The next two months passed somewhat uneventfully (in some respects) for the Furlings. No new information was discovered about the Goa'uld that Tanith had served, no matter how many scouts Supreme Commander Anarr sent out, no matter the intelligence the Rebel Jaffa brought back, no matter the courts the Tok'ra spies infiltrated. There was nothing. It was almost like this Goa'uld did not exist, though he had to. Tanith was not powerful enough, nor would he have had enough time, to accumulate such a fleet and so many Jaffa, especially ships with such upgrades.

On the battlefront, the campaign against the elusive Morrigan continued. More of her territory continued to fall, even her homeworld itself, but the Phantom Queen, as she was known, was never captured. Oh, several times the Furlings thought they had her, but instead they had those that impersonated her, and Morrigan herself slipped away out of the slowly tightening net, surviving to fight and live one more day. It became known that Morrigan kept many hosts simultaneously, unlike other Goa'uld, unlike even those of her lineage, hosts scattered across the empire in stasis until she had need of them, and she jumped hosts as needed, appearing here in one guise, there in another, while her underlords might impersonate her on yet other worlds.

(How she survived the strain on her body, Malek did not know, as the process of changing hosts was hard on a symbiote.)

All of this made actually capturing Morrigan extremely difficult. One of her underlords, Evnith, known for being especially intelligent as well as extremely cruel and paranoid, was killed when the planet she governed, a world named Gleanavar, fell. The news of her death made the Tok'ra quite happy, as her predecessor, Sholred, had been a Tok'ra spy, and Evnith's actions had directly led to Sholred's… very unpleasant and very gruesome … death. Another Goa'uld, Lugh, an old enemy of Morrigan, whom she had been keeping as a trophy in a stasis jar, was also captured when her homeworld fell.

As the campaign against Morrigan continued, a new campaign began against her brother Manannan mac Lir, a reclusive but powerful System Lord, who actually understood the benefits of alliances and patience for the increasing of one's territory. His homeworld, Emain Abhlach, was one of the first planets in his domain to fall, as Sujanha often advocated for cutting off the head of the snake on the first blow of a new campaign. Even if the Goa'uld under attack was not captured, the fall of their homeworld could have a demoralizing and destabilizing effect on the rest of his territory as well as on his underlings and Jaffa. Manannan mac Lir was not on world when his homeworld fell, but his queen Morgause was, as well as their literal (in more ways than one) son, Mordred.

A disillusioned Jaffa commander captured when Emain Abhlach fell ended up revealing the true secrets about Mordred's heritage. The Tok'ra also had some interesting revelations. Mordred, the symbiote, had been spawned by Morgause with Manannan mac Lir's host's code of life, while the host, whose name had been lost, was the son of Morgause's host and … King Arthur of all people. The literal, actual King Arthur of medieval romance legends. He actually existed. In a twisted version of what the legends said, Arthur, who was actually the son of Constantine, which placed his life much earlier than any scholars on earth had thought, had led a revolt against the Goa'uld during the fourth century. Morgause had been sent to deal with the problem, and instead, Mordred had resulted. The boy had been raised among the Goa'uld and then made a host, where he had gotten a name for himself as one of his father's most skilled warriors and tacticians.

As a host, King Arthur's son had languished for over 1500 years.

King Arthur's son.

King Arthur.

The King Arthur.

What other myths are actually true?

"Or what other figures of myth are actually real" might be the better question.

They'll be grains of truth in those old stories, but a lot of those stories so many of us read as kids are still that … stories, myths.

But still King Arthur!

And yet … that poor kid.

Had he known what his fate would be while he was being raised at Manannan mac Lir's court?

Had he been aware when he had been sent to kill his father, if kill his father he had like the legends said?

For once, we actually know how long the host has been a host.

The healers hope he'll survive the extraction.

Physically was the first issue.

Mentally was another issue all on its own.

Granted, the sample size was comparatively small, but based on the hosts who had survived the extractions so far, it would be a tossup whether King Arthur's son—I wonder what his name actually is. Does he even have a name?—would recover mentally enough to leave the care of the mind healers, leave the peace and quiet of their recovery worlds … ever.

Maybe the fates will be kind, and he'll actually get a chance for a real life.


After three years, almost exactly, among the Furlings and almost three years of serving with Sujanha, Daniel had a pretty good understanding of what she liked and disliked. Blue fruit, books, and spending time with their little family unit were high up on her list of likes, just not in that order. Paperwork, politics, losing people, and arguing with the High Council were high on the list of things that gave her proverbial heartburn and literal headaches.

And now we can definitely add another to that latter list.

Cleaning up other people's messes, and especially cleaning up other people's messes which they should have had enough sense not to get into in the first place.

The first of two such incidents began on what had, up to that point, been a quiet afternoon on the Valhalla. Sujanha's flagship was in orbit around Ausonia, sending and receiving the latest round of reports to and from Uslisgas after the most recent spate of battles against the forces of Morrigan and Manannan mac Lir. Though a sharp lookout was still being kept across the galaxy, no further forces belonging to Tanith's master, no upgraded ships had been sighted or engaged with since the fall of Tollana the previous month.

Daniel was seated on the bridge of the Valhalla in Rusa's seat, which he had purloined while she was off eating lunch, for the sake of not sitting on the floor for a bit. He was proofreading the notes he had written up after one of Sujanha's meeting that morning, and his gaze occasionally flicked up across to Sujanha who was sitting at her station, gnawing idly on a blue fruit and staring off into the distance, thinking, brooding, or maybe she was just gazing off into space while talking to Malek.

Sometimes, with Sujanha, who knew?

The quiet beeping of a comm request on her gauntlet seemed loud on the mostly deserted bridge. One of Mekoxe's assistants was working in the back, but other than him, they were alone.

Sujanha straightened with a slight start, glancing down at her gauntlet, the blinking light indicating the waiting request. She balanced her half-eaten piece of fruit … the entirety of her lunch so far … how she survives with as little as she eats some days, I do wonder … on the broad arm of her chair and then hit something to accept the hail. A small blue form appeared over her forearm. It looked like one of the guards from the base.

