Abner reached back to tap Jack on the shoulder, warning him silently in the darkness that he was about to stop. He and the men of SG-1 were using the secret passageway from earlier to hide their movements and had taken the fork that would lead to the tavern. The Master Trainer gave a strange little whistle. It sounded like one of the birds they had heard from their trek through the forest. He then cocked his head listening for a response.

Expecting to hear another whistle or similar signal, Jack, Daniel and Teal'c were surprised when the echo of a booming voice filtered through the floorboards.

"Rodolfo, the next round's on me. Drinks for everyone."

"The King give you a raise or something?" A second voice enquired sourly.

"Nope, just in a generous type mood. But if you want to pass up a free drink..."

"Now did I say that?" Boots hit the floorboards above them, though how he managed a triple thump in such quick succession the team below could only guess.

The boot taps seemed to be the sign Abner was waiting for because he whispered, "Now we go up." He began climbing the metal rungs built into the wall and pushed against the wooden 'ceiling'. The trap door silently opened.

The room they climbed up into was in shadows yet they could make out shelves with foodstuffs.

"If you're paying, then why doesn't Rodolfo break out the good stuff?"

"I ain't made of money!"

"While you two are deciding the best way to pickle your gullet, do you mind of I get a new keg?" A third voice replied dryly. "You've drunk this one dry."

"The good stuff, Rodolfo!"

"You're so sozzled you wouldn't know the good stuff from the bad," the man muttered.

Footsteps approached the storeroom. Jack, Daniel and Teal'c automatically drew their weapons, however Abner held up his hand.

The door, which was wider than a standard door, opened and a burly man stepped in holding a small empty barrel. He scanned the four people with a trained eye, making a risk assessment. When he recognized Abner he placed the barrel rather noisily on the floor, revealing one of the zat' weapons used by the guards. Relaxed his hold from ready to fire to a neutral position by his side. "The cloaks Gerino requested are in the next room," he said quietly. "The girls will keep the owners occupied for at least another four hours. Will that be enough?"

Abner raised an enquiring eyebrow at Jack.

The general shrugged. "If that's all the time we've got, we'll make do."

"Good luck." The tavern keeper hefted a fresh keg onto his shoulder, slipped the zat' into his apron pocket and left. With his hands full, he gave the door a half-hearted kick to close it. It was hard enough that the door tapped the jam, but not enough for the latch to click it shut and it swung back on its hinges. Only then did the reason for the unusual wideness of the door become apparent. The door opened wide, coming to rest on the opposite wall of the corridor, blocking the view of anyone in the main part of the tavern.

Abner led the way the few steps across the corridor to another door that was already open. It was habit for the men to scout the immediate area and they tensed when they spied a man sprawled on his back on top of some crates at the far end of the corridor. He was dressed in an apron, his clothes rumpled. With his hands folded over his stomach, he gave the impression of being in a drink-induced doze. Abner gave the sleeping man a short wave as he moved across. The man, who they realized was actually watching them, his eyes barely opened into slits, gave a slight head nod of acknowledgement. His left hand, which had been concealed beneath his right, relaxed, leaving no doubt that between the folds of his clothes, a weapon had been trained on them.

"Daniel, let Casper know we're out. And have her drop by for a sec." He could have used the radios but he wanted to keep this chat just between his team.

The archaeologist sent the message using the code of tugs they had devised through their bond and received a double tug of acknowledgement. "Done. She'll be here in a bit." The archaeologist turned to Abner. "I take it by 'girls' the bartender was referring to ladies who specialize in horizontal recreation?"

The Master Trainer looked perplexed for second then nodded with a chuckle. "Tar'ulla's going to love that description. We have a few ladies and men who unofficially work for the Crown. They've gathered some pretty good information over the years." He scanned the deserted road. "We should change robes now. Only the Seekers travel this road these days."

They detoured to a copse of trees to swap clothing. Having worn the complicated robe for a year, Abner was the quickest to master the ties that crisscrossed the bodice. While the 'novices' were figuring out the tying sequence, the Master Trainer buried their discarded robes beneath a pile of leaves.

"I think you're going under when you should be going over." The ghostly image of Annika appeared by Daniel's side, her voice amused at the obvious difficulty Jack was having.

"Thanks for the tip," Jack muttered, yanking a strap through what he hoped was the correct loop. "Casper, spill about the heads up."

Annika knew he was referring to her volunteering to remain at the castle. She kept her tone low so that Abner a few feet away couldn't overhear. "Xa'bella’s carrying around a lot of guilt. I have the feeling that it has something to do with an alliance."

"You think she’s in cahoots with Uneg?"

"I don’t know. If she is then it’s not willingly, it’s eating away at her too much."

"Keep sniffing around," he ordered. "Don't let up until you know either way." Things were complicated enough at the moment and he wasn't just thinking about a bunch of junior Jaffa and a snakehead wanting a crown.

"I'll be a regular bloodhound," she promised.

"That's that." The Master Trainer dusted off his hands turning back to them. Blinked at Annika's ghostly form as though he'd seen it everyday. "Shall we go?"

His reaction was so atypical for someone seeing her astral state for the first time, she couldn't help but ask, "You're not surprised by my appearance?"

Abner shrugged. "Today a miracle occurred with Kara'neenya's return. What's one more from the people who did the returning?"

