Your son did not indulge, but Major Carter did.
Jacob’s smile widened. Yeah, Sam was like a monkey in the maple we had in Dover. But she mostly used it to get a better look at the stars.
Their reminiscence was interrupted by the Stargate activating and a Goa’uld walking through. Neither Selmak nor Jacob recognized the Goa’uld from this distance — he was wearing a hood — but he wore a hand device on his left hand.
It is possible that he is a Tok’ra who is working undercover. Several operatives are under deep cover and could have need to come to this location.
Yeah, but I still don’t like it. Best stay put and see how it plays out.
Agreed.
The gate deactivated, and the Goa’uld just stood there. Jacob had to admire his discipline. He had a satchel over his shoulder, but he didn’t drop it, and remained standing around, just letting it all hang out for whatever reason.
A few minutes later, the gate activated again, there was a pause —
— and then Jacob winced and clutched his belly. They were far enough away that the effect was mitigated, but the rumbling in his abdomen meant that some Reetou had come through the gate.
The Goa’uld held up his hand device, and it glowed. A moment later, five Reetou became visible near the gate. He also dropped his satchel and removed a small globe that neither Jacob nor Selmak recognized.
Oh, this is very not good.
Agreed.
“Welcome, my new allies,” the person’s symbiote said in Goa’uld. The globe then ‘spoke’ in the Reetou language. “I received your message that Kali has requested a negotiation?”
One of the Reetou replied, and then the globe rendered its words into Goa’uld in a mechanical tone: “Yes. She wishes the talks to take place on Imphal, the world we recently purged of all potential hosts.”
That prompted a laugh from the symbiote. “How the mighty have fallen. There was a time when no Goa’uld would ever negotiate with any but another Goa’uld. But all the truly strong gods are dead, and those that remain are small and foolish. And weak. Kali now claims a seat amongst the senior most of the System Lords, but it was not long ago that she was Shiva’s lapdog — when Shiva himself was the most minor of Goa’uld.”
Then the Goa’uld threw his hood back, and now Selmak recognized him. That is Belos. It is no surprise that he is an expert on who might be considered a ‘minor’ Goa’uld, as he is very minor indeed.
Jacob frowned. Thanks to Selmak, he knew that Belos had been directly in the service of Ra, assigned to rule a minor world known as Oannes. However, the planet’s native population rebelled and Ra demoted Belos to ruling just the city of Babylon — a big step down. And then one of his Oannes slaves, Omaroka, helped foment the uprising that overthrew Ra and forced him and the other Goa’uld to leave Earth.
He had been a minor servant in Ra’s retinue since then, never permitted to rule again. However, by all accounts, he remained fiercely loyal to Ra. This is the first intelligence we have had of him since Ra’s death on Abydos.
Yeah. I’m guessing he sees the Reetou as his road back to glory.
I believe you are correct, Jacob.
Though if he’s so minor how come he doesn’t look like someone stuck a knife in his gut?
An excellent question — if Belos has found a means of negating the deleterious effect of proximity to the Reetou, we must learn what it is.
“Still,” Belos was saying, “Kali’s territories are not inconsiderable, and her Jaffa are fiercely loyal. Without her, Bastet’s position will be greatly weakened, and she will also be easily eliminated.”
The Reetou said, “Negotiation serves no purpose. Your people are a plague that must be eliminated. We care not for the politics, only to eliminate more of the foul creatures and the beings who might serve as their hosts.”
“Nonetheless, the negotiations will serve as an effective cover for the final strike against her. Your last campaign was a success, but too many of your own lives were lost.”
“We are fully aware of the situation, and do not need you to remind us of our dead. No more Reetou lives shall be lost to your foul kind or to the creatures you take as hosts.”
“And no one shall be happier than I when you rid the universe of the Goa’uld,” Belos said emphatically. “Once we were great, ruling the entire galaxy as was our birthright, but that might has been systematically destroyed by the Tau’ri. They almost destroyed us when we tried to rule Earth, and it was only after we departed that foul planet that we became great again. Now, since once again dealing with the Tau’ri, we have become weak, fit only to be exterminated by a superior race. Like yourselves.”
