Chapter 152: The Lost Dimension Part 6

Unknown Location, February 4th, 2000 (Earth Time)

"Mom would never do what she has done!"

Samantha Carter pressed her lips together as she listened to Glimmer's outburst. That was exactly what Entrapta and she had feared would happen when they revealed the results of their scans. But trying to hide this would have made things even worse - you didn't try to 'manage' your friends like that.

Although, in hindsight, perhaps they should have attempted to inform their friends, especially Glimmer, in a more discreet manner, Sam added when she saw Angella turn to glare at her apparent daughter.

"You claim to be my daughter?"

"No!"

"Um." Entrapta raised a hand. Both Queen Angella and Glimmer turned to glare at her, and Sam saw her friend flinch. But Entrapta slowly nodded and went on: "It's not a claim - data doesn't lie. Your dimensional constants match, so you're from the same dimension. Theoretically, one of you could be a clone or impostor, but we check regularly for that in case Double Trouble tries to infiltrate the Alliance, and so we can be sure that this is our Glimmer. And who would have made a clone of Angella and left her in this dimension, way before we even knew about it?"

"Loki," the General said in a flat voice. "That's the kind of thing he would do."

Sam couldn't really argue that. Loki wasn't quite as bad as the other Asgard and the General and several others who had met him claimed, but Sam would be lying to herself if she tried to pretend that Loki wouldn't be able to conduct this kind of irresponsible, unethical and semi-random experiment.

But she also knew that the odds that Loki actually had done this, and then kept it secret, were about zero. If he had had the kind of access to Etheria that he would have needed to clone Angella and know enough about her to imprint on the clone, their encounter with him and especially their deal would have gone far differently.

So she nodded in agreement with the General. "In theory, yes. But in my opinion, Loki didn't have the opportunity or motivation to do this."

The General pouted at her for a moment but didn't contradict her.

"Anyway!" Entrapta said. "If we can safely dismiss Loki as the one responsible - and we absolutely can - who else could have done this?"

"I am not a clone!" Angella snapped.

Entrapta looked at her. "That's what I am saying? Kinda?"

Angella didn't stop frowning, not that Sam had expected her to. But She also hadn't expected the local Glimmer to stay silent - or the local She-Ra. She would have thought they would react to the claim that this Angella wasn't their Angella but a visitor - or impostor - from another dimension.

Unless, of course, they were created by Angella not to question Angella. Consciously or subconsciously. And that was a tangent that Sam wasn't sure she wanted to explore.

"I am not a clone. And you are not my daughter," Angella said. "Glimmer would never work with the Horde - the same criminals who almost destroyed our entire world if not for my sacrifice!"

Glimmer actually flinched at that. And Sam saw that Catra's ears were lying flat against her head.

Adora shook her head. "How can you say that? Years have passed since… that day. People changed. We changed."

"I grew up," Glimmer said, straightening. "I am Queen of Bright Moon now. Have been for years." She took a step closer to Angella. "My Mom would know that. And my Mom would never kill people without giving them the chance to change."

"Nor would my daughter leave threats to our world be!" Angella retorted.

"But this isn't your daughter, is it?" the General cut in, pointing at the local Glimmer, Adora and Bow.

"How dare you say that!" the local Glimmer spat at once. "I won't let you insult us like that!"

"Yes!" the local She-Ra moved forward, sword in hand. "We won't!"

The General took a step back. "Didn't you listen to what Angella just admitted? And implied? That she isn't from this dimension?"

"Liar!" the local Glimmer spat.

"Liar!" the local Adora chimed in.

The local Bow didn't say anything but did draw his weapon.

"Stop!" Adora stepped in front of the three… people? Sam was really starting to doubt that they were sapient individuals. "There's no reason to fight." She turned to Angella. "Calm them down."

Angella frowned, her eyes scanning the room, then slowly nodded - although with her lips twisted into a scowl. "Do not start fighting them," she told them.

