I don't own Harry Potter or Stargate.
(A.N.-I jam a lot into this chapter as, at first, I couldn't fill a chapter. Then, later, I couldn't get myself the shut up. Please people remember that this is AU. Telling me to watch something again does no good as I'm changing the worlds across the board.)
Chapter 17
The next two days were busy. The intelligence came back from China that the Chinese Army had indeed found their way into the villages and found nothing but empty homes and fields full of potions ingredients and food stuffs that hadn't been carried away. New Lantea had a population just short of 90,000 now and now could boast that they had a higher population than Magical Britain. The population in pure magicals was closer to 75,000 as the Chinese wizards didn't believe in throwing away their squibs.
The Navy was ready and running all day combat drills, during which Harry finally told them that the Ha'tak they had been facing in the simulations were upgraded to a little more than double the current effectiveness in combat. He pointed out that he wanted more competence than arrogance as far as the crews went and two shot kills didn't promote that. They would find that they were more than ready for the encounter coming.
Things changed a little for the High Counsel as well. There was a financial section stood up, voted by the entire Counsel to advise Harry in financial matters for New Lantea. All the chancellors got funds allocated by the new section, which didn't have a chancellor as the power of pay would continue to reside with Harry, and the funds spent by section requests issued to their chancellor. The section was so efficient that they found the moneys that Harry had donated to the establishment of New Lantea and sent the request to have money paid back into his accounts. Parvati was given a bonus for her work standing up the other sections that her fellow chancellors each professed that they hadn't expected to be so well done when they took over.
Hermione tried to object again to the probable deaths of the Jaffa on board the incoming Ha'tak and was shot down, this time by the entire Counsel.
"Chancellor of Research and Development Granger...the rest of the counsel has already voted on the matter in favor of defensive destruction of the incoming Ha'tak. Are we to take from your continued objections, which have been noted appropriately, that you find your opinion more important than that of the rest of the counsel?" Harry pressed. She paused, wide eyed.
"Well...no...but we should try to capture and reeducate the Jaffa, no kill them!" she tried weakly.
"With what resources are we to accomplish this. We have very few in the labs as is and have only one lab tech on board each manned ship because few want to work the hours you set for research and development. The marines are only two squads per ship as of now so we don't have the manpower to do what you want. They are basically coming at us before we are remotely ready for anything other than skeleton crews." said Joel.
"And we just picked up some 40,000 for education and training. On top of that we still have people coming in from all over the globe. It will be months before the billets are all filled up on all of the ships. We have people still going through the repositories right this second. Out government is less than a month old and we still have no psychological profile on the common Jaffa. We would have to have and education center and that would likely have to be built and maintained by the Jaffa and other slaves themselves to work. Education reaffirms it's vote for decisive action with the incoming Ha'tak. We just don't have the facilities." interjected Edward.
"We still have to decide if we are going to permanently man the outpost in the arctic or continue to use it in an automated capacity. That will take another couple of squads of Marines and a whole ship's crew to man. It would be a big help for a larger fleet but we could probably leave it automated but that still requires someone to sit in the control chair here for use. All tactical stations are mental control anyway but they can be run from a console if push comes to shove. Please stop obstructing Hermione. It's too early in the grand scheme of things to fall apart over a military issue." said Harry.
"Then I vote that we work out a section or Chancellor for Counter Intelligence." she pushed. "That would start us on the path to do these things for the Jaffa and other slaves. There has to be semi-educated slaves in Goauld space that can build ships and such and start establishing a government. We hear from Chancellor Patil, Padma that is, that there is unrest among the Jaffa. We may not have the capacity to do it now but we should be ready when we have the ability to strike back to help stand up such a government and education. It would also help with potential infiltrators into New Lantea. We're starting to take on disenfranchised pure bloods that can't get jobs elsewhere and we may be taking on outside agents meant to spy on us." Harry looked around at the Chancellors with a small smirk for her finally backing off and giving some kind a solution but Padma interjected before he could.
"I would take on counter intelligence. Chancellor Parvati does a screening before she accepts people into the government offices but we should have a section for counter espionage. I'll get with the High Chancellor's finance department and Legal to find out what I have to do to set up the office. We can use Aurors at first but it would be good to get a good Hit Wizard core up and running. That would drag Education into the mix as well." she said. Harry again looked around and saw nods all around.
"Ok. We'll stand up a Hit Wizard office as counter espionage agents. We need to know if anyone has been sent to us rather than volunteered to come here for a better life. Just as every Marine and Navy member has personal space suits built into their uniforms, good call Joel, we need a new uniform with space suit capacity for the Hit Wizards or should we call them something else as I would like to have it open to everyone. Like MI5 and MI6, though I don't know personally what each one does, I do know they are counter terrorism and counter espionage agencies from the Queen's government." he said. Padma nodded.
