Disclaimer: The characters used within this are mostly the property of others. I have a few originals, but the vast majority are not original. Everything here is fiction. This is for entertainment only and not for profit.

-=oOo=-

Araiansu - Chapter 18

-=oOo=-

They got to Pangar quickly. With the last upgrades they no longer significantly feared degradation of components. Liberator had more than enough flight hours to know the systems could be relied upon and Heimdall had further confirmed it.

After they got to the system Jack ordered the cloak active. They soon established an orbit around the planet and began scanning it.

"This ship still seems like cheating," he noted.

Ayiana remarked, "It is clearly faster than any ship I am familiar with. The Asgard have truly come a long way. This ship has the feel of a gift; powerful beyond all reasonable expectations. You could no doubt build several very powerful warships with the same resources."

Jack said, "You make a good point. It would have been better if we had something to leave behind, rather than just waiting on the new jets. Shall we get to it? Do we have anything yet?"

Avon said, "I believe I have the location of the main facility and a possible target for the Goa'uld queen and and her larvae."

"That was fast," his mother added.

"The Asgard systems are able to interpret all their signals. After that it was just a matter of targeted queries. They call the drug tretonin. Tracking its manufacture was easy. Almost all of them are taking it..."

Sam's eyes widened hearing that.

Jack turned to Ranma and Sam. "How do you want to handle this?"

Sam asked, "Can you quietly beam up one of the larvae and place it in a stasis field in the science lab?"

Avon said, "I can."

"Do it."

Selmak asked, "What did you have in mind?"

"A genetic comparison between your symbiont and the one in the science lab should confirm, one way or another."

"Then let us go now."

"Janet?"

"This was so not what I planned to do today," Janet complained.

-=oOo=-

Janet looked at the symbiont. "This is not right. I've seen more than a few, but this is not right."

Selmak said, "I suspect the queen who hatched it chose this. This is barely viable. It is very concerning."

Janet said, "Sam will you help me do the genetic comparison?"

Sure.

They spent the next two hours verifying.

Janet summed up their conclusions. "Based on your DNA this is almost certainly born of Egeria, but it is also just messed up. All the racial memory is missing and the rest is fairly messed up too."

Selmak said, "We must journey to the planet and save her."

Jack asked, "Couldn't we just beam her up?"

Sam said, "Possibly, but there is a lot of stuff touching her and she seems to be weak from the readings I have. I wasn't particularly worried about harming a larvae. There were close to a thousand of them. There is only one of her. It would be better to go there."

Ranma said, "I'm going."

Lya and Ayiana added, "As will we."

Sam said, "Jack.."

"I'll keep the lights on for you."

Sam nodded then turned to the others. "Okay, let's get Teal'c, Daniel, Villa and Dana. They and Selmak can keep us covered just in case."

-=oOo=-

Janet was more than a bit wary about what she was about to do. The Goa'uld queen in the tank looked at her warily. The other larvae, for whatever reason, had moved away from them.

"Egeria?" asked Janet. The snakes head bobbed slightly.

Janet carefully opened the tank. Ranma and Sam were standing by to make sure no other symbiotes escaped. This turned out to be unnecessary. Janet carefully picked up the queen, who struggled to remain erect. Janet cautiously opened her mouth. It took Egeria almost a minute to transfer herself inside. Ranma and Sam had to hold them up during the process.

After that was complete, Ranma quickly took Janet's head in his hands. His ki outlined her body for several seconds. "That is beyond me. I lack the knowledge. I can tell she probably won't live long if we don't do something though."

Lya added her hand, as did Ayiana and Sam. The glow surrounded all of them.

Guards rushed in and surrounded them before they knew it. "Halt, you are all under arrest. Stop with the glowing."

Jacob said, "They are busy healing a friend."

A woman in a white coat ran up to the tank. "One of them has taken the queen."

Another demanded, "Release her!"

Daniel asked, "Is there a particular reason you are aiming guns at us?"

"You are armed too."

"Yes, but we are not pointing them at you. We are in fact trying to avoid bloodshed." He didn't mention that they surrounded them so fast that they didn't have time to respond. It didn't matter. They didn't lower their weapons.

Daniel said, "The queen you captured and were forcing to produce larvae was the queen of the Tok'ra."

"It doesn't matter. We need her."

"She was dying anyway," another pointed out.

"Maybe we can help?" Daniel suggested.

"Do you know where we can find another Queen?"

Teal'c added, "We do in fact have much knowledge of the Goa'uld."

"Why are they glowing?"

Daniel said, "We told you this already. They are trying to heal their friend."

