I'm soooooo sorry for the delay. I started working on this chapter a bit less than two weeks ago but my muse had decided to desert me so I had to force her back. Willing or not. It may explain that I'm not exactly as satisfied about it as the former chapters. Nevertheless, it's there, finally. And I can go forward. I'm spending too much time on this beginning, and it's starting to bore me, so this is the last chapter before some serious time-skip.

On a side note, I totally aced my competitive exams with a really good place, so I'm pretty much happy. This means that I got all the time I need to write during these holidays. It also means a full job in september and thus less time to write. Heh, I'll deal with it, I don't plan to abandon this story at all.

Now, it's review's answers time. Thanks everybody who reviewed (I'm not going to write all the names here, too long, but I'm thankful, believe it.)

Naginator : It may appear that way, I concede that point. But don't worry, things will look up soon enough. Just look at the title. It's Empress in the shadows, so it means she ends up with an empire. ;) I'm just not making it a smooth ride. There WILL be bumps on her way, and I'll try to make them realistic and not look like some random protagonist bashing, but she'll survive them. As for how they would figure that about her, it's in the very first chapter. The Tok'ra who 'made' her survived and went back to his base with her name.

Guest : That's one thing. But seriously, even before the curve of the planet intervenes, there's simply the fact that they are mortals. You can't freeze your body enough to be able to shoot at too big a distance. For humans, it is in the 1000-2000 meters range. For the Jaffa who are genetically engineered soldiers, I said it was in the 10000-15000 meters. That's random, I know. ^^

carick of hunter moon and toyoy33: Thanks, and it was the plan all along. I pretty much dislike myself those who just copy/paste the first chapters and then work to continue the fic. That's just lazy. If you don't write it from the ground up, how can you even get into it enough to see it to the end?

voidzzz : Hehe, you are right. That's not to say it's definitive. Or is it? Who knows? (I do! :P)

All the others, thank you for your encouragements. I'll try not to let you down.

Ah, and since I pretty much dragged my muse back to work kicking and screaming, there maaaaay be some grammatical/syntaxical mistakes. Maybe. Please bear with me. Or volunteer to be a beta. I would very much appreciate both attitudes. :D

Now, enjoy this new chapter.

2983 BC, Bubastis, Bastet's domain.

I closed my eyes, my ears still ringing from both my and Bastet's screams. I didn't want to believe the man, but in a way that made some sense. I was different, I knew that, and I had no idea of how or when it had started. What I knew though, is that it wasn't natural. Me being a part of an experiment, a Tok'ra experiment to boot, was a distasteful idea, but still very much possible.

I had to keep my calm and think rationally though. I had some leeway thanks to my successful experiments and obvious intelligence, but I knew very well that if I did not react accordingly I would end up drawn and quartered before I could even attempt an explanation or a justification of my innocence.

Fortunately or unfortunately, I was cut off before I could even attempt to defend myself. Having seen our silent and stupefied faces, the little Tok'ra spy decided to try and crucify me there and then.

"It was a chemical, even before you were implanted into a host. It completely shut down the emotional response from the Goa'uld's genetic memory, making you as close to being a Tok'ra as possible."

I blinked at that. So that was it? They did nothing more to ensure my loyalty? That was foolish at best. Hell, if they had tried to convert me before the Tau'ri's rebellion, I might even have switched sides if they were persuasive. But after that? No that was too late. I was already Goa'uld through and through. I wanted nothing else to do with them after that, except spill their filthy blood.

I started to shake in amusement, a soft laughter escaping my lips. I did not even have to defend myself after that, it was too good.

"That's it? That's all the Tok'ra did? Of course I knew that I didn't have the emotional mapping going with the inherited memories. But did they really think it would be sufficient for me to betray my kind? If anything, it makes me different, unpredictable, even more dangerous an enemy. Tche, foolish scum."

