A/N: I should've been writing Foxfire but I was stuck in a 6 hour meeting and had to keep my hands busy while paying attention. Writing helps me keep my mind engaged with what's going on around me while keeping my hands busy. That said, this is the sister story to The Serpent's Vow, however this fic takes place in the reality on the other side of the Quantum Mirror. In other words, this is the reality Dr. Samantha Carter and Maj. Kawalsky came from when they went through the Quantum Mirror in the episode 'Point of View' to escape Apophis' invasion and occupation of Earth. This takes place about a month and a half after that arc in The Serpent's Vow. I highly suggest you read The Serpent's Vow first, but it isn't really needed I guess. It'll just help give context to things. Enjoy.

Chapter summary: In which Samantha doesn't like her options, but she's not about to get anything but her way.

The Serpent's Reflection

1: Alternate

"Lord Yu is the oldest living Goa'uld System Lord," the small, gray alien said. His voice was patient and his words slow and deliberate.

The image on the screen Dr. Samantha Carter stared fixedly at showed at least twenty people from across the globe squished into the conference room in the SGA. The conference room was one of the rooms that did not suffer substantial damage during Apophis' invasion and subsequent occupation. Everyone in the room was listening attentively to the Supreme Commander of the Asgard inform them of the identities of the System Lords who would attend the Summit.

The hologram hovering in the center of the conference table was difficult to make out, even when the videographer zoomed in on it. The details were simply lost in the light of the hologram. So Samantha dropped her gaze from the small television screen and studied the painting on the table.

It depicted a venerable man of Asian descent. His forehead was shaved far underneath the Oriental style hat he wore on his head leaving his long, black hair to tumble artistically down his back in a simple ponytail. It was his mustache that was truly impressive. Both ends of the ebony mustache dangled so far down as to rest on the man's chest.

And yet, as fascinating as the ancient Chinese painting was, it was not an actual image of the Goa'uld System Lord Samantha and the SGA would be meeting. This was a mere representation. It was hardly enough to work with.

"His word has much sway over the other System Lords," the Asgard Thor continued. The people present in the room stared at the screen and listened in rapt attention. "Enemy or ally, the Goa'uld respect his age and knowledge. Crossing him is not often a survivable act. Even when Ra was Supreme System Lord, Lord Yu's council and prowess were still greatly valued."

Samantha grimaced.

"Manannan mac Lir," Thor's voice from the video continued, "is not a System Lord of great power. But he encourages science and has a preference for worlds with high concentrations of water."

Which debatably put Earth in the System Lord's sights. There hadn't been much Samantha or anyone else had been able to dig up about Manannan from Earth histories except for the fact he was apparently a Celtic sea deity. Not much else had been available. At least Lord Yu had been a prominent figure in ancient Chinese history. Interestingly, Lord Yu had masqueraded as a great king, not a god. Samantha wondered why that was?

"The last System Lord to attend the Summit will be Queen Nephthys," Thor said, breaking Samantha out of her thoughts.

The hologram visible on the camera was against distorted but Samantha didn't need it. She remembered what Neph- Set looked like. Tall with piercing blue eyes that were as sharp as ice but surprisingly not as cold. The man's skin was a deep tan a shade or so darker than his hair. He moved with the deadly grace of a Black Ops agent but only attacked when provoked.

Granted, that had been Set. Samantha had to remember that. Set had been from the reality on the other side of the Quantum Mirror. She had no way of knowing if the Nephthys here in her home reality was in any way similar to the Set she met in person.

She hoped he was.

She blinked away her thoughts when she realized she'd missed some of the dialogue in the video recording. From what she could recall, most of what had been said during that duration hadn't been very useful. Most of it had been exclamations of surprise or confusion regarding the 'Queen' moniker assigned to an obviously male appearance.

Explaining the complexities of Goa'uld sexuality and gender, or lack thereof, had been tedious and made many present uneasy. If she was being honest with herself, Samantha found it odd too. But that was mostly due to her lack of knowledge in the field of biology. It hadn't been her preferential field of study after all. But she did understand how bees and ants operated and thankfully the others had been too.

