Knowledgeispower
Ah I love the smell of missile spam in the morning
don't fail me again Admiral. or your apology will be accepted like Captain Needa's
Stargate Through the Looking Glass and into Heaven.
- Thread starter The Immortal Watch Dog
- Start date
Actually. Keep it. We need to see all the angles.
As long as you don't repeat yourself too much on the differing perspectives you'll probably be ok.
Nah I don't think I'm repeating myself. My concern is always that I'm pulling a GRR and throwing filler out there because I've written myself into a corner but then I remember I've got a fairly solid idea of how I want this to go.
Split it into multiple chapters if it's that big.
That's the plan.
Alright, alright, alright...gents
Ep 2, is almost done and so to satisfy you guys and not fall behind the deadline...We got the opening states of Teal'c debriefing and the President's reaction.
@Spartan303 We'll be getting the other side's perspective soon enough..including some thoughts by the Abydos crew.
@Harlock @Knowledgeispower I've elaborated a bit on the Goa'uld's military.
Enjoy..
Ep 2, is almost done and so to satisfy you guys and not fall behind the deadline...We got the opening states of Teal'c debriefing and the President's reaction.
@Spartan303 We'll be getting the other side's perspective soon enough..including some thoughts by the Abydos crew.
@Harlock @Knowledgeispower I've elaborated a bit on the Goa'uld's military.
Enjoy..
Ummm....
😒
😏
Did I miss it?
😒
😏
Did I miss it?
Episode 2: The enemy beyond.
Episode 2: The enemy beyond.
July 16th Cheyenne Mountain Complex
To say the weeks following the return of the Stargate Teams to Abydos were bewildering would have been the mother of all understatements. General Landry and Admiral Hammond officially switched positions with the former Airforce, turned Space Force “Spatial combat” General taking command of the base that was set up in the abandoned settlement outside the Pyramid complex. That was something Admiral Ellis and the President had insisted on almost immediately and with great vehemence. After the discovery of the gate shield and some insight from Teal’c on how to build rudimentary Naquadah enhanced generators, a sort of Alpha Site had been set up to house all the “biologicals” Stargate teams were ordered to bring back.
A makeshift airstrip was also going to be set up, as Landry had received approval for his little Blackbird program. Mining for Naquadah by the locals in exchange for tech and help rediscovering their lost technology and compensation in certain rare earth minerals they didn’t seem to possess (The planet was oddly devoid of Gold despite the abundance of it in the pyramid and architecture of the settlements). Or all of this would happen once the negotiations with Abydonians were completed. Originally Kensey’s faction spearheaded by Samuels had sent an old CIA hack by the name of Walter Draven (Hammond remembered him well, having had to clean up one of the messes he made in Zaire after the death of Mobutu). Old age hadn’t made him any smarter and when he tried to treat with the shrewd Kasuf and the other masters of Abydos like they were a bunch of dumb savages, they ate his lunch and ran circles around him until he was sent packing back through the gate in disgrace. For a brief second, Hammond contemplated asking Sasha O’Neill to ensure an accident happened with the Iris, but his better judgment won out.
After that fiasco, the Secretary of State herself showed up, with Richard Woolsey one of the US Government’s better clandestine negotiators in tow. Hammond didn’t exactly like Elizabeth Weir, or that was to say he absolutely detested her parents, who had been radical activists in Vietnam and turned U.N envoys in the nineteen eighties. They had frustrated so many projects both good and bad for everyone on all sides of the cold war that Hammond wondered if they weren’t just well-meaning idiots. Weir had fallen far from that tree; in her college years she found Libertarianism and penned a few papers on the abolition of law enforcement and its replacement with private militias that Hammond remembered getting a chuckle out of, such programs sounded great on paper, but he’d been in enough of the third world to realize how the reality of that went. Time had a funny way of tempering people though and she became affiliated with the Langford family in her mid-twenties and through them became somewhat of an antiquities broker and used the minor fortune she made from that to set up an unholy fusion between a PR firm and a “Diplomat for hire” company. They had some success, a lot of her negotiations with Native American tribal councils led to a mini boom in the energy sector (And had arrested the poverty plaguing certain reservations). He never figured out why the America First Crowd picked her, why the President nominated her, but she had been the only one aside from Hayes who had survived all four years.
His personal feelings aside, he was glad for her presence on Abydos. She had mitigated an interplanetary incident and Kasuf and the others seemed to enjoy haggling with her immensely. Of course, that was Landry’s problem, Hammond’s was in the after-action reports, the chatter with Washington DC and the interminable discussion over what to do with Teal’c. And of course, how to maintain their mission of Stargate reconnaissance while avoiding this hostile Empire of snake men. Some wanted him tried and executed for his assault on the base (Most of them were reassigned or encouraged to retire early). Others wanted to hire him out as a mercenary and use him to train the Stargate Command personnel that would be going through the gate, others wanted to use him as leverage, trade him to these space pharaohs in exchange for peace, most saw the value in the man as an intelligence asset and Hammond agreed with that take and the mercenary part but that wasn’t the issue at hand. The attack on the Cobra alien’s planet had proven just how outgunned and outmanned and out of their depth even his best was. Hammond needed more men, Hammond needed to know what the hell was out there, and Hammond needed to see if he could bring in the army, he needed more guys. Vice President Henry Hayes, bless his ambitious, cynical soul remained his loudest champion.
He’d also been the one to point out that they had a prime intelligence asset sitting in a room on base watching TV all day. Teal’c had taken his confinement in stride, of course and the more time Hammond spent with him the more he liked the stoic alien. This Jaffa war leader, this General of the armies of space was a man of pride and conviction, someone whose DNA was infused with martial tradition and a sense of history, a weight about himself that Hammond respected. Respected enough that he decided to force the issue, they had been doing nothing for Teal,’c for a sizable chunk of a month and so while Secretary Weir and Richard “That’s just powdered sugar on my tie!” Woolsey did battle in the war of words and concessions and greed with Kasuf (a man Hammond had come to call friend.) Admiral George Samuel Hammond took it upon himself to invite the Vice President to speak with their “guest.” Something that was highly irregular and caused the Secret Service and the military to panic. But when Henry Hayes accepts something, nothing ever seemed to be able to stop him.
The first time the pair met Teal’c had been chained almost like an animal (Hammond hated this, but Teal’c bore it in stride, assuring him that he’d ordered similar protocols at least a dozen times in his career and that it was logical and not a denigration.), they met over pizza and the look on Teal’c’s face when he tried a Pepsi was akin to a religious revelation. He reacted to the pizza in a similar fashion, astounded at its taste (Teal’c explained that most Lotar made similar foods but the ingredients on earth were entirely alien to him.) When Hayes joked that there might be a serious market for stimulants like sugar and caffeine in the universe, without hesitation Teal’c remarked that he knew of a System Lord who would likely give them a planet in exchange for an eternal supply of Pepsi. It wouldn’t be the first time Pepsi ended up becoming a minor power overnight. Hayes and Teal’c then proceeded to spend the next three hours talking about anything, everything except the System Lord’s military. The two men simply feeling each other out and it was clear Hayes was getting the measure of the man who had risked so much to help a bunch of “Hoodlums who hopped through the gate” as Hayes put it. The two struck up a friendship and Hayes gifted him with some reading material (The US constitution and a book on the American Revolution and had recommended the Civil war documentary Ken Burns did some thirty years ago.), wanting Teal’c to “know” what he sacrificed to protect. These briefings that weren’t briefings came with occasional explanations (such as why one of the red skinned women tried to stab Teal’c. Langarans apparently were among the few non-Jaffa granted citizenship, they also were prone to rioting at the drop of a hat and Teal’c had apparently needed to suppress a planet wide riot after a dispute over mining wages broke out into a planet wide brawl.) for various things, but the stoic giant seemed content to hold his tongue until a proper debriefing could begin and there was some discussion about how to do that. With Jack wanting to take Teal’c to the Pentagon (Mostly because he wanted to shout “TOLD YOU SO! MOTHER FUCKERS!” at the top of his lungs). Others were still fearful of the security risks this man whose loyalty was untested could prove; Hammond wanted it done in the SGC because he felt he could better protect the big man here than he could off site.
Which was why, Vice President Henry Hayes, Acting Sec-Dec Mark Esper, NID Director Robert Statterfield, Colonel Bartholamew Samuels, Colonel Martin Kennedy, Captain Herald Maybourne and Admiral Abraham Ellis sat in a conference room with Jack O’Neill, Daniel Jackson and Admiral Hammond, who was flanked by Petty Officer O’Neill with a stack of papers and Colonel John Shepherd, an army Ranger who was to be in charge of the batch of Rangers who would become the core of the Space Force’s “Stellar Rangers.” Who had the look of a man who didn’t believe a damn thing in the brief he was given until he saw the near seven foot humanoid with the golden brand enter the room. Teal’c had been given rather fine country cloth by Kasuf once it was revealed he was the War Master and had taken up arms against Apophis (Kasuf even offered him a place of honor on Abydos should he chose not to serve the SGC.) looking every bit the warrior, General and leader of men that he was in a prior life and when Hayes to meet him with a shake of the legion of secret service people tensed.
“War Master Teal’c! Welcome” Hayes said with an appraising smile. Teal’c nodded “Vice President Hayes, I am glad to see you here. Though is this not highly irregular?”
“You’re the former military leader of a space kingdom Teal’c, damn protocol this is a first for our world and I aim to be here. Besides, I need to hear this.”
Teal’c nodded with his usual gravity and when the Vice President sat down, Director Statterfield cleared his throat and leaned forward. “For the record, this is the debriefing of the Jaffa named Teal’c First Prime and War Master, which he tells us are ranks similar to a four star General and the chairman of the Joint Chief’s respectively. A former enemy combatant who defected from the…umm what was the name you used? Empire of the System Lords?”
“Indeed.”
“Empire of the System Lords. The Hostile power first encountered on Abydos five years ago by Colonel O’Neill.” He continued. “To start, I would ask for some general information on the Empire, its geo..err..spatial territories, its economy, its demographics and its leaders.”
“Y’know, nothing big! Just the basics.” O’Neill mused in a tone dripping with sarcasm. Causing a few laughs disguised as coughs and glares. Hammond allowed himself a slight smile, O’Neill was fiercely protective of his daughters and of his teammates and Teal’c was clearly a member of Jacks’ crew in his eyes. Maybourne and Samuels had managed to piss him off on all three fronts. Teal’c for his part leaned back into the chair and brought his hands up to rest on the table, they hadn’t been cuffed. That was something he and Ellis insisted on, after it was clear that Teal’c could tear out of any restraint he was put in and kill half the people in this room with his hands before he was put down. They simply had to trust him, and they had to likewise earn his trust and this was one of the steps that would need to be taken.