"One of that group must have the Queen inside of her. Make sure they don't leave."

The glow around the group dimmed.

Ranma said softly, "Fix it Avon."

The landing party vanished in a flash of light. A few seconds later everyone else vanished, but without their weapons.

The main party appeared again in the medical bay. Sam, Ayiana, and Lya were already back to working to heal Egeria and Janet.

Ranma said, "We have made some progress, but the symbiote has been harshly abused. Please try to sort out the rest of this mess. We think we will be at this all night. Selmak, do you have a message for her?"

"Just tell her that we are glad that she is alive and look forward to welcoming her home."

Ranma nodded. They all slipped down on the floor with Janet in the middle of them. The glowed silently as the hours passed. Dana sat there with them, watching them carefully.

-=oOo=-

Daniel knocked on the door to the storage room they put their prisoners in before opening the door. "Hey."

"Where have you brought us?"

"Your on our ship."

"What happened to the queen?"

"Hopefully she is being healed, though they aren't entirely too certain they can manage that."

"If she is healed, will you return her to us?"

"No."

"Then we are dead."

"Could you explain that?"

"The symbiotes the queen produced are used to make a drug."

"We figured that out already. I take it you can't just quit taking the drug?"

"No, our immune systems are gone."

"We might be able to fix that."

"It is impossible. We have tried for years."

"Then why for goodness sake did you keep giving new people the drug?" asked Daniel in annoyance.

"Because we couldn't afford to admit the lie," one said hesitantly.

"Brilliant. Look, if you think you can remain reasonable you can all come to our dining room and take a break. I doubt much can really be done until the people we have trying to heal Janet and Egeria are done, and even then they are liable to need rest first."

"Fine," the shorter man in the front agreed.

When they left the room Teal'c and Avon joined them. Teal had his staff with him and was visibly at attention.

"No hard feelings," the man who spoke first asked.

Teal'c raised his eyebrow but didn't say anything as they walked to the dining room. Daniel gave Teal'c and amused expression before starting to walk.

-=oOo=-

"This is way too addictive", thought the group that was once again linked for a common purpose. Janet and Egeria were there too, but not a part of the greater whole. They could, however have their thoughts heard.

Janet thought, "Sam, must you keep doing weird things. A girl can't keep up."

"Sorry," said Sam's mental voice, who didn't sound particularly sorry.

Egeria asked, "It is good to see you again Lya. I had never thought to leave there alive."

The group replied, "Is that why you willed yourself to die?"

"They are not an evil people, but I could no longer go on like that. It took time, years even, with as hard as they tried to keep me alive, but I was near the end when you found me. Even with all you have done I'm not sure it is not too late for me."

The part that was Lya thought, "It is not, if you choose it not to be, particularly with our help."

"My host is not thrilled with her position."

Lya thought, "No, she is not. Janet did volunteer and that was in spite of a lot of bad experience from Goa'uld. Will you not give her a chance?"

"She was scared a child would make a mistake she could not undo. She is a healer in mind and spirit, sacrificing herself for those who have need."

"I am here too you know," thought Janet a touch hotly.

"Yes, you are. You are a truly good person. Your reasons for joining are to help your world survive the times they are living through. You truly do not need me for that."

"The Tok'ra need you," insisted Janet.

"My children. I would like to see them again," she thought fondly.

Janet thought, "Yes, we both know of my reluctance, but for the risk we took, for the risk I took, for the future of your children, heck for the people that may die without the drug, will you not at least try? You could get another host later if you or I wish."

"It doesn't work like that, not given the shape I am in. You could possibly heal my body, but I don't think I could survive losing another precious host anytime soon."

"Not long ago my daughter became very ill. It was completely beyond my ability to fix, but thankfully not beyond the systems on this ship. I did this in the hopes you would help me learn to heal what I can't heal now. Won't you help me with that?"

"I am nearly a thousand years old." The part that was Lya scoffed at that. "I was a System Lord for much of that, and not a benevolent one either. My change came later. Do you want to remember that? Torture? Murder. Worse?"

Janet tried to find words.

The part that was Sam spoke instead. "Jolinar was much the same. Our bond brought much of that back to me, finding pieces she had left that I didn't even know were there. I truly regret her death. If I could have done it over again I would have at least agreed to keep her until she could find a new host. I admired her greatly for overcoming the legacy of her birth."

Janet thought, "I didn't know Sam. I remember how upset Jolinar made you."

"We were both fools; both certain our cause was right. We both thought we were doing what we must."

Egeria asked, "What do you think of the bond they share?"

"It's odd. Ranma and Sam's almost seems like a fairly tail."

