CONTENT WARNING: Major (Original) Character Death (off-screen)


War, Daniel had long ago decided, was a funny thing. Well, perhaps, funny was almost certainly not the best word, but he was not sure how to describe it differently in this particular context. Daniel knew all too well that he was living in the midst of a war that stretched across the length and breadth of the Milky-Way, that people on both sides—Furlings as well as Jaffa and human slaves who had never known anything but Goa'uld oppression—were dying daily. One day, because of the sacrifices the Tok'ra, the Furling, the SGC were making, the galaxy would be free from the tyranny of the System Lords. Periodically, Daniel even heard or saw Sujanha discussing or reading about the status of this battle or that planetary siege or the figures of the dead from such-and-such a campaign or hear ship-wide discussions of the same details. And yet … somehow, despite his work for her, those numbers, however horrifying and saddening, were just numbers, just figures.

There had been skirmishes with SG1, the rebellion on Abydos, and that one expedition with the Army to free Netu, but that was different. That was not war, not in the same way. All-out war, all-out battles were almost an abstract in some ways to Daniel. Working for Sujanha, being within the Fleet and not the Army, kept a literal and proverbial distance between Daniel and the "human" cost of the war. Daniel did not see men fall on the battlefield, cut down by land mines or staff blasts, cut down by weapons' fire reigning from the sky, crushed by collapsing ruins, poisoned by poisoned water supplies, or felled by an assassin's knife. Daniel knew that people were dying to free the Milky-Way from the Goa'uld, had heard the casualty reports after battles, seen Sujanha's stricken reactions. From the bridge of the Valhalla, he had watched weapons' blasts streak across the vastness of space, had seen shields flare under them until they collapsed, watched Goa'uld ships exploded, all while the superior shields and inertial dampeners of Sujanha's flagship meant that the deck barely shuddered with each impact upon its mighty shield. Daniel never saw the final moments of the Jaffa dying on those ships or on besieged planets.

Daniel knew intellectually what the great cost of this war was, but it never fully hit home … until it finally did … in one of the worst ways possible.

War wasn't abstract when it was someone you knew, someone you cared for, one of your friends who died.


About three (earth) weeks had passed since Daniel had returned to earth for the first time since his exile, traveling with Sujanha to the SGC to begin the process of forming an alliance between the Fleet and America or, rather in some ways, between the Fleet and the SGC. Those intervening weeks had been eventful and largely not in a good way. The suggested terms of the treaty had been approved by the necessary bureaucrats on earth, and a document had been signed, with copies stored at Headquarters and the SGC, during those intervening weeks. During the waiting-on-bureaucrats-period, Sujanha had pulled some strings somewhere with someone—maybe or maybe not with High Counselor and Chief Ambassador Amilcar, considering he and Sujanha had … issues—and gotten Daniel appointed as a de jure Furling Ambassador. Given the way the USA government was run, Sujanha still had grave concerns about the NID returning to favor and Daniel being at risk. That position would largely be in name only, with Daniel remaining de facto as Sujanha's chief aid, but it might aid with interactions with SGC in the future and would provide protection from the NID and those of their ilk, since attacking a Furling ambassador during the execution of their duties was an act of war. In the end, all was successful, though the process of finalizing the Furling-SGC treaty had been delayed somewhat by the tragic and unforeseen circumstances had had occurred during the signing of the Tok'ra-Earth treaty just days after his and Sujanha's trip to Midgard.

Probably bowed by their recent military successes against the Furlings during their pull-back in the wake of the Diagoth disaster, the Goa'uld had launched an attack via Za'tarcs—mentally reprogrammed assassins—in the final days leading up to the signing of the Tok'ra-Tauri treaty. Multiple Tok'ra and SGC team members had been affected and, subsequently, had been killed or had committed suicide during the resulting attacks. One of those Tok'ra who had thus fallen prey to the machinations of the Goa'uld was Martouf-Lantash to Daniel and Sujanha's grief, since the pair were frequently present on the Valhalla, bringing intelligence, or in Asteria, especially after … Rosha was found. What are they going to tell her? She's finally making progress, and now this …?! Both considered him … them? … Daniel still got confused on how to deal pronoun-wise with the two people in one body issue … a friend.

During the treaty signing ceremony at the SGC, Martouf or Lantash had attempted to assassinate the man whom he thought was the American president (actually a decoy given the threat), revealing themselves as also Za'tarcs. (It was not clear whether one or both of them had been brainwashed and who was in control at the end, since the lack of the dual-toned voice was not definitive proof. Sujanha believed that either just Lantash or both of them had been brainwashed, since if only Martouf had been re-programmed, Lantash, even with false memories, would have presumably noticed … something … amiss when his host started trying to kill people and would have taken control to stop the attack.) In the process of subduing Martouf-Lantash, Martouf was fatally wounded, felled by over a dozen bullets, most to his chest and abdomen.

