Chapter 3 : In the snake's lair

"This way, my Lord !"

Have I gone blind ? thought Karl'ac. No, it was only pitch black. He groped blindly and felt one of his Jaffas grab his arm and lead him away from the transporter. He had to walk carefully on the slightly irregular stone surface. He took a breath, and the next moment exploded in a fit of coughing. "I'm sorry, my Lord, there's obviously a lot of dust here and our arrival disturbed it", explained the Jaffa. "My helmet enables me to see in the dark, but..."

"Right, Jaffa..." The Goau'ld brushed away some of the dust from his tunic. "What else can you tell me ?"

"My squad checked the immediate area for threats and found none. We're apparently inside a temple, and from the look of the hieroglyphs around, it was one of Ra's. There are many rooms beyond, but we haven't gotten to exploring them yet" concluded the warrior.

Karl'ac was puzzled. From the look of things, this temple had fallen out of use a long time ago. He hoped they would find something useful, beginning with light. He couldn't do anything blind though.

"Jaffa, give me your helmet" "At once, my Lord !" He heard the metallic clanging of the retracting helmet, then felt the Jaffa fumble around and place the thing in his hands. Putting it over his own head, Karl'ac then pressed the switch and the shell deployed in place. He could see at last. Most of his Jaffas were standing around, not moving lest they trip or bump each other. The room he was in was medium sized, and a bit congested right now. There was a passageway in the far wall, obviously leading to the rest of the temple.

His visual scan finally found what he was looking for, a particular pattern of glyphs carved in the stone wall. He strode there and waved his hand device over it. He was pleased to see a panel of stone start to move and recede into the wall, leaving a set of controls in view. He pushed the largest one, a red crystalline square. Nothing happened for the next seconds, then, just as he started to fret, a buzzing sound came out of the panel, and feeble light came into being, weakly illuminating the room. He could see his Jaffas stand to attention, eyes on him, their God and leader. He switched the helmet back in stowed position and handed it back to the warrior it belonged to.

"Now let's see what else we can find."

The next room was small and empty, nothing more than an anteroom for the transporter. Karl'ac ordered a squad to stay there and keep an eye on the ring room. The rest followed him along a low dark corridor decorated by the ubiquitous glyphs extolling the feats and glory of the god Ra. They climbed up a short flight of stairs into a much larger room, with a high ceiling supported by stone pillars at two meter intervals. It was square, about 40 meters per side, with a doorway set in the middle of each wall. Karl'ac had arrived from the southern one. Upon reaching the centre of the room, he paused, his Jaffas in tow.

"Chu'rel, take twenty Jaffas and head to the North passage. I will explore the Western one and you will accompany me" He gestured to another group of warriors. "The rest of you will investigate the Eastern one. Kree !"

The three groups parted and went their separate ways. Karl'ac marched through another low corridor and emerged into another stone room. The first sight he caught there made him smile : the Chappai was here ! The unmistakeable dark gray circle was standing in the middle of the room, slightly elevated on a flight of wide steps. He approached to see better in the gloom, then stopped, almost paralyzed, a look of disbelief on his face, his Jaffas murmuring behind him. By Hathor's cunt, this was unfair. He had escaped death at the hands of Nirrti's superior fleet, burrowed into a star, made it out of his destroyed ship by the skin of his teeth and now this twice-cursed Chappai had a broken dialing stand. He looked closer. The big red dome was smashed, some keys had been bashed out and broken crystals laid at the device's feet. All of it was covered in a thick layer of dust. No way to repair it out of the material he had, especially since he wasn't an expert on this particular technology.

Karl'ac was pondering the implications of the Chappai's state of disrepair when a Jaffa ran in the room, came to attention and bellowed "My Lord ! Our First Prime found something ! He calls for you to please come and look !"

Judging from the warrior's precipitation, it had to be something important. "Lead me there, Jaffa !"

They came back through the central hall then turned north, stomped through an unremarkable corridor and emerged in a richly decorated room. Even in the dim artificial glowlight, the glitter of gold-plated walls and precious stones was dazzling. There were even richly carved pieces of furniture, but Karl'ac finally saw what had made Chu'rel send for his God and had every Jaffa present gaping.

There on the royal bed, obviously made by the best artisans of Ra's time, fine wood, ivory and gemstones, and sculpted corner stands, laid a body. Even under the eon-long dust, the outfit was recognizable. It was Ra... but it was impossible ! Karl'ac came closer until he could see the head. It was desiccated and bore little resemblance to the former Supreme System Lord. Karl'ac bent in order to look at the back of the head. Yes, through the dried skin, he could see the unnatural set of the neck bones and the trauma inflicted to the skull. He straightened, stunned, eyes vacant. If this was indeed Ra, then the most powerful God had had his head bashed in and his neck broken, terminating both symbiote and host body. But who could have done that ? No other Goaul'd, for sure, or he'd have boasted about it all the way to the Ida galaxy. He took another glance around. Another surprise... there was another body, crumpled in a heap at the foot of the bed. He leant over it. It didn't wear any clothes and... oh oh, it had been a female. This body was in much worse shape. His close examination revealed that "she" was not a Goaul'd host and had been beaten to death as well. Her limbs all showed open fractures, her face was a flatten dried mush, not a single tooth was visible in the grimacing maw and to top it all, there was the unmistakeable burn of staff blasts.

Had it been a Jaffa rebellion ? But it wouldn't make sense... Ra's body hadn't suffered any outrage apart from his fatal injuries. He was laying on his back, on his bed, hands joined in the classic position of the honored dead.

A picture started to form in his mind. Could Ra have been killed by one of his sex slaves... yes, that was a possibility. Then his guards would have found the culprit and executed her in a most brutal fashion, leaving her broken corpse as a last tribute to their God. That made sense. As for the smashed dialing device, the assassin could certainly have done it either before or most likely after her traitorous deed. Then she'd come back into the bedroom and been found by the vengeful Jaffas...

All that was quite sobering. Karl'ac wondered what surprise would come next. Right on cue, another Jaffa dashed in the room, panting. "My Lord... you need to come... we found the temple's exit... " Brilliant, then why do I feel there's a catch somewhere, thought Karl'ac. He wasn't disappointed as the Jaffa caught his respiration and spoke again. "Sire, the exit... it's caved in, there's no way out !"

"Screw me."

Only a second later did Karl'ac realize he had spoken out loud.