Stargate: The Sov'ren

[Lord Reyes]

Groggily, I groaned as my eyes fluttered open, waking up with my breath hitched, my head pounding like it'd been run over by a train, and my body aching as if it were only a couple of seconds ago that I was rock climbing.

The faint sounds of electricity crackling intermixed with loud and irritating beeps that didn't quite register with my awakening senses filtered into my ears, helping to erase my drowsiness.

"...Argh, my head," I hissed in pain, one hand on my aching head, as I forced myself up from the cold and smooth black marble flooring, leaning against a wall with my back.

I frowned as with hazy eyes, I took in my new surroundings. It looked like I was in a storage room of some kind.

The room was dim, wide, and cold with a high ceiling. It had black colored walls adorned with thick columns of gold inlaid with intricate inscriptions that looked like Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs.

It had polished marble flooring littered with golden flakes, dust, and dirt. Huge cracks extended all over the place, from the ceiling to the floor, giving it a battered appearance.

The room stank of metal, sweat, and dust, and around me, scattered haphazardly all over the place, were huge black and gold crates. Some were open, and pouring out of them onto the floor were some kind of black minerals or metal ores, possibly iron.

The whole place looked like it'd just experienced an earthquake, a pretty nasty one at that. Strangely, it looked and felt familiar, but I couldn't quite place my finger on it.

"Where the hell am I?" I asked no one in particular, my voice weirdly deep and different, my frown deepening as scenes from last night played in my head.

From what I could remember, I was in my car, driving home after doing some late-night grocery shopping when a van came out of nowhere and crossed me, blocking my path on the road.

Then some masked guys got down, ordered me to get down as they pointed a couple of Glocks at me, and proceeded to search me and my car.

I remembered keeping my cool through it all, despite the anger that bubbled deep in my gut as they robbed me, making me turn to face my car with my hands raised above my head.

The pedestrians around who should've called the cops just hid and took out their phones to record the entire process, watching as I quietly let robbers manhandle and rob me, bagging whatever they wanted.

There was no need for me to talk or instigate them, or even act tough when I could just cooperate and at the end of it, drive away with my life intact.

Besides, when it was all over, I thought I could always make use of my connections to find them and throw them behind bars while possibly getting back all the things they stole.

The robbery went on smoothly because of my silent cooperation. They took all the cash in my car, as well as my credit cards, took off my jewelry and whatever valuables I had in my pockets.

They did all that I expected them to do and were about to leave just as they finished, but something all of a sudden went wrong.

I didn't know if it was because he was high, was just in a bad mood, or the devil tempted him, I just didn't know.

But one of them got the brightest idea to hit the back of my head with his gun, sending me stumbling onto the floor.

The attack made a crack in my head, making me bleed out on the curb, and as the pain wreaked havoc in my system, slowly lapsing into unconsciousness, my vision blurry, I heard a gunshot.

Then everything went black.

"...The bastard shot me, didn't he?" I muttered gravely, my eyes widening in shock and disbelief as the realization set in. "If I knew they'd shoot me even after, I would've at least punched one those punks in the neck. Shit!"

I cursed, banging the wall with my left hand, and wincing from the pain. I'd been shot in cold blood by some unemployed punks who were quite possibly my age.

Left to bleed out on the curb at eleven pm until one person, thankfully, with some fully functioning brain cells, decided to call an ambulance.

I didn't know what the proper procedure was after being shot and surviving so I didn't know whether to feel sad, be in shock, cry, reflect on my life choices, et cetera, et cetera. But boy was I pissed.

"Hopefully, they catch those bastards. Otherwise, I will, and it wouldn't be pretty," I said coldly, with a frown, as I lowered my head to look down at my body.

My forehead grooved as I finally noticed an awful number of peculiar and strange things that didn't really make sense, not counting the strange way my voice sounded.

For one, I couldn't see any gunshot wounds on my body. I had been shot, I was quite sure of that, but there was nothing. No stitches, no scars, and certainly no bandages.

Which didn't make any sense. There was no way good old American health care could heal and fix something like that with zero traces.

It was medically impossible. Plus, this place didn't look like any hospital to me and if it was, they sure as hell were doing a good job at hiding it.

The other mind-boggling thing I'd noticed was the fact that I wasn't wearing my clothes. At least, not the ones I was shot in, and definitely not something you'd see anyone wearing in this century.

I was wearing some kind of brown long-sleeved tattered tunic riddled with large holes, and faded brown pants stained with blood, grime, and dirt, with some straw sandals strapped on my feet.

And God, did I smell awful. It was so bad that the more I inhaled, the more I didn't want to be around me. It was as if water hadn't touched my skin in ages.

But that wasn't the worst part. No. I'd noticed something even crazier. Slowly, I rose my hands to my eye level and my breath almost stopped when I examined them and my arms in general.

They weren't mine. They looked nothing like the arms and hands I was born and grew up with. They were paler, thicker, more toned, and had absolutely none of the scars I was supposed to have.

Plus, there was this weird small and exquisite golden triangular-shaped device fitted snugly around the middle and ring fingers of my left hand.

With eyes widened in disbelief, I quickly touched my face, tracing my fingers along its lines and contours, hoping to feel something familiar.

I didn't. My face had changed also. It was rounder, smooth, and had no trace of facial hair on it. My blood immediately ran cold. Oh lord, What else had changed?

I immediately ran my right hand through my hair, feeling its unfamiliar length and texture, and then shifted my eyes till I could see one of the closer long strands.

It was blond, straight, and long enough to fall on my shoulders. But I was born with short black hair which as far as I could remember, had never grown past my neck.

Uneasiness, now gripping my heart, I decided to test one last thing.Taking a deep breath of the cold stale air, I slipped my right hand into my pants.

The moment it found and touched what I was looking for, I sighed helplessly and finally accepted the reality of the situation.

Yep, this wasn't my body and in the off chance it was, it had been changed or altered so much that I still wouldn't be able to call it mine. It could be plastic surgery, but that was unlikely.

After all, I'd never heard of plastic surgery changing the color and very nature of someone's hair. No, this was something else. Something way more advanced.

Suddenly the room started trembling, like it was experiencing turbulence, and after a few seconds, it just stopped. This brought my attention to the fact that the room was moving. It had been moving all along.

And judging by the fact that I couldn't hear any engines, the wind, or any tires treading on a road, it was safe to assume I wasn't in a car. Most probably, I was in a ship or better yet a plane.

This meant that I was being transported somewhere and that the pilot or whoever was driving this thing, whatever it was, would be able to explain to me what was going on here.

Otherwise, it wouldn't be long until I'd start freaking out, which would lead to me saying things that would make a nun flush red, leaving a a very bad impression on whoever would be around when it happened.

It was something I'd very much like to avoid.

Wobbly, I propped myself up using the wall and stood on my feet, moving towards the blank black metallic door in the wall at the end of the room from my position.

"Hello! Anyone out there!?" I put my ear on the cold door and called out, banging on the door with my right fist.

I got no response other than the beeping sound and the loud sparks of electricity. "Look, I know you're there, so please respond. I don't want any trouble. I just want to talk." I said as politely as I could.

Still, there was no response. Barring, the irritating beeps and the dangerously sounding sparks or crackles of electricity, it was totally silent.

I couldn't hear any voices, feet shuffling, or even the wind or sea, and now that I thought about it not even the engine. It was so strange, almost eerie, that my face sunk into a heavy frown.

No one was responding. It was either they were just plain ignoring me or there was simply no one around at the moment. I was more inclined to believe the latter.

Which was the best thing I could hope for in my condition. As much as I was grateful to whoever saved and healed me, this place didn't look like a hospital. Whoever did this most definitely didn't do it out of the goodness of their heart.

I didn't know why or how they did this to me, but I had a very bad feeling about this place and something was telling me it wouldn't be wise, sticking around and find out why.

Besides, this place was cold, dank, and not very comfortable. Not exactly the ideal waiting lounge. Plus, if I didn't leave here soon, I was sure I'd end up suffocating myself to death as a result of my own stench.

Frowning, I stepped to the right, moving to the vertical and rectangular shaped gold colored keypad right next to the metal bulkhead door on the black wall and observed it closely.

There were six buttons on the keypad, with six different symbols on each of them that also looked very similar to hieroglyphs spread across the walls.

Looking at them, my brow furrowed and I clicked my tongue in annoyance, my mind racing with thoughts. Six symbols.

A quick math calculation revealed forty six thousand, six hundred and fifty six, possible combinations I had to try in order to find the right code that'd open the door.

That was a lot of combinations but luckily, if there was anything I had right now, it was time.

"Here goes nothing." I whispered, and, extended my right index finger to the first button at the top left corner of the pad.

My finger paused just as it touched it and out of the blue, a sequence of four symbols popped up in my mind. Instinctively, I just knew it was the right code. It just...felt right.

I rose an eyebrow at this peculiar feeling but I shrugged it off as my instincts acting up and having nothing else to type, I decided to test it out, electronic beeps sounding as I began to input the code.

The moment I pressed the last button, the door sharply slid apart like an elevator door, leaving me wide-eyed in surprise.

"...Hah, what do you know. It actually worked." I chuckled, staring at my index finger, and smiled. Well then, it was time to get out of here.

Moving to the left side where the open door was, I took one last glance at the room and stepped out of it.

The moment I did, my smile fell and my body froze, my eyebrows rising, my eyes widening, and my mouth opening, as I saw something incredible.

Something so incredible, I thought I was hallucinating. That my mind was only playing tricks on me. But it was no trick. It was as real as me being alive.

...I was in a spaceship. A spaceship currently traveling through Hyperspace...

 

[Lord Reyes]

"...Incredible," I blurted out, eyes widened in shock, as I admired the scenery right outside the triangular viewports of the spaceship's bridge.

It was a tunnel, wide and expansive, cutting right through the fabric of spacetime. Space seemed to bend and warp, pulsating gently, creating brilliant streaks of bluish-white light that shifted and morphed into distinct and disorienting patterns with each passing moment.

Hyperspace was, for lack of better words, beautiful. It was so breathtaking I was thoroughly mesmerized and captivated.

It was as if I was glimpsing at the very essence of the universe itself. I couldn't take my eyes off it, couldn't even think of anything else.

It was as if all my problems had been washed away, and just watching as the spaceship journeyed through it made everything feel so small and insignificant, but in a weirdly good way.

It was almost hypnotic, and the longer I gazed into it, the more disorienting and confusing it became, as if my mind wasn't equipped to handle or understand its existence, and suddenly my head began to throb.

I grimaced, tearing my eyes away from it as the throb intensified. The next second, it intensified again, transitioning into a headache that made me grab my head in pain.

"Ah!" I yelled loudly in pain, stumbling to the side and grabbing my head with both hands as the pain skyrocketed the following second.

I'd never experienced pain like this before. It felt like someone was hammering my brain with a sledgehammer continuously, the strength or weight of the strikes increasing with each passing second.

The pain was so intense that it brought me to my knees, my body trembling, making me scream continuously in agony with all my might, my fingers clawing at my head as it hung low, my senses hazy and disoriented.

