Whooooo! I'm back with a new chapter of this version of the Empress in the Shadows.

I'm soooo sorry about the delay. I could give you excuses about my work and all that shit but I won't. I'll be honest with you guys. It was a combination of a minor writing block, laziness and ArcheAge that delayed this chapter so much. Please be kind and don't hit me too hard.

Now this chapter. Loooooots of things happen. And from the title… well, you get an idea.

I tried to give you a big chapter to compensate for the long wait, but it wasn't all that big. Not as big as I hoped I mean. But hey, I wrote that in three days. To be honest though, I thought about the story regularly those past two months, so I had the scenario in my head, ready to be written.

Also, about Jesus and religion. Everyone that talked to me about it didn't wish for me to touch that. It was not a lot of course, but well, majority rules and all that. I'll be honest and say that it disappoints me a little, but I can deal with that. Still, too bad, I had a couple of Ideas that I thought pretty good about the whole thing but I'll keep them in my head. Or maybe in an omake. I'll see.

Now, the reviews. You guys rock. Plain and simple. As always, I won't answer all the reviews, only those that need an answer in my opinion.

Nianque : I totally didn't think about that. About the Furlings I mean. That bat theme is a good idea, except for the fact that I won't retcon them. Maybe I'll give them some bat themed fighters. Still, thanks guy.

StarRose85 : Nope, no Persian Empire yet, that's far too soon for it. The sarcophagus is not being used because… well, I got no real idea. It would make things pretty difficult to manage for Lilith if everyone had a sarcophagus, and seriously? I don't want an Empire where everyone is immortal? Do you imagine the clusterfuck after a few centuries? Nope, not for me. For Maya's opinion, you'll see a bit of interaction in this chapter. Things changed a bit between them. Won't say any more.

Grayiron : Eventually.

Guest : She has her primitive Goa'uld queen who spawns larva for her. As for the adult Goa'uld population? It ain't that difficult to dispose of them.

SpRaCe1000 : You were right, I was a bit rushed at the time. For the Alliance, I don't think Lilith's Empire registers as the same as the Tok'ra. The Tok'ra never really had a civilization in the series. At least from what I saw. It seemed more like a terrorist organization. Lilith on contrary, has a blooming Empire and shows in some ways values that resemble those of the members of the Great Alliance. Of course she won't join them, but I can see them being tentative allies.

Oh, and a virtual cookie for you. Congrats, you were the only one who found what I was talking about.

StargateFFWriter : Yup, a c.l.f. couldn't eat so I scrapped that. As for your last question, the utopia of the Furlings and humans crashed around them a couple centuries before the series, so there still are plenty of them around.

Incognito : Same answer as Guest above. As for the lashing out, well, we all say dumb things when stressed. The point was to show that the Alterans are not the perfect figures that are depicted in the series.

Some1randome97864 : Sure, it won't be canon SGC, and yet it will probably be in some way. I'll let you ponder that one.

Loki's List : I love you guy, really! (No homo) You really nailed it with your criticism and well, gave me a couple of ideas along the way. The thick of it was already decided at the time of course, but you really really were useful, so grats. Won't say anymore, but I'll keep what you said in mind for the next chapter.

Lina esrevnI : Who said she wouldn't make an appearance. It's 1700 BC I got time. As for Gilgamesh, that made me smile. But no, ain't him. I won't add the Nasuverse into it, it's already enough of a clusterfuck as it is. (And the 'real' Gilgamesh was ruling more around 2500 BC)

Faraway-R : Thanks for the info on Heliopolis, I didn't read that one. I'll integrate that into my future events. As for the rest. Well, you have a good intuition. 'nough said.

Zentari2238 : It may appear that way, it's true. For the Jaffa she made some research and took a gamble. As for leaving, well, she really planned it well and was paranoid. We haven't seen the rest of them all though.

Dotton : It may not have been clear. The five arms contain five ion weapon modules, who condensate in the middle to form a single attack. It's not five separate weapons. It's the main gun of the ship. The rest of the ship, to avoid being flanked, is covered in plasma point defense. Add shields, and it's a fortress. (I think). Think about Star wars' Death Star, but without the obvious structural weaknesses. And empty in the middle. And with the ship being in the form of a curled up starfish… Yeah, I'm strange, I know.

Thanks to everybody else for your favorites/follows/reviews!

And special thanks for my Beta, horob575. Speaking about betas, this chapter is unbetaed. Well, I sent it to him of course, but well, he didn't start to work on it yet. But hey, it's been so long that I'll give it to you anyways. I'll make the changes I need later. You deserve a little gift for your patience.

So now, let's start this chapter. Enjoy!

1775 BC, Mesopotamia, Tau'ri, Unclaimed planet.

The last few months had been interesting. Contrarily to what I would have thought, there were a lot more differences between the Sheolan and Babylonian cultures and way of life. The greatest was the presence of slavery. It was simply the way of things here while on Sheol it had always been simply unthinkable. Then again, when considering a primitive society that collectively suffered as slaves and another which was much more numerous and thus for which the full brunt of slavery had been spared, there was no comparison possible. Both societies were far too different from each other.

This posed a problem though, as I had no frame of reference on the conduct to adopt when living among them. Even more of a problem, contrarily to Sheol where my presence caused the society to become fairly matriarchal in nature, a fact that some tried to diminish without much success, here on the Tau'ri, the society was patriarchal in nature and women in general were considered as second rate citizens except for a small minority of nobles. That meant that I had to be careful if I didn't want that little trip of mine to be shortened considerably. After all, I would not let myself be taken captive and raped even if to escape I had to show unusual abilities.

