Hello everyone, been a while and all that, sorry for the delay.
Here it is, the fifth chapter of that story. Hmm, to be honest, I was a bit surprised by it myself. It was not really what I had planned, but you may know how it is, you got a plan and start writing and your muse just says 'screw it, I'm taking over.' That's what happened. Before I knew what happened, the chapter was over and a couple of my plans were in shambles. I hesitated a while to modify it to fit my original plans, but in the end I decided otherwise. Who am I to go against my muse after all?
So, now is the time for my thanks to the reviewers. Great thanks to Naginator, Keptin, nachtdemon, iitrnr, karthik9, thunder18, OMAC001, grayiron and the couple of guests.
Naginator : The sarcophagus is a piece of technology that I will have Lilith modify soon to be honest. Without the nanocytes to keep her alive, she will have to rely on it, and seriously as it is it would greatly screw my plans to have her go insane. Still, I have around a couple hundred years before it becomes an issue. After all, it's the life expectancy of the Tok'ra hosts.
Keptin : Thanks, I'll do my best for the updates.
nachtdemon : I will try not to let it drag on too slow, usually by using timeskips to get to the relevant parts. As for the normal Goa'uld, you have a very good point, but it is intentional. Lilith is barely ten years old. You can say all you want, but at the moments, her memories, however detached she is of them, are what defines her. All she know is conquering and ruling. Already, she goes at it differently than the common Goa'uld, but the real differences will appear later, when she has a lot more experience and can define herself based on her own memories and not her genetic memory.
iitrnr : Thanks, and sorry for the sentences. :S Without a beta, it's a bit difficult for me to get every mistake I make.
karthik9 : Thanks!
Guests : Thanks for the info, I modified that as soon as you reviewed. And I know about the grammatical errors, unfortunately, I'm still looking for a beta.
thunder18 : Thanks!
OMAC001 : Thank you, I tried to make things more believable indeed. I'll do my best for the updates.
grayiron : That's a... dangerous idea. She will come into contact with the mirror in the future and use it a couple of times, I admit it. But having a base off-reality is something she won't even try. You never know if the other reality is more or less dangerous than the one you live in. That's too much risk, not even talking about the risks of entropic cascade failure. So sorry, that was a good idea but it won't happen.
As I said in the reviews, I'm still looking for a beta, so if anyone wants to help, I would be extremely grateful.
I write all of this for fun and own nothing.
Enjoy the chapter!
2991 BC, Bubastis
It had been a little more than two years since I started the training of my personal guard, and half a year later, the rest of my Jaffa. Usually, any other Goa'uld would have let them train without interference or even worse would have sent them into battle before they could train as an unit, but I soon showed them that I wasn't like that.
Of course, I didn't tell all of the troops the truth about myself, which would have been foolish. After all, ten people knowing the truth was a huge security breach. A hundred people would be insanity. I tried not to create any potential traitor. Not until I have my own planet with a secure gate.
I still trained my personal guard to become fully competent with a healing device and the use of Goa'uld technology. They were able to heal fallen troops on the field and manipulate every technology I could teach them to. I couldn't instruct them directly on how to pilot and monitor the systems of a Ha'tak, but they knew enough to guess how to do so when in front of the pilot console in the pel'tak.
I separated the ninety Jaffa in nine groups of ten, all lead by a member of my guard. Each group comported five standard Jaffa, two scouts, and three heavy assault Jaffa.
The standard Jaffa possessed a rifle and the armor that I improved before I recruited them. The scouts wore a leather armor, possessed a set of different paints and the skill to camouflage themselves in nearly any environment, mid-range communicators, some high-quality binoculars and had a zat'nik'tel as a weapon. There were grumbles as I announced the need of such an honor-less specialization, but once I explained the reconnaissance aspects and the way that good scouts could help prepare our army before any encounter, there were enough volunteers to man each squad. Of course, I chose those with the best agility and overall speed to cover the role. They trained under the eyes of Nymia when not in their squads.
