Very rarely in the course of Goa'uld history had a scientifically-minded individual risen to the status of 'System Lord.' However, Nirrti's pursuits showed both ambition for control and a fervor for intellectual gain that so few of her peers possessed. As a god who desired a hands-on approach to dealing with the humans under her sphere of influence, she was, in many ways, much more terrifying than the others who were simply concerned with their accumulation of power.

Nirrti's largest issue, by far, was that so many ideas percolated in her mind that she really had no time to explore them all. Moreover, the universe constantly threw distractions at her - slave uprisings, Jaffa rebellions, others of her kind that made constant attempts to conquer her domain. Around her three hundredth year, she made two very critical decisions.

First, she destroyed her entire army of Jaffa. Surely some of them escaped their demise, but, as Nirrti found lesser Goa'uld much easier to deal with than humans with free will, she recruited several to mop up the remainder of the mess with the promise of the power that they so craved.

Second, she reasoned that with all the other issues tugging at her attention, the last thing she needed was a host to subjugate, and so she endeavored to locate someone as cold and dedicated to the sciences as she was, who could mutually benefit from her research. It was her first step toward finding the perfect host, a task that would ultimately consume her.

Nearly a century later, Nirrti literally unearthed the perfect subject when she took interest in a young, dark-haired archaeologist named Koviari.

She possessed the makings of someone so unsatisfied with the knowledge available to her that she drove onward through her dig sites at a pace with which few had the desire - or physical ability - to keep up. Dead end after dead end led the woman into rages that eventually culminated with brutal punishments administered onto her aides, who already treated her as no mere mortal. Koviari wanted to know more. Her need to learn far surpassed what she would ever be able to discover sifting through historical artifacts on her own planet. It also didn't hurt that she was quite beautiful and capable, making her an ideal host subject.

Darkness pervaded much of the deerskin tent, except for a single corner, one in which a number of fossils and relics were placed in varying degrees of interest across two pedestals. Though the wind caused the tent itself to shiver and sway, the thick hide kept the cold out, and also prevented much of the noise that accompanied thinner accommodations. Unfortunately, its hasty construction from patched-together animal hides meant that the smell reached atrocious levels throughout much of the hot day, but at night, the odor was more tolerable.

"I've seen you on my site. It's been a few days now." Koviari turned her eyes upward as Nirrti stepped into the one location in the whole dig that currently had light, and even that light came from a rapidly diminishing candle.

"And?"

"And what? You're the one who's gone out of her way to come here. Either talk, or stop wasting my time."

Normally, the Goa'uld wouldn't allow such insubordination from one of her slaves. Even though Nirrti didn't have quite the presence of the other System Lords, most of her people knew her. Clearly her appearance spoke volumes of her status, as her dress appropriately reflected her station. "You've been buried in these old bones too long. You don't recognize your god."

A good slave would have begged forgiveness, groveled, prostrated herself on the damp, dirty ground until her punishment ended. Koviari's expression never changed, her eyes did not drop, and while she seemed at a loss as to what to say, her silence went on longer than what most Goa'uld would allow. "I concern myself with my work. If you have need of me, ask."

She went back to carefully picking dirt away from an object that would likely yield no new secrets.

From out of her robe, Nirrti produced the symbiote body of one of her underlings, and dropped it on one of the pedestals, scattering the unextraordinary archaeological finds. It had served its purpose while it was alive, and now it would serve her in its death. "This is the body of a parasitic species called Goa'uld," she stated.

Using the word 'parasitic' drew a shiver. Still, the truth could only be a selling point. As Nirrti had no Jaffa, none of her currently-living slaves had ever seen the body of their god before. They only regarded Nirrti as an omnipotent, vengeful deity. "It is native to a planet far from here, where the First Ones still fear them."

For the first time since Nirrti began observing her, Koviari's eyes lit up, showing more than just fanatical drive, but the spark attributed to someone who'd just come upon the find of her life. She picked up the dead symbiote, turned it over, commenting to herself about its structure, its adaptations. "Too large for the stomach. Far too large for the heart. This head isn't at all adapted to drawing nutrients from a body! What feeds it? What keeps it alive?"

