Stargate Through the Looking Glass and into Heaven.

[The Immortal Watch Dog]

Alright! The conclusion to Thor's Hammer has arrived...as well as some guests.

I really hope I've ended this ep on note that fits with its theme. But also does a certain someone justice!

…………..

Asgard Protected Planet's Zone Hurot

The aftermath of the battle was shaping up to be even more contentious and dangerous than the battle itself. With the will utterly robbed from the Scarrans, people began slaughtering them with abandon until O’Neill and Daniel Jackson were able to rally most of the surviving troops present into calming the hell down. They might have been a broken people, their cause might have been on some level worthy, but they were still Scarrans and had a reputation among the stars for being a bunch of scheming, hyperviolent xenophobes who raped most Lotars for the sheer sadistic sake of it.

The fact that some of the broken bodies of abducted women were found decorating trees near the river or that none of the lizardmen bothered to really deny what was done to either them or several missing children prompted calls to simply slaughter the survivors. After all, there were only a hundred and fifty or so left by the end of it all and boy did that cost the defenders of Hurot who took something like eighty percent casualties if the sheer number of bodies that were strewn about was any indication. Thousands of warriors were strewn about, some torn to pieces, others dead with a weapon in hand and always one of a group of three or four with a single Scarran at the center.

The grizzly lizards were able to gain their revenge.

Towards the rear Rynulf sat with Syggy and Doc carter who were all sharing a horn filled with mead from a barrel that was set near the monitors. Her team of drone pilots had survived the battle largely intact, as had Major Ramirez who was probably going to end up losing his left eye which looked mashed up beyond all recognition. He was sitting next to Makepeace; both were abstaining from drink per regs that O’Neill didn’t really care to enforce and would only make a big deal if the old man decided to avoid any booze. Ecthor’s body was erect, a spear plunging into the body of a long snouted Scarran whose long spindly arms were buried elbow deep in Ecthor’s chest. A look of hatred in its dead eyes matched only by the irreverent sneering that remained etched on Ecthor’s face even after the end.

A grizzly sight, and rapidly a grizzly site as people began to pay homage to the fallen hero, chanting a hero’s dirge and clasping Teal’c or Jack himself on the back or cheering like madmen when Admiral Hammond the man who slew the King shit of all Lizardmen by blowing his snake brain out of the back of his lizard brain walked back into the main crowd gathering to celebrate both the living and the dead. Jack didn’t care about any of that, the only thing that was on his mind was his daughter and the dread that came with the thought that she didn’t make it out alive.

Fear that was put to bed when a mud-covered Petty Officer ran into his arms and muttered “dad” before realizing she’d broken protocol and pulled back to salute him sheepishly. Protocol be damned, his little girl was alive and unharmed and for that he yanked her back into a hug. “How’d it go?”

“Followed Orders sir, fell back with Prince Rynulf and by the time we got here, Ecthor and Colonel Makepeace were organizing a defense. Dozens of the Scarrans rushed us, we fought harder than they did though. I’m fine, fought beside Captain Syggy and Yarl Ecthor the whole time, well until Maugryn and Ecthor killed each other.” She answered her voice hoarse with exertion and exhaustion. The adrenaline was wearing off, battle fatigue was setting in and Jack suspected that was the only reason they hadn’t simply begun slaughtering the broken Scarrans and other lizard dudes the moment that the dust settled.

Well, settled was an odd way of putting it. The skies were still angry with debris and violent lightning storms. Wait, did Sandy say dead lizard number 2345 was named Maugryn? “How d’ya know its name?”

“Prince Rynulf told me, Maugryn was a commander in their version of the secret service and was pretty well known and I guess Ecthor pretended to be his friend and killed one of his kids or something. The prince wasn’t big on the details, but I get the impression the whole affair disgusted him.” She answered slumped against her father more than his kid probably wanted but to hell with decorum. They survived hell and his entire team was intact, hell the SGC didn’t seem to lose anyone that he could tell.

That was something he didn’t expect. And he suspected the only reason why they hadn’t taken any casualties was because the Scarrans hadn’t shown up armored or armed because if they had everyone here would be massacred. -They might be a third rate power by the standards of the snakes, but even a third rate power out here makes us look like a bunch of island cannibals scratching at the wreck of an airplane.- “I can’t blame him, what his great grandpa authorized was fucking scummy.”

She nodded. “That’s…I know our duty’s to the US and to safeguarding Earth sir, but if it weren’t for Rynulf and some of the others, I’d question my willingness to serve if we’re getting into bed with people like this.” She whispered that last part sounding a lot more like a hurt child than she probably intended. Not that he could blame her, cold war politics were always confusing to him when he was her age, and they were confusing now even as a fifty something year old veteran. Add in space aliens, lizardmen, ancient warriors and telepathic snakes and well. “We serve and at the end of the day we go home to those we love kid.”

She smiled a tired smile. “Is that how you and grandpa did it?”

“And your great grandpa, and his dad, yep.”

She nodded. “Rynulf wants me to stay as an atache to-“ “oh ho hell no.” Jack answered with a protective glare. “I’ve seen the way he looks at you.”

She laughed. “It’s not like that, he was impressed with my fighting spirit or so he says, I’m sure it’s also that but you didn’t raise no fool pops no worries.”

Oh, Thank God, Jack thought. Because at that age if it had been a space princess, he’d have probably accepted no matter what damage it might or might not have done to his career. “Well, you’re smarter than me. Don’t get too cocky though, that ain’t saying much.”

She swatted at her father playfully before Carter interrupted them to punch Jack on the shoulder and an inquiry into how he was doing. “Alright, it was a decent scrape and we mostly got lucky your bomb killed most of their forces and axed most of their guns.”

Carter grinned “Glad you appreciate my handywork! Though I agree, Ambassador Xoltec was telling me they use some kind of oil as an ignition source for their plasma weapons. I didn’t expect the explosion to be as big as it was, I think sir I must have detonated a munitions store or something which would explain it.” She looked tired, she sounded more than a little drunk and Jack was once again made aware of the fact that he and Teal’c were really the only military people on his team. Luckily, she wasn’t a bloody mess though, Carter had a nasty habit of mixing it up with people several times stronger than her and getting stabbed or shot or set on fire for her trouble. His mind wandered back to the horrific scene after she attempted to blast Horus to Kingdom come. All that flesh melted off, the bone fused with fabric, and he suppressed a shudder.

Yeah, he admired her handiwork, if it wasn’t for her homemade nuke there was a good chance, they’d all be dead right now. Even if they did manage to kill armed Scarrans, fighting yeehaw at full capacity would have ended with everyone in the dirt and yeehaw dancing over their graves. “Admiral Hammond took out Yeehaw by the way.” O’Neill responded, unlike him the old Admiral didn’t have fairy powers making him younger or anything. Nah George Hammond laid a gigantic lizard king terrorist shitheel low all on his own. “Coolest damn thing I’ve ever seen. Double headshot, through the mouth.”

“Just like I wanted to do with Horus damn..” Carter muttered before hastily adding that she was glad she didn’t get a chance to try, and multi-head shot the Prince of the Snakes. Despite herself, looking back she found she actually admired him. He didn’t dismiss her as just some crazed Geek but a warrior as much as she was a scientist and wanted to give her a soldier’s funeral. It was touching, especially given how vicious she had been towards him in that fight. He still scared the hell out of her, but she was moved by the gesture and made a mental note to thank him one day if they ever met on the field as allies instead of enemies. “Kinda glad you didn’t as well since you guys would probably be dead.” Sandra muttered.

Whatever revelry was about to continue was broken by Daniel who began to call for both Jack and the Admiral. “Jack! Apparently, a group of two hundred suicidal Sleestak led by several Scarran breached the Wyryn, they’re all dead but the Scarran commanders killed Hethrir!”

Oh shit.

Yeah, the mode almost instantly changed, and O’Neill looked to Hammond who gave him a subtle shake of his head. “We can’t risk it.”

“Admiral Sir with respect they’re going to massacre the Scarrans.”

“They were probably going to do that already.” Carter grumbled, her eyes grim and full of contempt “Fuck all sides of this conflict sir, if they wanna act like a bunch of despicable cowards because a bunch of rapist geckos managed to get some vengeance of their own for the murder of their kids then whatever, let ‘em Sir. We’re just here to buy their Trinium and leave.”

“Sirs we can’t” Daniel responded in alarm. “They might come from a repressive Government, but Teal’c's family made that Government pay. These people didn’t do anything! All they’re guilty of is trusting the nobles of Hurot with the safety of their children.”

Carter frowned, recoiling slightly at her own harshness and Hammond looked from her to the two O’Neill’s before he nodded his bald head slowly. “He’s right, maybe we need Trinium but we’ve let enough war crimes go on under our watch on this trip…Jack, Teal’c.”

“Gladly Admiral.” The Jaffa remarked firing his staff in the air, the bright burst of green energy roaring into the skies producing an effect louder than the thunder raging overhead. “PEOPLE OF HUROT!” Teal’c began loudly in Aejir. “None here understand better than I your hatred of the former Scarran Empire but consider this. The forces of Apophis broke their fleets and scattered their armies! The Peacekeepers came in force and laid siege to their already ruined worlds and burnt their Capitol world to a cinder, they are a conquered people and you bested them now twice over! Taint not what little honor your King held by humiliating a people you betrayed and extorted whose sole crime in this instance was turning to a blood traitor and a terrorist in their desperation.”

“Hethrir was a great King! He built an empire out of feuding tribes and islands filled with heretics and brigands!” called a warrior of the Wyryn guard. “Let us humiliate them in his honor! A third time! A final time! Let us be rid of these reprobates!”

“To what end?!” O’Neill called out loudly, his voice silencing the murmurs of agreement. Jackson began to translate for him. “O’Neill God Slayer asks you to what end? Your leaders committed a grave act of dishonor by taking in their families and massacring them!” Daniel wasn’t sure at what point he stopped imitating Jack’s disgust and started adding his own contempt to the mix but his voice echoed Jack’s own rage at the truth. Whatever the Scarrans might have been, the innocent in what was left of their society hadn’t earned that.

“For Fucks sake!” O’Neill began. “There’s like fifty of ‘em left, they’re all dead, most of your guys are dead. They can’t even muster up the guts to strike at you fucking people. They’re dead already, just let ‘em go through the gate to whatever fate they choose. You won we won! How much more death are you willing to accept to avenge a dude who brought it all on himself?”

As Daniel translated, Hammond added through PO-1 O’Neill that it was indeed over, to let go of their hatred and not to sully what was otherwise a battle worthy of song with skullduggery. Perhaps the thought of them acting like thieves shamed them or perhaps it was being told by no less than three champions that this was wrong finally won an appeal to their better nature, but Prince Rynulf intervened then and shook his head. It was his family who suffered the most grievous of losses, ten cousins, six uncles and his great grandfather the King dead. And while many more uncles and cousins lived, he had buried all but one of his brothers and all but two of his sisters.

They had their new King, the next Caesar of their empire of Hurot and he was not going to allow anymore needless slaughter.

The Scarrans didn’t seem to care one way or the other, with some numbly asking what was to become of them while another muttered something about how “Everything always goes wrong when humans are involved” and that caused O’Neill to raise an eyebrow because it was said in near perfect English. But there was a sudden deafening crack in the skies, a roar of thunder that put to bed any continued to discussion.

People gasped, clutching hammer amulets, others threw themselves to the ground or called out in praise to Rynulf or the SG teams or whoever thinking it was an endorsement from the Gods. Jack wanted to roll his eyes and tell the primitive screwheads that it was just thunder but the fact that it produced rainbow colored lightning that seemed to strike the center spire of the Wyryn silenced the Colonel who looked up into the skies. Memories of the Nox filled his head and he growled in annoyance. “So help me if this Leanan again I’m gonna-“The words died in his throat as every reptilian who had surrendered and was on their knees on the field of battle vanished abruptly.

Even the dead suddenly disappeared in a column of rainbow-colored light. He blinked and looked to Teal’c who was as white as a sheet and urging everyone to remain calm. Though the look in his eyes suggested that the big guy was partially freaking the fuck out and who could blame him? People were disappearing! Ecthor was next and that was when Rynulf muttered something about the Thunder God coming to give thanks for the battle and the victories won in his name.

O’Neill didn’t want to say anything, he had no idea how the Asgardian races ruled their portion of the known universe, except that Teal’c said they were moral people on average if ruthless and formidable warriors who very clearly valued martial prowess as much as science and the arts if not more so if the society of Hurot was any indication. Above them, the skies continued to rumble until at last the clouds which had been building for hours reached their crescendo and unleashed a flurry of wind and lightning against the mushroom cloud that had been created by their efforts. Scattering the poisoned ash and soot from the heavens, dispelling the cloud and then directing a crapton of rain down towards the burning rubble that had been the mouth of the cave network on the other side of what he was told was called the Red River. A great geyser of steam rose into the air as an unnatural amount of water violently drowned out the debris that neared on being molted in certain areas. As the steam rose, water flooded pouring from this surreal flash of rain and O’Neill could tell the riverbanks would flood and likely not recede anytime soon.

There’s gonna be a lake there, where there was once a Scarran base.

A bright beam of light shot down from the heavens, arcs of electricity crackled around it snaking down the column of white like so many snakes trying to slither down a storm drain. Rocks cracked, earth shuddered and suddenly the ancient stargate was lifted up from the ground, floating serenely as it seemed to be drawn upwards. So many things were happening around him that it was almost desensitizing.

Then something else happened, that he wasn’t prepared for.

By the looks on the faces of everyone present, no one except Teal’c was.

Three hammer shaped vessels each one nearly half a mile in length appeared out of the clouds, one over the Wyryn, one over the ruined base and one over the remnants of the army. They were beautiful, in some ways they reminded him of Ra’s vessel, for they shimmered in the light but where Ra’s ship was this ornately gilded luxury liner there could be no ambiguity about these vessels seemingly made of liquid metal that shimmered and displayed different sorts of runic language and images, were ships of war.

“Bilskinir class Battleships.” Teal’c remarked with a hint of awe in his voice. “It would take five of Lord Apophis’ newest Hatak battleships and their escorts to overcome one of them. Ten for the forces of the average System Lord, I once witnessed a single Bilskinir face two hundred ships from the Lucian Alliances pirate fleet. They were obliterated within an hour, those that tried to run were caught in some sort of subspace jamming technology that prevented them from fleeing. The Asgard Captain massacred everyone, all broadcasts to surrender were summarily ignored.”

“Jesus” Daniel muttered.

Jack didn’t fail to notice that again, Carter wasn’t the least bit awestruck by what she was seeing, and it wasn’t her usual propensity to compartmentalize her emotions when she was caught up in something and excitedly focusing either, she fucking recognized the technology on display here and his eyes narrowed when she sensed that someone was watching and adjusted her reaction. -She was downright shocked at the English speaking Scarran too.- Jack thought.

“What happened?” Daniel asked.

Teal’c shrugged. “While the Cartels of the Lucian alliance are free to conduct their…depravity through the Gate Network any attempts by advanced or developing societies to assert their will on lesser developed worlds within the Asgard protected planet’s zone almost always results in such extreme retaliation. When the Asgardian embassy contacted us and notified us that they had taken care of a pirate world on our border, Sar’het a Jaffa fleet Captain dispatched a battlegroup to occupy the world. The Commander of the fleet arrived to find the Asgardians had thrown a moon from a neighboring planet at it, they had arrived in time to find a world split in half.”

O’Neill raised an eyebrow. “That’s a little…extreme”. He muttered somewhat disgusted, he had no idea what the population of that planet was, but if it was something other than a military base (And even then, those tended to have towns pop up around them.), then they could have potentially massacred billions of innocent people to kill a few pirates. The more he encountered the elder races, the more it seemed like the body snatching snakes were the least fucked up ones out of all of them.

Teal’c nodded. “Our history suggests that while they have become more cordial with the Imperium, their responses to breaches of Asgardian law with other powers have grown disproportionately violent over the millennia.”

“Almost as if it’s the world’s most violent bluff?” The Admiral asked.

Teal’c nodded. “Indeed, I have suspected for sometime the Asgardian Kingdoms are tied up in some..other conflagration and their ability to project force into our Galactic cluster has diminished as a result. Though I could never prove it, it would explain their benevolence towards those who respect their edicts and the exorbitant hostility in response to infractions thereof.”

“So, what does mean for us?” Doc Carter asked.

As they were enveloped in rainbow colored energy Teal’c responded with a droll “We are about to find out Doctor Carter.”

Mother of all understatements.

 

[The Immortal Watch Dog]

Aaannd the end...also the beginning.

We get some info on the history of the universe, the importance of the Ancients...Why the Nox kinda stopped giving a shit about them and why humanity is so important to everyone.

Also, a hero's quest should always end with a proper boon...And more questions than answers as the Gods continue to play their games!

@Spartan303 @Harlock @The Whispering Monk @Knowledgeispower and @adam417 @Luminescence Who enjoy the divergences for canon..I present to you, my rendition of Thor.

I hope I have done him justice!

…………..

Asgard Protected Planet's Zone Hurot

……………

When they reappeared, Jack wasn’t sure what he was expecting. But a large command center with a bunch of robots scurrying about was probably one of the more mundane possibilities that came to his mind. “Huh I expected rowers for some reason.” He muttered getting a look of incredulity from Makepeace.

O’Neill shrugged. “Look man, you weren’t at Avalon, and you didn’t see Chulak. These old timers are weird with their tech.”

“Goa’uld technology is not weird.” Teal’c muttered.

“Big guy…you had computers that breathed and ran on crystals”

Teal’c gave a shrug as if to say “I suppose that would look weird to a primitive screwhead.” And gestured forward, through the command center where there were braziers burning flames that each represented a color of the rainbow, between computer panels or what Jack assumed were computer panels, half the time the weird sleek robots that looked oddly reptilian themselves were just standing there, their hands merged with the machinery which rippled as if the consoles themselves were made of liquid metal. Like Snake tech, everything was oddly cool and if the room was warmer than sixty degrees he’d have been surprised. Which would have annoyed him since they were all soaking wet from the battle, well were. Everyone was bone dry and Major Ramirez’s eye looked better, and Jack finally noticed the cuts and bruises were starting to heal.

“The gasses emitted by the flames in the brazier are saturated with medical nanites.” Teal’c offered. He’d heard of this, though the sheer amount of dead Ashraks it took to obtain this particular piece of intelligence was something neither he nor Bra’tac had wished to dwell on for very long. -There is something gravely wrong with the Asgardian races- Teal’c thought. But what? He knew that they had changed forms over the eons but not due to evolution, so much as artificial external pressures. Ra, knew that much at least and had shared that much with the Ashrak divisions. But whatever afflicted them, always lay far outside the Imperium’s ability to determine. “You are being healed as we speak, it appears to be standard procedure on Asgardian vessels, Prince Heimdall of the Vanir also possessed such a brazier in his quarters on Dakkara whenever he attended diplomatic functions.”

“You are far more perceptive than many of my brethren give you credit for, War Master Teal’c.” The voice, smooth and somewhat high pitched, echoed through the room with the abruptness of a thunderbolt. They looked ahead towards the end of the long command center to what Jack assumed was the captain’s area. Elevated above the rest of the ship and surrounded by statues of Dragons doing battle with men of metal skin, blades and blood and a hammer wielding fire and lightning rose a crow’s nest with a single chair that loomed over the whole of the rest of the bridge.

The figure that sat in it spoke in perfectly in English and even had a slight American accent which disturbed the hell out of O’Neill. He was a thin creature, naked with no discernable genitalia, about five feet tall with a thick bulbous head and a small mouth and slits for nostrils and eyes as black as pitch and opaque to the point that they reflected almost no light. “Roswell Grey” Jack muttered causing Teal’c to raise an eyebrow at how nervous Carter looked when she heard the word Roswell. In fact, Carter looked very much like a kid caught in the middle of vandalizing something by a cop.

“Actually, I was thinking Alistair Crowley.” Hammond said surprising everyone. He gave a shrug “You’d be surprised how many intelligence people dabble in the occult son.” He remarked to Jackson. “Not that I ever bothered but a lot of the boys out of Langley that I ran missions with in the 80’s were always into something.”

“Grandpa Nick said the CIA and the occult went back to before their founding.” Daniel said.

The alien, seemingly finding this line of dialog amusing responded with what might have been a laugh. “The eccentric Crowley may indeed have been contacted by one of my kin though from what I gleaned the last time I stood over your portion of Midgard was that he grossly misunderstood whatever lesson was attempted to have been imparted.” It paused frowning, then added. “I will admit there are laws about such contacts, they are to be strictly for security purposes and scientific inquiry and never to influence your cultural development.”

“Funny, there was an entire civilization that sprung out of the northern hemisphere of one of our continents that spawned several ethnic groups who waged war in your name..Thor Odinson I presume?” Daniel asked with a tone that was somewhat chiding, somewhat awestruck. “Leanan told me, you might contact us one day.”

The creature nodded its head. “Thor Odinson, High King of the Asgardian races, Master of the armed forces of the Aesir and Supreme Commander of the combined armadas of the Asgardian Nations. At your service Doctor Jackson though I come by way of Prince Horus not by way of Leanan”

“He told you to watch us huh?” O’Neill asked, suddenly feeling a lot less worried about their prospects. There was an earnestness in his voice and a weight behind it too, one that reminded him of himself only multiplied over a timescale that Jack couldn’t even think of. “Indeed, he did Colonel O’Neill…He places a great deal of respect in you. Something he does not easily give even amongst his equals, and I do consider him a friend.”

“Surprising, considering how long you guys were at war.” Carter muttered, she still seemed to struggle with concepts like that. Jack couldn’t blame her, it was hard for a civilian to understand, but sometimes you spend so much time fighting a guy that they end up knowing a man better than his own family. “Sometimes, you spend so much time at war that all you have left are your enemies.” Hammond answered before Jack could.

Both Teal’c and Thor nodded in agreement, and it struck Jack just how similar the gesture looked between them. “In any case, the Goa’uld have given this section of the universe an era of peace that has lasted longer than any other. Our disagreements aside, when it comes to universal peace, it is preferable to the long, endless, civilization destroying dark ages of epochs passed. The era of the System Lords has been bloody, but it has been prosperous. Still, we do what we can to curb their impulse at what your forefathers called manifest destiny.”

Jack nodded, it was a decision born of pragmatism much as it was mutual respect amongst enemies. They simply couldn’t continue a war so far away from their supply lines and logistical centers or at least that’s what Jack gleamed from the explanation that was as much bullshit as it was the truth. Fighting that far out, when a gilded cage was preferable to, mad max universe edition was understandable. But how the hell did you use softpower against the Snakes? The damn Imperium was like the US on steroids. He tried to imagine someone slapping sanctions on America and yeah, it would hurt the US for as long as it took the country to start growing its own food and building its own shit again, five, maybe ten years of hardship but then from out that comes an independent breadbasket that can just tell the rest of the world to fuck off. The economic consequences of that alone. -What the hell are they holding over the snakes heads that they can just stop them from going to town on the universe like a fat dude at a buffet?-

“Which leads me to my current conundrum as you Americans say it.” Thor began again. “You are buying Trinium from worlds under my protection, roughly two hundred years before I expected your kind to do so. Now, you’re here so that explains that but why are you trying to buy quantities that would only suit a nascent space faring race?”

“Well, because Apophis is apparently gonna send two thousand ships to knock on our door.” Answered O’Neill causing Thor to blink furiously. He turned to Teal’c “He’s not talking out of his ass?”

Okay, Jack might have expected many things, but he did not expect a little grey man to ask a seven-foot super soldier with a snake in his gut if Misses O’Neill’s baby boy was talking out of his ass. Behind him, his daughter tried to stifle a laugh before she answered in defense of her father that Jack might be many things, but a liar wasn’t one of them.

“He speaks true majestic eminence.” Teal’c responded, using the proper titles afforded to members of the Imperial family. “A fleet comes, though most of it would appear to be Lucian pirates.”

Thor’s tiny mouth sneered in disgust. “Apophis has lost his mind and his dignity if he’s resorting to weaponizing that scum to pursue a vendetta against the Tau’Ri.” Thor sighed. “And I take it you requested access to my hall of hammers from Hethrir the greedy?” Thor asked in a voice that sounded impossibly annoyed and oddly deep from such a tiny figure.

