Missing in Action
Jul. 17th, 2011 09:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stringertheoryTitle: Missing in Action
Rating: PG
Fandom: Stargate SG-1
Characters: Cameron Mitchell, Vala Mal Doran
Word Count: 2015
Categories: friendship, humor, angst
Spoilers/Warnings: Set S10 just prior to "The Shroud". Spoilers for the series up to that point.
Summary: Vala is worried about Daniel being in Adria's clutches, but she doesn't know Daniel's history the way Cam does. In his own way, Cam gives her reassurance that Daniel will be fine.
Vala had been unusually quiet the past few days, and it was starting to get on Cam’s nerves.
Ever since Adria had absconded with their fearless archaeologist, Vala had been quieter than normal, but over the past few days, Cam had noticed a certain lack of Vala-ness that had him disturbed. Vala was talking less—much less than usual, if the virtual lack of interruptions was anything to go by—and she had taken to spending a lot of time alone. Even when in their company, she wasn’t her typical self. Just the day before, Cam had all but set himself up for one of her sexually-tinged zingers, but Vala hadn’t batted an eye. In fact, she appeared to not have heard him at all. She was quiet and distracted and slowly becoming a hermit—by her standards, anyway.
She was either up to something or up to nothing. He wasn’t sure which scenario worried him more.
He was on his way to the commissary for lunch one day when he saw her wandering the halls alone. Deciding that spying took precedence over food for the moment, he began to follow her at a distance. She didn’t seem to have any particular destination in mind, strolling through the base absentmindedly, crossing her own path as she meandered. Cam was about the give up on the chase and answer the call of the growling in his belly when he turned the corner to see her disappear into Jackson’s lab.
Walking quietly to the doorway, he leaned against the jamb and watched as she made her way around the room.
The lab hadn’t been touched since the last time Jackson had been in it. Books were open where they had been left, notes scattered over every surface, and even from where he stood Cam could see the thin layer of dust covering the shelves. Vala was there, walking slowly by, drawing figures in the dust on one shelf, stopping to fiddle with a small statue on another, trailing her fingers across the bindings of books as she read their titles. As she moved farther into the room, she turned to the work table, disinterestedly flipping a few pages in one of the many books there before rifling through a few loose sheets that were filled with Jackson’s distinctive scrawl. She skimmed over the pages briefly before setting them down with a sigh and moving toward Jackson’s desk.
Upon reaching the desk, she stood for a moment with her back to Cam, looking at Jackson’s empty chair. Then she reached over and turned on the lamp. The light gave a warm glow to the pile of materials covering the desk’s surface. Vala pushed aside books and papers to uncover what Cam immediately recognized as one of Jackson’s journals. She was about to open the same when Cam spoke.
“He’ll be back.”
Startled, Vala jumped and wheeled around to face him, hiding her hands behind her back guiltily. Seeing that it was just him, she relaxed a little, half-turning back to the desk and cracking open one of the books there. She didn’t look Cam’s way when she spoke.
“How can you be so sure?”
“He’s Jackson. This kind of thing is business as usual for him.” Vala stared at him. “This isn’t the first time he’s been captured,” Cam reminded her. “Way I remember it, you captured him yourself not so long ago.”
“He captured me right back,” Vala countered quietly. “And I wasn’t trying to kill him. Nor did I want to. I just needed him to help me to fly the ship.” She flicked the book closed, her face grim. “This is a rather different scenario altogether.”
“Yeah, well, Jackson has been kidnapped by alien creatures, Replicators, South American mercenaries, alien mercenaries," he said, giving her a pointed look, "and just about everything in between.” Cam pushed off the door frame and walked into the room, coming to stand at the corner of the workstation nearest Vala. “The guy even had his own mind hijacked,” he added, half to himself, as he leaned against the table.
“What?” Vala asked in surprise.
“Ah, a crashed alien transport pod, loss of power, downloading of people’s consciousnesses in someone else,” he gave a wave of his hand, “it’s a long story. Basically he was a prisoner in his own mind while all the other personalities that took up residence there fought for control of his body.” Cam saw a flash of understanding and the memory of despair flicker across Vala’s face. “Jackson’s mind was able to protect itself and they eventually removed the other personalities, but I’m sure it wasn’t all that pleasant in the meantime.”
