Rebirth of Ares
Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum
May 2005
Areya, Ares' Palace
He had had a couple of months now to solidify his control over his new domain and things had calmed down somewhat, only a spattering of protests still occurred and they were mostly dealt with peacefully. In fact he had been consulting with his ministers, for lack of a better term, about the separation of powers and modelling his domain after his own country. A Constitutional Monarchy under some sort of parliamentary system or senate like in the Star Wars prequels. It wasn't going to happen any time soon but it was best to be prepared and lay down some foundational stones. It would also help in dealing with a successor when the time came.
It had also been enough time for James and Carol to design their versions of sci-fi's most recognisable ships. "So what did you do to yours then?" James asked after she'd taken a seat in front of him in his office. She placed a small projector on the desk and it light up to show a yellowy gold diagram of the ship.
"I took cues from both the Galactica and Pegasus in the show, given what images and stats they talked about. I even visited Earth to check an online web page on the show to see what it said to get some ideas for it. I give you the Battlestar. A carrier warship hybrid standing 1,400 meters long with Ancient Pulse Weapons and Plasma Repeaters covering the hull. At the front, in the jaw of the crocodile like head, will be two Plasma Beam weapons.
"We don't have any torpedoes or the like yet but there is room for two launchers at the front should we get some. It will have a large Naquadah power core along with efficiency improvements to squeeze out as much power as possible so we should have enough. The shields will be of Ancient design with some Asgard tweaking and they'll be the hull tight form rather than a bubble. It's more efficient that way.
"I have also used the in show design to launch fighters out from here" and she pointed to the side bays. "They'll come out of the side but land in the hanger like through-way, as in the show. Then its just recover them like Ha'taks do to get them into launch positions."
"How many gliders?" James asked.
"I estimate 8 wings of gliders plus 2 wings of Al'kesh. So a total of 480 gliders. This compares to the current 5 wings of gliders or two wings of Al'kesh in Ha'taks. On a Battlestar you should get both." James nodded agreeably, humming thoughtfully. "So can you top that?" she asked smugly. James smiled back at her.
"It looks good though I haven't watched the show so I can't really say much. Soo, I give you the Ares-class Star Destroyer" and here he changed the projector to show a triangular shaped vessel similar to those seen in the famous franchise. "As you can see no bridge tower or shield domes. The bridge will be in the raised section at the rear here under heavy armour" and he pointed to the raised section of the ship. "Like yours it will have Intergalactic drive and Ancient hull tight shields with Asgard modifications. Weapons wise; it will possess six turret mounted Plasma Beam Weapons, three along each side, to allow for varying targetting and Plasma Repeaters for anti-fighter duty scattered along the hull. As well, it will have a dozen or so fixed position Ancient Pulse Weapons for anti-capital ship engagements. In short, a veritable dreadnought that will punch through countless Ha'taks. In fact, I dare say it will rival an Asgard mother ship or two" he finished smugly.
"All right I'll you points for making an unbeatable ship. How many fighters can it have?" she asked.
"Yeah, well, it's 1,000 meters long and needs more power for its weapons etc. so it has a smaller hanger. It can launch 3 wings of gliders plus 1 wing of Al'kesh, so 180 gliders, the same way a Ha'tak would."
"I have more fighters than you" Carol said childishly. James just grumbled. "So which you gonna make?"
"Both of course!" he replied with a grin which threw her. "We need something to carry gliders and something to take on capitals effectively. Having both means we can do so. Plus your Battlestar can do anti-fighter and anti-capital duty though it'll be better with support. Now, we just have to decide where to build them." He then brought up a map of his shipyards on the projector. He had three in his core territory, two in Cronus' and two in Nirrti's. "Each shipyard can build four ships at a time so I will have one Destroyer built at each and I'll have the yards above here build a Battlestar and my secret shipyard, the third in my domain Carol, build another two of Battlestars. So that'll mean we should have seven Destroyers by September, give or take a week or so, and three Battlestars by October or there about. That work out?"
"Sounds about right, should take longer for mine since they're larger. Not gonna build an Enterprise though?" she added jokingly.
