Author's Note #1: I am sorry for the long delay. School has been keeping me really busy. The next chapter is already finished and only needs to be edited. I will do my dead-level best to get it up within the next week.

Author's Note #2: With my permission, the stargate time traveler has adapted my characterization of the Furlings for her fic "Doctor Who Unbound Vanir and Fenrir." If any of you, my readers, like Doctor Who, go check it out. You can find it in the crossover section for Doctor Who + Stargate Atlantis.


Domust, 6546 A.S. (Late August 1999)
Sujanha's flagship, Valhalla
Milky-Way Galaxy

The message from S'Manatek about Sha're reached Daniel at the end of the campaign against Sok'ar, a couple weeks after he had returned from medical leave. His strength had returned slowly, and Sujanha had stopped looking at him with concern every time he coughed or moved more slowly than was his custom. He was puzzled by the date-stamp on the message from Mekoxe that suddenly appeared on his tablet one quiet afternoon: about two months old.

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

"What is?" Sujanha replied, looking up from reports of the previous day's battle and taking a new mug of tea from Jaax, who always seemed to know when she needed a refill.

"Mekoxe just sent a message to me, and the time-stamp is two months ago," Daniel replied, puzzlement clear in his tone. The Furlings were almost efficiency incarnated. It was almost unheard for a message to get delayed this badly.

"It's rare to have messages that delayed," Sujanha said, echoing his thoughts, "but it does happen. You've been in more places than usual recently with your illness. Perhaps that delayed the message from reaching you."

"I suppose," Daniel replied with a shrug, tapping on the message to open it.

The header of the message 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 until the Furlings could conclude on a safe method of extracting the symbiotes with the highest chance of success and the least risk to the hosts.

The message was short, but its contents were earth-shattering and heart-breaking. Daniel read it once and then again and then a third time, hardly believing his eyes. Sujanha, who had heard the quiet gasp that the news had torn from him, had fixed her golden eyes upon him with unwavering intensity, but Daniel did not even notice. He reread the message again. And then for one of the first time since he had come to Asteria, Daniel 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 seeing some clue in his face and started to come around her desk, easily dodged the thrown mug with only a little effort, a remnant of reflexes and agility dulled by years of suffering and pain. At the crash of a shattering mug, Jaax appeared in the doorway, weapon in hand, his free hand hovering over his gauntlet, ready to activate the comm.

"Commander! Are you injured? I heard a crash."

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

"It will be as you say," Jaax replied and retreated, the door closing behind him.

Sujanha put a paw on Daniel's shaking shoulder and squeezed gently. Her strength was faded compared to most of her kind because of the Sicarii 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. With the other paw, she plucked Daniel's tablet from the table and glanced at the message from a guard on Ardea. The message was long, but only the third sentence caught her eye: The "demon" has imprisoned the lady within her own mind at all your visits. Now Sujanha understood Daniel's rage and grief.

Sujanha let him weep for another couple minutes but then squeezed his shoulder and spoke in a tone that was half that of a commander and half that of a mother, "No more weeping, ta-serok-nin. It will do neither of you good and will bring no solution to your problems. Be strong. All will be made right in the end."

Her words took on a religious tone at the end, but it was the tone more than the words that calmed Daniel. He straightened and dried his eyes on his sleeve. "I'm sorry," he said, 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, levering herself to her feet with a groan and a paw on her desk. 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 three sentences. You have my sympathy and my prayers. 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 replied hastily, his troubles loosening his tongue.

If Sujanha was bothered by his impertinence, she did not show it. "Some matters cannot be rushed if one wishes for the highest chance of a favorable outcome. 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 did not reply for several minutes until the sound of beaming technology in the outer office drew his attention and raised a question in his mind. "Why can't you use the Asgard's beaming technology to just beam a symbiote out of the host?"

Sujanha flinched and grimaced, a human gesture she mimicked sometimes when she tried to spare a human the necessity of reading Furling body language. "That method is possible but extremely risky. The calculations necessary for ensuring that only the symbiote is removed and not the vital tissues and bones of the host are so vast and so complicated that even the Asgard deem them daunting."