"Pardon the interruption, Supreme Commander," said the guard. He must be new. Not even the Army calls her that on a regular basis. "One of the Midgardians of SG1 has come through the Stargate, requesting your assistance on a matter. Shall I have her beamed to your ship?"

SG1?

She?

Sam?

What's she doing here?

What happened now?

Had SG1's infamous penchant for finding trouble stuck again?

"Of course. Have her beamed up immediately," Sujanha replied. The little blue figure bowed sharply and then disappeared. "What is that phrase of your people's, 'Now what?'" She mused, looking over at Daniel. "Your old teammates have a distressing ability to find trouble or be found thereby."

Yeah, we do … I was especially good at it, unfortunately.

Daniel gave her a sheepish look that was half smile, half grimace of agreement. "Yeahhhhhh."

There was a flash of light and a very familiar noise, and then Sam was standing at the front of the bridge, looking around as usual with wide, interested eyes. She looks okay. (Stressed and a little tired, yes, but she was not standing as if she were hurt.) Sam smiled at Daniel in greeting and then saluted Sujanha. "Supreme Commander," she said, "Thank you for seeing me."

"Of course, Major Carter," replied Sujanha. "Midgard is our ally, and,"—here she gave what for the Furlings passed for a smile … just without the teeth—"You came on a quiet afternoon. What assistance does the SGC need?"

Sam grimaced slightly, her gaze skittering around the room for a moment. "It's, uh, not us, not the SGC or SG1, that needs your help. We're all okay, but … do you know a planet called K'tau?"

Doesn't sound familiar. SG1 did repeats sometimes, but there would have been lots of worlds that his team had visited since he had left. It wasn't surprising for Daniel not to recognize the planet. Sometimes we don't even know what a world's called. It's just P3X-whatever, whatever number got assigned to it by Sam and the techs.

Sujanha, however, recognized the name instantly from the look on her face. "Yes, of course," she replied. "It's one of the planets protected by the Asgard under the Protected Planets Treaty with the Goa'uld … as Midgard is. Why?"

"There's a problem there. K'tau needs your help."

Sujanha gave her a long, hard look that would have made Daniel want to squirm if he had been on the receiving end. "Major Carter, K'tau is, as I just said, a world protected by the Asgard. Why have you not taken this matter to them, to Commander Thor? An issue on one of their worlds is their concern foremost."

"Foremost."

By which you mean we aren't unwilling to help.

It's just their problem first.

"We have. They won't … can't help."

Because why exactly?

Sujanha sighed heavily. "Because? What happened … precisely and in detail?"

"We—SG1, I mean—went to K'tau two days ago on one of our usual first-contact missions," Sam began, shifting perhaps instinctively into parade rest as she began to dictate her report. "We had an unusually hard landing when we emerged from the Stargate. That problem used to be caused by the margin of error in calculating planetary shift, but we fixed that problem. However,"[1]—here she hesitated and grimaced again, making Daniel wonder, What did you do?—"I had to override some dialing protocols on the Stargate so that we could get a lock in the first place."

Overrode dialing protocols?

That sounds like a recipe for trouble.

"You overrode dialing protocols," Sujanha said very … deadly … quietly. "Did you ever consider that those protocols might have been in place for very good reasons and that overriding them might bring down trouble upon you?"

Sam winced. (Daniel felt sorry for her. Being on the receiving end of one of Sujanha's lectures is never fun. His time with the Furlings had taught him a good dose of caution, but SG1 had always had a tendency—and I'm indicting myself, as well—for doing things a little fast and loose, escaping troubles by the skin of their teeth, all for the sake of staying one step ahead of the Goa'uld. And preferably more than one step. Sometimes that could backfire.) "Yes, Commander, we learned that pretty quickly. Well, so we had a rough landing. We quickly realized that we were on an Asgard protected world after Nyan recognized some writing near the gate. We met the locals. They're protected by Freyr."

Sujanha made a vague sound of assent. "Freyr sits on the Asgard High Council. Go on."

I don't think I've met him. Daniel had met Thor a number of times and been to Othala once or twice with Sujanha, but otherwise he'd met few among the Asgard High Command and the Asgard High Council.

"Well, we hadn't been at their village very long at all when the light-spectrum of their sun shifted toward infrared. If that change continues, all green plants on K'tau will die, affecting the oxygen supply and dooming plant and animal life. K'tau is a dying world, Commander."

So not good.

Uh, how does that even happen?

"The best I can determine," Sam continued, giving the explanation for Daniel's mental question, "when we traveled to K'tau, the wormhole passed through their sun, hence the dialing protocols I had to disable. The only way I know that a sun could suddenly shift towards the red spectrum is … subatomic poisoning of a sort, the introduction of an unstable, super-heavy element to the sun's nuclear reaction, an element that our wormhole brought from another star system."

"The whole reason there are safety protocols, dialing protocols, as you call them, is to prevent such events from even occurring." Sujanha almost gritted out those words. "You said the Asgard will not interfere to assist K'tau?"

Sam nodded. "Freyr reminded us that it's not their responsibility to undo all the problems we cause messing around with technology far beyond our comprehension. Then Jack talked to the High Council. The Asgard can't help K'tau because of the Protected Planets Treaty. Uh, Subsection 42, something about not artificially advancing the native population. Doing so would negate the whole treaty, leaving us all open to invasion by the Goa'uld … or, the ones that are left."

How does not artificially advancing a population keep the Asgard from saving them from extinction?

They'd be keeping the sun from dying, not dumping advanced tech on their proverbial doorstep.

A muscle in Sujanha's jaw spasmed. She closed her eyes for a second, muttering "Oh, for star's sake!" in Furling. She had … opinions … about the Protected Planets Treaty, very strong opinions, which she could opine on … at length … with extensive strategic reasoning to back up those opinions if set off and given half the chance to vent. Her opinions boiled down to the fact that she thought keeping up the pretense (or farce) of the Protected Planets Treaty on the back of a gigantic bluff—game of chicken almost … in some ways—was frankly … ridiculous. Foolish, idiotic, stupid. A waste of precious resources. Need I continue? Given the difficulties the Asgard were facing against the Replicating Ones—the Replicators, as earth called them—and the limited number of ships the Asgard could spare to deal with matters in Avalon as well as the thinning of the Goa'uld ranks these past few years and the limited number of planets protected by the treaty, only about 2 dozen left, Sujanha was of the opinion that it might be simpler to abandon the treaty and let the Furlings deal with protecting those planets.