A far better fact for me though was that they used silver as their money, a metal that was found on Sheol but not used except for some jewelry. It was thus no surprise that I had an interesting amount of it at disposition should I wish to buy myself a situation here. It was the only solution I had found to avoid the dangerous fate of having to marry whatever moron who had it in his head to try and claim me. It wouldn't end well for them, of course, but it would also cut short my trip planet-side and wished to avoid that.

Another good point that I found was that the language had changed, but not enough for me to be inconvenienced more than a couple of weeks. It should be easy to learn it again.

First, I had to make a short trip and after that I would go to the palace and try to buy myself a situation, and even think about starting a commerce in order to stay inconspicuous. I would probably do some travel too and try to scan for interesting things, but I was not in a hurry. I was planning to stay a few years here.

1774 BC, Mesopotamia, Tau'ri, Unclaimed planet.

Seven months had passed since I went into the palace to buy myself a situation, and I was quite amused at the way things went. I had been ambushed twice when I had the silvers on me but managed to fend off my ambushers easily. They were pathetic lowlifes and I barely had to use my strength to put them out of commission.

After that, I reached the palace without any problem and my audience with the treasurer of the country was short and lead to the results that I hoped. I was able to buy some minor nobility status. Nothing that would protect me should the king wish me harm, but enough that anybody else would think twice before attacking me.

After all, it was not exactly a lawless place. I learned with some surprise on my part that the king was working on a very rigorous set of laws so that his kingdom would always be calm and in order. It was still a work in progress and I was curious about how he would ensure that every single citizen of his empire would know the law, but that was a humongous step toward some proper civilization.

I didn't actually meet him that day, but I knew that day would come at the time, and of course, however arrogant that thought may have been, I was proved right.

I had taken upon myself to apply my meager skills and try to take up jewelry when I was not away looking for any possible survivor of the Goa'uld occupation. At first, I would have to admit that my skills were horrendous. I knew how to work with the several precious metals and gems, but my designs were far from being beautiful. Even I could see that, so I started again and again, until I was satisfied with my job.

It took me three months to get to an acceptable level in my opinion, and I soon started to sell my creations. The sales were moderate in the beginning, but I had the advantage of being a stranger. My designs were different, curious, beautiful and yet completely alien to those people. I knew that as long as I could get my hands on some resources, I would be able to sustain a very comfortable life there. Not that I wished to stay beyond a decade, after that time my not aging would become absolutely obvious for everyone and I would face a lot of problems.

And even with my growing renown, I was surprised to hear from the palace. The kind had heard of me and I was to show him my wares as soon as was possible. At the time I snickered to myself, jokingly thinking that the king would like to sample the 'wares'. I wasn't laughing for long.

Oh, the showing of my creations went exceedingly well, maybe a little too well. The problem appeared later. I was asked to come to the palace more and more to keep the king company, until one day he flat out asked me to become one of his concubines.

I had learned a lot about the society there, about how the union between man and woman was somehow protected by word of the king, but also how the taking of concubines was still a common practice. I had no protection against that kind of thing, being alone myself, and the king would probably make my life very difficult should I refuse. Of course I could just leave and find some other place for me to finish scanning the planet, but I was disinclined to do so.

For me to have lived for so long in a matriarchal society where my word was law, I was finding myself in a very confusing, and yet very amusing situation. I was basically to become a living sex-toy for the king. And the most confusing part was that I wasn't that much against the idea. I had done the same thing before myself, taking a few lovers to alleviate my needs every once in a while, and to be honest the king was a pretty handsome man. Sure I would be used, but at the same time I would be using him to scratch my itch, and at the same time give me some absolute protection in his kingdom. Nobody was stupid enough to mess with a king's concubine, even more should she be somewhat prized by him.

So I accepted, asking simply for the permission to continue living in my home and working on my craft. He accepted reluctantly after I told him that I would have to leave for a short time regularly to buy some resources, but I managed to convince him. The silly man wanted to have the best quality materials directly delivered in the palace. Thoughtful, but I liked my freedom and was able to let him understand that.

Now though, I was in a room, naked, surrounded by various beautiful women that were working on choosing my makeup and garments for my first night with the king. That was eerily familiar to my first years in Babylon, but I wasn't in the same position. From goddess, I went to concubine. Heh, I could always try to see what kind of influence I would be able to gain upon the king with the skills I learned during my very long life. Could be amusing. I would have to be ready soon though. King Hammurabi didn't like to wait too long for his entertainment.

1774 BC, Mesopotamia, Tau'ri, Unclaimed planet.

Six months later. There was some good news, and some very bad news. Good news first, I managed to find numerous weapon caches in the last months. Remnants of the Goa'uld and Tok'ra activity on the planet. Amusingly enough, from what I was about to gather, the Tok'ra faced the same fate as the Goa'uld and were expelled from the planet when the people understood they were the same kind of demons than their former gods. You got to love the irony. Oh, when I learned that from an old tribesman, I could just imagine their face at being called Goa'uld. It would have been hilarious.

On another hand, I gained a profound respect for the various tribes' elders all around the world. To remember tales dating millennia was extremely impressive.

There were also several other good news. I managed to detect the presence of several Goa'uld ships around the planet, small crafts of course, which indicated that the Earth was not as forgotten as I thought. How was it a good news? I managed to ambush one such Goa'uld after he landed and was able through a mix of drugs and sensory deprivation tortures, to extract a lot of information out of him on the current state of the council of the System Lords.

I was quite bothered by the fact that Ra seemed to have never forgotten my escaping him and still was looking for me, but I knew there was nothing I could do about that so I let it go. What was a little more concerning was that the System Lords were gathering an enormous amount of power among them with the other Goa'uld not understanding what changed.

