Starborn Smith [Stargate, Battletech Multicross]

To her credit, Lady Isetri was a master of hiding her emotions. I could not, for the life of me, tell what was going on through her mind. As the seconds ticked by, I almost believed that she wouldn't react. Finally, after almost thirty seconds of an entirely blank stare, a snarl came over her face.

"What do you want?"

I had her. 

"Ares has been removed. It is only a matter of time before someone comes looking for him. We need allies. At the moment, you're our best hope for that." 

Her snarl turned feral.

"Tell me where our queen is."

I smiled and nodded.

"She is on a world known as Pangar. It was originally ruled by an opponent of Ra's but he conquered it from him. He imprisoned Egeria on the world and has not returned sense."

"That is almost nothing."

A light smile graced my lips.

"It is a lot more than nothing."

Silence filled the room for several more moments. Suddenly, she seemed to shift.

"I need to see Ares."

"He is currently rather indisposed."

"Then I need to see his corpse."

There is a brief moment of silence between us.

"One moment then."

I exit the room to find Elder James. 

"She wants to see Ares."

Elder James nodded.

"I should have expected as much."

He turned to Arktos. 

"Would you be willing to let us take her?"

Arktos nodded without any hesitation.

"If she is Tok'ra, then she is not a prisoner. You are welcome to take her, though I would like to request that myself and several of my men come along. I find myself rather curious of Ares current state at the moment."

Elder James seemed hesitant for a moment, but that quickly faded and he nodded.

"Of course. It would be rather hypocritical of me to stop you from seeing him as well."

Arktos bowed his head slightly.

"Then you have my thanks."

At Arktos' command, a pair of Jaffa escorted Lady Isetri out of the interrogation room. As she left the room, she seemed to scan everyone. Some slight surprise seemed to show on her face when she saw Eudora and Elder James, but it quickly returned to impassivity. Finally, she turned to Arktos.

"First Prime."

He smiled lightly at her.

"First Prime no longer, Lady Isetri. Had I known you were of the Tok'ra I would have been more courteous in our meeting."

Her face remained impassive as we left the ship and made the now rather short walk to the Stargate. I dialed the Gate, Elder James contacted the other side to inform the village of our arrival, and then we were through the gate. Eudora, Arktos, and Lady Isetri gaped up at one of the massive 11 meter tall Phoenix Hawk standing over the Stargate.

Eudora let out a nervous chuckle.

"I thought you were joking when you said you had bigger ones."

Elder James raised an eyebrow.

"I was completely serious. The Locust was one of the smallest Battlemechs ever created. It was the only one we had that could get through a Stargate"

Elder Callum approached, seemingly out of nowhere. 

"It's funny you should mention that. I might have a way to get a Phoenix Hawk through."

A smile lit up Elder James' face.

"Really?"

Elder Callum nodded.

"Aye, I've checked the measurements; you'd just have to lay it down and then slide it through the gate horizontally. It would require some preparation, but it is definitely doable."

Arktos and Lady Isetri seemed to physically shudder at the concept. 

As we left the clearing, the landed form of the Leopard came into view. Lady Isetri's face remained completely devoid of expression as we entered. We passed through several corridors before we arrived at a locked door. 

At the Entrance, Elder James inputted a rather lengthy code after which the door slid open. Inside were a collection of several Stasis Tubes. Most of them were empty, but inside three of them lay the goal of our little excursion. 

Inside Elder Dorian seemed to be at work on a noteputor. He looked up at Elder James, before closing the device. He nodded once to Arktos and Eudora, before turning his head to Lady Isetri.

"You must be Lady Isetri. I have been told that you are here to see Ares."

She nodded, but her attention was already focused on the contents of the Stasis Tubes. She looked over the faces of both Korybas and Enyalius once, before focusing on Ares. After a moment, she turned her attention back to Elder Dorian.

"Is it possible for them to escape from these devices?"

Elder Dorian replied, a faint smile on his lips. 

"You can never know when encountering novel alien species, but I'd say it's rather difficult to escape when unconscious."

Finally, she turned her attention to the fourth stasis tube which contained the Ashrak host. She seemed to study the face for several moments before her view suddenly snapped in Elder James' direction.

"Where did you find him?"

Elder James looked rather confused for a moment, but quickly recovered.

"He was among a group of four Ashrak we ambushed." The Elder is quiet for a short moment; "do you know him?"

Her face resumed the same blank look that I had come to expect from her and her eyes returned to the man's form.

"I know of him. He was a Tok'ra host for many years. How have you removed the symbiote?"

The Elder shrugged.

"Dumb luck." He refused to elaborate any further.

She nodded and returned her attention to the other's in the room. Her eyes glowed for a moment and her voice changed to that of a Goa'uld.

