Chapter 148: The Lost Dimension Part 2

Research Station Beta, PU-9623, February 3rd, 2000 (Earth Time)

"...and that's the situation."

Jack O'Neill nodded when Carter finished. "So… the dimension we're trying to reach is changing massively, and we don't know why."

"We have several theories, sir," Carter replied. She sounded a little annoyed. Probably both at his flippant summary and the fact that she didn't have an answer.

"And the changes have actually stopped - kinda," Entrapta added. "Well, they aren't accelerating any more. And it seems as if they are kinda fading again."

"Ah." Adora nodded. "So, things are going back to normal?" She looked relieved.

Jack could understand that. He felt better at hearing that as well.

"That depends on how you define normal," Entrapta said.

And Jack was back to worrying.

"It could be that the changes recede," Bow said, pointing at a wall of numbers and tables that Jack didn't bother studying. "But it could also be that the changes are settling in, sort of."

"One possible explanation for the fact that we cannot detect any more changes after a while is that the changes caused by sapient visitors become the norm in the target dimension after a while," Carter said.

"So… a huge part of the dimension just changed completely, and that's now normal for the dimension?" Adora asked.

Glimmer shook her head. "How can anyone live there?"

"The target dimension is greatly and easily affected by sapient minds. We already knew that," Hordak cut in. "That malleable reality is the norm for the dimension. As far as native life is concerned, sapients would likely be able to form their own area of control and create a stable zone to inhabitate." He paused for a moment and cocked his head. "That is if there are actually native sapient life forms. Given what we know about this dimension, we should have detected constant changes on a much larger scale. Although if all sapients of the dimension are brought in line with each other, so consensus about their reality is achieved, the dimension itself would be quite stable, I assume."

That was… A world where reality only remained real while everyone agreed that this was the way it should be? Jack grimaced. "I don't think that would work. There's always someone who disagrees with how things should be."

"Perhaps amongst humans. But not every civilisation follows your example," Hordak retorted. "When Horde Prime ruled us, none of us would deviate from his wishes. Not for long, in any case."

"Only until you got mindwiped or chipped," Jack commented. He ignored the frown on Hordak's face. The former warlord had spent decades trying to conquer Etheria for Horde Prime; he could take a reminder about how wrong that had been.

"In theory, such a society could be formed without mind control," Carter said. "For example, a hive mind species would naturally form a consensus. And such a species would be adapted well to a dimension where reality itself can be changed by your mind."

That sounded logical - as expected from Carter. Daniel nodded as well, in obvious agreement. And yet… Jack frowned. "And how would such a species deal with, ah, visitors from afar who aren't connected to their hive mind?"

Judging by the grimaces on everyone's faces, the answer wasn't going to be 'nicely'.

"They're going to mind control Catra?" Adora gasped. She wouldn't let that happen again! The first time had almost destroyed Catra - would have actually killed her, if not for She-Ra's power!

"It's a theory," Sam said. "We don't know if the dimension has native sapient life."

"But since it has, you know, kinda fixed structures as our sensors tell us, and is not constantly changing randomly, I think there are sapients there," Entrapta pointed out. "Someone has shaped the dimension so we can track changes to it. And someone clearly was fetching everyone who arrived away - at least, that's the most likely explanation for their rapid change of position after arrival."

Adora clenched her teeth. Someone was rounding up the people who entered the dimension. And for what? To control them? To keep them from changing the dimension? If they did anything to Catra, she would… Adora drew a deep breath. She had to control herself. Catra was tough and smart. She wouldn't let herself get caught easily. Adora had to trust her lover. Even if it was hard. "So, when we enter the dimension, we'll meet whoever is collecting visitors."

"That's what we think, yes," Bow said. "All the data points to that."

"Good. Then we can talk to them right away and get Catra and the others back." Adora nodded. And if they didn't want to listen, then she would make them give everyone back. Even if there was no magic in the dimension - they hadn't checked for that yet - she would still have She-Ra's power.

Nothing and no one would stand in her way. She'd save Catra. And the others.

"Ah." Daniel cleared his throat. "I have a question."

"Yes?" Entrapta turned to smile at him.

He nodded. "If we arrive there as a group, how will that affect the target dimension?" He smiled a little sheepishly. "I know we are on the same wavelength, so to speak, so would we affect the dimension more strongly than a single visitor?"

