Chapter 9

I'd been called to the comms center of the palace by my Jaffa. Apparently, they'd caught Canens sending some sort of message and wanted me to take a look so I could make a call on what to do with it. Of course, they hadn't yet decrypted the message, but they had intercepted it. They were hoping that my particular genius would be able to figure it out and had kicked the issue up the chain of command accordingly.

For my part, I was fairly certain I knew exactly what this was. I had shown enough signs to Canens of being an Abnormal Goa'uld that she was calling the Tok'ra for orders on how to proceed. I would bet a planet on the encryption being used one that the Tok'ra liked to use when deep undercover. If I was right, then it was possible that I would be able to get my Tok'ra alliance. Of course, the Tok'ra High Council could just order Canens to assassinate me and have done with. That was also a possibility. I was ready for that, though, and assassinating me would be easier said than done.

I arrived at the Comms Center and the Jaffa Guards inside stood from their monitors and saluted. I inclined my head in acknowledgment as a response.

"Be at ease. Where is this transmission you intercepted?" I questioned.

"Here, My Lord. The encryption is quite complex, however. Too much for us, though perhaps your divine intellect can figure it out." Responded one of the Senior Jaffa, I believe his name was Zhang. hang gestured to one of the monitors and I made my way over.

"I am certain you did your best. Have no fear, I am not one to punish my subjects for perceived failures. Now, I shall work on it and this transmission will reveal its secrets to me." I nodded.

I sat down at the indicated monitor and immediately got to work. It was indeed a Tok'ra encryption, a variant of one that one of my ancestors had apparently seen used because I had knowledge of the base encryption thanks to my genetic memory. With my Oma Desala-given Enhanced Intellect, I was able to crack this variant wide open in about an hour of working on it. The message was written in Standard Abydonian, which was used by the populace of Ra's Domain, along with those of Heru'ur, Sokar, Bastet, and Apophis.

I couldn't help myself, I let out a short bout of laughter in triumph as the encryption unfolded before my eyes into a proper message, grinning like a loon as I did.

Of course, my own Jaffa knew the Tiānyǔ Script of Lord Yu's Domain and perhaps the Olympian used by Cornus or the Loish used by Olokun, while a few might know the Cuneiform Script of Ba'al's Domain. The Domains that used Standard Abydonian were too far from Lord Yu's to bother teaching the Jaffa, which was good for me since neither Zhang nor the two door guards would have been able to decipher the message.

Of the message itself, I had been right on the money. It was indeed a query to the Tok'ra High Council on how to proceed with her mission. Apparently, she'd been sent here to determine how much of a threat I was and any potential weaknesses and had instead found a potential Abnormal Goa'uld who could be turned into an ally. She didn't know how to proceed with her mission and was asking the High Council what they wanted her to do.

"My Lord?" Questioned Zhang, drawing me out of my bout of laughter and introspection.

"Nothing tastes quite so sweet as victory, Zhang. I was merely savoring it. This encryption has yielded to my efforts and it seems that our guest is not who she appears to be." I smirked.

"I see. A Spy perhaps?" Queried Zhang.

"Of a sort." I acknowledged.

"Should we arrest her, My Lord?" Asked Zhang.

"No. This could be turned to our advantage. What is better than eliminating a spy?" I questioned.

"I do not know, My Lord." Admitted Zhang.

"Turning them to your side, of course." I intoned.

"As you say, My Lord." Nodded Zhang.

And like that, I had my plan for the remainder of Canens, or should I say Salem and Zelida's, stay. I knew the Tok'ra High Council would take time to deliberate before sending a reply back. I had a day, perhaps two, before they decided on a course of action and sent Salem and Zelida orders. In that time, I would have to truly hammer home how different I was from the other Goa'uld. If I could do that, I could propose an alliance.

I had no clue at the time, but my work had largely already been done on that front. Salem had been convinced already by my attitude and the projects I had undertaken to educate and better the lives of my workers. Zelida on the other hand had been convinced by conversations with the Palace Servants and Jaffa.

Apparently, she hadn't expected me to pay them wages for their service. I couldn't figure out why, though as that wasn't that uncommon. Lord Yu, Bastet, Camulus, and Amaterasu all did the same, after all, though I would admit that the wages I offered were higher than those offered by the others, but that was just good sense. It cut down on the potential for treachery and sedition, after all.

I still gave Salem and Zelida a tour of several projects I was undertaking to create jobs for the better-educated workers and also walked them through one of the recently completed apartment blocks. By the time that dinner rolled around that evening, I could tell that I'd given a lot to recommend an alliance with me.