“And he granted it.” Doc Carter responded.

Thor’s eyes narrowed on her, his hands steepling together in his tiny lap. “You, you do not seem surprised to see me.”

Carter did her best to slink behind Admiral Hammond who looked absolutely bewildered at Thor’s remark and trying to bring the conversation back on track added. “Your majesty, if we broke some protocol or rule requesting access to your hall then.”

Thor raised his hand. “Peace Hammond of Texas, you broke no rule except that I intended that Hall to be my gift to the people of Hurot, when they reached a level of technology some hundred years above your current level they would have been able to make as you say..heads or tales of what was inside.”

“So, there are no weapons?” the Admiral asked.

Thor shook his head. “They’d end up blowing themselves up, no a species a century ahead of yours would struggle to understand the basics of how we build our weaponry much less how to use it effectively, attempting it has historically resulted in calamity and more importantly cosmic law binds us in regards to weapons trafficking just as harshly as it binds the Imperium of the System Lords. No, Hammond of Texas, not weaponry just some fabrication and industrial technology, a very rudimentary version of our matter to energy then back to matter conversion system that can be used to make building things easier and metal processing and refining. None of that would help you against a proper fleet of ships from Apophis military, unless you already had the means to build ships that could stand up to the latest generation of System Lord hardware...”

“We don’t from what Teal’c’s told me, but could it maybe expedite ship building capacity?” Carter asked, peeking out from behind the Admiral. Daniel and Teal’c both regarded her with raised eyebrows. Now that was an odd choice of words.

Thor again regarded her with a stern, oddly paternal look. “This one is a berserker and a skald, a trickster as well. Beauty, genius and madness, that is not a very healthy combination for anyone you call an enemy.”

Carter seemed to turn a slight shade of pink, another day of firsts.

“To answer your question girl yes if that’s what you wish.” Thor shrugged and a holographic screen appeared before him. Reaching out with a slender arm he depressed a button. “There, I’ve dispatched one of my vessels to teleport the proper equipment at your Groom Lake facility.” A small, canny smile appeared on Thor’s face and Carter looked like an animal with a paw caught in a bear trap.

“I threw in some sensor technology as well, nothing that would violate any treaties. But enough that it should improve your odds against the cheap mercenaries Apophis seems to want to debase himself with by hiring. Though, I would advise the President to be very cautious about who he chooses to be warden over.”

“I…I don’t…” Carter tried to make some sort of defense, but Thor waved her off with an “Of course you don’t”

Okay, fuck this…he was going to have a long talk with Carter after this and more importantly..How the hell did this little grey bastard know so much about the US military?! “Son of....a…HEY YOU GUYS REALLY ARE ABDUCTING US!” Jack cried out in indignant fury.

“Yes, but we don’t put things in your rectums, that’s a calumny my wife Syf has little patience for!” His tone became somewhat higher reminding Jack of the bad guy from Roger Rabbit. (When I killed snakes, I talked like..thiiiiiiiissss!) and O’Neill tried to resist shuddering at how creepy the little guy sounded when joking. So, this Syf was their chief egghead or something? Syf? Sif? The one who was left bald by Loki in a prank? Thor’s eyes narrowed; his playfulness gone as he seemed to prepare himself to tell some grand story.

“The ancients, as we called them before their split into the Alterans, Lanteans and Ori and their allies the Fyryns who were master planetary engineers seeded nearly all life in the known universe. Or stimulated and guided its evolution..In over ten million years of our recorded History we have encountered very little out in the universe that hasn’t been initiated by one of those four races. Much to the eternal rage of the Nox who seem to dislike sentience that doesn’t occur in a vacuum.” He left this gigantic bomb that upended everything everyone knew about existence hanging in the air, after delivering it with a tone that sounded like he was tell’n everyone about the weather not the fact that four dead races ran around acting like Gods making shit out of thin air and creating life.

He was talk’n about the newest Jag not the fact that humanity might have been the science project of a bunch of dead space hippies.

“Only the races that became the Asgard evolved on their own without any interference from these cosmic wanderers save open mentor like guidance from the Nox. The only other species we know of, that evolved on its own to sentience or even semi sentience without any prompting from their dead hands…Indeed whose entire biosphere evolved on its own..Were yours..and one other.”

“The Snakes and their ancestral home.” Jack answered in a whisper, despite having no idea why he came to that conclusion. Part of him was glad that he wasn’t no puppet on invisible strings, created by ancient aliens in a testtube but another part of him suddenly felt a weight put on his metaphorical shoulders. It reminded Jack of what he felt like when he bought his first house, right after marrying Sarah when she told him she was pregnant with the girls and his father told him he was now his own man with all the good and the shit that came with it.

Mankind stood on its own, so far the only other races that had done likewise were either creepy fairy people, a bunch of shitbag precursors who managed to fuck the whole universe up and these little grey ass kickers…Oh and a bunch of body thieving snakes who confused the hell out of Jack and seemed to be the only force in the universe that was paradoxically unfucking it and building a damn gilded cage over everything.

Damn homo-sapiens, we have it easy. As bad as we might eventually shit the bed, we can’t possibly out cockup these ancient bozos! Today was a day that he would struggle to process for years.

“Yes.” Thor answered proud of the self-professed caveman.

Damnit! Jack thought, why am I always right?

“And the Ori’s attempt to harness the Goa’uld caused not only their extinction but the end of all branches of the Ancients and the annihilation of the Fyryns as well. Yes, my queen has dispatched many science teams to monitor your kind and yes, I pay close enough attention to your world to learn your language and watch your TV when I’ve the time. You’re similar enough to them and to us to warrant it.”

“What happened between the Ori and the Goa’uld mighty Thor?” Daniel asked. “The Imperial religion is pretty murky on the details….” Daniel didn’t want to dwell on the fact that he was just compared to Ra and the creature that murdered his Shau’re and stole her body. Not right now at least, even though it explained why Ra reacted with such venom.

“That’s not for me to tell you Daniel Jackson, skald and warrior. But you will learn the truth I think, your qualities have impressed your enemies in good and bad ways, and you should be proud of that.” Thor vanished from his seat reappearing in front of them, the myriad robots all turning from their tasks to stand at attention, toy soldiers all of them.

“Yahata’s body will be returned to his mother; I will deliver it myself.” Thor paused and laughed softly. “Aris Boch will be sore that he didn’t catch Yahata and claim his bounty. But I digress, I thank you for taking up arms in defense of my planets even if it meant protecting them from the consequences of their own actions. The Hall of Hammers will be off limits to you, but as I said you will have what was there plus a tiny bit extra. I will not interfere with your involvement in the politics of these worlds, but I will ask you to limit your involvement in cleaning up their own messes. These…idiots have to learn on their own sometime. My policy of divine intervention has hampered them and I’m trying to wean them off it.”

The Admiral nodded. “I understand your majesty, no involvement in civil wars…or anything of that sort.”

“Correct, but if any Scarrans return to threaten your interests, or that of your allies and you choose to…what’s the term? “Shitkick”? Yes there…do that to them, off Hurot then I won't make any protestations nor would any Asgardian sector patrol.”

He meant his robots, Jack thought. So far, the only Asgardian he saw in this entire fleet was Thor, that was weird.

“What about, I dunno parking one of your big honking warships in orbit over Jupiter and maybe shooting any ships that come through to blow us up?” Jack asked.

Thor smiled or at least Jack thought that was a smile. “What makes you think they’d pass by Jupiter?”

“No idea, the mental image just seemed cool.”

“Having sniped enemy ships from inside a gas giant before I can appreciate that sentiment.” Thor said in a slightly amused tone.

“Indeed.” Teal’c answered wistfully.

“In any case, military intervention on behalf of Tau’Ri would be a…different matter.” Thor added in a tone that seemed to hold tinges of regret. “While there’s nothing, I enjoy more than smashing apart Lucian vermin, a sole Bilskinir cannot repel more than a handful of Hatak battlegroups and I can’t spare any of my more advanced warships and even if I could. Open military action against Apophis of that sort, even if he is breaking the law could be construed as my taking sides in an internal political dispute within the Imperium and that is not something I can permit.”

The Admiral nodded, his mind wandered back to the debriefing months ago and Teal’c’s theory that something was afflicting these mighty people be it a war or some natural disaster but it was seriously impacting their force projection. Beyond that, he understood easily that could turn an amicable cease fire into a disaster… “Still, we owe you a debt for what you’ve done High King Thor.”

“Between us, Admiral, Thor shall suffice. From what I’ve seen of your men today, you have all more than earned it.”

“Huh, I didn’t expect this mess to end this way.” Jack admitted.

“Many things change once you step through that Gate O’Neill.” Thor warned in a tone that might have been teasing. “The absurd and the sensible oft blend together out here.”

“Ooookay…well…I guess in the spirit of absurdity; I should invite you to go fishing or something.” Jack muttered then cringed at how ridiculous that sounded.

“I may take you up on that offer O’Neill the clever.”

“Wait..wha..”

They were gone in a flash deposited back on Hurot, just outside the Wyryn castle as the mighty Asgardian vessels began to depart, leaving skies that cleared giving way to a sunrise that was both beautiful and ominous in what it presaged.

Everything was changing faster than anyone could anticipate. The people of Hurot faced the consequences of their actions and survived, the old King was dead, the young Prince would take his place and with him a new era of growth, prosperity and strength removed (He hoped.) from the cynical trickery of his great grandfather. For Earth, it seemed as if they had gained two new allies in as many days and once again lived up to a reputation, they had garnered for themselves among the stars.

But the Asgard were a different breed than the Nox, less wild and dangerous in their power but no less perilous to cross and Thor raised as many questions for Jack as problems his generosity solved.

He was cavalier about it too, the wily bastard. Planting the seed of doubt in their minds while winning their hearts with sophisticated toys and the very real promise of friendship.

To Jack O’Neill it reminded him too much of his own Government in too many dim parts of his world. Parallels that were as unsettling as the implications of his conversation with Doc Carter..who..had a lot to answer for from both him and the Admiral when they all got home.

But that Thor guy was cool, it was neat having a big ol’alien friend that he was able to win over without being blown up, set on fire or losing his entire team too in combat!

No one died, they saved the day. They got the treasure.

All in all, it was shaping up to be a good ending to this weird hero’s quest.

And in Jack’s mind it finally clicked.

Why all this seemed familiar.

And just like that, he had something to show Daniel when they all got back.

And naturally, even more questions about their past and the snakes emerged damnit all. The revelations of Thor were enough.

I’m too old for this shit.

Jack thought, noting as he thought it that Admiral Hammond didn’t look too old for it all, in fact he looked like he was in his element, as if he would have been right at home on the prow of a Viking ship sailing into the mist to wage war on a serpent man and his legion of doom.

No marine ever had a better commander, even if he was a bargeman.

 

[The Immortal Watch Dog]

Alright gents...sorry for the delay.

Without further adieu bring you @Spartan303 favorite episode! kidding...Kidding.

But yeah.

.......

Stargate SG-1: Episode 5

Emancipation

…………………….

September 18th.

Prologue

O’Neill family residence, El Paso County Colorado.

“Verily when the battle was done, and Buliwyf withdrew Rundig from the mothers’ entrails having severed her spine. The most curious and terrifying thing transpired; Know this, what I describe here is a true account of the terror that befell us

From her mouth burst forth a great fanged serpent, hissing and spitting a blue ichor, it screeched as a rodent, or some grotesque bird might when cornered and we all felt a chill in our bones as though a queer power was in it unnatural cries. And we were bewitched or taken by some collective madness for we saw, each man amongst us visions of things that should not be, things which in my elder years I have come to believe represented unnatural machinery. Pyramids rising from valleys near a lake I had not seen and a great ring and a feeling of panic and abandonment. We all knew in that moment that it was an ancient, frail creature that long ago was cast from her demonic race.. Too evil even for the servants of shaitan, for they could be nothing else, these dragon men who sailed clouds. I am not ashamed to admit that I wept in relief when Rundig at last split the creature in twain.

Allah be praised that the last of that wretched race has been returned to perdition. Praise be to these Pagan men, who shed pagan blood and shared their bread that Ahmed Ibn Fadlan learned to be a greater man and a greater servant of God.”

As Jack finished reading the final passage of Dragon’s in the Mist: An Arabic account of the figures behind the epic of Beowulf as transcribed from the Fadlan manuscript By Nicholas Ballard. There was a hushed silence over the room until Daniel Jackson began to laugh until he nearly fell off a sofa. “Oh my God…I thought I read everything my grandpa ever wrote..how could I have missed this one?” he asked as he ran a hand through his blond hair. Goodness he was embarrassed, if he’d known this story existed nothing through the gate would have surprised him except how eerie the parallels were. “I used to dismiss the ancient Astronaut theory as nonsense and then I met Ra and now I come back from a Viking hero quest in space to find that the Norse had monster problems of their own.”

“The female depicted in this book does indeed bear more than a passing resemblance to an Unas bonded Goa’uld though I am confused as to how one would have lived so long without a resurrection chamber.” Teal’c admitted, troubled by the account that seemed far too much like a smaller and more provincial account of an event similar to the one they had just escaped from. The only possibility he could think of wasn’t a particularly pleasant one and it was a practice outlawed by Ra ten thousand years after the Imperium withdrew from Tau’Ri. “In the ancient past, the System Lords would imprison Goa’uld criminals in stasis chambers designed to keep them alive so that they would slowly die of thirst over tens of thousands of years, preserved and motionless yet conscience. It was reserved for the most depraved of criminals and was eventually proscribed. I find the demented conduct of this “Mother of the Wendol” to be consistent with the sort of Goa’uld imprisoned thusly.”

“They didn’t do that to Peers?” Sasha O’Neill asked curious. She still had trouble accepting that Peers were biologically immortal even if their hosts weren’t, though so much of what she’d read about in their mission logs seemed to suggest it. -My father was almost killed by a “God” that had ninety thousand years of experience at warfare…- She thought bitterly.

“It would not work; a peer can draw enough sustenance from ambient energy that it would outlast the power supply of the stasis chamber. Escape, after countless millennia utterly mad.”

Hammond had a different idea, asking if it was possible there might have been lesser breeds of Goa’uld who were soldiers left on Earth’s various outposts and simply forgotten about due to prejudice who, could have gradually escaped as their stasis chambers failed or else suffocated inside.

“It is not standard operating procedure, nor would it have been during that stage of the war to leave behind saboteurs. But Earth was less a military base and more a nature preserve and perhaps it is possible.” He paused in thought and Daniel wondered what was going through the big guy’s mind because it seemed like he was considering something that could never be. Quickly as he began, he moved beyond it and nodded. “Yes, it is possible.”

“Could..there be more?” Hammond asked suddenly.

“It is possible Admiral, though I believe they would all be deceased by now, many millennia had passed and even at your technological level you would have been able to detect the unique energy signature their power supplies produce to say nothing of the other technology in the facility they may have been guarding.”

Everyone considered his wording. It had been a week of revelations and it didn’t seem to be ending anytime soon and it left their sense of wonder intermixed with frustration. “So, you don’t think there’s anything left on Earth then?” Daniel asked finally.

Teal’c gave a slow nod. “I could not be one hundred percent certain, Tau’Ri was a strategically critical world for its native life. But little else and to keep that life pure and promote its growth and perhaps to spite the Ori in their fashion they maintained a minimalist approach to Tau’Ri. My belief is that your world is free of relics, but I could never say with any certainty.”

That was a sufficient enough answer for everyone to decide to start the party at long last. A Barbeque at the O’Neill residence, with beef being supplied by the property itself. SG-1, 6 and 8 and the Admiral spent the day eating and drinking and capped off the night with a viewing of the first Star Wars trilogy.

Making out of Teal’c a lifelong convert.

……………..

P3X-797/Devorias

September the 28th.

Colonel Charles Kowalski liked the Devorians. They lived on a planet with an odd tilt to itself and its moons that meant a day lasted roughly ten earth days in the summer and nights lasted eight earth days and come the winter seasons it became dark for almost four months. Those long winter evenings, he was told. Were filled with raids by a species of near sentient apes who reminded Charly of orangutans, only these were nine feet tall and seemed to weigh well over a thousand pounds. These apes were being driven back father and father into the deep forests of their main continent (Which they believed was one of three.), as the Devorian civilization grew.

They were mostly of human and other earth based hominid stock, but some seemed to possess the telltale signs of non-Earth ancestry. Descended from Lotars who either left to find a better life for themselves or were escaped prisoners or escaped from some terrible war long ago against some nameless evil, Kowalski couldn’t say as he’d been told several different versions. They had a fairly nifty bronze age society though and seemed to worship Apollo and Zeus, with minor temples to Artemis who was the chamberlain of the domain of Athena from what he remembered of his briefing on the System Lords. There were also minor temples dedicated to Izanagi and to Ra. A dozen other cults and religions seemed to exist here as well and seemed to be turning into this planet’s version of the Persian Empire.

They were of course keen on trade, namely wanting ideas and knowledge and not money in exchange for some of the medicinal plants and a type of diamond that Doc’s Carter and McKay insisted would be vital to any energy weaponry they developed going forward and in communications technology. The diamonds seemed to be fairly commonplace as everyone wore them and they were willing to hand them out by the thousands. All in exchange for more efficient blacksmithing and farming techniques.

Which of course meant having to outsource that knowledge and return with a civilian consultant that happened to be an expert in medieval to age of sail era forging and knew a little something about working aluminum and Charles Kowalski tried to suppress the nagging doubt that handing a burgeoning empire on a bronze age world knowledge like that was going to hand them an advantage that might alter the history of the planet in a myriad of unpleasant ways. Kowalski kept telling himself it was for the survival of his own world and then to focus on Skara’s commentary on their language.

“It is descended from the Imperial standard but has become very distinct.” The youth had been given several months off because he’d managed to marry one of the Kelownan’s and she was expecting her first child, something the red skinned semi alien female took with relish and once she heard about the Diamonds, enthusiastically volunteered herself, prompting the Deputy Field Marshal of the Abydonian militia and ambassador to Tau’Ri to tag along. Vyra had been instrumental in ensuring the product that was being sent to Earth wasn’t inferior, while his own wife waited on the other side of the Gate to begin research on the various flowers that were supposedly able to double as a regenerative and painkiller. All in all, the last week had been remarkably productive.

Yoshikiro Midas (what a weird combination of names.) their “High Chancellor and master of the services” what Kowalski learned was their version of an Emperor had even invited them to an estate dinner and official function where the trade treaty had been announced. Evidently, they hadn’t had reliable and consistent commerce with other planets in fifty years and were overjoyed when Earth was willing to sign a two-year contract for diamonds in exchange for knowledge. Menestros, the local Governor and general of their army was their host today. He was a tall, grim man with thin tentacle like strings in his hair and armored scutes on his nose. He bled clear then red blood, was missing an eye and at one hundred and seventy was as strong as an ox despite needing a cane and in his words “Having so many descendants I am the patriarch of sixty of the two hundred frontier families!”. Vyra, Skara’s Kelownan wife said that he was likely descended from something called a Luxan. A semi long-lived race of warriors who had thick, large tentacles, a prehensile barbed tongue and bled black blood until the wound was abused where it bled safely clear (That had to be an artificial feature, no way something so impractical was natural.). They were a minor stellar nation on the fringe of Imperial space but many of the most developed Lotar worlds hired them as peace officers and they were known to have the same level of respect the Llempiri had. Or that is to say “Near Jaffa” status as honored auxiliaries who served beside their Jaffa brethren when called.

Menestros barely spoke their language and his Imperial standard was a guttural thing that Skara thought sounded worse to his ears than Abydonian sounded to the average denizen of the Galaxy. But he was a soldier who had risen through the ranks and ennobled himself and one thing that Kowalski learned out here was that the body language and tone of soldiery didn’t really change all that much.

In the short time he’d been commander of SG-2, he’d interacted with everything from Jaffa to Sebeceans to those lizard guys the Admiral fought on Hurot (Though in this case, their interactions were far more friendly and business oriented.) to a species of really friendly and boisterous squid aliens who were from a world near Abydos who had “Thanked the Lords of Justice on Dakkara that Tau’Ri was cleared of any wrongdoing as it would have been a shame to have to turn in your skins and organs to avenge our Great God.” That had been both terrifying and oddly relieving.

These people were true believers, but in a way that might have been more consistent with pagan religions back home. Their head God had errored, his vanity and pride saw him cast into the nether realm to rule over the souls of the dead beside Anubis. They accepted it with resigned grace and abandoned all hostility, whereas for some weeks prior to that ruling there had been numerous attempts to breach the Abydos gate by vengeful Lotar/Citizens of the Imperium (Kowalski still wasn’t sure what the distinction was.) and that had ceased pretty quick. Kowalski wasn’t sure how he’d react if someone came into the room that had turned into the defacto Church for Catholics and Baptists on base and told them their God had been slain. Mostly derisive laughter, these Gods of space and time might be able to know death, but God on high, the creator of all was something else entirely.

And that had been interesting, none of the System Lords ever claimed omnipotence and it seemed to be an act of blasphemy to imply as such. It was almost as if, the System Lords themselves looked beyond in wonder an all too human trait. Then again, the Nox existed and that kind of humbled from he remembered of the Avalon mission brief. He suppressed a shudder wondering how the hell Shepherd and General Edwards loved visiting there so much.

Well, no General Edwards might have been army corps of engineers, but he got started as a Green Beret, so it made perfect sense. Green Berets, army rangers, they were all crazy, Space Rangers now and he wondered what the Space Force brass would end up calling their Berets? These thoughts came easily to Charles Kowalski as he sat on a hill newly fashioned from all the gravel and dirt that had been pulled out from around the excavation site. The other reason they were here, the Devorians discovered the wreckage of some sort of variant of the frigates and destroyer equivalent type vessels the Goa’uld military used called Alkesh. Only this one looked more like a gun boat than a frigate. Designed to bombard planets and planetary defenses, not to maneuver around trading blows with other warships.

He could hear a myriad of curses from Doctor Anastassakis, their team’s resident geek. Isabella Anastassakis was half Greek half Cuban out of Key West. She was thirty-six years old; her story was as interesting as it was crazy, teen mom who dropped out of high school to raise a son, ended up having twin girls at nineteen and nearly died in the attempt. Two months in a hospital gave her plenty of time to read up on things and she somehow ended up a self-taught expert in material science? Which she parlayed not into a research gig (Kind of hard to do that when you have no high school degree much less anything in higher education.) but to working under the table for a company that produced and sold steel, aluminum, glass and anything else they could get away with to every construction company in Florida. Feeding the eternal machines of development in Miami and Jacksonville most of all. She eventually went from pretty face with a brain who did the boss’s work for him to buying the company out from under him when an alloy she invented in her spare time made her a fortune.

How she did this while raising a family that seemed to grow every half decade Kowalski didn’t know. But her first born, her eldest son joined the Space Force and scored high enough to be put into “theoretical ship to ship combat” courses, which was a fancy way of saying “Abe Ellis’ hand picked future starship Captains” if Earth ever ended up having a fleet. The kid was a Petty Officer and was probably going to be fast tracked and well the Statterfield and Ellis clans liked to lean heavily on family connections as long as those families were patriotic enough. So, Santiago’s mother was approached both as a consultant to analyze all the weird Jaffa armor and weaponry (Or rather what it was made of.) but also that her company would be used to release any revolutionary advances in say metals or polymers. The profits would be her price for secrecy she readily agreed but what made Kowalski like her was that where a hundred other business owners had left it at that and walked away imagining all the potential profit, Isa had wanted something else.

She wants to actually explore other worlds before “I get too old and too damn busy with releasing all your alien tech for you.”.

Which was how he ended up with a self-made soccer mom as his team’s science expert. And Arydyshan one of the aliens who escaped with them when they sprung Skara from Apophis. Ardys was a twenty something blue and ivory skinned member of the Nebari species, though unlike most who they would encounter in Imperial space, she hadn’t been descended from the Nebari worlds annexed by the Imperium or that had become willing vassals but an immigrant to Ba’al’s domain. Her parents had a larger family which their repressive government hated and so they left looking for work.