(Part of Daniel hoped … very, very, very, very, extremely privately … that it was both Martouf and Lantash who had been brainwashed, because in some ways that sounded … infinitesimally … less terrible than it just being Lantash brainwashed and having Martouf, not brainwashed and imprisoned in his own mind as his symbiote started trying to commit mass murder.)

Better equipped with Furling tech, the other Tok'ra there had been able to subdue and sedate him before the final commands of his programming could force him to commit suicide. Their quick actions had been aided by the fact that some hint of his true personality—again whether Martouf or Lantash was unclear—had emerged at the end, fighting against the compulsion of the Za'tarc programming to end his life once his mission had failed/once he was in danger of capture. Somehow, the Tok'ra had been able to keep Martouf-Lantash alive—by some definition of 'alive'—long enough to evacuate him to a Furling-controlled world and to help.

The somehow, it later became clear, involved two Tok'ra operatives with medical training among High Councilor Perseus' retinue, who had nearly killed themselves using two Furling healing devices to keep Martouf-Lantash breathing, his heart beating, and some amount of his blood still in his body. Their actions had verged on the recklessly suicidal, so Sujanha had said, but … this time … it had worked.

Daniel was even amazed that Martouf-Lantash had survived those more than a dozen bullet-wounds long enough for the Tok'ra to even try to save him. But then he remembered that there had been miracle cases from Vietnam and other wars where soldiers had taken a ridiculous number of bullets and survived, though sometimes at great physical cost. In those wars, there had not even been modern-20th century medicine available, nor Furling medical technology, nor, even less, a symbiote with a healing factor. (Lantash's presence was a wild card: given the brainwashing, would he instinctively or not try to keep his host alive?) Moreover, Sujanha noted, they were strong, and the will-to-live could work miracles where severe injuries were concerned, and Martouf-Lantash had one of the greatest reasons in the universe to survive: Rosha.

Rosha was alive.

And Rosha needed them.

Needed them to live.

Given what the Tok'ra had been able to do for them, on Calydon, surgeons had been able to patch Martouf, who had suffered almost the entirety of the physical injuries, up enough that he was no longer in danger of imminent death. He had survived that first surgery and had then been placed into a healing pod designed with hosts specifically in mind, a recently completed joint Furling-Tok'ra project based on the healing pods the Furlings used, which were originally of Asgardian make. The pod would keep them alive in stasis and slowly enact repairs, and once some progress was made, the Furling healers hoped that they might be strong enough to have a hope and prayer of surviving the further surgeries needed to repair all the damage the guns had caused. Healing pods can't remove spent lead or set bones or remove bone fragments. Once Martouf's physical body was no longer in danger of dying, the Furlings and the Tok'ra could turn their attention to solving the brainwashing … in a manner less dangerous than Anise's plan was. The healing-induced stasis would prevent any self-destructive tendencies in the meantime.

(There seemed to be some thought, based on something Sujanha had said, that the same technology that had helped Shifu might be able to help Martouf and Lantash, though much more research was needed to determine that definitively.)

Needless to say, it had been a couple of weeks that Daniel would not forget anytime soon.

(And it was about to get worse.)


Around three weeks after that first treaty meeting, the Valhalla, along with several motherships from its usual strike group, was in orbit around Ushuotis, resupplying and receiving relief crew for those individuals going on leave. Early that afternoon, Daniel found himself sitting with Sujanha in her office, working on his tablet as there was nothing that she needed from him at the moment. He was just keeping her company. Sujanha herself was reading reports from a battle a couple of days before. An offensive had recently been launched against the System Lord Tefnut, one of the older Goa'uld surviving. Anarr was personally overseeing the ongoing siege of her homeworld and stronghold, a world known as Taremu, with Wing Commander Sigurd, the brother of High Commander Bjorn and the one whose forces had discovered the Ancient warship on Saqqara at the beginning of the war, commanding the supporting fleet.

Daniel was finishing editing his notes from a meeting earlier that day and was about to switch to finishing a letter to Sha're. He had been on and off world more frequently the past month dealing with stuff with earth, though he still had gotten to see her and their boy more than he would have if he had strictly been doing a month-long stint strictly aboard the Valhalla. Daniel liked to write her letters—more personal versions of his journal entries was what they sometimes ended up as—to tell her about all that was going on and what he was seeing and doing—all that I can tell her, that is—while he was off-world. In a few more days, he would switch places with Jaax and return to Uslisgas. All three of Sujanha's aides spent a considerable amount of time on the Valhalla or on Uslisgas depending on where she was then, but almost always, one of the three of them stayed on Uslisgas to manage her business at Headquarters. While on home rotation, Daniel might still have to go off-world temporarily, but that would be rare, and most of the time, he would be home at a reasonable hour every night, could spend time with his family, and actually be able to put Shifu, who was growing like a weed, to bed.

The door to the inner office suddenly chimed. Sujanha's head snapped up from her data pad, a momentary look of surprise sweeping through her eyes. Did they finish loading the supplies already? She made a motion to trigger the lock on the door, and it slid open silently.

