Chapter 105: The Symbionts Part 1

Bright Moon, Etheria, October 28th, 1999 (Earth Time)

"...and that's it. The synthetic symbiont should be a straight enhancement to people's immune systems. Once we have tested it, of course - but we have designed it, and we don't expect too many problems. It will be a great boon to healthcare, both on Etheria and on Earth, I think!"

Catra suppressed a wince at Entrapta's enthusiastic presentation. Adora had told her about this, so she wasn't surprised.

Unlike some of the others in the meeting room.

"You want to put those snakes into us?" Spinnerella looked shocked..

"Well, yes?" Entrapta cocked her head. "They're perfectly safe. Or will be when we finish testing them. We don't know yet if we need to make some adjustments and modifications."

"You made artificial Goa'uld?" Frosta asked with wide eyes.

"Not really? Well, we used Goa'uld DNA as a base - we had to, well, we could have chosen not to, but since the Jaffa were altered to require Goa'uld larvae for their immune system once they reach puberty, replacing the Prim'ta was far quicker and easier than trying to reverse the genetic alterations done to the Jaffa. Which would actually be a better solution, removing the need for a symbiont altogether, but I was told that this would also kinda change their species, so we shouldn't do that until they ask for it. It's still the obvious solution, so I think they'll see that. Anyway, we could have used something else as a base, but that would have been just extra steps we'd have to do. It's not as if we altered a Goa'uld, anyway - we just took key gene sequences from them and added them to the DNA of an artificially created species. That way, we didn't experiment on people!" Entrapta beamed.

Unfortunately, the rest of the princesses didn't seem to appreciate her reasoning.

"It's…" Spinnerella shook her head. "I don't want a snake inside me. Synthetic or not." Netossa held her hand, Catra saw.

"I don't want one inside me, either," Mermista said with a scowl.

"But why not? You'd never be sick again. Well, not unless you were targeted with a biological weapon, and even in that case, your odds of surviving it would be much better with a symbiont," Entrapta replied.

"We have healers for that," Mermista shot back.

"But they can't cover everyone," Entrapta pointed out. "Not even Adora can heal everyone."

Catra nodded. Though the idiot certainly would try if she let her.

"But this symbiont can be grown in large numbers - we have to, since there are millions, probably billions of Jaffa who need one - and then distributed, saving countless people!" Entrapta beamed at the others.

"Good for them. I'll stick with a healer," Frosta said.

Entrapta frowned and tilted her head to the side. "That sounds a bit selfish, I think."

"So? Better be a bit selfish than have a snake wrapped around your spine." Frosta snorted.

"It would actually sit next to - or in - your liver," Entrapta said. "At least in humans, since they don't have a pouch for the Prim'ta. It would also work at the spine, but it's easier to implant it in the liver, and it has an easier time dealing with blood-based illnesses."

"And it's safe?" Scorpia asked.

"We won't distribute it until we're completely sure it's perfectly safe!" Entrapta smiled at her.

Scorpia glanced at Perfuma. The princess slowly nodded. "Well, many creatures live in a symbiotic relationship with others. Plants and animals alike."

"Yes!" Entrapta nodded emphatically. "All of us have symbiotic organisms in our bodies."

"What?" Frosta blurted out. She wasn't the only one looking a bit queasy, Catra noted.

"Yes. Our gut microbiota. Or gut flora," Entrapta explained. "Bacteria, archaea, fungi and viruses that live in the digestive tract of our bodies. We have tons of them! It's perfectly natural."

"There's nothing natural about an artificial snake in our guts!" Mermista snapped.

"It does sound rather… artificial," Micah added with a wince.

"It's a synthetic life form," Entrapta told him. "But that's not really different from us - we were artificially created as well. Most of us, at least. Though, technically, our ancestors were artificially created and then reproduced naturally. Still, the origin is the same."

"That's… not the point," Glimmer, who had been oddly silent until now, said. "The idea of, ah, inserting a symbiont into your body is not as easy to accept as you think it is."

