Posted: Wednesday 17 February 2010.


Disclaimer: This fanfiction uses existing ideas, characters and or worlds, but is an independent work of art. I own nothing, hence the reason for publishing my writings here instead of in real books where I could make some money.


Scourge of the Goa'uld – Chapter Two – Mischief


Ranma stepped through the Stargate once more.

It had been a month since he was transported away from his team. For some reason, he couldn't connect a Stargate within the system to the world the sprite said was the one his team had been sent to, and it didn't know of the terms Earth or Tau'ri to navigate its memory banks of Stargate addresses.

The reason for his extensive travel through the Stargate system now lay in the repairs of the Asgard Experimental Sleipnir class space ship. The planet where the ship had crashed didn't have all the materials necessary to make it capable of interstellar travel, let alone making it worth his time to find his home world, so he had to visit other planets where there might be the required minerals.

True, the Re-sequencer could have fabricated the minerals, but it would not have been as stable as the real thing without a control sample to compare it to, so the sprite had recommended gathering the necessary materials by hand, purify them with the Re-sequencer and keep them for future comparison.

Because it would take too much time to do on his own, Ranma had used the ship computer to find the plans for a drone the Asgard used for construction, mining and repairs – using one of these to make external repairs and one for internal repairs, Ranma was free to find the needed materials.

Making them out of the first version he'd made of the Re-sequencer with the help of the second one had taken only a day, but making the second device had already taken about as long as the first, given its more intricate complexity.

"My scans indicate that there should be an ample supply of Naquadah this way."

Ranma followed the direction the sprite indicated naquadah could be found.

For the weeks he'd known it, the sprite had been an invaluable companion. It was not only a good listener, but also provided excellent advise ... even if it was a little smug when Ranma was proven wrong.

The creators of the sprite was a race called the Furlings, and apparently it was equipped with a large bulk of their collective knowledge ... despite this knowledge, it had no idea where Earth was, nor how he could return to his original mission site. From what Ranma could pick up, there were several safety procedures that the Stargate system put into place at certain locations once it became hazardous to travel there through them, which made it impossible to travel in through any normal Stargate.

The Stargate on Earth did not have these safety protocols in place, because of the improvised dialling system, which meant that at some point in the future, they might cause some calamity in the system they entered, either in the form of entering a dying world, or upsetting some internal nuclear balance in either a nearby planet or star.

Cresting a hill, Ranma paused as he came to see the pyramid shape of a Goa'uld mother ship sitting near what was obviously a quarry.

"Are you sure it's safe?" asked Ranma as he crouched down and studied the landscape. There were patches of wood near the quarry, but between the Stargate and those woods were almost two kilometres of open ground, where anyone could be spotted easily until they had passed over the hill – but if there were Death Gliders, that stretch of land would make anyone attempting a retreat sitting ducks.

"With the physical parameters I have observed in you, there is only a negligible possibility that you will not be able to traverse the distance unseen."

"If you say so."

Swiftly, Ranma made for the tree-line, and within moments reached it.

Carefully moving through the cover of trees, bushes and shrubs, Ranma quickly made it to the edge of the quarry, where countless human beings were labouring under abhorring conditions, while Jaffa patrolled both in and around the area to ensure order and productivity.

It really aggravated Ranma to see such slave labour, and he wished he could do something about it – but as it were, he was not ready to wage war against an army of Jaffa single-handed ... yet.

However, looking between his assistant and the Ha'tak not too far off, Ranma got an idea ... one which had him smirking nastily and did not promise good news for those aboard the vessel.


The interior of the Ha'tak was impressively gaudy in Ranma's mind.

The walls were gold, though if this was only what appeared to be gold, gold plating or something else entirely, Ranma didn't know – and were covered in hieroglyphs.

And seen from a tactical point of view, the extra space covered mostly by square columns was very flawed – an enemy, such as himself, could easily hide behind them to take cover from Jaffa fire or to evade detection from the loud thumps of Jaffa feet marching down the curved corridor.

This was exactly what Ranma did to avoid the patrol of two Jaffa who marched along the corridor.

Though he was unfamiliar with the layout of the ship, the sprite had gotten the gist of it in a scan, and guided him to his desired destination.