He closed his eyes. “I will attempt to translate my knowledge into terms you can understand without too much alteration; The Imperium of the Second Dynasty, the realm of the Children of Light. Or if you wish, as it is commonly known; the Empire of the System Lords has existed in its current extent for forty thousand years, it has known nearly twenty-two thousand years of peace and prosperity. But it has existed nearly one hundred thousand years and the Empire spent much of its first half embroiled in a relentless war of survival against an alliance of the elder races.”
“I see.” Statterfield almost whispered, Kim wasn’t wrong, Teal’c was going to be a hair-raising interview. Beside him, Secretary Esper paled and Maybourne’s eyes narrowed as he focused intensely on the guest speaker. “And what are its current borders?”
“Sixty-eight thousand lightyears in the Milky Way Galaxy, some four hundred in the Andromeda Galaxy as you call them and a vassal kingdom that spans much of the Triangulum Galaxy. Half of this land is run by the imperial bureaucracy; the rest is ruled by the System lords.” Teal’c paused, craning his neck slightly at the sound of something dropping. Secretary Esper had dropped a pen and it was only then that Hammond realized, the room had gone as silent as a tomb.
“Shit.” Shepherd muttered. “What the hell did we get ourselves into.”
“I, I see, what are the System Lords and their personal holdings like?” Statterfield asked, trying to bring the interview back on track. Totally not because he wanted to hear something other than the pounding of his own heartbeat.
“Some, like Ba’al rule relatively small domains, six hundred lightyears or smaller yet are great Captains of industry and trade. Ba’al’s domain is only four hundred lightyears across, but it contains the richest reserves of Naquadah and Trinium in the known universe, Ba’al’s personal yield yearly is comparable to….Hmm the term you might use is “GDP. The GDP of entire stellar civilizations, he is the wealthiest sentient in the known universe. Though he has a well provisioned militia, he is plagued by piracy, and he is no conqueror. Others like my former master Apophis rule a domain that spans seventeen thousand systems spread out over eleven thousand lightyears in our Galaxy and another four hundred in what you call the Andromeda Galaxy. Most of those worlds are host to populations the size of Abydos, but others? Wasset, Chulak and Erjet contain populations in the billions. The industrial world of Karnak houses eleven billion souls whose soul function is the creation of machines dedicated to war.”
No one in the room said anything, some received the news with looks of horror, others incredulity, Hayes, Ellis and Hammond had looks of resolute defiance on their face while Shepherd and O’Neill took turns seeing who could out glare the other. The silence was broken this time by the Secretary of Defense drinking water, loudly.
“And the, are there other?” Statterfield went on.
“To my knowledge, the Empire is the largest extant political body in the known universe.”
“Ah…and..it’s makeup?” This question was fielded by Maybourne.
“Forty seven species make up the population of the empire, including the nine sub species of Goa’uld, though they are often not counted in Imperial census’s” Teal’c was tempted to explain the militant factions of Tok’Ra, specifically the children of Egeria and the still loyal to the Empire equalist movement, comprised of members of four of the lesser Goa’uld breeds who simply wanted to be treated equally with Lotar, as opposed to being hunted for sport and treated like untouchable filth. But he would wait until they asked for specifics. “The largest majority are humans and their off-shoot species. Of which the Jaffa are a member, I do not know the exact number but your kind breeds swiftly and can intermarry with almost anything and live almost anywhere. I would not be surprised if there are tens of trillions of you, but I cannot give you an honest answer. Most of the population of the Empire, including most humans are of the Lotar class, I believe they are a cross between your ancient Spartan Helots and the peasants of your medieval Europe.” Teal’c smile at their confusion, and he laughed lightly. “I was given much reading material to pass the time and Jaffa are bred to retain information swiftly. My Prim’tah also enhances my mental faculties.”
They nodded.
Doctor Fraser, who had been in the back spoke up, clearing her throat. “What can you tell us about the different types of Goa’uld? The System lords specifically.”
“The System Lords are the oldest and most powerful Goa’uld of the sub species that are called Peers, with the exception of one who is only six hundred years old. The oldest, Saqet, Yu, Cronus, Hathor, Ra, Thoth, Garek who is just a peer but not a system lord and Apophis are all over one hundred thousand years old. Their true forms are ageless, my understanding is that they are biologically immortal and all of them are psychics, yet they cannot survive easily without a host and can be killed. I do mean psychic.” Teal’c paused giving Samuel’s a glare “Some of you may be skeptical but ask Colonels Kowalski and O’Neill or Daniel Jackson. They can read minds and manipulate thought and others possess far more potent abilities. Some like Ra could heal wounds instantly, vaporize people by summoning storms of energy. Ba’al can manipulate gravity with his mind, Yu the golden is said to possess the ability to manipulate electromagnetic fields and Hathor and Amaterasu are both oracles.”
“They can predict the future?” Ellis asked.
“I have not witnessed this myself, Empress Hathor once spoke of it to Chanyu, the former wife of Apophis. She seemed to believe that her prescience was overrated, that time was too unpredictable to fully manipulate. But her prophetic abilities have served the Empire well” Teal’c said. “Cronus was a telekinetic of considerable power, Egeria was said to be able keep her host eternally young without the need of a resurrection chamber as her mother Hathor can. Klorel, the son of Apophis once revived a dead Jaffa with the power of his mind, among..other..capabilities I would not speak of.”
And then there was Amunet whom, Teal’c was certain had orchestrated the assassinations of numerous offspring of her lover even while she was still an infant Goa’uld.
“Now when you say, resurrection chamber you mean the technology that Doctor Jackson described as bringing him back to life?” This came from Esper who was looking through papers as he asked. There was a slight tone of incredulity to his voice that died when Vice President Hayes tossed him a hard look.
“Indeed.” Teal’c affirmed. “While a peer may live forever with the exception of Hathor none are able to keep their hosts alive indefinitely under their own power. While they can extend a host’s lifespan far longer than any other Goa’uld without a resurrection chamber their bodies would eventually fail and expire. The resurrection chamber was an invention of Thoth and Yu, it is perhaps the closest Goa’uld get to being truly divine or possessing the mystical powers ascribed to them by the more primitive worlds within the Imperium.” There had been another who participated in the creation of the sarcophagus, but Teal’c refused to speak his name. He was long dead any way. “The Peers have many children; most are gifted with incredible long life but very few are born possessing the abilities that would make them Peers themselves. The resurrection technology is thus strictly controlled, ensuring only the System Lords and a chosen few, honored for their valor or brilliance or devotion are granted the gift of eternal life.”
“So, they can resurrect the dead and grant eternal life of a sort. What is the extent of the injuries these machines can repair?” Asked Admiral Ellis despite his age the Dark-skinned sea devil’s voice came through the conference room strong and clear. Teal’c seemed to regard him with deference as if recognizing that he was the man in this room whom even the mighty Jack O’Neill and Hammond of Texas looked up too. “Raijin the First Prime of Amaterasu was laid low by Typhon, the first prime of Cronus whom Bra’tac later slew. I witnessed him lose ninety percent of the skin on his body, all of his fur, all four of his limbs and half his face, most of his internal organs and what I believe was his manhood.”
Several chairs shuffled and Colonel Shepherd resisted the urge to cross his legs.
“Raijin was fully reconstituted within two days of being placed into the chamber. The regenerative abilities of the Goa'uld on their own depend greatly on the breed, but they can all repair most damage you would consider fatal if given sufficient time.”
“Interesting and they don’t widely use this on their own troops? Granted, we’re not a stellar power by any means but if my hospital ships came equipped with those things, I could have saved who knows how many lives during some of the wars I’ve fought in.” Ellis muttered, causing a few nods.
Teal’c seemed to consider for a moment before the giant raised an eyebrow “I too have asked this question, both of Bra’tac and some of the older First Prime’s in the empire. I’m afraid I can offer only conjecture on that-“
Jack cut him off with a wave of his hand. “Teal’c buddy, you ran their military, I think it’s safe to say any guessing on your part is something these guy’s will be interested in.”
“Very well O’Neill. I believe, the peers and their descendants are the only Goa’uld robust enough to handle a resurrection chamber without going mad or becoming dependent upon it.” Teal’c immense shoulders moved, perhaps the closest such a man could come to an apologetic shrug. “It is the only reason I can imagine; with some exceptions, System Lords are not cruel for the sake of cruelty.”
“Except Amunet” Daniel Jackson hissed with a venomous bitterness in his tone.
Teal’c raised an eyebrow “Amunet is no System lord, her heritage prevents her from even marrying Apophis and even if he were to become Emperor their children could never inherit his domains.” His tone held a hint of reproachment that made O’Neill almost smirk, even now stripped of all his authority there was no denying what Teal’c was. Someone born to lead.
“Why is that?” Shepherd asked curiously. “You mention the different kinds of these body snatchers, you do a lot of distinguishing. Is there some kind of apartheid amongst their kind as well?”
“Indeed” Teal’c said then took a long reluctant breath, from what he’d read of this nation’s history many had died needlessly over ethnic differences and once over the question of slavery in a rather violent war by their standards. He was about to make a defense of policies that would disgust them, but they hadn’t seen Klorel. “I questioned why for the longest time, I thought it particularly odd that the System Lords would keep entire solar systems filled with serfs, exalt their own subspecies beyond all others and make Imperial citizenship something almost exclusive to Jaffa and bonded sentients. Yet denigrate their lesser brothers and sisters, every child knows the tale of the murder of Ouranos the father of Ra by primitive Goa’uld, how they mortally wounded his mother out of fear of being unable to resist their power. But I am unsure if there is truth in that tale, if it is, to hold such a hatred for so long. Yes, there is a divide among the various species of Goa’uld, with the Rarest of the breeds, the Peers being at the top, their non-empowered children are the second class and treated as well as the Jaffa. The lowest race of symbiote is often hunted for sport, they’re barely sentient and often only develop sentience when they merge their minds with their hosts. It is a true symbiosis in that case. From two beings, one emerges.”