"We'll just call them Counter Intelligence Agents for now. Like the Americans do. That or Internal Security. CIA has already been done so we should go for ISA for now. Personal shields and the stun pistols. And we should all start wearing our shields anytime we're out in public. Not just when we go into the Wizarding World. We are important targets in this government. I've already set up a section chief for Intelligence so I'll need to find one for Counter Intelligence as well. It may take a few days but we should have reports for the Counsel ready in a few days. The Aurors check over all luggage brought in anyway but they have only the Legal Office to report to so we'll add Counter Intelligence to the list." she said.
"If that's handled...votes on the automation or manning of the arctic outpost." interjected Harry. "Manning first...8 for manning it. No need to vote automation then." he said as hands went up.
"For standing up the Counter Intelligence Office under Chancellor Patil...8 again."
And so they developed an Internal Security section to mirror the External Security section and both were tasked with finding a way to save Jaffa and other Goauld slaves in the future. That satisfied Hermione the day before Goauld arrival.
It was decided by the Navy that the Zeus and Pallas themselves were to intercept the Ha'tak and they were the main ones on station when they arrived. The two ships sat stacked on top of each other and were decloaked for the encounter. The counselors waited in the counsel chamber for the arrival and channels were open to hear what was going on.
Two colossal ships dropped out of hyperspace just outside of lunar orbit and the lead ship, disregarding the two New Lantean ships, dialed the ASP stargate while both began to open their bays. The two Ha'tak pressed foreward towards the picket and the Goauld in charge hacked the world communications networks but didn't transmit yet. The Zeus called in.
"Command, This is Joel Packard, Chancellor of the Navy and Captain of the Zeus. Do I have the counsel on communications?" came the message. Harry chimed in.
"That is affirmative. We're listening."
"I have 7 base humans on sensors on board the second Ha'tak along with a single Jaffa that appears to be part of their group. The lead is preparing for intimidation and both are preparing for invasion. They've planted some sort of explosive on board in the naquada storage and fighting a running battle for the ring transporter. The Goauld on board just ringed over to the lead. We have a transporter lock on them and have locked target on the bridge of the lead. They are currently ignoring us as if we were not a threat. Waiting for hostile action."
"Understood Zeus. Let them make the first move."
A few minutes later the lead Ha'tak began to transmit.
"I am Apophis. Stand down your militaries and prepare to kneel before your god." was the message. Joel answered on all channels.
"This is Joel Packard, Chancellor of the New Lantean Navy and captain of the Zeus. You are trespassing in New Lantean protected territory. Leave this system. Aggressive action will be seen as an act of war on the New Lantean Navy." said Joel for the world to hear.
"Weakling! You dare to challenge a god! Surrender now and your death will be swift." came the reply.
"Leave this system or you declare war on the New Lantean Navy." was the only reply as Joel wasn't feeling in a snarky mood.
"Fool! I will show you my power!" and the lead Ha'tak opened fire while it began to disgorge fighters.
The first shots missed as targeting was manual and the wards made the Jaffa at the cannons see triple. They didn't care as nothing could challenge the power of their gods. That belief lasted until the first return shot plowed through the shields and destroyed the bridge. Emergency bulkheads closed throughout the ship but it did no good. The second shot was to the power plant which caused a chain reaction that blew out all of the decks to the ship. Earth television's last sight of Apophis was his scream of surprise as a fireball destroyed his command center.
The second ship was slow to respond without Apophis's son Clorel at the controls but one of his trusted slaves managed to get the attack orders out just as the Pallas disgorged its own fighters to mop up what was escaping from the bays. Visual weapons targeting was a pain for most navies but the Jaffa at the cannons didn't know any better. They had watched as their lord Apophis fired on the Zeus and had opened fire as well. They also had a running battle on board with the Tau'ri causing logistics trouble. That was until they were reported to have disappeared in a flash of light.
A few hundred fighters and 10 troop carriers managed to launch from the second Ha'tak as the first was now a burning husk and had only disgorged a few fighters before the rest were destroyed in the bays as the ship was destroyed. Two more lances of energy lashed out and the second Ha'tak was reduced as well.
The Pallas's coordinators were working furiously at keeping the fighter battle out of the atmosphere. Zeus tactical allocated a drone missile to each of the troop transports and tens of thousands of fighter squads mopped up the death gliders. The remains of the death glider squadrons saw new ships appear and tractor in the Ha'tak husks and drag them off into hyperspace before they too died.
Harry turned to Padma and watched her frantically sorting through intelligence reports as to what was happening with the world's governments. It was too early to make any conclusions so he left her to it for now. He turned to the rest of the Chancellors to see their reactions. They all seemed satisfied with what had happened. Joel chimed in again but only to the counselors.
"We have two squads or teams from the Allied Stargate Program demanding release. One of the teams tried to threaten us with their weapons before we beamed them away from them while the other calls themselves SG1. One of them is the defected Jaffa Teal'c and the highest ranking member is a Colonel Oneal. I will be speaking with them shortly and they all say that they've been briefed on New Lantea but command didn't want to include us in defense planning. They also said that Clorel had taken the brother-in-law of one Daniel Jackson as host. With the destruction of both ships, Clorel is dead and that seems to have upset them. I'll be speaking with them shortly before sending them home."
