Chapter 1
Ba'al, the great Lord Ba'al, was not happy. He had been one of most powerful of the System Lords, holding vast territories. He had technology in his grasp most had never dreamed of. He had had a multitude of subservient Goa'uld underlings, many thousands of Jaffa had borne his sigil with pride. Many planets had provided tribute to increase his incredible wealth, millions had bowed down before him. And now, now, he was subservient to that psychotic aberration Anubis, that amorphous monstrosity...
There wasn't much he could do about it, not right now. He could not pace in his turmoil or bellow at those around him expressing the rage he felt swirling within him. He felt there eyes upon him. He had to plan and plot for the future and, of course, in the utmost secrecy. There were spies everywhere.
His Jaffa had been decimated in Anubis' wars to take over the Galaxy. Always the first called upon, always the ones in the front lines. And then the Kull Soldiers, unnatural beings sprung from Anubis' perverse mind and fashioned by Ptah, had further caused death and defection among the ranks of his Jaffa.
Wouldn't the inventive Ptah have better served them, his own race, the Goa'uld, by figuring out how to develop more queens to fill the pouches of the Jaffa. These, the Jaffa, were the true soldiers and servants and wombs of the Goa'uld.
As Ba'al's temper boiled he thought while Anubis may have his Ptah, but I have Kothar-wa-Khasis. He may not be the bio-engineer the likes of Ptah but he had crafted the gravity magic that the old fool Yu destroyed. And there was more magic up his sleeves, his task now was attempting to bend time to Ba'al's will. This key to his future by reconstructing the past was not yet finished so Anubis must be contended with. And I, he thought, I, Ba'al, must survive. Survive this insanity.
Ba'al tried to fathom Anubis' thinking. Was Anubis that mad that he would put an end to the Jaffa as a race? Ending the Jaffa as a species meant the end of the Goa'uld. No more incubators – no more Goa'uld. And so the Goa'uld would cease as a dominate force in the universe, they would become extinct as a race with Anubis alone remaining.
Ba'al was no fool, he knew as soon as Anubis assumed total control all the lesser Goa'uld were doomed. Ba'al was loathe to admit it but, to the megalomaniac Anubis, this plan included Ba'al.
For now his greatest fear was spending the rest of his possibly few remaining days as Anubis' toady.
And one of Anubis' toadies, Osiris, newly housed in the lovely Tau'ri Sarah Gardner, was nowhere to be found. Was he on some mission that Ba'al was not privy to or had he succumb to Anubis' foul temper? Was he more dead flesh for Anubis to feast upon?
Would Osiris fall at Anubis' feet if he knew it was Anubis, although it was thousands of years ago, who encouraged another psychopath, the dark hearted Lord of Violence, Set, to rip him into shreds and scatter the pieces? This was done so Anubis could play the hero. He comforted poor foolish Isis by gathering up those hunks of flesh and bone and symbiote. So by destroying and then resurrecting Osiris, Anubis had all of them, Isis, Osiris and Set in his debt. So many fools followed Anubis, allowing themselves to be used which could only lead ultimately to their utter destruction – no second chances unless it was to Anubis' advantage.
Anubis' only unforgivable sin was to seek ascension, to make himself better than them, the mighty System Lords. It gave him too much potential power. Foolishly they forgave him; no that wasn't exactly true. The truth was he spent his exile gathering insurmountable power and he took back all that he desired. And they, the System Lords, were gradually forced to either bow down before him or be destroyed.
With the eventual destruction of the Jaffa race and the Goa'uld, Anubis alone would remain with only the genetically engineered atrocities to worship him and do his bidding.
The more he thought about the Kull warriors the angrier Ba'al became – could they even grow a bushel of grain or harvest grapes for wine. What could they do but kill before their hearts and lungs gave out? When their rampage of destruction was completed and they died what then? Did Anubis desire to be the Emperor of nothing?
Anubis had ravaged Ba'al's stronghold for all there resources – precious metals, ships, weapons, labor and even foodstuffs. And, the Fates help him, without the hope of gathering more, Ba'al even had to take better care of his slaves, also a dwindling resource.
He despised Anubis.
The few resources Ba'al held sway over had to be carefully hidden and carefully tended.
He could not afford to lose even a single slave or loyal Jaffa. His future depended upon it. It did occur to Ba'al that he was the god of rain, thunder, fertility and agriculture. He could have his slaves just make more of themselves while producing bumper crops to feed both themselves and his Jaffa. He smiled at his amazing godhood and laughed at the simplicity of it all. If only his subjects believed, they could make it so – faith was an amazing thing.
Meanwhile he had to inform his underlings, these lesser Goa'ulds known to him alone, of his orders to improve the lives of his slaves. He despised having to depend on these demigods. They could not think for themselves and if they did it was never to Ba'al's advantage, always scheming and conniving.
Sometimes he wished there were more of him, loyal and brilliant, to tend and expand his kingdom. He'd have to think seriously about that, it was a brilliant. No, more the brilliant, it was astounding how utterly perfect an idea it was.
Notwithstanding his other multitudinous problems, he would continue in his docile groveling role until Anubis self destructed or, Ba'al mused, if the Fates were in a bizarre mood, the Tau'ri prevailed. Most urgently he needed Anubis to defeat the mechanical bugs that were becoming a threat not only to the meddling Asgard but to all in the galaxy. If he could only play his cards right Anubis and the replicators would somehow destroy each other taking the Asgard, Tau'ri, Tok'ra and rebel Jaffa with them. That, unfortunately, seemed improbable. Whatever caused Lord Anubis' annihilation, Ba'al thought, the sooner the better.
He didn't fear the Tau'ri just yet, although they had the potential to be a formidable threat once they developed hyper-drive engines.
As he let the idea blossom into a plan – it would be so ironic to let the Tau'ri do the dirty work for him while he continued to play loyal subject to Anubis. Perhaps he should send some of his more loyal or least treacherous demigods to the Tau'ri planet, to the land of O'Neill. It wasn't too early to plot the Tau'ri destruction from within after their usefulness was expended.
Ba'al felt happier, he had much to do. He had plans to make. He had a future to develop and protect.