Ardys was a linguistic expert who was surpassed only by Daniel Jackson (Whom she referred to as “Teacher” playfully.) and a currency and political analyst. Originally, she worked for a guild that specialized in creating mediators, accountants and diplomats but her status as a foreigner meant she felt her career slowed and her looks made her a target for Apophis idiocy. Having felt her career frustrated before it really began, she had begged for employment with the Space Force and there had been resistance at first. Teal’c was an easy sell because his position and rank meant his knowledge was invaluable and he was essentially treated like a golden goose. But this nobody with blue skin? She could have been a spy…But pragmatism had won out after a thorough vetting.

Ellis and Weir were quick to point that they needed help. And the nature of Goa’uld society and politics (And their belief that Earth wasn’t a threat.) meant that there was a chance they could actually lure away some alien experts then by all means, they absolutely should.

Which was how Ardys became SG-2’s third member.

She was hanging upside down from a tree laughing Doc Isa let loose another flurry of profanity that made the other Marine on his team Captain Johnson wince. “Cornudo!” she muttered emerging from the door they had managed to pry open on the arrowhead shaped vessels side. “There are Jaffa in there that are fossilized, I think this has been here seventy or so thousand years. Probably suffered a hyperdrive malfunction or something and were thrown out over this planet.”

“How do you figure?” Johnson asked.

Ardys answered for her that this planet was twenty-six lightyears away from Memnos a frontier world in the domain of Athena. Tens of thousands of years ago when the house of Aethir was driving the Ori out of this part of the galaxy there had been a famous battle there, Hera wife and noble consort of Zeus was ambushed by twelve thousand Ori drone ships and one of their last star dreadnaughs, twenty mile long mobile factories with energy weapons fueled by artificial singularities. Most had been converted to hermitages on planets or gigantic hospitals to treat whatever was ravaging their species but not all. The combined might was enough to smash the Goa’uld fleet and Poseidon and Hades, two younger brothers of the System Lord Zeus had been killed in the battle.

Five thousand years later Hera would lead a fleet back to Memnos, Ardys explained. “She destroyed the Ori Dreadnaught, annihilated their drones and massacred everyone in the hermitage below. She had mentored Poseidon and Hades and I think she saw them as her own little brothers more than her husbands because she was never that brutal again with any enemy.” Ardys shrugged. “I don’t blame her, I have eleven sister and brother in laws if I’m using your language right. I was the baby of the family, and they all treated me as if I was blood, if someone killed any of them, I’d rip their mivonks off and choke them with it.”

Mivonks was non-Imperial slang for balls, Kowalski had learned. “You think she’s benevolent?” he asked incredulously. A lot of people were all impressed by Horus but all Kowalski saw was a lunatic obsessed with honor, a dangerous relic of an impractical era who was insulated from the consequences of his wild proclamations and support (Even though both benefitted Earth immensely.) because he was in line for the Throne.

Ardys shrugged. “No, the house of Aether chose to settle the region of the Galaxy most damaged by the ancient wars of the oldest of the elder races. They chose the dangers out here and their quest to fix it all while lucrative in the long run carried a very high price in blood. I think they’re insane. Benevolent? No, practical and pragmatic yes…Given to acts of mercy?” she shrugged. “I guess its easy for me to say that. My government wanted to euthanize thirteen of my fifteen siblings and sterilize my mother and lobotomize my father. No System Lord ever treated me like that, no Goa’uld has for that matter. Except the low borns, they’re a bunch of resentful bastards who hate immigrants like me because we do better than they do.” She spat the last part out in such a venomous way that it made Kowalski wonder if there was more to it than her dealing with bigotry.

“Either way” Doctor Anastassakis muttered changing the subject. “That thing down there, useless in that even if I got it to work there’s no way I’d trust its FTL drive to get us home”

Kowalski nodded. “This trip hasn’t been a waste though, we’re making off like bandits as is.”

Johnson nodded before adding. “Any thing you can rip outta there doc?”

She grinned. “Smart boy! Yes, there is, a bunch of command crystals and what I think are the navigational records. It won’t help us in building one of these things, but it’ll give us an idea on how one of their older hyperdrives worked and how much snake tech has changed since then.”

“Any idea who these Jaffa belonged too?” Ardys asked wondering if these might have been fossils of Jaffa who served under one of Zeus’ brothers or Hera.

“Plume of feathers, on the pauldrons”

“With or without a wreathe around it.?” Ardys asked.

“Without.”

She grinned. “Hades!”

“Really? A bird.” Kowalski asked

She nodded “black Wolf like animals and certain Avians were always associated with death, even in species who have never encountered each other before. I know Duke Thoth and his scribes and technologists believe that is because the Morrigan likes to take those forms when she visits other species. Hades took the plumes of a very colorful, vibrant bird as his standard in defiance of death as the Ori viewed such creatures as harbingers of doom or so the story goes. When he was killed here, Hera incorporated his sigil into her own in his honor. The symbol of a trident became the seal of her Ashrak as Poseidon was one of the first spy masters of the Imperium.”

“And he was leading troops?” Kowalski asked surprised.

“No, the story in the religious texts is that he was visiting his brothers whom he hadn’t seen in many centuries. If I had to guess, he was using his visit as a cover to pass critical intelligence along as well. I’ve always suspected the Ori hit them there as hard as they did to deprive Ra of one of his intelligence ministers but I’m not a history buff or anything” Ardys answered with her usual raspy voice.

“Alright then, Ardys help Johnson and Doc Isa to retrieve the crystals and we’ll head back to town and meet up with Governor Menestros for dinner.” Kowalski muttered before he turned his back on the wreckage in time to catch one of the teenagers Menestros liked to use as runners, hauling ass towards them shouting something that sounded like “Ski’ya!” which Ardys told him meant attack.

Attack? Who? Where? What?!

Hyrkoon was an important city in their kingdom boasting a population of eighty thousand, it was a trade hub along a river that went out to their ocean, but more than that the town center housed their Stargate.

And when Kowalski looked to the horizon, he could see the city partially bisected by the river and see the smoke rising from the city.

And the flashes of purple plasma he recognized as fire from staff weapons…

Damn!

 

[The Immortal Watch Dog]

Slight detour to Cheyenne mountain where I do a shoutout to a cyberpunk show from the year 2000 and showcase the forces of Earth getting some domestic help as well as the alien consultants from the prior post. This is mostly filler, I doubt any of these characters will make a return. By the episode I'm building off of was fucking terrible, so I do need some padding.

Cheyenne Mountain- September 27th.

She couldn’t have been older than twenty-two Teal’c thought as he threw a massive forearm up to block a kick that might have shattered the army of any Lotar or Tau’Ri Teal’c had met. Yet she fought like a woman with decades of combat experience, with the instincts of a veteran and the ferocity of an animal. She was the fifth such type he faced today, and her presence answered several questions the War Master had been contemplating about the world militaries here on earth.

Apparently, these were an American attempt to produce something akin to a Jaffa, utilizing crude genetic engineering. But this was highly illegal as laws hard fought proscribed slavery of any form and they seemed to consider a genetically engineered soldier to be a slave. That was an odd concept as Teal’c was hardly a slave, but then again there was a massive difference between Jaffa and these specimens. Evidently only a hundred survived infancy and in two thousand and nine by Earth reckoning the Admiral and colonel O’Neill liberated them from some Wyoming facility. Given freedom and new identities most lived in peace, but a few ended up enlisting and eventually found themselves as researchers along side Doctor Carter and Sasha O’Neill which resulted in one of them asking for permission to speak to their “siblings” about potentially enlisting when news of the looming invasion came.

Teal’c appreciated the opportunity to test his less advanced kin, he’d faced genetically engineered soldiers from lesser cultures in skirmishes in his younger years and had always enjoyed the exchange of skill and it was nice facing some that weren’t ordered to claim your life. This one fought better than her sisters did, far less mechanically and with far less honor and he had to laugh when she tried to kick through his shirt and bandages to try and disable him by bruising his pouch. It was a common enough mistake species that had no idea how to face a Jaffa made, for their pouch was hardly that vulnerable and the mucus within carried a minor neurotoxin that could produce a state of drunkenness when absorbed through the skin and if his Prim’tah had been self-aware as his foster son within Drey’ac was. Well, he’d have chewed the girl’s foot off for her effrontery if she had actually succeeded somehow.

She was fast, she moved in a blur to ordinary Lotar eyes, she might even have run faster than Teal’c but his reflexes were honed over a century of facing all manner of alien species and he sparred against Apophis more than once and faced several other Peers recently. “You rely too much on your abilities stupefying your opponent’s young one.” Teal’c said catching her ankle after she run a circle around him and flipped into air.

A blow like that to the top of his head might damaged his spine if she had managed to put all her weight into the impact and subsequent fall if he had been a smaller Jaffa. An injury that would not have incapacitated or killed his kind as it would a human but annoy him for a few hours. Regenerating and correcting herniated discs was one of the most unpleasant ordeals he could think of, but it was hardly the end of the line. Her eyes widened with surprise, and she mouthed “oh shit” as he promptly slammed her into the mat as though she were a human hammer. She groaned, Which turned into a wheezed gasp as her brain realized the wind had been knocked out of her lungs. “Can’t blame a girl, First Prime, I haven’t exactly run into anyone like me except my siblings and I can usually kick their asses.”

“Indeed.” Teal’c chuckled, extending a hand. “But out there, you’ll find that you’re more the standard than the exception.”

“Yeah. About that.” She grumbled reluctantly accepting the hand and then bowing in thanks for the fight when he pulled her up. “How the hell are our normy soldiers doing out there? If they’re y’know the poor cousins.”

Teal’c raised an eyebrow resisting the urge to point out the saying applied to her as well. Fighters were entitled to a measure of pride however and so he simply responded that superior physical abilities are a poor substitute for discipline and training and that projectile weaponry didn’t seem to care how superior you were or weren’t. Which got a nod in agreement from her “If they wanted real supermen, they should have designed us to be bullet proof.”

“Indeed.” Bullets were not pleasant, he preferred plasma burns to the kinetic violence of projectile weapons.

She laughed. “So, what do you think big guy, would we cut it out there in the stars?”

Teal’c nodded. “I would be honored to fight beside you or any of your siblings.” He said scanning the group of young adults that were rubbing bruises or tired shoulders or elbows or knees where he had worked a joint or sitting back as cuts and scrapes healed where he’d drawn blood. They had pushed him to where he felt tired, likely scored some bruises of their own and it was a unique experience facing down enhanced warriors that were so primitive. But he admired their resolve more than their abilities, these were children who prized their freedom and did not succumb to bitterness and valued their nature as fighting machines as much as they valued the other things they could be.

“But.” She began with a slight smile.

“Only that I believe the Admirals would rather tap your enhanced intellect in research and defense.”

She nodded, her brown eyes narrowing in contemplation on the Admirals stance “Yeah, Hammond thinks it’s unfair to ask us to fight for a country that made us to be disposable soldiers, but I don’t blame America, the project was started in the nineteen seventies when everyone came home from Vietnam demoralized and maimed and any way it wasn’t the US military that wronged me it was one asshole Colonel and Jack O’Neill put a bullet in his head.”

And one cunt Congresswoman but Max couldn’t do anything to her. Though from what she heard, that malevolent bitch was gonna get hers. “I make a good living in the private sector, I don’t like the idea of being in uniform again, but I really would love to go explore.” She shrugged. “Some of my siblings want to serve and fight for our world, but I think you’re right. I’d be suited as a linguistics consultant like Danny, the diplomacy stuff sounds promising” She paused then shook her head “Genetically engineered intellect and him, Carter and the wonder twins make me look like I should be on the short bus.”

“They are, unusually smart.” Teal’c conceded though he had no idea what a diminutive public conveyance vehicle had to do with intellectual capacity. “For any species.” He added with a nod. “Either way, there are many ways to serve young one.”

“I keep forgetting you’re over a hundred years old and then Sandy tells me you served a guy whose a hundred thousand years old?!”

“Apophis is one of the oldest System Lords indeed, and he has been a soldier most of that time.”

“I can’t imagine fighting someone with that kind of experience” the youth said.

Remembering all the times they sparred, remembering Horus Teal’c agreed whole heartedly. “It is not a pleasant venture; Peers are quite formidable not solely for experience but power as well.”

“Well, thanks for the fight. I’m going to make sure you didn’t give Syl a concussion”

“The one with golden hair?”

She laughed “Yes, her, you rang her bell kind of hard let me make sure some of her brains didn’t leak out.” She turned to run towards the group of youths who were reacting to the cheers and acceptance of soldiers they figured would hate them rather well in Teal’c estimation, before she turned and added. “You’re everything we were supposed to be Master Teal’c thanks for showing me what we can become.”

He bowed as she took off, pleased on some primal level to have achieved what Sodan code referred to as harmonizing between warrior’s souls.

………..

“Five of us, over the whole afternoon..” The shocked voice belonged to a man a few months shy of his twenty fifth birthday. Tall, broad shouldered and proud with blond hair and piercing blue eyes that earned him the nickname Captain America when he played football in High School. He enjoyed the game, even if he did have to hold back to avoid outing his past. But being a test tube conceived super soldier seemed to pale as far as secrets were concerned, his life might have been weird but “I spent an afternoon fighting an alien while space marines cheered us on and placed bets” was never something he expected to tell his girlfriend when he got home. Granted, she worked for the Groom Lake facility so dollars to donuts the woman had texted someone to bet on her behalf.

O’Neill slapped the youths back “Yeah, the Big guy’s a heck of a fighter, but from what I could see the differences weren’t that extreme between you two.”

“Yeah, maybe, he’s not as fast as me on the run. But his reflexes are better than ours, he’s twice as strong as me at a minimum but it’s more the stamina.” The All-American youth shook his head laughing. “He’s got way more in the tank than any of us, I was getting stiff after ten minutes with him and he went at it for hours with us between rounds and I think he ever broke a sweat until the end of it and the experience.” He went silent giving Hammond a conceding nod. Originally, when they’d heard about the assault on Cheyenne Mountain on the people who rescued them from a life of misery and an early grave, they had all wanted to help. When they learned the extent of the threat and learned that the enemy deployed super soldiers well. The decision was obvious to do what they could to help both settle a debt and serve the country that brought them into the world.

“It’s different for us, we don’t have any experience going up against people like us or stronger. I get the impression he did that his entire childhood and beyond even if he did spend the last however many decades riding a desk.” It was surreal to hear a guy both admit he was a supercentenarian and also the youngest person appointed to his post as “First Prime” and "War Master" which essentially meant head of an alien military, one that was apparently the finest in the universe.

“I wouldn’t mind serving on one of your Stargate teams all the same, it’s just I don’t think we’d be that much of a difference maker. I can talk to some of my siblings and see how many wouldn’t mind reenlisting. But I think Doctor Fraser is right, that we’re better off lending you our enhanced brains then our enhanced muscles.” There was a paused before he added. “And those of us who don’t want to serve in combat cut probably be used in the private sector to help disseminate the tech you guys seem to want to reverse engineer any way and to help with analyses.”

Jack didn’t say much, beyond nodding in agreement. It didn’t sit right with him anyway, these kids were born in a meatgrinder they didn’t deserve end up in a situation where they might potentially be KIA’d on an alien world or lost in a Stargate anomaly or something. “Can’t speak for the brass but when we get funding for a few extra Stargate teams hiring you kids as civilian consultants in beating ass might be doable.”

“Oh, I think, I can convince them to let you guys serve in a forward capacity, as to the other suggestions I’ll forward them up the line but I think you can expect to be contacted in a few weeks, that should be enough time for your large family to talk it over.”

“Thank you, Admiral, both for the chance to meet Teal’c and for the offer.”

“Feel free to give me a call any time son.” The two saluted as he watched the youth collect his siblings, their chapter in this whole sordid affair was done for now but he wondered just how many of America’s orphans would eventually serve under him and call his mountain home.

 

[The Immortal Watch Dog]

Aaannnd here we go!

Hope I haven't botched the unbotchable and the opening for this ep is decently engaging.

………….

P3X-797/Devorias

“Jaffa with Frog looking helmets?” Kowalski asked trying to remember which System Lord those belonged too as he gazed down at the team of four Jaffa in green and brass colored uniforms each one wielding staff weapons that seemed like they could turn into a riot baton like rifle similar to the weapons used by the Serpent Legions.

“This is bad, they belong to Heqet.”

“Haqet?” Johnson asked.

“That is how many pronounce it but its Heqet.” Ardys answered back, from her position below Johnson, she was doing her best to practically kiss the ground next to the fountain they had all decided to hide behind.

“And why is this bad again?” Kowalski asked, he was trying to remember all the details on the System Lords Teal’c provided, something about her being as old as dirt and ruling a small and isolated realm.

“Heqet is the only System Lord I’d say compares to a gangster I’d say. She’s cruel, cold, remote and resentful, supposedly she hasn’t even shown up at court in seventeen thousand years. She’s also corrupt, I remember reading a news report that Prince Osiris had accused her of turning her domains into a haven for pirates and currency laundering after Kronos was defeated.” Ardys seemed oddly nervous, the usually fearless Nebari seemed to be somewhat subdued. “But why are they here, so close to the House of Aether’s domains..”

Kowalski didn’t know or care, if they were more like thugs than the usual Jaffa, he was used to encountering than the warriors of Hyrkoon currently throwing javelins and arrows at the bastards who started shooting up their version of an open-air shopping mall seemingly from the moment they stepped through gates. Maybe if he…No, it was crazy, would this old witch’s soldiers even know about earth if they were that remote and she was that apathetic to the universe? Well…one way to find out.

“Johnson, stay with the ladies.” He barked causing the dark-skinned soldier to not. “Yessir.”

“Oye, don’t do anything stupid.” Doc Isa hissed. “Lahm’ll kill you.”

This was probably stupid, and his wife was probably gonna kill him for it, Kowalski thought as he suddenly broke from cover and darted towards the firing. -I need to lose weight- Kowalski grumbled, hiking his kit and his guns shouldn’t have been this hard even if it was hot as hell. As he ran he noticed two teenagers, or what looked like teenagers (One of them was yet another female Nebari.) being held by warriors of Hyrkoon who were protectively shielding them. Kowalski passed them and fired overhead a series of warning shots before shouting “JAFFA KREE! NEJA’ TAU’RI!”

“Naturu’ Tau’Ri!?” came a metallic voice.

Kowalski nodded. “Charles Kowalski, Colonel, space force Nejahu!”

Behind him, Kowalski heard Menestros roaring for his men to cease their futile assaults and focus on the burning furniture and carts.

There was silence, before their helmets came down and they raised their staff weapons. The leader was a tall gaunt man with aquiline features and a long nose with long and smooth white hair with gold streaks. His eyes were a dark green and his eyes glowed a dark purple making Kowalski step back slightly, causing the Jaffa to his right, a teenaged girl with blood red hair and slightly orange skin laugh slightly. “Hassak Tau’Ri.”

The leader, evidently a snake raised his hand and introduced himself as Bisu a great grandson of the Countess Heqet System Lord, guardian of the winter winds and Goddess of rain, wind and seasonal change (and a bunch of other nonsense he didn’t listen to.), a lord of a sector in her domain and something comparable to a police commissioner or chief. Apparently, these guys were his personal security.

By this point Ardys had skidded over with the rest of the team and had begun translating for Kowalski. Who wanted to know what Menestros was harshly demanding of them, why they had fired on them.

“They unwittingly harbor a pair of fugitives. One that I admittedly wouldn’t ordinarily apprehend it just so happens that they were in the same establishment I was dining in when my Jaffa bodyguards noticed them. I ordered them to not move, they ran, I pursued. As to why I was firing on his men, in my zeal I fired through the gate before we entered it. Admittedly this is a gross breach of protocol, but this world hasn’t been surveyed in ten thousand years, we believed it was uninhabited. We are deeply sorry for this. It is why we maintain a rule that we do not fire through a Chapa’ai if we do not know the address.” As Adrys translated, Kowalski couldn’t help but shudder at how oily the dude’s voice sounded. About seventy percent of that was bullshit, thirty percent the truth and to the prick’s credit he did seem ashamed of his error in shooting through the gate. But there was something off about all this, why in the blue hell would a snake police chief personally pursue someone even if they had caught that person at a restaurant by coincidence. Why hadn’t he just called for reinforcements discretely while waiting and pretending to know nothing, furthermore two wanted criminals hanging out in area frequented by high end law enforcement? The female of the pair a Nebari who appeared to be sixteen or so with long hair braided that dangled below her waistline tugged on Ardy’s shoulder then whispered something that made the minor Goa’uld noble scowl and Kowalski sighed in frustration.

“Under the articles of cosmic law imposed by the will of mighty Ra and noble Thor, my husband and I formerly request asylum among the Tau’Ri. In Hathor’s name, please grant us mercy and protection!”

Kowalski twitched.

Something told him he couldn’t ignore this request even if Earth didn’t agree to any such treaty given the way this Bisu character acted like it was all over. “She’ll have to be given an Asylum hearing, that’s not something I can grant or reject…But for now, I can’t let you take her.”

Menestros seemed to know enough about cosmic law that he offered up Hyrkoon as a neutral venu for any such hearing with a smug look on his gnarled face which made Bisu look like he was ready to either have a stroke or resume shooting but instead he let out a curse and raised his hand. Looking from Kowalski to Ardys he hissed. “So be it, but know this, she is wed to a terrorist and a traitor, an oath breaker and a threat to her grace’s domain and its internal security. Any world caught harboring them will be considered an enemy of my great lady and her domain. Irrespective of what some Princling and arrogant Judges have determined in regards to you..Tau’Ri monkey!”

“Really?” Kowalski fired back the moment Ardys was done translating for him. Alright Charly, time to bluff! Based on what little you remembered about the frog lady. “Did Grandma hag give you the authority to threaten two independent planets in full contrivance of universal law and in full defiance of a ruling handed down by your highest court and with the support of the House of Ra itself?”

Menestros chimed in, asking if he was willing to embroil his mother in a conflict with a world she wronged when her enforcers launched a preemptive attack this close to the domain of Athena. For someone who rarely did business with other worlds, this cagey old soldier knew a shitton of stuff about cosmic law and intergalactic gossip.

It worked though, the snake let out a hiss and stated that he wasn’t qualified to participate in an asylum hearing, that his uncle would be coming in his stead, that like the Tau’Ri monkey, he needed to notify his own superiors.

That must have galled him, the man probably ruled a few dozen planets and was the head Five-O but he still needed to turn over such matters to a bigger fish. Good! He deserved it for acting like your average ATF bum and lighting up a bunch of innocents.

“Alright Lord Bisu, see you in oh I dunno five standard days by Imperial Calendar?”

“Is there any other sort of day? Monkey.”

On Earth or in space, there was nothing more pathetic than a pissed off civil servant with a chip on his shoulder. The group stalked off, dialing out just in time for him to turn and hear Doc Isa gasp in alarm as the male of the group (Who appeared to be mostly human) who had a nasty shoulder wound let out a hiss followed by glowing purple light out of the eyes when she had rubbed alcohol on it.

Glowing eyes…Damnit! He forgot, only the System Lords used that voice, which was why Bisu flashed the glowie eye thing, to let everyone know they were speaking with a snake not a normal space man. It was the mandatory greeting the snakes were supposed to give and it seemed like the boy waited until then to do.

Did the Nebari kid know she was married to a snake? Wait…was the Nebari? He turned and glared at the girl who sheepishly let her eyes flash a green glow.

So these two were descended from peers, color coded eye glows…Green for the ones who inspired Japanese mythology and purple seemed to be connected to Heqet.

Had they just inserted themselves into a snake blood feud?

Ah shit Chuckles you dumbass…

“Oi…What did I get us into.” He muttered.

And today had been such a good day…

 

[The Immortal Watch Dog]

While SG-2 faces a political conundrum whose implications may be far reaching, another Goa'uld Dynasty begins to prepare to address the madness of Apophis and a bit more of snake Geopolitics gets revealed.

Also a while back @Spartan303 wanted to know more about the ecology of the Galaxy, you get that here.

…………

Helios System home to the Crown world of Apollo’s domain – Month of Tartarus (September 29th by Tau’Ri reckoning.)

He hadn’t been back to Helios since Great Grandfather launched his insane, ill-fated rebellion. -And Father insists that I come via ship- So be it, he thought. Opting to take one of his many pleasure barges rather than his personal Hat’ak battlegroup. After all, had Cygnus, Lord of the border worlds and Captain in the fleet not been on a noble progress surveying the extent of the new growth of the Imperial religion outside their domains and the slow crawl method of colonization that Grandfather mighty Lord Zeus preferred to simple vassalage through economics. Though if he was being honest with himself, Cygnus was using the progress to become drunk and to have sex with whatever he could. There were no challenges left to the Imperium anymore and all of the frontiers had been tamed long before he was born.