"Tell me of the day Her Royal Highness was abducted," Teal'c asked as they set off back on the road. He saw Daniel shoot him a surprised look that he was broaching the subject given Keelah's ultimatum. The Jaffa held his hand up fending off the silent rebuke. "This is not about assigning blame. When we thought Keelah a normal citizen, her being sold into slavery was not surprising. Traders often pick their victims at random or raid a village to take multiple people. But Keelah is the royal heir, she was well guarded, not easy to get to and she was specifically targeted. The circumstances of Keelah's abduction are anomalous. Strategically it makes no sense that they left any survivors."

"I have pondered that myself many times," Abner agreed. "They disabled me when it would have been far easier to kill me."

"Perhaps that was the point," Jack said. "Classic ploy. Especially if the information retold was false."

"I told the truth," Abner protested with more than a hint of indignation.

"That's not in dispute," Jack assured. "You reported what you saw...or rather what they wanted you to see."

The man gave a nod, seeing the logic. "It was a normal day. Their Royal Highnesses often played in the fields and surrounding forest near the castle. We were always careful not to stick to any one regular place or routine. Each of the twins were assigned three guards, so there were six in all plus myself and their nanny."

"Did you yourself always accompany them when they went out of the castle grounds?" Teal'c asked.

"No, only when the King and Queen were remaining in the residence. If I was needed by their Majesties, then my second in command went with them." Abner continued on, "There was nothing out of the ordinary. We were just about to return to the castle when dogs barked, frightening the Princess's pet. It ran off into the forest. She was quite distraught, wouldn't listen to my assurance that we would find it for her and she ran after it. I ordered Corfen'esci'que's unit to take him and the nanny back to the castle and the rest of us went chasing after her. We were ambushed. I counted six men, none wore clothing familiar to any part of this land, and their weapons were of a different technology... their battle tactics, I've never seen the like. Two of them we managed to injure...they had green blood."

The members of SG-1 exchanged glances, all thinking the same thing. They knew of a race with that genetic quirk. While they wouldn't judge an entire race on the actions of the bounty hunter Aris Boch, it wouldn't be entirely farfetched to assume that others of his race had also turned to the lucrative yet seedy career of bounty hunting to pay for their addiction to roshna.

Daniel felt a sense of irony coming from his wife, one he shared, that Boch had helped rescue a victim who had possibly originally been taken by one of his own kind. Hell, Boch could have been Keelah's original kidnapper for all they knew.

Wordlessly the members of SG-1 decided to keep their speculations to themselves.

Abner, caught up in his memory, didn't notice the byplay. "Before we knew it, two of them had the Princess...her screams, calling my name to help her, have haunted me to this day...I wasn't even aware that I had been sliced in the gut until I regained consciousness a week later when the doctor's told me. I do remember the saber that crippled my foot though."

"Sounds like professionals," Jack observed. "Don't suppose anyone noticed anything unusual about this convenient barking?"

Abner shook his head. "No, only that it came from behind us, thus why Ra'chechee bolted for the forest. Sounded like two bitches fighting over territory to me. With everything that happened afterwards..." he gave a shrug.

"How did they get off the planet?" Annika asked.

"The Stargate."

"It was not guarded?" Teal'c frowned.

"The Stargate has always been considered neutral territory even at the height of the feud. But both sides had sentries posted. All of them were killed. I was told that from the positions of the Bor'arden guards' bodies and their wounds, that they had tried to stop the kidnappers as fiercely as our own guards did. The efforts of those 'enemy' soldiers I think were one of the first minor steps in lessening the hostility between our two people."

"Who would benefit from Keelah's abduction?" Daniel frowned. "There was already a heir in...um...reserve, so to speak. And your monarchy isn't gender specific so it wasn't a controversy that a woman would inherit."

"We have never been able to come up with a motive."

"What if both twins were supposed to have been taken that day?" Annika asked. "Who would have inherited the Crown if they were both gone?"

Abner had to think about that for a moment. "The next in line was a cousin. But he was ten years senior to the twin's father and he doted on them like they were his own. He had no desire for the Crown."

"Did he have a son or daughter?"

"No. The twins were the last of the immediate Royal Line. Succession would have come down to a dozen or so of the extended family, each with an equal chance. The decision itself would have been made by a vote within the family."

"Not to sound callous or nuthin'," Jack interrupted. "But how about we focus on the current situation rather than historic speculation that isn't really any good to us right now?" Not waiting for a response, for as far as he was concerned the question was rhetorical, he spoke to Annika. "Casper, you'd best disappear. Daniel will let you know when we need you to dabble with your hocus pocus."

She gave a nod a little absently. The questions around Keelah's abduction had started a nagging in her mind that she was trying to puzzle out. "Good luck and be careful." She sent a gentle caress in farewell to Daniel, who responded in kind, before blinking out.

Abner welcomed the change of topic. He understood their concerns about Keelah, but their questions weren't anything new. He'd been tormenting himself with those same queries for ten years. "The monastery is built into the side of a hill. The front section is where the general lodgings are and where the day-to-day activities occur. You'll see it in a minute or so when we come over this rise. It's communally based, set up like a barracks. There are the equivalent of officer's quarters for those who have acquired a higher state of...oneness, inner peace, whatever you want to call it. Four different levels, from novice to enlightened...your level determined which hall you spent most of your day in for meditation and the like. At least that's how it was when I was there."

"Can you describe the rooms?" Daniel pressed for more details. With only four hours, one of which would be eaten up with traveling time, they had to narrow down where they were going to search.

"Quite spartan. Very little decoration...they believed it would be a distraction from the journey to enlightenment."