Without warning, memories, waves of memories started popping up inside my mind. They were memories of another life, another person's thoughts, experiences, knowledge, wisdom, etc. The very things that made up the essence of a sapient being.

The information was vast, so vast that it seemed almost infinite as more and more memories poured out of the deepest recesses of my mind, and as it continued, the pain became so unimaginable that I couldn't even scream again.

But then suddenly, as if my brain had decided it was full, the flow of memories or information ceased or came to a pause. Then everything stopped.

The pain, the dizziness, the shaking, everything instantly came to an end. It was as if it had vanished, like it was all an illusion. The pressure or strain I could feel in my mind was the only indication that it actually happened.

My heart was racing, heartbeats pounding so rapidly that I could hear it clearly. I was breathing heavily, my breaths labored, and my chest heaving up and down like I'd just run a marathon.

Pools of sweat snaked down from my forehead, soaking my tunic and drenching my body, increasing my discomfort. Slowly, as I gradually calmed down, my mind began to clear.

And with it came a flood of emotions such as disbelief, shock, fear, and understanding as slowly my brain began to process all the things that had just happened as well as the vast amounts of information that seemingly erupted out of my brain.

"Oh no, this can't be possible," I murmured shakily as my eyes swept the room that now felt incredibly familiar. A room I now knew everything about.

It was a wide room with black and gold walls adorned with inscriptions, marble flooring, and a high ceiling.

There were two slanted golden pillars with similar inscriptions on the right and left sides of the room, extending from the floor to support the ceiling, and in front of the walls behind me stood proudly four silver and gold sarcophagus-esque metallic pods.

There was a waist-length golden pedestal a few feet away from me that had a circular device fixated on it. Ahead of it were two comfortable-looking chairs in front of two separate consoles that had oddly shaped red orbs jutting out of them.

This was the bridge of a Tel'tak, a Goa'uld cargo ship, something that wasn't supposed to exist in real life because it was the stuff of fiction, coming from a sci-fi show I grew up watching.

"...I'm in Stargate? How is that even possible?" I muttered shakily, wide eyes open in disbelief, as my mind shifted through the information I now possessed.

Raising my left hand, I examined the exquisite triangle-like device fitted snugly on my middle and ring finger, and immediately, I knew what it was.

It was a Harakesh, the device used exclusively by a group of Goa'uld called Ashrak. Despite its size and harmless look, it was a very dangerous weapon utilized by the Ashrak for assassination and other kinds of nasty stuff.

It was something that shouldn't also exist but here it was on my hand, staring right at me. According to my new memories, I was an Ashrak called Orion, or at least this body was.

In some weird cosmic mistake, I was now in the body of an Ashrak, a dead one at that. From what I could glean from Orion's memories, he was hired by Morrigan to assassinate one of Heru'ur's most trusted underlords, a Goa'uld named Verdon, the governor of one of Heru'ur's many industrial worlds.

He managed to do it but not before he was captured and tortured slowly for days using his own Harakesh. He escaped after finding a way to kill Verdon, stealing this ship and jumping into Hyperspace.

But not before it took a couple of shots from the Ma'Tok staffs of Verdon's Jaffa. He had completed his mission and escaped certain death, but the damage had already been done.

With no healing device or sarcophagus lying around to heal the damage done by the torture beam of his own weapon, the only thing he could do was lie down and die painfully in the cargo hold.

Then somehow, I came along and took over his body or, more specifically, the body of his host. It was unbelievable, even as the memories played in my mind, the whole thing still felt surreal, like I was in a dream.

Right here in my mind was the full history of his life. All the things he'd done in the five hundred years he'd lived were fully accessible to me in crystal clear detail. I even had all his knowledge and the understanding to use it.

It was as if I was him and he was me. The only difference being I couldn't feel what he felt, at least not all of it. The satisfaction he felt after killing Verdon was there as well as the rage he felt after being tortured but it was very faint and almost not there.

It was hard to put into words what I knew and could see in my mind. There was just so much knowledge. The scientific knowledge alone was so advanced that even given a thousand years humans wouldn't begin to understand even half of it.

Unfortunately, there were some things I could see also that were so horrifying, i could only assume my brain was so tired to process them fully, leaving my sanity and mental health intact.

Aside from that, the most important thing was that I finally understood my situation. I didn't want to believe it, but it was the undeniable truth. It was all too real to be anything else than reality.

I was here. I existed. I could feel, sense, and think it, so it had to be real. I had been reincarnated or transmigrated into the Stargate universe in the body of an alien. Fiction had now become my reality.

I sighed weakly as the realization set in, bringing a grim smile to my new face. I had died and come back to life. It was kinda funny the more I thought about it.

I didn't know why but knowing I'd just died didn't hit or affect me like I thought it would. Sure, I felt a little uneasy about the whole thing but overall, I was okay, happy even.

Maybe it was all these new memories and experiences or even the fact that I had no one left back at home who I'd left behind but I felt fine, a little mangled up, but nonetheless, I was alright.

After all, I'd been given a second chance at life, a chance to start afresh in a whole new exciting universe. It could be fictional or not, I didn't really care.

Besides, at this point, who knew whether it was my universe that was rather fiction and this the true reality? Either way, I didn't give a damn.

This was the opportunity of a lifetime, or was it lifetimes? Anyways, it was something anyone would literally kill to have and I was glad to have it.

I didn't know why I'd been given this chance or who or what brought me here or gave me this gift, but I was extremely thankful and would always remember it.

When I was a child, I'd always wanted to change the world for the better, in one way or the other. It was a dream I'd thrown at the back of my mind after growing up and learning the harsh realities of life.

But now, with the things I knew, I could easily make it a reality and do so much more. And that was what I was going to do, even if I had to die trying...

Smiling, I shook my head gently and took a deep breath, inhaling some of the chilly air into my lungs, and exhaled slowly, clearing up some of the ache in my head and slowly rose to my feet, looking at the control consoles ahead of me flashing with blue sparks of electricity.

"It's time to check out what's going on with this ship," I commented, taking a step towards the consoles. "Hopefully, the Ma'Tok blasts didn't do too much damage," I added, smiling wryly, but before I could proceed further, the ship started shaking violently.

I stumbled unsteadily to the side, crashing into one of the slanted gold pillars in the room hardly with my shoulder and winced from the pain.

Quickly, I grabbed onto the edges firmly with my hands for support as the ship shook like it was experiencing an earthquake, three escape pods tumbling to the ground with a bang.

"This doesn't look good." I clicked my tongue and frowned as the shaking continued, my body shaking with it.

The sparks increased in intensity, and the circular device on the golden pedestal that served as the source of the beeps began flashing bright red and bellowed one distinct beep as the shaking came to a halt.

Immediately, fear coursed through my system as instinctively, I understood what it meant. A timer had been set for the self-destruct sequence.

"Shit!" I cursed and quickly went to it, my head bent as my hands fell on the sides of the pedestal. Immediately, I started reading the symbols on the small screens ringing it that indicated time in Goa'uld.

"This is bad, really bad," I ran my fingers through my messy hair as I realized how much time the ship had left, my eyebrows knitting together as anger welled up within me.

The timer had been set to ten minutes. Meaning, in just ten minutes, this ship would blow up into pieces, taking me with it. Orion didn't do this so it must've been the damage the ship took when it was escaping from the Jaffa.

One of the nasty blasts must've caused a malfunction in the self-destruct mechanism, triggering an unsolicited self-destruct sequence.
I had to stop it and stop it fast.

Otherwise, my beloved second chance would end up being my last. Biting my lip, I quickly moved away from the pedestal and advanced to the control console on the left.

I held back a yelp as I got shocked the moment I touched it, my right hand getting numb. Shaking it, I forced the numbness out of my hand and moved it to touch the red orb.

The orb instantly flashed red as the neural interface activated, linking my mind to the control interface of the ship.

The console hummed, and a wide and crystal clear yellow holographic HUD popped up in front of me, showcasing the ship's schematics that were color-labeled, indicating signs of structural damage, as well as the key control systems of the ship.

With the grace of an expert, as if I'd done this a thousand times over, I used my mind to shift through the unneeded data and controls until I got to the system that linked the consoles to the ship's computer core.

Another loud beep echoed from behind me, signaling one minute gone, as I tried deactivating the self-destruct sequence to no avail, increasing my frustration.

Countless thoughts and ideas flashed in my mind as I began to think of a way to solve this problem.

The mechanism was malfunctioning just as I expected. The link it had with the computer core had been severed, leaving it out of sync with the rest of the ship's systems.

The only way to stop it now was to head to the engine room at the back of the ship and fix it, but I had neither the time nor the tools for that job.

If I wanted to survive, the best course of action was to jump ship. Looking back, I glanced at the sole escape pod standing proudly in front of the black and gold wall near the entrance or the cargo hold.

But where? Where could I go? The pre-plotted course would take days to reach, and there were no habitable star systems directly in that route.

The only thing I could do or try was to plot another course. There were bound to be other star systems nearby, systems outside this hyperspace lane that'd have hospitable planets.

The ship's database had starcharts I could search, and with luck, I should be able to find at least one habitable planet nearby that I'd be able to escape to using a pod before the ship exploded.

But it was very risky. Even if I did find a habitable planet, there was no guarantee it would be suitable enough for survival.

I could end up on a desert planet with sand stretching for miles on end, a barren or desolate freezing wasteland, or worse, a green primordial planet with human sized bugs that would use me as an incubator until their children eventually grew to eat their way out of me.

There was really no way to be sure. Anything could happen.

"Not like I have any other choice. The alternative is far worse," I sighed helplessly, pulling up the star charts with a thought, as another beep resounded. "I just have to take a chance and hope for the best."

Scrolling through the known systems and planets nearby, I paused, an eyebrow raising in surprise when I saw one particular solar system that had one particular planet.

"Tauri...that's Earth. Part of Ra's domain," I said as I selected it, making a three-dimensional image of the familiar blue-green planet pop up on the HUD.

If I were a Goa'uld, I would probably not have even considered it, but luckily, I wasn't one and borrowing the words of Dorothy, 'There's just no place like home.'

With a wide grin spreading across my face, I immediately got to work. Plotting the new course for the ship, I leveraged the ship's advanced computer core and started creating and implementing a new algorithm that would save me and bring me out of this mess.

Thousands of lines of complicated Goa'uld coding flashed continuously on the HUD as I created the new algorithm as quickly as I could, beeps resounding behind me as each minute passed, loudly reminding me of the limited time I had left.

"...And done!" I muttered as I inputted the last line of code into the system and removed my hand from the orb after activating the program.

The next second, I turned and swiftly ran towards the standing pod. A beep sounded as I pushed the button at the center of the pod, revealing its dark and spacious insides as it opened up like a casket.

Quickly, I moved into it and it closed automatically, covering me in darkness and cold. The ship trembled slightly as it came to a sudden stop, and immediately, I felt the pod being released, free-falling and moving downwards.

All of a sudden, I heard a deafening and frightening boom that reverberated everywhere, rattling my ears, and accompanying it was a large and powerful shockwave that assaulted the escape pod and me within it, making it quake terribly.

