Light years from the planet earth, a Ha'tak was sitting in space. It belonged to the Goa'uld, Sobek. Deep inside the ship, a middle aged prisoner shared a cell with several others. They were intended to be used as slave laborers on one of the mining planets.

Called a Tau'ri by his captors, this man was originally from the planet earth. This day of captivity had started out like all the others. That morning, the guards had brought him a dish of that slop they called food. Then, they had gone and left their prisoners alone, probably till the next meal or they needed a slave for some task, whichever came first.

The prisoner's thoughts drifted back to his past. It had been years since he had been home. His family probably believed him dead, long ago. As a boy of twelve, he had watched the princess use the glowing circle, something no one else had ever seen. He had stayed hidden until after she had returned and left the room. After several minutes, he came out of hiding and touched the circle, as he had seen the princess do. His first attempts proved futile. Nothing happened. Finally, he had touched a sequence of symbols that produced a reaction, something similar to that received by the princess. He walked into the glowing circle as he had seen the princess do.

From the start, he knew something unusual had occurred. For a while, he had a strange sensation. Then, as he felt the ground beneath his feet, he felt a little dizzy. Once he felt better, he began to examine his new surroundings. The sky above him was an odd orange color and had two suns, not the one with which he was familiar. Some of the vegetation looked very strange, as well. The longer he remained, the more certainty he had. He'd heard rumors of places beyond earth and now, he believed he had traveled to one of them. One thing he knew, he just wanted to go home. He turned his attention to the area near the gate, where the controls had been on earth. The device on this planet lay in ruins, as if it had been smashed or something. There was no way he could use it to activate the circle.

With a heavy heart, he had started to look around. As the hours went by, he had grown hungry. It was impossible to know which plants were safe to eat. He also needed to find water and a place to rest. Nearing exhaustion, he started to climb a nearby hill. Halfway up, he missed his footing and fell nearly to the bottom. That was when he was discovered. Natives appeared from what seemed like nowhere. They examined him closely for several moments. Apparently, they were satisfied, as one of them produced a flask and gave him a drink. Then, they motioned for him to follow them back to their village.

That day, he had been adopted into their tribe and had lived with them ever since. It was only a few days ago that the Ha'tak, as he learned it was called, appeared and he and several others were taken captive. Now, it seemed that he was bound for some other distant place. All he wanted to do was go home.

That was about to happen, though not the way the prisoner had intended. About mid-morning, someone the guards referred to as First Prime of Sobek was brought to the cell. It was said that Sobek needed a new host. Some of the prisoners became very wary, the Tau'ri among them. On his adopted planet, he had heard the legends of how some people had been chosen as hosts, their body no longer their own, but under the control of the parasitic creature known as the Goa'uld. Now, it looked like one of the prisoners was bound to meet this fate.

After closely examining each prisoner, the First Prime returned to stop in front of the Tau'ri. "You!" he barked. "You will come with me!"

Not wanting to become a host, the prisoner tried to resist. The First Prime called two of the guards for reinforcements. They grabbed the prisoner and forced him to follow them from the room. "Carefully," the First Prime insisted. "We don't want to harm Sobek's new host." The other prisoners watched them go, many of them feeling pity for the victim, but all of them glad it wasn't them.

The Tau'ri prisoner was taken to a large room and strapped to a table in the center of the room. An elderly man, in regal looking robes, entered the room, his gait a bit unsteady and looking quite ill. The First Prime and everyone else present, offered him homage. After giving them a nod of acknowledgement, Sobek's elderly host slowly approached the table. Sobek eyed the prisoner critically. "This is the best we have?" he wondered.

"He seemed the most fit," replied the First Prime. "And he does seem the most intelligent."

Sobek eyed the prisoner once more. "Then, he will have to do," Sobek decided.

As the host leaned closer to the prisoner, the snake-like Goa'uld leaped from the elderly man's mouth and entered the prisoner's neck. Then, the former host fell to the floor, dying.

- - -

For several hours, the struggle went on within the prisoner's body, as the Tau'ri and Goa'uld each struggled for control. Each time, the Goa'uld proved the stronger and subdued the Tau'ri more quickly with each new occurrence. Finally, the Tau'ri remained in total subjection.

