Fiction > Het Fic > Novels > Honor Amongst Thieves (Original Version)

Honor Amongst Thieves (Original Version) by Cleo the Muse
Rating: Older Kids
Genre: Het (Daniel/Vala), AU, Action/Adventure, Drama, Humor, Romance
Warnings: Some foul language (though nothing too severe), some questionable comments from Vala, and (since some folk don't like him) Jonas Quinn.
Episodes: Nothing's sacred. Basically, any episode which has either Daniel or Vala in it (and maybe a few which don't), so... the first movie through season ten?
Synopsis: Vala Mal Doran steals a cargo ship, but wrecks it on a backwater little farm planet whose people don't even speak a dialect she can understand. Fortunately, there is a stranger living among them who is able to translate. He arrived on that planet in a flash of light only months before, and has yet to remember who he is. When a conversation with the incorrigible thief leads him to remember his name, Daniel agrees to travel with her through the Stargate to find his past.
Notes: Loosely based on Ael L. Bolt's "Five Daniels That Weren't: The Third Daniel - Pirate". Now, the part that might REALLY send you for a loop is that I wrote and posted a chapter EVERY WEEKDAY for three months to get this plot bunny to stop nibbling on me!
Status: Completed as of May 16, 2007
Disclaimer: See The Fine Print.  I don't own Stargate... it owns me *eg*.

Ch. 1-10      Ch. 11-20      Ch. 21-30      Ch. 31-40      Ch. 41-50      Ch. 51-60      Ch. 61-70

Honor Amongst Thieves

Chapter 41

He traced the slightly-angular glyph once before pressing it down, the shape and the outline of the panel glowing from within as they were locked into place. Before he could over-think this too much, he quickly tapped the final symbol—the point of origin—and slammed the palm of his hand down on the red dome in the center of the device. A flood of blue swelled outward from the standing ring of stone before rushing back on itself and taking on the resemblance of a vertical pool of radiant water.

Daniel swallowed heavily, gazing longingly at the mesmerizing play of light rippling across the wormhole's event horizon. He couldn't fathom ever growing tired of seeing the Stargate come to life, bridging thousands of light years, permitting those vast distances to be crossed in a single step. This particular threshold could not be passed at this time, however, not without spelling certain doom at the other end of the connection. The address had come to him in a dream, had felt so terribly familiar and normal as his fingers caressed each of the symbols before activating them.

After several long minutes, the wormhole snapped shut, some internal mechanism of the Ancient transportation device sensing that nothing was passing through the circle. Sighing, he pinched the bridge of his nose and turned around, preparing to trek down the hill and return to his new home. Vala was all he needed now, not the memory of friendships which had once been. Despite the saucy thief's colorful history and occasionally-eccentric behavior, she was the woman with whom he had quite accidentally fallen in love. To his utter amazement and delight, his affections were returned. For the first time in what felt like a long time, he was happy.

He couldn't figure out why she was lying to him, though, or what it was she was concealing.

"They didn't know who you were," she'd accidentally let slip, quickly changing the subject when he questioned her on it. Perfectly innocent words by themselves, but she'd said them as though she knew something more... something dangerous about the Luciens finding out who he was and his planet of origin. He was Doctor Daniel Jackson, former member of SG-1, native of the planet Earth. He was Tau'ri and an archaeologist, linguist, and anthropologist. He was a former scholar and soldier, now a treasure hunter and aspiring space pirate. He could not possibly be someone so famous—or perhaps even infamous—that Vala would need fear the revelation of his very name could bring either of them harm.

Or was he?

He felt tremendously conflicted and distracted, having difficulty reconciling the actions of the woman he trusted with his life. He trusted her to watch his back and keep him somewhat stable and sane, but it was becoming apparent that she had taken her protective instincts a step farther and was guarding something from him. But what?

The front door of Sarilis Camir's repair shop banged shut behind him, announcing his return to the ladies currently picking over some random bit of junk found aboard Hadris Maz's personal tel'tak. Now, of course, the vessel was the property of Vala Mal Doran and Daniel Jackson. His partner looked up and smiled brightly in greeting, bouncing up from her chair and wrapping her arms around his shoulders, giving him a quick kiss. The older woman merely nodded his direction and returned her attention to dismantling the device on the table before her.

"Enjoy your walk?" Vala asked cheerfully.

"Yes. Can we talk in private?"

She recoiled slightly, perhaps not liking the expression on his face. He thought he was maintaining a neutral expression, but he could have been wrong. "About what? We could go upstairs, if—"

He nodded quickly. "Yes, upstairs is fine. It's about something you said day before yesterday."

"Oh," she replied simply, spinning on heel and wrapping her arms around herself. He recognized the gesture as one of his own and mentally sighed. He had hoped to not make her feel defensive in any way, but it seemed he hadn't done a good job of it.

Once inside the bedroom, he pulled the door shut and grabbed one of the chairs from the table along the wall. Taking the other chair for her own, Vala seated herself on the opposite side of the table and primly clasped her hands together on the flat surface. "I realize I didn't exactly say that I loved you in return," she began quickly, staring at her fingers, "but I do you know."

"I know," he answered softly, scooting his chair as close to the table as possible and taking her hands in his. "That's not what I wanted to talk about, though."

"Oh."

Daniel sighed, knowing this could be difficult. "Now that we're... together, I think we should try to be as honest with one another as we possibly can. It's probably going to be us against the galaxy many times in the future, and I think it would be a lot easier if we... if we could ensure that another thing we can always count on between us is trust."

"Of course," she agreed, nodding solemnly. "Why are we bringing this up now? I've told you already that I trust you, Daniel."

"Do you? Because you've been lying to me, but I don't know for how long or why."

"Lying to you? What do you mean?"

He exhaled heavily. "The other day, you seemed to imply that if the Luciens had known who I was or where I came from that they wouldn't have been so quick to threaten to kill me."

"I didn't say that," she replied, frowning.

"You didn't really have to say anything. It was what you didn't say that bothered me, actually." He closed his eyes, then opened them. "Vala, do you know who I am?"

"Of course," she answered. "You're Daniel Jackson of the Tau'ri, the man I love."

Daniel's eyes narrowed. "That's not what I meant. I don't want to sound distrustful or anything, but I can't help but feel that you know something about me you're not telling."

Vala shook her head, but then stopped at the expression of disappointment he gave her. Her shoulders drooped as she slumped in her chair. "You're Doctor Daniel Jackson of SG-1, a team of Tau'ri warriors credited with the deaths of several well-known System Lords and who-knows-how-many minor Goa'uld."

He rubbed at the knots of tension along the back of his neck. "How did you find all this out about me?"

Now she looked truly miserable, drawing her feet up onto the edge of her chair and wrapping her arms around her knees. "From a Goa'uld-issue bounty marker. An old one, though, from before the Tok'ra reported you dead."

Despite himself, he felt his lips quirk. "Ah, yes. Aris Boch once told me I was worth about a day's rations."

Vala choked. "A day's rations of what? For everyone in the galaxy?"

"Well, he didn't specify, but—"

She gave a humorless bark of laughter. "Daniel, I have no idea when or where you might have met a notorious bounty hunter like Aris Boch, but I can tell you that as of the issue of this last marker, you were quite likely the single-most valuable catch in the entire galaxy."

Daniel felt his jaw drop. "'Single-most valuable?'" he repeated numbly.

"Not much more than your Jaffa friend, Teal'c, but the Lucien Alliance would have been able to buy themselves a few ha'tak by handing you over to the System Lords."

"You're kidding."

She shook her head. "And that was what you were worth before you were reported dead. If word got out that you were actually alive and no longer under the protection of the rest of your team? There wouldn't be a hole deep enough on any planet in the galaxy to hide you from the opportunists who'd come to make a name and fortune for themselves. You would be hunted the rest of your life."

He couldn't believe it. He was a scholar, a scientist. What could he have possibly done to merit such obvious hatred from the most powerful rulers of the galaxy? Yet for all his incredulity, he was unable to deny the pained honesty in Vala's eyes, the terrible truth that she'd been concealing for who-knew-how-long in what he suddenly realized was a well-intentioned attempt to protect him from his own apparent notoriety.

"I only found out about it after mentioning the names of your friends to Sarilis," Vala admitted.

"Sarilis knows?"

"She's the one who showed me the marker. It was while you were having all those terrible flashbacks, Daniel. I actually went to tell you, but when I sat down beside you on the bed, you were just so happy to have remembered your surname that I made the decision to not tell you. I am so sorry, Daniel, I thought I was doing the right thing, but—"

"Hey," he interrupted, stretching across the table to grab one of her hands. "You did it to protect me, didn't you?"

"Yes. I was afraid that... well, I was afraid. I almost lost you on Jaya, and then you had all those horrible flashbacks, and then I... I thought maybe it would be too much for you to take in at once."

Daniel smiled sadly, thinking back on the muddled confusion that was the week following their return from Balin's homeworld. "You're probably right. I might also have not remembered you'd said anything and we'd still be right here, having this conversation. It might have been the wrong thing to do, but your heart was definitely in the right place."

Vala looked up at him, looking so hopeful he wanted to leap across the table and enfold her in a hug of reassurance. "Do you forgive me?"

"Absolutely," he agreed, giving her hand a squeeze. "There are some things I've been keeping from you, too. Since we're shooting for honesty, I might as well go ahead and..."

"You don't have to," she quickly denied, shaking her head vehemently.

"I can't expect you to tell me the truth about everything and not do the same myself," Daniel replied. He drew a deep breath. "I remember almost everything now. When I took a walk just a little while ago, it was to go up to the Stargate and test out a few addresses I remembered. Most of them worked, too, including the one for Earth."

"Why didn't you—?"

"Because I don't have the necessary device or codes to get through the shield covering the Tau'ri 'Gate," he answered. "Most importantly, though—and I know you need to hear this—I couldn't leave. I couldn't leave you."

"But Daniel, it's your home."

He squeezed her hand again. "My home is here. With you."

Vala looked happy enough to cry, and he wasn't so certain he wouldn't join her if she let the tears fall. "Daniel... that's... I don't know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything," he smiled. "There's something else, too. The Tok'ra weren't wrong in reporting me dead."

"But you aren't dead."

"Not anymore. I actually wasn't to begin with, not really." He drew in a deep breath. "When the 'Gate Builders disappeared, not all of them died out, not completely. Some of them transcended their physical forms and became creatures of energy, of light. I met one of these Ancients on another planet once, and when I lay dying from radiation poison, she came to me and offered me the chance to Ascend, to be like them."

Vala's eyes widened. "And you accepted?"

"It was either that or risk permanent disability or even death," he answered. "I thought I could do more that way, too. I thought that becoming something that powerful would mean that I would have greater opportunity and ability to help those in need. I was wrong, and my wife's world paid the price. Anubis destroyed it."

"I'm sorry."

"So am I. That might be why I came back to human form without my memory. Maybe I chose to leave, maybe I was punished and kicked out." He shrugged. "Either way, I don't plan to go back anytime soon."

This time Vala offered him a comforting squeeze. "Don't you at least want to contact your friends? If they've believed you to be dead all this time, won't they want to hear from you?"

He bit his lip in contemplation. "Maybe... maybe I can give a message to one of the Tok'ra and ask them to pass it along to the SGC."

"Daniel, you can't risk the Tok'ra finding out you're alive, either. If one of their operatives gets captured and interrogated..."

"I know, which is why I'll encrypt it. Something only my teammates are likely to understand."

"Are you sure that's all you want to do?" she asked, rising and walking around the table without letting go of his hand.

He pulled her down so that she was sitting across his lap and gave her a kiss. "You're all I need now. If I can give them a little closure, though, maybe it will help me..."

"Get over them, too?" she suggested, twisting her upper torso so that she was mostly facing him.

"Something like that," he agreed.

She smiled then, leaning in for another kiss. When she pulled back, though, she stroked a finger down his cheek. "First thing we're going to do," she began, "is shave this beard."

"I thought you liked it."

"I only asked you to keep it because I thought it would change your appearance, make it a little less likely for someone to recognize you. I don't think it helps all that much, though." She scrunched up her nose. "Besides, it's all scratchy when I kiss you."

"Consider it gone," he promised.

Chapter 42

The cold snap of the fresh mountain air awakened his senses like nothing he had ever experienced on any other world. For as much as Colorado Springs had become home these last several years, Teal'c knew nothing would ever take Chulak's place as the land in which he had grown from a child to a man. It was the planet where his own son had been born, though Rya'c had lived for many years in the Land of Light. A smile graced his lips when he caught sight of the armor-clad form of his elderly mentor, Master Bra'tac.

"Teal'c!" the older Jaffa greeted, smiling in return. "It is good to see you again, old friend."

"Likewise," he agreed, firmly grasping the proffered arm in the traditional warrior's greeting. "What was the nature of the emergency?"