“I can imagine,” Vala said quietly. Mitchell watched her shrewdly for a moment.
“My point,” he continued, “is that this isn’t the first time Jackson’s gone missing or even been presumed dead.” Vala looked up at him sharply and he held up his hands. “Not that anyone is saying that now, but Jackson’s been M.I.A. before and turned up right as rain. Hell, not too long ago we thought he’d been executed for espionage on Tegalus—second time he got in trouble there, by the way,” he said, pointing a finger in Vala’s direction, “not a good planet for him—but not only was he fine, he managed to keep the planet’s two nations from blowing themselves up long enough for us to get the hell out of dodge.” He stared, unseeing, at the wall. “Lost the Prometheus, though.”
“Shame,” Vala replied, plucking a paperweight from the desk and testing its weight in her hand. “I liked that ship.”
The two were quiet for a moment, lost in their respective thoughts.
“Did you know they even declared Jackson ‘Killed In Action’ once?” Cam asked.
Vala shook her head.
“Back at the beginning of the Stargate program, SG-1 gated back early from a reconnaissance mission to P8X-362–without Jackson. They told everyone he was dead, and they were convinced of it, too. They also said that no one could go back to the planet because it was too dangerous. With all the evidence pointing to the fact, Jackson was declared dead. A memorial service was even held, complete with an honorary color guard and a very touching eulogy by then-Colonel Jack O’Neill.” He saw Vala giving him a questioning look. “The speech was in the file,” Cam explained. “Very nice. At any rate, it turned out that the team had been tricked into believing Jackson was dead. An alien on 362 had given them false memories to make them leave and keep them away while he used Jackson to find out what had happened to his mate on Earth. About the time that Jackson managed to remember the information and gain his freedom, SG-1 realized it was all a bunch of crap and hot-footed it back to the planet to rescue him.”
“So he wasn’t dead.”
“Nope.”
“And he’s escaped capture before.”
“Yup.”
Vala leaned back against the desk, paperweight still clutched in one hand, and looked Cam in the eyes. “That doesn’t mean he won’t die this time.”
Cam returned her stare calmly. He could tell that she didn’t want to believe that Adria would kill Jackson, but also wasn’t sure she wouldn’t. Truth was, they were all thinking the same thing. But she didn’t know Jackson quite the way they did.
“So what?”
Vala looked at him in shock.
“You think that would stop him?” he asked, turning to lean back against the workstation, leisurely crossing his legs at the ankle and folding his arms over his chest. Vala continued to stare at him, incredulous. “Jackson is nothing if not persistent. The man’s died, what—” he counted silently in his head “—four times now, and he’s come back every time.”
“Four?” Vala asked in disbelief.
“Well, there was the time he ascended and then was forced to retake human form,” Cam advised, ticking off instances on his fingers as he went along, “the time he died and was given the choice to ascend but chose to go back to being a human—”
“He was given the choice?”
“Well, he had both insulted and impressed the Ancients that go ‘round—”
“Typical Daniel.”
“—so he thinks they gave him the choice,” Cam advised. “Then there was the time that the whole team died but were revived by the Nox --”
“I’ve heard of them,” Vala cut in, fiddling with the paperweight still in her hands. “Thought they were a fairy tale.”
“Not exactly,” Cam responded, before holding up a fourth finger. “And then there was the time he died from an addiction to a Goa’uld device. He resuscitated when General O’Neill returned him to the planet it was on, but he was definitely dead for a little while there. Actually,” Cam said, thinking, “there was that one other time when Jackson made the team leave him behind on Apophis’s ship and he used a sarcophagus to heal himself. Don’t know if he would have died that time or not, though.”
“So we won’t count it then,” Vala replied sarcastically.
Cam glanced sideways at her. “You’ve gotten on the scoreboard, too, you know. You almost died twice with Jackson when the two of you visited the Ori galaxy.”
“I did die,” Vala muttered grumpily.
