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

[I_S]

A

I agree with Jack about the Etherians being more moral than the governments of the other alliance members.

And the church grows... that's probably good?

Click to shrink...

The defense secretary makes a good point, eventually Etheria will be a minority member of the alliance... unless adora's church turns them into the Space Vatican


I'm begining to think Priest may be a lot more deep as a character than the main cast perceive him to be.

 

[Starfox5]

Chapter 104: Nine Months Later

Above Brussels Spaceport, Zaventem, Belgium, October 25th, 1999

"Alliance-One, this is Brussels Space Traffic Control. Please stay at your assigned position while we clear a route to your destination."

"Brussels Space Traffic Control, copy. Holding." Adora checked their position and that the autopilot was running with the new instructions, then leaned back.

"We should have taken a stealth shuttle directly to Headquarters. We wouldn't have to deal with all the traffic here."

Adora sighed at Catra's complaint. "We can't just interrupt the air and space traffic over Belgium for our convenience."

"Of course, we could! We have the override codes."

"They're meant for an emergency. Not to avoid a bit of a delay." Usually, it took less than ten minutes of waiting before they could continue to the Alliance Headquarters.

"It's a pointless delay. Why are they making us wait? You're the Supreme Commander of the Alliance; you take priority." Catra twisted on the seat next to Adora and put her feet up on the armrest while her tail sneaked around to brush over Adora's arm.

"Brussels is a key part of the shuttle network," Adora replied, grabbing the tip of the tail and pushing it back. She was piloting! "We would disrupt their schedule, causing delays in many, many different flights." Catra knew that - she had been involved in the logistics of the Alliance. But Adora's lover loved to complain over minor things.

Catra perked up with a grin. "That would teach them how to handle delays from battles and attacks! Let's do it and call it training!"

"We're already training for such interruptions in our exercises," Adora reminded her. "We don't need to disrupt actual supply flights for that."

"Most of the flights are just people getting shuttled around," Catra retorted. "I bet our meeting would be much less of a pain if half of the officers didn't make it to it!"

That would be… No! Adora pressed her lips together. It would be irresponsible! "This is an important meeting about the state of readiness of the Alliance forces."

"You've read the same reports I read," Catra retorted. "We already know how ready they are. Hell, we've always known."

Of course, they knew. But this was about doing something to improve the state of readiness of their forces. And it was better to give the necessary orders in person and directly to the people responsible.

She looked at the sensor screen. Dozens of shuttles were launching and landing, with more on the way. Brussels Spaceport - renamed from Brussels Airport months ago; Adora had been at the ceremony - was one of the busiest spaceports. Well, one of the busiest civilian spaceports, even if most of the traffic was Alliance business. The major Alliance bases were far busier.

An alert popped up on the screen. Catra frowned and reached over. "Oh. It's the Fighting Flower."

"HMS Gladiolus," Adora corrected her. The first Earth-built spaceship was currently flying at medium altitude over the Channel. Probably one of the last test flights before her official shakedown cruise.

"That's a stupid name," Catra retorted. "Everyone's calling her the Fighting Flower."

'Everyone' mostly being the British media.

"The Royal Navy named the ship," Adora said. As the lead ship of the Flower II-class of corvettes, she had been named after the first ship of the original Flower-class, or so Adora had been told by Admiral Hood, who had overseen the design from start to finish.

"Should have picked a better name. But I guess they want to save those for bigger ships." Catra shrugged. "Can't really name a ship that's barely bigger than a large transport shuttle 'Warspite' or 'Victory', can you?"

Adora frowned. The class was quite a bit bigger than a shuttle. But it was also much smaller than a Horde frigate. About as large as Darla, actually. It wouldn't do well against a Ha'Tak, but according to their tests, it would do well fighting Al'Keshs and would be able to deal with squadrons of Death Gliders. And that was its intended purpose - escorting larger ships, especially the fleet transports that were being built, and screening capital ships in battles from bombers and fighters.

Before she could say anything, though, the main screen lit up - Brussels space traffic control had sent them their route.

"Finally! Let's go!" Catra grinned and leaned forward.

Adora nodded and took the controls. A moment later, they were on the way to the Alliance Headquarters.

Their usual landing pad, protected by a separate shield generator so landing shuttles wouldn't render the main building defenceless, was free, and Adora put the shuttle down easily. "Don't let them know you flew the shuttle," Catra said as she got up from her seat. "You know how they are about that."

Adora rolled her eyes. Some people thought she was setting a bad example for others - a surprisingly high number of flag officers wanted to qualify for shuttles, they had found out - but she liked flying. And you never knew when you had to pilot a shuttle or ship in battle.

To Adora's happy surprise, they were greeted at the ramp by Jack.

He sketched a salute that had the German officer in charge of the guards at the pad frowning. "Welcome to Brussels, Supreme Commander."

Adora returned the salute. "General."

"Don't remind me!"

Catra snickered at his comment. "If you really want to return to being a lowly Colonel, we can surely find a reason to demote you. I bet a lot of people would be happy, too."

"Yeah, especially the Navy pukes," Jack muttered with a scowl. "How they got to take over our space program after messing up our building program so the limeys beat us…"

As far as Adora knew, confirmed by Sam, the struggle between the Air Force and the Navy had been the main reason for the delays in the American shipbuilding program that saw their project, the Constitution II-class of frigates, fall behind schedule. But mentioning that would only annoy Jack almost as much as...

"Well, we could promote you to Admiral," Catra suggested.

...reminding him that the United States Navy was responsible for their space fleet would.

Adora sighed at her lover while Jack scowled even more. She could only hope the upcoming meeting would go more smoothly.

*****​

Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, October 26th, 1999

"I've sent you the revised blueprints for the turrets a week ago, sir."

"Yes, yes, but there have been a few issues at the yard, resulting in changes to the turret layouts. We need modified blueprints, Major." The officer on her screen smiled apologetically. Or faked it well enough so Samantha Carter couldn't tell if he actually felt sorry or not.

Another change of the specifications! For a ship that was already being built! She clenched her teeth for a moment, swallowing a rather inappropriate comment - at least for a freshly promoted Major addressing a flag-rank officer. As one of the leading scientists of the Alliance, she probably would get away with voicing her frustration with the entire design process, but it would still be unprofessional. "I see," she said in a flat tone.

"Yes. You can get the details from the report I'm mailing you, but it's basically the power lines again."

"That design point was finalised a month ago, sir." After two months of bickering about the specs while the hull had already been laid down and was being built!

"Yes, but the yard noticed a problem with the torpedo launchers."

Sam narrowed her eyes. That shouldn't affect the design of the gun turrets.

"Anyway, you can check the report. It's all in there. We need the revised blueprints as soon as possible." The admiral grimaced. "The Royal Navy launching their spaceship before we do hasn't gone over well with Congress. Or the public. We need to catch up - or beat them with commissioning the first ship."

"The Flower II-class are corvettes, sir," Sam reminded him. "Not frigates." Or a 'heavy frigate', or an 'armed escort carrier' or whatever else the committee responsible for the specifications for the first American spaceship had come up with for a design that was trying to have both the firepower of a Horde frigate and the ability to carry a squadron of starfighters without the necessary size for both. "They are much smaller and, therefore, quicker to build." And to fit out, and to commission.

And the corvette's design hadn't been hindered by the struggle between the Air Force and the Navy over which branch would control the space fleet. Sam still felt angry about all the bickering she had seen. And the petty power plays. How General Naird could have thought that calling in favours in Congress to have the design named 'Constitution II-class' would somehow help to keep the whole thing an Air Force project was still a mystery to her. All it ensured was that the Constitution II-class wouldn't actually include a ship named 'Constitution' since the Navy still had the original sailing frigate named so commissioned.

Not for the first time, she wondered if she should have been more involved with the design. But between her crucial work with Entrapta and her involvement in the joint starfighter project, there simply hadn't been any time for that.

And, a small voice in the back of her head that sounded suspiciously like the Colonel's - the Generals', she reminded herself - she couldn't have let the Air Force down. Not after the Air Force had lost the struggle for control over the fleet and was left with handling all starfighters that weren't based on carriers or space stations.

But perhaps she could have made the ship designers understand that they should have focused on a gun and missile frigate or a light carrier, not a combination of both. The Horde frigates carried fighters, but only a flight of three, and they were crewed by bots, which also did most of the maintenance. Which cut down on crew requirements.

"Anyway, just send us the revised blueprints tomorrow at the latest, alright?"

Sam nodded. "Unless more critical issues crop up, sir." She was doing more important work than trying to fix mistakes other people kept making. At least the fleet transports were coming along on schedule. Mostly.

"Good." The call ended, and the picture faded from view.

Sam sighed and leaned back, closing her eyes for a moment. She really didn't need that. She had so much else to do.

She glanced at her notes. She hadn't been able to work on the alien data cube in months. And she was still behind on the latest spy bot version. And…

An alert on her screen interrupted her thoughts. An incoming call from Entrapta? Sam accepted at once, smiling already.

"Hi, Sam!" Her friend's face appeared on the screen, beaming at her. She was in the research station; Sam could tell from the background.

"Hello, Entrapta."

"You need to head to Etheria immediately!" her friend announced.

It couldn't be an emergency - Entrapta was happy. So… "The synthetic Prim'ta is ready for final testing?" Sam asked. That was a game-changer. They would be able to offer freedom from the Goa'uld to the Jaffa.

"Yes! It's ready for the final testing! So, get Haken and bring him over! I've already called Adora, in case something goes wrong."

Not that anything should go wrong - the preliminary tests were successful, and the projections had been correct so far. But you could never be sure. Sam nodded and called up the forms she had prepared. "I'll be there as soon as I can get Haken."

"Great! Loki's getting a tiny bit impatient, but he'll be happy to hear that!"

Of course, the Asgard was impatient - he expected them to drop everything else and focus on fixing the Asgard's genome as soon as the synthetic Prim'ta checked out.

Of course, that would be preferable to being dragged into yet another design folly, Sam thought as she ended the call and got up.

But before she could get to the door, her phone rang.

Half an hour, and another problem later, she had to cancel her visit to Etheria.

*****​

Bright Moon, Etheria, October 26th, 1999 (Earth Time)

Luna had grown up so much! Catra couldn't help feeling proud of the little kitten. Or not so little kitten any more. She had managed to not only escape their room in the palace again - which was to be expected, of course; you couldn't cage a cat - but she had also managed to strike a blow against the true enemy: paperwork.

"Don't smile at the little monster!"

And she had annoyed Sparkles, which was always a bonus. Catra ignored the huffing and took Luna from Glimmer's hands. "There you are! Did you have a good hunt?" she asked as she held her up.

Luna started to wriggle in her hands, squirming until she could climb over Catra's arms to her shoulders.

"She destroyed the latest training reports from our forces!" Glimmer said with a frown. "Shredded them all over my office."

"So? You've got them on your tablet. Just print them out again if you don't want to read them on the screen," Catra dismissed the complaint while scratching Luna's head. She would have expected Bow's lover to be more comfortable with technology, anyway. "Besides, it's not going to be anything we don't know already: The units we formed from veterans of the Horde war are ready. And the rest aren't."

Glimmer's frown deepened. "There are still the problems between the former Horde and veteran Princess Alliance soldiers to be addressed."

Catra shrugged, suppressing the slight pang of guilt she felt. "Send them against the Goa'uld. Nothing makes soldiers bond faster than a baptism of fire." As long as they won the battle, of course, or they would blame each other, but since the Goa'uld still hadn't realised that Earth had formed an alliance with Etheria, Catra doubted they would lose the next battle. They had surprise, could pick their target and mass overwhelming forces. If they lost despite those advantages, well… they would have more important problems to deal with than some bad blood within the Princess Alliance.

"That would require us to actually go on the offensive," Glimmer retorted. "And stop dithering around."

Ah, Sparkles was still a firebrand. Catra shrugged. "Tell it to the Tok'ra." Their spies were working on finding the most vulnerable target. Or so they claimed. They had been working on that for months now. They probably had some trouble adjusting to the fact that they weren't limited to operating in the shadows any more.

Glimmer scoffed. "If they shared their data, we could have our own analysts working on that."

But that would put the Tok'ra's spies at risk if anything leaked. It wasn't a concern right now, but once the war picked up steam… Catra shrugged again, wincing a little when Luna's claws dug into her upper arm as the kitten reacted to the movement. "Careful! My fur's not as tough as my uniform!"

Luna ignored her and started to climb down her back before jumping off and dashing towards her favourite nap spot. Well, her third-favourite nap spot after Catra and Adora's laps.

Girl had good taste.

"When will Adora be back?" Glimmer asked, changing the topic.

"When we know if the synthetic snake works and Adora can stop travelling to Earth every day to heal Jaffa," Catra replied. "I don't know how long that will take." It also was another obstacle to going on the offensive. Adora couldn't really lead a campaign on another planet across the sector if she had to heal Jaffa prisoners every day. Well, she could, but that would mean letting prisoners die, and Adora would never do that. And letting someone else lead the offensive… well, who else could do it? Glimmer, maybe, but she wasn't as good at it as Adora. Hordak would be able to, but that would cause problems with the Etherians. And his personality wouldn't go over well with the Tau'ri. Netossa was smart enough, but she lacked the experience. And the same went for the Earth officers.

And, she couldn't help thinking, I could do it. If I hadn't been responsible for the Horde almost conquering Etheria and causing so much pain and misery to everyone…

"Anyway, what's new from our favourite thorn in our side?" she asked to change the subject.

"Queen Bee or her visitors?" Glimmer shot back.

"Both," Catra replied.

"We don't know the exact details. But the talks seem to have hit an obstacle," Glimmer said. "At least according to our sources."

Which were rather limited. If only they could trust Double-Trouble… But you couldn't trust that drama queen, as the Americans would call them. "So, still no Chinese or Russian invasion. Pity - that would be a good training exercise." Catra grinned.

"Don't joke about invasions," Glimmer objected.

"Why not?" Catra doubted that anything would come of the talks, anyway. Queen Bee wouldn't risk upsetting most of her fickle allies by allowing the 'princess murderers' into her kingdom. Even though the Russian princesses hadn't had any magic powers and hadn't protected their people, it struck a chord with Etherians. Especially after the Horde War. Releasing the information about the Russian Revolution had been a good idea.

Glimmer scoffed instead of answering. "They're still going to open trade relations; we're sure of that. And the rest of Earth is pushing for tourism."

"They should worry about fixing their economy," Catra retorted. She wasn't an expert, far from it, but she had read about the situation, and while none of the experts agreed with each other about everything, especially whether or not the 'bubble', as they called it, from the build-up for the war was a good thing in the long run, all were agreeing that Earth's economy was facing trouble.

Glimmer shrugged. "I don't think that the people who want to visit Etheria from Earth in the middle of a war have the right priorities."

"Yeah."

*****​

Alliance Base Lübtheen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, October 26th, 1999

"...and that's the typical community formed by the human slaves of the Goa'uld. However, as I said before, this is just a general model; actual societies will vary greatly depending on the individual Goa'uld and even on individual planets. Any concrete interaction with them will have to be based on detailed information gathered on location. Although there are similarities, especially with regard to religion. Are there any questions?"

It was a good thing, Jack O'Neill thought as he watched Daniel's lesson from the back of the classroom, that the Hollywood cliches were wrong about special forces. His friend's lecture would have been fit for a university course. At least in his opinion. But, as with Stargate Command, the Alliance got the cream of the crop for their special forces, so the soldiers present, all of them officers, would have been able to follow the lesson. Or should have.

One, a British officer, Lieutenant Clarke, raised his hand. "So, we are supposed to observe any community covertly before making contact?"

"Ideally, yes." Daniel smiled. "Although sometimes, that isn't possible. Or there's an emergency that forces us to make contact. We've had a few of those in the past."

Clarke didn't seem to be convinced. "You stressed that honesty and trust were crucial for opening good relations with such societies. Observing them from hiding doesn't seem to be conducive to either."

Daniel sighed. "Yes. But some of those societies are, well, thoroughly indoctrinated, and they might react violently to us contacting them. It is essential to spot such dangers beforehand. Fortunately, just knowing which god they worship usually provides us with enough information to recognise such dangers."

Usually.

"And your lecture will teach us how to spot such dangers?" The slight French accent of the next officer, Capitain Colbert, didn't hide his scepticism.

"That's the goal, yes." Daniel nodded. "Of course, we can't cover everything a university course would, but we'll cover all known Goa'uld gods."

"False gods," Lieutenant Mills, former Green Beret, muttered.

Daniel frowned at the comment. "Yes, we call them false gods. But remember: These people have been raised to worship their Goa'uld overlords as gods. This is a core part of their identity. If you think you'll be able to convince them that their religion is built on lies and that they are exploited by false gods with a few speeches, you would be mistaken."

Colbert snorted. "If that worked, the Vatican would be a museum."

Half the room snickered, though several of the officers present looked annoyed or even offended. Jack frowned and memorised their names. If they took offence at such comments, they might not have the right mindset to deal with people who honestly worshipped pagan gods. Or, he added with a silent snort, work with clones who worshipped She-Ra.

Daniel, though, nodded. "That's a very good example, actually. Don't think of those people as the victims of a scam who only need to be told the truth to accept it. Think of them as deeply devout Christians or Muslims. They will not convert easily - or at all - no matter how good you think your arguments are."

"But they're worshipping snakes! Parasites!" Mills protested. "We can prove that - we can show them their gods are fake!"

Jack added his name to his list.

"Are they?" Daniel cocked his head and looked at Mills. "What's your definition of a god, Lieutenant?"

Mills opened his mouth, then closed it. "I know what's not a god," he said. "And a Goa'uld isn't a god."

Daniel nodded. "Those people have a different view. Yes, they are slaves, toiling in often cruel conditions for their overlords, but many, if not most of them, have seen their gods, and seen them demonstrate what they consider divine powers. If they worship a smart Goa'uld, they have even seen people getting healed by their 'gods' or receiving 'blessings' and gifts. And they haven't heard of any alternatives - sometimes, they don't even know there are other Goa'uld, though that's rarer. In order to subvert them, you will have to move very carefully and find those of them open to turn against their gods. Those willing to blame their gods for their suffering. Those who have lost family or lovers to the whims of their overlords, those who won't simply accept the gods' words as true but question them." He sighed. "And for that, the Goa'uld's cruelty works for us. There are many people ruled by them who will accept an alternative to living under a cruel god."

Most of the officers nodded, Jack noted.

"But there are also many who will cling to their faith no matter how much they suffer under the Goa'uld. They think they will be rewarded in the afterlife for it. Those people will attack you in order to prove their loyalty and faith - or they'll try to trick and betray you. Never forget that you are trying to turn people against who they think is their god and has power over their very souls."

"Well, no one ever said our mission would be easy," Burke commented with a shrug.

Most of the room nodded along.

Jack recognised the bravado. He'd say the same in Burke's place. And had done so, back when he was doing similar missions behind the enemy lines, sometimes literally. Burke was a veteran. And he had fought zombies. He could back that attitude up. Few of the others had experience with aliens or magic. But they were veterans as well, Jack reminded himself.

And they were his responsibility. He was in charge of the entire Alliance Special Operations Command. As a brigadier-general. If not for Adora and Glimmer making it absolutely clear to the brass that this wouldn't bar Jack from the field, he would have refused. Probably - the thought of the same people who sent him on missions back in the Cold War now being in charge of those soldiers here made him ill.

Which was why he had called on Daniel to give this lecture instead of wasting his time with academics. He wouldn't send his people out into the galaxy unless they had the best gear and training for their job. It wasn't Stargate Command, but that was no reason to have laxer standards.

*****​

"This felt like my first time in front of students as an assistant back at university," Daniel said once the soldiers had filed out and Jack O'Neill had joined him at the front - after making another note of who had been startled by his presence; soldiers in this business needed to be aware of their surroundings at all times.

"Oh?" Jack tilted his head to the side. "I would have thought this bunch was more disciplined."

"What? Yes, they were, but what I meant was having you watching from the back, like my professor then."

"Ah." Jack grinned. "Well, I had to ensure you wouldn't scare them off."

Daniel snorted. "Every anecdote from our missions I told them just made them more eager."

"That's because they thought you were exaggerating."

His friend blinked. "What?"

Jack shrugged. "You're an academic. A civilian." Technically - Daniel had more combat experience than most of the soldiers in the Alliance. "They're the big bad special forces. The best of the best of the best," he added in a fake imitation of a gung-ho drill sergeant. "Of course, what you think is scary couldn't be really scary."

"I didn't say it was scary!" Daniel protested.

"That's even worse. What doesn't scare the bookworm polishing his glasses while lecturing them can't possibly scare them, can it? It's the same with Jaffa; until Teal'c personally demonstrates just what he can do, the soldiers still think this is going to be a reenactment of Zulu, with them as the British soldiers."

"That should make them more cautious. The British forces were defeated decisively at the Battle of Isandlwana," Daniel said with a slight pout.

Jack laughed. "They're thinking of Rorke's Drift and the movie. Anyway. Thank you for doing this. And not, you know, holing up in an ivory tower and rewriting every book about ancient history. Or taking over Harward or something." He wasn't a scientist, but he had been keeping an eye on the various attempts to poach Daniel. Some deans were playing downright dirty. Of course, Jack knew that as long as Sha're was still in the hands of the Goa'uld, his friend wouldn't even think of leaving for the university circuit, but still…

Daniel chuckled. "I've already sent the papers I wrote during our time at Stargate Command to get published. If I want to write a book, I can base it on that. Though I guess some of my esteemed colleagues will try to beat me to the punch, probably using my material. But none of them have my first-hand experience. They might still spot something I've missed, of course, as they go over all the exhibits and samples in their collections and reexamine them in light of their new knowledge. We've been focusing on Egypt, but the Babylonian connection seems promising as well, given what we know about the Goa'uld."

Once they hit Babylonia, it was high time to change the subject. Jack nodded. "Yeah, sure. And speaking of Babylonia, did you have time to go over the list of linguists I've mailed you?"

"I did, but I am not really the best person to judge their ability to go on field missions," Daniel said. "All of them should be skilled enough to handle the linguist work, though."

"And that's all I need. I've got people sorting out the rest," Jack said. As a general, he had a lot of people for everything, but some things Jack couldn't leave to anyone but those he'd trust with his life. "And what's your impression of your temporary students here?"

"Do you mean academically?" Daniel asked.

"I mean whatever comes to mind."

"Ah. Well, they grasped the core concept, but I can't tell yet if they'll apply it."

Jack nodded. They'd better, or they'd be sorry. Or dead. If they were lucky.

"They understood what I was telling them, but…" Daniel winced a little.

"Yes?" Jack tilted his head at him.

"Some might not have the attitude to work with people who have been worshipping the Goa'uld for all their lives," Daniel said. "I mean, they aren't nearly as bad as the missionaries we had to deal with, of course. Just..." He shrugged. "A bit too sure of their own beliefs."

"I noticed," Jack said. "I'll look into it." Fortunately, he only had to deal with special forces. He didn't envy the poor bastards in Alliance High Command who had to deal with the whole mess. Proselytising wasn't allowed, but as Priest had pointed out, they couldn't prohibit soldiers from talking about their beliefs if asked. Not if they wanted to deal honestly with the liberated slaves and aliens.

He checked his watch. "So, we've got twenty minutes before your course on alien cultures. Want to get some coffee? We can call Teal'c as well."

Daniel nodded. "As long as we go to the canteen and not to your office."

"My coffee maker is great," Jack protested. He had gone to some lengths to have the coffee maker from Stargate Command get officially 'lost in transit' during the move to the new gate location. "You never complained back in the Mountain."

"Jack! We're in Europe! They've got real coffee here!"

"We're in Germany. That's beer country, not coffee country."

"We've got French and Italian forces training here," Daniel shot back. "And they'd mutiny if they had to deal with your coffee."

"Hey! At least my coffee doesn't cost more than a Happy Meal," Jack shot back.

"And that's how it tastes." Daniel grinned and turned to leave the room before Jack could think of a good comeback.

Well, he'd get even later.

*****​

Research Station Alpha, The First Moon of Enchantment, October 26th, 1999 (Earth Time)

"...and now we'll see if it works or not!"

"It will work - our projections are flawless and have been verified through testing. We are merely awaiting confirmation of our results."

"That's what I said, Loki! You can't be sure until you test it!"

"If your research is sound - and ours is - and your calculations are correct - and mine are - then you already know the outcome of an experiment. This is just to reassure those who lack the knowledge and intellect to understand science."

"Models and projections are not a replacement for testing and experiments. Any true scientist would know that."

"That seems a little harsh, Hordak. Dependable models can and should save time and effort, speeding up any research project. We would never have advanced as far as we did if we had tested everything with experiments."

They hadn't tested everything? Adora winced at Morrison's comment. She wasn't an expert - though she wasn't an idiot either! - but when it came to genetic engineering, everything should be tested thoroughly before you experimented on people. You shouldn't experiment on people, period, she corrected herself. "You didn't test everything?" she asked, glancing at Haken, who was in a tube getting scanned. Maybe she should summon her sword in case he required emergency healing…

"We did test every big step, just not every little step or toe-tip," Entrapta replied. "So, this is as safe as it can be before live testing! Which we are doing now!"

"Though I have to point out that not using multiple test subjects, including a control group, is less than ideal." Alpha had appeared next to them.

"We already know what happens if a Jaffa doesn't have a Prim'ta," Hordak said. "They die."

"Was that tested? Or merely modelled?" Loki cocked his head.

That sounded like a snide comment… Yes, everyone else was frowning, pouting, glaring or sighing at Loki, Adora saw.

"Loki! We already have experimental data showing what happens to Jaffa without a Prim'ta!" Entrapta scolded him. "They lose their immune system. Haken is proof of that."

"And we are sure that, unless stopped by outside intervention, this will lead to his death. Just as we know that this synthetic replacement will work." Loki lifted his chin.

"We'll see!" Hordak spat. He seemed annoyed enough to hope it wouldn't work, in Adora's opinion.

She looked at Mermista, who was sitting at a table in the back, either doing paperwork or watching something on her tablet - she was wearing the headphones Bow had designed. Probably an Earth TV show, the way she snickered and didn't pay attention to the discussion in front of her.

Well, one way to find out.

Adora left the scientists bickering and walked over to her friend. Who was, as she could see with a glance, watching an Earth show Adora didn't know. Probably a crime show, based on her friend's tastes. "Mermista?"

"Huh?" Mermista blinked, then quickly paused the show and turned to face Adora. "Yes? Do you need to go to the bathroom and need me to watch the gang again?"

"What? No!" Adora shook her head. "I was just wondering…" She leaned over and lowered her voice. "Are they always like that?"

"Hm?" Mermista glanced at the others, then nodded. "Ugh, yes."

Adora winced. Maybe she should have done some shifts as their supervisor herself, but she had been so busy leading the Alliance…

"Is that all?" Mermista asked.

Adora frowned. "Is something wrong?"

"No, I just want to finish this episode before you finish your tests."

"Ah, OK." Adora nodded.

Mermista was back to watching her show before Adora had turned away.

Maybe we should have been a bit more cautious with importing Earth media, Adora thought. Though that wouldn't have stopped Mermista, of course - as a princess, she had access to Earth media anyway. And Bow wouldn't have kept his 'emulator' that allowed tablets to show Earth shows secret, either. Maybe…

"OK, here comes the data!" Entrapta interrupted her thoughts. "And it looks good! No sign of any diseases taking hold."

That was good! Adora smiled. This was working, then! Haken's life wouldn't depend on her any more!

"Alright. Standing by for stress testing. First sample: Various bacteria," Hordak announced.

Stress testing? Adora blinked.

"Hit him!" Entrapta beamed and turned to Adora. "Oh, better keep ready, in case we overestimated Jaffa resilience. Even with a working immune system, some of the stress tests might overwhelm him."

"What?"

"They won't," Loki snapped. "Our models are correct."

"What are you doing?" Adora asked.

"Exposing him to various pathogens so we can see how his immune system reacts," Entrapta explained. "Basically, all the most common pathogens we know!"

"Ah…"

Adora hastily summoned her sword. Thorough testing also had some drawbacks, it seemed.

*****​

Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, October 26th, 1999

"...and all the data checked out, as you'd say: The Synthetic Symbiote is a success!" Entrapta beamed from where she sat on Samantha Carter's desk, hair tendrils rearranging a few files and one sample from an asteroid that might be a good source of rare ore while she kicked the air with her feet. "Haken showed no degradation of his immune response at all. Adora didn't even have to heal him when we used viruses that would overwhelm human immune systems. We didn't test biological weapons, though."

Sam froze for a moment. That was… Priorities, she reminded herself. "Did Alpha suggest that?" It would fit the artificial intelligence.

"Yes." Entrapta nodded. "She argued that with Adora there, they could get data on how the Jaffa would react to various agents without significant risks of an outbreak."

Of course, Alpha would! Sam pressed her lips together. "Did Loki support this?"

"Well… he didn't say so, but he had a lot of questions about which agents should be used. And he didn't press us to go straight to researching the cure for his species, so… yes? Maybe?"

Definitely, Sam mentally corrected her friend. Well, as long as none went along with Alpha's suggestions… "So, the synthetic symbiont does fully replace the Prim'ta."

"Yes! The Jaffa won't need to use Goa'uld children for their immune systems any more!"

That was a very Entrapta take on the way the Goa'uld ensured loyalty from their Jaffa. Or a very Etherian one. "I see."

"So, we've started production on the symbionts. And now that we know it works on Jaffa, we can start testing them on humans."

Sam suppressed a wince. She knew that this would be coming. Morrison had talked about it several times during the research. Goa'uld enhanced the immune system of their hosts - among other improvements. A synthetic symbiont that replaced the immune system of a Jaffa might also enhance a human's immune system. They had focused on replacing the Prim'tas, but with that problem solved, the next step was obvious.

And it was also almost certain that they would succeed. Jaffa were an off-shot of humans, genetically altered to serve the Goa'uld as warriors. But they weren't too far removed - it was questionable if they were a different species or a subspecies. And the Goa'uld themselves were able to adapt to a wide range of hosts.

And that raised a lot of rather difficult ethical questions. "Before we start human testing, I think we need to discuss this with our friends."

"Right. Adora said so as well. Kinda." Entrapta nodded. "We have to be sure it won't harm people."

That was only part of the problem. "There's also the question about the consequences of such symbionts working on humans," Sam said.

"Huh?"

"Enhancing humans is a delicate issue." And that was putting it mildly.

"Why? It's a straight improvement! If the synthetic symbiont can be adapted - and that should be easy according to our projections - then it will make people much healthier! It can defeat most diseases without any magical healing needed. Or any medical treatment. People won't get sick in the first place and with a symbiont, they will heal up much faster after accidents," Entrapta said. "Your healthcare system will be able to save a ton of money!"

Which meant a lot of people would be out of work as well. On the other hand, they would need every doctor and nurse they could get for the war. "The thought of implanting a symbiont into your body might not appeal to everyone." Sam shuddered at the thought herself, remembering Jolinar.

"But why? It's so beneficial! And much cheaper than most of your medical procedures - we checked!" Entrapta shook her head. "That makes no sense."

"People aren't always logical," Sam told her friend. Not even Sam herself.

"Well, they don't have to get a symbiont, then. Although, that means they will require more expensive treatment when they get sick or have an accident. Or they get wounded in the war. That's not really fair either, is it?"

Sam slowly nodded. It wasn't fair. But neither was forcing people to get a symbiont. And she knew the pressure to get one would be great. Especially in the United States with its sham of a public healthcare system. But many people wouldn't want an alien symbiont. Certainly not one based on the Goa'uld.

And almost every medical corporation would fight against this. Not because of the ethical questions, of course, but because most of their research would be obsolete if symbionts were widely accepted and available. They had already made rumblings about magical healing before they had realised that healers required extensive training - more than doctors - to be effective. This would be magnitudes worse and threaten to bankrupt them all. They would fight this tooth and nail. Even though such symbionts would be able to save many people modern medicine couldn't save. So, desperate people would fight to get such symbionts, especially if why couldn't get magical healing.

And as the Alliance's chief scientific officer who had been involved with this research practically from the start, Sam would be in the middle of this mess.

She almost wished for a crisis to give her an excuse to avoid this.

*****​

 

[Starfox5]

I agree with Jack about the Etherians being more moral than the governments of the other alliance members.

And the church grows... that's probably good?

Click to shrink...

Priest: Yes.
Adora: No.

A
The defense secretary makes a good point, eventually Etheria will be a minority member of the alliance... unless adora's church turns them into the Space Vatican

Click to shrink...

Even then, they'd be a minority member.

A
I'm begining to think Priest may be a lot more deep as a character than the main cast perceive him to be.

Click to shrink...

He's certainly smarter than some think he is.

 

[Transreal Clouden]

Ah yes the augment dilemma. It'll be interesting to see how you handle it.

 

[I_S]

Isn't there a cannon sg1 plotline where Sam's dad gets sick and ends up as a tokra host?

I imagine artificial symbiotes will have very far reaching consequences for tokra recruitment ...

 

[Starfox5]

Chapter 105: The Symbionts Part 1

Bright Moon, Etheria, October 28th, 1999 (Earth Time)

"...and that's it. The synthetic symbiont should be a straight enhancement to people's immune systems. Once we have tested it, of course - but we have designed it, and we don't expect too many problems. It will be a great boon to healthcare, both on Etheria and on Earth, I think!"

Catra suppressed a wince at Entrapta's enthusiastic presentation. Adora had told her about this, so she wasn't surprised.

Unlike some of the others in the meeting room.

"You want to put those snakes into us?" Spinnerella looked shocked..

"Well, yes?" Entrapta cocked her head. "They're perfectly safe. Or will be when we finish testing them. We don't know yet if we need to make some adjustments and modifications."

"You made artificial Goa'uld?" Frosta asked with wide eyes.

"Not really? Well, we used Goa'uld DNA as a base - we had to, well, we could have chosen not to, but since the Jaffa were altered to require Goa'uld larvae for their immune system once they reach puberty, replacing the Prim'ta was far quicker and easier than trying to reverse the genetic alterations done to the Jaffa. Which would actually be a better solution, removing the need for a symbiont altogether, but I was told that this would also kinda change their species, so we shouldn't do that until they ask for it. It's still the obvious solution, so I think they'll see that. Anyway, we could have used something else as a base, but that would have been just extra steps we'd have to do. It's not as if we altered a Goa'uld, anyway - we just took key gene sequences from them and added them to the DNA of an artificially created species. That way, we didn't experiment on people!" Entrapta beamed.

Unfortunately, the rest of the princesses didn't seem to appreciate her reasoning.

"It's…" Spinnerella shook her head. "I don't want a snake inside me. Synthetic or not." Netossa held her hand, Catra saw.

"I don't want one inside me, either," Mermista said with a scowl.

"But why not? You'd never be sick again. Well, not unless you were targeted with a biological weapon, and even in that case, your odds of surviving it would be much better with a symbiont," Entrapta replied.

"We have healers for that," Mermista shot back.

"But they can't cover everyone," Entrapta pointed out. "Not even Adora can heal everyone."

Catra nodded. Though the idiot certainly would try if she let her.

"But this symbiont can be grown in large numbers - we have to, since there are millions, probably billions of Jaffa who need one - and then distributed, saving countless people!" Entrapta beamed at the others.

"Good for them. I'll stick with a healer," Frosta said.

Entrapta frowned and tilted her head to the side. "That sounds a bit selfish, I think."

"So? Better be a bit selfish than have a snake wrapped around your spine." Frosta snorted.

"It would actually sit next to - or in - your liver," Entrapta said. "At least in humans, since they don't have a pouch for the Prim'ta. It would also work at the spine, but it's easier to implant it in the liver, and it has an easier time dealing with blood-based illnesses."

"And it's safe?" Scorpia asked.

"We won't distribute it until we're completely sure it's perfectly safe!" Entrapta smiled at her.

Scorpia glanced at Perfuma. The princess slowly nodded. "Well, many creatures live in a symbiotic relationship with others. Plants and animals alike."

"Yes!" Entrapta nodded emphatically. "All of us have symbiotic organisms in our bodies."

"What?" Frosta blurted out. She wasn't the only one looking a bit queasy, Catra noted.

"Yes. Our gut microbiota. Or gut flora," Entrapta explained. "Bacteria, archaea, fungi and viruses that live in the digestive tract of our bodies. We have tons of them! It's perfectly natural."

"There's nothing natural about an artificial snake in our guts!" Mermista snapped.

"It does sound rather… artificial," Micah added with a wince.

"It's a synthetic life form," Entrapta told him. "But that's not really different from us - we were artificially created as well. Most of us, at least. Though, technically, our ancestors were artificially created and then reproduced naturally. Still, the origin is the same."

"That's… not the point," Glimmer, who had been oddly silent until now, said. "The idea of, ah, inserting a symbiont into your body is not as easy to accept as you think it is."

"But why? It has so many benefits and no drawbacks! There's absolutely no reason not to get a symbiont - once we have adapted and tested it, of course!" Entrapta said. "You'll live longer and better, too."

"What?" Catra hadn't heard about that.

"It prolongs your life?"

"Well, since you're not going to be sick any more, you'll have much fewer health issues," Entrapta explained. "But since a Goa'uld host lives much longer than their average species, we expect that the symbiont will have a similar, though probably lesser, effect. Although we're optimistic that we can duplicate the full effect with a bit of work. Jaffa also live longer than humans, despite being so similar to their parent species, so that's another data point in favour of that theory."

Catra looked around in the sudden silence.

"I still don't want a snake inside me," Frosta muttered with a scowl.

But the others were rethinking the whole thing. Catra could tell.

It was one thing not to get sick anymore. With Adora around, none of them would have to worry about that. But to live longer? Maybe double your average lifespan?

This changed things.

And she couldn't help but wonder how this would be received on Earth.

They would have to be careful when telling the others the news.

*****​

Alliance Base Lübtheen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, October 29th, 1999

"Los! Los! Das geht schneller! Los! Gleich kracht es hier!"

Jack O'Neill glanced at a platoon of German infantry rushing into a mock-up of a landing shuttle as he walked towards his office. Their training instructor was screaming himself hoarse as the soldiers simulated an emergency embarking.

"Meier! Sie sind auf eine Mine getreten! Ihr Bein ist weg und sie bluten!"

One of the soldiers stopped and dropped to the ground, screaming and holding his perfectly fine leg as he simulated an injury as ordered. Quite convincingly, even.

That soldier has a future in acting, Jack thought as two others grabbed the man and dragged him inside the mock-up, with a third grabbing the soldier's rifle. An HK G36, Jack noted, remembering the short-lived campaign by various corporations and politicians to standardise the small arms of the Alliance. It had been quietly buried by the treasuries when someone had run the numbers for replacing every existing assault rifle in NATO's arsenal. They were already spending enough to get everyone armour-piercing ammunition - which was standardised.

He grinned as he walked past the mock-up. Last he heard, Colt, Heckler&Koch etc. were now lobbying the Etherians, trying to sell them their rifles. Better them than I, he thought.

Alliance Special Operations Command had more leeway, anyway - they could pretty much use what small arms they wanted. Especially with so many different countries to pick gear from. Jack was still partial to the M4 carbine, but if one of his soldiers wanted to lug around a G3 or FAL, that was no skin of his butt. They just couldn't complain about the weight, of course. It wasn't as if he could order them to use standardised weapons, not with some of the Etherian soldiers in his command carrying bows and arrows! Granted, they were mostly shooting trick and magic arrows, but Jack still made sure they were trained on firearms as well.

To think they had fought tanks and spaceships with that! Jack could only hope the rest of his soldiers didn't get any weird ideas. Bow - or Glimmer - had been clear that they couldn't supply everyone with such arrows.

Jack nodded at the two guards at the gate to his own little corner of the main Alliance base on Earth. "Campbell. Isa."

Both saluted - one in the British style, the other in Etherian - Scorpion Kingdom - style. Some of Jack's old drill instructors would have coronaries seeing that. Well, most of them would have lost their temper seeing women in combat, much less special forces. At least until they'd have seen Isa carrying a heavy blaster - like an M2 machine gun - as her personal weapon. Or picking up a Humvee and carrying it into a landing shuttle.

Finding a uniform in her size had been nigh impossible, of course, but the quartermaster had managed after Jack had insisted. Everyone wearing the same uniform was important - it was difficult enough to mould all those different people into a unit. They still weren't quite there yet, Jack knew. That would only happen once they had fought together. But they were as ready as they could be.

He entered his office. "Morning, Brown."

"Good morning, sir!" His aide looked up, nodded briefly, and went back to sorting through reports and other paperwork.

Jack had an aide now. That took some getting used to. "Anything urgent?" he asked as he grabbed his mail.

"No, sir." Brown paused. "Another request for the stealth shuttle from General Naird, sir."

Jack groaned.

"I've sent him the usual reply, sir."

"Good!" Some day, Naird would have to accept that it was Jack's personal shuttle. Personally gifted to him by Her Royal Highness Princess Entrapta of Dryl. Technically, it was on loan to the Alliance by Jack.

Naird knew that but still tried his 'the Air Force is in command of all space-going vessels stationed on a planet' routine. The man was just jealous that Jack had a personal stealth shuttle, and he didn't even have a normal shuttle and had to make do with borrowing one from the Air Force's roster when he wanted to take a trip.

He nodded at Brown again and stepped into his office. The coffee maker - which made perfectly fine coffee no matter what Daniel claimed - was already running. Brown knew Jack's routine by now. He was no Carter - or Daniel - but he'd do as an aide.

Jack filled a cup and switched his computer on. While the machine started up, he took a sip and used the remote to quickly check CNN on the TV in the corner. As a general, he had to stay informed, after all. And no one could tell him off, anyway.

"...and the United Nations Commission on Human Rights was, once again, harshly criticised by several member states for its allegedly - I quote - 'blatant bias against any country that isn't under control by aliens'. These accusations follow in the wake of the commission's latest report about human rights violations in China's western provinces. China's government has refuted the report in its entirety, claiming it was a fabrication for political gains, and announced that it would veto any motion based on the report. This despite the commission's report also claiming that China had taken steps to improve its prisons and judicial systems, allegedly in response to the Etherian Intervention in Iran. The Chinese government didn't comment on the situation in North Korea, and…"

Jack finished his coffee and sighed. Nothing new on that front. He hoped it stayed that way. If North Korea destabilised, things would get messy. And Taiwan's attempts to get into the Alliance weren't helping either. Explaining that mess to the Etherians must have driven a few members of the state department into early retirement.

Well, neither was his problem. His problem was getting his troops ready for the coming offensive. No matter what planet they would strike, Jack was sure that his soldiers would be the first to fight.

Or at least the second, right after the princesses.

*****​

Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, October 30th, 1999

"...and so, to make asteroid mining cost-effective would require more dedicated spacecraft, mainly for transport, and trained personnel and special gear to do the actual extraction. Even so, it would only be competitive for rare earths unless and until orbital infrastructure to handle large-scale mining is being built, coupled with transportation that can ferry entire asteroids to said infrastructure." The scientist doing the presentation - Dr Wallander - nodded as he finished his exposition.

Before Adora could even thank the man, the American Secretary of Defense spoke up: "Pushing entire asteroids towards Earth? One mistake, and we're done for!"

Wallander shook his head. "The orbital guard flotilla can handle even a large asteroid. With the distances involved, any failure to decelerate that would put Earth at risk would be obvious long before it gets close to Earth. In extremis, a single frigate can break up any asteroid into pieces small enough to burn up on atmospheric entry."

"Do you know how many voters will think of Armageddon when they hear 'asteroids flying towards Earth'?"

Wallander frowned. "Do you mean the movie? That was very inaccurate, from a scientific point of view, and…"

"Scientific accuracy doesn't mean anything to the voters!" the American snapped.

"And that's your problem," Catra muttered next to Adora.

Adora cleared her throat. "We're not here to discuss American elections." They were more than a year away, anyway. "We're here to discuss how to ensure that the Alliance will continue to be supplied with the raw materials we need for our military production. Asteroid mining is a possible solution."

"We can cover the needs with existing production on Earth," the German Verteidigungsminister cut in.

"So far," his British counterpart retorted. "As we ramp up production, we'll run into shortages."

"And mining puts a terrible burden on nature," Perfuma cut in. "It threatens to contaminate your supply of food and water."

That was exaggerated, as far as Adora knew. At least in Europe. But it was a concern that couldn't be ignored.

"And we have to consider the future - no ore deposit will last forever, and creating an entire fleet of spaceships takes a lot of resources." The British Minister nodded.

"And using space mining will see some return of investment for our space infrastructure," the French Minister added.

"Making our orbital defence stations dual-use will mean they're still legitimate military targets," the German objected.

"The Goa'uld don't care about your laws of war." Catra rolled her eyes. "Besides, we already have asteroid mining facilities for the spy bot network."

"Not in the Solar System," Dr Wallander said. "And automated systems are not flexible enough to mine efficiently as demand changes. They work for your automated drone production facilities, but that's not an option for us here."

It wouldn't be diplomatic to mention that they had moved the spy bot factories to nearby systems to avoid complaints about 'stealing the Solar System's resources' and 'exploitation in the tradition of colonialism' from the United Nations. Even though they were doing this to protect Earth. So Adora nodded. "Make a study about the projected costs for either solution and how long it would take to implement either." They could decide which variant to implement, if any, when they had that information. "And since we're talking about space infrastructure, what's the status of the fleet transports?" She looked at Catra.

Her lover rolled her eyes again; they had gone over this before the meeting, but appearances and forms had to be kept, like at a Princess Prom. "They're on schedule. And the first block should be entering service in a few weeks, depending on how their shakedown cruises go. In an emergency, we could already call upon them."

"They're ahead of our own projects," the Norwegian Minister commented.

The American Secretary of Defense bristled at that. "You can't compare transports being built in automated factories using existing designs with creating an entire industry to build warships from scratch!"

It would be very undiplomatic to mention that just using Horde frigates would have worked as well - that was what the Princess Alliance was doing, after all. Etheria's Home Fleet - or Fourth Fleet, depending on who you asked - was using frigates built by Second Fleet's supply train but crewed by Etherians who were being trained by clones. Not even Salineas's shipyards were switching to spaceships any time soon. As Mermista had put it, she'd rather do that after the war when it could be done right, and with thousands of Salinean sailors with experience in space to help, than rush it with 'half-baked designs and untrained workers'.

But Earth didn't do things like that. They wanted to build their own ships. Which was fine but would take longer. And complicate the supply issues for the Alliance, of course. At least they would soon have the transport and supply capacity for multiple ground divisions - pretty much the entire expeditionary force that was, at least nominally, ready for operations right now.

And, speaking of soldiers… Adora cleared her throat again. "There's another issue we need to discuss. We have had a breakthrough in our research to produce synthetic symbionts. As soon as we have sufficient production, we can supply replacement symbionts to all our Jaffa prisoners and then extend that to other Jaffa."

"Let's hope we'll get enough defectors to join our side," the Secretary of Defence muttered. "We've spent enough on that project."

Mostly Etheria, actually, Adora knew that. And it wasn't as if they had paid actual money for using Research Station Alpha. But every day Entrapta, Hordak and the others were working there, they weren't working on other projects, and that was an opportunity cost which had to be accounted for - at least according to the Alliance budget commission.

She took a deep breath before continuing. "There's an additional benefit from the research," she said. "According to our preliminary research, the synthetic symbionts would be able to provide substantial benefits to humans as well, namely, greatly enhancing their immune system and, potentially, significantly prolonging their lifespans."

For a moment, the meeting room was dead silent. Then everyone seemed to speak up at once.

*****​

Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, October 31st, 1999

"I am a physicist, sir. Not a geneticist," Samantha Carter repeated herself for what felt like the tenth time today. Why did people think she was an expert on everything? Granted, she had dealt with a wide range of scientific challenges at Stargate Command, but usually in emergencies.

"Major Carter, please don't play coy. You were involved in the entire project from the start - from before the start. We need your assessment of this recent development." The Secretary of Defense leaned forward, putting both elbows on the table in the small meeting room.

Sam could clearly hear the emphasis on 'recent' the man used. "I was focused on security, administrative and technical tasks." That was technically true. "Dr Morrison was a lead researcher. I am sure his report covers whatever you need to know."