He had missed his father though.

Apollo had always loved his sons dearly and Cygnus had been the closest to his father for the longest time. With only his displeasure at the seeming reluctance his father had at making war against Kronos causing any distance between them. Distance that was mended quickly enough at least over the last century. Quick he supposed, for immortals. “Let it not be said that the House of Aether isn’t close.” He muttered to himself, one had to be. To tame the galactic wilderness that had been the domains his grandfather and great uncles and great grandfather had carved out for themselves. Under constant siege from Ori drone ships, with death worlds filled with genetically engineered monsters and Alteran and Fyryn planetary engineering projects run amok. More Unas had been devoured or killed in the jungles of his personal capitol Kretes in the taming than often died in the wars against the elder races. Or so the history books and what smatterings of images his genetic “memories” allowed him to access. A bitter laugh escaped his throat at the thought of genetic memories, and he once again wondered just how poorly his species would have turned out had the ancient Queens of the rebellion simply allowed the Ori’s profane violations to exist unmitigated. Would he have been born with a personality utterly overwhelmed by the personalities of all those who came before him? As opposed to merely being able to glimpse shadows of memories when one was near certain places. Or possess solely the skillsets acquired by his parents and their progenitors? Unable to acquire more except by theft? Bereft of invention or innovation because he was more of a sentient vessel for data than a living, thinking creature with a soul and the ability to choose for himself? The genetic memory of all Goa’uld species was a tricky subject, both in how jealously the secret was guarded and how it shaped their development and the development of many of their subjects (Who had more docile versions of the same ability gently eased into their genomes over the millennia.) Brilliant Thoth believed it was an artifact of their primordial homeworld, that in order to better survive the myriad of predators and to better take hosts queen would ensure certain actions would be taken instinctively and certain emotional baggage was carried on for better self-defense.

It was that and the regenerative and restorative abilities even primitive Goa’uld barely worth sharing a name with the mighty Peers that lured the Ori to their world. And the vile Ori did so much over the thousand-year period they…His thoughts drifted, even the mercies of his foremothers could not fully banish the inherited sense of utter revulsion he felt when he remembered that which he learned as a youth. It did benefit their kind though, Prim’tah learned at a much faster pace than the offspring of most species, as a matured Peer Cygnus continued to have an easier time learning subjects that his father and mother and grandparents had mastered, even if he lacked the exact and vivid details of their past the skills were partially transferable in that his kind learned as much from inference and anticipation than by repetition and self-discipline. This was one of the many reasons the Goa’uld aristocrat disliked staying in safety, it was easier to learn all that been learned by others.

So, like his father before him, Cygnus had resolved to challenge himself by entering areas no one before him had. The first time he truly struggled with a subject (In his case textile work.) it had been one of the most exhilarating experiences in his life. Tenerus and Melia his half siblings by Nanshe had taken up play acting in the holodramas which were so beloved across the Imperium and beyond, produced by the entertainment sectors of the guild of Scribes. They had struggled for centuries working in low budget nonsense before the skills to reach the top of their hobby craft’s profession and they were still not quite at the pinnacle. But their reels had indeed improved, and praise came now often.

Cygnus was too old for holodramas, at nearly fifty thousand he had been born before Tau’Ri was discovered and had fought in the wars when straits were dire for the Imperium. He’d also been born just as the last of the wilderness of his family’s domains had been tamed, missing the adventure. Behind him footfalls brought him out of his introspection and his eyes glowed sky blue, shimmering in the dim light of the observation rooms.

Eurydice, like him had chosen the body of a Kelownan that didn’t have as much Tau’Ri descended Lotar in her background. Unlike Cygnus, Eury had chosen to create that host in a lab, a cultivated and enhanced flesh suit as was the custom of the day in this wretched era. She’d been named after an older sibling who fell in battle in the final days of Egeria’s rebellion, and she was a considerable upgrade from the original in that he absolutely detested her, whereas he adored Eury and was all too happy to have her along on his travels. At sixty, she was the youngest member of the House of Aether until very recently and had only occupied her host body for twenty of those years and prior to Amunet she had been the youngest peer in the Imperium. “You’re dressed rather…militantly.” Cygnus remarked, like him she had scarlet colored skin and the thick dark hair with its odd patterns that made it clear the strands of hair were more often than not feathers that connoted their hosts avian ancestry. She was adorned in the armor of his household. His personal standard, a winged mount descended from somewhat small odd toed herbivorous animals that the primitive Tau’Ri either hunted for food or at times attempted to domesticate and breed for manual labor.

They hadn’t caught on, he wondered if the Tau’Ri later attempted the efforts again. Which he strongly suspected, given a heavily modified variant of the species was becoming fashionable on less advanced worlds due to trade with Asgardian worlds. There were other beasts they had taken from Tau’Ri. Large and intelligent lizards, creatures with long noses both gigantic and small and the like but Cygnus had chosen the winged version because the Tau’Ri barbarians who served as the genetic foundation for much of the Lotars in his domains associated the creature’s defiance with his family’s willingness to fight for was theirs and they worshipped it as a spirit animal. And so, when he finally ennobled. Even if he would never be a system lord (Not that he wanted to be.), well he could still hold a measure of pride for his branch of the House of Aether.

“Militant? Well, I guess so elder brother.” She answered, with her usual stoic tone of voice. In many ways she was still a Prim’tah, but sometimes she sounded older than even he and wiser by a good margin. “If you’ve seen the more recent reports from our Ashrak…”

He sneered in disgust. “Apophis wanting to invade Tau’Ri and none of us can still guess why.” He sighed. “And with my half brother making so friendly with them.”

“I agree with Athena on that honestly.” She muttered. “They might be useful to solving this problem without all of us having to gang up on Apophis.” It was still mind boggling that the House of Tartarus would think after all the millennia of war, blood, sacrifice and loss that any of the system Lords would risk the destruction of all that they built in civil strife simply because the House of Ra had grown remote, distant and cruel with Amun-Ra at its head. -It might have been that Ra lost himself, but his children are fair rulers, Horus is the noblest living Goa’uld, and Hathor is still unimpeachable in her character- she thought as she walked from where her brother sat to the table where a immodest amount of food had been laid out. She walked towards an ornate carafe wherein a pale glowing green liquor sat shimmering in the dimmed light. Ambrosia was an invention only fully mature Goa’uld could drink and only a Peer in any quantities that were safe.

Distilled fruit of the Atalan a tree that grew in the most irradiated and poisonous of the worlds that the House of Aether had tamed, they were an invention of Prometheus, the legendary mentor of Ra and the uncle of her grandfather Zeus. He was searching for a way to gradually scrub radiation and chemical waste from dead or dying worlds, to begin the healing process a new and he’d succeeded. He also succeeded in making a radioactive wine that the energy absorbing metabolism of Goa’uld (especially Peers.) thrived on. It was also, one of the few things a Peer could consume that could intoxicate them and in sufficient quantities made their bodies radioactive enough that Lotar couldn’t be near a Peer without suffering radiation poisoning until their abilities neutralized and devoured the radiation. When she poured herself a glass Cygnus arched one of his painted eyebrows disapprovingly and she rolled her eyes. Now wasn’t the time to be a prude. “I’m celebrating, I haven’t seen our divine father in fifteen years and don’t give me that look, I’m young and let’s not lie to each other. Fifteen years is a long time in our family.”

It was true, the house of Aether was a lot closer than the other Goa’uld dynasties. But none had suffered the loss of so many of its finest children or brothers and sisters save perhaps the house of Ouranos and save for Set and his children and the heirless technologist Thoth it was largely extinct as Ra and Yu had founded their own clans and were not counted. Their losses had damn near driven them insane, it had driven Amun-Ra insane in her opinion. But he buried only one daughter, during the wars with the elder races Apollo had buried fifty, Zeus and Hera stopped counting at some point and that was to say nothing of the tens of millions of lobotomized Prim’tah her elder sisters and cousins and distant kin had given birth too that died with their Jaffa in battle and however many died every day when their Jaffa at long last succumbed to old age or accident (Once again causing Eurydice to thank Ra that she wasn’t born a queen, she couldn’t fathom doing that to her own offspring.).

Yet they weathered that storm, without losing their minds as the former radiant, majestic Emperor of all the cosmos had. They weathered the abuses, excesses and treason of their patriarch Kronos as well, though her siblings seldom spoke of it. It had been their proximity and perhaps remoteness as for the longest time their realm was far from the intrigues and stresses of Dakkara, and they had the task of converting ruined and impoverished and even dead worlds into a healthy, vibrant kingdom. That had been why her divine and noble Great Grandfather likely ordered Uncle Herakles to accept Horus offer and promise not to try and run for throne. She couldn’t imagine any of the System Lords taking what Apophis seemed to be planning with anything but scorn and fury. -To think he would spit on all that we’ve worked to achieve, our mandate to spite the elder races and our goal of being proper custodians of the lesser races solely because he feels cheated-. “Besides, I managed to sinch a trade deal with a minor noble of Lord Ba’al’s domain! And I did it using accounts from the bank of the House of Set.” She beamed causing her oh, so very much older brother to look at her in alarm. “The Lord High usurer will not appreciate that.” He grumbled.

Set was the Imperial Treasurer, who managed the finances for the whole of the Imperium and was arguably the second wealthiest sentient in all of the universe through the grand banking guilds that he and his descendants had founded whose reach spawned well beyond even the farthest of Imperium’s outpost. As it was with Ba’al who controlled an energy monopoly that even the mighty Asgardians had to depend on to a degree and whose trade fleets and planetary engineering guilds were famous the universe over. Everyone did business with the Banks of Set, that him being his own banking cartel king while running the treasury of their entire civilization was a monstrous conflict of interest no one remarked on.

After all, he’d done a fine job for the last hundred thousand years.

Except she wasn’t entirely sure that was completely correct.

Something rotten was coming out of Set’s domain and that Fleet Captain Drey’ac and a Peacekeeper Admiral allegedly engaged in ancient third generation Ha’tak class vessels made her as paranoid as it made her father and grandfather. “I suppose this is why we were made to come via vessel and not Stargate, maybe our divine father is worried Set’s agents would tamper with the gate network and have me vaporized or something.” She gave a shrug; it was no secret that Set and Ba’al hated each other immensely. That their chamberlains had supposedly swore an assassin’s vendetta against each other and that neither could fully act against the other without throwing the economy of the whole universe into an uproar and a probable recession. And she wondered, if the vaunted militaries of the House of Aether and Tartarus and their preeminence in the cosmic order of things had the same significance when a war between two glorified accountants could do more damage with a few keystrokes on a datasheet than they could with all their fleets combined.

“I believe he doesn’t want our arrival at Helios logged.” The movements of every Peer were documented by the Gate Network carefully maintained on Othalla and on Dakkara, the two and as far as anyone knew, the only two known cores for the whole of the universe. It was hard not too, given their nature as not entirely physical beings. Their energy signals were just too unusual, and they were too critical not to be noticed.

Which was what made the actions of Lord Apophis that precipitated the mess they were now in so absurd. How did he think he could go out and abduct women from across the stars to placate that vicious little idiot of a consort he had in Amunet. When their Ashraks broke that bit of gossip she damn near dismissed the lot of them because even that raving simpleton couldn’t be so foolish or possess so little dignity that he’d galivant around the stars like some mindless primitive from one of the lower breeds, taking what he wished as if he was entitled to anything he did not earn.

It demeaned their entire race. “Body thieves, parasites, dream stealers. Hope robbers, plunderers of lives and civilizations..Cosmic grave robbers they called our great grandparents.” She whispered bitterly. “And there are still some among the stars who would say that if they weren’t terrified of our powers. As if the first millennia of the rebellion when our forefathers had to use stolen and scavenged technology marked us forever.”

Cygnus quirked his head, it was oddly birdlike and evocative of what at least one of the ancestors of the Kelownan people that evolved on the Langaran continent possessed. “You’re a little too young to be up in arms over past slights little sister.”

She rolled her eyes. “Only because if half the rumors coming out of our Ashraks are true that violent imbecile has made them modern…I may spawn progeny one day brother, Aether above! Do you not feel the wound to your pride? You worked as hard as any other to make the vision of Amun-Ra reality and what that means.”

He laughed, stopping her in her tracks. “You’re out of sorts Eury, rushing wild to and fro, in that you’re like your grandfather. Like him, you would prefer to rage at anything even nothing so long as it helped alleviate the stress of a looming quandary. Or that you slighted Set in a way that could find you. Shall we say, Inconvenienced in your endeavors.”

The conversation ended as the blue and green gem of the realm of Apollo (Which had also served as the temporary Crown World of her aunt Athena as her own domain’s Capitol was repaired after suffering orbital bombardment during the Titan’s rebellion.), two billion sentient souls resided there, while another eight billion were scattered across the four other planets in this solar system that had been aggressively engineered and colonized. Helios, named after an uncle of her grandfather’s one of the earliest system Lords and a staunch supporter of Anubis and Amun-Ra. Helios was a deceptive little paradise, filled with estates where even the poorest Lotar had hectares to his name spanning the one super massive continent on the world and its myriad of islands. It was an agricultural hub by extensive planetary engineering and genetic modification of plants and soil replenishing bacteria. But in its pretty mountains and vast inland seas lurked a power.

Because her divine father, mighty Apollo. God of medicine, God of the implements of the hunt, God of fire and the charioteer that carried Ra’s Manjet through the stars pulling the radiant and eternal light behind him. Lived up to the moniker he shared with Horus as “The far striker.” -Let Ba’al keep his gravity lances and Yu his plant ships with their almost unbreakable energy shields. And the House of Ra with their unimaginably advanced technology…- She thought with a confidence only youth could bestow.

Just as she was certain this meeting was about Apophis and supporting Horus.

With an unfounded certitude only, youth could possess.

 

[The Immortal Watch Dog]

Dedicated to @Knowledgeispower so he can get a better estimate on the type of hardware he'll need to vaporize more snakes!

Also to @Spartan303 and @Harlock

There's a devil and an angel in all men...what wars in the hearts of Gods?

Aion Crown World of Kronos – Month of Tiamat 100,778th year of Amun Ra’s reign.

December 17th, 1910, by Tau’Ri reckoning.

Ars-Protojonoi (which meant predecessor group.) the Ori labeled them, the Titans as they were called by the rest of the universe. Titans, it was an apt name for what his mother and father were, for what their brother of tube and tank and cousin in blood had been. For what their grandfather Aether had been. In retrospect, Amun-Ra should have seen this coming from that fateful day when Anubis declared that while he would and could fight for the new universe they would build, he could not in good conscious lead it as he was a warrior not a builder of civilizations, a father of justice or any of the other lofty proclamations he’d made that day when he bowed to Ra and declared him “Amun-Ra, liberator, building of nations, deliverer of slaves! Leader of the children of Light! Leader of Destiny!”

Kronos had knelt to his technical nephew. But there was something in his host’s eyes, something resentful and bitter. He’d ignored it because the only one to hesitate was bitter Heqet and Kronos had been a loyal supporter even if he had moved his nascent family into the worst part of the universe and also the farthest from their borders at the time.

Anubis had laughed. “It’s alright Ra, let them claim it and keep it. We’ll fight our way out to them eventually and they will come home.” Anubis, his brother by spirit if not by genetics, his ally, his greatest friend and champion. -It all went wrong when you died…- glowing white eyes narrowed as the great planet city reared its unsightly head. A trillion souls dwelled in this system between Aion, and several other planets. Making it the star system with the densest population in the known universe.

It was a miserable cesspit.

Lotar life expectancy was abysmal compared to most Goa’uld breeds but life on these world cities was so short that Athena, Apollo and Hera had petitioned a convocation to address the issue as a crime against sentient rights. Stupid children, give Lotar more than you already give them and they start taking parsecs, as those ingrates on Tau’Ri did. Ra had been content to ignore their petition but in hindsight perhaps breaking up this disgusting ecumenopolis might have prevented the old serpent’s rebellion. Had it not been for the mother of that brooding sow Izanami wanting to stop for tea. The explosion above had destroyed his personal apartments in the top spire of Iwnw the rubble and debris came crashing down on them all and had he not been able to erect a psychic barrier they likely all would have been crushed. Kronos, who tamed a wasteland and then helped his nephews end the hegemony of the elder races. Only to harbor a deep hatred for all that they had built together.

Oh, Ra was aware of his countless misdeeds with the Lucian cartels, their pirates and a vast array of other criminal elements the universe over. But he’d tolerated it, after all Kronos was the last connection Ra had to a father who died so long-ago entire species had evolved into sentience in the time since his death, the time since his murder at the hands of Adria. I wonder, sometimes what would have happened had you lived? Now, wherever your soul has gone, are you proud of all that I built? I sometimes am not, but mostly am. Either way. I have surpassed those who held you in bondage.

He could no longer ignore it, the corruption Kronos allowed to infest the Imperium and the galaxies around it. The sheer amount of urban decay brought about by Roshna and the other narcotics the Lucian scum peddled from their sanctuary behind his borders had flooded the universe with disaster. He was even certain that it had led to several minor interstellar wars between the lesser powers in the stars. The tiny but densely populated and laughably named Hynerian Empire had suffered particularly heinously. Amun-Ra tolerated all of this, despite the fact that he’d have put any other System Lord to the slaughter for making a mockery of everything they stood for as a species. Kronos was simply, the last connection to a past Amun-Ra the eternal, Supreme System Lord, the Master of Death, the King most high of all the Gods. The Lord of all the universe; had to an era of the stars long extinct. From the dark ages before the rise of the Goa’uld, the destruction of the Ori and the ascent of the Gods. From when Amun-Ra had been young and when his vision had been clear and his purpose ironclad. When he remembered justice as more than a ritual but a duty and a rite.

When he could still feel empathy for the denizens of his empire, who lived and died so swiftly that the ancient Goa’uld could scarcely invest himself in their welfare beyond a perfunctory sense of duty. He was a God, but sometimes he regretted what he’d become, a dominating God as opposed to a just one. He ruled through religion, through awe, through mystique and majesty now when before he had ruled through devotion, wonder and loyalty. Would the youth he’d been when he rallied the Goa’uld people to seize their destiny approve of the divine entity he’d become? No, probably not..

The holograms on the command deck displayed two of the largest of his Chiron class Dreadnaughts. With the exception of the rumored Asgardian Slepnir . The Chirons fielded by the House of Ra were the most advanced and deadly warships ever built. These two had a special purpose, one they’d been put to use on throughout this system.

“Father.” The voice brought him from his thoughts, and he turned to find his eldest, his first born and his most naïve progeny kneeling to one knee. His giant, noble frame still covered in the dust and blood and plasma burns of battle. -He must have gated to a nearby system then risked blowing out his vessel’s hyperdrive to get here- Ra thought, his eyes glowing as he gazed at his far larger and more athletic son. “Why are you not at Olympus?”

Zeus had finally stirred a year ago, leading his family’s forces into battle launching a series of invasions into his father’s domain. Which resulted in an enraged Kronos personally invading Zeus domain and cutting it in half, seizing his capitol and disrupting the entire supply line for the Houses of Aethir, Ba’al and Ouranos. The house of Ame-No-Minakanushi and the House of Ra however, weren’t slowed down and the House of Tartarus.

Well Apophis maintained the largest and most disciplined military in existence and once the Serpent legions were finally mobilized the assaults by Kronos into the rest of the Imperium ended almost overnight and it was only a matter of time.

“The High Lord Apophis, First Prime Herakles, War Master Bra’tac and I have liberated Olympus along with his two apprentices, the youths Teal’c and Drey’ac... We killed every single rebel Jaffa that did not surrender, and Apophis slew the Titan. The rebellion is over Father…this is not…” his voice choked in his throat as Amun-Ra’s eyes began to seemingly spark with white arcs of lightning and a blue glow touched his cheek. A reminder, that Emperor was closer to the Nox than he was the rest of the Peers, even his own children. “Why have I spared every Lotar world and system within the domain of your grand-uncle until now?”

Horus swallowed. “Because they remained loyal?”

Ra wanted to laugh at that. “So grand, yet so stupid.” He thought. “Most of them were not involved…Their loyalty was not with the Imperium as a whole, they know only their God and local Lords. But they did not stir against us, welcomed us and have shown no hostile intentions. They accept the coming change; I would not fault them either way. They have evolved to become almost a new subspecies of Tau’Ri descended Lotar on some of his worlds, so long have they been under his rule. No, I refused to commit random acts of genocide…I…regret what was done to Lantash and will not be making that mistake here. I am no petty tyrant; I will not break the universe I have built to sate my rage. But here on Aion they fed his war machine, they are among the most advanced worlds anywhere, they could have given us ample warning and yet did not, I would forgive that alone but for the fact that the Lotar auxiliaries were present at the siege of Belote. That, I will not forgive.”

“There are over a trillion souls here majestic eminence, our subjects!”

No, Amun-Ra thought morbidly. There Were a trillion souls, the Nu and Cthonea had likely reduced that to five hundred billion by now. His eyes flashed slightly, emotion welling behind his perfect mask. The being he’d been while Egeria and Anubis still lived would have revolted at this, he’d have struck his future self-down in indignant fury and accuse this awe-inspiring divine Ra of Ori like conduct. Even ten thousand years ago, Amun Ra would have balked at what was happening around him. “I feel it, the psychic cries as their worlds were destroyed, I sense the despair from Aion, millions are committing suicide, billions are praying to me, I can sense their mental energies, feel their desperation. They beg me to spare their children..I killed my own daughter, the offspring I chose as my successor should anything occur for a similar crime. Did they imagine I would strike my little one down yet spare their own?”

It had been over thirty thousand years, yet he still felt himself repress a weight on his chest whenever the topic of Egeria arose. “Every death…I have felt, the exact moment of it. I have opened myself to it, I will bare this weight. But I will not falter. A trillion dead now, prevents quadrillions of dead from endless civil war later.”

Horus slowly nodded. “As you..say..Majestic Eminence.” But there was less reverence in Horus’ tone then there had been moments ago and more a quiet fury and doubt.

He wanted to hate his son, who looked at him as though he were no better than the Nameless one for this. Who in his bones, felt that this was an honorless, cruel atrocity. A treason against all they stood for and yet simply acceded to his father’s will. Egeria would have challenged him, Hathor had nearly threatened rebellion over this. Even that wastrel Osiris withdrew his fleet upon learning of Ra’s intention, refusing to have any part in it.

But his only successor left, his oldest and in theory wisest son was some imbecile still obsessed with warrior’s honor, weak, too weak to stop him from committing genocide and murdering the last bit of decency he had left in his withered serpentine soul. Ra turned from his son and walked towards a console that rose from the ground, forming via nanomachines until the master control for the weapon systems of his Dreadnaughts was waist high. Amun-Ra wore armor all of white, with a bright golden cloak the color of the yellow stars most sentient life seemed to enjoy above others. He might have decided to commit a soul killing atrocity, but he would not afflict the carrying out of that action on anyone but himself.

For he was Amun-Ra, the master death, the Godhead, the lord of life, the creator of the greatest civilization that has ever been or ever will be, the Lord on high, the King of all the cosmos and the System Lord Supreme and Emperor of all the stars. The liberator of slaves…that was always his favorite title.

It was the only one he truly felt he’d debauched and disgraced.

Amun-Ra the Eternal.

And as he pressed the button and watched as two bright beams of multicolored energy roared from the ships and the planet several hundred thousand kilometers ahead of the fleet simply erupted into a ball of flames and then vanished in a shockwave…


The murderer of the last remnants of an era long committed to legend and fable.

And of the faith all his children held in him.

And he swore to himself this wasn’t to compensate for his own willingness to tolerate corruption that humiliated his entire civilization solely because he missed someone who died before most of the current batch of sentient beings were even sentient.

Or because he mourned for who he was and, on some level, regretted what he’d become.

 

[The Immortal Watch Dog]

And we return now to the A plot of Emancipation aka "Watch Dog tries to salvage the worst episode of Stargate ever"

…………..