The local Glimmer nodded at once and took a step back, lowering the staff she had been holding at the ready. The other two followed her example, and Sam sighed silently with relief.

They had to avoid that at almost any cost. A fight against Angella, in a dimension she had been shaping for years, would be a catastrophe. Sam cleared her throat. "We need to check the camp where the former slaves had been as well. We have to be sure that they aren't hiding somewhere."

Angella stared at her before slowly nodding, and Sam felt relieved again. Almost as relieved as if she had disarmed a bomb. Which was a rather fitting comparison, she had to admit.

So, this Angella was their Angella. Catra had… not suspected. Feared it? That would fit better. The one who had created this weird, mad version of their home world and had become its queen, the one who had the local Horde wiped to a man - with the exception of Shadow Weaver, for some reason - was the former leader of the Princess Alliance and Glimmer's mother.

"Figures," she muttered under her breath as she watched Angella on Darla's bridge.

"Hm?" Adora turned around and looked at her. "What did you say?"

"Nothing," Catra replied reflexively. "Just… thinking how weird this is," she added after a moment.

Adora nodded with a sigh, then glanced at Glimmer, who was standing next to them and glaring at Angella. Though the way her eyes shifted, she was probably glaring at the other Glimmer as well.

Damn, Glimmer must be going through hell right now. She found her mother thought lost forever, only to realise that Angella had gone crazy and had replaced Glimmer with a copy she made up in her mind. A copy with a pretty simple mindset. Or a pretty simple mind - the copies here certainly didn't act very independently.

In a way, it was a blessing that Angella had killed off the entire Horde here. Created, then killed off, actually, which was messed up in a lot of ways, but that was another topic. But Catra was quite relieved she didn't have to look at a copy of herself made by Angella. It would probably be a blood-thirsty, cruel, and stupid madwoman bent on hurting everyone else - a crazy killer.

She clenched her teeth at the thought. Adora and Glimmer might be disturbed by the caricatures Angella had created in their image, but neither had been like those versions standing next to Angella.

Unlike Catra.

She pushed the thought away. She had changed. She was changing, still. And this wasn't the time to dwell on that, anyway. Not with the current problem they had to deal with. "So…" she trailed off, nodding in Angella's direction, then looked at Adora and Glimmer.

"That's not Mom," Glimmer hissed.

Adora winced. "But Entrapta and Sam checked."

Glimmer scowled.

Ador went on: "And Bow went over their data." At Glimmer's request. And he had confirmed it. Twice.

"I know," Glimmer spat, and Catra put her hand on Adora's shoulder and squeezed gently.

"Ah." Adora winced again.

Catra didn't say anything.

"It's… Mom never acted like that, like… some bloodthirsty bitch!" Glimmer spat.

"Yes," Adora said. "Angella was kind."

"People can change," Catra said. She didn't have to add 'for the worse' - her friends understood what she meant.

"But not like this!" Glimmer shook her head. "And even if she changed, why would she make everyone in the world like her?" She shook her head. "Is that how she saw me?"

Was she about to cry? Catra pressed her lips together and tried to ignore it.

"I don't think so," Adora said. "She didn't want you to risk your life, but…" she trailed off.

"Really?" Glimmer scoffed through clenched teeth. "Then why is she happy with a daughter who's all 'rah, rah, fight'?"

Adora didn't answer that, so Catra sighed and said. "She must have changed."

"A lot," Adora agreed. "She was alone for years. No friends. No one. That's… not healthy."

Catra nodded. She knew what having no friends any more felt like.

"Then why didn't she create a world where everyone is happy? Instead of bloodthirsty?" Glimmer asked. And those were tears on her cheeks.

"They probably were happy before, ah, this happened," Adora said.

And after they had killed the Horde, Catra added silently. But it was a good point - Catra showing up would have made them fear another Horde attack. And then Apophis actually invaded.

"So, she was happy with that Glimmer?" Glimmer spat. "Her obedient daughter?"

