Star Granger Season 2 - Chapter 11
Thoughts
"speech"
"Goa'uld speech"
SG SG SG SG SG SG SG
July 5th 1999 – Moon complex
"Good call!"
Harry looks like he grew a whole inch at R's approval. Being Harry, a whole inch is significant, as height goes.
Damn Dursleys!
It took, whoever that green little lady was, three whole days to pack and leave Earth's orbit and space, and for us to breathe in relief. On one hand, we were delighted to attract no attention. Best possible affirmation of our new cloaks. On the other hand, our few new 'life signs' sensors were temporary at best, not well distributed, and sadly not well charged. By the time our green friend left, we were only left with the two sensors still working. Both on the moon's surface. Those didn't offer good enough triangulation, at all.
This past weekend, the office was in a frenzy to manufacture more sensors and this week starts with the distribution effort. Main problem is power. Those sensors Paul had distributed as testing platforms were basically plates of Naquadah, layered with the matching 'circuits'.
I really need to stop adding those quotations in my mind.
Now, Naquadah can certainly hold its charge – for as long as the circuit isn't active.
There – no quotations!
Yet, as soon as there were life signs to track, that charge faded awfully fast. The thing is we are quids in on Magic based systems.
And we really, really need to name this already!
What we don't have are power supplies. For now, our options are to either build something large enough to hold both a Naquadah reactor and a certainly-not-magic generator. Never mind that both take quite a bit of time, money, and effort to manufacture. Never mind that both need a liquid Naquadah charge to work too. Otherwise, we will have to use our very limited supply of mostly depleted power crystals, for which we are yet to manufacture replacements.
"Our shipyards and plants are getting crowded," R remarks, looking out the observatory window.
The two main cradles are full with the hulls of HMS Seahorse and Mermaid - our first production frigates which are almost complete. In four months' time they will be ready for a shake down, and new keels will be set. This is our main effort, so it will run uninterrupted.
A smaller dock was built to accommodate the manufacturing of The Brick. Now, the newly designed sensor satellites (which are made mostly of the aft third of a Brick, with limited life support and manoeuvrability) compete for its capacity against the manufacturing of more shuttles. The indoor plant is swamped with demands for reactors and generators. The production line has completed the order for the ten no-wings, and now is busy building new workbees, to try and handle our growing appetite for ore from the Naquadah field.
"I wanted to wait with satellite production till we're able to arm them," Jeremy remarks.
"That's a slippery slope," R answers. "It breaks quite a few treaties."
"Not if we position those far enough outside Earth's high orbit?" Sidney offers.
"That's blooming semantics," I tell him.
He shrugs.
"Less of a slope, yet very slippery still." Beatrix remarks dryly.
"Right, because building all these sodding ships is no issue at all. Especially since we call them Seahorse and Mermaid, and bloody Unicorns." Keira scowls.
"Hey, leave the Unicorns alone!" Bill complains.
"We'll need to bring it all up with the Prime Minister. Soon." R concludes. "For now, sensor satellites and crystal powered 'buoys' – as a stop gap, will have to do."
"We can drop those in high orbit where it's not that crowded and it'll not be suspicious." Jeremy agrees.
"When do you reckon we can have five satellites ready?" I ask.
"16-18 weeks, at the earliest. We can build those two at a time on the small dock if we put the third Brick on hold." He shrugs.
July 9th 1999 – Moon complex
I find Luna at the observation canteen. It became her favourite place in the complex.
Not surprising, that.
She's eating pudding and looking out at the surface with a strong binocular.
"Any frogs?"
She smiles softly at me.
"How are you holding?" I ask her carefully.
"This is not at all what I expected, meeting with you, you know? I'm adjusting. Almost no Nargles around here. Wrackspurts are friendly, and the Blibbering Humdinger are excited."
I give her a warm hug. "Hope you're a bit excited too."
"Oh yes! This is so much more than I've imagined."
"What did you Imagine?" I'm curious.
"Well, I've known you were doing something related to the stars. Surprisingly enough, something about Merlin and Morgana, too. Not that I could think of a way to connect those. Mainly, I was looking forward to exploring and meeting people and creatures never seen before, but you are taking explorations and the stars much farther than I could ever imagine."
"There's gonna be lots of that. By winter the Seahorse and Mermaid will be ready and tested, and then serious exploration will begin." She smiles at that and looks like Luna again.
"It is going to be hard on you in the beginning." I softly tell her. "Yours is an amazing, free, and intuitive mind, but to be able to use it here, you need a lot of knowledge Hogwarts just doesn't supply us with. Harry and I are dedicating about four hours every day to study for two years now, and It's hardly enough. Took us almost a year till we could understand what people were talking about around us."
"Must have been frustrating," she smiles slightly.
