H.M.C.S. Haida, an hour later . . .
"So according to what your friends got from the Noukiites, this guy Apophis came from a different planet than Abydos, right?" Jack O'Neill asked.
Hiromi nodded. "A probe of one of the Jaffa indicated the planet of departure was called 'Chulak,' which is in a different solar system but the same general sector of the galaxy as Abydos." She tapped controls to draw up an image of the local cluster of the galaxy, with the various claimed territories of Earth's neighbouring powers all shown. "Chulak is about a hundred light years beyond the coreward frontier of the Imperial Dominion of Noukiios, but it's a world that's never interested the Noukiites as a whole," she said as she pointed out the planet in question. "Abydos is here." She indicated another star about a hundred light years closer to the galactic core than Chulak. "Again, it's not in a system that really interested the Noukiites or the Zephyrites when they were exploring this part of the galaxy several centuries ago, so I strongly doubt there was any detailed examination of either world. I doubt the normal inhabitants of either planet are aware of any other sentient species."
"So when we took out Ra, all that happened was that this Apophis character moved in and took over his territory, right?" O'Neill asked.
A nod. "Unfortunately so. At least, that's what Kyech-san told me. This was what Ra's territory was like before you eliminated him." She tapped controls to expand the hologram to show the whole galaxy, an area in framed gold then flashing which encompassed a large sector of space around the galactic core on all sides.
"My God!" Brian Gamblin breathed out. "If he was that powerful . . .?"
"He may have had vast territories, but his actual physical forces were quite small and limited both by his technology and the reach of the Stargates."
Silence.
"What do you mean?" Tom Kazanski asked.
"I doubt the good colonel or his friends would have realised it at the time they dealt with Ra, but the Goa'uld are not a progressive race when it comes to technology and improving it," Hiromi stated. "Believe it or not, when I compared what records Tsukihana-kun and Ayami-chan got from the factory ship that created the fleet with what the Noukiites possessed on them, there's been next to no real advancement of technology among the Goa'uld in at least the last fifteen thousand years." She sat back in her chair. "One could conclude that they seem to care more for extending their life spans - Ra was alive at the time of the known contacts with Sagussa, as was Apophis - than trying to advance their technology to levels that would make them quite hard to deal with in this time period. The Noukiites, Colonel, were quite surprised when they saw how easy it had been to eliminate Ra, thus clearing the way for Apophis to take over."
"So why don't the Noukiites or any of the other big powers I've read about on the Internet go after the Goa'uld?" O'Neill asked. "You said there was a raid by Apophis on a Noukiite colony. That's casus belli; why didn't the Noukiites retaliate?"
"We did. Rather, I did."
O'Neill gasped and Ryback blinked as Hiromi smiled while both Gamblin and Kazanski fought hard to hide their smirks. "Kyech-san."
A nod. "Hiromi."
O'Neill turned to see a crimson-haired woman with glittering chestnut eyes - and several noticeable bony ridges similar to what Klingons on Star Trek possessed on her forehead, not to mention a pair of matching flower tattoos on her cheeks - move to sit down at the other end of the table after setting aside a long staff with a nasty battleaxe fitted to one end, that topped with a long jabbing spear. She was dressed in her typical gold-trimmed white-and-black two piece uniform. After taking a moment to fully take in the image of She Who Speaks to Dragons, O'Neill turned back to his host. "She's a Klingon," he stated as he pointed to Kyech.
"No, Jack. I am a Noukiite," Kyech said matter-of-factly.
Hiromi chuckled. "You will just have to get used to her, Colonel O'Neill." She then proceeded to do introductions for both Jack O'Neill and Casey Ryback to Seu-P'ye Yesu-Re Hechnich'-K'ekhech of Ait'uch Nehech. At the end of that, Hiromi waved to the American air force special operations officer. "Colonel O'Neill is the man who led the mission that finally rid the universe of Ra, Kyech-san."
Kyech's eyebrow arched as she gave the silver-haired, brown-eyed Terran warrior a closer look, and then she lightly smiled. "You saved the people of Abydos from Ra, Jack. That was very well done. Fortunately, Apophis hasn't reached out that far to claim the world as part of his domain. But it will come soon." She then smirked. "Or rather, it might have come soon hadn't he come here to seek a new host for his mate."
"And the Earth Defence Force got in the way," Kazanski stated.
"Will they try to attack us anew?" Ryback asked.
The Noukiite hummed. "No, Casey. The fact that Apophis hasn't returned from his bride-seeking mission would have his advisors on Chulak most concerned. Especially since Teal'c - his First Prime; his military chief adjutant and bodyguard, in other words - also disappeared with him. They would be now caught in a moment of grave indecision. Either deploy out a follow-up force to learn what happened or risk the other System Lords learning of Apophis' disappearance. That would certainly attract his more powerful rivals, such as Ba'al and Cronus. They didn't like it when Apophis moved in so quickly after Ra's death to claim what he had possessed as his own."
"Besides, it's only been a little over fourteen hours since they tried to kidnap that airman in the security team at Cheyenne Mountain," Kazanski added.
A nod. "Yes, Tom. Their reaction time is quite slow compared to any of our races," Kyech stated. "What were you planning to do to them, Hiromi?"
"Offer an Avalonian body for the Lady Amaunet to take up in lieu of the body of a Terran," the reborn emperor stated. "Even if it would mean that she would eventually die in that body eight centuries from now, it would allow her to not worry about being forced to overwhelm another person's very soul to take control of a new host body."
A shake of the head. "I doubt she would like that."
"Why is that?" Gamblin asked. "When the Director proposed this to Lord Apophis, he called it a 'heresy.' The seven young Goa'uld whose embryos were in the bodies of the Jaffa guards that came with him to Colorado - once they were forced to be placed in Avalonian bodies - all felt as if they had committed a mortal sin."
"In their eyes, it IS a mortal sin to bind with the Ra'kalach, Brian."
Silence.
"Why is that?" Ryback asked.
"Because it was the Sagussans who taught the Goa'uld how to use the Chappa'ai, Casey," Kyech said as she gazed fondly at him. "The Stargate."
People around the table nodded. "And with that, the Goa'uld were able to expand from their homeworld to create quite the vast interstellar empire," Hiromi stated before she sipped her tea. "I can see why they would view the old Sagussans with such reverence. How would they react to Avalonians such as you or I, Kyech-san?"
"When I fought Apophis' people on Ch'eng-ch'ehek, they were simply shocked into disbelief that I could be BOTH Pakalach and Ra'kalach at the same time," Kyech stated. "But once they understand that there IS a daughter race of the Ra'kalach - in their language, Avalonians would be called 'Kal'ma Ra'kalach' or 'the Children of the Souls Touched by the Sun' - I believe the System Lords would consider leaving them alone. Or possibly - if they feel it right - actually help them in whatever way they can."