Oh. Catra winced. She wasn't touching that. Not even if she could do it in a hovertank.

Adora grimaced as well but bravely tried to console her anyway. "Uh… She was happy with a daughter willing to fight, like you were?"

Glimmer scoffed again. "Then why wasn't she happy with me while she was still with us?"

Catra wasn't touching that either. At least, Glimmer seemed to have accepted that this was her mom. Even if that didn't seem to help their situation.

Or answer the big question in the room: What do we do with Angella?

Jack O'Neill wasn't a coward. He had faced death without flinching before. He had told off Goa'uld who held him prisoner and risked his life many times over doing missions for Stargate Command (and before that, for the US government, but those missions were still classified).

He hadn't volunteered to escort Carter and Entrapta to the former slaves' former settlement because he was afraid of becoming collateral damage to a blow-up between Glimmer and Angella escalating into the use of magical weapons of mass destruction, or whatever this messed-up dimension would create for them. The odds of that happening weren't as low as he would like, but he still wouldn't bet on them. And if anything like it happened, he'd bet on Adora settling matters, She-Ra style.

That he was glad that he hadn't stayed on the ship, where the tension was thick enough to cut with a knife - probably thick enough you needed a really sharp one - was because he didn't like family drama and all the awkwardness it brought up. If anyone doubted it, they could ask his family. There was a reason he hadn't attended any family holiday for the last decade. And hadn't bothered to return any calls after Stargate Command had gone public and his position with it.

Also, Jack could claim without lying or bragging that he was a good officer and knew how to lead soldiers, and he might be a bit more skilled at the whole staff rank politics than he would like to be, but family counselling wasn't one of his strengths. Again, people who doubted him could ask his family. As long as they didn't pass on any messages from them.

"Alright! We've set up the scanner!" Entrapta announced, and Jack focused on the mission.

"Good," he said, walking past the still-smoking ruins of a nice little cottage-style building to join her and Carter in what used to be the centre of a small village before someone had wrecked it - using rather personal means; there weren't any craters left by heavy weapons, much less a Ha'Tak's main guns. No, the buildings had been wrecked with small arms or just set on fire. "The perimeter's clear." Neither Jack nor Teal'c had found any enemy - or survivor - hiding nearby. And Daniel hadn't stumbled on any hidden survivor while looking for clues about the local culture or whatever, and he was usually a decent tripwire for such things. Teal'c had found tracks leaving the village, but he hadn't been able to tell if they had been laid before the attack or during it.

"Let's see what the scanner will show, then!" Entrapta sounded as enthusiastic as ever, at least to Jack - her mood had improved significantly since they had left the ship.

"Initiating preliminary scan," Carter said, pushing a button.

Jack saw a few lights flash on the scanner, followed by a distinct humming noise. Either would make using the scanner while hiding from the enemy a risky proposition, he noted. Then again, this wasn't a finished model but just what the two - and Bow, who had stayed with Glimmer to keep her company and keep her from starting a pseudo-civil war in alternate Bright Moon - had thrown together on the fly.

"Multiple traces of extra-dimensional influence detected," Carter reported.

Well, they already knew that the former slaves and test subjects of Apophis had been settled here.

"Initiating primary scan," Carter went on.

"That will take a while," Entrapta said. "We have to check for minor variations and continuing effects before we can check for the different constants. Sorry, but with the processing power available to us, we can't speed up the code to recognise patterns."

"That's OK," Jack said.

"I've tried to create better matrices and crystals by thinking about them, but it didn't work - we haven't been here long enough yet to sufficiently influence the dimension," Entratpa went on.

That… wasn't OK. Jack forced himself to smile and nodded, then glanced at Carter and raised his eyebrows. She should know better than to attempt to use their imagination to create anything in this crazy dimension. A bunch of former slaves had created their evil god, and Jack was sure that their imagination paled when compared to what Entrapta could think of.

