Interlude: Ra

Ra was, slowly, making his way around his Empire on his Great Progress. Already he had been feasted with gusto by his son, Heru'ur, and with somewhat less gusto by his brother, Apophis. Most recently, he had been feasted by the ravishing and mysterious Morrigan at her Throneworld of Teamhair and was currently en route from that pleasant world of green, rolling, hills, and rushing rivers to the world of Mirey, where Moloc had his Capital, to be received by the Cousin of Ba'al.

Ra did not enjoy visits to such worlds. Moloc was a God of the Underworld, and Underworld Gods did so enjoy playing up the unpleasantness of their mythos when it came to domains. Never mind that the Goa'uld were not Gods in the true sense, even though they may as well be for all intents and purposes. Many truly bought into the methods of control they had adopted so many centuries ago, while the younger System Lords never knew a time before the Mythos was permanently ingrained into the Empire.

It was, Ra reflected, perhaps a failing of the Genetic Memory that all Goa'uld possessed. With so many ancestral memories of being worshipped by the chattel, how could any Young Goa'uld truly grasp the subtleties that those like himself, his brother Apophis, and that old goat Yu understood? Even his brother Apophis seemed to be slipping in his grasp of reality, buying more and more into the Mythos with every passing year. Yu was the oldest of them all, from the days of Apophis and his Father's time. He had several decades of life before the first Sarcophagus was reverse-engineered by Thoth at the Orders of Apep. Yu had the most experience at resisting the mental degradation the Sarcophagus brought on with each use.

Ra smirked at that fact. It was one of life's little ironies that some of the most powerful Goa'uld in the Empire, namely himself, Yu, and Apophis, would be considered Abnormal Goa'uld by the modern classification. Although, Apophis had died and been resurrected so many times over the past centuries that Ra doubted he still qualified. His brother's warmongering ways had made him numerous enemies, and he had suffered through scores of successful assassinations and hundreds of attempted ones as Goa'uld rose, became his enemy, and fell.

Yu was much more cautious, simply utilizing the life-extending properties of the Sarcophagus every few centuries. That sort of use limited the mental degradation substantially, and a Goa'uld of Yu's experience would be more than capable of handling such minor uses spaced out so far apart. If not for the fact that Ra had cultivated his position so well, he could well believe Yu would outlive both himself and Apophis, the cagey old goat.

Meanwhile, Ra himself was simply too feared to require the use of the Sarcophagus to be returned from death or healed from a grievous injury. No one would dare to attempt to assassinate him, after all, for if they tried, they would soon learn the error of their ways. Yes, Ra would be considered abnormal by the modern classification if not for the simple fact that he had chosen a philosophy of rule more suited to fear and respect than the more benevolent rule that Yu practiced, and thus was able to quite easily fit in with the most vengeful and ruthless of System Lords.

It was, on reflection, truly the only way for him to rule as Supreme System Lord. Yu may well respect him enough to be a real vassal, but his brother despised him, Apophis always resenting that Ra had taken power in the Empire and not him. Others were just as treacherous and far more typical of their race. He had needed to fend off no less than three seduction attempts while in Morrigan's Palace, for instance, and he fully expected to see several punitive burnings while at Mirey. Moloc did so love to execute conspirators by fire, real or imagined, after all. It was a sad fact that to rule over so many petty, ruthless, and vengeful Lords, one had to be even more vengeful and ruthless than they.

"My Lord. We will be arriving at Mirey within the hour." Intoned the Voice of Anubis.

Ra's lips quirked into a smile at that. He had always given his first primes that name, ever since the Traitor Anubis had slain the last of the Emperors of the Second Dynasty in a bid to claim power and been defeated by the assembled System Lords under Ra's Banner. It was forever a sign of his victory over the Traitor that Ra had stolen his name and instead of taking it for one of his titles, gave it to a Jaffa instead. It was an insult to the Traitor's Memory that forevermore a mere servant would bear his name. That was precisely the sort of petty vengeance one had to stoop to if one wanted to rule this fractious collection of Goa'uld.

"Excellent. Inform me as soon as we arrive." Intoned Ra.

"As you command." Saluted Anubis before leaving.

Ra made his way to the Baths, a luxury he'd ensured had been installed on his Modified Cheops-class Battleship. As human slaves poured scented oils into his baths, while his Lo'taur, Nushim of Men-Nefer laid out finely dyed garments for his arrival. Ra was bathed, dressed, and perfumed by the slaves in a ritual that took an hour. Ra was certain that he would be keeping Moloc waiting, but that was his right as Supreme System Lord. Moloc should be thankful he had the worlds, population, resources, and Jaffa to be counted amongst one of the System Lords at all.

Ra took his time getting ready, making Moloc wait for forty-five minutes past his Arrival Time. He ensured his appearance was suitably awe-inspiring, golden mask with Naquadah engraving placed on his face, expensive and luxuriously dyed silks sitting perfectly on his frame, Anubis and his personal guard of Jaffa in perfect parade order. When Ra was finally satisfied, he gave the order to transport down.

"Engage the Transport Rings, let us see what welcome Moloc has prepared for us." Commanded Ra.

As his Jaffa hastened to obey, the transport rings rose up and soon, Ra and his Guards were transported to the Surface of Mirey. . .