"But why? It has so many benefits and no drawbacks! There's absolutely no reason not to get a symbiont - once we have adapted and tested it, of course!" Entrapta said. "You'll live longer and better, too."

"What?" Catra hadn't heard about that.

"It prolongs your life?"

"Well, since you're not going to be sick any more, you'll have much fewer health issues," Entrapta explained. "But since a Goa'uld host lives much longer than their average species, we expect that the symbiont will have a similar, though probably lesser, effect. Although we're optimistic that we can duplicate the full effect with a bit of work. Jaffa also live longer than humans, despite being so similar to their parent species, so that's another data point in favour of that theory."

Catra looked around in the sudden silence.

"I still don't want a snake inside me," Frosta muttered with a scowl.

But the others were rethinking the whole thing. Catra could tell.

It was one thing not to get sick anymore. With Adora around, none of them would have to worry about that. But to live longer? Maybe double your average lifespan?

This changed things.

And she couldn't help but wonder how this would be received on Earth.

They would have to be careful when telling the others the news.

Alliance Base Lübtheen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, October 29th, 1999

"Los! Los! Das geht schneller! Los! Gleich kracht es hier!"

Jack O'Neill glanced at a platoon of German infantry rushing into a mock-up of a landing shuttle as he walked towards his office. Their training instructor was screaming himself hoarse as the soldiers simulated an emergency embarking.

"Meier! Sie sind auf eine Mine getreten! Ihr Bein ist weg und sie bluten!"

One of the soldiers stopped and dropped to the ground, screaming and holding his perfectly fine leg as he simulated an injury as ordered. Quite convincingly, even.

That soldier has a future in acting, Jack thought as two others grabbed the man and dragged him inside the mock-up, with a third grabbing the soldier's rifle. An HK G36, Jack noted, remembering the short-lived campaign by various corporations and politicians to standardise the small arms of the Alliance. It had been quietly buried by the treasuries when someone had run the numbers for replacing every existing assault rifle in NATO's arsenal. They were already spending enough to get everyone armour-piercing ammunition - which was standardised.

He grinned as he walked past the mock-up. Last he heard, Colt, Heckler&Koch etc. were now lobbying the Etherians, trying to sell them their rifles. Better them than I, he thought.

Alliance Special Operations Command had more leeway, anyway - they could pretty much use what small arms they wanted. Especially with so many different countries to pick gear from. Jack was still partial to the M4 carbine, but if one of his soldiers wanted to lug around a G3 or FAL, that was no skin of his butt. They just couldn't complain about the weight, of course. It wasn't as if he could order them to use standardised weapons, not with some of the Etherian soldiers in his command carrying bows and arrows! Granted, they were mostly shooting trick and magic arrows, but Jack still made sure they were trained on firearms as well.

To think they had fought tanks and spaceships with that! Jack could only hope the rest of his soldiers didn't get any weird ideas. Bow - or Glimmer - had been clear that they couldn't supply everyone with such arrows.

Jack nodded at the two guards at the gate to his own little corner of the main Alliance base on Earth. "Campbell. Isa."

Both saluted - one in the British style, the other in Etherian - Scorpion Kingdom - style. Some of Jack's old drill instructors would have coronaries seeing that. Well, most of them would have lost their temper seeing women in combat, much less special forces. At least until they'd have seen Isa carrying a heavy blaster - like an M2 machine gun - as her personal weapon. Or picking up a Humvee and carrying it into a landing shuttle.

Finding a uniform in her size had been nigh impossible, of course, but the quartermaster had managed after Jack had insisted. Everyone wearing the same uniform was important - it was difficult enough to mould all those different people into a unit. They still weren't quite there yet, Jack knew. That would only happen once they had fought together. But they were as ready as they could be.

He entered his office. "Morning, Brown."

"Good morning, sir!" His aide looked up, nodded briefly, and went back to sorting through reports and other paperwork.

