Stargate Etheria (Stargate SG-1/She-Ra crossover)

Chapter 48: The Magic Question Part 4

Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, United States of America, Earth, October 17th, 1998

“We’re tracking six frigates in orbit above the Indian subcontinent. They’re holding positions.”

“No further weapon fire detected.”

“Six more frigates are in a holding pattern over the northern hemisphere.”

“Five minutes until our next satellite is in position to cover the area of impact.”

Samantha Carter blinked at the reports from the other officers in the command centre even as she continued to analyse the data from all the sensors networked with her mainframe. They should have satellites in place already… Oh. She pressed her lips together. The United States had satellites in place already. But Stargate Command didn’t control them - or had access to them. Not any more. They had to make do with the satellites transferred to Stargate Command.

“What do you have for us, Carter?” The Colonel was leaning over her desk.

“I’m still cross-checking the sensor data, sir,” she replied. “But so far, it looks like a limited bombardment. Precision strikes with standard laser weapons from low orbit.”

“Precision strikes?” He raised his eyebrows, then looked at the TV screen in the back, where a mushroom-shaped cloud was visible in the distance.

“Those are secondary detonations,” she told him - as if he didn’t know it already. “The Etherians must have hit the magazines of the base.” She hit a few keys, checking the most recent satellite image - which was still not up to date. But the intel report… “Artillery and tank shells were stored at the base,” she said.

“And the terrorists would’ve gone for them so they could use the captured artillery pieces.” The Colonel nodded. “And so our magical space princesses blew the base up.”

“The magazine was surrounded by revetments,” she informed him. “Its explosion should not have destroyed the entire base.” They would know more as soon as the satellite finally reached its intended position.

Sam really missed the Air Force Stargate Command and its resources. Having to rely on CNN for real-time intel was a shame. She bit her lower lip. She might not know the access codes for the US satellites any more. But she knew how to get them - which cache memory to access and how. This was a global emergency, wasn’t it? Maybe… She blinked, then sighed. She had better alternatives.

“One moment, sir!” she told the Colonel and pulled her phone out.

He didn’t make a joke about texting or ordering pizza. Which was kind of reassuring - the Colonel joked and quipped the most when the situation was desperate.

“What are you doing?” And here came Sidorov.

Sam suppressed a sigh as she turned to face the General. “Getting more information, General.” She called Entrapta.

“Sam! How are you doing?”

Her friend didn’t sound as if she was in danger. Or concerned. But that was Entrapta. “How are you doing?” Sam asked. “We received reports of an orbital bombardment.”

“Oh. Yes, Hordak had to destroy the guns and ammunition before they were turned against us. Emily could’ve protected us, but not everyone else. But we’re fine now! And the panic has stopped!”

“Who are you talking to?” Sidorov snarled.

“Princess Entrapta,” Sam told him - as if it wasn’t obvious. “The situation seems to be under control.”

“Under whose control? The aliens’?”

“Well, they have all those ships in orbit,” the Colonel cut in.

Sidorov glared at him, then turned back to Sam. “Are they landing troops?”

“Who is that yelling in the background? We aren’t invading, by the way. Hordak is just a bit protective.”

A little? Compared to Priest, maybe, Sam thought. “So you are safe?”

“Yes, everyone here is safe. I think. The soldiers here didn’t start fighting each other.”

“How reassuring,” the Colonel said with a snort.

Sam didn’t smile. India was in a special situation, with significant parts of their Muslim minority opposing magic, not helped by a nationalist Hindu party controlling the government, but the United States had their share of religious fanatics with similar views. Probably in the armed forces as well.

“Yes! Anyway, I’m not sure if the ceremony will continue, but there’s no fighting here.”

Sam smiled wryly. “Yes, I doubt the festivities will just go on as planned.”

“Does this mean that magic won’t be restored?” General Petit had arrived with the rest of the generals in tow.

Entrapta must have heard him. “Oh, no, Adora already did that. She used the excess magic to heal the wounded here.”

“That was the light show on CNN,” the Colonel said.

“What? They already did it?” Sidorov bellowed.

Sam narrowed her eyes. “My report clearly stated that, according to the Etherians, restoring a planet’s magic doesn’t take She-Ra longer than a few minutes.” Did anyone actually read her reports through?

“Or faster if there’s artillery fire incoming,” the Colonel added.

A beeping noise alerted Sam to the incoming satellite footage. She put it on the big screen. And winced.

The base wasn’t entirely destroyed. But the magazine and the parked guns were gone. Presumably with everyone in the vicinity. There were survivors amongst the soldiers, as far as she could tell. And some would just have been wounded.

But she didn’t think there would be too many of those. Not where the lasers had struck. Or near the explosions.

“The Indians won’t be happy about that,” the Colonel said.

Sam nodded in agreement.

*****​

National Capital Region, India, October 17th, 1998

The orbital bombardment had stopped, but smoke was still rising on the horizon. At least the target was destroyed, so there shouldn’t be any more… Ah, no, there was another secondary explosion. Even Catra’s ringing ears - why did crowds have to be so loud? - caught the sound.

She bared her teeth as another smoke cloud rose, this one tinted with red and orange. Probably a fuel depot - Entrapta had explained that this was how fuel explosions looked when they had watched one of Earth’s action movies and wondered about the blasts.

“I think their damage control isn’t any better than their security,” she commented. First, a mutiny, now this… She looked at the crowd around the stage. Most of them looked stunned. Blinking and patting themselves down. One man in a bloody shirt was holding his nose as if he couldn’t believe it was still there.

Well, that was Adora’s healing magic for you. Catra knew the feeling better than anyone else.

Next to her, Adora sighed, closing her eyes and staggering a little.

Catra grabbed her arm and steadied her.

“Thanks,” Adora whispered, taking a deep, shivering breath before standing tall again.

“Anytime,” Catra whispered back. She wouldn’t let her lover down.

She looked around. The Indian soldiers had used the shock from Adora’s magic to form a square around the stage, three lines deep. Others were surrounding the Prime Minister - and arguing. The man didn’t want to leave the stage. He wasn’t the only one - the British Crown Prince was also still on the stage, although Catra could barely spot him behind the two massive men standing in front of him. Not nearly as tall as Scorpia, of course, but She-Ra wouldn’t tower much over them.

But other dignitaries had been dragged off by their security detail; Catra saw cars still rushing off.

“I do not detect any more hostilities,” Hordak reported through their comm channel. “The fleet is on standby.”

Good. Catra wasn’t sure if the danger was over. She straightened, facing the nearest guards. They couldn’t look weak. Not surrounded by such a crowd, and right after they had turned a local army base into a crater. Sure, the base had been about to be overrun, and if the mutineers had used the artillery there, they would have caused a massacre, but people didn’t like you blowing up their bases no matter your reason.

“So much for their security,” Glimmer muttered.

“Why did they have artillery here, anyway? We’re not even near their border with Pakistan,” Bow asked.

“They must have been fearing an invasion from orbit,” Glimmer told him.

“But we’re guarding the system.” Bow blinked. “And those guns wouldn’t do anything against our ships.”

“They probably weren’t aware of that.” Glimmer shrugged. She still looked angry.

“But we told them about our capability when we discussed the security for this, didn’t we?” Entrapta asked.

“We did,” Catra said, baring her teeth. “But they probably didn’t really believe us. Or they just felt better with their biggest guns around.”

Glimmer chuckled, and Entrapta looked confused, but before Catra could explain her comment, the Prime Minister walked towards them, pushing a particularly stubborn security guard out of the way.

“What did you do?” he asked.

“We stopped a terrorist attack,” Catra replied. She managed not to sneer.

“You destroyed a base of ours!” another man snapped. He was listening to a radio. Right - Catra remembered that he had been introduced as India’s defence minister or whatever his exact title was.

“The base was taken over, and they tried to use the artillery there,” Glimmer told him. “Did you want us to let them shell us here?” She pointed at the crowd.

“Emily can’t cover everyone here with her shield,” Entrapta added. She still was too open with military information, in Catra’s opinion. “We would have been fine, probably, but if they missed us, the shells would have struck the crowd.”

“And that would have been a massacre,” Adora said.

“You killed our soldiers!” the minister protested.

“They were mutineers,” Catra retorted. “And about to take the guns.”

“We had it under control!”

“Yeah, right - we saw it from orbit. Your soldiers had already lost.” Catra sneered.

“We weren’t about to wait until they shot at us here - at everyone here - before stopping them,” Glimmer said. “We’re sorry about the dead loyal soldiers, but we had no choice.”

“You could have…”

The Prime Minister interrupted the man. “I didn’t mean that.” He looked at Adora. “What did you do here? With your magic?”

Oh.

She glanced at Adora. Her lover straightened, towering over everyone but the two British bodyguards. “I restored magic to Earth. And then I healed everyone,” she said with a slow nod.

“Everyone?” the Prime Minister asked.

And Adora winced, suddenly looking embarrassed. “Well… everyone present in the area. I couldn’t exactly limit the healing magic to just the wounded, and there was a lot of magic available, so I just healed everyone here.”

“Everyone?” the Minister of Defence asked.

It has to be stupidity, Catra thought - if he were hard of hearing, Adora would have cured it.

And, of course, her lover was too nice to just call the man out for it and explained again: “Everyone I could see here, well, figuratively - even if they were in the middle of the crowd, I could heal them. It’s more a figure of speech.”

“We haven’t much data for targeting healing spells,” Entrapta cut in. “Usually, it’s either aimed at a single person or a clearly defined area effect. She-Ra’s magic is kinda an exception.”

“Sorry if you would rather have stayed wounded or sick,” Catra added with a toothy smile. “But saving lives was more important.”

“But the healing was safe?” the Prime Minister asked.

“Yes.” Adora nodded firmly. “I controlled the magic. So there won’t be any side effects - I just healed you.”

“That won’t bring back our dead!” the Minister of Defence spat, still holding his radio. “The base was wiped out! Hundreds of our soldiers are dead!”

“Does that include the mutineers?” Catra asked.

“Catra!” Adora hissed.

“Just asking,” Catra said, shrugging. “It must be hard to sort out the mutineers from the loyal soldiers if all were wearing the same uniform.”

“We know how many soldiers were stationed at the base.”

“Ah.”

Glimmer took a step forward. “We’re sorry about your losses, but we couldn’t let the mutineers take control of your artillery.”

“Yes.” Adora nodded. “I can heal your wounded soldiers, but I cannot raise the dead.”

“Thank you,” the Prime Minister said. “It was a very difficult situation, but…”

Loud yelling from the crowd behind them interrupted him. He turned, frowning. “What are they…?”

“I can see! I can see!”

“It’s a miracle!”

“I can see again!”

Catra narrowed her eyes at a man walking towards the line of soldiers, the crowd parting before him. He was surrounded by crying people and holding a white staff above his head.

The Prime Minister blinked. “You gave him back his eyesight?”

Catra rolled her eyes. “Adora healed every one of everything,” she said.

“Of illnesses and wounds, cancerous tumours and accumulated microdamage over the course of your life,” Entrapta said.

More people were screaming and yelling. Catra saw one man stand on shaking legs but raising a wheelchair over his head while he cried.

The Prime Minister seemed to freeze for a moment, then quickly bent his knees, straightening up. “I feel no pain,” he said. “It’s as if I were young again. Is… Is this permanent?”

Entrapta spoke before anyone else could say anything. “Well, as permanent as healing - you’re not hurt or hurting any more, but you can still get hurt again. You’re just very healthy right now. You’re not immortal if you wondered about that.”

He laughed. Then he blinked again. “And you did this to everyone here?”

Adora nodded.

He smiled widely, then bowed. “Thank you very much.”

The Minister of Defence was staring at them, his mouth half-open, as all around them, the diplomats and dignitaries started to talk to each other. They sounded excited.

“Well, that’s one crisis averted,” Bow said behind Catra.

She turned and glared at him. “Bow!”

“What?” He looked confused.

“Don’t jinx it!”

“But…”

“We’ve started a bigger crisis,” Glimmer mumbled. “Look at the crowd!”

Catra did. The people - even some of the soldiers - were staring at the stage. At She-Ra. Smiling. Crying. And…

“What are they doing?” Adora asked.

Catra snorted.

Praying. They were praying to She-Ra.

“They’re worshipping you,” she told her lover.

“Oh no!” Adora shook her head.

“That might actually be a good thing,” Catra said. “Priest is less likely to attack a country full of people worshipping you.”

Adora glared at her, but Glimmer and Bow nodded.

Entrapta was busy scanning the crowd.

And Catra looked at the mass of journalists and their cameras. Earth would know, or knew already, what She-Ra’s magic could do.

She cursed under her breath.

*****​

Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, United States of America, Earth, October 17th, 1998

“...and many are calling this a true miracle, although the Etherians’ press release stated that this was merely ‘high-level healing magic powered by a unique build-up of magic’. Are those merely semantics, or is this a meaningful difference? We have invited experts on…”

“...of Pakistan denied any ties or responsibility to the mutineers who attempted to attack the Restoration Ceremony in India, yet…”

“...police and military forces have been deployed to prevent violence as many Hindus are blaming all Muslims for the attack despite the Prime Minister himself speaking out against this and calling for all Indians to remain peaceful and celebrate the return of magic ‘despite the brutal and bloody terrorist attack’, as he called today’s incident…”

“...reports of hundreds of thousands of Indians being healed of all ailments haven’t been confirmed by independent agencies. Her Majesty’s Government declined to comment on the status of the Crown Prince, who was present and presumably affected, but…”

“...and the reverend called the event in India ‘a hoax and a transparent attempt to deceive the faithful with trickery and sorcery’, claiming that ‘only God can heal people, and no heathen would receive His grace’. He also called on ‘all true Christians’ to be on guard against witchcraft, and…”

“...an ambulance had to be called for a self-declared witch who hurt herself repeatedly attempting to cast a spell that supposedly required her own blood. A request for clarification whether or not this was real magic has not yet been answered by the Etherians, but we’ll keep…”

“...and while the government declined to comment, experts are concerned about the Etherians’ use of orbital bombardment in response to a terrorist attack. Will other countries suffer the same fate? Will we see city blocks melting under a hail of laser fire from space in response to a bomb threat? Does the military have the capability to respond to or prevent such attacks? The public has a right to know, and here at…”

“...of the Vatican declined to comment on the issue and…”

“...more than a dozen were killed when the military fired on the mob attacking the Indian embassy…”

“...reports of soldiers exchanging fire at the border in Kashmir have not been confirmed yet, but the militaries of both countries have been put on alert, and…”

“...far, there have been no confirmed reports of magic despite the Etherians’ claims, so there is growing doubt that…”

“...the Indian government hasn’t released any casualty numbers yet, but hundreds of soldiers were stationed at the destroyed base, so conservative estimates…”

“...in Tehran claimed that the fire that destroyed an entire apartment building was caused by magic and not negligence, stating that a suspect had already been arrested and would…”

“...the number of suicides by people afraid that the return of magic would imperil their souls might be low overall, but our government cannot ignore this. These people need help, and we demand…”

“...and shrines to She-Ra have already been erected at various locations, even outside the National Capital Region, as grateful people offer their prayer in thanks. However, we have received reports that there have been disputes over the question of whether She-Ra, the Princess of Power, is a goddess in her own right or the latest incarnation of an established goddess such as Shitala Mata or Parvati, and…”

“...the Shinto temples saw far more visitors than expected following the events in India, although no magic has yet been confirmed…”

“...a sangoma claiming to be able to heal has caused a riot in Capetown, forcing the authorities to intervene…”

Jack O’Neill shook his head. The world was going crazy over magic. And over the orbital bombardment that the Etherians had conducted - the Pentagon was in an uproar. He snorted. The brass really shouldn’t be surprised; SG-1 had told them what a single Ha’tak could do, and the Etherians had tons of ships that, according to Carter, outclassed a Ha’tak. And yet, it had taken an actual orbital strike for the generals to take it seriously? The politicians were worse, though. Some were already demanding that the United States start building spaceships right now.

And all because a bunch of terrorists managed to take over a military base at the worst possible moment. He felt a bit guilty about that - he had mentioned that possibility when he had talked about security with the Etherians, but he had considered it a very low risk. Teach me to overestimate the Indians, he thought. Well, that couldn’t be helped now. The Etherians had revealed their military power - part of it - and what magic could do. And the world wasn’t exactly ready for it.

“...and here, in Salem, hundreds of witches are celebrating the return of magic with a broom race. Although, apparently, the start has been delayed while the coven organising the race is debating whether or not pointy hats or helmets should be worn. Until they sort it out, we’ll be watching the curse competition going on. Ugh! I just stepped on a frog!”

He blinked at the latest segment. What the hell? That was… Jack narrowed his eyes. “OK, who’s the joker who put up Saturday Night Live on the screen?” he yelled through the control room.

One of the new Warrant Officers spoke up: “Sorry, sir! The algorithm must have selected this because of the magic keyword.”

Jack glanced at Carter.

“There are search algorithms, sir, but the final selection is made by an officer,” she answered his unspoken question.

Which meant that someone had either thought it would be funny to slip in a comedy show or hadn’t noticed that this was a comedy sketch and not an actual news report. Jack hoped it was the former - they could need some laughs right now.

“Colonel O’Neill? Captain Carter?”

Jack turned. That was General Haig’s aide. “Yes?”

“Your presence is requested.”

Oh, damn! Just what he had been waiting for: A meeting with the brass at almost midnight.

Jack sighed.

*****​

Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, United States of America, Earth, October 18th, 1998

“...and that is our estimate of the firepower the Horde frigate brought to bear against the Indian base. Although we cannot say whether or not they have used their maximum firepower or held back to avoid collateral damage. We are tracking the frigates in high and low orbit.”

Carter sounded slightly annoyed, in Jack O’Neill’s opinion. Not because it was now past midnight, but because she didn’t like repeating what she had already reported - or what was obvious to anyone who could read a radar screen. Which, admittedly, wasn’t everyone. Still, she usually hid her annoyance better. She must be tired as well.

“How much time will we have to react should they decide to strike at Stargate Command?”

Or just fed up with Sidorov’s paranoid questions.

“None, General,” Carter replied. “By the time our sensors register their weapons firing, they have already struck the surface.”

“I mean, how quickly can they move into a firing position?” The Russian glared at her.

“That depends on the angle from which they want to fire downwards and their position relative to us. A few minutes at most.” Carter was using her ‘I want to roll my eyes at you’ voice - Jack was very familiar with it.

“And we’re not going to sound the alert every time they pass overhead or appear on the horizon. I, for one, like to sleep sometime,” General Petit added with a grin.

Carter smiled as well, even though, as far as jokes went, that one had been old when Jack had been born.

“We don’t have the capability to stop the Etherians from striking any spot on Earth,” General Li summed up what everyone with half a brain would have known on the day the Etherians showed up.

“Yes, General,” Carter confirmed.

“Thank you, Captain Carter,” General Haig said. “This matches our own estimate.”

Jack refrained from sighing loudly. Was this just a cover-your-ass meeting? Did they need SG-1’s official statement to inform their respective governments?

“With that settled,” the limey went on, “there remains the question of magic.”

Jack clenched his teeth. That really wasn’t a subject he wanted to talk about at midnight. Or at all.

“I am afraid that I am no expert on magic, General,” Carter tried to avoid this.

“You’re the best we have, Captain,” Haig retorted. “You have the most experience with magic and magitech at Stargate Command.”

Or on Earth, Jack added for himself.

“Yes, sir.”

“So… is there a way to tell whether magic was restored to Earth or not?” General Li asked.

Carter frowned. “The Etherians said so, sir.”

Sidorov scoffed. Loudly.

Jack narrowed his eyes at the Russian. “In my experience, they wouldn’t lie about this,” he said. “And why would they lie in the first place?”

“They could attempt to deceive us into believing that magic has returned, making us waste time and money trying to control it while leaving us unable to defend ourselves against their magic!”

Jack sighed. Yes, the Russian general was as paranoid as ever. “As we just concluded, we are already unable to defend Earth against their fleet, General.”

Hammond was frowning at him, but Jack didn’t care. Carter was his subordinate. She wouldn’t have to face inane questions from a paranoid Russian if he could help it.

“That would be an open attack, which would reveal their aggression,” Sidorov spat. “But with magic, they could strike far more subtly. Without magic of our own, we cannot defend against that!”

Well, that was theoretically possible, but the Etehrians wouldn’t even dream of doing that - Jack knew them.

“Without restoring magic, the Etherians are limited to magitech, minor inherent effects such as Entrapta’s hair control and Adora’s powers,” Carter cut in. “They cannot use teleportation or spells.”

“That’s what they claim!”

“General.” Haig didn’t sound annoyed, but his meaning was clear, and the Russian glared at him before leaning back with a huff and crossing his arms over his chest. Haig looked at Carter. “But can you confirm that we currently have no way to detect whether or not Earth has magic?”

“Except for observing a magical effect that is not the result of magitech, no sir.”

“Ah.” Haig nodded.

Petit spoke up: “And what can you tell us about the ‘healing’ Adora did, Colonel O’Neill? According to your file, you were healed by her.”

Jack clenched his teeth for a moment, remembering the moment he had almost died and was healed. Then he pushed the memories away and shrugged. “She points her sword at you, and magic heals you.”

“A few more details would be appreciated, Colonel.” The Frenchman kept smiling at him.

“I’m sorry, but those details are classified.” Jack smiled back. “That happened before the United Nations took control of Stargate Command.” Hammond didn’t look happy but wasn’t frowning at Jack, he noted.

“And you can’t or won’t elaborate on the detailed effect said healing had on you,” Haig said.

Jack spread his hands. “Sorry, sir.”

“From the information that we gathered so far, the healing magic is not limited to specific injuries and doesn’t seem to discriminate,” General Li said. “You are remarkably fit for your age, Colonel.”

“Good living,” Jack replied with a fake smile. So, they knew about that.

“Is there any way we could ask the Etherians to duplicate this feat at Stargate Command, should we suffer casualties?” General Haig asked. “Or would they be willing to restore the health of soldiers who have been medically discharged?”

Adora would heal pretty much everyone in need, Jack was sure of that. But her friends wouldn’t let her heal everyone and burn out. “I don’t know, sir,” he replied.

“I think her services will be in high demand,” General Petit stated the obvious.

And a lot of people would probably regret not having attended the event in India. Still… this was a problem for the Etherians.

Petit seemed to be about to say something else, but the door was opened, and an aide stepped in. “I’m sorry for the interruption, sir,” he told Haig. “But I think you should see the latest news from the BBC.” He barely waited for the general to nod before pointing a remote at the screen in the meeting room.

“...reporting directly from Stonehenge, where the police have had to disperse a crowd of people wishing to see magic return, we haven’t noticed anything unusual so far, yet we… What’s that? The stones are glowing. They are glowing! Is this a trick? I don’t see any spotlights, and… yes, the light is coming directly from the stones, as the shadows prove. Oh, here are the police coming towards us…”

*****​

Earth Orbit, Solar System, October 18th, 1998

“The United Nations are holding a special session to discuss ‘the incident involving orbital bombardment’ and invited us to attend and answer questions.”

Adora frowned at Glimmer’s words. “They don’t want to talk about magic?” That had been the topic the United Nations had wanted to talk about for weeks, after all.

“That’s the subject of another special session,” her friend replied. “But they apparently want to talk about us blowing up terrorists first.” She would know - she’d been talking to diplomats since she had woken up.

“And an Indian army base,” Catra, sitting next to Adora in Darla’s lounge, added. “Don’t forget that.”

Glimmer clenched her teeth. “The Indian Prime Minister said they understood our decision.”

“That doesn’t mean that he liked it,” Catra shot back. “They lost too many soldiers to just forget it.”

Adora nodded in agreement. You couldn’t just ignore such losses. Those soldiers had families. Friends.

“They were already being killed by the mutineers,” Glimmer retorted. “We had no choice.”

“Yes. But not everyone will see it that way,” Bow said. “Some journalists complain that we didn’t ask the Prime Minister before firing on the base.”

Adora had watched the same news. But Bow had been compiling the news from various channels.

Glimmer snorted. “Most of them are trying to use this to attack the Indian government so they can replace it. And what if we had asked and he wouldn’t have given permission fast enough to react? Or not at all? They would have blamed us for the massacre those guns would have caused. And if we had shot at the base anyway, we would have made the Prime Minister and his country look powerless.”

“They are powerless,” Catra said.

“Yes, but it would be rude to rub their noses in it.” Glimmer shook her head.

“We were rude anyway, though,” Bow said. “There was no good solution.”

“It could have been worse,” Glimmer said. “At least from the military angle,” she added with a glance at Adora.

Right. Adora closed her eyes and sighed. The orbital bombardment was only one part of their problems. The other part was Earth’s reaction to magic. To magical healing. To She-Ra.

“Speaking of magic…” Bow trailed off, and Adora didn’t need to open her eyes to know he was grimacing.

“How many want me to heal them?” she asked, slumping forward.

“Many,” Bow told her. “There are complaints that we acted unfairly by healing Indians and demands that we repeat the healing in every country.”

“What?” Catra hissed. “Who’s demanding that?”

“Mostly individuals being interviewed,” Bow said. “We haven’t received formal requests.”

That was good. Adora couldn’t heal everyone - and she couldn’t repeat what she had done n India. The magic she had used had been part of the blocked magic. “We need to tell them that I can’t use that kind of magic normally.”

“Yes,” Catra agreed. “Too bad we can’t tell them that you can’t heal at all.”

Adora sighed again. She couldn’t heal everyone - she knew that. It was impossible. There were simply too many people on Earth. Too many sick and dying people. She could heal some, though. But how to pick who got healed and who didn’t? It was unfair to only heal a few lucky ones, but to not heal anyone at all sounded… wrong.

“Well, once their own sorceresses learn how to heal people, that shouldn’t be a problem any more,” Entrapta said.

“That will take years,” Glimmer pointed out. “And we don’t know how that works with Earth’s magic.”

“Well, we know they have some magical sites and probably items,” Entrapta said. “There are glowing stones in England! They aren’t runestones, I checked - that would have been neat.”

“It also would have made us look like liars after Glimmer told them that magic won’t result in princesses ruling countries.” Catra snorted.

Glimmer glared at her. “I told them what we knew. And I was right - they don’t have runestones.”

“But they have glowing stones.” Catra grinned.

Adora sighed and gently squeezed her lover’s thigh. “And I guess the British want to know what is going there?”

“Yes.” Bow nodded. “They are concerned since they don’t know what the stone ring - Stonehenge - did before magic vanished.”

“They don’t have records from the time before?” Glimmer narrowed her eyes.

“Apparently not.” Bow shrugged. “There’s speculation that the records were destroyed by some of their priests since the stone circle was older than their religion, but no one knows for sure.” He sounded almost angry at that.

Well, he was the son of two historians.

“And they want us to come and examine the ring?” Entrapta sounded delighted.

“It won’t be the only such site,” Bow pointed out. “They might expect us to examine every magical location on Earth.”

And that would take too much time, probably. Not that Entrapta seemed to mind - she nodded enthusiastically. “Imagine the data!”

“The United Kingdom is allied with us. So, we can help them without having to help everyone else,” Glimmer said. “But we should keep an eye out for other locations. Just in case they turn out to be dangerous.”

“Yes,” Adora agreed.

“Yes.” Bow nodded. “Anyway, so far, there haven’t been any confirmed reports of Earth sorceresses working magic. But a lot of unconfirmed reports.”

Carta scoffed. “Fools.”

Adora frowned. “They might not have forgotten their entire magical tradition. Some lore might have survived.” And would be working now.

“Yes. But I don’t think actual sorceresses would want to reveal themselves right now,” Bow went on with a wince. “Witch hunts have grown worse with magic returned.”

Adora winced as well. She wanted to say they should stop those, but… If they started to intervene for such crimes, where would they stop?

“Any witch hunts organised by a country’s government?” Glimmer asked.

“Well, none that have led to anyone being executed so far,” Bow said.

“The cowards don’t want to risk another orbital strike,” Catra said with a scoff.

“Then it’s not an urgent issue.” Glimmer shook her head. “We have countries calling us returning magic an aggressive act and trying to get the United Nations to condemn us for it.”

“They did that before we returned magic,” Catra pointed out.

Glimmer nodded. “Yes. But now that magic is back, the situation changed. And that we had to destroy the base isn’t helping - some countries claim that’s an act of war.”

“Great.” Catra bared her fangs. “Now that they have realised we can destroy them from orbit, they’re growing even more aggressive? How have those idiots survived all those wars of theirs?”

Adora didn’t point out that Catra hadn’t exactly rolled over either on the occasions that she had been caught on the backfoot during the war. “They’re afraid,” she said instead.

“Well, they should be afraid.”

“We don’t want even more enemies.” Glimmer shook her head. “I’ll be meeting with the United Nations to explain that we just defended ourselves.”

“Yes.” Adora nodded. “And I can explain about magical healing.”

Glimmer was wincing. Bow as well. And Catra… was shaking her head. “No,” her lover said, “I don’t think you should appear in public on Earth for a while.”

Bow nodded. “Yes. People are putting up shrines and temples for you.”

“And others are burning dolls that look like you,” Catra added.

Adora opened her mouth, then closed it again. “I am no goddess!” she spat after a moment.

“Well…” Catra grinned, then grew serious when Adora glared at her. This wasn’t the time for jokes about this!

“Actually,” Bow said, “you do fit the definition of most gods on Earth. Not the most popular god, though.”

“Right now, at least. You look much better than that god,” Catra said.

Adora pinched her thigh in retaliation, making her yelp. This really wasn’t a joking matter!

“Anyway, I think you should limit your visits to Stargate Command,” Bow said. “Or discreet visits to other places. Nothing official.”

Glimmer nodded. “The Swiss sounded very concerned when they asked if you planned to visit the United Nations.”

Great. Adora clenched her teeth. Because of that stupidity, she couldn’t even help Glimmer sort out the mess she had caused?

“Or you can help Sam and us working with magitech!” Entrapta suggested. “We should be creating a magic scanner - a scanner to detect magic.”

“That should lay some of the irrational fears about magic to rest,” Hordak said.

Before Adora could say anything in response, Darla patched a call through to the screen in the lounge.

“Your Divine Highness!”

It was Priest. Adora wanted to scream. “Priest,” she managed to reply while he was bowing. “This isn’t another request for a preemptive strike against those countries that don’t like us, is it?”

“Ah, no, Your Divine Highness.” Priest beamed at her. “Your command was as clear as it was gracious. No, this is a request to help Earth in this time of crisis! In your divine name, of course.”

Adora blinked. “What help… what do you want to do?”

“Now that the humans have finally also seen the light and are worshipping Your Divine Highness, we wish to help your new faithful!” He nodded. “You asked us not to deploy the Holy Legion to convert the humans - peacefully, of course! - for political reasons, but surely, now that they have seen the light and are spreading your holy message themselves, the situation has changed?”

Adora managed not to scream. But it was a near thing.

*****​

 

Chapter 49: The Magic Question Part 5

Stonehenge, Wiltshire, United Kingdom, Earth, October 19th, 1998

“Welcome to Stonehenge! I’m James Mason, and this is Major Smythe-Cranston.”

The British official - in tweed like the cliche - looked more cheerful than Samantha Carter had expected someone to look faced with an unidentified magical phenomenon. Perhaps he was just relieved that help had arrived to find out what was going on. At least the officer next to him looked properly stiff when he nodded at them.

“Thank you,” she told them.

“We’re so happy to be here!” Entrapta said, her hair waving. “This is so interesting! The first expression of native Earth magic!” She blinked. “Well, the first that we know off! I can’t wait to analyse everything here!”

“You don’t have something like it on Etheria?” Mason asked.

“Nothing that looks like it - but depending on what it is, we might have something similar. Although we won’t know exactly what until we finish our examination. At least I think we can exclude the possibility that this is an ancient superweapon’s charging chamber - the readings don’t match at all.”

Mason’s smile turned rather brittle, and the major tensed even more. “I’m happy to hear this. I wasn’t aware this was a possibility.”

“Well, it’s theoretically possible but unlikely. Even if Earth had a magical superweapon, it would need a long time to charge,” Entrapta went on. “I bet this is something very different.”

“Ah… the most prevalent theory, before the return of magic, was that it was an ancient astronomical observatory or a religious site,” Mason said.

“That would be boring.” Entrapta cocked her head with a slight pout. “It would be far more interesting if it were some portal or beacon related to another dimension!”

“We’ll inform you as soon as we find out anything,” Sam told the two men. “Unless you have anything else to discuss…?”

“No, I think we’re set here,” Mason said. “We’ll be at the local headquarters if you need anything. You can reach us over the radio, I believe.”

“Yes.” Sam watched them leave. Obviously, they didn’t want to remain any longer on site as they had to. Or they had orders to leave the Etherians to their work.

And speaking of work, it was time to unload their instruments. Sam followed Entrapta up the ramp to pick up the scanners and other gear.

If Sam needed a reminder of how much her life had changed in the last three months, it would be the fact that as a member of the United Nations Stargate Command, she was part of an Etherian mission to England on behalf of Her Majesty’s Government to investigate Stonehenge for its magical properties. And, of course, that a few hundred police officers, as well as two companies of British soldiers, had cordoned off the entire area to keep thousands of civilians from storming the place.

“I miss the secrecy,” she mumbled as she stepped out of the shuttle.

“What?” Entrapta paused at the bottom of the ramp.

“Nothing,” Sam replied. She looked at the line of soldiers and police in the distance. “Just…”

“Oh, we should be safe here,” Entrapta said. “We have six frigates overhead, and Darla should also soon be on the way from Geneva.” She frowned. “I don’t know why Glimmer had to attend the United Nations session about orbital bombardment. Hordak volunteered to answer any technical questions they had.”

“I think it’s not just technical questions that they want answered,” Sam told her as she arrived at the bottom of the ramp as well.

“Oh? But we already told them all about our rules of engagement,” Entrapta said. “Who would expect us not to defend ourselves?” Before Sam could answer that question, she went on: “Of course, technically, we were defending the people attending the ceremony since even in the worst case, we were pretty safe thanks to Emily’s shield, but I think that’s covered as well.” She shrugged.

“I think people didn’t expect how you would defend yourself,” Sam said.

“That’s weird. We told them about the ships. And that they have the capability to fire from orbit at targets on the ground. And they had your report as well covering the use of Naquadah-enhanced bombs, where we used lasers to leave a message in the ground.”

Sam remembered that. She sighed. “My report was classified, I believe.” Not that everyone who should read her reports did it with the attention they deserved, anyway.

“Oh. I forgot about that.” Entrapta sighed as well. “How are people supposed to make decisions if they lack the data to fully understand the situation?”

“People rarely have all the information they need for their decisions,” Sam replied. “So, they make the best decisions they can think of. Or should.” She hesitated a moment. “And not everyone has the same view of a situation. Some people will value short-term benefits over long-term benefits. Or consider harming their own people acceptable if they personally profit.”

“Well, they shouldn’t get elected in that case. Or reelected,” Entrapta said. “Isn’t that the advantage of a democratic system? That you can replace such leaders without a coup?”

Sam sighed again. “Not every voter knows enough to make an informed decision.” You almost never had the complete picture of a situation, anyway.

“Oh.” Entrapta frowned. “That seems like a pretty bad flaw of the system.”

“On the other hand, without a democracy, you don’t even have the option to peacefully remove a leader who values their own profit more than their people.” Sam managed not to scowl. There were reasons that monarchies had been replaced with democracies.

“That’s true as well,” Entrapta said, nodding.

Sam reminded herself that Entrapta wasn’t one to argue a point if she thought it was supported by logic and data.

“So… let’s set up our scanners. Glimmer and the others should arrive shortly,” Entrapta said. “Emily, are you hooked up to our sensor network?”

The bot beeped affirmatively.

“Great! So, we’ll be very safe here.” Entrapta walked over to the outer stone ring.

Sam followed her. In daylight, the stones were barely glowing, but it was still noticeable. At least it wasn’t harmful radiation, as their scan from orbit had shown. Just normal light with a blue tint. Of course, that didn’t mean the site was harmless - if the light was of magical origin, and their scans had also hinted strongly at that, then anything could be possible here - no one really knew what Earth magic could and would do.

For a moment, Sam wished the Colonel were present. He had wanted to come, but he had been stuck in meetings all day. And with the Etherians present, and the Colonel’s lack of magical skill or experience, he wouldn’t have been of any use here. Despite his talent for magic, as far as they knew.

Sam wasn’t sure how she felt about that. The Colonel was one of the best officers she knew. Having him spend his time learning magic - provided they found a teacher or sources - would leave Stargate Command bereft of his experience and leadership. On the other hand, of those she would trust with magic, he was at the top of the list. But it was his decision - or should be.

She started setting up the crystal array for a scanner while Entrapta did the same on the other side of the ring. Shortly before they had finished, Emily announced the arrival of Darla - Sam knew those signals by heart now.

And here came Darla, engines lighting up as she came to a stop above them. After hovering for a moment - probably to scan the area for threats - she started descending.

Sam noticed the ship’s force fields expanding slightly to cover the entire site before the ramp was lowered. Unless someone had buried explosives underneath them - and somehow fooled their scanners - they were now safer than anywhere else on Earth.

Then the rest of the Etherians appeared, walking down the ramp to join them. Catra was in the lead, followed by Glimmer and Bow. Catra was looking around as she approached them. “No welcoming committee?” she asked, ears twitching.

“We talked to them already and asked them to give us space to set up without disrupting our work,” Entrapta told her. “So, they’re waiting with the soldiers there.” Her hair pointed towards a few tents thrown up near trucks and APCs.

“Ah.” Catra nodded, then turned around and yelled: “No one’s here to ask you for healing, so get your butt down here!”

Sam blinked. What…?

Then Adora - blonde hair hidden beneath a wide hat and wearing a long coat - appeared at the top of the ramp.

“It’s her disguise,” Catra answered Sam’s unspoken question.

“She was bothered in Geneva for healing by the same people who were angry with us for defending ourselves,” Glimmer added. “Damn hypocrites.”

“Well, they weren’t the exact same people who actually accused us of trying to invade and conquer Earth,” Bow said. “Just people who worked there.”

“And the dummy healed them.” Catra scoffed.

“I couldn’t just not heal them - it took me less than a minute.” Adora pouted at them. “And they were deadly ill.”

“And now more people think they just have to ask you and get healed,” Catra shot back.

Bow raised his hands. “It happened. And I think none of us would walk past people dying if we could help them.”

Adora nodded, as did Glimmer - though the latter was frowning. And Catra scoffed again.

“Oh, but you wouldn’t do it either!” Entrapta chimed in with a smile, her hair tendril patting Catra on the head for about a second before the catwoman shrugged it off.

“But now everyone will think they just have to meet you and get healed!” Catra repeated. “Even on diplomatic meetings!”

“Well, we can just teleport in and out now,” Glimmer said. She grinned. “I so missed that!”

“Just don’t teleport here before we’ve finished analysing the magic effect,” Entrapta told her.

Sam knew she shouldn’t, but she couldn’t help herself - she was too curious. “So, what was the meeting’s result?”

Catra snorted. “They couldn’t come to a decision.”

Glimmer frowned at her. “The United Nations decided not to condemn us for defending ourselves. The motion to do so failed to pass. That’s a difference.”

Catra shrugged. “Same thing.”

Well, Sam had expected that. Between the allies of the Etherians, the prospective and hopeful allies and the countries who didn’t want to provoke a power that could lay waste to their forces without taking any risk, the odds that there would be a majority were very slim, even discounting the almost certain veto in the Security Council.

“We still have to return to talk about ‘the magic question’,” Catra said

She was making air quotes. Was that a sign of Earth’s popular culture being adopted by the Etherians? Sam made a mental note to mention it to Daniel. He expected such cultural adaptions. “I doubt the outcome of that will be different,” she said. Too many countries saw magic as a way to even the odds against technologically superior rivals.

“Let’s hope so. And let’s hope they don’t invite all their sick and wounded for Adora to heal,” Catra said. “I bet some ambassadors are already thinking about selling spots.”

“Catra!” Glimmer scoffed. “We’re talking about high-ranking diplomats!”

“Exactly.”

“Let’s analyse the magic here,” Adora spoke up. She was eyeing the cordon around them, Sam noticed.

If those people decided to push, Sam doubted that the police and soldiers could hold them back. And despite their reputation, the British could be very unruly.

“Yes!” Entrapta nodded. “We’ve placed a crystal array to enhance our scanners!”

“And I can now cast a few spells to help us identify what kind of magic this is,” Glimmer added, raising her staff.

Sam made another mental note that it seemed the staff wasn’t a piece of magitech, but probably what Entrapta had called a focus when she had mentioned magic tools. Or maybe Glimmer hadn’t used her staff so far because she wanted to appear less threatening. After the orbital bombardment, a mere staff wouldn’t matter any more, of course.

Then Sam focused on the readings from their scanner. That was… She frowned and did another scan, compared the data… She had to run another scan!

“It looks like a minor healing effect,” Entrapta said, sticking her head under Sam’s arms to stare at the screen.

“Like the one in the jungle?” Catra asked, tensing up.

“Not like it. Similar, but since this is healing magic, not an unguided regeneration effect, there shouldn’t be any zombies,” Entrapta said.

Sam nodded. “Yes.” She had already scanned for such results - to her relief, the small mammals and insects in the area didn’t show any effects like those that they had observed in Honduras.

“So, is this a healing site?” Catra asked, stretching her arms over her head.

“It might have been one,” Sam replied. “But if the stones had been glowing in the past, we should have had records of that, I believe.”

“Are you sure?” Bow asked. “From what I found out, a lot of records didn’t survive various catastrophes. And purges.”

“The glowing might be a result of magic returning after so long. The enchantments might be slightly overloaded,” Glimmer said. “Or something broke with the missing stones.”

“Or the stars aren’t aligned. Or are aligned. The stones were placed in accordance with astronomical observations, after all.” Entrapta beamed. “We need more data!”

Could Earth’s magic - Earth’s magic traditions - be relying on constellations? Sam hoped it wasn’t the case. The thought that astrology might be based on actual magic was almost too much to bear…

*****​

Whitehall, London, United Kingdom, Earth, October 19th, 1998

“...and that’s the data we used for our conclusions.”

Catra watched the others’ reactions to Entrapta’s presentation. Most of the members of the British Government - Her Majesty’s Government, she corrected herself, even though it was more the other way around - who were present seemed to be relieved that they weren’t sitting on an Earth version of the Heart of Etheria. Most but not all. A few were almost disappointed.

The Prime Minister, though, smiled. “Thank you very much for your help.”

“Oh, you’re welcome!” Entrapta beamed at him. “It was a very interesting examination. We now know more about Earth magic. Although it’s too bad that the site isn’t a portal to other dimensions. That would have been even better!”

“Yes.” Sam nodded. “It was very informative. Especially with the increasing number of similar reports.”

“Well, at least most of the supposedly haunted locations didn’t show up,” the Home Secretary commented with a laugh. “We can handle a few prehistoric magical sites. Especially if they are just healing places.”

“We would have to check all of them to be sure of that,” Sam told him.

“And once this gets out, there will be a lot of people pressuring us to let them visit Stonehenge,” the Prime Minister said.

“And a lot of disappointed people once they realise it’s not a stone version of Adora.” Catra scoffed.

“Ah… What exactly does the, ah, magic there do?” That was the Health Secretary.

“It’s a weak healing effect. You recover faster if you’re resting there,” Glimmer explained.

“Just recovering faster? Or will you heal from conditions that would not improve without treatment?” The Health Secretary looked intrigued rather than disappointed.

“The latter,” Glimmer replied. “But it’s not very powerful. You’d have to stay a long time to get healed from a serious condition. Although casting heal magic would be improved as well.”

“We’ll have people camping there. And fighting each other for a spot on the ground.” The Home Secretary wasn’t laughing any more. “This is a disaster.”

“We could transfer the site to the NHS,” the Health Secretary said.

“That won’t keep people away - quite the contrary.”

Catra nodded in agreement. People would want magic healing. Who wouldn’t? But the more options they had, the less they would bother Adora.

“Then we need trained, ah, sorceresses, as soon as possible.” The Health Secretary wasn’t looking at them, but Catra knew the comment was aimed at them. Not very subtle.

“We can’t yet tell what kind of instructions will work best for your sorceresses.” Glimmer said. “And which magical traditions are the best option.”

“We haven’t found actual sorceresses on Earth. Not yet,” Bow added. “You need the talent to work magic.”

“But using this as a blueprint, we could probably create magitech devices that heal,” Entrapta suggested. “Well, we would have to avoid the zombie side effects.” She scrunched her nose. “That’s probably what the First Ones were doing with their prototype. But we should be able to build something that doesn’t turn everyone nearby into zombies. I think.”

“Zombies?” the Prime Minister asked.

“That’s what you call mindless aggressive regenerating people, right?” Entrapta smiled.

“Err, yes.”

“Then zombie it is!”

Sam muttered something about the Colonel Catra didn’t catch.

“I would be glad if we could avoid creating zombies.” The man looked quite queasy.

“Me too!”

The Health Secretary coughed. “Would the current effect at Stonehenge be enough to heal disabling diseases and conditions? One of our most brilliant scientists is suffering from a paralysing disease that is robbing him of the ability to move and talk.”

They meant Hawking. The name had come up several times when they were discussing how to reveal magic and healing magic. And now, with magic exposed…

Adora gasped. “I’ll heal him right away!”

Catra didn’t miss how the Prime Minister and others smiled. She was sure they had planned that.

“We can’t take her anywhere,” she mumbled.

*****​

Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, United States of America, Earth, October 19th, 1998

Jack O’Neill was looking at the FNGs train on the field - melee combat this time, with bayonets, knives, Entrenching tools and staffs - but he wasn’t really focusing on them. They were good enough anyway; the other countries hadn’t sent desk jockeys. Though the Russian with an axe had been a little worrying. Jack was just here to supervise, anyway; he wasn’t here as an instructor. And he had other things on his mind. Like Carter.

Jack didn’t like it if his team went into danger without him. He trusted them, of course - even Daniel had learned to be a bit cautious, and he could talk his way out of trouble almost as often as he could get into trouble. And Teal’c and Carter were amongst the most skilled soldiers he knew.

But he was their commanding officer. Their leader. If they were in danger, it was his duty to be with them. He shouldn’t be staying behind, safe at the base, while Carter went and examined a glowing stone ring that was under siege by thousands of crazy people. Even if she was with Entrapta. Especially if she was with Entrapta, he corrected himself. The woman was undoubtedly almost as smart as Carter but didn’t have half the common sense of Daniel.

At least nothing had happened, and they were now talking to the British government. And even if the limeys botched things, the rest of the Etherians would step in. With magic restored, Glimmer could now teleport.

He sighed. That was also a security risk. At least they had already implemented revised security protocols after the encounter with the Asgard and their transporter.

The instructor in charge called for a break - without glancing at Jack to check, Jack noted approvingly - and the groups broke apart. Jack kept an eye on the axe guy; the Russian looked a bit too happy swinging the thing around. And on Lenkova, who had been walking towards the snack line but diverted and was now making a beeline towards Jack.

“Vladimir is a good soldier.”

So that was his name. Of course the woman would have noticed his attention. Jack shrugged. “I didn’t know Russia trained soldiers in axe combat.”

“We don’t,” she replied. “Vladimir grew up in Siberia in a logging family.”

“His brawls with his siblings must have been a bloody affair.”

She giggled at that, which made her suddenly look younger. Not any less dangerous, of course. He kept his eyes on her face, not her shirt. Not that her face wasn’t attractive either.

“He’s a good comrade. Helps out everyone in need,” she said.

“And splits heads and logs, depending on what’s on the menu.” Jack snorted once.

“Yes.” She was still smiling. “Although you seemed a little distracted today.”

There was no point in denying it - that would only make him look foolish. “There’s a lot happening on Earth,” he said. “Riots, witch hunts, two nuclear powers ready to go to war with each other…”

She scoffed. “India and Pakistan have been at war before.”

“Circumstances were different back then,” Jack shot back. There hadn’t been any aliens or magic.

“Wouldn’t the Etherians stop a nuclear exchange?”

“They said they wouldn’t interfere,” Jack reminded her.

“Politicians and diplomats say a lot,” she retorted with a more cynical grin. “But you know them personally; would they let a nuclear war happen?”

That was a good question. “I don’t know,” he said. He was pretty sure Adora wouldn’t let millions die. But would the fleet be able to intervene in time? Were they even looking out for nukes?

“Well, let’s hope we don’t find out the hard way,” she said.

He could agree with that.

“But was that the reason you were distracted?” She cocked her head, her hair - longer than Carters - touching her shoulder and drawing attention to her tank top. “Or were you worried about Captain Carter?”

He narrowed his eyes. What did she know?

She smiled in return. “I heard she was investigating magical places with the Etherians. The last time you did that, you had to fight zombies, right?”

Jack was, once more, reminded how much he hated that their files were now almost public knowledge. “I didn’t know you had the security clearance to read those files.”

“I didn’t read them. But that there was a zombie invasion is public knowledge.”

He wasn’t sure if he could believe her. But she was right about people knowing about zombies - he had even heard, through the grapevine, that some Hollywood people wanted to shoot a movie about the mission. Still… the woman was a Russian spy. So he shrugged. “She’s with the foremost experts on magic; they’ve dealt with worse things.”

He half-expected her to ask what things the Etherians had dealt with, but Lenkova was too skilled for that. “Do you worry about every soldier under your command?”

“Yes.” Of course he did! Well, there were a few exceptions from his time in Special Forces.

“So, you’d be worried about me when I go on my first mission?” She was grinning again.

Jack bared his teeth and said in a flat voice: “You’d be a soldier under my command.”

She nodded and smiled again. “I hope we’ll go on a mission before you are transferred.”

“Transferred?” What had she heard?

“I read newspapers. America is close to finally passing the laws the aliens demand,” she explained.

Constitutional amendments, but he wasn’t Daniel; he didn’t feel the need to correct her.

“So, once you are allied with the Etherians, you will certainly be transferred to an active combat command.”

Ah, that. He shrugged. “I can’t fathom what the brass will do. After all, I spent years in deep-space radar telemetry.” The former cover story for Stargate Command.

Lenkova laughed at that. It sounded honest.

But she was a Russian spy. And under his command, not that that mattered.

*****​

Earth Orbit, Solar System, October 20th, 1998

Adora took a deep breath. She could do this. She had prepared for this. She had rehearsed this. She just had to be firm. Firm and friendly.

Nodding, she said: “Open a channel to Priest, Darla.”

The ship did as ordered, and a moment later - Third Fleet never let her wait - Priest appeared on the big screen on Darla’s bridge.

“Your Divine Highness! How may your faithful serve you?” He bowed so quickly, Adora didn’t see his expression until he rose again, a wide smile on his face.

“I have considered your request to visit Earth,” she said. He perked up. “I feel, in the current circumstances, it wouldn’t be advisable.”

And his face fell. He looked worse than Wrong Hordak had looked before he recovered from getting disconnected from Prime’s mental network. “But Your Divine Highness…”

“The political situation on Earth is volatile,” she explained. “Many humans are afraid that we’re here to conquer them.”

“But if we wanted to conquer them, we would have done so already! Their defences are nothing against the firepower of even the flotilla in orbit, much less the Third Fleet, Your Divine Highness!”

Adora sighed. “I know. And they should know.”

“How could they not, after our intervention in India? Were they distracted by the demonstration of your divine might and grace, Your Divine Highness?”

She pressed her lips together for a moment. That hadn’t been one of her finest moments. Although she would do it again in the same situation - she wouldn’t let people die if she could help it. But saying that wouldn’t help here. “They aren’t always rational. Although some fear that the destruction of the base was the first step in a campaign to conquer Earth.”

“They don’t know you, then, Your Divine Highness. Or us.”

She nodded. “Yes. That is why they fear us.” Well, some of the countries would fear them even more if they knew Adora and her friends better. Those who had horrible customs and laws.

Priest nodded. “I see. But if ignorance is the problem, shouldn’t we educate them instead of staying away from them, Your Divine Highness? If they could meet us and talk to us, we could show them that their fears are misguided!” He looked at her with an expression full of hope.

Uh… She managed not to bite her lips. How to tell him that some people on Earth would fear and hate Adora - and Priest and his faithful - even or especially if they knew them better? She hadn’t prepared for that question, but… “Are your people trained in diplomacy?” They weren’t; Adora knew that.

