MoL 2: Deception
Title: Misappropriation of Lives
Author: Milena D.
Rating: T+ for now
Genre: Hurt/Comfort/Action/Romance, etc. Daniel/Vala eventually
SPOILERS: Prometheus Unbound (8x12), Insiders (10x04), Threads (8x18) for Jacob, uhh Dominion (10x19) I guess but not really.
Disclaimer: Own my plot, that’s it!
Summary: The past will always find you, especially if you have something it wants.
Author’s Note: Sorry for the wait!! This chapter was hard to write :S
Prologue
Chapter 1: Desperation
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Chapter 2: Deception
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“Forward!”
Ba’al’s Prime Jaffa pushed Cameron forcefully down the halls to the transportation rings. They’d been dragged from their cell kicking and screaming, refusing to leave Daniel behind quietly. In the end though, they’d been vastly overpowered and steered doggedly towards the rings. To their mounting unease, Ba’al himself stood waiting for them at their destination. Cam’s stomach churned with dark suspicion.
“You were never gonna let us go, were you?” he asked with little surprise. Ba’al’s eyebrows rose in mock-innocence before smirking.
“In fact I do plan to release you, Colonel Mitchell. And Col. Carter and…you.” he said, glancing at Teal’c with disgust. “I wanted to send Dr. Jackson along with you but I’m afraid my Queen has her heart set on having him.”
“What heart?” Teal’c spit out. Ba’al rolled his eyes and held his hands to his chest.
“Oh how your words wound me.” he mocked before motioning his guards to herd what was left of SG-1 into the center of the rings.
“Why are you letting us go?” Sam hurried to ask before Ba’al activated the rings. He let his hand drop from the panel and considered his answer.
“Because, my dear Colonel, you are of more use to me alive…at the moment.” he said simply.
“How can that be? You know we will use every resource to hunt you and free our friends.” Teal’c assured him and Ba’al smirked again.
“You forget, shol’va, that I lived on your little planet for quite some time. I know how your policy works, what protocols you follow. You’ll try to find us, I’m sure, but when your superiors realize that there’s no way to locate us, the search efforts will be terminated and you will be forced to resume your primary mission.” Ba’al said smugly.
“And that’s what you want? You want us to go back to work? Seriously? Qetesh wasn’t lying when she said she just wanted us to suffer over this?” Cameron shot incredulously and Ba’al rolled his eyes at the ignorance of the Tau’ri.
“I don’t think so, Cam.” Sam said quietly “Our primary mission is to eliminate the Ori threat in the galaxy. With the Replicators gone and then the Ori, the Goa’uld would be the only real threat left again.”
“And I wonder who’s first in line for that throne.” Cam spoke sarcastically. Ba’al looked at Sam.
“Impressive, for a female.” he said “But you’re right. With the System Lords vanquished, the Replicators dealt with and Anubis no longer present, the Ori are the last thing that stand between me and absolute power in this galaxy.” Ba’al gloated.
“You forget the Tau’ri, Tok’ra and Jaffa Alliance.” Teal’c warned him.
“I forget nothing. The Tok’ra numbers are dwindling and many more of them have crossed the line that you can imagine.” Ba’al told his shocked listeners. “The rebel Jaffa are weak and will be dealt with swiftly, they are no match for my Kull warriors. And the Tau’ri, well, while you pool your resources into the extermination of the Ori, my queen will be purging her host of her memories and I’m sure they’ll go a long way in helping us wipe you out once and for all. Do try to stay alive until our next meeting, won’t you?”
Before they had a chance to object, he activated the crystals and the remaining members of SG-1 disappeared to the planet below.
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“Ooh, are you sad that I’ve sent your friends away?” an altered voice asked him from the entrance to the cell.
Qetesh.
Daniel had been alone for hours now, contemplating his friends’ fate, and her presence only served to rile his discontent. He heard the cell door open and a couple of Jaffa advance towards him.
“Be nice now, sweet Daniel, they only want to tie you up so we can start with the festivities. It’s so much more fun when you play nice, I promise.” she purred, leaning against the wall.
