Stargate Through the Looking Glass and into Heaven.

Spartan303

In Captain America we Trust!
Administrator
Staff Member
Founder
Osaul
She bribes the right people, but even with that she's pushing her luck to the limit and beyond.


She's more than pushing her luck here. This is attempting to circumvent the Chain of Command. Its the President, SecDef and then on down. Kensey has zero place giving orders.
She can be brought up on charges for this and she has to know it.

Usually Politicians are a little more subtle than this. They can dangle budgets and allocation of resources and what not to get what they want. Kensey just straight up came in with no tact and subtly. There is no way there isn't a response, if even a quiet one to this.
 

The Immortal Watch Dog

Well-known member
Hetman
She can be brought up on charges for this and she has to know it.

Oh she knows it, what she erroneously believes is her trump card is that she has enough pull to shutdown the budget to the space force and hold it for months for review.

She has no idea that A; they're farther along in the ability to self fund and B; that Hammond can just have her killed and neither Trump nor the SecDef would care because they actually understand how precarious things are.
Usually Politicians are a little more subtle than this. They can dangle budgets and allocation of resources and what not to get what they want. Kensey just straight up came in with no tact and subtly. There is no way there isn't a response, if even a quiet one to this.

I've based the way Kensey acts on the way LBJ was alleged to have acted before he was veep and that's all fine and dandy for a cold war era tinpot not when facing space Snakes.

They don't have a clue the magnitude of what's out there and so they're playing their stupid terrestrial games with the SGC and it's gonna be a huge problem.
 

The Immortal Watch Dog

Well-known member
Hetman
That is pretty metal, I mean I don't agree with lots of folk but I don't eat them. Definitely a good way to win debates

:p

You know, there was a rumor spread about the younger brother of my great grandfather when he was head of the Federal police back home.

He was a huge dude 6'9 and 450lbs when he died in his 70s and he was a staunch anti Marxist.

So his critics used to say he would devour protestors and that the cells doubled as meat processors :ROFLMAO:

The truth was that he was a sweet man if imposing but your comment made me think of that and my head "damn, wouldn't be the first time." :ROFLMAO:
 

The Immortal Watch Dog

Well-known member
Hetman
Personally I like the swagger plan myself...


I've debated on how to put this nitwit out of her misery for awhile.

I'm down to, her moronically confessing she was behind West's nonsense and O'Neill just blowing her brains out unceremoniously. Or her being stupid enough to piss Hathor off and she just melts her brain or Hammond asks Thor to teleport her into a nearby star.

I have options..Chapter's coming soon boyd.
 
Deals

The Immortal Watch Dog

Well-known member
Hetman
New update, games get played, Omoc makes a confession, some info about the history of the Tollan gets out and Jack decides he's tired of it all. Oh and Travell is...Travell.

…………..

images


Abydos

................

‘So, you do understand this technology?” Jackson asked, somewhat surprised. Over the last sixteen hours the tension with the Tollan had moved beyond needing to drag O’Neill out of the room once when Omoc pushed his buttons one too many times, to needing to prevent Abydonians from shooting Narim and another Tollan when they appeared outside their hospital room with no explanation.

Which was when they learned the Tollan’s had technology that allowed them to phase through solid matter. Technology Teal’c said couldn’t work on Goa’uld buildings normally because the Naquadah particles dispersed throughout their construction and self-repair systems would usually disrupt such tech. Omoc had been particularly furious with Narim for exposing state secrets then and Teal’c spent an hour or so speculating with Carter about how it was they achieved that. They were obviously an extremely sophisticated people and while Teal’c was the first to admit he was no scientist even the stuff the learned in grader school put most of Earth’s scientists to shame in terms of understanding if not formula. It was rather fascinating to watch and then to get to study the contrasts between their cultures up close, to see how secretive the Tollan were and when he’d asked when they simply didn’t just stand up to the Imperium the looks both Omoc and O’Neill gave him had told Daniel that was a dumb question. “Let us say, that we possessed the capacity to destroy a thousand Goa’uld ships.” Omoc responded in a way that suggested he was doing his best to pretend like they didn’t totally have that capability, while divulging just enough to let it seem like a not-so-subtle threat. “What do we do about the other ten thousand? There is a point where technological advantages stop having a strategic impact.”

That had been rather obvious, earth’s history was filled with examples like that, and he felt rather stupid for it. Omoc must have sensed that and maybe he decided to play Jackson’s game and turn the tides on him because the otherwise harsh man became willing to answer certain questions. Omoc had said it was because both he and O’Neill were willing to admit when they were being fools, which was a rare trait in any sentient. That led to a conversation about how pride was seen as a great sin in nearly all Earth’s religions which Omoc thought was rather enlightened for a bunch of backwoods savages.