Bra'tac leaned on his staff weapon. "Our brethren among the ranks of Ramius and Tilgath have yet to report. The two False Gods were to meet and discuss the possibility of forming an alliance, and I fear some ill has befallen our brothers."

Inwardly, Teal'c sighed. It wasn't as though he cared nothing for the fate of his fellow Jaffa rebels, but that the smaller targets—the lesser goals—sometimes seemed to dominate the time he had available. There were greater tasks to accomplish, he knew, and longed for the day when he could take part in a final, noble battle to overthrow the rule of the System Lords.

Unfortunately, in the last several months, these minor battles were nearly all in which he could become engaged. Certainly, helping the female Jaffa of Moloc to overcome their dependence on symbiotes had been rewarding and rescuing his son and mentor from imprisonment on Erebus had been personally important, but it was difficult to be content with such universally-insignificant victories when so much more was at stake.

It was not his place to question Bra'tac's methods, however. The older Jaffa was far wiser than Teal'c felt he ever could be, and constantly reminded him that sometimes, it was the smaller blow that felled a mighty opponent. He knew this in his heart, but also knew that it often took hundreds of tiny strikes to fell a many-headed beast such as the System Lords. Rather than voice his pessimism, however, he dutifully followed his teacher through the newly-opened wormhole. Once on the other side, Bra'tac wasted no time in directing them toward the boulder field which was to have been the place of meeting for the two minor Goa'uld.

"You seem unusually quiet today," Bra'tac observed.

"I am restless," Teal'c answered at last, having taken time to consider his response. "Two days ago, we held a celebration for Jonas Quinn at O'Neill's residence. It was in honor of a full Earth-year as a member of SG-1."

"Upon your return, extend to him my congratulations."

He inclined his head. "I will."

The older Jaffa seemed to study him carefully for a moment. "Yet this celebration does not make you happy."

"It has been three months since we last heard word of Daniel Jackson. O'Neill has become most concerned that ill may have befallen him."

"As do you."

Teal'c nodded again. "As do I."

Bra'tac returned his regard to the path before them. "The man I once believed to have been a puny weakling has often proved to be more resourceful and cunning than I would ever have suspected. Trust in him again, Teal'c. When he is ready to return to the Tau'ri, I am confident he will find a way to do so."

Again, he knew the wisdom in his master's words, but reconciling such things with his heart was difficult. The last they had known of Daniel Jackson was that he held little memory of his past and likely no way to defend himself should one of the System Lords discover him. O'Neill's greatest fear was that Anubis—whom his Ascended friend had left to confront before the destruction of Abydos—would learn of Daniel Jackson's return to the living, and see it as an opportunity to seize him. SG-1 knew from their experience with Thor's abduction that the half-Ascended Goa'uld possessed technology which could extract information directly from a victim's mind. All that Daniel Jackson was or ever had been would then be in the hands of the most evil creature in the galaxy.

The crunch of gravel underfoot sounded astonishingly loud to Teal'c's ears, and he cast a glance at Master Bra'tac, a frisson of disquiet surging through him. The older Jaffa returned his look with a nod, confirming that he, too, felt the same sense of unease. Moving more quickly, they broke through the cover of the trees to emerge upon a scene of utter devastation.

Perhaps as many as fifty or sixty Jaffa had been slain, strewn about the field like a spoiled child's broken toys. In mixed shock and horror, Teal'c found himself looking at each of the dead, hoping to not see a familiar face. He knew such wishes were futile, as his brothers would surely have reported to Master Bra'tac had they survived.

"These warriors are of both Ramius and Tilgath," he observed.

"This meeting did not go well," Bra'tac agreed.

Master Bra'tac had a gift for understatement. "Some of these warriors have been shot in the back. They were killed while retreating." In fact, one of those who had been slain in such a cowardly manner was a Jaffa he had meet a handful of weeks before, when he first informed the rebellion's leaders of his Goa'uld master's impending negotiations.

"There was no honor in the battle," Bra'tac observed, casting about again. He crossed to where a figure in golden armor lay. "Tilgath."

"Ramius must have betrayed his allegiance."

Bra'tac didn't look convinced. He turned his head once more, apparently lighting on something—no, someone for whom he had been searching. "The First Prime of Ramius."

Teal'c crouched beside the fallen Jaffa, noting the blood staining his head, neck, and chest. He was propped against one of the many stones, and when Bra'tac touched his shoulder, he started slightly.

"He is alive."

The First Prime must have recognized them, which did not surprise Teal'c. There weren't many former First Primes of Apophis, after all. "You must go from this place," the wounded Jaffa begged.

"Why did your master betray Tilgath?" Bra'tac demanded. "Speak!"

"We came to forge an alliance. My master did not do this. He barely escaped alive."

Teal'c frowned. Had Ramius then betrayed his own warriors? If so, the coward deserved to die as painfully as his own First Prime was now dying. "Then what happened here?"

"One warrior—" he began, but was cut off by an agonized grunt as a flash of light struck him in the side.

The Jaffa rebels turned in surprise, witnessing the arrival of a single, black-clad figure. The armor on the creature was fierce-looking but impractical, designed more for intimidation than protection, he decided. Raising his staff, Teal'c took aim and leveled a shot at the unknown warrior, noting out of the corner of his eye that Bra'tac had also fired. Both blasts impacted with no discernable effect.

Stunned, Teal'c dove for cover as the warrior raised its arm again, firing the deadly energy weapon mounted on its wrist. A dozen rapidly-fired bolts flew past his hiding place, amazing him with the speed with which they were launched. Clearly, this was the warrior which had slain all the Jaffa who lay dead on this battlefield.

Bra'tac then rushed the creature, hoping to knock it off-balance with a well-aimed swing of his staff. Instead, the venerable Jaffa was disarmed and cast aside as though he were no more than a fly being swatted from the air. Its assault on Teal'c's position resumed, apparently unconcerned by the many ineffectual shots striking the boulder behind which Teal'c was attempting to conceal himself.

Desperately seeking a way to stop the onslaught, he drew his zat and spun about, discharging his weapon to no avail. Still, he continued to fire, hoping that at least one of the strikes could get through before the hail of energy raining toward him finally hit.

Suddenly, the warrior dropped its arm, swayed, and fell. Scarcely daring to believe he had managed to stop the creature, Teal'c cautiously rose from cover, exchanging a look of disbelief with Master Bra'tac.

"What manner of beast is this?"

Teal'c shook his head, carefully approaching the downed enemy. "I do not know. Never before have I encountered such a thing."

"Nor have I, though it possesses a Goa'uld," Bra'tac began, nudging at an armor-clad leg. "I sensed the symbiote's presence when it tossed me about as though I were a toy."

Troubled, Teal'c placed a hand atop the being's back, tuning his senses for the faintest sign of breath, the slightest heartbeat. "I believe it to be dead." He looked up at his mentor. "We should contact the Tau'ri. They will wish to study the creature and its protective armor."

"I have a feeling this will not be the last of these we encounter," Bra'tac agreed. "A more efficient means of stopping these warriors must be found. I will stay and guard its body while you retrieve the humans."

Nodding, Teal'c picked up his staff and jogged back to the Stargate, puzzling over the implications of the nearly-unstoppable foe. If Bra'tac was correct—and he almost always was—then this was but the first of many such battles that would be fought against this formidable new enemy.

Perhaps it was not so new, he suddenly realized. Had it been only a month since Jacob Carter had informed the Tau'ri of rumors that Anubis was developing new armor and weapons for his Jaffa? If so, this was the proof that his plans had borne fruition. Feeling an even greater sense of urgency for his friends to learn as much of this creature as possible, he quickened his stride and was soon dialing the 'Gate.

He quickly outlined the situation for General Hammond, requesting the services of an SG team to return the body of the warrior for examination by the Tau'ri scientists. He waited until the requested men arrived, then escorted them back to the battlefield. With his and Master Bra'tac's help, the armored figure was strapped onto a stretcher and returned to the Stargate as though its corpse was the catch of a hunting expedition.

Unsurprisingly, Major Carter, Jonas Quinn, and General Hammond awaited their arrival at the bottom of the SGC's 'Gate Room. The science half of SG-1 gathered around the body of the alien warrior, doubtlessly leaping to conjectures and theories far faster than Teal'c could ever manage.

"What the hell happened out there?" demanded the general.

"Our intelligence was indeed correct," Teal'c began, filling in the details he had omitted in his haste to secure the fallen warrior's body. He wasn't about to admit that some of his unease came from only recently having watched zombie movies with O'Neill until the early hours of the morning. There was something about the feel of this warrior that was just wrong. "The summit between Ramius and Tilgath did take place. However when we had arrived, Ramius had already fled."

"All those men had been slain, including Tilgath," Bra'tac added.

"By this one man alone?"

The elderly Jaffa looked grim. "From the way he fought us, I do not doubt it."

"An Ashrak?" General Hammond guessed, perhaps recalling the devastation wrought on the Alpha Site several months ago. A single Goa'uld Ashrak had nearly succeeded in destroying the tenuous peace the Tau'ri were attempting to keep between the Rebel Jaffa and the Tok'ra.

Teal'c didn't believe that was the case, however. The Ashrak were typically more subtle in their means, preferring to strike from hiding. "He was unlike any warrior we have previously encountered."

"You got him, though," Jonas Quinn observed.

"He withstood the brunt of our weapons fire before finally succumbing."

Major Carter nodded. "Its armor must protect it from energy-based weapons. If that's the case then we could be dealing with an entirely new kind of technology."

Suddenly, the Stargate activated, the diminutive sergeant in the Control Room quickly closing the iris in case the incoming wormhole was from a hostile. There was a long moment of tension as the gathered SGC personnel awaited confirmation of an iris deactivation code. Just as Teal'c began to wonder if this was another false activation like the one they'd received only a few days before, the 'Gate Room was informed that the Tok'ra signal had been confirmed.

The iris slid out of the way, and moments later Jacob Carter stepped through the event horizon. "What's with the party?" he asked upon seeing the gathering at the base of the ramp.

"That's what I want to know," added O'Neill, finally arriving in the 'Gate Room himself.

"Nice of you to join us, Colonel," General Hammond remarked with slight amusement. "Jake, perfect timing."

Bra'tac stepped forward and offered his arm in greeting to his Tok'ra counterpart. "I am pleased to see you well."

Teal'c smiled to himself as Major Carter's father returned the gesture. Although the "oldest and wisest" of the Tok'ra and the elderly Jaffa master had grown to respect one another after the Ashrak's attack on the Alpha Site, it wasn't until recently that they'd become friends. Jacob Carter had defied his superiors within the Tok'ra to bring news of Bra'tac and Rya'c's capture on Erebus and the means by which to defeat the planet's defenses. The elderly Jaffa had been near-death from lack of the life-sustaining drug tretonin, and had since vowed to one day return the favor to his new-found friend.

"So... what's with Darth Vader?" Jacob Carter asked.

"That's what I want to know," O'Neill repeated, bouncing on his toes slightly.

The comparison to the fictional Dark Jedi was fairly apt, visually. Quickly, Teal'c summarized the situation, trusting in his Tau'ri friends to fill in their own observations as needed.

"I was actually going to ask for your help figuring out what makes this guy tick," Major Carter finished, looking eager to solve her newest scientific mystery.

"Oh, then it's a good thing I decided to come when I did, especially if this is one of Anubis' new warriors, as Teal'c suspects." The Tok'ra shook his head. "The reason I came, actually, was to deliver a message. One of our less-reliable contacts gave a message to one of our field operatives, requesting it be personally delivered to SG-1." He shrugged. "I intercepted, using it as an excuse to come for a visit."

Major Carter grinned. "What's the message, Dad?"

"Well, she told us to tell the four of you that Doctor Lazarus says 'Never give up; never surrender.'"

Teal'c cocked his head to one side as O'Neill replied, "Well, that sounds... familiar."

"Indeed it should," Teal'c replied. "It is from Galaxy Quest."

"Except that that's the catch-phrase of Commander Taggert, not Doctor Lazarus," Major Carter added. "Doctor Lazarus had that 'by Grabthar's Hammer' line, instead."

"It's from a TV show?" Jacob Carter asked, incredulous.

"A movie," Teal'c corrected, "although it was a film about a fictional television show."

"I haven't seen it, I guess," Jonas sighed, looking disappointed. Teal'c made a mental note to rent the DVD again, as he was certain his fellow alien team member would find the movie quite entertaining.

O'Neill shrugged his shoulders. "It was a team night pick a few years back, I think."

"That's ironic," Major Carter mused aloud. "A major plot point of the movie is that these aliens intercepted transmissions of the television show Galaxy Quest and took them for documentaries instead of entertainment. Now we're receiving a message from someone offworld who's familiar with a recent science fiction movie?"

