Chapter 1; Kel'ac

Goa'uld Cargo ship, passing Jupiter

Kel'ac swore as his ship hurtled through space to evade the following ship. He didn't know where things had gone so wrong. One minute he had been waiting on the edge of a uninhabited solar system awaiting a rendezvous with the Tok'ra when suddenly another cargo ship like his own had appeared out of Hyperspace, identified itself correctly as a Tok'ra vessel and then opened fire against him.

All he could think of as he hurtled through the blackness of space was who had set him up and why? He was a Tok'ra spy who had spent a few hundred years in the service of the false god Ra working to weaken his forces from within whilst passing messages to the Tok'ra about the positioning of his forces. Now he was flying through space across this solar system in the hopes of outrunning his pursuer.

"Damn it!" He swore again, his voice distorted into almost double. His hands flew over the controls as he tried to re-boot the fried Hyper drive engine.

'It's no use Kel'ac and you know it. That last shot before we jumped was straight to the engine. We'll have to find another place to hide.' A familiar voice sounded in his head. The voice of his host. The Tok'ra were not just parasites like the Goa'uld. Instead they worked equally with their human hosts for the better of both races. Their hosts were volunteers, humans that wanted the evil false gods' reign to end just as much as the Tok'ra did. His host was a 75 year old male that he had joined with almost 60 years ago but the man didn't look more than the normal human 30's thanks to Kel'ac healing abilities that more than doubled the man's life.

"What do you suggest then, Tel?" There was a brief pause before his hands started moving of their own accord. Or to be precise, of Telmar's accord as the host took over the body. "What about the third world?" His voice shifted to normal again.

Their eyes flew over the information that the scans were bringing in even as a bright red streak flashed past the cockpit windows. Telmar grabbed the steering joystick and spun the cargo ship to evade the following shots as fast as the slow inelegant ship could go. The only reason they weren't dead already was because their pursuer was in the same class ship as them.

"It'll do, try and land us on an island somewhere remote and take us in fast and steep if you can!" Kel'ac didn't want to interrupt his host by taking over the controls knowing that if he did the ship would still just long enough for their pursuer to get in a critical shot.

The two ships weaved through space, the foremost ship dodging a continuous rain of laser bolts as the blue and green planet came rapidly closer. Both ships were straining their engine knowing that this was a one shot deal.

"We're entering the atmosphere now!" The window in front of them was suddenly glaring red as heat spread across the forward shields. Even as the ship began to shudder under the rapid deceleration of hitting a heavy atmosphere at full speed two larger jolts rocked the ship, knocking the steering joist from Telmar's hands. The pursuer had pulled up from the atmosphere skimming the surface of it with its shields to bounce off and back into space but not before smacking the now stilled chase twice with its weapons.

"We've been knocked off course!" Telmar shouted unnecessarily even as the ship screeched and groaned. A roaring filled the air as heat blasted the ships sides. "I'm sorry, Kel'ac!"

'It's not your fault, just concentrate on getting us straight again.' Kel'ac said in their head.

"What good will that do?" Telmar spoke loudly over the increasing din. "It's about to blow anyway!"

'Just get us straight and then get to an escape pod. We'll escape as soon as we're clear of the worst of the atmosphere.'

Telmar caught on immediately and the ship had been straightening steadily over the conversation. He jammed on the controls locking the course in so that the debris fell into the middle of one of the planets largest oceans. He jumped up and launched himself into one of the escape pods. The door to the pod shut abruptly and not five seconds later he felt a huge jolt as the pod launched into open air and shot towards the ocean below.

It wasn't more then another few seconds before a shock wave hit the pod from the exploding cargo ship and then before they could get their bearings from being knocked one way there was a huge jolt as they must have landed in the water. The roaring of the air stopped to be filled with a deadening silence.

"Water!" They looked down at their feet where surely enough water was rapidly filling the pod. "The shockwave must have damaged the pod! We need to get out!"

