The previous days' heatwave having abated somewhat, Sam and Cam patrolled a part of the Dakaran ruins that surrounded the present dig site, their P-90s still close to their chests. As they passed towering and crumbling stone ruins, Cam groaned as he kicked a piece of rubble, the Colonel looking well and truly fed up. "I'm telling you... I can't take much more of this. It wouldn't be so bad... the heat and the flies and the..." He momentarily scrunched his nose up. "... smell, but those two keep on bickering. You gotta hand it to T for not bashing both their brains out by now."
Sam sighed, raising an eyebrow briefly as she too looked and felt fatigued. "Tell me about it. I didn't want to let it get to me but I couldn't bring myself to share his tent these last couple of nights after hearing him and Vala go for each other's throats every other day..."
"Well, that explains his half of it." He patted her on the shoulder. "Don't worry... Landry will get annoyed with our lack of progress and call us back soon..." He continued quietly, "I hope."
She shrugged. "I hope Daniel finds what he's looking for before it comes down to that... he could be onto something."
They simultaneously groaned in exasperation when they heard Vala's voice from somewhere in the distance, the alien sounding tired, "Look at my hands, all right? They are raw and bleeding. I've broken every nail. We've been out here in the scorching heat for days. I haven't showered!"
Cam remarked testily, glancing at Sam, "She thinks she's got problems..."
They rolled their eyes in exasperation on hearing an irritable Daniel, and the beginnings of yet another argument. "None of us have."
"That is painfully obvious. Now, according to you, this crusty old chest is our salvation from oppression at the hands of the Ori army. Our best – and maybe only – remaining chance that we have. We've dug how many holes in the ground? Help me out here, Muscles..."
Cam groaned again and muttered sarcastically. "Sure, drag T into it... after getting him so pissed..."
Sam asked, beginning to look hopeful, "Do you think they've found it?"
"Well, no-one's radioed... let 'em duke it out for a bit."
They sighed as they walked away from the site, the sound gradually fading of Vala and Daniel bickering, when suddenly they both looked up at the sky on hearing something. Cam, his eyes on the sky, nudged Sam, who then pulled out binoculars. She focussed on a small shape in the sky that was rather swiftly getting bigger, and then the Astrophysicist visibly blanched.
"Oh boy."
She passed the binoculars to Cam, who remarked, annoyed, "Somehow I'd choose our old married couple over my fiancée's ex."
Suddenly several Ori fighters were very close, firing upon the ruins near to them as they fired back, Cam calling into his radio as he and Sam ran to strategical points in the ruins, "Hey, kids, guess what?"
He glanced at Sam and continued to fire at several fighters that soared overheard in the direction of the dig site. He continued as he noticed to his dismay that many Ori soldiers had already landed and were now about to launch a ground assault on their position, "We are under fire."
He muttered as he grimaced, now shooting at the advancing soldiers before ducking behind a part of the ruins as Sam did the same, "What I wouldn't do for a staff weapon right about now..."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Meanwhile, as Teal'c took up a firing position near to an entrance to the dig site but not too far away from him, Daniel used the heavy-set ornate metallic box that they had discovered earlier as a firing position. He frowned as he heard the sounds of Ori energy weapon blasts and P-90 bullets which were coming ever closer. Within minutes, Sam and Cam quickly entered the scene, Cam taking up a position behind a fallen stone slab some metres in front of him as Vala joined the Colonel, while Sam took up a position near a pillar in front of Teal'c.
Daniel allowed himself to smile briefly in relief on seeing them both alive after fighting the urge to use his radio earlier to ask after Sam. Forcing himself to focus, his finger tightened around the trigger of the firearm that he held as Sam called from her position,
"There's too many of them!"
Daniel gazed at her for the briefest of moments, knowing that he owed her a big apology when the current situation abated, but he was shaken out of his thoughts by Vala, who looked back at him, gesturing to the box. "How about now?"
Daniel agreed. "Yeah. Now works for me." If this was indeed the Ark, what better way to test it. Sighing, he threw his P-90 to one side before grabbing a hammer and chisel. The Archaeologist got to work as his friends other than Vala kept their firearms trained on the entrance, moments before Tomin's voice was heard.