The heavy assault Jaffa were also a role that I introduced to them and, not surprisingly, there were a lot more volunteers. There are the strongest and sturdiest of my Jaffa, wearing a reinforced armor made of naqahdah above the standard one, and more importantly had as a weapon a heavy ma'tok staff with two grips so that they can hold it. Said staff was a bigger and heavier than the standard staff and was connected to a backpack worn by the Jaffa for power supply. It had the same rate of fire than the standard ma'tok staff, but the base power of the blasts was greatly improved. The huge inconvenient of the equipment was its weight, easily reaching a hundred and fifty kilograms with the armor. While the improved constitution of the Jaffa allowed for such a weight, it made these troops slow and reduced their agility to nearly nothing. What's more, the precision of the staff weapons and their kick-back made so that the Jaffa had to stay still in a stable position so as to not miss or fall back. They heavily relied on the standard Jaffa to cover them to not allow the enemy to try and go for a head shot.
That was the big problem of those last few years. I had no functional helmet yet for my troops, which made them susceptible to weapon fire and lucky shots. Of course I could have tried to give them basic naqahdah helmets, but these are useless and a headshot would surely kill the Jaffa. I just didn't have the materials yet to create these.
All in all, my army was ready for their first missions. They had time to settle in their specializations and to get used to each member of their squads and to their squad leader. There was nothing else that I could train them in without them experiencing live fire or me coming up with new weapons and technologies.
That night, as I was prepared to go to sleep, I received a call on my communicator. Immediately I answered, knowing that the only ones that could call me were Marduk and Lady Bastet. It was then to no surprise that I heard Marduk's voice.
"Lilith, our Lady is calling us to the palace. Be there as soon as you can."
I didn't even have the time to answer that my communicator powered down. If he was that hurried, then it meant that it was an emergency. I put on my personal armor and two kara'kesh, one for each of my hands before warning Kyra that I was called to the palace. I knew that I wasn't in danger, but there was a possibility of mobilization, and thus all of her lieutenants being there. I simply wanted to dress to impress. I warned her though to get the troops ready in case we had to go immediately on a campaign.
A dozen minutes later, I was at the entrance of the palace, looking at Marduk. He raised an amused eyebrow at my armor and kara'kesh before entering the palace itself. The walk to the throne room was silent and I soon found myself in the middle of dozen of Goa'ulds, behind Marduk of course, waiting for Bastet to tell us the reason of this meeting.
"You may all wonder why I have called you here apart from a few. That upstart Kuro has decided to encroach on my territory these past few weeks, conquering some of my less defended planets. This cannot be allowed to pass. It's time to show him why I am a System Lord and him a simple bottom feeder with a few minions. I will assign all of you your targets. Prepare your Jaffa and ships, we depart tomorrow."
There was then a short list of planets and Goa'ulds that was given to us, with Bastet attacking Kuro's capital planet and each of her lieutenant attacking either one of the conquered planets or one of Kuro's mining worlds.
Marduk, and by extension myself, were assigned a small mining world by the name of Eratna. It was apparently a fairly minor world, but its resources in naqahdah were interesting enough for it to be targeted.
I turned toward Marduk as we left.
"My Lord, I will prepare my troops, where do you want me go?"
He seemed to think for a few seconds before nodding.
"Go to my domain, I will prepare a troopship to bring your Jaffa to my Ha'tak. Eratna is three weeks away through hyperspace, you will bring their own equipment and provisions, of course."
I nodded at that, not expecting anything less.
"Of course my Lord, it shouldn't take more than a couple of hours."
He nodded and dismissed me.
Well, it would be a lot more annoying that I hoped. At least if Bastet was present, she could confirm that my new weapons and armors were to be given to nobody under her orders. But with her not here, Marduk would ask why he was not given the technology and may even order me to give it to him. I didn't know how to deal with such a situation without being killed so after Marduk left I reentered the palace to ask Lady Bastet her opinion.
She seemed busy, and quite surprised to see me.
"Lilith, are you not preparing yourself for tomorrow?"
I nodded, knowing that she didn't expect any less.
"Before the meeting, I ordered my first prime to prepare the troops just in case. I have a bit of a problem that would need your wisdom though my Lady. You ordered me to keep the technology I invented to myself, and with my troops fighting alongside Marduk's…"
She nodded and laid back on her throne, thinking.
"You know that he will order to give those technologies to him. The two kinds of armors, your rifle and heavy staff weapon isn't it? I see no problem with you giving those technologies to him. But insist on the fact that they are to stay secret. You may leave."