“The weird voice thingy the snakes do, can they all do that? Y’know where they speak with like a whole chorus in their throats and it does funny things to your brain?” O’Neill cut in; he’d been looking quite bored until Teal’c began to discuss the serpents wherein he listened with the attentiveness of a man trying to learn how best to kill an enemy.
“Ah we call that the compelling voice Teal’c clarified “Yes, to varying degrees, my wife believed it was an evolutionary defense mechanism, they can manipulate your emotions. Make you fearful, or courageous, drive you mad or submissive or more aggressive. Though it varies in strength depending on the race and they can turn off the effects. Some Goa’uld who exist outside the law and share bodies with their hosts and do not fuse minds merely use a variant of it as a differentiator. A manner of announcing who is speaking, the host or the Goa’uld. But its psionic effects? It’s use in general is prohibited only to the System Lords, even the lesser peers are forbidden from it.”
“Makes sense, when Amunet spoke to me she just sounded like a sadistic version of my wife, until she decided to mess with our minds and then she got glared at. I take it these social differences are rigidly enforced?” Jackson asked.
“Indeed” Responded Teal’c gravely. “Intermarriage between the peers and the lower half of the Goa’uld races and the upper half is often punished by death. The offspring of System Lords and the rest of the peers who do not manifest their gifts are prohibited from advancing so far and even peers born of a lesser breed that is not among the lower half of the species can be killed at Birth or barred from ruling as a System Lord. Most of them serve the imperial bureaucracy as planetary governors and make up the bulk of the minor aristocracy. Klorel, the son of Apophis by one of the lowest breeds of Goa’uld was born one of thirty-five offspring in a birth that tore the mother’s host apart and killed them both. Ra came with an armada to Chulak and forced Apophis to present himself and to execute his own children with his own hands leaving the weakest, most deformed of them alive as a punishment to Apophis.”
Jack couldn’t help himself, he felt sorry for Apophis in that moment and despite the potential threat these snakes represented, he was glad he killed Ra. To make a man murder his own newborn children. “I’m glad I killed his ass then.” Jack sneered.
Returning the conversation to the subject at hand they asked more questions about Goa’uld anatomy and then the topic eventually moved to military capability and the political situation of the universe, if there was anyone they could ally with, if so who and why and what they were like.
“You mentioned the rank War Master, it’s distinct from First Prime? Can you elaborate on the differences?” This was asked by Hayes, who had been taking his own notes with a fountain pen that must have belonged to his great grandfather or something for how it looked.
“A Prime is a Jaffa equivalent of your four-star Generals, their counterpart in rank would be Captain of the Fleet. My wife was one of nine that Apophis possessed and first among equals, each first prime acts as the chief of the militias of the System Lord whom they serve. It is a post I have been at for eighty standard years, eighty-four of your years if my math is correct.” Admittedly Teal’c was terrible at math, unlike his wife and sons. “I was First Prime to Apophis, as such I commanded the backbone of the Imperial military, its largest armada and greatest armies. The Jaffa of Apophis are professional soldiers, trained much as yours are whereas other System Lords command forces that are more akin to your militias of the American Revolution. Well trained and equipped but not on the same level as my former brothers and sisters in arms. Even though we are at peace, Chulak remains the heart of the imperial military and all Jaffa who live there are trained as though we were in a state of war.” There was pride in his voice, even if he was ashamed of what he had done and what Apophis had become, he still felt pride in his people and his ways.
Few could find fault in that. “Sounds like Chulak is a mix of our Pentagon and all our army bases then.”
“I believe that analogy is correct from what reading material has been provided to me Vice President.”
“I see, and what would be your West Point?” A whole planet with billions of professional soldiers, Hayes tried to wrap his mind around that, he couldn’t.
“Dakkara, it the cradle world of the Jaffa. The place of our creation, it is the first off world colony taken by Ra when the rebellion spread beyond its world of origin. It is where War Master Bra’tac trains the most elite and gifted of Jaffa from all across the Empire. All those who receive training on Dakkara are destined to be Primes and First Primes. The Hall of glory is the heart of our warrior culture. Dakkara also doubles as the Capitol of the Empire, the Crown world of the House of Ra and home of the imperial court and the bureaucracy. It is the heart of the Stargate Network and the center of all Goa’uld power. It is said to be among the most beautiful worlds in the known universe.” To Teal’c Dakkara had always been daunting, august, so big and grandiose that it made it feel too fantastical and remote to ever really feel like home. Chulak was his, it had been where he earned his respect, freedom and prestige even if he had been trained on Dakkara.
“Which brings us to the rank of War Master, a Prime and a First Prime may retire. The academy on Dakkara is filled with instructors who are former primes and first Primes. It’s current instructor of logistics is Tolok, he was first prime to Horus for two hundred and seventy years before he retired. A war Master? It is a lifetime appointment, and my former mentor was the youngest in the history of my race” Teal’c remarked with a sensor of wonder. Bra’tac had been made First Prime at the age of thirty-two, physically he was still a teenager and was declared War Master by Ra himself at the age of fifty. It had been unheard of, no one was likely ever to break his record, for Bra’tac was unique. “Two there are, only two. The younger of the pair leads the combined military of the System Lords in war, serving under Apophis the master of war and taking part in all plans and decisions. It is the closest a Jaffa can come to being an equal with a God I suppose…The other trains the future leaders of the Jaffa people and the imperial armies and navies. He is the head of the Academy on Dakkara in this era it is Bra’tac who was first prime to Apophis before me. He is the greatest living Jaffa, they say the spirit of Anubis is in his bones. He was my mentor, he remains so in a sense for it was Bra’tac who set me on the path that led me here.”
“So, we have potential allies within this Empire?” It was Esper who asked this question, and the stoic giant gave a slight nod. “Possibly, the death of Ra and the assault on Chulak and the history of your world mark you as extremists, terrorists and deviants. But the reasons behind both, provide you with a justification. I cannot say it will be enough to prevent war, but my advice would be to pursue friendship not rancor.”
As the conversation progressed, more and more and of the steam that had been in the blood of the Americans faded and the full weight of what they were dealing with was hammered home.
“Sixty-eight thousand light years, tens of thousands of world…” Hammond muttered to himself. Well, no one would ever say the United States played it safe that was for damn sure.
July 16th Cheyenne Mountain Complex
To say the weeks following the return of the Stargate Teams to Abydos were bewildering would have been the mother of all understatements. General Landry and Admiral Hammond officially switched positions with the former Airforce, turned Space Force “Spatial combat” General taking command of the base that was set up in the abandoned settlement outside the Pyramid complex. That was something Admiral Ellis and the President had insisted on almost immediately and with great vehemence. After the discovery of the gate shield and some insight from Teal’c on how to build rudimentary Naquadah enhanced generators, a sort of Alpha Site had been set up to house all the “biologicals” Stargate teams were ordered to bring back.
A makeshift airstrip was also going to be set up, as Landry had received approval for his little Blackbird program. Mining for Naquadah by the locals in exchange for tech and help rediscovering their lost technology and compensation in certain rare earth minerals they didn’t seem to possess (The planet was oddly devoid of Gold despite the abundance of it in the pyramid and architecture of the settlements). Or all of this would happen once the negotiations with Abydonians were completed. Originally Kensey’s faction spearheaded by Samuels had sent an old CIA hack by the name of Walter Draven (Hammond remembered him well, having had to clean up one of the messes he made in Zaire after the death of Mobutu). Old age hadn’t made him any smarter and when he tried to treat with the shrewd Kasuf and the other masters of Abydos like they were a bunch of dumb savages, they ate his lunch and ran circles around him until he was sent packing back through the gate in disgrace. For a brief second, Hammond contemplated asking Sasha O’Neill to ensure an accident happened with the Iris, but his better judgment won out.
After that fiasco, the Secretary of State herself showed up, with Richard Woolsey one of the US Government’s better clandestine negotiators in tow. Hammond didn’t exactly like Elizabeth Weir, or that was to say he absolutely detested her parents, who had been radical activists in Vietnam and turned U.N envoys in the nineteen eighties. They had frustrated so many projects both good and bad for everyone on all sides of the cold war that Hammond wondered if they weren’t just well-meaning idiots. Weir had fallen far from that tree; in her college years she found Libertarianism and penned a few papers on the abolition of law enforcement and its replacement with private militias that Hammond remembered getting a chuckle out of, such programs sounded great on paper, but he’d been in enough of the third world to realize how the reality of that went. Time had a funny way of tempering people though and she became affiliated with the Langford family in her mid-twenties and through them became somewhat of an antiquities broker and used the minor fortune she made from that to set up an unholy fusion between a PR firm and a “Diplomat for hire” company. They had some success, a lot of her negotiations with Native American tribal councils led to a mini boom in the energy sector (And had arrested the poverty plaguing certain reservations). He never figured out why the America First Crowd picked her, why the President nominated her, but she had been the only one aside from Hayes who had survived all four years.
His personal feelings aside, he was glad for her presence on Abydos. She had mitigated an interplanetary incident and Kasuf and the others seemed to enjoy haggling with her immensely. Of course, that was Landry’s problem, Hammond’s was in the after-action reports, the chatter with Washington DC and the interminable discussion over what to do with Teal’c. And of course, how to maintain their mission of Stargate reconnaissance while avoiding this hostile Empire of snake men. Some wanted him tried and executed for his assault on the base (Most of them were reassigned or encouraged to retire early). Others wanted to hire him out as a mercenary and use him to train the Stargate Command personnel that would be going through the gate, others wanted to use him as leverage, trade him to these space pharaohs in exchange for peace, most saw the value in the man as an intelligence asset and Hammond agreed with that take and the mercenary part but that wasn’t the issue at hand. The attack on the Cobra alien’s planet had proven just how outgunned and outmanned and out of their depth even his best was. Hammond needed more men, Hammond needed to know what the hell was out there, and Hammond needed to see if he could bring in the army, he needed more guys. Vice President Henry Hayes, bless his ambitious, cynical soul remained his loudest champion.
He’d also been the one to point out that they had a prime intelligence asset sitting in a room on base watching TV all day. Teal’c had taken his confinement in stride, of course and the more time Hammond spent with him the more he liked the stoic alien. This Jaffa war leader, this General of the armies of space was a man of pride and conviction, someone whose DNA was infused with martial tradition and a sense of history, a weight about himself that Hammond respected. Respected enough that he decided to force the issue, they had been doing nothing for Teal,’c for a sizable chunk of a month and so while Secretary Weir and Richard “That’s just powdered sugar on my tie!” Woolsey did battle in the war of words and concessions and greed with Kasuf (a man Hammond had come to call friend.) Admiral George Samuel Hammond took it upon himself to invite the Vice President to speak with their “guest.” Something that was highly irregular and caused the Secret Service and the military to panic. But when Henry Hayes accepts something, nothing ever seemed to be able to stop him.
