It took two painstakingly long days for word to filter back to the Tok’ra. The disinformation had worked better than any of them could imagine. Apparently once Ba’al had returned to his ship, two of his allies mysteriously turned up dead in their quarters. The symbiotes had been ripped from the host bodies and crushed into the ornate rug floors. A few hours later, a third Goa’uld went into convulsions after drinking from his private stores of wine. The symbiote had barely the strength to slither into the closest of his slaves before the host went into toxic shock. After that there was a sudden exodus of alkesh as the remaining Goa’uld fled for their lives, in some cases leaving behind slaves, Jaffa and belongings in their panic. The alliance that the SGC had regrettably helped to forge was completely and utterly dissolved.

Selmak has also brought news that Ba’al had done some spring cleaning and had thrown out a number of items, including an Akh’mu’cume, claiming it was damaged beyond repair and he had no further use for it.

SG-1 and 2 were immediately dispatched on a scavenging mission to Ba’al’s previous home planet, now abandoned, and within an hour, the weapon base was secure in the SGC. Jack had led the way back through the wormhole with his required blasé quip of "One man’s trash is another man’s treasure."

While they had waited for the news, SG-1, Hammond and Janet had discussed how to inform Ba’al they had neutralized his zatarc technology. They didn’t want to wait until the Goa’uld paid another visit. Besides the obvious danger it would put Janet in from his reaction, analysis of the transcripts had shown that his interrogations had been intermittent with no set pattern. It would be an inefficient use of their resources to have the doctor’s house watched every night, not to mention the emotional toll it would take on Janet and Cassandra. They came up with a much more direct approach.

A  A  A  A  A  A

Ba’al should have been happy. Thanks to the information gleaned from his pet he was rid of those plotting against him. He’d added another battalion of Jaffa to his ranks from the warriors left behind in the lesser Goa’uld’s haste to escape his wrath. His relocation to his new home-world had been completed without incident, the co-ordinates of which were still unknown to anyone except himself. For the moment Anubis had turned his attention to Yu and was thus leaving him alone to gather more forces. And yet he had an uneasy feeling that something in his scheming and planning had gone wrong.

He frowned at the head of his lo’tar as it bobbed up and down between his legs. There was also something and more immediately amiss within this room. What is wrong with her? Her technique had never failed to stimulate him before. Well, that was not true. A more accurate statement was that until three days ago she had never failed to arouse him. Ever since he had encountered the Tau’ri witch, his lo’tar’s ministrations had become lackluster. He thought that his desire for the seer would wane, or at least be pushed aside, for he had many beautiful and exotic women clamoring to share his bed and indulge his healthy sexual appetite. However even as he felt the fire of lust steadily build up, streaking through his veins like an itch demanding to be scratched, his physical response was practically nonexistent. He grabbed a fistful of the hair that he had demanded be dyed the rustic red, and yanked her roughly away from his limp member. "You will bring me to culmination or I shall find another to take your place as my lo’tar. You will be delegated to a Jaffa whore of the lowest rank." There, that should be suitable enticement for the slave to do her job. He would find a way to combat this need that made his entire body ache.

"Yes, My Lord." Aurelia nodded, fear and confusion marring her green eyes. She didn’t understand what had come over her God. Everyday it became more and more difficult to please him. Perhaps he was infected by a malady, though what sort of sickness could not be cured by the miraculous sarcophagus she could not fathom. Diligently she once again took him into her mouth, using every technique she had learned over the years to try and coax his shaft to life.

Ba’al stifled his huff of frustration as Aurelia’s actions still failed to elicit a response. His black eyes drifted to the bedside table that had a single item on its golden top. It was the lock of the seer’s hair. He reached over to pick it up, running it beneath his nose to catch a whiff of the subtle sugary scent that lingered in it. How would the seer bring me to climax?

Aurelia felt the flaccid member jerk between her lips, the muscle stiffening slightly. Oh, at last, I must be doing something right… She dared to look up, hoping to be bestowed a smattering of praise, and her heart fell. Her God was not paying attention to her. His eyes were closed as he lightly drew the tendril of hair that had not been out of his possession since he’d acquired it, lightly over his cheeks and lips. His arousal had not been of her doing after all. She doubted that he even noticed that she had stopped her intimate kiss.

Ba’al however did notice, felt the breath of his lo’tar as she sat back watching him. The air from her lungs blowing over his saliva coated, semi-erect member, cooled whatever heat he had been able to muster at the fantasy he had begun to create in his mind. His response was quick as it was automatic, backhanding her harshly. "DID I TELL YOU TO STOP?" he roared.

"No, My Lord." She cowered down, her hand lifting to her mouth to stop the stinging of the impact of his hand. When she drew it away there was a smudge of blood on her palm from the lip he had split. "I’m sorry, My Lord." Aurelia immediately bent her head, doubling her efforts to arouse him once again.

