Daniel solves the riddle contained in his chamber, allowing him to escape with Vala and provide Mitchell the hint that lets him solve his own puzzle. Having passed this test, Mitchell removes the sword from the stone – at which point an energy construct of a knight forms and begins dueling the colonel. Teal’c attempts to come to Mitchell’s aid, but the sword passes through his hands – no one else can wield it. The knight gets the best of Mitchell, but when Teal’c attempts to lift him up in order to evacuate him, Mitchell recalls his rehabilitation and refuses to surrender until his enemy is vanquished. The chamber itself then begins to crumble, until Mitchell returns everything to its rightful place and the treasure of Avalon appears.

In addition to the usual gold and buried loot, the vault includes an old text which suggests that the race that evolved into the Ancients was once called the Alterans, and traveled to Earth from a distant world. The team also finds an Ancient device which appears to work with the communication stones such as those that once linked Jack O’Neill’s consciousness with another man. Daniel theorizes that when used with the new device, the stones might allow someone to contact the original home world of the Ancients’ forebearers. He and Vala place the two stones into the device and quickly fall unconscious. Dr. Lam, the SGC’s new chief doctor, reports to General Landry that the two appear to be in something resembling a dream state. When Landry asks the doctor how she’s adjusting to her new position, she admits that it takes some getting used to – even moreso because it involves serving under Landry.

Teal’c returns to Dakara to find that a Jaffa named Gerak is close to cementing his hold on the High Council. Teal’c’s friend Rak’nor wonders why he continues to risk losing his influence by spending so much time with the humans. Teal’c responds that beyond his understanding that the humans played a major role in helping the Jaffa win their freedom, there is the strategic fact that knowledge of the Ancients proved vital in defeating the Goa’uld and the Replicators and will likely continue to be useful going forward. Whatever the merits of the argument might be, they aren’t enough to stop Gerak’s ascension to leadership.

In another galaxy, Daniel and Vala find that their consciousnesses now inhabit the bodies of a married couple, Harrid and Sallis, on a world whose technology and culture resemble medieval Earth – a far cry from their expectations. Their first instinct is to try to fit in to their surroundings, so they join their fellow villagers during a lengthy worship service to the native’s deities, the Ori. A fellow worshipper named Fannis invites them to a secret meeting in hushed tones – their first sign that their “hosts” are not ordinary villagers. Another comes when Vala finds two communications stones hidden in the bedroom. And yet another comes when Fannis shows up at their door, obviously worried about all their safety. Daniel and Vala explain the truth behind their strange behavior, and in turn Fannis explains that all three of them are members of a secret groups of researchers, looking for clues as to their people’s past and evidence that the sacred texts passed down by the Ori are not completely accurate. Daniel and Vala’s odd behavior has already begun to draw suspicion to them – and when Vala fails to observe the proper rituals, the situation quickly spirals out of control. Daniel must watch as Sallis is sentenced to trial by flames; as her body is consumed, the doctors at SGC are unable to save Vala’s physical body or retrieve her consciousness. But more powerful forces may yet intervene.

written by Robert C. Cooper
directed by Andy Mikita
music by Joel Goldsmith

Guest Cast: Claudia Black (Vala), Bill Dow (Dr. Lee), Lexa Doig (Dr. Lam), Obi Ndefo (Rak’nor), Stephen Park (Harrid), April Amber Telek (Sallis), Paul Moniz de Sa (Fannis), Greg Anderson (Administrator), Mark Houghton (Prior Or Ori), Gary Jones (Sgt. Walter Harriman), Silya Wiggens (Therapist), Brahm Taylor (Villager), Nick Harrison (Knight)

Notes: O’Neill and the SGC discovered the nature of the communications stones in the eighth-season episode Citizen Joe.

