Chapter 81: The Intervention Part 6

Forward Base, Primary Mining Site, PZ-921, January 14th, 1999 (Earth Time)

"...and now they think I am a goddess! And some think that's funny!"

Samantha Carter knew who Adora was complaining about - Catra hadn't even tried to hide her amusement. Sam didn't share it, though. Religious matters tended to be complicated and troublesome. And converts were often the most zealous and, therefore, the ones presenting the greatest potential problem.

"It is funny," Catra insisted. "Especially since they think you controlled the water and ice."

"Ugh. All that work, and I don't get credit?" Mermista complained.

"We have to set the record straight!" Frosta agreed.

"You just want to be also worshipped as goddesses," Catra told them with a snort.

"I already worship you, my love!"

"Ugh, not like that."

"However you want, my dear Mermista!"

Sam suppressed a frown. Mermista and Sea Hawk were… they were a couple, that much was obvious, but the way they acted together had Sam wondering how stable their relationship was. The last time she had seen that kind of dynamic had been in high school. And both Mermista and Sea Hawk were in their twenties. Of course, she wasn't exactly an expert on relationships. Or romance. Not even second-hand. And they weren't American, or even from Earth, so they would have different customs, but neither Adora and Catra nor Glimmer and Bow acted like that. Nor did Entrapta and Hordak, but Sam did her best to ignore that relationship.

"Well, if we could tone down the RomCom dialogue a little?" the Colonel spoke up. He sounded annoyed, Sam noted. More than she had expected. "We do have a few dozen prisoners to deal with. Prisoners, I'll note, who might think they could suicide to pass on intel to their leader."

Adora winced at that. "Sorry."

"It's not our fault," Catra said with a scowl. "They came up with that themselves. Before we even talked to them."

"However it happened, we have to deal with this," General Percival said. "We cannot let our prisoners kill themselves - we have a duty towards their welfare."

"If they want to kill themselves, that's their business," General Bryce disagreed. "Some even think that's their right." He shrugged. "Let them kill themselves if they want to."

"That's incredibly callous! You cannot compare this to an informed decision to commit suicide - they honestly think they will meet their god in the afterlife!" Daniel blurted out. "We can't let them kill themselves over such a lie!"

"Indeed." Teal'c nodded.

"Are we going to restrict their freedom of religion?" Bryce asked.

Sam couldn't tell if the general was actually serious, but she was surprised to see Daniel blink and hesitate. "It's not like that," Daniel said after a moment. "We know that the Goa'uld lie to their slaves about being gods. This is more… like a scam."

"Well, it's not the first religion that is actually a scam," the Colonel said.

Daniel tilted his head slightly to the side. "Actually, the Goa'uld might be the first such scam - at least the first we know about. It's certainly the biggest."

Sam had to smile at that - and at the Colonel's expression.

"Of course, that depends on how you see the various religions on Earth," General Soissant pointed out. "But I think we have a less theological and more practical problem to solve since even if the prisoners would convert, it's unlikely that they would do so very quickly, so the threat of at least some of them killing themselves remains. That wasn't anticipated in planning, so I fear our procedures will be insufficient."

Sam made a mental note to address this in the debriefing.

"We can keep them under guard and intervene when we notice an attempt at suicide," General Müller suggested. "That's standard practice, anyway."

"You would not be quick enough to stop a Jaffa from killing another at their request," Teal'c told him. "You would have to isolate all of them, and even then, there are ways to kill oneself quickly, almost instantly, if one is determined and skilled enough."

Which Jaffa generally were.

"Scheisse!" the German cursed under his breath. "That would violate their rights as well. Isolation is torture," he added.

"Isolating prisoners is justified if it's necessary to save their lives," General Percival objected. "If they are endangered by the other prisoners, for example. Which would be the case here."

"They'd still suffer, though," Glimmer pointed out.

"But they'd live." General Bryce rolled his eyes. "We can only do so much."