The force of the wave knocked my head roughly to the front of the pod, creating a hard and very painful collision that made me extremely dizzy and hazy.

I could hardly feel anything as my eyes slowly began to close by themselves, my vision darkening as a high-pitched whine rang in my ears, making me nauseous.

As the pod continued its descent, I could faintly feel the insides of the pod heating up and finally relaxed, smiling weakly, as I realized the pod had broken into the atmosphere.

"...It worked," I managed to whisper, just before my eyes closed, and I sunk into the sweet embrace of unconsciousness.

 

[Lord Reyes]

It was a dream, but at the same time, it wasn't. It was more realistic, more engaging, and much more lucid than anything you could ever imagine.


It was as if I was reliving my whole life again, or in this case, other lives, perpetuated ad infinitum.

The first time, I was swimming in a river or lake, something which wouldn't be unusual if it wasn't for the fact that I wasn't human. No, I was a serpentine creature waggling through the waters with my tail, like a fish.

I could feel and recollect the coolness of the water on my scaly skin, how my muscles tensed and stretched as I swam and even how I breathed in the water.

It was insane, the sheer amount of detail, associated with this. I had full access to the sensory perception and feelings of this body and it was...uncanny.

It was like I was it and it was me, and I would've completely believed it was reality if I could control 'my' body, but I couldn't. Like I said earlier, I was reliving a whole life again, only it wasn't exactly my life.

It was odd what I was experiencing but in a fascinating way, it felt normal, like it was just as it should be.

I watched or experienced 'myself,' swimming, hunting for food, battling for territory, and defending it against creatures such as myself or members of 'my race,' feasting on my dead kin after a battle, and a whole slew of other things.

I could feel all the emotions associated with them also: the joy, hunger, anger, everything. I was an animal through and through, guided and fueled only by the instincts passed down from generations to generations, and it was disturbing.

I experienced countless lifetimes in this form, more than thousands, and in each lifetime, it was always the same pattern. Eat, fight, sleep, and explore. There was nothing more, nothing else.

I was an animal, a beast of nature, and after a while, I started enjoying it. The monotony was... fun. Then suddenly, it all changed, my perspective shifted.

This time around I was inside an anthropomorphic lifeform. A being tall, strong, fierce, and intelligent, my body wrapped around its spine, our minds and consciousness linked together.

With that came a whole new level of sensations and emotions that I or this body had never before encountered. The new bodies we had changed everything.

Due to the access of information we were privy to from the host, we adapted to it quickly and with that same speed, adopted its culture, language, and behavior, adding it to our own.

We then termed ourselves as the 'Goa'uld,' which meant 'Children of the Gods' in our new tongue, and our hosts as 'Unas,' which meant 'The First Ones.'

I watched and experienced as we formed tribes or clans, waged wars against each other for territory and resources, and used the defeated or conquered unblended Unas as our slaves.

We experienced the pleasures and advantages of using hosts and became addicted to it, suppressing the host's original consciousness as we felt reluctant to share something that wasn't ours.

Immediately, using the reproductive features of our hosts, we began fertilizing our queens so that the next generation would find it easier to blend and use these new bodies.

We learned more about our environment and our new world or nature, and with time, we learned to manipulate and use our surroundings to suit our wishes, creating things to make our lives and work easier.

We discovered a fascinating device after a period of gradual learning and exploration of our world. A large ring-shaped device made out of 'Quadah,' the objects or rocks we mined and used to make our crude weapons and devices.

Believing it was left on our world by powerful gods, our curiosity got the best of us, and we began to study it in order to unlock its divine secrets.

After countless generations, our knowledge and wisdom passed down perfectly to each one, we finally discovered a way to use the Ring of the Gods.

It gave us access to whole new worlds, showed us that there was something out there much greater than we initially believed, and increased our understanding of what we came to know later on as our universe and existence.

And we wanted to have it all. From that point on, we didn't rest.

We formed a loose alliance or coalition of tribes, united under the leadership, under the strongest and most fierce Alpha Male called Atok and using our superior weapons and technology as well as slave armies of unblended ones, we began to explore the new domains opened up for us.

Through our travels and exploration, we learned more about the gods who we now called the Ancestors or The Ring Builders and stole their wisdom and technology, incorporating it into our own.

We built more sophisticated weapons, powerful starships to sail across the void between the stars, and other powerful technologies using the Quadah or Naquadah, leaving our homeworld to create an empire, spreading our people to other worlds.

We saved our homeworld as a breeding ground for our Unas hosts who lived in fear and oppression under our feet and power.

We met some other races, beings vastly different from our hosts and us, during these great and profound ages of exploration.

Under Atok's leadership, we traveled and conquered many worlds, discovering more of the Ancestors' technology and knowledge, and settled into an age of scientific and technological prosperity.

After a time, we became fed up with what we had. We had learned enough. We were no longer satisfied with our meager domains and wanted to use our increased knowledge and technology to conquer new worlds and increase our domains.

There was a whole galaxy out there for us to subjugate, full of untold riches and spoils that would just rot and fade away into oblivion if we didn't acquire them.

But Atok didn't think like that. He was content and didn't see the need for us to bite off more than we could chew.

This created discontent among the individual tribes, leading to petty squabbles that were slowly weakening the integrity of the empire and would have in time crumbled and divided it, creating an era of civil war.

Apep, eldest and physically superior son of Atok, sensing this and dissatisfied with his father's rule, challenged him for his position as leader of the Goa'uld.

They fought in public fashion, and Apep, proving his superiority, killed his father brutally in front of all the Goa'uld, gaining the right and the power to lead all Goa'uld.

It was within his right as chieftain to claim all the forces of his father as his own, but instead, he divided it equally amongst the strongest tribal leaders, soliciting their stewardship.

He declared them as his brothers and sisters in rulership, though still remaining firmly in control. The underlords, Ra, Thoth, and Nut, and their servants, Osiris, Isis, and Bastet, pledged their loyalty to him and the Goa'uld united under one firm and ambitious leadership.

Finally united, the Goa'uld swept across the galaxy like a plague, conquering more and more worlds, encountering and subjugating new races as their numbers swelled, thus creating a golden age for the Goa'uld.

But then, out of the blue, one minor Goa'uld named Anubis rose through the ranks with unforeseen momentum and became Apep's most trusted underlord and advisor.

Despite the repeated warnings from Ra and the rest of his stewards,

Apep trusted Anubis completely, coming to love and adore him as a son, giving him more power than his beloved brothers and sisters.

Crazed for power, Anubis schemed behind Apep's back, using the immense power afforded to him for nefarious purposes and in time, managed to drive Apep mad using the Sarcophagus, an unstable healing device created by Thoth, based on a device invented by the Ancestors.

Then after manipulating the mentally unstable Apep to discover a hidden cache of Ancient technology, he used it to create a superweapon and murdered Apep in cold blood, devouring his symbiote before all the Goa'uld and claimed his dominion for himself.

Outraged and heartbroken at the death of their brother Apep, Ra and the rest of the Underlords united and waged war against Anubis and his forces.

Planets and entire solar systems were destroyed in this brutal war of revenge, untold and incalculable lives lost in its wake. After centuries of bitter war, Ra and his forces triumphed and dismantled Anubis' superweapon, banishing him to the outer edge of the galaxy.

The empire fractured and suffering, the Goa'uld Ra instituted himself as the ruler of the Goa'uld, dividing the crystals that constituted Anubis' superweapon to his most loyal servants, knowing our race's bickering would never allow anyone to create the weapon again.

He fashioned a new hierarchy, appointing some of the Goa'uld as rulers to help him govern our race, terming them System Lords.

It wasn't easy for him. There were rebellions and betrayals from Goa'uld like Sokar, depleted Unas stock, and a myriad of complications. Still, he succeeded in coming out on top each and every time, continuing his reign as the Supreme System Lord of the Goa'uld.

His reign led to a long prosperous period of exploration, expansion, and conquest that led to us finding more deposits of Naquadah which were used to further advance our race and empire.

It didn't take long before we discovered the Asgard and the Furlings, races more advanced and powerful than us. Arrogant, we provoked an attack, and this almost led to our downfall.

Flying in their terrifying hammerhead ships, the Asgard with the aid of the Furlings crushed and bullied the mighty fleets of the Goa'uld, killing so many of us that we had to retreat embarrassingly to lick our wounds and recuperate.

Desperate and running out of resources since our Unas stock had been nearly wiped due to the conflict and we had lost many of our important planets, we launched a daring surprise attack after long years of fragile peace and landed a crushing blow on the Asgard-Furling alliance, destroying the world they used as the base of their alliance, allowing us to gain what we had lost and more.

But we came to regret this in the years that followed. They attacked us with such vengeance and intensity that we were almost wiped out, only surviving because they weren't cruel enough to exterminate us and underestimated us, not believing us to be a threat anymore due to the beating they'd given us.

This was the darkest period of our history, something we couldn't and would never forget. From that day, we began to fear the Asgard and their fearsome hammerhead ships, and we made sure that fear was passed down to the successive generations so they'd learn from our mistakes and never provoke the Asgard, lest we once again earn their wrath.

It was during this period that Ra, who had somehow managed to steal the body of an Asgard but was slowly dying due to the Asgard physiology being incompatible with that of a Goa'uld symbiote, stumbled upon an undiscovered and alien star system.

There he found a lush and untamed world. A world occupied by a primitive race of bipedal creatures who bowed at his majesty, proclaiming him due to his technology.

Intrigued by their fragile and unique body, and with no other choice, he decided to blend with one of them and that was all it took for another revolution to take place.

It was incredible, the sensations he experienced in this new host. Sound, taste, smell, sight, everything was so vivid it was almost hypnotic to the Goa'uld.

Their bodies were beautiful, living works of art, incredibly easy to repair and use, and they were so compatible with the symbiote that it was a miracle.

They were the perfect race. The race most suitable and ideal for the Goa'uld. The race that would solve all of our problems and elevate them once more on the galactic stage.

Quickly, Ra seized control of the world and enslaved the population.

Now possessing the solution to our race's dilemma and the key to our survival, he shared this amazing discovery.

Fascinated, most immediately abandoned the now unappealing bodies of the Unas and blended with the beings who they referred to as the Tauri, later calling them humans.

Ra then divided the planet and shared the human race with his brethren to gain more of their support and loyalty, each spearheading an age of myth and legend created to deify us in a way that instilled the most fervent loyalty and worship from them.

From there we seeded the new slaves across the galaxy and our domains, using the Tauri as our slaves, warriors, builders, incubators for our young, etc., creating a new dawn for our civilization and empire.

But there were downsides to everything in this universe. Our new hosts made us more powerful, but it also made us more decadent due to the myriad number of pleasures we were now capable of enjoying and experiencing.

With our positive emotions and sensations heightened beyond our wildest dreams, so was our dark side and imaginations.

With our lust, greed, wrath, envy, pride, sloth, and gluttony intensified, we engaged and pleasured ourselves in all sorts of ways, ways we never even dreamed of.

We tortured the human slaves we owned in all manner of ways, exploring and experimenting to find out the best ways to make their screams of pain and agony the more pleasing and enjoyable to our ears.