It meant that they were extensively using my serum to avoid insanity but were not spreading it toward all the Goa'uld. They were hoarding it for themselves. It was to be expected though, and all in all a pretty good thing for the galaxy after some thought. Most of the System Lords and other Goa'uld were too old to simply change because they were not insane anymore. They had enjoyed the torment they could inflict to others for far too long and thus wouldn't be able to come back from it, to become decent rulers for the first time in their lives. Except Bastet of course. After all those years, I still had a soft spot for my former Lord. What I had done with the serum was to grant the galaxy a series of sane tyrants, which was much more terrifying than insane ones. And they were building their powerbase. They had recruited scientists and tried to emulate me. From what I gathered from my prisoner, they had taken to improve their technology and designs to make it more effective in a standard fight. But it was costly and was only available to their elite guards. I was pretty curious about those weapons but I knew that I would have to wait.

Another good point was that the Tok'ra have been kicking things up a notch too, and had become much more of a nuisance than before. Assassinations had become a common thing and even though the System Lords had been spared until then, I knew that one of them would fall before long. I simply hoped it wasn't my old friend.

Now, for the bad news… that annoying little bastard of a king. I told him not to do that, to wait a couple of days, but no, he had to have his fun and wouldn't take no for an answer. I had hoped I would be lucky but it was to no avail. I couldn't even go back to my ship to ensure everything would be okay, he had to have a lot of fun after a successful campaign. Result? That bastard knocked me up. Damn him and his entire dynasty to the hottest place in Netu, I'm pregnant. That put a dampener on a lot of my plans. And on the future I would lead. It was the one thing I didn't plan for, I didn't expect, I didn't think about. A baby. A son.

It was easy enough for my scanners to determine that and see that he will be a fine specimen of the human race by analyzing his code of life. Even if it wasn't my specialty, I researched this much into the subject.

I would be the mother of a human son. How the hell would I be able to manage that?

1773 BC, Mesopotamia, Tau'ri, Unclaimed planet.

I blinked as I took back control of Maya's body after two months of sleep. It had been a great surprise for Maya when I told her that I would have to leave the total control of our body to her as her pregnancy reached its last few weeks. She had seemed happy at the time, and it had brought some contentment into me.

The last months had been a trying time for me, with the king being overprotective of me and refusing that I leave the palace, and the hormones running their course and totally confusing my thoughts and feelings. But I pushed through and managed to keep my wits somehow. Now, why did I feel Maya furious against me?

'You know very well why I am furious Lilith. First, you sleep around with some king and get pregnant, and then you leave the hardest part to me?' She seemed both incredulous and angry, and I must admit to having cringed at having her feeling the pain of giving birth to our son.

'I… Look Maya, I agree that it was a bit of a low blow on my part, but it wasn't as if I had that much of a choice. I just couldn't stay in control. Hell, it's the first time I'm awake in a couple of months.'

She snorted at that, letting me know that my excuse wasn't that much of a good excuse for her.

'Well next time you want to fool around for some grandiloquent plan of yours, use your fucking head and don't leave me with a damned baby to give birth to!'

Wow, she was really angry. It was the first time in our long years that she was that angry with me. Our first great fight after more than a millennium of living together. We are finally a couple like every other.

'Lilith! What the… we are not… Gaaaah!'

And apparently I had thought that a bit too loudly and she heard me. Embarrassing.

'Haha, sorry Maya, just a stray thought that I found amusing. And I'm really really sorry about the baby, please forgive me?'

I could hear her grumble into our mind, but I knew that she would forgive me. She was just like that.

'It will cost you Lili, I don't know what but you'll pay for this.'

This time it was my turn to groan.

'Was that nickname necessary? And alright Maya, as long as it is reasonable I accept.'

There was some silence before I could hear her answer with a small pulse of warm emotions.

'Good…' And after a few seconds. 'And you did a good job with our son. He's just adorable.'

I smiled a bit at that, looking at the small bundle asleep in my arms.

'I know…' Several more seconds passed before I continued. 'You know Maya, we really sounded like a married couple right now.'

'Lilith! I'm so not listening to you anymore!'

I chuckled softly and looked at my son once more0 I was so entranced by this little human that I didn't register for a couple hours that for the first time Maya was the one to talk to me first, without me actively seeking her out. I always had to allow the conversation first before.

It was at that moment that I choose his name. He would be Kal. It had several meanings, strong, swift, but also to repair. It was a strong name that would do him much good.

1772 BC, Mesopotamia, Tau'ri, Unclaimed planet.

I was furious, enraged. Who dared, who dared!? I had received a communication from Sheol. They were calling for my help. Apparently, a plague appeared after they made contact with a new people. They tried to contain it but it was incredibly resilient and lethal, with a month long incubation time when it would be absolutely invisible to most sensors. Before they knew what the problem was, it had reached each and every one of the planets I ruled. Already, thousands upon thousands were dying and my scientists were no closer to finding a cure.

I was needed back there immediately to help them calm the people and try to find a cure before they all died. It could be a natural disease of course, but for it to strike soon after meeting a new potential ally? There was something fishy around, and once my people was cured, I would look into things.

Still, I had to leave for a long while and I knew I couldn't bring Kal there. It would be too dangerous, and I couldn't take my son in the middle of a plague. It had only been a year but I loved him to death and would die before letting anything happen to him.

Thinking about that, I would have to research ways to keep him from dying of old age. I don't think I could bear seeing him age and die. I couldn't. But I had some time, not a lot but I had some time.

First though, my people needed me.

I thought about speaking to the king about my departure, but I knew he would refuse, and I would have to use drastic measures to convince him, such as revealing to him my true nature. I didn't know the effects that would have on Kal's life, so I decided to just leave in the middle of the night without anyone being the wiser. I had enough skill to do that.

