The Spreading Darkness
The Jaffa leader Matok, proud legionnare in the forces of Ba'al desperately tried
to organize his troops. A battle group ostensibly belonging formerly to Sokar and now in
the service of Ba'al had arrived in his system. What had at first been thought to be an
assembly of forces for a coming offensive had turned out to be a betrayal. But the reason and nature of it were unclear. The incoming Ha'tak mothership squadron and support vessels had refused to communicate, then had begun firing on his ships. But they didn't launch Deathgliders or Al'kesh bombers. Instead, they began boarding once in Ring range. And now, there were reports coming in of Jaffa fighting Jaffa on the other ships. Civil war among the System Lords was, of course, not uncommon, but there was something strange about the combat reports coming in. Not to mention these were ships under the allegiance of the same Lord he served. He looked grimaced as he listened to the reports from the bridge of his Ha'tak mothership. The Jaffa his men were battling appeared to be Ba'al's warriors, but…why were they fighting forces on the same side?
His men tensed as the air grew electric. The ring transporter in front of them was activating. And a team of Ba'al Jaffa appeared. They rested on their staff weapons, relaxed. His men, tense, waited for the order to fire. But he could tell they were confused. How could they be fighting their own? Then he saw the eyes of those they faced.
Darkess.
Then he took note of the individual standing in front of them. A Goa'uld. It was Tanith, a former servant of his master…he then noted the darkness in Tanith's eyes, too.
"You…you were reported dead," he stammered.
Tannith smiled, and the darkness seemed to flow from his eyes, "Don't believe everything you read, Jaffa."
"Sha'lokma'kor! (Kill them!), Matok shouted, leveling his staff weapon. Then he saw nothing…
"…and that's about the size of it," Jacob sighed. "Tanith has been building his forces by cannibalizing those of other System Lords with that thing he has now aligned himself with. The System Lords now have a shoot on sight policy with ships known to be infected. Problem is, they don't advertise. They want to engage the enemy. Besides the problem of identifying, there is this possession issue."
"Then perhaps they could mass their forces, overwhelming any of Taneth's forces…" Teal'c offered.
"But that's leaves them a big fat target for this dark demon thing," Jack said, looking at his hands, fidgeting.
"Well, what about scattering their forces, avoiding contact?", Samantha Carter asked.
"Piecemeal," General Hammond said, "They would be even easier targets at that point."
"Well, geez, people, we can't just sit on our asses. Times a wasting and it's only going to get worse."
"No, we can't," Daniel said, "It wants our galaxy. It hungers…"
Everyone looked at him. Daniel's eyes, distant and clouded, suddenly focused. He looked at the others earnestly, "Look, I know where my visions have been coming from. I've been going over those documents Rhonda and I brought back and it's all there."
Jack braced himself visibly and General Hammond said, "Go on, Dr. Jackson."
"Well, whatever that thing is that Tanith has let out, the Ancients built the Black Gate to gain access to it," he said.
O'Neils eyebrows went up along with Teal'c's single one, "Why the hell for?", O'Neil asked.
"Like I said, this group of Ancients wanted to restart the universe. And this thing told them it could. So they worshipped it, communed with it, and it gave them the instructions on how to build the Black Gate, based on Stargate technology."
"Hoo boy," O'Neil muttered.
"What happened to these other Ancients, these cultists?", Carter wondered.
"They were destroyed by the other Ancients," Daniel said. "But they had already gained the attention of the entity and had built the Black Gate in secret. The Ancients were never able to find it. And the only records of existence had fallen into the hand of the archivist of P3R233."
"I take it the Ancients who worshipped this thing also built the Stargate that gave access to the planet the Black Gate is on?", General Hammond asked.
"That's correct."
"So we go through the Gate, blow it up," Jack said.
"That entity is loose and will have control, even if the Gate on that planet will activate, sir," Carter said worriedly.
"We have no other choice. We must make the attempt," Teal'c said with firmness in his voice.
"No, actually we do have a choice," O'Neil said. "All this goings on should have gotten the attention of the Asgard. They might be inclined to give us a ride..?"