Hi friends,
Thank you for returning to this 3rd season of Star Granger. Also, and without sounding too Dumbledorian - welcome all new readers.
If you are new readers though, please note that this is the 3rd season of this story, hinting the fact that there were 1st and 2nd seasons preceding it. I have received some heat in the past about me dropping OCs on the readers, without any introductions. Turns out those were mostly readers who read season 2 without reading season 1 beforehand. Starting to read from this point and onwards, without reading the preceding seasons, will be quite confusing.
Cheers!
Star Granger Season 3 - Chapter 1
Thoughts
"speech"
"Goa'uld speech"
SG SG SG SG SG SG SG
January 17th 2000 – Cheyenne Mountain Colorado
"Honestly? You are invited by friendly people, apparently hundreds of years more advanced than us, to participate in an important government ritual, and you go there in fatigues and carrying enough weapons for a whole section?"
Narim seems to be in agreement with Beatrix's point of view. Too polite to express his opinion himself, though.
"You don't know the dangers out there in the galaxy. With our experience – you'd also go armed everywhere," O'Neill tells her off.
"And if there is some danger there, that the Tollans can't handle. You and your pistols will save them all?" I ask incredulously.
Narim is fighting to keep his polite, annoying smile now, to cover his amused one.
Beatrix and I are dressed in our best WIB costumes, though right now, they make us mostly look like high end barristers. We don't have any kind of weapons in sight. The few we do have are safely tucked in my bag.
Narim waves his hand at the Port and it connects without dialling.
Nice!
Beside me, Major Carter cocks her gun and gets a raised eyebrow from me. She disregards it. "First time through the Gate?" I nod. "Welcome to the adventure," she smiles.
Like I'm here for the adventure – If adventure was what I was after, I'd go to Romania and find a Dragon to tickle.
I'm too sarcastic once more. Need to relax.
The watery surface of the Port's event horizon looks lovely up close. Especially when the Port isn't trying to suck the whole earth, and Harry personally, into a black hole. Walking through it feels a bit like the entrance to the platform. I mean, it's there, but then there's nothing. Inside is an interstellar Portkey without the pull at one's belly button.
"Keep walking," I tell Beatrix, "Or it will spit you out at the other side." We both walk leisurely out to a stoic raised eyebrow from Teal'c.
The Port on Tollana is sleek, modern, and minimalistic. It's an engineering wonder they have apparently built themselves.
Mark me impressed!
Yet it doesn't offer the connection I grew to expect from Alteran tech. A cool tool – not an acquaintance, if you like. Tollana itself looks clean, futuristic, and tranquil. In some ways, though – it looks just like Canada.
Our friends are furious for the neutralization of their weapons. As if there is any place for surprise. Beatrix looks at me questioningly and receives a small smile. We are introduced to chancellor Travell, who manages to be even more serene yet lofty than Narim ever could. We also have the dubious pleasure of meeting the esteemed lord Zipacna. His sneer can rival a Malfoy, which I couldn't have believed possible. Beatrix and I are also surprised to be introduced to Lya, the Nox representative. According to Merlin's book, the Nox go way back to their alliance with the Alterans, millions of years ago. She will be acting as a judge, sorta, in this Triad ritual. We spend the rest of the week talking with the locals and learning about their culture and ways. Frankly, they are so secured in their superiority, they have stopped thinking.
This debate, we are here for, can only be described as a farce. Just who can seriously discuss the right to treat sentient, intelligent beings as animals?
Wizards…
Finally, a ping from my bag notifies me that HMS Hind has arrived.
Let the games begin!
Beatrix and I sit and listen to the incredulity the Tollans call Triad. Meantime, Carter and Teal'c obsess with lord Zipacna's underlings, and the Hind makes subtle efforts to be noticed. Honestly, it's like this place has all those lovely Ion cannons, O'Neill likes to drool on, but no early warning or space control at all.
"They got advancement, knowledge, and intelligence all confused," Beatrix tells me quietly.