“We have studied the work of those on Earth who spread the word of false gods, Your Divine Highness. Missionaries, they are called.” Priest smiled at her. “We know all about door-knocking!”

“Ah…” He obviously didn’t mean the Goa’uld when he talked about false gods, Adora realised. That could be a bigger problem than she had feared. “Many people won’t like it if you call their gods false.”

He frowned. “But they do the same, Your Divine Highness. The majority of the population worships single gods and denounces all other gods as false. And doesn’t the freedom of religion protect missionaries?”

Adora almost smiled. “Freedom of religion isn’t granted in every country. Many countries do not respect all religions - or outlaw missionaries.” Not too many prohibited missionaries, actually, but that was a detail.

“Ah!” Priest bowed again. “And yet, aren’t such countries those which need to learn about your divine wisdom the most, Your Divine Highness?”

“We have to respect their laws,” Adora replied. “At least as far as missionaries are concerned,” she quickly added.

“So, our missionaries shall stick to countries where religion is free, Your Divine Highness.”

“I am not a goddess,” Adora said through clenched teeth. She had tried to avoid this.

“You are as humble as you are powerful and wise, Your Divine Highness,” Priest replied, bowing so deeply that she couldn’t tell if he was smiling or smirking.

“I’m really not,” Adora repeated herself.

“Your Divine Highness, we have also studied the gods that are worshipped on Earth - and their deeds. You have healed the sick, let the blind see again and the lame regain their legs. You have struck down the false god who lied to us and oppressed us. You have turned the heart of his Empire into a garden in space. You have freed our souls and cast his soul down into the Abyss. And you have saved not merely one world but all the worlds in the sector. These facts do not lie, Your Divine Highness - you more than met the standard for divinity on Earth.” Priest smiled at her with shining eyes. “You saved us, and you will save everyone from the false gods. It is only just that we will spread the word of you in return, so everyone can bask in your grace.”

No, no, no! That was wrong! Terribly wrong! “I don’t have a grace!” she snapped.

“Your humility is divine!”

Adora opened her mouth to yell at Priest, then took a deep breath. This was going all wrong! She had wanted to explain to Priest why he and his people couldn’t visit Earth to convert people. She could just tell them not to visit Earth, of course. And she was tempted to do so - very much.

But she had talked about this with her friends. What if Priest took this to mean that the people on Earth are to be ignored because they were beyond saving? Or, worse, that Adora didn’t want them saved or whatever? You couldn’t win a war if a big part of your soldiers thought their allies were traitors or at least ungrateful heathens.

She sighed. “You won’t visit a country without permission from that country and from myself or Glimmer as our commander.”

“Yes, Your Divine Highness!”

“And you’ll stick to short trips.” No invasion. Just some sailors going on shore leave. “And not everyone at once.”

“Of course, Your Divine Highness. We have to remain ready to fight at your command at a moment’s notice!”

Adora couldn’t think of anything else. She nodded. “Good.” It was anything but good.

“As you command, Your Divine Highness! I will relay your orders at once!” Priest bowed even more deeply.

Adora sighed. Her friends wouldn’t be happy about this. Nor would the humans on Earth like this. Well, they’d inform the United Nations about this. And find out which countries would allow such ‘visits’.

*****​

Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, United States of America, Earth, October 21st, 1998

Once, Samantha Carter would have been delighted to see real teleportation in action - and in an environment where she could use all sorts of sensors to take readings to analyse later. But there was such a thing as too much of a good thing. And so, when her lab was lit up with another set of sparkling lights, she didn’t even look up - Glimmer had been teleporting every five minutes, sometimes just a few metres in the lab. She must have really missed using her power.

“Sorry, I forgot - did anyone want dessert as well?” the princess asked.

“What dessert is on the menu today?” Entrapta cocked her head, pausing in the middle of working on an improved long-range Geiger counter. Something the world could really use right now, what with two nuclear powers butting heads - Sam knew that the Horde frigates in stationary orbit over the Indian subcontinent could shoot down missiles, but a better early warning system would be great.

“Oh, silly me!” Glimmer laughed and disappeared in another cloud of sparkles, only to reappear five seconds later. “Blue jello and apple cake.”

“Oh! I’ve never tried that combination! Yes, I’d like dessert!”

“Sounds very American. Me too, please!” Iwan added.

“Just the cake,” Catra chimed in from the counter she had taken over, not even looking up from her magazine.

“For me too. Just the cake, that is,” Adora, who was apparently content with serving as a pillow for Catra to sprawl over, said, lowering her own magazine. “Thank you!”

“I’ll try the jello,” Bow said.

“Jello,” Hordak grumbled.

“Are you sure you don’t want to try the cake?” Entrapta asked, beaming at him.

“I’ll take the cake as well,” Hordak replied at once - as expected.

“If you don’t like it, we can swap,” Entrapta said as Glimmer disappeared once more. Sam wondered how the mess hall was reacting to the princess popping in and out in short order. If the Colonel were present, he’d tell her about it. With a joke.

But he was supervising the training of the foreign teams in the field again. If you could call them teams already - they were still forming. Not that the Colonel was needed there - he was nominally in command of the teams, but others were training them, and he wasn’t scheduled as an instructor for today. But he said it was a good idea to keep an eye on the foreigners. Sam couldn’t disagree with that, although she would like it if there were fewer rumours about the Colonel having his eye on a particular foreign officer. Not that anything would happen - the Colonel would never start anything with someone in his chain of command.

Sam buried the mixed feelings she had about that just in time for Glimmer to return with a tray full of jello and cake.

“Finally! What did you do, bake the cake yourself?”

“Catra!”

“What?”

“No, I didn’t!”

“Can we do that? I’d like tiny cakes! Oh, but this is good! Try something, Hordak!”

“Hmph.”

“Since you didn’t say anything, I brought you both!”

Sam looked at Glimmer. The princess was holding out the tray with a bowl of jello and a piece of cake left on it. And she was smiling widely, so Sam would feel bad to refuse. Even if she wasn’t overly fond of either dessert. At least not of what passed for it here. Still, she had to eat it now.

And it tasted quite a bit better than expected. Had the French replaced the cooks? Or brought in confectioners? She could imagine General Petit bringing one along; the man liked his personal comforts.

“So, what do you think?” Entrapta asked Hordak.

“It is… adequate.”

“I’ve had better,” Catra added. “But for military food, it’s better than Horde rations.”

“Even rocks are better than Horde rations. Easier to chew, too,” Adora said.

Both laughed at that.

Sam felt herself relax as well. They still had lots of work to do - apart from enhanced scanners for nuclear weapons held ready, they also had dozens of reports of magical sites ‘going active’ all over the world to cover. And reports to write so the brass would realise that Sam couldn’t ‘whip up’ a healing device in her spare time. But she could take a break joking around with the Etherians. Maybe she could convince Daniel to join them in the afternoon - he was still sifting through his stack of books covering myths and fairy tales in an attempt to find working magical spells and traditions.

And maybe the Colonel would join them as well - all of them needed a break, after all.

*****​

Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, United States of America, Earth, October 23rd, 1998

“...tensions are still high at the Kashmir border, but there hasn’t been a shooting incident in two days, which experts say is a sign of increased control by the respective governments over their forces, although it remains unclear how the separatists will react to this. The United Nations have called on all parties to remain peaceful, although China’s stance remains unclear, as does the stance of the Etherians, who have three space ships in geostationary orbit over the subcontinent, yet have not voiced an opinion on the matter so far. This leaves the world in doubt whether or not a nuclear war would cause them to intervene or not, which experts have claimed is similar to the United States’ stance towards a defence of Taiwan and might be a calculated move to influence both India and Pakistan into negotiations, though…”

Sitting in her - it was hers now - corner in Sam’s lab, Catra sighed and flicked the pad off. Bow had done all the work to let their pads access all of Earth’s media, and yet there wasn’t anything worth watching on. Or if there was, she hadn’t found it, and she wasn’t about to waste an hour switching channels to find something. If she did it on her pad instead of on a screen, it wouldn’t annoy anyone anyway except herself.

“Back in the USSR, we joke that it no matter that we have fewer channels if Americans have dozens of channels and nothing good to watch.” Iwan, the Russian spy scientist, smiled at her. “It was good joke, not approved by party, but not enough for gulag.”

Catra snorted at the last line. “Sounds like Horde humour,” she said before she could help himself.

“Da. I think. Horde much like USSR? Lots of tanks and soldiers, not much good food or fun?”

Catra nodded. “Pretty much, yes.” As cadets, she’d had Adora, but Shadow Weaver had done what she could to ruin everything, and when Adora had left… She sighed. Then Catra had done what she could to ruin everything.

“Bad memories?”

Catra narrowed her eyes. That was a bit blatant. She glanced around. Adora was working with Glimmer on a press release. So much for ‘I’m just coming along so I can visit Earth without getting hounded by petitioners’! Bow and the other tech heads were working on the enhanced Geiger counters - or were that enhanced-enhanced Geiger counters by now? In any case, it was a good opportunity for a spy to gather information. Add his obviously fake bad English he used to make people underestimate him… On the other hand, it wasn’t exactly a secret that Catra had been leading the Horde before… Before. “Yes, bad memories,” she said.

“People in Russia drink to get rid of bad memories, but not work well.”

“Yeah.” Not that Adora would let Catra drink anyway. Carve a few funny lines into a stupid pastel palace wall one time with your claws, and they never let you forget it.

For a moment, the Russian remained silent, looking at whatever he was working on. Then he nodded. “What helps is doing better. Helping helps.”

She snorted, but he had a point, sort of. “Helping can also hurt.” Adora proved that.

“Da. Life is pain, and then you die. Painfully.” He nodded sagely.

She shrugged. Life didn’t have to be painful. Usually, some idiot was responsible for that part. Or a Horde of idiots. Or some ancient idiot bot trying to make Adora sacrifice herself. But life didn’t have to hurt. Not really hurt, at least. You just needed to get rid of the worst idiots.

Iwan went back to working, and Catra switched her pad back on.

“...representants of several religions have voiced their concern about the Etherians intent to send missionaries to Earth, but the government has released a statement that aliens were also protected by the constitutional freedom of religion and that it would not take any steps to prevent Etherian visitors from proselytising. When asked whether or not he would push for reciprocity with regards to Christian missionaries visiting Etheria, the President said that visits to Etheria were currently restricted to military needs and that this question would have to be revisited once civilian travel was possible. He did not say when he expected this state of affairs to change, but…”

Catra shook her head. “It’s not us who wants this, but Priest,” she muttered. But the crazies were already screaming - sometimes literally - about an alien plot to brainwash the humans to corrupt their souls or something. And missionaries visiting Etheria? She snorted. Good luck trying to convince people that an invisible intangible god existed when you just had to look to the sky and see what She-Ra could do.

They should be more concerned about all the magical places activating, in her opinion. As Bow and Daniel had explained, most of them were holy sites of religions that had been more or less replaced by the current mainstream religions. Depending on how things worked out, they might need every missionary on Earth just to keep up with magic.

Or with Priest’s followers.

*****​

 

Chapter 50: The Magic Question Part 6

Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, United States of America, Earth, October 24th, 1998

“...and the police was forced to use violence to keep protesters and counter-protesters separated in Washington. Bill?”

“Thank you, Keith. Yes, it’s been a bit sticky, but not as bad as it could have been. The number of people protesting the President’s decision to allow alien missionaries to visit the country has been much lower than expected, even with the boost the return of magic gave to the anti-magic movement.”

“People like magic healing. Who would have thought?”

“Certainly not the good reverend calling for this protest, Keith! Anyway, Washington is quiet again.”

“Something that cannot be said for the rest of the world. Daily protests are going on in many countries in the Middle East, and the witch hunts and lynchings in the region continue, although hard numbers are hard to come by. In other news, experts disagree on whether or not we are looking at the start of a new religion in India now that we know that there’s already an established Church of She-Ra. And no, that’s not an official name, but if our benevolent alien allies would like to use it, I wouldn’t request royalties!”

Jack O’Neill tuned the fake laughter out. Why couldn’t the mess hall just broadcast CNN instead of this farce? Or the BBC. He didn’t need to listen to stupid jokes when things were getting serious. Cracking jokes was his thing, damn it! On the other hand, he probably should be glad that the mess hall TV still broadcasted an American news show instead of a Russian one. Or a French one. He shuddered at the thought.

“Is something wrong?” Daniel asked as he set his tray down on the table. “With the food?”

“No. It’s the news,” Jack replied, nodding towards the screen now showing advertisements.

“What happened this time?” Daniel turned to look at the television.

“It’s not what happened, but how they cover it.”

“Ah.” Daniel nodded. “It’s actually quite interesting how the different TV channels cover the same events. You can make out distinctive social norms by the differences in what is emphasised and what’s dismissed. Why…”

“Daniel, your food’s getting cold,” Jack reminded him.

“Ah, sorry.” His friend started eating, then blinked. “Is it just me, or has the quality of the meals improved?”

“It’s not just you,” Jack told him. “We needed more cooks to cover the influx of new people, and our gallant foreign allies decided to send their own.” And, apparently, decided to show off and send cooks who could hack it in civilian life. The food wasn’t up to fine dining standards - they still had to cook in quantities that meant they couldn’t carefully prepare each meal - but it certainly was better than before.

“Ah!” Daniel smiled. “That’s good news!”

“What’s good news?” Carter had arrived, smiling at them both.

“Good to see that the Etherians didn’t squirrel you away on one of their ships,” Jack joked. It wasn’t as funny as he had planned, though.

Carter’s smile twisted a little. “Well, Entrapta did offer me to move into her lab.”

Jack frowned. Poaching his second in command? Over his dead body!

“Really?”

“Yes. She said it would ‘facilitate research’.” Carter shrugged. “I told her that I had duties here and could always come visit her.”

Jack nodded. Yes. They had their duties on Earth.

“So, what’s good news?” Carter asked after a bite from her steak.

“That we’ve got better cooks,” Daniel told her.

“Indeed.” For someone his size, Teal’c could be very stealthy. Jack had almost missed his approach.

“As long as they don’t serve us crayons…” Jack snorted. He didn’t have to explain the joke, which meant he had made it before. Well, some jokes bore repeating.

He was about to finish his own steak when he saw Carter tense up. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw Lenkova approach the table. “Do you mind if I join you?”

What was he supposed to do without sounding rude? She didn’t offer a transparent excuse like all her comrades had already eaten or something.

“Not at all! please sit down!” Daniel said with a smile.

Jack managed not to frown at his friend. Daniel was just too friendly sometimes.

Teal’c nodded without saying anything, and Carter… smiled tightly as she nodded. She obviously didn’t like Lenkova. But she hadn’t said anything before, as far as Jack could recall.

And Lenkova was all smiles. She had ditched the top of her fatigues and was just wearing her tank top, Jack noticed. And she made very appreciative noises when she tried the food.

“Oh, this is so much better than what we ate back in Russia,” she said with a long sigh.

“Yeah, we can hear that,” Jack said before he could help himself.

Lenkova blushed in return.

And Carter was openly frowning.

“So, what do you think of this?” Lenkova tried to change the subject by nodding at the TV screen, where the hosts were interviewing another supposed expert on religions.

“...and, so, while technically it falls under the term religion as defined by law, one could argue that it’s not a religion but a thinly-veiled attempt to influence the internal politics of the United States. She-Ra is, after all, not a goddess but a leader of the Princess Alliance - it goes without saying that merely calling your party a religion does not make it a religion. And as our past shows, it’s perfectly legal to limit foreign propaganda during wartime.”

“But, and I am just repeating some of the arguments brought forth by others, why isn’t the Church of She-Ra a religion?”

“Well, ah, first, She-Ra herself denies her, ah, divinity. And second, we can all see that she is no goddess. She has magic powers, but that does not make her a divine entity. There is also the lack of any significant history - according to what we know, this ‘Church of She-Ra’ is less than a year old and composed of formerly brainwashed clones. It might be called a cult, but it’s not a religion as the average American understands it.”

“The President seems to disagree.”

“The government is beholden to the Etherians for military reasons. Of course they cannot afford to oppose this thinly-veiled attempt to conduct propaganda operations in the United States. So…”

Jack rolled his eyes. At least no one could claim that the United States government controlled the media.

“Ah.” Daniel adjusted his glasses with a smile. “That’s a very biased opinion, of course. You cannot, as any anthropologist would tell you if asked them instead of a theologist of dubious repute, consider Christianity as the standard for a religion. Human religious traditions are much more diverse. We have ancestor worship, nature spirits being revered, pagan pantheons - although that term is somewhat misleading - and religions that do not have divine figures at all. For many religions, She-Ra would, purely based on her powers, indeed be considered a goddess. In fact, she would compare favourably to some of the classic Greek gods. As would some of her fellow princesses like Perfuma and Mermista. Again, purely based on their magic powers. So, from an anthropologist’s perspective, I do not think that the government is in error when treating the Church of She-Ra as a religion.” He beamed at Lenkova.

Jack suppressed a sigh. Daniel still had a tendency to go on and on.

Lenkova looked… well, she was frowning a little. “That’s very interesting. But I wanted to know what you think of the consequences of this… new development.”

“Ah!” Daniel nodded. “Well, it remains to be seen if this new religion can get any traction outside the former Horde fleet and India. Unless Adora starts healing Americans en masse - which I don’t think she’ll do - I don’t see the new religion having much success in the United States. Although the resurgence of magic might change this - a lot of formerly esoteric beliefs might grow more popular provided their magical traditions end up working.”

And wasn’t that a pretty thought! Maybe Stargate Command would issue healing crystals as standard gear, and intel would be based on tea leaves reading. And Carter would use crystal balls for her stuff.

“And do you think this will lead to problems?” Lenkova asked.

“It has the potential to be a problem,” Daniel replied at once. “But we’ve been seeing a pushback against the more intolerant religious conservatives for months, in politics and the media as well as public opinion, so I don’t think that the United States will see much more than a few protests against this.”

“I see.” The Russian nodded.

Jack wasn’t quite as optimistic but refrained from commenting.

Then she turned towards him. “You’ve been rather quiet, Colonel.”

Jack noticed Carter frowning again but ignored that for the time being. “Daniel’s the expert,” he said. “Just as Teal’c is the resident authority on Jaffa and Goa’uld and Carter’s Stargate Command’s goddess of technology.”

The frown turned into a scowl. “I’m not a goddess, sir.”

Jack didn’t wince. So, that had been a failed attempt to crack a joke. Even if Lenkova laughed.

“I don’t think it was meant to be taken literally,” she told Carter. “You do have a very impressive reputation, though. Dr Georgovich is singing your praises. Not literally, fortunately - he hasn’t the best singing voice.”

Jack chuckled, but Carter’s scowl deepened. “I am just doing what I can - like all of us here,” She replied, a bit cattily in Jack’s opinion.

Lenkova nodded. “Will you be transferred along with the Colonel when America closes the deal with the Etherians? Will they keep your team together?”

Carter blinked for a moment. “I am not aware of any such orders,” she said. “We are part of Stargate Command.”

That was the technically correct answer. But Carter knew as well as Jack that the United States wouldn’t leave the best friend of the Etherians under the authority of the United Nations.

“Ah, we’ve been working well with the Etherians, so it would stand to reason that they wouldn’t split us up,” Daniel ventured. “Especially considering the way the Etherians fight their wars. With the princesses expected to fight on the frontlines when necessary, and their personal approach to politics, I think all of us will be working closely with them.” He smiled. “So, I don’t see SG-1 being split up!”

Lenkova smiled as well. “It would be a mistake and a shame to split up such a successful team.” With a nod to Jack, she added: “Your team does you credit, Colonel.”

“Thank you. You have a good team as well,” Jack returned the compliment. It was the truth, after all. “You’ll do fine once you’re on your own.” And that they weren’t quite ready yet was also true.

It didn’t seem to bother the woman, though - she beamed at him. “Thank you. Although I hope you will still be available for talks once we’re no longer under your command.”

“Sure.” Jack nodded before he realised how the way Lenkova leaned forward a little added something not entirely professional meaning to her words.

Carter stood up. “Well, it’s time for me to return to the lab.”

Oh.

*****​

Earth Orbit, Solar System, October 25th, 1998 (Earth Time)

“...and please remember: You represent the Alliance! We’re here to protect Earth from the Goa’uld. Many people on Earth are afraid of us. They don’t know our customs. They don’t know us. So, don’t scare them, don’t bully them, and remain polite and peaceful no matter what they say. Even if they insult me - especially if they insult me. Err… you can, of course, defend yourself if someone attacks you, but don’t go overboard. That means no orbital bombardment.” Ador blinked. “Not without permission from Alliance Command.” She didn’t want to sound like a hypocrite, after all - and, in theory, there might be more situations where an orbital strike was the necessary answer.

The dozens of clones standing in formation before her in the frigate’s main hangar bowed. “Yes, Your Divine Highness,” they said in unison. And smiled.

Adora refrained from wincing even though it sounded very creepy. They acted as if just being near her was the best thing they could think of. As if Adora’s mere presence made them happier than anything else. For a moment, she imagined Horde Prime standing in her place - he would have loved this. Had loved it. Except for the lack of orbital bombardment. And the other orders.

And, she added to herself, he probably wouldn’t have taken the dark Earth-style suits every clone was wearing well either.

She glanced at Priest, who was wearing a similar suit, just with a more elaborate tie. ‘New dress uniforms’, he had claimed. Catra had found it funny. Adora less so. Priest was correct that the fleet - in fact, most of the Princess Alliance - didn’t have dress uniforms like Earth soldiers had, though Bright Moon had ‘parade uniforms’, but to pick those suits as uniforms… Well, it was kind of just another part of his ‘we proselytise through shore leave’ plan. Which she really hoped wouldn’t backfire but also didn’t want to succeed.

But there wasn’t anything else to say that she hadn’t already said. Twice, since the clones might be a little too much like Priest. So she nodded at the clones, then at Priest. “Dismissed. And have fun!”

Priest bowed so deeply, Adora was almost afraid his head would hit the ground, then straightened and addressed the rest. “You heard Her Divine Highness! You represent Her, so conduct yourself accordingly! I do not want to hear any complaints about your behaviour! Now go and enjoy your shore leave!”

The clones saluted him, Bright Moon style. That was a nice change from Horde regulations. Then they bowed to Adora, which made her struggle not to sigh again, before they started boarding the shuttles. All of them seemed very enthusiastic. Beaming. Laughing. Talking to each other. They loved this.

And Adora was left hoping that this wouldn’t cause trouble. At least not a lot.

*****​

“So, how are your faithful doing?” Catra greeted Adora when she returned to Darla’s bridge.

“Shouldn’t you know that better than I would?” Adora replied, pointing at the screens on the bridge showing feeds from London, Paris, Berlin and New York.

“They haven’t touched down yet,” Catra said with a grin.

Adora frowned at her. “Why do you think this is funny?”

Catra’s grin widened. “It is funny because it annoys you.”

Adora pressed her lips together. She should have expected that.

Catra lost her grin and smiled ruefully for a moment. She didn’t apologise, though. “And it’s also funny because they’re acting like humans. Right down to the uniforms.”

“Suits,” Adora corrected her.

“Priest defined them as uniforms, so they’re uniforms,” Catra shot back.

“And why is it funny that clones are acting like humans?” Adora wanted to know. It wasn’t funny. Not at all!

“It might make the idiots on Earth realise how stupid they are about their religions,” Catra explained as she shifted in her seat.

Adora sighed. That was a touchy subject. “Earth is very serious about their religions.”

“Only the parts of Earth that we don’t want to have anything to do with,” Catra retorted. “And the same goes for them.”

That was, well… not entirely wrong. But not entirely correct either. “Their pope told everyone that magic wasn’t evil.” That covered at least one of the biggest religions.

Catra scoffed. “And he didn’t tell everyone that us loving each other was fine. Speaking for a god that supposedly wants you to love everyone.”

Adora didn’t think Catra - or herself - were reliable sources on Earth’s religions. Or any religion - it wasn’t as if growing up in the Horde had taught them anything about any religion. And Adora hadn’t exactly researched the various religions on Etheria since the war had ended. Perfuma and most of Plumeria worshipped nature, Mystacore worshipped magic… That was about the extent of her knowledge. It just wasn’t something most people talked about. Still… “I just don’t want to be worshipped.”

Catra shrugged again. “Better you than some invisible, silent god that won’t step in when its followers start hurting others.”

Adora’s lover had made that point before. And Adora couldn’t really argue it. But that didn’t mean she liked it, either. “You usually complain if I feel responsible for everyone.”

“Yes.” Catra scoffed. “But it’s better than the alternative. Imagine if the humans converted the clones!”

Adora shuddered at the thought. That would be a catastrophe!

*****​

Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, United States of America, Earth, October 26th, 1998

“Chevron Six, encoded!”

“Chevron Seven locked!”

A moment later, the gate activated. Samantha Carter saw the members of the new Stargate team - British this time - wince slightly as the vortex formed before stabilising. Good. That meant they remembered how lethal it was.

But they recovered quickly, the team leader stepping on the ramp, then looking at the command centre.

“Proceed to your destination,” General Haig ordered the men, and the team quickly marched through the gate, vanishing from view.

And that was it. Sam’s work for this ‘acclimatisation mission’ was done. She stayed at her post anyway, just in case something came up - even with a routine trip to a known destination which already had a team and temporary base on site, you never knew if something unexpected would happen. It was part of what made Stargate Command such an attractive posting for Sam. Next to being able to advance physics past anything people outside science fiction authors could have imagined a few years ago, of course. And now being able to work with magitech.

And working with people who appreciated her talents and didn’t think she had slept her way up or was riding the coattails of a man. Sam had had enough of that to last her a lifetime. As if she’d ever sleep with a superior to advance her career! Just sleeping with a fellow officer could damage your career, and if you got involved with someone in your chain of command…

She pressed her lips together. This was purely hypothetical. She knew the regulations, and she was a professional soldier. Such things were off-limits, and for very good reasons. The last thing Stargate Command - or any unit involved with the war against the Goa’uld - needed was people getting distracted by relationships, gossip and interpersonal conflicts.

Even the Russians should realise that. Especially the Russians. Certainly some Russian spy posing as a soldier trying to honeytrap the Colonel. Who should really know better than to encourage the woman!

She closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. She was being silly. The Colonel was a professional and knew the Russians better than anyone else in Stargate Command. He wouldn’t fall for such a blatant attempt to seduce him. Really, ‘I am looking forward to when we’re no longer in the same chain of command’? Hah! By that time, the new Stargate Command site would be ready, and the Russian spy would be stuck on the coast of Canada, while SG-1 would be part of whatever expeditionary force the United States would send along with the Etherian fleets.

Sam pushed the thought that SG-1 might end up split up away. She had talked to Entrapta and the others about how the Etherians waged war, and from what she heard, it sounded like SG-1’s experience was an almost perfect fit for the kind of operations the Princess Alliance ran. A small group of highly-skilled special forces used to working together spearheading larger operations. Odds were, SG-1 would be kept together, for both political and military reasons.

And if not, a traitorous part of her mind whispered as she ran another check on the gate’s status, the Colonel wouldn’t be in your chain of command any more…

She pushed that thought away as well.

*****​

An hour later, the British team was back, and Samantha Carter was taking a break while a French team was getting ready for their first gate trip. She sipped from a cup of great coffee - General Petit had had the standard coffee makers replaced with civilian-grade models that shamed most coffee shops in Colorado - and looked at the screen in the corner of the control room, where the news was being displayed. At least the news deemed relevant or important for Stargate Command, selected by a team of specialists and put on a loop.

Today, like yesterday, it was focused on the Etherian missionaries, showing two of them walking down a narrow street in… London. “They really look like alien Mormons,” General Petit commented as he joined her.

Mormons sent missionaries all over the world, Sam reminded herself. Even to such secular countries as France. “Yes, sir,” she agreed.

“But they look slightly stiff,” the general went on. “They must be under great pressure, with the eyes of the world on them. And the eyes of their superiors.”

Sam agreed again. Though she wasn’t sure if the Horde clones, at least those from Third Fleet, weren’t their own worst critics, so to speak - from what Sam had seen of them, they were religious fanatics. And now on a mission from their goddess. At least they weren’t wearing sunglasses and organising a concert. She suppressed a snort - this was too serious for that kind of joke.

“Although I doubt that there will be much if any trouble in London or Paris,” Petit went on. “Or Berlin.”

Sam was tempted to point out that Europe had its fair share of religious fanatics as well but refrained. And not just because the general was her superior, but also because, even taking into account the smaller populations, neither the United Kingdom nor France or Germany had had nearly as many protests against the ‘shore leave’ of the clones as the United States had had and were still having. Fortunately, most of those protests were held in places the aliens weren’t visiting.

And the last few months had shown a rapid decline of both the influence and visibility of the radical Evangelicals in the country. Though being dropped by pretty much every conservative business and billionaire hadn’t been received well by those conservative politicians who hadn’t changed their stance on religion. Once the proposed constitutional amendments passed - and Sam had no doubt they would pass - things might get ugly in some places.

She masked her silence with another sip from her coffee and made some appreciative noise.

The General beamed. “I personally selected this coffee maker! It’s the best on the market!”

Sam nodded. And probably the most expensive as well. Well, it wasn’t her budget to worry about. “It shows,” she said. She was about to add some platitude when the screen changed. CNN. Showing police cars. American police cars. And a red banner at the bottom.

Breaking news! Alien shot in New York!

*****​

North Shore University Hospital, New York, Earth, October 26th, 1998

Catra didn’t bother to hide her mood, snarling as she sprinted down the hallway after Adora. One of the clones had gotten shot by some Earth nutcase. And, of course, Adora had dropped everything to rush to the clone.

Well, his condition was critical according to what they had been told, and Earth hospitals and doctors had no experience treating clones, and if the guy died, things would probably get ugly. Uglier. Priest had already been talking about making the man a ‘martyr’ or something. But still - running through a hospital like this wasn’t exactly ‘good optics’, as Mr Brown would say.

“Uh… ma’am? This is a…”

Adora brushed past the uniformed guards in front of the door between her and the wounded clone as if they weren’t there. Not that they could have stopped her if they had tried - nothing could stop Adora in such a moment. She all but kicked the door open.

Catra still kept an eye on the guards as she passed them - they were armed, after all.

Inside the room, a woman in white clothes - a doctor or nurse - tried to stop Adora. “This is an operating room! You can’t just…”

Adora ignored her as well, pointing her sword at the figure on the table, surrounded by startled humans. The nurse shrieked, but the glowing healing magic was already covering the wounded clone.

Moments later, he started to move, or tried to - they had tied him to the table. She-Ra cut him free with two slices of her sword while everyone else backed away. “How are you? Do you still feel pain?”

Catra saw the clone blink before he recognised Adora and his eyes widened. “Your Divine Highness!”

Usually, Adora would flinch at hearing that title, but she was too focused on saving him, Catra noticed. “Do you still feel pain?”

“Uh… No, no! No, Your Divine Highness!” His mouth spread in a wide smile and he was blinking through tears.

Adora curtly nodded, then took a deep breath. “We arrived in time.”

“Yeah,” Catra agreed. And they had attracted a lot of attention. She pushed her communicator. “Sparkles? We’ve got him.”

“Alright! Coming!”

“Glimmer’s on the way,” Catra told Adora, who was helping the clone off the table. He still looked like he had had the time of his life instead of nearly dying. “Just have to wait until she finds us.”

“Good. Where are his clothes?” Adora asked the humans present.

“Uh… we had to cut them off to prep him for surgery,” one of them replied.

“Ah.”

“What about his communicator?” Catra asked. That was, well, not really advanced technology, but you didn’t leave your comms if you could help it. That was how your communication lines got compromised. Well, that and by Entrapta and Bow hacking into your systems.

“Uh…”

Catra shook her head and turned to glare at the uniformed guards - who had multiplied in the meantime but hadn’t dared to enter the room. “Fetch his gear!”

One of them turned to leave, then stopped, glancing at another guard. Probably their leader. Or were those cops? It didn’t matter.

“That’s evidence for a criminal investigation,” the leader said.

Before Catra could tell the idiot what he could do with his ‘criminal investigation’, another man arrived and snapped at him. “Perkins! Don’t try to boss around the aliens with spaceships floating above us!”

“But Chief!”

He ignored him and smiled - although tightly - at Catra and Adora. “I’ve sent someone to fetch his belongings.”

“Thank you!” Adora beamed at him. And then Catra’s idiot lover went on: “Was anyone else hurt? They only told us about him.”

By the time Glimmer arrived in a cloud of sparkling light - Catra didn’t know how many other rooms she had teleported into before reaching them - Adora was already busy healing half the patients in the hospital.

And Catra couldn’t help wondering if this had been part of a plan to get her lover to heal people.

*****​

Earth Orbit, Solar System, October 26th, 1998 (Earth Time)

“So, what exactly happened? The Earth authorities kept saying they were still investigating when I asked them. All of them!” Glimmer asked. And she had talked to every authority she could reach, Catra knew. “Also, I told everyone we wouldn’t bombard their city from orbit.”

The formerly wounded clone, sitting in the centre of Darla’s lounge, glanced at Adora, then at Priest.

Adora smiled gently at him, and Priest nodded. “Speak, brother, so we know who tried to murder you before you were saved by Her Divine Grace!”

The Clone beamed, nodding eagerly, before blinking. “Uh… we were door-knocking like we had trained.”

“And why weren’t you with your partner?”

“Ah, that is, we had passed a food stand earlier, and he had gone back to fetch us some ‘hot dogs’.” The clone cringed a little. “I thought I could handle a house alone - we’d been to many already.”

Priest nodded, taking this breach of regulations better than Catra had expected. Or maybe he thought that Adora healing the clone had wiped away any fault. Catra hadn’t delved too deeply into Priest’s views.

“So, I ring the doorbell, and this woman appears, and I ask her if she had heard of Her Divine Highness, She-Ra. She had, and so I started explaining, and she was listening, when an older man appeared, yelling at her not to listen to me. And then he started cursing me.” The clone raised his chin. “The curses of the ignorant cannot hurt the faithful, so I ignored him. But he started berating the woman, and they started a row, and then he… he insulted Your Divine Highness!” He scowled deeply.

Catra pressed her lips together. She had a hunch of where this was going.

“I told him not to slander Your Divine Highness, but he… he doubled down! I told him that those who slandered She-Ra would not be saved, and he kept cursing me as a heathen and sprouting inane sentences, and… well, I told him he was stupid and his god was wrong, and he yelled something about how his daughter wouldn’t be corrupted, and then he suddenly drew a gun and shot me. I don’t remember much after that. Everyone was screaming.” The clone lowered his head, then glanced at Adora.

Catra sighed as her friends looked at each other. Definitely not good optics.

*****​

Washington D.C., United States of America, October 27th (Earth Time)

Usually, Jack O’Neill didn’t like - or outright hated - travelling to Washington D.C. because that meant talking to the brass at the Pentagon about things they didn’t really understand. Or to politicians who didn’t understand anything. Usually, it meant preventing some more or less well-meaning (or downright malicious) idiot from sabotaging Stargate Command, wasting time that would be better spent on actually doing his job.

Which, incidentally, was leading SG-1 in the field and waging war, not playing politics. He was a colonel, not a general.

But today, he almost enjoyed his trip to Washington D.C. Sure, he might have to talk to politicians, but this was the President, not Kinsey. And while the occasion was serious - having an alien visitor shot on one’s watch was always serious - it got him out of the mountain just when he needed a change of scenery. And some distance between himself and certain very competent and far too attractive female officers of Stargate Command. About whom he definitely didn’t have any thoughts that might violate regulations or common sense, respectively. Not at all.

“Say, Jack…”

Daniel turned from watching the streets of Washington, chock-full of cars, to Daniel, who was sitting next to him in the staff car. “Yes?”

“Don’t you think Sam should have come with us as well?”

Jack suppressed a sigh.

Daniel went on: “I mean, sure, she’s a physicist, not an anthropologist, but she’s been working with the Etherians the most, and she probably has the best picture of how they’re going to react. And she can just call Entrapta and ask if she doesn’t know the answer.”

“Carter has urgent work to do,” Jack replied. “She said so herself.” Even though both Jack and Carter had known it was ‘not entirely factual’, as she would say. “And she gave us her opinion on the Etherians’ reaction.” In writing.

“Yes, but…” Daniel must have noticed something about Jack’s mood since he trailed off. He didn’t stop talking, of course. Not Daniel. “Is this about Lenkova?”

Yes. “No,” Jack said, narrowing his eyes.

This time, Daniel got the message. Though the pout he showed when he slowly nodded told Jack that his friend would bring this up again.

Damn. Jack needed to sort out this before then.

*****​

“...and many people have come together in a vigil at the site of the shooting, showing their concern and empathy for the wounded alien. A few protestors were sent away by the police, allegedly for their own protection. In other news, the North Shore University Hospital required police protection as hundreds of people tried to enter it in the hope of getting healed, despite the announcement that Adora had already left the building - and Earth - again. Experts are divided about the effects this incident will have on the relations between the United States and Etheria.”

Jack O’Neill rolled his eyes at the TV screen in the room where he and Daniel were waiting to talk to the cabinet. Technically, the United States government wasn’t negotiating with Etheria but with the Princess Alliance. Effectively, they represented Etheria, of course, but… He blinked - he was thinking like Daniel! Damn!

At least his friend hadn’t noticed - he was looking through news sites on his laptop. And Daniel didn’t seem to be happy.

“What’s wrong?” Jack asked.

“It’s just… how stupid are people? Glimmer repeatedly said the Etherians wouldn’t retaliate - or blame the United States for this - and this so-called expert claims that this was a clear threat! I mean, I expect biases from this news company, but outright insanity?”

Jack craned his neck and checked the article’s origin. Ah. “They’re pandering to their audience.” Which was a bunch of radical nutcases.

“Still… Facts are facts!”

“And that article is an opinion piece.” Jack grinned at Daniel’s expression.

Even better, before Daniel could say anything in return, an aide entered the room and called them to meet the cabinet.

*****​

“...and that’s I don’t think this incident will have a significant negative influence on our relations with the Etherians: They know that this was the action of a lone individual, and they do not blame the United States for it. Further, they are also aware that the proselytising the victim engaged in is somewhat divisive,” Daniel finally finished.

“I see,” the President said. “That concurs with the opinion of our analysts.”

“And Captain Carter’s summary,” Jack O'Neill added. He earned a few glares from other cabinet members for speaking without being addressed, but the President nodded in agreement.

“That’s reassuring. Less reassuring is that this happened in the first place.” The President didn’t look at anyone in particular, but Jack saw several members of the cabinet tense up.

“We can’t really convince everyone that we need the Etherians as allies more than we need ‘god’s support’,” the Secretary of Education said - her tone making it clear what she thought of the idea that there was any question about what the United States needed.

“We’ve got the media on our side, though,” the Secretary of State replied. “With the exception of fringe newspapers and the odd opinion piece.”

“The incident did rile up the more extremist Evangelicals, though - the idea that aliens are allowed to proselytise on United States soil is a very touchy subject,” the Secretary of Defense said.

“We know that,” the President retorted. “We’ve all seen the polls. But the constitution, regardless of what some radicals think, is clear about this.” He sighed. “Of course, I wish they wouldn’t have put us on the spot like this. Things were all on track for the amendment, and now we’ve got this mess to deal with.”

“The Etherians might not have had much of a choice,” Daniel pointed out. “They have to deal with religious radicals as well, after all.”

The Secretary of Defense frowned. “Can’t they just order them to shut up and stop making trouble? They are absolute monarchs! Hell, one of them is worshipped as a god by those aliens!”

Jack smiled as Daniel pushed his glasses up and went into lecture mode. “It’s a common misconception that absolute monarchs rule absolutely. The clones are a vital part of the Alliance military, and their desires and opinions carry a lot of weight. Further, I think it’s clear that Adora is unwilling to use her position to tell others what religion they should follow - or not follow. So, it should be evident that…”

Jack leaned back a little and tuned his friend out.

*****​

Palais des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland, October 28th, 1998 (Earth Time)

“...and yes, that’s the complete list of locations with magical activity on Earth as far as we know. There might be other such sites that aren’t active right now but will become active should certain conditions be met - conditions which we also don’t know yet.”

Glimmer sounded annoyed. Adora wanted to pat her shoulder when she sat down after answering another stupid question from the assembly, but that would have left the wrong impression. So she nodded at her friend. This was the fifth ‘special session’ of the United Nations about magic after Adora had restored it, and the questions hadn’t really changed. In fact, many of the hostile ambassadors always asked the same questions Adora and her friends couldn’t answer, probably just so they could keep claiming that magic was not known well enough and so it would be too dangerous to legalise it.

Another ambassador rose to ask a question. Adora noticed it was the one from Iran, heard the first line about responsibility, and sighed. The same ‘question’ again. As soon as he had finished, she rose. “No, we will not ‘assume responsibility’ for any damage done by magic. First, you still have not submitted any proof that the fire and flooding - or the sickness - were caused by magic. Second, magic is a natural force. Restoring it to Earth is not the same as providing everyone with a loaded gun. It’s like restoring the laws of physics that make it possible for gunpowder to work.” She smiled, even though after four such sessions, she now could quote Entrapa and Bow’s arguments in her sleep. And sometimes did, at least according to Catra. “We didn’t teach anyone in your country to actually use magic; that’s all on them.”

“Without your actions, none of this would have happened!”

Adora shrugged. The man wasn’t entirely wrong. If they hadn’t restored magic to Earth, spells and powers wouldn’t work. But magitech would. And as they had found out in Honduras, magitech could be as dangerous as advanced non-magical technology.

Something Glimmer was, as always, quick to point out: “Even if your calamities were caused by magic, it could have been magitech, which was already working before we restored magic.”

“And we answered that question already in the last session. And the session before that.” Catra openly sneered at the ambassador.

Adora pressed her lips together. They should stop attending those sessions - it made everyone’s temper worse.

“At least give us scanners to detect magic!” the ambassador all but yelled. “How are we supposed to protect our people from magic if we can’t even find it?”

Glimmer rolled her eyes. “No country that hasn’t legalised magic - and given guarantees to prevent witch hunts - will receive magic scanners.” She leaned forward and glared at the man. “Do you think we’re stupid? You’ll use those scanners to hunt down people with the talent to use magic! And then you’d claim they were evil no matter what they actually did!”

“We do not execute people simply for having such a talent!” the ambassador protested. “But criminals are criminals, whether they are magical or not!”

Adora glared. Sure, a number of ‘sorceresses’ in Iran were sent to prison and not executed, and many more were ‘lynched’ by ‘private citizens’, not the police, but so far, none of the murderers had been prosecuted either. Still, it wasn’t enough to intervene.

“The scanners aren’t ready yet, anyway,” Catra added before yawning theatrically. “Does anyone actually have a question that wasn’t answered already before this session?”

Adora knew she should scold Catra for the breach of protocol, but she just couldn’t bother. Listening to the same questions session after session was simply too repetitive.

Yet another ambassador from the Middle East complained about magic. At least many African countries had stopped that - apparently, many traditional healers suddenly found their medicines and treatments working much more effectively.

“They’re just running those sessions so they can funnel people in for you to heal,” Catra whispered.

Adora frowned at her. She wasn’t about to ignore someone suffering in front of her! It wasn’t their fault that they were sick!

“You know I’m right.” Catra smirked.

“They should look for sorceresses of their own,” Adora said. “That would solve their problems with magic.”

“They are looking for their own sorceresses,” Catra retorted. “So they can kill them.” She leaned back and stretched her arms over her head. “It would be more fun listening to Priest explaining why you’re a goddess even though you deny it.”

Adora pouted in return. She couldn’t just order Priest to stop… worshipping her. No matter how much it annoyed her. She had been the one to defeat Horde Prime and free the clones, after all. It was only natural that some of them would fixate on her as their new leader - they didn’t know any better. Adora knew how it was, being raised by the Horde and not knowing the truth. And how difficult it was for many to change, she added to herself with a glance a Catra. She could only hope that the clones would realise that she was no goddess if Adora kept explaining it.

And, a small part inside her mind that sounded like Catra because that was what Catra had told her many times, it was better if the Clones worshipped her instead of worshipping anyone else. Like an enemy of theirs. Or the Goa’uld. Better for the clones and everyone else.

“...and the way you offer your lapdogs training in sorcery but refuse to help countries that don’t bow to your demands shows your bias!”

Right, they were at the ‘stop helping your allies’ part now. They hadn’t even finalised the agreement to train some sorceresses on Earth yet! Or recruited instructors from Etheria - they needed a Stargate for that, anyway. And that was a little tricky. Both politically and with regard to security. They might just install it on a moon. And then there was the technology exchange. In theory, the clones could help with basic instructions, but they would likely use the opportunity to proselytise as well… They had so many more important things to do than listening to people complain about magic!

“We should ask Entrapta to build a bot to answer those questions,” Catra commented as yet another ambassador asked about magic schools. “Make them look like us, but the size of Emily!”

Adora giggled at that.

Well, this, too, would pass, as Jack said. And they were making progress. Sooner or later, things would work out.

But they really needed to stop attending those stupid sessions. They had much more important things to do.

*****​

 

AN: Thanks to Meshakhad for researching valid locations for the Stargate!

Chapter 51: The Recon Mission Part 1

CFB Goose Bay, Newfoundland, Canada, November 14th, 1998

“Who the hell had the stupid idea to pick this as the new site of the Stargate? I want to know so we can send them to Thule!”

Samantha Carter didn’t react to the Colonel’s profanity. In fact, she had an urge to curse herself - the cold and the biting wind here at Canadian Force Base Goose Bay reminded her far too much of the time the Colonel and herself had been stuck in that cave in Antarctica. Even the best cold weather gear they were wearing couldn’t keep them completely warm. Maybe she should have worn the spacesuit Entrapta had made for her - the cold wouldn’t bother her at all, and the suit was very comfortable to wear. On the other hand, it might cause some resentment from the rest of the Stargate Command delegation visiting the site. And some idiots would claim that as a woman, she was too weak and soft to stand the temperature…

“I thought you liked Canada,” Daniel commented, shielding his face with his hand. Or trying to - his glasses were fogging over.

“I like hockey. I don’t like moving from Colorado to the arctic. To the butt end of the arctic, to be precise,” the Colonel griped. “There was nothing wrong with Colorado.”

Sam knew that it had been a mostly political choice. The United Nations didn’t want the gate to remain in the USA. And the USA didn’t want the gate to move too far away - and still had enough pull to ensure that. Sam thought the Australians had had the best proposal. Woomera or Exmouth would have been perfect from a strategic and logistical perspective. Easy to supply, not much buildup necessary. And remote enough so one could fight an invasion without endangering too many civilians.

But that had been too far from Europe, and so, between the USA, France and Britain, Canada’s proposal had won out. And Stargate Command would have to adjust.

“Probably picked so the Russians would feel at home - it’s as cold as in Siberia.”

“Really?” Daniel blinked. “Well, when we visited Siberia, it wasn’t winter. Were you in Siberia during winter?”

The Colonel scoffed but didn’t answer. Which was to be expected.

“The location is rather remote, but it has a port,” Sam pointed out. “And the Canadian government is already constructing a railway line to link it up with the Canadian railway network.”

“The port will need to be expanded if we want to ship in all the supplies we need quickly enough to get this done in a timely fashion,” the Colonel said. “As things are, we need a lot more infrastructure here to supply an invasion through the gate.”

“I thought we didn’t plan to run invasions through the gate?” Daniel frowned.

“Not for the initial attack. But we might need to use a gate to deliver supplies - we might not have access to spaceships for supplies.” The Colonel shrugged. “You never know what happens in a war. Even if you think it’ll be a cakewalk. Especially if you think it’ll be a cakewalk.”

Sam nodded. The Colonel knew that better than everyone else here, given his experiences during the Gulf War.

“Supplying an Earth invasion force, especially a mechanised one, through the gate will be difficult.” Teal’c didn’t seem to be bothered by the cold. Or just didn’t show any reaction. “It would severely restrict the use of the gate for other reasons.”

“Well, it’s better than the mountain,” Daniel said. “We can’t exactly ship lots of supplies through the base.”

That was true, of course. The Colonel still grumbled. Then again, he liked playing the grumpy old man from time to time. “One attempted invasion and the Canadians will scream to move it to Australia. And once the public realises that gates work both ways, someone will want to move it to Mars.”

“I think the logistical challenges of moving the Stargate to Mars and operating it there would severely reduce its usefulness.”

“Well, that was a joke, Teal’c.”

“Ah.”

Sam couldn’t tell if Teal’c had actually thought that the Colonel had been serious. Wait, his lips twitched - that was him pulling the Colonel’s leg.

“And, speaking of Mars… Is it true that you suggested surveying a landing site in advance of the Mars mission NASA is launching soon, Sam?” Daniel wanted to know.

“Oh, planning to steal NASA’s thunder?”

Sam rolled her eyes. “I merely suggested using some of the recon bots we’re building to search for the ideal landing site.”

“But that would drive home that this isn’t a brave exploration mission, but just a few scientists taking a cab to Mars.” The Colonel chuckled. “Imagine them arriving, and you and Entrapta are having a picnic there!”

“We’re too busy to have a picnic on Mars, sir.” As if Sam would be so petty as to do that!

“But you’ll keep an eye on the Mars base, right?” Daniel asked. “I mean… I am not trying to disparage NASA’s engineers, but they are building this modular base in a hurry, aren’t they?”

Sam nodded. “The Etherians will keep a frigate in orbit to support and, if necessary, evacuate the scientists.”

“And to nuke any hostile Martians from space.” The Colonel clapped his hands together. “Anyway, let’s blow this joint. We came, we saw the miserable freezing place here, and we can safely say that the best way to use this base is to build a huge bunker so we’re at least warm while we’re here. And an underground railroad so we won’t ever have to go outside.”

“Except for field training, right?” Daniel asked in an earnest tone. But he was grinning.

And the Colonel scowled.

*****​

Whitehall, Westminster, London, United Kingdom, Earth, November 16th, 1998

“...and since everyone is present, the first strategy meeting of the United Alliance of Earth and Etheria has officially started. The first item to discuss is the location of the Alliance Headquarters. I suggest that it should be located on Earth and reasonably close to the Stargate to make emergency meetings easier to attend.”

Glimmer went full steam ahead, as the humans would say, Catra noted. From the opening speech straight down to business. Then again, it had taken months longer than Catra had hoped to get the Alliance going and dealing with all the issues the rest of the world had brought up - well, more like making sure the bigotted idiots wouldn’t make trouble for the Alliance - and they really needed to get things sorted out to get the war started. The longer an enemy was left in peace, the harder it would be to defeat them.

And, as expected, the Earth parts of the Alliance all took offence at this.

“But the majority of the Alliance member states are in Europe!” the French representative protested. “We should be picking a central location in Europe.”

“Why not pick Brussels? It’s already the NATO headquarters!” the Belgian representative pointed out. Though, as Catra had noticed, not too many were paying attention to him - or to the delegates from the other small European countries that had joined the Alliance.

“Germany would be happy to host the headquarters, but we think that military concerns should take precedence over political ones.” The German Minister of Defence nodded at his colleagues.

“Political concerns are military concerns during a war,” the French minister shot back. “You cannot separate them.”

“Canada would be honoured to not only host the Stargate but also the Alliance Headquarters.”

“Iceland would also be willing to host the headquarters, We can offer a geographical compromise.”

“You don’t even have a military!” the Danish representative snapped.

That was true. Catra didn’t quite get why Iceland had joined the Alliance. They were supposedly recruiting volunteers, but they lacked any military tradition and the closest they had come to war in centuries was a conflict over fish with an ally of theirs.

But turning a willing ally away would have sent the wrong message, and compared to some kingdoms on Etheria, they weren’t too small. Still, Catra didn’t think they would be much use in the war. They probably would end up joining the forces of the Kingdom of Snows.

“I think Iceland is too remote to serve as headquarters,” the German Minister of Defence commented.

“The United Kingdom is neither remote nor bereft of armed forces. And geographically and culturally, we’re a good compromise - especially with an eye on the eventual joining of the United States.”

Which were still trying to get the amendment to guarantee gay marriage and all the other rights passed. Or ratified - whatever the process was called. Catra had stopped paying close attention to it after the sixth time she had thought they were finally done only to hear that this had been just another step. The Americans must really hate changing anything about their laws, the way they made it so hard and complicated.

