Authors note: I would like you all to know that I am Dutch and not English. The spelling in this story might not be perfect and I have not found anyone to beta read it. I did some research about the Goa'uld in this story, maybe it's not 100 correct, but please don't kill me over it. The story is slightly AU as there is mention of Ares but he died in the episode it's good to be king. The story takes place in season 7 before hero's so Janet is still alive. There will be Sam/Jack ship.

Disclaimer: I do not own anyone from Stargate SG-1, the TV show.

Well then, let's begin shall we :)

---

Chapter 1, The beginning.

With pride he looked over the dead body that once was Bastet. She was defeated and finally his plans have been completed. First he had taken the live of Ares and conquered all of his planets, then it had been Olokun. Kali and Morrigan had been easy targets and now also Bastet's body lied motionless at his feet. The last of the system lords he had planned to conquer to show the other system lords he will no longer be known as a minor Goa'uld.

The strategy had been perfect, with the help of his brilliant First Prime. Before they started conquering the system lords they had first brought down some barely known Goa'uld to increase the ranks of his Jaffa and to not draw attention to him from the other System Lords. After he believed his armies had been powerful enough he had started conquering the lands of the five system lords he believed were the weakest. He did this swift so that the others would not be able to debate against him before he completed his conquest.

It had worked, though many Jaffa had died, but they died for their God and the Jaffa who had served his enemy had been forced to serve him or die without honor. None of them had dared to defy him and now after a month of countless battles he had an army more powerful than even he could have imagined.

Yet it is not powerful enough to take on the remainder of the system lords. Baal and Yu are still powerful enemies and it paid to be careful. Though he doesn't believe they will open an attack on him any time soon. They will not know how powerful his army is and will most likely fear that they too will fall if they would start an attack on him.

No, it was time to settle down for now. He had already found the correct planet for that. It had once belonged to Olokun, it had been his residence before he had forcefully ended the life of this System Lord. He had liked it and decided then that he would reside there the moment his conquest was over. It was well known that this planet had many Naquadah mines. He would order Shorin, a Jaffa recommended by his First Prime, to force the local people to work in the mines. While his First Prime will search the planets they have recently conquered for more Naquadah or any kind of technology that could be to their use.

And during these operations he, Hercle, will take his time to forge new plans to either destroy the remaining of the System Lords or have them forced to serve him to complete his ultimate goal, the destruction of the Tok'ra and the Tau'ri.

---

Colonel Jack O'Neill was standing in the elevator wearing his blue BDU's. He was patiently waiting for it to stop on the level where he knew the lab of his favorite Major would be. His access pass twirled between his fingers while his eyes scanned the dull elevator, hoping he might find something of interest while he waited.

There was nothing of interest, of course. He's been in this elevator plenty of times to know that. But well, he had to do something to pass the short but boring time in here. To his own relief the elevator stopped and the door opened. He greeted an airman who saluted him and made his way through the corridors he also had seen plenty of times. But Jack didn't mind being here, because if he walked here it would mean he went to see Major Carter and that was company he didn't mind at all.

As he reached her lab the door was closed. Jack frowned, it wasn't strange, but Major Samantha Carter didn't always have the door to her lab closed. So Jack politely knocked before he decided to just bulge in while he wasn't allowed to. Who knows, she could be testing some doohickey and he would destroy it the moment he opened that door. No Jack O'Neill had enough experience with her to know that if the door was closed, he should knock first.

But there was no reply, so he knocked again but this time a little louder and he called her name. Yet there still was no reply. It made him slightly worried. Of course she could just not be in her lab, but where else would she be if they weren't on a mission or in a meeting. Jack decided to give it one last chance, he knocked a few times now and called for her name a little louder, still there was no response. So, against his own rules, he opened the door to the Major's lab and immediately saw his worries disappear when his eyes landed on her desk.