Jacob shook his head. What does he wanna do, go back to the good old days when the Goa’uld had Unas hosts?
Selmak said nothing, recognizing the question as rhetorical.
The Reetou’s voice was still rendered mechanically, but Jacob imagined he could hear a tinge of annoyance even in the computerized translation. “We do not wish to be flattered by the likes of you. Your continued existence has only been due to your usefulness. Be careful that it does not end.”
“Then behold my latest piece of usefulness.” Belos shrugged the satchel off his shoulder. “This is an explosive that, when armed, moves into the same dimensional plane as you. It remains there until it explodes, when it transitions back to our space. But the explosion will only affect our space. You could be right at the explosion’s epicenter and it will not harm you in the least.”
Crap.
As usual, Jacob, you sum up the situation succinctly.
“Yes. We find this useful. Continue to aid us and you will continue to live.”
“Continue to harm the Goa’uld,” Belos said with a wry smile, “and I will continue to aid you.” Then Belos walked over to the DHD and dialed out. He had to lower his hand to do so, which meant that the hand device wasn’t keeping the Reetou visible anymore. But the roiling in Jacob’s gut told him that they were definitely still around. That it was only discomfort meant that, at least, they weren’t getting any closer.
The gate opened, stayed active for several seconds, and then deactivated. Belos stayed at the DHD the entire time, but Jacob stopped feeling like he was being stabbed.
Thank God, the overgrown insects have vamoosed.
We should attempt to capture Belos and interrogate him.
Jacob nodded, even though he hardly needed to do that for Selmak’s benefit, and started to hop down from the tree even as Belos waited for the gate to deactivate and then began dialing another address.
When he was halfway down one branch, Jacob heard the distinctive sound of a staff weapon activating.
“Do not move,” came a very familiar voice from the other side of the clearing that held the Stargate.
A moment later, Bra’tac came out from behind a tree with his staff weapon aimed at Belos. To his credit, the Goa’uld stopped dialing and held up both hands.
Since blending with Selmak, Jacob had had very few causes to gape, as the Tok’ra had such a vast store of knowledge that very little surprised him anymore. This was, of course, in direct contrast to the twenty-four hours or so before he blended, when he learned of Stargate Command, that there was life on other planets, that there were megalomaniacal beings out to rule the galaxy, and that his daughter was embroiled in all of it. That was more surprises than anyone should have in a lifetime, much less a day, and he was grateful that sharing his life with an old, wise Tok’ra enabled him to be mostly shock-free.
But Jacob and Selmak had made a thorough investigation of the area near the Stargate before planting the listening devices, and neither he nor the devices he placed had detected any sign of Apophis’s former First Prime.
Yet there he was, holding a staff weapon on Belos.
The Goa’uld scoffed. “You cannot harm me with your mortal weapon, Jaffa.”
“The crystal that activates your force field has been removed, no doubt replaced with whatever you used to
safeguard yourself from the Reetou’s effects on your symbiote. Shall I test my theory?”
Jacob shook his head. He’s good.
He would have to be to stay alive as long as he did after betraying Apophis.
Bra’tac then called out toward Jacob himself. “You may as well come out, Tok’ra! I have this one well under control.”
This surprised Jacob less. Just because he didn’t see Bra’tac didn’t mean the Jaffa didn’t see him.
“Nice job,” Jacob said after hopping out of the tree and approaching the clearing. “I’m guessing you heard their conversation, too?”
Bra’tac simply nodded. Now that he was close enough, Jacob could see that Bra’tac’s armor was dented and scorched, and he had several wounds that were in the early stages of healing.
Selmak nudged him, and Jacob allowed him to come to the fore. “What is it you wish to accomplish by allying yourself with the Reetou rebels, Belos?”
Bra’tac’s eyes widened for a moment, and Jacob felt a tiny bit of mock triumph. The Jaffa hadn’t recognized the Goa’uld in question.
