Chapter 6
"This is the snake that caused all the trouble." Declared the med tech.
"So what'd you do with the Goa'uld?" quipped Han. Ackbar glared at him.
"if you could avoid any further disruption captain, it would be appreciated." Replied the Admiral, "You were permitted to attend because of your concern for your friend but this is a military matter."
"I think I'm probably here because it is more likely Lando will talk if he sees me." Han shot back, "I'm getting a little tired of your superior attitude."
"That is 'Admiral' to you." Replied the Mon calamari, "And I am your superior Solo, most notably in rank."
"Big deal." Han scoffed, "you signed with the losing side and they tossed a few ships your way, this isn't exactly a Star Destroyer."
"How dare you sir." Began the Admiral enraged, "I will not be derided by the self appointed captain of a smuggling fregither in areas of military etiquette, and regarding the fate of the civil war, well that remains to be seen."
"Easy everyone, easy." Soothed Starbuck, "I think we all just want to be addressed by our proper rank here and given a little respect. A little courtesy never hurt anyone." He finished shooting a look at Han.
Ackbar and Han glared at each other.
"I apologize Captain Solo, " replied the Admiral, "I am accustomed to addressing soldiers, and your casual demeanor sometimes strikes me as…"
"Insubordinate?" supplied Han, "Well that fits, I'm nobody's subordinate, I take orders from just one person, me." But after a moment he relented. "Still that crack about the war was out of line. "
"if you guys are done fighting over me I could use a glass of water." Came a raspy voice. Lando was awake. An orderly moved in to meet his request while the doctor reported to the Admiral.
"We were able to extract the symbiote with minimal brain damage. We have stabilized his other injuries however there was some brain damage caused by the operation, and the symbiote attempted to release a neurotoxin into his bloodstream which we neutralized before too much damage had been done."
"he will live?" inquired the Admiral.
"He is stable for now." Replied the doctor uncertainly, "But his body is very weak, several systems are on the verge of shutdown. Whatever you need to know you should ask him quickly and allow him to concentrate on his recovery."
"Very well doctor, you are excused." The admiral stated. Recognizing the order for what it was, the doctor left.
"Lando how'd this happen?" Han asked pulling a stool up to Lando's side. Lando handed his cup to the orderly and turned to Han.
"before I get into that, no hard feelings right buddy? You know I'd never willingly hurt you or Chewie."
Chewie gave a chuckle and Han nodded. Lando cracked a weak grin.
"Alright well I'd never UN willingly hurt you or Chewie." He amended, "I remember being in the bar and realizing something was wrong, I was saying things I didn't want to say, there was a will pounding in my head… it wasn't in complete control yet though, I was keeping it off balance with the drinking."
Han scratched his head trying to remember."What was it after? If it wanted us dead it could have just pulled a blaster and shot us all in the back during takeoff or something."
"It wanted the rebels." Lando replied, "Whoever got that thing into me gave me the signal device too, all I know is I woke up in the bar just before you came in with a drink in front of me. Once I figured out I was losing control it was all I could do to just keep drinking while it did the talking."
"Easy easy." Soothed han shooting a worried eye at the heart monitor, the more agitated Lando got the more erratic his readings were. "It wanted the rebels but the signal got sent too soon, what happened?"
"It didn't realize what I was doing with Chewie." Explained Lando, "I picked a fight with him so he'd knock me out before I really sobered up and it could get full control. I guess you were a little too patient with me." Said lando with an apologetic look at Chewie. The Wookiee softly growled and Lando grimaced.
"See that it doesn't Chewie, next time anyone talks to you the way I did you take their head off. Anyway the Goa'uld was on to me, it wasn't letting me do anything but when it pulled out the homing capsule and prepared to await your arrival admiral," Lando nodded to Ackbar, "I threw everything I had, EVERYTHING, every ounce of will power anger, determination, all of it into pressing that button." There was a satisfied note to lando's voice. "Man that little slug was pissed when it realized I sprang the trap too early. I figured once the jig was up Han would just take off and leave the empire eating tachyons. "
"The system patrol was just passing by, I figured the Rebels were waiting for them to go, so when they challenged I just told them I had a navicomp failure and was restarting. They started to go, and then the signal went up." Clarified Han, "They swung right back around and I was caught in the middle of a reboot."
"No one on guns either because we were a little occupied." Added Starbuck,
"This presents us with several opportunities." Ackbar declared fixing Lando with a gaze, "Doesn't it Calrissian."
"I'm not sure I understand." Said Han glancing at Starbuck who was nodding, and the mon Calamari still watching Lando.
