Sobek returned after several minutes with Ma'at, and Thoth looked at the woman who had been his wife for a millennium, but stayed silent.  Daniel, weakened by Thoth's recent anger, unsuccessfully tried to shield his own mind from the onslaught of emotions Thoth was feeling.

"This is my husband?" Ma'at asked Sobek, as she took a seat, showing no signs of recognition that would give away anything about their earlier meeting.

"Yes," Sobek said simply.

"This new host is..." she began.

"Handsome?  Dashing?" Thoth said, with the ghost of a grin.

"Very young," she finished, tilting her head to one side.  "Why, exactly, are you here now?"

"It strikes you as so strange that I would wish to reconcile with you?" he asked, taking a seat warily by her side.

"After so many years - yes," she said.  

"Have you told her of our plan?" Thoth said to Sobek.  He nodded.

"And what do you say, my wife?" he asked quietly.  "To breeding the army that will destroy the Tok'ra and make us the most powerful of the System Lords?"

She paused a moment before answering.  "It is as suspect to me as your whole appearance here.  When we parted you were doubting the ways of the System Lords, speaking of allying yourself with the Tok'ra.  What happened to those views, husband?"

"I have changed," he said.  "Realized the error of my ways."

"Have you?" she asked, standing.  With a glance over at Sobek, she left the room.

Thoth stared after her, his face set in a frown.  Sobek chuckled.  "So - a little harder to convince than you expected?"

Thoth left the room to follow her, finding her standing on a balcony, looking out toward the sunset that was bathing the cream-colored spires and domes of Mirone in a blood-red light.  He stood silently by her until she acknowledged him.

"So this is your new path," she said quietly.

"Yes," he replied simply.

"I mean very little to you except when I can serve your ambition, it seems," she said.

"You know that is not true," he said, trying to take her hand.  She pulled away, walking a few steps from him.  "If you were to wish it," he said slowly, "I would abandon all thoughts of this simply to have you back at my side as my wife.  If that is what it will take."

She turned to him, with a small smile.  "I know you better than that, Thoth."  She was silent a moment.  "But I also know my own heart, and I do not think I could be parted from you again."  She went to him, and he enfolded her in his arms.  "I will go with you," she whispered, as he held her close.

Daniel fought unsuccessfully against the incredible emotion Thoth was feeling, the desire and love mixed with the fear of what he would have to do once Ma'at was in the hands of the Tok'ra.  Why didn't you tell her the truth? he said to Thoth.

I could not take the risk - she might have betrayed me to Sobek, Thoth said.

Or she might have agreed to help you - but you'll never know now, will you? Daniel said.  

There was no other way, Thoth replied.  

There's always another way, Daniel said.

Ma'at looked up curiously, seeing the conflict on Thoth's face.  "Is anything wrong?" she asked.

In the doorway to the balcony, Sobek appeared, and standing by him, Nefrekeptah.

"A great deal is wrong," Thoth said quietly to her, as Nefrekeptah stared at him in fury.

"What's wrong?" Jack said, as Jacob motioned him and the rest of SG-1 closer to the control screen of the ship.  "Is Daniel in trouble?" he asked.

Jacob looked at him grimly.  "If he isn't now, he's going to be shortly.  We just received word that Nefrekeptah arrived on Mirone.  No doubt he figured out that Thoth's next move might be to find his wife.  It took him a while, but he was able to locate Ma'at as well."

"Then we've got to go in there - help him somehow," Jack started, but Jacob held up a hand.  "How, Jack?  We're in a lightly armed teltak.  Mirone is.."

"I know - heavily guarded and all that - you told me.  I'm not leaving him down there, Jacob," Jack said, looking at the rest of his team.  "We've been in worse situations."

"You tell me your plan, and we'll try it," Jacob said, crossing his arms.

"I'm thinking," Jack said, his face creased with worry.  

"Thoth. So you did manage to take the Taur'i as your host - after you betrayed me,"  Nefrekeptah said.  "I had hoped that my weapon had killed him."

Daniel felt his own anger get the better of him as he remembered the events at Memphis.  "You of all people," he said, speaking out suddenly, "Should know how resilient I am."

Daniel, stop!  Thoth said, trying to calm his anger.

"Silence!" Sobek said, holding up one hand.  "Is what Nefrekeptah says true, Thoth?  Did you betray him?"

Thoth only paused a moment before speaking.  "I did no more than he did to me.  His betrayal was far greater.  He was once my chief scribe, my closest retainer.  I entrusted him with the care of my writings, and he betrayed me by using them to gain power and influence among the System Lords by brokering the knowledge contained in them.  So yes - I betrayed him.  I should have killed him - a mistake I will not make next time," he said, allowing some of Daniel's anger to creep into his voice.

"He means to ally himself with the Tok'ra," Nefrekeptah sneered.

