Chapter 107: The Symbionts Part 3
Gate Area, Chulak, November 8th, 1999 (Earth Time)
"I gave this to Drey'auc on the day we wed."
Adora bit her lower lip as Teal'c carefully brushed dirt from the broken necklace. If this was his wife's…
"Could she have lost it here when she was travelling? Or meeting someone?" Glimmer asked.
"She would not have had any reason to go to the Chappa'ai," he went on. "Not as an outcast. And it was half-buried under a sandal footprint. Not a boot."
"So, she dropped it? As a warning for you?" Catra asked.
Teal'c slowly nodded. "I believe so."
Adora could tell that Catra didn't agree - her lover had that guilty expression she usually had when she wanted to say something but didn't because it might hurt - but it could be true.
"Ah… But no one should have expected our arrival, should they?" Daniel said, cocking his head.
"If she - and Rya'c - were taken by Apophis's forces, then she would have known it was because of me," Teal'c said. "This would have been one of the ways available to her to leave a notice for me. Or for Master Bra'tac," he added after a moment, "to pass on to me."
Catra shrugged. "Either way, we now know that she was taken through the gate. Or that we are supposed to think that."
"Or that Apophis wants us to know," Jack said. "Can't really use hostages if no one knows you have them."
"Whatever may be the truth, we have to find out more about what happened," Teal'c said. "Master Bra'tac would know more. Even as Shol'va, some of his former students respect him."
Unless he was taken as well. Or killed. But Adora didn't say that. She nodded instead. "Then let's find him!" That was what they had come to Chulak for, anyway.
"Yeah, let's find a master warrior who just went into hiding on his home planet after the enemy army captured friends of his," Catra muttered. "Piece of cake."
Adora frowned at her. "I'm sure we'll manage."
"Well, we can scan for Goa'uld larvae," Entrapta said. "It's going to be a bit difficult, what with so many Jaffa on the planet, but if he's hiding from most of them, we should be able to narrow things down. It will take a while, though." She pushed a button on the scanner, looked at it and added: "A long while, actually."
"If we do not find Master Bra'tac, I am certain that he will find us," Teal'c said. "In fact, I would not be surprised if he has already found us."
"Really?" Glimmer looked sceptical and looked around. "We're covering the entire area with our scanners."
But Teal'c wasn't looking at their surroundings. He was looking at the hills - or the mountains - in the distance.
"You think he's watching us through a telescope," Jack said.
Teal'c nodded.
"Since it passively uses visible light and doesn't require a power supply, it wouldn't show up on any scanner," Sam said.
"But the resolution… you'd have to have a huge telescope to have a decent resolution," Entrapta retorted. "That should show up on our scanners."
"Master Bra'tac would not need more than a glimpse of us to draw his conclusions," Teal'c said, still looking at the hills. "He will not approach us here, though."
"I can teleport us there," Glimmer said. "If we activate Chulak's magic."
"We're not activating magic on a planet under Goa'uld control just because you're too lazy to walk," Catra snapped.
"It's not about walking!" Glimmer protested. "But we can't waste time."
"And we can't let the other Jaffa who are undoubtedly watching us see us teleport away anyway," Jack added. "That would alert them."
"Yes." Adora nodded at Entrapta. "Tell the others to close the Stargate and stand by - we're going to walk. Like smugglers."
"Alright!"
Behind them, the gate disappeared, and Adora's comm lit up with a few alerts as it switched to the Spy Bots in orbit, connecting to their network to maintain contact with PZ-1151. The lag would be annoying, but shouldn't be crippling. And far less suspicious than keeping a Stargate open.
They left one bot in stealth mode to watch the gate and marched off towards the hills in the distance. Teal'c had picked their destination.
Halfway to the hills, Teal'c suddenly stopped.
"Teal'c?" Jack asked.
"I saw a short glint ahead of us. A piece of metal must have caught the light from the sun. Or a mirror."
"Or a scope," Catra muttered. "Could be an ambush."
"There's nothing on our orbital surveillance, but it's a little spotty in orbit, and the area is forested," Entrapta said. "Though there's a single larva there, probably," she added after a moment. "I need a bit more time to scan the area in detail."
