Interlude: Chulak
Alright boys and girls, a little update for those of you who want more info on Goa'uld culture and society and for those of you who like to see a bit more about the alien tech. Annndd for @StormEagle More about how much of a douche canoe Apophis is.
Expect a couple more chapters soon!
Interlude
Chulak
Teal’c hadn’t seen her off, he hadn’t even come home when he returned through the gate from Abydos. This had been by design of course; Apophis needed to think things between them were bad at home for when his eventual defection occurred. Something she doubted any other system lord would have really bothered to notice (Not that they were dismissive of their primes or First primes, merely that they tended to maintain an extremely formal, rigid relationship with them). But Apophis on his good days often treated Drey’ac and Teal’c as though they were a mix of prized pets and adopted children and she knew he would notice Teal’c’s conspicuous absence, and it would further shield their son.
Idly she traced her fingers along the armored fabric that covered her pouch, the young symbiote inside was writhing around inside, laughing at some mental joke it shared with Ray’ac, her other son. It was such an odd relationship to have, especially knowing that the symbiote was a peer (It was taboo enough to be borderline obscene among the System lords and those precious few who possessed their power). Yet the Symbiote loved her son as a brother and regarded Teal’c and Drey’ac as parents. She, also understood this for Apophis barely tolerated any of his children besides Klorel and neglected all of his grand-children. The boy sustaining her immune system and enhancing the already formidable strength that a Jaffa’s lineage accorded her was the grandson of Apophis’ and his last wife Chanyu. Chanyu was the bastard daughter of King Yu with a granddaughter of Amaterasu or Athena (Drey’ac was never sure which, for Chanyu never spoke of her mother). She’d been a wife forced on Apophis by Ra some twelve thousand years ago (And one of the many reasons why Amaterasu refused to attend court), done to seal a trade deal and a strengthen the bond of alliance between Apophis and Yu (Not that either System Lord or God cared for the other very much) and because Ra got tired of Apophis constantly having affairs with lesser breeds of Goa’uld. The Story (as Herakles the Goa’uld Fist prime and bastard Son of Zeus told it anyway) was that Ra told him it was either he a found himself a proper wife and “got over Egeria’s cuckoldry” or else he’d have removed Apophis’ lower half and replaced it with robotic parts so he couldn’t regenerate from the castration. Chanyu despite being a peer, was illegitimate and her relation to Amaterasu as much as her questionable birth was likely an insult to Ra as much as anything.
Drey’ac remembered Chanyu and her daughter Aqet, they were both noble women even if Chanyu was as sullen and depressed as her fabled grandmother. Aqet’s love of space flight was what motivated Drey’ac to become a pilot and eventual fleet commander. Chanyu had been killed by the Titan during the rebellion, a victim of his insane terrorist assault on Ra’s palace of light. Apophis certainly shed no tears for her nor did he mourn the death of Aqet shortly after she bore the batch of Symbiotes that included the sentient one growing inside her now. Aqet’s death occurred when it Amunet was closer to maturation and Drey’ac always wondered if one of the lesser Goa’uld who administered the Serpent Lord’s domains arranged her murder as a courtesy to Apophis and Amunet.
After all, Aqet was the best pilot Drey’ac had ever known one that wouldn’t accidentally enter hyperspace inside a blackhole because she “engaged in drunken revelry” (Aqet was a phenomenal alcoholic, Drey’ac had to grudgingly admit her mentor was rarely if ever sober but that had never impacted her skills). So of course Apophis didn’t even flinch at Martouf’s suggestion this exchange of talent included binding the Symbiote who was five years away from maturity to lord Ba’al (In exchange Ba’al would give Drey’ac a Prim’tah who would mature and be sworn to Apophis in a few decades.) even though it meant he was essentially handing over a grandson as if he were some lesser breed. Another social faux pas that would likely cost Apophis politically and make his bid for Emperor all the more difficult, with the contempt he was showing the traditions that had bound an empire of ambitious super predators together for nearly one hundred thousand years.