“I think the Stargate’s location isn’t of crucial importance. In an emergency, we all would have to take a plane - or one of the shuttles, once they are available - so anyone arriving through the gate could do the same and arrive at the same time.” The minister from Norway had a good point, in Catra’s opinion. Good enough that the rest of the ministers acknowledged it.

Of course, they then used that to explain why the headquarters would be best placed in their country.

“Just pick a country,” Catra snapped when the Swedish delegate proposed a rotating headquarter. “If you don’t want it near the Stargate, then its location doesn’t really matter as long as there aren’t too many civilians around it. You just need a big bunker to house everyone. And defences, of course.”

Adora nodded. “Yes. Although it would be nice if it would serve as a staging ground as well for the Alliance forces, we don’t need to combine both locations. It might be even safer to split them up so a strike at one location doesn’t take out both.”

Of course, that started a discussion about the location of the main base, more political and infrastructure questions, and more bickering over security and accessibility. And some of the concerns… family visiting? And being housed? On a military base?

Catra shook her head. “We never had those problems in the Horde.”

“That’s because we didn’t have families in the Horde.”

“Well, yes, but that’s not the point.” Catra pouted. Really, who wanted to take their family into a base? Coming home would feel like getting back to the barracks! But, apparently, things were different on Earth. The scale of the bases and the number of civilians involved… “Might as well build a new town - or found a new kingdom,” she whispered.

That made Adora giggle, even if it wasn’t funny.

At least Catra knew that the humans wouldn’t take forever to decide this. It was clear, even though none said so, that they wanted everything settled before the Americans could join.

*****​

Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, United States of America, Earth, November 18th, 1998

“...and with that decision by the General Assembly of Ohio, two-thirds of the states have now ratified the amendment. That means…”

Jack O’Neill switched the TV off.

“I was watching that!” Daniel protested.

“You were watching the same commentary that happened thirty-four times before?” Jack raised his eyebrows as he looked for a good place to lean against, or sit on, in Daniel’s office. There was the second chair, of course, but that would have made him look tired.

Daniel pouted in return. “It’s a historic event. I want to follow it from start to finish. The social repercussions and changes this will cause…”

“It’s a done deal,” Jack cut him off. “Congress voted on it. And the states are ratifying it. The only reason it’s taking as long as it takes is that some states are dragging their feet scheduling the votes.” Mainly because the NID hadn’t taken care of every influential conservative that would rather keep the gay down than let the United States make an alliance with lesbian magical space princesses that would net them advanced technology. At least Jack thought so. They reminded him of some of the ‘Segregation Forever!’-types.

“Well,” Daniel said, “some pundits seem to think that the delay is less due to holdouts but because some states want to be the deciding vote, so to speak.” He shrugged. “I don’t think it’s likely - they would probably be remembered as the last holdout rather than the deciding vote - but it might explain some of the scheduling troubles.”

Jack snorted. He also doubted it. “Sounds more like a desperate attempt to fill the news while everyone is waiting for the amendment to finally take effect.” Especially the armed forces. They needed the alliance as soon as possible. If they waited any longer, the war would start without them, and the United States would be forced to enter it on someone else’s terms. Mainly, the Europeans’ terms.

And, judging by the rumours that Jack had heard from Entrapta about how they bickered over everything, that would be a bad idea. Jack didn’t want to live in England for the war. Or, even worse, Iceland. At least no one had proposed Greenland for the base or headquarters.

“Well…” Daniel shrugged again. “Usually, the truth about such things isn’t known until much later.” He put a stack of papers down. Jack couldn’t read their titles from his spot and didn’t feel like asking his friend about it. Probably something about medieval societies that Daniel then could complain about not being applicable to Etherians or something.

“I just wish we were already in negotiations about the alliance,” Jack muttered.

Daniel frowned. “We can’t join without the amendment being passed.”

“We could hash out the details for the alliance in advance, though. So, as soon as the final state gets around to voting, we can sign the alliance.” It was just a formality, anyway. Well, most of it.

“Catra said it was rather straightforward - they’ve streamlined the process since the start. All the Scandinavian countries joined without lengthy negotiations,” Daniel pointed out.

“That’s what I am afraid of,” Jack replied. Conditions aimed at small countries like Norway or Sweden wouldn’t fit the United States.

His friend frowned again. “Why?”

“Of all the countries, we’re the only one with experience fighting the Goa’uld. Not even the Etherians have any experience. We should be more involved.” Granted, they mostly had experience with small unit actions through the Stargate, and the Alliance was gearing up for a conventional war - in space - but they knew their enemy. Especially Teal’c. Jack wasn’t looking forward to seeing the Alliance repeat Operation Torch.

“Ah.” Daniel nodded, apparently conceding the point. “I don’t think the Etherians will ignore our advice, though.”

“Maybe not.” Jack wasn’t so optimistic.

“So, what’s up?” Daniel suddenly asked. “You didn’t come here to watch CNN with me.”

Jack snorted. “Can’t I come to visit you to chat?”

Daniel blinked. “Sure. But you’re usually a bit too busy at this time of the day.”

“A meeting fell through,” Jack explained. And he hadn’t felt like doing paperwork.

Daniel nodded. “And Sam’s in France with Entratpta, looking at the shuttle factory they are building there.”

“Yes.” Another fait-accompli, as the French would say. The Europeans weren’t wasting any time taking advanced technology. Even though it was mostly automated, according to Carter. Wait! Jack narrowed his eyes at Daniel’s expression. Was he insinuating something more?

“Between Stargate Command, the projects with Entrapta and the NASA mission to Mars she’s advising, Sam’s quite busy. Maybe you should order her to take a break,” Daniel went on.

He was. Jack shot him a look. “Carter knows how to take care of herself. I don’t need to babysit her.” Unlike Daniel.

“It’s not about babysitting,” Daniel protested, “but relaxing and socialising.”

His friend was right - they hadn’t had time to relax, hadn’t they? “Well, the Christmas parties are coming,” Jack pointed out. Even though Alliance talks and meetings would probably hijack those. Hell, the fighting with the Navy was getting downright vicious - ever since the Royal Navy had apparently come out on top in the struggle in Britain, the Navy pukes had been getting cocky.

But Daniel didn’t look satisfied. Jack almost wanted to ask if he was trying to play matchmaker but refrained from doing so. Some things you didn’t talk about. And Jack’s relationship with Carter, not that there was such a thing, fell firmly into that category. He’d rather discuss medieval culture than that. Or soccer.

*****​

Earth Orbit, Solar System, November 20th, 1998

“So… France can’t host the headquarters because they already got a shuttle factory and more coming,” Adora summed up the results of the latest meeting. The latest tiresome meeting.

“And because they’re French,” Catra added, stretching on her chair in that distracting way of hers, then slumping down as if she were made of liquid, about to ooze over the edge of her seat.

“No one said that.” Adora scowled at her lover.

“It was implied,” Glimmer cut in. “Apparently, leaving the NATO - or partially leaving - in the past is being held against them, but no one is as rude as to say so to their face.”

But everyone knew it. Or used the argument. Adora sighed. “And Germany won’t get the headquarters because they want to host the main base for the Alliance so it will help ‘revitalise’ their eastern parts.”

“Yes.”

“Even though they could just plant the new factories they want there?” Adora was not an expert on economics, but she had read up on the theory. You put up a factory where no one was, and that caused the area to gain workers and income.

“Those are going to be built in locations with established factory complexes, in the other parts of Germany,” Bow said. “They want to use the trained workforces there.”

“They don’t want to make those people already working there mad for losing out,” Gimmer explained. “The government relies on their support.”

“Ah.” That made somewhat sense.

“And the Germans have the most experience hosting lots of foreign troops, so there shouldn’t be too much friction, at least that’s what they claim.” Catra’s smirk told Adora she didn’t believe them.

“But the British want to host the base as well - and they also claim they have experience, although that was decades ago during their last great war,” Glimmer went on.

“The Second World War,” Bow corrected her.

Glimmer frowned at him for a moment. “Yes. Anyway, they are angling to get more industries in exchange for giving up their claim.”

Catra snorted. “Sounds like a bunch of bandits in the Crimson Waste haggling over who gets what part of the loot!”

Adora pressed her lips together. She couldn’t quite refute that. “So, who’s winning?”

“Whoever we pick,” Glimmer replied. “If we want to pick one. But it’s pretty clear that they won’t pick locations that we wouldn’t like.”

“Do we want to?” Bow asked. “Seems like no matter who we pick, everyone else will be mad at us.”

Catra sat straighter. “We don’t want locations that can’t handle the logistics and defences. And we don’t want locations that have historical issues with others in the Alliance. For headquarters, something that’s easy to defend against spies would be best.”

“For headquarters, we have to pick something with enough infrastructure to cater to all the officers stationed there,” Glimmer corrected her. “They need a certain level of comfort,” she added with a snort.

Catra chuckled. “Sounds like Bright Moon.”

Gimmer narrowed her eyes at her. “Bright Moon’s soldiers can rough it.”

“But you don’t like to rough it.” Catra flashed her teeth in a wide grin. “Even your dungeons look like luxury guest rooms.”

Bow cleared his throat. “So, uh… Do we actually want to pick a location? We don’t care for that, do we?”

“We don’t,” Adora said.

“And letting our allies pick it means we have more leverage when something comes up that we want to decide,” Glimmer agreed. “I think they’ll pick Belgium for headquarters; they already have NATO headquarters there and the seat of the European Union, which means most of their leaders are used to it.”

Adora nodded even though her impression had been that no one was taking Belgium’s proposal seriously. But Glimmer knew more about politics, and it did sound like a good compromise. “And the base?”

Glimmer shrugged. “Beats me. It needs to be somewhat remote so we can have the soldiers exercise there. And we need to build a spaceport. Canada or Australia would offer good locations, as would the USA, but in my impression, most want it to be located in Europe.”

Adora sighed again. Petty politics! There wouldn’t be that much fuss about the location of Etheria’s Stargate, that was certain.

“Well, with the USA close to finally sorting themselves out,” Catra said, “I bet our allies will quickly find a compromise.”

“Just as they found a compromise regarding advanced technology,” Glimmer added with a lot of sarcasm.

“Well, having factories with advanced technology in every country means they’re less vulnerable to attacks and sabotage - you can’t get too much with one attack,” Bow said with a smile.

That was true, but Adora was sure this was more like a side-effect and not the main reason the Europeans wanted to spread out all the military factories they needed built. “Anyway…”

She was interrupted by an alert from Darla. An incoming call from… Stargate Command. Marked urgent.

“Put it on the screen,” Adora told the ship.

A moment later, Jack appeared on the big screen in the centre. He nodded at them. “Hello, everyone.”

Adora caught Catra sitting up straight - Jack looked grim and serious. That was bad news.

“We’ve got a situation here. Off-planet.”

*****​

Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, United States of America, Earth, November 20th, 1998

“...and so the last thing we heard from the team, before contact was lost, was that the planet was under attack.”

Samantha Carter looked up as she heard the Colonel’s voice and saw him enter the gate control room with the Etherians in tow - well, most of them. Hordak probably stayed on Darla.

“And nothing since?” Adora asked.

“Nothing, though…”

“Hi, Sam!” Entrapta interrupted him and waved at Sam.

“Hi.” Sam waved back, then had to suppress a wince - this wasn’t a friendly meeting in the privacy of their labs or off-duty. They were in the middle of a crisis.

“So.” Catra cocked her head sideways. “Your team went through the gate, which was deserted, and then started exploring. Which means that the gate wasn’t guarded by anyone on the planet. And it was still open when the attack happened, so it didn’t come through the gate.”

“Yes,” the Colonel confirmed.

“We didn’t see any signs that the planet was occupied when we sent a MALP through.” General Haig joined them, looking grim. “And the team didn’t find any signs of recent activities at the gate either.”

Sam nodded. The gate area had been overgrown. If there had been regular traffic, there would have been some trails at least. And if there had been recent traffic, even on foot, there should have been tracks. But according to all the data they had, the gate address belonged to an abandoned planet. That was why it had been thought to be a good choice for the Russian main team’s first real mission.

“So, whatever is on the planet is important enough to merit an attack from space but not important enough to have the gate guarded.” Adora shook her head. “That doesn’t sound good. Do you have any maps of the area?”

“No.” The general shook his head. “It was an exploration mission.”

“No auto-mapper?” Entrapta pouted. “You should have sent a bot along that can automap. They’re very useful!”

And they were something Stargate Command didn’t have. Sam smiled wrily at the general’s expression. The MALPs capabilities were very limited compared to the capabilities of such a bot - she was familiar with either.

”Yep. Such bots would be very useful. I’ll make a note to buy some next time I go shopping,” the Colonel said.

Entrapta blinked. “Oh, you don’t have them? I can build you one!”

“Thanks, but I think we should focus on saving our team first.”

“It could be useful for that, too!” Entrapta nodded. “We can build one while you do your planning, right, Sam?”

It wasn’t as if she was doing anything useful right now, Sam knew. This wasn’t, at least not yet, a technological or scientific problem to tackle. But she’d like to get in on the planning. Or at least attend. On the other hand, the bot could be very useful for the mission itself. She looked at the Colonel, who nodded back at her.

“Yeah, you do your thing while we plan the rescue mission.”

Haig nodded his assent, and so Sam and Entrapta went to Sam’s lab.

“So… I’m thinking standard spy bot with integrated automapping and scanner. They’re small and cute but very eager! We shouldn’t have to modify the basic design much but we can if you want,” Entrapta said once they were in the lift, and a holoprojection detailing the small bot appeared next to her.

Sam wanted such a tool herself. Just displaying data in the field would be so useful - scratching a quick sketch on paper, or even in the dirt, just didn’t compare. Still… “I don’t think we need any modifications. The planet has a standard atmosphere and temperature, at least around the gate. And we need to get it quickly.”

“Right! We could have Hordak send one down, but I think we’ll be quicker building one from the parts in your lab!” Entrapta beamed. “This is going to be fun!”

Sam noticed the glances the Russian guards - Stargate Command was on alert now - gave them as they stepped out of the lift, but there wasn’t anything she could do about it right now. They didn’t know that Entrapta wasn’t making fun of the situation - she just was a little different. And a good friend.

And she was right - this was going to be fun.

*****​

By the time they entered the gate room, a bot chattering in its own language in tow, the rest of SG-1 and the Etherians were ready to go. Sam was, once again, struck by the contrast. SG-1 was suited up - her own armoured vest, reinforced with advanced technology courtesy of Entrapta, was ready on the table next to the Colonel - while the Etherians hadn’t changed at all. Adora hadn’t even transformed into She-Ra. They looked as if they were here to supervise, like the generals with them.

And Emily, who was towering over everyone, was carrying what must be their emergency gear like rations and tents. Sam really needed to get a bot of her own.

“So… let’s send the little guy through and see what the area looks like!” the Colonel said, clapping his hands.

“Yes.” Sidorov glared at all of them. “While you were wasting time, my team might have been killed!”

That was a distinct possibility - losing radio contact was never a good sign. And even though Lenkova was a skilled officer, she had no experience with Goa’uld or aliens, and training could only take you so far. The odds for the Russian team weren’t good.

And Sam wasn’t entirely sure how she felt about that.

*****​

“So… let’s see if the planet is still around and wasn’t glassed. Or blown up,” Catra said, taking care to roll her neck as if this was just another day at the training facilities. Or the personal exercise room in the palace these days. Instead of a dangerous mission to save a bunch of humans from body-snatching aliens before they got body-snatched. Or just snatched.

In hindsight, it was a pretty bad idea to just let Earth continue their Stargate missions, even though Stargate Command had claimed that they were being very careful. From what she had heard, SG-1 had a lot of experience, but they hadn’t been too cautious either when they ran things, and now with the new committee in charge, things were bound to be worse. Glimmer claimed that the Alliance couldn’t dictate policies to the rest of the world, but in Catra’s opinion, the needs of the war were more important than playing nice with people who endangered everyone through their actions.

Even if it was a little hypocritical. Maybe more than a little.

But the spy bot was now walking towards the gate ramp, Entrapta and Sam hovering over it. Well, Entrapta was doing the hovering - Sam was mostly checking readings while slipping into her armoured vest.

Which was actually a nice piece of kit. Not the armour - Catra’s suit was armoured already while still granting full mobility - but the pouches and pockets and stuff. If you didn’t have a magic sword that could change into whatever tool you wanted, you had to make do with normal tools, and while her claws were great, they couldn’t do everything. It would make carrying explosives easier as well - sure, she was carrying some of the bombs they had used to blow up Princess Prom, but bigger bombs wouldn’t go amiss.

Of course, she couldn’t say this, but if she claimed that it was a show of unity or something with their new allies, the others might buy it. Bow might even want to make a vest for himself that left his midriff bare.

“...and be careful, OK? If there’s anything dangerous, report at once, and we’ll shut down the gate so you can dial back!” Entrapta patted the small bot on its head or sensor dome or whatever you call it.

“I’m not telling her that the bot’s not going to come back if there are enemies at the gate,” Catra whispered to Adora.

She saw her lover flinch a little before raising her chin. “This is a Stargate Command mission. We shouldn’t assume to speak for them.”

Catra chuckled at that. Adora could be sneaky sometimes.

As if she had heard them - but she hadn’t; Catra was sure - Sam said: “Ah. We can only allow opening a gate to us if there’s no chance that an enemy will follow us - the risk that they could invade or just send a bomb through is too great.” She looked embarrassed, in Catra’s impression. Or ashamed.

The bot beeped. Entrapta frowned at it. “That doesn’t matter! You’re a member of our team like everyone else!”

“What do you mean?” the Russian idiot butted in. “Are you talking to the robot?”

“Yes!” Entrapta nodded. “And her name is Beatrice.”

“You give your robots names?” The general was blinking.

Catra saw O’Neill stepping closer as Entrapta said: “Of course! They need names so we can talk to them without being rude.”

“But they are…” The Russian trailed off. “Are they intelligent?”

“Yes!” Entrapta nodded. “Or do you mean sapient? Beatrice would need an adaptive matrix that will allow her to learn and grow to become sapient. I wanted to give her one because sapient bots can adapt much better to various environments and situations, which would make her more efficient at exploring new planets, but Sam said that we should stick to normal bots for security.”

“Ah.” The Russian nodded a bit jerkily. “Do not build sapient bots without permission from the committee,” he told Sam.

“Of course not, sir,” she replied.

“Good. We do not want robots turning on us.”

“And we don’t have political commissars to threaten bots with execution to send them on suicide missions,” O’Neill added.

The Russian scowled at him. “We haven’t had commissars for a long time now.”

Right. O’Neill had mentioned those or some people like them once, Catra remembered. Dimly.

“Now let’s send the bot through. We need to save our team!” the general ordered.

Everyone stepped clear of the ramp, and even the bot scuttled off it before the gate was dialled.

As soon as the iris was retracted, the bot beeped to Entrapta and Sam once more, then disappeared through the gate.

“She’s so brave!” Entrapta said, wiping her eyes.

The Russian looked a little odd at that, but Catra didn’t care - she was staring at the big screen showing the feed from Beatrice.

The gate area looked untouched - lots of grass, tall enough to force the bot to extend its head so it could still see above it. There wasn’t anyone nearby, but the big plumes of smoke on the horizon weren’t a good sign.

“Running a spectral analysis,” Sam announced.

A few seconds later, Entrapta piped up: “Oh! Looks like… plastic and metal particles in those clouds.”

“Those are artificial structures or vehicles burning, sir,” Sam reported. “And more than a few.”

*****​

Gate Area, PX4-223, November 20th, 1998 (Earth Time)

“Stay sharp, folks!” Jack O’Neill snapped as he stepped down the stone ramp, carbine ready as he scanned his surroundings. The sky was clear, the front was clear, the flanks and back, clear. He crouched down at the end of the ramp, next to the D.H.D., and studied the smoke on the horizon. Yeah, he had seen such smoke before. When a column of Iraqi vehicles had been destroyed. He could almost smell the stench of burned plastic - and burned flesh.

Teal’c took the other side of the ramp, his staff held low. And the big robot, Emily, had already thrown up a shield. Just in case the spy bot had missed an ambush. Which Jack had expected - whoever was attacking the planet should be covering the gate if only to keep reinforcements from arriving or their targets from fleeing. Any attack on a planet with a gate always focused on the gate. That was just common sense.

So, why wasn’t the gate guarded? A trap? Or was the gate damaged?

Carter was behind Jack. “The D.H.D. doesn’t show any signs of damage or tampering, sir,” she reported before he could ask.

Jack nodded. The Russians had checked it right after arriving, but you always checked yourself. Nothing worse than getting stuck on a hostile planet thousands of lightyears from home.

Catra landed on all fours right at the end of the ramp - she must have jumped. And she sniffed the grass? Then Melog joined her. “Seems clear. I only smell human. And Melog can’t sense anyone near us,” Catra announced.

Then She-Ra reached the end of the ramp, her sword drawn, followed by Glimmer and Bow. “No magic,” Glimmer said.

Jack nodded. He had also expected that. It made things a little harder for the Etherians - but in a pinch, She-Ra could return magic in a minute. And probably get a big boost. But where were the bad guys? They must be watching the gate from afar - they had spotted Lenkova’s team, so they would be aware that the Russians had come through the gate. But they wouldn’t be prepared for the Etherians; magic or not, their allies were veterans. While Jack wouldn’t trade SG-1 for them, they knew their business very well.

“Beatrice! Good girl! You performed exactly to specs! I am so proud of you! Who’s a good spy bot? You are! Keep your sensors aimed, will you? There might be bad guys around! And Emily, you’re doing good as well!”

Jack suppressed a sigh. Well, most of them knew how to behave in a hostile environment. But if Carter started cooing over robots, he’d put his foot down. On the robot.

“The stone is lacking any ornaments. Old, but not as old as the gate. I don’t see any sign of whoever would have built the ramp, Jack,” Daniel said.

“Yep.” Not that Jack had expected any useful information from the ramp - most of the gates had something like it to keep the activation kawoosh from killing people waiting in the area.

“Alright.” Jack nodded towards the hills in front of them. “The action is that way. And our missing Russian allies also moved in that direction, as the trail here shows.” And, according to the logs, roamed a little too far for a first mission - Lekova must have been cocky. Then again, the hills in front of them would offer the best vantage point for the entire area. Which was why Jack was sure that they’d find the tracks of the Russians leading there.

And the tracks of their captors or killers so they could save or avenge the team.

He looked at his team and the Etherians. “Let’s follow the trail.”

“Melog will warn us if there’s an ambush ahead.”

Jack could get used to that cat. And it shouldn’t take too long - Lenkova’s team had been here for less than an hour when contact had been lost. Even if the Russians had done a forced march, that wouldn’t have taken them too far. A couple of miles - probably not enough to reach the top of the ridge. “And stay sharp!” he repeated himself. “The snakes must be watching us.”

“We’ll spot them if they come to cover the gate.”

“Beatrice will tell us!” Entrapta said. The spy bot skittered away, hiding in the grass.

“And if they get to the gate before us, Adora can restore magic, and I can port us back in seconds,” Glimmer announced.

Jack nodded. Though She-Ra might turn half the planet into a jungle or something in the process. And he couldn’t help being worried. Why weren’t the owners of whatever was burning behind the ridge running to the gate? And why hadn’t they been using the gate?

Well, they would soon find out. One way or the other.

*****​

 

Chapter 52: The Recon Mission Part 2

PX4-223, November 20th, 1998 (Earth Time)

Adora kept looking around as they entered a light forest. She knew that Catra, who was in front of them, had much better ears, that Melog would sense people nearby, and that Entrapta was scanning for energy signatures or something while riding Emily, but some things were ingrained after years of training.

And covering your sector while on patrol was one of them. She was third in line, so she was watching the sky above as well as the left arc. At least by Horde standards. Americans might have different standards. And Bright Moon didn’t have standard patrol training for everyone - their scouting was usually done by tightly-knit local teams who did things their way because they knew the terrain better than anyone else. She made a mental note to cover that point in one of the strategy meetings about the training regime for the Alliance. And she would propose to go with the Horde standard - or what the Earth armies used. The Bright Moon system was defensive in nature and wouldn’t be of any use on foreign planets.

Well, Jack was ahead of her and to the right, so he would be covering the right arc. And Teal’c was covering the rear arc. So they should be good.

Catra made a gagging noise ahead of them. “Ew.”

“What’s up? Allergies?” Jack asked.

“No. I just caught a whiff of smoke,” Catra replied. “That’s not just plastic and metal burning there. Smells like a Horde transport that brewed up with a squad inside.”

Adora winced - she knew what that smelt like because she had blown up a few of them in the war. Also hovertanks.

“Ah.” Jack nodded.

“So that was what the carbon molecules were in the smoke.” Entrapta nodded. “I’ll update the data banks for the future. Good to know!”

Adora didn’t have to look at SG-1 to know most of them would be wincing. Well, Sam should know Entrapta didn’t mean anything by it, and Teal’c wouldn’t move a muscle in his face unless he wanted to, but Jack and Daniel were wincing.

“Let’s follow the trail,” Jack said. “And hope it wasn’t our team that was turned into airborne pollution.”

“Jack!” Daniel protested.

“What? It’s scientifically correct, isn’t it?”

“That’s not the point!”

“But it is!” Entrapta chimed in.

Adora sighed and focused on her surroundings as they continued their trek. The tracks left by the Russian team were faint - apparently, they knew how to move without leaving a trail - but between Catra and Melog, with some help from Bow when needed, they could follow them just fine. They weren’t as good as Bright Moon or Plumerian scouts.

After about a quarter of an hour, Catra suddenly stopped again. “I smell blood.”

Everyone tensed. “Proceed carefully,” Jack whispered. “Teal’c, go around on the right. Bow…”

“Taking left.”

The two split off, and Catra continued, more slowly this time. Adora felt as if she were back in the war, sneaking up on Horde troops. She tensed and drew her sword. If anything happened, she would be ready.

Catra stopped again, then went down on all fours and crawled ahead, followed by Melog.

Adora moved ahead, hiding behind a tree, peering around its trunk. She couldn’t see much, but… Oh. Those were… not blaster burns. But something similar on the trees ahead.

“It’s clear,” Catra’s voice rang out over the radio.

Adora moved at once, stepping past her lover’s position. She was She-Ra - if Catra had missed a threat, Adora could handle it best.

And she was in the middle of a clearing. Next to a body. Two bodies - she could see another under a bush a bit away. Both were wearing ornate armour.

“I saw no enemies on this side,” Teal’c said, appearing to her right.

“Clear here as well.” Bow joined them, looking grim. “There’s another body there.” He pointed back. “And it’s wearing a Russian uniform.”

“This is a Jaffa wearing the standard armour of those who serve the false god Apophis,” Teal’c said, kneeling next to the first body.

“But you think it might be a false flag?” Jack asked.

“They left the bodies with their gear. That would be a waste - and disrespectful of the fallen warriors.”

“Unless they were in a hurry,” Jack pointed out. “Like when you’re getting attacked out of the blue.”

“Yes. Still… where are the bodies of the others?”

They found another Russian a bit away. He had been hit in the stomach and crawled beneath a bush, where he died. Messily. And two more dead Jaffa.

But there was no sign of the other two missing Russians.

“Are there any tracks of… the Russians?” Jack asked.

“None that lead away,” Bow replied. He pointed at the start of a small trail. “But some of the prints there are much deeper than others.”

“Either they have giants amongst the Jaffa, or they are carrying prisoners,” Jack said, looking grim. “Carter, call Stargate Command and inform them that two members were captured and that we’re in pursuit.”

“Yes, sir!”

*****​

“...and there’s still nothing on the radio. Weird. That smoke is composed of advanced materials - well, the remnants of them - and the byproducts of burning those advanced materials, and some people, too - so why is there no radio traffic? See?”

Samantha Carter took a look at Entrapta’s multipurpose tool. Mostly because her friend was holding it in front of her face. She didn’t doubt the results - she had seen them herself. “Yes. This is strange,” she agreed.

“First the gate left uncovered, now no radio communications…” The Colonel looked grim. “I don’t like that. We’re missing something.” He looked at the hills.

Sam knew what he was thinking. The trail they were following - well, which they would be following as soon as Catra, Melog and Bow managed to find it again after losing it in that stream they had reached - led away from the ridge behind which vehicles or buildings were still burning. If they wanted to know what was going on there, they would either have to abandon the pursuit of the Jaffa who had captured the Russians or split up. Neither was a good idea.

“Maybe they’re using another form of communication?” Daniel speculated.

“Our scanner’s covering every frequency and spectrum we know,” Entrapta retorted. “If they’re using something unknown, then that would mean we’re faced with an entirely new technology!” She beamed. “Can you imagine it?”

“What if they are using magic?” Daniel asked.

“Hm.” Entrapta blinked. “That’s theoretically possible, but it would have to be magitech since Adora still hasn’t activated magic on this planet. And we should be able to detect any power sources powerful enough to power magic.” She blinked again. “That was a lot of power in that sentence.”

Sam chuckled. “Yes. But I think even if the attackers are using magic or an unknown technology to communicate, the Jaffa fighting for Apophis would be using known methods of communication.”

“Unless good old Aphophis found some Ancient technology since we blew up his flagship and distributed it to his goons.” The Colonel’s mood hadn’t improved. On the contrary.

And Sam agreed again - that was a rather daunting possibility. Technology not even the Etherians and the Horde had? She’d rather face a System Lord using magic. On the other hand… who knew what kind of magic knowledge a thousand years old Goa’uld had? They supposedly hadn’t been using magic even before Etheria swallowed it all, but Sam didn’t trust that assessment.

“Well, we’ll find out soon!” Entrapta, of course, was undaunted. “I can’t wait!”

“Yeah, I betcha.”

Sam checked her own scanner - she really needed to upgrade it. Still no signals.

Then Catra returned. “Melog found the trail. They went east in the stream.”

“Back towards the hills?” The Colonel looked sceptical.

Catra shrugged. “I think it’s a detour. But we’ve lost enough time checking both upstream and downstream. Let’s go.”

“Right. We’ve got people to save.”

Or to avenge. If those Jaffa were working for a Goa’uld… Sam suppressed the shiver that remembering her own possession caused. It was a fate worse than death.

They didn’t walk in the stream themselves as they walked - with Emily, there was no way to avoid leaving an obvious trail. Melog and Bow were waiting for them a few hundred yards away. “They went this way,” Bow said, pointing northwest.

“I knew it - a detour!” Catra grinned.

“Or that’s what they want us to think. Those are the worst kind of enemies,” the Colonel said. “Smart ones.”

“We’ll find out soon,” Adora said.

“Well, at least this time, we’re not the ones being outgunned by the snakes,” the Colonel told Sam as they followed a narrow trail. “We’ve got the magic powerhouse and Emily the walking artillery with us.”

He was correct - Sam had to remind herself that appearances were deceiving. They might look like light infantry with a robot, but they had the firepower of a mechanised platoon. At least. And if She-Ra restored magic…

They marched on for almost half an hour. Entrapta was riding on Emily again, and Daniel was looking a little worn by now - he was putting up a good front, and he was in better shape than when he had joined Stargate Command, but the group was moving at a quick pace.

But then, they stopped, and Catra whispered through the radio: “Got a hidden bunker ahead of us. Melog’s sensing people inside.”

“Let’s find out if we’re looking at a fortress or a bolthole,” the Colonel muttered as he moved to the front. “With our luck, it’s probably a fortress complex big enough to make the Swiss jealous.”

Sam hoped he was wrong.

He was, but not by far. As their magical scanner showed, they were facing a decent-sized bunker. Big enough to house a starship - and unless Sam was misreading the power readings, one that was powering up already.

*****​

Outside Goa’uld Underground Base, PX4-223, November 20th, 1998 (Earth Time)

A Goa’uld ship, powering up. Inside a fortified hill. There were times when Catra missed the Horde. To be more precise, what she missed was being in command of the Horde. Today was such a time.

“If we had a squadron of hovertanks, we could just blow the entrance open. And they’d draw fire so we’d notice any hidden guns the scan might have missed,” she muttered as she studied the hill hiding an enemy facility. Or some artillery to shell the hill.

“I don’t think the scan missed anything,” Adora whispered next to her. “Especially not the ship.”

Which they needed to stop. “Where are the hangar doors?” Catra asked over the radio.

“Lemme check... Hangar doors… Ah, there - straight up! Top of the hill! Well, a little to the west.”

So they would be covered from sight and direct fire from whatever was burning behind the ridge. Made sense. “Well, fancy cutting another ship in half?” She turned her head and grinned at Adora.

Her lover frowned for a moment, then slowly nodded. “We need to stop them.”

“We can try to hack the door controls if we can hack the communication system,” Entrapta cut in.

“If Adora gets up there, she can stop the ship and get us inside,” Catra pointed out.

“Yes.” Catra expected Adora to charge ahead, but her lover was hesitating. “Jack?” she asked.

“Alright, stopping the ship takes priority. Without blowing it up, please, since our people might be on it. Go get the hangar.” O’Neill nodded.

And Adora took off like a rocket, dashing across the small clearing towards the flank of the hill.

With Catra right behind her, of course. As if she’d let her lover do this alone! Even if Adora could do it alone. Though Catra had to drop to all fours to keep up.

Before she could glance back to check what their friends were doing, guns opened up from the hill. Staff cannons or whatever they were called - blasts tore up the ground nearby as Catra began to weave between shots, once jumping over one, baring her teeth as she charged ahead.

Adora just kept going, swatting a blast away with her sword when she got closer. “Stay behind me!”

Catra had the urge to swerve to the side in response to that - she could charge the hill perfectly fine by herself! - but stayed close to and behind her lover. Someone had to ensure she didn’t fall for a stupid trick or so.

They reached the foot of the hill and kept going. Adora swatted another blast away, then turned her sword into a shield, catching one, then another shot as she went straight towards a gun emplacement, then past it.

Catra, hot on her heels, grinned as she slashed with her claws and cut the barrel of the gun as she passed it herself. A moment later, the gun exploded, taking the emplacement with it. If the blaster fire or the ship’s engines turning on hadn’t alarmed whoever was invading the planet, then the smoke would. Well, that couldn’t be helped.

They were about to reach the top of the hill, and Catra pushed the button on her radio. “How many guns are on the top of the hill?”

“Uh… Two. West and east,” Entrapta replied.

Pretty weak as anti-aircraft artillery went. But Catra wouldn’t complain. “Taking East!” she yelled, veering off.

“West!” Adora replied.

By the time they crested the hilltop, the gun emplacements were already firing. The gunners were better than their friends below - the shots came much closer to Catra as she rushed forward.

Closer, but not close enough. Catra jumped, rolled and came up next to the gun. She ripped it in half with her claws, then rolled away. Once again, the gun exploded, and Catra heard someone scream inside the bunker.

Adora had literally crushed the gun emplacement on the other side just in time for the hangar doors starting to pull away, tearing the grass and bushes growing here apart. The hangar hadn’t been used regularly, then - probably a bolthole with an escape ship, Catra realised.

And now it was a trap. As soon as the gap was wide enough, Adora jumped down the hole. Catra was a bit more cautious, crouching at the edge and looking down. There was a small transport down there - a Tel’tak, if she wasn’t mistaken. Adora had dropped on top of it right when it had started to hover and drove her sword through the engine section.

The ship fell about a yard down, and Catra gritted her teeth at the crashing sound. But the crew was already charging out of it, staff weapons at the ready.

Catra came down on one of them, feet first. Her claws almost went through him into the floor, breaking her fall, and she rolled off. A swipe with her hands cut deep into the leg of another Jaffa firing on Adora, and the man fell to the ground. Her claws tore through his throat before he could recover.

That was it for the hangar, but… there was still someone inside the ship. Catra could hear them. More than one. And footsteps from the side door - reinforcements were arriving.

She grinned, flashing her fangs. After months of politics on Earth, she could finally cut loose!

“Check the ship!” she snapped, then dashed forward, pouncing on the first Jaffa who came through the door, her claws ripping through both his arms and his weapon. As he started to scream, blood gushing from the stumps, she was already inside the reach of the next, kicking the staff weapon to the side as she gutted the man and cut the larva inside his belly at the same time.

The last of the reinforcements got a shot off so close, she felt the heat on her cheek before she swept his legs, but a miss was a miss. She knocked him out with a straight blow to the head. They needed prisoners, after all.

*****​

Jack O’Neill ducked as he ran towards the now revealed bunker entrance. Emily’s shield might be covering them, and the huge bot certainly had drawn fire right until the last gun covering their approach had been melted by an arrow from Bow - and Jack wasn’t sure he wanted to know how that had worked - but he knew better than to think everything was going according to plan. Some defenders might make a sally - the Jaffa were crazy like that.

They reached the now revealed doors, and Carter went straight for their controls. By the time Entrapta joined her, she already had the covering plate off.

“Adora and Catra have reached the top of the hill,” Glimmer said. “We’ve got them trapped now.”

Jack made a vaguely agreeing noise. The snakes were tricky - you couldn’t assume that they were done for until you had them in the morgue or a secure cell. Even though things were looking good thanks to the Etherians. SG-1 would have found a way into the hill without their help, Jack was sure of that, but they wouldn’t have been able to just charge it and shrug off whatever the Jaffa threw at them.

Glancing at Emily, he made a mental note to ask Carter to make a bot with a shield generator for SG-1. They needed it.

“Oh, look at that architecture!”

Jack turned, carbine rising, but the door was still locked - Entrapta was gushing over the computer innards or something. Or she was talking about the architecture inside - she was looking at her multi-tool-thingy.

“How much longer, Carter?” Jack asked.

“I can’t yet… Done!”

Jack grinned as the door started to open, taking a step to the side. A blast from a staff weapon splashed against the shield, and the Jaffa in the door died before he could fire another one, hit by Jack’s burst and a volley from Teal’c.

Unfortunately, the entrance was a bit too narrow for Emily, so things would be trickier now. Assaulting an underground complex was never really safe. Unless you were a magical space princess who could shrug off tank rounds, maybe. But Adora was busy stopping a ship from taking off. Probably by grabbing its tail and just holding onto it.

So Jack took the lead, Teal’c behind him, backed by Bow. Glimmer could watch Carter and Entrapta, which would keep Her Majesty from the frontline as a neat side-effect. And Emily could guard the exit.

He stepped over the dead body, then rushed forward, pressing his back against the wall at the first corner. A glance - and he ducked back in time to avoid the staff blast sent at him. The wall on the other side exploded in a small cloud of smoke and fire. But Jack had already grabbed a grenade. Pulling the pin and throwing it was almost an instinct.

“Fire in the hole!”

He was around the corner as soon as the explosion went off, charging ahead. Another body was on the ground, where the shooter had been, and Jack put a burst into it without thinking, already looking for more enemies.

But he didn’t see anyone, and no one was firing at him, either. “See any bad guys on your scanner?” he snapped as the others caught up.

“Uh… no… yes, but they’re all going into the hangar,” Entrapta reported. “Three… two… one… none.”

What? Oh. “All down?”

“Yes.”

Melog the creepy space cat made a noise that was probably agreement.

“The rest of the complex is clear, sir,” Carter told him. “Except for the Tel’tak. Scans are impeded there, though.”

“So, if our people are alive, they’re in the ship.” Jack nodded.

“Unless they are in a room shielded from our scanners.”

Of course. Not that it was likely - if the snakes could do that, they would have hidden the entire facility - Jack knew a bolthole if he saw one. “Let’s go join the others!”

It didn’t take them long to reach the hangar, and not even Daniel was distracted by the luxury quarters they passed on the way - Goa’uld simply didn’t do spartan.

The ship looked… well, it wasn’t burning, but there were still sparks flying around the remains of its engines. Adora and Catra were staring at the ship’s doors.

Jack cursed. If those two hadn’t yet taken down the snakes or Jaffa inside the ship, then that left one obvious conclusion. “Hostages?”

Catra nodded with a grim expression. Well, they were veterans.

“Let’s negotiate,” Jack said with a sneer. “But if you can take a shot, do it,” he added in a whisper.

The others nodded, and Jack took a step forward. His people, his responsibility. “Hey! We’ve got you pinned down. How about you surrender, and we won’t kill you?”

Daniel muttered something behind him, but Jack ignored him. The snakes were too arrogant to appreciate a more respectful tone anyway.

To his mild surprise, the door slowly opened, and he saw a figure stepping onto the ramp - no, two. Lenkova, beaten up but alive, in the grip of a Jaffa who held a zat to her head. She was conscious as well, one hand on the arm around her neck, the other dangling at her side.

She hadn’t gone down easily, then. Good. Jack hadn’t expected anything else.

The Jaffa said something in gibberish.

“He wants a ship in exchange for the hostages,” Daniel translated. “Or a passage through the gate.”

Teal’c said something in return. The way the Jaffa sneered at him, it could have been either an insult to the guy’s parents or something about not following false gods.

Another Jaffa appeared, holding up the axe-wielding Russian. The guy looked worse than Lenkova - he was unconscious and had badly-dressed wounds.

Another comment in gibberish.

“They say that he will kill the man if we need proof that they are serious,” Daniel translated.

Damn. Jack clenched his teeth. He hated negotiating with hostage takers.

*****​

Adora clenched her teeth and glared at the Jaffa holding Lieutenant Lenkova. She hated hostage situations. For all her power, she couldn’t do anything without risking an innocent. She was probably quick enough to take out the Jaffa before he could kill his hostage, but she couldn’t be sure - it would take only a twitch of his finger to fire the weapon. And that would still leave the second hostage. Adora couldn’t get both at the same time. And coordinating with her allies and friends… still too dangerous. The slightest delay would doom one hostage.

“Tell them that if they kill a hostage, we’ll kill them all,” Jack said. He was so angry, Adora could almost feel the tension.

Daniel translated. Entrapta mumbled something about working on a translation matrix in the future. And Catra…

…had cocked her head and was glancing at Melog. “Are you sure? Dumb question, sorry.”

Oh! Adora understood. If Melog could create an illusion to fool the Jaffa, Adora and her friends could easily stop them. But Melog needed magic for that. And Adora hadn’t restored magic to the planet yet. Stupid - she should have done that right after arriving. Then Glimmer would be able to teleport, Melog could do magic, and… well, it would be enough.

But they could still do it. Pretend to give in to the Jaffa’s demand, retreat as a sign of goodwill, restore magic, then strike. Yes, that was a good plan.

“Adora.” Catra’s hiss interrupted her planning. “Get the one on the right. Now!”

The one holding the wounded man. For a moment, Adora hesitated. This would endanger Lieutenant Lenkova. But it was Catra. She would have a plan.

Adora rushed forward, covering the distance in an instant, her sword flashing. The blade cut through the Jaffa’s arm before he could fire his weapon, and he stumbled back, blood gushing from his stump as his hand, still holding the weapon, dropped to the ground.

Adora whirled to face the other…

…and saw him aim his weapon at Catra, throwing his hostage to the side. Catra ducked under the blast, dropping to all fours, then pounced - past the Jaffa, claws ripping through his neck before she landed on Lieutenant Lenkova, knocking the woman out…

What? Adora gasped. Why would…?

“She’s a Goa’uld,” Catra snapped. “Melog sensed the snake.”

Oh, no! Adora drew a sharp breath.

Jack cursed.

“Yes,” Entrapta confirmed, looking at her multitool. “There’s a parasite wrapped around her spine.”

“But… the Jaffa couldn’t use their larvae. So, where’s the body of the original host?” Daniel asked. “Wouldn’t you have seen it on the scanner?”

“Blocked inside the ship. Or disintegrated,” Jack said. “Damn.” He had his gun trained on the unconscious woman, Adora realised. And he was still so tense…

“Don’t shoot her!” she blurted out.

“I wasn’t going to,” Jack spat. But he wanted to; Adora could tell. “Even if it would be a mercy.” Well, everyone could tell.

“Don’t worry! We’ll figure out how to remove the parasite without killing her!” Entrapta was the only one smiling amongst the group.

But now Daniel was smiling tentatively as well. “Are you sure?”

“If it’s possible, we can do it! And there’s no reason it should be impossible!” Entrapta beamed. “Sam was once possessed as well, and she’s not dead, so possession can end without killing the host. We just have to find out how to do it without the help of the parasite.”

“Best keep her sedated, though, to avoid the Goa’uld committing suicide out of spite,” Sam said. She was kneeling at the man’s side. “He needs medical help.”

Or healing. Adora bit her lower lip. “I can restore magic and heal him.”

“And half the planet?” Jack asked. “Or resurrect the Jaffa?”

“Jack!” Daniel protested.

“Hey! We don’t know what this planet’s magic will do, do we? It could be zombie apocalypse time.”

Adora frowned - the odds for that were… well, very low. She had never heard of such a thing until she had met SG-1.

“Could the, uh, magic boost you get when you restore it be used to remove a Goa’uld?” Daniel asked.

That was possible. Probably. But Adora couldn’t be sure. And if she healed the woman and the Goa’uld by mistake…

“Let’s not try it in the field. Just get both back through the gate so they can be… treated,” Jack said. “We can experiment when we’re not on a planet under attack.”

Adora nodded.

“What about the attackers?” Catra asked. “We still don’t know what happened here. We should at least take a look.”

“We can do that afterwards. We need to take care of our wounded first,” Jack said. “And of the prisoner.”

He was right. Adora nodded. “Let’s carry them back.”

“Emily can use her transport configuration!” Entrapta said.

“We should secure all data in this ship and bunker, though,” Sam cut in.

“Well, that…”

A beeping sound from Entrapta’s tool interrupted them. “Oh! Beatrice says someone’s approaching the gate!”

Adora saw Jack check his watch before using his radio. “Stargate Command? SG-1. Close the gate, then redial it. We need to block someone from escaping.”

Oh! That was smart - the gate couldn’t be kept open forever, just a bit less than an hour, but if they redialed it right now, Adora and her friends would have enough time to get back to the gate while it was still blocked.

“I could teleport us back there in a few seconds,” Glimmer offered.

Jack tilted his head. “But we would have to restore magic for that. And risk a zombie apocalypse.”

Glimmer rolled her eyes. “It would allow us to catch whoever is approaching the gate.”

“And find out what is going on here,” Catra added.

“And risk Lenkova’s life?” Jack retorted.

He was right. Adora could just use the magic for something else, but that was a bit dangerous as well. The last time she had ‘improvised’, she had turned a huge ship into a plant.

“Let’s walk,” Adora said.

“And have ‘Beatrice’ track the guy,” Jack added.

*****​

Gate Area, PX4-223, November 20th, 1998 (Earth Time)

Samantha Carter checked her scanner when they approached the Stargate. “The contact hasn’t moved,” she reported.

“Still hiding out in the bushes?” the Colonel asked. “Watching us?”

“Yes, sir.” Well, she couldn’t tell if they were watching the Stargate, but it was very likely. Why else would they hide with a line of sight to the gate area?

“Probably ready to snipe us as soon as we leave Emily’s shield,” Catra added, staring at the smaller ridge covered with tall grass and bushes.

“The Naquadah detected would fit a weapon like a zat’nik’tel,” Entrapta confirmed.

But the range was very far for a zat. Not impossible to hit your target with proper sights, but it came close. And the Goa’uld weapons usually didn’t have sights worthy of the name. In addition, the odds of the shot’s charge holding together over this distance… “I think they’re just observing,” Sam said.

Catra scoffed. “Probably waiting until we’ve left so they can flee through the gate.”

That was, again, very likely.

“Well, we need to move our wounded through the gate,” the Colonel said as they reached the D.H.D. “Keep an eye on them.” Then he tapped his radio. “SG-1 to Stargate Command. We’ve secured the gate - send the medics through.”

A moment later, a mixed team of medics and guards stepped through the gate, followed by Janet.

“Doc?” The Colonel frowned. “It’s not that urgent.”

“I’ve got orders to check for biological contamination,” Janet replied, already kneeling next to the wounded Russian.

The Colonel muttered something about paranoid Russians but didn’t voice any further complaint.

Sam was forced to agree with the precaution. She-Ra might be able to heal anything, and they had the gate area back home quarantined until scans were done, but it didn’t hurt to be a little more cautious here. Even if Entrapta and Sam hadn’t detected anything with their scanner.

Janet quickly and efficiently treated the man’s wounds before giving the go-ahead for transport. Two medics picked up the stretcher as the gate collapsed, and Sam dialled home.

Janet was already examining Lenkova - far more cautiously than before. Sam approved; if the Goa’uld woke up and couldn’t escape, it would try to gain another host. And Janet would be closest.

Sam shivered at the thought, trying not to remember her own possession. Being controlled by an alien, reduced to watching helplessly as her body moved on its own… It was a mercy that Lenkova was unconscious now - no one should suffer through that. Sam would rather die than experience it again, no matter how optimistic Entrapta was about removing the parasite.

But Janet didn’t find anything either, nor on the second prisoner, and soon, the secured and sedated Lenkova and the Jaffa Catra had knocked out were carried through the gate as well - escorted by two full teams of guards. The two bodies they had recovered on the way back followed.

And that left SG1 and the Etherians free to deal with their spy.

“Watch the gate,” the Colonel ordered the remaining guards. “We’re going to flush out our little snake.”

“If I could teleport, we could just grab them,” Glimmer suggested. “I could drop Adora on them.”

“Let’s not use the magic whammy just yet,” the Colonel objected. “Save that for a surprise.”

“If they run, I won’t be chasing them all over the planet,” Catra said. “Not without a skiff or something.”

Which wouldn’t fit through the gate or could even reach the gate room. But other vehicles might - small ones like dirt bikes or quads. Once they relocated the Stargate, though, they would have a much easier time getting vehicles to and through the gate.

“Well, let’s see if we can fool our little snake. We’ll march towards the eastern ridge to watch what’s burning, and once in the woods, we’ll turn right to come at them from behind.” The Colonel grinned. “Should be fun.”

“Or we could just wait for them to come to us, Jack,” Daniel said.

“Well, I don’t think…” The Colonel trailed off and cursed.

Sam looked up and clenched her teeth - the Goa’uld had stopped hiding and was now out in the open, walking towards the gate.

She heard the Colonel mutter a curse under his breath.

“Are they surrendering?” Adora asked.

“They might prefer being captured to being left behind,” Bow speculated. “But they could just leave after us.”

“It’s probably a trick.” Catra scoffed. She squinted. “They’re armed with a zat.”

“Anything else? Like some bombs? Poison?” the Colonel asked.

Sam quickly ran a scan with Entrpata. “No, sir. But it’s definitely a Goa’uld host.”

“I don’t like this.”

Sam didn’t like it either. It was never a good sign when the Goa’uld deviated from standard behaviour.

Once the Goa’uld was about twenty yards away - fifteen from the outer edge of Emily’s force field - the Colonel called out. “That’s far enough.”

The Goa’uld stopped and nodded. “You’re the Tau’ri.”

“And you’re the Goa’uld,” the Colonel shot back. He didn’t nod.

“I’m not Goa’uld. I’m Tok’ra.”

Sam gasped before she could control herself. Tok’ra. Like Jolinar, who had taken over Sam’s body and then ended up sacrificing herself for her.

She closed her eyes for a moment, struggling with the memories. This complicated things.

*****​

“I am Jakar of the Tok’ra.”

A Tok’ra? Catra narrowed her eyes at the Goa’uld. She had heard of the Tok’ra in a few briefings, and from Sam, but it seemed a little too convenient to meet a Tok’ra here, in the middle of an attack or whatever, when they were blocking the gate and with it, the Goa’uld’s escape.

O’Neill seemed to share her thoughts. “Well, that’s what a Goa’uld would say, isn’t it?” His smile was all teeth.

The Goa’uld wasn’t fazed, though. “Only if they would ever think of trying to pass as one of us - and if they would also think they have enough knowledge to manage that. Which is rather unlikely given our secrecy. And how would they know whether or not you have an easy way to verify any such claim?” His smile was friendly. Maybe a little too friendly for Catra’s taste.

“Well, it would certainly be nice if we did have an easy way to check your claim.” O’Neill shrugged. “But you know… we kind of don’t. The last guy of yours we had contact with didn’t leave a home address.”

“We survive thanks to secrecy,” the Goa’uld retorted. “Telling anyone about us would put our agents at risk. If the Goa’uld ever found our bases, they would destroy us.”

“Not telling anyone about you also puts you at risk,” Glimmer pointed out. “We can’t really check if a Goa’uld is a Tok’ra when we fight them.”

“Yes,” Adora agreed. “If you’re fighting the Goa’uld, you should ally with us.”

“And who are you?” the Goa’uld asked. He nodded at Catra. “You are not of the Tau’ri.”