"Master Bra'tac chooses his hiding spots well."
"If you're sure…" Jack trailed off as Adora spotted another glint in the distance.
Teal'c inclined his head. "Indeed."
"Yes, that's a larva according to the scanner. So, a Jaffa," Entrapta said, peering through her goggles. "I'm trying to vector in a spy bot in orbit so we get better coverage, but there's a Death Glider in the way."
"Let's just continue," Adora said. She trusted Teal'c. If he said this was Bra'tac, then they could go on.
"Yeah, let's. I'm not fond of standing around in the open on an enemy planet," Jack agreed. "Or an enemy anything."
"We're looking like smugglers," Catra said. "Don't tell me I'm squishing my ears flat and wrapping my tail around myself for nothing."
Adora looked at her, raising her eyebrows. Sure, it wasn't too comfortable, but it wasn't as if it was hurting her - Catra's ears could take a lot of squishing, and her tail was very flexible, as they had proven often enough. Not that this was the time to think about that!
But it also wasn't the time to complain. They weren't on a march in cadet training. And it hadn't been the time to complain then, either!
"We should get some stealth transports that can fit through a Stargate," Glimmer said as if she had read Adora's mind and wanted to disagree on principle. But she was walking - and Catra followed suit. As expected.
"We'll have to find a way to reduce the stealth generator even further," Entrapta said. "So far, we haven't managed that - the best of our designs was a shuttle that could use a stealth generator and barely fit the Stargate but, well, couldn't really do anything else. Like transporting people. Upscaling a stealth bot ran into the same issue, just from the other direction, so to speak. People just need so much space and life support and everything! Anise is working on a portable stealth generator using a different technology, but… she hasn't had any luck in making a generator that hasn't lethal side effects yet. But she's working on it."
Uh. Adora grimaced.
"You know what? I am just fine walking!" Bow said.
"Me too!" Daniel agreed, nodding eagerly. "A bit of walking won't kill us."
Both started to walk a little faster. As did everyone else.
They reached the hills half an hour later. That would have been quite a good time for their squad back in cadet training. Not quite a forced march, but faster than regular infantry - Horde or Earth.
And next to the trail they had been following was the man they were looking for, waiting for them under a tree with a dense canopy, next to a large rock that would shield him from the plains and the Stargate.
"Master Bra'tac." Teal'c nodded at him
"Teal'c. O'Neill. Carter. Jackson." Bra'tac nodded at them, then looked at Adora and her friends. "And new friends."
"Yes." Teal'c turned a little. "They are new friends - and mighty allies. Master Bra'tac, this is She-Ra, Princess of Power. Queen Glimmer of Bright Moon. Princess Entrapta of Dryl. Techmaster Bow of Bright Moon. Catra."
"Of nothing," Catra added with a smirk as she pushed her hood back and shook her head, her ears twitching.
"A Sekhmet?" Bra'tac tilted his head like Teal'c often did before frowning slightly. "No, not quite, I believe - but I have only seen pictures, and that had been a hundred years ago."
"No, I'm not a Sekhmet," Catra said, rolling her eyes. "You're not the first to make this mistake." She flashed her fangs in a grin.
"Catra's from Etheria, the result of genetic engineering by the First Ones - which you know as the Ancients or the Gate Builders, I believe," Entrapta spoke up. "Like me and Glimmer." She demonstrated her power, her hair fanning out and holding various tools. "And Bow probably has some ancestor who was experimented on as well if we look at the time that has passed since then and the average human generation and tendency to intermarry, even if that genetic ancestry hasn't expressed itself through magic powers. Glimmer can't demonstrate her own magic power since it relies on more magic in the world than my own, which doesn't need nearly as much, so what energy my body can spare is enough, and we haven't restored the planet's magic yet because doing so would kinda draw a lot of attention which would be a bad thing, probably, but Adora can demonstrate her own magic, just in case you won't believe us - many seem to have forgotten about magic being real since it was taken from the sector a thousand years ago."
Jack sighed and closed his eyes for a moment, probably complaining about secrecy, but Bra'tac blinked, his own eyebrows raising, as Adora noticed. He turned to look at Teal'c.