The question made the elder Tollan hiss out a laugh that turned into a cough. “Dok-tor Jackson, you ask that question as if you don’t believe I’m learned in the sciences”

“Forgive me Governor General, but you strike me more like our superior. Admiral Hammond, a scholar and a leader, an administrator but not a man of the sciences.” Jackson answered, having learned that Omoc preferred formality, he also refused to speak in English even though Daniel was certain he understood it by now. Which gave the linguist time to practice Tollan, a language that was utterly alien to any language he’d encountered in the galaxy so far but had adopted enough Imperial syntax that he suspected their “modern” language was a fusion of the two which oddly contradicted and reinforced their almost manic xenophobia. -It also means I’m not talking to a man but a wolf, he’s liable to snap at me or have an ulterior motive.-. Maybe to get their gear back? Omoc had not been pleased when General Landry had it confiscated.

Omoc smiled nodding again before he gazed back up at the holographic projection depicting their war with the Ori, the rebellion then conquest. “I am not, but our science is a generation or more ahead of the Goa’uld, I learned how to make devices like this as a child in my studies. The Goa’uld make things differently than we do, we’re ahead of them yet we do not know how to build our own Stargates. Nor do we understand how their hyperspace relays work.” He was fishing now; Daniel was sure of it, but he had also softened a bit either because he felt he and Jack proved something or because he’d begun to realize the deception wasn’t going to work.

“We’ve had several examples of that on my world, where a more advanced culture has trouble duplicating specific achievements by a less sophisticated people. Usually, it’s in medicine or material sciences.”

“It often is.” Omoc observed. “The ancient races whom the Goa’uld overthrew forgot how to fashion gates, this much we know from our own analyses. How much of that culture they plundered?” He gestured forward as the advancement continued. “Or perhaps it is an example of your Ballard-Jackson theory.”

Daniel raised an eyebrow.

“Reading material was provided to us Doctor Jackson, audio material as well, including a recording of a conversation you had five years ago with some rather colorful individuals.” Omoc saw his reaction and wheezed out a laugh “I don’t think it was intentional.”

“I hope not, but that isn’t the question, you really want to ask me is it Governor General?”

Omoc raised a white eyebrow “And what Dok-tor Jackson, is the question?”

“Whether or not Rax-Narya is an example of our theory.”

Omoc folded his arms behind his back, his gaunt features casting a scarecrow like shadow across the hall, flickering as the hologram continued its propaganda. “And are they?”

“No” Daniel answered as bluntly as possible, sensing that this was the culmination of this little series of questions and answers. A moment that could determine the outcome of their entire interaction with the mysterious Tollan. “I don’t believe so. It’s a good cover story Omoc, but I don’t think so.”

The Tollan elder let out another rasp of a laugh. “And you suppose we, what? Create those trade outposts to obtain what we need while hiding ourselves from a rival?”

“No, I think you could have continued unnoticed by the Goa’uld for hundreds, maybe thousands of more years. But you recognize what will eventually happen, so you created elaborate set ups, outposts to make yourselves a semi-important hub of trade while directing them away from your real homes. They’re spy worlds, listening outposts.” Jackson was called crazy for suggesting this by Kowalski, but O’Neill and Carter agreed, Teal’c seemed to side with Kowalski but the more he thought about it the more sense it made.

“You’re accusing my people of perpetrating a rather elaborate hoax.”

“That’s what Teal’c said, that it was the most elaborate operation he’d have ever heard of being conducted. He was skeptical.”

Omoc nodded with a slight frown as if what he had to say next tasted foul. “To earn the rank of first prime is a rare honor, to become a War master before the age of three hundred and I believe he was the youngest ever promoted. Perhaps you should listen to him.”

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

Omoc let out a slightly louder laugh, followed by an almost grunt of approval and at last het turned, backing facing the map. “Take me to Colonel O’Neill and General Landry, I’ve something to discuss with them.”

……….

78qo3474lqb61.jpg


She offered them asylum sir and spun a pretty cover story about her people being separatists but honestly sir, the way she said it worried me. Like she’d arrange for an accident to happen or something, to make damn sure they never set foot on Rax-Narya alive. Advise caution General these people are somewhat unhinged.

