Chapter six
Unnamed system, Milky Way Rim
January 1st, 2157
Gripping the command stone to order himself a drink, Nerot suddenly registered the base computer becoming unresponsive. Just as he wanted to complain to the base's mind, the seal of the Asgard Union appeared in every screen in his field of vision and the computer voice stepped in.
"Emergency override. Emergency beacon detected." One of the screens changed, showing a picture of the local group, then switching to a video feed.
"Burn them all! Give me Ida!"
Bridge, Sleipnir
Milky Way Rim
January 10th, 2157
Penegal was intrigued. By coincidence, his trip had led him into a galactic region teeming with life. The ship he had shadowed had come out in a lifeless system shortly thereafter, only to refuel at a gas giant and do another small, slow hyperspace hop. Now, once he knew what to look for and he had produced and installed a science array, his scanners had clearly shown webs of these bubbles crossing a remarkable volume of space that, according to his files, belonged to Ra.
His analysis had identified at least six separate networks, most of them expanding, but there were also smaller groups of signatures extending coreward on a straight line.
Spending several days in interstellar space, he had listened to a lot of radio chatter barely discernible from the background after being in transit for years, his computers effortlessly chewing through their encryption while he had had to partake in several Council sessions concerning most of the Treaty worlds. He had been intrigued to learn that Galar, the world where he had appeared as a patron deity so long ago, was busy colonizing their home system while Thor's Cimmeria was still considering forged steel the greatest invention ever. It also amused him to no end that his religion had spawned an order of technologically advanced warrior-priests while Thor's, formed by their commander in chief after all, had done no such thing.
Deciphering the local protocols, however, took longer than just decrypting, and their language… there seemed to be at least two languages, like the System Lords used High and Low Goa'uld.
Curiously, one of the two did not even use sound at all, being reduced to a script, while he had identified at least four (more probably several dozen) different species using it, one of them clearly Human. There was yet another species of a body plan like none of the four races, using only the non-verbal communication. Apparently, they were mute.
This was… fascinating. A new multi-species polity using an altogether different tech base incorporating such diverse and truly alien creatures without any hint of governmental structure was not something seen in millennia. And while their tech base was not exactly very impressive, it was higher than any System Lord would tolerate… especially seeing how their closest neighbor got some tech closer, if only marginally, to the intergalactic standard. This was even more fascinating.
There were constant skirmishes between members of a single race that was part of this polity while it also got its own, independent, interstellar state. Still, he had picked up several cases of those people changing citizenship between the fighting states without anyone caring. And while they fought on the polity's spinward border without many worlds changing owners, the other state easily expanded on its own spinward border.
And the Goa'uld kept clear of it, even if it was actually Ra's territory. Considering what had nearly happened to his ship, Penegal could definitely see why.
"Computer, set course to watch gri…"
"I am receiving a transmission from High Command, Councilor. All ships in this galaxy not assigned to enforcing the Protected Planets Treaty or participating in Operation Nukta are to assemble at meeting point Midgard at maximum speed."
"We have to leave the galaxy? Does it state a reason?"
"No, I'm afraid not. And before you ask: It's a Valkyrie-class alert issued by Supreme Commander Thor. The most fascinating science, even under a councilor's oversight, is not enough to question or delay it."
Sighing, Penegal nodded. "Right. Deploy cloaked spy sats and engage drives."
"Understood."
A moment later, the hyperspace vortex opened, swallowing the Sleipnir as its intergalactic drives kicked in while the cloaked spy sats began to distribute themselves over local space and scan scanning the area where he has been located, with another one taking course to Tau'ra .
Gate area
MP3X-403
January 11, 2157
A probe left the gate, slowly rising into the sky and sending the data back to Luna. There were no radio waves, no neutrino emissions, no signs of any high technology whatsoever, so it started the preset search pattern.
It took only minutes to find the deserted mine, and another astonishing find: A clearing on a forested hill overlooking a valley held many staff weapons, stun snakes and Jaffa helmets on some kind of altar, with a fireplace that was still emitting heat from a fire burning here mere hours ago. Yet there were no houses, or even just huts or fields to be seen anywhere.
The only signs of habitation beside the altar were several scarecrows holding up skeletons, still wearing Jaffa armor, facing all entries to the clearing.
After recording the clearing from several angles, the probe rose higher and continued scouting the rest of the mountain range.
Meeting room, Sol gate facility
January 12, 2157
"The finds on 403 are truly fascinating." Dr. Rodriguez presented what she had managed to learn from the data sent through the gate after eight hours of operation on MP3X-403. "There are signs of earlier habitation, such as a well overgrown path connecting the gate to an area where we can find the sites of old buildings in the soil. But these are thousands of years old, and far from the most interesting find."
The next picture was an altar full of Goa'uld paraphernalia. "While this could be interpreted as a sign of worship, I'm pretty sure it is not, as these pictures leave very little doubt."
And they did not. Several dead Jaffa ceremonially displayed on scarecrow-like scaffolds built from horns, clearly acting as a warning could be seen on the pictures. They still wore their full armor, even if the helmet was folded in, pierced by silvery arrows easily a meter long.
"Okay, now THAT is a 'stay the fuck away', sign everyone can read…" Ferretti slowly whistled. "So it's more like they put all their loot there to scare off the Jaffa. While I don't think they would care, it takes balls of Trinium to do that."
Middleton snorted. "Hell, I'd probably piss myself if I saw such an arrow come flying towards the Carrier's front shield…" He looked in the round "What? Do you seriously think it's as good as a ship hull?"
"Sam has a point." Isabella nodded, pulling up a new picture that showed several reptilian looking Humanoids clad in hides, furs and bone necklaces. They held spears with stone heads or shredded pieces of Jaffa armor as heads, or axes using other armor pieces, but two of them carried silvery bows nearly as tall as the archers. Changing to a video, it showed how the probe silently followed them in the skies. They obviously were born hunters, and soon were seen battling a massive beast in an clearing, the melee fighters not backing down even after hits that would have broken Human bones effortlessly while the archers took careful aim.
Soon, the animal was dead, killed by liberal application of meter long trinium arrows from short range, and brought into a cave complex, while the probe recorded their language, which included quite a lot of hisses and growls.
"Okay, now that is remarkable. Do I see another Ra rebellion here?"
"It nearly looks like it, but if you look back to the hunt," she switched to a screenshot "it does not fit. This animal is trilateral, as are all others we have seen on the captured pictures. On all planets known to us, there is only a small number of body plans in existence at the same time. Terra has mammals, birds and reptiles with four limbs, insects with six and arachnoids with eight – but all of them are bilateral. If these people evolved there, it would be the first world with drastically different body plans in otherwise closely related looking species – and with that, I mean 'whale to Human' closely related – we know of. It's not as if they seem to be starfishes. Therefore, my conclusion as of this moment is another one. It was a slave rebellion on a rather unimportant world, because if what the Oannes told us is true, no Goa'uld would care about those little scarecrows if there was something really important to get. No, the gate, the road to these hills and the ancient building complex tell me they had been sent here, rebelled, killed off a few follow-up waves of Jaffa trying to get the world back, and then decided to scrub it as it wasn't worth the effort. The latter waves probably fell to those bows."
Nodding, General Li sighed. At least these were real aliens, not just another bunch of cavemen he had to take in because the Confederation did not want Humans to regress to that level. Thankfully, Abydos had agreed to take in the people of Avnil, as their native technological base was something the Avnilians could at least understand, and the vaccinations developed after the first flu had ensured there were survivors. "In that case, you should go have a look what actually happened there and if you can establish contact with the natives."