"Probably yes," Sam said. She frowned. "We haven't tested that for obvious reasons. But we would likely have a bigger impact on the dimension than if we arrived spread out. In fact…" She trailed off.

"Oh! If we create an amplifying effect, we could probably start a huge change as well!" Entrapta beamed.

"Or we should take precautions so we don't start changing someone else's dimension," Bow said. "They might see that as an attempt to attack them."

He was right. But should they split up?

"Never split the party," Jack said as if he had read Adora's mind. "We can't let them pick us up one by one."

Adora nodded. They could always apologise to whoever was concerned. And, she thought, feeling a bit guilty, it might help them get their people back.

Samantha Carter took a short breath. "We don't have a way to mitigate our impact on the target dimension yet, sir. We don't know enough about the mechanics of the entire process." Nothing beyond the fact that sapient minds affected the dimension, but she didn't say that. "We don't know what triggered this massive change. Was it a critical mass of aligned minds? Or is there a build-up that reaches a trigger step over time?" In which case they might be able to enter the dimension and stay for some time before affecting it on such a scale.

"Although we're pretty sure that the changes originated from the people who were sent there from Beta," Entrapta added. "The changes grew from previous, weaker effects that we picked up on our sensors. Probably - we still need to confirm that with another test. It could also just be a correlation."

"And correlation does not imply causation," Daniel said, nodding. "Ah… it could just be a coincidence that the effect started where previous, ah, travellers were."

"Ah."

"In theory," Entrapta said. "Our sensors weren't calibrated precisely enough to discern that when it happened. But they will be next time!"

"We're not going to wait for a next time," Adora said. "We can't."

Sam knew that. But she also knew that they shouldn't be blindly charging in either. But it was obvious that Adora's patience was running out. And neither the General nor Glimmer was trying to step in.

They needed more data and more time to analyse this new development. But Sam didn't think they would get it. The best she could probably do was to ensure they were not rushing things too much - she could at least make the actual translocation as safe as possible. "We'll need to run a few tests so we can confirm that we'll be able to retrieve the rescue party," she said.

"Do it," Adora said.

Unknown Location, February 3rd, 2000 (Earth Time)

Plumeria was burning. Even from this far away, it looked worse than when the Horde under Catra had taken it. Of course, Catra had been limited to Horde ground forces and air support, not a Ha'tak floating above the kingdom while Death Gliders and Al'keshs strafed and bombed what the ship's cannons had missed.

She shook her head, clenching her teeth when another pillar of smoke rose on the horizon. It didn't look as if Apophis was planning to conquer the kingdom - it looked as if he wanted to wipe it out. And was doing a good job of it. Probably trying to make an example out of it to impress the rest of this Etheria.

But Plumeria wasn't a good choice for that. From a military point of view, it was the weakest kingdom of the Princess Alliance. Not the least important - Perfuma alone was crucial for the logistics of the Alliance - but as far as defences and combat capability were concerned, it was a pushover, at least if you had operational surprise and the means to move enough forces in before the rest of the Alliance could react. Catra had proven this.

So, this wouldn't scare the princesses into surrender. Not that anything would - they had not surrendered to Horde Prime either. But it would enrage the princesses. Maybe even this dimension's Perfuma and Entrapta. But Glimmer, Frosta and Mermista would be furious and mobilising their forces.

At least Angella would prevent reckless attacks that would only play right into Apophis's hand. But even so… Catra looked at the floating spaceship again. The princesses here had no idea what they were facing. If they treated this like another Horde invasion, not knowing what the Goa'uld could do, things could end in a catastrophe. And if Apophis or one of his underlings managed to possess a princess…

Damn! She hissed. She knew better than anyone else here what the Goa'uld were like. She had to warn the Alliance here.

Turning, she took a look at Bright Moon, visible in the distance. That was too far to reach on foot in time. But Alliance soldiers must have been sent to look for her. And they would be in contact with Adora and Angella.

She snorted as she jumped from branch to branch towards the ground. All that effort to get away, and now she had to double back and hope that her pursuers were close.

And that they didn't try to shoot her on sight. Not that they would succeed, but if she had to take their communicator by force, it would complicate things with the Alliance even further.

She reached the ground and looked around. "Loo-Kee?"