We've got more ships in one sector of the galaxy at one time than the Asgard do in the entire galaxy at the same time.

After a very long, very uncomfortable silence, Sujanha asked, "How long before K'tau is irreversibly doomed?"

"Three months … we think," Sam replied. "At that point, I don't think there's any hope of reversing the changes. We've got some ideas, but they're long shots and dependent on a lot of things falling into place on earth. There's no guarantee that they'll work, that we can even get the supplies we need on earth. Any help you can give us …" she shook her head. "The people of K'tau are ready to accept their fate at the gods' hands. It's our fault, and …"

Three months until the sun is doomed.

But what happens to the planet in the meantime?

Sujanha scrubbed a paw across her face, almost tiredly. Then she turned in her seat, grimaced slightly at the motion, and beckoned to Mekoxe, who had reappeared at his station since Sam had beamed up from the surface. "Major Carter, please dictate a basic report of what you believe the issue with K'tau's sun to be to Mekoxe. Mekoxe, please transmit that message to our scholars aboard the Valhalla and any other ships currently in orbit and then have it sent to the capital."

"Of course, Commander."

Sujanha turned her gaze back fully to Sam. "I am a soldier, not a scientist, but I will have word sent to those who will know more about such matters. We will see what we can do. Leaving K'tau to its fate is not an option, by any means."

Sam nodded sharply. "Thank you, Commander. I …" she broke off and shook her head. "Thank you."

"Tell what you can to Mekoxe. Then we will return you to the surface. The guards will send you back to K'tau or to Midgard or wherever you wish to go. When we know more, we will send word."

"Yes, Commander." Sam came to attention almost reflexively. "And we'll keep working the problem from our end. Maybe, at least, between the two of us, we can find a way."


Daniel ended up 'escorting' … accompanying, really, … Sam back to the surface of Ausonia, simply for the chance to catch up for a few minutes. He was getting little enough time with his old teammates as it was currently with all the issues with the Goa'uld, and every time they met there seemed to be some crisis at hand, which did not exactly allow much time for catching up.

"Where to?" Daniel asked once they were back in the massive underground cavern to which the Stargate had been moved by the Furlings at some point. There was no DHD, which had been placed in a separate secured area as a security precaution. "Earth or K'tau?"

"Earth, please. Thanks, Daniel," Sam replied. Once he had relayed the message to the guards, she added, "How are you? And Shifu and Sha're?"

Daniel smiled at the mention of his ever-growing son. New shoes. New clothes. He grows like a weed every time we turn around. "They're all good. Shifu's sprouting up. I'm good. The Fleet's, uh, busy, so I'm busy, but I still get a lot of time back home with them. Sujanha's got multiple aides, so she switches around who's with her and who's back at the capital, so I'm not always stuck here or anything. SG1?"

Sam gave a heavy sigh. "The Colonel's blowing smoke. He, uh, might have had … words with Freya and the Asgard High Council when they told him they won't help K'tau. There was a mention of how we helped Thor after the Replicators on his ship made it to earth and saved his a**, and a fair bit of swearing at the High Council. Teal'c is … Teal'c. Nyan's not you, but he's good, still reading his way through the books in your library in your old office."

The Stargate finished dialing and opened with a whoosh.

"Take care," said Daniel, "and maybe one of these days we can catch up when there's not a crisis on our hands."

Entering her IDC code, Sam grinned and then, once it was confirmed, walked toward the gate, throwing one last wave back over her shoulder and disappeared into the wormhole.


Solutions to the subatomic-poisoning of a sun did not grow on trees, nor did they happen quickly, even for the Furlings. Daniel heard little of the matter over the next couple of weeks, except for when Sujanha got the occasional update from the Furling scientists. The matter on K'tau did not directly impact the Fleet for now. This was a science issue until the point when (A) a fix had to be delivered to the sun or (B) an evacuation of K'tau needed to begin. The actual updates that she got made little sense to Daniel. He had absorbed some science-babble, or so Jack would call it, from Sam via sheer osmosis, but a lot of the terms and issues she dealt with made as little sense to him as his archaeological matters did to her. The main takeaway was that there was progress.

Progress is good.

We like progress.

Other matters in Avalon drew Daniel's attention away from the K'tau matter a little over a week-and-a-half after Sam had first come to Teucuria. In the aftermath of the discovery of the Unas and the Goa'uld-infested waters on P3X-888 about six Furling months earlier, the SGC had largely and then entirely pulled off the world after conducting a few final experiments. (Robert had been both pleased, having been quite rattled by Daniel getting kidnapped by Chaka, and annoyed by the loss of the chance for further research.)

On the advice of his sister, Supreme Commander Anarr had established a small base on the world, as nobody wanted the original homeworld of the Goa'uld, its waters teeming with symbiotes, under unfriendly control. Having some men also there also facilitated contact and cultural interactions with the Unas, especially with Chaka's tribe, of which he was now the boss. Helping with the Unas was not near the top of his lengthy lists of priorities, his family and Sujanha being at the top, but as he had time in the intervening months, Daniel had still mustered up his courage, added a huge dollop of curiosity for the chance of learning about Chaka and his people and more about their language and culture without a ritual death sentence hanging over my head, and gone back to help and meet with Chaka.

The two had become friends … of a sort.

Which was why Daniel got called in to help deal with the aftermath of four slave traders coming through the Stargate and trying to kidnap two young Unas whom they found near the Stargate. The Furling garrison did not keep direct and constant watch upon the Stargate, as innocuous visitors did pass through from time to time as they moved from world to world, and there were non-infested waters in the area near the Stargate, which meant those visitors occasionally camped briefly and did not immediately dial up the gate and move on. If non-Furling or non-allied visitors came by ship or if those who came by Stargate strayed too near infested waters, then there were sensors to alert the garrison to interfere.

