Chapter 8: Brave New World
A deep bell tone rang through the room as Bra'tac took his place at the lectern. With raised palms he solemnly intoned. "Jaffa, hear me! This assembly will now begin. In attendance at this summit, hosted on the Free World of Haven, are representatives of all known and recognized Free Jaffa warriors. We die free!" "We die free!" rumbled in reply from hundreds of voices through the chamber and Dr. Sroda. The feeling was exhilarating, striking awe in the heart of every Jaffa in the room. None could name a moment in the history of the galaxy when so many Jaffa leading revolts against the Goa'uld were gathered in one place.
Bra'tac held up his hand again. "This summit was called by the leaders of the Free Jaffa to discuss recent events and developments with the Taur'i. The attack on Earth by the Goa'uld with the manufactured planet killing asteroid Ammit has enormous implications for our relationship with the Taur'I and we need to determine how this changes it. We will begin with discussion of Earth's most recent actions as proposed by Teal'c. The chair recognizes Teal'c of Chulak, Brigadier General of the Jaffa Auxiliaries."
Teal'c rose and took his place at the podium amidst the fervent whispers of the crowd. "Jaffa, hear me! The Taur'i's recent victory over the forces of the Goa'uld has transformed the nature of their war effort. Ever since my freedom the Taur'i have given limited support to the war against the False Gods due to internal disagreements over the best policy. Ammit has forced the situation to change. Where once these problems have constrained our allies they are an obstacle no longer. The full force of Earth's potential is being marshalled for war against the Goa'uld." Teal'c paused, letting murmurs ripple through the crowd as an older Jaffa warrior with a golden brand on his head stood. "The chair recognizes Gerak of Harro, First Prime of the Host of the Blade," intoned Bra'tac.
Gerak held up his hand, mimicking Bra'tac's gesture as he waited for the crowd to fall silent. "Jaffa," growled a gravelly voice scarred by a hundred atmospheres, "hear me. Teal'c of Chulak speaks very glowingly of his Taur'i friends but left unspoken is the real support we've received from our allies. They have the resources of a highly advanced world capable of producing weapons matching our own, enormous numbers of troops, dozens of offworld colonies, and their own potent fleet of powerful warships. Yet for all of these powerful assets they send token forces to our aid, barely stirring beyond the absolute minimum to save face. How is this any different from the System Lords and their arrogance? Why, my fellow Jaffa, should we see what is going on as any different from their previous empty promises of aid?"
Teal'c held up his hand amidst the growing chorus of argument, rage, and shouts of support for Gerak. "The chair recognizes Teal'c of Chulak," intoned Bra'tac as Teal'c rose to his feet again. "You misunderstand the nature of the Taur'i position. They, much like us, do not operate under a single leader but are a collection of many different associations. Furthermore they are very new to the galactic stage and many were unaware of the true extent of the Goa'uld and their threat to Earth." Gerak let out a guttural laugh, echoed by nearly a third of the Jaffa in the room. "Silence!" shouts Bra'tac, "We have all agreed to follow proper protocol for this summit. Show some respect all of you!" Order returns to the room before Gerak raises his hand as Bra'tac wearily says, "The chair recognizes Gerak of Harro."
Gerak's gaze swept the room, "And what good has that done for the Jaffa? The Taur'i rulers lie to their subjects, just as the Goa'uld did to us, and fought this war with one hand tied behind their back! Jaffa have died by the tens of thousands while the Taur'i waste time in the greatest opportunity for freedom the galaxy has ever seen! How, when the Taur'i have done so little after Apophis nearly conquered them years ago, are we to believe this change of heart will lead to a change in fortunes for the Jaffa?"
The chamber roared with dissension as Jaffa now shouted over one another. "Silence!" bellowed Bra'tac at the top of his voice. Finally the side conversations dribbled out. Deeper in the hall Istha rose to her feet, raising her hand high. Bra'tac gestured deep into the hall, "the chair recognizes Ishta of Goranak, Speaker of the Hak'tyl Moloc," only to be met with a sudden uproar from nearly half the Jaffa in the chamber. Bra'tac tried again, this time shouting, "I said Istha is recognized! SILENCE IN THE HALL!" Dr. Sroda shifted uncomfortably in her seat as the notorious Ishta rose to her feet, looking about at the menacing warriors gathered around her.
"Jaffa," Istha began before an especially large male Jaffa warrior shouted, "What worth are a high priestess and woman's words on matters of war?" followed by loud jeers, guffaws, and laughter. Ishta stood in stony silence, waiting for order to return before beginning again, "Jaffa, hear me. Though the Taur'i have contributed little to this war in terms of warriors they have done much for the lives of our people. Without the Taur'i we would not have safe places, including Haven where we now stand, for better prosecuting the war. Without the Taur'i we would not have the weapons so many of you depend on to keep fighting the Goa'uld." Istha took in another breath before saying, "Without them we would not have the alliance with the Tok'ra whose intelligence has proven so vital to many of our victories," when she was suddenly drowned out by a loud chorus of boos and jeers.
Dr. Sroda groaned to herself as the room exploded in shouting. Some bellowed out, "Silence! This is greatly out of order!" others bellowed, "Of course a weak woman would endorse the work of the treacherous Party Against Ra!" in rage. A handful replied, "Their information wins us battles and saves lives!" The uproar boiled up as the Jaffa weapons engineer remained silent in her seat. Even though she'd been awarded great status and positions among the Taur'i for her weapons expertise she felt even more unsure of herself as the room erupted. As much as she sympathized with Hak'tyl Moloc's goals and the work of their allied liberation movements sometimes they seemed to be pushing for too fast and too much at the same time. Istha's blunt demeanor, no-compromise attitude, and outspokenness didn't help any as most Jaffa men expected women to remain silent and demure in public affairs. Even with her experiences with other respected, commanding women in the Science Corps Sroda felt intimidated and uneasy in big meetings like this, wondering if maybe the assumptions of the men had some truth to them.
As the uproar died down the old warrior's voice rang out, "The chair recognizes Se'tek of Shamsa, First Prime of the Stormbreaker Host." The last, mutters trailed off as a young, severe looking male Jaffa warrior approached the speaker's podium. "Jaffa, hear me. Regardless of the import of these new promises and the Taur'i's commitment we must ask ourselves whether their help would truly matter. It is hard to argue against the effectiveness of their firearms but what of their ships? They only stopped Ammit with a lucky gamble and Apophis thanks to the Serpent Lord carrying a Stargate on his flagship. Have their ships ever proved themselves in battle against the False Gods? How can we put faith in them when we know not the might of their stellar arms?"
The room was filled with intent murmuring as Se'tek sat down. After a moment Bra'tac's voice filled the room, "The chair recognizes Teal'c of Chulak." Teal'c rose saying, "We have one among our number who can testify to the power of their newest vessels. I ask the summit to call Sroda of Gualan to testify as to the capabilities of the ships of the Taur'i." Bra'tac nods in agreement, "The chair calls Sroda of Gualand, Major and Doctor of the Jaffa Auxiliary, to testify before the Free Jaffa." Dr. Sroda quietly swallowed, slowly standing as she made her way to the podium just beside Bra'tac's lectern. She took in a deep breath, slowly lifting her eyes to meet the room.