"Do what you need to. We'll get back to our normal duties." said Harry.
"Zeus out." Joel responded.
Counselors shimmered out or rose from their seats to go about their duties, though Hermione was almost chewing her lip and her expression conflicted. Then she sighed and nodded before winking out as well. Parvati went to Harry and kissed him gently.
"I'm going back to overseeing the Chinese migration. I imagine you have duties with finance to go over and Joel will send his report to you when he's finished. He'll likely CC Padma while he's at it." she said before turning on her shield and leaving the chamber. Harry smirked at Padma.
"That would likely be easier in your office. Don't forget your shield." he said as he rose and moved over to her and stole himself a kiss so she didn't feel left out. Then he left the room after kicking on his own shield.
He had a feeling he was going to have some problems with the ICW over announcing the New Lantean Navy to the mundane population. New Lantea was on most of the books now as a magical nation and announcing it to the world would have always caused problems. It had been mostly necessary in the defense of the planet, especially as New Lantea didn't want to be the aggressor in the conflict for now. New Lantea allowed the Goa'uld to show the world that they weren't alone and that their space was being patrolled by a friendly race that could and would protect them until they could protect themselves. He was also hoping to force them to unite over this for the most part. Why should they fight their age old enemies on the planet when they had a new one from outside the solar system to worry about.
He just wished that they could afford to take advantage of the death of Apophis. They could easily move into his territory but could only hope to hold one planet, and that was with breaking off the new mobile fleet to hold it. Then they didn't have the people to do much there. When the word got out, and it would get out, that Apophis was dead his Jaffa were likely to rebel. They'd been on the verge since Teal'c and the crackdown that followed.
The minor Goa'uld under Apophis would try to consoledate their positions and earn themselves a chunk of his space. They were better off banding together and forming a fleet that could challenge the System Lords and pulling back into a defensible chunk of territory around the shipyards. They weren't likely to do this however and, as a System Lord, Apophis's shipyard would be prime territory to increase the personal power of any Goa'uld slave master. The territory war over Ra's territories was still ongoing and now Apophis's space would be added. That had the advantage that no one was likely to come to investigate what happened to Apophis's little flotilla until they could solidify their own territories. That bought them months, perhaps years to get into a better position to do something about them.
To top it all off he had detected an Aurora traveling to Earth at near light speed while relocating Atlantis. He wondered how the counsel would react and most of all the crew of the Tria would react when they sent some ships to repair her hyperdrive and retrieve her and her crew. All of the speculation could wait until the reports were all in though.
HPATLA
It had taken a full day to for the reports to all come in. On the mundane side, most nations were demanding a summit to discuss the newly revealed Allied Stargate Program and it's war with the Goa'uld. That one of the old Egyptian gods had shown up and demanded their capitulation didn't sit well with most countries. They had picked a place for the summit and now travel and security were being seen to but most countries would happily leave security to the hosting nation. They had decided on Geneva. The city sat in a neutral country, Switzerland, and seemed perfect for this summit.
The ICW had sent someone to browbeat Magical Britain into turning over Harry Potter and Joel Packard for questioning. Harry decided that he would be the one to go under shield and carrying a stunner pistol. The ICW delegation was tired of these near breaches to the Statute of Secrecy coming from Britain and would be taking an active role in the investigation. And an investigation is what Harry transported into with a flash of light. Kingsly met him.
"Harry! It's good that you're here so we can clear this up and get these ICW vultures out of our business. They seem to be one step away from an intervention. If they were going to intervene they should have done so while V-Voldemort was still in control." he said. Harry smiled ruefully.
"That's true. So where is this investigator?" said Harry as a small delegation approached.
"Harry Potter. You are under arrest by order of the International Confederation of Wizards for breaching the statute of secrecy!" the lead man, a poncy fat man with too much facial hair and Hit Wizard robes.
"What breach. We didn't tell anyone about magic that didn't already know. Under the Statute of Secrecy I would have had to expose magic to the general population and I did not do that. As far as the mundanes know we are an alien race that has taken a protective stance over Earth's solar system. At no point did we reveal any extra abilities." Harry countered. The man growled but one of his fellow Hit Wizards cut in.
"You are correct. This is just an inquiry not an inquisition. We were given no orders to arrest you but to escort you to the main offices in Paris to answer questions for the general body." said a much thinner man with a neatly trimmed beard.
"It looks like an inquisition to me. We are not a part of the British Wizarding World, having been granted independence, but they can contact us. I have time to go talk to them but I will not be doing so under arrest for a crime I have yet to commit. We also won't be taking a portkey there but beaming instead. We'll go directly to the main chamber, I hope they are ready for us." Harry said.
"What do you mean?" the second Hit Wizard said before the entire delegation and Harry disappeared with a flash.