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

Vala’s rescuer reveals himself as a Prior of the Ori, and uses alabaster rings to bring her and Daniel to Celestis, a city in the sky. There Daniel has time to study the Book of Origin and attempt to convine the Prior that they’re explorers and not really in the market for a new belief system. The Prior appears to be more interested in the idea that there are more unbelievers where they came from. Daniel manages to arrange an audience with the Doci, the enahnced human who ranks above the Priors. There he realizes that like the Anicents, the Ori have ascended to a higher level of existance. Unlike the Ancients, they want to guide other races there. Rather forcefully, if necessary. The Ancients had apparently hidden the existence of life in our galaxy from the Ori. But thanks to Daniel and Vala’s visit, the veil has been lifted. And the Ori are determined that all will be rescued from evil and led to enlightenment – or destroyed, lest they corrupt others.

At Stargate Command, General Landry interrupts Mitchell’s vigil over Daniel and Vala to ask him to investigate a report from an Earth anthropologist of an unknown missionary appearing through the Stargate on another planet. Mitchell and Landry discuss their concerns that in the power vacuum left behind by the Goa’uld, unscrupulous individuals might try to take advantage of the situation. Similar concerns motivate Landry to invite Gerak to a conference on Earth. Teal’c agrees to relay the invitation and shares his misgivings about Gerak. The Jaffa asceneded to leadership of his troops after an ally of Bra’tac and Teal’c, who shared their vision of a democratic Jaffa nation, mysteriously disappeared. There is no evidence linking Gerak to the disappearance . . . but Teal’c can not help but wonder.

Mitchell assumes his best down-home manner and introduces himself to the missionary – another Prior. When he mentions Earth, the Prior responds with Daniel’s name, prompting Mitchell to bring the Prior back to SGC at the same time that Landry’s meeting with Gerak is going not altogether smoothly. The Jaffa requests the opportunity to meet and possibly challege this would-be prophet, as they are understandably leery of anyone claiming godhood.

Daniel and Vala are returned to their village, presumably to lead the Ori to other nonbelievers. Reluctant to do so, they must nonetheless try to find another Ancient communication device in order to warn Earth. They resolve to set off alone, but Fannis insits on helping them, despite the risks. They are able to make contact with Stargate Command, but only briefly – then the Prior and the townspeople arrive to recapture them. This time both Harrid and Sallis are sentenced to perish in the flames – and unless Mitchell and Teal’c can find a way to disrupt the connection, Daniel and Vala will share their fate.

written by Robert C. Cooper
directed by Brad Turner
music by Joel Goldsmith

Guest Cast: Claudia Black (Vala), Richard Dean Anderson (Maj. Gen. Jack O’Neill), Bill Dow (Dr. Lee), Lexa Doig (Dr. Lam), Louis Gossett, Jr. (Gerak); Gardiner Milla (Yat’yir), Mark Houghton (Prior Or Ori), Julian Sands (Doci), Larry Cedar (Prior #2), Paul Moniz De Sa (Fannis), Greg Anderson (Administrator), Gary Jones (Sgt. Walter Harriman), Stephen Park (Harrid), April Amber Telek (Sallis), Penelope Corrin (Dr. Lindsay)

Notes: This episode is considered the third part of a three-part episode, along with Avalon Parts 1 and 2.

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

Daniel sees Vala off from Stargate Command, relieved to be rid of a perpetual distraction. When he collapses soon after, Dr. Lam theorizes that he and Vala are still linked. With Dr. Lee unable to find a way to dissolve the bond, Daniel and Mitchell turn to Arlos Kadavam, the scientist from whom Vala originally stole the bracelets. He theorizes that a massive energy surge might have caused the link to persist even without the bracelets – such as that caused by the Ancient communications device. But he will only help break the link if Vala returns another item he stole – his mother’s necklace.

So begins a sequence of escalating deals. To get the necklace, Vala must return a power coil. To get the power coil, she must return a cargo vessel. To get the cargo vessel might be a bit trickier, as it’s in the hands of the Lucian Alliance, a group of smugglers attempting to make themselves a force to be reckoned with in the post-Goa’uld galaxy. Since Daniel and Vala ruined one deal with them, they’re not very likely to cooperate. In fact, they very much want Vala dead. And Gen. Landry is not inclined to provoke any kind of confrontation.