It was clear that the Etherians disagreed, but they didn't seem to have better ideas on how to handle this. Sam couldn't help them, either. She might be able to rig up bots to surveil the prisoners and intervene if needed, but that wouldn't prevent a trained Jaffa from killing someone else with one blow. Even in handcuffs. And if they were put in restraints around the clock…

"We need to talk to them as soon as possible," Daniel said. "And we need to make them see that the Goa'uld are false gods."

He was correct, of course - but Sam didn't know how they could do this. Not quickly and efficiently enough to avoid hurting the prisoners one way or the other.

On the other hand, while the Etherians and Daniel clearly hated it, sometimes, there was no easy or simple solution to a problem. Especially in a war.

Should they let the prisoners kill themselves or keep them alive, even if that meant treating them cruelly? Catra didn't know what would be worse. They are enemies, she told herself, and if they want to die, we can oblige them - it's not our fault. But it rang hollow. The Jaffa had been raised to blindly follow their leaders - worship them as gods, even. They didn't know any better. Couldn't know any better.

Catra knew how that worked. Sure, she had seen through the Horde propaganda, even as a cadet, but she hadn't really realised that there were better ways to live. To fight. Alternatives that were available in the Princess Alliance. And when she had realised that, she had been too angry, too proud, too stupid to take them. So much pain and hurt, just because she hadn't been smart and strong enough…

She pressed her lips together and forced herself to focus on the problem at hand. This was an opportunity to change things. For the better. "It's not going to be easy to convince them that they were lied to and manipulated their whole life," she said. Oh, how she knew how that felt! Shadow Weaver had been a master of manipulation, playing her like a fiddle. Her and Adora. "And it's not going to be quick."

"We know that," Glimmer said. "That's why we're looking for more effective solutions."

"Yeah." Catra took a deep breath. "I have an idea, but you're going to hate it." This wasn't going to be pretty.

Glimmer narrowed her eyes at her. As did O'Neill, who muttered something about already having hated her plan to capture them.

Catra ignored both and looked at her lover. Adora would hate it. But Adora would hate it even more if those idiots killed themselves after they had gone to all that effort to take them alive. "You're going to have to put the fear of god into them."

"What?" Adora blinked.

"What do you mean?" the American general asked.

"Or, to be more precise, the fear of goddess," Catra went on. "If you make them think that even in death, they can't join their god, then they will have fewer reasons to kill themselves."

"You want me to make them think I'm a goddess!" Adora blurted out. "You want me to lie to them!"

"Yes." Catra nodded. "As long as it keeps them alive long enough to make them see the truth."

"But…" Adora pressed her lips together in that pouting way she used when she didn't know what to say. "It would be based on a lie. I'd manipulate them," she added with a scowl.

Like Shadow Weaver. Catra suppressed a wince and slowly nodded. "If it keeps them from killing themselves? And they already think you're a goddess - even after you denied it to their face." If the enemy was making a mistake, you were supposed to exploit it, after all.

Adora clenched her teeth - Catra could see her jaw muscles twitch.

"Converting them would facilitate turning them to our side," Soissant cut in.

"We wouldn't be any better than the Goa'uld if we did that," Adora said, glaring at him. "We cannot earn their trust by lying to them. Honesty is the best policy."

Oh for… Catra frowned at the idiot. "You don't have to lie. It's true that when they die, they won't meet their god since he's a fraud."

"They won't believe that," O'Neill said. "That's the problem."

"They believe that you're a goddess, though. So, you've got better credibility," Catra pointed out to her lover.

"But in their religion, the Goa'uld struggle with each other and resort to lies and trickery," Daniel said. "They would expect a rival goddess to lie to them to make them convert."

Catra shrugged again. "It's worth a try. It can't hurt, anyway, can it?"

"It still feels wrong to let them think I am goddess," Adora complained.

"And it would make converting them to a real religion harder," the American General, Bryce, pointed out.

That was… Catra narrowed her eyes. "A real religion?"

"One that isn't a scam with false gods," Bryce replied.

"But how do you prove that a god isn't false?" Bow asked.

Bryce frowned at him but took a moment to answer: "We're talking about the Goa'uld here. They claim to be gods, which is provably false." He looked at Adora. "And it's also true that you're no goddess."