I sneered at the man before schooling my emotions and facing Bastet. She was looking at me, seemingly lost in thought. She suddenly snapped out of it and stared at me with a new intensity before turning to address her first prime.

"Take him away, I'll work on him later. Lilith and I have a long overdue talk to have."

The Jaffa woman bowed before taking the man with her. Despite knowing the fate that awaited him, he was laughing hysterically, probably thinking that he was taking me with him to the grave with those last words. This was wrong, or at least I hoped.

I failed to repress the "Fucking fanatic…" that escaped my lips and I heard Bastet hum approvingly. I turned fully toward her only to see her siting on her throne, looking at me with a cold calculating expression.

"Is what he said true?"

I nodded without hesitation.

"As far as I know it is. I didn't know the Tok'ra involvement of course, but…"

She nodded herself, maybe pleased with my honesty or was it with my words? I couldn't know.

"I see. Did it have positive or negative impacts on your behavior?"

I frowned at that. Positive and negative were highly subjective.

"I am not blinded by my pride and am able to take decisions that some Goa'uld wouldn't even dare to think about. That goes with an unending curiosity and need to improve upon what I have. The problem is that I do sometimes go a bit too far and want to go in forbidden directions to assuage my curiosity. I am also somewhat emotionally unstable, having to work my emotions from the ground up." I shrugged. "It's a work in progress."

She nodded, pensive.

"Anything else? Maybe some tendencies that would be closer to the Tok'ra?"

I frowned slightly at the insult but said nothing and thought about it a little.

"I derive no pleasure in pointless torture unlike some of our kind. I am able to think and use unusual tactics to go and reach my objective."

She frowned at that, before relaxing. Apparently, it wasn't that big a deal for her. And knowing she's one of the most merciful of the System Lords, that was understandable. I simply hoped that I wouldn't push it too far and force her to deal with me.

"And your host?"

I simply smiled and answered her, hiding my fear at that line of questioning.

"She's completely under my control."

She chuckled softly.

"But you did not subjugate her isn't it?"

I stared at Bastet, shocked by that development. How the hell could she even know about that, there was no way at all…

"Oh, do not be so surprised, it wasn't that hard to figure out with all the facts I had. I simply thought you were eccentric and loved your calm when Marduk told me that you spend some time each week meditating, but with this new development and your lack of innate cruelty, it is not that much of a stretch that you would not torture your host but cooperate with her." She then stared at me coldly. "But that changes nothing, why shouldn't I kill you for that? You're nearly as much a Tok'ra as the real scum."

I snarled back in anger.

"I am no Tok'ra!" I closed my eyes and bowed once again. "I'm sorry my Lady, I lost my temper." I stood up and faced her. "As much as I am similar to them, please believe that I despise them, and that I will take a great pleasure in wringing out all the information from the other Tok'ra spy that I captured, by any means necessary. As for my host, it is true that she is not completely subjugated, but she is loyal to me and has been extremely useful in my scientific endeavors. She's an asset, and I've never let neither pride nor traditions get in the way of efficiency. We Goa'uld are scavengers, not creators. We lack the necessary imagination to invent things, to think outside the mold. Humans though, do not have that problem. That is why I took care of her, and made her into the best assistant I could ever have."

Bastet soft laugh resonated in her throne room, and I must admit that I was confused over what it meant. Was I going to die? Would she spare me?

"Oh, Lilith, if anything you are consistent. You constantly trample upon our traditions and pride, and in the end you become stronger for it. So be it, I'll keep an eye on you but let you do as you wish as long as it is for the benefit of the System Lords. Betray us, and I can assure you I won't be the only System Lord going after your skin."

I knew very well what she meant there, the benefit of the System Lords is nice, but her own benefit was what she was looking for. And after how lenient she was being, I was actually not that bothered with helping her stand at the top. And outright betrayal was not in the picture at all. I was about to thank her before she cut through my thoughts.

"I suppose that you also wanted a sarcophagus to better interrogate that spy, right? And, living as dangerously as you do, you need it too." I frowned at that last bit and she noticed it. "What is it?"