"Do you," said the old man of the Free Jaffa, "Sroda of Gualan, swear to be honest and truthful in your testimony in the sight of all Free Jaffa?" She quietly nodded saying, "May the Jaffa witness my words." Bra'tac turns to Teal'c, "You may begin your questions." Teal'c strides forward, facing Sroda. "Sroda of Gualan what is your experience with the Taur'i and the stellar weapons capabilities?" Sroda clears her throat replying, "I have worked as a weapons artisan for the Taur'i for the past six years. Since my freedom I have provided the Taur'i with information on Goa'uld weapons systems, helped develop countermeasures, and test new Taur'i weapons systems such as their rail cannon technology. Following the Ammit Crisis the Taur'i invited me to participate in the test firing of the main weapons arrays for their new star cruiser."
"During these tests," said Teal'c, "What did you observe?" Sroda responded, "In spite of their somewhat primitive design, depending on projectile weapons over energy beams, their arsenal is surprisingly effective. Their railcannons have come a long way and fire two main types of shot. The standard load carried by most of their weapons are solid slugs with explosive chemical cores. The newest models they have are capable of firing over a hundred rounds a in a minute with each slug measuring as wide at the base as most Jaffa men's forearms. Smaller versions of the same weapon fire ten times as many rounds in the same amount of time, making them a great threat to fighter craft and smaller vessels like the Al'kesh. The non-standard load, which they call torpedoes, are far less common but more potent. They consist of huge tubes firing huge, rocket-propelled projectiles as wide at their base as most Jaffa men are tall. The bulk of their contents consist of weaponized naquadriah, creating a potent warhead designed to break Goa'uld energy shields."
As Sroda finished Teal'c paused, raising his right eyebrow as his gaze swept the room, before turning back to her. "Sroda of Gualan do you believe with these weapons the Taur'i could defeat the False Gods in deep space?" Sroda nervously glanced across the room, seeing many coldly silent eyes while a handful beaming at her supportively and answered, "Yes." Her single word answer was met with abrupt surprise from many in the room. "Silence!" shouted Master Bra'tac as Teal'c said, "Please elaborate." Sroda took a deep breath, slowing her heart, before she began. "Taur'i weapons have proven themselves in live trials and tests to be capable of inflicting more than enough damage to tear apart the hull of even the largest Goa'uld vessels. Death Gliders and Al'kesh would be easy prey for their weapons thanks to their high volume of fire leaving little room for maneuver. Further tests, using captured Goa'uld generators capable of matching a Ha'tak's output, showed six successful torpedo impacts are more than enough to completely negate a shield's defenses. In a pitched battle the battlecruiser they're testing could destroy one, possibly even two Ha'taks in a straight fight."
Teal'c smiled slightly during the surprising murmuring, stepping back as Se'tek rose to his feet. "May I ask the witness additional questions," he said approaching the lectern. Bra'tac nodded tersely as Se'tek turned towards Sroda. "Sroda of Gualan," he intoned, "What can you tell us about the design of the Taur'i ships? Was there anything that struck you as odd about their design?" Sroda paused for a moment saying, "Taur'i ships, though their weapons are very powerful, are much smaller than Goa'uld ships of the same capabilities. Their weapons are also limited by their own on-board supply stocks with only limited replenishment capabilities. This puts them at a disadvantage against most Goa'uld craft who are capable of sustaining fire as long as their reactors hold out."
Se'tek slowly walked closer before turning his back towards her and saying to the crowd, "And what about their crew complement? Do they possess ring transporters?" Sroda replied, "In this regard they are truly unusual. They carry only a hundred soldiers actually equipped as full-time shipboard combatants and have more than twice as many as artisans and repair personnel. The only place they match Ha'taks is in their complement of fighter craft." Se'tek spins and looks her right in the eye, "And what of ring transporters?" Sroda nods before saying, "They only have three, all designated for emergencies, evacuations, and helping rescue downed pilots."
The room roiled with tutting, notes of superiority, and a general tone of disapproval. "How can these ships ever threaten the power of the Goa'uld? They barely have enough warriors to defend themselves against boarding attacks much less stage their own assaults against enemy ships!?" Sroda suddenly and heatedly replied, "They don't care about taking ships intact, they intend to destroy all enemies in space without boarding!" Se'tek's eyes widen in surprise before he bellows sending Sroda shrinking slightly into her seat, "And how exactly will they do that? They are certainly no Asgard with technology and firepower far beyond that of the False Gods! Furthermore how do they plan to sustain war if they do not capture enemy warships? The System Lords are losing ships as fast as they build them, if not faster, and they control hundreds of hundreds of worlds."
Sroda, momentarily taken aback by Se'tek's verbal assault, whispered into the silence following Se'tek's thunderous tones, "I don't know First Prime, but the Taur'i are proving to be full of surprises."
WE THE PEOPLES AND NATIONS OF THE PLANET EARTH HAVE DETERMINED to save succeeding generations from the scourge of enslavement and alien conquest, to preserve the human species, and to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and to establish conditions under which the combined resources of the planet Earth can be put to the best use for securing these ends, and to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,
AND FOR THESE ENDS to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbors, and to unite our strength to maintain planetary sovereignty, international peace and security, and to ensure, by the acceptance of principles and the institution of methods, that armed force shall not be used, save in the common interest, and to employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples,
HAVE RESOLVED TO COMBINE OUR EFFORTS TO ACCOMPLISH THESE AIMS
Accordingly, our respective Governments and Associations, through representatives assembled in the city of Nairobi, who have exhibited their full powers found to be in good and due form, have agreed to the present the Charter of the United Nations of Earth and do hereby establish the Planetary Government of the United Nations of Earth.
Pre-amble to the Charter of the United Nations of Earth
"The events of the Nairobi Convention are some of the most well-known and celebrated in galactic history. The critical four months spent in intense negotiation, discussion, and debate in late 9 M12 have been seen ever since as the founding moments of galactic unity for the human species. It was here a genuinely united world was formed and the precedent was set for galactic government. There is little doubt among historians the political reforms of the Nairobi Convention were vitally necessary for human survival in spite of their limitations and flaws.
The New York Summit set critical precedents and assumptions going in to Nairobi. At New York the United Nations received its first ever direct form of taxation, the beginnings of a true military, and the endorsement of the nations of the world to take the lead in mobilizing for war. Nairobi was meant to sort out the details and confer the more muscular United Nations with a greater degree of legitimacy and popular support. Discussions were dominated by concerns for how the world's nations would retain an essential degree of sovereignty while guaranteeing the security of the human population on Earth and across the galaxy. The results were the famous United Nations of Earth Charter.
The Charter, negotiated over the course of three months concluding on October 10, 10 M12, laid the foundations for how the new global government would function. Negotiators and representatives from governments the world over pushed hard to strike what they felt was a workable balance, incorporating existing lessons from the American, Westminster, and Japanese forms of parliamentary democracy. The result was a system designed to give humanity everything it needed to fight the war across the stars while preserving enormous internal autonomy for the member-nations.