Daniel, now working faster to open the 'Ark', glanced up at Cam, curious as to how the Colonel would take the return of Vala's husband. He couldn't see his face, but he noticed Cam's shoulders drop for the briefest of seconds. The Archaeologist raised his eyebrows slightly as he continued his inner discourse and physical struggle.
Eventually, he began to surmise that he wouldn't be able to open the box as he wrested with the lid. He began to wonder as he muttered some choice swear words in Abydonian, how, if they were indeed being targeted from space as Tomin had just claimed, the Ori forces hadn't found them sooner. Perhaps this was the Ark. This gave him fresh hope and a new zeal to increase his efforts as Cam gradually became increasingly surly in his retorts to the forces that remained outside for the time being, as well as to Vala.
After a while, after Vala suggested getting the Ori forces to open it and had then invited Tomin and his men into the dig site, Daniel, breathing heavily from his exertion, stood up, dropping his hammer and chisel, and hoping in vain that they could go home very soon. The rest of the team disarmed and loosely gathered around his position seconds before Tomin and his men entered the scene, Daniel catching Sam glancing at him in concern for the briefest of moments.
The soldiers surrounded them, looking ready to fire as Vala stood up, bemoaning then of all times the fact that she hadn't had time to take care of her appearance lately, before she greeted Tomin. Again, Daniel noticed Cam's shoulders drop on seeing a potential rival for his fiancée's affections despite their current situation, and as the Colonel cut an even surlier retort, Daniel glanced at Sam again, who nodded slightly as they and Teal'c too sensed a growing tension between the two men.
Soon afterwards, a Prior strode into the excavation site as Tomin and his men bowed in reverence. To prevent any bloodshed down to Cam's growing belligerence, Daniel replied to the Prior's question with regard to the artefact that they had discovered,
"No, wait, wait. No need to be difficult here. You want to know what it is, I'll tell you. Inside this Ark is the secret to destroying the armies of the Ori, and I think the last thing you're gonna want to do is open it."
"You think I fear the contents?"
Typical Ori arrogance, Daniel thought as he continued with the team's hastily created plan. "I-I'm saying you really should."
The Prior fell into his trap. "Open it."
The soldiers attempted to open it as Daniel continued to protest, but on finding it sealed shut, Tomin aimed his staff weapon at the box as Daniel shouted, "Wait! No!"
Well, it turned out not to be the Ark. Daniel blinked in a disappointed surprise. He, Cam, Sam and Vala had cancelled their weddings for a dead end. Soon, he found himself along with his friends at the business end of a staff weapon, and he idly wondered whether the week could get any worse for the team.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"How have you been?"
Back at the SGC, after the team had each had a good long shower, a change of clothes, and a decent meal, Vala, in combat fatigues, sat next to Tomin in the VIP quarters allocated to him. The now former commander of the Ori forces had been welcomed as a guest after he had returned to the SGC with SG-1 once the Prior had been killed, and Sam had explained to him how the Anti-Prior device worked. Vala sighed as she looked down at her hands and then at him, hurt on seeing the pain on his face.
"Um... quite good actually." She bobbed her head thoughtfully. "Yeah, not too bad."
He tenderly touched her cheek, feeling guilty. "I regret what I did... I was ordered to commit vile atrocities... and I lost you."
She sighed as she gazed up at him. "Look... Tomin, we'll talk later. I think Daniel wants to talk to you about the Ark."
He nodded and then looked around at the interior décor of the quarters as Vala held his hand, and he said, eventually looking back at her with a soft smile, "This is a nice planet."
"Oh, believe me, there's a lot more to it. Cameron took me to a place called Kansas... and..."
His gaze fell and she trailed off, realising that he was hurt. He said, looking at her, regretting his previous service to the Ori, "You and Cameron are intimate, are you not?"
She crossed the fingers of her other hand as Cam did on occasion when he was deliberately telling lies, and she said breezily, not wanting to hurt him even more, "He's a friend."
