Stargate: The Serpent's Power

The two Hatak vessels floated in space amidst a dangerous minefield, mines attuned to attack the source of a variety of different energy signatures. One of such included the energy signature of Goa'uld weaponry. One Hatak was noticeably larger than the other, with the larger pyramid structure atop a large and heavily armored base.

With the noticeably much larger size, the very ship itself was more advanced with better weaponry and shielding. Much more lethal compared to the other Hatak which was miniscule compared to the other.

The menacing shadow of Apophis's flagship towered over Heru'ur's Hatak. The meeting between the two most powerful System Lords was underway, if everything went as planned they would begin an alliance that would crush all opposition.

Apophis sat comfortably in his throne with the female human slaves at his side tending to his needs. This meeting had indeed taken an interesting turn, Heru'ur had made an interesting offer for this alliance. Heru'ur had something that he was very much interested in possessing. The Shol'va Teal'c was now a prisoner of Heru'ur. The mere thought of what he would do to Teal'c once he was in his possession brought a grin to his lips.

"Jaffa," Apophis stated. "Signal Heru'ur."

he had made his decision, a new alliance would soon be born and Teal'c would soon become his First Prime once again.

"At once Lord Apophis," the Jaffa stated and turned his attention back to the Pel'tak.

Heru'ur's face appeared on screen and Apophis spoke his answer in a friendly tone of voice as possible. "Komah ata, Heru'ur"

Showing his approval of Heru'ur's proposal for an alliance. If everything went well then there would be no need for the fleet of cloaked Hatak that he had also brought with him into the minefield.

"Onak la hassa, slel Apophis," Heru'ur acknowledged.

Heru'ur then sent one of his underlings to send the Shol'va to him. Apophis could practically feel the anticipation running through him.

It was minutes later that a white beam of energy shot from Heru'ur's vessel to his own, signaling the activation of a ring transporter. Soon Teal'c would suffer greatly at his hands, until his mind snapped. He would then enjoy as he molded Teal'c into his mindless slave, brainwashing him into his loyal servant once again.

Two Jaffa entered the room and dumped the body of one of Heru'ur's minions at his feet, the only sign of injury was the burn mark on his neck.

"What is this?" Apophis demanded.

"Heru'ur transported him instead of the Shol'va," the Jaffa Guard answered.

Something about this seemed odd, it was foolish to try and betray him especially in this minefield.

It was then that an explosion occurred and his great Flagship rocked slightly. Heru'ur was attacking him of all places, what kind of fool was he?

"Heru'ur attacks!" the Jaffa at the Pel'tak called out.

It just wasn't making sense, something about what was happening seemed off. Something in the back of his mind was nagging at him. A thoughtful yet grim expression soon crossed Apophis's face. It was then that Heru'ur's face appeared on the screen.

Apophis rose from his throne with a furious look on his face, whatever has happening, Heru'ur would pay if this was betrayal.

"You dare to attack me?" Apophis questioned.

"It is deception!" Heru'ur stated desperately.

Something about this was definitely wrong, if Heru'ur had truly fired his weapons, the entire minefield should have converged on his ship by now. Those mines would have reduced his ship to dust if Heru'ur had indeed fired.

"Scan the area!" Apophis snarled and the Jaffa followed his demands.

"My lord, we are detecting a single Glider and Tel'tak fleeing the area," the Jaffa called out. "The Tel'tak has cloaked, it is Tok'ra."

"So the Tok'ra believe they could sabotage this meeting," Apophis spoke coldly.

Apophis watched the Glider disappear from range on the scanner and somehow knew that it was Teal'c aboard that Glider. That must've meant that his enemies the Tauri were present in the Tel'tak. This revelation was disturbing but things could have turned out worse if the Tauri's deception had worked.

Apophis turned his attention back to Heru'ur and a small grin spread across his lips. He saw the sweat of Heru'ur's brow and the fear in his eyes. Apophis nodded, showing his understanding of what was happening.

"The alliance is done," Apophis stated calmly.

Heru'ur now looking much calmer nodded and leant back in his throne. He too had realized what had been happening. He had only encountered the Tauri twice but they been a memorable encounters. They somehow found a way to remove his entire forces and he from a planet that he had intended to occupy.

