DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognisable characters and property of Stargate SG-1 belong to MGM/UA, World Gekko Corp. and Double Secret Productions.  This fan fiction was created solely for entertainment purposes and no money was made from it.  Also, no copyright or trademark infringement was intended.  Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.  Any other characters, the storyline and the actual story are the property of the author.  Not to be archived without permission of the author(s).

Teal'c paced the room which he'd been given. He'd stood patiently for well over an hour but now his nerves were on edge. Had he been split up from the others because they were prisoners and he wasn't? His mind raced behind the calm exterior of his face. His staff had been taken from him before he'd entered the room. He'd tried to take it back but four guards had overcome him.

Teal'c remembered back to that. The strangest thing was that they'd been trying not to hurt him. They'd been rough, but even when he'd lashed out at two of them, they'd merely restrained him and pushed him into the room, then locked the door. Teal'c didn't understand.

The room was comfortable, an exact replica of the room they'd been in earlier, only smaller. A bed was hidden behind exotic drapes, which billowed gracefully in the draught from a high up open window. Food and a pitcher of what looked like wine sat on a low table nearby. Teal'c had no appetite.

The door swung open and Zophra moved swiftly into the room, followed by two guards. He bowed and then smiled.

"You are honoured indeed. Khepera will be coming to your chamber within seconds. Your destiny is envied by all who serve him. Please accept my allegiance to you, my Lord, when your destiny is sealed this very day. I will be your....." Zophra's voice trailed off, a choking sound coming from his mouth instead. Teal'c looked up sharply.

Khepera's hand rested lightly on Zophra's head. He smiled broadly at Teal'c and then looked down at Zophra.

"You will be his what, Zophra? Your allegiance is to me. To no one else. Without me, you would have been taken by the Ring bearers. Do I make myself understood?"

The choking continued.

"I will take that as your oath of total loyalty," Khepera said and moved his hand.

Zophra dropped to his knees, his eyes watering, and fingered his throat, coughing as he did so. He nodded, his eyes taking Teal'c's and then dropping in submission.

Teal'c raised an eyebrow at the proceedings. Why had Zophra tried to place his allegiance with him? What was he saying about destiny? Teal'c was half inclined to treat his words as the babblings of a madman, but there was something in Zophra's eyes, a desperation, which gave him a bad feeling in his gut.

"And now, my dear Jaffa, it is time for you to meet something. Something which will soon become better acquainted with you," Khepera said and snapped his fingers.

Selphic moved slowly into the room, her veil once more attached firmly to the side of her face. She placed a small box on the table and bowed, her head reaching towards the floor, her hands outstretched in complete submission.

Teal'c stood impassively, his fingers flexing. His Goa'uld larva moved, agitated inside him. Something in the box, something his larva could sense was wrong.

Kherpera reached across and lifted the lid of the box slowly. His dipped his hand in and pulled a small vial of clear liquid from the box. He lifted it to his face and peered intently inside. Teal'c could see nothing.

"Just one of these inside you, my friend, and you would be mine. Mine. Loyal to me and me alone. Think what a dozen could do. Selphic here told me that the human scientist who manufactured the originals was a genius and a perfectionist. I had to kill him. No one is that perfect. No one except for me, of course." Khepera laughed loudly at that. "Selphic assures me she is not a genius nor is she a perfectionist. She is close, of course. I made her. I know how close she is."

Khepera's eyes glinted and Teal'c saw the madness for an instant. The madness of a dictator, believing himself to be a God. A dictator, who held the destiny of every living creature on his world, in his own hands.

Khepera closed his fingers over the vial and smiled at Teal'c.

"Nano-technology. The perfect solution to implantation. The scientist was almost right. It was almost perfect. He forgot one thing. To thrive inside a Jaffa, to thrive side by side with a Goa'uld, there had to be something else, something the host couldn't reject. Something the larva could co-exist with, side by side. Selphic here, my sweet child, has found that something. Organic material combined with these little beauties. Mind control which will carve out its own place within you, my friend. Mind control which will ensure your total loyalty, your total service to me."

Teal'c's mind raced. "I will never serve a Goa'uld," he said firmly.

"You will have no choice," Khepera said slowly, his eyes glowing for an instant and then dying.

"I would rip it from my body before I submit to you," Teal'c said, his jaw locked in determination.

"And how many can you rip from your body? How will you know where they are, where they have hidden? These little beauties will become a part of you. They will attach themselves to places even the best surgeons would be unable to find." Khepera smiled and placed the vial back inside the box.

"My body will reject them," Teal'c said.

"Very astute. Perhaps a normal body would reject them, yes. Perhaps a normal body would die in the process. Your body is host to a Goa'uld larva, your body will welcome them."

