Chapter 167: The Clones Question Part 7

Ba'al's Base, PT-9511, PT-9511 System, May 17th, 2000 (Earth Time)

Catra looked at the screen, which showed the base's guards lining up to form an honour guard. They made a good job of it, as far as she could tell through the cameras. Better than most Horde units would have been able to do on short notice. Only cadets were generally ready for an inspection at a moment's notice.

"Do you think it's Ba'al?" Adora asked. "Would he do a surprise inspection in person?"

Catra shrugged. Ba'al might not announce his travel schedules in advance just to avoid ambushes and assassinations, but she knew from experience that surprise inspections kept your troops sharp, though only if you kept the focus on things that mattered, such as readiness and supplies, not how good they were at standing at attention.

"He most certainly would," Sha're said. "He wouldn't completely trust even his closest subordinates. This base here contains a shipyard and factories - a plotting underling could use this to build up their own force."

"And try to turn the clone fleet in the system," Catra added.

"Turning anyone against their god, especially new converts, is quite difficult, as we found out," Daniel pointed out.

"The base commander is a Jaffa, so the odds of him betraying his god are very low," Teal'c added.

"But Ba'al can't depend on that," Glimmer said. "Or won't."

"Indeed."

"The sensors caught a Tel'tak approaching, sir," Sam reported.

"That would be our surprise guest," Jack said. "Can you track the ship's course back to its origin, Carter?"

"It did not come from any of the frigates in the system, sir. It dropped out of hyperspace a distance away."

"I don't think Ba'al flew the whole distance in that ship. He probably has at least one Ha'tak with a Stargate nearby, so he can quickly come - and go," Catra said. A Tel'tak had a stealth generator, which made it a good ship to escape an attack - at least if your enemy didn't have the sensors to see through that - but it was a rather small ship, neither impressive nor luxurious. She didn't think Ba'al would spend days or even weeks in one.

"That would be a good compromise - no direct access to the planet through a Stargate, but it can still be reached relatively quickly," Sam said.

"It's easier to hide the entire system that way, too," Sha're added.

"He probably took this planet's Stargate for that," Entrapta said. "Since the planet doesn't have magic, it must have had a Stargate when the First Ones started charging the Heart of Etheria."

"Probably." Jack nodded. "But now, let's see who is arriving."

Everyone crowded around the screen to watch the ship come in to land on the designated space. It threw up some dust as it set down, but the assembled guards didn't even flinch as far as Catra could tell. Well, they weren't that good at keeping spies and saboteurs out, so they had some use, at least.

The ship's ramp was lowered, and four Jaffa stepped out, staff weapons ready, and looked at the assembled guards.

"Now, those look tougher than the rest," Jack commented.

"Those would be Ba'al's personal guard," Teal'c confirmed. "Though I do not see his Prime."

Those guards were tall - not as tall as Adora when she was She-Ra, but almost as tall and buff as Teal'c. And they looked experienced as well. Still, Catra was sure she could take them if she had to. Pretty sure, at least.

"And here's the main act."

A human - a Goa'uld; the eyes gave it away - walked down the ramp, and the base commander dropped to his knees, followed by the honour guard.

"If that's Ba'al, then he doesn't go for as much bling as the other System Lords," Jack commented.

"We don't know how his host looks," Sha're said. "But the reception… I doubt that any of his underlings would be allowed as much respect."

"Our lipreading routine says they're calling him Ba'al. And a number of other titles," Entrapta piped up.

Catra flashed her fangs in a grin and looked at Jack.

He matched her expression. "Time to bag us a System Lord."


This time, the damn snake wouldn't escape! Jack O'Neill was dead tired of missing their target!

"But what if that's a trap?" Glimmer asked.

"They're calling him Ba'al," Jack replied. "I don't think Ba'al would use himself as bait for a trap." Snakes were cowards. But then again, would he be using such a small ship and so few guards?

"He could be using a double." Glimmer was digging her heels in, it seemed.

"A double used as a host by another snake?" Jack shook his head. "That's a recipe for a coup."

"But it's a bit too convenient," Adora objected. "We just happen to stumble on Ba'al on a recon mission?"

"We're bound to get lucky sometimes," Jack said. It wouldn't be the first time. And they were due a lucky break after the recent streak of bad luck.

Catra frowned. "In any case, we need to find out more before we blow our cover over a potential decoy."