Carter straightened, but her expression was a bit too controlled and bland to be genuine. "We have detected no sign that we're in danger of accidentally influencing the local dimension in a dangerous manner, sir."

What Entrapta had mentioned hadn't been accidental, but before Jack could make a properly sarcastic comment about that, Entrapta piped up again. "Oh! We've got a contact! And it's an active one!"

"A dimensional traveller still actively influencing the environment," Carter explained.

"I understood that," Jack commented.

"Sorry, sir."

"Oh! The secondary scan revealed that it's not one, but several contacts!" Entrapta cheered.

"Checking for dimensional constants," Carter said.

Right, best cover all bases. Sure, those 'travellers' were almost certainly the missing former slaves, but this was such a weird dimension, Jack would rather check before making assumptions that might end up biting him in the ass.

"Constants confirmed to be identical to ours, sir," Carter said after about half a minute.

"So, our missing snake-worshippers did survive. At least some of them." Jack nodded. "Let's go gather them up before they summon another god-snake." And before some locals found them and decided to 'disobey' Angella's orders.

"Yes, sir. I've sent the coordinates to your tablet."

"Right. My tablet." Jack pulled the tablet out of his pocket and opened it in map mode. He would prefer an actual printed map - despite the destructive testing done on them, those gadgets just felt too flimsy, no matter if they were magitech or not - but he couldn't argue that they were useful when they worked.

A map of the surrounding terrain appeared, with coordinates and symbols blinking, indicating their position and their targets'. The map wasn't perfect, nor as detailed as Jack would like, just based on their scans, but it was better than nothing.

"Let's go. We'll gather Teal'c, Daniel and Sha're on the way. Provided we can pry Daniel away from the 'cultural artefacts' left behind in the rubble here."

Jack and the others had discovered the missing former slaves and were on the way to recover them. And Adora was standing on the bridge of this Darla and doing… nothing.

She pressed her lips together. She felt so useless! Glimmer was so angry - and hurt - and Adora couldn't do anything to help her. They had found Angella, who had sacrificed herself to save Etheria - and had prevented Adora from sacrificing herself - but she had changed so much, Adora wouldn't have recognised her.

No wonder the world Angella had created was so different. No, so messed up - the Angella Adora had known wouldn't have wanted to kill helpless people who didn't know any better and just followed what they had been taught since they had been children! And she wouldn't have treated her daughter so coldly! Certainly not after having been missing for years!

And the Angella Adora had known wouldn't have replaced Glimmer - and Adora, and everyone else - with some copies who acted so strangely. She had been kind, not cruel. And she had loved her daughter! What had happened to Angella? How could she have changed so much?

"I think it's because she was lost for years in an empty dimension that changes according to your whim," Catra said in a flat tone.

Oh. Adora must have said the last line out loud - or whispered it; Catra was so close, her ears would pick it up anyway. She glanced at her love, about to agree, then noticed Catra's expression and the way her ears laid flat against her head. Oh. "That wasn't your fault."

That earned her a glare. "The hell it wasn't! I opened the gate that she closed."

"But…" Adora pressed her lips together again. Catra isn't wrong, there. But Catra had changed. For the better. And Angella had changed for the worse.

And Adora didn't know why. If Angella could change like this, could anyone else? Could Adora end up like this dimension's Adora?

If someone killed Catra…

She drew a sharp breath through her clenched teeth. If anyone killed Catra, Adora would kill them. Was that why Angella had become like this? Why she had created and then wiped out the Horde in this dimension? Because she had lost her family? Though she had known that Glimmer, Adora and her friends were alive - Angella had sacrificed herself to save them.

Or was Catra right, and Angella had gone mad in her isolation here? Mad enough to recreate a warped version of Etheria? A world changing according to her whims?

Adora's eyes widened. Did she know she had created the world? Wait - Angella obviously knew that; she had said as much when they had been talking about the former slaves. But had she known that when she had created the world?