"No glyphs of any kind on the walls?" The archaeologist didn't try to hide his surprise or concern. Even if Uneg had been on the planet for a short amount of time, it made no sense that there'd be no remnants of his stay.

"None, they were all brick, rendered smooth." He paused thoughtfully. "Though the temple room had glyphs, but only along the back wall...on gold sheeting. I always thought it was rather ostentatious for a supposedly 'simple' folk. When I asked about it, they said it was the way the ancestors built it, the reason why lost."

"That's more like it," Jack murmured.

Daniel nodded in agreement. "What was the temple room used for?"

"Mainly for the group assemblies. Once a week all of the order gathered there to meditate. It was also where they held the ceremonies of the students progressing to the next level."

"Describe the ceremonies," Teal'c asked over his shoulder. The monastery had just come into view. Even from this distance he could see that it was unlike any Goa'uld structure he had ever seen. He surmised that the people on the planet had made additions to whatever the Goa'uld had built as more accommodations were needed. From what the King and guards had estimated there were approximately ten thousand Seekers, though how many of them had attained final 'enlightenment' with a prim'ta, they were unsure.

Abner shrugged. "A simple meeting where the graduates were formally announced and accepted by the next level. Quite boring as I remember..." his voice drifted off as a memory poked at him. "Wait...there was something. It happened the night before one of these graduation ceremonies. At that time in my life I rarely slept for long periods and I used to wander around the complex. The quiet of the night was soothing to me. Normally this wasn't a problem...but that night there was movement in the temple. When I went to investigate, I was ordered by two of the older Seekers to return to my quarters."

"I'm guessing you didn't." Jack was also studying the structure. Seekers posted at every entrance and window, a couple on the roofs. No easy way to sneak in, confirming what they had discussed with the King while they were waiting for the robes to be organized.

There was a twinkle in the Master Trainer's eyes. "I'm curious by nature and was accustomed to giving orders, not taking them. I managed to sneak in as far as the main room. It was unlit, except for an antechamber at the back corner. I saw two of the initiates, whom I knew were going to progress to the highest level the next day. Each had one of the Enlightened with them and they were led to the antechamber. I couldn't get closer without discovery, but after about half an hour there was only silence. I peeked inside only to find no one was there. The chamber was empty except for an altar. I began to think that I had simply missed them leave, but a few minutes later the four of them walked out. The initiates looked a little shaken but okay. I thought it might have been a hazing ritual of some sort."

"Were there any flashes of blue light from inside the chamber?" Teal'c asked. From the description he had deduced two possibilities for the men disappearing. Ring transport or a concealed door. When Abner shook his head he knew which one. "Did the antechamber have the same gold paneling as the back wall?" Another nod and they knew they would be dealing with Goa'uld technology rather than of the local variety they had experienced today.

"Okay, kids, that antechamber is our goal."

They kept up a steady confident pace as they drew closer to the complex. Abner did his best to conceal his limp on the chance that someone would remember the initiate from so many years ago.

"T, you might wanna' pull your hood up further," Jack said quietly, giving them all a once over to make sure their distinctiveness as foreigners remained hidden.

The Jaffa gave a nod and after he tugged the rim forward, adjusted his sleeves so they concealed the dark skin of his hands. Raised hoods wouldn't cause suspicion since at least a third of the Seekers in view also had their hoods up, but in a population of entirely white skinned and olive complexions, Teal'c would stick out as different at a glance and that wasn't counting the gold emblem on his forehead. The rest of them also had their hoods up, for there was a possibility that Jack and Daniel could be recognized from the throne room and Abner as a key member of the Royal staff.

"This is just unnerving." Daniel had to force his hand to remain limp by his side and not reach for his gun. The irony that he took comfort in feeling the hard metal of his nine mil tucked in the pocket of his robe was not lost on him. He, who abhorred violence, who would look for any diplomatic resolution before resorting to pulling a trigger, was ready to shoot the nearest person who even twitched in their direction. While he had seen fanaticism in many forms, what he saw in these Seekers as they drew nearer sent a chill down his spine. He couldn't say precisely what the specific difference was, but it was there. There was an almost feral gleam to their eyes and he found himself thankful that Annika had remained at the castle. If he could sense it, and by the subtle tensing of Jack and Teal'c they were feeling it too, then his wife, so sensitive to the emotions of others could well have been overwhelmed by it.

"Just keep strolling along as if we belong," Jack murmured as they entered beneath the arch of the main entrance. The general had that itch in the back of his shoulders blades like he was in a sniper's scope and resisted the urge to scratch it away.

In one corner of the yard there were about two score of men going through the paces of mastaba training. Their 'instructor' was a holographic image that demonstrated the different stances and positions with the wooden staff. An actual man was watching the trainees closely, correcting any mistakes they made.

After watching a complicated move, one that he knew from his own training was only taught after the first two levels had been mastered, Teal'c murmured, "If all of the Seekers are up to that point in their training they will be a formidable force in combat."

Also watching the hologram, something odd struck Daniel. "We haven't seen one of them with a staff weapon."

"Saving them for a special occasion?" Jack also found the anomaly odd, but then everything about these Jaffa wannabes was odd. He just added it to the list.

"Perhaps the power sources were depleted," Teal'c speculated.

"You there, halt."

In a glance Jack assessed the situation. It didn't seem like their cover was blown. The Seeker addressing them hadn't gone for his weapon nor looked 'threatening' with his hand waving to catch their attention. "Daniel, you got this?"