Jack had an aide now. That took some getting used to. "Anything urgent?" he asked as he grabbed his mail.

"No, sir." Brown paused. "Another request for the stealth shuttle from General Naird, sir."

Jack groaned.

"I've sent him the usual reply, sir."

"Good!" Some day, Naird would have to accept that it was Jack's personal shuttle. Personally gifted to him by Her Royal Highness Princess Entrapta of Dryl. Technically, it was on loan to the Alliance by Jack.

Naird knew that but still tried his 'the Air Force is in command of all space-going vessels stationed on a planet' routine. The man was just jealous that Jack had a personal stealth shuttle, and he didn't even have a normal shuttle and had to make do with borrowing one from the Air Force's roster when he wanted to take a trip.

He nodded at Brown again and stepped into his office. The coffee maker - which made perfectly fine coffee no matter what Daniel claimed - was already running. Brown knew Jack's routine by now. He was no Carter - or Daniel - but he'd do as an aide.

Jack filled a cup and switched his computer on. While the machine started up, he took a sip and used the remote to quickly check CNN on the TV in the corner. As a general, he had to stay informed, after all. And no one could tell him off, anyway.

"...and the United Nations Commission on Human Rights was, once again, harshly criticised by several member states for its allegedly - I quote - 'blatant bias against any country that isn't under control by aliens'. These accusations follow in the wake of the commission's latest report about human rights violations in China's western provinces. China's government has refuted the report in its entirety, claiming it was a fabrication for political gains, and announced that it would veto any motion based on the report. This despite the commission's report also claiming that China had taken steps to improve its prisons and judicial systems, allegedly in response to the Etherian Intervention in Iran. The Chinese government didn't comment on the situation in North Korea, and…"

Jack finished his coffee and sighed. Nothing new on that front. He hoped it stayed that way. If North Korea destabilised, things would get messy. And Taiwan's attempts to get into the Alliance weren't helping either. Explaining that mess to the Etherians must have driven a few members of the state department into early retirement.

Well, neither was his problem. His problem was getting his troops ready for the coming offensive. No matter what planet they would strike, Jack was sure that his soldiers would be the first to fight.

Or at least the second, right after the princesses.

Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, October 30th, 1999

"...and so, to make asteroid mining cost-effective would require more dedicated spacecraft, mainly for transport, and trained personnel and special gear to do the actual extraction. Even so, it would only be competitive for rare earths unless and until orbital infrastructure to handle large-scale mining is being built, coupled with transportation that can ferry entire asteroids to said infrastructure." The scientist doing the presentation - Dr Wallander - nodded as he finished his exposition.

Before Adora could even thank the man, the American Secretary of Defense spoke up: "Pushing entire asteroids towards Earth? One mistake, and we're done for!"

Wallander shook his head. "The orbital guard flotilla can handle even a large asteroid. With the distances involved, any failure to decelerate that would put Earth at risk would be obvious long before it gets close to Earth. In extremis, a single frigate can break up any asteroid into pieces small enough to burn up on atmospheric entry."

"Do you know how many voters will think of Armageddon when they hear 'asteroids flying towards Earth'?"

Wallander frowned. "Do you mean the movie? That was very inaccurate, from a scientific point of view, and…"

"Scientific accuracy doesn't mean anything to the voters!" the American snapped.

"And that's your problem," Catra muttered next to Adora.

Adora cleared her throat. "We're not here to discuss American elections." They were more than a year away, anyway. "We're here to discuss how to ensure that the Alliance will continue to be supplied with the raw materials we need for our military production. Asteroid mining is a possible solution."

"We can cover the needs with existing production on Earth," the German Verteidigungsminister cut in.

"So far," his British counterpart retorted. "As we ramp up production, we'll run into shortages."

"And mining puts a terrible burden on nature," Perfuma cut in. "It threatens to contaminate your supply of food and water."

That was exaggerated, as far as Adora knew. At least in Europe. But it was a concern that couldn't be ignored.

