FINALLY ! I did it! I motivated myself enough to write this chapter (and I wrote it in just under a week... I suck, I know, don't hate me too much?)

This chapter was... a bit hard to write, as you would have guessed. I saw all the critics you guys made on the pacing, and I agreed that I was going too fast for you to appreciate the characters that I introduced, and I tried to resolve that. I think... You'll see them a couple of chapters or so before I advance the plot.

I can't stay that much longer on things, but next chapter should be fun to write... butterfly effect ftw !

I know that my destroying Lilith's Empire and her... subdued reaction to it stuck a nerve in a lot of you. It may have been that I didn't convey her reaction as well as I wanted to. I wanted to show her as numb, going through the motions. And well, then the anger against the Aschen. I thought that was particularly sadistic and Goa'uld-like of her to do that, showing her rage toward those that consciously infected her people and caused the death of billions.

Well, you can't manage to do everything right, so sorry if I disappointed you. But this was not a spur of the moment thing. This was planned, and the death of her child too, as quick as it was. There will be long-lasting consequences for both. I won't say any more.

So now, reviews answer time ! As always.

Nianque : Not a lot tbh, I don't think Hammurabi would make a great reveal and everything, saying gods are alien. He would be laughed at and the clergy would just restart after his death. Religions are tenacious things, and clergyment can be pretty vicious when tickled. *cough* Akenaton *cough*

JD : Sorry you think like that...

Faraway-R : Aschen are the original plague-bearers, and maybe some lucky sociopath infected from Sheol. The rest were purged by Lilith and the Great Alliance. And I'll take note of what you said, it is indeed interesting to know.

Dotton : Indeed they will. But there will be changes I will make, especially toward the Goa'uld. It will not be a struggle for survival at every moment, but I don't want Lilith's Empire to just destroy everyone without a fight. Butterfly's effect will be in full swing.

Abu : Yup, this just proves I was not successful as I said above, so sorry. I hope the next chapters will show that she didn't take it totally in stride like that ^^

EvilTheLast : Yuuuup, a very enthusiastic vacation

CainBlack : Indeed, and sorry, but she won't mess with the stargates for a loooooong while. It's just too advanced technologically to modfy.

skarosianlifeform : Yes! You got what I wanted to convey with her little vacation \o/. As for the Tok'ra, don't count them out already, they benefit too from the advances in technology. Future SGC though... we'll see, but they won't roflstomp everyone as they did in canon though. As for the variant of the Plague... virii mutate spontaneously, so everything can happen. Or call it an author-ex-machina if you want :P

OMAC001 : Made is suuuuch a big word... She just tried to kill them.

Pouyan : Sorry to read that.

Sereven : I know, I'm trying to address that problem. I'll see if I'm successful. That's the problem with the stories that start too far back in time, we're tempted to rush back toward canon.

SpRaCe100 : I wanted to show her numb, and then extremely angry. A normal Goa'uld would have simply killed them all by orbital bombardment. Lilith got creative in her anger. But then again, I realise that I messed up the emotions there. I'll try to do better in the future.

Guest : My first flame, I'm so touched. I'm a real fanfiction author now!

Guest : I was like 'no it's wrong', and then I remembered the episode when Sam destroyed the star, and I facepalmed. So yup, you're right, I'll add that in the future time skips when I talk about the jumps in technology.

Crystal Weaver : I can understand that. I see your point too.

.5 : Nope, not weaker...

So, I think that's it, except... THANK YOU everyone! For your support, for your advice, and for reading. I know that I took a long time. I won't promise you it'll never happen again. But I will tell you one thing. The day this fic is abandonned is the day I die! Not before. If you have some doubts, just send me a MP, I answer those pretty quickly and they tend to motivate me. Don't spam though, that's annoying.

I will say I'm sorry to my beta ChoasSpartan575 (changed his name, cute). I didn't send you this one, because it took sooooo long that I didn't want to make you guys wait any more.

But now, please enjoy the chapter !

1757 BC, Sheol, Lilith's domain

I looked upon the barely lit city, frowning softly. While the reconstruction efforts had gone well, it had posed numerous logistical problems. The first and main problem had been to dispose of the bodies. Fortunately, the length of the plague had made it so the only remains left were skeletons. Having to fend with numerous plagues due to rotting remnants was not something I wished my people to face. And despite the two years since we were back on Sheol and safe, it was a task still decades away from completion. I sighed and rubbed my brow, not liking the situation at all.

