by Geonn Cannon
Landry moved closer so he could see. A message began scrolling out, numbers with the occasional letter thrown in. Walter tried to make sense of it as the message appeared but there didn’t seem to be any pattern to it. Finally the block ended with a series of dashes followed by four words: VIAXEIRO and VALA MAL DORAN. Once the full message had been delivered, the Stargate shut down.
Walter looked up at Landry, who looked annoyed and intrigued in equal measure. “I suppose we should get Vala down here to see if she knows what this means.”
“Yes, sir.”
Landry walked away and Walter’s eye fell on the cup the General had left behind on the control panel. Steam was still rising from it, and he could smell even from this distance that it was even better than Dr. Jackson’s stash. His fingers itched to reach out and take it. No sense in letting fresh, hot coffee go to waste. And whatever the message was, it would probably require Landry’s full attention. He might not even think about the coffee until it had gone cold, and —
Landry came back and retrieved the cup. “Walter!” he said, “Find Vala. Now.”
“Yes, sir, on it, sir.”
He headed to the wall-mounted phone. Maybe when his shift was over he could run by Starbucks.
~#~
In the weeks after Vala’s flagrant disobedience of Sam’s orders, the team managed to give each other space without blatantly avoiding one another. Sam took the opportunity for a trip to Washington so she could brief President Hayes about her experiences in the alternate universe. She was gone longer than anyone predicted and, putting aside the fact it may have been a long debriefing, Daniel got the impression she opted for a mini-vacation in her old stomping grounds. He also heard a rumor that Jack was taking a vacation from Homeworld Security around the same time she was scheduled to be in town.
Teal’c tried to distract himself with a “peaceful summit” which turned into a slaughter orchestrated by a Jaffa named Arkad. He led a group of Jaffa who had been swayed to follow Origin. Teal’c killed him and, with his death, the movement was believed to have collapsed. Teal’c was still recovering from the beatings he’d taken while seeking his vengeance, and Mitchell had a few scrapes and bruises of his own from trying to stop their teammate from doing anything rash.
Daniel was enjoying the time alone, frankly. No Vala bouncing around his office trying to get his attention, no missions trying to figure out the best way to convince people the Ori were just as bad as the Goa’uld had been, no listening to Teal’c recap movies Daniel barely remembered from his childhood. He needed time to himself so he could process his recent experiences as a Prior. It was part of a grander plan, and he’d never actually been brainwashed to the enemy’s way of thinking, but he’d undergone a fundamental physical change. Sometimes he wondered if the constant changes they went through - Sam blending with a Tok’ra, his ascension and return, Jack’s repeated death and resurrection at the hands of Ba’al - would wreak havoc on them down the road.
His theory that he was being avoided was disproven when Mitchell knocked on the wall outside his office door. “Yo, Jackson. Siler is offering lunch. Beer, wings, the whole nine yards, on him. Apparently it’s been a week since he’s been hurt, and he thought that required a celebration. You in?”
“Uh, maybe. Did he say where they’re going? I’m still not really welcome in O’Malley’s.”
Vala’s voice echoed through the corridor. “Dan-iel!”
He closed his eyes and pressed his fingers to his temple. “On second thought, it sounds like we’re about to get busy.”
Mitchell stepped aside as Vala appeared, arriving at such speed that she had to slam into the door just to slow herself down enough to get into the office. She wobbled on her feet a little and shook her head as she stumbled over to where Daniel was sitting.
“Daniel. Ow. I need your help. I need you to convince General Landry to send SG-1 on a mission. It’s a matter of life and death.”
“What mission?” Daniel said.
“It’s a rescue mission. A mission of mercy! SG-1 does those all the time, right?” She looked behind her and finally noticed Mitchell. “Oh. Hello, Colonel Mitchell. You can help convince him, too. The two of you, how could he say no?”
Mitchell enunciated when he asked, “What… mission?”
“Calm down and use your words,” Daniel said.
