I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to be made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant.
Area 51 – Earth – October 2001
Jack O’Neill had mixed feelings about these occasional trips down to Area 51 to see what the R&D people had come up with recently. Some parts were pretty cool, such as the demonstration of the new Plasma Cannon, or as one of the more enthusiastic scientists had referred to it, the “relativistic beam of superheated kinetic death”, but the pure science and biology stuff tended to be either dull or gross.
‘I’ve seen the inside of an alien before’ O’Neill pointed out as Carter almost forcibly dragged him into the next laboratory where supposedly there were several dissected species on display, some being cut up specially for the guests. Why couldn’t he be off training the Free Jaffa in Tau’ri small-unit tactics with Teal’c or Andianov instead, he thought with a groan. Still it could have been worse he could have been digging up pieces of clay pot with Daniel, why he took such an immediately negative attitude towards O’Neill’s perfectly sensible suggestion that using C4 to dig with would save time was a mystery.
Later on Carter was going to get to talk a load of geeks through her own fighter-sized zat gun project which was well underway. O’Neill had already arranged to be elsewhere for that, supposedly at another lecture on the new helmet for the F-302X that added the eye-piece Head-Up-Display from a Tel’tak, but in reality he was going to be propping up the base bar with a Navy Pilot who owed him a beer.
‘This is fascinating stuff Sir’ Carter enthused, as the Colonel daydreamed of cold frosty glasses of what Benjamin Franklin said was the proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. ‘The cybernetic implants in the Muton especially’ she continued, ‘it’s amazing how Loki managed to graft them so seamlessly into the organic features’ she said as they found themselves amongst a small group stood around the corpse of a dead alien which was in the final stages of being cut up by a female scientist in a labcoat, blue latex gloves and a surgical facemask.
‘And now you see how the already enlarged heart and lungs are supported by highly efficient mechanical pumps for liquids and fluids’ she said, using her scalpel to point. ‘This along with the other genetic tampering and surgical modifications gives the Muton its enhanced physical strength and stamina’ she noted, putting down the scalpel and taking a step back. ‘If you have any further questions please address them to Doctor Richmond there’ she told the mixed military and civilian audience who gave her a polite round of applause for the presentation.
‘Damn we’re too late’ Carter moaned. ‘I wanted to see the whole thing’ she said.
‘It’s a tragedy’ O’Neill replied sardonically. ‘Though on the bright side after seeing thirty seconds worth I’m not feeling so hungry’ he told her as everyone started to move along to the next table where another scientist was preparing to use a hammer and chisel to crack open the exoskeleton of a Chryssalid.
‘If you would like a quick reprise Major Carter I’m sure I can manage it’ the scientist who had been dissecting the Muton offered.
Carter looked at her. ‘I’m sorry do we know each other?’ she asked.
‘All too well unfortunately’ the woman replied pulling off the mask.
‘Arrgh!’ O’Neill exclaimed, reaching for a pistol her wasn’t wearing. ‘What the hell are you doing here and not in a cell?’ he asked, looking around and noting that there were several armed guards in the room already keeping an eye on her.
‘Nirrti?’ Carter queried nervously, not immediately willing to believe the evidence of her own eyes.
‘In return for my ongoing cooperation they have permitted me the luxury of seeing more of your world’ the Goa’uld explained, ‘although one Laboratory is much like another I did at least enjoy the view on the flight here’ she told them. ‘Being underground is oppressive after a while’ she said.
‘Okay let’s take a step back’ O’Neill said, ‘shouldn’t you be rotting in a cell?’ he asked angrily.
‘I was’ Nirrti replied, ‘then they came to me with questions regarding my work on creating a Hok’taur which I answered, chiefly because they threatened to starve me if I didn’t’ she said. ‘Then later they asked me to look at the DNA analyses of Loki’s human-hybrid psionic creations to see if there were parallels with my own research’ she continued, ‘finally after I told them I could be of more help if I was allowed to see the subjects first-hand they let me examine the subjects personally’ she told them. ‘Needless to say they were more than impressed by my superior ability to fathom Loki’s genetic handiwork.’
‘So they gave you a fucking job?’ O’Neill exclaimed in horrified amazement.
‘The situation is far closer to being in a state of slavery’ Nirrti replied bitterly. ‘I’m sure you approve of that irony at least’ she said. ‘After I am finished here today I will be transported back to the X-COM facility and returned to my cramped cell until my services are once again required’ she told him. ‘It had better not be too late, there is a show I wished to watch tonight and they will not provide a TiVo’ she complained.