While hiding from a larger patrol, Ranma came upon a store room with crates of weapons. He recognised the Staff Weapon, but the one that looked like a coiled snake was unfamiliar to him.

The sprite was not familiar with these new weapons, but a scan of them revealed their effects. One shot would stun any living target with lightning pains – a second shot would kill a living target – a third one would dissolve the molecular cohesion of the target of sufficiently small sizes, like humans or smaller, making the target disappear. This all had to be done within a few hours or the effects of the previous shots would not count into the effect.

Ranma picked one up and tested its weight in his hand – it felt about as heavy as a Desert Eagle without a clip.

A switch near the bottom of the handle caused the thing to pop open, uncoiling like a serpent striking, and a second depression of this switch folded it back down.

The internal battery was the same as in the staff weapon, which made them interchangeable.

"With some minor changes, the power source for these weapons could serve as an alternate power source for your repair drones," the sprite pointed out helpfully. "You should be able to carry them all in your large container if you remove the batteries from all these weapons."

"How much power would this thing give compared to the ones I made from the construction archive on the ship computer?" Ranma wondered as he pried open the weapon in his hands.

"Not much, but it should be able to provide enough power for the onboard Transporter to increase its range by two," admitted the sprite after a quick computation. "The current range of the repair drones' transporters is about the same distance as the closest moon to the Furling outpost – converted into your measurements, the current distance for the repair drones to transport material or themselves from the ship is at three-hundred thousand kilometres – with this battery in addition, a drone could move twice as long, but only once before it would require a recharge."

"A larger safety area for the drones would mean a larger area to scour for building materials," Ranma agreed. Though the Re-sequencer could make most materials from something else, it required less energy to transform an object from one substance to another – the closer the similarity, the less energy was required. Organics into other organics wasn't the easiest of feats for the re-sequencer, but it was simpler than trying to make an organic material into mineral, which was why Ranma limited the re-sequencing to matter of the same category.

"Indeed," confirmed the sprite.

"How long would it take to recharge one of these things?" asked Ranma and turned the small, clear crystal cylinder filled with a green glowing liquid.

"Preliminary scans estimate a recharge at one day of inactivity," clarified the sprite and scanned the crystal tube.

"SGC has some staff weapons on hand," Ranma mused. "How long would their power sources last before they are depleted?"

"Depending on the frequency of use, the batteries could theoretically last anywhere from an hour to several millennia, one being continuous use and the other every few days."

"It recharges itself? So if you let the weapon rest between use, you can make it last forever," concluded Ranma.

"With some design modifications, yes," agreed the sprite.

"Would these modifications make it possible to make a miniature re-sequencer?" asked Ranma suddenly.

"The range of uses for the Re-sequencer would be severely limited by a reduction in size," informed the sprite. "Is there a reason behind this inquiry?"

"Just thinking about making a bottomless gun clip," admitted Ranma, patting the clip of his MP5, which was resting at his side from the strap hanging from his right shoulder.

"Your primitive projectile weaponry is very inefficient - why not seek out better weapons to modify to suit your needs instead?"

"I can't argue that they're inefficient," admitted Ranma. "But they're familiar, and I'd like to start by improving on what I know before branching out to new weapons. For now, the most pressing issues with my weapons is their finite ammunition, their limited range, and their frailness to harsh environments. But we can discuss this later – right now, we have a shipment of naquadah to sniff out."

"It would be prudent of me to remind you that the re-sequencer might be capable of reshaping naquadah, but like all other special elements, it will be unable to duplicate the energy properties it holds unless more power than returned is used in their creation. Also, might I suggest that you bring along one of each weapon found in this storage chamber for further study?"

"Sure," Ranma yielded and started prying open the oddly decorative crates to check their content, a little disappointed to recall the limitations of the re-sequencer.

Five minutes later, Ranma emerged from the storage chamber with a staff weapon slung over one shoulder, one snake-like weapon hanging from his belt, and what appeared to be some sort of grenade in his pocket. The chamber had been left a mess, so Ranma decided to hurry his quest along in the event that someone stumbled upon the mess he'd made.

After many twists, turns and a few climbs through venting shafts, Ranma emerged in a large room filled with crystals – the engine room, the home of most ship functions with the exception of shielding, which was a few levels down ... he might have to stop in there on the way out ...

"Let's see ... could you figure out which of these things control sensors?" Ranma asked mischievously.