Vala sneered at him. “Don’t you patronize me! This is a serious matter. My friend Tanis Reynard needs my help. She sent a distress signal. She’s been arrested and she’s being held in a horrible prison where there’s no hope of escape. We have to go break her out.”
“Tanis Reynard?” Daniel said, glancing toward his computer. “Tanis Reynard… why do I know that name?”
Mitchell said, “Tanis Reynard, the Hebridian prisoner who killed her guards when their ship crashed on an uninhabited world? SG-1 ran into her four years ago. She and her cronies tied up Carter off-world and tried to use the SGC computers to find new planets to pillage.”
“Well.” Vala flipped her hair out of her face and rubbed her arm where she’d run into the door. “We all have pasts we’re not proud of…” She looked at Daniel. “So you’ve met Tanis?”
“No, I haven’t had the pleasure.” Daniel gathered his notebooks and stood up. “I was, ah, somewhere else that year. So, Cam, you mentioned beer and wings?”
Vala watched them go, desperate. “Wait! She’s in trouble. You can’t just walk away because you had some disagreements in the past.”
Daniel stopped in the doorway. “Vala, this goes beyond disagreements. SG-1 encountered her while she was a prisoner. She was literally escaping custody when their paths crossed. The fact she’s in prison again makes it sound like she hasn’t changed her ways.”
Mitchell said, “Sorry about your friend. But the SGC really isn’t in the business of helping guilty people escape prison.”
“But she’s not guilty!”
“How do you know?”
“Because she’s in prison!”
Daniel and Mitchell looked at each other, then turned to continue their departure. Vala growled and ran between them. She put her hands on their chests to keep them from advancing to the elevator.
“Tanis Reynard and I worked together for a very long time. She’s careful. She plans her crimes out, and she doesn’t take unnecessary risks. She would never have gotten caught for something she actually did which means she’s been imprisoned unjustly. And she’s in one of the worst prisons the galaxy has to offer, and the SGC most certainly is in the business of helping people in those situations. You can’t just abandon her because she’s done bad things in the past. Look at Teal’c! Look at me!”
Daniel closed his eyes and sighed. Mitchell’s shoulders slumped.
“I’ll let Siler know we’re passing on the wings.”
Vala beamed and hugged both men tightly around the neck. Daniel tried not to think of how much it felt like a noose and patted Vala on the back.
Besides, all they had to do was present her concerns to Landry. There was very little chance he would actually okay the mission.
~#~
“Vala is running the briefing?”
Daniel shrugged, clearly unable to argue with the skepticism in Sam’s voice. They were seated next to each other at the table, with Teal’c and Mitchell across from them. The Stargate loomed over Mitchell’s head, and Sam wished she could jump through it to avoid whatever was about to happen.
“General Landry agreed to hear her out. And since SG-1 is the team that would go, he wanted us to get all the information at the same time.”
“Yeah, but why is he even entertaining the idea?” Sam asked.
“I’m sure he has his reasons.”
Vala came into the briefing room, trailed by General Landry. She stopped at the head of the table and smiled at the team, then realized Landry was glaring at her.
“Oh… I just thought… since I was running — ”
“No,” Landry said, shooing her.
Sam closed her eyes. “Vala…”
“Sorry. I read somewhere that if you’re going to speak publicly, you should open with a joke. But I see that must not apply to every situation.” She shifted her weight from foot to foot. “So let’s just move on. My friend, my partner in crime, a woman who saved my life on multiple occasions is in trouble. She’s been captured. Locked away in an inescapable prison. She cried out to us for help.”
Mitchell said, “I want to hear more about this ‘inescapable prison’ part. Vee-a-jero?”
“V-ya-shero,” Vala corrected. “The Viaxeiro Caldera is the worst prison in the entire universe. Growing up, every little thief is warned not to screw up or they’ll be sent there. It was built on a drifting planet that wanders between solar systems, out in the middle of nowhere.”
“A rogue planet?” Sam sounded intrigued in spite of herself.
