We hid Horus in plain sight. The Goa’uld had spent centuries manipulating Taur’i mythologies, and it never even occurred to Seth that one of them might be true.
So Horus founded a dynasty descended from Osiris that would rule the land called Egypt for millennia. And the rest, as they say, is history.
If only they knew.
Seth was convinced that the Harceisis was under the protection of a Goa’uld, so we made a lot of noise in the Nile delta so that Seth would find out that he was not the only one of his kin marooned on Earth. Then, we fled. Suddenly, my godhead was much less inconvenient. Anukis was the protector of the Harceisis, and in Seth’s eyes, the two were inseparable.
Idiot. Although, I suppose in hindsight I should be grateful.
We went to Greece and sought out a temple dedicated to the goddess Isis. We were a bit surprised to find out how globally popular our daughter was. We spoke alone with the high priestess and performed a few miracles before telling her point blank that her goddess needed her.
She was a bit overwhelmed, but since her faith dictated that she should serve her god, she agreed to host her god’s mother. I left the body I had so loved for hers. Instead of clawing my way in, I went through the mouth. This was less painful, but infinitely more distressing. The most important thing though, was that it left no scar on my new host.
We buried the body in a shrine at the rear of the temple. If they were going to worship, then they may as well worship someone who deserved it. Then, we performed a quaint public ceremony wherein the locals actually saw their priestess become the goddess she had sworn to serve, and everything was in order.
Thus we became Euagora, a nice, obscure Nereid who, though divine, attracted almost no attention.
And Seth became Typhon, and the hunt was on.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Halleigh stood alone in the briefing room. She was supposed to be with Dr. Jackson, waiting to talk to the general, but an alarm had gone off and a voice had announced something called an 'Incoming Wormhole'. Daniel directed her to the window, told her to stay put and then left in a hurry. Halleigh watched as rank upon rank of soldiers entered the room below her. The seventh light on the stone circle all of the guns were pointed at glowed orange and a stream of well, something, shot out. Halleigh started, and by the time she'd calmed down, a metal circle covered the aperture. Then, at some signal she didn't hear, the soldiers relaxed and the metal opened. Halleigh barely had time to wonder at what held all the water in place when two figures stepped through it.
"Pretty cool, huh?" Halleigh spun around. A tall uniformed man with gray hair entered the room. "I'm Colonel O'Neill."
"Halleigh" she managed to get out. She turned back to the window in time to see the woman who must be Major Cater hugging one of the visitors and Daniel formally greeting the other. "Who are they?"
"The old guy is named Jacob and the woman is named Freya. I think." There was an odd note of disdain in the Colonel's voice. "They're Tok’ra and they have snakes in their heads, Selmak and Anise respectively."
"They look human."
"Jacob is. He's Major Carter's father. Freya I am not so sure about."
"And you don't like them." Jack raised an eyebrow slightly at her perceptiveness.
"They have a tendency to leave things out. I don't do well with surprises. but Jacob is a good friend and Anise and Freya know a lot about - stuff."
The party could be heard walking up the metal staircase to the briefing room now. Halleigh felt uncontrollably nervous, but managed to keep herself from falling apart. She didn't notice Jack's silent appraisal of her. He was impressed with her aura of togetherness, for all he knew it was a facade.
Once everyone was seated, Daniel made the necessary introductions, and then got down to business. He outlined his discovery on Abydos, the glyphs and what Halleigh thought they said.
"Excuse me, Dr. Jackson," cut in Anise. "I do not understand. Why is a equine mouth significant?"
"It's an expression. Horse's teeth never stop growing. If you look into it's mouth, you can tell how old it is."
"And age lessens the value." Anise finished, nodding slightly. Freya took over suddenly. "My people have a similar expression, but it does not involve horses."
Halleigh's eyes widened at the voice change, but she said nothing.
"I am sorry, Daniel Jackson," Teal’c said. "I did not consider that an expression could translate this way."
"That's OK Teal’c. I didn't think of it either."
"So what does all this have to do with Setesh?" Jacob asked.
"Some of the people we talked to after we deprogrammed the Seattle cult said that Seth was looking for a chosen one, "Halla" or something like that." Sam explained. "We thought it was just standard cultic behaviour."
"But now we're not so sure." Daniel added quickly.
"You have good reason, Dr. Jackson." Selmak said. "The Tok’ra have many legends about The Halla."
"As do the Jaffa." Teal’c added.
"What's a Halla?" Jack asked.
