"Tonak," said Halion looking at the man, he was becoming board with the conversation. As valuable allies as the Lucian Alliance were Halion tired of dealing with their agents who all seemed the same. Quick to the gun, no sense of timing, and needing of threats to get what they needed. It was no different from the Goa'uld whose power they had taken. If Halion had taken this world like the Lucian Alliance would have he'd have been thrown down just like Amenthes. Instead he offered his people security and comfort and in exchange they handed over their freedom. "My current governmental standing is working quiet well for me at the moment; I would not be foolish enough to bow to the first ship that comes in over orbit. Besides with a decent speech it shouldn't be hard to paint these new comers as an enemy to the people wanting to destroy all we have, should it become necessary and the facility is safe." Halion refilled his drink noting that Tonak put his weapon away.

Halion was used to dealing with the Lucian Alliance and Tonak in particular and so when Tonak started to speak of Amenthes freedom Halion knew very well that he was deflecting. It didn't change the atmosphere from becoming tense. "If you will remember Tonak we did have him. It was your insistence on taking him to your ship and underestimating his partner, the female that he escaped."

Tonak chose not to answer the question, a head on argument with Halion Drennon was more than likely to end with your insides spilling all over the floor. Instead he offered Halion two Ha'tak vessels from Kane in exchange for his service. Halion would do well with those ships. There was a single Ha'tak left over from the days of Amenthes and it was only still in his possession because the hyperdrive and sublight engines had suffered a catastrophic failure during a previous battle. Amenthes had managed to patch them enough to get it home before it died for good. The other ships he possessed were of less quality and in varied stats of repair. Though he understood the technology quit well Halion didn't have the knack for its repair like there former "god" had.

Still Halion knew that Kane would only give him ships to prevent this new enemy from getting control of the Ancient Lab on the opposite mountain. Still the facility was equipped with some defenses. Though the Ancients had an alliance with the Asgard in the days when the facility was operational they were not foolish enough to assume that no one else could steal or come up with the same beaming technology and the work being done in the lab was from what Halion could tell very secret. As a precaution the Ancients had set up a grid of emitters that prevented beaming for a three league radius around the facility. He was told that it had automatic stun weapons that locked onto non-Ancient genetic codes but those had long since been destroyed, damaged or deactivated by time, visiting races before the Goa'uld came to power or by the one that had controlled this planet for generations.

"Tell Kane I would be honored." Halion said with a mock bow. Tonak said nothing in returned except to attach a device to his arm and after touching it vanish into thin air. Halion had heard of the technology from the Lucian Alliance and several reverences in Amenthes notes but none had remained on this planet, Halion believed they were called a Sodan Cloak. Tonak always did have a flare for the dramatic; no doubt he was tracking down the Goa'uld using Halion's information.

---

Once he was inside the cave Aeryn got to work. The cave was well hidden by brush and plant growth so unless someone knew he was there he should be fine. He'd also disguised his tracks so that only someone of incredible skill would be able to find him; it takes a tracker to find one. Aeryn knew he would be here for several hours at least. The Kara'kesh was a complex machine, interfacing a different power source without overloading or shorting it out would be tricky. 

Aeryn had a sling over bag that he kept what he needed in. Mostly it was food and the few possessions he owned which included a set of tools that had once belonged to Amenthes. He knew there intended purpose having wielded them before as a Goa'uld. Amenthes disliked the Goa'uld pain stick. While the energy output cause a severe amount of pain, the Goa'uld that had occupied Aeryn's body found that its effects diminished too much after it was removed, then of course there was the personal touch that Amenthes enjoyed applying to everything he did. The kit that Aeryn unrolled was a set of tools for torture, knives and odd shaped pliers and all sorts of tools for removing teeth and eyeballs and skin. It was ghastly to keep around but Aeryn had need of it. The design of the tools offered itself very nicely to mechanical work.

Aeryn used a thin bladed knife not dissimilar to a Shikra blade in design though of far less quality to extract the crystal from the center of the Kara'kesh. The Crystal was the Kara'kesh, though the wrist bracer might sometimes be equipped with a ring transport activation unit all of the effects of the device could be attributed to the crystal, the rest was more or less decorative, something that was common on Goa'uld design. Once it was removed Aeryn could access the components much more easily, the Kara'kesh was not designed to be replaced. When it was created it was thought that if after constant use over many years it was to fail another could be procured. The valuable materials of the now drained Kara'kesh would simply be melted down for other uses.

It was however accessible, with a little bit of work Aeryn managed to removed a layer of amber crystal that focused the effects generated within. Inside there was a central unit that was also amber in color, this was what generated the personal shield, and could discharge energy to cause an opponent to be thrown away, though this model was too depleted to utilize the function that altered brain chemicals causing incurable pain. The silver models were limited in that ability, the gold ones being able to alter chemicals to for a variety of uses such as making the subject submissive or is they had a mind to Aeryn supposed could be used to implant a message, though how easy that would be he didn't know.

