Knowledgeispower
Ah I love the smell of missile spam in the morning
Suffer no snake that isn't a Tok'ra to stay alive- Inquisitor Knowledgeispower 2022
Stargate Through the Looking Glass and into Heaven.
- Thread starter The Immortal Watch Dog
- Start date
Which Tok'Ra? The ones who just wanna pursue their artistic and scientific hobbies away from the culture of the Empire.
Or the ones that are like space Al Queda? Because believe me there's a big difference.
Knowledgeispower
Ah I love the smell of missile spam in the morning
Point. Put them all on a remote planet with no gate or starships.Which Tok'Ra? The ones who just wanna pursue their artistic and scientific hobbies away from the culture of the Empire.
Or the ones that are like space Al Queda? Because believe me there's a big difference.
To be fair Earth could probably hire Tok'Ra scientists from the decadent class.
The space Al Queda dudes are beyond reasoning.
Man, so like I planned out this episode to it's conclusion and even started in the next episode and then i ended up with an asthma attack.
Kinda hard to think and write when you can't freaking breathe. I didn't have this issue after age 6 then some years ago I turned 30 and yep, my body decided to turn on me
Any way dis ain't dead.
And it'll be back up and active soon!
Kinda hard to think and write when you can't freaking breathe. I didn't have this issue after age 6 then some years ago I turned 30 and yep, my body decided to turn on me
Any way dis ain't dead.
And it'll be back up and active soon!
Knowledgeispower
Ah I love the smell of missile spam in the morning
get well and hopefully its just the one asthma attack
It better be, I've been miserable for a month and on prednisone and I haven't taken that since 1993
last time I had an attack like this is lasted from 1988 to 1992.Prednisone still tastes like garbage, guess modern medicine can't improve everything.
Thanks!
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Undermining legacies.
Alright, alright, alright ladies and gents!
We return with the final chapters before the end of this episode.
Kensey reappears and my version of Colonel Kennedy makes his intro and for @Harlock and everyone else who enjoyed the Nox...the Morrigan guides Daniel through the enigma that is the Tollan. Landry also gets the delightful honor of experiencing cyberwarfare conducted by one of the most advanced civilizations in the known universe.
…………
Cheyenne Mountain
Of course, Texas had been gracious enough to offer them his conference room, which until early this year she was told was completely abandoned and stacked with old papers, outdated computers from the nineties and papers penned by Doctor Meredith McCay, some autistic man from Canada who’d been a genius in physics and then went completely insane in 2004 or so. It was empty now and spacious, able to host some fifty people if necessary and was widened as much as possible to accommodate diplomatic guests from off world. Something that the SGC had done no less than seven times in the last three month. Something that frustrated Kensey’s attempts to withhold funding from the Mountain Complex and turn this place into some rest stop on the way to Abydos.
Frustrated her ability to get more of her people onto Abydos as well now that Secretary Weir and that balding Anglo buffoon Woolsey were taking such a vested interest in the development of alliances. Rumors were that they were bringing in gold, platinum and plants that could be back engineered into cures for everything from cancer to atmospheric scrubbers and she’d seen that damn lightning tree.
That was why she acted now, the idiot in the Whitehouse had some pipe dream about using all the alien tech to set up parallel economies and the infrastructure necessary to reorient the world away from the rising sun and back to the US, she dismissed the idiotic notions that he actually wanted to defend the homeworld against alien incursion. Her backers feared the loss of a status quo and so gave the leash around her neck some slack, but Kensey didn’t care about that. No, what she cared about was getting one of her grandchildren into the Whitehouse and ensuring a great grandkid followed that one, she cared about the political dynasty her family had slowly constructing since the Mangano crime family became the Luciano family and her grandfather became the legitimate arm of the commission. Careful, century spanning plans battered by the sudden rise of some populist asshole backed by that conniving Hayes.
Hayes, another Irish name. How she hated them all! Even that useless idiot she married and whose name she now wore in place of her own. Coffee had been provided to her by an aid, Malik she thought his name was. He was a Turkish American, from some suburb or other she represented, all she knew was that he could snap a person’s neck with his hands which made him incredibly useful for intimidating the hell out of the hundreds of gofers, middlemen and eternally intoxicated lobbyists she had to endure on the daily.
Reaching out to her other aid, a woman in her twenties who gave her a worried look and relented, producing a flask. Ah, Armagnac in coffee, good shit, it made the coming lecture more tolerable. “Madam congresswoman, I…you committed a crime just now!”
Bobby Kensey raised an eyebrow “Earlier you mean, sitting on my ass isn’t a crime.” an incredulous look formed in her cold eyes. The average member of congress commits a felony every two hours, their aids more so! Was this bitch serious? And a damn Kennedy talk about crooked. With a sigh, Kensey rose from her chair and walked towards the immense window made of bullet proof glass upon which was placed a map of the local Galactic cluster and the varying stellar nations that comprised the rulers of each territory. It did not escape her notice that almost everywhere was the purple color Stargate Command had chosen to represent the damn Goa’uld. “When I was twenty-two, I was invited to the Whitehouse, my father was the newly made mayor of Philly and my older brother was a lawyer for the Kennedy family. I got to meet your grandfather and the President.”
“You mean my grandfather and the Attorney General?” The woman asked.
“Oh, right, you guys all look alike, my bad. Anyway, your granddad grabbed my ass and invited me to go bowling. I didn’t expect that dope head cripple to have the stamina he did but..” She gave a dismissive shrug then cleared her throat. God, why was she still surrounded by Kennedys? Was this sow the sister of the Junior Representative who was making a play against her and trying to ally with the Satterfield’s to support Hammond? Shaking the speculation away she continued. “After our trist, we met up with my father, his brother and a few Generals. Lockheed owed us some favors and so the brass wanted us to lean on them for some reason or other.” She laughed, a tired, cruel laugh. “I remember the smug looks on their faces..Y’know what’s funny? How everyone in that room including your fucking Granddaddy is dead as a doornail except me.” Kensey reached up and traced a withered set of fingers along the map.
A hundred thousand years, three Galaxies. Continuity, dynasty, legacy. Too bad these great serpents had to be enemies of the US in order for her own dynasty, her own legacy to rise. Still, she admired it, a hundred thousand years, shepherded by one clan, one family, one patriarch. It was everything she wanted for herself and for her family. “My father once told me, the cold war was as much about securing gainful employment for the children of the leaders who won world war two on both sides as it was about overcoming ideologies. He said they were stupid, Bush, Kennedy, Roosevelt, MacArthur, Nixon, Stalin, Khrushchev, Fascism, communism, capitalism, tyranny, democracy..We’ll live through it all, people matter, survival matters, opportunity matters, legacy matters. Making the next generation a little bit richer, a little bit more powerful. Continuity matters, that’s something the snakes are right about. The only kind that matters, power and blood.” She downed the coffee and turned to gaze at those present, noticing of the three only the Turk took her words to heart.
Shame.
