Six days passed. Six long days of being stuck on the ship. For the most part I spent my time in my quarters, studying the information available from Jeb on the current dynamics of the universe and the technology currently available. It was mostly as a way to pass the time since I'd already had Jarvis upgrade the ship to the highest level I could think of at the time with what was available. A few changes were made here and there, but for the most part, without examples of different tech, what I had now was about the best I was going to get.
What I currently had though wasn't too shabby. I could state with some certainty thanks to Jarvis' simulations that my ship would best a hatak one to one fairly easily, complimentary Death Gliders and Alkesh included, since I'd already formed a few fighter and bomber sized variants of the main ship for launch as needed, all of which could be controlled mentally since making space for a cockpit would actually degrade their level of performance.
Indeed, this ship, which I'd decided to call Manifest Destiny for the sheer irony, or Destiny for short for even more irony, could potentially take on six Hatak at once and win nine times out of ten. Any more and it became less and less likely that an unequivocal win could be achieved, but a pyrrhic victory could still be achieved against at least 16 hataks before the ship would actually stand a chance of losing outright. Alteran tech, even the dregs of it scavenged by Goa'uld, is still pretty incredible if used correctly.
As to the Jaffa themselves, the two groups were kept separate from each other. Indeed, only I at this point could visit both groups since both sections of the ship were divided from each other entirely, and both were separated from the suite of rooms I'd ended up making to mimic the suite I had on Chelsak-3 on the top floor of my mansion. Sticking to just the three rooms, two of which were empty, and solely virtual reality wasn't really cutting it, so I simply mimicked the entire suite directly instead. It helped.
Even the Jaffa who'd decided to follow me had gotten upgrades to their accommodations over the past almost week. Apart from their rooms, several smaller community rooms where the Jaffa could meet and converse had been created, along with a large gym with several sets of equipment and a sparring ring available.
Most of the Jaffa had taken to the data provided and started meeting together in the community rooms to discuss what they were learning. More and more information would become available at a steady pace suited to how fast each Jaffa was learning, and the gym had been invaluable for them for practice spars and working out any aggression that built up in their systems.
Normally, the Jaffa simply released their more troublesome emotions via Kel'no'reem, but the way they did this played a big part in how the primta would influence the minds of their Jaffa, and since the nanites were blocking that, that part of kel'no'reem had become unavailable to them. Thus, the gym had become an integral part of the day to day lives of the Jaffa even more than it already had, as each and every one made use of the track, weights, and sparring ring to keep up their strength.
As to the prisoners, they experienced little change. Some had attempted to escape their confinement, but it hardly worked out very well for them. While they received similar accommodations as the free Jaffa, they weren't able to choose their own food. Instead, they received the same rations they were used to and were mostly kept confined. Most of them spent their time either in Kel'no'reem or exercising in their cells. They weren't allowed to train together after the last time a conflict sprung up and the two Jaffa started fighting each other, nearly inciting a riot until Jarvis put walls between them, confining each one and herding them all to their rooms where they remained since.
I realize the isolation and lack of mental stimulation is somewhat cruel, but I'm mostly at a loss on what to do with them. I've always been a proponent of freedom of choice, but the consequence of letting any of these Jaffa go free would be for them to attempt to kill the others upon learning they were getting an education and had denounced the Goa'uld as gods. I don't want to just kill them outright either. I'd already tried providing them with the same learning materials as the others to get them to change their minds, but like Jarvis had already determined from the beginning, these particular Jaffa would not listen. They chose to follow the Goa'uld, and I would not take that choice from them by attempting to brainwash them or forcefully educating them.
I would keep my word and drop them off on a world with a Stargate as soon as possible. It would just take some time before I could do just that. I'd rather banish them than keep them imprisoned. Until their banishment though, the materials that would let them learn and allow them to make an informed decision over their own behavior will be kept available to them. But it's still their choice whether to read it, or learn from it, or whether they would rather be banished.