"And how do we do that?" Adora asked.

That was a good question. It wasn't as if they could take a blood sample and run tests - and even if they could, they didn't have Ba'al's DNA to check. But… Jack wasn't the only one who looked at Melog.

"Melog says they will do their best, but they cannot make any promises," Catra said. "They can't read minds like you read computers."

"It should still help. If that's a body double, they should be nervous and resenting their role, shouldn't they?" Glimmer sounded less sure than her words, at least to Jack.

"Yes. So, we need to get close - closer - to Ba'al to check. And we need an escape plan," Jack said. "If we do nab Ba'al, we can't count on sneaking away." The snake wouldn't enter this lounge for some privacy and send all their guards and servants away, and they couldn't count on being able to take them all by surprise before they could raise the alarm. And, speaking of… "We also should move to another room before Ba'al arrives here."

"Yes. Good thing we didn't steal his booze," Catra added.

Jack snorted. "Where's the next best hiding spot? Preferably close to this lounge."

"We could hide in the closest storage room, but it will be cramped, sir," Carter replied.

A red dot marked its position on the map she displayed on the screen, and Jack memorised the route to it. "We can manage being a bit cramped." He had suffered worse on missions. "And we need to move," he added with a glance at the screen - Ba'al or body double, the snake hadn't spent much time letting everyone kneel to him and was already marching toward the shipyard.

"And we should bug the place!" Entrapta piped up. Her hair fanned out, and Jack could see the tendrils reaching underneath the decorations lining the bar's front.

"Better place it on the back, he said. "Less chance it's going to be found there."

"Even with a chameleon-coating?"

"Yes."

"Alright!" The tendrils reached over the bartop.

Jack frowned, but before he could say anything, Catra was already moving to the other side of the bar.

"Looks good to me," she reported a moment later.

"Great!" Entrapta beamed.

"Now, let's move," Jack said. "We don't want to be here when Ba'al arrives."

They moved to the door. "The hallway's clear, but a group of servants is waiting around the corner, sir. We wouldn't cross their line of sight, but well have to be quiet," Carter reported.

Jack could be quiet. "Let's go," he whispered.

They sneaked out, hidden from sight by Melog, and reached the storage room. Jack winced slightly when he saw it - Carter had slightly understated just how cramped it would be. Which was really cramped. Especially if they wanted to leave space at the door for anyone to step inside and visually check the room. Well, they would manage.

And they would be crowded around Carter's laptop, anyway, to watch Ba'al walk through the base.

Which the snake did. It really looked like a surprise inspection. He wasn't headed to the administrative building or the shipyard, no. He went straight to the warehouse - the one inside which they had found the container with the clones, Jack remembered. And the snake did head directly to said container, too.

Interesting.

"Looks like that's a special project," Catra said. "Important enough to take priority over the shipyard."

"Maybe he does have a manpower shortage," Adora speculated.

"If he did, he would take better care of the workers he already has," Sha're disagreed. "But the workers here weren't even wearing protective gear. This has to be something else."

"Wasn't Ba'al the guy with the human sacrifices in Carthage?" Jack asked. He had read about the Punic Wars, of course, but he had focused on the military aspects. Not the religious ones.

"The reports we have are mainly Roman ones, so it's not quite clear how much of them were propaganda," Daniel said.

"Ba'al did have human sacrifices in his temples," Sha're said. "But why would he clone sacrifices when he could use the slaves too sick or old to work?"

"Well," Jack said, watching how Ba'al inspected the container without looking hurried in the least, "we might find out if they waited for him to thaw them out."

"There's another shuttle coming on," Carter spoke up. "From the Horde force in the system."

Oh! That was even more interesting.


Adora focused on the camera feed. The man on the screen acted like she'd expect Ba'al to act. Confident, arrogant maybe - though that was hard to judge from this angle, and with everyone literally bowing to him, even a humble person would have looked arrogant. Well, a truly humble person would have told the people to stop bowing, but then again, Adora knew from personal experience that even people worshipping you as a goddess might not listen to such an order. In any case, the man held himself in a not-very humble manner. She wouldn't call it strutting, it wasn't quite that, but he moved… Like Horde Prime did, she realised. A leader who thought they were a god.