“Chairman of the joint chiefs, Presidents, Secretaries of Defense, I’ve outlasted them all kids. Hammond will come and go, I’ll still be here and when my bones are dust, it’ll be my blood that calls the shots, changes this map right here forever. It’s about time these arrogant Space Force clowns remember their place.” She was going to continue, especially after she saw the look on the Kennedy brats face but all of a sudden, the world went to hell in a handcart with alarm klaxons everywhere and a voice over an intercom shouting “Unscheduled off world activation.”
She moved to bolt from the room only for a guard to block her path.
Stupid tin soldiers.
……..
Gate Room.
It almost came as a disappointment when the radio signal beaming through the Gate piped Sandra O’Neill’s voice through the speakers to Admiral Hammond, the thought was terribly unprofessional but at the same time, it was better than dealing with Kensey and whatever other nonsense she planned.
-I should have her killed- The thought came unbidden, especially at the realization that Hammond could probably get away with it after what she’d just pulled or rather the implications of what was said below her ranting. “Petty Officer, I assume all is not well if you’re calling ahead of schedule?”
“Aye Sir! Two hours ago, we had an unscheduled off world activation, something passed through the Gateshield and detonated on the walkway, it wasn’t anything more than a flash bang sir but it was a diversion or a message as General Landry says. A second after that we had some kind of alert in the computers within the pyramid itself then our systems registered some kind of virus.”
Hammond’s eyes narrowed. “Goold?”
“No Sir, Narim, one of the Tollan thinks it was security forces under orders from the Regent. It was an incredibly sophisticated virus sir, Teal’c says he’s never seen anything like it. It shut us out of our own systems, downloaded everything, retransmitted it through the gate then shut everything down. It took us an hour to get everything back up and another forty minutes to undo everything it did.” There was a tension in the youth’s voice that betrayed just how bad the breach was that made the old Admiral concerned.
Could this virus have done something to the powerplant of the pyramid complex? What would a meltdown of a power system that fed energy to what amounted to an artificial mountain range do to Abydos? Another thought came to his mind, chiefly that this incursion might have potentially exposed the Tollan to the System Lords, why risk it? Over some hostages that their last communique suggested were political enemies.
It wasn’t over the technology, was it truly over politics? Travell seemed insane were that the case. Another thought came to him, and his blood stilled. “Have you made contact with the Nox?”
“Doctor Jackson and Omoc departed for Avalon six hours ago sir, to officially request Asylum for the Tollan.”
Hammond nodded then added. “I wouldn’t worry too much on your end, they’ll likely ignore Abydos and come straight for earth if they attempt anything. I know they know you have the refugees, but if they wanted to seize them, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. They’ll want to send a message and they’re going to come here to do that.”
The comms went silent for a second. Then “Sir request permission to return to earth.”
“Negative.”
“But Admira-“
“You’re still my eyes and ears on Abydos and if the Tollan make a move against earth and we don’t make it for whatever reason than I trust you to keep General Landry on the right track, I trust you to hold the line O’Neill understand me?”
“Yessir..”
“Alright, we’ll touch base around twenty-two hundred. If anything happens before then.”
“Godspeed sir.”
Hammond smiled. “Don’t write my will just yet miss. Keep Abydos safe, Hammond out.”
We return with the final chapters before the end of this episode.
Kensey reappears and my version of Colonel Kennedy makes his intro and for @Harlock and everyone else who enjoyed the Nox...the Morrigan guides Daniel through the enigma that is the Tollan. Landry also gets the delightful honor of experiencing cyberwarfare conducted by one of the most advanced civilizations in the known universe.
…………
Cheyenne Mountain
Of course, Texas had been gracious enough to offer them his conference room, which until early this year she was told was completely abandoned and stacked with old papers, outdated computers from the nineties and papers penned by Doctor Meredith McCay, some autistic man from Canada who’d been a genius in physics and then went completely insane in 2004 or so. It was empty now and spacious, able to host some fifty people if necessary and was widened as much as possible to accommodate diplomatic guests from off world. Something that the SGC had done no less than seven times in the last three month. Something that frustrated Kensey’s attempts to withhold funding from the Mountain Complex and turn this place into some rest stop on the way to Abydos.
Frustrated her ability to get more of her people onto Abydos as well now that Secretary Weir and that balding Anglo buffoon Woolsey were taking such a vested interest in the development of alliances. Rumors were that they were bringing in gold, platinum and plants that could be back engineered into cures for everything from cancer to atmospheric scrubbers and she’d seen that damn lightning tree.
That was why she acted now, the idiot in the Whitehouse had some pipe dream about using all the alien tech to set up parallel economies and the infrastructure necessary to reorient the world away from the rising sun and back to the US, she dismissed the idiotic notions that he actually wanted to defend the homeworld against alien incursion. Her backers feared the loss of a status quo and so gave the leash around her neck some slack, but Kensey didn’t care about that. No, what she cared about was getting one of her grandchildren into the Whitehouse and ensuring a great grandkid followed that one, she cared about the political dynasty her family had slowly constructing since the Mangano crime family became the Luciano family and her grandfather became the legitimate arm of the commission. Careful, century spanning plans battered by the sudden rise of some populist asshole backed by that conniving Hayes.
Hayes, another Irish name. How she hated them all! Even that useless idiot she married and whose name she now wore in place of her own. Coffee had been provided to her by an aid, Malik she thought his name was. He was a Turkish American, from some suburb or other she represented, all she knew was that he could snap a person’s neck with his hands which made him incredibly useful for intimidating the hell out of the hundreds of gofers, middlemen and eternally intoxicated lobbyists she had to endure on the daily.
Reaching out to her other aid, a woman in her twenties who gave her a worried look and relented, producing a flask. Ah, Armagnac in coffee, good shit, it made the coming lecture more tolerable. “Madam congresswoman, I…you committed a crime just now!”
Bobby Kensey raised an eyebrow “Earlier you mean, sitting on my ass isn’t a crime.” an incredulous look formed in her cold eyes. The average member of congress commits a felony every two hours, their aids more so! Was this bitch serious? And a damn Kennedy talk about crooked. With a sigh, Kensey rose from her chair and walked towards the immense window made of bullet proof glass upon which was placed a map of the local Galactic cluster and the varying stellar nations that comprised the rulers of each territory. It did not escape her notice that almost everywhere was the purple color Stargate Command had chosen to represent the damn Goa’uld. “When I was twenty-two, I was invited to the Whitehouse, my father was the newly made mayor of Philly and my older brother was a lawyer for the Kennedy family. I got to meet your grandfather and the President.”
“You mean my grandfather and the Attorney General?” The woman asked.
“Oh, right, you guys all look alike, my bad. Anyway, your granddad grabbed my ass and invited me to go bowling. I didn’t expect that dope head cripple to have the stamina he did but..” She gave a dismissive shrug then cleared her throat. God, why was she still surrounded by Kennedys? Was this sow the sister of the Junior Representative who was making a play against her and trying to ally with the Satterfield’s to support Hammond? Shaking the speculation away she continued. “After our trist, we met up with my father, his brother and a few Generals. Lockheed owed us some favors and so the brass wanted us to lean on them for some reason or other.” She laughed, a tired, cruel laugh. “I remember the smug looks on their faces..Y’know what’s funny? How everyone in that room including your fucking Granddaddy is dead as a doornail except me.” Kensey reached up and traced a withered set of fingers along the map.