"Of course not!" Adora nodded emphatically.

"That actually depends on your definition of godhood," Daniel said. He looked a bit taken aback when he realised that everyone was staring at him - especially Adora. But he rallied quickly. "I mean, many so-called pagan religions have deities who aren't, in myth and lore, omnipotent like the Abrahamic god. Just very powerful. She-Ra would fit those definitions."

Adora blinked, and Catra had to suppress a chuckle at her expression. This particular point had been brought up before, but Adora seemed determined to ignore it.

"You could honestly claim to be a demi-goddess of old?" Daniel suggested. His tentative smile faded away at Adora's scowl, though.

"I don't want to be worshipped!" Adora insisted.

"You could get a TV show instead?" Jack grinned. "Warrior Princess She-Ra? There's good money in that."

"An how would you know about that, Jack?" Daniel asked.

"I've got a TV and I need to watch something when there's no Hockey on."

"Sure, sure."

"I'm not sure we should push ancient religions on other civilisations," Sam pointed out. "We might end up playing into the hands of Goa'uld who have taken up the mantle of Greek gods."

"We're not going to push any religion on them," Adora said, still scowling.

"Does that mean you'll prohibit your followers from proselytising?" Bryce asked.

"That might infringe their freedom of religion," Daniel added before Adora could answer.

"I am aware of that. Which is why I won't do it," she told them. "But I don't want to be worshipped as a goddess!"

It sounded a bit whiny instead of firm. Catra was sure Adora would end up doing something like what they were discussing. Eventually.

Jack O'Neill generally didn't like rushing into things. Not when things were serious, at least. Sure, he was good at thinking on his feet, and flying by the seats of your pants and succeeding was an incredible feeling - he was honest enough to admit both - but only if you actually succeeded. And even then, odds were a rush job wasn't as efficient as a well-planned action, and in a war, efficiency was often measured in lives. Yours and the enemies'.

The enemies', in this case, Jack thought when he approached the temporary prison camp with his Daniel and the Etherians. If they failed at this, many Jaffa would kill themselves. And while Jack usually didn't care too much about the enemy, it was a fact that the Jaffa were - most of them, at least - fighting for the Goa'uld because they were indoctrinated from birth and didn't know any better.

But that didn't make them innocent. "Don't forget that all of them have blood on their hands - innocent blood," he commented. The snakes used their Jaffa not only to fight their rivals but also to oppress their slaves. "And they never questioned their 'god'." Unlike Teal'c. Who should be here but wasn't since his presence might enrage the prisoners or something.

He noticed Catra tensing up and clenched his teeth. She had blood on her hands as well. Jack knew more than enough by now, just based on what he heard when talking with the Etherians, to be sure. She had switched sides, like Teal'c, though she obviously still felt guilty about it. Which made Jack wonder how Teal'c felt about his time as Apophis's First Prime.

"Questioning your god isn't exactly encouraged in many religions," Daniel pointed out. "Not to the degree that would qualify as critical thinking in the modern sense. That your god was real was generally considered beyond doubt. So, I don't think we can hold that against them. Many religious texts also contain atrocities that are portrayed as good and moral."

"I'm aware of that," Jack told him.

"Most but not all religions." Priest smiled serenely, then bowed his head towards Adora. "As you taught us, you should never blindly follow anyone, Your Divine Highness. We follow you not out of blind faith, but conviction born from observation."

That was a load of bull, in Jack's opinion. The clone had all the markings of a zealot, and zealots were all about 'don't question or insult my religion, or else!'. He really would have preferred it if the fanatic wasn't with them, but the others thought it was better to introduce Priest to the prisoners while Adora was present to rein him in if needed. Or, as Jack suspected was the case with that bastard Bryce, thought the plan would work better with someone eager to convert them tagging along since Adora might not be fully behind it.