Finally, I lose patience and decide to seed some chaos. I wait for one of those nonsensical exchanges about intelligence and rights. "This is much of a muchness," I tell Beatrix, besides me, not too quietly. It stops the conversation and brings all attention to me.
"Yes Miss…" chancellor Travell offers me her charming, conceited smile.
I flash my eyes for a second, and make everyone jump a bit. Even the unflappable chancellor.
That's a lovely parlour trick.
"Lady Hermione Granger, of London" I tell her levelly, keeping them guessing and off balance.
"I believe we all have Advancement, Intelligence, and Knowledge all confused. I also believe that we are missing the obvious solution to this conundrum."
"What is the meaning of thi…" Zipacna thunders, till I silence him.
"Be silent lowly underling, while your betters are speaking!" I tell him off. "Sorry about that," I turn back to the chancellor. "He was a wee irritating." I say, in my regular voice, smiling brightly.
O'Neill looks at me with both anger and confusion. Honestly, he's like Ron and Slytherins.
"Tok'ra?" chancellor Travell asks politely.
"Not sure what you mean, though I can see how the sod might have inspired antagonism."
"You were finding us confused?" She gets back to the issue at hand.
Got to give her credit for it.
"Oh yes!" I give her my most exaggerated charming smile. "You see, you Tollans certainly know a lot. So much more than us! But are you more intelligent?" I shrug. "Your intelligence took you so far, you took a step back and stopped using common sense. Giving away an ensouled sentient being to another? Honestly?!
"Those worms know a lot as well. Not as much as you do, thankfully. The last worm who had an original thought though, was Ra – Probably the reason his people are against him. Then there are us." I spread my arms theatrically. "We don't know much, yet – I'll give you that. And some of us don't like to think much." I can hear Jackson choughs behind my back. "But we're learning and improving.
"All this has nothing to do with advancement." I go on. "You," I tell the chancellor, "Us – we're humans. They" – I point at Zipacna "are so undeveloped they can't even function by themselves. All they need to survive is a fish tank. Were they advanced at all, they would have learned to function by themselves in the universe. Or they could have taken over insentient beings and worked it out.
"No." I turn back to Zipacna. "You want us humans since we're more intelligent than you, so you can use our ways to make do in the universe." He wants to say something, but he's still silenced.
"She, on the other hand." I point my thumb at Lya, behind my back. "Is genuinely advanced. She can probably do things most of us dream of, or have nightmares about. We also met with an Asgard once. He probably knows more than us all. He was intelligent too. Seems to have developed so far, his body was falling apart, though."
Lya tilts her head a bit. She might be the only person actually thinking around here.
"And the solution we have disregarded, child?" Chancellor Travell is still smiling patronisingly, but there's a tightening around her eyes now.
"Simple," I answer. "Klorel has chosen to be in a human body – let Skaara have him. He'll take all his knowledge, and when done will pass him to others, to learn from him as well." I twitch my nose a little. "Ask Major Carter here. She'll tell you that a human mind in control of Goa'uld knowledge is much better than the other way around!"
Carter's eyes flash for a second. "I don't…" she starts saying, then covers her mouth, startled.
Zipacna looks apoplectic.
Just then, my bag pings. I take out my communication tablet, look, and turn back to the chancellor. "Did you know that a Goa'uld Ha'tak just dropped out of hyperspace, a few light minutes away?"
For the first time Chancellor Travell loses her smile. She presses a few buttons, and a clear display rises in front of her, on her desk.
"No ship's up there" she tells me.
"It's about 7 light minutes away, 23 degrees right and 65 degrees up from the galactic centre." I answer after another look at my tablet.
Zipacna looks smug and his smirk is back full blown.
The Chancellor tweaks a few more buttons, and the display widens to now show a target closing fast on the planet. As soon as it reaches orbit, plasma fire rains down, and explosions sound from outside.
"Command!" the Chancellor calls into her communication console.
"They are targeting our Ion cannons. Not sure any will be whole by the time systems are online." A voice answers, much too calmly for the situation.
"What have you done?!" she turns towards Zipacna, who is still smirking at us all.
The Americans are rushing out of the hall, practically dragging Lya behind them.