We slaughtered and eradicated whole planets filled with millions of humans who only existed to worship us and do our bidding, when we felt bored or slighted in any way at all, watching the destruction from our flagships in space with content and wide smiles on our faces.

We engaged in all manner of sexual relations, using hordes of human slaves as pleasure toys, willingly or unwillingly, to drown ourselves in the addictive pleasures of the flesh, continuously finding out more sick ways to make it even more pleasurable.

We made them sacrifice their young in our names, infants even, just to see how far our subjects would go and to satisfy our egos.

We made sport of them, watching them kill themselves in arenas or games, promising the victors untold riches and salvation, while laughing behind their backs at their foolishness and ignorance.

We made them dig our naquadah, gold, silver, and diamond mines, among others, in harsh deplorable conditions, giving them no help whatsoever when we could easily do so, just because we wanted to use and exploit them to their limits, our parasitic sides fully exposing themselves.

We did a whole lot of horrifying and evil things to them, things we knew were wrong since we inherited the human sense of morality. Things that made us clash with the Asgard again.

Still, we did it anyway and enjoyed it with all our hearts, with not even an ounce of remorse, since we believed in our own lies, convincing ourselves that we were truly Gods, all-powerful and all-knowing Gods, who had every right to do what we wanted.

And I saw, felt, and remembered it all as if I did all of them just last Tuesday. I had experienced, no, lived through tens of thousands of years worth of Goa'uld history, history and memories stored in the genetic memory of Orion.

I had everything. All their knowledge, all their wisdom, all their experiences, every single thing. I had inherited it all and as I opened my eyes in the darkness of the escape pod, after reliving all this, I knew.

...I knew, I just knew, that there was no way I was ever going to be the same again...

 

[Lord Reyes]

My stomach began to churn as I came to, intense nausea overwhelming my senses as my eyes adjusted to the dimness of the pod.

Quickly, my hand pounded on the release button, and the pod opened with a soft whir. My body immediately moved on its own, and before I realized it, I was down on my knees on the hot cratered ground.

With my head down, mouth open, and one hand grasping my stomach, I yelped and started vomiting, expelling whatever food or water was left in my stomach. I didn't stop until all that remained was stomach acid.

Panting heavily, my body weaker than before, I fell on my side loosely and wiped my lips with my sleeve, ignoring the putrid stench of my stomach contents behind me as horrid memories flashed across my mind, making me grab the sides of my head.

I could still see them clearly in my mind—all the things the Goa'uld had done, everything. I had almost no words to describe the magnitude of the evil I could see.

The things playing in my mind were so horrifying and utterly evil that they made the Holocaust and whatever atrocities mankind had committed over the years seem like poor jokes.

Worst of all, I could feel them just as clearly. I could feel the utmost joy and pleasure of torturing a Jaffa or any slave, enjoying their shrieks and screams like it was the sweetest melody I'd ever heard.

I could feel the amusement of seeing millions upon millions of innocent lives being burned alive and destroyed by fleets of motherships bombarding the cities and civilizations from above.

I could feel, almost taste, the immense pride and arrogance when millions, sometimes billions, of humans and Jaffa bowed down before me in worship and adoration, willing to sacrifice their lives for me in a heartbeat.

I could feel these and so much more, and it made me sick, sicker than I'd ever thought was possible.

Just lying there, I felt so nauseated that I was grateful I had nothing left in my stomach. Otherwise, I'd just puke and puke until I ended up puking my guts out, literally.

As my mind raced with all these evil thoughts, memories, and emotions, their sheer quantity threatening to drown me, I closed my eyes in an attempt to block it all away and started focusing my mind on other things.

My mind latched onto the wealth of advanced scientific knowledge stored in my mind—everything from botany and bioengineering to architecture and quantum physics or mechanics—and thankfully, it helped.

I poured all of my focus and mind power into these thoughts. My mind and nausea began to clear as the quantity of scientific information and the feelings of curiosity, amazement, and joy outweighed the negative memories and buried them.

Adding on the nearly overwhelming hunger and thirst I was experiencing, my mind finally cleared, and I took a large deep breath of the earthy-scented air around me spiced with the scent of burnt vegetation and charred earth, calming myself down.

I forced my torso up weakly until I was seated on the warm hard ground, hissing in pain as aches and stinging sensations spread all over my body.

Shifting my head, my body unconsciously tensed up, and my slightly hazy eyes immediately started scouring my surroundings as my alertness and senses heightened.

I was in the forest, surrounded by tall green trees on every side, whose dense canopies blocked a majority of the sunlight, their thick trunks crawling with vines.

Green grasses and moss carpeted the floor, with overgrown weeds as tall as my ankles. Fallen logs covered in moss and rocks were scattered haphazardly all over the place.

A cacophony of insect cries and buzzes, the squeaks of squirrels, and the chirps of birds filled the place, making the forest feel more alive.

I sighed in relief and relaxed when I found no immediate signs of danger, cracking a weak smile as I saw a lizard climbing one of the trees.

I had no idea where I was in particular. All I knew was that I was on Earth, and that was enough for me. The algorithm worked just as planned.

It calculated the exact time it'd take the ship to reach Earth, forced it to stop right above it, and then lastly, ejected the pod just before it exploded.

I didn't have the time or chance to choose the exact place the pod would've ejected towards, so for all I knew, I could be in any continent or country right now. Luckily, I didn't fall in water. That would've been a disaster if it happened.

Now that I was relatively safe, it was time to find civilization. Then, hopefully, I'd find something to eat and drink before I could sort out all these memories and think about what to do next or how to proceed in this new reality or world.

Gritting my teeth, I ignored my pain and carefully rose to my feet, nearly stumbling as my tired legs wobbled. I glanced behind me at the escape pod and frowned lightly, thinking about what to do about it.

I didn't want any attention just as I had come here, but the pod was bound to give me away. If I had any strength, I'd bury it, but unfortunately, it was taking me almost all I had just to continue standing. I had no energy to spare.

I also didn't have any explosive charges on me or weapons that I could use to destroy it, so the only thing I could do was leave it here and hope no one would stumble upon it.

I didn't know how long I was unconscious for, but I knew it was fairly long, possibly hours. Judging by the fact that there were no search parties around or billowing smoke, hoping to find a meteorite or a UFO, I had to assume no one saw or noticed me when I crash-landed, so it'd be hidden for a while.

At least until I'd established myself here or had the resources to take care of it. I'd deal with it later when I got the chance, but for now, it was time to move. There was no reason to stay here any longer.

Nodding, I brought my attention back to what was in front of me, and choosing a random direction, I slowly climbed out of the small crater and started walking. Before I realized it, an hour had gone by as my feet took me through the peaceful slightly dim forest.

Exhausted, panting heavily as sweat dripped down my body, my legs aching so much they almost buckled under my weight, I took a seat on one of the moss-covered logs lying on the ground.

"Just a little more," I huffed to myself, my chest rising and falling, as I ran my dirty right hand through my messy blond hair. "Just a little more, and you'll be out of here." I encouraged myself, nodded, and stood up after taking a couple moments of rest and promptly continued my journey.

It didn't take long until I reached a small clearing where beyond it, a few meters ahead after a thick bush, a concrete road stood, stretching into the distance.

The corners of my lips curled up at this, and hurriedly, I increased my pace and moved towards it. Walking through the bush, I arrived on the sidewalk and paused, examining the road.

Just then, I heard the faint hum of a car's engine coming from my left. Turning my head in that direction, I saw a blue car driving towards me, an old model Honda Accord.

Elated, I stretched out my right hand and raised the thumb of my right hand, curling the rest of the fingers into my palm, doing the American hitchhiking sign, hoping to get a lift.

The car smoothly drove by with a gust of wind, leaving me in the dust, as if I wasn't even there.

Unperturbed, I kept my thumb up and waited for the next car. A few minutes later, another car came, this time a Mustang. But just like the one before, the driver ignored me, driving away.

This happened three more times, and they all did basically the same thing. The drivers simply passed right by me and drove away.

The last one slowed down as it reached me, but the moment the driver, a young woman, had a good look at me, she sped away in fear, leaving me alone once again.

I facepalmed and sighed helplessly. I should've expected this. There was no chance anyone in their right minds would pick up anyone who looked like I did right now.

I hadn't gotten a good look at myself, but with all the dirt, grime, and dried blood plastered all over my medieval-looking clothes, I probably looked like some deranged serial killer or something.

To be completely honest, if I was in their shoes, I would do the same thing. It was understandable, their behavior.

But still, just because I understood their reluctance didn't mean I was okay with it. In fact, I was getting pissed. Between the hunger, thirst, exhaustion, I was slowly going crazy, and in time, it'd turn into desperation.

A whole brigade of negative thoughts was marching all over my mind now, making it harder to block the evil parts of the memories I was keeping buried away. But I calmed myself down with a deep breath and continued doing the sign.

I didn't know what would happen if I lost my patience, so I hoped, prayed, that someone would find it in their hearts to give me a lift. Otherwise, with the things going on in my mind, I was afraid I'd do something, something bad.

After a while, a Volkswagen came along, but it did the same thing as the rest of them. The next after it did the same, and my blood ran cold as my face fell into a heavy frown, my hands balled into fists in anger, and my heart froze.

The next minute, a Dodge truck came along. I forced myself to do the sign, but when I realized it was going to skip right by me, just like the rest before it, something suddenly snapped in me, and I lost all my patience.

I stepped into the road. The truck driver's eyes widened in shock seeing this, and quickly he stepped on the brakes, making the tires screech loudly as the vehicle skidded forcefully to a stop a few steps away from me, white smoke billowing everywhere.

"You crazy bastard!" The plump middle-aged driver with balding brown hair, wearing casual clothing, craned his neck out of his window and cursed furiously at me, with a southern drawl, as I walked up to the driver's door.

"Got a death wish or something!? You wanna die is that it!?" He yelled as I reached the door, his face twisted, and his brown eyes widened in anger.

I ignored him and calmly stretched my left hand towards his face, instinctively priming the Harakesh with my mind.

It hummed ominously as it activated, three small beams of silver light spewing out and extending from its three sides to coalesce into a tiny orb of light, the three beams acting as its pillars.

"What are you do—" Surprising filling his face, he didn't have a chance to complete his sentence before he froze, his eyes glazed, as I pointed the orb to the space between his eyebrows.

After a couple of seconds, the orb of light and its pillars dissipated as I deactivated the device and moved away from there to the other side of the truck, opening the passenger door and climbing into the car.

As I closed the car door and relaxed into the seat, the dazed driver snapped out of it and turned his head to look at me with a wide smile on his bearded face.

"Where are you headed, boss?" He asked me politely as I wore my seat belt, clicking as it locked into its holder.

"Just drive." I didn't spare him a glance as I answered softly, gazing at the woods I came out of through the window on my right after rolling the glass down.

"Alright." I saw him nod with the corner of my eye, and immediately, he stepped on the pedal, and the car started moving.

As the car drove away, the scenery flashing by as the cold breeze licked my face and blew strands of my hair back, the realization of what I'd just done settled in, and I couldn't help but sigh, my face scrunching up in disgust.

