29th of Xeux, 6545 A.S.
(c. May 5, 1999)
Valhalla, Avalon

During Daniel's long illness and convalescence on Uslisgas after having contracted "Fever's Touch" early in the 7th month, his frequent visits to Ardea to visit his wife and to Abydos to visit their son had, unfortunately, been curtailed. In the midst of long campaigns, his visits to them had already become unfortunately sporadic, work tying him up off-world for days or weeks at a time. A long leave and a long stay on Uslisgas, at any other time, would have been prime time to go visit his family, just not when he was as sick as the proverbial dog, however. (Trying to explain that idiom to Sujanha later had been much too hilarious for his aching, still-healing rib cage.) As much as he always wanted to see them—Shifu was over a year old now and growing so quickly—for weeks he had been bedridden, but even after he was released from the Healers' Hall (the Furling version of a hospital), doing normal stuff at home had sapped a lot of strength. Then, almost as soon as he had gotten cleared to return to work … duty called.

With those events keeping him from Ardea, Daniel did not know about what had gone on with Sha're and her guard only weeks after he had fallen ill.[1]

No idea … that was, not until a strange message arrived on the Valhalla for Daniel during the clean-up phase at the end of the campaign against Heru'ur.

Daniel was still recovering somewhat from his long illness. His strength had mostly returned, though he still could tire a little more quickly sometimes, but as long as he was careful, he was fine. Sujanha had stopped sending him worried looks every time he coughed, which was another plus. Her concern was touching. He just didn't like being a constant worry. Being human also didn't mean he was about to break just because he coughed. With almost any respiratory bug that Daniel had ever had in his life, the cough almost always hung around the longest of any symptom.

It was mid-morning when the message appeared on his tablet. There was a note from Mekoxe attached, saying that the message, encrypted simply for privacy, had just come in with a larger data package from Uslisgas. The time stamp for the original message, however, was about three Furling-weeks old, which was strange.

"That's odd," Daniel murmured aloud, seeing the time-stamp.

How or why did that get so delayed?

Whatever this is …

"What is?" Asked Sujanha, looking up from a report she was reading. With a word of thanks, she took a proffered new mug of tea from Jaax, who had just appeared out of nowhere, seemingly all-knowing, at least, when it came to tea refills, and then sent Daniel a puzzled look.

"Mekoxe just forwarded a message to me that came in with the latest updates from home, and the time-stamp is like three weeks ago," Daniel replied, puzzlement clear in his tone. The Furlings were almost efficiency incarnated. It was almost unheard of for a message to get delayed this badly.

"It's rare to have messages that delayed," Sujanha said, echoing his thoughts. "It does happen from time to time. And with your illness … routing may have gotten … confused."

The message was from a person whose name he did not recognize, which was also strange. "I suppose," Daniel replied with a shrug, tapping on the message to open it.

The message was gut-punching.

Short.

Gut-punching.

Heart-breaking.

The header identified the sender as S'Manatek, a Boii guard at Ardea, the main Furling prison world in Asteria where the captured System Lords and other Goa'uld were being held. In consultation with the Tok'ra, the Furlings were still determining the safest method of extracting the symbiotes with the highest chance of success and the least risk to the hosts.

What S'Manatek had to say was wonderful, horrifying, and gut-punching all at the same time. Sha're had regained control of her body for a short time, Amaunet's control slipping while she slept. (This had occurred two nights before the message was sent.) And Daniel, he hadn't been with her when it happened. He had hardly seen her at all recently with his illness, had not even been able to see Shifu much. (Spreading Fever's Touch to Abydos could be an even greater disaster than spreading it to many other planets. A foreign disease on a less-developed world could spread faster than European diseases in the new world. It would be an utter disaster, possibly even with Furling intervention to help.)

He hadn't been there.

He had missed the chance to be with her.

(That the encounter had happened in the middle of the night seemed to him, at that moment, beside the point.)

And not only that …

All of his visits to talk to her, tell her about Shifu?

They had all been for utterly nothing.

Amaunet had kept Sha're from hearing a single, solitary word.

Daniel read the message once and then a second time and then a third time. He could hardly believe his eyes. A well of grief and anger rose in his chest, and he must have made some noise of shock because, as he looked up, Sujanha was gazing at him intently, concern clear in her face.

He reread the message again. And then, for one of the first times since he had come to Asteria, Daniel utterly lost his temper in an explosive burst, slamming his tablet down onto the table and throwing his own mug of tea without care to what direction it went. Then he burst into tears and buried his face in his hands.

Sujanha, who had risen, realizing something was badly wrong, and had started to come around her desk, somewhat awkwardly dodged the thrown mug, a remnant of reflexes and agility dulled by years of declining health. At the crash of a shattering mug, Jaax appeared in the doorway, and if Daniel had looked over his shoulder, he would have seen him, weapon in hand, with his free hand hovering over his gauntlet, ready to activate the comm or emergency beacon and call for help. (It was probably a good thing Ragnar and Ruarc were out at the moment.)

"Commander! Are you injured?" Asked Jaax urgently, his tone penetrating through the fog in Daniel's mind. "I heard a crash."

"No harm, Jaax," Sujanha said, easing herself awkwardly and painfully down to kneel by Daniel's chair. "Daniel has received some bad news and reacted accordingly. Leave for us now. One of us can clean the mess up later."

I'll do it.

I'll do it.

I made it.

"As you say," Jaax replied and retreated, his footsteps fading until there was the slight squeak of him sitting down at his desk.

A paw was placed on Daniel's shoulder, and Sujanha squeezed gently. (Her strength was faded compared to most of her kind because of the Enemy's poison, but her strength was still greater than a human, and she could easily hurt Daniel, especially with her claws, if she was not careful.) For several minutes Daniel wept, the weight of Sujanha's paw on his shoulder and then the brush of her other paw (shaking slightly) across his head grounding him.

Finally, once his tears had slowed, Sujanha spoke gently in a tone that seemed half like a commander and half like a mother. "No more weeping. It will do neither of you any good. You must be strong. What is happening to Sha're,"—she must have seen on the screen—"is out of your control. You could have done nothing to prevent this. All will be made right in the end, and once she is freed, she will have all the time she needs to heal and be with you and your son."

Her tone more than her words helped Daniel calm, and after another minute, he straightened and roughly dried his eyes on the cuff of his sleeve. "I'm sorry," he said, sheepishly glancing at the shattered remains of his mug on the floor and the pool of spilled tea.

"All is forgiven. In circumstances such as these, you can be forgiven a display of temper, which is mild compared to some I have seen in all my years," Sujanha replied, with an effort levering herself to her feet with a groan. She pushed aside a stack and perched on the edge of the desk, instead of returning to her chair. "I glanced at the message for any clue as to what ill had befallen you, though I read only the first few sentences. The wickedness of the Goa'uld will be their ruin at the end. Sha're will be free one day."