"Certainly," the sprite agreed. Several lines of light projected throughout the room. The sprite zipped through two columns of closed crystal stores and returned to Ranma's side. "System download complete – the bottom shelf of crystals on the right column pertains to scanning, long range sensors, short range sensors and internal sensors – all of them are currently off-line except the long range scanners. I would caution against disengaging this one at present as it would immediately alert the Goa'uld lord onboard of our presence."

"I was thinking more along the lines of disabling the other ones anyway," Ranma shrugged

Moving over to the specified shelf, Ranma pulled it out of the column and paused.

"Which ones are safe to remove?"

In response to Ranma's question, seven differently coloured crystals of differing sizes lit up, though as their added glow failed to reflect off the metallic surface of the column, Ranma was fairly certain it was only to his eyes that the glow grew. He had over the past weeks gotten used to this, and often wondered if anyone else would be able to see the sprite, or if only he could do so.

As carefully as possible, Ranma removed the crystals and stuffed them into his pocket.

"Now, where are the navigation controls?"

"The Navigational Control crystals are situated in the shelf directly behind you," the sprite informed him.

"Sweet," laughed Ranma and shoved the shelf back in before continuing on the indicated one behind him. "How do I proceed?" he mused aloud.

After a moment of thought, he started switching crystals around at random while chuckling.

"How are the current navigational possibilities?" laughed Ranma.

"With the current changes to the system, the chances of any form of successful flight are as low as zero-point-zero-zero-zero-zero-zero-zero-eighteen percent. In order to get everything operational, the engineer will need to rearrange the crystals into correct sequence, thus detecting the alterations you made in here."

"Then I'm glad I won't be here," agreed Ranma. "Let's stop by the Shield array on our way out ..."


An hour after he entered the Ha'tak, Ranma exited, sneaking behind a change of Jaffa guard.

His back was stuffed with bars of naquadah, and his pockets brimming with crystals he'd taken from various systems in the ship. Of course, normal men wouldn't be able to carry that many bars of the heavy metal, much less sneaking around as stealthily as Ranma managed.

As he had on the way in, Ranma managed to bypass the quarry unseen, once more seething at the brutal treatment of the poor workers.

It was as he trotted up the slight hill that things started going down the drain.

Earth exploded on either side of Ranma, showering him in dirt just before the sound came, followed by the whine he'd been warned about – the sound of an approaching Death Glider.

Ranma's right hand sought out his MP5, and a single round was fired in the direction of the aircraft before he realised something.

His ammunition had to last a while until a sure source of more could be assured, and peppering an aircraft was not a good way to conserve bullets.

"How thick is the window on that cockpit?" asked Ranma curiously.

"Approximately as thick as your thumb," answered the sprite.

"And how frail is it? Will it break at, say, a metal object about the size of a fist, weighing a couple of pounds and travelling against it at speeds below the sound barrier?"

"If it maintains present speed, and providing it has not activated its shields, the speed should be more than sufficient for such an object could penetrate the canopy of the glider approaching our location," agreed the sprite.

"Good," Ranma breathed and unclipped one of his few grenades from the bandolier they were hanging on. "Then I won't have to find another way of bringing that thing down."

Pulling the pin on the grenade, Ranma mentally calculated the trajectory of the glider, measured his strength to his best and counted the seconds before the thing would explode.

With a mighty heave, Ranma propelled the grenade at the glider.

Even as far away as the glider was, having circled around to line Ranma up in its sights again, Ranma could hear the distinctive sound of glass shattering under the force of a hard and fast object.

The glider wobbled a little as the pilots tried to get a grasp of what had just happened.

-BOOOOM!-

Then it exploded.

Like a flaming rock, the glider fell from the sky and impacted the forest on the other side of the Stargate.

Such a display of pyrotechnics was bound to be noticed, and the attack was a very good indication that his presence had been detected somehow, which meant more gliders or Jaffa were likely on the way.

Feeling a little bad at the necessity of taking lives, Ranma picked up the pace and ran for the gate.

Zipping ahead of him, the sprite started dialling the address for the Furling outpost.

In the distance, Ranma heard the telltale sound of several gliders, ripping off another grenade, Ranma deposited it as he ran past the DHD.

