AN: I'm getting really bad for updating this fic, I'm so sorry!
Thanks to Annedith for the BETA.
Let me know what you think :o)
***
"Well now that that's all sorted out what do you say to some cake?" Jack tried to sound chipper but his limited attention span had waned hours ago. They had been sitting in the briefing room for almost 5 hours while SG1 told them everything that had happened and then pleaded their case, successfully, for time off. While he had to admit it was more interesting than most of the meetings he attended these days, it had still dragged on too long for his liking.
"Sounds like a plan, Sir." Cam agreed, equally eager to get out of there.
The others rose and where about to leave when Anarion spoke, "May I speak with you in private, General Landry?"
Landry shot the others a confused look but agreed, "Why don't we go into my office and talk while the others go ahead to the mess hall?"
"Anarion?" Vala questioned.
"I simply wish to talk about some smaller matters before I agree to enter into a treaty with these people, Vala." His tone was that of a King dismissing a servant rather than a brother speaking to his sister and he knew he would pay for it later but the matters he wanted to talk to the General about were not for her to hear.
A scowl passed over Vala's features but she didn't argue, "Fine, I'll see you soon in the mess."
Anarion followed Landry into his office and took the seat in front of his desk.
"Is there something specific you wanted to talk about?" Landry asked once they were settled.
"I wish to talk to you about my sister. It has come to my understanding that she lives permanently on this base and is not allowed to leave without being accompanied by a member of her team. If we are to enter into a treaty of alliance with your world, this situation must be rectified as it will be my sister I will be appointing as the ambassador of Eriador."
"The I.O.A, the committee that oversees these matters, has some concerns about Vala's previous way of life that influences her security status." Landry could see the man's point, he himself had been lobbying the I.O.A for awhile about Vala's status without much luck.
"Is she a prisoner here?" Anarion had been outraged when he learned of the situation Vala lived in on Earth.
Landry sighed, "No, but the I.O.A still feels that she cannot be allowed to go free on Earth unsupervised; a position I've been trying to change for some months."
"If we are to go ahead with this treaty it is a point on which I shall not compromise."
"I'll be sure to include that in my report."
Anarion stood and clasped Landry's hand, "I believe you will. You are a good man, General."
"So are you." Landry responded before calling to Siler, "Escort King Anarion to the mess, Sergeant."
***
"What is this?" Eldarin cautiously prodded the content of the bowl in front of him, it wobbled in response and his face screwed up.
"It's called 'Jello'." Sam explained.
Carefully Eldarin lifted some of it onto his spoon, "It's bright blue."
Sam laughed, "It's pretty good, just try it."
Eldarin's face screwed up in disgust as the jello disappeared into his mouth. His face froze, not knowing wither to chew or swallow.
Vala caught the look in his eye and growled under her breath, "Don't you dare try and spit it out, swallow it."
He closed his eyes and prayed that the blue substance wouldn't kill him as he swallowed. When he opened his eyes again he wordlessly passed his bowl of gelatine over to his sister; the others at the table bursting out laughing. It was at this moment that Anarion joined them.
"What's so funny?" he questioned as he took the seat beside Jack.
Vala and Eldarin shared a look and a smile before Vala passed the gelatine to Anarion, "Try this, it's an Earth delicacy." Vala told him, an innocent look on her face.
The identical smiles on his siblings faces was enough to tip him off that something was wrong but he wouldn't give them the satisfaction of playing their little game and, in three large spoonfuls, finished off the bowl.
The seven other people at the table felt their jaws drop at the display.
Anarion held his grin as long as possible before reaching for the glass of water in front of him and gulping it down and smacking his lips together in disgust, "That has to be one of the vilest things I have ever eaten in my life."
His words broke the moment and they all began laughing again.
***
Vala lay tossing and turning in a restless sleep.
Suddenly her eyes shot open and as she stared at the ceiling it appeared to become engulfed in flame. Frozen in fear she watched as the flames merged and, directly above her, a hideous face emerged and loomed over her. It spoke no words but she could feel the hatred pouring off of it as it came close until it was a hair's breadth above her face.
Just as she thought the flaming face would consume her she woke up, a scream caught in her throat.
Her whole body shook as she stood and grabbed for her dressing gown. When, after the third attempt, she was still not able to get her arms in to it she dropped it to the ground and stumbled over to the door.
She received several strange looks from the night personnel as she staggered along the corridor towards Daniel's quarters, her breath coming in huge gasps and unfelt tears streaming down her face. When she reached the door she half banged on it and half scratched at it in her desperation for him to answer.
"Vala?" Daniel squinted into the light of the hallway as he answered the door, absently scratching at his exposed stomach, "What's wrong? What happened?"
Vala didn't respond, she simply threw her trembling body into his arms and cried against his chest. Daniel hastily wrapped his arms around her as he felt her legs give out and lifted her into his arms, kicking the door closed behind them. He went over and sat on the bed, his worry increasing as Vala curled into a ball in his lap. She didn't speak as he tried to comfort her and it was fully twenty minutes before she had calmed down enough for her breathing to return to normal and her tremors to stop.
"Vala, what happened?" He asked softly but she still didn't answer. She pushed on his chest until he picked up the idea that she wanted him to lie down and then she curled into his side as he drew the duvet over them. He smiled momentarily as Vala drew it further up over their heads until they were in their own little cocoon.