'The longer we wait the closer to the surface we'll be.' The water rose quickly and they both knew that in ten seconds they'd have to break out of the pod and swim for the surface.

Even with those ten seconds there was still a good twenty feet of water to swim through when they finally got out and it was with a relieved gasp of air that they broke the surface.

Five days later; Cornwall, England

Seven year old Harry Potter wandered the deserted beach as the rain soaked through him. Why his Aunt and Uncle had decided to bring the 'family' to the far reaches of Southern England in late October was beyond him. It was cold and it was wet, but at least, thought Harry, it was quiet.

He had been forced out of the Hotel room he shared with his overweight cousin over four hours ago and told not to come back before ten in the evening so had strolled down to the beach and was now on a small beach between two harsh rocky headlands. The waves grew with each minute as the tide came inshore, channelled between the two headlands. Harry just stared from a small rock outcrop at the top of the beach as the five foot high breakers smashed along the headlands throwing water three times as high with loud roars.

It was times like these that he didn't mind being who he was. What other seven year old could sit along on a darkening beach in such weather and be allowed to enjoy it? He could be alone and just do as he pleased. Ever since he could remember he had been forced to work for his meagre keep. Forced to do labour that no normal child would dare do themselves and just because his Aunt and Uncle hated his parents and because after they had died in the car accident he had had to live with them, placed on their doorstep all those years ago.

A half drowned yell drew his sight back to the centre of the small beach and then out to sea. He was already moving at break neck speed towards the lines of breakers as he understood that the shape was a man flailing in the water. Harry could only see or hear him when he was at the top of a wave, the paleness of his hand standing out against the darkness of the early evening light.

"Swim this way, swim with the waves!" Harry might not know how to swim himself but he knew what waves did and how to swim with them. He had spent many a day here watching the surfers in the waves. He wasn't sure if it was his voice that pushed the man towards the shore or just dumb luck but he found that he didn't really care. "Keep going!"

He didn't dare try to swim out to the man but kept up a constant shouting of encouragement and direction to keep the man away from the crashing water on the headlands, now flying at least twenty feet into the air on both sides.

As soon as a hand came within reach he grabbed it and was startled at the strength of the grip on him. He pulled the spluttering man up the beach to the dryer sand where the almost full tide wouldn't reach them before dropping the man's hand and rolling him on his side and hitting him on the back. He had seen a couple of surfers yesterday doing this to a friend who had gotten his lungs full of water and hoped that it would help.

The man emptied his lungs of water but Harry realised with a gasp that water in the man's lungs was the least of his troubles. Blood poured freely from a horrid gash across his head and across his ear. Harry didn't particularly want to prod it but he knew just from the light that it was a very deep and critical gash. Probably from hitting a rocky outcrop before Harry had seen him.

The arm that he had grabbed seemed fine but the other was defiantly broken in at least one place by the angle it lay and possible also his legs. He pulled the man onto his back and gently laid a hand on his chest to feel for damage and was shocked to find that the whole left side of his rib cage seemed to be collapsed. It was a wonder he wasn't already dead.

Harry could feel tears forming in his eyes and for the first time since he had heard the man yell he looked into the man's face. The man was looking directly up into his.

"Peace. . .child." The man managed to gasp out. "There. . .is nothing. . .you can. . . do."

Harry almost recoiled when the man suddenly took a pained breath and his eyes glowed a vibrant yellowish white.

"What?" Harry managed to stutter using all of his courage not to run from the dying man.

"Tel is dying. He doesn't have the strength to talk." The man's voice had changed to an almost double voice but Harry barely flinched.

"Who is Tel?" He watched the man's eyes widen slightly and knew that it was because he had asked that question rather than anything that was more obvious like his strange voice or his glowing eyes.

His eyes flared again, slightly weaker and for longer this time. "Tel is my Host, I am Kel'ac. A symbiotic being that shares a body with someone else to survive."

"Where are you from? If Tel dies, do you?" Harry asked in a rush.