"There is good and bad," they thought. "We are not entirely sure our sanity will survive if one of us dies, and now there is Lya and Ayiana, each precious beyond words, each linked to us now. None of us has regrets. We would all do it all again. We know it will hurt when we separate into pairs after this endeavor, but it is for the best. If it wasn't for Lya and Ayiana's skill, not even that would be possible. We choose the pain. We knew this going in, but it was all worth it to save Ayiana, as it is worth it to save you Egeria, even though it deepens our bond further."

Janet thought, "How do you cope with all the memories and keep you you?"

They thought, "We do it together, but mostly we are still our own selfs. The bond we have does not subtract. It adds. It is not as if you put chemicals in one beaker and have something forever mixed."

"I am scared for myself and for Cassy. She is a teenager. She drives me crazy. It would be nice if she was one of the suspiciously well behaved ones like Sam has, but no she is an American teenager."

"You should have had Asgard babysitters," mused the part that was Sam and Ranma. "A few of their looks after the kids misbehaved discouraged most of it."

"So your saying I should send her to Heimdall?"

"It's an idea."

"I could maybe help," Egeria thought hesitantly.

"Could you? She almost killed a boy who kissed her. Totally a freak thing related to a Gou'ld messing with her DNA. I remember at the time, once I was sure the boy was okay, thinking yes, that might have bought me at least a year before I have to worry about her getting pregnant."

Egeria laughed.

"Of course an instant later rationality got the better of me and we headed to the Liberator to get her checked out and the weird Goa'uld experimentation of her DNA corrected."

"Tell me honestly," Egeria thought. "Do you really want to try, and not just for knowledge and long life?"

"Yes, I guess I do."

"Okay, then rest. I will begin the blending and show the others the areas that still require their help. Once we are well we can begin finding a way for the people of Pangar to survive without my presence."

-=oOo=-

Andy had thought that propaganda must have a limit. He was no longer sure. They stood on the brink of a new golden age or of total ruin. The people and companies that had been banned from all EDF technologies were behind all kinds of conspiracy theories. Some they created. Others they just found in the dark corners of the internet and spread. Some, they knew, were other countries simply trying to destabilize the United States in the crazy theory that by weakening the US they were somehow be stronger in comparison. The really insane thing is half the politicians supported the foreign manipulation because it benefited them.

Of course, the US wasn't the strongest anymore. The EDF was, particularly when their ships were present, though they were making rapid progress to fortify their position without it as well. An aircraft carrier had tried to launch fighter planes against Atlantis just yesterday. They had video of it provided by Atlantis. They disabled the aircraft carrier and all the weapons on it.

The aircraft carrier was apparently of Russian origin. It sat there helpless for all of an hour before an announcement from Atlantis came that because of the attempted attack they would claim the aircraft carrier and all possessions. They were open to suggestions as to what to do with the prisoners, who, apparently hadn't known they were prisoners until the announcement.

They quickly got several offers. They offered their prisoners a choice between the offers and beamed them to the respective locations, before apparently restoring propulsion on the aircraft carrier and moving it into position off of Atlantis's port.

Details were sketchy, but he was uncertain if anyone on Atlantis even moved from their offices for the whole affair. It was clear that they had absolutely no chance. Most of the prisoners went to Russia, though it was curious that some did not. Atlantis said they offered the ones that did not want to go to the expected locations a chance to eventually join the EDF, if they could convince them of their intentions. They also said they expected many would fail that test and be returned.

It remained to be seen how that would all turn out. They announced that further aggression from the same individuals or attempting to trick them would in future result in more permanent sanctions against those involved. Most assumed that meant death, though they didn't actually say. Either way, it was clear that Atlantis had no serious threats to its security.

-=oOo=-

Egeria and Janet lived. Unfortunately, it was going to take some time to create a means to reverse the damage Tretonin had done. Egeria and Janet surprised them by asking to do the work on Pangar. Teal'c immediately volunteered to stay and do his part. Jacob and Selmak also stayed to help. A few days later Freya and Anise came through the gate to do the same. Other Tok'ra would come and go over the months it took them to perfect both a cure for the Pangaran people and a variant that would also work for the Jaffa.

Unfortunately Egeria, even with the assistance of the Nox, had not found a good way to rebuild a Jaffa immune system so as not to be reliant on the drug. The genetic changes the Goa'uld designed in were not something a drug could undo. They could use the improved Tretonin as a substitute, but they remained reliant on it. The Asgard offered to help. They would visit the Jaffa home world every month for several days. Those seeking children could donate genetic material that the Asgard would repair and combine before implanting it. It would not free the current Jaffa of their dependence, but in time it would free their children.