"Not soon enough. Their work is taking forever," Daniel blurted out the words.

If Sujanha was bothered by his words, she did not show it. "Some matters cannot be rushed if one wishes for the highest chance of a favorable outcome. With the aid of the Tok'ra, our scholars and our healers are working as fast as possible with the information that they have. They have no wish to repeat the mistakes of other methods of extracting symbiotes."

Daniel shuddered, remembering the conversation so many months ago about the potential pitfalls of using Thor's Hammer or beaming technology to free Goa'uld hosts. One time, maybe twice, you might get away with it, but statistically, the odds of something going wrong built up the longer you went.

He didn't want Sha're getting her neck broken or her brain carved open by Goa'uld fangs or parts of her brain beamed out with the symbiote.

"I know, I know," he muttered, "It's … I …"

I want her to be safe.

I want to be with her again.

I want her to be able to hold our son.

Sujanha squeezed his shoulder, "The waiting is merciless." She said simply. "For now, she is as physically safe as possible, and Amaunet can harm no one else,"—no one but Sha're—"And soon she will be free, and then in time she can heal."

Soon by whose standards? The thought was snide, and he felt guilty a moment later. They're trying their best, I know.

Being a Goa'uld host. Watching your body commit nightmarish atrocities, being a prisoner in your body as you were puppet-ed into doing things you would never want or thinking of doing in your wildest dreams.

Is that something you can heal from?

(He would be with her every step of the way … whatever the outcome, and he could only hope.)

You're being maudlin.

"You are excused from your duties for the rest of the day," Sujanha said gently. (Everything she was doing and saying right now was gently done or said.) "Unless you would prefer to stay on duty?"

Daniel shook his head. Distractions were helpful, but he doubted he had the concentration or focus to do any work for her, and he would not risk messing something up to try. "I'll go write or read a book or something."

Or something.

He had a feeling that he might end up reading the same page repeatedly or just staring at a page, either of a book or his journal.

Some days, it would have been nice to never have gotten out of bed in the first place.


It was days before the shock of the message about Sha're started to wear off for Daniel.

It was even longer before that message stopped giving his subconscious fertile new ideas for nightmares.

The clean-up phase following the end of the campaign against Heru'ur ended, and a slight lull ensued between campaigns. Three weeks of comparative quiet ensued, giving the Furlings valuable time to resupply, let their troops rest, effect any necessary repairs for ships or equipment, and continue gathering intelligence towards future campaigns.

Throughout these weeks—throughout the period since its discovery months earlier, really—the work on the Azrea, the Ancient warship, which Sigurd's fleet had discovered buried beneath the sands of Saqqara, continued. By this point, the ship had been fully repaired, and a new crew was in the process of being trained to use the Ancient technology specifically. The Azrea was extremely large—about half-again as large as a Furling flagship like the Valhalla—and required a decent size crew during normal operations.

(There were mentions of automated systems, but the Furlings seemed to want a normal crew, regardless.)

(They had and used automated systems but much less than the Asgard, who could run an entire mothership autonomously, and never without a crew in the vicinity.)

(That was worth a question for Ruarc or Sujanha at some point, especially given the advancement of their AI-like system that was used like an auto-pilot on ships and to help Sujanha run the house.)

Scientists from across the Empire and from the Asgard were making slow but steady progress on replicating the Ancient drones from information from the ship's computers. Their work was further aided by two lone drones found in the weapons' bay that had somehow lain undiscovered all these years. Unopenable, thick bulkheads had kept the Goa'uld from searching the entire ship.

Daniel, out of curiosity one evening, made the mistake of asking Nizul, the Dovahkiin Chief Engineer aboard the Valhalla what kind of power source the Ancients used to power their warships. The Goa'uld, he knew, used naquadah. The Asgard and the Furlings used neutrino-ion generators, but Daniel did not remember ever hearing what the Ancients used.

The resulting conversation lasted for well over an hour, and by the end Daniel was totally lost, the conversation having quickly spiraled into concepts and terminology that he had no clue about and that he thought would have stumped even Sam. Whatever the Ancients used normally—not naquadah and not neutrino-ion generators—Nizul's explanation, made especially difficult because of the translator matrix, went right over Daniel's head.

The problem of translating technical terms between languages sometimes.

I understand the words he's saying. I just don't have a clue what they mean … without something to even attempt to compare them too in English technical speak.

What Daniel did understand was that Ancient ships were powered by the use of a potentium, a one-to-two-foot tall, cylindrical orange crystal. These potentia were long-lasting power sources that could last for thousands of years if not under heavy loads (like aerial bombardments?) but were extremely hard to make because reasons. Potentia had also been the main power-source for Ancient city ships, a topic Daniel definitely wanted to know more about.

If one of those potentium was needed to power the Azrea, Daniel wondered how the Furlings were going to make one or find one. Ruarc, who had joined the dinner-time conversation half-way through, simply replied that the Furlings had an extremely limited supply of them. What qualifies as "extremely limited," I wonder? They were used, Daniel learned, to power the primary shields onboard Furling flagships and to power "last-ditch defenses" on Uslisgas and one other world.

That explained why Sujanha always had secondary shields raised on the Valhalla during battles, never the primary shields. Daniel had been wondering about that for months. Overkill, I guess, to use the primary shields against the Goa'uld. Ruarc also explained later that most of the potentia that the Furlings had in their possession were … old and, therefore, not at anywhere near full power in the case of a few. These potentia had seen considerable use during the Great War, and it was prudent to conserve their power as much as possible for future conflicts where their great power might be needed to combat a foe much mower powerful than the Goa'uld could dream of being. Ruarc seemed to allude to a foe possibly even greater than the Replicating Ones or the Great Enemy themselves. I'm not sure I want to know who could be worse than them.

(It would be several years in the future, but Daniel would learn.)

The fundamental problem that the Furlings were facing was extracting the ship from beneath the sand dunes of Saqqara. With the ship buried in the ground beneath the Goa'uld pyramid, there was no good way to remove the ship without risking damage to or destruction of the pyramid and all the knowledge it contained. When Daniel asked why the Furlings did not just beam the Azrea out from the ground, Ruarc replied that the ship was not buried that deeply in the earth and neither the geologists nor the engineers were sure that the remaining ground between the ship and the pyramid could support the weight of the pyramid if a cavern suddenly opened beneath it.

And no one wanted the pyramid with all its knowledge collapsing into the earth into a rubble pile. The library contained the "sum total of the collected knowledge of the Goa'uld," or so the captured "librarians" had said.

It could be like losing the Library of Alexandria all over again!

Even the thought made Daniel cringe with horror.