It had taken her a few days of thinking and puzzling to realize the unease she'd faced in the conference room that day had likely been the disconnect between the face everyone saw and the snake hiding from view yet very much in control. In their defense, Samantha didn't think anyone would, or should ever get used to that.

Pausing the video, Samantha ran her hands over her face for the umpteenth time that day. They only had one more day to prepare for the Summit. Thor had been a constant presence since his arrival nearly a month ago. His advice and calm, patient guidance had been a boon to both Samantha and all that was left of Mankind.

Earth was trying very hard to recover from the devastating attack by the Goa'uld System Lord Apophis. It had culled the entire population by… Well, the official numbers were still coming in, and likely would for months if not years. But the estimations were in the billions worldwide.

So many innocent people dead.

Jack.

The heart wrenching sadness crushed over her like a wave before eventually receding. She was learning how to ride the tide of intense emotion so she came out still capable of acting and thinking. Crying was healthy and a release, but she couldn't afford to cry right now.

Right now, she had work to do. Endless work. She knew she had to sleep some time tonight, but not yet. Her mind was working too fast to allow herself to sleep.

The System Lords attending the Summit and who would, hopefully, sign the treaty to allow Earth's inclusion into the ranks of the Asgard's Protected Planets, were: Lord Manannan mac Lyr, Lord Yu, and Queen Nephthys.

Nephthys. Set.

Samantha glanced at the box of tapes sitting on the table next to the photo. She winced as all of her insecurities bubbled back up to the surface. Frustrated, she pounded them back into submission and plucked one of tapes from the top of the pile up and studied it.

"CCTV 23: Storage Room7 – Mirror/Set"

This had taken all of her skills to convince the current President of the United States it would be worth it. These recovered CCTV tapes were few, but spoke a million words. Luckily, despite his hatred for the Goa'uld and his hesitancy to ever trust "those bastards," her friend Major Charles Kawalsky had backed her suggestion. His support had been the clincher that sealed the deal.

In that strange reality where Samantha met her military counterpart and… Ja- Col. Jack O'Neill, she'd learned a lot. One of them was that there was a sect of Goa'uld out there who were fighting against the System Lords: the Tok'ra.

That news went over… well…

No one trusted the Goa'uld. Understandable but immensely frustrating. Honestly, the Nazis may have originated in Germany, but not all Germans were Nazis. That comment made some people think. But it had been the support of the Asgard that had finally given Samantha the tenuous support she now had.

Nephthys was a Queen Goa'uld in a human male host. When Samantha met the version of him in the Mirror Reality, Nephthys had used the name 'Set.' He'd been patient, quiet, calculating, and polite. Not nice. But polite. Even if his wit and his words, when he did speak, were razor sharp.

He'd saved her life.

That wasn't something Samantha would soon forget. She'd been about to be torn apart from the effects of entropic cascade failure while in the Mirror Reality. Somehow, Set had known this before it happened and pushed her back through the Quantum Mirror, saving her life. Even through the consequences of his actions resulted in transporting himself through the Mirror with her. And then, instead of complaining, Set had helped rid her world of Apophis and gave her hope for potential allies to be found in her own reality.

Despite his actions, only Samantha and the Mirror Reality's Dr. Daniel Jackson had ever thanked him.

If Samantha trusted everything Set had told her about his past and eventual rebellion against the System Lords, then maybe her reality's version of Set, Queen Nephthys, could become an ally. She was banking a lot on this venture. If she was wrong…

She wasn't wrong. She just knew she wasn't.

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly as she replaced the CCTV tape into the box. Picking up the photograph on the table, she stared at the people there. Set gave her this photograph for a reason. She could only guess what that reason was, but she would be damned if she ignored this opportunity.

Every time she looked at this printed paper, her eyes were immediately drawn to Set's brilliant blue eyes. The little boy sitting on Set's shoulders was obviously young and had an open, guileless smile on his face. Both the boy and Set were looking at the three people in the middle of the photo. And what an odd trio they were.