"I have to ask her," she muttered, glancing at Angella again.

"Ask her what?" Catra cocked her head at her with a frown.

"Why she changed."

"You think she'll tell you?" Catra scoffed.

Adora wanted to say that asking wouldn't hurt, but… It would probably hurt. On the other hand, Glimmer was hurting. She was still standing with Bow in the corner, all tense and ready to bite off anyone's head.

"We need to know why," Adora said. She wouldn't be able to help anyone if she didn't know why things had gone so wrong here. She nodded firmly at her own words.

"Well, I'm sure we can…" Catra started to say, then added: "Wait! You mean right now?"

But Adora was already halfway to Glimmer. "Glimmer!"

"What?" Glimmer spun around, glowering at her for a second.

Adora nodded at her. "Come! We'll find out what happened to your mom!"

"What?" "What?" Glimmer and Bow said together. "Right now?" Glimmer asked, glancing at Angella.

"Shouldn't we wait until we have recovered the surviving former slaves?" Bow asked.

"Apparently not," Catra said. Adora didn't need to look at her to know her expression.

She shook her head. "No more waiting. We'll find out what happened to your mom." What changed her.

"Here?" Bow looked pointedly at the other people on the bridge.

Catra shrugged. "It's not as if they are real people. You saw that. They ignore whatever Angella said if it doesn't fit them."

"They don't ignore us the same way, though," Bow said.

He wasn't wrong, but Adora was done with waiting. And they could take their copies, anyway - the other Adora had been useless against Apophis until Adora had broken the fake god's shield.

"Besides, they'll probably get upset anyway once we take Angella home," Catra said.

Adora gasped. That was… She hadn't considered that. But it was obvious, wasn't it? Whatever was the reason for Angella's change, staying here wouldn't help her. And Adora would help here. She owed Angella far too much to abandon her.

"But what if she doesn't want to come home?" Bow asked. "We can't exactly force her to come with us, can we?"

"Of course, we can," Catra replied.

Adora nodded. Catra was right. They would take Angella home no matter what.

Glimmer nodded as well.

Angella turned to face them before they reached her and narrowed her eyes at them. Adora pressed her lips together and kept walking. "We need to talk."

"Leave her alone!" The other Adora moved between her and Angella, followed by the other Glimmer and Bow.

Had she really looked like that, years ago? Adora pushed the stray thought away and focused on Angella. The others don't matter, she told herself. "What happened to you?"

Angella pressed her lips together for a moment, and Adora managed not to flinch. Then the other woman straightened, and her expression smoothed out before it turned into a faint smile. For a moment, she looked exactly like the woman Adora remembered - but her smile was polite, not warm. "You know what happened to me. You were there."

Adora had been there. At the portal. The memories were painful, but she wouldn't ever forget how Angella's last words before she stepped into the portal. "Not that. What happened afterwards?" What did change you?

"What did change you?" Glimmer asked, echoing Adora's thoughts as she moved to stand next to her - and a little in front.

Angella glared at her. "Change me?"

"Yes!" Glimmer blurted out. "You weren't like this!"

"Oh, great!" Adora heard Catra mutter on her other side.

"Like what?" Once again, Angella looked like the Angella Adora remembered - when she was arguing with her daughter.

"Like some bloodthirsty maniac!" Glimmer snapped. "The mother who raised me wouldn't have killed the entire Horde!"

Angella bared her teeth for a moment. "Really? I remember a daughter who always wanted to go and kill the Horde scum!"

Adora winced and glanced at Catra. Her love's smile had worn very thin, and while she was showing a bland expression, her tail was swishing back and forth, showing how agitated she was.

"I wanted to fight the Horde, yes! But killing them all? We took them prisoner when we could!"

"In a war, you kill your enemies before they kill you!" Angella spat. "I would have thought you'd understand that."

"No! You defeat your enemies!" Glimmer retorted. "And once you've won, you make peace!"