Mekoxe, the Valhalla's communications officer, entered. Just looking at him, Daniel knew something somewhere had gone terribly wrong. There was no mistaking those physical signs. He looked like he had run straight from the bridge. His dark complexion was almost sickly in appearance, his eyes wide. His usually steady hands, which Daniel had seen perform sleight-of-hand tricks for the children on board the flagship, were shaking as if he had suddenly developed the palsy. What happened?

A knot instantly formed deep in Daniel's stomach. Sujanha stiffened, setting her tablet down. Her face showed a flicker of concern before going blank. "What happened?" Her voice was so tightly controlled that it was almost flat. Emotionless.

It took Mekoxe two stuttering starts to even start getting the words out. Even those few seconds of delay made Daniel's bad feeling worse, and his mind began to churn through possibilities of what could have shaken the other man to his core. After working with SG1 and for Sujanha for years, his imagination certainly was broad, and each possibility his mind conquered was worse than the last. This is really, really bad.

"The battle … Taremu…" Mekoxe was fighting to get every word out. After a moment, Daniel realized he was on the brink of tears. Something went wrong with the siege. Really, really wrong.

Sujanha was dead calm … outwardly. "Take a seat," she ordered gently but firmly. "Take a breath. Now another. A third." She glanced across at Daniel, and for a moment, he saw flickering in her eyes the same confusion … and buried deep, the fear … that he felt.

Once Mekoxe seemed marginally calmer, Sujanha asked, "Is my brother dead?" She took a deep breath of her own, as if steeling herself for the answer.

The other man shook his head. His hands were death-gripping the tablet in his lap, knuckles almost bone-white. "No, Commander Anarr is unharmed, as well as Commander Sigurd and your forces, but … but…,"—he shuddered, throat working convulsively—"Tefnut had weaponized her troopships." Those are larger than an Al'kesh. "One was in the atmosphere attacking our fighters. When one of our warships went to engage, the troopship was badly damaged. Instead of surrendering, it made a suicide run on the planet. It exploded before it hit the surface … but … the naquadah …"[1]

Daniel felt sick. He knew from history the tremendous damage that WW2 kamikaze planes had done to the American fleet. A kamikaze Goa'uld troopship was, at least, three to five times the size and fueled by naquadah, which they knew from the situation with Cassandra was extremely explosive. Increase the damage with those factors in mind, and instead of a sunken warship, one might have flattened continents.

There was utter, dead silence for what was probably only a couple of minutes that still seemed to stretch on forever. When Sujanha finally spoke, her voice was shaking. "How many are dead?"

Mekoxe swallowed hard. "Because the ship exploded before hitting the ground, the resulting shock wave seems to have spread over a wider area. An area of approximately …" here he gave a figure that roughly equaled 1200 square miles … "was leveled. No survivors."

There were no words to describe the resulting horror that swept across Daniel's face, across Sujanha's. 1200 square miles was twice as big as Greater London, three quarters the size of the state of Rhode Island. Depending on where the damage was—they can probably see that from orbit—the loss of life on both sides would be catastrophic.

"How many set sail?" Sujanha asked again.

Mekoxe flinched. "The ship exploded over the area of heaviest fighting in and around Tefnut's citadel, which was leveled by the shock wave, increasing the damage to the surrounding areas." I'm guessing the shock wave could overpower a shield? "The fighting is still ongoing across Taremu, and the exact numbers of the dead are difficult to determine yet, but … the Zaddinn under Knight Commander Zowux Nang, as well as the Shadows and the Imperial Guard under the Knight Commanders Shandel have been lost to a man, as far as we know now." He paused. "Ruarc was with them."

It was several long seconds before that last sentence even sunk into Daniel's mind. He was still stuck on what Mekoxe had said first about the death toll. Knight Commanders commanded units comprising 10,000 men each, and those units were three of the most elite within the Furling Army. The idea that at least 30,000 Furling and allied soldiers—the Zaddinn were an allied contingent from the Lapith army—had perished … was almost unfathomable. And who knows how many Jaffa! The Furlings were almost certainly still gain control of Tefnut's homeworld in the end, but already this death toll … 30,000 or more … that would instantly elevate this battle to a Pyrrhic victory and might put it up there with some of the worst battles of the Great War itself.

Then, at Sujanha's instinctive cry of horror, Mekoxe's last statement registered: "Ruarc was with them." Daniel flinched as if struck.

Ruarc.

Ruarc was dead.

His first friend on Uslisgas was dead.

Ruarc was dead.

What was he even doing there? I thought he was still on leave.

Ruarc was dead.

He was supposed to be on leave … dealing with everything.

Ruarc was dead.

Sujanha made a horrible sound in the back of her throat, a keening cry that sent shivers up Daniel's spine. It was the sound almost of a wounded and grieving animal. "Oh, Ruarc," she moaned. "What was he even doing there? He was still on leave just the other week, so Ragnar told me."

