Chapter 14

Over the next month, Daniel and Vala moved around a lot. They'd spend a few days in a safe house and then move on to the next one. Seevis reported one time that all the moving was worth the effort. There were still search parties going out every day to find them. Vala had commented that they'd probably be found if the priors ever decided to send everyone out at the same time instead of just the half a dozen or so that had been ordered to find them. Seevis had agreed, but he figured their top priority was the ships. They probably couldn't afford to waste an entire day with everyone searching.

However, when they'd talked to Panos about the ship construction, there was not much good news. Daniel had hoped that Panos would be able to give them something they could communicate back to the SGC, but he had apparently lost ground with the priors. He was still in charge of much of the ships' construction, but mainly engines and life support. Panos hadn't been able to discover anything about shield frequencies or weaponry. He told them he'd keep looking into it, but Vala had waved him off. There was no need for him to get caught, they needed him to help them steal the scout ship when it was ready. It would likely have all the pertinent information, they just had to be patient. Panos had agreed and said he'd come get them as soon as the hyperdrive was ready.

Things got really bad, though, when Denya visited them close to the end of Vala's seventh month. She'd overheard a couple of men talking in the tavern. They'd found a few of the abandoned safe houses and the prior had ordered them and a few others to go back and keep watch on them. The men hadn't mentioned which houses they were, so she and Seevis had concluded that none of them would be safe anymore.

"We'll just stay here, then," Vala said, "until Panos says the ship is ready."

Denya shook her head. "That won't work either. The prior has taken more men off of construction duty to look for you. It's only a matter of time before they find this house as well."

"Maybe we could sneak back to Ber and Kira's," Daniel suggested. "They could hide us in the barn or something."

"The journey is too far now, too many roads and open fields where you could be spotted," Denya advised. "Their son, Nic's place is closer, and they aren't even remotely suspected of resistance activity. You'll be completely safe there."

Vala protested immediately. "I've already told you we can't put their family at risk." She pleaded with Daniel, "We could find another cave nearby. Somewhere close where Panos can find us."

"Be serious, Vala," Daniel said. "You can hardly sleep through the night on a mattress. You'd never be able to sleep on a hard cave floor. And the nights are getting colder too." He looked at Denya for confirmation.

She agreed. "Winter is setting in early this year. There have been some unexpected frosts ruining a few of our regular harvests."

"See," Daniel tried to change Vala's mind, "there's no way we can survive outdoors right now. We have to try staying at Nic's."

Vala shook her head. "I don't want anyone to get hurt."

Denya took her arm. "It'll only be for a few days. Panos told us they're putting the finishing touches on the scout ships this week. They'll be ready soon and then you can escape this place. You have nothing to fear, Vala."

"You know that's not true, Denya," Vala said, "but I appreciate you trying to help." She nodded to them both. "Yes, all right, we should go."

Denya helped them pack their things and un-tidy the safe house. They hadn't stayed there long so it was still quite dirty. They were out the door and on their way to Nic's in a matter of hours.

They arrived well after sunset, Nic and his wife Raymis had just finished putting their children to sleep. Denya made the introductions while Raymis warmed dinner plates for them.

"We can't tell you how much we appreciate this," Daniel told the couple. "Hopefully we'll be out of here in a few days."

"It's no trouble at all," Raymis replied. She and her husband were young, likely in their late twenties. Nic was Ber's height, so a few inches shorter than Daniel, had sandy blond hair, and was clean-shaven. Raymis was about Denya's height, and kept her brown hair cut short. She was fit and smiled easily when she spoke. "And it's the least we could do to repay you for helping out Ber and Kira for all those months. They're not as young as they used to be, but they insist on living on their own."

"We've tried to get my parents to come live with us," Nic said, "but they're a stubborn pair. The resistance means a great deal to them, and they like staying close to Seevis. He hears more rumors than we do here in Ver Obdur."