A hundred thousand years, three Galaxies. Continuity, dynasty, legacy. Too bad these great serpents had to be enemies of the US in order for her own dynasty, her own legacy to rise. Still, she admired it, a hundred thousand years, shepherded by one clan, one family, one patriarch. It was everything she wanted for herself and for her family. “My father once told me, the cold war was as much about securing gainful employment for the children of the leaders who won world war two on both sides as it was about overcoming ideologies. He said they were stupid, Bush, Kennedy, Roosevelt, MacArthur, Nixon, Stalin, Khrushchev, Fascism, communism, capitalism, tyranny, democracy..We’ll live through it all, people matter, survival matters, opportunity matters, legacy matters. Making the next generation a little bit richer, a little bit more powerful. Continuity matters, that’s something the snakes are right about. The only kind that matters, power and blood.” She downed the coffee and turned to gaze at those present, noticing of the three only the Turk took her words to heart.
Shame.
“Chairman of the joint chiefs, Presidents, Secretaries of Defense, I’ve outlasted them all kids. Hammond will come and go, I’ll still be here and when my bones are dust, it’ll be my blood that calls the shots, changes this map right here forever. It’s about time these arrogant Space Force clowns remember their place.” She was going to continue, especially after she saw the look on the Kennedy brats face but all of a sudden, the world went to hell in a handcart with alarm klaxons everywhere and a voice over an intercom shouting “Unscheduled off world activation.”
She moved to bolt from the room only for a guard to block her path.
Stupid tin soldiers.
……..
Gate Room.
It almost came as a disappointment when the radio signal beaming through the Gate piped Sandra O’Neill’s voice through the speakers to Admiral Hammond, the thought was terribly unprofessional but at the same time, it was better than dealing with Kensey and whatever other nonsense she planned.
-I should have her killed- The thought came unbidden, especially at the realization that Hammond could probably get away with it after what she’d just pulled or rather the implications of what was said below her ranting. “Petty Officer, I assume all is not well if you’re calling ahead of schedule?”
“Aye Sir! Two hours ago, we had an unscheduled off world activation, something passed through the Gateshield and detonated on the walkway, it wasn’t anything more than a flash bang sir but it was a diversion or a message as General Landry says. A second after that we had some kind of alert in the computers within the pyramid itself then our systems registered some kind of virus.”
Hammond’s eyes narrowed. “Goold?”
“No Sir, Narim, one of the Tollan thinks it was security forces under orders from the Regent. It was an incredibly sophisticated virus sir, Teal’c says he’s never seen anything like it. It shut us out of our own systems, downloaded everything, retransmitted it through the gate then shut everything down. It took us an hour to get everything back up and another forty minutes to undo everything it did.” There was a tension in the youth’s voice that betrayed just how bad the breach was that made the old Admiral concerned.
Could this virus have done something to the powerplant of the pyramid complex? What would a meltdown of a power system that fed energy to what amounted to an artificial mountain range do to Abydos? Another thought came to his mind, chiefly that this incursion might have potentially exposed the Tollan to the System Lords, why risk it? Over some hostages that their last communique suggested were political enemies.
It wasn’t over the technology, was it truly over politics? Travell seemed insane were that the case. Another thought came to him, and his blood stilled. “Have you made contact with the Nox?”
“Doctor Jackson and Omoc departed for Avalon six hours ago sir, to officially request Asylum for the Tollan.”
Hammond nodded then added. “I wouldn’t worry too much on your end, they’ll likely ignore Abydos and come straight for earth if they attempt anything. I know they know you have the refugees, but if they wanted to seize them, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. They’ll want to send a message and they’re going to come here to do that.”
The comms went silent for a second. Then “Sir request permission to return to earth.”
“Negative.”
“But Admira-“
“You’re still my eyes and ears on Abydos and if the Tollan make a move against earth and we don’t make it for whatever reason than I trust you to keep General Landry on the right track, I trust you to hold the line O’Neill understand me?”
“Yessir..”
“Alright, we’ll touch base around twenty-two hundred. If anything happens before then.”
“Godspeed sir.”
Hammond smiled. “Don’t write my will just yet miss. Keep Abydos safe, Hammond out.”
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Nightmare Queens.
And here we arrive at Daniel and the Morrigan and Travell and Hammond come face to face.
@Spartan303's reaction to Travell inspired this and I partially want to see what @Knowledgeispower Is going to recommend in terms of an appropriate response to her antics.
Also, lemme thank @Harlock Because his interpretation of the Dilgar served as a bit of a muse for how Travell is going to address this..prickly mess.
……….
Avalon
“Our conversation was not for your ears; we will continue to talk as I continue to talk to you.” She seemed to smile slightly. “So, tell me child, why are the Tollan seeking me out for knowledge on how to build a stargate, when they have real time faster than light communication. Something not easily done without a Stargate network?”
Jackson blinked…Then laughed at the insanity of it all. They were lying and misdirecting even now? Did Omoc not realize just how much danger he was in?! Forget worrying about Travell this woman would hurl him into a star if she got annoyed. One didn’t trifle with the Morrigan, all myths agreed on that. “You mean to tell me; he already knows how?”
“No.” She answered calmly, the tone of a mother gently nudging a child through a math exorcise. Though, something flickered in those eyeless sockets, the stars therein shifted slightly. “Now, now little boy, you’re smarter than that reason it out.”
It was entirely unsettling to be addressed like that by the Morrigan Daniel decided. Which he suspected was partially the point, she wanted to test his deductive skills while under fire. Perhaps slower than he intended, something clicked in Daniel, his mind rolling over the odd phrasing of their words, the way they described how they founded their first worlds. -Since we came to your stars…Omoc didn’t mean...- His eyes widened and her looked at the looming Goddess who smiled and held a finger up to her lips. “Not yet, save that one for when it will be most valuable.”
Jackson swallowed, thickness in his throat. “But why all the deception then if they’re planting subtle hints at the truth of themselves?”
“Sweet boy” The Morrigan laughed softly, it was a laughter that might have sounded kind coming from anyone else but from her, Daniel felt his heart sink. “Are those not the best places to hide lies?”
Fair point, Daniel reasoned. “Oookkayy..So some Tollan worlds have Stargates..But they’re not detected by the Goa’uld..” It was a stretch but when he saw her give the barest of nods Daniel had to wonder just how advanced the Tollan really were and if so, would pursuing an alliance with them be worth the aggravation and intrigue? And sheer danger, given their willingness to mercilessly exploit other cultures to keep themselves one step ahead of potential enemies.
She made a tsk, tsk type noise and Daniel was shrouded in darkness, the world fading away before his very eyes until he was adrift in a sea of stars, wispy, smoke like tendrils of shadow holding him in place, shadow that leaked out like feathers from the Morrigan’s form. “Significant Technological advantages were possessed by the alliance of the elder races against the Imperium. Yet all but three members of that alliance are extinct now, would you ask this of the Tollan people?”