Oh, Ragnar! Daniel swore mentally. Does he know? It would be a horrifying blow for him to lose his brother, perhaps his only family, as the two had never spoken of any other.

"Based on Imperial Guard records," Mekoxe answered quietly, sadly, "Ruarc recently returned to duty but requested to be sent back to his old unit, not to your service."

What? Why on earth? Ragnar and Ruarc had been her bodyguards for centuries, were probably her two closest friends. They were utterly loyal and extremely protective of her. I'd have thought you'd have needed a crowbar to make them leave her.

The utter devastation on Sujanha's face was joined by dumbstruck incomprehension. She looked like she had been sucker-punched.

Why? Why? The question was looping through Daniel's mind. Until the disaster on the Diagoth that had shaken him so badly, Ruarc had never seemed discontented in Sujanha's service. He had been more than her bodyguard. He had been her friend and … Daniel's, a near-constant companion, who had always been willing and happy to answer Daniel's myriad of questions without complaint.

"Maker, guide them home," Sujanha murmured. She pressed her paws to her face, hiding her eyes, and was quiet for several minutes.

"If it is any consolation," said Mekoxe when the silence grew too overwhelming, "Sigurd's healers said that the end would have come instantaneously. They would have seen the ship coming but felt nothing at the end."

Daniel bit his lip, trying to fight back tears.

Sujanha took a deep, shuddering breath and nodded sharply, drawing up shaky composure across her face. "My brother?"

"Still on the field, according to Sigurd. This only occurred within the last several hours. The fighting is still ongoing. We have taken heavy losses, but so have Tefnut's forces. Despite that, our losses … and our necessary delays to bring any fresh reinforcements … seems to have emboldened her surviving Jaffa."

Oh, wonderful. They're emboldened, and our morale probably took a nose-dive!

Sujanha flinched, but slowly that shaky composure returned. There's still the fallout to deal with and a battle to win. "Do they need reinforcements?"

"No." Mekoxe shook his head. "Sigurd's fleet has seized control of any remaining Goa'uld vessels."

Are there even bodies to bury? Or had everything been vaporized? Daniel felt sick at the thought.

"Has word been sent to Uslisgas of this?" Sujanha asked. "Word must go to Noreia. Kokifren King must know that the Zaddinn have fallen in battle."

Mekoxe shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. The battle is still ongoing. The only reason Commander Sigurd even sent word to you yet was because of the redistribution of transport ships. Otherwise, I think this news has gone no further than those in this room."

Why couldn't I get to learn more about Furling burial customs some other way?

"Very well. Make sure word is sent to me once the battle is concluded, one way or the other," Sujanha concluded. "Once Supreme Commander Anarr releases word of what had befallen us, I will do the same for the fleet. Until then, not a word of this should be spoken on board. Mekoxe, if you would, have … have Ragnar sent to me—he must know of his brother's death—and then forward this news to Uslisgas quietly and with the utmost discretion."

"As you command." Mekoxe stood, bowed deeply, and then departed.

The silence lingered again after the door slid shut behind him. On a national and strategic level, this battle was already a disaster. 30,000 dead in a day put the battle for Taremu up there with the worst battles from WW1 or WW2 on earth. However, as bad as that was, Ruarc's death—compounded by the utter confusion of why he was there in the first place and not still on leave—made the disaster even more profound and personal for Sujanha and Daniel.

Finally, Sujanha broke the silence, "30,000 men … gone in an instant. Not since the Great War …" Her voice broke. From her tone, she seemed to be speaking half-to-herself. Suddenly, she seemed to notice Daniel's presence. "Leave me, Daniel."

Daniel hesitated, unsure about leaving her alone, but then remembered that with Malek, she was never alone, and finally nodded. Her conversation with Ragnar would need to be in private anyway. "Yes, Commander. I'll be in my quarters if you need anything."

As the door slid shut behind Daniel, he heard the sounds of his stalwart commander beginning to weep. Returning to the lift to go to his quarters, Daniel had to quickly duck down a side passageway to avoid being seen by Ragnar, who was on his way to see Sujanha. Near in tears himself, Daniel had no wish to meet his friend, to chance being the one to have to explain to Ragnar that his brother was dead, because his friend would have asked what was wrong for sure.

It seems like just yesterday I saw Ruarc, and now he's dead.

I wish I'd taken the time to check on him more since …

I've been so busy with work and Sha're and Shifu.

I should have been more of a friend.

I just don't understand why. Why was he there?

Why did he not want to return to Sujanha's service?

It just doesn't make sense.


The battle for Taremu stretched on for two more long days. Once the battle was concluded, the dead were numbered. Originally standing at about 30,000, at least, the death-toll increased by the end to just over 50,000, combining those who had been killed at Ground Zero or by the resulting blast wave, those further out from the epicenter who had died from their injuries, and casualties from before and after. The scar on the landscape could be seen from orbit.

Tefnut's homeworld was in Furling hands, and Tefnut herself was dead, but at what a cost.