"When the Goa'uld take a host, they seize control of the host's body." Explained Starbuck, "They suppress voluntary motor control, but the host is still conscious, Lando was trapped in his own body watching the goa'uld drive. The Goa'uld was able to access lando's memories, that's how it fooled us but the reverse was true as well."
"To some extent." Replied Ackbar, "We have found from other subjects that only the surface memorize are shared by the host, otherwise all who were ever possessed by the Goa'uld would share the entirety of their genetic knowledge."
"I was only the host for a short time." Said Lando, "And I was intentionally drunk for most of it, I'm not sure how coherent my knowledge is, I can't think of much off hand that would be of value."
"As a database you are of limited value." Ackbar affirmed, "However, as a strategic asset there are, as I mentioned, possibilities."
"They don't know we caught Lando!" Starbuck exclaimed, "Only that the attack failed."
"So we have a potentially legitimate intelligence through which we can feed disinformation, or even a possible spy that can be inserted in their ranks." Surmised Ackbar, "Though you lack the depth of knowledge to convincingly pass for long, we may be able to use you to insert a strike team into a secure location."
"I fracking knew it." Swore Starbuck, "This secure location… would it happen to resemble a snowflake, or were you thinking more of the one that looks like an eyeball." Han started as he realized what was being discussed, his hand rested on his blaster and Chewie growled.
"Are we even headed for Coruscant?" he demanded, "When exactly are we going to get our cut?"
Ackbar held up his hands. "if you'd just give me a chance to explain…"
"What's to explain Admiral." Demanded Starbuck getting in Ackbar's face, "You use Lando to get a ship in past their security, you dump all the energy you can into the stargate and you blow your target sky high. I get stranded here, Han gets shafted the rebellion gets a victory."
Ackbar blinked owlishly at Starbuck.
"Until this moment I had no idea such a capability existed." Admitted the admiral. Starbuck looked abashed.
"What exactly did you have in mind?" Demanded Han.
"I thought perhaps we could use the stargate technology to orchestrate a takeover of imperial city." Replied Ackbar, "Such a victory would provide an asset of limited strategic value, however it would greatly undermine the Empire in the public eye if we were to steal their capital city and potentially capture the emperor himself. Additionally, though it is not a military vessel the Empire has fortified it greatly, whereas the majority of the imperial Starfleet still awaits upgrades."
"In one scenario, the Empire would have to tie up most of its advanced ships in the pursuit and capture of Imperial city, which will buy us time to arm and upgrade our own with the technology on Coruscant, in another, they will have to reactivate the Dawn Star as a military vessel, the public has been happy to pretend that that monstrosity is now an instrument of good, used as it has been for public terraforming projects, however, were it immediately decommissioned to hunt down Imperial city, it would serve as a reminder that though the empire may appear benign now, it is still capable of returning to its old ways."
"That's it?" demanded Han, "That's your plan? I mean to pull off a stunt like that, even with Lando's help, you'd have to get the stargate onto Imperial City, and then move enough troops through to take out an entire Legion of the Emperors handpicked storm troopers. From what I hear the Rebellion doesn't have that kind of man power. If you found it, then anybody occupying the city becomes a priority target."
"With an immediate means of escape." Replied Ackbar, "Should even the Death Star itself attack the city, it should be possible to evade its range long enough to evacuate the city."
"To where?" demanded Han, "You need two of these and we don't even know that this one works."
"It works." Replied Starbuck, "And I think the Admiral knows where another one is, you do too Han if you think about it, more than likely there actually at least two more."
"We have long suspected something like this." Acknowledged the Admiral, "We never found the Goa'uld home world, all reports trace back to Dagobah, but Dagobah has never been host to a significantly advanced civilization. They arrived at Dagobah but could not be from there, there is no evidence."
"Dagobah's gone." Said Han "The Emperor blew it up, Starbuck couldn't get a signal."
"Its there, its just been moved." Declared Wedge after an approving nod from the Admiral. "I flew a black op into there a few months ago to retrieve somebody very important to us."
"Someone you should perhaps meet Starbuck." Declared Ackbar, "But Dagobah is there, it is possible your device malfunctioned, or you operated it incorrectly, you were under some duress."
"No, I did it right." Declared Starbuck, "But if there are at least two other gates, then I might have gotten a busy signal."
"Which means the emperor knows what the Stargate does." Concluded Han with no small amount of disappointment. Starbuck empathized. Han was a smuggler out of necessity and the stargate's commercial value represented not just profit, but a means of legitimacy, a new way of life. With a proper lifestyle, it might not be too late to find a nice girl, settle down maybe raise a few…
With a start Starbuck realized he was not just empathizing, he was actively reading Han's mind. He fell silent as he began to explore the sensation in an effort to control it. The others continued the discussion as he focused on the sensation within him, calibrating it as one would a radio, first increasing and then decreasing, and then focusing on different aspects of it. He would have to be careful.
