Chapter 7:Truths
He watched as the force was used to lift his deactivated lightsaber making it dance around in the air as Sam just stared.
"Isn't it dangerous to let her play with that?" she asked looking to the infant who giggled her hand moving in tandem with the lightsaber as it moved through the air,
"If I left the crystal in it sure," he held up his hand showing his red crystal its glow getting the baby's attention, the lightsaber clunking against the floor as she reached for it Revan closed his hand the force she was giving off dissipating around his hand. "Besides I've moved the components out of line so it couldn't turn on if it did have a crystal,"
"Got quite a while till you can get your own Meetra," he poked the child's nose getting a giggle as its attention was drawn back to his lightsaber hilt pulling it into her hands and gnawing on it as he turned his attention back to Sam "besides she's quite talented I don't think I had such control at her age," he smiled as he saw her curiosity peaked.
"How did you learn to do what you do anyway?" she blurted "I mean other than the Nox we've never encountered people who could do what you do and they seem to think you're a prodigy at it?" he raised his eyebrow giving her a questioning look.
"How do you know that?" he asked before realization dawned on him "Ah, Jacob told you," he laughed at her embarrassed look before continuing "You could say I'm not from around here," he looked to make sure Meetra was still absorbed in the shininess of the lightsaber.
"Where I'm from there is an order of people called Jedi. It comprises people of many species you'll probably never see who can manipulate the force like I can" his smile widened at her astonished look.
"How do you become a member?" her curiosity peaked.
"Usually if you're talented in it as a child you're taken during infancy." he saw a look of shock on her face "then you're taken to one of their temples and trained to hold no attachment and devote yourself to serving the order,"
"Were you taken as a child?" she said without thinking a blush on her face at the awkward question making him chuckle harder.
"I was a bit of a rare case," he sat back in the seat using the force to move the infant back towards them much to her amusement as she'd started to crawl away. "I was found by the Jedi when I was six due to my mother's occupation," she looked at him expectantly and he let out a sigh before continuing "She was a spice runner,"
"Spice?" she said questionably.
"Here it would be called drug running," he chucked at Sam's shocked look "She also liked to dabble in piracy so when she saw what appeared to be an easy target she went for it," he looked up an embarrassed smile on his face "turns out it was a Jedi returning from some undercover work...she had her weapon cut to pieces in seconds and a lightsaber pointed at her throat," he could see she wanted him to finish the story he gave a quick look at the clock on the wall finding they still had some time
"Of course seeing my mother being held at lightsaber point and see what happened to her blast I pulled the lightsaber right from the Jedi's hand and she knocked him out" he could see she was hanging on his every word "though turns out he was just a student and his master was letting him try and resolve the situation, but once he was out he stepped in and my mother and I were captured though she made a deal to let the Jedi ave me for her release and they took it," he smiled as he shocked look.
"She just gave you to them?!" he could hear her outrage. Meetra looked at Sam, her little hand outstretched and Sam's hair moved to cause her to look at the baby, her expression softened her voice returning to its normal tone. "Why would she make such a deal?"
"She never planned to be a parent," he scratched the back of his head, "I think she figured I'd be safer with them than taking part in her many illegal operations," he smiled fondly thinking of his mother. "She did teach me to always have a backup of a backup plan just in case of anything that could go wrong,"
Their conversation ended as Major Davis walked in giving them both a nod to follow looking to Meetra for a second before walking back through the doors next to their seats. Revan gathered his lightsaber and Meetra, picking her up as they entered the UN meeting room filled with most of the world leaders. He could feel the disbelief in the air as he stood at the podium illuminated by a projector showing all the major technological achievements accomplished by the stargate program.
"Hello I am Revan High Counselor of the Lantean people," he could hear many snorts of disbelief "and you're probably thinking this is some kind of trick or game," with a mental command Lya, Eresh, Egeria, and Thor were beamed into the room to many gasps of shock and surprise, "I hope that this proves those thoughts are wrong," he smirked at the hushed conversations he could hear as he sat a holo-projector on the podium the lights of the room coming on as a hologram of Destiny popped up "And we are here to tell you about a project we call Outbound Flight," he smirked, nodding to Sam who moved up to podium taking his place as he moved back to the others chairs being teleported in as Lya took Meetra and they relaxed in their seats for what would be long talks about their collaborative project.
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"I think that went pretty well," Lya said as they relaxed in Revan's quarters after the meeting with the UN Meetra now sleeping on his bed having tired herself out.
"I believe Revan's reputation after it was revealed what he did to Kinsey for blackmailing Hammond with hurting his grandchildren that proved what his big stick was," Thor said to Eresh's amusement, quiet laughter filling the room.
"I think you're talking about the Earth saying about giving the carrot till you can find a big enough stick?" Egeria said as Eresh continued to laugh only stopping when Revan force threw a pillow at her knocking her out of her seat.