"It's Daniel," O'Neill announced suddenly. "It can't be Maybourne, because he would have sent something even more cryptic involving some buddy-cop show or movie. Daniel would know we've all seen that movie—or at least three of us have."

"Then Daniel Jackson has remembered who he is," Teal'c realized, hope swelling within him. It seemed that despite all the odds, his friend was still out there.

"Of course," the major agreed, nearly vibrating with a new level of excitement that had nothing to do with her pending experimentation. "Doctor Jackson, Doctor Lazarus."

"Lazarus referring to the fact that he's retaken human form," Jonas Quinn guessed.

"So why didn't he just ask the Tok'ra to send him back here instead of giving a message to somebody else to give a message to you guys?" O'Neill asked.

Jacob Carter shook his head. "I have no idea."

"Maybe he just wanted to open a line of communication first," the Kelownan suggested.

"He could've just come home."

Bra'tac cleared his throat. "Perhaps he is presently unable, O'Neill, but wished to inform you of his continued health, and that you should not 'give up' on him."

"Fine. Jacob, can we send a message back to him that tells him to get his ass back here on the double?"

The Tok'ra chuckled, shaking his head. "We can try. The contact who first gave us the message is considered unreliable because she's occasionally quite difficult to find. I don't think she trusts us—"

"Smart lady," O'Neill quipped.

"—And from what I hear I can't really blame her," he continued. "She used to be a host to a Goa'uld until one of our operatives removed the symbiote. She refused to help the Tok'ra by continuing to pretend to be the minor Goa'uld she had been possessed by, and was left behind to deal with the anger of the former slaves under the Goa'uld's rule."

Major Carter frowned. "She's lucky to still be alive."

"Forget about her!" O'Neill exclaimed. "Jacob, you and the major can have yourselves a good time with the freaky soldier over there after we dial up your Tok'ra friends and give them a message to send back to this former host chick."

"Well, what message should we leave for him?" General Hammond asked.

Teal'c knew that if Daniel Jackson was being deliberately cryptic, then it was likely he had reason to be. The return message, then, should be something which only he could interpret. For a moment, he considered a possible pop-culture reference in exchange, but one could never be certain what movies or TV shows the linguist remembered. "Perhaps we should simply inform him that the fastest way home is to retrace Theadan's path."

"Makosis," Jonas Quinn agreed. "Hopefully, Atrus still has the GDO we gave him."

"He does," O'Neill replied, coughing lightly. Teal'c thought that it was perhaps to cover a slight rough quality which had begun to develop in his voice. "I mean, what else would he have done with it?"

Teal'c understood. He found it difficult to speak further himself. Bowing his head, he excused himself to the infirmary for his post-mission check, intending to shower and return to his quarters for an unnecessary but comforting session of kel'nor'eem. While he was at it, he would also offer his thanks to whatever true gods were out there that his friend was safe.

"Return swiftly, Daniel Jackson," he smiled to himself.

Chapter 43

"This affords you a considerable advantage," Kazo mused aloud, swirling the wine in his cup.

"Well, it certainly works for me and Daniel," Vala agreed. "My only concern is if the Goa'uld learn that two of your people possess an armed ship. The bounty hunter who last owned it outfitted it with energy cannons from a death glider. Not the most original configuration I've ever seen, but it'll let us defend ourselves... maybe."

Yuna smiled across the table. "The way I see it, there's no solid evidence that you are directly employed by us, Miss Vala. Perhaps it is your ship, and you are merely offering your Han friend a ride."

Kazo chuckled. "Clever as always, my dear. Unfortunately, if Miss Vala is attempting to explain the ownership of the tel'tak to the Goa'uld, she and Master Daniel are already in grave danger."

Vala stilled, sensing there was something hidden in that statement. Even before she'd been forced to admit to Daniel that she'd known who he was for only slightly longer than he had, she'd begun to suspect that the Hans also knew more than they were telling. For people who supposedly traded in information as well as material goods, how could they not? Still, she was unwilling to directly confront them, and had now been handed the perfect opportunity to approach the topic. "How so?"

The Hans exchanged a startled glance. "The Goa'uld don't take kindly to former hosts," Yuna replied at length.

"Of course not. But you said me and Daniel. With that amulet around his neck, why wouldn't he be free to go?"

Husband and wife shared another uncomfortable look, but before either could reply, a new voice asked, "How long?"

Vala turned to greet her partner, finally arriving in the family dining room. He had a pair of scrolls tucked under one arm and a tattered piece of parchment in hand.

"Pleased are we that you could join us!" Kazo boomed heartily gesturing to the empty chair at Vala's side.

"Thanks," Daniel answered, dropping his documents on the table and taking a seat. "Now... how long have you known who I was?"

To her credit, Yuna had the grace to look mildly embarassed. "We began to make... discreet inquiries after you demonstrated your linguistic capability. At first it was merely to learn what world could possibly produce someone with such diverse knowledge. As all other sources and theories failed, a final inquiry was directed to the Tok'ra. After much gentle prompting, they revealed the name of their first choice when it came to dialects and cultures they did not understand. To their chagrin, the translator was now lost to them, having been killed saving another world from doom."

"Of course," Vala's partner remarked dryly, taking a drink from the cup of wine that had been waiting for him. "I suppose they had a picture of me, too?"

Kazo raised an eyebrow, but shook his head. "The combination of their description and your given name was enough, though we still were not completely certain until you revealed the recovery of your surname." He leaned back in his chair slightly. "That is why you two have been invited only to small family gatherings and none of the larger festivities to which representatives from our trading partners are invited. To take a former Goa'uld host under our protection has been dangerous enough. If the Goa'uld were to discover we also sheltered one of the most sought-after Tau'ri..."

"It would be the end of the Han way of life," Yuna finished.

"Then why employ us at all?" Vala asked. "If having us among you is so dangerous, why take the chance?"

"Because great risks reap great gains," the patriarch replied. "You and Master Daniel have proven this time and time again. Was it not yesterday that you returned with yet more treasures from the fabled vaults of Peklenc? Did you not also bring a wealth of knowledge from the experiments of a nearly-forgotten Goa'uld?"

"Knowledge which should be used to reverse the genetic manipulations so that the people of her world won't have to deal with the deaths of so many of their male infants," Daniel reminded them. "To that end, it needs to be shared with the Jayans or the Tok'ra or... or better yet, the Asgard. Do you have a means of contacting the Asgard?"

Kazo shook his head. "Sadly, we do not, and because this data is encoded in Goa'uld, I'm afraid it would do the Jayans little good."

"And the Tok'ra will help only if it serves their purpose," Vala scoffed. So much for Daniel's idealistic dreams. She hated to destroy his hopes for nobly attempting to save another world, but his intentions hadn't been terribly realistic in the first place.

"Then contact the Tau'ri, give it to them," he pressed onward, dauntless. "Even if we—they can't do anything with it, at least they have the option of contacting the Asgard and passing it along themselves."

"Why do you not contact your people yourself?" asked Yuna.

"Because I can't."

Vala nearly gasped at the blatant lie. She couldn't figure out for the life of her why Daniel was so hesitant to communicate with his own people. He could have easily given the cryptic message for his friends to the Tok'ra himself, but had insisted that Vala be the one to speak for him.

They'd received the Tau'ri reply via transmission from Sarilis after they'd left Katana for Peklenc's temple. The message was clear: Daniel's people had been to Makosis and were inviting him to return to them. Despite Vala's assurances that he would be welcomed, he seemed hesitant to contact his world further.

If it weren't for the fact that he'd proven himself to be the bravest man she'd ever met, she would think Daniel was somehow afraid to return to his homeworld. That had never sat with her well, and now that she thought about it, it was long-past time they discussed his recalcitrance.

This "trust" thing went both ways, after all.

"We're wandering off-topic," Daniel cut in, waving his hand dismissively. "I'm... annoyed... that you knew who I really was all this time and didn't bother to tell me. You didn't stop to check to see if maybe I still didn't know and needed a little help recovering my memories. They're almost all back now, thanks by the way."

Vala sucked in a breath. My, was someone in a mood! Not that she could blame him, though. All Daniel had strived for from the moment he left Makosis was to learn who he was. Now that he had, he was understandably upset that everyone around him—everyone he'd placed his trust in—had deliberately withheld that very information from him. Vala had already apologized profusely for her own deceptions, grateful that Daniel had seemed to accept her reasoning and forgive her.

"We can only extend to you our most sincere apologies," Kazo replied softly. "We won't make any excuses, Master Daniel, as our needs were—frankly—quite selfish. It was our concern that once you recalled your past, you would return to the Tau'ri and your skills would no longer be available to us."

"My 'skills' are barely in use as it is," Daniel retorted. "Sure, I translate things and occasionally draw on my knowledge of history and mythology. But just like... just like my team... my former team, you seem to forget that I'm an archaeologist. I should be preserving the past, not selling it to the highest bidder!"

Vala laid her hand on her partner's forearm, surprised at his vehemence. "We've talked about this before—"

"No, we didn't. We started to, but it turned into a joke about preserving it for us." He shook his head. "Look, I'm sorry. I know I should be grateful to you all for giving me somewhere to go and a way of life while I figured out who I was, I just..."

"You're just upset that we're trying to make you something you aren't?" she guessed.

"If there was any other way we could utilize your skills," Yuna offered, "we would certainly extend it to you. Unfortunately, you're too, well, valuable to risk in any other way."

"I risk my life every time I walk through that 'Gate," Daniel answered. "Vala's too. I'd just like to think the risk was worth something other than material gain. In all honesty, the full scope of Peklenc's treasures could probably allow me and Vala to retire comfortably off the proceeds, but... well, let's just say I don't think either of us is the type to just sit still and do nothing."

"You got that right," Vala agreed. Where was Daniel hoping to take this conversation?

"Trust me, there's nothing more I'd like to do than dig my heels in at the ruins of some ancient civilization and uncover all the secrets of some long-forgotten society. Vala would be bored to tears, though. What I think we need to do, instead, is take a more active role in the resistance against the Goa'uld."

Kazo looked genuinely surprised, once again looking to Yuna, perhaps seeking guidance or approval. Whatever he was hoping to find, he cleared his throat and leaned forward in his seat. "Why not rejoin your Tau'ri friends?"

Daniel grimaced. "Because I'm not sure... I don't... The last time I saw any of them, I screwed up big time. I want to at least try to make some things right before I go to them again. Things were a bit strained even before I—before, and I have a new path to follow now. Again." He reached out and laced his fingers with Vala's. "The people of my world haven't always been the most tolerant of others. I won't take Vala anywhere she won't be welcomed, and I won't go without her."

"You don't know I won't be welcomed," she reminded him.

"Is it worth being locked up, interrogated, and dissected, like what Tarchios Marson intended to do on Jaya? For that matter, we don't even know how they'll react to me. I'm not exactly the same as I was... before."

Mind made up, Vala tugged on his hand, standing up from her own chair. "Come on," she insisted, pulling him toward the usually-empty sun room just off the dining hall. "Pardon us for a moment, please, but I believe Daniel and I have a few things to discuss."

He frowned, allowing himself to be dragged to his feet but budging no farther. "Like what?"

"Your favorite thing to talk about, Daniel," she answered, grabbing him by the belt and hauling him toward the solarium door. "Trust."

Chapter 44

"Vala, wait!"

Unperturbed, the thief gave one last firm tug on her reluctant partner's belt, yanking him into the Han's sun room. She pulled the door shut behind him, then turned around to face her flustered companion. "Sit down, Daniel."

"Vala—"

"Sit down!" she ordered, pointing at the padded wicker chair next to the long bank of windows. No one was more surprised than she when he promptly folded his legs and collapsed into the cushions.

"Okay, I'm sitting. What in the—"

"I don't want to hear it, Daniel." She began to pace. "I'll be the first to admit, there haven't been many people I've let get close to me. You know that, we have had that conversation. What you may not know is that I will do my utmost to defend anyone whom I care about greatly. There's a problem, though, when the person who is insulting and demeaning the person I care about the most is the person I care about the most." She whirled around, planting her hands on either side of his chair and leaning in close. "To use one of your curious little Tau'ri expressions: knock... it... off!"

Daniel's eyes narrowed. "How can it be demeaning if it's true?"

"Because it isn't fair."

"Life's not—"

"Fair," she finished. "Big deal. Fair is what you make it."

"Uh, the expression is 'life is what you make it'."

"Whatever. The point is, Daniel, from the very hour we met, you've been cutting yourself down—belittling yourself—and I'm sick of it."

He frowned, folding his arms across his chest and looking down at his knees. "Well, I'm sorry if my attitude isn't quite up to your standards. Maybe I'm just realistic about—"

Vala grabbed him by the chin and turned him toward her. "Realism has nothing to do with it when all you see are your own faults and never any of your many strengths. So you 'screwed up' on Abydos... so what? You're only human, Daniel. Granted, at the time, you were something slightly more-than-human, but being an Ascended didn't make you impotent, did it?"

