"My lord. The ship is over run with Replicators. There are too many of them and too few of us." Teal'c's words echo in my brain, accompanied by the agonized screams of my men.

No. This is now how it is to end. This is not my fate. Not when I am so close, when ultimate power is within my grasp. I have to think of a way to escape. There must be a way.

The end is nigh.

No. There is a way. If the thrice damned Tau'ri can survive, so can I.

They survive because they are better than you are.

No one is better than I. I am a God.

You are a parasite. A leech. A vile creature which thrives on pain and suffering.

I am a God.

If you are a god then where are your worshippers? Your servants? Where is your temple? Your queen? Your son?

They were taken from me.

Can a god have his possessions so easily stolen?

I was betrayed.

You were duped. Too arrogant to see the betrayal that surrounded you. Too blind to realize ruling by fear only breeds more fear, not loyalty.

Fear is respect.

Respect is earned not beaten from people. Even now your 'loyal' jaffa plot behind your back, whispering revolt. If it were not for Teal'c they would have left you for dead.

They died to save me.

They died because you abandoned them. Just as you will die.

I am Apophis. Lord of Delmak. I am the most powerful system lord in the galaxy.

Then why are you cowering behind closed doors like a child?

"Be silent!" Apophis screamed, his fingers flying over the controls. An ominous clicking sound made him turn to see a Replicator climb atop the throne, joined immediately by more and more.

Hehehehe is that fear I smell? Come you are a god…are gods afraid of bugs? With a snarl he turned back to the controls. Why do you not just TELL them to leave? Better yet, banish them to oblivion. You are a god. Surely you can do that. But you can't can you? Just like you can't kill them.

I did kill them, the Nox interfered.

And they destroyed your ships. Four puny humans destroyed two hataks. The Tollan had to have planetary defenses to do that to Heru'ur.

I was betrayed from within.

I thought gods could not be betrayed? Should a god not be all knowing and all seeing? And whom did you run crying to for aid when Sokar defeated you?

I sought to turn Sokar's wrath upon them.

You sought succor.

I sought vengeance.

You were a frightened child seeking to cower behind the Tau'ri.

I sought the location of my son.

You did not even know they had knowledge of the boy. You are a fool. A frightened cowardly fool. You survived on Netu by currying favor and betrayal.

But I survived.

Yes. And we would still be there had you killed the Tau'ri woman and consigned her secrets to the afterlife.

"Enough!" Apophis snapped, struggling to make the sensors work. If he could only find a planet…

With a lurch the ship jumped into hyperspace. He checked the controls. "There. They are taking me home," he said, roughly kicking away a curious Replicator and activating his personal shield.

Bah. Delmak is just a resource to them. They will consume it and move on, like locusts consume a field.

My army will destroy them.

What army? The dead Jaffa in the corridor? You have no army. Just as you have no worshippers. You are nothing.

I am a God.

'You are a dead man,' the host gloated as the ship plunged out of hyperspace, Delmak filling the view screen.

'If I die, you die,' Apophis taunted.

You fear death. I do not. I embrace it. My soul is at rest, my spirit with my family. Death is what I have dreamed of for millennia. Death has kept me sane. I am happy to die. And you can not take that happiness from me.

His host's gloating words ringing in his ears Apophis stared through his shield, his vision obscured by scuttling bugs, a preview of what will be. His body powerless, charred and useless, its pieces as scattered as his army, food for the scavengers of the universe.

It WAS over. It was the end. Unable even to move he exerted his last bit of control over his host and gave his rage voice. One last impotent effort to control what even true gods can not control...fate.

~Fin~

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