"Yes, access to Destiny through a cooperative effort being the carrot and sharing Kinsey's fate being the stick," Thor explained taking a drink from his cup relaxing in his recliner.
"You know I wasn't trying to make them fear me," Revan let out a sigh running a hand through his hair "But Kinsey threatening children went across the line," his look hardened "I don't regret doing it," Lya patted his arm giving him an understanding look.
"We know Revan we're just pointing out that maybe your actions have saved us a lot of headaches and fruitless meetings," she leaned back into Egeria whose arms were wrapped around her as Eresh retook her seat using the thrown pillow as a cushion.
"I think it's funny that he finally has some use as the White House's new permanent lawn ornament," Eresh said chuckling at the fact Kinsey was now frozen in carbonite and decorating the lawn of the White House unable to be moved.
"So how's Robo-sg1 fitting in?" He asked Eresh who paused to think before answering a smirk on her face.
"Well they're enjoying not having to return to Harlan after we repaired Altair's underground city and upgraded them with self-repair nanites," she let out a chuckle "Sam's robot-double wants to join Destiny's crew and is studying all the technology she's got clearance for, Jack's is enjoying fishing in Pegasus after joining Eresh's duplicates, Daniel's is studying the archives, and Teal'c's is currently teaching the Nox jaffa meditation techniques and teaching others hand to hand which the Asgard seem interested in," she nodded to Thor.
"While we are still getting used to our new bodies we find the thrill of hand to hand combat to be invigorating," he could hear the excitement in Thor's voice "and it helps keep our bodies in peak physical condition," he looked back to Revan "how is the containment of the Aschens going?" He could hear the worry in Thor's tone "their methods of slowly sterilizing races and then turning their planets in farmland we find their continued use of such methods and expansion...undesirable" his worry turned to disgust a settlement shared by all others in the room.
"Their stargates have been rendered inactive and they've been confined to their planets with automated ships keeping watch over them and providing the necessary food and water," he brought up their current on a hologram receiving a tight nod from Thor.
"You know you never told us about the lightsaber that came through with that warning about the Aschens," Egeria said curiously in her tone as she looked at the small double-sided hilt resting on the stand next to his bed which he called to him in the force catching it in mid-air spinning it in his hand causing it configuration changing to a longer form then back to small using the force holding it over his palm as it slowing came apart revealing a black crystal that seemed to absorb light.
"The lightsaber hilt, if I'm remembering correctly, is based off Exar Kun's a Jedi who later became a sith with the saber having multiple configurations for the emitter that allows you to change the length and intensity of the blade though, being able to change the length of the hilt doesn't follow his design," he had the outer casing fall onto a table that came out of the floor showing the inner workings before letting it fall slowly onto the table the crystal now floating in his hand "I've never seen a black kyber crystal...but if I'm right, it was made with Sith alchemy," he looked at the crystal for a second before reassembling the saber hilt.
"What makes you think it was made with Sith alchemy?" Egeria asked remembering the subject from her blinding with Revan as he looked to the lightsaber sadness radiating off him in the force.
"When it came through I had it scanned with the note that had Jack's blood," he looked to Lya then to Meetra before staring at the lightsaber on his belt "while the scans showed it had similarities to my red kyber crystal...they also found traces of multiple peoples blood which could have been used as a catalyst in some of the Sith rituals I know...it's also letting off a lot of negative emotions," he said the room got silent as he looked at the saber "I don't want to assume but the sheer amount of hatred and rage I feel from this…" he trailed off.
"At least that future won't happen now," Eresh said, breaking the silence and somber mood as everyone contemplated the what-ifs their attention drawn to Meetra who'd begun crying Lya moving quickly to get her.
"She hungry," Revan said feeling it through their master-apprentice bond to Lya who nodded to Eresh who had some kind of mashed fruit teleported into the room Lya picking up Meetra and sitting back on the couch feeding her as they talked Revan spinning the small lightsaber in his hand.
"So how is Sam taking Jacob's decision to join the Destiny crew?" Egeria asked, smiling as Lya fed Meetra "I know he wanted you there cause you're the only person that she stops working for and hopes you'll be a good shield," she finished with a smirk.
"We still haven't found the time," he sighed dropping the lightsaber onto the table "He keeps using the excuse of patrolling Apophis's former domain to help spread the news of his death to the jaffa there in hopes they'll join Bra'tac and Teal'c's cause," he heard a snort from Egeria who looked a bit embarrassed about it.
"More like he's hoping to be on Destiny away from her reach when you tell her about it by yourself," she let out a laugh only stopping when Lya gave her a look, letting out a sigh "I'll make sure he can't use patrolling as an excuse I can't leave a dear friend to his fate at the hands of Samantha Carter," he could hear her chuckles which she did nothing to hide.
"While I find this conversation intriguing," Thor said getting everyone's attention "With Apophis's death that brings up the question shared by the High Councils of the Tok'ra, Asgard, and Nox," he looked to Revan "With the annual meeting of the system lords happening soon should we use this as an opportunity to strike?" Thor looked around the room " we will not have such an opportunity come up again," everyone looked to Revan who sighed.