Catra grinned in return. “Secrecy saves lives,” she said before her friends could blurt out critical information. They already had one Goa’uld who knew everything the Russian woman knew - which included information about the Alliance. “You still haven’t proven your identity.”

The Goa’uld closed his eyes for a moment, then suddenly spoke with a different voice. “I am Mats, the partner of Jakar. I can vouch for him.”

“A Goa’uld would never grant their host control,” Daniel said.

“Unless they’re desperate,” Catra told him. “Or have a way to enforce obedience, like hostages. Or they’re just faking it, and it’s still the Goa’uld in control.”

“Indeed,” Teal’c spoke up. “A false god is not forced to use their command voice.”

The man tilted his head as he looked at them. “Then it seems that we are at an impasse.”

“You could, you know, leave your host so we can be sure you’re not controlling him,” O’Neill suggested.

“Even if I had the means available here in the field, that wouldn’t eliminate the possibility that I am controlled through other means,” the man - or the Goa’uld - said.

O’Neill frowned at Catra as if that was her fault. She had just pointed out a weakness in the Goa’ul’s claim!

“I can give you the information to contact one of our agents,” the Goa’uld went on. “They can prove my claims, and I can stay your prisoner until then.”

“You really want to leave the planet, huh?” O’Neill narrowed his eyes.

“Apophis will not take the destruction of one of his secret research facilities without striking back,” Jakar replied. “I don’t know if I managed to prevent an alert from reaching his forces. I sabotaged the normal channels, but if they had a backup channel…” He spread his hands. “I would rather not be present when his ships arrive - or when he sends troops through the gate. He will assume this is an attack of a rival and stop at nothing to find out who would dare strike at him.”

“Research facility?” Entrapta perked up. “What kind of research?”

“Weapons of mass destruction,” Jakar replied. “We couldn’t allow that.”

“Oh.”

It was a good answer. Maybe a little too good for Catra’s taste. The Goa’uld was a little too smooth - he reminded her of Double Trouble. And that wasn’t a good thing. “So, you blew up the entire facility? With everyone inside?”

“Except for the second in command, who managed to escape - but who, I believe, was captured by you. After taking a new host.”

Right, the Goa’uld had watched them send the wounded through the gate.

“Well, if you want to surrender so we can sort out your credentials later, I’m not going to object,” O’Neill said.

And so the Goa’uld could gather more information, of course. Either as a bonus or as the main objective. No, Catra quickly discarded that idea - it would be too dangerous and too unlikely to succeed.

Jakar carefully drew the zat, then put it down on the ground. “I surrender then.”

“Good. Now, you don’t mind us checking out your claims here, do you?” O’Neill grinned. “I’d like to take your word for it, but I have to check myself what exactly is burning on the other side of that ridge.”

“I would suggest you do not linger - Apophis might arrive any moment. He doesn’t like his people using the gate here, to keep the location a secret, but in an emergency, he will not hesitate to send troops through the gate.”

Catra didn’t quite understand how not using the gate kept it secret - was there some registry that got updated every time a gate was used? She would have to ask the others.

But first, they had to verify the claims from the Goa’uld. And then they had to decide how to deal with the Tok’ra.

*****​

 

Chapter 53: The Recon Mission Part 3

PX4-223, November 20th, 1998 (Earth Time)

“Alright, careful now - we don’t want to run into an ambush.” Jack O’Neill knew the odds of running into an ambush were very low - between Catra taking point and Carter and Entrapta scanning - probably mapping the entire planet by now - he didn’t think there would be any enemy able to ambush them. Then again, overconfidence was a recipe for disaster.

“We’re almost at the ridge,” Glimmer pointed out. Jack heard the ‘and we could have been here half an hour ago if magic had been restored’ without her having to say it - she had said it often enough.

But he didn’t trust strange magic. Adora meant well - she was one of the most idealistic persons he knew, even putting Daniel to shame - but Jack really didn’t want to risk her getting pumped full of magic and improvising something to use all that power. Not on a strange planet where the Goa’uld were - or had been - researching weapons of mass destruction. The supposed Tok’ra hadn’t mentioned what kind of weapons Apophis’s goons had been working on, but Jack would bet a month’s worth of jello that it was biological weapons. The Goa’uld already had nukes and possibly Naquadah-enhanced nukes, and chemical weapons were more situational and needed more resources to be deployed than biological weapons - and research into chemical weapons wasn’t that dangerous. Even if there was an accident, a lab wouldn’t have enough of the stuff to threaten more than the lab itself and maybe the area around it.

Biological weapons, though… Those were so dangerous that moving the lab to a forgotten planet and forbidding the researchers and the Jaffa from using the gate for any transport made sense. Of course, moving the lab to a world without a gate might have been even safer, or into a ship, but… Well, who knew what snakes were thinking? Apophis probably wanted to have the opportunity to reinforce the planet on the quick with expendable troops.

Well, it did backfire on him. If ‘Jakar’ had told them the truth, of course. They would find out soon.

Catra, ahead of them, dropped to all four and was now crawling up the last part of the hill before the top. Jack bit his tongue before he made a comment about watching her tail - Adora was a very nice girl, and Jack trusted her to watch his back any day, but from what he had learned in their time together from throw-away comments and the odd discussion, Adora’s relationship with Catra was something best left alone.

“Yeah, those are burning craters,” Catra reported. “Whatever it was, was underground, I’d say.”

Jack heard Carter behind him make that little sound that told him she wanted to check herself but was too polite to say so out loud and grinned. A moment later, he reached the ridge’s top and pulled out his binocs. Yeah, those looked like bunkers that had blown up. He saw three craters, one of them formed by at least two explosions. But had they blown up from within due to sabotage, or had they been hit by bunker-busters or similar weapons from above?

Well, Carter and Entrapta would find out soon. Jack didn’t look at Carter’s back when she crawled up the ridge next to him, followed by… Entrapta’s hair, which dragged the princess up.

“Oh, the structural damage… yes…”

“The blast pattern is rather distinctive, right, Sam?”

“Yes. And the spread of the broken walls and roofs…”

“Yes! I don’t see any trace in any part of an initial penetration, but that could have been wiped by the explosion.”

That probably meant that the snake had told them the truth about sabotage being the cause of the explosion. But that didn’t mean that the snake had told them the truth about anything else. Jack was almost glad that the gate room was currently under the command of Sidorov - a paranoid Russian officer would ensure that the snake couldn’t get free and wreak havoc. Especially since Carter and Entrapta had taken away all the snake’s toys.

Jack cleared his throat. “And is there anything biological showing on your thingies?” If the ashes of people were detectable in the smoke, what about biological agents?

“Nothing, sir. I would have informed you at once,” Carter replied. She sounded just a tiny bit annoyed at the implication that she might have forgotten to check for traces of bioweapons.

“Emily’s keeping an eye out!” Entrapta said. “Nothing on her scanners so far. Of course, an advanced experimental bioweapon might be masquerading as something harmless and only change into a dangerous compound when triggered. At least, that is what I would do should I research something like it.”

Jack glanced around - he wasn’t the only one wincing at the princess’s words. Not by far.

“I don’t think we should be researching bioweapons,” Adora said with a very forced smile.

“But how can we defend against Goa’uld bioweapons if we don’t do any research?”

Jack clenched his teeth. That was an excellent question. He would have to tell Carter to press for a lab in space at once. One with a nuclear self-destruct.

“Looks like there are no survivors,” Catra commented after a moment. “I wonder if they were experimenting on people.”

Once more, everyone winced. And Jack made a mental note to ask a few pointed questions to their new prisoners - all of them - about that.

*****​

Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, United States of America, Earth, November 20th, 1998

“A research facility for biological weapons? And you went there?”

The Russian general looked like he was about to need some healing any moment now, Adora thought. He was red in the face and trembling. Although judging by the way Jack reacted to this sight - or not reacted, as was the case - this was normal for the man. On the other hand, this was Jack. Adora glanced at the rest of SG-1. None of them seemed concerned. Sam was glancing towards where Entrapta and Emily were standing, probably counting the seconds until they could go to her lab. Teal’c was doing his stoic thing and not showing any reaction - then again, that was normal for him. But Daniel also looked unconcerned - at least for the Russian.

Who, Adora noted, didn’t seem to care overly much about the dead and wounded members of his team, including Lieutenant Lenkova’s possession. Then again, biological weapons were terrifying if you couldn’t heal everything with magic. But she could, and the general knew it, so this made not much sense.

“Yes, General,” Jack replied. “After careful analysis of the atmosphere and finding no traces of any biological agent. Except for the ashes of the dead.”

Adora winced. There had to be a lot of people in the facility for that to be noticeable. Not a few researchers and a handful of guards as she had imagined.

“We’re dealing with alien technology here!” Sidorov shook his head. “Alien weapons created to fool alien sensors! You cannot trust such an analysis!”

Ah, that must have rankled Sam. She stood just a bit straighter. “We performed all possible scans, General. Including magical scans. There was no unidentified biological agent in the area or air that we were exposed to - all the organisms we found were familiar.”

“Yes!” Entrapta chimed in. “We took lots of samples! I was hoping for interesting new data, but we didn’t encounter anything we didn’t already know - the planet was probably seeded with bioforms from Earth, although to determine when that happened, we need to extensively analyse the samples we took for genetic drift. Once we know that, we can calculate the time of divergence.”

“I don’t care about that!” the Russian spat. “I care about the danger you might have exposed Earth to with your decision to not only investigate a weapon research facility but take prisoners from there! We had to lock down the entire base to contain a possible outbreak!”

Oh. Adora blinked. “You quarantined the base?” she asked.

“You mean you want to lock us up here?” Catra hissed.

“It’s necessary to ensure that we were not contaminated!” the Russian retorted.

“Quarantine after a potential exposure is standard procedure,” Sam admitted. “But only until the medical officer in charge clears us.”

Well, that was only sensible. “We can wait until then,” Adora said. “I can also heal everyone who was exposed, just in case.” She could do that now that they were back on Earth.

“Or we can have Glimmer teleport us directly onto our sealed shuttle and wait in orbit until you sort out your stuff here,” Catra suggested with a frown at Adora. As if Adora hadn’t a perfectly sensible reason for offering to heal everyone!

“Yes!” Glimmer nodded. “That way, we won’t endanger anyone.”

The Russian general opened his mouth, then closed it again - apparently, he was at a loss for words. Or he had remembered that he wasn’t talking to subordinates.

“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea to keep you from getting stuck here,” Jack agreed. “I think I’ll spend quarantine asking our new guest a few questions.”

Adora frowned at him - it was as if he didn’t want her to heal anyone either!

“I shall join you, O’Neill.”

“I have work to do,” Daniel said.

“We can take you with us,” Entrapta told Sam. “This is a good opportunity to work on getting our space lab going! Bow, you coming as well?”

“Well…”

“I think we should ask the prisoners some questions as well,” Glimmer said.

“Yes,” Catra agreed.

“And I would like to heal Sergeant Popov,” Adora added. At least no one objected to that!

“Granted,” the General told her - after a second or two, though. “But the prisoners are off-limits until we’re sure they aren’t dangerous!”

“That could take a while,” Jack commented with an overly innocent expression. “After all, one of them confessed to blowing up an underground facility as a saboteur and spy.”

“And you brought him here!” the General retorted. “Despite the danger!” He shook his head.

Jack muttered something under his breath that she didn’t catch, but Catra giggled. Adora would have to ask her lover after this.

“I think under the circumstances, there’s no reason to isolate SG-1 and our allies from the prisoners. The whole base is already locked down, after all.” General Haig had arrived. At just the right moment to solve the issue.

Adora couldn’t help remembering the officer’s course about timing. But she could discuss that later with the others - she had a wounded soldier to heal. And then some prisoners to interrogate.

Especially about the number of people in that base and what they had been doing there before they were killed. Jack had mentioned ‘test subjects’, and if the saboteur had killed innocent victims of the Goa’uld…

She shook her head as she followed the others to the infirmary. She had to focus on healing the wounded first.

*****​

“Say tight! I’m fetching the others!” Glimmer disappeared in a sparkly cloud before Samantha Carter could reply.

That wasn’t a bad thing, though. Being teleported wasn’t a new experience for Sam. Far from it. Between the ring transporters and whatever the Asgard had used, she had done it often enough. Being teleported by a living being, however, using pure magic… It was a little unnerving. Computers were not perfect, but as long as they worked, they generally did exactly what they were programmed for. And they had perfect memory. Sam was trusting computers with her life every time she used a plane, for example. People, on the other hand, weren’t perfect. And they didn’t have perfect memory.

Glimmer teleporting her meant that Sam had to trust the princess to transport her solely with the power of her mind and magic. And that took some work, even though Sam would never say so.

But they had arrived safely in the shuttle on the base’s landing pad. At least as far as Sam could tell. And it was nice to leave the base despite the mandatory quarantine. Sam didn’t have the Colonel’s personal history with the Russians in the Cold War, but she had been trained by people with said experience at the Academy, and her experience with Sidorov hadn’t been very positive so far.

“OK! The shuttle’s sensors show that the seal wasn’t breached - we’re still isolated from the atmosphere,” Entrapta reported.

“And the scans are still negative,” Sam added after a check of her instruments.

“Of course!” Entrapta wasn’t fazed by the possibility of contamination by biological agents. Not at all - Sam could tell. The princess sat down in her favourite seat on the shuttle. “So, should we have a mandatory quarantine protocol in our spacelab as well? Once we research biological weapons?”

Sam suppressed a sigh. “That would be prudent, yes. But I don’t know if we should focus on that area of research.” And not merely because Sam was a physicist and not a biologist.

“Why not?”

“I think magitech should take priority. By combining magic and technology, we can gain a clear advantage over the Goa’uld,” Sam replied. “Like with our scanner.”

“Right. But bioweapons present an obvious danger, especially with the Stargates allowing contaminated people to travel instantly to other planets,” Entrapta objected. “If the Goa’uld manage to develop agents that masquerade as - or are - harmless organisms or substances before triggered into taking effect, that could circumvent our sensors.”

That was merely a theoretical possibility so far. Sam wouldn’t dismiss the possibility, but it would require very detailed knowledge of all the sensors, scanners and other tools the targets used to screen for bioweapons in order to bypass them. Then again, with magic, it might be possible. “The more we improve our magitech scanner, the smaller the chances of the Goa’uld managing to fool them,” she said.

“Right! If we can detect it, we can beat it! Adora can heal any sickness, anyway.” Entrapta nodded.

“Any sickness we know,” Sam said. “There might be something She-Ra’s magic cannot handle.”

Entrapta blinked, then wrinkled her nose. “In theory, yes. But it would require similar powers, I think - her magic isn’t quite like the normal princess type. It’s not as limited if she has enough power, though I haven’t yet found out if it’s actually conceptual magic. We can’t easily test for that. Glimmer says it’s unlikely since conceptual magic was merely theorised by Mystacore’s sages. Although the reasoning is rather weak. She-Ra’s healing is not guided by her knowledge - she’s no medical expert - but that doesn’t mean it’s conceptual healing. It’s far more likely that her magic just restores the ‘healthy’ state of the target, which could be easily deduced by magic.”

Sam hoped that that was the case. What Entrapta had told her about conceptual magic was… frightening. Magic working from basic concepts - it was almost an outside context problem for reality. Of course, the actual effects might not be very dissimilar. Whether you were healed because magic changed reality according to the concept of healing or because it simply restored your health was likely working out the same for the target.

“So… did you look over the blueprints I sent you?”

“For the lab? Yes.” Of course, Sam had looked them over! A lab in space offered so many possibilities! Microgravity, safe conditions for more dangerous research, remote access… And, of course, it being an Etherian project - nominally - less to no supervision by superiors who lacked the scientific education and knowledge to understand her work. Also, no struggle for a working budget.

There wouldn’t be any experiments cancelled because of funding being diverted to other projects or hypothetical dangers of catastrophic failure there. “I think it’s a sound layout, though I have a few suggestions, like…”

Glimmer returned with Bow and Adora, interrupting Sam. “Sorry for the delay. Adora had to heal the entire infirmary.”

“I couldn’t just leave them suffering there!” Adora pouted. “Ah, right! Almost forgot!” A moment later, Sam was staring at the tip of She-Ra’s sword.

And then she was healed.

“Just in case there was something on that planet - better safe than sorry, right?”

Sam managed to nod while she blinked and took a deep breath.

“OK, I’m taking Adora back so she and Catra can help interrogate the prisoners,” Glimmer announced, but Sam was only half-listening. “Then we can take off!”

She felt… Well, that was what the Colonel must have been feeling ever since he had been healed. She felt… perfect. Perfectly rested, not even a trace of pain or strain.

Wow.

*****​

Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, United States of America, Earth, November 20th, 1998

“...and you can simply drop off my message and a contact location at this address, and the Tok’ra will make contact. It might take a while, though - obviously, we do not have a regular schedule for such drops.”

The damn Goa’uld is too smug, Catra thought. Far too smug. He acted like he was in charge of them and not inside a cell, leaning back with a wide smile - she was sure that that was the parasite, not the host. But he couldn’t actually be that confident, could he? The Tok’ra didn’t have too much intel on Earth and nothing on the Alliance. It had to be a front.

And two could play that game.

“Yep, so you say. Of course, letting you write a message is kind of tricky, you know - you might slip in critical intel,” O’Neill said.

“Of course I would add critical intel, Colonel O’Neill - I have to prove to my superiors that both my identity and that this isn’t a trap but a way to contact a potential ally.” Jakar inclined his head. His attitude wasn’t as bad as Shadow Weaver’s had been, even when she had been in a cell, but still quite condescending.

“You think we could be valuable allies?” O’Neill leaned forward, both hands on the table between them and the Goa’uld.

“I do. While various System Lords remain in ignorance of what you have achieved, we have better information than them. Few powers can boast of fending off an attack personally led by Apophis, although he clearly underestimated you.” He nodded at Catra and Adora. “Of course, we didn’t know either that you already made allies with another power.”

That was a blatant attempt at fishing for information.

“I couldn’t possibly comment,” O’Neill retorted.

Catra would have preferred a double bluff. An attempt to play up the Alliance so the Tok’ra - if they were the Tok’ra - would think they were just some individuals, or deserters like Teal’c, trying to appear more important. That was how such spies thought. But Stargate Command had insisted on no commenting on Etheria.

“You don’t have to. You lost a scout team to the remnants of Apophis’s researchers, then rescued the survivors and took out the researchers before they could flee. That is a remarkable achievement.”

And they also wrecked the Goa’uld’s ship in the process, which probably didn’t please Stargate Command. Not that Catra cared - the planet had been too far to fly the ship back to Earth anyway. Well, mostly because Earth didn’t have any trained pilots they could spare for the months-long journey without crippling other missions.

O’Neill shrugged. “All in a day’s work.”

“It was a nice diversion from paperwork,” Catra added.

“Of course, you also stumbled onto a secret bioweapon research facility by accident,” Jakar went on as if that was a huge revelation and not something anyone would have deduced from their first meeting.

“And speaking of said research facility…” O’Neill smiled, showing all his teeth. “We’ve got a good idea about its size and structures, but how many people were inside when you blew it up?”

The Goa’uld slowly nodded, and his smile faded. “About a dozen Goa’uld and two dozen Jaffa. They were amongst the top researchers of Apophis and their best assistants. Capturing them was no option, and letting them finish their work was and remains unacceptable. As one of the primary targets of any bioweapon Apophis might develop, I am sure you agree.”

“And how many ‘test subjects’ were in that lab?” O’Neill sounded almost bored, but that was a front, Catra could tell.

And she didn’t need to look at Adora to know how tense her lover was.

Apparently, the spy also realised that. “Too many, but they were doomed from the start. At least dying in an explosion is far more merciful than dying while your lungs slowly decay over days.”

“I, we could heal that,” Adora blurted out.

Jakar studied her for a moment. “Regrettably, I wasn’t aware of your presence until after the deed was done. And I couldn’t risk spreading the weapon they were developing by evacuating the prisoners. Entire worlds would have been at risk.”

“You could have evacuated them to a deserted planet and then moved supplies to sustain them there. It would have served as an effective quarantine,” Adora countered.

“I fear you overestimate the means at my disposal,” Jakar told her. “Placing hidden bombs at crucial locations is something I could do, albeit at great risk. However, organising a mass breakout and evacuation at the same time? And timing it so the researchers and their guards wouldn’t realise what was going on before it was too late to escape the lab themselves? I doubt there is anyone who could have done this.”

And that was more fishing for information. Catra squeezed Adora’s thigh before she could tell them how the Alliance would do it. Without Double Trouble.

“So they were collateral damage, huh?” O‘Neill asked.

The snake nodded. “A quite apt turn of phrase, Colonel. I regret their loss, but my priorities were clear.”

“Yep.” O’Neill slowly nodded.​

And Catra couldn’t tell if he actually agreed, even if he didn’t like it. She knew Adora didn’t agree, of course. But if Catra had been in Jakar’s place, faced with some hellish bioweapon being developed… She wasn’t sure if she would have tried to blow up the researchers and most guards in their sleep while saving the test subjects, risking failure and Apophis releasing the weapon later, or would have played it safe and blown up the entire facility with everyone inside.

Even though she knew what would have been the right course of action.

“Well, write your note and give us the address,” O’Neill said. “We’ll pass it upstairs, and they will decide whether or not we’ll risk passing it on.”

And the snake was all smiles again. “Thank you, Colonel.”

*****​

“So, your recommendation is that we should contact the Tok’ra.”

Jack O’Neill nodded at General Haig’s comment. “Yes, sir.” He didn’t like the snake they had currently in a cell - they reminded him of a particularly smooth spook he had known years ago, and he didn’t really need to remember what that man had done ‘in the line of duty’ - but they needed to know more about the Tok’ra. The danger of those snakes messing up the war against the other snakes, intentionally or not, was too great to ignore. “If only to check if they’re telling us the truth.”

The General nodded. “Although this seems to affect far more than merely Stargate Command’s operations.”

Of course it did. And everyone knew it.

“It primarily involves Stargate Command,” Sidorov, as expected objected. “And through it, the United Nations. It was our mission that triggered this.”

Jack smiled thinly. It was obvious that the Russian hoped to use the Tok’ra to get advanced technology. Maybe that meant that the Russians weren’t as far along in legalising gay marriages as Jack had expected. Daniel might be correct in his view of the influence of the Orthodox Church on politics. And the influence of the supposedly loyal folks left in charge in Chechenya.

“I concur,” Li agreed, to no one’s surprise. “This contact with a foreign and possibly amiable power should be handled by the United Nations.”

Now, why China hadn’t already legalised gay marriage, Jack had no clue. Daniel thought it wasn’t about gay rights and more about a power play in the communist party, but that was pure speculation. None of the usual suspects on the talk show circuit had any idea either. Jack hoped the experts working for the government were better informed. But the Chinese would love to have two sides to play off against each other, Jack was sure of that.

And speaking of two sides… He glanced at Adora.

As if on cue, she cleared her throat. “The Princess Alliance was involved in the mission as well, and it’s obvious that the Tok’ra are an important factor in the war against the Goa’uld. So, this isn’t just or even primarily a Stargate Command affair. But we need to discuss it with the Alliance Command before any steps can be taken.”

Haig, Petit and Hammond nodded. “Of course. It seems tabling further steps should wait until our respective governments have discussed this,” Haig said.

Jack blinked for a moment until he remembered that British English got it wrong. “So, should we still contact the Tok’ra?”

“Yes. We need to know if Jakar is a Tok’ra or a Goa’uld spy,” Adora said, nodding.

Jack watched the generals exchanging glances. If the Tok’ra heard about Jakar being in Earth’s custody, making the snake disappear would be more difficult. He doubted that that was why Adora had said it, but Catra hadn’t missed the implications - or the generals’ reactions. He could see how her ears twitched.

“Yes. We need more information. If the subject in question is trying to deceive us, the whole political aspect would be rendered moot,” Haig said.

“But if he isn’t, this is an opportunity to make allies amongst the Goa’uld,” Adora retorted. “Goa’uld who turned against the Goa’uld Empire;” she added with a smile.

Jack suppressed a cynical smile of his own. Of course, Adora would see this as a way to get more Goa’uld to change sides. But what had worked with the Horde - probably; in Jack’s opinion, the jury was still out for Hordak and his ‘brothers’ - wouldn’t work for the snakes. Though Jack would still like to know what exactly made the Tok’ra defect.

Not that it mattered right now. “I’ll arrange a mission once the message has been cleared, sir.” Which might take a while, of course - the snake had insisted that they had to write in their language, and the resident spooks had a devil of a time trying to find any hidden information in it.

“Yes, Colonel.” Haig nodded. “Is there anything else to discuss?”

“Not right now,” Catra said.

“I need to look at Lieutenant Lenkova,” Adora said. “She’s still hurt.”

Jack wasn’t the only one who tensed.

“She’s also possessed by a Goa’uld,” Hammond pointed out. “We don’t know what effect healing her with magic might have.” The unspoken ‘and we don’t want to find out right now’ was clearly understood by everyone in the room - they were still under lockdown, after all.

Adora pouted, but Catra grabbed her hand. “She’s not about to die. And we should have Entrapta take a look at her as well before we do anything.”

Adora nodded, although very reluctantly.

The girl really needed some perspective. And a lot of rest and recreation, in Jack’s opinion. “So, if that’s all…?” He grinned - it was against protocol for him to speak out like that, being the lowest-ranked in the room, but with the Etherians around, he figured he would get away with it.

“Dismissed, Colonel,” Hammond told him with a frown.

Jack saluted and left the room.

A moment later, Adora and Catra followed him.

“We’ll let Glimmer handle the politics once the quarantine is lifted,” Adora told him. “Let’s go check up on Lieutenant Lenkova and the prisoners.”

Jack nodded. Lenkova was one of his soldiers. As her commander, he had to check on her anyway. “Let’s go.”

He could set things in motion for the contact mission afterwards.

*****​

Lieutenant Lenkova looked terrible. Adora couldn’t help wincing at the sight. Bruises all over her face and arms - the rest of the body was covered with some ugly gown and an only slightly less ugly blanket - tubes stuck in her arms and on her face…

“I thought the parasite would help with her healing,” Adora said.

“She’s healing faster than normal,” the doctor - Janet - explained. “Just not as fast as would be normal for such a possession. Our data is very limited, though, for lack of samples.”

‘Samples’ sounded as bad as ‘test subjects’, in Adora’s opinion. Although she didn’t have a better word.

“Could the Goa’uld have suppressed this healing effect?” Catra asked. “So we wouldn’t spot it and realise she was possessed?”

“We don’t know if they can do that,” Janet replied.

“To my knowledge, the false gods cannot do that,” Teal’c, who was apparently standing guard in the infirmary, cut in. “The effects on the host are beyond their control.”

“So, what, this is some weak snake?” Jack raised his eyebrows. “Some defective bloodline or something?”

Janet narrowed her eyes at him. “We can’t tell at this point. We don’t have comparable data.”

Jack grinned at that. “Yeah. We tend to shoot the bastards dead when we encounter them.” He blinked. “And I guess beating up our other guest as a control group isn’t allowed?”

Catra chuckled at the joke. Adora pressed her lips together and didn’t laugh. Even if it was funny in a dark humour kind of way. Teal’c didn’t move a muscle in his face, and Janet glared at Jack even more. “It’s not a joke, Colonel!” she spat.

“Sorry. Just trying to lighten the mood.” Jack looked solemn again. And angry.

“We’ll do what we can for her,” Janet told him.

“We’ll have Entrapta look her over as soon as the quarantine is over and we can focus on that,” Adora offered. And once Entrapta was done, Adora could heal the Lieutenant. Or try to, she added with a silent sigh. Healing magic might not do a thing about the parasite. “But we might have to ask Mystacore for help; they might know about spells that remove parasites of that nature.”

“I thought you didn’t have experience with such possessions,” Janet said.

“We don’t.” The Horde hadn’t had to deal with that, or they would have received some training in how to avoid it - like they got training in how to avoid catching and spreading diseases. “But there might have been similar parasites in the past or in other areas of Etheria,” Adora told her.

“Speaking of contacting Etheria. How’s that going?” Jack asked.

“We’ve sent a small flotilla back with the news when we made the first Alliance,” Adora said. “But they need time to reach it. The next step is to set up a Stargate.” And without a D.H.D., that required a computer and power source on the same level. Which was on Entrapta’s to-do list. Glimmer was still hoping to get a D.H.D. from another source - or the one from Earth, but Adora wasn’t very optimistic about that. At least the computer data from Stargate Command would help a lot, though they hadn’t made a deal for that. Even then, a setup like in Stargate Command would require quite the staff on Etheria. Probably Entrapta or Bow to set it up and run it while training up a crew.

“Ah.” Jack grinned. “It’s like the age of sail again. When news took weeks and months to spread.”

“We’ve mapped out the route now, so speed should improve,” Catra said. “And Entrapta mentioned a plan for using scouting bots to set up a relay chain. Either way, it’ll still be ready long before the Alliance on Earth is ready for war.”

Jack nodded. “Yeah, mobilising a planet for war takes time.”

“Like adjusting your laws,” Catra commented.

Jack shrugged, but it looked a little forced. “That’s not always a bad thing. Rushing something isn’t always a good idea.”

And sometimes, hesitation killed you and your troops. But this wasn’t the time to argue about that. And it wasn’t as if Adora and her friends hadn’t taken things a bit more slowly after they had learned the truth about Earth.

“Aren’t you concerned about the lack of news from your home?” Janet asked.

“We trust our friends,” Adora replied at once.

“Unless they start a new war, things will be fine enough,” Catra added. “Between Scorpia and Perfuma, and I guess Netossa and Spinerella, things should be OK. As long as Mermista keeps Seahawk from setting things on fire.”

Unless something like the Heart of Etheria was discovered. She-Ra was Etheria’s protector. If something happened while she wasn’t there… Adora felt Catra’s tail wrap around her leg and relaxed a little. Things would be fine. She had to trust their friends.

“So, what’s the timeline on the quarantine, Doc?” Jack asked.

“I already gave my medical recommendation hours ago,” Janet replied with a scowl. “It’s up to the command council to act on it.”

Jack shrugged. “They’re covering their asses. Nobody wants to be known as the guy who let a deadly alien plague escape containment.”

“I hope that they would be more concerned about releasing such a plague than their reputation,” Adora said.

Everyone else snorted at that.

*****​

Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, United States of America, Earth, November 22nd, 1998

It had taken Stargate Command forty-eight hours to lift the quarantine. Samantha Carter couldn’t help feeling that it was a compromise solution - or the result of politics. It wasn’t long enough to catch most actual diseases - and bioweapons would have, on average, a longer incubation time to spread more easily before anyone noticed an infection and took countermeasures. But it was long enough to show that something had been done, in case something went wrong and people were looking for a scapegoat.

Of course, if there was an actual containment break involving a bioweapon, having ordered a quarantine for forty-eight hours wouldn’t save anyone’s career - people would be out for blood. But in that case, careers were secondary to lives, anyway. Or should be. Sam wasn’t quite sure if everyone in the new Stargate Command shared this sentiment.

“So… do you think we can get a ring transporter for our spacelab?” Entrapta asked, interrupting Sam’s thoughts as they walked past Stargate Command’s sentries. British soldiers, this time, which still looked weird in the mountain.

“Even if one were available, I doubt it,” Sam replied as they entered the lift. “Especially if there is any dangerous research being done in the lab.”

“I thought we weren’t doing bioweapon research yet.” Entrapta cocked her head, her hair compensating while holding various tools.

“Bots, especially bots that can build other bots, are also considered dangerous by my superiors,” Sam told her. “Nanotechnology as well.” Some of the Luddites even thought Stargates should be isolated - not because of the threat of invasion or infiltration through it, or an attack, but because they feared a spontaneous black hole generation or whatever.

Sam suppressed a sigh at the thought - it was the hysteria about the Large Hadron Collider all over again!

“Oh. Your superiors consider a lot of nifty technology dangerous,” Entrapta commented. “That’s probably why they are afraid of magic as well.”

“Some technology or magic is dangerous,” Sam retorted. “But they might be a bit overly cautious,” she amended. Although the proposed plans to set up a base on another, deserted planet as a buffer for Earth made some sense. With the secrecy lifted, construction shouldn’t be a problem - at least it wouldn’t once the Stargate was relocated; moving any heavy equipment into the mountain and then through the gate was still an exercise in frustration and often futility. The base had never been designed for anything other than small exploration teams - the lack of easy access had been deemed a feature for security reasons.

“Definitely! But that’s why we will have remote controls installed! So we can work even when we’re not in the lab. Like when we’re flying towards it!” Entrapta beamed. “I’ve already designed the cutest avatars for us!”

Sam nodded with a smile. Which she lost as soon as they arrived in Stargate command and stepped into the hallway. They were here to examine the prisoners, after all. And their victims.

Like Lenkova. The woman was most likely a spy for Russia and a potential threat to SG-1’s commanding officer, but no one deserved to become a host for a Goa’uld.

Sam shivered before she could stop herself as they approached the infirmary. She nodded at the guards outside, then at Teal’c inside before greeting Janet with a smile that was only slightly forced. She could do this. She had to do this.

“You don’t have to do this,” Janet told her in a low voice. “You’re not a medical doctor.”

But she was, at least as far as she knew, Earth’s foremost expert on magitech. “I have to,” she replied. No matter how she hated it.

“So, who do we check first? The Tok’ra or the Goa’uld? Well, technically, both are Goa’uld. So, the Tok’ra or the follower of Apophis?” Entrapta, as expected, was genuinely enthusiastic.

“Let’s check Lenkova first,” Sam said. It would be better to examine Lenkova without any potential bias from talking to Jakar.

“Alright!” Entrapta moved towards the cells, her hair already picking up more tools from the small porter bot trailing after her.

Sam took a deep breath, ignored Janet’s concerned look and followed her friend.

Lenkova looked… as expected. Only light bruises. No visible wounds. And so different compared to Sam’s image of the woman. Instead of being an attractive, too attractive, confident woman, she looked frail, tied to the bed, with various tubes and sensors attached to her.

“We’ve been keeping her sedated. So far, the Goa’uld seems to have been sedated as well,” Janet explained. “But I wouldn’t advise doing that indefinitely. Even if it might be better for her mental health, the long-term effects on someone in her position are unknown. If the Goa’uld should die, she’d die as well.”

Sam was aware of that - she had studied everything they knew about Goa’uld possession after… Jolinar.

She forced the memories away. “Let’s hope we’ll find a solution so we won’t have to wake her up before removing the Goa’uld.”

“Yes!” Entrapta agreed. “Now let’s see what we can find out with our improved scanner mark two!”

Sam nodded and started to help set it up. And if the mark two didn’t reveal anything useful, there was the mark four - they hadn’t exactly spent the last two days idle, after all. And the mark three’s failure hadn’t cost them too much time…

*****​

 

Chapter 54: The Experiment Part 1

Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, United States of America, Earth, November 22nd, 1998

“...and after yesterday, the amendment only needs to be ratified by one more state. Which, unless the scheduled session of its legislature changes again, will be Pennsylvania. Right, Bob?”

“Yes, Joe! Pennsylvania has gambled by delaying their session until next week and it seems they have won. The eyes of the world - no, the galaxy, since your alien friends will be watching as well - will be on Harrisburg next week when they start their special session.”

“I hear CNN is selling advertising slots as if it were the Superbowl, Bob!”

“Hah! You might think you’re joking, but I am sure many businesses want to be associated with this historic moment - and I bet that this will have a bigger audience than the moon landings!”

“And speaking of moon landings: NASA has finished their Mars habitat! As soon as they finalise their negotiations with the Etherians, mankind will travel to Mars to stay there!”

“Well, good for them, though I think NASA would have preferred to do so under their own power instead of hitching a ride with an alien cabby.”

“Oh, come on, Bob! Who wouldn’t want to hitch a ride from magical space princesses? Have you seen them?”

“I have Joe, I have!”

Catra rolled her eyes before raising her voice. “Can someone switch to a channel not populated by horny old guys?” She knew which princess they were lusting after.

The soldier closest to the TV in the mess hall jumped up and quickly started pushing buttons, switching channels rapidly until some animal documentation came up.

“Catra!” Adora hissed. “We’re guests here!”

“So?” Catra scoffed. “That doesn’t mean we have to listen to some idiots drooling after you.”

Adora blinked. “After me?”

“Who else do you think they mean when they’re talking about beautiful magical space princesses?” Catra shook her head.

“Uh… Glimmer?”

“She’s a queen,” Catra pointed out.

“I don’t think they care about the exact titles,” Adora retorted.

“You’re the ‘blonde amazon bombshell’,” Catra told her. “Glimmer’s… not.” She didn’t need Daniel to realise what was the most common beauty standard on Earth - you just had to watch their television shows and movies.

“I am sure she has fans as well,” Adora said with a pout.

“Not nearly as many as you have.” Catra was tempted to add ‘and you’re worshipped as a goddess’, but that was a sore spot for Adora.

“That doesn’t matter.”

“Sure does.” Catra grinned. “You’re more popular than she is.”

Now Adora rolled her eyes. “It’s not a competition.” Then she blinked and slowly started to grin. “Besides… you might be more popular than Glimmer too!”

Catra growled. “I’m not counting that crowd.” She regretted looking up those people. And the kind of pictures they drew. She suppressed a shudder at the memory.

Adora grinned as if she had won the argument.

Time to change the subject. “So, when are you going to see if you can heal a snake out of a person?”

“Once we got permission from Stargate Command and Entrapta and Sam have all their scanners set up to monitor the situation,” her lover replied.

And they were ready to step in if something went wrong, Catra mentally added.

“But we want to talk to Jakar first - we know they know a way to take a Goa’uld out of a host without the host dying,” Adora went on. “Hopefully, without the Goa’uld dying.”

Catra scoffed. She didn’t care about the lives of people who enslaved others.

“If the Goa’uld knows they’re going to die if we capture them, they will suicide and not let themselves get captured,” Adora pointed out with a frown.

That was true. Catra nodded, acknowledging the point. “We need more sorceresses and healers. And Techmasters,” she said. “Entrapta can’t do everything.” And it would be kind of embarrassing if Etheria ended up not mobilising enough people for the war after berating the Americans for the same mistake.

“I know,” Adora said. “For that, we need the establish a Stargate.”

And for that, they needed a DHD or a computer that could replace it. And for the latter, they needed access to Stargate Command’s computers for Entrapta. Well, that would be a point in the upcoming negotiations with the United States.

Catra leaned back, stretching her arms over her head and throwing her head back. She heard some curses behind her, a yelp and the clattering noise that told her a tray had been dropped on the ground. “Do they have their own Kyle?” she asked as she turned around and saw a guy sprawled on the floor and covered in food.

“Kyle didn’t get distracted by you stretching,” Adora told her with a grin.

Catra blinked, then narrowed her eyes. “I see.” Was that one of the weird ones? Or one of the people who didn’t think having fur and a tail meant you were an animal instead of a person? Earth people had strange views, after all, but some were decent.

Adora was still smiling.

Time to change the subject again. “So, have you heard anything about the mission to contact the Tok’ra?”

“No. They dropped off the message, but nothing came of it so far.”

“Ah.” Well, Jakar had told them it might take some time. Which made sense. Of course, that was also what a Goa’uld spy would claim to buy time.

They’d find out either way.

*****​

Washington D.C., United States of America, November 25th, 1998

“Did the brass ever hear of ‘don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched’?” Jack O’Neill asked as he leaned back in his seat in the meeting room in the White House that was now far too familiar for his taste. “Pennsylvania’s still debating the ratification.”

“Every analysis I have watched on television or read in the newspaper agrees that the ratification is a mere formality, O’Neill. And I believe you told me that a sign of competent military leadership is making and updating plans for every possible situation, no matter how improbable.” Teal’c tilted his head slightly towards him.

“Yeeessss, I did,” Jack said.

“Then would not this meeting to discuss and advise your leader for the expected negotiations with the Etherian Alliance be an example of such leadership?”

Jack narrowed his eyes. Was Teal’c making fun of him?

Daniel looked up from his laptop. “Jack’s aware of that. He’s just complaining out of habit, Teal’c.”

“Ah. Like the rituals warriors often undergo before important battles.”

“Yes, exactly,” Daniel grinned.

Jack glared at him, and then at Teal’c for good measure. He would have glared at Carter, but she hadn’t stopped typing on her laptop and was acting as if she hadn’t heard them. “If we’re talking about examples of good leadership, then asking the experts on Etherians a few days before the negotiations begin isn’t a good example,” he said.

Daniel blinked. “That’s actually a good point, Jack. They should have called us for advice earlier. Well, we did brief them regularly, but lately, not as often as we used to…”

“That’s because they think we might be too close to the Etherians,” Jack told him. If this was the Cold War, and SG-1 wasn’t the damn best team in Stargate Command, they would have been sent to some less critical post long ago.

“What? They think we’ve been compromised?” Daniel gaped.

“I do not think any would dare to question your honour,” Teal’c said. “Your history speaks for yourself.”

Which was the problem, of course. “Yep,” Jack said. “They know we’ll do the right thing.”

Daniel blinked again. “Oh. You mean… even if the right thing is against orders.”

Like when Apophis had attacked. Jack nodded. The brass hated soldiers who disobeyed orders - even or especially if they got results. Of course, that was why the Etherians trusted SG-1. Something the brass and the government were aware of as well. Imagining how much Kinsey must hate this was a good way to lift Jack’s spirits. The man was a snake - well, figuratively.

“Well…” Daniel seemed at a loss of words for a moment. “We’re all on the same side, though.”

“Like the Western Allies and the Soviets?” Jack told him.

“But… you don’t really think that we’ll end up fighting Etheria after the Goa’uld?” Daniel shook his head.

“Fighting them? No. But once the Goa’uld are gone, a lot of problems and differences won’t look so minor any more,” Jack said.

“Breaking the Alliance would be a very shortsighted view,” Teal’c said. “There are other powers in the galaxy, and it is always better to stand with those who have fought at your side than betray them and your honour for promises of new allies that might turn out to be empty.”

“No one ever accused our leaders of being too concerned with the long-term consequences of their actions,” Jack said. Some of the politicians would be looking to get back at the Etherians for forcing them to change America no matter whether or not the change was for America’s own good.

Daniel snorted at that but didn’t look happy or amused. “Well, as you said, we shouldn’t count our chickens before they’ve hatched.”

“Nope, but we should keep our eyes open for future problems,” Jack said. A lot could happen during a war, but as recent events had shown, gratitude was short-lived while resentment lingered.

“And what do we do if our friends ask us for advice?” Daniel asked.

“We won’t betray our country, of course,” Jack said. “But neither will we betray our friends.”

He just hoped he’d never have to choose between the United States and his friends.

*****​

“...so, no, I don’t think the Etherians will be too happy if we try to play political games during the negotiations,” Jack said. “And they will see through such games,” he added. “They’re young, but they aren’t inexperienced.” They already had told the President and the cabinet not to underestimate the Etherians because of their young age, on multiple occasions, but it shouldn’t hurt to restate it. Glimmer was a reigning queen who had led her country and an Alliance of other monarchs through a war to the knife against an alien invasion.

“They didn’t seem to care when the Europeans played those games,” the Secretary of Defence pointed out. “It was NATO all over again, horse-trading and squabbling left and right, so every little country got something.”

And case in point. “Glimmer’s got experience handling an alliance of different countries as the leader of one of their strongest members,” Jack said. “The thing about that horse-trading is, that was back when they were still hashing out where to set up bases. But they’ve done that. I don’t think they would stand for us trying to redo everything at this point.” America was the Johnny-come-lately, after all.

“That won’t make Congress happy. And the public will expect us to take a leading role in the Alliance.” The Secretary of State shook his head.

“As long as we get the technology and the factories set up, people won’t care much.” The Secretary of the Treasury made a dismissive noise.

“We can’t appear cap in hand, though. We need some concessions,” the President said. “Something to show we’re not just dancing to the others’ tunes.”

Jack suppressed a sigh. You didn’t sigh at the President.

“It’s the optics. The right-wing conservatives are still claiming we’ve ‘sold out the heart and soul of America’ to ‘Godless aliens’,” the Secretary of the Interior complained.

“And they took a beating at the midterms,” the Secretary of Education retorted. “The entire party took a beating.”

“That was because of special circumstances,” the Secretary of the Interior told her with a glance at Kinsey. “But we won’t beat them next election if they can campaign on the United States being the junior partner in this Alliance.”

“We are the junior partner in the Alliance,” the Secretary of Defense cut in. “Not forever, if we get the technology trades we want, but, militarily, we’re going to play second fiddle to the Etherians for years. And the Europeans have stolen a march on us.”

“It’s not about the aliens, but the rest of the world,” the President spoke up. “The American public won’t expect us to take command of the alien space fleets, but they’re used to being in charge of NATO. The conservatives, except for the lunatics, won’t try to actually annoy the Etherians, but you can bet that they will be campaigning with all the bluster they can muster about ‘perfidious Albion’ and ‘cheese-eating surrender monkeys’ lording it over America.”

Jack had to suppress a snort at the President’s choice of words - they were quite unexpected - but he had to agree that this was likely.

“Bigots ignorant of history aside,” the Secretary of Education said, “what are the chances that trying to score points in American politics will backfire on us with our international and interstellar allies?”

“Bet you’ve been waiting to use that word for weeks,” Jack heard the Secretary of Defense mutter under his breath.

But the question was aimed at SG-1. Jack cleared his throat. “I am not an expert on other countries,” he said, “but the Etherians generally have a lower tolerance for such games than we do.” Catra had the shortest fuse, but Glimmer had a temper as well, and she was their lead in such negotiations. And Adora… well, as nice as she was, she was too idealistic to tolerate much bullshit.

“Yes, ma’am,” Daniel added. “They have just fought a war for their world’s survival, and they are, as far as I can tell, treating this war against the Goa’uld the same. They will expect and tolerate a certain amount of, ah, scoring points - as ruling monarch, Queen Glimmer will be used to that from Etheria’s politics - but anything that directly hampers the war effort will not be received well.”

“If the American public loses faith in the Alliance and we lose the White House next election, being replaced with a conservative pandering to the religious vote, that will hinder the war effort as well,” the Vice President remarked. “They won’t play nice with our allies.”

Jack bit down on commenting that it would hamper the man’s obvious plan to succeed the current president even more than the war effort.

“I think we’ll manage,” the President said. “We just need to show that were aren’t subordinates in the Alliance. Partners, not subjects of princesses and queens, both alien and on Earth.” He smiled at SG-1. “And that’s where you come in. Especially you, Captain Carter.”

Jack saw that Carter, who had been relaxing a little since she had given her report on the technological aspect of this whole thing, tensed. “Sir?”

“We’ll need to emphasise your relationship with Princess Entrapta. Your professional relationship, I mean - the last thing we need are rumours of an unprofessional relationship with her.”

Carter blinked. “What?”

“That would feed the lunatics prattling about alien corruption,” the Secretary of Defense commented.

“I do not have or had a sexual relationship with Princess Entrapta,” Carter spat. “Sir.”

The President had the grace to wince at that, but the Secretary of the Interior went on: “Yes, yes. But that doesn’t matter. What matters is what the public thinks. And if they think there’s a torrid affair between you two, that won’t be received well.”

“I thought the entire point of the latest amendment was to legalise and normalise all gay relationships,” Daniel commented with a frown.

“Yes. But we can’t ignore that a significant part of the public still has some reservations about the whole thing. We don’t want to… push too much,” the man continued.

“And we don’t want rumours in the Armed Forces that you were… exploiting this,” the Secretary of Defense added.

Jack clenched his teeth. Carter looked angrier than he had seen her before. He glared at the cabinet members. “Are we really planning to pander to the bigots with an overly active imagination?”

“Of course not!” the Vice President protested. “We’re just concerned with the optics. We don’t want you to get hurt over this.”

Kinsey spoke up: “I’ll do what I can to squash such attempts.”

“Thank you.” The President nodded at him. “So, what kind of concessions can we get, other than the technology? Bases?”

“We can offer desert training, probably mountain training facilities as well,” the Secretary of Defense suggested.

“That sounds like a good start.”

While the cabinet discussed this, Jack looked at Carter. She was still fuming. And all he could do was nod at her to show his support.

He really hated politics.

*****​

Washington D.C., United States of America, November 26th, 1998

She shouldn’t be here. She should be back at Stargate Command, helping Entrapta and Sam find a way to get the Goa’uld out of Lieutenant Lenkova. Adora had expelled Horde Prime from Hordak’s body, after all, even if exactly how she had done it was a bit hazy. And, according to the data gathered by Entrapta, Adora had healed people infected by parasites before. Of course, that had been when she had healed everyone in the area in the surge from Earth’s returning magic, but there was no reason she couldn’t do that normally. As long as she was prepared to heal the poison Goa’uld could release. Which she was reasonably sure she was - she had healed poison before.

On the other hand, they didn’t know whether or not Adora’s healing had expelled or killed the Earth parasites; the records from India were not conclusive. If she tried it and the Goa’uld died, that would be... Well, it was one thing to kill an enemy in battle, but it was another to kill them when they were your helpless prisoner.

Looking out of the window in the White House, she repeated herself out loud with a sigh: “I shouldn’t be here.”

“The protesters outside would agree with that,” Glimmer told her. “But they’re wrong.” Adora’s friend got up from her seat and joined her at the window.

One could barely see the people protesting the alliance negotiations - tall barriers at the fence blocked the line of sight. Supposedly for safety reasons. Glimmer thought, and Catra agreed, that this was just a pretext so the American government could pretend there weren’t any protesters without infringing on their rights to protest or something. Adora had seen them when they had arrived, anyway. And heard them.

“This is important,” Glimmer said in a lower voice.

“So is saving Lieutenant Lenkova,” Adora retorted.

“We’re working on that.”

They were. Entrapta, Melog and Catra were back at Stargate Command. But Adora wasn’t. And she was the best Healer on Earth. “You don’t need me here.”

“Yes, we do,” Glimmer protested.

“You can handle politics,” Adora pointed out. “And military matters.” This was just an ‘introductory meeting’, as someone had called it - even though they already knew the United States government.

“I could.” Glimmer nodded. “But it’s easier if we do it together.”

Right. Adora bit her lower lip. Leaving Glimmer to do everything by herself was selfish. Adora was needed here as well. If only Bow wasn’t busy helping Hordak build the spacelab… No, she couldn’t think like that.

“It’ll be hard enough to keep smiling when they make stupid demands to puff themselves up,” Glimmer went on.

Adora pressed her lips together. Why couldn’t people work together without trying to get an advantage for themselves at the expense of others? “I hate that part,” she hissed.

“I hate it too,” Glimmer said with a shrug. “But it’s necessary.”

“It wouldn’t be necessary if people weren’t so selfish,” Adora spat.

“But people are selfish. And vain. And envious.” Glimmer snorted. “It’s not very different from the early Alliance meetings.”

Adora had heard that before, but she couldn’t really believe that things had been as bad as that.

Glimmer grinned. “You’ve only seen us when the war was going so badly, everyone realised that they couldn’t afford to play such games. It was different before. Dad told me about it as well - most princesses of his generation were almost as concerned with ensuring that another kingdom didn’t get an ‘unfair advantage’ as they were with winning the war.”

“And they almost lost the war,” Adora pointed out. “We should focus on defeating the enemy!”

Glimmer grimaced. “We can’t just focus on winning the war. We also need to prepare for peace after the war. An alliance only held together by a common enemy won’t last once the enemy is defeated. We need to build ties and friendships beyond that.”

That was obviously true, but… “And we get that by squabbling over who gets which base?”

“We get that by ensuring that no one feels cheated or exploited, but part of something greater than themselves.” Glimmer smiled a little sadly. “At least that’s what Mom said, according to Dad.” She straightened. “And by ensuring that everyone gets something out of it when things are going well.”

Adora pouted. “I still don’t like it.”

“I know. You don’t have to like it.” Glimmer nodded again. “Don’t worry - I’ll handle most of the finer points of the negotiations and diplomacy. Just be yourself.”

Adora nodded. She could do that. In fact… She blinked. “Wait! ‘Just be yourself’?” After Glimmer’s speech about how important those negotiations were?

“Yes.”

Adora frowned. “You’re using me as… as… the bad cop!” Like in those Earth TV shows!

Glimmer grinned a bit sheepishly.

“I’m not the bad cop!” Adora insisted.

“Of course not - you’re not bad!” Glimmer told her. “You’re She-Ra. Princess of Power.”