Even though I did my very best to accommodate my people in the wake of the catastrophe that struck us in our very heart, I was facing some very harsh criticism and knew that there was nothing I could do to pacify the crowds. Already there were numerous motions in our parliament to dissolve the Empire and adopt a far more democratic regime. And I would not flee, I would face my responsibilities as a true Empress. Head held high in the face of adversity.

The door behind me opened and the new Deputy entered the room, a smug smile on his face.

"It's done Lilith."

There was nothing else he needed to say, it was already clear enough.

"Is it all Romen?"

Romen, the leader of this peaceful revolution. The one to cast down our matriarchal way of live thanks to the slight majority of males surviving the plague. Everything I had chosen, everything I had done had been struck down, cast in the flames of renewal.

"The tribunal has decided on your fate."

I turned suddenly, facing my detractor.

"A tribunal? I was not even aware I was to be judged on my actions! Did you fall so low as to ignore the very principles our nation is built upon?"

His expression turned ugly, a sneer fully visible on his face.

"Bah, pathetic remnants of a gone era. We were weak, and thus succumbed to the duplicity of primitives. No more I say, no more! We are strong, and with the help of the gods this galaxy will know this to. We will engrave it in the very fabric of reality."

A cold sweat on my back chilled me to the core. Still, I tried to stay calm.

"The gods Romen? Since when do you believe in gods?"

That cold feeling turned to ice as I heard a second voice answer, a voice I knew extremely well.

"Since he met me Lilith."

How!? How was Ra here? My words echoed my thoughts

"How..."

I was interrupted by his cold tone and a light facing my face.

"It doesn't matter traitor. You're finally mine, and we have so much to say to each other."

Those were the last words I heard before blackness engulfed me.

I jerked up, breathing heavily and cold sweat covering my body. I frantically observed my surroundings only to sigh in relief as I looked at the familiar setting of my room. I fell back on the bed and chuckled the emptiness from my nightmare slowly dissipating. I didn't have the time to gather my thoughts though, before Maya made herself known, her sleepy voice bringing a soft smile on my face.

'Hello Lilith, did you have a good sleep?'

It was something that caused us both no small amount of surprise. Even though our dreams were usually shared between us, these nightmares of mine were a bit of an anomaly. From our talks, we have agreed on the fact that it was probably a subconscious effort of mine to spare her the relentless assaults I was facing. A good point was that I also had the pleasure of seeing Maya blush slightly at the idea, a fond smile on her face. Or that was the feelings conveyed to me through our blending. This was after all a very clear proof of my loving her. She was family.

'Hello Maya. Nightmares as usual. You?'

I could nearly hear the frown among her next words.

'I slept well, thank you. Still, you should do something about these dreams Lilith. You can't continue like that.'

I sighed, knowing that she was right. Despite my different needs in terms of sleep, I still was dead tired. Those nightmares had started soon after the meeting with our allies of the Great Alliance. All the guilt that I was repressing in order to be a good ruler, all of my pain and misery manifested itself through my dreams, or rather nightmares. It was never twice the same, but it was always the same setting. My choices, all the dilemmas I was facing were twisted, used, to create worlds were I was facing inexorable failure. Always failure. I failed my people, I failed Maya and I failed myself. Always.

'I know I can't Maya, but I also can't risk going into treatment right now. There is too much at stake.'

And I was right too. That last nightmare of mine had twisted my sense of time slightly, but I had soon gathered my wits. It had been two months since I gathered my people once more and I chose a place to stay.

It had been a harsh choice that weighted on us all, but finally after several days of discussion, we decided on leaving Sheol definitively and inhabit one of the planets we discovered in the past, a primitive world with plenty of game to feed our people until we could rebuild.

It was also at that time that I first heard about Romen. He was a middle-aged man, quite handsome and with a charisma that belied a ruthless mind and view of the world. He was also a conservative Sheol supremacist and one of the most vehement detractors of our slightly matriarchal society that I had ever seen. I had to admit that he probably loved our people as much as I did, or even more at times, but the way he wanted to do things would create us numerous enemies, and would surely attract the ire of the Great Alliance. It was in our interest to rebuild and stabilize our society, not to militarize and conquer any neighboring peaceful people we encountered. And then there were the Goa'uld. Fortunately, our fleet was intact so I was not frightened to encounter a minor Goa'uld, but I knew that if a System Lord heard of us it would quickly become problematic. I would probably be able to cover the escape of our people, but there would be casualties and I was not guaranteed to escape with my life.

