Hi friends,
Thank you for returning to this 4th season of Star Granger. All new readers are very welcomed and appreciated as well.
If you are new readers though, please note that this is the 4th season of this story, hinting the fact that there were 1st, 2nd, and even a 3rd 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 any of the later seasons without reading the former ones beforehand. Starting to read from this point and onwards, without reading the preceding seasons, will be quite confusing.
Cheers!
Star Granger Season 4 - Chapter 1
Thoughts
"speech"
"Goa'uld speech"
SG SG SG SG SG SG SG
January 22th 2001 - Moon complex
"Jeremy, Albert, Gabriel, can you please stay for a moment?" R calls at the end of a meeting.
Prime Minister Blair gave us a very reluctant 'Go' this morning. WIB is on the warpath. A war we aren't quite designed to handle, I must say.
"You are clear for the armed sensor satellite," she tells them. "How long for about 40 of those, you reckon? You can freeze brick construction, till you have a dedicated line ready on Shipyard."
Jeremy whistles in surprise.
"12 to 15 months," Gabriel simply answers.
"15 to 18 if we want weapons to be modular" Albert adds.
"Get on it," R simply orders. "We'll position them over Vis-Uban and Shipyard, and will be able to move them here, with a few hours' notice."
February 1st 2001 - Moon compex
Been a while since we have all been together in the same room. Usually we work in different locations on different planets.
"So, are they coming already?" Is the sarcastic question Calvin presents. He was very vocal against any kind of offensive. Certainly at this time. We all agree that pulling Goa'uld attention to us isn't such a mint idea. Especially before we are ready. From Calvin's point of view, this concept generally translates to "never". Can't honestly say that anyone here disagrees. Might have just wagged the dog.
"Not that we know," R simply replies.
Our ability to monitor our surrounding space, actually went up a notch lately, and we still plan to go and take a gander at one of those very few Alteran sensor satellites still afloat out there. It's just that the closest one is a week away, and either Fleur, Kazuko, or I will need to be present to try and figure out if it's safe to interact with.
So many missions.
"Did I hear something about bringing back Atlantis?" Kazuko quietly asks me, while the conversation veers towards early warning and just how close a Goa'uld fleet must be for us to actually know about it.
Short answer? Too close.
"Just in the thinking for now." I tell her.
"What do you expect to find there?"
"Depends," I say, and can't keep the sarcasm from my tone of voice.
"Sappho describes this futuristic city which floats over the sparkly ocean with formidable weapons and shields to withstand anything and everything, where her home is safe and clean, just like her sister's was in Vis-Uban. Also a few million seasons of 'Love and Ascension' waiting for her to immerse herself in." I smirk.
"And you?"
The guys move on to discuss what we'll do once the Goa'uld fleet is close enough to Earth for us to notice.
Huff and Puff?
"Best case, it might be smouldering ruins, meaning that the Port won't even connect."
"Love your optimism," she tells me. "Like a breath of fresh air…"
"You're laughing, but our team might find the place in pieces and with no power to send them back."
Kazuko isn't impressed with this scenario. "So? Take a Port and a crystal with you, and come back?"
Right! One of the only five? Six? We have, that we can't charge, and don't know how to make more of?
I roll my eyes at her. "Worse case," I tell her, "we will personally meet whatever, or more likely, whoever made the Alteran run back to the Milky Way galaxy."
"Guys, guys!' R calls out and stops both the boy's discussion regarding our puffing capabilities, and my and Kazuko's discussion of forbidden galaxies.
"As interesting and important as this is, it isn't the reason we're here for today. We have an urgent project for all departments," she tells us, and we're immediately interested. "We have been instructed to prepare ourselves for an extensive military and administrative exposure."
Lovely…
"We have till the end of Q2 to convert all functions still running on pure Magic into generator powered technology."
There's some chatter about what needs to be done. It isn't a small project, but not a daunting one. For a year and a half now, most of what we do is purely technological as it is. This is one slate which certainly needs to be cleaned.
Kazuko beside me, is giving me a pointed look. Fleur too.
What am I missing?
I look around and see Luna doing the same.
"Oh bollocks!"
The room is quiet now, and everyone's looking at me. "The secrets!" I say, what few have already deduced by themselves. "We can't replace the contracts without Harry's blooming help."