HPATLA
The floor of the ICW chamber was polished marble and surrounded on most sides by a semi-circle of seats labeled for each magical nation. He scanned the room and saw that across from the semi-circle was a seat for the Supreme Mugwump so that he or she would be visible to everyone. 101 nations were represented here and he wondered if what happened in China had happened elsewhere or that some of these nations represented people in other territories.
People milling about were staring in shock that this group had appeared with a flash of light and someone hurried out of the room after they saw who it was. Harry was wearing his own robes of office so he looked official enough.
He was led to a seat near the Supreme Mugwump's seat which hadn't been used in a while. It was used when a new nation was being stood up and needed to talk to the ICW about something to do with the establishing of their nation and signing on to the Statute of Secrecy. At least...that was what he was told. There were no chains and interrogation devices so he felt safe enough.
More people filed into the room as it seemed the runner had gone to get the rest of the delegates. The new British delegate, a grey haired woman that he didn't recognize nodded to him as she took her seat. A tall bony black man with white hair swept into the room and climbed into the Supreme Mugwumps seat. Magical China's seat was empty while most of Europe was there and looking angry. It took about 30 minutes for everyone to come in a get situated but, eventually, the Supreme Mugwump banged a gavel and everyone settled down.
"Meeting number 10 for the ICW general assembly in the year 1998, Rorru Kolkrati presiding. We are here to speak to one Harry Potter of the newly established New Lantea. This is a fact finding mission and not a place to throw around accusations and attacks on character or even declare against this new nation. Welcome Mr. Potter." said the old black man, Kolkrati.
"It's nice to be here. I would like to make one correction...it is Harry Potter-Black. We are a relatively new nation and are wondering what this body would want with us. We haven't broken the Statute of Secrecy and just a week or so ago negotiated with mundane Britain to stop the Allied Powers from forcefully taking over a number of ministries represented in this body. When my Counselor revealed the reality of my nation's existence we did not reveal magic along side it. We won't, as it is not our secret to reveal." said Harry, cautiously. The German delegate stood and growled.
"You are building an army of Muggleborns and undesirables thousands strong to topple the magical world!" he accused. The Supreme Mugwump pounded his gavel.
"That is a strong accusation. Do you have any proof other than the muggleborns and undesirables are flocking to New Lantea for a better life and opportunities that they didn't and, sometimes, never would have in some of your countries? We're building a Navy and Marine Corp. for use in space against the very enemy that attacked yesterday. We don't have much trained up yet and my ships are running on skeleton crews for the time being just to have enough ready to fight if they come again. The marines are training to transport on board Goa'uld ships and take them over or defend or own ships from boarding action. What is attracting the muggleborn, or mundane born as we call them, is that we offer to take care of their basic needs: food, water, shelter, clothing. To get more they have to work. Government or civilian.
"What should be asked is how bad has the attitude against the mundane born gotten that they would rather stop trying to find a job in your countries or some have said that they are fleeing for their lives. Most of Europe has decided to round them up into camps. I don't know if it is death camps or not but they are separating the population by segregating the new blood. The new blood isn't even new blood. Every parent of a mundane born so far is a squib as far as we can tell. Not enough magic for a wand but enough to work with me and New Lantea. Makes them all half-bloods." he decided to step back off his soapbox for a bit and smiled weakly at the Supreme Mugwump who nodded back.
"I already said that this would not be a forum for attacks of any nature, but it seems the spokesperson for the majority of Magical Europe has opened the door. The rest of the world has heard of and sent people to check out your camps. Poor hovels. No water. No food except gruel. No clothing an personal items are confiscated when you collect these people. It is then sold for the government coffers with a finders fee for the capturing individual. Those that had jobs were forcefully removed from their workplace and, in the case of business owners, robbed blind and arrested. It has gotten bad enough that your mundanes are actually noticing what's going on and demanding that you put a stop to it or they will." said Kolkrati. The spokesperson shook his head.
"It's no one else's business what we do with our muggleborn! We're just following Britain's example." he said smugly. The British representative spoke up then.
"That happened under the rule of a British Dark Lord. Voldemort started death camps so he would wipe out those he felt were undeserving of magic and the right to live. Let it be known that Magical Germany and its' allies seek to emulate Dark Lords and practice genocide." she spoke clearly and didn't stutter out Voldemort so Harry smiled and nodded to her.
"Not to mention," said Kolkrati, "that these camps are a threat to the Statute of Secrecy. The Statute stands on the will of the host mundanes. They will not stand for these death camps!"
"So we do nothing about his amassing a military? The statute clearly states that we shall raise no armies." Germany tried again.
"I'm raising a navy. And you all raise armies all the time. Aurors and Hit Wizards. You just call them something else but they are your standing defense force. An army is defined as a standing force to defend and or attack. I know that Magical Germany and Magical France are eyeing up the British Isles for acquisition. What force would they send? Aurors and Hit Wizards most likely." Magical France's representative, a statuesque blonde woman in a flowing gown nodded with a smirk.
"And what of your training facilities? Are they not on British shores? Do you have mundane approval for your training facilities?" said France.