"But they have tried it before?" Daniel prompted.

"Yes, on four occasions." For once, Sujanha seemed hesitant to answer.

"And?" Daniel prompted again, feeling a touch of exasperation.

"On two occasions that method was successful, and the hosts were freed, though one died soon afterward from complications. On the other two occasions, the method failed with disastrous consequences. In one case, only part of the symbiote was removed, and it was able to release its poison and kill its host before the process could be completed. In the other case, all of the symbiote was removed along with parts of the host's spine and brain matter, killing the host. Thereafter, the Asgard concluded that using beaming technology to remove symbiotes would be kept for only the most extreme circumstances where no other viable option was available."

Daniel gulped and swallowed hard, feeling a little sick. As powerful and advanced as the Asgard and the Furlings were, Sujanha's words were a sobering reminder that even the members of the Four Great Races were not infallible, still made disastrous mistakes.

"So much for that idea," he muttered, rubbing his sleeve roughly across his eyes again.

Sujanha touched his shoulder again, sympathy in her eyes, "Your wife will be free one day and soon. Then with help and time, she will heal. You must be strong."

Daniel nodded.

"You are excused from your duties for the rest of the day, unless you would prefer to stay on duty."

Daniel shook his head. He didn't think he had the concentration or the focus to do much of any work for her. "I'll go write or read a book or something."


It took days for the shock of the message about Sha're to wear off and the horror to stop plaguing his every thought, but slowly life on the Valhalla returned to normal, or what could be called normal for the middle of a war. The next month was comparatively quiet with the lull in fighting between campaigns.

Zinjotnax, the Crown Prince of the Dovahkiin, was still, as usual, a frequent visitor to Sujanha's flagship. His visits seemed to coincide with his periodic rounds to check on his troops and engineers in the Milky-Way, though according to Ruarc, the prince was actually staying in galaxy, not in Asteria. Daniel found him somewhat intimidating but liked him well-enough. He was affable and good-natured, fond of telling riddles and stories from his people and prone to both periods of extreme concentration (or fixation) and of extreme boredom and scattermindedness, where he couldn't focus on a project he was trying to tell Sujanha about.

Zinjotnax appeared once or twice a week at fairly random intervals, one time arriving two days in a row, while other time not showing up for five days. His appearance never failed to put Sujanha in a good move, even on days she was in greater pain and her temper was suffering. The prince seemed to have a propensity for showing up on her bad days and a talent for managing her tempers. This propensity made Daniel wonder whether Zinjotnax just had really good timing or someone was actually calling him specifically. From something he had overheard, Daniel knew that the prince and Sujanha had been close friend since before the end of the Furling Sicarii War.

Most of Zinjotnax's visits were spent playing the Furling version of chess with Sujanha in her office. Furling chess, to Daniel, seemed like a horribly complicated amalgamation of earth Chess and Stratego (with bits from a few other games) that was played on 2, 4, or 6 boards. Each board stood in for certain terrain with pieces suited for either ground or fleet campaigns. There were pieces of different ranks, and a list of rules a mile long. Sujanha and Zinjotnax were both extremely skilled and could play for hours late into the night and only end up in a draw. They had kindly attempted to teach Daniel, but he was nearly hopeless even on 2 boards with simplified rules.

Throughout this period, the work on the Azrea, the Ancient warship, discovered at Saqqara continued. By late-September (Daniel still kept idle track of what the month would be on earth), the ship had been fully repaired, and a new crew was being trained. The Azrea was much larger even the Furling's flagships were and required a crew that was about half again as large. Scientists from across the Furling Empire and from the Asgard were also making slow but steady progress on replicating the Ancient's drones from information from the ship's computers and from two lone drones in the weapon's bay that had somehow been undiscovered when the Goa'uld had searched the ship long before.

Daniel, out of curiosity one evening, made the mistake of asking Nizul, the Dovahkiin engineer, fixer-up, and jack-of-all-trades aboard the Valhalla, through Ruarc what kind of power source the Ancients had 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 remembering 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. About all that Daniel understood of Nizul's long-winded and overly complex explanation was that the Ancients used some sort of power source called a potentia which was a 1-2 foot tall cylindrical orange crystal that had something to do with sub-space and could supply power for millennia under some conditions. When Daniel inquired how the Furlings were going to find one of these crystals, which Nizul indicated were rare and hard to make, Ruarc added that the Furlings had a small stash of them which were used to power the primary shields on the flagships.