Not even the Furlings were invincible, though they often had seemed like it these past years. So often, they had won victory after resounding victory, advancing like an unstoppable wave through one Goa'uld's territory after another. And yet … here, as on scattered occasions before, the Goa'uld had struck a successful blow, though the Furlings would find a way to adapt against it for the future. Daniel doubted that Kamikaze attacks, at least not on this scale, would be successful again. (Death gliders could slip through where larger warships could not.)

Within hours of the news coming that Taremu was theirs, Sujanha made a speech to the fleet, announcing the disaster and the losses that the Army had suffered. Her speech about the day's tragedy was a masterful piece of rhetoric, the Commander's natural gravitas unhindered by the depth of her profound grief. Her words were simple, calm, and direct, announcing in brief terms what had happened. Despite her loss of composure when Mekoxe had brought news, somehow, she managed to get through the entire speech, even while Daniel was blinking back tears again. When that speech was finished, Sujanha made another announcement solely for the Valhalla alone, announcing Ruarc's death. He had been a familiar face on board her flagship and had been friends with many. Here, her voice wavered as she spoke, but somehow, she persevered.

The Furlings are no stranger to death, not even death on this scale.

The next morning, Sujanha returned to Uslisgas with Daniel and with Ragnar, who seemed to have aged several centuries in a matter of days. The offensive against Tefnut was still ongoing, though no battles were currently underway, as both the Fleet and the Army needed time to regroup and plan.

Yet, for now, it was time to bury the dead.

What dead there actually were to bury.

The rest would be 'empty' pyres.

Those bodies that had been recovered would be committed to the pyres together, along with the recovered fragments of the other soldiers' bodies. A separate pyre would be burned for those whose bodies had not been recovered, obliterated by the explosive shock-wave. DNA testing, a new science on earth, was a thing among the Furlings. However, it was apparently customary to burn all the bodies (or body parts) together on one or multiple pyres (depending on how badly the battles had gone) and then distribute those ashes to the families for burial so that, even in the death, the soldiers who had fought and served together for so many years might remain together. The names of those whose bodies were unrecovered or unidentified were inscribed separately on Numantia, the Furling burial world, so that their sacrifice would never be forgotten as long as the planet endured.

It reminded him of a passage from the funeral oration of Pericles in Thucydides.

For this offering of their lives, made in common by them all, they each of them individually received that renown which never grows old, and for a tomb, not so much that in which their bones have been deposited, but that noblest of shrines wherein their glory is laid up to be eternally remembered upon every occasion on which deed or story shall be commemorated. For heroes have the whole earth for their tomb.


With a death toll of 50,000, even with the majority having been … vaporized, there were still many, many bodies to return to Asteria and to prepare for burial, so many in fact that it was three days after Sujanha and Daniel had returned to Uslisgas before it came time to lay the dead to rest. Numantia, the only other habitable planet in Uslisgas' solar system, was where the Furlings buried their dead, though from the epitaphs Daniel had read when he had visited the planet once before, the dead of other races who were dear to the Furlings or who had rendered them great service were buried there, as well.

Numantia was a lush world with a mild climate, or at least this continent was near the Stargate. Rolling fields dotted with trees stretched almost as far as the eye could see, though there were small mountain peaks far, far in the distance. Farther out, between the meadows and the distant mountains, were deep ravines, carved out by rivers in ages past. In these canyons were excavated many tombs and many crypts where families were buried together.

Numantia was a beautiful world, but its beauty stood in stark contrast to the massive pyres that were built upon the large rock plateau upon which the Stargate stood. Ring upon ring of pyres surrounding the largest pyre of them all, which was piled high with goods. This innermost pyre was for the unknown soldiers, whose bodies were unidentified or whose bodies had never been found, while the surrounding pyres were for the bodies which actually had been recovered.

Even the goods piled high upon the inner pyre had great significance.

A clay vessel for the shell of the body. It reminded him of Egypt, of Khnum, who formed the person and its ka upon his potter's wheel. Dust to dust.

A cloth for the funeral garb.

A favored item for the spirit.

Massive numbers of people from across the galaxy had arrived to mourn the dead and not just those who had lost friends and loved ones. Many dignitaries were also there. Sujanha and Supreme Commander Anarr were there, as well as the High King of the Furlings and his son, the Crown Prince, the three members of the Imperial House actually being allowed to be on the same planet simultaneously for once. Since this is Asteria. The King and Crown Princess of the Lapiths had come to honor their war dead. The Prince Consort of the Etrairs and representatives of the ruling houses of the Dovahkiin and Ipyrsh had come, as well.

Among that crowd of mourners was Acira, Ragnar and Ruarc's mother and only living close relative. Their father, Afsar, a decorated General in the Army, had died during the Great War before the two brothers had even joined Sujanha's service.

Visiting her had been one of the first things Sujanha had done upon returning to Uslisgas.

In many ways, appearance wise, she was a smaller, slighter version of her dead son.

So much so … it had almost been eerie … just for a split second when Daniel had first met her.