Teal'c stood silently.

"You do not ask why your body will welcome my present to you. Your mind is confused. You will soon be the first ever Jaffa to serve Khepera. Does that not excite you?"

"It does not," Teal'c replied.

"Then know this, the organic material which has been used contains Goa'uld DNA. My DNA. You will be linked to me as no other First Prime has been linked to its master. This is the start of history, my friend. Warriors who are linked to their master, unable to act against him, unable to betray him. Able only to do his will, at all costs. To do otherwise would cause you so much pain....need I go on?" Khepera clapped his hands and Selphic swept up the box and left the room.

Teal'c watched her go and noticed a haunted look in those dark eyes behind the veil. Selphic and Zophra betrayed their emotions. Undying loyalty was something you had to earn, not beat out of people. Teal'c knew this well. Teal'c also knew the look of desperation. Both had displayed it.

"If the experiment is successful in you, my friend, you will travel secretly to other worlds and bring me other Jaffa. They too will be implanted, and so the leaders of my army will grow. Invincible, unstoppable and loyal."

Khepera's eyes glazed for a moment, a look of reverie on his face. Then he snapped back to the present. "You will be prepared for this opportunity. Selphic will call for you when she has finished with her other duties."

Teal'c raised his eyebrow in query.

Khepera moved towards the door and turned to face Teal'c. "You are not the only one who will be gifted today, my friend. Your friend, the woman, is to be endowed with a wonderful gift. She is to be first host to my new composite. I have waited for a long time for this. This day shall be remembered in history. I will talk with you more."

As Khepera left the room, Teal'c sat down to think. He had to get out of there, he had to.

Daniel rested his hand on the bars of the prison cell, his thoughts turning over slowly. A Goa'uld System Lord hiding on a planet and building an army. It made perfect sense of course. Khepera knew that the odds of defeating the likes of Heru'ur or Sokar were infinitesimal. Without some sort of advantage he'd never win and probably be destroyed in the process.

"He's more dangerous than any of the others, you know," Daniel muttered out loud.

"Huh?" Jack looked up from where he was sitting.

"Oh sorry, just thinking out loud," Daniel said and turned to his friend. "I was just thinking. Khepera could turn out to be the most dangerous of the System Lords, or at least of those we know about. He's playing with genetics here. A whole army of creatures the other System Lords might have trouble beating."

"Makes him our number one target then," Jack replied and grimaced. "'Course, we could just let him take out the others first and then go for him," he added wryly.

"The System Lords have been around a long time. A few years of battles won't mean anything to them. We're the ones with time constraints, Jack. We've got to stop him here, right now," Daniel said and sighed, rubbing his eyes under his glasses.

"Yeah, well we got kind of problem, right now," Jack said ruefully looking at the bars. "I'm thinking we gotta get ourselves a distraction." he mused.

The sound of guards approaching made them both turn. "Maybe not," O'Neill said as he leapt to his feet and readied himself. For what, he wasn't sure.

"You will come with us," the first guard said. "Selphic has need of you." He touched a bracelet which clung to his wrist, and the door to the cell swung outwards.

"Just who I wanted to talk to," said O'Neill sarcastically as he went through, followed by Daniel.

O'Neill's mind raced. They had to make their escape now. They might not get another opportunity. He didn't have time to warn Daniel. Didn't have time to formulate a plan. The four guards flanked them, two in front and two to the rear. He'd have to rely on Daniel taking the rear two. He turned and caught Daniel's eye briefly. Whether he understood he couldn't tell.

They turned a corner in the corridor and he lunged forward, knocking the first guard to the floor and grabbing at the second guard's shoulder. He heard scuffling behind him and said a swift and silent prayer than Daniel was doing his part.

The knife, which rested in the guard's belt, was easy to pull clear. Jack thrust it purposely forward into the man's stomach and up, lifting the guard slightly with the effort. The grunt was the last sound the guard made. The second guard lashed out with his hand, the reptilian skin hard and cold on Jack's jaw. Jack dropped to the ground, his head spinning for a second and then rolled quickly to the side as the guard pulled free his weapon and fired, the energy burst disappearing into air. O'Neill reached across and grabbed at the dead guard's weapon and then rolled again. The cry of dismay as the second burst of fire missed its target was followed by one of pain. O'Neill spun around to see Daniel lowering a weapon and watching the guard fall to the floor unconscious. Two guards lay prone on the floor behind him, a knife and blood nearby.

O'Neill raised an eyebrow.

Daniel shrugged and looked at the weapon now resting at his side. He smiled an odd smile and then his face paled. As he swayed Jack knew he'd paid a price for his success. He caught him just as he was about to hit the floor, a spreading smudge of red just showing on his jacket beneath his rib cage.

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