“And you’re going to be the reasonable politician you can make deals with.”

“Yes.”

“We didn’t do that in Europe,” Adora pointed out.

“We didn’t have to. We only had to ensure that things worked out for the war. But the United States are almost as big as the rest of the Earth countries in the Alliance put together and arguably more powerful. And our other allies carry grudges about their past behaviour. So, we can’t just stay back and let things sort themselves out. Not without making everyone else mad. It’s just politics.”

Adora sighed. She really didn’t like politics.

*****​

Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, United States of America, Earth, November 26th, 1998

“Yes, we know how to safely separate symbiont and host, although the procedure is not without risk if the symbiont is unwilling.” The supposed Tok’ra inclined his head. He didn’t seem to be bothered by the fact that his allies hadn’t replied to his message yet, and that he was still in a cell under guard.

He certainly looked much calmer than Samantha Carter felt. Just thinking of the rumours the cabinet had hinted at made her want to punch something. Or to repurpose something for destructive testing. It was the old malicious gossip about sleeping her way to a promotion, just with an added twist. And there wasn’t much that she could do about it as long as it stayed just gossip - such attitudes were too ingrained in the Air Force. Or in society in general.

But she had a task to accomplish. “And if we sedated the parasite?”

The alien didn’t react to her correction. And she had had an excellent argument prepared to point out that the Goa’uld were not symbionts; any benefits they provided to their hosts’ bodies were only used by the Goa’uld, not the hosts who permanently lost control over their bodies. “It is an instinctive reaction, alas.” He even looked like he regretted it. “We need to actively suppress the urge to release the toxin.”

Sam pressed her lips together. That was awful but not quite unexpected.

Entrapta beamed. “That’s interesting! I wonder why you evolved that way - was there once a danger of being forcefully extracted, so you developed ways to discourage that? Or did the toxin once have a different function, before you started taking humans as hosts? Might it have been beneficial for your original hosts? Or were you engineered that way?”

And the Goa’uld finally frowned. “Why would you think that we were engineered?”

“Well, you look like a great infiltrator for a human civilisation. Not perfect, of course, since once you know how to scan for Naqadah, you can find your hosts. And we know the First Ones experimented with humans, so why wouldn’t they experiment with your ancestors? Or created you through a process of hybridisation? Unless we can analyse the fauna of your home planet, we might never know. By the way, where is your home planet? Do you know that? Since you have genetic memories, you should know where your ancestors were born, right?”

“We evolved naturally on our home world,” Jakar told them - he looked, if not disturbed, then at least annoyed. “We were not engineered as tools.”

A potential psychological weakness? Sam made a mental note to look into this. They also knew their home world - or wanted the Alliance to believe that.

“Oh, being the product of genetic engineering is nothing to be ashamed of!” Entrapta smiled. “I’m the result of such experiments, you know! And the Jaffa, of course - though you really should have fixed their dependency on Goa’uld larvae for their immune system.”

Sam clenched her teeth. She really liked Entrapta, but her friend’s tendency to share crucial intel with everyone was annoying, to say the least. “The Ancients have a history of such experiments,” she said, trying to mitigate the damage. “And in the time since their disappearance, many of their engineered species will have evolved over millions of years. However, we’re here to find out how to extract a Goa’uld from one of our soldiers without killing her,” she reminded Entrapta.

“Right! So, if we want to use your method, we need to counter the toxin,” Entrapta said. “That should be possible.”

“It is a neurotoxin, and since a symbiont is connected to the host’s central nervous system, death happens instantly as the toxin destroys the nervous tissue,” Jakar pointed out. He spread his hands. “I do not want to give you false hope. Honesty is the best policy to build trust.”

“Yes, that’s obvious, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t stop it. We just need to heal the neural tissue faster than the toxin can destroy it.” Entrapta nodded. “Although that would require constant healing, I guess, which could be tiring.”

The Goa’uld was shaking his head. “Even a sarcophagus cannot heal such brain damage. It was tried in the past, at great cost, and without result.”

“Oh, we’re not planning to use a sarcophagus,” Entrapta told him. “Although a regeneration effect like the one we encountered, modified so it doesn’t zombify the target, might work.”

The Colonel would throw a fit if they proposed that plan, Sam was sure of that. Even if it had potential. “There are alternatives.”

“We’ve been looking into this for millennia and haven’t found them,” Jakar retorted. He sounded rather arrogant to Sam.

“That means we’re breaking new ground!” Entrapta smiled again.

“You must come from a very advanced civilisation to be so confident,” Jakar commented.

“You’d think so, wouldn’t you?” Sam told him before Entrapta could spill more intel. “But the age of a civilisation doesn’t matter nearly as much as their approach to science.”

“Yes! If you convince yourself that something’s impossible just because others tell you so, you might miss out on so many interesting experiments - which can generate even more interesting results!” Entrapta nodded emphatically. “And sometimes blow up a prototype or a lab, but that’s the price we pay for doing science!”

Sam nodded - and noted that Jakar had stopped looking smug and vaguely patronising. Well, that made her feel better. Showing up the Goa’uld or Tok’ra was almost as good for restoring her mood as showing up the sexist bastards in the United States was.

She blinked at her own thought while Entrapta told Jakar about lab safety. It seemed that spending so much time with people who were raised in a very different culture, with different expectations of how men and women were to act, was influencing her more than she had thought.

*****​

“Apophis is a false god.”

“Traitor!”

Loyalty. Conviction.

Catra didn’t take her eyes off the prisoner to glance at Melog, but she frowned. Yes, she had come to the same conclusion. You had to expect that kind of fanatic loyalty - even in kingdoms where the ruler wasn’t worshipped as a god, only the most reliable soldiers would be sent to guard a biological weapons research facility. For the Goa’uld? Who would happily betray each other to take over? Apophis had to have picked the most loyal Jaffa to keep his underlings in line. But it was still disappointing.

“Apophis is a false god,” Teal’c repeated himself. “He does not deserve your loyalty.”

“I’ve heard of you, traitor!” the prisoner spat. “You betrayed our god! I will not listen to your lies!”

Catra snorted. “Well, you kind of are listening right now,” she pointed out.

That earned her a glare as well, which she shrugged off with a grin.

Fool. Melog moved to her side.

“Aren’t you wondering who we are?” Catra asked. She moved her ears for emphasis.

The prisoner remained silent.

“Apophis is no god. His powers are not divine but mere technology,” Teal’c spoke up again after a moment. “He does not care for his followers - they are but tools to be used and discarded.”

“The faithful will be rewarded in the afterlife!”

Fanatic.

Yeah, definitely.

“That is a lie. Apophis holds no power over the afterlife.”

The prisoner remained silent again.

Catra shook her head. If things were pointless, she might as well try something weird. And have some fun. She stood up and walked around the table, towards the prisoner shackled to the steel chair, her tail swishing. “Apophis is a false god fooling his followers with tricks. He has no power over your soul.” She flashed her fangs, then leaned over, extending one claw from her index finger. His eyes tracked her hand, and she saw him tense a bit. Grinning, she ran her claw over his forehead, then down his cheek, resting on his throat. “But others do.”

She withdrew her claws, and the room around her grew dark, mist rolling up to her calves. Eerie music started to play in the background.

“Parlor tricks!” the prisoner spat.

But then the room vanished, replaced by an empty field of dry ground. And sand. A dark, starless sky above them. And a huge temple looming in the back.

The Jaffa jerked, gasping, and stared at Teal’c - or where he couldn’t see him any more. Nor could he see Catra or Melog. He started to turn his head, looking around.

Catra snorted softly.

“Parlor tricks!” the prisoner repeated himself - but he sounded a little shaken.

Teal’c had narrowed his eyes a little, Catra noticed. Well, that was to be expected. She nodded at Melog, and the illusions faded.

Catra grinned at the prisoner, turned and left the interrogation room, Melog trailing after her.

Teal’c nodded at the other Jaffa, then followed her. Once the door closed, he tilted his head slightly. “That was not part of the plan.”

“I improvised,” Catra told him with a shrug. “He wasn’t going to break. Too fanatical.”

“I saw the truth, and I was Apophis’s First Prime.”

“Yeah, but you’re not him. He’s like that even after guarding a facility where people were killed to test weapons,” Catra pointed out. “I know a bit about stupid fanaticism.” Well, not the loyal kind, but still. “Takes a lot more to shake up his type.”

“In a similar situation, I did the same - reassured me of my own loyalty to the false god to suppress my doubts.” Teal’c nodded. “The Tau’ri have a saying - the man might be protesting too much.”

“It’s kind of hard to tell the difference between those and true believers,” Catra retorted.

“Indeed.” Another small nod.

It was Catra’s turn to glare at him. His subtle humour wasn’t as funny as he thought. If it was humour. Melog was amused, at least, she could tell that. “Whatever - all we did was shake him up a bit.”

“By pretending to be gods.”

Ah, that was what he disliked. “We didn’t. None of us claimed to be a goddess or god.”

His eyebrows rose a little.

“If I really wanted him to find a new god, I’d have called Adora,” Catra told him.

“She would not be amused.”

“Oh, yes, she wouldn’t be amused.” Catra chuckled, imagining her lover’s reaction. “It would still be funny, though.” Adora had at least some of the power the Goa’uld claimed they had.

“We should not encourage faith in false gods.”

“But if they have to follow a god, it would be better if it’s a good one.” Catra shrugged. “Might be a human thing - most of them seem to follow a god.” And, from what she could tell from her admittedly limited exposure to human religion, she’d rather have everyone following Adora than any other religious figure. But saying so would be offensive, at least according to Glimmer.

And Adora would hate it, which was more important.

She shrugged again. “Well, we tried. Let’s check on the others. Can’t leave them unsupervised for too long, or they’ll try to turn Lenkova into some experiment.”

“I do not think Captain Carter would condone that.”

Catra smirked. “I think she would make an exception for Lenkova.”

Teal’c tilted his head a bit to the side, which she took as agreement.

*****​

Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, United States of America, Earth, November 27th, 1998

“...so, in order to create an antidote to the symbiote toxin, we need samples. And since we don’t have any, that’s kinda difficult.” Entrapta nodded, then added: “Also, because the only way to get such a sample is to kill the Goa’uld in a host, presumably when the host is still alive, it’s kind of unethical, so we can’t do that.” She smiled.

Jack O’Neill suppressed a sigh. The mad scientist princess looked like she expected a headpat and a ‘well done’ for realising that you didn’t kill prisoners or innocents. Worse, the rest of the Etherians smiled at her.

“Yes.” Carter stood and pointed at the hologram of a snake they had floating inside the meeting room. “Even assuming we had an antidote, surgical removal is very difficult because the Goa’uld is wrapped around the host’s spine and connected to their central nervous system. Any damage to either is likely crippling or fatal.”

“I can heal that!” Adora spoke up. “I mean, the crippling damage - not the fatal one, obviously.” She nodded emphatically.

‘Obviously’? Jack narrowed his eyes slightly. It sounded a little… overly emphasised for Adora. And the way the other Etherians didn’t react at all… He pressed his lips together. He didn’t want to deal with that worrying possibility right now. At least he was sure he had been alive when he had been healed by her.

“However,” Carter went on, “with magical healing available, it remains a potential solution. But we think alternatives should be pursued first.”

Adora nodded again.

“Basically, we need to find out if Adora can expel the Goa’uld without killing either them or the host,” Entrapta said. “Although, since she can heal them, death should be off the table anyway in either case. Probably. It depends on whether or not the magic of She-Ra would consider the Go’auld a healing target in this case - a symbiont - or a parasite to be removed.” She cocked her head to the side as her hair pointed at the hologram. “Answering that question would be useful for a better understanding of the Goa’uld’s biology, I believe.”

A symbiont? Jack scoffed under his breath. The damn snakes were parasites. And he didn’t give a damn about whether or not they lived as long as they were removed from their hosts.

But he wasn’t calling the shots here. The generals present were.

And Haig was nodding. “I see. And if you attempt to use magical healing to expel the Goa’uld, and it is healed instead, it might wake up.”

“And attempt to kill their host by suicide,” Carter added. “Which, in this case, magical healing might only delay and not stop permanently since both host and Goa’uld would be healed at the same time, allowing the Goa’uld to continue the attempt indefinitely.”

“Or until Adora stops healing them,” Entrapta added.

Which she wouldn’t do voluntarily. Jack knew her well enough. And losing Lenkova like that would probably not do good things to her mental health. Not at all.

“So, the best option seems to be to attempt magical healing, and if the Goa’uld isn’t expelled from the host, sedate it at once.” Entrapta waved her hair, and a cartoon syringe appeared on the hologram, pointed at the Goa’uld.

“However,” Carter took over, facing the row of generals in the room, “There are serious ethical considerations with this course of action. There is a significant probability that the attempt might lead to the Goa’uld’s death.”

“So?” Sidorov scoffed. “It’s an enemy currently possessing one of our soldiers.”

Jack really didn’t want to agree with the Russian, but he also didn’t want to value the life of a snake over that of Lenkova’s life or freedom.

“It would be killing a helpless prisoner,” Carter went on. She looked tense - she probably didn’t want to but agreed with the Russian as well, Jack realised. But she was also correct about killing prisoners.

Adora nodded again. Sharply. “Yes. We can’t just kill prisoners.” She didn’t sound conflicted. Not at all.

“One could argue that the Goa’uld is still actively fighting by holding one of our soldiers hostage,” Petit suggested.

“They’re unconscious,” Adora retorted. “They might be willing to surrender peacefully and let Lieutenant Lenkova regain control of her body if we ask.”

Jack scoffed. As if! The snake would attempt to deceive and betray them at once.

Catra glared at him while Adora frowned. Hey! He was just stating the obvious - well, not stating actually, more making it known without words.

“How likely do you think such an outcome is, Captain?” General Haig asked.

“It isn’t very likely, sir,” Carter told him. “But we cannot dismiss the possibility.”

“We’re at war,” Sidorov said as if that explained and excused everything. “We cannot afford to coddle our enemies.”

“We cannot murder prisoners,” Carter retorted.

Jack clenched his jaws to avoid quipping about ‘we could, but we aren’t supposed to’. A dead snake was a small price to pay to save a soldier.

“We won’t murder prisoners,” Adora said with a deep scowl.

“But what about Lieuenant Lenkova? Are we willing to sacrifice her - doom her to a fate worse than death - to protect her assailant?” Petit countered.

It was Adora’s turn to wince. But she shook her head with a determined expression. “Murdering helpless people is wrong.”

“The Goa’auld aren’t people,” Sidorov snapped.

“They are!” Adora protested. “And the Tok’ra prove that they aren’t all evil.”

“Uh…” Entrapta spoke up, looking uncomfortable. “Anyway, that’s why we should wait and contact the Tok’ra to see if they have a better way to deal with possession. Or if they have more data that we can use. After all, they were already active when magic was still around, so they might be familiar with magical healing.”

“We have a Tok’ra in our cells,” Petit pointed out.

“But Jakar isn’t a scientist,” Entrapta said. “He doesn’t know the details.”

“So, we should wait with attempting to remove the Goa’uld from Lieutenant Lenkova until we know more? Or at least know we won’t know more?” General Haig asked. “That sounds like a sensible solution to our dilemma.”

In other words, they would be waiting and doing nothing, hoping that a solution would magically appear. Well, it was prudent to wait for more information before you were risking someone’s life, but Jack really hated waiting in this case.

Damn.

*****​

 

Chapter 55: The Experiment Part 2

Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, November 28th, 1998

“...and we would offer a desert training facility and a mountain training facility in the United States.”

Adora resisted the urge to roll her eyes. ‘Offer’ - as if the Secretary of Defense hadn’t made it clear that this was actually a demand. Glimmer and Catra didn’t even have to point that out to Adora. Not that she was as naive as they sometimes thought.

She just didn’t like how politics took priority over military necessities. No matter how often Glimmer told her that politics were crucial for waging any war. It just… didn’t feel right. Why couldn’t people work together without all those games?

“Well, the desert training facility would certainly be welcome - the Alliance hasn’t yet picked a site for that sort of training,” Admiral Smythe, Royal Navy, said. “But, of course, we would have to discuss that with the rest of the Alliance.”

“I thought we were here to discuss that,” the Secretary of Defense retorted.

“Yes, but such a decision requires the agreement of our respective governments,” General Dubois, French Army, said. “It is, after all, both a military and political decision.”

Adora did roll her eyes now. She glanced at Glimmer, who had her ‘I wish I could teleport you into the ocean, but I am restraining myself’ smile on her face, then at Catra, who was…scratching something into the table?

Adora leaned to the side and tilted her head. Oh. It was a sketch of her and Adora. Cute!

But her good mood didn’t last. They were here to settle things, not to posture. She cleared her throat. “I think that since we don’t have a desert training facility available, it would only be logical to accept the offer.”

Everyone smiled at her, but Adora doubted that everyone meant it. “Of course,” the admiral said. “But we do have offers for mountain training - from several countries with long traditions of fighting in mountainous terrain.”

“The United States 10th Mountain Division is an elite formation, proof that our facilities are not only adequate but well-suited,” the American countered.

That sounded good enough for Adora. And Glimmer nodded. So, it probably made political sense as well.

“So, that’s settled.” The Secretary of Defense nodded, then pulled out another sheet. “Now, with regard to the central transport command, coordinating the Alliance supply routes, I think we have the ideal site in the United States - very well protected and available as soon as Stargate Command moves to its new location.”

Smythe smiled. “You mean the ground component. The main command will be in orbit.”

That surprised the American, Adora could tell. But it was logical that you should have some direct command post in orbit. But a ground-based backup would make sense as well. But it wouldn’t be very prestigious, or so she understood.

“With our new shuttles,” Dubois added, “it’s an obvious choice.”

The smile of the Secretary of Defense grew very thin. “And speaking of shuttles, with the number of soldiers the United States will add to the Alliance, it makes sense to build factories to ensure that they have the means to be moved at all times.”

“We can expand our own without trouble,” Dubois countered.

“Spreading out crucial factories makes sense,” Glimmer cut in. “Although I assume you’ll expand production anyway.”

“If you have the money,” someone muttered.

Which reminded Adora that they hadn’t settled the budget yet.

Things had been so much easier during the war against the Horde.

“And I thought Horde logistics were a pain in the butt,” Catra muttered.

Well, at least Adora wasn’t suffering alone. Even Glimmer didn’t like it here; Adora could tell.

She couldn’t help feeling a bit glad about that - Glimmer had called her here for the negotiations, after all.

*****​

Half an hour later, they hadn’t made much, if any, progress.

“The industrial capacity of the United States should be used to the fullest. Economies of scale, experience and logistics all point towards one conclusion: That we should shoulder the biggest share of the Alliance’s supply needs.”

“We’re not in the Second World War any more. The advantages you claim aren’t unique to the United States. And with regards to logistics, we will be relying on Etherian ships for transport.”

“We’ve got the biggest arms industry. We’re the logical choice for mass-producing advanced technology.”

“I’ll put a German factory against an American one any day of the week and twice on Sunday.”

“You don’t work on Sundays!”

“Of course we do!”

“Our factories suffice to cover the needs of the current Alliance, and we can easily expand them to cover your needs as well.”

“Is that why half of NATO uses US arms instead of your products?”

“We all know why so many people bought your arms.”

“Because we offered the best deals.”

“Why don’t we let the market sort things out? See whose products are better than their competition?”

“You mean, see who can use bribes and political pressure most effectively to push their products on others?”

Adora stared. They couldn’t actually be suggesting that, could they? She looked at Catra.

Her lover narrowed her eyes. “Wait! Are you seriously suggesting that we use many different designs for the same role? At the front? Are you trying to kill our logistics?”

Adora nodded. “We need standardised designs.” It had been bad enough in the Princess Alliance during the war, with all the different forces and standards.

“Yes, but we need to ensure that the best design is chosen, and healthy competition between manufacturers is the best way to achieve that - it won us the Cold War, after all,” the Secretary of Defense claimed.

“It’s very impressive that you can say that with a straight face, given your history of military procurement,” the German Verteidigungsminister said. “We remember why we picked your products.”

“And why we decided to design our own planes,” the French Ministre added.

“I don’t think national pride should be the deciding motivation,” the American retorted.

“Really? I can’t believe you just said that!”

OK, this was getting a bit… un-diplomatic. Maybe telling everyone to stop being formal had been a mistake?

“Having people compete with their designs sounds good in theory, but it depends on an unbiased final decision,” Glimmer commented. “Would you like us to pick a design?”

Adora didn’t have to be able to read minds to know that most people present didn’t want that. “What about picking the best designers and working together?” she asked.

That sent them whispering to their generals and aides.

“That’s how we get walkers,” Catra mumbled. “We should have never let Entrapta watch those movies.”

That was… pretty likely, actually. “Those might be a good choice,” Adora whispered. “Better all-terrain capability.”

“Just make hovertanks instead,” Catra shot back. “Faster, and can travel over water and through swamps.”

“But not through woods.” There was a reason that tanks had generally fared so badly in the Whispering Woods, and bots hadn’t.

“Whatever. We need to stop this circus.”

She was right. Adora nodded.

“And who gets to pick the best designers? One from each country, no matter their quality?” The American spoke up.

“Of course not,” Adora shot back.

“And which team? We need a lot of different vehicles alone, not to mention ships.”

“One base design, with variants to cover different tasks, should do it. An advanced combat vehicle family!”

“What a coincidence that your industry is working on that exact project!”

Not again.

Glimmer stood. “Enough. We need to step up the production of shuttles and mobile force field generators - coupled with bots - and we need a competitive air and space fighter. Ground-based vehicles Earth already has more than enough. Once we have some combat experience, we’ll know more about what designs are actually needed in the war. So, we can set up more factories for that, in the USA as well as in Europe and Canada.”

That, at least, was met with agreement.

“And we need to start building ships,” the British admiral added.

“Yes, but that’s not as urgent,” Glimmer told him. “We have a fighter design from the Horde, but it’s meant to be flown by bots.”

And that meant it needed a lot of changes so people could fly it.

“Modifying it might be faster than designing one from scratch, and we can use the experience for the next model,” the German Minister pointed out.

“We should spread out production, though, so we’re not dependent on a single source,” the Secretary of Defense said.

That was just common sense, in Adora’s opinion.

“We should pick a remote area for testing advanced technology,” the American suggested. “Like a desert. It would make keeping the technology from spies easier if there was just one location to protect.”

“Like the base where you tried to hide the Etherian shuttle?” the British admiral asked with raised eyebrows. “Area 51?”

“It would be an ideal choice,” the Secretary of Defense said with a grin.

“If not for the fact that it is under permanent surveillance by everyone. Having to transport every prototype there would also facilitate spying on it - by anyone. There are other options.”

“You just want more money to develop your ex-soviet bases.”

“There are good reasons to pick a location in Germany.”

“Too close to Russia. France is more secure.”

“Canada has vast tracts of land that are empty of people and could easily be sealed off.”

“And it’s buried in snow for half the year.”

“That’s a cliche.”

“One based on facts.”

Adora winced. Telling everyone to stop being formal had definitely been a mistake.

“I almost miss the Horde,” Catra muttered. “No one talked back there.”

Adora glared at her.

*****​

Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, United States of America, Earth, November 29th, 1998

“...and Glimmer said we won’t get to design a new fightercraft - an aerospace fighter, able to be used in space and in the atmosphere - yet. We’ll adapt the Horde standard space fighter instead.”

Entrapta looked a little disappointed, Samantha Carter noticed. She could understand that very well, of course - as a pilot, she certainly had spent some time designing her ideal fighter or at least defining all the features it should have. And what engineer could take a look at a Death Glider and not think of a better craft?

Of course, designing aircraft wasn’t one of her specialities, although she certainly knew more about the engines and life support system an aerospace fighter should have, and about the performance of Death Gliders, than any engineer from Boeing or Lockheed Martin. Still, she had a lot of other projects to work on.

Which reminded her that she hadn’t really worked on the alien data cube they had recovered months ago. And she wouldn’t be able to do much work on it in the foreseeable future, either. Not with so many urgent problems to tackle.

Something she shared with Entrapta. “Well, we do have to finish our spacelab before we can take on other tasks,” Sam said. It would also help with designing the Alliance Orbital Command Centre.

“Right! Hordak and Bow have finished constructing the outer hull and installing life support, but we need to furnish it! It’ll be great! I’ve made plans for a hologram suite for the entire lab, so we can visit virtually even if we can’t make time to visit physically!”

That sounded… well, just off-hand, Sam could think of several applications for that. Virtual meetings. No longer wasting time travelling and being made to wait so someone could feel important and powerful. Or visiting your family while deployed - with FTL communication, even the Mars mission’s crew could still keep in contact like that. And, though she would never mention that near the Colonel, all the possibilities for entertainment, especially games…

She smiled. “That’s a great idea.”

“Right?” Entrapta beamed at her. “It should work through a Stargate as well. Although, based on the data we have, keeping the gate open just for hologram projections would be a waste of energy if you could step through it instead.”

“And it would block the gate for other connections,” Sam agreed.

“That too, yes.” Entrapta shrugged. “Though once we have the communication chain set up, we wouldn’t need the Stargate for talking to other planets, even though the lag would likely limit holoprojection.”

“Yes.” And speaking of probe bots… Sam checked the production data. Still short of the expected number, but the automated factory was working as intended now.

“We still need the computer data to set up a Stargate on Etheria, by the way,” Entrapta said. “Glimmer told me that negotiations were busy with stupid posturing and money grabs, so it might take a bit longer to get that.”

Sam nodded but couldn’t help feeling guilty. The United States were the central actor - and issue - in the current negotiations, after all. And she had been advising the government about dealing with the Etherians. If Sam and the rest of SG-1 hadn’t done that, would the government be so stubborn? Probably, Sam told herself. And they would be more likely to push for too much. Still…

“Anyway,” Entrapta interrupted her thoughts, “I’ve also been talking to Adora about the Goa’uld, and we should test her healing on parasites that aren’t sapient.”

“We could use animal testing,” Sam said. Many stray dogs and cats had parasites. Not even PETA would be against that sort of animal testing. At least she thought so.

“Right. As a first step, I guess.”

“Yes.” Finding a human with a parasite would be a little harder. At least without violating medical confidentiality - most would consider their condition embarrassing. “I can send an airman to the animal shelter in Colorado Springs and fetch a few dogs. Or cats.” Sam blinked. Would Catra have issues with dogs or cats? It was a silly thought, but the woman was a little prickly under the best circumstances, and all the speculation about her ‘nature’ hadn’t helped matters. Better safe than sorry. “What do you think would be better, dogs or cats?”

“I think we should take both, so we have more data,” Entrapta replied.

That was a good point, of course. But not what Sam needed to know. “Does Catra have experience with either?”

Entrapta frowned. “Oh. I don’t know.” She beamed again. “So, we’ll get even more data!”

Right. Sam should have seen that coming. Well, she was a little curious herself…

*****​

Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, United States of America, Earth, November 30th, 1998

As Samantha Carter found out the next day, while the question of whether or not Catra had issues with cats or dogs was still up in the air, dogs and cats definitely had issues with her. The animals, half a dozen of each - Stiler had erred on the side of ‘too many’ rather than ‘too little’ - had started to growl and hiss in their cages as soon as Catra, following Adora, had entered.

And Catra definitely had issues with that. “Stop playing nice with them, Adora,” she snapped. “Can’t you see that they want to bite me?”

“They’re just confused,” Adora replied from where she was crouched, trying to goad a mangy-looking cat out of its cage with a bit of food.

“That’s not confused!” Catra retorted.

“Afraid then. You must smell like a big cat to them.”

“What?”

“Yes,” Entrapta chimed in. “They probably mistake you for a local predator. Although you probably are a local predator, all things considered. Anyway, according to the pet guide we got, this is typical behaviour when an animal is stressed and afraid.”

“Oh, poor little things!” Adora cooed. “Don’t worry, Catra might look mean, but she’s as cuddly as you-Ow!”

“See? I told you!” Catra shook her head, crossing her arms over her chest, as Adora sucked on the finger the cat had just scratched.

Sam was already getting the medkit. Those were ‘fresh strays’, after all - who knew what kind of health problems they had.

“Just heal the things and yourself,” Catra said.

“How can you be so callous? Look how cute they are! Their fur is all puffed up! Like yours when you get startled.”

“Don’t compare me to those animals!”

Sam cleared her throat. “Can we focus on the experiment? You can cuddle the animals afterwards.”

“I can?” Adora beamed at her.

The woman had grown up in the Horde, groomed as a child soldier from birth, Sam reminded herself. She hadn’t been socialised like a typical girl on Earth. “If they let you,” she amended.

“I bet one ration that they won’t,” Catra said.

“Deal!”

They were betting rations? Sam shook her head. She could look into that later. The experiment came first.

*****​

Catra didn’t like those… furballs. The barking and growling were annoying, and the hissing… well, she hated having to refrain from hissing back to teach the nuisance its place because the others would never let her forget it. But it was even more annoying to see Adora fuss over the stupid animals.

Not that Catra was jealous - Adora would never betray her. Not even when Catra deserved it. She had proven that over and over again during the war. And Catra wouldn’t betray that trust either. Still, she had to clench her teeth while listening to Adora talking to the little beasts.

“Oh, you poor thing! Worms and fleas! No worry, soon you’ll be free of them.”

Fleas? Catra took a step back, shuddering. She had no intention of repeating that particular lesson from cadet training. Just thinking of it made her fur itch. “Adora! Don’t touch it if it has fleas!”

“They shouldn’t bother Adora,” Entrapta cut in. “Parasites are often limited to specific host species, having evolved with them. Another reason that makes Goa’uld so interesting.”

Well, Catra didn’t know if she was different enough to not have to worry about fleas from those animals. And she wasn’t about to find out. “Whatever!” She took another few steps back, crossed her arms over her chest and glared at the stupid cat in the cage. Who was still hissing at Adora even though Catra’s lover had just fed her. Talk about ungrateful!

“We’re ready for the experiment now,” Sam spoke up. She sounded amused.

Catra narrowed her eyes at the woman - yes, Sam was smiling.

But Adora was finally standing up. And there it came. “For the Honour of Grayskull!”

Catra watched, almost basking in the sight as her lover transformed, her sword appearing in her hand. It was a magnificent sight she would never tire of as long as she lived.

“Oops. Sorry!”

“Don’t worry, it’s not your fault - a lab should have a higher ceiling. When you’re moving to the new location, you need to ensure you’ve got a better room, Sam!”

“At least there wasn’t an important powerline in the ceiling,” Sam said.

Catra snickered. That wouldn’t have happened in the Horde.

“Alright - monitors have been set up, bug scanners and containment fields are ready, we’re scanning… thirty-seven fleas and five worms on that specimen,” Entrapta announced. “Signs of malnutrition as well.”

Catra shuddered again. The poor thing…

Then Adora pointed her sword at the hissing cat, and magical light engulfed it.

When the light faded, the cat looked confused. Catra rolled her eyes. “You’ve just been healed, idiot!” she snapped.

Which earned her another hiss. Dumb beast.

“Oh… there are still fleas on the specimen. But the worms in the intestinal tract are all gone. And I don’t see… No, nothing left; the mass of the parasites must have been disintegrated,” Entrapta said.

“I didn’t remove the fleas?” Adora asked. She was looking at her sword as if it was defective.

“They weren’t inside the cat’s body,” Sam pointed out. “That was likely the difference. Unless it’s related to the species of the parasites.”

“Hm. This requires more data! And we’ve got more test subjects!” Entrapta announced.

Adora nodded with her most earnest and determined expression, Catra noted. But she also noted how her lover looked at the healed cat - who was already scratching their ear again.

Catra sighed. “And let’s give the beasts a flea bath. Or something.” She just knew that Adora would hug and cuddle the things afterwards.

*****​

“Ah! Aren’t you the cutest?”

Catra closed her eyes and wished she could close her ears as well.

“So, the experiments showed that any internal parasites got removed - effectively disintegrated since we found no trace of them in the air outside, so they weren’t just expelled. Which is, of course, a good thing so we won’t have to worry about contamination by dead parasites,” Entrapta said. “And the external parasites were untouched. Botflies apparently count as internal, by the way.”

Catra shuddered once more and tried to forget that particular memory. She’d have to invest in bug spray if those things were common. She focused on the discussion instead. “So, if Adora heals a host, she would kill the Goa’uld?” Adora would hate that.

“It’s a possible outcome,” Sam said, “However, we cannot say at this point if magic treats sapient and non-sapient parasites the same. Or if the Goa’uld are treated differently since they also provide some benefits to the host body. The symbiotic bacteria in the intestines haven’t been purged, after all.”

“So, we’re back at step one,” Catra summed up.

“Yes. If all parasites had been expelled alive, we would have had a solid hypothesis that Goa’uld would be treated the same, but…” Entrapta shrugged. “We need more testing, but we don’t have the right test subjects.”

“You’re purring just like Catra when I pet her!”

Catra clenched her teeth and snapped at Adora, who was sitting in the middle of the now suddenly friendly animals. “That’s private!”

“Oh! Sorry!” Adora had the grace to blush, at least.

But now the stupid animals were growling and hissing at her again.

This time, Catra flashed her fangs and hissed back.

“Catra! You’re scaring the poor things!”

That was the idea!

*****​

Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, United States of America, Earth, December 1st, 1998

“Hi, Jack! We’re adopting!”

“No, we’re not!”

“But Catra! She likes you!”

“She doesn’t. She just wants my food!”

“So give her some! She’s starving!”

“She already got half my sandwich!”

“Get another one!”

“Besides, that’s not good food for cats.”

“But you eat it, Catra!”

“I’m not a housecat!”

Jack O’Neill sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Can we focus on the subject of this meeting?” he ground out.

He half-expected Catra and Adora to ignore him, but Catra actually sat up straight and nodded. Adora followed her friend’s example. She looked serious when she nodded, but Jack had caught her sneaking the cat - barely older than a kitten, as far as he could tell - a treat or something, so he wasn’t sure how serious she actually was.

Well, he’d take what he could get. And hope that Hammond never heard of this - the General would enjoy seeing Jack trying to deal with such antics for a change. Though Jack had never brought a pet into a briefing. And speaking of that… “Why’s there a cat in the room?” he asked.

“You mean the housecat?” Adora asked.

Catra growled at her.

“Yes,” Jack said through not quite clenched teeth.

“She’s here to illustrate our experiment,” Entrapta piped up.

“And she has no one else to look after her,” Adora added.

“Which is her own fault,” Catra said. “She broke out of her carrier and hid in the lab before the rest were moved to new owners.”

“Exactly!”

Jack sighed again. “Was that why I got a mail asking if I wanted a dog?” He glanced at Carter, who was suspiciously silent and focused on her laptop.

“We asked everyone,” Entrapta said. “We were looking for good homes for our test subjects.”

“We couldn’t send them back to the shelter after the experiment,” Adora explained. “That would have broken their hearts.”

Jack slowly nodded and tried to ignore how the cat walked around the briefing room, sniffing at the trash can in the corner. “I see. And, speaking of experiments…?”

“Right.” Adora nodded sharply. “My healing destroys internal parasites but leaves external ones alive and in place.”

“And presumably healed them as well,” Carter added. “Though we could not determine whether or not this was true without the aid of a biologist.”

“Doctor Fraiser said she wasn’t equipped to check the health of fleas,” Entrapta pouted. “That’s a serious deficiency you should correct when you move to the new site. Also, we’ve been looking into mailing samples to specialists.”

Jack grinned at the thought of the doctor’s likely reaction to that request. “I see. So, any attempt to expel the snake from Lenkova would likely kill it?”

“We cannot dismiss that possibility,” Carter replied. “Although we don’t know enough about She-Ra’s magic to say with any certainty. It could treat sapient parasites differently.”

“And we can’t just risk killing helpless prisoners if there’s a possible alternative,” Adora said. She was dead serious now, Jack noted - she didn’t even react to the cat trying to climb into the trashcan. And it didn’t look like Catra was about to try to change her mind, either.

Damn.

“It’s not a critical situation,” Carter said. “Lieutenant Lenkova is still sedated, and, according to Janet, the Goa’uld’s presence is countering the negative effects of long-term sedation. However, due to the regenerative effect of the possession, Lenkova might be building up an immunity to the drugs used on her - they already had to up the dose once.”

So, time was starting to run out. Well, that was nothing new. In fact, Jack was used to dealing with more urgent problems.

“Is there any news from the Tok’ra?” Adora asked.

“Nothing so far. We’ve been checking the world twice per day,” Jack told her. “The next mission is scheduled for this afternoon.” Which would be another training mission for the new guys.

“Ah.”

“We still have other alternatives,” Carter said. “Although they would put Lenkova at a greater risk than the Goa’uld.”

Jack wasn’t about to risk the damn snake killing Lenkova if they could risk the snake’s life instead. And he was pretty sure most people agreed with that stance. But this wasn’t the time to say that. Not yet.

He nodded instead. “So, since we used this to get away from more boring meetings… is there anything else to discuss before we are sent back into the fray?”

“We’ll be opening our spacelab soon!” Entrapta announced. “Full remote and virtual access, too!”

“Waldos and hologram projections, sir,” Carter explained. Somewhat.

“And we’ll be testing a communication chain later - we’ve got enough probe bots now to start spreading them.” Entrapta beamed. “By networking them, they won’t ever feel lonely, either!”

“We’re not using sapient bots,” Carter answered Jack’s question before he could ask it.

“Ah, good.” There was no need to recreate Star Trek I. Although that might still happen. Not that Jack would mention that he had watched the movie when it came out - he had a reputation to maintain.

“If that’s all, then we need to go,” Adora said. “We need to buy pet supplies!”

“I told you - we’re not adopting her!”

“As far as I was told, you don’t adopt cats - they adopt you,” Adora retorted. “And she did!”

“That’s not how it works!”

“She must think you’re her big sister.”

“What? How? And why?”

Jack smirked.

Until he felt pinpricks of claws on his calf. Followed by some furry little beast climbing up his leg just as he was getting up.

Damn.

*****​

Earth Orbit, Solar System, December 2nd, 1998 (Earth Time)

“We need to name her,” Adora said, watching their cat - their kitten; she was still so small - chase a ball of crumpled tin foil across Darla’s lounge. She was so cute!

“We need to find her a good home on Earth,” Catra retorted. “We’re fighting a war; we can’t take care of a pet. A stupid pet, too.” She glared at the cat, who was now trying to shred the ball with her hindlegs. “That’s not alive, numbskull!”

Adora looked at Melog and grinned as they went up to the cat and licked it. “Look, Melog likes her as well.” And since Melog was so close to Catra, they usually shared their emotions…

Catra switched her glare to Adora. “It’s not about liking the stupid cat. It’s about what’s best for the cat. We can’t keep her on the ship.”

“Why not?” Adora asked. “Entrapta can build a catsitting-bot for us.” She had already asked. “We can have the bot watch and feed her when we’re not around.”

“And when we need to take Darla into battle?” Catra shot back with a frown. “Do you really want to risk her?”

“Ah! You do care about her!”

Her lover rolled her eyes. “That’s not the point.”

“It is,” Adora insisted. “We can take care of her.” She was She-Ra, Princess of Power. If she couldn’t take care of a small cat - a kitten - then how was she supposed to win a war and protect anyone else? “We don’t need to take Darla into a fight for now, anyway, and we can take her to Bright Moon before we start fleet operations.” She smiled at Catra, switching to a grin when her lover scowled in that ‘I hate losing an argument’ way of hers that was so familiar to anyone who knew her. Like Adora.

“And what if we’re pushed into battle before that?” Catra put both hands on her hips. “You can’t count on the Goa’uld just sitting on their butts until we start kicking them!”

“If they attack Earth, we’ve got Third Fleet here,” Adora retorted. “And we’ll be able to send her out with a shuttle to keep her safe if it comes to that.” She cocked her head. “Do you really think we can’t keep her safe? Between Earth and Etheria?”

Catra sighed. “I just don’t… What if we can’t? Neither you nor I ever had a pet. Swift Wind doesn’t count,” she added with a scowl. “It’s a lot of responsibility.”

“We’ve led armies. I think we can handle a pet,” Adora said. How hard could it be?

“Soldiers aren’t helpless. Not even Kyle.” Catra crossed her arms over her chest, grabbing her elbows with her hands and looking to the side.

Oh. Adora smiled and stepped up to her lover, putting her hands on Catra’s shoulders. “You’ll do fine, Catra. Don’t worry. Trust me. You can do this. We can do this.”

Catra pressed her lips together for a moment, not meeting her eyes. Then she sighed. “And what about our friends?”

“What about them? They’ll love her!” Even Jack, despite his cursing when the kitten had climbed up his leg, liked her. Adora was sure.

“They’ll tease us about having a kitten.”

Adora shrugged. “I’m sure it won’t be too bad. And we can tease them back if they do.”

“How?”

“They’re just jealous they don’t have a kitten.”

Catra blinked, then sighed again. “They’ll tease us about the cat being like our baby.”

“Oh.” Adora could see that. And she, well… kind of understood it. Earth television had some shows about people using pets as replacement babies. “It’s not like that, though.” She released Catra’s shoulders, turning to look at the cat, who was still being licked by Melog. “And she’s worth a little teasing, right?” she asked while she wrapped her left arm around Catra’s waist.

Catra sighed yet again. “Well, yes. Maybe.”

That was a yes! “So, what should we name her? What name would she like?”

“Why are you asking me?” Catra cocked her head at her.

“Well…” Adora didn’t want to point out the obvious - her lover was a little prickly about some things.

Catra rolled her eyes. “I can’t ask her, dummy.”

Too bad. That would have made things easy. “So… Catty? Kitty?”

Catra put a hand on her face. “Really?”

“Catherine?” That was a decent name, wasn’t it?

“That sounds like a name for one of Entrapta’s bots.” Catra shook her head.

“That doesn’t make it a bad name,” Adora protested.

“She needs a better name,” Catra insisted. “If we’re going to have a pet, we’ll treat her right. And that means a good name.”

Adora frowned. Maybe this was a bit more difficult than she had thought. But at least Catra was on board now! “Princess?”

“No!”

“Luna?”

“Are you actually watching that show?” Catra stared at her.

“No!” Not really. Maybe an episode or two. But the blonde princess was too silly.

“What about…” Darla announcing an incoming call interrupted Adora. Perfect timing, she thought as she went to the bridge to take the call.

It was Stargate Command. The Tok’ra had answered the message. And they were requiring a meeting. And the return of Jakar.

Well, that was good news. Probably. Hopefully.

They’d soon find out, in any case.

*****​

Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, United States of America, Earth, December 2nd, 1998

“This could be a trap - either by other Goa’uld factions or the Tok’ra themselves, for taking one of theirs prisoner. The demand to meet them on an unknown planet is suspicious.”

Samantha Carter pressed her lips together. General Sidorov was as paranoid as ever. Or worse, actually.

General Haig, at least, remained unflappable as he replied: “Undoubtedly, meeting them on their terms carries a certain risk. However, this is also our best chance to open relations with a potential ally. They have been fighting the Goa’uld Empire for millennia, after all.”

“I concur,” General Petit agreed. “We can reconnoitre the planet in advance, I believe.”

“That might offend the Tok’ra,” General Li pointed out.

“I believe they will expect this level of caution by us,” General Hammond retorted. “In fact, given what we know about them, they might be offended, or at least might dismiss us as incompetent, if we didn’t act with sufficient caution.”

Sam agreed with that assessment.

So did the Colonel. “They’re still snakes,” he said.

Daniel cleared his throat. “We don’t have enough data to draw conclusions. They might have a patronising attitude towards us - we have enough such examples in our history - but they might also be quite objective. Please don’t forget that, according to what we know, they consider their hosts as partners. A society built upon such partnerships, for millennia, would naturally develop a different culture than a society built upon slavery and worship.”

“Our information is based on the claims by the Tok’ra themselves,” Sidorov said, scoffing. “We cannot trust their words.”

“But we cannot treat them as untrustworthy either,” Glimmer cut in. “We cannot build trust without offering some trust.”

“By sending more soldiers into a trap? Soldiers who know our most important secrets?” Sidorov stared at Sam.

She clenched her teeth and sat even straighter in response. If the Russian thought that he could keep her from this mission… She had the most experience with Tok’ra. Very personal experience. Jolinar.

“If you want to send green troops on such an important mission, you’re a fool,” the Colonel snapped. “We’re the ones with the experience to handle this.” He nodded at Sam and the others, then at the Etherians. “And we’ve worked together before.”

“Yes,” Adora spoke up. “This is a great opportunity to make allies. We can’t squander it.”

Sam saw Catra lean over to Adora, mumbling something that Sam didn’t catch but which had the other woman pout at her lover. She forced herself to focus on the generals in the meeting room. “I think the risk is manageable, sir,” she told General Haig.

“Yes!” Entrapta nodded several times, her hair bopping up and down. “And we can use this to test our improved spy bots! They should be able to do a deep scan of the area, possibly the planet if we give them enough time and send enough of them through the gate.”

“Trusting machines?” Sidorov spat.

“Do you trust anyone or anything?” Catra snorted.

“Of course not!” Sidorov said.

Not for the first time, Sam wondered why such a paranoid officer was on the Stargate Command Council. The Colonel said it was a Russian thing, but this seemed too simple an explanation.

General Haig spoke up again. “I think this would be a prudent course of action.”

“Yes!” Entrapta jumped up, fist raised, then pulled out her recorder. “Spy bot test number forty-five - planetary exploration. Six Mark Threes. Method of transport: Stargate. Objective: Scan for threats and anything else of interest.” She was already turning towards the door, obviously not intending to wait.

Sam looked at General Hammond. Entrapta could need some help - if only to handle the gate room crew - and Sam would rather do something productive than listen to the arguments in the meeting. The Colonel and the Etherians would ensure that SG-1 would be on the mission anyway.

Fortunately, he understood. “Please assist Princess Entrapta, Captain Carter.”

“Yes, sir.”

She caught up to Entrapta before they reached the gate room - right when the first spy bots walked and floated out of the elevator. Those were larger than the original Mark Ones but, of course, not nearly as large as the space-capable Mark Twos. Or the interstellar probe bots.

“Alright, guys!” Entrapta spoke up. “This is your first real mission, so I expect the best of you! But don’t be sad if you have trouble - you are still in the testing phase, so you can’t be expected to be perfect. Just do your best and gather data! And don’t get destroyed!”

The bots beeped in agreement. One even trilled, rising a bit higher in the air, and Sam had to remind herself that those weren’t sapient bots and this wasn’t actual enthusiasm. Just a quirk of the programs.

She had checked that before, after all.

Running the last checks took some more time, but soon enough, the Stargate was establishing a connection, followed by six bots passing through.

Their sensors’ feeds showed ruins around the gate as they fanned out.

“No power detected. No sign of life so far,” Entrapta reported.

Sam double-checked the results, then nodded. “Yes. Preliminary scans complete.”

“Looks clear,” Entrapta said.

But that was just the gate area. They would have to scan far more of the planet, and of the atmosphere and orbits as well. One spy bot buried itself in the ground near the gate, the rest started to explore.

And Sam forced herself to focus on the alien surface she saw on the screen, on the data pouring in, on the bots’ search patterns.

Anything to keep her from remembering her time as Jolinar’s host.

She gritted her teeth as she worked. She had the most experience with Tok’ra. She was needed. And she would do this, her personal demons be damned.

*****​

 

Chapter 56: The Tok’Ra Part 1

Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, United States of America, Earth, December 4th, 1998

Catra eyed the Stargate as it formed, taking care to appear as relaxed and unconcerned as she could. It wouldn’t do to look concerned or even anxious. Even though they were entering a potential trap. Sure, Entrapta and Sam’s bots had scanned the whole planet for two days before scanning the two people who had arrived twenty minutes ago. And anything that managed to escape their sensors would probably be able to bypass whatever security they might put up on another planet anyway.

But you could never be sure - Catra had used the Princess Prom, a supposedly neutral meeting, for a covert operation herself. In hindsight, that hadn’t been her best plan; it had driven the Kingdom of Snows into the Princess Alliance, but she had achieved her primary objectives. Mostly. Not that she wanted to remember that part of her life, anyway. With the exception of the dance, of course.

And who could say what the Tok’ra were planning? The First Ones had been willing to sacrifice Etheria to defeat Horde Prime. If the Goa’uld who had contacted them were even the Tok’a and not some other faction.

But being too cautious, seeing traps and traitors everywhere, was a good way to lose a war. Especially if you drove away allies. Catra was kind of familiar with that as well. And she didn’t want to look as stupid as the Russian idiot in Stargate Command, Sidorov. The odds that Jakar was working for a System Lord and had decided to pose as a Tok’ra in the spur of a moment, without knowing anything about the Alliance, were very low.

Besides, they had She-Ra and Entrapta with them. Whatever the trap, they’d beat it anyway.

So she smiled as she stepped on the ramp, flashing her fangs at the guards, then turned to glance at the others. “Come on, slowpokes! I want to be back in time for dinner. They’re serving fish in the mess hall today!”

“You could order fish every day,” Glimmer pointed out with a frown. “The payments from NASA for the Mars mission came in.”

“And?” Catra cocked her head to the side as if Glimmer had said something stupid.

“I mean… Oh, forget it!” Glimmer stomped past her, straight up to the gate. “Let’s not make them wait any longer.”

“Hey - they pick the place; we pick the time!” Catra retorted. Waiting until they arrived and then sending a bomb through the gate was the most effective way to ambush them that Catra could think of. Even Emily’s force shield would have trouble with a big enough bomb.

That was similar to how the humans had killed Ra, apparently.

But Glimmer was correct - they couldn’t wait any longer. Catra would have gone first through the gate, but her appearance might spook the Tok’ra since they were expecting humans. And if they attacked Catra, she’d have to defend herself, and that might ruin diplomatic relations before they could be opened.

So Catra let O’Neill go first, then followed him, holding her breath for the weird transit time. She was getting used to it, but it still played havoc with her senses.

And then she was on a new planet. PX-852, according to Stargate Command. And facing two Goa’uld. Or their human hosts. They didn’t wear heavy armour and were armed with zat’nik’tels at their hips, but while their uniforms looked quite tight, they and especially their belts could hide a lot of gadgets - or weapons. Catra knew that perfectly well. Flashing her fangs, she waved at the two women. “Hi!”

They were tense; she could tell at once. Catra wanted to ask if they had never seen a cat, but Adora and Glimmer, followed by Bow, Sam and Daniel, arrived right behind her.

And then came Entrapta with Emily, and the Tok’ra tensed even more. But, after a moment, they slowly nodded.

“Hello,” O’Neill said. “I’m Colonel O’Neill, Stargate Command. These are Queen Glimmer of Bright Moon, She-Ra, Princess of Power, Princess Entrapta of Dryl, Captain Carter, Techmaster Bow, Dr Daniel Jackson, Catra and Teal’c, former First Prime of Apophis.”

“And this is Emily!” Entrapta added, patting the bot’s upper shell. “Hi!”

Emily beeped.

“I am Garshaw of Belote. And this is Anise. We represent the Tok’ra,” the Goa’uld with the darker hair said, nodding at the other.

Teal’c’s eyebrows rose a little bit, Catra noticed. So, he must have recognised at least one of the names. The Goa’uld hadn’t reacted to his presence, so they must have been already aware of his desertion.

“And we represent the Alliance,” Glimmer replied.

“We expected Jakar to be present as well,” Anise commented. She had a rather bland smile, Catra noted, but something in her attitude made Catra want to annoy her. Almost like a princess.

“Ah, yes, Jakar. Since he is in our custody, we’re responsible for his safety, and so we can’t risk transporting him into potentially dangerous situations until we are sure that there’s no danger.” O’Neill smiled, showing his teeth. “Wouldn’t want to break our laws, you understand.”

“Ah.” Anise’s smile didn’t change, but she took a closer look at O’Neill.

Garshaw nodded. “You don’t trust us.”

“We don’t know you,” Glimmer said. “This meeting will hopefully change that.”

Catra wasn’t so sure about that. But she nodded along with everyone else.

*****​

Gate Area, PX-852, December 4th, 1998 (Earth Time)

“Jakar’s message told us that you were potential allies against the Goa’uld. But he didn’t tell us who you are,” the darker-haired Goa’uld - Garshaw - said. She inclined her head. “We don’t know you either.”

Jack O’Neill had a snarky reply on his tongue, but Adora spoke up before he could: “We hope this meeting will change that as well.” She had an earnest, wide smile on her face as well.

