Once aboard her tel'tak, she collapsed into the pilot's chair and tried to shove aside all of the processing that her brain was attempting. She couldn't think about any of it right now, the horror of what she'd done to Adaar. It was too much for the moment and she needed to check in with Ba'al still.

After beaming back to her house and changing, she jumped in her car and drove over to Ba'al's, glad that he was there and she wouldn't have to wait around with the clones for him to return.

"How was your day?" she asked as she came toward him with a light kiss.

"Frustrating, but we're working out the transition. Yours?"

Nes had to smile at the complete normality of their interactions sometimes. "Fine. I was away from Earth for so long and I couldn't exactly sort things out from a hospital bed once back." She added an edge to the last few words, reminding Ba'al of what he'd done to her.

"Have you had dinner?" He waited for her to shake her head. "Good. You can join me."

They ordered in and Nes kept finding herself staring at her companion, wondering about the original Adaar still trapped behind Ba'al's mind. She never should have done what she did. She didn't want to know his name and what Ba'al had done to him. It had been easier when she could pretend Adaar wasn't there at all, that he wasn't having to witness her interactions with his body, but not his mind.

Unfortunately, Ba'al took her behavior as reflective of desire and he didn't hesitate to capitalize on it, but Nes could barely bring herself to respond, so filled with shame over her actions.

"What's wrong?"

Nes could hear the suspicion in his voice and ran through various excuses trying to find one that would help her escape for the night.

"I'm sorry. I'm just distracted this evening trying to figure out how and when to go back to Stargate Command. The last few days complicated things rather significantly."

"You do not need to go back. We're monitoring their communications." He brushed his lips against hers. "It's time for you to take your place by my side."

"Once we go public, there will be no undoing it. No one at the SGC will trust me anymore."

"It will not matter."

Nes pushed him away. "Well, then, you know what needs to happen next. I really should be going this evening."

"I'm afraid I haven't been able to focus on any of that with recent events."

She patted his cheek with a smile. "Well, once things have calmed down then."

"And will you be expecting the elaborate marriage traditions this country seems to be so fond of?"

Nes laughed lightly. "Some of them will be necessary for show, darling. You are a public figure now."

"Of course."

"Consider it a chance to establish your public identity." She glanced at her watch. "I really should get home."

"You are incredibly frustrating, my dear." Ba'al gave her a charming smile.

"And also worth the wait and effort." She kissed him and stood. "Goodnight."

Nes drove home, but she needed a touchpoint on reality and herself. She beamed up to her ship and directed it over Colorado Springs, checking that Sam was at her house alone and there were no signs of monitoring.

Nes surprised her like she always did, appearing in the kitchen while Sam was grabbing some food.

"Nes! Where have you been?" Sam put a hand to her chest trying to steady her heart, but her eyes showing that she could see the change in the other woman. "Ba'al."

"I'm afraid his offer of a sarcophagus was one I couldn't refuse in my prior condition." Nes went to the cabinet for a glass and helped herself to some water. Anything stronger would have to wait.

"You could have helped us out with the Seattle situation."

"I only just got my ship back and I'm afraid I haven't had enough time to really get the lay of the land with his operations here on Earth." She smiled at Sam. "Though it seems you handled things just fine without me.."

"Barely."

"Well, you certainly ruffled Ba'al's feathers, though I think he was secretly glad Seattle was left intact."

"So he is still alive then."

"Of course. You know Ba'al. He's only second to me in terms of survival."

Sam watched her carefully as she spoke. "We discovered a lab containing equipment and data related to genetic replication when we searched the compound."

"Damn. I didn't know it was there. I would have snuck off to investigate."

"So it was a clone Gerak killed." Sam needed definite confirmation.

"Yes. But there's still more of them."

"How many?"

"Well, I've heard of ten. Gerak killed one and another has gone missing. Plus Ba'al himself."

"Ten! And they're all just like him?"

Nes shrugged. "Mostly."

Sam had to sit down and moved to the living room. "Nes...ten! And will he make more?"

Nes sat down as well. "I expect so."

"Where?"

"I don't know."

"Nes…" Sam's voice held some suspicion.

"They're still working to find a new base of operations. I genuinely don't know at this point."

"So what now?"

"Well, first off, this is maybe obvious to you now with the last few days, but they're tapped into all of your communications. They're deeper than I would have ever guessed. You need to either change some things or use it against them."

"Any more details for me to go on?"

Nes shook her head. "I only had a few days before all of this."

"And what's your next step?"

Nes sighed. "Not sure yet. I'm trying to figure out the new dynamics with Ba'al and his clones and all of it."

"He still trusts you then? He gave you back your ship."

"He seems to, but it's the clones that are more of a problem right now."

Sam raised her eyebrows. "Why's that?"

"Because they want what they can't have."

"Ah," Sam said slowly with a nod. "And I'm guessing Ba'al is the jealous type."

"Very."

"So how are you going to handle that?"

"Well, for starters, I moved into my own house, but I don't know beyond that yet. I'm working on some options, but I'm not sure they're going to pan out anymore."

