Ragnarok

Thor raised his head, wearily. His body was strapped into a confining frame, bolted to the wall of his cell. For all his arrogance, Loki clearly still feared the Asgard, to take such extensive security measures. Of course, after his once-round with Jormungandr, Thor was in a state of near-complete exhaustion, but even if he were given time to recover, he would not be able to break free of this harness. Thus he had been obliged to watch while Loki issued his demands to the Tau'ri.

"Infuriating, isn't it?" Loki asked, strutting before the Asgard. "To be held, immobile, but aware of your body all the while. Feeling every itch, yet unable to scratch it. Of course, you know nothing of such suffering yet, mighty Thor, but you shall. We have plans for you, Lord Thunderer; you and that whore, Skadi. We think that we will put you in matching stasis fields, to watch each other suffer. Assuming those shrivelled bodies of yours can even feel pain?

"Not that that matters," Loki continued. "Even if we can not cause you physical pain, then we know how to attack you. Once we have you bound, we will set about destroying everyone you ever cared about, slowly and painfully. Their deaths shall be recorded, and replayed to you, over and over for all eternity. We shall start with the woman; Angharad Midhir. We still do not know what binds her to you, but we shall do. In the meantime, her pain and torment can be your recreation. You should be able to hear the screams from here."

"You shall not prevail, Loki," Thor croaked.

"And who will stop me? Your precious Asgard could not find my daughter, and dared not approach my sons."

"The Tau'ri shall stop you."

Loki laughed, long and loud. "Thor; I declare that you have become a clown in your dotage. The Tau'ri are nothing to me."

"And that," Thor replied. "Is why they will destroy you."

The cell door opened, and a slender figure entered. Loki turned, angrily, but at the sight of the woman his face lit up with pleasure. "Hel, our beloved," he whispered, kissing her passionately.

"Father," she responded. She turned and looked Thor over, smiling, and her hand dropped to her side, drawing the Asgard's notice to the weapon tucked into her belt. Mjollnir. Thor's hammer.

"You remember our daughter?" Loki asked Thor. "She has been examining your slut. As we are sure that you recall, she is quite brilliant."

"You are too kind, father," Hel told him.

"Her intellect is corrupted by evil," Thor said. "It is a power that could turn upon itself."

Hel turned away from the Asgard, stung by his barb, which struck closer than he knew.

"What have you found?" Loki asked, ignoring Thor entirely.

"The woman…has been altered," Hel replied. "It is subtle, but I managed to track the alteration to her reproductive system. An invasive procedure was required to determine the nature of the modification, but the woman is…undamaged."

Thor strained against his bonds, and tried to will the woman to silence.

Hel shot the Asgard a disdainful glare, and shrugged off the attempt with ease. "The Seeds of Life held within the woman's body have been altered. She herself remains unchanged, but any child she bears will have an element of Asgard heritage."

"What does this mean?" Loki wondered aloud. "Why would the Asgard wish to give their Seed to this one human?"

"I shall endeavour to discern this," Hel promised. "It might help if…"

Loki smiled. "When they are taken, the children shall both be yours, beloved; to do with as you please."

"And the other…"

"Of course, my darling. Nothing it too good for you."

Thor felt a nauseous wave of unease watching these two. To the best of his knowledge, no Goa'uld had ever got a human child on a Harcesis; he had no idea what such a child might be, but it was worrying. Perhaps of even more concern were the implications of Hel's discovery. If Loki were to impregnate Angharad Midhir – or Hel to bear a child by Angharad's son – the results could be disastrous for the Asgard; and for every living thing in the Galaxy.

The Kalliste dropped out of hyperspace, and began a slow, sweeping approach towards the Naglfar. Dwarfed by its bulk, the Utgard flew ahead, drawing the vessel behind it as she prepared to activate her own hyperdrives and tow Loki's battleship out of the system.

"There she is," Eris breathed. She was nestled snugly in her favourite chair, turning the runestone over and over in her hands and pondering the rewards that Loki would heap upon her for her success. She had already reported the recovery of the stone, and the capture of her hostage, and Loki had seemed most pleased with her.

"Quite a beauty," Kalliste replied.

Eris laughed. "Why Kalliste; you sound like you're in love, my dear."

"I love only you, Mistress," the ship assured her.

"I love you too, Kalliste," Eris said, and meant it. The ship had been there for her since the day she was first powered up. Eris had killed an assassin sent for Angrboda, and Loki had rewarded her with the Kalliste. Her hand had laid the keystone in its cradle for the first time, and her voice had issued the vessel's first instruction. Nothing in her life of service had ever seemed so much hers.

Eris sailed towards her beloved master, her mission a success, resting comfortably in the ship that she loved. She sighed contentedly. Life was good.

She activated the Kalliste's communicator, and the Naglfar put her in contact with Loki. As her vision filled with the room around her hologram, her face fell, and her contentment tied in a tight knot inside her gut.

"Master," Eris greeted Loki. "And Mistress Hel; so…good to see you well." Eris knew at once that Hel's appearance was due to no flesh graft; this was the real thing, and with her mother's face, she held Loki's heart in her hands. The captive Asgard and the hammer at Hel's belt confirmed that she must now be back in high favour with her father.

"We note that you recovered neither of the children," Loki said. That was bad also; she had hoped he would be mellowed by the news of her successes before she reported the failure of her secondary mission with as much positive spin as possible.

"The girl has power," Eris explained. "Much power."

"All the more reason for her to be ours." Loki waved a dismissive hand. "But never mind that now. The stone?"

"I have it here," Eris assured him, displaying the runestone, proudly.

Loki's eyes glowed with delight. "You have done well, our darling," he told her. "Children or no, we are pleased with you."

Eris squirmed with pleasure. "Thank you, Lord."

"We have undervalued you too long, sweet Eris," Loki continued, sending his minion into transports of delight. "And we wish to make this up to you, our faithful servant. Therefore, you are to become our deputy, and our companion."

"Oh, thank you," Eris whispered.

"You will join us aboard the Naglfar as soon as we have secured the stone which Jormungandr lost," Loki said. "Where you will take a place of highest honour. Our daughter shall take command of the Kalliste."

Eris' face fell. "Sire?" She asked, praying that she had misheard.

"Someone must take command of the vessel when you join us, beloved Eris. Our children are precious to us, but their deeds have pleased us less than yours. Thus this honour falls to you, while Jormungandr shall have command of the Utgard, and Hel the Kalliste. Hel bowed humbly, a spiteful smile on her perfect lips.

"But, Sire…You gave the Kalliste to me. She is mine."

"We placed you at her helm, Eris, but the ship was always ours. Now we are offering you something greater, and command of the Kalliste is ours to dispense as we choose." He smiled, kindly. "If you think that the place we offer you is too great an honour, we could place you aboard the Utgard, to fill a similar role for our son."

Eris shivered, feeling trapped and cheated. All her service and sacrifice – two thousand years of vigil, letting her own ambitions fade into dreams – was to be rewarded with the theft of her ship; her only true friend. She would never command the Naglfar so long as Loki remained aboard, and it was plain to see that Hel would be his lover of choice, wherever she might spend her days. Eris was to receive nothing, to have all that she loved stripped from her, and by naming this as her 'reward', Loki forced her to swallow this bitter pill with humility and gratitude.

"We are honoured, Lord," Eris said, slipping into the formal manner of the Goa'uld for perhaps the first time in her life. "We live but to serve." Angrily, she shut of the communicator. It was rude to do so, but just now, Eris did not care.

"Mistress?" The Kalliste asked.

"You are to have a new…mistress," Eris told the ship, choking on her tears. "She will be good to you," she lied. "And bring you greater honour than I have."

"I do not wish for a new mistress," the ship replied.

"We have no choice, Kalliste," Eris explained, the words tasting like ash in her mouth. "It is the will of our master."

*

Jack walked into the lab mid-conversation. Freyja and Sam had been brainstorming for three hours, joined by Daniel and Teal'c and by Freyja's daughter, Gersemi. Gersemi was quiet, dark and technical, about as different from her sister as could be; not that that was surprising, as the not only did not share a father, they did not share a biological mother.

"I still can't quite believe it," Sam was saying. "It was like the world turned on its head."

"Parallel universes?" Jack hazarded.

"Daniel taking a swing at Loki like that," Sam replied.

"He's been doing that a lot lately," Jack noted, giving his jaw another rub.

"It is entirely understandable that Daniel Jackson would feel driven to attack someone who threatened harm to his former wife," Teal'c said, his tone carrying a note of rebuke for passing any kind of judgement on Daniel in the circumstances.

"Well, thank you Teal'c," Daniel said, distractedly, most of his attention fixed on Angharad's tool belt, as though it might hold some clue as to Loki's whereabouts; maybe tucked next to the leaf trowel. "Wait…who said anything about…Jack?" he asked, giving the Colonel a stern look.

Jack gave an innocent look. "What? You didn't say it was a secret or anything."

"Ex-wife?" Sam asked, astonished. "So is Llew…"

"No," Daniel, Jack and Teal'c said in unison.

"Long story," Daniel insisted. "And time is short."

Gersemi took hold of Teal'c's arm and drew him down so that she could speak softly into his ear.

"Something I was wondering," Jack said. "When he says any bomb would be neutralised, is that true? You said the dampers wouldn't be functioning?"

"They would not," Freyja agreed. "But even if the transport beam took the bomb directly to the Naglfar, he could have the cargo deposited between a set of portable dampers."

"Besides which, a bomb would be a death sentence for Annie and the others," Daniel reminded Jack.

"I know," Jack assured him. "But in the last resort…"

Daniel nodded, grimly. "Better dead than in Loki's hands," he agreed.

"Gersemi has an idea," Teal'c announced.

"Let's hear it," Jack invited.

"She suggests that a portable Asgard sensor array could be used to scan the collecting beam," Teal'c explained. "And the information thus gained, used to transmit an outgoing transport signal along the same path through the Stargate."

"She does, does she?" Jack asked, looking at the nervous girl.

"What good would that do?" Sam asked Gersemi, who shyly refused to meet her eyes. "Whatever we sent would end up in the same place as the pick-up."

Gersemi reached for Teal'c's arm again, but Jack interrupted her. "It's okay. You can talk straight to us."

Freyja's daughter blushed, but stepped up to the table. "If we set the power of the outgoing beam to be slightly lower than the collecting beam," she said, in a small, sweet voice. "Then our load could be delivered some hundred metres short of the collection point. This would allow us to place a small team of operatives within either the Naglfar or one of Loki's other ships."

"The Kalliste and the Utgard," Daniel expanded. "To the best of our knowledge, that's all he has so far."

"In any case, Loki's ships must surely be undermanned. His staff will be stretched thin, and if equipped with scan baffles, the team would thus be able to engage in acts of sabotage on board the vessel for some time before Loki even knew that they were there. On the Kalliste or the Utgard they might also be able to wrest control of the ship, and fire on the undefended Naglfar."

"Sounds good to me," Jack said.

"There is a slight risk," Gersemi admitted.

"That being?" Sam asked.