O’Neill’s jaw dropped. ‘You’ve got a freaking television in your cell?’ he asked incredulously.
‘Another pitiful reward for my cooperation’ Nirrti replied. ‘At first I thought the device was meant as a punishment but then I realised I could change channels and it didn’t only have to show televangelism 24/7’ she admitted. ‘You’re culture is very strange but your multitude of television stations can usually be relied upon to have something worth seeing’ she said.
‘Multitude?’ O’Neill repeated. ‘You’ve got goddamn cable haven’t you?’ he asked, an expression of incredulity mixed with rage on his face.
‘Yes, but X-COM is too cheap to throw in HBO’ Nirrti replied.
‘I’m going to see someone about this’ Carter announced. ‘It’s like Operation Paperclip’ she said, ‘worse, it’s like the break they gave to the men in Unit 731’ she corrected herself.
‘Unit 731?’ O’Neill queried. He knew about Operation Paperclip, the German Scientists and Engineers like Von Braun who were bought to America after the war.
‘Japanese WMD research in World War Two’ Carter told him. ‘They carried out medical experiments on human subjects, including vivisection, and they used biological warfare against Chinese Civilians, killed tens maybe hundreds of thousands with Bubonic Plague and other diseases’ she continued. ‘The kicker is they were given immunity from war crimes prosecution in return for handing over their research to the United States’ she said. ‘The information was considered potentially too valuable’ she explained.
O’Neill blinked, that story was new to him. ‘And what this mass-murdering bitch knows is too valuable to us now’ he reasoned with clear distaste at the putting of expediency before principle.
‘I am too useful to your planets ongoing scientific research for any complaint you make to be taken seriously’ Nirrti opined. ‘As well as my knowledge of the biological sciences I am also aiding in a project designed to replicate my personal cloaking unit with the technology available here on this world’ she continued. ‘Perhaps you will both be happy to hear that I have several tracking devices plus an explosive device imbedded in my body to deter escape’ she added.
‘No, I’d be happy to hear that they fed you stale bread and brackish water in a pitch-black cell and that when they did want information, and you wouldn’t cough it up, they beat it out of you’ O’Neill replied.
‘It was tried, I believe the phrase used was that they discovered the carrot worked better than the stick’ Nirrti told him. ‘I do suspect that as soon as I am no longer any use I will be disposed of’ she said. ‘I find that extremely motivating to make myself indispensable.’
‘They should just cut you open and take out the snake right now’ O’Neill declared.
‘I have been within this host too long, ask the Tok’ra’ Nirrti replied. ‘She would be incurably insane by now thanks to what she has seen me use her to do, plus the effects of repeated sarcophagus use over centuries would have damaged her weak human mind’ she said. ‘Removing me would in fact be a cruelty to the human form I wear’ she pointed out.
‘Euthanasia for both of you works for me’ O’Neill growled. ‘Justice and mercy in one neat little nine-millimetre package’ he said, miming to point a pistol at her head.
Nirrti began removing her surgical gloves, they were bloodstained from the Muton which was oddly appropriate. ‘My help will save many of your kind from death at the hands of your Goa’uld and Sectoid enemies’ she said. ‘Killing me would likely make you feel better but it would mean that you were responsible for the deaths I would have prevented’ she noted.
‘She’s got a point Sir’ Carter reluctantly agreed, before delivering a sudden and a very neat punch to Nirrti’s nose that broke it all over her face. ‘Of course there are alternative ways to feel better’ Carter noted with satisfaction as the Goa’uld clutched her broken nose that was already dripping blood down her white lab-coat.
‘Good thinking Major’ O’Neill told her. ‘Way to improvise’ he said appreciatively.
‘I get these flashes of brilliance sometimes Sir’ Carter replied, checking her knuckles.
Cheyenne Mountain – Earth – November - 2001
‘Six months’ Sharp growled, throwing the file he had been leafing through onto his desk, ‘all I ask for is six fucking months without Loki pulling something new out of his ass’ he said. ‘Is that too much to ask’ he said looking up towards the ceiling of his office, General Hammond, sat across from him next to Colonel O’Neill, guessing he was looking for divine intervention rather than pleading with the NORAD personnel upstairs.
‘How many did you lose?’ O’Neill asked.
