Author's Note #1: With C-Virus, life has been kind of crazy lately with university and all. So blame the virus for some of the delays on this chapter. I hope all of you well and only bored out of your skulls with social distancing.

War, Daniel had decided, was a funny thing. Well, perhaps, funny was almost certainly not the best word, but he was not sure how to describe it differently in this specific context. Daniel knew quite well that he was living in the midst of a war that stretched across the length and breadth of the Milky-Way Galaxy, that people on both sides were dying daily so that the galaxy might be free from the tyranny of the System Lords. Periodically, he heard Sujanha or Anarr talking or just ship-wide gossip about the status of this battle or that siege and the figures of the dead on both sides, but those figures were just that, figures. Being in the fleet, there was a distance between him and the human cost of the war. Daniel never saw men fall on the battlefield, cut down by land mines or staff-weapon blasts. From the bridge, he sometimes saw Goa'uld ships explode, pierced by the superior weapons of the Furling warships, but he never saw the final moments of the Jaffa still on board. He knew intellectually that men were dying on both sides, that men were dying to free his galaxy, but the cost of war never fully hit home to him, until it finally did and in one of the worst ways possible.

About a month had passed since Sujanha's trip to the earth and the formation of an alliance between the Tau'ri and the Furlings. The Valhalla along with several other motherships was in orbit around one of the Furling-controlled supply worlds, Daniel could not remember which. He was sitting with Sujanha in her office. An offensive had recently been launched against the forces of the System Lord Tefnut. Anarr was personally overseeing the ongoing siege of Taremu, her homeworld and stronghold, with Wing Commander Sigurd, the younger brother of High Commander Bjorn, commanding the supporting fleet. Sujanha was reading over reports from the previous day's battle, while Daniel was finishing up typing a few notes from a recent meeting and about to switch to finishing a letter to Sha're. He would see her again the next week, when his tour ended and he switched places with Jaax for two weeks, but he liked to write her letters in the meantime to tell her all about what was going on in his life while he away.

Suddenly, the door chimed. Sujanha looked up from her data pad, a look of surprise sweeping across her face.

"Come," she called, making a tapping motion on her desk to trigger the opening mechanism on the door.

Mekoxe, the Valhalla's Communications Officer and one of the Getae (human), entered, and as soon as Daniel saw him, he knew without a doubt that something somewhere had gone terribly wrong. The always composed, imperturbable officer was as pale as death, and his steady hands, hands that Daniel had seen perform wonderous tricks for children and junior officers alike, were shaking as if Mekoxe had suddenly developed the palsy.

Sujanha saw the same signs as Daniel saw. She straightened, her face showing a flicker of concern before settling into a blank mask, and she set aside her work.

"What happened?" She asked.

It took Mekoxe two stuttering starts before he could even begin to explain, and Daniel felt his heart sink and a lead weight settle in his stomach. His mind began to churn through the possible reasons for Mekoxe's … unsettled ... state, and each possibility was more awful than the last. Whatever had happened, Daniel knew that it was really, really bad.

"The battle at Taremu…" Mekoxe was fighting to get the words out, and Daniel suddenly realized that the young man was almost in tears.

"Take a seat. Take a breath, and then tell me what happened."

Mekoxe took the proffered seat and took two quick, shuddering breaths. Daniel and Sujanha exchanged quick looks as he did so. Daniel saw his own fear and confusion mirrored in the Commander's eyes. She had no more idea of what was going on than he did.

"First of all," Sujanha asked, taking a deep breath herself, "Is my brother dead?"

Mekoxe shook his head, his hands death-gripping the tablet in his lap, "No, Commander Anarr is unharmed, and Commander Sigurd and your ships are also unharmed, but … but…," he gulped, swallowed hard, and then finally he was able to force the news out of his throat, "one of the Iprysh ships with Sigurd's fleet was in atmosphere fighting an Al'kesh. The Al'kesh was damaged. The Iprysh commander told the ship to surrender, but it made a suicide run to the planet."