Sobek raised an eyebrow.  "So I have been told.  However, he has also shared his plans to betray them, with the help of Ma'at.  A plan with much more chance of success than anything the System Lords have attempted."  He was silent a moment.  "I find myself much more convinced by him than I am by a disloyal retainer," he said to Nefrekeptah.  "Especially one I have found to be troublesome to me on many other occasions."

Nefrekeptah drew back, his eyes narrowing.  "Believe what you will, Sobek.  It will be your downfall.  If you will not allow me to destroy him here," he said, looking over at Thoth.  "There will be another time."

Daniel watched as Nefrekeptah left the chamber, and tried to fight his anger.  He wanted to go after him, to confront him over what he had done to him - even as he knew this was the best possible outcome.  Thoth endeavored again to distract Daniel from his anger.  He's right, Daniel.  There will be another time, Thoth assured him.  But not now.  Ma'at must be protected, and we must escape from here.

Sobek turned back to Thoth.  "And now you should be leaving, Thoth.  Before the Tok'ra become suspicious."  He clasped Thoth's hand, then suddenly pulled him close.  "But know this - betray the Goa'uld, and Nefrekeptah will not be the only one seeking your blood," he whispered, as he released him.

Thoth nodded, then turned to Ma'at.  "Gather your things.  We must leave right away."  She nodded, leaving them.  A retainer came to Sobek and whispered something to him.  He in turn looked over at Thoth in surprise.

"It seems we have visitors - a teltak has entered our atmosphere and identifies itself as being part of your retinue," Sobek said to him.  "They were awaiting your return but need assistance because of," he paused, "technical difficulties with their ship.  Two of them have been transported to the palace."

Thoth frowned.  "May I speak to them?" he asked.

Sobek turned to the retainer.  "Show them to a chamber," he said, his eyes narrowing a little as he watched Daniel leave.

"Damn it, Jack - what are you doing here!" Daniel said, before Thoth could speak.  "You were supposed to wait until you were contacted, period - not come after us," he said.

Jack looked less than repentant as he and Sam pulled down the hoods of their robes.  "So sue me - I thought you were in trouble.  We got word that Nefrekeptah had landed and we thought he'd ID you before you had a chance..." he saw the look on Daniel's face.  "So he did, and you're still..."

"Everything's fine, Jack - or at least it was until you got here.  'Technical difficulties'?" he said.  

"We didn't have a lot of time to be creative, okay?  The important thing is that everything's fine, the damage we did to the ship is easily fixed, and we can just get out of here.  It is fine, right? You did find Ma'at..." Jack started.

"Yes," Daniel said, still glaring at him.  "She's gone to get her things."  He began to pace the room anxiously.  

Jack looked at Daniel curiously.  "What aren't you telling us?" he asked.  "Did something else happen back there?"  Daniel didn't answer him, and Jack pushed harder.  "You want to tell us what's going on?" he asked.

Daniel stopped then, his eyes boring into Jack's with an almost painful intensity.  God, what's happened, Daniel? Jack thought.  One of these Goa'uld had gotten to him - Jack just hoped it wasn't the one currently in his head.

"We just need to get out of here," Daniel said.  "I'm going to find Ma'at - you keep a low profile and go back to the ship," he said, leaving them.

"Okay," Jack said, "We can do that."

"A low profile," Sam agreed.

Back on the teltak, Jacob and Teal'c were working to repair the slight damage they had done to the ship when Teal'c looked up suddenly, motioning to Jacob to stop working on the teltak's controls as a signal to activate the rings came through to them.

"Jack and Sam?" Jacob said.

"Let us find out," Teal'c said, completing the sequence to allow the rings to fully activate.

Jacob eased away from the panel as Teal'c crept slowly to the door, a zat gun in his hand.  Swinging around the edge of the door, he fired two quick shots before sliding back around into the room.  

Jacob heard the sound of two bodies hitting the deck of the teltak, and he went to where Teal'c was peering around the doorway at the two Jaffa who had tried to ambush them.

"I don't think this was the repair crew," Jacob said, turning one of them over.  "I recognize the symbol - these are the Jaffa of Nefrekeptah.  I think they're on to us, Teal'c."

"Then I must assist O'Neill and Major Carter in retrieving Daniel Jackson," Teal'c stated.  He returned to the hold of the ship to gather his staff weapon.

"Hold on a minute - we already agreed that someone would recognize you if you march in there.  Apophis has done everything but hang "wanted" signs with your picture on it, Teal'c."

Teal'c looked back toward the two Jaffa.  "Perhaps I need a disguise," he said, bending down to inspect their armor.

"He said go back to the ship, sir," Sam said, as Jack paced around the room.

Jack ran a hand through his hair.  "I know what he said, but I'd feel better if I knew he was right behind us."

"He may already be waiting for us," she said, as Jack opened the door and eased his way out into the hall.   