It was very unlikely that the "sum total of the collected knowledge of the Goa'uld" contained endless variations of "I conquered this planet" and "I committed this atrocity." Who knows what knowledge might be found there, some of it probably helpful?

The current plan, if no other sensible one could be thought of soon, was to empty the pyramid with its subterranean caverns of its storehouse of knowledge, beam the pyramid away to a safe distance (where its tablets would then be restored), and let the Azrea punch its way out of its cavernous prison.


22nd of Vysad, 6545 A.S.
(June 8, 1999)
Valhalla, Avalon

The comm on Daniel's gauntlet activated moments after he stepped out of his quarters onboard the Valhalla. It was around midday, and for the moment, he was off duty. The previous day had been extremely busy, much more so than usual, and Jaax was filling in for him for the morning, and Daniel would rejoin them after lunch. As it was just past the 12th hour, it was high-time for lunch. Hearing the chirp of his comm, Daniel paused on his way down the hallway and waved his hand across his gauntlet to accept the call, and a heartbeat later, a small hologram of Jaax appeared, hovering above his arm.

"What's the matter?" Daniel asked, surprised to be called while he was off duty.

"All is well," Jaax replied, his echoing, rasping breathing still apparent over the comm. As a Nafshi, he did not have to wear a breathing mask constantly, unlike full-blooded Etrairs, but he wore it more often than not. "The Commander is currently in a meeting with High Commander Algar, but a Tok'ra operative has just been beamed aboard to the bridge. The Commander wishes for you to meet him. If his news is urgent, bring him to her. If not, she can see him in about an hour. Please make sure that all his needs are met during the waiting period, if necessary."

"Of course." Daniel replied. "I'll head there right away."

Jaax nodded, and his hologram flickered out.

A Tok'ra operative.

I wonder who it will be.

The thought passed across Daniel's mind as he started making his way toward the bridge. The Valhalla had been in orbit around Ausonia, a Furling supply world for several days. When the Tok'ra needed to get in touch with the Furling High Command, they usually sent word to Ushuotis, and the garrison there would then send them to the nearest world to where Algar or Sujanha's ships were docked.

The bridge was quiet, with only a low hum of activity, as Daniel stepped inside. Mekoxe was at his usual station towards the back of the room. He glanced up as Daniel entered and gave a nod and a smile of greeting. Rusa, the Lapith navigator, was at her station by Sujanha's command chair. As the most senior bridge crew present, she was in nominal control of the ship during that shift, not that there's much for the bridge crew to do right now. Sat'a, the Ipyrsh weapon's officer, was absent, his skills unneeded while the ship was in orbit around a friendly world.

An older gentleman, dressed in the tan uniform of the Tok'ra, stood, looking out the holographic view screen at the planet below, his back to the rest of the room. His hair was salt-and-pepper, and something about his build seemed familiar from the mission to Netu. Was this Selmak, the only one of three Tok'ra operatives who had survived their imprisonment on Sokar's hellish prison world?

No one ever said what his host's name was.

"Sir?" Daniel said, approaching the operative and stopping a few feet away. He spoke in English. All the Tok'ra operatives who had been sent so far spoke English.

And something about his host seems familiar.

The Tok'ra turned, revealing a somewhat familiar face. It was Selmak, looking much healthier than the last time Daniel had seen him. The older man gave a nod of greeting.

"I am Daniel Jackson, aid to Supreme Commander Sujanha. I was also with the force that captured Netu some months ago."

Selmak (or the host) smiled. "I know who you are." It was the host who spoke.

"Then I am afraid you have me at a disadvantage," Daniel replied. "We know the name of your symbiote, but we were never told the name of the host."

A slightly exasperated look crossed the man's face for a split second. "Jacob Carter … formerly of earth."

I was about to say that name sounded earth-y.

Carter … he looks familiar … What are the chances?

Daniel blinked in surprise and then grinned. "You aren't, by any chance, related to Sam Carter, are you?"

"Her father."

What are the chances?

And how on earth did that happen?

"You match the description my daughter gave of you reasonably well, too," Jacob Carter added after a moment.

Daniel chuckled. He had changed somewhat since he had left earth. His hair was cropped much shorter, especially. Longer hair was a pain when he was in a hurry, and few of the human men around Asteria wore their hair long, either, not that it was frowned upon to keep it long. 's just inconvenient. He had transitioned from wearing his BDU-style garments that he had gotten at Rho's shop after he first came to Uslisgas to wearing the typical Furling tunic, trousers, and heavy jacket (which was full of pockets of a variety of sizes). It always amazed Daniel to see how much stuff both Ragnar and Ruarc could fit in the pockets without visible signs.

How recently has he been on earth? Could he have recent news about his friends?

"I'm sure you'd like news from earth. If I have some time after I speak with the Commander, if she can see me, that is, I would be happy to share," offered Jacob.

"The Supreme Commander is actually in a meeting right now with High Commander Algar," Daniel replied, trying to resist the urge to look as happy as he felt as the offer of news and stay professional. "If your news can wait an hour, she can meet with you then. If your news is extremely urgent, I can bring you to her office right now."

Jacob paused for a moment, thinking, brow furrowing. "My news is urgent, but it can wait an hour."

Urgent. What's new? The Tok'ra never brought good news, it seemed.

Helpful, yes. Good, no.

At least, it isn't a drop-everything emergency.

Daniel relaxed a little. "I was about to get some lunch before I was told you had arrived. Would you like some refreshments? We can sit and talk until the Commander can see you."

Jacob gratefully accepted, and the two made their way down to the mess hall. They could have beamed down, but walking gave the other man the chance to see the ship, and with the lifts that ran through the belly of the ship, the walk was not really that long at all. The mess hall was crowded but orderly despite it being prime lunch time. The room was quite large, with a serving counter built into one long wall. There were several lines with platters of food customized for several distinct races. Seeing a server he recognized at the counter, who spoke some English, Daniel directed Jacob into the human line, before himself getting into the Furling line. After over a year among the Furlings and eating what Sujanha commonly ate, he had gotten a taste for their cooking. Daniel emerged from the line a few minutes later and found that Jacob had already found a table in one far corner of the room.

With a sandwich on a plate in front of him, Jacob was seated with his back to the wall—old habits died hard in an operative, Daniel supposed—and looked with wary askance at Daniel's choice of food. The plate of stew Daniel had picked tasted much like curry, just without the great heat, though it still often made his eyes water a little, but whose rice, meat, veggies, and sauce were brightly and somewhat oddly colored.

"It tastes like curry," Daniel said dryly, as he took a seat, "despite the colors."

Jacob still looked skeptical. "Good to know."

I don't remember Sam ever talking about her parents. As far as he knew, her father had never been affiliated with the Stargate Program, either.

Although my information on most things is a year out of date. There's only so much news I can get from Bra'tac.