Ba’al kept one hand cruelly twisted in the slave’s hair, making sure that she would continue her duty, and closed his eyes to start his fantasy all over again. Amazingly he could have sworn he heard the seer’s husky laugh echo in his ears…

His eyes popped open a second later as he realized that the sound hadn’t been his imagination.

Aurelia felt Ba’al harden within her mouth even as she heard a woman’s taunting voice.

"Ya’ know, Balls, they have a pill for that little problem these days." The transparent image of the Tau’ri seer was laying on her side beside him, propped up by her elbow, her expression one of total innocence.

"I see you could not stay away from me. The lure of my presence has drawn you to me." Ba’al quickly masked his shock at her appearance.

"Oh, I so don’t think so. Your presence sickens me, and your touch literally makes me lose the contents of my stomach."

Ba’al felt whatever physical reaction he had just got going begin to trickle away and he battled to get it back. "And yet here you are. On my bed."

"Well it’s such a large bed, quite a contrast to the small owner."

Aurelia hadn’t dared to stop licking and sucking despite the frightening appearance of the apparition, but she felt the rapid swelling and then slackening of the muscle she was trying so hard to arouse. She jumped when the woman’s ghostly hand tapped her on the shoulder.

"Sweet-pea, you may as well take the night off. What news I bring will deflate whatever life is in that little pecker."

The slave raised her eyes to her God, who waved his hand at her dismissively, his attention remaining fixated on the ghost. Without a word she rose off the mattress and backed out of the room.

Ba’al flipped his robe closed then twisted on his side, mimicking the seer’s position, his gaze slowly perusing the woman who was tormenting his dreams. "What would it take to make you come willingly to my bed?"

"Oh, I don’t have a problem coming to your bed," she said sweetly. "As long as you’re not in it."

He was quite serious when he asked, "What if I promised not to launch an attack on the First World?"

Annika pretended to give it some thought, her hand absently swishing back and forth on the silk sheet. "Hmmm, extend that to include all the planets in all the galaxies and we may have a deal." She continued on conversationally, "Of course you realize you’d never survive."

Ba’al found her hand movement distracting, his mind picturing her hand stroking his body in such a way. "And why is that?"

"My husband would rip that tiny appendage off," she gestured to below his waist, "and stuff it down your throat, and that’s not taking into consideration what the rest of SG-1 would do."

"They could try," Ba’al smirked. "Despite your team’s luck in the past, SG-1 are not a threat to me."

Annika sensed there was a hidden meaning in his words from the suddenly sly gleam in his black eyes but couldn’t quite put her finger on what it was. "Funny, I can name a dozen dead Goa’uld who stupidly thought the same thing."

"Ah, but they did not have the knowledge that I have." His smile was evilly confident, more so than his usual arrogance.

"Now as much as I’d like to continue this utterly disturbing chitchat, you’ve just reminded me of the message I have to relay."

"Do tell," he prompted as though he were barely interested.

"Your spy has handed in her resignation, effective from three days ago."

The smirk dropped from the Goa’uld’s face as the significance of the time frame hit him.

"So, since you no longer will be getting updates on our progress, I’ll fill you in. We safely removed that nanite from Janet before your last visit to her home. She was no more under your control than I am, and you swallowed all that horseshit we fed you. And on that note, on behalf of the all the Tau’ri and Tok’ra, we’d like to thank you for disbanding your alliance, and killing two of your kind. That’ll save us the hassle of doing it at a later date." Annika scratched her forehead like she was trying to recall something. "I knew I should have written everything down. Oh, and just in case you’re thinking of trying to find yourself another pet, every key member of the SGC is having a shield installed around their homes with a hundred meter radius. Anyone trying to beam in will find themselves bounced straight back up to their ship…if they are lucky, that is. We have a couple of kinks still to work out. All our test objects have actually ended up outside the ship rather than inside. Now what else was there…something about off-world…" She smiled widely at the now glowering Goa’uld, then snapped her fingers. "Ah, we have also developed a test that has been added to SOP med checks to identify the zatarc nanite, so that’ll nip in the bud any future zatarc attempts if you try to get to one of us off-world. And one last thing." She mockingly reached out to pat him on the cheek. "Thank you ever so much for throwing away the weapon, we really will find it quite handy." She sat up and silently counted back the facts she’d just delivered. "That just about covers it."

"I will get my revenge," Ba’al ground out.

"I’m sure you’ll try." Annika picked up the lock of her hair that had fallen to the sheets and tossed it to him. "Enjoy it. It’s the only piece of me that you will ever have. Bye-bye now." She gave a taunting little wave and vanished.

Ba’al crushed the tendril of hair in his fist, his face stony that once again his carefully laid plans had come crashing down around him because of that infernal Tau’ri team. He glanced at the rather plain wooden box in the corner of the room and some of his ire was replaced by the arrogant, calculating confidence that he was known for. It was just as well he had learned to plan ahead. SG-1 may have foiled this plot, but he had another already in motion for just this contingency. In a few short days everything would change. SG-1 would be no more, and that fiery witch who’d mocked him so would meekly submit to him in every way. In just a few short days…