Death and Taxes
Cam finished his briefing and sat back down.
Landry nodded. "Very well, check it out. You leave in one hour. Dismissed." SG1 departed the briefing room, except Vala, who looked nervously through the window at the closed gate below.
Daniel noticed Vala hadn't left with the others. "Vala?"
"Um, Daniel. What's the name of this planet we're to visit?"
"PLC-3498, why?" Daniel asked, leaning against the door.
Vala clicked her tongue. "No, the other name. What the people on that planet call it." Vala continued to look out the window.
"Dreytret. Whyyyy?" Daniel asked curiously and a bit annoyed.
"That's what I thought." Vala turned to face Daniel, her hand movements a dead giveaway for her level of anxiety. "Look, is there any way that maybe I could sit this one out?"
Daniel crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes. "Nooooo. You've been on us to make you part of the team for, well, forEVER and now you want out?"
Vala moved closer to Daniel. "Not off the team, just... off this mission." She answered moving close enough to make Daniel feel uncomfortable. "That's not so bad, is it, Daniel darling?" She petted his jacket.
Daniel glanced irritably at the offending hand, brushing it off as he glared at her. "Alright Vala, out with it."
Vala seemed shocked by Daniel's accusation. "Out with what? I-I was just thinking that I hadn't spent enough time with... with Dr. Lee, so I thought what better time than now and—"
Daniel wasn't buying it. "How about the truth this time. If you're capable of it."
Vala lifted her head up in an air of haughtiness. "I resent that remark. I'm quite capable of telling the truth. You just never give me the proper time to explain things. Like on that planet with the um, gold inscriptions. You asked me where they'd gone and I told you the truth."
"You said you didn't know where they were."
"Which was the truth." Vala declared. "After I made the transaction, I had no idea where the Tralsians took them." Daniel crossed his arms, irritably. Vala rolled her eyes, waving her hands in the air. "How was I supposed to know you wanted to read them first?"
"You consider that a good example of you telling me the truth?"
Vala smiled and shrugged.
Daniel looked up at the ceiling, frustrated. "Right, back to the mission. What's wrong with you going to this planet?"
Vala raised her eyebrows, tilting her head. "There's nothing wrong with the planet. It's just quite boring really. I'd just rather do something else."
"So you know this planet?" Daniel deduced, picking out relevant parts of her cryptic explanation.
"Well, yes. Perhaps in my past, I... may have spent some time on this planet."
"You're wanted for something." Daniel accused.
Vala smiled seductively, walking her slender fingers up his arm. "Everybody wants me, darling." Slowly swaying her body, she rubbed her leg against his. "You would too if you just let me get closer." She reached up to caress his cheek.
In one fluid movement, he grabbed both her hands and pulled them back in front of him while stepping back. "BACK on topic, if you please." He pushed his glasses back up and then nailed her with his stare. "What did you do?"
Thwarted, Vala refocused her attention on a fingernail with a sharp edge. "I've done lots of things. Be more specific."
Daniel huffed. He'd had enough of this. "Since you're deliberately being evasive and obstinate I guess we'll just have to find out when we get there, BUT I'll be a lot less willing to help you out then. And you ARE going. Be ready in an hour!"
He turned and stormed away, leaving Vala open mouthed. She watched him leave. She liked to watch him leave. Once Daniel was out of her sight, she clamped her mouth shut, grimacing. Biting her nail, she headed for her quarters.
"Maybe they won't recognize me." She said to herself outside her room. Entering, she caught her reflection in the mirror and smiled. "But who could possibly forget someone as sexy and dazzlingly stunning as you, my dear?" The gorgeous woman in the mirror agreed with her. Tossing back her long, thick, dark hair, she left the room on her own mission. Getting what she needed for what might be waiting through the gate could be a little tricky.
"SG1 you have a go!" Landry announced over the loudspeaker as the team, including Vala, walked toward the open wormhole. Vala hesitated momentarily. Patting the slight bulge in her back pocket, she smiled. Daniel waited impatiently for her at the top of the gate. They entered the wormhole together.
"SG1's IDC, Sir," announced Walter.
"Open the gate." Landry ordered.
The team returned, obviously in the middle of a heated argument and, not surprising to Landry, it appeared to revolve around Ms. Mal Doran, the trouble maker, and Dr. Jackson, the renowned trouble-magnet. 'Never a dull moment with those two,' thought Landry, shaking his head.
"Galactic credit debt?!?!" Daniel exclaimed, incredulously.
"I DID tell you I shouldn't go but you forced me to anyway." Vala stated with arms flapping.
"You didn't explain ANYTHING this morning, including that you had creditors after you! Big, muscular, I don't know whats, with NO sense of humor." Daniel's arms were flapping now.
"Well, you'd think that after all this time that they'd have left to search for me elsewhere." Vala replied, defensively.
"And what made you think they would take a credit card from Earth? MY credit card!" Daniel yelled back, pointing at himself.
"Well... you Tau'ri seem to think that the galaxy revolves around you. I just decided to test that out. That it turned out not to be true only proves my point." Vala answered, polishing her nails on her uniform jacket.
"Vala!" Daniel was fuming. She did have that effect on him, Landry bemused. Daniel took a minute to recompose himself and Vala pounced on it, proceeding to prove her point.
"It's only because of me that the ruse that brought us there in the first place was discovered. So despite forcing me to go, it's a good thing I was there to save your a—"
"Okay enough, you two!" interrupted Cameron, seeing no end to this with these two unless he did something. "We got out of there, thanks to teamwork and that Carter and I never travel anywhere without lots of C-4, so I say drop it! We just won't go back. Deal?"
"Yes, that works." Vala replied, brushing off her SG1 uniform.
"There, then it's settled." Cam stated, not really believing it. "I'll explain to Landry at the debriefing." They headed out of the gate room.
Vala stalled.
"Actually..." Vala began. The four other SG1 members stopped, rolled their eyes, and turned to look at their fifth member. "There is just a little something else."
Daniel sighed, Cam dropped his arms in exasperation, and Carter shook her head. Teal'c looked perturbed but remained silent.
"What?" Daniel asked for his frustrated team.
"There might be... a few more planets we should probably steer clear of."
"Vala!"
The End