He flushed. "Uh, I think you mean 'omnipotent'."

"Whatever. Did it give you the ability to see the future?"

"No, but—"

"So you couldn't know what would happen. You made a mistake. I made a mistake when I didn't tell you about the bounty marker. If you were any less forgiving or generous, you might have held that against me. My reasons for doing it were purely selfish, and I'm going to stop pretending I was protecting you. Maybe that was part of it, but I was afraid of where I stood with you, that if you found out who you were and where you came from, you'd leave me and I'd be right back to the miserable, barely-surviving wreck I was before we met."

"I've abandoned enough people in my life, Vala, I'm not about to—"

"Oh, yes, I'm sure it was always you abandoning everyone else," she replied, dripping with sarcasm. "Because you never seem to be able to give anyone a second chance. Right."

"Okay, so maybe I haven't always walked out on everyone, but I promise I won't do that to you."

She straightened up and resumed pacing. "Yes, well, I know that now. I didn't know—or at least not for sure—when I first found out about the marker. By not telling you, I would be the only one to have to worry about bounty hunters popping up around every corner or keeping your face hidden from Jaffa or Goa'uld." She stopped and flopped heavily on the divan across from his chair. "You'd just begun to come out of all those non-stop flashbacks, so I figured why give you something else to worry about, right? At least I could tell myself it was the right thing to do."

Vala exhaled heavily, throwing her arm over her face dramatically. "Too bad I didn't check with you to find out what you wanted. Maybe if I'd told you what I knew like Sarilis told me to, we'd have already contacted your people and maybe swung by for a visit. Maybe you'd have rediscovered everything you lost and stayed."

Daniel echoed her sigh. "And if... Vala, we probably wouldn't be together now if you had told me where I came from then, before I knew what I'd done, what I'd been. Yes, I'm still a little upset you didn't tell me, but I did forgive you for it."

She smirked inwardly. "So you agree that it worked out for the best in the end?"

"I guess so, yes."

Triumphantly, she sat up, grinning at him. "Then maybe whatever 'mistake' you made will work out for the best, too."

He froze. "You don't understand... because I haven't told you. Again. I gave the Eye of Ra to Anubis. The final piece to the superweapon he used to destroy Abydos and who knows how many other worlds since then? I gave that to him. Tell me how that isn't a colossal mistake!"

Vala felt like she'd been slapped. "You must have had a good reason. You don't do anything without thinking it through forty different ways."

"Funny, since Jack always accused me of being impulsive and reckless."

"Maybe when it comes to your personal safety," she snorted. "Baiting the Luciens the way you did proved that. You had a plan, I know it."

Daniel sighed and slouched farther in his chair. "There was a tablet written in Ancient. It spoke of a Lost City, a great bastion of power for the 'Gate Builders. I gave it to Jonas—he's the guy that took my place on the team—and Sam, told them to guard it and take it back to Earth. I told them they could use it to find this Lost City and all the wonders that it held and maybe find a way to defeat Anubis."

"Anubis is still out there," Vala answered. "The Tok'ra were able to destroy his big world-killing weapon, by the way."

"Yeah, I remember Shao saying that the first time we were here." He sighed. "I can't go back to my world until I've fixed what I did wrong. Obviously, I can't restore a world that Anubis destroyed, but maybe I can find a way to take back... to correct the mistake I made. I failed so many times, and the one time when it really, really mattered, I screwed up again and... well, I can only hope that my team made it off Abydos before it was destroyed."

"But didn't the message you sent to them confirm that?" Vala asked, confused.

He shook his head. "It only proved that somebody back on Earth had watched the same movie. That someone from there had visited Makosis." He smiled wistfully. "If Jack had been there and really wanted me to come back? He'd have said so. Actually, he probably would have made the Tok'ra lead him to me so that he could drag me back through the 'Gate, kicking and screaming."

Vala chuckled, knowing she was just going to love Jack. "I'll bet he tried but was overruled by someone else. Maybe he's there right now, staring at the Stargate on your planet and plotting a thousand ways to kick your butt when he hears how much pointless self-doubting you've done. I'll bet he's wondering when you're going to come home."

"My home is—"

"On the planet of your birth, and don't even try to say otherwise," she interrupted. "Now, I'll be happy to go with you when—when you finally decide to stop wallowing in guilt, but until then, I want you to stop treating yourself so harshly. See the man that I see, that everyone else sees. The Hans and I think you're brilliant, yet you don't think you're suited for anything but digging in the dirt. Maybe that's what you like to do, but it certainly isn't the greatest use of your capabilities."

She stood, crossing the short space between them. She kicked a footstool into place so she could sit directly in front of him, their knees brushing. "Maybe the problem isn't that you've been unwillingly molded and shaped into something you're not, but rather that you've been guided into becoming what you were always meant to be."

"A treasure hunter? A space pirate?"

"Well, as much fun as it is to call ourselves pirates and buckle swashes and all, you and I both know that neither of us is callous or cold-hearted enough to be a real pirate. Treasure hunting's fun, too, but let's face it: finding the lost necklace of some long-dead Goa'uld isn't exactly a galactic event. And if you think that you've been forced to adapt into the roles people think you ought to fill, remember that you mold and shape the people you meet, too. Now, I can only speak for myself, but you've certainly changed me for the better."

"I haven't—"

Vala rolled her eyes. "Yes, you have, so stop arguing with me. From this day forward, I hereby vow to compliment and tease all the embarrassment out of you until you finally start to believe in yourself. And since space pirate and treasure hunter aren't really 'your thing', do you want to know what we're going to do instead, Daniel?"

He sighed. "What?"

"We're going to go find your Lost City."

Daniel blinked in surprise. "We are?"

"As your friend Jack would say, 'you bet.' And when we find it, we're going to call your friends back on Earth and you're going to tell them that you're sorry for being such an idiot and not going home the minute you found out where home was."

"Vala..."

"And then you're going to tell them what we've found and how it will help them defeat Anubis."

He closed his eyes and shook his head. "Something tells me that it won't be that easy."

"Maybe not, but if there's anyone in the known universe who can do it, it's you. This is what you were meant to be, Daniel. You were meant to overthrow the Goa'uld. You started it when you destroyed Ra—"

"Jack helped."

"Could Jack have done it without you there?"

"Well, uh—"

"That's what I thought," she smirked, crawling into his lap and stradling his hips with her knees. "There's no one more suited to the task, no one braver, smarter, or more capable. No one sexier-looking in tight leather pants, either, but that's another matter." Vala grinned at the blush coloring his face. "You can bet that any time you start to think you can't do it, that defeating the Goa'uld isn't what you were meant to do with your life, then I will be right by your side reminding you to stop feeling sorry for yourself and get on with it."

Daniel looked up, meeting her gaze for the first time since she'd shut the solarium door. "I have my work cut out for me, don't I?"

"Definitely, but I have every confidence that you'll succeed." She gave him a quick kiss, pulling away before he could respond. "You're too stubborn to do otherwise."

His left hand curled around her jaw, the right stealing around to the back of her neck to toy with the tiny curls that had escaped the twist into which she'd captured the rest of her hair. "Says the pot to the kettle," he murmured against her lips.

She pulled back to look him in the eye again. "And don't you forget it," she agreed, tapping the end of his nose teasingly.

Chapter 45

Kazo and Yuna were talking quietly with one another when they entered the dining room from the solarium. The Hans looked up at the younger couple expectantly, as though awaiting the results of the "private conference" Vala had insisted she have with Daniel.

As though he didn't already have enough voices in his head telling him what to do and how to behave, now he was going to have Vala nagging him in his ear every time he dared to not accept a compliment graciously. He chuckled inwardly, deciding that the revelation that he heard voices was not something he really needed to share with anyone.

"Have you come to some decision?" Kazo asked hesitantly.

"We have," Vala agreed, then nudged Daniel with her elbow.

He sighed, sitting down and scooting his chair in toward the small table. "We're going to keep on locating lost treasures for you," he began, "but the scope of our search will be changing a little. Before, our secondary objective was always finding out who I was, but that's clearly no longer an issue."

"I suppose not," the older man agreed carefully. "We have another confession to make, Master Daniel: Liu Shao has actually met with your teammates and a man named 'Jonas'."

He spluttered into his cup of wine, coughing while Vala firmly thumped him across the back to help him clear his lungs. "When?"

"Just over a moon ago," Yuna replied, gazing down at her lap. "In fact, it was just before we offered you a position within the family."

Daniel pinched the bridge of his nose and slouched in his seat. The feeling of relief was nearly overwhelming. "I guess that answers the question of whether they escaped the destruction of Abydos or not." He looked up at the older couple, frowning. "That must have been the lucrative lead Liu indicated Shao had landed."

"It was," Kazo confirmed. "We have yet to pursue the possibility of trade further."

"You should," he suggested. "It'll be good for both of you." He winced when Vala poked him in the ribs. "Us. It would be a good deal for both of us. Like Jaya, a trade deal with Earth potentially gives you access to slightly-more-advanced-than-average technology. They'll mainly be interested in trinium and naquada."

The patriarch nodded his head deeply. "I'll make arrangements to set up the next meeting. Would you care to attend?"

He shook his head. "Diplomacy's not my thing, though goodness knows I got dragged into it enough times."

"I'm sure you were good at it anyway," his partner replied, eyes flashing as though daring him to contradict her.

He wasn't quite up to challenging her just yet. "Vala and I have something else important to do, actually."

"Pity... I would have welcomed your counsel. What other task do you have now?"

Vala lifted her chin. "Before Daniel was... separated from the Tau'ri, he asked them to help locate a certain relic of the 'Gate Builders which could possibly hold the key to defeating Anubis."

"Truly?" Yuna gaped.

"It has that potential, from what I can remember," Daniel agreed cautiously. "I can only hope that in my absence, they've been looking for it anyway. If so, then two different groups searching from two different perspectives will certainly cover more ground than we could if I rejoined them now. Going forward, research on the 'Gate Builders is going to take precedence over everything else."

The matriarch nodded solemnly. "We do have a collection of 'Gate Builder documents in the library."

He felt his brow furrow. "I've never seen them."

She grimaced. "That is because they are withheld from the main collections. We've never before met anyone we could trust who could actually decipher the language."

"I can read a little of it," he admitted, then yelped, turning to glare at Vala. "Why'd you kick me?"

"You can read it quite well, actually," she retorted.

Yuna pressed her hand to her forehead. "I should not be surprised, should I?"

"No," Vala replied. "I'm making it my mission in life to ensure that Daniel takes full credit for his accomplishments." She beamed at her partner. "Any other linguistic revelations you care to share with us?"

He rolled his eyes. "One, yes." Clearing his throat, he unfurled the scrolls he'd laid down on the table earlier, weighting their corners with pieces of fruit and his long-since-gone-cold bowl of rice. "Now according to these texts, a long time ago, all of the Goa'uld's naquada mines were run by one lesser Goa'uld: Hephaestus."

"I'd think that would make him the most powerful Goa'uld," Vala remarked.

"If it were any other Goa'uld, that would probably be true. He's often described as being quite ugly and somewhat slow-witted, though other legends I've encountered indicate that he was fairly clever. In either case, his task was to oversee the mines and production of ships and weapons, and the other Goa'uld were given their allotments of each based on hierarchy. This worked well for centuries until one day, his slaves rebelled."

"Hmmm... I guess history really does have a tendency to repeat itself," his partner grinned. "One of these days, darling, you're going to have to tell the Hans how you incited the Abydonians to rebel against Ra."

He frowned. "I never told you about that. Besides, it wasn't me, it wa—ow." He glared at her before clearing his throat again. "It's not important to this story anyway. According to these scrolls, no one but Hephaestus ever really knew where all the mines and refineries were. The Goa'uld systematically began to reclaim all the worlds they encountered, but the writer seemed to think it was possible there were many more planets not recaptured. There's even a 'Gate address listed here where it is believed Hephaestus' base of operations was located."

Kazo frowned, leaning across the table. "One of my ancestors sent an investigative task force to this world. Several of their number were slain attempting to escape. The planet, they said, was overrun with Hephaestus' misshapen beasts."

Daniel nodded, pointing to the tattered piece of parchment he'd also brought with him. "Well, based on the fragment that is still legible on that, I'd say that world also holds a cartouche on which Hephaestus inscribed the addresses for all the worlds under his watch."

Vala brightened visibly. "We can use our tel'tak to fly there and ring into the old stronghold like we did Peklenc's palace!"

He bit his lip. "That might work, but that isn't what I had in mind. I'm pretty sure that, based on the description, the 'misshapen beasts' were actually the descendants of the slaves who rebelled. They weren't human, they were Unas."

"Ew," she pouted.

"Then that world truly is lost to us," Kazo agreed. "It would take a vast army to clear the land or bombardment from space. If the mines were truly as rich with naquada as I had heard them to be, such an assault would be extremely dangerous."

