A/N: Chap 19 review responses are in my forums like normal.
Chapter Twenty: Hebridan
The al'kesh carried more than just Tel'gat. In fact it carried forty three girls, in ages ranging from three to thirteen, representing the whole of the surviving Hak'tyl movement. Hermione tried to select just one or two, but whether they feared Hermione and Harry or not, they absolutely refused to be separated.
Melburn Jackson took it upon himself to continue their education in the spacious hold of the cargo ship, which was designed to carry five hundred Jaffa warriors. Hermione was grateful because it kept the girls busy, rather than giving them time to think about the rather dire future they all faced.
After moving instantaneously from world to world through the gates, it felt odd to fly in a real spaceship. Sometimes, when the seat wasn't occupied by Ishta, Hermione sat in the co-pilot's seat next to Harry and stared out at the swirling blue tunnel of hyperspace. On the evening of their first day's journey, she said, "Is this what it was like, in that other galaxy you visited?"
Harry had been meditating for the most part, since the ship largely ran itself. He roused himself and glanced over at her. "Yes. The hyperspace mechanics are largely the same here, the Goa'uld are just…it pains me to admit that in some ways the technology they use is superior. In the Corusca galaxy, ships beat down the laws of physics with brute force power. But Goa'uld hyperspace is like a knife cutting through the folds of real space. This ship uses a tiny fraction of the energy a comparable-sized ship would use where I'm from. A ship this size might require a crew of a hundred to run smoothly. On the other hand, a turbo-laser cannon would do a lot more damage than their staff canons would."
She reached across the space between the two seats and he responded to take her hand without even looking. Behind them, Ishta watched quietly before turning back to the girls under her care.
~~Stars Alone~~
~~Stars Alone~~
Late in the second day, the al'kesh began to buck wildly. Harry, meditating in the back, rushed to the cockpit where Ishta and Hermione flew. "What's happening?"
"We're being fired on," Ishta said. "Low level ion bursts. Not enough to damage us yet, but enough to destabilize our flight path. I must take us out of hyperspace."
Without a word, Hermione stood and Harry slipped into her place. Behind them, Milburn made his way forward. "What's going on?"
Before his question was finished, the space outside the cockpit blurred into a vast field of stars, and in the distance a specular nebula. Almost immediately hidden speakers blared.
"Goa'uld vessel, you have entered restricted space. Reverse course or you will be fired upon."
Harry leaned forward, but the attacking ships were behind them, visible as blips in the Goa'uld sensor scopes. Harry activated the communicator with a flick of a finger. "This is a trade vessel from the planet Kalmah, a free world, requesting permission to approach Hebridan for medical assistance. We received a pre-certification clearance from Pascal on the planet Aspiracus."
In the pilot's seat, Ishta raised a brow at Harry's use of the Goa'uld word for "Sanctuary" as the name of Cartago.
Suddenly a Hebridan ship soared directly over their head. The craft was a bulky affair, essentially a brick with atmospheric stabilizers and thrusters wrapped around a powerful suite of fusion thrusters. But the ship also appeared to pack a pair of heavy laser cannons and a pod of six missiles on each wing that would have been more than enough to damage or destroy the al'kesh.
Silence, followed by a terse: "Hold position."
"Acknowledged. Holding position."
"What if they fire on us?" Hermione asked from behind the two pilot seats.
"Then we leave," Harry said simply. "Quickly," he added.
Minutes later, the speaker beeped. "Al'kesh ship, do you have transport rings?"
"We do."
"Then prepare to be boarded for inspection. Failure to comply will result in your immediate destruction."
"Understood," Harry said easily. "Ladies, Melburn, let's welcome our guests."
Locking the controls, Harry led Hermione, Ishta and Melburn Jackson back to the spacious hold and the rings there. The Jaffa girls all gathered in a corner, encircling the weakened Tel'gat. The girl was virtually passed out on the floor of the hold.
The rings rose up with a loud, electric hum that resolved itself in a bright flash of white light. When the light faded, a squad of three men and a woman, all human, appeared in the hold. Each of them held a carbine not so dissimilar to weapons used on Earth. One of them also held what appeared to be a scanner roughly the size of an arm with a dish at the end.
The leader of the four stepped forward, his eyes darting quickly over everyone in a frank assessment of risks. "My name is Defense Commander Jaxton. Identify yourselves."