It tore my heart apart to leave him alone for who knew how long, but I had no choice. I would come back for him when it was safe. And he would be safe and loved here. The son of a king. He had a good long life in front of him. I would be back for him before long though, so it didn't matter. I was just thinking of excuses to alleviate my conscience.

I kissed my son's brow, a tear slowly falling down my face before setting him up comfortably on his little bed. It wouldn't take very long, one year or two at the most and I would be able to come back and take him with me.

I stood up. Time to leave.

1772 BC, unknown planet, unclaimed domain.

The escape had been pathetically easy, and a lie or two sufficed to have the guards letting me out of the palace. Going back to my ship took a few dozen minutes and soon enough I was back in space, pushing the hyperspace to its maximum speed in order to come back to the closest neutral planet with a gate to reach Sheol. It took me a couple of weeks to find one and soon enough I had a wormhole engaged toward my domain.

Immediately, I was hailed by the gate control.

"Stop immediately before entering the gate and identify yourself." Blared through the speakers of my communicator.

"I am Empress Lilith, coming back home after I learned of my people's plight."

Everything was silent for a few seconds before I was asked.

"Roger that, please give your identification number."

I smiled at that. Even during a crisis they didn't let go of the security measures. And really, number was a bit of a misnomer.

"SADA0549K7I5FD"

The answer was immediate after that.

"Thank you your highness, welcome back. Please wear a protective suit. The plague is extremely virulent, already twenty two percent of our population died from it."

I couldn't prevent my shocked gasp to escape my lips.

"T-twenty two already in a couple of weeks? Damn it! I have to get there right now!"

There was a couple of seconds of silence and after that the woman answered.

"Thank you your highness, and good luck."

I cut the communication after that and entered the gate. I had a lot of work to do if I wanted to save my people.

The meeting with the heads of the state and chief scientists working on a cure was called immediately as I reached the planet, and soon enough I was facing them all inside the high security gate complex.

"Thank you for coming here so soon. First of all, I ask you all to forgive me for not being here until now. My wishes are superseded by the security of our people, and even though I am your Empress I recognize that I failed you these past months."

They looked toward each other before shaking their heads.

"Nonsense your highness, you are entitled to your vacations, however far they are. For this to happen during one is tragic of course, but there is no way we could blame you. Knowing you, you came back as fast as you could as soon as you heard of the situation."

I sighed with a small smile and nodded.

"Of course I did, you are my people." Then my smile disappeared and I turned toward the scientists. "Tell me everything you know about this plague."

The atmosphere became tense immediately.

"It is an extremely lethal virus, above 97% rate of death once you get it. It is very resistant and can be inoculated every single way we know. Fortunately, its life expectance without a host is of only one month, but at the state the plague progresses, it won't matter. We'll be wiped out before that."

I frowned.

"How does it kill? And what is the common denominator between the survivors."

They winced at that.

"It strikes the brain, a very specific part of it with surgical precision. Every single person died of multiple aneurysms in the emotional center of the brain preceded by a loss of empathy and sometimes downright apathy. Of course we tried to treat them the way we treat conventional aneurysm victims, but the problem was that every single blood vessel in that area of the brain is affected. There's nothing we can do to save them."

I already knew the answer to my other query.

"The survivors are complete sociopaths right? No emotional center or at least no hormones that would be targeted by the virus."

They snarled.

"You got it right. Even worse, the virus somehow stays active in them, making them active plaguebearers. And they are insane enough for some of them to voluntarily spread the plague. After all, everybody would be like them afterwards, a perfect world. We…"

I closed my eyes and sighed.

"You put them to death, right?"

They mutely nodded and I slammed my fist on the table, snarling.

"Damn it, damn it all to hell you made the right decision. I hate it, and I know you do too, but you made the right decision. Did you at least manage to spot what hormone the virus modified to create the blood clot?"

They looked sadly at me.

"We did. It somehow infects the rest of the body and creates a molecule that reacts with every single emotional hormone. The infection is benign and contrarily to other virus, the cells are not damaged in the process. The first targeted are the cells of the immune system when they try to digest the virus to jumpstart the creation of antibodies. I…" He looked defeated, completely defeated. "I don't think we can do anything. It's completely beyond our area of expertise."

I closed my eyes, gritting my teeth. He was right, I had not any idea to save my people.

"I see… I'm afraid I have no idea on how to do it myself, but I will find a cure, I have to." I then turned toward the Deputy and looked at her. "How are the people themselves."

She seemed bitter.

"How do you think they are?! There are riots, plunders, rape, the crime rate exploded and the planet I love so much is falling to chaos and anarchy!" I flinched at that, closing my eyes in sorrow. "I'm… I'm sorry your highness, I shouldn't have…"

I held my hand to stop her.

"I understand, don't worry. I knew the situation was dire, but for it to be this catastrophic…" I looked toward all of them and snarled. "We have to do something! I'll be working on a scanner to detect the virus even during the incubation period. It is vital that we save as many lives as possible. As… as much as it pains me, I don't think we can do anything about those already contaminated. Except…" I turned toward my scientists. "Can you handle the scanner yourself? I want it as soon as possible."

They looked toward each other and nodded.

"From what we know of the virus, it should be feasible. We'll take care of it."

I nodded and turned toward the Deputy.

"Can you handle the logistics once you get the scanner?

She winced, not liking where I was going.

"It will be hard but I think I can do it… Where are you going?"

I smiled grimly toward her.

"I'm going to plead our cause toward our tentative allies."

Back through the gate, back to Heliopolis I guess. I had the Great Races representatives to see.

