Welp, a little later than I anticipated but Enigma begins!
Enigma
September 2nd - Cheyenne Mountain complex
“Son, are you certain about this?” Hammond’s deep voice jolted Teal’c out of his ironlike focus on the image projected on the wall in the small conference room above the gate room that was used more as a place for the staff that managed the gate room and the communications and gate activation rooms to have their breakfast.
“Indeed, the markings on those buildings resemble
Tollanic script.” They were different, slightly so and certain words that flickered off an on at what were once great neon signs lighting the city had words that weren’t in the Tollan language because the technology said terms would define simply hadn’t been invented by their civilization yet. This city, Teal’c thought, it was all together far more sophisticated than anything they could build and most species Teal’c wagered as it looked less like the capitol world of a species a century behind the Tau’Ri and more like a city on any Goa’uld majority planet within the Imperium. “That is to say, it
is Tollanic but they would not know what climate control satellites and..” Teal’c frowned, he could
infer what that one meant but the implications of it were terrifying. -Zero-point generators
? Ja’mah!- “But their society is nowhere near sophisticated enough to have developed the technology those words ascribe..”
General Landry who was looking out at the Gate, his mind no doubt on Colonel Makepeace and his team who were escorting several agricultural specialists, four botanists and a shipment of several tons of fertilizer to
Rax-Narya A Tollan controlled world near the border of the Stargates identified as belonging to the outskirts of the domains of Lord Zeus. They had a type of oxygen producing plant and several tubers that did what antibiotics did without the pesky risk of resistance, and they were all too happy to work out a trade agreement which Secretary Weir had been excited to negotiate herself. The fertilizer, which was better than what the Tollans were using was part of a gift exchange that served as a gesture of good faith negotiation. Thankfully Weir was tied up in a hearing in DC and wasn’t a potential hostile, assuming the worse. He turned and asked Teal’c if he was sure the Tollans weren’t this advance. “After all, you said it yourself you guys know very little about them.”
Teal’c gave a reluctant nod, in truth the Ashraks long suspected that the Tollan’s concealed their homeworld, as the trade outposts were too small to even be respectable colonies, with Rax-Tolla, the largest of the worlds having barely thirty million people. Of course, it made sense they were perhaps half a century away from their age of fission and yet their populations didn’t seem to suggest being able to support such industry or even the industry of a people centuries behind that. But trying to prove such a backwards group was able to conceal a far larger society from the Imperium was always met with derision.
Especially when so many in the bureaucracy and within the nobility enjoyed their luxury goods. The implications of this dusty covered, dead city were deeply concerning. “They are a reclusive people, highly sought after as poets and musicians yet they also sold certain silks and other goods which in high demand. Though I only visited
Rax-Tolla once eighty of your years ago, I can recall that the most advanced form of conveyance that I personally witnessed was a carriage with an incredibly crude combustion engine. Yet here, in this aerial drone footage I see what clearly anti-gravity vehicles and what looks like the remains of the forward section of a space port.” That in and of itself was interesting. Ordinarily in planetary sieges, the weaponry used was powerful enough that barely anything larger than a few meters would be left when you finally blasted through the shields on a space port. His eyes darted to the ruined moon above and he wondered if they didn’t have some sort of terrible industrial accident.
They had numerous side projects with Lord Ba’al involving the production of plants that were useful in planetary engineering and ecological repair and Teal’c wondered if the youngest of the System Lords knew of this secret or not? “I cannot say, perhaps they are akin and the Tollan we know are akin to the adherents of the luddite movement on your earth.”
Landry nodded, it had occurred to him but like Teal’c, he was surprised at the population figures the former First Prime had given for their outposts in relation to the industry he claimed they possessed. “Do the System Lords destroy civilizations founded by rebellious Lotar once they achieve a certain level?”
