-= Approximately 77,800 years ago =-

"You must find a way to save us," Anu had instructed his brother, who remained in charge of the research being done from the alien craft. They'd had centuries to unlock its secrets, yet what Enki had focused on was building new technologies from the specifications and materials provided by it. But even Enki couldn't work miracles, or so he warned his brother. There was no way to alter their symbiotes to breed with one another. They just didn't have the genetics to birth new generations. "The answers are there. Keep looking."

What does he think I've been doing? Enki waved away the messenger who brought him the tiny, discus-shaped holographic imager with Anu's message on it. His brother had been too busy keeping the tribe together in Mesopotamia to stop by and say 'hello'. Not that it mattered to Enki, who felt Anu would just breathe down his neck anyway.

So far, he hadn't found any answers. Part of him wanted to recommend they try to splice their DNA with the planet's varied wildlife, but that would require the death of at least one of them. Haven't enough died to satisfy his ambition?

Instead, Enki focused on the Eye - the device they used to trap Apsu's consciousness from a distance, killing the body in the process. He'd studied much of the aliens' research on evolution and found a strange and foreboding thing. Ascension, he read in silence while his assistant, Nidaba, oversaw each of the scientists' efforts at altering it. A state in which the physical body fades and becomes pure energy. To what end?

According to the aliens, ascension could've been the next step in their evolution. But, more importantly, it could help them escape the bounds of the universe. Each ascended being recorded and analyzed had formed their own collectives around certain phenomena. He didn't know what to make of it, as astronomy was hardly his specialty, but it seemed clear some could enter these phenomena and emerge either in a new universe... or a different time. Making a mental note of this, he turned off the console and looked back just in time to see Nidaba approach him with that toothy grin she always had.

"They finished the modifications, as you requested."

"Good," Enki growled as he slowly stood, ignoring the pain in his muscles. He'd spent too many years in this host. They aged far too quickly. "Take me to it."

Nidaba made sure he wouldn't fall or stumble on his way to the Eye. His host was weak, and the interior of the alien ship they reconstructed had a rounded floor, obviously designed for a species who could walk or crawl on both wall and ceiling. They'd used I'konian technology to piece it back together around both the gateway device and the Eye, both set on one 'side' of the round room. Once they were at the pedestal, he leaned on it for support and watched as the dome upon it glowed. "Father..." She crept up from behind him and put a hand on his arm. "Are you sure we should be doing this?"

"I can see no other way," Enki answered with a sigh.

"But what if they find out? What if-"

"Let me be the one concerned." He looked her in the eye with a sympathetic look. Nidaba had been under his and Ninhursag's care back on the homeworld, where she miraculously avoided the wars Apsu and Tiamat waged. On Earth, however, with Anu's bloody campaign... "You've suffered enough."

With that, he stretched out his hand, reached for the dome, and briefly hesitated. What he was about to do could turn the heavens against them, or so he'd already warned Anu. There'd be nowhere to run or hide from ascended beings. And with their powers, they could easily decimate this small, proud tribe with more ambition than any Goa'uld before or after them. Could they really risk it? Or because of the population crisis, did they have nothing to lose?

"You don't have to do this." Nidaba wanted to offer an alternative, but all she could give were false hopes. There was no other way. "There's always a way."

Enki held his hand over the dome for a moment, listening to his daughter as one might hear their conscience. But as anyone who'd ever been in a position of power would know, it was a voice that could be easily drowned beneath the demands of the many.

So he let his hand cover the top of the dome, and suddenly, all the lines of power running through the room lit up in a bright cacophony of heat and energy. A growing screech made each of the scientists, including Enki himself, falter as their heartbeats quickened and their noses, ears and eyes leaked with blood. With his other hand, Enki reached out and tapped on the control panel for the Iconian gateway. A new burst of lightning struck out from the glowing, blue orb, which met two more in the center. An interdimensional door appeared, as predicted, with a line grid of golden energy encompassing the light inside.

What felt like an eternity passed, and when the light show was over, with one final burst of energy accompanied by a distant boom, they could open their eyes and witness their future.

Now merely light given humanoid shape, the energy they'd just ensnared from the other dimension could clearly be seen. It was a man, curiously devoid of scales or reptilian features, but certainly a man. He looked terrified, but his screams and struggles couldn't pass through the gate or the net of golden tachyons holding him in place.

"We... we did it," Nidaba muttered almost incomprehensibly in awe as she stared up at the creature. "We caught an ascendant."