"Very well, it seems that these Tauri are indeed deceptive," Heru'ur stated.

"They will soon come to know their true God's," Apophis stated. "Re nek Goa'uld."

"Re nek Goa'uld," Heru'ur repeated.

Thus the alliance between Apophis and Heru'ur was born, together they held enough power to easily overcome the System Lord's and Tauri. Soon the balance of power in the entire galaxy would change forever.

(Aboard the Tel'tak)

They had cloaked the Cargo Ship and were heading towards their planned destination. A small moon that was habitable and held a Stargate of its own. They were rendezvous there and return to Earth. They would only arrive on Earth to deliver terrible news to General Hammond.

"This is probably the worst case scenario we predicted," Jacob stated grimly.

Jack raised an eyebrow and sat in second seat of the cargo ship and turned his attention to the black vastness of space. Somehow despite the plan of the mine detonating on Apophis's ship, the plan hadn't worked. They had monitored the ships after the mine went off and it seemed that Apophis had noticed something was off.

"No war," Jack stated and crossed his arms over his torso.

"No, we had hoped that Apophis would jump to conclusions so the alliance would fail," Jacob answered.

"From the looks of things, he didn't," Daniel answered from the back of the Cargo Ship.

"We had hoped that when the mine went off, Apophis wouldn't notice that the mines didn't react," Jacob added. "That way he would think Heru'ur attacked."

"Looks like he was smarter than you Tok'ra gave him credit for," Jack answered.

Jacob sent a dark glare at Jack who quickly noticed the glare he was received.

"Not that that's a good thing," Jack added slowly.

"With the alliance sealed, they will now have enough power to easily overcome the System Lords," Jacob finished.

"We'll never get another chance like this again will we?" Sam questioned to herself.

The mood upon the Cargo Ship was grim as they quickly fled the area towards the nearest planet with a Stargate. Before Apophis and Heru'ur decided it would be a good idea to begin searching for them.

The two most powerful Goa'uld had just become allies, against the System Lords and any other enemies they have. Including the Tauri, who would be one of their major targets now.

(SG Command)

The sirens blared, just as they always did when they had an incoming traveler. General Hammond stood in the centre of the control room. He hoped that it was SG-1 back from another successful mission against the Goa'uld.

"Receiving SG-1's ICD sir," Walter called out over the noise of the sirens.

"Open the Iris," Hammond replied.

He had been starting to worry, SG-1 had been slightly overdue already. Hopefully it just meant that the meeting between the two Goa'uld was later than expected. Apophis had been a large source of irritation as of late, especially with his retaking of Chulak. It had originally been a shock to learn that he had survived Ne'tu but Apophis seemed to have a knack for surviving the worst kind of situations.

Hammond watched the Iris slide open and Staff blasts suddenly shot out of the water like event horizon of the Stargate. SG-1 and two others quickly ran through the gate, Hammond then signaled Walter to close the Iris.

The Iris instantly closed and several impacts in quick succession could be heard shortly before the wormhole disengaged. Hammond quickly recognized Jacob with SG-1 but didn't recognize the other. Hammond strode out of the Control Room to see how SG-1's mission went. Judging from their scuffled appearances it looked as if they ran into some trouble.

Hammond entered the gate room and made a quick observation of SG-1, along with Jacob and the other man he didn't recognize. Last he checked Teal'c was one Chulak so how on earth did he get here?

It looks as if Teal'c had been beaten up pretty badly, plus it looked like O'Neill was nursing a Staff wound on his shoulder.

"Colonel, what happened?" Hammond questioned.

"We were attacked by our favorite snakehead sir," O'Neill answered with a pissed off expression clear on his face.

"George, our plan went completely wrong, Apophis and Heru'ur never attacked each other and Heru'ur had two Hatak pursue us." Jacob added.

"Somehow Apophis realized what was going on, He and Heru'ur are now allies," Sam finished and Hammond looked stunned.

Never once in his life did he see SG-1 seem so beaten. It was a scary sight and now the two most powerful System Lord's were now allies. The balance of power in the galaxy was shifting in ways he never imagined.