All that meant that it had been other Unas, responding to the cries of the young and the sound of a fight, that had reached the gate, reached those slaves traders first.

'Beaten to a pulp' sounds like a kind description, at least judging by the preliminary report forwarded to Sujanha as a courtesy by her brother. Like most other races, the Unas had no patience nor tolerance nor sympathy for those attacking their young.

Punishment had been swift … and extreme.

And nearly permanent. Would have been without the timely intervention of the Furling guards.

The Furling garrison had … rescued … the four humans before the Unas could kill them and healed them. The Furling Empire abhorred slavery—it was totally outlawed within Asteria—but if those men died, there would be no clues as to where they came from or why they were looking for Unas, not human slaves.

Daniel was present for some of the … interrogations. If by interrogations one meant provoking the extremely xenophobic and cruel traders enough to try to get them to speak rashly. Just being in the same room as them made my skin crawl. The way they looked at me versus the way they looked at the guards, the very not-human guards. The leader of the group, a man named Burrock, somehow had a way of looking at the Furling guards, Lapith or Furlings, depending on the day as if they were lesser beings, grime beneath his boots … despite being the one in restraints.

With Daniel there, the only other human present, the … discussions … actually get somewhere, even if they made him want go take a shower by the end.

The slave trade in Unas was a big thing on Burrock's world. There, the Unas, though clearly sentient, were treated as mere animals, two-legged beasts of burden. It was disgusting. No matter how common it had been on earth in the ancient world, no matter how much he had seen evidence of it in his work, in his books, even in his work off-worlds with SG1, it still horrified him, especially now, especially when it had been kids … kids of Chaka's tribe that Burrock had nearly captured. All Daniel had to do was imagine Shifu in their place, and a wave of nausea instantly swept through him.

The problem was … what to do about it?

The Furlings were furious. Sujanha had been nearly apoplectic. She had no children of her own but had a deep soft-spot for them, and the news of the near-capture of the children had sent her into a bitingly cold fury.

The problem was … what to do? What could the Furlings do? Could they do anything to help?

Morrigan.

Manannan mac Lir.

The late, not-so-great Tanith's nameless master. You're turning into Jack with quips like that.

It wasn't like the Furling military was short of battles to wage and targets to hunt.

And as angry as Sujanha was, even she quickly admitted that direct actions against Burrock's world would be extremely difficult, even if they knew the address for his world, which he had, obviously and unsurprisingly, refused to relinquish.

(One non-physical way of getting the address from him had been broached and quickly rejected. It would be theoretically possible to use a Tok'ra memory recall device and then ask Burrock and his men repeated questions about their world and the Stargate until one of them thought of the address. Since you can't NOT think of a pink elephant … or however the line goes. But that did not sit easily with any of those in command.)

There were no missing people among the Unas tribes near the Stargate, Chaka's or the others', which could be attributed to Burrock and his men, so there was not even a slight opening for that way.

The Furlings could not … would not? … declare war with an unaffiliated planet over their slave trade in sentient beings, however much the practice disgusted and horrified them, not when no one under their protection was missing.

The Furlings wished for a way to help. The question, for now, was how?

Neither Burrock nor his men would be released back to their world for now, as they had attacked the inhabitants of a Furling-controlled/protected world. If or when their fellows came looking for them, some new opportunity to help the other Unas might appear … or might not.

They're just lucky that the Furlings don't believe in just desserts and didn't dump them back out for Chaka and his people to finish the job.


March—it was March on earth, so Sam had told him when Daniel asked the date, as trying to keep the two separate calendar systems synced in his mind was still in an issue sometimes—was a month that kept on giving, for the Furlings and SG1 both. The issues on P3X-888 with Burrock and his … ilk … took most of a week to … resolve, for some meaning of the word "resolve." Within days of that matter being concluded, leaving Daniel free to return to Sujanha's side, K'tau's sun was fixed. (It still amazed him sometimes that he could use words like that so casually, as if the matter was commonplace and not some story line out of the strangest sci-fi book on the market.) How exactly was not clear from what news reached the Valhalla and from Sujanha's stacks of reports to Daniel's ears, though he might not have understood the techno-babble, anyway.

By whatever means the fixing had been accomplished, K'tau was no longer a doomed world, and that was all that mattered.

Sujanha did note that, for safety's sake, closer watch would need to be kept on the Asgard's Protected Planets just in case some word got back to the remaining System Lords and they tried to twist this into a violation which would give them leave to attack.

And then … because March could just not stop giving … within days of K'tau's sun being restored, a new crisis popped up for SG1. No rest for the … not-so wicked. So rewind back months to the Asgardian crisis with Thor and the Replicators where the Beliskner had disappeared towards (what they learned later) was earth, leaving the Asgard fleet temporarily leaderless. Sujanha had led a fleet off to help Ida, while I was down for the count with appendicitis. (There was almost a sympathetic ache in his side just at that very unpleasant memory.) Sam, Jack, and Teal'c had had to work a miracle to get the Beliskner with its buggy infestation destroyed and them off of it in one piece. That miracle had necessitated beaming the Stargate out of the SGC and then gating off of Thor's mothership before it broke up into a million pieces in earth's atmosphere. The SGC had then switched to using the Antarctic gate, but the Russians, it was now revealed, had retrieved the intact gate from the depths of the ocean and started using it.

A Russian Stargate Program.

Which lasted a grand total of 5 weeks.

Things hadn't ended well, so General Hammond's message says, but that was a story (or stories) all its own.

But before the end of the Russian Stargate Program, a Russian team, taking orders from their army intelligence, had gone through the Stargate without authorization, ending up on P2X-338.

No trace had been heard of them since then.

Soooooo … SG1 and another Russian team had then gone through to 338 to find them.

And now contact with both of the rescue teams had been lost.

Three missing teams on the same extremely inhospitable planet.