1772 BC, Heliopolis, Great Alliance.

As soon as I went through the gate, I rushed toward the communicator I knew was hidden in order to ask for a summit. Immediately, a hologram from the Asgard appeared in the center of the room.

"Greetings Lilith, why have you called us?"

I looked toward the Asgard with determination visible on my face.

"My people is suffering from a great calamity, a plague is wiping us out." I kneeled on the ground and prostrated myself in front of him. "I beg of you, of all of you. Please save us."

The room was silent for a few seconds and I didn't dare look toward the hologram until I could hear it speaking again.

"I see… we will inform our allies of that development. Please stay here."

I heard it going off and slammed my fist on the ground in anger and desperation. The only chance I had and he was telling me to wait? Still, I forced myself to be calm and decided to wait. I had absolutely no other choice anyways.

Three days, it took them three days to come to a solution, and it was with trepidation that I heard the gate opening behind me, seeing multiple Alterans and Nox people approaching me. I moved to greet them before one of the Nox looked at me and signaled me to stop. She looked at me in such a way that I understood immediately the problem.

"No!? Even I?"

She nodded and approached me cautiously. If I had been contaminated in the short time I spent on the planet, it meant that either the gate center or one of the people I convoked had been infected. It also meant that my evacuation plan was doomed to fail. I fell to my knees and wept openly at that. How could I save them if even that was doomed to fail?

I felt a soft hand on my cheek and looked toward the Nox in alarm. I wanted to warn her that it was extremely contagious, but she wasn't looking at me, it was like she was looking through me, inside my body, directly at the virus. I looked at her in wonder. Were those allies that powerful that they transcended humanity even without any technology?

I was forced to stop in my thoughts as I felt her frown and shake her head in dismay. She then turned toward the Alteran and nodded.

"It is not the same, but there are similarities. Probably a benign version of the Great Plague. It won't affect us but humans are not the same as us. They are different, their bodies weaker."

I snarled in dismay. So they knew this plague but they called it benign? What kind of abomination was the Great Plague? She then turned toward me and frowned once again. Sorry about that, we'll make sure we do everything we can for your people.

"Sorry about…"

I couldn't finish my question, darkness swallowed my consciousness.

When I woke up, my first thought was about my people. My second was about why the hell I was in a glass container. My third was about how the hell I could be alive submerged in some kind of liquid for who knew how long. Then everything came back to me and I tried to make it known that I was awake.

How long had it been since that time on Heliopolis? Hours, days, months, years? Then I felt the liquid start to decrease and I was able to breathe for the first time in a while. Immediately, I vomited the water in my lungs, coughing and hacking in dismay to rid myself of the horrible sensation.

A couple minutes later, I looked up to see several Alterans looking at me with a smile.

"Where…" My voice cracked from disuse, something that told me a long time had passed while I was unconscious.

"Please don't stress your body, it had been quite the ordeal you went through."

I groaned as I felt my weak muscles try to support my body.

"How long?"

"Seven years."

My eyes widened in surprise and horror and I forced myself to look at him.

"My people…"

The man closed his eyes for a second before looking at me once again.

"We managed to save all those that could be saved. Sheol is lost though, there are no living humans on it anymore. The infrastructure is still here though, but… well, it's probably in dereliction after all this time."

I sighed.

"How many?"

He winced at that.

"At the time, our scanners only found five hundred and thirty four thousand people across all of your planets that were not affected by the virus. We extracted them and relocated them on another world. They had a hard time adapting to life once again but they survived. We shut down your gate and disconnected it from the dialing device. Someone would have to reconnect it manually for it to work again."

I nodded with a small smile. Five hundred thousand. It was a tiny amount of people, not even one per thousand of the initial population of the planet. But it was still more hope that I had initially. Not everyone died, I could rebuild.

"What about the survivors, the sociopaths?"

He blinked toward me, completely shocked by my question.

"What do you mean? The virus is lethal."

I shook my head.

"There are a small portion of my population that were called sociopaths. Their emotional response was nil, which meant that they were able to survive the virus and act as active plaguebearers due to a lack of empathy and cold ruthlessness. We were methodically wiping them out at the time, but…"

He sighed himself at those news.

"We didn't know that. We assumed that since it was an offshoot of our plague… Still, there may still be some humans alive on Sheol though. Dangerous humans that bear the plague. The planet has to be cleansed."

I held my hand in the air to stop him.

"I agree, but would it be possible first for me to look for some records on Sheol? I assume that since I was cured, it means that I will not fell prey to the plague once again. And secondary, I think that plague came from off-world, a people that we found while exploring the gate network. At the very least their gates must be condemned."

I didn't say the second part of my thoughts. If I learned that they contaminated my people on purpose, I would bring hell on their heads, and… forget… Oma's teachings for a while.

"He nodded. I see no problem with that. You will be also glad to hear that your ships have been parked on one of the rock moons on your system. Apparently the crew knew it was infected and condemned so they parked it with all the security and then depressurized the ship in order to kill themselves cleanly and decontaminate the ship. They have to be commended for their bravery."

I turned my head toward the ground, a shaky smile on my lips. Good job troops, you did me proud. May you rest in peace in the afterlife.

I stood up and immediately noticed my nakedness. It was not that much of a big deal for me, but it had its disadvantages. Like the annoying little cold wind I was feeling against my skin. I raised an eyebrow at the man and asked.

"So, what necessitated for me to stay so long in that tube? And could I have my clothes back please? I just feel… naked without them."

I smiled innocently at the man and had the pleasure of seeing him blush ever so slightly. Heh, still got it. He soon gave me an overcoat in order to cover my modesty. Nice thought.