"I am Harry Potter," Harry said, without stepping forward himself. "This is my wife Hermione, our civil engineer Melburn Jackson. Joining us is Ishta of the Jaffa, and several young Jaffa girls in need of medical assistance."
"We need to scan your ship."
"Please feel free to do so."
The female officer with the scanner proceeded to do so, running it efficiently over every interior surface. "Commander, they have twenty plasma charges in their chutes," she said after only a few minutes of scanning.
"We're an unaffiliated al'kesh flying through Goa'uld space," Harry said with a shrug. "We're a trading expedition, not cattle. We have the means and right to defend ourselves if attacked."
"And those?" Jaxton said, pointing at Harry's lightsabers.
Harry obliging lifted it and ignited the blade. "A personal defense weapon," he said. "As you can see, it is not a projectile. It does nothing more than stun." With that, he switched the blade to its training setting and tapped it against his own palm.
He deactivated it and placed it back on his belt.
"And you're pre-certification?"
Harry slowly reached into the pouch at his belt and removed a digital card roughly the size of a credit card on Earth, which he handed to the man. Jaxton took it and slipped it into a reader on his belt. The read-out appeared on a one by two-inch console strapped to his wrist. "Pascala said you had raw lumber as a possible trading item?"
Harry nodded before walking into a separate section of the hold. He opened the door to reveal stacks of lumber. "You'll want to quarantine them to make sure not to import any insects, but it was the only item we had that could hold value to your people, since you're world is not heavily forested."
Jaxton nodded to his scanner. She stepped past the two men and began running the device over the wood. "Some insect life, but nothing out of the ordinary," she said after completing the scan. "I estimate twenty metric tons."
Jaxton raised a single brow. "That's a healthy amount of lumber, Mr. Potter."
Harry shrugged. "I'm always open to trade possibilities."
"Very well. Please keep your ship in this position until advised otherwise," Jaxton ordered before he and his three colleagues walked back to the rings and returned to their ship.
They waited another ten minutes in the cockpit before they finally received permission to enter Hebridan space. They did so, flanked the entire time by the bulky fighter. After just a few moments more of hyperspace, they emerged within sight of a blue-green world that looked so much like Earth even Harry had to swallow past a lump in his throat.
As they approached, though, differences became obvious beyond the differently shaped continents. Hebridan's orbit bustled with ships of almost every description, while massive defense platforms and space stations orbited in a diamond pattern around the planet's equator. The planet's surface was also quickly approaching ecumenopolis stage. "You are to dock in Customs Station 23. Follow these coordinates," Jaxton's voice said over their speakers.
Harry ignored the voice as he took passive scans of the planet and its defenses. "Laser cannons," Hermione said as she poured over them scans. "They don't appear to use naquedah-based technology at all."
The station they approached was a massive dual-ring system using opposite-spinning rings to offset the gyroscopic effect. It was, however, a very large station, with a hangar in the gravity-free center large enough to handle a ship ten times the size of the al'kesh. It was into this hangar that Harry took their craft. Once inside, a hovering jitney directed them with flashing arrows to a smaller berth on the planet-side of the hangar. He gently brought the al'kesh over and set it down, not surprised to see a dozen men in dark gray uniforms flanking another figure in a bright blue dress shirt with a high, stiff collar and black slacks waiting for them under artificial gravity plating.
Harry led the way down the ramp after landing the ship and walked directly to the stiff-collared man whom he assumed was the authority in the station. "Harry Potter," he introduced himself, extending his hand with a friendly smile, one practiced over the course of his years as president and CEO of Phoenix Industries. "We appreciate you allowing us to land."
The man, whose face looked narrow and pinched under thinning blonde hair, nodded. "My name is Devan Hestite, I'm the Customs Officer for this station. I'm afraid I can't allow you planet side until the mandatory quarantine period of fifty hours, but it is likely I should be able to help you." He glanced over Harry's shoulder at where Ishta and Melburn were gathering the girls. "If you'll come with me?"
They followed Hestite into a lift that shot them far into the station, and then continued through one of the thick support spokes to an outer, rotating ring. Harry was not surprised to see their orientation had changed having switched from gravity plates to simple centrifugal gravity.
"Why not use gravity plates?" Harry asked.
Hestite paused and looked at the newcomers. "Using centrifugal force instead of gravity plating saves money," he said with a shrug.
The answer and the gesture—as if that were the only possible explanation—spoke volumes about Hebridan's culture. Harry liked it.