"Dr Morrison's report covers biological issues. What we need are hard numbers about production. How quickly can those synthetic things be manufactured? And at what cost? You built those robot factories with Princess Entrapta."

Sam pressed her lips together for a moment. "The synthetic symbionts are organic lifeforms, sir. They need to be grown in cloning tanks. They can't be built on assembly lines by automated systems." It was a bit more complicated than that, with bioreactors needed for various products to feed the cloning tanks, and automation was certainly an important part, but she doubted the man would understand the process.

The man made a dismissive gesture with his hand. "Yes, yes, I know that. What I - what we, the government - don't know yet is: How much does it cost to build enough of those things to supply the American population, and how long will it take?"

Sam raised her eyebrows. "The American population?"

"They're our responsibility. We swore an oath, Major." The Secretary narrowed his eyes.

"Production facilities are already being set up on Etheria." She knew better than to respond to the implied rebuke.

"For the symbionts for the Jaffa. Not the symbionts for humans. Those are still being researched, aren't they?" The man looked at her as if he suddenly suspected a cover-up.

"They are being tested, yes," she said. "We don't know yet if the design will have to be altered. Potential long-term effects have to be thoroughly examined."

"People are already asking why months of research - almost a year - were spent on ways to benefit our enemies instead of us."

What? By 'people' he must mean his colleagues. The symbionts were classified. And those with the clearance would know better than to ask such questions! She met the man's eyes with a glare of her own. "The project was ordered by Alliance Command, in accordance with our general strategy against the Goa'uld." They needed those symbionts to turn the Jaffa. And to keep prisoners alive.

"I know that. But people wonder if we should have changed our goals once the potential of the symbionts became obvious."

"The research team focused on the task they were given," Sam replied to the unspoken accusation. "And on the other crucial genetic research. The potential applications for humans were only discovered once the project had entered the final testing phase."

The Secretary of Defense snorted at that but didn't push the issue. Though Sam was sure he wouldn't show such restraint if she wasn't friends with Entrapta and the other princesses. "We need those projections. This is one of the most important issues for our government - for the world. If this leaks - when this leaks - to the public, there will be riots in the streets and worse if we don't have answers and a plan. Hell, there'll be riots anyway."

Sam was aware of that, of course. Some people would be horrified at the idea. And some would suspect everyone who got a symbiont as a potential traitor. Or someone who had sold their soul. But many would be clamouring for a symbiont. "We're still building the production facilities for the symbionts meant for the Jaffa. Once they are up and running, we have a baseline and can project numbers for the variant for humans and Etherians. But we were planning to produce a million symbionts in the first year, and scaling up those numbers by two or three magnitudes, which would be needed just to cover the potential short-term demand in the Alliance, is a challenge." To say the least. The effort to produce a million Jaffa-symbionts was already straining the resources of Etheria, and that was with Perfuma delivering any organic base materials for basically free.

"The alternative is civil unrest of a scale we can't imagine. And the complete collapse of the healthcare industry. All that in the middle of a war in space." He leaned forward even more. "We need those numbers, Major! We need to know what it will cost, and how long it'll take, so we know what we can do to deal with this."

Sam had some doubts about the man's priorities, but he wasn't wrong. "I'll get on it, sir." That would delay other projects, but she wasn't looking forward to more troubleshooting for the Constellation-II project anyway. "We should…"

The Secretary of Defense's mobile phone went off, interrupting her. He took the call, turning away from her.

"Yes?"

"I'm in the middle of… What?" He paused. "WHAT?"

His head whipped around, and he stared at Sam again. "Someone leaked it to the media! CNN is going to run a report on this!"

Sam felt her stomach drop. That wasn't good. Not at all.

*****​

Earth Orbit, Solar System, October 31st, 1999 (Earth Time)

"...and we're waiting for the United States Government to comment on the claim that Alliance scientists have found a way to extend the human lifespan by at least a hundred years, in perfect health, by using alien technology. A press conference has been announced but has been delayed for 'technical reasons', so speculation is running rampant."

"Thank you, Bob. Now, this was leaked by an anonymous source. Can this information be trusted? It sounds fantastical - almost too good to be true. We've got an expert on the matter here. Professor Smith, as one of the foremost experts in this particular field, what do you think?"

"Well, thank you for having me here. Some time ago, I would have said this sounded too good to be true due to my research into anti-ageing treatments. However, this was before we met the Etherians and, most importantly, before the return of magic. Nowadays, after analysing the various people who were healed by Princess She-Ra, the consensus amongst my colleagues is that, with magical means, curing any disability is possible, which should result in extending human lifespan by several decades at the least."

"That's short of the hundred years we were told was the baseline, Professor."

"Exactly. And that's peculiar, isn't it? I would have expected a more conservative number. Now, this might just be a bit of hyperbole, or it might be indicative of more than merely healing ailments. We have not even begun to delve into what magical healing can do, but we know that at least some individuals lived for centuries on Etheria."

"That would be a very long time indeed."

"Yes. However, we don't know yet what it takes to achieve that. Magical talent is not common, as we know by now, and such treatments might be beyond the power of the vast majority of sorceresses, even Etherian ones."

"You mean, only She-Ra could do this, Professor?"

"That might be the case, yes."

Catra muttered a curse and muted the screen. "And here I was looking forward to Halloween." Those bastards just had to ruin her and Adora's day. The one day of the year she could have gone out without a disguise and be mistaken for someone wearing a catgirl - or Catra - costume with Adora, and those idiots had to ruin it!

"We can still go to the party at Alliance Headquarters," Bow said. "Although we probably have to talk about this with the Council first."

Catra scoffed. "Talk to the same people who leaked this? So they can leak more information?"

"We don't know who leaked it," Bow retorted.

"So we have to find the leak first." That would be difficult, with so many suspects. They had informed all the governments in the Alliance, after all. And those would have discussed it internally, looked for more angles and information… "We need to revamp how we handle such information," she said.

"Yes," Glimmer agreed. "We can't fight a war if everything gets leaked. We cannot count on being secure from infiltrators forever - certainly not once we start occupying more planets."

"And we need to tell everyone about the symbionts," Adora spoke up. Catra saw that she had raised her chin slightly - she wouldn't budge on that. "We can't have people think I can make them immortal!"

Catra nodded. They would hound her forever. People were already speculating about eternal youth.

"The Council won't like it," Glimmer said. "But that's their problem. We won't lie for them if they can't control their media."

More like wouldn't control them, Catra thought. "So… let's meet the press?"

"We need to inform our allies first," Glimmer said.

"Yes," Bow agreed.

Catra snorted. "We could probably skip the press release then - someone will leak it again."

Glimmer chuckled, but Adora and Bow didn't seem to think it was funny.

"We won't," Adora said. "We'll do this properly and tell people the truth."

*****​

Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, October 31st, 1999

"...and we're working on adapting those symbionts to humans and other life forms. Based on the effects on Jaffa, which we tested, we expect a significant boost to the immune system, which should render a host mostly immune to most diseases and enhance their regeneration after suffering an injury. The effects on the lifespan beyond that are not yet clear but might be similar to the effects on the hosts of Goa'uld."

Catra saw Adora smile at the various reporters staring at her in the room.

"It's not magic. And you don't need a sorceress to use it. Any surgeon should be able to implant the symbiont easily and safely. But, as I said, we're still working on adapting the symbiont, so it'll take a while until it's available. We will ensure that it is perfectly safe, and that requires a lot of testing. Any questions?"

Catra's ears twitched, and she winced as the murmuring that had started during the news conference quickly grew painfully loud, some of the reporters jumping up from their seats and waving microphones, recorders and notepads around as they tried to shout over each other.

"When will this be available?"

"How long has this been in the pipeline?"

"How can you tell if this is safe?"

"Are you using Goa'uld for this?"

"Wo will receive those symbionts first?"

Yeah, this was going about as well as she had expected.

*****​

Jack O'Neill took another sip from his glass and frowned. This Halloween party sucked. And not because they were in Europe, where Halloween wasn't a thing. No, everyone here was either talking about the symbionts or watching the news about the symbionts. And a lot of people were too busy to attend in the first place.

Including Carter, who had apparently been ordered to prepare a briefing about the symbionts for the government. And Daniel, who was busy working on a paper about the consequences for society if people suddenly had a lifespan twice as long as before or something. He hadn't even been ordered to do it - no, Jack's friend had volunteered because he thought this couldn't wait.

Jack had tried to get them to attend the party anyway, but both had turned them down. And he couldn't exactly order them to attend since they - technically - weren't in his chain of command any more. Well, they would be temporarily assigned to Special Operations Command for any operations, but they were not officially part of Jack's command.

And no, Jack wasn't thinking about what that might mean for certain regulations. Absolutely not.

"The differences between this event and last year's Halloween party at Stargate Command are subtle but distinct, I believe."

Well, at least one of Jack's friends had made the party. "What do you mean, Teal'c?" Jack asked as he turned.

"The selection of the dishes is more varied," Teal'c said, holding a plate loaded with finger food. "Healthier as well, I think. At least some of the fare," he added, eyeing his plate.

"That's because this is the Alliance Headquarters, not a base." Jack snorted. "The soldiers here are mostly paper pushers, so if they ate like soldiers in the field, they'd grow too fat to walk in no time."

Teal'c tilted his head to the side and raised an eyebrow. "I was told it is the result of so many soldiers from countries with vastly different culinary traditions working together."

Jack snorted again. "Well, that's the official explanation. Of course, they wouldn't admit that they are skipping P.T."

Teal'c's eyebrow remained where it was - he wasn't buying it. Well, can't win them all. Jack grinned. "But the variety is nice. As long as you stay away from the various Nordic dishes." The catering had included some truly nasty examples.

"I have yet to discover an inedible meal," Teal'c said. "Most were pleasantly spicy."

"Right." Jack shrugged. "And, speaking of stomachs… Are you going to get a replacement for Junior?"

Teal'c calmly finished a small pastry - something French, or maybe Belgian, Jack thought - before replying: "My Prim'ta has a few years left before it matures. I would not wish to deprive others who might need the synthetic symbionts more urgently of them merely for my convenience."

"Well, we don't exactly have an army of Jaffa lining up for a new baby snake," Jack said. "I am sure we can spare one for you." And get rid of the Goa'uld in his friend's belly before it matured and killing it became… morally dubious. And probably illegal.

"I believe that this might change once news of those synthetic symbionts spreads to those Jaffa who are currently trapped serving the false gods since becoming Shol'va would doom them to die."

"Yeah, 'freedom or death' sounds a lot better than 'freedom and death'," Jack said. Should he mention Teal'c's family? That was kind of a sore spot.

"Master Bra'tac should know more Jaffa who would be willing to defect now that their circumstances are bound to change."

Jack narrowed his eyes. That was a not-so-subtle - for Teal'c - request to contact his friend's old mentor. "I guess we should go and contact him, then." Now that they actually had those synthetic symbionts as an incentive, that should outweigh the concerns about secrecy that the Alliance brass kept bringing up to block such a mission.

"Indeed."

"Well, let's see where our Supreme Commander is currently hiding," Jack said, looking around. "Did you see her anywhere?" Adora and her friends were attending the party, after their original plans had fallen through thanks to CNN, but they might have decided to risk going out in public anyway - this party sucked, after all.

"Not after the first round of introductions," Teal'c replied. "However, I believe I know where they can be found."

Hm? What was Teal'c looking at? Jack turned his head. The buffet? Yes. And the right wing of the buffet, where the seafood was. Ah! He grinned. "Yeah, let's check our bait. If our furry friend is still around, she'll bite sooner or later." And since Catra wouldn't leave Adora's side for any length of time if she could help it, if they found Catra, they'd find Adora as well.

*****​

The Alliance Headquarters Halloween party is disappointing, Adora thought. She had expected a party more like the New Year's Eve Party at Stargate Command, where everyone had a good time. Sure, there had been a few incidents, but nothing really serious, and people had fun even though there was some 'networking', or what you called it. Here, though, it felt more like Princess Prom, just without the fun parts. Everyone seemed to be working on something, trying to gather support for this and that - and as the Supreme Commander of the Alliance, everyone wanted to talk to her.

That the news about the synthetic symbionts had been revealed today didn't help, of course. On the contrary.

All in all, this wasn't a fun costume party, like in the TV shows, but just another work meeting, just with drinks and better food. And Adora already had had all the meetings and work she could stand today.

Not that hiding in a side room - marked 'defunct - keep out' thanks to Catra doing something to the maintenance records that Adora didn't want to know more about - was fun, either. But it was a room with a view of Brussels, and at night, and from afar, the city looked very pretty.

"So, you're really going to stay here?"

Adora turned to smile, if a bit tiredly, at Glimmer. "I don't think it's a good idea for Catra and me to go out today."

"You'd be in disguise - in costume," Glimmer said. "Like us." She had changed into a 'Batgirl' costume herself, though she had left the cowl with the red wig off for now. Bow was going as 'Robin'. "We still have the Wonder Woman and Cheetah costumes…"

Adora frowned at her friend. "We're not going to dye Catra's fur." Really! Catra would claw them!

Glimmer grinned a bit sheepishly. "It would wash out. And it would be the perfect disguise for her!"

"Too perfect," Adora retorted. People would quickly realise that the fur wasn't a costume.

"Still better than her plans." Glimmer snorted. "Going as herself? Please!"

"Refuge in audacity?" Adora offered with a weak smile. It wasn't a good plan, in her opinion, but it might have worked well enough as long as Catra wore a suit covering most of her fur. But not now that the symbiont news had spread and everyone was focused on them. And on Adora specifically. At least there were no riots in Brussels. So far.

The door opened - that would be Catra, returning from her third 'food run'. Or 'fishing expedition'. Adora turned, then blinked.

"So, this is where you were hiding." Jack looked around as Teal'c closed the door behind them.

"They were waiting at the buffet," Catra said, scowling as she put a large plate of food on the table.

"And you walked into their ambush?" Glimmer shook her head with a sigh. "You're slipping."

"I didn't think they would insist on following me," Catra retorted. "I guess I could have tried to lose them…"

"No!" Adora snapped. "So, are you also hiding?" she asked, grabbing a small sandwich from the plate. Not a salmon one, of course - everyone knew better than trying to get between Catra and those.

"Not exactly." Jack smiled. He was up to something, Adora realised. "But something came up, and we wanted to talk to you about it."

Catra groaned through a mouth stuffed with a Nordic fish dish.

"And it couldn't have waited until tomorrow?" Glimmer asked, narrowing her eyes.

Jack's smile grew a bit wider. "It probably could, but the party sucks, and it doesn't look as if you've got anything better to do if you're hiding in here…"

He wasn't entirely wrong - at least as far as Adora was concerned.

Catra, though, snorted. "Wait until we tell Daniel and Sam that you'd rather work than party. And we had plans - we were going to break in the table as soon as Glimmer and Bow left."

Adora gasped at her - fortunately, she hadn't been drinking at the moment. "Catra!"

"What? It's true."

"That's…" Adora pressed her lips together as she felt her cheeks heat up. She raised her chin and turned to Jack and Teal'c. "So, what do you want to talk about?" she asked as professionally as she could.

"Ah, it's about Teal'c's family and friends amongst the Jaffa," Jack said. "Now that we have replacements for the baby snakes, we should revisit them."

"The circumstances regarding them have changed, I believe," Teal'c added.

Adora nodded at once. "Of course!" As if they'd keep their friend from his family and friends if he wanted to see them!

*****​

 

[Starfox5]

Ah yes the augment dilemma. It'll be interesting to see how you handle it.

Click to shrink...

Likely to be messy.

Isn't there a cannon sg1 plotline where Sam's dad gets sick and ends up as a tokra host?

I imagine artificial symbiotes will have very far reaching consequences for tokra recruitment ...

Click to shrink...

Yeah, the Tok'ra won't be happy. And yes, in canon, Sam's dad became a host. Here, She-Ra healed him.

 

[Transreal Clouden]

I hadn't even thought about the implications for the Tok'ra.... yeah needing to convince people to share their body just for the added knowledge and wisdom without health benefits is going to be tough.

 

[Starfox5]

Chapter 106: The Symbionts Part 2

Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, November 1st, 1999

The screen showed a dark sky with a lot of stars. Judging from the relative lack of light pollution, the camera was in the countryside, not in a city. Samantha Carter knew that already from the file, but confirmation was always good.

The quality wasn't the best - it was a little grainy. Not a high-end camera. Something else that she knew already. But it was better than most security cameras. She could see glowing lights in the sky as the camera turned around and focused on them.

"Oh! What's that?"

"Fireworks! Pretty!"

"Fireworks? Out here?"

"Those aren't fireworks!"

"They're coming closer!"

"Planes?"

"Shuttles! Must be alien shuttles!

"Oh! Aliens, here?"

The sound quality was… not very good either. But the excited voices of a family of four - as shown in the earlier parts of the recording - were clearly audible.

"Those are… Dear Lord!"

The camera shook as the lights grew larger, more defined - and then spectral forms flew above it, low enough so the camera could pick up barking over the screams from the family, shortly before the camera showed the ground, then trees, as the man holding it must have ducked. He would have been too late to avoid the flying objects, Sam knew, if they had been coming for him.

But they hadn't come for him. The camera swung back and forth until it caught the back of the spectral forms flying through the sky. Wolves or dogs, Sam noted. Hounds, she added a moment later. A dozen of them. Exactly a dozen.

"What were they, Dad?"

"I don't know, dear."

"Flying dogs? Like Swift Wind?"

"I don't think so, dear."

No, not like Swift Wind. Sam shook her head as she stopped the recording on her screen. She hadn't noticed anything new this time. Nothing useful.

She opened the stills taken from the recording. The best showed a large wolf or dog's form, lined in glowing red-orange colours, racing through the sky, its legs moving as if it were running over a field.

"That's not an Etherian creature," Glimmer said behind her. "Not anyone I recognise, at least."

"It's not Swift Wind," Adora added.

"We already know that," Catra said. "Swift Wind has wings. And he doesn't glow like that."

"Well, he could if you used some glowing paint," Bow pointed out. He cocked his head. "Although the silhouettes are wrong.

"There aren't any wings, and the movements don't match those of winged flight," Sam said. She had run the recording through a few simulations to compare the movements to those of Swift Wind during his appearance at Disney World a few months ago.

"Do we have recordings of the attack?" Glimmer asked.

"No. Just the reports from eyewitnesses," Sam said. If they had such recordings, she would have shown them already.

"And those reports match these images?" Adora asked.

"Yes." Sam nodded. "Red or orange glowing spectral dogs, attacking a small house in Wales and burning it down. The resident, Father Julian Gardner, was found dead in the remains by the fire brigade."

"Ah."

"Did he burn to death?" Catra asked.

"The autopsy hasn't finished yet," Sam said. "But the pictures we got…" A click of her mouse opened another series of pictures on the big screen.

"Ew!"

"That's…"

"Looks like they tore out his throat. It reminds me of the remains of some of the scouting parties we lost in the Whispering Woods."

"Catra!"

"What?"

"Preliminary examinations support this assumption," Sam said. "The body was found in the middle of the living room, and the witnesses claim that he would have had enough time to escape through the door after the creatures left before the fire consumed the house."

"See?"

"That's not the point!"

"Anyway," Glimmer spoke over Adora and Catra's bickering, "Those weren't Etherian creatures. I've never heard of anything like them."

Sam nodded. She had deemed that unlikely in the first place - they had extensive security on both sides of the Stargate to prevent unauthorised access. A must, with magic, Goa'uld and shapeshifters present. The chance that such creatures had snuck through was very low.

But if they hadn't travelled to Earth from Etheria, they would have had to come from another planet, which was equally unlikely. Or they had originated on Earth. Sam pressed her lips together. She would have preferred it if the creatures had come through the Stargate, despite what that would have said about their security.

"So, since it's not from Etheria…" Catra trailed off.

Sam sighed as Daniel, who must have bitten his tongue to not speak up while their friends had watched the recording, eagerly nodded. "I've done a bit of research. I'm no expert, of course, but the date, the pictures, the location and the accounts of the witnesses all fit my conclusion." He pushed a key on his laptop, and a set of pictures appeared on the screen to the side. A mix of illustrations and paintings of various styles, mostly medieval. "Yesterday was Halloween. A celebration based on the old Samhain, of Celtic origin - well, that's a simplified version; the popular perception of what's supposed to be 'Celtic' is slightly outdated, and nowadays, we have..."

Sam cleared her throat.

"Ah, sorry!" Daniel smiled a little sheepishly at her. "Anyway, Samhain was said to have mystic - or magical significance in folklore. And the pictures and descriptions we saw match the myth of the Cŵn Annwn, also called the Hell Hounds." He pushed his glasses up. "It's just a hypothesis for now, but I believe this is an example of a major magic feat achieved by following Earth traditions. Magical traditions. I think someone successfully called up or summoned the Wild Hunt."

*****​

Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, November 2nd, 1999

"...and reports from Ireland confirm similar incidents, although none of them fatal. In Dublin, several witnesses described 'a leprechaun prancing in the street'. Footage from security cameras seems to support those reports."

The picture of the news anchor was replaced by a grainy, black-and-white recording of a small, tiny creature with an oversized hat flitting past the pavement. Too small to be a human child.

Catra shook her head as the news anchorman reappeared.

"Authorities are still trying to determine if the Giant's Causeway has been altered, as some experts claim. What has been confirmed is that the Stone of Destiny on the Hill of Tara has been glowing since the night of Halloween - or Samhain. So far, neither the British nor Irish governments have commented on repeated requests for further information, though anonymous sources from both countries maintain that there is definite proof of several magical incidents, and we…"

Catra changed the channel.

"...and while the United Nations are debating how to deal with potentially lethal magic incidents, protestors are assembling in front of the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, and the Headquarters of the United Nations in New York. The police are trying to separate those demanding harsh measures against practitioners of magic and those defending magic as part of their religion, but several clashes have already been observed, leading to at least two wounded people in New York. This comes on the heels of the tense protests for and against the so-called 'synthetic symbiont' the Alliance High Command has developed, which are expected to fundamentally alter healthcare as we know it should they be approved for treatment, and…"

Catra changed the channel again. An overweight, angry man appeared, speaking into a microphone someone else was holding.

"Weren't we told that the magic on Earth would be safe? Weak? Harmless? And now, a good, God-fearing man - a priest tending to his flock! - was murdered by fell sorcery! Burned to death in his home! How many more people who will not bow to godless aliens will suffer his fate? How many more curses will be cast at other men of the cloth? How much longer until we will finally heed what the Bible tells us? Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live! That is God's will and…"

Catra rolled her eyes and muttered a cure as she changed the channel again.

"...and in light of the events on Halloween, one wonders if we should not rethink our stance towards the Middle-Eastern countries' controversial policies towards sorceresses. While a blanket criminalisation of all magic is clearly too much, harsh punishments for dangerous sorcery seem an adequate response to this new danger, and…"

Was everyone going crazy? Catra hissed. "So, that's their angle! One death - which hasn't even been confirmed yet as a magical murder - and they're asking for witch hunts."

"You know how Earth media work," Glimmer commented - though Catra could tell that she was angry as well. "They always do that when something happens. Our allies could really do with better control over their news services."

"Good luck with that." Catra snorted. Their allies had been very clear about 'freedom of the press'. She glanced at Sam and Daniel.

"Well, it's a really delicate problem," Daniel said. "Our past experiences have left a lasting impression - the ability to control the media can be horribly abused, and…"

"Yes, yes!" Catra made a dismissive gesture with her hand. "We know."

"Yes." Glimmer nodded. "So, since control over the media is out, what can you do about this?" She pointed at the screen, which had turned dark.

"About the magic issue? Or the symbionts?" Daniel asked.

"Both," Glimmer told him.

"There is not much we can do about the symbionts," Sam said. "We're still working on actually adapting them to humans, and we can't tell how long that will take - and how much longer building facilities for mass production will take."

"It's up to the various governments how to handle this," Daniel added.

Catra snorted again. "You think we will let anyone monopolise the symbionts?"

"I wouldn't presume to make such an assumption." Daniel wasn't very good at acting innocently.

"We're not going to do that, but we also won't get dragged into that mess," Glimmer said. "Not if we can help it." Her expression clearly showed that she was sure they could help it.

Catra agreed. The Alliance wouldn't work out if single countries could hoard symbionts. Or keep their people from using them if they wanted to.

"Yes." Sam nodded. "But despite the hysteria and hyperbole, the media raised a good question: How could anyone send the Wild Hunt after someone? Magic of that power is supposed to be too difficult for a beginner. At least, according to what we have been told." 'By you' remained unsaid but clearly understood.

Catra looked at Glimmer. She was the expert here.

Her friend sighed. "Yes, and I stand by that. But we also said that we don't know how Earth's magic would express itself. It could be that this - sending out such creatures - is how this planet's magic works. You certainly have enough legends and myths about magical creatures helping and harming people."

Daniel leaned forward with an eager expression. "You mean that Earth's native magical traditions might be rooted in summoning and controlling - through various means - different, ah, spirits? Almost every culture has myths about otherworldly creatures and how to interact with them. Djinns, kami, angels, demons, spirits, ghosts and various other mythical creatures. But would those be created by whoever calls on them, or is the magic calling upon existing creatures?"

"That's a good question," Glimmer said. "We don't know - yet. Etheria doesn't really have such traditions."

Daniel looked even more excited about the research they would have to do.

Sam, though, looked concerned.

*****​

Alliance Base Lübtheen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, November 3rd, 1999

Everyone has gone nuts, Jack O'Neill thought as he saw the new 'security measures' taken at the Base: Lookouts to spot magical attacks. "So much for listening to the experts…" he muttered as he stepped through the gate to his part of the base.

"It's supposed to be just until we get other means of detecting such threats, sir," Jones, standing guard - with binocs - said.

Jack stopped and turned to look at Jones. He was a Navy Puke, former SEAL, but other than that, he was a good soldier. "And if we spot a 'Wild Hunt' approaching, what do we do?" Jack asked.

"Alert the base, sir!"

"And then?"

Jones grinned. "Pray?"

Jack snorted. "I'm pretty sure the priest prayed. Didn't save him."

"Well, sir, if the rumours about him are true…" Jones trailed off with a shrug.

Jack suppressed a sigh. It hadn't taken the media long to dig up rumours about child abuse and cover-ups. Some people were already talking about 'divine vengeance' having been visited upon the man.

"We can pray to She-Ra for protection," the other guard, Kelly, spoke up. He had a perfectly straight expression - Jack couldn't tell if the man was serious or joking. And he was SAS, which meant his sense of humour was British, further complicating matters.

But Jack wasn't touching that landmine today. "We're actually getting Etherian sorceresses assigned to the base for our protection." Amongst them Castaspella, though she was coming for research into Earth's magical traditions, now that they seemed to be emerging.

"Really, sir?" Kelly perked up.

"The Alliance isn't going to leave our main base vulnerable to any witch with a grudge," Jack said.

"Why would witches attack us, sir?" Kelly asked.

"Who knows what someone summoning the Wild Hunt thinks?" Jack shrugged. "They might think we threaten their gods or the world or something."

"You think they worship the snakes, sir?" Jones looked concerned now.

"I doubt that," Jack replied. Although, truth to be told, he couldn't be sure. Stranger things had happened. Not that he would tell his troops that. "Magic and snakes don't mix."

That seemed to reassure the two soldiers. Jack was about to turn around and continue towards his office when Kelly spoke up again, "Uh, sir… we've heard another rumour. A mite concerning."

"Yes?" Jack tilted his head - he needed his coffee. It was too early for this.

"Some people claim that we're going to get the snake symbionts, whether we want them or not," Jones said.

Oh, for…! Jack had to nip that in the bud. "We don't have any symbionts yet - they're still working on the things," he said. "And once we have them - we don't know when that will be the case - no one will be forced to get one. It'll be strictly volunteer-only. If we even get any in the first place. Last I heard, demand is going to be high in the civilian market." And amongst the rich and powerful, of course.

Despite the concern the two soldiers had voiced, that didn't seem to please them either. "If those things are safe, they could be very useful for us," Kelly said. "Especially for missions behind the enemy lines, without the possibility of medevacs."

Jones nodded. "And we wouldn't have to worry about alien bugs." He shuddered - probably remembering the 'here's why you don't eat or drink anything on an alien planet without our permission' lecture Dr Fraser had given Jack's soldiers at his request.

"We're aware of that," Jack told them. "But we're not going to force anyone to put a symbiont into their body." Even if some idiots were thinking about it, according to Adora. As a 'cost-saving measure', even! If that spread to the civilians, if someone suggested that people on welfare would have to get a symbiont so they wouldn't generate more costs…

He pushed the thought away and nodded at the guards. "So, don't worry about that, OK? One way or the other, we won't let you down." Jack would make sure of that.

"We know, sir." Kelly smiled, as did Jones.

That's one of the best things about the Alliance, Jack thought as he resumed walking to his office. With the princesses fighting on the frontlines, the politicians wouldn't be able to screw the soldiers over.

It was a small consolation, though. Between the symbionts and the new magic threat, things were bound to be messy for a while. And there was only so much Jack could do about either. He had to trust that his friends had things in hand. More or less.

He had work to do. Soldiers to train. Officers to pick. And the mission to contact Teal'c's mentor and family to prepare. His friend was counting on him, and Jack wouldn't let him down either.

*****​

Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, November 4th, 1999

"...and this is Chulak, Teal'c's home planet. We've got spy bots covering the system since it belongs to Apophis, who is kind of one of our main enemies since he has already attacked Earth once. Twice if you count his visit through the Stargate."

Adora nodded at Entrapta's exposition and looked at the holoprojection slowly rotating behind her friend. It was a smaller planet than Etheria or Earth. Shorter daylight cycles, as Entrapta had told them.

"...and that's the Capital, named City of Chulak." Entrapta's hair tendrils pointed at a spot on the planet's main continent. Another tendril pushed a few keys on the computer next to her, and the screen behind her changed to show aerial pictures of the city.

Built on a hill but without fortifications, Adora noted. At least no visible fortifications, though a ground attack would have to fight through narrow streets and dense buildings, where the Jaffa would have the advantage as long as they had civilians to hide behind so you couldn't shell or bomb their positions. With stealth shuttles, you could drop troops directly on the palace - the temple - but you'd still have to root out the warriors in the city…

"These are the last known locations of Teal'c's family and Bra'tac," Entrapta went on as her hair whirled, highlighting more spots on the planet. "However, aerial surveillance showed both locations as deserted - or abandoned. Unfortunately, our spy bots aren't built for atmospheric entry since their main task is to system and orbital reconnaissance, so we don't have any more detailed information."

Adora pressed her lips together. That didn't look good.

"If Apophis had captured Bra'tac, he would have announced that to show his strength," Teal'c said. "There would have been a public execution or similar demonstration of the false god's power."

"Yeah, that's his style," Jack commented.

"And your family?" Glimmer asked.

"I believe that, should Apophis intend to use them as leverage against me, he would have announced the fact that he has them so I would hear of them," Teal'c replied. "However, since they have denounced me, they should be safe from retaliation."

"Unless he wants to turn you into a spy," Catra said, "and doesn't want us to know that he's holding your family as hostages."

"He would have to be able to contact Teal'c covertly for that," Jack retorted. "That's not easy - we aren't exactly on speaking terms with him, and we don't frequent the same places. Well, when we do, we tend to blow them up," he added with a grin.

"He could still attempt to use them against you," Catra pointed out. "Or just keep them prisoner in case there's an opportunity to use them."

Teal'c inclined his head.

"Well, we'll have to find out where they are," Daniel said with obviously forced optimism. "We did it once already."

"Apophis's hold on Chulak is not as tight as on other planets," Teal'c said. "He conquered it from Chronos, but he never invested too much in the world."

Adora could see that on the screen. Chulak's Stargate was standing in the open, without visible fortifications or guards.

"Chulak isn't part of Apophis's core worlds," Sam said.

Adora nodded. The System Lords usually focused on a few worlds, developed and well-defended. And many of the remaining worlds under their control only had token Jaffa garrisons - sometimes not even that - and few settlements that provided raw materials or agricultural produce to the core worlds. And recruits for their armies and slaves for their factories, farms and mines.

"So… do we sneak through the Stargate, or do we fly there?" Daniel asked. "We've used the Stargate before, and it doesn't look as if they changed anything." He peered at the pictures on the screen.

"Or that's what he wants us to think," Catra muttered with a frown. "It's the best spot for a trap. He has to have surveillance on it, at least."

"The false gods often rely on their faithful to report to them," Teal'c said. "Or, rather, they used to - we cannot rely on them remaining so complacent. Not with the tensions between them running high."

"Yeah. Apophis is the kind of snake to pull something like that," Jack said. "But can he do that on every world?"

"Can we risk it?" Catra cocked her head to the side.

"He would still have to spot us to trigger what trap he might have laid." Jack grinned. "We've got a good record for sneaking through Stargates."

And a ship would take weeks to reach the world. They could send a flotilla, with Third Fleet's flagship, so they would be able to use the Stargate to travel there, but that was still a bit tricky - and too close to an invasion. And you didn't launch an invasion without more intel about the planet.

"So we try to sneak in?" Glimmer asked.

Jack nodded. "Yes. Like old times," he added with a grin.

Stargate Command had been running such missions, Adora knew. But they had also often been running into trouble on such trips. Still, it was feasible - and Jack had been training his command for such operations for months now. They needed some real experience.

She nodded. "Yes. But we'll use spy bots first. On the ground as well."

"Yes!" Entrapta beamed. "We can use our new stealth bots for that! The Goa'uld shouldn't be able to detect them!"

"But we'll need a cover for the gate activation. The gate opening without anyone coming through would look suspicious - and make the Goa'uld suspect that we have such stealth assets," Sam added.

"I think between us and the Tok'ra, we can come up with a cover," Catra said. "They've been running such missions for a long time."

Adora nodded again. "Then it's settled."

*****​

Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, November 5th, 1999

"Sam. Entrapta."

Anise wasn't happy. Samantha Carter would have been able to tell even if she hadn't received advance notice of her friend's visit in a rather clipped tone. Usually, the Tok'ra scientist was looking around curiously when she entered Sam's lab - or the spacelab - and generally was smiling when she greeted her friends.

Today, she was… 'not quite frowning' would fit it best, Sam decided. "Hello, Anise."

"Hi!" Entrapta, of course, was smiling widely. "How are you doing? How is your research into the portable stealth device going?"

Anise blinked, then sighed with a slightly rueful smile before straightening. "I was forced to pause my research in order to deal with a new development that greatly concerns the High Council: Your research into synthetic symbionts."

Yes, as Sam had expected.

Entrapta frowned, looking puzzled. "But you knew about that from the start - it was hardly a new development."

"I am talking about the symbionts you are planning to create for humans."

"Oh?" Sam's friend cocked her head to the side. "Is this about recruiting hosts?" She turned to look at Sam. "We talked about that, right?"

"Yes." Sam nodded.

"So, you are aware of the effects your research will have on my people?" Anise asked.

"Kinda. But not really." Entrapta shrugged. "I mean, you only take volunteers as hosts, yes?"

"Of course!"

"But anyone who only wanted a host so they could get healed from an illness or live longer wouldn't really be volunteering, would they?" Entrapta asked in a guileless tone. "That seems more like a technically-but-not-really voluntary decision - they certainly have a choice, but if one of the choices is so much worse than the other, it's not really a choice. At least, I think so. You could kinda argue that just having the choice is good enough, but that's not really true, is it?"

Anise was taken aback. Sam had expected that as well. She felt a little ashamed for letting Entrapta take the lead, so to speak, but while the argument about choices was certainly sound - from an ethical point of view - Sam would have felt a little hypocritical making it herself. Maybe more than a little. She wasn't a ruthless follower of the idea that the ends justified the means, far from it, but Sam didn't know what she would be willing to do if humanity's existence was on the line.

"That's… true," Anise said before pressing her lips together for a moment. "But," she rallied, "sometimes - quite often, actually, as I know - a host would have volunteered without any other incentive anyway if they had known in advance what the bond was like." Her eyes flashed, and Freya spoke: "Yes. It is hard to describe the feeling to those who haven't experienced it. "She glanced at Sam and added: "Or those who have only experienced it in the most extreme circumstances."

Sam clenched her teeth as she remembered her 'experience' with Jolinar.

"But being a host to your partner…" Freya smiled, her eyes looking past Entrapta and Sam. "I would not miss it for the world. You are one half of something greater, something more intimate than you can imagine without living it."

Oh, Sam could imagine it very well. She had lived through it. To have no secrets left, to feel your most private thoughts, your entire mind, laid open to a stranger… She suppressed a shudder.

"See?" Entrapta beamed. "Our synthetic symbionts won't really change anything - you'll still get volunteers."

Freya's eyes flashed again, and Anise didn't look like she shared Entrapta's optimism. "It is already hard to convince potential hosts that we are nothing like the Goa'uld. This will not make it any easier."

"Really?" Entrpata pouted a little, "I would have thought that having more people with symbionts would make it more accepted - and not as scary. Some people really fear having a symbiont, even though the benefits are obvious."

Sam and Anise shared a brief look. "I guess we'll see," Sam said, though she didn't think Entrapta was correct. "But better public relations might improve your chances to find willing hosts significantly."

"Oh, yes! We can introduce you to Mr Brown and Julie! They're great at this - they helped us out a lot. People were scared of us as well, can you imagine?"

And they still are, Sam thought. Just not as many as before. Though the recent magical incidents might have changed that again. She didn't say that, though.

Anise still looked sceptical. "I will have to discuss this with the High Council. I was sent here mainly to get facts about this new… development. I cannot make decisions for my people."

"Oh! Yes, you'll need our data!" Entrapta turned around, hair flying over the keyboard of Sam's secondary computer. "We haven't made too much progress yet - but we found that the base symbiont design should be able to work for both humans and Jaffa, though we'll have to make some changes to allow it to adapt to a human immune system without the Jaffa modifications. You'd think it would be easier to have it work with an actual immune system, but it's not quite as easy since the human immune system wasn't designed for a symbiont."

It's a very good thing, Sam thought, that this is an Etherian research project.

Her superiors, especially her government, would not be happy at all about such data being shared so easily.

Oh.

She closed her eyes for a moment. Some of them - like the Secretary of Defense - who were counting on getting a symbiont themselves to extend their lives might even see sharing data about symbionts with aliens as a threat to their own safety. Like giving out medical data about potential vulnerabilities for biological warfare or whatever else they could come up with.

Well, that was their problem. No one would be forcing them to get a symbiont. In fact, it might be a good thing if this would make some of them hesitate at least a little.

*****​

Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, November 6th, 1999

"...and amidst unconfirmed reports of magical assaults across Europe, and dangerous 'cryptids' sightings across the world, the Alliance blindly focuses on the war against the Goa'uld - aliens that have supposedly been forced off Earth by our ancient ancestors with swords and spears yet should be seen as a dire threat to our world! How much longer will this travesty be allowed to go on while people…"

Catra rolled her eyes and muted the channel. You were supposed to keep tabs on your enemies, but she could only stomach watching American media so far. "So much for the Freedom of the Press," she muttered as she leaned back in her seat in the meeting room. A few more minutes until the meeting would begin. "Freedom to lie, more likely."

"That's just a nutcase they interviewed," Adora pointed out, finishing the soda she had grabbed on the way. "The news doesn't actually say that."

Catra shrugged. "If they put him on air, they spread his lies. It works out the same." She glanced at the screen. The politician on air had been replaced by another person being interviewed - if you could call asking them for a quote an interview.

"Not exactly," Daniel objected. "Showing such interviews and contrasting them with facts exposes the claims of those people as false and undermines their reputation and following."

"Really?" Catra scoffed and pressed unmute on the remote on the table.

"...and now the perfidy of the aliens has been exposed! Fell sorcery has been revealed as the evil that it always was! They have deceived those with weak hearts, fooled them with false promises, to lure them astray and corrupt them with magic and false gods! But there is only one saviour, and we know his words as true! It's only by following him that we shall be saved - and he told us to reject both false gods and magic! Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live! He helped our ancestors to drive away alien invaders, and he will help us to do the same if only we have faith! Do not…"

She raised her eyebrows as she muted the television again.

Daniel winced for a moment. "Well, most people will be repelled by such rhetoric."

"And how many people will believe it?" Catra scoffed again. "It's not as if everyone cares about facts in the first place." Some of those lunatics were calling Adora the 'anti-Christ'!

Daniel frowned at that. "We - the Alliance - have been examining those claims and reports. We haven't found any confirmed sightings of such 'cryptids' after Halloween. And most of the magical assaults were rather questionable, to say the least. It seems comparable to the kind of mass hysteria that we saw happen in the past, such as the reports of Japanese attacks on the West Coast following Pearl Harbour in World War II that turned out to be imaginary." He perked up. "But that passed, and this will pass as well."

Catra didn't think it would. Those people were clinging to their delusions no matter the facts. They knew that the only one who could be their 'anti-Christ' was actually a Goa'uld, Sokar, yet refused to consider the implications of that.

"Let's hope so," Adora said with a deep frown.

"It is difficult to make people change their faith even with clear evidence that they are worshipping false gods unworthy of devotion," Teal'c spoke up. "But we shall persevere."

The door opened, and O'Neill stepped inside, followed by Sam and Entrapta. "Sorry for being late," he said with a grin. "We had to get more coffee for Daniel."

"What?" Daniel frowned at him. "I didn't… you don't have any coffee!" he added with a pout.

"It was so good, we drank it on the way." O'Neill shrugged.

"Our shuttle was late," Sam clarified with a slight sigh that Catra's ears picked up.

"Hey! That wasn't my fault!" O'Neill protested. "I was at the spacelab on time. I recall a pair of scientists taking their time boarding their ride."

"We had to finish an experiment," Entrapta explained as she sat down at the table. "Are Glimmer and Bow not coming?"

"Something came up at Bright Moon," Catra said. "So, Sparkles has to smooth ruffled feathers or something, and Bow stayed with her so she won't lose her temper and teleport some idiot into the sea or something."

"Catra!" Adora scolded her. "Micah called for Glimmer to settle an issue between Bright Moon and the Crimson Waste," she told the others. "Anyway, it won't affect our planning session. Entrapta, Sam, you have the latest intel from the spy bots?"

"Oh, yes!" Entrapta nodded and used a tool to project a picture on the wall behind her. "We've mapped the entire planet in greater detail now - it took a while since they have Death Gliders patrolling the orbitals, so the bots had to avoid them, but it wasn't too difficult since there are just a few patrols, not enough to completely cover the planet. You just have to be careful - we could sneak a stealth shuttle through without a problem, according to their search patterns. And speaking of stealth, we have the stealth bots ready for the Stargate. All we need now is the Tok'ra's cover. And Anise said she'd get us that, even though they're probably still unhappy about the symbionts. But as soon as we have a cover for the gate activation, we can send the bots through and look for an ambush."

And once that was dealt with, they could go through themselves. Catra grinned, flashing her fangs. It had been a bit too long since their last time in the field. This should be good.

*****​

Gate Area, PZ-1151, November 8th, 1999 (Earth Time)

Jack O'Neill stepped around one of the new stealth bots hovering to the side of the Stargate without the stealth mode engaged on his way to where Carter and Entrapta had set up their computers in one of the new Alliance Standard Mobile Buildings around the D.H.D. - the soldiers were still trying to come up with a decent nickname for the things. Jack was partial to 'Asbies', but generals didn't get to decide that, alas.

Two of the large combat bots - the improved versions capable of anti-air work - were standing guards on each side of the building, with another next to the shield generator in the back. Between those three, the nine others forming a perimeter around the gate and the twelve more standing ready to be deployed, even a few squadrons of Death Gliders would not last long should they get in range. At least according to testing - the bots hadn't seen combat yet.

But the platoon of Jack's 'Snake Hunters' waiting to the side of the Stargate included a few Stinger teams, just in case. And Isa with her blaster cannon.

And there was Emily, standing guard in front of the building. The bot beeped a greeting at Jack, her definitely not-standard blaster cannon and other things Jack was pretty sure he hadn't seen before pointed at the gate.

He nodded back and entered the building.

"There's Jack!" Entrapta called out from where she was standing behind a computer console next to the D.H.D. with Carter. "We're about ready here!"

He looked at Carter, who nodded. "The temporary field base is operational, sir."

A big name for a building and a few fences, but technically correct. Though Jack felt a sudden bout of nostalgia for Stargate Command. Just a bit, though.

"We're only waiting for your troops," Catra added. She was sitting - or lounging - on a seat in the back, next to the main screen.

"We're ready as well," Jack said. "We were waiting for you," he added with a grin.

"Sure you were." Catra smirked.

Adora cleared her throat. "With the temporary field base operational and the forces ready… Start the mission."

"Yes!" Entrapta turned, and her hair fanned out, flying over the keyboards.

"Dialing to Chulak," Carter reported as she turned the D.H.D.

The main screen in front of her changed from showing the various parts of the base's perimeter to the view from the stealth bot, just in time to catch the wormhole stabilising.

"Go, Stealth Bot-7!" Entrapta called out.

Jack could see the bot vanish from sight on the cameras watching it before he focused on the feed from the bot. There, the wormhole grew larger as the bot flew over, then was interrupted for a moment as it entered the gate.

And then they were looking at the deserted area around Chulak's Stargate.

"Scanning… scanning…" Entrapta reported.

Various numbers and data flickered over the side screens, too fast for Jack to catch them.

"No sign of any bombs," Carter announced. "Or any high-power device in the area. Trace amounts of Naquadah are at expected levels. Biological and chemical scans continue."

"Oh! There's a Naquada device buried in the sand! Take a closer scan!"

The picture zoomed in, then switched to a sort of x-ray view of a…

"It's a broken zat." Entrapta sounded disappointed. "No power left in its cell."

"No sign of a chemical or biological agent," Carter reported.

"Good. So, the gate area should be safe," Adora said.

"Relatively safe," Catra said. "Someone's bound to be watching for new arrivals. Even on a backwater planet like this."

"Catra!" Adora frowned at her. "It's Teal'c's home!"

"I am not offended, Commander Adora," Teal'c said. "Chulak is a rather neglected part of Apophis's realm. Although…" He tilted his head and stared at the feed from the bot. "Those tracks there seem unusual."

"Tracks? Where?" Entrapta asked.

But Teal'c was right. There was something. Jack took a closer look at the picture on the screen. "Fly closer to the area near the bush there," he said. "And zoom in."

They did. It looked like a typical dirt road linking the Stargate with the planetary capital, but the grass to both sides of it…"

"A formation marched through there. Recently," Teal'c stated. "Four warriors wide."

If Teal'c said so, it was true. And four warriors wide… that meant a lot of Jaffa.

"That's unusual," Catra commented.

"Indeed."

"We have no records from orbital surveillance of such a troop movement," Carter reported. "But our coverage has been spotty until a few days ago."

"Well, did they arrive - or did they leave?" Jack asked.

"I would have to take a closer look in person to tell," Teal'c said. "Your technology is superb, Entrapta, Sam Carter, Bow, but certain things can't be done remotely."

"Well, folks, time to don our disguises," Jack said. "And look like smugglers."

Catra snorted as she got up from her seat. "They're just cloaks. Ratty cloaks."

"Exactly!" Jack grinned.

"Most of the people plying that trade in the false god's realms do dress like that," Teal'c said. "We will not stand out - at least from a distance."

"And it's a cover the Tok'ra have used a lot," Glimmer said.

"Let's hope the Goa'uld haven't wised up, then," Catra said.

"Well, we'll find out," Jack said with a little more confidence than he felt. They had enough firepower waiting here to deal with pretty much everything that Apophis was supposed to have on Chulak and then some, and their spy bots hadn't detected anything from orbit, but… a planet was damn large, and Apophis wasn't stupid. Still, between the bots - each with the firepower of a main battle tank - Jack's platoon of the best of his command and She-Ra and her friends, they should be able to outfight any Jaffa infantry force long enough to retreat through the gate. As long as they didn't have dozens of Death Gliders or a few Al'keshs. And none of their surveillance had showed such forces. If they were hidden on Chulak… well, they should have enough warning to retreat anyway.