"Er, sure, I'll ask for them to be sent here as soon as possible. As for the treatment, there was a complication with the Goa'uld symbiote. You were not directly afflicted by the virus, and wouldn't have died, but you were what you would call an active plaguebearer." My eyes widened at that, completely confused. I really didn't feel like a sociopath, but I was one? "Don't worry, your emotions are well in the norm. It was just your natural healing that was keeping you alive and prevented the blood clots from appearing."

I breathed in relief at that, thinking about my little Kal. Not being able to hold him in my arms because I was the bearer of a plague was just unthinkable for me. It would have killed me. Thinking about him…

"How soon can I be out? I… well, I got a son on the Tau'ri…"

The man's eyes widened at that and then softened a bit.

"I see, you should be okay as soon as you are given the green light, which will take a couple of hours. Medically, there's nothing to say. We scanned you thoroughly before letting you out of that tank."

I nodded respectfully toward him.

"I'm sorry if I appear as somewhat inconsiderate, but everything is really hard for me at the moment. I thank you for your help from the bottom of my heart."

He nodded with a easy going smile and turned back to look at another medical file.

"It's my job Empress Lilith, but a little gratitude is nice to hear. Please don't take it bad though when I wish we'll never see each other again after that."

I chuckled and nodded.

"Sure thing, I don't fancy spending my life in one of your tubes as comfortable as they may be."

Another amused chuckle answered me before a comfortable silence took its place, with him working on another patient and I waiting for my suit.

1765 BC, Babylon, Tau'ri, unclaimed territory.

After that, it took me a couple of hours to get my suit and the authorization to leave their base and planet. I immediately dialed the planet where I left my ship and traveled back toward the Tau'ri, my heart heavy as I pondered that I had missed his whole childhood. Would he even call me mother after such a long time away from me?

It took me a couple of weeks to reach the planet, and a couple of minutes to arrive above Babylon. I was high enough that I didn't appear as anything else than a bird, but I could already see the city. How would I process though, in order to get back my son? After several minutes without any viable solution, I sighed and decided to go with the direct option. Talking with Hammurabi and telling him the 'truth' about myself. Well, a heavily edited version of the truth. Like me being a pseudo goddess. It should alleviate him enough to give me the access to my son.

It was why I found myself in the royal rooms a windy evening, looking at the sleeping form of the king. I was lucky that he was here and not out for one of his very successful military campaigns. He may have been a bit of a warhound, he was a very talented one.

He was also very paranoid and had an uncanny perception of his surroundings, which was why I wasn't surprise to see him wake up and quickly scan the room until he saw me. He then blinked looked at me again, frowned and spoke to me.

"Lilith, you didn't change one bit."

I nodded, a small smile on my lips.

"King Hammurabi, you aged finely in those past few years."

He smirked and nodded.

"You are not the first one to tell me that. But enough with the niceties. Why did you disappear?" he looked at me and more especially at my suit. "And what are those… clothes?"

I nodded and sat on the bed, making myself comfortable.

"I received a message from my home, Sheol, my people were the victims of a plague. I had to help them. I couldn't come back before because even though I was not dying, I still had the plague in me. It is no longer the case."

He frowned at that, curiosity visible on his face.

"Your people? Are you some kind of princess?"

I snorted at that, visibly amused.

"Try a bit higher, I'm an Empress."

He blinked at me, my words not registering in his head.

"An Empress? Ridiculous, what kind of people would let themselves be ruled by a female. And what kind of Empress would accept to become a king's concubine?"

He had some good points. Well, not the first one obviously, but heh, it was all he knew.

"And my people, Hammurabi, would have asked you what kind of people your subject are to be ruled by a man. Different people have different cultures and different ways to see things. As for your second question, a very bored Empress. I was born in this country a long time ago and was looking to relieve some of my boredom by visiting." I smirked at him. "You were a surprisingly good lover for your age."

He smiled a bit before frowning.

"How old are you Lilith, if that even is your name?"

I nodded softly.

"It is, and I won't tell you my age, only that I was the very first one to be named Lilith."

It was a bit of an exaggeration, since I didn't know if it was true. But it would very well give him an idea of what I was. And a good idea it was as he literally leaped away from me.

"Demon!"

I smacked my hand on my face in exasperation.

"Oh come on, I don't know where that stupid rumor came from, but I'm no more a demon that the other… gods of old."

He looked at me warily.

"What do you mean?"

I looked at him with an amused smile.

"I mean that Marduk, Ishtar and I are of the same race. Among many others."

He looked at me seriously after that.

"And you did not call yourself a goddess yet. Are you saying that those gods existed but were no gods?"

I felt my eyes widen at that. I knew he was smart, I lived with him for a while after all, but not that smart.

"You like surprising me Hammurabi. Indeed, we were powerful back then, more powerful than you, and yet we are not gods. Some like the power it confers them over their subjects. I was not one of those. Devotion is fickle and unwarranted."

He nodded at that.

"I looked after you, you know? I went to numerous villages and asked for you. There were… stories there, of the old times when the gods walked the earth many, many years ago. Of the rebellion that casted the gods back to the heavens."

I nodded.

"We were sent back indeed, enemies of ours had managed to leak the truth about our rule to the people, and they rebelled. We were taken by surprise and driven off." I smirked wryly. "Let that be a lesson Hammurabi, never underestimate your people."

He laughed openly at that.

"Noted. I fought with them too much to underestimate them though." He looked at me curiously. "You seem surprisingly calm though even though you're talking about the story of your exile."

I shrugged.

"Meh, I was much more like the others at the time, cruel, manipulating… I was young, influenceable. I'd like to think that I am better now, that this exile served as a reminder that I am not all powerful and should treat my subjects decently."

He nodded with a soft smile.

