AN: Sorry for the delay but hope you are still enjoying the story.

Rebirth of Ares

Accords and Reformation

March 2006

Dakara

When the mighty armada finally returned, barely a week after the battle, it was with not as many ships as expected. Indeed it was vastly less than expected. When it did finally arrive it was revealed that only 203 ships had returned out of the over 850 that had been sent. This grievous defeat sent shockwaves throughout the Jaffa hierarchy due to the large numbers of ships lost. True they had shipyards and the manpower to rebuild but it would take time. They lacked the knowledge on how to build them as efficiently as the Goa'uld so it would take even longer too. In short they were well and truly damned by their own stupidity and pride and were now ruing the day they had decided that an invasion was a wise idea.

Indeed the High Council bickered, argued and shouted at each other for many sessions as they each passed blame around while Teal'c and Bra'tac, along with help from Rak'nor and Ka'lel, tried to get the Council to mobilise what military force they had left in case of retaliatory strikes by Ares. It would be all be for nothing as barely three weeks after the failed invasion a dozen strikes deep within Jaffa space occurred.

In orbit of a relatively green work with large mines viewable from space a fleet of ships dropped out of hyperspace. Above the planet the defending three Ha'tak turned to face the incoming ships but were caught under the weight of fire coming from the invading ships. While the defenders were distracted a number of Al'kesh left the attacking Ha'tak vessels and flew down to the surface where, beside the mining craters, the construction frames of several Ha'taks hovered above the surface. The bombers dove down and their engines whined as they aimed towards the shipyards. Just as it looked like they would impact them they pulled up and the heavy plasma cannons fired away at point blank range causing numerous explosions that were funnelled throughout the ships by the empty corridors and space-frames.

The hover jets that maintained their altitude, spluttered and died as the power was cut off by the explosions and other damage. The seven ships under construction slowly began their descent down to the planet's surface which led to an almighty crash that sent up dirt and dust before ending in a giant blinding fireball as the Naquadah generators and power conduits overloaded and erupted. The shock wave from the explosion merely knocked Jaffa off their feet, if they were far enough away, before also levelling numerous buildings and homes which in turn killed and buried many under the rubble. If they were unlucky enough then they got pulverised by the shockwave or vaporised or badly burned by the explosion. In either case they were doubly killed from wave or flames.

With their task complete, the Al'kesh returned to their motherships which in turn broke off their assault and jumped to hyperspace. Left reeling from the attack, the commanders of the two surviving Ha'taks scanned the surface to see the devastation below. They would not be building any ships on Erebus for a long time.

"Begin additional assaults here and here. Prioritise the shipyard at Alysis and the training ground on Chulak. We will hit them where it hurts after our attacks on Erebus and the Sartorus training ground. Once done we can hit a few worlds and destroy their ships. Our final attack will be Dakara, depending on its defences. Questions?" James asked sternly. None spoke as they looked at the galactic map before them. "Good. Only once we have hit elsewhere and led the Jaffa Nation on a merry chase shall we hit Dakara. I have no intention of invading but I do plan to destroy the weapon and any ship in orbit. With that we shall force hen into peace talks. If I can hit Dakara I can hit anywhere. Dismissed" James concluded the briefing. The Jaffa and human commanders bowed then left. Honeric hovered while the rest left. "You have concerns my loyal Prime?" James asked curiously.

"No, the strategy is sound if unusual my lord. Most Goa'uld would simply invade and conquer the territory of the Free Jaffa" Honeric pointed out.

"Ah but I am not Goa'uld, not any more. I am better than that, and, I am no god. More resilient, more experienced and more knowledgeable perhaps but not a god. No Goa'uld is but they did have a flare for the dramatic as well as a large ego requiring both worship and large dominions" James explained. Honeric nodded and left leaving James to look at the galaxy map and ponder any additional moves he could make.

A few days later, across the galaxy, a number of worlds suffered attacks from several Ha'tak vessels who would quickly engage the defending ships, usually numbering about two or sometimes three. The attacking vessels would quickly overwhelm the defenders with their quicker fire rate and superior weapons which would distract the defending Ha'taks from noticing the half dozen Al'kesh that would leave the attacking ship and descend upon the planet like vultures to a carcass as they dived down into the atmosphere hurtling towards their targets. The target would vary, usually being shipyards or training grounds for Jaffa. Within 30 minutes the shipyards or grounds would be smoking crates and the ships in orbit made wrecks, vaporised or heavily damaged before the ships of Ares would leave. With the damage done the Jaffa would struggle to build more ships and train Jaffa to good levels. The end result? An inability to wage war for years to come, something that may bite Ares back in the future.