“You’re clearly an advanced species - or an alliance of different species,” the other Goa’uld said with a glance at Catra before staring at Entrapta with an expression that had Jack silently thank whoever was responsible that Hordak wasn’t present and that the rumours about the princess and Carter were completely wrong. “This robot of yours looks very impressive. Is that a laser emitter?”

Entrapta nodded enthusiastically. “You saw that? Yes, it is! Standard bot weapon, though Emily’s was upgraded, of course - couldn’t leave you with sub-par weapons, right, Emily?”

Jack realised that he had been hanging out with the Etherians a bit too much since he could almost understand Emily’s answering beep.

The Goa’uld gasped. “Oh! Is it actually sapient?”

“Emily’s female, and yes!” Entrapta replied. “I programmed her matrix myself, and her neural network did the rest, of course.”

“You did? Remarkable. Was this your technology, or did you adapt the Ancients’?”

“Oh, the control matrix is mine, but we’ve upgraded her with First Ones - Ancients - technology as well!”

“Though the details we shouldn’t share until we know that we can trust each other,” Carter cut in. She had a rather toothy smile, Jack noticed.

“Of course,” Anise replied without taking her eyes off Emily. “Given your size, you must contain impressively powerful weapons.”

Emily beeped in agreement.

Jack glanced at the others. Everyone else, even the second Goa’uld - or Tok’ra - looked like they were wondering when their diplomatic meeting had changed into a robot discussion. He cleared his throat. Time to be the bad guy. “So… That’s very fascinating, but, as was pointed out, we shouldn’t talk tech until we know each other much better.” He flashed a toothy smile of his own at the two snakes.

“Oh, yes.” The other Goa’uld sounded almost relieved. “I apologise for my companion - she is an excellent and passionate scientist, so new technology tends to fascinate her.” Jack could hear the unsaid ‘a bit too much’ clearly.

Anise didn’t deny that. She didn’t even acknowledge it.

“Right. We don’t share technology unless it’s an alliance,” Entrapta said. “Sorry!”

“Perfectly understandable,” Anise told her.

Carter nodded politely. At least she could be trusted not to hand out military technology just for being asked.

“So, you’re the Tok’ra,” Jack said. “You opposed Ra, and I guess after we killed him, you switched targets.”

“We heard that Ra was killed by the Tau’ri,” Garshaw looked at him and raised one eyebrow.

“Yep, that’s us,” Jack said. “We had a slight disagreement. He wanted to conquer our planet, and we didn’t want him to. So, we ended up blowing him up as a compromise.”

“And you destroyed two Ha’taks in the service of Apophis,” Anise added. “You must have quite the advanced technology - developed under Ra’s nose.”

“Yes.” Jack smiled. “And that was before we joined the Alliance.” No need to go into details here. As a member of Stargate Command, he was talking for Earth, or at least for two countries that were in the Alliance, and Carter had developed quite impressive technology from their finds, so, technically, he wasn’t lying to the snakes. Not that lying wouldn’t be a-ok when talking to snakes - or doing diplomacy.

“We represent the Princess Alliance. We met the Tau’ri shortly after Apophis’s attack on their planet,” Glimmer said. Of course, she’d have a different view of diplomacy. “When we learned of the Goa’uld Empire and their policies, we knew we would have to fight them and free their slaves. And so we formed an alliance. A new Alliance - Earth didn’t join the Princess Alliance.”

“Ah.” Garshaw nodded.

“An alliance with an alliance? A complex arrangement,” Anise said. She seemed to approve.

“We’ve never heard of a Princess Alliance.” Garshaw seemed to ignore her friend’s comment. “And we have access to almost all of the Goa’uld Empire’s records.”

“Have you heard of Horde Prime?” Glimmer asked.

They had - Jack saw them tense up.

“We defeated him,” Glimmer quickly explained.

“Thoroughly,” Catra added.

“That’s quite a claim,” Garshaw said. “Ra had ordered the System Lords to avoid Horde Prime’s territory. He kept the reasons secret from most of his followers, but we managed to find reports that told us enough to deduce that Horde Prime was exceedingly dangerous.”

“Yeah, we’re aware of that,” Jack cut in. “But Ra’s dead, and Horde Prime is dead. And the Alliance is just getting started.”

Daniel frowned at him, even though this was a great line.

“And how exactly did you kill either?”

That was a good question. One Jack wanted to answer with ‘that’s classified’, but he had a feeling that the Etherians would disagree. And looking at Adora raise her chin, he knew he was right.

*****​

“For Horde Prime, I drove his spirit out of the body he possessed and destroyed it.” A moment after Adora had said it, she realised that the Tok’ra were probably a bit concerned about her wording. Or more than a bit, she amended her thoughts after she saw them tense up again.

“You destroyed his spirit?” Garshaw asked.

“Yes. He could jump from body to body. He wasn’t like you,” Adora tried to explain.

While Garshaw looked sceptical, Anise looked interested. “He was essentially a pure consciousness? One not tied to a physical body like a Goa’uld or Tok’ra?”

“Essentially, yes,” Entrapta said. “He basically took over prepared clone bodies, suppressing the native consciousness. Although his control wasn’t perfect,” she added with a fond smile. “In at least one case, his host could resist him.”

“And Ra?”

“We lost a bomb in his flagship,” Jack said, shrugging. “He must have stumbled over it.”

“It sounds as if you’re leaving out a lot of details,” Anise commented.

“Boring details.” Jack grinned.

“The details don’t matter much here. What matters is that Horde Prime’s dead and gone,” Catra cut in. “The Goa’uld Empire still stands. The Tok’ra oppose it - or so we hear.” Adora saw her lover’s tail switch back and forth and her ears twitch a little. She didn’t like sharing intel like that. But they couldn’t expect anyone to trust them without showing some trust first.

“We have been fighting the Goa’uld for millennia,” Garshaw replied with narrowed eyes. “None has hurt them as much as we did.”

“But not in open warfare,” Catra retorted. “You can’t match them militarily.”

“And you can?” Garshaw shot back.

“We believe so,” Adora said. “We have better technology, and we will have the edge in trained troops.” It was a risk to say this - but honesty was the best way to gain allies. And she had a good feeling about this.

“If you can match the Empire in open warfare, why are you seeking allies?” Garshaw didn’t scoff, but Adora thought she wanted to.

“The more members in the Alliance, the easier the fight will be,” Adora explained. “Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses, but combined, we can cover each other. We can be more than the sum of our parts.” She smiled at them. This had to work - they had to see that this was true. “We can do so much more with allies than alone.”

“Or you can be dragged into futile attacks by ignorant allies - or be betrayed by your supposed allies,” Garshaw retorted. “We’ve seen this before, and the cost was horrible.”

Right. She was talking to people who have lived for thousands of years, Adora reminded herself. People who weren’t like Madame Razz. “That’s why we want allies. The more we know, the better we can plan. And we won’t betray our allies.” She nodded sharply, meeting their eyes.

“And the more we know, the better we can leverage our advantages,” Catra added. “And the lower the risk of killing your people as collateral damage is.” She shrugged. “It’s not as if we have a way to check if someone’s Tok’ra or Goa’uld when we attack a world.”

“Exposing our agents and spies to outsiders would endanger them far more than the chance that they might be caught in an attack by someone else,” Garshaw said. “All it would take is one succumbing to a Goa’uld, and the System Lords would be able to eliminate all our agents. We keep that information compartmentalised even within the Tok’ra.”

Adora refrained from frowning. It made sense.

“We don’t expect a list of your operatives - though we wouldn’t turn one down either, of course!” Jack grinned. “But if we had an alliance, or at least shared intel, we could confirm that a prisoner claiming to be Tok’ra was actually a member of the Tok’ra. Letting anyone go just on their say so isn’t how things are done, after all.” He shrugged. “Of course, we still don’t know if you’re the Tok’ra.”

Adora frowned at him. He wasn’t wrong, but the chances that Jakar was a Goa’uld spy posing as a Tok’ra were rather small. He wouldn’t have known who he was talking to, nor that the Alliance would work with the Tok’ra but would refuse to work with another System Lord against Apophis. Or that the Alliance wouldn’t just torture him until he broke no matter his claims. And she didn’t think he would have prearranged secret tells to let his allies know with a message that they would have to pose as Tok’ra.

“How do you expect us to prove our claims?” Garshaw asked. Her friend glanced at her, but she didn’t seem to react. “Anyone could say they were members of the Tok’ra, after all. And why should we trust you? We are here because of Jakar’s message, yet he isn’t here. You admitted that you keep him prisoner.”

How could you prove that you were honest? Adora glanced at Sam. They had a way, of course, but they didn’t know if it would work. And the Tok’ra had a point about Jakar. She looked at Jack. “We can bring Jakar through the gate.” It wasn’t as if Jakar knew more about them than what they had told the Tok’ra about the Alliance. Quite the contrary, actually. Which she was sure Jack wasn’t happy about. And she knew that Catra didn’t like it. But trust required trust. Someone had to make the first step.

Jack narrowed his eyes, and his smile dimmed a lot, but, after a moment, he nodded and pushed a button on his radio. “Send Jakar through.”

Stargate Command didn’t argue. Adora sorted - that probably meant that Sidorov wasn’t in the gate room.

A few minutes later, Jakar stepped through the gate.

“Jakar!” Anise smiled at him.

“Garshaw. Anise.” He nodded at both, then looked at Jack.

“Go ahead,” Jack said. “They already know more about us than you do.”

Jakar laughed at this but walked over to the two other Tok’ra. They exchanged some words in a whisper that Adora didn’t catch, but Catra did. Her lover shook her head, though, when Adora looked at her. So, she didn’t understand the language. Well, Emily would have recorded it too.

Jack cleared his throat. “So, now that we’ve proven our good intentions, how about you prove that you’re the Tok’ra? Just for the record, so to speak. I mean, if we really thought you were Goa’uld, we wouldn’t have done this, but we’ve got a few sceptics at home, and we would like some solid proof that we didn’t just spill all this intel to the enemy.”

Yes, definitely not happy.

“Again: How do you expect us to prove that?” Garshaw asked

Sam took a step forward. “Call Martouf.”

*****​

“Martouf?” Garshaw tilted her head slightly as if she was confused, Samantha Carter saw, but Anise wasn’t quite as smooth and froze for a moment. So, they knew the name. And they were surprised that Sam knew the name. Jakar didn’t react - but he was a trained undercover operative, so Sam hadn’t expected him to do so.

“Martouf,” Sam repeated herself, meeting their eyes. “You know them.”

“How do you know him?” Anise asked with a frown.

“That’s part of how we can ascertain that you’re Tok’ra,” Sam told her.

“I see.” Garshaw slowly nodded. “We will have to use the Chappa’ai to call him.”

“And, of course, two of us will be staying here as a show of good faith,” Jakar added, smiling widely.

He really wanted the alliance, Sam realised. Or, she amended her thought, he was that curious about them and the Etherians.

She also noticed that Garshaw wasn’t happy, but Anise nodded. “Of course.” The woman sounded almost eager. Well, Sam could understand that - any scientist worth her salt would love to observe, if not explore, new technology.

“It will take a while to reach him,” Garshaw said, a very thin smile on her face. “You’ll understand that I won’t travel directly to him.”

Sam hesitated a moment. This was a gamble. She was acting on partial information - information gained in a dream, based on remnants of Jolinar’s memories. Disturbing dreams. And yet, Martouf was real. So she smiled and recited the gate address Jolinar and Martouf had used in the fragment of the Tok’ra’s memories she remembered.

And Sam had to refrain from smirking at the Tok’ra’s reaction. This time, even Jakar tensed, eyes narrowing for half a second before he started to smile again.

“Well played, Captain Carter,” he said with a slight bow. “Your talents go beyond being a scientist and soldier.”

Garshaw was less graceful - her lips were pressed together, forming a thin line, as she nodded. And Anise was… well, Sam wasn’t quite sure what her expression meant. But the Tok’ra was staring at her just like she had been staring at Entrapta before.

Which did, strangely, make Sam feel proud and concerned at the same time.

Garshaw walked over to the D.H.D. with the usual grace of a Goa’uld not trying to hide, and the Colonel took a step to the side, his nod turning into an ironic bow. “I’ll signal our side to break the connection,” he said, just as Garshaw opened her mouth, presumably to demand the same thing.

Sam once more refrained from grinning.

But as Garshaw dialled, the Colonel stepped closer to Sam and whispered: “That was a hell of a shot in the dark, Carter.”

“It was a calculated risk based on solid intel,” she retorted in an equally low voice. Well, as solid as possible for this situation, she amended in her mind.

Catra snorted - the catwoman had overheard them, of course.

“I hope you know what you are doing,” the Colonel went on.

“Yes, sir,” Sam replied. In any case, the die was cast.

Then Garshaw vanished through the Stargate, the connection ending a moment later. Sam took note of that. If the connection had stayed up, they wouldn’t have been able to dial home. So, since Anise and Jakar were still here, this was also a sign of trust. Or it could be just a precaution in case the Tok’ra didn’t have an iris or another way to block gate travel. She couldn’t be sure until she personally verified it.

Sam understood why the Colonel liked to complain so much about spooks.

“So, while we wait….” Anise tilted her head and smiled at Entrapta. “Your hair looks very interesting. How do you control it?”

“Well, like I control the rest of my body,” Entrapta answered. “With my mind.”

“The hair is part of your body?”

“Yes.” Entrapta nodded. “It’s not the most powerful talent, but it’s very useful for fiddly work.”

Anise looked from her to Catra and back. “You are a very diverse Alliance.”

That, of course, had the Colonel chuckling. “You could say that, yes.”

Anise frowned at him for a moment, her lips twisting into a pout. Then her expression smoothed out again. “You four wear the same uniforms - a distinctive style.” She nodded at SG-1. “Even the former First Prime of Apophis. And yet, the rest of you all wear different clothes. And it is not for utilitarian reasons.”

Glimmer nodded. “Many different factions form our Alliance.”

“Do you have a dominant power? Or do you need to reach a consensus for every decision?” Anise asked.

“It depends on the kind of decision,” Glimmer told her. “Military decisions are under the purview of the military leadership - the commander of the Alliance forces and their staff.”

Which would have to expand, now that the United States was joining. Sam really didn’t want to watch those negotiations. Even though anyone with a working brain would have to realise that there was no chance at all that the supreme commander would be anyone other than Adora. Certainly not an American.

“Your planning meetings must be… lively.” Anise smiled in a way that made Sam want to take her down a peg. Even if the Tok’ra wasn’t entirely wrong about this.

“We manage,” Glimmer said. “Fighting Horde Prime taught us a lot.”

“Ah.”

“I am sure both of us can learn a lot from each other.” Jakar smiled again.

“Yeah, sure, you betcha. But let’s focus on how to defeat the Goa’uld, shall we?” The Colonel cut in. “And we should wait with forming closer ties until we both trust each other.”

Sam nodded. That was just common sense.

“Of course,” Jakar replied, acknowledging the point. “Although I remain very hopeful that we will forge close bonds.” His smile turned a little wistful. “We’ve been fighting the Goa’uld for a long time without allies. Of course, being betrayed by System Lords claiming they wanted to work with us did sour us on alliances with any Goa’uld. And we haven’t been looking for other allies either.”

“Yeah, being stabbed in the back by snakes does have that effect on people.” The Colonel sounded a little too casual for simply agreeing with the Tok’ra, in Sam’s opinion.

Daniel, who had been uncharacteristically silent until now, cleared his throat. “I noticed that you talk about the Goa’uld being your enemies, not the System Lords. Do you consider yourself as not part of the Goa’uld?”

“Yes.” Jakar nodded sharply. As did Anise. “To call us Goa’uld is an insult,” he added.

“Ah. I am sorry - I did not want to give offence.” Daniel nodded but quickly perked up. “So, do you have a name for your species? That is, do you consider yourself an entirely new species defined by your allegiance?”

“We’re the Tok’ra,” Jakar said, a little less congenial than he usually talked, Sam noted.

Anise, though, nodded. “Indeed, I have coined a new term for our biological species, but, so far, it has not received wide acceptance despite the clear need to differentiate between cultural and biological terms.”

Jakar tilted his head towards her. “The only one who has accepted it is you, Anise.”

Anise sniffed in response. “That others reject my proposal is a clear indication of their lesser status as scientists. You cannot ignore that we are biologically the same species and so we should have a term for this.”

“Yes!” Entrapta chimed in. “Science is not biased or political - science is honest. You can’t do science if you’re not honest. You’d end up falsifying your data, undermining your entire work!”

“Exactly!” Anise smiled at her.

They had a very valid point, of course.

“Yeah, but sometimes, science needs to take those other things into account,” the Colonel said. “Or you end up with stuff that should never have been created and a whole mess on your hands.”

“Such as the research I destroyed before we met, yes,” Jakar agreed.

Entrapta frowned. “That’s wrong! Whether or not you use something is not a scientific question. You shouldn’t limit scientific research just because of politics! Researching doesn’t harm anyone.” She blinked. “If conducted properly and responsibly, of course,” she added with a smile.

The Colonel wasn’t the only one who grimaced at that. “Yeah, well… If you never build a world-destroying thingie, it can’t be used to destroy the world. And it can’t get stolen or lost. Or accidentally activated.”

Entrapta winced at that. As did the other Etherians. They would remember their past, Sam knew. She shook her head as she spoke up: “On the other hand, science is universal. Just because someone is limiting their research doesn’t mean anyone else will be doing the same. And people cannot defend against something unless they know how it works.”

“Yes!” Entrapta nodded emphatically. “That’s why we need to research everything! So we’re ready for everything!”

Well, that wasn’t a very practical stance. You couldn’t research everything - you would end up not researching anything in sufficient depth to be useful and practical. And there were only so many scientists with the talent and training to research advanced technology, much less to break new ground. They were fortunate that the Goa’uld kept their slaves ignorant as a rule - if the Alliance were faced with a Goa’uld Empire using its resources for research and development on a similar scale to Earth… Sam suppressed a shudder.

Anise, once again, was agreeing emphatically. “I keep telling the High Council the same! And they keep rejecting my proposals.”

For a moment, Sam felt for the other woman. The number of requests she had been denied during her career… Although, to be fair, those had mainly been denied for budgetary reasons, not on moral grounds. Or because her hide-bound superiours had favoured another, usually male, scientist. But on the whole, the United States Armed Forces were generally very open to anything that could improve their weapons.

She noticed that the Colonel was frowning at her. And the Etherians were staring at Entrapta and Anise.

Oh.

But before she could explain - or defend - her position, the Stargate activated again.

“Stay sharp!” the Colonel snapped, raising his M4.

“Shield up, Emily!” Entrapta yelled as the bot moved to cover them, force shields springing up.

But it was only Garshaw who stepped through, followed by…

“Martouf,” Sam whispered before she could stop herself. Her friend. Her comrade. They had fought side by side against the Goa’uld, and… No. She shook her head. She had never met the Tok’ra. This was Jolinar’s remaining memories affecting her.

She straightened and stepped forward, meeting the man’s eyes. “Martouf.” She bowed slightly to him in greeting.

He returned the bow, looking wary. “You know my name. But I have never met you,” he said with a glance at Garshaw.

“I know.” Sam smiled ruefully. “I was briefly the host of Jolinar of Malkshur.”

Martouf’s eyes widened as he drew a sharp breath. “Jolinar. Where is he?”

He sounded so hopeful... Sam pressed her lips together. She hated this. She forced herself to smile gently. “He died saving my life.”

“Oh.”

“But he was... inside me long enough for our memories to partially overlap. I remember you,” Sam went on.

“That’s how you knew the gate address!” Anise exclaimed.

Sam nodded. She turned to the Colonel. “They’re the Tok’ra,” she said. The odds of the Goa’uld being able to produce either Martouf or a double of his host in such a short time were too low to be considered a valid hypothesis.

He looked at her for a moment before nodding. “Okay. So, you’re the Tok’ra. We’re the Alliance. And we both hate the Goa’uld. Let’s talk!”

*****​

Finally! Catra refrained from saying so out loud, of course - except for sighing a bit more loudly than usual, which earned her a frown from Adora. She stared back at her lover. Catra would have preferred to move with more caution - you couldn’t trust just anyone you met who claimed to be fighting the Goa’uld - but if you were doing the trusting bit instead anyway, there wasn’t any reason to stall for so long. It wasn’t as if Entrapta was particularly good at keeping secrets.

“Yes,” Garshaw said, nodding at O’Neill. “But maybe in a location more suited to such talks?” She turned her head to look at the Stargate. “Since you are already aware of one of our bases’ locations, visiting that planet would not endanger it further.”

Catra narrowed her eyes a little. That could be a trap. Unlikely, but not impossible. And without magic, Glimmer couldn’t use her powers to get them out quickly. On the other hand, the Tok’ra had no idea about Adora’s power. And Catra didn’t think a bunch of guerilla fighters and saboteurs would try to start a war with yet another power for any sane reason. And if they weren’t sane and cautious, they wouldn’t have lasted for so long against the Goa’uld Empire.

O’Neill must have come to the same conclusion since he nodded. “Sounds good to me.”

Adora and Glimmer were, of course, all for it. “Yes,” Adora said, smiling widely while Glimmer nodded.

And so, after informing Stargate Command, they went through the gate and found themselves in…

…a desert.

“You people really must love sand,” Catra said with a deep frown. She didn’t like sand. Not at all. The stuff got everywhere, including your clothes and fur. And walking on it was… Well, it wasn’t hot enough to burn her feet, at least, but it wasn’t comfortable either. Marching on soft sand was far more exhausting than marching on decent ground. It also reminded her of the Crimson Waste, and those were memories she wasn’t very fond of. For a variety of reasons.

Garshaw raised her eyebrows at her. “We don’t love sand. But we are used to the environment. We would rather live on a world like this, safe from the Goa’uld, than on a more hospitable one known to the System Lords.”

“You could have moved to a more temperate area, though,” Entrapta pointed out. “Or is the planet covered by deserts? Is this the temperate part, and the other regions are even worse - so hot, you can’t survive without special environmental suits?”

“Having the gate in this location discourages visitors, reducing the danger of being found and of anyone taking more than a passing interest in the world,” Garshaw explained.

“And,” Jakar added, “if the gate were moved, anyone familiar with the original location would realise that someone had moved it - and they would investigate.”

“So, how far do we have to travel until we’re at your base?” Catra asked. It couldn’t be too far, she thought - Garshaw hadn’t taken that long to fetch Martouf. Though they probably had used a skiff or something similar - she couldn’t see any road or tracks in the sand, and they had to have a way to haul supplies to and from their base.

“Not too far,” Garshaw replied, pulling out a round radio or communicator - Catra didn’t recognise the exact model. “We’ve arrived with guests and need a transport.”

Catra narrowed her eyes - and not just because of the sun - and cocked her head, her ears twitching. Was that a whining noise? Yes, it was. She turned to look in that direction. A single vehicle, probably.

Yes, she added to herself as it crested the dune there, it looks like a sort of skiff. Just without the sail. General-purpose light hovertransport, she’d call it. Pants in any fight since she couldn’t see any armour or emitters for shields - just like a skiff, in other words. But it probably could fly over water, not that there was any water in the desert.

“George Lucas has to answer a few questions,” she heard O’Neill comment.

“It is not too similar to a skiff, I believe,” Teal’c said.

“Form often follows function,” Daniel added. “So, it stands to reason that different designs would still show general similarities.”

“You use similar transports?” Anise asked.

“Yes,” Catra told her. No need to go into details.

“It serves well enough, though maintenance can be difficult at times,” Anise said. Judging by her expression, she had done such work before.

“Oh?” Entrapta stared at the approaching vehicle. “Is it the sand? Or do you have to craft all spare parts by hand? Some of the old bots I restored were like that.”

“Both,” Anise replied.

“Come,” Garshaw said. “Let’s be off.”

They boarded the transport, and the driver let it hover over the gate area, then pushed a button, blasting the sand below with air and erasing their tracks.

“Smooth,” Catra said with a grin.

“We have been doing this for some time,” Jakar told her with a matching smile as they took off.

*****​

P34-353J, December 4th, 1998 (Earth Time)

Jack O’Neill suppressed a frown when the skiff - which did look a bit too much like it came out of Star Wars for his taste - stopped in the middle of the desert between two dunes. There was nothing to distinguish this spot from any other spot of sand.

“We’re here,” Garshaw said.

“Home sweet home, as you would say,” the damn snake spy added with a smile.

Jack wondered where Jakar had picked up that piece of Earth slang. Or idiom, as Daniel would say. He would have to ensure that the man hadn’t had access to Earth media while in the mountain - that would have been a massive breach of security. Well, that was something to do once they were back home. He made a point to look around. “Are you sure you don’t love sand? Because there’s a lot of sand here.”

Jakar laughed. “This is merely the entrance.” He climbed over the railing and jumped down into the sand without apparent effort. Jack almost expected him to strike a pose as if he were at a gymnastics competition.

Well, two could play that game - especially since Adora had healed Jack. He gripped the railing with both hands and vaulted over it, landing next to the snake spy, and grinned.

Then Catra jumped over the skiff’s railing, did a somersault in midair and landed a few yards away with a shit-eating grin.

“Catra!” Adora, followed by the others, didn’t show off and simply dropped down from the skiff.

“What? I thought it was a competition. A traditional ritual before guests were admitted into their homes!” Catra’s shit-eating grin didn’t waver.

“You’ve been talking too much to Daniel,” Jack told her in a flat voice.

“What? We didn’t!” his friend protested. “Well, not recently, at least. And I never mentioned anything like... Oh.” He blinked, then pouted.

Then sand was thrown into the air when Emily landed on it, her legs sinking a foot or two into the soft ground. Entrapta, sitting on top of the bot and somehow having managed not to get thrown off - she’d probably cheated with her hair - cheered.

“This might be a bit much for one transport,” Anise said, looking around. “The robot will have to follow with the next.”

Transport? Were they switching… Ah. “A ring transporter?” Jack asked, cocking his head. “We’re getting the VIP treatment, I see.” And it meant they wouldn’t be able to easily find an entrance.

“Yes. It leaves no tracks,” Garshaw said, pulling her round communicator thingie out again.

“And the skiff continues to another base which serves as a last-ditch decoy?” Catra asked. “Or is this the decoy base?”

Garshaw didn’t answer. Instead, she spoke into the small ball. “We’re here.”

“Should have said ‘a dozen to beam down, Scotty’,” Jack joked.

“Colonel!” Carter hissed next to him.

But he was watching the snakes. None of them showed a reaction other than mild confusion - even the spy. So, Jakar might not have had access to Earth media in depth - or that was what the spy wanted you to think, of course.

Jack didn’t like spooks. He liked alien spooks even less.

Then the familiar rings rose around the group, and, a moment later, they appeared in a room - and were facing half a dozen guards.

But the snakes hadn’t drawn their weapons, and Garshaw nodded at the apparent leader. “There is a robot to transport down as well,” she told them before turning to address SG-1 and the Etherians. “Please follow us to your quarters. It will take a little while to convene the High Council to meet with you.”

They stepped out of the transporter area, and Jack turned to Jakar, tilting his head slightly to the right. “Guest quarters?”

The spy laughed again. “Oh, don’t worry - it’s not a euphemism for cells. You have free access to explore this base if you do not wish to wait in quite comfortable surroundings.”

Jack’s eyebrows rose. Full access to their base? Either the Tok’ra weren’t as competent as they had to be to survive for so long, or this was a decoy base.

“Thank you,” Glimmer spoke up with one of her regal, polite smiles. “It will be nice to freshen up a bit.”

Garshaw nodded. “You are our guests. Jakar, please show them their quarters. I will call the rest of the High Council.”

“Can we see your lab?” Entrapta asked Anise with a wide smile as Emily appeared behind them. “We’re building a new lab, Sam and I, and I’d love to see how other scientists work!”

“Ah…” Anise grimaced. “I don’t have a lab in this base,” she said.

So, this was a decoy base. Jack grinned. If Entrapta had done this intentionally, he’d tell her well done in private.

“Aw.” Entrapta pouted. “Did you have to move your lab for security reasons too?”

“In a manner of speaking, yes.” Anise had apparently recovered from her slip.

“Is it in space? Though that would require a guard fleet to keep it safe. Do you have enough naval assets for that? Of course, a spacelab seems the safest option for a lot of experiments. Or… with your transporters, could you build a lab deep in the bedrock, completely isolated from everyone? But the transporter might still be a risk for spreading biological agents in an accident, and if it failed, you’d be stuck there or outside the lab!”

Jack couldn’t tell if Entrapta was more worried about being stuck inside or outside her lab. He guessed the latter.

Then he tried to tune the tech talk out and focus on the base they were travelling through. The tunnels were roomy, but, for all their alien-ness, they looked a bit… rough. And those crystals everywhere… He narrowed his eyes, then grinned. He wasn’t an expert on alien technology, but they had two of them with him. Three, actually; he kept forgetting that Bow was a Techmaster because compared to the mad scientist princess, the boy tended to escape notice.

So Jack turned his head and beamed at Entrapta, Carter and Bow. “Hey - did you see those crystals? Have you ever seen similar things?”

Entrapta perked up, skipping over to the closest crystal row. “Oh! How interesting!” Her hair brushed over them. “I don’t think I’ve seen them before.”

“Neither have I”, Carter said. She touched them and took a look at the wall next to it. After knocking on it, she frowned. “This sounds odd.”

“Oh!” Entrapta pulled her tool thingie out, then blinked and turned to face Anise. “Oh! I almost forgot: Can we scan the wall?”

“Ah, yes,” Anise replied, her eyes fixed on the tool. “If I can take a look at your scanner.”

“Deal!”

Jack suppressed a grimace. That wasn’t what he had wanted. And Jakar was smiling as if he knew that.

The damn snake spy probably did, damn him.

*****​

 

Chapter 57: The Tok’Ra Part 2

P34-353J, December 4th, 1998 (Earth Time)

Things were going well. At least Adora thought so. They had made contact with the Tok’ra, proving that Jakar had told them the truth, the Tok’ra had invited them to their base and were preparing to talk about an alliance. She frowned - well, they hadn’t said so outright, actually. But they also hadn’t denied it. So, it was implied, at least. And they had prepared guest quarters for Adora and her friends. Even more importantly, they weren’t under guard. That was a sign of trust, in Adora’s opinion.

Not that they had reached the guest quarters yet - Entrapta and Sam were examining the tunnels here. Quite thoroughly. Both had their scanners out. Well, their personal ones, though Adora had a feeling that Emily was also using hers, and Emily’s scanner was a copy of the magically-enhanced scanner the two had built.

“Oh, look at the molecular structure here!”

“Yes. They are aligned… almost as if they were…”

“Yes, exactly! Emily, check the crystals again!”

Emily beeped.

“Oh, look at that!” Entrapta held her tool out to Sam - presumably to show the results of that scan.

“Definitely a connection to the crystals - the patterns complement each other.”

Adora winced. Her friends were being a little rude. More than a little, in her opinion.

“Your scanners can analyse the molecular structure in that detail?”

“Yes. Look? That’s the crystal’s pattern. And that’s the wall’s!”

Well, at least Anise didn’t seem to mind - though that was probably because the Tok’ra scientist was fascinated by Entrapta and Sam’s technology.

Adora glanced at Jakar. The agent looked amused. So, they weren’t insulting their hosts without meaning to - a danger, as Daniel had stressed, that was always present when making first contact. He had a number of stories to show that, too.

“Oh, I see! The crystals have been… altering the stone. The density is much higher than further away, but it’s not high enough to account for the entire volume we’re standing in.”

And now Bow was getting into it. Adora softly sighed. If things continued like this, they wouldn’t reach their guest quarters before the Tok’ra High Council was ready for them.

“And what does it mean? For non-scientists?” Catra asked suddenly, interrupting the others. She had her head cocked to the side and a bored expression - but Adora could tell that it was fake. Just like in cadet training when she had been fooling other squads. And instructors sometimes.

“Oh… isn’t it obvious?” Entrapta asked, looking surprised.

Adora shook her head, as did Glimmer and Catra.

“Oh! Wellll… the tunnel here was created completely artificially.”

“And that’s never the case with tunnels, right?” Jack must be a little tense as well - he was usually a bit less sarcastic when talking to Entrapta.

“Well, technically…”

“They were created very quickly using the crystals to form and mould the stone, sir,” Sam explained. “Judging by the readins we took, the stone’s structure is still adjusting - cooling down where it had been compressed so much, the molecules heated up.”

“Yes! But not the whole mass was compressed - a big part isn’t here. So, either it was used as fuel - converted into energy in a non-explosive way - or it was disintegrated,” Entrapta added.

“We didn’t find any traces of loose molecules in the environment, though,” Bow said.

Adora blinked. Did that mean…

“You made the whole base to meet us, didn’t you?” Jack said.

Anise looked surprised, but Jakar smiled. “Indeed, Colonel O’Neill. Quite perceptive.”

“I have my moments,” Jack replied.

Adora glanced at Catra. Her lover didn’t look surprised. Which didn’t surprise Adora. Catra was much better at the sneaky stuff than her.

“Yes,” Anise confirmed. “We can rapidly grow tunnels using our technology.”

Catra whistled, then grinned at Adora. “Imagine what we could’ve done with that in the war.”

Oh. Oh, yes. Adora could imagine that. Very well. If they had this technology… they could assault any bunker from any side they wanted. They could create safe and hidden supply lines. Entire bases could be fabricated in no time, out of sight of the enemy.

She glanced at Glimmer. They needed this alliance more than they had expected.

*****​

This was fascinating! The Tok’ra could grow tunnels. Samantha Carter had thought, at first, that they used advanced technology to rapidly drill tunnels - probably by using a way to disrupt the molecular bonds to facilitate excavating the material - but it was so much more. Their technology - she still hadn’t found out how the crystals did this - shaped the stone. And used part of it to fuel the process. Probably not a self-sustaining reaction, though - at least, she hoped not. If such a thing ever went out of control, it might actually manage something close to the - impossible as far as Sam knew - Grey Goo scenario. Not that she had any idea how a self-sustaining partial disintegration process might work, either.

“So, the crystals are the key. That means they must be used to project a field that changes the matter,” Entrapta said.

“Yes.” Anise nodded after a moment’s hesitation. Then she cocked her head. “And your scanner is a very advanced multi-frequency device. However, that wouldn’t result in some of the readings I see here. So… how are you doing this? It must be this crystal here.” She tapped part of the externally-visible crystal array that boosted the scanner with magic.

“Yes, that’s the key part of the scanner,” Entrapta confirmed. “It bypasses the limits of the standard scanner. Some of the limits, at least - we still have trouble with the finer details at longer ranges, and its range itself is still limited, though planetary scans are reliably possible, and some effects do reduce the scanner’s effectiveness. But we’re working on that!”

If not as often as we probably should, Sam thought as she nodded in agreement. But there was so much else to do… and so few who could assist, much less take over some projects. Years of secrecy meant even geniuses like Hawking had to first catch up before they could contribute to the field.

Which, Sam admitted to herself while she ran another scan, had some good side as well - some of those geniuses could do with a little humbling. At least in her opinion. While none had said so to her face, she knew that some of them looked down on her for being a woman, a soldier, or both. Iwan never did that. Or, she couldn’t help adding, in the Colonel’s voice, he was too well-trained to let it slip.

“Oh, look at that!” Entrapta interrupted her thoughts. “That trace here… the structures are half-formed.”

“Yes.” Sam narrowed her eyes. That was the first trace of a denser but not quite fully formed area they had seen. And that meant they could deduce something about how the process worked. After extensive modelling and more scanning, and probably not enough to understand, much less replicate the process, but it was a start.

“This is remarkable. You aren’t just enhancing the scan with a different sensor - you’re enhancing the scan itself! This is… Not even supercharging a scanner with Naquadah would achieve that.”

Supercharging a scanner with Naquadah? Sam blinked. That would…

“If you empower the scan and have Naquadah present…” Entrapta frowned.

“...it could destabilise the entire array,” Sam finished for her friend. “Violently and exothermically.”

“Boom!” Entrapta mimed an explosion.

Anise frowned. Either she didn’t like the miming or… “Yes, it can lead to remarkable explosions if mishandled,” the Tok’ra said.

She was speaking from experience, Sam was sure. But she wouldn’t ask - it was clear that Anise didn’t like to be reminded of such a failure.

“Oh! Did that happen to you? Did you lose your entire lab? That happened to me once. Well, more than once, but only once through a completely unexpected explosion instead of an unexpectedly powerful explosion,” Entrapta said, beaming at Anise.

“Something like that, yes,” Ansie said with a wince.

Entrapta nodded. “Well, you can make a new lab easily with this technology, though the tools might be a bother to replace - although that means it’s also an opportunity to upgrade!”

“Especially your safety procedures,” Bow cut in with a forced smile.

Anise didn’t look very impressed. She nodded, quite curtly. “Yes. However… the way your scanner works, you either have it slaved to a much more powerful array somewhere else, close enough to work…” She glanced at Emily. “But the signals would be detected. Or you have added another element. And those crystals…” She gasped. “It can’t be!” Her eyes widened as she looked at Entrapta. “Magic?”

Sam hesitated just long enough - should she lie or not? It would come out sooner or later anyway; Adora would ask to return magic to the planet - for Entrapta to nod. “Exactly! It’s a magic scanner.”

“But… magic stopped working long ago,” Anise said.

“We’re bringing it back!” Entrapta beamed at her. “Technically, it never stopped working - you, that means, the galaxy, simply lost access to it. Did you work with magic before it was taken away?”

“Taken away? The common theory amongst System Lords is that magic was the work of the Ancients and that whatever system had powered it had finally broken down a thousand years ago,” Anise said. “You mean that was a deliberate action?”

“Yes. Although technically, it was done by the Ancients, I guess,” Entrapta said. “Do you remember it?”

Anise shook her head. “No. I wasn’t born back then. And I never worked with magic - our species has no talent for it.”

“But shouldn’t you have genetic memories of your progenitor?” Entrapta blinked.

Sam narrowed her eyes. Indeed, a Goa’uld or Tok’ra should remember the time when magic worked. And Goa’uld couldn’t do magic? Not even with talented hosts? Something to confirm.

The Colonel interrupted by yawning. “Say, can we get to those guest quarters? My back’s killing me.”

Right. Sam refused to blush even though she just realised that they had been holding up everyone else. But it was such a fascinating technology…

At least Anise and Bow looked as sheepish as Sam felt. Entrapta, of course, wasn’t fazed. “Aw. This is so interesting… although I guess we can continue with the walls in the guest quarters! Let’s go, Emily!”

Sam could tell that the Colonel wasn’t pleased about that, but he should have known better than to expect Entrapta to stop examining such fascinating new technology.

“So, Bow, getting distracted by the shiny new technology? Should Glimmer get jealous?” Sam heard Catra ask as they started to follow Jakar.

Although, Sam suddenly realised as Catra and Adora teased Bow, with Glimmer joining in for a mock-disappointed complaint that had the man flounder for a moment, the Tok’ra agent couldn’t have known the base beforehand. Nor could have Anise - both had been away when the base had been built. So, if they could serve as guides, then this base must have a pre-set layout or there were markers indicating where which part was. Since she hadn’t noticed any such markers, she was betting on the former. But she’d have to check with the others about this - she could have missed something, after all.

“Here!” Jakar announced with a bow that seemed just a bit too intricate to be genuine or completely serious, and next to him, a sliding door opened. Big enough to let Emily pass through.

“Neat! Can you grow such a mechanism as well?” Entrapta asked, bending over to examine the door.

That was a good question. If this technology wasn’t limited to growing tunnels and rooms but could be used to grow furniture and more complex things…

“Standard packages can be easily installed,” Anise said, which was a little evasive, in Sam’s opinion. “But come inside.”

The guest quarters looked spartan compared to quarters a state visit could expect in most countries on Earth, much less the lavish luxury of Bright Moon, but for a group in hiding, they were quite generous, in Sam’s opinion. The furniture mostly but not completely matched, so that might indicate that the Tok’ra couldn’t grow more than tunnels. Well, they could ask Anise.

*****​

“Nice digs,” Catra commented as she looked around. “Quite a step up from Horde barracks.”

“Catra!” Adora hissed under her breath.

“What? It’s true. It’s a compliment,” Catra said. “This is their equivalent of generic construction.” And as bland as a guest room on Earth - in Bright Moon, someone would have added little touches to make the guest feel more at home. Or feel more out of their depth if the guest had been raised in the Horde, Catra added mentally with a snort.

“We’re guests here!” Adora insisted.

Yes, they were. But since they didn’t have privacy - not that Catra expected the room to be private even if the two Tok’ra had left; in the Tok’ra’s place, she would have crammed it full of surveillance - she felt justified in ribbing their hosts a bit.

Or trying to rib them - Anise was busy examining Entrapta’s technology while Entrapta and the others were examining the walls of the room, and Jakar looked perfectly at ease. The spy really was too smooth. And too friendly. Not as bad as Double Trouble - Catra didn’t have the urge to claw his face off every time he smiled - but he got her hackles raised.

“We do our best, but our means are limited - we do wage war against an Empire that has us outnumbered many, many times over, forcing us to remain in hiding and be prepared to move at the shortest notice.”

“That’s terrible!” Adora said. “How often do you have to move?”

“Often enough to keep us from setting down roots anywhere, I’d say,” he replied with a shrug, “but not enough to force us to constantly move.”

Another non-answer. Catra suppressed a theatrical sigh. “So, do your decoy bases see regular use against the Goa’uld?” She sat down on one of the couches - or were they supposed to be beds? They were not as soft as Bright Moon’s ‘swallowing pillows’ but softer than a normal couch. “Since you don’t have a Stargate in the base, you would have to outwait any attackers before you could leave. Letting them destroy a base would probably speed that up.” And keep them from just blowing up the planet if they couldn’t find the Tok’ra but knew that they were present.

“They have been used in that capacity in the past, yes,” Jakar admitted. “Mostly to fool the Goa’uld into thinking that we already moved before they arrived.” He smiled wryly. “Which is why Garshaw will not be happy to hear that you have realised our building capability and will oppose sharing this technology - if the Goa’uld suspect we can do this, they will be much harder to fool with fake bases.”

Entrapta wouldn’t be happy to hear that, Catra knew. She glanced at the corner, where Entrapta, Bow and the others were still examining the stone wall. It seemed she hadn’t overheard them.

“You won’t have to fool them any more if you join us,” Adora said. “We can match them in open warfare. Not that we are planning to strike openly from the start, of course - the element of surprise has tobe preserved as long as possible.”

“I sincerely hope so,” Jakar told her. “But I am not on the High Council. You will have to convince them to change our ways. My own voice will not move them much, especially since I am still a little suspect after enjoying your hospitality.”

So, they thought he was compromised? Catra narrowed her eyes.

But Jack spoke before she could. “Why don’t they trust you? You’ve got all that genetic memory and a thousand years of working together.”

Jakar, for once not smiling so smugly or overly friendly, shook his head. “Unlike the Goa’uld, we do not extend our lives with sarcophaguses. So, while we share the memories of our distant ancestors, we do not live for thousands of years. Our life spans are more comparable to yours.”

Oh. Catra glanced at the others. That changed a few things.

*****​

So the snakes were as mortal as humans. That was crucial intel, Jack O’Neill knew - their calculations had been based on the assumption that they were dealing with aliens who had been alive for a thousand years or more. And who probably counted on being alive for another few thousand years. Then again, they had that genetic memory…

“Really?” Of course, Daniel would jump on that.

Jack was almost relieved - Daniel being quiet while meeting new aliens was very uncharacteristic. Almost. Daniel was just a little bit better at talking himself out of trouble than he was at getting in trouble.

And there he went. “But you still have the genetic memory of your ancestors - all of them, I suppose?”

Jakar’s smile turned a bit blander, Jack noted. “That’s a very personal question, Dr Jackson.”

“Oh, I am sorry - it’s just that we have, although not nearly enough, quite the amount of information about Goa’uld society, so we know that the fact that its members, especially its leaders, were so extremely long-lived, was crucial in shaping it. Although this is merely an assumption, and a generalisation, and based on human behaviour, older people tend to be more conservative, and that would explain the relative stagnation of Goa’uld society.” And there came his charming smile. “So, the existence of a society of, well, people who share the same biology, but have a very different lifespan, provides a fascinating counterpart to check such assumptions.” He blinked. “I mean, that sounds… I didn’t mean it like an experiment. But I would love to learn more about your society.”

Jack nodded in agreement, if not for the same reasons as Daniel. They needed to know more about the Tok’ra - as much as possible. Not just for the upcoming negotiations but for the future as well. Whether they managed to form an alliance or not, the Tok’ra were extremely dangerous.

Jakar’s smile remained polite as he tilted his head a smidge to the side. “Half of our society is formed by humans, Dr Jackson.” Then his voice switched. “Yes. I fear that you might be operating from a mistaken assumption. The Tok’ra aren’t like the Goa’uld - we are their partners, not their slaves.”

Daniel blinked. “Of course.” He bowed his head. “I didn’t want to give offence. Obviously, the comparatively reduced lifespan of the symbiont would affect their relationship with the hosts as well. The power imbalance between a being who has lived for thousands of years and a human would render any relationship less than equal no matter the intentions of everyone involved, but if that factor is gone…” He frowned in his half-pouty way. “There’s still the genetic memory to consider, of course. As I said, fascinating.”

Great. Jack glanced at the corner where Carter was still geeking out about snake science. He was in danger of losing half of his team to the snakes! He bit down on the first comment that came to mind - neither of his friends would have taken it well - and joked: “Careful with that enthusiasm, Danny, or they’ll end up offering you a symbiont.”

Daniel glared at him. “Jack!”

Jack’s chuckle died, though, when he saw Jakar’s reaction.

Jakar switched back to his snake voice. “Actually, Colonel O’Neill, we’re always looking for willing hosts. I can guarantee that this will come up in negotiations.”

Oh, no! Hell, no! Jack wouldn’t let anyone of his team get snaked! Or anyone else, if he could help it!

*****​

Jack looked like he had bitten into a brown Horde ration bar that had gone bad. Or, Adora added in her mind, one that had been disguised as a grey one and gone bad.

“Oh? Do you have trouble finding willing hosts?” Daniel asked, cocking his head.

“It’s not always easy to find a human who can make an informed decision,” Jakar explained. “Consent is meaningless if it’s based on wrong information or on indoctrination. And with the Goa’uld keeping their human slaves ignorant and teach them to worship their masters as gods…” He shrugged, and his voice changed again. This was Mats talking, now. “It took a long time for me to truly understand what joining with Jakar would mean. I was raised as a slave, to faithfully worship a false god, and to overcome that…” He shook his head. “We have to be sure that there will be no false expectations which could lead to resentment afterwards.”

Daniel looked impressed. “I see. Of course, recruiting from a Goa’uld slave society, or less technologically advanced civilisations like the Cimmerians, would pose such problems.”

“And we cannot just kidnap people to teach them the truth. The more they learn, the greater the risk they would pose, should the Goa’uld get ahold of them, which means we couldn’t allow them to return even if they rejected our offer to become a host,” Jakar, back in charge of the body, explained.

“And you would have to educate them as well so they can function in your society, which is obviously more technologically advanced than the typical Goa’uld slave society. You cannot be an equal partner in a relationship if you depend on your symbiont for everything.” Daniel nodded. “If Sha’re had come to Earth with me, instead of us staying on Abydos, where she could teach me about daily life, I wonder how we would have fared…” He trailed off, a pained expression on his face.

Adora bit her lower lip. She felt for her friend - she knew what he was going through. Better than almost anyone else, she added with a glance at Catra, remembering when her lover had been controlled by Horde Prime. But they would rescue Sha’re and remove the Goa’uld possessing her. Reunite Daniel with his love. She was She-Ra; saving people was her duty.

“We’ll save her,” Jack echoed Adora’s thoughts.

She nodded in agreement. “Yes,” she said as confidently as she could. “We will.”

Jakar cocked his head, frowning a little. “Your partner was taken by the Goa’uld?”

Daniel nodded. “Not just taken. Taken as a host,” he spat through clenched teeth - quite an unusual tone and expression for him, Adora thought.

“And you wish our help to remove the Goa’uld from her.”

So, they could do it! That was part of the reason they were here. They could save Lieutenant Lenkova first, then! Adora smiled.

As did Daniel. “You can do it?”

“We can remove a Goa’uld from their host, yes,” Jakar confirmed.

“Without killing the host, I hope,” Jack cut in.

“Of course.” Jakar narrowed his eyes at him, Adora noted.

“Just checking,” Jack replied with a slightly toothy smile. “Wouldn’t want to find out too late about side effects.”

“We aren’t Goa’uld, Colonel O’Neill. We do not consider people expendable.”

“You blew up a lab with all the prisoners still inside,” Jack shot back.

Jakar met Jack’s eyes. “As I explained, as far as I knew at the time, I could not save them without failing my mission, and allowing Apophis to develop biological weapons would have doomed far more people. I did not make this decision lightly, Colonel, but I would make it again. We are compassionate, but not foolishly so. We are fighting a war.”

Adora pressed her lips together. That was… well, he wasn’t wrong, but if Adora had been there, they could have saved everyone. They couldn’t give up hope lightly when it came to saving people.

Catra, though, nodded. “Yes. You made the call, and while it was a bad one, you didn’t know any better. If we had been informed, things would have gone differently.”

Jakar frowned - did he expect them not to point that out? - but slowly nodded as well.

In the sudden silence, they could hear Entrapta point out something about their scanner to Anise that Adora heard but didn’t understand. She glanced at Glimmer, who seemed to follow the conversation. As a trained sorceress, she knew more about magic than Adora. And also about magitech. Maybe Adora should study magic as well…

“So, how long do Tok’ra live?” Catra asked, breaking the silence.

“Barring an unfortunately not quite rare death at the hands of the Goa’uld or their servants,” Jakar said with a glance at Teal’c, “we can live for several centuries.”

He had hesitated a moment before answering, Adora realised. And that was a bit vague, still.

Jack whistled. “Several centuries?”

“Oh. That’s… quite long compared to the average human lifespan,” Daniel commented. “What about your hosts?”

“They share our longevity. It would hardly be a true partnership if they died long before our time,” Jakar commented.

His voice changed, and Mats said: “Indeed. Which is another reason finding hosts can be difficult. To see your family, maybe your children, grow old and die while you stay young is not something everyone can stand. If you have a family left, of course.”

“Yes,” Jack commented. He looked like he wanted to say more but kept his lips pressed closed instead, looking rather grim.

He must be thinking of his dead son, Adora realised, and had to refrain from trying to console him. Jack wouldn’t appreciate her hugging him or squeezing his shoulder. Even if he really needed it, in her opinion.

And they weren’t in private, anyway.

“You know, you’ve been telling us a lot about what the Tok’ra want and would expect,” Catra spoke up again, tilting her head as she looked at Jakar. “And right before our negotiations with you.” She flashed her fangs at him. “Mighty generous of you.”

“I believe that the more you know about us and understand our situation, the easier you will find common ground, “Jakar, back in control, replied. “Both of our people need this alliance, and to see it fail because of misunderstandings and ignorance would be unacceptable.”

“Ah.” Adora nodded.

“Laudable,” Glimmer said. “But will your friends understand?” She glanced at Anise, who was, at least as far as Adora could tell, still captivated by the magitech scanner.

Jakar shrugged. “I do what is necessary even if it costs me.”

“Even when it means going against your friends?” Jack asked.

“I would not betray them, but I won’t blindly follow a course of action I consider foolish either.” Jakar shrugged. “Blind obedience is what Goa’uld expect and demand.” Once again, he glanced at Teal’c.

“Indeed.”

“You don’t like Jaffa, do you?” Catra asked.

“They do most of the System Lords’ killing,” Jakar replied. “It is hard to... not see them as the willing tool of our enemy. Too much blood has been spilt at their eager hands.”

Oh. “But Teal’c turned away from that,” Adora said - Catra was looking grim as well, she noticed. “Once he had the opportunity.”

“He may be an exception. But how many of your prisoners turned against Apophis?” Jakar asked.

“Everyone can change,” Adora told him. “Sometimes, all they need is the chance to do so.”

“And sometimes, it’s not enough,” Catra muttered next to her.

Adora wrapped her arm around her lover’s shoulder, pulling her against her side despite her squeaking protest. Catra had changed. Adora knew that even if Catra sometimes forgot. “We know about being raised in ignorance and sent to fight for evil rulers,” she told Jakar.