"I don't think so, Major," Jack said.  "This just doesn't...feel right," he said, turning to her.  Out of the corner of his eye he saw a movement and ducked down seconds before a staff weapon blast burned a hole in the wall where his head was just a moment before.  He scrambled around the corner as a flurry of blasts followed.

A moment later, Sam ducked down beside Jack as another staff weapon blast ate away the wall above her head.  "So much for keeping a low profile," she said to Jack, her gun at the ready.  "Any ideas?"

"Don't stop firing and keep your head down," Jack said, digging out his P-90 from beneath his robes.

"Other than that?" she shot back.

"I'm thinking," he said, firing down the hall.  

Suddenly, the Jaffa stopped firing at them.  Jack and Sam looked at each other in surprise before the crackle of a staff weapon being activated behind them caught their attention.  They turned slowly to find two Jaffa with weapons pointed at their back.  

Jack and Sam laid down their weapons and put their hands behind their heads, as the other two Jaffa who had been firing on them from the front came forward.  

"That plan you were thinking about - now would be a good time, sir," Sam whispered to Jack as one of the guards motioned for them to stand.  As they did so, the guard wheeled around and fired at his companion, who collapsed in a smoking heap at his feet.  He stepped over him and past Jack and Sam to fire on the other two guards before they could react.

Teal'c then lowered his staff weapon, and deactivated the helmet of his armor.  "Are you unharmed?" he asked Sam and Jack, who had quickly scooped up their weapons and joined him.

"Yeah, we're great," Jack said, slapping him on the back.  "Wow - that was familiar," he said, looking around at the fallen Jaffa.

"We must retrieve Daniel Jackson and leave this place," Teal'c said.

"You'll get no argument from us, Teal'c," Sam said.

"There's just the little matter of finding him," Jack said, as they took off down the hall.

Daniel entered Ma'at's chambers, startling a young handmaiden that was straightening up the room.

"Your mistress - is she here?" Thoth asked urgently, then watched as she shook her head, trembling a little.  "She has not returned from my lord Sobek's hall," the girl whispered.

He has taken Ma'at, Thoth said with dismay, as he left the chamber to go back to the throne room.

I knew Nefrekeptah couldn't be trusted, Daniel said.  And so did you.  Why did you let him escape before?

Because our mission here is not revenge, Thoth shot back, as the depth of Daniel's anger became clearly apparent.  It is rescue, and we are doing a poor job of that right now.  

Why can't it be both? Daniel asked, as he rounded a corner, then pulled up short as he saw Sobek emerge from a nearby doorway.  His face grim, he advanced toward Daniel, lowering the staff weapon in his hands and activating it.  Daniel only had time to duck down on one knee as the blast whistled over his head.

And connected solidly with one of Nefrekeptah's Jaffa, who had been preparing to level his own weapon at Daniel's back.  Daniel stared as the Jaffa landed beside him in a heap, his staff weapon spinning across the floor. 

Sobek walked forward, standing over Daniel for a moment before holding out his hand.  Daniel took it warily and climbed to his feet.

"Nefrekeptah's Jaffa tried to kidnap Ma'at as she returned to her chambers.  You are fortunate that your wife is not easily detained." Sobek said, as Ma'at came from inside the room to stand beside him. 

"I am fine, husband," Ma'at said, before Thoth could ask.

"Your false scribe tries my patience," Sobek said, thrusting the staff weapon into Daniel's hand.  "Kill him," he hissed, before going back into the throne room.

Through Daniel's mind flashed an image of Nefrekeptah's court, of the gloating face of his captor, and the words he'd spoken to him.  He clutched the weapon in a painfully tight grip.  You may not fear death any longer...but I will make certain you learn to fear dying....   

Get Ma'at to safety, Daniel, Thoth said, trying to distract him from his memories.  Finish what we are here to do.

"We must leave," Ma'at said urgently.  

Daniel took her hand silently, allowing her to lead him away toward the chamber with the transportation rings.  He'd barely rounded the first corner before he came upon Jack, Teal'c and Sam.

"I knew you wouldn't go back to the ship like I asked," Daniel said, giving Jack a longsuffering look as they made their way back together.

"I can be like that sometimes," Jack said, as they entered the chamber.  "Here we are - let's go, campers," he said, starting to reach for his radio.

Daniel only paused a second before lowering his staff weapon and motioning for Ma'at to join them.  "You're going - I'm not," he said.

"Daniel, what are you doing?" Jack asked, as he stared into the business end of the staff weapon.  "Or should I say, Thoth, what are you doing?"

Daniel reached for his own radio, hidden in the folds of his robes.  "Jacob, this is Daniel," he said, his eyes not leaving Jack's.  "We're in position to be ringed aboard."  He clicked off the radio, tightening his grip on the weapon as Jack reached slowly for his own radio.  "Don't try it, Jack," he said.

"Daniel," Jack said calmly.  "Whatever it is..."

"And don't come after me this time," Daniel said, as the rings came down around them.

Part Eight