"Like you wouldn't believe!" I freely admit. "The worst part is that deep down, there's a little voice telling me what I might have been, if not for Hogwarts. But then, there would have been no Unicorns, nor Hippogriffs, nor Magic…"
"No Grawp too," she giggles
No Harry…
"Come, I'll walk you down to Earth. Enjoy your time with your father – We never have enough. I think I'll go visit my parents too."
July 9th 1999 – Hampstead, London
"I'm home!" I call, as soon as I open the door.
Did I need to knock?
"Back garden dear!" Father's voice answers.
There's an open bottle on the countertop in the kitchen and I grab a glass on my way.
"Where's Harry?" mum asks as soon as I sit.
"Oh, so lovely to feel welcomed." She just smirks.
"He's with Sirius and will come by later. Mind if we stay the night? I miss our Saturday breakfasts together."
Yey, got a hug!
I take a sip of Chardonnay and sigh in content when my mobile suddenly buzzes.
Rudy thing!
"Hermione." I answer impatiently.
"Cut with the attitude and get back here."
"What? Why? Just got a nice glass of Chardonnay, and planning this lovely night testing my old bed at my parents?"
Father chokes on his wine, a bit, and mum smirks.
Shouldn't have said that…
"Bottom up and get moving – green is back." That catches my attention.
I sigh, take one last sip, and give the non-committed 'something came up' apology.
Why is it always a Friday?!
As soon as I enter the control room I'm captivated by the new display. Calvin and Kazuko pulled a blinder and managed to superposition information from several systems into a single display through an emitter. This gives out a 3D display about one third of a large sphere. Not quite the Minbari Combat Information Centre Calvin dreams about, but a substantial step in the right direction.
"Why is The Brick drifting outside?"
"Got caught outside when the thing reappeared. Barely managed to collect the No-wings from the Naquadah field before whatever this is was too close not to notice. It's a fast bugger. Did about 0.15C without batting an eye."
"Why not come back?"
"That's the thing – as soon as it starts moving, green comes snooping." Jeremy answers. "This thing has amazing sensors. We couldn't locate the brick when cloaked using the Goa'uld sensors we have. Either it can scan for things we don't even know about, or its sensitivity is just amazing. The Brick can't do more than 3000 knots, without drawing attention."
"Or we just don't know how to use our sensors to their full potential," Kazuko offers.
Jeremy just shrugs.
Harry is getting closer to the display, not that it means much with this kind of a display. "Is it me, or did it return to the same spot?"
We all feel a tad sheepish. "Do you reckon?" Calvin asks.
"Won't hurt to give them a bell," R decides.
There's a bit of a wait till someone picks up on the other side.
"This is agent Rose, WIB. May I speak with Captain Carter please?"
Someone on the other side must be reluctant to pass the call, apparently.
"We are in the middle of something here too. It's Friday night and we're in the office and all. Can you please tell her agent Rose said it's a bit important?"
"Thanks, you're a dear," she adds. Probably that someone chose to be less resistive.
"Major Carter, congratulations!" There's a genuine smile on R's face now. "I'm with our management here, I'm putting you on speaker. Tell me, do you have an unorthodox visitor right now?"
"Hi there!" we can hear Samantha's voice now. "A visitor, you say? It's practically a shindig going on here. The President was going to contact your Prime Minister. Can you send someone over? Things are happening that you need to know about."
Oh dear…
"Business or technology? R asks.
"A bit of both," Samantha answers. "Policy, more than anything else," she says vaguely.
"Right. We'll be at your top side in about… Is that thing hostile? It might notice our flight."
"I'll tell Thor, your Tel'tak is friendly."
"Thor?" I mouth.
"Tel'tak?" Harry responds the same way.
"Your Goa'uld shuttle, you met us with?" Samantha clears, after a long silence on our side.
"Right. We'll be there in an hour. Please instruct your fatigues not to shoot, and to let us in?"
We can practically hear Carter's smirk, over the line.
"Looking forwards," she just says and hangs out.
"Hermione, Calvin, Beatrix?" R offers. "Keira, can you be available if the need arises?"
Just then we hear Bill's gasp from the control. On the display, green has just disappeared. Playback shows his spot (ish) just wink out from space.
"Well," Jeremy remarks. "Either ET has the ability to transfer his ship with no movement – which is very cool. Or he was just transported down to Earth and left his very well cloaked and sterile clean ship in orbit."
"Let us go and find out," R decides.
July 9th 1999 – Cheyenne Mountain Colorado
We ring down to be met by both Major Carter and Dr Jackson.
"Congratulations, Major!" R salutes crisply.
"Don't give me that? I know exactly how much respect you have for ranking officers."
"You got me wrong there. I have little respect for ranking officers. Lots of respect for you, earning this rank," R answers.