To get back on tracks, Romen was currently a problem. Not an immediate one but any mistake on my part would not be missed and would be used to consolidate his position and to weaken mine. And Maya knew that too.

'I hate it when you make sense Lilith.' I could hear her pout in her voice. Then she got serious. 'Do you have a plan to neuter him politically?'

I sighed heavily. Maya didn't like politics and thus she next to never paid attention during the meetings I had with the new Deputy and her staff. The problem was that we could do nothing against him without going against the very laws that we were enforcing. There was no way in the short term to get rid of him. Plus, he got a significant number of votes during the last elections, enough so he was clearly a political threat but thankfully not enough for him to get to the position of Deputy.

'You know very well there isn't Maya.'

She made a soft sound of annoyance to answer me.

'A girl can dream... now hurry or you'll get late for the meeting with the Jaffa representative.'

I rolled my eyes with a soft smile on my face. She, more often than not, was taking the role of my secretary and made sure that I followed my schedule. Sometimes, I could just swear she liked mothering me.

'Do not!'

Oh, did I think that too loudly? A wry smile appeared on my lips at that.

'That was so mature of you Maya.'

I got the very distinct intuition that she was rolling her eyes at me.

'Exactly. Now hurry your pretty little ass and take a shower. You're not exactly early.'

I laughed at the blatant narcissism and went to shower myself. I just loved those little talks with Maya.

I frowned at the Jaffa elder, trying to take in her words. The queen had died during the plague, not of the plague itself but simply of a lack of care and food. I did not think of the consequences till then, but it was glaringly obvious. Despite everything, the Jaffa still needed the symbiotes to survive and there weren't any left to replace those who reached adulthood. The fact that the Jaffa suffered next to no casualty during the plague thanks to their improved immune system was not making things any simpler.

Ultimately, there was but one solution. I had to go and get a new queen from my home world. It was as simple as that. I thanked the elder and promised to be quick to answer the problem before leaving. I had an expedition to plan for and a Goa'uld queen to capture.

I couldn't help but grin happily as I gazed at the birthplace of our species. There was a little something in the air that made it so I just felt at home there, away from my people. It took me a few minutes to bring my equipment near the lakes and set the scanning array in order to detect any queen in there.

I could probably have had these tasks done earlier by having one of my scientists come with me instead of going alone, but there were too many symbiotes in the waters of the lakes, and any single mistake could end up with him or her being infected. With our society as it was, it could prove disastrous and come to bite me in the back. I didn't even have the tools to safely remove a symbiote from its host without risking it to commit suicide and take with it the life of the host. And we were hard-pressed enough as we were without losing any more scientists. That was why I was risking myself alone in that place.

Still, everything was going as planned till then, the scans were complete and there were not one but seven queens in the few lakes around my position. One was old enough that I would not dare to choose her lest I would have to plan another such trip in less than a century. A couple were too young, not mature enough to start spawning larvae. It left me with four queens that I could capture. I would take two of them in order to avoid stressing them too much. I had the sonic lures and enough space in the tank for two queens.

It took me seven hours to finally capture both queens and to secure them in the tank but I had a small smile on my lips as I carried the cumbersome equipment back to the gate. A fast checkup of my surroundings and I was dialing back home and leaving the planet after sending the security code for the gate shield.

The travel back to the temporary laboratory was short and I was soon unloading all my equipment and switching the queens to a more comfortable tank for them to reside in. Everything had gone perfectly during the trip and...

"Hello Lilith."

I literally froze in my steps, recognizing the voice even after such a long time.

'Well fuck.'

And it seemed that Maya recognized it too. But how? I turned slowly and saw the light appearing from a small sphere in the middle of my scanning array, something that I knew had no place to do in there. I sighed heavily before answering, knowing very well that there was nothing that I could do to salvage the situation.

"Hello Bastet, it has been a long time."

A small hologram appeared above the sphere and I could see a smile appear on her lips.

"That it has Lilith, that it has. More than a millennium and you did not even call to say hello. One would think that you didn't like me anymore."

I actually snorted at that a small smile making its appearance on my lips.

'Don't forget that she promised to go after you Lilith, I don't think she did.'

A wry smile appeared on my lips at that.

'Yeah, I don't think so too...'

"Well my Lady, I would have, but I seem to remember that I had to leave in a hurry to avoid being the guest of a certain Supreme System Lord. As much as I appreciate your company, I'm not one to risk my freedom for mere sentimentalism."