No answer. The little pixie was gone. Probably scared into hiding. And Catra had no time to waste on looking for him. He should be safe enough in the woods here, anyway.

The explosions had stopped about fifteen minutes after Catra had started running and hadn't picked up for the next hour. So, Apophis was done with Plumeria. But the Death Gliders and Al'keshs would be spreading out already, doing recon if he was cautious. Or attacking targets of opportunity if he was reckless and thought all the kingdoms on Etheria were as easy to destroy as Plumeria.

She almost hoped it would be the latter. It wasn't a nice thought, but a few bombing runs on other kingdoms would make the Alliance focus on defence instead of launching an attack on the Ha'tak. And while they were protecting their people, they were not trying to charge an enemy they knew nothing about.

Which should make it easier for Catra to help them with defeating Apophis. And to stay out of Angella's dungeons. Or so she hoped. Angella might think that this was all a ploy of Catra - probably cite the timing of Catra's escape as suspicious or something.

Maybe Catra would have to shoot down a Death Glider or board an Al'kesh to prove her goodwill. Though either would be hard without a plane of her own. Or at least a heavy weapon.

Her ears twitched. That sounded like a pair of Death Gliders passing overhead! Headed in the direction of Bright Moon! She didn't hear more craft, though. Recon then - even Apophis wouldn't expect two Death Gliders to defeat Bright Moon.

But after this, attack runs would follow. To probe Bright Moon's defences, possibly to degrade them before the main attack was launched.

She hissed under her breath as she jumped over a fallen tree that looked vaguely familiar. She had to reach Bright Moon before Apophis launched a full attack. Trying to talk to the princesses would be impossible in the middle of a siege - especially if she couldn't get through the shield.

So, where were the Bright Moon soldiers hunting her? It would be ironic if she had managed to lose her pursuers when she needed them to find her.

She kept running, though not all-out. She had to pace herself. Worst case, she had to run all the way to Bright Moon. And she'd probably arrive just in time to see the Ha'tak start bombarding the palace…

Another explosion interrupted her thoughts. Close or just massive? It had sounded close, but… She looked up but could only see the dense foliage above.

Wait! She blinked - that was the sound of a Death Glider pulling high-g turns! Over the Whispering Woods? She had to check what was happening!

Snarling, she changed course towards the thickest tree trunk she could see nearby. Bark flew as she scaled it as quickly as possible, her claws ripping into the wood and through foliage and branches.

As she raced upwards, she heard more explosions - and staff weapons firing. No doubt, someone was fighting the Jaffa!

She reached the top of the tree and peered up. Where…? There! A Death Glider was turning, trying to shoot… Swift Wind?

Catra stared. The flying horse was dogfighting the Death Glider? "If my Swift Wind ever tries that with Adora in the saddle, I'll kill him myself!" she spat as the Death Glider pilot overshot Swift Wind again. And what was Adora doing? Trying to hit the thing with her sword?

Catra blinked as Adora tried to do exactly that. "Oh, for…!" she exclaimed. "Why don't you shoot some magic beam at it?"

Adora didn't reply - hadn't heard her. But the Death Glider decided to stop trying to dogfight and broke off, easily leaving Swift Wind behind. Fleeing? A Jaffa?

No, not fleeing. The Death Glider turned and started an attack run. So, the pilot knew how to zoom and boom, as Jack called it.

And Adora met him head-on, sword flashing as she deflected the blasts aimed at her! Catra held her breath. It wasn't her Adora, the outfit was wrong, but… She couldn't help smiling at the sight. Still, deflecting staff weapon fire, while impressive, wouldn't defeat the Death Glider, so…

She gasped. Adora jumped off Swift Wind, directly into the path of the passing Death Glider, blade held in both hands. The Jaffa pilot tried to dodge but was too slow - and Adora's sword tore off its wing, sending the craft tumbling into the forest below.

Catra barely registered the explosion that followed - she was watching Adora fall. Of course, She-Ra was tough, but from that height, even her Adora would feel it. Although if the trees broke her fall…

But before Adora could hit the canopy, Swift Wind swept in, catching her on his back as he pulled up from a dive that should have carried him straight into the woods.