"Peace that will be broken as soon as the enemy recovers enough to fight again." Angella scoffed. "You can't be safe until your enemy is dead. If you leave them alive, you put your friends and families at risk."

"That is wrong! You can make peace with your enemies! Turn them into allies and friends!" Adora spoke up. And more than friends and allies.

Angella narrowed her eyes at her. "How naive. If you trust your enemies, they will exploit this."

"I was a Horde soldier myself!" Adora told her. Angella couldn't have forgotten that, could she?

"You never fought us." Angella scoffed again. "You switched sides as soon as you had the opportunity. You didn't wait until you were defeated to abandon the Horde."

Adora glared at her. "Catra risked her life to save Glimmer from Horde Prime! And he was about to defeat us all!"

Angella drew back, eyes widening, but quickly recovered. "A likely story!"

"I was there!" Glimmer cut in. "And you don't have a leg to stand on - you trusted Shadow Weaver!"

"I did not trust that… woman," Angella retorted. "I used her knowledge against the Horde. But trust her? Never! Did you think I was such a fool?"

Adora winced when Glimmer drew back. That was a sore point for her friend.

But before she could say anything, Glimmer blurted out: "You trusted her to lead us to the Portal!"

"I did. But if you had killed your enemies when you had the opportunity, the portal wouldn't have been built in the first place," Angella replied with a sneer at Catra.

What? Did Angella expect Adora to kill Catra? She stared at the woman. She couldn't mean that, could she?

"We don't kill prisoners!" Glimmer spat. "You taught me that!"

Prisoners? Oh. She must be talking about the time Glimmer and Bow had captured Catra!

"So you took that to heart, even though you complained about everything else I did in the war?" Angella snorted but without any humour. "If you had killed your enemies at the first opportunity - if I had killed them - we would have been safe. Etheria would have been safe. I learned that lesson, but it's obvious that you never did."

"Because it's the wrong lesson!" Glimmer yelled.

"It's the truth! You cannot trust your enemies! The only way to be safe, to keep your family safe, is to kill them all! If we had done that, I wouldn't have lost you or Micah!"

"I told you, Micah's alive," Catra spat.

"You lie!"

"No! Dad's alive! We saved him!" Glimmer shook her head. "And he'll be so disappointed in what you have become!"

Angella froze for a moment, gasping.

As did Glimmer.

And Adora heard Catra hiss a curse.

Angella stared at Glimmer, lips moving for a moment, forming words without sound.

Glimmer grimaced but straightened her shoulders and met her eyes defiantly.

Both stared at each other, and Adora drew a slow breath. She had to say something, anything, to… fix this. Somehow. But before she could think of what to say that wouldn't make things worse, Angella turned and walked away.

"This isn't over! You can't just walk away!" Glimmer yelled. She tried to rush after Angella, but the other Glimmer appeared in front of her.

"Leave Mom alone!"

"She's not your mom!" Glimmer snapped.

"She is my mother!"

"Well… in a sense, Angella created her…?" Bow trailed off with a wince at the glare he received from Glimmer.

"That would make her everyone's mom!" Glimmer scoffed.

"Congratulations. You just got fifty million siblings," Catra said.

"Don't joke about this!" Glimmer snarled, turning to face Catra.

"Why not?"

"It's not funny!"

The other Glimmer didn't react to their bickering. Nor did the other Bow. Or anyone else Adora could see. Like everyone else had ignored the entire conversation with Angella. No, Adora corrected herself. They weren't ignoring them - the others showed absolutely no reaction. It was as if they didn't hear anything. Or couldn't hear anything.

This wasn't the first time Adora had seen this. Had Angella created them like that? Unable to even notice anything that would question her or the world she had made? She looked at her counterpart - or copy - and couldn't help wondering if the reason this She-Ra was so… so weird was because she couldn't question Angella.

Like a dumb bot unable to disobey its programming. Like Light Hope, Adora thought, remembering her and how she had been forced to act by her creators. But despite her programming, Light Hope had been a person, hadn't she?