She grinned at that answer, nodding knowingly.

"I bet you would, you were always pragmatic like that... Many things changed though in the last millennium, and one of them was Lord Ra's attitude. Your serum had a surprisingly effective effect of him and he has lost a lot of his arrogance and delusions of grandeur. Unfortunately, it made him even more dangerous to his enemies and political opponents, securing his position as our leader. I'm pretty sure he would understand and forgive your leaving us if you would give him some of your technologies."

I frowned at that, considering my options. It would be nice to not be as isolated as before and to know immediately the state of things in the galaxy, but there were risks too, and my obviously different way to treat my people would gather some criticisms from them should it be known. And criticism was saying it softly. I was risking my life there, and I would not be surprised should the council ask for my execution.

"I would love to, but I have to ask some allies of mine first and think heavily on it. Things have changed, and I bet I could even surprise you."

A knowing smile appeared on her lips and her soft laugh made itself known.

"I doubt you changed that much Lilith, you'll always be that cute over-talented little subordinate of mine."

I actually guffawed at that.

"Please Bastet, I've not been a subordinate in a millennium. I won't go back to that life. I refuse to."

My tone was deadly serious by the end of my sentence and Bastet herself lost some of her amusement.

"Oh, I have no doubt of that being true if it was fully up to you Lilith, but fortunately for me it isn't. I know where you are, and I'm coming. Let's see if you can defend your little haven from my forces."

I nodded, a small smile on my face.

"I thank you for the warning and will gather my forces. As a courtesy and to thank you of your warning, I will give you one of my own. Don't attack me through the gate, it's shielded and I will establish a quarantine to block any gate travel."

She looked at me for a few seconds before grinning.

"I'll send a few convicts to verify the information, but I thank you for the warning. I could have lost some very valuable troops without even a fight."

I grinned cheekily at that.

"Oh, but you still will my Lady, facing my ships in face will not be any easier. Still, I won't say any more, wouldn't want to spoil the surprise."

She looked at me surprised, before nodding.

"You're efficient, I know that. I won't underestimate you."

I nodded and moved to close the communication.

"Do your best Lady Bastet, I will do mine."

With that the communication was closed and a quick blast from my hand device had the little spy device in pieces. I had a lot of work to do to prepare for this fight, and a lot of people to talk to.

I was wearing my full ceremonial outfit as I entered the meeting room, a serious expression on my face. Inside, already waiting for me were the Deputy, a blond middle aged woman named Sellen, the highest ranked soldiers left in my army and Romen. I had hesitated a loft before inviting him but I knew that I couldn't avoid warning him too. If I did, I was risking him learning of it later and capitalizing on the fact that I didn't deign warning him as soon as possible. I couldn't even imagine the political clusterfuck he could have raised should that be the case.

Strangely enough, he didn't try to aggravate me immediately this time as he always did. He must have realized that there was something wrong due to the soldiers being in the room with him.

"Greetings everyone. I would say that it is a pleasure to meet you all, but I'm afraid there is nothing really pleasurable about the situation we are in."

Immediately the mood in the room turned even more somber should it have been possible. The Deputy and the soldiers were hesitating in asking about it but Romen wasn't one to beat around the bush in those situations.

"What kind of problem did you land us all into Lilith?"

I wanted very much to bristle and become angry at him but he kind of had a point even if he was a disrespectful asshole.

"Romen, you are pushing things too far!"

The Deputy though, didn't have any problem with chastising him. Not that it was really useful here. I sighed deeply before answering.

"During my sojourn on my home planet to catch a new Goa'uld queen for the dying Jaffa populations, I was tagged by a stealthed agent of my former master, the Goa'uld System Lord Bastet. Said tag consisted of a communication device, through which Bastet warned me that she was coming to take me back as a subordinate, and you all under her control. "

There was a heavy silence in the room as they were processing my words. After a few seconds one of the generals in the room spoke.

"Are we sure about that attack? Wouldn't it have been more advantageous for her to use the element of surprise?"

I smiled at that and nodded.

"Bastet and I have a... relatively good relationship. She had warned me a millennium ago that should I try to escape her, she would go after me and the only way to make her back down would be to cost her enough ships that her attack wouldn't be worth it anymore. I can easily say that she is one of the most intelligent Goa'uld out there and the most reasonable."

Romen looked pensive as did the other members of this room. He was though the first one to comment.

"It's... interesting. I suppose that she knows you enough not to underestimate you. Does she have any idea of the scale of our fleet, or its nature?"