"Ha! As tempting as it is, I'll likely call a Battlestar the Enterprise as its more of a multi-role ship than a Destroyer. The Enterprise shouldn't really be a warship, it's point of principle. Also the Starfleet ships would only really work as a science ship which we aren't ready for" he added. Carol shrugged but agreed.
"So how come we aren't using those Ancient ships as a plan?" Carol asked curiously.
"You mean the Aurora? Simple, the designs weren't in the Repository. They were built and operated solely in Pegasus. As for drone weapons, I don't know how to make them. I haven't found that in the Repository yet. Plus they're almost 3km long. My flagship is barely 2km and Anubis' was just over 2.3km. So building a replica is not practical. True I could do a smaller version but it won't have the same capability."
"By the way, do we need to worry about copyright?" Carol asked as she made to leave the office.
"Huh" James replied dumbly. For once totally stumped.
Earth, SGC
With the peace had been present for almost almost two months the Jaffa had tried to organise and Ares had sat within his territory rebuilding and securing his domain. But of course nothing was that simple. Rumours of possible invasions constantly came his way and James knew it would not hold off forever. He therefore contacted Earth and asked for them to mediate a peace treaty or Non-aggression pact between him and the Jaffa. Earth quickly agreed since they didn't want more fighting to occur out in the galaxy with the demise of the System Lords and both Jaffa and Ares offered stability. Assuming no war broke out.
He arrived at the SGC accompanied by Honeric, Jamila and Carol. He was greeted by an elderly man in his fifties James guessed with slowly greying hair and a kind face. "Hello, I am Ares. I bring you greeting no behalf of my subjects. This is my First Prime Honeric, my Lo'tar Jamila and our liaison Carol Weterings."
"Welcome to Earth. I'm General Hank Landry, I've just been made the head of this facility."
"A pleasure General. So where is O'Neill? Retired again?" James asked with a small chuckle.
"No Jack has been promoted again, much to his regret" Landry grinned. "He now runs Homeworld Command now that old George has finally retired. This is SG1, or rather just the new leader of SG1, Colonel Cameron Mitchell. Teal'c is with the Jaffa and Carter is over at Area 51 working on some of the tech you've given us over the years. Dr Jackson is, well, he's off at Atlantis talking to the Ancients we revived."
"Ah I see, the gang has split up just as the newbie arrives, I'm sorry for your loss Colonel" James said smirking at the young man.
"Ah don't worry, I already have a plan to get the band back together again. It'll be just swell once they do" he replied with a grin.
"Good luck then. The Jaffa representative, are they here?" James said, turning to Landry.
"Expected in two hours" Landry replied. "We'll help you both come to terms, even Dr Jackson should be returning to lend a hand in about an hour. We won't aid either of you if war breaks out though let me be very clear on the IOA position" Landry added sternly. James bowed his head in acceptance.
Just over two hours later everyone was seated around the briefing room table, James and his people on one side while Teal'c, Bra'tac and a Jaffa called Gerak sat on the other. General Landry sat at the head of the table while Dr Jackson and Colonel Mitchel sat at the other. "Welcome to Earth everyone. We all know why we're here, lets make peace and hope it holds. Chaos across the galaxy does no one any good. So lets' get to it." Landry said as he kicked off the discussions. The deliberations and debates went on for hours with much discussion and trading of insults, mostly from Gerak.
"Why should we grant you this much territory false god?" "Surrender yourself for judgement, you are not fit to rule any longer." "Your attempts to win over those Jaffa will fail, all now know the Goa'uld are false gods and insects." The insults and unhelpfulness went on.
"Peace brother" Bra'tac began. "If we can make peace now we can focus on ourselves and get us ready for any challenges ahead. If we focus on Ares too much we will loose focus and our nation building efforts will be for nought."
"I will not make deals with false gods brother Bar'tac. No Jaffa would make a deal with them and those who do are traitors to the cause of all free Jaffa" Gerak said harshly.