But they had reached the gates. Time to put up a unified front, Jack thought as he saluted the guards there - Military Police from the Army. All of them would have been briefed about the Jaffa's capabilities, but Jack knew from experience at Stargate Command that new recruits always underestimated the enemy. He would usually let Teal'c show them up close how dangerous Jaffa could be, but that didn't work on the scale of entire divisions being sent to land on alien planets.

"She-Ra, Princess of Power," Akon greeted them inside the camp. He bowed to her before addressing the others. "Catra. Queen Glimmer." Nods for them. "Colonel O'Neill." Another nod. He didn't stare at Priest, but the prisoners had met the clones before, when they were shuttled to the camp, so Priest would not stand out.

"I see my reputation precedes me," Jack replied before he could help himself.

"Yes." Akon inclined his head. "So, the Tau'ri have allied with rival gods. Or were you working for them the whole time?"

"It's a recent thing," Jack said. "You know, with Goa'uld being enemies of all we believe in and stuff, it just seemed the obvious thing to do." He shrugged with a grin.

"We're allies - they aren't our subordinates," Adora said with a frown.

Jack nodded. This wasn't the time to disagree about that, even though she was glossing over the power imbalance.

"Akon, these are Daniel Jackson. Princess Frosta, Princess Mermista and… Priest," Adora introduced the others.

Daniel smiled at them, Frosta waved with a cocky smirk, and Mermista nodded with an almost bored expression.

"Greetings, Akon of Heru'ur." Priest bowed.

"We've heard about your kind," Akon told him. "There were rumours of an upheaval in your realm."

Jack made a mental note. That was good intel. They had known that the Goa'uld knew about Horde Prime, but this confirmed that they kept tabs on the maniac's territory.

"Yes." Priest nodded, his smile never changing. "Horde Prime attacked Our Divine Highness and was struck down by her in return, freeing us from his tyranny. We've been following her since that day, guided by her wisdom."

That set the other Jaffa whispering. Jack would have to ask Catra later about what they were saying.

Akon, though, tuned to face Adora. "You have not struck down Heru'ur."

"I have not even met him yet," Adora told him.

"And yet, you wish to replace him."

"No!" Adora shook her head. "I do not wish to replace him - I wish to free his slaves so they can make their own decisions. All his slaves."

"Power shouldn't be desired for power's sake, but only as a means to do good," Priest chimed in.

Adora slowly nodded, so that was probably a direct quote of hers or she would have agreed more enthusiastically. She also looked a bit… embarrassed?

Akon glanced at Priest, then looked at Adora again. He didn't say anything, but he lifted his eyebrows.

Adora flushed, definitely embarrassed now, and Jack thought, once again, that letting Priest tag along had been a mistake.

It wasn't like that! Not at all! The Jaffa were getting it all wrong! Adora had to correct Akon's… well, he hadn't said it, so it wasn't a claim, though he had implied it. But when she opened her mouth to tell him, she felt Catra's claws lightly pricking her thigh. Oh.

She took a deep breath and stared at Akon. "You respect Heru'ur because he fights at your side."

Akon nodded without saying anything - though he seemed to look a bit wary now.

"That is called leading by example," Adora went on. Horde cadet training had taught her that, though it had been a bit of a mixed bag in practice. "I help people. I don't expect to be obeyed or worshipped for it. I don't want to be worshipped. I am not looking for followers. I just want to do what's right. And lying to people to make them obey you isn't right. Nor is enslaving them."

"Loyalty is a privilege, not a right." Priest nodded again.

At least he hadn't said obedience. Not that he was particularly obedient, anyway. Well, he sort of was, but in an annoying way.

"Our god has earned our loyalty," Akon retorted.

"Has he?" Catra asked. "What did he do for you to earn your loyalty? He fights at your side, you said? But why do you fight? To protect yourself and your family, or because he orders you to fight?" She cocked her head with a snort.

Akon raised his chin, jaw set. "He guides us and will judge us after death, rewarding or punishing us as we deserve in the afterlife."

"He says he does that. But can he prove it? Promising a reward you don't plan on ever paying out is the oldest scam in the world," Catra told him. "And he doesn't even have to prove he has your reward since you're supposed to get it in the afterlife, so you can't check beforehand." She scoffed. "That's the perfect scam."