Good to have something over on him, for a change.
Belos chuckled. “As usual, you Tok’ra have faulty intelligence — which is why you continue to fail. The Reetou with whom I just met are rebels no longer — they have overthrown their pitiful ruling council.”
Dammit. This is a helluva lot worse than we thought.
Yes. Aloud, Selmak asked, “Do you truly believe helping them will improve your position with the System Lords?”
But Belos just shook his head. “You are a fool, Tok’ra. I have no interest in currying favor with the preening, posing imbeciles who call themselves ‘System Lords’. My loyalty was to Ra, and those who swore fealty to him. Those Goa’uld are dead, and the pretenders who now rule are pale shadows of Ra. None of them are worthy of the title System Lord, nor are they worthy of continuing to draw breath. They should all perish — and when the bomb I gave the Reetou destroys Kali, her Jaffa, and her Tau’ri negotiator, it will be — ”
At the word Tau’ri, Jacob all but forced himself back to the fore and grabbed Belos by his cloak. “Tau’ri? What’re you talking about?”
“Neither Kali nor her Jaffa may be in the Reetou’s presence without suffering — as you both do, as you did not reveal yourselves until they departed — so she has conscripted one of the Tau’ri to speak for her.”
Kali has had no dealings with your homeworld, Jacob.
I know, but Ramprasad said that Sam, Jack, and Daniel were left behind on Imphal. “Which human has she — she ‘conscripted’?”
“What does it matter?” Belos asked dismissively. “He’ll die.”
If it is a male, Jacob, then Major Carter is not the representative.
Yeah, but I got me a gut feeling that it’s the one human Kali has met, thanks to us. Jacob pulled on the cloak, yanking Belos closer to him. “Tell me.”
“I do not know his name, but he is one of the humans who killed Ra.”
It would appear you are correct, and it is Dr. Jackson.
Yeah.
Jacob tossed Belos to the ground. “You cannot stop the Reetou, Tok’ra. Both of you would do well to — AAAARRRRRRRR!”
Whatever it was Belos thought it would be well for them to do was cut short by Bra’tac wounding him with the staff weapon.
Shooting Bra’tac a look, Jacob said, “What, you didn’t wanna hear him rant and rave?”
The look on Bra’tac’s face spoke volumes as he lowered his staff weapon. “He had provided all the intelligence we would receive from him.”
Selmak came back to the fore. “That is true. And we now know a great deal more.” He reached for Belos’s left hand to remove the kara kesh. “This will prove useful.”
Then Selmak let Jacob take the wheel again. “What the hell happened to you?” he asked Bra’tac.
“The Reetou. They attacked the world on which the last of Imhotep’s Jaffa were training. I was attempting to recruit them for the rebellion now that their false god is dead by Teal’c’s hand.”
Jacob nodded. When she visited him a few days ago, Sam had told him about Imhotep posing as his own First Prime in an attempt to destroy the Jaffa rebellion.
Bra’tac continued. “My fellow Jaffa were killed, but I managed to escape. I was able to determine that this location was a Reetou staging area, and came here in a tel’tak.”
“I came in one of those, too. So we’d better beat feet to Imphal and save SG-1’s butts.”
“We will take your ship,” Bra’tac said definitively.
Jacob frowned. “Okay.”
Bra’tac then looked away. “I was forced to — borrow a vessel that was under repair at the time. My landing was far from optimal.”
Shaking his head, Jacob said, “Fine, let’s move. It’s three days to Imphal, and then only if we floor it.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
P3X-418
SAMANTHA Carter was like a kid in a candy shop.
Kali had installed her in a laboratory on Imphal. She had been hoping that the lab would be on the mothership, but the Goa’uld was smart enough to put her instead on the planet, which had nobody left alive on it, a sunken Stargate, and a busted ring transporter.
“This,” Kali had told her after they’d ringed down to the surface, “is what is left of the laboratory on Anjar. Much of the equipment was damaged. The only intact items are from a backup storage locker that was left untouched by the Reetou assault.”