The main problem that the Furlings were facing was extracting the ship from the sands of Saqqara. With the ship buried in the ground beneath the Goa'uld pyramid, there was no good apparent way to remove the ship without risking damage to or destruction of the pyramid and all 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 opened beneath it. The current plan, if no other sensible one could be conceived, was to empty the pyramid and 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.


Ihom, 6546 A.S. (October 1999)
Sujanha's flagship, Valhalla
Milky-Way Galaxy

Daniel's comm activated moments after he stepped out of his quarters onboard the Valhalla. For the moment, he was off-duty. The previous day had been extremely busy, more so than usual, and Jaax was filling in for him that morning. It was just past the 12th hour, as the Furlings measured time, and high-time for lunch. Hearing the chirp of his comm, Daniel 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, "The Commander is currently in a meeting with High Commander Algar, but a Tok'ra operative has just requested to be beamed aboard. The Commander wishes for you to meet him. If his news is urgent, bring him to her. If not, she can see him in at most an hour. Please see that the operative's needs are met during the waiting period, if necessary."

"I hear and will obey," said Daniel, repeating the typical Furling acknowledgment of orders.

Jaax nodded, and his hologram flickered out.

A Tok'ra operative. I hope it's Jacob-Selmak, Daniel thought, as he started making his way toward the bridge, I never got a chance to talk to him after the Sokar campaign. The Valhalla had been in orbit around one of the Furling supply worlds for several days. When the Tok'ra needed to get in touch with the High Command, they usually sent word to Ushuotis, and the troops there would then send them to the nearest world to where Algar or Sujanha (or occasionally Anarr's) ships were docked.

The bridge was quiet with only a low hum of activity as Daniel stepped inside. Mekoxe, one of the Getae, one of the few human race in Asteria, was at his usual station towards the back of the room. He glanced up as Daniel entered and gave a nod of greeting. Rusa Bonroas, the Lapith navigator, was at her station by Sujanha's command chair, but Sat'a Chakrechi, the weapon's officer, was absent, his skills unneeded while the ship was in orbit around a friendly world. An older gentlemen, dressed in the tan uniform of the Tok'ra, stood, looking out the view screen at the planet below, his back to the rest of the room. Daniel thought that he recognized Jacob-Selmak but was not sure.

"Sir?" Daniel said, approaching the operative and stopping a few feet away.

The Tok'ra turned. It was Jacob-Selmak, as Daniel had thought. The older man gave a nod of greeting. "Dr. Jackson," it was the host who spoke.

"So you do recognize me then?" Daniel said with a half-grin. He had suspected that Jacob Carter was from earth back at their first meeting before the campaign against Sokar but had never had a chance to speak to him. If he were from earth and from the SGC, there was a decent chance that Jacob Carter had heard of him.

"Mekoxe spoke your name a few minutes ago, but I had suspected before that," the host replied, "You match the description my daughter gave of you reasonably well, and few if any others would have been able to give those explanations about Sokar and Hell, besides you"

Daniel chuckled. He had changed somewhat since he had left earth. His hair was cropped much shorter than it had once been. Longer hair was a pain when he was in a hurry, and few of the human men around Asteria wore their hair long, either. 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. The Furling healing technology had also been able to help his eyes so that he did not have to wear his glasses half-as-much. "I had wondered if my monologues would clue you in. I wanted to talk with you then, but there was never a chance."

"Perhaps after I speak with the Commander, if she can see me…" said Jacob.

"The Supreme Commander is in a meeting at the moment with High Commander Algar," Daniel replied, "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, and then said, "My news can wait an hour, but not much longer."

Daniel relaxed. The Tok'ra rarely, if ever, brought good news, but at least today there were no drop-dead emergencies. "May I offer you some refreshments while you wait?"