His eyebrows rose. “I see.”

“Yeah, I think you do,” Jack cut in. “To avoid mistakes and ignorance, improve understanding yadda, yadda.”

Jakar slowly nodded with a faint smile.

Ah.

Jakar was a spy, Adora reminded herself. And information flowed both ways.

*****​

“I see. So, this is the converter that powers the magic part of the scanner. Ingenious. And with that, you can use magitech.” Anise hadn’t taken her eyes off the scanner since Entrapta had opened it. Not that Samantha Carter would have expected anything else - the Tok’ra scientist had been very enthusiastic since they’d met. And very quick to understand their explanations.

They hadn’t gone into too much detail, of course - that would have been sharing technology, and Anise hadn’t exactly shared blueprints of their tunnel growing technology either, but Sam felt that this needed some clarification. “You can use existing magitech, yes - but to construct a new magitech component, you need to work in a magically active environment.”

“A planet where magic has been returned,” Entrapta added. “There aren’t many of those around yet.”

“A planet like yours?” Anise asked, cocking her head in a way that looked just a bit weird - alien - to Sam even though part of her, no, the remnants of Jolinar, found it perfectly normal.

“Yes. Etheria never lost its magic, and Earth has had its magic restored.” Entrapta smiled. “We’re planning to restore magic to the galaxy, but it’s going a little slow because of all the security concerns.”

“You can restore magic to a planet?” Anise looked… Well, Sam hoped she never looked like that when faced with exciting new technology. The teasing the Colonel could come up with about wanting to marry a computer…

“Not me,” Entrapta said.

“It’s not a technological problem,” Sam cut her friend off before she could mention Adora’s name. “I am sure it will come up at the negotiations,” she added, with a glance at Entrapta.

“Right!” Entrapta nodded, her hair bopping a little as it held the scanner. “Some people tend to be a little nervous about possible side effects, even though it’s perfectly safe - generally.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem,” Anise said. “The potential of magitech outweighs any possible danger magic could pose. Although I remember reading that magic was limited to those people who had a particular talent for it…”

“Yes. And they need training as well to do magic,” Entrapta said. “But anyone can work with magical components. That’s just science. And some magitech allows you to refine or effectively create magical components.”

That, once again, was just a little too much information. “So, it’s not as if restoring magic will turn a planet into a magitech factory,” Sam said. “But, again, such details are best left to the negotiations.”

Anise nodded. “Of course. They’re bound to be interesting. And speaking of the upcoming negotiations… I think I need to talk to Garshaw and the others before those start.” She looked at the scanner again, shaking her head, then turned away with obvious reluctance.

Sam knew the feeling.

“Jakar,” Anise said. “We should let our guests rest before the negotiations.”

“Ah, of course.” Jakar bowed to the Colonel and the others. “We’ll take our leave then.”

“You do that,” the Colonel replied, smiling until the doors closed behind the two Tok’ra. Then he sighed and turned to Sam and Entrapta. “So… where are the cameras I should wave to?”

“Huh?” Entratpa looked confused.

“We haven’t scanned for surveillance devices yet,” Sam replied. Not with Anise watching them.

“Well, let’s do it. I guess they already know all about your fancy scanner anyway.” He tilted his head a bit towards her, Sam saw.

She pressed her lips together at the rebuke. Yes, she should have kept Entrapta from spilling more intel, but… This was a diplomatic meeting. As Adora had said, trust required trust, and someone had to make the first step.

Though they might have taken a few steps too far, should negotiations fail. On the other hand, they had gotten detailed scans of the crystal used by the Tok’ra. Enough to have at least some idea about how it worked. Emily’s scans should be even more detailed as well - and they hadn’t revealed that to Anise. Although she probably suspected.

But first, they had to scan for surveillance devices. Or security devices, depending on your point of view.

“Found it! Them!” Entrapta announced thirty seconds later, hair pointing at two corners of the room.

“Two cameras and microphones,” Sam added, looking at the readout. She looked at the Colonel, raising her eyebrows.

“Let’s get some privacy without destroying our new friends’ tools,” he replied.

“Yes, that would be rude,” Glimmer agreed, if with a touch of sarcasm.

Sam nodded and triggered a noise-cancelling field. They’d have to avoid letting the cameras see their faces to protect against lip-reading, but that wasn’t too hard now that they knew where the cameras were. “Done, sir,” she announced.

“Those are rather standard devices - for Goa’uld,” Entrapta added with a pout. “I would have expected better technology from people spying on the Goa’uld.”

“They probably didn’t use their best technology here,” Catra said.

“Then why install it at all?” Entrapta shook her head.

“Habit?” Catra shrugged. “They’re spies, after all.”

“It might be merely standard practice,” Daniel pointed out. “Something everyone expects.”

“Whatever,” the Colonel spoke up. “They know that we know that they know. Let’s talk diplomacy. And secrecy.”

Sam winced a little at the glance he sent her.

*****​

O’Neill wasn’t happy with Sam and Entrapta, Catra could easily tell. And, well, he had his reasons - the two had spilt some intel to the Tok’ra; Catra had followed their conversation with Anise quite closely. There hadn’t been anything too important, and they had gotten some intel back, but still, it could’ve gone better - although it could’ve gone worse as well. And Entrapta was Entrapta. She wasn’t a spy or professional soldier. If you wanted or needed her talents, you had to make some allowances for her quirks.

And she was Catra’s friend.

So when O’Neill started talking about not revealing secrets, Catra shrugged pointedly and interrupted him. “Trying to keep things secret that will come out anyway if we form an alliance is stupid.”

“It also weakens our negotiation position,” O’Neill retorted, frowning at her rather than at Entrapta. “The more they know about us, the better they can make demands. They can’t ask for something they don’t know.”

Catra was about to answer, but Glimmer was faster. “That’s short-sighted, Jack. We’re here to get an ally we can trust, and we won’t get that if we play games with them.” She shook her head. “This isn’t a compettion.”

“We’re not going to play games. But they’re not telling us everything, and you can bet that they want the best deal for themselves.” He snorted. “Jakar’s good at playing the helpful friend, but he’s a spy - and he really wants this alliance.”

“The best deal for everyone is an alliance with trusted friends,” Adora said, nodding firmly.

Catra suppressed a sigh - and a sappy smile. That was… well, so like Adora. And her lover wasn’t wrong, of course, but… “Yeah, but not everyone wants to be your friend, even if they act like it.” She tried not to wince at Aora’s frown.

“Exactly!” O`Neill said with a sharp nod.

“But we didn’t do that,” Sam spoke up. “We discussed fairly obvious technology, not anything crucial.”

O’Neill frowned some more. “Magic seems quite crucial to me. Healing, scanning, zombifying…”

“Magic is an obvious topic that would have come up during negotiations anyway,” Glimmer said. “This way, they won’t feel as if we tried to trick them or attempted to hide it from them.”

“Not that we have to hide magic from the Tok’ra,” Entrapta said. “Anise was very interested! I don’t think they’ll fear it.”

“That was one Tok’ra. We don’t know what the others will think about it,” Daniel cautioned her. “Especially if they can’t use magic.”

“They can use magitech, though,” Entrapta pointed out.

“That might not appeal to everyone.” Daniel pushed his glasses up with one finger. “And what will they think about magical ways to eject a symbiont from a host, possibly killing the symbiont in the process?”

That was a good point, Catra had to admit. Of course, magic spells and powers could kill anyone, but that was something you were used to on Etheria - especially in the Horde. If the Tok’ra were not used to it, magic might terrify them.

“Jakar didn’t seem to mind, either,” Adora said.

“Jakar has an agenda.” O’Neill shook his head. “He’s been far too helpful to be trusted.”

And he was a spy.

“He told us about the Tok’ra’s goals and needs,” Adora protested.

“About some of them. And he was slippery at that. ‘Several centuries’? ‘Comparable’? Remember how he dodged the question about their genetic memory?” Jack scoffed. “He would make a fine politician.”

Daniel frowned at him, Catra saw. “That’s a very biased view, Jack. It’s clear that the relationship between the symbiont and the host is at the core of the Tok’ra society. That’s what separates them from the Goa’uld. They go as far as to consider themselves a different species because of this. You don’t expect him to tell us everything up front, do you?”

Catra smirked at the way Daniel turned O’Neill’s words back at him.

“It’s so crucial for them, they will ask for more hosts from us!” O’Neill shot back. “You heard him - they’re always looking for hosts!”

But who would want to share their body with a snake that could take control of it anytime they chose? Catra shuddered at the thought.

“Which is an interesting point, Jack,” Daniel said. “If a host lives roughly as long as the Tok’ra, and they always need new hosts, then they must have a significant number of Tok’ra without hosts. And that means…”

“They must have a queen,” Teal’c said.

Catra shrugged. That seemed obvious to her. “Well, someone has to give birth to all the Tok’ra, right? Especially If they don’t live as long as the Goa’uld.”

“They didn’t mention anything about us meeting their queen,” Glimmer said, frowning a little. “Just the High Council.”

“Maybe they want to surprise us?” Adora asked.

Catra suppressed a snort.

“I doubt that.” Daniel shook his head. “Their queen would be crucial for their entire civilisation. Should anything happen to her, they would be doomed unless they find a replacement - they would die out. So, they would likely keep her as safe as possible, far from any threat no matter how remote.”

That made sense. “Their biggest secret,” Catra said.

“Indeed,” Teal’c said.

Catra grinned. The upcoming negotiations should be fun.

*****​

 

Chapter 58: The Tok’ra Part 3

P34-353J, December 4th, 1998 (Earth Time)

Jack O’Neill generally liked Catra. She was the one amongst the Etherians - with the possible exception of Hordak, but Jack wasn’t going there - who knew that you couldn’t trust everybody to play straight with you. More importantly, she was the one who knew how you fought a war. She was the last of the Etherians, actually, who Jack would have expected to defend Carter and Entrapta spilling Alliance secrets to the snakes.

But she had just done so, neatly derailing his well-deserved reminder that operational security was a thing in the military for a reason - something Carter knew very well. Usually, it was Daniel whom Jack had to remind of such things, not his fellow officer. Jack refrained from frowning at the thought - the others would pick up on it. But Carter had changed over the last few months. Jack had thought it was because of the Etherians and their antics. He was too old and had seen too much to change, but between She-Ra and her friends’ idealism and the lure of Entrapta’s technology and special enthusiasm for science, even an officer like Carter couldn’t avoid being affected. That it was hard to be mad at Entrapta wasn’t helping, of course - if you criticised her, you felt as if you had just shot Bambi’s mom.

And if Entrapta’s friends noticed, it also made you feel as if you just kicked a landmine. A nuclear landmine in Adora’s case, and a Bouncing Betty in Catra’s case, Jack added to himself while he watched Adora go through everything they knew about the Tok’ra in preparation for the meeting with the High Council.

But there might be more behind this. Jack glanced at Carter, who was still busy going over Emily’s records. What if this wasn’t Carter growing careless because of her friendship with Entrapta but a relic of her possession by the snake? She said she didn’t remember much, but that meant she did remember something. Was she unconsciously seeing the Tok’ra as trusted friends? Or more?

He buried that thought at once. But such… contamination would explain Carter’s lapses.

Damn. He had to talk to her. Find out if she was influenced by the snake that had controlled her. But they were in the middle of a mission - and about to face the High Snake Council. The worst moment to try and find out if his Second-in-Command was compromised. Ah, well - he’d been in worse situations.

He clapped his hands together. “So, kids, I hate to interrupt playtime, but we’ll soon be facing the High Council and have to be on our best behaviour.”

In the corner of his eye, he caught Carter frowning at him, like usual when he was a bit too flippant.

“You’re usually the one who has to keep that in mind the most, I think.” And Daniel reacted as usual as well. He was dependable like that. Even though he was also, well, not compromised, but not unbiased either - the snakes here could offer him a way to save his wife.

But Jack was taking what he could right now.

“That’s why we’re studying all our available intel!” Adora said. “To be sure we’re as prepared as we can be.”

“Or just to calm down our nerves,” Catra, sprawled on a couch with a datapad sitting unused on her stomach, added.

“You don’t look nervous,” Gimmer commented.

“Because I don’t have any reason to be nervous,” Catra responded. “I’m not a princess; securing an alliance is your job. If anything goes wrong, it won’t be my fault. I’m just here to watch. But no pressure!”

“We’re not nervous either,” Glimmer shot back. “We know what we’re doing.”

“I sure hope so.”

Hell, the catwoman is stealing my shtick, Jack thought. Somehow, that made him feel even older right now. “So… don’t get lost in details. Just remember: We want an alliance, but we don’t want to hand them everything for nothing in return. Or almost nothing.” Growing tunnels was nice and all, but Jack had a feeling that this war wouldn’t be decided by tunnels. And probably not on the ground, either - this war would be decided in space. “And yes, honesty is the best policy, but information is valuable. Trust goes both ways. And yes,” he cut off Adora when she opened her mouth, “someone has to take the first step, but we already did that.”

Catra chuckled, Teal’c didn’t comment, but the rest of the group looked slightly annoyed. Well, except for Entrapta, who looked a bit confused.

Before anyone could say anything - probably repeat themselves - they heard a buzzer from the door.

“It’s open! Come in!” Jack yelled before Daniel made it to the door. When the door opened and Jakar entered, Jack made a mental note to remember that the room’s sound insulation wasn’t up to snuff. Another thing to consider and analyse for the geeks and spooks back home.

“The High Council is now ready for you,” the snake told them.

“And it only took them three hours,” Jack commented after a glance at his watch. “I’m impressed.”

Jakar smiled, but Daniel pouted at him. “Jack!”

“No, seriously,” Jack told his friend. “Imagine how long it would have taken - did take - for the US government to react in their place. And the US government isn’t hiding from the Evil Galactic Empire, snake edition. I’m genuinely impressed.” Jack wasn’t even lying - the snakes could have made them cool their heels for a day at least. And many would have done so in their place - not at least so they wouldn’t appear as if they needed an alliance. Hell, that sort of powerplay was the bread and butter of politicians.

And Jack had a feeling that the snakes here were no exception. But were they actually that hard off for an alliance, or were they playing some game?

They’d soon find out. “Well, let’s not make them wait for us! Shall we?” He flashed his teeth at the snake.

*****​

The Tok’ra seem to be quite practical, Adora thought as they entered the meeting room. Instead of some far too-tall and far too-large hall, with oversized tables on a pedestal for the council and pillars lining the walls, it was a decently sized room with two big, crescent-shaped tables facing each other. Of course, the Tok’ra had been fighting a war against the Goa’uld for millennia, so if they weren’t practical, they’d probably be dead already.

And they were standing to meet them, Garshaw in the lead. “Welcome,” she said, bowing her head. “I am the Grand Councillor, Garshaw of Belote. These are Per’sus, Malinor, Sak’ram, Hen’ru and Salesh. We are the Tok’ra High Council - we speak for every Tok’ra, and we have the authority to form an alliance.”

“We greet you, High Council,” Glimmer spoke up. “I am Queen Glimmer of Bright Moon. These are She-Ra, Princess of Power, Princess Entrapta of Dryl, Colonel Jack’Neill of Earth, Captain Carter, Techmaster Bow, Dr Daniel Jackson, Teal’c and Catra.”

They bowed as well, though Catra smirked as she did so - and Adora couldn’t frown at her, not in the middle of the meeting. Or at Jakar leaving.

“I speak for the Princess Alliance, and I am authorised to make treaties in their name, but any treaty involving the Alliance with Earth has to be negotiated with diplomats from Earth as well,” Glimmer explained.

“So we don’t have the authority to make a binding treaty,” Jack said. “But we can get things squared away.”

“Does that mean that we could make an alliance with the Princess Alliance even if negotiations with Earth should fail?” Per’sus asked,

That was a good question, Adora had to admit. And judging by the reactions of SG-1, it looked as if things got a bit complicated.

Glimmer kept smiling, but it was her polite ‘political smile’, as Adora knew. “In theory, yes. But we’re committed to the Alliance and the war against the Goa’uld, and being in two different alliances, unaligned with each other, would not help our aims. We need a coordinated, unified strategy if we want to defeat the Goa’uld with the least casualties on all sides.”

“Let’s sit down,” one of the Tok’ra councillors, Sak’ram, said. “It’s clear we have a lot to discuss.”

They took their seats, Glimmer sitting opposite Garshaw, with Adora and Jack at her side, next to Catra and Sam, respectively, with Entrapta on Catra’s other side, followed by Bow, and Daniel and Teal’c anchoring their right flank.

Adora wanted to frown. She shouldn’t be thinking like this - this wasn’t a battle; they weren’t in formation. This was a meeting with potential allies in the war against the Goa’uld. Future friends.

“So, we’re here to conduct exploratory talks. Nothing binding,” Garshaw said.

“Yes.” Glimmer nodded.

“But before we start going into nitty-gritty details,” Per’sus spoke up. “You represent an alliance between several Earth countries and the Etherian alliance, correct?”

“Yes,” Glimmer confirmed. “The Princess Alliance, forged to defend Etheria against the Horde. My parents were amongst the founders and leaders.”

“And you have the power to make binding decisions for your alliance,” Per’sus went on.

“Yes.” Glimmer leaned forward a little. “Between us here, we represent the most powerful kingdom of Etheria, the most technologically advanced kingdom and the most powerful military power of Etheria.”

“And we have the trust of our friends,” Adora added.

To her relief, neither did Catra mutter about some of them having the trust of the alliance and nor did Jack comment sarcastically about the power of friendship or monarchy.

“The friends with whom you defeated Horde Prime.” That was Hen’ru. And he sounded rather doubtful, in Adora’s impression.

“Yes.” She nodded firmly. “We fought him in person. We destroyed his flagship and erased his consciousness.”

“A decapitation strike?” Hen’ru cocked his head.

“Yes.” Adora bared her teeth. She didn’t like remembering this. “It was personal.”

“Ah.”

“That’s the thing with those despots - once you take them out, the whole system starts to crumble. When we blew up Ra, his minions started infighting at once,” Jack added with a smile that reminded Adora of Catra’s… not so nice smiles.

Not that Stargate Command had known that Ra’s underlings would start a power struggle when they killed him. Adora had heard the story from Daniel, after all - they hadn’t even been aware of how large Ra’s Empire had been. Still was. But that kind of subterfuge was allowed in diplomacy. It wasn’t as if Adora and her friends were sharing all the details of just how badly they had been outmatched by Horde Prime’s military, with just one antique spaceship to their name…

She still felt bad about it. Kind of.

“And you’ve been fighting Ra for millennia - mostly through sabotage, I take it?” Glimmer nodded at Garshaw.

“Yes.” Garshaw smiled. “Our small number makes that the most effective strategy. Especially given the internal divisions in the Goa’uld Empire. Timed and executed correctly, a single act of sabotage can spark a war that causes far more losses to the Empire.”

Catra nodded appreciatively, Adora saw.

As did Jack. “Yeah. A few pounds of C-4 are surprisingly effective when you place them in the right spot. Never leave home without it.”

“Such was your strategy until lately, yes? The Tau’ri’s, I mean.” Per’sus tilted his head at Jack.

“Yeah, you know - if you don’t have a fleet of spaceships with big honking guns, you make do with what you have.” Jack shrugged again.

“But the situation has changed now,” Glimmer cut in. “We do have naval assets in sufficient numbers to fight the Goa’uld on even grounds. We can switch from sabotage and commando operations to large-scale battles and planetary invasions. We can defeat the Goa’uld Empire for good. Just as we defeated Horde Prime.”

“Horde Prime was said to rival Ra’s power,” Malinor, one of the female Tok’ra present, said. “Defeating him must have cost you a lot of casualties.”

Adora pressed her lips together as she thought of all the people who had been killed in the war against the Horde. On both sides. Even knowing that it could have been so much worse - that Etheria could have been destroyed entirely, with everyone dead, if she hadn’t defeated Horde Prime and shut down the Heart of Etheria - didn’t help much.

“And it wasn’t that long ago, was it?” Per’sus interjected. “You must have remarkable production and recruiting capabilities if you already feel confident to take on the Goa’uld Empire.”

Adora glanced a Glimmer, but her friend nodded firmly. “We recruited Horde Prime’s surviving fleet.”

That surprised them - Adora could tell. As could Catra, of course; she snorted.

“They’re big on recruiting and reforming people,” Jack said.

“It’s the best way to achieve a lasting peace.” Glimmer smiled. “And it keeps your enemy from fighting to the end, shortening the war.”

“Especially their soldiers,” Catra added with another snort.

Adora squeezed her lover’s thigh under the tale, both to reassure her - Catra had changed, and Adora loved her, no matter her past - and to remind her to keep from getting too snarky.

“Yes! Hordak, one of Horde Prime’s commanders, is now our friend. And WrongHordak, another friend we made, leads the Second Fleet.” Entrapta beamed at them.

Garshaw, though, didn’t look very impressed. “While certainly not impossible, it’s very, very rare for a Goa’uld to overcome their genetic memory and conditioning.” She glanced at Teal’c for the first time since the meeting had started, Adora noted. “Or for a Jaffa. So, the feasibility of using the same strategy on the Goa’uld Empire seems questionable.”

“It won’t be easy,” Glimmer said. “We’re aware of that. But people can and do change. We will make the offers to let them switch sides anyway.”

“Yes.” Adora nodded firmly. It was the right thing to do.

“If you start winning the war, many System Lords will offer to switch sides in exchange for keeping their power,” Per’sus said. “But you can’t trust them.”

“We won’t let them keep slaves or oppress anyone,” Glimmer said. “That’s non-negotiable.”

“Their slaves have been conditioned from birth to worship them as gods. Overcoming that has proven to be very difficult,” he retorted.

“We’re aware of that,” Glimmer replied. “And we’ll be working on fixing that as well.” She bared her teeth. “We have some experience with that.”

Catra snorted again, and Adora squeezed her thigh once more. She felt her lover’s tail brush over her hand before she withdrew it.

“System Lords switching sides might not keep much more than their lives,” Jack said, “but that’s still a bargain for them.”

“And yet you kept Horde Prime’s commanders in charge.” Malinor cocked her head.

“Not all of them,” Glimmer retorted. “Just those we can trust. Each of them has to be judged individually.”

“And what about their crimes?” Per’sus stared at them. “Each System Lord is responsible for countless deaths and unimaginable atrocities. Would you suggest just letting them go without punishment?”

Adora didn’t need to touch Catra to know her lover was tensing up. And she had to struggle not to frown. This was a contentious issue; she knew that very well. But she wouldn’t budge on that, either.

*****​

Samantha Carter didn’t show any reaction to the Tok’ra’s comment, though she couldn’t help agreeing with them. Per’sus had always valued morals highly, sometimes even at the expense of efficacy, and given the Goa’uld’s cruelty and the scale of their crimes…

She blinked. She had never met Per’sus before today. This was another of Jolinar’s memories. Pressing her lips together, she focused on the mission. They were here to form an alliance - more precisely, to lay the foundation of an alliance, which diplomats would then form. Not to reconnect with the friends of a dead Tok’ra.

“People can change - even if they were raised to serve someone evil. Even the Goa’uld can change,” Adora said, meeting Per’sus’s eyes. “Refusing to grant them the chance to change wouldn’t be right.”

Sam knew Adora was sincere here. The princess honestly believed it. But she was also very, very biased because of her personal history. Because of Catra.

“And what about their victims? Should they be denied justice after all their suffering?” Per’sus asked with a hint of a sneer.

He was taking this personally as well, Sam knew. No, Jolinar had known. She clenched her jaw. Perhaps coming here had been a mistake - seeing familiar faces triggered more remnants of memories. And feeling friendly towards a stranger was more than a little disturbing. But she was an officer of the United States Air Force. She could overcome this - she knew her duty.

“What do you consider justice?” Daniel asked, leaning forward. “People have many different views of that.”

“Justice means criminals receiving what they deserve - their fair punishment,” Per’sus replied.

“And what would you consider a fair punishment?” Glimmer asked.

“For what the System Lords did, only death is sufficient.”

Sam knew the Colonel agreed with that, even though he didn’t show it.

“That sounds more like vengeance than justice,” Glimmer said. “A dead person cannot make amends. Cannot help set things right. Killing someone doesn’t bring any of their victims back.”

“But their loved ones can find closure,” Malinor pointed out. “Instead of knowing that the murderer of their family remains alive, free to commit more crimes.”

Once more, Sam had to force herself not to nod.

“If people change for good, they won’t do any more crimes,” Adora said.

“But what about atoning for their crimes?” Garshaw asked. “Do you expect people to forget what was done to them?”

“If fighting to take down the Goa’uld Empire isn’t enough to atone for your crimes, then that really sounds like vengeance and not justice,” Bow spoke up. “Just saying.”

Sam caught Garsahw nodding at that, which - weirdly - didn’t surprise her.

“And it would make it hard to get anyone to surrender or switch sides,” Glimmer added. “Which would prolong the war and cause more people to suffer.”

“Well,” the Colonel spoke up, “does anyone here think that the big bad System Lords will actually change for good? Abandon their slaves, including their hosts, and switch sides?” He shook his head. “I don’t think so, so this is a rather academic discussion - no offence to our academics, of course,” he added with a grin at Daniel and Sam.

“You plan to force them to release their hosts?” Garshaw asked. “Even if they switch sides?”

“Of course!” Adora said at once. “They don’t get to keep any slaves or oppress anyone - we already said that, didn’t we?”

Judging by the glances the High Council exchanged, Sam knew they didn’t think many Goa’uld would take up such an offer. She doubted it as well.

“Making them release their hosts and rely on volunteers to bond with them seems a sufficient show of good faith,” Malinor said.

“Good luck finding any volunteers,” the Colonel muttered.

“You show a quite remarkable mix of idealism and pragmatism,” Garshaw commented. It sounded like a compliment, but Sam wasn’t sure if it was honestly meant that way.

“We’re just doing what’s right,” Adora insisted.

“Well, everyone’s trying that, but not all agree on what’s right.” The Colonel shrugged once more. “But we’re here to talk about an alliance.”

“And our different stances towards the Goa’uld are a central part of any such talk,” Per’sus told him.

“Yes,” Glimmer spoke up. “But I think we have explored that topic sufficiently for now. Let us talk about what you expect from an alliance and what you can offer to the alliance.”

Garshaw inclined her head, then straightened. “We need more hosts. Our numbers are small because finding a willing host who consents to become our partner is a difficult task.”

Ah. This time, Sam couldn’t help wincing. That was a much more delicate issue than how to treat potential Goa’uld turncoats and prisoners.

“If you’re looking for volunteers, I don’t see any problem with that,” Adora said. “People are free to make their own decisions - provided those are informed decisions,” she added.

“Well,” the Colonel spoke up with a frown, “that’s all fine in principle, but some people have classified knowledge. Top secret knowledge which cannot be allowed to be revealed to anyone without the necessary clearance.”

Sam nodded. The way a Goa’ld and their host blended together would mean that anything the host knew, the Tok’ra would know as well. And that could cause all sorts of problems. Not that most of the people with such knowledge were likely to volunteer to become a host for the Tok’ra. But there were always exceptions. And even so - having a host from Earth or Etheria would give the Tok’ra immense insight into either society.

And why was the Colonel glancing at her? And why was he avoiding her eyes when she looked at him? Had she missed a cue? Or… was this a warning? He certainly couldn’t expect her to want to become a host, could he? It was ridiculous! Jolinar possessing her had been more terrifying than anything else she had experienced and survived so far!

No, the Colonel couldn’t suspect her of wanting to join the Tok’ra. He must expect her input, then. She set her jaw, but Garshaw was already replying.

“We are familiar with the need to keep crucial information safe, even if that might necessitate limiting someone’s freedom,” the Tok’ra leader said.

They had mentioned the problem of educating potential hosts, only to have to detain them, should they reject the offer, so they wouldn’t spill Tok’ra secrets to the Goa’uld - voluntarily or involuntarily. “Yes.” Sam nodded firmly. “The safety and security of everyone have to be considered when making and accepting such offers.”

But of course, the Etherians didn’t agree - or not fully. “But if someone desires to enter such a relationship with a Tok’ra, it feels wrong to deny them their wish just because they know some of your secrets,” Glimmer said. “In a way, it feels not very different to prohibiting relationships across borders because you question the loyalty of someone interested in a foreigner.”

Ah, yes - that would raise their hackles. Maybe literally in Catra’s case, Sam thought. Even though Earth’s history had proven that honey traps worked exactly like that. She almost snorted at the thought of the Tok’ra being honey traps to gather intel.

Then she realised it wasn’t far off the mark - they offered a much longer life, centuries it seemed, and great physical enhancements as well as a civilisation with advanced technology in exchange for sharing your body with a loyal partner who would never leave you. That would be tempting for a great number any people with few prospects on Earth and likely on Etheria as well, even accounting for the fact that every Tok’ra was fighting in the war against the Goa’uld. So… “I think candidates should be vetted by everyone concerned, at least as long as the Goa’uld are a concern,” she said, “because anyone joining the Tok’ra will likely risk being captured by the Goa’uld.” Jolinar’s memories of undercover missions were very fragmented, but Sam had seen enough to deduce how dangerous they were.

“Of course - it would hardly be fair if we dismissed such concerns by allies,” Molinar said. “And we are aware of the damage a captured operative can cause, trust us on that. Very familiar.”

Sam noticed Teal’c shifting a little, which was a surprising reaction from her stoic friend - was he remembering some action he had taken as Apophis’s First Prime? Something to, maybe, bring up in a moment of privacy. Back on Earth. If at all.

And the Etherians seemed to accept that, if a bit grudgingly - Adora was frowning.

“So, you want hosts and accept that there are security concerns,” the Colonel summed up.

“Yes. And what is your primary goal for this alliance you propose?” Garshaw asked.

“Information,” Glimmer replied at once. “We have the fleet to take on the Goa’uld Empire, and we’re training up the ground troops, but we need as much information as we can get on the strengths and weaknesses of the System Lords so we can pick the best targets and strategy.”

She was correct, of course, but relying on the Tok’ra for crucial intel would also give them an unparalleled way to influence and shape the entire campaign. Garshaw would love that - she had made her mark when she had defected after sabotaging her System Lord’s military. It had earned her the trust of the Tok’ra even though she hadn’t been a descendant of Egeria, and…

Sam blinked once more - another memory of Jolinar that she hadn’t been aware of until now. Just how much of the Tok’ra was left in her mind, she couldn’t help wondering - or fearing. Would she keep remembering such fragments? Would she change? Had she changed without noticing?

“Information we can provide,” Per’sus said, as Sam had expected. “Of course, even our own information-gathering capability could be improved with more information from other sources.”

“Sharing information seems an obvious course of action,” Adora commented. “The more we know about our enemy, the better we can fight them.”

Everyone nodded in agreement, though Sam was sure almost everyone planned to hold back some information, for various reasons. Catra’s snort showed that she had the same thought.

“So, an exchange of information can be set up,” Glimmer said. “What else do you expect from an alliance?”

“Magic,” Garshaw told her. “Information and support to explore magitech. If magic is returning to the galaxy, we need to be prepared for it - and after a thousand years, none of us has any experience with it. Meanwhile, the System Lords can rely on their memories from the time when magic was ubiquitous.”

“If Goa’uld cannot use magic, I wouldn’t expect them to make extensive use of it - it might have made them look weak,” Daniel commented.

“They did suppress such knowledge amongst their slave populations, but at the very least, they would have taken measures to protect themselves against attacks using magic. And, as you told Anise, anyone can work with magitech, provided they have access to the resources only a magician can create,” Garshaw said.

Per’sus looked a little sceptical, Sam thought. Sak’ram, Hen’ru and Salesh had remained more or less quiet - as throughout the meeting so far - but at least Hen’ru looked interested, as did Molinar.

“We can do that,” Entrapta said. “And we’re very interested in your own technology!” she added with a beaming smile. “It’s so fascinating!”

Both Glimmer and the Colonel seemed a little annoyed at her butting in, but Sam had expected that. And it didn’t really matter - Anise and Jakar would have told the Tok’ra High Council about Entrapta already.

Though there was another delicate topic to cover: Technology. While Sam wouldn’t have expected this situation a year ago, as part of the Alliance, they had, through the Etherians, access to technology that was more advanced than the Goa’uld’s - or the Tok’ra’s - at least in some areas.

Which meant that negotiating technology transfers would be amongst the most difficult parts of any alliance treaty to negotiate. Or should be, unless the Etherians planned to simply share their technology like they had with Earth, provided some basic conditions were met.

Which, Sam realised as Glimmer nodded, they probably were.

Sharing intel and technology, providing hosts - the Colonel wouldn’t be the only one with deep reservations about such an alliance.

Well, the devil was, as always, in the details.

*****​

“...and support in the field, as you call it, would strain our means too much. We are not ready to wage open war against the Goa’uld - we fight from the shadows with subterfuge, sabotage and assassinations. We aren’t Jaffa,” Sak’ram said - with a nasty glance at Teal’c, Catra noticed.

“We don’t expect squads of Tok’ra commandos, but advisors and intelligence agents attached to an invasion force would be a great help. If something unexpected appears, shorter lines of communication would save lives - on all sides.” Sam smiled at the Tok’ra. She seemed rather invested in this, in Catra’s opinion. This tunnel-growing technology better was worth it.

“You seem to care almost more for saving the soldiers of the enemy than for saving their slaves.” And Per’sus had to pipe up again. He’d made it clear long ago that he certainly only cared about the victims of the System Lords, not their soldiers or the Goa’uld themselves.

Catra could understand that, to some degree. But then, if Adora had been like him… She clenched her teeth together. This had become a drag. They had some preliminary agreements on the core issues, but now they were talking details and circling around each other. That sort of stuff was what diplomats and princesses were for!

“Actually, with the bot network we’re building, we shouldn’t have any issues with long-range communications. We won’t need an open Stargate, just a dedicated faster-than-light communication array to contact planets, and while those aren’t portable - though we could construct bots with those instead of weapons - they could easily relay calls from communicators to the network. So, communication lag shouldn’t be an issue.” Entrapta beamed, and Catra suppressed a sigh - her friend was missing the point.

“Even if we could call the Tok’ra whenever we want from across the galaxy,” she said instead, “they wouldn’t be aware of our situation. We’d have to brief them before they could advise us.”

“Yes,” Glimmer agreed. “That’s why advisors in the field would be useful.”

She was right, of course. But Tok’ra advisors would also be useful for spying on the Alliance. And influencing the Alliance military decisions. So, why didn’t the Tok’ra want that? Did they really have so few agents that they couldn’t spare enough?

“Well, as soon as we get more hosts, we will have more people available for such missions,” Salesh said.

Now, that could be true - or just a cheap way to force their hand. It was hard to tell. But Catra didn’t think that the Tok’ra had been very open with them so far. Jakar claimed he had been, but he was a trained and experienced spy and would have carefully chosen what information he shared or ‘let slip’. And none of the Tok’ra had reacted to Entrapta mentioning the bot network, even though Catra was sure they had not missed that bit.

“Well…” O’Neill rubbed his neck and rolled his shoulder. “I don’t know about you, but I could use a break. I’m not getting any younger, after all.”

Catra nodded, stretching her arms over her head. “We’ve been at this for a while.”

“Indeed,” Garshaw said. “Let’s take a break. It’s almost dinner time. Let us schedule the next meeting for after dinner?”

“And refrain from continuing our current discussion at the table,” Per’sus added with a faint smile.

“Good luck making Anise not talk about magitech,” Malinor told him with a grin.

“Or you?” Per’sus shot back.

Catra snorted at the exchange.

“Oh, we can talk about magitech - there are many aspects of it that were not mentioned yet in this discussion,” Entrapta said, nodding enthusiastically. “And there’s all the technology that we haven’t touched yet, of course.”

“Oh?” Malinor cocked her head. “I am looking forward to our discussion then.”

“So am I!”

Catra kept a polite smile on her face while they left the room, but as soon as they were inside their quarters and Sam and Entrapta had done their anti-surveillance thing, she sighed. “Now, that was a drag.”

“We’ve been making great progress for a first meeting with an unknown kingdom,” Glimmer reported.

“Still a drag,” Catra insisted. “We went around in circles for so long, I started to get dizzy.”

“It looked more as if you were getting sleepy.” Glimmer’s smile had too many teeth.

“Naw. I would have taken a nap in Adora’s lap if I had been sleepy.” Catra grinned at her.

“Catra!” Adora blushed. “You can’t do that in a meeting!”

“You mean ‘shouldn’t’,” Catra corrected her.

“You’re not doing this!”

“Of course not - I’m bored, not sleepy.” Catra shrugged.

“Anyway,” Glimmer said. “Let’s go over the meeting so far to refine our approach.”

Ugh. “The Tokra want hosts and won’t help us until they get hosts,” Catra said. “They could be telling the truth, or they could be lying about their numbers. And they really want magitech.”

Glimmer frowned at her. “It’s a serious issue.”

Cara shrugged in return. “That’s my take on it. We’re dealing with spies, saboteurs and assassins.”

“That’s an oversimplification,” Daniel spoke up, “but the cultural influence of a millennia-long conflict centred on hiding, infiltration and covert operations shouldn’t be underestimated. We’re dealing with a unique culture for which we don’t have existing references. It’s really fascinating how they have built their society.”

Ugh. Another lecture. Catra hopped on Adora’s lap, prompting a yelp.

If she had to listen to this rehash, she might as well get the most comfortable she could.

Unfortunately, after Daniel finished his five minutes of speculation about the Tok’ra culture, Adora thought it was her turn to speculate about the relationships between the members of the High Council. So Catra found herself removed from her favourite napping and lounging spot in favour of watching her lover improvise a whiteboard with the help of Emily’s side. Sometimes, Adora’s tendency to overprepare for a meeting was cute, but Catra had spent hours in a meeting already, and dinner, which likely would be another sort of meeting despite the Tok’ra’s words, was still fifteen minutes away. Which was fifteen minutes too long to sit and listen to amateur analysis of facial expressions and body language.

In hindsight, watching the Earth media trying to analyse the relationships between everyone in Catra’s circle of friends based on their body language had been a mistake. Sure, it had been kind of funny at the time, but apparently, Adora had taken it seriously.

And Catra was quite fed up with sitting still and listening to people talk without any results, and not even Adora there to cuddle. So she got up, stretched, and announced: “I’m going to prowl a little before dinner. Been sitting down for too long.”

“‘Prowl’?” Daniel asked.

Catra shrugged. “Wander around, see the sights, poke my nose into stuff that looks interesting.” Adora pouted, but Catra just had to do something instead of nothing. “Toodles!”

“‘Toodles’?” Glimmer asked.

“Ask Daniel!” Catra told her as she stepped out of the room.

“Don’t start a diplomatic incident!” she heard before the door closed behind her.

She snorted. As if! They had permission to explore the entire base. And it would be rude if they didn’t after the Tok’ra had gone and created the whole base just for this meeting.

Not to mention that, decoy or not, Catra wanted to know more about the base’s layout and how it compared to Horde bunkers and forward bases. If they routinely used such bases to fool the Goa’uld into thinking they had left a planet, then the base had to look close to the real thing. Reasonably close, at least. Which meant weapons lockers, command centres, barracks and choke points should net some information.

Sure this had been a rush job just for this meeting, but at least in the Horde, a rush job meant grunts were falling back on what they had been trained to do instead of getting creative.

Grinning, she picked the next few turns and crossings at random and started to explore.

After five minutes, she had found half a dozen empty quarters, an unused mess hall, bathrooms without anything in it and what must have been a fake armoury. Which meant it was getting boring. And she hadn’t met anyone to bother either. She could check the transporter room or follow the scent of food to the kitchen or whatever dining room the Tok’ra were preparing…

Her ears twitched when she picked up some murmuring from another empty bathroom down the hallway. Was that a Tok’ra who had sneaked away for some private talk? Or just to bitch about their superior officers? Catra had done both in the Horde as a cadet with Adora.

She grinned. This could be interesting. And she could find out how good the Tok’ra were at noticing her when she was making an effort at sneaking. Valuable data, as Entrapta would say.

Soon, she could make out what was being said - those doors didn’t block sound well enough to fool her ears.

“...and they claim to have a fleet rivalling the Empire’s and are preparing to wage war against the Goa’uld, requesting information and support from the Tok’ra. They’re currently in a temporary base on the planet but may move back to their home planet or the planet of the Tau’ri soon to fetch diplomats for another meeting with the Tok’ra.”

Catra frowned. That sounded… well, like the Tok’ra version of what Adora and the others had been doing. Only… She wasn’t an expert on the Tok’ra or a scholar like Daniel. In fact, Catra would be the first to admit that she wasn’t particularly experienced at picking up alien culture stuff.

But the man - it was a male voice, at least - was talking to someone who wasn’t present since she hadn’t heard anyone else.

And he sounded as if he didn’t consider himself a Tok’ra.

*****​

 

Chapter 59: The Tok’ra Part 4

P34-353J, December 4th, 1998 (Earth Time)

“I think I found a spy amongst the Tok’ra.”

Jack O’Neill narrowed his eyes as he snapped his head to stare at Catra. “What?” he asked before he could control himself.

“I think I found a spy amongst the Tok’ra,” she repeated herself, nodding slowly.

“So, it wasn’t my hearing going bad,” Jack quipped even as he grimaced.

“A spy?” Adora asked.

“Yes. I overheard someone talking about us and about the Tok’ra as if both of us were strangers. And he was talking to a communicator or recording device - there was nobody else in the bathroom,” Catra replied. She tapped her nose with one finger. “Didn’t smell anyone else either.”

“Ew!” Glimmer frowned.

“Not that!” Catra rolled her eyes. “Anyway, I got his scent but I didn’t catch more than a glimpse of him from behind - those tunnels don’t offer many hiding spots.” She pouted. “The Horde hallways were better for that. If we get the Tok’ra tunnel technology, we need to keep that in mind.”

“Wouldn’t that help a spy as well?” Daniel asked. A moment later, he blinked as he got the joke. “Oh.”

Jack snorted at his friend’s expression. “Yeah. So, you’re not sure if it was a spy.”

Catra shrugged. “I’m no expert. It could just be a cultural quirk of the Tok’ra to talk like that. But… you don’t go to an empty, out-of-the-way bathroom in a decoy base to talk like that if it’s perfectly normal.”

Jack nodded - his gut agreed.

“Well, we don’t know much about Tok’ra culture,” Daniel said. “Though it’s very likely that they are heavily influenced by their conflict with the Goa’uld, which is fought undercover with spies and saboteurs.” He slowly nodded. “Isolating yourself like that could be a cultural quirk.”

“I didn’t find anyone else doing that,” Catra objected.

“There can’t be too many Tok’ra in a decoy base,” Daniel defended his theory. Or hypothesis, or whatever the science guys called it.

“I noticed two dozen,” Catra retorted. “Six guards in the transport room, six guards in the ready room, five people preparing the mess hall and the meal, and the rest attending the Councilors. Plus Anise and Jakar.”

“They haven’t left for the actual base?” Carter asked with a frown.

“Did you spy on them?” Adora sounded shocked.

Catra smirked. “I didn’t. I just took a walk through the base and listened - and smelt. It’s not spying if I do what they told us we can do.”

Jack snorted again, but he couldn’t really enjoy the humour. “Let’s go back to the spy. We’ve got a potential spy amongst our potential allies. And they already know too much.” Just knowing that Etheria existed and was about to fight them was enough to lose the Alliance the element of surprise.

“Well, we don’t know if he managed to pass it on,” Catra said. “He’d need an FTL communication device to inform anyone outside the system. Of course, if he was talking to another spy on the planet, or a listening post - or a ship hidden in the system…” She grimaced. “That would be bad.”

“Well, I guess we have to find out,” Jack said. “ASAP.” If they managed to plug the leak before the Goa’uld got the information, they might be able to salvage this clusterfuck. But could they trust an ally who let a spy into their most important meeting? And what else had the spy already gathered?

“But how?” Daniel asked. “And we don’t know if this is a spy,” he added.

Not by asking nicely, that was sure. Jack sighed. He really hated what they had to do. “We’ll have to talk to our first spy.”

Daniel blinked again. “Our first spy?”

“Jakar,” Glimmer told him with a grin.

“I thought that you didn’t trust him.” Daniel still looked confused.

Jack didn’t trust or like any spook, snake or not. “He’s our best bet to solve this mess,” he explained. The odds that Jakar was also a mole were far too low - and contacting him wouldn’t look as suspicious to the spy as contacting a councillor would.

“And then we lay a trap for the spy?” Catra grinned again, looking eager.

Jack shrugged. “Perhaps. It depends on the Tok’ra protocols for this.” They were sure to have protocols for handing moles - you didn’t survive a shadow war for so long without having procedures in place for that. Hell, Jack wouldn’t even be too surprised if the snakes already suspected the mole, and this was part of a plan to make him reveal himself. Although he wouldn’t be surprised if the standard procedure was to use enhanced interrogation on any suspect - they were dealing with snakes, after all. “Now, let’s see if we can contact Jakar without alerting anyone. Too bad we can’t just call him.”

Entrapta beamed. “We could call him - I just need to get us connected to their communication network!”

Jack blinked. That sounded like…

“You want to hack their comms?” Even Carter sounded surprised.

“Yes?” Entrapta blinked. “Well, we could ask for access, but we’re trying to be subtle, right?”

Sometimes, Entrapta was a pain in the butt. But sometimes, like now, Jack loved her.

*****​

Adora stared at Entrapta and Sam. “Dinner will be starting in a minute or two,” she reminded them. “We’ll probably meet Jakar there and can tell him there.”

“Aw.” Entrapta pouted. “But what if the spy is also there? We can’t talk to Jakar without drawing attention, right?”

Adora sighed. “I think we can pass him a message without being spotted.”

“A slip of paper or something. Or just ask him if he wants to discuss our secrets afterwards,” Catra added with a grin. But she quickly grew serious. “I also need to identify the spy first. If he’s not at the dinner, I’ll make an excuse to get out and see if I can find him.”

“If he’s not at dinner, we can just tell the High Council,” Daniel said.

“We can’t risk that the spy is watching,” Jack objected. “And a paper message might not cut it - I think the Tok’ra expect us to continue our meeting after dinner,” Jack cut in. “Which means we won’t be able to meet discreetly with him and plan things.”

“And we don’t have time to hack the comms,” Bow said. “And hacking them would also be quite rude since we’re guests.” He frowned at Entrapta.

“But we’re helping them,” Entrapta retorted. “And I think I can work on this during dinner. I can use my goggles and my hair to work while I eat - I’ve done it before, no problem!”

“That would be rude as well,” Glimmer commented.

“It would be rude? But I would do it under the table!” Entrapta looked surprised. “No one ever minds if Adora and Catra do their thing under the table while we eat or talk.”

Adora felt her face heat up. “We’re just holding hands sometimes!” she blurted out when the others stared at her. And she was sure they knew that!

“And thighs, and tails, and…” Catra nodded. Adora glared at her, but her lover shrugged. “Glimmer and Bow do the same. Minus the tail, of course.”

Adora switched her frown to her blushing friends. Hypocrites!

Then Jack cleared his throat. “Can we skip the handholding debate and focus on how we contact our spy without alerting the other spy?” He looked at Entrapta. “Can you contact him without getting caught?”

“Well, is it rude or not? We’re not supposed to be rude, are we?” Entrapta scrunched her nose and then nodded. “But yes, I think I can hack the communications. Their protocols are good, but not as good as Horde Prime’s - and if I can work through dinner, that’s ample time! I’m not getting shot at either, this time!”

Glimmer sighed, closing her eyes for a moment. “But hacking someone’s systems is not just rude, it’s generally a hostile act - even if you do it for their own good.”

“Does that mean I shouldn’t be doing it? Or does that mean I shouldn’t get caught?” Entrapta asked.

Adora knew who was to blame for that question. She would have to talk to Catra once they were home. But first, they had to sort this out. She took a step forward. “We should inform Jakar and then let the Tok’ra handle this. The spy isn’t a member of the High Council, which means he can inform them without risking that the spy will notice.” The Tok’ra had been fighting the Goa’uld in a spy war for a long, long time. They should know how to handle spies. If they couldn’t trust the Tok’ra to manage this, they couldn’t trust them with anything sensitive, anyway.

“The Tok’ra have survived against the Goa’uld for millennia,” Teal’c pointed out. “This will not be the first such spy they have encountered.”

Jack didn’t like that; Adora could tell from his expression. But Daniel and Sam were nodding in agreement, as were Glimmer and Bow. And Catra…

…was shrugging. “Might even be a plan to see how we react,” she said.

“I could find that out if I hack their systems!” Entrapta smiled.

“I don’t think we need to do that,” Glimmer told her.

“At least not right now,” Catra added. “We might want to test their computer security later.”

“OK!” Entrapta beamed. “So, I can enjoy talking to Anise without being rude!”

Adora was about to tell her lover a few things about how to treat your allies, but then someone knocked at the door - it was time for dinner. They had run out of time.

“I’ll be a bit late - I’ll write a message and then slip it into Jakar’s pocket,” Catra told her with a grin. “Go ahead!”

Adora didn’t want to go ahead, but she saw no better solution. “Alright.”

But when the door opened, Jakar was standing there. “Are you ready for dinner?” he asked.

Adora wanted to palm her face. They should have expected this!

“Ah, yes… we are, but there’s a tiny little issue we need to solve first,” Jack said with a toothy grin.

*****​

Samantha Carter smiled a little ruefully at the Colonel’s antics. If this wasn’t Jakar, but Martouf, the levity wouldn’t go over well, but the Tok’ra spy had proven to have a sense of humour - probably with a similar dose of gallows humour as the Colonel’s.

And indeed, he was smiling as he raised his eyebrows. “Somehow, I suspect that this won’t be a little thing, Colonel.”

And then he lost his smile when Catra peeked her head through the door and checked the corridor outside, her ears twitching as she sniffed the air and announced. “Clear.”

“It seems you expect treachery,” Jakar said as the door closed behind him. “And since you chose to tell me, you do not believe it’s on the part of the Tok’ra. At least not as a whole.”

The Colonel’s smile grew a little wider. “It’s so nice to work with someone who’s quick on the uptake. Yes, we discovered what might be a spy.”

And there was only one group who’d send a spy into the Tok’ra’s ranks.

“What did you discover?” Jakar asked with narrowed eyes.

“I overheard someone that sounded like making a report in a deserted bathroom here,” Catra told him. “He didn’t sound as if he considered himself a Tok’ra. I didn’t get a look at his face, but I can identify him if I’m close enough.”

“Ah.” Jakar slowly nodded. “Then we need you to identify him to investigate further. Fortunately, we know all the individuals present in this base - and travel is restricted. So the suspect must still be inside the base. Do you need him to speak to identify him?”

Catra cocked her head. “I just need to be close. It’s not one of the High Council.”

She didn’t say that she could identify the spy by scent, but Jakar would expect that. Or, Sam amended her thoughts, he might suspect some magical or psychic ability like Melog’s. That would have thrown some of the Tok’ra she knew for a loop. That they hadn’t mentioned Melog yet in the discussions meant that they probably wanted to secure an alliance first before touching on that subject. Or… She shook her head. They had to focus on dealing with the spy, not on hypothetical developments for future negotiations.

“Good. That leaves their aides, the guards and the kitchen staff, but I can work with that.” Jakar nodded sharply. “Please come with me now - we can’t afford to cause the spy to suspect something because we take too long.”

Sam nodded but noticed that the Colonel seemed a bit reluctant. Despite his words, he didn’t really trust the Tok’ra to handle this, she realised. Well, that couldn’t be helped - they couldn’t exactly launch an investigation into the matter by themselves as guests of the Tok’ra. And the Tok’ra knew how to handle spies; this wasn’t the first time they had to deal with a mole, even though she couldn’t recall any details.

Sam frowned as she realised she wasn’t sure if she should be glad or annoyed that she only had fragments of Jolinar’s memories about this topic. How could she make sound decisions if she couldn’t trust her information? But they were walking towards the dining room. It was time to focus on that, not on the past - or the spy. Even if it was hard.

“Did you construct the dining room for this occasion, or is that like an officer’s mess? Do you have officers?” Entrapta asked. “I know that spies generally don’t operate like line soldiers, and you’re pretty much all spies, right?”

“We have our leaders and commanders,” Jakar said. “Though we have a much flatter hierarchy than you have, based on what I noticed as your guest. Much fewer ranks, for one.” He grinned. “Shaped by our needs - and, unfortunately, our small numbers.”