Were those people here like Light Hope in that way? Were they people?

Even with the map created by the scanner, it took them an hour to reach the area where the surviving former slaves of Apophis were. By the time they crested the last hill on the way, Samantha Carter was feeling a little nostalgic - it had been a while since she had hiked like this on an alien planet with the rest of SG-1.

"They should be straight ahead - well, straight down, in the valley below!" Entrapta announced. Her visor hid her face, but her voice clearly showed her enthusiasm.

"Great!" Daniel sounded happy as well, though part of that was likely because he was relieved that they had reached their goal; he had stuffed his rucksack with all the artefacts he had found in the ruins of the village, and while he hadn't exactly gone out of shape, as the General had joked, Sam had no doubt that he wasn't as used to marching on foot as he had been back in Stargate Command.

Sha're, on the other hand, showed no sign of being winded. Amaunet had kept her host in perfect shape. And she had been possessed for years, so some of the effects of that would linger.

"So, anyone spot our missing god-creators?" the General asked, looking down into the valley. "Smoke from a campfire?"

"I do not think they would risk detection by making a fire," Teal'c commented.

"Let me scan for them again!" Entrapta said. She wasn't exhausted at all since she had used her hair for walking.

Sam nodded and pulled up her tool. This shouldn't take too long.

"Ah, there they are!" the General announced before she could finish her scan.

He was pointing ahead at… a small clearing? Sam raised her own binocs and saw movement there - someone was walking through the underbrush.

"Let's go and get them before they move again!" The General started down the hillside at a quick pace.

It took them about ten minutes to reach the forested area, at which point Teal'c and the General pulled ahead, vanishing in the bushes. Sam and the others followed them, but a bit more slowly.

Still, they were close enough to hear when the two made contact.

"The God's guards are here!"

"Mercy, my lord!"

"Mercy!"

"I am not a follower of the false god Apophis. You have nothing to fear from us," Teal'c announced in the kind of voice that carried over a battlefield.

"Oh, no! It's the Betrayer!"

"Mercy!"

"Stay faithful, brothers! Our Lord will protect us!"

The General's voice cut through the desperate cries: "Kind of famous, are you, Teal'c? Or should that be infamous?"

"Oh, no! The God-Killer is here!"

"SG-1!"

"We are doomed!"

"Merciful God, save us!"

Sam couldn't help grimacing when she rounded a particularly large tree and saw the clearing - where four men were on their knees, begging, in front of the General and Teal'c.

"Well, that brings back memories," Daniel commented behind her. "You really need to stop making such bad first impressions, Jack."

"Hey!" the General protested. "It's not my fault Apophis made us the bogeymen!"

Daniel nodded and walked past Teal'c and the General to address the terrified former slaves. "Don't be afraid! We won't hurt you - we're here to help you."

One of the men looked up, a hesitant smile half-forming on his lips. Then his eyes widened, and he gasped, staring past Sam.

She glanced over her shoulder. Oh. Of course, the most loyal slaves of Apophis would be familiar with his former queen's host.

"I am no longer Amaunet's host," Sha're said as she stepped past Sam. "Taweret has been taken prisoner and the slaves she had been keeping prisoners have been rescued."

Another of the cowering men looked up. "They are alive?"

"Yes." Sha're nodded. "Apophis intended to silence them - and you."

"We… we knew too much. Secrets that could threaten our god, should his rivals get their hands on us," the man said.

"You knew that, yet you still summoned him?" The General shook his head.

"We prayed to him." A third man was raising his head. "And he answered our prayers."

"By shooting at your camp. Did you flee?" Daniel asked in a soft voice.

The three men lowered their heads again, and the fourth whimpered. "We were… weak. The others stayed and faced our god's judgement. We ran," the first man whispered.

"As soon as we saw the divine ship," the second added.

Ah. That explained why they had survived.