It took some small effort of will not to cheer when we finally dropped out of subspace within scanning range of Bes' little hidey-hole. Most Goa'uld had one to be sure. A little planet a bit out of the way where they stockpiled their own resources in preparation for their future attempt at –insert whatever fool ambition they have here-. Some were more successful than others. It really depended a lot on how far out it was, whether it had a Stargate or not, and if it was truly unknown or not.
I can't be truly certain of the last, but Bes' little bolt hole had all the hallmarks of the more successful bolt holes out there. No Stargate, and actually getting out here is luckily truly out of the way from the edge of Goa'uld space, and while it took me only six days, committing a whole month's time to go out of the way to go out beyond their borders when they're so stagnant and used to getting what they want immediately through the Stargate… No, I believe Bes' chose his hidey hole well.
What is this hidey hole? A little green blue jewel of a moon orbiting around the surprisingly small gas planet second out from this system's star. This star, named specifically by Bes as Utopia, has only three orbiting planets. One is practically Mercury 2.0. The latter two are both gas planets, with a large amount of moons each, and three separate asteroid belts, the first belt being between the two gas planets and the latter two outside of that.
As for the little habitable moon orbiting Utopia, as we got closer, scans confirmed what Bes' memories provided. The little worm had called it new Bubastis, showing just how far his ambitions went. Three major land masses, technically five if you count the two ice caps at the north and south. No sapient life forms, a small number of herbivores, and no carnivores to speak of, at least on land.
The ocean, which takes up the majority of the surface area, is a different story. Think 'waters of Naboo' and you wouldn't be too far off. There's always a bigger fish indeed. Thankfully all of the most dangerous fish don't really bother coming near the shore, preferring to stick to the deeps, and for now, I'm glad to leave it that way.
All in all, the system is perfect. It's mostly strategically unimportant to any Goa'uld for lack of resources outside of the asteroids and uninhabitable moons, but that may as well be useless to them considering their reliance on slave labor.
As for New Bubastis- which I wasn't going to call it that for another minute, even in my head, which I had now redubbed in my head as the planet Haven, just for personal nostalgia reasons. As for planet Haven, the planet itself has a few natural resources, but nothing important for a Goa'uld like Naquada, which makes this system even more perfect for my purposes. No Goa'uld would want it as they couldn't just mine anything via slave labor, next to no naquada, even in the asteroids as far as I can tell, and completely out of the way of any possible normal routes used by their empire.
Honestly, it's pretty crazy Bes even found this place at all. And he wouldn't have, if not for a fluke. Turns out having engine trouble while dealing with a saboteur from one of your rivals, hoping to fling you out into the unknown and strand you there, can actually get you lucky on occasion.
Scanning the surface of Haven, I decided to bring Manifest Destiny, which still never fails to bring a chuckle out of me, in for a landing near the center of its largest continent, aiming for a decent sized plain with a few hills with a river or two in the middle of a shallow valley, I brought her in for a landing on the most suitable hill, and immediately set my nanites to work reinforcing the area and spreading out in threads to start prepping the area for habitation.
For now, simple open air housing similar in style to what I'd created back on Chelsak-3 would suffice. That, and roads. I'd start the farms and plumbing, but considering each house literally recycles everything thanks to the nanites, I'm sure each house can get along fine with an underground water tank to start with. The houses would practically power themselves just from sucking the heat out of the air for air conditioning, the roads would provide emergency solar as necessary, and I'll have a backup power generator in my landing platform for the ship, which is currently being built. I figure the ship itself will serve as my residence, and while I'm gone, the landing platform will simply be a white pyramid of sorts. Again, for the sheer irony.
Not that a Ha'tak could land on it. I'd actually laugh if they tried. Best part is they would think they can, but then not only could the nanites take over, if the ship needed to be gotten out of the way for mine, it would simply unfold open to accept the base of my ship like a flower, tearing the offending Ha'tak into pieces.