“Twice, most likely,” Cam said, “since I don’t believe for a second you got sucked back into that galaxy in one piece—yet here you are. It’s part of the job. It’s a risk we take—” he frowned “—a lot, actually, but we always make it through.” He glanced over at her. “Jackson always makes it through.”
“This is you doing your best again, isn’t it?”
“Look, all I’m saying is that Jackson has more lives than a cat.” He looked her in the eyes. “He’ll be back,” he said in a gentler voice.
Vala dropped her gaze back to the paperweight in her hands. “What if she brainwashes him?”
“Have you met Jackson? He’s been possessed by Anubis, was kidnapped and had his brain invaded by a Replicator version of Sam, and got kicked out of the Ascended Country Club for not following the rules.” Cam shook his head. “Nah, I don’t think Adria knows what she’s dealing with. Jackson’s stronger than that.”
“He is annoyingly stubborn,” Vala said with a small smile.
“See? He’ll be fine,” he assured her. “He’s Jackson.”
At that moment, they heard footsteps approaching in the hallway. Sam entered the lab, followed close behind by Teal’c. Sam glanced around the room wistfully before fixing Cam and Vala with a curious stare.
“We've been looking everywhere for you two,” Sam said.
“What's up?” Cam asked.
“General Landry has called us to a briefing,” said Teal’c.
“We've received word of another planet that has been visited a few times by a Prior,” Sam advised. “General Landry wants us to check it out.”
“Prior spying,” Cam said. “Good times.”
He, Sam, and Teal’c began to walk out of the room. At the doorway, Cam turned back to find Vala still standing beside Daniel’s desk, looking at the mess covering its surface.
“Vala, you coming?”
Vala looked up quickly, as if Cam’s question had pulled her out of deep thoughts. “Yes, of course.” Replacing the paperweight on the desk, she reached over to turn off the lamp. Then she stopped herself and pulled back her arm, smiling slightly.
She jogged around the workstation and followed Cam out the door, the lamp left glowing behind her.
Rating: PG
Fandom: Stargate SG-1
Characters: Cameron Mitchell, Vala Mal Doran
Word Count: 2015
Categories: friendship, humor, angst
Spoilers/Warnings: Set S10 just prior to "The Shroud". Spoilers for the series up to that point.
Summary: Vala is worried about Daniel being in Adria's clutches, but she doesn't know Daniel's history the way Cam does. In his own way, Cam gives her reassurance that Daniel will be fine.
Vala had been unusually quiet the past few days, and it was starting to get on Cam’s nerves.
Ever since Adria had absconded with their fearless archaeologist, Vala had been quieter than normal, but over the past few days, Cam had noticed a certain lack of Vala-ness that had him disturbed. Vala was talking less—much less than usual, if the virtual lack of interruptions was anything to go by—and she had taken to spending a lot of time alone. Even when in their company, she wasn’t her typical self. Just the day before, Cam had all but set himself up for one of her sexually-tinged zingers, but Vala hadn’t batted an eye. In fact, she appeared to not have heard him at all. She was quiet and distracted and slowly becoming a hermit—by her standards, anyway.
She was either up to something or up to nothing. He wasn’t sure which scenario worried him more.
He was on his way to the commissary for lunch one day when he saw her wandering the halls alone. Deciding that spying took precedence over food for the moment, he began to follow her at a distance. She didn’t seem to have any particular destination in mind, strolling through the base absentmindedly, crossing her own path as she meandered. Cam was about the give up on the chase and answer the call of the growling in his belly when he turned the corner to see her disappear into Jackson’s lab.
Walking quietly to the doorway, he leaned against the jamb and watched as she made her way around the room.
The lab hadn’t been touched since the last time Jackson had been in it. Books were open where they had been left, notes scattered over every surface, and even from where he stood Cam could see the thin layer of dust covering the shelves. Vala was there, walking slowly by, drawing figures in the dust on one shelf, stopping to fiddle with a small statue on another, trailing her fingers across the bindings of books as she read their titles. As she moved farther into the room, she turned to the work table, disinterestedly flipping a few pages in one of the many books there before rifling through a few loose sheets that were filled with Jackson’s distinctive scrawl. She skimmed over the pages briefly before setting them down with a sigh and moving toward Jackson’s desk.
