Later, O’Neill, Carter and General Hammond, along with Carter's father Jacob -- now a host for a member of the anti-Goa'uld Tok'ra faction -- are monitoring an offworld activation of the Stargate.

O’Neill hopes that it's Teal'c, but it turns out to be a message from the Tok'ra. Jacob announces that his vacation must be over.

As it turns out, the message is a conversation between two Goa'uld, Apophis and Heru-ur, that was intercepted by a Tok’ra operative.

Since Heru-ur is allied with the System Lords against Apophis, this could be a precursor to a dangerous shift in the balance of power. If the two Goa'uld were to align -- as the tape suggests -- they could defeat the System Lords and become unstoppable, eventually turning their attention back to the puny Earthlings.

Carter suggests they find a way to do away with the alliance.

While Daniel is distracted, Jacob talks to his daughter about the Tok'ra's desire to cause a dispute between Apophis and Heru-ur. This will damage the forces of both Goa'uld, creating an opportunity for the Tok'ra to exploit.

As it turns out, a plan soon emerges. The two Goa'uld have agreed to meet in the Tobin System, a unique solar system filled with thousands of mines that automatically home in on any vessel that engages in "hostile maneuvers."

In a remarkably convoluted development, Jacob hopes to take one of the these mines into his ship. Using Daniel's interpretation of the symbols, he will then reprogram the mine to hone in on a beacon set earlier by a Tok'ra spy on Apophis' mothership.

Since Apophis is likely to think that his "ally" has betrayed him, this should cause war between the two Goa'uld. Unfortunately, this is tricky because the mines are constantly in motion -- Jacob will have to monitor his flight patterns to exactly match those of the mine.

The mission is classified as "risky," but General Hammond allows SG-1 to help.

And now, back to Teal'c, who is being chained up by Rak'nor and an assistant. A Goa’uld enters and politely introduces himself as Terok, then begins to torture our friendly Jaffa. The whole torture process will be recorded so all Jaffa will know Teal'c was as weak in death as in life, Terok helpfully explains.

Back on Earth, Jack voices concern about the wisdom of getting Apophis and Heru-ur to fight it out in the middle of a minefield. Jacob explains that the goal is not to start an immediate battle but to have them attack each other’s planets after the meeting is over.

Jacob's ship looks different, as he has removed a bulkhead to make room for the mine. Daniel worries about the escape pods, but Jacob darkly notes that if the mine touches anything within the ship, they won't be needing any escape pods.

After an uneventful flight, the team ends up in the Tobin System and beams a mine aboard. It has no symbols on it, Polynesian or otherwise. Daniel frets.

Rak'nor offers the captive Teal'c some water, then makes a speech about his father Del'nor, whose life Teal'c saved after Apophis had ordered him killed.

When Teal’c turned against Apophis, Del'nor saw it as a sign that all Jaffa were going to be free, only to be killed for his beliefs anyway. Contrary to the usual run of supporting science fiction characters, Rak'nor does not blame the Goa'uld for his father's death, but considers the old man to have been a fool and a blasphemer against the Goa'uld "gods."

Terok shows up and joins the conversation, explaining that he expects Teal’c to pray for forgiveness. He then places a cattle prod-looking device inside Teal'c's abdominal opening where his symbiote lives and starts a fresh torture session.

However, Teal'c refuses to pray for mercy. Angry, the Goa'uld storms off.

Unaware of all this trouble Teal'c is undergoing, Sam has figured out how to open up the mine in order to reprogram it. Daniel assists her.

Teal'c explains to Rak'nor that he has been to the planet where the Goa’uld originated and has seen the swamps from which they first rose. He calls the snakey aliens "parasites," flesh and blood, not gods. They bicker until Terok returns and has Teal'c taken from the cell.

Sam and Jackson make a mistake programming the mine. As a result, they have five minutes to input the correct code or it will explode.

While they are frantically working, Apophis shows up in his ship. Jacob gives the controls of the ship over to Jack so that he can help keep the mine from exploding, but actually does nothing to help aside from telling them that they have to come up with the right combination.

Heru-ur then hails Apophis, giving Jacob something to do. Once he intercepts the transmission, we learn that, as suspected, the two Goa'uld are trying to team up.

As a token of good faith, Heru-ur offers Apophis his renegade servant Teal’c. Apophis ends his transmission to consider the offer. The rest of the team reflects on their new awareness that Teal’c has been captured.

The clock is ticking on the mine. Sam suddenly realizes the answer: a society as advanced as the Tobin mine builders would have had to add a zero to their math system. She tells Daniel it’s a math thing. With this information they discover the right combination.

Teal’c is back in his cell. Once again, Terok offers him redemption, but the stubborn Jaffa only laughs -- he knows the torture won't stop when he gets to Apophis.

Sam and Daniel finish reprogramming the mine and Jacob deploys it. Nothing happens.

Apophis accepts the offer.

Sam convinces her father that they have to try and save Teal’c. Daniel suggests that they interrupt the matter stream when Heru-ur beams Teal'c from ship to ship, even though they have to uncloak to do this.

This will require some extreme flight maneuvers, but Jacob agrees to try.

Terok orders the guards to prepare Teal'c for transfer to Apophis. Sure enough, once our hero is unchained, he hits Terok, who proceeds to start killing Teal'c in a fit of rage.

All of this leaves Rak'nor profoundly uneasy, so he takes the cattle prod device and shoots Terok in the head with it.

Back on Jacob's ship, Sam tries to intercept the matter stream from one ship to the other, but fails. Jacob turns the ship around and starts running.

The Tok’ra operative aboard Apophis' ship seizes the moment and activates the homing beacon. The mine begins to head towards it.

One of Apophis’ guards brings the body of Terok to him, saying that it was transferred instead of Teal’c.

The mine hits Apophis’ ship.

No honor among snakes

Apophis asks Heru-ur why he attacked. They begin bickering.

Jacob is flooring it out of the system, but Jack implores him to do something to save Teal’c. Suddenly a large group of Goa’uld motherships uncloak. Jacob is stunned. The Goa’uld have never been able to cloak such large ships before.

Heru-ur is also concerned by this turn of events. Apophis fires at and destroys Heru-ur's ship just as a glider leaves it. All the mines in the field begin to detonate.

Jacob picks up the glider escaping from Heru-ur's ship and hails it, thinking it is the Goa'uld himself trying to flee. Instead a voice answers him with a Tok’ra code. The spy!

Rak'nor also escapes the battle, taking Teal'c as a passenger in his glider. They plan a rendezvous on the third moon of Tishnor.

Jacob ends the episode on a down note by saying that the destruction of Heru-ur is the worst possible outcome: Apophis will easily absorb his would-be ally's forces, and will end up stronger than ever.