"We would essentially be shooting blind. We will have to anticipate the point of arrival within the target ship, and adjust to put the team down where they will not be exposed to boiling plasma or hard vacuum, and will not attempt to materialise within a solid structure."

Jack looked at Daniel, and saw the archaeologist looking back. With a slight start, Jack realised that he knew exactly what Daniel was thinking. He was thinking: I think we should go for it; but I can't ask them to risk getting killed in a stupid and pointless way.

"Sure you can," Jack told Daniel, provoking a look of surprise. "That would make it a volunteers-only trip," he told Gersemi. "But it sounds like an option."

"Given the tracking data, the Stupid Idea can follow as fast as she can," Freyja added. "If the team makes it a priority to disable the cloaking machinery, then we can engage Loki's battlegroup in battle. Cloaked, the Naglfar will make short work of us."

"But the Stupid Idea will be outgunned anyway," Sam protested. "She wouldn't last ten minutes."

"Thus, I would appreciate it if the assault team could also disable as many of the enemy weapons as possible in five. If you can take the bridge of the Naglfar and remove one or more of the keystones, that should give us the edge that we require."

Jack shook his head in admiration. "I gotta hand it to you, Freyja," he said. "That's a pretty stupid idea."

"Wisdom is knowing that you are never too old to learn," Freyja replied.

"How many warriors could the assault team consist of?" Teal'c asked.

"Likely no more than ten," Gersemi replied. "Otherwise the beam will require too much power, and I won't be able to conceal it. I can tell you more precisely after I have scanned one of Loki's collection beams properly."

Jack nodded. "Okay," he said. "Let's take this to the General."

The same group who had received Loki's ultimatum – with the addition of Gersemi – gathered in the briefing room to hear the plan. It was now seven fifteen.

"It's a calculated risk," Sam explained. "But we think that with a preliminary scan of the twenty-one-hundred pickup, we can significantly reduce that risk. We can also estimate where Loki is most likely to set the targets down, and cut down the margin of error."

"What happens if the calculations are incorrect, Major?" Hammond asked.

"We die," Sam replied. "Pretty much. But Loki is right; he doesn't have to ask us for the stone."

"Then why is he doing this?" Hammond asked.

"Classic Goa'uld power play," Daniel replied. "He's making us shoulder the blame; inviting us to hand him the key to our own destruction."

"It is indeed a well-loved ploy of certain Goa'uld," Teal'c confirmed. "While some enjoy emphasising their power, others use techniques such as this to cast light on the weakness of their enemies."

"And how do you get off the ship once you have the hostages?"

"Another piece of sabotage," Jack replied. "There's a mechanism on all Asgard ships to prevent enemies from transporting people on or off their ship during battle. It will have to be off for them to take up the package, which gives us a window in getting on board, but we'll need to destroy it for Freyja to lift us out."

"Alright," Hammond said. "This will have to be a volunteer mission, but I'm giving you the green light. What's next?"

"Freyja returns to the Stupid Idea for the scanning equipment," Sam explained. "While Gersemi, Daniel, Teal'c and I go over the schematics of the Naglfar to try to determine where the pickup target will be."

"We're certain it will be to the Naglfar?" Hammond asked.

"Almost, Sir," Sam assured him. "If it is, the beam will have to be passed through one of the other vessels, as the transport beams on the Naglfar are still non-functional. Gersemi can detect than in her scan."

"Very good," Hammond said. "Who do you have in mind for the team?" He asked Jack.

"SG-1," Jack replied. "SG-3 and the two active members of SG-5 – Major Parker and Sergeant Fowler."

"No dice," Phan Kim said.

"I must agree, Jack," Freyja interrupted. "There are a maximum of ten places on this mission, and I must insist that three of those go to the remaining members of Ratatosk Flight."

Jack looked unhappy, but Sam spoke up: "We couldn't do much better, Colonel," she assured them. "Each of those guys packs about as much firepower as SG-3, and they know how to do sabotage."

"There're command issues," Jack said, hesitantly.

"Ratatosk Flight will act under your authority," Kim assured him. "But we are coming."

"Very well," Hammond said. "Colonel; Parker and Fowler will join SG-1 and Ratatosk Flight if they agree to volunteer. Have everyone prepped to go by ten-thirty hours."

"I am also going," Gersemi said.

"You are not," Freyja told her.

"They may need a technician with experience of Asgard systems," Gersemi argued. "And Hnoss is my sister."

Freyja nodded, sadly. "Take good care of her," she told Jack.

"I take good care of everyone," he promised.

"Should we send someone through with the stone?" Daniel asked. "Try to stall or distract Loki."

"There will be no stone," Hammond replied. "We can't risk allowing Loki to activate that ship. The assault team will be the only measure."

"What if he kills the hostages out of hand when the stone doesn't show?" Daniel demanded.

"That would be regrettable," Hammond agreed. "But not so regrettable as a Goa'uld fleet reducing Earth to a smoking cinder. Now this is not up for discussion, Dr Jackson. I can in no way authorise you to remove the stone from its present location in the SGC lab vault."

"I understand," Daniel said, although he made no attempt to hide the fact that he was not happy about it.

"Well I don't!" Mary protested.

"It's called a rational transaction," Daniel told her, bitterly. "It means that we can't risk everyone for four people. And he's right."

Mary fumed.

"We'll get them back," Jack promised, aware that he had been making that promise rather a lot lately, and praying he could make good on it.

"I don't like this," Llew admitted to Cassandra, as they sat in his guest suite.

"Nor I," Cassie replied.

"I just wish…I wish there was something I could do. I hate knowing that my Mam might die, and I can't do a thing to change that. Whatever happens, won't be affected by anything I do."

"I know," Cassie assured him, rubbing her hand across his tense shoulders. "I feel like this whenever Mom goes offworld; and even when Sam and the others are away."

"I'm sorry," Llew said.

"For what?"

"For being so self-absorbed," Llew explained. "I know you're suffering too. I shouldn't be so…"

Cassie took his hand and squeezed it gently. "It's all new to you," she said. "I understand. And I don't think you are being self-absorbed; or no more than you've a right to be."

"Thanks," he said. "I…I'm glad I don't have to go through this on my own."

Cassandra smiled gently, and leaned in to kiss Llew. As she did so, at the back of her mind she was counting down: Three, two, one, and…

There was a knock on the door.

"Right on cue," Cassie muttered. "That'll be Mom come to take us down to dinner.

Llew gave a soft chuckle. "Do you think this just isn't meant to happen?" He asked, as he got up to answer the door.

"Hell with meant," Cassie growled. "I for one intend to keep trying."

"And I for two," Llew promised.

The Stargate kawooshed open, and moments later the transport beam swept the embarkation ramp. After a minute or so, the wormhole closed.

"Was that okay, Gersemi?" Sam asked.

"Yes. That was good," the girl replied, scrutinising the holographic screen rising from a small palmtop device. The members of the SGC assault team crowded around to get a view, despite the fact that only Sam had the slightest idea what any of it meant. "Definitely redirected to land the cargo away from the beam source."

"Which means Naglfar," Sam said. "Great."

"We can take up to eleven people," Gersemi announced. "So long as none of them are huge or overburdened with gear, but since we have ten selected, I'd rather stick with that."

Jack nodded. "Do we know where we're going to land?"

"Not precisely," Gersemi replied. "But we are pretty sure that Loki will be bringing whatever is on the ramp to the bridge of the Naglfar."

"According to the plans," Daniel explained. "The bridge is done up as Loki's throne room. He'll want any courier to be immediately faced with the full glory of his power, and he'll want to be able to get the stones to the control station as soon as possible. This achieves both ends."

"We'll put down in this area here," Gersemi continued, indicating a large circle on the deck above.

"That should put us within striking distance of the mechanism believed to be the cloaking device," Teal'c finished.

"Believed?"

"As the Naglfar does not employ a standard Asgard cloaking device, it is uncertain," Teal'c explained. "But even if not, we should still be able to locate the dorsal shield generators and sensor arrays a short distance from this touch down."

"Mindless destruction," Jack said. "Sounds like fun." He sighed. "Okay everyone; get some sleep if you can. This is going to be a tight operation and we need to be clear-headed. Gersemi, you'll collect everyone to the Stupid Idea for oh-nine-hundred?"

"Yes, Colonel O'Neill," the girl replied.

"You seem to be getting over your nerves," Jack noted.

Gersemi's smile was suddenly shy again. "It's just with new people," she explained. "I'm really better with machines."

"I hope so," Jack replied. "We may need that."

*

Monday

Mary Lasuip's heart was caught between righteous indignation and holy terror. On the one hand, she was furious that General Hammond would risk the life of her friend by holding out on Loki. She understood the risks, but felt very strongly that it would be a hollow victory if the Naglfar were destroyed at the cost of Dr Midhir and the other hostages. On the other hand, she was breaking into a lab in a top secret USAF facility to steal the last thing that an insane alien dictator required in order to activate a weapon of mass destruction, the like of which had never been seen outside of a Star Wars movie.

As a civilian consultant on the Stargate Programme, Mary had been given low-level clearance, which included access to the main labs. She swiped her card, typed in a PIN, and entered. The room was dark, and smelled ominously of gas. The secure vault was in the far wall, a steel-doored cabinet, holding all of the SGC's captured alien technology; or at least all that had been sent on to other secret facilities which Mary did not know about. The door was combination locked, and Mary had made sure that she was watching closely when Sam opened it to put the runestone inside. She raised her hand to the keypad, and froze…

What was the number?

All that care to see what Sam entered, and she had forgotten the number.

"Zero-four-seven, three-one-nine, six-six-eight-zero."

Mary spun around to face the shadowy, cloth-wrapped figure, silhouetted against the light from the corridor. Her heart was pounding. She was so utterly busted. "I wasn't…I…"

Daniel reached past her, and keyed the sequence into the keypad. The door clunked, and sprung ajar, and Daniel motioned Mary aside so that he could open it.

"What…?" Mary asked.

"Breaking into the SGC labs, stealing a runestone and making the trade," Daniel said. "I can't just leave her up there," he explained.

Mary smiled. "I knew you weren't really going to abandon her."

"Thank you for you confidence," Daniel said, pulling out one of the drawers. There was a disc-shaped hand device, a heavy, black troll cudgel and one of their hideous microwave blasters, and the box which held the runestone. Daniel lifted out this last, and froze.

"What's wrong?" Mary whispered.

"It's too light," Daniel replied. He set the box down, picked up a key from the drawer, and released the lock. He raised the lid, revealing a small piece of paper…and no runestone.

"Dr Jackson?" Mary asked, bemused.

"Dear Mom," Daniel read. "We can not just sit here and wait for Llew's mom to die. We are going to deliver the stone, in exchange for the hostages. We know that he wants us alive, and once on board we shall find a way to stop him. I truly believe that this is what we have to do, and I hope that you will understand. I hope that I will see you again some day. Love Cassie God damnit!"

"I take it she didn't write God damnit."

"They're going to hand themselves over to him along with the stone," Daniel said. "That's everything he wants in a nice, neat bundle! We have to stop them."