"You are right that I want the sarcophagus to avoid the spy killing herself or my killing her, but I do not intend to use it as it is. Not yet. I… It pains me to say it but I believe that the Tok'ra are right about it being dangerous. Not something as ridiculous at it damaging the soul, of course, but the mind… When I was cured by Marduk's sarcophagus, Maya, my host, monitored this body's emotions and there were some discrepancies. Alarming modifications that do not reassure me. My mind is my best tool, and I will not let some half-baked healing casket twist it beyond recognition."

Bastet frowned at that little piece of information.

"You may be onto something. I myself do not use it more than absolutely necessary. I have not forgotten Anubis' heresy and how he turned Apep mad by constantly using it. You can see the results of that, I am one of the more… reasonable of our kind."

She flashed her eyes at me.

"This research is an absolute priority. Do not let anyone know of what you are doing and report your findings to me. Just forward any information you may have about the stolen weapon to me and I'll have one of my lieutenants take care of it for me."

And just like that, I knew everything would go perfectly.

"Of course my Lady. If I may ask you something else to help my research?"

She raised an eyebrow at me.

"What do you need?"

I grinned.

"I need a container for numerous larval Goa'uld. I'm going to catch myself a pure untainted queen from our home-world."

Bastet looked startled by my mentioning our home-world. It was widely forgotten, or rather they deluded themselves into thinking it was forgotten. But everyone still knew where it was, deep inside our genetic memories. If I wanted to work on the effects of the sarcophagus, I had to monitor the changes closely. What else was better than experimenting on one of our nearly mindless kind?

Bastet seemed to slowly grasp where I was going with this and grinned. This would be interesting.

"I see… you'll get it. Do not disappoint me."

The next few days were a blur for me. I went back to my planet to rest after all this mess at first. Then, the day later, I received a sarcophagus and the container for the Goa'uld queen I was planning to capture. I debated to myself whether I should go at it immediately or simply interrogate the spy I captured and then concentrate on other matters. After some careful thinking and some advice from Maya, I chose to interrogate the spy first.

It took me several weeks to break her, and when I did the results were somewhat disappointing. She did not know a lot, and what she knew, the gate address of the relay planet she could use in case she needed to escape, I already knew myself. It was nice to have a confirmation that this was not the planet where the Tok'ra are based but simply an intermediary position to fool any pursuers.

I of course forwarded the data to Bastet but she told me that she already got it from the spy I gave her. She also told me that they learned of the existence of the weapon by chance, stumbling upon one testing area during one of their routine scouting of my forces. It was somewhat nice to know that there wasn't any other spy in my forces.

I thus had all the time to properly work on the sarcophagus itself. And the Goa'uld queen I captured the very next day. It would take some time to work it all.

Three months later, I still didn't know the exact mechanisms of the corruption. Oh, I fully documented the effect of naqahdah forcefully introduced into the primitive symbiotes and their increasingly erratic behavior, but I still didn't understand how the naqahdah was corrupting the mind. Was it a physiological factor? Surely, but as long as I didn't have the knowledge, I couldn't even try to reverse it. I quickly understood that the current sarcophagus did not introduce any naqahdah into the body. It was a former, much more primitive device that was the reason for that. That did not help me in solving this problem though.

It was also blocking my research on the sarcophagus itself. Since I needed it in order to continue my research on our genetic insanity, I couldn't dismantle it to try and see how it worked and then improve it. All in all, I was stuck without any solution. I didn't have the necessary knowledge and devices to fully comprehend the phenomenon.

I needed something to do to change my mind though, and seeing my Jaffa's training, I knew what I could do. They were ready for an assault, their team coordination was near perfect, same as their marksmanship and they were able to make sound tactical decisions in a split second. It was thus time to gain another planet under my control. I let Kuro alone for far too long, it was time to claim his last planet and his head.