Beside her, Ray’ac looked gallant as ever, even though he was trying not to laugh at the mischief her other son was broadcasting into his mind. He was dressed in the colors of Apophis, black, gold and pink and carrying the ceremonial dagger he was given mere months ago for his eleventh birthday. Her son’s eyes sparkled with a rapidity she admired, the boy was clever, and he was swift and his bond with the Goa’uld inside of her had likely shaped both into the strong males they would one day become. There was a moment of nervousness though, as he understood far more than he let on. It was, also clear the boy knew what his parents were planning.
Ahead of them was the sleek, dagger shaped black variant of the Al’kesh class support vessels that were often used as force amplifiers for Fighter squadrons and as heavy bombers. The personal militias and fleets of the other System Lords were seldom as heavily militarized as those of the House of Ra or those of Lord Apophis who essentially was the Goa’uld military but Ba’al’s fleet was known for its small size, advanced weaponry and incredibly sophisticated artificial gravity technology. While the Goa’uld had possessed AG technology for the entirety of their existence and had improved on the designs they had taken from the accursed Ori, Ba’al had taken gravity manipulation to a new level. Allegedly his vessels were powered by micro-singularities and while they had the standard sub light engines, their AG fields also created a form of thrust.
To see one up close, her eyes flickered at the possibilities. Behind her, several Jaffa carried some personal effects for the journey, but only two of her closest valets would accompany them. La’tir and Olo’noc, the pair of gray-haired Jaffa were lanky and resembled the dummies of straw and old clothing her farmers used to scare away avian’s than members of a legendary race of warrior poets. Ahead, adorned in a dark blue and metallic gray tunic was a man with pale skin and thick blond hair done up in a series of braids that fell about his shoulders. She noticed the slightly pointed ears and wondered if the host wasn’t a descendent of those humans who were said to have interbred with the Nox, assuming the Nox even existed. The man’s eyes glowed a pale shade of green; the greeting all lesser Goa’uld were ordered give to anyone they met for the first time (As only the System Lords were permitted to use the voice this was done to differentiate host from Lotar). Martouf was said to have been a Tok’ra of the hedonist sect who found new purpose in service to Ba’al but seeing as he’d been the first prime of Tiamat (Who perished in an accident fifty years before Ra raised Ba’al up), she knew better than to assume he was your typical Chamberlain.
Or that any rumor in regards to Martouf and his origins was anything but rumor.
It made Drey'ac recall what Bra'tac had said about Ba'al.
Youngest system lord, yet the one everyone knew the least about and the same was true of those who served him.
“Captain Drey’ac, it is an honor.” Martouf bowed, he had such a soft, easy voice that it surprised her. The fact that he genuinely meant what he said, surprised her even more for there were only two Goa’uld first prime’s not including the ones Ra always had. And Herakles and Raijin were bitterly competitive with Jaffa (Though Raijin was far more chivalrous and respectful of Jaffa not of Chulak, his host was also a nine-foot-tall ape, so it was hard for Drey’ac to tell if he shared his master’s hatred of all things related to Apophis or if he was just broodingly silent all the time). Yet here Martouf showed no hostility, no sign of affrontery and his voice was disarmingly gentle.
She knew his eyes though, warm and friendly as they were, they were the eyes of a man who would kill her and her sons without a second thought if he felt Ba’al was threatened. -Good- She thought, if Ba’al could win the loyalty of someone so dangerous and if someone so dangerous was so well disciplined then she knew she was safer than if she had been with Apophis.
“The Honor is mine Martouf.” She bowed back, of Martouf she knew little save that he was rumored to be a master of the quick draw of the Zat’nik’til and was said to be one of the few people in the known universe skilled enough to wield a plasma whip, both skills better suited to a commander of a special operations legion than a First Prime. She knew he was an adept administrator and a bitter rival with Zipacna, who served as his counterpart in Set’s domain.
But everyone alive knew the tale of Jolinar of Governess and Lady of the Malkshur system, Martouf’s former wife and Drey’ac wondered yet dared not ask how it was that he survived her defection to the Children of Egeria terrorist sect when the husband and mistresses of Garshaw former governess of Belote were all tortured to death by Athena. “It is rare to meet a First Prime who can set aside his staff and blade and find a measure of peace.”