"Language!" Luna tells me off, before going on her merry chase of pudding.
I'm back in my office brooding, when my phone rings.
"SGC'' says the chap from control and connects me without waiting for my answer. It takes new ones about a month to stop 'ma'am' ing me.
"Hermione?" I answer. "Daniel dear!" I tell him with the best Beatrix imitation I can manage.
He's always embarrassed by this.
"Sam said you have taken her to this place with dunes and an oasis, when we were at your place for the Heliopolis Ancient device. Any chance it was near Siwa Necropolis?" he asks.
"Right, and the Devil's Gardens." I tell him dryly.
They might have an issue with Osiris, and surprisingly enough, he might be headed that way.
"You are winding me up!" I have a huge smile on my face now.
Distraction!
"I kid you not," he answers with the best British accent imitation he can manage. I can hear some amusement in his voice. I can also hear worry.
"Get your arses here," I tell him. "Osiris will expect to find Precious. Let's show the wanker what he's looking for."
He agrees easily. Ringing over and taking Precious is much preferred to hours-long military cargo transport.
"And Daniel?" I tell him, just before he hangs up. "Did he come in this wee Egyptian jar?" he did! "Can you bring it for me? Please? I have just the place for it on my shelf." He'll do his best.
I have about an hour before meeting them in London, so I go and ask after a specific container. I will also need Bill or Tonks for this.
The price for effective transportation is the wait. Osiris is using commercial flights and hired cars to get here. They use the time to tell me a bit about this new mess. Apparently, one of Daniel's colleagues, from the days when Daniel was a young promising archaeologist, found the jar in an old Egyptian cache.
Cough, loot, cough...
Naturally he got too curious for his own good.
"Did you have any experience with eight-symbol addresses?" I ask, to make use of our waiting time. This question buys me some surprised looks.
"What, The Great Britain isn't satisfied with ruling over just this galaxy?" is Sam's sarcastic response.
A rather interesting discussion regarding port travel, dialling, power needs, and space cartography follows. Generally speaking, one doesn't need an additional symbol to dial another galaxy. The six-stars plus system of origine geometry works regardless of distance. But then, one would need the other galaxy's constellation symbols on her keyboard.
"Distance indication?" Sam offers a possible reason for the extra symbol.
"Could be a galaxy index," Daniell remarks.
Will have to look it up.
They warn me about power needs, but then, the only time they've deliberately tried it before, they were still connected to the electricity grid.
"What's this thing?" Dr Fraiser asks me, pointing at the ring container behind her back.
Yet, our conversation is cut short by the final arrival of Steven, Daniel's friend. Before we manage to suit up and ring down to face the music, another Jeep arrives, carrying another one of Daniel's friends.
"Be careful of the host," he asks of us softly.
Sarah is a rather lovely slim curly blond. She's an archaeologist as well. Those swinging archaeologists are so groovy! Naturally, she's an old flame. Daniel has the worst of luck with loved ones and Goa'uld.
Honestly, his love life is like a B-movie script.
In the temple Steven is already down. "We need to get him to a hospital quickly!" Dr Fraiser urges, just as Sarah, or is it Osiris, appears out of the haze.
Dramatic much?
I'm surprised to find it strange to see Osiris in Sarah. Didn't give Isis a thought for a couple of years now, but I remember well just how much Osiris was on her mind, back then. She truly loved the slippery twit. Probably what made them so dangerous and worthy of their punishment.
I delve into my mind and tighten the belt safeguarding Isis memories book a notch - Just to be on the safe side.
Osiris flashes his, her? eyes, and uses his brace to throw Daniel away. He then uses it on Sam, who stops it using her own brace. He tries it on me too, and is stopped again. I smirk and send a fire bullet at Sam, just to make things interesting. Obviously, I'm stopped and gain a raised eyebrow for my efforts.
Osiris flashes his eyes again. I do too, and wiggle a finger to flash Sam's as well.
Never managed magic without some kind of a gesture, like Harry can.
"Osiris dearest," I tell him. "Been so long!"
"Tonight, instead of discussing the existence, or non-existence of God, we decided to fight for it." I then tell Sam in my regular voice.
"Flying Circus?" I hear Daniel ask, from where he was tossed to, near the back wall.
