Mr Mal Doran

spacegypsy1

Chapter Eight

(Photo credit to Adishni thank you very much!)

~0i0~

Rolling over, Vala put a hand on Daniel's chest, pulled the sheet up over both of them, yawned, and muttered, "Alright, darling, talk away, I'm not going to listen."

"When the Priors left, and no Ori came back, the Shandoh..."

"Who?"

"I thought you weren't listening."

"Not." Her hand began to travel downwards.

"Wait." he grabbed her wrist. "The Shandoh, the not so nice people who tortured – in a way – me and..."

"In a way? And someone is knocking at the door."

"I think the knocking is across the hall, and by 'in a way' I mean that it was really more mental torture. Things got scrambled, old memories fractured into confusing scenarios where they were shuffled together. I think some of the memories of the pain from the radiation poisoning and the Honduras torture infused into my mind because of the memory device."

"Oh, I'm sorry you suffered, you know that Daniel. And I certainly want you to continue talking to remember everything. Sort of putting your little pieces back together. I'm too sleepy to understand all the rest of this right now. You've kept me up all night... I suppose one might say I kept you up all night. I'm going to listen while I close my eyes."

"Mmm, one might say that. Anyway, when the Shandoh realized the Ori weren't coming back, they started seeking other ways to ascend. They read every page of Origin and searched any old records from the time of the Goa'uld they could find hoping to locate mention of the Alterans. They were doing hours and hours of prostrating until we showed up then they started hiding it from us because they were aware of SG1's hand in the whole mess. That's why they disappeared for most of the day. And of course, they started surreptitiously seeking to collect what I knew. Followed by aggressive interrogations of all of us. For a while, I thought for sure they didn't understand that we weren't like the Goa'uld or the Ori. Then when they didn't get the information they wanted, that's when we all were tossed in the dungeon and I was treated to their most hostile information methodology.

"Each time I was subjected to the memory device the Shandoh only wanted to know about the ease of life after ascending. What transpired while ascended? How did I ascend? How to ascend quickly without dying? How did the Ori ascend? Who were the Alterans and how did they ascend? Over and over and over. I was roughed up and it wasn't pleasant, but it felt like there was more mental than physical torture. Unknowingly, they managed to make my brain think I sustained more serious injuries. I thought I was dying. The pain was intense but the more time I was away from the device the more the pain began to subside. And, obviously, each time they hooked me up it chipped away more and more of my memory. That didn't come back as quickly as the physical healing happened.

"The device they had was from the Goa'uld. Left there so long ago no one knew exactly how to use it. Very few knew how to read Goa'uld. No one knew how to use the Stargate for travel, only those few knew how to communicate through it – which is how they contacted us. They expected us to come in spaceships and thought the Ori just miraculously appeared. There is no Naquadah on that planet. There is not much of anything there. And contrary to Mitchell's thinking they are dumb as a post they actually are clever, devious and smart in figuring out ways to avoid any work, whatsoever. They want to ascend so they don't have to farm and fish any longer. They want power. They want to rule the universe. They want to be gods. Yeah, okay, dumb as a post."

Thinking Vala may have fallen asleep Daniel looked down at her only to find her wide awake and grinning.

Stretching provocatively, Vala sighed, "I think avoiding work is the best reason I've heard of for seeking ascension. Forget spirituality, I'm all about sitting around a diner and eating pie. That's what you told me, right? A diner is where you go when you ascend? No? Well, anyway, I do love you unconditionally, Daniel. And you do love me too, I know it. And I think a little morning nuking would be a...

"Nookie?"

"Oh, right, but anyway, I think it would be lovely, but someone is knocking on my door."

"Holy buckets!" Daniel sprang from the bed and grabbed his pants, hopping leg to leg to get them on. Shirtless and with a half buttoned fly, he opened the door. "Jack."

"Daniel."

"What's new?"

"You didn't show up for the meeting."

"I was, er, unavailable. Memory thing. Remember?"

"Obviously you do."

"Do what?"

"Remember."

"Remember what?"

"The meeting!"

"I told you I didn't remember the meeting!" Daniel looked past Jack to find Mitchell, Teal'c, Sam and Carolyn gathered, then looked back at Jack and smiled.

"All better now?" Jack asked.

"Oh yeah." Daniel said with a grin. "All parts seem to be working."

"Too much information." Sam mumbled.

Cam rubbed his forehead and looked away while Teal'c raised a brow and Carolyn appeared to be dumfounded.

Daniel leaned casually against the door jam. "Why are you all here?"

Sam croaked out, "We were..."

"Worried..." Jack added.

"Ah, about you, and …." Cam said, still not looking at Daniel.

"Vala Mal Doran." Teal'c finished.

"We're fine. I remembered everything when I was in the elevator last night, well some of it came this morning."

"There is that, about the elevator. We'll just postpone the meeting for later today. When you're done. With whatever you two are doing, not that we need to know."

Vala, wrapped in a sheet, peeked over Daniel's shoulder. "Daniel and I had sex," she grinned with shoulders raised high. "It was amazing."

Sam pirouetted, "Ah boy, way too much information." And off she went.

Teal'c nodded as Jack shook his head and both followed Sam.

"Hey, Mr. Mal Doran, you gonna marry that chick, make it legal?" Mitchell called out as Carolyn took off after the others, dragging him with her.

Daniel grinned, turning around to Vala. "Yep."

~THE END