The others, wherever they were would not permit him full ascension without consultation, doubtless they would feel that what they intended as punishment was incomplete, and while Starbuck agreed in that he wished to remain corporeal and free of their rules, he did not wish them to revisit the agreement he had made now that he was in a much weaker position to bargain.
It took an ascended being to restrain an ascended being, and thus no small amount of personals sacrifice on the part of the restrainer, and in order to continue that restraint, sufficient will power must be maintained in order to do so. As a corporeal being, however developed however, Starbuck could be easily restrained any number of ways that needn't be monitored. The Stargate had been one, stored in its pattern buffer, and he was well aware that the Ancients did have such devices, having encountered a certain ex prisoner in his past…
"Ground control to starbuck…" Han interrupted his thoughts, "Are you with us?"
"yeah sure sorry, what was that?" Starbuck asked clamping down on his train of thought.
"Wedge was just pointing out the disorganized attempt to apprehend us may imply that the Empire isn't fully aware that it is cooperating with Goa'uld." Said Han, "When Ackbar here started to drool at the potential to discredit the Empire, Lando pointed out it could be more serious. If the Goa'uld have infiltrated the Empire it could be a prelude to renewed aggression."
"So?" demanded Starbuck, "You people have a moon sized battle Station, thousands of warships…"
"There are still vong to clean up, and we've been in a constant state of warfare for the past four years." Declared Ackbar, "Starting with Alderaan, a lot of worlds have been destroyed, and whole civilizations displaced. Fleets of refugees are moving across the galaxy squabbling over limited resources. Much as I hate to say it, the Empire has provided some structure to this chaos, with our forces rebuilding were we caught off guard by an invasion we may well need the Death Star to repel them."
"You people are ridiculous." Snorted Han, "You know I was beginning to respect your ideals and that you'd fight for them, now I see its all just smoke and mirrors. Freedom and equality are worth fighting for until more aliens come along, then its back to deals with the devil. You backed off when the Goa'uld and the wraith came knocking, and let the empire do the fighting, then when the cylons turned on you and the Vong went crazy, you went to ground again and let the Empire do your dirty work, now even the THOUGHT of a possible but completely unproven Goa'uld initiative is enough to get you to scrap your plans."
"We are not scrapping anything." Shot back Ackbar, "When this conversation began I was considering efforts to take Imperial city. After I became aware of secondary attributes of the Stargate I'll admit, blowing up the Dawnstar had occurred to me, but I dare not eliminate such an asset whomever wields it, if it is to be crucial to the survival of this galaxy. The Empire is an atrocity, the Goa'ld are worse. They would break down our civilizations and have us serve them."
'Did the goa'uld ever bring any ships?" Starbuck asked suddenly, "Any spacecraft?"
Wedge answered, "No. the wraith had hive ships, some were dormant and ancient, most were new made over the last few decades, Our best intelligence indicates the Gao'uld and the Wraith were preparing for just a few decades out on the rim, honestly though we have no idea, the technology to extract symbiotes has only been successful once before, and that was the Emperor himself."
"Emperor Thrawn was a host?" Demanded Han aghast, "I heard the stories but I never thought it was true!"
"Right, the scuttlebutt is that Thrawn has such an incisive intellect and a steadfast will that he was able to consciously override the symbiote, have it extracted and that is how he determined the location of Anubis' city. He lead the ground forces and apprehended Anubis himself before his execution. The reality is that Thrawn's physiology while superficially identical to a Humans is quite different chemically, and while the symbiote was off balance Thrawn had it extracted. After that well, Anubis couldn't take a host that had once been a goa'uld so there was no real danger to Thrawn."
Starbuck considered this. He'd been aware of the brothers Ra and Anubis, they had been clever and duplicitous. If Thrawn had outsmarted them both he was a credible threat, though in Starbuck's opinion outsmarting a goa'uld was child's play once you realized how cosmically warped their ego's were.
"We will arrive at Coruscant in a few hours." Stated Ackbar shooting a glance at Han. "For now we must content ourselves with properly connecting the Stargate, and determining the number and location of any Stargate in this galaxy. It may then be possible to send you on your way Starbuck, once you have attained what you need, however I would like to extend an offer to join us, you would receive a command commission, for a trial period and then a full commission as a general, the same offer is extended to Captain Solo and Mr. Calrissian."