"Yes, Sir. But that is not all we found." The picture of a valley appeared, and it was clear at once that this valley was inhabited as a wooden bridge spanned a broad river flowing from a waterfall, through the valley and into a lake were it met another river just below another, smaller, waterfall. There were also terraces with fields, orchards, meadows and streets, but no signs of houses.
Then the picture changed, showing houses carved into the stone a few hundred meters before the forest began, caves enlarged into proper dwellings, a big cliff filled with what looked like writing and small aqueducts where water was taken from the waterfall and used to irrigate the fields.
"Wow."
"This impressive display of masonry is located a hundred kilometers away from the gate. The river starting from that lake flows west, away from the gate, but it is connected to the gate area by being located in the same mountain chain. I estimate that their agriculture can easily support thousands, and we don't know what's inside these cave systems or if they go hunting in the forests or trade with the hunters we saw, but we do know that they are able to fish. They could easily feed at least low tens of thousands." The picture switched, showing a close up to the broad waterfall where the river left the valley - large parts of it blocked by nets and fish traps, and spanned by a rope bridge close above the water allowing the locals to empty them, with a road connecting it to a small harbor full of small rowed boats and places for two bigger ones. "Going by the data we have collected, these people are in the middle of what I can only call the Trinium age."
Ember, 2227 Sol Subsector, Terran Confederation
January 13th, 2157
The peace was over. It had been months since the first convoy to Abydos had passed through, and Ember had been woken from its long sleep. Smaller than Luna, and with nearly no atmosphere, it had originally been intended as a stepping-stone into space to trailing. But as no one found a way to step past the rift for years, the funding to look for one disappeared and so did any plans to build on Ember.
Until now. Where only a year ago only a single small city had stood on a mountain of never-thawing water ice, supporting the few miners, prospectors and explorers trying to make a living on the chemicals people could extract when a solar flare thawed the planet, the single city was now growing rapidly. The same was true for the starport which now had to deal with orders of magnitude more traffic than it had handled up to now.
Not everyone liked this development. While not long ago Ember enjoyed a frontier feeling, now however the sky was constantly patrolled by the Navy, which had quickly eliminated the Wild West way in which things had been handled before the its arrival..
One person in particular had a real problem with this development. Setekh Golan, better known as Seth, had fled Tau'ra as soon as he learned that the planet was being combed for Goa'uld and their artifacts. Two months ago, they had even stormed his former home.
Fortunately, he had fled before this happened, and now had to hide in this hellhole. The only good thing about this was that the locals were advanced, if not exactly trusting in authority, and so it had been easy to acquire new looks for him and his followers after taking over this shady, but good doctor with his Nish'ta. And other methods of influence - apparently, they had captured Hathor, making Nish'ta something they could know about. In the meanwhile, all the Confederation had been flooded with wanted posters showing his old host while all public buildings had been equipped with Naquada detectors.
Additionally, even on this distant world, everyone knew to look for hidden Goa'uld, and, except for members of his cult, wanted to kill any they found – another thing he had to fear.
Before the Tau'ri had found the path to Abydos, this world held less than three thousand inhabitants, a number that had now increased tenfold, even as many explorers collected their equipment and headed to trailing. Many of the independent miners were being replaced by mining corporations now offering them jobs or sending in their own people operating from orbital installations.
Ember was changing, and it showed that the Tau'ri had developed into a major problem. Apparently, their intelligence services already had a new lead towards him – a population hating his guts more than they hated the state they lived under was a real problem.
Yes, most of them thought of it as a police state and had fled to its rim to be free. Still, however oppressive it might feel to live under a Human government fighting for its survival, it was vastly better than the Conditions Ra forced the Abdonians to live under. The Abydonians had made this abundantly clear, and no one in the Confederation would ever forgive a Goa'uld without Nish'ta.
Or one they captured, like Hathor. He was curious to see when she managed to escape… An option he probably no longer had.
Apparently, he hadn't been thorough enough when changing his symbols. Who would have thought there had been enough of that old cult left over for someone to find a symbol he hadn't used in four millennia and identify it on a package to Ember...
And now, he was sitting on a planet of strategic importance, with the Tau'ri intelligence already following him. No, he would not allow himself to be captured. He would not become a test subject.
He had lived on Earth for nearly ten thousand years, had seen them growing from squabbling tribes to a world state reaching for the stars. And in all that time, there had been war, war driving their development until they had grown into something no sane System Lord would ever have allowed to develop. Nearly two centuries ago, they had reached the level of what he expected an enchanter world under Ra's rule to be like outside of the priest districts. Seventy years ago, they had surpassed it, even if they were still significantly below the level of the throne and priest districts
Their ships – even with help from the other feral state, the so called "Great Empire of Stars" – were laughably primitive. But their Navy knew how to fight, had been in a fierce battle for survival for more than forty years. They still weren't as good as their ground troops, battle-hardened soldiers drawing from millennia of all-out warfare that would wipe the floor with even the best warriors and would give even an enchanter formation problems, but they knew how to fight out-teched and out-gunned.
He knew Terra, and because of this, he was afraid. No, he would not allow himself to be captured alive.
In his house in the middle of Ember city, the outskirts of the pre-expansion city, Seth took out a small piece of potassium and a bit of Naquada one of his followers had been able to acquire at a black market.
Moments later, a small mushroom cloud rose, rapidly dissolving and only leaving radiation once it had consumed the air inside the domed city and expanded into the nearly non-existent atmosphere, taking with it the remains of old Ember, including the water ice plateau it had been built on.
Gate area
MP3X-403
January 14, 2157
As the gate finished dialing, the massive shapes of two grav tanks floated through, taking position next to it and allowing the two G-Carriers and the Rocs to enter this new world.
Today, there was an addition, though. An extra carrier floated through, holding a team of diplomats. The Abydonian Commonwealth had caused considerable problems – while the Confederation had possessed diplomats before, they had only known two kinds of sovereign entities: Confederated member states and worlds, which were not foreign and therefore did not need ambassadors, and the Ziru Sirka, which normally was dealt with by the Ministry of War and negotiators only familiar with talking to an enemy.
Last year's session of the General Assembly had been dominated by debates about the formation of a proper Foreign Office, its staff and location. Finally, the offworld members, in concert with the poorer nations on Terra and the capital of providing two out of the three gates in Terran possession, as well as the materials and shipyards needed to survive the wars, had won the first Ministry not on Terra. Located in Prometheus' capital city of Nova Europa, linked to Terra by subspace comm and staffed by personnel of mostly colonial or African origin, it was a signal that the old order could no longer be taken for granted.
For now, there were no trained personnel ready to deal with aliens, and the first contact protocols had been unnecessary for over 40 years, so the diplomats were provided by Egypt, the Ministry of War and the Colonial Bureau, with universities sending a stream of advisers to the new ministry from every conceivable and inconceivable faculty the government felt could be useful.
Before the carriers came through the gate, several survey probes and comm. relays able to stay airborne practically forever using solar cells and a contragrav system were fired through by the anti-ship missile racks that were part of the gate room defenses.
One of the probes immediately rose into the sky and flew towards the village, ready to provide all the data they needed to make their way towards first contact.
Back in the carrier, Isabella checked her perscomp again, making sure the translator programs were ready. Not that there was any chance for them to already include the alien's language, but it made her feel better, and so she continued to run diagnosis programs.