Now all that was left was to offer one. . .

XXXX

Dinner tonight was to be a small and intimate affair. 'Canens' had met my Council at the first dinner of her stay. That had been a full-on feast as I'd really pushed the boat out with Pork, Beef, and Chicken Fried Rice, Dumplings, Lo Mein, Peking Duck, and the works. All had been made with local varieties of animals that had been captured from Earth in Han Dynasty Times and brought out among the stars. That had been a major to-do, this not so much.

Instead, a simple meal for two had been brought out into a small chamber that I was certain had no bugs from any faction, including Lord Yu. I also dismissed the servants once the meal had been brought out. The Meal itself was a well-balanced dinner of Chicken Fried Rice and a Roast Duck with a specific sauce that balanced the traditional Four Natures and Five Tastes. Along with the food, a bottle of Baiju and a pot of tea were brought out for drinks.

"How is your dinner?" I queried, conversationally.

"This sauce is interesting." Allowed 'Canens'.

"It is what allows the meal to be a blend of the Four Natures and Five Tastes." I nodded.

"I am unfamiliar with the philosophy." Responded 'Canens'.

"It is a philosophy we hold to in terms of cooking here in Lord Yu's Domain. There are four natures and five tastes to food as a whole." I began.

"Which are?" Asked 'Canens'.

"The Natures are Hot, Warm, Cool, and Cold, while the tastes are Pungent, Sweet, Sour, Bitter, and Salty. A good meal must find a balance between all natures and tastes. Balance is key to much of life, and it is no different with food." I explained.

"I see." Frowned 'Canens'.

"Do you?" I questioned.

"I do. May I be frank with you about something?" Queried 'Canens'.

"I prefer that to dancing around an issue." I remarked.

"Good, I know you intercepted my transmission the other night. The fact that I was not snatched in my sleep says much about you. Better to lay our cards on the table now. I assume you know that I am not Canens?" Asked Zelida.

"I know more than that, Zelida. I assume you now know me to be an abnormal Goa'uld who had somehow lucked his way into a position of power?" I returned.

"Indeed. You have to know that I am an agent of the Tok'ra by now. You must also know if you were monitoring my communications, that I received my orders an hour ago. Just before meeting you for dinner, in fact." Intoned Salem, Zelida allowing her to speak.

"I do, Salem. It is nice to finally meet you, by the way." I acknowledged.

"Indeed, though whether the sentiment is mutual or not depends on the outcome of this conversation, unfortunately. You see, the High Council gave us a choice." Sighed Salem.

"Which is?" I pressed.

"We can either strike up an alliance or attempt to assassinate you. I think both Salem and I would prefer the former. I have no doubts that should we try the latter, it would end with our deaths. Your Jaffa and defenses are just too formidable." Admitted Zelida.

"Fortunately for you both, we are of like minds on the subject of an alliance, Zelida. While Lord Yu is benevolent enough for a Goa'uld, things could be even better on that front. I am hoping to unify the various minor independent Goa'uld in the borderlands into a realm of my own. One where the Humans and Jaffa need not fear the constant threat of their Lord's Boot stamping on their neck. Should I succeed, then a decade from now, I plan to institute an assembly system, with representatives voted for by the populace to act as a legislature, though naturally, executive power would remain with myself." I informed.

"That is quite the claim. How do you plan to do that?" Questioned Salem.

"Education is the key. The Humans and Jaffa have largely been relegated to the roles of peasant and slave for millennia. I need to work on educating them for a decade before they can be trusted to vote in representatives who will properly govern. I have plans for a system of schools, you see, to teach reading, writing, mathematics, and engineering, along with law, ethics, and civics." I answered.

I began to lay out my idea for a parliamentary system to Zelida and Salem as we ate. The idea was a two-chambered system, with a mix of tenured Jaffa and the various Abnormal Goa'uld who made up the Minor Independents of the Border Areas as the Upper Chamber and the Human Elected Representatives made up of the Lower Chamber, with the Prime Minister being a Lower Chamber Position only. It effectively aped the British Parliament in several ways, though the Prime Minister would be more like the French Prime Minister in overseeing domestic affairs, while I as the Monarch would be similar to how the French President worked, overseeing national security and foreign affairs. Meanwhile, the Judiciary would be a mix of Humans and Jaffa and bypass the Goa'uld entirely.

The Hybrid system was, in effect, a balance of the three classes available, Goa'uld, Human, and Jaffa, in such a way that I was confident it would be more functional than less. It certainly seemed to interest Zelida and Salem, and they often interjected with questions and clarifications. By the end of dinner, however, I could tell my plans had intrigued them.