"Indeed," Enki opined, leaving the pedestal so he could walk around the gateway to get a better look at their first catch. "He is partly de-ascended. Notice the clothing." He pointed out the simple, white clothing the ascendant wore. Some sort of brown vest fit over his long-sleeve shirt, which hung untucked from his linen trousers. Even his feet were partly visible, revealing sandles and the strangely clawless toes. "This must be what they wore before ascension."

"Incredible..." His daughter admired the figure, which still had a glow about it. "Will the glow remain after he is removed from the field?"

"Unfortunately." Unlike her, Enki felt a headache coming on from staring into the light too long. Although the light wouldn't be as strong, it would continue to glow dimly off the skin under certain conditions. He much preferred the dark of the I'konian temples or the caverns back home. "We can identify him with the alien database, if they monitored his people."

Without waiting for his permission, Nidaba ran over to where they kept the strange data rod they'd uncovered and translated with the help of others found at the crash site. Thanks in part to the fact these aliens were also monitoring and experimenting on Goa'uld, they'd begun to translate Goa'uld language into theirs; so Anu and Enki could reverse the effect.

"His name's Amelius," she read from the inscriptions on the rod as they changed with a soft glow. Enki always wondered if that golden glow shared between so many different species' technologies had a common source. But now, he'd become certain of it. "They briefly abducted him almost fifty million years ago. His ascension potential was low."

That's about as good as it would get, Enki knew. The aliens weren't interested in studying social structures or philosophies. All they could understand was the biological data and, curiously, proper nouns. The rest of their language was based on mathematics and genetics. At least on that point, Enki could relate. "Keep the field stable. Don't let it fluctuate."

Nidaba hadn't been clued in on this next part of his plan. "What are you doing?"

Carefully, Enki climbed up on to the platform raised in the center. When he found his footing, he stood up straight and tall, facing the man who now stared back at him with confusion. Enki made a personal note to develop some way to make sure their next catch would be unconscious. Just that stare alone made him shudder.

"No." Nidaba realized what was about to happen. "We don't know if he's ready yet! We need to run more tests!"

"I have one more day on me, Nidaba. One week... with luck." Enki bared his sharp teeth, causing Amelius to turn and struggle again. "This must be done."

With his only hindrance vanquished, Enki abandoned his Unas host and invaded the Ancient's new body: reptilian jaw open, Enki stood before the lethargic figure of the young man, his bloodshot eyes affixed to the figure's back. The four-jawed head of the Goa'uld larva crept out from deep within the Unas' throat. With a single hiss, it sprung forward and perforated the skin, snake-like body thrashing about as it burrowed into the neck. Bloodless, the intrusion was still daunting to observe. When it was over, and the beast swathed itself around what passed as the Ancient's brain stem, it was in control.

Finally, Amelius ceased his struggle and lowered his head to peer toward Nidaba. His eyes glowed. The blending was complete.

After Nidaba released the field, Enki would feel the ground beneath his feet once more. But, more importantly, he felt revitalized, particularly in mind. Memories of his host's life before ascension flooded his senses, and Enki now had the answer he'd been seeking all along.

"The Ancients will be our future."

Years later, every one of the Anunnaki had taken an Ancient as host. They found in these new bodies a renewed sense of vigor and stamina, no longer dependent on the gold dust to maintain a long life with the alien nanites buried deep inside each of their former hosts. For once, they were were free... Isu, as Enki had taken to calling them. Anu didn't care for the name and continued referring to them as Anunnaki. So the two brothers had another disagreement over the naming of things and, as always, the pride of Anu won in the end.

Nearly a century later, Anu, now in a host named Jupiter, led his 'children' toward the stars. Using primitive spacecraft derived from the technology procured of both the alien vessel and the I'konians, they constructed a space station called Agade, from where Anu would rule. In his mind, it only made sense. Apsu, the fallen god of darkness, ruled from beneath the Earth. Why wouldn't the god of light, in contrast, rule from the heavens?

Quite the contrast, Enki tried to stay above the surface but below the stars. He'd been perfectly happy to move his own research to the more temperate climate of Mesopotamia, where he could take over Apsu's former 'temple' and build something more marvelous on top of it. While he did this, another took his place at the Antarctic tower, where they'd begun using the stargate to follow up on several addresses found in the unnamed aliens' database. Since the development of the Pieces of Eden, access to the ship's deepest subroutines had become so simple, even a primitive Unas could do it.