"I'm glad they were there. I don't know what we would've done if they hadn't helped us," Vala said. "You don't owe us anything, Raymis. The help we gave them was so little compared to the way they kept us safe."

The younger woman smiled back at Vala and patted her hand, so much like Kira that Vala nearly teared up thinking of her. After they were done with dinner, Nic and Raymis showed them to the room they kept for his parents when they visited. Denya slipped into the children's room and snuggled in close with the little girl. The two boys slept in bunked beds. No one would be alarmed when they saw Denya in the morning. She would often stay the night in their room when she brought messages from Ver Isca.

The next few days really did proceed without incident. Denya had left the morning after they'd arrived, saying someone would come by the minute the ship was ready. Because of Nic's young family, he was only required to be at the shipyards every other day. Daniel discreetly helped around the farm in Nic's absence, cautiously staying out of sight as much as possible. But no one came by to bother them. No one came searching for a couple of fugitives.

Vala stayed in the house with Raymis and the children. She offered to help a number of times, but Raymis simply sat her in the living room with a pile of mending. She was not to get up for any reason and the children were there to guard and restrain her if necessary. She winked at the boys and they saluted their mother with glee. The boys were 10 and 7 and small copies of their father. The girl was a little over 3 years old and had the cutest, curliest brown hair Vala had ever seen.

While Vala mended clothes, the boys sat at a table working mathematics figures or writing stories for their mother. The little girl was still too young for reading and arithmetic, but she dutifully stayed at Vala's feet and played with a cornstalk doll her older brothers had made for her birthday. It was such a comfortable sight that Vala had the most restful nights' sleep that she'd ever had in her life. She found herself dreaming of her and Daniel in the exact same scenes. Him sitting at a table teaching their son or daughter, or her building a castle with their child out of cushions and pillows, and all of them laughing and playing. Suddenly it was more awful being awake than asleep, knowing that that kind of comfortable family life was only a dream.

On the third afternoon, Ber and Kira came to deliver the news that the scout ship was ready. Raymis took the children outside to hang laundry while the four of them talked in the main room. Daniel was worried that with all the extra construction crews working at night as well as during the day, they'd never be able to take the ship without someone seeing. Ber reported that with winter coming early, all the men were required to help in the harvests around the region for the next two days. He suspected that more than half of the harvest would be loaded onto the ships and kept in storage for the crusaders. Vala guessed that there would still be some guards at the shipyards and Ber confirmed that, but it was the only chance they had.

Vala's gaze settled on Kira's. "Come with us," Vala said softly. "All of you. You'll be found out and killed. Come with us."

"No, child," Kira answered. "Our place is here, with our families. We must stay and fight."

"You know what will happen when they discover you helped us. You know."

"Yes, child," Kira spoke firmly. "We'll be martyred." Ber put an arm around Kira's shoulders in a gesture of comfort and love. "Our people need to open their eyes to the truth about the Ori. We cannot help them from a galaxy away."

Kira's eyes were dry even as Vala's began glistening with tears. She wiped at her eyes before the tears fell and nodded to Kira and then to Daniel.

"I don't think it's much farther to the shipyards. We can rest for a minute if you need to."

Vala nodded to Daniel as he guided her to a boulder for her to sit. "I'm fine," she said, though she was breathing heavily. She was accustomed to walking everywhere, but being seven months pregnant did slow her down considerably. "We don't have to stop for long. We need to make it to the rendezvous point."

"We'll be there soon, no need to rush."

The plan was simple but even simple plans could go terribly wrong. Daniel and Vala were to meet with Panos at the shipyards after nightfall, he would then sneak them aboard the scout ship. He'd delivered some schematics over the last few weeks so that they would be a little familiar with the controls, but he still wanted to make sure they didn't have any questions.

They had plenty of time to get there but Vala insisted on being early, with enough time to maybe observe some of the guards, see if there were any holes in their rotations. There were just too many things that could go wrong. Through the slit cut in her dress, she fingered the zat strapped to her thigh, then she stood up and began marching in the direction of the shipyards once again.