P3X-797/Devorias

September the 29th 2020

“So, your family came from Sinyun?” It was easier for Inari to focus on her non-bonded counterpart. As the Abydonian prince called Skara and the Tau’Ri warrior called Ko-al-ski? Or somesuch supervised the interview of her mate, who had fared far better than her. Catching a glancing blow from a staff weapon rather than the full blast that shredded her armor and would have blown most of her left side out below the ribcage had the event horizon of the space bridge created by the chapai not absorbed most of the blast. Peace officers so heavily armed had been a feature of Heqet’s realm the young Goa’uld had never quite accustomed herself towards. “I thought Sinyun was nano bombed by Macello.”

“Hathor preserve us no!” The one calling herself Adrys shook her head ruefully. “You’re thinking of Aynen. There were no survivors there…”She laughed bitterly, from the memories of her host’s donor’s personality Inari understood why. They thought when Macello and Linea had defeated the Ashen that they could come and relieve the surviving Nebari peoples of their repression, instead they killed another ten billion and simply abandoned the planets to their fate. “The broken remnants of the old establishment government must have taken control then?” The Goa’uld asked. It troubled her, she was an Ashrak but the Imperium’s intelligence guilds had just written off that whole species except for those who settled within Imperial space. Who knew what might have arisen from there, in a space where their field of vision was blocked away.

“It must have been” Ardys muttered. “That happened when my parents were little and they don’t talk much about it, except that they came to our world and extorted us in exchange for meager assistance repairing our biosphere. They fled when I was small, because they were going to kill most of my family due to anti-“excess” propagation laws. I mostly remember the worlds of Lord Ba’al.”

Inari nodded, then let out a hiss of pain as the accursed Tau’Ri doctor finished whatever witchcraft she was performing (she was being unfair here, for such an underdeveloped society the Tau’ri were remarkably effective in the field of medicine.). “I think your left kidneys are fine. I’m more worried about the lack of clotting.”

“Your medicine there has been helpful physician Lahm…Though I feel some measure of regret. Aren’t you the administrator of their hospital? Would it not be better if you had sent a subordinate?”

“You’re not getting an intel confirmation out of me that easily.” The Tau’Ri mouthed in her usual lighthearted. “I’ve treated a half dozen staff wounds, but I’ve never seen anything like this. I hope the anticoagulants help.”

“There are certain forms of radiation that cause serious trouble to circulatory systems of what do you call yourselves? Oomen?”

“Human”

“Ah thank you, human like forms. I can repair it, but if I were not a Peer, I’d be dead right now. Most Goa’uld aren’t so strong as to heal as fast as we do and if the host bleeds to death we can suffocate inside in short order, it’s not a pleasant way to die I’m told.” More than told, she’d woken up in a resurrection chamber in a hysterical and claustrophobic fit once courtesy of Aris Boch.

“This body has blue blood…And four kidneys, I’m not sure how humanoid it is but I’m glad to help.” Lahm said in a voice that was a lot less hostile than when she’d first begun to treat Inari. They assume we’re all body thieves. She thought bitterly, as if that level of bestial theft wasn’t taboo even among many of the so called “lower breeds” of the Goa’uld. Criminals engaged in body theft, civilized beings made a point to seek consent or in the case of Inari herself, had purchased from several different female Nebari and one Tau’Ri descended human their genetic material and had a clone made.

“The Colonel will want to speak with you soon.” Adrys answered. They both tried to ignore the blue colored steam that was rising from the snake’s back as she began to rapidly heal the damage back there as soon as the drugs took effect. When both had admitted to being Ashraks Kowalski had insisted on splitting them up and holding them in detention, until he could have both interviewed separately. This, friendly chatter while being worked on was merely one form of interrogation. One likely designed to assess her personality, not that she minded but she missed Khepri dearly. They had scarcely been apart in the fifty years they’d been together and even when you had a cloned body, you still inherited some of the emotions and memories of the host or hosts in her case. The fact that she felt her own intense sense of love and then the memories of such feelings from four other females made it too powerful to ignore. “Good.” She answered nodding her head.

She didn’t bother hiding what she was, a Peer.

Mostly because it would be impossible to do so, her husband might have been descended from Heqet but he was no Peer. He had been born as the countless offspring or descended of the Gods had been when they took mistresses from the lower subspecies. Extremely long lived, stronger than the ordinarily Goa’uld and able heal faster and better but he was still a parsec behind her in terms of abilities and from what she remembered of her briefings on the Tau’Ri they knew enough about what they were to spot the difference. “We aren’t interested in causing harm to your world…The Truth is we thought to hide here and then gate to another world and then another.” She offered Lahm and the big warrior beside her called Jawn-sun an apologetic smile. “But I believed Bisu was going to slaughter everyone in the marketplace before letting us escape. You were..unfortunately a..”

“Meat shield?” Johnson asked.

“Alternative.” She added gently, doing her best to look chastised but finding amusement in his response.

“Why defect anyway? I thought you guys are supposed to be fanatics. That whole mystique about your fathers and grandfathers building civilization and stuff?” Johnson asked, the marine having not spoken until then and Inari whipped her head towards him, rage on her face at the implication until she saw the look in the Tau’Ri’s eyes. The earnestness, the confusion that played over his face. Though well hidden under a mask of neutrality that suitably impressed her given that he was likely only a few years out of what she assumed passed for adolescence among the Tau’Ri. “There’s a personal vehemence to your question.”

He shrugged. “I’m descended from freed slaves who helped fight to establish the nation state where I come from. Which was a colony of a remote monarchy at the time. Guess I’m just curious what happened…”

She froze at hearing those words, her host’s heart and whatever her “heart” was pounding in both chests. -It can’t be, it cannot be that in all the universe…- her rage had been robbed the instant her mental powers could detect no lie in the soldier’s thoughts nor in his body language. She suppressed the urge to swallow and smiled bitterly. “Imagine if you will, that after the sacrifice made by your forebears to win their freedom, their countrymen in the preceding generations resorted to slavery and immiseration to bolster their industries.”

The Tau’Ri laughed slightly. “They did, our nation kept slavery for nearly a century after the end of their rebellion. It was only ended after a civil war that claimed nearly three percent of our population. Some of my ancestors were slaves, some slave owners, many fought and killed each other in that war…”

It was like a knife twisting into her host body’s gut. “Then…you understand why I left.”

He blinked.

“I’m what they refer to as Hassu’Oa’uld.”

Ardys shrugged. “Roughly translated it means mongrelized Peer, or “water blooded.” It means one of the two Goa’uld who spawned her belonged to one of the lower species. She is a Peer but disgraced by her ancestry. She would never be allowed to say, become a System Lord or become a member of the courts of justice, nor would she be allowed to serve as anything other than as an Ashrak or a low to mid-level member of the Imperial bureaucracy. She has no future outside of the shadows.”

The Tau’Ri called Lahm’s emotions turned to pity and indignation and Inari wanted to laugh because it was the man who was the descendant of patriots and possibly slaves whose emotions retained their hint of iron and suspicion. She almost wanted to laugh out loud at that, no wonder the great Amun-Ra ended up meeting his end due to an irrational decision regarding these people. They were far too much like, of course the Nebari girl was right, and Inari smiled thinly at her because there was more to it of course, both in regard to what she was and why she was with Heqet.

But it wasn’t the time to admit that, not yet. For now, she would add a truth to ensure them that she was willing to cooperate. “More than that.” She cleared her throat and looked down as if she was trying to organize her thoughts and compartmentalize her emotions (Mostly because she was.) “How old is your nation state Space Marine?”

“Captain...” Johnson said reminding her to address him by rank in a way that seemed to suggest he was addressing a fellow special force operative. She found that rather charming of him. “And two hundred and forty-four…”

She laughed heartily now and found herself shaking her head. “I am considered extremely young for a Peer. There’s only a handful younger than me and yet I was sixty-eight standard years old when your nation was founded.”

“Seventy-one by our calendar.” Captain Johnson added earning what she suspected was a glare from Lahm.

“Captain Johnson.” She began in a mock insulted voice. “Is it not considered an act of impudence among your people to make a female feel older than she is?” From the snickers in the room, she was glad to have defused a little of the lingering paranoia…After all if she and her mate were to escape this alive.

“Your companion is right; I am of tainted blood but more than that. For whom my father was as well, I am Inari the illegitimate daughter of a disgraced former first prime.”

All positive emotion seemed to flee the room the moment those words left her lips and suddenly everyone was on guard and gazing at her wearily. It had been a horrible mistake, but what could she do? They would find out eventually and she didn’t think they’d know the significance of it or react so strongly. Had father done something to these people?

“Was his name Yahata?” the physician asked.

Ah, of course he had.

She sighed dropping her head in frustration. “The very same.”

Captain Johnson drew his rifle and leveled it at her and ordered the other two to back away from her and not for the first time did she wonder why one side of her family terrorized the other when they were capable of all they feared from the lower breeds and more. And to be reacted to in such a manner by Tau’Ri of all people.

“I wasn’t aware the people Prince Horus holds in such high esteem would punish a daughter for her father’s sins?” She asked bitterly before she pulled her awareness from her own emotions of self-pity and disappointment and turned it against the people in the room. They were concerned her connection to the infamous traitor would make her a threat to them and yet it wasn’t because of the family connection alone, there was worry mixed in with something else? Acknowledgement? Acknowledgment of what?

The words revenge kept flashing through Johnson’s mind and something creeped into her mind. A thought, a potential that she couldn’t comprehend. They were worried she’d seek revenge against them. For what?!

“We don’t.” It was the physician, Lahm moving between Captain Johnson and herself, her eyes filled with sympathy and caution. “We don’t…Captain Johnson.” She ordered him, however passively (Did the woman even possess the authority to do that?) “Lower your weapon.”

“Doctor Lahm.’

“She’s a Peer, they’re supposed to be crazy mutants with superpowers, right? So, if she wanted to kill us she would have already.”

Why would I want them dead? Inari thought.

Unless they think I’d want to avenge my father? I loved him, dearly but what he did was unforgivable…Besides? Why would they think I’d want to avenge him upon them…

The realization hit her like a staff blast.

And she swallowed, eying the group with what she hoped was a face as neutral as she could possibly maintain amidst the deluge of emotions.

“I see...h...how did he die?” she asked sounding far hoarser than she intended.

The universe was conspiring against them and all they wanted to do was find someplace safe to call home.

The irony was not lost on her.

 

[The Immortal Watch Dog]

We scene jump to the swamp, wherein Harry Maybourne courts the fallen hero from the Sentinel episode and then to the White House wherein the fate of the two snakes and the dangerous and somewhat schizophrenic game of intergalactic politics the United States is now weighing into.

Thanks to @Knowledgeispower and @The Whispering Monk for weighing in on the defectors and how to approach their status.

…………….

Washington DC: September 29th.

“Wait..let me get this straight…A pair of Ashrams”

“Ashrak’s sir”

“Whatever” Maybourne muttered “A pair of Goa’uld spies are requesting asylum on earth to escape anti miscegenation laws? Am I understanding this correctly?”

“That’s what’s being reported in the Oval office as we speak.” The woman was a Space Force “Aerial and Spatial combat” division Captain, in her early thirties who had been easy enough to convince to play informant given that her husband’s death left her family in crippling debt. Of course, he kept the relationship open well after she’d paid it all off. Promotions, stock tips, commendations, a scholarship for her sons in one of the finest private schools Colorado. “Christ, the most I was hoping for was a status update on Hank's 302 boondoggle, but you’re serious?”

She nodded. “General Landry had me deliver the message personally to Admiral Hammond and Director Ellis since he still doesn’t trust the comm systems at the Abydos base. I imagine the Admiral is an hour out from arrival, seems like General Kennedy wants the snakes shot, he thinks it’s an obvious trap.’

General Kennedy would think that Harrold Maybourne mused derisively. “Funny how I wasn’t invited to this little meeting.”

“I get the impression Secretary Weir doesn’t like you sir.”

“And she has no authority over military matters.” He sighed, she was the damn secretary of State not Defense…Yet it was clear to anyone in the White House, Hayes and Trump were grooming her for some higher purpose, either to take over off world activities in a new cabinet position or eventually follow them into the Whitehouse itself. Either way, behind the scenes the activist turned political boss had too much sway over military matters for his liking. “Do you know anything else?”

“Some aspects of their story don’t make sense. Like one is a Peer and that makes interrogating her dangerous, but she’s been too cooperative.”

“You think Kennedy’s right?”

She shook her head. “No Sir, I think she’s hoping to give us everything we want in the hopes that we don’t probe her story too hard. I think she really does want out, from the way Colonel Kowalski describes them, they seem to feel betrayed and trapped by their society’s social norms. But it’s a case of “look at all the shiny stuff, just ignore daddy’s test results that you found in the trash.”

Riiigghhhtt. “Well, then get back there and see if you can find out more. I’ll make sure an extra gift package is sent your way. And…Kershaw, watch your ass.”

She nodded, slipping away, leaving Maybourne to enjoy what was left of his morning, and a breakfast that was disappointingly cold now.

Damn…A potential intelligence gold mine and none of his people were in a position to make use of it. Damn.

………..

White House – September the 30th


“So, what do we know about the young lovers who Colonel Kowalski decided were worth risking an intergalactic incident over?” The President asked, though his tone of voice suggested he was less enraged and more fixated at the myriad possibilities that now lay before him in terms of the potential windfall for intelligence.

Or so NID Director Robert Statterfield assumed, in truth it was difficult for him to anticipate the President. He wasn’t really sure if there was anyone who could accurately predict what the man might do when he was this energized. -If he’s thinking along those lines, he isn’t wrong, if they’re not feeding us a pack of lies-.

“Is it really that bad?” it was Richard Woolsey who spoke up, he was seated on the couch opposite the Statterfields. Looking somewhat like a racehorse wanting to jump out the gate ever since he found out that there was a chance he’d been the one picked to participate in this odd asylum hearing on a bronze age tech level planet. Woolsey was another odd one, a bureaucrat and former corporate lawyer who came from old money, made himself even wealthier during the dotcom boom litigating on behalf of corporate raiders and then becoming a consultant for some of the endeavors done by proxy companies run or partially funded by the NID in regard to project constellation.

He'd even been at opposite ends of the table from Weir.

Robert Statterfield had followed his father’s advice for years and written the older man off as a greedy, snake like, self-interested bore. Yet he had consistently surprised everyone as he dove into almost every diplomatic mission or treaty negotiation, or any dispute among primitive planets that they had been asked to settle. Which resulted in Woolsey being as well known as the legendary SG-1 out in the stars. Something that he still had trouble believing even if reports had consistently backed that up.

O’Neill Tau’Ri’s First Prime, Teal’c War Master, Carter the demon technologist, Woolsey of the silver tongue.

The universe was weird.

Why did the universe have to be so weird?

“Even if it turns out that they have nothing to offer, they asked us for asylum, apparently this cosmic law works is that a hearing has to be held to determine the merits of it.” Woolsey began with a shrug. “It’s insanely arrogant of the Goa’uld to think we are under any obligation to honor their law, but it seems like “Imperial law exists wherever civilization does” in that even nations outside their spheres of influence pay some kind of lip service to it at least. My guess is that they expect it from us.”

“Which is why we should tell them to go to hell on principle” General Kennedy muttered in annoyance. “And shoot the two snakes too, let them know this spy crap won’t work.”

Kim spoke up at last, his wife had been silent and seemingly in deep thought though he couldn’t figure out what. “Ignoring for the moment, the intelligence goldmine even a junior analyst from their network would prove. Ignoring the insult to us, this does present us with an opportunity to show off to the Galaxies just how impartial and down the middle we are…After all. We killed Amun Ra. Stormed Chulak, humiliated Apophis and then won the respect of Horus and their courts and some ancient fairy god creatures along the way. Not to mention the Asgardian King himself seems to have a soft post for our people..” The fact that all the abduction stories about alien grays seemed to have some basis in fact aside. -We're going to need to address that one day- she thought.

General Kennedy cut her off with a harsh laugh. “Ma’am, you sound like some idiot from a tacky HBO show, the real world doesn’t work on medieval times logic, none of that crap gets you currency in the world of politics”

“It does out there.” She replied with a pleasant smile on her face. There were times when Kim looked every bit her forty-seven years, other times when she looked the way she did when they married twenty-three years ago. She enjoyed bullying the faction allied with Kensey and it seemed to take years off her. “Apparently, the universe is a schizoidal place General Sir…Where people do take the classical feats of glory and deeds of honor seriously and the endorsement of Gods seems to carry weight.” Admittedly it was weird. She had no idea how a civilization as advanced as theirs functioned when half of it came right out of an episode of Hercules the Legendary Journeys. That wasn’t supposed to be how modern societies worked, advanced ones were always supposed to be high and mighty and evolved and yet she saw schemes within the Imperium that reminded her of shit from the Julio-Claudian dynasty, or feudal Japan. “What I mean is, lets play this out. We’ll give them a shot if it turns out they’ve a negative asset value, we’ll dump them on some planet outside the Stargate network and still keep the political good will it’ll buy us.”

“Assuming the Imperium doesn’t just declare war on us. Remember their rules about tech sharing?” Robert asked his wife, allowing an anvil to drop in the room. “We need them, if they have something of value but that item of value could also translate into us losing any good will we have out there because we committed the sin of tech thievery.” Which was ridiculous, it baffled him how a society that was so negligent due to abundance they forgot planets like Abydos existed yet managed to ruthlessly enforce laws that kept other species from obtaining parity with them.

The Goa’uld made no damn sense, which made them too damn dangerous to take lightly.

“That prohibition is against the Asgardians and Goa’uld trafficking weaponry and shield tech that could give an emerging society by their standards, parity with either power. From what I remember reading of the Teal’c debrief and Colonel O’Neill’s report on meeting Thor.” The President interrupted this pessimism and offered a shrug. “There seems to be a lot not covered by that ban that we could milk them for, assuming they aren’t just bean counters or boring ass analysists or something.”

An aid opened the door to the Oval Office then and Hammond entered followed by Abraham Ellis who looked like he had been called away from an event with one of his grandkids or something. “Apologies gentlemen, mister President, Mister Vice President. We had some last minute intel to review at Cheyenne before arriving.”

“Why were you at Cheyenne Abe?” Trump asked and Rob Statterfield forced a nervous smile from his face at the annoyance in the President’s tone, as if he felt Ellis was wasting time there when he could be building fleets of ships.

“Well, the first shipment of refined Trinium from Rax-Tollana came in I wanted make sure what were getting was up to snuff.” Came his patient answer, which got a triumphant smile from the President. “Excellent, excellent, sorry Abe, y’know how tense things get around here this time of year. How is it?”

“Gorgeous sir, I’ve got enough sheets to reinforce the Arizona’s armor in key sections and replace armor in others with enough left over to do some minor repairs to the constellation itself. If we get another shipment like that, I might be able to do something with the skeleton of the big E”

“The Gerald Ford class?” the President asked.

Ellis smiled enigmatically but allowed Hammond to cut the conversation off there. “With respect sir, what I have to say might impact how we handle this asylum issue going forward.” -Did anyone touch on the fact that if in accepting their plea? We open ourselves to becoming an alien sanctuary?- Hammond thought, upon surveying the room he realized only the Vice President had entertained that notion and he repressed a sigh.

“The male is an ordinary Goa’uld, though he’s got some DNA in common with the larval stage Goa’uld inside Teal’c which means he might have some ancestry connected to Apophis. He’s for all intents and purposes exactly what he appears, he also says he’s a currency analyst. Apparently Heqet is up to no good, or so he thinks. So he was ordered to her territory to audit her books, that’s the story Colonel Kowalski got out of him and I believe it sir.”

“Why’s that?”

“Well, her version of a police chief was personally after him, I ran enough missions in third world hell holes with and against tinpots and cartel bosses to recognize a dirty cop story when I see one. That bit is believable, but it’s almost too believable. He’s got another mission sir, most of these field agents seem to no matter the planet.” He paused, allowing the room to digest the information, it meant the SGC suspected that he was still providing falsehoods, but that they believed those lies to be echoes of the truth and that made him for all intents and purposes harmless and his intel useful in an academic sense.

“The other one, she’s told the truth in a way that made my men suspect she’s hiding something else by dangling too much honesty in front us. She’s the daughter of Yahata.” The President cut Hammond off then asking if that was the terrorist who helped start a snake civil war that the Admiral shot in the face and when he answered in the affirmative Robert Statterfield repressed the urge to agree with Kennedy.

“Both of them established themselves as Ashraks working for the Imperial bureaucracy and have been working inside Heqet’s territory with her full knowledge, sort of how our FBI works. For twenty and seventy years respectively, with Inari, the female Goa’uld arriving seventy years ago as part of what she claims was a demotion back to field agent after her father’s misdeeds made her persona non grata. She claims, before she was demoted, she was one of the regional directresses for anti-pirate activities. If she’s being remotely honest, that means she knows more about the fleet we’ll be facing next year than even Teal’c.”

“Have you confirmed any of this with Teal’c?” The President asked.

Hammond nodded. “he says he knew of an Inari, that her name came up frequently in intel briefs regarding the Lucian Cartels, that were given to the Fleet Captains. But that he only ever read one of her reports, which was on an attempt by the Peacekeepers to try and steal several of the latest generation of armored vehicles form one of their frontier worlds. He said her information was generally reliable. But that we should be careful with her because he thinks it’s unlikely someone like that would be in Heqet’s realm doing routine anti organized crime stuff even if she was demoted. In fact, he seemed to think the two of them were up to something that Heqet didn’t know about and when she found out, she had one of her descendants hunt them down personally.”

“So, they’re a liability then?” The President asked.

Hammond shook his head. “I would prefer it if Deputy Director Statterfield interviewed them herself, she’s handled more defectors than anyone in this room. I get the impression they’re being honest with us and what Teal’c has told me about the Goa’uld’s apartheid system for their own species it’s bad enough that it reminds me of South Africa in the seventies. I could see why they’d want out and why they’d risk coming to us rather than face imprisonment or worse for the crime of marrying someone from a different subspecies…however as with the Tollan sir, honesty can be a form of misdirection all its own.”

President Trump leaned back in his seat, thinking in silence as Hayes and Kim discussed Constellation’s progress and if the technology sent by Thor (Mother of all security breaches there!) and Doctor McKay were of any help. Which resulted in Ellis singing Rodney’s praises and cheering on the wonderful “factory within a trash can” as he called the device.

At last, The President spoke again. “Alright, Kim you go over there, talk to the love birds then if you think they aren’t bullshitting us, we’ll let ‘em in.”

 

[The Immortal Watch Dog]

Segue to our Snakes...And because this ain't dead and I'm almost through with this ep.

For @August who enjoys the politicking of the snakes... and for @Gladiator whose history and taste in fiction inspired the Greek pantheon scenes and for @Harlock and @adam417 and @Spartan303 who enjoy the characterization.

And for @bullethead who oft chronicles the SCOTUS and its love hate with the 2A and there is totally not a Goa'uld RBG...one would hope

Helios System home to the Crown world of Apollo’s domain – Month of Tartarus (September by Tau’Ri reckoning.)

If there was one thing that her family did wrong, was the fact that it sometimes took sixteen hours for anyone to get down to business. Upon their return home a group of Jaffa received Cygnus and Eurydice as though they were returning conquering heroes. Even the Geminas Castor and Pollux the only instance of twin peers born in recorded history, who served as her father’s Prime and a fleet Captain respectively arrived in splendor. Both Goa’uld inhabited bodies that seemed to be more Tau’Ri than anything else, but their metallic purple eyes and oddly feather like black hair made her wonder if they also had chosen beings of Kelownan stock so long ago.

Her uncles were younger than Cygnus and yet he bowed to them as to defer to an elder member of the dynasty before the four embraced and then proceeded to get horribly drunk as they walked through the halls of the Palace of the sun on Helios. The Sprawling ten million square foot complex that served both as the administrative center of the domain of Apollo and as her Lord Father’s personal residence. Its golden walls filled with carvings and holographic weavings, the living tapestries that told the tales of the deeds of their most celebrated Jaffa, honored Lotars and of course of their family.

It made her well up with pride and brought her near to tears to see her trial of wit wherein she outfoxed Aris Boch of all beings to catch a bounty depicted above the hall of weapons, the expansive room filled with her father’s trophies from all the battles he’d fought in his long life.