The main governing body of the United Nations was the General Assembly. The new General Assembly would have two representatives from every member-nation, elected in whatever fashion the member-nation felt was most appropriate, and was the main legislative body. All measures concerning revenue, appropriations, or the expenditure of funds had to be first proposed in the General Assembly. The General Assembly was presided over by the President of the Assembly and operated on a simple majority on most measures.
The other half of the legislative elements of the UNE was the Security Council. The UNSC, as it was before Nairobi, was responsible for all military, defense, and security matters. The main difference was how it was organized. The pre-Unification format of five permanent, veto-wielding members with a rotating majority had caused a great deal of friction on many international issues. This was seen as a serious problem in a galaxy at war as was the old form of representation. The new UNESC consisted of eleven members representing the existing super-states including the newly formed Pacific Rim Federation and the North American Union. These representatives were chosen by the super-states by whatever methods each felt was most fitting. Measures required 7 out of 11 representatives to vote in favor to pass.
The executive of the newly formed UNE was the Secretariat. It was the Secretariat that executed GA and UNESC policies, administered the global bureaucracy, handled interstellar relations, and took care of the day to day tasks of governance. The Secretary General of the United Nations of Earth and the Assistant Secretary General were directly elected by the General Assembly from among their members and could be removed by the GA through a vote of no confidence. Unlike the Westminster system once two individuals are chosen for this position a special election was held to replace their seats in the GA, removing them from the day to day maneuverings of the General Assembly.
The Department Secretaries for the Secretariat were appointed by the Secretary-General and confirmed by the Security Council. The Department Secretaries formed the official Cabinet of the United Nations, the body responsible for setting high-level policy. Each Secretary was expected to stand in lock-step with the Secretary-General and withhold public criticism as long as they serve on the Cabinet. The departments first established for the Secretariat by UNE Charter were the Department of Planetary Defense, the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the Department of Peace and Justice, the Department of Science, Education, and Technology, the Department of Interstellar Affairs, the Strategic Intelligence Service, and the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources.
The judicial element was the aspect with the greatest change of all. Prior to Nairobi the International Court of Justice had a very limited remit and use. Following Nairobi the ICJ became the supreme legal authority on Earth. The organization was divided into two main branches for handling specific aspects of International Court of Justice's new task for making international law a reality. The main work of the ICJ would be handled by the greatly expanded International Court. They handled international law civil and criminal. Above the International Court was the High Court of Human Rights, the ultimate arbiter on questions of human rights and transparent legal processes. The High Court also directly presided over all cases of crimes against humanity. All justices on the International Court and the High Court were appointed by the Secretary General and confirmed by the General Assembly.
To enforce these major changes existing bodies were bolstered and new ones established to handle the added responsibility. Existing military forces, Stargate Command, the Interstellar Fleet, and the Aerospace Force, from the New York Summit were placed under the DPD with General George Hammond as the Chief of Command Staff. The DPD was further strengthened with the founding of Army of the United Nations and the Planetary Defense Forces. Taken from the cream of the Peacekeeping Corps and Earth's armed personnel the AUN and PDF were Earth's weapons for planetary warfare.
The AUN's job was to spearhead the defense of all UNE worlds, coordinate galactic-scale strategy, operate in defense of Earth's allies, and in time take the fight to the Goa'uld. The most elite units of Earth's militaries were transferred to the AUN, serving as the core for the army that would go on to liberate countless worlds. AUN troops trained in every environment imaginable on Earth and Gamma Site. The best of the best in the AUN were recruited for the elite Commandoes, the AUN's special forces. Held to a similar standard as the famous Stargate Teams Commandoes gave the AUN a powerful range of options in the coming galactic war.
The Planetary Defense Forces would be formed from the second cut of the Peacekeeping Corps and the rest of Earth's military forces. Initially the PDFs, Earthside, were a coordinating body for the military forces of the sovereign nation-states and super-states that made up the UNE. The PDFs job was to bring all units up to equal quality, establish uniformity of equipment to simplify logistics, support recruitment, and coordinate this disparate patchwork of armed forces. The early years of the PDFs Earthside were a halting, fits and starts affair thanks to entrenched suspicions and rivalries between Earth's militaries slowing global integration. Offworld the situation was very different. Formed directly from colonists, reserve personnel, and volunteers the PDFs were uniform planetary fighting forces under a single chain of command.
The rest of the Peacekeeping Corps, all told a total of one million personnel, were transferred to the newly-established Commission for Peacekeeping Operations in the Department of Peace and Justice. Their job was to keep the peace in contentious regions, step in to enforce cease-fires, maintain the security of sea lanes, and enforce resolutions of international justice. Peacekeeper deployments outside of authorized zones and UNE mandates required the approval of the Security Council, keeping a strong limitation on their use to what the super-states would sign off on. The DPJ was further reinforced by the consolidation of INTERPOL as a global criminal investigative service and counter-intelligence agency.
In questions of interstellar affairs the Reconstruction and Resettlement Agency of the PDC was moved to the Department of Interstellar Affairs. Reformed as the Commission for Offworld Settlement and Development the new commission's job was to oversee and supervise the settlement of humans on offworld sites, supervise the ASYLUM worlds, and survey new worlds for settlement. The mission of the COSD received some of the highest priority of any outside of the DPD during the Unification period thanks entirely to the Ammit Crisis. In the wake of such a deadly near miss there was a clear consensus that Earth civilization must survive even if Earth itself were to be destroyed. This drive fueled much of the early work of the COSD, giving them enormous amounts of resources.
To assist all of these agencies in their efforts and provide up to date, independent information on the Goa'uld and other threats the UNE Charter established the Strategic Intelligence Service. The SIS was granted a broad remit on any world that wasn't under the authority of the UNE to do whatever was necessary to gather intelligence, subvert enemy military operations, and undermine the Goa'uld Empire. Headed by the Director of Strategic Intelligence the SIS reported directly and only to the Security Council and the Secretariat. Its budget, much like that of the CIA and the KGB during the Cold War period, was top secret as were most of its operations.
These reforms vested the United Nations of Earth with unprecedented power, capabilities, and reach along with the muscle to enforce its resolutions. Yet for all of the potency the new government was given it had clear limitations. Any matters not pertaining to global defense, offworld affairs, international trade and dispute resolution, or international law were off-limits to the UNE. This offered a great deal of autonomy for member-nations in handling the specifics of economic and social policies along with allowing them their own, independent military forces.
The most critical manifestation of this was the controversial Local Representation Resolution allowing each member-nation to determine how they would choose their UN representatives. Nowhere were there provisions calling for the direct election or even elections of any sort for General Assembly and Security Council representatives. The LRR was a necessary compromise to prevent more authoritarian states and blocs lead by powers like China and Russia from walking away thus critically weakening Earth's defense.
Even in spite of such compromises the Nairobi Convention was a rousing success. On January 20th, 10 M12 the United Nations of Earth Charter was put to a global referendum. When the last ballots were counted every member-nation decided in favor of the new proposal. In countries where the decision was handled by direct, popular vote the average vote in favor was an astonishing 83% of all casting ballots with an incredible 94% turnout.