"Not even a temporary agreement to not fight each other while we both rebuild after the Replicators?" James asked. He hadn't spoke in the 'God' voice the entire time since no one there really believed he was a god any more. A powerful being yes, from Honeric and Jamila, but a being none the less.
"No, we should invade and liberate the Jaffa and kill this false god like we have the other Goa'uld we've found. He's likely sheltering others as well so we should inspect his territory to make sure. Gerak demanded.
"And what of the humans?" Mitchell piped up. Gerak waved his hand dismissively.
"Would you hand over any Goa'uld?" Bra'tac asked, attempting compromise again.
"Not likely if you're just gonna shoot them. To the Tok'ra I might, since they can extract the symbiote, but I only have a handful of other Goa'uld in my domain who are governors of territory or technicians. They are loyal to me and obey my commands, in part since they have nowhere else to go thanks to you. I won't turn them over."
"See! This snake will not yield to Jaffa superiority. We must go to his worlds and root out these false gods ourselves."
"You can't just invade Ares' territory Gerak" Honeric said. "Our ships our superior to yours and we are building more as we are recruiting more warriors. It would be a blood bath of innocents on both sides, don't waste them on a pointless exercise. Besides, Ares has made a better leader to his people since his rebirth than all the other Goa'uld or even your chaotic government that isn't even stable."
"Bah, Goa'uld brainwashing and propaganda. We are the representatives of all Jaffa, we are the great power in this galaxy and we will crush those who oppose us" Gerak claimed passionately. Bra'tac and Teal'c just looked on in sadness. This wasn't what they'd wanted.
"It seems then that we will get no where this time. Perhaps we can try again with cooler heads" Bra'tac said after having enough.
"Indeed, let us stop wasting each others time since it is clear the Jaffa currently only want war" James replied bitterly. Gerak snorted.
"War is all you deserve demon" he spat and stood before quickly leaving the room. The other two Jaffa stood slowly, nodded to Landry and Ares before leaving too. James slumped in the chair, sighing heavily.
"That went well" he said with a despondent sigh. Landry and Mitchell chuckled. Jackson seemed surprised by how it went.
"I can't believe it was as bad as that. I knew the Jaffa would be reluctant but I'd have thought they would accept a deal even if it was only temporary" Daniel said slowly. "I really hope Gerak doesn't represent the majority or Earth might be the next target of his hate. According to Teal'c, they already don't like Major Davis and SG-7 sticking their noses into Jaffa affairs since they think we want to control and subvert them." Daniel sighed.
"Nation building is hard work and tricky but done right it can stand the test of time" Landry said wisely.
"Who said that sir?" Mitchel asked.
"I did, just now" he replied with a smirk.
With the peace talks broken both parties returned to their respective worlds to blame each other for the problems. The only thing James could do was spread his version of the failed talks quicker and than Gerak which could resulting in some blow back for him since Gerak caused the bulk of the problems. He unfortunately survived however and still managed to rouse the more militant Jaffa. Indeed his faction was becoming the loudest and growing quickly, most Jaffa seemed to believe a quick invasion in large numbers would end the last System Lord for good.
It was later on that week, two days later in fact, that James was called in by the SGC in regards to help with with an Ancient artefact. "General Landry, a pleasure to see you again. What brings me to Earth this time?" James greeted the General politely as he walked down the ramp to him.
"Ares, welcome to Earth. Yes we're having trouble with an Ancient artefact we found in Britain. We believe it's a communication device capable on inter-galactic communication." James paled at the news.
"How long has it been active?" he asked urgently. Landry seemed taken aback by the tone and began leading them down the corridors of the facility.
"Well Doctor Jackson and a woman known as Vala Mal Doran have been in it for around an hour or so, we haven't been able to get it to release them yet."
"Neither has woken up claiming to be someone else?" James asked curiously, now relaxing somewhat as they continued walking.
"No. Should there have be?"
"According to the Repository there should be an exchange of consciousnesses, i.e. you swap places with someone" he added to simplify it for the General. "If they haven't it means that at the other end the communication device there was not set up properly, if at all, but is merely active. Any way we need to shut it done now" he explained as they entered a lift and took it up to level 21.