"And we have to consider the future - no ore deposit will last forever, and creating an entire fleet of spaceships takes a lot of resources." The British Minister nodded.

"And using space mining will see some return of investment for our space infrastructure," the French Minister added.

"Making our orbital defence stations dual-use will mean they're still legitimate military targets," the German objected.

"The Goa'uld don't care about your laws of war." Catra rolled her eyes. "Besides, we already have asteroid mining facilities for the spy bot network."

"Not in the Solar System," Dr Wallander said. "And automated systems are not flexible enough to mine efficiently as demand changes. They work for your automated drone production facilities, but that's not an option for us here."

It wouldn't be diplomatic to mention that they had moved the spy bot factories to nearby systems to avoid complaints about 'stealing the Solar System's resources' and 'exploitation in the tradition of colonialism' from the United Nations. Even though they were doing this to protect Earth. So Adora nodded. "Make a study about the projected costs for either solution and how long it would take to implement either." They could decide which variant to implement, if any, when they had that information. "And since we're talking about space infrastructure, what's the status of the fleet transports?" She looked at Catra.

Her lover rolled her eyes again; they had gone over this before the meeting, but appearances and forms had to be kept, like at a Princess Prom. "They're on schedule. And the first block should be entering service in a few weeks, depending on how their shakedown cruises go. In an emergency, we could already call upon them."

"They're ahead of our own projects," the Norwegian Minister commented.

The American Secretary of Defense bristled at that. "You can't compare transports being built in automated factories using existing designs with creating an entire industry to build warships from scratch!"

It would be very undiplomatic to mention that just using Horde frigates would have worked as well - that was what the Princess Alliance was doing, after all. Etheria's Home Fleet - or Fourth Fleet, depending on who you asked - was using frigates built by Second Fleet's supply train but crewed by Etherians who were being trained by clones. Not even Salineas's shipyards were switching to spaceships any time soon. As Mermista had put it, she'd rather do that after the war when it could be done right, and with thousands of Salinean sailors with experience in space to help, than rush it with 'half-baked designs and untrained workers'.

But Earth didn't do things like that. They wanted to build their own ships. Which was fine but would take longer. And complicate the supply issues for the Alliance, of course. At least they would soon have the transport and supply capacity for multiple ground divisions - pretty much the entire expeditionary force that was, at least nominally, ready for operations right now.

And, speaking of soldiers… Adora cleared her throat again. "There's another issue we need to discuss. We have had a breakthrough in our research to produce synthetic symbionts. As soon as we have sufficient production, we can supply replacement symbionts to all our Jaffa prisoners and then extend that to other Jaffa."

"Let's hope we'll get enough defectors to join our side," the Secretary of Defence muttered. "We've spent enough on that project."

Mostly Etheria, actually, Adora knew that. And it wasn't as if they had paid actual money for using Research Station Alpha. But every day Entrapta, Hordak and the others were working there, they weren't working on other projects, and that was an opportunity cost which had to be accounted for - at least according to the Alliance budget commission.

She took a deep breath before continuing. "There's an additional benefit from the research," she said. "According to our preliminary research, the synthetic symbionts would be able to provide substantial benefits to humans as well, namely, greatly enhancing their immune system and, potentially, significantly prolonging their lifespans."

For a moment, the meeting room was dead silent. Then everyone seemed to speak up at once.

Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, October 31st, 1999

"I am a physicist, sir. Not a geneticist," Samantha Carter repeated herself for what felt like the tenth time today. Why did people think she was an expert on everything? Granted, she had dealt with a wide range of scientific challenges at Stargate Command, but usually in emergencies.

"Major Carter, please don't play coy. You were involved in the entire project from the start - from before the start. We need your assessment of this recent development." The Secretary of Defense leaned forward, putting both elbows on the table in the small meeting room.

Sam could clearly hear the emphasis on 'recent' the man used. "I was focused on security, administrative and technical tasks." That was technically true. "Dr Morrison was a lead researcher. I am sure his report covers whatever you need to know."