Catra took a deep breath. They had done it. But if the Jaffa pilot had been a bit better, or kept his distance more, if he had caught Swift Wind catching Adora… She clenched her teeth and yelled: "You idiot! What were you thinking?"

Swift Wind jerked to the side, then turned around.

Apparently, they had heard Catra.

Well, she had wanted to make contact with the Alliance anyway, hadn't she?

So she stayed and put on the best, most confident smile that she could as Adora approached on Swift Wind.

"Catra!" The scowl on Adora's face made Catra reconsider her decision, but the die was cast or whatever the saying was.

"Adora." She nodded, shifting her weight slightly so she could jump off the branch if she needed to. "What were you thinking, trying to dogfight a Death Glider? If the pilot had been halfway competent, Swift Wind would have been dead."

"I am She-Ra's loyal steed! We are bound together!" Swift Wind protested. "No enemy can match us when we are fighting together!"

"Someone needs to tell that to Apophis over there in his Ha'tak," Catra commented with a snort.

"So, you're behind this!" Adora spat, pointing her sword at her.

Catra tried to ignore the blade, which was a bit too close to her - especially since it bopped up and down; Swift Wind's hovering was not exactly that stable. "You idiot! I've told you before, I'm not your Catra. I'm from a different dimension, where we - the Princess Alliance and others - are fighting the Goa'uld." She pointed at the Ha'tak, which was still hovering over what remained of Plumeria. "That's Apophis, one of the Goa'uld System Lords. He is an alien snake that burrows into you and takes over your body."

"I'm not falling for your tricks again!"

Oh, for…! "It's not a trick." Catra cocked her head. Time for a little gamble. "Didn't a bunch of people arrive like I did, sent here by Taweret? Apophis's Queen?"

Adora blinked. "They mentioned Apophis… But they said he was their god. They didn't say he'd attack us!"

OK, this Adora really was an idiot! "The Goa'uld pose as gods and use technology to fool their slaves and followers." Which were slaves in all but names, but best not to confuse this Adora further. "We've been fighting them to free their slaves. We've already defeated many such ships."

Adora narrowed her eyes at her. "I don't believe you! You're a liar! Always were!"

"You don't know me!" Catra spat. "I'm not your Catra, and you're not my Adora!" She glared at Swift Wind for good measure. "And you're not my dimension's Swift Wind. He's busy freeing horses."

"She-Ra and I share a sacred bond!"

That was… stupid even for Swift Wind. Like… She closed her eyes. Not again! "Whatever!" She turned back to Adora. "Take me to Angella so I can tell her about Apophis before he starts destroying the next kingdom." The Queen at least knew that Catra was from another dimension. Catra hoped that Angella was smart enough to realise that she needed Catra's help more than she needed to keep her quiet about Angella's own extradimensional origin.

"Are you surrendering?" Adora was still frowning, with that mulish expression she sometimes had when things were not going her way.

"I am telling you to take me to Angella so I can give her crucial information about this new enemy," Catra retorted. "If you want to call that surrendering, be my guest."

Adora scoffed. "Don't try anything!" Then she reached over - faster than Catra expected, but not fast enough that Catra wouldn't have been able to dodge if she had wanted to - grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and pulled her up. "I'm watching you!"

Catra froze for a moment. This was… not her Adora, she reminded herself as she was sat down in front of Adora on Swift Wind's back. Not my Adora, she silently repeated herself when she felt a muscular arm wrap around her stomach and hold her in place - with a familiar body pressing into her back.

"Let's fly back to Bright Moon!"

"Away we go!"

Not my Adora, Catra told herself once again as they flew off. Even if she feels and smells like her.

She couldn't let herself relax and enjoy this.

Research Station Beta, PU-9623, February 3rd, 2000 (Earth Time)

Technically, this wasn't Jack O'Neill's decision. He might be a general now, in charge of Alliance Special Forces Command, but Adora was the Supreme Commander of the Alliance, and she had decided that they would enter the 'target dimension'. They really needed a better name for it, actually. He couldn't just keep calling it that. Daniel said to wait until they knew what the natives of the dimension called it, something about not presuming to name another dimension, but even a string of letters and numbers would be OK as a temporary measure.

Anyway, this wasn't Jack's decision, but if it were up to him, he'd make the same decision. You didn't leave your people behind or give them up - you got them back. And that was what they would be doing. No matter the cost.