‘One team in its entirety, and two more with losses pushing seventy-five percent’ Sharp replied. ‘Shit we haven’t gotten beaten up on like that since before we developed the Laser Rifle and Personal Armour’ he declared. ‘Even the Muton’s weren’t this bad when they turned up’ he noted. ‘The only reason we didn’t lose even more is that we had a couple of people with high PSI strength who had the common-sense to zat anyone that didn’t’ he said.
‘They’re all telepaths?’ General Hammond asked.
‘Every single damn one, and even the low-ranking ones are as strong at it as the Sectoid Leaders’ Commander Sharp told him. ‘Our people went into their missions like normal and started receiving multiple continuous Psionic assaults’ he continued, ‘most that were too strong to be mind controlled were hit by those panic attacks we’ve seen Bug Officers use instead, only much more effectively’ he said.
‘Yeah felt that one myself’ O’Neill remarked, recalling the Psionic Attack he had experienced during the fight to defend the X-COM base in Poland. ‘It’s just like a feeling of... intense dread really’ he told General Hammond.
‘You score out in the nineties on Psionic Strength Colonel’ Sharp told him, ‘most people would have dropped their weapon and gone to hide in a corner, or started shooting everything that moved regardless of what side it was on’ he said.
‘And you’re calling them...’ Hammond asked.
‘Ethereals’ Sharp answered, taking a picture from the file and showing it to them. ‘They’re showing up in larger and larger numbers every day’ he told them.
O’Neill looked at the photograph of the most intact Ethereal corpse the X-COM UFO Retrieval Teams had dispatched so far. ‘Sucker looks like he needs a good meal’ he opined.
‘We think Loki genetically engineered for brains and psionic abilities over physical strength’ Sharp told him, tapping the image. ‘They’re taller than we are but so skinny and lacking in muscle mass they’re even weaker than a sectoid’ he said. ‘The head and the brain inside is disproportionately large, these guys are likely a lot smarter than we are too’ he noted.
‘Kinda almost like a tall Asgard’ O’Neill suggested.
‘You are closer to the truth than you realise O’Neill’ a disembodied voice responded.
‘Thor buddy is that you?’ O’Neill asked, looking around.
‘Yes O’Neill’ the voice replied, ‘I will shortly be arriving in orbit around your planet’ it said. ‘I have already notified your captured Hat’ak and the other ship so they do not open fire on me, not that they would achieve much by doing so’ he added. ‘I thought it wise to announce my presence before teleporting in so as to not cause Commander Sharp to reflexively draw his weapon and try to shoot me again.’
‘Nearly gave me a goddamn heart attack last time’ Sharp muttered.
Two small grey figures appeared in the room with the customary flash of light of an Asgard Transporter Beam. ‘Greetings humans’ one said, in an unfamiliar voice.
‘Hey you bought a guest’ O’Neill said to the other one. ‘Is this Mrs Thor?’ he asked. Strangely the other Asgard did sound somewhat feminine.
‘The Asgard are asexual as you know’ Thor replied. ‘This is Heimdall, one of our most revered and well-respected scientists’ he introduced his companion.
‘So not a chick?’ O’Neill asked.
‘No’ Heimdall verified. ‘At least not as you would understand it’ the Asgard continued, ‘originally our species was more like yours with differentiated sexes and some elements of that have continued in certain clone lines including mine.’
‘So... chick-like?’ O’Neill queried. ‘Look I just want to know whether it’s he or she when talking about you’ he said.
Heimdall turned to Thor. ‘Yes he is much as you said he was’ the Asgard said.
‘You get used to it’ Thor replied resignedly. ‘In our own language we do not use masculine or feminine descriptors O’Neill’ he told the Colonel, ‘we would say the equivalent of “it”.’
‘Now to me that sounds rude’ O’Neill responded. ‘I’ve always thought of you as a guy. So I say “he” when I talk about you.’
‘Gah!’ Sharp exclaimed. ‘For the love of God just let them tell us why they’re here’ he pleaded to O’Neill.
‘Okay’ O’Neill agreed, ‘you’re a “she” from now on’ he told Heimdall quietly.
Thor turned to Sharp. ‘We have been monitoring your war with Loki’s creations’ he said. ‘We are particularly intrigued by the race you are calling Ethereals and feel an exchange of information is in both our interests’ he said.
‘Monitoring how?’ General Hammond asked.
‘We have undetectable observation satellites in high orbit that routinely download from your databases and also monitor for the use of advanced Asgard technology in case Loki decides to employ transporter beams or our more advanced shields’ Thor explained.
‘You’re spying on us’ Sharp responded irately.