Immediately following the global referendum a new General Assembly and Security Council was elected. The snap elections across the planet were brief, quick, and in nearly every case handled by the legislatures of the member-nations rather than direct, popular elections as is the norm in the present day. The first General Assembly and Security Council for the United Nations of Earth convened on January 28th, 10 M12 electing US representative retired General Wesley Clark as the first UNE Secretary General and the Chinese representative Hu Jintao, the former President of the People's Republic of China, as the new Deputy Secretary General."
From Chapter 4: The Road to Unification, The Origins of the Modern World by Prof. Andrea Masters, published in 61 M12
"At the conclusion of the Nairobi Convention and the successful confirmation of the UNE Charter in the January 20th Referendum Earth was in a very difficult economic position. The years leading up to Ammit and Nairobi had seen enormous dislocation and upheaval as the world transitioned away from fossil fuels and was on the road to post-scarcity. These changes saw unemployment rise across the planet, poverty soar, and the wealth of a few skyrocket as new technological potential was squandered in the name of personal profit. Upheaval and unrest were growing worldwide, reaching a destructive peak with the violence of the Oil Crash, and would have posed a serious challenge to any global government on their own.
The upheaval and chaos of the Ammit Crisis exacerbated an already precarious situation. The massive liquidation of capital by the wealthiest on Terra triggered the total and complete global collapse of the financial sector, leaving savings and monetary conditions in total ruin. Business ownership had come into dispute as workplace appropriations, emergency sell-offs, and bankruptcies coupled with outright missing or destroyed records created a massive knot in need of untying. The emergency evacuations, though relatively small in scale compared to the flood that was to come, created further upheaval planetside leaving many evacuees in a state of limbo.
The response of the newly constituted UNE to stop the bleeding was as swift as it was sweeping. Recognizing the economic situation, which only barely held together in the months following Ammit thanks to super-state relief efforts, would seriously jeopardize any plans for total war mobilization the UNESC and UNEGA moved quickly into action. The first main problem was sorting out the question of debts, ownership, and economic instability. The solution was the swift passage of the Global Monetary Reform Act, passed on February 8th 10 M12, and the sweeping Emergency Economic Relief Act, passed on February 12th 10 M12.
The GMRA established a new global currency, the bancor[1], with a pegged exchange rate to all other global currencies that was deemed valid for all debts, public and private, everywhere the UNE held sway. The EERA declared all debts, monetary obligations, and loans would be guaranteed in full value prior to the Ammit Crisis by the Commission for Monetary Policy, effectively converting tens of trillions of dollars, euros, yuan, and yen into bancors. On the question of property the EERA officially granted ownership of any properties liquidated or abandoned by their previous owners to anyone who was currently operating the property in an economically productive fashion. Any driven to bankruptcy were bailed out and restored to their de jure pre-Ammit owners. With a single stroke of a pen the EERA effectively placed just shy of 40% of Earth's economic capacity under the direct control of their workers, creating an enormous co-operatively owned sector.
The GMRA and the EERA put hard brakes on the spiraling uncertainty of the beginning of Unification and Earth's near-destruction, making the next major steps possible. As economic data poured in from DESA's analysts and researchers members of the UNE was presented with a number of different problems. To effectively mobilize the resources of Earth and the growing network of refuge worlds and mining colonies the Secretariat would need to employ the labor power of the vast majority of the world, overhaul all infrastructure to the bleeding edge of available technology on all fronts, and construct the necessary apparatus for building an interstellar war machine.
To answer these problems the personnel of DESA, DIT, and the nations of the world went to work researching prior examples of wartime mobilization policies, what worked, and what didn't. They also delved deep into the Age of Imperialism and Colonialism to determine what policies were most effective for supporting settler populations offworld and encouraging migration. The results of an entire planet's intellectual capacity set to the task, motivated by a clear desire for survival at nearly any cost, were presented in the famous Pomeranz Report of March 8th, 10 M12. This voluminous document concluded two things would be necessary for Earth to effectively overhaul its defenses and infrastructure in time to meet any major Goa'uld assault: total economic mobilization on a scale unseen since the Second World War and the rapid colonization of offworld sites to provide the necessary resources for sustaining it.
These findings were wholeheartedly embraced by the General Assembly and Security Council who acted swiftly to put them into effect. The results were the Global Transportation Act, the Global Emergency Mobilization Act, the Energy Act, the Military Service Act, the Maritime Security Act, and the Offworld Development and Settlement Act of April 10 M12. These pieces of legislation, championed by the Clark-Hu Secretariat, gave the UNE the legislative framework and authority it needed to marshal Earth for war. These acts were followed by a series of major appropriations for military expenditures such as the Interstellar Fleet Act, the Planetary Fortification Act, and the Solar Defense Act all calling for massive expenditures of funds for the DPD and national militaries.
First to receive a huge shot in the arm was the massive planetside economic efforts. These were made possible by mobilizing the huge number of unemployed, displaced, and refugee people worldwide for massive infrastructure projects. Under the auspices of the Global Transportation Act the Department of Infrastructure and Transportation worked on two major projects: connecting all maglevs, high speed rail lines, public transportation systems, and dock facilities into a single, fully modernized and automated web. In many regions, particularly Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia, these systems had to be built completely from the ground up. This went hand in hand with the Global Emergency Mobilization Act, supervised by DESA, that called for the construction of the necessary facilities for interstellar war and the Energy Act which was responsible for bootstrapping the global power grid.
These major projects saw rapid, immediate results thanks to a number of factors. Within six months the number of planetside thorium fusion reactors doubled to a total of forty, 80% of all energy consumed by the average citizen was covered by renewable sources, wireless internet measured in petabyte speeds was available in every corner of the globe, and transportation grids were linked in a single globe-spanning network. These planetside developments bootstrapped the construction of the orbital infrastructure needed for large scale ship construction. The best example of these efforts was the rapid construction of thirty space elevators across the planet. In orbit they were linked by a network of maglevs making it possible to rapidly move and store resources. These nodes and lines were the foundation of the Great Belt, the backbone of modern industry on Terra, and were completed in December 10 M12.
As segments of the orbital transport network came online DESA was quick to build on these works. Every space elevator node, upon completion, became the sites for the first of the major transport vessel yards. Prior to Unification most starship construction took place in remote locations planetside, limiting capacity and output. These yards churned out hundreds of mining ships, freighters, colony ships, and surveyors every month. Inspired by the simple design of the Liberty ships of the Second World War the Acorns, Galleons, and Durins produced by the yards were surprisingly long-lasting in spite of their rapid, simple construction. Five of these yard complexes were tasked with churning out Cossack System Defense Ships in batch lots, knowing every ship they had was one more to defend Earth. Along with these yards was the first of the interstellar warship yards, the famous Pacifica Yard located in orbit over the Pacific Ocean, came online November 8th, 10 M12. Pacifica Yard boasted a total of 20 one kilometer long drydocks capable of churning out multiple ships at a time.
The first major element to these projects' success was the near-universal support amongst the world's governments. All parties benefited enormously from infrastructure modernization efforts and were further motivated by wartime necessity. The second was the massive number of unemployed yet trained or trainable workers worldwide. This made the question of labor a simple matter of posting recruitment ads and waiting for responses to flood in. The third was thanks to the development high energy power generation, renewables, cyberspace, and 3D printing. These technologies made mass production and rapid dissemination of information possible on an unprecedented scale. The fourth and final reason was the effective development of the global bureaucracy to coordinate these efforts based on prior historical examples.