Jacob gratefully accepted, and the two made their way down to the mess hall. They could have beamed down, but the walking gave the Tok'ra host a chance to see more of the ship, and the walk was comparatively short. The mess hall was crowded but orderly. The room was quite large with a serving counter built into one 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, he had gotten a taste for their cooking. Daniel emerged from the line last a few minutes later and found that Jacob had already found a table in one far corner of the room.

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, but whose rice, meat, veggies, and sauce were brightly and oddly colored.

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

Jacob still looked skeptical. "Good to know."

"You said your daughter worked at the SGC?" Daniel asked, once the two men had had a chance to eat a few bites.

"Yes," Jacob replied, setting down his sandwich, "Sam Carter. I believe you know her." There was mischievous twinkle in his eyes as he spoke.

Daniel choked on a mouthful of curry. He couldn't ever remember Sam talking about her parents, and as far as he knew, her father had never been affiliated with the Stargate Program. Although my information on most things is a year out of date. There's only so much news I can get from Bra'tac. "Well, I have missed a lot. How did you get involved with the SGC?"

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

"Wow!" was Daniel's only reply. After numerous 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 for any and all Goa'uld, stemming from Sha're and Skaara's treatment at their hands. He was slowly growing more comfortable around both the hosts and the symbiotes and even genuinely liked some of the operatives who had rotated through the Valhalla bringing intelligence to Sujanha, but Daniel still wasn't sure that, if he had to make a choice like Jacob had, whether he would have picked becoming a host. "How are they doing?" There was only one they Daniel would be asking about: SG1. "I get some news from Bra'tac on occasion, but never enough."

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, stars above, I'm turning into Jack—but all the news he had, Jacob gladly told with the occasional input of 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. 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 visit to Othala with Sujanha; of the battle against the Reetou 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 take-over 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 he preferred to never see the light of day again, to stay buried for all eternity.

"Good riddance!" Daniel said, as Jacob finished the Hathor-saga.

Jacob agreed, "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."

The Tok'ra host continued, telling of earth's new involvement with the Protected Planet's Treaty—a fact Daniel had already heard of during one of Thor's last visits—but then wound his stories to a close. Jacob and Selmak had been assignments until recently, and he had not been at the SGC or seen SG1 for several months.

"Sam told me about your wife," Jacob continued a few minutes later, when the two men had had time to finish eating, "What happened to her, it's …" Jacob 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 the Tok'ra should not know about until he had a chance to ask Sujanha about it. The boy, 14 months now, was the most adorable baby ever, in Daniel's view, and took after Sha're greatly. He was still safe on Abydos with Kasuf. Daniel went to Abydos as often as possible to check on the boy and spend time with him. "She's safe. The Furlings have her imprisoned back in Asteria 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.

"The Lady can see you now," said the Etrair in Furling. His hologram disappeared.

Jacob raised an eyebrow, a question in his eyes.

"The Commander's ready for us."

The two men turned into their food dishes and then made their way 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. His great wings were draped over the back of the chair and swept the floor behind him.

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 smiled, before turning her attention to the Tok'ra.

"Jacob-Selmak, I am pleased by your return, though as usual, I am sure we both would prefer the circumstances to be different. Please sit," Sujanha spoke, waving them to a seat, as Daniel moved around to lean against the wall and open his tablet to his note-taking screen, "This is Algar, one of my High Commanders."

Jacob took a seat and then bowed his head, letting Selmak come forward. "I am pleased to see that you are well, Commander. I bring greetings from the Tok'ra High Council 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. 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."

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

"As you say," Selmak continued, unperturbed, "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 between themselves and formed an alliance to oppose you." Daniel winced internally at Nirrti's name. He would never forget what she had done to Hanka and Cassandra.

Selmak bowed his head, and Jacob came forward, "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. He's willing to go to any lengths to win and harshly punishes his troops when they fail." He paused for a moment, apparently speaking with his symbiote from the faraway look in his eyes, "Nirrti and Selket are the wildcards, 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," he replied, "I've heard of Cronus, but not Selket. We've seen the aftereffects of one of Nirrti's rampages. She has a penchant for biological weaponry. She wiped out one of her planets with a sickness."