O'Neill strode silently out of the Gate room with Teal'c who was partially being carried by Rac'nor and Daniel watched him leave. Sam too had watched him leave with obvious concern for him.

"Alright, SG-1 you may go, I expect you to attend the debriefing in two hours," Hammond stated and exited the room silently.

Daniel allowed Rac'nor to take Teal'c and take him to the infirmary while Daniel glanced at the Stargate. He looked down at the staff blast burn on his arm and knew that he should get himself to the infirmary as well. He just needed a moment to collect his thoughts. He felt the anger boiling underneath his self control, the anger he felt every time he heard or saw Apophis, the one who stole his wife from him.

In O'Neill's quarters he paced across his room deep in thought. The events of the last twelve hours had been troubling to say the least. He was usually good at handling things like this but now their most dangerous enemy had become even worse.

They had defeated Apophis before but that had been when he was only the average System Lord, now he clearly outclassed all the snakeheads.

A knock on the door quickly brought him out of his reverie and he strode up to the door, putting on a calm face before opening it. He was surprised to see Sam at his door, usually at this time she's getting ready for the debriefing.

"Sir," Sam spoke respectfully. "May I come in?"

Jack merely motioned for Sam to come in and closed the door behind her.

"Major, is there something I can do for you," Jack spoke formally.

"I was worried sir," Sam answered. "You seemed…distant when you left the gate room."

Jack felt like smiling, know that she was concerned but he was too disturbed about recent events lately. Apophis and Heru'ur would be almost unbeatable together. Their combined forces were enough to easily overcome the other System Lord's.

"I'm fine Major," Jack answered. "It's just not every day we see the beginning of the end is it now."

Sam easily heard the sarcasm in his voice and knew he was in the mood to hide his concerns behind his sarcasm. Something he actually did quite often but it was probably what's kept him sane for the majority of his military career.

"Sorry sir," Sam answered. "We've dealt with worse threats sir, we should be able to survive this one,"

"You mean those repli-bugs?" Jack asked.

"Yes sir, from what we've seen they pose a greater threat than the Goa'uld if they're numbers ever reached high levels," Sam explained.

"Ah, maybe but the bugs have never managed to kill us before, Apophis has." Jack countered with his own statement.

Sam had a disturbed yet concerned look on her face and Jack wished he could've rolled his eyes without her seeing it. Sometimes Jack wished Sam could detach herself emotionally like a lot of Soldier's and Scientist's but then she's drive him insane if that ever happened.

"I'm fine Major, no need to worry about little old me," Jack stated with his usual smirk and ushered her gently out of his quarters.

Right now only one thought stuck in his head. 'good god, what I would do for a Beer.'

(Briefing Room)

General Hammond along with SG-1 accompanied by Jacob and Rac'nor sat in the briefing room talking over the latest events. Selmak was currently the one with priority over the body in the meeting seeing as he was more knowledgeable of the Goa'uld.

"Apophis and Heru'ur will logically focus on the System Lord's first and then turn their attentions to other priorities." Selmak explained.

"So how long do you think it will take them to have complete control over the System Lord Council?" Daniel asked.

"With a current estimate of their combined power, less than three months." Selmak added gravely.

"What if we offered our help to the System Lord's or assistance from say the Asgard?" O'Neill asked with a questioning expression on his face.

"The System Lord's would not accept our help and the Asgard are currently occupied with their fight against the Replicators," Daniel stated.

"So what do you suggest we do?" General Hammond asked.

"Right now, we have nothing that could possibly stop Apophis or Heru'ur," Selmak answered gravely.

Jack leaned back slightly in his chair and began to wonder what could be done against him. If Apophis could take out the collective power of the System Lord's, then what could they do against his empire. They may have survived and even won a few minor skirmishes with Apophis but never had they dealt with a situation so serious.

Not even as serious as the time they destroyed two of Apophis's mother ships that were ready to attack Earth.

"So we'll have to try and find something that can stop them sir," O'Neill stated.

Jack smirked inwardly on that comment; as usual he played the optimist of a practically impossible situation. He did enjoy the role but all his time in the military had taught him that no situation was truly impossible. They had faced alternate realities, seemingly supernatural entities so Jack had learned that nothing was impossible. So surely they could bring down a couple of snakeheads who liked to play god.