It would be an attack from the gate, I would at first send a powerful concussion bomb through the gate to disorganize any defense there and I would then sent my troops to take care of it and gain a foothold. Then, I would have my Jaffa bunker themselves down at the gate and defend from any aerial assault that was sure to come while I took the rest of my Jaffa to try and kill Kuro.

We were sure to be outnumbered, but I was fully confident that Kuro's forces were decimated by Bastet's attack on his domain, letting him only with a token few Jaffa and ships. There was also the fact that this refuge was probably Kuro's last planet, so he would hesitate to ask an orbital strike against such a low numbered attack force.

I looked at the thirty seven Jaffa in dismay, not really knowing where things had gone wrong. Nearly all of them sported several injuries and their armors were extremely damaged, showing the signs of some very harsh fighting. I shook my head and remembered the last few days.

Just as I was about to lead my troops into battle, a messenger came through the gate to inform me that Bastet required my presence. Not being patient, I had Kyra lead the troops into battle, knowing that she was nearly as well read tactically as I was.

Putting the attack at the back of my head, I decided to heed to Bubastis and talk to lady Bastet, knowing what she wanted from me. And indeed, she asked me about my research. She was not pleased that there was so little progress, but she was reasonable enough to understand that I was working with extremely advanced technology and taking my time not to mess things up.

She then asked me of any technological advance I would have made in my off time, but I simply grinned and told her that I had no such thing for the moment. Every advance that I worked on was based on a need. And I had no such needs recently. Maybe in the future there would be some problem that would require some serious innovation.

Soon enough, I was back on Eratna and went to my lab. I was tempted to check on my troops, but I didn't know what to expect and from the plan that we devised with Kyra, she was to contact me once some headway was made and the situation was somewhat under control. My entrance could severely throw things off balance and be more harmful than anything else.

It was a full day later that I received the first message. It was from Kyra who personally went through the gate to give me an update. There were heavy losses and they battled numerous Jaffa, but they managed to kill Kuro by some chance, her words exactly, and were working on bringing the situation under control. I could hear and see her exhaustion though, and knew that they all went through hell. A small part of me wanted to pity her, but I crushed it ruthlessly. She neither needed nor wanted pity. She was a warrior.

I thanked her for the report and asked her if she needed my input on the ground or if they could work without me to wrap things up. After thinking about it for several seconds, Kyra told me that they could do without me.

It was three days later that my Jaffa were back and I was actually shocked by how little left there were. Thirty seven, that meant that sixty three of my warriors died on that planet, nearly two thirds of my Jaffa.

I turned toward Kyra and asked, my disbelief coloring my voice.

"What happened for so much of you to have died?"

She winced at that, her eyes clouding for a few seconds. I knew that she was lost in her memories of the battle.

"Everything went according to plan at first. We stormed them, the grenades having done their job to confuse the defense of the gate. They were soon eliminated and I had thirty Jaffa defend the gate while I took the rest toward Kuro's palace."

I nodded at that, knowing that it was exactly what we had planned.

"I see, and then?"

She winced.

"The palace was further away from the gate that we expected. We were ambushed several times, but without consequence other than slowing us down. No, the first thing that threw the plan out of the window was when an Al'kesh threw a couple bombs on my column."

My eyes went wide at that. How the hell did she survive?

"How…"

She held her hand to interrupt me.

"Fortunately, the aim of the pilot was a bit off, but I lost nearly twenty Jaffa to that salvo. The smoke residue helped us avoid another run that could have been fatal, and we finally managed to reach the surroundings of the palace, where they couldn't bomb us anymore. The scouts went to work to give us some intel on the defenses while we rested and healed ourselves. The assault of the palace went well and that was when we encountered Kuro and managed to kill him. Some trigger happy Jaffa threw a knife at his head as soon as he appeared in front of us. He didn't even have the time to be surprised."

I snickered at that, and I could see the Jaffa relax a little.

"What happened then?"

She frowned.

