NYX
While O'Neill was gone, missing they hoped and not dead, SG-1 was at loose ends.
Sam Carter was totally absorbed with the attempt to reconnect with Edora. Teal'c was visiting family and friends while trying to reestablish his Jaffa ties and thus further the free Jaffa movement.
And as for Daniel Jackson, there were just so many books to read, artifacts to classify and exotic scripts to decipher. He'd never tell Jack, if he could, but he was bored. He needed a little adventure, anything to spark his interest.
So when the Tok'ra Aldwin asked him to accompany him to a far corner of the galaxy to speak to an old man who held a wealth of knowledge, Daniel jumped at the chance. What Aldwin didn't tell Daniel was that both symbiote and host were of a very advanced age. There was a possibility of dementia and perhaps they were always a 'little off'. They were known to be quarrelsome, difficult, annoyingly repetitive and somewhat paranoid. Well, what Tok'ra isn't.
Aldwin initially hoped Daniel would accept the symbiote the old man carried but it was already too late.
The frail old man sat propped up in a chair in front of a hearth, dozing. Daniel sat across from him and readied his tape recorder as Aldwin gently roused him.
"Do I know you?" the old man asked, clearly confused.
"I am Aldwin, your brother Tok'ra. I have brought a scholar of the Tauri that you might tell him…"
"What, share our secrets? He could be a spy." Now the old man was agitated.
"He is a friend. And most assuredly an enemy of the Goa'uld." Aldwin said.
"I've come at Aldwin's request. He said you have a great wealth of knowledge and it could help us in the war with the Goa'uld. Knowledge of the past that we might understand and knowledge of the present that we might succeed." Daniel Jackson's calm demeanor put the old man at easy.
"Where they were spawned from I do not know. I only know that after Ra came to your world so many of his kind followed. They thrived there for many centuries. Dividing your world up in fiefdoms and squabbling amongst themselves." the old Tok'ra said. "After the rebellion many fled to pursue the creation of their own domains taking slaves and Jaffa with them."
"Do you know this from Egeria?" Daniel, ever the dedicated researcher, needed the source of information.
"Our mother." He murmured softly and was quiet for a while.
"She placed me in the great temple. My first host was a high priest, the keeper of secrets. Many came from all over to worship there and offer tribute to Ra. The other Goa'uld sent offerings, caravans of camels loaded with gold and jewels led by slaves. This was before they became bold enough to rise up."
The old man's sightless eyes were looking into the past. "There are not as many as there once were. The rise of the System Lords brought many of the lesser Goa'ulds to their knees. They either served the great Lords or they were exterminated. Many fled. And so few fertile queens. Of course, your people have killed a few, throwing off the balance of power." He sat looking quite exhausted.
"Would you like to take a break.. For a rest…or" Daniel feared for the old man's life, he was so frail.
"I'm not sure I have much time left." He looked wistful. "These memories will die with me. Someone should know. I want the Beings of our galaxy to never allow this to happen again."
"Ah and there was Nyx, elegant and mysterious. So seductive, she'd swirl in veils in the darkness like wisps of mist or a shadow." There was the hint of a smile on his lips. "For a time she protected Zeus from Cronus, his father, whom she held in chains."
"We've met Cronus."
"He slew Zeus. They are jealous of those who would vie for power. Nyx had many children, she was a Queen who spawned many offspring, most of whom served her, and her alone." He was quiet for a few moments remembering.
"Some say she was the spawn of Chaos. I don't know. They say too she is the mother of doom and deceit, strife and dreams and also death."
"Is she still alive?"
"Nyx? She has hid herself from the Great Lords. That was far in the past. Now, I am not sure. She never flaunted her power. She undermined her enemies. She is said to have spies in the service of every great Lord. And spies spying on her spies." The old Tok'ra chuckled.
"Some grew distrustful of friend and foe alike. Others she infected and crushed them with minds so painfully disturbed they sought oblivion."
The old man took a drink of water and mused for a bit.