Daniel felt the weight in his stomach increased into a lead balloon. A suicide run. He knew the size and speed of an Al'kesh, knew what kamikaze runs during WW1 had done to American ships. Increase the latter damage by factoring the much greater size and speed of an Al'kesh, and the potential damage was upped from a badly damaged ship to a possible planetary disaster.

Sujanha was silent for a long minute. The news seemed to have stunned her just as badly, and her voice, too, shook when she finally spoke, "How bad?"

"If the ship had fell from planetary orbit, Sigurd expects that there would have been no survivors on the entire world. As it was, with the Al'kesh already comparatively low in the atmosphere, the damage was … somewhat contained to a large geographic area, but …" Mekoxe's voice broke again.

Sujanha squeezed her eyes shut, and Daniel saw a tear trickle from one golden eye, "How many have made their final journey home upon the Winds?"

"The area where the Al'kesh struck was the location of the heaviest fighting. Knight Commander Zowux Nang and all his troops have perished …," Mekoxe paused again and gulped. From the look on his face, worse news was yet to come, "along with …. along with Knight Commander Xe'ryrss Shandel and the Imperial Guard …. including Ruarc."

Sujanha drew back with a cry of horror, and Daniel's brain just froze, barely able to comprehend the news. Knight Commander commanded squadrons of 5000 troops, which meant at least 10,000 Furling soldiers had perished, and an untold number of Jaffa. And Ruarc. Daniel's brain tried to hit the pause button again. He could not even imagine his friend dead. What was Ruarc even doing there? I thought he was still on leave.

Sujanha made a noise in the back of her throat that reminded Daniel of a mother-beast mourning a lost cub, "What was Ruarc even doing there? Only two weeks ago, he was still on leave, so Ragnar told me."

"From what Commander Sigurd managed to learn from your brother, Ruarc recently returned to duty but requested to be sent back to his old unit, not to your service."

Sujanha's look of grief changed to one of incomprehension, dumbstruck and emotionally sucker-punched by the choice of one of her two oldest bodyguards and closest friends, who had been by her side for almost 250 Furling years.

Why? Why? Why? The question was running on repeat through Daniel's brain. Until his friend had died, Ruarc had seemed perfectly happy and content in Sujanha's service, had always been faithful to Sujanha. He had been more than her bodyguard. He had been her friend and Daniel's, a near-constant companion, who had always been willing and happy to answer Daniel's myriad of questions without complaint.

"Creator, guide them to their rest, so richly deserved," Sujanha murmured in a low tone. She pressed a hand to her face and was quiet for several minutes.

"If it is any consolation," Sigurd added when the silence grew too overwhelming, "Siguad's healers said that the end would have come instantaneously. They would have seen the ship coming but felt nothing." Daniel bit his lip until the metallic-taste of blood hit his tongue, trying to fight back his tears.

Sujanha nodded, took a deep breath, "How is my brother? Did Sigurd say?"

"This disaster only befell us within the last four hours. Sigurd says he is badly shaken and blames himself for the deaths of his men."

"Where are Sigurd's fleet and my brother's remaining troops?" Sujanha was resolutely trying to shove away her grief for the moment and switch to dealing with the fallout.

"Still in orbit over Taremu," Mekoxe replied.

"Has word been sent back to Uslisgas, to the High King?" Sujanha asked, "The news must be taken to King Kokifren. The Lapith must know of their people's fall and honorable death."

"I do not know. The report from Commander Sigurd did not say, though it does note that Anarr will release the news to the rest of the Army in two hours."

Sujanha swallowed hard, fighting to keep her composure, "Then I will do the same. Have Ragnar sent to me, and then send this news to Uslisgas. In two hours, I will make an announcement to the Fleet, and then we will break off from our escort and make for Taremu. I need to speak with my brother."

Mekoxe nodded, "As you command." He stood, saluted, bowed deeply, and then departed.