He bobbed his head sceptically and went back to looking around the room as Vala looked increasingly pensive. "Judging by his increasingly vehement reaction to me, I sense that he is more than simply a friend."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Sam spied Daniel in a corridor, looking purposeful as he strode towards the lifts. She noticed how much calmer he now seemed than he had on Dakara, but he still looked harassed. She called after him as she jogged towards him, "Hey!"
He stopped and turned to her, looking surprised at first before smiling at her as she stood in front of him. "Hey."
She cocked her head in the direction of the lifts briefly. "You going to see Tomin?"
He nodded, looking solemn. "Vala's with him now... and Mitchell's with Landry."
"Oh yeah... there's an IOA rep in town."
He raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Woolsey?"
She shook her head. "No, he's in Atlantis. James Merek. Cam's in an even bigger bad mood."
"I can imagine... the IOA aren't exactly easy to deal with, plus his fiancée's husband is here." He sighed as he looked down as he remembered his previous behaviour, and he then said to her, looking regretful, "Listen, about Dakara..."
She grabbed his hand, startling him momentarily as she led him away. "Come on, let's go to your office."
He protested, admittedly a little scared as well as concerned that if they were going to have an argument, he wouldn't be able to see Tomin for several hours due to the argument and then the resultant grumpiness. "Sam... I've got to..."
She glanced back at him as they entered his office, the Colonel closing the door behind them. "It won't take long."
She backed him up against the closed door and took his glasses off as he frowned at her. She then said, rolling her eyes, "I wanted to kill you on Dakara... and I'm sure Cam and Teal'c felt the same. You and Vala wouldn't stop bickering. Cam took to referring to you two as the team's old married couple."
He shook his head as he looked down. "I'm sorry. It was just so hot and she wouldn't stop moaning... and I kept thinking I'd led you guys out there for nothing. And I think I kind of did... but then Tomin warned us about the plan to send battleships and possibly attack Earth. Ok, so we kind of knew that that was possible, but we know something's going to happen and..." He paused and then closed his eyes as he rested his head back against the door as Sam looked mildly amused. "I know... I'm rambling again."
She, concerned, held his hand as he opened his eyes again. "Have you had any more visions?"
He grimaced a little. "Just a little one. When Tomin blasted the box open... I saw the mountain exploding again. I guess we're getting closer."
She shrugged. "Maybe we are." She looked down at his hand, now looking bewilderingly penitent. "I'm sorry."
He frowned and tilted her face up so that she was facing him once again. "Uh, why? You and Mitchell weren't acting like kids for over a week."
She shook her head as her gaze dropped again. "I lost faith in you. I just got so pissed at you acting the way you did..."
He sighed, nodding in understanding. "Hey, don't worry... I would if I'd treated me the same way that I had treated you... and everyone." He stroked her cheek. "I'm sorry about that. I kept trying to keep my cool but I lost it faster and faster each time... and I pushed you away."
She gently kissed him. "You weren't actually mad at me... that's what counts. I mean, sure, I came close to whacking you over the head a couple of times, and I'm sure Cam did too, but we knew that you were frustrated. We all were."
He asked her, still looking unsure, "We're still ok, right?"
She pushed him up against the door as she kissed him again, a hand lost in his hair as his hands stroked her waist and back. When they parted, he grinned, looking a lot more relaxed. "I'll take that as a 'yes'."
As she looked happy on seeing his mood visibly improve, he asked, "So... can I have my glasses back? Unless you want me accidentally stumbling into the women's locker-room..." He suggestively raised his eyebrows at her, and she rolled her eyes.
"Hey, even if you did with your glasses on, I'd trust you not to gawp." She gave him a quick kiss and then slipped his glasses back on before quickly tidying up his hair and clothes. He rolled his eyes this time, remarking,
"I'm a grown man, Sam... I can sort myself out."
She retorted, an eyebrow raised, "Yes. And if I let you have your way, you'd forget your own head." She opened the door with a straight face as he straightened up. "Now... care to go before someone sends out a search party?" She then smiled and gave him another kiss as he looked amused at her struggling to remain professional.