But did that mean he was Ba'al? All the Goa'uld they had met so far had been arrogant like that. Granted, most of them had been System Lords or their queens, or their offspring… She blinked. Goa'uld had genetic memory. "Could that be a child of Ba'al posing as them?" They would have all of Ba'al's memories - they would be Ba'al, at least effectively.

For a moment, no one said anything. In the smaller picture on the screen, the Horde shuttle came in for a landing.

Then Sha're spoke up: "It's possible, yes. But few System Lords would risk giving their children such a role. It would tempt them to topple their parent and take over. Even Apophis, who granted his son a position of power few other System Lords would dare to bequeath on their offspring, would not have gone so far."

"Someone's always the first to cross a line," Jack muttered.

"We don't know much about Ba'al," Daniel somewhat agreed. "And if he has a child with all his genetic memory, they would be able to pose as him without anyone else being able to tell."

"Mainly because for all that counts, they would be him," Sam pointed out.

Daniel nodded. "That is true, yes. I doubt a System Lord would go as far."

"Sharing power with themselves?" Jack snorted.

Adora couldn't see that either. Horde Prime had made sure that all his clones were beneath him, far beneath him. He hadn't wanted equals; he had wanted slaves.

"That's the Horde Commander," Catra hissed.

Adroa looked at the screen. Her lover was right - that was the Horde Commander, wearing an ornate collar over his uniform, walking out of the shuttle, followed by four other clones.

"Is he imitating Ba'al?" Daniel said in a low voice. "The same number of guards, after arriving at the same place…"

"It would not be the first time an underling imitated their superior, but they have to walk a fine line between flattery and presumption," Sha're said.

"It could be a power play," Jack said. "The Horde clones are Ba'al's most powerful force. The Commander might be subtly reminding Ba'al of that by acting like this."

Adora shook her head. It sounded plausible, and yet… "Would he act towards his god like that?" Priest would never do that. Had never done that.

"Well, we'll see how they react - both of them are now on the way here," Catra said.

"Great. We might get a two-for-one," Jack commented.

"We still don't know if that's the real Ba'al," Adora cautioned him.

"Even if it isn't, the guy probably knows a lot about Ba'al's plans," Jack pointed out. "And the same goes for the Commander. If we can capture both, the intel would be worth scrapping the mission."

"Especially if we can sabotage the shipyards here," Catra added.

They were correct, Adora had to admit. If that were a double, then Ba'al would be warned and change his plans - but that would still cause setbacks and delays. And shifting gears on all levels and fronts would open opportunities for more missions and expose more of his plans. "Let's listen to their meeting and then decide if we take them out," she said. "But we need to prepare our escape. If Bow is coming to fetch us, we need to crash the entire security system so we board the shuttle without getting shot at." Well, they couldn't stop them from firing blindly, but that was random chance. And they needed to escape the frigates in orbit as well.

"We can do that!" Entrapta sounded eager.

"The servants are moving in. And more guards are coming," Catra spoke up. "Some will pass by this room, so stay silent!"

Adora pressed her lips together and glanced at the door. Melog was hiding them, but… If the guards suspected illusions, they would physically check the entire room. They could only hope they didn't suspect invisible infiltrators.

On the screen, a squad of Jaffa stopped in front of their door. A moment later, their leader opened, and Adora tensed.

But the Jaffa only glanced around at the seemingly empty room, nodded and stepped out again.

Adora released her breath. It had worked. But once the Goa'uld were aware of what the Alliance could do, it wouldn't work any more. Was capturing Ba'al or his child and the Commander worth this? No, she couldn't think like that. An advantage that could never be exploited for fear of losing it wasn't an advantage at all.

She focused on the screen again. Ba'al had arrived at the building and was headed to the lounge they had bugged. The Commander was on the way as well, though would appear later. And the servants were just finishing putting up food and drink inside the lounge.

"Cutting it a bit close, are they?" Catra muttered.

"That way, the food and drinks won't have turned stale when their god arrives," Sha're said. "The Goa'uld have punished their slaves harshly for lesser 'mistakes'."

"I'd have expected him to bring his own staff to cook his meals," Catra said.

"Some System Lords do. Others might consider that a weakness rivals might exploit and consider random chance a better protection against assassination attempts," Sha're replied.

Then everyone fell silent so they could listen when Ba'al entered the lounge.


Samantha Carter knew she should have picked another spot to hide - things were a little too cramped in this room. Although she was aware that everyone would be crowding her anyway, as long as she had her laptop in front of her displaying the camera feeds. Still, so many people so close made it harder for her to do her job, which was to keep an eye on the computer systems they had compromised.

