DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognisable characters and property of Stargate SG-1 belong to MGM/UA, World Gekko Corp. and Double Secret Productions.  This fan fiction was created solely for entertainment purposes and no money was made from it.  Also, no copyright or trademark infringement was intended.  Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.  Any other characters, the storyline and the actual story are the property of the author.  Not to be archived without permission of the author(s).

Tornak's arm was gripped tightly as he hovered helplessly behind a pillar in the far side of the room, his heart thumping loudly in his chest, his stomach churning at what was happening in front of him.

"Silence, boy," the hiss of a strange voice spoke into his ear. Tornak could feel the hot breath and blade at his throat and he flinched.

"Another movement like that and it'll cost you your vocal chords," the voice whispered, almost inaudibly.

Tornak froze.

"Now listen carefully. Listen to the only hope you've got of ever seeing your friends again," it continued. "There's about to be a distraction. When it starts, get the Tau'ri and your friends through the passageway to the Ring of water. Get them as far away from this place as it's possible to get them. Is that understood?"

Tornak hesitated. If he nodded he could have his throat slit.

"I'll take your silence as good sense and an agreement," the voice said. "Now turn slowly around."

Tornak felt the hand move from his throat and the stranger move slightly away. He started to turn slowly and then felt a hand clamp over his lips as he confronted the creature who stood before him. The scream started to move from his throat and make its way to his mouth but the hand held tight, preventing the sound from escaping into the room. Tornak felt a gag move to his throat to follow but swallowed it back.

"Find me offensive? So do I. It is of no consequence. Take these words to your friends and to the Tau'ri. Tell them that Khepera will be no more. Khepera dies in his own world. A world of his own making. A death of his own making. We will ensure that the Ring ceases once you have passed through it. We will ensure that no more are taken from this place and enslaved. That no other creature suffers as we have. Tell them that."

Tornak nodded and then tentatively held out his hand. The creature gazed at him for a moment, hesitating and then slowly held out his hand to grasp the boy's.

"You're the Miscreants?" Tornak whispered as he took in the sight of something, which for him, was a folktale come into being.

"Not our word," came the simple, quiet reply. "We are those of whom you speak, yes," he added.

"From the catacombs?"

"Yes, that is where we have lived out our miserable lives. What have we been doing for all these years? We have survived. Beneath the palace, far down beneath. We roam deeper than you have ventured. We are...a community," he said softly, with a tinge of sadness in his voice.

"Why now?" Tornak whispered.

"Because we have been waiting. We know it is our time because Morphan has called for us."

"I....." Tornak wanted to know so much more but felt a finger placed on his lips and the creature shook his head slowly.

"There is no more time. Ask Morphan. When you have left this place he will tell you about us. Let your lips speak our names with pride and not with revulsion."

Tornak nodded, and saw that through the deformed features of the creature who stood in front of him, there was a face filled with pain, filled with regret. A creature which had steeled itself for what was to come.

Khepera stood triumphantly, his fingers caressing the vial, his ultimate salvation. They wouldn't dare kill him, wouldn't dare to risk endangering themselves. He held the final solution in his grasp.

O'Neill looked to Morphan for some sort of clue that he knew this would happen, that this was all a part of the plan, but the Tok'ra's face was unreadable, implacable, staring at Khepera, daring him to make the first move.

Daniel stepped forward. O'Neill moved to grab his arm. Sam felt a strangulated warning die on her lips and Teal'c fingered his staff more carefully.

"Actually I don't think you'd be able to infect the whole room with one vial," he said, feigning seriousness, feigning a carefree attitude when deep down he was scared as hell, knowing that in reality one false move and the vial would infect the surroundings just as easily as a super virus.

"Ah, Dr Jackson. You are as clever as you are foolish. Do you not think I know exactly what this vial will do? This is all my creation, borne through Selphic, and she is mine too. No one who is borne of my creation can leave my service, no one."

"Your arrogance is your downfall."

A collective gasp from the room, and the sound of small, strangulated sobs of horror from several women in the audience.

SG1 turned in unison to gaze on the speaker.

If miscreant was the word used to describe the group of people who stood before them, it was inaccurate. If monster had been used it might have been more accurate, and yet these were no real monsters. As deranged scientists in fiction had created their sad pathetic creatures, so Khepera had created these. That however was where the similarity ended. There was no pride in his creations, no sense of awe in making something which lived and breathed. These people, these misshapen experiments, these creatures, had been left to die, left to fend for themselves. Discarded, thrown away, as a bad apple is thrown when it is shown to be rotten.