Daniel and Jack looked a bit weird, Adora noticed, but she focused on Akon.

The Jaffa shook his head. "Our god provides for us. He bestows his gifts on us in return for our loyalty."

"What gifts?" Glimmer spoke up. "Healing, food and weapons? That's just supplying your army. That's not a gift, that's part of your pay."

Akon narrowed his eye at her. "It is not merely payment, but a sacred exchange. His divine power provides for us, and we repay it with our service."

"And there lies the difference," Priest nodded. "Our Divine Highness offers her help freely, yet we do not depend on her generosity. We meet our own material needs. And when she does help us, it is without any expectation of a reward. It is not an exchange, but truly a gift." He smiled, though a little sadly. "Ask anyone who served under Horde Prime, the false god, and they will tell you the same. As she said: It is by their deeds, not their promises, that you shall know people."

Adora was pretty sure she had never said that. But… that didn't make it wrong, did it? You should judge people according to what they did, not what they claimed. So she nodded. "Yes. I don't fight to make people obey and follow me - I fight to free them. To let them make their own decisions, to control their own lives. Humans and Jaffa," she added.

"And yet you do attempt to sway us from our chosen path." Akon narrowed his eyes at her.

"Because you were lied to and manipulated!" she said, a bit more forcefully than she had planned. "You need to know the truth to make your own decision."

"Yes. A decision based on lies is no decision at all, but just the illusion of one - another lie, in other words," Priest added.

"And yet, for all your claims that our god is lying to us, you have no proof at all." Akon shook his head. "Why should we believe you?"

"Ugh!" Mermista rolled her eyes. "That's not how it works. If you demand payment for something, you need to prove your claim. That's basic contract law."

"Our loyalty to our god is not a contract!" Akon spat. "Do not profane our faith like that!"

"It's based on a lie!" Adora blurted out. "He's no god! He is using technology to fool you - technology that he didn't even invent himself but copied from others!"

"So you claim." Akon sneered. "I await your proof."

That was… Did she have to drag Heru'ur here and beat the truth out of him? No, that wouldn't work. For several reasons.

Priest took a step forward. He was smiling, Adora noted. "Have you seen the Divine Fields? They are proof of her power. Where once was just devastation, irradiated mud and silt covering, poisoning the land, now fertile fields cover the ground as far as you can see. Magic was restored to the planet as well, rightening a wrong that was done a thousand years ago. Have you asked the people saved from certain death in the mines? The people healed of the ailments stemming from years of abuse?" He turned to look at her. "Look upon Her Divine Highness! Observe her deeds! She could have killed you all, yet she decided to spare you. To save you. There is your proof! Open your eyes, and look at it! And look at yourself, and your beliefs, and you will be able to tell truth from lie." Priest bowed to Adora, then nodded at the assembled Jaffa.

Adora tried not to blush while she nodded. This wasn't how she would have put it, but she couldn't think of anything else to add.

Akon shook his head. "Your words won't sway us! We are loyal!"

The Jaffa around them nodded, but… Adora thought that they looked a bit doubtful. Some of them, at least.

It wasn't much, but it was something.

Forward Base, Primary Mining Site, PZ-921, January 14th, 1999 (Earth Time)

"...so, it doesn't look like we had any success. They're just too indoctrinated - they refuse to see the truth." Adora shook her head while she paced in front of the big screen in the headquarters, blocking Samantha Carter's view of the drone feed.

"People generally don't change religion so quickly or easily," Daniel pointed out. "We can't expect Jaffa to just take our word on Heru'ur being a false god. Deprogramming them, so to speak, will take time."

Sam checked that no one could see her screen and then connected her laptop to the drone feed. She was a physicist, not a sociologist - there wasn't much she could add to this debate.

"The entire point of our plan was to make them change their views quickly, before they start killing themselves to report to their god in the afterlife," Catra retorted. "So, in that, it was a failure."

"My failure, you mean." Adora sighed. "I was supposed to convince them, and I failed."