I grinned at that, nodding appreciatively.

"She doesn't underestimate me indeed, but I'm happy to tell you that I was not foolish enough to show her the primitive designs of my fleet. At most, she has the improved gliders and even then there are a lot of modifications that I implemented since then. At the same time, I'm not exactly sure that her fleet is as it was when I left. A millennium passed and I know Bastet to be adaptive and intelligent. It wouldn't surprise me if she got a fleet able to keep us on our toes."

Everyone seemed both reassured and apprehensive at the same time. It wouldn't be an easy fight and there would be losses, but we were confident we would be able to win. After all, the defensive capabilities of my ships were clearly the best possible with our technology, and our technology was either on par or superior to the Goa'uld's. Sellen was the next to speak, confidence clearly present in her voice.

"We'll need to warn our allies, more especially the Saravin. There is a good chance for them to stand alongside us in the coming conflict. We will also have to warn the Great Alliance about the coming conflict."

I nodded at that, accepting her input.

"It's a good idea, but we should also say to the Alliance that they should not intervene. Bastet may have a good relationship with me, having the Asgard intrude in our little skirmish would pave the way to an all-out war. And it wouldn't be with her only but we would be facing the full wrath of the System Lords. And that would be suicide despite our slightly superior technology."

Romen nodded at that and smiled confidently.

"With the shield on our gate and the lack of ring transporters on this planet, we do not risk a full scale land invasion if the fleet holds, so I propose that we greatly increase the recruitment of pilots for our squadrons of gliders. Fortunately, you had the good idea of making sure we had enough pilots to man our capital ships as soon as possible."

I nodded with a soft smile appearing on my lips. This confirmed what I knew all along about Romen. For all his faults, he loved our people and was ready to do whatever it took to protect them, just as I was.

The next few days were a blur. The very first thing that I did was to send a communication to the Saravin, informing them of the threat. The answer I received was beyond any expectation that I had. They were fully behind me and pledged to participate in the efforts to defend my freedom from my former master. It would need a lot of work, but they agreed that it would be possible to modify the individual gliders so that individual Saravin programs would be able to pilot them, limiting the need for living pilots, human or Jaffa.

Oh, I would still have them recruited and trained to become a part of my army, but it removed one huge weight on my shoulder. The loss of lives, already huge due to the plague, wouldn't be further increased by the dramatic amount of casualties that were bound to occur during such a fight. And it was not callousness in disregarding synthetic life that made me think like that. It was relatively easy, with the help of the Saravin themselves, to create a means for the defeated gliders to 'emit' a signal back to the planet, saving their pilots. The system itself was shielded in our best alloy, making sure that it always lasted long enough to save the Saravin whenever they needed to. It had to be a conscious thought on their part, but since they couldn't be rendered unconscious, it wouldn't pose a problem. The last security measure was to make sure that the alloy wouldn't let radio waves get through, which would mean the death of the pilots and the near annihilation of a big part of the fighter force.

Some humans and Jaffa would also crew the gliders, but it would be only the best that would pass all the tests and trainings with flying colors. Only the very best would be allowed to fly to defend us, because we couldn't afford any less. Those that were just below that level were drafted in the planetary defense fleet, that wouldn't participate in the space fight, but defend the planet against any and all intruders.

The human, Jaffa and Saravin would also crew the capital ships. The six ships, aside from the flagship that I would myself command, were too big and too complex to be simply crewed by the Saravin. There was also the matter of physical repairs and other maneuvers that were not possible for the bulky artificial bodies of the synthetic race. Another argument in favor of the inclusion of human and Jaffa crew was made by Romen, that insisted on that point. While technically our closest allies, the Saravin were not under our dominion. And to simply leave our fate to them, to abdicate our right to defend ourselves and depend solely on our allies was… distasteful to him. And I had to agree with him, probably not for the same reasons, but it didn't matter. Our fleet was as ready as it could possibly be.

It would not be possible to further improve the fleet. The fighter squads were fully crewed and each and every ship that our fleet possessed was operational. That left us with 5 cruisers, the super-carrier and my flagship as the main fleet, with three thousands gliders, two thousands in the carrier and one thousand on the ground of Sheol. The atmospheric fighters numbered a bit below five hundred. Sufficient to protect the planet. It would be possible I guess to build more fighters or gliders, but it wouldn't be useful in my opinion. It was too late. I should have had my fleet buffed in numbers years before, not just now that the threat was imminent. I was thinking about ground based ion-canons, but I was planning to have the fight far away from the planet so it wouldn't be useful in the short term. The only thing that I could plan would be more efficient weapons. And I had an idea for that…

"Not possible, absolutely not possible. There is simply no place in the weapon to put a hyperdrive. It's too bulky. We can't do it with our level technology. You'll have to limit yourself to the gliders."