"So if the Goa'uld are convinced that the Kal'ma Ra'kalach are moving to take control of the Tau'ri homeworld, would they concede such a thing?" Hiromi asked.
"Possibly," Kyech conceded. "But then again, the Tau'ri - Terrans, in other words - provide the perfect host bodies for Goa'uld. I doubt they'll want to lose a potential source for host bodies since the option of using Avalonians would be quite an absolute one in their eyes. After all, once you become an Avalonian . . . "
"There's no other way to live the rest of their lives," Ryback finished.
A nod. "Exactly."
Hiromi sighed. "Well, we have quite the conundrum on our hands right now."
"Madame, is there some way to help the Jaffa that came with Apophis?" Kazanski asked. "We had to put them all into suspended animation because the Goa'uld young they were carrying all nearly killed themselves when they tried to possess some Avalonian hospital corpsmen recruits that were moving their hosts into the brig on Arizona."
Kyech hummed. "Teal'c was among them?"
"Hai," Hiromi answered.
"Put them through DNA recombinant therapy," the Dragonspeaker then stated. "I will help Teal'c and his friends recover from what they've endured. And the young ones as well." She then rose, a mirthless smile crossing her face. "But I wish to see Apophis first. I think directly threatening his mate's continued existence will make him see reason concerning any plans he might have for Earth or elsewhere."
"I'll take you down there, ma'am," Gamblin said as he stood up.
Both of them left the room, leaving Hiromi alone with the three American officers; Jennifer Turner had returned to Arizona to monitor her guests while George Hammond had been allowed to return to Colorado so he could pass on what had been discovered up his own chain of command to the White House before coming back to co-ordinate the continued integration of Project: Giza into the Earth Defence Force. Once they were alone, Hiromi then sighed. "Colonel O'Neill, there's something bothering you," she stated as she gazed on the Air Force officer. "What is it?"
A sigh. "Well, actually . . . I'm not sure how to say this . . . "
"Oh, jeez, Hunter! What did you do?" Kazanski demanded.
"Well, I may have fibbed a little bit on my after-action report."
Both Kazanski and Ryback gaped at him. "In what matter?" Hiromi asked.
Another sigh. "Daniel Jackson is alive."
Silence.
"Oh, Christ, Hunter!" Kazanski spat out.
"Wait, Captain!" Hiromi cut him off. "Now, Colonel, why is it you elected not to inform anyone here that Jackson-hakase was still alive?"
O'Neill breathed out. "He saved my life."
More silence.
"I would see that as mitigating circumstances, Director," Ryback noted.
A nod. "As would I, Lieutenant. I would assume, Colonel, that Jackson-hakase is currently living on Abydos?" At O'Neill's nod, she then smiled. "Well, I think a little side visit to that planet to see how things are there might be called for."
"The Air Force brass will have kittens when they find out about this one, Jack!" Kazanski warned. "Hell, before we got things explained out, General Hammond was more than prepared to send a Mark Five SADM to Abydos!"
O'Neill jerked. "Gentlemen, that's enough. I'm sure we don't have to worry about sending nuclear bombs, antimatter devices or cobalt or bauximite concussion explosives through the Stargate to harm innocent civilians," Hiromi then stated to calm things down. "After all, the Stargate Treaty between the Imperial Dominion, the Imperial Houses, the Royal Kingdoms, the United Churches and the Confederation forbids such a thing. I believe it to be in Earth's best interests to conform to the Treaty limitations so that we could be better accepted by the 'older' powers around us in the long term."
"There's actually a treaty concerning the Stargate?" O'Neill asked.
"Hai. One of its key provisions is that no military force is allowed to use the Stargate system to attack another planet. Thus, each of the signatory powers place observers at all Stargates controlled by each of the signatory powers to ensure compliance." A sigh. "It will take a lot to convince the United Nations on that sort of matter, but I believe it will go far, especially with the Seifukusu. They were very impressed with what we did to the Urusians and the Niphentaxians on Yaminokuni, but they still need a good push or two to allow us to take those colony worlds we need." She then caught herself. "Ah, but you need time to learn everything we're doing up here first, Colonel. Would you prefer to do it at your cabin or up aboard a ship?"
A sigh. "If you don't mind, Director, I'll switch over to Arizona," O'Neill stated. "'Sides, Ice and I have some catching up to do!"
"I'll buy the first round in the wardroom," Kazanski promised.
Laughter filled the room . . .
U.S.S. Arizona, early the next morning . . .
"Where am I . . .?"
"You're aboard the Arizona, Teal'c."
Dark eyes opened wide on hearing that familiar soft voice, and then the man lying on the bunk in the rather spacious yet barren room slowly turned to see the lone woman seated on the lone chair on the other side of the room. A glance to one end revealed an open doorway with an energy field covering it totally. A prison cell of some sort, the First Prime of Apophis was quick to conclude before he turned back to gaze on the living goddess now sharing his current space. "Lady K'ekhech . . . "
"How do you feel?" Kyech asked.
Teal'c blinked before sensing something quite off about his body, and then he looked down his chest. His eyes then went VERY wide on seeing the washboard stomach of his abdominal muscles . . . and no X-shaped incision where the prim'ta that had kept him alive and healthy for so long where the navel would be on a normal Tau'ri. After taking a moment to consider that, he then laid back on his bunk. "What has been done to me?" he then asked as he turned to stare wide-eyed at the Noukiite free warrior. "What of the prim'ta I bore, Lady? How could this have happened to me?"
"Your DNA - as well as the DNA of your friends - was rebuilt so that you no longer have to be dependent on a prim'ta to live," Kyech stated. "In effect, you have been transformed back from a Jaffa to a normal Terran; 'Tau'ri' in your language." She then smiled. "With some Avalonian - they are the Kal'ma Ra'kalach - add-ons."
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
And then . . .
Teal'c's voice was hushed as he said, "You are truly of the Ra'kalach . . .!"
"I am Kal'ma Ra'kalach in the form of a Pakalach, Teal'c," Kyech amended. "A daughter of the blood of Sagussa, mixed with the DNA of my original body from three millennia past during the Tri-Kingdoms age of Noukiios' history. In the terms used by the Kal'ma Ra'kalach, I am a Noukiite-turned-Avalonian." She then smiled at him. "As you and your friends are now Jaffa-turned-Avalonians. And the prim'ta you all bore - because they mistakenly attacked Avalonian nursing assistants who were called to this ship to help in disarming you - now are Goa'uld-turned-Avalonians."
He blinked. "The prim'ta live?"
"Yes."
"Why were they not destroyed?"
"Deep down, they are innocent children, Teal'c. The Avalonians will never allow a child of any race to come to harm if they can avoid it."
Considering that, Teal'c could only blink as his mind rolled over what had just been revealed to him, and then he sighed. "Where is Lord Apophis?"