"A lesson we could all do with." He then stood up, shaking a little, before clothing himself. "But I guess you're not here to simply discuss with me but to see your son."

My eyes lit off in joy and I scrambled to my feet full of eagerness.

"I missed him so much in all those years! Where is he?"

He stayed silent and just left his room, walking through the corridors. I remembered them perfectly, having walked them numerous times before. Still, we were not going toward the rooms but leaving the palace. I stayed silent, but I couldn't help but feel some apprehension. When we left the city and walked through the sands, apprehension turned into dread, and when we reached the royal tomb, that dread turned into horror.

"No, I beg you, no!"

My voice was as broken as my heart. He was my son, my little light, my little Kal. He couldn't have died yet, this was not possible.

"I'm sorry…"

I barely acknowledged Hammurabi in the background, falling to my knees in front of the gigantic incomplete monument that would house one day Hammurabi's corpse. I was completely silent and so was Maya, our thoughts turning to stone and crumbling. This could not be happening, not him too, everything and everyone else, but not him!

I heard someone screaming in the background but it didn't matter. My son was dead. If I wasn't held back by the Alterans, he wouldn't have died. I stopped that train of thought immediately. If I wasn't held back I would have killed him myself. The true culprit was this plague. My eyes flashed gold, expressing the rage I was feeling.

It was only then that I understood that I was the one screaming, and that in my rage I was lashing out at everything around me. The only good thing was that I had avoided to attack Hammurabi and the tomb that house my little boy's body. After all, he didn't tell me how, and I wouldn't dare damage Kal's body. Still, the landscape around me had been changed. Holes were littering the place and rocks shattered into sand. The rare trees had been torn from the ground and turned into splinters.

For the first time, I could see my suit smoking slightly, the burning sensation of the overloaded power conduits tearing into my skin. It didn't matter. Nothing really mattered at the moment.

I turned toward Hammurabi, my rage fully visible on my face. My eyes flashed and I instinctively used the distorted voice that I had granted this body.

"How?"

That single word had an unimaginable weight, and I knew Hammurabi knew it too. He sighed and sat on the ground, not far from me but not as close as before too. Seems like he was impressed and even a little terrified by my display of sorrow.

"Illness. Nothing we could do. It was four years ago, a dark year. Many a mother lost their sons and daughter that year. I lost three sons and two daughters that year myself."

He looked longingly toward the tomb and I just fell to my knees tears falling freely from my eyes.

"The plague your people faced… how many died?"

I closed my eyes, my tears falling freely.

"At the last census? Three…" I stopped immediately. There was no word saying billion in Sumerian. "thousand millions, four hundred and fifty two millions, eight hundred and seventy two thousand people… approximatively." I had made the calculus based on the number of survivors. I owed them that. I failed to save them.

Hammurabi had been shocked into silence.

"I didn't know there were as many people on this world."

It was probably the first thing that came to his mind and I could see he was horrified by these words. That was not an appropriate answer. It still brought a teary chuckle out of me.

"There aren't. I estimate the population of this world to around… thirty or forty million. No, that plague destroyed another world, my world. Would it have not been for extremely powerful allies of mine, everybody would have died but me, and I would have been condemned to live carrying the plague with me, killing all those that approached me."

He closed his eyes, not wishing to imagine such a life.

"How many survived?"

I tilted my head to the side, not knowing where he was going with that.

"A little above five hundred thousand. Why?"

He sat in front of me and looked at me straight in the eyes.

"Your duty didn't end when most of your people died. It didn't end when your son died. Your duty as a ruler will only end with your death or the complete annihilation of your people. So go back, rule them, guide them, and if needed, avenge them. They need you, and right now you need them."

I looked at the king with a newfound respect. He really was a splendid ruler.

"You're right… Of course you're right."

And he was. There was so many things to do, a civilization to rebuild, ties to strengthen with our old allies. And revenge to be done. It didn't even cross my mind that those visitors could have been innocent. I knew they brought with them the plague to my home. So they would pay. They would pay dearly. I must have had that sadistic glint visible in my eyes, because he turned toward me, serious.

"There are some people responsible for your plague, right?" I nodded mutely. "If your people hadn't been plagued, you would have been here right? You would have saved Kal and my other children, right?" I closed my eyes and nodded. His voice was as hard as stone after that. "Then do to them what they did to you, make sure they won't make anyone suffer again."

The grin I sent him was bloodthirsty by that point.

"Of course my king." I stood up and made to leave, before remembering something. "Oh, Hammurabi, how is your set of laws going?"

He looked at me and seemed a little frustrated.

"Too many of them claim not to know them, it's becoming annoying."

It was a problem with the laws, especially in low tech civilizations. I smiled toward him though.

"Simply have them engraved on a stone that you will put in the center of each village and city, and ensure that there is a person that will read them to anyone who asks. If they don't know the law by then, it's their own fault and you can punish them to the fullest in good conscience."

He looked at me shocked before laughing heartily.

"Thank you Lilith, I didn't think of that…"

I simply waved at him before leaving.

1765 BC, unknown plantet, unclaimed territory.

I looked down from the bridge of my flagship on the seemingly harmless planet below. It had been pathetically easy to get back to Sheol and search the remnants of the gate control center for the coordinates of the planet the 'visitors' came from. Or rather where we sought them out. It was an honest mistake, but one that she knew was pretty stupid too. It should never have happened that way. But it had, and now it was time to deal some revenge.

From the mission report, there had been no warning from the locals about a plague. The team stayed there a couple of weeks to learn the language, close to the Goa'uld language, and then left. One point that interested me was their interest to know the coordinates of Sheol. It was refused of course, and the fact Sheol had been untouched meant that they didn't get it, but in the wake of the plague, such an inconspicuous request was sounding much more malignant.

