Chapter 16
Daniel was also reeling from Edna's capture off world. His greatest fear was Matit would discover Edna's abilities and exploit her healing ability or worse providing Edna was still alive. Out of the two possibilities, he would rather Eddy had died than be subject to the will of a Goa'uld. But soon his worst fears were to be realized.
They dialed out once more but this time with SG-2 and more backup teams. They were ready for an all out assault in the rescue attempt. They discovered the castle and small village behind the tree line and soon found an assembly was taking place. The team watched from the tree line as the event unfolded.
Matit needed to keep up the illusion that she was in complete control. Thus, she had to make a public appearance in her new host. Wearing a red long flowing gown with golden accent, Eddy and Matit stepped out before the people on a balcony of the castle. Matit tried to appear calm and looked over the faces below. Deep inside she was terrified the people would discover the truth. She was rather stoic in an attempt to appear in total control.
Eddy made an unusual move and waved her left arm at the people.
Matit asked. "What are you doing?"
"Waving to the crowd." she replied.
"Don't." she nearly panicked. "We do not wave to peasants."
"Really." she smirked.
Most Goa'uld hardly ever spoke. Merely presented themselves as gods. Eddy spoke loud and clear. "My good people. On this day, I hereby declare an end to forced servitude. All labor is to be compensated in wages."
Matit nearly gasped. "What?"
"I just ended your little slave business." she smiled brightly.
"I will end you for this." she warned.
Eddy looked upon the confused faces in the crowd below. She clarified loudly. "I have ended forced labor. I am also ending curfews and this moment forward all work shall be compensated. Mining operations will run from sun up to sun down. You will have the evenings free of labor and be allowed to spend time with your families. And no laborer shall be sold. That has ended. You are free."
Matit muttered. "I will kill you."
The people were stunned as they slowly realized they were being set free. They began to speak unsure what just happened.
Eddy dove into her new role. She happily declared. "My people! You are free. Go home." she waved to the crowd.
Matit warned. "You have made a grave mistake."
"How so?" she wondered.
"The other Goa'uld will attack. They will see this as a weakness." she insisted.
Eddy figured. "Not if the people are willing to fight to protect the mine and us."
"How will you do that?" she asked.
She smiled brightly. "We give the workers the mine and the profits. We raise up their standard of living and make them love their home and they will rise to protect it."
"You are naive." the Goa'uld accused.
The pair stepped back from the balcony rather tired out from the façade.
"You'll see, Mat." she smirked.
"Mat?" she asked.
"My name for you." she nodded. "Mat."
"I am Matit." she declared.
"Mat as in doormat." she insulted. The pair made their way back towards the throne to rest. Upon sitting down Eddy declared. "I'm hungry. Boy, could I go for a burger and fries."
"What is that?" Matit asked in fear.
Meanwhile
Jack looked at his team. He asked Daniel. "What the hell?"
"Matit took Eddy as her new host." he summarized.
"I see that." he agreed. "What about freeing the slaves?"
"Obviously no Goa'uld would do that." he concluded.
Sam added. "Eddy is only half human. Maybe Matit is having issues suppressing her."
"That could be." Daniel agreed.
"What?" Jack asked.
Sam reminded him. "Eddy is an Asgard lab experiment. We don't know if a Goa'uld can suppress her fully, sir. And from what just saw. I would say, Matit can't and Eddy just freed all her slaves."
Daniel suggested. "Instead of an all out assault. Maybe we should sneak in and see just how much control Eddy still has."
"Alright." Jack agreed. He got on his radio. "Fall back to the Gate." He agreed. "We need a new plan."
Meanwhile
Matit found her situation exhausting. Upon eating a lunch fit for a queen, she had fallen asleep. Eddy discovered that with Matit asleep she gained full control of her body. She quietly rose to her feet after her meal. She made her way to the head guard. She noticed Matit didn't see to have a first prime of generals at her disposal. Nor did she have a ship but rather a simply mining operation and a castle that seemed to have many felines roaming about.
"Guard." Eddy kept her voice low.
The chief guard replied. "My queen." He was a younger man with tan skin and light brown hair. He wore a leather suit designed for battle with leather trousers, a vest and waist cut jacket. The boots were also leather.
"What is the situation with prisoners?" she asked.
