blame yourself for Samantha either," Vala said. "We didn't just blindly do it. You thought of precautions."
Teal'c swiveled his head back to Sam. "Is Colonel Carter-?"
"No!" Mitchell stood.
"Not yet," Daniel said.
"She got a dose of feedback juice too," Mitchell explained to Teal'c.
Teal'c cocked an eyebrow. "She was still connected to the ship as well?"
"Apparently," Daniel said.
"Perhaps that's why I was able to produce the feedback loop," Vala said.
Daniel turned to her. "You think she somehow trumped the Prior's brain for control?"
Vala shrugged. "Why not? She was able to override the other guy's control when she linked with the ship in the first place."
"Right," Daniel said, thoughtfully.
"Then perhaps, Colonel Carter will revive herself again."
"Maybe she's flyin' the ship?" Mitchell asked.
Vala rushed to check. "It's on autopilot. I could try to switch to manual," she said after a solemn pause.
Mitchell started to say hold off on that for now, but he was cut off by the ship lurching. Daniel, who'd been thinking about the possibility of Sam still being ok, was thrown to the floor.
Vala flashed a sheepish grin. "Guess I should leave it on autopilot for now."
"Best idea you've ever had," Daniel said as Mitchell helped him up.
"Really? I thought using that cargo ship to break the chain the first time the Ori tried to form the Supergate was the best idea I've ever had. Although, stealing the Prometheus was good too."
"That plan failed," Teal'c said.
Vala pouted.
"Can you get access to weapons?" Mitchell asked Vala.
"I'll see." Vala said on her way to the weapons console. "Yep." She moved to another control bank. "Force field is still up and on automatic."
Mitchell walked to the window. "ETA on the other ships?"
Vala pushed buttons. "Approximately four hours."
Mitchell sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Any ideas on how to improve our situation?"
"Q!"
Everyone but Sam jumped at Vala's shout and looked around expectantly.
"It was worth a shot," Vala said, shrugging.
"Adria's probably keeping him pretty busy," Mitchell said.
"Indeed."
"Yeah," Daniel said.
"Any other ideas?" Mitchell asked.
Daniel wrapped his arms around himself and turned to the window.
Vala bit her lip.
Teal'c sighed.
"It's always darkest before dawn," Mitchell said in what he hoped was a cheerful tone.
"Did your grandma say that?" Vala asked.
"Yep."
"Let's hope she's right," Daniel said.
On the mountain by the purple waterfall, red plasma and blue plasma locked and pressed against one another.
The blue blade threw off the red blade, and Adria backed away, deactivating her light saber.
Q swished his beam through the air.
Adria puffed up her cheeks and blew out.
Q assumed a ready stance with his light saber raised.
Adria gritted her teeth and activated her light saber.
The hum of power was loud on the bridge.
Vala sat against one wall, her head resting against the wall. Her knees were drawn up, and her eyes were closed. Beside her, Sam lay with a blanket up to her chin.
Daniel sat against another wall, knees drawn up, eyes closed.
Almost shoulder-to-shoulder with Daniel, Mitchell sat with his legs stretched out and his arms folded.
Teal'c sat cross-legged about five feet away. His eyes were closed, and candles ringed him. His forearms rested atop his knees.
"Does that ever creep you out?" Mitchell said.
Daniel started. "Huh?"
Mitchell pointed to the Jaffa.
"No."
"It's like he's here but not. That doesn't creep you out?"
"Actually, I wish I could kel-no-reem as deeply."
"You kel-no-reem?"
"Yeah. I've managed to reach a meditative state a few times, but mostly I can't clear my mind enough."
"I thought he had trouble doing that because of the tretonin," Vala said.
"Seems to be doin' fine now," Mitchell pointed out.
"He's had to work hard to get back into the groove."
A beeping reverberated throughout the room, and Vala pushed herself up. She went from one console to another while the beeping continued.
Teal'c's trance broke, and he blew out the candles.
"Vala?" Daniel asked, sticking a finger in one ear.
"It's coming from everywhere."
"Everywhere?" Mitchell asked, rising.
Vala turned to Sam and smiled. "She's back."
The team rushed to Sam, who was struggling to push herself into a sitting position.
"Here." Mitchell let her lean against him.
"Thanks."
"Colonel Carter, it is good to see you awake."
"Yeah," Daniel said, scrutinizing her. "How do you feel?"
"Headache from hell." Sam gave a small smile and fingered the device on her temple. "I can't wait to get rid of this thing."
"I'll get you something," Daniel said and rushed to the medkit. In his haste, he dropped several items.
"You gonna be ok?" Mitchell asked.
Sam nodded. "I think so."
"Since you're in control of the ship again or still or whatever," Vala said, "do you think you could…?" She waved her hand and tapped her ear.
"Oh, sorry." Sam closed her eyes, and the beeping stopped.