The first time the pair met Teal’c had been chained almost like an animal (Hammond hated this, but Teal’c bore it in stride, assuring him that he’d ordered similar protocols at least a dozen times in his career and that it was logical and not a denigration.), they met over pizza and the look on Teal’c’s face when he tried a Pepsi was akin to a religious revelation. He reacted to the pizza in a similar fashion, astounded at its taste (Teal’c explained that most Lotar made similar foods but the ingredients on earth were entirely alien to him.) When Hayes joked that there might be a serious market for stimulants like sugar and caffeine in the universe, without hesitation Teal’c remarked that he knew of a System Lord who would likely give them a planet in exchange for an eternal supply of Pepsi. It wouldn’t be the first time Pepsi ended up becoming a minor power overnight. Hayes and Teal’c then proceeded to spend the next three hours talking about anything, everything except the System Lord’s military. The two men simply feeling each other out and it was clear Hayes was getting the measure of the man who had risked so much to help a bunch of “Hoodlums who hopped through the gate” as Hayes put it. The two struck up a friendship and Hayes gifted him with some reading material (The US constitution and a book on the American Revolution and had recommended the Civil war documentary Ken Burns did some thirty years ago.), wanting Teal’c to “know” what he sacrificed to protect. These briefings that weren’t briefings came with occasional explanations (such as why one of the red skinned women tried to stab Teal’c. Langarans apparently were among the few non-Jaffa granted citizenship, they also were prone to rioting at the drop of a hat and Teal’c had apparently needed to suppress a planet wide riot after a dispute over mining wages broke out into a planet wide brawl.) for various things, but the stoic giant seemed content to hold his tongue until a proper debriefing could begin and there was some discussion about how to do that. With Jack wanting to take Teal’c to the Pentagon (Mostly because he wanted to shout “TOLD YOU SO! MOTHER FUCKERS!” at the top of his lungs). Others were still fearful of the security risks this man whose loyalty was untested could prove; Hammond wanted it done in the SGC because he felt he could better protect the big man here than he could off site.
Which was why, Vice President Henry Hayes, Acting Sec-Dec Mark Esper, NID Director Robert Statterfield, Colonel Bartholamew Samuels, Colonel Martin Kennedy, Captain Herald Maybourne and Admiral Abraham Ellis sat in a conference room with Jack O’Neill, Daniel Jackson and Admiral Hammond, who was flanked by Petty Officer O’Neill with a stack of papers and Colonel John Shepherd, an army Ranger who was to be in charge of the batch of Rangers who would become the core of the Space Force’s “Stellar Rangers.” Who had the look of a man who didn’t believe a damn thing in the brief he was given until he saw the near seven foot humanoid with the golden brand enter the room. Teal’c had been given rather fine country cloth by Kasuf once it was revealed he was the War Master and had taken up arms against Apophis (Kasuf even offered him a place of honor on Abydos should he chose not to serve the SGC.) looking every bit the warrior, General and leader of men that he was in a prior life and when Hayes to meet him with a shake of the legion of secret service people tensed.
“War Master Teal’c! Welcome” Hayes said with an appraising smile. Teal’c nodded “Vice President Hayes, I am glad to see you here. Though is this not highly irregular?”
“You’re the former military leader of a space kingdom Teal’c, damn protocol this is a first for our world and I aim to be here. Besides, I need to hear this.”
Teal’c nodded with his usual gravity and when the Vice President sat down, Director Statterfield cleared his throat and leaned forward. “For the record, this is the debriefing of the Jaffa named Teal’c First Prime and War Master, which he tells us are ranks similar to a four star General and the chairman of the Joint Chief’s respectively. A former enemy combatant who defected from the…umm what was the name you used? Empire of the System Lords?”
“Indeed.”
“Empire of the System Lords. The Hostile power first encountered on Abydos five years ago by Colonel O’Neill.” He continued. “To start, I would ask for some general information on the Empire, its geo..err..spatial territories, its economy, its demographics and its leaders.”
“Y’know, nothing big! Just the basics.” O’Neill mused in a tone dripping with sarcasm. Causing a few laughs disguised as coughs and glares. Hammond allowed himself a slight smile, O’Neill was fiercely protective of his daughters and of his teammates and Teal’c was clearly a member of Jacks’ crew in his eyes. Maybourne and Samuels had managed to piss him off on all three fronts. Teal’c for his part leaned back into the chair and brought his hands up to rest on the table, they hadn’t been cuffed. That was something he and Ellis insisted on, after it was clear that Teal’c could tear out of any restraint he was put in and kill half the people in this room with his hands before he was put down. They simply had to trust him, and they had to likewise earn his trust and this was one of the steps that would need to be taken.
He closed his eyes. “I will attempt to translate my knowledge into terms you can understand without too much alteration; The Imperium of the Second Dynasty, the realm of the Children of Light. Or if you wish, as it is commonly known; the Empire of the System Lords has existed in its current extent for forty thousand years, it has known nearly twenty-two thousand years of peace and prosperity. But it has existed nearly one hundred thousand years and the Empire spent much of its first half embroiled in a relentless war of survival against an alliance of the elder races.”
“I see.” Statterfield almost whispered, Kim wasn’t wrong, Teal’c was going to be a hair-raising interview. Beside him, Secretary Esper paled and Maybourne’s eyes narrowed as he focused intensely on the guest speaker. “And what are its current borders?”
“Sixty-eight thousand lightyears in the Milky Way Galaxy, some four hundred in the Andromeda Galaxy as you call them and a vassal kingdom that spans much of the Triangulum Galaxy. Half of this land is run by the imperial bureaucracy; the rest is ruled by the System lords.” Teal’c paused, craning his neck slightly at the sound of something dropping. Secretary Esper had dropped a pen and it was only then that Hammond realized, the room had gone as silent as a tomb.
“Shit.” Shepherd muttered. “What the hell did we get ourselves into.”
“I, I see, what are the System Lords and their personal holdings like?” Statterfield asked, trying to bring the interview back on track. Totally not because he wanted to hear something other than the pounding of his own heartbeat.
“Some, like Ba’al rule relatively small domains, six hundred lightyears or smaller yet are great Captains of industry and trade. Ba’al’s domain is only four hundred lightyears across, but it contains the richest reserves of Naquadah and Trinium in the known universe, Ba’al’s personal yield yearly is comparable to….Hmm the term you might use is “GDP. The GDP of entire stellar civilizations, he is the wealthiest sentient in the known universe. Though he has a well provisioned militia, he is plagued by piracy, and he is no conqueror. Others like my former master Apophis rule a domain that spans seventeen thousand systems spread out over eleven thousand lightyears in our Galaxy and another four hundred in what you call the Andromeda Galaxy. Most of those worlds are host to populations the size of Abydos, but others? Wasset, Chulak and Erjet contain populations in the billions. The industrial world of Karnak houses eleven billion souls whose soul function is the creation of machines dedicated to war.”
No one in the room said anything, some received the news with looks of horror, others incredulity, Hayes, Ellis and Hammond had looks of resolute defiance on their face while Shepherd and O’Neill took turns seeing who could out glare the other. The silence was broken this time by the Secretary of Defense drinking water, loudly.
“And the, are there other?” Statterfield went on.
“To my knowledge, the Empire is the largest extant political body in the known universe.”
“Ah…and..it’s makeup?” This question was fielded by Maybourne.
“Forty seven species make up the population of the empire, including the nine sub species of Goa’uld, though they are often not counted in Imperial census’s” Teal’c was tempted to explain the militant factions of Tok’Ra, specifically the children of Egeria and the still loyal to the Empire equalist movement, comprised of members of four of the lesser Goa’uld breeds who simply wanted to be treated equally with Lotar, as opposed to being hunted for sport and treated like untouchable filth. But he would wait until they asked for specifics. “The largest majority are humans and their off-shoot species. Of which the Jaffa are a member, I do not know the exact number but your kind breeds swiftly and can intermarry with almost anything and live almost anywhere. I would not be surprised if there are tens of trillions of you, but I cannot give you an honest answer. Most of the population of the Empire, including most humans are of the Lotar class, I believe they are a cross between your ancient Spartan Helots and the peasants of your medieval Europe.” Teal’c smile at their confusion, and he laughed lightly. “I was given much reading material to pass the time and Jaffa are bred to retain information swiftly. My Prim’tah also enhances my mental faculties.”
They nodded.
Doctor Fraser, who had been in the back spoke up, clearing her throat. “What can you tell us about the different types of Goa’uld? The System lords specifically.”
“The System Lords are the oldest and most powerful Goa’uld of the sub species that are called Peers, with the exception of one who is only six hundred years old. The oldest, Saqet, Yu, Cronus, Hathor, Ra, Thoth, Garek who is just a peer but not a system lord and Apophis are all over one hundred thousand years old. Their true forms are ageless, my understanding is that they are biologically immortal and all of them are psychics, yet they cannot survive easily without a host and can be killed. I do mean psychic.” Teal’c paused giving Samuel’s a glare “Some of you may be skeptical but ask Colonels Kowalski and O’Neill or Daniel Jackson. They can read minds and manipulate thought and others possess far more potent abilities. Some like Ra could heal wounds instantly, vaporize people by summoning storms of energy. Ba’al can manipulate gravity with his mind, Yu the golden is said to possess the ability to manipulate electromagnetic fields and Hathor and Amaterasu are both oracles.”
“They can predict the future?” Ellis asked.
“I have not witnessed this myself, Empress Hathor once spoke of it to Chanyu, the former wife of Apophis. She seemed to believe that her prescience was overrated, that time was too unpredictable to fully manipulate. But her prophetic abilities have served the Empire well” Teal’c said. “Cronus was a telekinetic of considerable power, Egeria was said to be able keep her host eternally young without the need of a resurrection chamber as her mother Hathor can. Klorel, the son of Apophis once revived a dead Jaffa with the power of his mind, among..other..capabilities I would not speak of.”
And then there was Amunet whom, Teal’c was certain had orchestrated the assassinations of numerous offspring of her lover even while she was still an infant Goa’uld.