The problem was in the three liquid naquadah power modules that were currently glowing blue. When in good health these should be yellow, the blue luminescence was a sign that the naquadah reaction was ceasing. Aeryn knew there was no hope of recharging the power modules without access to the utilities of a Ha'tak or Amenthes facility which Halion Drennen now controlled. His best hope was to interface the naquadah cores from the stolen staff weapons. Aeryn used a grisly pair of pliers used for tooth removal to expose the innards of the staff weapon and extract the cores. These were green and cylindrical, wider in the middle than on either end. This would not be an easy task.

Aeryn spend the next three hours using bits and pieces from the staff weapons to finally create a workable cradle for the cores to sit in that acted as a converter both between the shapes of the two power generators and the output. It wouldn't do to short out the Kara'kesh, its power was much more finely regulated than the staff weapons. He placed the two cores in place of the modules that were most greatly depleted and placed the dead modules in his bag; it was possible he'd find another use for them. Now: to test the weapon.

Aeryn slotted the crystal back into place and slid his hand through the silver ribbon. When his fingertips made contact with metal he could feel the life in the device, its power reacting to the naquadah in his bloodstream. It was almost pleasant, the feeling of accomplishment if the act of using the technology wasn't mildly painful as the metal in his blood became ever so slightly active. The Device was ready to go. Now he'd best get some sleep before morn, he would have a lot of running to do once the sun came up. Nobody liked to come this close to the Ancient Lab, Halion had spread rumors of it being haunted and drawing back the "Gods" if it was ever entered. He kept a small contingent there who did not know the functions of the place but protected it from anyone and everyone.

Despite superstition the word of the bounty hunters defeat would no doubt draw people to the mountain including some of Halion's men. That man wanted Aeryn brought to him so that he might inflict the same horrors that Amenthes had to him. He'd done it once before several years earlier when Aeryn had been captured, if it wasn't for his Tok'ra partner Altenya he would have died under Halion's hand. Aeryn needed his sleep.

When he slept Aeryn didn't use a bedroll, instead he picked dry places where it would be reasonably warm and pulled his cloak over himself using his bag for a pillow. His weapons were detached but kept close so that arming himself and running wouldn't be problematic should it become necessary. He slept fitfully as always. His dreams were never pleasant ranging from the day that Altenya had died to his time as the Goa'uld.

It didn't take much to wake Aeryn, the sound of a door latch, a footstep and so the sound of an earth shattering crash had Aeryn up fully armed and ready to run in three minutes. He moved slowly and swiftly to the edge of the cave taking only his own staff weapon and leaving the remains of the other two. He left the cave gingerly disturbing the plant life as little as possible. As he moved he could see what made the crash. Down a steep hill covered in trees he could see the impact sight of... a Tel'tak escape pod, the small one man crafts that looked similar to coffins.

Aeryn began to run, if the Goa'uld had returned to this planet then he did not want to be here when they emerged. As he moved a shot flew just over his shoulder. Aeryn dove the other way taking cover behind a boulder. That was a Tac'unitagamunition shot and many more of them continued to pulverize the boulder. He could only assume that they were set to stun since they hadn't ripped through it yet. This was impossible there were no Tac'unitagamunition... Aeryn had always just thought of them as Sentries, left on Tolia. They'd been burned out in the battles between the Jaffa to the point that not even Aeryn could fix them, not that he hadn't tried. He was being ambushed, that much was certain. The pod that had scared him into flight was most likely empty but it had pushed him in this direction where he now had no way out.

The Sentries he knew were not infallible; they were designed to take a beating. There was he knew a safety protocol that cut off the energy flow to the weapon in the Sentries in the event of a massive charge build up in the capacitors. If he could hit them with a Zat'nik'tel it would overload and shut down. Aeryn drew the weapon; one light squeeze to the handle opened it. He slid his hand into the grove of the open weapon and dove out from behind the rock. He fire a single shot at the first Sentry. It hit its mark and for a second as blue energy swirled up and down the device it appeared to work before it exploded. The blast blew Aeryn off his feet. He landed on the ground his head spinning his eyes seeing triple.

The safety protocols had been installed for that very reason. The Bases that these Sentries generally protected suffered more than the enemy from an intense explosion not to mention the increased levels of radiation that had a tendency to cause instability in certain types of metal, one blast wouldn't be too bad but if a number of them such as those that would be used in a war or to defend a facility were to go off the area would no longer be livable and the System Lord for all their infighting liked there prizes to still be intact. His eyesight was fuzzy but he could see a man, muscled in leather walk into his line of sight. "Crazy bastard," Aeryn mumbled more to himself than his assailant. "Kill us all, protocols there for a reason..." That was all he managed before Aeryn blacked out.