"It was my plan, my failure," Catra objected.

Sam checked the progress on the gate site while the two tried to claim the blame for their supposed failure. Entrapta and Sam had improved on the original Etherian design by having the gate be effectively buried in the ground while not in use. It was a bit more complicated than simply lowering it to the ground and back up again, but nothing too advanced. Well, handling the gate would be a problem for a pre-industrialised society, but, in theory, a team of draft animals could replace the machines they had designed for the purpose, though they would need very strong ropes to pull it off.

She almost snorted at her unintentional pun - the Colonel would have loved pointing it out to her.

Daniel, ever the optimist, still tried to put a good spin on their visit. "We did seed some doubts amongst at least a few of the Jaffa. Or that was my impression - I am no expert, of course, but Jaffa aren't that different from humans. So, we might see dissenters amongst the prisoners in the future." He blinked. "Oh. We probably should be prepared for violence once the first Jaffa start voicing doubts about the divinity or honour of Heru'ur."

"Indeed." Teal'c nodded. "Those still blinded by their false god's lies will consider such doubts treason and react accordingly."

Which meant violently.

"Well, we're already preparing to keep them from killing themselves or each other to snitch to their god, so it shouldn't be hard to cover normal murder as well." The Colonel shrugged. "It's just a different motive, same result."

Adora sat down, sighing again, Sam noticed. "I should have done more to convince them. I could have healed them all, but…"

"...that might have killed their symbionts," Bow pointed out with a wince. "We still don't know how your healing will react to symbionts."

"And the Jaffa are used to the false gods providing healing, although not on that scale," Teal'c added. "I doubt that it would have noticeably improved your credibility amongst them since they already consider you a goddess."

Or at least claimed they did. Sam wasn't quite convinced that the Jaffa really believed that Adora was a goddess. They might just be playing along. But she wasn't an expert on Jaffa society, much less their religion. Or any religion. But, speaking of symbionts… "We also need to prepare in case any of the prisoners' symbionts are about to mature," she said. "That will either leave the symbiont in control of the Jaffa's body or, if we extract it, leave the Jaffa without a working immune system." Which was a death sentence unless the symbiont could be replaced. Even placing the subject in a sterile environment would only offer a temporary solution.

"Indeed." Teal'c calmly nodded, his expression not showing any indication that he, too, had this fate hanging over him, although he had a few years left before it would become urgent in his case.

"Yeah. If the snakes start hatching, it will get messy." The Colonel nodded.

"Oh, no!" Adora looked aghast. "We need to find a way to replace their symbionts - with something else, I mean. Not with another symbiont."

"We could build an artificial immune system?" Entrapta suggested. "Or… The First Ones were great at genetic engineering. Alpha's data might contain something helpful. Maybe we could create a species that could replace a symbiont without being a symbiont." She perked up. "One that could provide its benefits to anyone! If we make it dumb, so it can't take over anyone, that would be OK, right?" She beamed at the others.

Sam suppressed a wince. In theory, creating a species that wasn't sapient - nor sentient, ideally - would be ethically acceptable. But the ramifications of such an action… Even leaving aside the expected protests against 'playing god' from the religious conservatives, and the fear-mongering about parasites and genetic engineering in general from the usual suspects, such a symbiont would increase the human lifespan significantly, and the effects of that on society…

Sam wasn't a sociologist, but she didn't need to be one to see the problems that could cause. Especially if it was too expensive to be offered to everyone.

But the Etherians were nodding in obvious agreement with Entrapta.

Sam sighed. Of course, they wouldn't consider that. She'd have to explain.

"...and so releasing such a symbiont to the public would need to be handled very carefully to avoid widespread unrest."

Catra blinked when Sam finished her explanation. Earth was so weird - whenever she thought she had a handle on the planet, something else popped up that made her wonder what was wrong with that planet. On the other hand, she should have expected this particular problem after the whole healing issue.

Entrapta, though, looked confused. "But… it's going to benefit everyone! People would be healthier! Live longer and better!"

Catra sighed. "But not everyone would get it right away, and that will cause problems."