“Now when you say, resurrection chamber you mean the technology that Doctor Jackson described as bringing him back to life?” This came from Esper who was looking through papers as he asked. There was a slight tone of incredulity to his voice that died when Vice President Hayes tossed him a hard look.
“Indeed.” Teal’c affirmed. “While a peer may live forever with the exception of Hathor none are able to keep their hosts alive indefinitely under their own power. While they can extend a host’s lifespan far longer than any other Goa’uld without a resurrection chamber their bodies would eventually fail and expire. The resurrection chamber was an invention of Thoth and Yu, it is perhaps the closest Goa’uld get to being truly divine or possessing the mystical powers ascribed to them by the more primitive worlds within the Imperium.” There had been another who participated in the creation of the sarcophagus, but Teal’c refused to speak his name. He was long dead any way. “The Peers have many children; most are gifted with incredible long life but very few are born possessing the abilities that would make them Peers themselves. The resurrection technology is thus strictly controlled, ensuring only the System Lords and a chosen few, honored for their valor or brilliance or devotion are granted the gift of eternal life.”
“So, they can resurrect the dead and grant eternal life of a sort. What is the extent of the injuries these machines can repair?” Asked Admiral Ellis despite his age the Dark-skinned sea devil’s voice came through the conference room strong and clear. Teal’c seemed to regard him with deference as if recognizing that he was the man in this room whom even the mighty Jack O’Neill and Hammond of Texas looked up too. “Raijin the First Prime of Amaterasu was laid low by Typhon, the first prime of Cronus whom Bra’tac later slew. I witnessed him lose ninety percent of the skin on his body, all of his fur, all four of his limbs and half his face, most of his internal organs and what I believe was his manhood.”
Several chairs shuffled and Colonel Shepherd resisted the urge to cross his legs.
“Raijin was fully reconstituted within two days of being placed into the chamber. The regenerative abilities of the Goa'uld on their own depend greatly on the breed, but they can all repair most damage you would consider fatal if given sufficient time.”
“Interesting and they don’t widely use this on their own troops? Granted, we’re not a stellar power by any means but if my hospital ships came equipped with those things, I could have saved who knows how many lives during some of the wars I’ve fought in.” Ellis muttered, causing a few nods.
Teal’c seemed to consider for a moment before the giant raised an eyebrow “I too have asked this question, both of Bra’tac and some of the older First Prime’s in the empire. I’m afraid I can offer only conjecture on that-“
Jack cut him off with a wave of his hand. “Teal’c buddy, you ran their military, I think it’s safe to say any guessing on your part is something these guy’s will be interested in.”
“Very well O’Neill. I believe, the peers and their descendants are the only Goa’uld robust enough to handle a resurrection chamber without going mad or becoming dependent upon it.” Teal’c immense shoulders moved, perhaps the closest such a man could come to an apologetic shrug. “It is the only reason I can imagine; with some exceptions, System Lords are not cruel for the sake of cruelty.”
“Except Amunet” Daniel Jackson hissed with a venomous bitterness in his tone.
Teal’c raised an eyebrow “Amunet is no System lord, her heritage prevents her from even marrying Apophis and even if he were to become Emperor their children could never inherit his domains.” His tone held a hint of reproachment that made O’Neill almost smirk, even now stripped of all his authority there was no denying what Teal’c was. Someone born to lead.
“Why is that?” Shepherd asked curiously. “You mention the different kinds of these body snatchers, you do a lot of distinguishing. Is there some kind of apartheid amongst their kind as well?”
“Indeed” Teal’c said then took a long reluctant breath, from what he’d read of this nation’s history many had died needlessly over ethnic differences and once over the question of slavery in a rather violent war by their standards. He was about to make a defense of policies that would disgust them, but they hadn’t seen Klorel. “I questioned why for the longest time, I thought it particularly odd that the System Lords would keep entire solar systems filled with serfs, exalt their own subspecies beyond all others and make Imperial citizenship something almost exclusive to Jaffa and bonded sentients. Yet denigrate their lesser brothers and sisters, every child knows the tale of the murder of Ouranos the father of Ra by primitive Goa’uld, how they mortally wounded his mother out of fear of being unable to resist their power. But I am unsure if there is truth in that tale, if it is, to hold such a hatred for so long. Yes, there is a divide among the various species of Goa’uld, with the Rarest of the breeds, the Peers being at the top, their non-empowered children are the second class and treated as well as the Jaffa. The lowest race of symbiote is often hunted for sport, they’re barely sentient and often only develop sentience when they merge their minds with their hosts. It is a true symbiosis in that case. From two beings, one emerges.”
“The weird voice thingy the snakes do, can they all do that? Y’know where they speak with like a whole chorus in their throats and it does funny things to your brain?” O’Neill cut in; he’d been looking quite bored until Teal’c began to discuss the serpents wherein he listened with the attentiveness of a man trying to learn how best to kill an enemy.
“Ah we call that the compelling voice Teal’c clarified “Yes, to varying degrees, my wife believed it was an evolutionary defense mechanism, they can manipulate your emotions. Make you fearful, or courageous, drive you mad or submissive or more aggressive. Though it varies in strength depending on the race and they can turn off the effects. Some Goa’uld who exist outside the law and share bodies with their hosts and do not fuse minds merely use a variant of it as a differentiator. A manner of announcing who is speaking, the host or the Goa’uld. But its psionic effects? It’s use in general is prohibited only to the System Lords, even the lesser peers are forbidden from it.”
“Makes sense, when Amunet spoke to me she just sounded like a sadistic version of my wife, until she decided to mess with our minds and then she got glared at. I take it these social differences are rigidly enforced?” Jackson asked.
“Indeed” Responded Teal’c gravely. “Intermarriage between the peers and the lower half of the Goa’uld races and the upper half is often punished by death. The offspring of System Lords and the rest of the peers who do not manifest their gifts are prohibited from advancing so far and even peers born of a lesser breed that is not among the lower half of the species can be killed at Birth or barred from ruling as a System Lord. Most of them serve the imperial bureaucracy as planetary governors and make up the bulk of the minor aristocracy. Klorel, the son of Apophis by one of the lowest breeds of Goa’uld was born one of thirty-five offspring in a birth that tore the mother’s host apart and killed them both. Ra came with an armada to Chulak and forced Apophis to present himself and to execute his own children with his own hands leaving the weakest, most deformed of them alive as a punishment to Apophis.”
Jack couldn’t help himself, he felt sorry for Apophis in that moment and despite the potential threat these snakes represented, he was glad he killed Ra. To make a man murder his own newborn children. “I’m glad I killed his ass then.” Jack sneered.
Returning the conversation to the subject at hand they asked more questions about Goa’uld anatomy and then the topic eventually moved to military capability and the political situation of the universe, if there was anyone they could ally with, if so who and why and what they were like.
“You mentioned the rank War Master, it’s distinct from First Prime? Can you elaborate on the differences?” This was asked by Hayes, who had been taking his own notes with a fountain pen that must have belonged to his great grandfather or something for how it looked.
“A Prime is a Jaffa equivalent of your four-star Generals, their counterpart in rank would be Captain of the Fleet. My wife was one of nine that Apophis possessed and first among equals, each first prime acts as the chief of the militias of the System Lord whom they serve. It is a post I have been at for eighty standard years, eighty-four of your years if my math is correct.” Admittedly Teal’c was terrible at math, unlike his wife and sons. “I was First Prime to Apophis, as such I commanded the backbone of the Imperial military, its largest armada and greatest armies. The Jaffa of Apophis are professional soldiers, trained much as yours are whereas other System Lords command forces that are more akin to your militias of the American Revolution. Well trained and equipped but not on the same level as my former brothers and sisters in arms. Even though we are at peace, Chulak remains the heart of the imperial military and all Jaffa who live there are trained as though we were in a state of war.” There was pride in his voice, even if he was ashamed of what he had done and what Apophis had become, he still felt pride in his people and his ways.
Few could find fault in that. “Sounds like Chulak is a mix of our Pentagon and all our army bases then.”
“I believe that analogy is correct from what reading material has been provided to me Vice President.”
“I see, and what would be your West Point?” A whole planet with billions of professional soldiers, Hayes tried to wrap his mind around that, he couldn’t.
“Dakkara, it the cradle world of the Jaffa. The place of our creation, it is the first off world colony taken by Ra when the rebellion spread beyond its world of origin. It is where War Master Bra’tac trains the most elite and gifted of Jaffa from all across the Empire. All those who receive training on Dakkara are destined to be Primes and First Primes. The Hall of glory is the heart of our warrior culture. Dakkara also doubles as the Capitol of the Empire, the Crown world of the House of Ra and home of the imperial court and the bureaucracy. It is the heart of the Stargate Network and the center of all Goa’uld power. It is said to be among the most beautiful worlds in the known universe.” To Teal’c Dakkara had always been daunting, august, so big and grandiose that it made it feel too fantastical and remote to ever really feel like home. Chulak was his, it had been where he earned his respect, freedom and prestige even if he had been trained on Dakkara.
“Which brings us to the rank of War Master, a Prime and a First Prime may retire. The academy on Dakkara is filled with instructors who are former primes and first Primes. It’s current instructor of logistics is Tolok, he was first prime to Horus for two hundred and seventy years before he retired. A war Master? It is a lifetime appointment, and my former mentor was the youngest in the history of my race” Teal’c remarked with a sensor of wonder. Bra’tac had been made First Prime at the age of thirty-two, physically he was still a teenager and was declared War Master by Ra himself at the age of fifty. It had been unheard of, no one was likely ever to break his record, for Bra’tac was unique. “Two there are, only two. The younger of the pair leads the combined military of the System Lords in war, serving under Apophis the master of war and taking part in all plans and decisions. It is the closest a Jaffa can come to being an equal with a God I suppose…The other trains the future leaders of the Jaffa people and the imperial armies and navies. He is the head of the Academy on Dakkara in this era it is Bra’tac who was first prime to Apophis before me. He is the greatest living Jaffa, they say the spirit of Anubis is in his bones. He was my mentor, he remains so in a sense for it was Bra’tac who set me on the path that led me here.”
“So, we have potential allies within this Empire?” It was Esper who asked this question, and the stoic giant gave a slight nod. “Possibly, the death of Ra and the assault on Chulak and the history of your world mark you as extremists, terrorists and deviants. But the reasons behind both, provide you with a justification. I cannot say it will be enough to prevent war, but my advice would be to pursue friendship not rancor.”
As the conversation progressed, more and more and of the steam that had been in the blood of the Americans faded and the full weight of what they were dealing with was hammered home.
