Hathor and Sekhmet walked arm in arm down the hall towards the hangar. They would be leaving within the hour for what had been Zipacna's realm before this entire world fell under their father's domain. The cargo ship had been laid out with everything they could possibly want, Ma'tok, Zat'nik'tel, Hara Kesh, even experimental chemicals. Beyond that were an assortment of sharp objects and various other torture devices. And the basic comforts of course.

"Daughter!"

Sekhmet's face twisted into a sneer as Hathor turned to face her mother. Sekhmet circled around beside her sister and glared over her shoulder as Egeria stopped a small distance away, afraid to approach further.

"Please do not do this. I have faith that my daughters may still be inside somewhere."

"Weakling! You are not worthy of the title of queen. She who could not even control her host. When I return, the title shall fall to me. I know, Sekhmet knows, even most of the palace Jaffa know that father had to find you a weak enough host that you could control her. A woman so profoundly stupid she barely even had the ability to think for herself while she was human. If you are not strong enough to control a host, what makes you think you are strong enough to stop me from claiming my rightful place?"

"I might throw myself on the mercy of Ra. If nothing else, my lack of ambition ensures my loyalty."

"Father will not be able to save you." Hathor turned back to her path, linked arms with her sister, and they both continued towards the hangar.

Egeria opened her wardrobe and pushed her hand back under the line of robes to feel down to the bottom. It had been over three hundred years since she'd bothered looking for it, but her fingers fell into the little groove that indicated the hidden compartment, and she gently worked a nail up under it and eased it open. It was a simple, almost primitive way of doing things, but sometimes primitive was best. It was harder for them to find primitive.

The compartment was lined with lead to stop anyone from feeling the contents, not her husband or his subordinates, not her daughters, not the jaffa. When she opened it, she felt that familiar tingle of naquadah. Pushing her hand down inside she found her healing device first, but pushed it aside. She might need it later, but for the moment... her Kara Kesh. She pulled it out of the compartment, the little gold finger caps jingling.

She flopped into her chair rather unceremoniously as she finished fitting the tips over her fingers. After a cursory inspection, it looked to be in good condition. It had been a long time, but these sort of things were meant to last. She wasn't sure if she wanted to start wearing it again or not. There was no doubt she'd need it, but that had to be balanced with whether or not it would be effective, and more importantly, how much suspicion it would raise. Ra, for one, would certainly know something was awry if he saw her with it. At least, he would know she knew something was going to happen, and that she planned on doing something about it. It had the potential to be disastrous.

Additionally, it would likely not do any good against Hathor, and it definitely wouldn't hold back Sekhmet. Her only real option at this point seemed to be going to Ra and begging for protection. Ra might prefer to have a queen he could keep control of easily. Still, this could not be guaranteed, and depending on how much she believed Hathor wouldn't make idle threats, Ra's favor might not do any good. Hathor could just kill her anyway and then Ra wouldn't have many other choices if he still wanted to be able to produce his own jaffa.

There was one last option, but it sickened her to consider it. That it had even crossed her mind was shameful. It wouldn't be hard to convince Ra that Hathor, perhaps in collusion with her sister, were plotting against him. Honestly, she was less sure that it wasn't true. She wouldn't even really have to find solid proof, just something that looked like proof. From there, Ra would do all the work of constructing an elaborate, and most likely baseless plot against him, and punish them as he saw fit.

More importantly though, they were still her daughters. Even though outside forces had driven them to madness and evil, wasn't it possible that it might still be fixed? Didn't she owe it to them to find a different way? Maybe if they were separated from the sarcophagus for long enough, they might return to normal, and understand that their previous actions were wrong. They might join her again, and together they could set everything right again. Even if they really were just evil, wouldn't it make her evil to do to them the same crimes they committed against others?

When she finally admitted it to herself, she'd been considering this option for a long time. Things had been only getting worse for the last two-hundred years, and recently they were deteriorating even faster. As much as she had tried in the past to convince herself that her daughter's survival was beneficial to everyone's well-being, they were about to wipe out an entire planet's population, and she knew they would never stop there. They would never want to stop, and Ra would only ever encourage them.