"Dr Morrison's report covers biological issues. What we need are hard numbers about production. How quickly can those synthetic things be manufactured? And at what cost? You built those robot factories with Princess Entrapta."

Sam pressed her lips together for a moment. "The synthetic symbionts are organic lifeforms, sir. They need to be grown in cloning tanks. They can't be built on assembly lines by automated systems." It was a bit more complicated than that, with bioreactors needed for various products to feed the cloning tanks, and automation was certainly an important part, but she doubted the man would understand the process.

The man made a dismissive gesture with his hand. "Yes, yes, I know that. What I - what we, the government - don't know yet is: How much does it cost to build enough of those things to supply the American population, and how long will it take?"

Sam raised her eyebrows. "The American population?"

"They're our responsibility. We swore an oath, Major." The Secretary narrowed his eyes.

"Production facilities are already being set up on Etheria." She knew better than to respond to the implied rebuke.

"For the symbionts for the Jaffa. Not the symbionts for humans. Those are still being researched, aren't they?" The man looked at her as if he suddenly suspected a cover-up.

"They are being tested, yes," she said. "We don't know yet if the design will have to be altered. Potential long-term effects have to be thoroughly examined."

"People are already asking why months of research - almost a year - were spent on ways to benefit our enemies instead of us."

What? By 'people' he must mean his colleagues. The symbionts were classified. And those with the clearance would know better than to ask such questions! She met the man's eyes with a glare of her own. "The project was ordered by Alliance Command, in accordance with our general strategy against the Goa'uld." They needed those symbionts to turn the Jaffa. And to keep prisoners alive.

"I know that. But people wonder if we should have changed our goals once the potential of the symbionts became obvious."

"The research team focused on the task they were given," Sam replied to the unspoken accusation. "And on the other crucial genetic research. The potential applications for humans were only discovered once the project had entered the final testing phase."

The Secretary of Defense snorted at that but didn't push the issue. Though Sam was sure he wouldn't show such restraint if she wasn't friends with Entrapta and the other princesses. "We need those projections. This is one of the most important issues for our government - for the world. If this leaks - when this leaks - to the public, there will be riots in the streets and worse if we don't have answers and a plan. Hell, there'll be riots anyway."

Sam was aware of that, of course. Some people would be horrified at the idea. And some would suspect everyone who got a symbiont as a potential traitor. Or someone who had sold their soul. But many would be clamouring for a symbiont. "We're still building the production facilities for the symbionts meant for the Jaffa. Once they are up and running, we have a baseline and can project numbers for the variant for humans and Etherians. But we were planning to produce a million symbionts in the first year, and scaling up those numbers by two or three magnitudes, which would be needed just to cover the potential short-term demand in the Alliance, is a challenge." To say the least. The effort to produce a million Jaffa-symbionts was already straining the resources of Etheria, and that was with Perfuma delivering any organic base materials for basically free.

"The alternative is civil unrest of a scale we can't imagine. And the complete collapse of the healthcare industry. All that in the middle of a war in space." He leaned forward even more. "We need those numbers, Major! We need to know what it will cost, and how long it'll take, so we know what we can do to deal with this."

Sam had some doubts about the man's priorities, but he wasn't wrong. "I'll get on it, sir." That would delay other projects, but she wasn't looking forward to more troubleshooting for the Constellation-II project anyway. "We should…"

The Secretary of Defense's mobile phone went off, interrupting her. He took the call, turning away from her.

"Yes?"

"I'm in the middle of… What?" He paused. "WHAT?"

His head whipped around, and he stared at Sam again. "Someone leaked it to the media! CNN is going to run a report on this!"

Sam felt her stomach drop. That wasn't good. Not at all.

Earth Orbit, Solar System, October 31st, 1999 (Earth Time)

"...and we're waiting for the United States Government to comment on the claim that Alliance scientists have found a way to extend the human lifespan by at least a hundred years, in perfect health, by using alien technology. A press conference has been announced but has been delayed for 'technical reasons', so speculation is running rampant."