"I don't. I'm sure that they know. But we've never been asked. I would tell them that the majority of the physical training is done on the ground then the Marines are moved to their billets in space. In fact...Padma be sure to inform the Queen of what's going on with the training facilities." Harry said to his pad. Many in the room began to chuckle until he was answered.
"Okay Harry. I'll see if I can reach her on the hard light projector." Padma answered.
"You have instant communications?" said the French delegate, looking hungry. Harry suppressed a shiver.
"Potter-Black industries will continue to roll out new magic technology as time passes. We need to set up a communications hub first but once that's done we should be able to provide magic phones. All of my technology is powered by magic. I think that's where everyone went wrong. Instead of trying to get technology to work with magic they should have tried to get it to run on magic. It really makes the difference. Currently the technology is available in the law enforcement field, medical, and toys. Soon we will be marketing a recording device that can capture days at a time and replay at any time. Computers to run the ministries instead of a parchment filing system and shrinking charms. But that's not why we're here." he responded. The French woman nodded, thoughtful.
"And how do we know this invasion force he fought off was real?" tried Germany switching tactics again.
"It was confirmed by the mundane space agencies. The mundanes have been going into space and watching the approaches, especially on the night side of the planet for ages. They appeared just past the moon, took over the mundane communications networks, and threatened the whole world. The general consensus is that they were here to kill us all or enslave." said Kolkrati to the man as if he were talking to a small child.
The German representative looked around at his allies to find that they had all given up. They didn't believe that Muggleborns should have a nation that would and could work with them. They believed that they should be at best second class citizens, doing the menial jobs so that pure bloods didn't have to. It was made clear here today that, unless they became more accepting, they would never stop the bleeding.
"I believe that we have heard enough about New Lantea. Mr. Potter-Black, please take a seat where China used to be and New Lantea will appear. We would also like to thank you for saving the Chinese delegate and her people." said the Supreme Mugwump before turning on the European allies. "Now, while he finds his seat, what shall we do about these camps across Magical Europe...
HPATLA
Harry had messaged Li Yung to take over as the representative of New Lantea for the ICW upon arrival at the training facility. She was a familiar face and had been missed at the last meeting.
The remaining delegates had browbeat concessions of ending the camps out of most of Europe, but they would still discriminate against the mundane born to the nth degree. The trickle of course became a flood of emigrants. It was decided that a city ship be built and not an outpost as the mundane born of Europe and the, now underground, Outcasts movement funded their exodus. The ministries wouldn't sell them portkeys so they took mundane planes or were transported.
This, of course, took place over a week during which Harry finally explained to Joel the rescue mission. The Tria was slow boating between the galaxies and needed a rescue. It would take a day to replace her hyperdrive and another to upgrade her and bring her back. They would send two Aurora's after her and stop a few light minutes ahead of her and transmit Lantean identifiers at her until she stopped. They would also be dropping social satellites in the void along the way so they could stay in contact. They would be carrying a hard light projector so that the Counselors could talk to the Tria's captain Helia.
It would be a 3 day mission. One ½ day out, one day on repairs, and one day on upgrades. Joel and the Zeus would stay on the Earth picket, the same picket that had allowed the Ha'tak through to test Goa'uld resolve. That and to let them be the ones to start the war.
Two missions were being launched today: one for the rescue of the Tria and another for the beginning of a colonization attempt of the planet they'd found that was just barely habitable. They were dragging a terraformer and preparing to start mining the moons for materials to build the city ship. Over the course of the week the population had another large boom to just over 100,000 so both cities were at half capacity and the population was growing steadily. The Aether and Alastor would be going after the Tria while the Apollo and the new Pallas class, the Charon accompanied the terraformer and the Sirius.
They'd managed to repair the Ha'tak and convert them into space stations with intergalactic hyperdrive. They could dock 6 destiny's each and drag them for a 3 day trip to the pegasis galaxy. They automated the staff cannons and and switched the naquada generators to potentia, which freed up some space. There turned out to be plenty of room to work out on board so the Navy and Marines started using them for classes and start really training their people. They learned the layout of the enemy's primary attack ship but they also removed the damaged ring platforms and put in a transporter. Then added an Astria Porta to the secondary and sent it along with the mission to New Lantea.
Joel also dug up the old cruiser schematics and put his head together with Harry and the captains to redesign her. She got anti-fighter pulse weapons on top of her drone missile complement. Like the Aurora II, she was a little bigger than her previous incarnation but that left space for more storage and a large transport buffer for raw materials so that it could continue to make drone missiles after it launched all it had in storage. It could skeleton crew with 11. The Lanteans had never named the class so Intelligence named it the Chronos class and the first one would obviously be the Chronos. The took one less day to build and there were currently 10 of them building. They were powerful in their own rights and, if properly equipped and piloted, could fight all week. They would just as long as an Aurora to build because of that deep buffer, which Hermione's people figured out how to deepen without loosing integrity.
Crews in training and in space trained in simulations of upgraded Ha'tak fleets of 30 or more, depending on what their defensive status was. They knew the next push would be much more than this was, however they were not likely to be system lord this time. Warmaster? Sure thing to assume. But System Lord himself? Not very likely.