Mary tailed Daniel as he ran from the lab and hared along the corridors, to the consternation of several guards, who called out after them as they ran. Daniel led the way to the Gateroom and keyed open the main door.

It was three-fifty-five.

"Cassie!" Daniel called out.

"Daniel? Damnit," Mary heard. She ran in behind Daniel, and saw him standing with Cassie and Llew at the foot of the ramp.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Daniel demanded.

"Daniel, we have to do this."

"Do what? Give Loki the keys to the universe? I mean, what were you planning? Snoop around until you find a big red button labelled 'self destruct'?"

Cassie blushed, awkwardly.

Daniel relented a little. "I'm just glad I caught you in time," he said, holding out his hand. "Now, give me the stone, Cassandra."

"I can't do that," Cassie said.

"Yes you can," Daniel said.

"We can't let Mam die!" Llew protested.

"We're not going to," Daniel assured him.

"We'll take the stone through," Mary promised.

"I'll take it through," Daniel corrected. "But I need you off this ramp, Cassie. Please?"

Cassandra nodded, reaching inside her jacket. "You promise you'll take it through?"

"I swear."

"Okay then…"

It was four o'clock.

*

"…and good…luck…" Cassie tailed off, hurriedly taking her hand back out of her jacket again.

Daniel looked around, impressed in spite of himself. The bridge of the Naglfar was grand, even by Goa'uld and Asgard standards. The walls were a deep, blue-black colour, trimmed in silver, rising in graceful arcs to a dome some twenty feet above the circular floor on which Daniel and the others stood. Behind them, the panels were clear, allowing a view of the stars in front of the battleship, and Daniel could see the Utgard up ahead. Before them was a control console, beyond which the floor rose some eight feet to the dais which bore Loki's throne. The Goa'uld himself sat on his high seat, glowering down at his captives, while a woman of cold and terrible beauty stood at the console with a warhammer at her belt. Two Jaffa flanked the throne, and Daniel was aware of two more behind him.

"Well, Dr Jackson. What an unexpected pleasure," Loki crowed. "Do you bring the children as an offering? Do you wish to enter our service, perhaps?"

"Where are the hostages?" Daniel demanded.

"Safe," Loki replied. "Where is our stone."

"You get the stone when everyone else has gone back."

Loki laughed, and leaped down from his throne. It was an impressive gesture, his powerful frame sailing clear across the control console, to land in front of Daniel, at least thirty feet from his chair. With an idle motion, he drove his fist into Daniel's gut. Daniel doubled over and collapsed on the deck.

"Give us the stone," Loki told Cassandra.

"I…I don't…" Cassandra stammered.

"It is underneath your jacket," Loki said. "Do not seek to deceive us, child, for are we not the Trickster."

Reluctantly, Cassandra handed over the runestone.

"At last," Loki purred, seizing the stone tightly. "Hel!"

The woman sashayed forward, loping her arm through Loki's. "Yes, father."

"Take them away. They are yours to play with; all of them."

"Thank you, father," Hel cooed.

"Anything for you, beloved," Loki assured his daughter, kissing her passionately. "As you have no doubt guessed, we shall be releasing no-one, Dr Jackson. Our daughter has been most eager for a chance to avenge the hurt you did her, Dr Jackson. We are certain she has something special in store for you."

Daniel dragged himself to his feet. "That's nice," he gasped. "Because I've got something special for you." So saying, he flung something at the floor before him. There was a flash of blinding light, and a cloud of smoke erupted at Loki's feet.

"What is this!" Loki demanded. "Seize them! Guards! Seize them now!"

"Move," Daniel hissed in Cassandra's ear, catching her by the shoulder. "Keep together, but move." With his other hand, he grabbed Mary's arm, and he herded Llew between the two of them as he propelled them towards the rear of the bridge.

"Seal the pel'tac," Hel ordered. "Don't let them…" Her foot stubbed on something that rolled away.  She waved away the smoke and strained to see what she had struck, at the same time making a mental note to find a way to adapt her eyes to see further into the far red. Finally she spotted the object, a small metallic sphere. "Mai'tac!" She swore, recognising the device mere moments before it detonated.

*

"Damnit!" Daniel cursed, twisting the recalcitrant door controls. "They've sealed the bridge."

"You want to go back in there?" Mary asked, astounded.

"I let off a Goa'uld shock grenade," Daniel explained, pulling a zat'nik'tel from under his jacket. "Everyone in there should be out of action for about a half hour, but I can't get the stones if I can't get in."

"You brought a bomb on board?" Llew asked.

"Not a bomb. A bomb could be dampened and might destroy something vital. The shock grenade can't and won't."

"What if he kills Mam!?" Llew demanded angrily. "What were you thinking?"

"What was I…? This from the co-architect of the big red button theory? I was thinking that I would be here on my own, and that I could incapacitate Loki long enough to find Annie and the others. Speaking of which," he said. "We need to go this way. I was also thinking that it would provide a good distraction for Jack and the others to have me running around the ship."

"Jack and the others?" Cassandra asked, talking as they walked. "But they won't even try until 11am?"

"They came over the same time we did," Daniel said. "Unlike some people, mentioning none of your names, I didn't rush into this without backup."

"Be-atch," Cassie retorted.

"Just try not to get killed," Daniel begged.

"I know; you don't want to have to explain that to our Moms," Cassie said, smiling.

"No, Cassie," Daniel replied, seriously. "I just don't want you to get killed."

Cassie nodded, sombrely. "So where are we going?"

"Prison deck," Daniel replied. "All of you keep your eyes peeled, and take cover if there's trouble, since none of you is armed."

"I'm armed," Mary assured him, pulling out a plasma lance. "See; I'm not completely dense."

"Where did you get that?" Daniel asked.

"I borrowed it from Gersemi," she said. "I told her I wished I had a weapon and she gave me this."

"Did she ask why?"

"She didn't," Mary replied. "I was quite surprised by that."

"I'm armed as well," Cassie said. "I got this from the vault when I was grabbing the stone." She held up her hand, now wrapped in a Goa'uld ribbon device.

"Somehow, I don't feel much safer," Daniel admitted.

"I'm not armed," Llew said.

"That's actually good to know."

*

Sam and Gersemi ducked out of the room in a pall of smoke.

"Are we visible?" Newman asked.

"Either that, or we just made a real mess of their espresso machine," Sam replied. "I can't say for sure if that was the cloaking device," she said, more soberly. "But it was nothing either of us has seen on an Asgard or Goa'uld ship before."

"Good enough," Jack said. "Let's find something else to smash."

Gersemi consulted her palmtop. "Dorsal shields and sensors are all down that corridor," she said, pointing.

Jack nodded. "Teal'c, Fowler; point. Newman, Parker; watch our six."

"Interesting choice," Parker muttered.

"None of that," Jack cautioned, managing to sound as though he meant it, despite the fact that he secretly agreed with Parker's reservations. Pleasant as the man had been when Jack met him on board the Sesrumnir, Newman was a convicted traitor. On the other hand, Carter vouched for him, and Jack had no reason to think that Freyja would have bothered with him if he were a complete washout. "We're all friends now," he added.

"O'Neill!" Teal'c cautioned, dropping to one knee and raising his staff weapon to a firing position. Up ahead, two Jaffa had just rounded a corner, clad in chainmail armour and carrying staff weapons. Their heads were covered by helmets that resembled the knight from a chess set.

"Kree!" The first Jaffa shouted, and Teal'c shot him in the gut. The second cried out in alarm, as Fowler snapped off a cluster of tightly grouped shots from her M16 and sent him crashing to the floor.

"Let's move!" Jack ordered. "By twos; go!"

Teal'c and Fowler stayed where they were, crouched and ready, while Jack and Sam ran forward, Gersemi at their heels. The artfully sweeping arches which divided the corridor into sections made for good cover, so they went only as far as the next section. Jack checked for enemies, and waved for Yukio and Kim darted past them to the next arch. Then Teal'c and Fowler turned to cover the rear, while Parker and Newman moved forward.

"Look out!" Yukio called back. Parker and Newman ducked down beside Jack and Sam, as a large group of Jaffa came into sight. They moved with trained precision, taking advantage of cover, but several other figures advanced behind them, in the more traditional Jaffa fashion of simply walking forward while firing. Bright flares of energy flashed from Yukio and Kim's combat gauntlets, striking the first of these walkers. He staggered slightly, but kept moving.

"So much for high-tech," Jack muttered. He leaned out, and fired off a quick burst from his P90. To his chagrin, the man seemed to ignore this injury as well. "That's just not good," Jack commented.

Teal'c fired a shot clean through the lead Jaffa's head, and he kept on coming.

"That is really not good," Jack said. "Gersemi; give me somewhere else to hit. Preferably somewhere back the way we came and fairly defensible." In a detached corner of his mind, Jack noticed that Newman's gauntlet fire was green, as opposed to the purple from Kim, or Red from Yukio.

"Um…" Gersemi struggled to concentrate as weapons fire flew around her. "Secondary fire control," she suggested. "That door between this arch and the last. One exit only."

"Great," Jack agreed. "Parker; Newman! Fall back and secure that door! Yukio; Kim! Drop back to where we are; we'll cover."

Jack watched the team move into action. Parker and Newman – not exactly what might be called simpatico – worked as one, their discipline and training coming to the fore. Without needing to look round, Jack knew that one of them would be covering the other as they opened the door, while Teal'c and Fowler moved up in support. Ahead of him, Yukio and Kim moved back firing. Jack and Sam gave what cover they could, but the Jaffa would not slow, despite looking like a sieve.

"Who the hell are these guys?" Jack demanded.

"I don't know, Sir," Sam replied. "But there's more of them behind that lot. Isn't this ship supposed to be short-staffed?"

"That was the plan."

The blasts from Yukio and Kim's gauntlets grew in intensity, and a volley struck the indomitable enemy, causing them to explode in a burst of flame and smoke. As the two pilots dashed for the arch, a foul stench rolled down the corridor. Weapons fire followed it, sporadic staff blasts and a volley of plasma bolts from an Asgard lance. The latter caught both pilots, and they staggered as they reached cover.

"Damnit!" Jack swore. "Gersemi; back to the door, now. Sam…"

"Got her, Sir," Sam replied, catching hold of Yukio.

Jack caught Kim about the waist. "Go!" He yelled, and the two of them back-pedalled as fats as they could, dragging their injured, and firing wildly to try to keep the enemy's heads down. For a moment, it looked as though they might not make it, but then Newman was there, leaping in front of them, blasting at the shadows which moved beyond the screen of smoke. Plasma blasts still flew, but they splattered harmlessly from Newman's shield.

Jack and Sam dragged Kim and Yukio through the door. Newman dived after them, and they slammed it shut behind him.

*

"I do not think that I shall like my new mistress," the Kalliste complained, stubbornly.

"Oh, Kalliste," Eris sighed. "I do not want to leave you. You're so good to me. You know my moods and my fancies, and how I like my food and my bath and…everything. I'll feel so alone without you, but we must obey our master."