"Thank you, Bob. Now, this was leaked by an anonymous source. Can this information be trusted? It sounds fantastical - almost too good to be true. We've got an expert on the matter here. Professor Smith, as one of the foremost experts in this particular field, what do you think?"

"Well, thank you for having me here. Some time ago, I would have said this sounded too good to be true due to my research into anti-ageing treatments. However, this was before we met the Etherians and, most importantly, before the return of magic. Nowadays, after analysing the various people who were healed by Princess She-Ra, the consensus amongst my colleagues is that, with magical means, curing any disability is possible, which should result in extending human lifespan by several decades at the least."

"That's short of the hundred years we were told was the baseline, Professor."

"Exactly. And that's peculiar, isn't it? I would have expected a more conservative number. Now, this might just be a bit of hyperbole, or it might be indicative of more than merely healing ailments. We have not even begun to delve into what magical healing can do, but we know that at least some individuals lived for centuries on Etheria."

"That would be a very long time indeed."

"Yes. However, we don't know yet what it takes to achieve that. Magical talent is not common, as we know by now, and such treatments might be beyond the power of the vast majority of sorceresses, even Etherian ones."

"You mean, only She-Ra could do this, Professor?"

"That might be the case, yes."

Catra muttered a curse and muted the screen. "And here I was looking forward to Halloween." Those bastards just had to ruin her and Adora's day. The one day of the year she could have gone out without a disguise and be mistaken for someone wearing a catgirl - or Catra - costume with Adora, and those idiots had to ruin it!

"We can still go to the party at Alliance Headquarters," Bow said. "Although we probably have to talk about this with the Council first."

Catra scoffed. "Talk to the same people who leaked this? So they can leak more information?"

"We don't know who leaked it," Bow retorted.

"So we have to find the leak first." That would be difficult, with so many suspects. They had informed all the governments in the Alliance, after all. And those would have discussed it internally, looked for more angles and information… "We need to revamp how we handle such information," she said.

"Yes," Glimmer agreed. "We can't fight a war if everything gets leaked. We cannot count on being secure from infiltrators forever - certainly not once we start occupying more planets."

"And we need to tell everyone about the symbionts," Adora spoke up. Catra saw that she had raised her chin slightly - she wouldn't budge on that. "We can't have people think I can make them immortal!"

Catra nodded. They would hound her forever. People were already speculating about eternal youth.

"The Council won't like it," Glimmer said. "But that's their problem. We won't lie for them if they can't control their media."

More like wouldn't control them, Catra thought. "So… let's meet the press?"

"We need to inform our allies first," Glimmer said.

"Yes," Bow agreed.

Catra snorted. "We could probably skip the press release then - someone will leak it again."

Glimmer chuckled, but Adora and Bow didn't seem to think it was funny.

"We won't," Adora said. "We'll do this properly and tell people the truth."

Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, October 31st, 1999

"...and we're working on adapting those symbionts to humans and other life forms. Based on the effects on Jaffa, which we tested, we expect a significant boost to the immune system, which should render a host mostly immune to most diseases and enhance their regeneration after suffering an injury. The effects on the lifespan beyond that are not yet clear but might be similar to the effects on the hosts of Goa'uld."

Catra saw Adora smile at the various reporters staring at her in the room.

"It's not magic. And you don't need a sorceress to use it. Any surgeon should be able to implant the symbiont easily and safely. But, as I said, we're still working on adapting the symbiont, so it'll take a while until it's available. We will ensure that it is perfectly safe, and that requires a lot of testing. Any questions?"

Catra's ears twitched, and she winced as the murmuring that had started during the news conference quickly grew painfully loud, some of the reporters jumping up from their seats and waving microphones, recorders and notepads around as they tried to shout over each other.

"When will this be available?"

"How long has this been in the pipeline?"

"How can you tell if this is safe?"

"Are you using Goa'uld for this?"

"Wo will receive those symbionts first?"