“How would life even be possible there?” Daniel said. “No light or heat…”
“Possibly an artificial atmosphere,” Sam suggested. “Not being exposed to ultraviolet light would make it easier to retain a hydrogen-rich atmosphere. That would trap enough heat on the planet’s surface to sustain life. Or if it kept a moon when it was kicked out of its solar system, the tidal forces—”
“Colonel,” Landry warned.
Sam winced. “Sorry, sir.” To Daniel, she said, “Suffice to say, it’s not something we’ve encountered before. But it is possible.”
“That’s right. No one on the outside can stage a rescue and no one on the inside can plan an escape. If you don’t know where you are, you don’t know where you can run. Only the people in charge of the prison know where it can be found at any given moment so they can send more prisoners, guards, supplies, you know, that sort of thing.”
Daniel said, “It’s an oubliette. A dark place where people are sent to be forgotten.”
“Exactly!” Vala said. “But if anyone can find this place, it’s SG-1.”
Teal’c’s expression didn’t betray his position on the matter. “We do have a certain aptitude for escaping from inescapable prisons.”
Sam said, “Usually when we don’t have a choice. We escaped from Hadante because we were arrested by the Taldor. We risked entering Netu in order to save my father. This time we would be choosing to enter this prison to save a woman who, the first time we met, had just killed her jailers and then planned to leave SG-1 for dead so she could use the Stargate to loot the galaxy. I’m sorry, Vala, but she doesn’t sound like a candidate for this kind of risk.”
“Normally I’d agree with that assessment,” Landry said, “but something Vala said stuck out to me.”
Vala’s posture straightened slightly, wary but proud. “Something I said…?”
“This Tanis Reynard woman has been out there surviving the past two years since the Goa’uld fell. She knows the criminal underworld like no one else.”
Sam realized where he was going. “The Lucian Alliance.”
“Bingo. They’re in a tailspin now, thanks to the coup against Netan you all helped orchestrate. Homeworld Security is trying to put an operative into the Alliance undercover, but they can’t get past the secrecy of everyone involved. I called General O’Neill, and he thinks this Tanis woman might be an invaluable source of information. She could give us the intel we need to finally plant a mole in the organization.”
Sam was stunned. “General O’Neill actually agreed to the rescue mission?”
“Not exactly. A team was able to decipher the rest of the message and determined it’s a gate address. General O’Neill thinks it’s worth a look. See what you find and make a judgment call from there. If you decide to continue with the rescue, we’ll offer Miss Reynard a nice cozy cell here at the SGC in exchange for what she can tell us about the Alliance. There’s an opening tomorrow at 0800, you can leave then.”
Vala said, “Oof. Eight o’clock in the morning…?” The team all looked at her. She flashed a smile. “It’s fine! I’ll go to bed early. No problem.”
Sam still didn’t think the mission was worth their time, but she knew it was futile to argue. The meeting was already over and she’d lost her opportunity to change the general’s mind. “Yes, sir.”
Landry dismissed the team and returned to his office. Daniel headed for the elevators. Mitchell made a break for the stairs. Teal’c was still recovering from injuries sustained in his fight with Arkad so he was too slow to escape her. Sam had almost made it out of the room but stopped on the stairs, guilty about leaving Teal’c to face the brunt of Vala’s attention.
“Muscles! Listen, I just wanted to say thank you for the vote of confidence in the meeting.”
“I was merely stating a fact. We have indeed escaped from many situations which were, to that point, considered inescapable.”
Vala bumped her fist against his shoulder. “That’s the spirit!”
Teal’c inclined his head. “Our past victories have no bearing on future performance. It would only require one failure to lose everything.”
Vala’s smile wavered as he stepped around her. “Right. But I have the utmost confidence in all of us.” She turned and Sam hurried down the stairs before Vala could spot her. She could hear a frustrated grunt followed by Vala shouting, “I wish you all would stop walking away and leaving me in empty rooms!”