“No” Daniel admitted, especially not when peace seemed to be a real possibility after their fight with Horus. Not when they were more likely to send a bomb through the gate on Earth than even the Goa’uld were given how paranoid and isolationist they seemed to be. “No, I suppose they wouldn’t help us any way.”
She smiled “But that isn’t the topic of our discussion”
“They withhold technology even from their own kind?” Daniel asked, grateful for the tangent that gave him enough time to think. Even if it had been discouraging, there was a larger enigma that needed to be unraveled about the Tollan people. “Why the paranoia? Why the fear?”
She laughed, it rang like bells in his mind and chilled his blood. “That is an interesting question to ask given who rules your stars.”
Admittedly, it was an odd question, but he didn’t really get the impression that most of the System Lords would really care about conquering the Tollans from how Teal’c described them and from his experience with Horus. He understood the need to defend oneself thought and the more he thought about it the more he realized it made little and less sense that they didn’t approach openly with the ability to defend themselves clear, specifically to prevent any attempts at overt hostilities. There was the cultural concern, they hated anything not Tollan but even then, a show of force might have been enough to convince the System Lords to leave them alone outside of isolated trade ports.
They hated the Goa’uld, feared them just as they hated and feared everyone else..No, not as they hated and feared everyone else. They were positively hysterical in their terror…
An answer danced in his head, and Jackson’s eyes widened. “Wait, if they’re of a distant Galaxy and are pathologically terrified of the Goa’uld to where they’d pull such an elaborate stunt..But that doesn’t…The Goa’uld had no idea what the Tollan were capable of, I don’t think they’d just forget an enemy like…” Something clicked in Daniel’s mind out of reach and whatever realization came to him was dashed aside when he suddenly became aware that something was stroking his cheek and it was one of the Morrigan’s hands, which looked silky and velvety and soft but to his horror felt more like old worn out bones rapping at his cheeks. He was once again made away of the fact that he was swimming in an ocean of shadowy, ink like tendrils that extended from this “woman’s” being and though she might have looked like a beautiful (If freakishly tall.) woman, one needed only to gaze into those empty sockets that held constellations that reflected back at him in that odd silver light to remember that neither she nor her species were anything close to human.
“Ah, there’s my clever boy. This conversation stays between us, but you asked the right question in the end and passed the test..Omoc owes you his life.”
Doctor Daniel Jackson’s fight for flight response damn near overwhelmed his senses and he managed to stop himself from struggling just as darkness completely enveloped him, subsuming him as the Morrigu’s laughter became the only thing he heard or felt.
Then suddenly just as he was consumed by the black, he was assaulted by a series of lights and sounds, curses and the clicking of triggers and then alarmed cry of “hold fire!” from a voice he recognized as belonging to one of Jack’s daughters.
“Doctor Jackson?” a mix of fear mixed with that steely confidence and the O’Neill family swagger, yeah definitely the Petty Officer daughter. “Sandy..err..yeah it’s us.” Omoc stood beside him grim faced as usual but there was something different in his eyes, they were softer, wearier.
He’d brought his arrogance before the Nox and been humbled by their Nightmare Queen.
“I take it the big lady’s a Nox?”
Oh, so that was why guns were being pointed at him.
Wait…He whipped around and noted the Gate was most definitely not active, nor did it retain the faint glow it often held when it had recently deactivated. Had she just teleported them here?
No, wait…before the tendrils of darkness enveloped him, Daniel had the unique sensation of floating in..his eyes shifted the Morrigan who smiled knowingly at him. “Sweet boy, conversations are hardly ever idle, aren’t they?”
“How long have we been gone?” Daniel asked somewhat alarmed, given the bewildered look of those present around him.
“Sixteen Abydonian hours, fourteen of your hours.” Answered Omoc, whose mechanical bits must have alerted him to the time difference.
sixteen hours…
……….
Cheyenne Mountain
Nineteen ninety-six, that had been the last time he’d been in the mountain. In Hammond’s Mountain, Brigadier General Roark Marion Kennedy had to remind himself. This was enemy territory, no matter how he sliced it, no matter how insane that wop bitch was and no matter how much she provoked the Admiral, this was always going to be enemy territory because General Kennedy, head of the laughably titled “United States Space Force Stellar intelligence division” had been an ally and protégé of Major General West and one of those allied with Kensey. Like Samuels, he was reasonably certain that the Admiral was behind General West’s rather sudden heart attack.
And so, he entered the complex with an escort slightly larger than ordinary retinue to apprehend four refugees and people he knew were absolutely loyal to him. Nineteen ninety-six, had been the year the Space Force moved the Stargate from Groom Lake to the mountain where it was expected to achieve no results despite West’s odd obsession with it and the work of that Nicholas Ballard guy. That had been the year that started everything, the year that marked the beginning of the end for his faction unless they could wrest control from Hayes and his cadre of heroes.
The reception had been warmer than he expected, with Colonel Shepherd of the Stellar Rangers and Lieutenant Davis meeting his group at the elevator and escorting him passed the conference room where the Congresswoman was no doubt sitting and seething. That warmth belied a taunt, no doubt. “This is our mountain, this project is hours.” Kennedy’s gnarled face twisted into a scowl. Eighteen years ago he’d nearly lost most of the skin on his cheek and around his orbital socket on the right side of his face, it had been hanging off by a thread of sinew and the reconstructive surgery left him with a jagged scar that ran from his eyebrow to his chin, down to his throat. Maybourne had been a young naval intelligence officer then, his “research” had seen Kennedy’s team which was a combined force unit out into some Afghan ruin chasing rumors, O’Neill had saved his life that day then Jack had gone and ruined their friendship by walking away from West for Ellis years later. Bastard those cold war fossils had absconded with so much talent out from under him over the years. -Die you senile wretch- was a frequent thought upon seeing Hammond.
Of course, the vice like grip of the Admiral’s handshake put any notion of that pipe dream to bed. “Admiral, I’ve got an order from Secretary Esper to conduct several interviews with the Tollan.”
“That’s all you were able to get huh? She must be losing her touch.” Hammond remarked.
“As things are, I’d like to get to Abydos to conduct my interviews.”
“I’m sorry General, but I can’t allow that. Abydos suffered a security breach and General Landry locked the base down until they can be absolutely sure their security isn’t compromised.”
“How convenient.”
Hammond’s eyes hardened. “Son, I’m not sure a major cyber attack on the most important offshore facility the US has counts as convenient.”
Kennedy unconsciously took a step back, damnit!
“Besides, even if the facility wasn’t in lockdown I’m not sure I could grant you, your request if the Tollans refuse, not without consulting Woolsey or Secretary Weir.”
“How so?” Kennedy asked, doing his best to meet the judgment in Hammond’s tone with steel.
“Because they requested an asylum from a people we have a mining agreement with.”
Kennedy narrowed his eyes. “Abydos gave them asylum?” he asked, trying to keep his voice as firm and accusatory as possible. There were a few planets the SGC had already secured treaties with, but the slight mocking in Hammond’s voice suggested they’d request asylum from the one group of people Kennedy, like Kensey had thrown a fit over. The one group of people they thought were made up by the SGC until everyone saw O’Neill’s bloodwork and Teal’c’s fancy new blaster staff.