The boy in the center had gelled up black hair with bleached bangs. He was laughing and had one fist raised as if in enthusiasm or victory. The blonde boy on the left was tall and lanky and appeared to be squeezing the boy with bleached bangs in a tight hug. The boy on the right had brown hair and was stockier in build than either of the other two boys. All three boys were smiling and cheering about something.

Samantha wondered mildly what they'd been so happy about. Who were they? Why did they matter? Were they some of the few humans left alive in this grim reality? She sincerely hoped so.

"Samantha?"

Startled, Samantha spun around in her chair to see an elderly woman standing in the doorway. Relaxing almost immediately, Samantha smiled as an apology.

"You surprised me," she said, tucking a few strands of long blonde hair behind her ear.

Dr. Catherine Langford sighed and came inside, closing the door behind her. Samantha shifted her chair to make room for Dr. Langford. The old woman wasn't as spy as she used to be, but her mind was still as sharp and formidable as ever.

The woman studied the objects on the table and sighed. "I'm sorry about this," she said wearily. "I think the council made the best choice, but I'm still sorry." She rested her hand on Samantha's and squeezed comfortingly.

Samantha nodded. "Yeah," she whispered.

God, she missed her Jack.

Sniffing, she sat up and placed the photo in the box with the CCTV tapes.

"This is the best chance we've got," she said. "Thor thinks it'll work."

"Are you trying to convince me?" Dr. Langford asked gently. "Or yourself?"

Samantha grimaced and didn't answer.

"Well," Dr. Langford continued, "I have some good news."

Sam looked up in interest.

"I was able to track down Dr. Daniel Jackson," the elderly lady said, fingering the golden Eye of Ra amulet resting on her chest. "He should be here in a couple days."

Samantha's eyebrows flew up. "Wow. That's… fast."

Considering the ruined state of the world's infrastructure, a couple days was impressive. Dr. Jackson must be hurrying. She silently hoped her reality's Dr. Jackson was as nice and interesting as the one in the Mirror Reality.

Shaking herself, Samantha nodded and began running through her mind. If her reality's Daniel was as open-minded as she hoped, then she might have the beginnings of a team. The Mirror Reality's SG-1 team, from what Samantha saw, operated like a well-oiled machine. They brainstormed together, were aware of and worked towards enhancing each other's strengths, minimizing their weaknesses, as well as encouraging and supporting each other.

Samantha wanted that. In her post-apocalyptic Earth, she and the Stargate Administration need that. The SGA had been under intense scrutiny since Apophis' invasion. Thor had been instrumental in diverting most of the world's anger away from the SGA and at the System Lords by informing them of past invasions. The Asgard Supreme Commander also explained that the Goa'uld would have returned eventually, no matter what.

So while the SGA was no longer on the proverbial hot seat, they weren't out of the woods yet. Thor's selection of Samantha as the Earth's representative at the Summit had been met with lukewarm welcome. She received some support from the scientific and civilian communities based on her position as a civilian scientist with a doctorate in astrophysics. The fact she was a woman also garnered her support.

Unfortunately, those strengths were also her weaknesses. Some people complained, loudly declaring a man would do better than a woman. Others claimed a military officer would have more training and discipline to handle delicate negotiations. Then she was scientist and an agnostic at best. Most of the world was religious and believed in some form of higher power. Most of these people fell disturbingly silent when they learned their "higher powers" were, in fact, Goa'uld System Lords.

But Dr. Samantha Carter was not easily cowed. She'd survived the invasion. She'd watched her beloved husband of a year be murdered in cold blood in front of her. She'd traveled to another reality and saw hope.

She would bring that hope to her Earth. If she had to drag it by the ears, kicking and screaming the whole way, then she would. She would convince Nephthys to join her in protecting Earth and overthrowing the System Lords. Even if it took a few years.

After all, vengeance was best served cold.