"Some said Seshat went with her. Seshat sought to get out from under Thoth's thumb. He took credit for all her work. She was said to create powerful potions even the Jaffa could not resist. Hathor was most interested in Seshat talents, as were many others."
"Do you know where we could find her? Do the System Lords fear her or does she fear them? Is she an outcast like Nirrti?" Daniel asked.
"Who, Nirrti or Hathor?" He seemed confused.
"Hathor is dead."
"Are you sure?" The old man asked.
"Nyx, I wanted to know about Nyx." Daniel said.
"She, all of them, may be hiding within the great sisterhood. In the darkness, in the depths of her shrine, the adyton, where you will find no escape." It seemed as though he was reliving a disaster of his own.
He became more animated and forcefully he said. "But don't be a fool, don't look for her. If you go there no planet will be safe. She is one who would only share her knowledge if it would bring disaster.
But young man there are others. Persephone, the goddess of the dead, though none dare say her name, dwells there. As does Melinoe, the bringer of nightmares and madness. And Hecate, the witch, who holds the keys to Tataros." The old Tok'ra wheezed. He seemed to be staring off til his eyes closed and he drifted off into a troubled sleep.
When the old Tok'ra opened his eyes he seemed confused. Aldwin reintroduced Daniel.
Daniel asked the old man if he could tell him of the Goa'uld queens and the great sisterhood. Perhaps he could learn more about Nirrti.
" Ah…the great sisterhood, the daughters of Atlas, the lovely Nymphs, Goa'uld Queens each and every one. Others had joined them, tired of the System Lords ever jockeying for power, the endless wars for dominance. They dwelled in the star clusters known to the Tauri as the Hyades and the Pleiades."
Daniel recalled Earth cultures of every continent recognized the Pleiades, called by many names including the Seven Sisters, the Subaru, to Sam Carter - Messier 45. They were depicted on the Nebra Sky Disc, an early Bronze Age artifact found in Germany. They were listed in a Babylonian star catalog. Many civilizations marked their calendars by the rising of the Pleiades.
The old Tok'ra went on "There is no tyrant there. Each queen has her own domain. And by mutual agreement, they do not encroach upon one another's territory. They have surmised that the lack of an excess of testosterone has facilitated peace or at least a mutual concordance.
There were many stars within these clusters that possessed solar systems suitable for the domain of a Goddess. Hathor was welcomed and chose her home modestly, so against her nature, that the others guided her to the domain of Atlas. He was no more, having in the past vied with the System Lords and was destroyed in the exchange."
"Is Hathor there now? How can that be? We killed her not ten months ago."
"You think it is that easy to kill a Goa'uld Queen. Hathor is devious as well as strong. The Nymphs were surprisingly strong given their names, and underestimated by others to their detriment. In these darker corners of this sweeping segment of the galaxy, hidden by the brilliance of the sisters who extended her shelter, dwells Nyx."
Then he grabbed Daniel's sleeve as he spoke. "Don't be a fool, don't pursue them. You'll only find death. She calls me even now."
He died two days later and was brought home to his fellow Tok'ra who honored his passing and his many years of service.
And all Daniel could think was:
Could it be Hathor is still alive? If she is among these other Goa'uld Queens isn't it incumbent on them, the Tok'ra and the SGC, to seek them out and destroy them? But they are up to their necks in trouble and Jack is missing. Do they put this on the back burner?
Or was this the rambling of a senile old man - more a reminiscence of the past than the now.
But the truth is they are at war with the Goa'uld, with whom there can be no peace. There is only victory or defeat.
And if there are no Goa'uld Queens there will be no Goa'uld. Killing every last Goa'uld, this was genocide, the thought of which appalled Daniel as much as the senseless wholesale slaughter of Jaffa. But a Goa'uld Queen, Egeria, was the founder of the Tok'ra. A genocide against the Goa'uld would they be only destroying potential enemies or could they perhaps kill a potential ally.
Daniel traveled back to the SGC more troubled than when he left.