I kept telling myself that I had to do it. That it was a necessary action. That it was my only option. But that wasn't the problem; that wasn't what made me disgusted at myself.

The problem was I had just brainwashed someone, manipulated his mind in order to get what I wanted, and I didn't even feel sorry about it.

Hell, I didn't even feel anything...

 

[Lord Reyes]

"See you later, boss," the driver, Henry, said with a smile as I got out of the car, holding a plastic bag.

"Later, Henry," I forced a smile and said as I closed the door with a thud. "Have a good day."

"Yeah, you too." He waved and then drove off, leaving me alone in front of the tall red and pink neon motel sign.

I watched the car as it drove away along the busy road filled with cars, and when it disappeared from my view, I turned and walked toward the one-story motel.

Opening the door, I walked into the small, barely furnished brown-painted lobby and stepped to the small wooden counter on the left side of it.

Behind the counter was a nice-looking young woman with long brown hair, small amber-colored eyes framed by short dark eyebrows, a round fair face, and thin pink lips.

She was wearing a black top, tight denim jeans that failed to hide her curves, and a black choker wrapped around her white neck. She had all the right curves in the right places and a sizable bust emphasized by her top.

She was sucking on a lollipop while reading a fashion magazine, and as I paused before the counter, she didn't take her eyes off it as she asked with a bored and dry tone, "How can I help you?"

"I want a room," I was miffed by her tone, but I ignored it and said calmly, "How much for one night?"

"Twenty-five dollars," she answered succinctly, flipping a page.

"I'll be here for two," I nodded and withdrew a fifty dollar bill from the pocket of my black jeans and placed it on the counter.

"Sure," she remarked, her eyes still on the magazine, and took the money, slipping it into a cabinet. "Can I see some ID please?"

I almost winced at the question. I was hoping this was the kind of motel that didn't care about that sort of thing. Now, it was time to see if my people skills were the way I still remembered them.

"Yeah, about that," I scratched the back of my head and put on an innocent smile. "I was kinda hoping you'd do me a favor."

At my words, she finally withdrew her eyes from the magazine and looked at me, an eyebrow raising as she placed the magazine down.

"You see, I was camping and somehow, I forgot about it and carelessly left it in the woods," I said, scratching the back of my head to hide my embarrassment with a shy smile on my face. "I'd really appreciate it if you could look the other way, just this once. I promise I'll make it up to you," I pleaded with a cheesy smile, making sure to sound humble and desperate.

She didn't say anything and just sat there silently, staring at my face, with hers impassive.

This continued for a while, my smile almost breaking as I had a compulsion to just brainwash her, but I bit down that feeling and kept the shy smile on my face, staring back at the girl.

Just as I was about to get creeped out, she smirked, stood up from her seat to take a key from the key holder attached to the wall behind her, and then placed it on the counter, the smirk still playing on her face.

"I can help you out and look the other way but...," she said and paused for a few seconds, her voice soft and edgy. "I'd need something in return," she continued sneakily with her smirk.

I nodded seriously and smiled, "Of course, name your price." I expected this and I was ready to tip her any amount she wanted, as long as I could afford it of course.

"You'll have to take me out for dinner when I get off," her smirk turned into a coy smile and an eyebrow rose in surprise.

"For real?" I asked unsurely, my voice laced with surprise as I gave her a weird look. "You're sure that's what you want?"

"Yeah, I'm sure," she chuckled, gave me a once-over, and then nodded with a sly smile, one hand on her hips. "You interested in the deal or not?"

"I'm interested," I answered quickly with a smile before she became offended and had a change of heart. "When do you get off?"

"Eight," she informed with a satisfied smile and stretched out the key to me. "Don't be late," she reminded with a playful smile, but I could pick the thinly veiled threat in her tone.

"I won't," I took the key and nodded, my lips forming a grateful smile. "Thank you."

"Don't worry about it," she waved it off nonchalantly and sat down, grabbing her magazine with her left hand. "See you later, handsome," she flashed me a wave.

Nodding at her with a smile on my face, I glanced at the room number etched on the key and walked toward the end of the corridor.

I reached it in no time and inserting the key into the doorknob, I twisted it, pushed it open, and stepped into the room. A small dim cream-painted room met me as I entered.

It was moderately furnished with two chairs, a small table, a television, and a small, well-laid bed on the left side of the room in front of the west wall.

There was a door on my right, on the east wall, which could only lead to the bathroom, and there were open-curtained blinders on the wall near the bed that allowed the rays of the sun to filter into the room.

All in all, it was a nice and surprisingly clean room, something I didn't really expect from a cheap motel such as this. Until I got more cash, this room would have to do for now.

I locked the door, moved to the bed, and placed the plastic bag on it, then rummaged through it to take out a bar of soap, a toothbrush, a towel, and a bathing sponge.

They were things I bought using some of the money I 'borrowed' from Henry after we stopped at a gas station in Red Lodge to refuel his truck before we came to Livingston, where this motel was.

It was there I had the opportunity to clean myself a bit using the restroom and throw away my clothes, changing into the red and black flannel shirt, black jeans, and black loafers I was wearing, borrowing them from Henry's luggage.

One day, after settling down, I'd have to remind myself to look for him and pay back all the things I'd borrowed. It was just the right thing to do.

Slipping out of my clothes, I removed the Harakesh from my left hand and hid it under the bed, then taking the items, I immediately stepped into the bathroom.

It took a little over thirty minutes before I was comfortable enough with the state of my body to step out of the shower after brushing my teeth.

With my body and hair wet, a white towel wrapped around my waist, I stood in front of the mirror attached to the wall above the sink and examined my body through my reflection.

I had a tall, lean, and slightly buff athletic body toned pretty much everywhere. I had a heart-shaped face with high cheekbones, almond-shaped grey eyes framed by thin dark sharp eyebrows, an aquiline nose, a pale complexion, thin pink lips, and a bright blond straight hair that fell gently on my wet shoulders.

I was handsome, and not to sound narcissistic, but I was charming, devastatingly so. It was almost unreal. But I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. Orion made absolutely sure it looked this way.

The Goa'uld were like that. They loved 'perfect' host bodies. They would take a handsome or beautiful person as a host, and then further improve or perfect it by the use of a Sarcophagus, cosmetics, and their own innate healing ability.

The result of these enhancements was right before me. A healthy, strong, flawless, and unblemished body that would make most females blush with just a look.

And I was benefiting from it. I'd make sure to thank Orion and his Ancestors some other time when I'd decided not to curse their names and awful their guts.

Frowning as some thoughts flashed in my mind, I turned around and walked out of the bathroom. Closing the blinders, I wiped myself clean and wore my clothes.

I removed the Harakesh from under the bed, slipped it into my left hand, and now feeling comfortable and safe, I plopped down on the bed, elbows on my thighs as I relaxed under the ceiling fan and delved into my thoughts.

It was time to think. Time to plan my next steps and decide my course of action. First, I'd list down what I knew or had uncovered.

The most important fact I knew was that I was in the Stargate universe, on Earth. The date was April 3, 1984, twelve to thirteen years before the plot began.

I was in the body or host of Orion, an Ashrak, with all his memories and the genetic memory of the Goa'uld.

And lastly, I was screwed. Why? Because I was in Stargate. A universe filled with parasitic and egomaniac galactic overlords who destroy civilizations for fun, space vampires who see humans as cattle, powerful insect-like machines who only wanted to devour and replicate, mysterious planet builders, and God-like cosmic entities who basically wanted everyone to worship them.

When it was just a TV show, I absolutely loved it, but now that it was reality, I couldn't even laugh. This universe, no, this galaxy alone was wild and terrifying.

Worst of all, I could be in any of the infinite alternate realities or dimensions that made up the Stargate multiverse, and that alone was enough to freak me out.

After all, I could be in a universe where the Goa'uld were just months away from bombarding Earth from orbit and conquering it to enslave the planet again.

A universe where the Asgard had been defeated by the Replicators, giving them free passage into the Milky Way.

A universe where the Ori already knew of the Milky Way and were already on their way to launch their crusade, or alternately, a universe where the Wraith knew the location of Earth.

Or... a universe where Senator Kinsey was already president of the United States. It was a thought that made me shudder, a shiver running down my cold spine.

The possibilities were endless, and the more I thought about it, the more somber and serious I became. This universe, regardless of which one I was in, was dangerous, frightening to be exact.

I had no plot armor to save me like O'Neil and the rest of the main characters had in the plot. If I wanted to live and survive till the end, there was only one thing I could do.

I had to gain power, become strong and powerful enough that whoever came my way, whether human, Asgardian, Wraith, The Tokra, the Ori, and even the bastards that called themselves the Goa'uld wouldn't stand a chance.

Power was the only currency in this Galaxy and universe, and if I wanted to do something with my new life, I had to get enough of it. Else, it wouldn't be long before I found myself in the grave, and I wasn't counting on a third chance.

The good news was, I had something to help me, an advantage to tip the scales in my favor. I knew the future.

I had an idea of what was going to happen, and I had enough knowledge to jump-start my own interstellar civilization if I wanted to. And I was going to abuse the hell out of it to ensure my safety.

Suddenly, my stomach grumbled loudly, breaking me out of my thoughts. Releasing a sigh as images of large fries, huge burgers, and crispy chicken wings started popping up in my mind, I stood up and walked to the door.

But before all that could be accomplished, I had to eat something because Boy, was I starving...

 

[Lord Reyes]

Rubbing my weary, droopy eyes, my back relaxing in the wooden chair, I grabbed the disposable plastic coffee cup and took another sip of the black coffee.

I glanced at my bed, strewn haphazardly with thick college textbooks in a variety of science subjects, some open and spilled onto the floor near the bed. I sighed helplessly, switching my attention back to the primitive computer screen in front of me.

Savoring the bitterness of the beverage after taking another sip, I placed it on the side of the table and sat upright, my fingers spread on the keyboard as I started another round of typing.

Clicks and clacks filled the room as my fingers rapped against the keyboard keys rapidly, my eyes fixed on the black screen as lines and lines of binary code ran across it as quickly as my fingers moved.

As the pace of my aching fingers increased, the sounds became louder, and as they did, I found myself delving into my thoughts.

It had been two days since I crash-landed on Earth, and it hadn't been much fun. With all the disturbing memories and images running around in my head, I hadn't been sleeping much.

The most I'd been able to lie down, close my eyes, and sleep was only three hours before screams and live renditions of pain, torture, suffering, blood, guts, and orbital bombardments moved in and took over my mind.

It was doing wonders to my sanity, and it only served to increase my hatred for the Goa'uld even more with each passing second. I never really liked the Goa'uld, even when it was all just a show with them being one of the major big bads and all.

But now, seeing and experiencing all they'd done and were doing to humans all across the Galaxy, over and over again, it made me hate them. I hated them more than anything, and it was only increasing every second I lived.

I wanted to make them pay, make them pay so much they'd regret ever laying their beady eyes on humans. I wanted to eliminate them from the face of this universe, every last one of them.

The memories were changing me, turning me into something else slowly; I could feel it. My mind was taking its time adapting to it, carefully incorporating it fully into my psyche, and it was making me afraid.