He slipped his own cloak on, adjusting it so he could get his carbine out without getting it tangled up. It felt more than a bit like being back on a covert op in certain African regions.

As he and the others approached the Stargate, he saw his platoon get up as well - and pull their own cloaks on. Eager for their first mission, but they'd have to wait for the clear from Jack. Smugglers didn't come in platoon-sized groups.

Jack nodded at them, then went up the ramp and stepped through the Stargate. General or not, he led from the front.

A moment that felt longer than it was later, he was on Chulak. He glanced around, hand on his gun, as the rest arrived, but there was nothing nearby.

Or so it seemed.

Teal'c went straight to the tracks he had spotted, kneeling down. "They went through the gate," he said. "And they came from the capital."

"So… more recruits for Apophis's army?" Daniel speculated. "Marched off to join his main focus?"

That was one possible explanation. And it would fit the rest of their information - mainly the lack of any footage of those troops.

"I do not think so."

Jack turned to look at Teal'c. His friend had sounded… not nearly as stoic as usual in such situations. Almost tense, actually.

Teal'c was holding up a broken necklace which must have been half-buried in the sand, judging by the amount of dirt on it. And he was staring at it with such an intense expression…

"This was Drey'auc's."

*****​

 

[Starfox5]

I hadn't even thought about the implications for the Tok'ra.... yeah needing to convince people to share their body just for the added knowledge and wisdom without health benefits is going to be tough.

Click to shrink...

It will be a very controversial issue, though.

 

[Starfox5]

Chapter 107: The Symbionts Part 3

Gate Area, Chulak, November 8th, 1999 (Earth Time)

"I gave this to Drey'auc on the day we wed."

Adora bit her lower lip as Teal'c carefully brushed dirt from the broken necklace. If this was his wife's…

"Could she have lost it here when she was travelling? Or meeting someone?" Glimmer asked.

"She would not have had any reason to go to the Chappa'ai," he went on. "Not as an outcast. And it was half-buried under a sandal footprint. Not a boot."

"So, she dropped it? As a warning for you?" Catra asked.

Teal'c slowly nodded. "I believe so."

Adora could tell that Catra didn't agree - her lover had that guilty expression she usually had when she wanted to say something but didn't because it might hurt - but it could be true.

"Ah… But no one should have expected our arrival, should they?" Daniel said, cocking his head.

"If she - and Rya'c - were taken by Apophis's forces, then she would have known it was because of me," Teal'c said. "This would have been one of the ways available to her to leave a notice for me. Or for Master Bra'tac," he added after a moment, "to pass on to me."

Catra shrugged. "Either way, we now know that she was taken through the gate. Or that we are supposed to think that."

"Or that Apophis wants us to know," Jack said. "Can't really use hostages if no one knows you have them."

"Whatever may be the truth, we have to find out more about what happened," Teal'c said. "Master Bra'tac would know more. Even as Shol'va, some of his former students respect him."

Unless he was taken as well. Or killed. But Adora didn't say that. She nodded instead. "Then let's find him!" That was what they had come to Chulak for, anyway.

"Yeah, let's find a master warrior who just went into hiding on his home planet after the enemy army captured friends of his," Catra muttered. "Piece of cake."

Adora frowned at her. "I'm sure we'll manage."

"Well, we can scan for Goa'uld larvae," Entrapta said. "It's going to be a bit difficult, what with so many Jaffa on the planet, but if he's hiding from most of them, we should be able to narrow things down. It will take a while, though." She pushed a button on the scanner, looked at it and added: "A long while, actually."

"If we do not find Master Bra'tac, I am certain that he will find us," Teal'c said. "In fact, I would not be surprised if he has already found us."

"Really?" Glimmer looked sceptical and looked around. "We're covering the entire area with our scanners."

But Teal'c wasn't looking at their surroundings. He was looking at the hills - or the mountains - in the distance.

"You think he's watching us through a telescope," Jack said.

Teal'c nodded.

"Since it passively uses visible light and doesn't require a power supply, it wouldn't show up on any scanner," Sam said.

"But the resolution… you'd have to have a huge telescope to have a decent resolution," Entrapta retorted. "That should show up on our scanners."

"Master Bra'tac would not need more than a glimpse of us to draw his conclusions," Teal'c said, still looking at the hills. "He will not approach us here, though."

"I can teleport us there," Glimmer said. "If we activate Chulak's magic."

"We're not activating magic on a planet under Goa'uld control just because you're too lazy to walk," Catra snapped.

"It's not about walking!" Glimmer protested. "But we can't waste time."

"And we can't let the other Jaffa who are undoubtedly watching us see us teleport away anyway," Jack added. "That would alert them."

"Yes." Adora nodded at Entrapta. "Tell the others to close the Stargate and stand by - we're going to walk. Like smugglers."

"Alright!"

Behind them, the gate disappeared, and Adora's comm lit up with a few alerts as it switched to the Spy Bots in orbit, connecting to their network to maintain contact with PZ-1151. The lag would be annoying, but shouldn't be crippling. And far less suspicious than keeping a Stargate open.

They left one bot in stealth mode to watch the gate and marched off towards the hills in the distance. Teal'c had picked their destination.

Halfway to the hills, Teal'c suddenly stopped.

"Teal'c?" Jack asked.

"I saw a short glint ahead of us. A piece of metal must have caught the light from the sun. Or a mirror."

"Or a scope," Catra muttered. "Could be an ambush."

"There's nothing on our orbital surveillance, but it's a little spotty in orbit, and the area is forested," Entrapta said. "Though there's a single larva there, probably," she added after a moment. "I need a bit more time to scan the area in detail."

"Master Bra'tac chooses his hiding spots well."

"If you're sure…" Jack trailed off as Adora spotted another glint in the distance.

Teal'c inclined his head. "Indeed."

"Yes, that's a larva according to the scanner. So, a Jaffa," Entrapta said, peering through her goggles. "I'm trying to vector in a spy bot in orbit so we get better coverage, but there's a Death Glider in the way."

"Let's just continue," Adora said. She trusted Teal'c. If he said this was Bra'tac, then they could go on.

"Yeah, let's. I'm not fond of standing around in the open on an enemy planet," Jack agreed. "Or an enemy anything."

"We're looking like smugglers," Catra said. "Don't tell me I'm squishing my ears flat and wrapping my tail around myself for nothing."

Adora looked at her, raising her eyebrows. Sure, it wasn't too comfortable, but it wasn't as if it was hurting her - Catra's ears could take a lot of squishing, and her tail was very flexible, as they had proven often enough. Not that this was the time to think about that!

But it also wasn't the time to complain. They weren't on a march in cadet training. And it hadn't been the time to complain then, either!

"We should get some stealth transports that can fit through a Stargate," Glimmer said as if she had read Adora's mind and wanted to disagree on principle. But she was walking - and Catra followed suit. As expected.

"We'll have to find a way to reduce the stealth generator even further," Entrapta said. "So far, we haven't managed that - the best of our designs was a shuttle that could use a stealth generator and barely fit the Stargate but, well, couldn't really do anything else. Like transporting people. Upscaling a stealth bot ran into the same issue, just from the other direction, so to speak. People just need so much space and life support and everything! Anise is working on a portable stealth generator using a different technology, but… she hasn't had any luck in making a generator that hasn't lethal side effects yet. But she's working on it."

Uh. Adora grimaced.

"You know what? I am just fine walking!" Bow said.

"Me too!" Daniel agreed, nodding eagerly. "A bit of walking won't kill us."

Both started to walk a little faster. As did everyone else.

*****​

They reached the hills half an hour later. That would have been quite a good time for their squad back in cadet training. Not quite a forced march, but faster than regular infantry - Horde or Earth.

And next to the trail they had been following was the man they were looking for, waiting for them under a tree with a dense canopy, next to a large rock that would shield him from the plains and the Stargate.

"Master Bra'tac." Teal'c nodded at him

"Teal'c. O'Neill. Carter. Jackson." Bra'tac nodded at them, then looked at Adora and her friends. "And new friends."

"Yes." Teal'c turned a little. "They are new friends - and mighty allies. Master Bra'tac, this is She-Ra, Princess of Power. Queen Glimmer of Bright Moon. Princess Entrapta of Dryl. Techmaster Bow of Bright Moon. Catra."

"Of nothing," Catra added with a smirk as she pushed her hood back and shook her head, her ears twitching.

"A Sekhmet?" Bra'tac tilted his head like Teal'c often did before frowning slightly. "No, not quite, I believe - but I have only seen pictures, and that had been a hundred years ago."

"No, I'm not a Sekhmet," Catra said, rolling her eyes. "You're not the first to make this mistake." She flashed her fangs in a grin.

"Catra's from Etheria, the result of genetic engineering by the First Ones - which you know as the Ancients or the Gate Builders, I believe," Entrapta spoke up. "Like me and Glimmer." She demonstrated her power, her hair fanning out and holding various tools. "And Bow probably has some ancestor who was experimented on as well if we look at the time that has passed since then and the average human generation and tendency to intermarry, even if that genetic ancestry hasn't expressed itself through magic powers. Glimmer can't demonstrate her own magic power since it relies on more magic in the world than my own, which doesn't need nearly as much, so what energy my body can spare is enough, and we haven't restored the planet's magic yet because doing so would kinda draw a lot of attention which would be a bad thing, probably, but Adora can demonstrate her own magic, just in case you won't believe us - many seem to have forgotten about magic being real since it was taken from the sector a thousand years ago."

Jack sighed and closed his eyes for a moment, probably complaining about secrecy, but Bra'tac blinked, his own eyebrows raising, as Adora noticed. He turned to look at Teal'c.

"Entrapta speaks the truth," Teal'c said. "I have personally witnessed their powers and seen the proof of their claims."

"I see. And you're fighting the false gods."

"Yes," Adora said.

"A lot of things have changed on Earth since our last meeting," Jack said, smiling a bit wrily. "We've formed an alliance against the Goa'uld, and we're preparing to go to war - well, technically, we're already at war, but the Goa'uld don't know yet."

Bra'tac looked at them. "I have not heard of Etheria so far, but you must be mighty indeed if you plan to openly battle the false gods."

That was a question more than a comment. Though Adora could understand that Bra'tac would be sceptical of their claims. It was a lot to take in.

"We've defeated Horde Prime," Catra said.

Bra'tac's eyes widened. "I know that name. The Goa'uld did not wish to fight him. And you defeated him."

Adora sighed. Catra made it sound as if they had more power than Horde Prime had had. "It's a bit complicated," she said.

"Etheria has technology on par with the Gate Builders," Teal'c said. "And many of Horde Prime's surviving ships and soldiers now fight for them. On Earth, a great army is gathering, preparing to liberate the slaves of the false gods." He took a step forward. "And they have found a way to free us for good from the hold of the Goa'uld. They found a way to replace Prim'tas. No longer will we have to choose between freedom and life. We came to Chulak to inform you."

Bra'tac looked almost shocked, then smiled. "That's the best news I've heard in my long life, my friend. And yet, I have to tell you ill news in return," he added, his expression turning sombre.

Teal'c nodded. "I've found Drey'auc's necklace at the Stargate."

"Your wife and your son were taken by the Serpent Guard," Bra'tac said. "I am sorry."

*****​

Eastern Hills, Chulak, November 8th, 1999 (Earth Time)

"You could not have done anything, my friend."

"I could have. If I had heard about it beforehand, I could have warned them. Taken them to safety. But I have few friends left in the Serpent Guards, and none of them are on Chulak."

You have contacts in Apophis's forces? Of course, you do, Samantha Carter thought. Bra'tac had shown that on Klorel's ship. Teal'c wasn't the only Jaffa Bra'tac had taught to question the Goa'uld, just the most prominent and arguably most successful rebel.

"Even the most skilled Warrior is beholden to the whims of chance. You taught me that."

Bra'tac nodded with a faint smile. "I did. We cannot change what happened."

"But we can attempt to remedy it."

Sam almost expected the Colonel to make a sarcastic comment about philosophy lessons, but he held his tongue.

"They were taken to Saqqara, that much I was able to discern," Bra'Tac said after the briefest pause.

That was Apophis's home world. P2Z-275. Sam pressed her lips together - blurting out Stargate Command's designation might prompt some teasing remark from the Colonel, and this wasn't the time for that.

"So, we have to go there and free them," Daniel said. He looked uncharacteristically eager, Sam noted. Oh. Of course, he would - Sha're was likely on Saqqara as well. And if she wasn't, information about her location would likely be available in Apophis's capital. Daniel saw an opportunity to save his wife and Teal'c's family.

Sam hated it, and herself a little for saying it, but she had to. "Apophis's home world will be heavily guarded. We don't have spy bot coverage there. Any attempt at infiltration will be very difficult without sufficient intel." And dangerous. Very dangerous.

"What about an invasion?" Daniel asked. "A decapitation strike? Saqqara is a core part of Apophis's realm, one of the worlds supplying his forces. If we could take it out, he would be greatly weakened. The other System Lords would turn on him."

"We would have to hold it." Teal'c shook his head slightly. "That would most likely reveal the Alliance to the Goauld at large. Even if we decided to merely destroy the arms factories on the planet before leaving, witnesses would remain. I do not believe that the Alliance currently has the resources to launch a false flag operation of that scale. And if our existence becomes known to the System Lords, they will close ranks."

"Yeah." The Colonel looked grim. "We would need a fleet of Ha'taks to take on Apophis's home fleet without revealing ourselves."

"We could develop a form of camouflage technology that would allow a frigate to mimic a Ha'tak, maybe," Entrapta suggested. "Using holoprojection and stealth technology to fool sensors, it might be possible, though the differences in weapon technology would be a challenge to mask. The weapon placements are different, as are the flight profiles."

"It would probably be easier to construct Ha'taks - or facsimiles with our technology," Sam said. And that would be far too inefficient when they were still struggling to build their own shops on Earth. But a system that allowed their ships to pose as Ha'taks would be useful as well. It would allow them to close in with enemy ships and installations, at the least, before dropping the facade. Although whether or not such advantages were worth the resources needed to develop those systems was questionable… Sam shook her head. She could run a feasibility study another time.

"You think you have the forces to take and hold Apophis's homeworld?" Bra'tac once more tilted his head.

"Yes," She-Ra replied. "But we don't have the numbers to defend every world we liberate against a Goa'uld fleet and keep doing it until everyone's saved. We need to destroy the Goa'uld's fleets before we can start freeing all their enslaved worlds to keep them from massing their forces for retaliatory strikes."

"Or use a few worlds as bait to lure those fleets into battles where we can destroy them," Catra added. "Hunting down all of their ships and fleets would be a pain."

"I see." Bra'tac nodded.

"But that will take a long time," Daniel said. "Teal'c's family needs help now. And Sha're…" He trailed off, pressing his lips together.

"Without the Spy Bot Network, we need other ways to get intel," Glimmer said. "Originally, we came to spread the news about the symbionts. Can those be used to convince more people to turn against Apophis so they would supply us with information?"

Bra'tac slowly tilted his head. "If they work, yes. But they would have to be demonstrated - even those who question the false gods will not easily turn to sabotage, much less open rebellion. If I had a few examples…"

"We are ramping up production," Entrapta said. "So, we don't have too many yet - but we're working on that, don't worry! Once the factories are running, we'll do what we can to cover everyone! But we have a few with us - Sam expected this! Well, we have them at the temporary base camp."

Sam nodded. "We can move back there and demonstrate their use." And replace your own Prim'ta, she silently added. She didn't know how old Bra'tac's symbiont was, but she was certain that before making any promises to his friends, he would test the symbionts himself. But unlike certain politicians, he wouldn't do it for selfish reasons but to ensure if anyone got hurt, it would be him and not others.

"Yes, let's retreat off-planet for now," the Colonel said.

"But…" Daniel closed his mouth with a glance at Teal'c.

"It is the wisest course of action, for now," Teal'c said. "We need more information to plan our next move. We might have to appeal to the Tok'ra for their support."

"The Tok'ra?" Bra'tac's eyebrows rose again. "You are in contact with them?"

"We're allies," the Colonel said. "Kind of. It's complicated."

"It's not. We are allies. And friends. They are just stuck in their spy ways," Adora retorted.

"As I said, it's complicated."

"I see. I think." Bra'tac nodded.

*****​

Gate Area, PZ-1151, November 8th, 1999 (Earth Time)

"So… here's our Temporary Healing Station. Or Temporary Medical Station, depending on whether you have a healer available or not. Since we have Adora with us, it's a Healing Station. Which actually means that whatever station she visits turns into a Healing Station, I think." Entrapta frowned a little. "That seems a bit weird. Logical, but weird even for the militaries of Earth and their traditions."

Catra snorted. The Earth military did love their abbreviations and definitions. They had their uses, of course, but sometimes, they took it too far. A bit of flexibility was often better for running an army, in her experience. A lesson she had, fortunately, in hindsight, learned late.

"Only staff permanently assigned to a station counts for the designation," Sam told her.

"Ah. That makes more sense. Anyway, we can test the symbiont - well, demonstrate it; we already tested it - in there," Entrapta told Bra'tac. "The station isn't currently busy treating wounded since we didn't fight, and there were no accidents."

"Is this standard of care for your wounded?" Bra'tac asked, looking around as they entered the station.

"It depends on the missions," O'Neill explained. "If we establish a field base, even a temporary one like this, then yes, it will have a medical centre. But we wouldn't do this on planets we don't control or are about to conquer."

"Liberate," Glimmer corrected him. "We aren't going to conquer any planets. We're going to liberate them from the Goa'uld."

Catra snorted again. The Princess Alliance sometimes was a little too concerned with semantics as well. To defeat the Goa'uld, the Alliance would have to take a lot of worlds and base troops on them - to protect them from a counter-attack, but also to fight whatever loyalist remnants were left on the world. The differences between that and outright conquest would be minimal until the planet was ready to fend for itself, and that would take a long time with most undeveloped worlds.

Glimmer was frowning at her, Catra noticed. She snorted again and shrugged. "We're not going to form an Empire. But we're not going to liberate a planet and then leave it for anyone else to conquer or raid."

"We're from the Alliance, and we're here to help," O'Neill added.

"Yes!" Adora must have missed that he was sarcastic and nodded eagerly. "We're here to help the Goa'uld's victims - all of them!"

Daniel opened his mouth, then closed it, scowling at O'Neill.

"Anyway," Entrapta spoke up again, her hair pointing at a reinforced small tank in the corner with a guard bot hovering next to it. "There are two dozen synthetic symbionts. Pick one, and we can implant it in you right away! It works just like a Goa'uld larva for your immune system, and that's all it does. And it will last for decades - we don't know exactly how long it will last, only that it will be at least a few decades. It's kind of hard to test that any faster, so we have to extrapolate from other data."

The old Jaffa walked over and peered at the armoured glass. He was almost a hundred and forty years old, according to Teal'c. Older than anyone Catra knew, except for Angella. And Horde Prime. What would it be like, to be that old? she wondered.

"They do look differently from Prim'tas."

"Yes. We had to stick to a similar form so they could interface with your immune system, but a lot of the other parts were unnecessary, so we cut them - well, figuratively. We didn't actually cut pieces from a Goa'uld larva. It's all genetic engineering!"

"I would cut countless Prim'tas to free even one of my people," Bra'tac said.

Daniel nodded quite fiercely, to Catra's surprise.

"Well, we don't have to do that," Adora said.

But they would have to deal with every Prim'ta that they replaced. And Catra had a feeling that their former hosts would want to dispose of them. Permanently. She understood that. Very well. It had taken everything not to smash Horde Prime's chip as soon as it had been removed, back when… She pressed her lips together.

"Anyway, we can replace your larva any time you're ready!" Entrapta said. "It's very easy since you have a pouch made for that - it would be a bit harder if we had to do surgery, but only a bit."

Bra'tac looked at Teal'c. "You have not yet replaced your Prim'ta."

"I thought a demonstration might be necessary for some who might doubt it," Teal'c replied. "But I am ready to replace it as well."

"Bye-bye, Junior," Catra heard O'Neill mutter. "And good riddance."

"Then we shall do so," Bra'tac announced.

"Great!" Entrapta cheered. "We can do it simultaneously!"

The actual procedure was… well, not really a procedure. Teal'c and Bra'tac sat down on one of the surgical tables, Entrapta and Sam each grabbed a synthetic symbiont from the tank, and then the two Jaffa pulled their belly pouch open, reached inside and pulled the Prim'tas out before putting the synthetic symbionts in.

For some reason, most of the Earth people in the room looked a little taken aback, though. Or grossed out.

"Alright! Let's use our scanner to check…" Entrapta said, hair tendrils pointing two scanners from the station's stock at the two Jaffa. "Looks good. No signs of any collapse… data matches our baselines from testing… You're good!" She beamed at Teal'cand Bra'tac.

"We're free," Bra'tac said.

"Indeed." Teal'c nodded.

The two exchanged a glance and a nod, and then Catra heard a squishing noise, followed by the sound of Goa'uld blood and body parts dripping on the floor.

"Ew!"

"Gross!"

"That was…"

"Was that necessary?"

"That's not sanitary, I think, for a medical station. We'll have to sterilise the area thoroughly."

Catra shook her head. What had her friends expected that Teal'c and Bra'tac would do, once free? She'd done the same - well, she would have shredded it with her claws, but the result would have been the same.

*****​

Well, I should have expected that, Jack O'Neill thought as Teal'c and Bra'tac washed their hands while a small bot started to clean and disinfect the mess on the floor. If you were forced to carry a larva of your worst enemy inside you on pain of death for years - decades - then killing it as soon as you could was a natural impulse. It probably also felt cathartic, not that he'd ever use the word aloud - Jack had a reputation to keep.

He glanced at the others. Carter had that expression on her face, lips pressed together, trying not to scowl, that showed she disapproved but wouldn't say anything because she didn't disapprove too much. Or understood the reasons. And Daniel… didn't look like he disapproved at all. He would be thinking of his wife. Though for a guy like him not to react to this… Jack made a mental note to keep an eye on that. Daniel was usually the voice of restraint and mercy, and if he wasn't, you had to watch out.

The Etherians, unsurprisingly, were openly appalled - with the equally unsurprising exception of Catra. Although Jack wasn't quite sure if Entrapta was appalled at the killing or the unhygienic way it had happened.

"Was that necessary?" Adora repeated herself when Teal'c and Bra'tac finished cleaning up - well, mostly; there were a few Goa'uld blood spots left on their clothes.

Bra'tac tilted his head - was that where Teal'c got it from? - and nodded. "It was more merciful than letting them die from exposure."

"We could have put the larvae into a tank," Bow said.

"To what purpose? So it can grow into a Goa'uld, and we have to kill it then?" Bra'tac shook his head.

"We don't kill prisoners!" Adora snapped.

Jack caught Bra'tac glancing at Teal'c for confirmation.

"Indeed. Yet, larvae are not prisoners," Teal'c added. "They would have to mature for that."

"They carry the genetic memory of their Goa'uld parent - although to what degree varies - but as far as we know, they are not sapient yet and cannot access it," Carter said. She looked uncomfortable, though.

"But they will if you let them grow up," Daniel added with a scowl. "They will look for hosts to possess - we know that - and fight us."

"They might join the Tok'ra," Adora retorted.

"Those who join the Tok'ra do so after their experiences under their Goa'uld lords," Teal'c said. "And a very scant few of the Goa'uld ever overcome their genetic memory."

"How can you fight a war if you intend to breed your enemies?" Bra'tac asked.

"That's not the point," Glimmer said.

"What else would you do with them?" Daniel asked. "Incubate them to keep them in habitats? Do you know how many larvae a single Goa'uld queen produces? And you know they require sapient hosts to be mentally healthy. Do you want larvae to mature, just to live like that?"

The Etherians obviously didn't like it, but they didn't have an answer to that. Jack nodded. Daniel always knew how to ask the hard questions.

"Well… we could try to find a way to fix them so they won't be diminished if they lack a sapient host?" Entrapta suggested. "It should be possible with genetic engineering."

And Entrapta always knew how to make an awkward situation even worse by opening a huge can of worms. Almost literally, in this case.

"Entrapta! We can't just 'fix' an entire species!" Glimmer said.

"Why not? We're working on finding a way to fix the Asgard's issues. This seems to be the same problem. Sameish."

"We can't just fix a species against their will," Glimmer corrected herself. "I mean, we shouldn't."

"So we should kill them instead?" Entrapta asked.

"Yes," Bra'tac said.

"Indeed."

"No!" Adora shook her head. "But we can't make that decision for them. That would be wrong."

"But we have to think about how to handle the Goa'uld if we win the war," Catra spoke up. "What do we do with them?"

"Let the Tok'ra decide?" Bow suggested.

"They do not consider themselves Goa'uld," Carter pointed out.

"Yes, Anise was very clear about that." Entrapta nodded emphatically. "So, if we shouldn't decide the fate of another species, then the Tok'ra shouldn't either, right?"

"Just pick a planet with lots of swamps and water and drop all of them into it, then seal it off?" Catra shrugged.

"As far as we know, they did evolve in such circumstances," Daniel added. "If they had not managed to possess sapient hosts, they would still be restricted to their home planet. Banishing them back to that planet would merely let nature run its course."

Jack didn't think things worked like that, but he didn't have a better suggestion. Not that he needed one. "That's all fine and dandy, but we haven't won the war yet. We have not yet begun to fight, so to speak."

Daniel frowned at him for mangling and misusing the famous quote, but the others nodded.

"That still leaves us with the problem of how to handle larvae," Glimmer said. "Every Jaffa we free from the Goa'uld's hold on them will have one."

"And every Jaffa will kill it to free themselves," Bra'tac said. "Are you planning to deny them this?"

"One could argue that we don't have the right to deprive them of exacting justice according to their customs," Daniel said.

"The Alliance doesn't kill prisoners," Adora retorted. "And we won't look away while prisoners are killed by others."

"But are larvae prisoners?" Entrapta asked. "If they aren't sapient, they can't really be prisoners." She nodded. "We need data! We'll have to test if they are sapient or not!"

Jack saw Carter nod at that and suppressed a groan. He had a feeling that this would further complicate things. "Yeah, good, you do that. But first, let's focus on saving Teal'c's family."

Everyone agreed to that, at least. Not that Jack had expected anything else. It was what SG-1 and their friends did, after all.

*****​

Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, November 8th, 1999

"You want to attack Apophis's homeworld?" General Naird sounded shocked, Adora found. For the highest-ranking American officer in the Alliance Command Council, he seemed to be a bit… easily startled.

"No, we want to rescue Teal'c's family," she explained - again.

"By attacking Apophis's homeworld," Naird repeated himself.

"We're not planning to attack Saqqara," Catra said. "We're going to sneak in, get Drey'auc and Rya'c and leave. Preferably without anyone noticing anything, but if we have to fight our way free, well…" She shrugged.

"What happens happens," Jack added with a grin. "General."

Naird ground his teeth. "I've read the reports from Stargate Command. Your team regularly turned exploration missions into combat missions, General!"

"That wasn't our fault," Jack retorted.

"I'm not some rear-echelon paper-pusher - I know a bullshit excuse when I see one, and your reports were full of them!" Naird snarled. "This council agreed that keeping the Alliance a secret is our current strategic priority. Such a mission would jeopardise that!"

"It's true that this seems to be a slightly risky operation," Admiral Brown-Emerson said, running a finger over his moustache. "But we have to consider the reward of a successful mission."

Naird frowned. "As far as I know, both Teal'c's wife and son are considered outcasts in Jaffa society. The odds that they are privy to classified, actionable intel are low. And I doubt that the targets of opportunity General O'Neill is undoubtedly planning to hit will be worth the risk, either."

Adora glared at him. That wasn't how you judged the risks! Teal'c had done so much for the Alliance, risked and sacrificed so much, they owed him this!

"It's not about the intel we can gather - or the factories we might be able to sabotage - it's also about weakening Apophis's hold on his systems," Glimmer spoke up. "If we can save Drey'auc and Rya'c, everyone will know he cannot even control his homeworld. The loss of face alone will weaken him and encourage defectors and infighting - and attacks from other System Lords."

"And reveal the Alliance!" Naird objected.

"No, it won't," Adora told him. "The Goa'uld will assume that this was just another mission by SG-1. We won't be recognisable as either Horde or Etherians." Even though the Goa'uld couldn't really be aware of Etheria anyway since it had been hidden in Despondo for a thousand years.

"And we have done this before," Jack added with a smirk. "Not to brag, but we got a reputation amongst the snakes."

Naird rolled his eyes, then looked at Catra. "Then the Goa'uld should know that Earth doesn't have… catpeople."

Adora's lover snorted. "They'll think I'm an alien SG-1 picked up somewhere. Maybe a Sekhmet - people keep mistaking me for one."

"I agree. This would fit Stargate Command's past exploits," Admiral Brown-Emerson said.

"But there is a risk of one or more members of the team getting captured," General Durand pointed out.

"We won't leave anyone behind," Adora said, narrowing her eyes. Never again.

"You can't promise that," Naird objected.

"Yes, I can." She looked at him until he pouted.

"It could still go wrong…"

"If the worst happens, what would they do?" Admiral Brown-Emerson asked. "Even if they suspect or assume that Earth has found allies, they wouldn't know who or where to look for them - except for Earth. And if the Goa'uld rally and attack the Solar System in force, then that would be the perfect opportunity to destroy a significant part of their fleet with our superior forces. Strategically, that would be a very favourable outcome."

"You're just hoping for another Trafalgar!" Naird muttered.

"This Council agreed that destroying the enemy's Naval assets is a necessary step for the liberation of their worlds," the British admiral replied in a bland tone.

Jack still snickered, of course.

"In any case," Adora pointed out, "as this is a recon mission, I can authorise it. Which I did." As Supreme Commander of the Alliance.

They wouldn't leave Teal'c's family in Apophis's hands. Or Sha're, if she was on Saqqara.

All they needed was the Tok'ra's help.

*****​

Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, November 8th, 1999

"You ask for our help to infiltrate Saqqara, Apophis's homeworld."

Anise didn't sound amused, Samantha Carter thought. Although she also sounded surprised, but Sam wasn't sure about that - she was a scientist, not a diplomat. The only reason this discussion was happening in the first place was that Sam and Entrapta were friends with Anise, and this was how Etherian princesses did things. But Sam wasn't a princess, either. This really should be handled by others. Probably not the Colonel, though.

"Yes!" Entrapta nodded. "We need to save Teal'c's family and Daniel's wife. And our data indicates that they are currently on Saqqara - at least the former. We're not quite sure about Sha're, but we should be able to find information about her location on Saqqara as well, I think."

"You might also find death on Saqqara. Or worse." Anise shook her head. "Apophis's court is there, as are his most loyal and effective guards."

"We're aware of the danger," Sam said. It had been pointed out ad nauseam, as Daniel had complained, by some members of the Command Council.

"I doubt that." Her friend scoffed. "You have no experience with infiltrating a stronghold of a System Lord, much less their court. Your success against Ra was due to his arrogance and mere chance that he visited Abydos."

Sam suppressed a wince. She couldn't really disagree with that assessment. But she hadn't been on that mission. "Stargate Command achieved more undercover missions." Like the one to Chulak two years ago. And they did blow up two of Apophis's Ha'taks to save Earth, though they had been lucky that time as well.

Anise frowned. "Missions born from desperation that succeeded due to chance do not equal actual experience with this sort of undercover work. There are few amongst the Tok'ra I would call experienced and qualified for such a mission, and it wouldn't include me."

"But you do have such people," Entrapta said, still smiling. "The data you have on Apophis couldn't be collected without someone on Saqqara."

Anise frowned, even though that was common knowledge, and the Tok'ra had never denied it. "Yes, we do. And each time they contact us to pass on intel, they risk their lives and years of preparation and sacrifices. You are asking us to risk all that - and the chance of finding crucial information in the future - for what?"

"To save our friends' families, of course," Entrapta earnestly replied as if that was enough of a reason. But then, for the Etherians, it was.

Sam smiled wryly at Anise's expression. It had probably been a rhetorical question.

"And does that justify the risks?"

"Yes." Entrapta nodded firmly. "No one left behind. Unless they're dead - but we'll make sure that they're dead even if they look dead. That once happened to me, you know? We were infiltrating a Horde base, and I got cut off, and it looked as if I was killed, so the others left. I had managed to escape into an air duct, though, and later met Catra and Scorpia, and then Hordak, so it turned out for the best!" She beamed at them.

Sam didn't quite agree with that assessment, but it was none of her business. "Both the Etherians and SG-1 have experience with infiltrating enemy strongholds," she said instead.

"What you told me about your missions doesn't fill me with confidence about what you learned from those experiences," Anise retorted. But she was smiling, at least a little.

Sam wasn't a diplomat, but this was a good sign. "We do not want you to risk your agent at court. We only require a cover to use the Stargate to reach Saqqara."

"Yes. If we have to fight our way in, it would make finding our friends' families much harder," Entrapta said. "And we probably would have to invade the planet."

Judging by her friend's expression, Sam was sure that Anise didn't like the implication that the Alliance would launch an invasion if infiltration wasn't possible. Time to push, then. "Our mission would also provide a good cover for any sensitive information your agent passes over - at least for a time, future leaks could be blamed on us. And your agent would have an opportunity to replace a Goa'uld in the wake of the purge that a successful mission would start."

Anis gave her a look that made Sam suspect she had overdone it a little. "Will you also point out that if you happen to kill Apophis in his court, our agent would be free to return anyway?"

Well, that had come up during their discussion - it was bound to since that was how Ra had died - but… "This is a recon and rescue mission, not an assassination mission," Sam told her. Of course, if they stumbled on Apophis, all bets would be off.

Anise nodded. "I see. I will inform the Grand Council about this. But I can make no promises."

Sam knew that. But she had a good feeling about this.

*****​

 

[Starfox5]

Chapter 108: The Rescue Operation Part 1

Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, November 9th, 1999

"...and while reports of magical attacks in the United States keep accumulating, none of them have been confirmed so far. According to today's press release, the police are investigating all reports of magical assaults to the best of their ability, though the press release didn't specify what exactly those resources are. Will we be seeing witch cops patrolling the neighbourhood on brooms?"

Catra switched channels while the stupid journalist laughed at his own joke.

"...and the Vatican has refused to comment on rumours that, following the recent reports of magical assaults in Britain and other countries, they are considering using the Holy Inquisition for witch hunting as several conservative politicians from various predominantly Catholic countries have demanded. However…"

"...authorities are still investigating the massive oak tree that has sprouted overnight in front of the Stortinget. Security camera footage from the parliament building has been leaked, showing that the tree grew within a few minutes from a sapling pushing through the grass to a towering height of twenty-five metres. Even though no one has yet proposed cutting the tree down, several dozen worshippers of the Norse Pantheon have gathered to protest any harm. According to their spokesperson, they consider the tree a gift from the gods, and…"

"I wonder if we should inform the Asgard of this," Catra commented as she changed channels again.

"Of what?" Adora looked up from the reports she was studying.

"That someone's trying to impersonate them."

Adora blinked. "They are?"

Catra snorted. "I doubt it. Looks more like someone in Norway figured out how to magically grow trees."

"Oh!" Adora straightened. "Like Perfuma? We need to contact them, then! That could be a great boon to our logistics!"

Catra shrugged. "So far, no one has claimed responsibility. But we should tell the Norwegian Prime Minister."

"Yes!" Adora made a note.

"Unless it's limited to trees," Catra added. "That's not going to help much. And people might get angry if someone cuts it down."

"Oh." Her lover frowned. "That'd be… not good. But we still need to know if someone can grow trees. And how." She went back to reading her reports, and Catra returned to watching the news.

"...crowds are gathering in front of the temple, hoping to be blessed by what was described as a kami by the local priest, apparently manifesting as a column of water in the temple's pond. It was reportedly called by a shrine maiden whose name has been withheld. While the Japanese government has not yet commented on it, the Tokyo Police Department is monitoring the situation but has not seen any need to intervene so far, and…"

"...of the New South Wales Police Force announced that travel to the area was restricted after witnesses reported seeing a 'great black monster dragging a kangaroo into the river'. While experts assume this was a saltwater crocodile, perhaps of uncommon colouration, some sources claim it was a 'bunyip', and…"

"If Entrapta constructs a bot to sift through all the Earth news for things that would be of interest, I bet the thing kills itself after a week," Catra muttered.

"Hm?"

"Nothing." Catra sighed and changed channels again. The Tok'ra should hurry up; waiting like this was the worst. Especially with the whole world still going crazy about magic.

"...and the police have confirmed that the girl died during an exorcism attempt by the local pastor after her parents complained about her 'unnatural behaviour' since Halloween. Dozens of members of the pastor's church have gathered in front of the jail to protest his arrest. The family of the dead girl also released a statement protesting the arrest. According to them, the pastor only did 'God's work', and…"

Catra shook her head. Crazies! The whole lot of them. Maybe she should stop watching the news and reread some of the reports. But she already read them and memorised everything about Saqqara. She could go bug O'Neill and help with training his 'Snake Hunters', but that would require a shuttle trip to Germany and leave Adora. And someone had to keep an eye on her.

She sighed and looked at the screen in their office - well, Adora's - again.

"...and the police were forced to step in after a 'miracle' in the local church was exposed as a simple trick by a group of teenagers. Two people had to be treated in the hospital after the congregation grew violent following their 'sabotage' of Paster Lawrence's service and tried to attack the teenagers, injuring themselves when their car ran into a ditch trying to ram a van…"

Yes, completely crazy! Catra sighed again as a bunch of kids were interviewed while their dog - the size of a pony - stole food out of the journalist's car. This was…

Her tablet vibrated, interrupting her thoughts. More requests from Etheria for Earth media? They were lucrative but often annoying, especially when they didn't know what exactly they wanted to watch or read.

It wasn't an order. It was a message from Entrapta. The Tok'ra had contacted her.

Yes!

*****​

Stargate Command, CFB Goose Bay, Newfoundland, Canada, November 9th, 1999

"Chevron Seven… locked."

Jack O'Neill watched as the wormhole formed. It still felt weird to be in this new base, with the familiar routines and familiar people, yet no longer being part of Stargate Command.

"Wormhole stabilised."

He glanced up at the Gate Command Centre, where General Hammond was watching from behind armoured glass. Of course, this base had shield generators ready to isolate the Stargate and blaster turrets to deal with any intruders. They still had soldiers on guard, though. And a sorceress from Etheria - nominally under Jack's command because of politics. Couldn't have the Russians and Chinese be in command of sorceresses or Etherians.

"Alright! Let's go - there's no time to lose!" Adora said, already stepping on the ramp.

"Bot first," Catra objected.

"Yes! You wouldn't want to hurt its feelings, would you?" Entrapta asked.

"And we still have time," Catra added.

"The delegation might be early," Adora pointed out while the bot floated through the Stargate. "And if they try to open a Stargate and it doesn't work…"

"They'll expect Saqqara's Stargate to be busy and wait for their scheduled arrival," Catra retorted. "So, relax."

"Visual confirmation," Carter announced.

Jack glanced over to her screen, where a deserted Stargate had appeared - just as it was supposed to look. Then the view changed as the drone looked up into the dark sky above it.

"Tracking constellations… PK-Z642's location confirmed," Carter announced.

"No active power source or Naquadah on the scanner," Entrapta added, watching a feed on her visor.

"Alright. Let's go. We've got an ambush to prepare!" Catra walked past Adora and stepped through the gate.

"Hey!" Adora followed. "You said there was no need to hurry!"

Jack sighed. He knew that the two would be perfectly - well, reasonably - professional once the action started, but… General or not, making jokes before a mission to release the tension was his shtick.

"Let's go!" he told the rest, walking up the ramp himself and through the gate.

He arrived on PK-Z642. A deserted world with barely any life on it. At least, according to their intel - and that was also exactly how it looked to normal people. Some biologists would probably be all excited about the lichens on the rocks near the Stargate. "Why did the Ancients place a Stargate here?" He shook his head. "They probably had a quota to make or something."

"That was millions of years ago," Daniel said, walking down the ramp. "Things must have been different back then." Glimmer and Bow were close on his heels.

Jack shrugged. "I doubt it. There aren't even any ruins here."

"Who cares? It's an empty planet with an address close enough to Saqqara's so the Tok'ra can pull off the switch without looking suspicious," Catra said. "That's all we need."

"Well, discovering a planet's history might reveal valuable information." Daniel smiled. "The more we know, the better we are able to understand the Ancients - but also our current galaxy."

"Do you tell your students that to motivate them to sift through tons of sand, Professor?" Jack smirked.

His friend pouted. "I don't have students. I merely give a few lectures on occasion. And I am not a professor."

Jack knew that. "You give lectures at universities. So, you're a professor."

"That's not how it works! It's…"

"Anyway," Jack interrupted him as Entrapta and Carter, followed by Teal'c and Bra'tac, arrived. "Close the gate and get ready - we've got a tribute delegation to ambush!"

"From Khalid, Apophis's poorest and least important vassal," Catra said. "I bet even Apophis has forgotten about the guy."

"Oh, I doubt that." Jack snorted. "Apophis is the kind of petty snake that will absolutely notice if even a single grain isn't delivered as ordered." Even though, according to the Tok'ra intel, Apophis hadn't personally met Khalid's delegation in decades. That was why they were going to use them as a cover, after all.

"Yes," Daniel agreed. "He's petty and cruel - and greedy."

"And arrogant," Glimmer added as the wormhole collapsed. "Everyone who has met him agrees on that."

"Indeed." Teal'c nodded.

"Oh, yes." Jack nodded as well. He looked around. The place was flat, with no cover or concealment available. Under normal circumstances, that would be a bad spot for an ambush. But since their targets would be arriving through the Stargate, expecting to be on Saqqara thanks to the Tok'ra, their surprise should be enough. It wasn't as if they could retreat through the Stargate, anyway. Not while it was active.

"Everyone knows the plan?" Jack asked. He didn't wait for an answer before continuing: "Take them down as soon as they walk through the gate and drag them off the ramp. Don't damage or dirty their uniforms and armour too much - we need them."

"Yes, we know. It's not the most complex plan we've ever seen," Glimmer said, rolling her eyes.

"I'm ready!" Bow hefted his, well, bow and one of his trick arrows - the one launching a net.

"Alright. Take your positions!" Adora said. "They could arrive any minute!"

Then the waiting began.

*****​

Gate Area, PK-Z642, November 9th, 1999 (Earth Time)

"'Any minute'? It's been fifteen minutes already. I'm going to take a nap. Wake me up once the gate activates!"

Adora frowned as her lover did as she announced and lay down on top of a rock near the Stargate. "Catra…"

"I'm sleeping." Catra interrupted her, sprawling with two limbs and her tail hanging off the rock's sides, her head resting on her lower arm.

Adora crossed her arms. "You're not asleep." Not yet - not even Catra managed to fall asleep that fast.

A snore was her answer. Adora could press on, but… Catra could be stubborn. And while this was setting a bad example, there were no soldiers around to get the wrong impression. Everyone - Glimmer, Bow, Entrapta and SG-1 - was already familiar with Catra's antics. Except for Bra'tac, but the old Jaffa seemed amused by the scene.

"No warrior can indefinitely stay ready to fight at a moment's notice," he said. "It just tires them out."

"Although the false gods often ignore that wisdom," Teal'c added.

"Yes, they do. And it has cost them battles and good warriors," Bra'tac agreed. "And once word of the new synthetic symbionts spreads, it might yet cost them even more."

That's why we are doing this - well, part of the reason, Adora thought.

"Let's hope so," Jack said. "We can…"

The sound of the wormhole being formed - a few minutes early! - interrupted him.

"Heads up! Incoming!" he snapped.

Adora stepped up and formed her sword. Catra had already rolled off the rock and drawn her shock rod.

A few seconds later, two men appeared out of the wormhole - Jaffa wearing armour and carrying staff weapons. They gasped, startled, but before they could react, Bow hit them with a net arrow that entangled both.

Adora was already moving, slapping their staffs out of their hands and pushing them off the ramp. They flew a few yards and landed in the sand, rolling a few more yards, tightly wrapped in the net.

Another Jaffa appeared, but Catra tackled him off the ramp as well, tearing his helmet off and stunning him with her shock rod before they hit the ground. That would be the leader of the delegation.

Then a wagon came through the gate - the tribute for Apophis, pushed by slaves. They froze at the sight.

"Get off the ramp! Leave the wagon!" Jack snapped, gesturing to the side. They hastily did so, huddling together at the foot of the ramp.

Between Adora, Teal'c and Bra'tac, the two Jaffa bringing up the rear were quickly taken care of as well. The wormhole collapsed shortly after they, too, were in the sand next to the ramp.

Catra grabbed the still-twitching leader. "Alright! Let's strip them!"

That didn't take long, either. Though Daniel had to explain to the slaves that they wouldn't be killed but set free. And to the Jaffa that they were now prisoners, but that didn't go over as well - their leader was still threatening them with 'the Great Khalid's revenge' as they pushed him through the gate back to Earth. It wasn't very impressive, even if he hadn't been in his underwear.

Glimmer eyed the robes the slaves had been wearing with obvious distaste as she held them up. They were clean, though - Khalid wouldn't send his delegation, not even the slaves, in dirty clothes to Apophis.

"What? Not sparkly enough?" Catra grinned. "Too bad. You're too small to pass for a Jaffa."

Glimmer huffed. "I don't want to wear the heavy armour anyway."

"It's not that heavy, actually," Bow commented, slipping into the set that fit him best. "And not as constricting as I expected. And you can see quite well in this helmet," he added in a muffled voice after putting it on.

"What good would it be to design armour that hindered a warrior in combat? Even the false gods would not indulge their vanity that much," Bra'tac said, changing armour himself.

"Indeed."

Bow was correct, Adora found once she donned her own set. The helmet didn't restrict her vision much. About on par with Horde infantry helmets, actually. And they had a set of armour in She-Ra's size. Fortunately, it wasn't the more ornate set that the leader of the delegation had worn; Adora wouldn't have been able to pull off posing as him.

Bra'tac would do that, with Adora, Teal'c, Bow and Jack posing as his guards, and the rest disguising themselves with the robes from the slaves. The robes were a bit large on some of them, especially Entrapta, but that only served to disguise them better, in Adora's opinion. And the Goa'uld were supposed to ignore slaves anyway. Unless they were looking for hosts or something. But they should be safe enough pushing the wagon.

"It's really weird," Entrapta commented as they dialled the Stargate to Saqqara. "They have the technology. Why didn't they build a self-propelled wagon?"

"Tradition, I think. Paying tribute is a ceremonial event," Daniel explained. "It's more about the show of loyalty than the actual tribute - and that means the optics matter more than efficiency. Having slaves push your old-fashioned tribute wagon sends a message."

"Like a parade," Jack added.

"But according to our data, Apophis doesn't even watch this," Entrapta objected.

Daniel nodded. "Yes, which is also sending a message. To Khalid and Apophis's other vassals."

"Khalid sounds like Apophis's Kyle," Catra muttered as she adjusted her hood.

"What is a Kyle?" Bra'tac asked.

Before they could explain, the wormhole formed.

Adora nodded. It was time. They had people to save.

"Let's go."

*****​

Gate Area, Saqqara, November 9th, 1999 (Earth Time)

The contrast to Chulak was striking, Samanha Carter thought after stepping through the wormhole and arriving on Saqqara. Chulak's Stargate was in the open plains, quite far from the capital, and guarded at most by a token force posted there.

Saqqara's Stargate was housed in a bunker. And Apophis had remodelled since Bra'tac and Teal'c had last visited, from the looks of it, with a dozen guards close to the Stargate augmented by more behind embrasures in a new wall that surrounded the entire setup. Apophis didn't take any chances on his homeworld. Though he lacked an iris or other mechanism to block the Stargate… no, she realised as she pushed the heavy tribute wagon forward, the Stargate could be lowered to the ground, blocking it. Of course, if a party was expected, the gate would be open…

The wagon reached the top of the ramp, and Sam and the others next to her pushing it had to switch to pulling back so it wouldn't run down the ramp and smash into the official from Apophis waiting there. Without Catra, they would have had to struggle, but as things were, it didn't take too much of an effort to slowly guide the wagon downwards.