Teal’c paused to consider, trying to contemplate how to properly answer that, for it seemed to carry its own assumptions based upon his time on Abydos. “With respect General Landry, Lotar rebellions are rare but when they do occur, they are often put down swiftly, my wife frequently encountered civilizations founded by the descendants of escaped Lotar who fled the boundaries of Imperial space. How they are treated, varies as greatly as your approach to nations within your own world. The Lucian alliance is an enemy of the Empire, yet its small enough and the problems it creates are much more akin to your drug cartels and the pirates I read of in the book on the age of sail that you provided. As such, investing in a war with them is seen as wasteful, the Llempiri rebelled in support of Egeria who had conquered them two centuries prior. Ra destroyed their most densely populated worlds but when that act was done decreed that the surviving Llempiri were not to be discriminated against and were fit to rebuild themselves within Imperial space so long as they accepted, they were subjects of the Imperium and no longer shared the citizenship status Jaffa did. Though Ra, restored their citizenship at the behest of Ba’al and then there was the Set’yim yet I believe they were annihilated more because Ra produced a harceses with their queen and Hathor was infuriated by the adultery.”
“There were another people, Kobolans, but I believe they were destroyed less because of their technological level and more because when the Countess Lady Amaterasu interceded in an attempt to mediate their civil war, one or both sides deployed Naquadah enhanced atomics through the stargate to one of her trade worlds.”
Fair enough, Hammond thought, of all the examples that was the least ruthless. “Son, so far you’re describing races or groups that either were in active rebellion or had reacted to an attempt to involve themselves in local politics with hostility. Extreme as the response from the Goold were in each case.” Except the cat people, Hammond thought, he’d seen some bitter divorces in his lifetime but one that resulted in the genocide of an entire species…
The story of the fall of the Set’yim had led to a lot of jokes about how the Goa’uld were really the only benevolent power in the cosmos because at least they blew up furries whatever that was. He remembered General Landry trying to put a stop to those jokes but controlling the humor of a military facility was like trying to stop a flood with a garden hose. “Do you know of any instance where they might have proactively destroyed a civilization just because they posed a threat? Or have you or your wife ever carried out such a preemptive strike.”
Teal’c raised an eyebrow, he was always glad Hammond never minced words and asked him directly if he had committed anything the Tau’Ri governments might consider atrocities (And he’d warned them he likely committed many as while all civilized nations no matter the scale had codes of conduct and articles of war. Not all cultures had the same concept of what was considered acceptable in warfare.) in this case he was grateful that he could say no. “Likely not for the same reason the United States of America does not, when one has an economy so large and such a military edge it is far easier to conquer with commerce and cultural influence than force of arms.”
Fair enough Hammond reasoned. Though he wasn’t exactly keen on Teal’c comparing the Imperium to the US. He understood why, it was the best comparison to present a logical example, but it still felt wrong. Teal’c would learn why it was wrong as he began to understand the spirit of the United States though.
“You think it’s something else, don’t you?” Sasha O’Neill asked, she’d been seated opposite Teal’c taking notes for Carter who was busy in a conference with Doctor McCay.
“An industrial accident maybe?” Landry asked then gestured to the screen. “Something in the way you reacted to a word you saw on one of the cracked screens the drone passed over. I may not be a former seal Teal’c but engineers don’t miss much.”
Teal’c gave a smile and a nod, in truth he enjoyed the men and women of Stargate Command, all of which were either old warriors with much experience or young but highly driven and talented and willing to learn as they served, unafraid of risks. Those men and women reminded him much of himself and his dear wife a century ago, when the Titan’s rebellion and chance pushed them into stations far beyond their years. When Teal’c opened his mouth to answer, Jackson who had been buried in his notes and trying to learn Tollan script in his spare time for the last few days blurted out “Probably because he thinks it has something to do with vacuum power.”
You could have heard a pin drop when Jackson said that and misreading the youth clarified. “Well the word there looks to be a derivative of Zprox and G’xzhem the first meaning sucking, or something exerting a great suction.”
“Absence Doctor Jackson.”