I bowed in front of her.
"Of course my Lady, thank you."
I left soon after that. Well, it would make things a bit less difficult at the very least.
Three hours later, we were at Marduk's domain on Bubastis, the standard Jaffa and scouts carrying the rations for the campaign. After all, the heavies couldn't carry anything more than their own equipment. At the very sight of my troops, Marduk frowned heavily and looked at me. He didn't even have to give the order, I knew what he wanted. I nodded silently and I made the troops enter the troopship. It was a bit of a snug fit, but we were able to arrange a single trip to bring them all on the Ha'tak.
I was soon following Marduk to his private chambers, knowing already of the discussion that would follow. Once inside, I made to explain myself but I didn't have the time. I was surprised by a powerful kara'kesh blast that sent me flying, the impact with the wall painfully cutting my respiration. As I was trying to catch my breath, I let out a loud scream as I felt a huge pain spike in my head, recognizing the torture mode of the weapon.
"I was a good Lord to you Lilith, and you betray me like that. What did you think, that I wouldn't see the better equipment and technology of your Jaffa? That I wouldn't care? You're my subordinate, my servant. I thought I wouldn't have to remind you of that, but it seemed that I was wrong."
I writhed on the ground, trying and not managing to defend myself. The pain was horrendous, and seemingly amplified by his anger. The torture continued for several minutes before he relented and stopped, leaving me a gasping mess on the floor. I simply laid there for a dozen or so seconds before managing to shakily stand up.
"So, what do you have to say for yourself Lilith?"
I panted heavily, resting against the wall.
"I… I presented this technology to Lady Bastet. It was her order that nobody else get a hold of it. But I" I swallowed, trying to control my breath. "I asked her before this trip. I was allowed to give the technology to you. Just you, nobody else, she was insistent."
He snarled but stayed his hand.
"Of course you would… I want that technology in here immediately."
I nodded without hesitation and shakily left his quarters. Damn, I didn't expect for him to fly the handle like that. There would be no major damage in the long term but I would be a mess for a short while. I got out my healing device and applied it to my head, stopping a great part of the pain and residual symptoms of the torture, before going to the area of the ship granted to my troops. The more I took time, the more he would be liable to torture me again. And I would try to avoid that. Very much.
Kyra was the one to welcome me once in our area of the ship and immediately saw that something was wrong. She went to my side at once and started to apply the healing device, finding the source of the trouble in a couple of seconds.
"My Lady, did he…?"
I chuckled dryly.
"Torture me? Why, yes, yes he did. Apparently seeing my Jaffa with a technology he didn't have didn't sit well with him. Have the Jaffa bring a complete armor, heavy armor, rifle and heavy ma'tok to his quarters as soon as you can. Like, now. I would prefer he didn't have any more opportunity to have fun with me."
Her eyes widened before narrowing into slits and she saluted me, before ordering two Jaffa nearby to bring the technology to Marduk. I looked at the woman next to me and smiled softly. It was nice to have her by my side. Or was it? I was starting to trust her, and I knew it was dangerous for me. The last time it happened didn't go so well.
I dwelt on it no longer and had her accompany me to my quarters, before giving her the order to have the troops continue their training as much as they could. I then crashed in my bed, asleep in a couple of minutes.
Fortunately for me, there was no other problem between Marduk and I during the rest of the trip, but the rare times that we met to talk about our course of action during the attack, I could feel that something was broken between us. We went from tentative allies to passive hostility. Still, I had to obey him so I did so.
Soon we found ourselves and two other Ha'tak belonging to Marduk above Eratna. The Goa'uld or Jaffas controlling this world probably knew already that we were there so there was no way to avoid conflict. My Jaffa were tasked to secure the naqahdah mines, which were obviously very well guarded. To Marduk's surprise and my Jaffa's obvious approval, I had decided to go and fight with them on the ground, I knew that I was ready to do so and that I would survive. A troopship would transport us a little while away, not very stealthily of course, and we would have to deal with any hostile encountered.
I had agreed with this plan, not that I had much of a choice, because it would give me and my Jaffa some time to prepare for combat and once we would have taken the mines it would give us a defensive position we would be able to fight from. As far as fights go, we would be in a very favorable position, and with our equipment and training, I knew my Jaffa would be able to hold that position.