"You can always just walk away, Nes. Come back to the SGC."

"And what? You'll protect me or something like that? We both know Ba'al wouldn't let me get away with betraying or abandoning him." She rubbed her eyes in exhaustion. "No, I'll have to stick this out until I'm able to kill him and his copies."

"What do you need from us then?"

"I don't know yet. I'll be in touch. I better head home. It's been a very long few days." She released a long sigh.

"Nes...are you okay?" Sam had true concern on her face as she watched the younger woman stand.

"Of course," she responded in a hollow voice. "I'm always okay." Nes gave her a bitter smile and then beamed away, needing something strong enough to end the day and get to tomorrow.


In the morning (after a large amount of coffee), Nes beamed back to the house in Torrelavega, quietly and cautiously walking through the halls and rooms, looking for Adaar. She finally wandered outside and found him perched on a stone wall.

He didn't change his expression as she approached, just watched her carefully.

"Good morning, Adaar." She kept her voice formal.

"Good morning, Nesert." He mimicked her formality, but there was a distinct edge to how he said her name.

"How are you? Did you sleep well?"

A flash of contempt passed over his face before he looked up at the sky. "I've decided to be Alpha like you wanted."

Nes took a deep breath. "Why?"

Adaar shrugged. "Why else? Revenge. I want him to pay for what he did to me...to my family."

"Are you sure?"

He nodded slowly. "Even if he hadn't killed my wife and children...they'd be long dead by now. Everyone I ever knew is long dead."

The pain in his voice stripped Nes of her aloof manner. "I'm sorry, Adaar." She waited for him to look up. "I was wrong to do this to you."

"Will he always be this difficult to control?"

"I don't know." How could she possibly know what his experience in this would be like? "I find Sekhmet tends to show up more in certain situations or around certain people."

"Like Ba'al."

"Yes."

"And Alpha."

She nodded.

"You bring out Alpha."

Nes sighed. "That's not surprising considering our history."

"I did better once you were gone, controlling it, but now you're here and I can feel him fighting for dominance." He shifted to Alpha's smirk suddenly and crossed his arms. "The things I want to do to you."

Nes couldn't hold back one of Sekhmet's sneers. "Oh, believe me. I feel the same."

He let his eyes roam over her. "I doubt it."

Nes tried to rid her face of the goa'uld, needing to redirect the conversation. "Do you think you can hold onto yourself enough to actually help me?"

Adaar took several deep breaths and stared at the ground. "If I don't need to be around you."

"I doubt we'd need much contact beyond touching base every now and then. It would be suspicious if we interacted more than that."

His face filled with disgust. "Yes, we wouldn't want Ba'al to get jealous."

"We wouldn't want Ba'al to kill us in horrific ways," she spat back.

"True."

"Any information that would be helpful to me now?"

Nes could see his skepticism along with what she suspected was the same self preservation she was so fond of. She was hardly the most trustworthy person and she had just finished torturing and tricking him.

"Most of my…Alpha's time was spent at Farrow-Marshall, handling business affairs."

"And you expect me to believe that you have no knowledge of the other facets of Ba'al's operations?"

He gave her a sly smile. "You definitely should have used Beta for this."

"I would have if he weren't dead."

"What are we going to do about Kappa? Or to him? I wouldn't mind giving him a turn in your little house of horrors."

Nes chuckled. "I wouldn't mind your assistance."

They were going down a dangerous path, resuming the parts they'd soon be forced to play. She had to remove herself, but all she could manage was to simply turn and walk away. Adaar followed, jogging to cut off her path.

"When do you want to start?" he was back to himself again and looking nervous about his planned role.

She resumed the formality. "That will be up to you. When do you think you'll be ready? And what excuse will you use?"

"Captured," he said quickly. "Alpha would never have missed the Hammel acquisition for a woman...unless it were you, of course."

Nes ignored his suggestion. "Captured by?"

Adaar shrugged. "A different group of Jaffa? A rival of some kind? Something more...terrestrial?"

Nes thought for a moment. "Trust operatives who were getting suspicious of goa'uld involvement?"

He nodded. "The operation is large enough to blame a few rogue agents and then claim that was I able to overpower and kill them."

"And then clean up the mess."

"Of course," he said with Alpha's smirk as he leaned toward her. "You've seen how good we are at cleaning up bodies."

Nes reached a hand up to her chest instinctively and Adaar's face shifted to shame.

"Fine," she continued. "When do you want to go back then?"

She could see him turn inward for a moment before pushing his shoulders back. "We could go now."

Nes shook her head. "It's far too soon. Give it a bit more time."

"And I'm just supposed to sit around here in the meantime?" He sounded just as horrified as she would have been, freshly melded with Sekhmet.

"Go for walks. Swim. Read a book. You'll figure it out." She dismissed him with a wave of her hand and tried to step around him, but he blocked her again.

"You did this to me and now you're just going to abandon me here?"

Nes flashed her eyes at him. "Don't you dare talk to me about abandonment. You left me to die on Dakara!"

"I didn't do any of that."