The straps were removed and Sobek stood up. Now, he could concentrate on familiarizing himself with his new host. While his guards left to resume their duties, he accessed the Tau'ri's memories was startled with his discoveries. On earth, the Tau'ri had belonged to a strange desert tribe, one that had kept to themselves. They were ruled by a benevolent princess--one that was over seven hundred years old. As he continued to access his host's memories, Sobek began to reach his own surprising conclusions. He accessed the ships computer to search for relevant information.

His host had memories of a Prince Jaconeel. Sobek could find no data on the individual but continued the search. Finally, he made an important discovery. A man almost identical in appearance to the one his host recalled from the murals was discovered in the data base. It was a younger photo of one Jack O'Neill. The man was a Tau'ri military pilot, who'd gone missing in the desert for two months, after his plane had crashed. Recently, the man had proven to be a formidable enemy to the Goa'uld. He was involved with a group of Tau'ri who had learned how to access the Chap'pai, his team identified as SG-1. They were credited with killing several Goa'uld--Ra, Seth and Hathor among them.

With that knowledge, Sobek began to reach a diabolical plan. He called for his First Prime. When the Jaffa appeared, Sobek said, "Change our course to the planet earth."

The First Prime was puzzled. "Why?" he asked.

Sobek was outraged. "Do you dare question the will of your god?" he demanded.

"No, my lord," answered the First Prime.

"Then, do it." The First Prime headed for the door, when Sobek stopped him. "Just a minute, Ziban," Sobek ordered. "I will answer your question. My host has memories of an unusual princess. I think she was probably Harcesis."

"Weren't they all killed?"

With a smug smile, Sobek replied, "That's what we all thought. But if I'm right, this one survived. And, she had a son…she and a Tau'ri pilot named Jack O'Neill."

"Jack O'Neill," spat Ziban. "I have heard mention of him by the other Jaffa. It was he that convinced the shol'vah, Teal'c, to turn on Apophis. And he and team are responsible for the deaths of several Goa'uld. They are formidable enemies. You want revenge?"

"I want to find out where the princess hid their son…the son of a Harcesis…the only one of his kind."

"You think he actually exists?"

"That is what we will learn from Jack O'Neill."

Ziban was not conviced. "From what I've heard, he can be quite stubborn. When Apophis tortured(1) him--"

"Which is why I don't plan on torture," Sobek informed him, his smile becoming even more wicked. "Jack O'Neill will become my temporary host and will lead me to his son. Then, Ariana's and Jack O'Neill's son will become my new host. Imagine the power I will have. The only Goa'uld to control the offspring of a Harcesis. All the knowledge of his Goa'uld ancestors will be mine. Ariana thought the knowledge would be latent. It probably is. But if I were in control, I could unlock it and use if for my own purposes. You may find yourself First Prime to the most formidable Goa'uld in history."

Ziban smiled back and bowed. "I like it. It shall be as you command, sire." With that, Ziban left the room.

Neither Sobek nor Ziban noticed the other presence hidden in the shadows nearby. The eavesdropper quietly slipped away, heading in the direction of the shuttlebay.

The two individual entities within the body communicated silently with one another. "We have to warn Jack," stated the entity that was Jacob Carter.

"And deal with the threat," added the Selmak entity.

"Yes," Jacob agreed.

"Jacob, I don't think you realize the full significance of this," Selmak insisted. "Nor, fortunately, does Sobek. From what I know of Tok'ra history, I think Ariana's father may have been Tok'ra. That would leave the situation even more volatile."

"And make Ariana more than just Harcesis," concluded Jacob.

"And her son even more of a threat," declared Selmak, adamantly.

This aroused Jacob's suspicions. "Selmak, just how exactly do you plan to handle that threat?"

"By whatever means necessary."

"Jack may not approve," Jacob protested. "Nor may I."

Selmak stood his ground. "As I said before, Jacob, I will do whatever necessary. The security of the Tok'ra is my prime concern…but we could be talking about the security of earth and countless other planets, as well. I will not allow Sobek to succeed."

Having reached their destination, Jacob climbed into one of the shuttles. He quickly opened the bay door flew through the opening. With Sobek and Ziban engrossed in their plans of conquest, the shuttle escaped, undetected.

1 "The Devil You Know"