"The soldiers stationed at the gate called us, telling us that they took heavy losses. The Al'kesh went toward them after bombing us and made two runs before a scout managed a lucky shot and killed the pilot. There were only five or six survivors, nearly too injured to fight. We then went for the ships in a standard manoeuver and took control of three of them in orbit, before destroying the last two. I'm sorry, but we were too low in troops to get all five of them, I couldn't risk it."

I nodded, knowing she had a point.

"I understand and approve. What then?"

She smiled and nodded back.

"After that, we started to hunt down and kill the last pockets of resistance, losing a couple Jaffa here and there. We were tired and angry, but we managed it my Lady, we did it. There are only a dozen or so Jaffa still controlling the ships and guarding the gate, except for that we are all here."

I smiled toward her, before looking toward the rest of the Jaffa.

"I am sorry…" There was some rustle in the ranks. "I am sorry that I wasn't here. You deserved to have me lead you to battle. I'm not a Lady who hides while you do the fighting. I fight with you! But I couldn't this time. And what a fight I missed. You went against a whole planet with just a hundred of warriors, and you conquered it. There were losses, and they will not be forgotten. But as Kyra said, you did it! You conquered that world! You crushed the opposition. And I'm proud to have you as my warriors."

There was a cheer at that, and their morale that was down after losing so many of their comrades was climbing to new heights.

"And you will be rewarded. Don't doubt about it. I'm not a System Lord with countless riches to award you with, but I'm not poor, and you gaining me a new world helped with that. You and your families will never be left wanting. That's a promise."

If they were cheering before, now, they were nearly throwing a party under my amused eyes.

"You're dismissed, just enjoy your rest." I then turned back toward Kyra. "Come with me."

I then started to walk toward the gate.

"Of course my Lady."

She followed me immediately.

"What about my Guard Kyra. I couldn't help but remark that you were the only one here."

She grimaced at that.

"Eili'ac, Erena and Ryala are either with the troops to help heal those that could not be transported or on the ships. Ayla is among those that were heavily wounded but she will make it. The others…"

She looked away and I couldn't help but snarl in anger. Half of my best Jaffa had been killed, half of those I was the closest of, next to Maya. But there was nothing to do about it. I sighed.

"I see. Do we at least have their bodies for the proper rites?"

She frowned.

"They deserve them, but five bodies were completely destroyed by the Al'kesh. Amongst which the bodies of Zyr'na and Zar'na."

I gave a weak chuckle at that.

"Even in death they stay together heh? Sounds like them."

Kyra grinned and nodded.

"Indeed…"

We simply stayed at the gate for a few minutes, enjoying the silence before going back to my palace. I had a lot of work to do and another planet to rule, a planet unknown to anyone but me and my Jaffa. A planet where I could rule the humans as I wished.

And this planet was a mess. At first glance, I would have agreed that my troops had cleaned the place of any of Kuro's Jaffa, but a planet was big, and even though only the immediate surroundings of the gate were usually used by us Goa'ulds, Kuro wasn't like that. He had several Jaffa villages on the other side of the planet, which was named Refuge, and even a dock that was under construction to be able to build more Ha'tak.

The slave population was very important, numbering in the tens of thousands, and in relatively good condition. I even learnt that the planet was rich in naqahdah and a few other kinds of metals that were unused for the moment. I would look at them in the future to see what I could make of them.

All in all, it was an ideal planet for me to start building my domain. I had a decent population of both Jaffa and humans, immense natural resources and the best of it all, it was hidden with nobody else knowing of its existence, as far as I knew. The only way for someone to attack me was literally to stumble through the gate and escape alive to warn others of Refuge's existence. Something that I would have to deal with in the near future.

I had faced some obstacles and lost precious friends, but despite these problems, life had never been brighter for me.

So, that's it. It's a bit short, but it was a good place to stop I thought. Next chapter is a time skip... A big one.

Please don't hesitate to leave me your reviews and constructive criticism.

Ttfn!