My tablet pings once more. "Hermione?" I hear R's voice.
"What are you blokes waiting for," I answer. "A bloody Royal invitation?"
R leaves our communication open. "Go!" we all hear her order.
"Alright girls!" That is Victoria's voice. "Troy – Engage attack manoeuvre 3!"
A new ship appears on Chancellor Travell's screen, apparently out of the black. It is small – tiny really, in comparison with the capital ship it's facing. It is at a higher orbit than the Goa'uld ship, and to its side. The Hind opens fire immediately while moving erratically. I know this is a pre-programmed set of random manoeuvres planned to throw the Goa'uld's limited targeting capability off balance, while making sure that the planet will not be at the target's background.
"What is this ship?" Narim asks, but I'm too focused to answer.
The Ha'tak tries to escape. It diverts part of its considerable firepower towards the Hind, but it's still out of targeting range. The Hind's rapid fire, on the other hand, is well targeted and focused on a single point on the Ha'tak's shields, which is now lighted and strained.
"Switch to manoeuvre 5, and move us closer!" I can hear Victoria over the comm.
"Aye!"
A part of the Chancellor's screen shows red circles wink out at an alarming rate. Another part shows the Ha'tak, now trying to move closer to the Hind, and into targeting range. Not that the Hind is cooperating.
I count the seconds silently in my head. I reach 12, when the shields finally fail, and the Ha'tak explodes with an impressive pyrotechnic show. A few seconds later the last four red circles finally turn green. A few seconds later still, one of those circles turns a full green spot.
"Fold!" I all but shout into the comm.
On the screen, we all watch the peculiar sight of the ship's back side being pulled into its front side, as the ship folds itself into nothingness. Mere seconds before that cannon starts its firing cycle.
"Who's firing that cannon?" Chancellor Travell asks one of her aides, who clearly doesn't know. Finally, she touches it on the screen, and the point turns back to a red circle.
"That was your ship?" the Chancellor asks. She has a questioning, calculating look on her. Not smiling anymore, and much less superior.
"Wind in the sails," I tell her and give an exaggerated curtsy.
Besides me, Beatrix shakes her head exasperatedly. "Mostly, we figure that means 'yes'," she explains.
I get a thin smile for this, from the esteemed Chancellor.
"How did you find our planet?"
"Narim came to Earth through the Port," I shrug.
Don't they know the Port has a log?
It's a bit of an awkward moment. The Tollans are thankful, yet apprehensive about our ship hanging up in their space, especially since it's still invisible to their sensors. They are also not thrilled about us knowing the location of their planet.
Though, if a Goa'uld Ha'tak arrived in orbit, it isn't such a well kept secret.
They are ambivalent about the actions of our mutual American friends, as well. On one hand, if not for the Hind, their actions today would have probably saved Tollona. On the other hand, they did hack the defence grid and ultimately shot a friendly ship.
Meh
In a way, the Tollans amusingly remind me of Goblins. They are anxious about the Hind keeping orbit above their heads without them noticing it. Wish for us to demonstrate our way of cloaking, yet still reluctant to share their technology with other, less developed people. Keeping a hold of one's superiority, which is undisputed in this case, yet has just been proven to not be absolute, requires quite a bit of rationalisations from them.
Can't be easy.
We tell them that sadly, we will not be able to share our cloaking technology. This whatever-we-will-end-up-calling-it energy, that is magic, will probably stay off the table for any foreseeable future. R offers to work with them on the improvement of their sensor and quick response grid, though I suspect it will mostly be some minor tweaking to the technology, and major organizational overhaul. They were ready for us to demand their Ion cannon tech, in return for our help. There was a conceptual sigh of relief, by all, when R waved their worries off. O'Neill is about to have an aneurysm.
Need to eat more fibre…
Honesty. We are here for the long haul. Decades ahead of us they may be, but cannons, we'll be able to build for ourselves. What we'll be able to learn from the Tollans in true understanding of Life, the Universe, and Everything, is irreplaceable. Especially if we can make them feel comfortable by giving them something they need in advance.
