Fodder. That is all we are to them, all humans are to them. A resource, a crop to be harvested, used to feed their never ending appetite for conquest. We were a people blinded by trust, our senses dulled by confidence. We wallowed in our arrogance, now we drown in destruction.

We thought we were different, we thought we were immune.

Our technology should have protected us. It always had before. Even when Cerita was destroyed, our technology saved us. It found us a new home, it tamed that home, and made it better than the one we had left. Our technology made us envied by others, we were respected, sought out. Lesser races looked up to us, sought to ally with us.

When we arbitrated the triad between Klorel and Skaara I believed I saw our destiny as a neutral seat of justice in the universe. I thought I saw our future. In reality I saw the beginning of our death.

When I was wakened with word of a goa'uld ship in orbit I was not worried. I simply ordered a warning to be broadcast and if it was not heeded, the ion cannons to be fired, as distasteful as that may be. It was a simple solution, a standard response.

I had no indication that the cannon would be ineffective. Last time a single cannon saved us, now they are impotent, worthless, the ship as unstoppable as the destruction of Tolan had been. We were flotsam caught in the tide of goa'uld greed.

There is a part of me that now has a certain empathy with the Tau'ri. We needed their aid, just as they had asked for ours before. But instead of putting us off until it is convenient for them, they hurried to help us.

Yes I know the prospect of acquiring an ion cannon is a welcome one to them, however I half expected them to ignore us, or at least be more disdainful in their acceptance. But they were not. They welcomed our proposal with a certain amount of grace and skepticism, in hindsight, I wish we had.

This wariness, which was proven correct with Zipacna, again served them well.

I used to feel pity for a people who were so used to being betrayed that it was expected. Now I wish we shared that trait. Perhaps it would have saved us.

Narim told me the Tau'ri have left, which is as it should be. Remaining here would have been noble, but also would have likely resulted in their death. I feel a certain satisfaction in their survival. Their uncanny skill in defeating the goa'uld has served them well. And I do gain a measure of illicit pleasure in the thought of our enslaver being defeated by them. It will happen, perhaps not in my lifetime but it will happen.

And if I live to see that day I will welcome the Tau'ri and I will ask them to teach my people how to think, how to question, how to survive.

~Fin~

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