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 Family Feud

Ferretti stared at the radio for a few seconds. "Damn. Didn’t expect to get that order for a couple more days."

"If Mrs. J says we move out now," Evans said, "we move out now."

"I hear that," Newsome nodded. He turned to the men who had gathered around. "Did you hear?"

The forest was filled with trees as big around as two men. It had been easy enough to climb those trees, and settle comfortably among the foliage, completely hidden from view. Especially as any Jaffa patrol…and there had been two so far…never bothered to look up. The teams took turns ‘going down’ in order to take care of personal needs. Ferretti and his team just happened to be on the forest floor when O’Neill’s call came through. The COs had immediately joined him. The content of the message had all of the men scrambling to the ground.

"We heard," Tony acknowledged.

"Okay, get your gear, and let’s go. You heard the general. We stay black ‘til we hit the city gates," Evans said.

"What about any patrols?"

"Well, we still have the zats we took from those guys we sent back to the SGC," Ferretti said. "I reckon we can use them to knock their asses out. Keeps them alive so they have the option to join the rebels."

"Might confuse the hell out of ‘em, too," Evans pointed out.

"How?" Ferretti asked.

"Gettin’ hit with a zat charge will mean they’ve been attacked by other Jaffa. Or so they’ll think," Evans explained.

"Keeps us Tau’ri out of the whole shebang," Dixon grinned.

"I’m all for that," Ferretti said. "Okay, let’s move out. Mrs. J is countin’ on us."

Like shadows the men moved along the narrow forest path, aware of every sound, every movement around them. Hands gripped P90s with one hand, and the nine men armed with the zat’nik’tels held them in the other hand.

The one nice thing about a zat, Ferretti thought, is you don’t have to do more than just point in the direction you want to shoot. No aiming involved. He tightened his left hand around the alien weapon, just a bit.

Casey was pacing the room, still wearing her BDU, when Vanshu and Daniel hurried into the chamber. She was tugging her lip between her teeth, desperate to know if Jack had received her message, and if Ferretti and the others were on their way.

"Casey?" Daniel asked, shocked to see her wearing the uniform.

"You need to change, Stud Muffin," she said immediately. "Vanshu...er...Pedram, whoever, you need to change as well. Something you can run easily in."

"I have just the thing," Vanshu responded.

"What’s going on?" Daniel asked, stepping close enough to his Wife to put his hands on her shoulders. She was trembling.

"We’re sitting on a powder keg, and it’s about to blow. If we’re here without backup when that happens, we’re screwed. There are Jaffa who are staunch believers in Apophis; and people who are sucking up to the priests for privileges and profit are paying those Jaffa to fight for them, and no one else...well, other than Apophis," Casey explained.

"Holy shit," Daniel hissed. "Jack got your message. Four teams are on their way. They should be here in a couple of hours."

The relief that flooded her eyes was apparent to both men. "That’s good," she whispered.

"Do you have any idea what we should do?" Vanshu asked, watching the seer’s face carefully.

"This palace should be easy enough to protect. Especially if we have the majority of rebel Jaffa and people inside here," Casey replied.

"Okay," Daniel said, nodding slowly.

"What we need to do is get word to the rebels to get the hell in here...men, women, and children."

"What about the city gates? Ferretti and those teams are going to need a shit-load of backup," Daniel reminded her.

"I know. Jack needs to tell them to radio as soon as they’re at the gate. Then we ring down a few Jaffa to help them through the city. Seeing that happen is going to shake up the priesthood and the loyal Jaffa enough to throw them off balance. They’ll realize that they’re totally outnumbered," Casey said...her voice not quite monotone.

Daniel noted that her gaze was slightly unfocused. It was absolutely crucial to follow everything she’d said. "Got it," he said.

Vanshu nodded. "I will alert the ships now," he said, raising his arm and activating his communication device.

He pulled his Wife to the corner of the room. "Are you okay?" he asked softy.

"I am now," she replied, her hands gripping his arms tightly. "Get changed, Sweetheart. We might not have much time. Any idea how to get the word to Teal’c and Bra’tac?"

"Already done," Daniel assured her. "With luck they’ll show up here soon."

Casey nodded. "I hope you don’t mind...I told Gin’ra and Doora to let their friends know that they all need to be ready to get here on a moment’s notice."

"Don’t mind at all," he said easily.

"If we don’t do this now...if Apophis isn’t ‘killed’ now, there are others out there who will find out he’s alive, and they’ll move on him," Casey explained.

"The ‘new’ Goa’uld we just learned about?"

She shook her head. "No. Goa’uld who left long before the rebellion against Ra."

"I don’t think I want to hear this," Daniel sighed.