That also meant Sam could focus on other things more easily. Such as taking in the layout of the room and the position of the guards watching them. They were set up for a crossfire, positioned in a quarter-circle so they wouldn't hit each other. Like at Stargate Command. And they were watching everyone, including the 'slaves', with their staff weapons ready. Good troops.

"...and here is the tribute of Khalid the Great for the magnificent Apophis! Treasure from his domain, jewellery wrought by the best smiths in his realm! The finest Dakir pelts, unique in the entire Galaxy! And salted Qu'adu fit for the most refined palate of the magnificent Apophis, may his reign last eternally!" Bra'tac gestured at the wagon as Daniel, Glimmer, Entrapta, Sam and Catra took a step back from it, bowing low.

The pompous official - not a Jaffa, a Goa'uld, Sam noted - sniffed rather derisively. "Yes, yes, the usual." He nodded at two Serpent Guards standing behind him. "Search it."

The two approached the wagon, pulled the covers away and started inspecting the various items and crates there. They were used to this, Sam noted - they moved and acted like customs officials at international airports. But a physical inspection wouldn't detect everything, and Apophis was no fool, so…

She kept her head lowered so the hood would hide her face but glanced around. There, on a raised balcony, another Jaffa still behind a console. That would be the one to use sensors to check for contraband. As Bra'tac had told them. And the scanners she could see looked more advanced than the standard ones they met in the field. A little, at least.

"Nothing," one Jaffa reported.

The Goa'uld snorted at that and checked on his communicator. "And the scan is clean as well. Well, take the tribute to the usual vault." He made a dismissive gesture with his hand and turned away before Bra'tac could reply.

Evidently, Khalid was not held in high esteem. Or any esteem at all. Sam hoped that didn't extend to his servants and slaves being fair game for anyone higher up the food chain. The predictable response to any such attempt would complicate their mission.

Bra'tac huffed - softly, though - and gestured at the rest of their group. "Move! We fulfil our duty!"

Sam started pushing again, and they moved forward. The massive gate in front of them started to open, revealing walls fit for a vault, not merely a bunker. So, a gate room, surrounded by fortified firing positions, all inside a vault. And deep underground - a lift was waiting for them. Apophis took his gate security very seriously.

But not seriously enough to simply have the tribute handed over to his own guards in the gate room and Khalid's delegation sent home from there. Because, Sam thought as the lift stopped and the doors opened, he wants his visitors to see the glory of his capital.

Before them, a maze of buildings sprawled - stone and fake stone, Sam guessed - all massive, built in a vaguely Egyptian style. She could see factory complexes in the back. And all of them were dwarfed by the colossal, roughly pyramid-shaped palace of Apophis in the distance. Death Gliders roamed the sky above it in pairs, probably more for show than for actual patrolling. Jaffa guards lined the wide avenue leading to the palace. Their destination.

"And we have to push the damn wagon all the way to the palace…" Sam heard Catra mutter next to her. "I should have insisted on being a guard."

"Move!" Bra'tac snapped.

They started pushing.

"Architecture meant to impress," Daniel noted. "Some dictators back on Earth did the same. Or attempted to. Any visitor will march through the very heart of Apophis's power."

It was impressive, Sam had to admit. As they walked past the buildings, she could see hundreds, thousands of people moving between them, through side streets and on bridges and passages spanning between buildings. It was a stark contrast to the typical worlds under Goa'uld control.

Yet, she added silently, after making a few calculations, it still didn't come close to the metropolises on Earth. Or their factories. But this was only one of the Goa'uld Empire's core worlds.

*****​

Apophis has to be compensating for a lot, Catra thought as they approached the Goa'uld's palace. The pyramid was even bigger than Bright Moon - the city, not the palace. And the street leading to it was wide enough for an entire hovertank platoon to travel side by side. Good ambush spots in the buildings lining the road, of course, but still - not the best arrangement from a defensible point of view.

Of course, if the Alliance had to attack the palace, they'd do with orbital and air bombardment and probably drop infantry and bots straight on the remains instead of launching a ground campaign. Much easier on the civilians as well. But if Catra would have to do a ground assault, she'd still send a unit straight down the road, if only to trip all the ambushers and traps. A group of bots would be perfect for that. Meanwhile, the main forces would strike at the exposed ambushers and push on - and also attack from the flank and make their own approaches by levelling some buildings. Hovertanks could fly over rubble, and the bots could climb over it.

But if she was limited to Earth ground troops… Yeah, assaulting the city would be a meat grinder for everyone. She'd better use assault shuttles to take the palace from the air. Though the air defences would have to be taken out first - even shielded shuttles could only take so much fire. And that meant they would have to lure the enemy forces into revealing themselves. Which meant Horde fighters piloted by bots as bait.

No matter how she looked at it, it would be a costly battle. And the cost would be even worse for Apophis's forces. Maybe it would be better to just level the palace from orbit, wreck the factories and barracks, and then wait the survivors out? Judging by how nice the air smelt, Apophis's factory complexes were either much cleaner than Horde ones - she doubted that - or he had a lot less capacity around his palace than Hordak had had in the Fright Zone during the war.

Apophis himself was another problem for any assault, of course. The snake could, in the face of certain defeat, take over any servant and hide amongst his slaves. And he wouldn't be the only Goauld doing that. Sorting out the hosts from the rest would be a nightmare. They'd need a decapitation strike to prevent that, but that was a lot harder to pull off than a simple invasion with superior forces. And probably best done with stealth shuttles again.

Catra narrowed her eyes, wishing she could throw off the damn hood and let her ears move freely. And kick off - and shred with her claws - the stupid boots she was wearing. She shouldn't have to wear boots unless the environment called for it. And this planet wasn't too cold or too hot.

Anyway, decapitation strikes were a good idea, but with the genetic memory of the snakes and the whole religious indoctrination of their forces and slaves, even taking out Apophis wouldn't really end the battle. But it would fragment his forces, which would make it far easier to defeat them in detail or catch them on the move. Earth armoured forces would be quite effective for that.

They were now two-thirds to the palace. And she had to control herself every step not to unsheath her foot claws for better traction. She really should have insisted on posing as a Jaffa guard. Sure, she was a bit small for a Jaffa, but unlike humans, she had the strength for it. Have O'Neill pose as a slave pushing a damn wagon like a horse. Or get Swift Wind to pull it. Make the damn horse be useful for a change. Heh, a winged horse as a gift would get them an audience with Apophis, allowing them to take him out…

They were passing the massive shield generators - well, the shield projectors on the surface - that were guarding the palace. Those would have to be reduced from orbit, of course. Or sabotaged before the assault. Breaking through on the ground would take a lot of firepower, though it wasn't impossible, as the Battle of Bright Moon had shown.

Inside the perimeter of the palace, though not yet inside the palace itself, she could spot far more guards than in the city. Enough to cover all approaches - not that that was hard; there was a strip surrounding the pyramid that had been cleared of any cover.

And now came the hardest part: Pushing the stupid wagon up the slope to the palace gates without losing her temper or losing her disguise. Grunting, she adjusted to the increased effort. If anyone ever made a draft animal joke about this…

"It's so inefficient…" Entrapta complained under her breath. "A single bot could have drawn the entire wagon. Somebody should have told Apophis that long ago!"

Catra snorted. Having slaves struggle was the point. Like in cadet training. Well, there, it was to foster team unity or something through shared hardship, though, for some instructors, that was just an excuse.

With another grunt, she pushed the wagon to the top of the slope, right in front of the palace gates.

Finally! They had arrived!

Now all they had to do was to vanish somewhere between the gate and the vaults, find Teal'c's family and Daniel's wife, kill Apophis if he was around, and leave.

After pushing the tribute wagon all the way here? Piece of cake.

*****​

Palace of Apophis, Saqqara, November 9th, 1999 (Earth Time)

You'd think Apophis had a subscription to 'Dictator's Quarterly', Jack O'Neill thought as they entered the palace. Most of the decor would fit perfectly in any of the palaces of various 'great leaders' and other rich and powerful scumbags on Earth that he had studied during his career for missions that had never happened, and a few that definitely had never happened, no sir. Massive marble columns, wall reliefs with gold inlays, carved wooden and ivory - or something alien that looked like it - furniture littered the hallways and rooms wherever you looked.

Of course, they were walking to the tribute vault, so this would be a route where Apophis's underlings would have taken extra care to impress any visitors. The whole palace wouldn't be full of such expensive gaucheness, or whatever you called it. On the other hand, Apophis had had a few thousand years to decorate and so many worlds to plunder…

He kept looking around as they walked down a big hallway. The armour was alright, but the helmet was a pain in the ass. It restricted his field of vision just a little bit, but it was enough to be noticeable and make him keep moving his head to cover his blindspots. Maybe he should have posed as a slave instead. But then he wouldn't be armed, and that would feel even worse than wearing a stupid helmet.

They passed another pair of guards standing to the sides - the fifth on the route - and finally reached the big lift to the vaults. A red light flickered over them - some scanner, Jack was sure. But unless Apophis had suddenly rediscovered magic or turned the lift into some X-ray machine, the scanner wouldn't find anything amiss. The 'slaves' were not carrying anything unusual. The 'guards' were armed with two zats and a staff weapon, but that wasn't too unusual. And Bra'tac was carrying Entrapta's multitool, but she had assured them that no known Goa'uld technology would identify its magic parts. Or the other parts hidden in the staff weapons.

Would be a hell of a time to discover that the princess had been wrong, of course.

The lift doors opened without any alert being sounded, and Bra'tac motioned to the others to push the wagon inside, but that didn't mean anything. If Jack were in charge, he'd turn the lift into a trap for intruders. It was the perfect ambush spot.

But once again, no alert sounded, and the lift slowly descended without any trouble until it opened again into a hallway made of metal - Naquadah-enhanced steel; Jack recognised the shine. Apophis didn't joke around when it came to his treasure chamber.

He also had four Jaffa guards here, plus another snake flunky, and probably a dozen more behind one of the side doors.

"Halt!" the flunky said. "This is the tribute?"

Jack pressed his lips together before he could make a quip about having mixed up the tribute with the cargo for the recycling plant back home. What did the snake expect? That somehow the guards at the Stargate and the ones at the palace entrance had made a mistake?

"Yes," Bra'tac replied. "The Great Khalid has sent the finest treasure to…"

"The finest treasures of your master are barely fit to enter these vaults," the Goa'uld interrupted him. He inspected the wagon with a sneer. "Quadu? Are stupid? That's for the kitchen, not the vault!"

The snake still grabbed one of the things and snacked on it, Jack noted, before turning to the guards. "Take the rest inside and those bags to the kitchen!"

And now comes the dismissal, Jack thought. Petty flunkies like that snake always jumped at the opportunity to lord it over someone else.

"What are you still doing here?" The Goa'uld scoffed. "Return to your master!"

Bra'tac bowed his head, then turned around. "We have done our duty! We will return to the Great Khalid!"

They went back into the lift. Jack glanced around. They were under observation - the camera in the ceiling was not subtle at all. But they had expected that. And they had timed the lift's route on the way down.

As soon as the doors closed, Bra'tac slapped the tool into Entrapta's hands. "Don't break it!" he snarled, then gripped his staff with both hands, acting as if he was angry at the insults thrown his way by pretty much everyone. Well, maybe he was angry.

Jack didn't care as long as their plan worked. And that depended on Entrapta and Carter, who were huddling over the tool. And taking their time - they were already halfway to the top. Maybe closer.

Jack clenched his teeth. Carter and her buddy wouldn't let them down. He had to trust them.

"We did it!" Entrapta announced.

"We hacked the cameras, sir," Carter reported. "And we found a hiding spot."

"Great!" Jack grinned.

They reached the ground floor and stepped out of the lift. Vanishing inside it would have been a bit too risky. The guards would wonder why an empty lift arrived. But disappearing on the way out? Plenty of crossings to duck into. Especially if you controlled the cameras and knew the blind spots of the guards.

Halfway to the gate, they darted to the side and dashed down a small maintenance corridor - still shiny with all the gold you could muster - and into a storage room or whatever the snake used it for.

"Alright!" Jack said as he handed his staff weapon over to Carter, then pulled his spare zat out while she started disassembling it. "Let's get this show on the road!"

*****​

Adora watched the door while Sam, Entrapta and Bow quickly took apart the three fake staff weapons they had brought and started building - no, assembling - the tools they needed for this. And Bow's 'Q Bow', as Jack had dubbed the contraption Bow had somehow managed to slide into the hollowed-out shaft of a staff. A reference to James Bond, Daniel had told them, before explaing that James Bond was a fictional British spy usually doing the same missions they were now doing. Which was a good omen, or should be one, in Adora's opinion.

"Alright! With the computers linked and the programs loaded, we just need to adapt them to the latest data, and we can go hack the entire security system!" Entrapta announced, beaming from behind the rather fragile-looking array of bits and pieces spread out on the chest-turned-table in the middle of the storeroom.

"I'm almost done with the connection to the main data line here!" Bow was hanging upside down from the ceiling, next to Catra, who had sliced open the stone with her claws to expose the cables. One of Bow's tools dropped when he shifted, but Catra grabbed it before it hit the ground.

"Careful."

"Thanks."

"I am adapting our algorithms," Sam said, not looking up from her 'improvised holographic laptop', as Entrapta had called it. Even with both the screen and the keyboard replaced by holoprojections, the components for that alone had taken an entire staff weapon to conceal, as Bow had explained to Adora. The others had been mostly used to smuggle the explosives Jack had wanted and Bow's bow.

That left them with two working staff weapons for Teal'c and Bra'tac and ten zats for everyone else. And Adora's sword, Bow's new bow - though he only had a few arrows for it - and Glimmer's staff, but that was literally just a weighted shaft of a staff weapon.

"Done," Sam said. "We can now begin our intrusion into Apophis's system."

"Great. Let's find our missing family members and get out," Jack said. "Wouldn't want to overstay our welcome."

"Visiting delegations often enjoyed some time in the taverns of the capital," Teal'c commented. "They will not expect us to return immediately."

"Although Khalid's delegations are not known to mingle as much as others," Bra'tac added, "since they are held in derision by the Serpent Guard and other vassals. Still, few of them would forego the opportunity to enjoy the amenities that a much more advanced planet than their master's holdings can offer."

"Meaning, we have some time until someone starts looking for us," Catra said, dropping from the ceiling and landing lightly on all four after flipping in midfall. She straightened and sniffed the air. "But don't take too long, anyway."

Adora nodded in agreement.

"We can do it quickly, or we can do it safely. Relatively safely," Bow retorted.

"Let's do it safely!" Daniel cut in. He looked nervous, gripping his zat tightly in his hand.

Of course, he would be nervous, Adora berated herself. Sha're might be in the palace.

"Yeah. We can go quickly later - we probably will have to go quickly, very quickly then." Jack nodded.

It was a very weak joke, and gallows humour, as they called it on Earth, but everyone chuckled at it.

And then came the worst part of any mission, in Adora's opinion - waiting while others worked. She hated this. She wanted to help them. Make herself be useful. Do anything.

But she couldn't do anything here. She couldn't help with the hacking - and even if she had the skills, the others were already crowded around both the one computer they had managed to smuggle in and Entrapta's tool. She couldn't even fetch some food or something - they were in a storeroom, not the palace or headquarters.

She gritted her teeth and sighed.

"Stop that," Catra whispered to her.

"Stop what?" Adora whispered back.

"Fretting and feeling useless."

"I wasn't…" Adora trailed off with a pout as Catra snickered. But then she narrowed her eyes. Catra's tail was twitching, and that meant… "Stop fretting yourself," Adora told her. Her lover wasn't doing any better! Well, she should have realised that at once - Catra wasn't the most patient person.

Catra scoffed in return but didn't deny it.

At least Glimmer was holding up better. Then again, she was watching Bow working, so that was kind of cheating. So…

"Look at that!" Entrapta exclaimed.

"Ah, yes. Let's check the records." Sam's fingers flew over… well, the table, passing through the projected keyboard.

"And the feeds from the cameras - can we run a quick search?" Bow added.

"We would have to free some computing power, but… I think so. The system is not quite as advanced as Horde Prime's." Entrapta nodded. "So… Oh! Another hit?"

"But not the same location. Oh. Different people."

Adora clenched her teeth. She wanted to ask what was going on, but she didn't want to bother her friends in the middle of this critical task.

"I've got confirmation! Look at that!"

Adoa cocked her head to look at the projected display. There were multiple pictures there, camera feeds, it seemed, slightly grainy, but…

"Drey'auc. Ryla'c," Teal'c whispered.

"They're in the palace dungeons. As expected," Sam confirmed. "But…"

"Sha're." Daniel was staring at another picture. And that camera didn't show a dungeon cell.

"Yes. She's in the women's quarters of the palace," Sam said.

"We have to save her!" Daniel blurted out, looking at Jack - and then at Adora. "All of them," he added a moment later.

Adora nodded. "That's why we're here," she reassured him.

The only question was how. According to their data, the dungeons were not even near the women's quarter. Those were close to Apophis's personal quarters, in the upper part of the palace. If anything went wrong, if the alarm was raised, it would quickly become impossible to reach the other location.

"We'll have to split up," Catra said, looking at the holoprojection.

*****​

 

[Starfox5]

Chapter 109: The Rescue Operation Part 2

Palace of Apophis, Saqqara, November 9th, 1999 (Earth Time)

"We have to split up."

"Never split the party," the Colonel replied at once. "Don't tell me you never played Dungeons and Dragons!"

Samantha Carter refrained from rolling her eyes.

"Actually, we still have to play a game," Bow said. "I have a character and a mini ready, but we never seem to get around to setting up a session."

"With good reason, Bow." Catra did roll her eyes. "Seriously, we have to split up. Do you think we can sneak into Apophis's harem with Teal'c's family in tow?"

"You want to sneak into his harem?" Adora asked.

"You want to blast your way inside?" Catra retorted. "Give them time to retreat?"

"And endanger all the other people there," Sam added.

"Yeah, that too." Catra nodded while Adora frowned.

"We could go through the air ducts!" Entrapta suggested. "Like before."

"If it works." Catra shrugged.

Sam nodded in agreement. "Such a huge building has to have extensive air ducts to ensure it remains habitable."

"It might take time to circumvent the various filters and sensors, though," Bow pointed out.

"Yes. Apophis has a layered security system. The most important areas are guarded much more tightly than the rest of his palace," Bra'tac said.

"Well, spend too much on the glitz to impress the neighbours, and you end up not having enough to keep your home safe." The Colonel shrugged. "Couldn't happen to a nicer guy."

"But we don't have unlimited time," Adora said. "And if we're in the air ducts, we can't move fast and are vulnerable if anything happens. Most of us won't be able to do anything while Entrapta, Sam and Bow deal with the security."

That was correct as well. The longer they took, the higher the chances that someone would notice that they had never left the palace. And while she wasn't claustrophobic, Sam would prefer not to be stuck in an air duct during a battle. She grimaced at the thought of being helpless like that.

"It's not as if we can just walk into Apophis's harem or dungeons," the Colonel explained. "I doubt he gives tours to Khalid's finest."

"Then we'll have to change disguises," Glimmer said. "Find a disguise that will allow us to access the dungeons and the harem."

"We can check our data for that!" Entrapta cheered, and her hair flew over their holographic keyboard.

Sam pressed her lips together. She had a decent idea of what they would find based on their past experience. And she knew she would loathe it.

But it was probably the best way to rescue Sha're and Teal'c's family.

Sighing, she joined her friend.

*****​

"So… standard guards in the dungeons," the Colonel said five minutes later. "All we need to do is catch a shift change, get their armour, and walk inside."

"And fight off the guards in the dungeons," Daniel added. "Without triggering an alert."

"Timing will be critical. We have to enter both locations at the same time, or close to it," Catra said. "That will be tricky."

"But not impossible. Apophis's Serpent Guard follow a strict schedule - which we know thanks to your efforts." Teal'c nodded at Sam and Entrapta.

"And they work in squads of four," Sam pointed out. They had more than that.

"We could pass one of us as a prisoner to be processed," Teal'c suggested, "if you can insert a fake order of such a transfer into the system. They will not check such an order with their superior, unlike an order to release a prisoner."

And there went Sam's alternative plan.

"Someone's been watching a New Hope again." The Colonel grinned. "Well, it worked on the Empire's cells."

"It ended with the whole team being crushed in a trash compactor," Daniel said.

"I doubt Apophis has such a thing here."

"That leaves the harem. The only ones getting in and out are servants," Catra said.

Female servants chosen for their looks, Sam knew. And they were dressed to show that. She could hide some tools even so, but a zat would be difficult already. And if the Colonel made a joke about this…

"Well, that will work for you," Catra said. "He has a small army of human slaves. But I think I would stick out a bit if I tried to pass as a servant in those clothes." She narrowed her eyes. "And don't even joke about shaving my fur!"

"Oh, I wasn't thinking about that," Glimmer said with a grin that belied her words. "Instead, I was thinking we should use that you will stick out."

"What do you mean?" Catra blinked. "Oh, right." She grinned. "That could work."

"What?" Adora asked.

"We present her as a gift from a vassal - maybe Khalid," Glimmer said.

"And you can bet that Apophis's favourite will personally come to check me out," Catra added. "Saves us the time to try and find her in the harem."

"Oh, right." Adora nodded. "And they won't suspect anything if they don't recognise us."

"But Apophis might hear about that as well and come inspect his gift," Daniel pointed out.

"Even better." Catra grinned and flashed her claws. "Two rats with one swipe."

"And we can use one of you as our guide," Glimmer said, looking at Bow.

"Preferably one who knows the palace and the Serpent Guard's drill," Sam said.

"Right," Bow agreed.

"I shall come with you, then," Bra'tac said. "You, my friend, go free your family."

"Indeed."

*****​

Catra wasn't a prude. She had grown up as a Horde cadet in the barracks, with a shared shower and bunk room. But wearing what felt like a few strips of silk, liberated from a store room they had found a bit deeper into the palace, tied around her chest and waist, still felt a bit uncomfortable. Differently uncomfortable than the gold jewellery that Bar'tac had had with him - apparently, he used that to trade for supplies on Chulak. Fine metal rings and chains didn't go well with fur such as hers. Still, she could handle either easily.

But posing as a gift from an underling for his Lord, dressing to attract Apophis's attention? Catra wouldn't mind drawing attention, but the implications of what kind of attention she would catch were a little bit disturbing.

Not that she'd complain about that, of course. She could handle slight discomfort. And it wasn't as if anything actually would happen - if Apophis turned out to be home, she would cut him apart with her claws at the first opportunity. Too bad about his host, but taking out Apophis was worth it, and she couldn't hide a zat or shock rod like this.

She glanced at the others. Adora looked… Well, she was wearing about the same amount of silk fabric as Catra was, but on She-Ra's body.

"I think I should change," Catra's lover complained, tugging at the strips crossing her chest. "I'm sticking out a bit too much like this."

"And if you have to change into She-Ra in front of witnesses?" Glimmer shook her head. "It's safer this way."

'If'? More like 'when', Catra thought. The odds of Glimmer's plan working without a hitch were… Well, she wouldn't bet a brown Horde ration bar on it. "We want to draw attention, remember?" she reminded Adora. "You're not supposed to fade into the background."

Adora nodded with a pout.

Catra snorted when she caught her lover trying to hide how she pulled on her clothes again. "Anyway, are we ready?"

Glimmer nodded. "Yes." She looked determined. Of course, it was her plan, so she couldn't complain about it.

Sam also nodded. "Yes." She didn't seem to be happy either, but that was understandable.

"Yes!" Entrapta nodded eagerly. She probably thought this was a great opportunity to gather more data about the Goa'uld.

"And remember," Glimmer told her, "Don't use your hair."

"I'll remember!" Said hair formed a thumbs-up gesture. From anyone else, that would have been a snarky gesture.

"Then I believe we should move," Bra'tac said, pulling on his newly acquired Serpent Guard helmet.

"Good. And remember: The Alliance doesn't kill prisoners," Glimmer told him.

Catra rolled her eyes. They should have told Bra'tac that before he had used his zat to kill and disintegrate the former owner of his new armour. How could he have known about this policy?

Bra'tac, though, merely nodded. "I shall."

Catra suspected that meant Bra'tac wouldn't take any prisoners from now on and simply kill his enemies. On the other hand, he would know best that not everyone working for Apophis was actually a willing enemy.

Whatever. They were here to save Sha're, not everyone else. "Let's go."

Bra'tac nodded and led them out of the room.

They didn't encounter many on the way to the harem - only one patrol of four Serpent Guards who were easily fooled by Bra'tac and a handful of slaves. For the size of the Palace, it housed surprisingly few people. Apophis probably thought that showed off his might or something, but it was a serious security risk, in Catra's opinion, if intruders could pretty much walk in the open without anyone seeing them - once the cameras had been hacked, of course. Although Apophis's cybersecurity, as Sam called it, wasn't exactly great either.

But now they were reaching the entrance to Apophis's private quarters - of which the women's quarters were a part. And the guards here were sharp. They still stared at Catra, like the others on the way, but she had a feeling that they were sizing her up as a potential threat as much as they were sizing her up. She did her best to look harmless. Like one of the silly catgirls from those Earth animations the Japanese made.

"I bring a gift from Khalid for Apophis!" Bra'tac announced. "An exotic concubine!" He gestured at Catra, who bowed her head in return. Her ears twitched, and her tail swished back and forth. This was it. If the guards checked with the Stargate room or the palace gates, then they would not only have to fight their way into the harem but also find and capture Sha're before the Goa'uld possessing her could escape.

"A Sekhmet?" the commander of the guards asked.

Catra suppressed the urge to scowl.

"No." Bra'tac shook his head. "A species of near-humans from a distant planet, according to Khalid's delegation."

"An unknown world?"

"I would not dare speculate what the mighty Apophis knows," Bra'tac replied. "But it was unknown to the Great Khalid." He sneered at the title.

Catra's ears caught two of the guards softly snorting in their helmets. Good. If they underestimated them, this would be easier.

"Should I take them back?"

"No." The commander shook his head. He turned to look at the two closest guards. "Let them in."

Bra'tac bowed, stepping to the side while the doors - thick, armoured gates - swung open.

And then the commander flicked his hand at them, and Catra and the others entered Apophis's quarters.

So far, so good.

*****​

It is a good thing, Jack O'Neill thought as they approached the dungeons, that the prison guards aren't picked from the Serpent Guards' elite. Between the four of them disguised as Jaffa, they had trouble marching perfectly in step with each other. Daniel wasn't a soldier to begin with, Bow apparently never had done formation drills in the Princess Alliance, being 'assigned' by Glimmer to herself from the start, and while Jack and Teal'c had done the drills, the Air Force and the Serpent Guard had different marching cadences.

Still, while Jack would never let it go, it should be good enough for a prison guard duty squad. According to both Bra'tac and Teal'c, that wasn't a high-prestige posting and was generally left to newer recruits. Unless there was a dangerous prisoner that rated special attention, of course. Such as Bra'tac, Teal'c or SG-1.

Teal'c's family shouldn't be in that league. But they were adjacent, sort of. And it was possible that this was a trap for a rescue operation. So far, things had gone a bit too smoothly for Jack's taste. Judging by past experiences, something should have gone wrong by now, and SG-1 should have been scrambling to improvise. Sure, the security at the palace was pretty much like Bra'tac and Teal'c had said it would be, though the Stargate's security had been improved. But shouldn't Apophis have made more changes after both his last two Primes had defected? Tyrants like him were on the paranoid side.

On the other hand, deliberately weakening his palace's security to ambush a rescue team also didn't sound like something Apophis would do. He had to be wary of assassination attempts and coups by rival System Lords and ambitious underlings. That was what life was like when you were the top snake in your snake pit. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

They turned the last corner of the hallway and saw the entrance to the dungeons ahead of them. Four Jaffa stood at attention - just as they had seen on the cameras. They stood straight, with no sign of tiring, but standing straight and not showing weakness was pretty much beaten into Jaffa from their earliest childhood, so that didn't tell Jack anything about their quality as soldiers.

"Halt!" their leader bellowed, holding out his hand. "State your business."

The rest of the group didn't move an inch, just one standing a tiny bit straighter, Jack noticed. Wouldn't elite Jaffa warriors shift around a little, just in case a group of newcomers turned out to be hostile?

"We are to relieve the third guard shift," Teal'c replied.

"They are not scheduled to be relieved until later," the Jaffa retorted.

"I am aware of that," Teal'c told him. "But the orders we received were clear." He moved his shoulders slightly, not quite shrugging.

"A change of orders?" The Jaffa leader had to be scowling in his helmet as he checked his communicator. "Indeed, there is the order for the shift change. Ordered by…" He trailed off.

Ordered by Apophis himself, as the logs would show. That would keep the Jaffa from looking into the whole change. You didn't question your almighty god no matter what they did.

"Why wasn't I informed?" the Jaffa grumbled.

"I cannot say." Teal'c tilted his head. "Maybe the guards we are to relieve are meant to be sent somewhere else?"

The leader scoffed. "Hopefully to Bre'stec. They deserve it."

Teal'c chuckled at that, so it must have been a joke.

"Do your duty, then." The Jaffa nodded at the guard to his left, who stepped aside to speak into a small mic mounted on the wall next to the door.

After a brief exchange, the door slid open, and the rest of the guards moved to let them through.

Inside, eight more Jaffa were waiting. Four were in full armour, standing guard. Another four were sitting at a table, fiddling with their weapons - doing maintenance, if a superior asked, Jack would bet - next to a bunch of glasses and one fancy bottle. One of them stared at Teal'c with narrowed eyes. "What do you want?"

"We were ordered to relieve the third shift," Teal'c repeated himself. "New orders. From the mighty Apophis himself."

"What?" The guy jerked and quickly got up to check the console at the other side of the room, almost pushing the guard there out of the way. A few seconds later, he stood straighter. "I see."

"We are to be relieved?" the armoured Jaffa next to him asked.

"Yes. You are to wait for further orders in your quarters."

"We hear and obey." The other Jaffa sounded wary. Few soldiers ever complained about getting a break from guard duties, but new, vague orders were never a good sign.

While the four Jaffa marched out, the apparent Jaffa in charge scowled at Teal'c. "Take over their duties."

Teal'c bowed, then turned to Jack and the others. "Take up your positions."

Teal'c knew how the system worked, so he'd stay at the console. Jack moved to guard the door to the cell tract proper, leaving Daniel and Bow to stand at the exit. Good positions to catch the other guards by surprise. He peered through the window in the door behind him. The hallway lined with cell doors was empty.

They already knew in which cells Teal'c's wife and son were held, so now they just had to wait for the signal from the other group that they had found Sha're. Or for the alert being raised. Or for something to blow up.

Jack was betting on the last one.

*****​

Adora straightened as they left Bra'tac behind and entered Apophis's personal quarters. Focus on the mission, she told herself. She had done this before, when she had boarded Horde Prime's flagship to save Catra. But she had been wearing more clothes back then. And she had arrived openly, demanding to be led to Horde Prime after Darla had smashed through the outer hull of the Velvet Glove. She hadn't sneaked in in disguise. Although her friends had sneaked in.

Like back then, a group of guards faced her, though they were tall, armoured Jaffa instead of tall clones. Their leader looked Adora and her friends over, especially Catra, then nodded. "Follow me." He turned without waiting for a response or just an acknowledgement.

Apophis's personal quarters were decorated even more opulently than the rest of his palace. So much gold - on the walls, inlaid in furniture, as decor… like Horde Prime, the Goa'uld had stuck to his style all the way through. Though most of the palaces of her friends had a theme as well, she reminded herself. Just nothing so… oppressively blatant?

The slaves they saw on the way to the women's quarters - the harem - were wearing more expensive clothes than the ones outside. Mainly because a lot of what they wore was golden jewellery, far more than Adora and the others were wearing.

She still felt self-conscious about her own skimpy clothes. And she was sure that the others felt the same. Well, not Entrapta - her friend was looking around with a big smile, taking in every detail.

Focus on the mission! Adora told herself. They were here to save Sha're. And take out Apophis if he was around - they hadn't found him on the cameras, but those didn't cover his private personal quarters. He probably didn't want anyone, not even the most loyal guards, to watch him when he slept. Or did other things.

But that would just make it easier to take him out. It would take Adora just a moment to summon her sword - and her suit - and deal with him.

They reached another big door with guards in front of it. That would be the entrance to Apophis's harem. The guards here didn't question the Jaffa leading them - they just stepped aside and opened the doors. It was a nice change for once.

The harem itself didn't look very different compared to the outside quarters. Maybe a few more silk tapestries and curtains lining the walls. And no guards, male or female - the one who had led them there stayed outside as well.

But she could see many women, all of them looking at them and whispering as soon as the doors closed behind Adora and the others.

"No, I am not a Sekhmet!" Catra announced, taking a step forward. "I'm a different species." She glared at a few - her ears must have picked up their whispers - and the women shrunk away.

"Then what are you?" a Goa'uld's voice rang out.

Adora turned her head as the women surrounding them parted, bowing their heads, and revealed a slender figure walking towards them, trailed by four slaves. Sha're. No, it was Amaunet, Adora reminded herself - the Go'auld controlling her body. Apophis's queen.

Catra met the Goauld's eyes with a cocky grin. "I am a cat."

Adora pressed her lips together. Catra was… being Catra. Jack would say cattish.

Amaunet sniffed and stepped closer to Adora's lover, making a point of looking her over, and Adora clenched her teeth. If the Goa'uld tried whatever…

Catra cocked her head in return, grinning and striking a casual pose - though her tail swishing back and forth ruined it a little. At least for those who knew her, like Adora.

Amaunet narrowed her eyes and walked around Catra. "You are not a Sekhmet, indeed. And not a Furling." She reached out and grabbed Catra's tail, then tugged.

Catra hissed and straightened, her ears flattening against her head as she glared over her shoulder at the Goa'uld. "It's considered very rude to pull a cat's tail," she snapped, baring her fangs.

Amaunet scoffed and released it. "Not a hoax, then. Not that Khalid would have dared to try to deceive Apophis with such an obvious plot. But others might have fooled him. Where are you from? Did Nirrti create you?"

Nirrti? Adora remembered the name from a briefing. A Goa'uld geneticist? Or biologist?

Catra shook her head with a sneer. "My species was created by the Ancients. The Gate Builders," she added in a slightly condescending tone.

Typical, Adora thought - Catra just had to try and match the Goa'uld's attitude. She glanced around. They had reached their objective. But they were surrounded by the women in the harem. Some of them might fight Adora and her friends if they attacked Amaunet. And what if Jack and the others hadn't infiltrated the prison yet? Until Entrapta reassembled the communicator hidden in her jewellery, they couldn't check in with them.

"Really? Your species didn't amount to much then if we had never heard of you in the time since the Gate Builders left us." The Goa'uld scoffed again. "Then again, the fact alone that you were acquired by Khalid proves that."

Catra flashed her fangs again in a grin but, surprisingly, didn't say anything to that.

On the other hand, judging by Amaunet's sneer, she didn't have to say anything to keep annoying the Goa'uld. Just being Catra was enough. Well, that wasn't a surprise either.

Amaunet dismissed Cara with a sniff and a gesture - and turned to look at Adora. "And who are you?"

"Adora." Adora bowed her head, then forced herself to stand still while the Goa'uld circled around her.

"You're strong," she heard the woman whisper behind her. "And so tall… Have you ever given birth?" she asked in a louder voice.

What? Adora couldn't help it - she turned to stare at the Goa'uld.

*****​

What? Samantha Carter glanced at Amaunet, trying to keep her head down - her disguise wasn't the best, to say the least. The Goa'uld hadn't asked if Adora had a child, just if she had given birth, so it was about her fertility? But why was the Goa'uld interested in that? Goa'uld reproduced asexually by spawning larvae. The way Amaunet stared at Adora - at Adora's body… She must want her as a host, Sam realised.

Adora looked puzzled - and wary. "Why do you want to know that?" she asked.

Amaunet narrowed her eyes, and Sam winced. You didn't talk like that with a Goa'uld queen. Or any Goa'uld if you were a slave.

"Watch your tongue, girl," the Goa'uld snapped. She stepped forward and grabbed Adora's ponytail.

Sam tensed. They were surrounded by civilians, but some of them might be disguised guards. Or just slaves willing to fight and die for their gods. If a fight broke out… had the Colonel and the others reached the cell tract already? Sam hated that they didn't have working comms.

But Adora let the Goa'uld pull her head down, towards Sha're's face. "I am Apophis's queen," the Goa'uld hissed. "Your goddess!"

They stared at each other for a moment before Adora lowered her eyes. Sam didn't think that was enough to placate Amaunet.

"Answer your goddess!" The Goa'uld twisted her fist in Adora's hair. And with her enhanced strength…

"I have not given birth," Adora replied. She was clenching her teeth - but probably not because of pain, Sam suspected.

Amaunet frowned at that.

Was she disappointed? Sam wondered.

"Are you fertile?"

Adora blushed at that. "What?"

"Can you have children?" Amaunet snapped, twisting Adora's hair further.

"I… think so." Sam's friend tensed up.

And Catra's ears were flattening, her tail swishing back and forth rapidly. Things were about to boil over, Sam realised.

Then the Goa'uld scoffed and released Adora. "We'll have to test that."

"What?"

Why did Amaunet want Adora to have children? And with whom? If she desired her as a new host, then the only candidate would be Apophis, but Goa'uld didn't reproduce with their hosts. It was taboo, according to what Sam knew. Amaunet and Apophis must be planning something. But what?

"You're about to receive the greatest honour a mortal can hope for - provided your body is fertile," the Goa'uld declared.

And Sam's suspicion was confirmed. She glanced at the others. Everyone was tense. Ready. Even though they were still surrounded, this might be the best opportunity…

"Are you looking for a surrogate mother?"

Sam jerked at Entrapta's question.

Her friend cocked her head at Amaunet. "I mean, it sounds like you want Adora to carry your baby to term if I understood you correctly. I might be wrong, though."

Sam winced. Entrapta's curiosity had gotten the better of her. It wasn't entirely unexpected, too.

The Goa'uld looked puzzled for a moment, then suspicious. "You seem to be quite… educated about this."

"Oh, yes! I've been looking into surrogate motherhood," Entrapta replied cheerfully. "It's a fascinating alternative to more advanced methods when you can't reproduce naturally. Not that it's unnatural, of course!"

Amaunet looked surprised. Sam saw her glance from Entrapta to Adora, to Glimmer and then to Sam. A moment later, the Goa'uld's eyes widened in realisation - or recognition.

"Watch out!" Sam yelled as the woman raised her arm - with a ribbon device!

Catra and Adora launched themselves at Amaunet but crashed into a force field surrounding the Goa'uld.

Then Amaunet used her ribbon device, and Adora was thrown across the room, bowling over a handful of shrieking slaves.

Catra hissed and slashed at the force field, which flickered but held.

Glimmer grabbed a vase before she was tackled by two women from behind.

Before Sam could move to help her, she was attacked herself by a third rushing at her.

Sam stepped to the side and redirected the woman's charge with an Aikido throw, sending her flying into a large vase, which broke under the impact.

Then the alarm sounded, drowning out the shrieks from the fleeing women.

Catra grabbed a heavy wooden bench, but Amaunet hit her with the ribbon device, and she collapsed, screaming as the Goa'uld kept the device going.

"Catra!"

Roaring, Adora charged across the room, sword blazing. One slash shattered the force field. The backswing - with the flat of the blade - knocked Amaunet down, the woman rolling a few yards over the marble floor. She tried to get up, but Adora kicked her in the head and knocked her out.

Sam quickly raced over to relieve the Goa'uld of the ribbon device and her shield generator. If only they had been able to smuggle weapons into the harem! "Check on Catra!" she yelled as she slipped it on. It hadn't been long, but the pain caused by the device would have been excruciating.

Adora quickly took out the last woman fighting with Glimmer while Entrapta moved to Catra, who was groaning and trying to get up. Now that they had Sha're, they had to…

The sound of boots hitting the floor interrupted her thoughts. A moment later, the first Jaffa guard rushed around the corner, staff weapon moving to point at them.

Sam threw herself to the side as the guard fired, and a large, ornate vase vanished in an explosion.

*****​

Damn! That hurt! Catra hissed through clenched teeth as she rolled on her front. That snake would pay for…Her eyes widened when she spotted half a dozen - no, more - guards storming into the room, weapons blazing. And her muscles were still shaking!

But before she could force herself to move, she was grabbed and dragged behind an oversized marble bench, just a step ahead of a barrage of staff blasts that blew craters in the wall behind her.

"Catra!" Entrapta gasped as her hair tendrils set Catra down.

"I'm fine!" Catra spat. "We need to move!" Grab Sha're and get out.

"Wait a moment! I need to put the communicator together!" Entrapta replied, crouching down while her hair grabbed the different parts from her jewellery.

"Bra'tac will inform them," Catra told her friend. The old Jaffa would have noticed the guards charging into the harem even if the alert wasn't raised in the entire palace. She grabbed Entrapta's collar and pulled her down when another volley passed overhead.

None hit the bench, though, she realised. Why would…? Ah! They must not want to risk hitting Sha're with shrapnel from blasts! Wounding or killing Apophis's queen - or her host - was probably a death sentence. Catra bared her teeth in a grin. "Stay behind cover¨" she snapped and whirled around. She took two, three steps on all fours, her claws digging into the stone floor, then jumped, sailing over the bench in a shallow arc - and landed in the centre, right next to where Glimmer and Sam were dragging away Sha're while Adora was busy fending off blasts with her sword turned shield to cover them.

"They won't risk their queen!" Catra hissed as she jumped again, flipping in mid-air and hitting the wall to the side feet first. She pushed off moments before a staff blast hit her spot and pounced on the guard before the staff weapon recycled.

He tried to hit her with it instead, but she twisted around his weapon, her hand claws raking his hands, and then sliced her foot claws into his side, through his chest plate. He screamed and dropped his weapons - and a few fingers, and she went down with it, rolling to the side as two guards turned to engage her.

She dug one set of claws into the floor and spun, her legs sweeping the wounded Jaffa off his feet - and into the line of fire of the others. One staff blast hit his chest and blew through his armour. The other went wide and hit a half-wall, showering a corner with stone fragments. Shrieks sounded from that direction, but Catra ignored them and charged the two Jaffa.

Once more, she was faster than the weapons could cycle, but they knew and fanned out, staffs swinging to catch her no matter where she moved.

But she dug her claws in and stopped in the middle of her charge, then jumped as soon as the staffs passed where she would have been a moment later. One Jaffa kept turning, continuing his staff-swing to hit her, but that exposed his back. Catra kicked the other Jaffa's weapon to the side and raked her claws over the turning guard's back, cutting his spine.

He collapsed with a scream, and she landed on all fours, sliding a step before her claws stopped her. Close enough to cut the staff weapon when the other Jaffa brought it up again.

He stared at the stump of his weapon for a moment, making a surprised sound. Catra didn't need more than that to reach him and ripped his throat out with a swipe of her claws.

She kept going, jumping and rolling to throw off the rest's aim. That left…

A Jaffa flew past her, screaming until he hit the wall and bounced.

Adora was in the middle of the remaining guards. What was left of them, anyway. One Jaffa tried to engage her in melee - and she smashed him with the flat of her blade. Another tried falling back while shooting his staff at her, but he only got off one blast, which she caught with her weapon before she cut him and the staff down.

Another dropped his staff and drew a zat, but Catra disarmed him with a slash of her claws, then cut his throat while he was busy trying to stop the bleeding from his stump.

She ducked behind his corpse and glanced around. The harem women had fled, and Adora had just put down the last guard. But… Her ears twitched. Someone was fighting at the entrance! Bra'tac!

"Grab Sha're - we need to go!" she yelled. "Bra'tac's fighting! And grab some weapons!"

Adora whirled.

"Not you! They can handle Sha're!" Catra snapped and rushed forward. Entrapta alone could probably drag or carry Sha're with her hair.

Catra dropped to all four to take the corners - easier to avoid slipping on the polished floor. Four guards were standing at the entrance, taking cover behind the open doors and firing at someone outside. Catra threw herself at the closest, her hands slicing into his upper arms as she gripped them and drew her knees to her chest - then pushed down with her feet, claws disembowelling him as she jumped off him and into the next.

Adora took out the third guard, and the fourth had stepped too far out of cover in reaction to their attack, so Bra'tac caught him with a shot in the back.

"Nice shot," Catra told him, shaking the blood off her claws.

"A raw recruit would not have wasted such an opening," he retorted, but he was smiling. Not for long. "However, we have a problem," he went on, growing serious and looking over his shoulder when the others arrived - Glimmer with a staff weapon in hand and zats stuffed in her belt, Sam carrying zats and Entrapta carrying Sha're and herself with her hair while she was working on their communicator.

"Great," Catra muttered. "What is it and who do we need to kill to solve it?"

*****​

Just as Jack O'Neill was checking - again - if Entrapta had put their communicator together so they could coordinate their strikes, a loud siren filled the room. The other group must have been discovered!

The Jaffa shift leader jumped up and grabbed his helmet. "Enemies are attacking the palace! To arms! Prepare to…"

Teal'c blew his head off with a shot from his staff weapon.

Before the headless corpse dropped to the ground, Jack shot the closest Jaffa at the table with his zat. The guard fell over, toppling his chair. The one next to him dropped as well - but the last one managed to bring his staff weapon to bear, taking cover behind the table.

Jack ducked behind the console - which caught the blast - and when he came up again, Teal'c had already killed the guard.

But the console hadn't survived either. That meant… Jack cursed and whirled towards the door to the cell tract. Locked. And it could only be opened from the console. And the same went for the outer door. They were stuck inside - for now.

Bow checked on the two stunned guards. "This one is dead - we both hit him with our zats," he told Daniel.

"Forget him! Can you hack the door?" Jack asked him.

"Ah…" Bow got up and joined Jack, eyeing the lock. "That will take a while."

And they had to hurry. "Can you shoot a hole into it?" Jack asked Teal'c. He would know the place best.

His friend inclined his head. "It would take a while."

Great. "Time for the all-purpose door opener, then," Jack said, reaching inside his armour for the explosives hidden there. "Guard the entrance. I'll blow it open." There were still guards outside, after all, and though they were locked out for the moment, with the console destroyed, they would have the means to break in once they realised that the prison had been taken over.

Teal'c nodded and aimed his staff at the outer door while Daniel crouched behind the remains of the console and did the same with his zat, and Bow started to put his bow together again.

Jack looked the door over. No hinges to blow up - it slid into the walls to the side. And those were reinforced - he could tell from the way they bulged out. So, no weak points here. "I guess straight through it is," he mumbled as he started placing the charge. "Never was much for the oblique approach, anyway."

"Since when?" Daniel commented from his spot nearby.

His friend knew him too well. Jack snorted and armed the detonator before stepping back. "Take cover! This is going to be loud!"

He ducked behind the console next to Daniel, checked with a glance that Bow and Teal'c were clear as well, then hit the remote.

The charges went off, filling the area with smoke, and Jack felt the pressure wave in his chest. As expected.

He got up, zat aimed, and saw that the charge had blown a hole into the door - big enough to wriggle through, even for Teal'c. Not ideal, but it would have to do - he needed the other charges to open the cells themselves.

"Guard the entrance!" he repeated himself and slid through the opening. They had the cameras hacked, but the guards might wonder what was up with that explosion. "If they ask what happened, don't tell them it's a reactor leak!"

"I shall not," Teal'c replied. Jack couldn't tell if he was amused or not.

It didn't matter. Once on the other side, Jack quickly moved to Drey'auc's cell - third from the entrance, on the left. That one was the same model as the one he had just blown through, and Jack placed the charge, then went further ahead to do the same to Ryal'c's door. "Move away from the doors!" he yelled. He hoped they did.

"Brace yourself!" Jack moved into the guard room again. Then he used the remote again.

Two simultaneous explosions, in a smaller space, were much worse than his first charge - smoke blew through the hole, and he felt the floor shake a little. The guards might have missed the first explosion, but they must have heard this one.

"Get your family," he told Teal'c, aiming his zat at the entrance.

With a curt nod, his friend moved, grunting a little as he had to push himself through the hole in the door. "Drey'auc!" Jack heard him call out. "Ryla'c!"

"Father!"