What a cold people, General Landry thought as he mulled the conversation over with Kasuf again. The two were convinced something deeper was going on than mere differences in values. This Regent Travell seemed to be a cold creature and from the pictures taken by the tablet as she scrolled through it, it was clear she knew she was being photographed.

She doesn’t seem to have the extent of the cybernetic enhancements these guys have, but I don’t doubt her senses were just as good. She detected what was happening easily enough. The one called Narim had off handedly confirmed this while discussing his people with Sam, mentioning that the people of Rax-Narya might have been just as augmented as his kind, but along different lines and his tone seemed to come with a warning as well. As if he thought the SGC was walking along some dangerous ground, coming perilously close to a predator or some sort. He wouldn’t elaborate anymore but what little both men had to decipher this riddle with suggested a profoundly paranoid people willing to set up one of the most elaborate and complicated deceptions he’d ever seen.

One he thought was somewhat wasteful and dangerous. But that made them unpredictable and the fact that none of his engineers could make heads or tails of how they powered their technology must less how to use it bothered him even more so. On some fundamental level they understood how snake tech worked in theory at least. Most of that theory admittedly came from pulp novels and science fiction but at least there was some understanding, here? The tech wasn’t just advanced it was utterly alien. The mechanics Teal’c and the red skinned Kelownan woman had explained was simply alien.

Jack thought they designed it that way as well that it probably wasn’t just coincidence. Skara seemed to support that, and the young soldier had a knack for building things that had impressed Landry. The two had bonded over the design of a new irrigation system and ever since then the General had come to trust his insight. Abydonian inferences, tended to border on magic sometimes. Omoc and the others entered his office in the equivalent of what he suspected was the mayor’s office in the “townhall building.” Flanked by Jackson, he noted Narim, and Carter followed, along with Hugo the soon to be base mascot and his fellow soldier who seemed to be the permanent shadow of the Tollan. O’Neill and Teal’c were followed by Kowalski and all three men looked like they were engaged in physical activity before they were called here. And by the relieved looks on the faces of the Marines, Teal’c was probably whooping their asses in the gym again.

“Governor Omoc, you wished to see me.”

The man seemed to hesitate, an instant or perhaps he was gathering his thoughts? When he spoke, he chose to speak in English asking Jackson in Tollan to ensure his words were correct. “My people have been monitoring some of your communications.” He raised a hand when Landry moved to speak up. “Your communication methods are so crude the medical devices my people use to amplify our hearing began intercepting them by accident. I instructed all save myself and Narim to block out your signals. In any case, you were right. We were researching Zero-point energy.”

The room went quiet, but several of the Tollan were visibly disturbed by Omoc’s decision to speak on this issue. “Our species has rather extensive energy requirements and many of our core worlds are in regions of the Galaxy that are far apart from each other and Naquadah deficient. This is done for protection purposes, should one of the primary Tollan world get discovered, it can easily be sacrificed or abandoned without endangering the others and the lack of Naquadah would make us unappealing to most of the so-called civilized community amongst the stars.”

Landry nodded, following so far. “And the world’s the Goa’uld have contact with? They’re more than just surveillance outposts I take it?”

Omoc nodded. “They provide us with the scant amount of Naquadah and Trinium we need; however they are primarily a means to misdirect the Imperium while ensuring we have a reliable source of intelligence and a connection to the Galaxies.”

Right, Jack thought. They were isolationists who went out of their way to spy on their neighbors and psyop them off the beaten path with totally parallel, false cultures where millions upon millions of Tollan were born, lived, and died dedicated to keeping cover. This was such bullshit, but it was bullshit he suspected was at least half true. “So, why’d you blow yourselves up?” He’d no more patience for these cyborgs.

Omoc’s jaw set for a second before he mastered himself enough to continue. “Our planet’s populations were, are experiencing a boom. For the first time in a thousand years, Tollan are having larger families at younger ages and our society has a rule that once a planetary population reaches two billion, half a billion are relocated to several new worlds. It is how we have carefully and methodically grown our stellar nation over the ten thousand years since we entered your stars.”

“And your need to colonize new worlds was moving faster than your ability to meet energy quotas?”

“We do not want for raw materials General...”

“Omoc.” Narim implored, being silenced by a glare.

“Our people can create matter from energy.”

“That’s not..possible..not without enormous cost and bleed off and..” Carter went silent when Omoc turned and gave her a look that seemed to suggest she was a gorilla trying to debunk the science behind a Ford F350 to her fellow apes. “Your kind are barely above the other apes, do not presume to tell me what can and cannot be done.”