Once on the ground and the troopship gone, the squad leaders, members of my guard, immediately ordered the scouts to recon and try to get a look for the enemy positions and more importantly the direction of the mines. The other squads stayed there in a defensive position, waiting for a word. One of the scouts reported a mid-sized Jaffa troop heading for our position. Around forty Jaffas. I knew which direction he went to which meant we had a way to organize an ambush.
The second scout who reported indicated he had found the mines just as the enemy group made contact with our positions. I couldn't even call that a fight, it was a slaughter. We outnumbered them more than two to one, had a better equipment and ambushed them. Each squad called for a group of specific targets which meant that our very first attack slaughtered the three fourth of the enemy force without them being able to retaliate. All in all, the ambush lasted fifteen seconds, with no casualty on our part.
I could see that my Jaffa had a very high morale due to this victory so I decided to capitalize on it. I told the scout of the position of the mine and had them recalled, before we marched toward our objective.
The majority of the scouts rejoined us before we reached the mines, and we waited for all of them to be there before attacking, knowing that we would need all the intelligence possible. The mining complex was huge, with several heavy turrets posted at strategic points. All in all it was pretty well thought. But an organized group striking at the same time toward all the turrets would be able to bypass it. And I had such an attack force.
I relayed the information toward my guard, and their answer of having thought of it themselves made me smile. They really were good at their jobs, and my training them had paid.
We struck all five turrets at the same time with heavy weapons, disabling them in a couple of seconds and killing their operators. The attack of the mines themselves was far messier. The enemy Jaffa were totally surprised by our move and were delayed in their reaction, which made it easier for us to take the barracks and supply depot. Unfortunately, the enemy had regrouped inside the mines themselves, which would make it difficult to uproot them.
Still, we went to work, one squad defending each of the secured objectives while the others went to attack the mines themselves and their defenders with a heavy plasma rain. A couple of my Jaffa were wounded, but we made short work of the enemy and soon I was totally in control of the mines. While my troops were cheering their victory without any loss on our side, I contacted Marduk.
"My Lord, the mines are under my control, the enemy has been eradicated."
He seemed pained as he answered.
"Lilith, there have been reinforcements, I've been trying to contact you for several minutes. Six enemy Ha'taks. We have to leave, we can't hold."
I widened my eyes at that. With the upgrades I made to his flagship and two other Ha'taks by his side, he couldn't win?
"My Lord, are you sure that you can't…"
I was interrupted.
"There is no way, good luck Lilith."
I ground my teeth together at that. That fucking coward, he decided to get rid of me like that? Because that was what it was. Letting me to die by myself. I bit down on my anger and replied emotionlessly.
"Save it, you do not mean it."
There was a few seconds of silence before our communication was cut. I looked at it wordlessly for a few seconds before letting out a rageful bellow, shocking my troops out of their celebrations.
"That fucking traitorous coward!"
I turned toward Kyra.
"There were reinforcements, six enemy Ha'taks. Marduk left us here to die."
I snarled in anger as much as she did at these news. This wasn't good at all and without air support we would be slaughtered if we tried to defend the mines or try to get to the gate.
"We abandon the mines and move toward the forest. If they don't know where we are they can't annihilate us with an orbital strike."
This comment of mine managed to snap my Jaffa out of their stupor and they obeyed quickly, abandoning the mines in an organized retreat, destroying any weapon left behind.
I knew there would be at least a thousand of Marduk's Jaffa on the ground, and the callous way with which he abandoned them did not sit well with me or my own troops. I could feel it in their movements, they were beyond angry with the callous treatment of their fellow warrior but stayed silent. It was the way of the Goa'uld to get rid of them as if they were defective toys.
I resolved myself to not act like that myself. There were always consequences to these kinds of actions and I knew that it would come to bite me in the ass later.
We quickly were hidden in the forest once again, needing a plan to survive and ultimately conquer the planet if it was possible. The biggest hurdle would be the Ha'taks though, and we needed to find a way to either disable them or take control of them. Easier said than done.
My first action was to send two scouts to find the stargate and monitor the amount of reinforcements we would have to face and the planet they were from. Such knowledge would be indispensable in the immediate future.