Though the cost might be high in this case. If their arrival caused one of those cascading change thingies, and the natives thought this was an attack, then this could mean war. War with an entire other dimension, even if it wasn't particularly large. And a dimension where your thoughts could shape reality. Whether you wanted it or not.

Heh, if it came to war, could they imagine a big honking spaceship to appear on their side? That would be a novel way to fight a war. People were always trying to outthink the enemy in war, but to out-imagine the enemy was new.

Unless you counted some of the research proposals he had seen submitted to the Alliance. Those were so outrageous, they were clearly the result of an overly active imagination. Or greed.

Whatever. Jack checked his gear again, then checked his tab for urgent reports. Nothing.

He had nothing to do but wait for Carter and the others to finish their setup.

Well, he could check up on the others to keep busy, at least.

Adora knew she should be doing something helpful. Maybe talk to the freed slaves again, help them get adjusted. Inspect the base above. Make sure that everything was going well. Check the reports and files sent from Alliance HQ.

But she had already done most of the paperwork - well, the important parts. OK, the really important, urgent parts. And Glimmer had told her that she was just stressing the Alliance soldiers if she kept checking things. And heading to the freed slaves again… Being worshipped and thanked was embarrassing on a good day, but being fawned over while she couldn't save her lover? No, thanks. She didn't need that.

"Here you are!"

She looked up from her tablet - not that she had actually been reading whatever file was on the screen - and frowned at Jack. "You know that this is serving as my office." He also had an office in the research station, even if he spent more time in the break room.

"Yep. But I figured you were in the labs, ready to jump into another dimension as soon as Carter and the others finish the thingie." He grinned.

She frowned some more. "I would just distract them." Bow had told her so discreetly. Hordak had done so not so discreetly.

He shrugged and sat down on the chair in the corner of her office. "Someone has to keep an eye on them to make sure they don't push themselves too hard."

But Catra was in danger! Adora pressed her lips together and swallowed her words. It wouldn't do anyone any good if her friends hurt themselves by working too hard. Or too much. "Glimmer's with them." And she wouldn't let them do anything stupid.

"Yeah. She shooed me out." He rubbed his neck as he moved his head. "They're doing what they can," he added in a quieter, more serious tone.

"I know." She narrowed her eyes. "You don't need to keep an eye on me."

He smiled, not showing any embarrassment at being caught. "Doesn't hurt, though, does it?"

Of course, it didn't.

He leaned forward, hands on his thighs. "Want to talk about it?"

No need to mention what he meant. Or whom. "No." She didn't want to talk about it. She just wanted to go and save Catra. As soon as possible.

"OK." He nodded and leaned back, pulling his own tablet out of his pocket. And ignored the frown she aimed at him.

She didn't need a watcher. But if she said so, she would sound childish. And having someone else here was… well, not bad. Kind of nice.

She went back to staring at the file before blinking and looking at Jack again. The way his hands were moving… "Are you playing a game?"

"Yep."

"On your tablet?"

"Yep."

Oh. She hadn't known they had games for their tablets - they were compatible with Earth computer files, but that shouldn't include games. As Entrapta had explained once, adapting text files and other data was easy, but they had to basically copy the word processors and other programs Earth used to run on Etherian systems. So… She groaned. "That's what they call piracy on Earth." Glimmer had complained about that. As had Sea Hawk, though he had been offended for the sake of 'real pirates'.

"We aren't on Earth, are we?" His grin widened. "And rules are always less strict in the field."

She snorted and shook her head, then went back to her paperwork.

"We'll get her back. Safe and sound."

She smiled without looking up again.

"Alright. The latest batch of tests looks good!" Entrapta announced. "We did manage to confirm that communication is possible through micro-portals as long as we rig the communicators to broadcast before the portal opens." She beamed.

Samantha Carter nodded. "We'll need to calibrate the systems to start broadcasting a bit before the set times, to compensate for any delays."

"And if we improve the compression algorithms, we could have two-way verbal communication!" Entrapta nodded enthusiastically. "It'll be lagged, worse than talking over the spy bot network, but it would be possible. With enough power, we could project a microportal every ten seconds."