‘While you were on your progress, your Jaffa managed to route the pirates who’ve been attacking trade fleets along your border.” Pollux remarked slapping Cygnus on his shoulder, the two were rivals and competed fiercely over who could produce the better navy, who could train the better Jaffa marines and who could do the most damage to the constant influx of criminals who sought to prey on the Imperium. They might also have been the only Goa’uld fleet Captains who didn’t resent Drey’ac for being a better pilot than they were, corresponding with her frequently on matters of starship design or sharing intelligence regarding the antics of the Lucian pirates, or Scarran remnant raiders or whatever else. “You train your men well..”

“As do you uncle! Tell me, will grandfather and uncle Herakles be here? It’s been too long.”

Pollux shrugged. “Zeus hasn’t stirred from Olympus in eighty years, as to Herakles, he apparently befriended some Tau’Ri warriors on Avalon and spends much of his free time making friendly with the former rebels.”

“Ah, so Zeus is deadest on establishing relations with the Tau’Ri? When last I heard, his majesty was intent on ignoring them unless they strayed out of line.” Eurydice remarked. The battle at Avalon changed many things and their highest court determining that the death of the emperor, great Amun-Ra was justifiable did much to win the Tau’Ri renown. Of course, it wasn’t just the word of Horus that opened so many gates for the Tau’Ri, rather that his championing for their cause in tandem with their killing of Yahata (Which he knew her gallant father considered no small favor.) meant that they were swiftly establishing themselves as a problem solving force that had no agenda save the betterment of their species and had none of the baggage nor weight of history behind their deeds (Which was ironic as they were technically former rebels.) that could be relied upon to handle matters that were to..delicate for conventional System Lord politics.

It had been quite some time since the Imperium had reliable proxies, one that showed incredible potential to one day stand as allies. The last time didn’t go so well, but that was alright, there was no gain without risk.

Castor gave a nod. “Indeed.” His said, his eyes glowing a faint lime color, subtle hints that he and his brother were conceived by Zeus on Tiamat during one of their tristes. “He changed his mind when they managed to earn Thor’s affection. All three of the surviving great races in the span of single year? The Tau’Ri are upwardly mobile, and your divine grandfather is no fool, he sees the utility in people willing to bleed for their own, while playing the great game.”

“You mean, considering that they’re a bunch of primitives. After all, what you’ve described is expected of every species.” Cygnus remarked, his hands folded behind his back his shadow stretching ahead of them as doors shut behind the group.

They were called to dinner somewhat later than Lord Apollo ordinarily summoned his guests and not to the reception hall where he would ordinarily have waited them with a party to welcome them home but to his personal dinning room within his apartments inside the palace. All of this was irregular but not enough that the two siblings separated by the ages were over worried, until the Jaffa who had escorted them to the dining hall turned, bowed and exited.

They almost always remained within the rooms functioning as guards or attendants given the massive amount of food they consumed when they did dine together. Her eyes glowed a soft blue concern emanating from her as she tried to sense who and what was in the room waiting for them only for her eyes to widen in shock when she realized that she couldn’t sense anything. “Someone’s blocking me.”

The automatic doors opened and when they stepped through she let out a breath in relief. Her father was seated in a large ivory chair with gilded designs and cushions she knew were comfortable but also contained anti-gravity devices, as the Lord Apollo enjoyed feeling weightless during his meals. He was shirtless, as he usually was this hour of the night his body was hale and strong and she remembered him saying that the person chosen as a host had been a fierce warrior of the northern frozen wastes on Tau’Ri, who sustained a lethal injury and offered himself to Apollo, her divine father of course never spoke of his original Ori host. Over the tens of thousands of years, the Tau’Ri’s form had bene enhanced, molded and “fit” to the will of her father.

Such was the power of the System Lords.

As with Herakles, the body had bright orange eyes, no whites and only two black dots for pupils. His hair was fiery orange-red, that was braided in part and loose everywhere else. Beside him sat a tall woman with thick black hair and leonine features. Gallant, strong, pale and with the same, orange-colored eyes, the host being a blend of different Tau’Ri hominids and looking like a living statue. Adorned in furs and leathers that showcased her as the Junior Goddess aligned with Horus and was in charge of dispensing his blessings to hunters and athletes. the chamberlain of Athena’s realm Artemis was a System Lord in rank even if, like Thoth she held no worlds of her own (Though with Athena eternally away at Dakkara she ruled her mother’s systems for her.).

Which meant, her eyes shifted to Athena and beside her, Hera. Both with six-foot bodies, belonging to a species that was supposedly a genetic offshoot of the Asgardians, they were grey-green and Tau’Ri like in appearance, with slightly leaf like ears and canines that were slightly longer than most Lotar.

Hera and Athena both here and both smiled sweetly, their eyes glowing that sky blue of the house of Aether, flashing in greeting. “Sorry for the secrecy little ones.” Hera spoke up her voice a chorus of a hundred different voices, each more elegant and matronly than the next. Lady Hera, eternally protective Hera who was the chief justice of the highest court in the Imperium (That it was supposed to operate outside of the authority of the System Lords and that this might have been a conflict of interest was never discussed.). And in the Imperial cult the patron Goddess and spiritual mother of all scribes who specialized in lawfare (Did that make her more devil than Goddess?), contracts and marriage. She had been the one to craft the laws that made codified and separated the different sub species of Goa’uld, who made the Jaffa separate but equal and who was famous for a twenty-hour debate with Amun-Ra wherein she tried to strike down his desire to grant the Jaffa’s citizenship status that would allow them some influence in the governance of the Imperium. She had lost that debate, humbled she had set to the mighty task of crafting the laws that Amun-Ra proposed that would make them better than the Ori.

Athena, who shared pantheon space with Apophis as the Junior Goddess of War, the patron of strategy, subterfuge and stellar combat. Among the first fleet Captains in the Imperium, she whom all the Ashrak and pilots in much of the known universe prayed to for luck. And if they were here.

“She was more worried that something happened to her father, weren’t you girl?”

That voice, the voice that sounded as if a million barbarian chiefs were chanting in a chorus of doom all at once…She turned, Cygnus fell to one knee, and she quickly did the same.

Ahead of her, seated on a sofa, lounging comfortably was a behemoth of a sentient, it was said that he had left his Unas host after it had been mortally wounded by a titan among the ancient and primitive Tau’Ri, a huge and ancient warrior who somehow managed to mortally wound a Peer as powerful as he. Dwarfing the others in the room, with arms so thick they could have been support beams for the armored dome around a Hatak’s command center. A lion like mane of thick, bone white hair and a beard that was done into three massive braids, each one with armored plates and bells woven with ribbons into the braid, faint blue glowing eyes that sparked with power.

With the Amun-Ra dead, only Hathor and Izanagi possessed power greater than Zeus who was equaled in personal esoteric might by only Yu and Apophis. He was one of the oldest as well, having been born several decades before Amun-Ra. Their patriarch, the head of their house.

She suppressed a laugh, every intelligence service in the universe must have been losing its mind. There hadn’t been such a high concentration of Peers in one room since the end of the Titan’s rebellion and the power here was enough that combined, they could probably render this world uninhabitable (Though the strain might kill them.). The situation with Apophis was this serious..that it required nearly the entire leadership of house of Aether in one room. Her eyes flickered to Zeus, and she swallowed. “You are not going to put yourself forward as a candidate for the Throne..are you..Lord Grandfather.”

He laughed and outside, she told herself the rain was mere coincidence. “How perceptive of you, no, no I won’t. In fact, neither will your father. I aim to make this as one sided for that preening, psychotic lech as possible.”

Ja’mah!

 

[The Immortal Watch Dog]

For those of you who thought this was dead...nah.

So, for the next ep updates, Richard Woolsey prepares to do battle with a Goa'uld lawyer and Hathor confronts @Knowledgeispower and @bullethead favorite snake!

P3X-797/Devorias

September 30th.

Stepping through the gate Richard Woolsey wasn’t quite certain what he expected as this was both the least advanced society they’d encountered and the most isolated but paradoxically aware of things beyond their borders to the point that he was worried there Tollan spies in the government of this bronze age comparable kingdom. Certainly, the fact that there was a Goa’uld wreck here and several of the aristocrats that greeted him weren’t fully human led him to believe the story that they were in part an abandoned imperial colony and a place settled by run aways wasn’t a complete fabrication.

He was greeted by Colonel Kowalski who shook his hand firmly. The Colonel looking as boyish as he ever did even when it was clear he was nearing middle age. “Welcome to P3X-797 Sir! Called Devorias by the natives.”

“Colonel.” Woosley shook his hand, just in time to see a Green Beret from one of the new SG teams walk by, helping another member of yet another SG team who looked pale as a sheet. “Common problem.” Kowalski muttered shaking his head ruefully wondering what he did to displease the Admiral that for this little political shindig it was decided that only the newbies would participate in security except for Makepeace’s outfit any way. “a lot of these guys don’t know anything about history, so they assume food and drink’s made the way for a bronze age society equivalent than it is with us.”

Admittedly, he’d been as stupid on Abydos but so much of the foliage on that planet doubled as stand ins for advanced medicine that the average Abydonian was probably healthier than the average Earth born human. “So, a lot of our guys.”

“Human waste in the cocktail” Woolsey nodded. “My Great-grandfather bought a Roman villa and had it shipped tile and block by tile and block to the family ranch in California. As a kid my gramps took me to the different places that once passed for bathrooms and explained what sanitation was like even with the ultra-cleanly Romans.” There was also the time he negotiated a dispute over diamond mining between a Japanese cartel under the Mitsubishi banner and a now defunct telecommunications company Earth Resource Technology Services Inc. Or ERTS (which had ironically been absorbed by Shepherd industries.) for short. Half the legal team didn’t heed his advice (Which was to do what John Ford and Humphrey Bogart did and drink mostly soda and booze or boiled water, cut with rum. Also eating quinines as if they were M&M’s helped), of that ten three died from renal failure due to loose bowels on account of parasites. “No fatalities yet?”

“No, there’s a kind of tea these people drink that is remarkably efficient at killing intestinal parasites and more than a few viruses. Captain Perez over there caught a local flu virus and had some of that tea? Went from hundred and four fever to sparring with Menestros in about four hours.” When Woolsey raised an eyebrow Kowalski laughed. “Yes, we sent notice to Doc Fraser, she’ll be here tomorrow I think.”

The monarchy of Devarios was rather generous allowing all of this, permitting members of two foreign armies to show up as escorts and to help with security. They had an agenda of their own, that was clear and were probably banking on their reputation catching a bump out in space on the coat tails of whatever decision was reached out here.

“So, what exactly is expected of me?” He’d been reading the copies of the papers on Imperial law, specifically right to asylum and the right of the host nation to refuse but seeing as these were essentially FBI agents in space, he wasn’t particularly clear on if they even had cause to accept without looking like shifty bastards trying to poach technology and intel from a nation that had gone out of its way to be friendly towards despite everything that happened in their disastrous initial contact. “It almost sounds like I have to argue before a court or promise them that we’re not going to use them to pillage technological secrets which they may not even have.” Woolsey pushed his glasses closer to his head.

It was all moot, he wasn’t going to do anything until Statterfield arrived with Fraser to conduct a proper interrogation of the two Goa’uld. Kowalski gave him a confused look and Woolsey sighed exasperatedly. “It’s that sometimes people in the field know more about how these things are applied than what’s on paper for me to read.”

“Fair enough, no all it looks like is that asylum cases this high profile have to be witnessed by three to five parties and one party has the right to challenge the other. My guess is Bisu’s boss is going to challenge but it’s not like the challenge is anything more than a formality. The third party which isn’t the neutral host nation is just there to make sure there’s nothing shady going on. I guess the other parties in attendance are just spectators. Honestly sir, this seems like pure ceremony.” The marine muttered in an annoyed voice as they stalked towards an estate that was covered in the hanging gardens allegedly famous in Babylon. “Doctor Jackson’s going to love this place.”

“Yeah, his theory gets more and more vindicated, though I am surprised no one thought of it before. I mean its common sense, right? With so much out there there’s bound to be people who either evolve the same way or develop similar religions and cultures on pure coincidence and then end up influencing others.” The Marine’s consternation made the older lawyer laugh and he pulled out an engraved leather wrapped flask and passed it to Kowalski who gave him the proper “I’m on duty.” Protestations before caving to an insistence from Woolsey.

“Funny thing about us experts, a lot of times we need an outsider or a regular guy to tell us the obvious. Overspecialization kills Colonel.”

“Explains why the old timers wanted as much talent from as many places as they could nab for the SGC.” Kowalski answered.

“Old timers huh?” Woolsey asked with an amused grin. There’s plenty of SGC personnel that would see him as an old timer by now. Woolsey thought as they walked on, observing the hanging gardens and simple streets. It was interesting, this society might have been comparable to the bronze age, but their buildings were larger and there was a lot more people than he expected. Mentioning this to Kowalski the man nodded. “There’s a lot of what my wife calls homeopathic medicine out here, mostly from the plants and certain chemicals secreted by various fauna. Some of it’s better than modern medicine, diabetes out here is a persistent problem because everyone seems to have the abundance of food of a modern world with limited health knowledge. “He paused as what looked like a gigantic SUV sized tortoise lazily bearing along a few kids and what looked like an exasperated butler crossed a city street. “Well damn…But yeah, almost every culture we’ve encountered has either a cure for diabetes or a method to reverse it or treat it more efficiently than we do. Her and Doc Fraser think the snakes did gen-engineering on a bunch of planets to make sure the healthcare of their subject worlds was up to snuff even if they didn’t advance.” That was the conclusion Lahm had reached on Abydos all those years ago and it hadn’t been proven wrong since.

“Have you received word from the Imperium yet?”

“No, the impression I get is that the government in general doesn’t give a damn about these two, it’s only a bone to pick for this ancient bitch, Heqet.” Woolsey nodded, Teal’c’s estimations of her were logically going to be colored by the biases of a semi feudal system and he had attempted to take them with a grain of salt but the behavior pattern he’d seen so far suggested she was as sleezy and morally compromised as a Latin American Dictator in cocaine country. On the basics of logistics alone it didn’t make any damn sense for the equivalent to the police chief of her territory to apprehend two individuals suspected of sedition and for one of them to also be a law enforcement officer of a different kind. No, this was all different shades of corrupt and he hoped whoever the Imperium sent to oversee all of this was rational and not taken to weighing in solely on the grounds of sharing the same country.

“Well, if there’s nothing further, I need to be appraised on, I’ll be setting up my office and reviewing the material provided.” Woolsey gave a genial smile as the Colonel departed, leaving Woolsey to dwell on the prospect of doing battle with a potential millennia old serpent who specialized in bandying words.

How exciting.

 

[The Immortal Watch Dog]

And for @Spartan303 and others who were waiting for a Hathor heavy chapter.

She goes in alone against Amunet and Apophis!

And for @Harlock and those who enjoy the world building, there's a bit of back and forth between Hathor and Amunet on socio-political issues within the Imperium and Hathor implies some rather unPC things about Amunet's character

Also a bit of Hathor being a good grandmother.

Oh and more importantly. A tiny bit of info on the "Nameless one" and that civil war.

Waset – Crown World of Apophis Domain. – Month of Tartarus (September by Tau’Ri reckoning.)

It was an odd contrast, to the eternally cold and forested Chulak. The planet Waset whose orbital was slightly closer to the sun than ordinary for most lotar life. A degree of nanometers perhaps, just enough to give the planet a temperate to tropical climate that resulted in a world of island paradises, rolling hills, mountains and warm breezes. She doubted if there was anywhere on Waset that snow touched except for the mountain peaks and the most remote regions on the southern archipelago, where enormous beasts descended from the cave dwelling omnivores commonplace on the western hemisphere of Tau’Ri. Hathor remembered them well, from a hunting trip here ten thousand years ago. Enormous, almost four times the size of the tallest Jaffa when on their hind legs and they could swim as well when needed, even reaching the tips of the southern continent at times. Ten thousand years, ten thousand! He was her younger brother, the last surviving sibling Hathor had and yet she barely spent any time with Apophis or his many, many children and the chamberlain felt guilt assault her heart. -Then again, it was his brutality that provoked Egeria to rebel- she thought, with no hint of bitterness as one of her attendants began to weave golden threads through her long black hair before nearly flinching at the thought. No, that wasn’t quite true. He raped Amaterasu and brutalized her host, poisoned her, all the savagery of one who was still grieving, still furious and has no self-control. But it was her former husband that allowed Apophis to do that – And as Ra was always so happy to point out, it was me who proposed giving Amaterasu over to Apophis- One of her worst mistakes, a mistake that resulted in two children being marred forever and one of them dying at her own father’s hands and all because she believed that turning over Amaterasu would have prevented civil war.

She wanted to laugh at herself then as she looked into the mirror, she wanted to sneer at herself. -It was either that or I give over Egeria, and I couldn’t do that, not after what he showed himself to be capable of. - other than her total destruction of the Set’yim, she had no greater regret, and it was one of the myriad reasons why she truly detested coming here. Another thing that still pained her, unlike Ra who had a large family, there was only ever Apophis, Anubis, and herself. Her parents, gentle Tartarus and mighty Neith having died early in the rebellion when she was still a youngster. So young that, had she been born the way Goa’uld were now, she would have still been a Prim’tah.

Bast came later, the daughter of Anubis, but even she died eventually. Killed during the fight against the nameless one. Apophis had so many progeny, but he tended to neglect and ignore his children with the exception of Klorel and the less said about him the better. Waset was a lonely place, one that was now run by that murderous bitch Amunet. A Goa’uld queen, a halfbreed that was so filled with ambition and hate she was certain the youngster had assassinated dozens if not hundreds of her nieces and nephews through Apophis even while she was still a Prim’tah. For her mental powers were enormous owing likely to her “wild” DNA and the disturbing fact that when Peers mixed with the lower species of Goa’uld they tended to yield offspring who were far more powerful than they had any right to be. Maybe it was a mistake coming here, Hathor thought. But it was a mistake she had to make, she owed the memory of the sweet, altruistic, and energetic youngster Apophis had been before the rebellion, to the memory of the little brother she loved dearly if not the monster he’d become. And so, she prepared her finest, to make a plea to a madman that used to be her brother and to confront her brother’s mistress face to face. To see the face that was stolen from one so innocent and see if there was a chance, she could stop what was coming.

“Remain here.” Hathor ordered, to the presence she felt by the door to her rooms onboard the Egerios her personal flagship. Though one would not think it were a warship given the silks on the walls, the golden statues and the soft carpet beneath her feet. Braziers burned with holographic fires illuminating her personal quarters and the tall, golden-haired woman who stood towering over the former empress. Her eyes were completely turquoise, and her golden hair fell down passed her rear, she was dressed in the armored tunics of a fleet Captain, and she bowed. Taweret was her great granddaughter, from a son Horus had with Mei’lyn who was killed during the Titans rebellion.

She was no peer, Ra had denied her the right to use a resurrection chamber, but Hathor had granted it to her in the years since his death, to honor her service. “I…I advise against this yet again. To go alone, majestic eminence.”

She smiled patient smile at the younger Goa’uld. Loyal Taweret, who would have stepped between herself and Amunet the moment she sensed trouble even though doing so would mean her death within an instant. “The gap between peers and your kind is the difference between a pebble and a moon.” She chided, causing the youth’s eyes to glow in a reflexive display of embarrassment. “Amunet would need Klorel to overwhelm me.”

-Or a well-placed sniper- the girl thought -Even a God may die if she is taken unawares- and then her eyes widened in horror as she realized her anxiety allowed the thoughts to be broadcasted. So great was her panic that her apologies may as well have been shouted from the rafters before they ever left her mouth and Hathor reached out and set a calming hand on the girl’s wrist. “Pease child, you gave no offense. My, dearly departed husband certainly proved that point, didn’t he? Still, I’m not worried.” Hathor allowed an almost feral grin to appear on her face for a fraction of a second. “Amunet wants to kill me herself; she isn’t powerful enough to do that yet although I bet, she thinks she is.” She stood up gently kissing her bastard granddaughter on the forehead before turning to leave.

Sometimes it was hard to remember who originally proposed the idea, it had been nearly forty thousand years. Whether it was her, or it was Amun-Ra but she had advanced it and then blamed him her brother acted in a way she’d never seen him act before. It was cruel to blame him, albeit his reaction was worse than she expected. He merely ordered Apophis to surrender Amaterasu now that his abysmal attempt to salvage his wounded pride was done. And then paid a small fortune out to the broken countess. Whatever Apophis had done to her nervous system, it had taken Amaterasu a hundred years of healing to correct the damage. She was too proud to use a resurrection chamber until after she had healed, or so the story went. Regret filled her mind, and it was odd, she supposed after being wrathful and warlike for so long the last thirty thousand years being dedicated to peace or atonement was logical. The trouble was she didn’t believe atonement for some of the things she did was possible, nor did she necessarily believe she needed to. Accepting that as a ruler one needed to do horrible things, live with them and regret them yet still carry out your duties and being consumed by guilt and fear and rage as her husband was at the end or consumed by indolence and bloodlust as her brother did were three very different things. As the decoy shuttle descended to Waset, she smiled, she was getting old if merely visiting her only remaining sibling made her wax poetically about sin. At the end of the day, all she could do was hope her son (And likely Mei’lyn) would be better rulers than Ra and Hathor herself had been. “They go bad, but we don’t have to.” She repeated in the Tau’Ri language called English. According to Leanan the Tau’Ri war leader Jack O’Neill had said that to Teal’c and that had been what swayed the War Master. Of course, he would, those words resonated with her on a profound level because that was exactly why her parents and Ra’s started the rebellion against the Ori so long ago.

-I would very much like to meet this O’Neill one day- Hathor thought then laughed at how preposterous the thought was, especially after such heavy memories. Enveloped by the transported beam, she rematerialized inside the rings board the shuttle that was supposed to carry her guards. Exiting before the great palace at Waset, Apophis home.

A home that was fashioned in honor of Yggdrasil the mythical castle on the cradle world of the Asgardians. A great long house the size of a mountain that could be seen from orbit and rose high enough to have distinct climates on the different levels and ends. Unlike Chulak, many Lotar lived on Waset some four billion. They were a proud people, whose ancestors won the honor by surviving the rigorous conditions on Dakkara, to tame it and make it theirs and whose DNA was used to create the first Jaffa. The bravest and fiercest of these Lotar might even one day win the honor of having a descendant of theirs taken in uteru and genetically engineered to become the lowest rung of the Jaffa race, who in time through selective breeding and competitiveness and intrepidness would one day mayhap reach as high as First Prime or even War Master. On Waset they didn’t worship a distant and remote God, but a mighty war God who walked among them, fought with them, honored them by presiding over decadal contest of strength wherein the mightiest champions of their world fought in a great Lotar exclusive bloodsport broadcast throughout the Imperium. He also slept with them, to the extent that at the behest of Thoth Isis had placed rigorous immigration controls Waset’s subjects because so many of them shared the same ancestor or father (Apophis himself.) that there had been concern about potential genetic damage to the planets around Waset. Though, in truth Hathor suspected that was more an attempt to shame Apophis into ceasing his relentless fornications. She laughed to herself, as a warm breeze passed through hair that she allowed to develop a few streaks of silver, to contrast with how youthful her body looked after Crichton’s many old and vain jokes. They had known her brother for their entire lives yet still had no idea how to sway him to do anything.