"I cannot provide you information about the Tok'ra, but I will aid you how I can. In exchange, when you leave and I am no longer a threat to you, you will allow me to take a ship and leave. Are we in agreement?"

From then, Lady Isetri was much more communicative. We managed to confirm much more clearly that she was a Tok'ra through asking her about their history – something that was very much not common knowledge, from its beginnings with Queen Egeria through modern day. 

After that rather lengthy exchange, Elder James had a thought.

"Lady Isetri, do the Tok'ra operate any Ha'taks?"

Her face remained rather blank as it always did. 

"We do not. We have captured such vessels on numerous occasions, but Ra would always send a fleet to destroy it."

That was exactly what we had been expecting, and it was not good news. 

"Do you know how he tracks the ships?"

She raised an eyebrow.

"If we did, then preventing it would have been simple."

From that point, we moved onto information about the current state of the Milky Way Galaxy and the Second Goa'uld Empire. While Ares – and by proximity, Arktos – knew much about the current state of the Empire, their information was quite limited when compared to what even an undercover Tok'ra operative knew about the other System Lords. 

As an aid, Arktos pulled out a flattened map of the Galaxy with the official territories of each System Lord painted over top. Immediately, something caught my attention.

"Why does Ra control so much territory?"

"He is the Supreme System Lord," Lady Isetri replied simply. 

I raised an eyebrow.

"I don't understand."

"Do you believe that the title of Supreme System Lord is empty? Ra is the law within all territories of the empire. He is the final say on all that happens. No one is capable of denying him, and attempting to do so only leads to death."

Apparently, Ra in Stargate was not given the respect he deserved. The Second Goa'uld Empire was Ra's creation from beginning to end. 

For every Ha'tak constructed by a System Lord, another had to be provided to Ra as tribute. Only a single System Lord, Lord Yu, was free of this tax..

On top of that, Ra had total control over the industrialization of all worlds within the Empire. Only with Ra's express permission was a System Lord permitted to industrialize a world, and it was usually only after that System Lord performed a great feat in Ra's name. 

All of this meant that Ra's fleet was larger than the fleet of every other System Lord combined. Even worse, no one knew where his fleet stayed or even its true power. Ra rarely ever used his might – preferring to instead let the other System Lords fight between each other, but when it was truly necessary, a fleet of ten thousand Ha'tak was amongst the smallest that Ra had ever fielded. It was claimed that in the war against the Asgard, Ra fielded a fleet of 50,000 Ha'tak. 

The Goa'uld Empire was a game that Ra had won millenia ago. The other System Lords were simply fighting over the scraps that Ra allowed them to have.

In Stargate SG1, the Goa'uld Sokar amassed a fleet of several thousand vessels so that he could defeat Ra. Despite his fleet, he did not believe he could defeat Ra and only acted once Ra had been killed by Jack O'Neil on Abydos.

In the show, we never had any word of what happened to Ra's forces after his death, but it was clear to me now that whether it be Sokar, Anubis, or Ba'al, all of them must have been delusional, because none of them could have possibly defeated Ra in his prime without millenia more of buildup. 

It was a sobering thought, and it underlined just how truly lucky Stargate Command was when they killed Ra. 

That evening, after several long hours of further discussion, our guests began to return through the Gate. While we had a tentative agreement with Lady Isetri, it was by no means set in stone. The Villagers of Veyna's Rest were not prepared for a guest and – despite the Jaffa's hospitality – she had no desire to return to Mycena. Instead, she returned with Eudora to Dendred where the resistance provided her with Guards.

While Eudora and Lady Isetri left, Elder James pulled Arktos aside before he too prepared to leave.

"I have a request I must make of you."

Arktos raised an eyebrow, but nodded for Elder James to continue.

"You told me before that the Sarcophagus could heal most wounds. Can it revive the dead?"

Arktos face grew slightly hardened; nonetheless he nodded lightly. 

"It can, though there are limits."

Elder James nodded slowly.

"When I came to this world, nearly all members of my crew died. Their bodies have been in stasis. Is it possible that they could be revived?"

Arktos looked into the distance for a moment.

"I don't know."

His eyes focused on Elder James.

"If you are willing to try, then I shall not stop you. You shouldn't get your hopes up. If a body has started to decay then it is likely too late, and even then, if they awaken, then they may not be the same people you once knew."

Despite Arktos' words, a fire had appeared behind Elder James' eyes. It was like I was looking at a completely different person. 

"If there is the smallest, most minute chance that any of them could be revived, then as their commanding officer I am obliged to try."

Arktos nodded once.

"Then have the bodies ready and I will permit you to use the device."

Relief flooded off Elder James and he gave a gentle smile.

"Thank you."

With that, the Elder saw Arktos off and I found my way to a bed for the night. The next day would be a long one; I would be in Enyalius' fortress deconstructing his ships and searching the Ha'tak for that tracking device.