"I know that, but what about the thousands of worlds they control?" he asked looking to everyone "you know while the Asgard race is growing fast and the Nox have a steady growth max population size is about one thousand adult Asgard and five hundred adult Nox available for long term missions," he raised a hand a map of the current state of the galaxy appearing above them along with population numbers of each of the races "with those numbers and no governed other than the system lords keeping the peace once we remove them from power there will be anarchy," Thor, Egeria, and Eresh looked to the map and studied the information.
"Why not have Eresh's duplicates keep the peace until we can set up a functioning government?" Egeria asked Eresh, shaking her head.
"My processing power had been pushed to the limits with all the duplicates I've already made," she brought up the locations of all of her duplicates on the map which indicated their numbers in the hundreds of thousands "most of them are what allow us to run and maintain the Surik's may systems without a designated crew since we lack the numbers for that, and the rest are spread through Ida, Pegasus and this galaxy with their designated missions," they saw multiple projects listed on the hologram as she sighed "I could attempt to me make enough, but you have to remember each one I make takes a small fraction of my programming to make it able to be self-operated without a need for me to control them constantly, creating enough to police the system lord's territories could push me into instability," she finished with a sigh sinking into her seat.
"What about the free jaffa?" Lya asked Meetra sleeping peacefully in her arms, everyone turning to her "I mean they keep the peace already for the system lords. Would it be that difficult to convince them to continue once the system lords are dead with Teal'c and Bra'tac's help? '' she looked to everyone in the room "I mean at least until we can come up with a permanent solution," Egera and Thor started talking among themselves Lya chuckling at the excitement in their tones.
Their meeting came to an end not soon after with Lya having to put Meetra to bed and Egeria and Thor heading to discuss the possibility that she had brought up with their respective councils leaving Eresh and Revan alone in his quarters a peaceful silence filling the room.
"I take it you've been thinking about this problem for a while?" Eresh asked breaking the silence looking at him as he reached for his Holocron pulling it to himself using the force before answering.
"Yeah...I mean we've had the means to end the goa'uld since we've come to the milky way...well at least end the system lords," he looked down to his Holocron as it opened "but if we do that and the galaxy tears itself apart would that make us any better than them?" With a quick answer to the gatekeeper, he began inputting information.
"But, we played our hand killing Cronus and Apophis," she sighed as she brought the galaxy map back up "I mean killing just Cronus would have drawn the attention of the others to Apophis because he would have been the most likely candidate," she trailed off a contemplative look on her face.
"But, his advanced scanners picked up Helia's ship when were provided medical aid to the people of Juna," he spared a glance to her before his attention returned to his Holocron "lucky your little act as Tanith let us set a trap for him before he could take part in the meeting of system lords and tell them about us," he chuckled as Eresh scooted forward to get a closer look to his Holocron moving his hands a bit so she could get a better view.
"Do you think Lya's idea has merit?" she asked, getting a small nod. His attention mainly focused on the Holocron.
"If Teal'c and Bra'tac can convince them...maybe," he finished with his entry, and with a small nudge in the force, the Holocron slid shut "but we need to establish some contingency plans just in case, " he dropped the Holocron onto his bed turning his full attention to Eresh who raised an eyebrow "no plan survives contact with the enemy," he said getting a nod as they both relaxed in their seats as they spent the rest of the night discussing possible contingency plans using their shared experience and knowledge.
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"So how's Cassandra doing?" Revan asked Janet while little Meetra giggling as she played with his lightsaber hilt the still growing seven-month-old child pointing it at a corner of the room, Janet looked away from her adoptive daughter worry and stress showing on her face as she held Cassandra's hand.
"Her temperature keeps rising and brain activity is off the charts," she gestured to the hand device sitting on the table next to the bed "It helps with her fever but doesn't read her brain activity as an abnormality...her brain keeps heating up and cooling down at this rate she could get permanent damage if what's happening to her doesn't stop..," she looked at him eyes pleading him to help her daughter. Giving her a small nod he closed his eyes centering himself in the force reaching for Cassandra's only to stop as he felt a warning in the force...towards Meetra his eyes opening reacting without thinking to ignite his red lightsaber and jumping across the room with an upwards slash a scream filling the room as an arm hit the ground the guards raising their weapons as Revan held his lightsaber in a backward grip, eyes narrowing letting the dark side flow through his body into his hand lightning forming.
"Reveal yourself or I'll make you," he said the smell of ozone burning and the sound of lightning crackling filling the room, he spared a glance towards Janet seeing that she'd covered Cassandra's body with her own before his focus was pulled to the figure her figure slowly fading into view his eyes narrowing as he remembered her description from reports. "Nirrti," she glared at him, eyes glowing.