The silence lingered again after the door slid shut behind him. Sujanha seemed as profoundly shaken as Mekoxe had indicated her brother was. Even if the Goa'uld resistance on Taremu had ended, the deaths of 10,000 or more turned the battle into a disaster that could not even be called a Pyrrhic victory. The death of Ruarc made the disaster even more personal for both Sujanha and Daniel, the latter of whom could still barely comprehend that his friend was dead. The cost of war was finally hitting home in the worst way possible.

Finally, Sujanha broke the silence, "We have not lost this many soldiers in one battle since the worst days of the Great War." From her tone, she seemed to be speaking half-to-herself.

Daniel swiped a few tears from his eyes, asking, "Commander?"

Sujanha started slightly, "Please leave me, Daniel."

Daniel hesitated, unsure about leaving her alone but then remembered that with Malek, she was never alone, and finally nodded. Her conversation with Ragnar would better be conducted in private anyway. "Yes, Commander. I'll be in my quarters if you need anything."

As the door slid shut behind Daniel a moment later, he heard the sounds of his stalwart commander beginning to weep. On his way back to his quarters through common passageways, Daniel had to do some fancy-footwork to avoid being seen by Ragnar, who was on his way to see Sujanha. Near in tears himself, Daniel had no wish to meet his friend, to chance being the one to have to explain to Ragnar that his brother was dead.

However bad I feel … oh, Ragnar, it will be worse for him. They're twins. They're so close. They've lived together, fought together, served together for centuries … I can't imagine…

The next two hours passed in both agonizing slowness and great speed. Daniel sat at his desk, starring into space, in shocked and stunned silence.

It seems like just yesterday I saw Ruarc, and now he's dead.

I wish I'd taken the time to check on him more since the Diagoth.

I've been so busy with work and Sha're and Shifu.

I should have been more of a friend.

Did he have family besides Ragnar? He asked about mine, but I never asked about his.

Sujanha's speech to the Valhalla about the day's tragedy, broadcast to the whole fleet, was a masterful piece of rhetoric, the Commander's natural gravitas unhindered by the depth of her profound grief. Her words were simple, calm, and direct, announcing in brief terms the disaster that had befallen the Army and the loss of the two divisions. There was no mention of Ruarc's death, and Daniel assumed that would be saved for a private announcement to the Valhalla itself.

As Sujanha's chief aid present, Daniel went with her across to Sigurd's mothership, when the Valhalla reached Taremu. He caught a distant glimpse of the two siblings' meeting, and the usually stalwart Anarr did look profoundly shaken. It was unsettling to see both Supreme Commanders so unsettled. The Furling Military, in many ways, had seemed near invincible with their superior technology and victory after victory against the Goa'uld. This disaster was a startling reminder that no army was invincible.

With the offensive against Tefnut put on immediate hold, Sujanha and Anarr with their High Commanders and High Generals returned to Uslisgas the next day. Ragnar, who seemed to have aged several centuries in the course of a single day, and Daniel went with them. What bodies that had been recovered needed to be committed to the pyres, and a pyre was also to be burned symbolically for those soldiers whose bodies the impact of the crashing Al'kesh had obliterated.

The only other inhabitable planet in the same solar system as Uslisgas was Numantia, which was better known as the "House of the Dead." It was used as a graveyard for the Furlings and for those of other races who were dear to them or had done great services to the Empire. It was on Numantia that the funerals for the fallen soldiers were held two days after the disaster occurred. The "House of the Dead" was a lush, fertile world with a mild climate; lush, rolling fields almost as far as the eye could see; and a few mountain ranges far in the distance. According to Vylt, the dead were sometimes buried in the ground with stones marking their resting places; others were buried in rock-cut tombs in the mountains; others in massive crypts dug deep into the earth or into the mountains themselves.

The beauty of Numantia in spring time was sobered by the two massive pyres, one on which those bodies … or body-pieces … had been gently placed and the second on which belongings had been placed to be burned in lieu of the deceased. Daniel stood near the back of the massive crowd gathered to pay final respects to the 10,000+ valiant soldiers who had died in service to the Furling Empire, died so that Daniel's galaxy would one day be free. The smell of burning flesh, even at the back of the crowd, was nauseatingly strong, and Daniel prayed for the wind to change. From far toward the front of the crowd—where Sujanha and Anarr were with the Crown Princes of the Furlings, Lapiths, and Dovahkiin—came the strains of a haunting lament floating on the breeze.