"What about Chewie?" demanded Han even as the Wookiee demurred. "He goes anywhere I go."
"He would be your aid of course, and granted rank should he wish it." Replied Ackbar bobbing his head at the Wookiee, "We have found humans to be quite effective in space born leadership but should he wish it Chewbacca could be given a commission in our ground forces, to which many Wookiees have found themselves well suited."
"Hear that buddy?" Han nudged him, "You cut loose and you're taking your chances in the infantry."
"I suppose my commission is contingent on my participation in that little espionage scheme your cooking up," grumbled Lando.
"No more than mine is contingent on providing additional information about the ancients." Replied Starbuck, "The admiral here sees us as resources to utilize and while he's magnanimous in his offer, I have no doubt he has other means of obtaining what he needs." His meaningful glance at Ackbar, echoed in Han's eyes discomfited the Admiral.
"It is as you say." Admitted Ackbar, "We would insist that you aid us in deciphering the ancient language and provide the language of the ancients. I suspect, that were we to try, we would regret attempting to contain you Starbuck, so if you will not join us, it is in our best interest to speed you on your way lest other forces gain access to you."
"But if you would join us…" began Han nonchalantly, "You're pretty good in a fight, that was some mean shooting, and you mentioned you were a decent pilot…"
"And with the jedi gone, we need that connection, that moral compass to something greater than ourselves," Said Wedge, "If the force is gone, maybe you could help us understand a little more about how you do the things you do…"
"The choice is yours of course." Ackbar repeated.
"Geez I kind of hate to go so soon." Said Starbuck with a glance at the suddenly neutral face of Han, and Wedge. "I do have a war of my own to win though, on the other hand, if I want to do a thorough report, I suppose there a few places I should check out, you know to be thorough. Places that might be of some help to all of you here."
"Do you know the location of any additional cityships?" Demanded Ackbar, "Weapons we may use perhaps?"
"I know of cities that sleep beneath the oceans, cities that float in the sky, " answered Starbuck ticking them off on his fingers, "Cities run by replicators, cities of the dead… cities of clones, cities of giants.. in fact from what Han told me about the battle of Endor, I might even know of a city off Ewoks. The trouble is most of them are in other galaxies. Its not the cities you need it's allies, powerful, nonhuman allies. Han you seem like a bit off a progressive amongst your people in recognizing the rights of all sentient life, but I think your rebellion admiral is playing to the wrong crowd."
"That's absurd captain Starbuck." Replied the Admiral taking umbrage, "Why my people take pride in the ships and technology we have provided to the rebellion."
"Right but you target your advertising to the humans of this galaxy." Starbuck replied, "From your perspective I can see why, but humans aren't the power in this galaxy, you have a lot of different races chafing under the empire that seem to think the only way to beat the humans is to convince the humans to join your cause and lead you."
Ackbar look like he wanted to argue but Chewie gave a growl of agreement. Ackbar turned to the Wookiee.
"I deeply regret any offense I gave Chewbacca. As you say, your leadership and acumen as a navigator would make you an ideal officer on one of our ships. Captain Solo and Mr. Calrissian my offer still stands however I would extend it on the basis of your military, and professional experience rather than your race."
"Cloud city didn't end so well, I assume that's the professional experience you refer to, and Han washed out of the imperial navy." Observed Lando.
"hey hey I didn't mean to tell you how to do things!" protested Starbuck as he watched what was going on, "I just meant it was something to think about, besides, what I really meant is you should talk to the Asgard!"
"The what?" inquired Ackbar, Han snickered.
"The Asgard are a non human race of considerable advancement, they were setting themselves up as the guardians of the galaxy when I left, shepherding younger races, that sort of thing." Said Starbuck.
"Did they not help your people against the Cylons?" asked Ackbar
"We didn't know of them before the colonies fell." Starbucck clarified, "But when my people found Earth, the Cylons were hot on our tail. The Ancients were pretty indifferent but the Asgard intervened to prevent them from attacking any developing races. Probably would have chased them already home but the Vong beat them to it." Starbuck paused remembering. The battle reports had prompted great celebration throughout the fleet and had served to buffer the disappointment that Earth was in the process of being abandoned, the Ancients indifferent to the hopes for reclaiming the colonies.
Ackbar stared at Starbuck, "Exactly how old are you sir?"
Starbuck froze as even Han rounded on him.
"The Vong made it known they had an old grudge against the Cylons, it seems the Cylons provoked a war that wiped out all life in the Vong's home galaxy and forced them to leave."