‘We are merely hoping that Loki will make a mistake so we can track him down and bring him to justice’ Thor replied. ‘We cannot leave a ship here full time because of the ongoing war with the Replicators but we do feel obligated to watch out for your planet because Loki is regretfully one of us’ he said.
‘And these Ethereals are somehow a mistake?’ O’Neill asked.
‘No they are in fact indicative of Loki being far more successful than we might have considered possible’ Heimdall replied. ‘For all the moral repugnance they provoke his unethical experiments do seem to get results faster than would be achieved normally’ the scientist admitted.
Thor nodded. ‘The Asgard recently located a derelict vessel which our own race dispatched from our own Home Galaxy of Ida towards this one many thousands of years ago’ he said. ‘When the craft was launched our hyperdrives were such that such a journey would take many years so the crew were cryogenically frozen for the trip’ he told them.
‘The ship was considered lost after its navigation system failed and it was only quite recently recovered’ Heimdall interjected. ‘Its crew predated our large scale genetic manipulation of our race, one of whom was still intact after thirty-thousand years.’
‘You guys have had hyperdrive for thirty thousand years?’ Sharp responded in surprise.
‘You are impressed we were so far advanced while you still lived in caves?’ Thor supposed.
‘No I’m thinking that if we’d been an industrialised interstellar civilisation for a tenth of that time we’d be way ahead of where you are now’ Sharp told him seriously.
Heimdall said something to Thor in their own language. ‘Yes they are arrogant’ Thor agreed in English, ‘but recall that we have always said much the same thing about the Ancients’ he noted, those people had been around for millions of years before the Asgard emerged and frankly didn’t have a fraction as much to show for it as they really should have. At the very least the universe should have been teeming with what the humans called Dyson Spheres by now, but the Ancients were the poster-children for a society in extreme technological stasis. The Asgard had idly wondered on occasion if the humans the Ancients created in their own image on this world were prone to such frenetic advancement as they had exhibited lately because their predecessors realised their own weakness in this area and “fixed” it in the genetic code of their experiment.
‘Still don’t exactly know why you’re visiting’ O’Neill told the Asgard, ‘not that you guys and gals aren’t always welcome to drop in’ he added.
‘Perhaps this hologram of what the early Asgard looked like will explain’ Heimdall replied, a life-sized representation appearing in front of the door.
Commander Sharp looked from the hologram to the picture on his desk and back again. ‘Okay I think we’re getting the message now’ he said.
‘You guys used to be a lot taller’ O’Neill observed. ‘You didn’t used to be telepathic too did you?’ he asked.
‘No’ Thor replied, ‘although Loki does seem to have created the beings you called Ethereals from early Asgard genetic material the psionic genes are still likely based upon his research into your species’ he said. ‘It is however his success in recreating the physical form of our ancestors that interests us’ he continued. ‘Heimdall has been attempting similar research to find a cure for our races creeping genetic degeneration.’
‘But with apparently far less success’ Heimdall admitted. ‘I am of course considerably more restricted in my research methods’ the Asgard noted.
‘That having a conscience and not experimenting on live humans thing holding you up?’ O’Neill asked rhetorically.
‘A neat summation’ Heimdall agreed.
General Hammond stood up. ‘Presumably you’re here to request any research we’ve made into the Ethereals?’ he asked. ‘And for genetic samples’ he added.
‘Yes’ Thor replied.
‘What do we get out of it?’ Sharp asked. ‘And I mean as in concrete benefits not the ongoing goodwill of your race.’
‘Maintaining the goodwill of the Asgard is a concrete benefit’ Hammond told the Commander.
‘I’d prefer something more tangible’ Sharp stated flatly.
‘Under the terms of the...’ Thor began.
‘Protected Planets Treaty blah, blah blah’ Sharp interrupted. ‘Okay how about this’ he said. ‘We get Heimdall here’ he said.
‘What?’ Thor replied in surprise.
‘Heimdall gets to continue her research’ he said, ‘but right here on Earth at one of our installations’ he said. ‘You can bring any equipment you want, and we promise not to steal it, but the work is done here’ he said.
‘Why?’ Heimdall asked.
‘Because if you’re here the rest of your people might take more notice the next time someone decides to attack us’ Sharp replied.
‘You wish Heimdall to be a hostage?’ Thor queried guardedly.
‘More of a combination guest and guarantee’ Sharp responded, ‘we’ll also pool our research into Loki’s little science projects which will help both of us’ he pointed out, then crossed his arms. ‘The way I figure it, having the possible future survival of the Asgard race dependent on work being done here on Earth might concentrate your minds a bit if the Goa’uld ever decide to say "screw the treaty" and come calling’ he said.