-=oOo=-

Ranma and Sam held each other. For them it had been a week since a Nox ship had come to take Lya and Ayiana home. The bond they had developed saving Ayiana and foolishly reinforced in their efforts to save Egeria did not like parts of it separated, even if Lya and Ayiana did their best to ease the process.

They were getting better slowly. For now they were relaxing back on the planet they met on after having placed a Stargate there. Jack and General Hammond were handling the day to day activities of the EDF. It would be time for Cally to return from the Nox soon. They had been tempted to return themselves, however they were not sure they would have been able to so easily leave if they did so. Staying away from Lya and Ayiana was required if they were to become independent again. With another week they thought they would be well enough to return once more and return to their work. Little did they know the surprise that would be waiting for them.

-=oOo=-

Silvester Siler loved his work on Mars. He had been placed in overall command of the entire settlement, though he focused on the engineering. One of the first things he did was create a council to deal with the day to day affairs of residents. He attended all their meetings and helped when he could, but he also knew where his skills were.

Their burgeoning city was beginning to look a lot like the giant space cities in the Macross. They would never fly in space of course. The Asgard satellites were doing the heavy lifting to begin to regulate the environment. They had already imported and desalinated a vast amount of water from Earth, which they had partially replaced with equivalent material from Mars. It allowed them to build the land mass around Atlantis while keeping things balanced on Earth. The great gate that now ran twenty four seven between Earth and Mars helped both settlements continue to grow. It switched direction every half hour.

Their biggest concerns were the satellites. If they were blown away the weather would revert, though not quickly enough to stop them from replacing them, and he supposed if they got to the point where they could no longer manufacture things, well they were probably toast anyway. Still, he had worked in the aerospace industry long enough to appreciate redundancy so when he saw the proposal to make sure every city had not only a protective dome but an energy shield he briefly considered just clicking approve, after his quick scan of the proposal revealed it was realistic.

He then reconsidered. He wrote on the proposal, "Please update this to account for the alternative of per building or per block emergency shielding. Anything that could intentionally damage the outer dome might be able to take out a city wide barrier. Thousands of individual barriers may be better. Please do the analysis. I have approved interim funding for this effort." There were clearly cases when one shield type would be better than another. He hated doing math with people's lives, but he would usually take a ninety plus percent chance most people survive than the alternative where yes, there was a better chance everyone would survive, but also a better chance everyone died.

They were still drawing food from Earth which was a huge week point, though right now they had to choose between building infrastructure or building farmland. Right now infrastructure was the priority, since the improved infrastructure would allow them to build new domes for farmland more quickly. There was also the fact that currently they would have to heat the farmland, which was a lot less efficient when you didn't have enough industrial waste heat to use for the task. That would change in a few years as the Asgard satellites slowly helped them rebuild their atmosphere and keep energy from being lost, but it would take those years. Still, it was perhaps time to mitigate this threat as well, or at least to get it on the list. The only plan he could see that made sense was to build a factory that created something similar to the Asgard food pellets. They didn't require farmland. They also were not something he wanted to eat but he would if he had to. He wrote a note about the idea. Someone would turn it into an actual proposal. If they were somehow cutoff from Earth he intended that they would be able to survive.

They also needed to build more warships. Those were a problem. You needed some fairly exotic alloys to build them. They were alloys that, while not necessarily restricted technology required infrastructure they did not have to build and form into the giant panels ships required. You could use heavier metals. You could even use steel of the correct grades, but then a ship might not be able to land on Earth and would have severe problems in maneuverability, and just be a general liability in a fight with anything agile.

Of course the materials used in the Liberator were restricted. The material used in the Nozomi was also restricted. If either of those were used they would be limited to their own efforts which might be for the best anyway. So far, the best idea he had for building their own reasonably fast was to 3D print the hulls and most of the interiors, probably here on Mars. It would take care to make sure the result was strong, but it should be doable. The real problem was the material. Thanks to Asgard generosity he had access to the knowledge, which was something that had been limited to Sam and her family before this.

He could add Rodney with their approval, but he didn't see the point. There were far too many steps required to fabricate the material. They would not see ships for twenty years if they went that route. Any of the recent Asgard hull materials were like that. The difficulty had not so much increased as the design had been perfected. Sure the Asgard had the many automated factories necessary to produce it. They didn't. He also had an overview of materials Rommie would recommend, including her own. They were a little easier, but it wasn't really enough to base a decision on.