“No, the Nox. So, you can take this to your superiors, and I’ll call the President and we can both ask our bosses if its worth making an enemy of them for some trinkets.”
Kennedy hoped he wasn’t going pale at the confirmation. “Admiral, I’m just trying to do my duty.”
Hammond snorted. Kennedy came close to losing it at that, who the hell did he think he was accusing a one-star general of divided loyalties! “With respect, Admiral.” Hammond cut him off “Damnit Roark they rule three Galaxies! They can throw more ships at us than every blue water navy on earth combined without straining their logistics and each of their infantryman is good enough to match three of ours and that’s the below average ones! Teal’c can kick the crap out of a dozen Rangers without breaking a sweat and one of their battlefield commanders kicked his ass and killed three of my best while he was nursing injuries from a damn vacuum bomb!”
“Admiral…” Kennedy felt the heat evaporated in his voice, feeling less like a career military man and more like a snot nosed cadet. But he couldn’t help it, nothing rattled George Hammond and George Hammond was rattled now. You didn’t have to like the man to realize how serious that was.
“Damnit son, think long and hard about the kind of games we can safely continue to play under those conditions.”
Hammond was right, General Kennedy realized, much as it pained him to admit it. Hammond was completely correct. But that didn’t excuse the sanctimony he possessed to think it was his place in history to be the shield for all mankind. Kennedy might have mustered up the courage to say this to Hammond had the base not gone to hell in a hand basket in that moment.
The ground shook, it was subtle and soft, but it was a tremor none the less and Kennedy remembered this part from the early attempts to active the device. Hammond yelled something to O’Reilly their communications and gate control operator who activated the famed iris, a bit of technology that was so far ahead of the rest of the US military that it could only come from the wreck at Groom Lake. A lightshow flickered off the gray concrete as the Iris closed blocking the rush of dimensional energy Kennedy knew to come from the wormhole stabilizing (At least, as far as he could tell in the videos.) and he observed sentries turning to focus on the sealed portal.
Hammond’s eyes narrowed and Kennedy followed his view to the iris which seemed to distort and warble. “Admiral, is that normal?”
“No, it isn’t.” Hammond answered before he gestured to the Gate operator.
Soon, the Admiral’s voice boomed over the intercoms, an omnipresent heavenly command to clear the gate room.
Something came through just as the last of the “Space marines” abandoned the Gate room leaving the newest autocannons to swivel towards…A basket?
A basket with fruit?
A second later power cut out completely.
Hammond cursed and stormed out of the operations room and made his way towards the stairs, Kennedy following in time to see Kensey howling at the guards to let her pass. Following the Admiral and ignoring his boss for now, the irate General entered behind the General who managed to gain access to the former missile silo turned wormhole generator platform (He hated calling it a Stargate, it sounded wrong.) in time to see a rush of colors appearing like a cascade of glitter “pass” through the iris, dancing like something out of a psychedelic drawing until they began to come together gradually taking shape.
The shape of a woman in her late fifties, with long hair that he assumed would be gray and a military uniform that reminded him of the Union Blues he saw in civil war paintings, albeit the colors seemed different to him even though the hologram was (likely intentionally crude.) little more than an outline of the woman. Her eyes, he could tell even from the poor rendition were cold and hard, cruel.
Kensey like eyes.
“You are the one the Ashrak’s call the Tau’Ri war master, Hammond of Texas?” she asked the bald Texan. Who stepped forward “One of them Ma’am.”
Ashrak? Ah yes, the people the Jaffa exile said were the Imperium’s version of the CIA, right. It bothered him immensely that their intel community guys knew the Admirals name and held it in regard. As if the damn Texan needed anymore accolades heaped on him.
“Then I wish we could have met under less contentious circumstances Admiral.” Her English was accented, in a voice that was clearly not accustomed to pronouncing words the way they had in the English language and if Kennedy could guess, any language that humans on earth spoke except maybe Bantu (It was just a hunch but there was something in the way she sounded that made him think she was resisting the urge to click.). “I am Grand Regent Travell, leader of the Tollan Curia and supreme commander of its security forces. I am given to understand you’ve a planetary governor and several members of his personal retinue detained on Abydos.”
“I do Ma’am.” Hammond remarked looking up at the floating projection, meeting the shadowy imperious gaze of the projection. Man alive, this was not good. He trusted the reports coming back from both Makepeace and Landry regarding the Tollans but nothing could have properly prepared him for what he saw in her features. Those were the eyes of a fanatic; he’d seen many of them in his career, they wore many shapes, came in many colors and in devotion to many different causes, faiths and creeds. In his youth, it had communist, in his prime it had been communist, separatist, South American and African fascists or hedonistic drug kingpins and in his old age it had Islamists, narcos again and ecoterrorists and more. These were the first alien eyes he’d seen since Apophis that burned with fanaticism. But where Apophis was fanatically devoted to himself and the art of war, these were the eyes of someone willing to commit atrocities to advance the most mundane needs of her people.
“We surveyed your world on a routine exploration mission and happened to find them injured, we nursed them back to health and plan to send them on their way.”
“Excellent so you’ll turn them over to me as soon as this conversation reaches its terminus?” the woman asked in a way that sounded almost sneering. “I thought you said they wouldn’t be happy on your world with its lower technology?” Hammond asked, a slight edge in his voice and the accusatory nature of his inflection wasn’t lost on either of them.
She smiled, it was a smile of recognition but it was predatory. “Now, now Admiral. You’re not in a position to be.” she paused, searching for the word. “Oppositional?”
The way she used that word made Kennedy’s skin crawl.
“Ma’am from what they told General Landry they were concerned they wouldn’t survive very long on Rax-Narya.”
Her eyes narrowed slightly, evidently this Governor committed a faux pas by admitting to this. “And is this your concern?”
Hammond sighed. “Ordinarily no, not unless they request Asylum, my counterpart on Abydos was preparing to-“
“Sanctuary?” She queried incredulously. She knew all of this already, she had too, she’d stolen the data after all.
“I think we both know who they asked asylum from.”
Her features shifted, some of the bravado fell away. “They don’t exist.”
“But they do, in fact they accepted the Asylum request and are enroute to retrieve Governor Omoc and his cohorts as we speak.”
The woman seemed to bite down on the inside of her mouth and her sneering posture all but evaporated for a microsecond before it was replaced with a front of aloofness. “Admiral, I am going to make something clear to you on behalf of the Curia. We, accept that your involvement in this affair was merely as hapless barbarians stumbling upon the aftermath of a terrible accident. Well meaning, if primitive and we appreciate your efforts to save our kind. However, we are going to ask you to keep our deception a secret from the Goa’uld, whether they’re denizens of the Imperium or not. You may trade with our outpost worlds, we’ll even offer favored amongst nation terms but you will not attempt to discover our more..advanced worlds nor will you ever attempt to plunder technology from Tollan ruin, nor will you ever involve yourself in our internal affairs again. We will accept, a limited trade-based alliance upon those grounds.” Kennedy’s ears perked up at the constant bizarreness of the specific phrasing she kept using. Phrasing that seemed to be the product of someone who had just learned the language in books but not on the streets but too perfectly incorrect and he suddenly wondered if the subtle hints he thought he detected with her language were real or if they were even more layers of Tollan bullshit.