To her surprise he took her hand and gave it a squeeze, something that caused murmurs of disgust among the trio of Goa’uld technologists who had gathered at the palace Space port. These kind of gestures from one who came from the kind of pedigree Martouf came from (Even though he was not a peer in power). Were barely acceptable between different breeds of Goa’uld much less between a Goa’uld of his rank and a Jaffa were seen as positively scandalous. Something she thought was absurd for them to sneer at given what their Lord and “God” did.
“Peace, I find comes at too high a price, but I have found joy in my service as a steward of his majesty’s domains. They are small compared to yours, but what they lack in size they make up for in wealth and…opportunity.” He whispered out the last part and turned to depart towards the vessel.
One thing she would miss about Chulak, Drey’ac thought. Would be the underwater space port of Bakhu. Built deep under the mountain complex, a series of twelve tunnels and gravity rails ferried troops and supplies and Government personnel from within the heart of the Imperial military to the rest of Apophis’ domains. Not as enormous as the space port on the surface used for commerce and pedestrian movements, it possessed one thing the surface port lacked. And from the viewing screens of the Alkesh she could see it all in full glory.
Once the Alkesh passed the tunnels and entered the shielded launch pad, her eyes were assailed by a veritable cathedral of light as the bearded whales circled the energy bubble feasting on the immense swarms of fish that would pass over the bubbles, absorbing heat from the shielding during colder nights. The Whales’ mighty beards were in reality tendrils that emitted a sequence of energy pulses that caused minor jolts that would lure the fish up towards their maws. The bleed off from the pulses created a sequence of exploding rainbows that crashed into the shields and created a sequence of oscillating colors that filled the ocean with beauty. And when a ship breached the shield, the reaction caused a chorus of soft sighs that added to the whale’s natural song.
“Do, these come from Tau’Ri like the great ones in seas of I’Zoumo and Sakai?” Martouf asked with intense curiosity.
The leviathans on the throne world of Amaterasu and her primary harvest world were indeed the genetically modified descendants of the great blue beasts of the first world and were said to be able to exceed six hundred feet in length, but these whales, barely sixty feet in length no, they were native to Chulak.
“As far as I know, they precede even Lord Apophis on this world.”
The vessel rose from the waters then broke for orbit, vanishing into the stars and then a hyperspace window.
-Teal’c my love, survive whatever you do, come back to us one day-
Expect a couple more chapters soon!
Interlude
Chulak
Teal’c hadn’t seen her off, he hadn’t even come home when he returned through the gate from Abydos. This had been by design of course; Apophis needed to think things between them were bad at home for when his eventual defection occurred. Something she doubted any other system lord would have really bothered to notice (Not that they were dismissive of their primes or First primes, merely that they tended to maintain an extremely formal, rigid relationship with them). But Apophis on his good days often treated Drey’ac and Teal’c as though they were a mix of prized pets and adopted children and she knew he would notice Teal’c’s conspicuous absence, and it would further shield their son.
Idly she traced her fingers along the armored fabric that covered her pouch, the young symbiote inside was writhing around inside, laughing at some mental joke it shared with Ray’ac, her other son. It was such an odd relationship to have, especially knowing that the symbiote was a peer (It was taboo enough to be borderline obscene among the System lords and those precious few who possessed their power). Yet the Symbiote loved her son as a brother and regarded Teal’c and Drey’ac as parents. She, also understood this for Apophis barely tolerated any of his children besides Klorel and neglected all of his grand-children. The boy sustaining her immune system and enhancing the already formidable strength that a Jaffa’s lineage accorded her was the grandson of Apophis’ and his last wife Chanyu. Chanyu was the bastard daughter of King Yu with a granddaughter of Amaterasu or Athena (Drey’ac was never sure which, for Chanyu never spoke of her mother). She’d been a wife forced on Apophis by Ra some twelve thousand years ago (And one of the many reasons why Amaterasu refused to attend court), done to seal a trade deal and a strengthen the bond of alliance between Apophis and Yu (Not that either System Lord or God cared for the other very much) and because Ra got tired of Apophis constantly having affairs with lesser breeds of Goa’uld. The Story (as Herakles the Goa’uld Fist prime and bastard Son of Zeus told it anyway) was that Ra told him it was either he a found himself a proper wife and “got over Egeria’s cuckoldry” or else he’d have removed Apophis’ lower half and replaced it with robotic parts so he couldn’t regenerate from the castration. Chanyu despite being a peer, was illegitimate and her relation to Amaterasu as much as her questionable birth was likely an insult to Ra as much as anything.
