Chapter 12

Unknown Planet, Milky Way

The Jaffa messenger was striding through the corridors of his master's palatial residence on his throne world, a planet in a system far above the galactic ecliptic, away from Anubis's enemies.

The Jaffa was outwardly calm, but inside he was fearful. He was carrying terrible news to the being who was his god. The messenger had never had an audience with his god before but knew of his master's very wrathful and volatile reputation. Still, it was his duty to relay this information, even though he was well aware that it could cost him his life.

The Jaffa stopped at a pair of enormous golden doors. A Prime Guard stepped out of the shadows and inquired as to the messenger's business. The messenger complied, and thought he could see a spark of pity in the senior Jaffa's eyes as he was admitted into the chamber.

The messenger could see that Anubis's back was turned to him, as he was looking out over his palace. The messenger fell to his knees and bowed his head, waiting for his god to allow him to speak.

It was several minutes before Anubis noticed the messenger.

"Speak," he said. The Jaffa's apprehension mounted another few notches.

"My Lord, I bring news from your vessel construction facilities in the Acheron system," the messenger said. Anubis had evidently picked up on the Jaffa's apprehension because his reply from under his cowl was much colder than before.

"Continue,"

"My Lord, your commander on the surface reports that your orbital yards were attacked and destroyed by forces loyal to Ba'al," the messenger said, aware that the remainder of his life could now be measured in seconds.

"What? How did your worthless kin fail against my enemy?" Anubis asked silkily.

"My Lord, a small number of Jaffa bearing Ba'al's mark infiltrated the station and sabotaged it. It was destroyed, along with all of the ships under construction there," the messenger finished, rather bravely. Anubis's only answer was to turn his back on the unfortunate messenger, who remained on his knees.

"Kill him!" the System Lord said. The Prime Guard, Mek'nar, primed his staff, inwardly apologising to his brother. He took careful aim and fired his weapon, killing the unfortunate messenger, before retreating to his anteroom.

Back in the throne room, Anubis gazed out over his palace. Ba'al would pay for his duplicity, he thought. He had severely damaged his ship-building capability, but fortunately his new flagship would be completed on schedule. He summoned Mek'nar once more.

"Convene an immediate meeting of the fleet commanders. It is time I showed Ba'al the nature of a true god's power!" he said angrily.

The Prime Guard bowed hurriedly and left the room to carry out his orders, but he served one other cause than that of the cowled System Lord in the room behind him. He would make his way to his usual contact once he had finished his duty for this day.

Master Bra'tac would be pleased, he thought.

Stargate Command, Earth, a few days later.

Sam walked out of the locker room and proceeded towards the base gym for her regular workout, something she had been neglecting recently as she had been giving her full attention to working on the various new technologies the SGC had received thanks to Thor. The upgraded crystals for the F-302's hyperdrive were being etched at the growing fabrication facilities at Area 51, and they had been hanging on the phone, attempting to clarify the tiniest details that Sam was certain she had covered in the notes she had sent to Nevada. She was looking forward to the chance to blow off some steam.

Arriving at the gym, she opened the door and saw another person who hadn't been in there for a while.

"Colonel, I'm surprised to see you here," she said. Said colonel was on a rowing machine, visibly grimacing. He paused to catch his breath as Sam started on the treadmill.

"Frasier started me on a recovery plan, says that I could be going home this week, and back on duty for Mitchell's test flights," Jack said breathlessly, referring to the events in just under seven days time. "I'm not what I used to be, but the snake did fix my dodgy knees,"

Sam was pleased that her CO was up and about. According to Janet, the colonel had been almost bouncing off the walls of his room since she had allowed him to get out of bed.

"That's good news sir, although the rest of us have been using the time productively," she said.

"Oh, how so?"

"As you know, I've been working on the new hyperdrive for the F-302, while Teal'c has been teaching Sergeant McKenzie the finer points of Jaffa hand-to-hand combat. I think Jonas has been immersing himself in Daniel's library when he's not helping me or in the commissary, but I could be wrong. He's been brooding a bit," Sam said.

"He's tough, he'll be fine," Jack said, then fell silent. Evidently something was bothering him.

The pair continued their workouts in companionable silence. Sam had moved on to some weights when she noticed Jack's troubled expression.

"Something on your mind, sir?"

"It's nothing,"

"Sure doesn't look like it,"

"Carter!" the colonel said irritably, then his features relaxed, "Sorry. I was wondering about Kanan. I'm starting to empathise with him, and despite what he did I have a lingering attachment to him," the colonel elaborated.

"I do kinda know what you're saying, sir. Even though Jolinar took me as her host against my will, once we shared our thoughts I realised that she had her reasons. Furthermore, the bond between host and symbiote is a strong one, even for those like us who were only blended for a short time. I'd hate to think what my father would go though if he lost Selmak for whatever reason," she opined thoughtfully.

"Can't argue with that," Jack said.

Once more, silence fell, more awkwardly than last time. While Jack and Sam had an excellent working relationship, they very rarely discussed such deeply personal matters. Sam knew of Jack's depression after he lost Charlie, and Jack knew that Sam had unresolved issues with family members, but that was all, and neither wanted to prod deeper for fear of disrupting the casual SG-1 team dynamic, already unbalanced by the recent loss of Daniel.

Carter decided to change the subject.

"By the way, sir, we're getting ready for another mission. We're going out with a couple of Alk'esh to try and find Anubis's asteroid and see if we can steer it into a safe and convenient orbit," she said brightly.

"Great," came the reply.

P6J-454, Milky Way

The planet known as P6J-454 to the Tau'ri was better known to its inhabitants as Ekron, an important industrial world in the domain of Ba'al. As such, it possessed a moderate-sized defensive fleet to protect the naquadah mines and weapons facilities on the planet below.

What the residents did not know, however, was that thanks to the Rebel Jaffa subterfuge at the Acheron shipyards, where weapons marked as being manufactured on Ekron had been left, a fleet of ha'tak belonging to Anubis were on their way seeking revenge for Ba'al's grievous slight against their master.

As such, the first hyperspace reversions caught Ba'al's fleet completely by surprise. The upgraded ha'tak of Anubis immediately lashed out at the opposing fleet, whose ships started dropping like flies, unable to repel firepower of that magnitude.

The Goa'uld lord commanding the defensive fleet, Montu, quickly regrouped his forces and attacked the ships of Anubis, in an attempt to protect the factories below but it was no use. The weapons of the enemy cut through his fleet's shields and hulls with ease, destroying crucial systems, crippling and destroying his forces.

The last thing Montu saw was a bolt of brilliant gold energy streaking towards his ship, then all went dark.

On the bridge of Osiris' flagship the feeling was jubilant. They had struck back with impunity against those who would dare trouble their god. They did not care that they were starting a larger war, for war was the Goa'uld way.

The fleet started bombarding the industries from orbit, eager to hit Ba'al back in the same way as he had hit them.

Well then, it lives!

Reviews appreciated as always.

Unsure about the arrival of the next chapter. Might be sooner, might be later.