"It’s just one group," Casey shrugged. "I don’t think there are more than a dozen. I have no idea who they are...I’m certain they were among the most ancient gods. Well, they’re actually Goa’uld, but they were among the first to arrive on Earth with Ra and Yu. When Ra killed Yu...well, actually Yu was still El at the time...this group took their ships, their slaves, and left. I guess they didn’t trust Ra not to turn on them." She paused, and frowned slightly. "I wonder if they were any part of that ‘battle of the gods’ that happened around that time? Anyway, Ra was so busy founding the Egyptian empire – not the dynasties, humans did that long after the Goa’uld were tossed from Earth – that he totally ignored them. He never bothered to look for them, or even ask about them. It’s like they never existed."

"Download?" he asked, his eyes filled with guilt.

"It wasn’t anything bad," she said softly. "It was actually more like a boring history lecture."

He couldn’t hold back his laugh at her description. "Boring, huh?"

"Well, whoever dumps this stuff into my head could have tried to make it a bit more entertaining," Casey countered. "You know, the screwy thing is, I think Ra put other Goa’uld, those who were steadfast in their determination to follow his lead, into place as those ‘departed gods’. I’m guessing he used the same names for them. The people wouldn’t notice any differences, or if they did, it was just ‘gods being gods’. As if," Her voice dripped with sarcasm.

"That also makes sense. Otherwise, we’d have a gap in the myths about the gods. There would be some sort of hint about them leaving, and suddenly from the sounds of it," Daniel said. "So do we have to worry about this group?"

"Not right now. As long as word doesn’t get to them about Apophis being alive and well, they’ll be content to stay where they are," Casey said.

"Why? What is it about Apophis that would set them off?"

"Because he was one of them...well, one of the youngest among them...they were spawning and building up their own band of evil Goa’uld, just like Ra. The only time Ra paid any attention to what they were doing was when Apophis...I’m not sure what his name was before he was given that name by Ra," Casey shrugged, "anyway, he told Ra that he – meaning Ra – was going to have to stay near the Nile, because his associates were claiming the rest of what we call the Middle East."

"I doubt Ra took that well," Daniel said dryly.

"Ra offered Apophis a place in his Empire in return for any information that he had. Which I really don’t think was very much. But, it explains why Apophis was damned near as powerful as Ra," Casey said.

"Because he had to keep Apophis from going back with what he knew about Ra’s strengths and weaknesses," Daniel surmised.

"Pretty much," Casey agreed. "And this was about the same time that Ra offed Daddy Yu, and Yu's First Prime or whoever humped his sarcophagus to China. That’s what had that bunch leaving Earth post haste."

"Damn."

"The thing is...I don’t know how strong...powerful...whatever term you want to use,’ Casey said, "I don’t think they’re going to be much more of a threat than what the Goa’uld were here."

"Bickering and fighting?"

"Like Goa’uld do," Casey confirmed.

"Well, we’ll worry about them later," Daniel said. "Let me go get changed. I figure the rest of the team will be here soon."

He’d no more than spoken when Adal, who was still on guard duty, knocked on the door and announced the arrival of Micah and Karinda.

Vanshu called out, and the four collaborators hurried into the room. Jack and Sam were carrying large upholstery bags. Inside were their packs. Casey grinned, and led Sam into ‘her’ chamber. Daniel and Jack went into the room where Vanshu was sleeping.

By the time that Bra’tac and Teal’c arrived, some fifteen minutes later, the team was dressed in their jungle camouflage fatigues, and the Tok’ra were wearing their own ‘uniform’...clothing that made it easy to conceal themselves on the desert planets they preferred. Teal’c had opted to remain in his Serpent Guard uniform...insisting that with the helm closed, no one would be able to tell exactly who he was, offering him the chance to move about freely. Especially since Bra’tac had sent out word that all Jaffa were to wear their helms closed, by order of Apophis.

"Now we wait," Jack said quietly. He glanced at Casey. "I hate waiting, you know."

"I know, boss. I’m not crazy about it, either," the seer replied.

"So, tell me about this download of yours," the team CO said.

Casey carefully explained what she had seen, and the fact that there were more Goa’uld out there somewhere. "Daniel and I were discussing this group, and we agreed that most likely they have the same names as ancient gods they impersonated."

"Is it possible they’d change their names?" Sam asked. "They fled Earth to get away from Ra...changing their names would be a means of self-protection."

"That’s a thought," Daniel mused.

She tilted her head sideways. "There were so many gods...and those who weren’t exactly gods..." Casey said softly. "Angels. Demons."

"Who what?" Jack asked, just a bit confused.