“Sixty-eight thousand light years, tens of thousands of world…” Hammond muttered to himself. Well, no one would ever say the United States played it safe that was for damn sure.
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The White House – July 18th.
You did not!
The Whitehouse – July 18th.
“Sixty eight thousand light years..Sixty eight thousand light years.” He repeated, his voice raspier than usual, tired which was odd because his beady eyes were doing the thing he always did was when he was calculating the odds and sniffing out opportunity. “You mean to tell me, that in twenty fifteen we picked a fight, with a government that could take one graduating class of one backwater retard school in one province or state or whatever the fuck, and god damn drown us in space invalids…LITERALLY!?” The President fumed, stalking the Oval office much like a junk yard dog who’d been idle for too long. “It’s bad enough I had to find this out two and a half damn years in! Don’t get me wrong Hank, I’m grateful you managed that little Pentagon coup for me…But damnit…The other guy sent a hit squad to another planet?!”
Two generals shifted uncomfortably but despite the absurdity of the metaphor Harold Maybourne had to laugh. Because the mental image was too obscene and probably apt. They likely could toss a handful of their version of school districts at the planet and their loping toddlers would number the combined military of the earth by a factor of a thousand. And because the President’s continued fury at being lied too and being the outside guy amused him. His subsequent reaction was rather convenient for Hayes the Statterfield's and Ellis and West before he died. Their little faction suddenly shooting like rockets into the halls of power after the President went on a mad firing spree. Not that Maybourne minded either, it had benefitted his side as well.
It had been surprisingly brilliant for people who were supposed to be old dotards and a hyper dense wrecking ball.
Kensey’s reaction was, to be expected, dismissive. The Senator had demanded they ignore the “Jabba” and continue making raids on these evil colonizers, to bring home tech. She couched her blind ambition in some spiel about needing to fight climate change, which Maybourne could agree with if that had been her real position and not just a front for her real goal. Which Maybourne suspected was to profit off the illegal sale and distribution of alien artifacts and weaponry to the Chinese. Maybourne wanted to care, one way or the other but he’d been cynical for too long. “Representative Kensey wants us to continue antagonizing these people.”
“Yeah, she’d like that, wouldn’t she? A damn interstellar war she could blame on me.” The man shook his head, tapping the paper on the resolute desk. How many monumental decisions had been made from behind this desk made from remains of a vessel that had chased dead men into the dark and cold. “Some of this is fantastical, these snakes even the stupid ones can make people stronger and live longer and immune to disease? I guess even the “lesser breeds” or however he said it possess you too, it would almost be worth it.” Someone, some aid looked like she was going to open her mouth and he dismissed her. “The parts that are relevant to me was how he said we were like terrorists to them and that we had pulled off the equivalent of their nine eleven, but he also thinks we can maybe make peace or establish trade with them? What? If I were them and someone killed my Space King, I don’t think I’d make peace, we sure he isn’t trying to fuck us?”
“Absolutely Mister President.” Hayes said without question. Beside him on the couch Abraham Ellis finished a glass of Pepsi and turned towards the President. “George thinks he’s alluding to the fact that this Apophis might make a go at the throne and that the others may feel like that’s too much power concentrated in one snake.”
“Bigger fish to fry?” He asked.
“Yes, Mister President, with their kind who knows how long a civil war might last. It gives us time; we can always continue the mission and avoid their territories and just hope they calm down enough that we can negotiate with them.” A general Maybourne didn’t recognize (some brush headed asshole who was part of the joint chief’s apparatus, Milus or Mili or something.)
“Teal’c seemed to think we could make quite a profit selling our junk food and plants and music and other things out in the stars. At the very least, we could cover our operating expenses and if we’re lucky turn a real profit and make some friends.” Hayes offered, hell maybe more than that he thought, trade for some tech.
“From what I’m reading here, the other governments out there are all chicken shit compared to the snakes. Some of the strong ones are even crazier, you read the chapter on the Ashen? My God those guys were worse than the Nazi’s and the coalition that fought them? Even worse!”
Ellis had to admit, reading about Macello and Lenea made his stomach turn, when a species of immortal serpent men who fought wars that devastated whole solar systems called you names like “The great Deceiver” and “the destroyer of souls” and “the butcher of worlds.” Or “The living plague.” Their war had been over twenty years now Teal’c had said, and it left dozens of planets devastated, billions scarred, and God knew how many dead. They had been exhausted, the Ashen wiped out and the coalition had overthrown both Macello and Lenea when they turned their attention to the Empire. No one knew where they were, two fugitive monsters, but the idea of trying to establish commerce with what Teal’c described as “an anarchy” seemed like it would be more costly than beneficial.
“I like the Tollan though, minus the poetry any way” The President said. Though, from what Teal’c said no one had any idea what their technological level was. Only that they were a society of wealthy poets who appeared to be human, but no one could tell exactly where they came from. They existed on the fringe of Zeus’ domain between his border and the start of Izanami’s realm. Or so he thought, no one really knew. Rax-Tolla as they called that planet was little more than a trade outpost, the Tollan were independent, isolationists and stayed out of trouble. Everything he wanted the United States to be, except the poetry, that was nonsense.
“We don’t even know if they’d accept trade with us or what they have, still worth pursuing. But the impression I got from Teal’c Sir, is that we should be”
“Carry a big stick and try and smooth things over with the snakes?” The President asked wryly cutting the old Admiral off.
“Yes sir.”
“I don’t like it, the idea that the guy before me might have started some galaxy wide civil war, that we’ll have to involve ourselves. That billions could be killed because of him. We should just be out there doing business with these people not making enemies that can squash us like bugs…” The man at the center of the oval office seemed to pause then looked back to Ellis. “Abe, how long before Constellation can be ready?”
“Another year sir, maybe half a year if we work a miracle.”
Sitting down he nodded. “Get George Hammond here..Ask him if he likes KFC. In the meantime, what do you think about his take on these “Great races.” The Nox sound like bullshit, I agree with him a race of fairies right out that Disney show with the gargoyles…But these Asgard?”
Ellis had remained decidedly silent whenever the issue of the Asgard came up, something Maybourne had noticed, and it made his eyes narrow. The old man leaned back in his chair; his eyes shut in thought. “Just because these people oppose the System Lords, doesn’t necessarily mean they’re friendly. The Nox may not even exist, Maybourne is right about how absurd they sound and if the Asgard are as militaristic as the War Master says? We should tread carefully sir.”
“Hey! Hey! I like careful, I’m all about careful! Still, whadda we got lose eh?”
“Fair point mister President.”
Teal'c just out here, making everyone shit their pants.
July 16th - Cheyenne Mountain Complex
We goin back to base now boys.
July 16th Cheyenne Mountain Complex
“Maaann that was good.” Colonel Shepherd muttered patting his ribs. He didn’t usually like on base food but the cooks for the SGC were some of the best in the damn military and it seemed like nearly all the ingredients were fresh. So he took the opportunity to feast on some quality chow. The luxury of serving in what was swiftly becoming the most important facility in the Space Force if not the most important facility in the whole military if half of what the big guy was saying was true.
“Indeed” Teal’c remarked immensely satisfied. “The Sirloin and baked potato were most excellent though I am partial to the tater tots myself.”
“Ah! A man of taste!” O’Neill remarked “See, Shepherd here’s the heir of a big defense firm and he grew up with butlers and fancy cooks, so when you hand him fried food, he looks like you’ve just tossed him a plate full of insects or something.”
Shepherd rolled his eyes “You’re talking to a guy who probably had a whole planet or something.” He protested in a droll voice. “Besides, I get heartburn from potatoes is all, onions rings though. Heellll yeah.”
“I did not rule a planet.” Teal’c remarked. “But I was given ownership of a small moon and a percentage of the harvest and the rental income of half a million farmers on Chulak.” Catching the look on Jack’s face a bemused smile came over his face. “I spent the first ten years of my life in a slum, my father desired a better life for his son and I for my own. Though admittedly my wife was more of the earner. I lost everything, but she has likely not.”
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to leave his family in squalor, and Jack would be very much dead, O’Neill nodded in understanding. “We do what we can for our kids.”
“Indeed.”
“One question if you don’t mind.” Captain Maybourne joined the conversation at that moment. “Should we not wait for the interview resume Captain Maybourne?” Teal’c asked.
Maybourne gave an indifferent shrug, if Teal’c wanted to continue playing twenty questions, erratically with confused bureaucrats until his ass fused with the chair that was his prerogative, but Maybourne wanted to be out of here by dinner time. “It isn’t important enough to wait for the hot seat but you mentioned that the average world in your empire is three hundred years behind us. Minus the Crown worlds and the worlds where your kind and others that are “citizens” inhabit, but why is Abydos so?”
“Backwards?” O’Neill asked with a bit of a sneer.
“Well put! That’s exactly it!” Maybourne responded with a playful smugness that caused O’Neill to twitch slightly.
“I could never ascertain the answer to that, nor why Ra insisted upon returning to that world as often as he did. I know that it vexed his primes and first Prime terribly, but the emperor would never deviate from his visitations there. Even after the rebellion at Lantesh.” Teal’c answered with the exasperation of a commander who was forced to deal with things he knew were dangerous but had no way of correcting.
“Did you have a standard protocol for rebellions?” Maybourne asked curiously. When Teal’c raised his eyebrow, the Captain shook his head dismissively. “They won’t ask.”
“He’s right” O’Neill muttered grudgingly. “Half these people have spent too much time with their ass fused to a desk, they know more about donuts and thinktanks than they do about warfare.”
Teal’c nodded gravely, not a small amount of sympathy in those eyes of his. “That is a problem I and my predecessors have spent the last ten millennia trying to prevent. When the universe is still, and victory is assured.”
“You’re at your most vulnerable when you’re at strongest. This is a disease that has blighted the United States for the last half century. And it’s cost us wars we should have won.” Maybourne’s bitterness surprised O’Neill but Teal’c seemed to understand it all too well. “Yes, in any case there was a protocol for dealing with Lotar rebellions laid down some thirty thousand years ago, but in all that time I believe it has come into effect perhaps four times. Ra did not obey it when he smashed Lantesh. It is to return in force and deliver a merciless defeat and then we help them up, an easy, restorative peace. Though, I’ve not seen this in practice, when the Titan rebelled, his Lotar populated worlds were never touched by our forces, beyond the destruction of Cyphos, his primary industrial world.”