Then again, only Anubis ever really could and Ra’s…

A brigade of the serpent legion met her, standing in glistening gold uniforms. The elite of his personal guard the one’s that survived two engagements with the Tau’Ri any way. Each one was tall, gallant and the eyes on their cobra shaped helmets glowed as they arrayed themselves as a column on each side of the walkway through to the entrance of the palace where she was greeted not by the chamberlain of Apophis’ domains but by several minor Goa’uld nobles. Now that was interesting…He’d been another one of her brother’s illegitimate but well-placed progeny. -She’s truly killing everyone connected to his past mistresses and wives…Drey’ac must be warned and the girl in the bureaucracy. Neith? Yes, her too- Hathor thought, though Drey’ac hardly needed to be warned. She’d been the victim of an attempted bombing inside of a major space port over Nineveh no less. -At the very least, that’s what the assassin wanted us to think- there were deeper mysteries and madder minds then even Amunet are at work here.-

It was an empty court, which was what she had come to expect from her brother. Waset wasn’t like Pengu or Nineveh or Olympus or Helios or Y’zumo . it was the court of the being whose mind and resources and manpower were the backbone of the Imperium’s military machine and Chulak was where most of the decisions effecting the military and its economics were done. Teal’c likely entertained more courtiers, diplomats and System Lords than Apophis ever did because the War God simply held himself above all that and his capitol was his retreat from the nonsense. So, the immense yet oddly spartanesque Throne room was empty but for flickering lights holographically modified to appear as the flames of torches. The only real sign of ostentation beyond the precious gems and metals that went along the edges of mosaics and murals on the walls was the art itself. Nanite woven synth marble that told and retold accounts of some of the early battles in her brother’s life. Except for a new one which was immense and towered over even the throne itself. Behind the throne of Waset (Made from starship armor of vessels he’d destroyed himself in his youth twisted and molded into an raised elegant chair.) were two depictions.

The first a figure hooded, cloaked in scarlet, gaunt, emaciated and hobbled, wretched and decrepit. The antithesis of a system lord. It’s face hidden and obscured, its eyes glowing colors that ran the gamut of each color associated with each system Lord dynasty before settling on red. An old rotten, clawed hand extended pointing towards Amun-Ra who was struggling to hold back the darkness that began to flow all about them. Apophis appeared between the nameless crimson figure and her former husband, a look of defiance and outrage on his face and thrust Anubis legendary staff forward into its chest.

The next image showed Apophis on bent knee, in supplication to an Amun-Ra who held one hand up in banishment and the other in welcome, with a proud hard face unwilling to show gratitude.

Hathor’s blood chilled with rage. Liar! You slew his soldiers! It was Ra, Yu and I who had to face his evil head on! Hathor took a breath, controlling the rage that was building inside of her at so open a blasphemy and such total disrespect for her family. Her eyes darted to the throne itself which was currently enveloped in light as Apophis making use of a ring transport device brought himself from wherever he was seated onto the throne, Amunet appeared beside him barely clothed, with only a shimmering silk robe of reds and blacks to cover her nakedness. Her host body looked only slightly older than Hathor’s and the former Empress was filled with disgust at the sight -A woman barely out of her adolescence, she took a child.- At least the doctor was a thousand years old even she didn’t look it, at least she was a monster, at least it was a fight to take her over. At least she deserved it! Adorned in black silks with streaks of gold and velvet gloves, Apophis looked like he had been in his bed chambers and couldn’t be bothered to dress properly for his elder sister, they both did.

This was such an unhinged, unhealthy and undisciplined display Hathor had to rely on her vast array of life experience to summon the emotional control to master herself before she rushed over to the throne to shake her brother out of his madness. “Hathor! Ahhh elder sister!” Apophis called, though she noted he only rose from his throne to embrace her when Hathor took the first steps towards him. Amunet stayed by the throne, eyes narrowing almost imperceptibly as Apophis rose to greet his sister, her hostility was well concealed, but she could sense the hatred below it all. Amunet did not like her. Seeing Hathor perhaps as a rival or resenting the matriarch of the Gods for her status, after all. Hathor ruled jointly with Ra until their relationship soured and this wretched little thief had to have known her heritage precluded her from ever having any real power.

“Do you like my new painting? Klorel worked it for me, he’s switched hosts recently and there is time before…” Apophis trialed off, still embracing Hathor as the two gazed up upon the insult to Hathor’s entire family. -a little time before his ungovernable abilities and disabled mind reduce him to the status of a drooling invalid- Hathor thought, wanting to say that out loud and remind Apophis that it was indiscretion that resulted in the poor creature’s birth. “I am curious.” She began, considering her phrasing as the admission that it was Klorel who did this served as a shield against any charges of disloyalty. “Where are my sons who fought beside you? And Athena? Who fought side by side with you against A’z’hrael the fallen first prime until Horus thrust his golden sword through the monster’s heart? And Apollo and Izanami and Raijin? Who waged a frantic battle in the skies above Edenos preventing more of his follows from joining the battle? Or Zeus, Amaterasu, Hera and Izanagi who battled the Leilum alongside Isis in the mental realms? Or myself” she linked regarding the painting, as if seeing it for the first time and scrutinizing it with the fine eye of an art critic as Amunet suppressed a shudder at Hathor’s use of the forbidden names to describe a final battle whose mere mention often came with “And may the Gods forgive me for mentioning such evil in the light of day.” By even nonbelievers who spoke of the nameless one and his treachery. “I was there, and as I recall bore the brunt of his psychic assault for a few seconds.” An eternity, Hathor thought, an eternity of mental torture and psychic rape and if it wasn’t for my former husband, I’d be a blank slate right now, as blank as that poor woman Amunet stole. Apophis frowned, seemingly wounded on behalf of his son and looked at Hathor with a mix of sadness and disappointment and anger. “Klorel did it for me, because he wanted to honor his father who he thinks is so strong. It was just a gift…”

Hathor patted his chest gently. “Peace little brother, he is an innocent boy” which was what made Klorel so dangerous, Hathor left out. That he did what he did without any concept of wrong or right because he was too insane and mentally impaired to comprehend right and wrong. “And you are a good father.” He was, so help her, Hathor had to admit it was his only redeeming quality, but he was always a great father to as many of his offspring as he could manage at any given moment. Which was what made it so bizarre, that he would tolerate the naked butchery Amunet was clearly attempting against his offspring. Offspring that he doted on and adored above anything save war. “I was merely concerned this would get you in trouble.”

Apophis shrugged. “I won’t be living here much longer sadly. By the end of this decade, I’ll be seated in the throne room at Iwnw on Dakkara. Our son will be seated here I suppose, when one gifted enough in the ways of war is born.”

The grandiosity of that proclamation and how oblivious it seemed to be, aside. It made her almost sad to hear him discuss Amunet so. -No offspring born from a Goa’uld of the lower species may assume any position of nobility higher than planetary governor and even that required a special dispensation from the Emperor.- Hathor’s mind was awash with a mix of guilt and surprise. “The laws we set in place…”

“Are laws of retribution by Amun-Ra because his father was betrayed by primitive Goa’uld.” Apophis waved his hand dismissively at last breaking physical contact with her to walk towards Amunet, a bright smile on his face as they locked arms. “Over one hundred thousand years has passed since then, many of those species have evolved since then and are sentient and loyal subjects of the Imperium.”

“Subjects being the operative word, Majestic eminence” Amunet spat the honorifics out as though they were venom in her throat, beneath all her subtle velvety tones. Hathor scrutinized her focused on her vocal cords and mental energies, on the movement of her chest and throat and jaw. Making sure she wasn’t using the voice denied to all but the System lords. “Jaffa would have more rights than I do were I not the consort of mighty Lord Apophis.”

“Jaffa have earned those rights, my dear many times over. As have many others who are citizens and not subjects, half of your heritage is of the blood, you are a peer by birth, but your mother was some sewer born bottom feeder who ended up dying in a cell after she took up with the children of Egeria.” Hathor responded lazily, let her know that you knew the truth about her birth. Not that any of it mattered now, but this woman fancies me the devil. She knows nothing of true evil, all petulance and rage.

“Begging your pardon majestic eminence but it’s the equalist movement, not the Children of Egeria, I know all Tok’ra must look the same to the great and noble Hathor.” Amunet hissed back, her eyes flashing a low pink color that made Hathor pray to whatever existed out there above everything that she descended form one of Tartarus’ brothers by some happy coincidence (Even though they all died in their tanks.) or a niece through Bast and that her brother was not sexually involved with his own daughter. After a second Hathor smiled indulgently “On the contrary, Nerus is a close and dear friend, among the few I have left. I have always been a patron of certain Tok’Ra factions, I’ve never made a secret of that. I agree with the equalists up to a degree and have debated it rather extensively with Hera..if you’ve not learned much on the subject.” Hathor’s eyes flashed a bright pink, and her voice was all calm and patience, she would not affectate a false tone of honey or sweetness, she did not need to be demure.

She was Hathor, one of the two builders of the greatest civilization that ever was and the greatest that ever will be. She was the mother of dynasties and a peacemaker, but she was an old mother long accustomed to arrogant children. “However, surely you understand why reproducing with Goa’uld of the line of poor Klorel’s mother…”

“Sister..” Apophis warned and Hathor shook her head. “Brother, you made a mistake and were honorable in wanting to atone for it by bringing her home, but you have to know that it was wrong! My poor nephew…”

Apophis nodded; he seemed genuinely sad as he held Amunet. As if he knew that Hathor would rather Ra had made him kill Klorel when he made Apophis kill the others. -No, I never wanted that, but I wish he was never born. What have you done little brother? I can’t even recognize you anymore- Hathor felt sorrow but resolve fill her heart. “You want the throne so you can change those Immutable laws? You would have to get past Hera first or convince the conclave of the System Lords to amend our most fundamental of laws.”

“Perhaps.” Apophis said with a wolfish grin. “But then again, I’ve always felt Amun-Ra’s greatest mistake was relinquishing some of his power to this legislative body of the Imperium. I advised him when we were still barely in control of one little planet to retain absolute power.”

“A civilization built on one being, as opposed to around a small group of good sentients was doomed to death as soon as that one being breathed his last” she quoted Ra’s response to him, because once upon a time, her husband had been a good man and a great leader. Apophis smiled in response laughing as if the fact that she remembered the response was surprising. “Even with out designed memory…I had forgotten that. Come! Let us leave the nonsense of civil rights aside and talk of why you’re here.”

Nonsense?! There was a moment when both women regarded him as if he was even feebler than Klorel. Even though we come at it from two separate angles neither of us would dare dismiss the single most contentious issue in our civilization as trivial.

There were trillions of lower Goa’uld, even if that did still make them a minority in an Empire so vast, that was still a tremendous group of sentients, some of whom looked at the middle born and the Peers with anger and it was a problem they would have to address one day. “It’s a serious enough issue that Inari has requested asylum from the Tau’Ri.”

“Good for her.” Amunet remarked. “I heard the rumors that she is a latent queen and if so, I don’t blame her. I’ve already had one batch of Prim’tah and had to lobotomize eighty percent of them. You’ve no idea how it feels, to dim the little lights inside you.” She murmured sadly.

Were you under the impression that even if equality was achieved that it would ever stop? One of us can give birth to ten thousand offspring in a single day unless they’re peers or queens. Do you imagine what would happen to our Jaffa? Or our population centers if a billion new Goa’uld matured from Prim’tah states tomorrow?

There were trillions of lower Goa’uld because most died with their initial host, whose personality was often either preserved or merged with the serpent thus most of the poorest residents of the galaxies saw it as a means to maintain longer life and near perfect health for long enough to support their families for a few generations. The bondings were an out of poverty scheme for both Goa’uld and host and were ultimately harmless because of the limited nature of both. And who knew how many “wild” bondings occurred in Peacekeeper space or what have you. But it was different with the middle and higher borns and peers? A hundred thousand Peers suddenly appearing wouldn’t just be a demographic problem, that much psionic energy concentrated in one spot could potentially be a civilization destroying cataclysm. And discussing this with siblicidal lunatic was beneath Hathor. She was too insane, and she undermined her own cause with her insanity. “I came to ask the Lord if he planned to attend the grand banquet in memoriam of Amun-Ra later this year.”

“Ah! So, you plan to make the announcement for when the election will take place?” Apophis queried as if there was no other reason to honor the life of the man who built a civilization from nothing. “I suppose we’ll be ask to vote you as Grand Regent...”

“To arbitrate the succession, yes. It will be my last duty to Amun-Ra.” She said, feeling a hint of actual sadness for her ex-husband, or rather the memory of the being he was one; now in a time so long ago it was more fable than fact. -And my first duty to my new Emperor, my foolish if altruistic prince Horus- she thought before offering Apophis a tired smile. “Come to my party little brother, please.” She hated how juvenile she sounded in her sorrow but in truth even if all she could do was cling to the memories of dead siblings and not this lost monster. Apophis wanted to do more than become Emperor it seemed but wanting to abolish all the systems in place to ensure everything worked. He wanted the power but why? Was it truly for wars unending? Would he reduce them so?

Her brother laughed and nodded, eyes beaming the way they did in their youth. “Hathi! Of course, I will, but I will bring Amunet. She’s mine and the rules be damned, let Ra seethe from the next world, but through pain and loss she’s been there for me.”

Hathor’s blood chilled.

That was a lie, a mean-spirited lie. And he told it with practiced ease, but Apophis was always such a terrible liar on anything except military matters that he had to know she’d see through it. Leave this place wife…

Ra’s voice echoed in her mind, what an odd form to take but she agreed heartily with it. Rising she thanked Apophis and turned with a flourish. Her heartbeat kept neutral and steady only through the control she held over her host body. She waited for the duo to bow, her eyes imperious and commanding now and she would not depart until one of them gave ground (as it granted her the precious few seconds to reign in the storm of emotions below the surface.) when Apophis rose and bowed, she turned not waiting for Amunet to pay her proper respects, refusing to give her the time of day.

Something reached out, she could feel it touching on her defenses, gently, lightly probing. The subtle intrusion was no threat, but it was in and of itself an act of disrespect and Hathor turned slightly facing the youngster. Her eyes glowed slightly, and the woman bowed, but as she did so the subtle touches became suddenly slightly harder, and Hathor responded by allowing the attack to wash over her defenses…While she opened several capillaries in the young host's nose. Amunet came up sneezing and gushing blood about while hissing in embarrassment and annoyance.

Hathor left the throne room to laughter that didn’t belong to her brother, at least not the one she remembered from her adolescence.

Her mind wandered back to her promise to Drey’ac “We will have a reckoning for all those whom we loved that have been robbed from us.” It was a promise, not just from a Goddess to her follower, not merely a monarch to a subject but one mother to another. It was a sacred vow she had, in the moment felt a slight amount of regret in making for what it implied but after today. She was glad she’d made it.

For as she returned to her vessel Sekhmet-Hathor knew two things. The first? That Amunet was a murderer and the second that nothing good of Apophis remained, something had driven him so completely insane that he was gone.

And if was if that spirit was dead.

She would ensure his body joined it.

 

[The Immortal Watch Dog]

Alright ladies and gents, I'm back and the ep moves along.

For while Woolsey prepares to do battle with a snake lawyer.

NID deputy director Kim Statterfield plays some mind games with a pair of ex Goa'uld analysts! And the NID gets to shine. @Spartan303 You asked me how the NID would play out, here's part of your answer.

P3X-797/Devorias

September 30th.

If there was one thing, NID’s deputy director could give these two it was that they understood the value of truth telling. Not so much the truth, mind or a willingness to cooperate and divulge information or sources or plans and schematics. No, but the ability to be completely honest but using figures of speech or turns of phrases that made it insanely difficult to determined if they were lying or not and when to be completely honest because handed your interrogator a bunch of facts that are important to distract you from sensing more valuable info and then pushing to get it out.

What was more amusing to her was that they weren’t a threat. She could tell that from how they approached SG2 and how they requested asylum. They weren’t there to infiltrate or spy and if they were, the telepath could have just convinced her to give them her seal of approval. No, Statterfield thought, these people hadn’t even asked to be settled on Earth, they only asked to be given over to Tau’Ri custody and then given right to request sanctuary on Abydos or to move on through the gate. America was just a means of dodging a corrupt space cop and she found that hilarious how harshly it put things in perspective. No, the games Inari and Sekhen played were games they were doing merely an exchange of skills and testing a fellow professional. Of course, that made Statterfield way more suspicious than she might ordinarily have been. On the other hand, it was nice interacting with spies who loved their country for once, with Statterfield swearing that the NID was the only arm of the US intelligence apparatus that remained loyal.

Seated opposite, there seemed to be two main points of contention that drove them to leave. The first was that no matter what they did in service of their civilization, any children they had (Which was still a wild concept, she’d read how Goa’uld do it and how they essentially repurposed organs and…yeah..awful. They might have been mammals but they reminded her more of a worm like version of the Borg.) would never be allowed to do more than menial tasks or mid-level administrative work if that. Their lifespans would be measured in the thousands of years, which was a lot longer than the average lower tier snake but for a biologically immortal Peer it was torture, and her husband would be dead in a thousand or so because of where he came from. That was still an insanely long life, at least from Kim’s perspective, all of this was contingent on him not dying and them finding new hosts or cloning their old ones when these expired.

And their children might never have a future if they had any at all. Inari was looking at a very long, lonely life and Sekhen was looking at a lifetime of doors constantly closed in his face and worse if he didn’t defect with her. Worse was the fact that their relationship was downright criminal due to the fact that three of Skhen’s immediate forefathers were Goa’uld that were as she was given to understand it. Fairly primitive, to where one belonged to a species that only developed sentience due to the hosts they took. He’d be killed for mating with her, and she would likely face a lengthy prison sentence and then she’d be shut out from any form of service. It was to where Statterfield was tempted to recommend asylum on earth. At least, there they could still serve which is what they seemed to want to do more than anything. But she wasn’t sure if they’d accept it.

They swore an oath to shield the Imperium from its enemies and even with how disillusioned they both were…They didn’t seem to want to break their oaths. Except to warn Earth of what they saw as an entirely illegal invasion and what they believed was a prelude to a treasonous coup detat against the Imperial throne itself. But that’s what made their flight to Devoarias so odd. Was Heqet in on this conspiracy and if so, why didn’t they just pass that up the chain of command? Unless they felt that the imperial bureaucracy was so full of holes there was no safe way for her to act? If so, then that concept terrified her, the kind of purge that would be needed to right an IC that large was a terrifying thought in its scale. -They probably have more spies than Earth does people? How many of those will get fired and how many will face worse if measures are taken?-

It was all conjecture of course, but Kim had seen enough institutional corruption in her time to recognize the signs and alien snake in a brain or not, the body language and emotional intensities didn’t seem to change. Except that he was a hundred and thirty and she was over three hundred and that gave them a lot of emotional control.

But they were still sentient, and sentient beings seemed to have tells that were universal if her time on Abydos and with Teal’c was any indication. Of course, that went both ways, Statterfield had to watch herself with them making sure she didn’t give anything away and to also make sure she wasn’t being too biased.

After all, their relationship mirrored her own. It took a lot to get where she was, on her own, to be able to love Rob and start a family with him while not being seen as a dangerous interloper in dynastic squabbles amongst the IC’s “reigning families”. “So, if I’m understanding this right, you don’t want to live on Tau’Ri? You just want us to help you find a place to start a new life huh?” she asked, finally bringing the discussion back to this more poignant aspect of their story.

“Well, we figured you wouldn’t allow us. Especially when we said you wouldn’t exchange our knowledge on weapon systems to you.” Sekhen offered, he sounded remarkably young and boyish the way Jackson did, which was amusing from her perspective because he was older than any living human and yet sounded like a goofy teenager half the time. Inari remained silent, but she seemed to be nodding in agreement and Kim found herself smiling pleasantly caught ya bitch.

“We wouldn’t have a problem with granting you residency, you’d have to avoid doing things like going to a hospital or what have you. And you won’t be allowed to live in an area with civilians, it would have to be a house in a military base and your movement would have to be controlled…” restricting movement on a body jumping telepath was going to be impossible and it would probably be better if they weren’t treated like prisoners, but unlike junior who was never going to jump out of Teal’c these two could do a lot of damage if they got away. On the other hand, if all their neighbors subjected themselves to regular imaging. “If it weren’t for your cultural taboo against body theft, you would never be allowed on Earth. As it stands you would never be allowed to run around without escort, at least not until our tech catches up to your biology..any way. I might be old and withered by then, but you guys wouldn’t and fifty to a hundred years isn’t the same for you as it is for us I guess. But that would be a major point. You’d be allowed to live well, especially if you worked with us in some kind of advisory capacity or in a diplomatic sense helping us avoid conflict with your people and helping us craft treaties and set policy.” That seemed to appeal to both of them, but their hesitance again made her suspicious. -Is she pregnant or something? - Kim thought, was her concern for her kids?

“Would we be allow to..reproduce?” Sekhen asked suddenly (Apparently Skara found his name amusing because in Imperial standard it meant “fellowship” and “trustworthy and noble” which was an amusing name for a spy but in their dialect, it meant hug, huggable and good friends.).Kim made an effort to appear conflicted, which she was…Because it didn’t sit right with her to think that her government would be able to prevent a pregnancy. As a mother there were few things viler than population control policies, but she would have to advise the President that no, under no circumstances should they be allowed to have kids even if it was just the standard one or two or three that female Goa’uld who weren’t queens with their assembly line uteri were capable of producing. Not that they wouldn’t be able to find volunteer hosts, the longevity and pure health offered by a Goa’uld would be mighty tempting, but the personality death risk, or the loss of autonomy and then there was the fact that her offspring would essentially be infants exposed to the full force of an adult personality before they themselves had time to develop and no, that was all kinds of wrong for her on an instinctive level. No, it would be both a national security risk and potentially inhumane (Both to snake and host.) Something in their eyes caused Kim to have to stop herself from craning her head, from her perched position on the back of a chair she’d turned forward to use as a head and armrest while they talked. -She’s not pregnant, but she’s deeply concerned, like she’s nervous we’d hurt her kids.-

Would they?

She hoped not.

She’d kill anyone in the NID who even suggested cutting up some Prim’tah whose only crime was being born a baby snake in a suburban bathtub. Granted, she was vaguely aware certain types Goa’uld queens were forced to lobotomize their own young to use for Jaffa, so their government did worse to themselves but. No, her eyes flickered, there was something in their eyes a pathological fear of experimentation, because there was nothing in their eyes that suggested the happy couple was worried about being told no, they couldn’t have babies but that hearing yes would present a whole new batch of worries. -What is she hiding? Wait she can’t be queen or something can she?- If that was the case, then…there was a whole bunch of leverage that was given to them but only if they behaved like monsters. -That fear, it’s not just maternal-, Kim had a bunch of kids, she recognized fear for your children, and she recognized fear of being told you couldn’t have children.

This was a fear of the first.

“Are you two worried because she’s Yahata’s daughter?” Kim asked, deciding to ask a personal question that was slightly off the mark to gauge Inari’s response. “Your father didn’t take up arms against my government, he didn’t conspire to try and blow up my leader. He didn’t escape our law and then run around the backwoods wreaking havoc for a hundred years on Earth.” She began when there was a hesitancy that confirmed her speculation… Yep, she thought. Gotcha.

“In our society, we don’t believe in attainting people. Your sins die with you, we don’t visit it on your kids, so if that’s why you’re asking. You don’t need to worry, besides all Yahata did to us was the attempted murder of a few of our soldiers whilst in the commission of another crime. He paid for that, and I am sorry for your loss, but we would never hold that against you.”

When they both breathed a sigh of relief in unison it was the first half-truth they’d ever told and when they failed to realize she never actually answered them, she decided it was time to hit home.

“Of course, we don’t have Jaffas”

“what?” Sekhen breathed, Inari clutching his hand below the table paled.

“Well, I was going to say, help us build a cloning machine and it wouldn’t be a problem and having some homegrown Goa’uld to help us potentially fend off any kind of petty raids from Apophis in the long run wouldn’t be, not that it would be much help against a full scale invasion.” She grinned eying Inari before adding. “But I think you’d need a whole lake, aren’t you big ladies supposed to be able to mother a literal army every couple months? You don’t strike me as a land mammal, my guess is your little legion of Murican Prim’tah would need a nice amount of water to mess around in, as they matured. In absence of jaffas?”

They both looked horrified and Sekhen shook his head frightfully. “No, no my grandfather was born in a lake, all eight thousand of his brothers and sisters were eaten by avians and fish and crustaceans no…He would roll in his tomb and curse me for a regressionist if I dared to see my sons and daughters brought up like tha…” he paused…and then purpled in embarrassment at being duped so easily.

Inari laughed and Kim thought it was a nice laugh, but it was a resigned laugh.

“Jamah! You’re good Kim Statterfield, almost preternaturally good. For someone so young.”

Kim smiled, rising from her seat and giving a dramatic bow and a flourish as though she were a maestro who had just ended a symphony.

She supposed in her own way she was, all three of them were. Conductors of the song of lies and shadows at least.. “From one professional to another, you honor me. But you realize, you can’t ever dissemble with me again, right?”

The two nodded. “We won’t, we promise.”