We also healed the Jaffa that were wounded in the attack against the mines while I was trying to formulate a plan. In the end, Maya and I only managed to see one way to win or even survive. We had to take the fight to them and control enough Ha'taks to make the others flee or destroy them. Then with the air support and the possibility to strike down any enemy entrenchment from space, it would be a matter of days to gain the control of the planet in its entirety. That and we would have access to gliders and Al'kesh. It was better to use them than an orbital strike right out of the bat. Less collateral damage.
There was also the matter of the allied troops still on the ground, but I couldn't bring myself to have them join me. They didn't have the training and team practice I made my troops do and I just wouldn't be able to trust them. Adding them to my troops would make them a liability, and liabilities were liable to get us killed. So we would need to do without them.
I turned toward my guard.
"Okay, if we want to have a chance to get out of here alive, we need to get to the Ha'taks. If they have any intelligence at all, they will cover the gate with numerous gliders to make an escape impossible. I sent two scouts to cover the gate and get us informed in the case there is a chance that we can get out of this planet safe, but for the moment I wouldn't count on it." I looked at all of them and I could see their full attention was on me, which brought a smile to my face. "The only way to get to the Ha'taks will be the ring transporters in the pyramid of this planet's Lord. I know that it was one of the priority targets of Marduk so we can expect the defense to be quite wrecked already, and if we are lucky it will still be in the hands of his Jaffa, but I wouldn't count on it too much. We will get there as discreetly as we can, avoiding the patrols and death gliders that must be patrolling here and there. If we want it to be a success, we need to be quick and stealthy."
The guard looked toward each other and nodded. They probably knew that it would be the only possible way to get out alive, and they also immediately understood that last statement of mine. The heavy assault Jaffa would stay behind, with a small token force of standard Jaffa to cover them. They would probably entrench themselves here in this forest and play the waiting game while we would be trying to get control of the ships. Not that I begrudged such a strategy, it was a good plan.
It was a couple of hours since the night had started and the fifty Jaffa that decided to take part in the attack and possible capture of the enemy Ha'taks were with me, in the forest not far from the pyramid. I had watched the defense of said building and I was pleased to see that it was pretty much pathetic. It had probably fallen into Kuro's hands again an hour or two before then. It was good. It meant that a swift enough attack would completely crumble the defenses and leave us free access to the pyramid and the ring transporters.
Before the attack, I brought my Guard apart from the others.
"Okay, there are six Ha'tak maximum in orbit, so it means that there can be two of you per attack group. I will personally lead the sixth group." I handed them five naqahdah throwing knifes, one for each group. "If there is a Goa'uld on one of those ships, he may have a personal shield. You probably think that it stops every weapon, but it's false. Very primitive weapons can go through it, so aim well and destroy the kara'kesh if you can with those. Once the kara'kesh is destroyed or the Goa'uld dead, you should have no problem taking control of the ship. I give you express authorization to kill any Goa'uld you encounter out there, so no need to ask or anything."
They seemed completely shaken by what I told them, and they were intelligent enough to understand that I was putting my live into their hands. If they so wanted, they would be able to kill me easily right then. I had to count on the fact that they had absolutely no reason to do so and that I would give them such information about myself would make them even more loyal to me. From the looks that I received soon after, it was exactly as I hoped.
'You are such a puppet mistress Lilith, do you really have to manipulate all of them?'
I turned my thoughts toward the amused voice of my host.
'Well, it is not the principal goal of me telling them this information, but I guess it's a pretty nice side effect.'
I could sense her agreement.
'Of course it is, but really, do you expect me to stay silent when such an occasion to tease you appears?'
I let out an amused snort at that, somewhat startling my troops.
'Of course not. Now hush, I don't want them to believe I am crazy.'
Her amused laugh was my only answer, and I couldn't help myself but smile.
"My Lady?"
That was Kyra, voicing her curiosity. I waved my hand in dismissal.
"Don't worry about that, I just thought about something amusing."
She raised an eyebrow at that but stayed silent. If I didn't tell her, then I probably didn't want her to know, which was true.
"So, we will attack as soon as possible. Usually, I would preconize an attack just before dawn to get the element of surprise, but they are greatly disorganized right now so we mustn't let them get back any order. Immediately send the scouts to spot all the defensive positions and assassinate all the sentries that they encounter. I want them to contact us in twenty minutes maximum. After that we will consider them dead and move on with the attack."