"He is being held on Arizona's sistership Haida," Kyech reported. "He was given the offer to allow the Lady Amaunet the chance to gain the body of a Kal'ma Ra'kalach so that he didn't have to kidnap a Tau'ri woman to be the new host for his wife by a friend of mine, the Most Venerable Lady Moroboshi Hiromi, the Director of the United Nations Earth Defence Force. That is a mixed Tau'ri and Kal'ma Ra'kalach fighting formation that is preparing to seal off Earth - the Tau'ri homeworld - from all alien incursions. And they are fully aware of the Chappa'ai and what it can allow people to do." A smile then crossed her face. "This is the chance both you and Master Bra'tac - not to mention others of your kind across the galaxy - have long dreamt of."
Teal'c blinked as his mind turned back a year . . .
The planet Ch'eng-ch'ehek (Chengsei) . . .
"WHY CAN'T THIS CREATURE BE STOPPED?"
Bra'tac turned to bow deep to the angry System Lord that was watching the mass slaughter of his troops in the glider bay of his flagship, now in orbit over the luscious green world at the innermost edge of Noukiite space when compared to the galaxy as a whole. "We have tried everything we can against her, Master," the former First Prime said before he turned to stare at the scene of utter destruction happening not metres away. "But she resists the direct blows of both the zat'nik'tel and the ma'tok staffs as if they were just the spring wind touching her skin!" He watched as several Jaffa levelled their staff weapons on the flame-haired Noukiite free warrior with the long battleaxe-like halberd, the bolts they fired slamming into her with no effect. "Scan her!" he ordered one of the younger warriors. "Surely . . . "
"Ra'kalach . . .!"
Apophis blinked on hearing that choked cry of mortal fear from the sensor officer, and then he turned to gaze on the pale Jaffa. "What did you say . . .?"
"She is Ra'kalach, Master!" the younger warrior gasped. "Even if she looks as if she was one of the Pakalach, her blood carries fragments of the ra'naquadah within her!" He turned back to gaze on the view screen as he watched the Dragonspeaker effortlessly snap the neck of one of his brother warriors as she deflected several zat'nik'tel shots with the metal wing blades of her fighting weapon.
"Impossible!" Apophis snarled, shaking his head. "All of the Ra'kalach died out thousands of years ago! You are mistaking . . .!"
"TEAL'C!"
He turned as Bra'tac screamed out on seeing a particularly handsome young Jaffa level his ma'tok on the Dragonspeaker's back. As the aged master watched in stunned horror, the Noukiite spun around just as the ma'tok discharged, sending a bolt of energy right at her chest. Like all others fired before, it had no effect.
"KILL HER, TEAL'C!" Apophis screamed.
Suddenly, those glowing eyes in the dark shadows of the Dragonspeaker's sockets suddenly fixed on the system lord through the security monitors. A shower of energy then seemed to cover her weapon for a moment before the long staff the battleaxe was attached to then shrunk into a normal handle. She then wound up and threw it right through the bulkheads separating the glider bay from the bridge. The whole ship shook violently as walls and support beams were sheared apart like tinfoil, the battleaxe finally stopping when it punched through the last bulkhead into the bridge to cleave apart the sensory station and the hapless Jaffa manning it. As Apophis then blinked in stunned shock on seeing that he had just been several centimetres from being literally chopped in half, footsteps then heralded the invading free warrior's approach.
"STOP!" Bra'tac bellowed as he levelled his ma'tok and fired.
The bolts bounced off the Dragonspeaker's skin and clothes as she stepped onto the bridge, holding out her hand. Apophis gasped as the battleaxe suddenly flew through the air, smacking him hard on the face as it went, to land in her palm. As Apophis fell dazed to the deck, she ignored Bra'tac as he continued to pummel her with ma'tok fire, walking over to the control station near the Chappa'ai Apophis had fitted on his flagship to serve as his personal conveyance to anywhere in his domain. As he - soon joined by a wide-eyed Teal'c, who had followed the Dragonspeaker to the bridge through the holes the Cleaver of the Heavens had made - watched, she touched an interesting combination on the DHD. The event horizon immediately formed with its geyser of energy before several long, slender, furry creatures, all equal to the size of an average human man, lumbered through. Bra'tac stopped firing, his jaw dropping in confusion, as he watched these creatures gather around the Dragonspeaker, many rearing on their hind legs as they playfully licked her face. Others turned to lumber towards the two conscious Jaffa, their many unconscious brother and sister warriors, and the unconscious Goa'uld system lord they all served, eyes glittering with intelligence and a burning, aware anger that made both warriors brace themselves.
"Not them."
That calm, almost toneless voice made Bra'tac and Teal'c stare in confusion at their Noukiite visitor as she gently rubbed the fur under the jaw of one of the animals that just came through the Chappa'ai. As she stared intently at them, her eyes lost that infernal glow and returned to their normal chestnut shade, the shadows vanishing from her sockets as a look of serene contentment crossed her face. She then gazed down at the animals around her. "You may feast on the others," she said.
Happy growls and hisses escaped this pack of beasts as they all turned and began to approach the fallen Jaffa. Bra'tac and Teal'c watched in confusion as the animals moved to claw away the armour to get at the incision in their chests where each had a Goa'uld larvae buried within to keep them alive, healthy and loyal. As soon as those cuts were exposed, the animals' mouths opened to reveal long tongues and several rows of sharp teeth that looked strong enough to shatter bone. The tongues lanced into each downed Jaffa's pouch to snare the hapless serpents contained within, yanking them out to have then chewed and crunched apart before they were swallowed. Those Jaffa that still were alive, once they sensed what was happening to them, began to scream in pain as they felt their mental links to the symbionts they bore within them shattered, many of them passing out as their loss overwhelmed them. Watching this, both Bra'tac and Teal'c could only shudder as the Dragonspeaker's companions did their work.
"Not him either."
A questioning growl made both Jaffa spin around to see one of the animals looming over a now wide-eyed Apophis. Footsteps then made the system lord slowly turn as he found himself staring into the glowing eyes of a creature that should not be. "What are you . . .?" he hissed before recoiling as the animal looming over him snarled. "You cannot be Ra'kalach! They are all dead! DEAD! HOW DARE YOU . . .?"
His voice caught in his throat as the blade of her weapon loomed over his neck. "Be quiet," she said as her eyes began to glow. "You hurt my friends' trees. My friends are very angry at you right now, Apophis, so I will give them their favourite snack to eat in payment for your crimes against them." A faint smile crossed her face. "Pray they don't find prim'ta tasty." The smile then faded as the echo of something beyond human filled her voice. "Because if they do, Her Majesty will order all of you to be hunted down, cleansed of your symbionts and given to them in a massive feast."
As Apophis nearly choked on that threat, a voice then asked, "Why spare us?"