"Contact team, we can only use the Carrier to Waypoint Charlie. Stay in the suits until at least Delta, even if the air reads clear. " Juan said into his helmet's communicator before entering again and enabling the two carriers to begin their journey through the woods.
An hour later
"Major" Sam Middleton spoke on the command channel "You better have a look at this." With these words, an icon appeared in his visor, which, when activated displayed in his visor vidfeeds from the probe.
A fire was burning before the altar, and a group of the aliens sat there, talking. The woods around this scene were full of warriors, but they did not look as if they were doing anything but guard these talks while several small armed groups roamed the surroundings, one of the warriors shooting a large animal as he watched them. Regardless of how poorly they were equipped, each of them wore something around his neck – a thick bone necklace, leather protectors or even trinium chainmail obviously scavenged from Jaffa armor.
Then his focus went back to the fire. Six big, scarred aliens, obviously equipped far better than their guards, were sitting there, talking. "The records are fed to the first contact team and Isabella?"
"Of course, sir."
Next to each of the aliens was a piece of cloth bearing various goods – furs, meat, hides, trophies or even ore. "Can you get me readings on that?"
"Yes, sir. Running it against the database. It's… Naquadah and Trinium ore! This trip just got quite a bit better…"
As he said that, a new group of aliens appeared out of the woods. Where the ones already there had only equipment that looked scavenged and worn, the newcomers wore leather boots and trousers combined with heavy-looking armor made from Trinium scales. All but one of them carried an axe, a bow with a quiver full of arm-long arrows and a dark, wooden shield mounted to the lower arm.
One of them stood out; it wore white, toga-like clothes with broad yellow stripes and red markings clinched by a wide belt. The horns and ridges on its head were dyed a deep black with shiny stones set in them, and its neck was protected by what looked like reinforced chainmail with more shiny stones set in it.
The six aliens rose, and exchanged greetings before the first of the hooded aliens joined the other guards.
Out of the ten newcomers, only three were still there. One of them was the ornately clad one, while the other two wore rucksacks and carried between them a wooden box with Trinium inlays.
With what could be interpreted as a smile, the alien in the fancy clothes took a trinium knife out of his belt, offering it to an alien clad in scavenged Jaffa armor. Bowing deeply, it accepted, giving a small pile of furs in return. This exchange of gifts continued until everyone had been traded with, then they all settled down to talk.
This time though, it looked as if everyone expected was there, and so it was more dynamic than what they had seen before.
"Major, I want to go out there."
"Do you think this is a good time to do it, Mr. Secretary?"
"Yes. This looks like a conference between pre-nation states. I think this is a good time to introduce ourselves."
"Okay, you get two guards with you. Intel tells me these bows they carry can probably pierce our suits, so don't rely on technical superiority."
"Major, I plan to rely on something completely different. As you have seen, these talks began by an exchange of gifts. So we will bring gifts."
"That… sounds practicable. What do you intend to gift them?"
"We have a pack of lighters and flashlights each, and I think that should suffice." he said with a confident tone.
"Okay, I have to admit, that sounds like a plan." He switched channels "Ferretti, Buntap, you're with the contact team. This will begin with an exchange of gifts, so we don't expect trouble. Still, be on guard."
"Understood." The two acknowledged, jumping out of their respective Carrier before helping Isabella and the three diplomats out of the carriers.
"Thanks Sergeant." Secretary Williamson smiled "But unnecessary. I served my stint in the second war – even if we always had grav support back then. A shame you still have to walk yourself, right?."
"Right. Now stop talking and yomp. You have seen the OpFor, act accordingly." Ferretti grinned, by now helping the Egyptian secretary out of the carrier.
"Yomp? Damn gropo slang…" the secretary muttered, shaking his head while he went to the side and grabbed a gravpack.
After a twenty minute walk, the six approached the alien perimeter. Suddenly, an alien voice yelled "SHESH!", resulting in five archers, four of them clad in leather and one in trinium scale, to appear in the woods.
The one clad in scale yelled to the Humans. "KEL?!"
Stepping forward, Williamson slowly showed them a flashlight, activating it and pointing the light a bit around, earning him impressed looks. Then he switched it off, placed it on the ground, stepping back and signaling them to take it.
"Cho'ee'che?" the apparent leader pointed to the light, then between him and the Humans "Te ka cho'ee'che?"
"Choe eee' chey." Williamson nodded, earning a puzzled look, and then an almost Human shrug.
"Cho'ee'che. Ka cha Ka nayO." Was the answer, followed by the scale clad alien pointing in the direction of the clearing. "Ka cha."
"I… think he's telling us to go there." Williamson gulped, then followed the guard towards the fire the talks were held. As the rest of the team followed, they were well guarded by extremely attentive archers.
Their arrival at the fire drew a lot of attention, and not all of it was positive. While the first arrivals only looked interested, the newcomer was downright agitated, talking fast and sharply to the others.
While he did so, Williamson presented the flashlight again, trying again to pronounce the strange word he had learned.
As he did so, the alien in the Jaffa armor rose, came over, took a deep look into his eyes, and then turned around. "Choe'ee'che. Kor Asek tarek Choe'ee'che."
"Benna!" he turned to Williamson again, pointing to the ground. "Konaj'jo tarek onac keka." He underlined the words with gestures. Having read of many strange greeting practices after studying every first contact he could find, Williamson slowly knelt down, signaling the others to do the same while fearing what would happen if they didn't .
The big alien smiled contentedly, took the flashlight and handed back a trinium bracelet with attractive stones from his left arm. Then, he placed his clawed hand on Williamson's hand, holding him in place for the other he had identified as Konaj'jo to come closer and place his claws on Williamson's head.
After a short while, Konaj'jo nodded. "Ka onac. Tarek ka onac. Cho'ee'che." Going back to the fire, he took another trinium knife, offering it to a secretary that was utterly relieved his gamble had paid off, as his normal negotiation partners looked far more civilized.
Then, Williamson gave gifts to the others at the fire, collecting quite a few things he probably would never need again, and finally, the talks could be started.
Eight hours later
Returning from the meeting around the now dying fire, secretary Williamson opened a comm. channel to the carrier. "This is Secretary Williamson. As far as I can tell right now, these talks are a success. Still, the locals are used to diplomatic talks, and have no problem of talking for days. They call themselves the Ujatklun, and this was an annual meeting between the six most powerful clans and the town we saw; its name is Konaj'jo. We are allowed to enter clan and town territory, but are expected to bring gifts. In return… well, I acquired several furs and hides, a strange animal skull, a trinium bracelet and a trinium knife. Far more important, we are not at war with any of them, and the messenger from Konaj'jo invited us to his – all the negotiators were male – city to see the history of his people."
"Sounds great, Mr. Secretary. I'm curious… how do they call the planet?" Juan asked.
"Yes, I asked the same… They call it Tok, which means 'struggle'."
"Well, that's something you don't hear every day. Well, this isn't exactly a public park."
Conference room
Sol Gate Facility Quarantine Area, Luna
January 16, 2157
"So we left the cave system after passing a few checkpoints with defenses obviously destined to keep wild animals or the clans out. As we stepped into the open, we faced an actual city wall built into a small ravine five meters or so below the ridge, perhaps twenty wide and a hundred long. I counted half a dozen towers to keep unwanted visitors inside the cave and plenty opportunity to stall any attacks in the tunnels with those bows of theirs." Major Littlefield continued to tell what they had seen in Konaj'jo, with helmet cam pictures appearing in the air between them. "It was impressive. The two warriors guiding us lead us through the gate – that thing looked as if you could spend hours with a battering ram and still fail to break through. And, assuming you managed that, you'd only stand before a twin of it, ten meters deeper into the ravine with battlements full of archers on both your sides. These defenses are a veritable death trap for any infantry assault. Anyway, as we finally left that wall behind, we could overlook the valley."