She was about to say something more, but at that moment, lights began to flash across her pel'tac. "Kalliste?" She asked.

"Mistress," Kalliste replied. "The Naglfar's cloaking device has failed, and…I am detecting an incoming vessel, Mistress, but the Naglfar is not responding."

"Summon the Jaffa to battle posts," Eris ordered. "One last fight for us. A good parting note, perhaps?"

"As you say, Mistress," the Kalliste replied, sounding as though she felt there was no good note if it were parting.

Eris smiled, affectionately, as she activated the communicator.

*

Loki groaned, clutching at his head as he pulled himself to his feet.

"Sire!" Eris cried, distressed.

Loki turned and faced the hologram of his servant. "Eris? What do you want?"

"Sire; there is an Asgard ship arriving. I've not seen anything like it before, but it is launching some manner of fighter."

Loki cursed. "The carrier," he snarled, touching the controls on his console. After a moment, Jormungandr appeared alongside Eris. "I have the stones," he said. "But we are attacked. You must cover the Naglfar while I bring the primary systems up to power or all is lost."

"But, Sire!" Eris cried. "How can we battle these fighters. My weapons are too slow to target them."

"Coward," Jormungandr growled.

"I don't care!" Loki bellowed at Eris. "Die, if you must, but keep them away from my ship."

"They shall not pass, father," Jormungandr promised.

"Father." Hel staggered to her feet, and came to join Loki at the console, clutching the runestone. Eris looked alarmed at the state of her, realising that all was not well on board the Naglfar.

Loki touched Hel's cheek, tenderly. Her head was bleeding from a cut at her brow, and he seethed with rage towards the human who had hurt her once more. "We are attacked," he told his daughter. "And there are intruders loose aboard the Naglfar."

"Jormungandr's Che'fer and my Draugr shall see to them," Hel promised, pulling Mjollnir from her belt. "I shall lead the hunt myself."

"Be careful, daughter," Loki warned.

Hel smiled grimly, and pressed the runestone into her father's hand. "I can not leave this to our servants," she said. "If Daniel Jackson dies a thousand deaths, each one must be by my hand."

"Go," Loki said. "Take your revenge." He set the stone alongside its two brothers on the console. "I will begin mine."

*

"So, was it just me?" Cassie asked. "Or was it kind of creepy seeing Loki try to get it on with his daughter?"

"Well, these are the folks who inspired pharaonic marriage customs," Daniel replied. "That would mostly mean marrying your sister, but a lot of the longer lived pharaohs would switch to a daughter if they outlived the sister."

"That's just weird," Mary opined.

"The Goa'uld don't really mate for breeding purposes of course," Daniel added. "So there probably aren't gene pool issues. They pretty much grab whoever they fancy. Maybe she reminds him of her mother."

"So in answer to the question…?" Llew asked.

"Yes, It's creepy," Daniel agreed. "And…uh-oh." The light in the corridor grew brighter, and the floor hummed beneath their feet.

"What's that?" Cassie asked.

"Loki must have come round and put the last stone in place," Daniel said. "The ship is now fully operational. We have to hurry."

"There is no rush," Hel said, stepping around the corner in front of them, gripping the hammer near its head. She was flanked by two Jaffa.

Daniel recoiled in horror. "How did you…?"

"Please," Hel sniffed, dismissively. "This is my ship, and it was obvious where you would be going: to retrieve the whore your Asgard masters gave you. And now, I owe you a little pain."

The two Jaffa plunged forward. Daniel and Mary fired, but the Jaffa barely flinched. A second shot from the zat'nik'tel, and a volley of plasma fire achieved as little reaction, and the two warriors ploughed into their targets, knocking them to the ground.

"Do you like them?" Hel asked Cassie. "My Draugr. My unstoppable soldiers. They won't die, you see; they're already dead."

"How?" Cassie demanded. "Where did they all come from?"

"I've been collecting them for some time," Hel explained. "All my slain enemies, risen to serve me. The dead from Jormungandr's army served to swell their ranks. I have other plans for most of you of course, but that one" – she waved a dismissive hand at Mary – "will make an excellent addition, and I look forward to seeing Dr Jackson's face when his whore, Kawalsky, serves me from beyond the grave."

"Bitch!" Cassie screamed, throwing out her hand and willing the ribbon device to activate, focusing on her rage: This was for hurting her; for stabbing Llew, attacking Amy and skinning Daniel. She felt the power boil along her arm, raising goosebumps as it went, and knew it was even more than the last time. This was a killing force, near enough to tear Hel's body in two, and a moment before it was unleashed, Cassie quailed before the prospect. The idea of killing with a thought, with her anger, sent a chill down her spine. Fear and uncertainty gripped her, and she felt the power dissipating, until the blast that was released was barely enough to cause a stumble in the grinning Harcesis.

"Eris claims you have great power," Hel scoffed. "I am less easily impressed." She whipped up the handle of the hammer, striking Cassandra in the jaw. Cassie stumbled and fell, stars exploding in her vision, head swimming and the corridor seeming to bend and warp before her eyes.

Hel shifted her grip, and raised the hammer to strike. "When you wake from death, remember," Hel said. "Never strike me again."

The hammer came smashing down, and as it did so, a figure stepped in front of Cassie; a figure shining with an all-but blinding light.

*

"The fighters are firing on us, Lord Jormungandr," Nidhogg reported. This was the new Nidhogg, successor to the Primarch slain on Niflheim, a handsome woman from a hostile world, where the people had learned to see threats in every plant or animal that they encountered. He had gained many good warriors as Niflheim passed close to that world ten years ago, but his new Primarch was the best. Not merely alert and skilled, but cool under fire, and loyal to the hilt.

"Ignore them," he ordered. "Our weapons can not track them."

"Should I launch the death gliders?"

Jormungandr paused a moment in thought. "No," the Unas decided. "They would not stand a chance. If you wish to kill wasps, Nidhogg, you must first destroy the nest. Our shields will hold for the time being. Engines to full power, and concentrate all fire on the mothership."

"Yes, Lord."

"The Utgard is concentrating its fire on us," Jarl reported. He was one of Freyja's Asgard subordinates, skilled in his way, if a little inflexible. "Our shields will not hold under this onslaught. We must divert fire to the Utgard's weapons, or order some of the fighters to protect us."

"No," Freyja said. "We can not let up the assault on the Naglfar. Advance to meet the Utgard, but keep turning to spread the attacks across our shield generators." The Stupid Idea shook as a volley of kinetic torpedoes slammed into her forward shields.

"We will die," Jarl told her.

"Yes," Freyja admitted. "But we can not let the Naglfar escape."

"You realise that our people on the Naglfar and in the fighters will be stranded if we're destroyed?" General Hammond asked. He was seated next to Freyja, his presence here a technical breach of his orders, although he had not disobeyed the direct injunction, which was against his passing through the Stargate without leave.

"My people accept that risk," Freyja assured him. "And I know that yours do as well. I regret that we will not be able to repay their valour."

The Idea rocked again. "Forward shields weakening," Jarl reported. "Coming about. Forward shield is no longer in the enemy fire arc."

"What about the Kalliste?" Freyja asked.

"The Kalliste is holding back, firing on the Steeds as they attack the Naglfar," Jarl replied. "With minimal effective…Aargh!" Jarl cried out as another hit pitched him over his console.

"How much more of this can we take?" Hammond asked.

"Not much," Freyja admitted. "But the Naglfar is…Damnation!" She snapped, causing Hammond to jump. He had not expected such an outburst from an Asgard. "She is powering up; her shields are on line."

" Naglfar is preparing to fire kinetic sabots," Jarl reported, returning to his station. "Reading thirty deployment units."

"Can we take another hit?"

Freyja shook her head. "Not from that," she answered. "Assuming the Utgard does not kill us beforehand."

"I am reading an incoming vessel," Jarl told her. "No. Two incoming vessels. Asgard configurations."

Freyja checked her screens. "Jarl. Present our rear facing to the Utgard. Od," she said, turning to the fighter co-ordinator. "Have Valkyrie and Gulinbursti flights commence attack runs on her weapons. Remaining flights are to continue hitting the Naglfar's shield generators."

Hammond frowned. "What if those ships are more of Loki's people?"

"There are not," Freyja assured him. "Signal the incoming vessels to concentrate fire on the Utgard and the Naglfar, ignore the Kalliste."

"Is that wise?" Jarl asked.

"Just do it, son," Hammond advised, looking at the screens. "I think I see where you're going," he told Freyja. "But as your fighters aren't doing a great deal of damage to the Naglfar, I should send a wing of them to seal the deal."

Freyja nodded. "Truly does Jack O'Neill speak of your wisdom, General Hammond. Od; signal Munin flight to converge on the Kalliste."

*

Daniel fired a zat blast into the stinking corpse on top of him. His body was racked with pain as the shot conducted into him, but the Draugr disintegrated. With some difficulty, he forced himself to rise, driving through the pain and clinging to consciousness by sheer adrenaline. With a mighty effort, he dragged the second Draugr away from Mary, pushed clear and blasted it three times.

"What…?" Cassie slurred. "What happened?"

"Are you okay?" Daniel asked her.

"I'm fine," she replied, although her head was killing her. "There was…an angel."

"Angel?" Daniel looked around. "Llew? Oh my god."

"Llew?" Cassie asked, then: "Llew!" She cried, crawling to where the boy lay. He was terribly still, and Cassie laid her head on his chest to listen for signs of life. She started up with a shriek as something burned her ear. "What the…?"

Cassandra tugged open Llew's shirt, and saw the blackened remnant of his Mjollnir pendant smouldering against his chest. Catching a whiff of burning hair and skin, she grabbed the chain and ripped the pendant away from him, leaving a Mjollnir-shaped burn on his fair skin. Beneath it, his chest rose and fell slowly, and Cassie breathed a sigh of relief. She looked behind her, and saw for the first time the twitching body of Hel. Most of Hel's face was gone, literally blasted away. The hammer lay next to her, sparking gently as it sent arcs of lightning into the burned corpse.

"Is she…?" Cassie asked.

"I think so," Daniel said. "For real this time. It looks like the hammer…bounced off the pendant and discharged on her instead of Llew."

"Guess that makes us even," Cassie said, stroking Llew's hair, fondly.

At the touch, Llew began to stir, and his eyes opened. "Did we make it?" He asked, shakily.

In answer, Cassie bent down and kissed him. "Back on your feet, mister," she told him. "Miles to go before we sleep."

"What were those things?" Mary asked, disgusted.

"Dead men walking," Cassie replied.

"We should warn Jack," Daniel said, taking out a radio. "I'm only supposed to break silence in emergencies but…"

"I'd say this counts," Llew admitted.

"Here; let me," Cassie suggested. "She treated me to a full description."

*

"I don't think that door will hold for long," Jack said. "Anyone got any ideas?"

"They're not indestructible," Yukio said, in a pained voice. "But they seem unaffected by most of our weapons." She and Kim had both suffered deep burns, but their Asgard vac suits had taken the worst of the punishment. They were also deeply weary, having expended a considerable quantity of their vital energy in firing their gauntlets at such a high setting. Newman was uninjured, but was equally exhausted, from the beating he had absorbed on his shield, also fuelled by bio-energy.