Her eyes focused on Teal'c, and then she twirled her weapon to ram the end of the staff into Apophis' forehead, knocking him out. "Because your teacher sees the truth, young Jaffa," she said as she walked over to gaze into his eyes before she gazed on Bra'tac. "And your student is starting to learn the truth, honoured Master Warrior. That will not be snuffed out from your kind." She gazed once more on the unconscious Apophis before she turned back to them. "Leave our space. Make it very clear to all your kind that as long as you serve them, you are not welcome here. Do not return."
With that, she turned to walk toward the Chappa'ai.
"Wait!"
She stopped, turning to gaze on Bra'tac. "Yes?"
Surprised by her show of civility, he forced down a gulp. "What is your name?" the aged warrior asked. "All we know of you is . . . 'Dragonspeaker.'"
She blinked, and then lightly smiled as her eyes returned to normal. "I am Kyech." With that, she bowed her head to them. "Tal'ma'te."
Stunned by the friendly farewell she had given them, both men then bowed to her. "Suchaeuk-chit' ich'e suhik'hie," Bra'tac said for them both.
Kyech nodded, and then whistled her friends over to join her . . .
The Arizona . . .
"Others learned of your show of mercy to Master Bra'tac and myself. Not just those serving Apophis, but other System Lords as well," Teal'c explained. He had moved into a sitting position so he could gaze into Kyech's eyes, warrior to warrior. "And while none have dared defy the System Lords, that your attack on Apophis came within a hair's breadth of destroying him has many Goa'uld very fearful of the Pakalach." A shake of the head. "I do not think any of them would welcome the chance to gain the bodies or the powers of the Ra'kalach. It would take away their freedom . . . "
"To choose a stronger and better body if they encountered one," she finished.
A nod. "Indeed."
She sighed. "A pity." She then closed her eyes for a moment, and then she blinked as something came to her. "What of the Lady Anat?"
Teal'c's breath caught in his throat. "To speak of her . . .!" He then caught himself, realising that for all her incredible power, the Dragonspeaker was clearly not fully up-to-date on Goa'uld internal politics, especially when it came to the direct relations between the various System Lords. "The Lady Anat has the Dust Sickness. She was banished to Dodeka by the Lady Bastet when her ailment was discovered."
Kyech's eyes narrowed. "Dodeka. That was Lord Zeus' old home base, wasn't it?"
A nod. "Until the Dusk Sickness struck the world and Lord Zeus was forced to abandon it." Teal'c closed his eyes. "So many of the elder Goa'uld were all lost to the Sickness. The Great Ladies Gaia and Danu, the Ladies Rhea and Hera . . . " A shake of the head. "It is said that if they had all lived, they would have ensured the System Lords would have remained together and kept the Children of the Gods united as one."
Her eyes closed. "I see, then. Then that is how we will persuade the Lady Amaunet to take Hiromi's offer of the use of a body of a Kal'ma Ra'kalach."
He gaped at her, and then after considering it for a moment, he nodded. "It may work. When one is struck by the Dust Sickness, not even the sarcophagus can heal them. The Sickness destroys a prim'ta's ability to link and control the host body, trapping the prim'ta within the host and preventing it from escaping to a new host."
"How long before it would kill the Lady Anat?"
Teal'c closed his eyes. "The report of her banishment reached Chulak a fortnight ago. If she has a strong host body, she may still be alive."
Kyech nodded. "Then we must be off to Dodeka," she declared . . .
The Haida, a half-hour later . . .
"Why is this Anat woman so important, Kyech-san?"
"Because she is a Goa'uld Queen, Hiromi," Kyech replied. "The Lady Amaunet is another such queen. Unlike normal Goa'uld, the queens all possess the ability to procreate; normal Goa'uld like Apophis do not have that capability in their original bodies even if their hosts still retain the ability to father or mother children of their own. I do believe the prim'ta born by Teal'c and his friends were all the Lady Amaunet's own children." She gazed on Teal'c on saying that; he and his six brother and sister Jaffa from Apophis' Serpent Guard had been invited to the Canadian starship so they could meet with the reborn emperor and learn of what was now being planned. "Even more so, she is the direct genetic descendant of the Great Lady Gaia, who was the effective Empress of all the Goa'uld at the time of their first contact with Sagussa. That gives the Lady Anat considerable social influence among the Goa'uld even if she was for a time banished to a canopic jar by Ra for some odd slight; she was later found on Cerador by the Brahma Guard serving the Lady Kali, then given the chance to take a new host for herself. As to how she eventually came to ally herself with the Lady Bastet, I can't say; I do not pay too much attention to the goings-on with the Goa'uld unless they seek to impose themselves on the Imperial Dominion . . . "
"As Apophis did on Ch'eng-ch'ehek last year," Hiromi finished for her friend, and then she leaned back in her chair. "Can you perhaps shed some light on this matter, Teal'c-san?" she then asked the stoic First Prime of Apophis. "As she is blessed by the Fates to give birth to the next generation of her race, the Lady Anat is truly a vital member of Goa'uld society. How would the other System Lords view her?"
"As a deadly danger, Moroboshi Hiromi," Teal'c stated. "As long as she is struck by the Dust Sickness, she is a danger to all, Goa'uld and Jaffa alike."
"But what if she's no longer a danger to either her own people or yours?" Casey Ryback then asked. The prospective commanding officer of SEAL Team 72, along with the commanding officers of Arizona and Haida, not to mention George Hammond and Jack O'Neill, were also at the meeting. "What if she is gifted with a healthy body by the Daughters of Sagussa as the Director here proposed to do to Lady Amaunet? And it was done out of simple concern to keeping her - the descendant of Gaia, who lead their people when the Sagussans taught them how to use the Stargate - alive and healthy?"
"It could be accepted, Ryback of the Mi'kmaq," Mah'ac, one of the two female Serpent Guard warriors captured by the combined Haida/Arizona security teams in Colorado Springs, then stated. "The Lady Anat was a blood enemy of Lord Ra, which bestows her respect in many quarters among the Children of the Gods and those who serve them." The dusky-skinned woman - she appeared to be descent from those who lived these days in the Indian subcontinent to the Terrans in the room - then shook her head. "But if she is shifted into the body of one of the Kal'ma Ra'kalach as you did to the prim'ta we once bore within our bodies, I do not think many will accept her. She cannot bear more prim'ta to allow Jaffa to remain alive and healthy . . . "
"But Jaffa can become of the blood of the Ra'kalach as the sisters of Moroboshi Hiromi just did for all of us, Mah'ac," the other female Serpent Guard, Nela, stated. "We can be free of all controls by the Goa'uld and be our own people." As the other Jaffa stared wide-eyed at her, the blonde, blue-eyed warrior found herself blushing. "Master Bra'tac and Teal'c are not the only ones would have come to find serving our so-called 'gods' more nauseating as time goes on." She sat back in her chair. "I would see our people be free at last. If becoming of the same blood as the Ra'kalach will make it happen, so be it. Perhaps THEN the Goa'uld might respect us more."