"I would have expected Ba'al to receive the Commander in a throne room, not a lounge," the General commented, leaning a bit too much forward. "Run with the whole 'divine rule' thing."

"It might be an informal meeting. Or a calculated way to honour his newest follower," Daniel speculated as they watched Ba'al take a sip from a drink a servant handed to him right before the Commander entered.

"His four guards didn't enter," Catra remarked. "Could be they aren't trusted by Ba'al - or the Commander doesn't want any witnesses from his fleet."

"He bows as low as Priest does," Adora muttered as the clone did exactly that.

Sam checked that the four clones outside the lounge were covered by a camera, then looked at the main part of the screen again. Maybe she should ask for Glimmer's tablet to set up a secondary screen to make it easier to keep ahead of all the movement inside the base… Although Entrapta was managing that on the heads-up display built into her visor. Sam might reconsider her friend's offer to build one for herself. It did seem quite useful to keep yourself from being distracted. Like by people leaning in too close for comfort.

"Welcome, Commander."

"Your Divine Highness."

Sam glanced at Adora and saw that she was twitching. And Catra was snickering.

"It is my honour to report that the system remains secure, Your Divine Highness."

"I expect nothing less. So, there were no incursions from the heretics?"

"We've been on the lookout, but we have not found any trace of the ships that managed to escape us. We also have not received any further attempts to contact us. After their fake goddess was destroyed, they must have been left leaderless - aimless, Your Divine Highness."

"Like you were when I found you."

"Yes, Your Divine Highness."

"And yet, one would expect a Horde bereft of their goddess, fake as she was, to avenge her."

"That is not our way, Your Divine Highness. We obey and follow. We serve, but we do not lead. As soon as the Pretender was dead, they withdrew."

"Do you not lead your brethren?"

"I am merely the channel for your orders, Your Divine Highness."

"Yeah, right," Sam heard the General mutter. The snort from Ba'al that the device they had planted picked up showed that the Goa'uld didn't seem convinced, either.

"That's a schemer, alright," Glimmer added. "And Ba'al knows it."

"If that's Ba'al," Catra cautioned.

"If it looks like Ba'al, walks like Ba'al, talks like Ba'al…" the General replied.

"...it could be a good double," Catra pointed out. "Double Trouble would be able to…" She fell silent as Ba'al spoke up again on the screen.

"And my orders were to bring more of your people left drifting by the loss of your former god into my caring embrace."

"You also ordered us to secure your bases and raid your enemies, Your Divine Highness. As much as we revere you, we are but mortal and our means are limited."

It was hard to tell with the speakers of her laptop, but Sam thought there was a hint of smugness in the Commander's tone as he diplomatically reminded Ba'al of the limits of his fleet's power.

"Bound by your decree to keep our allegiance secret, we cannot easily spread word of your grace to our brethren still drifting aimlessly following their loss. We have to find their ships using our own craft, and every ship sent out to search for them is one less ship guarding your worlds and striking your enemies, Your Divine Highness."

"We need to restore contact with the other Clone fleets we know of," Adora said. "We can't let Ba'al convert them."

"Broadcasting my offer would alert my rivals and prompt them to try and seduce your brethren with false promises of salvation."

"They cannot match you, Your Divine Highness. They can only offer empty promises. Only you can offer my people a future."

Again, the tone didn't quite match the words, in Sam's impression. But why?

On the screen, Ba'al took another sip from his drink, the massive golden cup hiding his expression.

"And I am delivering. The first test subjects have arrived on this world so you can witness that I am keeping my promises."

Test subjects? Did he mean the cloned humans? And what kind of tests was Ba'al talking about? Given his reputation, Sam wasn't certain that she wanted to know.

"I have never doubted Your Divine Highness."

"And I have a great beach property to sell to you in Colorado Springs," the General commented.

"And your trust will be rewarded. Soon, Commander, your faithful people will no longer face extinction but have their future secured - under my benevolent rule, they shall multiply once more."

Sam frowned. That sounded like… "They can't clone more Clones without Ba'al's help?" That didn't make sense, did it? Horde Prime had kept control of the main cloning factories for his Horde on his flagship, but every fleet had the medical facilities to treat their wounded, including cloning new limbs and organs, and the process was not that difficult to upscale to full clones… "He must be talking about imprinting their minds!" she blurted out.