"So that's where you got your cute fake accent from!" I tease him. All to keep Osiris confused. This gets me a shot from Sam, which makes me stumble a little to stop myself from getting hit.
"Oopsie Daisy!" I tell her, to earn a frown and a better aimed shot. One, I must actually stop with the shield. For a while, we three move slowly around, keeping our distance from each other, and a keen eye on us three. Have you ever seen 'The good, the bad and the ugly'? A bit like that, but without the heat, and the sun, and the tumbleweeds, and all the useless eyebrow movements. Actually -
I wiggle my fingers and a tumbleweed rolls between us. It earns me an eyeroll and another shot from Sam.
I know where Osiris is trying to go, and I do my best to open the way for him. Her!
We must take the bugger out of Sarah already. It's just wrong…
Finally, Osiris manages to reach the spot he was aiming for. Not that there's anything there anymore. A sneer blooms on Sarah's face, which even the ex Zipacna would have been hard pressed to match. But then, Osiris is 25 thousand years old. A real lord among his people. Not just a posturing lowly underling.
Where the hell did that come from? Isis memory book is well secured!
"I will be back to kill you all, slaves." he predictably states. "Soon!" he promises, and presses the button.
I drop all pretence as soon as he's gone. "Alright, let us go back." I tell them all, "Do you need help with Steven?" I ask Dr Fraiser.
"Where did she go?" Daniel asks me, quite urgently.
"Into the ring container," I answer, pointing up. "He's not going anywhere. Bill's in there waiting to stun him. We'll just go in there, at the base, and expel him from her body."
Do you remember that discussion, a year and some ago, about venom and antidote? That was before we thought about just stunning the symbiote beforehand. The three of them are rather surprised by the content of the container when they enter it. Inside is a football pitch size hall, almost full with car size chunks of gold.
"It's the harvest of the Ha'tak remains over Shipyard. There are some, what, eight, nine blown up ships already? Have you ever considered just how much gold is in those sodding things? We tried to sell it, to finance some of this adventure. Been devaluating Gold for two years now, till our bankers and the Exchequer told us "no more."
We find Sarah's unconscious body in between piles of gold, and do a short job of Osiris.
"Thought he'd appreciate all this, in his final moments," I add.
February 2nd 2001 - Dakara
HMS Centaur is drifting slightly above orbit, folded and silent. This is Ba'al's domain, and as is common these days over just about every major system lords' major planets, the orbit is crawling with defending Ha'taks. Down on the planets the almighties barricade themselves in their strongholds, and send some of their armies to try and take advantage of their main adversaries being on the defensive.
All this is as per usual during these days of unrest. What isn't usual is the company we are keeping on the bridge. R is here, out of her inner cave, as well as Albert, Gabriel, and Jeremy. Captain Penrose insisted on joining, saying that he can't sort of command a force he has only seen in action on video. It's a bit daft to bring such an esteemed crowd so deep into enemy territory, but we are not here to do battle. Well, not personally at least.
We, and by that I mean our hyperspace window, were discovered as soon as we dropped out. Hyperspace is like that. Our folding has surprisingly been discovered as a powerful, if quirky, cloaking system. Still, hyperspace travel requires an opening, and those are as far from stealthy as can be. It's all about just how extensive and alert the early warning system is, and with about 20 Ha'taks in orbit, all expecting their god's brothers and sisters to attack at any moment, discovery was unavoidable. Not that it's a problem. By the time our hyper window was swarmed with angry, and frankly - rather frightened Al'kesh and glider crews looking for the infiltrating ship, we were already drifting slowly away for our mission.
"Satellite released" "Lt Cdr Reiley reports from the command chair.
And now we wait…
'The Satellite' is something that Gabriel and Jeremy have managed to cobble together just this week. Generally speaking, they took an unfinished sensor satellite from the production line, long before all the sensors were installed and fully calibrated. They added two of the cannon turrets, which were just removed from the Mermaid during her latest refit.
Surprisingly enough, the satellite was pre-designed to carry those. Who would have guessed?
Et-Voila! An armed satellite at your service!
The most important system added to the thing is self destruct. We don't expect it to survive for long, what with it having no shields and all, but the last thing we need is a ZPE generator falling into, well - anyone's hands.
"When is our attack here planned for?" Jeremy asks.