Yeah, this was going about as well as she had expected.

Jack O'Neill took another sip from his glass and frowned. This Halloween party sucked. And not because they were in Europe, where Halloween wasn't a thing. No, everyone here was either talking about the symbionts or watching the news about the symbionts. And a lot of people were too busy to attend in the first place.

Including Carter, who had apparently been ordered to prepare a briefing about the symbionts for the government. And Daniel, who was busy working on a paper about the consequences for society if people suddenly had a lifespan twice as long as before or something. He hadn't even been ordered to do it - no, Jack's friend had volunteered because he thought this couldn't wait.

Jack had tried to get them to attend the party anyway, but both had turned them down. And he couldn't exactly order them to attend since they - technically - weren't in his chain of command any more. Well, they would be temporarily assigned to Special Operations Command for any operations, but they were not officially part of Jack's command.

And no, Jack wasn't thinking about what that might mean for certain regulations. Absolutely not.

"The differences between this event and last year's Halloween party at Stargate Command are subtle but distinct, I believe."

Well, at least one of Jack's friends had made the party. "What do you mean, Teal'c?" Jack asked as he turned.

"The selection of the dishes is more varied," Teal'c said, holding a plate loaded with finger food. "Healthier as well, I think. At least some of the fare," he added, eyeing his plate.

"That's because this is the Alliance Headquarters, not a base." Jack snorted. "The soldiers here are mostly paper pushers, so if they ate like soldiers in the field, they'd grow too fat to walk in no time."

Teal'c tilted his head to the side and raised an eyebrow. "I was told it is the result of so many soldiers from countries with vastly different culinary traditions working together."

Jack snorted again. "Well, that's the official explanation. Of course, they wouldn't admit that they are skipping P.T."

Teal'c's eyebrow remained where it was - he wasn't buying it. Well, can't win them all. Jack grinned. "But the variety is nice. As long as you stay away from the various Nordic dishes." The catering had included some truly nasty examples.

"I have yet to discover an inedible meal," Teal'c said. "Most were pleasantly spicy."

"Right." Jack shrugged. "And, speaking of stomachs… Are you going to get a replacement for Junior?"

Teal'c calmly finished a small pastry - something French, or maybe Belgian, Jack thought - before replying: "My Prim'ta has a few years left before it matures. I would not wish to deprive others who might need the synthetic symbionts more urgently of them merely for my convenience."

"Well, we don't exactly have an army of Jaffa lining up for a new baby snake," Jack said. "I am sure we can spare one for you." And get rid of the Goa'uld in his friend's belly before it matured and killing it became… morally dubious. And probably illegal.

"I believe that this might change once news of those synthetic symbionts spreads to those Jaffa who are currently trapped serving the false gods since becoming Shol'va would doom them to die."

"Yeah, 'freedom or death' sounds a lot better than 'freedom and death'," Jack said. Should he mention Teal'c's family? That was kind of a sore spot.

"Master Bra'tac should know more Jaffa who would be willing to defect now that their circumstances are bound to change."

Jack narrowed his eyes. That was a not-so-subtle - for Teal'c - request to contact his friend's old mentor. "I guess we should go and contact him, then." Now that they actually had those synthetic symbionts as an incentive, that should outweigh the concerns about secrecy that the Alliance brass kept bringing up to block such a mission.

"Indeed."

"Well, let's see where our Supreme Commander is currently hiding," Jack said, looking around. "Did you see her anywhere?" Adora and her friends were attending the party, after their original plans had fallen through thanks to CNN, but they might have decided to risk going out in public anyway - this party sucked, after all.

"Not after the first round of introductions," Teal'c replied. "However, I believe I know where they can be found."

Hm? What was Teal'c looking at? Jack turned his head. The buffet? Yes. And the right wing of the buffet, where the seafood was. Ah! He grinned. "Yeah, let's check our bait. If our furry friend is still around, she'll bite sooner or later." And since Catra wouldn't leave Adora's side for any length of time if she could help it, if they found Catra, they'd find Adora as well.