A Sherman doctrine in space huh? Jack didn’t have time to really to ponder on it because big man had just casually laid out the fact that he’d blown up a planet or been had known guys who had. “A whole planet huh? Kind of excessive, isn’t it?”
“That is what Apophis believed at the time, though that may seem surprising. It was a Captain in the fleet, Se’tak who swayed our lord. Se’tak now serves as an instructor in stellar combat at Dakkara..he is..a formidable mind. But he is prone to excessiveness in war at times.”
“Thank you Teal’c.” Maybourne had vanished down the hallway to the conference room, which in turned prompted Shepherd to remark on something that Teal’c seemed to leave unsaid. “Most of these Lotar worlds are loyal huh?” If they averaged between a century and five centuries behind mainline humanity, he couldn’t imagine that kind of squalor, then again, the reports he’d read on Abydos implied they had access to plumbing and bathing was commonplace, that did a lot to mitigate disease and with many of the medicinal herbs? He wondered. “The tech levels, is that by law?”
Teal’c shook his head. “In Truth, I believe most System Lords would not mind it if every Lotar world in their domains reached a level a century or even a millennium above your world. Perhaps it would be different if the Goa’uld were petty tyrants who used religion to enslave rather than unite. But I do not believe many worlds would wish to break away or rebel, there are some advanced Lotar worlds that are a century or two ahead of you and they seem content.”
“Right, when there’s peace and commerce why bother rocking the boat right?” Shepherd asked and Teal’c nodded.
“It all sounds good, until you realize you guys have created an era of peace that’s too quiet. Sounds like people don’t advance because they don’t want too, stagnation can kill a civilization as easy as war can.”
Teal’c remained silent the rest of the way, considering O’Neill’s words. Had things been too tranquil? The decay of the Titan and the atrophy of Apophis seemed to suggest that they had indeed lived too long and become too complacent. Though, the Empire continued to advance technologically, the cultural glories and the heights of personal growth reached in the dark times of the empire were unmatched in peace time. Teal’c wondered…
Once they sat back down, Admiral Ellis began this round of questions, and it began with a discussion on Hosts.
This was not a topic Teal’c wanted to discuss given that Daniel Jackson was seated next to him.
“I would like to know, precisely how a Goa’uld takes over a host, what the process is. Or more specifically, if anything of the host remains and if so, how do they manage to suppress it? I am assuming they don’t unify minds like the lower species do?” The old Admiral asked with a tone that implied the discussion made his skin crawl as much as it had O’Neill’s.
Teal’c leaned back in his chair, his eyes shifting to Daniel, hesitation born out of a desire to spare his new friend a harsh and bitter truth. After a few moments, he folded hands that could fit only in frying pans on the table in front of him. “The average Goa’uld learns how to suppress minds as they grow older as their own minds strengthen. They can suppress a mind almost completely, but some admit that the personalities of their stronger hosts do seep into their own at times. I believe they achieve this by merging with the human brain and central nervous system, though I am not an expert on their part of the process. I know that it can be dangerous for a Goa’uld who is not accounted among the peers to take their first host. That they can be overwhelmed by older, stronger personalities and that it can often be fatal for both host and serpent. I believe most of the lower species of Goa’uld even those who make up parts of the aristocracy use brain dead hosts, or clones. Some will use criminals. A peer can simply…” Teal’c paused, looking to Daniel before continuing. “Erase the personality of the individual in question if it so chooses.”
Jackson got up, excusing himself with Fraser nearly rising to go after him. “Damn kid, hold it together.” She muttered.
“I see, do you know of any instance of a Goa’uld shedding a host solely to infiltrate a planet on the border of your empire?” Ellis continued.
“Once, long ago, at the dawn of their war of rebellion against the Ori. When they were outnumbered and outgunned, they sent many a Goa’uld into the ranks of the Ori’s protectorate races, to steal their technology and secrets. A grand reverse engineering project had commenced, and infiltration occurred, but the peers dislike the practice and view it as shameful. No System Lord would ever take a host for mere survival unless they had no other option and for other Goa’uld it can be dangerous.”
“So, you don’t think we should screen for possession in our returning soldiers then?” Hammond queried.
“My belief is not. But I believe you humans have a maxim for such things.”
“Better safe than sorry.” Hayes nodded his head.
“Indeed.”
“And that brings me to my question” Doctor Fraser piped in. “you mention that the System Lords have genders themselves and aren’t merely assuming the gender of the host? If so, explain to me how they reproduce and why you’ve mentioned they have queens before.”
Teal’c put on a face that seemed to imply this was an area he knew little of and what he did know made him wish he knew nothing at all. “It is possible for male and female Goa’uld to repurpose the reproductive organs of their host, usually by the blending of genetic material and the merging of tissue to create offspring, but successful pregnancies are rare. They seldom have more than one offspring. Goa’uld Queens, perhaps an artifact of their ancient ancestors however can via using the same methods, carry and deliver many dozens and in some cases hundreds. Though creating a new queen is dangerous for them.”
“Larger symbiotes? Higher risk pregnancy? I can’t imagine a human body handling hundreds of”
“They’re born small no larger than one of your quarters, they grow exponentially for the first six hours of life. A queen is, an exception beyond the size there tends to be a great deal of mental energy involved in conception, gestation and delivery I know little of the process. Hathor is the only Queen I know of to have survived birthing six, only two were ever peers however. One was a system Lord.”
“How many queens are currently alive and how many are peers?” Fraser asked.
“There are ten thousand queens that we know of, though nearly all of them exist solely to provide Prim’tah for the Jaffa. There are only, to my knowledge five living Queens among the peers.”
“And…” Fraser was cut off by O’Neill who slammed down a paper and had a look of exasperation. “Look as fascinating as the topic of how snakes fuck might be, shouldn’t we all be concerned about the fact that these bastards’ rule most of our…GALAXY?!” O’Neill shouted the last part out causing the room to go silent. “Look this whole interview has been a meandering clusterfuck and I’m not policy expert but I bet ya dollars to donuts it’s because you guys are refusing to stop and think on what the military capabilities of a government that fucking large is!”
“You’re out of line Colonel! And Teal’c out of line for such a blatant exaggeration! Sixty eight thousand light years, whole galaxy…fuck on with that nonsense!”
The tantrum came from Esper who was silenced by Vice President Hayes setting a hand on his wrist. “Mark, you’ve got that NATO thing?”
“That’s not til”
“Then you should probably go..”
“Mister Vice President!?”
“Mark please, it’s Henry. And don’t worry, I’ve got this.”
“Mister Vice President…I…Insi”
“I’ve got this..Mark.” There was a finality in his voice that utterly deflated the acting Secretary of defense, who after insisting a copy be presented to him turned and left the room with all due haste.
Hayes grinned and then turned to Petty Officer Sandra O’Neill, beaming a smile at the young woman. “Admiral Hammond, would you mind terribly, if I asked your aid here to go bring in the cart with the boxes.”
“Cubans?” Hammond asked with a raised eyebrow.
“You’re damn right!”
Turning back to the conference room Hayes grinned at Teal’c with an easy-going smile. “Alright War Master, why don’t you tell us exactly how screwed we are.”
July 16th Cheyenne Mountain Complex
“Maaann that was good.” Colonel Shepherd muttered patting his ribs. He didn’t usually like on base food but the cooks for the SGC were some of the best in the damn military and it seemed like nearly all the ingredients were fresh. So he took the opportunity to feast on some quality chow. The luxury of serving in what was swiftly becoming the most important facility in the Space Force if not the most important facility in the whole military if half of what the big guy was saying was true.
“Indeed” Teal’c remarked immensely satisfied. “The Sirloin and baked potato were most excellent though I am partial to the tater tots myself.”
“Ah! A man of taste!” O’Neill remarked “See, Shepherd here’s the heir of a big defense firm and he grew up with butlers and fancy cooks, so when you hand him fried food, he looks like you’ve just tossed him a plate full of insects or something.”
Shepherd rolled his eyes “You’re talking to a guy who probably had a whole planet or something.” He protested in a droll voice. “Besides, I get heartburn from potatoes is all, onions rings though. Heellll yeah.”
“I did not rule a planet.” Teal’c remarked. “But I was given ownership of a small moon and a percentage of the harvest and the rental income of half a million farmers on Chulak.” Catching the look on Jack’s face a bemused smile came over his face. “I spent the first ten years of my life in a slum, my father desired a better life for his son and I for my own. Though admittedly my wife was more of the earner. I lost everything, but she has likely not.”
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to leave his family in squalor, and Jack would be very much dead, O’Neill nodded in understanding. “We do what we can for our kids.”
“Indeed.”
“One question if you don’t mind.” Captain Maybourne joined the conversation at that moment. “Should we not wait for the interview resume Captain Maybourne?” Teal’c asked.
Maybourne gave an indifferent shrug, if Teal’c wanted to continue playing twenty questions, erratically with confused bureaucrats until his ass fused with the chair that was his prerogative, but Maybourne wanted to be out of here by dinner time. “It isn’t important enough to wait for the hot seat but you mentioned that the average world in your empire is three hundred years behind us. Minus the Crown worlds and the worlds where your kind and others that are “citizens” inhabit, but why is Abydos so?”
“Backwards?” O’Neill asked with a bit of a sneer.
“Well put! That’s exactly it!” Maybourne responded with a playful smugness that caused O’Neill to twitch slightly.
“I could never ascertain the answer to that, nor why Ra insisted upon returning to that world as often as he did. I know that it vexed his primes and first Prime terribly, but the emperor would never deviate from his visitations there. Even after the rebellion at Lantesh.” Teal’c answered with the exasperation of a commander who was forced to deal with things he knew were dangerous but had no way of correcting.
“Did you have a standard protocol for rebellions?” Maybourne asked curiously. When Teal’c raised his eyebrow, the Captain shook his head dismissively. “They won’t ask.”
“He’s right” O’Neill muttered grudgingly. “Half these people have spent too much time with their ass fused to a desk, they know more about donuts and thinktanks than they do about warfare.”
Teal’c nodded gravely, not a small amount of sympathy in those eyes of his. “That is a problem I and my predecessors have spent the last ten millennia trying to prevent. When the universe is still, and victory is assured.”