“Good, I’ll forgo the leverage game where I fake being indignant, ask you to tell me how I’m supposed to know if you’ll honor your promise since you’ve lied to me and then use that to extort a concession or two out of you. Let’s talk, spy to spy and.” She paused as she sat back down. “Future mother, to mother. After all you want to use America to get away, I can’t let that happen for free, especially not without inviting you to stay.”

Damn, if I can get them..If I can get an insight into whose dirty and who isn’t. She thought, that kind of knowledge would be way more valuable than learning how to build weapons to arm a few ships against their tens of thousands.

Leverage, they’d actually have leverage against the bad actors in the Imperium, who were her enemy as much as they were the Sekhen and Inari’s.

 

[The Immortal Watch Dog]

Anndd we move the scene along a bit...Woolsey meets the Goa'uld "lawyer" slash Bisu's boss whose there to totally not beg for the denial of the asylum request for those two dastardly criminals who are totally not just a youngish couple wanting to escape prejudice and also..totally not possessing of critical intel.

And a bit of the Greek Dynasty shows up.

In honor of @Gladiator of course.

Full credit to this artist because damn..

P3X-797/Devorias

September 30.

Richard Patrick Woolsey had never interacted with a System Lord or any member of the Imperium’s vast aristocracy or bureaucracy with the possible exception of Teal’c (As he wasn’t sure where Jaffa as high ranking as he was, stood in the order of things from firsthand observations.) all the reports of Apophis was this deadly, smooth and insane killing machine and of Horus as this gallant almost, force of nature who took with one hand and restored with the other and offered friendship as a means of apology. The depictions of the Nox were even more outlandish, God like entities who were more forces of nature to be respectful and fearful of than to try and make any kind of alliance with and the Asgard as austere, by the book bad asses in the words of Jack O’Neill who seemed enamored with Thor. Reports that painted pictures straight out of comic books and epics, Horus had more in common with King Arthur than he did an alien quasi feudal lord, however noble. Who ruled over hundreds of billions of people with an absolute authority that derived from a cult of personality-based faith than the laws that governed his society.

Beings that were larger than life fascinated him, but they were also useless to him in terms of how he could get to working on understanding the practicalities of the system of governance that ruled much of the universe and the eccentricities and idiosyncrasies that always carried as much weight as written law in governments and with government officials. If an ancient heathen God, resplendent and radiant stood before him he’d have no idea how to engage with him because a being like that would be utterly alien to the mentality of a modern human. But if that ancient heathen God was as flawed and subject to foibles and pettiness and passions and virtue and vice as any other politician then Richard Woolsey was confident, he’d be able to build a rapport with the being within a few weeks. And so, when Colonel Kowalski came in and told him that the envoy from Heqet’s domain had finally arrived and what came sauntering into the marble floored tower he’d been given as his offices while he prepared for this galactic farce Woolsey was both relieved and somewhat disappointed that the radiant heathen Demigod was a fat tall, bald man with orange skin who looked like a cave man crossed with a Vulcan than glowing master of esoteric wisdom.

He sighed, on some level he was hoping at least some of the hype behind the System Lords and their direct offspring was not just hype. Septu was an ancient border God in Egyptian mythology and when Woolsey explained this, the being with color coded glowing eyes laughed loudly before shaking his head. “Only the System Lords have earned the right to be called Gods my friend, through mighty deeds and great age in most cases.” There was a twinge of resentment in that bald, multi-chinned behemoths voice. He was adorned in fine silks that seemed to have precious metals like platinum alloys and gold woven into the material at a molecular level. All kinds of jewels hung off the dozen or so gold chains that around his flabby chest and his fat club like fingers were adorned with rings and his wrists bracelets. “But I suppose I might be called a spirit of the borders; I am the regional governor of the eastern quadrant of my majestic mother’s domains and her chief immigrations and customs officer. I find it fascinating; you say these Eegeptons came up eight thousands of your years ago, yet they held an oddly bastardized variant of our imperial religion. Were they visited by exiles perhaps? Have you any evidence of that?”

His voice was oily and smooth, sounding deep with an oddly effeminate twinge to it for someone so large and robust. As they walked along the graveled pathway in the gardens near the market square wherein all this mess began. Woolsey was keenly aware of how false the snake was. He wanted to know about earth, but there was no personal curiosity there and so Woolsey fed him a line or two of nonsense followed by an “I have no idea… In truth this is all new to us.”

The bald being gave a nod, pennants fluttered in the wind as the strings they were attached to that ran from one building to another across the great marketplace fluttered excitedly in the breeze. There was the personal flag of SG2, of the SGC, of the house of Menestros, his King and the odd frog like entity on a lily pad on a black field Woolsey assumed was Heqet’s personal standard. Everyone who was to be involved in this weird farce, which was essentially just an inordinately formal form protest at the acceptance of an asylum request by a defecting high level POI. “Cosmic law proscribes me from discussing the case with you, before your hearing. With the exception of our formal protest, which is that Inari has, overly sensitive information that to share with a foreign entity it could compromise Imperial security. She was one of the foremost experts on piratical activity within the Imperium for a full century after all.”

Woolsely nodded, here came the part where the advice Teal’c and Kim gave on how to approach this came in handy. She’s hiding something, something that wouldn’t be valuable to us perse but very valuable to her old bosses. And she’s afraid. The directress had said, and she was right. It was too unusual for someone that far up the food chain even demoted to be doing routine law enforcement activity. It was likely a smokescreen, to have the chief of border security and a chief of their police force equivalent both interested in her and so overtly that it reeked of desperation. Whatever she held, must have been huge. “I was given to understand she was demoted due to her father’s part in the Titan’s rebellion and she was just a field agent now?”

Septu’s eyes flashed for a second, the odd subdued purple and slowly nodded his great bald head, the myriad of chins jiggling as he did so. “This is true, but…” he paused and then stuck a fat finger in Woolsey’s shoulder, first to catch his attention and then to admire the fabric. “Ah a natural and synthetic fabric blend? My compliments, ordinarily the quality of such material isn’t so smooth compared to more advanced methods.” He waved it off as Woolsey was about to make a comment. “Spies are like fine fabrics my friend.” It took Woolsey a moment to pick up the inflection in his voice when used the word fabrics, Woolsey’s imperial standard had improved from passable to fluent over the last few months as he insisted Abydonians and Teal’c only speak to him in their language, he needed to learn it. Not just from papers and audio samples, but fluently spoken parlance. He needed to not just speak the language for his job, but think in it.

“One can acquire inexpensive thrifty fabric from a mid-level dealer. Dull in color yet hearty and strong and one can spend a vast fortune on a wardrobe made by the greatest seamstresses in the Imperium.”

“Only for the fabric to unravel.” Woolsey responded, seeing where this was going. The confession was subtle and alarming, more so that Septu was willing to bullshit so close to the truth as to nearly reveal the entire game before the trial even began. -And they focus on Inari, not her husband, they really want us to focus on Inari- Woolsey thought. The bald headed figure nodded raising a flabby index finger into the air. “You understand!”

“I do.” Woolsey said with a differential bow, oh he understood alright. That you guys were completely full of shit and dirty all the way through and if Sekhen gave up the goods on whatever he was hiding behind his wife’s big neon lights, then there’d be a lot of trouble for your divine mother.

“It is a pleasure to get to work with you then Mister Woolsey, from the way in which Horus speaks of your kind, I had thought you would be little more than honorable, muscle-bound fools but you understand the language of politics better than I expected.” His tone was pleasant, but sneering and it was clear as day that Lord Septu expected Woolsey to be so unfamiliar with how imperial standard was spoken by the upper classes that he would miss the tonal shifts and word emphasis that would have given away just how insultingly patronizing the great fat bastard was being. But Richard P Woolsey the third, was nobodies fool and he spent too much time around cut throats and corporate dirtbags and corrupt UN officials and dictators to not see what this guy was from a mile away.

Even if he were deaf, blind and dumb he’d see it.

Septu was about to speak again, no doubt to see about inviting Richard to lunch or something when the Stargate began to activate, the oddly bone white and thin stargate didn’t have chevrons that clamped down like the ancient earth gate did, instead clear chevrons that were merged with the gate would blink whenever locked down, as the gate symbols themselves lit up and each tile and symbol glowed making it look like it was spinning as opposed to physically doing so until at last one was chosen. It made the thing look like one of the light games his sons had played with when they were boys. Eventually seven were chosen and Septu did not like the sequence that seemed to appear. Six Jaffa exited and they were all tall and broad shouldered and towered of the frog helmed Jaffa that Septu had brought with him. Their armor covered their entire body the way the serpent guard had, with their helmets being in the shape of horse like creatures with snarling mouths and light blue glowing eyes. Their combat staff’s were dark blank and tapered off into a bladed edge and there were two of the side arm lightning guns which looked like actual guns and he noted that the combat staff’s had the same center piece that allowed them to retract their blade and form rifle buts.

These aren’t peace officers, this is a proper military force.

The contrast was night and day, like Teal’c they moved with immaculate discipline and separated and banged their staff’s on the ground “DEVORIAS! KREE! TAU’RI! KREE! Y’HELIOS! SEJA! NEHARU!”

“Harken Deovrians! Harken mighty Tau’Ri!” was the translation as best as Woolsey could figure, their accent was different, far more lyrical than he expected.

“SEN’YASTUA! NEJA! NEDA! EURYDICE’DA SEKUM AETHER’DA! NEDA! RI! SHAKA! RE’KASARA! KREE HERA!!”

“Cometh the Lady Eurydice! Of the mighty house of Aether! Protector of the outer territories, mistress of the stars or something along those lines.” Woolsey frowned, another Goa’uld VIP and from the way Septu was reacting with a partial bow, one of even higher rank than himself. He searched his memories from Teal’c’s insights into the System Lords, with the exception of Kronos, the House of Aether were patriots, but they had tamed the harshest worlds of the old Ori domain and fought some of the nastiest battles, they’d lost more family members than almost any other dynasty and were committed to peace and trade, but from the way Teal’c described them they were sort of like Appalachian Mountain men.

Let them be and they would be the greatest of neighbors and the most loyal of friends, bring discord and discontent to their land? Hoobooy, you better get ready for hell.

What exited certainly didn’t seem like a mountain man, Eurydice was supposed one of the most beautiful of the children of the Gods, the youngest except for Amunet and one of the more libertine. What he saw confirmed it, at least aesthetically, in that she was adorned in a gown that was genuinely like something out of a fable of armored maids. Because below the skirt line he could see boots with armored toes and vambraces and a breast plate and a gorget with what looked like an alien swan engraved into it with sapphires in the eyes and a big golden Pegasus like creature all over her breasts completed the look of this, warrior queen out of an old Frazetta sketch. In earth mythology, Eurydice was so sweet and loving and beautiful that her husband went into the underworld and charmed the lord of the dead to get her back, with only his doubt undermining her freedom.

Here, she was every bit the beauty, but the glint in her eyes suggested she’d be the one to talk her way out of hell and not the other way around, if not outright brawl her way out. If Septu was the used car salesmen of Heqet’s domain, Eurydice was the Empress Theodora, bullshitting her husband’s honor guards so well that they were willing to draw steel on a plague infested city full of riots and arson to save a crumbling Empire. The last bit, however, was surprising, “Harken then! In the name of Justice, to the lady who speaks in the name of Justice, who comes then in Hera’s name.”

He quirked his head. He knew the System Lord Hera, wife of Zeus was their version of the chief justice of their Supreme Court but…were they going to force the Devorians to swear and perform their duties by Hera?

Would that be binding?

From the fact that Menestros and the warriors of Hyrkoon all seemed to slap their right arms over their chest with a balled fist and roar out a cry of acceptance and welcome..it seemed so.

What came out next were six more Jaffa and between them was some sort of antigravity sled that carried an enormous solid platinum throne bejeweled with rubies and blue diamond’s wherever the bird like patterns had their tails unfurled. There were battles as well, a being that he assumed was Zeus striking down some sort of Ori battlebot or something and scales of justice. Peacock like birds sat lazily on either side of the dais, two were white, others were blue or red or purple, their plumes magnificent and the statue itself was of an austere looking woman in her early to mid-thirties, lifelike granite a testament to the skill of whoever or whatever machinery carved that thing, laser like was the precision work. She was tall and robed in pinks and purples, with a similar armor set up, which was an oddity, who would armor a statue? Eurydice’s hair looked like it had feathers in it, growing from the scalp along with hair and Richard knew that to be a telltale sign of Kelownan heritage in the host but he couldn’t see anything of the statue that suggested something similar.

The sled passed the honor guard and hovered at the feet of Menestros and the others who touched the bier upon which the throne the statue and its throne was rested. Then Menestros called for the statue to be taken to where the hearing would occur, and Eurydice seemed to demand to speak with the Tau’Ri.

Woolsey guessed that meant it was time to go find Kowalski and then meet up.

As he departed he took note of Septu’s expression.

It was one of pure terror.

What the hell was there in a statue to be afraid of?

 

[The Immortal Watch Dog]

Alright gents, we're officially three quarters of the way through this.

Eurydice meets with Woolsey and Kowalski gets to see the difference between Ra and his lunacy and the more down to earth, true believers of the peers.

P3X-797/Devorias

September October 1st.

Menestros was not pleased, less because of the sheer abundance of guests (He looked pleased at all the commerce coming to his province.) and more because what should have been a quiet conference meeting where two groups haggled and the Tau’Ri either kicked the exiles out of their party or departed to earth with them had evolved into a grand spectacle that now involved a very high ranking noble within the court of the System Lords evoking her grandmother and demanding this hearing be as above the board as possible.

In a society this primitive having to move a whole bunch of guests and prepare for even more can’t have been easy. The stench of the city worsened as well, as what meager (And Woolsey was shocked it existed at all.) plumbing Hyrkoon had was overtaxed by the sheer number of guests coming in from the outskirts of the city. Word traveled fast on Devorias because they used some kind of bird of prey that could be trained to deliver messages and had phenomenal stamina. Messenger hawks instead of carrier pigeons, it was an oddly impractical yet practical notion. Woolsey was walking through the courtyard of one of the palace’s in hyrkoon, the one chosen after it was determined that the original location was too damn small to accommodate the six hundred or so guests that would be crowding into said courtyard. The sun had roughly an hour ago and the large stone columns that flanked the patio entrances to the courtyard were cast in shadows that accentuated the greet deeds depicted in stone. Woolsey traced an ink-stained finger along one depicting a warrior thrusting a spear into the mouth of a large serpent. Dragon slaying seemed to be a universal symbol of manly virtue for sentient life it seemed, or maybe they genuinely had giant lizards on this planet.

They had giant turtles they used as taxis and two more Jaffa came through the gate, one of which was riding one of those SUV sized Komodo dragons that engaged the space rangers on Avalon. So maybe they did have dragons? Between the columns braziers burned with an odd fragrance, some greens and others blue. Scented and colorized fire and it was achieved using perfumed oils extracted from different types of freshwater cetaceans. There was enormous trade and research potential in Devorias just in its ecology even if it lacked any salvageable wreckage and these hearings went poorly. Woolsey continued to walk through the large, gardened courtyard, with its benches and raised tables made of ancient coral until he came towards its end where the anti-gravity sled with the statue of mighty Hera hovered above a tiled floor. The peafowl like birds that had accompanied the statue pecked lazily at the ground, devouring any alien insect unfortunate enough come in contact with their beaks. Colonel Kowalski was seated on one of the benches, sipping some of the local wine. He was eying the six Jaffa with their horse helmets that didn’t mesh with the Peacock theme at all, as if they were the personal guard of Lady Eurydice or her direct superior and not the symbols of Hera.

He would later find out from Teal’c that they were the militia of Cygnus, one of the more important nobles of the house of Aether who wasn’t a system lord. The son of the System Lord Apollo whose symbol was a swan like bird flying around a sun, which made Woolsey chuckle. Back on earth, the mythology had it the other way around with horses being associated with Poseidon and Cygnus was the man who turned into a swan. Still, they looked impressively formidable, and their discipline was beyond dispute. They hadn’t moved, not to relieve themselves or rest since they arrived. Guarding the statue as though it was the most important thing here on this planet. Which was why Woolsey wouldn’t order Kowalski to bed, his paranoia about the statue wasn’t entirely unfounded. -And Septu’s fear when he saw it.-.

“Still convinced that’s going to get up and walk around Colonel?” Woolsey asked with an amused glint in his eyes. The Colonel shrugged, offering him the jug of wine that he’d been nursing since dinner. Woolsey declined and walked beside the seat, leaning an arm on the stone. “You never know, when we first met Ra, he was introduced as a statue made of bronze. Colonel O’Neill only noticed anything amiss because he saw the thing breathe.” Kowalski shuddered at the memory. “I know the Lady Eurydice hasn’t said this statue is her grandmother, but she hasn’t denied it either. I know it seems paranoid sir.”

“No, you’re right to be cautious, admittedly there’s a lot about this case that I find unusual. I’m not even sure why we’re giving them asylum in all honesty. They can’t stay on earth; they look like aliens and if we send them…” He trailed as he caught the look in Kowalski’s eye, right no sense in talking about the alpha sites out here, in man’s earnest attempts at colonizing other worlds. That had been the chief reason that only Doctor Jackson would be here for this, and he’d be arriving in a few hours, the rest of SG-1 was helping move the first in a series of planned settlers to a world in neutral space, close to earth but somewhat between the border of Asgardian space and a race of frog men called the Hynerians whose leader a three hundred year old letch named Rygell the sixteenth had written in damn near perfect English a letter to the SGC “Welcoming my new neighbors, who hopefully aren’t as frelled in the head as that Crichton character.” That letter had caused quite a stir and there would probably be diplomatic overtures to the Hynerians later. For now, just setting up a hundred families was going to be a month-long endeavor. Would the lovebirds be allowed to join that colony? Would they even be welcomed by colonists?

Probably, the few families he interviewed personally just seemed to want to escape what they say was an America who could no longer afford to give the able bodied but uneducated the opportunities to seek a good living. That would change, more manufacturing jobs would be needed back home as the Stargate program heated up, but in the now. Well, Woolsey remembered similar sentiments in the nineteen seventies when he was a teenager, people had been saying that for decades even during boom periods. It was an old song and dance, both a sad truth and a somewhat distorted reality. “What do you think of her?”

“Who the lady Eurydice? She’s not bad as far as snakes go. Easy to talk to, she’s got the same imperiousness Ra had but subdued, like she knows she’s up there in the food chain but not so far that she can just ignore us. Apparently, her grandfather Zeus and her uncle Herakles are big proponents of some kind of an alliance with Earth.” Kowalski said with a shrug, he’d met Herakles on Avalon when he was going there for a routine off world training exercise. He often came to visit, having struck up an odd friendship with John Shepherd. He was also a huge hit with the men, who loved how ridiculous he looked and how carefree and honorable he was. If every snake was like Herakles or Eurydice, then Kowalski wouldn’t worry about anything beyond the gate because they’d end up making friends with the whole damn species.

But that was also the problem. “It’s easy to talk to them, to trust them when they’re that friendly. They’ve got a way of talking to you that lets you forget you aren’t talking to an alien, or an earth descended alien but a snake wearing one as a skinsuit. Easy to forget, easy to let your mouth run.”

Woolsey nodded, that was one of the biggest problems he had with Inari and Sekhen, they were good “people” and it was clear they were sincere. But they were also such practiced liars that they might have gotten away with lying by omission had it been anyone else who interviewed them and even then, Woolsey was still questioning whether Kim got it all. “A lot of them have been interacting with people for tens of thousands of years, even the younger ones are practiced at mimicking human behavior, otherwise their facial expressions would be totally distinct.” It was either that, or Goa’uld emoted the same way humans did, which had certain implications he found disturbing. A figure dashed out of the shadows, it was a teenaged boy, followed by a girl with a blue tint to her skin. They both nodded to SG 2’s commander before moving towards the statue, nervously walking between the rows of motionless Jaffa to leave a small packet pulled out his pocket at the base of the sled. They bowed, said a prayer and darted off running back into the darkness of the palace walls.

“Hn, they do that a lot?” Woolsey asked.

Kowalski nodded, reaching up to scratch at a scar below left ear. “People come by, yeah and leave flowers mostly and bird seed, but every now and again you’ll have people who come to pray for luck in their marriage or on a trade deal. At least that’s what I can gather from the prayers I overhear.” This was the first time either man had seen anyone outside of Abydos make serious offerings and prayers to the System Lords and while Woolsey found it a curious thing to witness, Kowalski appeared deeply disturbed. “It isn’t the same.” The voice came from behind them and when both men turned, Eurydice stood in the grass, barefooted and in a black robe that shimmered in the night, barely clothed and smiling wryly. “Forgive me, Colonel I wasn’t able to sleep.” Her dialect of Imperial Standard flowed in an almost melodical manner that was a contrast to the refined, imperiousness of Teal’c when he spoke the language or the guttural Abydonian. “Too hot?” queried Kowalski, his eyes shifting everywhere but the woman’s body.

Eurydice for her part laughed, a laughter that sounded pleasant to Woolsey’s ears. “No, the beds on this planet..” she paused catching the look of sheer scorn on Kowalski’s face and erupted with loud laughter. “I know how spoiled that makes me sound, but we feel everything our hosts feel, and bad backs are bad backs, even when you can mend them inside of a moment.” She stepped between the two and looked up at the statue of her grandmother, if it truly was her grandmother, the old snake hadn’t moved from her position and if she was breathing, it was barely noticeable. The look of reverence mixed with love seemed to soften Kowalski’s ire slightly. “I’m sure it’s not.” He answered in Imperial Standard. “But my only experience with your religion was what Amun Ra did to the Abydonians.”

When Eurydice nodded, it was far more careful and slight this time, as though it were a topic best handled with grace. “You must understand the cataclysmic state the universe was in after we defeated the Ori. They had; their negligence was so egregious they cast thousands of their allies into a state of total primitivity. We inherited control over races older than us but that had forgotten how to make wheels, Colonel. Amun Ra’s vision was to use faith, the superstitions of the dark age and their hero worship of my forefathers to unite them and inspire them. In the end he went mad, but the rest of the System Lords try and honor the best of his decree.”

Thankfully, Kowalski didn’t press the issue he just nodded his head and looked back at the statue. “She’s something else huh?”

The woman laughed again. “She was the one who ruled Ra’s death self-defense and declared the Tau’Ri victims of a dishonorable act of preemptive violence by the emperor. She could easily have made a far more neutral ruling; she chose to come to your defense.” There was an intensity in her eyes that surprised Woolsey, she wasn’t just defending a superior, or an idol but she was defending someone she personally loved, defending her grandmother.

“Not to sound ungrateful, on many cases the High Judges of my world are known to make, politically expedient rulings.” Woolsey said in his most tactful tone. Eurydice canted her head, then smiled nostalgically. “The lower courts of the Imperium acted in similar…cowardice. But Lady Hera refused, your intrusion on Abydos might have been a breach of protocol, but how were you supposed to know? It was absurdly clear by the weapon you deployed how isolated from the rest of the universe you were. She decided to rule in your favor because she believes that law is more than a science. Because it was the right thing to do.”

“Well, we appreciate it. The more we learn about your people, the more we learn there’s more to learn.” Kowalski said as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, causing Eurydice to laugh and wrap her arms around his shoulder. “You would judge my entire race by my conduct? I am humbled and terrified.” Before Kowalski could protest, she kissed him on the cheek and released him, melting back into the shadows, leaving a bewildered Colonel to set down the wine and walk off muttering about how he needed to find his wife.

Woolsey remained for a time, looking up at the statue before he walked through the silent Jaffa and met the graven image carved in stone of the High Justice. Eurydice was supposed to be a participant however minor or neutral in these affairs, yet as an arbiter she could have tried to prejudice Woolsey or warn him off his duty.

Instead, she just talked about her grandmother and in a way that suggested she wasn’t trying to use that account to prejudice his reasoning. Which meant that if she had a reason, he could think of for wanting the love birds to come to Earth then he ought to be really suspicious, but he couldn’t think of any. Either she was cleverer than he expected, or she was exactly as ethical as she appeared and that was a rare thing indeed.

After a few moments of thought Richard P. Woolsey walked away, leaving an offering of his own at the statue’s feet.

His personal copy of the constitution.

From one warrior of the scales to another.