Again it seemed that Kel'ac was surprised by the questions the seven year old human of a primitive world was asking. His eyes flared again in an attempt to keep his host alive long enough to continue to talk before he could communicate with humans no longer. "We are from across this Galaxy, far away from here. If I am still in Tel's body I will die along with him." His eyes flared again, but much weaker this time before a bit of blood dripped from his open mouth. The voice that came out was much weaker than Kel'ac's.

"Please," he struggled to say, "take Kel'ac."

Harry, young as he was, understood immediately what he meant. He thought about it for a second. "I've got nothing to lose. How?"

"Kiss me." Tel whispered before his eyes closed for the last time. Harry did as told, not even battering an eyelash at the odd request. It was coming from a man about to die after all.

His mouth was only an inch from Tel's mouth when suddenly his tongue was being forced aside and there was a sudden, painful stinging at the back of his throat that made him gag and fall backwards. But his hands never had a chance to reach his throat before the pain was gone. He felt a sharp but short prickle on the back of his neck before he sat back up almost without thinking about it. In fact he didn't think to sit up.

He felt his mouth move and words not his own spoke. "Goodbye my old friend. I will find who did this to us and I'll get our revenge. Watch over us."

Harry knew the man was already dead but wanted to assure him that he would help. He forced the words out and was almost surprised when he felt a presence in his head move aside for him to take control of his mouth. "I will help, I promise you."

He felt a mental prod and confused by the feeling he pulled aside and was shocked when it seemed to work. "Thank you Harry. I believe we must talk."

'How did he know my name?' Harry thought, trying to recall ever telling the man, or he supposed being, his name. He heard a laugh in his head.

"Our thoughts are open to each other, no secret can be hidden, and all you must do is open yourself to my mind and memories." He spoke aloud to take it easy on the seven year old boy. "As for 'being,' we are similar to snakes. We are symbiotic and together, you and I are Tok'ra. We are rarely unbonded and only for an exchange of hosts so we have never needed a name for ourselves."

'What do we do now?' Harry thought, but this time directed it at the feeling of a presence in his head.

'That, young one, I do not yet know.' Kel'ac spoke mind to mind this time, and Harry had to admit it was nice to have someone so close for a change. A memory came unbidden to the front of his mind. He Uncle hitting him on the back with his belt earlier that summer for dropping a casserole disk that was too heavy and too hot to hold any longer. He still had the marks on his back from that one. 'That man will never be able to hurt you again.'

Harry was shocked that he had let Kel'ac see his memory and felt dizzy for a second. 'What are we going to do with Tel?' Harry asked in an attempt to pull the attention away from himself, not realising that Kel'ac knew exactly what he was attempting. 'If we leave him here the tourists will find him in the morning.'

He felt an overwhelming flood of sorrow and love mixed together and felt it as his own emotions. They brought tears to his face and in the odd moment he had to wonder whether it was him crying or Kel'ac.

He got an answer as soon as he felt that they were both under control again. 'We share everything now, your feelings of loneliness are now my own, your status as an orphan in now my own. Your parents are my own. As mine are yours.'

'So your feelings towards Tel are now mine too?' Harry asked catching on.

'Yes, as will all of my memories including the lives of my hosts.' Kel'ac explained. 'Would you do me one favour before we move on. Please use this to destroy Tel's body. He would not want for it to be captured and it does not exactly match your own and would surely be studied. I do not wish that to happen.'

As he spoke Harry realised that Kel'ac was using his hands, or their hands now he supposed, to take a metal device off of Tel's lifeless left hand as well as his belt, with a holster and a S-shaped item on it that looked vaguely like a weapon. As soon as the weapon was out of the holster though his hand went limp and it started to fall from his fingers before Harry tightened his grip with his returned control. The weapon made a strangely metallic and electric noise as the top part rose quickly and seemed to charge up in an instant.

"What do I do?" Harry didn't want to have to do this to a man that he felt at least the echoed feelings of compassion for, but he knew he had to. He didn't want to force Kel'ac to do it. He could feel how much this was already paining him.

