“Thank you for receiving us, once again,” said Enkil, acknowledging Daniel Jackson and the weaponed security trained upon his arrival. “I note that your retinue is spartan, today.”
“Yes,” confirmed Daniel. “General O’Neill is consulting with his superiors in our capitol; Colonel Carter and Teal’c are off-world. How may we assist the Tok’ra?”
“You shall not be assisting the Tok’ra,” corrected Enkil. “You shall be assisting Nirrita and me, alone, for we will no longer be counted among their number, as soon as you accept alternate destination coordinates from us.”
“I see.” said Daniel, “You’re leaving us a forwarding address. May I ask what lead to the break with the Tok’ra?”
Nirrita answered: “You may, Dr. Jackson. The Tok’ra mandate is wrecked along with the Goa’uld hierarchy. Death is change, and we must now tread different paths.”
“That’s understandable,” conceded Daniel. “To tell the truth, Nirrita, I never understood what motivated you to join the Tok’ra in the first place.”
In response, unseen hands pushed a crate through the still active wormhole. All present heard breathing from within. The wormhole closed, and Nirrita cooed: “Do not worry, Ravana. You have come through the stargate unscathed, dearest. Fathers love you.”
Daniel recalled the name – Ravana – king of the rakshasas in ancient Hindu mythology. The rakshasas were demons, said to be the children of Nirrti and Nirrita. Shape-shifters, who could appear human, they often took the forms of lower animals, as well, such as vultures, owls, and….dogs! The creature revealed by the open crate was certainly dog-like at any rate. It seemed to Daniel that it was a cross between a wingless bat and a hell-hound. Ravana watched his watchers through glowing vertical-slit eyes that changed color in the shifting light.
“It’s a fuzzy gargoyle!,” exclaimed one soldier.
“It’s Zuul!,” yelled another.
“Yes,” responded Enkil, disappointed. “This is the reaction that General O’Neill assured us of when he agreed to Ravana’s presence here.”
“General O’Neill gave you permission,” repeated Daniel, incredulous.
“Yes,” assured Nirrita. “I noticed the gargoyle pendant that Cassandra wore when I spoke with her. Colonel Carter later told us of its significance, and Enkil was inspired to gift Cassandra with a rendering of one of our protective guardians, created in three dimensions by Stargate Command’s Exobiology Department. O’Neill agreed to it; he truly loves Cassandra.”
“And he wants to keep the nerds happy,” added Daniel.
As Ravana was wheeled within the open crate to the elevator, Nirrita continued:
Ravana is the reason that Enkil and I remained with the Tok’ra. You see, I did not bond with Nirrti for love. Yes, Dr. Jackson, beneath the addiction, the Goa’uld are capable of deep love. But, I was not fated for that emotion with Nirrti. Our pairing was for show. She wished to have a drone at her side to maintain the illusion that she was a breeding queen, and I wished for the power that that illusion would bring me. All knew the identities of the true queens within our ranks, but for the Goa’uld, appearance is everything.
In the elevator, Nirrita elaborated:
After our bonding, Nirrti gave herself over to her work, and I became the one who cleaned her messes. As such, I was in the best position to understand how we were perceived by the people over which we ruled. My queen was hated and feared. Since Nirrti would give me no task other than death, I decided that through death, I would seek to be loved. I asked Nirrti to bioengineer Ravana’s species as a quick method of execution. My people grew to love me, because I ended their suffering.
Daniel recalled that the rakshasas of myth had poisoned claws. “Euthanasia as public relations,” he realized numbly. “Machiavelli would’ve been proud.”
In the exobiology laboratory, Daniel watched as Nirrita removed the soft leather booties sheathing Ravana’s venomous claws. “Do not worry, Dr. Jackson,” said Nirrita. “I fully briefed General O’Neill on the poison. My existence is already offensive to him; I would not alienate him further by withholding information.”
“Indeed,” concurred Enkil. “Although, we did not grasp the cultural nuances, we could tell that General O’Neill was being disparaging toward Nirrita when he remarked he was ‘one gum wrapper short of a fishing lure.’ Perhaps, you will explain the reference to us in the future?”
When Nirrita kissed Ravana on the nose, Daniel shot lab personnel a glance that told them to stifle their tittering. “Of course,” answered Daniel. “But, I would like to hear more about Ravana’s link to the Tok’ra.”
Nirrita obliged, as Ravana stood patiently during the scanning, mapping, and recording:
Enkil and I were delirious during our withdrawal from the effects of sarcophagus exposure. We both called out for Ravana and his siblings, for they had become our only friends. When, at last, we were coherent, the Tok’ra gathered the tactical information that Nirrti never gave me credit for amassing. Then, they questioned us about these creatures that we regarded as pets, guards, and tools of execution. The Tok’ra were particularly curious about our account of the poison.
Enkil continued:
One day, some months before our abduction, Ravana chanced to scratch me. Nirrita’s healing powers spared me from death. However, the toxin was virulent enough to make Nirrita slightly drowsy. The Tok’ra became excited by this idea. If Ravana’s poison could make a symbiote drowsy, it was worth investigating the possibility of adapting the poison to kill symbiotes. Through trial and error, Tok’ra scientists succeeded in a limited way. But, they needed Nirrita and me to return to the palace and corral several of our beloved rakshasas, including Ravana. Moreover, we were the only ones who could control and sooth our pets, while various samples of the venom were extracted. It was thus that we began as Tok’ra and thus that you had a weapon to carry to the Hasara Summit.
Daniel concluded, “You remained with the Tok’ra because, unlike Nirrti, they valued your contributions, and now, that’s no longer the case. Where will you go?”
“We and the rakshasas are relocating to a world called Mau,” Nirrita replied. “It is within the former domain of Bastet.”
Daniel translated, “The Egyptian cat goddess named a planet ‘Cat.’ That’s unoriginal, even by the usual standards of ancient nomenclature.”
“My people referred to anything they feared as a rakshasa,” Enkil revealed. “They clung to what sufficed.”
“In this case,” Nirrita elaborated, “the name is functional. Mau is the world on which Bastet kept all of her cats.”
“Yes,” continued Enkil. “For millennia, the cats and the lo’taur veterinarians, who care for them, remained untroubled. No Goa’uld was foolish enough to squander valuable resources on little, mewing creatures.”
“The situation has become too unstable for the lo’taurs’ liking,” surmised Daniel. “Bastet is dead, and their Jaffa security force has deserted them for freedom. They’re feeling vulnerable.”
Nirrita beamed, as he replied:
Precisely, I contacted Mau’s administrators, offering them the rakshasas as security. Additionally, I offered to help train a new human military force. In exchange, Enkil and I will live there in semi-retirement, composing music and helping to care for the assorted animals. I am especially looking forward to studying cat mummification and funerary rituals. In time, I hope to adapt the traditions for the rakshasas. Would that not be wonderful, dearest?
Nirrita cooed the question to Ravana, who was blissfully tearing the handwritten notes the exobiologists took to shreds.
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