Daniel noted the staff weapons each Jaffa carried but he wasn’t doing anything she wanted without a fight. He waited until they reached for his arms and he lashed out, striking one guard in the face and knocking him to the ground before kissing the floor himself after the other guard delivered a nasty punch to his back. He couldn’t breathe, the wind had been knocked out of him, and the Jaffa took the opportunity to throw him against the wall to sit on the bench, and tie each hand to the medium-length manacles protruding from the wall. Daniel finally managed to draw in a ragged breath as the Jaffa moved away and Qetesh entered the cell.
“That’ll be all.” she said without turning and the two Jaffas left the vicinity though Daniel was sure they wouldn’t be too far.
“Now isn’t that better, darling?” she murmured as she strolled up to him languidly.
“Better for whom exactly? And don’t call me that.” he ordered uselessly, eyes staring resolutely at the wall in a pathetic attempt at achieving some semblance of control over the situation.
“Better for me, Daniel, no one else matters. You should know that.” she admonished teasingly and he chuckled mirthlessly.
“I bet Ba’al would say otherwise.” he said, trying to ignore the rustling of her clothes as she knelt down beside him. He couldn’t look at her.
“I just told you, Daniel, no one else matters. Why then should Ba’al?” she asked curiously and when he didn’t answer, she grasped his chin and roughly turned his head to face her. The sight of the despair his eyes upon looking at her made her smile and he seemed to cave into himself even more. She also saw his eyes flit down her body for a split second but she couldn’t blame him, she’d picked this outfit deliberately for him. It was much simpler than yesterday’s, consisting of a single layer of midnight blue silk wrapped around her body ever so minimally.
“Why are you so distraught over the loss of this woman? She was nothing to you.” Qetesh asked him inquisitively and he glared at her.
“She wa-IS my friend and we will get you out of her.” he swore and was surprised when she looked euphoric for a moment.
“Oh how she revels in your promise, Daniel. She knows it will never come to pass since I’d kill her well before you had the chance to do anything at all…but, your passion fills her with a warmth she’s been missing for oh so many years.” Qetesh sing-songed.
“What are you talking about?” Daniel asked, his brows knitting with confusion.
“Were you not aware, darling?” Qetesh asked mockingly.
“Aware of what? And don’t call me that.” he asked again with a chilling glare. Qetesh didn’t seem to be bothered by it. In fact, in a move painfully reminiscent of his first meeting with Vala, she stood up and quite easily slid herself down onto Daniel’s lap.
“What the hell are you doing?” he ground out, forcing himself to block out the fact that Vala’s half-naked body was pressed against him. It wasn’t her.
“Nothing to worry about, darling.” she said cooly, trailing a delicate finger over his cheek in a mocking display of tenderness.
“Don’t touch me.” he barked at her and she giggled.
“You are mine, Daniel Jackson, you might as well get comfortable with it now.” she told him smugly and he tried to buck her off him but she held her position. His defiance annoyed her, she needed to teach him the finer points of obedience. She raised her right hand and he stared into the ribbon device. She raised it above his eyes to his forehead and he braced himself for the excruciating pain.
But none came.
He cracked his eyes open just in time to see confusion marring Qetesh’s face before it disappeared and she lowered the device with a shaky grin.
“It won’t just be a warning next time.” she told him and the tiniest flicker of hope he’d held onto grew into a stronger flame. Vala was still in there, she hadn’t given up.
“Of course.” he answered contemptuously.
She ignored him and removed the ribbon device, replacing it with the healing device she’d kept in her pocket.
“Come darling” she said, motioning him to extend his right arm to her “time to make you all better.”
He hesitated but finally moved held his arm straight towards her and she began healing the angry red welt the Jaffa had created two days ago with his staff weapon. Then she clucked her tongue at his swollen and disfigured knuckles and began to heal them as well. She worked in silence until he spoke up.
“Why are you doing this?” he asked lowly.
“You’ll have to be a bit more specific, darling.” she replied, never taking her eyes off of her work. He bristled at the use of Vala’s typical term of endearment but didn’t bother to reprimand her for it again.