Whether by design or coincidence the Stargate activated by the sprite's actions just in time for Ranma to storm through, which gave him and the sprite a full few seconds to reach the other side of the wormhole before the grenade detonated, breaking the connection.

"We will need to hurry along the repairs," announced the sprite. "This location is no longer secure."

"I'm sure they didn't see anything," Ranma objected, but still sped up his march back to the ship, which was becoming unearthed by the drones, which looked like mechanical human skeletons the size of a ten-year-old – or if one stretched one's imagination a bit, a smaller version of the original Terminator robot without human skin, from the movies with the same name. Ranma made them like that because he had to be able to relate to their design, and being as familiar with the human body as he was, it was the best he could think of. "And that grenade had to have done some damage."

"Regardless, there might be ways for these creatures you call the Goa'uld to decipher a broken Dialling device," insisted the sprite. "And though using the device would be futile, the Stargate would retain just enough power to connect with a single gate, which would be ample opportunity to chase us here or send for reinforcements. It would be prudent to use the time afforded to us to patch the ship into space-worthy condition and conduct further repairs in space ... preferably in a different system."

"Fine, I'll make the drones finish repairs of the engines, seal up a few rooms, fill one of them with organic materials that won't spoil too soon, and blast off into space," Ranma intoned and dropped down the small cliff that had been the tunnel he'd made a few weeks ago. "Come to think of it, I might as well have one drone produce more drones to increase productivity ... But first we need to make a few quick stops for some more sample minerals."

"There are only two more locations in my memory banks that could provide new mineral samples," the sprite supplied hesitantly.

"How long could that take?" Ranma laughed and dropped his pack on the floor of the bridge alongside the alien weapons. "What has me worried is getting the ship capable of getting off the ground inside- ... how long do you think we have?"

"If the level of technology is any indication, should they have the capability of deciphering the internal workings of the dialling device, it would take approximately three days to do so, and another half hour to manually lock the glyphs in place for a connection."

"So at the least, we have three days," concluded Ranma. "If we had twelve drones instead of two to do all the work, then we might make it ... I'll get one of them to build more! Meanwhile, you start interfacing with the ship computer and test out hypothesises for miniaturising the re-sequencer – I will then prepare a big meal, as I'll undoubtedly need it."


OMAKE – by Ice-Tea-1983

As Ranma exited the engine room, he felt a sudden urge to do sing – so over powering was it that he gave in.

"With cat-like tread,

"Upon our prey we steal," he sang gently as he skulked down the corridor of the Ha'tak. In his head, he heard the appropriate music artfully written by misters Gilbert and Sullivan. "In silence dread,

"Our cautious way we feel," as he sang, as it tends to with all, his voice rose as he felt the music course through him. "No sound at all,

"We never speak a word," Ranma's voice rang through the corridor.

"A fly's foot fall would be distinctly heard!"

-crash!- Ranma slammed his fist through a pillar.

"So stealth-fully the pirate creeps while all the household soundly sleeps!

"Come friends who plough the sea,

"Truce to navigation,

"Take another station!

"Le-e-et's vary piracy – with a little burglary!" as he said this, the sprite opened a door to another storage chamber, an offer Ranma didn't object to. Crate after crate was pried open in seconds. "Come friends who plough the sea,

"Truce to navigation,

"Take another station!

"Le-e-et's vary piracy – with a little burglary!

"Here's your cro-owbar," he sang and tore apart another crate with his hands. "A-and your centre bit,

"Your li-i-ife-preserver," he continued and threw away a staff weapon, which made a thwak as it impacted the wall behind him. "You may want to hit.

"Your silent matches," Ranma sang and pocketed the power source of another staff weapon. "Your dark lantern seize – take your file and your skeletonic keys.

"With catlike tread!

"In silence dread!"

Pulling out the snake-like gun, Ranma disintegrated the emptied containers and useless weapons with a flourish befitting the music playing in his head.

"With cat-like tread,

"Upon our prey we steal,

"In silence dread,

"Our cautious way we feel,

"No sound at all,

"We never speak a word – a fly's foot fall would be distinctly heard!"

Singing like a maniac, Ranma marched out of the empty storage chamber and down the corridor.

"Come friends who plough the sea,

"Truce to navigation,

"Take another station!

"Le-e-et's vary piracy – with a little burglary!"