“Thank you Teal’c! And G’xzhem meaning fuel or power..ohh…oohhh….ooohhh Zero point energy?” Daniel blinked.
Sasha shot up, bolting over to Teal’c as if proximity would somehow speed his answers. “Do the Goa’uld possess the technology?”
“My belief is the technology was researched but the Imperium’s ability to refine Naquadah and connect it to near any power source allows it to meet all its energy needs for the foreseeable future as such the research is pursued more as a curiosity than a pressing need.” There were, of course other concerns, interests that stood to potentially lose a sizable percentage of their revenue stream should Naquadah become more of secondary means of conveying and enhancing energy, but the Jaffa held his tongue as he did not wish to appear a voyeur of conspiracy-based speculation.
“And this..zero point energy in relation to a power source would be critical?” Hammond asked, understanding how Jack felt not for the first time.
“In theory it would mean the ability to provide limitless amounts of energy for a certain amount of time and possibly with something as small as a tablet.” Landry added sitting on the edge of the table as Sasha handed him a cup of coffee and a croissant. “You think this is their version of Chernonyl.”
Teal’c blinked.
“Ah, Chernobyl was the name of a fission based powerplant in a country called the Ukraine which underwent a meltdown and an explosion due to design flaws in the reactor’s me-“
“Yes.” Teal’c said cutting Jackson off. “It is possible, I believe that sign is advertising the grand activation ceremony, perhaps it was a much-anticipated event. Though admittedly falling to an attack or invasion or orbital bombardment from any number of minor powers in the Galaxy is a far more logical explanation than a “Meltdown” in a zero-point generator. That technology is rare, only the Asgard and the Alterans utilized it, even the Ori sought less unstable energy sources, it’s possible they ran a foul of the Peacekeepers, or perhaps the Luxan’s or perhaps the Lucian pirates.” Not that he sounded particularly convinced, however one oddly ruined space station did not a disaster make.
Hammond nodded, leaning forward in consideration. So far, they’d been making friends, albeit with less advanced societies and while Jack (Who came back through the gate at least ten years younger and was under medical observation until this morning over that fact.) had loudly protested returning to Avalon, the chance for medical research and the resources there were too good to pass up and so the President overruled them all. Things had gone well, they would even begin turning a profit and within a few years some of the plants they’d brought back would begin to revolutionize medicine and how one approached climate change they hadn’t obtained any technology, yet.
Which had been their chief mandate, obtain any technology that could help them establish themselves as worth negotiating with and if failing that to assist in planetary defense against the Goa’uld. He didn’t like the idea of grave robbing either and it would be done thing if this disaster happened centuries ago but Landry’s people on Abydos and Area-51 had both assured them it happened at most six months ago and there was evidence the last signs of life on that world ceased hours before their drones arrived. “Sasha, do you think it would be dangerous to send a team to that world?”
“No, radiation levels appear normal, volcanic activity is at a low, I wouldn’t recommend staying long, it’s about to get extremely cold for a few years limit time on that world to say a week and you should be able to avoid the worst of it Admiral Sir..” The younger (by ten minutes.) of the O’Neill twins answered, snapping to attention as she did so.
The Admiral nodded. “Very well, go get Colonel O'Neill. I think its time he stretch his legs..” he turned to the ever present second O’Neill twin who spent the entire conference standing like a statue behind the Admiral. “Petty Officer O’Neill get ready to deploy to Abydos, I want you attached to Landry for the duration of this mission. You’ll serve as our go between if anything should happen.”
She moved to say something, but Hammond cut her off. “Ma’am either they’re a break away sect, a case of the Ballard-Jackson theory where we can examine the original source or they’ve been keeping a hell of a secret and there’s no telling what they might do to keep that secret. In case either Abydos or the Mountain need to lockdown, I want my right hand where she can do the most good”
“Yessir.”
“We reconvene here in four. Dismissed!”
Grave robbing, it was one of the few things he balked at doing for his country and yet what worried him more was the image of that cracked moon.