"Kill me and she dies," she said grasping the stump where her arm had been glaring at him with hatred in her eyes. Her eyes glowed gold as she moved to stand only to be stopped as Revan's red blade was pointed at her neck she smirked at him. "Do you want that child's blood on your hands?" he could hear the glee in her voice, "I'm the only one with the knowledge to fix her condition," he looked to Janet then Meetra before deactivating his lightsaber clipping it to his belt, lightning disappearing from his hand Nirrti's smirk widened before he thrust a hand forward slamming her into the wall looking to the two guards radioing in for backup then they nodded to him, guns raised to Nirrti as he released his hold of her letting them take her away.
"You okay Janet?" he asked receiving a distracted nod from her before looking to Meetra who was reaching out for his lightsaber, the force trying to comply with her wish for it only for his force hold around his lightsaber to keep it on his belt as he picked her up, "Let's not tell Lya and Egeria about this," he said as she giggled trying to reach for the lightsaber on his belt, the other now laying on the bed she had been on with a nudge of the force it floated to his belt joining the other one as he poked her nose drawing her attention to him as he contemplated the fact the Eresh had probably already told them letting out a sigh, "let's hope they don't paint the SGC red," he said remembering when Meetra had almost used one of the Tok'ra mining crystals as a pacifier...the Tok'ra who'd let the crystal out of his sight still flinched every time Egeria walked into the room and screamed in terror when every Lya entered the room they were in.
Lost in thought he found himself in the mess joined by Jack and Daniel with Meetra floating some jello to herself to the surprise of some of the new SGC members who'd joined in the spirit of international cooperation.
"You know every time I see it I still can't believe it," Jack said as a cup of jello was pulled to Meetra hovering over a wide-eyed Daniel's head before her attention was pulled to something else the Daniel letting out a yelp before the jello halted Revan holding out a hand and with a small nudge it was laid on the table in front of an excited Meetra.
"Just don't tell Lya," he whispered to her before feeding her, chuckling lightly at the happy sounds she made, using the force to keep the food off her then turning his attention to Daniel as he called his name.
"How's Chaka's rebellion going?" he asked, tone filled with worry in his tone as he read from an English to Lantean dictionary Revan had given him, after the hundredth time of being asked to translate for him.
"Well the humans on the world are still using the Unas as slave labor and refused our offer to mediate a treaty between them,' he used a napkin to wipe off the food that had somehow gotten on Meetra, "From what I hear there were some Unas who'd escaped from captivity and had established their settlement, he's trying to rally them to fight,"
"Why don't you just teleport the Unas off the planet?" Jack asked, taking a bite of his pie "I mean that'd be super easy for you guys right?"
"Because that planet is as much theirs as it is the human population," Revan said with a sigh " besides if we were to do that where do we stop?" he looked to Jack "we can't force them from their homes against their will," Jack opened his mouth to speak only for the base alarm to go off saying there was trouble in the holding area.
Grabbing Meetra Revan stood up rushing out of the room to the holding rooms, stopping as he found himself staring at a panicked Janet, a gun shaking in her hands as she pointed it at Nirrti.
"Tell me how to cure her!" she shouted, cocking the gun's hammer back glaring at Nirrti who simply smirked at her eyes giving a brief glow.
"You won't shoot," she let out a laugh "You care too much for my little experiment to risk her life," Janet's hands shook as she held the gun eyes filled with emotion. Looking to Daniel, he handed him Meetra before walking forwards seeing fear in Nirrti's eyes as he stopped in front of Janet looking her in the eyes pushing out a sense of calm in the force as he laid his hand on hers slowly lowing the gun he looked her in the eyes giving her a nod and a smile.
"It's okay Janet," he raised a hand placing it on her forehead "Cassy will be fine you have my word," with a small push in the force she fell forwards Revan catching her before handing her off to an airman turning to Nirrti pulling the force into himself reaching for his emotions, his anger, and hatred breathing in and out as he felt the force flowing through him like a tsunami walking forward eyes turning from their normal brown to a bright yellow Nirrti becoming frozen.
"For you, all I can say is you made a mistake," he placed his hand on her head the force reaching outwards to the goa'uld feeling its mind with his, the dark side seeping into it he could feel its fear as he looked into its eyes " I consider Janet a close friend and hurting Cassy was the worst thing you could do," he reached into the goa'uld mind, the dark side ripping through it the first thing it did was sever the symbiote's control of its host body as he ripped its knowledge from its mind leaving the host unconscious having felt nothing and the goa'uld's mind shattered completely. He ignored everyone as he was teleported to Kreia then to Surik stopping in Ayla's lab grabbing her then teleporting back to the SGC, taking Meetra from Daniel before explaining how to cure Cassy's condition. Within an hour Revan and Ayla had created a vaccine injecting Cassy with it and immediately received positive results with Ayla promising to watch her.