"Husband."

Neither sounded hurt. Jack was relieved. If they had been at the door when they blew…

"We are here to save you. Come."

Well, that reunion was as touching as Jack should have expected from Teal'c. Then again, the middle of a rescue wasn't the time for romantic moments. Though that bit of common sense wouldn't have stopped Daniel in Teal'c's place.

"Alright," Jack spoke up as Ryal'c and Drey'auc entered the room, coughing slightly from the smoke they had inhaled, followed by Teal'c. "Either the guards outside are deaf, or something is up."

"The walls and doors are thick, but not that thick - I remember hearing screams from inside when I stood guard as a recruit," Teal'c said. "They should have asked what was happening through the intercom, according to our standing orders."

"I guess the standing orders have changed since you and Bra'tac left the Serpent Guard," Jack said. "Well, if they won't come to us, we'll have to go and meet them," he added, grabbing his last charges.

Half a minute later, another explosion shook the room. But when the smoke cleared, the remains of the door only revealed a metal plate behind it. Heavily armoured, judging by the scratches his bomb had left. "I guess that's also new," he said.

"Indeed."

Damn. Apophis had been a bit smarter than Jack had hoped. They were stuck in here.

*****​

 

[Transreal Clouden]

Well then, sounds like they're in a pickle.

 

[Starfox5]

Chapter 110: The Rescue Operation Part 3

Palace of Apophis, Saqqara, November 9th, 1999 (Earth Time)

"So, Apophis has installed a new layer of security since your defection." Adora nodded at Bra'tac. "Reinforced walls that turned sealed off sections of his private quarters."

"So it would seem. I saw walls go down behind me - fortunately, not between me and you - but the rest is conjecture. If Apophis had meant to limit this to his women's quarter, the walls would have been placed elsewhere," Bra'tac said.

"And we know that the others are trapped in the dungeons," Sam added, holding up the reassembled communicator. "The Colonel reported a similar armoured wall blocking their way. So, we can assume that this isn't limited to just those two spots. Apophis probably has several areas of the palace prepared like this."

"Well, let's cut through it!" Catra moved to the wall they were looking at and lashed out with her claws - only to wince, then frown when, instead of a hole, she had only left shallow cuts, as Adora saw. "That's a thick wall. I guess Apophis expected a lot of explosives."

Adora nodded. "I should be able to cut through it, though." She had yet to find anything that She-Ra's sword couldn't cut.

"Wait!" Sam snapped. "Let's scan it first."

"We're a little bit pressed for time," Catra objected.

"We already missed one trap," Sam countered. "Let's not run into the next."

"Yes." That was sensible. Adora nodded again, and Entrapata and Sam used Entrapta's multitool that Bra'ta had handed over.

"It's reinforced with a Naquadah-alloy," Sam said after a moment. "And it includes the ceilings and floor."

Entrapta nodded. "But in the centre… That layer doesn't make sense from a structural point of view."

After a moment spent scanning more in-depth, Sam gasped. "It's a charge. Like reactive armour."

"Cut too deeply, and the explosion blasts you?" Catra asked.

"If the explosion is triggered, it will blast most of the area," Sam replied. "There's a chance that cutting won't trigger the explosion, but with the forces involved, and the nature of your sword, I do not think that the risk can be easily dismissed.

Adora winced. That meant…

"We are trapped here," Catra said. "Better tell Jack before he tries to blast his way through."

"I don't think the explosives he has with him can damage the armoured shell," Sam said. She still informed him, though.

Adora agreed - Jack was crafty and might rig up a more powerful explosion.

Entrapta shook her head, looking up from her tool. "How did we miss this? My tool's scanner didn't have the range to detect the walls from further away, but we hacked his security system! There was no sign of this there! How did it trigger?"

"He would have kept this off the main security system - a nasty surprise for any traitor or assassin," Bra'tac said.

"Oh! So, he'd lose the synergy advantage that combining multiple security systems provides but gains better compartmentalisation." Entrapta nodded. "That makes sense. But installing this would have taken a long time and a lot of workers, and since he has no bots that can be memory wiped, keeping it compartmentalised must have been hard."

"Not as long as all workers were killed after finishing their work," Bra'tac told her before Adora could stop him.

She winced at Entrapta's expression.

"But…" Entrapta shook her head. "That's…"

"He is evil," Bra'tac said. "He would not hesitate to sacrifice millions to preserve his life - or win against a rival."

"But… that doesn't make sense! Not even if you don't care about people does it make sense." Entrapta shook her head. "He would have lost so many talented, skilled workers…"

"That's one of the Goa'uld's weaknesses," Catra said. "But we can discuss that once we're out of here."

"I could get us to the Stargate - if you, you know…" Glimmer looked at Adora.

Adora pressed her lips together. She could restore the planet's magic, but that would leave Apophis in possession of a world with magic. And one of his most developed ones, with a lot of people. Some of them probably would have a talent for magic. And Apophis was thousands of years old - he was alive when magic was everywhere. He would recognise the signs and know how to exploit it - those people thought he was their god…

Not to mention she'd have to use all that magic power rushing through her when she unlocked magic on a planet.

"We can hack into this system!" Entrapta suggested. "It has to have a control system."

"And it has to have a way out in case it is triggered with Apophis inside," Catra added. "He wouldn't risk being stuck inside his palace if a more powerful enemy or an alliance attacked him. Or suffocate if the air runs out."

Adora shuddered at the image this conjured. That would be an awful death - like in a collapsed mine.

"We could probably rig up a way to shelter from the explosion," Sam suggested. "If we build a makeshift bunker far enough…"

"Strong enough so we survive it here?" Catra looked doubtful.

Adora shared her doubts. If they were wrong about the power of the explosion… And all the helpless servants would be at risk as well.

"I think I can predict the bomb's yield so that we can avoid that," Sam said.

Catra scoffed. "You think?"

Adora stepped up before her friends started a row. "Let's try something less dangerous first. Entrapta, Sam - try to hack the new system. Everyone else - look for a secret way out. But don't get split up - we don't know if there are more people in here who're willing to fight for Apophis."

"Alright!"

"And if we don't find a way out?" Glimmer asked as Sam and Entrapta moved ahead to check the metal wall Bra'tac had mentioned, with Bra'tac following them to keep them safe.

"Then you can make yourself useful as transport," Catra said.

Adora frowned at her lover- It was correct, but she would have worded it differently. "Just be careful," she said, picking up Sha're.

"Alright." Catra smiled, but Adora thought she was just humouring her.

"So, if Apophis wanted a way out of here, it would probably be located in Amaunet's quarters since he'd spend most of his time here there," Adora said.

"If he trusts her not to betray him," Catra pointed out. "But even so, it should be close to her bedroom. Let's start there." She looked at Glimmer. "Unless you disagree? You're the expert on palaces."

Glimmer rolled her eyes. "We're not Goa'uld."

"Yeah, you're not small enough to take over someone's body."

Adora sighed as she followed her friends to Amaunet's quarters - well, once they found them.

*****​

Even for a System Lord, Apophis is paranoid, Samantha Carter couldn't help thinking as she and Entrapta started hacking his second security system. To prepare such a trap in advance, on the chance that some could defeat his primary security system… Was this aimed at SG-1? As a trap? They had managed to sneak into his flagship when he attacked Earth, but that had been as much luck as skill - or more so if Sam was honest.

That wasn't likely, she deduced while they were scanning for the sensors that triggered the wall. If Apophis had wanted to trap them using Teal'c's family as bait, he could have picked a less crucial location to place his trap - a remote planet, for example. Even if he had to build a special prison for this, it wouldn't have nearly cost what he must have spent - in resources and lives - for this. And if he honestly expected them to infiltrate his palace, wouldn't he have taken his queen elsewhere? Amaunet was one of the few Goa'uld to be able to produce larvae. Without a queen, a System Lord depended on someone else to replace the Prim'ta of his Jaffa, and that would require major concessions.

No, she thought after another scan netted them no results - where were those sensors? - Apophis must fear betrayal from within his own realm. Especially after the attack on his holdings and fleet by unknown forces. So, this was a way to strike back and trap traitors launching a coup, and the fact that it also trapped infiltrators from Earth and Etheria was an incidental result.

"No sensor here either," Entrapta said. "But someone or something must have triggered the wall."

"Amaunet," Sam realised. "She would have had a panic button."

"Oh?" Entrapta turned to scan the Goa'uld, who was still stunned - Sam reminded herself to stun her again as soon as it was safe to do so. "Yes! There's a transmitter hidden in her jewellery!"

"Good." Sam smiled. "If we can disassemble it, we can narrow down our search for the receiver."

It didn't take them long to take the transmitter apart. It was a very simple design - Sam would call it almost primitive, but for such emergency measures, simpler was often better since it generally meant fewer ways that it might malfunction.

But it also meant any receiver didn't need to be advanced either.

"Oh… it sends a coded transmission on a general frequency," Entrapta summed up their results. "The receiver could be anything - it could even be powered by the energy of the transmission."

"We can duplicate it, then," Sam said.

"Yes!" Entrapta nodded, then frowned. "But what if that triggers another reaction?"

That was… possible, Sam had to admit. But how likely was it that Apophis and Amaunet would risk accidentally triggering something because they triggered it twice by accident? It was meant to be used in an emergency. On the other hand, that could be avoided by a simple timer that delayed registering a second signal for a set amount of time. And Apophis was the type of System Lord who would probably plan to take his enemies with him if he was trapped without a way out. Although, would he hand such a trigger over to Amaunet? She might decide to take him with her, should he turn against her. "Let's risk it," Sam said.

"OK! I'll set the scanner to detect a receiver powering up in range."

Sam nodded and picked up the transmitter. "Ready."

"Ready!"

Sam triggered it and tensed. But nothing happened.

"Alright! I found the receiver! And No sign of poison gas or anything like it!" Entrapta cheered.

With the receiver found, they only had to isolate and power it to find the link to the rest of the system. That didn't take more than five minutes - but Sam was very aware that wherever Apophis was, he would have been alerted the very moment the walls came down. And the more time he had, the worse his reaction would be. And the Colonel was trapped in the dungeons - without Apophis's queen as leverage or incentive not to simply try to kill everyone inside the wall.

She had to hold herself back from rushing things. If everything else failed, they could activate the world's magic to get out with Glimmer's power.

The minute they spent hacking into the system still felt much longer. But they managed it.

"Yes! We're inside! Now let's check the data… oh!" Entrapta's voice fell.

Sam pressed her lips together. The system could only lower the walls - it had no way to pull them back. They had wasted all this time with nothing to show for it.

Except for the fact that this did support the hypothesis that there had to be a secret way out for Apophis and Amaunet. They wouldn't risk being cut off from their troops in the case of a coup and rely on loyalist forces to free them.

"Let's go help the others," she said. Entrapta's scanner had a limited range due to the power restrictions its size brought with it, but they should be able to find secret passages that the others might have missed.

*****​

Apophis was one sneaky bastard. Catra clenched her teeth as she forced herself to focus on the task at hand. And since he was a sneaky bastard, he would have a way out - people like him were not keen on dying with his troops. And having an escape route ready was basic tactics. They drilled that into Horde cadets, at least in the command track.

And it would have to be located where he and his queen could get to it quickly. Which meant in or near his or, in this case, since they were in the harem, her quarters. But no matter where Catra looked, she couldn't find it. The usual spots behind potted plants or tapestries were all busts - Catra had clawed enough walls to know. At least these walls weren't as hard as the ones trapping them. Slicing at those hadn't been pleasant.

Maybe Apophis had planned to escape without his host? Slither away as a snake, leave a decoy to die, and make the enemy think they killed you? That would certainly be like him, and he'd only need a tiny tunnel or pipe to get away. On the other hand, would he risk being stuck outside a host in such a crisis? He'd be very vulnerable and wouldn't have any easy way to prove himself to his loyal minions. Except for taking them over, of course.

Wait! She blinked. Pipes! "Oh, that's sneaky!" she hissed and dashed towards the private baths of the queen. As with everything else in her quarters, Apophis hadn't spared any expense when it came to his queen's private bath. The tub was big enough to serve as a swimming pool. If it were any bigger, Mermista would probably claim it as part of Salineas. But big pools needed big pipes, so a pipe big enough to travel through wouldn't look too suspicious to anyone checking building plans. Like a saboteur.

She stopped at the edge of the pool, peering down at the bottom. Yes, there was an opening set in the bottom. Large enough for a human to pass through. But to use it, you'd have to either dive and let the water push you through - she shuddered at the thought of getting stuck and drowning in the pipe. Or just diving in general - or you'd have to let the water out first.

She didn't see any diving gear stashed nearby, so she looked for the mechanism to release the water. It would normally be used by servants to clean the pool, so it couldn't be obvious - anything servants did in palaces was usually done discreetly, as far as she knew - but it would also be easily accessible…

Ah! Right outside the bath, there was a small alcove with cleaning supplies hidden behind a tapestry. On the wall there, Catra found a control panel. "I think I found it!" she called out to the others.

Adora quickly arrived, followed by Glimmer - and Entrapta, still carrying Amaunet, with Sam. Good. They could analyse the controls - Catra was sure that Apophis didn't want to end up in the sewers - or have a servant accidentally open his escape route when cleaning the bath - so there probably was more to it than pushing a button.

*****​

A few minutes later, Catra's suspicion was confirmed.

"Yes, if you push the buttons to open and close the drain simultaneously, it opens the drain and sends another signal out," Entrapta said. "That goes to a sensor in the pipe checking for water."

"So, once the water's gone, the sensor reroutes the pipe," Adora said. "Or something like it."

"Exactly!"

"Well, time to leave, then." Catra grinned. She cocked her head and put her fingers on both buttons. "Got anything you need to do before we leave? A parting message for Apophis?"

"No," Adora replied seriously, shaking her head. "The less he knows about us, the better."

None of the others said anything, so Catra pushed the buttons. Her ears picked up the sound of water rushing through the drain. The pool was already halfway empty when they entered the bath again. A minute later, only puddles remained on the bottom.

"I'll go first," Adora declared. "If I make it, all of us will fit."

And if she didn't, she could shrink by changing back. Or cut her way out. Catra nodded. She might not like her lover risking herself like that, but it made sense.

Adora took a deep breath and jumped into the hole. Catra heard her body slide through the pipe - tube - as they waited. If this was a trap… She clenched her teeth. The others had hacked the sensor; it didn't check for anything but the water, so they shouldn't need some badge or transmitter to reroute the tube.

But a bit of worry remained - until her ears twitched, and she heard Adora yelling: "It's clear!" from below.

"It's clear!" she repeated. "Let's go!"

She jumped into the tube, clenching her teeth when she slid over the still-wet metal, down the pipe. It was like a waterslide from Earth, she told herself. Just completely closed.

And it was over in seconds. The tube suddenly evened out, and a moment later, she shot out of it into a bright room. Catra twisted and landed on all fours, sliding a yard - and barely managed to jump out of the way before Glimmer rammed into the pad mounted on the wall in front of her.

Glimmer wasn't as quick, but Adora pulled her away before Sam arrived, followed by Entrpa and Amaunet, with Bra'tac bringing up the rear.

Catra looked around. They were in a small room with a sturdy door - and the walls to the side were lined with stuff. Armour, tools, wigs - and weapons!

She moved to check the door. It was unlocked. And behind it…

She grinned. How nice of Apophis to provide them with everything they needed to escape his palace!

*****​

"Alright, folks, we've got a bit of a problem, but we're working on it!" Jack O'Neill said with forced cheer.

Bow nodded. "We're trapped in an armoured box that's also rigged to explode, and we can't get to the layer of explosives without using enough force to trigger the explosive. It's a problem, yes."

Jack glanced at him. Bow looked and sounded as if he was earnest, but this was coming a bit close to being sarcastic.

"We've been working on it," Daniel said. "But nothing we have tried or thought of has worked."

Jack frowned. Now, that was gloomy. And they couldn't have that. "We'll get out of here! We haven't tried everything yet. And we won't let our friends show us up by rescuing us!" He clapped Bow on the back. "Our resident tech master will find a way to get through all this armour plate, and then we'll disarm the biggest shaped charge ever built!"

Daniel narrowed his eyes. "The biggest shaped charge that you would have triggered if the others hadn't told us about the trap."

Now, that was unfair! Jack was about to defend himself - how could he have suspected such a crazy scheme? - when Bow shook his head and said: "That wouldn't have happened. We don't have enough explosives to blow through the wall, which would trigger the blast. But I think we could try to melt a very small hole down to the explosive layer in the floor using one of my arrows. It'll be a bit tricky since the arrow carries only a little bit of acid, enough to melt through a Horde tank's armour, but I should be able to manage that with the tools we have here."

That wasn't how acid worked, in Jack's experience. But Bow's trick arrows were magitech, and that was more 'anything goes'.

"And then?" Daniel asked.

"Then we see how we can disarm the explosives," Jack said.

"And then? We're on the lowest level of the palace."

"The lowest level in use - but they have to have pipes and maintenance tunnels down there," Jack pointed out. Unless the snakes used some alien tech to get around that. But they'd cross that bridge once they reached it.

Daniel still looked doubtful, but he nodded. Good.

And if this plan didn't work, they'd think of something else. Or the others would save them, probably by Glimmer teleporting them out. Which wasn't ideal - it would mean restoring magic to Apophis's planet and exposing their powers - but still better than suffocating in the sealed dungeons. Or getting captured by Apophis and snaked. After being tortured for a long, long while.

Jack would rather trigger the explosives himself than suffer that, and he was sure everyone else would agree. Not that it would happen, anyway. But if it did, having a way to touch off that massive charge would come in handy.

At least everyone was staying calm. Bow was busy working, Daniel was holding it together - it helped that the other group had secured Sha're - and Teal'c was talking to his family in the other corner. Jack couldn't hear what they were saying, but Ryla'c looked happy, and Drey'auc hadn't tried to tear off her husband's head, so it looked like it was going pretty well. At least compared to their general situation.

But if they couldn't get out, it wouldn't matter. And it was Jack's job to ensure they could get out. Alive and unharmed. Or at least alive - Adora could heal any wound, anyway.

"OK!" Bow held up one of his few trick arrows. One with a tip that looked like a green vial. "I've altered the tip so it'll release the acid in a very small trickle!"

"Good work!" Jack was more than a little queasy about handling a vial designed to break upon impact that contained enough acid to melt a tank's armour, but like Hell, he'd show it - a leader had to remain confident at all times. "Let's see how it works!"

"Well, we'll have to go through the normal floor first. We can't waste the acid on that," Bow said, smiling a bit sheepishly.

"No problem," Jack told him, hefting a pilfered staff weapon. The hidden armour would withstand a staff blast, so it should be safe to shoot a hole into the floor until you hit the armour layer.

And blasting stuff was an excellent way to release tension and work off frustration. Jack knew that from experience.

"Everyone, stay back! It's going to get loud!" he announced, aiming the staff at the ground in the corner farthest from everyone else.

Daniel scrambled to join Teal'c in the other corner, and Jack waited until Bow and his acid bomb were clear as well before he started shooting.

A bit later, his ears were ringing, but he was looking at the shiny and now slightly scorched reinforced armour in the hole in the floor. "Alright, you're up," he told Bow.

"OK! " Bow approached the hole, then took a step back. "I think we better let it cool down a bit," he said.

"Yeah, I think so too:" Jack could feel the heat from a few yards away. And when he dropped some water from the guard's stash on the armour, it sizzled.

But it didn't take too long for the metal to cool down enough so Bow could set up his contraption, and a bit later, the thing started dropping acid on the armour.

One drop at a time.

"I might have to adjust the drop rate," Bow said, unasked, after the first drop had hit the armour plate. "But it's working."

"And when we reach the explosives? What then?" Daniel asked.

"Then we figure out a way to disarm them," Jack said. Something. Anything.

Daniel gave him a look that showed he didn't really think much of their chances.

Jack kept smiling. He didn't think this had much of a chance to work, either, but a small chance was better than no chance at all. And it kept them too busy and distracted to panic.

*****​

"A Tel'tak. Modified and likely equipped with a stealth device for ease of escaping an attack on the planet itself," Bra'tac said, looking at the small ship they had discovered behind the door.

"Oh!" Entrapta beamed at it. "We have to analyse it - this could be the key to miniaturising our own stealth generators!"

Adora looked around in the small hangar. They had to be a bit below the palace's basement if she had correctly calculated their descent through the tube. But not too deeply underground.

"I do not think we have the time for that," Sam told Entrapta.

"But we'll have all the time we need once we're back on Earth!"

"It won't fit through the gate," Catra told her. "And we'll have to scan it thoroughly for a bomb and other traps," she added. "Apophis must be really paranoid about a coup, so I bet he has some nasty surprise hidden here as well."

Adora nodded. A ruler who'd install a failsafe lined with explosives would also prepare to blow up an obvious escape craft.

"I think our covert attacks and the failure of his false flag attack on PZ-921 must have convinced him that he has traitors in his court," Glimmer said, shifting her grip on the staff weapon she had taken from Apophis's stash.

Catra snorted.

"He would already be aware of that," Bra'tac commented. "The false gods are always ready to betray each other. But he would suspect one or more of them being about to move on him in this case, I would say."

"Great." Catra shook her head. "That's good for fighting him in the field, but it makes covert ops more difficult."

"And the purges will endanger the Tok'ra spies," Glimmer added.

Bra'tac looked as if he wanted to comment, but before he said anything, Sam spoke up: "We've found a bomb."

"Yes," Entrapta added. "It's placed at the main drive, so detecting it was a bit of a challenge."

"Can you disarm it quickly?" Adora asked.

"Let us check!"

"Are you planning to use the ship to flee the planet?" Bra'tac asked as Entrapta headed inside the ship, followed by Sam.

"As a last resort," Adora replied. "But we can use it to fly out of here."

"And then return to the palace to grab the others!" Catra grinned. "Apophis wouldn't suspect that."

"He is aware of the loyalty the Tau'ri show towards each other," Bra'tac said. "He would not expect SG-1 to abandon their own."

"Would he expect an offer to exchange his queen for them?" Glimmer asked.

Bra'ac tilted his head, obviously pondering this for a moment. "Potentially, yes. But I cannot say what his state of mind will be after a direct attack on his palace. This will cost him a lot of face, and being forced to negotiate for his queen would make it even worse. It will make him appear weak to all his rivals, both outside and inside his court."

"We're not planning to exchange Amaunet for the others," Adora told him. They had no way to safely extract her from Sha're, anyway. And they wouldn't abandon Sha're.

"Or expect him to deal honestly with us." Catra scoffed. "But if he thinks we left the planet, that will help us save the others."

"And we can send such an offer to throw him off our real plan," Glimmer said. "If we have to," she added. "Not dealing honestly with him would make it harder to negotiate with others."

Bra'tac frowned at that. "Negotiating with the false gods is a recipe for disaster. They have no honour and will betray their own without the slightest hesitation if they think it will improve their position even a little."

That sounded a bit biased in Adora's opinion. More than a bit. Then again, Bra'ta had been Apophis's Prime for decades - he would know him best. "It's not just the Goa'uld," she said. "But how can we expect others, like the Jaffa, to trust us if we act like that?" Honesty was the best policy.

"They will be aware that dealing honestly with the false gods is a foolish proposition and not judge us for this," Bra'ta retorted. But Adora thought he sounded a little defensive.

"Alright! We disarmed the bomb. And we also spoofed the tracking devices hidden in the ship!" Entrapta waved at them from the ramp leading into the Tel'tak. "It should be safe now."

"And does it have a stealth device?" Adora asked.

"Yes! Although it doesn't seem as effective as our own." Entrapta pouted.

"You said it was modified. Does it have missile launchers?" Catra asked. "We could launch the tracking devices and send Apophis on a chase into space."

"No," Sam said. "The only weapons it has are two staff weapons."

That was… not very impressive.

"Normal Tel'taks are unarmed," Bra'tac added.

"Ah." Catra shrugged. "Well, let's go! We have people to save."

"Yes." Adora nodded firmly. They wouldn't leave anyone behind.

"Indeed."

Now they just had to figure out how they would save the others.

*****​

The others were trapped in the palace dungeons, locked in by armoured walls with an explosive layer - under specific circumstances, it might act as reactive armour. Might that be a way to get through it? Unlikely. Based on their scans of the harem walls, the reinforced armour would withstand the blast from the explosive layer in either direction.

Samantha Carter was briefly distracted from her attempts to find a way to save their friends when Bra'tac started the engine, and the Tel'tak rose to float in the hangar.

A moment later, the hangar doors slid back in the walls, revealing a tunnel leading up to the surface. A concealed exit would be waiting for them at the end, probably rigged to be blown open once the ship drew closer. But what if an inhabited building might conceal the exit? Apophis would have no scruples to kill dozens, hundreds of people to escape!

"We need to stop and scan the exit before we open it," she said. "We don't want to blast our way free through a residual building."

"We cannot take the risk," Bra'tac retorted at once as he guided the craft up the tunnel. "Apophis will soon be aware of our escape - if he wasn't informed already by automated systems. He will be moving to block the exit."

"We can't risk killing innocent people!" Adora blurted out.

"We can check with our scanner," Entrapta offered. "We'll be in range soon… just stop when I say so!"

Bra'tac looked like he wanted to argue but nodded after a glance at Adora.

A few seconds later, they stopped at Entrapta's command.

"Alright, let's see… Oh."

The exit was indeed concealed beneath a building, Sam saw on the scanner. But it was a barracks building, not slave housing - the people inside were armed, carrying staff weapons that showed up on the scanner.

"He would blow up his own guards?" Glimmer shook her head.

"In the eyes of Apophis, the fact that he was forced to flee his palace would mean they have failed him, for their duty is to protect him from any kind of attack. Whether they failed or betrayed him, the false god would see death as a fitting punishment," Bra'tac said.

"We could scare them away with an alert after hacking the security system, I think," Entrapta suggested. "Or… Oh! They are moving."

The markers showing the positions of the Jaffa inside the barracks were indeed moving - towards the exit. "Apophis must have alerted them!" Sam said.

"He will attempt to lock us in here," Bra'tac snapped.

"Push on. We need to leave before they manage to set up a blockade!" Catra said.

"Do it," Adoara agreed.

Bra'tac was already moving the Tel'tak further ahead.

They might be too late, Sam knew. If Apophis had a remote command to block the exit… But would he risk that a rival or traitor could use that to trap him if he needed to flee? Unlikely.

She was still relieved when the tunnel suddenly shook, and the scanner's readings showed the building being blown clear a moment before the doors ahead of them opened, and the Tel'tak flew straight into a cloud of smoke.

Bra'tac activated the stealth device and then quickly accelerated. A moment later, they shot out of the smoke cloud.

"Death Gliders!" Catra yelled.

"We're hidden," Bra'tac replied.

But the enemy craft were shooting in their direction. Had Sam and Entrapta missed a tracker?

No, the shots went wide - and hit the cloud. They had been dragging some smoke with them as they flew out of the cloud, Sam realised, giving away their initial position.

But Bra'tac was manoeuvring now, banking to turn back towards the palace, and the Death Gliders were still shooting at the slowly rising smoke cloud. Sam winced when she saw shots hitting the streets and buildings below - and the people on the ground.

But there was nothing they could do about that, and she had to focus on how to save their friends. The walls had come down, locking them in. And there was no quick way to raise the walls from either side - Apophis had intended them to lock traitors in or out. Would there be an escape tunnel like the one they had used? In the dungeons? Very unlikely, Sam decided. Apophis wouldn't risk that. He could have prisoners brought to him if he wanted to personally interrogate or just torture them. That also ruled out a ring transporter set up to reach the dungeons.

They stopped in front of the palace - to the side, actually, in case an enemy craft approached the entrance or the landing pads above it.

"Now, how do we get back inside?" Entrapta asked. "And how do we get our friends out? Maybe we can construct a drill that won't trigger the explosives? Though that would take a long time…"

Sam shook her head. Trying to find a way inside through the armoured walls was the wrong way to tackle this. She knew the layout of the walls now. There was no way to quickly raise the walls - they had no machinery installed to do that - but they could be raised from the outside. It would take an attacker long enough to let Apophis escape since they had to bring in cranes or hydraulic lifts - or gravitational manipulators - and install them to lift the walls.

They couldn't do any of that. But sooner or later, Apophis would be ordering his guards to do that to get to the trapped team inside the dungeons.

And that would grant them an opportunity to intervene. They didn't have heavy machinery to do the lifting. But Apophis's troops would have access to the machines needed...

Sam nodded. "I have an idea."

*****​

Outside the Palace of Apophis, Saqqara, November 9th, 1999 (Earth Time)

"I don't like this plan," Catra muttered as their freshly stolen hoversled - or whatever the Goa'uld called their floating transports - stopped in front of the palace's gates. And it wasn't because she was wearing equally stolen worker robes again, which restricted her tail.

"We know. You told us so. Several times already," Glimmer whispered. "Now shut up!"

"It bears repeating." Sneaking into the palace disguised as slaves for the second time? Third time if you counted the harem infiltration separately? Sure, Apophis wouldn't expect that - because it was a damn dumb plan! Trying the same thing three times was a recipe for disaster. Not even the Princess Alliance at its worst had been that gullible!

Fortunately, fighting their way inside was a valid backup plan. They already knew the layout, they still had the primary security system hacked - Sam had checked - and Apophis's troops would be limited to infantry inside the palace and wouldn't be able to match or stop She-Ra. Well, unless the Jaffa blew up their own walls, but they could work around that. Probably.

She was eyeing the gate guards - she could take the two standing to the side while Adora barrelled into the main force in the centre, and the others could kill the warriors who had brought them here - when the guard commander waved them on, yelling at them for being late. No checking under their robes and cloaks, no questioning their orders - though they had valid orders, taken when they took the hoversled carrying the gravity lifters or whatever Entrapta had dubbed them. The only ones getting checked were the Jaffa with them, and those were actual guards who - and wouldn't enter the palace anyway.

It seemed like their foolhardy plan was going to work. Catra steadily focused on the potential threats as they entered the palace. And not on her undoubtedly smirking lover. They weren't out of danger yet, anyway. The only one relatively safe was Bra'tac back in the Tel'tak, with the stunned and secured Amaunet and the stunned workers originally assigned to the hoversleds and gravity lifters.

"Move faster! The great Apophis is impatient!" one of the palace guards now escorting them snapped as they turned a corner.

Catra clenched her teeth and sped the hoversled up a bit - and resisted the temptation to accelerate even more and 'accidentally' bump the guard into the wall with it. Just a bit further…

It seemed that every hallway crossing was now guarded by Jaffa. Yet none of them stopped them to check the slaves' identities, only their escorts'. As Bra'tac had said, the arrogance of the Goa'ud and their warriors would be their downfall.

Until they wised up, at least. You couldn't count on the enemy not adapting.

They reached a lift that looked like the one they had taken down to the vault, entered past more guards, and then waited inside while they descended.

Her ears, flattered by her cowl, picked up Sam whispering into their communicator, informing O'Neill and the others that they were close. He sounded a little tense under all his flippant comments, in her opinion, as he acknowledged that.

Then the lift stopped - they had arrived. More nervous guards hurried them on, towards an apparently freshly created hole in the floor. Catra stopped the hoversled next to it and used the opportunity to peer into it. Yes, that was the armoured wall down below. And the hole had been so recently created, its walls were still hot - as was the barrel of the staff canon the Jaffa had used to make it.

It didn't take long to place the gravity lifter over the hole, even though half a dozen Jaffa screaming at them to hurry up wasn't helping at all. But despite that, Catra could hear the Jaffa down below, massing to storm the dungeons as soon as the wall in front of them was lifted.

It looked as if everything was ready.

"We're ready," Glimmer told the Jaffa leader.

"Finally! You will be punished for your failure to arrive more promptly!"

"No, I don't think she will," Adora told him.

"What?" He looked up from his communicator just in time to catch her fist to the face and fell down the hole.

Catra was already in the air, tearing her robes off. She threw them at the closest guard, blinding him long enough for her to rake all four claws of hers over his partner as she came down. She hit the ground on all fours, then whirled, sweeping the first guard off his feet with her legs just as he dropped the robes. A swipe with her right hand tore through his armour and his throat before he could aim or swing at her.

Next to her, Adora threw another guard down the hole. He screamed until he hit the top of the wall below. "That was the last," she said. "Lift the wall!"

Entrapta's hair flew over the controls, and the lifter started to hum. A moment later, Catra heard metal sliding against metal, and the wall below began to move upward.

And Adora jumped down the hole.

*****​

 

[Starfox5]

Well then, sounds like they're in a pickle.

Click to shrink...

Jack: Oh, that's normal for us!

Bow: Yes, for us as well.

Catra: You don't say...

 

[Starfox5]

Chapter 111: The Rescue Operation Part 4

Palace of Apophis, Saqqara, November 9th, 1999 (Earth Time)

"They're about to raise the wall!"

As soon as he heard Bow's announcement, Jack O'Neill snapped: "Everyone, get ready!" and ducked behind the remains of the console, staff weapon aimed at the door. If only he had his gun! He'd prefer a zat, but the staff weapon was more effective against multiple enemies about to rush you.

He quickly glanced at the rest of the group. Teal'c was at the corner, staff aimed, not showing any tension. Bow was next to him, arrow notched but not yet drawn. And Daniel was in the corridor leading to the cells, zat ready to shoot at anyone running towards him, flanked by Ryla'c and Drey'auc. Having those two with weapons at his back made Jack a little nervous. Not because they might betray them. But they were civilians with weapons, thrust into a battle. Jaffa civilians, but still. At least Teal'c saw nothing wrong with it, and Jack trusted his friend.

The wall started to rise, and Jack tensed. If they shot a grenade through the gap… he got ready to blast it back.

But instead of a grenade, he heard screams and shots. And blasts from staff weapons.

"Hold fire!" Bow yelled, holding his communicator. "Adora jumped down!"

Ah. That explained it. Jack grinned as the wall quickly rose, revealing She-Ra in full armour fighting a few dozen Serpent Guards. They were shooting staff weapons and zats at her, to no effect. And in the back, he saw a group setting up a staff cannon.

A couple of blasts from him and Teal'c put an end to that, wrecking both the cannon and the crew.

To the left, Bow had hit three guards with a net arrow, entangling all of them. They were still struggling and trying to bring their weapons to bear, though, so Jack took them out with a blast from his staff weapon.

The wall had risen all the way to the top at that point. Adora charged forward, her sword turning into a shield to smash two Jaffa into three others, then changed back to slice through a fourth.

But more came running out of a side corridor. Teal'c caught the first with a shot to the chest that threw the guard back, and Jack shot the next one as he stumbled over the body, but then he had to duck when the rest opened up with a volley of blasts that finished wrecking the console more and blew up more of the guard room.

Things were getting heated. Jack clenched his teeth, took a deep breath and rushed out of his rapidly disintegrating cover to the entrance of the prison sector, drawing and wildly firing his zat one-handed.

A staff blast missed him but blew up the floor behind him, and he felt fragments hit his armour - and his bare legs.

The pain followed a moment later when he slid into the corner next to the door, out of the Jaffa's field of fire. Gritting his teeth, he quickly checked his leg. Nothing serious. He could still run.

"Watch out!"

"Hold fire! The others are coming!" Bow, now across from him in the other corner next to the door, yelled.

Jack leaned around the corner and caught a figure landing on a Jaffa trying to get into Adora's rear. Catra. She drove the guard into the floor, then ripped his neck open with a swipe of her claws.

Jack grimaced as she leaned out a bit more, checked above for anyone else dropping by, and shot a Jaffa who was getting up after Adora had smashed into him.

More shots from above followed. A couple of not-very-well-aimed staff blasts that at least suppressed another Jaffa rush and a zat shot that took out another wounded Jaffa. That would be Glimmer and Carter, respectively.

Jack forced himself to ignore the pain in his legs and get up, then push on. They had to get out of here. "Just how many guards does Apophis have?" he muttered as he moved through the door, then crouched down on the other side.

"This is his capital," Teal'c replied, mirroring his move on the other side - which forced Bow, who had been about to do the same, to fall back, Jack noted.

"Set up our present!" he yelled at him. Bow didn't have many arrows, and with everyone else joining the battle, he wouldn't be very effective either.

"Alright!"

"Make way! Whee!"

He glanced up again and almost gasped. Entrapta was climbing down the hole, her hair tendrils reaching from wall to wall - and half-carrying Glimmer and Carter. It looked like out of a movie.

Shaking his head, he advanced some more, shooting at a straggler. Teal'c did the same, securing the other flank.

By the time Entrapta reached the ground, the Jaffa had been driven back into the hallways they had used to gather for the assault. They would rally again, though.

"Everyone, come on - time to leave!" Jack yelled. The longer they stayed, the more troops Apophis could bring in.

"Where is Sha're?" Daniel asked as he and Teal'c's family joined them.

"She's with Bra'tac," Carter told him before addressing Jack. "Sir, it looks like a regiment of guards is covering the upper levels."

That complicated things.

*****​

A regiment? Adora looked around - there were no enemies left near her. None who were alive or awake, at least. But that was a large number of guards to go through. "They're blocking all the exits?"

"Yes," Sam replied.

"Then we'll have to make our own exits," she said. "As long as we avoid more such walls, we should be able to cut through any wall - or ceiling."

"And we can use the gravity sled," Entrapta added.

Catra cocked her head to the side. "We could - if the guards hadn't blown it up right now."

That meant they would soon be coming through the shaft they had left leading up - or dropping bombs down. "Let's move!" Adora snapped and moved forward.

As the others followed her, Jack turned and shot the controls of the door behind them as soon as it closed. "That should slow any pursuit. If only I had some spare charges…"

"We could rig one from the staff weapons," Catra suggested.

"That will take too long. We need to move," Adora cut in. "Come on." She turned to Entrapta and the others. "Plot a route to the surface. Don't bother with lifts and stairs."

"But look out for traps," Catra added - unnecessarily, in Adora's opinion. Their friends knew what to do.

Sam ignored the comment, but Entrapta nodded. "Alright! If we stick to the route we took going in, there shouldn't be any traps. Though… Hmm…"

"I think we should take an angled route," Sam said, pointing at the display on Entrapta's tool. "Here!"

"Oh, yes!" Entrapta's hair flared out, then formed a hand, finger pointing at the ceiling. "Cut here!"

Adora nodded, hefted her sword and jumped. Two curved slashes later, she dropped to the floor and caught a piece of the ceiling, grunting at the effort - and with surprise when Catra jumped on top of the ceiling piece, then up through the hole. "Catra!"

"Clear!" her lover yelled back. "Hurry and come up!"

"Well, we don't have a gravity sled," Glimmer said, eyeing the hole.

"I should be able to…"

Adora lowered the piece she was holding. "Step on it."

"Right!"

Adora had to lift it up twice. Not because of the weight - she could throw a tank; the steel piece, even with all their friends on it, was no problem. But the piece she had cut was too small to fit everyone, even with Entrapta using her hair to climb up.

But they all arrived safely on the floor above them and quickly moved to the next spot Entrapta and Sam had picked.

This time, a group of guards must have heard the floor dropping off, but Catra made short work of them before Adora could set down the platform and jump up.

The next floor, though, had Jaffa shooting at them as soon as Adora dropped down, and…

"Grenade!" Catra yelled.

Adora gasped, then flung the floor piece up as everyone dived into cover. A moment later, something exploded above her, and the slab of metal she had hurled came back down in pieces.

"That didn't take out everyone!" Catra snapped, already moving towards the hole.

Adora beat her to it, though, pushing the fragments on her away and jumping straight up. A zat blast hit her on the way up, but she ignored it. Two staff weapons fired at her when she landed on the floor above. She caught both on her shield and charged.

A Jaffa on the ground, hurt by their own grenade, tried to raise, but without stopping, she kicked him in the head, sending him flying against the wall. Then she crashed into the line of Jaffa facing her and bowled them over.

A moment later, her shield changed into a sword, and she slashed at the groaning guards before they could recover.

She whirled. Catra was already laying into the surviving guards on the other side, followed by Teal'c arriving in the hole, pushed up by Entrapta's hair. A couple of staff blasts later, the guards were down, and Entrapta brought the rest of the group up.

"The Jaffa are spreading out on the floor above us," Sam reported. "They must have realised we change the location where we go up." With a frown, she added: "And they are taking out the cameras - they must have realised we hacked them."

That limited them to the short range of Entrapta's scanner in her multitool. Adora briefly bit her lower lip. There was no helping it - they had to continue. "Let's go!"

They caught the Jaffa by surprise on the next floor, but the guards quickly rallied - and tried to keep their distance, shooting at them from prepared positions instead of rushing in.

"They're trying to slow us down," Jack said, gritting his teeth as he poked a burn on his thigh.

It didn't look too bad, but it must be painful anyway.

"To gain time to bring in more reinforcements?" Catra frowned.

"Something like that," Jack agreed.

"Then we need to hurry," Glimmer said.

"And we need to skip the gates," Catra added. "They'll expect that."

"They've seen us cut through the floor multiple times," Bow retorted. "They'll have to surround the entire palace."

"We can have Bra'tac fetch us," Glimmer pointed out. "If we reach a landing pad further up."

"They'll cover those gates as well," Jack said. "But it's harder to block all of them, and if we're quick enough, we should be able to get away."

"Uh…" Entrapta spoke up. "Bra'tac just sent us a message: A Ha'tak is descending on the palace."

*****​

A Ha'tak? If it was bringing reinforcements, it could land directly on the palace to deliver them. Or to pick up Apophis if the System Lord was present - taking command of a Ha'tak would give him an excuse to leave his palace in the middle of a crisis.

Either way, the ship could cover every entrance with its guns.

Samantha Carter looked at the Colonel. "Sir, if they target the gates or any opening we make…"

"...we won't have the time to embark on Bra'tac's ship, yes." He nodded with a grim expression.

"We need a distraction," Catra said. "Something to draw their attention and fire away from the real exit."

"And we need to keep going up," Adora added. "We can't waste time. Look for an alternative way out while we move." She raised her sword, bent her knees and then jumped, striking at the ceiling.

Sam moved back with Entrapta and Bow while the others - mostly Adora, Catra, Teal'c and the Colonel - fought their way up and through the Serpent Guards waiting there.

It was a holding action indeed. By the time she joined the others on the next floor, the Jaffa had fallen back and were attempting spoiling attacks in small numbers. Wasteful but not entirely ineffective, Sam thought.

"Could we fool them into thinking that this is a coup attempt? Make them fight each other?" Glimmer suggested.

"If we had control of their communications," Sam replied. Which they didn't have. And the security system was rapidly losing coverage of the rest of the palace, with all the cameras near the Jaffa being destroyed.

"I have an idea. Is the Ha'tak landing?" the Colonel asked.

Sam relayed the question to Bra'tac. It was dangerous - the Tel'tak was in stealth mode, but any communication could theoretically be detected - but justified. And the comm channels had to be full of orders and reports right now.

"It seems to be set on landing on the palace," Bratac told them.

"Alright. We've prepared a surprise for Apophis," the Colonel said. "I didn't want to use it while we were still inside the palace, but we don't have much of a choice. But we need to get to the surface floor before the ship touches down."

A surprise? What could… Sam's eyes widened. The Colonel couldn't have! Then she saw Bow wincing. No, of course, they could have. "We need to hurry!" she said. And they had to signal Bra'tac so he could be ready to pick them up. They wouldn't have much time to pull this off!

"Then let's go!" Adora announced.

They had two more floors to clear. And they had to reach the outer wall. All before the ship touched down on the top of the palace.

Sam indicated the shortest route to the outer walls, and they sprinted down the hallway, past dead and wounded Serpent Guards. This time, Adora didn't cut a hole into the ceiling - she jumped and smashed a hole into it, using her sword like a ramming tool. And Catra didn't wait for Adora to jump in first and draw fire - she bounced off the wall and disappeared in the cloud of smoke before Adora could jump again.

Sam heard shots from above, followed by screams, and clenched her teeth. As much as she wanted to help fight the Jaffa, she couldn't do much until she was up on the next floor. Not with her weapon, at least.

But she could do other things. The security system was in shambles, but she could still fill it with fake signals. It might not fool the Serpent Guard, who must have received orders not to listen, but the servants and slaves? A few fire alarms might be enough to disrupt whatever Apophis was doing. In a small way, at least.

But then she remembered the likely reaction of the guards to a bunch of panicking slaves trying to run past them - or at them. No, she couldn't do that. Not for such a paltry chance of improving their situation.

Instead, she focused on what intel she could gather with her rapidly shrinking means: The positions of some enemy troops - and the movements of others. By the time Entrapta's hair put her down on the next floor, she had a new route plotted out.

That left another floor before the surface level. A Ha'tak on a landing approach was slow, but not that slow. "We are running out of time! We have to break through and then immediately go up again - without clearing the area of enemy troops!" she told the others.

"I'll keep them busy on this side," Catra said, pointing towards the inner part of the palace. "You suppress the rest."

"That's…" Adora started to protest.

"We don't have time!" the Colonel snapped. "Do it!"

Adora glared at him but jumped up, once more breaking a hole into the stone ceiling. She managed to get a grip on the broken edge somehow and swung herself up with a roar, followed by Catra. Then Entrapta started to move Teal'c and the Colonel up. Then Glimmer and Bow.

Then it was Sam's turn.

She was dropped on the floor, zat out, and started firing at the Jaffa moving at the end of the corridor. Smoke hindered her aim, but the goal was suppressing them, not taking them out.

A staff blast passed above her head. Teal'c turned and shot down the hallway as well.

"Brace yourself!" Adora yelled.

Then the ceiling exploded, and Sam ducked, holding her arms above her head as metal and stone pieces rained down on them. One hit her shoulder, and she yelled at the pain. Bruised. Not dislocated or broken, she thought, but it was hard to tell. Before she could resume shooting at the enemies, hair tendrils grabbed her and lifted her up to the hole. She reached out to haul herself up with one arm, but then something exploded below her, and she was falling, the hair releasing her.

Staff weapon blast, she realised a moment before she hit the ground - on her already hurt shoulder. And she couldn't help screaming as the pain grew much, much worse. Broken, probably. She rolled on her back, holding her shoulder, as torn strands of Entrapta's hair floated down on her. Entrapta!

"My hair!"

So, she was alive! Sam smiled despite her wound.

Some appeared at her side. Sam almost shot them - or tried to, using her off hand - before she recognised Catra.

"Get up!"

Before Sam could do so - or say anything about her shoulder - Catra grabbed her and jumped.

And Sam hissed through clenched teeth as her shoulder flared with more pain each time it was jostled.

But she was now on the surface level. And they had to keep moving. Groaning, she got up. Catra had already jumped down again. The Ha'tak would be landing any moment.

She looked around. The Colonel and Teal'c were firing their staff weapons as fast as they cycled, suppressing a group of guards trying to rush them. Catra reappeared, carrying Ryla'c. Entrapta appeared in the hole, hair tendrils moving to pull her up - though not as much as before. And Glimmer and Bow were climbing up the hair tendrils instead of being lifted.

Ryla'c started shooting a staff weapon down the hole. Covering fire for Daniel and Dry'auc, Sam realised.

She crawled to the edge of the hole and added her own fire. Damn, her shoulder hurt!

"The ship's about to touch down!" Entrapta yelled.

"Tell me when it's landed!" the Colonel yelled back.

Catra appeared, carrying Daniel. Dry'auc was climbing herself.

Sam fired at the Jaffa charging at them from below. One Jaffa got hit and went down. Another dropped to the side when Ryla'c shot a staff weapon at them. Then Dry'auc reached the surface floor and pulled herself up next to Sam - and exposed her bleeding back to her.

But before Sam could say anything, Entrpata yelled. "The ship has landed!"

"Hit it, Bow!" the colonel yelled.

A moment later, Sam heard a loud explosion - and then the whole building trembled.

*****​

The crazy bastard had rigged the charges in the dungeon to explode! Catra grinned as she felt the floor shift slightly under her feet. Then she heard the sound of metal straining and stone cracking and cursed. "We need to leave! Right now!"

Adora was already charging towards the outer wall closest to them. "Call Bra'tac!" she yelled over her shoulder.

"Sam's hurt!" Entrapta.

"It's just my shoulder!"