"I agree but you seem even more desperate than us to shut it off, how come?" he asked James, eyeing him curiously. James sighed and nodded.
"It is because there is a standing order in the Repository not to use them. If found they are to either be destroyed or modified to a new partner device" he said as the lift doors opened and they walked down another corridor.
"Sounds rather drastic for the Ancients? They aren't normally so careful by placing warnings."
"Indeed but it is to do with where the partner of most the devices were located. Most lead back to the home galaxy where the Ancients fled from other Alterans, they warn against ever visiting due to what did, and may still, live there. I can't stress how important it is that we destroy the device now General." By now they had walked into the infirmary where Dr Jackson and the woman were laid down on bed with Teal'c and Colonel Mitchell looking over them.
"Any change gentlemen?" Landry asked quickly taking in the view of the two on the beds.
"No sir, the doc said they're effectively in a sleep-like, coma-like state. Lights are on but no one's home" Mitchell reported.
"Indeed" came the deep voice of Teal'c.
"Ares, what would happen to them if we destroyed the terminal?" Landry asked, turning to him.
"In theory they should return to their bodies as it is this end that is projecting them out there to their host body so to speak. By cutting this end it ends the connection and forces them to return. It should doubly work since the device on the other end is clearly not functioning properly or is merely not on" James explained as best he could. Landry nodded and left the room to think on the proposal.
"How would you destroy such a device Ares?" Teal'c asked.
"Throw it in the unstable vortex of a wormhole as the gate finishes dialling. That should destroy it sufficiently." Teal'c nodded in understanding.
About an hour later later Landry returned and ordered James to destroy the device. James and Teal'c carried it to the gate room and waited for Walter to dial the gate. As the gate finished dialling James and Teal'c threw the communication terminal into the air in time for the kawoosh to spring forth and vaporise the device. The gate shut off seconds later due to no signal being sent or matter going through. The pair returned to the infirmary where they, along with Landry and Mitchell, saw Vala and Daniel slowly wake up blearily.
"Oh thank the gods! I don't think I could have taken any more of those damn awful chants. My poor knees were ruined and-" Vala started saying in deep relief.
"Vala can you just-" Daniel interrupted.
"Yes?"
"Shush."
"Sorry. I'm just so glad to be me again."
"Daniel Jackson are you well?" Teal'c asked.
"Well don't everybody ask me how I am" Vala complained with a huff.
"Yes, fine I think thanks. What happened here?" Daniel said looking about and realising they were in the infirmary.
"Ares" Vala said with a gasp when she spotted James. James in turn just raised a questioning eyebrow at her.
"Welcome back to the land of the living you two" Landry began. "We asked Ares since he is an expect in Ancient technology and we felt we needed an expert to deal with the device. He advised us to destroy it due to dangers present in the Ancients' home galaxy."
"You really shouldn't have used it without checking with me and the knowledge I have. There is a great danger in that galaxy, hence why the Ancients left and dared never to return. A danger that may now know of us" James said grumpily.
"Wait you know for certain some never went back?" Daniel asked, annoyed he hadn't been told this before.
"They feared what was left behind. They would never have dared returning the fear was so great. As far as I know they remained on Earth or went out into the galaxy to live in isolation. So great was the fear they never quite say what it was they ran from. All you find are warnings to never go back" he finished leaving an ominous silence to follow.
"So what did you see Jackson?" asked Mitchell.
"We were in a village, medieval level technology, agrarian society mostly. They followed a religion called Origin which actually seems to have some nice ideas in it, much like most religions. They seem to have an end goal of ascension though in this case."
"So they were Ancients?" Landry asked
"Certainly not our kind of Ancients" Vala said. Daniel nodded in agreement.
"Yeah they seemed to be human and mentioned other human worlds. There was no sign of technology anywhere that we saw. No mention of the Ancients or Alterans, just their gods, the Ori, and Origin and normal village business. I dread to say it but it was almost Jaffa and human slave world like with the religion and god belief aspect."
"Well lets hope you didn't attract any attention and left unnoticed then" Mitchell said and James nodded, while Landry hummed, in agreement.