Dakara

Teal'c and Bra'tac sat around a table in a small office like room that Bra'tac used on Dakara as they heard the news of five worlds hit this week alone. Many shipyards or training grounds had been destroyed or damaged along with countless defending vessels. At present, they only had three ship yards left under their control. It hit them more when a Jaffa reported that Chulak had been targeted as well. "Were there any survivors?" Bra'tac asked worriedly.

"No Master Bra'tac, the training ground was totally destroyed. The city itself was left unharmed though" the Jaffa reported. Bra'tac nodded and dismissed the man who bowed and left the room.

"This is not good news my friend. Barely have we begun to unite as a people and already we are under attack. Successful too, much to my regret."

"Indeed. But was it not Gerak's fault that we are in this position?"

"Quite true, but we still allowed it and did not fight hard enough even when we knew it would end badly. That it would be this badly has caught even me off guard. Ares is truly formidable, no wonder he ascended to Supreme System Lord. We must do what we can to limit further destruction, any more and even our new nation might fracture as blame is assigned and we fight each other over what to do. United we might stand a chance."

"Perhaps we should have allowed more ships to go with Gerak?" Teal'c ponders.

"No my old friend, that would merely have gotten more killed. No we must try to find a peaceful solution given our losses. The only way sending more ships would have worked is if we sent our entire fleet which would have left us vulnerable to pirates, smugglers and others who would take advantage of our weakness. Added to that is that that plan would not work now given our almost parity in numbers with Ares if our estimates of his strength are correct, which I fear they might be. Some form of peace accord may be our only option if we are to maintain or unity and people." Teal'c hummed thoughtfully at Bra'tac's words.

"We will need the council to agree, which they may not given the fighting so far" Teal'c pointed out.

"Then we must convince them of the necessity my former apprentice" Bra'tac said with conviction. He stood and began walking out of the room with Teal'c just behind as they began to meet with various councillors one by one and attempted to convince them of the need for a peace accord.

In the council meeting the next day they heard of two further attacks, one on a space station they held which was used as a supply depot and another on a group of Ha'taks which patrolled the border with Ares. Their situation was getting more and more desperate with a greater inability of building new ships given only three shipyards left. Brothers and sisters please! We must end this destructive and pointless conflict that Gerak started as it does us not good. Our own raids into Ares' domain have ended badly with great losses not to mention Gerak's foolish failure which cost us almost half our fleet and the lives of many Jaffa. We need to end it so we can rebuild and solidify our young nation for all Jaffa." Bra'tac argued passionately

"What of the Jaffa enslaved by Ares? He is a Goa'uld who needs to be ended like you and Master Teal'c did the rest" argued one grumpy looking bald man.

"Yat'Yir is not wrong, Ares poses a threat to us and all free beings if he maintains his empire. He is a Goa'uld that we can not trust despite your blinded attempts to do so" argued another.

"But he proved agreeable when we arranged to fight with him against Anubis and the Replicators" pointed out a young raven haired woman who sat near Teal'c.

"Kal'lel is right. Ares can be made to agree to terms and honour them. The Tau'ri have proven so. We need to end this war before we loose any more lives, ships or worlds. What if he targets Dakara next hmm?" Bra'tac returned.

"Your trust in the Tau'ri not withstanding, how can we trust the word of a false god such as Ares? Why would he stop this war when he can conquer us and enslave us like those within his domain?" Yat'Yir argued.

"Do you not recall a short while ago that he publicly banned slavery within his domain?" Teal'c pointed out smugly.

"And how do we know he is actually doing that and that it was not some stunt?" he replied gruffly to Teal'c.

"We are getting off track" Bra'tac intervened. "Can we agree to at least ask for an end? We need time to rebuild and sort out our governance fully, time that can be gained only by an end to hostilities." Murmurs sounded across the room as the members discussed amongst themselves. Eventually it slowly quietened. "What do my fellow councillors say?" Bra'tac asked. Slowly, one by one, they nodded in agreement or said yes. "Good, I will contact the Tau'ri to ask them to host the peace talks. May this be more productive than our two previous meetings." There were some small grumblings from the traditionalists but they did not object and so they left the council chambers. Bra'tac sighed in relief and Teal'c smiled at him. "Old friend, it seems we must travel to Earth once again."