Well, I tried. And the very idea of sending gliders as suicide bombers was… Not so ludicrous now that I thought about it, but it would have to be automated fighters, with neither Humans or Jaffa nor Saravin. Simply a program to launch the glider in a suicidal jump. And with some fiddling the security system of the hyperdrive, it would probably be possible to reenter space inside the enemy ships, bypassing the hull.

The explosive would be a naqahdriah bomb placed where the life systems would be usually. The yield of the explosive would be more than enough to kill any enemy in the vicinity and cripple a ship or outright destroy it if they hit the main naqahdah generator. It would also be relatively easy to craft such ships, even if it would be costly in the long term. But I didn't know of the extend of the attack force Bastet would bring toward me, so I didn't have the luxury of being difficult. I had to make a choice, and losing some fighters to inflict grievous damages to the enemy would be profitable should the attack force be too numerous.

"Greetings, I contact you through this device and not in person to inform you of a threat I am facing. One of the Goa'uld, my former master Bastet, has become aware of the position of Sheol and is probably in the way to assault us as I speak. "

I breathed a bit and took a relaxed pose in front of the cameras recording my message.

"Should this be any other situation, I would beg for your help in saving my people, but the situation is abnormal. My relationship with Bastet is relatively good as she is one of the more... moderate of my kind, and as such she simply wants to test my mettle and see if I'm worthy to be my own master or if she should subjugate me again."

I looked at the camera with a small frown.

"That is why, I respectfully ask that you would not investigate Sheol or conduct any operation on the plague before I contact you again. The interference of the Great Alliance would mean that what is a simple and relatively cordial conflict could turn into an all-out war. I'm sure you agree this cannot be allowed to happen."

And indeed, the Alteran and Nox were sometimes visiting the planet to check on the results of the plague and its rare remnants in some remote places that were fully quarantined under shield. It would probably disappear completely from the planet in a couple of years, but there were still a few dangerous areas.

"I thank you for your patience and will contact you as soon as possible"

I stopped the recording here and sighed. I did want to go see them in person and explain the situation, but the quarantine made it so that I could not go through the gate. The risks were too important. Even the colonies had been deserted, with only a skeleton crew to insure that the equipment and installations wouldn't degrade too much in the meanwhile.

I would just have to send the device through the gate. It would activate as soon as there was a life-sign in the vicinity.

Twenty bomber ships, one a day, that's what we could produce before the general alarm indicating that the enemy force was approaching. And I was nervous. Immediately, I boarded the small shuttle that would associate with the flagship and become its deck. It was relatively small, but sufficient for my presence and the three engineers verifying the integrity of the ship. I had finally chosen to name it. My flagship was the Black Moon, the very same that was my emblem.

Soon, the suicide bombers were brought in the super-carrier, which loaded the people and programs necessary to pilot it and all the gliders that it contained. Its bulky form rose slowly, piercing the sea of clouds and going into space. The Zepar was taking flight, ready to deliver its lethal swarm to any enemy it encountered.

Then, the last to rise were the cruisers, the five of them being the Asmoth, the Amon, the Alocer, the Aym and the Agares. No real meaning to those names, I just liked them and the generals had no problem to indulge me with that.

Still, we were getting ready to face the incoming assault, the Black Moon and the Zepar placed behind the five cruisers which were placed in a basic arrow configuration, one of them being the point, and the others a bit behind them, top, bottom, left and right.

I was greatly limited by the amount of ships that I had, but it should be sufficient. After all, not only my ships and gliders were much more efficient compared to the traditional Ha'tak design, but a single System Lord fleet should not be too numerous. Maybe as many vessels or a little more. Barring some huge technological jump from my kind, similar to what I had done, the casualties would be limited on my side.

Bastet's fleet arrived thirteen minutes exactly after the moment my whole fleet was in place. The thousand gliders not docked on the Zepar were already in the air, waiting for their opponents just behind the capital ships. They had specific orders to never be in front of my other ships. Even though the hull of the gliders was tougher, fact was that it could never withstand the full brunt of an ionic blast. The human and Jaffa pilot would be immediately vaporized, and even the Saravin wouldn't be able to escape the glider before it died.