"Sure." The archaeologist was already running through his mind what he knew of the Seekers, so that he could use that to his advantage to keep them moving to their goal. This Seeker's manner reminded him of a bureaucratic pencil pusher, puffed up with the importance of whatever role he had been given. He stepped forward as Teal'c casually fell back to keep himself from direct view. "How may we serve?"

"Have you yet been blessed with the mark of Uneg?" he asked, his hand flapping up to his own forehead that had what was clearly a fresh tattoo of the symbol of Uneg. He answered his own question by peeking beneath Daniel's hood to see his undecorated forehead. "Report to the novice hall immediately."

"As eager as we are to bear the mark of our god, we must delay the honor." Daniel looked suitably earnest. "We were told to report on the task we were given as soon as we arrived."

"Our Lord demands that before the sun reaches its zenith all of his chosen warriors be printed with his mark as a symbol of our devotion."

"If our devotion were in question then Our Lord would not have assigned us such an important task," he countered smoothly.

"What task demands such urgency?" The Seeker's chest puffed out even more, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"We're bound to only discuss it with Lord Uneg himself." Daniel pretended to be torn between going to get the brand and his duty to report in. He clicked his fingers as he came up with a solution. "Can you go and see Our Lord and inform him of the reason for our delay? I'm sure he will understand why you countermanded his orders." Daniel had to bite the inside of his cheek to stop from breaking out into a grin as the Seeker's self-importance visibly deflated like a balloon being popped with a pin. The man paled at the mere thought of relaying such a message.

"Well, if you're sure..." But Daniel was talking to the back of the Seeker's head as he scurried away.

"He's sure," Jack chuckled.

With Daniel's impromptu 'excuse' for their presence, the four of them walked with such purpose up to the temple, which was obvious by the distinct architecture compared to the later added-on buildings, the guards at the arched entrance didn't try to stop them. Once inside, they made a beeline for the antechamber Abner had told them about.

"That's new," Abner commented softly when they passed a golden throne sitting in between two large podiums with ornate Egyptian styled vases. A dozen Seekers were busily cleaning and polishing not only the décor but the wall of glyphs, and barely glanced their way. The antechamber they strode into was unguarded.

Daniel immediately began looking for the hidden door they knew had to be there, starting by trying to identify the door's seams.

Jack was keeping watch with Abner at the door. "Don't you need a do-hicky to do that?" He had a hazy memory that gave him the heeby-jeebies whenever he thought about it, which he tried not to, from when Hathor had used that freaky device around her waist to rearrange his innards and made him into Skippy the Jaffa kangaroo.

"A personal device is the method of choice for most queens, but they are rarely present for the creation of an average Jaffa." Teal'c ran his fingers over one section of the altar edge. "Apophis had a similar device to this on his primary planets. Due to the large numbers of Jaffa needed to create an army, the temple priests were allowed control of its usage. The initiate lies face down on the altar..." He pressed two of the glyphs and the pattern, which was in the generic shape of a body, glowed dimly. Where a person's lower abdomen would be, a circle opened like an iris and a glowing red stone rose, protruding a few millimeters above the altar top.

Jack gave a shudder. "Let's stay on task. Daniel, is Casper-"

"On her way," the archaeologist replied absently, running his finger over the gold sheeting. The seams of the paneling were so tight that he could barely make them out.

When Annika concentrated on the bond she and Daniel shared so that she would be guided to his location, her appearance wasn't quite where she expected. Usually she astral projected within a fixed radius of her soul mate, however, this time she found herself alone in what looked like a Goa'uld corridor lit up by torches. She slowly turned around studying her surroundings. A small room with a corridor branching off. A second doorway was in darkness, though she caught sight of stairs going down. It took a few seconds, while her mind was running every scenario from Daniel and the others being captured to her sense of direction being screwed up, for her to realize that Daniel was in front of her. There was just an inconvenient wall blocking her view. With a mischievous grin she poked her head through the wall, coming face to face with her husband. "Boo!" she said in a whisper.

Startled, blue eyes widened and he barely stopped himself from reeling back. He whispered back. "Casper the friendly ghost traditionally doesn't give husbands heart attacks."

"Oh, I can be friendly," she purred. "But not when we have an audience." When Jack not so discreetly cleared his throat she returned her attention to their mission. "This is where the door is. There's another antechamber behind. Two doorways. One is a corridor. The other is a stairwell, unlit. For now there's no one around that I can tell."

"Daniel, Teal'c, any luck with that latch yet?"

"No," Daniel answered for both of them. "These symbols are an obscure dialect, but from what I can tell there are none that are out of place for the history it's depicting. No obvious set that indicates the door controls."

"Well, you better find it quick," Jack warned. "We're gonna' have company in about twenty seconds."

"Annika, can you see where the controls are on the other side?" Daniel asked. Logically they should be located in the same spot on both sides of the wall.

She disappeared back through the wall. The controls weren't hidden on her side and she stuck her hand through the control panel and wall, wiggling her fingers to get their attention. She heard the echo of footsteps. Couldn't tell which of the two entrances they were coming from. Again she poked her head through to the others. "We've got movement heading towards us from this side."

"Crap." Jack was debating whether to abandon the antechamber or try to bluff their way in with whichever Seeker group opened the door first, when Daniel gave a quiet exclamation and the wall slid open. "Let's go."

Silently the men hurried through and Daniel tapped the sequence in the second control panel to close the door.

"Which way?" Jack asked for opinions. He, like the others, could hear the sound of approaching boots and the quiet murmurings of voices. Like Annika they couldn't tell from which corridor they were coming from.