“Why are you healing me? And why wasn’t I allowed to leave with the others? You’re gonna pump me for information?” he asked.
“Information is not what I’d like to pump you for, sweet Daniel.” Qetesh smirked at him and he glared back.
“So what? I’m being kept to be your sex slave?” he asked incredulously, thinking back to his time with Hathor. Qetesh sighed and lifted the device away as her work was completed. She slipped it off her hand and ran her fingers along his chest with a pout.
“Well that’s what I wanted but my Lord seems to take issue with that. He’s quite possessive.” she sighed, raking a fingernail over one of his nipple through his shirt and he steeled his body not to shiver at the touch.
“Possessive boyfriends can be a sign of future abuse, you know.” he said sardonically and was disheartened to see her shake her head.
“Oh no, he’s not possessive of me but of this body. I’m useful to him but he seems to take a perverse pleasure in violating this body. Most of the time, I’m not even present for the activities.” she said dejectedly and he sat under her, horror-struck.
“What exactly is that supposed to mean? How could you not be present?” he demanded and she halted her visual exploration of his chest to look at him with uninterested eyes.
“I was under the impression that you were one of the more intelligent people in your world.” she sighed exaggeratedly “I mean that I push the host to the forefront. Ba’al likes live victims, he likes to hear them scream. When I’m in control, I take the brunt of it and that just won’t do for his Lordship.” she finished with a whine and Daniel felt his chest implode at the thought of what might be happening to Vala when Qetesh wasn’t here harassing him.
Qetesh took in the paleness of his face and looped her arms around his neck.
“There it is.” she grinned victoriously “There’s that beautiful despair.”
He didn’t answer her, he was busy trying to get his throat to swallow past his revulsion.
“Why act as if this pains you, darling? She’s thrown herself at you for years now and you haven’t cared at all. Aren’t you glad that she’s out of your hair?…well, mostly.” she smirked, taking note of her position on him. Daniel looked up at her with incredulous eyes.
“How can you think that? You share her memories, she knows I cared-CARE for her. We all do, she’s an integral part of our team.” he spat at her and she rolled her eyes.
“Well, as someone who’s gotten to know her quite intimately,” she started with evil delight “I feel very confident in informing you that there was a vast emptiness within her, a great hole in her that you kept digging at. Everyday it got wider, and wider, and wider. It would have consumed her eventually, so you should thank me.” she said playfully.
“Thank you? For making my friend a hostage in her own body? For letting Ba’al torture her?” his eyes flashed angrily up at her.
She toyed with the hairs at the back of his neck and leaned in close to his ear.
“For filling the void that you didn’t dare go near.”
His stomach plummeted and he was filled with something akin to sorrow as she squirmed against him.
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“We can’t seriously be thinking of leaving them there!” Cam yelled as Sam dialed a neutral planet to gate off of the one Ba’al had ringed them down to.
“Where else do you want me to dial, Cam? Did Ba’al happen to leave you with the address to the gate he most likely had onboard?” Sam snapped back. The stress of the past couple of days was wearing on all of their nerves and the thought of actively leaving their friends behind wasn’t making it any better.
“We must seek reinforcements and intelligence before mounting a rescue mission, Col.Mitchell.” Teal’c said, trying to appease the rising tensions. The Texan sighed.
“I know, I know. I’m sorry. I just-I can’t feel right about this.” he said as the gate activated. Sam nodded her acceptance of his apology and they stepped towards the gate.
“There’s nothing to feel right about, Cam.” she said and they crossed the event horizon to the next planet. They watched the stargate deactivate behind them and made their way to the DHD to dial the Alpha Site.
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“SG-1, where have you been? And where are Dr. Jackson and Vala?” General Landry demanded as only three fifths of his flagship team came through the gate over 48 hours after their first missed check-in.
It was never a good sign when his people returned with tense faces and haunted eyes, he wasn’t looking forward to the debriefing. At the very least, he could be glad he’d have a daughter to present to their Tok’ra guest, but it was a small piece of optimism in a sea of anxiety.