Internal Security was up and running, and just in time as they picked up on a few continental purebloods trying to pass themselves off as mundane born. They were dressed too richly and came by portkey. They found themselves questioned under veritaserum, obliviated, and transported to the offending ministry.
The mundane summit went through without a declaration of war. In fact most nations were all for joining the Allied Stargate Program. Experts from all over the world began to work on reverse engineering projects of captured Goa'uld weapons and technology while they had cracked the crystal of knowledge Harry had given the British government. They understood the anti-gravity technology much better and sensors that could read out to 30 light seconds were on the drawing board. The Queen was amused to be the point of contact for deals and negotiated the delivery of naquada for their generators for a new generation of space ship built for solar system defense.
The American idea was to take the drive system off of a shot down death glider and build a fighter around it but the ASP shot that idea down and instead took the entire drive system apart and, using the calculations obtained from Harry, were designing their own drive system. They were designing shield systems from the ground up based on the calculations as well. They were all in a hurry to get something in space and not have to rely on their friendly alien benefactors. It would be months before the first generation of all of the required technology was engineered to fit and the hulls could be built around the systems. There were already plans for gate sized fighter planes as they estimated that they could fit their new drive system onto a new plane chassis that would have some light shields and orbital lifting capability. A final plan for that was under way and they would have a first testable attempt in a month. But the calculations were the bare basics required to work things out.
The mundanes even managed a smaller supercomputer designed off quantum computing. It was a first attempt but it was immediately hooked to their first generation sensor and programs for filtering and interpreting the input were being written. They were having problems with energy weapons. The materials they had on hand overheated quickly until the Queen negotiated a trinium supply as well. All of that because of sharing ideas and a tentative peace between all the various nations. They were running simulations and calculations through supercomputers to try to find out what would work and what wouldn't.
So the missions kicked off with last minute orders. The planetary mission would begin to harvest materials for the city and surrounding colony. The scans showed a rich super continent that took up 53% of the planet. The rest was water or ice at the polar caps. There was much less seasonal wobble to the planet so unless one lived closer to the poles you would likely never have a snow day. Storms could get nasty however but nothing like category 5 hurricanes. The new orders for the Apollo and Charon were to stay in system and drill for every eventuality while watching the system until the drone picket and dedicated ships could be assigned. They could very well be asked to stay on but would have the Ha'tak station nearby for leave and personnel. The other mission had been asked to be as vague as possible when rescuing the Tria until the High Counsel could speak to her captain. They were to tear out the damaged hyperdrive and then stall them for as long as needed until the counsel was ready to speak to Helia. But the real change to their orders were that they were to drop a nannite package on Lantea with social satellites across the void so that a colony could be built along with an outpost and a ship yard to put together Destiny II drone ships. The nannites would only take it relatively easy on Lantea, as she was a garden world and they didn't want to wreck it, but they would have a decent defensive position set up that shouldn't wake up the wraith. The outpost would launch social satellites as well so they would be getting intelligence from 2 galaxies at once. They could fight the Goa'uld but they weren't ready to push them out of power. They definitely weren't ready to fight the Wraith.
Of course this extended the rescue mission by 3 more days. One of the captains suggested that only one ship continue to Lantea to drop the package and the satellites while the other gets the Tria's attention. That plan was adopted along with the 'be careful' speech combined with a 'if the wraith catch on to what you're doing, run' speech. With that the two Aurora II were gone and while Apollo, Charon, One Ha'tak stargate station, one terraformer, and one Sirius class industrial ship set out in the opposite general direction.
The counsel met again when the ships where finally deployed.
"So, High Chancellor Potter-Black, are there any more secrets we need to worry about?" asked Antonia Shultz of Medical. He nodded in acknowledgement.
"Let's see...The Tria's crew is going to need the booster for the cure to the plague. I've beamed in a few items on Earth that are examples of our ancestors leaving things lying about that they had no business leaving. One was a communication device still attuned to the home galaxy. As in the original galaxy from which our ancestors came nearly 50 million years ago. They had retreated from a religious war. A group of ascended began to call themselves the Ori and demanded worship and an agrarian lifestyle as the path to ascension. They basically handy-capped anyone seeking to ascend and interfered directly with the mortal plane. Worshipers gave them power.
"They had a saying: 'Those who do not follow the Path of Origin must be destroyed'." everyone in the meeting frowned. "Yeah. They are bad news. Near godlike beings that sent the plague Aila had just to wipe out our ancestors. They pretty much killed a whole galaxy to get at one race. Looking over the information in the secret lab of Merlin, I found that my getting the gauntlet repository was actually plan B. Plan A was for the humans to find all of this and access the hidden weapon just in time to draw the Ori into a trap and destroy them in one go. They would do this while fighting off the Ori's fleet.