Teal'c caught sight of a shadow appearing at the end of the corridor and he motioned that they should move to the darkened stairwell. As quickly and quietly as they could they began traversing the steps.

There was no handrail that Jack, leading the way, could see or feel. He kept a guiding hand pressed against the wall and just prayed that none of them missed a step and fell. The stairs spiraled widely down though it was too dark to see how far.

They all froze when the voices grew louder, joined by a second set a few moments later. They assumed the two groups had 'intersected'. Then one set of voices cut off completely and the other gradually drifted away. Just to be safe, Jack waited a few more moments before fishing a glow stick from his pants pocket and cracked it alight. Five sets of eyes peeked over the edge. All they saw was a void of blackness.

"Casper, I don't suppose you could check out how deep this goes."

"Jack, I'm non-corporeal and I left my night vision eyes in my other jacket. I wouldn't know when the black of air turned to the black of floor or rock or whatever it is down there."

"Point taken."

She cocked her head, sensing a life force far below. "But there's something down there."

"Something?"

She nodded. "Not a person...but it has a mind," she grimaced. "At least it had a mind. There's not much of it left." She'd never felt anything like that before and it sparked her curiosity. "Can you drop a stick down? I can follow the light."

He fished another of the glow sticks, cracked it and tossed it over the side. Everyone watched the green light travel down, revealing roughly carved rock walls. Eyes widened when there was a distinct splash. The glow continued to sink and then stopped hitting the bottom. The water seemed to enhance the light, sending an eerie light around the base of the shaft.

Annika drifted down, looking for any sign of what the strange life force could be, but she couldn't pinpoint precisely where it was in the water. The water, what she could see, was the size of a large lake. The far side of the shaft was a naturally formed cave where the water stretched out for god knew how far. The bottom of the stairs branched off to a flat landing. Annika zipped back up the shaft to tell the others to come down, only to find that they were already a third of the way down the steps. "The being is in the water somewhere, but you'll want to see what's down there."

"Abner, have your people any myths or legends about aquatic creatures or demons?" Daniel asked.

The Master Trainer shook his head. "None that I know of."

Daniel's choice of words made her frown. It sounded right and yet it didn't. "It's not aggressive. The closest thing I can compare it to is a puppy."

"Puppy?" The archaeologist wasn't the only one to raise an eyebrow. "Why would the Seekers keep something so..." he searched for a better than 'cute', "...benevolent down here?"

None of them had an answer.

"Okay," Jack shrugged, drawing his nine mil as a precaution. "Let's keep our peepers open for Fido."

Cautiously they continued down.

When they came to the landing, Daniel immediately knew what Annika wanted them to see. The rock wall was rendered smooth and was decorated with a series of pictographs. They looked to be a child's version of Goa'uld. He cracked a light stick to better illuminate the crude drawings.

Teal'c's attention was drawn to an ornate box with glass paneling pushed to the far side. It was covered in dirt and dust, but he didn't need to translate the markings to know what it was. "This is a spawning tank."

The general had his gun trained out across the water, keeping watch for any sign of movement in the ripples. "As in for a queen?"

Daniel confirmed the purpose of the underground setup having deciphered the childish scrawls. "These are instructions...it speaks of a 'final task of worthiness'. The initiates are supposed to cleanse themselves of their old life by swimming out into the lake. If they're found to be worthy when they emerge they will be blessed with enlightenment."

"Not quite how I'd describe getting a snake in the gut," Jack muttered as the green light in the water suddenly went out. He was reaching for another stick, when there was a trickling sound from a few feet within the lake. "Heads up, Fido's coming."

The others had barely turned around when in the darkness the green light of the assumed depleted stick reappeared just above the waterline and began bobbing towards them. As it drew closer, they were able to make out what the creature with the stick in its mouth, looked like.

"Casper, your definition of a puppy leaves a lot to be desired," Jack drawled, taking a couple of steps back.

"Its mind is like a puppy," she corrected, drifting over the water to get a closer look. She'd never seen anything like it before. "What is it?"

Abner, standing a couple of feet away from Jack, gave the apparition a wry smile. "Glad you asked that."

"A Goa'uld queen," Teal'c replied. "There is a crack in the tank. The Seekers must have put her in the lake when it began leaking."

The pale blob-like creature reached the edge of the landing and placed the light stick on dry land. From behind it a thin tendril broke the surface and flapped from side to side.

"Tell me it's not wagging its tail." The disbelief in Jack's tone was evident.

"Sure looks like it." Daniel was fascinated by the Goa'uld's behavior. It rose up a little and nudged the glow stick with its snout. Tentatively Daniel picked up the stick and tossed it back into the water. Her tail wagged again in obvious delight and she ducked under the water and went in search of it. A few seconds later she re-emerged and placed the glow stick again on the landing. Playing a hunch, he fished the atmospheric reader that Sam had used earlier from his pocket and took a reading of the air. "There are traces of the ore in here."

"I thought the mineral sends a Goa'uld bat-shit crazy, not give it a personality makeover." Jack eyed the queen warily. When Daniel hadn't picked up glow stick to continue the 'game' it had given a little snort in Jack's direction and now seemed to be looking up at him adoringly. It was giving him the willies.

"Maybe being cute is insane for a Goa'uld." Annika was only half joking.

"Perhaps this is the result of continued exposure to minimal amounts of the ore," Teal'c suggested.