The ring concourse looked like a massive, curving shopping mall with almost every item conceivable for sale. They walked past a few shops and restaurants in which both humans and Serrikan mingled. In fact, Harry saw several beings who could only have been a hybrid of the two among the crowds as well. Eventually, they turned into what was clearly an administrative area. Past a dozen computer workstations, they arrived at a spacious room lined with bunk beds. He spotted showers and washrooms through the only other door.
"We regret the inconvenience of a quarantine period, but it is standard procedure for any craft arriving from Goa'uld space."
"What about Pascala's pre-certification?" Hermione asked, upset but clearly trying to control her temper.
"Madam, without that, you would have been fired upon," Hestite said. "We are routinely attacked by Jaffa forces attempting to make a name for themselves among their masters. And it is clear you arrived with Jaffa, so I'm afraid we are going to have to insist."
"I understand," Harry said quickly, before Hermione could continue the argument. It was rare for him to be the patient one, but he was reading a great deal of concern from the man because of the presence of the Jaffa women. "I told Pascala that we were here for medical reasons. One of these girls is very sick with a condition endemic with the Jaffa. We'll make no effort to leave this room, but would it be possible while here to speak with a geneticist or medical specialist? That is what the lumber in our hold was intended to pay for."
Hestite hesitate a moment before nodding. "It's a reasonable request, Mr. Potter. I'll forward it to my superiors. In the meantime, we do provide complimentary meals and drinks for you while you are here. If you require anything to eat or drink, please order it at the computer station there." He pointed to the appropriate spot before leaving.
When he left, the transparent doors slid shut behind him with a woosh that made their ears pop. "Pressurization," Hermione said. I don't sense immediate danger.
"These people are understandably cautious," Harry said, looking about the room to clearly indicate they were being listened to. "I can't say I blame them. But it would be valuable to Kalmah as a whole if we could establish a trading relationship with a technologically advanced world. They have manufacturing capabilities we won't have for decades, while we have raw materials they've run short on. Plus, any world capable of routing the Goa'uld is one I wish to be on good terms with."
"Akai'kheb," Ishta said. "Why do you call the world Kalmah?"
"One, we don't want to let any Goa'uld know where we're located; and two, I think it fits. Now, let's see what we have to eat. I'm hungry. Al'qat, how is Tel'gat? Do you think she could eat some soup?"
The Jaffa girl he addressed nodded somberly. "Yes, Akai'kheb. But little else."
~~Stars Alone~~
~~Stars Alone~~
It turned out that the Hebridan doctors were just dying to get a chance not just to study a Jaffa, but the Goa'uld larva within Ishta's pouch. That fact alone was what eventually bought Harry, Hermione, Milburn and the Hak'tyl girls passage to the surface of Hebridan.
Even Hermione was impressed with the sheer scope of the planet's architecture, and Harry personally was reminded of the tall, elegant spires of Alderaan. The world was a surprisingly well-blended mix of human and Serrakin, whom he'd read were a technologically advanced species that had begun to experience such a rapid decline in their birthrates they feared total extinction within ten generations. It was this which prompted them to help the humans gain their freedom from the Goa'uld and elevate the humans technologically, for with a blending of culture and technology came also a blending of species. The Serrakin geneticists perfected a gene therapy that allowed for viable offspring between the species, creating a new, unique species that could only be called Hebridan.
They were met on the landing pad of a hospital roughly the size of Wimberley in its footprint, but which rose fifty floors above the surrounding parkland, by a Serrikan named Calis. He was flanked by two humans and a hybrid, who like him all wore red overcoats much like scientists on earth wore white lab coats. Calis looked hungrily at Ishta and the Jaffa girls, making several of them clump together in concern at what they perceived was a predatory look.
"It is a pleasure to meet you all," he said, shaking Harry's hand frantically. He did the same to Hermione and Milburn, but didn't dare tough the Jaffa. "It is such an honor! Come, we shall have a tour of the hospital before we go to the lab, yes?"
"Of course," Hermione said with a pleased smile.
Touring the hospital was like stepping back in time for Harry. Just as the world reminded Harry faintly of Alderaan, the medical facility reminded him largely of similar facilities in the Corusca Galaxy, so long destroyed it existed only as memories of his years spent there as the Emperor's failed apprentice.
The one thing the Hebridans did not have were droids. However, their medical technology was vastly superior to that of Earth, to a point where if a being was alive when entering the hospital, there was every reasonable expectation they would leave whole and relatively healthy. The genetic expertise of the Serrikin especially was astonishing but not surprising, given their research into ways to ensure their species' survival through hybridization.