"Did you have a bad dream?" It was the only thing he could think of at 3am that would bring her to his door in this state.
"I don't think it was a dream." She whispered, her voice hoarse from crying.
"What happened?" He tightened his hold on her as another tremor shook her body.
"It was like before, when the Ori…" She trailed off and it was several minuets before she spoke again, "I think they're back."
She didn't say anymore and for the next few hours Daniel held her as she clung tightly to him.
Neither of them slept and when alarms sounded at 7am Vala gave a small yelp when the loud noise penetrated their warm silent cocoon.
"Shh, it's just the gate alarm." Daniel told her as she began to shake again, he was becoming increasingly worried about what exactly Vala had seen last night.
"SG1 report to the Gate Room" came across the A.P system once the alarm had stopped.
"Come on, we need to get up." Daniel managed to coax Vala out of the bed and after grabbing a shirt for himself and a jumpsuit for Vala they made their way to the gate room.
The others were already there along with Anarion and Eldarin when they entered, Vala clinging to Daniels side. The Captain of the Guard of the gate on Eriador was standing in the gate room, his face pale and a look of urgency in his eyes.
"My Lord, your presence is required immediately." He addressed Anarion, "Yesterday when you left the storm worsened and it has not stopped at all apart from a few hours ago when the sky itself seemed to fill with fire. Now the entire western horizon is red with flame and we have had no word from any of the outposts west of the High Hills since then. The Captains are drawing all the people into the cities and are preparing to raise the shields but you must return with all haste."
"We will come immediately." Anarion responded turning to Vala and the rest of SG1, "I will contact you when this issue is resolved, Sister, but for now you must stay here where it is safe."
"Like hell I will," Vala told him, finally letting go of Daniel, "It's my world, too, and if something's happening then I'm going with you to sort it out. I won't hide while the men go off and fix things."
Anarion sighed and turned to Landry for support but he got none, "SG1 will go with you." Landry told them, "Go gear up and be prepared to leave in 15 minuets."
SG1 nodded in reply and set off for the changing rooms without another word.
Jack was waiting for the other men in their locker room, leaning casually against Daniel's locker. He stood watching them for a moment but once Daniel reached into his locker to get his jacket out, he spoke.
"Once again I have to ask, what has she dragged you into this time?"
***
The rain was lashing down as they stepped through the gate, the ground now water logged beneath their feet. Horses stood waiting for them and they quickly mounted them but instead of going down the path the way they had before Anarion urged his horse into a gallop in the opposite direction.
"Where are we going?" Cam was able to shout over the rain and the wind.
"Down to Andros, from there we can use Prowlers to get to the city faster." Eldarin shouted back.
Any reply Cam may have made was lost in the wind.
They rode hard down the road for almost an hour before a huge domed structure seemed to suddenly rise in front of them. They dismounted and rushed inside, unlike all the structures they had seen before, this one was made of black polished stone that the rain ran off in great torrents.
Anarion called out to the guard who seemed to be waiting for them, "Are they ready?"
"Yes my Lord, four Prowlers are ready to fly."
"Master Teal'c?" Anarion turned back to face them, "You can fly a Jaffa death glider?"
"I can."
"Good, then you can fly on your own, the controls are very similar. Cameron, you shall ride with Vala and Dr Jackson with Eldarin, Samantha will come with me."
The confused group made their way over to the Prowlers. They didn't look too different from death gliders or from the F-302's except they were slightly smaller and more streamlined.
They all got into their allotted seats and within moments the roof of the great dome was pulling back.
Cam looked straight up with some trepidation, there was no runway or any other way for the Prowlers to gain speed before taking off and it was beginning to worry him.
"Vala? You sure you know how to fly one of these things?"
He could hear the grin in her reply, "Yes Cameron, I'm quite sure."
He didn't get a chance to respond as suddenly Vala ignited the engines and he was pinned to his seat when the nose of the Prowler shot up and they went in a vertical straight line into the dark sky.
"I have got to get me one of these!" He cried when they levelled out. The speed on them was amazing and from what he could see of Eldarin's Prowler they had a fascinating agility as well. The visibility was low and Cam couldn't tell how close they were getting to the city until, around half an hour later when its force shield could be seen almost right in front of them.
Vala brought the Prowler down to land and they found that Anarion and Teal'c had already landed beside them and they were waiting under the wing out of the rain.
"Where's Eldarin?" Vala shouted, "Do you think he got lost in this weather?"
As the words where out of her mouth a loud crack split the sky and the remaining Prowler shot out of the clouds heading straight for the ground.
"He's going to crash!" Sam cried.
The Prowler got closer and closer to the ground and it still hadn't pulled up until at the very last second it took an almost 90 degree turn and came to a stop beside them.
The canopy popped open and Daniel shot out, he was sick as soon as his feet touched the ground and he shot an evil look at Eldarin as he walked past him to the others.
Eldarin had a huge grin on his face as he came under the wing and out of the rain. It was promptly wiped off his face when Vala smacked him round the back of the head.
"Not funny." She told him before walking over to a stumbling Daniel.
"Come on, we don't have time for this." Anarion told them as he strode off towards the main gates of the city.
The others all followed, a heavy sense of foreboding settling on all of them.