Update time! The attempt to unravel the mystery of the Tollan continues apace, Lorne gets a POV and Landry gets to show off why they'd let a guy who designs stealth planes and spaceships for a living command a forward action base.
O'Neill spars with the Tollan leader!
@Harlock @paulobrito @Gladiator Had to follow up the hype of the Nox with something at least half as good
Rax-Narya
.......
Captain Evan Lorne wasn’t exactly sure what he expected when he stepped through the gate, leading a team of nine rangers and two Abydonian interpreters. He knew that there was apparently a contradiction in intelligence on one of their potential trade partners, that the ruined yet highly advanced planet SG-1 discovered was Tollan. And that they now suspected there was some kind of op to conceal the true extent of their technological capabilities. He also knew his primary mission here was to contact the leaders of the Tollan colonies on Rax-Narya and inform them that some of their people didn’t make it out. Ostensibly this was just a rescue mission but given the seeming number of unknown variables here, it could have easily gone south and so he was told to watch himself.
Unknown number of variables, it seemed to Lorne like everyone assumed the Tollan were this supersecret advanced society that posed as comparatively primitive tradesmen when to him there seemed a much more logical explanation. Mainly, that the Tollan he encountered here were from a splinter group that broke off, maybe their version of a luddite movement or Amish? There were plenty of subcultures on earth that did that, the Lorne family ranch was on the outskirts of a commune of wealthy ex hippies who had abandoned the cities to form their own rural villages and while they had indoor plumbing and heating and cooling, most of their daily lives were spent living simply and rustically. They hunted and fished, farmed the way people farmed in the nineteenth century, dedicated their craftwork and art to something similar to the renaissance. They made whiskey and cider and were probably on their third generation living like that. He supposed by the standards of the Tollans the sprawling city that laid out before him and reminded him of old timey photos of New York City at the turn of the twentieth century would have been the equivalent.
It was a city on an inlet, he could smell the sea air and the docks loomed ahead of him with vessels that seemed to have rudimentary steam power and were those paddle wheels? The flags were different, the dress was different but if he didn’t know any better, he would have sworn that they had traveled through time instead of to another planet (Could a Stargate even do that?). The lead gate in the square shut off behind them and he took note of the fact that it was imposing and black with pink crystals in the chevrons, an uncomfortable reminder of the long reach of Apophis. There were six other gates, each resting one behind the other spaced out creating a wedge pattern. Those must have been the closed network Gates that Teal’c had mentioned, that could only go to one planet. Each one was enormous and color coded, greens and blues that reminded him of the Abydonian pyramids, one flanked by statues of Anubis and another by statues of Horus, another with a golden Eagle -Zeus- Lorne thought with a shudder, his interpreter having been one of the survivors of the Avalon raid. There were groups of laborers moving what looked like a cross between a buffalo and triceratops that was sleeping lazily in said crate (Evidently he was being sent to stud or was a prized animal as there was no fear there.) while a Kelownan heckled them for their laziness. Others from the class designated as Lotar seemed to bustle around them and Lorne felt uneasy. This was such a security risk, if anyone of these went back to any planet in King Cobra’s domain then the Serpent guard would be on their asses before sunset.
Ahead of them a group of men in blue uniform that reminded him of a city cop in a period drama walked over to them. The leader of the group identified himself as Artis and that he was one of the customs officers. He spoke space Egyptian/Imperial Standard damn well and didn’t seem to have trouble understand the accent or dialect of the Abydonians at all.
“He says he welcomes more of the Tau’Ri to
Rax-Narya.”
Lorne nodded and then decided to break the ice “Tell him, his tone of voice suggests otherwise.”
The man frowned when this was relayed then shrugged.
“He says, there are many rumors flying around about your involvement in the ascension of Amun Ra” evidently. The imperial cult didn’t bill it as a death, merely that his body was destroyed, and his divine essence was FedExed to his proper place in control of all creation. “This makes him nervous for security reasons, it would look bad on and severely impact their commerce if the System Lords were to decide to embargo this world for conducting business with criminals from a hostile enemy power.”
Fair Lorne reasoned. “Then why hasn’t his government shown us the door?”
“He says, the
Curia was given assurances that there would be no ramifications to Rax-Narya if they merely do business with the Tau’Ri but sign no treaty of alliance nor defend them in any future conflict. Evidently this O’Neill impressed Prince Horus enough to suspend hostilities”
Translation, they’re forgiving the Tollan and likely paying for intel on our capabilities and intentions out here. Lorne thought bitterly and given the look on the lawman’s face, it seemed as if he recognized what Lorne was thinking and his shrug and “what the hell did you expect?” look told him all he needed to know about his odds of getting any sympathy here. “Officer Artis asks if you’d like to go on a ride on their subterranean locomotive. He says the rail lines were completed last year and they’ve cut congestion in the streets down by fifty percent.”
A subway from the rag time era? Lorne was honestly fascinated; he’d always loved trains as a kid. “I would be honored but tell him we come on an urgent matter and that I need to confer with Colonel Makepeace.”