He was honestly giving a hard look at NASAs own work with carbon nanotubes. The strength wasn't comparable to Asgard or Lantean designs, though was better than most any other material available from Earth. It also didn't require so much exotic material to build. If they applied Asgard technology to the problem could they produce something usable now? He honestly wasn't sure. It was time to see if he could entice a few leading experts to work on the problem. The fact that there was a fair chance they could share their work would probably catch their interest. Oh there would be royalties. They had no choice there. They needed the money.

The recruits for the EDF were scattered. Many were on Mars in the new city helping to build more of it. Many were in Atlantis or the surrounding artificial island. Some were scattered beginning to do things like install solar panels or whatever job needed doing. Some were training with the new jets, and now that they had a production line, they promised to field a considerable number of them, for both Earth and Mars. The Mars ones would not have their wings attached until they arrived on Mars through the in system gate

-=oOo=-

George Hammond had finally got around to ranks for the EDF. Jack, Ranma, and Sam were of course Generals. Others were set, often with the rank they had before, if any. He was just now reading the report on the outpost they uncovered. The people he had sent, including John Sheppard and Rodney McKay had determined that a great many drones were there, but it needed what they had taken to calling a ZPM to energize and launch them. The information was marked top secret. John Sheppard and Jack O'Neill would coordinate if an emergency happened and they needed the outpost. They powered the base with a copy of the same crude module Avon had created for Nozomi. It wouldn't last through a prolonged conflict, but looked like it could be used to launch some drones. If need be they could remove one of the set powering Atlantis. This was not something they wanted to do without need, since Atlantis needed all three for the automated manufacturing systems to run at full capacity.

He sent a message to Heimdall. "Did Atlantis have drone weapons? If not, should they make some or move some from the outpost?" He received a reply a few minutes later that he had located the drone storage subsystem and fixed some issues that had taken it offline. Unfortunately, they were almost out of drones, but he would make more. Further he added that attempting to move Lantean drones from the outpost here was not a viable solution.

George almost laughed. Asgard humor was a funny thing. He took not a viable solution to mean, would almost certainly blow up in your face. Either way they were at least starting on the problem.

Next on his list was more vetting of personnel. Fortunately, he had discovered one of the ki adepts they had found actually had the knack of determining if people were being truthful. Of course it probably wasn't fair to call someone who just had a somewhat increased ability to tank damage an adept, but by the standards of those Ranma hadn't taught they were. By Ranma's they were no doubt much less. It didn't matter to him. The ability worked and it would save him some headaches.

Most of the ones that were approved from the aborted attack would end up helping install solar panels after some training. He didn't mind giving second chances if they were earned, and they were earnest in wanting to help, but they were not getting good positions until they were earned. The ones that were not approved be let go this time. In the future their best plan was to offer them to countries who would keep them locked up. It wasn't great, but they were certainly not wasting limited space around here or on Mars if they could avoid it. He also didn't want to see stories of EDF jails if they could be avoided. They had enough propaganda to deal with now.

-=oOo=-

Author's Note: I rewrote and deleted a fair amount here. I had a debate written that just was too dark. It detracted too much from the story.

Seriously, please vote if you are eligible, and for the love of democracy please vote for those who are the most honest and can win. Right now it looks like America will choose to throw one side out based on "crime" and "inflation" ignoring everything else. With regards to crime the policies espoused do not generally help. America imprisons far more people than most countries in the world, yet has it solved the problem? No. We need to stop the lies and bring down the rhetoric. Problems can't be solved based on lies. They just can't. The one side keeps turning the flame higher. Yes, it helps them win elections, and it will likely help this time as well, but, well, they are burning the foundation of our democracy to do this.

With regards to inflation that is all over the world. Mistakes could be easily argued from both parties. The previous administration put a lot of stimulus out that no doubt contributed as well. Getting off foreign oil helps with inflation long term, and saves the planet. Things like better heating and cooling systems in houses reduce what people pay to heat and cool their homes. Reducing prescription drug prices helps with inflation. Most inflation is caused by price gouging of companies. Democrats, if they had the votes, could increase taxes on corporations and those with high incomes to make it so that it is less profitable to price gouge, and more profitable to actually invest in their workers and production. This would be a better solution than extremely high interest rates. Some inflation is caused by a simple lack of workers. Why not make the ones that are willing to work hard and pay taxes citizens? Just demonizing them is not helping. Basically to slow inflation you must reduce the money supply or reduce bottlenecks. I find it better to do that to people that can afford it. Looked at another way, what policies are republicans known for that will fix any of this? A tax cut to the rich won't help. That will just increase the money supply and make inflation worse.

Finally, if you got this far, what do you think of the story? Maybe add a kudo or a bookmark if you like the story?