Drey’ac remembered Chanyu and her daughter Aqet, they were both noble women even if Chanyu was as sullen and depressed as her fabled grandmother. Aqet’s love of space flight was what motivated Drey’ac to become a pilot and eventual fleet commander. Chanyu had been killed by the Titan during the rebellion, a victim of his insane terrorist assault on Ra’s palace of light. Apophis certainly shed no tears for her nor did he mourn the death of Aqet shortly after she bore the batch of Symbiotes that included the sentient one growing inside her now. Aqet’s death occurred when it Amunet was closer to maturation and Drey’ac always wondered if one of the lesser Goa’uld who administered the Serpent Lord’s domains arranged her murder as a courtesy to Apophis and Amunet.
After all, Aqet was the best pilot Drey’ac had ever known one that wouldn’t accidentally enter hyperspace inside a blackhole because she “engaged in drunken revelry” (Aqet was a phenomenal alcoholic, Drey’ac had to grudgingly admit her mentor was rarely if ever sober but that had never impacted her skills). So of course Apophis didn’t even flinch at Martouf’s suggestion this exchange of talent included binding the Symbiote who was five years away from maturity to lord Ba’al (In exchange Ba’al would give Drey’ac a Prim’tah who would mature and be sworn to Apophis in a few decades.) even though it meant he was essentially handing over a grandson as if he were some lesser breed. Another social faux pas that would likely cost Apophis politically and make his bid for Emperor all the more difficult, with the contempt he was showing the traditions that had bound an empire of ambitious super predators together for nearly one hundred thousand years.
Beside her, Ray’ac looked gallant as ever, even though he was trying not to laugh at the mischief her other son was broadcasting into his mind. He was dressed in the colors of Apophis, black, gold and pink and carrying the ceremonial dagger he was given mere months ago for his eleventh birthday. Her son’s eyes sparkled with a rapidity she admired, the boy was clever, and he was swift and his bond with the Goa’uld inside of her had likely shaped both into the strong males they would one day become. There was a moment of nervousness though, as he understood far more than he let on. It was, also clear the boy knew what his parents were planning.
Ahead of them was the sleek, dagger shaped black variant of the Al’kesh class support vessels that were often used as force amplifiers for Fighter squadrons and as heavy bombers. The personal militias and fleets of the other System Lords were seldom as heavily militarized as those of the House of Ra or those of Lord Apophis who essentially was the Goa’uld military but Ba’al’s fleet was known for its small size, advanced weaponry and incredibly sophisticated artificial gravity technology. While the Goa’uld had possessed AG technology for the entirety of their existence and had improved on the designs they had taken from the accursed Ori, Ba’al had taken gravity manipulation to a new level. Allegedly his vessels were powered by micro-singularities and while they had the standard sub light engines, their AG fields also created a form of thrust.
To see one up close, her eyes flickered at the possibilities. Behind her, several Jaffa carried some personal effects for the journey, but only two of her closest valets would accompany them. La’tir and Olo’noc, the pair of gray-haired Jaffa were lanky and resembled the dummies of straw and old clothing her farmers used to scare away avian’s than members of a legendary race of warrior poets. Ahead, adorned in a dark blue and metallic gray tunic was a man with pale skin and thick blond hair done up in a series of braids that fell about his shoulders. She noticed the slightly pointed ears and wondered if the host wasn’t a descendent of those humans who were said to have interbred with the Nox, assuming the Nox even existed. The man’s eyes glowed a pale shade of green; the greeting all lesser Goa’uld were ordered give to anyone they met for the first time (As only the System Lords were permitted to use the voice this was done to differentiate host from Lotar). Martouf was said to have been a Tok’ra of the hedonist sect who found new purpose in service to Ba’al but seeing as he’d been the first prime of Tiamat (Who perished in an accident fifty years before Ra raised Ba’al up), she knew better than to assume he was your typical Chamberlain.
Or that any rumor in regards to Martouf and his origins was anything but rumor.
