River of Stars Ch 10 bit – Princess

~ crossovercreativechaos

Daniel took a quick look, and felt his pulse speed up. Goujun’s not with her. Not good. “Kanzeon Bosatsu? Is there something we missed?”

Sanzo snorted; even as Sam started, and frowned. “That’s not Kanzeon.”

What?

“He’s right,” Sam stated, as Teal’c’s eyes narrowed in stoic curiosity. “It’s not. Kanzeon doesn’t have much naquadah… but you don’t have any. Who are you?”

“Colonel, SG-1,” Sanzo said formally, rising as Goku grumbled himself awake, “the honorable Lady Miaoshan, former host to Kanzeon Bosatsu.”

He must be going numb to shock, Daniel decided. That had barely rated a huh on the internal oh bleep meter.

Even so. A Tok’ra’s former host? How? Why?

Gojyo was gaping. “You said she was an old hag!”

Sanzo’s smirk could have scared a great white. “I said she had ancient wisdom. You called her an old hag.”

“You- you-!”

Not-Kanzeon tched, crossing her arms in a gleam of silk and silver. “So now I can’t pull any twin tricks. Spoil my fun, why don’t you?”

“Would I dream of interfering with the holy plans of the princess who escaped Hell itself?” Sanzo said graciously.

“Oof! Sanbutsushin manners? What have I done to you lately?” Miaoshan looked over SG-1, her gaze slightly different from the Kanzeon they knew. More gentle humor, Daniel thought, and a little less of the sharp edge the Queen had, negotiating for a treaty she hoped would save her people from destruction. “So you’re the nightmares that have System Lords checking under their beds. I am very glad to see you.”

Less of an edge, Daniel thought. Like the sheath to Kanzeon’s sword. Doesn’t mean she’s not dangerous.

“You were a host?” Sam took a step forward; then glanced at the children. “I’m sorry, we shouldn’t….”

“No, we shouldn’t,” Miaoshan agreed. “Those are dark times to speak of. But we must.” She waved an elegant hand. “Would you permit me the honor of hosting you in my own quarters? You might be more comfortable there.”

Right. So she’d noticed them twitching whenever snaky heads peeked out of the lotus ponds. And watching Sanzo toss some kind of a leather ball to be grabbed, swum with, and chased, had been utterly bizarre.

“Lead the way, Princess.” Jack gave her a half-bow. “I’ve got questions. So many questions.”

“When am I going to learn to stop asking questions….”

Out of the corner of her eye, Sam saw Daniel pat the colonel on the shoulder. He needed it. Thumping his head on the table like that couldn’t feel good.

Not that she could really blame him, either, as she and Teal’c went through Goujun’s report. What they’d learned from Miaoshan….

Well. It fit with what they’d seen from Jacob taking Selmak as a host, honestly. The Tok’ra offered people a chance to strike back against the System Lords. They were honest about that. They shared control of the host body; they were honest about that, too. They were just a little… fuzzy about certain details. Like how few options operatives had to choose their own missions – or how much operatives were discouraged from maintaining contact with any human friends or family that might still be alive. Human connections were undue influence. A way for Ra and the System Lords to hunt Tok’ra down, and destroy them. A weakness.

And Miaoshan and Kanzeon had been deep cover operatives. Meaning any time Miaoshan was in control of the body, she had to act like Kanzeon. Or the whole charade would have gone up in smoke.

“I’ll spare you the details of being a Queen, and required to breed,” Miaoshan had said quietly. “Let us only say, I am very, very grateful that my sister-in-mind crafted me a new body, that is only mine.”

20 thoughts on “River of Stars Ch 10 bit – Princess”

  3. Add “informed consent” to the list of words the Tok’ra High Council doesn’t know. And I’m the only one thinking that attitude demostrates that while they tried to pretend there was a logical reason to for the host to avoid still living family/friends, it was an excuse, and the real answer is that because they still consider human beings (and any host body) to be slaves, property, definitely lower beings. After all, you don’t tell people you consider an equal to avoid their friends and family while you are free to see yours . . . not that Goa’uld seem to understand that kind of social bonding (most of them) or the psychological damage that not enough healthy social interaction that most humans need to function can cause (some people need less of this than others but humans very rarely need zero social interaction to avoid psychological nastiness) and no, I don’t think interacting with other hosts counts as that social interaction especially considering they didn’t know them prior to becoming Tok’ra and probably haven’t spend any time forming human social bonds with each other counts . . . another instance of don’t bother doing something like that for slaves because who cares if they are in perfect health so long as they can still do what you want them to do, if they break, you can just get another one . . .

    *snarls* Sanzo’s gun . . . or at least one of Ba’al’s lightning bolts when he and Simon are particularly pissed at someone . . . they so deserve it . . .

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    1. I think it’s less a case of “slaves” and more a case of really not getting human psychology. After all, they take over as the immune system and fix the body, which probably also includes neurochemical tweaking to make their hosts stay healthy… meaning they may think there’s nothing wrong.

      We do know, from canon, that Jolinar never told anyone how she got off Netu, and given both she and her host were involved in that… the Tok’ra themselves may not really know how mentally unhealthy their situation is.

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  4. Have to admit this is a massive cultural change for Kanzeon’s children versus any other Goa’uld faction that I can think of. They create their host bodies while insuring that they are blank slates. Though apparently the dragons still host/meld with them.

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    1. The dragons do, and some people on Shangri-La do. But yes, a lot of them are “alone in their own heads”. Which is making for some interesting cultural changes over the past few centuries, and Kanzeon is all kinds of intrigued.

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  5. Ouch. Honestly, I’m surprised that Kanzeon and Miaoshan came out of that with their frendship intact, although the new body probably helped. I wonder though, if Kanzeon can just make bodies, why don’t all her children just use blank slates? I understand that all her hosts are volunteers, but still, it would put a lot of sticky ethical questions to rest. Is only using blanks bad for the Goa’uld psyche? Are they difficult to make enough of for her kids?

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    1. Kanzeon’s still in the process of figuring out if clone bodies are entirely safe for her kids. Granted, she’s had about a thousand years to test it, and she thinks it works – but she’s keeping options open in case something goes wrong!

      Of course “works” doesn’t necessarily mean “always turns out good people”. As anyone from Earth can attest. 😉

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  6. Actually, as I recall, it was mentioned in an earlier snippet that a number of Kanzeon’s children WANT to share with a host, to join with and learn alongside another thinking being. The difference here is that unlike the Goa’uld, who go looking for slaves, and Tok’ra who go looking for, let’s face it, what amounts to a respected servant, those of Kanzeon’s children who are so inclined go looking for someone to be a teacher and a friend.

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  8. I just wanted to say that I love your talent for world building. You introduce me to fandoms I’ve never been invested in before and make them alive for me.

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