"Riots," Bow said, looking grim.

"Seriously?" Mermista shook her head. "Just make it go to those who are so sick, they need it the most."

The princess didn't have any experience with Earth, Catra reminded herself.

"There are too many who need a symbiont," Adora said. "Earth has eight billion people."

"And most of them aren't good at sharing," Catra added with a snort.

"Well… there are historical reasons for that. Resources on Earth have always been distributed rather unfairly," Daniel said. "Even in the most, ah, advanced countries."

"How so?" Mermista frowned. "Don't you have that democracy system where the majority of the people decide what you do?"

"That's not a guarantee that resources are distributed fairly," Daniel told her. "And it's currently limited to individual countries - Earth doesn't have a global democratic government. So, if a country, say, offers universal healthcare to its citizens - and residents - that only covers that country. Historically, many countries waged war over resources, and while that has fallen out of use and has been condemned as a practice by the United Nations for decades, it has not stopped less violent forms of exploitation."

"Yeah, yeah," O'Neill cut in. "Things aren't all sunshine and rainbows on Earth. But we're working on improving the situation. It just takes time, and the whole war with half the galaxy thing isn't helping."

"The United States is one of the richest countries on Earth and still has no universal healthcare," Daniel retorted. "And we've had decades of peace to work on that. It's not that easy to change the mind of people," he added. "It took official contact with aliens, I mean, Etheria, something unprecedented in history, and the threat of being left behind by other countries to push through more progressive laws in the United States in record time - which still took months."

Mermista gaped at him. Catra wished she could take a picture of the princess.

"They don't like change - any change," Glimmer said, rolling her eyes at Mermista.

"That's the conservatives," Daniel objected. "The progressives wish for faster change, but in our - the United States' - political system, any change is often slow, the result of changes in society and political compromises."

"We also have seen a lot of examples of what can go wrong when the local supreme leader makes hasty or stupid decisions," O'Neill added. "And the whole 'everyone gets the same resources' plan didn't really work out well for the communists, so everyone involved abandoned it for capitalism as soon as they were free to do so."

"But there are many different ways of building a capitalist society. The Nordic model, for example, is drastically different compared to the United States model," Daniel said.

"What's the Nordic model?" Frosta asked.

"The political and economic system of the Nordic countries - Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden," Daniel explained.

"Are they located in the North?"

Catra rolled her eyes. "They're not like your kingdom," she told Frosta. "And we were talking about new symbionts that don't take over your body while still providing the benefits." She scoffed. "We can discuss the absurdity of Earth politics later."

"And, so far, those symbionts are just a project." Sam nodded at Entrapta. "We can worry about how to introduce them to Earth once we actually have them finished - and the Jaffa would get them first, anyway, since they depend on symbionts for their immune system."

"Yes!" Entrapta smiled. "But we should get started on that as soon as possible - we can't let prisoners die or get taken over by a Goa'uld, right?"

No, they could not. To lose control of your body was a fate worse than death. Catra clenched her jaws, remembering Horde Prime.

"And once we have enough for everyone, people won't get upset any more, right?" Entrapta smiled.

Catra scoffed again. "They'd still get upset because they don't want one."

"But no one would be forced to take one," Entrapta pointed out.

"They would still get upset. It's their thing."

"It's not quite that bad, not for the majority, at least, but…" Daniel grimaced. "There is a vocal minority on Earth, divided into different groups, who think everyone should live their lives exactly like their particular group does."

A very vocal minority. "We can show you some recordings," Catra told Mermista. "But can we focus on the problems at hand?"

Really, she never had trouble with long meetings when she had been running the Horde. Of course, the whole thing had ended in utter failure, and it had been all her fault as the sole leader, unlike how things had been run in the Alliance…

She still hated those discussions and meetings, though, whether they were useful or not.

And this meeting seemed doomed to be stuck in the 'not useful' category.

