Crusade
“Well, since you disintegrated the Alteran Communication Stones,” Sam
was saying as she came into her lab, “and the base terminal in the
kawoosh, we've been…”
“I'm sorry the what?” Cam asked, scratching his head. He nodded in my
direction as I watched Daniel trail after them.
“The unstable vortex of a forming wormhole. Kawoosh,” Sam said.
“Don't think I've ever heard you call it that before.”
“Really?” She paused and looked down at the pad of paper before her.
Cam came over to where I was dissembling the magnet and beaker
contraption that Bill was helping me experiment with. We had come up
with an idea that a small drop of the Ori blood could have healing
properties, and Carolyn had told me that I could not do any experiments
in her infirmary. Sam had lent me part of her lab.
Daniel stood at the other end of the room, looking at his fingers. He
looked up and was about to speak when Cam said, “Don’t get me wrong,
it’s good.”
“No, I mean, I must have,” Sam said.
“Um, hello,” Daniel said, waving his hand at Cam and Sam. “Hi. I’m
Vala, and I am in Daniel Jackson’s body.”
My jaw became slack. Confused I looked at Sam and Cam who barely
acknowledged the statement. I looked back at Daniel and then toward
Sam. As Sam began to fill in Cam about an experiment that she and
Bill had been working on for a long time, I watched Daniel/Vala sit at
the table and look bored.
“Are you sure?” I whispered to Cam as Sam began questioning Daniel/Vala.
“I found him in the men’s locker room staring at me. And not one of
those, ‘you have a booger stares.’ It was a … well I‘d liken it to a
‘come hither’ look.”
“Hmm… I don’t know. Things could happen, and he did do that quick off
world mission yesterday,” I replied.
“It’s funny, Daniel always wanted to get into my pants and now I am in
his,” Daniel/Vala said.
Cam said after a beat, “Oh, that’s so wrong.”
Shaking my head I leaned back toward Cam. “Never mind, that’s Vala. Is
it me or is it creepy to hear Daniel say those things?”
“Depends on who you are, I suppose. But yes, very creepy,” Cam said,
giving a small smile.
- - -
Vala, as stated in Daniel’s voice, spent as much time as she could
telling us about her period in Ori-occupied territory, how she became
“miraculously pregnant” and was now trying to convince her husband that
the Ori were bad. I was still marveling at how Vala’s words and
experiences and sometimes mannerisms were being channeled through
Daniel.
“But they are coming,” Vala said once more. “The ships were about to
take off.”
“But that would mean…” Sam started.
Vala nodded. “The Ori have a working Supergate.”
Teal’c, Cam and Sam all exchanged looks. I moved back over to Daniel to
check his vitals once more. As I tried to put the cuff on Daniel’s arm,
Vala slapped my hand away.
“Excuse me, but hasn’t poor Daniel been poked enough by you people?”
“No. And he would not mind a few more since it’s for his health,” I
said, smiling tightly. “Arm.”
Vala held out her – umm, Daniel’s arm – and continued her narrative.
“There is not much time since the crusade has started – something about
a day of reckoning.”
“When all who appose the Ori will feel their wrath,” Teal’c said
quietly.
Vala nodded and we all looked at each other. Not a good thing. On the
bright side, Daniel’s vitals were steady.
“Well give us details! I mean what are we looking at? Big ships? Lots
of weapons?” Cam started.
“What kind of power technology? Do you have diagrams and schematics?”
Sam added.
Vala held her hands up against the questions. “No, no… I don’t have a
lot of time….”
“Right so let’s have it,” Cam said eagerly, a pen poised over a pad of
paper.
We waited for Vala to continue, but instead she – err Daniel – blinked
once and looked perplex.
“Um guys, what’s going on?”
“Aww crap,” Cam muttered, slapping his hand against the pad. “Can we…”
“No. It’s not from our side; all our computers are still running. It
had to come from her side,” Sam answered, shaking her head.
“Don’t mean to repeat myself, but what is going on,” Daniel asked again.
“Vala was communicating through you. It had to do with the Alteran
communication link,” I supplied. “Don’t worry, she did not do anything
while… using your body.”
“Well that’s a small favor. I don’t remember anything,” he said,
rubbing his arm.
“If you are all done, I have a patient I need to get up to the
infirmary to make sure he is ok,” I said, turning toward Sam and Cam
who were hunched over several monitors.
“Oh, um, welcome back Jackson. Sure… we can’t do anything from our side
at the moment anyway,” Cam replied.
Slowly Daniel and I walked to the infirmary, Daniel asking a few
questions while I filled him in on what Vala had communicated while she
had taken over his body. I also mentioned that she said she was
pregnant. That got an raised eyebrow and a few more questions. Somehow
another ‘immaculate conception’ had happened – and on the other side of
our galaxy.
“She didn’t really … do anything, did she?” Daniel asked with worry in
his eyes.
“Oh no, she just made you go into the men’s locker room. She found Cam
getting ready for work,” I said shrugging. “You may want to tell
everyone why you were making eyes at him however…”
“Oh Gawd…” Daniel sighed, dropping his head into his hands.