"So," Mekoxe said, finishing summarizing the report which General Hammond had sent to one of the Furling's bases and which had thence been forwarded to Sujanha, "if we had any ship nearby that could try to make contact with the two teams, they would be very grateful. They have tried and failed to make contact via the Stargate, and with three missing teams now, General Hammond is concerned about sending further men in by ground."

Understandable.

"By inhospitable …" Daniel asked, "what does he mean?"

This is not a good month for the SGC.

"It's a desert world. Extremely hot," Mekoxe replied. "There is no further explanation."

If it were gate problems, Sam would be there working, and a MALP would have seen them.

Desert terrain. Hot conditions. They would have known that going in, would have been prepared.

What did you get yourselves into this time?

Sujanha was frowning slightly. "The Stars have not been kind to the SGC this month," she noted dryly. By which you mean the fates in this context. "What is the Stargate address? Whose ships are closest to those coordinates?"

Mekoxe tapped on his tablet for several moments. "Commander Sigurd's strike fleet is the closest currently. They are not engaged in battle as of several hours ago and were at that time in an inter-system void, repairing some minor damages from their last engagements." He did something more on his tablet and then turned it around so Sujanha could see the address displayed on it. "Should I send a message to him?"

Sujanha peered at the address for a moment and then … stared at it outright for a concerningly long length of time, before slumping back into her chair with a heavy sigh as she scrubbed one paw across her face. It was a quite odd reaction to a simple address. Does she recognize it?

"Commander?" Daniel asked cautiously. You okay?

Sujanha glanced at him for a second, nodding briefly. I'm okay, the look seemed to say. There was a thread of worry, of stress in her voice, however, when she replied. "No, Mekoxe, we shall go ourselves. Malek, she recognizes that address. It was once a world belonging to the System Lord Marduk. That world is forbidden. It is said that he was entombed there after he went mad and his priests rebelled against him."

Well, that's very not good. Daniel swore mentally. SG1 knew to be careful around sarcophagi (after Hathor et al.) and canopic jars (after Osiris and Isis appeared in Chicago), not that Jack is probably ready to trust the Russians as far as he can throw them. And Teal'c was there, and Sam was there, and she would know if someone was … infested, but a Goa'uld forbidden-world and three missing teams. Doesn't exactly bode well. He could only hope they were alright, at least alive and hopefully in one piece. Or alive enough for the healers to still fix up!

Sujanha scrubbed both paws across her face, suddenly looking tired. I wonder how much sleep she actually got last night. "Tell … tell the rest of my strike fleet to continue on without us. We'll join them at the rendezvous with Algar, hopefully, in a few hours, and then plot a course for this … P2X-338. Oh, have someone sent down to the Stargate to send a message to Midgard, and then have them go ahead to join Algar's fleet. We'll pick them up later."

The Valhalla and the rest of her strike fleet were in orbit around Oannes, Sujanha having had a meeting with the Ohnes that morning. They were due to meet High Commander Algar in a rendezvous around … which base is it? Now Daniel couldn't remember … for a meeting with several other top commanders that evening. It was early afternoon Uslisgas-time currently.

"Of course, Commander." Mekoxe bowed slightly and returned to his station.

"Do I want to know what the Goa'uld consider to be going mad enough to have Marduk's priests turning on him?" Daniel asked. I'm almost afraid to ask.

Mesopotamian deities—Mesopotamia generally—was not Daniel's area of specialty, but Daniel knew some about Marduk. He had been the chief god of Babylon, the capital city of the Babylonian Empire from the 19th through 15th centuries BCE, that city having been only a minor village during the preceding Akkadian Empire under Sargon the Great and his successors. After Babylon, whose name in Akkadian meant "Gate of the Gods," rose to prominence as the regional political capitol under Hammurabi, Marduk had likewise risen in prominence to be the chief of the Babylonian pantheon.

Many details about Marduk were obscure, but there were various textual references linking him to water and magic, among other things. He was especially known in the Enuma Elish for defeating and killing Tiamat, the primordial goddess of the sea, by cutting her in half. Ugh. In later texts, he was known as Belus, who was himself a Goa'uld … the one who had killed Omoroca by cutting her in two.

Sujanha glanced across at him, something almost haunted in her eyes. (There were drawbacks to having a symbiote with an intimate, detailed knowledge of Goa'uld history in one's head. There were some things that one could not unsee, could not un-remember. Ever.) "He was known for eating the symbiotes of those Goa'uld that he defeated in order to gain their knowledge. Eventually, this … habit … became a maddening need, and he began to consume … not just his enemies. This was considered … extreme even by Goa'uld standards and did an excellent job of uniting his enemies and his priests against him."

Daniel felt his stomach flip.

Talk about the Cannibal Hymn come to life! Oh, bloody h**l. And I thought we had met some Goa'uld that were nuts.

Cannibal Hymn … hmmm … that text has always left us, by which he meant Egyptologists, scratching our heads.

I wonder if there's a connection.

So … Unas was 25th century, but the Pyramid Texts may preserve older material … No, no, leave that for later.

There were more important things to be done for now.

The ship shuddered just slightly as the Valhalla jumped to hyperspace.

"So were Marduk and Belus different … snakes?" They deserve that appellation. "Because the story of Marduk and Tiamat on earth sounds a lot like the one about Belus and Omoroca." For a moment, Daniel's head pounded furiously in remembrance of the pain of Nem's device. He deserved to know what had happened. I can't imagine living that long without knowing if it had been Sha're, instead. "And Belus is a late Greek and Roman reference to Bel Marduk … at least in earth sources."

Sujanha's body-language shifted. This was Malek in control now. "Bel, Marduk, and Belus are, somewhat confusingly, separate Goa'uld and of separate lineages, all." Of course they were! "Marduk was the eldest, so ancient that his original name was lost. He was originally an Ashrak in service to Ra during the First Goa'uld Dynasty, which ended about twenty-thousand of your years ago, and Tiamat was killed near the end of that dynasty. Bel was a minor Underlord of Marduk, who then took service with Apophis after the downfall of Marduk, whom he helped incite rebellion against. Belus, however, reigned primarily towards the end of the Second Goa'uld Dynasty, when Babylon was still a power on your world."