The picture floating in the middle switched from showing the gate to a scenic view obviously filmed from a helmet cam. In the foreground, there was a balustrade, and the far side of the valley was filled by terraces and houses. In the middle of the valley, primitive boats next to a wooden bridge served as ferries or places to fish from. As the helmet's wearer moved, they got a clear view on the mountainside they were standing on.
Isabella took over "We were lead down a slope between agricultural terraces, where many Ujatklun clad in leather and cloth with broad hats like you'd expect from a stereotypical old Chinese rice farmer picture worked in the fields, and we were glad to have the warriors with us as it apparently calmed them down to know us strangers guarded. They used trinium tools for just about everything you'd expect them to use iron or steel. The buildings were all made from stone, some of them actually carved into the mountain as we later learned. But this wasn't what impressed us the most." she switched the picture again.
On the opposite side of the valley, far from where it opened onto the lake, a vertical wall was filled by big red symbols they now knew where letters, and the camera zoomed in, showing wooden scaffolding that held Ujatklun clad like Konaj'jo's negotiator cover this wall.
Zooming in further, there were several Ujatklun carving new letters into the stone, while others dyed them red.
"This is where they tell the history of their people, their most holy place outside of the old mines. But right then, we weren't allowed to go there yet."
"Yes." Williamson took over "They lead us straight to their palace."
The picture now showed an ornate structure built into the cliff before changing to a large room lit by torches mounted on stalagmites and columns which also looked like stalagmites. Under each torch, an armed Ujatklun stood, seemingly part of some sort of guard.
At the far end of the room, a throne carved out of the cave's wall held an Ujatklun in a colorful toga, wearing heavy trinium trappings with polished stones and holding a heavy axe in his hand. His face, was also heavily dyed and adorned. Still, his eyes were the most noticeable thing about him, and even the picture made it seem as if this obvious chieftain or king was looking straight into the observer's soul.
Behind the throne stood half a dozen Ujatklun clad like the one they had met at the clearing, but with more dye and stones, which by now where easily recognizable as status symbols, in their face. They stood in front of shelves with scrolls, four of them holding halberds, the other two standing behind lecterns, their empty hands visibly placed onto them.
"As soon as we entered, our guides prostrated themselves before the Ujatklun on the throne, only rising as he made a short gesture with his axe. Ukan, the higher ranked of the two, then introduced us, which was noted down by the guys at the lecterns. Finally, their leader looked straight at me, making a gesture I interpreted as requesting me to speak. And as such, I tried to greet him. We talked with hands and feet, but were able to understand each other. As the night neared, we were invited to a royal meal."
The picture, apparently taken from a helmet placed on a piece of furniture somewhere in the room, now switched to a vidfeed, showing the contact team sitting around a big wooden table. The table was covered by exotic food, ranging from what looked like twenty centimeter long, thick, stuffed tentacles over large caviar and strange fruit to a lot of fish and diverse drinks.
At one end of the table, one of the local scribes recited a long series of verses in the harsh sounding local language.
"We had no idea what they said, but the data this provided us will dramatically help to improve the translation matrix." LeClerc threw in.
Facing the reciting scribe, the chieftain stood up when the scribe finished, bowed towards a big plateful of food at an empty seat, touching his heavy trinium neckguard. The new-found silence was only broken when he spoke. It was only a few quiet words but seemed to convey a sense of respect.
In response, all of the locals raised their drinking horns, saying another short sentence, which the Terrans tried to repeat, earning them a few respectful nods. The moment the ceremony was over, the Ujatklun started to eat and drink again.
"We later learned that this food is a sacrifice to the ancestors every household gives daily, and it is later given to the crippled and other people in need." Isabella stepped in.
"These neckguards are another interesting custom. Everyone has them, and when I first took of my helmet in the valley..."
Konaj'jo Palace dining hall
January 15, 2157
"Ah, it's about time we got rid of those helmets. I want to smell this planet's air unfiltered!" Williamson stated happily.
"In an ancient city expy? You sure about that" Littlefield grinned, earning him a disgruntled look from the Ambassador. "Point."
They all took off the helmets, placing them on a cupboard with cameras and microphones running and took their seats. A servant came close, offering a tankard with some kind of beer, suddenly jumping away, spilling most of it and yelling something. Whatever it was, it caused everyone in the room to draw weapons at the Terrans while kids, women and servants fled the room.
Luna
January 16, 2157
"It took us a while to clear the situation, but now we know that we do have to wear neckguards should we ever visit them again. Apparently, this is their best defense against getting taken over by a Goa'uld, and anyone caught without one is suspected to be taken over. As there are no Goa'uld on Tok, most Ujatklun only wear it by tradition, something you do not take off unless to show your utmost respect... or in the bedroom." Isabella went red while adding that. "Still, outside of... special circumstances..., showing up somewhere without wearing a neckguard in the first place is considered extremely rude at the very least. Doing so in the king's presence triggered all their constitutional paranoia as the royal guard is the only institution that still remembers the neckguard's true purpose."
Command center, Fortress world,
Somewhere deep in Ra's domain
January 18th, 2157
"Bahlon just informed us that the Ha'tak deployed to pick up Ra has detected subspace traffic originating from Abydos, Tau'ra and two other sources. I ordered them to investigate Tau'ra"
Silence reigned in the command center before the officer continued "If this information falls into the hands of the minor gods, our domain will face... tests of faith and strength. I therefore initiate LOCKDOWN status to gate operations and the Death Rectangle as well as SIEGE to the defense fleets. First priority is to bring Dakara to full readiness and upgrade its defenses immediately. Servants of Ra, we have to prepare for scavengers trying to ravage his holy worlds!"
"Supreme Prime?" a symbol at his HUD reported this voice belonged to the master of building.
"Yes, Builder Prime?"
"Ra's technology has been distributed to nearly all the minor gods in the last millennia, and we are pretty sure that most of them installed it as is, with the notable exceptions of Ba'al, Heru'ur, Apophis and the leftovers from Yu's fleets. If we deploy OBELISK now, we can be pretty sure to keep at least Sokar, Cronus and the minor system lords out of his domain."
"Thanks for bringing this to my attention, Builder Prime." He nodded and addressed his subordinates again. "Also, OBELISK is go."
In orbit around the planet, powerful antennae were activated, sending a message recorded millennia ago out into the void. The message was picked up and repeated by relays originating from a design by Ra all over the galaxy, finally reaching the Ha'tak fleets of other System Lords.
Those belonging the more careful masters that actually bothered to check what technology they installed (and could afford to do so) mostly dismissed the order, but the fleets of many minor Goa'uld and a few System Lords obediently acknowledged the command.
On a few ships, the signal was picked up, identified as hostile and triggered an alert. One place even had an unmodified old computer connected to a subspace comm. watched by enchanters that had long ago found that keeping an unchanged unit and watching what the backdoors actually did was better than simply removing them.