‘We would always do our best to defend a planet accorded our protection under the treaty’ Thor told him.
‘Then Heimdall is perfectly safe here from Goa’uld attack’ Sharp replied. ‘You can attribute it to my paranoia if you like but I’d feel happier having her here’ he said. ‘Hey where else is she going to get a steady stream of Loki’s DNA experiments to work on anyway?’ he asked.
‘He makes a good point there Supreme Commander’ Hemidall told Thor. ‘I also note you are referring to me as being of the female gender’ Heimdall continued to Sharp.
‘The Colonel’s right, you do sound more like a girl and the voice is the only way we can tell you apart’ Sharp replied honestly.
Heimdall seemed to be contemplating the situation. ‘Loki’s development of psionics as an off-shoot of a likely research into the further evolution of sapient life and ascension would also be worth study’ she said, ‘and the humans here have made some strides in that direction of late.’
‘Yes their files did indicate they are on the verge of a breakthrough with Psionic Amplification’ Thor agreed. ‘You would like to stay here and investigate further?’ he queried.
‘The subject does hold some fascination for me’ Heimdall confirmed. ‘I am willing to stay here for the time being.’
‘This would of course require approval by the Asgard High Council’ Thor told the humans.
‘Yeah I’ll probably have to run it past the damn International Oversight Committee too’ Sharp complained. ‘I bet our pen-pushing bureaucrats are worse than yours’ he wagered.
‘I would be very surprised if they were’ Thor replied evenly. The previous week he had to appear before them to justify increased expenditure of resources on defence due to an increase in the construction of the O’Neill Class Battlecruisers. At one point he had been sorely tempted to adopt the mannerisms and language of the vessels namesake and yell at the rest of the Council that didn’t they realise there was a fucking war on?
‘It should not be difficult to quickly relocate my laboratory from Adara to here’ Heimdall told Thor.
In later years Heimdall would usually answer other Asgard when the topic came up that living on Earth for a while wasn’t as bad as they might have thought, and that being an actual “Roswell Grey” at Area 51 was mildly entertaining for playing practical jokes on new human members of staff. Thor on the other hand was often heard to complain that the human males never used to hold doors open for him when he was there.
Apophis Palace – Delmak – November 2001
‘My Lord, I must report that we have lost another System to the enemy fleet spearheaded by Baal’s forces’ the Jaffa announced as Apophis sat on his throne looked up from the stone tablet in his hands.
There was a time not too long ago when Apophis would have struck down the Jaffa for delivering such news but reports of this kind had become increasingly common recently and, while it was usually cathartic, shooting the messenger wasn’t a good long-term policy. ‘Which System?’ he asked.
‘Erebus My Lord’ the Jaffa told him, voice trembling.
The Goa’ulds eyes flashed and he snapped to his feet, throwing the stone tablet and the page-turning stone resting on it into the distance where it clattered onto the polished stone floor. ‘Erebus?’ he bellowed. ‘How did this happen?’ he demanded to know.
‘A great battle was fought but the Ha'tak vessels of Baal were too formidable for our fleet’ the Jaffa replied. ‘Our own forces bombarded the planet to destroy the shipyards before Baal could take possession of the planet’ he added.
Apophis once again considered executing the messenger and raised his hand with the bejewelled ribbon device upon it to do so, relenting at the last second. ‘Baal will soon rebuild the manufacturing facilities there’ he said.
‘Our forces were very thorough, it will be many months at least before your enemy can once again begin construction of Ha’tak’s’ the Jaffa told him, head bowed, eyes fixed on the floor.
‘I needed that world to help replace my own losses’ Apophis responded.
‘The first of your new advanced-model Ha'taks nears construction My Lord’ the Jaffa noted. ‘They make the ones that were being built on Erebus look obsolete by comparison’ he pointed out.
‘Quantity has a quality all its own’ Apophis responded. ‘Damn the Tau’ri’ he raged, ‘if they had not destroyed the prototype of the new Ha’tak we would have been producing them in quantity long before Baal entered the war.’
‘They will pay for their crimes’ the Jaffa declared with certainty, nobody could challenge a god with impunity.
‘Of course’ Apophis agreed. ‘Return to your duties’ he ordered, the Jaffa offering a yet deeper bow and departing.