Daniel shook his head. "You don't have to attack at all. Almost three years ago, I took part in a dig on a planet I believe to have been the original Goa'uld homeworld. We found fossils of primordial Goa'uld as well as—" he grimaced "—ample evidence that some still lived in the water."

"Ew," Vala repeated.

"Well, if the Unas were the 'first ones'—the first beings to be taken as hosts by the Goa'uld—doesn't it stand to reason they'd share the same homeworld?"

"I suppose," Kazo replied. "Did you find any evidence of this?"

"Oh yeah." He took a quick drink from his wine, then carefully folded his hands atop the table. "I was taken captive by one, actually. Since I was the senior archaeologist on the trip, the Unas who grabbed me saw all the others deferring to me and therefore thought I was a sort of alpha male for my people. He was an adolescent, out to prove himself to his tribe in a kind of rite of passage and I was his trophy."

"Do I want to know how you know all this?" his partner sighed.

"We became friends, Chaka and I. He saved me from being killed by the alpha of his people and invited me to return to his world." He grinned. "You wanted another linguistic revelation? The primitive, un-Goa'ulded Unas have a rudimentary language and society. We won't have to fight the Unas if I can convince them that we're there only to look at the walls of Hephaestus' stronghold."

Yuna closed her eyes. "You speak Unas."

"Not really, but with Chaka's help, I think I can convey our intentions."

The matriarch threw up her hands. "I should not be surprised, should I?"

Chapter 46

The wormhole snapped shut behind him and Daniel turned to make certain his companion had followed him through safely. A stately nod of acknowledgment from the tall creature was all the answer he needed. "Vala, I'd like you to meet Chaka. Chaka, this is my friend Vala."

"Charmed," the dark-haired woman replied, jaw held tight as though barely holding back a grimace of distaste.

He had to admit: Unas weren't exactly the most attractive-looking creatures, but he'd take the company of one over that of a Goa'uld any day. When he first set foot on the planet where he'd last seen his Unas friend, he wasn't sure of the state of affairs. After all, the last time he'd been there, Daniel himself had placed weapons in the hands of the Unas and given his tacit approval to the intended slave uprising. He was pleased beyond all his wildest imaginings to discover that the rebellion had come to a peaceful ending. The human villagers of the world were understandably uneasy about the many powerful reptiles who now lived and worked freely beside them, but it was quite obvious that no one was a slave to anyone else.

He'd asked for Chaka by name, drawing looks of surprise from the villagers who had first approached him when he walked into town. They immediately wished to know his name, and he decided to use "Dan'el", the closest pronunciation the Unas had ever been able to manage. To his amazement and embarrassment, the name was recognized. Chaka had apparently decided to name the truce "Dan'el cho'ee'che", which translated roughly to "Daniel speaks peace". In the simplistic, concept-driven language of the Unas, the young tribal leader was essentially giving Daniel the credit for being the initiating voice of reason.

Chaka began sniffing the air, growling softly. "'Ala onac?"

He frowned. "Excuse me?"

"Daniel, I don't think your friend likes me," Vala replied nervously, backing away slightly.

He sighed. "Chaka, Vala is a friend."

"'Ala ka nay?"

"Yes."

"'Ala onac!"

"No, Chaka, she's not a Goa'uld. Vala keka onac."

"He can sense that I was once a host?" she asked, incredulous.

"Apparently," Daniel agreed. "They originated on the same world, and the Unas language is actually the basis for Goa'uld. I'd always thought he could sense the symbiotes in the water of his homeworld, but never really knew for certain."

The big Unas sniffed the air again, then lowered his head slightly. "'Ala a Dan'el a ka nay?"

Daniel nodded. "That's right, we're one tribe. Vala's my mate, Chaka."

"Sho eyay nay," Chaka replied approvingly.

"That gives me tingles all over," Vala remarked dryly, some of the tension draining out of her posture. "I still don't like the idea of you two going to meet the tribes all by yourselves."

"I know," Daniel acknowledged. "But it's the only way."

She rolled her eyes. "So are we ready to go?"

Chaka dipped his head again and Daniel nodded. "We're ready. Did you get the recording device?"

"It's in my pack," she replied, already dialing the coordinates for the planet designated on the scroll he'd translated. The wormhole flushed outward from the Stargate on Katana before settling once more into the rippling blue puddle. Daniel then began to walk toward the 'Gate but was blocked by a raised arm. The Unas was apparently taking his protective duties to heart, approaching the Stargate slowly and stepping through ahead of his human companions.

The first thing Daniel noticed on the other side was the smell. He nearly gagged at the stench of rot and decay, his hand coming up involuntarily to pinch his nostrils. Vala emerged from the wormhole and immediately did the same, eyes watering.

"What the...?" she gasped.

Daniel looked around, trying to figure out the source of the horrendous odor. Chaka discovered it before he did, though, grabbing onto his arm and pointing. "Dan'el!"

He felt the blood drain from his face when he saw what the Unas was indicating. "Oh no."

Vala frowned, following his gaze. "Ew."

A crude rack had been constructed of pieces of metal and wood, supporting the partially-decomposed body of what was once a human figure. Although the clothing was tattered and dirty, Daniel instantly recognized the olive drab BDUs of an SG team member. "Vala, my people were here! Oh, god... they... they..."

His partner was suddenly at his side, though Daniel was entirely unsure how he'd gone from standing to sitting on the ground without noticing the transition. Her hands were rubbing circles on his back and through his hair, crooning soothing gibberish in his ear as he struggled to regain control of his ragged breathing.

"Unas keka 'uman," Chaka observed, circling the gruesome construct.

"I say we turn around and leave right now," Vala suggested.

Daniel shook his head, digging into his pack for his water flask and rinsing his mouth of the foul taste it had suddenly acquired. "We don't know why they were killed. This could have all been some misunderstanding that got completely out of control."

"I'll say. But since we don't really know if you and Chaka there can actually talk to these Unas or not, why don't we just call this one a lost cause and go tell the Hans to forget it?"

He shook his head stubbornly. "The Unas language varies little from planet to planet. They all originated from the same world and—let's face it—they're not exactly conversationalists." He tore his gaze away from the macabre totem and noted piles of debris and swathes of tattered green cloth strewn about the rocky valley. "The SGC probably sent a team here to test for mining and they somehow stirred up the native Unas. They didn't even get a chance to take down the encampment."

"Surprise attack?"

"Possibly. Vala, if I'd... damn it, if I'd been here, I might have been able to stop this from happening!"

"You know, it's entirely possible the Unas attacked without provocation, in which case you would have ended up just as dead as this guy here."

"Possible, but I don't think it's likely." He closed his eyes to allow the wave of nausea to pass before attempting to regain his feet. "Of course, they could have attacked because of something the SG team didn't realize was a provocation, one of my people could have gotten trigger-happy, there could have been some sort of misunderstanding..." He sighed. "Well, there's probably no way to know for sure, now is there?"

Vala shook her head. "I'm sorry if you knew any of these people, Daniel, but there's nothing we can do."

Daniel nodded. "Actually, there's one thing we can do." Swallowing back the bile that threatened to rise in his throat, he approached the crude rack and reached for the dehydrated corpse's neck. Finding what he was looking for, he jerked away sharply, snapping the chain and emerging with the dog tags in his fist. "Each of the bodies should have a set of these," he announced. "These men deserve a decent burial."

"That could take a very long time to do, and in case you haven't noticed, the ground around here is mostly rock."

"I know," he answered, dropping the dog tags into a pocket and bending over to unstrap his holster. He handed the pistol and his zat to his surprised partner, leaving his pack on the ground. "That's why Chaka and I are going to go ask the Unas for help."

"You've gone completely wonko," she surmised, eyes wide with shock.

"Probably," he agreed. "I'll be fine, Vala. Trust me on this."

She glared at him, but the effect was defeated by her obvious concern. "You've picked a strange time to start standing up for yourself, Daniel."

"Yeah," he sighed, "but it's the right thing to do. I'll be back soon."

"Am I just supposed to wait here for you?" As though confirming her fears, there was a distant roar which Daniel was almost certain came from an Unas. Chaka's head came up and he began sniffing the air suspiciously. "Daniel, if you think this disaster is your fault because you weren't here, then I have news for you—"

"I don't think that," he quickly interrupted. "Something very bad happened here, yes, but there's nothing to say that I could have prevented it. What I can try to prevent is a repeat performance. Sooner or later—whether it's my people or not—somebody's going to come back to this world and attempt to wipe out all the Unas who live here just to get to the naquada deposits. I think I can stop the slaughter, so I have to try." He softened, stroking her cheek. "I'll be back soon; that's a promise."

She nodded, moisture gathered at the corners of her eyes. "I'm going to hold you to it, you know.  Come back safely or I will hunt you down and kick your ass."

Daniel chuckled. "Now how can I refuse such an obvious declaration of affection?"

Vala pulled his head down and captured his lips in another obvious declaration.

Chapter 47

Another distant roar made Vala whirl around, fingers stealing toward the pistol holstered on her thigh. Daniel and his Unas friend had been gone for nearly two hours now, and she was beginning to dread that they'd never return. Despite her partner's assurances that the Unas as a race were honorable and trustworthy, she couldn't help but make comparisons to the few encounters with the reptilian species she could recall from Qetesh's memories.

Sobek, for example, had been as beastly and savage as any nightmare could conjure. Then again, he'd also been a Goa'uld, which might have accounted for most of his behavior. There were other, more distant recollections as well, but nothing she could reconcile with the curiously polite creature that had just walked into the wilderness with Daniel.

Only Daniel, she reflected, could look at such a hideous monster and consider it a potential ally. By all rights, the Unas should have ripped off his head when they first met, not become his 'friend'. She was sure there was more to the story than Daniel was telling, and she'd be certain to drag the rest of it out of him when he came back from his trip into the hills.

Because he was coming back, and she'd accept no alternative. He'd explained the principle of the pack structure to her and how to show passivity and submission in case any Unas approached her at the 'Gate, but if anything were to happen to him, she'd go show these primitive beasts what kind of damage an alpha female could do.

She sighed, rolled her shoulders, and tried to ease some of the tension building in her neck and back. Before Daniel had gone to retrieve his scaly friend, he'd explained the basics of what he was going to have to do to win the Unas' trust, but he'd certainly never mentioned that he'd be making the trip unarmed. That was one adjustment to the plan he'd made without her consent, and she was none-too-pleased about it. Even more, she was disgusted with herself by how easily she gave in to him.

It was the eyes. When they'd first met, Vala had thought to turn his good looks into tools of seduction and manipulation. He had the perfect blend of features for it: strong jaw, slender but well-muscled body, and lips shapely enough to make nearly any woman jealous. Combined with his intelligence and magnetism, he drew a lot of attention from both genders. At first, she'd thought him oblivious to his effect on people, but now that she realized she'd given up on this latest disagreement far too easily, she also discovered that she'd been played.

He'd captured her with those oh-so-expressive eyes and uttered the fateful words: "Trust me." And she did, though she certainly had every reason to doubt his sanity. He was, after all, walking into a forest full of violent beasts which had hung at least one of his fellow Tau'ri out to dry. Still, she was nodding and accepting before she realized that he'd turned the full force of those sky-blue eyes on her and suckered her right into agreeing to let him do exactly what he intended to do anyway.

She didn't know whether to be annoyed or impressed.

Rather than dwell on what she was currently powerless to change, Vala began to explore the immediate surroundings. The 'Gate was set in a rocky valley bordered on all sides by a high, gravel-strewn slope which ended in dark forest. It was almost as though something had taken a big, circular bite out of the surrounding woods and dropped a Stargate in the middle of it. However the depression had been formed, she could tell the terrain made it easy for a native force to repel an invasion from the alien portal. It was no wonder Daniel's Tau'ri friends—though she fervently hoped no one who died here had been one of his friends—had been forced to retreat.

She discovered two more bodies, both lying where they had fallen, as evidenced by the blood staining the ground around them. Given the level of decay, she estimated they'd been here for a month, perhaps a little longer. Since the corpses were otherwise undisturbed, she concluded that there wasn't much of a native predator population. The Unas, she supposed, took care of those.

On the back side of the 'Gate was a battered box which looked vaguely familiar. It wasn't until she saw the broken metal arm to one side and a bent wheel beside it that she realized she had seen one of these before, intact. When she and Daniel were leaving Makosis, they edged past such a device before stepping into the wormhole to Katana.

Daniel's people had come for him on Makosis, but she had already taken him away.

She choked back a sob, looking away from the hateful machine and what it represented. If not for her, he would have been reunited with the people of his world four months ago, could possibly have been here to stop this slaughter from occurring, could have...