“Which will grow as soon as you get access to more hosts, or so you’ve told us,” the Colonel said. “Do you have a bunch of little Tok’ra on ice who are just waiting for hosts?”

Jakar laughed once more. “Something like that, Colonel.”

And wasn’t that a clear hint at them having a queen? Or was it misdirection? Sam really wished she had access to Jolinar’s memories to verify this. Although… would any field operative of the Tok’ra actually know such crucial information? The Goa’uld would want nothing more than cripple their enemies’ ability to replenish their forces. Kill their queen, and the Tok’ra would die out sooner or later.

“And here we are,” Jakar announced before opening a door, revealing a room with a large set of crescent-shaped tables, not unlike the ones in the meeting room. The High Council, and Anise, were present - but so were half a dozen other Tok’ra whom Sam hadn’t seen before. No, whom she hadn’t seen at the meeting - Martouf was there. And another who looked familiar but whose name she couldn’t remember. And…

Her trail of thought was broken when she noticed Catra grabbing Jakar’s arm and pointing at the food on a round table in the centre between the two others. “Is that fish? The dish in front of the guy there?” She pointed at one of the unknown Tok’ra.

Ah. Not the most subtle, in Sam’s - or Jolinar’s - opinion. But Jakar would understand.

So, they had identified their suspect. But having them at the dinner complicated matters somewhat, in Sam’s opinion. She didn’t know if everyone present could keep up appearances without letting slip tier suspicion.

“Sam! Entrapta! Bow!” Anise made a beeline towards them. “Let’s sit down! I have a lot of questions we should discuss!”

Well, Sam thought as Entrapta all but dragged her and Bow towards the Tok’ra scientist, at least for Entrapta, it’ll be easy. She doubted her friend would spare a thought on the spy - if she had even noticed Catra marking him.

*****​

The dish was fish! Fried fish! Talk about hitting two enemies with one shot! Catra smiled widely as she finished the morsel she had been given to get a taste - it was really good! - before shovelling more on her plate. “You know, this is much better than the Earth-style dinners,” she said. “Or the Bright Moon-style dinners.”

“What?” Adora cocked her head at her as she filled her own plate.

“What do you mean?” Ah, Glimmer had overheard her - as planned.

“It’s one big buffet,” Catra explained. “You don’t have to wait for a servant to bring you food, you don’t have to eat what is put in front of you, you can pick what you like and then load up on it. And you don’t insult anyone if you don’t eat some inedible mess that some weirdo thinks is tasty.”

“It wasn’t inedible! Your taste buds are just wired weirdly after having only had Horde rations for years!” Glimmer protested. “And it was one time! We have competent staff who take notes on what people like to eat and what they don’t like.”

Catra smirked. “Well, but I still don’t get fish every meal.” She nudged Adora, who hadn’t reacted to the little exchange. “Say, what do you think of switching all meals to buffet-style affairs?”

“Oh. Uhm.” Adora tried unsuccessfully to hide how she had loaded her plate mostly with some of the marinated meat bits, Catra noticed. “I would think it would affect logistics - since you usually would have more food wasted when people left one kind of dish alone and picked others. And, uh, if you only made enough overall so someone had to eat the worse food, there might be trouble in the chow line once all the good food is gone.” And now she was looking at the dish she had left out - some greenish stuff that looked like a partially-bleached cactus and smelt terrible.

Catra sighed and shook her head. “We’re guests. Don’t eat stuff you don’t like,” she whispered.

“But…”

“No buts.” Catra bumped her with her hip to steer her back to their table. “Besides, our hosts are waiting for you so they can start talking your ear off.” Apparently, it was considered rude amongst Tok’ra to talk at the buffet or something. Daniel probably figured it out, not that Catra cared to ask.

“Oh, OK!”

And that was how you handled Adora.

Catra glanced at the spy when they returned to the table. He was eating the cactus stuff, she noticed. And his name was Cordesh - Firnan for the host - according to the introductions. Damn, trying to keep two sets of names for every Tok’ra was going to be a hassle.

“Ah, you like mat’o,” Per’sus commented from across the table as they took their seats. They had taken their meals first - as Jakar had explained, to show it wasn’t poisoned and so the guests’ meals wouldn’t grow cold before they ate. Since they hadn’t eaten yet, it didn’t make too much sense, but then, neither did Bright Moon’s table manners.

“The fish?” Catra cocked her head. “Yes, it’s very tasty.”

“Fish?” The Tok’ra blinked. “Ah. Mat’o is not fish - it’s fried mat’a brain.”

Catra froze for a moment, staring at her plate. It tasted like fish. Mostly.

“What are mat’a?” Glimmer asked.

“Legless reptiles,” Per’sus explained.

So, she was eating snake brains. Catra blinked, then shrugged. Who cared? It was good!

Glimmer, though, stared at her own small portion of mat’o. Hah!

“As we have gathered, let us eat in peace and harmony,” Garshaw said.

A moment later, people started eating, and Catra dug in. Everyone else did so as well - though Entrapta and Anise needed a reminder from Sam and Bow.

“So, are all your meals eaten in this style?” Daniel asked after the first bite. “Or is this reserved for such occasions?”

“It is a sign of pride to offer a wide variety of food to your guests,” Hen’ru told him.

“And when you aren’t hosting guests?” Daniel followed up at once.

“Then you usually just make whatever dish you and your partner - or partners - like,” Hen’ru replied with a grin.

Well, that sounded sensible, in Catra’s opinion. But she wasn’t here to learn about Tok’ra dining habits. So, as Daniel continued to pelt the Tok’ra with questions about their culture and society - nicely abusing the fact that they weren’t supposed to talk about the alliance - Catra paid attention to the spy.

He seemed to be torn between trying to follow the conversation between Daniel and the High Council and trying to listen in to what Entrapta, Sam, Bow, Anise and Malinor were discussing.

Good luck, Catra thought with a smirk hidden behind her drink. Her ears picked up the conversation just fine - but it was far too technical to understand, and she didn’t think the spy was a scientist either.

Cordesh must have realised that as well since he started asking Daniel questions about Earth society. “So, your planet is divided between many independent countries, each with its own culture and leaders?”

“Yes,” Daniel said without hesitation. “Though we have shared rules and values.”

“Precious few of those,” Catra heard O’Neill mutter under his breath, and she had to suppress a chuckle.

“And Etheria is the same?”

“Yes,” Glimmer told him.

“It must be fascinating to live in such a place, but if I may hazard a guess, trying to rule the planet would be very difficult with so many different factions,” Cordesh said.

Ah, that was his game - he was looking for weaknesses. As expected.

“We’re not planning to rule the planet,” Glimmer told him.

“And neither are we,” Daniel added.

“But how are you supposed to fight a war with such… disunity?” another aide asked.

“We only take the willing into an alliance,” Adora told him. “There are enough people willing to fight.”

“Ah.”

“Fascinating, To have so many people that you can let them sit out a war against the Empire…”

As the discussion shifted a little, Catra noticed that one of the aides, Martouf, wasn’t taking part. He was looking at Sam instead. And his expression… Catra thought it looked familiar, somehow. And pained.

Weird.

*****​

More weird food. Jack O’Neill liked to think he wasn’t a picky eater - in the field, you quickly learned how to eat anything edible, and the Air Force wasn’t a Chair Force no matter what the crayon-eaters claimed - but eating fried snake brain was something only Daniel could enjoy. And Catra, obviously, but, well, she was an alien. No, Jack stuck to snake meat, thank you very much. And some sort of not-quite-sweet potatoes as a side dish instead of bleached cactus.

Not that he was about to ask what exactly he was eating, of course. That way lay the sort of unpleasant realisation that you were living through dessert in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - a lesson everyone except for Daniel learned quickly in Stargate Command.

He bit down on another forkful, chewing slowly while he listened to Per’sus talking to Daniel about the way Tok’ra supply lines worked. Well, they were talking about how they mixed imported food and locally sourced grub, but that was what it worked out to.

He glanced at the spy - Catra hadn’t been very subtle with pointing out him. The snake had stopped gathering intel from Carter and the others and was now listening to Daniel spill information about Earth’s culture, mainly food and hospitality. Mostly safe topics, then - even though a spy might be able to use some of the information. But that would only matter if they couldn’t stop the spy from passing on his intel.

Damn, he hated playing the nice guest while a spook was trying to stab them in the back! He would love to just wander over, then smash the man’s face into his plate and just… Jack took a deep breath.

“I see. With the way your society moves around, the only constant food sources are those able to be grown on many different planets - and those so prized, you take considerable effort to source them,” Daniel said. “So, your culture’s culinary traditions are split between adapting new recipes with every new planet and old traditional dishes that you can only eat on special occasions.”

Even a communist snake spy society has to have ways to reward their elite, Jack thought.

“Indeed,” Per’sus said.

“It will be interesting to discover how this will change once we have defeated the Goa’uld,” Glimmer commented. “Once you don’t have to hide any more.”

She said it as if this was inevitable. Jack would chalk her confidence up to naivety and inexperience, but the Etherians had been through a decades-long war already. Still, the Goa’uld Empire was different from the Horde.

“You speak as if our victory was set in stone,” Per’sus echoed Jack’s thoughts somewhat.

Glimmer tilted her head. “We are confident that we’ll defeat the Empire, yes. And planning ahead is a good idea. But more importantly, you can’t fight a war if you’re all about gloom and doom. If you expect to lose, you tend to lose.”

“Yes!” Adora chimed in with a nod. “The moral is to the physical as three to one, as one of Earth’s greatest generals once said. If soldiers don’t believe in victory, they’ll believe in defeat.”

An alien magical space princess quoting Napoleon… Jack chuckled. “It’s not quite that simple,” he said, “and we shouldn’t be overconfident, but you’re more or less correct - we will beat the Goa’uld.” Or die trying. Of course, there would be efforts to ensure that even in defeat, Earth would survive. Though more organised than what had happened during Apophis’s attack. Just shoving people through the gate, without almost no thought about how they were supposed to survive on the other side, no real preparations to start a self-sufficient colony… Everyone involved had done their best to forget that debacle.

“I want to share your confidence,” Garsahw said. “But my experience keeps me from doing so. We’ve struggled for so long, just holding out was a victory. We’ve seen our hopes dashed multiple times, and harsh defeats have taught us to expect the worst.”

Well, Jack knew what she was talking about. Somewhat, at least - the United States hadn’t really fought such a lopsided war on the weaker side until they had started Stargate Command. But Jack had done enough stuff with spooks to expect the worst, too - even if the Etherians tended to make that hard these days.

And his team, of course. Daniel with his enthusiasm and idealism, Carter with her genius and stubborn drive, Teal’c, who had risked it all, abandoned his entire life and changed sides because he had seen something in SG-1 that Jack hadn’t, at the time…

He smiled and nodded at Garshaw. “I know the feeling. But you can’t just get… stuck in it.” He wasn’t going to say anything cheesy about losing the future by clinging to the past. His team would probably assume he had been taken over by a Goa’uld.

“We’ll see,” Garshaw said, obviously still sceptical. Jack wouldn’t have expected anything else.

“What can we do to prove to you that we are telling the truth? That we can make good on our claims?” Adora asked, leaning forward.

Per’sus tilted his head at her. “You’ve made a lot of claims about magic. Such as that it allows you to heal people that even a Goa’uld healing device cannot help.”

Adora’s face lit up with a smile as Jack suppressed a sigh.

He should have expected that.

*****​

“I can heal them, yes,” Adora said confidently. She could heal anyone. Then she blinked. “Uh… do you mean a host or a symbiont? We haven’t tried yet if my healing power will expel a Goa’uld from an unwilling host, so I don’t know what will happen to a Tok’ra.”

“The host is dying,” Per’sus said.

“Oh.” Adora winced. If she accidentally killed a Tok’ra symbiont while trying to heal the host… “It would be safer if the symbiont would leave the host. Just for the healing. It won’t take long at all.” She smiled as reassuringly as she could.

Per’sus didn’t look like he felt very assured, but he nodded. “That can… be arranged.”

“Great. Where are they?” She almost looked around but controlled herself.

“They’re not in the base,” Per’sus told her. “But we can visit them later.”

Ah, they were in the real base on the planet - that made sense, of course. Adora nodded. But… could they leave the base here, when a spy was on the loose? Or was that an opportunity to catch the spy? A trap, maybe?

She nodded. “Good.”

Wait, had Jakar even told the High Council about the spy yet? Adora hadn’t seen any exchange between the agent and the councillors, but she wasn’t a spy - she could’ve easily missed it. And she couldn’t ask Catra right now, in the middle of their dinner with the Tok’ra.

She took another bite from the excellent grilled snake meat and sneaked a glance at her lover. Catra looked… slightly annoyed. So, something wasn’t right or not going according to how she thought things should be going. Or she didn’t like the food - but she’d just gone to get a third helping, so that wasn’t it.

It looks like I’ve made a mistake, Adora thought.

“I thought you needed to… ‘unlock’ magic on a planet to be able to use it,” Garshaw said. “Do you have a magitech healing device?”

Adora shook her head, wincing slightly at the memory of the jungle zombies. “No, we don’t have such devices. The one we found, made by the Ancients, ah, didn’t quite work.”

Catra snorted. “It made zombies.”

“Zombies?” Per’sus cocked his head to the side with a puzzled expression.

“It’s a Tau’ri name for animated corpses that attack the living. Supposedly fictional, but as we found out, the Ancients managed to create them for real,” Glimmer explained. “Accidentally, we think.”

“Oh.” Garshaw glanced at Per’sus. “That seems… surprisingly inept for the Ancients. The Goa’uld healing devices work, after all.”

“We think it was a prototype or something,” Adora said.

“Ah.” Garshaw nodded again. “And are you working on fixing its flaws?”

“No,” Adora said. Not to her knowledge, at least. Entrapta and Sam were working on other projects. And no one else had the skills to work with Ancient magitech.

“But how can you heal people on a planet without magic and magitech?” Garshaw asked once more.

“Oh, that’s because I’m She-Ra,” Adora replied. “My powers are tied into magic itself. I can always use it.” She didn’t know if that was the fault of the First Ones or something else, but that wasn’t something she liked talking about.

“Her title is ‘Princess of Power’,” Glimmer added with a grin. “She can use magic in space as well.”

“Magic doesn’t work off-planet?” Per’sus nodded.

Adora nodded. “Magitech works, though.”

“Magic requires life,” Glimmer explained. “Or at least the potential for life. And that means planets that can bear life. Magitech circumvents this by using something else as a power source, even though the effects are magical.”

“I see,” Garshaw said, glancing at Entrapta and the others. “I assume they’re already past discussing the fundamentals.”

Catra chuckled. “Oh, yes. Entrapta, Sam and Bow are probably already planning devices to augment existing technology with Anise.”

That made the councillors wince a little, even Adora could tell. And that made her want to wince since Catra’s ears would’ve picked up what the others were talking about, so that probably wasn’t idle speculation.

“You seem unhappy about that,” Jack commented. “Don’t you trust Anise?”

“She’s an excellent scientist,” Per’sus said. “Innovative and bold. Sometimes perhaps a bit too bold.”

Oh. “Like Entrapta, then,” Adora said, nodding.

And that made the others wince more.

*****​

“...so we could use a magitech device to enhance your crystal growing technology - and with a decision matrix from a bot, we could have a smart base able to grow tunnels and tools where they want and need them!” Entrapta beamed.

If we manage to refine the Tok’ra technology to include more complex tools, Samantha Carter mentally amended her friend’s statement.

“Yes, if your other hypothesises are proven true,” Anise said. “Which is a not insignificant assumption - we have been using and refining our crystal technology for a long time.”

“But never with magitech!” Entrapta nodded several times. “It’s a game changer, as people say on Earth.”

“A ‘game changer’?” Anise cocked her head in a slightly alien manner. “Do you treat this as a game?”

“It’s a figure of speech,” Sam explained. “We don’t treat it as a game.”

“Even though science is fun!” Entrapta agreed. “As long as no one gets hurt seriously,” she added.

Anise nodded in apparent agreement. “Yes, it is. And there are few things as satisfying and rewarding as seeing your projects work out and your hypothesises proven true.”

“Yes!” Once more, Entrapta nodded enthusiastically.

Sam agreed as well, though she didn’t voice it like that. There were a number of more important things, after all. Defeating the Goa’uld. Friends. Family - at least, it was supposed to be more important, even if it might not always work out like that.

She noticed her plate was empty and excused herself to get a bit more food - the dishes were excellent. Some, she hadn’t had in quite some time. Jolinar hadn’t had them, she corrected herself - Sam had never tasted them before today.

Still, she did like them and started filling her plate with a few more kren and liso’n bits - she particularly liked them.

“Jolinar loved them.”

Sam managed not to gasp despite her surprise and turned to face who had addressed her. Oh.

It was Martouf. The Tok’ra she knew the most about, even though it was still very little. But he had been Jolinar’s friend, and most of the fragmented memories Sam remembered featured him. And he had just learned of Jolinar’s death a few hours ago.

So Sam smiled and nodded. “Yes. I don’t remember too much of their life, but when I tasted kren and liso’n, the taste was familiar.”

Martouf nodded and repeated himself. “Jolinar loved them. Unlike most of us, who prefer the traditional, rare dishes, she loved the food here.” His eyes lost focus for a moment, and his expression grew a little sad.

Her? Jolinar’s last host had been male, Sam knew - she doubted she would ever forget the moment Jolinar had entered her, leaving the dying man she had been trying to save. “I am sorry for your loss,” she said.

“Thank you.” He slowly inclined his head. “Though I suppose, as her last host, you keenly feel her loss as well.”

Really? She took a bite or kren to gain some time. “Yes, we weren’t, ah, together for long, but…” She shrugged. ‘Memorable’ would sound trite. ‘Traumatising’ would be harsh, even if it was true. “I won’t ever forget her.” She took a forkful of liso’n while her thoughts raced. Did Tok’ra identify with the gender of their host? It wasn’t something that had come up in the preparations for this mission - a clear oversight, in hindsight. They had no clue how Tok’ra relationships worked, she realised. How did they handle having two beings in one body?

And asking Martouf about it was out of the question - he was clearly grieving his friend. His sad smile as he must remember…

She blinked as more memories rose inside her. Of Martouf. Of… “Lantash?”

His voice changed as the symbiont took over. “You remember. I wasn’t certain since you never said anything.”

“I only just remembered,” she told him. “Her memories are fragmented. Sometimes, I have a… sort of flash.” Likely the result of a trigger. Perhaps she should look into therapy to manage this... No! Therapy would see her benched - the Air Force wasn’t in the habit of trusting people with mental problems in combat. But why hadn’t Lantash introduced themselves earlier?

“But you do remember us,” Lantash said - and reached out, putting his hand on her shoulder.

His touch… she drew a sharp breath as she remembered more. Martouf. Lantash. And… She felt her cheeks flush. They hadn’t been Jolinar’s friends. They had been their lover.

“And you remember more,” Lantash said, staring at her, lips twisting into a faint smile.

She nodded a little stiffly. “I am sorry for your loss,” she repeated herself.

“Her memories live on,” he said with another sad smile.

Sam froze for a moment. ‘Her memories’. Not ‘her memory’. Oh, hell! They couldn’t think that she was… She nodded again, more sharply this time - the kren suddenly didn’t taste as well as before.

They couldn’t think that she was somehow Jolinar’s successor - or replacement - could they?

“Everything alright, Carter? Something wrong with the food?”

She turned to face the Colonel, glad - very glad - about the interruption. She really needed a distraction right now. “No, the food’s great, sir. We’ve just been… mourning.”

“Jolinar was our partner,” Martouf said, inclining his head at the Colonel. “It is comforting that part of her lives on in some way, despite the tragic circumstances of how that came to be.”

The Colonel narrowed his eyes, and Sam quickly added: “Fragments of her memories.”

“Ah.” His expression didn’t really change - he was still… suspicious. Of her? No. Of Martouf and Lantash, Sam realised. “Partners?” he asked.

“Lovers. Mates,” Lantash explained.

The Colonel tensed at the change of voice. “I didn’t realise Tok’ra went for such things,” he said with a shrug. “You know, lovers.”

And Lantash frowned in return. “As our hosts do, we as well fall in love.”

“Must be tough, having to share your body and a relationship.”

“Not at all,” Lantash said. Then Martouf continued. “Everything’s shared, Colonel. Between us all.”

“Sounds a bit crowded to me.”

“It would, of course, since you have never experienced it,” Martouf replied.

He was glancing at her, Sam realised with a sinking feeling. Did he expect her to comment on that? The last thing she wanted to do right now was to discuss Tok’ra romance. With anyone.

But the Colonel was staring at her as well.

Before she could even think of what to say to extract herself, a body crashed into the buffet next to them, sending the food flying as the table toppled.

Sam almost cried out in relief at the interruption.

*****​

 

Chapter 60: The Tok’ra Part 5

P34-353J, December 4th, 1998 (Earth Time)

Catra didn’t have too much experience with spies. She only met one, actually, and that was a painful memory. How she had been as stupid as to ever trust Double Trouble… She suppressed the urge to shake her head at her own folly. But she had worked undercover herself, and she knew something about hiding your intentions - she wouldn’t have survived in the Horde if she hadn’t been able to do that.

And in her opinion, Jakar was a smooth operator, to use one of the Earth movie terms, but how he approached the spy halfway into the dinner just didn’t look… quite as natural and inconspicuous as it should have been.

Of course, she knew what this was about, so she might be biased. Maybe. Cordesh didn’t look like he suspected anything, but he was a spy, so he would be good at hiding any reaction. And if he suspected that he was detected, he might trigger whatever he had planned early.

Well, it was up to Jakar now. She was curious how they would handle it, tilting her head a bit to better listen in to the conversation.

“Cordesh! Enjoying the meal?”

“Jakar. Not as much as you must, after your mission.”

“Oh, yes. I did miss kren, especially.”

“Who doesn’t?”

Then Jakar’s voice changed. Mats was talking, then. “So, you finally grew to like it, Firnan?”

Cordesh’s voice changed as well. “Yes. It took me a while, but who can resist it?”

Jakar nodded, smiling warmly, and took a bite of mat’o.

But Kordesh tensed up. Something wasn’t right. And he was reaching to the small of his back, where…

Catra was already moving, jumping over the table between her and the two spies, when Jakar grabbed Kordesh’s arm, and the two started wrestling over a... zat!

Catra unsheathed her claws as she closed. A single swipe, and… No! She had to think of the host! Clenching her teeth, she kicked Cordesh into the back of his knees, sending him to the floor.

But the spy took Jakar with him, turning the whole thing into a throw - and sent Jakar into the buffet.

But Catra was on him already, grabbing both his wrists and pinning him to the ground. He tried to shake her off, but he didn’t have enough leverage or strength - not against Catra, at least; he was stronger than a human.

And then Adora was there, and Jakar was back, and the fight was over. Between the three of them, they had Cordesh secured before the rest of the people present made it over. Garshaw looked at them - at Jakar - with narrowed eyes while Jakar stripped him of weapons and tools and everything but his clothes.

“Firnan claimed to have tasted kren before and grown to like it,” Jakar told her.

Garshaw nodded as if that was enough to identify a spy.

“You must be really serious about your food,” Catra commented with a glance at Jakar.

“Kren is made from local sources,” he said. “It’s only available on this planet - and Cordesh and Firnan were not stationed here before they arrived with the councillors.”

Ah. That explained it. Catra nodded.

“Then we need to find out if Cordesh decided to betray us or if he was replaced,” Garshaw said.

Right. Catra was really glad she hadn’t ripped the man’s hand off.

“Will you extract the symbiont?” Daniel asked.

Right, they could do that.

“It’s the most expedient way to check,” Garshaw replied. “As soon as Firnan is free, he can tell us what happened.”

Cordesh scoffed. “The plague that is the Tok’ra will soon be wiped out! And we will crush your allies as well!” he yelled.

Well, Catra might not be an expert on spies, but she knew empty bravado when she saw it. Although… She narrowed her eyes. “Could he have contacted someone in the system with this?” She pointed at the round thing on the ground next to the zat.

“Check it,” Garshaw said.

While another aide picked the thing up, Catra looked at the captured spy. He was clenching his teeth, which she took as a good sign.

“It’s pointless! You are doomed!”

Yeah, definitely empty bravado.

“There wasn’t a long-range transmission since before he arrived here; the cache still holds the data.”

So their secret was still safe. Catra smiled. That was a relief! Losing operational surprise would have been quite the setback.

“But there are short-range transmissions logged. Very little data, though. I’m trying to access…”

“Shor’wai’e! Yas!” Cordesh yelled. “Mal…”

Catra slugged the spy, then held his mouth shut before he could say anything else, but the communicator beeped.

Then the base shook from an explosion.

*****​

Jack O’Neill cursed as he crouched to keep his balance. “Are we under attack?” he snapped, his hand going for his carbine - which had been left in their quarters. He gripped his pistol’s holster instead.

Garshaw was already talking into one of those round communicators. “Melion, what’s going on? Melion?” He saw her press her lips together for a moment before she went on: “Ker’seh? Nelias?” she waited a moment

Jack struggled against the urge to rush out, get his M4 and… what then? Half the Tok’ra in the room had already left.

“We have lost contact with the transporter room,” Garshaw announced.

“I smell smoke,” Catra said. Her nose twitched. “And… burning flesh.” She was still holding the spy’s mouth shut.

Jack winced. “If they took the transporter room, they’ll be storming the base right now.”

“I don’t hear any shooting,” Catra retorted.

Then Per’sus’ voice came through the communicator. “The transporter room has been destroyed. I don’t see any breach in the walls, though.”

That meant it hadn’t been an attack from the outside. Jack muttered another curse. “Sabotage. He must have planted a bomb.”

“More than one, I fear,” the snake holding the spy’s communicator ball said.

“Give it to me!” Anise snapped. “I’ll check.”

She all but ripped the thing out of the other Tok’ra’s hands. He didn’t seem upset, so that was probably normal.

Per’sus spoke up again. “The guards in the transporter room are dead. And the ring transport was damaged and is nonfunctional.”

Which meant they were trapped in the base! Wait, no - they had that tunnel-growing technology. “Can you grow us an exit?” Jack asked.

Garshaw shook her head. “We don’t have the necessary tools in this base. The main base should have recorded the explosion, but it’ll take them a while to reach us.”

Damn. “Didn’t want potential spies getting a glimpse, huh?” Jack asked.

The snake’s grimace was answer enough.

Fortunately, Adora didn’t say anything about trust saving them and distrust hurting them. Instead, she said: “I could restore magic to the planet. Then Glimmer could teleport us out.”

“All of us?” Malinor asked, raising her eyebrows.

“Two at a time,” Glimmer corrected her. “But I think I’ll be able to get everyone out.”

‘I think’, Jack noted. That wasn’t a clear confirmation in his book. “How long will it take for the others to reach us with a tunnel or transporter?”

Another aide whose name he had forgotten replied: “They’ll be here in half an hour - I was just talking to Laran.”

Half an hour? Well, that wasn’t too bad. Jack started to nod.

Then Anise went to Carter and Entrapta and showed them the communicator. “Look at that!”

Jack really didn’t like Carter’s reaction.

“We need the scanner,” she said.

“Yes. If there are more bombs, they should show up on the scanner.” Entrapta nodded.

“More bombs?” Salesh stared at them.

Jack glanced at the captured spy. He couldn’t see the snake’s mouth, but his eyes… the scum was happy.

“OK, let’s see - those bombs can’t be using Naquadah, or we would have found them in our earlier scan, so…” Entrapa trailed off, eyes glued to her scanner.

“Check for these chemicals!” Anise rattled down some formula Jack couldn’t follow.

Carter could, though, which was what counted. “Yes. None of that, none of those, either, but…” She drew a sharp breath through clenched teeth, and Jack knew that shit had just hit the fan - Carter only looked like that when things were about to go really wrong.

“How bad is it?” he asked.

“We have half a dozen bombs with chemical explosives placed throughout the base, sir,” she replied. “And it doesn’t look like the spots were randomly chosen.”

“We’re running a structural analysis,” Entrapta cut in.

“Yes. Our technology makes tunnelling very easy, but without proper structural reinforcements, the tunnels are slightly more vulnerable to shocks,” Anise said.

Jack refrained from closing his eyes. “Don’t tell me - if the bombs go off, we won’t need to be buried after our deaths?” Hell, to die buried alive… getting crushed quickly would be a mercy. He suppressed a shudder.

Carter nodded with a grimace.

“Well, the bombs didn’t go off,” Adora said. “Only one did.”

“But they’re on a timer,” Anise said.

When it rained, it poured. “How much time do we have?”

“Fifteen minutes, sir.”

“It’s evacuation time,” Jack said.

Garshaw nodded.

“Uh…” Adora’s expression made Jack close his eyes and sigh. “If I restore magic, I’ll be… well, I’ll have to use all the magic returning. And we still don’t know what my healing will do to symbionts inside a host.”

And that had all the snakes in the room exchange grim glances.

“Can’t you leave your host temporarily?”

“Only for a very short time without a habitat or stasis unit,” Garshaw said. “And we don’t have either in this base.”

More secrecy messing things up. If Jack were a believer, he’d tell God that this was a little too blatant.

“We’ll have to defuse the bombs then,” Entrapta said. “Before it’s too late.”

“Can you do this?” Garshaw asked.

“We should be able to - and we have about ten minutes before we’ll have to return magic, anyway!” Entrapta told her. “Let’s go! The closest bomb is down the hallway outside!”

She looked excited, Jack saw. At least Carter looked suitably concerned as the geek squad rushed out of the room.

He ran with them - he had a lot of experience in demolitions, and since they were facing chemical bombs instead of some Naquadah or space magic stuff, Jack should be able to help.

And defusing a bomb definitely beat waiting while his friends and teammates risked their lives defusing it, in Jack’s opinion.

*****​

Watching others do their best to save them all - and risk their lives in the process - was torture, in Adora’s opinion.

“Alright, kid, let’s see what kind of anti-tampering mechanism our snake has left for us to trigger. It can’t be something that reacts to mere movement and shock, or it would have gone off when the base shook. But he must have a way to keep us from just pulling the bombs off and dropping them down a spare tunnel.” Jack said. He sounded tense, but neither he nor Bow looked as tense as they should be - they were so close to the first bomb they had found, if it went off, not even Adora could do anything for them!

“According to my scan, there’s a fine mesh inside the outer shell, connected to the detonator. But it’s not perfectly covering everything, see?” Bow showed his pad to Jack.

“That’s to keep us from just shooting or cutting the thing. What about the glue keeping the bomb stuck to the floor here?”

“That’s under a mild current - so, perhaps if we kept the current going somehow…”

“There would still be some change when you pull the bomb off the wall, and if the bomb’s sensitive enough…”

“Boom.”

“Exactly, kid.”

Adora let out a sigh through clenched teeth - softly; you didn’t startle people defusing ordnance; the Horde had been very clear about that. Even Catra hadn’t joked around in those lessons. Or with live ordnance.

She couldn’t do anything here. So she stepped around the corner and checked up on the others. If Entrapta, Sam and Anise managed to crack the communicator, they could turn off all bombs with a single command. Or so they hoped.

“Oh… that’s a very sophisticated protocol! Almost as good as Horde Prime’s! Well, mostly - did you see this here, Sam?”

“Yes. That seems like an obvious weakness. Probably too obvious.”

“Yes! It’s probably a, what do you call it, decoy?”

“That, and an alert, I would say. But I think we can circumvent it like this…”

“Yes,” Anise cut in. “And that should get us past the encryption to send out the delay command to the bombs. But we still need to figure out the command.”

“How much longer until you have to restore magic?” Garshaw asked as Adora stepped back from Entrapta, Sam and Anise to check on the others.

“Seven more minutes,” Adora replied after a check of her watch. Then she’d have two minutes left to use all the magic surging through her and… try not to expel the symbionts while Glimmer teleported people out.

“That’s cutting it close,” Garshaw commented.

Adora looked at her. The Tok’ra leader seemed to be, well, focused on her instead of the people defusing the bomb. “We really don’t want to risk accidentally killing you all with my healing magic,” she said. Hadn’t she explained that before?

“But the risk for you and your friends would be lesser.”

Oh. “That’s not how we do things,” Adora said, frowning despite herself. What did Garshaw think she was, so selfish as to sacrifice others for her?

And now Garshaw was smiling at her. Had that been a test? Adora wasn’t fond of such games - Shadow Weaver had liked them.

Malinor spoke up: “Can you use your magic powers to seal off or disable the bombs?”

Adora bit her lower lip. “I have never done that before,” she admitted. “I could attempt to turn them into plants, but if they are as sensitive to defusing attempts as it sounds they are, they might detonate anyway.” Before she managed to figure out how to repeat what she had done to Horde Prime’s flagship. Or how to freeze anything in stasis, or something. She wasn’t a sorceress! She hadn’t studied magic! Or tried to use her magic for such things.

Glimmer would be able to do that. Probably. Adora glanced at her friend. She looked tense but determined. Stubborn, almost scowling, as she watched Bow and Jack work around the corner.

“Six minutes left.”

They were timing her? Adora looked at the Tok’ra who had spoken, Salesh. Oh, of course, they would be watching the clock count down. Their lives were at stake, after all.

“If we start teleporting out, we’ll leave the spy for last,” Catra said. She sounded matter-of-factly, almost calm, but Adora could see her tail twitching - her lover was as nervous as she felt herself.

Adora frowned at her, and Catra shrugged. “If Glimmer exhausts herself…”

Adora understood the sentiment, but… “She’d still do everything to save Firnan.”

Catra sighed. “Right.” Her ears drooped. She was probably blaming herself for forgetting about the host taken over by the spy.

Adora smiled softly. No one was perfect. But Catra was doing so much better than… before.

“Five minutes left.”

“How are Jack and Bow doing?” Adora asked in a low voice.

“They want to cut out the piece of wall with the bomb stuck to it,” Catra said. “But it’s a crystal, and so if they cut through it, it’ll send a power surge through the adhesive. Bow’s trying to rig up a surge compensator or something.”

Adora nodded. “And I can cut through the crystal.” She summoned her sword. Again.

And she could carry the bomb away quickly. She might not get all of them, but enough so the base wouldn’t collapse completely should be possible.

“Don’t do anything stupid. We only need to deal with half of them,” Catra said.

She didn’t try to keep Adora from doing it, though. Adora reached out and pulled her into her arms, just holding her for a few seconds. Feeling her warmth against her body, Feeling Catra tense up, squirming for just a moment, before relaxing into her embrace. Yes…

“Four minutes.”

Rats.

*****​

Four minutes left. Samantha Carter pressed her lips together. Four minutes until Adora would restore magic, and Glimmer would start teleporting people out. And until Adora might accidentally kill every Tok’ra with some uncontrolled mass-healing magic.

Which also meant six minutes until the bombs would go off and cause the entire base to collapse. Perhaps the Tok’ra’s tunnel-growing technology had some drawbacks as well - though Sam hadn’t done the static calculations to know if this was because of the inherent weakness of their technology Garshaw had mentioned or if the bombs would wreck a conventionally-built base as well.

And she didn’t have the time to get distracted right now. They were so close to cracking the signal to shut down all the bombs!

“Nothing in the cache - the main unit clears it right after use,” Anise said.

“That would almost make it redundant, wouldn’t it?” Entrapta commented. “Oh! Nothing in the transmitter, either - nothing that wasn’t already logged.”

And the log files had been the first thing they had checked. That left the main unit’s memory. Which was not only heavily encrypted but also using a sort of proprietary operating system that none of them - not even Anise, who had the most experience with Goa’uld communications amongst them - had ever seen.

But it still used familiar principles. And known hardware with which it interacted.

And that opened ways to crack it.

“Three minutes!”

Goa’uld communicators were a mature technology - but they weren’t perfect. And this was a modified communicator - whoever had sent the spy had taken care to hide additional capacities inside it. New technology. Not as tested and proven.

And they had taken shortcuts when installing it.

Sam smiled when she found a minor glitch in the program controlling the interface between the main unit and the transmitter. “Anise? Take a look at that.”

“Oh, yes!” The Tok’ra smiled and started typing on her tool.

“Oh! Clever!” Entrapta’s hair flew over her own multitool. “If we overload the cache here…”

“...it will access the main unit’s cache,” Sam finished. And they could use that to insert a program to download the cache.

“Done!” Anise announced.

“Yes!” Sam quickly ran a search - and came up empty. But the communicator controlled the bombs, so the code to stop or at least delay the detonations had to be in there! The spy had used it to detonate the bomb in the transporter room!

Sam blinked. With a verbal command. A verbal code.

“I’m so stupid!” she snapped. “There’s no code in the communicator because they never saved it in there - they only memorised it!”

“Oh!” Entrapta’s eyes widened. “That’s clever!”

Anise cursed.

And Sam whirled around. “But the codes have to be in the bombs!” And the Colonel and Bow were working on one around the corner!

“Yes!”

“What?” Adora stared at them, but Sam, followed by Entrapta and Anise, rushed past the woman.

He was looking at her as she rounded the corner - he would have heard her running. Good - she hadn’t distracted him at a critical moment. “Sir, we need access to the bomb’s communicator,” she said as calmly as she could.

After a fraction of a second, he nodded. “That might be a little tricky.”

“Here’s the probe!” Entrapta handed him a thin needle-like device. “It transmits wirelessly. Just touch the communication array.”

He turned to Bow. “We’ll need to insert it through the internal mesh. Without touching it.”

“Two minutes!”

Bow looked grim but nodded as well.

“Bow!” someone - Glimmer - said behind them.

But the boy had already turned to face the bomb, kneeling down. “I can guide you with my scanner.”

“Let’s do it.”

And Sam was forced to wait and stare as the two men started working.

“Alright… this is the spot. Now… align the drill… bit more to the right, the angle is… yes, like that.”

The Colonel had sweat on his brow now. “Step back into cover!” he snapped. In a soft voice that only Sam, Bow and probably Catra heard, he added: “Just in case.”

Sam wanted to stay, but that wouldn’t have made sense.

She still hated herself for obeying and getting into cover around the corner and behind Emily’s shield.

“Alright, here we go!”

“Steady, steady… Stop!”

“And now the probe…”

“Check the angle.”

“Yes, yes…”

“O-One minute!”

Sam held her breath.

“And… Done! We’ve got the thingie in!” the Colonel announced.

“We’ve got contact!” Entrapta blurted out.

Sam was already diving into the bomb’s memory. Detonation protocol, communication… “There!” She blinked. “Hal mek?” That meant ‘hold’ in Goa’uld. It couldn’t be so easy, could it?

“Sent!” Anise announced.

“Zero!” the aide announced.

A moment later, Anise yelled. “Bombs delayed!”

A cheer went up.

And Sam took a deep breath and sat down, leaning back against the wall.

That had been a little too close for her taste. And to think she had missed the possibility that the communicator didn’t hold the codes to disarm or delay the bombs! Even though it made so much sense - it would ensure that no one could stop the bombs without the spy’s cooperation.

But they had solved the problem, which was what counted.

“Oh, here’s the command to disarm the bombs, ‘hol’!” Entrapta said.

That meant ‘stop’ in Goa’uld. The spy probably had picked common terms they could slip into any sentence so they could use them in the open without sounding suspicious. Something to keep in mind.

Sam sighed as she got up and stretched. Anise and Entrapta were sending the commands to disarm the bombs, and Glimmer was both hugging and scolding Bow.

“That was cutting it a bit close, Captain.”

She looked at the Colonel. He was smiling, teasing her. She wanted to hug him. Instead, she nodded with a grin. “That’s how such projects go, sir. There’s always a crunch at the end.”

She couldn’t tell if he got the comment about programming tasks. But his smile turned a little softer. “Good work, Captain!”

“Thank you, sir.”

*****​

Catra let out a relieved sigh - silently; she had a reputation to maintain - and let her tail trail over Adora’s thigh as she turned back to look at the captured spy, who was still on the ground, glaring at her over his gag. Grinning, she crouched down and looked him straight in the eyes. “So… looks like you were clever but not clever enough.”

He made some angry noises through the gag.

“Don’t bother; my friends are thorough - you won’t be able to detonate the bombs now, even if you had a communicator.” Well, between the four of them, they shouldn’t have missed that possibility. She still said it loudly enough, just in case they had missed it and were listening. Well, not Bow - he was too busy dealing with Glimmer trying to kiss and throttle him at the same time.

The spy seemed to agree with her, though, and switched to silently glaring at her.

She sighed again, but theatrically now. “Let me guess - more threats about how your masters will surely crush us, how we are doomed, how the Empire will prevail?” She shook her head. “It won’t happen; trust me - I’ve been there.” And said the same things. “You’ll see.”

“No, they won’t,” one of the Tok’ra guarding the spy - another aide - said.

Catra narrowed her eyes. Did they mean…?

“What?” Adora butted in.

“When we captured Goa’uld, we extract from their host and execute them for their crimes,” Per’sus explained.

“You can’t do that!” Adora blurted out. “They’re a prisoner!”

“They’re Goa’uld!” Per’sus retorted.

“They’re a captured spy.” And O’Neill had decided to stop watching Sam disassemble the communicator and join the discussion. “We shoot spies back home.”

Adora stared at him. “But… they’re a prisoner. They can’t hurt anyone any more.”

“They’re Goa’uld,” Per’sus said. “They need to pay for their crimes.”

“They almost managed to kill us all,” Garshaw spoke up. “And they most certainly killed Cordesh - the Goa’uld murder every Tok’ra they can capture. Usually by torture.”

“It’s a risk every one of us faces,” Jakar added.

Adora stared at them for a moment, looking from one to the other. Then she raised her chin a little, and her expression grew stubborn. “That doesn’t make it right to kill them when they’re a helpless prisoner!”

“We don’t even know if they murdered your spy,” Catra pointed out in support of her lover. “And killing prisoners means you can’t get any information out of them.” Adora pouted at her for that addition, but Catra shrugged - the Tok’ra struck her as pragmatic.

“That would require us to sacrifice a host to them. We won’t do that,” Garshaw said. “And putting them in stasis would not functionally change their fate - without a host, they would remain in stasis forever.”

“You could put them into animals,” Adora suggested.

“Or into a habitat made for the symbionts!” Entrapta added.

That, on the other hand, seemed to shock the Tok’ra. And the spy looked genuinely frightened for the first time since they had captured them, Catra noticed.

“Animals?” Gashaw repeated. “But that would…” She shook her head.

“We’ve encountered a Goa’uld possessing a large predator,” Sam told them.

“But to bond with an animal!” Per’sus blurted out. “That’s… the mental contamination from that - you’d lose your mind!”

“The snake seemed smart enough to give us some trouble,” O’Neill said. “I should know.”

“It’s an abomination!” Salesh stated. “To bond with an animal is a fate worse than death - far worse. We wouldn’t subject even a Goa’uld to that.”

“They must have been utterly desperate - and likely not of sound mind already - to do this.” Per’sus looked like he wanted to spit.

Catra didn’t think this was a good moment to mention that they had been discussing letting the captured Goa’uld possess animal bodies.

“But we could let them into a habitat,” Entrapta said. “We have two captured Goa’uld in such habitats, and they are doing fine.”

“As far as we can tell,” Sam added. “At least they have not complained.”

“You have captured Goa’uld? And you’re holding them in… a habitat?” Garshaw asked.

“Like a fish tank but for snakes,” O’Neill told them.

“Osiris and Setesh. We captured them on Earth,” Daniel said. “They were left there when Ra left.”

“We know of those System Lords,” Garshaw spat. “Even millennia after their disappearance, their crimes are not forgotten!”

Catra managed not to comment about holding long grudges. But it was a near thing, even though she understood the sentiment. But she also knew how bad holding such grudges was for you.

“And you haven’t executed them as spies?” Per’sus asked O’Neill.

“Well, you know…” O’Neill shrugged. “Their circumstances were a little different from theirs.” He nodded at the spy on the ground.

“We recovered Osiris from a stasis jar,” Sam explained. “Although it could be argued that Setesh was infiltrating Earth society when we caught him.”

“You are very soft for someone claiming to wage war against the Goa’uld,” Garshaw said.

“Even if we were willing to kill prisoners, it makes no sense to do it,” Glimmer said. “They can provide valuable information, and if the enemy knows they won’t be killed, they are more likely to surrender.”

“But to put them into a habitat…” Per’sus shook his head. “Like a larva. Without a partner to bond to, to share your thoughts and memories…” He seemed to suppress a shudder.

“They are fed three meals a day and got a warm place to sleep,” O’Neill said.

“And we built them a keyboard - keyboards - to communicate with us!” Entrapta piped up with a smile. “Sized for Goa’uld!”

“It’s still… We need hosts. To live without one is… like living as a cripple.”

“With brain damage,” Anise added.

The Goa’uld suppressed their hosts, as far as Catra knew. But they also got access to their memories. Was that more important than merely a source of information?

“Oh.” Entrapta looked surprised. “But if it’s so bad, why haven’t they said anything?”

“They probably think the alternative is execution,” Catra told her friend.

“Oh.”

Adora nodded. “If that’s how it is, then we need to find a better solution.”

It was clear from the expressions on the Tok’ra what alternative solution they would favour.

Well, good luck trying to convince Adora of that! Catra thought.

*****​

And here he had thought they could get a good cop/bad cop thing going. But it seemed that the good cops, while meaning well, had unknowingly terrified the spy more than the ones wanting to execute him. Jack O’Neill faintly smiled at the irony - and made a mental note of the fact that the spy apparently was more terrified of being put into an animal than of being executed. That was important information. Also important was that the habitats they had built for their prisoners apparently qualified as cruel and unusual punishment. And, of course, that the snakes they had captured hadn’t complained.

But that was for future analysis. They had a more urgent problem to deal with. “How about we discuss what to do with the spy after we’ve interrogated him?” he suggested.

“We need to liberate Finran,” Garshaw said. “He’ll be able to tell us what the spy did while in his body.”

Jack suppressed the urge to say that they shouldn’t discuss this in front of the spy. The snake would already know such obvious information.

“And that would kill the Goa’uld. Eventually,” Catra said. “Unless you’ve got a stasis pod or a habitat.”

“One that we could spare,” Garshaw agreed.

“We can build a habitat!” Entrapta said at once. “I mean… it might not be as nice as I thought it would be - they really should’ve told me that! - but it’s better than being killed, right?”

Jack couldn’t tell if she was honestly asking or if that was a rhetorical question. But she was correct.

“Yes,” Adora said. “We can take them back to Earth and keep them there.”

The snakes didn’t like that - they exchanged a few significant glances. “We need to be able to interrogate them,” Garshaw said. “We’ll be able to see through their lies.”

Implying that Stargate Command wouldn’t. But they were right in that they likely knew more about how the Goa’uld worked - hell, about the Goa’uld, period - that would make it harder for the spy to lie or hide information. “We can interrogate them here,” Jack said. That might ruffle some feathers back home, but fewer than if he had just invited the snakes to set up an interrogation room in Stargate Command. Even though it would have been funny to see how the spooks with their foreign torture chambers would react to aliens pulling their own moves on them.

“As long as Finran doesn’t have to suffer for too much longer,” Per’sus said. He turned to stare at the spy. “It goes without saying that, should Finran die, we will not show you any mercy.”

“And our prospective allies just have shown us that there are indeed worse fates than death,” Malinor added with an expression that made Jack wince a little.

Yeah, those snakes really hated the Goa’uld.

“OK! It shouldn’t take too long - we know how to build one. We probably should build a few more in reserve.” Entrapta nodded. “Or a lot if we are going to invade a planet.”

“But we also need to find a more humane way to keep Goa’uld prisoners,” Glimmer said.

Garshaw smiled sadly at that. “I sincerely hope you find a solution, though we have tried to find alternatives for millennia since there are so few voluntary hosts, and none of the proposed solutions was practicable or morally acceptable.”

“What about artificial bodies?” Entrapta apparently took that as a challenge.

“That wouldn’t satisfy our need for a partner,” Per’sus explained with a gentler smile. “It would be like a more mobile version of your ‘habitats’, I believe.”

“Oh. I guess that means cloned bodies without higher cerebral functions are also out.”

Once more, the Tok’ra shuddered - and the spy looked frightened again.

“That might satisfy some of the biological needs of our species with regards to mental capacity,” Anise said, “but it would leave us bereft of the emotional and intellectual benefits a host offers.”

“It would be like inhabiting a corpse.” Malinor shook her head.

“You need a sapient, sentient partner,” Daniel said, nodding. “But the Goa’uld keep their hosts’ consciousness suppressed, trapped in their own body. Do they have different needs?”

Once more, the Tok’ra exchanged glances before Per’sus replied: “They have perverted this. They thrive on the control, on the oppression of their host. And that reflects on their entire society.”

Daniel’s eyes widened. “That explains so much!” he exclaimed. “If there is a biological urge, beyond genetic memory, then we have to reexamine our views of Goa’uld society!”

“But if it’s a perverted urge, it also means they can change,” Glimmer pointed out.

“Some of us can,” Garshaw agreed. “But few amongst the Goa’uld can overcome their… condition.”

“Or their conditioning,” Daniel said. “If this is like… We need to talk about this with psychologists. It might be treatable.”

He made the snakes sound like a bunch of poor, sick patients. Or addicts. Jack pressed his lips together so he wouldn’t sneer. They were monsters. Monsters who apparently had a choice to be decent people and rejected it. But that was a topic for another day. They had a more urgent situation to deal with. “Anyway, let’s get a habitat so we can start interrogating our spy,” he said.

“And in the meantime, while we restore the transporter, we can continue our discussions,” Garshaw said.

“As long as we can get more food,” Catra cut in. “I, at least, wasn’t finished with my dinner,” she added when Adora frowned at her.

Jack chuckled at that - he could do with some more food himself. Even if it was snake meat.

*****​

The food didn’t taste as good as before. At least to Adora. The thought that they were torturing their prisoners… She shook her head. How could this have happened? Why hadn’t their prisoners said anything? Did they really fear they would be killed if they complained?

She bit down on a piece of fried meat, chewed twice then swallowed it. With some difficulty.

“Careful. You don’t want to choke,” Catra told her - in between stuffing her own mouth with more fried fish than should fit.

Adora frowned at her. “I’m not going to choke.”

“But you’re blaming yourself for the Goa’uld’s problems.” Catra twitched her shoulders in that not-quite-shrug of hers.

“No,” Adora protested. “I’m just… wondering how this could happen.” They had done all they could to treat their prisoners well - or so they thought.

“Because we don’t know as much as we thought we do about the Goa’uld?” Catra shrugged again. “That kind of stuff happens. Nobody’s perfect.”

Adora pressed her lips together. That was true, but… “That sounds a bit callous,” she said.

“Yeah.” Catra agreed. “So?”

“What?”

“We did what we thought was best,” Catra explained. “It turned out we were wrong. Kind of - no one seems to have a better solution, anyway. So… why torture yourself over it?”

“Because we have to do better!” Adora took a deep breath. “We need to fix our mistake.” They couldn’t torture their prisoners.

“If there’s a way to fix it,” her lover said. “You can’t fix everything.” She narrowed her eyes at Adora. “Not even She-Ra can do that.”

Well, she should! But Adora didn’t say that out loud. Her friends would scold her for that. And they were right - she didn’t like it, but she knew she couldn’t solve every problem. She couldn’t heal everyone on Earth. She knew it well enough.

But she hated it all the same.

“And the Tok’ra have been working on this for a long time,” Catra pointed out. “Not to help the Goa’uld, but to get an alternative to needing hosts, but it works out to the same.”

Only, it didn’t work out at all in this case. “There has to be a way to fix this,” Adora said. “Entrapta and the others will find it.”

“They’ve got other things to do. More important things,” Catra retorted.

Adora was aware of that as well. Of course, they couldn’t just focus on how to treat prisoners when they were fighting a war. But… “It would be easier to make the Goa’uld surrender if we had an alternative.” Like with the Horde.

“They would have to believe us in the first place,” Catra said. “Remember what we were told about the princesses?”

Of course, she did! Adora pressed her lips together. The Goa’uld would expect the worst. Not without justification - the Tok’ra apparently had been killing all their prisoners for thousands of years. To free their hosts, and because they had no alternative, apparently, but still.

The war would be worse than they had expected, she realised. Harder. Bloodier.

“We need a way to fix this,” she repeated herself. Some way to show the Goa’uld that there was an alternative to enslaving others.

But as much as she tried, she couldn’t think of any at the moment. She could only hope that their friends would think of one.

*****​