The Alliance Headquarters Halloween party is disappointing, Adora thought. She had expected a party more like the New Year's Eve Party at Stargate Command, where everyone had a good time. Sure, there had been a few incidents, but nothing really serious, and people had fun even though there was some 'networking', or what you called it. Here, though, it felt more like Princess Prom, just without the fun parts. Everyone seemed to be working on something, trying to gather support for this and that - and as the Supreme Commander of the Alliance, everyone wanted to talk to her.

That the news about the synthetic symbionts had been revealed today didn't help, of course. On the contrary.

All in all, this wasn't a fun costume party, like in the TV shows, but just another work meeting, just with drinks and better food. And Adora already had had all the meetings and work she could stand today.

Not that hiding in a side room - marked 'defunct - keep out' thanks to Catra doing something to the maintenance records that Adora didn't want to know more about - was fun, either. But it was a room with a view of Brussels, and at night, and from afar, the city looked very pretty.

"So, you're really going to stay here?"

Adora turned to smile, if a bit tiredly, at Glimmer. "I don't think it's a good idea for Catra and me to go out today."

"You'd be in disguise - in costume," Glimmer said. "Like us." She had changed into a 'Batgirl' costume herself, though she had left the cowl with the red wig off for now. Bow was going as 'Robin'. "We still have the Wonder Woman and Cheetah costumes…"

Adora frowned at her friend. "We're not going to dye Catra's fur." Really! Catra would claw them!

Glimmer grinned a bit sheepishly. "It would wash out. And it would be the perfect disguise for her!"

"Too perfect," Adora retorted. People would quickly realise that the fur wasn't a costume.

"Still better than her plans." Glimmer snorted. "Going as herself? Please!"

"Refuge in audacity?" Adora offered with a weak smile. It wasn't a good plan, in her opinion, but it might have worked well enough as long as Catra wore a suit covering most of her fur. But not now that the symbiont news had spread and everyone was focused on them. And on Adora specifically. At least there were no riots in Brussels. So far.

The door opened - that would be Catra, returning from her third 'food run'. Or 'fishing expedition'. Adora turned, then blinked.

"So, this is where you were hiding." Jack looked around as Teal'c closed the door behind them.

"They were waiting at the buffet," Catra said, scowling as she put a large plate of food on the table.

"And you walked into their ambush?" Glimmer shook her head with a sigh. "You're slipping."

"I didn't think they would insist on following me," Catra retorted. "I guess I could have tried to lose them…"

"No!" Adora snapped. "So, are you also hiding?" she asked, grabbing a small sandwich from the plate. Not a salmon one, of course - everyone knew better than trying to get between Catra and those.

"Not exactly." Jack smiled. He was up to something, Adora realised. "But something came up, and we wanted to talk to you about it."

Catra groaned through a mouth stuffed with a Nordic fish dish.

"And it couldn't have waited until tomorrow?" Glimmer asked, narrowing her eyes.

Jack's smile grew a bit wider. "It probably could, but the party sucks, and it doesn't look as if you've got anything better to do if you're hiding in here…"

He wasn't entirely wrong - at least as far as Adora was concerned.

Catra, though, snorted. "Wait until we tell Daniel and Sam that you'd rather work than party. And we had plans - we were going to break in the table as soon as Glimmer and Bow left."

Adora gasped at her - fortunately, she hadn't been drinking at the moment. "Catra!"

"What? It's true."

"That's…" Adora pressed her lips together as she felt her cheeks heat up. She raised her chin and turned to Jack and Teal'c. "So, what do you want to talk about?" she asked as professionally as she could.

"Ah, it's about Teal'c's family and friends amongst the Jaffa," Jack said. "Now that we have replacements for the baby snakes, we should revisit them."

"The circumstances regarding them have changed, I believe," Teal'c added.

Adora nodded at once. "Of course!" As if they'd keep their friend from his family and friends if he wanted to see them!