"And human experimentation," Selmak added, returning for a moment, "For millennia, she has sought to create better hosts."

Sujanha flinched slightly, though Daniel did not think anyone besides him and Algar noticed. The Furlings had spent over two millennia fighting an enemy whose talent was biological weaponry. Sujanha had nearly died, and the memories of the Sicarii had left widespread scars.

"Another enemy with a talent for diseases and poisons," Algar said slowly, gravely in English, "that will pose a great danger to moral among the troops."

Sujanha nodded, seemed slightly shaken, but her voice was level when she spoke again, "Personal shields are useless against contaminants in air or water," she paused and then added as an aside for Jacob-Selmak's benefit, "Our last great enemy in our home galaxy also had a fondness for biological weapons. Their best was a poison that killed 90% of all it infected. Those who were infected, their deaths were lingering and horrifically painful."

"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 anyway," continued Jacob.

"How old is this news?" Sujanha asked. Daniel could see the wheels turning in her eyes.

"A few days only."

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 compared to Cronus or to Apophis in previous years. Her power comes from her fearsome reputation as Lord of the Ashrak. The Ashrak are her private army of trained hunters and assassins who are sometimes contracted out to the System Lords. 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 paled slightly, 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 killed several before Teal'c managed to stop him."

"The problem of their cloaking devices is comparatively easily to handle. We have technology that can disable cloaks," said Algar, speaking for the first time in minutes, "but the switching hosts will be a greater problem. We have human contingents within the army. 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."

"Or on scouting missions," Sujanha added, "which could already be an issue."

Humans were a minority in Asteria. 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 a handful of half-bloods had yet joined the ranks of the Tok'ra. Asterian humans were subject to the same dangers from the symbiotes as Jack, Daniel, Sam or any other humans 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, 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.

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

"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 several hundred 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 my brother. I need to see him as soon as he can get here. Also have word sent to Saqqara: I need Avar, the head of the Azrea project, here as soon as possible, as well."

Daniel straightened, "Of course, Commander."

Daniel stepped out into the outer office. 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 the vessel."

The bridge was comparatively quiet as the door slid open and Daniel stepped inside. He saw Rusa, the navigator, and Sat'a, the weapon's officer at their stations, but Mekoxe was absent. Out the front view screen 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 you to send word to Commander Anarr. She needs to speak with him, and the faster he gets here the better."

Mekoxe blinked and then grimaced, "I hear and obey." He moved across to his station and started doing … something … at a very quick pace.

"The Commander also needs to speak with Avar, the head of the Azrea project, as soon as possible."

Mekoxe acknowledged the order, and Daniel left him to his work.

The meeting with Selmak stretched long into the night. In response to his sister's urgent summons, Anarr had appeared within the hour, and Alvar soon after that. 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, faces and names Daniel didn't know. By the time Sujanha sent Daniel and several of the other humans to rest at 3am in the morning, Daniel had learned more about the biology of the Furlings and several other species from Asteria as well as about various types of sensor technology than he had learned in all his time with Sujanha up until then.

Daniel collapsed into bed just past 3am in the morning and didn't crawl out of bed for 9 hours. The meeting was still going on when he rose, but he and Jaax traded places so Daniel got to spend the day in the office, keeping an eye on the reports coming in for Sujanha to look at and dozing or reading when there were no reports to check on.

The warning from the Tok'ra came in the nick of time. The Furlings had a few days to brainstorm and adapt their technology to the new threat before the first attacks began. Daniel was amazed by how quickly the usually slow-moving Furlings could act when needs must.

Four days after Jacob-Selmak brought a warning of the Goa'uld alliance against the Furling Empire, an Ashrak with a cloaking device slipped through the Stargate onto Delmak, Sokar's former homework, during a changing of the guard. He escaped detection for several hours, long enough to plant several explosive devices before the keener senses of the Furling guards detected him. He went down fighting but managed to activate only one of his bombs. The damage he did was minimal, and none of the defenders were injured, but Anarr was furious that the Ashrak had managed to slip through the Stargate at all, that the guards had not detected the Stargate activating or even seen the ripple of the event horizon as the cloaked assassin slipped through.