"We have four raids planned for next week, at various Goa'uld strongholds," Commander Floyd answers. "We will attack here Monday the 12th, give Ba'al a couple of days to stew, then attack over Asdad Wednesday the 14th. Ground missions to Moloc and Pelops are planned for a week later. Then we sit back, watch the show, and hope no one comes for Earth."
It's been an hour and a half already, and the satellite is yet to reach any of the Ha'tak ships in orbit. It was almost there, but that Ha'tak decided to go, or was sent elsewhere, mere minutes too soon. Those satellites are not about to be an effective offensive weapons, limited as they are to a glider's speed, when said glider is not particularly in a hurry.
They might, especially when in adequate numbers, be an effective defensive weapons system, which is exactly what we are testing here today.
"Anything interesting on sensors?" I hear R asking me.
While we sit on our collective arses waiting for the satellite to finally reach a ship in orbit, the weapons officer is continuously tracking and mapping targets, and fighting to control his itchy trigger finger. My head, meanwhile, is buried in a holographic helmet as I follow the continuous datastream from our scans of the planet.
"Look," I tell her. Tweaking a few switches on my station, a hologram appears between us showing the planet below.
HMS Centaur, being our current flagship, had the newest CIC systems installed. These boast a three-emitter-set, in place of the former single one. It also uses a new control crystal. When in full use, the bridge disappears from sight, leaving behind only the crew with their control posts, and a spectacular 360° representation of the space around us. Sections of it and the instrumentation data can be enlarged and presented floating on top, but this part is still a tad dodgy.
Still, take that Minbari!
In any case, the pop-up hologram I'm presenting shows two locations on the planet's surface that are marked with some ZPE traces. The first is the already expected installation at the south pole of the planet. The second is in the heart of a large temple in the main city.
"Can we go down and have a look?"
"Probably should," I answer. "The south pole installation isn't a problem," I tell her and overlay the life signs layer to the topographic and ZPE layers already displayed. "There isn't a living soul around there for thousands of miles. Accessing the temple is something completely different." I add, and refocus the overlaid display.
"What an anthill," R mumbles, at the sight of the hundreds of people milling inside and around the place.
"Alright, it's there!" someone calls, and draws our attention back to the main display. There we can see our satellite finally reaching one of the Ha'tak ships in orbit. This one made the big mistake of keeping a stable geo-synchronic orbit, above that main temple. Being folded, the satellite passes right through the Ha'tak's shields.
"It's programmed to target the underside of Ha'tak class ships," Albert remarks.
"Right," Gabriel adds. "Unless the target starts to move."
The display overlays the visual now and focuses on the hopefully doomed ship. It's rather anti-climatic in a way. The satellite positions itself at the centre of the Ha'tak's underside. Have you seen that ridiculous 'Independence day' film? Right there.
"We'll give it the flu." What utter nonsense!
Not that Ha'taks have any special vulnerability in their fat bottoms. The satellite opens fire immediately, which makes it fall out of fold. Doesn't really matter. It has only four cannons, of the old plasma version. Only double the original fire rate too, due to the limited power available. Still, it's almost at touching range, already inside the ship's shields and the Ha'tak is gutted within a handful of seconds. It's actually rather dull - No explosion or anything. The ship just loses containment and starts drifting. Even before the other ships understand the danger and move in to investigate, the satellite is already folded back and looking for its next target.
"That's fairly freaksome," Captain Penrose is heard saying and we all stare at him in surprise.
"What?" he protests. "What's stopping it from attacking our own ships?" he then asks, clearly disturbed.
"IFF? Disarming codes? Manual override?" Gabriel shrugs. "Those are dangerous little buggers. Designed as a last line of defence against dangerous enemies. It's not like we never distributed land mines on Earth, and those have no safety mechanism whatsoever."
"Right mate," Victoria tells him. "And those are such lovely contributions to our planet's prolonged well-being."
"Minefields are a horrible thing, but were the only thing which stopped Rommel from sweeping over the Middle-East and attacking Russia from the south. Probably the only reason North Korea was stopped from conquering the Korean peninsula and moving on Japan." Jeremy remarks levely.
"We'll be discussing safeties and procedures when back at the office," R concludes this discussion to everyone's agreement.