The General cursed. "And if he can implant memories like Horde Prime used to, three guesses just what a snake will do with it."

"Hordes of brainwashed clones - humans, Jaffa, Horde Clones - loyal to their god unto death," Catra said with a hiss.


While Ba'al went on to promise basically everything, Catra's thoughts were racing. An army of cloned soldiers, with skills and loyalty built into them. Like bots, but better. Smarter, more versatile. Willing to fight to the death, to sacrifice themselves for their leader upon command - or when they thought it was necessary. She shivered at the memory of how she had done so, on Horde Prime's command, just to hurt Adora…

She pushed the memory away, focusing on the problem at hand. Clones. And the technology to imprint skills and loyalty into them. She knew what she could've done with that kind of resources. If she had been able to use troops like that. Soldiers who didn't need to be trained for years before they could be deployed in combat. Whose numbers could be adjusted practically on the fly.

And soldiers who were faithful, loyal unto death, so fanatical that she wouldn't have had to worry about backstabbing attempts, sabotage, corruption or cowardice… Alright, that was going a bit too far. Priest proved that even fanatics were willing and ready to creatively interpret orders from their goddess. Still… "We need to stop him. Before he gets this off the ground," she said.

"We still don't know if this is Ba'al or a double. If he can clone humans, he can clone hosts as well," Daniel objected.

Proud. Confident. Arrogant. Satisfied.

"Well, Melog says that Ba'al feels like a System Lord should," Catra said. "Arrogant and satisfied." That was good enough for her.

"With their genetic memory, any symbiont would probably feel the same," Daniel retorted.

"That would only work if Ba'al has access to a queen," Sha're added. "We don't know if that's the case."

"What if he can clone Goa'uld?" Adora asked.

"Then he wouldn't need a queen," Sha're replied with a grim expression.

Catra didn't think that would be a big deal. Snakes already could spawn so many larvae, being able to clone them only mattered for those System Lords who didn't have a deal with a queen. And even if Ba'al didn't have access to a queen, having a Horde fleet fighting for him would probably tempt every ambitious queen to join him. So… Her ears twitched, and she held up a hand. "Shhh!"

"...and now we will test the first heralds of a new age for your people."

"Yes, Your Divine Highness."

The Commander sounded like some of the Force Captains Catra had known. The ones who had been plotting behind her back. But if she could see it, a System Lord who was thousands of years old would have seen it as well, wouldn't he? Of course, it was also obvious that as soon as Ba'al could clone more Horde clones, the Commander would be the first to end up replaced by a better version…

"They're going to leave the lounge," Adora stated the obvious.

It would be a good opportunity to ambush them inside the building, hidden from view from the rest of the base. On the other hand, if they waited, they could find out just what exactly had been done to the clones in the warehouse. But that meant they would have to sneak out of this building and back to the warehouse without being noticed.

Catra glanced at Adora, then at Jack. "Hit them now?"

Adora nodded. "Sam, Entrapta - prepare to shut down the entire system, everything."

"OK!"

"Melog, hide us - we need to get to them before they leave the building."

Agreement.

"Alright," Catra replied for both Melog and herself.

"And how do we get out once we have them?" Glimmer asked. "Even with the bases's systems down, people could still see us board."

"You can teleport us out," Adora told her.

"But… Ah!" Glimmer nodded.

Adora smiled. "We need to start showing the clones that there are alternatives to Ba'al."

And what better way to do that than to unleash the planet's magic? Catra smirked. With a bit of luck, that would shock the Clones in the ships above them as well.

"Let's hurry - Ba'al just finished his drink," Jack urged them.

They moved to the door, and Catra cocked her head, listening. She couldn't hear any steps nearby, but the door wasn't that thin.

Clear.

Catra opened the door and stepped into the hallway outside, moving to cut off Ba'al and the Commander. They had eight guards with them, and a few servants.

No problem. They just had to be quick enough to finish them before reinforcements could arrive.

She quickly dashed around two corners - she wasn't going as fast as she could; she couldn't outrun the others, or Melog wouldn't be able to cover them all, but she was quick enough. Another corner and she came upon the rear of their target.

The guards were good, at least Ba'al's, Catra had to hand them that. Two were already turning, raising weapons, shouting "Ambush!", when she pounced on them.