The pyres burned for hours, but finally the flames died down as the sun begin to set. As the crowd began to disperse, Sujanha somehow found Daniel amongst all the people. Her shoulders were slumped, and her eyes were exhausted. The disaster had aged her just as much as Ragnar.

"Walk with me?" Sujanha asked. Daniel fell into step beside her, "I want to pay my respects at the tombs of my kin before returning to Uslisgas. I … would be glad of the company on such a day as this."

"Of course," Daniel replied without hesitation, "How is Ragnar, and how are you?

"Ragnar is shaken by the loss of his twin, but he will endure until they meet again in the Eternal Halls. Ruarc died a warrior's death, which pleases Ragnar, but it will take time to grow used to fighting beside another," Sujanha paused, her voice unsteady, "As for me, I am … very tired. Ruarc has been my side since the waning years of the Great War. I always believed that he would be the one to outlive me. Most thought I would never live even to see the end of the Great War, and now I have outlived most of my family and too many of my friends."

"Yea," Daniel agreed sadly, unsure how to respond.

The tombs Sujanha wished to see were apparently some distance from their current location, and the two found an automatic beaming station and were beamed from the plains near the Stargate to one of the distant mountain ranges. Daniel found himself in the entrance to a wide valley with steeply sloping sides. Not far inside, the cliff faces transitioned from steeply sloping but still possibly climbable to nearly sheer, and on the sheer cliff faces Daniel suddenly noticed fine reliefs. Sujanha had angled toward the right wall, and as they got closer, the reliefs were revealed to be row upon row upon row of names inscribed into the walls. The names stretched as far up the cliff face as Daniel could see and continued as the two made their way further into the valley.

"What are these?" Daniel whispered, touching the names gently, feeling as if he were treading on hallowed ground.

"The names of the empire's war-dead whose bodies were never recovered from the battle fields."

"So many."

Sujanha nodded, her eyes bright with unshed tears, "Over two hundred thousand. Ruarc's name will be there soon, also, so we never forget their sacrifice."

"What happens to the families?" Daniel asked, trotting a few steps to catch back up to the Commander who had started walking again, footsteps silent on the grassy floor.

"Any mates or children will be cared for at state expense for a year and a day. These died so that we might live. We will not let their sacrifices be in vain or leave their kin to toil on alone."

Silence fell again, and the two walked on quietly for another for another fifty yards until they came to a fork, where the main valley split into two, and Sujanha lead them down the right fork. Past the narrow entrance, the right fork suddenly broadened into another broad valley. Not far past the entrance to the fork stood two towering, monumental gateways, carved directly into the cliff walls.

It's like I stepped into the alien version of Petra, Daniel thought with awe.

Sujanha entered the slightly less-impressive gateway. Stepping through an arched doorway, the two emerged into a small antechamber. The air inside was clean cool, and the blue lamps characteristic of Furling design were set into niches in the walls, illuminating the room and four shadowed arched doors set into the opposite wall. The two lone figures cast long shadows across the walls. Sujanha took the rightmost door, which was revealed to be the entrance to a long sloping tunnel. Down and down they went until the stairs ended and the tunnel widened into a massive crypt, its ceiling supported by thick stone pillars.

In the middle of the crypt were set row upon row of sarcophagi with effigies of recumbent figures upon them. Daniel stayed waiting and watching by the entrance, as Sujanha made a slow circuit of the room. Among the effigies were many Furlings, but also a number of figures from among the other races in Asteria along with several Asgard. Along the outer circuit of the walls were niches with urns and plaques, the resting places of those whose bodies had been committed to the pyre, not buried whole.

"Who are buried here?" Daniel asked when Sujanha returned.

"Officers," she replied, "from the rank of Supreme Commander down to Knight General or Knight Commander, who have served since our people settled in this galaxy."