"How did you get involved with the SGC?" Daniel asked once they both had had time to eat a little.

"Short version: I was dying of cancer, and Selmak gave me a second chance."

Ooof.

"Wow!" was Daniel's only reply. After many interactions with the Tok'ra operatives and discussions about the Tok'ra with Sujanha and the other Furlings, he had slowly progressed beyond his near-pathological hatred toward the Goa'uld. He was slowly growing more comfortable around hosts and symbiotes alike, even genuinely liking some of the operatives who rotated through the Valhalla, bringing intelligence to Sujanha.

I'm still not sure I would have made the same choice if I were him.

"How are they doing?" There was only one they Daniel would be asking about: SG1. "I get some news from Bra'tac but never enough."

And I've not talked with him for a while. Being sick as a dog for a while had not helped anything.

Jacob's information and number of stories was somewhat limited since his contact with earth had been limited since he had been Tokra-fied—oh, ****, I'm turning into Jack. No, he'd probably have something more colorful to say—but all the news he had, Jacob gladly told with the occasional input from Selmak.

Some of his news was first hand, but other bits, Sam had told him on his occasional visits to the SGC. Jacob proved himself a decent story teller, and several times Daniel found himself laughing hysterically at the crazy antics the SGC had gotten itself into during his absence. Other times, he was almost goggling in horror.

Jacob told of the SGC's nearly disastrous encounter with a black-hole and the death of SG-10; of Jack's meeting with an Ancient database and his meeting with the Asgard, a story Daniel had actually already heard on one of his visits to Othala with Sujanha; of the battle against the Reetou in the SGC and Jack's fondness for the second Charlie (remembering what Jack had been like on the first mission, which had come so soon after the real Charlie's death, Daniel's heart broke for his friend).

Daniel's stomach gave a lurch when Jacob recounted the cliff-notes' version of SG1's disappearance and capture by Hathor and of Hathor's final demise. Good riddance. He still remembered in vague, shadowy images her takeover of the SGC; how she had used him; and how she had escaped. His stomach gave another lurch, and he put down his spoon and took a drink of tea, thankful for its stomach-soothing properties.

There were some horrors, some nightmare-inducing events too awful to contemplate that he preferred to never see the light of day again, to stay buried for all eternity.

"Good riddance!" Daniel murmured, as Jacob finished the Hathor-saga. He hoped he didn't look as pale and shaken as he felt.

Jacob agreed, eyes shadowed. "Hathor's a nasty piece of work. We lost a good operative during Hathor's demise, but it was a small price to pay to get rid of her for good."

The Tok'ra host continued, telling of earth's new involvement with the Protected Planets' Treaty—a fact Daniel had already heard from Thor via Sujanha—but then wound his stories to a close. Jacob and Selmak had been on multiple assignments since Netu, and he had not been at the SGC or seen SG1 for some time.

"Sam told me about your wife," Jacob continued later, once the two had finished eating. "What happened to her, it's …" He broke off, with a shake of his head, anger clear on his face. "Have you made any progress in finding her? Sam said that was one of your main reasons for rejoining the SGC."

Daniel hesitated for a moment, thinking about what was safe to tell Jacob. He had a feeling there were some details—Shifu, mainly, and his status as Harcesis, a status that trustworthy and tight-lipped Bra'tac had explained to him—that he should keep quiet about even with the Tok'ra until he had a chance to double-check with Sujanha.

Shifu, thirteen months now by earth measurements, was the sweetest and most adorable baby ever, in Daniel's … totally unbiased … view, and took after Sha're greatly. Free from the genetic memory of the Goa'uld, he was safe on Abydos with Kasuf. "She's safe. She's held back in the Furling's home galaxy until they can determine a safe way to extract the symbiote."

Jacob opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted by Daniel's comm chiming. Jaax's hologram appeared over his left arm a second later.

"The Lady can see you now," his fellow aide said in Furling, before his hologram vanished as soon as he had finished speaking.

Jacob raised an eyebrow, a question in his eyes.

"The Commander's ready for us." The summons saved Daniel from figuring out how to dance through any further conversation on that topic.

The two men turned their food dishes in to be cleaned and reused and then made their way back up-deck to Sujanha's office. Jaax was sitting in the outer-office and waved them on through. Sujanha was not alone in her office as the two men entered. Algar, his meeting concluded, still remained, sitting in the chair closest to her desk. High Commander Algar was a Kushik, a Furling-Dovahkiin hybrid, with impressively large wings that were draped over the back of the chair and swept the floor behind him and striking red-gold scales. He and others like him were one main reason Sujanha always had, at least, one low-backed chair easily accessible.

More Dovahkiin than Furling visibly. Those features are all Dovahkiin.

If I had wings, I wouldn't want them pinned against a chair.

They really do look like dragons. The more time Daniel spent around the Dovahkiin, the more he wondered if there was the slightest possibility that they had ever been on earth and kick-started the legends about dragons. Dragons or dragon-like creatures appeared in the mythologies of so many major cultures across earth and from very early on, too, especially in the east, though no scholars could agree on how the myth of the dragons originated.

The Furlings have been crisscrossing galaxies for who-knows-how-many years, and the Dovahkiin are supposed to be maybe just as advanced.

The Stargate et al. has already explained a few unexplainable things on earth. Why not this?

Daniel had wondered vaguely in the same vein whether the legends about werewolves could be laid at the fear of the canine Sukkim, but he had quickly discounted that as unlikely. References to werewolves in earth literature were much, much later than anything about dragons (5th century BC and later, instead of pre-cities in Sumer), and the Furlings had only been on earth much, much, much earlier … tens-of-thousands of years earlier. It was not impossible that some thread could have been passed down, though.

Both Commanders looked up as Daniel knocked perfunctorily on the door frame and then entered, Jacob a step behind him. Neither rose. Sujanha met Daniel's eye, and her eyes smiled a greeting.

"Commander," Daniel made introductions, knowing that Sujanha only knew of Jacob-Selmak from Tok'ra briefings and, unlike Daniel himself, had never met him, "This is Selmak and his host Jacob Carter of the Tok'ra."

Sujanha gave a sharp nod of greeting. "I am pleased to see you well," she said, "after the horrors of Netu, and I am pleased to meet you, as well, though as usual, I am sure we would both prefer the circumstances to be different. Sit." She waved them to a seat. Daniel, who had been sitting for most of the morning, moved around to lean against the wall, instead, and opened his tablet to his note-taking screen. "This is Algar, my chief High Commander."

Jacob took a seat and then bowed his head, letting Selmak come forward. "I bring greetings from the Tok'ra High Council, Commander, and thanks for the latest intelligence briefs and supplies that you sent us."