I couldn't call myself a good guy, I mean, who really was? But I could confidently say I wasn't a bad guy either. I grew up in a military-inclined household with some pretty deep ties in the Russian Orthodox church, so while I wasn't religious, I had some pretty good moral standards.

I had a good sense of right and wrong, and I was afraid it was all going to be twisted completely given time. Even now, some things had changed.

A couple of days ago, the thought of using my Harakesh to brainwash people to get what I wanted would've sickened me, but now, it was normal.

Sure, I knew it was bad, but it didn't feel like it. It was just normal, like it was only right for me to use it to my advantage.

I had been using that feature of my Harakesh more frequently now. That was how I even got this original Mac computer. It was necessary; I needed it for something important, so automatically my mind just deemed it logical to use it and get it.

Luckily, I still had a sense or knew it was wrong, so I didn't abuse it. Only using it when it was necessary, but still, the fact that I'd reached this stage was, to be honest, frightening.

In time, more and more of myself would be changed. For the better or worse, I didn't truly know, but I was putting more of my money on the latter.

Luckily, my core personality didn't seem to be changing that much, so my love for the Goa'uld and their ways would always be in negative digits. I just hoped it would stay that way. Otherwise, I might just become an even bigger monster...

So, moving on to less depressing subjects, I'd been reading a lot lately. Seeing as I couldn't sleep because of all this, I decided to spend the time meaningfully.

Hence, first of all, the books from the local library. I wanted to kill time by learning or reading something, and it was working perfectly.

That was how I found out that the near-perfect memory I thought only applied to my Goa'uld memories, fortunately applied everywhere. My brain had it.

I could recollect everything I'd read with near-perfect detail. It was incredible and made the learning fun and surprisingly not so boring, but funny.

Funny because, whatever I read, especially in the scientific fields, was so primitive that it cracked me up a couple of times. Human understanding of the universe was so small that it was almost inconsequential, and it made me realize fully the scope of the disparity between the Goa'uld and human science.

It was just too low. So low it was pitiful. The Goa'uld were just too advanced. Humans hadn't even achieved stable nuclear fusion yet, and it would take decades, centuries even, before that could happen.

Yet, the Goa'uld were already out there, holding much of the Galaxy by the balls, conquering planets by the day, and even terraforming some of them completely if they were important.

That was just how it was, and it would take countless millennia naturally for them—Humans— to even reach half their level.

Fortunately, that wouldn't be the case for me. I had their knowledge; I knew their strengths and weaknesses, and unlike them, I wasn't too proud to deny them. I had their experience, so there was little chance I'd repeat their mistakes.

With enough time and resources, I'd reach and surpass them eventually. By my estimates, it wouldn't take more than a couple of decades. I had the time to make it so, but the resources were an entirely different matter.

As it stood now, I was broke, very broke. I had nothing. No identity, barely enough cash, and zero supporters or help. If I wanted to gain enough power to hold my own against the forces of this galaxy, I needed a lot more than this.

For the past day, after getting bored reading the books here, I started thinking, plotting my next moves. With my memory now enhanced, I thought back on the show and remembered some pretty crucial stuff right here on Earth that'd help me in my journey.

This little green planet tucked away in one of the remotest corners of the galaxy had some pretty awesome stuff just tucked, hidden, and buried away on it. A whole slew of alien tech.

There was the other Stargate and DHD over in the Antarctic, a living but frozen Ancient, and an Ancient outpost all hidden away in the Antarctic alone.

Then there was the overpowered Ancient healing device buried in a temple in Honduras, Hathor in stasis in her Sarcophagus buried somewhere underneath a temple in Mexico, Osiris Teltak concealed just under his temple in Egypt, and Avalon—Merlin's legendary treasury—hidden just underneath Glastonbury in England.

These were all right here on Earth, but nobody knew of them, just me, at least for now anyway. And I'd be a fool if I left them all just buried and hidden where they were until someone else got hold of them.

They were all going to be mine; there's no doubt about it. But not now. They were too far away, too out of my reach right now, and until I became stable here and got some starting resources, they'd have to remain hidden.

I had to take it one single step at a time. I had it all planned out, planned out to the letter. Now, the first thing I needed to do was build a stable foundation. It was like starting a company; you needed start-up capital first.

I didn't have it, but I knew where to, and I wasn't talking about robbing a bank. No, I had something far better. There was a Goa'uld here, a Goa'uld right here in the US.

His name was Setesh. One of Ra's underlings and the brother of Osiris, who had been living in hiding here ever since he set his brother and his mate up for Ra to remove the competition in his plot to usurp him.

Even after the humans on Earth rebelled, driving the Goa'uld away, he didn't leave with them, fearing Ra would take his life, and continued to stay here with the humans with his limited resources.

For thousands of years, he'd been living here, creating cults and religious groups as he moved from place to place, continent to continent, always leaving as soon as he attracted too much attention.

From what I could remember, he eventually settled down here in the US and created his cult again. Where particularly, I didn't remember, but I was going to find out.

Despite the fact that he was living in hiding from Ra, Setesh was still a Goa'uld, and as such, he still had a lot of riches and an impressive cache of Goa'uld technologies.

In the show, he had everything from Zat'nik'tels, Naquadah bombs, gold and jewels, a Karakesh, Transportation rings, and a whole lot of stuff. They were things I really needed to set up my foundation, and I planned to steal them all from him.

Then kill him. The fewer Goa'uld there were on this planet, the safer I'd feel.

So for the last couple of hours, I'd been trying to hack into the CIA database to get some lead on him because knowing them, they'd by all means have a file on him as a cult leader.

It hasn't been easy. As impressive as this Mac was in this time period, it was still primitive. The fact that the Internet wasn't for public use just yet only made things harder.

Till now, I was trying my best to dumb down my coding into a form that this computer would be able to handle so that I'd be able to hack into the CIA network.

That was the hard part about the whole thing, using or creating a very primitive programming language when I had access to tons of advanced methods or coding languages from both twenty-first-century Earth and Goa'uld computer sciences. That was what was bothering me..

Chuckling at the thought, I shook my head and increased my typing pace again, lines of code flashing ever across the screen. Finally, after an additional half hour, the blackness disappeared and a new interface popped up on the screen as I gained access into the network.

"Yes!" Grinning, I cracked my neck by tilting it both ways, and my knuckles. "It's time for the fun part." I whispered and began another bout of typing.

Utilizing a bunch of advanced network scanning techniques and algorithms, I identified potential targets and pinpointed the numerous security flaws and vulnerabilities within the CIA network system.

Quickly, I exploited those flaws using overflow attacks, SQL injections, and a load of techniques, and gained access to the CIA database.

Instantly, I ramped up my authorization level to the highest and began meticulously covering my tracks, employing countermeasures to evade detection.

After I'd done all this and was assured of my security, I started searching for the Cult Of Set in the database. It didn't take long until I found the file and opened it.

I quickly scanned its contents, noting all the details to memory, and immediately left the database and network, erasing each and every trace of my digital existence.

I switched the computer off and relaxed in my seat, my hands over my neck, and nodded in satisfaction, a dark smile spreading across my lips. I'd gotten everything I needed. Now, It was time to prepare for a raid.

"It's been a while since I went to Washington. Hope the weather in Seattle is nice this time of year."

 

[Lord Reyes]

I placed the last item into the bag and zipped it closed. Grabbing the handle, I slung the black duffle bag onto my back and glanced around the clean room for anything I'd forgotten to pack.

Finding nothing, I nodded and moved to the door, pulling the key out of it. I opened the door, walked out of the room, and after giving the laid bed and clean room one last look, I cracked a small smile and closed the door, locking it with a faint click.

With the key in my left hand and the bag settled on my back, I strode slowly towards the lobby ahead. As I drew closer, Heather raised her head from the magazine she was reading and looked at me, beaming instantly when she saw me.

"Victor," she said, her glossed lips curled into a smile, as I paused in front of her. She was dressed in a black graphic t-shirt and a short white shirt that gave me a glimpse of a smooth white thighs.

"Heather," I nodded at her with a smile on my face, the name she called me drawing out some memories.

Victor was my middle name and the name of my dead father in my past life. It wasn't a name I liked using because it used to bring out some bad memories, memories of my dad and mom dying in a car crash. Something I didn't like remembering.

Eventually, as I grew older, I got over it, and even though I still didn't use it that much, I embraced the name as a part of me, a token of my father. So, when Heather asked me for my name during our dinner three days ago, I decided to tell her that name.

I initially wanted to give her a fake name, but she had been kind to me thus far, so I didn't see the need to do that. I could've given her my first or last name, but that would've created some problems.

With anti-commie energy running around the country this time of year, saying my name was Vladymir Voronov would've raised a couple of eyebrows.

I didn't want SWAT or secret service teams busting into my room out of nowhere because she thought I was a Soviet spy or something. I wasn't ready for that yet.

"So...you're leaving, huh?" She stretched her neck to the side and peered at my bag. "Thought you said you wouldn't leave until nighttime," she remarked, a smile on her face, but I caught the glimmer of sadness that flashed across her eyes.

"Yeah, that was the plan," I let out a helpless sigh. "But there were no Seattle buses scheduled to leave at night, so I had to compromise and buy the ticket for the afternoon bus," I said as I placed my room key on the counter.

"That's unfortunate," she commented as she took the key and stepped back to hang it on the keyholder. "Thought we could hang out for the last bit, but I guess that's not happening," she sighed as she turned back to face me, a hint of sadness in her soft voice.

"Yeah, sorry," I apologized with a wry smile as I thought back on our relationship. She was into me, very much, and she never hid it.

During the past few days, we hung out a couple of times, and she'd been throwing hints all those times, but I just pretended not to notice them.

I wasn't staying here long, not to talk of the fact that with all the things going on with me, I just wasn't ready for any kind of commitment right now.

A part of me, influenced by millennia of Goa'uld orgies and personal harems, whispered that I should just sleep with her or use her to satisfy my needs while I had the chance.

But I forced myself to resist it and made sure my relationship with her was purely platonic. She took the hint peacefully and didn't press.

She was sad I was leaving, her body language showed that despite her trying to hide it, but eventually she'd just have to get over it. It was just how things were meant to be.

"Don't apologize. It's normal," she chuckled dryly, waving it off nonchalantly. "I guess this is goodbye then. Remember to call me, okay?" she added with a forced bright smile.

"Of course, you can count on it," I smiled and nodded. "Goodbye Heather, until next time," I said, flashing her a simple wave, and turned to walk away.

Before I could take a step, she grabbed my hand and stopped me.

"Wait a minute," she said as I turned to face her with an arched eyebrow, stepping out behind the counter to stand right in my face. Surprisingly, the next moment, she tiptoed and placed a warm gentle kiss on my left cheek.

"Just something to remember me by," she smirked at the look of surprise on my face as I rubbed my cheek, her fragrance all over me. "Bye handsome and don't forget me," she said softly, her smirk turning into a cute smile.

"...Bye and trust me I won't." Coming out of my reverie, I said and promised with a wide smile that from the looks of it, put her heart at ease.