The same day another Ashrak attempted to infiltrate Soma-Kesh, a former shipyard belonging to Heru'ur. He was noticed as soon as he came through the Stargate by the Iprysh guards. This Ashrak too went down fighting and showed much more tactical skill than the brute force tactics of most Goa'uld and Jaffa, earning the grudging respect of several Furling commanders.

Over the next two weeks, the Furlings faced a series of successive attacks on a number of major and minor worlds once belonging to Apophis, Sokar, and Heru'ur as Cronus and his allies began to test the Furlings' defenses. However, due to their advanced warning and technological superiority, most of the Ashrak were caught almost as soon as they stepped through the Stargates, betrayed by the anti-cloaking devices of the Furlings or their opponents' superior senses. On a handful of smaller, less-heavily guarded worlds, the Ashrak made it further, planting explosives, fouling the water supplies, setting traps, or the like. The biological weapons usually had lesser effects on the non-human soldiers, but the combined effects sowed some amount of confusion, and nearly two dozen soldiers were killed in the combined holdings of the Furlings across the Milky-Way. One poor Getae soldier, separated from his patrol, was taken as a host, and the Ashrak, using his knowledge, was able to get close enough to a Knight Commander, a commander of 5000 soldiers, to attempt an assassination, which failed but only just.

The Furlings had not been quiet in those weeks. As the Goa'uld were testing their defenses, searching for cracks and weaknesses, the Furlings had been gathering intelligence from the Tok'ra and Bra'tac's free Jaffa to plan a crippling strike against the combined alliance of Selket, Nirrti, and Cronus.

Only one world of Nirtti was going to be involved in the first strike. Sujanha on seeing the address had thought it familiar and sent it to the Asgard to run it against their Ancient database. This world, they discovered, had once belonged to the Ancients and was believed to hold an Ancient laboratory, which made it imperative that it not remain in Goa'uld hands any longer.

Selket herself had few worlds, so the intelligence from the Tok'ra and Free Jaffa indicated, besides her heavily guarded homeworld of Lira-ke. This planet had escaped attack by rival Goa'uld simply because of Selket's reputation as well as 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 put it, but Sujanha felt that making Lira-ke one of the planets in their first strike against the coalition would send a strong message to Selket that she could not hide behind her reputation and her Ashrak any longer. The planned attack on Lira-ke was going to necessitate the calling up of the Shadow Legion, a large elite strike-force in the Furling Army.

Cronus' territory was going to face the hardest attack. Four of his main worlds were on the attack list: 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 had been called up, as well, to undertake the dangerous mission of capturing Tartarus.

Daniel, who through all of this had remained onboard the Valhalla, only heard of these goings-on as they filtered back to Sujanha, were repeated at war councils, or were brought to her knowledge by their native allies.

On the 17th day after Selmak's warning, the combined might of the Furling fleet and army moved against the Goa'uld coalition of Cronus, Nirrti, and Selket. Sujanha, who had always led a different attack than her brother, led the ships in the attack on Tartarus.

Daniel was stationed on the bridge with 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 of the front view screen, Daniel could see the other Furling warships fanning out on either side of the Valhalla. The transport ships carrying the troops stayed behind the battleships until it was time to deploy.

Sujanha, sitting at her station between Sat'a and Rusa, 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. Locate the Stargate and beam it into our hold, and then lock down the hold."

The Goa'uld warships had remained stationary even after the Furling ships had dropped out of hyperspace. Daniel wondered if this was supposed to be a game of chicken to see who would blink and make the first move. In most of the battles against Heru'ur and Sokar, 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 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 view screen (in clear view of Daniel's station) displaying the planet and Goa'uld ships was replaced by a view of the inside of a Goa'uld Ha'tak. In the center, upon a splendid throne sat a huge man, bear-like in his size, with greying 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.

"Can he see the rest of us?" Daniel whispered to Mekoxe. The Getae shook his head.

"So you are those who have been such a thorn in the sides of the System Lords these past months?" Cronus began, his voice contemptuous, his face set in a sneer, "You dare challenge your god?"