By now, the satellite reached another target, or did the ship reach the satellite? In any case, this ship is moving so it doesn't delay to position itself perfectly and just opens fire from right in front. The end result is the same and takes about the same handful of seconds, though this Ha'tak actually breaks down from the fire and inner explosions.
Ba'al's surviving Ha'taks are noticeably distancing themselves from the last explosion location. Someone probably noticed our satellite before it folded again. Or maybe some common sense made them give the area where two of their sister ships have just been gutted a wide berth. In any case, our experiment is done and the Centaur moves in to pick the satellite back before heading home.
"Come," R tells me. "Fancy taking a brick to give that south pole installation a closer look?"
We're halfway to the south pole when above us things get out of hand. Chatter over the radio multiples. Shouts and commands are heard. Not that we understand Goa'uld. Suddenly, about half of the ships above us disengage and flee to hyperspace while the other half turn on each other.
"The Centaur is broadcasting the radio transmissions back to Earth for translation," Lt Cdr Reiley updates us from the controls. The Brick's display shows one of the fighting Ha'taks above us exploding. The radio is filled with more shouting, and a couple more of the remaining ships join the battle. "Something about their god having been attacked by an assassin," she updates us. "They are blaming each other."
The south pole installation is underwhelming. Main power crystal is almost depleted. Attack-squid banks were emptied by someone. An empty round hole in a wall reminds me of the Hogwarts Alteran tech hall, and had probably hosted a repository once. The main find here is the armchair which we pack up and take with us. Chairtime is fast becoming one of our most precious resources with it being needed for our early warning routine, and both ours and the Asgard's ever growing thirst for knowledge from the Alteran repository.
Back on the Centaur, we find Dakara's orbit clear of ships. Well, capital ships at the least. Place is swarming with small crafts. On display, the temple looks even more hectic with activity. This anthill has just been kicked.
I shake my head with some frustration. "Can't go in there right now." I tell them. "We will just get trampled upon. We'll need to carefully plan this. Bring a team with pre-made wards to clear and hide this place. Should put Bill on this - he's the best man for the job."
Might be important. Sappho said something about a galaxy scale sub-molecular resequencer. Sounds like a beautiful and frightening thing.
Moon complex
"We need Neta back," R tells me, as soon as we're back down.
"Visited her last week," I answer. "There's no way she's sitting in that chair for the foreseeable future."
"It's the power crystals," she answers. "We're desperate for those. Satellites, torpedoes, handheld devices - it's all being held back for lack of a compact power supply."
"Dr Rush?" I ask.
"Fleur kicked him off the program."
"Marvellous," I just say. Changing the subject, I ask, "Plans for the weekend?"
Discussing Neta's just depressing…
R gets this small fond smile on her face. "Going out tonight, actually," she tells me.
"Out, out?"
"Hoping for something a bit more intimate and romantic." she replies, smiling again to herself.
"Where did you find such a treasure?"
"At the Battersea park, surprisingly enough. He chatted me up, when I was having my tea after my morning run. Was too tired to wave him off," she's smiling ruefully now.
"Have fun!" I tell her, and can't keep a tad of my glum from showing.
She hugs me, just before heading to the rings. "He'll be back." she says.
AN:
As is now usual at the start of each season, here is list of the original characters included in this story. I was asked a while ago, by one of my regular reviewers, to do this. It turned out to be a good idea, and helped quite a few readers (or so they have told me):
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 and 3 -
Neta Lev - Theoretical Physics
Kazuko Matsui - Witch, Mastery of Runes, Bsc in computer science
Healer -
Jillian Chanda - an Indian witch
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 (killed March 2000)
Kaden
Royal Navy –
Captain Peers Penrose - Highest ranking uniformed officer
Commander Victoria Floyd - Fleet flag officer
Lt Cdr Charles Caniff – captain Mermaid.
Lt Cdr Reiley – Victoria's XO
Battersea clean energy company -
Francis Reads – CEO
Real People -
Admiral Nigel Essenhigh - Commander-in-Chief Fleet (November 2000), First Sea Lord (September 2002)
General Charles Guthrie – Chief of the Defence Staff (February 2001)
Stephen Lander - Director General of the British Security Service (MI5) (2002)
Jaffa -
Bel'dun - Freed from Apophis at Shipyard. Leader of the Jaffa rebellion
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.