These Earthside efforts went hand in hand with the push for galactic colonization. These efforts were directly coordinated by the Commission for Settlement and Offworld Development. Early on the main problems facing the COSD were acquiring sufficient resources for mass interstellar transportation and convincing people to go along with it. The former requirement was rapidly being met by the exploding orbital infrastructure built up by DESA and DIT. The latter would be handled from a number of different angles.
Central to the COSD's program of settlement was the fundamental policy that all uninhabited worlds claimed by Earth were the direct property of the UNE. This gave the COSD carte blanche to distribute land, resources, and assets in whatever fashion they saw fit providing enormous leverage in shaping policy. To this end the COSD declared all resources, provided they were harvested in a sustainable fashion, were free to be claimed by whoever could register a claim with the Commission and stake it offworld. Handling the information was a massive survey operation, known as the Newlands Project, intended to properly catalog and survey every one of the offworld sites claimed by the UNE. The Newlands Project sparked a massive rush for claims worldwide with hundreds of millions staking their claim on new opportunities and a fresh start.
As orbital yards came online and Acorns were churned out in droves the Newlands Project Report provided the UNE with the logistical capacity to truly make this possible. Stargates had made initial colonization, exploration, and settlement possible but DESA and COSD had concluded they had nowhere near enough capacity to sustain a constant flow of people needed to develop offworld sites at the needed rate. The vast fleet of Acorns constructed during the final months of 10 M12 provided the UNE with a fleet of over 500 simple, durable vessels capable of ferrying the millions needed to mobilize offworld assets.
The flow of people for the colonization effort were induced by more than just the desire for a new, free start. One such policy was the Offworld Lands Act. This put lands up for sale at cut-rate prices, making it in theory possible for anyone to purchase their own plots offworld and set up stakes. It further stated any veterans of the DPD would receive a plot sufficient to support themselves and their families upon completing ten years of active duty. In practice, much like the American Homestead Act, much of the land opened up for purchase was snatched up by large corporations, wealthy investment funds, and land speculators looking to make a quick buck. This gave the new owners of the land enormous leverage over the new emigrants, making it possible for them to dictate terms similar to those of indentured servitude. Only in the case of military communities or lands purchased by super-states and nation-states was there real equity and equality of opportunity in terms of land purchasing and access.
Closer to home the remnants of Ammit and major planetoids in the asteroid belt were surveyed by Durin miners. Hundreds of these mining ships stripped asteroids and the Ammit remnants bare of all useful resources as rapidly as possible, all to feed the growing appetite for the resources demanded by Earth's march to war. Supporting these efforts were new orbital refineries and ore processors constructed to reduce the logistical challenges in stellar infrastructure construction. These additional resources, combined with the growing flood of raw materials from offworld sites, made it far easier for Terra to build the infrastructure and vessels needed to defeat the Goa'uld."
From Chapter 6: Building Wartime Production, Globalization and First Contact by Prof. Dipesh Iyer, published in 48 M12
"Earth's grand galactic strategy was guided by the same imperatives as its economic and political planning. The Goa'uld were seen, unquestionably, as an existential threat to life on Earth and the survival of the human species. Ammit demonstrated how incredibly powerful and dangerous the Goa'uld could be to any human world anywhere in the galaxy. Other cases, such as proof of Goa'uld mineral experiments on Langara, Apophis' earlier assault on Earth, and countless reports from the SGC of worlds under Goa'uld occupation hammered home the scale and severity of the threat to the species. This overriding dilemma drove UNE intergalactic policy throughout the Unification period, explaining many of their decisions.
The best example of these decisions was Earth's massive push to colonize the galaxy. When the United Nations first debated colonization plans in the General Assembly many in the esteemed body argued a rapid push across the stars would spread Earth's limited resources too thin. This school of thought argued for maximum effort and support for planetary defense putting all other concerns as secondary. Dubbing their position 'Fortress Earth' the main support for this position came from the People's Republic of China, Switzerland, and Brazil. These powers claimed the best strategy was making a strong Earth capable of repelling any Goa'uld attack.
In opposition to the 'Fortress Earth' position was the 'Species Survival' approach. Articulated most forcefully by the Russian Federation, the United States of America, and the Republic of Egypt the Species Survival argument claimed the threat posed by the Goa'uld was too great to invest all of Earth's resources in one solar system. The threat against humanity and every planet was so great that depending on Earth's survival was too great a risk for the species to take. Earth needed to seed the galaxy with colonies, build up other independent human-inhabited worlds, and develop an effective force for galactic power projection.
What swayed the General Assembly in favor of the 'Species Survival' position was the revelation of the full list and nature of all known Stargate coordinates. These coordinates, obtained by Stargate Operations from an Ancient archive, were to the best of the knowledge of Earth and the Tok'ra totally unknown to the System Lords. Further adding to the strength of this data was the sheer number of potential Stargates in the Milky Way Galaxy. Every Stargate, when dialing an address, lined up a combination of 6 symbols from a set of 38 possible choices. The result was a total of 1,987,690,320 possible Gate addresses in a galaxy with over 200 billion known planetary bodies. Even if a System Lord, in control of hundreds of worlds, were to use over a hundred gates to randomly dial planets until they found an Earth colony it would take over ten thousand years for them to cycle through all possible addresses and millions of personnel to carry out.
The second main prong of the 'Species Survival' position was the Ammit Crisis. Ammit demonstrated that, in spite of the astonishing luck of SG-1, the Goa'uld possessed weapons of enormous power and destructive capacity. Even if Earth were to fortify sufficiently to hold back conventional assault there was no guarantee some sort of technological terror wasn't lurking in the galactic depths. Combined with the data from the Ancient archive the 'Species Survival' party carried the day with the passage of the Offworld Development and Settlement Act and the New Horizons Resolution. These legislative actions laid the foundations of UNE interstellar policy.
The OSDA, along with offering free land for settlers, codified how offworld colonies would be administered. Existing offworld sites, established by the IOC and the PDC, were the backbone of Earth's galactic push. Alpha, Beta, and Gamma Sites remained military bases and saw rapid expansion under the Department of Planetary Defense, becoming hubs for offworld military activity. Delta and Epsilon Sites, established as refuge worlds to ensure the continued survival of humanity in the event of total extinction of life on Earth or Goa'uld invasion, became the first major centers for colonization as their lush climates and wealth of resources made them ideal for habitation. The Zeta, Eta, Theta, Iota, and Kappa Site mining outposts were opened up to mineral prospecting and exploration providing Earth with a broad base for procuring critical resources such as naquadah, iridium, and trinium.
One of the more controversial aspects of the OSDA was the King-Petrov Protocol. This section of the OSDA handled policy regarding the ASYLUM worlds, planets colonized by refugees liberated during the KEYSTONE campaign. By 10 M12 twenty four worlds were colonized by ASYLUM's efforts but their administrative status was often hazy at best due to the unique nature of their establishment and support. King-Petrov was intended to resolve this by formally declared all ASYLUM worlds under the administration of the COSD to be treated as colonies. King-Petrov remains one of the more debated aspects of the UNE's colonial policy and was vehemently protested in its time by African and Latin American delegates as an opportunistic land grab.