Sujanha gave a harsh laugh that was almost a growl, "A god? You are a snake, a demon who has made a prisoner of your host. Your kind are not gods. If you were truly greater, how could we stand against you? And yet you fall before us, not we before you. There is one God, 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 #1051 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, "You say you are more powerful than your brothers who have fallen before us. 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? What power is that? Are you too weak to meet us without their aid?"

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

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

With a growl, Cronus cut off the communication. A moment later, Sat'a Chakrechi rumbled, "The Goa'uld are arming weapons."

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

The Valhalla's shields flared green as the Ha'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, Danielslightly), the Furlings, if they fired their weapons at full pour, could blow a Ha'tak to smithereens with one series of shots. Capturing, not destroying a ship, involved a complicated dance of how low can we power our weapons and 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 almost all the other 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 from Mekoxe's station, updates in a multitude of languages and codes which Daniel could understand only small parts 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 from the ground were not as dire as they sounded.

The battle for Tartarus began around lunch-time and lasted well into the night of the third day. The air battle, which lasted only for a portion of the first day, proved entirely successful. The Goa'uld warships were no match for the might of the Furling fleet. A number of ships and Jaffa were captured, and Cronus was captured, as well, his boastings of divinity failing before reality.

The battle for Tartarus itself was also successful, though not as overwhelmingly so. Cronus' guards and prisoners within the tunnel system had the advantage over the invaders, knowing the lay of the land, choke points, and prime ambush spots. The Furling advance went by in fits and starts—so Daniel heard after the battle's end—and, though the advance continued, a number of soldiers were lost in ambushes, tunnel collapses, and explosions. Personal shields did not make the Furlings invincible by any means, 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. Heavy losses came especially when securing the gateroom which was guarded by the remotely activated Tacluchnatagamuntorons and in one of the farther tunnels when a damaged Al'kesh crashed into the planet.

Daniel did not know the death toll from the battle for Tartarus, or the other battles from the first strike, and he did not think that he wanted to know. He was, however, with Sujanha in her office on the fifth day 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 aid, 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 golden 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. "Never forget," he murmured, as they stepped out into the hall.

"No victory comes without sacrifice," Ruarc replied, "The fallen died well, and they will always be remembered for their sacrifices for the freedom of this galaxy from the Goa'uld. Their names will be inscribed on monuments at the Houses of the Dead, and we will remember."


Cronus' lieutenants proved themselves reasonably competent and more cunning than most, and with the assistance of Nirrti and Selket's Ashrak, the Furling campaign against the alliance dragged on for two months. Some battles were sieges of planets and straight-forward attacks on fleets, while others were feints, as Ashrak were sent singly or in small groups to attack Furling controlled worlds.

By late December, less than a week before Christmas, Cronus' domain was declared officially defunct. 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 ship yards, 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 had died 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.

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 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, to 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. Unlike Daniel who had returned to Asteria a handful of times since the war against the Goa'uld had begun in April, Sujanha had remained in the Milky-Way the entire time, leaving Bjorn, her other High Commander, to manage things in her absence.

Daniel was glad of the prospect of going back to Uslisgas for a bit. It would be nice to go home, visit Sha're, and sleep in his own bed. Scholarly interests also drew him back to his new home. After the discussions about ascension in relation to the Azrea, he wanted to do research in the Great Library to assuage his curiosity about this mysterious process, which the Furling called "the living death."


Next Time on Ripples in the Deep:

Chapter 15: A Fork in the Road - Trapped with a badly injured ally during an off-world trip, Sujanha finds herself torn between her personal honor and her perceived duty to king and empire. Led to making a radical choice, the Supreme Commanders knows life will never be the same.

Chapter 16: Aftermath - In the aftermath of recent events, Daniel finds himself having to quickly adapt to a new environment. In his bid to help Sujanha, he learns more about what her life is like and about the sacrifices she has made to lead the fleet. In the meantime, Furling politics proves itself quite complicated, and a lost brother reappears.

Chapter 17: Judgment and Freedom - Justice long-denied is finally gained for two tormented souls, and Daniel is faced with a choice of his own.