Luckily, Hammond had been authorized to agree to just demands on that level, but not liking the idea of being seen to capitulate to threats the Admiral stepped forward. “And if we decide to trade this information for say, access to artificial gravity or a better trade agreement?”
She smiled, a wide smile now, venomous. “Then the next thing I send through your event horizon seal shall be a Naquadah enhanced antimatter bomb. One with a sufficient yield to vaporize a hemisphere's worth of land mass on a typical planet of the dimensions that your species seems to love so much. Enough to murder your branch of Lotars in its crib and believe me Admiral, if we determine that your people have betrayed us, we will ensure that Tau’Ri becomes little more than space dust and memories.”
Kennedy froze in place, panic filling his chest.
Hammond kept whatever he felt below the surface. “Ra tried that.”
She laughed. “No he didn’t and in any case, I am not Ra, I am not weighed down by the legend I built for myself and my shackles are not some imaginary debt to a dead daughter, I am Myzzenia Travell and my only duty is to the Tollan people. Do we understand one another?”
“Completely.”
“Excellent! Well, while I am glad to have met you Admiral, I hope for the sake of your world that we never need interact again.”
As quickly as she appeared, the leader of the Tollan’s image vanished and lights returned to the base.
@Spartan303's reaction to Travell inspired this and I partially want to see what @Knowledgeispower Is going to recommend in terms of an appropriate response to her antics.
Also, lemme thank @Harlock Because his interpretation of the Dilgar served as a bit of a muse for how Travell is going to address this..prickly mess.
……….
Avalon
“Our conversation was not for your ears; we will continue to talk as I continue to talk to you.” She seemed to smile slightly. “So, tell me child, why are the Tollan seeking me out for knowledge on how to build a stargate, when they have real time faster than light communication. Something not easily done without a Stargate network?”
Jackson blinked…Then laughed at the insanity of it all. They were lying and misdirecting even now? Did Omoc not realize just how much danger he was in?! Forget worrying about Travell this woman would hurl him into a star if she got annoyed. One didn’t trifle with the Morrigan, all myths agreed on that. “You mean to tell me; he already knows how?”
“No.” She answered calmly, the tone of a mother gently nudging a child through a math exorcise. Though, something flickered in those eyeless sockets, the stars therein shifted slightly. “Now, now little boy, you’re smarter than that reason it out.”
It was entirely unsettling to be addressed like that by the Morrigan Daniel decided. Which he suspected was partially the point, she wanted to test his deductive skills while under fire. Perhaps slower than he intended, something clicked in Daniel, his mind rolling over the odd phrasing of their words, the way they described how they founded their first worlds. -Since we came to your stars…Omoc didn’t mean...- His eyes widened and her looked at the looming Goddess who smiled and held a finger up to her lips. “Not yet, save that one for when it will be most valuable.”
Jackson swallowed, thickness in his throat. “But why all the deception then if they’re planting subtle hints at the truth of themselves?”
“Sweet boy” The Morrigan laughed softly, it was a laughter that might have sounded kind coming from anyone else but from her, Daniel felt his heart sink. “Are those not the best places to hide lies?”
Fair point, Daniel reasoned. “Oookkayy..So some Tollan worlds have Stargates..But they’re not detected by the Goa’uld..” It was a stretch but when he saw her give the barest of nods Daniel had to wonder just how advanced the Tollan really were and if so, would pursuing an alliance with them be worth the aggravation and intrigue? And sheer danger, given their willingness to mercilessly exploit other cultures to keep themselves one step ahead of potential enemies.
She made a tsk, tsk type noise and Daniel was shrouded in darkness, the world fading away before his very eyes until he was adrift in a sea of stars, wispy, smoke like tendrils of shadow holding him in place, shadow that leaked out like feathers from the Morrigan’s form. “Significant Technological advantages were possessed by the alliance of the elder races against the Imperium. Yet all but three members of that alliance are extinct now, would you ask this of the Tollan people?”
“No” Daniel admitted, especially not when peace seemed to be a real possibility after their fight with Horus. Not when they were more likely to send a bomb through the gate on Earth than even the Goa’uld were given how paranoid and isolationist they seemed to be. “No, I suppose they wouldn’t help us any way.”
She smiled “But that isn’t the topic of our discussion”
“They withhold technology even from their own kind?” Daniel asked, grateful for the tangent that gave him enough time to think. Even if it had been discouraging, there was a larger enigma that needed to be unraveled about the Tollan people. “Why the paranoia? Why the fear?”
She laughed, it rang like bells in his mind and chilled his blood. “That is an interesting question to ask given who rules your stars.”
Admittedly, it was an odd question, but he didn’t really get the impression that most of the System Lords would really care about conquering the Tollans from how Teal’c described them and from his experience with Horus. He understood the need to defend oneself thought and the more he thought about it the more he realized it made little and less sense that they didn’t approach openly with the ability to defend themselves clear, specifically to prevent any attempts at overt hostilities. There was the cultural concern, they hated anything not Tollan but even then, a show of force might have been enough to convince the System Lords to leave them alone outside of isolated trade ports.
They hated the Goa’uld, feared them just as they hated and feared everyone else..No, not as they hated and feared everyone else. They were positively hysterical in their terror…
An answer danced in his head, and Jackson’s eyes widened. “Wait, if they’re of a distant Galaxy and are pathologically terrified of the Goa’uld to where they’d pull such an elaborate stunt..But that doesn’t…The Goa’uld had no idea what the Tollan were capable of, I don’t think they’d just forget an enemy like…” Something clicked in Daniel’s mind out of reach and whatever realization came to him was dashed aside when he suddenly became aware that something was stroking his cheek and it was one of the Morrigan’s hands, which looked silky and velvety and soft but to his horror felt more like old worn out bones rapping at his cheeks. He was once again made away of the fact that he was swimming in an ocean of shadowy, ink like tendrils that extended from this “woman’s” being and though she might have looked like a beautiful (If freakishly tall.) woman, one needed only to gaze into those empty sockets that held constellations that reflected back at him in that odd silver light to remember that neither she nor her species were anything close to human.
“Ah, there’s my clever boy. This conversation stays between us, but you asked the right question in the end and passed the test..Omoc owes you his life.”
Doctor Daniel Jackson’s fight for flight response damn near overwhelmed his senses and he managed to stop himself from struggling just as darkness completely enveloped him, subsuming him as the Morrigu’s laughter became the only thing he heard or felt.
Then suddenly just as he was consumed by the black, he was assaulted by a series of lights and sounds, curses and the clicking of triggers and then alarmed cry of “hold fire!” from a voice he recognized as belonging to one of Jack’s daughters.
“Doctor Jackson?” a mix of fear mixed with that steely confidence and the O’Neill family swagger, yeah definitely the Petty Officer daughter. “Sandy..err..yeah it’s us.” Omoc stood beside him grim faced as usual but there was something different in his eyes, they were softer, wearier.