"That would require more power than we currently have available here," Sam pointed out. And the side effects from working the projector constantly would be nasty. Probably not strong enough to affect the seismic stability of the region - they were microportals, after all - but she would have to study the exact effects of the vibrations caused by the projector in more detail to exclude that danger.

"The strain on the systems operating them continuously during the mission would generate are unlikely to be worth it," Hordak commented. "We might have equipment failures at the worst possible moment."

Entrapta pouted. "And I guess we don't have the time to construct a secondary projector for communication."

"I don't think so," Bow said. "But this is good enough. With the text-to-speech and speech-to-text routines, we can use verbal communication anyway."

"It's still going to suffer from a lot of lag," Entrapta complained.

That couldn't be helped, in Sam's opinion. "We have a working system. That's good enough."

"Does that mean we're ready to go?" Glimmer asked.

Sam drew a short breath. She would prefer to run a test with several travellers, sent to a remote location, to check the system before starting the mission. But Adora had made it clear that she wouldn't let anyone else take that risk, so they might as well not bother.

"The projector needs some maintenance," Beta replied. "To ensure it will run perfectly after the latest tests. Then the mission can start." Sam wondered if the bot would insist on such checks if it weren't Adora going through.

"How long will that take?" Glimmer asked.

"About one and a half hours," Sam told her. She had done that maintenance a lot over the last few days.

Glimmer nodded. "Alright. I'll tell the others."

And they were committed.

Unknown Location, February 3rd, 2000 (Earth Time)

Catra was glad that they didn't have to tangle with another Death Glider on the way to Bright Moon. This Adora might try to dogfight it again, and unlike her, Catra was not staff weapon-proof. At least, she didn't think Adora would drop her off without landing if they were attacked. Though she couldn't help wondering about that until they reached Bright Moon.

The shield was up - Catra saw it catch the light of the Third Moon of Enchantment - but as Adora approached, an opening appeared, and they could pass through. As they circled above the central yard before landing, she looked up at the moon. "I wonder if Alpha's on that moon as well."

"What?" Adora spat.

"First Ones research station in my world," Catra explained. "Alpha's the bot running it. Like Light Hope, but more Entrapta."

"What?" Adora repeated herself.

Swift Wind touched down amongst the guards who had gathered, and Catra snorted. "If Entrapta and Bow can repair Darla, we might visit." She blinked and turned her head to look at Adora. "Wait! You got her back before you destroyed the Horde, right?"

But Adora scowled and grabbed her arms. "I don't even know who Darla is!" she spat, then lifted Catra up and slid off Swift Wind's back.

"Mara's ship," Catra replied, staggering as she was pushed towards the waiting guards. She saw Adora freezing for a moment, mouth half-open. That wasn't a good sign. "The Horde recovered it in my world. Did you check if it's still in the Crimson Waste?"

"Why should I bother?" Adora said, scowling even more.

"Because that's our best chance to fight Apophis!" Catra blurted out. The guards grabbed her arms, and she squirmed for a moment, suppressing the urge to break their grip.

Adora scoffed. "Yeah, right."

Catra clenched her teeth together. Why was this Adora such an idiot? "Do you have another spaceship on Etheria? Or are you trying to fight the Ha'tak with Swift Wind?"

"Our sacred bond allows us to defeat any foe!"

Catra ignored the fool and stared at Adora.

But the other woman scoffed. "We defeated the Horde. We will defeat those invaders as well!"

Catra groaned. "Let me talk to Angella." Hopefully, the queen was not as stupid.

"She's got other things to do than listen to you! Take her to the new cell!"

"Wait! I have critical intelligence about the enemy!" Catra dug her claws into the ground, making the guards trying to drag her away stumble for a second. "Have you forgotten your training? Intel is everything!" The Horde instructors had been quite clear about that.

Adora frowned again, looking confused for a moment.

Catra hissed under her breath. Adora couldn't have forgotten her cadet training! "Just ask her if she needs intel!"

Adora narrowed her eyes but nodded. "I will."

Catra started to relax - to think this idiot would have dropped her in a cell in the middle of a Goa'uld attack! - but was startled again when the two guards dragged her after Adora.

She considered scratching the floor inside the palace just to make a point - she was going along with this when she could have shredded those two - but decided not to push her luck. It was clear that her fate was hanging by a thread.

It didn't take them long to reach the Alliance meeting room.