"Entrapta speaks the truth," Teal'c said. "I have personally witnessed their powers and seen the proof of their claims."
"I see. And you're fighting the false gods."
"Yes," Adora said.
"A lot of things have changed on Earth since our last meeting," Jack said, smiling a bit wrily. "We've formed an alliance against the Goa'uld, and we're preparing to go to war - well, technically, we're already at war, but the Goa'uld don't know yet."
Bra'tac looked at them. "I have not heard of Etheria so far, but you must be mighty indeed if you plan to openly battle the false gods."
That was a question more than a comment. Though Adora could understand that Bra'tac would be sceptical of their claims. It was a lot to take in.
"We've defeated Horde Prime," Catra said.
Bra'tac's eyes widened. "I know that name. The Goa'uld did not wish to fight him. And you defeated him."
Adora sighed. Catra made it sound as if they had more power than Horde Prime had had. "It's a bit complicated," she said.
"Etheria has technology on par with the Gate Builders," Teal'c said. "And many of Horde Prime's surviving ships and soldiers now fight for them. On Earth, a great army is gathering, preparing to liberate the slaves of the false gods." He took a step forward. "And they have found a way to free us for good from the hold of the Goa'uld. They found a way to replace Prim'tas. No longer will we have to choose between freedom and life. We came to Chulak to inform you."
Bra'tac looked almost shocked, then smiled. "That's the best news I've heard in my long life, my friend. And yet, I have to tell you ill news in return," he added, his expression turning sombre.
Teal'c nodded. "I've found Drey'auc's necklace at the Stargate."
"Your wife and your son were taken by the Serpent Guard," Bra'tac said. "I am sorry."
Eastern Hills, Chulak, November 8th, 1999 (Earth Time)
"You could not have done anything, my friend."
"I could have. If I had heard about it beforehand, I could have warned them. Taken them to safety. But I have few friends left in the Serpent Guards, and none of them are on Chulak."
You have contacts in Apophis's forces? Of course, you do, Samantha Carter thought. Bra'tac had shown that on Klorel's ship. Teal'c wasn't the only Jaffa Bra'tac had taught to question the Goa'uld, just the most prominent and arguably most successful rebel.
"Even the most skilled Warrior is beholden to the whims of chance. You taught me that."
Bra'tac nodded with a faint smile. "I did. We cannot change what happened."
"But we can attempt to remedy it."
Sam almost expected the Colonel to make a sarcastic comment about philosophy lessons, but he held his tongue.
"They were taken to Saqqara, that much I was able to discern," Bra'Tac said after the briefest pause.
That was Apophis's home world. P2Z-275. Sam pressed her lips together - blurting out Stargate Command's designation might prompt some teasing remark from the Colonel, and this wasn't the time for that.
"So, we have to go there and free them," Daniel said. He looked uncharacteristically eager, Sam noted. Oh. Of course, he would - Sha're was likely on Saqqara as well. And if she wasn't, information about her location would likely be available in Apophis's capital. Daniel saw an opportunity to save his wife and Teal'c's family.
Sam hated it, and herself a little for saying it, but she had to. "Apophis's home world will be heavily guarded. We don't have spy bot coverage there. Any attempt at infiltration will be very difficult without sufficient intel." And dangerous. Very dangerous.
"What about an invasion?" Daniel asked. "A decapitation strike? Saqqara is a core part of Apophis's realm, one of the worlds supplying his forces. If we could take it out, he would be greatly weakened. The other System Lords would turn on him."
"We would have to hold it." Teal'c shook his head slightly. "That would most likely reveal the Alliance to the Goauld at large. Even if we decided to merely destroy the arms factories on the planet before leaving, witnesses would remain. I do not believe that the Alliance currently has the resources to launch a false flag operation of that scale. And if our existence becomes known to the System Lords, they will close ranks."
"Yeah." The Colonel looked grim. "We would need a fleet of Ha'taks to take on Apophis's home fleet without revealing ourselves."
"We could develop a form of camouflage technology that would allow a frigate to mimic a Ha'tak, maybe," Entrapta suggested. "Using holoprojection and stealth technology to fool sensors, it might be possible, though the differences in weapon technology would be a challenge to mask. The weapon placements are different, as are the flight profiles."