"Those are treasonous thoughts, Nela!" one of the male Jaffa, Fo'nak, hissed.
"But what can we do now, Fo'nak?" his best friend Ro'han asked. "We ARE now of the blood of the Ra'kalach! We are no longer Jaffa! Do you not see it on your own skin?" He pointed to his bare forehead in emphasis; when the regenerative enzymes had been injected into the Jaffa warriors, the markings on their heads symbolising their allegiance to Apophis had been removed as fully as their abdominal sacs had been.
"Don't you want to live free of any outside control?"
Eyes locked on Jack O'Neill. "Many of us have always dreamt of living free, O'Neill of Minnesota," Mah'ac stated with a sad smile. "But until now . . . "
"None of you ever believed that freedom would come," George Hammond said.
"Indeed," Teal'c stated, nodding.
"Lady K'ekhech, are Teal'c and all his friends now invulnerable to the Dust Sickness?" Brian Gamblin then asked. "Not to mention the young girls in Arizona's Sick Bay who once lived in their bodies? Would they all be safe if they accompanied you and the Director to this Dodeka planet where the Lady Anat is current marooned?"
"With all due respect, Captain, I don't like the idea of bringing kids into a potential combat zone," Ryback warned. "Besides, they're still feeling down because they think they've committed a terrible crime by becoming Avalonians."
"Don't they possess loyalties to their own mother?" Gamblin countered before he turned to Teal'c. "Teal'c, your prim'ta was the child of Lady Amaunet, wasn't she?"
"All of ours were," Teal'c stated. "Still, I fail to understand how using the young ones to persuade Lady Amaunet to become of the blood of the Ra'kalach will work."
"Because it is being done as a gift, Master Teal'c," Kyech stated. "I sensed it when I was close to Apophis over Ch'eng-ch'ehek a year ago and aboard this ship last night when I confronted him in the detention cells. His use of the sarcophagus that was developed by Lord Telchak over the centuries and millennia of his life has been burning away at his soul, driving him away from any semblance of civilised behaviour. When he finally dies and faces the Ch'uoeuk at the Pool of Reincarnation, he will have little of his true soul left to be properly judged to either pass into Heaven or be reincarnated. As will many of his brother and sister Goa'uld, ESPECIALLY his mate!" She shook her head. "Nothing can live forever; the Lord of Heaven did NOT create the Universe with the intent to allow ANYTHING to be immortal. There is always a steep price one pays if one seeks THAT! THAT is why the Goa'uld are a dying race! And if you and your brothers and sisters are not careful, you will die with them."
"Aye, Kyech-san, you are right there," Hiromi breathed out. "Besides, Master Teal'c, consider this: If the Jaffa are freed of their dependency of bearing a prim'ta within their bodies - and the Goa'uld are convinced that allowing themselves to forego their current mode of existence for one that gives them a fixed time of life yet grants them ALL the ability to gain true immortality through their offspring - then both races will emerge from this situation victorious, able to look upon a brighter future without the need of one being dependant on the other anymore. You appear quite convinced of the necessity of such a thing for your kind, just like Mistress Nela here is likewise convinced. Surely if some of the more respected of the Goa'uld are likewise convinced to do the same, then others might follow them. Agreed?"
Eyes locked on the First Prime, and then he nodded. "It is possible, Moroboshi Hiromi. For my people, I would welcome it. As for the Goa'uld, I cannot say with any certainty. But if it can be done, then I say let it be done."
"So be it then," the reborn emperor then stated. "Now, Kyech-san, do you know the Stargate address for the planet Dodeka?" she then asked the Dragonspeaker.
"I do."
"Then let us prepare the young ones to meet their 'aunt.'"
"There's something we got to do first, though, Hiromi."
Eyes locked on O'Neill. "What's that, Hunter?" Tom Kazanski asked.
"We've GOT to give them names!" the Air Force colonel stated.
"Why?" Nela asked.
"Well, it's better than saying 'hey, you!' all the time!"
"Good point," Ryback noted . . .
Arizona, a half-hour later . . .
"Names?"
"Yes."
The seven girls who had once been simple prim'ta living within the bodies of seven of their leader's elite Serpent Guard all blinked. All of them were still in Sick Bay, though they had now been joined by their former hosts, they standing close to - and in the case of Mah'ac and Nela, physically comforting - them. Casey Ryback had taken a seat on an empty examination bed, calmly gazing at them. Watching the now-reactivated SEAL lieutenant, Teal'c had immediately sensed him to be a very dangerous warrior. Not a warrior possessing the metahuman powers of the Dragonspeaker - and possibly Moroboshi Hiromi as well - but a person who clearly could deal with any Jaffa even if they were armed with the best weapons possible. "Why?" Teal'c's charge then asked.
"Because in our eyes, it's rude not to give a sentient being a name by which she can be addressed as," Ryback calmly explained. "I know - thanks to the Lady K'ekhech - that you Goa'uld do things in a different way than we do, but unfortunately, Fate forced you all to grow up much faster than it was intended for you all. We need to make accommodations for that, thus we want to give you names you can use."
"What names could we have?" Nela's charge, a dark-skinned girl with curly black hair and deep brown eyes, then asked.
Ryback hummed. "Well, I could give you Mi'kmaq names."
"'Mi'kmaq?'" Mah'ac's charge, a silver-haired girl with olive skin and hazel eyes, parroted him, and then she asked, "Who are the Mi'kmaq?"
"My mother's people," Ryback answered, and then he took the dataPADD in his hand and tapped controls. "They lived here before the white man came to their lands," he explained as he turned the screen to show the map of the Atlantic provinces of Canada, the former lands of the Seven Districts marked out in gold. "They still live there, but in small enclaves, though many Avalonians have now come to live with them."
"The Kal'ma Ra'kalach. What we are now," Fo'nak's charge, a slender girl with red hair and green eyes, then said as she rubbed her arm, a still-pensive look on her face even if she seemed to better accept what she had become.
"That's right."
"What names would you give us?" Teal'c's charge asked.
With that, the SEAL officer stood and gazed intently at her for a moment before he reached up to gently touch her forehead. She shuddered as she felt her mind try to reach out into his - her psionic powers had been dulled by the Avalonian hospital corpsmen recruits after she had undergone tre'cha to allow her mind to better adjust to its new body without outside contamination - and then she blinked as the images of several animals flashed through her mind. One of them, a sleek being with spotted fur, whiskers poking out of its face and black hair tufts leading from its pointed ears, made her feel suddenly warm inside. "Ah, you've found it," Ryback then said.
"What is it?" the girl asked.
He smiled. "That is Apugsign, the bobcat. A hunter."
She blinked, and then a light smile crossed her face. "Then I am Apugsign."