"Everyone's banged up!" Catra snapped. She had caught some shrapnel herself. Nothing too bad, though. "Call Bra'tac - we need him to pick us up before the ship recovers."

Adora slashed the wall, once, twice, then kicked it - sending a section flying outwards. Catra could see the sky outside - and Jaffa on the ground getting up. Damn! That was too much firepower for Adora to cover.

And the sounds from the palace were getting louder, even though the floor wasn't shifting any more… The Ha'tak on top must be mangling the structure!

But there was a staff cannon whose crew had been taken out, next to the opening. Catra dashed forward on all fours, trying to ignore the staff blasts whipping past above her head as everyone started firing, and Adora tried to shield them.

"He's coming! Homing in on our signal!" Entrapta announced.

"Tell him to hurry!" O'Neill snapped.

"I can walk, sir!"

"You stay put!"

The corpse of the Jaffa gunner lay slumped over the controls. Catra kicked it away and started turning the cannon around. Her foot claws dug into the stone floor, but the weapon swivelled until the barrel pointed at the opening. And at Adora's back. "Move right!" Catra yelled.

As soon as Aodra did so, Catra started firing. Her first volley went wide, but she quickly adjusted, and her next blasts wiped out a squad of charging Serpent Guards. She swung the cannon to the side and started raking the grounds with suppressive fire, scattering more ranks of the guards outside.

"Incoming inside!" O'Neill yelled.

More explosions inside followed. Staff blasts. Catra gritted her teeth and kept firing. O'Neill arrived, half-carrying Sam, followed by Daniel and the ragged-looking Entrapta - part of her hair was still smoking. "Bra'tac's almost here!" she announced.

The sound of screeching metal drowned out whatever Daniel said to that. A moment later, a piece of metal and stone the size of a skiff crashed into the ground outside, shattering and throwing up a cloud of dust.

Then a shadow fell over the area outside, and Adora screamed: "Get out! Right now!"

Catra released the cannon's controls - it was overheating anyway - and dashed outside. Looking up, she froze for a moment.

The Ha'tak was looming over them, listing to the side and dragging part of the palace's top with it as its engines were straining to get the ship clear.

Entrapta almost cooed. "Oh! It must have gotten stuck on the pyramid connector when the explosion rocked the structure! The distance would have leveraged the slight shift on the underground level, resulting in…"

"Escape now, physics lesson later!" O'Neill snapped. "Where is Bra'tac?"

Behind him, Dry'auc and Ryla'c appeared in the opening, Teal'c bringing up the rear with Bow and Glimmer.

But the Jaffa outside were rallying, and the fire was picking up. Worse, the guards inside were barely being held back by the others laying down suppressive fire. They were boxed in!

"He's almost here!"

More stone and metal bits slid down the palace's side, one hitting a landing pad and ripping it off. The Ha'tak was slowly righting itself, twisting the landing structure it was stuck on.

Catra's ears twitched - that was an engine noise. A familiar one! It was coming closer! She looked but saw nothing - there! A slight distortion!

A moment later, a door swung open, seemingly from nowhere, revealing the interior of the Tel'tak they had stolen.

"Everyone inside!" O'Neill yelled. "Go! Go! Go!"

But even as he started to run, dragging Sam with him, the Tel'tak's stealth field started to ripple - the Serpent Guards outside shooting at them were hitting the ship instead! Catra clenched her teeth. The shields were deflecting the shots, but that disrupted the stealth field.

And the Jaffa must have realised what that meant since the fire intensified. O'Neill had reached the ship, followed by Daniel. Adora moved to cover the ship from the front, but she couldn't shield it entirely.

Catra picked up a staff weapon and started laying down suppressive fire on their flank while Dry'auc and Ryla'c sprinted to the ramp. "Hurry up!" she yelled to the rest. "They'll call in air support any moment!"

They had already done so, she realised a moment later, when two Death Gliders swooped down, their canons stitching a line of explosions into the ground - and then into the Tel'tak.

The shields flickered but held. Apophis wouldn't have trusted his life to a weak escape vessel, Catra thought. Good for him - and for us!

She started to move towards the ship herself, still firing wildly to break up the Jaffa formations trying to charge them. They just needed a little more time for everyone to…

The sound of stone and metal breaking, tearing, made her look up. The Ha'tak had torn off the top of the palace's pyramid top! And while the ship was stabilising, the structure it had wrecked was falling down in several large and countless smaller pieces - right on them!

"Take cover!" Catra dropped the staff weapon and dashed forward, slamming into Bow and Glimmer as they left the palace and pushing them back inside moments before a slab of stone smashed into the wall above them, shattering the stone and everything below.

She rolled on her side, jumping up - next to Teal'c still covering their rear - and whirled around.

Just in time to see the tip of the pyramid hit the Tel'tak's shields and shatter them, then crush the ship. She gasped. Adora!

Then the pain hit her, and she noticed the blood running down her side.

*****​

Outside the Palace of Apophis, Saqqara, November 9th, 1999 (Earth Time)

One moment, Jack O'Neill was reaching out to grab Ryla'c to drag the kid to a seat inside the Tel'tak and strap him in. The next, Bra'tac yelled something, and Jack found himself thrown against the wall. And the ceiling. Or the floor - it was hard to tell with all the smoke and…

He blinked and shook his head, glancing around. He was on the floor - and the floor was the wall. Or trying to be. All angled wrong. And broken. Like the rest of it.

The ship was wrecked, he realised, gasping - only to cough when he inhaled smoke. Something was burning. And that meant the whole ship would burn in no time.

"We need to get out!" he yelled, then coughed again. They never got the smoke quite right in crash and rescue drills, he thought before shaking his head again. He must have hit it hard to be distracted in the middle of an emergency.

Where were the others? He glanced around again.

Ryla'c was a few yards away, groaning. Alive then. On the ground but moving towards his mother. Who wasn't moving. Carter… on Jack's other side, a purple cocoon started to open up. He blinked. A cocoon? Entrapta's hair! She must have wrapped it around herself and Carter.

"Sir?" Carter was alive!

"Get out!" Jack snapped. "We need to evacuate the ship!" Where was Daniel? He had been further towards the front of the ship and… Jack steadied himself against the floor/wall and climbed towards the ship's bridge. Just around a new corner in a formerly straight passage.

"Shit!"

Daniel was unconscious and had a metal rod sticking out of his back - he had been covering Sha're with his body. Sha're's body, which still had a snake in it, Jack reminded himself. Daniel's right leg also didn't look good - what Jack could see of it; the lower half was buried under a piece of wall. Or floor. And behind him, Jack could see more people. In their underwear. They didn't move, and he could see blood on several of them. All unconcious? Or stunned beforehand.

And the bridge… Jack gritted his teeth. Whatever had hit them had struck the bridge and caved it in. "Bra'Tac?" he called out, coughing again. The smoke was getting worse. Where was the old Jaffa? If he had been piloting this thing… Oh.

There was an arm on the floor. In a pool of blood. Sticking out from under a piece of stone that looked bigger than Jack's first car and filled half the bridge's remains. Jack could see the remains of a seat peeking out from under it as well. And more blood.

Fuck.

He couldn't do anything for Bra'tac. And Daniel needed help. "Daniel's wounded!" Jack managed to yell before coughing again.

Kneeling down - he almost lost his footing and slipped - he checked the wound. The metal had missed the spine. And the lung, since Daniel wasn't choking on his blood. And it hadn't gone straight through him.

But if Jack pulled it out, Daniel would likely bleed to death. Quickly. And Daniel's foot was a goner, too.

"Sir? We need to… Daniel!"

Carter had managed to reach him despite her disabled or broken shoulder.

"Careful," Jack said, "We need to transport him without making it worse. And Sha're."

"And the slaves," Carter added. "We took their places."

"Ah." That explained the unknown people.

"Entrapta!"

"Coming! Something's burning in the part we can't get to!"

Hair tentacles reached around the corner, followed by Entrapta. "Oh, no!" She rushed forward.

"Careful!" Jack said.

Hair wrapped around the metal stuck in his friend, and more tendrils slipped under the piece of the ship that was trapping Daniel's foot.

Jack heard a screeching sound, then the hair pulled Daniel away - and Jack had to wince at the sight of his mangled, bleeding foot. "Tourniquet!" he snapped. They needed to stop the bleeding.

Hair wrapped around the thigh while Jack pulled the belt off his stupid armour. A few seconds later, he had stopped the bleeding. But Daniel needed medical help, and quickly.

First, though, they needed to get out of this wreck. The smoke was getting worse, and Jack thought he saw something flicker behind the caved-in parts of the ship. Fire. Or shots from staff weapons - they were still surrounded by Serpent Guards.

Focus on the task at hand! He told himself. First, they needed to get out of this death trap. He could figure out how to escape the other death trap later.

"Move him to the rear. I'll get the others."

"What about Bra'tac?" Entrpata asked as she started to lift Daniel up.

She must have missed the arm. Jack shook his head. "He's dead."

Entrapta gasped. "But… Are you sure?"

"Yes. Move!"

They moved. Jack grabbed Sha're's body and followed them. Just at the corner, the ship suddenly shook again. He was pushed against the tilted wall, almost dropping Sha're, and banged his arm against some piece of broken crystal.

He glanced over his shoulder and cursed again - flames flickered behind him, and smoke started to fill the passage. The ship was burning up with them inside!

The slaves! For a moment, Jack considered going back for them. But he was already carrying Sha're, and with all the smoke… He wouldn't make it out again.

Cursing Apophis and himself, he hurried towards the back of the ship.

*****​

There they came! Adora gritted her teeth, swatted a staff weapon bolt away with a flick of her wrist while she waited for another second, then jumped. A volley of blasts passed below her, rising as the pilot of the first Death Glider tried to adjust his aim, but she was already too close, her blade swinging out before he could react.

She cut the craft in two, flipped and landed on the larger part, then pushed off it, launching herself towards the Death Glider's wingman.

The second fighter banked, but it was too slow and too late as well, and the tip of her blade slid into its right wing, then through it. The wing broke apart, and the Death Glider entered an uncontrolled spin just as the parts of the first hit the ground and exploded.

Adora dodged a falling piece of broken stone as large as Scorpia, swatted a twisted metal shard away, then flipped again. Arcing downward, she brought her sword down just before she hit the ground. The impact shattered the stone beneath her and sent out a shock wave that threw the dozen Jaffa around her into the air just as more stone fragments pelted the area.

She stood, then cut apart a staff cannon they had brought forward as she whirled - she had to…

She gasped. The Tel'tak was a wreck, half of its hull caved in - smashed - by the broken top of the palace. Her friends! Catra!

She raced back, smashing, cutting through a formation of Jaffa trying to rally, sending them flying with broken and bleeding bodies, until she reached the wreck. It was burning, and its left side had collapsed, tilting the whole thing to the side.

At the back of it, facing the hole she had cut into the palace wall, she could see Ryla'c struggling to drag his mother out of the wreck. But a dozen Serpent Guards were shooting at the wreck - and at the hole, where Glimmer tried to return fire with a staff.

Where were the others? Inside the palace? Or the wreck? Both? Where was Catra? If only Adora had her communicator!

"Adora!" Glimmer called out. "We're pinned down here!"

And above them, the Ha'tak would soon be ready to blast the entire area. Apophis might hesitate to fire on his own palace… No, he wouldn't. They had his queen, and the Serpent Guard were still firing on them.

Adora blocked a ragged volley from the Jaffa, then threw a piece of the palace that had fallen off the roof at them, scattering them. Then she used the sudden lull in the battle and rushed forward, grabbing Ryla'c and his unconscious mother, then leapt to Glimmer, putting the two down. Bow, sitting on the ground with a bandaged leg, slid over to them.

And Catra was there, firing a staff weapon down the hallway, supporting Teal'c, and… She was hurt! Blood was running down her side and leg!

"Catra!"

"I'm OK! Get the others before they burn!" Catra snapped.

She wasn't OK! But Entrapta appeared in the back of the wrecked Te'tak, carrying Daniel - who had a metal shard sticking out of his back! And Sam was stumbling along. Where were Jack and Bra'tac?

No matter. Everyone was hurt. The Tel'tak was wrecked and burning. And they were surrounded by Jaffa, with a Ha'tak above them and Death Gliders rallying.

There was no choice. None at all. They were all going to die if she didn't save them.

Adora raised her sword above her head and closed her eyes. Focused on her power. On her magic. Reached out for that particular pattern and opened herself to the magic.

She connected, hissing through clenched teeth as she became a conduit for magic. For power. Felt as if she was about to burst as the planet's magic filled her. Pushing her. Straining her.

Then she cut the pattern, and the world turned white as the magic was released.

The pressure vanished - but she was still blazing with power. She looked up at the hovering Ha'tak. She could destroy it utterly. She just had to slash her sword at it and let her power go.

And she wanted to do it. Destroy it. And the Serpent Guards. Everyone who had hurt her friends.

But that wouldn't save her friends. Wouldn't save Catra.

Adora clenched her teeth and stepped out of the palace. She was going to save her friends. Catra. Everyone.

A few Jaffa were firing at her, but the bolts didn't reach her - her aura stopped them. They didn't matter.

Entrapta was calling out to her, and she could see Jack behind Sam, almost at the heck of the Tel'tak.

She didn't listen to what they were saying. She couldn't spare the attention. Not with all the power filling her, almost overwhelming her.

She focused, took a deep, shivering breath - and released her magic.

And, once more, the entire area was bathed in white light. In She-Ra's magic.

Next to her, Glimmer gasped and shuddered. "Adora…"

Adora looked around. A bit away, a group of Jaffa in broken armour were on the ground, staring at her with wide eyes. Another dropped the weapon he had been firing at her and staggered back, stumbling over a Jaffa who was sitting up with a dazed expression and flexing his fingers.

No one was firing any more, she realised. Everyone was staring. Gaping. But that wouldn't last.

It didn't have to, though - everyone was gathering around her. Catra, Glimmer, Bow, Entrapta, Sam, Jack, Daniel, Sha're - still stunned, she noted. Weird. Teal'c and his family. "Bra'tac?" she asked, dreading the answer.

Jack shook his head.

No! Adora pressed her lips together. She had failed. But she wouldn't fail the others.

"Glimmer! Teleport us to the Stargate!"

*****​

Teleport? That would take a while. Catra and Teal'c first, to start taking over the Stargate's control room, followed by the wounded - the civilians, all wounded had been healed - while She-Ra guarded the rest. Or attempted to.

Samantha Carter glanced around, zat'nik'tel in hand. Any moment, the Serpent Guards would overcome their shock and resume fighting. Or the Ha'tak above them would start firing at them. Apophis might be too intrigued by the display of magic to order a bombardment, or he might decide that even destroying his palace was worth it to kill them.

But Glimmer yelled: "Entrapta, grab everyone!", and Sam felt hair wrap around her thigh.

A moment later, she appeared next to the D.H.D. of Saqarra's Stargate in a shower of sparks. With everyone else.

One Serpent Guard shouted an alert, raising his staff weapon, but Adora laid him out with a kick while Catra pounced on the next, and everyone else started firing. Sam stunned the official trying to flee, then crouched down. They had to deal with the guards behind the reinforced walls, and…

Glimmer reappeared in front of her, panting. And the Colonel and Catra were missing. No, not missing - Sam saw flashes behind the firing positions in the walls.

"Everyone behind me!" Adora yelled, her sword changing into a huge shield, covering the group as they backed up to a wall. Several staff weapon blasts hit the shield or the wall next to them as the concealed guards tried to kill them, but it didn't take long for Catra and the Colonel to silence the weapons.

"Dial to the rally spot!" Glimmer snapped, still breathing heavily.

She must have severely strained herself teleporting everyone at once - and then following up with teleporting the Colonel and Catra. Sam hadn't even known that Glimmer could do that. Was it a result of the restoration of magic to the planet? A temporary boost?

Questions for another time, Sam reminded herself as she dialled PK-Z642's gate address. They had to escape and recover.

The Stargate spun, chevrons locking, as the Colonel and Catra returned. "I bet Apophis is currently cursing himself for burying his Stargate so deeply that he can't reach us," the Colonel said with a grin.

"We don't know if he is present," Sam reminded him.

"I doubt that the Serpent Guards would have risked killing Amaunet without his direct command," Teal'c said. He was standing next to his family, but his staff weapon was pointed at the main gate to the room.

He had a point, though Sam was sure the analysts back on Earth would go over it with a fine comb. Too bad they didn't have combat footage to dissect. The sensor readings from Entrapta's tool were rather limited. But they did have several scans and data from the security system of his palace, which might contain valuable intel.

The wormhole stabilised.

"Alright! Everyone through the gate!" The Colonel gestured to the ramp. "It's time to go home!"

*****​

Gate Area, PK-Z642, November 9th, 1999 (Earth Time)

Samantha Carter dialled home to Earth the moment the wormhole collapsed. The sooner they were off this planet and back home, the better. They had already lost Bra'tac and narrowly escaped being killed themselves. If the broken tip of the palace that had crushed the Tel'tak's side had fallen slightly to the right…

Sam closed her eyes for a moment as the Stargate dialled. This had been too close for comfort. Far too close. Still, while it had cost them, dearly, they had achieved their objectives. However, she was well aware that the brass back home would not be pleased with the results. Bra'tac's death wouldn't be an issue. Soldiers risked their lives on every mission, in every battle. But the potential discovery of the Etherians and the return of magic - to a planet held by Apophis… that would cause more than some ruffled feathers amongst the Alliance. Pointed questions would be the least they could expect. And quite justified questions, Sam had to admit.

And yet, when she glanced at Teal'c, who was talking in a low voice with his family, and at Daniel standing next to Sha're's body, which was still carried by Entrapta, she couldn't help feeling that it had been worth it.

*****​

 

[Transreal Clouden]

It's sad that Bra'tac did but I think it's a good choice.

 

[Starfox5]

It's sad that Bra'tac did but I think it's a good choice.

Click to shrink...

It was a good death. And since he was piloting the Tel'tak, he could die without cheapening out so She-Ra couldn't save him, which would have been a concern for the others.

 

[Starfox5]

Chapter 112: The Rescue Operation Part 5

Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, November 10th, 1999

Catra wasn't fond of debriefings. She knew how essential they were to properly wage war, to spot mistakes for corrections and improvements, to collect intel to pursue, and to evaluate officers, but unless she was the one running the debriefing, she couldn't help remembering how Shadow Weaver had always used them to put her down and manipulate her - and Adora.

And she wasn't in charge of this debriefing. So, she had to listen to someone else list everything that had gone wrong during the mission. And to make it even worse, it wasn't even Adora but some paper-pushing officers from Earth who had never done anything like infiltrating an enemy stronghold to spring a prisoner and do some sabotage while you were there.

She glanced at Adora. As Supreme Commander of the Alliance, she could take over any time she wanted. But her lover just sat there, straight and tense, as the idiot in front of the room, Admiral Kearsy, droned on.

"...and then, having narrowly escaped and commandeered an FTL-capable vessel, you decided to infiltrate the palace again instead of withdrawing.."

"Yes," Adora replied, nodding. "We don't leave anyone behind."

"Like the Marines," Catra added just when he was about to go on and flashed her teeth,

The admiral frowned briefly at that. She couldn't tell if that was because he didn't like the Marines - he was from the United States Navy and, as Jack had explained, the different branches of their mess of an armed force hated each other - or because he didn't like being interrupted. Probably both.

"Ah, yes. In any case, you decided to ambush a worker crew and impersonate them to infiltrate the palace - which, at this point, was on full alert with all checkpoints manned."

"Yes," Adora replied again.

"We counted on the Goa'uld and Jaffa arrogance to ignore their slaves, but we were prepared for being discovered," Glimmer cut in. She didn't like the briefing either - Catra could tell that she was struggling with her temper.

"Your alternative plan consisted of fighting through the Serpent Guards until you reached the palace dungeons." Kearsy didn't roll his eyes, but he made clear what he thought of that without saying so.

"Yes," Adora replied once more, and Catra smirked when her lover's earnest expression made the admiral blink.

"A perfectly reasonable plan," O'Neill said - he wasn't quite slouching in his seat, but he was a bit too obviously relaxed for the briefing. "We fought our way out, after all."

"While losing the ship you had taken, General O'Neill. And being forced to not only reveal magic to the Goa'uld but also activate the planet's magic!" Kearsy glowered at them.

"And losing Bra'tac, a valued ally and friend," Adora said with a frown.

Disappointingly, the admiral was smart enough not to openly dismiss Bra'tac's death as an acceptable loss. He nodded. "Yes, of course."

Catra was still dead certain that he didn't really care about Bra'tac. Even though the Jaffa had been Apophis's Prime for decades and had known both the Goa'uld and, even more importantly, Apophis's key Jaffa subordinates better than almost anyone else. His death was, even seen from a rather cold military view, a heavy loss. But they already knew that, and mentioning it to yank Kearsy's chain wouldn't be worth making Adora feel guilty again. So she shrugged. "Anyway, our plan worked - the Jaffa were too arrogant to check all workers."

"But you took a considerable risk," Kearsy insisted.

"It was a calculated risk," Glimmer retorted. "And we would do the same thing again. We don't leave anyone behind."

"Yes," Adora firmly agreed.

"Though next time, we'll have better gear," Entrapta added. "Concealed weapons and communicators, shield generators that can be dismantled and hidden, stealth bots to carry gear and support us, maybe holographic projectors so we can wear armour and look harmless… there's so much we can do to make the next mission easier!"

A bunch of stealth bots to serve as a distraction or additional forces would have come in handy, though that ran the risk of having the enemy salvage their technology. Catra made a note to bring that up at the next planning meeting with SG-1 - or whatever they were called now. Not that Catra cared too much about official titles. Even Sam slipped from time to time and talked about 'the Colonel' despite O'Neill's promotion.

"And we have to interrogate Amaunet," O'Neill added. "As soon as the Tok'ra can get her out of Sha're. As Apophi's queen, she should know a lot about his realm. And, as a backstabbing snake, I am sure she'll be willing to sell him out."

"And the loss of his queen will weaken Apophis long-term," Sam said. "He needs her to replace the Prim'ta in his warriors. That can be compensated to some degree by prioritising who gets one, albeit with the risk of alienating those who would be shortened," she amended.

Catra nodded. Without a queen, Apophis would run out of larvae, but that would take years to take effect - in the best case. But it was a hit to Apophis's prestige, and if that information spread, he would look vulnerable to his rivals.

"Nevertheless, the enemy is now aware of both magic and Etheria," Kearsy repeated himself.

"We can't assume that," O'Neill retorted. "They saw magic - but will they recognise it? Or think that was just advanced technology?" He grinned. "Hard to tell the difference."

"Technically, magic is a form of advanced technology," Entrpata piped up. "But I think you mean the specific form of magic, right?"

"Yes," Kearsy said, frowning some more.

"And the Jaffa who witnessed this might simply consider this a demonstration of divine power," Sam pointed out. "They were indoctrinated to see the Goa'uld as gods and their technology as divine powers, so they are likely to interpret She-Ra's demonstration similarly."

"And Apophis might do the same," O'Neill added. "He might suspect rivals - or other alien species - behind this, using advanced technology."

"Nevertheless, we cannot assume so," Kearsy insisted. "We must consider that our most secret advantages have been revealed to the enemy!"

"The Tok'ra will look into it," Adora said. "We should know more about this soon."

Catra hoped so. Out loud, she said: "So, no point in doomsaying yet. Who knows, Adora healing everyone might even convert more Jaffa to her worship.

Adora and Kearsy glared at her for that comment. She counted it as a successful debriefing.

*****​

Alliance Base Lübtheen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, November 11th, 1999

"...and at that point, we withdrew through the portal." Jack O'Neill finished. On the holoprojection next to him, the figures representing their group finished moving through the gate and vanished, leaving the 3D projection of Apophis's gate room empty.

He took a step forward and fell into a comfortable parade rest as he faced the officers and selected troops attending this meeting. Most of them were still staring at the projection that Entrapta had configured based on the readings from her multitool. Ah, if Stargate Command had had such technology before they met the Etherians…

But a few - more than Jack was comfortable with - were staring at him as if he had just single-handedly kicked Apophis's butt and won the war or something. He hadn't seen that kind of hero worship back at Stargate Command; everyone had been used to SG-1's mission. At least the older hands. And the newbies generally were too shocked by the news that aliens were real to gawk at SG-1.

Anyway, his troops here would grow out of it once they had a few missions under their belts themselves. It was time to get down to business. "So, what do we learn from this?" he asked.

"She-Ra saved the day?" Kelly asked with a wide grin.

Jack chuckled. Leave it to SAS to be the first to dare to crack a joke. "That's one lesson. But what does that mean in more detail?"

Isa rose to answer, then sat down when she realised that she was blocking the line of sight for a bunch of soldiers sitting behind her. "It means that we need to bring more firepower on such missions if we can't have She-Ra with us."

Campbell, sitting next to her, added: "And we need to take magic respectively its absence into account when planning such missions. We can't teleport."

Jack nodded. "Yes. Unless we drag our Supreme Commander and Queen Glimmer with us on every mission, we can't repeat that. And restoring a planet's magic is a two-edged sword."

Jones, the former SEAL, frowned. "We'll have to expect Apophis to start using magic against us - at least on his capital."

A number of the troopers looked wary at that. Jack smiled and shook his head. "Oh, he might have some magitech stuff lying around from before magic was sealed away, and that might surprise us, but Apophis can't just snap his fingers and have trained sorceresses at his beck and call - believe me, I know that. And if we return to Saqqara, we will do so with as many princesses and sorceresses as possible." That planet was now one where their powers worked from the start, unlike pretty much every other planet in the Goa'uld Empire.

That seemed to calm down the soldiers. But Jack knew that most of them wouldn't admit if they were concerned. He would joke about it himself, in their place. "What else can we learn from this?"

"That Apophis's forces are - or were - vulnerable to infiltration tactics," another officer, Lt. Fournier, said. "Though they are likely to adjust their procedures after this."

"Yes. We can't count on them falling for the same ploy again. But we can count on Apophis purging his guards for their failure," Jack said. "So, his forces will lose a lot of experience and cohesion." Like Stalin's purges wrecked the Red Army.

"And we need better kit if we're supposed to do such missions," Burke commented from the back. "I would rather not run around in looted rags and hope to take an enemy weapon before I can fight."

"I'll pass it on to Q," Kelly joked.

"We've already done that," Jack said with a grin. Try to be a wiseass, hm? "We should have some specialised gear if we have to infiltrate a place again - though, as was pointed out" - he nodded at Fournier - "we can't count on the Goa'uld remaining stupid about that." As Apophis had just proven, they did learn from their mistakes. The snake's traps had almost gotten them. "But for now, let's focus on less undercover work and more on traditional infiltration tactics. How do we assault such a complex with our forces? How do we get inside, get our target, and something very important: how do we get out again? Without a stealth shuttle or the fleet picking us up."

Campbell closed his mouth, Jack noted.

"We need breaching charges, lots of them," Jones said.

"Electronic warfare specialists to hack the security systems so we can sneak inside," Kelly countered.

"A few manpads to keep the airspace contested," Müller, former GSG-9, said.

More and more joined the discussion.

"Distractions - drones and bots."

"Rappelling gear."

"Those hover sledges."

"Some sort of active camouflage."

Jack nodded while his aide noted all the proposals, projecting them onto the screen behind him. Yeah, this would be a productive session; he could tell.

*****​

P34-353J, November 13th, 1999, (Earth Time)

Watching the preparations of the Tok'ra, Adora couldn't help fidgeting. There was a chance that this would go wrong. Aumanet might kill Sha're before the Tok'ra could extract her. And even if Adora restored magic to the world, she might not be fast enough to save Sha're. As she had been told, she might not be fast enough even if she had Magic restored beforehand.

And the Tok'ra didn't want magic restored to this world. Not yet, according to Anise, but that might be wishful thinking according to Sam - their friend apparently couldn't wait to begin experimenting with magic.

She glanced at Daniel, who hadn't taken his eyes off Sha're since they had arrived on this world. If the worst happened, after all they had gone through, after everything they had done to save Sha're… Adora knew how that felt. When she had seen Catra fall on Horde Prime's flagship, had held her body… No one should go through that. No one would if she could help it.

But she couldn't always help it. She could only try her best, always. And she would.

She shook her head, trying to banish the gloomy thoughts. Things would go well. They had to. The Tok'ra had done this before, many times. They had saved Lieutenant Lenkova as well.

Remembering that also reminded Adora of how the woman had been affected by a relatively short possession. Sha're had been possessed for over two years. The horrors she must have gone through… Adora hadn't suffered like that, but others had. Catra, for one - her lover was staring at Sha're with a fixed expression. And she was far from the only one who had been mind-controlled by Horde Prime.

Maybe she should offer Daniel and Sha're to spend some time on Etheria to recover? They didn't have trained therapists like Earth had, not yet - although they were working on that - but they had experience with this situation. It couldn't hurt, at least, in Adora's opinion.

On the other hand, Sha're had never seen Earth, Daniel's home. She might want to get used to Earth first. Or go home to Abydos - though that would have to wait until they unburied their Stargate again. They could send a ship there, but that would take a long time… maybe once the spy bot network reached the planet, they could install a better system to protect the gate against invasions, and they could resume regular contact…

It wasn't up to her, anyway, Adora reminded herself. That was the decision of the Abydonians. And to Sha're and Daniel. They might just want to return to Abydos and resume their lives there. Though Skaara was still possessed by Klorel, so Daniel wouldn't want to abandon him, would he? And neither would Sha're abandon her brother. Or…

"They're about to start," Catra whispered.

"Oh." Adora flushed a little. She had been so absorbed by her own thoughts, she had almost missed it.

The extractor started to humm, and a beam appeared, striking Sha're. Adora clenched her teeth. This was it. If things went wrong…

But Anise, who was operating the extractor, seemed neither worried nor alarmed as the extraction continued. That must be a good sign.

She still fidgeted. Not as much as Daniel, though, who was trembling as he watched and waited.

"It'll be alright," Jack told him in a low voice, putting his hand on his friend's shoulder. Sam said something in a whisper that Adora didn't catch.

Daniel nodded, but Adora wasn't sure he had heard either of them. Adora could understand that.

Then the extractor beeped, and she could see a symbiont - Aumanet - wriggle inside it. And Sha're… was breathing. Adora could see her chest rise and fall.

"The extraction was a success," Anise announced. "I'm administering the counteragent to the sedative now." She bent down and used an injector on Sha're's arm. "She should wake up soon. However, she was possessed by the Goa'uld for a long time..." Anise trailed off as Daniel stepped past her to stand at Sha're's side.

A minute passed. Was something wrong? Lenkova had woken up more quickly. Maybe the time spent possessed played a role…

A slight gasp interrupted her. Sha're opened her eyes, breathing heavily, looking around wildly.

Right. Adora bit her lower lip. The last thing Sha're would remember was being attacked by unknown women in Apophis's harem.

"Sha're…" Daniel bent forward. He was smiling and crying at the same time. "It's OK. You're safe. You're free."

"D-Daniel…" Sha're reached up to him, one trembling hand touching his cheek. "You're…"

He gently held it. "I'm here."

Then she started sobbing, and the two hugged each other, both crying and mumbling.

Adora pressed her lips together and blinked to clear her own eyes. Maybe they should leave? This felt like a very private moment. On the other hand, this wasn't their home, and if they needed help…

She glanced at Jack and Sam, who stood there, smiling at the couple. If they didn't see a need to leave, then it was probably OK.

No one was saying anything. Not even Anise. The two probably didn't really notice anyone right now.

And while Daniel and Sha're kept holding each other, Adora reached out to grab and squeeze Catra's hand. Her lover looked startled for a moment, then smiled at her.

*****​

Samantha Carter had spent years ensuring that she wasn't seen as 'emotional'. That would have been, if not a death sentence, then at least very damaging to her career in the Air Force. She was aware that a lot of sexist officers would have jumped at the chance to cast doubts on her ability to handle the stress of combat and leadership. Even after she had established herself as the leading scientist of Stargate Command and an essential member of SG-1, she had kept any public display of emotions to a minimum.

But she couldn't help the tears in her eyes when she saw Daniel embrace Sha're, both crying. After all the suffering, all the danger, they were finally reunited. Safe. She took a deep breath and glanced at the Colonel - the General, she corrected herself once again. His eyes were suspiciously wet as well. She was tempted to tell him that she wouldn't tell if he didn't, but that would be crossing a line she had kept away from for a long time.

Instead, she cleared her throat. "Maybe we should give them some privacy?" The middle of a Tok'ra extraction chamber wasn't the best place for an emotional reunion.

"Right," the General agreed. He still hesitated a moment, though, before addressing the couple. "Hey… we've got a room prepared for you to, ah, recover."

The Tok'ra had, Sam thought. They had done this before, numerous times.

It took a second before Daniel turned his head toward them. "Ah…" Then he looked at Sha're, pulling back a bit with obvious reluctance before he seemed to remember where they were. "I think that's a good idea…"

Sha're also looked around. Her eyes widened when she saw Adora and Catra.

Adora beamed at her. "Hello! I'm Adora - or She-Ra when I am like this." She waved a hand in front of her chest.

Catra rolled her eyes at that but nodded at Sha're. "Catra."

"I remember you." Sha're nodded. "You saved me?"

"We all did," Adora said at once. "We're Daniel's friends. And we'd like to be your friends as well."

"Thank you." Sha're nodded again. She hadn't let go of Daniel, still clutching his shirt with both hands. Nor had she wiped the tears off her cheeks. She turned to nod at Sam and the General as well. "Thank you."

Then she spotted the container with Aumanet inside and froze.

"She's our prisoner," Adora told her. "She won't ever hurt you again."

Sam half-expected Sha're to demand the Goa'uld's death - she would have, in her place - but the woman slowly nodded, trembling slightly. "I would like to leave this room," she whispered.

Anise - no, Freya, the voice was hers - nodded. "Please follow me." She gestured to the side, where a door opened, revealing a room with a large bed and other amenities. "Simply call for someone if you need anything."

Daniel slowly stood, helping Sha're up, and the two, holding hands, stepped into the room.

Sam sighed as the door closed behind them.

"She'll need time to get over her ordeal," Anise stated the obvious.

Everyone nodded at that quite solemnly without saying anything. Not even Catra or the General.

Instead, he looked at the captured Goa'uld queen. "So… I guess we'll add another snake to our aquarium."

"We would like to be present for her interrogation," Anise said. It sounded more like a demand than a request, in Sam's opinion. Then again, she knew that the Tok'ra were not entirely happy about the mission to Saqqara. The purges Apophis was conducting would endanger their agents at his court.

"Of course." Adora smiled at her.

Ansie looked surprised for a moment. She might not have realised that Adora was the genuine article, as the Colonel - the General - would say. Honest, open and idealistic. Even more so than most other Etherians they knew.

"Your knowledge of Apophis's court will be useful for that," Catra added.

"Yes." Anise took the container with Amaunet and handed it over to Adora before turning to Sam. "Would you like to see my latest work while we await your return to Earth?"

While they waited for Daniel and Sha're to recover enough to travel back, in other words. Sam nodded.

"No blowing up the planet," the General called out as they left.

"Yes, sir."

Outside in the hallway, on the way to Anise's lab, Freya asked: "How is Entrapta doing? I would have expected her to come with you for this. She wasn't hurt, was she?"

Sam sighed softly. "She's very busy researching and developing tools and weapons more suitable for similar missions."

Anise raised her eyebrows. "We have significant experience with such missions."

"She wants to ensure that we won't lose anyone else on the next mission," Sam said, skirting the implied question. Entrapta hadn't taken Bra'tac's death well. Sam wasn't even sure that her friend didn't still hold out hope that Bra'tac might have survived, just like Entrapta had when she was thought dead during Glimmer and Bow's rescue from the Fright Zone. Not that she would say that, of course - that was Entrapta's business.

Anise might suspect it, anyway - she nodded. "Ah."

The Tok'ra also had significant experience with losing friends on such missions, Sam reminded herself. Anise might even know better than Sam what Entrapta was feeling right now.

And while it was completely unreasonable, petty and likely unfounded, Sam couldn't help feeling a bit envious.

*****​

Thule Air Force Base, Greenland, Earth, November 14th, 1999

Another day in the Earth Kingdom of Ice and Snow. Catra shuddered at the thought of the temperature outside. Her fur wouldn't do a thing against the cold out there. At least they could stick to the base this time since they hadn't taken Frosta with them, so no one had to go outside and tell the princess that landing strips weren't playgrounds to be filled with ice sculptures.

On the other hand, watching the locals react to Adora carrying the new 'snake tank' inside was amusing. The soldiers in the base seemed both surprised that she could carry the thing at all without any help and annoyed somehow that the Supreme Commander of the Alliance was doing 'menial work', as one of the officers had told another in a whisper they thought Catra's ears wouldn't pick up after Adora had refused to let them help.

As if they could actually carry the thing! However, as funny as it was to see Earth troops still being surprised at seeing senior officers who actually did more than merely leading from the back, it was also a symptom of a potential problem. The Alliance leadership had grudgingly accepted that Adora and the other princesses would be on the frontlines 'whenever necessary', and Jack had extended that to himself somehow, but it was still a tenuous thing. And if it became the norm… Earth officers weren't princesses. Or Catra. Jack was great in a fight, sure, but she didn't think every Earth general would do more good fighting in the trenches than at the planning table. And if Earth officers started thinking that to get promoted in the Alliance, they had to follow his example…

She winced at the thought. That was a good way to kill off experienced leaders. An acceptable trade-off if they were after your position and willing to stab you in the back - literally in some cases - since fighting a coup in the middle of a war was worse than having to replace a Force Captain and recover from a lost offensive. But the Alliance was still struggling with training troops to fight a war in space and on other worlds, and losing any officer with experience or talent would hurt that.

But, she thought as she glanced at Adora while they waited in the cargo lift taking them down, trying to explain that to her friends would be a challenge. Adora had been raised in the Horde, but she had fought for years in the Princess Alliance. And all the others had grown up there. Except for Scorpia, but… she could shrug off cannon shots and throw tanks around, so she would probably take a while to understand the problem.

Maybe she should talk with Jack about that. At the very least, it should be amusing to see if he could think of a solution that would allow him to keep fighting on the front and prevent others from following his example.

The lift stopped, and the doors parted - they were on the special prisoner level. Catra straightened. Time to focus on the task at hand. She could deal with the military culture clash later. Maybe when Daniel was back at work - cultures were his thing.

"Hi!" Adora called out when they had passed through security and entered the holding area. "How are you doing?"

Osiris and Seth ignored her greeting, staring at the tank she was holding.

"That's Aumanet," Catra told them. "Apophis queen."

Both jerked at that, their little heads twisting.

"A queen?" Osiris's synthetic voice asked.

"Apophis's queen?" Seth added.

"We sneaked into his harem and took her since she was using the body of a friend," Catra said. Aumanet would tell them the story anyway once they finished interrogating her and allowed her to talk to her fellow prisoners. This was merely to show her that she wouldn't be killed after talking.

Both Goa'ld laughed at that, the translator turning their hissing into synthetic laughter. They would probably be more amused if they heard about how close the whole mission had come to failing, but since Amaunet didn't know that, having been stunned for the entire duration of that part, they didn't need to know.

Wouldn't want them to get ideas.

"And what about Apophis?" Seth asked.

"He wasn't in the harem," Adora said. "We just came for his queen and his prisoners."

"Was she his only queen?" Osiris still eyed the other snake.

"As far as we know, yes," Adora said. And the Tok'ra knew a lot. Though if Apophis had a replacement for Aumanet waiting, he probably would have kept that a secret from almost everyone - including Aumanet.

"Anyway," Catra spoke up. "We're just showing Aumanet where she'll be living afterwards."

"Yes." Adora proceeded to show the snake the third habitat in the tract. "We'll be back later."

"I'm looking forward to it," Osiris said.

"It will be good being able to hold a decent conversation again," Seth added.

Both were bickering when Adora and Catra left the cell tract and headed to the interrogation rooms. Which was a good thing. If their prisoners started cooperating, gathering intel from them would become harder.

*****​

"Apophis will conquer your world, and you will pay for your crimes against your gods, Tau'ri."

Jack O'Neill had met Goa'uld before and knew how arrogant they were, and this snake queen was a contender for the top position. She was a prisoner of war who had been captured in the palace of Apophis, on his throne world, and she still acted as if she was in charge. He shrugged as casually as he could. "He tried before and failed."

"That was because he was betrayed from within and underestimated you. He will not make these mistakes again." The synthetic voice from Entrapta's snake tank interface didn't sound as creepy as the actual Goa'uld voice. That robbed Amaunet's boasts of any weight they might have left, in Jack's opinion. In fact, she sounded almost like a complaining kid.

"Well, we're looking forward to seeing what new mistakes he'll make," he said, grinning.

"I am looking forward to seeing how he will punish you for your insolence," she retorted. "He has kept some of his enemies alive for years, suffering unimaginable agonies, until he granted them the mercy of death."

Now, that was a threat if you knew Apophis. Which Jack did. And yet… the snake queen hadn't mentioned how she would take revenge on them so far. Was she planning to offer them mercy if they let her go or something? It wasn't the best plan, far from it, but better, at least a little bit, than trying to threaten them with Apophis's revenge. That had such a vibe of 'my daddy can beat you all up', Jack almost laughed out loud at the mental picture it evoked.

"You know, that would sound more impressive if we hadn't just walked into Apophis's palace and captured you, liberated his prisoners, and then walked out again," Catra cut in. She leaned back and stretched her arms over her head. "Apophis just doesn't sound that dangerous to me."

"I see no proof for your claims," the snake said.

"Other than the fact that you are our prisoner?" Jack raised his eyebrows at her.

"We obviously captured you and got away," Adora spoke up. "You know that."

Amaunet didn't respond to that. "Apophis knows you have me. And he will come for me with all his might. You cannot stand against his fleets. Your only hope is to beg for mercy for your world lest he burns it down for your crimes against your god."

And here came the pitch. Jack shook his head. "No, thank you. I think we're doing fine." He was tempted to tell her about their guard fleet, but that would have given the snake intel, and it was too early for such a ploy. And it was a Horde fleet, so boasting of its power kind of felt like Amaunet threatening them with Daddy Apophis's revenge.

"Your arrogance will be your downfall! You cannot stand against the might of your gods!"

Jack had to chuckle at the irony of a Goa'uld calling them out for being arrogant. He heard Catra snort as well. Unfortunately, the snake's face wasn't exactly very expressive, so he couldn't tell how she took that.

Adora cleared her throat. "I disagree. We can and will stand against you."

"You think your new allies will protect you?" Amaunet's synthetic voice made a scoffing noise. "If they were powerful enough to be a concern, they wouldn't have hidden from us like rats."

She probably assumed that they were allied with cat people like Catra. It was an understandable assumption, given her knowledge.

And Catra laughed again. "We weren't hiding from you - we were busy fighting an enemy a bit more impressive than the Goa'uld. But with them defeated…" She shrugged. "We might as well take care of you."

"Words are cheap. I see only you here and no one else but Tau'ri."

"Then you are blind," Martouf spoke up.

Hearing the snake voice made Amaunet jerk in her tank. "Traitor!"

"You cannot betray whom you never owed allegiance to," Martouf replied.

"That's how you did it! You were let into the palace by a traitor! Who are you? Kabesh? Horon?"

Jack filed the two names away. Suspected traitors in Apophis's court were potential turncoats.

Catra snorted again. "You still don't understand what you are facing."

"We aren't Goa'uld," Martouf said.

"Tok'ra!" Somehow, the synthetic voice managed to hiss.

"Yes." Martouf stared at her. "We would have killed you after freeing your host. But others stayed our hand."

The glance at Adora was perhaps a bit much, in Jack's opinion. But they had to convince Amaunet that she was in the hands of a powerful enemy and that cooperation was her best bet to survive. "Osiris and Seth cooperated," he said.

"Traitors!"

"Realists." Priest stepped into the snake's field of view.

And Amaunet recoiled. "Horde!"

So, she was familiar enough with Horde Prime to recognise his clones. Another bit of useful information.

"False goddess," Priest retorted with a sneer. "You think you can stand against our fleets? The only reason we have not yet burned down your worlds and wiped you out is that our leader is more merciful than Horde Prime was."

Jack couldn't help wondering if Priest wasn't acting but merely telling the truth.

"Horde Prime is dead?" Amaunet asked.

"Her Divine Highness destroyed the Great Deceiver and freed us!" Priest bowed towards Adora. "Her wisdom and mercy have guided us ever since."

Adora smiled a bit weakly, but Jack doubted that the snake queen noticed - she was twitching in the tank.

Well, it seemed that they had softened her up enough for the interrogators waiting outside to take over.

*****​

Royal Palace, Bright Moon, November 15th, 1999 (Earth Time)

"...and while the interrogations have just started, we're optimistic that Aumanet can be convinced to cooperate, at least to the degree Osiris and Seth are cooperating with us," Adora summed up. The Goa'uld queen certainly had been impressed once she had realised that she wasn't just facing Earth but the Horde.

"Which isn't much," Mermista commented. "They are still trying to manipulate us in the hope of gaining power for themselves."

Adora nodded. "But they are doing so by trying to ingratiate themselves to us, which means they are helping us."

"And trying to set up their inevitable betrayal," Mermista retorted.

"Of course they are." Glimmer snorted. "But we know that. And forewarned is forearmed."

"And without sapient hosts, they aren't at their best," Catra added. "They have all their memories, but they aren't as smart as they think they are. And that makes them vulnerable."

Perfuma frowned at that. "I still think that's cruel. Leaving them in such a diminished state… It's wrong."

"Letting them possess someone would also be wrong," Glimmer retorted. "No one deserves to be a prisoner in their own body."

Everyone nodded at that. Especially those who had been controlled by Horde Prime back in the war. Adora reached over and patted Catra's thigh.

Her lover snorted softly, with a twisted grin, but put her own hand over Adora's.

"I know!" Perfuma sighed, nibbling on her lower lip. "But isn't there a way we can help them without hurting anyone else? We've managed to create synthetic symbionts so the Jaffa won't have to depend on the Goa'uld larvae any more."

"It's a bit harder to create a synthetic host," Bow said. "Especially since they would have to be sapient to provide the Goa'uld with the boost in intelligence they are used to. And if they're sapient, they are people."

"And no one should be controlled by Goa'uld," Mermista added.

Not even criminals. Adora nodded.

"Where's Entrapta, anyway?" Netossa asked.

"She's busy in her lab," Adora told her. Their friend had been busy since they had returned from Saqqara. And that was worrying. She really needed to talk to Entrapta about this. As soon as this meeting was done. Well, this and the one after it.

"A sort of synthetic host would help the Tok'ra, too, wouldn't it?" Frosta asked.

Adora wasn't sure about that. "I think they want equal partners for their hosts, not some, uh, biological bot." Which was a kind of worrying concept to begin with.

"Yes," Perfuma said. "A true symbiosis, where both parts profit and the whole is greater than the sum of its parts."

"People aren't plants," Mermista said.

"Of course, they aren't," Perfuma said, frowning a little. "But the principles here are the same."

"Yes," Scorpia spoke up with a smile. "And even if it doesn't help the Tok'ra, if the Goauld won't need people as hosts any more, that's good."

Frosta scoffed. "They are parasites. Why should we help them get smarter? That will only make them more dangerous."

"Because we can't have peace with them if they feel that they have to possess others just to be as smart as they are used to," Perfuma told her. "We need to offer them an alternative that allows them to live peacefully with everyone else."

"But with their genetic memory, they also feel that they need to be worshipped and rule over others," Netossa pointed out. "At least the majority of them - I am aware that some of them joined the Tok'ra."

"Yes," Adora said. "Even Goa'uld can change."

"Some of them," Catra commented. "Most of them won't."

Frosta frowned at her, Adora noted, but seemed to agree.

"And editing their genetic memory would make us as bad as Horde Prime," Bow said. Everyone looked at him. "Ah, just pointing out that that's not a solution," he said, smiling weakly.

Adora wasn't sure if anyone had brought that up so far, but it was clear that Bow had thought about it. But he was right. "Yes. We won't stoop to that level. To manipulate people like that…" She almost shuddered at the thought.