Coughing harshly, she swiped at the tears trying to form in her eyes. For the first time in her life, she was happy. Unfortunately, it seemed now that her happiness had come at a cost to Daniel and the Tau'ri that none of them could have anticipated. He seemed to be happy with her, too, but given his reluctance to defend attacks on his character, would he have said anything if he wasn't?

For a brief, selfish moment, she considered not telling Daniel what she had learned. But no, that would hardly do justice to the trust they were so carefully building between them. Besides, all Daniel had to do was replay their departure from Makosis in his mind and he would surely recognize the "cart" as a tool of his people. Perhaps he already had, but just hadn't told her what he'd discovered.

Cursing, she kicked a small rock across the valley floor, a brief twinge of pain shooting up her leg. Why couldn't it be as easy to get rid of problems as it had been to send that rock flying? Why was it that every time she and Daniel seemed to come to a new understanding with one another, something else came up to disrupt their lives?

From behind her came a soft growl and the scrabble of hard claws on gravel. Whirling around, she barely resisted the urge to draw her weapon as not one but two Unas slid down the slope. They were dressed in ratty furs and bits of dull metal which vaguely resembled Jaffa armor, but carried no visible weapons other than their natural talons and sharp teeth. They stopped at the bottom of the valley, making grunting noises to one another and watching her with their yellow eyes.

The head and shoulders of another Unas appeared over the rise, calling down to the two who had preceded it. It then swung a crude net over the edge, lowering the heavy burden with surprising gentleness until the two waiting below could receive it. From this distance, the net appeared to contain something just the right size and shape for a human body.

A lump formed in her throat, and before she realized what she was doing, her pistol was in her hand, the barrel wavering among the three, unsure which Unas to target first.

"Vala!"

She nearly collapsed with relief, turning to watch Daniel, Chaka, and one of the native Unas carefully descend the treacherous slope. Not really caring if the Unas misinterpreted her actions or not, she re-holstered the weapon as she ran, throwing herself at Daniel as soon as she was close. Luckily, he wasn't so startled he couldn't catch her, holding her to him as she wrapped her arms around him as tightly as she could.

"Hey, it's okay. I told you I'd be back, didn't I?"

"I was so worried," she admitted, bravely managing to hold back her tears once again. What was it about this man that so often turned her into an emotional wreck?

"It's okay," he soothed, stroking her back and hair. "It took a little longer than I thought to explain everything I needed to, that's all. Then the Unas had to go... round things up."

"'Round things up?'" she echoed.

He kissed her on the forehead, then turned her around to face the three Unas who had first arrived, only now there were seven of them and perhaps as many as a dozen of the net bundles on the ground. "I explained my people's burial customs as best I could, letting them know that the SG personnel needed to be properly laid to rest. Two-Claw sent some of the Unas out to begin gathering, uh... the bodies while Chaka and I stayed on and discussed other things."

Daniel took a breath. "The old leader, Iron-Shirt, died in the fight with the SGC, along with nearly half of the Unas population. Some of the humans made it back through the 'Gate safely, so the Unas guarded it for weeks to make sure they didn't try to come back, mourning and burying their own dead while they waited. If General Hammond is still in charge at the SGC, then he probably tried sending a probe or two through to check to see if it was safe, but would surely have decided it wasn't worth the risk to come back to retrieve the bodies."

"And that guy?" Vala asked, pointing at where the Unas were dismantling the metal-and-wood rack and almost-reverently extricating the body it had held.

He grimaced. "Left as a warning in case they did try to return. I have a feeling that Hammond didn't make the decision lightly, though. The SGC has always tried not to leave their people behind."

She swallowed heavily, nodding. "I'll say. While you were gone, I found something you'll want to see." Grabbing his hand and ignoring the puzzled look she was being given by Chaka and the battle-scarred Unas who could only be Two-Claw, she led Daniel around to the back side of the 'Gate, sweeping her arm over the wreckage of the boxy metal cart.

"That's a MALP," he explained, recognizing it almost immediately. "It's a mechanical probe used by the SGC to determine if a world is safe to travel to or not."

"Well, that explains a lot," she nodded, clenching her jaw to rein in her emotions. "I've seen one of these before, too."

"You have? Where?"

She lifted her chin. "On Makosis, right before we left."

Daniel froze, then closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Talk about your timing issues," he muttered at last. "So if we'd hung around another hour or so, we'd have met one of the SG teams coming through the 'Gate?"

"I guess so," she shrugged. "In the long run, I guess it doesn't really matter that I never told you about the bounty marker. If I hadn't taken you from Makosis, you probably would already have been reunited with your people."

"That's not fair, Vala, neither of us could have known. Besides, I seem to recall practically insisting that I go through the Stargate with you, so it's not your fault anyway. It's just cosmically bad timing and the weird sort of odd luck that follows me around like a cloud over my head. Sometimes it rains on me, sometimes it keeps me from getting sunburned."

"Fickle luck," she agreed, scuffing at the ground with the toe of her boot. "Yet another thing we're finding we have in common."

Daniel crossed over to her in an instant, folding his arms around her shoulders again. "Fickle luck which brought the two of us together, though."

"Are you sure that's a good thing?"

He tapped her chin with his forefinger, bringing her eyes up to meet his. "You have to ask? I don't think I've been happier in my life. Planets to explore, enemies to conquer—"

"Or win over."

"—or win over," he amended. "Loot to plunder, ships to steal, and a beautiful lady pirate by my side. What more could a prince ask?"

She chuckled at the reminder of the silly old fairytale. "Too bad neither of us makes a very good pirate."

"Then I guess you'll just have to be satisfied with being my princess."

That made her feel extremely warm and happy. "And what about your kingdom, my prince?"

"Safe in the hands of the king and his advisors, I hope." He released her from his embrace when one of the Unas made a noise which sounded vaguely like a question, responding back with the harsh sounds of the creatures' language. "Okay, they're about ready to cover each of the bodies with rocks, but I want to take the dog tags off them first so that I can mark their graves. Do you want to stay here or will you help another group?"

"I'll help," she agreed. "These dog tags... are they on a necklace like the one you removed from the first man?"

He nodded. "There are two tags on each chain. Just break the longer chain and take that tag off, then slip the smaller chain around the pole the Unas are going to drive into the ground at the head of each cairn. We'll send the tags back to the SGC and let them know it's safe to come back here. The first shipment of naquada should be ready in a few weeks."

Vala blinked, certain she'd missed something. "Naquada?"

Daniel grinned. "Yeah. After I explained what a big misunderstanding all this had been and why my people were here, Two-Claw volunteered his people to work the mines. They want to do what they can to help fight the Goa'uld, but realize their numbers aren't strong enough to repel another attack like the last one. Basically, they want to be allies with Earth."

She gaped, certain that the expression on her face made her look extremely dim-witted. "How did you convince them of that?"

He shrugged. "It was Two-Claws' idea, actually. Chaka says he'll stay here to serve as a liaison between the SGC and the Unas. He's tickled pink to have helped negotiate this treaty and might even be considering a career as an ambassador for the Unas of the galaxy." Catching the look on her face, he laughed. "Sorry, little joke there."

Finally regaining some of her composure, Vala closed her mouth with an audible click. "I thought you said diplomacy wasn't your thing?"

"Guess I was wrong."

Chapter 48

"I don't like this," Jack complained for at least the fifth time in an hour.

"So you've said, Colonel."

"And I still mean it, sir!"

Hammond shook his head. "They specifically asked for SG-1, Jack. I had to contact the Tok'ra liaison three times to convince the Hans to permit SG-14 to come with you. They were adamant that negotiations could be conducted only with your team present."

"But we're a man short!" Jack protested. "Er, woman."

"As you well know, your fourth position has been temporarily filled for the purposes of this mission. As for Major Carter, until we hear back from the Prometheus or the Tok'ra can get to their last-known location, our hands are tied."

He sighed, knowing the general was right but not liking the idea of leaving the matter of the missing Prometheus up to the Tok'ra. He was itching to get out and do something. Granted, going and making a nice show for the representatives of the largest trade organization in the galaxy was beneficial to the greater good of the SGC and Earth, but didn't alleviate Jack's need to be in action.

One of the worst parts of his job was when SG-1 had to go play diplomat, sitting around shooting the breeze instead of... well, shooting other stuff. Jack hated politicians on Earth as it was, but to have to kowtow to the ones from other worlds? In the last year alone, he'd had to deal with the governments of Pangar, Tagrea, Hebridan, and—his least favorite—Kelowna.

Not that his views on the leadership of that particular planet in anyway affected his feelings for his youngest teammate, who happened to be a Kelownan expatriate. He'd grown somewhat fond of Jonas, though he'd deny such a thing if ever questioned. He was a pretty good kid, way out of his depth most of the time and struggling with the perpetual shade of the man in whose footsteps he was attempting to follow. Unfortunately, there never had been—nor likely ever would be—anyone like Daniel Jackson.

Frankly, if Jack was anxious about Carter and the Prometheus having failed to report, then he was darn-near frantic about the continued fate of his still-absent best friend, younger brother, surrogate son, and all-around pain-in-the-ass. A single, cryptic message referencing a science fiction parody was hardly the reassurance of continued safety he needed to maintain his tenuous grip on sanity. What he really needed was for one sheepish archaeologist to come stumbling through the 'Gate, apologizing profusely for making everyone worry about him. He'd settle for something more tangible than a Tok'ra telling another Tok'ra that a former Goa'uld host said...

He wasn't a man of faith. A little validation would go a long way.

"Colonel?"

He started slightly, turning to look at Hammond, then noticing that SG-1, Carter's "stand-in", and SG-14 were already waiting in the 'Gate room. "You got it, sir, on our way to meet with the new supply chain."

"After the disaster with SG-11, Jack, I don't think I need to remind you how important this is."

"No, sir," he agreed, tightening his grip on the P-90 slung across his chest. "You can count on us."

Hammond nodded. "Good luck, son."

With nothing further to be said, Jack turned and made his way out of the control room, meeting the rest of his group at the bottom of the ramp just as the wormhole roared to life. Hammond issued his usual benediction over the loud speaker, which the colonel immediately followed up with a jaunty wave, taking point through the 'Gate.

He emerged on the other side to what could have been the spitting image of the American Midwest were it not for the triple moons hovering on the horizon like faded ghosts. Not far from the only trees in the immediate area were several brightly-colored tents and canopies that never ceased to remind Jack of the Shavadai. He turned to Carter to tease her about the blue dress, only to remember at the last second that his second was on the other side of the galaxy, bringing the Prometheus home from Tagrea.

"I hope they brought plenty of samples of those medicinal herbs they were talking about," Janet Frasier grinned, looking ridiculously cheerful about being offworld. Then again, her usual forays to other planets were often in the middle of a medical crisis, so Jack was certain the tiny physician was itching to indulge her scientific curiosity under less dangerous circumstances.

"Unless they're not as serious about trading with us as they sounded, they probably do," he answered casually. "Louie sounded pretty eager to get started, last I heard."

"Which one was that?" she asked.

"Liu Shao," intoned Teal'c from just behind Frasier. "O'Neill refers to Kien Lu as 'Kenny'."

She spun around, frowning in confusion. "Oh."

Jonas picked up the pace a little to come up alongside her. "See, technically that's not correct, as 'Liu' and 'Kien' are actually their surnames, not their given names."

"Yeah, yeah," the colonel griped, having grudgingly paid a little attention during the etiquette briefing. "Seriously, who has their names backwards like that?"

Although, the Kelownan opened his mouth to reply, Teal'c beat him to it. "Bajorans."

"Beige-whats?"

The Jaffa straightened, smile dropping from his face. "Nevermind."

Their welcoming party had begun to assemble, with the point-and-center position filled by a barrel-chested man, his dark hair graying at the temples. He bore a striking resemblance to Chow Yun-Fat, Jack decided, assuming the Chinese actor were to gain about fifty pounds. Flanking him were Liu Shao and a shaven-headed man he guessed was Kien Lu. Four guards were lined up immediately behind the trio.

As one, the three men bowed at the waist. "Colonel O'Neill, I am accompanied by Han Kazo, the patriarch of the Han family, and Kien Lu. Master Han, it is my pleasure to introduce you to Colonel Jack O'Neill, leader of SG-1."

Jack returned the bow. "Along with me today are Doctor Janet Frasier, our primary physician, Teal'c, Jonas Quinn, and our diplomatic team SG-14: Major Hawthorne, Captain Rivers, and Sergeants Maxwell and Constantinou."

"Pleased to make your acquaintance," replied the Han leader. Jack's estimation of the situation improved drastically, realizing that the negotiations were going to be handled by no less than the boss of the interstellar trade agency. "If I may ask, where is Major Carter?"

"Away on another mission," he answered carefully. "Her return was delayed, so she was unable to come with us."

"I see," Han Kazo answered. "But please, come inside! It is far too warm a day to be standing in the sun."