He’d brought his arrogance before the Nox and been humbled by their Nightmare Queen.
“I take it the big lady’s a Nox?”
Oh, so that was why guns were being pointed at him.
Wait…He whipped around and noted the Gate was most definitely not active, nor did it retain the faint glow it often held when it had recently deactivated. Had she just teleported them here?
No, wait…before the tendrils of darkness enveloped him, Daniel had the unique sensation of floating in..his eyes shifted the Morrigan who smiled knowingly at him. “Sweet boy, conversations are hardly ever idle, aren’t they?”
“How long have we been gone?” Daniel asked somewhat alarmed, given the bewildered look of those present around him.
“Sixteen Abydonian hours, fourteen of your hours.” Answered Omoc, whose mechanical bits must have alerted him to the time difference.
sixteen hours…
……….
Cheyenne Mountain
Nineteen ninety-six, that had been the last time he’d been in the mountain. In Hammond’s Mountain, Brigadier General Roark Marion Kennedy had to remind himself. This was enemy territory, no matter how he sliced it, no matter how insane that wop bitch was and no matter how much she provoked the Admiral, this was always going to be enemy territory because General Kennedy, head of the laughably titled “United States Space Force Stellar intelligence division” had been an ally and protégé of Major General West and one of those allied with Kensey. Like Samuels, he was reasonably certain that the Admiral was behind General West’s rather sudden heart attack.
And so, he entered the complex with an escort slightly larger than ordinary retinue to apprehend four refugees and people he knew were absolutely loyal to him. Nineteen ninety-six, had been the year the Space Force moved the Stargate from Groom Lake to the mountain where it was expected to achieve no results despite West’s odd obsession with it and the work of that Nicholas Ballard guy. That had been the year that started everything, the year that marked the beginning of the end for his faction unless they could wrest control from Hayes and his cadre of heroes.
The reception had been warmer than he expected, with Colonel Shepherd of the Stellar Rangers and Lieutenant Davis meeting his group at the elevator and escorting him passed the conference room where the Congresswoman was no doubt sitting and seething. That warmth belied a taunt, no doubt. “This is our mountain, this project is hours.” Kennedy’s gnarled face twisted into a scowl. Eighteen years ago he’d nearly lost most of the skin on his cheek and around his orbital socket on the right side of his face, it had been hanging off by a thread of sinew and the reconstructive surgery left him with a jagged scar that ran from his eyebrow to his chin, down to his throat. Maybourne had been a young naval intelligence officer then, his “research” had seen Kennedy’s team which was a combined force unit out into some Afghan ruin chasing rumors, O’Neill had saved his life that day then Jack had gone and ruined their friendship by walking away from West for Ellis years later. Bastard those cold war fossils had absconded with so much talent out from under him over the years. -Die you senile wretch- was a frequent thought upon seeing Hammond.
Of course, the vice like grip of the Admiral’s handshake put any notion of that pipe dream to bed. “Admiral, I’ve got an order from Secretary Esper to conduct several interviews with the Tollan.”
“That’s all you were able to get huh? She must be losing her touch.” Hammond remarked.
“As things are, I’d like to get to Abydos to conduct my interviews.”
“I’m sorry General, but I can’t allow that. Abydos suffered a security breach and General Landry locked the base down until they can be absolutely sure their security isn’t compromised.”
“How convenient.”
Hammond’s eyes hardened. “Son, I’m not sure a major cyber attack on the most important offshore facility the US has counts as convenient.”
Kennedy unconsciously took a step back, damnit!
“Besides, even if the facility wasn’t in lockdown I’m not sure I could grant you, your request if the Tollans refuse, not without consulting Woolsey or Secretary Weir.”
“How so?” Kennedy asked, doing his best to meet the judgment in Hammond’s tone with steel.
“Because they requested an asylum from a people we have a mining agreement with.”
Kennedy narrowed his eyes. “Abydos gave them asylum?” he asked, trying to keep his voice as firm and accusatory as possible. There were a few planets the SGC had already secured treaties with, but the slight mocking in Hammond’s voice suggested they’d request asylum from the one group of people Kennedy, like Kensey had thrown a fit over. The one group of people they thought were made up by the SGC until everyone saw O’Neill’s bloodwork and Teal’c’s fancy new blaster staff.
“No, the Nox. So, you can take this to your superiors, and I’ll call the President and we can both ask our bosses if its worth making an enemy of them for some trinkets.”
Kennedy hoped he wasn’t going pale at the confirmation. “Admiral, I’m just trying to do my duty.”
Hammond snorted. Kennedy came close to losing it at that, who the hell did he think he was accusing a one-star general of divided loyalties! “With respect, Admiral.” Hammond cut him off “Damnit Roark they rule three Galaxies! They can throw more ships at us than every blue water navy on earth combined without straining their logistics and each of their infantryman is good enough to match three of ours and that’s the below average ones! Teal’c can kick the crap out of a dozen Rangers without breaking a sweat and one of their battlefield commanders kicked his ass and killed three of my best while he was nursing injuries from a damn vacuum bomb!”
“Admiral…” Kennedy felt the heat evaporated in his voice, feeling less like a career military man and more like a snot nosed cadet. But he couldn’t help it, nothing rattled George Hammond and George Hammond was rattled now. You didn’t have to like the man to realize how serious that was.
“Damnit son, think long and hard about the kind of games we can safely continue to play under those conditions.”
Hammond was right, General Kennedy realized, much as it pained him to admit it. Hammond was completely correct. But that didn’t excuse the sanctimony he possessed to think it was his place in history to be the shield for all mankind. Kennedy might have mustered up the courage to say this to Hammond had the base not gone to hell in a hand basket in that moment.
The ground shook, it was subtle and soft, but it was a tremor none the less and Kennedy remembered this part from the early attempts to active the device. Hammond yelled something to O’Reilly their communications and gate control operator who activated the famed iris, a bit of technology that was so far ahead of the rest of the US military that it could only come from the wreck at Groom Lake. A lightshow flickered off the gray concrete as the Iris closed blocking the rush of dimensional energy Kennedy knew to come from the wormhole stabilizing (At least, as far as he could tell in the videos.) and he observed sentries turning to focus on the sealed portal.
Hammond’s eyes narrowed and Kennedy followed his view to the iris which seemed to distort and warble. “Admiral, is that normal?”
“No, it isn’t.” Hammond answered before he gestured to the Gate operator.
Soon, the Admiral’s voice boomed over the intercoms, an omnipresent heavenly command to clear the gate room.
Something came through just as the last of the “Space marines” abandoned the Gate room leaving the newest autocannons to swivel towards…A basket?
A basket with fruit?
A second later power cut out completely.
Hammond cursed and stormed out of the operations room and made his way towards the stairs, Kennedy following in time to see Kensey howling at the guards to let her pass. Following the Admiral and ignoring his boss for now, the irate General entered behind the General who managed to gain access to the former missile silo turned wormhole generator platform (He hated calling it a Stargate, it sounded wrong.) in time to see a rush of colors appearing like a cascade of glitter “pass” through the iris, dancing like something out of a psychedelic drawing until they began to come together gradually taking shape.