"And what if the Goa'uld won't accept peace? Mermista asked.

"Then we banish them to their homeworld and blockade it," Glimmer said.

"Or we simply capture all queens and don't let them spawn more of them," Frosta suggested. "Then they will die out. Peacefully," she added when everyone stared at her.

"That is wrong as well. To keep them from procreating... We would doom an entire species!" Perfuma shook her head. "We can't do that!"

"They wouldn't die out - the Tok'ra would survive," Frosta defended her idea.

"The Tok'ra don't consider themselves Goa'uld," Adora pointed out.

"Biologically, they are the same species unless you consider their genetic memory as enough of a difference to treat them as two species," Bow said.

That sounded like a technicality. "We're not going to wipe out the Goa'uld," Adora said.

"Then we'll have to lobotomise them and lock them up in their native swamp," Catra said. She didn't seem to be sad about that, Adora noted.

And she wasn't alone with that stance in the Princess Alliance, judging by the nods from others.

It still felt wrong to do that to anyone. But unless someone came up with a better idea, it might be the least wrong solution the Alliance had.

*****​

 

[Transreal Clouden]

just find someone who's into not having control of their own body and make copies of them.

 

[I_S]

Clone the go'ald genetic memory into a cloned humanoid host then slot the go'ald into it.

What better equal partner could they ask for than fork of their own personality

We can handle the praise and worship thing with tech too now that I think about it. Get them setup with vlogs. Add bots to chat

 

[Starfox5]

just find someone who's into not having control of their own body and make copies of them.

Click to shrink...

Alas, cloning only copies the flesh, not the mind or memory. And for cloning a body and then transfering memories, see below.

Clone the go'ald genetic memory into a cloned humanoid host then slot the go'ald into it.

What better equal partner could they ask for than fork of their own personality

We can handle the praise and worship thing with tech too now that I think about it. Get them setup with vlogs. Add bots to chat

Click to shrink...

Alas, a cloned body able to receive such memories would likely be sapient anyway.

 

[Starfox5]

Chapter 113: The Rescue Operation Part 6

Royal Laboratory, Dryl, November 15th, 1999 (Earth Time)

"..and this is a modular blast weapon - it's not quite as powerful as a staff weapon, but it can be hitched up to any stabilising component, such as a staff or even a broom, and will work as one. And this is a modular zat'nik'tel, which will separate into five components that can be hidden more easily and shouldn't show up on scans. At least not on scans with known Goa'uld technology. I had to redesign the trigger array to make it work, and the frame, but the latter was evident from the start, and it should work like a zat. And this is…"

Samantha Carter had to suppress a wince while watching Entrapta present the results of her recent work. Her friend had been… 'productive' was one description. 'Manic' was another. Both fit.

She glanced at the butler waiting in the wings. Wasn't watching out for Entrapta's health one of his duties? On the other hand, how much could a butler on Etheria do if their princess was set on something?

"...so, with just a few twists, we can have an antenna that will connect to the pocket multitool and increase the scanner's range by one hundred per cent - I wanted a greater increase, but that fried the test bot's matrix when it was used when worn, so I think it wouldn't be healthy to use as a human, though I haven't tested that."

Sam felt both relieved and even more concerned after hearing that.

"Anyway! I was mostly working with Goa'uld technology and haven't touched Earth technology yet since they don't like it if you copy their weapons - even if you improve them; I was told that I need permission to do that, and I didn't have time to get that since they don't have a central authority to do that even though a global system should be obvious, but, apparently, you need to ask every single inventor for permission even though they have a patent office that should be handling that - did you know it's used to keep people from using others' inventions, not the other way around? That seems backwards, doesn't it?"

Entrapta was looking… well, like someone who had been running on caffeine and pure sugar for days. Which, a glance at the tray full of tiny pastries and a large teapot with a tiny cup told Sam, was exactly what Entrapta had been doing. Probably ever since they had returned from Saqqara. "There's a reason for that," she said, almost automatically. "But it's complicated."

"You always say that when something doesn't make sense on Earth," Entrapta replied. "But there's so much that doesn't make sense on your world. Anyway, I also worked on an alternative form of communication in case we can't bring the miniaturised system I showed you. So this…"

Sam felt guilt well up in her. She had been busy with debriefings and reports, and Daniel and Sha're needed help as well, but that was no excuse for neglecting another friend in need of help. And Entrapta clearly needed help dealing with this. But then, Sam wasn't her only friend. Where were the others?

"...and if we can't use the bones as speakers, I am looking into implants that directly connect to your nervous system, but that's a very challenging project. Although I think Alpha should be able to help us with it."

"Where's Hordak?" Sam asked.

"It was his turn to help Loki. But his implants won't help with this - they're not connected to his nervous system. Well, they are, but they aren't wired to be consciously controlled. Although I guess we could just hook up comm implants to our ears - or their nerves - and just have them transmit everything they hear. On the other hand, that would cause a feedback loop. Maybe a central control unit would be needed to filter out loops? A dedicated stealth bot could handle that, I think. But if it loses connection to the network, that would stop, and we'd be back at square one, so to speak."

Sam winced. "I don't think everyone will want such an implant in their body." She couldn't think of anyone off-hand who would want an implant, much less this hypothetical one. Well, not amongst those who would be going on undercover and infiltration missions.

"Really? But it would be so useful if we can't carry our normal or the new modular gear!"

"I think it would need a lot of testing - especially the long-term effects - before it can be used in the field," Sam replied. "So we know it won't damage the user."

"Oh, that's probably right. Adora could probably heal that, but if we're on planets without magic, that won't work."

"We can't plan on Adora healing everyone," Sam pointed out. "She's needed for a lot of other tasks."

"Right. That's why we developed the synthetic symbionts. Anyway, what do you think about this? I just built it before you arrived!" Her hair tendrils held up what looked like a quarter of a spy bot. "It's supposed to fit with others and form a whole!"

Sam sighed and forced herself to smile. "Entrapta, when was the last time you slept?"

"What does that have to do with research?" Entrapta cocked her head to the side.

Sam wasn't fooled. "Did you sleep since we returned?"

"Yes!" Entrapta nodded, though her smile was a bit too wide.

"How long?" Sam asked.

"Did I show you another idea I had?"

That was answer enough. Sam sighed. "Entrapta! You can't… This is not healthy. You need your rest."

"We're at war. I can rest once I'm done with my current project." Entrapta shook her head and avoided Sam's eyes.

For a moment, Sam was tempted to agree. She knew how annoying it was to cut your lab time short when you were about to solve a problem or finish a project. And she would be a hypocrite if she claimed to have never pulled an all-nighter. But she glanced at the various prototypes Entrapta had laid out, the notes on the screen… "And how long will that take?"

"Uh… that's hard to say. Some of the design challenges are quite, well, challenging," Entrapta replied.

"And you don't think the challenge would be easier if you were well-rested?" Sam asked.

Entrapta looked a little guilty at that. "But the sooner I am done, the sooner I can rest."

"And the more tired you are, the more mistakes you make." Sam took a step forward and put her hand on her friend's shoulder. "You're not helping anyone if you work until you collapse."

"But what if we have another mission, and we need this, and it's not ready? We would lose another friend! Maybe more!" Entrapta blinked, then rubbed her eyes for a moment.

Ah. Sam suppressed a wince. "That's not how it works," she said. "We can't know that."

"If we had better gear with us, better weapons, we could have been faster, and our Tel'tak wouldn't have been in position when the building's top fell on it. Bra'tac would still be alive!" Entrapta shook her head. "That's a fact!"

"That's an assumption," Sam corrected her. "The Ha'tak might have shot the Tel'tak down instead."

"That's very unlikely. They didn't shoot the Tel'tak down, and they would have had even less time to do so if we just had been faster. We weren't prepared enough!" Entrapta's eyes were wet again, Sam noticed.

"But if we had different gear, we might not have ended up in the same situation," Sam pointed out. "We might have chosen a different plan. We can't second-guess our decisions like that."

"But that's what we did in the debriefing."

Sam felt a sudden, unprofessional urge to hurt Admiral Kearsy. If he hadn't run such a hostile debriefing, Entrapta might not feel so guilty. Might - Bra'tac's death would have still affected her. And now I am second-guessing our actions, she thought. "Yes, we did. But we still can't be sure how things would have gone if we had had different tools and weapons. Though it helps improving our procedures and equipment," she added.

"And that's what I am doing!"

Sam sighed. "Yes, and there's nothing wrong with that. Except that you're hurting yourself by not resting. It's not…" She blinked. Oh, maybe she should have rested a bit more if she forgot how to reach Entrapta. "All the data we have shows that the less people rest, the worse they work."

"You have data about that?" Entrapta looked surprised.

Sam nodded. "Yes. We've run experiments."

"Can I see that data?"

"I don't have it on me. I'd need to travel back to Earth to get it." Sam hadn't thought she'd need that kind of data.

"Ah." Entrapta glanced at the rest of her lab.

"I can assure you, the data is conclusive," Sam told her.

"If you say so…" Entrapta's hair started fidgeting with her prototypes. "I did notice that I had a slightly higher-than-average failure rate with my experiments. Although the data I gathered did help with improving the prototypes. And Hordak said that was normal."

"Before he took his turn in Research Station Alpha?"

"Yes."

"Does he know you haven't slept since then?" Sam raised her eyebrows.

"Ah…" Entrapta looked guilty.

And Sam felt guilty. But this was for Entrapta's own good. "Come on, take some rest. We can look over the prototypes tomorrow."

"We can do that now," Entrapta grinned a bit weakly. "By my calculations, I have too much caffeine in my bloodstream to fall asleep for another hour and a half."

Oh for… She had calculated this? A part of Sam wanted to throttle her friend. And another wanted that data. Just in case.

But she shook her head. "I think we shouldn't work right now. Let's talk about something else."

"Alright," Entrpata said. "What do you want to talk about?"

That was a good question, Sam had to admit. An embarrassingly good question. Most of what both of them liked was a bit too close to their work - or was their work. She couldn't ask about the weather - she would never live that down should the General hear about it. Which he might; Entrapta had a tendency to reveal such things at the oddest moments. Well, they could discuss how to handle the loss of a friend, but that was a sensitive topic, not something to talk about when Entrapta was hopped on caffeine. And it was a topic Sam would rather leave to a professional, but she didn't want to ask if Entrapta was planning to see a therapist. The Etherians had been looking into that, Sam knew, but she hadn't heard back from them since she had passed on the request for a list of trusted experts. Another topic for the future.

So Sam picked up one of the tiny muffins on Entrapta's desk and asked: "This looks good. Did you teach your staff some Earth recipes?"

Her friend perked up. "Oh, I got them all the data on Earth pastries I could find! Look at this!"

Yes, Sam thought as Entrapta showed her a list of recipes, that was a safe topic.

*****​

Royal Palace, Bright Moon, November 15th, 1999 (Earth Time)

"...and she's now sleeping."

Catra nodded and ignored the slight glare from Sam. She did feel slightly guilty - she should have checked on Entrapta sooner; she had noticed that Entrapta was acting a little off, after all. And she would do better in the future. But she wasn't the only one at fault here - everyone else also had failed to notice that their friend needed help. And she was sure that they would have realised something was wrong once Entrapta had presented her latest designs to them.

Adora, though, looked like she thought she had personally hurt Entrapta. "That's… Thank you, Sam. I should have checked up on her much sooner! I can't believe I missed that."

"We missed it," Glimmer said before Catra could say it.

"Yes." Bow, too, looked abashed. "It's just… I didn't think she'd do this."

"She's been doing such things before," Adora said. "Remember when we met her?"

"That was different," Glimmer protested. "She was having fun then, not feeling guilty."

Ah, right. Catra had heard about that. Mainly from Entrapta, who had a sometimes unique view of things, but she had pieced together the rest later.

"Was that the first time she lost someone?" Sam asked.

Maybe the first time she lost someone she actually knew and cared about, Catra thought. She didn't say so, though - that would have been unfair. "She was a bit isolated from the fighting, so to speak," she said instead.

The others nodded.

"Ah." Sam looked like she got it.

"And we might have focused a bit too much on the lack of special equipment for the mission in the debriefings," Bow added.

"That was Admiral Asshole," Glimmer objected.

"We also used it as an excuse," Adora said in a serious tone. "And Entrapta would have felt responsible. Technology is her field. But she needs to understand that not everything is her fault."

Catra raised her eyebrows at her - her lover thought everything was her fault.

Adora blushed a little in response but then set her jaw in that stubborn expression Catra knew so well.

"Even if it's her responsibility, it's not always her fault," Glimmer said. "As a ruling princess, she should know that, but…" She shrugged.

"She's not like other ruling princesses," Bow said.

"Yes. And it is generally better to take responsibility as a ruler than to try to dodge it," Glimmer added.

"But she shouldn't overdo it." Adora nodded again.

Catra cleared her throat, and her lover flushed some more.

"I wonder why Hordak didn't notice anything," Sam said.

Oh. Catra managed not to sigh. She didn't like Hordak that much, but he had a decent excuse. "He probably thinks that's normal," she said. "He would do the same. Back in the Horde, he was often stuck in his lab while I ran things. And he probably did work himself to exhaustion for Horde Prime before that. He's not really a people person." Though power could make up for that to some degree.

"He did build up the Horde and took over the Scorpion Kingdom," Glimmer objected.

Catra shrugged. "Yeah, but that probably was luck." Or ineptitude on the part of Scorpia's parents.

Sam looked like she didn't agree, but that wasn't Catra's problem.

"We'll have to talk to him as well. So this doesn't repeat itself," Adora said. "There will be more missions, and we'll lose more people."

That was war. Catra knew that. A voice in the back of her head whispered that as long as they didn't lose people Entrapta connected to, things would be OK, and she felt angry at herself for thinking like that. Even though it was true. If you weren't prepared to lose soldiers, you couldn't wage war. And if you couldn't handle losing soldiers, you couldn't lead an army, either.

Something Adora knew - she and Catra had attended the same lessons back in cadet training - but sometimes seemed determined to forget. "So, you're going to talk to Hordak as well?" Catra asked Sam.

"Yes. I should check up on the research base anyway," Sam replied.

"Yes," Glimmer agreed. "It never hurts to double-check."

Catra nodded. Hordak was a scientist, unlike the princesses usually supervising Loki and Morrison, so he would be harder to fool should Loki try to slip something under the radar, but he was also more likely to go along with questionable things. Like Alpha.

She blinked. On second thought… "Maybe we should also go and check up on things," she said. "Alpha will listen to Adora above everyone else."

"Right." Glimmer firmly nodded. She was probably still a bit annoyed that while she laid claim to the entire moon, Alpha wasn't beholden to her.

Well, that wasn't Catra's problem either. "Let's go then."

*****​

HMNB Devonport, Devon, Britain, November 15th, 1999

Jack O'Neill was a little bit torn when he looked at the first Fleet Transport built on Earth, HMS Albion. Should he be glad about the Navy pukes getting shown up, proving that the Air Force should have been in control of the space forces, or annoyed that the Limeys had managed to beat American shipyards by several weeks?

"She's a beauty, isn't she?" Captain Baker, standing next to him on the pier, was beaming as he looked at the spaceship currently sitting in what used to be a drydock, according to what Jack knew about the Royal Naval base.

A beauty? The ship looked like someone had taken a Horde frigate, stuffed it into a container and then blew it up until it filled out most of the container, ending up with something that looked more like a brick with the edges smoothed out than a Horde frigate. Horde Prime had supposedly been fond of elegant designs, so Jack didn't know how that had slipped through. But saying that would needlessly annoy Baker, who seemed to be a decent fellow when he wasn't gushing about his new command. Jack found it a bit annoying, but he could understand the enthusiasm. "It has a certain charm," he said diplomatically.

"Oh, yes!" Baker nodded. "As fast as a frigate, but able to carry an entire brigade ready for combat! And she carries the shuttles to deploy the troops and enough firepower to provide ground support - or see an Al'kesh or two off!"

"No fighters, though." Jack couldn't resist.

"Well, no - but she's a transport and landing ship, not a carrier." Baker grinned. "We've got other ships for fighting an enemy fleet. I think the US Marines were looking into variants that could carry fighters, though last I heard, that didn't prove viable."

Yeah, Jack had heard about that. Mostly from Carter venting about having to look over the design notes. Apparently, the crayon-eaters wanted baby carriers, not just landing ships. Probably didn't trust the Navy to keep them safe. Well, Jack had mixed feelings about that himself. "They're still working on the modular transport concept," he said. "And probably will be working on that for years."

"I can see the appeal, but modifying an existing ship - and an alien design to boot - to that degree seems a bit tricky. It might be better to design that from scratch," Baker commented diplomatically.

"I think the idea was to create 'Space Jeep Carriers'," Jack explained.

"I see." Baker was Royal Navy - he would be familiar with the CVEs from World War 2. Built to civilian specs and about as tough as that would suggest. "So, let me show the inside. Then we can discuss the best way to load and unload your troops."

"Yeah." That was what Jack was here, in Merry Old England - to help write the manual for embarking and disembarking troops from the new transports. He still thought it was a mistake - he had written the manual for embarking and disembarking troops from shuttles, but that was because they were basically transport aircraft that went into space, and he had experience with those. But troops didn't live for weeks on a Hercules or Super Galaxy. On the other hand, Jack's troops were the ones who would likely use these transports first, and if the Navy took over and treated this like a simple transport… He winced at the thought. Better do this right, he thought as he followed Baker to the gangway leading into the ship.

Inside, the ship looked as sleek and clean as Jack expected from a Horde ship - though instead of white, the Limeys had used grey paint. Jack liked the change. It felt more like a warship should look. The white made him think of a luxury yacht, too clean for a soldier.

"We've kept the bot storage areas," Baker said as they walked through the crew quarters. "If we don't get bots to transport, we can store additional supplies there."

Was he fishing for information? Jack shrugged. "I think the bots are going to Etherian and mixed units. And to us," he added with a grin.

"Oh? I heard they make good fire support units."

"Yes, they do, but we don't have the doctrine yet to use them effectively," Jack explained. The first time they had trained with bots had been a disaster. They had been lucky Entrapta had programmed the bots so well, or they might have seriously hurt one of the soldiers getting in their way. And his troops were the cream of the crop of the Alliance - he didn't want to imagine how the conscripts from France or Germany, or the National Guard units back home, would have done.

"Ah. Well, we'll figure it out. Just as we're figuring out space combat." Baker beamed again. "I can't wait to take her into action."

Once again, Jack managed to make a diplomatic comment. Barely.

*****​

Research Station Alpha, The First Moon of Enchantment, November 15th, 1999 (Earth Time)

"Well, the base is still standing," Catra commented as they stepped out of the shuttle that had brought them to the moon. "At least the hangar."

Adora frowned at her, as did Glimmer, but Catra shrugged in her usual way. And Adora couldn't really say that she would disagree. Hordak was not exactly the most trustworthy supervisor. She didn't think he would betray them, but he was too much of a 'mad scientist', as they said on Earth, for Adora to trust his judgement implicitly. Of course, he had more common sense than Entrapta, but that wasn't a high bar to clear - and he hadn't even noticed that something was wrong with her!

Which, she thought as they entered the base proper through the airlock connecting it to the hangar, we'll have to point that out to him quite clearly.

Alpha's projection appeared in front of them. "Adora. Welcome to Research Base Alpha! Do you wish a status report?"

"Yes, please," Adora replied without slowing down.

The projection fell in, floating next to them as they kept walking. "We have made further progress on the Asgard project. The lack of test subjects is still slowing down progress, though that cannot be helped without altering the base orders."

Catra rolled her eyes next to her. Adora knew what her lover meant - she thought this was a blatant attempt to get Adora to relax her orders to the bot. It was a touchy issue. Adora didn't like commanding bots like Alpha or Light Hope like that. But Alpha was as driven as Light Hope when it came to pursuing their goals - maybe worse. Light Hope had tried to do the right thing despite her programming. Alpha… well, the bot had been constructed to facilitate and assist in biological research, according to Entrapta and Sam, but she seemed a bit too eager to work around Adora's orders.

So Adora nodded and said: "I'm sure you'll cope."

"Yes. In fact, the alternatives to live testing we were forced to develop are projected to improve overall efficiency once we have more robust models for our simulations. Though I must point out again that it would violate safety standards to skip the final live testing," Alpha went on.

"In my experience, the Ancients - the First Ones - often skipped that part," Sam commented.

"I am bound to obey my superiors," Alpha replied. "Even when they ignore standard safety procedures."

Adora winced at the implications of that. Maybe…

Catra frowned again. "Well, some of those safety procedures sound rather unsafe for the 'test subjects'", she said. "How many 'prototypes' died during the final testing of the genetic experiments here?"

"That's restricted information," Alpha retorted.

"Please answer," Adora said firmly.

"None." Alpha sounded a bit too bland.

Adora blinked. What? That didn't sound right.

Sam spoke up: "And how many died during the 'final live testing' that revealed the need for more tests?"

"Twenty-seven developed unexpected fatal flaws after maturing."

Sam hesitated for a moment, Adora noticed. But her friend pressed her lips together, then asked: "And what happened to those who developed unexpected non-fatal flaws?"

"Depending on the severity of the flaws, they were released or recycled."

"You don't recycle people!" Adora spat. "And sapients of all species are people!" she added after a moment. That was wrong! Completely, utterly wrong!

"Noted."

"Wait! Does that mean you didn't have that noted down yet?" Adora asked. Hadn't Alpha understood her orders?

"Not explicitly as a general order," Alpha replied. "Only as a specific order covering the current research project."

Adora clenched her teeth. Alpha was a bot constructed by the First Ones, she reminded herself. She couldn't be fully trusted. Even if it might not be her fault but the fault of the First Ones who had created her - who were the same people who were willing to destroy Etheria to defeat Horde Prime. In any case, whether she was consciously or unconsciously doing it, it was clear that she would try to find loopholes in Adora's orders wherever she could. "I think we need to go over the supervisor shifts again," she muttered.

"Definitely," Glimmer agreed. "It's worse than I thought."

*****​

They couldn't trust Alpha. The AI was utterly amoral - and more cunning than Samantha Carter would have expected. She couldn't think of the bot as a sophisticated computer - it was a true sapient being, she reminded herself. Able to think for herself - and to think about ways to get around orders. She could probably think of malicious compliance as well. But there were ways to deal with that - Sam had worked with people who had their own agenda before.

They arrived at the actual research lab - and found Loki, Morrison and Hordak standing around a projection that looked like a blend of ancient Asgard and human.

"Ah, you've arrived. Good," Loki turned to nod at them. "You might be able to help us here - would this be considered attractive for you?" He pointed at the projection.

Sam wasn't the only one to blink. What kind of question was that?

Catra was blunter: "What?"

"We are considering restoring sexual reproduction to the Asgard as a possible way to ensure their genome won't enter another degradation process," Alpha explained. "Though while the biological and genetic aspects are clear, we haven't been able to extrapolate the sociological changes."

Sam looked at Morrison. Hordak was a clone, and Loki was… well, also a clone, but Morrison was a human. He should know about sex. According to what she had heard, he had a certain reputation in his circles.

The scientist blushed a little. "Well, we're dealing with an alien species that has abandoned sexual reproduction for millennia. We cannot expect them to mimic humans."

"Although if we want that to be possible, the new appearance should be both compatible and attractive to humans," Loki added. "Which is why we need your data."

Oh, God! Sam closed her eyes for a moment and muttered: "I really hope this is their idea of a joke. The General will never stop joking about 'Asgard needs women' once he hears this."

Catra giggled, so she must have caught Sam's words.

Adora, though, shook her head. "Wait! You can't just decide that your species will sexually reproduce from now on!"

Loki frowned - at least it looked that way. "If that is the best way to keep our genome stable - and preliminary data seems to indicate that, especially since it worked for the Ancients - then that is the course of action needed to save my species."

Adora opened her mouth, then closed it again.

Catra shook her head. "What if they don't want to be saved if that's the price?"

"No one will be forced to have their genes altered," Loki said. "And they could still opt for asexual reproduction if they wanted - which they should since it's the objectively superior option as long as you mix genes from multiple donors - but straight cloning will have to be prohibited to avoid a repeat of our current problem."

"Yes." Hordak nodded. "While the act of initiating sexual reproduction is quite pleasurable, the actual reproduction using a human body as an incubator is inefficient, debilitating and dangerous to the host, and, therefore, not recommended. Which should be obvious to anyone looking into the matter."

That was… Well, Sam couldn't say she disagreed with the idea.

*****​

Catra snorted. As if anyone sane would want to carry a baby to term inside them unless they had no access to magic or medicinal technology! She remembered those lessons from their time as Horde cadets very well. Of course, Hordak would follow the same advice. He might have sex with Entrapta, but any babies would be grown in a pod.

"Right." Adora nodded.

"But just adding the option for sexual reproduction will alter your species on a fundamental level," Sam pointed out.

"We're altering our very genes - that's a much more fundamental change," Loki retorted.

"Of the individual. But changing your entire society goes further than that," Sam said.

"Which would also be the result of altering genes." Loki tried to be clever.

"You don't have to add sexual reproduction as long as you don't do straight cloning, which you already said will be prohibited." Sam shook her head. "I'm not a geneticist, but I have reviewed your reports."

"Yes, we don't have to - but more options are better," Morrison said.

"And sexual reproduction is the norm in the known sapient species, therefore indicating a significant evolutionary advantage over asexual reproduction," Loki added.

Ah. "And here I thought you were just curious about sex," Catra said. "Which, by the way, is something great you're missing out on right now." She stretched and grinned when she saw Adora blush and Glimmer roll her eyes.

"The Asgard have abandoned such things long ago, but we have kept records," Loki replied.

Records they apparently kept better than their data about their own genome. If Jack were here, he'd make a joke about deleting vital information to save porn. Since he wasn't… "I see you've got your priorities settled," Catra said.

Adora looked confused, Glimmer rolled her eyes again, and Loki… nodded in apparent agreement. "Indeed. Since we're already changing our genome, it makes sense to add more improvements - or options - while we're at it."

Catra wasn't so sure about that. In her experience, adding more objectives and complexity to a plan generally lowered its chances of success. But whether or not the Asgard had sex again was neither her problem nor her decision.

"That doesn't explain why you would ask about human aesthetics," Sam said, still frowning.

"According to our data, humans are one of the species most open to sexual relationships with other species and, therefore, a good role model - as long as the aesthetics are compatible," Loki said.

Sam looked surprised for a moment, then glared at Morrison. "What kind of porn did you show him?"

"I didn't!" Morrison protested.

"I accessed your cultural data," Loki said. "Both ancient and recent."

Catra nodded. "That would do it." Sam glared at her, but she ignored it. Daniel had told them about ancient Earth legends and myths often enough on the way to Earth. Of course, Loki would come to that conclusion! Wait… hadn't he been part of some of those myths?

*****​

Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, November 16th, 1999

"...so, Entrapta is on forced leave?" Jack O'Neill asked his former second-in-command. He didn't think anyone had the formal authority to order her to rest. Well, maybe Adora had, as the Supreme Commander.

"Not officially," Carter replied. "But effectively, yes. Adora and the others will ensure she has completely recovered before she returns to work."

"Ah." He nodded before grinning. "And she built a lot of nifty gadgets for us."

Carter frowned at him. "That's what drove her into exhaustion."

"Well, scientists do that from time to time. Working too much." He shrugged as casually as he could.

Carter blushed at that. Too bad Daniel wasn't here - Jack's friend had pulled overnighters more than once as well, and not always for critical translations. But he was with Sha're in a retreat, helping her recover from her ordeal. They would probably move to Etheria for a while soon, last Jack had heard, before they'd brave an Earth city. And speaking of Etheria… "And our mad scientists haven't been developing bioweapons or plotting to take over the world?"

"Not to our best knowledge, sir." Carter nodded. "Although if they wanted to, Alpha would probably help them."

"Aren't AIs supposed to take over the world themselves?" Jack joked, even though the thought of an Ancient AI supporting such plots was very concerning. The things they could create on that moon…

"That is a movie cliché, sir." Carter didn't show any reaction to his comment and remained the professional officer he knew and lo… liked to work with. She was the best second-in-command any officer could wish for. Even now that she - technically, he reminded himself - wasn't his subordinate any more. Which had effects on regulations that he didn't want to think about.

"More seriously, is it safe?"

"To the best of our knowledge, yes, sir." Carter nodded again. But she seemed to hesitate, Jack noticed.

He raised his eyebrows.

She pressed her lips together. "The changes to the Asgard genome they are planning are quite extensive, sir. More extensive than expected."

That sounded… also concerning. "Aren't they trying to build a better body and genome from the ground up? I've seen the pictures," he said. And he had read the reports. The Asgard had changed a lot since they started cloning themselves. And Loki was planning even greater changes?

"Yes, sir. But they're also planning to add the ability to reproduce sexually."

He slightly tilted his head, prompting her to explain.

"That would cause a drastic change in their society. They've been living without sexual reproduction for tens of thousands of years. To add this back in would upset their entire society on a fundamental level."

"Yeah, I guess everyone going through puberty at once wouldn't be great for society," Jack commented.

Instead of pretending she didn't find his comment funny while she twisted her lips into a hint of a smile, Carter nodded as if he had been serious. "That is an apt comparison, sir. They would be like teenagers - only without any adult help or even up-to-date information about how to deal with this. It would be mitigated to a degree, I think, by the fact that this would be a conscious choice, so not everyone would be affected at once, but that would also cause the risk of dividing their society."

"And sooner or later, most of them will want to find out what the big deal is about sex," Jack said.

She nodded again. "That is a plausible outcome, yes."

"It's too bad Daniel isn't here. That would be right up his alley."

"Yes. He'd love it."

But Daniel was busy being reunited with his wife. And so someone else would have to deal with this. "Well, I'd say that sounds like a future Asgard problem, but since they're busy with their war against the Replicators, anything that shakes their society might also affect us."

Teenagers in command of space battleships was a frightening thought, though Jack hoped that the Asgard would have the sense not to let their generals and captains do this until the war was won. Though they had only met two Asgard, and one of them was a mad scientist and the other a high-ranking officer, so it wasn't as if Jack - or anyone else - knew enough about the Asgard to tell. They certainly couldn't trust Loki's information.

"Yes, sir."

"Do you have an estimate for how long our dear alien mad scientist will take to finish his project?"

"No, sir. I would have to guess blindly. Any new and unforeseen problem could delay the project for an unknown length of time. It's ground-breaking research, after all."

He narrowed his eyes a little. Carter wasn't considering joining that project, was she? He needed her on Earth. For the Alliance.

"Well, it's a potential problem, then." That meant he could focus on how to deploy his troops from the Fleet Transports. And maybe ask for one of them to be permanently assigned to his command. "But I think the Asgard can sort this out themselves. They're old enough. I don't really think they will need or want sex advice from us." He chuckled at his own joke.

Carter still didn't laugh. She cleared her throat. "That might not be entirely accurate, sir."

"Did you just quote Independence Day?"

She blushed. "Loki seems, ah, interested in the human approach to sexuality. He may consider humans as potential sexual partners for the new Asgard. He was asking for aesthetical advice so the new bodies would be attractive for humans."

Jack blinked. That was… "That's supposed to be a Hollywood cliché! A cheap, silly B-movie cliché! Asgard needs humans?" He shook his head. Oh my God, first Anise wanted a baby from him, and now this? What was it with mad alien scientists and babies? he asked himself.

Carter nodded with a grimace. "Yes, sir. No one seems to have told Loki that. On the other hand, if we consider the Norse myths about Loki…"

Jack grimaced as well. Daniel had gone into details in that briefing that Jack really could've done without. And speaking of Daniel… "Alright, I don't want to disturb Daniel, but… as soon as he is back with us, we'll get him working on this!"

"Yes, sir. That should…" A beep from her laptop interrupted her. A familiar beep.

"Message from Etheria?" Jack asked.

"Yes." Carter slowly nodded, eyes on the screen. "It seems the spy bot network picked up a request from Thor to meet with us."

"What a coincidence," Jack said in the flattest tone he could manage.

*****​

 

[Transreal Clouden]

As if anyone sane would want to carry a baby to term inside them unless they had no access to magic or medicinal technology!

Click to shrink...

So... personally I agree with this sentiment but an awful lot of people don't... I wonder if this is a cultural thing on Etheria or specific to people raised in the Horde?

 

[I_S]

Alas, cloning only copies the flesh, not the mind or memory. And for cloning a body and then transfering memories, see below.



Alas, a cloned body able to receive such memories would likely be sapient anyway.

Click to shrink...

Yes but it would be a sapient being with the symbiotes memories and assumably personality. Presupposing the symbiote is willing to cooperate with a copy of itself, your ethically not too shady.


Most system lords would fail the test though... So there is that.

 

[Starfox5]

Chapter 114: The Asgard Question Part 1

Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, November 17th, 1999

"...and the United Nations Human Rights Task Force has been criticised again for focusing on countries that are not members of the Alliance. James Malone is currently at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, where a protest is being held. James?"

"I hear you, Carol. Yes, we're here in front of the United Nations Headquarters, and behind me, you can see the people protesting what they call favouritism. They demand that the American prison system be abolished as inhumane. But as you can see, they have been joined by various others protesting the Etherian presence on American or Earth soil."

Adora frowned as she watched the TV in the meeting room. There were a lot of people on the screen holding up signs and banners. Well, compared to some of the protests she had seen on Earth, it was relatively tiny, but they were very vocal. But… "What does religion have to do with prisons?" she asked. Many of the signs didn't even say anything about human rights or prisons.

"Nothing. But the nutcases who want us gone because we're abominations in the face of their god or something will jump at every opportunity to recruit more idiots," Catra commented without glancing up from her tablet.

Adora shook her head. She still didn't understand those people. Adora and her friends hadn't done anything to those people. Yet a few lines in some ancient book were enough to cause such hatred?

"We contacted Amnesty International. They stated that they were in contact with the task force and were preparing several lawsuits about the treatment of prisoners in the United States. What do you think about that, James?"

"Well, Carol, that will take a while to reach the Supreme Court, and those people here want action now. Though I don't think they all agree on what kind of action they want - some are chanting 'aliens out', as you can hear, and others demand that the Etherians raid every prison in the USA. But it seems that the NYPD has the situation under control - as you can see, they have enough officers on the scene to intervene should anything happen."

"Thank you, James. Now, back to related news. Speaking of lawsuits, the Etherians have launched a few lawsuits of their own, demanding that 'The Church of She-Ra' be recognised as a religion. We have an expert here in the studio, Dr Kevin Stuart, who covers this matter in his lectures at Yale. Kevin, what do you say about this?"

"Well, Carol, first, I have to correct you or whoever wrote this line. The lawsuits launched do not aim for official recognition; they are aimed at rules and circumstances at various schools that members of the Church of She-Ra claim are discriminatory against their faith."

Adora blinked. "We did what? Who did that?" Oh. "Priest!"

Catra snickered, And Adora glared at her. "It's not funny! It's… I have to tell him that he can't sue someone in my name!"

"Technically, he's not. He's doing it in the name of your church." Catra touched a few keys on her tablet. "Oh, and I don't think you want to stop those lawsuits anyway. Look!" She held her tablet up, and Adora looked at the texts on it.

And blinked again. "What school prohibits public displays of affection? Do they hate love or something?"

Catra shrugged. "Probably; you've heard what their priests consider mortal sins."

Adora had. Far more than she wanted, to be honest. She quickly read on. "What dress code is that? Immodest? Bow is one of the most modest people I know, and he'd violate this dress code!"

"Yeah," Catra agreed. "Apparently, he wouldn't be allowed in most schools in the USA."

Adora clenched her teeth. "Alright. I'll let Priest do this." It was for a good cause - to think people treated their children like this! In school! They were insane!

"It's not as if you could stop him, anyway," Catra said with a grin.

Adora frowned at her lover. "It's not funny. I am no goddess."

"Depends on the definition," Catra retorted. "You'd fit the description of a lot of what the humans considered deities back in the day."

"Back when they worshipped the Goa'uld?" Adora scoffed.

"Well, we don't know if they took over existing pantheons or invented them. Seth and Osiris claim the latter, but…" Catra shrugged.

"Yes." Adora nodded. They couldn't be trusted.

"But I certainly think you deserve to be worshipped," Catra went on, grinning.

Adora blushed against her will. That wasn't the point!

"And I think a little display of affection would be the right kind of worship." Catra slid out of her seat and stepped in front of Adora. "Don't you agree?"

"Ah…" Adora trailed off when her lover slipped onto her lap. And before she could remember what she had been about to say, Catra had started kissing her, and that completely derailed her thoughts.

"Alright, sorry for being late, but… Oh!"

Adora gasped and broke the kiss. Jack was standing in the door, grinning at them.

And Catra, who must have heard him approach, giggled as she stood. "Don't worry. We kept ourselves busy."

"No, we didn't!" Adora protested.

"OK, I'll admit - we didn't do any work and just fooled around."

"Wait, no! That's not what I meant!" Adora glared at her, then at the chuckling Jack.

"OK, enough fooling around," Jack said as he closed the door. "Let's discuss Thor."

"Unofficially," Catra said. "Since officially, this is just a meeting about integrating princesses into your command." She rolled her eyes. "And if anyone on the general staff believes we won't discuss Thor, then they are unfit for their posts."

"It's all about plausible deniability," Jack replied with a grin. "They know we'll be talking about this - well, the ones who have the clearance for it - and they hate it, but as long as I don't flaunt it, they'll ignore it."

Adora frowned. "It's only natural that we're discussing this. All of us know about the matter - we all have met Thor - and we're friends." Which was the most important part. She trusted Jack, Sam, Daniel and Teal'c - and, of course, the princesses in the Alliance - a lot more than she trusted the command council or the Alliance general staff. Not that she distrusted them, of course, but… they weren't her friends.

"Exactly," Jack said.

"Of course," Catra added, "you're also bypassing the chain of command and meddling in politics."

Jack frowned at her, though with a slight pout, so she had a point, Adora knew. "It's not meddling. It's just hashing stuff out. Advising our Supreme Commander," he said. "Who will discuss this with the rest, so everything's alright. Technically."

"It's not as if they could do anything to you, anyway." Catra snorted. "Not officially, at least."

"And if they try screwing with my command to get to me, I'll nail them to the wall," Jack said.

"Sabotage won't be tolerated," Adora said with a nod. Especially over such a petty thing! "But we were going to talk about Thor," she prompted him.

"Right. Thor. Supreme Commander of the Asgard Fleet. Who wants a meeting with you."

"With us," Adora corrected him.

"And it's a meeting that couldn't be done over comms," Catra added. "So, it's probably sensitive, important or both."

"Daniel would say that could just be how the Asgard do things - they might want personal meetings to talk," Jack said.

Loki should have mentioned that, Adora thought. On the other hand, they usually talked in person to him anyway. It was better to talk face to face - more personal. And… "I don't think he'd call for a meeting if it weren't important anyway, not while he's fighting a war."

"Yes, he had that 'very responsible officer' vibe," Jack agreed. "Or what passes for it amongst the Asgard. We've got a lot of them in the Alliance as well."

"Like you. You just try to hide it," Catra told him, flashing her fangs. Jack snorted in return. "Anyway, do you have any idea what he might want?" She cocked her head sideways, and her ears twitched.

"The analysts don't have much to go on with - well, the ones with the clearance to know about this," Jack said. "He might want to tell us that the Asgard won their war and now want to attack the Goa'uld with us. Or he might want to ask for help with their war because it's not going as well as he claimed when we met."

Adora nodded. "Loki probably would have told us about his people losing a war, though he might not know it."

"If he hasn't some way to check on his people, I'll escort Swift Wing on a tour of Earth's elementary schools," Catra commented. "But he might not tell us even if he knows."

Adora hoped Loki would be more open with them, especially if it was so important. On the other hand, revealing such information might be seen as treason by the Asgard. Or he might honestly not know about it because it was a secret kept by the rulers of the Asgard.

"Or this is about Loki," Jack said.

Adora winced. That was the worst case they had come up with as well.

"You mean, Thor found out we're harbouring a wanted criminal and wants us to hand him over," Catra said.

"Which we won't do." Adora shook her head. They had promised to help him save the Asgard, and they would keep that promise.

"We don't exactly know everything that Loki did while trying to find a cure for the Asgard," Jack said, looking at her with a guarded expression.

Adora frowned. "Even if he did bad things, if he wants to change and make up for it, we'll help him." He was trying to save his species.

Catra pressed her lips together and wasn't looking at either Adora or Jack.

Adora suppressed a sigh. She had expected that.

"Well, there are some lines you don't cross," Jack said. His expression hadn't changed. "If he has done stuff that is inexcusable…"

Adora didn't flinch and met his eyes. "If he wants to change and do better, we'll help him." Everyone deserved a second chance.

"Earth isn't as forgiving when it comes to certain crimes," Jack said. "And if we have to fight the Asgard over Loki, the Alliance might not be happy."

"Loki is on Etheria, though," Adora pointed out. "In Bright Moon's domain."

Catra muttered something about 'Paperclip'. Adora didn't know what she meant, but Jack seemed to get it - he grimaced a little. She'd have to ask her lover after this.

"Well, there are precedents," Jack said. "But would you really want to go to war with the Asgard to protect Loki? In the worst case, I mean."

"I don't think they'll fight a war over him," Adora said. "Not when he's working so hard to save them."

At least, she hoped so.

*****

Research Station Alpha, The First Moon of Enchantment, November 17th, 1999 (Earth Time)

"Thor has asked for a meeting with you?"

Loki did sound surprised, Samantha Carter thought. But she didn't know him well enough to be certain - he might be acting. She nodded. "Yes, a meeting with the Alliance," she confirmed. "He didn't say what the meeting would be about."

"Ah. He wouldn't - while we have since improved our communications, early in the war, the Replicators had limited success in defeating our encryption. While unnecessary, the fleet has stuck to strict information security protocols," Loki said. "I've long tried to make people understand that the tiny additional security such procedures provide is not worth the loss of timely sharing of crucial information they cause, which hinders both our military and scientific efforts."

That sounded arrogant to Sam; Information security was crucial to conducting any war with a peer-level opponent. Loose lips sank ships. And while research profited from shared information, so did spying. But this wasn't the time to argue about it. "Do you know what this might be about?"

"Unfortunately, my contact with the rest of my species has been somewhat limited lately," Loki said. "I am, as you would say, 'out of the loop' regarding the concerns of the Asgard High Council."

That implied - either correctly or not - that he once had been privy to that. Sam inclined her head. "But there isn't anything publicly known that might prompt such a meeting?"

"I have not paid attention to what the public believes," Loki replied with a slight hint of disdain. "They do not shape our species's policy."

Now, that was very plausible, in Sam's opinion. Loki wasn't the type to worry about the views of those he deemed his lessers. She doubted he would even pay lip service to caring about the Alliance's opinion If he didn't need their help. Still, it was also clear that he was evading the real question. "Could he have discovered that you're working with us on fixing the Asgard genome?" She watched him; she wasn't a diplomat, or Daniel, but she had been working for most of her career with scientists with a similar attitude to Loki's.

And he twitched a little. "That is very unlikely. I would say impossible, but that wouldn't be scientific. I have left no information about our agreement anywhere Thor could have access to, much less access without me finding out about it."

He did seem sincere there, though Sam couldn't be sure. But she couldn't push him further, or it would feel like a straight interrogation. "I see."

"I assume you won't inform Thor of my current work and location."

Sam shook her head. "Based on our current knowledge, we do not plan to."

"That implies you might do so. That would be a going back on our deal."

Revealing their deal with Loki would go against the spirit, but probably not the letter of their agreement. But that wasn't Sam's decision. "While unlikely, there is the possibility that circumstances would force us to reveal this." Like Adora and her friends deciding that honesty was the best policy.

"What circumstances might necessitate such a course of action?"

Finding out that Loki had done worse in pursuit of his goal than what they already knew and assumed, in Sam's opinion. However, that might not be enough for the Etherians - they already knew that Loki was responsible for the creation of Horde Prime and so, albeit indirectly, for everything that Horde Prime and the Horde had done and still worked with him. "I cannot say," she said, half-lying. "But it's not impossible for new information to cause a policy change. Anything else wouldn't be scientific."

He frowned at that. Or at her using his own words against him. Sam didn't care. Loki was… He made Hordak look like a great friend in comparison. And knowing Hordak and his past, that was quite the feat. "I see," he said. "Where will you meet him?"

"Cimmeria," she said.

"Where you met Thor the first time." He nodded. "An obvious choice."

So obvious he had to ask to confirm it. Sam nodded anyway.

"And when will you meet with him?"

"Tomorrow," she said. If Loki wanted to find out, he could just attempt to contact Entrapta - who should be fit for work again by then - and the other princesses under some pretext. If they were unavailable, odds were the meeting was taking place.

"It's not a real emergency then, or he would have pressed for a quicker meeting," Loki commented.

Sam filed the information away. Daniel would be interested in such comments. "Is there anything we should know before the meeting?" she asked.

Loki tilted his head slightly to the side. "Nothing comes to mind. But please keep me informed."

"Of course." Sam nodded once more.

"Good. When will Entrapta resume her work?"

"Probably tomorrow," Sam said. But why was he asking after Entrapta? She wasn't really that involved with their work here.

"Good. Hordak has been, as you would say, 'off' because of her, and his efficiency has suffered as a result, affecting our research."

Sam withstood the urge to make a comment about not being jealous of Entrapta for being with Hordak. That was more the General's style, not hers. And she also would rather not find out that her joke was actually correct. Not after she had heard Loki's plans for the sexuality and appearance of the future Asgard.

*****

Gate Area, Cimmeria, November 18th, 1999 (Earth Time)

Catra realised Cimmeria's Stargate area had changed since their last visit. It was subtle, but she could tell. However, she couldn't tell if it went beyond repairing or replacing the defence system they had wrecked. But her friends could. She looked at Entrapta, who was jumping down from Emily's dome, her hair taking the brunt of the impact.

Her friend looked around, then at her multitool. "Oh… they added more defences. And more scanners."

That was good to know. If the Asgard had left the planet's security the same, that would have meant that they were either unable or unwilling to spare the resources to improve gate security. Or too arrogant to think they needed to.

"Hidden underground," Sam added. "But they aren't armoured or particularly well hidden."

"Tripwires, then," Jack said. "Could you disable them without noticing?"

"Hm…" Entrapta bit her lower lip. "Probably, I think. If they haven't changed the systems too much compared to last time, it should be easy. Otherwise, it would be a challenge!"

She was perking up, Catra noted. That was a good sign. To see Entrapta restrained and calm was just wrong. A bad sign - if you were superstitious.

"Good to know. But, ah, don't do anything. This was just a hypothetical question," Jack said. "We aren't here to sabotage the Asgard."

"Got it!" Entrapta nodded. "But you want us ready to do it if we need it."

"Well… yes." Jack nodded.

"Thor has acted honourably toward us when we met him," Teal'c said.

"He almost got you killed," Jack retorted.

"He thought I served the False Gods." Teal'c didn't shrug, but he tilted his head slightly as if that explained and excused everything. And, for him, it probably did.

Catra kind of understood the sentiment. If someone had made a trap for Horde members, and she walked into them… Well, she probably deserved it. For what she had done and for not noticing the trap.

"They shouldn't have built a lethal trap in the first place," Adora disagreed. "That's irresponsible. What if they killed a Tok'ra?"

"Yes, their IFF procedure was rather sloppy," Entrapta agreed. "Though that was probably based on bad data. If they had known about the Tok'ra, they wouldn't have done that."

"Or so we hope," Jack voiced Catra's own thoughts. "So… who's going to announce our presence? Anyone seen a doorbell?"

"I don't think we need a bell - the sensors will have registered the gate activation," Entrapta replied. "I think we just have to wait. Though last time, Thor was able to communicate with us through the systems planted at the gate."

"Correct. Greetings, Tau'ri and Etherians," a voice sounded from one of the pillars surrounding the gate.

Catra was sure Thor had waited for this moment to announce his presence. Pretty dramatic - though that was probably better than Loki's sneakiness.

"Ah, hello. Thor, Supreme Commander of the Asgard Fleet, I presume?" Jack asked.