Pyramid, MP3S-114
Ba'al's domain
January 20, 2157
Zarin looked over the data the cloaked tel'tacs she had sent to trailing had provided. She hoped to find something worthwhile – it was hard to be a good spy when you controlled a slave world, but another century or two would allow her to at least move to an armor world. These were the lowest of the fortress worlds, but were allowed enough technology to feed hundreds of thousands and equip the mighty armies of the system Lords. A Goa'uld reigning one of these had impressed his master enough to be noticed and promoted above the ranks, but still far below those that ruled the higher classes of fortress worlds.
Only two Tok'ra in the whole galaxy had managed to rule one of those, and they were the most important sources of information for their 'masters', even if getting information offworld from a high fortress unnoticed was a thousandfold more difficult than doing it from a slave world.
Sighing, she put the pad away. Nothing.
Then, her communicator beeped.
"Yes?"
Ba'al's head appeared, and she immediately bowed deeply. "Zarin. I have just been informed that Ra is missing."
Her thoughts whirled. If that was true, it would change everything.
"Reroute the scout tel'tac to the Rectangle and other parts of his domain and tell me of his defenses. We will use Moloc's remains, except for the ships, the idiot apparently didn't care to look for Ra's backdoors in his navigation system."
"Yes, Master. I will do so immediately." as the channel died, she rose, slowly. Yes, this was an opportunity – for her and the Tok'ra as well as for her Master. Moloc had slaughtered all Jaffa girls born for over one and a half centuries before Ba'al finally had enough control of his rebelling priestesses and their warrior women to overthrow him, who was by then known as the god of idiocy. Of course, their treachery had been punished by death, but Ba'al now controlled his fortress worlds and what little was left of his ships and armies.
And now, apparently Ra, except for Sokar the last of the old guard and owner of all the Rectangle, had struck by backdoors in the navigation systems he had so "graciously" supplied to the other Goa'uld, crippling the navies of those that did not check his gifts with a single, swift strike from the grave. Yes, Moloc obviously got his title for more than one reason.
One of his fortresses was even close to the Death Rectangle, a region barely defended against intruders from outside of the Rectangle except by fear and a vast sensor network under control of the closest System Lords, which was reason enough to stay clear of those regions for most of the System Lords. This was even true after the responsibility for monitoring most of the defense network had been transferred to the Jaffa of minor and fallen 'gods' conquered by the System Lord holding the border, with their forces mixed together to prevent even the slightest chance of rebellion, with Enchanters preaching about their duty to protect the galaxy from the horrors living in the Rectangle. There were no ships. There were no rings. Serving as a Rectangle guard was a death sentence, as sure as stealing a prim'ta was.
Still, only the System Lords of the old guard were willing to spend the resources needed to keep everything in while the younger ones were content with simply not entering it.
Zarin, too, considered staying outside of the Rectangle a spectacularly good idea. Millennia ago, when the Tok'ra were still young, many ships had tried to find out what Ra and the System Lords hid there. They should have been wiser.
All the defenses pointed IN after all. None of the crews ever came back, depriving the resistance of many good people.
Now, with Ra's domain in disarray, it would be easier to return from there, as she had heard rumors of ships making it back to the lines, only to be destroyed by the defenses as their crews thought they had brought the horrors of the Rectangle with them... but that assumed anything made it back to Ra's defense lines. Which was less than probable, all things considered, and only reduced it from ridiculously unlikely to mindbogglingly unlikely.
Moloc's former territory was where she would send the scouts into Ra's domain, as the enchanters had ensured her the network in this area had holes big enough to enter and leave unnoticed. The latter causing even her to be concerned. Yes, anyone she would send there would probably die. But if they survived... it was a gamble to send agents, but it was also an opportunity, and disobeying Ba'al was not a good thing to do now he was watching her region so closely.
Gate area
MP3X-403
March 14, 2157
"So we get them low tech gadgets and they mine Naquadah and Trinium for us while we may mine the rich unclaimed deposit on north continent?" Middleton queried "Isn't that a bit unfair? Not that I'd mind, of course." He grinned.
Tamara Jagellovsk, the representative of the Colonial Bureau, raised her eyebrows. "We are not ripping them off, Sergeant. It's simply that they can understand compasses, mirrors and a few machined hand tools better than a perscomp. Plus, they can honor their ancestors by providing material for the fight against the Goa'uld, and we also had to promise to look out for Ujatklun slaves on other worlds once they heard of their existence. The Nolar clan was adamant in its offers to help free them... and in promising to kill us if our actions damage them." inwardly, she sighed. This wannabe-womanizer was bad enough, but having the team's CO and language experts so passionately concerned over the natives' rights was a pain in the ass. Not that she wanted to stripmine the planet – the damage done to Terra itself had been enough to make sure doing anything remotely comparable on another garden world was a political death sentence. And it was even more expensive than just mining asteroids, so no one considered that idea.
"That was the clan with the invisible leather?"
"Transparent, yes."
"A shame they only use it to show off their scars." Middleton smiled, letting his gaze wander over her body.
Jagellovsk chose to ignore it, she had been warned that the driver wasn't the most pleasant company if he didn't have a grav vehicle to pilot or play around with. She sent him a deadly glare he immediately interpreted right and chose as a hint to back off, happy to see that Littlefield's return allowed him to climb back into the cockpit and power up the carrier without losing face.
It wasn't as if there weren't hundreds of groupies for each member of an SG-team, after all, and most of them didn't care which member it was, with the obvious exception of the guys from the first trip. Most of them didn't get baskets full of proposals in the mail like Lance Corporal Singh, "Slayer of Ra", but entering a bar while wearing the gold-on-black insignia always ended in a successful evening without having to pay for drinks. You only had to ignore the kind of girl that would run to the next journalist afterwards. Being a publicly acknowledged war hero definitely had its advantages.
Sol, about Saturn Orbit
March 30, 2157
Spacetime protested as the mighty Ha'tak forced its way into real space. It bathed the inner system in subspace scanner energy to get precision navigational and target data before opening another subspace window for the next short trip.
Same time,
Tel'tac Hangar, Terra Space control, Phoenix, Texas
As soon as the hyperspace window collapsed, the ancient tel'tac's sensors noticed the visitor – and identified Ra's IFF code. As the unchanged system marked the ship as friendly, the sensor watch officer immediately raised an alert.
The only positive thing about this was that Stephen Hawking Station on Enceladus was on the other side of Saturn as the ship arrived, he thought.
Bridge, TCS Pegasus
Terran High Orbit
Suddenly, klaxons sounded all over the ship. "This is HQ. A Goa'uld ship just entered the system at Saturn orbit. This is a planetary defense emergency, code Omega. This is not a drill. I repeat. This is HQ…"
"This is the captain speaking. We have a Code Omega. All hands, general quarters." Even before he was finished speaking, alert systems bathed the bridge in red lights and Commander McRay called up systems status on his HUD, checking his attack cruiser's readiness and watching department after department declaring clear for battle .
Within a minute, all stations were manned and ready, fighters were already leaving the hangars, forming up to provide extra point defense and everything looked right. Switching to orbital defense, he found Terra well prepared. Outside, thousands of ships from 400 dTon Patrol ships to 50,000 dTon Battlecruisers arranged in their standard squadrons, forming a defensive wall and launching thousands of fighters while the dozens of defense satellites orbiting on the "right" side of Terra powered up their heavy particle cannons, with large red cylinders marking where their guns where pointed right now and lighter ones showing the stations' intended course corrections to avoid friendly fire incidents as they moved to target the expected hyperspace window location.
Then, another series of cylinders appeared in his view as the planetary defense cannons fed their firing solutions into the FleetNet, causing another series of maneuvers to clear their firing corridors.