Acira had still almost seemed in shock when Sujanha had met with her. (Daniel had been brought along … for moral support, maybe.)

It didn't seem fair that she had lost her husband to the last war and now her youngest son to this war.

What was Ruarc thinking? Why was he there?

They still had no good answers.

Those were questions that Daniel was sure would trouble him for a long time.

Daniel had come with Jaax from Uslisgas, and the two had found a place together to watch the funeral on a rise near the back of the crowd. Even there, as far back as they were, the smell of burning flesh born on the wind was nauseatingly strong. It made him glad that Sha're had decided to stay home with Shifu. I hope the wind changes. He resisted the urge to press his hand across his nose and mouth. I really hope the wind changes.


The crackling pyres burned for hours, their flames shooting up into the sky. Numantia's rotation was shorter than Uslisgas', so even while it was still light there, the sun set on Numantia, and with the moon not having risen, the fires were left as the main light sources, their flickering flames casting dancing shadows across the bodies and faces of those all around. It was eerie.

The stars are bright. The light from the pyres was a little dimmer where Daniel and Jaax were. Even those flames had nothing on the light pollution back on earth. Not even the capital at night had anything on earth's light pollution.

Finally, deep in the night, the pyres burned down, and the crowds began to disperse, except for those who would remain to check the pyres for smoldering ashes and those who would gather the ashes to be distributed for final burials, family by family. Somehow, among all the people streaming around them back toward the Stargate, Sujanha found Daniel and Jax. Her shoulders were slumped with exhaustion, and hidden in the darkness, she was limping heavily. The commander looked like she, too, had aged centuries in days, and for her comparatively young age for her species, Sujanha already looked aged, the white on her muzzle and face growing thicker as the years passed.

Jaax murmured something polite and then turned to join the crowd returning to Uslisgas. Sujanha watched him leave for a long moment and then turned to Daniel. "Walk with me?" She asked. Daniel nodded, a gesture perhaps lost in the low light, though her night vision was much better than his, and fell into step beside her. "I wish to pay my respects," she continued, "before returning to Headquarters. I would be glad … not to be alone right now."

From her, it was a notable admission.

"Of course!" Daniel replied without hesitation. "I'd be glad to come with you." His voice dropped. "How are you? And Ragnar?"

Sujanha seemed to consider that question for several minutes before she finally responded. "Ragnar, he is very shaken by his brother's death. Ruarc's absence … after so long … leaves a gaping hole in all our lives, as what we thought was his temporary absence already did. As for me"—here she paused again—"I am … very tired. Ruarc has been by my side since the waning years of the Great War. I always believed … that he would outlive me."

Unsure what to say, Daniel made a commiserating sound and then let them walk on in silence.

Whatever tombs Sujanha wished to pay her respects at were apparently some distance from the Stargate, as she made for a nearby beaming station first. In the darkness, the bright flash as they beamed away was dazzling, leaving him blinking spots out of his vision and waiting impatiently for his night vision to readjust once they were wherever … Sujanha had taken them. Wherever proved to be the entrance of a long valley with towering, nearly sheer sides. As they began to make their way up the valley-floor, Daniel realized that he could just make out in the starlight the vague impression of row upon row upon row of writing, carved in sunken relief into the cliff walls. Sujanha was angling towards the right cliff, and as they got closer, Daniel squinted and squinted, and the writing seemed to turn from vague scribbles in the darkness into names, row upon row of names, stretching into the darkness upon the cliff face everywhere the eye turned.

This, then, was their tomb of the unknown, not a literal tomb, but a memorial for those whose bodies had never been recovered, whose names were known, and for those who had died during the wars but whose names were not known, both Furling and allied. (A generations-long, galaxy wide war did not do anything good for governmental records of births and deaths.) There was a heaviness, a weightiness to the air here. This was hallowed ground.

"So many," Daniel murmured, peering at the names carved in small, precise lines. Ruarc's name would join so many others upon these walls soon.

"Hundreds upon hundreds of millions," said Sujanha, her voice whisper thin. "Just for our people. We had to use other valleys just to hold all the names. There is no room to keep a record for our allies, as well."

It was staggering, and seeing the names, row upon row, column after column, emphasized how large that number was.

"What happens to the families of your war-dead?" Daniel asked. Nothing lasted forever, not even for those around Sujanha. What happens to Sha're, to Shifu, if I die?

"Any mates or children will be cared for at state expense for a year and a day. Those honored here died so that we might live. Their sacrifices will not be forgotten, nor will their kin be left to toil alone."

You take care of your own.

Silence fell. Sujanha and Daniel walked on until they encountered a fork, and from there they went left. Just past the narrow entrance to the left fork, the canyon broadened somewhat. Not much farther were two towering monumental gateways carved directly into the cliff walls.

(The entire setting reminded Daniel of Petra. He had been there once … a long time ago, almost a lifetime ago in some ways.)