It made Drey'ac recall what Bra'tac had said about Ba'al.
Youngest system lord, yet the one everyone knew the least about and the same was true of those who served him.
“Captain Drey’ac, it is an honor.” Martouf bowed, he had such a soft, easy voice that it surprised her. The fact that he genuinely meant what he said, surprised her even more for there were only two Goa’uld first prime’s not including the ones Ra always had. And Herakles and Raijin were bitterly competitive with Jaffa (Though Raijin was far more chivalrous and respectful of Jaffa not of Chulak, his host was also a nine-foot-tall ape, so it was hard for Drey’ac to tell if he shared his master’s hatred of all things related to Apophis or if he was just broodingly silent all the time). Yet here Martouf showed no hostility, no sign of affrontery and his voice was disarmingly gentle.
She knew his eyes though, warm and friendly as they were, they were the eyes of a man who would kill her and her sons without a second thought if he felt Ba’al was threatened. -Good- She thought, if Ba’al could win the loyalty of someone so dangerous and if someone so dangerous was so well disciplined then she knew she was safer than if she had been with Apophis.
“The Honor is mine Martouf.” She bowed back, of Martouf she knew little save that he was rumored to be a master of the quick draw of the Zat’nik’til and was said to be one of the few people in the known universe skilled enough to wield a plasma whip, both skills better suited to a commander of a special operations legion than a First Prime. She knew he was an adept administrator and a bitter rival with Zipacna, who served as his counterpart in Set’s domain.
But everyone alive knew the tale of Jolinar of Governess and Lady of the Malkshur system, Martouf’s former wife and Drey’ac wondered yet dared not ask how it was that he survived her defection to the Children of Egeria terrorist sect when the husband and mistresses of Garshaw former governess of Belote were all tortured to death by Athena. “It is rare to meet a First Prime who can set aside his staff and blade and find a measure of peace.”
To her surprise he took her hand and gave it a squeeze, something that caused murmurs of disgust among the trio of Goa’uld technologists who had gathered at the palace Space port. These kind of gestures from one who came from the kind of pedigree Martouf came from (Even though he was not a peer in power). Were barely acceptable between different breeds of Goa’uld much less between a Goa’uld of his rank and a Jaffa were seen as positively scandalous. Something she thought was absurd for them to sneer at given what their Lord and “God” did.
“Peace, I find comes at too high a price, but I have found joy in my service as a steward of his majesty’s domains. They are small compared to yours, but what they lack in size they make up for in wealth and…opportunity.” He whispered out the last part and turned to depart towards the vessel.
One thing she would miss about Chulak, Drey’ac thought. Would be the underwater space port of Bakhu. Built deep under the mountain complex, a series of twelve tunnels and gravity rails ferried troops and supplies and Government personnel from within the heart of the Imperial military to the rest of Apophis’ domains. Not as enormous as the space port on the surface used for commerce and pedestrian movements, it possessed one thing the surface port lacked. And from the viewing screens of the Alkesh she could see it all in full glory.
Once the Alkesh passed the tunnels and entered the shielded launch pad, her eyes were assailed by a veritable cathedral of light as the bearded whales circled the energy bubble feasting on the immense swarms of fish that would pass over the bubbles, absorbing heat from the shielding during colder nights. The Whales’ mighty beards were in reality tendrils that emitted a sequence of energy pulses that caused minor jolts that would lure the fish up towards their maws. The bleed off from the pulses created a sequence of exploding rainbows that crashed into the shields and created a sequence of oscillating colors that filled the ocean with beauty. And when a ship breached the shield, the reaction caused a chorus of soft sighs that added to the whale’s natural song.
“Do, these come from Tau’Ri like the great ones in seas of I’Zoumo and Sakai?” Martouf asked with intense curiosity.
The leviathans on the throne world of Amaterasu and her primary harvest world were indeed the genetically modified descendants of the great blue beasts of the first world and were said to be able to exceed six hundred feet in length, but these whales, barely sixty feet in length no, they were native to Chulak.
“As far as I know, they precede even Lord Apophis on this world.”
The vessel rose from the waters then broke for orbit, vanishing into the stars and then a hyperspace window.
-Teal’c my love, survive whatever you do, come back to us one day-
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