She nodded and not wanting the situation to get more emotional, I flashed her one last smile and walked out of the lobby.

The glare of the afternoon sun, the cold wind, and the sound of cars driving and honking along the road, welcomed me as I came out of the motel.

"It's time to leave this town," I murmured as I glanced at the pedestrians walking around, adjusting the weight of my slightly heavy bag relaxing on my back, and walked to the road, a faint smile playing on my lips.

Hailing a passing yellow taxi, I waited for a few seconds for it to stop near the sidewalk and stepped into it after opening the door.

"Where to?" the driver asked casually as I relaxed in the backseat, placing the bag on my lap.

"The bus station," I replied, as the glasses rolled down.

"Alright," he nodded and the car started moving. It didn't take long, about ten minutes, before we reached the entrance of the bus station.

"How much?" I asked as the car stopped, slipping my right hand into the right pocket of my black jeans to take out my black leather wallet.

"Five," he answered, looking at me through the mirror. I took out a five dollar bill from my wallet and extended it to him. He took it and nodded.

"Thanks," he remarked as I opened the door and stepped out, holding the bag with my right hand.

"You're welcome," I closed the door with a thud and together with a couple of people, walked into the station as the cab drove away behind me.

The station was bustling with people and filled with rows of parked buses that had the logos or names of the companies they belonged to branded on them.

The main one-story building sat behind the cars, people moving in and out of it through its glass double door.

Ignoring the stares some of the people around sent my way, I took out my bus ticket from my left pocket and started moving around the place, searching for my designated bus.

It took me a couple of minutes but I found it. It was nearly filled and there was a line of people in front of its entrance, a female ticket collector in uniform standing next to it taking tickets.

Joining the line, standing behind an old man with a mop of gray hair, I waited for my turn. The line moved slowly but eventually, it reached my turn.

The woman smiled brightly as I gave the ticket to her, staring at my face intently. It was annoying.

I forced a smile in response despite my discomfort and stepped into the bus, taking a seat at the back near the window.

As more people trickled into the bus, a young dark-skinned guy with an athletic build and a tall afro plopped on the seat next to me, a Walkman headset around his neck.

"Sup man," he greeted as he placed his bag on the floor.

"Cool bro," I turned my head and replied casually in response, nodding with a polite smile. He nodded at me with a smile and removed the headset from his neck, placing it on his ears as the door of the bus closed after the last person entered.

The bus started moving, driving out of the station into the road in a few minutes. As the wind licked my face and hair, rap music sounding out of the headphones next to me, I closed my eyes and sank into my thoughts.

In nine to ten hours, I'd be in Seattle. There I'd have to take a taxi to Shoreline, North of Seattle, where Setesh's cult was based and initiate the raid. I'd planned the whole thing out.

According to the CIA's file, Setesh had fifteen to seventeen members in his cult. Ten young men and five to seven women, give or take. It wasn't a large number and from the file, the Cult just started there, about nine months ago.

Because of this and the fact that Setesh hadn't done anything illegal or wrong, not yet at least, his cult wasn't really on the CIA's radar. They weren't taking him or the cult seriously. It was harmless to them.

They didn't even know much about it. All they knew was that it was a cult centered around a man named Set who had a dubious historical record and background.

So as a result of this underestimation, there were no agents posted around his compound to keep an eye on him, making my job a whole lot easier.

Ten men, who'd be armed with, if not with guns then Zat'nik'tels, weren't a threat. They were at most a nuisance. I'd get in, kill him, take the things I needed, and get out before anyone was the wiser.

It'd be a piece of cake, as easy as killing a Horus guard with a pencil...

 

[Lord Reyes]

Perched atop a tree branch, I raised the binoculars to my eyes and peered through them, adjusting the wheel focus until I had a crystal clear view of the small compound ahead.

The compound beyond the perimeter wall was well-lit by lampposts stationed at the corners and fluorescent bulbs shining from inside the two-story white house.

Two young men in pure white robes, holding standard AK-47 rifles with Zat'nik'tels strapped to their sides, stood sentry at the edges of the compound, spaced out just above the perimeter wall.

Two other young men in the same apparel, equipped with the same ordnance, stood on porches on the left and right sides of the building, on the last level near the brown roof.

I watched quietly as they eyed their surroundings diligently like hawks, their hands firmly gripping their rifles, and their feet unmoving. It was almost uncanny the way they stood, like armed statues.

Their posture reminded me of Jaffa, and they had that look, that crazed religious fervent look that every Jaffa in service of their false gods had. The look that showed they'd shoot themselves in the head with a wide grin if their beloved god told them to. It was a very dangerous look.

The hum of an engine made me shift my binoculars to the left as a black van stopped behind the wide metal gate that barred entry to the compound.

One of the guards quickly skipped to it and slid it back, opening it for the van to drive through. Another black van trailed behind it, and as the guard slid the gate back to a close, the cars came to a halt, parking a few meters away from the house.

I observed as two men in white tailored clothing dropped down from their respective cars, moved to the boot, and raised it up.

Because of the placement and position of the cars, I couldn't see what was being kept in the boot, but I didn't have to, as the two guards stepped to it and, together with the two drivers, started carrying boxes, metal trunks, and plastic bags into the house.

Patiently, I watched them move back and forth, taking more boxes and bags into the house slowly and carefully.

The back and forth lasted a while, but eventually, they came for the last batch of goods and closed the trunks with a muffled bang, disappearing into the house.

They didn't come out again. Just to be on the safe side, I waited for ten minutes, expecting at least the two guards to come back to their posts, but they didn't. And it brought a smile to my face.

"This is it," I muttered as I slipped the binoculars into my black tactical vest and swiftly jumped down from the branch I was perched atop.

Landing on the grass-covered ground with a faint thud, on one knee, I hissed in pain as the shock seeped into the bones of my legs, numbing them a little, and rose unsteadily to my feet.

"Shitty Ashrak muscle memory," I clicked my tongue, cursing in annoyance as I shook my legs to get rid of the ache and numbness in them. "How hard is it to remember that this body doesn't have a symbiote anymore?"

I sighed helplessly, my eyes scanning my surroundings briefly for any disturbance, as I crouched down at the base of the tree, shifting away the thick branches that hid the existence of my black duffel bag.

All around, surrounding me, was a mini-forest filled with thick trees crawling with green thorny vines, small pine plants, wild bushes, different kinds of short plants, and an uneven moss- and grass-covered ground.

The cold wind whipped me, making me shiver, rustling the leaves of plants around me as I unzipped the bag and took out some black metal parts.

Soft clicks sounded as I pieced and joined the parts together, forming a slim black tranquilizer gun. Nodding at the sight, I took out a small box filled with five black darts and loaded two darts into the gun, keeping the rest in one of my vest pockets.

Zipping the bag closed with one hand, I hid it under the branches again and held the tranquilizer gun firmly with both hands, the buttstock pinned to my shoulder.

I took a deep breath, filling my lungs with chilly air scented by the aroma of the plants around me, exhaled slowly, and with my eyes fixed on the lit perimeter wall ahead, I began creeping towards it slowly with barely audible steps, exploiting the foliage around me as cover.

I was inside Setesh's property, his backyard, so to speak. I'd been here for a little over three hours, busy scouting the perimeter to make sure there weren't any new variables that would compromise my plans.

This wasn't my first time here. I came here yesterday, after surviving nine and a half hours of bus travel from Montana to Seattle and then another half-hour of traveling from the main Seattle to this place, Shoreline, the small town north of Seattle where little ol' Setesh was camping.

Not wanting to draw any attention by going directly to his home address, I got off at a neighborhood close to it and walked the rest of the way to this place. Getting here was when the real work started.

I had to conduct a preliminary surveillance operation to collect intelligence on Setesh's base of operations. That involved first walking around his whole property to get a lay of the land.

Setesh's property was huge and very wide. He had the entire land ringed completely by strong, sturdy, and tall metal fencing that protected it from intruders in every direction.

The annoying thing about his land was that most, about eighty percent of it, was useless. It wasn't used by him, just a mini-forest or woodland garden filled with tall thick trees, vines, pines, bushes, moss, and a little grass.

The main house or compound was located deep in the property, way past the woods, behind a short perimeter wall that served as a barrier separating it from the mini-forest.

After I was done getting all I needed from the outside, it was time to get into the property to get the vital pieces of information I'd need for my raid, but the fencing was in the way.

Luckily, I never went anywhere without my harakesh. Activating the telekinetic module allowed me to blast a sizable opening through the fencing, allowing me to sneak in.

Immediately, I started scouting and surveying the property, taking note of the layout of the main compound, the number of guards or sentries, patrol schedules, etc.

After hours of dutiful recon, I got tired and sneaked out of the place through where I came from. Then I went to the town, found myself a cheap motel, got a room, and then got some sleep, the little that I could before nightmares set in.

I spent the whole of this morning training, getting myself in shape and familiarizing myself with my muscle memory, battle instincts, fighting technique, etc., to get more used to my body.

The afternoon, on the other hand, was used to get the equipment, gadgets, tools, and weapons I needed. Some of them, like the tranquilizer gun in my hand, weren't easy to find in a small town like this, but with determination and a little bit of persuasion, I got them.

After making sure I had everything I needed and going over my plans once more, I brought myself here the moment night fell, and I'd been here ever since.

Just watching the movements of the guards, waiting for the optimum moment to commence this mission, and finally, after long hours of waiting on a tree, it had appeared.

There were two guards instead of four securing the compound now. Guards I could take out easily without causing any commotion. It was time to put my plans into motion...

Cresting a small moss-covered hill shrouded by tall bushes, a couple of meters away from the wall on the right, I laid my body carefully flat on its bristly surface.

Making sure every inch of my body was well shielded by the greenery, I adjusted my gun and placed it in front of me so that its muzzle was pointed at the house.

Viewing through the scope with my right eye, I shifted the gun until the crosshairs were level on the neck of one of the guards standing proudly on the porch and then shifted it again for the crosshairs to fall on the neck of the other guard.

Mentally calculating the distance between them and the time it'd take for each shot, I inhaled deeply and held it, initiating a meditative combat technique ingrained into each and every Ashrak with a single thought.

Everything instantly went silent, my ears tuning out every sound except for my faint heartbeat. My eye became laser-focused on the first target, and my mind sharpened to the point that everything narrowed to clarity.

The next second, my finger pressed the trigger, and with a minute whistle , a dart shot out of the muzzle, cutting through the air towards the neck of my first victim.

 

[Lord Reyes]

The dart speared into his neck, and he instantly crumpled onto the porch. My hands automatically moved the next second, shifting the gun to the other guard.

He barely had the chance to even turn his head before I pressed the trigger again, shooting a dart right into his neck also.

He stumbled and toppled over the edge of his porch, falling onto the ground with a sharp thud that pierced through the silent night like a knife.

Calmly, I shifted the muzzle to the entrance of the house, expecting the noise to alert someone. No one came. Releasing my breath after sensing no danger, the combat state faded away.

The faint chirps of the insects, the rustle of leaves, and the whistle of the cold wind filtered into my ears as I activated the safety of the gun with a click and dropped it, slipping it into the bushes.