Upon reaching the desk, she stood for a moment with her back to Cam, looking at Jackson’s empty chair. Then she reached over and turned on the lamp. The light gave a warm glow to the pile of materials covering the desk’s surface. Vala pushed aside books and papers to uncover what Cam immediately recognized as one of Jackson’s journals. She was about to open the same when Cam spoke.
“He’ll be back.”
Startled, Vala jumped and wheeled around to face him, hiding her hands behind her back guiltily. Seeing that it was just him, she relaxed a little, half-turning back to the desk and cracking open one of the books there. She didn’t look Cam’s way when she spoke.
“How can you be so sure?”
“He’s Jackson. This kind of thing is business as usual for him.” Vala stared at him. “This isn’t the first time he’s been captured,” Cam reminded her. “Way I remember it, you captured him yourself not so long ago.”
“He captured me right back,” Vala countered quietly. “And I wasn’t trying to kill him. Nor did I want to. I just needed him to help me to fly the ship.” She flicked the book closed, her face grim. “This is a rather different scenario altogether.”
“Yeah, well, Jackson has been kidnapped by alien creatures, Replicators, South American mercenaries, alien mercenaries," he said, giving her a pointed look, "and just about everything in between.” Cam pushed off the door frame and walked into the room, coming to stand at the corner of the workstation nearest Vala. “The guy even had his own mind hijacked,” he added, half to himself, as he leaned against the table.
“What?” Vala asked in surprise.
“Ah, a crashed alien transport pod, loss of power, downloading of people’s consciousnesses in someone else,” he gave a wave of his hand, “it’s a long story. Basically he was a prisoner in his own mind while all the other personalities that took up residence there fought for control of his body.” Cam saw a flash of understanding and the memory of despair flicker across Vala’s face. “Jackson’s mind was able to protect itself and they eventually removed the other personalities, but I’m sure it wasn’t all that pleasant in the meantime.”
“I can imagine,” Vala said quietly. Mitchell watched her shrewdly for a moment.
“My point,” he continued, “is that this isn’t the first time Jackson’s gone missing or even been presumed dead.” Vala looked up at him sharply and he held up his hands. “Not that anyone is saying that now, but Jackson’s been M.I.A. before and turned up right as rain. Hell, not too long ago we thought he’d been executed for espionage on Tegalus—second time he got in trouble there, by the way,” he said, pointing a finger in Vala’s direction, “not a good planet for him—but not only was he fine, he managed to keep the planet’s two nations from blowing themselves up long enough for us to get the hell out of dodge.” He stared, unseeing, at the wall. “Lost the Prometheus, though.”
“Shame,” Vala replied, plucking a paperweight from the desk and testing its weight in her hand. “I liked that ship.”
The two were quiet for a moment, lost in their respective thoughts.
“Did you know they even declared Jackson ‘Killed In Action’ once?” Cam asked.
Vala shook her head.
“Back at the beginning of the Stargate program, SG-1 gated back early from a reconnaissance mission to P8X-362–without Jackson. They told everyone he was dead, and they were convinced of it, too. They also said that no one could go back to the planet because it was too dangerous. With all the evidence pointing to the fact, Jackson was declared dead. A memorial service was even held, complete with an honorary color guard and a very touching eulogy by then-Colonel Jack O’Neill.” He saw Vala giving him a questioning look. “The speech was in the file,” Cam explained. “Very nice. At any rate, it turned out that the team had been tricked into believing Jackson was dead. An alien on 362 had given them false memories to make them leave and keep them away while he used Jackson to find out what had happened to his mate on Earth. About the time that Jackson managed to remember the information and gain his freedom, SG-1 realized it was all a bunch of crap and hot-footed it back to the planet to rescue him.”
“So he wasn’t dead.”
“Nope.”
“And he’s escaped capture before.”
“Yup.”
Vala leaned back against the desk, paperweight still clutched in one hand, and looked Cam in the eyes. “That doesn’t mean he won’t die this time.”
Cam returned her stare calmly. He could tell that she didn’t want to believe that Adria would kill Jackson, but also wasn’t sure she wouldn’t. Truth was, they were all thinking the same thing. But she didn’t know Jackson quite the way they did.