And the Oannes dealt with him.

Good riddance.

Their body-language shifted again, and Sujanha was back while Daniel was still absorbing the brief Goa'uld history dump from Malek. I need a reference book and a history book just to keep all of this straight. There were many similarities between the earth mythologies with which he was (usually) familiar depending on the exact pantheon and the actual Goa'uld histories, but also just enough major, important differences to keep things confusing.

Keeps me on my toes.

"Mekoxe, did the report from General Hammond mention why these … Rus-sians … were interested in that planet?" Sujanha stumbled slightly over the one less familiar English word.

"One moment," was the reply.

Is this just extremely bad cosmic luck to end up missing on the tomb planet where a Goa'uld with a penitent for cannibalism is imprisoned?

Ugh. He must have been … must be as mad as the Hatter. An undamaged canopic jar or sarcophagus could keep an imprisoned Goa'uld or Goa'uld and host alive for millennia, as was the case with Hathor and Egeria.

"The tablets on earth on which that gate address was found also included a reference to an 'Eye of Tiamat,'" Mekoxe replied after a few moments, "some jewel which was said to give Marduk great magical powers. General Hammond did inquire if we knew anything about it. Forgive me. I neglected to mention it earlier."

Sujanha's eyes grew distant for a long minute, and then her face went grave … graver. Not good news from Malek about this 'Eye' either, I'm guessing? "Risa, how much farther?"

"43 seconds until we drop out of hyperspace, Commander," the Lapith navigator replied without looking up from her console.

"Does Malek know something about this 'Eye'?" Daniel asked Sujanha quietly.

The Furling commander frowned slightly and gave an almost shrug. "Legends and rumors from the earliest days of the First Goa'uld Dynasty. A power source of some kind, perhaps. It is unclear. Though why would those who rebelled against Marduk leave something like that on the same world as Marduk, if they in fact did? Neither canopic jars nor sarcophagi are inescapable prisons. If he escaped, he could reclaim it, and then where would you be?"

Power source? So probably not something we'd want staying in Goa'uld hands.

"In trouble?" Daniel muttered.

That would be rather foolish to leave it there, but the Goa'uld et al. aren't exactly known for making consistently wise decisions.

Sujanha gave a rumbling chuckle. "Our first priority is Midgard's missing teams …" There was no time for her to say anything more, as the Valhalla dropped out of hyperspace, emerging above a shining orb that was P2X-338. It looked a lot like earth … except much tanner and a LOT less blue. But climates could change over thousands and thousands of years. From orbit, P2X-338, or at least the continent over which the Valhalla had appeared, looked about as arid as the Middle East or parts of Africa would from space.

Perhaps, when Marduk had still ruled, this world had been … nicer.

A lot less inhabitable desert.

Rusa was intently studying a read-out on her console. What was on her console, he could not make out. Daniel had never quite learned how to interpret most Furling consoles, even though he could read Furling basically as fluently as English by that point. Even if he could have interpreted the mass of words and graphs and numbers and various other sensor data, these front, non-holographic consoles had the same problem as earth computer monitors. From straight on, they were easily readable. From a very acute angle, everything went … weird.

Sam could tell me why, I'm guessing.

The Valhalla hung in space, unmoving, for a minute or two after it dropped out of hyperspace, probably giving Rusa time to scan for life-signs. Finally, she announced, "The light-side of the planet appears to be uninhabited except for a mass of life signs near the Stargate. From this distance, I cannot tell how many there are."

Sujanha nodded. "Take us in then. You know what to do."

Daniel felt a faint hum, a vibration race across the desk beneath him as the sub-light engines engaged, and the Valhalla slipped through the void of space toward P2X-338. The planet quickly grew larger and larger in the front holographic view-screen. This view never gets old. It made him think of how the first astronauts back in the early 60s must have felt, seeing earth from space.

"Put us in geosynchronous orbit over the Stargate," Sujanha murmured.

"Yes, Commander."

Daniel tucked his tablet down beside him and stuck his hands in his pockets to keep himself from fidgeting nervously with his glasses or anything else. P2X-338 grew ever closer, and soon, they would know one way or the other what had happened to SG1 and the other men. He could only hope his friends were okay, that their luck had held one more time.

Though how many times before our … their luck runs out permanently, before they run out of their nine lives?

"Mekoxe, scan for the Midgardian radios," Sujanha called when her ship had settled into orbit. "Layer ours across if you can, please." That idiom in Furling was basically the equivalent of "patch us in" in English.

Ragnar reappeared from wherever he had disappeared off to a little while earlier and leaned his forearms on the back of Sujanha's chair, his chin at about the level of her head.

"The life signs are clustered in a structure a short distance from the gate," said Rusa, while Mekoxe worked.

"How many?" Sujanha asked.

Four for SG1.

Four for the other Russian team.

There needs to be at least eight, maybe more, if this is actually a rescue, not a recovery.

"Uh …" Rusa thumped her console with one clawed … hand. It seemed to be a quirk, not an action that actually made the tech work any better. "Seven?"

"You seem to be in some doubt," noted Sujanha dryly.

Rusa hissed under her breath. "No, there are seven for sure, Commander, but the sensors seem to be picking up an eighth … maybe. It's very weak. The readings are unclear."

D**n.

Sujanha frowned.

It was only another minute before Mekoxe exclaimed, "I've got something! Go ahead, Commander!"

"Very good." Sujanha touched a button on the arm of her chair—there were controls built into both arms, just where her paws would fall—and said, switching into English without pause, "Stargate Personnel, this is Sujanha of the Valhalla."

Several seconds passed without a reply, and then there was a burst of static and a split second later, the very familiar voice of one Colonel Jack O'Neill swept across the bridge. "This is O'Neill. We read you, and boy, are you very welcome to join the party." Typical Jack. There was the faintest hint of other voices in the background as he spoke.

