Complicating matters for Mitchell is the sudden return of the beautiful thief Vala (Claudia Black). Motivated, as usual, by her insatiable appetite for ill-gotten gain, Vala has come armed with a stolen tablet that she is convinced holds the secret to a buried treasure — but she needs Daniel’s expertise to decipher its message. Against his better judgment, Daniel acquiesces to Mitchell’s request to meet with her.

Unfortunately, the tablet isn’t the only thing Vala has stolen. She has also brought along a bit of insurance — two ancient bracelets that Teal’c explains were once used by the Jaffa to bind themselves to prisoners to keep them from escaping. Before he has a chance to argue, Vala clamps one of the bracelets onto Daniel’s wrist and the other onto her own. When Dr. Lee (Bill Dow) is unable to remove the shackles, Jackson wearily complies with Vala’s request and cracks the tablet’s code. His findings lead the pair, along with Mitchell and Teal’c, on an expedition deep underground to an ancient cave.

During the excavation of the treasure he helped uncover, Daniel finds a set of books written by the Ancients. Besides providing evidence that the history of the highly advanced civilization may stretch even deeper back in time and even farther away, the books describe a unique device used for intergalactic communication. When the excavation crew uncovers the device, Daniel, ever eager to uncover the secrets of the Ancients and excited by the possibility of visiting galaxies beyond the realm of the Stargates, decides at once to test the machine.

Within seconds, he and Vala — who are still bound to one another by the Jaffa bracelets — drop to the ground, unconscious. Alarmed, Mitchell puts them under medical supervision. However, unbeknownst to anyone on Stargate Command, Daniel and Vala have been transported to an unfamiliar village inhabited by devout worshippers of the mysterious Ori — all-powerful and unforgiving beings who demand immediate persecution of any and all detractors.