They nodded and moved to warn their squads of their jobs.
The next twenty minutes had been tense, with more than a couple of times when the scouts had to report being spotted. Fortunately, they were good enough warriors so that the alarm hadn't been raised and anyone who had seen them was dead. Still, the corpses were accumulating and it would not take very long before an alarm was raised.
I thus decided to move on with the attack itself. The goal was pretty much to rush toward the ring chambers and teleport the squads to the ships before anyone on the Ha'tak was warned and decided to blast the pyramid away from a distance.
The attack itself was fast, precise and merciless. As we did for the mine, all the defenses that were not destroyed by the scouts were targeted at first and obliterated in a heavy plasma fire. There were no heavy Jaffa, but the number and rate of fire of those who attacked those were sufficient to decimate the opposition.
With only a token of resistance left, we moved to attack the pyramid, running through the open field and hoping that no glider was nearby. We were lucky in that and managed to enter the pyramid before anyone showed up to stop us.
Once in there, the path was relatively short until we reached the ring chamber, and we made short work of the few Jaffa left to defend it.
It took me one minute to interrogate the system and get the coordinates to teleport my troops of all the five Ha'taks that were left into orbit above the pyramid. Once it was done, it was quick for me to divide the Guard, taking Kyra with me while the others were assigned together. Eili'ac, Ryala and Erena were put together to compensate their slightly lesser fighting ability. They had troops behind them so their intelligence, healing prowess and tactical mind would prove a terrifying combination for the enemy. For the other Ha'taks, it was only two members of my guard and their squads a Ha'tak.
I ordered them to keep the communication going so that everyone was warned of their progress, before starting to transport them into the ships.
The Jaffa didn't have a heavy equipment so I was able to send a squad per teleportation, and soon, in barely a minute, everyone was in their assigned ships. The most important part of the attack was starting.
It was nearly pathetic how little they were prepared for such an attack. I was always a partisan of planning for everything and then more to take into account what I couldn't imagine. For this or these Goa'uld to actually be this ill prepared for an infiltration was folly, and this folly would cost them their lives and their ships.
The travel toward the pel'tak was quiet, and we only encountered one small group of Jaffa that did not last three seconds against us.
There was a Goa'uld on the pel'tak, but he didn't even have a personal shield, and one zat'nik'tel shot fired by one of my scouts stunned him before he could even think to retaliate. I did not kill him since I needed some information, but I was not so gentle with his Jaffa guards. Soon the pel'tak was filled with the corpses of our enemies and the nauseating smell of their burns bodies. There were a couple of injuries in Kyra's squad, but nothing a short use of healing device couldn't take care of.
It took me ten seconds to seal the doors of the pel'tak and another ten to initiate the venting of the atmosphere.
Usually, I would try to go into the atmosphere to replenish the atmosphere of the ship, but I had to wait for the other team to be finished with their infiltration. Soon enough, the communicator turned on with its first message.
"Zyr'na here, the situation is under control. One Goa'uld dead and the ship's atmosphere is gone. One casualty in our team. Pretty heavy but she won't die. Zar'na is working on her while I'm making this call."
I smirked and nodded.
"Message received Zyr'na. Good job. We've completed our job too and we're waiting for the others to move to next stage."
The communicator stayed silent for a few seconds before an 'Acknowledged, over' ended the first report.
It was good, three more to go and until now there had been no serious casualty, only a couple wounded. I should have not thought about it as the next communication was a bit less joyous.
"Ayla calling, we took control of the ship and had to kill the Goa'uld in control. Two of ours have been killed, headshots, nothing we could do to save them."
I sighed and nodded, knowing that it was a really small price to pay for such a victory. Immediately after, the last two groups called and informed me that they took control of their ship with no casualty. Now the only thing we had to do was to warn the troops on the ground and take full control of the planet.
It took five days for me and my troops to kill all of Kuro and Marduk's Jaffa that I found. I was pretty reluctant to do so at first, but a talk with my personal Guard convinced me that a lot of the Jaffa under the orders of a Goa'uld would be loyal to him, nearly fanatically so at times, so I was risking rebellion if I decided to integrate those Jaffa into my army. And I was not eager to face a rebellion of any kind. Not after last time, not again.
