Chapter 64

It was like something out of a memory. Or a dream. Or a nightmare. It all depends on your point of view.

Daniel Jackson stood in the door way of a night club. But not just any night club - a karaoke bar. Blood splattered and adrenaline fueled he stood with a look of utter confusion. He had walked through the door hoping to find Vala on the other side but instead found himself in a karaoke bar. One that he had frequented many times with the members of SG1 after particularly difficult missions. A place where they could let out their feelings through song. Even Jack, who had been known to belt one out every so often, despite being somewhat tone deaf and terribly, terribly drunk

"Didn't find what you were looking for Danny?" said a familliar voice to Daniel's right. He stood there momentarily stunned, although given what had happened the last few days, he really shouldn't have been. Turning in the direction of the voice, Daniel's confusion melted into a quivering mess.

"Mom?" he whispered, the words catching slightly in his throat.

Claire Jackson stared at her son's wide eyed shock with soft sweetness, "Hello baby. Its been a long time."

"Mom," Daniel cried as he pulled his mother into a warm embrace. "It's been longer than you'll ever know."

ooooo

"I thought you still had to be alive in order to reach Ascension?" Mitchell asked as he sat on the far end of the briefing room table.

"We were under that same impression," Weir countered, "But honestly we really don't know the whole picture regarding Ascension and what we do is nothing but a jumbled mess. We can't be certain of anything."

"But what about this Ascended that warned you," Sam said turning towards Sheppard. "Maybe she will be able to tell us more about it."

He could only shrug, "I've tried calling Chaya, but I haven't gotten a response. I think we have reached the limit of help that Ancients are willing to give at this point."

"To hell with the Ancients," Mitchell said as he took in everyone's shocked reactions. "What? I mean when have they ever really, and I mean really, done anything for us? They were more than willing to allow Anubis to destroy the galaxy rather than lift a finger in our favor. If Daniel hadn't of intervened, we would have been wiped from existence. I don't know about any of you, but I am tired of being at their mercy. I am tired of my friend's lives being placed in danger for their whims. I don't know about you, but I am not going to just stand around and let them do what they want, with whomever they want to do it with."

"What are you suggesting Colonel Mitchell?" Weir stated with piqued interest.

"If the Ancients are so eager to manipulate us to suit their needs, I think its time to give them a taste of their own medicine."

"How?" Sam asked not sure if she wanted to know what he had in mind.

"Daniel said that The Annals of the Emisarries, the chapter of The Book of the Ori, read alot like the biblical Book of Revelations meets Romeo and Juliet. So I'm thinking, what if, and this is a big if, we're able to use that to our advantage."

Sam looked to Mitchell with tremendous unease. She knew where he was heading with this, and she didn't like it one bit.

"We can't. It wouldn't be right."

"Can't or don't want to, Sam. Which one is it?"

"This isn't right. It isn't fair. Don't you think he's suffered enough."

"You can't let your personal feelings get in the way of what may be our best chance at changing the tide in this."

"My personal feelings? What about yours - "

"Hey!" Sheppard screamed as he stood up from his seat, ready at a moments notice to break up a fight if need be. "Would one of you please tell me what the hell is going on?"

"Cam wants to use Netan to get to Aja."

"Do you really think that would work at this point?" Weir asked skeptically. "I mean she didn't seem all that willing to help him before?"

"According to the Annals, Shadow has a counterpart, Light. Light has a tremendous influence on Shadow. They yearn to be together. I am thinking we can use Netan to try and get Aja on our side. I mean, the Ancients didn't stop her from Ascending, and if like Anubis, she had Goa'uld DNA in her blood at the time, it would make her a Hok'tar. An incredibly powerful force. One that could be used to our own means."

"So we would basically be manipulating her," Sam countered. "Not to mention risking the kind of toll it would take on Netan, both psychologically and emotionally. And then add to the fact he's recently had heart surgery. We have no way of knowing if it would work and I don't think we should put him through unecessary stress."

"With all do respect Colonel Carter, we're out of options at this point. I mean, what harm would it do to have Netan at least try and contact her? Maybe get some information out of her?"

"The harm, Colonel Sheppard, is that we don't know if she is even mentally stable. She's insane. We have no way of predicting her behavior and right now, we are dealing with enough uncertainties."

"I agree with Colonel Carter."

"Elizabeth!"

"Don't fight me on this, John. Colonel Carter has a point. Its too risky. There are too many uncertainties for me to put my support behind it. I say that we stick with what we know. We have the means to destroy the Supergate, stop the Ori invasion. I say we follow through."

"But what about Vala?"

"I'm sorry, Colonel Mitchell, but wth Daniel out of comission for the foreseen future we have to focus on the situation at hand. We cannot let The Ori into this galaxy. Daniel was the only connection that we have to Vala, and without that connection we have no way of finding her. I'm sorry, but we have to start facing the reality that we can't save everyone. No matter how much we would like to."