"It is a name, Colonel O'Neill. It means 'unexpected gift'." Anise provided.
"Um, wait." said Daniel, turning to one of the half-dozen books he had brought with him.
"What is it, Doctor?" Hammond asked.
"In Norse, the Asguard based language, Halla means 'half protected'."
"What are you suggesting?"
"I think, sir, that Daniel means something protects The Halla." Sam said. "It might be so important that the Asguard themselves protect it."
"No, I don't think it's an it. I think it's a who." Daniel said. "Seth was jealous of Osiris and Isis, but he fought against Horus, their son."
"Are you saying Seth was looking for a Harceisis?" Jack cut in.
"Not a Harceisis, the Harceisis." Daniel clarified. "The actual translation is 'Son of Isis'."
"Why would Seth spend hundreds of years searching for the Harceisis? He would be mortal, even if a Goa’uld had taken over his body." Teal’c pointed out.
"That is true." Anise confirmed. "But the Goa’uld genetics would be passed on and with them, the genetic memory."
"So somewhere running around Earth is a genetically Goa’uld human?" Jack asked. Daniel shrugged.
"This brings up another question." Hammond said. "Even if we locate this Harceisis, the last one was too evil to use. Why is this different?"
"I think that's where the half protected comes in." Daniel said. "Sam, did you ever have a look at the notes Janet took during her autopsies of the symbiotes we recovered from those jars?"
"Yes, I did." Sam said. "There were a few genetic differences between them that she couldn't explain. She thought it might be gender related, but she never got to analyze them further. The Osiris autopsy was one of the last things she did before..."
"There is no genetic difference, Sam." Jacob said gently. "Gender is implied, not manifested."
"I have a suggestion, Major Carter." Anise said, puling out a file. "Dr. Jackson requested that I bring some of my research about Tok’ra genetics. This is the Tok’ra genome. All Tok’ra, including the Queen Egeria, posses the same genes and no others. The highlighted section is the mutation I believe causes the Tok’ra to become Tok’ra."
"You mean your conscience is genetic?" Jack asked.
"An accurate analogy." Anise nodded. "The mutation must breed true, or not all of Egeria's descendants would have become Tok’ra.
Samantha had been flipping through the files Daniel had handed her and comparing them to that provided by Anise. Daniel had offered no explanation as to why he had brought it to the briefing, nor why he had been so specific as to what Anise should bring. Somehow, Sam thought Daniel already knew the answers and was walking them all through it instead of just telling them flat out. A suspicion began to dawn on Major Carter.
"Osiris does not have the mutation. He was Goa’uld," she reported. "Isis on the other hand has it. She was Tok’ra."
"Ok, so 10,000 years ago, Isis has a kid and his descendant is running around Earth?" Jack said. "How are we supposed to find him?"
"His genetic code will be exactly half of Isis'." Anise said. "Her genes would have dominated Osiris' and would be the only ones passed on to the third generation. None of the Goa’uld inherent evil would remain."
"In English?"
"The genes from Isis would be passed to every descendant." Sam clarified. "Which is pretty spectacular when you think about the odds."
"Please don't."
"That's what the half is, then." Daniel said. "Shifu was inherently evil because he had full Goa’uld DNA. A Harceisis with half Tok’ra DNA..."
"Would carry the memories of the Goa’uld, but the Tok’ra mutation would negate the evil." Selmak finished, looking uncharacteristically excited. "General Hammond, it is imperative that we locate him."
"Actually, it isn't him." Daniel said, shooting a look down the table at Halleigh whose expression clearly indicated that she had been keeping pace with him. "It's a her. Seth found her and tried to kill her. In fact, if we hadn't broken up his cult, his second attempt would have succeeded."
"My father used to call me Halla." Halleigh said quietly, instantly attracting everyone's attention. "He said he anglicized it to come up with a name my mother would agree to, but he always called me Halla."
There was dead silence at the table.
"General," began Jack, "I propose that we trot this young lady down to the infirmary for what I am sure will he a completely unnecessary gene test, and then ship out to that address."
Hammond considered it for a few moments, regarding the people he sat with seriously.
"Very well, Colonel, you have a go. Major Carter, take Halleigh to the infirmary and then help her get geared up. Dr. Jackson, I want a full report of myths you think are relevant on my desk before you leave. Miss Madisen, I can't order you to do any of this-"
"I'm in, General Hammond."
"You leave as soon as the DNA results are in."