Back at the castle, Annika placed the modified memory device to her temple so that everyone there would be able to see if her next action prompted any sort of vision. She'd been keeping them updated on what was happening at the monastery and had a captive audience. She concentrated on solidifying her astral projection's hand and reached out to touch the queen, hoping to get some sort of explanation. The Goa'uld's skin was surprisingly warm, yet rubbery. It leant into her hand, craving the contact like a child sought a hug from a parent. That simple act caused a jolt of sympathy to run through her, which only grew as images began to flash in her mind. She was only able to maintain contact for a couple of seconds, however a ton of information was downloaded. Stifling a gasp at the instant pounding of her head she pressed the tiny button of the device to replay the vision in slow motion. As the images played out in her mind, the quiet murmurings of Sam, Corfy, Keelah and Gerino told her that the holographic projection was working. But she had no idea if the projection was also being displayed back in the underground cave. "Are you guys seeing this?" she asked of the men.

"Yes, we are," Daniel answered, his eyes glued to images playing out above her head.

Hazy memories of the queen came through. Of being a Goa'uld with a sharp mind and the thirst for power, forming an alliance with Uneg to spawn an army to take on the System Lords. Discovering the planet and the strength of her will it took to fight off the instinct to destroy it, then plotting on how to use the ore to their advantage. Uneg's impatience and flying off halfcocked to take on Ra despite her protests. That same day, due to the constant stress of fighting off the effects of the mineral, she started her spawning cycle early. Sitting in the tank she was unable to reach the required state of meditation the birthing required, so she relinquished her host body, ordering her First Prime to seal her in the tank until the process was complete. The glass provided a protective barrier with an unexpected glitch. When she tried to take a new host, the human slaves had absorbed too much of the ore into their bodies from the air, and the blending would not take, forcing her to remain inside the tank.

While the Jaffa waited for Uneg's return, for they never once considered that he would not, they had continued to follow their standing orders to mine the ore and build a permanent structure on the planet. After it was complete the First Prime decided to move their queen from the ship to the temple. They had just ringed down when a fight broke out between the Jaffa, for they were also battling off the effects of the ore, and one of the erratically acting Jaffa was pushed against the tank. The glass cracked and the fluid inside began to leak out. With the crack growing bigger with every second, the First Prime's only thought was to save his god. He was thinking rationally enough to know there wasn't time to transport her back to the ship before all of the fluid leaked out and she suffocated, and given the erratic behavior of his men, there was a distinct possibility that any other tank could well be broken in the same manner. In desperation he ordered the tank to be taken to the underground water reservoir they were using as an independent water source for the complex. They barely made it down before the last of the water drained out. The symbiote was tipped into the lake and that's when her hell really began.

Unbeknownst to the First Prime there was a tiny vein of the ore running through the basin of the lake. Her digression into insanity was gradual, taking over a decade before she had a psychotic break that had her thrashing in the water, throwing herself at the sharp rocks lining the bottom of the lake trying to end her miserable existence. But the regenerative properties of the symbiote made suicide impossible. She couldn't even beach herself on the landing. Without the confines of a host body the symbiote had begun to expand, losing its eel-like shape and she was too heavy to jump out of the water. So there she remained visited only by the Jaffa. Then the visits and reports from her Jaffa stopped, the ore corrupting their minds to the point that they could not remember the details of their life.

Decades passed before anyone came down the steps. Her First Prime, who had been in his prime when she last saw him, was withered with age, his eyes glazed over with dementia. He was accompanied by two young men. The similarities of their facial features to how the Jaffa had looked in his youth labeled them as grandsons. The elderly man, gibbering about 'going to see his queen', stumbled, falling into the lake. The question of how the Jaffa had survived so many decades with only his original prim'ta, was answered when the man's shirt lifted and the twisted form of a symbiote slid out from his belly. Continued exposure to the higher concentration of the ore from the mining had effectively rendered the symbiote brain dead. It had remained comatose inside the Jaffa, until it had sensed the close proximity of its mother in the lake. Its muscles atrophied from being coiled in one position for so many decades, it sank to the lake's bottom. The youths dived in after their grandfather. The vision became murky, being seen from the viewpoint of the insane queen under the water. A tangle of arms and legs as the boys tried to stop the man from drowning. Their robes drifted open and the queen saw a cross-shaped mark on their bellies. It seemed that even though the original Jaffa could not remember the purpose, they had maintained the tradition of creating the prim'ta pouch. She gave a low keening sound that rippled through the water and from the depths of the lake came a school of prim'tas the size of penny snakes, making a beeline directly for the boys, creating the first of who would be known as Seekers on this planet. Century upon century passed with men, young and old, swimming the lake to find the final 'step' of enlightenment, not one of them realizing that the queen was there. Seven thousand years later of being alone and completely and utterly insane, her mind had healed to a minor degree into the creature that craved for contact with whoever came down the steps.

When the vision stopped there was only silence in both the castle and the cavern, until the queen, not liking being ignored now that she had company, splashed her tail in the water to draw their attention.

"Throw the stick back out, Jack." Annika was filled with compassion for what the Goa'uld had been through. Yes, she was the enemy, but no being deserved what she had been through. "She wants to play."

"I'm not playing fetch with a damned snake," he snapped. The vision had shaken him as well. He hated that he was feeling sorry for the queen. If he started feeling sympathy for even one Goa'uld it would plant the seeds of doubt for the next one they ran into, and he couldn't afford to do that.

The queen recoiled at his tone and gave an odd high-pitched whimper.

"You're scaring her."

"It's a snake, Casper."

"She may have been once, but she's not anymore, at least not in any way that counts."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't those little wrigglers swimming around her little Juniors?"