"So basically everyone that our ancestors fought in the past still want a piece of us but we have the problem of the Goa'uld on our doorstep that we have to do something about first. I've already rendered that communication device down to its component atoms so it can't be used to get the Ori's attention. As far as they know we were wiped out nearly 5 million years ago with the plague. We should be safe from them for a little while.
"My scans also picked up some Goa'uld technology and trace naquada on the planet, mostly around the pyramids that was beamed up and turned over to Medical and R&D for analysis, seeing as how they are basically Goa'uld in a jar for the most part. Some of them were still alive. There's a buried Tel'tak on the moon that I have the remote control for. I'm thinking of giving it to the Queen to send to her R&D. They could use the old star charts to explore and with what I gave them before for a money exchange system so we could get, financially, out from under Gringotts they have the potential to build ships that can be more powerful than Ha'tak. It would be hybrid Earth/Goa'uld technology.
"The planet we picked out will be ready for colonization in less than 2 weeks for anyone who's going to live in the city. Anyone wanting to lease land for farming will have to wait the full month. The atmosphere is breathable now before the terraforming but volcanic activity leads to somewhat acidic rain and that's what the terraformer is there to stop. Its only slightly acidic but...anyway we're building roads, towns, farms, mines, hover transports, and I've designed some personal transports and even some factory space for people to start building their own cargo haulers add whatnot. There will be water and we may be able to convince some of the magical creatures we use parts of for potions and wands to come through with us." Harry said, rambling a bit. Parvati picked up from there.
"If the High Chancellor has nothing else to add...personnel has the reverse of the normal problem. Instead of too few people, we have too many. Having a city on a habitable planet with space for farming and the like will attract even more people. We'll still supply basic needs for everyone there but prime farming land, any land is gonna cost a yearly lease. Private potions and atmospheric haulers look like what's coming our way. Some of the farmers have taken up with Neville until they can get land.
"We currently have 103,213 people now. We owe it to them to do things as right as we can the first time. We also have even more coming in all the time. Our only common language is Lantean, which Harry didn't even notice he was speaking at the ICW assembly. We have a lot of complaints from Research and Development based on their work hours. I've spoken with Hermione," Hermione huffed. "And we've seen no improvement from 12 hour days. Sure she's getting a lot done but the quality isn't as good. We need regulations or laws about fair treatment in the workplace. She'll follow that I think." everyone looked at Hermione who was blushing.
"I'm trying to combine our magical knowledge with the rediscovered technology and it is slower going than I thought. I wanted better continuity transcribing the books into the database and teaching Aila. I'm doing 18 hour days myself! We need to get this done!" she protested. Harry shook his head.
"But it doesn't need to be done today. Concentrate on the projects you have. Separate everything into sections and designate a section chief and have them review everything and that way you are just approving or disapproving projects and dealing with progress reports." said Harry. She sighed and nodded.
"Intelligence and Counter Intelligence is next. We have some interesting people trying to slip in to cause mischief. One day their going to wise up and send in someone that's not so easy to spot, or worse, they already have and we haven't caught on yet. We don't have enough agents to watch everyone. We kick out the obvious ones but there's bound to be one that slipped through. We just have to be careful.
"Intel reports that the System Lords are really freaking out over Apophis's death and the death of his son. He would have been the replacement for his father and was the Warmaster. Why he came with his Warmaster? I don't know. I guess he thought that this little backwater would have no help and any help they did have would be pitiful. It didn't turn out that way for them and the System Lords took a little notice. As of right now? He's listed as missing. They know he went to bring the Tau'ri to heel and hasn't returned yet from such an easy mission. I don't know how long it will be until they send a real flotilla to take a look. There are now 15 Destiny II drone ships patrolling in five ship gangs in each system except for New Lantea and that's the first thing that's going to build over there.
"It's a major war now. I don't know when they'll have the spare fleets to check out this backwater but I don't think we have to worry for at least a few months. There two shipyard systems up for grabs and if a lesser Goa'uld can take one and hold it long enough build up their fleets a bit we could see a new System Lord or two. It is now readily apparent that Ra kept them all in line and without him they will be fighting for his place. We have no idea how long it took for Ra to take the seat in the first place. They are, thankfully, more likely to come at us one on one than to gang up on us currently because they can't trust the other lords not to break off little pieces while they are otherwise occupied. I think territory will be decided firmly before we see any probing." said Padma.
"With Research we have already transcribed Hogwarts core textbooks out to year 6, to include the references. We are finding it slow going on the replicator as well. It can do acceptable potions or potions ingredients but barely acceptable is not 100% potent. We'll have to keep purchasing ingredients for the time being.
"We are making good time learning to program and soon enough we should be able to make training programs for virtual reality. Aila can program and she's teaching who has the time while writing the programs that we need, as long as it's the complicated ones. She expects the programming section to write the simple ones for practice.
"We've also sent out a how to manual on tweaking the battleship guns to do more damage by actually firing vastly overpowered spells instead of raw magical energy. All we can do right now is the piercing hex and blasting hex but we're getting there." Hermione finished.