There she was, sitting on a chair, arms rested on the desk under a pile of paperwork while her head lied peacefully on her arms. Jack knew instantly that she was sleeping which also told him she hadn't gone home last night hoping she could finish another project she was working on. Apparently the Major had fallen asleep while she was reading through her paperwork. Jack couldn't blame her, he too would fall asleep if he had to read something that boring.

"Rise and shine Major." He said rather loudly.

Instantly, the Major jolted upwards, almost falling over the chair behind her as she least expected to wake up in her lab sitting on a chair behind her desk. Her eyes widened as she saw the Colonel standing in front of her, realizing that she was sleeping instead of working.

"Colonel…" Sam said standing to attention after she managed not to fall over the chair.

Jack smirked inwardly as he decided to take a little bit of advantage of the situation. She still only seemed to be half awake and slightly shocked herself that she had fallen asleep in her lab.

"Since when does working under my command include sleeping, Major?" he asked her trying to sound as serious as he could.

Sam looked at the clock on the wall behind Jack and saw it was already 10 in the morning, she should be on duty for two hours already!

"Sorry Sir, I think I worked a little longer then I should have, it won't happen again." She said, boy was he in a bad mood or what.

Jack decided enough was enough and smiled at her. "Oh forget it Major, I was just teasing you." He could already see her relax, but only a little. "But I do believe I ordered you to go home last night, maybe next time I will drag you out of here myself."

"Don't worry Sir," finally she drew a smile on her face as well. "I don't think I want another night like this, back's a little sore."

"Good, because I might not be so bothered with you sleeping through duty for two hours, I doubt the General would agree with me."

"Yeah…" Sam said while rubbing a hand through her hair.

"So what were you working on?" Jack asked but wondered why as he would most likely get lost in her techno babble.

"Are you sure you want to know, Sir?" It seemed Sam had the same thought.

"Actually, no, let's go grab some coffee and breakfast before we go to the 10:30 meeting, you sure could use some."

Sam looked down at the mess on her desk, she really should read through these papers before the meeting started. "No thanks sir, I really should…"

Jack cut her off "Ack, there is no such thing as no, you are coming with me to have breakfast." He narrowed his eyes at her. "I'll make it an order if I have to, Major."

Well she was hungry, and there was no such thing as going up against an insistent CO. Jack already stood at the door opening motioning her to get her ass out of the lab.

"Right."

She gave her paperwork one last look and then headed out of her lab, Jack closed the door behind her and together they walked to the mess hall. But their plans for breakfast were abruptly put to a hold as the base klaxons sounded and the familiar voice of Sergeant Walter Harriman informed them that there was an unscheduled off world activation.

So instead of having breakfast, Jack and Sam hurried their way to the gate room as quickly as possible. Once there, they saw Jacob Carter standing on the ramp accompanied by a Tok'ra they hadn't seen before. The man looked, as they would call it, African American. His hair was tied in dreadlocks and just barely reached his shoulders. General Hammond, Teal'c and Daniel were already greeting them.

"Hey Dad!"

Sam of course, was happy to see her father and greeted him with a firm hug.

"Hey Sam." He said as she pulled back and his eyes went to the Colonel. "Jack."

"Jacob, how is life up at the Tok'ra world?" he asked, wondering if up was the best word to use, knowing the Tok'ra live underground.

"Busy, as always and that's why I am here." He said.

Jack frowned "I can't wait to hear this one."

"Let's talk in the briefing room, shall we?" General Hammond said.

They all agreed with the General, though they couldn't really disagree, he is the CO of the SGC after all. Once they were all seated in the briefing room, Jacob took the liberty to explain their visit. He directed his hand to the Tok'ra that had accompanied him.

"This is Korus and his host Tyan. He has spend the last three years undercover in the ranks of the System Lord Olokun."

Korus/Tyan greeted them with a nod and they all greeted back with the same gesture, yes even Jack did, but only because he decided to be polite to the Tok'ra for a change.