"General Hammond sent word of your disappearance," Sujanha continued without missing a beat, though she had frowned, probably confused, at Jack's "joining the party" crack, "and requested aid in the search for you. What assistance do you need?"

"Yeah, we got ourselves into a bit of a pickle." I'll need to explain that idiom later. "We're in the pyramid near the Stargate." Marduk was Babylonian. More likely a ziggurat, not that Jack would know the difference. "A boobytrap … was triggered"—careful use of the passive voice—"and brought down the entrance. One of the Russians who came with us was killed, trying to escape. The rest of us are okay, just trapped inside."

Daniel felt a wave of relief at that, knowing that SG1 was okay, and then felt a wave of guilt at his own relief and happiness. Someone was still dead, never to go home to his family again. Or her family.

"My flagship is in orbit," Sujanha replied. "We can beam you to safety in a few moments. My sensors are detecting seven of you"—here she leaned across slightly to peer at Rusa's console—"in close proximity, but there is a possible eighth elsewhere. Can you advise?"

Another burst of static. "Yeahhh," Jack drawled. "We've had a bit of a, uh, snakey situation down here. There was a real the Mummy situation with our old pal Marduk, and it … got freed … earlier, attacked Tolineva, poisoned her. She'll need medical attention as soon as you can get us out."

The what now? What does The Mummy have to do with this?

And why would Jack even have been watching movies from the '30s?

Sujanha glanced at Daniel, muting her side of the transmission for a second. "The Mummy situation? What does that mean? I would prefer to know of trouble before I beam them aboard."

Daniel shrugged. "It's a reference to a piece of … entertainment"—they wouldn't know the word 'movie'—"on earth about a man who was buried alive in a sarcophagus for all eternity, but I think we're missing something."

I don't think Marduk would be poisoning people after escaping from his sarcophagus.

This isn't Nirrti. Killing people, trying to switch hosts, sure.

Sujanha nodded, glanced back at Rusa. "Have guards sent to reinforce the healers. If Marduk has been freed, I want them all scanned … carefully." Her gaze went back to the planet as she reopened communications with Jack. "Please clarify the situation with Marduk."

The voice on the radio changed to Sam's. "Marduk was locked in his sarcophagus along with some sort of creature, carnivorous, which escaped … earlier. Marduk's host is dead, but when Tolineva and I were attacked, I sensed a presence. Marduk's still alive and in … that thing, whatever it is. I expect that is the eighth life sign on your scanners."

There was a low murmur of horrified voices across the bridge at that revelation. Daniel felt sick for a moment, and Sujanha's face was horrified. They all knew what a sarcophagus was designed to do: heal wounds, keep you alive, revive the dead. If Marduk had been locked inside with a creature that was … eating him alive, the sarcophagus would have tried to keep him alive, which meant … death wouldn't have come quickly. It wasn't a fate Daniel would have wished for anybody … not even a Goa'uld, not even a Goa'uld as mad as the Hatter.

"Stars in heaven!" Ragnar swore viciously in a quiet voice.

A moment later, Sujanha's composure was back. "Acknowledged. Prepare to be beamed out in two minutes." She cut a glance at Rusa as she spoke. The navigator nodded sharply in acknowledgement of the unspoken order. "Ensure you have anything in hand which you wish to bring with you. You will be under guard in our infirmary until we confirm that all of you are not hosts. A precaution."

"Copy."

Sujanha cut the feed with Jack. "Sometimes I'm still amazed at the sheer cruelty of the Goa'uld," she murmured.

"What do we do about Marduk and that … thing it's in?" Ragnar asked.

"Not leave it loose in that structure, that is for certain," Sujanha answered. Goodness, no. She paused and thought for a moment. "Have one of the isolation rooms, whichever is most distant from the main healers' bay, sealed off. Send a complement of guards with a portable shield generator. Rusa, assuming you can get a lock, beam the creature up once everything is in place. The guards can seal it inside the shield. I don't want to take a chance of it getting loose in the ventilation or maintenance shafts."

That sounds like the plot of a B-list horror movie.

There was a chorus of acknowledgements. "With your permission, I'll lead the guards myself," said Ragnar. When she nodded, he left in a hurry.

Rusa touched her ear-piece once or twice, probably coordinating with Ragnar for dealing with the Goa'uld carnivorous creature … thing. Where did the priests dig it up, I wonder? Someplace he hoped to never, ever be. "All are on board." A few minutes passed. "The creature is safely secured and under guard, and it is a host. Our shipboard sensors are more precise."

Daniel shivered, somewhat uneasy at even having that thing onboard. It's locked in an isolation room, under guard, and trapped under a shield. It's going nowhere.

"Very good. Can you bring up the feed from the isolation room on screen? We wish to see this creature." By which Sujanha probably meant Malek wanted to see it.

A second later, a new large image appeared on one side of the holographic viewscreen, leaving the image of the planet and surrounding space compressed to one side. It was an empty room without furniture, empty, that was, except for several Iprysh guards, wielding what looked to be Dovahkiin hammers at rest position, and except for … something … in the center of the room.

Sujanha made a motion, and the feed zoomed in on the creature. Someone behind them swore, and several others made sickly gasps, and Daniel felt sick. The creature … thing … looked like a mutant combination of an octopus, a squid, a slug, and … a shark. No, actually, those teeth look all piranha … all the better for eating people. His stomach rolled.

If by some malfunction it did get loose, with Iprysh guards there, all it would get was a mouthful of broken teeth.

That poor host … Being a host was bad enough, but to be trapped … in a fate like that … Daniel swallowed hard and willed his stomach to stay calm.

"Oh, ***," Jack's voice was a little too loud, sounding across the bridge.

"Colonel O'Neill to see you, Commander," Ragnar added dryly, a split second behind.

Sujanha closed the feed and waved them forward. "Colonel O'Neill, welcome to the Valhalla. We are all glad to see you well, especially after that … thing. How is your injured comrade?"

Jack looked exhausted, but he was alive and in one piece as he came around and stopped before the row of chairs, Ragnar returning to Sujanha's side. "Your help was very well timed, Commander. Thank you. Tolineva … she's not in good shape, but your docs are doing their best. That thing's poison seems to be quite virulent."