Eventually, they made their way to a laboratory that was set in the base of a large amphitheater cordoned off from the seating above by tinted windows. Harry could sense many beings within as they watched with interest the forty three Jaffa girls and Ishta as they shuffled nervously into the spacious lab, which was filled with rolling beds. Harry, Hermione and Milburn sat off to one side with Calis while a host of other technicians, all in the red lab jackets, gently assisted the nervous Jaffa onto the beds.
"So, we'll need to be official here," Calis said. "These events are being recorded for liability and legal reasons. What is your official position with this world of yours, Kalmah?"
"Consider me and my family the rulers of the planet," Harry said. "We have an advisory cabinet comprised of the various societal elements on the planet. Our goal is to eventually establish a constitutional monarchy, but we lack the population to make it necessary at the moment. We accepted these Jaffa refugees because their lives were in immediate danger."
"The adult wears the sign of Moloc," Calis noted.
"Yes," Hermione admitted. "Moloc ordered all female Jaffa killed and so the adult Jaffa, named Ishta, and several of her sister priestesses attempted to smuggle the girls off-planet. She is the only adult who survived the attempt."
"And what is it that you are asking us to do?"
Hermione looked at Ishta on her bed. The former priestess was flushed red with her lips pursed, but she nodded.
"The Jaffa were genetically engineered from base human stock not just to be soldiers, but to serve as living incubators to Goa'uld," Hermione said. "At puberty, a Jaffa loses their own immune system and without a Goa'uld larva, they will sicken and die. I understand their mortality rate to be near fifty percent. It is our hope to find a means to prevent this dependency, not just for these girls, but all Jaffa."
The other researchers throughout the lab paused at that pronouncement before looking at each other and their subjects with worried expressions. Above, Harry could sense troubled thoughts as well.
Calis leaned his head to one side, obviously listening to a concealed earpiece. "Pardon me, but I've been instructed to ask why we should help the enemies of Hebridan?"
Ishta sat up from her table, causing one of the techs nearest her to back away in alarm. Harry, though, cleared his throat. "Who is your enemy?" Harry asked. "The knife thrust in your back, or the mind guiding it? The Jaffa are slaves, more so even than the humans of Hebridan were before they were liberated. With the humans, they merely needed guidance to fight back. But the Jaffa literally cannot live without their masters. If you truly wanted to limit the damage the Goa'uld could do to you, then helping us is clearly the best course of action. Free the Jaffa, and you remove the Goa'uld greatest weapon—their armies."
Calis listened again before leaving Harry and Hermione and walked directly to Ishta, who herself reared back a little from the Serrikin. "During the liberation of this planet three hundred years ago, Jaffa forces murdered almost seven hundred thousand humans and one hundred and twenty three thousand Serrikin before being defeated. Most were civilians not engaged in combat. Have you, or any of those in this room, engaged in the killing of humans either at your own behest or the behest of your god?"
"No," Ishta snapped. "I was a High Priestess, Moloc did not use priestesses for warriors. He used us as rewards for his warriors, if we were lucky."
"Finally, do you have the authority to speak for the other subjects in the room?"
"I do," she said simply.
"Very well. Do you consent to the research proposed today, which is the search for a means to prevent the Goa'uld larval dependency of your bodies?"
"I do," Ishta said, grinding the words out as if they hurt.
"Thank you," Calis said with a nod. He returned to Harry and Hermione. "Ladies, gentlemen, please begin. First, we start with gene mapping of all the participants to locate the markers causing the divergent features of Jaffa…"
~~Stars Alone~~
~~Stars Alone~~
Two hours later, in the viewing room of the Amphitheater, surrounded by Hebridan government officials and researchers, Calis gushed about how much he was enjoying the project. "Researchers have wondered for many centuries just how self-aware the immature larva are," the Serrikin research told Harry and Hermione. "It just seems beyond belief that all Goa'uld are born evil, so most have speculated it is an environmental factor."
"No, they're just born evil," Harry answered. "Ishta's symbiote is not only fully self-aware, it is also completely aware of its surroundings. It was born with a racial memory of the queen which spawned it and was fully sentient from the moment of its birth with all the memories of its ancestors. So the Goa'uld truly are born evil."
Calis and several politicians turned and stared. "How could you possibly know that?" the Serrikin asked.