They are sadly too enlightened to accept my offer and leave Klorel with us. We are standing around their Port, saying our goodbyes to Zipacna, who is carrying Klorel in a fish tank.
That must be SO dignifying.
His face is a curious combination of a sneer and confusion. He turns to us to say something, probably about rueing the day. I wave my hand at him, wiggling my fingers cheerfully.
Must Obliviate both Goa'uld and host!
Only confusion remains. The last person who looked at me like that was old boy Fenrir, right after I ripped his left arm off and just before I blew a hole through his chest.
"No hard feelings mate, aye? We should really carry it on at a later opportunity. Here," I reach into my bag, take out a 6 pack of chilled beer bottles, and throw those to him. "A souvenir, till we can have a proper pint together!"
"London Pride?" R asks quietly.
"Worm disinfection Potion," I explain just as quietly back. No reason to offend our hosts with our barbaric ways.
Next on our goodbye list is Lya. She is kind and warm to everyone, though it's clear she has both a warm spot for the SGC team and a close relationship with the Tollans. Finally, she gets to us and gives each of us an interested and probing look. "It was refreshing meeting you here," she tells us. "We will watch you grow with much hope."
I really should introduce her to Luna.
"Are you planning on visiting?" she goes on and asks.
We are a tad uncomfortable. "Certainly planning," I answer.
"Both you and the Furlings," Beatrix adds. "We weren't certain if your people were still around after all this time, but meeting the Asgard gave us hope."
"Your planet is almost on the other side of the galaxy from Earth, though. It will take us months to reach you by ship. Sadly, we won't be able to send ships that far for a few more years. There is probably a lot we can learn from you." R concludes.
"You humans are an interesting people," she smiles, looking at me. "We will be looking forward to your visit."
It's time for us, now, to be on our way. R will go back home through the Port, to save her the slow ship to china. I, on the other hand, would like to try space travel. There's also this padded, zero-gravity room, I want to test with Harry, if time allows. SG guys will be travelling with us. I have the feeling that O'Neill is planning lots of questions about space guns.
Sigh.
January 31st 2000– hyperspace
It's astounding
Time is fleeting
Madness takes its toll
But listen closely
Not for very much longer
I've got to keep control
I love the front emergency backup cockpit of the Hind. It's quiet, nobody's here, and the view is spectacular. I need to install some speakers here and have some music on hand. Not that the view at command is different, but my mind just can't ignore the fact it's a hologram. Here, there are windows. Also here, it's just me. I push the Pilot's seat back to pop my legs on the console.
Hey! I added Cushioning and paid for the Hind from my personal pocket.
Hyperspace swirls in blue and silver in front of me. Here and there something flashes on the deflector shield, to prove that it was a good idea to develop it.
Calvin obsessed about this for months and months, while everyone else told him it's not needed. Proof in case – neither Precious nor the pebble ships, nor the capital ship itself had any. Siya added that the shield technology we possessed doesn't function in hyperspace. Finally, Kazuko had enough of him, and asked one of her 'boys' to develop something. The end result is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike a Bubble Head Charm. We were all quite surprised when we discovered that it's quite handy in deflecting plasma bolts. Other rays-of-death are better deflected by something not at all based on a Banisher – go figure.
My point is that this hyperspace swirl can help clear one's mind better than any other form of meditation, and my mind's really in need of some cleaning and maintenance. I've never been this cynical. Nor have I been this impulsive. I do the walk around again - No breaches, no foreign magic, Isis's memories are locked tight in their monster-book-of-worms with a belt holding it closed. People change? I let my thoughts drift aimlessly for a while.
"Hermione?" a voice pulls my mind from its wandering ways.
Bugger!
"Hey Carter, come, grab a co-pilot seat," I invite her. "What are you doing all the way here?"
"Your ship is like an Escher maze," she grumbles. I chuckle softly. With artificial gravity, where down is wherever you want it to be – engineering is like that sometimes.
"Didn't know your ship has a real cockpit?"