Commander and aid crossed from the Tomb of the Commanders across the width of the valley to the Tomb of the Royals, its monumental entrance speaking of the honor which the Furlings paid to their dead. The interior of this crypt was much like the preceding, though there was currently only a single tunnel, and not four. This set of stairs was shorter than the first, and Daniel guessed that the crypt where the kings were buried was not so deeply underground.

The royal crypt was built much like the crypt in the Tomb of the Commanders. Sarcophagi with effigies of recumbent figures occupied the center of the sprawling crypt, while smaller memorials were set into the crypt walls. Like before, there was a surprising variety of figures depicted—Furlings, Asgard, Lapiths, Dovahkiin, and humans—testifying to the intermarriage that Sujanha had at times alluded to.

Daniel read the names and dates as they progressed further into the crypts. The oldest had been buried nearest the entrance, and Daniel read the names of the ancient kings who had lived probably during the wanderings, perhaps even before. Did the Furlings bring the bones of their kings with them when they left the Milky-Way? Daniel wondered.

As Sujanha and Daniel progressed further into the tomb, the names started to slowly become more familiar and the dates more recent, until they came to the tombs of the generations preceding Sujanha, most of whom had died during the Great War. Many names Daniel knew from his studies, but there were even more names that he did not know, revealing the staggering depth of loss of the Commander's family due to the Great War.

High King Aakar, the current king's grandfather, died just before the beginning of the war. His queen, Sujanha. Is my Sujanha named after her?

High King Andorr, Ivar's father and Sujanha's uncle.

Andorr's brother Anarr, Ivar's two older brothers, and even Ivar's second son, all of whom Daniel had never known and all likely casualties of the Great War, considering their death dates.

Sujanha's parents, dead within a year of each other. One in battle, the other of grief.

Daniel's brain hit the pause button when he got to the last row of tombs and saw two tombs in particular. The first was a sarcophagus with a picture-perfect recumbent of effigy of Sujanha herself, her birthdate and titles carved on the side. They really did think she wouldn't survive the war, he thought with a lurch.

The second was a large marker, covering the hole where a body had been buried in a grave carved from the stone wall. The marker read simply:

Odin, Son of Anarr, Son of Atar, Son of Aakar
Born 5748 A.S.
Set Sail 6048 A.S.
Beloved Son and Brother
Loyal Aid

Daniel's gaze went back and forth between the tomb that awaited Sujanha and the tomb of her nephew, Ansurr's older brother, who had lived and died long before the younger boy had even been born. He thought he had experienced familial loss, losing his parents as a child, watching them die, …. but Sujanha … she had lost her nephew, her parents, her uncle, multiple cousins and other relations to a war, and … somehow she kept on going.

Daniel started violently when Sujanha suddenly appeared beside him, her voice breaking the hush of the crypt. The flickering blue lamps that gave the only illumination cast eerie, flicking shadows across her face.

"No one but my brother thought I would survive the war," Sujanha spoke softly, her eyes on her own tomb, "not even me. Anarr always said I was too stubborn to die." Daniel had no idea what to say. When he said nothing, her gaze moved to her nephew's tomb, "He was a good boy. He was my chief aid, before you, before Asik. Solitude and books and figures were what he liked. He was not cut out for war, to be a soldier."

"How did he die?" Daniel asked.

"From the Sicarii poison. The same betrayal that nearly spelled my doom. I have always wondered why I lived and why my brother-son died. He was so young, so scared," Sujanha whispered. Her eyes were haunted

"I don't think I've ever heard you talk about Odin before," Daniel noted quietly. The only Odin he knew of was one of Anarr's two High Generals.

"Let the dead rest, and let us deal with the living," Sujanha replied, a non-answer if he had ever heard one out of her before. Daniel had a sense there was more that Sujanha was not saying, but this was one issue he had no intention of pressing on.

The two spent a short while longer in the crypt and then returned to Uslisgas.

It was time to go home.

Today was not a day Daniel was going to forget for a long time.

Freedom for his galaxy was coming at a horrible cost.