"Thank you. Did you do what you did before?" Vala asked. "Tap into the ship and revive yourself? Careful," she said when Daniel sloshed water on her.
"Sorry. Here." Daniel handed Sam two pills and a small cup. "I'll get you more water." He went to get a canteen.
Sam's hand shook as she raised the cup to her mouth. "Thanks," she said to Daniel and took the canteen. After a lengthy swallow, she wiped her lips. "What happened? The last thing I remember, the Prior got past the force field."
"Oh!" Vala jumped up and ran to a console.
"Yeah, we took care of him. Well, Teal'c did most of the work."
"Where is he?"
"He's dead," Daniel said.
Sam looked surprised and somewhat relieved.
"Force field's still up," Vala said, rejoining the group.
"To answer Vala's question, I think I did what I did before," Sam said. "I mean, I must have. It was weird."
"What?" Daniel asked, still surreptitiously examining Sam.
"I felt the Prior trying to gain access to the ship and to my head. I tried to stop him, but I guess I couldn't."
"So he was probably still inside your mind or you in his when we…" Daniel didn't finish.
"When you what?"
"God, Sam. I'm so sorry. If I'd known your minds were connected, I never would have suggested-"
"You couldn't have known," Mitchell said.
"What did you do?" Sam asked.
Daniel licked his upper lip. "We sent a feedback loop to the holding cell where we stashed the Prior. To break any hold he might have on the ship. Vala locked onto his position, and the feedback wasn't supposed to go anywhere else. I thought that would be enough."
"It would have been," Vala said, rubbing Daniel's arm.
"If I'd given it more thought, I should have realized-"
"Thank you," Sam said.
The others exchanged confused looks.
"W-what?" Daniel said.
"I don't know what the Prior did to me exactly. One minute I was talking to Cam; the next the Prior was inside my brain. I must have lost consciousness. Then, suddenly everything was fritzing. I must have passed out again. When I came around, I noticed the Prior's mind wasn't fighting mine anymore and I started checking systems."
"How long have you been conscious?" Daniel asked.
"I'm not sure. I could hear you and Cam talking, but before that, there was silence. How long was I out?"
"About two hours," Vala said.
"What did I miss?"
"Well, besides the Prior's death, we've got eight Ori ships bearing down on our position. ETA two hours," Mitchell said.
Sam raised her eyebrows and looked shocked.
"The Prior sent a signal to the army," Daniel explained.
"A distress signal?"
"It's encrypted, but probably," Daniel said.
Sam closed her eyes. "He sent a message saying this ship has been compromised." Sam sighed. "By us."
"Us specifically?" Daniel asked, alarmed.
"Yeah."
"We're really making our way around the universe," Mitchell said. "Pretty soon our posters will be in every galaxy."
"You get used to it," Sam said.
"We can send another message negating the last one," Vala said. "You know, 'Oops, my mistake'?"
"They wouldn't believe it," Daniel said.
"No, probably not," Vala agreed.
"I don't suppose we've got enough firepower to take them all out," Mitchell said.
"Not before at least one ship can retaliate," Sam said.
"We can't outrun them either, right?" Mitchell said.
"Nope."
"Q is most likely still occupied with Adria," Teal'c added.
"I wonder how he's keeping her away," Daniel said.
"I don't care," Mitchell said.
"He has reminded us of his omnipotence on many occasions, Daniel Jackson."
"I've seen the power she has," Daniel said. "In time I'm sure she'll wear him down."
"Let's worry about that if and when we have to," Mitchell said.
"We're going to have to work together to get out of this," Sam said. "And we'll be at the supergate in less than an hour, so we don't have much time to get ready."
"Wouldn't have it any other way," Mitchell said.
"What's the plan?" Vala asked, eagerly.
"These battles are becoming ridiculous!"
"Really? I'm having fun."
Q and Adria stood in a boxing ring complete with a referee and spectators.
Adria glared at Q.
Q shrugged. "Then leave. Oh wait, you can't."
Adria swung at Q, but he raised a gloved fist in time to deflect her blow.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Mitchell asked again.
Sam grimaced and gritted her teeth. "Yes."
"Colonel Carter?" Teal'c held the Prior's staff weapon in front of Sam. The orb was glowing.
"Just a little longer, Teal'c."
Sam fiddled with the dial on the device that was no longer attached to her temple.
The orb on the staff flickered and went out.
Sam released a heavy sigh and slouched. "There."
"You're completely disconnected?"
Sam closed her eyes and concentrated. "Yep."
Mitchell keyed his radio. "Vala? Jackson?"
"We're in," Vala replied.
"Ok?" Mitchell asked Sam.
Sam smiled and rubbed her forehead. "Yeah. I could use another dose of pain meds, though."
"Good thing you had wifi."
Sam laughed. "I don't think the Generals would have approved if I'd had to have something implanted."