"We should probably create a list of every angel and demon we can find record of," the young woman replied.

"You know, it’s possible that the names of the angels and demons came from this group," Daniel theorized.

She shook her head. "I’ve seen the lists of names, I ordered a book about them when I was doing the database. There are far too many. The number of snakes I saw was a fraction of that."

"How many of those names were created after the snakes left?" Daniel asked gently.

"Well, now that you mention it...you’ve always said that most all of our ‘history’ was written after Ra and his cronies were kicked out," Casey admitted. "So those ‘angels’ and ‘demons’ could have been created out of thin air, could have been pissy or benevolent Ancients...or higher beings. Or they could have been Goa’uld."

"True," Daniel nodded. "So, we just go through your book, and see which of those names, and the descriptions, might be our ‘missing’ Goa’uld."

"Vanshu and I were discussing the prim’ta, and that destroying the ‘source’ of the Goa’uld would prevent any of them from ‘rising’ to become a problem," Pedram said. "How possible is it that other lakes or rivers, on other planets, are thriving ‘nurseries’ for Goa’uld?"

"Pedram, that’s the most depressing thought I’ve had all day, and it hasn’t been a good day," Jack grumped.

Daniel frowned. "I don’t know how they could...procreate. It’s against the rules of the Empire for two Goa’uld to mate and create offspring."

"Against the rules of the Empire," Sam repeated. "If those Goa’uld aren’t part of the Empire, simply by the fact that they have no hosts, those rules wouldn’t apply, would they?"

"How could they?" Casey asked.

"So, we could have Goa’uld out there just spawning away," Jack grumbled.

"On the upside," Daniel said, "They would have absolutely no knowledge of the Goa’uld Empire, or of any Goa’uld other than those in their lake or river."

"That’s a nice thought," Casey nodded.

Jack shook his head. "Okay, all that is a problem for later. Right now, we have to figure out a way for all of us to stay alive in the next few hours."

"I have a suggestion," Vanshu offered. "We will begin sending those who have turned away from the Goa’uld to the ships that wait above us. The more people we can get out of danger, the better."

"That’s a good idea," Jack said. He frowned slightly. "We’ll send Apophis up as soon as the trouble starts."

"We need a body," Sam pointed out. "Apophis has to die today, at the hands of the people who are rising against him."

Vanshu moved to a far corner of the room, and turned his back on the others. No one needed to say out loud that host and symbiote were having a discussion. A few minutes later, looking decidedly pale, the Tok’ra moved back to the seat he’d occupied. "If there is no other way to accomplish what we must on this day, Pedram and I are prepared to die," he said bluntly.

"No!" Micah objected immediately. "You are too important to the Tok’ra. You and Pedram both are far too important!"

"We will not even discuss this," Karinda said firmly.

"We must discuss this," Vanshu insisted. "We cannot allow the remaining Goa’uld, as weak as they are, to band together. They could, and most certainly would, take all of the Jaffa and ships Apophis has pulled together. In doing so, they would be able to rebuild much faster than we would be able to hinder them. We cannot allow that to happen! To see Apophis – as ‘powerful’ as he appears to be – destroyed by the people of Chulak will convince those Goa’uld that they must remain ‘hidden’ if they are to survive."

"It’s important for Apophis to be seen, and he has to be dead," Casey said slowly. "Well, he has to look dead."

Bra’tac stepped forward. "Perhaps there is a way to make Apophis appear dead, without him actually dying."

Daniel whirled to face Teal’c. "On that planet...where Sokar was sending an Unas to collect ‘sacrifices’...they drowned you, but your symbiote was able to revive you!"

Teal’c nodded. "Indeed."

"Then we must find a way to ‘kill’ Apophis in a manner in which the symbiote can repair or revive him," Bra’tac said.

"What about a stab wound?" Casey asked. "If we can get some sort of armor on Pedram...Vanshu...someone...well, one of us...can stab him, just enough to make a bloody mess, then we can drag him somewhere. When no one is looking, we ring him up to one of the ships. Vanshu, is that possible?"

The Tok’ra frowned. "If the wound is not fatal, yes, it can be done."

"There ya go," Jack declared. "We just need to get something for Pedram to wear, something that will guide the knife into a non-vital part of his body."

"Perhaps part of the body armor of a Jaffa," Bra’tac suggested. "It would be possible to remove a section of the chest armor. Under his robes, no one would suspect that Vanshu is wearing any type of protection."

"How long to get something like that ready?" Jack asked.

Teal’c and Bra’tac exchanged a look. "Not more than an hour," Teal’c said.

"Get on it, Rocko," Jack replied instantly. "We’re on the clock here."

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