"Two actually, one at each end. These are only emergency backups though. The real one is attached to the CIC. Hey, You're a pilot, right? Did you get a chance to play Goa'uld invaders?" again she gives me that look, we all are quite used to getting from the Americans.
Honestly, those guys are too serious for their own good.
I give her a VR helmet – the emergency cockpits don't have emitters. "Just bear in mind that this game tends to humble experienced pilots." I warn her.
For about an hour, I can relax again, and return to my hyperspace gazing. Finally, she takes off the helmet, clearly frustrated. "This game is hard!"
"We don't expect the Goa'uld to let us start at 'beginners'," I shrug. "Also, this is hard for experienced pilots, as I told you before. I'm not good enough to even be on the leaderboard, but it has something to do with flight characteristics in space, and the fact that targeting and firing is completely separated from craft's trajectory – or so the good ones tell me. Should have seen R's face the first time she tried it out," I smile.
"General Hammond told me you were looking for me? Something about technology." She changes the subject.
"Right! I wanted to show you something we were working on. You will have to sign a dedicated secrecy contract for it - sorry. It relates to your personal expertise. Thought you would like to know some things are possible."
"I'm not going to leave the Stargate program," she tells me guardedly.
"Not expecting you to, luv" I shrug. "Just expect you to keep our secrets from them once you sign."
"What do you have against us?" she wonders loudly.
"You personally? Nothing – I rather like you. I like Dr. Jackson and Teal'c too. I even like, well no – more like respect, O'Neill. His heart is in the right place, though he seems to prefer not to think. It's your general attitudes and the people you're subordinated to that has us worried."
"We are trying to protect the Earth, just as you do. You actually went farther than us, for as much as we can see here?"
"That's my point, exactly." I reply calmly. "Actually, R and the Prime Minister's point. We are doing our utmost best to be prepared, and not to give the Goa'uld reasons to come early, if at all. There is not one Goa'uld out there that even knows about our existence. You, on the other hand, are galactically famous."
I can see she wants to refute me, but the PA is suddenly on – "All hands to command, all hands to command!" Victoria's voice orders.
"Please talk with your general, and think about my offer?" I ask her on our way back. "It's my personal effort to try and find ways to work with you guys."
Just as we reach CIC, the Hind drops out of the hyperspace tunnel, not far from a planet. It's a miserable planet by the look of it.
"Where are we?" O'Neill asks.
"The planet is called Heliopolis. Used to be an important political centre in the galaxy. Has been on our exploration plan for a long time, and since it's on our route home we might as well check it out," Commander Floyd explains.
"What, PB2-908?" Dr Jackson asks in surprise.
I have to stop myself from rolling my eyes at him.
PB2-908? Honestly?!
AN:
I was asked a while ago, by one of my regular reviewers, to list and elaborate on the original characters included in this story. It was a good idea, and helped quite a few readers (or so they have told me) so I reckon I'll do it at the start of every new season:
I truly hope it makes the story easier to read.
The original core team -
R - MI5 agent Rose Smith. Real name Wren. Former Tornado pilot, Electrical engineer. Head of WIB.
Keira – Experimental Astrophysics.
Calvin – Computer science.
Beatrix Croft – Archaeologist. Daughter of that Lara Croft
Dr Seth Owen – MD
New in season 2 -
Neta Lev - Theoretical Physics
Kazuko Matsui - Witch, Mastery of Runes, Bsc in computer science
Craft design team –
Ted
Siya
Weapon design team –
Albert
Gabriel
Engineering –
Jeremy - Head of engineering operations
Paul
Liam
MI5 –
Agent Sidney - sort of 2nd in command
MI6 -
Jane - agent 003
Pilots –
Troy
Kaden
Royal Navy –
Captain Peers Penrose - Highest ranking uniformed officer
Commander Victoria Floyd - Fleet flag officer
Battersea clean energy company -
Francis Reads – CEO
Real People -
Admiral Nigel Essenhigh - Commander-in-Chief Fleet (November 2000), First Sea Lord (September 2002)
Stephen Lander - Director General of the British Security Service (MI5) (2002)
As usual - 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 characters stay British.