Outside the Primary Mining Site, PZ-921, January 14th, 1999 (Earth Time)

Jack O'Neill shaded his eyes with his hand as he watched the sun set over the mountains in the distance. It looked very peaceful. If he squinted, he could spot, illuminated by the fading dusk, the hills where the Jaffa had been captured. If not for the noise from the base behind him, full of soldiers and vehicles, construction still going on in the perimeter, he could pretend he was alone on an alien planet, just enjoying the sunset. Almost like being in his cabin, just him and nature.

And footsteps behind him. He turned, hand on the carbine dangling from its sling. Sure, Carter and Entrapta had found no more Jaffa with their magic scanner, but Jack knew better than to assume that his only enemies were snakes. Even his friendship with the Etherians, who would investigate his death thoroughly, might not deter everyone he had pissed off in the past - and some of them had the resources to reach this planet. Not many, but…

"Jack?"

He sighed and relaxed. "Daniel?"

"Ah, there you are!" His friend appeared in the underbrush, pushing through with some difficulties. His woodcraft was still atrocious. Then again, he had spent most of his time in the wilderness in the desert.

"Yes, here I am. Enjoying the sunset." Jack swallowed the 'no longer alone' comment he wanted to add - Daniel would take it as an invitation to ask what was wrong.

"Ah, yes." Daniel nodded, brushed off a twig that had gotten stuck on his uniform, and joined him on the small ridge he had been using to shield himself from the base. "It's pretty," he commented after a moment of pushing his glasses up and fidgeting.

Jack sighed. "So, what brings you out here?" It couldn't be anything official, or Daniel would have told him straight away. If they had sent him out to fetch Jack in the first place, of course. So, it was something private.

"Ah…" Daniel cleared his throat.

"Out with it, Daniel, so I can continue to enjoy the sunset in peace."

"Well, I can leave and ask you later… it's not really, ah, time-critical…"

And Jack would wonder what his friend wanted to talk about - away from the others - for the rest of the evening. He shook his head. "Just ask away."

"Ah, OK." Daniel nodded. "So… This is what a war looks like, huh?"

Jack frowned. Daniel was still working himself up to talk about what he really wanted to ask. "Yep."

"Fleet battles, planetary invasions, fortresses being constructed, planets being liberated…" Daniel sighed.

"I didn't think you had a problem with that." Jack raised his eyebrows.

"I don't!" Daniel retorted. "It's just… today, it really hit me that Stargate Command is gone. I mean, not really gone, but…" He sighed and looked at Jack. "We're not going to be working there anymore, exploring and, well, dealing with everything. SG-1 will be part of the army. If they even keep us around as a team. They might split us up! I mean, Sam's been working with Entrapta almost full-time anyway, you've been busy training the new recruits, Teal'c's been… well, he's been helping you. I'm the only one who's been doing what I've been doing all along."

Ah, that was it. Daniel was maudlin about the future, even though he should know better. "They won't split us up," Jack told him.

"I'm not exactly a soldier, and this is a war."

"We've been fighting a war since we started SG-1, and you did pretty well." Jack smiled at him.

"Yes, I know, but, you know how things changed. We've got a fleet and an army now." Daniel shrugged.

"And SG-1 will still be needed." Jack snorted. "Hell, the Etherians are doing the same kind of missions we've been doing, and they have the fleet."

"I'm not a magical princess."

"And that's a good thing," Jack told him. "You'd look terrible in a dress. But we don't need you for your fashion choices, but for your brain and people skills."

Daniel winced. "Unless I get fired for spoiling the plans to colonise the planet."

"You've seen the Etherians' reaction to the whole thing. Do you think anyone will dare to piss them off?" Jack snorted again. "And if they do, you can work for the Etherians. Better pay and more freedom."

"Right." Daniel nodded, smiling a bit weakly. "I could do that."

Jack hesitated a moment, then slapped him on the shoulder. "Cheer up. We've just liberated the first planet in the war. It's time to celebrate." And then to debrief everyone thoroughly so they won't repeat the mistakes they had made in this invasion.

Daniel nodded again, more firmly. "Yes."

Jack turned to look a the mountains. The sun had set now. "Let's go back," he said.

"Yes."