"It would probably be easier to construct Ha'taks - or facsimiles with our technology," Sam said. And that would be far too inefficient when they were still struggling to build their own shops on Earth. But a system that allowed their ships to pose as Ha'taks would be useful as well. It would allow them to close in with enemy ships and installations, at the least, before dropping the facade. Although whether or not such advantages were worth the resources needed to develop those systems was questionable… Sam shook her head. She could run a feasibility study another time.
"You think you have the forces to take and hold Apophis's homeworld?" Bra'tac once more tilted his head.
"Yes," She-Ra replied. "But we don't have the numbers to defend every world we liberate against a Goa'uld fleet and keep doing it until everyone's saved. We need to destroy the Goa'uld's fleets before we can start freeing all their enslaved worlds to keep them from massing their forces for retaliatory strikes."
"Or use a few worlds as bait to lure those fleets into battles where we can destroy them," Catra added. "Hunting down all of their ships and fleets would be a pain."
"I see." Bra'tac nodded.
"But that will take a long time," Daniel said. "Teal'c's family needs help now. And Sha're…" He trailed off, pressing his lips together.
"Without the Spy Bot Network, we need other ways to get intel," Glimmer said. "Originally, we came to spread the news about the symbionts. Can those be used to convince more people to turn against Apophis so they would supply us with information?"
Bra'tac slowly tilted his head. "If they work, yes. But they would have to be demonstrated - even those who question the false gods will not easily turn to sabotage, much less open rebellion. If I had a few examples…"
"We are ramping up production," Entrapta said. "So, we don't have too many yet - but we're working on that, don't worry! Once the factories are running, we'll do what we can to cover everyone! But we have a few with us - Sam expected this! Well, we have them at the temporary base camp."
Sam nodded. "We can move back there and demonstrate their use." And replace your own Prim'ta, she silently added. She didn't know how old Bra'tac's symbiont was, but she was certain that before making any promises to his friends, he would test the symbionts himself. But unlike certain politicians, he wouldn't do it for selfish reasons but to ensure if anyone got hurt, it would be him and not others.
"Yes, let's retreat off-planet for now," the Colonel said.
"But…" Daniel closed his mouth with a glance at Teal'c.
"It is the wisest course of action, for now," Teal'c said. "We need more information to plan our next move. We might have to appeal to the Tok'ra for their support."
"The Tok'ra?" Bra'tac's eyebrows rose again. "You are in contact with them?"
"We're allies," the Colonel said. "Kind of. It's complicated."
"It's not. We are allies. And friends. They are just stuck in their spy ways," Adora retorted.
"As I said, it's complicated."
"I see. I think." Bra'tac nodded.
Gate Area, PZ-1151, November 8th, 1999 (Earth Time)
"So… here's our Temporary Healing Station. Or Temporary Medical Station, depending on whether you have a healer available or not. Since we have Adora with us, it's a Healing Station. Which actually means that whatever station she visits turns into a Healing Station, I think." Entrapta frowned a little. "That seems a bit weird. Logical, but weird even for the militaries of Earth and their traditions."
Catra snorted. The Earth military did love their abbreviations and definitions. They had their uses, of course, but sometimes, they took it too far. A bit of flexibility was often better for running an army, in her experience. A lesson she had, fortunately, in hindsight, learned late.
"Only staff permanently assigned to a station counts for the designation," Sam told her.
"Ah. That makes more sense. Anyway, we can test the symbiont - well, demonstrate it; we already tested it - in there," Entrapta told Bra'tac. "The station isn't currently busy treating wounded since we didn't fight, and there were no accidents."
"Is this standard of care for your wounded?" Bra'tac asked, looking around as they entered the station.
"It depends on the missions," O'Neill explained. "If we establish a field base, even a temporary one like this, then yes, it will have a medical centre. But we wouldn't do this on planets we don't control or are about to conquer."
"Liberate," Glimmer corrected him. "We aren't going to conquer any planets. We're going to liberate them from the Goa'uld."
Catra snorted again. The Princess Alliance sometimes was a little too concerned with semantics as well. To defeat the Goa'uld, the Alliance would have to take a lot of worlds and base troops on them - to protect them from a counter-attack, but also to fight whatever loyalist remnants were left on the world. The differences between that and outright conquest would be minimal until the planet was ready to fend for itself, and that would take a long time with most undeveloped worlds.