"I've taken down one enemy flyer and captured Catra!" Adora announced as she entered.

"I walked up to her and told her to take me here." Catra stared at Angella. "I know this enemy. We've been fighting him in our world."

"Her world? What?" Glimmer blurted out.

"She's with them!" Frosta jumped off her chair - still a bit too big for her - and started to walk towards Catra, ice appearing around her fist.

The other princesses whispered amongst each other.

Catra ignored them all and focused on Angella. She was the only one who mattered. Well, the Snow princess about to hit her with fists made of ice was a problem as well, but Catra knew she could take a punch from the shrimp, and Angella was calling the shots.

The queen glared at her for several seconds, then raised her hand. "Stop, Frosta!"

"But she admitted to working with the enemy!" Frosta whined. Hadn't she grown up at all since the Princess Prom?

"Mom?" Glimmer looked confused. As did Adora, but that was nothing new.

Angella rose from her seat and walked toward Catra. "You know our enemy."

"Apophis. We - the Princess Alliance and others - are fighting him and his fellow Goa'uld in our universe." Catra grinned. "We've kicked his ass on his throne world and destroyed entire fleets of Ha'taks."

"Oe of those razed Plumeria, and you claim to have destroyed fleets of those things?" Glimmer shook her head, then winced when Perfuma sniffled at hearing that.

Angella seemed to ignore both. "I find that hard to believe myself."

"Well, we've got ships of our own." Catra tried to straighten to face Angella on a more equal footing, but the two guards were still gripping her arms. "Better ships than Apophis has. Unfortunately, the only spaceship currently on Etheria is Mara's old ship. In my universe, the Horde tried to recover it, but you got it back. But it seems that you forgot about it here."

Angella drew a sharp breath - Catra caught her flinching for a moment - but when she spoke, she was all calm and collected. "The ship was not recovered here."

"Then it's still in the Crimson Waste," Catra said. "You need to get it and repair it as soon as possible. Apophis won't limit himself to destroying one kingdom. He'll keep doing that until you surrender or are destroyed."

Angella inclined her head a tiny bit. "He has sent us his demands."

Catra wanted to shrug, but she was still held by the guards. "Well, play for time. It'll take a lot of work to get Darla in the air again."

"You don't give us orders!" Glimmer spat.

Others agreed with her, but Catra glanced at Entrapta. The princess was rather quiet, which was a surprise. Ah, she was busy with her tool! Probably already planning the recovery operation.

Catra turned her head and met Angella's eyes again.

The queen glared at her again, then turned to face the others. "She's our enemy, but she's correct: We will need a spaceship of our own to battle this new enemy. We'll stall Apophis and recover She-Ra's ship."

"Yes!" Entrapta cheered. "More First Ones technology!"

Catra snorted. At least this Entrapta and her own were the same.

"And what will the spaceship do?" Glimmer asked, still frowning. "I remember it - it wasn't nearly as big as the one that… is attacking us," she added with a glance at Perfuma.

"It might be enough to get a boarding team inside the Ha'tak," Catra replied. "It's First Ones technology, and even a thousand years ago, they were better than the Goa'uld. If it's not enough, you can use it to get to Alpha on the Third Moon of Enchantment. It's a First Ones research base, and there should be shuttles in the hangar there." This Entrapta might not be able to turn them into stealth shuttles, but they would be very useful in dealing with the Death Gliders and Al'keshs and offer quick transportation. "You could…" She trailed off as she realised that Angella had frozen up again.

"Alpha…" The queen shook her head, then stared at Catra with an unreadable expression. "You know about that?"

"Mom?" Glimmer sounded concerned.

"Angella?" Adora as well.

"A First Ones research base on a moon?" Entrapta sounded enthusiastic.

But Catra had, apparently, stumbled into another minefield. And it was all her fault - of course, Angella would be aware of Alpha! She had been created in the lab! "We found it in our world," she said.

"What is it? Mom?" Glimmer asked.

Catra clenched her teeth so she wouldn't blurt out the answer. Revealing the origin of the princesses in the middle of a Goa'uld invasion? As a suspected enemy? Yeah, right! They had to focus on the war at hand.

"It's where I was… born," Angella said.

Catra suppressed a groan as the room fell silent for a moment.

"You were born on the Third Moon of Enchantment?" Glimmer didn't quite screech, but it came close enough to hurt Catra's ears.