"Yes, but-"

"No buts. She's still spawning."

"There is a but," Annika protested. "She may have once been as evil as other Goa'uld, but the mineral changed that. She doesn't remember what it is to 'be' a Goa'uld, there's no arrogance, no quest for domination or to kill. The small bit of her mind that survived is less than a toddler. All she wants to do is play."

"It needs to be put down."

"Wait a minute, Jack," Daniel interrupted. "We let the 'Destroyer of Worlds' return to live with the people of Vyus."

"Linea wasn't a snake and she sure as hell wasn't a queen who could spawn a Jaffa army."

"O'Neill is right," Teal'c said somberly.

"Thank you. A voice of reason," Jack exclaimed. Inwardly relieved at his teammate's timing because he had felt himself wavering.

"Killing her would be the most humane thing to do."

Jack sighed. That argument wasn't quite what he was hoping for, however, from the slumping of Casper and Daniel's shoulders it swayed them to at least not put up any further debate.

Abner cleared his throat, troubled by what he had seen. "Do all the Seekers have those...things...inside of them?"

Daniel nodded. "It's a pretty safe bet. Uneg's building an army. From the fanaticism we saw topside they'd be more than willing to be implanted."

"Can they be removed?"

"Our doctors have developed a serum that counteracts the effects of removal. Though given the uniqueness of these prim'ta it may have to be modified."

Back at the castle the conversation had taken a similar turn and Corfy asked Annika to relay a message.

"Jack, the King has asked if we could delay killing her until we can confirm that the tretonin will work. If we're successful in getting rid of Uneg he's hoping to reintegrate the Seekers. He doesn't want to give the Seekers a death sentence for being misguided. If the tretonin doesn't work, they may need the queen."

The general gave a nod of agreement. Cursed at the rush of relief he felt at giving the queen a temporary stay of execution. "I'd say it's about time we moved on and find out what else this funhouse is hiding."

The rest of them were more than eager to leave, but they didn't get further than the base of the steps when the queen, distressed by their departure, emitted a yelp. When they ignored it, she gave a longer and very much louder cry. They all winced as it echoed up the shaft.

"Do you think anyone heard?" Daniel whispered.

They all waited on tenterhooks, eyes pinned to the light of the entrance above. After a few long moments when there was only silence and no sign of movement, they breathed a sigh of relief.

"One of us will have to remain here to keep Fido from raising the alarm," Jack voiced the only possible course of action.

"I'm the logical choice," Annika said. "Daniel can let me know when you're clear of the monastery and I'll just blink out."

The general gave a nod of agreement though it was hesitant. Physically he knew that no harm would come to her, but as emotionally sensitive as she was he was reluctant to leave her, especially since she was so obviously compassionate towards the queen. He was about to voice his concerns, however Daniel beat him to it.

She could feel his concern for her through their bond and she sent her reassurance back to him. "I won't," she promised. "Be careful."

"Promise." He gave her a warm smile then followed the others up the stairs.

Annika drifted out onto the water, in an attempt to distract the queen from her teammates' departure. "So, Fido, how about a race across the lake?"

The queen happily splashed her way through the water, eagerly keeping pace with her ghostly companion.

Uneg swung the amulet back and forth in front of his prisoner’s face. A mocking smile twisted his lips. "I’d bet your life, that you’re ruing the day you let me have this."

Kinsey’s eyes followed the swinging jewel, praying for a hypnotic state. People who were under hypnosis weren’t cognizant of themselves, right? He’d read that somewhere, or maybe it was just wishful thinking, for he'd love even just a few moments of the blessed experience of unconsciousness. Uneg seemed to expect some sort of response to his taunting. The senator had learned the painfully hard way to give what the Goa’uld wanted. Self-depreciation had had less painful consequences in the last two weeks. "I was a fool."

"Yes, you were." Uneg patted Kinsey’s cheek. "But how was a mere Tau’ri supposed to know the homing signal embedded inside remains dormant until it comes in contact with the naquadah in a god's body? Little did you know that your ‘reward’ for the pittance of the so called intelligence I gave you was really a diamond in the rough for me." He replaced the pendant around his neck. "Your ignorance has my gratitude....and I feel that I should repay the act." His fingers danced across the shelf of ornate glass bottles, coming to rest on the smallest.

Dully, Kinsey noted that whatever the concoction of acid or drug was, he hadn’t been subjected to its horrors before. His body ached both inside and out so much that he couldn’t even muster up any fear of what was to come.

Uneg removed the stopper to reveal the tiniest eyedropper Kinsey had ever seen. A smidgen of burnished orange liquid stained the glass. "This delightful little brew stimulates the pleasure centers of the human mind. Stick out your tongue."

Though Kinsey was wary of this offer of pleasure, he didn’t hesitate, and the Goa’uld released a single tiny drop onto the tip. He hardly blinked at the sour, bitter taste. Simply waited for the effects to kick in. Wouldn’t have been surprised if Uneg had lied and there would just be a delayed reaction before a new pain to start up. Couldn’t help flinching when Uneg raised a hand towards him. To his utter amazement it wasn’t a slap, punch or pinch; it was a gentle caress.

The Goa’uld’s smirk turned into a grin at his captive’s bafflement. "It takes a few moments to take effect. The serum deludes the senses..." he lightly ran his finger across Kinsey’s bruised chest, "...into believing the opposite of what it is actually feeling."

The softness of the Goa’uld’s touch started to change, though Kinsey could see that no more pressure was being applied. Kinsey gasped when the caress morphed to feeling like a cheese grater being dragged over his skin.