Nes straightened in surprise, completely unable to keep Adaar separate from Ba'al and Alpha in her mind. She shook her head slightly. "It's not my job to entertain you. You'll be fine. I'll make sure food is delivered. I'll stop by long enough to keep you updated, but hopefully not so long that you attack me again."

He crossed his arms in defiance. "If you want me to apologize, I won't. You made me like this."

Nes walked past him. "Yes, you've reminded me of that several times. Perhaps we can move past that now." She gave up trying to keep Sekhmet's personality down, her annoyance requiring the goa'uld mannerisms to both convey it and dispel it.

Adaar chased after her. "I need something to do, Sekh-" He coughed. "Nes. I need something to do...Nes."

"Work on your cover story. You can do that. Learn about Earth. Learn about American culture." She looked at her watch. "I need to go. You'll be fine." And with that she tapped her bracelet and left him to his own thoughts, a possibly dangerous decision, but escape was more important to her for the moment.

It had been curiosity, yes, but also a small wish that there would be someone like her, someone who could understand the internal battle she fought.

She should have known that he would be unable to move beyond their previous interactions.

How could he not? She'd used him, tortured him, killed him, helped and comforted the one who had stolen his life, and then she'd been a goa'uld through and through: she'd given his mind and body over to Ba'al entirely with no hope for escape except in death.

She was a monster.


Nes shifted fully into Sekhmet for the next week. The goa'uld personality easily kept her from feeling any of the shame and guilt that her actions required, but the more she used Sekhmet, the more shame and guilt she built up and the more it would crash in on her when she tried to emerge as dominant. She'd thrown herself into a dangerous cycle that she wasn't sure she could escape.

She needed physical separation from her life, from Ba'al, from Adaar, from Kappa, from all the other clones, but she saw no chance of leaving any of them behind.

It hadn't been easy, but she'd managed to start some rumors that there were those within The Trust who were more than a little curious about who was running things now. Nes then wondered aloud once or twice if it were possible that they were the ones responsible for Alpha's disappearance.

Ba'al had been skeptical at first, but when Alpha showed up at the house one night with news that he'd been captured by several people claiming to be a part of The Trust, Ba'al had been furious. Alpha was confident in their destruction, though, and had tortured several of them to confirm they were alone in their suspicions before he'd disposed of them. Ba'al began to relax again, glad that his first clone was returned to him.

Nes had made sure to be present with the return of the prodigal son, to demonstrate her genuine surprise and confusion over the turn of events. She wanted to make sure no suspicion was cast towards her, but also that no one suspected the change in Alpha. The masking drug worked as expected, though, and neither Ba'al nor the clones seem to notice that one of their own was now a She'ket.

It had all gone smoothly and Adaar had been every inch Alpha when he arrived, but even her Sekhmet personality couldn't hold back all the loathing she felt for herself and what she had done to him, was still doing to him.

The only one not happy with Alpha's restoration was Kappa, unsurprisingly, but Ba'al did not seem to notice the tension between the two clones as he informed Kappa that he would be secondary to Alpha once again. The newest clone would never stand for that and Nes worried Alpha would be dead quickly if she didn't intercede.

"Ba'al, perhaps Alpha would be better used in other areas. Kappa has done an excellent job of taking over the business side of things. It might be wise to allow him to continue in that role."

Adaar bristled at her words and glared at her. "I highly doubt Kappa is capable of performing my duties as well as I am. I set up these businesses. Kappa is merely reaping the rewards of my hard work."

Ba'al smirked at his clones, watching himself in their actions. "You will both resume your previous roles. There will be more than enough work for two of me, especially as we take over more companies."

Kappa bowed his head in submission, but Nes caught the rage in his eyes.

Ba'al wished to speak to Alpha privately and Nes allowed Kappa to catch her alone once they had left the room.

"You said you had him!" Kappa spat out through clenched teeth as he grabbed her arm.

"I never said anything of the kind!" Her voice was full of indignation and she twisted away from his grip. She had never admitted to anything, Kappa simply making assumptions, and he knew it.

His face changed to docile diplomacy. "Of course, Sekhmet. Forgive my confusion. I only know that you are not one to tolerate actions such as those Alpha took."

He was again trying to encourage her to get rid of his rival for him. "Which is why I had no wish to see him take your place." She would be his ally against Alpha if need be.

"Well, I thank you for your words to Ba'al."

Nes smiled and bowed her head. "Of course, Kappa. You have always shown me kindness."

"Ba'al's queen should be loved and respected by all those who serve our lord."

He was being unabashedly pathetic, the two playing games of words and suggestions and duplicity. Fortunately for Nes, Kappa would never suspect her collusion with Alpha after that little incident with the pitchfork. Really, had Beta been her test subject, the suspicion would have run rampant through the entire clone population. Alpha had been a better choice in the end, if there was such a thing.

Adaar relaxed into being Alpha quickly and easily, but he made sure to avoid her, never giving her a chance to express her annoyance and concern over his insistence of going back to Farrow-Marshall over other options that might provide them with better information.

Of course, he did exactly as Alpha would have done and she couldn't argue against that.