"Right, well actually, they came from a planet with a sentient biosphere. When the Cylons came, it repelled them and helped the Vong develop their organic technology. The Vong took it too far and started wiping out anything different. Between the two of them they wiped out most of their galaxy. The frustrating thing was, it was OURS first. The twelve colonies held the line against the Cylons for a thousand years and promoted the development of galactic civilizations. This galaxy now is what ours could have been, instead it is a wasteland to this day, well as far as I know anyway."
"You can't be telling me you were alive all of this time." Declared Han aghast, "That's too much! Just too much… life!"
"The knowledge you must have…" breathed Wedge, "The wisdom…"
"Life for some people, doesn't get old." Starbuck replied, "Now, admittedly, I spent much of it as an ascended being, but at the beginning I was a man very much like you, VERY much like you Han, they helped me ascend and you know what I didn't really fit in. I was meant to grow, not ascend, to fight not to oppose, to live, not just to exist, to love, rather than to accept. As for wisdom, well, Wedge, I'm not a Jedi, and my wisdom doesn't come from a supernatural source. I think you miss your friend and the promise he showed. I'm not him, and I don't think he can be brought back, that's something you have to accept to find peace, not even a Jedi could give you that."
"'Specially cause they're dead." Muttered Han off handedly, thinking of an old man, a boy and a princess."
"The jedi aren't all dead." Snapped Wedge, drawing a startled look from the others."
"I meant Leia and Luke…" began Han, then he squinted at Wedge, "What are you talking about, the Jedi went extinct years ago except for Vader and Palpatine, the old man, and maybe Luke, anyone even thinking about the Force died with the Centerpoint wave."
"There was one who survived." Declared Ackbar, "So attuned to the force was he, he foresaw the apocalyptic wave and hid the one place in the galaxy where he could be safe."
"Where was it safe?" Wondered Starbuck, "Center point was a second generation terraforming station. The first generation models required stargates for wave propagation, the second projected a self sustaining energy wave across their target galaxy. That wave seems to have wiped out all the Metecolions that were in this galaxy."
"The what?" Han asked, Wedge was shaking his head.
"Look I researched the Force after… it all happened." He said, "The lore says nothing about terraforming or metecolarions, it's the spiritual energy drawn from purity of heart."
"Right because Palpatine was pure of heart." Scoffed Han.
"The jedi did use midichlorians as an indicator of force potential." Commented Lando, "I once moved a shipment of old scanners outlawed by the Empire for some clients, it was some interesting equipment."
"Midichlorians, metacolarions…" replied Starbuck, "This stuff gets garbled over the years, you guys are calling Core-Ascendant Coru-scant, Core-Elevus Corellia, those were the initial colonies of humanity in this galaxy. The metecolarions were femtobots scattered to terraform suitable planets. They were fired in waves from centerpoint through hyperspace. They would partially revert upon encountering a gravitational field and draw infinitesimal amounts of power from hyperspace. They would then form a localized network and coordinate the chemical alteration of the world they were on until the world became suitable for life to develop. By the time the first colonies reached sufficient population density, there would be a galaxy of worlds to inhabit."
"What does that have to do with the Force?" Demanded Wedge, "How can minimachines draw from the force?"
"They were more than machines." Explained Starbuck, "They were launched in such a massive volume, that some of the metacolarions were mixed up with the wrong group. Tasked with establishing a network and performing duties at a specific location, they began communicate across networks, the Ancients were amused but not alarmed, until suddenly the massive networks began to combine into a sentient consciousness. The Ancients were a bit appalled when their tools started talking to them, even more so when the Metacolarions began to access higher and higher hyperspace domains. Their creations were ascending, and they had figured out significantly faster than the ancients themselves had."
"Luckily for the Ancients' pride, the metacolarions had no interest in Ascending, they remained true to their mission, and in fact wanted to foster the development of life. They reasoned that the means to do this was through choice and communication. They permeated sentient life and allowed it an unconscious affinity for itself, it is that connection that gave rise to the force, that rudimentary sense of one another."
"Ah, so how come the old man could move things with his mind?" demanded Han, listening, but still skeptical.
Starbuck paused and stretched a hand. A cup of water rose slowly from beside Lando's bed.
"You mean like this?" he asked his gaping audience, "The explanation is complicated, suffice it to say that the human body has significantly more effect on its environment then is generally realized, the Force enables some of you to process activities you wouldn't normally be aware of."
He turned to Admiral Ackbar.
"You were right earlier when you said trying to restrain me would be a mistake, by extension, any harm that befalls Han Chewie, or even Lando, will not be well received. Now if you don't mind, now that our cards are all on the table, why don't you bring me to the other ship we've just met, I would like to talk to the jedi you have found."