“I’m gonna need some help.”
That had prompted a glare from Kali. “I beg your pardon?”
“I need a — a lab assistant. Just to organize all this stuff, I’ll need an extra pair of hands. Either Colonel O’Neill or Daniel. Unless you want to assign one of your Jaffa.”
Sam had feared that Kali would go for the latter option, but she agreed to send the colonel down. “Dr. Jackson,” she had said, “is readying himself for negotiations with the Reetou.”
After Kali had taken her leave, Sam started organizing the equipment. Initially, it was a matter of separating what was intact from what wasn’t, which was simple enough. Quite a bit had been damaged by weapons fire. Based on the burn marks and patterns, both Reetou blasters and staff weapons had been used, which meant, at least, that the scientists — or, more likely, the Jaffa guarding them — didn’t go down without a fight.
After that, it was a question of figuring out what each item was.
As she studied one oval piece with a jewel at its center, a Jaffa appeared at the door, gripping the colonel with his right hand, staff weapon in his left. To her delight, O’Neill was standing on his own two feet.
Or, rather, stumbling, since the Jaffa literally threw the colonel into the room. O’Neill managed to keep himself from falling completely to the floor, and got himself upright in a second before Sam could even offer him a hand.
Brushing off his shirt and pants with his hands, he said, “That’s the last time I use your cab service. And forget getting a tip!”
Unable to help herself, Sam smiled.
The Jaffa said nothing, simply turning to leave after nodding to the Jaffa who guarded that same entryway.
“Carter.” The colonel nodded to her. “Not that I’m not happy to be out of the cell, but what am I doing here?”
“I needed an extra pair of hands, sir. And I figured better for you to be here with me than sitting in that cell.”
“Yeah, this is a huge improvement.”
Glancing around, Sam shrugged. “Well, that door you just got tossed through — ”
“Literally,” O’Neill muttered with annoyance.
“ — is the only way in or out. No windows, no air vents bigger than a penny, plenty of places to put cameras. Though the Goa’uld don’t usually go in for that sort of thing.”
The colonel nodded. For whatever reason, the notion of surveillance in cells had never occurred to the Goa’uld. That lack had saved SG-1 on more than one occasion.
&
nbsp; Carter glanced down at O’Neill’s legs. His pants were still torn where the staff weapon struck him, but the leg underneath it was perfectly normal and unscarred. “Healing device?”
O’Neill nodded. A Goa’uld healing device wasn’t as all-encompassing as the sarcophagus, but it could take care of a lot of wounds. “They threw me into a room, some snake-head stared at me like I was the fly that got in his soup, he ran the thingie over my leg, and suddenly I could walk again. Never even said a word the whole time.” He tilted his head thoughtfully. “Actually, it was kinda nice, meeting a Goa’uld who didn’t love the sound of his own voice.”
“I can imagine, sir.”
The colonel walked over to the table where Sam was sorting stuff. “Have any idea what this crap is?”
“Some of it.” She smiled. “Four years ago, I’d probably be giving it the same blank stare you’re giving it now, sir.”
O’Neill looked up. “It isn’t so much a blank stare as a poker face.”
“Of course, sir,” she replied politely. “In any case, I’ve spent enough time with alien technology that I believe I can determine what they all do — and how they can help us fight the Reetou.”
“You mean help a snake-head fight the Reetou. This isn’t exactly furthering our cause.”
“Yes, sir, I know, I just — ”
O’Neill shot her a look. “You’re not buying her line about sharing this with us when it’s all done, are you?”
“Of course not, sir, I just — I prefer to think of it as doing it for us. As it is, working for a Goa’uld is…”
She trailed off, but O’Neill just nodded. “Right there with you, Major, believe me.”
“It’s not just that, it’s…”
Again, she trailed off, and the colonel said, “Major, is there something you want to say?”
“There — there isn’t. Let’s just get this done?”
O’Neill shrugged. “Sure.”
Sam was grateful that the colonel didn’t push, since if he did ask what was bothering her, she would have been duty bound to tell him.
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