"Very well, Our top priority right now is to search for new defensive and offensive technology to defend against Apophis other threats." Hammond stated. "Dismissed."

As the room cleared out Jacob and Jack remained to speak privately with Hammond. Hammond and Jack usually only did this in the most serious of situations. Right now the situation they were in qualified.

"Sir, I think that as of now, the SGC should focus its operations entirely on searching for new weapons," Jack spoke calmly.

"Agreed," Hammond stated. "Jacob what's your intake on this?"

Selmak's eyes flashed and once again Jacob was in control of his body. Something that Jack happened to find quite unsettling, given his previous experiences with Goa'uld. That glow of the eyes which were used as a signal of anger from the Goa'uld.

"I think that the best we can do at the moment is minor damage against either Apophis or Heru'ur," Jacob stated.

Hammond nodded and turned his attention to the report that lay on the table in front of him and the recommendations he must write down. So far the best he could think of was increase the funding and progress speed of the X-301 and X-302 projects.

Right now they needed a more efficient way to defend their planet more than ever and those spacecraft may just be the answer.

(Delmak – Apophis's Palace)

Apophis felt a small amount of satisfaction with the success of the alliance, the Tauri may have tried to stop him but they failed. Though it was unfortunate that Teal'c had escaped, that would only prolong his inevitable capture and conversion back into his loyal First Prime. Right now he had more important matters to deal with.

Such as deciding which System Lord to focus on first, so far it was a close call between Ba'al and Lord Yu. Right now he was leaning towards Yu as the stubborn old fool would present the most challenging of the System Lord's. After that, he would then turn his attention to Cronus who he would see personally tortured and killed when he could stand no more. With their most powerful members gone, the rest would be easy to deal with.

Of course when the System Lord's were dead, he would bring the full force of his empire against Heru'ur. Then the entire expanse of the System Lord Empire would belong solely to him. A thought that made a grin spread across his lips at the mere thought.

Apophis was currently working on designs for a new more powerful Mother ship. One that would be of equal size to his current flagship but far faster with better offensive and defensive technology. A surprise that would be saved for Heru'ur once complete, the Mother Ship would also possess a new far more powerful weapons system.

Of course it was only in the planning stages yet, he still needed to find a new power source for the designs. Right now his current Flagship was more powerful than any other space bearing vessel out there.

Apophis thought of the designs in his mind and smirked. Someday soon all his planning would bare fruition and he would be the God that all would worship.

He picked himself up off his throne and walked towards the vast opening in the wall of his throne room. He looked out across his Empire, the rows of Hatak vessels towered over the smaller buildings ominously.

A Jaffa walked into the room and kneeled down to Apophis, whose back was turned to the Jaffa in question.

"Speak," Apophis stated calmly as he stared out across all that belonged to him.

"Heru'ur has engaged battle with Kali, Yu is reportedly on the way to deal with Heru'ur and is requesting your assistance," the Jaffa stated.

"Excellent, we shall show the System Lord's the power of our combined might." Apophis stated with a grin.

Apophis was then swept up by the rings moment later and found himself in the Pel'tak of his Flagship. The Jaffa crew already at their stations in readiness and Apophis signaled the Jaffa to take off.

An entire city watched in fascination and worship as the Flagship smoothly took off from the ground and was followed by four Hatak. Tens of thousands of Jaffa in awe of the power and magnificence that was Apophis. The moment they were out of orbit, the ships entered hyperspace towards the given coordinates of the battle that was about to take place. With the faster engines, Apophis was certain he would make it there before Yu's fleet arrived to assist Kali.

Apophis sat down on his almost black wooden throne and calmly watched the blue vortex of Hyperspace. Anticipation running through his entire body at the thought of their victory in battle against Yu and Kali. It would be a magnificent victory especially seeing as Yu was one of the most respected System Lord's around.

Apophis tapped his fingers against the wooden arm rest in anticipation and knew that once the System Lord's were defeated. Then the Tauri and Tok'ra would all fall under his might. He would enjoy hearing them beg for mercy right before he destroyed them all.

To Be Continued.