When they arrived Panos was there to greet them quietly. He led them onto the ship and told them he and a fellow engineer had been given permission to test the ship's hyperdrive. Their launch wouldn't arouse any suspicion now. When Daniel asked about the other man, Panos said he'd given him a sleeping drug and installed him in his barracks. After they were away, Panos was going to go back to his bunk as well and fake a similar situation to divert further suspicion of his involvement. Vala praised him on his clever ruse.

"The controls are just as I described a few weeks ago. I don't believe you should have any trouble flying the ship. The information system is also intact. I've made a few modifications to load quite a bit more information about our ships, weapons and defenses."

"I'm sure our scientists will be able to access it, thank you," Daniel replied gratefully.

Vala suddenly felt a prickling up her spine. Something didn't feel right. "Daniel, we need to get going."

"One more thing," Panos interjected, leading them back outside the scout ship. "I saw this on the ship this morning. I don't think it will cause a problem…"

Vala stopped listening to Panos's remarks. Something really didn't feel right. Out of the corner of her eye to her left, she caught a brief glimpse of the one-eyed prior's shadowy form watching them from behind a tool shed, no less than thirty paces away. Perhaps he suspected something about Panos's test flight. So much for foolproof plans.

Standing behind the building as he was, she didn't have a clear shot, and she knew the prior's telekinesis would kick in long before she was able to aim and fire, so she did the next best thing. Feeling within the folds of her dress, she retrieved her zat and shot once at Panos.

"Daniel, he wasn't going to help us. He was just stalling until help arrived. Let's go." At that moment, the zat flew out of her hand as the prior approached her. She'd expected it and she hoped Daniel wouldn't tip his hand until the right moment.

"You've evaded my search parties for quite some time," the prior hissed as he drew closer to Vala, stopping only a foot or two from her. "And now you try to fully escape me."

"Wouldn't have been the first time I had my eye on a ship to get me out of unfriendly territory," Vala retorted.

The prior's hand flew fast and slapped her before Daniel had even registered the danger or could shout in protest.

"The mother of the Orici will not speak ill of the followers of the Ori."

Vala reached up and rubbed her cheek. "You're going to regret that."

Before the prior had a chance to strike Vala again, Daniel spoke up, drawing the prior's attention, "You know then, you know she carries the Orici."

The prior looked at Daniel as if noticing him for the first time, then he grabbed for Vala's arm and used her as a kind of shield while tilting his staff toward Daniel. So Daniel did what he did best, he kept the bad guy talking. "Why didn't you take her before if you knew who she was?"

"You both were being looked after, there was no cause for alarm at the time. Until you escaped from that barman." The prior tightened his hold on Vala's arm, and Daniel tried not to wince but kept his gaze locked with the pale-faced man as he continued speaking to Daniel. "You, however, are of no further use to us. Your seed was all that was necessary for the Orici's creation." The prior then turned his head and spoke icily in Vala's ear. "Would you like to watch as I choke the life from your companion?"

Vala stiffened at his words. "I'd rather not. I get somewhat nauseous at the sight of cold-blooded murder. But do what you have to do, I suppose. It doesn't matter much to me."

The prior smiled wickedly. "Your strength will serve the Orici well."

"Wonderful," she said, rolling her eyes and balling her fists in front of her.

Daniel watched the exchange and hoped for some opening, some way he could get a shot through. But Vala was still too close to the prior and he was beginning to aim his staff directly at Daniel.

"You know, on second thought, I'd rather you didn't kill him right now. I'm not through with him yet." She brought her right elbow back, the one the prior wasn't holding, and thrust it into the prior's stomach just as the orb in his staff began to glow brighter. The prior suddenly dropped the staff and doubled over. Vala then kicked at his shins and stomped on his instep, before going down to her knees with her hands at her throat.