I had also found the human settlements containing the slaves whom Kuro had mining the naqahdah for him. There was several towns, each containing between a hundred and a thousand souls, the bigger being some sort of capital of the planet inside which the Goa'uld ruling the planet had built a personal palace.
The slaves were exhausted and sick, with the ones who were not mining faring a little better but not by much. Apparently, they had been worked to the bone during the past year, much more than usually, and there had already been several dozen miners dead in the mines during that time period. They needed some rest, a decent food source and some treatments before I could send them back to work. Else, they would die miserably and not only they would lose their lives and be far less productive due to sickness, but there was also a risk of depopulation and me needing to grab some humans from another planet to replenish the population and stabilize it.
My Guard agreed that this was the best course of action and when they went to the different towns to tell the elders the news, they were extremely grateful for my mercy. That was not the point but it was always nice to have. I couldn't get too much goodwill from the people, and every last bit would be useful in the future to establish my domain and keep it under my control.
It had been a month since I took control of the planet, and I had yet to make any real improvement for the situation. I had my Jaffa go and assist the local populations with their health problems and food problems, and I had planned several improvements that would greatly facilitate the work in the mines for the humans, but I definitely lacked the tools to build them.
I had also received the reports of the two scouts I sent to monitor the gate. There had been several addresses that had been dialed, all but one of them being from planets on the list that was given to us. I didn't know about that last planet, but from the coordinates I had calculated that it was nearly at the other side of the galaxy, a trip which would take nearly two years of constant hyperdrive. That meant that if I wanted to take that unknown remote world for myself, I had to attack through the gate. My troops were not protected enough for such a thing to happen just yet. But that time would come and I would get capture that world too. It would make a marvelous secret base to develop my technologies on.
It was time for me to go back to Bubastis though. Bastet and her lieutenants should have been back so I would be able to announce my survival and capture of the planet.
I went to the gate with Kyra by my side and saluted the squad of heavy and standard Jaffa that was guarding it, before dialing Bubastis. Such a fascinating piece of technology the gate was, I would enjoy studying it in the future and try to decipher its secrets.
Soon enough, I was on Bastet's capital world and approached by some of her Jaffas, two bulky Jaffa women in ornate armor and wearing dangerous-looking claws. Kyra moved to intercept them but I held a hand for her to stop.
"Halt, who are you?"
I made my eyes flash in front of them and spoke, my Goa'uld voice booming inside the room holding the gate.
"I am Lilith, bring me to your Goddess, I have great news to announce to her."
They recognized me soon enough and bowed before asking us to follow them.
The walk was pretty short and soon we were back inside Bastet's throne room, facing her and her lieutenants whom, amusingly and coincidentally enough, were reunited to discuss the recent attack. Marduk was included of course and he didn't seem all that reassured that I survived.
I kneeled in front of her and bowed and so did Kyra several meters behind me, waiting for Bastet to talk to us.
"Lilith… How… unexpected it is to find you here. Marduk had announced you lost during the ambush of Kuro's forces above Eratna that forced him to flee."
I raised my head and looked upon her, a small smile on my face.
"It was a trying period indeed my Lady, but I have great news. I and my Jaffa have taken control of Eratna and the five Ha'tak in orbit above it. Unfortunately, I had to kill the Goa'ulds controlling them so that I could take over swiftly enough to avoid retaliation, but the situation is under control."
That brought some hisses of surprise in the room and Lady Bastet looked extremely pleased by me. It was very good for my future. She then looked smugly toward Marduk who had paled visibly during my report and opened her mouth to comment.
"Why, Marduk, I knew that your subordinate is competent, but I didn't know that she is more competent that you are." Her expression turned ugly after that. "I believe that there was more to the situation during the attack that you told me previously, and if there is something that I particularly hate, is when my so called loyal subordinates lie to me." She turned toward me once more. "How and why did he leave you on the planet?"
I knew that this marked the end of Marduk. With that comment, she made him an enemy of mine, one that I could not afford to let live. There was no mercy to give, and that little bout of torture during the trip didn't incite me to be very merciful with him.