At the same time, cities were being raised all across the surface, and frequent expeditions were being made through the stargate to other planets. In a few short years, they found a world not unlike that of their former home planet, covered in swamps and tall mountains. Many chose to abandon Earth and settle on the world now called Nibiru, or New Beginnings.

It was here that a meteor struck years before. As the atmosphere bled from the freshly-made wound in the planet's sky, the Nibirans tried to counter the effect. But no matter what they tried, their efforts would fail. Using the I'konian shields, powered by gold, happened to be their only recourse. And without an ounce of gold found naturally on Nibiru, the burden for their survival fell on the shoulders of those who stayed behind on Earth.

Now, someone would try to shift the balance of power on Nibiru away from Anu and his governor, the first born of Apsu and Tiamat - and thus, the eldest brother of their killers.

Gunshots echoed through the grandiose halls of the palace on Nibiru. Bullets chipped away at the beautiful wall carvings of labyrinthine patterns like the ones found in the I'konian temples on Earth. Heavy footsteps and the clack of claws raking against the marble floors could be heard outside the main throne room, where the stargate stood above and behind a magnificent chair adorned with gold and jewels. Its former occupant, Lahmu, had long since abandoned it as he took a pistol from one of his guards and waited in the center of the room.

There were three ways in, and if the ears of his young host weren't failing him, the invaders were charging down each of the corridors. Quickly, he swept his cloak behind him and turned to the DHD that stood in the center of an eight-pointed star colored on the floor. Just as he began to dial the address for Earth, so he could send a message to Anu, one of the doors opened and gunfire from a weapon held behind it took down one of his guards.

Soon enough, the entire throne room would devolve into chaos as the guards were cut down while Unas charged through the gates. Finally, Lahmu finished putting in Earth's address and had just settled his hand on the great, red jewel in the center when a bullet struck him in the back. As the stargate activated with a flurry of power, Anu's governor on Nibiru and eldest brother fell to his knees, then finally on to his back.

As his vision began to blur, a figure stepped into frame above him carrying a pistol. But he didn't need to see to know who it was. "Alalu..." He croaked as blood began to fill his mouth. With a cough and a sputter, he uttered, "Why?"

"You can thank your youngest brother." Enki. Damn, Lahmu thought. Of course the one in charge of Earth would send someone to stop Nibiru - and Anu - from making such costly demands. No doubt he sent Alalu so his own hands could remain clean, and Anu would focus less on him and more on Alalu. "I'll send him your regards."

With that, Alalu aimed and fired at Lahmu's head, ending the ancient Goa'uld's misery.

While the rest of his men secured the throne room and the rest of the palace, Alalu slipped a crystal skull out from beneath his robe and focused his mind on Enki's. Soon enough, a phantom image of his co-conspirator stood across from him. When he witnessed Lahmu's corpse resting at his feet, Enki scowled. "Was that really necessary?"

"You're the one who convinced me of the importance of this mission." Alalu gazed sternly into his compatriot's eyes. "If we kept him alive, he'd eventually reveal your part in this."

Enki sighed. Although Alalu had a point, he didn't want to admit it aloud. He'd seen more than enough death and suffering for one lifetime.

"Having second thoughts?"

"No." Enki shook his head and looked back at the stargate, which was the only thing maintaining their ability to communicate at this distance. "Our people have suffered enough of war." With a frown, he turned and stared down at the body once more. "If the deaths of a few will save the lives of thousands, so be it."

"Sensible words," said the man whose thirst for power had made him a political threat to Anu among the rest of the Council. "Now, about my payment..."

"Once I secure the stargate, we'll send the components you'll need to construct a hundred surface-to-orbit missiles with nuclear warheads." Another promise Enki felt uncomfortable making but believed had to be done. "Anu won't attack by stargate as long as you've got the shield in place. When he approaches your planet with his ships, destroy them.

"But leave Anu alive." This time, Enki glowered at Alalu. "Because if you don't-"

"I know the score," Alalu interrupted with a growl. Their alliance had been tenuous at best, but this early in his reign, he couldn't afford to be making enemies out of both Anu and his brother.

With naught but a slow and heavy nod, Enki's figure dissipated into thin air, and the stargate deactivated with a woosh. Alalu lowered himself down to his knees above Lahmu's corpse and reached down to remove the golden necklace he'd been given to symbolize his leadership over Nibiru. As he stood, he smirked and gazed at it a good while before dropping and crushing it under foot. Unlike Lahmu, he wouldn't be a mere governor of Anu's.

He would be a king.