A nod. "That you are. Now, your turn," Ryback stated as he turned to the girl now being held in Mah'ac's arms. "Let's see what animal likes you . . . "
Civano Naval Space Station, four hours later . . .
When the Canadian Armed Forces elected to erect the ground base for H.M.C.S. Haida, they chose a single location in the south-central part of the Niagara peninsula of Ontario, within the limits of the cities of Welland and Niagara Falls. There, they were in the midst of erecting a tri-service base christened "Canadian Forces Base Niagara" even if it was split into three operating parts - Fleet Maintenance Facility Merrittonia for the Navy ground support unit for Haida, 21 Space Wing for the aerospace elements assigned to the Canadian starship, and Simmonds Barracks to house the Canadian Guards' 1st Battalion and its attached battle group - administratively controlled by the three elemental commands (Maritime, Air and Land Forces respectively) with Brian Gamblin as overall formation commanding officer in his capacity as Haida's captain.
The armed forces of the United States of America, given the many differences between themselves and their northern counterparts, elected on a diversified approach to house the units and formations supporting U.S.S. Arizona. The main ground dock and maintenance facility for the American starship - Civano Naval Space Station - was located in the southeast part of Tucson. The base was a sixteen square kilometre block of land formed in part by the unused section of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, bordered by East Irvington Road to the north, South Houghton Road to the east and East Valencia Road to the south; the spacedock would be located at the northeast end of the property close to the Civano subdivision of Arizona's second-largest city. The 72nd Carrier Air Wing was now based at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, over four hundred kilometres west of Tucson and ten kilometres from the Colorado River and the border with the Mexican state of Baja California; this would allow pilots and technicians of the Marine Corps' 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing to cross-train with the Navy personnel to give them hard exposure to the Avalonian technology being introduced across Earth. And the 72nd Marine Expeditionary Unit now shared facilities with the Army's Network Enterprise Technology Command, the 11th Signal Brigade, and the Intelligence Centre at Fort Huachuca in Sierra Vista, 110 kilometres southwest of Civano and twenty-four kilometres north of the border with the Mexican state of Sonora. And when it was stood up in a year's time, SEAL Team 72 was planned to be based with its older sister SEAL Teams at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado near San Diego in California, though that was subject to change given the special capabilities of the Navy's elite commando forces.
Right now, Civano Naval Space Station was hosting something else.
"You KNEW we had a Stargate all along?"
"We suspected there was a Stargate somewhere on this planet, General," Hakaru Ayami answered as she tapped controls on her dataPADD. "After all, the amount of Earth-descent humanoids living in known Goa'uld territory - as we all learned from the Noukiites - indicated right from the start that there had to have been some sort of forced colonisation from Earth centuries ago. The Goa'uld are addicted to using the Stargates even if their space fleets can move them about in mass numbers; it's a lot faster to move small amounts of troops through wormholes than transporting them in starships that take days and weeks to traverse from planet to planet." She tapped a control to feed power from the portable generators set up in this hardened dome at the centre of the base's physical territory, right beside the dried bed of a branch of the Pantano Wash. "Lucky thing we attuned the sensors of all our ships to sniff out any energy that a Stargate normally forms so that we could find it and keep an eye on it."
Hearing that, George Hammond could only shake his head. When the ships of the United Nations Earth Defence Force had been brought in from Den'sha Two a couple months after the turn of the New Year, he had approached the White House and suggested that the Stargate itself - plus all the research that had been collected on it to date - be revealed to Moroboshi Hiromi and her two bright young technical geniuses to see if Project: Giza could have been turned around after the failure at Abydos and made more useful. That suggestion had been shot down right then and there, which amazed the general now that the people in Washington seemed quite happy to let the Earth Defence Force take over everything from the United States Air Force when it came to the Stargate. Then again, in the wake of what happened a couple months ago, the fears about interests contrary to that of the United States seem to have vanished when it comes to space affairs, Hammond mused. Maybe I should have brought this up privately with Director Moroboshi before going to the White House to speak to the President. He paused before shaking his head. That would've lead to a court-martial for sure. Dumb idea, George!
"General Hammond!"
He turned as a very beautiful blonde, hazel-eyed woman walked up. She was in the uniform of a captain of the United States Air Force; like Jack O'Neill, she wasn't a pilot but bore the Space Operations Badge above her small "salad bowl" of medals. "Ah, Captain Carter, there you are!" he called back, return her salute with one of his own. "I trust you've been fully briefed on what's been happening with the Stargate?"
"Yes, sir, I have," Samantha Carter stated as she briefly glanced at the young genius from Kanagawa as she tapped away on her dataPADD to fully get all the systems in the dome linked to the Stargate. "It's a damn pity the Navy's stealing this from us; I thought I could do some things with it before they shut it down permanently."
Hammond chuckled; the young captain before him had been quite passionate about putting the Stargate to use ever since she first learned of it a few years before. Samantha Carter had been the primary designer of the dialling computer that had been used to activate the Stargate for the Abydos mission. "Well, let's not accuse the Navy of 'stealing' the Stargate, Captain. This is a joint-team effort between the services; Director Moroboshi will not have it any other way. Speaking of which, Miss Hakaru, where exactly IS the Director at this time?" he asked as he turned to gaze on Ayami.
"She's still busy with the young ones, Hammond-shōshō," Ayami replied as she moved to run full systems diagnostics on the dataPADD. "Ryback-taii insisted they all had to be transported to Lsetkuk to allow the women's council there to welcome them all as part of the tribe since they all took Mi'kmaq names for themselves."
Hammond blinked. "And where the devil is Lsetkuk?"
"Western Nova Scotia."
Before the general could scream out about people being transported to different countries when a mission was pending, Carter asked, "Ryback? You mean Casey Ryback?"
Ayami gazed on her. "You know him, Carter-taii?"
"I've heard of him, but I thought he had retired," the captain replied.
"Captain Kazanski has persuaded the lieutenant to return to active duty to take control of the planned SEAL team which will be attached to the Earth Defence Force. A two-step promotion to full commander would be in the works for him once SEAL 72 is on-line," Hammond explained before turning back to Ayami. "Now why is it the Director is insisting that time be wasted for a christening ceremony for those kids?"
"Because the young ones need to feel at home somewhere, Lord General."
Carter gasped and Hammond jerked on hearing that amused voice, and then both turned to see Moroboshi Hiromi walk up. She was in a black ninjutsu-ka's gi with a plain black belt wrapped around her waist. Beside her was Casey Ryback, now dressed in woodland Naval Working Dress with full fighting gear strapped on him. Behind them came Jack O'Neill - himself in Airman Battle Uniform, also with full fighting gear - and the seven Jaffa warriors who once served Apophis (in loaned NWDs with their ma'tok staffs in hand) and the seven Goa'uld-turned-Avalonian teenagers (also in loaned NWDs, though they were unarmed but had basic webbing on them with canteens and small pouches full of soft food if they got hungry). And in the rear was the Dragonspeaker herself, in her normal white-and-black uniform with the Cleaver of the Heavens in hand. On seeing her, Carter could only gape; this was the first time ever she had met an alien who actually looked like an alien (the Jaffa and their young charges were all obviously quite human and she had dealt with Avalonians before).