"My queen?" he asked confused.
"Do we have any?" she wondered.
He nodded. "Three, all scheduled for execution at day break."
"Execution for what?" she asked.
"Theft of bread." he reported. "Theft of wine. Theft of meat."
She asked. "Did any of the prisoners actually kill anyone?"
"No my queen." he replied.
"Then let them go." she instructed.
"My queen?" he asked bewildered. He began to suspect the host may indeed have control which would be a miracle in his young eyes.
"Release all the prisoners and cancel any and all executions. People should not go hungry." she stated.
"Yes my queen." he stated surprised and rather excited.
She held her finger to her lips. "Shh…I don't want to wake the bitch."
"My queen." he understood it was host who was in control. The young guard knew his future and the future of his family and friends was in the hands of a host from another world. He smiled to himself. "I will release the prisoners."
Eddy then made her way around the castle. She found Matit's sleeping chamber. She walked into the large room with a canopy style bed. In the room was more felines. She paused and asked. "What's with all the cats? What are you? A crazy cat lady." She walked over to the free standing closet gilded in gold. She opened the door. "Anything more comfortable to wear in here?" she pawed through. She soon found a plain tan tunic with trousers and boots. She wondered if perhaps it belonged to the former host. She figured it was about her size. "I guess this will do." She pondered. "What did they do with my uniform?" Eddy knew that the best defense was a loving and loyal population. To make salves into that population she needed to make great changes. Upon changing into the tunic and trousers she continued on her task to undermine Matit and the other Goa'uld at every turn. With Matit asleep she took full advantage of the situation. She freed all the prisoners and opened up the treasury. She dictated task to her guards and declared the people would need to self govern.
Short Time Later
In short time, she sat at a large table in the banquet chamber with guards and senior members of the village sitting at the oval table. "You need to draft a declaration of independence." she spoke to the people.
An older man with gray hair sat at the table near the head. The village elder asked. "What is such a declaration?"
She explained. "You write on a scroll declaring yourself independent and you are all created equal." She reached to give an example. "We the people of…" she had no idea what the people called the kingdom. "Um…need a name. The United People of…um…" she wished she paid more attention in school.
The elder suggested. "The Kingdom of Hatit."
She shook her head. "God no!"
The village elders all looked at one another rather baffled.
Eddy suggested. "Instead of a kingdom. Let's make it a state. You know. Like New York or Colorado."
"The State of Hatit." the elder suggested. None of the audience knew the states she referred.
"No," she shook her head displeased. "Name it something else." Eddy then felt her right side go numb. She knew she was losing control of that side of her body meaning that Hatit was waking back up.
The Goa'uld found herself sitting at her large table surrounded by villagers. "What have you done?" she asked not impressed.
The village elder stated. "We are creating the document you instructed us to create, my queen."
"I have done nothing of the such!" she huffed angry.
Eddy spoke. "Go back to sleep. We don't need you for this." She noticed all eyes were on her and Matit. "I'm the host. The crazy cat Goa'uld cannot suppress me. We have to share my body and the power."
"Pay no attention to my host." Hatit demanded.
Eddy rebutted. "Just shut up. You have no power anymore. We have the power. And if another snake finds out that I'm running the show you will be the laughing stock at the next Goa'uld family reunion."
The villagers realized that the host had control over the Goa'uld and free them was done by the host and not by Hatit.
"Listen up!" Eddy looked over her audience. "I have the left side. Hatit has the right side. We are equally in control. The other Goa'uld cannot know so this has to be kept a secret. Or at least long enough to get a solid army and defense in place. You no longer have an overlord. We are on our own. You need to elect a leader."
The villagers all looked at one another. The elder stated. "We choose you, host. What is you name?"
"Edna. Everyone calls me 'Eddy'." she informed.
The elder stated. "You are our queen, Edna. Long live Queen Edna." he spoke proudly.
She winced. "I'm really queen material. Don't you have someone more qualified?"
"Queen Edna." the elder repeated. The villagers chanted. "Queen Edna."
Eddy attempt to free the slaves and establish a new country backfired as the former slaves wished for her to be queen.
Hatit knew being queen was not Eddy's intent. She smirked. "What is your next brilliant idea, Queen Edna?"
"Just shut up." she miffed.