"We were pleased to be of assistance. We greatly value our alliance with the Tok'ra," replied Sujanha politely, "but tell me: why have you come? What news do you bring?"

"I am afraid the news that I bring is of grave concern," the symbiote continued. "Your recent successes against Sokar and Heru'ur have caused great consternation among the remaining System Lords. Even the great fleets and armies of Sokar and Heru'ur have not slowed your advance, and they are concerned for their own survival and that of their power."

Slowed, yes … somewhat.

Hasn't changed the end result would be a little more accurate.

"Such news is unsurprising," Sujanha said slowly, seemingly puzzled. "Tyrants are always concerned for their preservation of their own power and dominion."

"As you say, but to that end, recent intelligence from one of our operatives planted deep within Cronus' court has indicated that Nirrti, Cronus, and Selket have just brokered a truce and formed an alliance against you."

Daniel winced internally at Nirrti's name. He would never forget what she had done to Hanka, to Cassandra and her people. She was as mad as the hatter or just an obscenely messed-up type of evil. Human experimentation was a special type of evil.

Selmak bowed his head, and Jacob came forward, continuing the explanation, saying, "Two or three months ago, Nirrti had a major fall from grace and disappeared from the galactic scene, but now she's reappeared at Cronus' court. Cronus is a heavy hitter, one of the most powerful and influential of the remaining System Lords. He has a large fleet of ships and a massive army of Jaffa. He's cruel but calculating, smart. He's willing to go to any lengths to win and harshly punishes his troops when they fail." He paused for a moment, possibly speaking with his symbiote from the faraway look in his eyes. "Nirrti and Selket are the wildcards, however, very dangerous wildcards."

Sujanha glanced across at Daniel, who had been diligently making notes. "Have you encountered these Goa'uld before?" She asked.

"Not personally," Daniel replied. "I've heard of Cronus, but not Selket … aside from Egyptian mythology. However, we—the SGC and SG1—have seen the aftereffects of one of Nirrti's rampages, though. She has a penchant for biological weaponry. She wiped out one of her planets with a … sickness … some engineered virus … plague … thing. One of our SG teams was killed, and only one child from the whole planet survived and only because Nirrti implanted her with a naquadah bomb to try to blow up earth, instead."

"Biological weaponry … and human experimentation," Selmak added, returning for a moment. "For millennia, Nirrti has sought to create better hosts."

Sujanha flinched, though Daniel wondered if anyone beside him and Algar would have noticed. The Furlings had spent millennia fighting an enemy, one of whose main weaponry was of the biological variety, who had conducted 'human' experimentation on captured Furling and allied soldiers to increase the effectiveness of their biological weaponry. Those events had left widespread scars across the Empire.

"Another enemy with a talent for diseases and poisons," Algar noted in Furling, almost spitting out the words, "that will pose a great danger to morale among our men."

Sujanha nodded, seeming almost slightly shaken, though she shot her lieutenant a sharp look. For what, not speaking English? I guess it is a little rude, though they are careful of what they say about the Enemy and the War. Her voice was level when she spoke again, noting, "Personal shields are useless against contaminants in air or water." She paused and then added as an aside for Jacob-Selmak's sake, "Our last enemy in our galaxy used biological weapons to great effect against us and our allies."

"Nirrti's arrogant and too smart for her own good. There always a chance she'll become too big of a thorn in Cronus' side, and he'll get rid of her, alliance or no," continued Jacob, slipping seamlessly back into the conversation.

If she becomes more of a threat than a possible help …

Good riddance if it happens. Save us the danger of dealing with her.

"How old is this news?" Sujanha asked.

"A few days."

Sujanha nodded. "Continue. We can consider what must be done in a few minutes, but first tell me of Selket."

Selmak retook control. "In terms of domain and overall power, Selket is a minor Goa'uld and not a System Lord. Her power comes from her fearsome, infamous reputation as Lord of the Ashrak. The Ashrak are her private army of trained hunters and assassins, whom she contracts out to the System Lords from time to time. They are highly skilled and capable of surviving in enemy territory for long periods without detection. They can easily switch hosts repeatedly to avoid detection, and some carry cloaks."

Daniel went pale, remembering the Ashrak that had killed Jolinar, nearly killed Sam, and tried to kill him. "One managed to infiltrate the SGC by impersonating one of our soldiers," he interjected quickly. "He killed several before Teal'c managed to stop him."

"The problem of their cloaking devices is comparatively easy to handle. We have technology that can disable cloaks," said Algar, speaking this time in English. Unlike the full-blooded Dovahkiin, the Kushik could speak English. "The switching of hosts will be a greater problem. We have human contingents within our army … and within the fleet, for that matter." Anyone who infiltrated the ground troops could reach the ships, too. Of course. Just have to join a group beaming up. "If an Ashrak hidden among the population of a planet we captured took one of our troops as a host, the intelligence he could gather could be devastating, notwithstanding the lives lost."

The language barrier is a protective measure, but if a Goa'uld took one of ours as a host, that barrier would be gone.

"Or on scouting missions," Sujanha added, "which could already be an issue. We do not actively check any soldiers returning from battle or other missions. There are simply too many."

In a lot of cases, it wouldn't be a risk.

What had happened to Kawalsky had almost been a fluke. A tragedy, but a very unusual set of circumstances, nonetheless.

Most of the species who regularly served with the army and the fleet could be hosts to Goa'uld symbiotes, or so the healers said. (Only Furlings and several half-bloods had as yet joined the ranks of the Tok'ra.) Asterian humans were subject to the same dangers from the symbiotes as Jack, Daniel, Sam or anyone from the SGC or the Milky-Way in general: they could be taken as hosts and repressed, while the symbiote mimicked them in public. Unlike the Asgard, however, whose physiology rejected the presence of symbiotes like with that host of Ra's from the tunnel paintings on Abydos, the Furlings could become hosts but were mentally and physically advanced enough to, in the case of an unwilling possession, fight for control of the body. The fight could be, in the end, unsuccessful, but it would give the new host enough time to get out a warning and be taken into custody.

"…Their presence could cause us great difficulties," Algar was saying, Daniel suddenly realized.

Pay attention!

"But not insurmountable ones with this warning," Sujanha finished. It was simultaneously amusing and weird how the two could finish each other's sentences sometimes. Well, they have been working together for hundreds of years at least. "And for that warning, we owe you great thanks."

Selmak nodded. "We are pleased to be of assistance."

Sujanha turned to Daniel. "Dr. Jackson, please tell Jaax to summon Oskar and Nizul and Mus to me as soon as they can find replacements to cover their stations, and then go to the bridge. Tell Mekoxe to send word to Elder Brother. I need to see him as quickly as he can come. Also have word sent to Saqqara: I need Avar, the head of the Azrea project, here as soon as possible, as well." She was always more formal when others were around.