"You're probably right. Ready to use some good old-fashioned elbow grease?"
"What is elbow grease?" Teal'c asked as Sam swallowed a handful of pills and hopped off the infirmary bed.
"It means hard work. Without technological assistance," Mitchell explained.
"Vala!"
"Sorry, this thing is a little harder to control than I thought."
"You flew the Prometheus!" Daniel reminded her.
"This is different!"
Everyone sighed with relief when the ship steadied.
"Maybe Teal'c should fly," Vala said. "He did better."
"We need Teal'c on weapons," Sam said. "Try it again. Ease up on the controls a little."
Daniel sighed and gripped his console.
Adria stood alone on the mountain by the purple waterfall. She scrunched her brows together, and the area around her fritzed. She concentrated hard for a few minutes, then stopped, gasping. Trying to catch her breath, she pressed her hand against the area that had been fritzing. A hole the size of her hand slowly formed in a force field.
Adria tried to press the rest of her body through, but she was unable to.
With a frustrated yell, she yanked her hand back and scrunched her brows together again.
"What are you going to do?" Daniel asked, looking over Sam's shoulder as she input and synchronized data in a room adjacent to the power core.
"Create virtual particles."
"Ok, I know what virtual particles are, sort of, but how are they going to help us?"
"I think I can use power from this ship to modify them and hopefully jam the wormhole after we go through the supergate."
"Jam the wormhole? You can do that?"
"I hope so. I'll need some help of course." Sam paused and looked up at Daniel.
"I figured there was a reason you wanted me with you."
"Well, as Vala says, you are easy on the eyes."
Sam grinned and turned back to the console, her fingers flying over keys.
Ignoring the sudden warmth in his cheeks, Daniel said, "Even after all these years and all I've learned from you, my knowledge of wormhole physics and quantum mechanics is still rudimentary compared to yours. I mean, I've never even blown up a sun."
"But you did help Merlin build an ancient and powerful weapon."
"Which I don't know how to do again. I didn't really know then either. I was just following his directions."
"I don't know if I could blow up a sun again."
Sam explained her plan, and she and Daniel were implementing it when the ship shook.
"Our company's early," Mitchell reported from the bridge through the direct comm. channel Sam had rigged to stay open. "Shields are holding."
"Particles at 86 completion," Daniel said.
"Cam, we need more time."
"We'll do our best," Mitchell said as the ship rocked again.
"We're approaching the supergate," Vala reported.
"Particles at 89 completion."
"Vala, take up position ready at the supergate but don't go through yet," Sam said.
"We've got three ships targeting us," Mitchell said.
"Try to hold them off."
"92. Do we have to wait until they're 100?" Daniel said.
"If they're not complete, their impact will be negligible," Sam said.
"Can we emit some of them?"
"That will also lessen the impact. We need to keep the Ori as far behind us as we can."
"95."
The ship rocked more violently than before.
"That one pierced the shields!" Mitchell said. "Sam, we gotta get out of here."
"GO!"
Vala slid the ship into the shimmering event horizon.
"At least they can't all follow us through at once," Mitchell said.
Teal'c raised an eyebrow.
"97. Why do things always slow down when you most need them to speed up?" Daniel mused aloud.
"We're out," Vala reported.
From the peaceful rippling of the wormhole, an Ori prow emerged.
"And so are they," Mitchell said.
Another Ori ship followed, and both ships fired.
"That's it. Emitting virtual particles now," Sam said.
The ship shook as two blasts hit home.
"Shields are down! Hyperdrive's been hit!"
Teal'c sent a volley, causing several explosions on one ship.
"How'd you do that?" Vala asked, impressed.
"I utilized the frequency the Ori used to penetrate our shields and administered a dosage of their own medication."
"Do it again," Mitchell said.
"They have compensated. We are about to receive fire," Teal'c announced.
"How you comin' with those shields, Sam?"
"I've rerouted power, but it's not enough. You should have 50, and I'm rerouting more. I also compensated so they shouldn't be able to penetrate for the moment."
The next wave hit, jarring the ship.
"For the moment," Mitchell muttered.
"No other ship has come through the gate," Daniel said. "Looks like the particles are doing their job. But they're starting to degrade."
"Yeah, you need to make more."
"I need to make more?"
"I was hoping once we'd gotten away from most of the ships, we could go into hyperspace. That's not an option now, and I don't know what kind of damage I'll find. I'll get you started." Sam typed in commands. "Can you take it from here?"
"I think so."
"Just make sure the ratios remain stable. Call me if you need anything."
Daniel nodded and chewed his bottom lip as he picked up where Sam left off.
In ever-loving memory of
C.J.
1994-2008
Author's Note: C.J., my peekapoo, had seizures all weekend and died around 1:10am Tuesday, March 4. He would have growled at the Prior like Teal'c and attacked if the Prior got anywhere near me.