The ion projectile was powerful enough to burn each and any glider on its way before striking its target, which made it a really powerful weapon, and gave me a couple of ideas in order to deal effectively with the enemy forces.

But it was too late to think about that, now I had to see the forces Bastet brought to my planet, and their strength. The forces were a bit more numerous than I expected, ten Ha'tak measuring about three to four hundred meters in width and one huge ship that I expected to be Bastet's flagship, ten times bigger. That was the biggest ship I had ever seen in my long life and it made me a bit nervous. It would be a bit of a challenge, or a lot depending on the strength of their weapons and shields. The hull wouldn't have been changed too much probably.

My thoughts were then interrupted by a call from Bastet, which I immediately accepted.

"Lilith my dear, it's been too long since we last saw each other. How are you?"

I let a small amused laugh escape my lips.

"Hello Bastet, it indeed was, though when I see all the friends to brought to this little get together, I can't help but thing that it hasn't been long enough. And I am rather well all things considered. And you?"

She shook her head a little, a smile on her lips.

"Eager to see what you have been up to this past millennium, and to bring back my most interesting servant under my command. I missed your intelligence and wit."

I nodded to her, a bit flattered despite everything.

"I guess once you accept my being strong enough, we will be able to see each other more often."

She giggled a bit, a sound that was definitely strange for a Goa'uld, I had to admit.

"We will have to see how this little battle goes… Apart from your monstrous flagship and this strange spherical ship, your fleet doesn't seem too impressive."

I chuckled knowingly at that.

"Oh my dear Bastet, when have I ever disappointed you? And the spherical ship is my flagship, the Black Moon. You'll just have to see what those unimpressive ships of mine can do."

She looked surprised at that.

"Oh? I'll make sure not to blast it out of the sky while I deal with your fleet. It would… pain me to kill you."

I let a bit of a smile appear on my face after that little comment.

"And I'll do the same with your monstrosity of a flagship. I'll just cripple it a bit, enough so you can flee."

She snorted before nodding.

"So be it, we'll see who hold the superior firepower in this fight. I'll see you later Lilith. Hopefully you will be on your knees in front of me."

I chuckled in clear amusement.

"Was I that good the last time?"

That brought her to a stop, before an annoyed look appeared on her face.

"You're a bit crasser that you were before. I'll have to correct that."

My amused laughter was her only answer as she cut the communication. Immediately, I opened a com channel to the rest of my fleet.

"Greetings everyone, Lilith talking. I'll be brief, because Bastet's attack is starting."

Already, gliders were rushing out of the Ha'tak and flagship, easily a couple thousand. I would have to order the Zepar to deploy its squadrons soon enough. But not immediately. First, I had to finish my mini speech.

"I trust you, I trust you to be at your very best today, whether you are Jaffa, Saravin or Human. Because everyone's freedom is at stake. They will destroy our society and make us slaves! It must not happen! It cannot happen! We are Sheolans, we are free!"

I could say no more before the plasma bolts reached the shields of the cruisers, splattering harmlessly on them.

"Cruisers, status report."

It was a com channel that was only between me and the cruisers.

"Their weaponry is a bit above your expectations my Lady, but nothing our shields can't handle. I'm more worried about the flagship."

I answered immediately.

"Acknowledged. Return fire all target the same ship with your ion weaponry. Choose your targets wisely and try to burn as many enemy gliders as possible at the same time. Let's show them our bite !"

Without waiting for an answer, I switched back to give my orders to the gliders.

"Engage the enemy, but wait after the cruiser shot them out of the sky. Don't hesitate to use the hyperdrive to return alive if needed."

I then stopped communicating and simply looked at the fight through the glass, watching five bright blue projectiles rush toward a Ha'tak. My instruments showed the first projectile destroyed the shield and the others simply annihilated the ship in a fraction of a second.

Immediately, I sent the information toward my commanders, which decided to target more ships next time. The goal was to destroy as many ships as possible each salvo.

Strangely though, I observed that immediately after the second salvo was sent, a minute afterward, destroying two more Ha'tak, the smaller ships were retreating behind Bastet's flagship. It was a surprising move coming from a Goa'uld, but that was pretty much what I expected from her. She was not one to waste…

My thoughts were cut off as I saw the bright plasma projectile of the flagship impacting the shield of one of my cruisers. Immediately, I could see that they were not up to par. The shield may have resisted the assault, but the hull simply looked cooked by the residual energy, and the call I received from the commander on the ship confirmed this diagnosis.