Patting one of the vest pockets to make sure the three remaining darts were in place, I raised my body slightly to a crouch and took slow steps to the wall. Grabbing the edge with my hands, I heaved myself up, climbing over it onto the paved concrete compound.

My eyes immediately scanned the perimeter. The lampposts cast long shadows on the compound, covering the fallen guard who was sprawled on the floor, lying motionless as blood spilled out onto the ground from the side of his head.

Frowning at the sight, I crouched low and carefully stepped to him, using the shadows as cover and placed my index and middle fingers on his neck to check his pulse. He had a weak and faint one.

I let out a soft sigh of relief. He wasn't dead. He was bleeding, but he was alive and unconscious, just as I intended. I didn't plan to kill any of the young men and women here today.

They were just victims, innocent victims of intense brainwashing, and they didn't deserve to die. Not here, not today, and not for someone like Setesh.

The darts I shot them with had just the right dose of etorphine to knock them out for hours without causing any negative side effects. They'd be asleep long enough for me to complete my mission.

The other guard would be safe where he was. This one, on the other hand, needed medical attention and fast; otherwise, he'd bleed to death.

There was no way I'd allow that. The last thing I needed was for more innocent deaths weighing down on my conscience. What I already had was enough.

Sighing helplessly, I extended my left hand to his head and with a thought activated the healing module of my harakesh. A multicolored tri-beam shot out of it with a low hum and formed a bright small white orb which I then directed to the side of his head.

Slowly, the bleeding wound on his head closed up, and the flow of blood halted. I continued the healing process for another minute, just to be sure, and mentally deactivated the device.

He'd be fine now. His life was secure. After I was done, I'd make sure to check up on him again to see if I'd missed something, maybe some internal injuries. For now, this would have to do.

Flashing his bloodied head a final glance, I shifted my eyes downward and without wasting any time, relinquished his Zat'nik'tel from his waist strap, familiarizing myself with its weight and design.

Admiring its familiar serpent-shaped figure, I slid it into one of the inner pockets of my vest and moved away from him to the main white wooden door of the house.

Twisting the knob gently, I pulled it back quietly and stepped into the house. I found myself in a clean narrow corridor with white walls, polished sandalwood flooring, and overhead light fixtures brightly illuminating it.

There were no doors around, just an opening at the end of it that led to another similar corridor. Muscles tense, my breathing shallow, and my mind as clear and sharp as it would ever be and primed for action, I took slow measured steps towards the end of the corridor.

Reaching the end and stepping into the next corridor, my head shifted left and right as I immediately scanned the area.

There were two other narrow corridors on my left and right sides, with doors lined along their white walls. I had no idea where Setesh would be at this time, but there was a way to find out.

As a result of my body once serving as the host of Orion, my bloodstream was laced with Naquadah, an element found within every single Goa'uld who has had the pleasure of stepping into a Sarcophagus.

With Naquadah in their blood, the Goa'uld had the uncanny ability to sense the presence of Naquadah itself. It was a trick, a sixth sense, they used to identify or sense each other and even Stargates when the need arose.

As a former host, I could use this same ability to find or track down Setesh in his own home. I couldn't use it outside the house to immediately find out which part of the building he was in because, as incredible as this sixth sense was, it had a limit in range.

It was effective only in a fifteen-foot radius. The moment I got fifteen feet away from him, I'd immediately feel and know his location. Unfortunately, he'd know mine as well.

So, before that happened, I had something very important to do first. As tough as I was, I couldn't take on an experienced Goa'uld like Setesh and his minions all alone and at the same time and in their home territory.

It'd be suicide, and I didn't plan on dying just yet. So, the guards had to go. They needed to be neutralized. And it had to be done as swiftly and as quietly as possible. Else, it was either I died here today or I'd end up doing something that'd haunt me for the rest of my life.

I heard faint footsteps moving towards this corridor and immediately stepped to the left corridor, planting my back against the wall as I held my breath. Someone was coming.

The footsteps became clear and louder as the person walked into the corridor and started moving straight towards the corridor I just came out from. As he drew closer, I brought out one dart from my vest pocket, holding it in my right hand.

My heart started racing, but my inherited experience and instincts kicked in, causing a deadly calm to envelop me as the person reached my position.

The moment he took a step past my position, his back facing me, I slithered with the grace of a predator to his back and wrapped my right hand around his mouth, stifling an outcry, and precisely jammed the dart into a vein in his neck as he squirmed in my embrace.

He stopped struggling in a second, his head lolling forward and his body slumping. Holding his body steady, I dragged him to one of the doors in the corridor and used my left hand to open it carefully, revealing a small storage room.

My left hand stretched towards the room, and my harakesh primed to attack at the faintest sign of trouble, I grunted and slowly pulled his body into it and laid him flat on the ground, eyes darting all over the place.

There was nothing here, just shelves lined with sealed boxes and metal trunks stacked on top of one another at one corner of the room.

Seeing nothing of importance, I left the room and closed the door with a low click. Plus this guy, I'd incapacitated three guards. Seven remained at large.

"Seven huh?" I sighed, raking my combed hair with my left hand as I stepped to another door in the corridor, sticking close to the walls as I primed my ring weapon for action. "This is going to be a very long night."

 

[Lord Reyes]

I took a step into the next corridor and felt a faint tingle at the back of my head. My face fell to a frown, and I promptly took a step back and turned around to walk into the opposite corridor.

That was close. If I had taken one more step, I would've been close enough to be in optimum range, and my plan would've failed.

Luckily, Orion was an Ashrak; otherwise, my senses wouldn't have been sharp enough to instinctively pick up the faint Naquadah signal at this range.

At least now, I knew Setesh's general direction. I would retrace my steps and come back later. Edging carefully through the corridor, checking the rooms behind the doors, as I did so, a frown crept on my face.

They were all empty. So far, all the rooms I'd checked in the corridors I'd passed through were all empty except the storerooms. They were clean empty rooms, the size of standard bedrooms.

If I had to guess, they would be the rooms of the future members of Setesh's cult. The bastard had already planned to brainwash more people to use as his slaves. That wasn't going to happen anytime soon now that I was here.

Getting to the end of the corridor that curved to the right, I strode into it and promptly caught sight of an open door on the left. I paused, slowing down my breathing, and strained my ears to listen for any sound.

I couldn't hear anything at this distance, making my eyebrows knit in suspicion. This was the first door I'd seen wide open since I entered this house. Goa'ulds loved order, meaning, this door wouldn't be left ajar for no reason at all.

There was bound to be someone or some people inside the room. I had to act fast lest they detect me. My harakesh activated with a hum as I crouched low and moved fast towards the door.

Reaching it, I edged closer to the wall right next to it and put my ear on its surface, listening. I heard feet, no more than four, shuffling in the room. They were moving things, heavy things, based on the grunts and groans they were letting out.

That was good. They were distracted. I straightened up and moved away from the wall, stepping past the door to the front of the room.

It was also a storage room, but this time, it was lined with shelves stacked with foodstuffs and cooking materials.

Two men, one of them in white tailored clothing and the other donning the usual white robes with his rifle slung on his arm, were standing in front of rows of huge white sacks breathing a little heavily, their backs in front of me.

They were more than two meters away from me. I couldn't blast them away at this distance with my harakesh. A Zat'nik'tel blast would work just as well, but it was loud and would attract attention.

So, the harakesh it was then. Meaning, I had to get closer. Stretching forth my left hand towards them, I took one step closer to them stealthily.

The moment my foot touched the ground, the sandalwood floor groaned loudly, instantly attracting the attention of the guys in the room.

"Shit," I murmured under my breath, clicking my tongue, as they turned to face me with eyes widening in surprise, the golden jackal crests sewn into their clothes glinting in the light.

My hand went inside my vest, but before I could take out my Zat'nik'tel, the white-robed guy came out of his stupor and leveled his gun at me. Next, the other guy or the driver, took out a Zat'nik'tel from his back and pointed it at me as it clicked erect, maw widening.

"Put your hands where I can see them!" The guard ordered harshly, his brown eyes narrowed. I hesitated. A click sounded as he switched off the safety, raising the gun to point it at my head. "Do it now!" He growled, trigger finger ready.

I complied and raised my hands into the air, making sure to seem unthreatening as I stared him calmly dead in the eye.

Seeing this, he didn't relax and gestured to me with his head, eyes still locked on mine. "Go and search him for weapons." He said to the driver next to him.

He nodded with a frown and moved to me. I waited till he got to my face, his body standing in direct alignment to the guard, and smirked behind my mask, promptly activating the harakesh using my mind.

"Who are y––" His words got cut short as a large telekinetic wave blasted out of my left hand instantly with a low boom, hurling the driver away like he was weightless.

It happened too quickly for the guard to react, and before he realized, the driver crashed into him with a force that sent him flying to collide with one of the metal shelves hardly with his back and head with a bang while the driver fell on the ground with a thud.

"Argh." Groans of pain echoed in the room from the driver lying on the ground and the guard who slipped weakly to the ground, his eyes hazy and unfocused. His gun out of his hand.

The driver tried to raise his body from the ground, but I stepped to him and kicked the side of his head, making him slump on the ground as he lost consciousness.

Shifting my eyes to look at the guard, I saw his eyes closing, his hands spread motionless at his sides, as he drifted into sleep. Just to be sure, I moved to his side, bent down, and stabbed his neck with a dart. Then I did the same to the driver, using my last dart.

"That should keep them out for a while," I whispered as I rose to my feet and stepped to the entrance. "Five more to go."

Before I could take a step out of the room, I heard footsteps rushing towards this room down the corridor and moved to the left side to stick my back against the wall.

"The commotion must've drawn him here," I frowned as I waited for whoever it was to arrive. "This is getting troublesome." I murmured and kept quiet as the footsteps stopped at the front of the door.

Keeping my breath steady, I watched as the person took one cautious step into the room, entering gun first. He took another step and sharply turned the gun to my side, light green eyes locking into mine.

He didn't hesitate for even one second before his trigger finger moved, but luckily, due to our proximity, I was able to react fast. I slithered close to him and pinned the barrel of the gun under my left armpit tightly, bringing my elbow down onto his brachial plexus hard.

"Ah!" He let out a sharp cry of pain as his right hand lost all sensation, loosening the grip he had on his gun.

The gun clunked as I allowed it to fall on the ground and quickly, as he drew back due to the pain, his right arm hanging loosely by his side, I grabbed his head and brought it down, kneeing his solar plexus with all my strength with a bang.

His mouth opened, his eyes rolled back into their sockets, and he crumpled,

thudding as he collapsed on the ground, utterly unconscious.

My breathing slightly labored, as my heart rate increased, adrenaline flowing freely, I stepped to his head, grabbed his hands tightly, and pulled further into the room, making him lie side by side with the driver.

Wiping my forehead of the little sweat pooled on its surface with my right hand, I smoothed back my long hair tied into a ponytail and couldn't help but crack a wide smile as I unintentionally relished the memory and sensation of my limbs inflicting pain on them.

My smile immediately froze, and I shook my head, sighing as I facepalmed, "...Great, I'm becoming a sadist now."