But Catra was quicker, her claws tearing through the two Jaffa's throats as she dragged them to the ground with her before they could fire.

The two Clones forming the rearguard with them fired, but their shots passed over her head - and were stopped by Adora's shield.

Adora smashed into them, trampling them underfoot before slamming the Commander into the wall with a sweep of her shield.

Catra jumped, pushing off the wall, hitting the other wall, bouncing off, launching herself at Ba'al… and hit a force field. She slashed at it as she slid down, then rolled to the side, another shot missing her as the guards in the front started firing.

Between Ba'al blocking their line of fire and Adora rushing ahead, they couldn't do much to Catra, though.

And then Adora hit them, followed by Jack and Teal'c shooting them, and they couldn't do much at all any more.

With the Commander down, that left Ba'al.


Jack O'Neill double-tapped a guard who had caught a staff blast but was still moving - or twitching - and then spun around, carbine rising, to aim at the snake still standing. Ba'al was firing his pain thingie at Adora, who was shielding Catra behind her. She took the full charge to the face but looked none the worse for wear.

Jack held his fire - his gun wouldn't get through the force field, and ricochets were bad news for everyone, especially inside a hallway. Alerts were sounding - people had heard the shots.

Adora swung her shield forward, pushing Ba'al, forcefield and all, back against the wall with enough force to startle him and make him stop using his torture beam. Before he could recover, the shield changed into a sword, and Adora cut his forcefield apart.

"What…"

Catra dashed forward and cut short both Ba'al's question and his arm. The snake stared for a moment, seemingly uncomprehending, as his lower arm clattered down on the floor in a spray of blood.

Before Ba'al could start screaming, Jack drew his zat one-handed and stunned him.

"Catra!" Adora snapped. She looked angry. Then again, as close as she had been, Ba'al's blood had splattered over her chest.

"You've got magic cleaning," Catra shot back as she bent down and started tying off the limb.

"Not that!"

"We can fix him later."

"And we need to move!" Jack cut in.

"Several squads are moving toward our position, sir," Carter reported. "We've crashed the system, but the whole base has gone on alert anyway."

Well, shots fired next to your boss had that effect, computer or no computer.

"Get to the roof here!" Adora ordered as she picked up both Ba'al and the Commander.

"OK!" Entrapta replied.

"Bow! Come fetch us!"

"On my way!"

"Move!" Jack snapped, covering the entrance ahead of them. "This will get crowded any moment."

Shots and staff weapon blasts rang out behind him - the first guards had reached them and ran into Teal'c.

The door in front of Jack was kicked open, and he fired a short burst at and through it at once, catching an armoured figure right behind it. The new ammo tore through the Jaffa as advertised, and the man staggered, then started to drop.

But more were coming behind him. "Incoming!" Jack yelled, firing two more bursts before ducking below a staff blast that blew a hole in the wall next to him and grabbing a grenade. "Fire in the hole!"

He threw the grenade high, lobbing it through the door, while he fell back, firing a few more rounds to keep the Jaffa from rushing them.

Then the explosion went off, Jack felt the shockwave in his chest, and dust and smoke briefly hid the doorway.

"Come on!" he heard Adora yell, followed by metal smashing into metal. "Move!"

He spun around, running after the others. Teal'c was at the corner ahead, staff weapon aimed at the hallway behind Jack, covering him. Jack ran past him, jumped over a few crumpled bodies that had been smashed and slashed, and knelt down at the next corner. "Teal'c!"

His friend fired his weapon one more time, then sprinted towards and past Jack, who laid down covering fire.

"Stairs!" he heard over the communicator.

He glanced over his shoulder for a moment while swapping magazines. Teal'c was at the stairs, with Daniel and Sha're, who was firing a zat in the other direction. The rest must have gone up the stairs already.

Time to run.

"Fire in the hole!" He threw another grenade down the hallway and then ran all-out to the stairs, throwing himself around the corner into cover a moment before the grenade blew up behind him.

"Jack!" Daniel blurted out.

"Run!"

They ran, Teal'c and Jack bringing up the rear. Another squad of Jaffa had tried to cut them off one floor above them, but Catra and the others had gone through them. Mostly Catra - they looked like someone had put them through a blender. Jack almost slipped in the blood.

Below them, more Jaffa poured into the staircase, and Jack dropped a grenade down on them before booking it.