"Vala Mal Doran, a.k.a. Qetesh if I'm not mistaken? Athena has said much about you. Mostly complaints about the Clava Thessara Infinitas if I'm not mistaken" James said as he came face to face with said woman, who wore revealing skin tight black leathers, while walking in one of the corridors.
"Ares, you handsome man, how have you been? Heard you're quite the survivor, kept your domain intact I hear? Also you shouldn't listen to everything that woman says, I haven't found it nor do I know where it is."
"Indeed. It's interesting that I sense no symbiote within you."
"Tok'ra captured me a few years back, was it 4 or 5 now?" she shrugged. "Been a free woman ever since. And enjoying every minute darling."
"I'll bet" he said with a chuckle. "Qetesh was always one for such pleasures."
"Hey, so were you until your new host as I recall."
"Exactly, my new host is me."
"What's your game here then Ares, you've been helping the humans a lot. Why you've been almost saint like in helping those on your worlds, that's no Goa'uld action, so who are you really? What trick are you up to snakey?" she said eagerly. James chuckled at her questions.
"The trick is pretending to be a Goa'uld" he replied leaving her confused.
"What do you mean?"
"Ever since taking this host I have not been a Goa'uld."
"You're Tok'ra then? But if so why not let the domain fall?"
"The people on those worlds believe in me, how could I let them fall into the chaos of the Free Jaffa Nation when I can provide leadership and stability while transiting them slowly to a better form of government?" he argued. She stood their stumped in the corridor as they discussed their, former apparently, godhoods.
"You care for them?" she said in surprise.
"To some degree yes. Enough that I couldn't let such a vast space collapse into anarchy. Well then, I'll leave you with that thought. Good day Vala." he said with a smile and a curt nod before walking down the corridor to Jackson's office.
"So how's your work with the ZPM coming along?" Daniel asked as he sorted through his office, unpacking things he had packed to go to Atlantis before being delayed on his second journey.
"ZPM?" James said, puzzled by the acronym.
"Potentia sorry. Some of our scientists call them that sometimes due to them using Zero Point Energy from subspace or something."
"Ah, yes, I see. And slowly. I am currently using old research Ra, Pelops and Athena once conducted on their own Potentia and something like it. Ra never really looked at his too much, or so I presume, but Athena had something similar she had found and used a human world called Kobolus as a research centre. It was a mostly Hellenic like world and as such both Zeus and myself occasionally visited it and Athena since we were both minor lords under my grandfather Cronus as it was under his purview though not his control. It was a distant world where few travelled and thus ideal for experiments.
"From what Athena could tell it had great power potential but something went wrong in one of the experiments she ran and a cascade failure began which could not be stopped. Thankfully they had a week to leave but even with that week they could not have stopped the cascade. Nothing could. The world, as far as I know, is most likely a barren or irradiated world. We never went but the gate was either destroyed or buried. So yes I am going very slowly in my research in how to use it and while I could just stick it in my flagship that isn't as useful as seeing just what it can or can't do." Daniel nodded though looked interested to learn more about this human world.
"What happened to the humans? Daniel asked curiously.
"Honestly? I haven't the foggiest. According to Athena they are likely dead but she always gets this look, like she's not saying the whole thing. For all I know she helped them off world and sent them somewhere. Neither Ares or Cronus ever questioned it, merely assuming that her thoughts were on the failed experiment but I think she did something with the humans based on her reactions to being asked" James explained with a shrug.
"What's the gate address?"
After eventually saying his farewells to the various SGC members and Vala he returned to Areya and spoke with his First Prime. "Honeric, I want construction to begin immediately on my new ship designs. I fear we may have need of them before the year is up. Get the shipyards to work."
"By your command my lord" Honeric said with a bow and James retreated to his office and began reading up on the Ancients' earliest histories especially those relating to their home galaxy. After a few hours he took a break and stared out from the balcony, enjoying the view, all the while worried about a great threat that may not even come. Carol came up next to him at one point and placed her head on his shoulder as they watched the sun set on another day here on a peaceful Areya.