In the first of these gateways was an inky black doorway beyond which nothing could be seen. (It was almost a little creepy how dark it was.) Sujanha approached the right gateway undaunted and touched a spot upon the frame, a sensor apparently, since dim blue lights suddenly sprung to life in the chamber just beyond the doorway. They entered and found themselves in a small antechamber. The air was clean, cool, and dry. There were three doorways, one of which was simply a frame carved into stone with nothing beyond. A crypt yet to be excavated, I guess. From the other two doorways, the one on the left and the one in the center, glowed the same dim blue light, disappearing down into the darkness beyond. A staircase? Sujanha chose the center staircase, and Daniel followed her into the depths, down step after step after step, down, down, down. The staircase seemed to stretch on forever, reminding Daniel of Seti I's tomb in Egypt. KV 17 was well known for its depth. The main passageway plummeted over 200 feet before it stopped at Seti's burial chamber.

I hope Sujanha can make it back up this staircase!

She's too stubborn not to … But she is pretty tired. Stairs were easy to go down, comparatively. It was getting up them that could be the problem.

Finally, that plunging staircase ended, and Sujanha and Daniel emerged into a massive, cathedral-like crypt, its ceiling supported by thick, elaborately carved pillars. The room was lined with rows of stone sarcophagi topped with effigies of recumbent figures from many races, while separately, niches holding urns and plaques had been carved into the crypt walls. Sujanha plunged into the rows of sarcophagi, and Daniel drifted in her wake a little way back to give her some privacy, reading inscriptions silently as he passed them.

All of the funerary inscriptions bore military titles, which made this almost certainly the Tomb of the Commanders. There were almost certainly inscriptions to that effect on the gateway outside, but it was too dark to read them. The ranks were everything from Supreme Commander down to Group Commander (for the Army) or Knight Commander (for the Fleet), the next to the lowest ranks in the Furling military hierarchy. The graves were roughly ordered by age, the oldest nearer the entrance, the more recent deeper into the crypt.

I wonder whom Sujanha wanted to pay her respects to.

Someone she served with during the Great War, maybe?

Set among these officers' tombs were two other tombs, two tombs of the Unknown, set next to each other. The effigy on one was a recumbent soldier whose features blurred the line between the Maskilim and the Sukkim, while the other sarcophagus contained no effigy but a series of symbols across the lid that had to represent the Furlings' allies who had fought beside them during the Great War. The inscriptions on both were the same: "For the Nameless and the Missing, who died so that we might live on. May they never be forgotten as long as our races endure."

It seemed like a long time before Sujanha was ready to depart. Her eyes were shiny with tears when she returned, and the two returned up that long staircase in dead silence, except for the sound of Daniel's footsteps and the slight taps of Sujanha's claws. (She did make it up that staircase, though her pace decreased and her limp worsened the farther up they got.) Instead of heading back toward the Stargate, Sujanha led the way across the canyon toward the other gateway into darkness. This time, Daniel remembered to look up. The moon had risen, giving Daniel just enough light to make out an inscription labeling this as the resting place of the Imperial Family. Here, there were only two doorways leading into the depths, and the plunging staircase that they took was shorter than the one in the other tomb. I wonder why the royal crypt is not as deep underground. Could there be multiple levels of tombs over there with separate entrances for the other levels?

The imperial crypt was largely identical in construction to the Tomb of the Commanders, though this crypt was smaller. Again, sarcophagi lined the crypt floor, while plaques, urns, and ossuaries lined the crypt walls. The recumbent effigies were carved with skill that probably would have made Michelangelo weep with utter envy, making the figures appear as if they were almost just asleep. Those depicted were young and old and of a variety of races and subspecies. Holders to blood purity, the Imperial House was absolutely not. There were Maskilim and Sukkim, humans, Dovahkiin, and even among the older tombs more than a few Asgard, who look much, much closer to humans than they do today. Apparently, the Asgard had not always looked like the Roswell Grays.

I wonder what happened to their kings from before the Wanderings?

Did they leave their bones behind, or is there a Furling cemetery waiting to be found in the Milky-Way one day? It was one of those random questions that occurred to him that he might have considered asking Ruarc. He would not dream of asking Sujanha that especially not now and perhaps not ever.

As Sujanha and Daniel progressed further into the crypt, the names started to become more familiar (from his history reading) and the dates more recent, until they came to the tombs of the generations preceding Sujanha, most of whom had died during the Great War. Many names Daniel knew from his studies, but there were even more names that he did not know, revealing the staggering depth of loss of her family because of the war.

High King Aakar, the current king's grandfather, who had died just before the beginning of the war. His queen consort, Sujanha, was buried beside him. Is my Sujanha named after her? The graves just before theirs included Sujanha's great-grandmother Adalyx, who had died some two centuries after the Commander's birth. I wonder if they ever met.

High King Andorr, Ivar's father and Sujanha's uncle. His two eldest sons had died in quick succession not long before his death, leaving Ivar, the youngest of his sons, to inherit the throne.

Andorr's brother, the young Prince Anarr, who had died at about the age Sujanha was now, and Ivar's second son Varr, who were all likely casualties of the Great War, considering their death dates.