The doors on the next floor had been welded shut, it seemed - Jack could hear someone pounding on them on the other side as he dashed past, followed by Teal'c.

Two more floors. One more squad of guards dead on the ground - two shot by staff weapons, even though only Teal'c carried one in their group, Jack noted before realising that Melog must have fooled them into shooting each other - and they reached the roof.

A roof that was being shot at from below, with heavy weapons, forcing the team to huddle down in the middle of it to avoid catching a stray blast.

"They don't seem to care much about the health of their god," Jack commented as he joined the others.

"They must have standing orders," Teal'c said next to him, aiming down the stairs. "With the computer system down, they could not have coordinated so quickly."

"I can't approach with all the guns firing there!" Bow reported over the communicator.

That was bad. But they could…

"Enemy frigate moving into position above the base!" Carter interrupted his thought.

That was worse. But they couldn't just blast the base with their Commander and their god inside, so…

"They're firing!"

What the hell?


Adora gasped, staring up at the sky. The Clones were firing at their own base? Their own Commander? Their own god? How could that be possible?

"Ba'al must be a double!" Catra hissed. "Or that's treason!"

"We need to leave!" Glimmer yelled.

It didn't matter why they fired. They were on a base. A stationary target. They couldn't leave quickly enough.

As the first beams struck the base's outer walls - the first barrage was off, a distant part of Adora's brain noticed, must not have calculated the atmospheric interference correctly - time seemed to freeze as she raised her sword and reached out, feeling for that familiar pattern to cut…

She screamed as she channelled this world's magic, all of, throwing it against the beams striking down from the sky. As the magic obeyed, the beams splashed against a dome covering the entire base, some stopped outright, others, at the edges, deflected to strike the ground, throwing up shards of stone, clumps of earth and clouds of smoke as they blew craters into the area.

Adora clenched her teeth, straining under the pressure. But she would not yield. They wouldn't touch her friends. They wouldn't touch any of the helpless victims here. SHe would stand her ground.

No, she corrected herself, trembling as she stood, sword raised to the sky, that wasn't enough. She had to stop them from attacking.

Her eyes blazed with power as she reached out once more, magic expanding her senses, reaching out, up, into the sky, into space…

There! Directly above them, she found the enemy. A Horde frigate, beam cannons firing ceaselessly, two more frigates about to join them, more on the way…

No! The dome rose, shooting up, deflecting the beams to the side as the magic obeyed her and flew directly at the ships in orbit. She saw the first frigate starting to move, the two others slowing down, trying to escape, but she wouldn't let them. They'd return to attack her friends and the others again.

Before the ships could flee, she struck, sending magic into the hulls, into the engines and reactors, into everything.

And they stopped. Changed. Bloomed.

Adora smiled as three new flowers spread their glittering petals in the sky above them, forming a triangle of life in space, leaves twisting and weaving to orient themselves towards the sun, thick stems connecting everything, reaching out to each other…

She heard Sam's voice in the background. "Three frigates are gone, sir! Replaced by… giant flowers! The other frigates have stopped their approach and are withdrawing!"

"Bow! Get us out of here before they recover!" Jack sounded worried.

"I can teleport us!"

Catra's beautiful voice joined the chorus. "Bow! Open a line to the enemy fleet and tell them to surrender or they'll suffer Adora's Divine Wrath as well!"

What? Wait! That wasn't…

Adora blinked, lowering her sword and turning toward her lover, breathing heavily as the strain from channelling so much magic finally caught up with her. "Catra! What…?"

Bow's voice rang out from her communicator - and from the speakers inside the base.

"Warriors of Ba'al! Surrender or suffer the Divine Wrath of She-Ra, Princess of Power! You only live by her grace!"

The fire from the weapon emplacements had stopped, Adora realised, though she couldn't remember when that had happened - during her channelling the world's magic, or when the orbital bombardment had started?

She walked to the edge of the roof, to the railings holed by staff blasts, and looked down. She was glowing, she noted - surrounded by a shining halo. It would fade, she knew, but…

"Glory to Ba'al!" someone shouted, and a staff weapon hit her in the face.

"Adora!"

She didn't even feel the explosion. Nor the dozen other shots hitting her. She simply stood there, staring, until the shots tapered out. She caught one with her blade and sent it to the side, into a part of the outer wall, and the firing stopped altogether.

Then, one by one, people started to kneel.