Another equally controversial aspect was the New Opportunities Directive. The NOD stated anyone who emigrated offworld would be granted amnesty for all crimes committed on Earth under the condition they remain offworld for a period of at least 20 years. In theory the NOD was meant to give low-level and non-violent offenders a chance at a new life. In practice the NOD was used by the super-states as an excuse to liquidate undesirable populations, strong-arming political dissidents, ethnic minorities arrested of minor crimes, and the homeless and impoverished and deport them en masse offworld. The morality of the NOD is a hotly debated topic to this day, with discussion pitting the immorality and coercive measures used against the survival necessity used to justify such measures.
The New Horizons Resolution worked hand in hand with these efforts. Passed as a joint resolution by the General Assembly and the Security Council on April 10, 10 M12 New Horizons declared Earth would stand as an ally with any humans at war with the Goa'uld. The Clark-Hu Secretariat moved swiftly to make this sweeping vision a reality sending the Secretary for Interstellar Affairs, Ban Ki-Moon, on a whirlwind tour of every offworld human government who was in contact with the PDC. Over the course of the next six months Secretary Ban met with the governments of Langara, Pangara, Abydos, Edora, Orban, and Lamora affirming existing friendly relations with each.
These discussions made the Geneva Summit of 10 M12, which began on October 12 10 M12, possible. At numerous meetings, discussions, and presentations delegates from six offworld human governments, military forces, and economic officials hammered out the necessary conditions for galactic co-operation. The different representatives swiftly concluded the sheer amount of power and territory controlled by the Goa'uld, estimated at over 8,000 worlds by the SIS, made close co-operation necessary for survival. The most potent case used in support of this position was the fate of the Tollan who were destroyed by the Goa'uld in spite of their technological superiority, fortress world, and policy of galactic neutrality.
On December 19 10 M12 the result of these discussions was presented to the galaxy. The Geneva Pact established the framework for a galactic alliance of independent human powers united in mutual defense, technological assistance, and the ultimate defeat of the Goa'uld as a threat to humanity. The main terms of the Pact stated every member government was pledged to mutual support, assistance, and co-operation in resisting the Goa'uld threat. This included technology exchanges, shared intelligence, training exercises, and mutual defense in the event of a Goa'uld attack. One of the most famous sections of the Pact was the Lend-Lease Agreement which formalized the sharing of military hardware across the galaxy."
From Chapter 8: Mobilizing for War, Political History of Our Galaxy by Prof. Li Feng, published in 59 M12
"The story of the rapid construction of the Deep Space Fleet and the stellar forces of the Geneva Pact is well-known across Terran space. Made possible by recent, major advances in human manufacturing technology on Earth the rapid buildup of the Deep Space Fleet and Interstellar Command stands as a powerful example of humanity's industrial genius. Advances like fusion power, first generation AI, and 3D printing made rapid construction on every scale far easier to accomplish. The synthesis of these technologies were the first industrial fabricators.
In previous eras industrial fabrication of any kind required multiple bulky, stationary facilities fueled by the necessary refined materials. Industrial fabricators combined the automation and analytical potential of First Generation AI, the compact yet highly precise capabilities of the 3D printer, and new compounds to build what were essentially mobile factories. In previous eras industrial fabrication of any kind required multiple bulky, stationary facilities fueled by the necessary refined materials. This limited industrial development by requiring the construction of infrastructure for moving goods and raw materials. Industrial fabricators, by contrast, only required refined materials to operate and could deliver and install manufactured products on-site greatly simplifying logistics.
The key aspect making industrial fabricator technology so revolutionary was how adaptable it was. Advances in miniaturization, denser batteries, and AI made it possible for fabricators to be constructed in a number of forms and sizes. On the smallest end of the scale were the famous Handyman powered suits, first mass produced in 11 M12, that were capable of building smaller components, installing them, and performing vital spot checks. The largest were the stadium-sized Metropolis construction centers used to build the Pacific Yards and the first zero atmosphere facilities on Mars and Luna. Widespread wireless networking made it easy to share plans and data, allowing even the smallest fabricators to construct larger units and coordinate large scale projects with ease.
The same principles dictated how Terran orbital and starship construction developed. The Pacifica Yards and other space elevator yards were, in essence, enormous stationary fabricators. These facilities received regular deliveries of materials through the orbital network and from sublight mining ships, fueling enormous engines of production. Each of Pacifica's space docks were designed as massive, two-lane orbital facilities with massive refineries, landing bays, and warehouses running down the center. Each dock could construct as many ships as they could fit, making it possible for one space dock operating at full capacity to construct four Unity cruisers at a time. Smaller space elevator yards churned out even larger volumes of non-military ships like Galleons, Acorns, and Durins.
These technologies were also applied on UNE starships. Unity cruisers and the newer Sabre-class frigates, introduced as a counter to Goa'uld Al'kesh and Death Gliders and escorts for the larger Unitys, were equipped with on-board armory fabricators. These onboard manufacturing complexes supplemented railcannon stocks extending the longevity of the main guns. Hand in hand with the armory facilities were part shops capable of replacing most components on the ship, greatly easing logistics and extending their longevity. Unification-era ships acquired necessary raw materials in the field with Osprey-class shuttles, sublight miners with limited on-board refining capabilities and powerful survey sensors.
Earthside and in the colonies industrial replicators greatly eased the process of developing modern infrastructure and production systems. DESA used industrial replicators to build fusion reactors, solar panels, hydrological generators, and maglev lines. New sanitation systems, public transportation networks, and power lines sprung up around the world. Slums were cleared and replaced with solid, mass-manufactured housing complexes. On colonies COSD raised cities from nothing, spun transportation webs, and built modern production systems across the galaxy."
From Chapter Seven: The Engines of the Interstellar Revolution, The Interstellar Revolution by Prof. Eduardo Garza, published in 55 M12
*A comet shoots across the sky on screen, trailing stardust behind it. As it slowly trickles down the opening instrumental for "A Whole New World" plays.*
VOICEOVER: The opportunities in the galaxy today are endless. Now more than ever everyone is free to chase their dreams in the stars and beyond.
*Camera pans through space, zooming in on a happy family on a farm in lush, open land.*
VOICEOVER: In co-operation with the Commission for Offworld Settlement and Development Disney is helping people reach their dreams. We offset the cost of travel, provide you with credit and tools, and the know-how to reach the stars.
*Camera shifts to a young, fresh-faced couple boarding an Acorn ship in the Space Elevator port*
VOICEOVER: Come and see a whole new world with us today.
"A Whole New World", a video advertisement produced by the COSD and the Disney Corporation, first broadcast July 8th, 10 M12
"With Unification came a new drive from across the planet. Like other states in the past, whether feudal, ideological, or ethno-nationalist, the newly reformed and empowered United Nations of Earth needed to establish a sense of shared identity to bind itself together. Without that the UNE Charter would be little more than an idealistic declaration of principles. Thankfully for the UNE and humanity the circumstances of Unification were the perfect conditions for cultivating a new understanding of global identity.