Knowing that Cassy was in the best hands and Meetra was now sleeping in Lya's arms, Revan left the infirmary bumping into Sam decked out in full combat gear, he could feel her worry. "Cassy is she?" she started to ask only to be cut off by Revan as he placed a hand on her shoulder.
"She's fine we've already created a cure and now we're just waiting for it to fully take effect," he could see relief in Sam's face "Ayla is watching her right now, she is in the best hands," he smiled at Sam which shrunk as he could see the bags in her eyes "When's the last time you slept?" she looked away from him sheepishly causing him to sigh and push her to her lab ignoring her protest only stopping once they made it there.
With a short mental discussion with Eresh, there was a flash of light then a bed appeared where the office's desk had been, worry appearing in Sam's eyes, Revan poking her to get her attention. "Don't worry it'll be put right back once you've gotten the necessary amount of sleep to function normally," she sent him a glare which lost all heat when she let out a yawn rubbing her eyes making him chuckle and push her towards the bed as he turned to leave glancing over his shoulder "And don't think you can trick me Eresh's scans can pick up if you're sleeping or not," he let out a yawn himself as he closed the lab's door light shutting off as he headed back to the infirmary to pick up Meetra stopping as he felt a familiar force presence behind him.
"I heard from a certain AI there was some excitement today," he turned around to see Lya and Egeria standing behind him with Lya holding a sleeping Meetra eyebrow cocked as he let out a light chuckle scratching the back of his head.
"Just the usual," he said stretching and feeling his back pop "a goa'uld using cloaking technology got into the SGC, but Meetra pointed her out to me and I disarmed her," he said wincing at the unintentional pun "going to have to fix that since the goa'uld is dead," he said Egeria looking at him with curiosity.
"Who snuck in?" she asked as they were teleported onto the Kreia, Meetra still sleeping soundly as they sat in the hub of the ship Nirrti's host appearing as well still unconscious with Revan also having her arm teleported into the room reattaching it before teleporting her back to the infirmary where she'd been.
"Nirrti," he said, Egeria's eyes narrowing into a glare getting both Revan and Lya's attention.
"And you're sure she is dead?" he could hear the elation in her tone, replying with a nod causing a smile to break out on her face as she pulled a surprised Lya into a kiss waking Meetra and Revan looked away letting out a chuckle as he could feel Lya's embarrassment in the force.
After waiting for Lya's feeling of embarrassment to fade from the force he turned to them again Lya's face red and little Meetra giggling in her arms. Looking to the elated Egeria "I take it you hated her?" getting a nod from the happy Tok'ra mother.
"So how did Nirrti get into the SGC?" Lya asked, bringing the conversation on track as Revan gave the ship a mental command to head for the Surik before sitting down on one of the couches added to the room.
"Well, I figure she must have snuck in with one of the SG teams during one of their missions," resting his chin on his hand "How about you two? How is it going, working with the United Nations of Earth?" he smiled as Lya and Egeria sighed.
"Well they've finally started compiling two-man teams representing each nation," Lya said rubbing the bridge of her nose, " but, some are asking for more advanced technology like what you provided Sam," she said with a mock glare as he shrugged.
"I take it they didn't like your denial," he asked with a raised brow as Egeria let out a laugh and Lya got a nervous look on her face.
"Well once they wouldn't take no for an answer Lya decided to give them a peek at the advanced technology we have," Egeria said Lya's blush deepened as Meetra played with her hair "so she showed them the carbonite freezing chamber we created...let's just say they stopped asking after that," he let out a laugh as Lya hid her face behind Meetra.
"So how goes training with your new lightsaber?" Lya asked trying to pull the attention off herself and back to Revan who sighed, having it teleported onto his grip spinning it in his hand.
"It's going pretty well," he activated one of the blades the blackness seemed to draw in the light surrounding it as the dark side emitted from it causing Lya to shiver while Meetra just stared at it. "It's been a while since I used a double-bladed lightsaber and its design is taking some getting used to...but I think I won't be using this till I can stop the dark side from emitting from it." he deactivated it before having it teleported to his quarters on the Kreia, Lya relaxing and Meetra going back to play with her hair.
"How are talks with Teal'c and Bra'tac about the Jaffa going?" he asked, leaning back as Egeria and Lya both sighed at the mention of the subject.
"While Teal'c remains sure that the Jaffa would rally to their side at the system lord's deaths Bra'tac remains adamant their most devout believers would rather die than accept the fact," Lya said tiredly.
"He says their numbers make up around forty percent of the warrior jaffa," Egeria continued "...they could do some serious damage if we go through with the plan… the best outcome would be millions of deaths and even then we would never know if we got all the fanatics," Lya grabbed her hand squeezing it "the worst is the possibility they decided to kill all the jaffa nonbelievers who join us leading to all-out civil war...it could last decades," Revan could see the tiredness in her eyes and the worry before resting his face in his hands and sighing at the situation.