“So what?”
Vala looked at him in shock.
“You think that would stop him?” he asked, turning to lean back against the workstation, leisurely crossing his legs at the ankle and folding his arms over his chest. Vala continued to stare at him, incredulous. “Jackson is nothing if not persistent. The man’s died, what—” he counted silently in his head “—four times now, and he’s come back every time.”
“Four?” Vala asked in disbelief.
“Well, there was the time he ascended and then was forced to retake human form,” Cam advised, ticking off instances on his fingers as he went along, “the time he died and was given the choice to ascend but chose to go back to being a human—”
“He was given the choice?”
“Well, he had both insulted and impressed the Ancients that go ‘round—”
“Typical Daniel.”
“—so he thinks they gave him the choice,” Cam advised. “Then there was the time that the whole team died but were revived by the Nox --”
“I’ve heard of them,” Vala cut in, fiddling with the paperweight still in her hands. “Thought they were a fairy tale.”
“Not exactly,” Cam responded, before holding up a fourth finger. “And then there was the time he died from an addiction to a Goa’uld device. He resuscitated when General O’Neill returned him to the planet it was on, but he was definitely dead for a little while there. Actually,” Cam said, thinking, “there was that one other time when Jackson made the team leave him behind on Apophis’s ship and he used a sarcophagus to heal himself. Don’t know if he would have died that time or not, though.”
“So we won’t count it then,” Vala replied sarcastically.
Cam glanced sideways at her. “You’ve gotten on the scoreboard, too, you know. You almost died twice with Jackson when the two of you visited the Ori galaxy.”
“I did die,” Vala muttered grumpily.
“Twice, most likely,” Cam said, “since I don’t believe for a second you got sucked back into that galaxy in one piece—yet here you are. It’s part of the job. It’s a risk we take—” he frowned “—a lot, actually, but we always make it through.” He glanced over at her. “Jackson always makes it through.”
“This is you doing your best again, isn’t it?”
“Look, all I’m saying is that Jackson has more lives than a cat.” He looked her in the eyes. “He’ll be back,” he said in a gentler voice.
Vala dropped her gaze back to the paperweight in her hands. “What if she brainwashes him?”
“Have you met Jackson? He’s been possessed by Anubis, was kidnapped and had his brain invaded by a Replicator version of Sam, and got kicked out of the Ascended Country Club for not following the rules.” Cam shook his head. “Nah, I don’t think Adria knows what she’s dealing with. Jackson’s stronger than that.”
“He is annoyingly stubborn,” Vala said with a small smile.
“See? He’ll be fine,” he assured her. “He’s Jackson.”
At that moment, they heard footsteps approaching in the hallway. Sam entered the lab, followed close behind by Teal’c. Sam glanced around the room wistfully before fixing Cam and Vala with a curious stare.
“We've been looking everywhere for you two,” Sam said.
“What's up?” Cam asked.
“General Landry has called us to a briefing,” said Teal’c.
“We've received word of another planet that has been visited a few times by a Prior,” Sam advised. “General Landry wants us to check it out.”
“Prior spying,” Cam said. “Good times.”
He, Sam, and Teal’c began to walk out of the room. At the doorway, Cam turned back to find Vala still standing beside Daniel’s desk, looking at the mess covering its surface.
“Vala, you coming?”
Vala looked up quickly, as if Cam’s question had pulled her out of deep thoughts. “Yes, of course.” Replacing the paperweight on the desk, she reached over to turn off the lamp. Then she stopped herself and pulled back her arm, smiling slightly.
She jogged around the workstation and followed Cam out the door, the lamp left glowing behind her.
no subject
on 2011-07-18 04:56 am (UTC)Makes me speculate that Vala, who's by nature curious & keen to gather intelligence, was too hurt and anxious over what her evil daughter might do to Daniel to peek into his personnel file.
no subject
on 2011-07-18 10:51 pm (UTC)Glad you liked it!
no subject
on 2011-07-18 08:17 am (UTC)no subject
on 2011-07-18 10:51 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2011-07-19 03:20 pm (UTC)Great job!
no subject
on 2011-07-19 10:30 pm (UTC)