"During his last few weeks there he made a disturbing discovery." Jacob said as he looked at Korus telling him to continue talking.

"I have been undercover there as his research assistant," at the sound of his voice they could clearly hear the Tok'ra talking. "and managed to gain his trust."

"Olokun, Daniel?" Jack asked, wondering what kind of a Goa'uld he was.

"Well in earth Mythology he is known as the Benin God of water, controlling Sea's and rivers. People prayed to him if the lands were dry and there was need for rain. There also-"

Jack stopped him, he had heard enough. "That's enough, thank you Daniel." He looked back at the Tok'ra. "Go on."

Korus nodded at Jack and continued.

"Two weeks ago he had summoned me and told me that Ares had been defeated by a minor Goa'uld, it was rumored that he was on his way to destroy Olokun. Olokun ordered me to find a planet to reside on while his Jaffa would fight in his name. But as I had made my way to the Stargate the attack had already begun and after I returned Olokun had been killed."

"Sounds like he underestimated this minor Goa'uld." General Hammond said.

"He has, as did Kali, Morrigan and Bastet. They all had been destroyed within a month's time." Korus said.

"What? Are you telling us a minor Goa'uld managed to kill five important snakeheads in only thirty days?" Jack sounded rather worried.

"Have the system lords not attempted to stop him?" Teal'c asked.

"By the time they found out what was happening, he had already defeated three of the system lords and his army has grown immensely." It was clearly Selmac who was speaking now.

"A mindless attack would threaten the positions of the other system lords, they will not take such a risk." Korus said. "This is most unfortunate as this will also form a threat for the Tok'ra as well as the Tau'ri."

"So which minor Goa'uld are we talking about here?" Sam wondered.

"Hercle." Her father responded.

Immediately all eyes were aimed at Daniel again, hoping the name sounded familiar to him.

"Hercle, also known as Heracles, Mehercle or Hercules."

"Hercules, that name rings a bell. But I thought he was a good guy." Jack said.

"On earth he is known as a hero yes, but this Goa'uld clearly isn't."

"During my service for Apophis I had once encountered Hercle. He had tried to destroy Apophis his home world but was no match to our forces."

"It seems he learned from his mistakes." Daniel said.

"He has and has become a bigger threat then the system lords."

Jacob's voice sounded worried, and why shouldn't he be. A minor Goa'uld has just grown from being a nobody to probably being the most powerful Goa'uld in the universe and no one had seen it coming. This was going to be a problem.

"What can we do?" the General asked.

"For the moment, nothing much. We are going to try and infiltrate his ranks and see if we can dig out some information."

"We do, however, have one small request." Korus interrupted Jacob.

"I knew it!"

"Colonel!"

General Hammond warned Jack before he would say something to insult the Tok'ra. They were after all still allies and if it was possible he would help them.

"A few days before the attack, Olokun had found something he believed to be Ancient technology. I was send to study it. But I do not know anything about the Ancient language. The device however, seemed important and I could not allow it his possession."

"And neither can it be in Hercle's." Jacob added.

"You want us to get the device before he does."

"Yes we do Sam, we don't have the right people, Daniel will be more the capable to translate it and you should be able to figure out what it does then."

"And then what, you guys would just want to have it back."

"No Jack, we don't work with any technology but our own. All we want is to know what it is and you can do with it whatever you like. Though if it's dangerous it might be better of being destroyed."

"Very well, SG-1 you will retrieve this device. I assume you know the Stargate address to the planet?"

"I do, General Hammond. If you would allow me, I will apply them to your computer system."

"Good, Colonel get your team ready, you will leave in thirty minutes."

"Already Sir?"

"If this device is as important as the Tok'ra claim, I'd rather have it here in the base as quickly as possible. For all we know, Hercle already has it and we are too late."

Jack nodded. "Yes Sir, thirty minutes it is."

---

Well so much for Chapter 1, I hope you liked it, it's my first attempt on a Stargate fic