CHAPTER TWO
VALA IDENTIFIED the address from Tanis’ message as Pezjena, a lawless world where smugglers and mercenaries could meet up with allies and potential clients. Sam didn’t think they would get very far in their standard uniforms, which meant they would need to sign out some of what Daniel called ‘undercover rawhide.’ The past few years had seen a rise in missions where teams needed to be incognito, so whenever possible they were asked to bring back clothing which could help them blend in. The SGC didn’t exactly have a wardrobe department, so it was all filed in the archives. Sam didn’t mind playing dress-up, but she was annoyed it would mean dealing with Major Hagman.
Hagman, when he was still a captain, served very briefly as a member of SG-1 after Daniel ascended. His disastrous first mission had proven he wasn’t cut out for the field and he was reassigned to the base archives. Sam felt he blamed her for the fact he hadn’t been given Daniel’s spot on the team. Either that or he was just a lousy judge of women’s fashion. She put in a request before leaving the base and, in the morning, opened her locker to find a low-cut peasant blouse and a dress which would greatly hamper her ability to run.
“Damn it, Hagman.” She glanced at the locker next to hers and, after a moment of internal debate, opened it to see what the guys had been given.
She had already changed into the trousers and was buttoning the shirt when Daniel came in. He faltered at the threshold but continued inside when he saw that Sam was putting clothes on and not taking them off.
“Hey,” he said.
“I’ll be out in a second.” She reached into her locker and retrieved the brown flat cap off the top shelf. “Hagman has given me this hat before. It’s actually not bad.”
“Give me a boonie hat any day,” Daniel said. “Actually, I think I lost my last one. Do they still make them?”
Sam smiled. “This is the military. We still make everything, whether we use it or not.” She shut her locker door. “Hagman forgot to give Mitchell an outfit.”
Daniel looked at her slacks, the cuffs of which had been rolled up. “Hm. Strange.”
“Yeah, I guess they still think we’re a four-person team.”
She was at the door when Daniel said, “Ah, just a second.” She held the door open with her shoulder and turned back. “Is everything going to be okay between you and Vala?”
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
“We haven’t really gone on an official mission since… you know, Vala running through a hail of gunfire to the DHD against your orders
.”
Sam came back inside and slumped against the wall. “Oh, right. That.”
“To be fair, she was probably right about the fact we wouldn’t have made it out of town. We might have been taken prisoner, handed over to the Ori army…”
“And we would’ve found a way out of it, and maybe gathered more intel about whether Merlin’s device worked or not. Vala took an unnecessary risk. All it would’ve taken was one bullet from those villagers and she’d have been dead and we’d have been captured anyway. She never would have–” She cut herself off and wrinkled her nose, looking at the ground instead of finishing her thought.
Daniel had known her far too long to let it sit. “She never would have done that if Jack was the one giving the orders.”
“You know he never would have let her get away with half the things she does,” Sam said, keeping her voice low in case anyone overheard. “I’m fine with Mitchell taking command. But if Vala’s ignoring my orders on a regular basis, then I might as well get busted back down to Major and start calling Mitchell ‘sir’.”
“Vala is still getting used to this whole team thing. She’s been on her own since she was a kid. Just give her some time to adjust.”
“She’s had time, Daniel. The universe isn’t getting any safer, despite our best efforts. When she makes decisions on her own, it’s not just her life on the line anymore. We need to count on her when the chips are down. If we can’t do that… maybe SG-1 should go back to being a four-person team.”
“Are you talking about Vala leaving or you?”
Sam sighed. “I guess we’ll see when the time comes.”
~#~
Vala was well practiced in the art of going off-world, but she was still getting used to the idea of leaving and then coming back to the same place. Normally after spending this long in a single place she would either be looking for an escape hatch or waiting for a mark to chase her out of the solar system. She still liked to make sure everything was in order before she left so, after she changed into the lovely little leather outfit that had been delivered to her, she spent a few minutes cataloguing her things. She didn’t know if the airmen searched her quarters when she was off-world but she wouldn’t put it past them. She didn’t have anything illicit on the base but, if someone were to search, she didn’t want them finding anything questionable.