Glimmer was frowning at her, Catra noticed. She snorted again and shrugged. "We're not going to form an Empire. But we're not going to liberate a planet and then leave it for anyone else to conquer or raid."
"We're from the Alliance, and we're here to help," O'Neill added.
"Yes!" Adora must have missed that he was sarcastic and nodded eagerly. "We're here to help the Goa'uld's victims - all of them!"
Daniel opened his mouth, then closed it, scowling at O'Neill.
"Anyway," Entrapta spoke up again, her hair pointing at a reinforced small tank in the corner with a guard bot hovering next to it. "There are two dozen synthetic symbionts. Pick one, and we can implant it in you right away! It works just like a Goa'uld larva for your immune system, and that's all it does. And it will last for decades - we don't know exactly how long it will last, only that it will be at least a few decades. It's kind of hard to test that any faster, so we have to extrapolate from other data."
The old Jaffa walked over and peered at the armoured glass. He was almost a hundred and forty years old, according to Teal'c. Older than anyone Catra knew, except for Angella. And Horde Prime. What would it be like, to be that old? she wondered.
"They do look differently from Prim'tas."
"Yes. We had to stick to a similar form so they could interface with your immune system, but a lot of the other parts were unnecessary, so we cut them - well, figuratively. We didn't actually cut pieces from a Goa'uld larva. It's all genetic engineering!"
"I would cut countless Prim'tas to free even one of my people," Bra'tac said.
Daniel nodded quite fiercely, to Catra's surprise.
"Well, we don't have to do that," Adora said.
But they would have to deal with every Prim'ta that they replaced. And Catra had a feeling that their former hosts would want to dispose of them. Permanently. She understood that. Very well. It had taken everything not to smash Horde Prime's chip as soon as it had been removed, back when… She pressed her lips together.
"Anyway, we can replace your larva any time you're ready!" Entrapta said. "It's very easy since you have a pouch made for that - it would be a bit harder if we had to do surgery, but only a bit."
Bra'tac looked at Teal'c. "You have not yet replaced your Prim'ta."
"I thought a demonstration might be necessary for some who might doubt it," Teal'c replied. "But I am ready to replace it as well."
"Bye-bye, Junior," Catra heard O'Neill mutter. "And good riddance."
"Then we shall do so," Bra'tac announced.
"Great!" Entrapta cheered. "We can do it simultaneously!"
The actual procedure was… well, not really a procedure. Teal'c and Bra'tac sat down on one of the surgical tables, Entrapta and Sam each grabbed a synthetic symbiont from the tank, and then the two Jaffa pulled their belly pouch open, reached inside and pulled the Prim'tas out before putting the synthetic symbionts in.
For some reason, most of the Earth people in the room looked a little taken aback, though. Or grossed out.
"Alright! Let's use our scanner to check…" Entrapta said, hair tendrils pointing two scanners from the station's stock at the two Jaffa. "Looks good. No signs of any collapse… data matches our baselines from testing… You're good!" She beamed at Teal'cand Bra'tac.
"We're free," Bra'tac said.
"Indeed." Teal'c nodded.
The two exchanged a glance and a nod, and then Catra heard a squishing noise, followed by the sound of Goa'uld blood and body parts dripping on the floor.
"Ew!"
"Gross!"
"That was…"
"Was that necessary?"
"That's not sanitary, I think, for a medical station. We'll have to sterilise the area thoroughly."
Catra shook her head. What had her friends expected that Teal'c and Bra'tac would do, once free? She'd done the same - well, she would have shredded it with her claws, but the result would have been the same.
Well, I should have expected that, Jack O'Neill thought as Teal'c and Bra'tac washed their hands while a small bot started to clean and disinfect the mess on the floor. If you were forced to carry a larva of your worst enemy inside you on pain of death for years - decades - then killing it as soon as you could was a natural impulse. It probably also felt cathartic, not that he'd ever use the word aloud - Jack had a reputation to keep.