"Correct again. I would invite you to my vessel. Do you accept?"

"Well, it would be pretty impolite to refuse your hospitality," Jack replied.

And it wouldn't actually be safer - Thor would be in his ship in orbit and able to bombard them from there if he meant them harm. Although, unless he had arrived in his ship right now, it meant neither Emily's sensors nor the spy bot they had sent through the Stargate in advance had detected the Asgard ship. Granted, neither bot had the power of a proper ship behind their scanners, but they would have detected a Goa'uld craft in orbit.

"Stand by for transport, then."

Catra clenched her teeth. The Asgard had the same teleporters that Horde Prime had had in his flagship. And the memories she had of the time she had used it…

She heard a humming noise and felt the air vibrate - though that might be her imagination. A moment later, they were inside Thor's ship. Yes, she confirmed their location with a quick glance - it looked the same as it had during their first visit.

And Thor was waiting in the doorway to the next room. "Welcome aboard," he said, bowing his head. "Please have a seat." He gestured to the room, where several chairs were waiting - sized for an average human or Etherian, not an average Asgard, Catra saw. Quite considerate. Was Thor trying to butter them up, or was that standard Asgard procedure? She didn't know. Too bad Daniel wasn't with them. But if Catra had been reunited with Adora after her lover had been kidnapped for several years, well, she wouldn't leave her side either.

"Thank you," Glimmer replied.

"Yeah, thank you. We travelled a long way to Cimmeria," Jack added.

Adora and Bow were the only ones who laughed at the stupid joke as they entered and sat down.

"So, you wanted to meet with us?" Adora said, leaning forward.

"Yes." Thor nodded. "It's a somewhat delicate matter. Embarrassing as well as potentially dangerous."

Catra sat straighter. That sounded bad. Did he know about the deal with Loki?

"As you know, several Asgard were interacting with the humans on your planet in the guise of their gods," Thor started to explain. "Myself and my father amongst them. And another Asgard, Loki. Who developed a colourful but by no means undeserved reputation for trickery and feats of what the humans at the time called magic."

"Ah." Jack nodded.

Catra tensed a little, then forced herself to relax. They had expected this.

"He is an accomplished scientist," Thor went on, "but he doesn't share the same ethics as most Asgard."

"An 'the ends justify the means' type?" Jack acted as if he didn't know it already.

"I think that would be a fitting description, yes." Thor seemed to hesitate.

Catra glanced at Adora. Her lover bit her lower lip. She was probably trying to apologise already.

"And, unfortunately, we lost track of him a while ago. That wouldn't concern you, but recent information we uncovered does." Thor sighed. "Based on the data we recovered - research data from our last visits - it seems his interest in your planet and species was renewed, and he might attempt to acquire genetic samples for experiments."

Catra blinked. Oh.

"Now, it is likely that he would target one of the many planets held in the grip of the Goa'uld Empire, where your species can be found. But he is unpredictable, and, based on some past predicaments with altered samples, he might wish to acquire a sample from your home planet."

Oh. This wasn't about the deal they had with Loki - Thor wanted to warn them of his fellow Asgard.

This was very awkward!

*****

In Orbit above Cimmeria, November 18th, 1999 (Earth Time)

"Ah. And you think Loki might not politely ask for such a sample," Jack O'Neill said, nodding and keeping his features bland. He felt a bit bad about the act - Thor was trying to warn them about Loki, not knowing they had a deal with his brother.

But if Jack felt bad about it inside, Adora wasn't even hiding it - Jack saw her grimacing and glancing at the others, biting her lower lip.

"He is not fond of asking," Thor said. "I think it's because he was so often refused permission by the Asgard High Council for some of his experiments, he assumes no permission will be forthcoming anyway. Although, since you have at least technological parity with us and are an unknown power, he might attempt a more diplomatic approach first. But he also might choose to attempt an underhanded or even dangerous course of action."

Was that a subtle way to ask if they had met Loki? Jack couldn't tell. He hadn't exactly been spending a lot of time with Loki, so he couldn't really read the Asgard that well - he wasn't twitching with surprise, at least. He glanced at Carter, but she was focused on Thor and so was no help either. They really should have brought Daniel for that. Still, if they played this cool, they could probably…

Adora cleared her throat. "We were actually approached by Loki."

…just blurt it out. Jack closed his eyes for a moment. He should have expected this.

"You were?" Thor seemed surprised - he jerked a little.

Entrapta nodded several times. "Oh, yes! He needed help with fixing your genetic degradation. We're working on that with him - well, some of us are."

"He asked for your help?" Thor blinked. Then he frowned - as far as Jack could tell. "And he informed you about the state of the Asgard's genome?"

That was probably a state secret. Loki was in deep trouble now - though, in Jack's opinion, the Asgard mad scientist probably had been in deep trouble already. They had caught him faking a Replicator outbreak, after all.

"Yes." Entrapta nodded with a smile.

"I wouldn't have expected him to be so open about our troubles," Thor said.

"We were very persuasive," Glimmer said with a toothy grin. "One of his past experiments affected us, and we wanted to know why he took such risks."

Thor frowned. "Did you threaten him?"

With you, Jack thought. But mentioning that wouldn't be very helpful.

"We confronted him with the results of his experiments," Glimmer said.

Thor frowned again. "The Clones of Horde Prime?"

And that was why trying to be clever by telling the veiled truth wasn't a good idea when talking to aliens, Jack noted. Thor obviously had looked into the whole Horde Prime thing since their last meeting.

"Yes," Adora said.

"So, they were his creation…" Thor sighed and shook his head in a very human gesture. "Brother, you never change, do you?"

"Anyway," Adora went on, "since we have access to a First Ones - an Ancients - research station specialised in genetic engineering, we offered him our help for saving your species, and he accepted."

"And we're making good progress!" Entrapta added.

Thor turned his head slightly to the side to look at them. "You expect to solve our problem?"

"Yes." Entrapta nodded with a wide smile. "All the research data we have accumulated supports that."

"My brother has been optimistic about his research in the past, but it has never worked out," Thor said.

"Well, the data we have doesn't lie. And we already solved a more urgent problem with another species, so there's no reason why we shouldn't be able to solve this either!" Entrapta beamed at Thor. "We're not giving up; don't worry!"

"I do not worry about Loki giving up," Thor replied, frowning a little. At least that's what it looked like. "I worry about him not stopping even past the point it becomes obvious that his idea will not succeed - or will not be worth the cost."

Yeah, that sounded like a typical problem of Loki to Jack. Next to mission and feature creep.

"The whole research is conducted under supervision," Carter said. "Close supervision."

Thor inclined his head. "Loki has earned his reputation as a trickster."

"We're aware of that. And we know how dangerous he can be," Glimmer told him.

Jack nodded, even though that sounded a bit too confident for someone who had just discovered how untrustworthy the research station's AI was.

"I do not want to question your experiences, but I have known Loki for longer than you have," Thor said. "Far longer than any of you were alive. I know him better than anyone else - and yet, as today's revelations demonstrated, he keeps surprising me. And the High Council."

"Well, you're his brother," Catra said. "You might not be entirely objective."

Thor frowned at her. "And you might be overconfident due to your lack of experience with him."

"Well, we've been working him for a while now," Entrapta said. "And Alpha answers to Adora - and Jack - and she controls the station. So, it should be safe. Reasonably safe. Besides, we're making progress, and Loki wouldn't risk that, would he?"

Thor sighed again. "I am afraid that he would. He is neither the most patient nor the wisest amongst us. Far too often, he proves to be too clever for his own good."

"Yeah, that sounds like the Loki from our myths," Jack said. At least some of the stories.

"They are based on events that took place. At least some of them, I suppose. Even though they were distorted by our, ah, deception," Thor said.

"You mean, by your decision to pose as gods," Teal'c spoke up.

"Yes. In hindsight, it might not have been the best plan to avoid unduly influencing your development." Thor nodded. "However, I would like to see the security measures myself - there is too much at stake to trust your claims blindly."

"And you want to see your brother," Adora said, nodding.

Thor inclined his head again, and Jack sighed. The Alliance brass better not blame him for this.

*****

Research Station Alpha, The First Moon of Enchantment, November 18th, 1999 (Earth Time)

"Brother."

"Brother."

Adora winced at the tone of the Asgard's greetings. Thor and Loki were so tense… The way they were eyeing each other seemed worse than her worst encounters with Catra during the war.

Then Loki turned to glare at Sam. "You said you would not reveal my work or location."

"I said new information might change that," Sam replied. She did flush a little, though.

Adora pressed her lips together but didn't flinch. Telling Thor had been her decision. And it was the right one. Honesty was the best policy. "Thor wanted to warn us that you had taken an interest in Earth."

"And he was quite eloquent about the danger you could present - the lengths you'd go to achieve your goal," Jack cut in.

She frowned at him. This wasn't the time for quips and clever remarks. "It wouldn't have been fair to leave him worrying over your plans. Especially since you don't pose a danger to us." Or so Adora hoped.

"Yes!" Entrapta smiled. "So, we took Thor with us so he can see for himself that everything's fine and that our research is progressing nicely!"

"I would not quite call my brother left free to conduct experiments in a research station of the Gate Builders 'fine'," Thor said.

"That is because you cannot understand my work," Loki retorted. "You never could. And you fear what you cannot understand."

"No, my fears are based on experience with your past deeds." Thor shook his head. "Have you told your 'friends' what you did? The experiments that led to you being known as the sire of monsters in the tales of the Norse?"

"We know he is responsible for the creation of Horde Prime," Glimmer said.

"What?" Thor whirled to stare at her, then back at Loki. "I thought you were working for him, maybe with him, to create his clones and used the opportunity to conduct experiments with Asgard DNA, but you created him?"

Loki rolled his eyes, or tried to. "Did you really think he would have let me introduce my own DNA to his clones? Of course, he was my creation!" Loki sounded almost proud of this. After a moment, he added: "And my worst failure."

He didn't really sound too sad about it, though, at least in Adora's impression.

"And you have not learned anything from it? You are attempting to create another species based on our DNA?" Thor took a step toward his brother.

"No, I am attempting to restore our species to a viable state," Loki spat. "To save us from extinction."

"You think the High Council will accept your 'solution'? You have not learned a thing from your past mistakes, then."

"Uh… But that's not true," Entrapta cut in. "We - and that includes Loki - learned a lot from Horde Prime's creation. And from Alpha's data, of course. Learning from your mistakes is a core part of proper research! It's the base of science!"

Both Asgard seemed confused for a moment.

"I don't think he meant that," Sam said.

"But he said so!"

"I think he was talking about the reasons and goals of experiments, not data," Sam said.

"Oh!" Entrapta nodded. "But our goal is good - we want to save the Asgard! As long as we don't cause any harm, we're doing good, right?"

Adora nodded. Horde Prime had exterminated so many species, she wouldn't let the Asgard vanish if she could help it. And she could. Well, her friends could. And she could help them.

"Just because your goal is good does not mean the means you use to achieve it are justified," Thor said, nodding at Entratpa. "Something you never learned," he added with a glare at Loki.

"But we've been teaching him that!" Entrapta objected. "We learned that ourselves."

Thor shook his head. "You cannot trust him. As soon as he is faced with the choice to abandon his current plan or break whatever rules you set, he will choose the latter. He has proven that time and again."

"Then we will ensure that this choice never happens." Entrapta beamed at them. "Problem solved."

Loki nodded in agreement, but Adora couldn't help feeling that that wasn't very reassuring.

*****

Samantha Carter refused to feel guilty. She had not promised Loki that they would keep his presence in Alpha a secret, nor had she been responsible for the decision to tell Thor the truth. Though she could stand behind that decision - trying to hide their involvement with Loki would only result in more trouble when it came out. Trouble for everyone - the Asgard wouldn't trust them as allies, and they wouldn't trust the cure they were researching either. Not easily, at least. Really, this was for the best. Of course, Loki couldn't see it.

"You can say this now, but that is not something you can promise," Thor said, looking at Entrapta. "If success solely depended on your will to succeed, we would have solved our problem long ago."

Loki snorted at that. "So you say. But you and the rest of the High Council lost your resolve far too easily. Based on past experiences," he added with a sneer.

"There were lines we were not willing to cross, and for a good reason. The risks were far too high - which was proven when you created Horde Prime, a scourge on the sector almost as bad as the Goa'uld," Thor said.

"Worse actually," Catra cut in. "More dangerous, at the very least - he had better tech than the Goa'uld."

Loki nodded. "He was very skilled at acquiring and adapting our own technology."

That's a proud parent speaking, Sam thought. "He also destroyed an unknown number of planets and civilisations," she added.

"Yes, he did. All in pursuit of his goal to rule the Galaxy - regardless of the fact that the sheer size of the galaxy made that goal impossible to achieve by any sane standard." Hordak spoke up. "He never let anything stop him."

"Until he met She-Ra," Catra said, flashing her fangs.

"Yes. Even Horde Prime had to bow to reality, and all the atrocities he committed did not reward him with success in the end," Thor said.

"I consider this comparison insulting," Loki replied. "I never tried to conquer a planet, much less a sector or the galaxy. Nor did I ever render any species extinct." He tilted his head. "Unless I had created it myself as part of my research."

Sam blinked. That sounded…

"You murdered a species you created?" Glimmer blurted out.

"Yes?" Loki looked confused for a moment. "It was not a sapient one," he quickly added. "Nor a very complex organism. It was merely meant as a proof of concept. And it failed."

"Still… creating life only to end it…" Entrapta shook her head. "Unless they were not viable, of course."

"I do not think they were competitive with other species in their ecological niche," Loki said. "But I never attempted it. Inserting them into an existing ecosystem would have been a risk I did not take."

"Ah, right. That's bad, yes." Entrapta nodded several times.

"You mean you did not do it again," Thor said. "You were not quite as cautious and diligent as you claim to be when you were experimenting with animals on Earth."

"All of them were unique specimens and, therefore, unable to procreate," Loki snapped back. "Even back then, I did not take any such risks."

Sam somehow had her doubts.

"You experimented with animals?" Entrapta cocked her head.

"He created a monstrous snake and horse," Thor said. "And a wolf."

A snake, a horse and a wolf? Sam blinked. "Jörmungandr, Sleipnir and Fenrir?" she asked before she could stop herself. Daniel had given a briefing about the Norse myths after their first visit to Cimmeria.

"That is how the Tau'ri called them, yes," Thor said.

"Jörmungandr, Sleipnir and Fenrir?" Entrapta asked.

"The World Serpent, Odin's horse and the wolf that would kill Odin," Sam told her. "In Norse myths."

"Father was not amused about those animals. Or those stories," Thor said.

"I did not make up those stories," Loki said. "If Odin did not like them, he could have told the humans to change them."

"That was not our way. We already meddled too much with the Tau'ri," Thor retorted.

"See? Another pointless rule that only caused problems. Problems I get blamed for!"

"You were the one who created a giant snake, a monstrous wolf and an eight-legged horse that could barely walk, much less gallop!" Thor snapped back. "And then had them escape!"

"Oh! You created a new type of horse? Like Adora! She created a winged unicorn!" Entrapta beamed.

"And we won't ever let her forget it," Catra muttered.

Loki looked puzzled. "I didn't know you were a genetic engineer."

Adora winced. "It was an accident."

"You created a species by accident?" Thor stared at her. "No wonder you were willing to help Loki!"

"It was a magical accident, not an engineering, uh, project - I didn't know what my power could do and hit a horse with magic by mistake." Adora blushed, both from embarrassment and anger, Sam thought. "Anyway, I haven't done that again."

"Which you probably should," Entrapta said. "Unless Swift Wind can procreate with normal horses, he will be the last of his species."

"I don't think we're making the best impression on our visitor here," the General commented in a whisper next to Sam.

She was forced to agree - Thor was staring at everyone as if he was expecting them to reveal abominations of science and magic.

If only Daniel were here.

*****

 

[Starfox5]

So... personally I agree with this sentiment but an awful lot of people don't... I wonder if this is a cultural thing on Etheria or specific to people raised in the Horde?

Click to shrink...

Here it is a Catra thing. But since such magic conception/birthing has been around for the last thousand years, many people on Etheria share her views - with magic so common, and so many different species, that counts as "natural births"for most.

Yes but it would be a sapient being with the symbiotes memories and assumably personality. Presupposing the symbiote is willing to cooperate with a copy of itself, your ethically not too shady.


Most system lords would fail the test though... So there is that.

Click to shrink...

And I don't think most system lords would cooperate with themselves.

 

[I_S]

I suspect they have far too much faith in Daniel.

The princess alliance may be a wonderful tray of cinnamon rolls, but they are very bad about the low key near misses with horrific scifi nightmare scenarios...

For example glimmers mom is still stuck in a interdimesional null space due to Catras .. issues .

 

[Starfox5]

Chapter 115: The Asgard Question Part 2

Research Station Alpha, The First Moon of Enchantment, November 18th, 1999 (Earth Time)

This isn't going well, Catra thought. Not at all. Thor seemed to believe that they were as bad as Loki about research and things. Which, to be honest, wasn't entirely wrong given that they had almost destroyed Etheria during the Horde War because they - especially Catra and Glimmer - hadn't really been cautious enough. And Entrapta, for all that she was a great friend and good person, could leave a bad impression on people who met her for the first time. Or at a bad time. Not everyone understood that she wasn't like Loki, even if both were passionate scientists.

Thor was still shaking his head. "This is… It seems obvious why you are working with Loki."

"Because we both share the goal of saving the Asgard," Loki said.

"Because we both love science?" Entrapta cocked her head to the side and blinked.

"Because, apparently, you share the same appalling lack of caution and common sense when experimenting!" Thor snapped.

That was… well, also not entirely wrong, Catra had to admit. Not out loud, of course.

"That's not true!" Adora blurted out. "We're very careful - we have the entire base under close surveillance!"

"And it's on a moon, and we have sterilising protocols, so the chance of any organism escaping into the wild is very low," Entrapta added.

"I doubt that disinfectant would have stopped Horde Prime." Thor scoffed.

"I will not make that mistake again," Loki said. "You still act as if I never learned from my mistakes."

"That's because you do not! Or if you learn something, it turns out to be the wrong lesson!" Thor shook his head. "You should not ask how to do something, but whether or not you should do something in the first place!"

"I will not let our species go extinct," Loki said, glaring at his brother.

"Yes! We cannot let you die out if we can help it!" Entrapta chimed in before Thor could answer. "That wouldn't be right! Too many species have already died out - with their entire worlds. And that doesn't even cover the number of non-sapient species that are going extinct on Earth! We will save any species we can!"

"How the Asgard deal with our genetic degradation is our decision. You cannot decide for us," Thor retorted.

"But Loki can! He is an Asgard himself," Entrapta said.

Thor shook his head. "He is not even a member of the High Council any more. He has no authority. The fate of the Asgard will be decided by the High Council, not by a renegade and criminal."

"As if the High Council has the knowledge and understanding to do what is necessary!" Loki scoffed.

"They are the rulers of the Asgard."

"But you can't force Loki to stop trying to save you; it's his life as well that's at stake," Adora said. "No one has the authority to order people to let themselves die - or die out."

"The High Council has the authority to set the law for the Asgard," Thor told her. "And he has broken the law multiple times, severely. He is a criminal."

"He's willing to change," Adora said.

Catra bit her lower lip to keep from saying anything.

"And he's trying to save your species. Would you really rather die out than give him a chance?" Glimmer added.

"He had many chances and never took them."

Thor was avoiding the question, Catra noted.

"I was held back," Loki said. "And sabotaged by unjust and ignorant people who did not understand what I was doing."

Thor scoffed. "We understood the results of your work perfectly. You have not changed."

"You know," Catra said, "if you judge people by their past, of course, you'll never notice any change."

Adora nodded with a beaming smile aimed at her, and Catra bit her lower lip again. She shouldn't be arguing like this - she wasn't any better than Loki. But she couldn't just let Thor talk like… like Loki couldn't change. Even though Catra still had her doubts about that herself.

"Why should my brother change now when he has never changed before?" Thor asked.

Because it sometimes takes a lot of wasted opportunities to overcome your pride, Catra didn't say.

"Because now, we're helping him," Adora said.

"And do you expect me to forget his past deeds?" Thor turned to stare at Adora.

"If you cannot look to the future instead of to the past, you'll never have a future," Adora retorted.

"Those who forgot the past are doomed to repeat it," Catra heard Jack whisper under his breath, followed by a hissed "Sir!" from Sam.

"We don't ask you to forget what he has done - but you should keep an open mind and give him a chance," Bow chimed in.

"He had many chances," Thor repeated himself. "Does he deserve another chance?"

"Are we talking about a chance to fix your genome?" Entrapta looked a little confused. "Because then, the answer is obviously 'yes' - if you have a problem, you research a solution until you find it."

"Everyone deserves a chance to change," Adora said. "No matter how many chances they have blown before."

Catra felt a mix of love and shame at hearing Adora say that and couldn't help blushing from both.

"Yes. This time, it will work," Loki said. "I can feel it."

Catra looked at him and, once more, felt doubt about his willingness to change.

*****​

"Or that might be your breakfast disagreeing with your stomach."

Jack O'Neill shrugged at the glances everyone was giving him. "Hey, just saying that a gut feeling isn't exactly scientific."

Catra snorted, as did Glimmer, and Bow tried his best not to grin, but the others kept frowning at him. Well, someone had to try and lighten the mood before Thor thought they were all like Loki. Which he probably thought already, to be honest.

"Well, no - at least I don't think that anyone ever ran a study on gut feelings," Entrapta said. "Unless it was about medical issues."

"Well, I think with the return of magic, odds are a lot of such experiments were run," Jack pointed out. "Or are still being run. People are trying to find ways to predict the future by using magic." Despite all the warning tales about prophets and prophecies he had heard from Daniel. And the utter lack of any such magic spell or power on Etheria.

"Hm. Since Earth has different magical traditions compared to Etheria, that is a scientific approach." Entrapta smiled at him.

Unfortunately, Thor wasn't smiling. The Asgard was scowling at his brother. "You are dabbling with magic again?"

"I have not used magic in our experiments so far. Not only would that defeat the purpose of finding a cure our species can use without depending on others, but it has not been necessary so far." Loki sniffed. "I have made significant progress with the support of these people - I am positive that this time, I can save the Asgard from our ancient folly."

"Like you were positive the last time? And the time before that?"

"This is so much like you! To dismiss my claims without even attempting to verify them. How… unscientific!" Loki sniffed in return.

"Yes. If you don't verify your data, how can you trust your decisions?" Entrapta asked. "Decisions based on prejudice are bad! And those based on gut feelings, I guess. Unless those experiments on Earth result in data that disproves this assumption."

Thor looked more surprised than angry, at least for a moment. Then he shook his head. "Optimistic projections are not hard facts."

"I'm not talking about projections!" Loki scoffed. "Take a look at the work I've already done!"

As if Alpha had been waiting for its cue - and it probably had, Jack realised - a holoprojection appeared next to the two Asgard, showing DNA sequences and several figures that looked like a mix between Asgard and humans. Which was a rather disturbing thought, actually, in light of Loki's comments about sexual reproduction.

"See? With the data and tools here, restoring our genome is within reach!" Loki crowed.

"What?" Thor bent forward and peered at the figures. "Those aren't depictions of our ancient forms!"

"Of course not!" Loki scoffed again. "Why should we regress to a state we left behind when we can evolve instead?"

Uh-oh. Carter had mentioned something about the project aiming for a new form or something, but hadn't that been because they didn't have the data to restore an older form? This sounded more like…

"You wish to shape our entire species according to your whim?" Thor all but bellowed. He looked at the text again. "Sexual reproduction?"

Loki - typically, Jack thought - was undaunted. "Of course. Asexual reproduction has proven to have played a part in causing our current crisis, while the vast majority of the sapient species we know reproduce sexually. That means that if we want to avoid suffering the same crisis later, we need to adapt - to evolve," he said in a voice that sounded far too smug to Jack.

And far too smug for Thor, it seemed. "You are mad if you believe that our people will accept such drastic changes!"

"Do you think they would rather die out instead?" Loki shot back.

"Some will, indeed, before suffering such… changes!" Thor spat.

"No one will be forced to change," Loki said. "But our species will not go extinct."

"That sounds as if you already have a contingency plan." Thor managed to narrow his eyes quite impressively for their size. "I see. You claim you will not force your plan on others, yet what will you do if the Asgard would rather die out than accept such changes to our species?"

"That is none of your concern," Loki said. "For you will have adapted and changed already or have died when the time comes for any such plan to be implemented."

That sounded like a threat to Jack, but with the looming extinction of the Asgard, it might just be a factual statement.

Thor shook his head. "So, do you plan to repopulate our species? With your own?"

Loki frowned slightly at that, so Jack was sure that Thor had hit the nail on the head. "I will not let my people die out due to ignorance, false pride and superstition."

"That is not your decision to make!" Thor told him.

"So, you think the High Council can order me to commit suicide? And to abstain from procreating?" Loki said. "And you call me unethical!"

Well, he had a point. Kind of - Jack didn't like agreeing with Loki. But letting others, even your own government, decide whether or not you were allowed to have kids? That decision belonged to you, not to the government or anyone else. And, Jack added with a slight grimace, remembering his thoughts about his own sort of heritage, what with Anise's proposals, so does the decision whether or not you would have kids. Which he wouldn't, at least not now.

*****​

That wasn't right! Adora shook her head. "You can't order your people - any of them - to die. Or die out. That's wrong!"

"One person cannot decide the fate of a species," Thor retorted.

"But the High Council can?" Loki asked, scoffing once more.

"The High Council, at least, is the legitimate authority of the Asgard! You are a renegade and criminal with no authority at all - and a history of failures and violations of our people's most important ethics. Your careless actions endangered the entire sector! If anyone is the least qualified to make any decisions about a species, it's you!" Thor glared at Loki.

"You would doom our people merely to obey pointless laws and customs that have long since lost their relevance! When a species faces an existential crisis, it must adapt, or it will die! You cannot cling to outdated morals when your very survival is at risk!" Loki spat.

Now that was… wrong as well. Adora shook her head. "No. In a crisis, it's most important to stick to your ideals."

"Yes," Bow chimed in while the two Asgard glared at each other. "If you abandon your ideals for convenience, did you ever have any ideals at all?"

Loki turned to face her. "If your ideals lead to your demise, then they are obviously not valid."

"Of course you would say that!" Thor shook his head. "Some ideals are worth more than your life! Some lines are so important that no price is worth crossing them. Not that you would understand that."

Adora nodded in agreement. With the principle, not the judgement of Loki. The ends didn't justify the means.

"Life means change. Adapt or die. Ideals are no exception," Loki retorted. "If upholding an ideal does more harm than good, it needs to be changed. Anything else is stupid. Suicidally stupid if you are in lethal danger."

Adora glanced at the others. Catra had her lips pressed together as if she was forcing herself to remain silent. Glimmer looked… angry but torn?

"Very pragmatic," Jack said. "But who gets to decide what is more harm than good?"

Loki frowned at him. "It should be obvious that the survival of your species is paramount."

"No!" Thor retorted. "You are wrong. Our survival is not paramount. Not if it costs everything that makes us what we are. If we follow your plan, if we change like you want us to, then we will not be the Asgard any more. We are more than our genes - and you want to change those as well!"

"We changed more radically in the past," Loki spat. "Did we stop being Asgard then? Once, we sexually reproduced. Were we not Asgard back then? We had other ideals in the past, as you know - ideals we changed or dropped."

"We changed, but not for mere expediency or convenience!"

"This is about the survival of our species, not about mere convenience or expediency." Loki glared at his brother again. He hadn't actually stopped glaring for a while, Adora noted.

"No. This is about you, above all." Thor spread his hands and gestured at the holoprojections in front of him, then at the room. "This is about your ego. About you being proven right. About your will being enforced on the Asgard. If it were about the survival of our species, you would not go behind our back, you would not conspire to… to create a new species from our genes."

"I have tried working with you and the High Council! Multiple times! But I never succeeded because you are unwilling to do what must be done - or let me do it. You are so terrified of change, you are dooming our species!" Loki took a step forward toward his brother.

"No! We are not terrified of change! We are horrified by the atrocities you did and would do in pursuit of your goals!" Thor stepped forward as well until he almost touched Loki. "And as I told you before: If you have to betray your ideals to survive, then that is too high a price to pay."

"For you. I am willing to pay this price. Future Asgard can choose their own ideals."

"Oh, you fool! You have not changed at all!" Thor turned away, then addressed Adora and her friends. "And you! You have seen how he thinks - that he will do anything, no matter how vile, to achieve his goals. How can you support him?"

Adora clenched her teeth, then took a deep breath and met Thor's eyes without flinching. "Because everyone deserves a chance to change. To do better. Because to deny Loki that would be betraying our ideals."

Thor stared at her for a moment without saying anything, then glanced at her friends. "I see. It's on your head, then." He nodded in. "I shall take my leave. The Asgard will not condone any of this."

Adora didn't think he was just talking about the experiments.

Glimmer nodded. "A shuttle will take you back to the Stargate."

As Thor left the room, Alpha leading him to the hangar, Adora couldn't help sighing.

"This could have gone better," Jack said, echoing her thoughts.

*****​

"It could not," Loki said at once, scoffing. "My brother has always stubbornly clung to the High Council's rules and regulations in blatant disregard of logic and rationality. He would never change. But, ultimately, his disapproval does not change anything."

You don't seem to be quite as nonchalant as you sound, Samantha Carter thought. She wasn't an expert in Asgard expressions and body language, but Loki looked tense, and there was a certain underlying frustration in his tone.

"I think that's what he said about you," the General commented.

"Yes. And it's wrong. People can change, even after a long time," Adora added.

People could, Sam agreed. Humans, at least. But the Asgard were not humans, and they lived a very long time - over a thousand years at the minimum since both Loki and Thor had been in contact with the Norse on Earth in the early Medieval Age. Who knew how old Loki and Thor were? Older people were often set in their ways. Of course, that might not apply to the Asgard. However, she couldn't deny that Thor hadn't seemed open to the idea that Loki had changed. Or would ever change.

"Thor is the Supreme Commander of the Asgard Fleet," Catra said. "And a member of your High Council, right?"

"To my current knowledge, yes," Loki replied.

"Does he speak for it?"

"I would say that Thor is one of the High Council's mouthpieces instead." Loki snorted. "As you have seen, he will obey them without question."

Sam's eyebrows rose. That sounded like a very biased opinion.

"Whatever," Catra said, shrugging. "The question is: What will the Asgard do now? Will they try to stop you?"

"They would love to." Loki grinned. "But they cannot afford a war with you, not when they are already fighting the Replicators. They can harp and complain, but it will not amount to anything more than noise."

Sam wasn't about to dismiss diplomatic pressure as mere noise. Once again, she missed Daniel.

"The Asgard are a major power," Glimmer pointed out. "And we shouldn't dismiss them like that. There's more to power than just the military."

"And they won't be fighting the war against the Replicators forever - they are winning, after all," Catra added.

"By the time the war ends, I will have completed my research," Loki retorted. "The deed will have been done, so to speak."

That sounded very confident. Maybe overly so. But neither Morrison nor Entrapta seemed to disagree with the assessment. Then again, both were a little quiet - understandable with Morrison; he wasn't used to interstellar diplomacy. But Entrapta usually spoke her mind, often without regard to the situation at hand. Sam knew that from experience.

"And then what?" Adora asked. "What will you do?"

"I will save the Asgard. I will offer the cure to my people," Loki said. "They deserve a choice. A chance to change and survive as a species."

"And what will you do if they refuse it?" The General shrugged at Loki's frown. "Sometimes, people act irrationally. They might not want a new body even if it's far superior to their old one."

Loki scoffed. "While I cannot deny that some of the Asgard might baulk at the idea of such a change - my foolish brother is one example of that backward thinking - that does not extend to everyone. Our numbers aren't what they were in the past, but even a fraction of the Asgard joining me will be enough to restore us in the long term since we will be able to reproduce again."

"Yes." Entrapta nodded. "And even if all Asgard refuse, you just need enough genetic diversity to avoid inbreeding, and that won't need too many samples - we can introduce variations here as well."

"Exactly!" Loki smiled. "In the worst case, I can restore the Asgard myself."

Just like Thor had feared.

"Sounds like a copyright complaint waiting to happen. Does Bright Moon have copyright lawyers?"

The General was joking, but this was an issue. "How would the Asgard react to that?" Sam asked. She couldn't imagine that they would be happy about Loki's plans. Thor certainly had said so.

Loki frowned. "I would hope that their foolish pride will not push them into an attempt to genocide the new generation of Asgard, but in light of my experience with the High Council - and Thor's stated views, which you witnessed - I cannot exclude the possibility."

That sounded a bit far-fetched to Sam.

"We won't let them - or anyone - murder your children!" Adora, of course, jumped at it.

"They would have to attack the Clones as well if they wanted to destroy all your children," Entrapta pointed out. "But they wouldn't do that, would they? Thor didn't seem to have issues with you." She looked at Hordak.

"I doubt that he would have announced a desire or plan to kill us all in our presence," Hordak said. "However, I don't know if he has fully considered the implications of our creation - that we are, technically, your descendants." He nodded at Loki. "Or what the rest of your High Council will think about this. Us. He has known we are related to the Asgard since we first met, though."

Sam agreed. Thor had only discovered Loki's involvement today, but he might have already suspected something.

"But…" Entrapta shook her head several times. "Why would he want to murder you? That would make no sense! The Asgard protect people from the Goa'uld!"

Sam bit her lower lip. Her friend was getting worked up about this entirely hypothetical threat. An entirely hypothetical threat, she realised, that Loki had brought up. And which would make sure that the Etherians would support and protect him at any cost…

*****​

Catra frowned at Loki. He 'couldn't exclude' the possibility of the Asgard attempting to murder all Clones? If the Asgard tried that, it would mean war. And he had said they were unlikely to start a war while fighting the Replicators. But the possibility alone - pure speculation - had Adora up in arms. Which was awfully convenient for Loki. Of course, they didn't know much about the Asgard; they had only met Thor and Loki, and you shouldn't judge an entire species after meeting only two of them - imagine if someone had met Shadow Weaver and Double Trouble and thought all Etherians were backstabbing bastards like them! But the Asgard were protecting at least some planets from the Goa'uld, and Thor had taken the revelation that Hordak and the other clones were closely related to the Asgard, enough to fool some of their Asgard's own defence systems, without much of a reaction. He had only lost his temper once he had discovered Loki had created Horde Prime.

She cocked her head to the side and snorted. "I don't think we should assume the worst about the Asgard just because Thor doesn't like Loki."

"Of course not," Adora agreed.

"They have been protecting people from the Goa'uld," Bow added. "Without exploiting them, as far as we can tell."

"They did pose as gods, though," Jack pointed out.

Teal'c nodded.

"Yes, but…Thor said that was a mistake, and they did it to avoid, uh, influencing their culture?" Bow shrugged. "They don't rule them or demand worship, that much we know."

"True." Teal'c nodded again.

"And Thor didn't make an issue about the Clones even after he knew you were related," Catra pointed out, nodding at Hordak. "He only got mad at you, Loki."

"Based on prejudices," Loki said.

"Well, he must have suspected you before," Jack added. "He mentioned scientists breaking their laws when we met him."

Loki sneered. "The High Council would blame me without any proof."

Not without reason, Catra thought. Loki must have done some really nasty things in the past for that. "He does seem a bit fixated on you," she said. "Were you close before you became enemies?" She noticed Adora and the others glancing at her but ignored them. Being siblings didn't mean you had to be close - they didn't know much about Asgard society.

"We are brothers," Loki said. "We grew up together. We worked together. But when I needed his support the most, he betrayed me to the High Council."

Catra suppressed a wince. She knew that feeling. Very, very well. But she also knew that feeling betrayed didn't mean you were in the right. Not at all. "And ever since then, you've worked to show him how wrong he was?"

"If he were objective, he would have admitted his mistake," Loki replied. "But no matter what I did, he opposed me - sometimes ruined my work. I fear that he will deny I was right even after I save our species."

Ah, yes. That sounded very familiar. Uncomfortably so. Catra nodded. "And it was never your fault?"

"Of course not! I only did what needed to be done to save our species!" Loki spat. "But he does not want to understand that the High Council is wrong and would doom us all!"

Catra glanced at Adora. Her lover was wincing. And so were Glimmer and Bow. And they weren't looking at Catra. Pointedly so.

"Well, we won't let them doom your species!" Entrapta said. "And then you can make up with your brother."

Loki nodded.

Did he really think that would work? And did he really care so much for Thor's acceptance? Or was it, as Thor had claimed, just about being right? Was this about his pride above all? Catra knew how that felt as well. It had been her lowest point, well, one of them, when she had risked Etheria's destruction just to win against Adora.

On the other hand, Loki was trying to save his species. If the High Council really preferred dying out to changing, even radically changing, then they were being stupid and had no right to drag others down with them.

Catra shrugged. Ultimately, Loki's relationship with Thor wasn't any of her business. As long as it didn't cause a war or something. "I think that will take more than being right, but he's your brother, not mine."

"Whatever." Glimmer shook her head. "In any case, we need to ensure that the Asgard won't attack us. We can't launch an offensive against the Goa'uld if we have to guard against them."

"And we should explain to the High Council that our experiments are safe," Entrapta added. "They don't have to fear us."

Loki snorted at that. "They fear what they cannot control."

"They must fear a lot, then," Teal'c commented. "Most of the Universe is outside of anyone's control."

Jack frowned. "I'm not sure how welcome we'll be in their space. Thor seemed pretty pissed off that we were working with Loki."

Catra could understand that as well.

"Yes," Adora said. "But we still have to reach out to him. And we need to find out what the rest of the High Council thinks."

"And we need Daniel," Jack said.

*****​

Mojave Desert, California, United States of America, November 20th, 1999

Jack O'Neill wasn't sure what had been going through Daniel's head when he had picked a retreat in the Mojave Desert to help Sha're recover from being a Goa'uld host. Did he think it would look familiar to her? Jack doubted that. "At least it's not summer," he muttered as he brought his personal stealth shuttle to a stop next to what looked like a rather cheap bungalow.

Since landing and leaving indents in the ground from the shuttle's struts would defeat the purpose of using a stealth shuttle in the first place, he left it hovering with its rear facing the door, then quickly lowered the ramp and stepped out.

By the time he rang the door, the ramp had been retracted, and the shuttle was invisible again. And the two undercover security watching over his friend and Sha're he had made had stopped staring at him.

"Coming!" he heard from inside the bungalow. A moment later, the door was opened, and Daniel smiled at him. "Hi, Jack."

"Hi, Daniel." Jack made a point of looking his friend over. Civilian shirt, jeans, liht shoes, messy hair, no harried expression or tension… Daniel looked like he was doing fine in the retreat. And Jack felt a slight pang of guilt for what he was about to do.

"Jack O'Neill. Welcome." Sha're joined Daniel, half a step behind him, one hand on his shoulder. She was wearing a simple dress and sandals and looked better than the last time Jack had seen her, but she was tense - and her eyes kept looking around, past him and back to the bungalow's living room.

"Hi, Sha're." Jack did his best to smile reassuringly at her. "How are you doing?"

"I am doing… well," Sha're said.

Jack would have believed it if not for the slight hesitation. And the way Daniel put his hand on hers and gently squeezed.

"Come in!" His friend took a step back, wrapping an arm around Sha're's waist, and gestured towards the living room with his free hand.

"Thank you."

The bungalow looked nicer on the inside. Probably refurbished by Uncle Sam in a hurry after their return from Saqqara, and the outside had been left alone because it would draw less attention. "Nice digs," Jack said as he sat down on the chair next to the couch.

"Yes," Daniel said. "The Air Force is being generous. Or the Alliance - I don't actually know who's paying for this."

Jack shrugged - he didn't know either. "It doesn't matter; it's still the least that you deserve for everything you've done for Earth."

Sha're appeared, carrying a tray with three glasses, three bottles of beer and a plate with olive oil, salt and flatbread that looked like it was homemade. She put it down on the low table, then sat next to Daniel on the couch. So close, Jack would have trouble sliding a sheet of paper between them.

"Thank you," he told her as Daniel opened the beers. It was some German brand Jack didn't know - it wasn't sold in the Lübtheen Base. It did look expensive, though.

"They sell them in California," Daniel said, smiling a little embarrassedly. He must have caught Jack studying the label.

"If they had to fly it in from Germany itself, it would still be fine - you deserve this and more," Jack told him.

Daniel shrugged.

"Daniel told me about this beer, back home. He did not lie about its taste. It's very different from what we have at home, but very good," Sha're said as she filled her glass.

Daniel did the same. Jack would have preferred to drink from the bottle, but when in Rome… "Cheers!"

The beer was good. "I'll have to order some for the base," Jack said, holding up the bottle, before he tried the bread. Yes, definitely homemade. "Did you make this?" he asked Sha're as he dipped another piece into the oil. "It's great."

She tilted her head slightly. "I am learning how to use the… appliances." With a wry smile, she added: "The first tries were… not so good."

"They were good," Daniel insisted at once. "Much better than what bread we get here."

Sha're smiled and nodded, but it looked as if she didn't believe him. Jack studied her while he grabbed another piece of flatbread and refilled his glass. She looked… fragile would be wrong. But she wasn't at ease. That was understandable, of course, with what she had gone through, but being on Earth would be a shock under the best circumstances. "So, enjoying the desert?" he said.

"It's nice," Daniel said. "Quiet. Peaceful."

"It reminds me of home. A little," Sha're added.

"Well, we couldn't take you to Egypt," Jack said.

"Daniel explained that, yes."

"I would have loved showing you the country where the Stargate was found, but… Politics make that difficult," Daniel said.

"I understand. I have… seen the news." She nodded at the television in the corner. "It was a little scary."

And coming from a woman who had been the host of a Goa'uld queen, that said a lot about the news.

"Yes." Daniel nodded again, finished his beer, then gently took Sha're's hand again. "Anyway, Jack, while I know you'd use a stealth shuttle just to come visit, you didn't come just to visit, did you?"

Jack felt guilty again. He grimaced, then slowly nodded. "Yes. I didn't come just to check up on you. We - the Alliance - have a bit of a problem."

"And you need my help." Daniel tilted his head a bit to the side, glancing at Sha're. He hadn't let go of her hand, Jack noted.

"Well… You're our foremost expert in alien diplomacy," Jack said.

"I'm not a diplomat, Jack. I'm an archaeologist."

Was that modesty or an excuse to let them down? Probably the former; Jack knew Daniel had never shied away from helping those in need. On the other hand, Sha're needed him right now, and he hadn't yet asked what the problem was… "I guess someone forgot to tell that to all the aliens we met," Jack said, grinning.

Daniel frowned a little but nodded. "Well, someone had to talk to people. But our actual diplomats have been in contact with Etheria for over a year now. And also with the Tok'ra. And academics of all kinds have been analysing alien cultures." He nodded at a stack of magazines next to the couch.

He was right, of course. But none of them was Daniel.

"And the Etherians have diplomats as well," Daniel went on. "They have had global diplomatic meetings, formal ones, for centuries, and they've been dealing with people different enough they could arguably be aliens - although I guess that their cultures did share basic similarities, which would not be the same with actual alien cultures. On the other hand, we mostly talked to human cultures, so it's not that different compared to Earth's experiences."

Jack nodded. "Yeah. But none of our diplomats have made first contact as often as you did. Or at all. It's not about knowing how to behave at a state dinner or making nice with people you hate - it's about understanding aliens. And having an open mind." He looked straight at Daniel. "And most importantly, it's about being honest."

His friend blinked, then frowned. "OK, what exactly did the Alliance diplomats do, and why didn't Adora and Glimmer straighten them out yet?"

Jack winced. "Thor found out about the deal with Loki."

"Oh."

"Loki… the alien you mentioned trying to save his species?" Sha're asked.

"Yes." Daniel nodded at her.

That was a correct description, but one that left out a lot of stuff. "Thor had found some clues that Loki was interested in Earth and came to warn us," Jack went on. "

"Oh." Daniel winced. "And then he found out that we're working with Loki."

"Who apparently is Asgard's most wanted mad scientist," Jack said, smiling wryly. "And he and Thor have some issues with each other. Big ones." And maybe a subscription to 'Sibling Problems Weekly'.

"And Adora and the others couldn't explain the situation?" Daniel cocked his head to the side, frowning again.

"They did their best, but…" Jack sighed. "Thor didn't exactly agree with the whole 'even war criminals get a second chance if they say they're sorry' stance of the Etherians."

Daniel frowned some more and pushed his glasses up his nose with one finger. "That's an unfair view, Jack. The Etherians do not see things the same as we do - they have entirely different traditions for settling conflicts, at least compared to modern Earth, and their culture focuses a lot more on personal relationships between rulers."

Jack managed not to grin - Daniel starting to lecture was a good sign. "Well, as we found out, the Asgard don't share those traditions, and Thor's focus on the personal relationship with his brother the mad scientist didn't go over well with the Etherians. And vice versa. So…" He spread his hands. "Thor also didn't like the idea that Loki's trying to build the future of the Asgard, including their body and sexuality."

"Their sexuality?" Daniel blinked.

"I thought they didn't have sex - they grow bodies like plants," Sha're said, frowning.

"Well, yeah, they do, but Loki thinks that's part of their problem, and so he's trying to change it. Make them more like us." Jack snorted. "Literally - he wants to know more about how we handle sex and what we find attractive in a partner."

Daniel blinked, his mouth half-open. Sha're seemed surprised as well, but less so.

"Anyway," Jack said, "Thor didn't leave on good terms, and no one knows what the Asgard will do now. That Horde Prime was Loki's creation doesn't help at all, of course."

Daniel slowly nodded. "Thor should have realised that after our second meeting since they scanned Hordak. But… maybe Thor didn't want it to be true? Or maybe there were other possibilities?"

"He wasn't aware that Loki created Horde Prime. He thought Loki just helped with the clones," Jack explained.

"Ah." Daniel nodded once more. "That would fit. But that would also make things worse - another thing that Loki did that caused a lot of harm. Indirectly, but still."

"You've found the crux of the problem." As expected.

Daniel gave him a look that told Jack he had been a bit too obvious with the flattery. Even though it was the truth. "Anyway, that's the kind of mess we're dealing with."

"And you want my help with it." Daniel glanced at Sha're again, this time with a guilty expression.

And Jack felt guilty again. "Maybe look the files over and give us a bit of advice? You more than deserve your time off, and you're dealing with a lot." He shrugged. That wouldn't be enough, though. Daniel was best when he was talking to people.

"And the Etherians trust me, while they wouldn't trust a diplomat. Not as much," Daniel said.

"Yes." Though Jack, Carter and Teal'c all had also agreed that Daniel was the best choice. For mostly the same reasons. They knew and trusted him. With their lives, if necessary.

"And they are right," Sha're said.

Jack blinked, and so did Daniel. "Sha're…" His friend trailed off.

Sha're smiled at Daniel. "This is important. For everyone. For the war against the Goa'uld." She bared her teeth for a moment, and Daniel wrapped one arm around her again. "And you won't be gone - you can… commute?"

"Yes, commute." Daniel smiled.

"Or we can go to your house. See more of Earth."

Jack knew that Daniel hadn't spent much time in his nominal home in Colorado since the Stargate had been moved to Canada and the Alliance had been installed in Brussels. But there was no need to bring that up. Hell, if Daniel wanted a villa in Belgium - or anywhere else - and a personal shuttle with pilot, he'd get them in a heartbeat. It would be a drop in the budget for the Alliance. And Daniel had more than earned it.

Anything to get his friend on the job. But they better look out for Sha're as well. And separating them… "You can help him," he said, looking at her.

She seemed surprised for a moment. Then pensive. "I have seen a lot. Much of it was…" She pressed her lips together. "But some was useful."

Daniel hugged her, then glared at Jack. "You don't have to do this. You already got debriefed. And that was…"

That wouldn't have been pretty, no. Jack could imagine. But he also could imagine that doing something to help the war against the Goa'uld, or just doing something, would help Sha're.

And, ultimately, it was her decision.

Especially if it helps fix the mess with the Asgard, he thought. And felt a pang of guilt again.

*****​