"I do not believe that our weapons were ineffective," Teal'c corrected. "They seemed to suffer damage, the merely did not react to it; as though they were unaffected by pain."

"And death," Jack said. "Two shots from a zat is supposed to kill more-or-less anything."

"We have encountered beings who were immune to zat'nik'tel fire before," Teal'c pointed out.

"They may have the same adaptations as Jormungandr," Sam suggested. She was sitting at a control console, examining the layout. "Thor said he would be immune to disruptive weapons such as zats."

Jack's field radio hissed. "Jack. Are you…Hmm? Oh, sorry. Ahm. Raider one this is Raider four, or maybe five, I don't…"

"Cassie?" Jack demanded. "Is that you?"

"Yeah, listen…"

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"We kind of tagged along with Daniel, but…"

"We?"

"There's no time for this," Cassie snapped. "Hel has an army of things she calls 'Draugr'."

"Draugr?" Jack asked, baffled.

"The undead," Gersemi told him. "The warriors of Loki in the army of Ragnarok."

"Great," Jack replied. "If these Draggers are like Jaffa which can't be killed, then they'll be through that door in a few minutes. So anything you've got for us would be appreciated."

"They won't die because they're already dead," Cassie told him. "Like Hel's servants in Eljudnir. Three shots with a zat seems to disintegrate them though."

"Okay, people," Jack ordered. "Zats ready; triple taps. Don't bother wasting ammo on these things. Thanks Cassie," he added. "Try to stay out of trouble, okay?"

"I'll try," she promised. "Over and out."

"I'm afraid we're proving rather less use than we'd hoped," Newman admitted.

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Tell that to the me and Carter who died in a hail of fire out there," he suggested. He turned to the two women at the console. "Carter; what you got for us?"

"Well, these are the fire control systems," Sam said. "We can access readouts for all of the Naglfar's weapons systems. I'm trying to see if I can shut them down."

"And?"

"There're a lot of them."

"Thirty-nine heavy particle cannons," Gersemi expanded. "Eight ion lances, one-hundred-and-seventeen plasma batteries, thirty…Oh no. Thirty kinetic sabot deployment units, currently arming, and targeting the Stupid Idea!"

"Sabots? Surely that won't be much good against the Idea's shields?" Jack asked.

"The Idea is already taking a pounding from the Utgard," Sam replied. "And these sabots are nasty. Each deployment unit seems to fire fifteen sabots concurrently, each sabot is a two gram trinium needle, travelling at approximately point-eight of light speed."

"Well, that's not so bad, right?" Jack asked, wishing almost immediately that he had not.

Gersemi frowned. "At that velocity, the sabots from each unit will have slightly more destructive power than every explosive ever detonated on your planet combined."

"If we can't stop them, then the Stupid Idea is dead," Sam said.

"Okay," Jack replied. "I got that."

"Trouble is," Sam told him. "This is secondary fire control. The primary stations on the bridge override it. If they say fire, the ship will fire. I can't stop it."

*

"Mistress," the Kalliste asked. "Should we not attack the Asgard mothership as the Utgard is doing?"

"The only danger to the Naglfar is these fighters," Eris replied. "If only we could hit them!"

"I am trying my best," the Kalliste promised.

"I know," Eris sighed. "When the Naglfar is active, the Master will take care of everything," she assured her vessel.

"And then you will leave me," the Kalliste rebuked.

"I…What is that?" Eris demanded, pointing to a warning light. "More incoming ships?"

"Two Asgard vessels, Mistress," the Kalliste replied.

Eris almost jumped out of her skin as Loki's hologram appeared on her bridge. "Eris," he commanded. "Intercept these newcomers."

"But, Sire; this is not a battleship. I…"

"I do not need you to destroy them; just delay them."

"Yes, Sire," Eris replied. The hologram vanished, and she addressed herself to the ship. "Kalliste, prepare to intercept…"

"We will be destroyed, Mistress," the ship told her.

"The Naglfar will slay these interlopers," Eris promised. "We need only…"

"Two Asgard warships will tear me to pieces before the Naglfar can target them, and a group of fighters has broken off to attack us. We are to be sacrificed."

Tears stung Eris' eyes. Surely not? Surely the Master valued her more than that?

"I shall transport you to the Naglfar, Mistress," the Kalliste said. "Then I will delay the attackers."

Eris nodded, slowly, but then: "No!" She commanded. She checked her screens, the Asgard ships were almost on them. "Kalliste, take us from this place."

"Mistress?"

"I won't lose you, Kalliste," Eris swore. "Not to them, not to Loki. Get us the hell out of here."

"And Loki, Mistress?"

Eris felt a tear run down her cheek. "My thoughts are with him," she said.

"Yes, Mistress."

*

"The Kalliste is leaving," Jarl reported, astonished. "They're winning, and she is leaving."

"Eris is a coward," Freyja replied. "And Goa'uld commanders rarely inspire much loyalty in their underlings."

"We're still going to die, right?" Hammond asked.

"Yes," Freyja agreed. "But our people may yet be saved. I am sorry to rob the Tau'ri of such a leader as yourself though, George Hammond. It has been an honour to know you."

"And you Freyja," Hammond replied.

"The Naglfar is firing kinetic sabots," Jarl announced. "They will impact in…Wait."

*

Loki stood on the bridge of the Naglfar, watching the Kalliste vanish into hyperspace, and he suppressed a snarl of rage. It was little matter; he would kill these Asgard fools and then hunt down his renegade servant. Then he would give the ship to Hel, and take some time to compel Eris to repent her treachery. He was almost looking forward to it; it had been too long since he had heard the screams of another Goa'uld.

With a smile of cruel anticipation, Loki moved a stone across his control console, triggering the main weapons. He felt the Naglfar shudder as the sabots fired, and it felt good. His smile deepened as the weapons flashed across his screen, but then it evaporated altogether, as he saw that something was very wrong.

*

"Lord!" Nidhogg cried out in horror.

Jormungandr turned from the view of the Stupid Idea falling beneath his guns, to Nidhogg's console. For a split second he saw what had frightened her; an impact warning of four-hundred-and-fifty trinium sabots.

"No," he whispered in disbelief.

*

The first rain of sabots – perhaps one-hundred-and-fifty of them – overloaded and collapsed the Utgard's shields. The remaining three hundred slammed into the hull, splitting it open like an egg. The oxygen in the ship's atmosphere ignited, and the mighty warship was blown to pieces.

Hammond saw this happen, leaped in the air and cried: "Yee-haw!"

"Yes!" Freyja shouted, pounding Hammond on the shoulder in a most un-Asgard fashion. Even Jarl and Od looked as though they were about to show signs of emotion.

Then, two vessels appeared, decelerating hard as they disengaged their hyperdrives. One was an Asgard cruiser, much like the now destroyed Utgard, the other was larger and looked more powerful, and as it approached it launched a small group of Thunder Steeds from its underside. As the vessels began firing on the Naglfar, two Asgard figures appeared before Freyja.

"High Commander Freyja," the first said. "I am Commander Skadi, commanding the Thiazi. I am authorised by the Asgard Council to place you in custody for a direct violation of the Council's directives. If you will excuse us, however, I believe that we should first disable the unknown warship which appears to be firing on Asgard motherships."

"As you think best, Commander," Freyja agreed.

Skadi bowed. "If you think of fleeing, you should know that the Biliskner, Skidbladnir, and Noatun are not far behind us. However, any assistance which you can render in this fight might go some way towards mitigating your punishment," she added.

"Thank you, Commander," Freyja acknowledged. She turned to the second hologram. "Grid; have your fighters join mine and receive orders from my fighter co-ordinator."

"Yes, High Commander," the second Asgard replied.

"Concentrate your fire towards the dorsal shield arrays," Freyja told both of the other commanders. "Hopefully, our strike team should have that down soon. Try to stay clear of their main weapons, and keep the Naglfar penned. If she escapes now we may never find her until it is too late."

"Yes, High Commander," the two Asgard said again. The holograms vanished, and the two warships moved into flanking positions.

"Od; bring the fighters into a holding position behind the Naglfar's engine towers. Have them get into the sensor shadows as much as possible."

"I have to say," Hammond said. "I like our odds better now."

"As do I," Freyja replied. "But it is not over yet."

*

Jack watched the Utgard's destruction on the screen in secondary fire control, gaping in disbelief. "That was a cluster of trinium sabots?" He asked.

"At near light speed!" Sam yelled, leaping up, hugging Gersemi, and doing an impromptu dance of joy. "Relativity is a kicker."

"Couldn't stop it firing, but you could change the target," Newman realised.

"He could still have over-ridden from the bridge," Sam replied. "But we banked on him not realising in time."

"More vessels are arriving," Teal'c announced.

"The Thiazi and the Sesrumnir," Gersemi told him. "And it look like they've come to help."

"Will they be enough to take this thing down?" Jack asked.

"Not even to make a real dent in its shields," Gersemi replied. "But if they force Loki to keep his defences on full power, he can't fire back as fast, and he can not escape into hyperspace."

"We've locked as many of the Naglfar's weapon systems as we can," Sam added. "By feeding dozens of impossible or conflicting targets to each system, but it'll only take him a matter of minutes to clear once he realises what we've done."

"Alright then," Jack said. "I guess we have to shoot our way to those shield generators then. Newman; your guys stay behind us."

"No argument from me," Newman agreed.

"Parker. The door on three, then we all start firing. Ready?"

"Ready!" They chorused.

"One. Two. Three!"

*

Loki was livid with rage. Activating his intercom he began bellowing orders to his soldiers. As he did so, he shut down the Naglfar's weapons systems and initiated a purge of the targeting processors.

"Soon," he promised the Asgard vessels circling his battleship. He keyed another intercom circuit. "Attack!" He ordered.

*

"The Naglfar is launching gliders," Jarl warned.

"I expected as much," Freyja assured him. "Have the Steeds commence attack run on the gliders," she told Od. "And remind them that these are no ordinary gliders."

The Thunder Steeds dropped swiftly out of the shadow of the Naglfar's engines, and plunged into an attack run. The gliders scattered with unexpected agility, only a handful falling to their attackers' fire.

"Have the two best combat wings hold back," Hammond advised. "They can pick out Loki's best pilots and cover the other fighters."

"High Commander?" Od asked.

"Od," Freyja replied. "Surrender your seat to General Hammond. You probably have more knowledge of fighter tactics than I do," she admitted. "Valkyrie and Munin are the best we have for combat, with Ratatosk on the ground. Gulinbursti and Vidofnir will do you proud for strafing runs."

Hammond slid into the co-ordinator's seat, squirming slightly as it adjusted to his frame. "Valkyrie and Munin flights," he said. "This is the new co-ordinator speaking. Now pay attention; this is what you need to do…"

*

The prison deck was just beyond the turn where Hel had met them. The door was sealed, but Daniel struck it a single blow with Mjollnir which blasted it out of its frame. There were guards inside, but they were both surprised and alive, and either fell or ran, knowing that two Draugr and Hel herself had not stopped these Tau'ri.