Earth's new, united world was the perfect crucible for forming such a culture. The overwhelming threat of the Goa'uld, made present by First Contact and crystallized by Ammit, was the main pressure in forcing a worldview of global unity and common ground. Just like the Mongols under Temujin Genghis Khan, the Shawnee and other tribes under Tecumseh, the Scots under Robert de Bruce, and the Germans under Bismarck were drawn together as singular nation-states through outside conflict Earth came together as a single planet against the Goa'uld.
Further assisting the development of new identity was the increasing connection of the entire planet. Beginning with air travel and further accelerated by the Internet and maglev rail lines communication, travel, and trade became increasingly common, easy, and widespread. The easy contact between people built friendships, networks, and communities of interest across the planet.
The new sense of humanity developing on Earth was occurring not just in stellar circumstances of doom but also planetside conditions of austerity. The sheer scale of the Goa'uld Empire demanded every economic and military asset on the planet be mobilized for battle. Such total social mobilization hadn't been seen since the World Wars period. Every person, usable resource, and source of production was to be used in fighting a conflict for the survival of humanity. There was no person in the world not touched by the mobilization efforts with new mines, maglev lines, refineries, fusion reactors, and manufacturing complexes springing up daily.
Even for those not working directly in the swelling war industries the wartime mobilization left no aspect of life untouched. Resources once freely enjoyed by inhabitants of the more affluent regions of the planet became a scarcity. Access to food, basic commodities, and other resources was strictly rationed with administration handled by the sprawling Commission for Resource Allocation. Consumer goods like televisions and private automobiles became increasingly simple and scarce.
The needs of the rationing program inspired around it a culture of simplicity. The ostentatious displays of wealth and privilege of the pre-Contact and Contact periods became increasingly frowned upon as profligate waste. In a time where humanity needed every scrap of resources it could muster for its defense wasting raw materials, labor, and energy on luxury goods was highly frowned upon across society. This was further fed by the steady trickle of stories of busts of black marketeers and ration cheats, reinforcing already powerful social pressures.
Hand in hand with the economic mobilization in terms of cultural impact were the massive military training programs across the planet. People in every community, when not working at planetside and orbital industry or packing for a long-term voyage across the stars, were drilled weekly in civil defense procedures, weapon maintenance and use, and wilderness survival. The DPD, as part of the Species Survival Policy, was seeking to achieve two objectives. The first was to create a broad pool of potential recruits and the second was to turn as much of the population as possible into a guerilla fighting force. If Earth was to be invaded, they reasoned, then the Goa'uld would be bogged down in fighting long enough for aid and reinforcements to arrive from offworld.
These programs brought with them the new party line coming from the Security Council: through unity and respecting the diversity of Earth's peoples humanity would survive. The greatest strength of the human race, UNE authorities and supporters argued, was the multiple different historical experiences, cultural perspectives, and schools of thought for resolving problems and analyzing material conditions. Humanity's long history of conflict was used as a source of inspiration with stories of overwhelmed underdogs, heroic struggles, and the rugged, adaptable fighting power of the human species becoming quite popular among the masses.
The main driver of this message and the United Earth movement was the Department of Social and Cultural Affairs. Responsible for sponsoring studies in the humanities, understanding the human condition, the arts, and cultural preservation DSCA played a major role in building the first truly global culture in Earth's history. Headed by Secretary Mahesh Sharma the DSCA was an aggressive promoter of the United Earth movement's vision. Many cultural historians have celebrated the massive outpouring of material during this period as a flowering of Earth's culture. Others have criticized the conservative, circumspect policies dominating the Sharma Secretariat for downplaying women's rights in many parts of the planet, dismissing very real ethnic tensions and minority grievances, and some of the more coercive measures used to encourage many of Earth's poor to emigrate offworld.
A particular bone of contention kept quiet in the media by the DSCA and DSET was how often the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was ignored by local and regional authorities. The Universal Declaration, a key component of the UNE Charter, was a lofty, visionary document. It guaranteed political, economic, and social rights for all of Earth's inhabitants to an unprecedented degree. The Universal Declaration was used by many supporters in much of the world as a key argument for supporting the UN Charter referendum. Unfortunately in practice the exigencies of war meant much of this soaring promise would not be delivered following the referendum. This was thanks to the Department of Justice's regional interpretation policy.
Regional interpretation was one of the many political compromises made in the Security Council during the Clark-Hu Secretariat. This policy placed maintaining order and guarding against Goa'uld infiltration as higher priorities than prosecuting human rights violations. While in some of the most egregious acts saw legal action in high-profile cases for much of the planet there a great deal of leeway given to the super-states as to how much of the Declaration actually mattered in practice. Due process rights were freely disregarded when defendants stood accused of actions detrimental to the defense of Earth and humanity. Many defendants, accepting plea bargains under the NOD, found themselves stuck with choosing between the most hazardous jobs available for fixed contracts of ten to twenty years or even longer prison terms.
These discrepancies fueled to a simmering tide of discontent across the planet. Coming into their own during the United Earth period was the new Terranist movement. Born from earlier globalist activist movements, anti-authoritarian groups, and organized labor the Terranists argued it was necessary to do more than just win the war. What truly gave this movement its shape and name was the publication of the first three volumes of the works of Dr. Daniel Jackson on the Ancients. Dr. Jackson's first three volumes, published posthumously, contained everything from linguistic manuals to speculative histories and the analyses of archeological finds. The Terranists, using the Ancient word for Earth, argued humanity were the heirs of the Ancients and had a duty to defend the galaxy, particularly humanity, from alien threats. Earthside they demanded the promise of the Universal Declaration be upheld, forced emigration of the poor stop, and co-operative worker control of all economic activity."
From Chapter 7: From the Ashes, The Future is Out There: A Cultural History of the Turn of the Millennium by Prof. Travis Wingate, published in 59 M12
"Following the signing of the Geneva Pact Stargate Command underwent enormous changes. At the time of the Pact's signing, even with the tremendous resources being allocated to the Interstellar Fleet and the colonization program, the SGC was the blade of Earth's spear in the war against the Goa'uld. As the main weapon in the conflict to date the SGC took on a central role in organizing Earth's defenses along with seeing its own significant changes in terms of organization, equipment, and personnel. By the end of 11 M12 the SGC of the UNE, under the supervision of the Department of Planetary Defense, dramatically transformed itself and Earth's armed forces. With George Hammond now serving as the Chief of Command Staff for the DPD and the SGC's steady expansion over the years a number of major slots opened up that needed filling.
The most obvious was resolving the question of who would now command Stargate Operations and the Gate Corps. After much debate within the SGC and the DPD Hammond recommended Jack O'Neill be promoted to the rank of Major General and given command of Stargate Operations, putting him in charge of all of Earth's famous SG Teams. The Gate Corps was put under the command of the highly capable Major General Xiao Huawei, previously of the People's Liberation Army Marine Corps before joining the Gate Corps in 7 M12. Overall command was given to Lieutenant General Sir Jonathan Shaw, a British officer who served in the Parachute Regiment and as Director of Special Forces before transferring to the SGC in 5 M12.