The customs officer frowned asking if everything was alright back home and if Lord Apophis had made any attempts to breach their gate or if Prince Horus had shown up for a round two.
“Luckily yes, We’ve never had a breach of our home gate and I suppose Prince Horus is as an honorable as everyone says he is, because he hasn’t attempted any hostility towards us.” Thank God for small favors he supposed. The hotel they were taken to was several blocks down the bustling street, he had offered to fetch a cab for them but Lorne wanted to take in more of the city. Evidently this planet had a population of under half a billion, but there were nine such cities on Rax-Narya and a trans continental railway that ferried people between them and the myriad of towns in two weeks. Given the pride in the man’s voice it was no doubt the pinnacle of their achievement, yet Lorne was somewhat skeptical of that, the tech level he saw in the city proper was a few decades ahead of that sort of travel time, trains of the 1880’s tended to take four or five days to make it across the US, though Lorne admittedly had no idea how large this continent was. Some other things raised his hackles, the city was too clean, there was no stench, no filth, no smoke from factories nor smog from the trolly’s or primitive cars. The steamboats themselves, didn’t really steam. Oh sure, they bellowed, and he could see steam but there was no smoke and the buildings themselves shimmered in the light of day akin to the way the Pyramids on Abydos did. He was starting to think maybe the SGC was right, and this was one gigantic con, but if so? Why?
The hotel he found Makepeace and the other’s at was something right out of the gilded age. Granite and marble everywhere, bird cages and indoor fountains, stained glass and the most sophisticated lighting he could see (and it was again oddly cool inside this Hotel.), Makepeace and his team were enjoying Dino-Buffalo steaks and sharing a bottle of bourbon with the Tollan representatives (Damnit! What if they have an allergic reaction!) saluting to the Colonel, Makepeace rose and walked forward. “Captain?”
“We need to talk sir…”
“Can it wait? We’re in the middle of sealing a trade deal.”
“No sir…General Landry’s orders.”
“Alright.” He turned and went into that used car salesmen speak that made Makepeace such a consummate bullshit artist and so effective on these trade deals. The Tollans were all too happy to agree to a recess and Makepeace sent them away with bottles of Cognac (Damnit sir!). Once the two were able to meet in the Colonel’s private suite the atmosphere tensed pretty quickly and within ten minutes there was a call to the Tollan representatives asking to speak with a member of the Curia their insistence sending ripples of concern through watchful eyes.
…………
Abydos
...........
Skara’s first impression of the elderly man who lay propped up in the Tau’Ri bed, his bald head and white whiskers, cold gray eyes was that he possessed the same imperiousness of Hammond of Texas and the same remote coldness of Amun Ra, though he detected none of the Godhead’s ruthlessness. Still, undercurrents of bitterness filled the young leader, a people so advanced out in the stars that they (as best as he could understand it.) could harness untold amounts of energies from the nothingness between matter and construct rescue ships larger than the mountain sized pyramids of Abydos in the middle of a cataclysm and yet they had done nothing to help his people from their bondage?
It was an unfair bitterness, Skara understood. Even if they did possess technology in excess of the System Lords from what Skara could infer from the imperial religion’s hyperbole and allegory that even the more advanced races of the cosmos were overwhelmed by numbers and ingenuity in the end. Still, Skara couldn’t help himself, he missed his sister and the young man in him wanted someone to blame other than cruel happenstance. -I can blame Apophis, but I can do nothing against him, I can blame Amunet, but I can’t reach her- He thought bitterly and felt a wave of shame as he realized how cowardly it was to be resentful of the Tollans. -I am not like that- Skara thought. Once it was clear that the man understood Imperial Standard, Skara introduced himself as Marshall of the Abydonian militia and then introduced General Henry Landry and Doctor Daniel Jackson of the Tau’Ri.
Perhaps that was a mistake because the man turned to the other two. “You’re the ones responsible for the death of Amun Ra? How did a species so primitive manage to destroy his pleasure barge?”
Landry shifted looking to Jackson. ‘Tell him, Ra ambushed our men and rigged a fission bomb with Naquadah, he intended to send it through the Stargate our soldiers tried to disarm it and failed, so with no other choice.”
“You used the Goa’uld matter conveyance technology to send the bomb to the
Mandjet.” He finished, his Imperial standard was flawless and he spoke it slowly enough that Skara could pick up the dialectic differences and the subtle hints of his accent and the youth wasn’t sure if the man was doing that to be demean his host or out of courtesy. He laughed bitterly at that “It is understandable response, but one that may unleash a war upon this galaxy that puts us all in danger..You are reckless.”
“Never the less, we are here.”
“That is true.” He conceded to Landry through Jackson. “And I find that remarkable, that the parent species of the so many Lotar is as unsophisticated as you appear to be and yet you’ve already clearly taken advantage of all the gifts that have fallen to your lap.”