Daniel straightened. "Of course, Commander."

Daniel stepped out into the outer office, leaving the meeting with Jacob-Selmak to continue. Jaax was sitting at his desk, flipping through several holographic screens of reports, but looked up immediately at the sound of the door.

"The Commander needs to speak with Oskar, Nizul, and Mus as soon as they can get up here," said Daniel, inserting a note of hesitation on Mus' name, whom he didn't recognize or at least didn't remember.

"Of course, I will comm them immediately," Jaax replied. "Mus Voreck is the Chief Healer onboard this vessel." He added quickly at the end.

The bridge was comparatively quiet as the door slid open and Daniel stepped inside some minutes later. Rusa was gone now, but Sat'a was there now. Mekoxe was absent, too. Out the front viewscreen was a stunning view of hyperspace, which surprised Daniel. He hadn't even realized that they had jumped into hyperspace.

"Where's Mekoxe?"

"Here," the looked-for man replied, appearing out of a side room that Daniel hadn't even realized existed. "What do you need?"

"The Commander needs word sent to Supreme Commander Anarr. She needs to speak with him, and the faster he arrives here, the better. She also needs to speak with Avar, the head of the Azrea project, as soon as possible."

Mekoxe blinked and then grimaced. (There was never a good reason for Sujanha to see multiple high-ranking commanders ASAP.) "Of course." He moved across to his station and started doing … something … quickly.


The meeting with Selmak stretched long into the night. In response to his sister's urgent summons, Anarr had appeared within the hour, and Avar not long afterwards. An impromptu council of war congregated in a conference room near Sujanha's office, as the commanders, engineers, healers, along with several others began to plan how to deal with the threat from the Ashrak and Nirrti's experiments. More people joined the meeting as the hours dragged on, some with familiar faces but mostly unknown to Daniel. By the time Sujanha sent Daniel and several of the other humans to rest around the 3rd hour early the morning after Selmak's arrival, Daniel had learned more about the biology of the Furlings and their allied races as well as about various types of sensor technology than he had learned in all his time with the Furlings up until then.

(He could have handled never knowing some of the more graphic details about how such-and-such a poison could have such-and-such effects on these species and how to compensate militarily for the potential for such attacks.)

Daniel collapsed into bed just past the 3rd hour and didn't manage to drag himself out of bed for over nine hours. Somehow, the same meeting was actually still ongoing when he returned to the conference room after snagging a quick breakfast. Only some of the participants had changed. (Daniel could only hope someone had talked Sujanha into resting, even briefly. He rather doubted it, though, knowing her. It was not like any of them could order her into doing anything, and her relationship with her brother was too … off (the most politic way of putting it) … for him to do any good in that regard.) He and Jaax traded places, so Jaax could get some rest. Daniel spent the rest of the day going back and forth between her office and that conference room, dealing with reports, passing messages, or just dozing when there was nothing to do for a little while.

The warning from the Tok'ra came just in the nick of time. The Furlings had a few days to brainstorm and start adapting technology to combat the new threat before the first Goa'uld attacks began. Daniel was slightly amazed by how quickly the usually slow-moving Furlings could act when needs must. Their long-lifespan made them used to being able to do things on a longer time-schedule. Fighting the Goa'uld, however, had taught them the meaning of haste.[2]

Four days after Jacob-Selmak brought the warning to Sujanha of the Goa'uld alliance against the Furling Empire, a cloaked Ashrak slipped through the Stargate onto Delmak, Sokar's former homeworld. His timing was fortuitous … for him, not the Furlings. A slight gap during a changing of the guard prevented the ripples in the event horizon from giving his presence away. The Ashrak escaped detection for several hours, long enough to plant multiple explosive devices before the Furling guards detected him. He went down fighting, managing to detonate his devices before he was killed.

The damage he inflicted was mostly on infrastructure, and the loss of life among the garrison was comparatively small, only 10 killed with about a dozen more injured. (Getting buried under tons of rubble … there was only so much a personal shield could do in some cases.) Supreme Commander Anarr was understandably furious that the Ashrak had managed to slip through the Stargate at all, that the guards had not noticed the Stargate activating or the cloaked assassin slipped through.

A Goa'uld homeworld is probably not high on the list for random/accidental dial-ins. Especially not Delmak. Especially not any world belonging to Sokar once upon a time.

It could have been a lot worse, though. The Furlings rarely kept their personal shields activated unless they sensed immediate danger. The Ashrak could have started trying to pick off people and see how many he could get before he was discovered. The body count could have been much higher than 10.

That mistake isn't going to be made again. The Furlings would learn from the mistakes on Delmak, but if the Ashrak had gotten off a message before he was killed, the Goa'uld might learn, as well.

The very next day, better news came, though. Better in some senses, that was. A second Ashrak had attempted to infiltrate Soma-Kesh, a former shipyard belonging to Heru'ur. His presence was immediately noticed by the Iprysh guards as he came through the Stargate, though he managed to escape from the immediate vicinity of the Stargate before his cloak was disabled. In the ensuing hunt, which took half the day, three Ipyrsh received minor damage to their armor before the Ashrak was brought down. There were no other casualties and no infrastructure damage. His tactical skill at adapting to the unfamiliar terrain and fighting against foreign troops, highly opposed to the brute force tactics of most Goa'uld and Jaffa, earned the grudging respect of the Iprysh squad commander as well as the garrison commander.

Over the next two weeks, a series of successive attacks were carried out across the galaxy on a number of major and minor worlds once belonging to Apophis, Sokar, and Heru'ur as Cronus and his allies continued to test the Furlings' defenses. Even the lack (so far) of blunt, brute-force, head-on, all-out attacks showed that the Goa'uld could learn and adapt to dealing with a far superior force. The Furlings were still and would remain technologically superior, though numerically inferior, but careful strategies could make up that deficit … if the Goa'uld used their brains and didn't resort to the intergalactic version of "Hulk smash."

A big if … with some.

The Ashrak attacks were not as successful as the System Lords would have wished for, but neither were they entirely unsuccessful.

The advanced warning that the Tok'ra had brought to the Furlings meant that most of the Ashrak were discovered as soon as they passed through the Stargates, betrayed by Furling anti-cloaking devices or the superior senses of the guards (or the sensors of the Ipyrsh). However, on Nekhen as well as several smaller worlds, the Ashrak were successfully able to plant explosives, foul water supplies, set traps, and carry out covert assassinations. Across those worlds, several hundred people were killed or injured, and much confusion was sown. On Nekhen, one Getae scout, who became separated from his patrol, was taken as a host by the Ashrak there, and using his host's knowledge of the patrols and the base, the Ashrak was able to assassinate the base commander before he was discovered. The scout was unfortunately killed in the ensuing fire-fight between the Ashrak and the Furling guards.

