SG1-15 The Power Behind the Throne Read Online Free PDF Page B

straight,” he said, “this creature, whatever you call it, how many of them are there? I mean are we talking about mom and pop and baby Mujina makes three, or are we talking about a planetful of happy little shapeshifters?”
    “There is only one Mujina, Colonel O’Neill, and the planet Nyren Var found it on, Vasaveda, was its prison.”
    “And there goes the other shoe,” Jack said.
    Teal’c raised a questioning eyebrow.
    “Oh come on, you heard the weapon comment. A prison the size of a planet must make it one hell of a critter.”
    “Imagine the greatest evil of your time, that could be a reflection of Mujina, but conversely Mujina has the potential to be the greatest hero known to your people.”
    “All things to everyone,” Daniel said. “The only place it is safe from the reflection of evil is away from everyone else. Can you imagine this in someone like Apophis’ hands?” He looked at Teal’c. The Jaffa said nothing.
    “I’d rather not.”
    “A dark and hungry god arises,” Jerichau said. The metallic quality of her tone shifted, becoming immediately softer and more feminine. “That is why Nyren Var had to find the creature first, so it could never be turned fully into the weapon it has the potential to be. It needs people around it to define it.”
    “How did the Goa’uld find out about the Mujina?” Sam asked, speaking up for the first time.
    “There is only one way,” Selina Ros admitted. “The information must have come from within the Tok’ra; which means there is a traitor within our number.” Her voice shifted, dopplering down to the metallic chill of the symbiote’s filtered tone. Her face twisted in revulsion, her lips suddenly thin and blanched of color. “Which is impossible, so thinking about it serves no one,” Jerichau finished for her host.
    “So, to get back to the smoking hand,” O’Neill said, making it quite plain that he didn’t swallow Jerichau’s protestations any more than Selina Ros did. It was interesting, seeing the host and symbiote openly disagree. He couldn’t remember having seen it in any of the Tok’ra he had met before. “Your woman went to this prison, found the creature in all of its glory, but was compromised before she could exfiltrate?”
    “I do not think, Colonel O’Neill, I fear, there is a difference. The planet of the Mujina lies in interdicted space, out far beyond the protection of the Asgard. It was banished centuries before, when all reason would have seen the creature put to death. Now we face the consequences of our predecessor’s vacillation.”
    “You can’t kill it because of its nature, that’s inhumane,” Daniel objected. “If what you say is right, it isn’t inherently evil, not as we would understand it, and left alone it isn’t dangerous. So by any conceivable measure that would be cold blooded murder.”
    “Which is precisely the argument they made, and yet by showing mercy and seeking to hide it, the Ancients have left us vulnerable. So which is the greater wisdom, Doctor Jackson? The death of one or the death of many? Which would your conscience prefer? What would appease your guilt? Perhaps you would sacrifice worlds?”
    “That is enough, Jerichau,” Hammond said, his voice every bit as cold and alien as the Tok’ra’s.
    “As you say, Hammond of the Tau’ri,” Jerichau ceded.
    “There’s still something you aren’t saying,” Jack said. It had been bothering him from the start.
    “Does it really need saying?”
    “I’d like to hear it anyway,” O’Neill said.
    “Very well. We cannot risk Mujina’s unique gifts being twisted to the will of the Goa’uld.”
    “Which means you want us to go find it and clean up the mess your Neryn Var has left behind, right?”
    “We do not have the resources to fight the Jaffa face to face, our strength is infiltration, working in the shadows. That is where we are best deployed in this long game. You, however, Colonel O’Neill, are very much soldiers. This