"My Lady, we request the permission to retreat immediately!"

I was quick to answer the desperate call.

"Permission granted, I still want a situation report though."

He winced and after barking several orders to his lieutenants, had the crippled ship move back toward the planet.

"The blast cooked our hull, but that was relatively minor. The alloy is made to resist this kind of energy bleed-out. No, the problem was that nearly every circuit linking the generator and the shield exploded under the strain. The generator had to be overclocked to survive the blast, and the massive and sudden increase in power melted them all. We have several casualties who had part of the walls explode in their face."

I grimaced at that and sighed before nodding and contacting all the cruisers, ordering them to fall back. It would be a battle between capital ships.

I had to contact Bastet first though.

"Nice firepower you have here lady Bastet, you nearly cooked my ship."

Her face was now deadly serious.

"Lilith, you have ion weapons."

It was not a question and thus didn't require an answer. I chose to give her one though.

"Bastet, I disappeared for a thousand years. Please tell me you didn't expect that I would stagnate technologically. It was some hard work trying to figure out how they work, but I managed to do so."

The chuckle that answered me was full of disbelief and yet somehow amused.

"Even when I think that I know you, you still manage to surprise me… But I guess you didn't contact me just to brag. I do know that it's not like you to do that. What do you want?"

I nodded. She still knew me relatively well.

"You're right, I do want something. Your Ha'tak are obsolete, you've seen that, but my own cruisers are in danger facing your flagship, and would be destroyed before doing any significant damage. I propose we settle that with our flagships… And gliders if you wish to."

She winced at that last part, knowing that I had her beat there. Her gliders were more maneuverable than those I knew, but they were still no match for my improved fighters and their hyperdrive.

"You'll have to explain how you managed to put a hyperdrive on a death glider Lilith, I thought that impossible. But of course, you just love to prove me wrong." She seemed to sigh before nodding. "I agree. Anything else would be a waste of resources and people. And… no death gliders. Just my Might of Bastet against your Black Moon."

I couldn't help the amused laugher after that.

"Might of Bastet? How original and modest a name Bastet..."

She snorted.

"We all have our shortcomings. It just so happens that I like that name."

"You would… Let's get to this fight Bastet, your flagship against mine, no death gliders."

"Agreed."

The communication was cut after that and several second later I had confirmation that the enemy fighters were pulling back. I did the same for mine and soon enough we were faced toward each other. Not wanting to give her any chance, I launched the first attack, making sure to attack what I knew to be a non-vital part of the ship from the traditional Ha'tak designs. I had no desire to kill Bastet, I just wanted her to admit defeat.

Both our shots were launched at the same time, and both were devastating in their own right. My attack pierced fully the ship and destroyed in a flash of light a huge part of her flagship. A trench of nearly a hundred meters had been dug into her flagship, effectively gutting it. There was no doubts that if I had targeted a vital system, I would have destroyed the flagship on impact.

Her shot was less successful fortunately for me, but still extremely alarming. My shields were still in the green, but the engineers that I had on board informed me that the power-transmitters were on the verge of explosion too. Another shot and my flagship would be crippled. The good part though, that I should appear unharmed to Bastet's sensors.

This intuition of mine was soon verified by Bastet's new call.

"Yes Bastet?"

There was some smug satisfaction in my voice, and we both knew it."

"You win Lilith. Had you targeted a vital part of my ship, I may have died from such a weapon."

I smiled a bit at that.

"I did not want you dead Bastet, I just wanted to send a message. I'm no one's subordinate."

She looked a bit sad at that, if that was even possible, but nodded.

"I understand Lilith. I don't like it but I understand."

I smiled toward her, a bit sadly to show I was… somewhat sorry.

"We'll see each other soon Bastet, I want to discuss the state of the galaxy with you when you get back to Bubastis. And… Ra."

She nodded, understanding the problem.

"We'll discuss that later. Let's go back home, I'll contact you once we can discuss. Goodbye Lilith."

Before I could answer her, the communication cut and her ships turned to enter hyperspace, leaving my troops and me alone. I turned on the general com channel and breathed, a small smile on my face.

"It's over guys, we won."

Cheers were my only answer.

That's done! Chapter's over. I hesitated to give you a cliffhanger, but after all that wait, I didn't dare do that to you guys. I'm not that sadistic. Or stupid.

So, please don't hurt me? And review? No flames if possible.

And see you next time ! (hopefully, sooner than this time)