The prison deck was huge, plainly designed to make detention and punishment an integral part of Loki's mobile fortress. Rows of cells ran back into the distance on either side of a long avenue, and rose three floors high, like a high-tech Alcatraz. Each door was sealed by a massive lock, and had no windows in it. The deck was dark, with only dim lights on the distant ceiling to cast any illumination, and four red indicators above the nearest doors.

"How do we get them out?" Mary asked.

Daniel gave no reply, except to heft the hammer, and bring it smashing down on the first lock. In a shower of sparks, the mechanism was blasted from the door, and it swung ajar. Daniel grabbed the door, pulled it wide, and moved to the next one.

"Boy are you a sight for sore eyes," Lieutenant Jennifer Hailey said, coming out of the cell.

Cassie smiled. "I'm glad you're okay," she said.

Hailey's face fell. "Well…they hadn't gotten around to me yet," she said.

A tall, blonde woman emerged from the next cell, whom none of them knew.

"Hnoss?" Llew guessed.

"That's right. Is Dr Jackson okay?" She asked, worriedly.

"He's just concerned," Mary replied. "I think."

Hailey had picked up a staff weapon from one of the fallen guards, and tossed a second to Hnoss. "Know how to use one of these?"

"Do you?" Hnoss challenged. The two soldiers shared a familiar smile.

When no-one emerged from cell number three, Hnoss went in. "Thor!" She cried, alarmed.

"Hnoss," Thor greeted her. "Perhaps you would be good enough to release me from this harness?"

Hnoss raised the staff weapon, and with pin-point accuracy she shot the bolts off the restraining frame. She stepped closer, and tore away the straps. "Are you alright?" She asked.

"I am not," Thor replied. "But I believe that Dr Angharad Midhir is in a far worse condition."

Daniel smashed the final lock, and opened the door. No-one came out.

"Is she…?" Llew asked, terrified.

"I don't know," Hailey replied. "I heard her earlier…crying."

Daniel set the hammer by the door, and went inside. Llew moved to follow, but Thor emerged and laid a restraining hand on his shoulder.

"Do not go," he cautioned. "She will not wish to confront you yet."

"She's my mother!" Llew protested, hotly.

"That is the reason," Thor said. "She is…ashamed to face you."

"Ashamed of me?"

"Of herself," Thor answered. "Of what was done to her."

Daniel stepped into the room. It was almost completely black inside, with only a very little light from the door. "Annie?" Daniel took out a torch and flicked on the beam.

Angharad lay in the corner of the cell, wearing a woollen dress in a Viking style. There was a hard bed, but she was not using it, instead huddling on the floor. She was tucked into a foetal position, knees drawn tight against her chest, trembling like a leaf. Daniel could not remember a time he had seen Angharad look so helpless, so utterly vulnerable, and a cold, sick feeling started in his chest.

"Annie," he said, crouching by her side. He touched her gently on the shoulder, and she jumped like a startled rabbit.

"Who are you?" She demanded. "What do you want, get away from me!"

"It's me," he told her. "Daniel. I know looks aren't exactly on my side right now," he admitted.

Angharad looked into his eyes, and her own widened in surprise. "Danny?"

"It's alright, Annie. I've come to get you out."

"This is a dream," she whispered. "Isn't it? It's a dream, in that box?"

"Box? No, Annie. You're not in the sarcophagus, and I am real. Please don't tell me I'm not, because I already had to go through that once with Nick and…"

"Nick? Nick Ballard," she said, as though remembering. "He died. I'm so sorry, Daniel."

"Actually he didn't die," Daniel said. "He's working with a group of giant, out-of-phase Mayan aliens, but that's not important right now. I am real, Annie. You're safe now. We're going to take you home. Llew is here," he added hopefully.

"Llew?" A light of understanding began to creep back into Annie's eyes, and for a moment Daniel was hopeful of a recovery. Then she leaped up, and pressed herself to the wall, clutching the dress to her chest. "No! Take him away! He can't be here." With a wave of nausea, Daniel saw that the front of dress had been violently torn.

"I know," Daniel agreed. "So we'll go. Just come with me."

Annie shook her head, vigorously. "He can't see me like this, Danny; please. Take him away. Leave me."

"No."

"I'm not worth it," she said. "I'm not worth anything."

"That's not true," Daniel insisted. "Please, Annie. We're not leaving without you, so you have to come with us."

"It is true," Annie insisted. "I'm a whore."

"Don't say that!" Daniel snapped, pounding a fist into the wall so hard that it bled.

"I wanted to fight," she whimpered. "But I couldn't. I froze, just like the last time. I let it…"

Daniel stared at her, a tide of emotion sweeping over him as he watched her struggle with her demons. He fell silent, unable to think of a single thing to say.

*

"Is it just me?" Jack asked. "Or are there more of these things every time I stick my head out to look?"

"The Draugr do appear to be drawing on a substantial reserve of reinforcements," Teal'c agreed. "To look upon the bright side, this may mean that Daniel Jackson is meeting less resistance." He leaned past Jack and fired five zat blasts into the advancing mass. The energy jumped from body to body, destroying three of the creatures.

"We can't get out this way," Sam said. "But there's no other exits. Maybe we could blast through one of the walls?"

With a roar, the rear wall of the chamber erupted into dust and rubble. Beyond the breach, seven of the Knight Guards held levelled staff weapons.

"Carter," Jack said. "Never say things like that."

*

Daniel emerged form the cell with a purposeful stride.

"Dr Jackson," Llew asked. "Is Mam okay?"

Daniel ignored the boy, picked up the hammer and headed for the exit.

"Dr Jackson?" Mary asked, startled. She moved to step out in front of him, but he put a hand on her shoulder, and looked her in the eye. She quailed at what she saw.

Daniel's face was dark as thunder, and there was murder in his eyes. "Stay with Annie," he whispered. "Take care of her."

Then he pushed past her, and strode back the way they had come. Somewhat dazed, Mary headed for Angharad's cell.

"What's going on?" Cassandra asked.

"If I didn't know him better," Hailey replied. "I'd say Dr Jackson was on his way to kill someone."

"He is." They looked around at the quavering voice.

"Mam!"

Angharad flinched as her son stooped towards her, but as he clung around her neck she relented, and squeezed him tightly. "Llew," she sobbed. "I'm so sorry."

"For what?" Llew asked. Angharad looked away, unable to meet his eye.

"What do you mean about Daniel?" Cassie asked. "Who is he going to kill?"

"Loki," Angharad replied.

*

The assault team were pushed and dragged as roughly as possible to the bridge of the Naglfar, and forced to their knees before Loki. The three members of Ratatosk flight were far too exhausted to activate their shields for any useful period, and even if they had done, the five SGC members would have been cut down, along with Gersemi. On the screens, Jack saw the battle raging outside, the Steeds holding their own against the Naglfar's super-gliders, but he realised that no help would come from those quarters.

"That foolish old man, Thor, told me that you would destroy me," Loki scoffed. "He will be disappointed in you."

"Day's not over yet," Jack quipped.

"Are you so confident, Shol'va?" Loki demanded of Teal'c.

"The matter will not be concluded until the fat lady has sung," Teal'c assured him. The look of bafflement on Loki's face was well worth the pain of the vicious blow Loki landed on the side of his head.

"You are still weak, Loki," Teal'c said. "Your Jaffa do not even bear a larva within them."

"True," Loki replied. "Which is why my first port of call will be Chulak. After that I will find a Queen of my own. Thanks to you and yours, there are a number of most eligible widows in the Galaxy." He paced up and down the line, glowering. "Which one of you killed my son?" he demanded.

"Your son?" Jack asked.

"Jormungandr!" Loki howled. "Which of you destroyed the Utgard."

"Oh, that little thing," Jack replied.

"Who did it?" He ripped a zat'nik'tel from the wrist of one of his guards, and fired it into Gersemi.

"Hey!" Jack protested.

"Answer, or she dies!" Loki demanded.

"I did," Sam admitted.

"No!" Newman protested. "I did."

"Newman," Sam hissed.

"Well; I retargeted your weapons," Newman explained. "Technically though, you killed him."

Loki raised his weapon, but before he could fire, Jack interrupted: "Oh no; you're not hogging the glory. I retargeted the weapons."

"No!" Yukio argued. "I did!"

"No, I did!" Kim chipped in, catching on to the scheme.

"These Tau'ri are plainly too primitive to perform such an operation," Teal'c said. "It should be clear therefore that I was the one responsible"

"Oh yeah; we're just savages," Sam snapped. "The Jaffa are so sophisticated they've lived in slavery for millennia."

"Plainly only Asgard training would be sufficient," Newman piped up, smugly.

"Oh, so you're better than us?" Fowler demanded.

"Damn straight," Newman replied.

Loki's zat'nik'tel was swinging back and forth along the line.

"If you're so great, how come we're in this mess?" Jack demanded, working at the cords binding his wrists.

"Oh, this is our fault?" Newman retorted. "I never should have saved your worthless skin."

"You want a piece of me?" Jack challenged.

"Silence!" Loki bellowed, his voice reverberating around the bridge. "Tell me who killed my son!" Everyone fell quiet, and the bridge seemed almost unnaturally still after the violence of that shout.

"Your son I don't know about," a voice responded, soft and deadly, cutting through the silence like a knife. "Why don't we talk about your daughter instead."

Jack looked towards the voice, and did a double take. He had not recognised the voice at all, but then he barely knew Daniel to look at. Even having got a little used to the bandages, he was not standing like Daniel. His glasses were off, and by the looks of him, so were the gloves. He held a heavy warhammer in a two-handed grip, and looked about ready to carve himself a Goa'uld.

"Daniel?" Sam asked, as though not really believing it. Jack knew how she felt.

"What have you done," Loki hissed.

"Crying shame really," Daniel replied, coldly. "That pretty face all messed up like that; and when she'd just got it back as well."

Loki spat something in Goa'uld, which Jack was fairly certain must be untranslatable, or at least unrepeatable. One of the Knight Guards raised his staff weapon, and without looking, Loki shot him three times. "No-one interferes. This one is mine!" He hissed, discarding the zat and drawing the seax from his belt. He faced Daniel, and said something in the Goa'uld tongue.

"What was that?" Jack asked.

"Loki says that he will tear out Daniel Jackson's heart, and ravage his women in the pool of his blood," Teal'c explained. "Daniel Jackson is now threatening in turn to split Loki from his…his guggle to his zatch," Teal'c went on, giving up on an attempt to translate the terms. "And bury him beneath a mountain of his kin."

"So what happens now?" Jack asked. "Do they taunt each other to death?"

As if in answer, Daniel and Loki charged as one, voicing savage battle cries and swinging their weapons at each other.

*

"Ho do you know he's going to kill him?" Cassandra asked. "Maybe he was just trying for the shields or the transport block?" They were moving as fast as they could with Thor all but exhausted still, and Angharad still in a state of shock.

"No," Angharad replied, with conviction. "I've only seen him like this once before…"

"And he killed someone?" Hailey asked.