"You did nothing wrong," Daniel told them as he crouched down next to the first man. "Apophis didn't have the right to kill you."

"He is our god! Our lives are his to use as he deems fit!" the man protested.

Daniel shook his head. "No. Your lives are yours to live. No god has the right to take your lives."

"He is our god! We belong to him!"

"If he cannot protect his faithful from being taken by others, he is a weak god," Sha're said with a sneer. "He has been beaten by SG-1, he has lost his heir and both his queens, and he was defeated in this world as well and his flagship lost." She pointed in the direction of Bright Moon. The crash site wasn't visible from here, but with good binoculars, you could make out the smoke still rising from he wreck. "He has lost any claim he had on you."

That seemed to rattle the men. Sam saw them exchange glances while they still had their heads lowered. Of course, Sha're would be familiar with Apophis's most loyal slaves.

"Did… you defeat him in this world?" the third man asked.

Sam pressed her lips together, and Daniel and Sha're seemed to hesitate as well.

"The false god was defeated by She-Ra. She challenged him in his palace and killed him to save this world," Teal'c told them.

"She-Ra…" the first man whispered as he glanced at the others. "We've heard of her."

"The goddess who stormed his palace on Saqqara…" the second man breathed, and the other two slowly nodded.

"She healed everyone, friend and foe alike."

"Yes, She-Ra did," Sha're said. "She protects everyone."

"And she wants to take you home to your friends and families," Daniel added. His smile looked a bit embarrassed.

Sam could understand that - Daniel knew as well as she did that Adora wouldn't like this.

"If the goddess who defeated Apophis commands it…" The first man took a deep breath. "...then we obey."

The others nodded.

Sam winced. Yes, Adora definitely wouldn't like this. But trying to tell the former slaves, all of them indoctrinated from birth, that She-Ra wasn't a goddess could wait until they had taken them back to their home dimension.

Catra eyed the tower in front of her, especially the balcony three-quarters to the top. She could easily climb up there - her claws would leave some cuts and gouges on the surface, but Angella could probably wish the damage repaired, so that was no big deal.

The question was: Should she be doing this? She had never really met Angella before the… Portal. Angella was Glimmer's mom, and Adora's… foster mom? Or something. In any case, Catra should just call Adora and let her and Glimmer know that she found the queen who didn't want to talk to them.

On the other hand, what would Adora do? Stand at the bottom of the tower and yell up? Bring all guards running and her copy? Just demanding to meet Angella hadn't worked when they had arrived at the palace gates, and Catra didn't think it would work now either.

Glimmer could teleport up there, of course. But Catra doubted that she would - Once she had stopped bickering with her copy, she had gone off to, well, the closest to her cabin on this Darla. To cry, unless Catra's ears were lying to her, which they weren't. Which meant Bow would be useless as well.

Which left Catra. The former Horde commander who had almost taken Bright Moon once and waged war for years on the Alliance. The one responsible for Angella being here in the first place.

But also the first who had met her and the first who had talked to her since the Portal. And someone who had screwed up far worse than Angella had.

So, Catra had an obligation to help fix this. Even though there was a decent chance that showing up in Angella's second office or whatever was up there would end with the queen having her imprisoned again - well, trying to, at least - and a hundred per cent chance that Adora would be mad at her for doing this.

Sighing, Catra walked up to the wall and unsheathed her claws.

Less than thirty seconds later, she pulled herself up and over the railing of the balcony and peered through the open door. Ah - it was an office. She saw Angella standing at the desk, one hand moving over its surface. Though… Catra narrowed her eyes. That didn't look like an office in use. There were no papers on the desk. And the style of the furniture looked a bit off compared to what Catra was familiar with at the palace. Wait! Those books and memory crystals on the shelf looked familiar. She had seen them before somewhere…

Oh. Her eyes widened. This was Micah's office. That made sense.

Catra nodded and stepped through the door. "Angella? We need to talk."