Chapter 10 ('B' version): The Queen

A/N: Oops, just realized when I was re-reading the story that I sorta screwed up with the Tollan, so I went back to fix chapter 9.

Warning: I don't know; maybe language and innuendo somewhere along the way.

Challenge: #5248 'The Nox!' by Almadynis. Tentatively until I hear from Almadynis.

Thanks to my betas: too antsy to send it to them. Sorry for any mistakes I missed.

Disclaimer: BtVS characters belong to Joss Whedon / Mutant Enemy. Stargate characters belong to Robert C. Cooper and Brad Wright / SyFy Channel. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

Pangarian world

As they were walking to Egeria's holding tank, Lya asked, "Excuse me, Ancestor? I mean, Anne? How can we be sure that Egeria is unhappy in her current situation?"

Blinking in surprise at the possibility that they might be kidnapping the symbiote instead of rescuing her, Anne replied, "Huh, I would have thought that was a given. On the other hand, I don't know how these demons think."

"Could you share thoughts with her as you did with your guide?" Lya requested on behalf of the being in the other room.

Bast sighed, "The risk in that is I don't know their physiology. Anne is human, so I know that mind-melding with Giles wasn't dangerous to him."

The Tollan representative offered his opinion, "The we must consider the risks involved with each course of action. Right now she is essentially being kept alive by artificial means. Even with the best intentions and efforts, it will lead to atrophy. Next is moving her without explaining what is happening to her."

"Which would be like kidnapping somebody," Anne stated her earlier concern, "… even if the reasons for doing do aren't evil."

"Precisely," the Tollan replied with a nod of his head. "I would assume that Bast has a considerable amount of control when it comes to this 'mind-meld' you spoke of?"

"She knows how much to share and how fast, yeah," Anne confirmed.

The Tollan thought the final choice was the right one, under the circumstances, and he told them that, "I would consider that to be the best option then – except for perhaps letting her blend with someone."

"I agree," Lya said, casting pleading eyes on her ancestor's vessel.

Bast thought over each one, getting Anne's vote as well, before answering, "Not sure how I feel about the blending until we know if she's really Tok'ra or not. Okay, I'll try the mind reading."

Egeria's mind

Looking at the slug-like creature in the water, Anne reached in to touch it so they could communicate telepathically, "Hi there. My name's Anne. Are you Egeria, Queen of Tok'ra?"

"I am. How are we able converse without blending?" Egeria inquired, curious about the human she was talking to.

Bast took over to answer, "That would be my doing. I am Bast, goddess of protection." Her tone was that of veiled threat, in case Egeria had any plans to attack her vessel.

"In case you're wondering about the similarity in her name, she isn't Bastet," Anne clarified. "She did help kick that snakey demon's ass though. Sorry, didn't mean to offend you; I just didn't like Bastet's memories. Anyway, we were wondering if you were happy here, or if you wanted to leave with us," she added, skipping right to the main conversation.

Egeria was leery of the self-proclaimed goddess and her host. "That would depend on what you have planned for me," she replied warily.

Sensing that the symbiote didn't trust Bast, Anne asked to explain their goals. If things got bad, Bast would assume control again. "That depends on whether you're evil or not. I need help fighting the Goa'uld in a way that doesn't harm the innocent hosts or Jaffa. I was hoping that you could help with the brainstorming – you know, coming up with ideas of how to do it," she said/requested.

"What about the symbiotes that are innocent?" Egeria demanded, thinking of her children.

Anne smiled, getting what she hoped out be the hook to get Egeria to help them…assuming she was Tok'ra and they weren't evil. "See, that's where you come in; you can tell me how to tell if they're evil or not, and how save them. I guess the real question is, do you want to stay here?"

After considering her options, Egeria stated, "They aren't unkind to me, but I think I would rather help fight the Goa'uld."

"Okay. Until I can talk to my guide, we're just going to move you inside the tank," Anne explained, making sure that Queenie didn't expect a ride in her body.

"Will I get a host eventually? While I can survive like this, it does weaken me. Being in a host would restore me to full health – assuming I don't have to expend a lot of energy to heal them." Weak was an understatement; Egeria wasn't sure how much longer she could live without a host. But she didn't want to admit too much to these people until she knew them better.

"Hopefully…if we can make sure it's safe." When she felt the symbiote's confusion, Anne explained their caution, "I don't want to assume you're a good guy and give you a body, only to find out you're the Hannibal Lecter of the Goa'uld world. That's a serial killer from my homeworld…sort of." No sense in confusing non-Earth beings with movies and fiction stories.

Egeria 'nodded' her approval, "I understand your concerns. As a show of good intentions on my part, I'll tell you what I've withheld from my offspring that the Pangarians harvest from me." When she finished her explanation, she gave her reason for doing so, "I was hoping if the results weren't successful, they'd stop the experiments."

"Thank you for telling me. I'll pass that along to them," Anne replied, starting to like this symbiote a little. She really hoped that Egeria would be the real deal and Bast wouldn't have to kill her. "They wanted me to apologize to you, by the way. They thought you were an evil Goa'uld, so experimenting on you didn't cause them a lot of discomfort."

"That's understandable. I've watched the cruelties that the others have inflicted on countless worlds," Egeria answered. Seeing how evil her race could be was what caused her to rebel in the first place.

Not really sure how to end one of these mind conversations, Anne sorta babbled, "I guess this is goodbye until after the move then. We'll talk once we're settled to make sure you're doing okay," she promised. First, she'd have to talk to Giles though and figure out what to do about her.

"Thank you. That is very kind of you."

Back on the Nox world

After greeting her Watcher-turned-Guide, Anne pulled him to a private area to discuss the supposed Tok'ra Queen, "Hey, Giles? I think we need to find a host for Egeria as soon as possible."

"Why?"

"She doesn't want to admit it, but I think she's close to dying," Anne replied, confident she was right.

Giles, however, wanted a little more information before handing over a person to be…blended, he thought the term was. "If she hasn't said anything, why would you believe that?" he asked.

"Because I've heard that bravado in my own voice when I was fighting too many vamps when I was too tired or injured," she confessed. "The voice that says, 'I'm going to die, but I'm going to go down fighting.'"

Not wanting to think about any times when Buffy- Anne ever felt that close to defeat, Giles changed the subject, "Can we trust that she is who she says she is?"

"I liked her, but that isn't exactly fool-proof. Bast wasn't able to reach into her mind deeply enough to make her own opinion, just enough for us to communicate," Anne admitted, knowing Bast was bothered by that 'failing'. "And I know from Bastet's memories that putting Egeria into somebody is risky. She can fool us into believing that the host is talking, when it's Egeria. If she does turn out to be evil, she might kill the host before we can get her out."

Even though Bast might have already told her, he still stated what he learned from conversing to the elders, "I've spoken to the Nox, and it appears that one of Bast's gifts to them and the Furling was that their physiology would reject a symbiote without risk to themselves. The only person that I know who can safely be a host…is you. Bast can keep the symbiote from killing you if it is evil, and once blended, Bast would know everything about Egeria."

"I hate to admit it, but that's what Bast and I came up with too. Sorta thought I'd have to convince you of it, though." She remembered back to Halloween night and how much it hurt when the Slayer fought off the fake goddess before Bast saved her and shuddered. Sighing, Anne remarked hopefully, "Well, it really sucked when Bastet tried to take me over, but maybe since Bast is already solidly in place, it won't be so bad."

A/N: Next…Back to Earth for a visit.