"Pleasure becomes pain...and pain becomes pleasure."

He raked a nail across Kinsey's shoulder, and though logically the senator knew the action should have caused mild discomfort, his nerves lied to him, telling him it was a sensual tickle. One nail became five when the Goa'uld curled his hand into a claw and scratched him from shoulder to waist. Blood seeped through the new welts and Kinsey gave a low moan, one of bliss not agony. Much to his horror he felt heat pool in his groin, his body responding like Uneg's touch was that of a lover.

"I'll make you beg, Kinsey," Uneg hissed, viciously tweaking his nipple. "Beg for me to torture you."

The Goa'uld sneered at the torment Kinsey was going through; the man's mind rebelling even as his body demanded more. "I wonder just how much pleasure you can endure."

Linneus listened to the howls that echoed out from his god's chambers. The sounds pleased him. Over the last two weeks he had begun to identify the moans and groans the prisoner made, using them as a scale to judge Uneg's mood. While he had never heard such obvious cries of pleasure before, he concluded that his god was merely playing with his 'toy' rather than venting any anger.

The Light Seeker, who was now comfortable with his new title of First Prime, stopped at the threshold of the antechamber. Noted that Uneg really must be in a good mood, for he'd allowed Kinsey to retain the loincloth around his hips. Given the types of moans he'd heard on approach, it didn't surprise him to see the man was sporting an erection, the tip peeking out beneath the thin material's hem. However, his eyes did widen a little when he realized that Kinsey was deriving his pleasure from a thin blade being sliced across his stomach. Schooling his features into a mask of indifference, he discreetly cleared his throat. "Please excuse the interruption, My Lord."

Uneg barely glanced up at the Jaffa. "What is it?"

"I felt it was my duty to report an odd occurrence in the castle."

"Go on." Uneg wiggled the knife, cutting an abstract pattern into pale skin. His mouth broke out into a wide smile when Kinsey hoarsely groaned for more.

"Six strangers approached the King this morning, claiming to want to open trade negotiations."

"This is unusual?"

"No, My Lord, but the King's reaction was. He ordered them arrested. Then after a very brief interrogation released them, though they were not seen leaving the cells. He claims it was merely a misunderstanding. The King has closeted himself behind closed doors in the residence. I believe the strangers are with him."

His torment of Kinsey dwindled as he processed the Jaffa's speculation. "Were you a witness to the interrogation?"

"No, My Lord. Your people were denied access to both the interrogation and the residence."

Uneg's eyes narrowed, mentally cursing the concession he'd given that no Jaffa would enter the private wing of the castle. At the time he'd agreed to it, for he was more concerned about his Jaffa being a visible force to the people. That luxury was definitely going to be 'renegotiated'. "What can you tell me of these strangers?"

"Three men of various ages, one of whom has dark skin, and three women. All but two of the men remained hooded even during the scuffle of their arrest. I can only assume their weapons have been returned to them, for they are no longer in the storage locker, two of which looked to be similar to the original zat'n'ktel we have improved upon."

Uneg's head shot up at the mention of the weapons. "You are sure?"

"I only saw them briefly, My Lord, but yes."

Strangers with Goa'uld weapons. It was too much of a coincidence that after two thousand years of obscurity that another Goa'uld would turn up now. Were they a scout team? "Describe the two that you saw. Did they bear a symbol on their foreheads?"

"No, My Lord. One is the leader of the group, he has grey hair. The spokesperson, the only one who appeared to speak the language, has hair the color of dark wheat and wears spectacles. All bar one of the women have the bearing of military training."

From the corner of his eye, Uneg saw Kinsey go still at the description. "Did they mention names?"

Linneus racked his mind for the unfamiliar names that had been mentioned just once. "It sounded like 'Jack's son' and 'Kneel'."

Kinsey wasn't fast enough to conceal the look of shocked hope from flickering across his face at the mispronounced names.

"Daniel Jackson and Jack O'Neill?" Uneg corrected, his expression becoming suspicious. How did they find me? Kinsey had no tracker implanted on him, of that he was certain. Even if he had it would have long ago been disabled by the repeated electrical charge of the pain sticks and other various pulse devices he had used on the senator.

Linneus's eyes went wide. Uneg must truly be a god to have the full names of the strangers on his tongue. "Yes, My Lord."

The senator knew it was pointless to try and dissuade the Goa'uld that it wasn't SG-1, so he didn't try. "I told you they would come for me," he rasped.

"But they don't have you yet," Uneg growled. He plunged the knife into Kinsey's thigh, twisting with all his might through muscle and bone, then yanked it sideways, severing the femoral artery.

The intensity of the knife tearing through him overloaded the warped pleasure center of Kinsey's brain. He gave a howl of pure, unadulterated ecstasy, and his cock throbbed, shooting cum across the room. His body shuddering in the most powerful orgasm of his life, he began to lose consciousness as he bled out.

Uneg gave a snarl of disgust that he hadn't been quick enough to escape the erratic spray of the man's semen from landing on his robe. "Have him put in the sarcophagus and this placed cleaned." He shrugged out of the soiled robe. Clinically observed the river of blood flowing down Kinsey's leg to pool on the floor. "Wait until his heart stills so the blood stops flowing and won't leave a trail down the corridor."

"As you wish, My Lord." Linneus bowed.

"Gather a unit of Jaffa, those experienced in the King's Guard's combat maneuvers." He strode to his chambers and selected a new robe. "It's time we paid the King a visit."