"Indeed" Teal'c replied.

April

Earth

It had been almost two weeks since the attack on Chulak and James was standing once again on Earth in his role as Ares. He had travelled to Earth only a few weeks prior to carry out some tasks at Evans Industries which was doing well as a company and making him quite wealthy should he ever return to Earth permanently.

He glanced around the gate room and spotted that it was mostly quiet with just a few soldiers milling about. At the bottom of the ramp Colonel Mitchel stood there casually waiting for him. "Colonel Mitchel, good to see you again. I'm surprised you are not gallivanting about the galaxy at this time."

"Oh normally we would be" Mitchell smirked. "But given the nature of the talks and who is there we decided to be present to support both of y'all. Peace means a more stable galaxy which makes it safer for us to gate about or have ships exploring." The two shook hands and Mitchell led him through one of the two heavy blast doors.

"And how have the space explorations been going?" James asked curiously as they walked.

"Been good so far. Carter has been loving some of the star systems the Prometheus has been to. Something about magneto something or other in a gas giant in a system about nine light years from here. Pretty planet though. Me and SG-1 have been on that ship while it's been searching the neighbourhood acting as ground explorers for habitable worlds. It's different from gate travel I can tell you that. And here we are" Mitchel finished as they finally came to the briefing room. General Landry was sitting at the head of the table with Dr Jackson sitting to his left. Bra'tac and Teal'c were sat along the left side of the table leaving the right side for him and Mitchel to take their seats.

"Good, we're all here. Can't say how happy we are that you both are talking again, the ceasefire still holds?" Landry began.

"Indeed" Teal replied simply.

"Same here" James said as he took a more formal posture.

"Excellent. Now I believe you both have terms?"

"Indeed General" James began. "I would like all that Camulus held, I do believe that the Free Jaffa have little within that space though they nominally hold the worlds Camulus once had before his fall to Ba'al. Other than that acceptance of my territory and in turn I will acknowledge the Free Jaffa Nation."

"I am not sure we can give you that territory Ares" Bra'tac replied. "There are a few Jaffa and human worlds there and they do not acknowledge us, in part because they seek independence to live by themselves but the humans do not like Jaffa. I fear that you may not get much out of them."

"But that would be my problem to resolve not yours would it not?" James pointed out. Bra'tac nodded in acknowledgment of the point.

"The Free Jaffa also seek reparations for the destruction of shipyards and others in order to help us rebuild."

"I can not agreed to that" James returned indignantly. "We were at war and you have the larger territory. It does not take much to mine the resources and rebuild given your population and territory." Bra'tac sighed, it seemed it wouldn't be easy talks here either.

The talks would take over two days until completed, hammering out borders and territories as well as acknowledging each others existence and their right to govern. Concessions were eventually given on both sides though neither was happy. Ares agreed to hand over some resources, not many but a bit, to kick start Jaffa recovery while the Jaffa accepted the loss of Camulus' territories as well as parts that Ra and Ares himself had once ruled. Admittedly much of Ra's domain was mostly wild space with no one in clear control, a collection of independent worlds that had not yet joined either the FJN or Ares. With the terms of peace agreed, and the new borders defined, both signed the treaty that Stargate Command had supervised the writing of. No one was overly happy though Ares seemed to be the happiest given the new territory but the Jaffa got the peace they needed and some resources gifted to them to help them rebuild.

James stood at the bottom of the ramp as the stargate cycled through locking on to Areya. "Lord Ares it was good to meet you again, we on Earth are quite pleased that peace has now settled in the galaxy. It takes a strong man to know when it's right to make peace and a better one to see it through, I hope that is you" Landry said.

"Indeed, wise words, who said that? And I do hope this lasts as well as while I am not afraid of war and neither are Jaffa, it is detrimental to my long term goals" James replied.

"I did, just now" answered the smirking general leaving James standing there in surprise. "By the way we've had some news from Atlantis, apparently they found two Wraith vessels within their system, one was practically underneath Atlantis since it's on the surface. They found a queen on board and managed to get a few words out of her before they encountered her telepathy. Apparently it was quite overwhelming for a lot of people but they eventually stopped her, cost a few good people though" Landry said sadly. "Still the cruiser should provide some decent intelligence and practical experience for our people to look over since it's mostly intact. The second wraith ship they found was on a desert world which had some soldier or commander who'd survived the crash and turned cannibal. They managed to kill him too but the wrecked cruiser was fairly useless for us despite putting out a weak distress signal. Lost two more people in that incident."