An icon in the lower left represented the status of the Army who was now scrambling its grav tank divisions to enter the fight if necessary.
"Sitrep!"
"Global Defense Net is at full capacity and readiness, Home Fleet is in defense positions, all fighters scrambled. Civilian ships are being rerouted to Luna or ordered to land at the closest space port. The enemy just opened another hyperspace window and is expected to arrive in orbit in under three minutes."
It felt like three days until the Ha'tak reappeared in normal space and immediately transmitted on all channels. "I am Jer'get, prime in the domain of your god Ra. You will bow before your god or die for your insolence."
Pel'tak
Ha'tak Chu'alahk
Silence filled the aether for a moment before another voice answered in low Goa'uld. "Jer'get, you are violating Terran space. Stand down or be destroyed."
With a growl, Jer'get ordered the Deathgliders to launch. Dozens of the craft raced towards the obscenely industrialized world while the bigger ship moved closer.
Terran orbit
The gliders where well on their way to Terra when they crossed an invisible line. Suddenly, dozens of Terran fighters opened fire on the Gliders, reducing them to smoking debris in the initial volley before the deathgliders had even come close to their own weapons range. The Ha'tak approached Earth until it was in the perfect position. All of a sudden, its rear shields flared up as they took fire from several lunar installations. Simultaneously, every military platform and ship that had a weapon long-ranged enough as well as a firing angle on the Goa'uld ship, from lowly corvettes to mighty dreadnoughts – barely the size of two Al'Kesh - opened up as one.
As the Ha'tak came closer, even more weapons entered the fray. Hundreds of particle cannons and thousands of modern military x-ray laser guns all concentrated their fire on the Ha'tak's shields as it came closer and entered their respective ranges, while the sky was filled with thousands of missiles, many of them nuclear.
Some ships had even fired their sandcasters in the desperate hope that the particles could disrupt and weaken the Goa'uld shots, even if they were only designed to weaken LASER fire.
Hero-class private merchant Beowulf,
Bridge
"Bow before your god? Who the hell does that asshole think he is?!" Frederic Raffarin, Captain of the small freighter bellowed angrily. Someone in the Terran datanet had distributed a basic Goa'uld translator, and as the software was free, most free traders now had a copy buried somewhere in their ship computers. You never knew who you would meet while looking for customers, after all.
Then he saw a dreadnought and a cruiser crumple under plasma hits, while a second cruiser evaded, allowing the bolt to pass through.. "Johnny, ready the LASERs. I won't allow some alien megalomaniac to destroy Terra. Again. With ONE SHIP!"
"Phoenix requested we stay clea... SIR! There's a titanic explosion in Australia... Oh my god... It destroyed Sydney!"
Silence filled the ship as everyone aboard stared at the mushroom cloud rising from Australia, and the Tsunami spreading through the Pacific, soon replaced by sensor footage. Cruiser wreckage, the remains of a tanker that had been only a kilometer above the city as it had been hit, was tumbling down. Just before the impact, a missile battery came into view. Then, hundreds of tons of fuel and dozens of missiles detonated, destroying the city utterly.
"Fire..." Raffarin whispered, still shocked, for a moment standing before what had been left over of his house in Marseille, after the Algiers wave had crossed the Mediterranean. A moment later, his ship turned towards the Ha'tak and opened fire with its vintage rainbow LASERs of the type tickled down to free traders and other civilian starships not expected to operate in imperial space.
But it was only a small part of the giant armada of civilian and corporate ships joining in. Every armed construct in Terran or Lunar orbit opened fire at the Ha'tak, the sheer size of the ship, let alone the shield bubble, as well as the fact that it did not maneuver unexpectedly, making it an easy target for even the worst gunner.
While only the military ships were coordinated by the planetary supercomputers, the sheer volume of fire slowly started to take its toll. Finally, not even the shield bubble, which slowly rotated to prevent enemy fire from concentrating on one spot for too long, saved the ship.
Pel'tak Ha'tak Chu'alahk
Gulping, Jer'get gasped at his readouts, seeing how his shield strength dropped every second as the reactors were unable to provide enough power to keep them online. Not even the ease with which the unshielded enemy ships and gun stations could easily be destroyed with single hits helped much, as there were simply too many small, maneuverable targets as well as a constant rain of nuclear missiles… Wondering why in Sokar's burning garden he couldn't exchange rate of fire for hitting power with his guns, he suddenly found himself given a good shaking.
The shield strength dropped another .1% at once. "What the fuck was that?!" he heard an officer yell, then he replayed the footage. Apparently, a small fighter had just kept accelerating after having already gained significant speed from a carrier, using the momentum to fire a canister full of tiny particles onto his shields. As he was still flying towards the planet, it hit like a naquada-enhanced nuke. Soon after the fighter crashed into Chu'alahk's shields, and before he could do any more than stare at the screen, the sheer amount of weapon hits finally proved too much. The shield generator overloaded, and the big ship died in a storm of rainbow LASER light, coherent x-rays, plasma bolts, nuclear explosions and particle fire.
But still, it had destroyed much of the orbital defense grid and wiped out a significant portion of Home Fleet in less than ten minutes.
Bridge, TCS Pegasus
All lights went dark, and the klaxons died as a sudden storm appeared on the bridge. There had been a malfunction in all the bridge's combat decompression systems, so Pegasus had gone into battle with air in its command centre. Thankfully, navy Uniforms doubled as lightly armored emergency vacc suits and they had had the time to don helmet and gloves while strapping themselves down. Still, any lose object was rushing out of the bridge until the bulkheads finally closed.
"Sitrep! What do we still have? "
"Sir, Starbord side is… gone. It's just not there any more." Silence. On the main screen, a schematic view of the 10,000 dTon attack cruiser appeared, showing a full 40% of its width missing, and red lights blinking all over what remained of the ship.
"My god…" McRay whispered, stopping mid-sentence, as the screen showed the invader exploding
before a small Lightning class merchant with a white star emblem tumbled through the picture.
"Engineering, give me a Damage report. How come we're still alive?"
"It was only a grazing shot, sir. They nearly missed us and that's the result…" his XO answered, staring at the damage control screen.
The schematics showed that thrusters 4 and 5 were completely and utterly gone, while 3 was wrecked, limiting the ship to a safe acceleration of 2G… The starboard hangar was simply gone, jump drive inoperable, several weapon systems simply gone… The only good part of that was that the lost power plants weren't needed anymore as the systems they normally fed had been lost. But they were alive, and that was more than most other ships hit could say.
"Holy shit. Engineering, give me some power. We have to look for the life pods."
As the once proud Galaxy class Attack cruiser limped towards the first beacon, Captain McRay studied the ship's ID. It was the Orion, a fast cruiser that would have never survived even a glancing hit. Sighing inwardly, he realized that this ship had probably been hit by debris from the Pegasus.
Giza, Pyramids
Egypt, Terra
Ten days after the battle for Terra
Sydney would not get an own memorial, for there already was one fitting for this cause.
Spaced around the pyramids, a dozen statues had been erected. A dozen meters high, each of them represented a warrior clad in layered linen and pointing their spears at the pyramids. Closer to the pyramids, a number of smaller Horus Guards were running towards the entrance.
Below one of the statues, three big daises had been erected, the central one holding the flag of every Terran and offworld nation, even holding the flags of all the colonies – the flag of Nusku representing a former imperial world here for the first time. It also flew the flags of the Abydonian Commonwealth and the Oannes Coalition, the former using a Mastadge head and three moons on green, the latter using a holographic symbol projected into the air.