XXXX

Mirey was, Ra mused, a pit. Literally so, as the Capital City of Qart was dug into a circular crevasse carved out of the living rock of the world. That was how Moloc liked it, though. His Mythos demanded such, and Qart wound its way around the deep wound in the ground in layers built out of terraces. Moloc's Palace was at the Bottom layer of the Pit, a building of brazen brass and gold, with ornamentation of human skeletons inlaid in opal, ivory, and jet along the walls. Ra could respect Moloc's sense of grandeur, if not his taste in decor.

"My Lord, Ra! This Humble Underlord of your Glowing Magnificence welcomes you into his hall, meager though it may be for one of your stature." Began Moloc as Ra entered his throne room.

As Moloc spoke, he stood from his throne, stepped down from his high dias, and knelt before Ra. It was all very performative, Moloc was as capricious as any System Lord and bore no great love for Ra or his line. Ra knew, however, that Moloc would not dare even suggest a hint of treachery while his capital was under the many powerful guns of a Cheops-class Battleship. He would be a fool to even think such a thing would be possible.

Ra had largely monopolized such powerful ships, to the point where he had one that had been refitted for such courtly functions as this Grand Progress through the Empire. It was, technically speaking, illegal for any system lord to possess one, though his Son Heru'ur was allowed a single Cheops-class by Ra's Decree, while Ra knew that Apophis had mothballed the one he had used during the War with Anubis in some hidden boneyard somewhere remote. Moloc had no Cheops, however, and all but four of his Ha'taks were keeping station on his border with Morrigan, lest the enigmatic Goa'uld decide to seize key systems along their shared borders.

The reason why that would be suicide was evident, a Cheops-class Battleship, even one refit like the Barge of Ra, carried three times as many Staff Cannons as a Ha'tak-class Cruiser, and those cannons were three times as powerful as the ones on a Ha'tak as well. It would take a fleet of Ha'taks to equal one Cheops, even with the diplomatic refit that the Barge of Ra had undergone. That also did not include fightercraft, shields, or any of the numerous other tactical systems that made the Cheops a force to be reckoned with. A single Cheops could conquer worlds where a fleet of Ha'taks would normally be required.

"Rise, Moloc, and pledge your fealty to your Supreme System Lord." Commanded Ra.

Moloc did so, rising to his feet as Ra got a look at Moloc's latest Host up close. Moloc's host was not as fair to look upon as Ra's was but still possessed a certain charm. However, Ra knew that no matter how fair the host was, Moloc's mind burned with feverish imaginings of conspiracy that would ensure the inside was nowhere near as fair as the outside, even if Molec chose a host as handsome or more than Ra's.

As Moloc bowed and began to speak the Oath of Allegiance, however, something happened. There was a cry of 'Liberation!' from somewhere close by, and a female slave rushed forth from an alcove, then Ra felt a sharp pain in his side as a sudden explosion occurred from nearby. Ra looked over and saw that three of his Personal Guards had been shredded by what appeared to be Trinium Shrapnel, then he looked down and saw that a shard of Trinium had lodged itself in between his host's ribs. He coughed, blood seeping up from between his lips, having just enough time to activate his Kara'kesh.

As the transport rings immediately took him back up to his Cheops-class Battleship, and Anubus called for the remainder of Ra's Personal Guards to execute the traitors, Ra stumbled mid-transport, eventually collapsing on the deckplates of the Command Deck of his Cheops. Then, all went dark for several long moments. He came to in a Sarcophagus an hour later, bolting upright, fury filling his veins! How dare Moloc attempt such treachery? Ra would raze his capital to the ground!

"Anubis!" Called out Ra.

"Here my Lord." Came Anubis' Voice.

"Do you have Moloc in custody?" Demanded Ra.

"Of course, My Lord. I anticipated you would require such and ordered your Jaffa to assault his Palace as soon as you were safely ensconced in the Sarcophagus. He claims this to be the work of a Rebel movement calling themselves the Hak'tyl." Informed Anubis.

"That is either a likely story to cover for this treachery or an admission of gross incompetence. Either way, I care little for his excuses. Have my Jaffa target all weapons on his pit of a Capital City. Wipe it from the face of this miserable world as an example!" Commanded Ra.

"Of course, My Lord." Bowed Anubis.

As his First Prime left to ensure that his God's Orders were carried out, Ra made his way over to the Dungeons. He would see Moloc flayed alive for this and his essence trapped forever in Canoptic Agony! Then he would inform Heru'ur that he was needed to place someone trustworthy and competent in charge of Moloc's former domain. He would order his Cheops to Abydos to await his son's report.

Only once he was assured that this travesty was rectified would Ra continue his Progress. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here we see how things have played out with Ra while Erlang Shen has been off conquering. It never made sense to me that Ra would stop at Abydos, a world that by all accounts wasn't a major capital of any System Lord while touring his Empire. The fact that there is an active insurgency currently being waged against Moloc by the Hak'tyl Resistance, however, has given me this idea for how to reconcile this particular discrepency between the Movie and the Show.

It also allows me to set up a reason for why things didn't immediately go to shit after Ra's death. In canon, the Stargate sat in storage for two years between the Abydos Mission and the SGC getting off the ground. You'd think that a full-blown Civil War would have happened in that time, but no. The picture we get of the System Lords at the start of SG-One is that the Civil War is just starting. However, if Ra suffered an Assassination Attempt that he followed up on by razing an entire city to the ground before going to Abydos, then it makes sense why the System Lords would give him space and not check to see if he was still alive in that time.

At any rate, the next chapter will be an interlude with Lord Yu, as I have split the interludes into two separate ones.

Stay tuned. . .