Daniel swiftly drew his berretta and shot once into the prior's chest. The man staggered back and looked down at his own blood pouring from his heart. When he raised his arm to attack them again, Daniel came forward and shot again and again until the prior fell backwards, dead.

Holding the gun on the prior, Daniel reached out a hand to help Vala up.

"The diversion did the trick then?"

Daniel bent down to feel for the prior's pulse. "I suppose there's a level of concentration necessary for them to use their mental powers." He stood up then, picked up the prior's staff, and backed away from his lifeless body.

"Daniel?"

"Let's go." He was so ready for this nightmare to be over.

Vala quickly found her zat on the ground and they made their way into the scout ship. Daniel closed the hatch while Vala sat at the controls and brought the ship online.

They found the coordinates for the supergate in the ship's computer and once they had cleared the planet's atmosphere, they set a course. Dialing was simple and before they knew it, they were on the other side of the wormhole in their own galaxy. Piece of cake. It almost felt as if it should have been harder.

It took a few minutes to calibrate the ship's navigation system to their home galaxy's star charts, and every so often Daniel caught Vala stealing glances at him out of the corner of his eye. He was being rather quiet, but only because he had no idea what to say.

From the readings Panos had first taken on his scout mission, they knew exactly which planet to head for. It had a stargate and was uninhabited. They'd be able to land and contact the SGC and determine whether they should pilot the ship back themselves, or if a team of scientists should board and bring the ship in.

Entering the course on her console, Vala sat back and breathed out in relief. Turning toward Daniel who was still staring blankly out the window, Vala finally asked, "Are you all right?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't I be?" Daniel turned to face her. "The question is, are you all right?" he asked as he reached a hand out to touch her cheek where the prior had struck her. He'd really been frightened for her, and he was now floored by a strong desire to kiss and hold her. But Vala had asked him not to. It had been weeks, and he had hoped that she would eventually let him in, but she had remained simply friendly with him at all times.

"I'm fine." She didn't push his hand away but held it to her cheek and smiled at him. "Part of me is accustomed to that kind of abuse."

Daniel looked her straight in the eyes, and he thought, for a second, he'd seen her again, the real Vala, vulnerable yet strong. But just as suddenly, she was gone, surrounding herself by her mysteries as she leaned in close and kissed him on the cheek.

"I have a feeling that will be the last time I'll be able to kiss you for quite a while," she smirked as she leaned back in her chair. "You'll go back to being Dr. Jackson the hermit when we get back, won't you?"

She couldn't fool him completely anymore, but she did keep him guessing. Daniel sighed and watched her relax comfortably at her console. "So what part will you be playing? Space-pirate? Seductress? Nun?" Daniel's eyebrows rose inquisitively.

"Well, I'm not quite certain at the moment. Do you have a preference, darling?"

Daniel just shook his head. "I'll follow your lead."

Vala smiled back at him then, turning to face the console, she studied the terrain on the planet they were about to visit. Daniel looked over at the readout and pointed to a secluded clearing very close to the stargate. "There. We can land in this clearing in front of the gate. When we contact Stargate Command, they'll likely send a team to check us out and the rest of the area."

They dropped out of hyperspace and approached the planet. "First thing when I get back, I want a hot bath and a hot meal and a large bowl of chocolate ice cream and—"

"You do realize we're going to get checked out in the infirmary first. It'll probably take hours."

"Fine," Vala groaned, then she keyed a sequence into the console and began their descent. "Let's just get this day over with."

Upon landing they powered down the ship and exited, then headed for the gate. When they got to the DHD, Daniel began dialing Earth.

"Whatever happens, Vala, just remember, I meant what I said before. You are important to me. That won't change when we get back."

She started to say something, but instead just nodded to him, then he entered his IDC code and hailed the SGC with his radio.

"We read you, Dr. Jackson," came Walter Harriman's reply a minute or two later. "SG-1 is gearing up to rendezvous with you."

"Agreed. We'll be standing by."