'Just squeeze the handle. This weapon works in three ways. The first shot will incapacitate an enemy, the second will kill, and the third will release the bondings on the targets molecules and thereby disintegrate it. You need only shot him once.'

Harry prepared himself and trying to close his eyes he found he couldn't. Kel'ac wanted his friend to go with honour and refused to look away. Harry aimed the weapon and squeezed his palm slightly. A small bolt of energy ran to the top third of the device but didn't go anywhere. He squeezed properly and the bolt shot from the end and immediately into Tel's body which shimmered slightly before disappearing from view.

"Good bye my friend." Kel'ac tightening his grip on Harry's spine and Harry's normally emerald green eyes glowed first the yellow colour of a host but then forcible switched back to a glowing green colour. They didn't know anything was wrong until both suddenly felt an immense pain across their whole body.

Kel'ac released his hold completely allowing Harry full control of his body and the pain lessened.

"What was that?" Harry gasped out as he felt Kel'ac come back into his mind.

'I don't know Harry, I tightened my hold on you slightly as is usual when I take over a function and something in your body fought back very viciously.'

"Something in my body? What do you mean?" Harry asked in confusion.

'I can feel something here which sets you aside from every other race I have ever seen. I have never seen anything like it. It is almost sentient in and of itself, linked to everything near you, yet part of you as well.' Kel'ac tried to explain what he was sensing. 'Perhaps if we properly merge I will be able to see anything in your life that may explain this.'

"Maybe we should start with your life?" Harry suggested weakly, not wanting to experience that pain again by setting of this thing in him.

'Perhaps that would be best. It will take longer to re-live my own memories than yours, but it will help to have both of us with my experience when it comes to working out this trouble.' Kel'ac answered after thinking on it. 'Are you ready?'

Harry nodded and suddenly felt reality disappear around him to be replaced by thousands of memories. Lifetimes of knowledge and experience almost downloaded into his brain. He watched Kel'ra bonding with his first host and then the knowledge that he shared with Hilnra, the host. Then countless other hosts over a thousand years. The genetic memory passed on from his mother, the mother of all Tok'ra. Memories of missions and friends, lovers and enemies. Deaths and defeats. A host's death after a fight with Ra, an evil Goa'uld. He knew in that instant that the Goa'uld and the Tok'ra were essentially the same species but with different motives and morals. He then witnessed the sixty years that Kel'ac and Telmar spent together, becoming a spy in Ra's ranks and finally the ambush by the Tok'ra and then their crash.

The memories stopped after he witnessed Tel's death again and Harry opened his eyes to see a glow from behind the eastern cliff. Dawn, he thought in shock. Or even more shock then he already was. He was confused as to who he was. He had the memories of Kel'ac and his own.

'Now we must view yours. It shouldn't take long and will help you to better understand who you were and who you now have become.' Before Harry could object or agree he felt his own memories surge. As he relived his own life. Learning things about his parents that he never knew in the first place. They learned of the world that Harry belonged to, of Magic, and of Voldermort. Harry witnessed his mother's death and no sooner had that curse hit him the agonising pain had returned but this time Harry could feel Kel'ra attempting to pull out and release them from the pain but it was no use.

Harry's own magic was now forcing them to watch Harry being dumped on a door step by an old man before the six years of abuse and neglect, all with the agonising background of pain and his magic seemed to tear them up from the inside.

If either could have opened Harry's eyes they would have seen that he was bathed in a green light of the same colour as the curse that had killed his parents. It spread out from his body as their shared body collapsed to its knees. They watched the last part of Harry's memories as Harry made the decision to take in Kel'ac and got a vague feeling of companionship before everything went black as they succumbed to the pain.

Harry's body vanished to be replaced by a bright emerald green ball of what almost looked like a sun's corona. There was no solid part to it as it flew up into the sky leaving nothing on the beach where this had all started except a circle of dirty glass where the sand had melted where they had been knelt.