"You're a First One?" Adora blurted out.

"That's why Bright Moon lays claim to the moons!" Mermista apparently needed to work on her priorities as well.

Angella turned to look at Glimmer. "Yes. In the First Ones research station." She turned to Adora. "No, I am not a First One." She pressed her lips together. "Alpha made that very clear," she added with a glance at Catra.

Catra winced. "Yeah, that figures."

"What are you talking about?" Glimmer pouted at both of them. "I don't get it! Who is Alpha?"

Adora shook her head. "But… does that mean that Catra told the truth?"

"Don't act so shocked!" Catra hissed. Really, she wasn't that bad.

Angella straightened. "It's not important right now. We're in the middle of an invasion and must focus on that. We need to recover that spaceship and then board Apophis's ship. Before he destroys another kingdom." She turned to Glimmer. "You will lead the recovery operation. Take Bow and Entrapta with you. And Adora," she added.

"Alright, Mom."

"The rest of us will do our best to stall the enemy," Angella went on.

"Let's hope our best will be enough," Mermista muttered. "We don't have flying ships."

"Apophis will only reach Salineas over my dead body, my love!"

"That's what I'm afraid of."

"Angella? Maybe I should stay as well. I can engage their flyers with Swift Wind," Adroa suggested.

Oh, for…! Catra opened her mouth to tell the idiot off - she should know better! - but Angella shook her head.

"You need to go. It's She-Ra's ship," she said. "And you're a First One. You will be needed to take control of it."

Yeah, she definitely knew Alpha, Catra thought. Probably far too well.

Research Station Beta, PU-9623, February 4th, 2000 (Earth Time)

Jack O'Neill suppressed a yawn as he approached the transport area. He should have slept a bit while waiting. Maybe if he hadn't raided Danel's coffee supply… But what was done was done.

Adora was, unsurprisingly, already standing there, in full She-Ra uniform, sword out. And she looked eager and ready, not tired at all despite the early hour. Of course, she was cheating with magic.

Glimmer yawned as she joined them, almost dragging her staff along the floor. But Teal'c looked alert as ever - of course, Jack's friend cheated with his Jaffa meditation thingie.

And Daniel was still hopped up on coffee, it seemed. Then again, he was always eager when it came to meeting new people. At least Sha're seemed to be sufficiently wary to keep him out of trouble if Jack was too busy.

"Alright!" Entrapta walked over, followed by Bow and Carter. "Hordak will be using the projector as soon as we're ready!"

Jack would have preferred someone else, but since Bow, Entrapta and Carter were coming with them, Hordak was the only choice left. Someone had to keep an eye on Beta as well, even though they had moved Taweret off-planet already. Just in case the bot got ideas about subverting authority again, what with both Jack and Adora going off-dimension.

He looked at the group. "Everyone ready?" They looked ready, at least. "Remember: No thinking of Marshmallow Men!" Daniel chuckled, and Carter rolled her eyes with a wry smile, which was about the best he could have hoped for, but the others looked lost. "We'll have to watch Ghostbusters together," he said.

"But Jack is correct - we'll be shaping the dimension around us with our thoughts, so we should, ah, control ourselves," Daniel said.

"The effects should be fairly limited according to our projections," Carter said. "At least at the start."

That was reassuring. "Then let's keep it that way," Jack said. "Let's go."

"Alright! Science Buddy, go!"

A moment later, Jack heard a humming noise, and then everything went white.

And then he was standing on grass. Tall grass. Vaguely familiar, he had seen… He trailed off and then cursed. They were on a hill, looking at a Ha'tak attacking Bright Moon, cannon fire splashing against a magic shield covering the entire town. Jack recognised the markings on the ship. "How the hell did Apophis arrive here before us?" he spat. "And why are we on Etheria?"

"Oh, no!" Daniel shook his head. "Uh. I don't think he arrived here before us, Jack. And this is probably not Etheria."

What? Jack turned to look at him. "What do you mean?"

"This dimension is shaped by our thoughts. And Taweret sent over a dozen of Apophis's slaves over. Slaves who considered him their god." Daniel grimaced. "They might have created their god here."

Jack blinked. That… made a lot of sense. But it also meant they were screwed.

"Fuck!" he spat.