Other famous and storied officers from the SGC would see transfers to critical roles outside of the SGC where their talents could be put to the best use possible. Samantha Carter, having proven her brilliance during Operation DRAGONSLAYER, was offered and accepted a lateral move to the Interstellar Fleet's Bureau of Ships along with a promotion to the rank of Captain. Her work on power systems and later innovations in interstellar tactics and strategy would be an enormous boon for Earth's defense in the coming years. Dr. Jonas Quinn left the UNE SGC to serve as the new Director for Offworld Studies at the Langaran Ministry of Information, Science, and Technology and as a key adviser to the Langara Stargate Force. The most famous such transfer was Teal'c of Chulak being promoted to the rank of Brigadier General and named the first Jaffa commander of the Jaffa Auxiliary.
These changes in personnel were paralleled by the push to bring Earthside and offworld military forces up to snuff for the coming conflict. SGC personnel played a vital role in training human militaries in the art of galactic war. The most famous example was Operation DEEP BENCH. DEEP BENCH deployed SGC officers across the galaxy to Geneva Pact worlds, Asgard protected planets, and UN colonies to build a network of Stargate fighting forces across the galaxy. Their work bore fruit swiftly with examples of heroic action and victories by the personnel of the Abydonian Stargate Guard, the Langaran Stargate Force, and the Orbanian Gateborne along with many other gateborne human forces. These early victories bought time for humanity to build up stellar forces and prepare for the coming war.
The SGC also saw major changes in their equipment loadouts thanks to years of field testing and development. In 9 M12 the famous Jaguar armor suits were introduced into action, becoming a favorite of SGGC personnel. These suits utilized critical advances in ceramic composites and advanced polymers to provide lightweight, resilient full body personal protection capable of protecting the wearer from Zat guns and in some cases staff blasts. They incorporated sophisticated battle computers responsible for monitoring biometrics, regulating built-in first aid systems and NBC countermeasures, handling communications, process information from satellite and drone uplinks, and regulating the body glove responsible for dissipating the heat produced by the Jaguar suit. The whole suit was powered by built-in batteries charged by armored microsolar strips and thermal energy.
The famous Hercules suits of the Gate Corps would be phased out in favor of the more sophisticated Knight class powered armor suits of 10 M12. Like the Hercules Knight suits were the lead elements in any assault on a hostile world, whether gate-borne or orbital. They carried thick ceramic polymer plates even more resilient than those of the older Hercules suits enjoying near-total invulnerability to Goa'uld small and heavy arms fire. Only sustained, concentrated barrages from heavy Goa'uld staff cannons or Death Gliders could reliably destroy a Knight in action. The Knights carried more sophisticated weapons such as the arm-mounted dual 20mm railcannons loaded with armor piercing and explosive rounds, four magnetic launchers located in the shoulders loaded with anti-air and anti-ground missiles, wrist-mounted plasma torches, and a full electronic warfare and sensor suite. Measuring approximately 2.5m tall and far less bulky than the older Hercules suits Knights were also cheaper and easier to build, seeing far more deployed to Gate Corps and SGO forces.
Personnel were further supported by other key developments. One noted advantage of staff weapons in firefights was their high firepower. Though they fired slowly each blast tore apart existing cover and concealment, forcing the SGC to depend heavily on fire and move tactics, luck, and overwhelming firepower. Jaguar suits and Knights were one part of the answer to the problem. Another was the 10 M12 20mm Infantry Railcannon. Armed with the same rounds and rate of fire as the Knight suit models the 20mm IR gave infantry their own portable punch. Magnetic mortars and MANPADs gave infantry additional options in action against the Goa'uld.
The final element of the new SGC loadout was drone warfare. Drones had been in use by the SGC and other Earth powers for most of the Post-Contact period in warfare. Capable of providing vital intelligence without engendering soldiers drones became increasingly fast, small, and sophisticated in terms of what they could record and transmit. The introduction of the Beholder Drone in 11 M12 was the culmination of these developments. Around the same size as the common Earth housefly these drones were released in swarms of hundreds of drones over the battlefield from every suit and soldier. Their small size and large number made it possible for them to observe all parts of a major battlefield and the data, observation, and operations were coordinated by First Generation AI operating on a massive, heavily encrypted peer to peer network. Their data was plugged in to interfaces in Jaguar and Knight suits providing valuable real-time battlefield intelligence.
These equipment changes came in a time of enormous expansion. Along with training the military forces of the galaxy the SGC had new and greatly expanded mandates from the DPD. The Gate Corps, the specialist light assault infantry used to support Stargate Operations missions, was tasked with defending all Stargates under UNE control. Bases were established at every gate similar to Earthside, Alpha, and Beta Site standards of defense. Stargate Operations, the section responsible for the activities of the famous SG Teams, saw enormous expansion as the leading element in the war against the System Lords. This elite force soared in size to a total of 70,000 personnel in dozens of Operation Groups.
Augmenting these institutional and equipment changes was a network of military fortifications constructed across the Solar System. On Earth intercontinental ballistic missile launchers were repurposed to fire surface to space projectiles and the Orbital Defense Command bases over the North and South Pole were rushed into production, coming online in 12 M12. These bases mounted heavy railcannons, torpedo launchers, and aerospacecraft bases filled with wings of Wasps and Sidewinders. These orbital aerospacecraft were further augmented by dozens of air groups stationed planetside.
Outside of Earth DPD planners moved to build up the Solar defenses. The four most famous examples are the Mars Fleet Anchorage, Luna Defense Base, Titan Base, and the Pluto Deep Space Radar Outpost. The Mars Anchorage was constructed beginning in 10 M12 and was completed in 12 M12 to serve as a more effective and forward fleet base for Interstellar Command's Solar Fleet. The Mars Anchorage was included its own yard facility and was supported by a space elevator connected to a planetside Stargate salvaged from Tollan. These yards gave the Solar Fleet, the element of the Deep Space Fleet tasked with defending the Solar System, an advance base for operations in the system and a powerful center for repair and maintenance work. The Mars Anchorage pioneered planetside armored domes connected by maglevs that are common on low to no atmosphere worlds, providing solid shelter and adaptable space for those stationed on such facilities.
Similar armored dome facilities were constructed on Luna and Titan. Luna Defense Base, constructed to support aerospacecraft, system defense ships, and carry heavy anti-ship defenses, boasted some of the most powerful weapons and munitions in the UNE's arsenal including the famous 120cm Starbuster Railcannons. Titan served as the outer system support base for aerospacecraft and system defense ships. Titan came with its own dense network of defenses intended to keep lighter Goa'uld craft at bay in the event of attack. Pluto, on the extreme end of the Solar System, became home to the famous Deep Space Radar Outpost. The DSRO was an automated, heavily armored and shielded sensor facility used to provide critical intelligence and early warning capabilities for UNE stellar forces."
From Chapter 9: The Reforms of the UNE, The History of Stargate Command Volume I: Once More Into the Breach! by Major Kyle Schroeder, SGC, published in 54 M12
[1] Taking the name from John Maynard Keynes' proposed international medium of exchange