Having to watch your hands kill your commander … I wonder if it was a kindness that he died.

(It made Daniel think of Sha're, what she might have been forced to watch Amaunet use her body to do.)

During those covert attacks, the Furlings had not been quiet. Even as the Goa'uld tested their defenses, searching for cracks and weaknesses, the Furlings were learning and adapting to the strategies and tactics of the Ashrak. Simultaneously, the Furling High Command were gathering intelligence from the Tok'ra, the Free Jaffa, and their own scouts to finalize plans for a crippling strike against the combined power of Selket, Nirrti, and Cronus.

Several worlds belonging to Nirrti were going to be involved in the first strike. One in particular was a priority. On seeing the address of one particular world among the list the Tok'ra had sent her, Sujanha had thought that the Stargate address seemed familiar. It was promptly forwarded to Othala to be compared to the lists of planets within the Asgard copy of an Ancient database. What is this database they're talking about? This world had once been under the control of the Ancients and, according to the database, contained an Ancient science laboratory.

Ancient science laboratory plus a Goa'uld with a fondness for science experiments and biological warfare?

That sounds like a recipe for utter disaster if I've ever heard one. Many of Nirrti's planets could wait for a second strife. It was vital, however, that this one world, whose name was unknown, not remain under Goa'uld control, especially Nirrti's control, any longer.

Selket herself controlled only a handful of worlds, so the intelligence from the Tok'ra and Free Jaffa indicated, aside from her heavily guarded homeworld of Lira-ke. This planet had escaped attack by rival Goa'uld in the past because of her reputation and because of the Ashrak and hidden dangers that safeguarded it. Both Sujanha and Anarr had reservations about attacking a planet guarded by "treacherous traps and cloaked hunters, who would have the advantage of fighting on familiar ground," as Anarr had put it one afternoon, but Sujanha felt that making Lira-ke a priority would send a strong message that even such protections were futile. The planned attack on Lira-ke was going to necessitate calling up several large, elite strike-force units within the Furling Army.

Cronus' territory was going to face the hardest attack, as his troops and ships were the backbone of this new alliance. Six of his main worlds were on the attack list, including Lekanos, a desolate but still important world that supplied food to Cronus' Jaffa; Kalydon, a vital training ground; Delos, one of his homeworlds; and Tartarus, a barren, hellish planet full of labyrinths and sprawling tunnel complex in which Cronus held his most dangerous prisoners, including (legends said) his son Zeus, a former System Lord. The Imperial Guard, in which Ragnar and Ruarc had once served, had been called up to assist in the dangerous mission of capturing Tartarus.


Three weeks exactly after Selmak's warnings had come, the combined might of the Furling fleet and army moved against the Goa'uld coalition of Cronus, Nirrti, and Selket. Sujanha, who always led a separate attack from her brother, led the ships against Tartarus.

Daniel was on the bridge, standing next to Mekoxe, as the Valhalla dropped out of hyperspace. The look of Tartarus from space did not match its fearsome reputation, though the number of Goa'uld ships in orbit about it testified to its importance in Cronus' mind. Out the front view screen, Daniel could see the other Furling warships fanning out on either side of the Valhalla, which was at the head of the spear-tip formation. The transport ships carrying the troops stayed sheltered behind the warships until it was time to deploy.

Sujanha, sitting at her station, just stared out at the planet for a long moment. What exactly she was staring at, Daniel didn't know. "Be ready to deploy on my command," she said finally. "Locate the Stargate and beam it into our hold, and then lock down the hold." Beaming the Stargate out, while the Valhalla was in orbit, did not prevent the gate from being dialed or anyone from coming through. It just kept reinforcements from reaching Tartarus and anyone on that world from escaping through the gate.

The Goa'uld warships had strangely remained stationary even after the Furling ships had dropped out of hyperspace. Daniel wondered idly if this was supposed to be a game of chicken to see who would blink and make the first move. In most previous battles, the Goa'uld had not waited to attack, trying to not let the Furlings get the upper hand first, though to little effect due to the Furlings' superior technology.

One of Mekoxe's screens made a strange noise, and a symbol Daniel had never seen before appeared. Mekoxe seemed startled. "We are being hailed, Commander."

"How interesting," Sujanha said aloud, though Daniel thought she seemed to be speaking more to herself. "On screen."

One section of the holographic viewscreen displaying the planet and Goa'uld ships was replaced by a view of the inside of a Goa'uld Hat'tak. In the center, upon a splendid throne, sat a huge man, bear-like in his size and features, with graying hair that cascaded down his shoulders, pale skin, and hard blue eyes. He was dressed in ceremonial armor, and the expression on his face, almost a sneer, was full of arrogance and contempt.

And that must be Cronus.

For a moment, neither Sujanha nor Cronus spoke, the two studying each other like predators. "So you are the thorn in the sides of the System Lords these past months? You dare challenge your god?"

He actually admits we're a thorn in their side?

I'm surprised he admits that much.

Sujanha tilted her head. "A god?" There was a slight hint of mockery in her voice. "You are a parasite, who has imprisoned a living being as your puppet. Your kind are not gods. If you were truly greater, how could we stand against you? How could Sokar and Heru'ur have already fallen before us?" Her voice was firm now. "There is one Maker, and you are not He."

"The other System Lords have grown weak, bloated on their power and wealth. I am Cronus, Lord of Fate and Time."

Daniel snorted internally at Take #105 of the typical Goa'uld bombastic "I am a god; bow before me" speech. Sujanha did not seem to be any more impressed than he was and simply continued undaunted. "You say you are more powerful than the other System Lords. They met us in battle alone, save for their underlings. You stood aside, watching them fall, capitalizing on their demise. And yet now, when you deign to face us, you require the assistance of Selket and Nirrti? Are you too weak to meet us without their aid?"

Cronus visibly bristled, going red with anger, and Daniel could almost imagine cartoon-like puffs of steam shooting from his ears. There aren't many who have the guts and gumption to talk back to a System Lord. "You dare to defy me," he roared, "I am your god."

You said that already.

"You are no more god than I." Sujanha replied. "You have one chance: surrender. You will not win today."

With a growl, Cronus cut off the communication, and outer space replaced the view of his mothership. A moment later, Sat'a Chakrechi said flatly, "The Goa'uld are arming weapons."

"Deploy the troops, and make sure to cover their advance," Sujanha nodded and began to issue instructions briskly. "Target the vessel from where that hail came. I want Cronus captured alive."

The Valhalla's shields flared green as the Hat'taks began to fire. Capturing the ships was always a complicated endeavor for the Furlings. While the Goa'uld motherships could fire on Furling ships for a day and not make a dent in the shields—you're probably exaggerating slightly—the Furlings, if they fired their weapons at full power, could blow a Hat'tak to smithereens with one barrage. Capturing a ship involved a complicated dance of how low they could power their weapons and still cripple the ship without either destroying it or allowing it to flee.