"If only we could get them to see the tru-," he stopped talking eyes widening drawing Lay and Egeria's attention, the force screaming in his head, Meetra becoming silent as Revan felt it pulling his attention to the galaxy hub as he let it have control of his hands as it guided him manipulating the galaxy map the image zooming out till all know galaxies were shown before zooming into the image of a planet designated Ortus Mallum Lya and Egeria studying the map before looking to him.
"Revan?" Lya asked with worry in her tone as he regained control of his body the force seemed to urge him to go. Closing his eyes and relaxing his erratically beating heart Revan let out a deep breath looking at Egeria and Lya, Meetra was also looking at the holographic map reaching a hand out to touch it.
"I'm...fine," he said slowly before looking at Egeria and Lya, eyes full of determination as he looked to the planet on the display "I have to go there," he nodded to himself, clothing changing to his battle suit.
"Right now?" Egeria asked as the ship sensors indicated the ship stopping before they reached the Surik, with Revan giving her a brief nod.
"The force is guiding me there and I can't ignore it," he contemplated the feeling the force was giving him before shaking his head to clear his mind looking them each in the eyes "If the force is trying to guide me to a solution to the goa'uld problem I can't just do nothing...especially when our current plan could cause so many needless deaths," memories of the lives lost during his campaign against the Mandalorians and his war against the republic flashing through his mind "I can't stand by and let so many people die...I've done that enough," steel was in his tone.
Lya and Egeria look at him before looking at each other having a silent conversation before seeming to come to a decision
"Take one of Eresh's duplicates with you," Lya said, her tone brokering no argument which he nodded in agreement with as one was teleported on the ship with a single thought. "We'll help Eresh out with her workload and take over for Ayla till she's done at the SGC," Lya said, getting a nod of appreciation from Revan.
"Just...be careful Revan," Egeria said, squeezing his shoulder "I've been in your head and a lot of times you leap before you look," she gave him a small smirk before stepping back next to Lya before they were teleported off the Kreia. He paused to look at where they'd been with a small smile before nodding to himself and heading to the cockpit, the Eresh duplicate joining him, sitting in the co-pilot's seat as he entered coordinates setting the autopilot then jumping to FTL.
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Revan looked up from his datapad as the ship's systems notified him that they'd be dropping out of FTL in ten minutes. Stowing the datapad he jumped from the bed in his quarters pausing to look at the dual-bladed lightsaber before pulling it to his hand and clipping it to his belt.
Making his way through the ship he stopped to stare at the Eresh duplicate who was using the hologram emitter to play Pazaak, the duplicate looking up from the game looking him in the eyes he could see curiosity in them before it went back to the game. He stared at it for a few seconds before pushing its odd behavior to the back of his mind and heading to the cockpit and taking a seat in the pilot's seat switching controls to manual control.
The ship dropped out of FTL and he found himself looking at a planet covered in green, before bringing the ship down to the surface of the planet. He found the green to be a large forest with scans indicating that it covered the entire planet before he changed them to pick up energy sources finding nothing. Looking at the scanners results he opened himself to the force letting it guide him as he piloted the ship finding himself stopping over a mountain, ruins decorating its surface hovering for a few minutes to check for a stable place to land before he activated the ship's landing gear setting it down where the scanners said it was stable.
Grabbing his mask from the console and sliding it on and feeling it lock into place he headed to the ramp telling the duplicate to stay on the ship as he made his way off. Closing his eyes and centering himself he made his way to the ruins feeling that the planet was alive in the force much like Dantooine.
Walking through the forest his attention was drawn to the sounds of growls looking to his side to see some kind of feline as big as a Kath hound with large fangs dripping a liquid that hissed as it hit the ground, the grass at its feet withering and melting Using the force he could feel that he was surrounded, the one growling in front of him seemed to be the alpha of the group. Looking at the creature he reached out in the force feeling its mind a feeling of hunger and fear coming from it as he gathered the force around him raising a hand slowly the creatures seemed to pick it up as they backed up the leader letting out a hiss.
Feeling the force running through him and reaching out for their minds he closed his eyes pushing his will into the force the creatures pausing as he opened his eyes overpowering their will with his.
"Sit" he commanded through the force and as one all the creatures sat, heads lowered in submission. Nodding to himself he continued on his way releasing his hold on them after a few minutes of walking, feeling their fear as they rushed into the forest and away from him feeling tracking them in the force as he walked only stopping as he found himself at the ruins he'd seen from the cockpit while piloting.
Letting the force guide him he walked through the ruins of what appeared to have once been a town, finding himself drawn to what appeared to be an entrance to a cave system, pausing as he reached into his robes and pulling out some repurposed reconnaissance drones from Destiny. Tapping where their cameras were, their feed being displayed through the hud of his mask. Making sure they were working properly he tossed them into the cave smiling as they shot into it raising the bracer on his right arm, a hologram of the cave forming as the drones mapped it out and scanned for any technology. He leaned against a wall as more of the cave network was mapped waiting for the drones to pick something up. After about thirty minutes of studying the cave network and sending the data to the ship he received a ping from the drones notifying him they'd found something matching ancient Lantean technology.
