Lucia
Milky Way Galaxy

"Another Kassa convoy destroyed in retaliation, more Hatacks lost, more of our brothers and sisters dead. All so Navar could try and act the hero…" Ventrell glared dismissively from his throne, "Had you shared your intelligence with the rest of us, perhaps we could have destroyed this Tau'ri shipyard, instead of merely pissing them off!" He slammed his fist onto the golden arm to his side with enough force that even the impudent dogs who had dishonoured the Alliance by agreeing to attend only via Goa'uld communication devices would feel it.

Surprisingly, their nominal leader, Terrin, was sat at the table, with those still 'loyal', or as loyal as Second's could ever considered to be, to Ventrell's rule. He had returned, making concessions, an attempted peacemaker to a dispute of his own making. No doubt seeking to woo more Clans to his faction. Was he smart enough to have discovered this secret of the Tau'ri, leaked it to the far rasher Navar knowing she would strike, to create just such an opportunity… Sarra was torn, between her colder, logical side being willing to consider whether she had underestimated her erstwhile opponent, and her angry, emotional side, who wasn't willing to give the Second credit for anything beyond how good his head would look mounted on a stick.

He spoke up, before Navar could respond, "First, we are all allies here, are we not? Navar may have reacted rashly, but the information was questionable in its accuracy, I imagine she was merely scouting out the supposed base, before preparing for a larger, united attack on our enemy…"

How he was restraining the shit eating grin that must have been bursting to get out was almost worthy of some credit.

An Alliance that was anything but, thought Sarra, how the temptation to throw Terrin and his fools out must have been high for the First, but, how would those who were more neutral react? Ventrell had his supporters, herself among them, whether out of genuine belief in his leadership or out of a determination to keep Terrin away from power, but in the middle… If he was the one to end the phony war, to break the Alliance… She doubted enough of the moderates would break his way, but if Terrin could be pushed into outright rebellion, perhaps then…

There were, however, matters to be discussed beyond the war with the Tau'ri. The troubling sickness that Sarra had encountered on Seheil had proven far worse than had been anticipated by the people she had left behind to tend to the poor wretches. Worse, similar reports were beginning to come from other worlds within the Twelfth's domain, and whispers of others amongst the other Clans holdings.

Raising this was a delicate issue with the Council so fractured, no doubt some would suspect each other, or perhaps the Tau'ri, the Terrin's of course may well not care lest it to be somehow used to their advantage, but the situation was grave enough in her mind to be brought into the open. Though that was often a risk in this company, regardless of the issue.

"I have news from Seheil." Sarra interjected into the low-level rabble that passed for debate, it seemed to catch Terrin by surprise, who immediately made eye contact with her, too quick for the self-censorship he'd been practising so far that day. Once she had milked the moment enough, she continued. "It would appear the situation we… inherited, was far graver than we initially anticipated."

"How grave?" An expected question, but an unexpected source, Qita, still something of a mystery, indeed, Sarra had been surprised at her attendance, suspecting she may have stayed away with the other younger, more rash Seconds.

"The entire planet's population is now dead, so I'd say fairly grave." That turned the previous low-level into a full-on roar of noise as everyone appeared to start yelling at once. Some shouted in the Second Clansmen's direction, other's mostly through the shimmering floating orbs of the Goa'uld technology, at her, one or two screams of "Tau-ri!" mixed in, more pointed or raised a fist in anger at Ventrell on his throne. Yet another fist, this one meeting the arm of said throne was enough to bring back a semblance of order, and the smallest of nods from the First signalled Sarra to continue.

"From what information we were able to glean from the locals, the sickness began with coughing and fever, before they would get weaker and weaker, ending with heavy bleeding and, finally, death. We were not able to treat this illness, nor prevent it from infecting the entire population… Though we suspect the disease may already have spread through their settlements prior to our arrival."

"Don't you blame me for your failures!" That was enough to rattle the youngsters cage, predictably.

"If it were my failure, and mine alone, there wouldn't be other sick worlds within your territory, would there!" It was a gamble, a bold one, but based on logic. If there was some sort of plague brewing in Lucian space, if it was on Seheil when it was a Second Clan world, it may well have spread, or indeed, been brought there from elsewhere in the first place.

Terrin squirmed a little, enough to encourage Sarra to press her advantage, "Come, Terrin, if we are facing a plague erupting from your worlds, this Council must know, we are one alliance, are we not?" Now it was her turn to suppress a grin.

Her enemy calmed himself, fighting to reassert the composure he had so carefully maintained up until moments ago, or at least, the faked appearance of it.

"Plague," he almost snorted derisively, "You overreact so easily Sarra. There is no plague on any of my worlds, I have heard reports of sickness from some planets, that is true, but I have already ordered my best healers to tackle it."

Sarra was somewhat taken aback by the admission, then the realisation that the truth may well mean there was indeed a plague in Alliance space. One her people had no idea how to cure.

"Your best healers?" She tried to imitate the tone Terrin had used towards her, "I trust you don't mean that shuffling abomination you had with you on that Ra damned world's surface."

Terrin's eyes narrowed, a grin spreading across his face, "rest assured, the Second Clan will heal these sickly citizens of the Alliance, and stand ready to come to the aid of any others who need us."