From what Apophis had determined by analysing the results of battles between his forces and Baals new ships, the latter were in fact still superior to even the new improved and upgraded Ha’tak designs now under construction in the Delmak Shipyards. Where Baal had obtained such radically advanced technology of apparently Ancient design was still largely a mystery to Apophis but nonetheless it was still not too far advanced for Baal to blithely ignore the numerical superiority Apophis enjoyed and the technological edge Baal possessed was going to be closed up still further by the new ships being built.
The war had not gone remotely as well as Apophis had originally thought it would. The early period of untrammelled success had become a hard grind once the other System Lords put their differences aside to present a united front against him and now he was clearly the one on the defensive, his forces gradually being driven back, losing the gains they had previously made. The enemy appeared to possess suspiciously good intelligence as to the deployment of his fleets which gave them a strategic advantage, Baal’s advanced Ha’taks had offered a tactical edge and the wretched Tau’ri and their Tok’ra allies, fighting without a shred of honour, had been hitting his supply lines relentlessly, causing logistical problems disproportionate to their numbers and forcing him to re-deploy troops from the front lines to garrison duty to deter them.
Strangely as his forces fell back things were becoming easier for Apophis in some ways. His lines of supply were shorter and easier to guard, he had less worlds amongst which to divide his occupation troops and fleets could be more easily transferred between the various fronts because they weren’t as spread out. Losing an important manufacturing base like Erebus, or a major naquadah mining planet like Kawawn were a blow but many of the planets being retaken by the enemy were only a matter of prestige not military importance. The Coalition of System Lords were not strong enough to deliver a swift knock-out blow and as time went on the balance would soon once again shift in Apophis favour as his new ships entered the fray.
Unusually for a Goa’uld world Delmak was heavily populated and highly industrialised, and several of the other worlds Apophis had inherited from Sokar were likewise developed beyond the typical agrarian colony populated by uneducated, god-fearing, superstitious peasant slaves typically favoured by the System Lords. This gave Apophis the ability to replace material losses more readily than most of his opponents and meant that he could suck-up defeats which would have shattered the ability of his rivals to make war. The reoccupation of Chulak and the other worlds he had once ruled before becoming a prisoner of Sokar had provided much needed additional replacement manpower for his armies as the campaign wore on, and despite everything the bulk of his war machine remained intact and formidable.
The Jaffa who had been sent away to his duties suddenly came rushing back in. ‘My Lord’ he exclaimed. ‘A new fleet of powerful warships has attacked our borders’ he reported. ‘They appear to be the same as those being using by Baal but have declared themselves openly to be in the service of...’ he said, voice petering out as Apophis glared at him.
‘In the service of who?’ Apophis demanded to know.
The Jaffa took a breath. ‘Anubis’ he replied nervously.
‘Anubis was stripped of his rank as System Lord a thousand years ago by the High Council’ Apophis retorted, ‘he is also dead’ he added.
‘It would seem not’ the Jaffa replied, suitably fearful of correcting his god but it was sometimes his duty and a Jaffa put duty before all. ‘The communication said that the High Council recently voted to readmit him and he has joined the war against us’ he said, that likely being part of the deal he reasoned accurately.
‘Lord Yu would never have allowed that’ Apophis retorted. ‘He, my brother Ra and myself were instrumental in instigating the banishment’ he said. Anubis was one of the few Goa’uld who were probably as evil as their reputation suggested, even others of his own race had feared him.
‘You are of course correct but perhaps Lord Yu was outvoted?’ the Jaffa reasoned. ‘That these new ships declaring themselves to be of Anubis appear to be the same as those of Baal may indicate that it was he who swayed the Council?’
‘Baal’ Apophis snarled, spitting out the name. ‘I will make his death particularly gruesome when the time comes’ he vowed, perhaps even worse than he planned for the sholva Teal’c or O’Neill of the Tau’ri he thought.
‘What are your orders?’ the Jaffa asked.
‘Order Lord Zipacna to move what vessels he has to block Anubis in the interim while I determine a new strategy’ Apophis replied. After his defeat to Baal at Kawawn Zipacna had been rebuilding his fleet to act as a mobile reserve and this was the sort of situation where he would get a chance to earn his reputation as a valuable lieutenant back.
‘It will be done My Lord’ the Jaffa responded.
‘And ready my flagship’ Apophis added. ‘If necessary I will meet my enemies in battle personally’ he declared.
The Jaffa straightened up. ‘It would be an honour for any Jaffa to fight at your side of his god’ he said proudly.
Apophis nodded, thinking that the actual idea was to have the Jaffa in front so that they acted as a convenient ablative shield of bodies.