These were Khepera's forgotten children.

Khepera paled visibly, stepping backwards, moving up the steps towards his throne, his fingers clutching the vial tighter, as though somehow it could protect him from seeing what was in front of him. "I will use this," he threatened, his eyes glowing as his anger and fear increased and became more than two emotions, they became one.

The first creature moved towards him, the others closing in behind.

"You cannot do anything to hurt us," the creature said. "You have done all that you can do to us already," he added. As they neared the steps, the creature turned and nodded at Tornak who stepped from behind the pillar.

"Do it," the creature said and then turned back to face Khepera, who was clambering upwards, fingering at his throne, grabbing at the symbol of his power as if in some way it could protect him.

Tornak raced forwards and touched Morphan on the arm who swung around.

"Tornak, it must be time," he said and smiled benignly at the boy, who whispered briefly in his ear. Morphan nodded and smiled and then gathered his people with a sweep of his arm. He looked at O'Neill.

"We leave," he said simply and watched as Tornak moved towards the narrow tunnel, encircled by the symbol of the Gate.

Morphan's people ushered Khepera's entire audience swiftly up into the tunnel one by one. Tornak beckoned to SG1 to follow.

"We're leaving?" O'Neill asked as he glanced at Khepera and then raised his eyebrows at Morphan.

"Our side of this is done," Morphan replied. "Khepera's children will do the rest," he added and then ushered them speedily through the tunnel, hastening Selphic and Zophra with him.

"Guess this was all part of the plan," Daniel said to Teal'c as they moved at speed towards the tunnel.

As Sam pulled herself up into the tunnel she allowed herself a single glance backwards. Khepera's children were encircling the steps leading to the throne, their eyes intent on their prey.

The chamber leading to the Gate, despite its gloom, looked welcoming compared to where they'd just come from.

One of Morphan's men leapt onto the platform and dialled up a planet of their choosing.

"O'Neill, I ask this of you. We of the Tok'ra will take Khepera's generals and his supporters to a place where we can decide what to do with them. We ask that you wait until all of us have passed through before activating the device to your own world." Morphan said as he faced O'Neill by the Gate. "We ask that you protect the Gate for us until we have gone."

"You're going to kill them, aren't you?" said Sam as she moved up behind O'Neill.

Morphan's eyes narrowed and he looked at her silently, studying her face.

"The Tok'ra high council will take that decision," he replied and then added "You are the one who was host to Jolinar?"

Sam nodded.

"Then I am honoured," he said and bowed slightly.

Sam looked bemused but nodded her head in brief response.

"If the memories of Jolinar are as strong in her as I believe them to be, then you must keep her safe," he said turning to O'Neill. "She may yet prove to be your greatest asset in the fight which you are going to face."

Sam looked down, embarrassed.

O'Neill glanced at her and reached out and shook Morphan's hand. "We will," he said simply.

"Um..could I ask something..before you go?" Daniel said as he moved forwards.

Morphan nodded and turned to face him.

"Where were those creatures living? You mentioned catacombs earlier, but I haven't seen anything which refers to them. I mean there's nothing mentioned of them in any inscriptions and Khepera sure looked surprised to see them," Daniel ventured.

"They lived in Tok'ra tunnels beneath this place. They were believed by Khepera to be dead and indeed many were, but when the Tok'ra came to this place in secret many years ago, we created the tunnels and saved those who Khepera abandoned. Abandoned because they were deformed, not to his liking. Now they will have their revenge. That is all they have ever wanted. We owed them that. Life owed them that." Morphan looked down and then his voice changed into a deeper tone as his head rose.

"Tau'ri. Those creatures believe that they can destroy this Gate. Khepera is stronger than they think. I fear for us all if Khepera manages to live. Go to your world and send a device of destruction back through. Destroy this complex and all that surrounds it. Ensure that what has been started is finished. Send word to us that this deed has been done."

"But we'll destroy those creatures along with Khepera," Daniel protested and looked at O'Neill. "Jack, you can't do that."

O'Neill locked eyes with Morphan and a silent understanding passed between them.

The creatures knew all along that they would be susceptible to the vial. They'd bluffed so that everyone else could escape. Once Khepera released it they would become his servants, under his control. For all O'Neill knew it might be too late already. The creatures were relying on them, on the Tok'ra, to ensure that their agony would end this day.

Morphan bowed, his eyes acknowledging the trust which they'd established, and then turned to follow Tornak up the steps and through the Gate. As soon as the field had dispersed Sam started dialling home.