The seats on the dais held the Secretary-General, the whole Advisory Board, the leaders of all Terran armed forces, ambassadors from the Oannes and Abydos.
The daises left and right held the Terran Orchestra and Chorus, while long rows of seats held journalists, dignitaries and the families of the fallen, all clad in their service uniforms if old enough.
As soon as the Secretary-General and other main guests approached the central dais, Chorus and Orchestra began to play the Anthem, the Ode to Joy strangely fitting to the procession while five squadrons of Rocs dived down from orbit, showing their respect to the dead by flying over the site low enough to be seen, but slow enough not to silence the chorus. They were followed by the surviving members of squadrons the fallen ships had belonged to, from lowly corvette to mighty dreadnought, all practically crawling through the air, mostly held up by counterthrust.
On the giant holoscreen behind the Secretary-General, thousands of soldiers clad in combat dress were seen marching in parade formation below the Martian flag over John Carter Base, companies of G-Carriers and grav tanks serenely floating behind them, about a meter above the red sands.
High above them in Martian orbit, troop transports left Utopia Planitia Station, opening their jump hatches and allowing additional soldiers to jump out, land onto the parade grounds and form up at the back of the marching column.
As the last sounds of the anthem faded out, the parade was finished and the last of the dreadnoughts made for orbit, firing all of their guns in a last salute, the Secretary-General, who had been standing behind the pedestal while this display of power finished raised his voice.
"Eight years." the masses quieted. "It has been eight years since we last stood here, and my predecessor opened this memorial to the nuclear death of Algiers, Cape Town, Vladivostok and Los Angeles. Now, we stand here again, remembering the loss of Sydney. And yet, we sing about Joy." he looked into the audience, then facing the camera, his speech being transmitted by gate, by subspace comm and by courier once it had been finished. For now, the ceremony was only taking place at any world reachable by radio or a single jump from either Terra or the next subspace comm, no other knowing of the events yet, working on clocks running on Terran time.
"As a world, we have not felt true joy for decades. We have been at the brink of destruction, and experienced a survivor's joy. We experienced a conqueror's joy. Still, the simple joy of living without war, doing what we want to do, is denied to us." he let his gaze wander over the people congregated before him."The last time, we only survived because the enemy was distracted. This time, we actually won. This is something we can be proud about, something inspiring joy. But still, we are at war. We paid a heavy price, but we stood our ground. It was one ship, and we were likes flames in the rain, but they died, and Terra still lives. And we will strike.
"The Goa'uld System Lords, masquerading themselves as gods, enslave untold millions all over the galaxy. The Goa'uld are parasites, using their slaves like cattle. We will not stand for that. An envoy is en route to the Ziru Sirka as of now, to inform the local ruler about the danger. Make no mistake, we will not defend the imperial border with any less might than before. But we now will build up to be able to concentrate our efforts elsewhere while doing so.
"Thirty years ago, the first man to wear the title I wear now, Kanshi Bannerjee, said this to a Terra that faced the First Interstellar War." Montalva said, then replayed a recording of his predecessor's words, the old man's voice crisply cutting through the silence.
"One world. One world set against an empire of thousands.
One lone world set against trillions of Human and alien beings who do not share our history, any of our cultures, or any of our values.
Victory seems impossible. Perhaps the best we can expect is survival.
Yet to achieve even that, we must be . . . one world."
Montalva looked up, starting to speak again. "He was right. And he was completely wrong at the same time. Yes, Terra has and had to be one world to survive.
"But we are more. We were already more back then. In the face of alien parasites enslaving humans all over the galaxy, we can no longer afford to be one world. When meeting false gods, it is not enough to be a single world.
"We are people of Terra. But we are of Mars. We are of Luna. We are of Loki. We are of Ember. We are of Junction. We even are of Nusku. People from all over the Confederation, from worlds new and ancient, some even foreigners, died ten days ago to protect us. The man that dared a kamikaze attack to save us all was from Hephaistos. And yet, we sit here, 200 votes for Terra, a dozen for everyone else, calling this equality. This will change.
It will change like the way we look into the sky changed. It changed more often, and in vastly more rapid succession, than in all of recorded history.
A mere hundred years ago, space changed from an unreachable void we could only dream of to new pastures, ripe to be grabbed by us, to be used as we wished.
Thirty years ago, we saw the Ziru Sirka, a powerful enemy, but yet human.
Now, we see chains. We see millennia of slavery, of humans being cattle. We see blood, humans thrown away as cannon fodder.
But." his voice grew stronger "We also see fear. We see our ancestors driving off the mighty 'gods' Millennia ago, forcing them to hide in the stars."
With a fierce voice, he looked up. "This is the second reason we built this monument. The time of hiding is nearing an end. We have two of their ships, we have allies and we will we have the materials we need to catch up.
But we cannot afford to have the seed of rebellion, an obvious cause of discontent in our middle.
Ladies and Gentlemen, look into the stars. Can you sleep at night, knowing of the System Lords' slavery and knowing that we treat the colonies like Europe did it to its colonies a quarter Millennium ago? Don't we claim to be better than that? Let us be better than that.
"And here, we come back to our anthem. 'All men become brothers'.
"Yes. Let us become brothers. Let us become one. Set aside the rivalries. Set aside the strife. Set aside the calls for personal power.
In the 2150s, the Public Service Slogan was 'We all go where Terra needs us to be.' In the 60s, the slogan will be 'We all go where mankind needs us be.'
"We are not only citizens of Terra, Prometheus, Hephaistos, Agidda, Nusku, Barnard, Junction or any other world. We are humans.
We hear our brothers and sisters cry out in anguish, and we say ENOUGH.
"Our ancestors drove off Ra millennia ago. Corporal Singh killed him 2157, for which he got the Great Star of Terra.
Now, his servants came back, trying to break us by killing millions. This was their mistake."
Everyone at the memorial was silent, waiting for the next bomb to drop, a declaration he had already created the correct environment for. In the upper right corner of his glasses' HUD, a single graph from New York showed his global approval rating skyrocketing.
"I, Secretary-General Eduardo Montalva, on behalf of the Terran Confederation and in agreement with both Advisory Board and General Assembly, hereby declare war on the Goa'uld System Lords. It will be many years until we can hop to strike back. But it is time to rearm, rebuild and retrain. As of now, war economy is reinstated. It is time for Terra to prepare."
As he finished his speech, factories all over Sol received new orders, sending out messages informing their civilian customers that their projects had been lowered in priority and, as a result, would be vastly delayed.
Army and Navy support personnel became new orders, reserve units reactivated for training and new people were drafted. It would be years to actual combat outside of the Confederation, but a new military buildup was underway, and the short breathing pause between wars and war economies was over. Universities all over the planet became orders to detach teachers, sending them to courses in preparation of new curricula, and many an expert of ancient history was drafted to a military academy to teach about goa'uld-influenced cultures.
Uncharted system, Ouollou Subsector, Khoelighz Sector, Vargr Extents – Death Rectangle
March 30, 2157
While the mighty Ha'tak futilely fought for its life above Terra, other probing actions into the Death Rectangle proved more successful.
In a marginal system at the edges of charted space, one of Ba'al's scout tel'tacs watched another ship like nothing its inhabitants had ever seen before while an Al'Kesh waited for their data.