The High King's late wife Sunniva, who had perished nearly six centuries before her husband ascended the throne. I wonder how she died. He didn't remember his reading saying.

Sujanha's own parents, dead within a year of each other. One in battle, the other of grief, the histories say. Her father's death had left Ivar next in line.

There were more tombs, more names, more faces and dates. When they reached the most recent burials, Daniel's eyes went wide when he saw two tombs in particular. The first was a sarcophagus with a picture-perfect recumbent effigy of Sujanha herself, her birthdate and titles carved on the side. They really did think she wouldn't survive the war! It was a little morbid to have the sarcophagi still here when she wasn't dead yet. I wonder what she thinks of all this.

The second tomb was an ossuary and marker in the wall just across from Sujanha's waiting sarcophagus. The epitaph was simple but wrenching.

Odin, Son of Anarr, Son of Atar, Son of Aakar

Born 5748 A.S.

Set Sail 6048 A.S.

300 years. He was barely of age.

Daniel's eyes jumped back and forth between the tomb that awaited Sujanha and the tomb of her nephew. He knew what it had been like losing his parents as a child, watching them die, being rejected by his grandfather, and getting dumped into the foster care system. He knew how bad that had been. Sujanha, she had lost her nephew, her parents, her uncle, multiple cousins, almost her entire family—considering how small the Imperial Family now was—to the Great War. Somehow, she had kept on going, still kept on going.

Daniel startled violently when Sujanha suddenly appeared beside him, her voice breaking the hush of the crypt. Lost in thought, he hadn't heard her approach. The blue lamps that gave the only illumination cast eerie, flicking shadows across her face as she moved.

"No one thought I would survive the Enemy's poison. Then it was said that I would not survive the war. Then it was thought I would die soon after the war," Sujanha spoke softly, her gaze fixed on her waiting tomb. "Someone said once that I was too stubborn to die." I wonder who.

Daniel had no idea what to say. When the silence lingered, her gaze moved to her nephew's tomb. "He was a good boy." There was a deep well of grief in her voice. "He was my chief aid, before you, before Asik. Solitude and books and figures were what he liked. He was not cut out for a life of war." Her eyes were haunted. "He was so young, so very scared at the end."

"You don't speak of him," Daniel noted quietly. He had known that Odin had been one of her aides and that he had died of the same poison that had nearly killed Sujanha, but he had not heard it from her. Her nephew, if he recalled correctly, had been a footnote in one of the history books that had mentioned her poisoning.

"Let the dead rest, and let us deal with the living," Sujanha replied, a non-answer if he had ever heard one out of her before. Daniel had a sense there was more that Sujanha was not saying, but this was one issue he had no intention of pressing on.

So much death.

Today was not a day Daniel was going to forget for a long time. Freedom for his galaxy was coming at a horrible cost.

"What will happen to Sha're and Shifu if I die?" Daniel asked quietly when, sometime later, they began to return down the canyon to beam back to the Stargate. A sickening realization hit him. "Or, stars, to Shifu, if we both die? Do I need a will?"

"Maker forbid," exclaimed Sujanha instinctively. "If it were to happen in performance of your duties as my aide or as an ambassador, Sha're would receive the pension I spoke of before. Even if you were to die by some chance of fate where she could receive no pension, I would ensure that they were well taken care of as long as they lived. You are …" She cut herself off abruptly. I'm what, I wonder? "As to a will, however, it depends. Without a will, one's estate—any property, money, and personal goods—automatically passes to one's closest relative. If one wishes for one's estate to pass to others or has other special circumstances to consider, like dependents, a will is advisable. So, if there was only Sha're to consider, I would say no, but …"

"There's Shifu to think about, too," Daniel murmured. They were back to the plain around the Stargate, and there were mourners and attendants still grouped around the still smoldering pyres. He grimaced at the lingering odor of burnt flesh and hair.

Sujanha nodded, dropping the pitch of her voice in deference to those around. "Correct. It is unlikely that some chance of fate would take you both while he is still so young, and yet …"

"Something could happen." Furling ships could malfunction … explosively. The Goa'uld could win occasional victories. "We have a saying on earth, 'It's better to be safe than sorry.'"

Her brow furrowed for a moment as she considered those words. "True. If you both were to die while Shifu is not of age, a guardian would be necessary, both of him and of your estate, which would pass to him and need to be held in trust until he came of age."

I need to talk to Sha're. If something were to happen to us, should Shifu be sent back to Abydos to be raised by Kasuf or Skaara, or would it be better for him to remain here, where he might have more opportunities in the future?

"Do you know anyone I can talk to … about a will, that is?" Nothing lasts forever, and I've got them to think about, too, now, not just myself.

Sujanha nodded. "I'll give you the details for the one who manages my will." Her face spasmed. "After all of this, I need to adjust mine."


[1] A/N: Inspiration from the Tunguska Event and the Naquadah bomb from SG1 7x19.