"Education has had a relatively easy time of it. The Navy, Aurors, Internal Security take care of themselves with some minor input. The schools have started up for the children and we're already seeing some control of what was previously believed to be accidental magic. Potions preperatory and Lantean language are also taught. What's hard to teach is Lantean history and science. We didn't actually get much of that in the downloads. We have to look things up and study to understand it ourselves before we can impart it. It's a daily challenge. And just when I think we've got it under control, we get more people and kids to teach. Keeps us on our toes for sure." said Edward.
"With Navy we have the new cruisers ready in a couple of days. The new buffer technology makes for longer construction times but the ships can stay in the fight longer. We have a striking fleet that is understaffed and under strength but the cruisers will take care of that. Full crew for one is 75 but we can skeleton these at 11 and fly it fine for a while. Then we are done with the rush crews. We have some people that have been in training for the better part of a month doing 12 hour days that will start fleshing out the crews next week. The ones with the best scores were pushed on through so we could put some cheeks in seats.
"We will also slow down manned ship production until we have a pair of Chronos cruisers with every Aurora. The only ship in the fleet that can't fight forever is the Destiny drone ships. And they've been redesigned to fight for up to a day without having to dive into a star, at which point they switch to neutrino-ion generators if still in combat. Not quite as robust a power core but they were meant to be the weakest link of the fleet, right?" Joel asked. Harry nodded. Joel continued.
"We have 8 Aurora II, 3 Asclepius, 5 Pallas, and 60 Destiny drones. We know that the Aurora II is nearly twice the ship that the original design was. Pallas class can destroy lines of Ha'tak in a single pass as each fighter is in a squad and there are thousands of squads. The Pallas is nearly unarmed if it wasn't for it's fighters but that is a lot of firepower. Then the Asclepius carries drones and does have some anti-fighter defenses. Not to mention that the Asclepius a whole battalion of marines. We barely managed that but we pulled it off and got some squads on all the other ships. We don't need more ships at this point. This fleet makeup was designed to give a good fight or two to the Wraith. We don't need to build more. We need to give time for our crews to fully train and more Marines to finish their training. We should focus on fleshing out the crews we have after the cruisers are done. Then we still build them but much slower and lock them down and set them to the side until full crews are ready." Joel finished. Harry nodded, thoughtful. Alice Resch spoke next.
"With law, we are seeing an increase in crime as our numbers climb. We have the laws and investigative techniques, as well as internal sensors, to manage so we are. I have a regulation to be signed off on for government work. No boss can make you work more than 40 hours a week without paying for overtime. That would come out of finance and make it Harry's problem as he has to hash out payroll." said Alice as she looked around the table. Hands went up.
"Hmm...6-2 in favor of this law. Doesn't apply to military as they may need to stay on shift because of battle. Ah! Now it's 7-1 in favor. Research is the only holdout. Law passes." said Alice smiled and sent the confirmation codes to Harry. Antonia Shultz was next.
"This European migration, and before that the Chinese, is keeping medical busy. No one makes it to Atlantis or Olympus. Once it's built, the same will be true for Arcadia. There are some people who had never had their full immunizations before, like the High Chancellor here. On top of that we have to vaccinate for an engineered super plague. We're managing to get them processed in time to keep them off of the lawn for now." Antonia said. Harry nodded and took over.
"For finance...well, with all of this paying out and little taken in over the course of the last month we're still making money this month. The mines on the industrial planets keep filling the nation's accounts. That's on top of paying me back millions of galleons. Because New Lantea use Potter-Black land, New Lantea is paying rent. In turn, that rent is being spent on Naquada and other materials that would be much harder to come by by any other means. Now Potter-Black Industries buys all of its materials from New Lantea, just like the mundanes do. That ties into the profits as well. We're turning that around to invest in the colonization of New Lantea and the industrialization of Lantea and her system.
"We are expanding quickly and as much as I hate moving too quickly we need to have solid ground under some of us soon. As a race, the Lanteans have spent too much time on a planet to give that up completely. There will be a charge, as you heard earlier but you could rent lands and pay someone to farm it for you farm it yourself but shortly we will have or own homeland not beholden to any other nation, mundane or otherwise. We may end up moving all of the Marines training off world and that will cost us as well. We, the government of New Lantea will have to reserve some of the industrial space for ourselves and that will cost money as well. Potter-Black will use the industrial capacity as well. It's good to be out from under the goblins as they would be taking a portion of the profits for themselves in fees." said Harry.
The meeting broke after that. Harry went immediately to his office to go over financial reports. He was contemplating opening an investment account for himself as Potter-Black and another for New Lantea. The personal portfolio was one thing and really simple. For that, he took out 100,000 galleons and had it moved to Grimwald Place and beamed directly into one of the expanded trunks in the basement vault.
He received a message from Joel that the New Lantea mission had reached the system and was seeding nanites and deploying the terraformer. The Ha'tak station was in orbit and all was set for the long haul, the two ships would likely be there indefinitely. He sighed as he realized that with that station there and the city soon as well he would have people to replace those crews soon enough.