Jack agreed, having already started to feel the heat. Ushered into the surprisingly cool tent, he had to resist the almost overwhelming urge to order SG-14 to stand guard. They were supposed to be establishing trust with the Hans, after all.

"Before we begin," the Han leader began, settling himself into his cushions, "let me explain the delay in our contacting you. As you may or may not be aware, nearly a thousand years ago, my ancestors earned a charter to trade goods, materials, and medicines among the holdings of many of the System Lords. There are actually some worlds which are solely devoted to mining and refining metals, so on these planets our delivery of food and medicines is critical. In exchange, we receive a small amount of the extracted ores.

"It is not a perfect system, and there are many worlds to which we are forbidden to travel. Some of the System Lords will not permit our caravans on any of their holdings. We have also been restricted from dealing with direct enemies of the System Lords as a whole and from arming any space craft we may acquire. We are also expected to give information to the Goa'uld when requested."

Jonas nodded. "And talking with us constitutes dealing with one of the enemy, of course."

"Yes, it does," Han Kazo agreed, "but only if we are discovered. We contacted you through the Tok'ra, of course, which should indicate to you that this is not the first such time we have... ignored one of the rules."

Despite himself, he grinned. "Any other rules you feel like breaking?"

"The one regarding information, of course." He glanced at Kien Lu and Liu Shao briefly. "There are some in the family who consider it our duty to obey the conditions of the charter to the letter. That is fine, but they are usually assigned to trade routes in the remote parts of the galaxy and allowed to fulfill their tasks as they see fit, so long as they do not bring dishonor to the family.

"Then there is my most trusted inner-circle, which includes my wife, daughters, and a handful of others. Only these are aware of some of the more controversial contacts we make. We have a rival organization called the Lucien Alliance which has no such enforced loyalty to the System Lords, but would dearly love an opportunity to take our place in the galaxy."

"I have heard of them in passing," Teal'c remarked. "They are regarded as little more than a band of outlaws and thieves."

"Outlaws and thieves who have managed, in recent years, to commandeer a dozen al'kesh and—it is rumored—one or two ha'tak." Han Kazo cleared his throat. "I'm not so foolish as to believe that the Goa'uld will rule the galaxy forever. In fact, I have recently come to believe that when the System Lords finally fall, it will be at the hands of the Tau'ri."

"We're flattered," Jack replied, just barely managing to rein in the full force of his intended sarcasm. "I take it you think since we're the guys to do the job, you want to be on our good side when it happens?"

The patriarch smiled. "That is one way to put it. We can't overtly build a fleet of our own so long as we wish to keep the protection of our charter with the System Lords. It is our fear that once the System Lords fall—to you, or perhaps to Baal or Anubis—the Lucien Alliance will begin to take by force many territories and trade routes to which they currently are forbidden access. Instead of encouraging the continual flow of goods and materials, they will seize resources and upset the balance by introducing weapons and euphorics to the trade."

"Drug runners," Janet realized.

"Correct. My wife and I have concluded that the Hans will require the assistance of the Tau'ri, the Tok'ra, and the Jaffa Rebellion if our family's legacy is to survive the fall of the Goa'uld."

Jack shifted on his cushion, the seating being decidedly uncomfortable on his aching knees. "That's a pretty tall order," he began, "especially since the Tau'ri fleet isn't very big, either." How was that for an understatement? The entire fleet currently consisted of one ship and a dozen fighters, but the Prometheus was barely capable of hyperspace and was... well, missing, along with the eight 302s which filled its launch bay.

"But you do have the capability of building more ships, if you had the resources." Han Kazo gestured to Kien Lu, who rose from his cushion and exited the tent. "One of our cousins and his partner recently began investigating rumors of worlds once controlled by the Goa'uld Hephaestus. He was a minor Goa'uld, one tasked with overseeing the mining and refinement of naquada and other metals for all the System Lords. He lost control of his slaves, though, and each Goa'uld has been responsible for his or her own mines ever since. It was believed that some of his worlds were never retaken."

Kien Lu returned to the room, carrying a plain wooden box in his hands. He bowed, handed the box to Han Kazo, then settled himself into his cushion once again. The older Han traced the lid with his finger contemplatively. "This cousin, his partner, and an old friend of the cousin's went off to one of the rumored Lost Mines. Upon arrival, they realized that someone had gotten there before them."

Setting the box on the low table, he slid it across to Jack. Curious, the colonel flipped the latch holding the small chest shut, then slowly eased the lid. Shiny bits of metal greeted him. As he lifted one of the pieces out, a small gasp escaped Janet Frasier. Jack agreed with the sentiment, flipping the dog tag over in his hand to read the top line of the imprint: Ritter, Kirk.

"Colonel?" Hawthorne asked, fingers tightening on his M4.

"Ritter from SG-11." He dug into the box again, drawing out another tag. "Carlson from SG-3. Maffet, SG-18. Douglas, SG-18." Tipping the container over, he counted its contents, coming up with fourteen. "We lost sixteen men on '403, including two civilians. How the hell did you get these?"
Han Kazo pressed his hands flat to the tabletop. "As I said, one of our cousins and his two companions went to investigate the planet. With the help of the indigenous Unas, they recovered all sixteen bodies and interred them in stone cairns near the Stargate."

"The Unas helped?" Janet gaped.

Jack shook his head. "No way. That's completely impossible."

"Impossible is not a word my cousin likes to hear," the Han leader replied, lips twitching. "I dare not give his true name, but I believe you would know him as 'Solo'."

He frowned, trying to piece together where he might have heard of someone who went by that name. To be honest, making friends with Unas sounded like something—

Oh. Now he knew where he'd heard that name.

"Han Solo," Teal'c supplied, connecting the dots.

"You've got to be kidding me," scoffed someone from SG-14.

Jack rolled his eyes. "It's not his real name, just an assumed one. Now don't say anything, but who is it I blame for my hair having gone gray?"

Sergeant Constantinou, a cheerful Greek who'd been with the SGC for nearly three years, burst out laughing, earning confused looks from his teammates. Taking pity on Maxwell, the team's "new kid", he whispered into the younger sergeant's ear.

"Oh."

"Care to clue in the rest of us who are a little slower on the uptake?" Hawthorne groused, pointing at himself and Rivers.

"I work out of his office," Jonas answered. "Half of the SGC's translators use his language guides in the field. Doctor Frasier still keeps a reserved bed in the infirmary for him—"

"I do not!" Janet protested, her cheeks coloring slightly.

Jack grinned. "Maybe not, but it is the last one you fill in a crisis." Scooping up the dog tags, he carefully deposited them back in the box and shut the lid. He looked up, leaning his elbows on the table. "I'll bet your hair was solid black before you met him."

Han Kazo ran his fingers through his hair. "It wasn't, but I believe there are a few more lightened hairs than there were."

"I once had a head full of hair," Kien Lu dead-panned, provoking a few smiles.

Jack cleared his throat. "When we finish here, go back, grab your 'cousin' by the ear, and tell him to get his ass home, pronto." He flicked the box with his forefinger. "Here's proof how badly we need him: these sixteen men might still be alive if he'd been able to work his magic on the Unas before the attack."

The patriarch nodded. "He is aware of this, Colonel, having guessed much the same. He also wished me to inform you that the first shipment of naquada should be ready for collection in approximately two of your weeks."

"Shipment?"

"We wanted it for ourselves, of course, but apparently the Unas will mine it only for someone who will then use the ore to battle the Goa'uld. I am told an Unas named 'Chaka' will be your liaison, and that Master... 'Solo' will continue his search for a certain relic of the 'Gate Builders."

Jack sighed. "He's not coming home anytime soon, is he?"

Han Kazo smiled sadly, spreading his hands. "My wife and I had tried to convince him to come along today, but he declined. He is an... exceedingly stubborn young man."

"That he is," the colonel replied, catching out of the corner of his eye the looks of disappointment on the faces of Teal'c, Janet, Jonas, and Constantinou. The doc looked on the verge of tears and Jack didn't feel much better. "Tell him we... we miss him. I miss him."

The patriarch nodded soberly. "I will do as you ask."

Knowing it was the best he could hope for today, Jack clapped his hands together and rubbed them vigorously. "So! Let's get to the negotiating part! Hawthorne, this is your area... have at it. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a delivery to make."

Scooping up the box, he stood up as quickly as his protesting knees would allow and exited the tent. Someone was following behind him and he figured it was probably Teal'c. It didn't matter who it was anyway, as no one was likely to believe Jack if he said the moisture hovering on the edge of his eyes was the result of allergies.

Chapter 49

"Well, now we know why the 'Gate wouldn't connect."

Daniel nodded, staring down at the planet's volatile surface. It was the only body in the solar system their sensors indicated was the right mass to support humanoid life, but the atmosphere was toxic. This world might have been habitable a hundred or even a thousand years ago, but was now a teeming mess of lava-spewing volcanoes and pyroclastic rivers. If there'd ever been an Ancient city down there, it was long-gone now.

"Scratch Taonas off the list," he agreed. "Want to try the next one or head back to Katana?"

Vala leaned against the tel'tak's console and pressed her fist to her chin. "Oh, let's go to the next one."

He pulled up the navigation computer on the viewscreen, punching in the glyphs for the second address. After discovering that Hephaestus' palace was nothing more than a pile of ancient rubble, Daniel and Vala had returned to the Hans, passed the dog tags off to be delivered to the Tau'ri, and let Kazo know of the mining agreement upon which the Unas had insisted. The Han family patriarch had been equal parts stunned and amused, but promised to carry out his wishes.

"As you say, Master Daniel, this arrangement could be extremely beneficial for us both," the older man smiled enigmatically. "Are you certain you do not wish to join me for the opening negotiations?"

Shaking his head, he declined again, citing a need to begin his research into the Ancients. Vala proved to be a more-than-capable assistant, having a keen eye for pattern recognition that allowed her to scan texts for any words which resembled any of several different synonyms and variants of the words "lost" and "city".

Within a few days, they'd come across what seemed to be traveler's log or an expeditionary journal of some kind, possibly belonging to an Ancient or even a direct descendant of one. Several destinations were named within its contents, each location carefully notated with a set of 'Gate coordinates. They'd pored over the addresses, comparing them to the most recent information in the Han library's computer. Of the fifty-seven planets named, twenty-six had been eliminated immediately as Goa'uld territories and three Daniel had recognized from his own travels: Kheb, where he'd first met Oma DeSala; Heliopolis, the planet Ernest Littlefield had been trapped on for fifty years; and P4X-639, which Jack O'Neill had affectionately dubbed "The Land of Groundhog Day".

That then left them with a list of twenty-eight more planets to investigate. They'd tested each of the addresses at the Stargate, coming up with only nine which actually connected. Deciding to reserve those worlds for later survey, Daniel memorized the shortened list and destroyed his notes so that they couldn't accidentally fall into the wrong hands.

He finished plotting the course then dropped his hands to the tel'tak's control yoke and engaged the hyperdrive. Vala had insisted he learn how to "drive" in case they had to switch off, so was using this opportunity to teach him the basics.

"If you can learn a tel'tak, you can learn an al'kesh," she had beamed after going over the function of the control yoke. "Death gliders and ha'tak are a bit different, though."

"Oh," he grinned teasingly, "I already know how to fly a ha'tak."

That admission had then led to his explaining how he and his team had finally defeated Apophis, which then required an explanation for how their ship and Apophis' had been trapped four million light years from home. That story had resulted in a recount of Sam's amazing feat of stellar pyrotechnics. Having never heard of anyone deliberately blowing up an entire solar system, Vala was suitably impressed.

He was startled out of his mental meanderings by a soft beep from one of the sensors. "Uh... I think we might have a problem."

Vala looked up, frowning at the console. "What kind of problem?" At his embarrassed shrug, she expertly tapped a few controls, bringing up the interface on the viewscreen. "You're not the only one with fickle luck, Daniel."

"Why, what is it?"

She grimaced. "You know that electromagnetic storm we passed through on our way here that I said probably wouldn't pose a problem?"

"No, wait... don't tell me: it did?"

"I'm afraid so. Our power levels are going to be critically low in just a few hours. We're going to need to find a planet with a Stargate that is close enough to get to before this thing becomes a dead husk in space."

Nodding, Daniel opened the navigational computer again. "Here's one that's about fourteen hours away."

"Too far. We have only about nine hours left... anything closer?"

"Not really. Eleven hours is the closest I can do, I think, but it means we turn around and go back the way we came, almost."

She pounded the console in frustration. "Do it. I'll cut our power consumption levels as much as I can. I'll need to disable weapons, all shields except navigation, and communications. No lights and minimal environmentals, too. Sorry, Daniel, but its going to get a little cold in here."

"Darn. I left my scarf back on Katana," he quipped, turning the ship around and trying to keep the situation light. "Did I ever tell you about the time Anubis tried to crash an asteroid into Earth?"