“Glad we could impress you.” O’Neill had sauntered into the room, Kasuf and Teal’c beside him and caught the tail end of Jackson’s translation not like he needed the translation for the tone the apparent Tollan leader conveyed.
“You impress me the same way the apes that infest the Galaxy courtesy of the System Lords impress me when one of their kind grabs a discarded hammer and uses it to club his rivals to death.” Came the sneering reply, that Jackson again relayed with a pleading look to Skara and
“Ya, ya and guess what? Our monkey asses saved yours so why don’t you show a little gratitude.” Came O’Neill’s response matching venom for venom.
“Colonel.” Landry stepped forward. “You’re right, we haven’t your level of technology, I’m an engineer and I think I understand well enough just how little I understand the gap here, but he has a point we
did save your life
.”
The man laughed. “You were no doubt exploring the Gate Network and no doubt came about
Rax-Tolla by chance; an abandoned world in cataclysm and you set upon my world with the intent feast on its ruins and you expect me to show gratitude that in the midst of your grave robbing that you managed one act of decency?”
“The Tau’Ri are not buzzards!” Skara snapped angrily. “They help us even now, reclaim what was lost to us.”
Without a missing a beat the man snapped back “And tell me, when the Imperial Chamberlain returns from her sojourn and finally appoints a new Governor of your sector what will happen when they come to Abydos and find the presence of a foreign military and it’s..colonists.”
Skara went quiet, no one had actually considered that – because outside of Ra’s progress no one had seen any alien save for the ones the Tau’Ri brought back from Chulak. They had ignored Abydos for decades since the death of Sobek, why wouldn’t they merely continue to do the same? And perhaps they would have under normal circumstances, but times were not normal, and Skara felt a chill down his spine. Reflexively he responded with some declaration of an intent to drive the Serpent men from their world and he withered under the scornful gaze of the alien elder.
“This one isn’t qualified to speak for his people.”
“Are you?” Kasuf spoke for the first time, his tone even and calm betraying no hint of the indignant rage at the insult towards his son. “Did your people not ruin their world conducting an unsafe experiment?”
“He’s got a point.” Jack responded with a derisive laugh. Neither Jackson nor Skara bothered blunting his response.
Something flickered in the man’s eyes a mix of rage and guilt, and he turned towards General Landry. “With the assistance of your crude medical tools it will take three standard days for our bodies to fully repair themselves. I demand to the return of our equipment and release through the gate by then.”
After Jackson relayed the message Landry nodded his head. “We’re in agreement, you can have your stuff back, we’re aren’t thieves and we sure as hell aren’t grave robbers. We’ve already contacted
Rax-Narya, I’m sure your more…primitive cousins will welcome you.”
The man’s eyes shifted towards Landry, and they narrowed again. “
Where?”
Landry allowed himself a small smile, the shift was subtle, the surprise barely revealed on those hard features, but he caught it. -Got ya- “A planet that trades heavily with the System Lords, Peacekeepers and everyone else out there. They seem to be about a hundred years behind us, but it seems like you guys share the same language and naming convention for your planets.”
The man leaned back in his bed, coughing slightly. “General Landry, what are you insinuating?”
“Doctor Jackson, if you please?” Landry smiled amiable and Jackson shuffled as he stepped forward. “Well, the prefix Rax, I’ve been studying your language over the last few days, and it seems it’s a prefix that means “Colony of or founded by.” So, either
Rax-Tolla and
Rax-Narya were colonies of the same parent world…Or” He couldn’t even explain where the hunch came from or why both Teal’c and General Landry seemed to agree with it despite how illogical but.. He decided to go with it. “The same people.”
Something shifted in his eyes and the man almost smirked. “The manner in which you have worded that seems to imply you believe our original homeworld was lost.”
Jackson smiled ruffling his own hair nervously. “It’s a hunch.”
His reaction though, all but confirmed it. “My name is Omoc, I was governor General of
Rax-Tolla most of our people evacuated to a new world outside of the Stargate network. I chose to be among the last to leave and was caught up in a hyperspace spasm. As head of state, I demand the release of my people as soon as we are able to depart.”
“Release to where?” Teal’c asked. “If your people are outside the network then you know as well as I do, if you are outside imperial space, it may take years for a vessel to find you, do you choose exile upon some primitive world beyond imperial space? If so in good conscience the Tau’Ri would not easily let you leave save with the promise of aid.”
“I have said all that I will say War Master.” Omoc, as he was called laid back in bed, placing his mask on and seemed to allow himself to drift back into unconsciousness.
The only thing that impressed Colonel O’Neill more than how easily Daniel and Skara could keep pace with the conversation enough to translate it all was how arrogant these people pretended to be and how much they sucked at lying.
Not the planet mumbo jumbo, but the guilt and shame that he thought he hid behind a mask of arrogance and rudeness.
O’Neill knew that look, but he thought he did it better back when he still bothered.
Before he stepped through the gate, before he met Daniel and Skara and his team.
What the hell did you people do old man?