"It takes over the body of its host. It becomes its host."

Koviari's face fell in confusion. as she turned the thing over in her hands. "Yes, I see. I imagine these structures might have something to do with that process." With the body of the parasite bisected up its middle, with only the tendons on the other side holding it together, she located various tendrils that would connect the symbiote to the neural centers of the brain. The science on this planet was advanced enough to understand that, at least.

Nirrti went on. "They are capable of space travel. Endless worlds, endless knowledge to seek and a library of information that you could not hope to absorb in your short lifetime."

Koviari's eye twitched, the beginnings of frustration creeping in. Nirrti counted on this human's greed, her thirst to experience the galaxy and learn things that no one else in her station could ever possibly know. Goa'uld were not the only creatures in the cosmos with a drive like this, after all. But this woman, her future host, would certainly not want her freedom taken from her. She rubbed her temple, one hand still clutching the husk of the dead Goa'uld…

Nirrti leaned close, purring pleasantly into Koviari's ear. "This is the form of your god…"

Enticing.

The wheels turned…

Koviari's eyes fixed on an unseen point in the dark. They were wide open, dark depths catching the light of the flickering candle, which would reach the end of its life within the hour. In its life, it served its purpose, and now it was through. It contained no further capacity to function. It was nothing.

"You could be more. You could be mine."

"Yours."

Behind her back, the Goa'uld ribbon device glowed softly in her hand. While Nirrti presented the option of choice, the truth was, should this woman refuse, she would have to die. No human could fall under the delusion that their god would ever give them a choice.

"I become your host…" Koviari trailed off, leaving an unspoken prompt for Nirrti to continue.

"And you stay out of my business. You don't ask questions that don't concern you. You don't fight me for control, and in return, we will discover all the secrets of the universe. You will live forever, Koviari. You will be part of something much greater than you are." The candle sputtered as it reached its end, the flame growing smaller, and the circle of light around them diminishing to almost nothing.

Koviari nodded.

Nirrti's slender fingers danced across the pedestal before they wrapped around the handle of a knife. A soft 'tap' permeated the darkness as the stone pommel contacted her ribbon device, which made her son-to-be host shiver; her free hand brushed Koviari's dark hair away from the back of her neck as she lifted the knife and pressed it to her current host's neck.

Freedom came at the ultimate cost.

She felt the racing heartbeat of both hosts and relished the fear. It was so powerful and beautiful - one looked forward onto death, and the other, onto a life of slavery. Both shared the dread of the unknown.

Detaching herself came naturally, even as her current host reached panic levels, trying to figure out a way to escape her fate in the last seconds of her centuries-long slavery. But the symbiote inside her maintained enough motor control so that even as the beginnings of screams erupted from her host's throat, she could do nothing to free herself from Nirrti's hold. Koviari shuddered but otherwise remained still, closing her eyes as she felt her god's cold hand touch the back of her neck.

Nirrti used her last connection to cause her old host's arm to jerk inward, while at the same time burrowing outward through bone, muscle and skin, and exiting through the jaw. She only experienced the chill of the night air for a moment, before she leapt, talon-like teeth digging again through flesh. Koviari's yelp of pain and surprise momentarily mixed with the gurgling death throes of her former host, which Nirrti felt more than she heard. Instinct dictated that she rush to claim control, which she did; parts of her true form buried themselves into a new nervous system, and connected with a fresh, willing mind.

To prove that she would keep up her end of this bargain, she opened her mind to Koviari even as she opened her eyes for the first time. Despite her host's shock and fear at not being able to move on her own, the allure of Nirrti's mind was enough to relax her. There was no fighting, no argument, no screaming.

"I believe," Nirrti stated as she shoved the pedestals with enough power to send them flying, "that we will get along nicely."

The candle went out, plunging her into darkness.