He glanced at the others. Carter had that expression on her face, lips pressed together, trying not to scowl, that showed she disapproved but wouldn't say anything because she didn't disapprove too much. Or understood the reasons. And Daniel… didn't look like he disapproved at all. He would be thinking of his wife. Though for a guy like him not to react to this… Jack made a mental note to keep an eye on that. Daniel was usually the voice of restraint and mercy, and if he wasn't, you had to watch out.
The Etherians, unsurprisingly, were openly appalled - with the equally unsurprising exception of Catra. Although Jack wasn't quite sure if Entrapta was appalled at the killing or the unhygienic way it had happened.
"Was that necessary?" Adora repeated herself when Teal'c and Bra'tac finished cleaning up - well, mostly; there were a few Goa'uld blood spots left on their clothes.
Bra'tac tilted his head - was that where Teal'c got it from? - and nodded. "It was more merciful than letting them die from exposure."
"We could have put the larvae into a tank," Bow said.
"To what purpose? So it can grow into a Goa'uld, and we have to kill it then?" Bra'tac shook his head.
"We don't kill prisoners!" Adora snapped.
Jack caught Bra'tac glancing at Teal'c for confirmation.
"Indeed. Yet, larvae are not prisoners," Teal'c added. "They would have to mature for that."
"They carry the genetic memory of their Goa'uld parent - although to what degree varies - but as far as we know, they are not sapient yet and cannot access it," Carter said. She looked uncomfortable, though.
"But they will if you let them grow up," Daniel added with a scowl. "They will look for hosts to possess - we know that - and fight us."
"They might join the Tok'ra," Adora retorted.
"Those who join the Tok'ra do so after their experiences under their Goa'uld lords," Teal'c said. "And a very scant few of the Goa'uld ever overcome their genetic memory."
"How can you fight a war if you intend to breed your enemies?" Bra'tac asked.
"That's not the point," Glimmer said.
"What else would you do with them?" Daniel asked. "Incubate them to keep them in habitats? Do you know how many larvae a single Goa'uld queen produces? And you know they require sapient hosts to be mentally healthy. Do you want larvae to mature, just to live like that?"
The Etherians obviously didn't like it, but they didn't have an answer to that. Jack nodded. Daniel always knew how to ask the hard questions.
"Well… we could try to find a way to fix them so they won't be diminished if they lack a sapient host?" Entrapta suggested. "It should be possible with genetic engineering."
And Entrapta always knew how to make an awkward situation even worse by opening a huge can of worms. Almost literally, in this case.
"Entrapta! We can't just 'fix' an entire species!" Glimmer said.
"Why not? We're working on finding a way to fix the Asgard's issues. This seems to be the same problem. Sameish."
"We can't just fix a species against their will," Glimmer corrected herself. "I mean, we shouldn't."
"So we should kill them instead?" Entrapta asked.
"Yes," Bra'tac said.
"Indeed."
"No!" Adora shook her head. "But we can't make that decision for them. That would be wrong."
"But we have to think about how to handle the Goa'uld if we win the war," Catra spoke up. "What do we do with them?"
"Let the Tok'ra decide?" Bow suggested.
"They do not consider themselves Goa'uld," Carter pointed out.
"Yes, Anise was very clear about that." Entrapta nodded emphatically. "So, if we shouldn't decide the fate of another species, then the Tok'ra shouldn't either, right?"
"Just pick a planet with lots of swamps and water and drop all of them into it, then seal it off?" Catra shrugged.
"As far as we know, they did evolve in such circumstances," Daniel added. "If they had not managed to possess sapient hosts, they would still be restricted to their home planet. Banishing them back to that planet would merely let nature run its course."
Jack didn't think things worked like that, but he didn't have a better suggestion. Not that he needed one. "That's all fine and dandy, but we haven't won the war yet. We have not yet begun to fight, so to speak."
Daniel frowned at him for mangling and misusing the famous quote, but the others nodded.
"That still leaves us with the problem of how to handle larvae," Glimmer said. "Every Jaffa we free from the Goa'uld's hold on them will have one."
"And every Jaffa will kill it to free themselves," Bra'tac said. "Are you planning to deny them this?"
"One could argue that we don't have the right to deprive them of exacting justice according to their customs," Daniel said.