The shape of a woman in her late fifties, with long hair that he assumed would be gray and a military uniform that reminded him of the Union Blues he saw in civil war paintings, albeit the colors seemed different to him even though the hologram was (likely intentionally crude.) little more than an outline of the woman. Her eyes, he could tell even from the poor rendition were cold and hard, cruel.
Kensey like eyes.
“You are the one the Ashrak’s call the Tau’Ri war master, Hammond of Texas?” she asked the bald Texan. Who stepped forward “One of them Ma’am.”
Ashrak? Ah yes, the people the Jaffa exile said were the Imperium’s version of the CIA, right. It bothered him immensely that their intel community guys knew the Admirals name and held it in regard. As if the damn Texan needed anymore accolades heaped on him.
“Then I wish we could have met under less contentious circumstances Admiral.” Her English was accented, in a voice that was clearly not accustomed to pronouncing words the way they had in the English language and if Kennedy could guess, any language that humans on earth spoke except maybe Bantu (It was just a hunch but there was something in the way she sounded that made him think she was resisting the urge to click.). “I am Grand Regent Travell, leader of the Tollan Curia and supreme commander of its security forces. I am given to understand you’ve a planetary governor and several members of his personal retinue detained on Abydos.”
“I do Ma’am.” Hammond remarked looking up at the floating projection, meeting the shadowy imperious gaze of the projection. Man alive, this was not good. He trusted the reports coming back from both Makepeace and Landry regarding the Tollans but nothing could have properly prepared him for what he saw in her features. Those were the eyes of a fanatic; he’d seen many of them in his career, they wore many shapes, came in many colors and in devotion to many different causes, faiths and creeds. In his youth, it had communist, in his prime it had been communist, separatist, South American and African fascists or hedonistic drug kingpins and in his old age it had Islamists, narcos again and ecoterrorists and more. These were the first alien eyes he’d seen since Apophis that burned with fanaticism. But where Apophis was fanatically devoted to himself and the art of war, these were the eyes of someone willing to commit atrocities to advance the most mundane needs of her people.
“We surveyed your world on a routine exploration mission and happened to find them injured, we nursed them back to health and plan to send them on their way.”
“Excellent so you’ll turn them over to me as soon as this conversation reaches its terminus?” the woman asked in a way that sounded almost sneering. “I thought you said they wouldn’t be happy on your world with its lower technology?” Hammond asked, a slight edge in his voice and the accusatory nature of his inflection wasn’t lost on either of them.
She smiled, it was a smile of recognition but it was predatory. “Now, now Admiral. You’re not in a position to be.” she paused, searching for the word. “Oppositional?”
The way she used that word made Kennedy’s skin crawl.
“Ma’am from what they told General Landry they were concerned they wouldn’t survive very long on Rax-Narya.”
Her eyes narrowed slightly, evidently this Governor committed a faux pas by admitting to this. “And is this your concern?”
Hammond sighed. “Ordinarily no, not unless they request Asylum, my counterpart on Abydos was preparing to-“
“Sanctuary?” She queried incredulously. She knew all of this already, she had too, she’d stolen the data after all.
“I think we both know who they asked asylum from.”
Her features shifted, some of the bravado fell away. “They don’t exist.”
“But they do, in fact they accepted the Asylum request and are enroute to retrieve Governor Omoc and his cohorts as we speak.”
The woman seemed to bite down on the inside of her mouth and her sneering posture all but evaporated for a microsecond before it was replaced with a front of aloofness. “Admiral, I am going to make something clear to you on behalf of the Curia. We, accept that your involvement in this affair was merely as hapless barbarians stumbling upon the aftermath of a terrible accident. Well meaning, if primitive and we appreciate your efforts to save our kind. However, we are going to ask you to keep our deception a secret from the Goa’uld, whether they’re denizens of the Imperium or not. You may trade with our outpost worlds, we’ll even offer favored amongst nation terms but you will not attempt to discover our more..advanced worlds nor will you ever attempt to plunder technology from Tollan ruin, nor will you ever involve yourself in our internal affairs again. We will accept, a limited trade-based alliance upon those grounds.” Kennedy’s ears perked up at the constant bizarreness of the specific phrasing she kept using. Phrasing that seemed to be the product of someone who had just learned the language in books but not on the streets but too perfectly incorrect and he suddenly wondered if the subtle hints he thought he detected with her language were real or if they were even more layers of Tollan bullshit.
Luckily, Hammond had been authorized to agree to just demands on that level, but not liking the idea of being seen to capitulate to threats the Admiral stepped forward. “And if we decide to trade this information for say, access to artificial gravity or a better trade agreement?”
She smiled, a wide smile now, venomous. “Then the next thing I send through your event horizon seal shall be a Naquadah enhanced antimatter bomb. One with a sufficient yield to vaporize a hemisphere's worth of land mass on a typical planet of the dimensions that your species seems to love so much. Enough to murder your branch of Lotars in its crib and believe me Admiral, if we determine that your people have betrayed us, we will ensure that Tau’Ri becomes little more than space dust and memories.”
Kennedy froze in place, panic filling his chest.
Hammond kept whatever he felt below the surface. “Ra tried that.”
She laughed. “No he didn’t and in any case, I am not Ra, I am not weighed down by the legend I built for myself and my shackles are not some imaginary debt to a dead daughter, I am Myzzenia Travell and my only duty is to the Tollan people. Do we understand one another?”
“Completely.”
“Excellent! Well, while I am glad to have met you Admiral, I hope for the sake of your world that we never need interact again.”
As quickly as she appeared, the leader of the Tollan’s image vanished and lights returned to the base.
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Boooyy I hope that was worth the wait...
I'm not sure which one I'd despise more upon meeting them. Kensey or Travell. Both are psychopaths.
Travell can at least say she's protecting her species albeit in the most insane way possible.
Kensey is out there trying to build a dynasty at the expense of her planet.
So has anyone figured out the "enigma" part of this episode yet? Specifically the riddle of the totally rational Tollan?
Knowledgeispower
Ah I love the smell of missile spam in the morning
Well is it's a bad thing that I'm really wanting the gate to be located in another nearby system on some unimportant rock linked by a few cargo ships running people and supplies there. Also that Tollan bitch is going to get hers.....deploys a formation of Forerunner Fortresses Class Dreadnoughts to scour the Universe of all tollan. And the snakes while I'm at it
Luminescence
New member
The fruit basket was a nice touch, what a smug bitch.
Yeah one of the first things Hammond is going to request once he manages to get on terms with the Asgard or the Snakes is going to be one of those neat energy shield systems that the Abydos gate uses and if that proves ineffective. To relocate Stargate Command to Io or something.
Yeah, she will.
That I do have planned, I just don't know how yet but she absolutely will.
I rewatched the episodes with Travell and I realized just how phenomenally arrogant she was and realized I was a fool for worrying about my rendition being over the top.
"Listen Monkey, you put me in a bad spot. So here's a bribe but also step out of line again and I'll blow you and your tree up."
I totally missed it.