"That is quite the plan." Intoned Zelida.

"Yes well, the current system does not work. The Goa'uld System Lords squabble and argue like a bunch of unruly children. If something were to happen to Ra, the High Council of System Lords would be ground to a completely non-functional standstill. Worse, the System Lords would turn on each other within a year, each squabbling over the empty position of Supreme System Lord. It is only by giving the Humans and Jaffa a voice in governance that such problems can be avoided. I hope to trial it within my domain and then, hopefully, expand it to whatever is left of the Empire afterward." I nodded.

"Forward-thinking of you." Mused Salem.

"It is not hard to be more forward-thinking than the vast majority of Goa'uld in Power, Salem. Their wits are too addled by repeated uses of the Sarcophagus, something carried down between generations via the Genetic Memory of our race, with only we Abnormal Goa'uld escaping more or less unscathed. Of course, we're scorned for it, hunted down, kept outside the halls of power in the Empire, forced into the periphery and borderlands to make our own way in the Galaxy, or, of course, forced to join the Tok'ra. I sometimes think that if we were allowed to simply climb the ranks as normal, that the Empire would be a much better place." I sighed.

"And yet here you are. An Abnormal Goa'uld acting as the Grand Chancellor for one of the most powerful System Lords. How did that happen, I wonder?" Queried Zelida.

"It is not difficult. I simply do what Lord Yu asks when he asks. He is not the most hands-on of Overlords, so long as my tithes are sent and my forces bolster his in battle, he is content to leave me be most of the time and only contact me when he wishes something of me." I shrugged.

"You do not believe that will change when you start consolidating the Borderlands?" Asked Salem.

"Perhaps. But I will burn that bridge when I come to it." I insisted.

"I think that when that time comes, the Tok'ra will be willing to help you burn that bridge, as you say." Agreed Zelida.

"And I welcome the Tok'ra's aid for when the time comes." I concurred.

And like that, my alliance with the Tok'ra was sealed. It occurred to me that I was effectively doing a similar thing to what my mother had been executed for doing by allying with the Tok'ra to forge my own Domain. Of course, the differences between this and my mother's naked power grab were also there. I was doing this for a good reason, after all. Not that it would matter much to Lord Yu, but he was always more pragmatic. If I agreed to help him gain planets to make up for the loss of territory that he would face from my leaving, and perhaps agree to a non-aggression treaty or defensive alliance? He might simply let me go. It would definitely be an interesting time in the Chinese Sense, no pun intended.

Zelida and Salem left two days later. Of course, the Musicum Ferrum had already been converted over to the new standard for some time by that point, but it was the diplomacy that needed to go down, plus the sending of messages to and from the Tok'ra High Council and the Musicum Ferrum to get confirmation on our alliance agreement. When they did leave, eventually, it was without much in the way of fanfare. Only myself, Chen, and somewhat surprisingly, Uttu, my Vizier, had come to see her off. As soon as she was gone, however, I turned to Uttu and Chen.

"Call my ministers and generals. It is time for an update on the state of my domain and then plans to assail Ba Chua Xu and her Four Immortals must be put into place." I commanded.

They hastened to obey, Chen striding forth with purpose, while Uttu had to sort of shuffle off, owing to the more extravagant silk gown she was wearing. In less than a month, the first expansion of my realm would take place, which would allow me to grow my forces and economic power as I expanded my new schools and infrastructure to the newly taken worlds.

Hopefully, the first expansion of my realm would not wind up being the last. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here we see the alliance with the Tok'ra inked. Now it's time for an update on Erlang Shen's Domain from his various ministers and the planning for the assault on Ba Chua Xu and her Four Immortals. That assault is supposed to begin in twenty-six days, as things get ready on Erlang Shen's end. The hope is that three months after taking power, Erlang Shen will rule eight worlds, his three original ones, plus the five captured in his first expansion. That would make him a fairly sizable Underlord, roughly equivalent to where his mother had been before she had decided to engage in a spot of treason with Cronus.

As to the planned governmental structure, yes it's a weird hybrid of the French and British Systems with a bit of unique aspects thrown in. It is still largely going to be more functional than most other governmental systems in the Milky Way. The High Council of the System Lords is a bucket of crabs that never gets anything done, while the Council of the Free Jaffa Nation will be plagued with factionalism as it was in canon. The Lucian Alliance, meanwhile, is effectively what if the Mafia ran a country, and so isn't exactly something that is very functional by nature. Only on Earth are you going to find better functioning governments.

At any rate, the next chapter is going to be another council and planning session.

Stay tuned. . .