"The Alliance doesn't kill prisoners," Adora retorted. "And we won't look away while prisoners are killed by others."
"But are larvae prisoners?" Entrapta asked. "If they aren't sapient, they can't really be prisoners." She nodded. "We need data! We'll have to test if they are sapient or not!"
Jack saw Carter nod at that and suppressed a groan. He had a feeling that this would further complicate things. "Yeah, good, you do that. But first, let's focus on saving Teal'c's family."
Everyone agreed to that, at least. Not that Jack had expected anything else. It was what SG-1 and their friends did, after all.
Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, November 8th, 1999
"You want to attack Apophis's homeworld?" General Naird sounded shocked, Adora found. For the highest-ranking American officer in the Alliance Command Council, he seemed to be a bit… easily startled.
"No, we want to rescue Teal'c's family," she explained - again.
"By attacking Apophis's homeworld," Naird repeated himself.
"We're not planning to attack Saqqara," Catra said. "We're going to sneak in, get Drey'auc and Rya'c and leave. Preferably without anyone noticing anything, but if we have to fight our way free, well…" She shrugged.
"What happens happens," Jack added with a grin. "General."
Naird ground his teeth. "I've read the reports from Stargate Command. Your team regularly turned exploration missions into combat missions, General!"
"That wasn't our fault," Jack retorted.
"I'm not some rear-echelon paper-pusher - I know a bullshit excuse when I see one, and your reports were full of them!" Naird snarled. "This council agreed that keeping the Alliance a secret is our current strategic priority. Such a mission would jeopardise that!"
"It's true that this seems to be a slightly risky operation," Admiral Brown-Emerson said, running a finger over his moustache. "But we have to consider the reward of a successful mission."
Naird frowned. "As far as I know, both Teal'c's wife and son are considered outcasts in Jaffa society. The odds that they are privy to classified, actionable intel are low. And I doubt that the targets of opportunity General O'Neill is undoubtedly planning to hit will be worth the risk, either."
Adora glared at him. That wasn't how you judged the risks! Teal'c had done so much for the Alliance, risked and sacrificed so much, they owed him this!
"It's not about the intel we can gather - or the factories we might be able to sabotage - it's also about weakening Apophis's hold on his systems," Glimmer spoke up. "If we can save Drey'auc and Rya'c, everyone will know he cannot even control his homeworld. The loss of face alone will weaken him and encourage defectors and infighting - and attacks from other System Lords."
"And reveal the Alliance!" Naird objected.
"No, it won't," Adora told him. "The Goa'uld will assume that this was just another mission by SG-1. We won't be recognisable as either Horde or Etherians." Even though the Goa'uld couldn't really be aware of Etheria anyway since it had been hidden in Despondo for a thousand years.
"And we have done this before," Jack added with a smirk. "Not to brag, but we got a reputation amongst the snakes."
Naird rolled his eyes, then looked at Catra. "Then the Goa'uld should know that Earth doesn't have… catpeople."
Adora's lover snorted. "They'll think I'm an alien SG-1 picked up somewhere. Maybe a Sekhmet - people keep mistaking me for one."
"I agree. This would fit Stargate Command's past exploits," Admiral Brown-Emerson said.
"But there is a risk of one or more members of the team getting captured," General Durand pointed out.
"We won't leave anyone behind," Adora said, narrowing her eyes. Never again.
"You can't promise that," Naird objected.
"Yes, I can." She looked at him until he pouted.
"It could still go wrong…"
"If the worst happens, what would they do?" Admiral Brown-Emerson asked. "Even if they suspect or assume that Earth has found allies, they wouldn't know who or where to look for them - except for Earth. And if the Goa'uld rally and attack the Solar System in force, then that would be the perfect opportunity to destroy a significant part of their fleet with our superior forces. Strategically, that would be a very favourable outcome."
"You're just hoping for another Trafalgar!" Naird muttered.
"This Council agreed that destroying the enemy's Naval assets is a necessary step for the liberation of their worlds," the British admiral replied in a bland tone.
Jack still snickered, of course.
"In any case," Adora pointed out, "as this is a recon mission, I can authorise it. Which I did." As Supreme Commander of the Alliance.