That gets her a genuine smile from Carter, and a crisp salute back.
"Daniel Dear!" Beatrix says, much to his discomfort. "You don't call anymore. Don't answer my letters."
"No time for pleasantries now, I want to update you, before going inside." Carter cuts to the chase. "Do you have your listening mask on you?" she looks at me.
"We can just transport back to Precious," I offer.
"Last time we met, wasn't a good time, but I must ask – Are you a Goa'uld? And please don't take it as a threat, or an accusation." Carter asks, when noticing my brace.
"The host is never the Goa'uld, and I'm not infected anymore. I can still do this," I lit the brace crystal for a moment. "But you personally know all about this, right?" Now that we're speaking about it, I can feel the Naquadah in her blood too. "Why don't you use a brace? It's very handy in a fight."
"Don't have a Kara kesh available," she shrugs.
Kara kesh?
I give R a look, open a locker and throw Carter a spare. It's not like we have a use for it.
"Listen," she says. We have three Goa'ulds in our base right now, negotiating for adding Earth to the 'Protected Planets Treaty" between the Goa'uld and the Asgard."
"That's a good thing?" R asks.
"It will stop the Goa'uld from arriving in orbit, with their Ha'tak motherships, again, and try to take over the world." She answers dryly.
"Sounds like a good thing then," Calvin acknowledges. "The catch?"
There is always a catch.
"They demand we hand over the Stargate."
I don't get it.
Neither of us apparently gets it, as is clear with us having nothing to say.
"We are 'Stargate Command' here," Dr Jackson chuckles. "Unsurprisingly, the Gate is important to us."
"Do you have the wording of this treaty?" Beatrix asks
Jackson has, and she goes over the remarkably short contract.
"Sorry, but I still don't get it," She finally says. "You are expected to give up 'The Chappa'ai in your possession'. This contract certainly doesn't refer to the one we hold, which I'm certain they know nothing about. Doesn't say anything about travelling. Nothing about limiting technologies?"
"Without a Gate we can't explore for new technologies," Carter objects.
We are all quiet, for a moment, to consider.
"I'll make you an offer then," R suggests. "Give up that Port, and sign this treaty. If you trust those Asgard, try and negotiate that they will hold to your Port. Then, we will give you our Port to use, and bob's your uncle."
"Bob?" I can see Carter's mouth.
"Terms?" Dr Jackson asks.
"You will start using the Keyboard," Calvin remarks decisively.
"You will let us help secure the Port, and have access, if in need." R adds.
"I'll do you even one better," I offer. "If you lease some of this place to BCE. I'll squeeze the US in, on the queue, for an additional reactor, and let SGC have free access to your own facilities here. This way, you will be able to honestly say that you have no Port 'in your possession' and will have more than enough power on site.
"You will need to pay regular prices for the setup and charge though." I add after a thought. "We just don't dispense Britanium charges for free. It's a treasured national resource, you know."
Couldn't help myself.
That gets me an evil eye from Carter.
"Do you still want us in?" R asks.
They do, to have a word with the General, and approval from the President.
"Teal'c?" I call the big guy.
"Yes, Hermione Granger?"
I smile softly. He's so stoic.
"On the Goa'uld ship, there were Jaffa still alive. I made a mistake and told them I wasn't a Goa'uld – Wasn't a God. They fought us for days, and never gave up. Loyal to their gods. In the end, we only managed to save six."
He nods gravely and lowers his head.
"Those six though – we don't know what to do with them."
"What do they know?"
"That they came to conquer Earth, lost, fought soldiers from Earth and a 'false god', lost again. Been in prison ever since."
"Nothing that Apophis himself doesn't know, then."
"Except that part of his ship survived and we have reached it." I shrug.
"Do they know how much of the ship survived?"
"Not really," I say.
You can bring them here, and I will send them to Chulak through the gate." He offers. "I can also give you the markings for the planet, and you will take them there with your ship. Though it will take some time with your Tel'tac."
"Chulak?"
"The planet where I was born."
"I will be in touch. Thank you." I accept his offer.
"How is your friend Harry Potter?" he asks.
"Fine," I smile. "Healed and back doing stupid things."
"I'm glad to hear that. Please pass my regards to him?"
I nod gladly.
"Hermione Granger?" I hear him call, after I'm away, looking for R. "Thank you for saving my people's lives," he bows slightly in respect, which I return.
At the end of a corridor, I see Carter approach Calvin.
"Do you know anything about the meteorite on Mars?"
Calvin sniggers.
"Keira?!" she asks, quite gobsmacked.
He's laughing now. Shaking with an effort to keep it quiet.
"Should have guessed," she mumbles, shaking her head.
Carter leads me to a side office and closes the door behind us. Already in the office are Dr Jackson, Beatrix, and another woman, probably a Doctor.
Medical!