"Did any Wraith detect the signal?" Asked James with concern.

"Doubtful. It had been going for decades, if not more, and no one had detected it. Our guess is it was too weak for the Wraith to pick up."

"When do they plan to begin exploring Pegasus then?"

"Probably next year, by then we should have done a complete search of Atlantis, built another ship to send out there and repaired and crewed the last Aurora class we found. With those done we can send people through the gate. Currently the plan is to not mention Atlantis but to say we are from a distant world that has only encounter the Wraith once or twice in our history due to its distance and isolation. We hope that will throw off any spies and the like" Landry explained.

"Good luck and take great care, the stories I've read from the Antarctic outpost that Janus wrote sounds awful."

"Indeed, we plan to tread very carefully."

"Of mice and men General" James reminded him,

"Huh, yeah, well, we'll make do. See what happens."

Areya

Once he was home he informed his council of ministers of the peace accords and its terms. He also informed Honeric and some of his ship commanders of the new territory with orders to send ships to secure those areas. With that done he then began preparing a speech that he wished to give now that his domain was settled. He summoned all the various representatives from all his worlds to come to what could only be called a senate building or a conference building. It would be the speech of the century, being important in founding what was to come and impact the galaxy greatly.

Two days later he was on a raised podium in front of a horseshoe shaped seating area with delegates from over 1300 worlds with stargates and a handful of ones without. Most of those without a stargate turned out to be formerly occupied worlds who had had their gate taken away when the Goa'uld master withdrew. The noise was something as many talked to neighbours and colleagues while on a bench below and in front of him sat the members of his council plus Honeric. Once he was sure everyone was there he stood up and a silence eventually fell after a minute or so. "My fellow citizens and representatives. I have summoned you here so I can explain the future of our domain and it is ours. I may be the leader but it is for all of you that I do this. Firstly may I inform that peace has now been established between us and the Free Jaffa Nation." Applause was heard and a few cheered at the news of peace. It allowed James a chance to smile happily at the good news. He raised his hands for calm so he could continue. "Yes it is very good, my thanks for you support in those troubled times. With this new stability it grants us the time to develop ourselves and decide what we want as a people. And that is the subject I wish to speak to you on. I have decide that with the peace afforded to us now to reform our system into the first Galactic Empire for a safe and secure society with me as emperor.

"I know this may seem like a step back but it is merely a consolidation and way to protect what we already have. As you know a few months ago I declared an end to slavery and the statement that all were equal under the law. I intend to go further with the establishment of a new currency in order to pay and reward workers and promote the growth of our economy. All will be paid fairly and no one will be paid less or more just because of their race.

"Thirdly you, my senators will continue to represent your worlds and bring issues that may need my central authority to sort out such as aid during famine or drought and the development of industry as well as insuring your defence. With our mighty navy we can defend ourselves against even the power of the Free Jaffa Nation which we proved with our great victory. I intend to lead us through a great golden age of scientific development and education of the people. A development of culture and possibilities as well as the exploration of both the galaxy and our souls as we try to build a society and nation that all can home. For that is what I ultimately want to build a home for everyone here and on our over 1300 worlds. Join with me as we build this home and go boldly forth to explore where no one has gone before. Join with me as we help each other and our words be better than before under the yolk of the cruel oppression of the Goa'uld.

"Now you may ask am I not one and thus how is this not going to be more of the cruel oppression? The time of the Goa'uld is over, I have the knowledge and ability to keep us together as we go through this momentous moment and when the time is right I do intend to stand down, or rather my heir will take over should I have one. As well, to put it simply, neither you nor the military would tolerate the demands and orders that the Goa'uld were known for in the past and since my rebirth I have not ordered any such act to be carried out either. So let us move forward together into a better future where we can build a better world for us all, be they human, Jaffa or alien. We are all one and equal in this new Galactic Empire so let us go forth as one. Thank you."

Much applause was given from the various representatives. They knew they could only survive in one group and that the Free Jaffa would only help Jaffa and not the human worlds, as well they couldn't rely on the Tau'ri to help them as they had few ships or soldiers from what they knew of the Tau'ri. It helped too that Ares wanted to educate them and develop their worlds as well as his admonishing and renouncement of Goa'uld activity. In short it was a fairly good deal for them as they could still bring problems to this senate and were defended by a great fleet.

And so a new power rose in the galaxy as the first unified Galactic Empire formed with a formidable fleet and a now unified people under their new emperor, Ares.