They wouldn't leave Teal'c's family in Apophis's hands. Or Sha're, if she was on Saqqara.
All they needed was the Tok'ra's help.
Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, November 8th, 1999
"You ask for our help to infiltrate Saqqara, Apophis's homeworld."
Anise didn't sound amused, Samantha Carter thought. Although she also sounded surprised, but Sam wasn't sure about that - she was a scientist, not a diplomat. The only reason this discussion was happening in the first place was that Sam and Entrapta were friends with Anise, and this was how Etherian princesses did things. But Sam wasn't a princess, either. This really should be handled by others. Probably not the Colonel, though.
"Yes!" Entrapta nodded. "We need to save Teal'c's family and Daniel's wife. And our data indicates that they are currently on Saqqara - at least the former. We're not quite sure about Sha're, but we should be able to find information about her location on Saqqara as well, I think."
"You might also find death on Saqqara. Or worse." Anise shook her head. "Apophis's court is there, as are his most loyal and effective guards."
"We're aware of the danger," Sam said. It had been pointed out ad nauseam, as Daniel had complained, by some members of the Command Council.
"I doubt that." Her friend scoffed. "You have no experience with infiltrating a stronghold of a System Lord, much less their court. Your success against Ra was due to his arrogance and mere chance that he visited Abydos."
Sam suppressed a wince. She couldn't really disagree with that assessment. But she hadn't been on that mission. "Stargate Command achieved more undercover missions." Like the one to Chulak two years ago. And they did blow up two of Apophis's Ha'taks to save Earth, though they had been lucky that time as well.
Anise frowned. "Missions born from desperation that succeeded due to chance do not equal actual experience with this sort of undercover work. There are few amongst the Tok'ra I would call experienced and qualified for such a mission, and it wouldn't include me."
"But you do have such people," Entrapta said, still smiling. "The data you have on Apophis couldn't be collected without someone on Saqqara."
Anise frowned, even though that was common knowledge, and the Tok'ra had never denied it. "Yes, we do. And each time they contact us to pass on intel, they risk their lives and years of preparation and sacrifices. You are asking us to risk all that - and the chance of finding crucial information in the future - for what?"
"To save our friends' families, of course," Entrapta earnestly replied as if that was enough of a reason. But then, for the Etherians, it was.
Sam smiled wryly at Anise's expression. It had probably been a rhetorical question.
"And does that justify the risks?"
"Yes." Entrapta nodded firmly. "No one left behind. Unless they're dead - but we'll make sure that they're dead even if they look dead. That once happened to me, you know? We were infiltrating a Horde base, and I got cut off, and it looked as if I was killed, so the others left. I had managed to escape into an air duct, though, and later met Catra and Scorpia, and then Hordak, so it turned out for the best!" She beamed at them.
Sam didn't quite agree with that assessment, but it was none of her business. "Both the Etherians and SG-1 have experience with infiltrating enemy strongholds," she said instead.
"What you told me about your missions doesn't fill me with confidence about what you learned from those experiences," Anise retorted. But she was smiling, at least a little.
Sam wasn't a diplomat, but this was a good sign. "We do not want you to risk your agent at court. We only require a cover to use the Stargate to reach Saqqara."
"Yes. If we have to fight our way in, it would make finding our friends' families much harder," Entrapta said. "And we probably would have to invade the planet."
Judging by her friend's expression, Sam was sure that Anise didn't like the implication that the Alliance would launch an invasion if infiltration wasn't possible. Time to push, then. "Our mission would also provide a good cover for any sensitive information your agent passes over - at least for a time, future leaks could be blamed on us. And your agent would have an opportunity to replace a Goa'uld in the wake of the purge that a successful mission would start."
Anis gave her a look that made Sam suspect she had overdone it a little. "Will you also point out that if you happen to kill Apophis in his court, our agent would be free to return anyway?"
Well, that had come up during their discussion - it was bound to since that was how Ra had died - but… "This is a recon and rescue mission, not an assassination mission," Sam told her. Of course, if they stumbled on Apophis, all bets would be off.
Anise nodded. "I see. I will inform the Grand Council about this. But I can make no promises."
Sam knew that. But she had a good feeling about this.