“Omoc you’re part human you know, least according to your DNA.” Daniel reminded him with a wry smirk.

Omoc sighed. “Yes…some of us possessed ancestors who..lacked self-control. It happens, that Kelownan you have assisting your laughably titled science division is an example of that as her entire species is a result of interbreeding between Lotars.” He spat the last part out as if that was evidence of how much better his “undisciplined” ancestors were that he was a minority and not a member of an entirely new sub species of Tollan. “In any event, our best scientists determined that zero-point energy was the best method of solving our present energy crisis, should we find a way to generate the power required to begin the process.”

Carter was following along “and Naquadah couldn’t help you?” She asked suddenly, unsure why.

“Yes, not in the quantities available to us and given the bulk of our worlds are outside of the Gate Network and our FTL system is based on a stolen Hetch drive, we could not realistically ferry the Naquadah.”

“So why didn’t you just y’know change your rules in regards to population density, rather than go through all this nonsense.” O’Neill asked in a bored tone eliciting a hiss from one of the Tollan females and a curse that needed no translation.

Omoc shook his head slightly. “Those rules have kept us alive Colonel, they are not discarded without consequence.”

“Oh, I dunno can’t be worse than blowing up a planet.”

Omoc continued, ignoring the Colonel. “We heard of a variant of Naquadah believed found only on Kelowna, we found that a planet in the solar system of Rax-Tolla held small deposits, nothing worth anything to anyone else but with our refining capabilities, enough for the process.” He stopped here, seeming to consider. “But that planet was already inhabited, by a species roughly on par with yours….And we do not share our technology..it is one of our lesser laws.’

Landry could see where this was going, it was a tale as old as the industrial revolution itself. One used to justify all kinds of atrocities in the name of obtaining oil, or rubber, or coal, or uranium. “So, you invaded them?”

His eyes darted to Landry. “We’re not you, or the Goa’uld. No, we didn’t.” he paused to gather himself before adding. “There were two superpowers on that world locked in an ideological contest that had been kept from devolving into a conflagration by the deterrence of crude atomics. We determined that the side that would be most hostile to our agenda possessed the land where the deposits were detected.’

“And so, you supported the other side huh?” Kowalski asked, his tone a mix of sarcasm and a keen awareness of how the next chapter of their story would end.

“We did…We provided them with less sophisticated technology than we possessed, allowed them to win their war in exchange for territory. We did anticipate how dependent on us the species would become, nor in how the other side continued to fight long after they were nearly totally destroyed.”

“They did it, didn’t they? They interfered with your research. I mean why not build the zero-point facility on their world to mitigate the risk?” Landry asked as Kasuf bore down on Omoc with a cold, judgmental stare.

“Yes” Omoc conceded. “We anticipated that the destruction of their planet, should the worst happen would be contained to their part of the stellar system as their planet orbited a gas giant, but we had succeeded in creating several zero-point modules by that point and when they detonated their naquadriah bomb, it caused all four those modules to explode. That planet, their gas giant and six other planetoids were vaporized, the shockwave blew Rax-Tolla out of orbit and damaged our moons, our planetary engineering technology is sophisticated, we believed we could have fixed it but the debris from the moon dropped several of our orbital stations onto Rax-Tolla. A billion of my people were killed in the following cataclysm, our weather control and planetary modification technology caught in a Faultline, and it was all destroyed. We a risk, we failed and only fifteen percent of the population of Rax-Tolla survived to flee to Rax-Tollana.”

Everyone remained quiet, each one digesting the information given in their own way, each of the Tollan dealing the shock of both seeing their leader admit his guilt and in being party to his violation of some apparent taboo that was taken with deadly seriousness. The moral implications of this story, how much it reminded the older soldiers in the room of the politics of the cold war. To Jack, it made him grateful they didn’t find the Stargate until after the Iron Curtail fell as there was no telling how his species would have been exploited had they run into the snakes when he was a teenager.

Finally, it was O’Neill who broke the silence with a bitter laugh. “Damn, you guys aren’t that different from us when you break it down, except we were never dumb enough to hand our most advanced weapons to a bunch of cave dwellers.”

“And what do you call the alliance between yourself and the people of Abydos Colonel?” Omoc bit back.

“One not founded on arrogance and greed, Governor Omoc.” Kasuf spoke out finally. “We are acutely aware of the technological disparity between ourselves and the Tau’Ri, to say nothing of ourselves and the Goa’uld. Even if they offered us their most sophisticated weaponry we would not have accepted. What we wish is to learn and grow at our own pace and we compensate them for their knowledge and defense in Naquadah, blood and friendship.” Omoc moved to speak. “You preyed upon the greed of a lesser race and in your arrogance, you destroyed them and failed your own people. Though, I’ve another question to ask.”