“Jackson and Vala are on one of Ba’al’s motherships.” Cameron said with hatred for the Goa’uld.
“And Vala’s been taken as host by Qetesh.” Sam said as matter-of-factly as she could.
General Landry regarded his soldiers and sighed.
“Is there any way to reach them?” he asked, knowing the answer.
“There is not.” Teal’c replied.
General Landry frowned but nodded.
“Then get yourselves checked out, take a shower and meet me in the briefing room in one hour.” he ordered them gently.
“Sir, if you don’t mind my asking,” Sam started on her way out “you didn’t seem surprised when I told you about Qetesh.”
“Your father arrived yesterday with a lot of disturbing news, Colonel, Qetesh was only a small part of it.” General Landry told them and their levels of apprehension escalated. “Go on, we’ll discuss it in an hour.”
“Yes, sir.” his two Colonels replied and the three of them handed their weapons over to the SF’s before continuing to the infirmary.
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“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Daniel said finally, staring resolutely at the wall behind Qetesh.
“Denial won’t help you, darling. Besides, it’s not like she’s ever be able to confront you on the subject, she’s as good as dead.” she said lightly, using the tone of a best friend trying to convince another to skip class to go see the latest movie.
He looked at her sternly.
“She is not. We will save her.” he promised the snake again. Qetesh huffed and rolled her eyes.
“Must we have this debate endlessly? You can try, sweet Daniel, but you should know that at the first hint of compromise, I will fill her body with great quantities of toxins. She will be dead before you ever reach her.” she promised him right back, and he was more inclined to believe her than she seemed to believe him.
“So what? The others are probably dead, I’m supposed to write Vala off and you’re going to keep me around to argue about our personal relationship?” Daniel shot back tiredly.
Qetesh leaned back a bit and ran her fingertips over his biceps with a butterfly touch.
“No, darling, I simply felt a strong desire to understand the man who’d managed to wound my favourite host as deeply as I have.” she informed him delightedly.
He stared at her astonished. What in the hell was she talking about? Was Qetesh seriously considering them equals in something so heinous? Her fingers had stopped roving over his arms and were back on his chest, moving lower and lower.
“Look, I really don’t know what you could possibly be talking about but-”
His sentence was cut short by Qetesh’s jerky movement. Her fingers had curled themselves tightly around bunches of his shirt and her body went rigid on top of his. She was silent and her head was bowed nearly to his shoulder.
“Qetesh?” he voiced guardedly.
Upon hearing his voice, her head shot up to face him and he was blown away. Her eyes were terrified and unsure. It was a sight he recognized from the time when her body had held his at gunpoint. Daniel felt as if every molecule of air had been sucked out of the room.
“Daniel?” her voice was normal but shaky, and it begged something of him he’d be glad to give.
“Vala?” he questioned hopefully. Her eyes filled instantly with panicked tears and she threw her arms around his neck, crushing herself to him. He was suddenly able to breathe again and his lungs drew air in heaving, relieved gasps. His arms wound around her lithe body and he thanked his lucky stars that his manacles were long enough to grant him that precious solace.
“God, Vala, are you okay?” he asked into her hair, realizing how stupid the question was but having no other instinct than to never let her go.
She didn’t answer. Her body was trembling against his and her knees had tightened almost painfully around his hips but he didn’t mind. He rubbed his hands over her back in an attempt to lessen her tremors. He could stay wrapped around her forever but a change of scenery was definitely called for.
“Vala,” he called softly, moving one hand up to stroke her long hair “Vala, we need to get out of here. Do you know where the keys to these cuffs are?”
He heard her sniffle softly before feeling her burrow deeper into the nook of his shoulder. He tightened his grip around her but tried to stay level-headed.
“Vala, I’m sorry but we really need to move. We need to get away from here, get back to Earth and remove that bitch from your head.” he repeated gently, feeling guilty for asking for her clear lucidity so soon after regaining her freedom.
Her body shook harder against his. Too late did he realize that she wasn’t crying, the woman in his arms was laughing.
“Naughty words, sweet Daniel.” Qetesh laughed keenly, lifting her head from his shoulder “And why would you want to leave my presence so soon? We haven’t even begun our fun.”