"No," Angharad admitted. "But the next day I learned that a man named Robert Lorton had been beaten into unconsciousness…and Daniel's hand was in a cast."

"What makes you think it was him?" Cassie asked. "It doesn't sound much like his style?"

"I know," Angharad replied. "But…Daniel was the only one who knew."

"Knew what?" Llew asked.

"What Robert did to me," Annie said. "Why I changed schools."

"What did he do?" Llew demanded, angrily.

"He raped me," Angharad answered, in a small voice. "He raped me and he left me pregnant, and his friends swore he was with them the whole time. I couldn't bear to stay in the same college with him, but no-one would believe my story…not even my parents."

"He was…?" Llew asked. "Oh god. I think I may be sick."

"I'm sorry," Angharad whispered, stumbling to a halt.

"Never mind that now," Cassandra said. "This isn't some rich scumbag jock; it's a millennia old Goa'uld, and he's going to rip Daniel a new one. We have to keep moving."

She chivvied them forward, until at last they reached the bridge. Daniel and Loki were locked in combat, the Goa'uld's tunic smouldering from a hammer blow, but Daniel was bleeding from a dozen small cuts in his bandages. Although clearly in pain, Loki was toying with Daniel, wearing him down.

Mary, Hailey and Hnoss raised their weapons, but before they could fire, staff weapons snapped open on their flanks, as the guards positioned to prevent interruptions by Daniel's friends moved into action.

"We suck," Cassandra muttered, as the hand device was taken from her, then: "Yes!" She cried, startling the Jaffa, as Daniel managed another hit on Loki, this time to his leg, and a flash of lightning blasted from the hammer.

Loki stumbled, and Daniel followed up with a series of quick, slashing blows. For a moment, Cassandra thought that the Trickster might be on the ropes, but then an enterprising Knight Guard twisted his hand into Angharad's hair, drawing a shriek of pain. Daniel looked up, distracted, and Loki slashed along his right arm.

Daniel cried out, feeling the pain even through the analgesic effect of the nanocytes in the bandages. His right arm hung uselessly at his side, and although he made a valiant effort to fight on with his left, it was not long before the Trickster chopped viciously into his bicep, and Mjollnir dropped to the floor.

Loki followed with a punch, and Daniel flew through the air, crashing hard onto the ground beside the control console.

"Daniel!" Cassie screamed. She watched in horror as he tried to rise, but he could manage little more than to pull himself onto one elbow.

"Done," Loki announced, dismissively. He turned his back on Daniel, casting his seax aside, and limped towards the prisoners. "Well done," he commended the guard. "I like the way you think." Loki grabbed hold of the back of Angharad's neck.

"No!" Llew cried, trying to push forward. Loki raised his hand in threat, and Cassandra could sense the killing force gathering in his palm.

She grabbed the struggling Llew and pulled him back against her. "He'll kill you," she whispered in his ear.

"Mam," Llew croaked, brokenly.

"Don't die," Cassie pleaded. "Please, Llew; don't die." Llew grew still, and sank despairingly into her arms.

"Here is an object lesson for you, Tau'ri," Loki said, addressing himself to the barely-conscious Daniel. "You fight me, and are struck down." He pulled Angharad forward, and she went without resistance, frozen in shock and horror. "Your woman gives no resistance, and I give her the pleasures of our company." He pushed her back against the console. "Her acquiescence will be the last thing that you see before I kill you."

Loki tore open Angharad's dress, and her head lolled back, eyes glazed and broken.

"No!" Llew screamed. "Mam, no!" He buried his head in Cassie shoulder, unable to watch. Cassie squeezed her eyes shut."

"No," Annie whispered.

"Silence," Loki commanded, slapping her hard across the face.

Angharad turned to face him, a fire flaring in her brown eyes. "No," she said, her voice strong. She looked the Goa'uld in the eyes, and kneed him in the balls.

Loki gave a stifled cry of pain, and crumpled half to his knees.

"No!" Angharad roared, slamming a fist into the Trickster's face. He tried to rally, but she kicked him savagely in the leg, where his breeches still smouldered from Daniel's hammer strike. "No!" A knee took him in the jaw.

Loki's guards gaped in astonishment, but began to rally fast. One of the Knight Guards drew a bead on Angharad, but suddenly found his sightline blocked by something large.

Teal'c drove his forehead into the warrior's face. It was a powerful blow, and despite his tattoo and armour, the Knight Guard was, as yet, no true Jaffa. He crumpled, and Teal'c turned to catch his staff weapon with his bound hands. "O'Neill!" He called.

O'Neill rocked forward on his knees, holding his hands as far from his back as he could. Holding the staff weapon at the small of his back, Teal'c fired, blasting through Jack's restraints, then tossed the weapon to his friend. He kicked out, knocking down another guard, and presented his hands to be freed.

Newman and Sam twisted back to back, and pushed against each other to stand, fending off attackers with their feet. Fowler managed to extract a knife from Parker's boot. They were freed in short order, and Fowler hurried to Sam and Newman's assistance. Meanwhile, Yukio seemed to be doing fine without her hands, and Kim had crouched over Gersemi and was fumbling in her tool belt for a blade.

One of the guards reached for Llew and Cassandra, but Mary shoulder-checked him, ramming him hard against a wall. He doubled up his fists for a blow to her back, but Hnoss threw another of their captors over her shoulder, snatched his staff weapon as he tumbled away, and shot the man in the chest. Hailey struck out with a flurry of blows, and dropped another Che'fer, and in the melee, the hand device fell onto the floor next to Cassandra. She reached towards it, but hesitated, frightened of what using the weapon might do to her.

The guard who had distracted Daniel proved a tougher prospect than his fellows, blocking a staff bow from Hnoss and using his greater strength to knock her backwards. He levelled the staff for a shot, but Cassie snatched up the hand device.

"Hey!" She shouted, and as the guard looked, she flung the weapon at his face with all her strength. He flinched, and by the time he realised that the flying object posed no threat, Hnoss was able to shoot him in the gut.

Jack blasted one of the Che'fer, but then a Draugr lunged at him, swiping the staff weapon aside. It caught Jack in a mighty bear hug, and as he looked around for a way out, Jack realised that there were too many Draugr for them to fight. His people were surrounded, and in serious trouble. Yukio popped up alongside him, and hacked off one of the Draugr's arms with Loki's seax.

"Thanks," Jack gasped, pushing the one-armed zombie away. Yukio nodded, and kicked a zat up from the floor for Jack to catch.

Teal'c wrestled another of the undead for control of a staff weapon, but suddenly thrust it backwards and released the staff. He crouched, and as the Draugr swung the staff into firing position, he snatched up a zat'nik'tel and fired three times. The Draugr disintegrated; Teal'c snatched the staff from its evaporating hands and shot down the last of the Che'fer, but three more Draugr were coming for him.

Cassandra and Llew stood, she clutching a zat'nik'tel, he the plasma lance.

"Mary, look out!" Llew called, as a Draugr loomed up behind the student.

Mary turned, but too slow, and the Draugr fired a staff weapon into her abdomen at point blank range. She gave a gurgling cry and fell backwards, as Cassie blasted the Draugr to oblivion.

"We're so dead," Cassie snarled, looking around at the advancing horde of undead. Somehow, after all they'd done it didn't seem fair.

Suddenly, the room went dark, and the hum of the floorboards ceased. A Draugr loomed out of the darkness at Cassie, but Llew dragged her back, and it fell stiff and lifeless to the ground.

Daniel leaned heavily on the console, the three key stones scattered on the ground around it.

The Naglfar shook as the Asgard weapons began to strike the hull.

Annie slammed her fist into Loki's face for the fifth and final time, and dropped him onto the deck. Without a word, she stumbled to the console, and helped Daniel to stand. They leaned on each other for support, as Annie turned to Thor.

"Let him rot," she said. "Put him back in the chair." With that, she turned away from him, and she and Daniel limped towards Llew and Cassandra.

"Never!" Loki hissed, rising and throwing out his hand. The stone in his hand device glowed, and there was no way anyone could have moved fast enough to save Angharad and Daniel.

No way any human could have moved fast enough.

Afterwards, Jack could never swear that he had actually seen Thor move. He recalled a pale blur in the darkness, but that might just have been because he knew the Asgard had to have moved, to get close enough to Loki to grab his arm, and bend it back until his elbow snapped, and his forearm lay flush along his upper arm.

That was when the hand device went off.

*

Freyja looked sternly at her Supreme Commander. "You realise that the deaths of three who are accounted kin to the Asgard must be punished," she said.

"I do," Thor replied. They stood on the bridge of the Biliskner, with the view screens lit from behind by the hulk of the Naglfar, blazing brightly as its atmosphere slowly burned away; the funeral pyre of the Trickster God. Once they had retrieved their allies, the Asgard had bombarded the vessel mercilessly. They were deaf to any pleas that might have been made to salvage the Naglfar's secrets, but in the end, no such pleas were made.

All agreed that a ship capable of destroying a moon was too powerful to be left I one piece.

"For the record then," Freyja continued, flanked by the holograms of the lesser commanders: Skadi and Grid; Freyr on the Skidbladnir, Sif on the Biliskner, Njord on the Noatun and Fyorgyn on Freyja's old ship, the Sesrumnir. "Who killed the Goa'uld Jormungandr, kin to the Asgard?"

"Loki killed Jormungandr," Thor replied.

"Who killed the Harcesis Hel, kin to the Asgard."

"Hel died by her own hand," Cassandra vouched.

"And who killed the Goa'uld Loki, oathbrother to Odin, kin to the Asgard?"

"Loki died by his own hand," Jack said.

Freyja nodded, gravely, and said. "That is good enough for me."

"It seems that all guilty parties are punished," Freyr concurred.

Skadi nodded her agreement. "There is no need for any charges to be raised against any."

Grid, Sif and Njord indicated that the decision was unanimous.

"Well then," Freyja said. "Supreme Commander Thor, you are restored to your rightful place. I surrender command of the battlegroup and of the Stupid Idea to you, and place myself under arrest for disobeying the orders of the Council."

"That shall not be necessary," Thor replied. "I release you on your own recognisance, to appear before the Council when summoned."

"Thank you, old friend," Freyja said.

"Thank you," Thor replied. "All of you," he added, turning to the assault team and bowing. All who had fought aboard the Naglfar were there; all save Mary Lasuip, Angharad Midhir and Daniel Jackson. "The Asgard already owe the people of the Tau'ri a great debt; that debt is grown deeper this day."

"It was nothing," Jack insisted. "After all, we did let him out in the first place."

"We?" Sam asked.

"I."

"Nonetheless, we thank you," Freyja agreed. "And now we shall convey you home."

*

"How is she?" Thor asked.

"Mary, or Annie?" Daniel asked. His bandages were gone, and his skin looked as fragile and pale as Ganglot's. Freyja assured him that a small number of short-lived nanocytes would ensure that it rapidly regained colour and strength without risk of sunburn or cancers, and had given him an injection to administer which would do the same for Hel's former handmaiden.