Sujanha nodded. "We are quite … experienced in dealing with poisons of many types. My healers will do all they can for her, and if not …" Better to die at peace among friends with medicine that could ease her passing.

Something flickered across Jack's face for a moment and was quickly gone. It had been too long for Daniel to have a hope of guessing at what it meant. "Have you ever seen anything like that before?" He hooked a thumb over his shoulder at where the video feed had been just a few moments ago.

"No. Malek has not either, though we both would like to know what world it comes from."

Jack snorted. "Lock the address out."

Sujanha snorted and made a face. "I was thinking remove the Stargate altogether." Can't get more of those things off-world as easily without a Stargate. You'd need a ship.

"That'd work too." Jack abruptly sobered. "On another matter, do you have the facilities for transporting bodies? Uh, cold storage?"

You did say one of the Russians died when someone set off the booby-trap.

"Yes," Sujanha replied instantly. "You said one of those who accompanied you was killed in a collapse?"

Jack nodded. "Marchenko. He was crushed by the door, trying to escape. Debris came down, so we couldn't get to his body from the inside. Maybe from the outside. It won't be pretty, but we don't leave our people behind if we can help it." Even the Russians, and Jack had always had opinions on the Russians, even before Daniel had left.

Sujanha inclined her head. "What of those whom you were sent to search for?"

"All dead," replied Jack. "Two were killed in a collapse inside the pyramid. One was poisoned by that thing and then eaten." Hopefully, the poison got him first. "The other, the last one, committed suicide."

Rather than get eaten or starve … I can see why.

"We have space to bring them home, as well, any of them that you can reach."

Jack frowned slightly. "Someone will have to go back inside, and that place isn't the most stable."

"You didn't bring shields?" Would've helped with that thing, too.

"Nope. Not with the Russians along." Jack sounded vaguely disgusted.

Possibly politics.

Not particularly wise.

There should've been enough for them, too, unless you're worried about a pair disappearing with 'em back to Moscow once the mission was done.

"An issue easily rectified with a visit to the armory," stated Sujanha.

"I will go," Teal'c voice followed just as she finished speaking. "I know where Doctor Britski lies."

"I can get Marchenko," added O'Neill, "if you can beam me down outside. Hopefully, the entranceway outside didn't collapse, so we can actually get to him."

"I will accompany you, Colonel O'Neill," Ragnar spoke for the first time in several minutes. "My strength may be of some use."

Sujanha nodded agreement and told them all to report to the armorer for sensor beacons for the bodies and shields (on loan) for Jack and Teal'c. Jack and Ragnar headed out first, but she motioned for Teal'c to wait a moment.

Teal'c raised an eyebrow but waited, saying nothing.

"If you would," Sujanha asked, "make sure you tag Marduk's host's body as well as all the others, if you can reach him without endangering yourself. He deserves a proper burial, especially after all he must have suffered." The Furlings would have buried him, anyway. They buried all Goa'uld hosts with all honors due to their own dead.

"Indeed."


There had been other skeletal remains in the ziggurat, not just the unfortunate Russians. Teal'c had apparently taken Sujanha's request for "all the others" quite literally, so it was quite a row of coffins that lined one side of the Valhalla's main hangar bay under the watchful eyes of a Furling honor guard. Those holding Marchenko and the other Russians were marked with their names inscribed on the coffin lids.

Colonel Zukhov was standing in front of those coffins as Sujanha and Daniel entered the hangar some hours after arriving at 338. His expression as he looked up and saw them was tightly controlled, but Daniel thought he was surprised. How much do the Russians know about the alliance? "Supreme Commander. Your assistance is greatly appreciated."

Sujanha inclined her head. "We were glad to be of assistance. Midgard … earth … is our valued ally."

"Yes, so I have just been told." Not much then.

Sujanha did not look pleased at that, though her face would have looked blank to any others. "My sympathies and those of my crew on the loss of your countrymen, Colonel Zukhov. Colonel O'Neill and Teal'c helped us retrieve their bodies. We do not know your funeral customs, so we prepared them for burial as we would our own dead."

"Thank you."

"How are your injured? Tolineva, was it not?"

"Your doctors think she will live."

"Good." Sujanha smiled. "Very good."


Several hours later, once the Valhalla had returned SG1 and company along with the bodies of the dead to the SGC and was on its way to the rendezvous with Algar, Daniel found Sujanha sitting in her office alone, head tipped back, eyes closed. She wasn't asleep, just resting, and opened her eyes almost immediately as Daniel entered.

"Long day?" He asked dryly.

She snorted. "And the day is not over yet."

"Did we ever hear anything more about this Eye of Tiamat thing that might have been in Marduk's temple?" Daniel wondered aloud, taking a seat across from her.

Sujanha shook her head. "No. They brought little with them when we beamed them up, and the healers and the guards did not see anything that could be it unless it were quite small."

"The Goa'uld do love big and flashy," Daniel noted wryly before sobering. "So it could be still down there?"

"If it indeed were there at all," Sujanha replied tiredly.

"What are you going to do?"

"Talk to the High Command as soon as there is time. It is Elder Brother's men who will need to conduct any searches, anyway."

"Mmm-hmmm." There was a minute of quiet. "And that thing in the isolation room? What on earth are you going to do with that and Marduk?"

"You being me personally or the Furlings generally?" Sujanha opened one eye again and peered at him.

"Both?" It came out as more of a question than Daniel intended.

"Toss it a slab of meat from the kitchens? If it were an aquatic creature, it would have died long ago. Other than that … I have no idea. Our procedures for freeing hosts weren't designed for whatever race that thing is. And some carnivorous, non-sentient races … once they have gotten a taste for Zukish blood …" It's like the man-eating lions on earth. "So I really don't know. Once we figure out the safest way to transport it back to Uslisgas, it won't be our problem, at least."

There is that.

There is that.


[1] There will be quotes from the transcript of Red Sky. I've taken them from the Stargate Wikia to which I'm very much indebted for a whole lot of collected Stargate lore.