He stared horrified at the monstrosity before him. Her eyes were clear and she looked positively giddy.
“She was never here, was she?” he asked numbly.
She granted him a pitying look.
“No, darling, she’s just not strong enough.” she taunted.
Consumed with rage, Daniel twisted his body horribly and managed to chuck her to the floor where she just kept laughing. When she finally quieted down, she slowly got to her feet.
“I think that’s enough for today.” she said sweetly and Daniel was torn between bliss for his peace and blinding fear for Vala.
“I hope Ba’al dumps you on a Rebel Jaffa-infested planet when he’s done with you.” It was the only thing he could come up with after such turbulence but she seemed to take offense to it. She sneered at him before smirking caustically.
“I’d love to stay longer, darling, but my Lord will be wanting his daily session with his newly reacquired toy.” she informed him sweetly as she left. Daniel felt sick to the core.
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“Dad!” Sam walked over to hug her father before taking a seat beside him in the briefing room. The rest of her team was right on her heels and they took their own seats around the oval table. General Landry was already seated at his usual spot and they didn’t waste any time getting the meeting started.
“What happened? You were scheduled to attend a peaceful harvest celebration on Carenit but the Carenites said you never showed up.” General Landry began.
“We never got there, sir.” Cameron replied “A bunch of Ba’al’s Jaffa were waiting for us right past the gate. They surrounded us and took us up to his mothership.”
“Ba’al was waiting for us. He said he’d found a long-lost friend. It turned out to be Qetesh in another host. They took her away and reimplanted Vala with Qetesh, we couldn’t stop them.” Sam said, guilt evident in her voice.
“You’re sure Qetesh blended with Vala?” Jacob interrupted.
“She visited our cell yesterday. ValaMalDoran has indeed been taken as host.” Teal’c deep voice resonated.
General Landry sighed with anger.
“And what about Dr. Jackson?” he asked a table of clueless faces.
“We don’t really know, sir. Ba’al would only say Qetesh wanted him, he wouldn’t say what for. He was more interested in unveiling his master plan before ringing us down to a planet with a stargate.” Sam said.
“He just let you go?” Jacob asked with surprise.
“Hell he walked us to the door.” Cameron said with derision “Apparently, Ba’al wants us to play clean-up crew to the remaining bad guys in the galaxy so he doesn’t have any problems crowning himself king.”
“He thinks we won’t be allowed to pursue rescue efforts for Daniel and Vala for very long.” Sam said cautiously, the question in her tone was heard very clearly.
“Without any leads to where they are or where they may be headed, I don’t see how we can mount any kind of rescue effort.” the General said. He continued quickly at his team’s darkening faces.
“I don’t like it either but where do you propose we start looking? The galaxy is not a small place. We can keep our ear to the ground and seek out intelligence from our allies but the IOA won’t condone anymore active searching than that, not on a lead count of absolute zero.” he said sympathetically “Besides, we have slightly more pressing issues.”
They all looked up at him with shock. What could be more important than the safe return of their teammates?
“Jacob.” General Landry voiced, giving the man the floor.
“The Tok’ra have been severely compromised.” Selmak said with hints of a glow in Jacob’s eyes “A number of us have been revealed as Goa’uld operatives. They’ve been with the Tok’ra for centuries but now that our population grows desperately small, more and more have sought the comfort of a winning side.”
“The Tok’ra are joining the Dark Side?” Cam shouted incredulously.
“Some of us, not most, but a disturbing number.” Selmak replied gravely. “They staged a small rebellion last week and killed many loyal Tok’ra before escaping with precious resources and intelligence. For this, I apologize for the loss of your teammates.”
“Why? What does a Tok’ra rebellion have to do with Daniel and Vala being taken?” Sam questioned him. Jacob’s eyes glowed and they were once again speaking with Sam’s father.
“Because we’re the ones responsible for releasing Qetesh.” Jacob said in his most apologetic tone. The grieving remains of SG-1 sat speechless with dismay.
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Next - Chapter 3: Deprivation