"I live with a powerful telepath," Harry said with a grin. Behind him, Hermione rolled her eyes.
Calis, though, completely missed the humor and turned to stare back at the scanned larva. "But…but…nothing can be born evil!"
"Evil is of course a point of view," Harry pointed out. "To a Goa'uld, enslaving millions for their personal pleasure and power is perfectly reasonable, and the evil is only if humans attempt to resist. They truly do believe they are gods. After all, through their technology they are functionally immortal and are born with all the knowledge of their forebears."
"I find it interesting that you are working so hard to free the Jaffa." Harry turned to the Minister of Defense of Hebridan, a tall human with peppered black hair and a broad chin named Danis Muldon. "What do you hope to gain?"
"Short term?" Harry asked. He pointed through the window at the sedated girls. "I get to protect girls who sought sanctuary on my world. Long term? I despise slavery. I despise those who would hold others as slaves. More importantly, I despise the Goa'uld and want them eradicated. And while they hold armies of hundreds of millions of devoted fanatics, no one in this galaxy will ever defeat them. But if the Jaffa are allowed a glimpse of true freedom, there might be hope. Those girls are proof that Jaffa can choose to be free."
"And they might view one who freed them as a savior," Muldon pointed out. "And such devotion might lead to a fanaticism directed to someone else. For instance, Akai'kheb? Those girls call you a Bridge-Unto-Heaven."
"Actually, the humans we helped recover from a genocidal strike called him that," Hermione said. "I'm a little uncomfortable with it myself, but the population we saved was illiterate and purposely held down by the Goa'uld, so it is difficult for them to understand science. We have a former minister from another world who gave them a mechanical harvester, and I've seen the natives treat him with the awe previously reserved for the Goa'uld. One of the first things we did was establish a school, though, so I have no doubt as their education levels increase, the faith with diminish. Hopefully to respect, but in a free society one can only hope."
"And where do you come from?" Muldon asked. "You're accents are unfamiliar to me, and I've visited several free worlds."
"For security reasons, we do not wish to say," Harry said. "Right now, we do not have the capacity to defend ourselves from any concerted Goa'uld assault. Until we can, we have to stay in the shadows. If we ever reach a point when we can fight openly, then we will do so."
"That said, however," Hermione continued seamlessly, "we are always looking for teachers. We have four good teachers from our old homeworld, but your own world is much more advanced than ours. If you are worried about us as potential threats, send a teacher. I frankly don't care if they give you occasional reports on our society since we would much rather have Hebridan as an ally given our common foes."
The minister studied her intently before looking to Harry, who shrugged. "She's in charge of the schools. My role is more analogous to your own, I'd imagine."
"We're open to discussion," Muldon finally said.
"And with that, we have the initial reports from our analysis," Calis announced. The windows looking down tinted darker and then lit up with spectacular, three-dimensional displays of DNA strands. "Ah, yes. See these two pairs? That's it—the entire difference between a Jaffa and a human. The base pair appears to be activated by elevated levels of estrogen, or likely testosterone in males, during puberty."
"Can the DNA be removed?" Hermione asked.
"In vitro, certainly," Calis said. "But it would be a rather expensive and detailed procedure and would have to be done for every single pregnancy. No, I think the easiest thing would be to simply turn the base pair off."
This time it was Hermione's turn to blink in astonishment. "You can do that?"
"Oh, certainly. The Serrikin had to deactivate several of our own chromosomal pairs in order to produce viable offspring with humans. We introduce an engineered retrovirus that will deactivate the targeted base pair. And it should be permanent from generation to generation, though there may be the occasional generational relapse. Unfortunately, we can do nothing for any adult Jaffa already bonded with a Goa'uld."
He shook his head. "I take that back. We've studied the secretions the larva produces and I suppose it would be possible to generate a substitute serum, but you'd be trading one dependency for another. It should be noted that if we do deactivate this genetic alteration, there would be a pronounced effect on the Jaffa."
"Such as?" Harry asked.
"They would essentially be human," the Serrikin said. "Both in healing abilities, strength and lifespan. Now, generations of selective breeding have produced very large, healthy humans, but they would not live to see centuries like a few Jaffa have been known to."
"It's exactly what we hoped for," Hermione breathed.
"But Ishta will need to agree," Harry said. "And Bra'tac for the male children. We can't force this on them."
"It will make for an interesting discussion," Hermione admitted.
Thanks for reading.