Vala looked up from the access panel in which she was now elbows-deep. "Darling, as much as I would love to hear your story, talking uses up more oxygen than just sitting still does. I'm even going to seal off the cargo bay and void its atmosphere so that we're trying to heat and keep air in only one tiny compartment."

The next half hour was spent in tense silence, Vala working diligently to cut connections, re-route power, and limit their power consumption rate, occasionally calling him over to assist. Finally, she returned from her work back at the engines, closed the cargo bay doors, then walked back to the copilot's seat in the darkness. A moment later, she exhaled heavily. "I think we'll have about twelve hours."

"It's enough," Daniel assured her.

It was hard to find things to do when talking and exercise were out of the question—which definitely left out other activities, Vala pointed out with a sly wink. Instead, they had to sit quietly in their chairs and stare out at the streaking purple-white light of hyperspace. Before the hypnotic swirls could entice either of them to go to sleep, Daniel set an alarm on the console, then settled back into the pilot's seat.

He didn't know how long it actually took to drift off, but he woke on his own still four hours from the nearest planet with a 'Gate. A quick check of their energy levels showed that they were actually doing better than expected, with an estimated six hours of power left in the ship. His movement must have disturbed Vala's slumber, who then nodded her cautious approval at the read-out on the screen.

There was no point in trying to sleep further, so they abandoned their chairs and used the flashlights from their packs as lamps. A popular game of chance was produced from the depths of the former con artist's bag, and she set about teaching him to play. Having always been lousy at card games, he was equally terrible at Triads. Chess, however, was a game of strategy he could actually win. When they got back to Katana, he was going to have to get out his wood kit and try his hand at carving a chess set.

As his luck would have it, he was in the middle of a winning streak when the console alarm sounded. Bowing to her superior piloting skills, he was more than happy to take the second seat. Vala brought the ship out of hyperspace, then nodded at him to reactivate the close-range sensors.

"Uh-oh. I'm detecting at least two al'kesh in orbit of the planet and what looks like a powered-down ha'tak on the surface, but it could be just a pyramid-shaped fortress."

"Damn it," Vala swore, slapping buttons rapidly to activate the cloaking device. "They probably detected our entry to the solar system, but there's no help for that now. The Stargate's likely guarded, so we're going to have to land this somewhere remote and try to escape quietly."

Daniel nodded. "Found the 'Gate, anyway. It looks like there's a pretty heavy forest not far away, though. I'm trying to find a clearing big enough to set down in."

"Make it fast," she replied, eyeing the flashing power indicator. "The cloak is drawing too much power, so we now have only half an hour."

"Crap." Worrying at his lip, Daniel bent back to his task, carefully scrutinizing sensor data in search of a suitable landing place. The tension was palpable, two sets of eyes desperately poring over a single display.

When the countdown reached fifteen minutes, Vala shook her head. "I'm taking it down. If we find a good landing zone, fine... if not, we'll have to make do." Still thanking their fortunes that the Goa'uld vessels had yet to give any indications of pursuit, they entered the atmosphere and raced toward the appointed landing area.

"Got it!" Daniel shouted in triumph, transferring the coordinates to the navigation computer.

Suddenly, the ship was jolted heavily, sending him careening toward the pilot's chair. He caught himself on the center console quickly enough, staring at the sensors in horror. "Death gliders!"

Vala grimly tightened her grip on the control yoke. "Well, Daniel, you're about to get a first-hand look at how good I am at making crash-landings."

He jerked his head up at the looming trees, just as branches started snapping off on the tel'tak's nose.

"Crap," he muttered. The world shook again and again, then everything went black.

Chapter 50

Groaning softly, Daniel pushed himself off of the console on which he was sprawled. A quick glance at Vala showed that his partner was still unconscious, a trail of blood streaking her forehead. Not knowing how long it had been since they crashed, he leaned across the center panel and shook her shoulder. She moaned softly, but didn't awaken.

They couldn't have been down for long, he decided, fingers carefully testing his throbbing left cheekbone and temple. Other than some sore muscles and few protesting bruises from the rest of his body, he seemed to be okay. He wouldn't stay that way long if he and Vala didn't get away from the wreckage before the Goa'uld ships returned to finish them.

Or worse: a Jaffa patrol did.

Cursing softly, he put his feet beneath him and struggled to stand upright on the pitched deck of the crashed tel'tak. Most of their gear lay scattered near the ship's hatch, the open packs having spilled their contents in the collision. Holding onto anything which could help him keep from falling over, he made his way over to the bags and began to stuff the supplies into a single bag, sticking to the essentials and emptying the second pack. Vala might be disappointed at losing her cards, dice, and collection of hair accessories, but none of those three items were necessary for survival.

Next, he quickly moved to the rear compartment. There had apparently been a hull breach, he realized, noting that the cargo hold was pressurized already. Finding their scattered food supplies, he filled the second bag with non-perishables and water flasks, then returned to the cockpit.

Vala was still slumped across the console when he returned, escalating his concern. She was probably concussed, he guessed, and might not be capable of walking on her own even if he could get her awake. Thinking quickly, he slung the pack containing the food and water over his back, then fastened the second pack to the bottom of the first using the attached D-rings. It was uncomfortable dangling behind his legs like that, but at least he wouldn't have to leave behind anything vital.

Moving over to the center console, Daniel set the self-destruct timer for five minutes. Recalling a trick Aris Boch had employed, he yanked the deactivation crystal out, shoving it into his coat pocket. Finally, he pressed the controls to open the outer door—which thankfully complied—then turned back to Vala.

"Time to go," he muttered, more to himself than anything. He carefully turned her chair while pulling her upright, then slid his arms beneath her legs and back. Cradling her limp body to his chest, he stepped outside the wreckage, looking around to get his bearings.

The forest was north of the Stargate, he remembered, and they'd been traveling east-to-west when they were hit. South, then, was to the left of the crashed ship. Inhaling deeply, he moved into the dark woods, trying to put as much distance between himself and the impending explosion.

When the self-destruct went off, the noise disturbed Vala, causing her to begin to struggle against his hold. He swiftly dropped to one knee and laid her on the ground, patting her cheek to get her attention.

"Ugh," she muttered as she came around, screwing up her face. She squinted up at him, blinked, then let out a sigh. "Hello, gorgeous."

"Hello yourself," he answered. "How are you feeling?"

"Like a herd of cattle are stampeding through my skull."

"Ouch," he grimaced in sympathy. "Give me a second and I'll get you a painkiller."

"A zat?"

He laughed. "No, one of the analgesics from my med kit. You know, the one I put together from the stuff we stole on Jaya?"

"You stole," she reminded him. "I was picking the lock."

"Semantics." Releasing the D-rings, he pulled the second pack around and dug through it, coming up with the small bag into which he'd stuffed the pilfered supplies. When Balin returned their packs to them at the meeting with the Hans, she'd helped him to identify the medications, explaining the uses of each. Popping open the Jayan equivalent to Tylenol, he handed two of the pills to his partner and offered her a sip from one of the flasks of water. "Nice landing, by the way."

She coughed, swiping at her mouth before returning the bottle. "Any landing you can walk away from is a nice landing."

"Yeah... except I walked, you... didn't."

Grinning, Vala tweaked the tip of his nose. "Semantics."

He rolled his eyes. "You know, I once suggested the Tok'ra equip one of their ships with seat belts."

"I'm sure that went over well," she answered, gingerly touching the lump on her forehead. "Ow. We're probably going to be having company before long, so we'd better get moving. Where's the ship, anyway?"

"About a quarter of a mile back that way," Daniel replied, jerking his thumb over his shoulder. "Of course, it's just a smoldering wreck now. I set the self-destruct before we left."

"Oh. Wait... you gathered our supplies, set the self-destruct, and carried me? My hero."

He chuckled. "Jack O'Neill school of survival, Sam Carter's lessons on the most effective way to blow up pretty much anything, and sessions in the gym with Teal'c. Just following my training, doing what I was taught to do."

"I'll say," she sighed, letting her eyes close. "Any sign of a Jaffa patrol?"

"Nothing yet, but our chances of running into one are only going to increase the closer we get to the Stargate. I'm not really sure how far away it is, though, but I think we're heading in the right direction." When Vala didn't answer, he tapped her cheek gently, trying to rouse her. Instead, she merely murmured sleepily and kept her eyes closed.

Keeping a person with a concussion awake was a myth, if he remembered Janet Frasier's lessons correctly, but medical treatment was necessary. Vala's pupils had been mostly even, so he didn't think the damage was severe. Neither of them could afford to waste the time for him to try to get her conscious and mobile, though. He re-attached the second pack, then carefully lifted her into his arms.

Perhaps as much as a half hour later, she stirred again, peering up at him through her lashes. "You're all sweaty."

Daniel sighed, nodding. "It's warm out, I'm still wearing a coat, and I'm also carrying two packs and you. You're not exactly a feather-weight either. What have you been eating?"

"Rocks," she replied with a smile. "Put me down, then, I think I can walk." He did as she asked, and though she swayed slightly, remained on her feet. "Want to give me one of the packs?"

"How about you just work on staying upright?" he answered, steadying her as she swayed again.

"Good idea."

He kept their pace slow at first, but once it became apparent that Vala was able to move under her own power well enough, Daniel increased speed. He'd momentarily considered trying to use some of the trail-concealing techniques Teal'c had shown him once, but dismissed the idea as unnecessary. The Stargate was their intended destination, and any Goa'uld or Jaffa with even half a brain would know that. Greater delay in reaching the 'Gate would mean more patrols could be called out to search and more guards stationed at the device.

The second pack kept banging into the backs of his thighs as he walked. Finally, Vala became exasperated enough to demand he hand it over to her. It was the lighter of the two packs, but the removal of its encumbrance allowed him to resume his normal stride instead of the shorter, quicker steps he had been taking.

About two more hours into the walk, they heard the distinct sounds of a Jaffa patrol, crashing and stomping through the woods in the distance. Pressing against solid tree trunks, they waited until the noises faded before resuming their course, quickening the pace just a little more. Half an hour later, Daniel called a halt and encouraged Vala to sit, drink more water, and take more pain medication. The trip was taking its toll on her, and though she protested the rest, it was clear to him that it was much-needed. He would have liked for her to rest even longer, but time was not on their side.

It was beginning to get dark when he heard a distant horn. "I guess they found our trail," he sighed when another horn answered the first. "Sorry, Vala, but we won't be able to stop again."

"It's okay," she answered. "We can walk all night if needed."

"We don't have much choice," he agreed. "Good thing we got our naps in on the tel'tak, eh?"

"You napped, I... watched you sleep."

"You did?"

"Well, I slept, too. Besides, I also got a little nap in while you carried me, so I'm rested."

Daniel shook his head. "You have a mild concussion. That's going to make you sleepy. If you need to stop, let me know... I'll carry you some more."

"Your arms are tired. I'll be fine."

"Vala..."

"Just keep walking, Daniel," she sighed.

Night had already fallen when they heard the first signs of their pursuers. Since they'd been keeping to a mostly-straight line—or so he hoped—Daniel changed their direction slightly, angling toward what he thought was the southeast. It would cut into their time a little, but might serve to keep them out of trouble if the Jaffa were not good at tracking in the dark.

The sounds of pursuit continued to increase, and he slid his zat out of the pocket of his coat to have it ready. Vala was staggering and he worried how effective her shots would be if it came down to a fight. She was struggling doggedly onward, though, refusing to slow him down any. Her stubborn nature was one of the reasons he loved her, after all.

A glance backward showed about a dozen Goa'uld torches shining through the trees behind them. The patrol had spread out, too, perhaps having discovered that Daniel and Vala were no longer moving in a straight line. He resisted the urge to speed up again, knowing that their increased pace would only make them easier to spot and hear.

She stumbled then, a soft cry escaping her lips before she could stop it. Eyes widened in fear, they glanced over their shoulders as one of the Jaffa behind them shouted.

"Crap," Daniel muttered, searching around for cover. "There are some bushes over there," he whispered, pointing. "Hide, Vala."

"Not without you," she replied.

"I'm not going to just stand here, if that's what you think. Let's hide, then. C'mon."

Working together, they made their way over to the dark clump of bushes nearby and slid into the undergrowth. Peering through the branches, Daniel primed his zat and waited, trying to keep his breathing quiet and under control. The pool of light from the torches illuminated the Jaffa carrying them, making them easy targets if he were to open fire. It also revealed something else: not all the Jaffa had the same emblem tattooed on their foreheads. Rebels, maybe?

The sound of activating staff weapons chilled him to the bone. "Onac, kree!" yelled one of the soldiers, the tip of his weapon pointed unerringly at Daniel and Vala's hiding place.

Realizing their location had been made, he aimed his zat. "Shal'kek nem'ron," he replied, remembering the passphrase Teal'c had once taught him.

"You will die begging for me