The pyramid wouldn't just be a landing platform though. No, that's reserved for the top of it. The bottom half will, hopefully, serve well as the community center, and then central government building, for the people I plan to have here, starting with these Jaffa, who I suspect will turn to their First Prime R'san for local governance and me for ultimate authority when necessary.
That's what I'm hoping for anyway. I plan to nudge the government towards something very similar to the government of the USA, at least as a base, only without the stupid party system to muck things up. Meanwhile, I'll be in position as the people's "Champion". Basically if the government bucks up as bad as I suspect they eventually could and will, I get to come in and sweep up the place, install some new peeps, and hopefully tweak the system to fix what went wrong where necessary. It's a work in progress, but it's the best idea I've got for now.
Speaking of R'san and the Jaffa, I decided to visit their area of the ship. To be honest, it'll actually be my first time doing so. Despite wanting companionship during my time on Chelsak-3, actually making friends with these people is… daunting, to say the least. I've never really been a people person, so anytime I actually considered going over to say hello, I'd usually talk myself out of it. What would I do? Shoot the breeze? With Jaffa? Imagine doing so with Teal'c, when you're another Teal'c, and you've got an idea how well that'll go for me. Honestly, that man's lucky O'neill could carry a conversation practically by himself if he really wanted to.
Now though, I have a reason to actually go over there. So away I went, with Jarvis announcing me first to be polite, as I'm well aware they find my appearance unnerving. (so I still observed them a lot of the time, give me a break. It was that or be bored to tears a lot of the time) I quickly arrived at R'san's quarters, or I should say temporary quarters, to find him waiting outside them for me to arrive.
Coming to a stop in front of him, I considered him and his 'practically-parade-rest' stance for a moment, then said, "We've arrived at our new home."
R'san nodded. "Jarvis has kept us appraised via the news section of our tablets."
I nodded back. "That's good then. You should get ready to debark and enter the homes I've set up for you then."
"What would you have us do in the meantime?" R'san asked.
I paused, considering the question for a moment, than answered. "Live. Do as you've been doing. Be ready. This is more a change of venue than anything, and until you've reached a certain standard of education and knowledge, I won't have much use for you until you, any of you, are out of this… 'training' period. Only when you've completed that will I really have a use for you, and I honestly expect you lot to be fully autonomous for the most part. If I have to micromanage you and anyone else I pick up that would live here, well… Not having to do that would honestly be the biggest help any of you could give me currently, and once you've reached a state I would consider you to be at a minimum education level, you would have several choices in front of you in which you could help against the Goa'uld, but I wouldn't, and couldn't, accept you, any of you, for field work until you've gotten rid of your biggest weakness, and that's getting Junior out of your gut."
R'san's eyes widened. "Yeah, tall order, all things considered, I know," I responded to his look, "But imagine for a moment, doing so when there are absolutely no downsides to it. You won't get sick, you won't lose your strength, and you certainly won't die. Would you do it?"
"I would," R'san answered after a moment's contemplation.
I nodded, and was about to respond, but before I could, before Jarvis could even get a warning out about what was about to happen, R'san unceremoniously jammed his arm into his symbiote pouch, grabbed and pulled out the writhing larval Goa'uld, snapped its neck and dropped it to the ground, stomping on it and grinding it under his boot.
"WHAT THE #$%!?" I shouted, gaping, immediately commanding the nanites I'd seeded in him to multiply in order to replace his already flagging immune system, as well as bolster the energy intake he needed so that he wouldn't weaken dramatically from having so suddenly losing his symbiote, which would've normally sent him into shock just by itself.
After just a moment to catch his breath from the pain I'm sure he's feeling after shoving his entire fist into himself with no warning, I once again asked, in a way I hope was a bit more eloquent, "What. The #$%. Was that!?"