And here it came, that moment the old mining boss turned King of Abydos made it abundantly clear that you were dealing with a mind that wouldn’t be out of place on the board room of any major earth company, or in the Whitehouse.

“How much of that confession is a lie, or that is to say. How much of the truth have you decided to tell in the hopes that we would be so disgusted with your kind that we would return your technology and send you through the gate to a world devoid of any intelligent life without a second thought?”

Omoc made a harrumph that might have been a laugh of acknowledgement, certainly there wasn’t any more contempt in his eyes when looking at Kasuf. “We know that your soldiers have spoken to Grand Regent Travell. If she believes that our technology has remained in your hands, or that we are being held against our will. After the disaster she may very well respond with hostility, she could easily have everyone in this facility killed.”

“She would do that just to rescue you?”

“No, she’d just as soon see me dead, we were not allies, politically and she did not support Rax-Tolla as being the location for the research. But I’ve reason to believe that after the disaster, that our technology being passed to primitive hands will become as taboo as divulging all that I have divulged here.”

“General it is imperative that we find a world where we can depart and take up exile. The alternative is that elements of both our governments begin to take actions that neither of us will support.”

Landry raised an eyebrow. “Our?”

“As I said, I have been monitoring your communications. During the last gate conference someone sent a coded message to a General Kennedy.”

Damn…damn!

The General nodded slowly, seemingly in thought. “Exile to me sounds like a death sentence.”

“If we cannot go to our new world, it is preferable to find a planet that no one cares about and remain there in exile. We would not ask you for any aid, or support. We would even bury the gate. It is the least, we, I can do.”

Ah, there we go, an emotion that wasn’t scorn or misanthropy.

“Do you speak for your people?”

“Yes.”

Landry finally nodded reluctantly. “Alright, be ready to depart two days from now.”

“Wait, hold on.” O’Neill cut in. “What if we could put you in contact with people that could take you in and maybe even teach you how to create a Stargate. ‘ssum’n you could establish contact between ‘em and your people.”

Omoc raised an eyebrow. “You know of such a race.”

Jack no!” Daniel blurted out, causing a look of muted terror to draw over the face’s of Teal’c and Carter once they both realized what O’Neill had suggested.

He shrugged. “What? They just said they deserve it, besides, they’re a high society, they’re advanced, they can handle it! And she did say we were welcome back”
 
Last edited:

The Immortal Watch Dog

Well-known member
Hetman
Things got a tiny bit busy but here's a teaser for the next episode, seeing as I'm almost done writing out the book end's to Enigma!



Verily when the battle was done, and Buliwyf withdrew Rundig from the mothers’ entrails having severed her spine. The most curious and terrifying thing transpired; Know this, what I describe here is a true account of the terror that befell us
From her mouth burst forth a great fanged serpent, hissing and spitting a blue ichor, it screeched as a rodent, or some grotesque bird might when cornered and we all felt a chill in our bones as though a queer power was in it unnatural cries. And we were bewitched or taken by some collective madness for we saw, each man amongst us visions of things that should not be, things which in my elder years I have come to believe represented unnatural machinery. Pyramids rising from valleys near a lake I had not seen and a great ring and a feeling of panic and abandoned. We all knew in that moment that it was an ancient, frail creature that long ago was cast from her demonic race.. Too evil even for the servants of shaitan, for they could be nothing else, these dragon men who sailed clouds. I am not ashamed to admit that I wept in relief when Rundig at last split the creature in twain.

Allah be praised that the last of that wretched race has been returned to perdition. Praise be to these Pagan men, who shed pagan blood and shared their bread that Ahmed Ibn Fadlan learned to be a greater man and a greater servant of God
.”




  • Excerpt from the lost Fadlan manuscript republished as “Dragons in the mist; or the Arabic variant of the Beowulf epic” by Doctor Nicholas Ballard 1982
 

The Immortal Watch Dog

Well-known member
Hetman
That was a Man's film, a rare and valuable thing to preserve in this day and age

God yes, that movie was awesome. I hope they release the original cut of the film, I wanna see if the horror film is as good as the adventure epic.

And of course, going with my tradition of blending sources, I had to fuse elements of the novel and film together.

I was thinking of having Jack actually make the connection since Eaters of the Dead or Dragon in the mist as its known in this setting seems like a book right up his alley.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Top