That is, until Vala sabotages a meeting with the Senate Appropriations Committee chairman that already wasn’t going well. With the Goa’uld and the Replicators no longer a threat, with the need to construct more ships like the Daedalus, and with the international community placing its full emphasis and backing on the civilian-led multinational Atlantis project, Stargate Command faces serious budget cuts and a curtailment of its exploration efforts. Frustrated by Vala’s impolitic comments, Landry permits Mitchell, Daniel, and a visiting Teal’c to try and steal the cargo ship right out from under the Alliance by offering them what they want – Daniel and Vala. It’s a plan just crazy enough to work – but will it get them the information they need?

written by Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie
directed by Will Waring
music by Joel Goldsmith

Guest Cast: Claudia Black (Vala), Bill Dow (Dr. Lee), Lexa Doig (Dr. Lam), Gary Jones (Sgt. Walter Harriman), Wallace Shawn (Arlos), Malcolm Scott (Caius), Michael P. Northey (Inago), Geoff Redknap (Jup), Eileen Peddy (Maj. Gibson), Bruce Gray (Sen. Fisher), Morris Chapdelaine (Tenat), Darren Moore (Vosh)

Notes: The prior deal with the Lucian Alliance referred to in this episode is Vala’s attempt to steal the Prometheus in season 8’s Prometheus Unbound.

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

Dozens of Priors have made contact with worlds across the galaxy, spreading the word of Origin. Vala urges Mitchell to take some kind of stand against the Ori, and has a particular planet in mind – a world where, she claims, the natives trust her. That gets Mitchell’s attention, and he gets Gen. Landry’s approval to bring Vala, Teal’c and Daniel with him to the planet. Once there, Vala impersonates Quetesh, the Goa’uld she once hosted. After the Tok’ra removed Quetesh from her, Vala used this planet as a base – it was sufficiently out of the way that it did not know Quetesh had been defeated, and continued to worship her as a god.

Vala’s real motive in returning to this world was to pick up some treasure she had been hoarding. But the others will not let her continue to dupe the natives – especially with the Ori already making inroads through displays of power and healing. Daniel convinces Vala to admit the truth, hoping that it will encourage skepticism. Instead, the betrayed natives sentence Vala to death. Mitchell is able to convince them to hold a maldoran instead – a judicial proceeding instituted by Vala herself. As Daniel mounts his defense and urges the natives to reject the Ori, a Prior enters the chamber. Daniel recognizes him as the town leader who oversaw Harrid and Sallis’s execution, now elevated by the Ori.

At Stargate Command, Landry and Lam have a tense exchange over lunch; Lam’s relationship with Landry, her father, has been strained for some time. She gets a distraction from her family problems when Mitchell reports that the natives have started to fall ill. Vala attempts to treat them with a Goa’uld healing device, but the villagers are falling faster than she can heal them. Lam brings a medical team to the planet, but is unable to find any way to stop the disease. Daniel and Teal’c note that it is similar to the plague that once afflicted the Ancients, and which the Stargate program encountered in Antarctica a few years ago. That knowledge, however, doesn’t stop villagers from dying, or Mitchell from becoming infected. Daniel and Vala use words and weapons to try and overcome the Prior, but it soon becomes clear that only a mass conversion will stem the tide of death.

written by Martin Gero
directed by Will Waring
music by Joel Goldsmith

Guest Cast: Claudia Black (Vala), Lexa Doig (Dr. Lam), Gary Jones (Sgt. Walter Harriman), Cam Chai (Azdak), Greg Anderson (Prior), Pablo Coffey (Vachna), Nicola Correia Damude (Play Vala), Matt Johnson (Play Warrior), Chad Hershler (Villager Aide), Michael Coleman (Med Tech)

Notes: The plague that afflicted the Ancients was discovered in season 6’s Frozen.

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer