Deliverance
It was Teal'c who asked him what he would call his new ship. Harry was walking with them back to the Stargate as they were taking their newest acquisitions back to Earth.
"I guess I never really thought about it," said Harry.
"Well what did you name the other ship?" asked Daniel.
"I never gave it one," Harry admitted.
"You never gave it one?" asked Jack. The question was asked as though the mere concept of not naming a ship was outrageous.
Harry shrugged. "It never really occurred to me; I mean, it never came up. It was just my ship."
"Well that won't do," said Jack. "You need to give a ship a name."
"Okay, fine," said Harry, caving. "What should I call it then?"
"It is your ship," said Teal'c.
Sam piped up. "You could name it after someone."
Harry couldn't think of anyone he'd want to name a ship after.
"It should reflect your character, Harry," said Daniel. "To name your vessel is to name yourself. It's common for warriors to name their horses after fallen heroes, for noblewomen to name theirs after a prized virtue. You should think of what you want to represent."
Harry quirked his lips. "Maybe something in goa'uld," he said. "Let the enemy know who they're facing."
"Such as?" asked Jack.
"Tar'Chell," Harry replied.
"Is that the name of some long dead fighter?" asked Jack.
"Human kid," Daniel translated. "You want the goa'uld you fight to say: oh no, oh no, the human kid is here."
"It's ironic and apt," said Harry. He would show the goa'uld exactly what a little human boy could do.
They reached the clearing that the Stargate had been erected in. Daniel dialed the gate, and sent through his code.
"Well Harry," said Jack. "I don't suppose we could tempt you with a tour of the SGC?"
"I think I'll pass," said Harry.
"Well, maybe some other time," replied the man.
"I should be seeing you soon," said Sam. "I'm sure our government will be thrilled to have me retrofit an Al'kesh."
"Don't forget to bring meat," said Harry. "And dairy! I can only go so long on nuts and berries."
Sam rolled her eyes at Harry's description of the Tollan's veritably vegan diet. "You'll be feasting on Kraft dinner soon enough, Harry."
"Well I should hope so," he replied. "Oh! And eggs too."
He bid them all farewell and Daniel, Jack and Sam walked through. Teal'c waited though.
"Harry Potter," he said, and at Harry's nod he continued. "Do you know if any ships escaped the ha'tak during the battle?"
Harry shook his head. "I don't think so," he said. "I went over the sensor data after the battle; nothing was picked up. Why?"
"I had sworn to see the goa'uld Tanith dead," said Teal'c solemnly. "With his death during the battle, I am free of that duty. I am glad that the one to cause his death is an ally against the goa'uld." The man bowed his head. "Until we meet again, Harry Potter."
Harry inclined his head to the man, curious as to what would have caused him to swear revenge upon that particular goa'uld. Teal'c stepped though the gate, leaving Harry alone in the seemingly empty clearing. He supposed that there were numerable hidden defenses, but none that he could detect. Closing his eyes, and erecting his shield, Harry dematerialized himself as he opened a hyperspace window to the storeroom of the Tar'Chell, which rested on the other side of the continent the capitol was situated in.
!
The next day, Sam showed up with the promised materials, and a Tollan scientist. The man, Olan, brought with him a modified ion cannon, which was to be mounted on the ships hull. Harry gave him a sizeable sample of naquadria, as well as a data crystal containing all of his notes on the material. From what little contact Harry had with the man, it seemed as though he had no personality. Harry was content to allow the man to install the cannon while he and Sam worked elsewhere.
"So," he said to Sam. "I suppose this will take longer than the last time. How long do I have you for?"
"A week, again," said Sam. "Of course, my superiors are happy for me to get more experience with goa'uld technology, but I do have a lot of responsibilities back on Earth."
Harry nodded. "I understand. Well, I suppose we'll have to get all of the big stuff over with first then. Let's see if we can't get the new reactor in by the time you leave."
"So how do you want to do this?" asked Sam.
"Well, this is a big ship, but it's really only a few of the systems that would really benefit from a boost in power. I mean, I don't want to amp up the artificial gravity. Weapons, sensors, shields, and hyperspace, those are the systems we'll want to work on. Everything else branches out from their power lines. If we put limiters on those branches, we shouldn't have to worry about overpowering anything but what we want to. That leaves four conduits to shore up, but it'll still be a lot of work."
"Are you ready to start then?" she asked.
"No time like the present."
!
The work went like clockwork, much as it had the last time the two had worked together. Oddly enough though, it was the food that made Harry the happiest. At meal times, he could relax with the comforting tastes of food he had grown accustomed to. Mac and Cheese, breakfast cereals, even chocolate pudding. Every day, the haze that Harry had been walking through lifted a little more, as a sense of normalcy settled on his strange and eclectic life.
Five day's into the project, Harry had once again grown accustomed to having Sam around, though he knew that she would be leaving again soon. They spent the evening chatting and smiling. Sam liked to reference movies she had seen when she had been closer to his age. She was currently relating an incident from Young Frankenstein, where the monster had been tormented unknowingly by a blind man. Harry was laughing, imagining the slapstick situation in his head.
"You know," he said, when she had finished, "you never struck me as the sort to watch comedies like that." He hoped she wasn't offended.
"What did you expect? Sci-fi?" she asked, her voice teasing.
He shrugged. "I don't know. But like, you're this career military woman, who also has more than one impressive doctorate. It's hard to imagine you watching Young Frankenstein with a bucket of popcorn."
Sam smiled. "Well what about you? What sort of things did you watch?"
"Well, I didn't really," said Harry. "I never got to watch TV with the Dursleys." Not wanting to kill the light mood, Harry changed the subject. "So how about me? What genre am I?"
"Well, there's the child hero aspect of things."
"Child hero?" asked Harry.
"Yes, well. Nine-year-old gallivanting around the galaxy fighting the goa'uld. Almost no reliance on adults. You could be a block buster hit with the under twelve demographic."
"I guess," said Harry, reluctantly acceding to her point.
"And then there's the obvious sci-fi," said Sam.
"Science-fact, you mean," said Harry smugly.
"Hey, your power's still defy scientific explanation," said Sam, who still wanted to make a great study of them.
"Oh!" he said, remembering his new method of trasportation. "I still need to show you my new trick."
"You figured something out?" she asked.
"Well, it really just sort of happened. I'd had the thought before, but passed it off as risky," said Harry.
"But you did it anyway," she said with a disapproving tone.
"It was during the battle over Tollana. I needed to abandon ship, and I didn't have any other options."
"So what did you do?" she asked.
"Well," he said. "You know how you can ring from one ship to another when you're in hyperspace?"
"Yes," said Sam hesitantly.
"Well, it gave me an idea," said Harry.
"You're not going to tell me you opened your own hyperspace window," she joked.
"Well…" Harry said.
Her eyes widened.
"It was a really small one," he said defensively. "Just big enough for the matter stream to slip through. I even raised my shield, just in case I got the timing wrong." He had remembered her warnings about trying risky things; he just hadn't had a choice at the time.
"And it worked."
"Yeah," he said. "It's actually pretty easy. I just have to concentrate a lot."
She let out a nervous laugh. "You never cease to amaze me, Harry. What range do you have?"
"I don't know. I don't think I could do more than a second, maybe one and a half, in hyperspace. And no amount of control would let me go across the room, I mean, hyperspace travel is too fast for that. So, maybe between a couple hundred miles, and thirty million miles."
Sam looked to be about to argue the figures when she became pensive. "The incredibly small size of your hyperspace window, and the low availability of power would severely limit speed." She nodded to herself. "Those numbers sound about accurate. You realize you're traveling at something like a hundred-sixty times the speed of light, right? How do you control where you come out?"
"I don't know," he said, "I just do. It's one of the strange things about my power. I can't explain it, but it's as though something guides me."
Sam shook her head
"You want to see some of the things I can do?" he asked.
"Sure," said Sam.
"Okay, um, do you have ear plugs and sun glasses?" asked Harry.
"Yes, they're in my vest," said Sam. "Will you need any?"
"I've got my own protection," said Harry. "Right, so, grab yours, and we'll go outside."
She put on her vest and they ringed down to planet below.
"So," said Harry, "I guess mostly I'm good at combat things, but there's also some more mundane abilities. I'm good at making light." A ball of light formed over his hand and expanded. He swatted it up, and it hung above them, illuminating the area. "And I'm good at moving things. It's telekinesis, I guess." He began levitating rocks, and making them dance in the air. He supposed that he was showing off.
"That's amazing," said Sam. "And not so mundane. How many things can you control at once?"
"Well, the light is sort of tied off. I don't have to think about it. But the rocks, I can do about five. After that, I don't have much control." He let all but one rock fall, and set it to hover above his left palm. "So, when I was first working with the naquadria, I had to figure out how to take out the impurities, and shape it how I wanted. I had to figure out how to do this." The jagged piece of granite above his hand started to glow red as it heated. Within moments, it started smoking, and flaming embers shot out of it, fading to nothing before they could touch Harry's still outstretched hand. The molten rock then coalesced into a ball and rapidly cooled. It fell down into his hand and he handed it to Sam.
"Here, you can use it as a paper weight." He shook his head. "No, no, it would roll right off the desk. Anyway, it's nice, I guess."
"You turned it to obsidian," commented Sam.
Harry nodded. "It cooled so fast, it didn't have time to crystallize. I actually learned about that in school," he said proudly. It was something he had learned the hard way, and remembered all on his own.
"It's very nice, Harry, thank you."
Harry grinned. "Okay, so, now you'll want to put on the glasses. And the ear plugs." She put them both on. "Right, so you told me about those flash bangs, right? Well I figured out how to do the same thing," he said loudly to be heard through the ear plugs.
"All right," said Sam.
"You ready?" asked Harry.
She nodded and Harry turned the air in front of him opaque, and created bubbles of static air around his ears. He clapped his hands together, producing a blinding flash of light, and what sounded like a cannon blast.
"Wow," said Sam when she stopped blinking. "How'd you do that?"
Harry grinned. "Science."
"Okay, you can explain later," said Sam. "I can tell you want to show me more."
He nodded. "You mentioned having fire fights, and taking cover."
"Yes," said Sam.
"Well what if there's no cover to take?" asked Harry.
"I suppose you'll answer that question," said Sam.
Harry grinned and flung his hand out, sending a concussive wave forward into the ground. Dirt and sod flew away from them as a large gouge formed in the Earth, growing deeper towards the end.
"Instant fox-hole," commented Sam.
Harry nodded, breathing heavily, though he hadn't expended much energy. He felt strange, in a way he found impossible to describe in words. He pushed on. "And if you wanted smoke and fire to distract your enemies, or block their view." He flung out his hand once more, but instead of an invisible force rendering the earth, fire erupted from the ground, an inferno jetting towards the sky.
"Wow," said Sam, but Harry didn't hear her. He stared into the flames and took a shuddering breath, his mind light years away, at the battle over Tollana. His hand went out again, and then once more, creating two new flaming gouges in front of them.
"Harry," Sam called out to him, but he still took no notice of her. She grasped him by the shoulder and turned him to face her. He stared up at her, his eyes wide.
"I killed them all, and they died in flames," he said after a moment, remembering the Jaffa he had killed, the weight of their deaths finally falling on his conscious mind.
"Yeah," said Sam, not having anything else to say.
"And I did what I had to," he said morosely.
"Yeah," said Sam again.
He took a deep breath, and stepped back against the ship, letting himself slide down to the ground. She sat down next to him and she put an arm around his shoulders.
"I'm going to do it again, because that's what happens in a war," said Harry. "They'll kill more people if I don't."
"If you stay out here," she said, "then yeah, you will probably kill more Jaffa, and human slaves as well."
"I'm going to stay, and I'm going to bloody up the goa'uld," he said seriously, a light in his eyes. "I'll destroy them all if I can."
Sam sighed. "Don't forget, Harry. You have friends in this fight too."
"I know," he said, looking up. "Hey Sam?"
"Yeah?" she asked.
"When you go back to Earth, could you tell Sarah that I still miss her, and thanks for everything?" It suddenly seemed very important that she knew he hadn't forgotten her.
"You could write her a letter," said Sam.
"I guess," he said after a minute. "Let's go back in."
!
Sam left two days later. They had removed the old reactor, and the new one sat ready to go in. The power conduit leading to the shield emitters still had to be augmented, and Harry would finish it himself. It would take him a few days to finish, but he was in no hurry.
He had been meeting with Narim and his military advisors. The Tollans were getting ready for war, and production had increased substantially. They were building ships from scratch, leaving the ships they had fled their old home world in for evacuation only. The Tollan scientists had found a way to accelerate the reaction between naquadria and naquedah, allowing them to incorporate the power source into all of their new ships and cannons. Already, the satellite platforms the Tollans had devised were in orbit around the new Tollana. Harry didn't know how the Tollans were able to produce their technology so quickly, and his new allies were closed lipped about their methods.
Unfortunately, the Tollans had never put much into military preparedness, relying heavily on their ion cannons to protect them. Harry found himself helping them to develop strategy and structure. He adapted his goa'uld knowledge for the task. He didn't copy goa'uld methodology, of course, as Goa'uld strategy left much to be desired. He was able to apply what he knew though, and work with the Tollans to create something new, and something that would work against the goa'uld.
Unfortunately, Tollan military intelligence was limited to deep space sensors. They were able to give Harry a good picture of where goa'uld ships were in the galaxy, and where many of their planetary strongholds were, but he still had no concept of the current distribution of military might, or who was allied with whom.
The first plan of action that was decided upon was the destruction of whoever had taken up Tanith's resources. That goa'uld would likely inherit Tanith's mission to destroy the Tollans, as well as all strategic knowledge Tanith had had about them. Again though, they had no clue as to who this goa'uld would be, or where he was. Harry was eager to begin his fight against the goa'uld. His ship was ready to go, its capabilities were amazing. They just needed the relevant information.
Narim contacted Earth, and explained their need. The hope was that the SGC would contact the Tok'ra, who in turn would have the information they needed. It was four days later that SG-7 came to Tollana. They were delivered a data crystal from the Tok'ra.
First Officer Tellis gave Harry and the Tollan leaders a report based on the data.
"The goa'uld who stands to inherit Tanith's territory and forces is a minor goa'uld named Ammit. She was formerly a powerful System Lord, who gained her power after Anubis was banished. Over a millennia ago though, she had much of her power taken, mostly by Apophis. She was given the chance to live in service to the System Lord, and she took it.
"Currently, Tok'ra intelligence suggests that whoever was controlling Tanith is indeed controlling her as well. Ammit has been promised great power should she complete Tanith's mission and destroy us."
The man went on to describe Ammit's resources and placements. Harry spoke up.
"You do not yet have the resources necessary to mount an offensive attack," he said. "What do you think the chances are that Ammit will find you before you are ready for her?"
It was one of the Commander's who spoke up. "We have calculated roughly a ten percent chance that our presence was noticed as the Stargate network acknowledged the presence of our gate during the automated update nine days ago."
"Do the goa'uld now have the ability to get such information from a dialing device?" asked Harry.
"We do not know," said the officer. "Yet you said yourself that the goa'uld who attacked us had an affinity for ancient Gatebuilder technology."
Harry had recognized the shield emitter on his stolen al'kesh as being very similar to the Ancient technology that the goa'uld had previously tried and failed to replicate.
"Yet you do not have a traditional DHD," said Harry.
"True, but this planet has been dialed to by the Nox, who do," said Narim.
Harry nodded. "Then it would be best for Ammit to be destroyed now." He made a mental note to ask about the Nox later.
"Are you volunteering?" asked Narim's chief aide.
"Yes," he said. "I for one would like to find out who this secret goa'uld is. If I can find out and destroy Ammit, then I think it will make all of our jobs easier."
"And what is your job, Captain Potter?" asked Narim himself.
Harry looked over to Narim. "To hurt the goa'uld as much as possible, so that someone can destroy them for good. They've been in power for thousands of years, it's time we took care of them."
Narim nodded "Do you have any information to add about Ammit?"
Harry had told the Tollans about his retention of Isis and Osiris' memories.
"Ammit probably inherited her power directly from Anubis. Before Osiris and Isis were captured, she was the most powerful goa'uld under him. She was his enforcer, and she was ruthless and relentless. When Anubis wanted something destroyed, she destroyed it."
"I see," said Narim quietly. Harry supposed his information hadn't been very optimistic. Especially not for people who had been targeted by Ammit."
"I guess it's a good thing I'm going after her first then. So, how do we want to do this?"
!
The ion cannon was a thing of beauty, Harry reflected. His entire ship hummed with power and life, but the cannon was the crown jewel. It wasn't so much because of its destructive power, though that was nice too. It was because the design was so elegant. Everything worked perfectly together, efficiently. Harry had immersed himself in the system to get a feel for the powerful weapon. Experiencing the workings of the cannon, he understood how it worked, and what every part did. He had no idea why it worked though. He hoped that the Tollans would eventually teach him some of their science.
Harry wasn't very happy with his mission's plan, though he agreed that it was the best they had. They didn't know exactly where Ammit was, so Harry would have to find her first. Until she had cemented her power base, Ammit would be reclusive, and hard to find. Fortunately, there were only a few places for her to be, as she only had control of a few worlds. Figuring that Ammit would be staying in what had been Tanith's strongest hold, Harry was going to a planet named simply Nut.
Much of the planet was covered by harsh jungle terrain, and intense electrical storms. The naquedah mines, near the Stargate, were in one of the few habitable areas on the planet. The underground bunker was on the other side, and it was accessible only by heavily guarded rings. Any ship trying to land would have to brave the nearly unpredictable storms. Harry agreed with the Tollans that this planet would be a logical place to start the search for the paranoid goa'uld.
With enough time, Harry could slowly destroy the planet's surface, starting with the Stargate of course. Not knowing the exact location of the base, this would be the most assured way to destroy the bunker. But aside from not wanting to kill the human slaves, Harry also didn't want to kill Ammit without finding out who she, and Tanith before her, was working for.
Using the ring platform was also out. There was no way for him to use it covertly, and he had learned his lesson about getting through an enemy base when they know you're there. For him to get in, he'd need to use some creativity. Harry came out of hyperspace right behind the planet's largest moon, using it to hide his presence. Opening a personal hyperspace window, Harry relied upon the Tok'ra intelligence to appear just out of sight of the clearing that contained the ring platform. Fortunately, while the platform was indeed heavily fortified, it was only guarded against anyone coming from the Stargate. None of the Jaffa noticed when he beamed a small, unnoticeable device onto the ring platform. The first step of his plan complete, Harry disappeared back to the Tar'Chell.
Next, he waited. He wound up waiting for two days before the ring platform was used, a sign that Ammit had become more security minded since she had first been removed from power. The moment the transponder Harry had left on the platform and materialized inside the base, Harry was able to pinpoint its exact location. Extending his senses through the device, Harry found a secluded place to appear in.
Conforming to the goa'uld's complete lack of originality, the base was made after the same pattern as all other goa'uld bases. Golden walls covered in hieroglyphs, flaming sconces, and plenty of spots to duck behind to remain unseen. Of course, he wasn't going to be running through the halls this time. Going to the nearest air duct, Harry removed the covering and slipped inside. After replacing the cover, Harry put on his left hand a glove that the Tollans had given him for this mission. Holding out his hand, Harry willed the device to activate, and he was pulled down the duct effortlessly. Relying on the Tok'ra intelligence, Harry made his way down to the corridor that would give him access to Ammit's quarters. Pulling out his zat'ni'katel, Harry activated the Tollan phase shifting device and rolled through the wall, coming out into the corridor. Standing up quickly, he shot the two Jaffa guards standing in front of Ammit's door.
Harry hoped that the presence of the guards meant that Ammit was within, but he knew that the chances were that the door was constantly guarded. Phasing out once more, Harry stepped through Ammit's door. Once through he reflexively jumped to the side as a knife flew at him. He was still phased, making the jump was unnecessary. Ammit had raised her hand device against him, and he raised his shield as he came back into phase. The Tollans had warned him that it was not wise to stay out of phase for extended periods of time, so he did not want to rely upon it for anything other than moving through walls.
Ammit's wave of energy splashed harmlessly against his shield and Harry raised his zat'ni'katel, prompting Ammit to raise her own shield. But Harry hadn't intended to shoot her. With a deft throw, Harry's knife went through her hand device, making her cry out as the device shorted. She tried to run across the room, no doubt for another weapon, but now Harry did shoot her with the zat'ni'katel.
Harry didn't have time to grab her though, as four guards ran into the room, staff weapons trained on him. Harry held his hands up, as though in surrender, and turned around. He knew that the Jaffa wouldn't kill him without their master's okay, if they didn't have to. Closing his eyes, he beamed himself behind the Jaffa, and shot two of them, before he had to duck to the side as the other two brought their weapons to bear. He shot one of them, and then beamed himself back into the room before a bolt of plasma could hit him. Closing his eyes, he shot himself once more, this time behind Ammit. Using her as a shield against the lone Jaffa, Harry dematerialized both Ammit and himself, and flung them through a hyperspace window to his ship.
Only once they had rematerialized on the floor of the cargo hold did Harry realize his mistake, as cool air came into contact with his bare skin. He had been so worried about focusing on bringing both himself and Ammit, that he had forgotten to focus on bringing their clothes along. Aside from the two pieces of Tollan technology affixed to his person, Harry had left everything behind. Checking over Ammit, she still had his knife through her hand device, and a few pieces of jewelry.
Sensing that she would waken soon, Harry shrugged aside his modesty and placed his hands on either side of the host's head. Pushing his magic into her, he grasped onto the parasite in seconds and latched on. The goa'uld stirred from unconsciousness, but Harry didn't give it time to react. The connection open, Harry worked on ejecting the parasite as information flooded his mind. With a sickening sound, Ammit nearly shot out of the back of her host's neck. As with Isis and Osiris, he wasted no time in killing her.
Through his hand device, Harry sent the ship at its fastest speeds toward Tollana. Already feeling light headed, Harry didn't bother trying to find clothing. He checked the host's hand, to be sure that it wasn't still bleeding, and then struggled to make his way out of the cargo hold. He locked the door behind him, and sat against the wall as he let unconsciousness take him. Perhaps it would have been better, he reflected, to bring a Tollan soldier along. He wouldn't be passing out naked against a wall if he had.
!
The Tar'Chell arrived in orbit around Tollana a little over an hour later. Harry was still far from consciousness at the time. When he next awoke, Harry was in a bed covered by a sheet, in what he could tell was a Tollan apartment. His head still hurting, though far less than the previous two times, Harry found a glass of water next to his bed and drank it. He could taste the faint hint of vitamins and electrolytes that the Tollans often added to their water.
Feeling better, but still not knowing how he'd arrived in his current situation, Harry dressed in the clothes sitting at the foot of his large bed, and crossed the unlit room to the communications panel. He squinted his eyes as it lit up brightly. Once activated, it automatically routed his call to Narim's aide, Anan.
"Captain Potter," the man greeted him with a bow of his head. "You are well, I hope?"
"I will be," said Harry.
"If you require refreshment, a meal awaits you in your dining area. The High Chancellor requests that you meet him in his office at your earliest convenience."
Harry nodded. "I will eat first then. How do I get to the nearest transport terminal?"
"Your building is within sight of ours. Merely come outside and you will find your way."
Harry thanked the man for his assistance and ended the call. Going through the door, Harry found the promised meal: a sweet porridge and a fruit salad. He ate quickly, not wanting to keep Narim waiting. He was sure that the man was waiting for the information that Harry had pulled from Ammit's head. So, his head still hurting, Harry left the apartment only a few minutes later. The squat building had no elevators, so Harry took winding stairs down to the bottom floor.
He passed what seemed to be a play area for Tollan children on his way down. He was surprised by the pang of sadness that struck him; sadness that he would never be like those children again. Not that he had ever been, really.
Outside, he quickly saw the capitol building and walked over. He passed through the weapon-disabling field and through the doors of the building. He was greeted by many of the people he knew there as he passed by them. When he reached Anan's office, the man stood and opened the door for him. Narim greeted him with a slight smile on his lips.
"It is good to see you up, Captain Potter. I see you are dressed for this meeting."
Harry rolled his eyes as he resisted the urge to smile himself. "As to that," he said, "there are often hiccups when using new and largely untested methods of transportation."
"Then I am glad that the consequences were not dire," said Narim.
"Oh, we were never in danger," said Harry. "I just forgot to focus on anything other than Ammit and myself."
"You cannot group things as one unit?" asked Narim.
Harry shook his head. "I suppose I could just take everything in an area, like a ring platform, but that would use a lot more energy. No, I normally just focus on each item in turn.
"How is the host?" he asked Narim.
"She has been made comfortable," the Tollan leader replied. "But she is dying, as we had expected. The woman has yet to regain consciousness. We are unsure if she ever will."
Harry nodded. He had expected as much, Ammit had taken her host so many thousands of years ago; there had never been much chance of the woman's mind surviving.
"Do you have information for us?" asked Narim.
"Not as much as I had hoped," said Harry. "The goa'uld pulling the strings was to reveal himself to her only after she had found you. I do have a better picture of the distribution of power in this galaxy now though. I have some ideas to revise our overall strategy. I will see about writing up a report on what I've learned."
"It seems that our plan has merely bought us more time," said Narim.
"Your planet is far from defenseless, Narim. Forgetting the improvements you have made on your ion cannons, your satellite platforms are a formidable defense. Even if your defenses do fail in the future, your ships now incorporate the shield technology that was used against you. If ever you must evacuate again, you will be prepared."
"I notice that you did not mention yourself," said Narim.
"I don't mean to take up residence," said Harry. "I'm thinking of taking a less direct role in this fight, for the time being."
"And what is that?" asked Narim.
"First Officer Tellis mentioned that it might be possible for the goa'uld to access the information stored in the ancient dialing devices," said Harry.
"It is possible," said Narim, "but as yet, it is beyond even us."
"Well I think that I may be able to figure it out," said Harry.
"You mean to use your power to access the information within," asked Narim.
"I think that magic makes a very useful shortcut," said Harry.
Narim grimaced at the term. The Tollans had never been comfortable about his abilities, which still defied what they knew about the universe. "What is your plan then?"
"When the goa'uld first went out into the galaxy, they found gate builder technology on many of the planets they first found. For many years, this led a drive to find more planets with Stargates. Before you know it though, the goa'uld were dying out, and then they were just looking for hosts that would be more sustainable.
"Everything changed when they started their reign on Earth. They started fighting each other for territory, control. They started building their armies. After that, they didn't focus on spreading out, they focused on keeping control of what they had found."
"You wish to find more technology," said Narim.
"If possible. If I can find where the Stargates are, I would be able to narrow down such a search drastically," said Harry. "That's not all though."
"What else do you hope to find?" asked Narim.
"It's likely that the goa'uld hunting you has discovered more Gatebuilder technology. That's why I hope to find more planets that they have been to. Any goa'uld at a planet that isn't known to the other goa'uld is a potentially the goa'uld we are looking for," said Harry.
Narim nodded. "Your plan has merit, though I fear that there are too many planets for you to search in a reasonable amount of time. The chances are better that this goa'uld will reveal himself before you can find him."
"You're probably right. But the chances of me finding nothing are small," said Harry. "Anyway, I think I know where to start."
"Oh?"
"I could be wrong, but I think he's staying close to home," said Harry. "Tanith, Ammit, your old home world, they're all clustered on the far edge of the same arm of the galaxy. Like I said, I could be wrong, but it still seems like a good starting point."
Narim nodded once more. "We have no dialing device on Tollana."
"I will use the one on Oberdad. If I can access the information I'm looking for, I'll focus my attention on searching planets the goa'uld haven't discovered yet."
"Your presence would be missed," said Narim. "Many on Tollana see you as our greatest defense."
"I won't forget my allies, Narim. I'll stay in contact, and come back."
"I did not doubt that you would. Good luck on your search."
"Thank you" said Harry. "I'll write up a report detailing some of the more important things I've learned. Should I go ahead with my mission, I will continue giving more detailed reports."
"That will be appreciated."
Harry left soon, walking to the Stargate. He decided that he wouldn't need his ship for this short mission; he would leave it in orbit around Tollana. He brought with him only a data crystal to store the data he hoped to find.
Oberdad had changed since he had last been there. Harry could tell that there had been a storm recently on the costal area, and heavy dark clouds still loomed overhead. Deciding not to waste any time, Harry went to the dialing device, and warmed the still air around him. Harry opened the lower compartment on the dialing device, exposing the crystals within. Harry attached his own into the available port.
Placing his hand on top of the device, he closed his eyes and pushed his magic into it. He raced through the systems, the dialing protocols, and security. The system that kept track of other Stargates was not evident though. Harry knew that it had to be in there somewhere, but it was hidden. Sliding his hand down the device, Harry sat down on the cold ground, keeping his mind focused on the device in front of him.
There was something there, a piece of the puzzle. He followed it but lost the trail. It was evident that the gate builders had not wanted anyone to get the information held within, though he couldn't tell why. He went back to the piece of code that he had found, and closed his mind to all other stimulus, shutting out even the rest of the dialing computer's systems. The piece of code he had found didn't actually make any sense; the math didn't add up. He ignored what the code said, and focused on simply on accessing the whole system. Somehow, it was as though the code was slippery.
Harry spent the rest of the day sitting in front of the dialing device, trying to separate out the data he wanted, and copy it to the crystal. He failed every time he tried though. When night finally fell, Harry got off the ground and stretched, his body letting him know it's displeasure. He vowed to come back the next day, and the one after that. He would get the information he wanted.