“You’re at your most vulnerable when you’re at strongest. This is a disease that has blighted the United States for the last half century. And it’s cost us wars we should have won.” Maybourne’s bitterness surprised O’Neill but Teal’c seemed to understand it all too well. “Yes, in any case there was a protocol for dealing with Lotar rebellions laid down some thirty thousand years ago, but in all that time I believe it has come into effect perhaps four times. Ra did not obey it when he smashed Lantesh. It is to return in force and deliver a merciless defeat and then we help them up, an easy, restorative peace. Though, I’ve not seen this in practice, when the Titan rebelled, his Lotar populated worlds were never touched by our forces, beyond the destruction of Cyphos, his primary industrial world.”
A Sherman doctrine in space huh? Jack didn’t have time to really to ponder on it because big man had just casually laid out the fact that he’d blown up a planet or been had known guys who had. “A whole planet huh? Kind of excessive, isn’t it?”
“That is what Apophis believed at the time, though that may seem surprising. It was a Captain in the fleet, Se’tak who swayed our lord. Se’tak now serves as an instructor in stellar combat at Dakkara..he is..a formidable mind. But he is prone to excessiveness in war at times.”
“Thank you Teal’c.” Maybourne had vanished down the hallway to the conference room, which in turned prompted Shepherd to remark on something that Teal’c seemed to leave unsaid. “Most of these Lotar worlds are loyal huh?” If they averaged between a century and five centuries behind mainline humanity, he couldn’t imagine that kind of squalor, then again, the reports he’d read on Abydos implied they had access to plumbing and bathing was commonplace, that did a lot to mitigate disease and with many of the medicinal herbs? He wondered. “The tech levels, is that by law?”
Teal’c shook his head. “In Truth, I believe most System Lords would not mind it if every Lotar world in their domains reached a level a century or even a millennium above your world. Perhaps it would be different if the Goa’uld were petty tyrants who used religion to enslave rather than unite. But I do not believe many worlds would wish to break away or rebel, there are some advanced Lotar worlds that are a century or two ahead of you and they seem content.”
“Right, when there’s peace and commerce why bother rocking the boat right?” Shepherd asked and Teal’c nodded.
“It all sounds good, until you realize you guys have created an era of peace that’s too quiet. Sounds like people don’t advance because they don’t want too, stagnation can kill a civilization as easy as war can.”
Teal’c remained silent the rest of the way, considering O’Neill’s words. Had things been too tranquil? The decay of the Titan and the atrophy of Apophis seemed to suggest that they had indeed lived too long and become too complacent. Though, the Empire continued to advance technologically, the cultural glories and the heights of personal growth reached in the dark times of the empire were unmatched in peace time. Teal’c wondered…
Once they sat back down, Admiral Ellis began this round of questions, and it began with a discussion on Hosts.
This was not a topic Teal’c wanted to discuss given that Daniel Jackson was seated next to him.
“I would like to know, precisely how a Goa’uld takes over a host, what the process is. Or more specifically, if anything of the host remains and if so, how do they manage to suppress it? I am assuming they don’t unify minds like the lower species do?” The old Admiral asked with a tone that implied the discussion made his skin crawl as much as it had O’Neill’s.
Teal’c leaned back in his chair, his eyes shifting to Daniel, hesitation born out of a desire to spare his new friend a harsh and bitter truth. After a few moments, he folded hands that could fit only in frying pans on the table in front of him. “The average Goa’uld learns how to suppress minds as they grow older as their own minds strengthen. They can suppress a mind almost completely, but some admit that the personalities of their stronger hosts do seep into their own at times. I believe they achieve this by merging with the human brain and central nervous system, though I am not an expert on their part of the process. I know that it can be dangerous for a Goa’uld who is not accounted among the peers to take their first host. That they can be overwhelmed by older, stronger personalities and that it can often be fatal for both host and serpent. I believe most of the lower species of Goa’uld even those who make up parts of the aristocracy use brain dead hosts, or clones. Some will use criminals. A peer can simply…” Teal’c paused, looking to Daniel before continuing. “Erase the personality of the individual in question if it so chooses.”
Jackson got up, excusing himself with Fraser nearly rising to go after him. “Damn kid, hold it together.” She muttered.
“I see, do you know of any instance of a Goa’uld shedding a host solely to infiltrate a planet on the border of your empire?” Ellis continued.
“Once, long ago, at the dawn of their war of rebellion against the Ori. When they were outnumbered and outgunned, they sent many a Goa’uld into the ranks of the Ori’s protectorate races, to steal their technology and secrets. A grand reverse engineering project had commenced, and infiltration occurred, but the peers dislike the practice and view it as shameful. No System Lord would ever take a host for mere survival unless they had no other option and for other Goa’uld it can be dangerous.”
“So, you don’t think we should screen for possession in our returning soldiers then?” Hammond queried.
“My belief is not. But I believe you humans have a maxim for such things.”
“Better safe than sorry.” Hayes nodded his head.
“Indeed.”
“And that brings me to my question” Doctor Fraser piped in. “you mention that the System Lords have genders themselves and aren’t merely assuming the gender of the host? If so, explain to me how they reproduce and why you’ve mentioned they have queens before.”
Teal’c put on a face that seemed to imply this was an area he knew little of and what he did know made him wish he knew nothing at all. “It is possible for male and female Goa’uld to repurpose the reproductive organs of their host, usually by the blending of genetic material and the merging of tissue to create offspring, but successful pregnancies are rare. They seldom have more than one offspring. Goa’uld Queens, perhaps an artifact of their ancient ancestors however can via using the same methods, carry and deliver many dozens and in some cases hundreds. Though creating a new queen is dangerous for them.”
“Larger symbiotes? Higher risk pregnancy? I can’t imagine a human body handling hundreds of”
“They’re born small no larger than one of your quarters, they grow exponentially for the first six hours of life. A queen is, an exception beyond the size there tends to be a great deal of mental energy involved in conception, gestation and delivery I know little of the process. Hathor is the only Queen I know of to have survived birthing six, only two were ever peers however. One was a system Lord.”
“How many queens are currently alive and how many are peers?” Fraser asked.
“There are ten thousand queens that we know of, though nearly all of them exist solely to provide Prim’tah for the Jaffa. There are only, to my knowledge five living Queens among the peers.”
“And…” Fraser was cut off by O’Neill who slammed down a paper and had a look of exasperation. “Look as fascinating as the topic of how snakes fuck might be, shouldn’t we all be concerned about the fact that these bastards’ rule most of our…GALAXY?!” O’Neill shouted the last part out causing the room to go silent. “Look this whole interview has been a meandering clusterfuck and I’m not policy expert but I bet ya dollars to donuts it’s because you guys are refusing to stop and think on what the military capabilities of a government that fucking large is!”
“You’re out of line Colonel! And Teal’c out of line for such a blatant exaggeration! Sixty eight thousand light years, whole galaxy…fuck on with that nonsense!”
The tantrum came from Esper who was silenced by Vice President Hayes setting a hand on his wrist. “Mark, you’ve got that NATO thing?”
“That’s not til”
“Then you should probably go..”
“Mister Vice President!?”
“Mark please, it’s Henry. And don’t worry, I’ve got this.”
“Mister Vice President…I…Insi”
“I’ve got this..Mark.” There was a finality in his voice that utterly deflated the acting Secretary of defense, who after insisting a copy be presented to him turned and left the room with all due haste.
Hayes grinned and then turned to Petty Officer Sandra O’Neill, beaming a smile at the young woman. “Admiral Hammond, would you mind terribly, if I asked your aid here to go bring in the cart with the boxes.”
“Cubans?” Hammond asked with a raised eyebrow.
“You’re damn right!”
Turning back to the conference room Hayes grinned at Teal’c with an easy-going smile. “Alright War Master, why don’t you tell us exactly how screwed we are.”
Absolutely loved it. I could feel the pants shitting terror of everyone and the rage of the President. He got tossed a shit sandwhich hard!
He's not in a good mood about this, the only reason he isn't losing his mind is because Teal'c has presented him with a solution only someone like a business man would see.
One has to wonder where Hathor is in all this though, she's technically Regent of the empire until a successor to her ex husband can be chosen, yet she's AWOL and her brother's rar'n for a fight.
Lenea and Macello and their little cameo...is me setting up things for later.
Probably.
Probably.
Knowledgeispower
Ah I love the smell of missile spam in the morning
Hathor is obviously on Earth in say Hawaii enjoying staying away from her crazy family. Also I rather did enjoy the chapters
Harlock
I should have expected that really
Again the building up is captivating, good to get some hard numbers and a range of discussion about how to proceed. A strategy other than blow everything up is fascinating and rarely examined in fics. Realistic and curious to see if it bears fruit.
Big strength of this fic is the subtlety and variety in the System Lords and their domains, not the oft repeated medieval town in a forest near Vancouver
Big strength of this fic is the subtlety and variety in the System Lords and their domains, not the oft repeated medieval town in a forest near Vancouver
Again the building up is captivating, good to get some hard numbers and a range of discussion about how to proceed. A strategy other than blow everything up is fascinating and rarely examined in fics. Realistic and curious to see if it bears fruit.
Big strength of this fic is the subtlety and variety in the System Lords and their domains, not the oft repeated medieval town in a forest near Vancouver
Oh yeah no, unlike De Luis and Co I'm not constrained by a budget. The Goa'uld breed the way humans do, and they have a sense of pride in what they've manages to achieve and that was prevalent of the show itself.
As thuggish as they could be, they were the upstarts that humbled the big dogs.
I just wanted to build on that. They wouldn't be so careless with their worlds and in my story they didn't use religion to oppress but to create a sort of natioliasm. Even the humblest Lotar can say they're part of something bigger and they aren't anywhere near as pathetic as those stupid lesser snakes!
Whether that kind of unification is good or bad or ultimately going to harm their domains once the SGC runs into the Equal rights Goa’uld and the Children of Egeria or strengthen them I'm not sure yet.
I kinda liked the idea of the sarcophagus being Goa’uld tech though. I never understood why the Ancients would research something like that in the show given how obsessed they were with the soul.
And I wanted to at least explain it. They did steal tech but they also innovated and built shit.
I'm glad you like it and yeah the moment you think I'm becoming generic kick my ass.
I also couldn't imagine someone like Kennedy being as dismissive of Teal'c as he was in the show. Even Teal'c knew fuck all about Goa'uld technology, he knew too much about their tactics for them not to view him as an immense asset.
Sorry if I'm making the US guys look obsequious. It isn't my intention,just figured they'd see him Ike a Golden goose.
Sorry if I'm making the US guys look obsequious. It isn't my intention,just figured they'd see him Ike a Golden goose.