Tok'ra High Council
"Jolinar, I'm glad you came," Garshau if Belot addressed the woman. They walked together to the chambers of the arriving Tok'ra.
"Everyone's running around like the Lord of Systems is dead. What's going on?" asked the former Lord.
"Tartarus has fallen," Garshau said. This news shocked Jolinar, who looked at her comrade in amazement.
- I don't think this is a joke.
"This is no joke. Several of our operatives were there who had angered Kronos but hadn't given up their cover. They were supposed to serve a few years as a lesson. The Mercenary Lord somehow freed them all. Our agents were stunned by warriors wearing skull helmets. Then they woke up on a desert planet near the gate in a stasis pod. There, they were informed that the Mercenary Lord had no use for them. He had been ordered to kill one specific person, and the other 499 prisoners simply happened to be there, and he freed them. An energy field had been deployed around the gate area, preventing them from escaping, and the only option was to activate the gate and retreat. There were also backpacks with water, knives, food, and so on.
Jolinar whistled in surprise.
"And what about Kronos?" She remembered her "father," against whom she had served for centuries until she rebelled.
"He's raging and ranting, yelling at everyone and everything. He killed the Jaffa who brought him bad news. He executed several slaves just to calm down. The data from his palace is fragmentary, but it's 100% certain that the entire orbital defenses have been destroyed, the ground shield has been destroyed, the glider garrison has been wiped out, and the entire complex has been destroyed. The Mercenary Lord knows how to cover his tracks. Kronos would have found out he did it anyway, so he concealed the details. The latest from Tartarus: a hundred gliders have appeared on their scanners."
"But Tartarus has sophisticated sensor technology, and it's deep within Kronos's territory. No one could have carried out the khattak undetected."
"Exactly. Therefore, it's a certain secret. But the High Council decides that since so many Goa'uld hate Kronos have appeared, this moment must be used to aid them in their difficult task of exacting revenge on Kronos."
— Are they sure they'll want to do that? — The Goa'uld were cowardly when they weren't doing brave/crazy things, because they believed in their divinity.
"Some have been there for millennia. This hatred is the last thing they have left. Undermining the power of a major System Lord—we can't ignore that possibility."
"What about this Mercenary Lord? He's becoming too important, and his actions are too unpredictable. We have no informants in his circle."
"We expected him to burn quickly, we didn't expect him to survive. And now that he's angered Kronos..."
"Yes, they might kill him, or they might not. After all, essentially nothing is known about him, not even who he is or who his Jaffa is."
"He's known to be very inventive and doesn't like to share his toys. But Indra is trying to replicate the Jaffa machine the Mercenary Lord used. At least, that's the task she's set her scientists."
— An inventive Goa'uld—that could be a problem.
"And a good tactician. A fool wouldn't lead an army to attack Tartarus."
"Yes, but most importantly, he provides a unique service: a mercenary army. That's also important. A shift in the balance among the Goa'uld could occur, so we all need to be vigilant. He's raising the price for his services with such operations under his belt," Garshau points out. "He operates according to the Ashrak business model."
— Is it true what he said, that he really doesn't care who pays him? As long as it's us?
"We missed that opportunity. He changed his recruiting methods several times. We don't even know who hired him; no one bragged. His last client was Vritra, and then—silence. And then the attack."
"I think we can assume he was hired for a new contract immediately after his success with Vritra," Jolinar pointed out. "And he spent three months preparing. Yes, that's typical of the Ashraks: patience, anticipation, and preparation."
"And Kronos has a mental breakdown. He bragged to everyone about his prison, and now only the lazy and those who lack the resources to protect their big mouths make fun of him," Garshau sighed. "A Goa'uld makes a lot of mistakes when he's emotional, but that usually ends up bad for everyone."
- Sometimes it's a good chance.
"Kronos will search for the traitors who gave information to the Mercenary Lord, and over time, he will learn that someone hired him to free just one prisoner. And he will search for that one."
"We could carry out a couple of sabotage moves, convincing Kronos that the enemy has already begun to act, and also sowing discord among the Jaffa. The loss of Tartarus should hurt Kronos's 'divine' image. He himself used this tactic, as he did with Zeus."
- He ran away too, didn't he?
"Yes, it's been sitting there for two thousand years. It's unlikely anyone would want to get it, using up so many resources. Hiring an army must be expensive."
"An attack on Tartarus must cost a small fortune. There aren't many who would spend that much money on a single person. Kronos should publish a list of the escapees so that they can be found, and put a bounty on everyone. Then we'll see who's important."
"Perhaps some of your acquaintances were there, Jolinar. We could use them, provide information, resources, and finance sabotage," Garshau suggested.
- I'll look from the list to see who I might be familiar with.
The Tok'ra, continuing their eternal battle, have seen an opportunity to strike a painful blow against one of the System Lords and are ready to do so. Kronos's domain will burn, and they will fan the embers into a conflagration.