It took a moment more before R'san straightened up, a dirty look at the stain of Goa'uld on the floor, which I belatedly had start being absorbed into the ground for parts. He then turned to me, his face neutral, but an easily detectable look of joy in his eyes, (Easily detectible only because I could essentially read his mind with my nanites. I swear this guy's gotta be Teal'c's great great great great grandfather or something) and responded, "I've long suspected that the larval Goa'uld I carried within could sense not only what I could see and hear, but also my thoughts as well. I knew the moment you asked if I would destroy it, I would have but a moment's time to decide, and after I chose, I would have to act quickly to not let it attempt to kill me first. I decided to trust you, and it seems my trust has not been misplaced. For I am alive, and as strong as before. No, stronger, for I have cast the yoke of my bonds from me. You claim not to be a God, that your power is purely technological, but for that act alone most of my people would consider you to be divine. Certainly more worthy of the title than any of the Goa'uld."
After considering his words, I pinched the bridge of my nose. "I accept your gratitude. You're welcome. But for the love of all that's good in this verse, please don't consider me to be a God. Make it a taboo if you have to. That, more than anything, will help me more than anything you could possibly do."
"What shame would it be to you to be known as such?" R'san asked, seeing deeper into the matter than I would have expected.
After a moment, I sighed. "Look, I realize that what I'm trying to do could technically be classified as a religious war. I'm denouncing your former 'Gods' to be not Gods, and attempting to instill in you a sense of reasoning and morals to replace their dominion they had over you. I have several reasons for not wanting to be known as a 'God', first of which being that I don't ever want to be considered in the same vein as those pretenders. A being cannot be considered divine if they are without even basic morals, and the evil committed by those parasites would have them more akin to demons and devils than deities.
"Second, and more pragmatically, I am your Champion. Not your God. I would have you call upon me when things get tough, but I mean that literally, as one person to another. Not through prayer, or some mystical hoodoo that very likely won't work. I'm not perfect. I will make mistakes. A God does not, cannot, do that. And quite frankly, being considered a God is actually bad for you in the long run, as even if you have the omniscience, omnipresence, and Perfect Morality to pull it off, anyone who might consider you a God will almost always eventually stop seeing you as such when they become sufficiently advanced in their own right, and will very likely resent you for your perceived control over their lives, whether before or currently, and instinctively rebel to attempt to establish themselves as their own person. You see that everyday with parents and their children once they turn into teenagers, and it's the very rare person who doesn't react that way. Also Gods can be appeased and perceived as being controlled, either through ritual sacrifices or acting subservient or some such malarkey. I cannot, and will not, be appeased by such and anyone attempting to do so will far more likely piss me off than anything else.
"And thirdly, I will not accept being considered a God for reasons that are personal, but basically boil down to my own belief in a God. One God. My God. There are no other Gods before him, and being considered a God would be a smack in the face to my own personal religious beliefs. And before you ask, No, I won't tell you what they are. Not yet at least. Not until you can tell me you seek such knowledge for your own benefit and not to simply replace some sort of perceived void in your life from a lack of a God or Gods. Faith in God is not a convenience. It is a privilege and a responsibility. One you are not ready for yet."
I stopped, took a deep breath and let it out slowly, mentally stepping off my soap box before refocusing on the man in front of me, who has a rather openly thoughtful look on his face.
"Do you understand?" I asked.
R'san nodded. "I believe I do. You have given me much to think about. I will return to my brothers and let them know that, and that we can now go to our new home. Does it have a name?"
I considered, then mentally shrugged and decided to follow the theme, even if it is a bit on the nose. "Sanctuary. The first city of hopefully many to come on the planet Haven, in the star system Utopia. And when you do go to your brothers, please tell them that they can take their time deciding what to do about their Goa'uld. I was already blocking them from perceiving anything outside their pouch and potentially influencing you already, keeping them in practically a comatose state so that all they are capable of is acting as your metabolic and immune system."
R'san nodded, a small look of chagrin entering his eyes before being replaced by determination. "I understand. By your will, I will go now?"
I nodded, "Dismissed."
As R'san walked away, and I turned around to do the same, Jarvis commented, "You know thanks to the nanites and the subspace transceiver behind your ear, if they did start praying to you, you would hear them."
I snorted. "Shut up Jarvis."