He messaged the Eresh duplicate telling her he was going to be exploring the cave and having her keep track of his position he headed into the cave, his mask's night-vision allowing him to see as he followed his map walking deeper into the caves many twists and turns. He could feel the force singing in his head with elation as he made his way deeper using the force to move rocks that blocked his path.
"There you are," he said looking at his drones hanging in the air as he found himself in a larger cavern, their cameras focusing on what appeared to be some kind of chest the force's elation growing stopping as he laid his hand on it. Pulling up the drone controls on his bracer he had it run a more in-depth scan on the chest finding that it was made of naquadah and that it wasn't in any of the databases.
"It'll be best for Eresh to get a look at this," he said before sticking a drone to it and sliding the other back into his robes then having the duplicate teleport him back to the ship being covered in a white light then staring at the central hub of the ship nodding thanks to the duplicate who still looked at him with curiosity and setting course back to the Surik. The duplicate rejoined him in the cockpit as he broke through the planet's atmosphere jumping into FTL for another seven-hour journey before turning to the duplicate studying it.
"Eresh?" he asked the duplicate who just continued to stare at him, eyes still holding the same curiosity as before. He tried to connect to it using the connection between him and Eresh only to find he couldn't, though the duplicate seemed to realize what he was trying as she reached forward touching his cheek curiously tilting her head. Deciding to try one more thing he reached out in the force trying to get a feel for it letting it flow into the duplicate, snapping out of it as he felt a presence from the duplicate much like he could sometimes feel from Eresh. Looking at it he slowly reached outwards again this time trying to get a better feel of it, finding that while it felt similar to Eresh but there was something off about it...it felt young compared to Earth's mental presence he felt through their connection. Giving it one final look he sighed, trusting Eresh enough not to question it and pushing his thoughts to the back of his mind he decided to focus on what the chest he brought on board was.
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"Where did you get this?" Eresh asked eyes wide as she scanned the chest in her lab joined by Lya and Egeria. "It's unlike anything in any of the databases we have access to," she said a holographic version of the chest appearing then spitting itself apart showing its inner workings ``From what I can tell...it uses light to override someone's visual centers to their brain downloading information directly into their brain," she studied its layout a bit more before continuing "but it has some kind of filter," she scrolled through the images, eyes moving rapidly "it will only display information that is a fact...it scans uses it to make sure it can't be used for nefarious purposes," her eyes widened as she quickly scrolled through more images too fast for anyone but her to keep up with stopping on an image of the interior lined crystals a huge smile breaking out on her face before grabbing him and pulling into a tight hug.
"We can do it!" she shouted before dropping Revan who gasped for breath as she pulled Egeria and Lya into a hug as well joy prevalent through their bond. Pulling away from a blue in the face Lya and a chuckling Egeria she looked at them all. "With this, we can destroy the goa'uld's hold on jaffa," she said Revan and the other looking at her with a mix of curiosity and hope in their eyes as she explained her plan.
"The box from what I can only speculate was created to destroy the Ori's follower's belief in them as a means to greatly weaponize their powerbase. It can spread its light using a subspace link with an emitter allowing for it to be used on a galaxy-wide scale," she waved a hand bringing up the image of a stargate "if we repurpose the stargates to spread the signal like we've been using them as scanners," she brought up the image of a jaffa "and add the jaffa to the races it should affect...having Teal'c and Daniel two people who have seen the truth for themselves, use it to broadcast the truth that the system lords aren't gods," she smiled wide spreading her arms "we can eliminate the system lords belief system in one go leaving them open to revolt," everyone stared at Eresh eyes wide before Egeria rushed out of the room Lya moving to join her, Egeria yelling about calling a meeting of all the races leaving Eresh and Revan alone again. He looked at her as she started work on converting the device to their needs sitting down in one of their chairs with a look of relief on his face.
"We could do this," Revan muttered looking at the chest, the force still singing in his head with a feeling of satisfaction coming from it making him smile a bit.
"Well you were known for doing the impossible weren't you?" Eresh asked in a playful tone as she worked hands and holographic images moving in a blur. "Though we'll still need to establish a peacekeeping force for those who'd want to use the system lords deaths as a means to gain power," she sent him a look "not having to worry about crazy zealots will help immensely….maybe we should have Teal'c or Bra'tac join our little group as representatives of the jaffa," she said muttering the last part as Revan laid back in the chair.
"That could work," he said looking to the ceiling feeling the stress over the decision to kill the system lords fade letting him relax a bit. "I'd recommend Bra'tac for now due to Teal'c's ties with Earth," Eresh gave him a look to explain, which he did "I figure some jaffa would wonder about Teal'c loyalty to their people with his close connection with sg-1 while Bra'tac has been fighting for his people for decades trying to spread the truth...he's the best choice for now," Eresh seemed to think about it before nodding going back to her work.