A single vessel looking like a sleek aquatic predator with spines had just left the depths of the local gas giant, a maneuver that stupefied its watchers for its uselessness combined with high risks, and now made for the single planet with signs of habitation at a leisurely 3Gs of acceleration, aiming straight for the orbital station housing another vessel of comparable build.
There was only a small amount of Naquadah, consistent with a boosted fusion power plant which could be found anywhere in the system, but not a single sign of anything subspace based or with large scale Naquadah use as would be expected from Goa'uld, Asgard or Ancient craft – they only used trinium alloy hulls. And the strangeness didn't stop there, as the inhabitants of planet, ships and station were of unknown race, but showed distinct Tau'ra readings regardless.
The ship they were watching would, at it's current acceleration, need a few more days before it arrived at the station, and after checking its course for deadly traps, the Al'Kesh was about to make its presence known.
Suddenly, a subspace window opened in front of the unknown ship, spitting out an Al'Kesh that immediately opened a comm. channel.
"You will stand down and bow for your god Ba'al."
The reaction was not the one expected, as the translated voice – which, strangely, had some canine underpinnings - answered "Wow, nice ship and a good entrance. Looks sneaky and fast, seems to pack a nice punch if the sensors are any indication and looks like it can take a beating while storing a lot of loot… Are you in need of a new crewman?"
While the Al'Kesh crew just shared utterly confused looks, an angry howl filled the comm. channel, followed by a gunshot. "No one changes crew just now! Tell this Ba'al fellow we're raiding the Khakaengkfae at the moment, and if you play nice we won't redirect our attention to him."
"That… that is blasphemy! You will bow before the mighty System Lord Ba'al!"
"Blasphemy? Guy really thinks he's some kind of god? Seriously, why didn't you get rid of the maniac yet? That can't possibly be good for business! And he's even unimaginative. 'System Lord'. Tsktsk. What a waste of a fine starship!"
This was enough, and this time, the plasma cannons opened up at the alien ship, which dodged them, supported by gravity generators pushing the bolts away under computer control while returning fire with six lances of coherent x-rays eating away the shield while six missiles were fired towards the Al'Kesh. A moment later, one plasma shot connected to the ship's hull and disabled the power plant as well as the drives.
Immediately, Jaffa soldiers were transported over to salvage the wreck and its crew, of which only one had survived. After the shield had recharged and the cargo bays filled, the Goa'uld ships made their way to the other two installations.
Shortly afterwards, the system was stripped of any aliens and their technology, leaving it as empty as it had been for untold eons before the people that had just been killed or abducted had appeared while the two Goa'uld ships were back on their way back to their God's domain.
Initial survey results
March 2157
Part 1: Arcturus Subsector
First scans of the sector have proven to be disappointing, but cover only two out of the three mains while ignoring six worlds reachable by jump-2. Still, the three asteroid belts and eight gas giant discovered will prove critical for industrial development without Abydonian interests in the game.
The worlds surveyed as of March 2157 are:
2528 Arcturus
This system only consists of a M8 V star with three gas giants and their moons. It is not worth to receive more than fortifications and a refueling station.
2729 Arcturus
This is a binary system consisting of a M4 V main and its M6 V companion. It holds three gas giant systems and a single notable planet with a poisonous atmosphere and 1.15Gs. Not usable as a colony.
2628 Arcturus
The systems consists of a G3 V star, two gas giants and a single terrestrial world with roughly 81% of Terra's diameter, a thin, but breathable atmosphere, 82% surface water and a single, small moon.
Located only a single jump away from Ra's Demise between 2528 and 2729, this system is to be considered prime real estate. The General Assembly has already received petitions to found a neodolphin colony there, and renting parts of it to the Oannes.
Still, in depth surveys have to be done first.
2527 Arcturus
This system consists of a M1 V main star accompanied by a M8 V star and a white dwarf. It possesses three gas giant systems as well as a potentially habitable world about 13% larger than Terra with 41% of its surface covered in water.
An in-system survey is strongly suggested.
2626 Arcturus
This system is a M3 V orbited by three gas giant systems a single jump-2 from Ra's Demise.
2528, 2628, 2729, 2626 and 2527 form the main closest to existing Confederation space, and it can be argued that Ra's Demise is part of this main. Furthermore, a star system at jump-2 from 2729 was already identified.
Colonization or at least extensive fortification of all these systems against the Ziru Sirka is strongly suggested.
The second main consists of 2928, 3028, 3029 and 3130, with another system a jump-2 away.
2928 Arcturus
This system consists of a G3 V star and its M7 V companion. There are two gas giant systems and two belts.
What makes it most relevant to confederated endeavors is a single Terran-type world roughly the size of Terra, with 90% of its surface area covered with water, and a breathable atmosphere. This means the world is ripe for colonization.
CLASSIFIED: Explorers picked up strange energy readings from a northern ocean during first survey. First real survey by the Navy is already in its planning stages.
3028 Arcturus
This is a M4 V with a gas giant system, two belts and a roughly Terra-sized world. The planet has a tainted atmosphere and 52% of its surface area is covered with water. It is a viable possible colony.
3029 Arcturus
A K8 V with two gas giant systems, an asteroid belt and a world with roughly three quarters Terra's diameter, a dense atmosphere, 70% surface water and a large moon. It is a viable possible colony.
3130 Arcturus
This system consists of a F1 V with a M2 V companion, three giants and two belts.
The third main only barely qualifies, consisting of only of 3127 and 3026.
3127 Arcturus
This system consists of an orange dwarf with three gas giant systems and a belt. While it offers no colony world, it possesses plenty of raw materials. Being only a single jump away from the Commonwealth, it has a potentially strategic position, though.
As a result, the Commonwealth has already claimed it.
3026 Arcturus
This system consists of a single G0 V with two giants and a world two thirds the diameter of Terra but with 92% of its surface covered in oceans.
3024 Arcturus
This system consists of a M4 V and four giants, as well as a habitable world of about 90% Terra's diameter with about a third of it covered on oceans. As it is only a jump-2 away from both Abydos and 3026, the Commonwealth already claimed this system.
3221 Arcturus
This system consists of A5 V star and a white dwarf plus three giants and holds no habitable planets.
Using jump drive, this system can only be reached via the Abydos main.
Part 2: The Abydos Main
As requested by the Commonwealth, this is an early stage survey of the main Abydos is located on. It consists of three systems other than Abydos, these systems are part of the Denobula Subsector, Alpha Crucis Sector, and leads towards 3221 Arcturus.
Nevertheless, this main is not promising.
0125 Alpha Crucis
This system consists of a K6 V with three giants and a belt. It is located a single Jump-1 from Abydos to trailing.
0124 Alpha Crucis
This system consists of a M1 V with five giants, a belt and a single rocky planet with a diameter 82% greater than Terra's. It is located a Jump-2 from Abydos.
0123 Alpha Crucis
This system consists of a M6 IV with a white dwarf companion and four giants. It is located a jump-2 from both 3221 Arcturus and another main further coreward.
A/N: The Solomani Confederation, the state that covered Terra before the Imperium conquered it in the middle of the 6th millennium, had Ode to Joy as its anthem and modeled itself after the Terran Confederation, so the anthem is pretty much set.
The stuff he quotes/plays actually consist of quotes from the sourcebook.
The Unas surely don't call themselves "the first hosts". Being without a neckguard in public is about as accepted as being topless in public in America.
As the ground battle was a curbstomp in favor of Terra, here's the balance. They're in a whole other league of technology in space.