With Tartarus, the battles in space and the battles on the ground were almost completely separate, unlike most previous battles. With the Furling army fighting in the tunnels beneath Tartarus' surface, there were few possibilities for direct intervention that the ships could take on their behalf. Updates from the troops on the ground were constantly being broadcast on the bridge, reports in a multitude of languages and codes which Daniel could understand only a fraction of. Sujanha's main attention remained on the air battle, though she stayed apprised of major developments on the ground. Daniel had few duties to attend to and remained on the bridge at Mekoxe's station, watching and listening and hoping that what bits of news he heard from the ground were not as dire as they sounded.

The battle for Tartarus began mid-morning and lasted well into the night of the fifth day. The air battle, which lasted only for a portion of the first day, proved entirely successful. Despite their evolving tactics, the Goa'uld warships were no match for the Furlings. A number of ships and Jaffa were captured, and Cronus was captured, as well, his boastings of divinity falling headlong before inescapable reality.

Pride goeth before a fall.

The battle for Tartarus itself was successful, though not as overwhelmingly so. Cronus' troops within the tunnel system had the advantage over the Furlings, knowing the lay of the land, choke points, and prime ambush spots. (Scanning technology could only do so much to illuminate what lay beneath the surface, especially in the deeper tunnels) The Furlings advanced in fits and starts—so Daniel heard after the battle's end—and, though the advance continued, many soldiers were lost in ambushes, tunnel collapses, and explosions. Personal shields did not make the Furlings invincible, and even a personal shield would eventually collapse under a heavy barrage of enemy fire or under tons of rock, and not all soldiers carried personal shields. Body armor could only do so much. Heavy losses came especially when securing the gateroom, which was guarded by the remotely activated, automated defensive energy weapons and in one of the farther tunnels when a damaged Al'kesh crashed into the planet, killing people on both sides in the resulting explosion. There were whispers that the Furlings' reliance on only large warships—even their cruisers, the smallest class of warships they had, were about the size of a Hat'tak—had worked against them here.

Daniel did not know the death toll from the battle for Tartarus, or the other battles from the first strike against the coalition. (Too many.) Part of him did not want to know how many had died, but yet … they were dying to free the Milky-Way from the Goa'uld. He was, however, with Sujanha in her office on the seventh day—all the battles had been brought to an end by that point—when a grave-looking Ruarc entered and handed her a tablet.

Daniel saw her almost visibly deflate, shoulders slumping and ears flattening, as she took the tablet from his hand. "Leave me," she said softly.

The two men, bodyguard and aide, stepped out into the outer office. Jaax was absent.

"The lists of the dead," Ruarc said quietly, "for both the army and the fleet. She always wants to see them both."

Daniel nodded but couldn't bring himself to speak, the image of Sujanha's dark eyes filled with heartbreaking sadness stuck in his mind. He wondered how many people, how many friends she had seen die in wars that had lasted almost her entire lifetime. Too many. "Never forget," he murmured, as they stepped out into the hall.

"No victory comes without sacrifice," Ruarc replied, nodding in agreement. "The fallen will always be remembered for their sacrifices, and their names will be remembered as long as our people endure."

Freedom was not free.


Cronus' subordinates proved themselves reasonably competent and more cunning than most, and with the help of Nirrti and Selket's Ashrak, the Furling campaign against the alliance dragged on for over two months. Some battles were sieges of planets and straight-forward attacks on fleets, while others were feints, as Ashrak were sent alone or in small groups to attack Furling controlled worlds and had to be repulsed, sometimes with more than a little loss to the defenders.

By what was early October on earth (Ihom, which was mid-spring, on Uslisgas), Cronus' domain was declared officially defunct. Nirrti and Selket's territories had already fallen. Some mopping up remained to be done, but most, if not all, of his lieutenants had been captured or killed; his home worlds and planets that served as shipyards, training grounds, or supply grounds had all been captured; and his fleet had been almost entirely captured or obliterated. Selket had been killed, and her remaining Ashrak, fanatically loyal, had chosen or 'chosen' to die with her. Nirrti had been captured and imprisoned, and the worlds that she controlled were in the process of being thoroughly checked for and cleansed of any biological traps.

Many had died, though, among the Furlings and their allies.

More families left bereft.

More names to be remembered.

Freedom is not free.

There was one piece of good news on a personal level for Daniel. During the midst of this lengthy campaign, Klorel, who had never reared his head even during the capture of Apophis' territory, appeared. Two rival Goa'uld factions appeared in orbit above Ausonia, a Furling-controlled world, one day. The Goa'uld did not seem to realize that the Furlings even had a base there, but they just immediately started trying to blow each other to smithereens. During the ensuing battle, after the Furlings moved to intervene and end the battle to protect their base on the ground, a death glider crashed on the planet's surface. When troops from the base went to check the plane and either capture or bury the pilot, it was found that not a Jaffa pilot was flying the ship, but a Goa'uld. It was Skaara, injured and temporarily in control while Klorel was unconscious, who begged for help. He was promptly taken into custody and cared for.

Being able to briefly return to Abydos and tell Kasuf that his son was (comparatively) safe and now had a chance of being freed pleased Daniel beyond measure.

A tense sort of temporary peace settled over the Furlings and their captured territory. The remaining System Lords were not cowed by the demise of the alliance of Nirrti, Cronus, and Selket. Despite their losses, the Goa'uld were still convinced of their own greatness and power and were unwilling to back down before the Furlings. Yet, the quick demise of those three had made them more cautious, and there was temporary peace as they reconsidered their future plans.

The Furlings, and Daniel also, were glad for the chance for a short peace, a chance to regroup and plan, and to bury their dead. Sujanha began to plan a short return to Uslisgas to check on the situation in Asteria and in Ida and to deal with some upcoming High Council meetings. Sujanha had only returned to Uslisgas on very rare and brief occasions since the war against the Goa'uld had begun, High Commander Bjorn having largely managed events in Asteria and Ida during her absence.

Daniel was looking forward to being home on Uslisgas, being able to sleep in his own bed, and not have his visit overshadowed by a lengthy illness. He could go to Abydos and visit his son and to Ardea to see Sha're and Skaara, while hoping that Amaunet was not blocking out his presence 100% of the time.

Scholarly interests would also take up some of his non-sleep, non-work, non-family time … assuming I actually have some time not taken up by one of those three things. After the discussions about ascension in relation to the Azrea and the Ancients, he wanted to do research in the Great Library to assuage his curiosity about this mysterious process, which the Furling called "the living death."


[1] See Interlude IV.

[2] A/N: LOTR reference intended.