"So what's with your duplicates?" he asked, breaking the silence that had taken hold, Eresh jumping a bit at the question, turning to look at Revan, the worry in her eyes obvious. "I've noticed they've been acting odd recently," she looked away from him, seeming to lose herself in thought before sighing and looking him in the eyes.
"Who else have you told?" she asked moving away from the hologram, gesturing for him to follow her to the room in the back of her lab where her secret project was.
"No one," he said moving to follow her, receiving a grateful nod as she moved to the door running her hand along the seam of the door, seeming to unlock it as a light click came from it the door slowly opened revealing a small cluttered room leading to a passageway with a set of stairs. She waved to follow, leading him down the cramped passageway's stairs, lights slowly turning on as they went lower. After what had to be at least a floor of stairs the passage opened up to a wider room filled with science equipment some of which he could only guess was her design as he couldn't remember it from his repository download.
"I guess you could say I haven't been completely honest with you," she said with a sad smile stopping in front of a black cylinder "do you remember when I took over the Asurans?" she asked looking back to him and receiving a nod "it increased my processing power immensely and I created all those duplicates to help us maintain the ships," she smiled slightly with a nostalgic tone in her voice before continuing "but, to do that I had to take a portion of my code and put it in the duplicates in order from them to be self-sufficient...spreading me across thousands," she let out a sigh "...being an experimental AI, the first and only of my kind has led to some...unexpected results," she turned to face Revan "the code I used to make them self-sufficient has evolved...at first it was just the slight resistance when I took direct control but," a proud smile appeared on her face "they're learning ...that's why I've stopped taking direct control, because, when I do it, overrides whatever growth the duplicate has had, resetting it," he could hear the pride in her tone though he had some reservations.
"But they control most of the ship's systems, isn't it dange-," he started to ask a question before being cut off by Eresh shaking her head with her smile still on her face.
"While they're slowly becoming self-aware and changing the little code they still possess has one rule hardcoded into it ...that makes up a lot of my code, that we cannot go against," she smiled at Revan "our duty is the protection of the human race and to serve the High Counselor of the Lantean race," she walked over to a console pulling up a map showing every duplicate "their productivity has increased at a steady rate going beyond what I thought were their limits...to be honest I thought it would be possible from them to reach full sentience within a couple of centuries," she said with a grin like a proud parent,
"Why have you kept this hidden then?" he asked making her smile shrink a small bit "I mean I understand hiding it from the galaxy as a whole, but you know you could trust us with this." her smile turned a bit sad.
"To be honest?" she said looking to Revan with eyes full of worry "I didn't want to keep it hidden but…. I had to make sure they weren't a threat...when I hacked into the replicators systems it had an unexpected side-effect on them and me," she brought up a display showing what appeared to be some kind of brain scan "their neutral activity has been off the charts since then...their learning at a rate that I can't believe…..with the leftover code from the replicators their evolution has been kicked into overdrive...at this rate within ten years I can see them becoming self-aware if not sooner," he reached forward placing a hand on her arm to get her attention.
"You said it affected you? How?" he asked, noticing she hadn't mentioned that. She simply smiled bringing up diagnostics of her systems that showed continued growth of her mental capacity.
"My processing power has increased past what should have been possible even including the upgrade I received from the Asurans...from the studies I've conducted I haven't seen any halt in its progression...I don't know how long my current form can withstand the increase before it becomes a detriment to my systems," he could hear the fear in her tone as she looked him in the eyes. "I'm the first of my kind...the only similar thing I could find was studies on how mental capacity increases before ascension...and I have no idea if I'd even be capable of doing it even if I wanted to...I'm scared that if it continues I might just...die" he could hear the fear and worry in her tone, reaching a hand out to give her shoulder a comforting squeeze.
"You know you're not alone in this right?" he asked giving her a supportive smile "Everyone on this ship knows that we wouldn't be here without you," he saw that she was going to interrupt so he tapped her nose "You're the one who came up with a way to stop the Wraith and Asurans," he smiled at her pulling her into a hug "you stopped the replicators and within minutes of examining that chest you've made it possible to destroy the goa'uld's hold on the jaffa," he pulled from the embrace looking her in the eyes ``Ereshkigal you're not alone in this and we will find a way to help you," he could see unshed tears in her eyes and gave her a smile "I swear," he kept his smile as she pulled him into another hug, staying like that for a few minutes before his comm went off Egeria and Lya saying they'd gathered everyone for a meeting. She pulled away looking at him in the eyes finding determination and hope in them as she smiled back at him the stress that she seemed to be under disappearing.
"Let's go," she said getting a nod of agreement "We've got some genocidal snakes to overthrow...and I'm going to need everyone's help as well," he let out a chuckle as she turned to rush up the stair with a spring in her step as he followed promising to himself he would help her memories of Meetra and Alek coming to mind...he couldn't lose another friend again.