"The system's fully ready to go, Onē-san," Ayami reported. "Which planet?"
"Abydos first," Hiromi ordered.
"Hai!"
With that, Ayami called up the dialling function, and then tapped the seven-glyph code for the planet in question. "Why Abydos?" Hammond asked.
"We're going to look in on Jackson-hakase to make sure he's alright and invite him to come join us," Hiromi answered matter-of-factly.
"I don't think he wants to be separated from his wife," O'Neill stated as Hammond's jaw dropped in shock on hearing that the "dead" scientist was ALIVE!
"Well, if he desires, we'll ask her to come visit as well."
"Wait! Doctor Jackson is ALIVE?"
That was Samantha Carter. "Yeah, he's alive. Who are you?" O'Neill asked.
She braced herself, saluting him, which he casually returned. "Captain Samantha Carter, Colonel. I was assigned to the Pentagon as staff to Project: Giza."
O'Neill perked on recalling the name. "Oh, you're the one who made the original dialling computer for the Stargate when we went to Abydos! Good work, Captain."
She flushed with pride. "Thank you, sir."
"Destination programmed in. The Stargate is activating," Ayami announced.
People turned to see the inner ring of the ancient device start to spin. "Colonel O'Neill, would you care to explain to me why you LIED about Doctor Jackson?" Hammond demanded as he glared intently at O'Neill. "If he is still alive . . .!"
"He's married to a local woman and felt he had no choice but to remain behind, sir," O'Neill stated as the first chevron locked into place; Hiromi had assured him that she would override any attempts at disciplining the colonel from the senior Air Force brass because of his small fib concerning Daniel Jackson. "Atop that, he saved my life when we killed Ra. He felt he had nothing left on Earth to go back to and he didn't want to bring Sha're - his wife - here to Earth, which would end up separating her from her people." A sigh as Chevron Two locked in. "He asked us to do that."
Hammond blinked, and then he sighed. "Colonel, much that I understand why you would do something like that," he stated as the third chevron locked in. " . . . but did you consider what might have happened if Senior Airman Wetterings was kidnapped by Apophis and I was ordered to send a Mark Five SADM through the Stargate?"
O'Neill nodded as the fourth chevron locked in place. "Sir, I realise that now, but last year, after Ra was killed, we all felt - from General West on down to myself, Kawalsky and Ferretti - the matter was fully resolved."
"It is an honour-debt situation, General. I consider the matter quite resolved and I'll argue same with your superiors if they raise an objection to this," Hiromi said as Chevron Five locked into place, and then she turned to the girl now holding Teal'c's hand. "Now, Lady Apugsign, how'd you like to help us make contact with Jackson-hakase on Abydos?" she asked as she gave the young girl a smile.
"How will I do that?" Apugsign - O'Neill nicknamed her "Bobbi" from "bobcat;" much to the former prim'ta's surprise, she liked getting a nickname - then asked.
"Well, if the good Colonel O'Neill will carry you over to the Stargate after the wormhole forms, we'll send a small message to Jackson-hakase," Hiromi said as Chevron Six then locked into place. "Are you sure this is the best way to communicate with him?" she then asked as she pulled a box of Kleenex out from her own subspace pocket.
O'Neill smiled as he knelt down to pick Apugsign up into his arms just as the seventh chevron locked in place and the event horizon appeared. Before he could carry the young girl off, a hand landed on his shoulder. He paused before gazing at Teal'c, who had a stern look on his face. "You will NOT bring her to harm," the Jaffa said.
The Air Force special operations officer smiled. "C'mon down with us then."
Teal'c blinked, and then he contently nodded as he followed Hiromi and O'Neill out of the control chamber into the centre of the dome. Like in Deer Trail in Colorado - the former Titan I ICBM site was the place the Stargate was based at before and during the Abydos mission - and later in Cheyenne Mountain, a boarding ramp had been constructed up to the bottom of the inner ring of the Stargate so people could casually walk through without accidents. As they came up to the wall of water-like energy now filling the Stargate, Hiromi then handed the box to O'Neill, who held it up for Apugsign to take. "Okay, Bobbi! I want you to toss the box through the gate."
She nodded, doing that with a flick of her hand. Once that was done, Ayami tapped controls to cut the link between Earth and Abydos. "What was that?" Teal'c asked as the event horizon faded, revealling the north wall of the dome.
"A box of Kleenex," O'Neill stated.
"What is 'Kleenex?'" Apugsign wondered.
"Well, Kleenex is a type of tissue that we use to blow our noses whenever we have allergies or a cold," O'Neill explained as they stepped down from the Stargate. "Or any other type of respiratory sicknesses. Jackson has allergies, so he was constantly sneezing and blowing his nose on Abydos because of all the dust there."
Teal'c looked shocked. "You mean this Daniel Jackson went on your mission to destroy Lord Ra . . . and he was ILL?" he demanded.
"Well, it wasn't debilitating; he could still do his work," O'Neill noted.
The Jaffa considered that, and then he nodded. "You Tau'ri are dedicated."
"There are many forms of dedication, Master Teal'c," Hiromi advised . . .
. . . just as a slight shudder ran through the dome as the chevron lights on the Stargate all lit up and the inner ring began to spin. "Incoming connection signal, My Emperor!" Ayumi called out over the intercom. "Calculating source point now."
"You can tell where it's coming from?" Samantha Carter demanded.
"Sure. The Sagussans figured out the whole system twenty thousand years ago."
Everyone gaped at the young genius from Kanagawa as the Stargate moved to lock in position. "Where is this coming from, Bunjaku-dono?" Hiromi called out.
"Abydos, My Emperor!"
"That was quick," O'Neill noted.
Soon enough, the last chevron locked into place and the event horizon formed. As soon as the wormhole stabilized itself, everyone tensed. In the control room, Ayami reached over to flick on the dome's internal defences, composed of a dozen pintle-mounted pulse-particle guns that were even more vicious than a Lawgiver at full power. Teal'c also had powered up his ma'tok staff, levelling it on the Stargate as his fellow Serpent Guards - after they had left their charges in the company of Samantha Carter, Casey Ryback and Kyech - ran into the main room to level their weapons on target.
Silence then fell . . .
. . . which was broken when someone walked through the event horizon.
"WAIT!" O'Neill barked out.
People froze, and then Hiromi smiled. "Daniel Jackson, I presume."
The man in the ragged desert clothing blinked before looking up, and then his blue eyes locked in on the silver-haired man in the crowd awaiting him. "Jack?"