"I had been deployed to the mines with my Jaffa to take control of them while his troops were attacking the pyramid containing the transport rings not far from the gate. My part of the attack was completed flawlessly and I reported to him my success when he announced to me that six enemy Ha'tak had jumped into the system and were attacking him, and that he had to leave. Usually, I wouldn't contest his decision to leave, but I worked on his flagship and I knew that such a ship is more powerful that the usual Ha'tak, and that with his flagship and two Ha'tak accompanying it he would have been more than able to defend until I and my troops get to the transport rings or even defeat the attacking Ha'tak."
I looked toward Marduk who was shaking in rage. If Lady Bastet did not kill him right then, I would have to take measures to protect myself. Bastet spoke again, frowning.
"Are you sure that his Ha'taks would have survived? And you said you captured five Ha'tak, not six."
I nodded.
"Yes I'm sure, I worked on them. He may have lost a standard Ha'tak or two if the enemy was intelligent and concentrated fire on them to destroy them, but his flagship's shields and weapons are more powerful than the standard Ha'tak and would have survived the onslaught, or at least been able to greatly cripple the attack force before fleeing. As for the six Ha'tak, only five were in orbit when I took control of them. One must have left to report the victory to Kuro maybe. I know that the gate was dialed several times while I was busy taking control of the planet, I had one Jaffa monitoring the possible reinforcements. She was too far to see the symbols though."
Bastet nodded and snapped her fingers, two of her Guards bringing Marduk in front of her.
"I find Lilith's words much more believable than what you told me happened, former Lieutenant Marduk." She then looked toward her Guards. "Take all his weapons and place him in a cell…" She looked viciously amused at that. "… it seems Tarvis will have a new visitor soon."
There was a shocked silence in the room right then, only broken by the sounds of Marduk frantically trying to escape this sordid fate. And I could understand him. Travis was Bastet's personal tropical hell, a jungle planet full of vicious predators each scarier and more dangerous than the other. She usually took her enemies on the planet with no weapons and let them loose, before gathering a party of herself, Relana her first prime and a handful of loyal Jaffa and starting the hunt. It was well known that if Bastet didn't kill them, the planet would take care of it for her. It was a harsh remembrance of how hard Bastet was with her subordinates though. If they simply didn't manage to do a task, they would be punished slightly, but lies and disloyalty were rewarded with death. And not a gentle one.
Still, such a fall from grace from Marduk was a bit surprising and knowing that I was indirectly the cause from it was pretty much shocking. It was not my place to comment on my Lady's decisions though, so I stayed silent. It paid, as she turned toward me with a satisfied smile.
"You did well Lilith, and I am not ungrateful. You may run Eratna in my name."
I was hoping for such a situation, but for it to happen was incredible. It meant that I was considered to become one of her lieutenants in the future, probably to replace Marduk. I had to give Bastet half of the naqahdah mined on the planet, but it wasn't all that important for the moment except for the fact that the mines were closed for the next year.
"I am immensely grateful for this gift my Lady, you will not regret it. I must inform you though, of a small detail. Even though Eratna possess several naqahdah mines, Kuro totally exhausted the slaves during the previous years. When I inspected their villages, I could see them on the verge of collapsing, plagued with sicknesses and various injuries. I believed that he expected this planet to fall and wanted to leave it barren. From my estimate, it will take close to a year for the population to be able to restart the mines and the production of naqahdah."
She frowned at that.
"Why don't you take some slaves from another planet for your use?"
I winced at that before looking sheepish.
"I hoped that with me saving their lives and treating them with some compassion they did not get from Kuro, they would become all the more loyal to me and thus I would avoid any rebellion in the future. Well, that and happy and healthy miners produce a lot more than unhappy and sick slaves."
She looked at me for a dozen seconds before nodding slowly.
"I didn't know that the rebellion of the Tau'ri had such an impact of you… It is of no consequence though, I do not see any problem with letting you have this year. I expect that this planet will greatly contribute in the naqahdah production of my domain in the coming centuries."
As always, she was reasonable toward her allies and merciless toward her enemies or traitors. I knew that working as her subordinate would be greatly profitable in the future. And the future starts now.
So, that's it, Lilith finally got her first planet. And Marduk got out of the way. That was the part that I didn't plan for by the way.
As usual, don't hesitate to comment on this chapter, to leave constructive reviews and all. Flames will be ignored (I didn't even get one yet, yay!)
Ttfn!