Teal'c turned suddenly, his staff pointing towards the ante-chamber.

O'Neill's eyes narrowed and he pulled his rifle from his back. "Carter, speed it up," he barked as he heard the footsteps, the shuffling sound.

Sam pressed the last symbol and breathed a sigh of relief as the final chevron locked into place, the Gate activated. She moved from the DHD, her rifle swung around and in her hands in seconds.

"Let's get out of here, campers," O'Neill shouted and moved towards the Gate.

The strange murmurings, the gutteral sounds came from three of the creatures who sloped into view from the ante-chamber. Their eyes burned, not only with pain but with hatred. A hatred only Khepera could have instilled there.

"Warn Hammond what we've gotta do," O'Neill shouted as Teal'c reached the Gate first and turned briefly to fire his staff into the middle of the creatures.

Teal'c leapt through swiftly followed by Daniel, who glanced behind to see the three creatures moving towards O'Neill. His look of dismay and warning shout, frozen on his lips as he disappeared.

Sam raised her weapon and fired a round into their midst. Their shouts of dismay as one of their number fell forward with a grunt was followed by a murderous screech.

A blade raced across the chamber closing the gap between the creatures and Sam within seconds. She dropped, clutching her leg as it imbedded in her thigh.

O'Neill raced towards Sam and grabbed her under the arm. Half dragging her, he pulled her through the Gate, turning to fire another round into the small group of creatures who were hovering at the edge of the gate hesitating, looking in awe at this mammoth ring.

"Close the Iris," O'Neill shouted as he dragged Sam down the ramp and deposited her at the bottom. "Can we get a medic here?" he added as he bent down to pull her swiftly out of the way of a vehicle which was being positioned at the bottom of the ramp, its deadly payload being placed on top.

The sound of sickening thuds as the first of the creatures hit the iris, made Sam's stomach churn. She lifted haunted eyes to O'Neill who nodded sympathetically, and bent to look at the knife and its wound.

Daniel stood, his hand covering his mouth, as he stared at the Iris and mentally cursed what they were about to do.

When the thudding had stopped, the room went silent. A knife-cutting solid silence.

O'Neill looked up and locked eyes with General Hammond. Hammond nodded.

"Send it through," he said into a microphone and the chevrons started to engage again.

Janet Fraiser appeared in seconds and assessed Sam's condition. She had her patient swiftly put on a gurney and was about to take her to the infirmary.

"I have to see this," Sam said, pleadingly, gritting her teeth, her hand gripping Janet's arm. The pain could wait.

Janet nodded at the two soldiers and escorted Sam up to the main command room where a view from the vehicle's on board camera could be seen.

"We don't even know if Khepera's still there or gone," said Daniel to no one in particular.

"We know squat, Daniel. We still gotta do this," O'Neill added.

The vehicle's camera sprang into action as soon as it reached the other side of the gate.

The view was one of devastation. Bodies strewn across the chamber floor in front of the gate. Not a single movement. The camera panned across the chamber. The creatures appeared to have attacked one another, a madness taking them. Or was it a realisation of what they'd become? In their final agonies had they realised that the only way to defeat Khepera was to destroy themselves, before it was too late? O'Neill put his hand to his mouth and watched the picture in front of him with a sense of great loss.

"Do we detonate?" the technician asked as he looked intently at Hammond.

Hammond turned to O'Neill. "Your call, Colonel," he said.

O'Neill put a hand up for silence and moved closer to the screen, his eyes narrowing.

"Can you direct the camera to focus in on one of the bodies?" he asked the technician.

"Yes, sir. Which one?" the young technician asked.

"That one," O'Neill said and moved to the screen and tapped one of the bodies lying nearest to the Gate.

As the camera focussed in, movement was caught. Slight, subtle, but movement nevertheless.

Khepera's eyes flicked open and he raised his head, aware of the camera suddenly. His face darkened and he raised himself up on one arm, his other hand lifting to activate the ribbon device and destroy the camera lens.

"Let's do it," O'Neill said as he stared Khepera in the eyes. The look of haunted resignation, of defeat, which had come both painful and unexpected, lay across his face and reflected in the dark eyes.

As the screen flashed and went white, O'Neill turned and caught Daniel's eye. A look of solidarity, and of understanding passed between them. No recriminations at what they'd done. Daniel had seen the devastation only Khepera could have caused, and the justification for what they'd done was no longer needed. The creatures were at peace. Finally, irrevocably at peace. Daniel understood that.

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