"Hey, Daniel! Welcome back to Earth," O'Neill said, grinning.
The bespectacled, brown-haired archaeologist and linguist blinked as he shook the colonel's hand, and then he sighed before looking around. "Wait a minute . . . " he breathed out. "This isn't the silo at Deer Trail! Where are we?" he demanded as he looked on O'Neill, and then turned to stare quizzically at Teal'c and Apugsign, then at Hiromi.
"We're at Davis–Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona, just outside Tucson," the colonel replied as he moved to hand the young Goa'uld over to Teal'c. "The whole east side of the base has been transformed into what our Navy friends now call 'Civano Naval Space Station.' They're going to be the main agency in running the Stargate now."
Jackson blinked. "'Naval Space Station?'"
"Yeah, a lot's changed since we went to Abydos. Oh!" O'Neill then waved to Hiromi. "This is Hiromi Moroboshi. She's the director of the United Nations Earth Defence Force. You probably remember hearing about that alien contact in Japan just before we headed out to Abydos." A nod to Hiromi. "Her brother was involved in that."
"Really?" Jackson then bowed to the reborn emperor. "A pleasure."
Hiromi returned the bow. "The pleasure is mine, Jackson-hakase." As with all other facilities created by the Earth Defence Force, a universal translator field was active in the dome. "I trust all is well with your family and friends on Abydos."
"Yes, they are." To O'Neill. "I was actually in the Gate Room at the pyramid; that's why I was willing to come here when you sent the Kleenex through. Thanks."
"There haven't been any raids by the Goa'uld since we were there, have there?" O'Neill then asked as all of Teal'c's friends relaxed themselves, setting the butt ends of their staff weapons on the floor of the dome as they calmly began to wait.
"No; I've had the gate room constantly guarded ever since you left," Daniel said . . . and then he blinked as a hand reached up and pulled his glasses off. "Hey!"
"What is this device?" Apugsign - who had been let down to the ramp so she could stand on her own - asked as she gazed on it.
"Well, those are glasses. Corrective devices to help those with faulty eyesight see better," Jackson explained. "Could I have those back, please?"
The young former prim'ta moved to look through the lenses . . .
. . . and then cried out on seeing a deformed figure. "MONSTER!"
As Apugsign dropped the glasses, Teal'c roared, bringing his ma'tok up . . .
. . . before a hand snared the device and yanked it out of his hands just as another hand snared Jackson's glasses before they could break on the floor.
"Calm down, Teal'c. She does not understand the purpose of spectacles."
As Hiromi handed Jackson back his glasses, Teal'c turned to see Kyech standing there, calm as could be as she handed him back the ma'tok. By then, Jackson had recovered his eyesight, and then he turned to gaze wide-eyed on the flame-haired alien woman with the rather BIG halberd in hand. Focusing on the bony ridges on her forehead and the odd tattoos under her eyes - and then seeing the han'gŭl-like glyphs on her tunic front - he then blinked before turning back to O'Neill. "Who is she?"
"She's a Noukiite," the colonel replied before a smirk then crossed his face. "Though I still think she's a Klingon," he added in a whisper.
"We address them as 'Pakalach,' the Ringed Souls," Nela stated. "They believe they are to be reborn to new lives once they are judged by their King of Kings at the end of each of their old lives. Unless they have earned the right to enter Heaven."
"Oh, they're reincarnationists!" Jackson said, nodding in understanding, and then he perked as he stared at her. "You're a Jaffa, aren't you?"
"I was a Jaffa, Daniel Jackson," the female Serpent Guard stated. "Now I am of the Kal'ma Ra'kalach, as are my brothers and sisters." She then perked as the girl who had once been the prim'ta she had borne within her body, Mui'n, came up to hug her from one side. She gazed down on the younger girl, and then smiled as she wrapped an arm around Mui'n's shoulder. "And the Lady Mui'n here was once the prim'ta I bore within my body until the Kal'ma Ra'kalach allowed her to become one of them."
Jackson nodded. "So she is - pardon me, WAS - a Goa'uld?"
"Yes."
The archaeologist hummed. "'Ra'kalach' . . . that means 'souls touched by the Sun.'" He then perked. "Ah, I remember now! This was the first ever contact with another spacefaring race by the Goa'uld. There was a record of the meeting with them in the temple in Ra's old throne room. That happened well over fifteen thousand years ago! They taught the Goa'uld how to make use of the Stargates!" He turned back to O'Neill. "'Kal'ma Ra'kalach' means 'children of the souls touched by the Sun.' Same race?"
"In most parts, yes," Hiromi answered. "You have missed out on quite a lot in the last year or so, Jackson-hakase. How long can you stay away from Abydos?"
"Well, if we can get the Stargate opened again, I can invite you all to come over to Abydos so you can see everyone there, Director," Jackson stated as he gave her a knowing look. "But I assume you called me back for other reasons."
"Other than assuring the good colonel here that you are well and those on Abydos are also well, we are actually planning to proceed to another planet called Dodeka to rescue a Goa'uld queen named Anat, who never really got along with the late Lord Ra," Hiromi explained. "She has been struck by a debilitating and fatal sickness, one of which will force her to become an Avalonian - as the Kal'ma Ra'kalach call themselves as a race - if she doesn't wish to die. And if Master Teal'c is quite correct, we will have to move quickly or else we will not be able to save her."
Jackson blinked, and then he nodded. "Well, I'll be glad to help."
"You are worried for your wife."
He jolted, and then he turned to stare at Kyech. "How . . .?"
"She can sense your heart, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c explained. "As all the Ra'kalach once did and as the Kal'ma Ra'kalach can do now. If she touches you, she can sense your very thoughts and dreams. She is about to grant you a favour. Take it."
Jackson gazed on the tall and muscular warrior, and then he relaxed himself as he gazed on the Dragonspeaker. "Yes, I am very worried for Sha're and the others."
Kyech nodded. "Ayami!"
"What is it, Kyech-san?" Ayami called from the control room.
"Open the Stargate to Teng-ch'ehek, please."
"Hai!"
"What is 'the Planetary Province of Teng?'" O'Neill asked.
"Our closest physical neighbours in the galaxy outside Neptune, Lord Colonel. It's a planet in the Alpha Centauri star system, the fourth world orbiting Alpha Centauri A," Hiromi explained as the Stargate's inner ring began to spin again. "No doubt, Kyech-san will go summon Kuohu-san and Kyekkyek-san - and hopefully Ryep'-san and Tai-san if they're both available - to go guard Abydos while we're off to Dodeka to rescue Lady Anat."
"There are others like the Lady K'ekhech?" Teal'c asked.
"Well, not physically blessed by a ch'uokyek as Kyech-san is, Master Teal'c, but believe me: Kuohu-san is addressed as 'the Black-Haired Bandit Slayer' for a reason."
The others all gazed on the reborn emperor . . .
To be continued . . .