I looked at the scanners I repurposed and frowned. The planet was clean itself, but each and every living organism on it was a vector for the virus. It needed some cleansing. It really needed some cleansing. I favored fire personally.

My first thought was to attack an uninhabited continent with my main weapon in order to destabilize the orbit of the planet. After having removed the gate though. Unfortunately, my weapons didn't have a sufficient yield enough to cause such a drastic effect. Oh, I could bomber them into eradication, but it would be too sudden, too quick. I wanted them to suffer for their transgression.

I looked at the planet in contemplation. There were a lot of forests and bogs, very few deserts. Still, I could do things with that. Then my thoughts turned toward their gate. I wouldn't remove it. No, I would simply remove the dialing device. This way, they will constantly see a way out that they wouldn't be able to use.

I also had to consider that they were probably all sociopaths, so their train of thought was inherently different from ours. They probably wouldn't even be able of feeling despair and grief, so the best revenge I could have would be to have them see their people die in front of them, one after the other, without being able to do anything.

Just as I saw my people die without being able to do anything. Just as I learned my son died, without the healers being able to do anything to help him.

With a dark sneer, I walked toward my shuttle. There was a dialing device to recover.

I looked at the world below me once again. I had acted during the night and removed the dialing device. I had then methodically aimed my plasma weapons toward each and every one of the forests on the planet, setting fire to them in several places. It took numerous days, but finally my vengeance was complete. The fires were visible from space, and already the atmosphere was saturated by the smoke. They would starve and die. Some would survive, but they would live pitiful lives, full of strife and pain. An endless fight against their planet turned hostile.

I sneered. They deserved nothing less.

1760 BC, Heliopolis, Great Alliance.

"WHAT!? Do you know what you have done? They are psychopaths of the worst sort, genocidal bastards. My people died because of them, what right did you have to refuse me my vengeance?"

I was absolutely furious. No, even furious was not a word strong enough. Enraged was a lot better. I had started to rebuild, slowly. Things were not the same, they couldn't be the same. Sheol had been cleansed of the… surviving elements and we had started to inhabit it again, but things were not the same, they wouldn't be the same.

The industries, the power generation, each and every single detail of their everyday life. Everything was disturbed. There was no time to evolve, no time to research. No time to do anything but survive and call our allies.

And the Saravin came to our help. They had not been touched by the virus, obviously, but suffered too from the collapse of this society we built together. So they came back and helped us, they helped us rebuild, they helped us maintain the infrastructures and repair what could be. They restarted the production of electricity and the distribution network.

As a result, our ties were stronger than ever. The First refused the very idea of there being a debt between us, saying that we would have done the same. He was right, we would have.

Still, this wasn't why I was so angry at the moment.

The Great Alliance found out what I did to the plaguebearing psychopaths and disapproved. So as they did for us, they extracted their people from the wrecked ecosystem they were living in and transferred them to another star cluster.

"Vengeance is not our way Lilith, it is the way of the Goa'uld. Who is to say that they were all guilty of what happened? Who is to say there were no innocent? We know we have no real say on your actions since you are not a part of the Alliance, but you have proved to be the closest thing of an ally we could have among the Goa'uld. Please do not go back to their ways."

I slammed my fist on the table.

"Didn't you read the reports on the plague? It is not only about revenge or me being like the other Goa'uld. These people were all infected. They were all sociopaths of the highest degree. Of course everybody wasn't aware, but should the argument be compelling enough, none of them would have argued. Sociopaths are not reputed to have the highest ethics. What I did was maybe cruel, but it was a huge boon for our galaxy."

The Nox representative shook her head while the Furling looked pensive.

"We have no right to judge other populations nor do we have the right of life and death upon them Lilith. If you see yourself above the warmongering ways of the Goa'uld, you have to understand that. They were other ways to contain their threat, and it may have been better for you to talk to us before you acted. Still, we do not begrudge you the right to your revenge nor will we punish you for doing so. But when we rescued them there was only a couple thousand of them alive, and it's barely enough for the population to be viable. And when we transported them to their new home, we cleansed them from the virus. They are harmless now. Let's stop the bloodshed here, there has been enough. Please."

I groaned and put my head on the table. I hated it when they were making sense. And as a couple thousands without the virus, they were harmless enough. Still, it was a population of sociopaths and that was still dangerous.

"Alright, alright, on one condition." They were all looking toward me curiously. "We strip their planet and the planets in the immediate vicinity of their dialing devices."

I expected some rebuttal, but they were all looking at me thoughtfully.

"It is appropriate. Should you be right in your suspicions, it would be an efficient buffer to contain them."

It was the Furling representative that spoke the first, and it didn't surprise me. Out of them all, he and his people looked to be the most sympathetic of them all. They would probably have done something very similar to what I did.

"I see no harm to it. It wouldn't hamper their development. "

Surprisingly, it was the Nox who agreed afterward. And this was it. The Asgard and Alterans had no qualm with the decision and it was agreed that the dialing devices would be removed on their planet and the planets around it and that would be it.

I looked at the report once again and sighed.

Looked what I did to them stuck, since they renamed themselves. And they probably wouldn't forget what I did to them. Not that they knew I did it.

The Aschen they called themselves… how amusing.

Alright, tragedy, death, the cracking and crumbling of an Empire and the enemy so many of you asked for! I hoped you enjoyed this chapter and it's worth the wait. I also hope that the next time will not take so long to write. *cough* motivate myself rather *cough*.

Loved the support and that not one of you got vicious or too impatient about the delay! (From what I saw)

Please, once again review, love that and it helps me a lot with my writing.

See you next time guys!