"Both of them," Thor replied.

"Mary's fine," he said. "Angharad less so. I remembered something," he told the Asgard. "When Llew was born, Annie asked me to be there, but as I wasn't the father they wouldn't let me. Someone came out and told me that the child had been stillborn, and I made them let me in to see her. When I got there, the kid was bawling away happily; the doctors called it a miracle.

"When we told Annie that the gods were aliens, she told me she had living proof that her gods were real. Llew was that proof, wasn't he. You brought him back, like you did Mary, and the whole crew of this ship?"

"Almost," Thor replied. "With an adult, we can merely regenerate the body. With a child so young, to do so would have arrested his development. Instead, we placed the nanocytes within him, to restore his cells and keep them developing properly."

"Can you take them out?"

"No we can not," Thor replied. "They now exist in symbiosis with his cells. The one could not survive without the other."

"Why did you do it?" Daniel asked. "Why that one child?"

"Because it was asked," Thor replied. "As Hnoss and Gersemi's mothers asked Freyja to care for them. Angharad prayed for the life of her child, even offering her own in its place. I heard her, and I granted her wish, although I did not exact so steep a price."

"You heard her?"

"From the Biliskner. We are not deaf to the pleas of our followers," the Asgard promised. "Although sometimes we are too distant to help."

Daniel nodded. "What price did you exact?"

"No price," Thor assured him.

"But you said you did not exact so steep a price, implying there was some price. Also," he added, before Thor could reply. "Something that Hel said. Obviously I'm taking it with a pinch of salt, owing to its less than sterling provenance, but she called Annie 'the whore my Asgard masters gave me'. Now they've been labouring under the impression that we are organised much like them, and they have me pegged as a minor lord of some kind. I guess they found out Annie and I were involved, but why would they think you gave her to me?"

"I do not know," Thor replied.

"You didn't do anything to her? When she was with you?"

"Nothing has been done to her," Thor said. "I swear to you that she is as she was in all ways."

Daniel shook his head, and sighed wearily. "I'm sorry," he said. "I've no reason to doubt you, it's just…The last thing she needs is to have been abused by the gods she trusts, as well as everyone else."

"I would never seek to harm her," Thor promised.

"I'd best get back to her," Daniel said.

"I never took you for a liar," Freyja said, emerging from the shadows after Daniel had left.

"I did not lie," Thor told her. "Or at least, not very much. She is as she was. I have removed the genetic material that I once placed within her. I doubt that she will have another child now, but if she does she deserves to have one that is purely her own."

"I thought that the work was everything?" Freyja said.

"If the work were everything, it would be worth nothing," Thor replied.

"I'm glad to hear you say that, old friend," she said. "Perhaps there is hope for us yet."

*

Three weeks later

Jack stepped through the Stargate onto the verdant soil of Jelling. He felt frankly silly dressed in a traditional Viking costume of breeches, tunic and cloak, but was somewhat mollified by the presence of a beautiful girl on his arm.

"Nice planet," Hnoss commented, looking radiant in a homespun, red woollen gown.

"It is," Jack agreed, looking back as the newly installed iris slid closed. "And troll-free for twenty-five days."

"Come on then," she said, half-dragging him towards a waiting cart. The guests who had proceeded them through the Gate were already aboard.

The last time Jack had seen the town square of Tangrind it had been in the aftermath of the troll attack, when the air was still thick with the smoke of funeral pyres and the cries of disgruntled carrion birds. Now the smoke rose from an impressive bonfire, and the sounds which filled the night were of music. If the music was not exactly Jack's cup of tea, at least it had a beat and you could dance to it, and Hnoss was urging him to do just that. Their companions on the journey were already wheeling around the bonfire with the locals.

"I don't dance so well," Jack told her.

"That is what Sam said," Hnoss reminded him. "Now look at her." It was certainly true that – for all her protests – Sam was holding her own as Newman spun her around.

"Jack!"

"Mary!" Jack greeted the blushing bride-to-be, resplendent in green. "You look well."

"Yeah; especially considering the stomach wound," she replied.

"Asgard medicine," Jack said. "You gotta love it."

"You look lovely," Hnoss told Mary.

"Thank you; so do you."

"How're your folks?" Jack asked.

"They're…good," Mary replied. "A little freaked out by it all, but pretty good considering. Thanks for sorting it all out."

"It's General Hammond you need to thank," Jack told her.

 "How did you convince them they weren't leaving the planet?" Mary asked.

"That's a little Asgard 'magic'," Hnoss admitted.

"They're meeting Fenrir now," Mary continued. "I think they like him, although you should have seen Mom's face when he walked in the room."

"I've brought you a wedding present," Hnoss said. She held out her hands, and on them lay a bracelet of silver and some kind of tortoiseshell.

"It's beautiful," Mary said.

"It's more than that," Hnoss replied. "It's a dialling device that will open a wormhole to Cimmeria. If you want to visit home, you can go there, and contact mother or Thor to take you to Earth without having to bother the SGC. The device has been designed so that it should defeat any effort to redirect the wormhole. If it lights up red, then it hasn't worked, so don't go through."

"Thank you," Mary said.

"Mother also said to tell you that we're looking for the key to Fenrir's Gleipnir device, but that it may have been destroyed."

"That's okay," Mary said, a little sadly. "He likes it here. I don't think he'll be too cut up. Anyway," she said, brightening. "I'm going to dance with my fiancé now. See you!" She skipped off.

"Young people are so sweet," Hnoss said. "Come on, Jack. You owe me this dance."

"Alright," Jack agreed. "But just the one."

"Nice view from up here."

Angharad started nervously at the sound of a man's voice. When she looked around, and saw Daniel climbing onto the watch platform with her, she relaxed. "I just wanted to get away from it for a bit," she explained.

"Not really ready to deal with the people?" Daniel asked.

"No."

Daniel came over and sat beside her, taking her hand gently in his. "You mustn't blame yourself for what they did," he said.

"I know," she said, unconvincingly.

"How are you managing?" He asked.

"Better," she assured him.

"Is it…Is it better because he's dead?"

"I thought it might be," Angharad admitted. "But I don't think so. I think it helps that I fought him, more than because I beat him. Before, I was always wondering…"

"If deep down, it's what you wanted?" Daniel asked.

Angharad looked away, hiding her face behind the curtain of her hair.

"It isn't," Daniel promised her. "Trust me."

"I don't think you could really understand," Angharad told him.

"Of course I can," Daniel replied. "Because it happened to me. Twice. I was drugged, not forced, but it's the same thing really."

"God, Daniel," Angharad whispered. "I'm so sorry. I didn't…I shouldn't have said that, I…"

"It's okay," Daniel assured her. "I try not to think about it too much, so I certainly don't talk about it. They were both beautiful, and I certainly wanted them both to some degree, but that didn't mean I wanted them to do what they did. I felt so…vile," he said. "As though I had done something horribly wrong, when I was the victim.

"You didn't fight because you were afraid," he told her. "Not because you wanted it."

Angharad hugged Daniel, and he put his arm around her shoulders.

"How's the dig going?" He asked.

"Pretty good," Angharad answered. As soon as Gersemi had disabled all of the mechanisms in the tomb in Newfoundland, and rigged a phoney rock fall, she had taken her team back in to finish their work. "It's good to keep going, to get back to normal."

"And you'll let us know…"

"…the moment something vaguely alien turns up. Darn skippy I will."

"Good. Is Llew okay around the site now?"

"Damned if I know. Llew's been jittery all over since he found out about Robert. Having Cassandra around seems to have been good for him though. We're both going to miss her when she goes back to school. He's been asking about interning with the SGC," she mentioned.

"I promise nothing, but I'll put in the word," Daniel said.

"Thanks. I'm not sure how Cassie's doing though," she added, with a touch of worry. "Every time I see the two of them she seems stressed out about something, but she says nothing's wrong."

Daniel smiled. "How are the new helpers working out?"

"Great," she assured him. "Sigyn's pretty shy, but Ganglot's better with the English and more confident in general, and she seems to have taken her in hand. I think that's helping as well; having someone else to worry about besides me."

"Tamsin?"

"Broken up, poor thing, but she's coping. God, I can't believe someone would do anything so callous."

"Don't you mean gods?" Daniel asked.

"It's casual blasphemy, Dear Heart, not a blood oath."

"How are you…?" Daniel began, warily, uncertain broaching the subject of religion.

"Coping with the deconstruction of my worldview? I'm not, Daniel. I've not suffered any kind of disillusionment. My gods answer when I really need them. Once they saved my son, and once they sent you to save me. I'm not sure what more you expect from a god, but I'm satisfied."

Daniel shook his head, baffled. "I guess I'll never really understand religion."

"It's odd," Angharad said. "Because in your way you're a very spiritual person."

"Thank you," Daniel said, sincerely.

"You're welcome."

They sat in companionable silence for a few minutes.

"Jack seems to be enjoying himself," Angharad noticed, pointing to the dancers.

"Oh yes," Daniel said. "You want to dance?"

"Maybe later," Angharad said. "And I should see Mary, give her my best. You go down if you want though; I'm not going to jump or anything."

Daniel squeezed her shoulder and stood. "You look lovely tonight," he told her.

"Thank you," she said. "You make a very dashing Viking."

Daniel climbed down from the tower, and went back to the fire. At the edge of the pool of light, a voice stopped him.

"How's she doing?"

"Well," Daniel replied, turning to face Amy. He rarely saw her out of uniform, and almost never in a dress, but she wore her blue-and-green number well. "Or as well as can be expected."

"And how about the two of you?" She asked, nonchalantly.

"Friends," he replied. "Anything else…That ship sailed a long time ago," he said, wistfully.

"Regrets?"

"I've had a few."

"But then again?"

"Too few to mention," he assured her.

"So my status as best girl in potentia is unthreatened?" Amy asked, more playfully.

"That's one way of looking at it," he admitted, with a smile.

"Wanna dance?"

"Sure."

As they went out into the light, the music changed to a slower tune; the local equivalent of 'Wonderful Tonight'. Daniel considered fleeing, but bit the bullet and drew Amy close. Over the top of her head, he saw Hnoss snuggled against Jack's chest, and Sam still dancing with Newman. Teal'c swayed across his field of vision, guided by an intrinsic sense of balance, and a very patient Anne Fowler.

"Amy," he began.

"Hey," she whispered. "Let me kid myself; just for one dance. Okay?"

"Okay," he agreed.

Angharad watched Daniel dancing with Amy for a while, before something at the foot of the tower caught her attention. Looking down, she saw Llew and Cassandra, walking hand in hand.

"It's been a great summer," Cassandra said. "I'm going to miss you, and your Mam; even if she does have an uncanny knack for interrupting."

Angharad could hear the smile in Llew's voice as he replied. "She doesn't mean it," he said. "She's worried you're stressed."

"You'd be stressed if Mom popped out of the woodwork every time you tried to kiss me."

"I probably would. Still, she's not here now."

"She isn't at that," Cassie agreed, leaning into Llew for a long, tender kiss.

Angharad smiled and lay back on the tower, looking up at the stars.