I give them both a raised eyebrow.
"We would like to ask you how you managed to remove the Goa'uld. Who was it, by the way?" Carter asks.
"Isis."
"Not much for protecting women and children, then."
Sarcasm, Dr Jackson?
"And bringing back from the dead was usually in order to torture those to death again, and again." I agree.
"How long did she control you?" The medical Doctor asks.
"Few hours. About two of those with us being conscious, before she was cleansed out of me."
"You have a way to separate a Goa'uld from the host?" the Medic..
Enough already!
"Sorry, I didn't get your name?" Dr Janet Fraiser
"That's a complicated question, Dr Fraiser. We probably have a way to eject the Goa'uld out of the human body, as long as we don't need to treat too many people. Couple of dozens – no worries. A thousand will probably not be possible. The Venom is my main worry."
"How did they treat you?"
"Well, I'm not exactly a representative case…"
"She fell into a cauldron of a magical potion when young," Beatrix remarks, to stop this line of questioning. It works.
"My wife, Sha're and a good friend, were both taken as hosts. We are hoping to free them one day." Dr. Jackson explains softly.
"What's done can hopefully be undone." I say. "Do you know where she is?"
He shakes his head, clearly disheartened.
"Alright. Do you have a sample of the venom? A way to get some? We don't have any personal contact with Goa'uld to get any ourselves." According to Carter, they might have a way. "If you can get us a sample, we'll look into a possible antidote. If any of us can find one – we'll be able to separate the Goa'uld successfully. And Daniel?"
He looks at me questioningly.
"R is gonna kill me for this, but if you have any idea where she is, and a way to reach her. Harry and I will be here to help." I promise.
Dr. Jackson is about to say something, but Carter gives him a reassuring look and he just nods in thanks.
"By the way," I ask Carter. "How did you get rid of your infection?"
"Jolinar left on her own volition," she answers softly. "She actually sacrificed her life to heal me."
An altruistic Goa'uld? Mark me astonished.
July 10th 1999 – Moon complex
"ET's back on his ship." An unknown employee remarks from the sensor display.
We need to have a company night out.
"What do we do?"
"We ring and say 'hello'" R decides. "But let's do this from the Hind."
When ready, R orders the Brick to decloak, yet stay invisible. The Hind does the same and rises from the moon dock and out from the cover of the wards. We are immediately noticed, and ET is already heading our way.
R is looking at Commander Floyd with some confusion.
"Open channel?" Floyd asks innocently, and hands R a mike.
Giggle.
= Unknown spaceship, at high orbit above 38°54'N 104°32'W. This is agent Rose, on HMS Hind. You are in Earth controlled space – please decloak =
There is a long tense silence.
= Unknown space… = R tries again, when a huge ship, easily 10 times and more, larger than HMS Hind,
16.47 times longer – we do have computers here…
Drops its cloak in front of us. It stays smoky and immaterial looking – probably for the same reasons we kept our invisibility on. Radar certainly gets a ping from this monstrosity now.
Few seconds later, a small grey alien appears on our bridge, sitting in a metal chair.
"Huh," R remarks intelligently. "I was planning to ask to put your feed on the screen."
Commander Floyd is shaking with mirth, trying her best to not laugh out loud. Fleur waves her wand. "Illusion" she says. It's been a while since I had Knuts on me, so I try to touch the chair– Certainly a hologram.
"Greeting." The alien says. "I am Thor, Supreme commander of the Asgard fleet. The Tau'ri are now under the protection of Asgard. We have never encountered ships like yours. Where are you people from?"
Curious how all alien races are fluent in English.
"Tau'ri?" R asks around.
"It's a name for Earth," Beatrix whispers to her.
"We are people of Earth ourselves. Country of Great Britain." R explains a bit lamely. "Sorry, not really used to speaking with extraterrestrials."
"The Tau'ri appear to be less young than we believed you to be." Thor remarks evenly. "We have only met the people of the Stargate Command, as of late. They did not tell us about you?"
"Figures," Harry deadpans. "They do tend to behave as if they own the planet."
This makes Thor blink.
Huge shout to flyboy38, my beta, who takes the time to make sure the story is a much better read.
Also to Dalwolf For doing Brit-Picking for, well - you all, and help my British.
Cheers!
A very personal AN -
My dear grandmother just passed away. Days shy of her 100th' birthday. She managed WW2, wars and pandemic. Sadly, she couldn't manage old age any more. For a combination of reasons she took a great part in rising me up, and was very closed to me, and dearly loved. Also, she has a large part in me even daring to try and write anything at all.
Naturally, I'm quite down and miserable, so to help myself just a bit, I need to do something creative. I'm giving you all this bonus chapter, a week earlier then usual.
Hope you enjoy it - this is for her.
Cheers,
Niv