Jump Chain Gothic 4 - Confederation
Part 9
Annwn. Milky Way.
I carefully slotted the last crystal into place, and smiled as the entire tray of crystals lit up before my eyes. I'd done it, I'd not only managed to repair the damage done to this vessel by those alternate universe Tau'ri, I'd even been able to improve this craft's engines. It would now fly faster than any Goa'uld vessel, although it would still be considered slow when compared to Ancient and Asgard spaceships.
"Finished already?" asked Tali, who was currently in her quarian form.
She normally handled the repair work, and while we both had a good grasp of technology from many different realities my more advanced mind allowed me to better understand Ancient technology, and by extension most Goa'uld tech, as that was just back engineered Ancient stuff.
"Not just yet" I said.
I walked over to one of the crates that were filled with weapons, as well as a few other things for my Jaffa allies, and I took out a zat gun. Which I used to blast the crystals that controlled the engines power regulation. Just like O'Neill did in the show. I understood now why O'Neill had done that, and it made an odd sort of sense. Along with alterations to the crystals the zat blast would allow for much improved engine power.
The only downside to my work was that the crystals would need to be replaced sooner than normal, but since this type of technology was built to last, unless there was battle damage, the crystals should still last for a few decades.
"The Tok'ra ambassador has an important message for you" Tali informed me "Apparently the Tok'ra council has requested a meeting".
Now this was not something that I had expected. I'd not had much to do with the with that lot, and my intention was to limit my contact with them as they were kind of annoying. Plus they had snakes in their hands, that still freaked me out a little, even though it shouldn't as I'd seen weirder stuff.
"Miranda handles the diplomacy" I said "Why don't they talk to her?".
I did remember that we'd wanted some of their tech, but since we'd gotten Transphasic tech from a different source opening trade with the Tok'ra for anything other than information hadn't been important enough for me to concern myself with.
"They requested you by name" Tali said "It's a most urgent matter they say, that's all I know".
Perhaps they wanted this ship, it did after all belong to Martouf, but I had been intending to fill it with weapons, tools, medical supplies, food, and other stuff the Jaffa might find useful, and then present it to Master Bra'tac as a gift.
Oh well if the Tok'ra wanted it back then I could just steal another cargo ship from some other reality, it really wasn't a big deal.
"Have Miranda contact the Tok'ra and arrange a time for the meeting" I said to Tali.
If it was urgent then they wouldn't keep me waiting long. So I should change into a fresh uniform before going out.
(Line Break)
Tok'ra Homeworld. Milky Way Galaxy.
It had been quite surprising to find out that the sarcophagus I'd taken from the alternate Earth did not contain Hathor as expected, but rather Egeria the Tok'ra queen, which made me very glad I'd not dumped the sarcophagus in outer space or done anything else bad to it.
Also this likely meant that in the other universe Hathor was somewhere on Pangar, as Ra had both queens as mates before exiling them to different worlds for different reasons. In this universe Hathor had been sealed in a sarcophagus and Egeria in a stasis jar, but in that other universe it was the other way around.
Which meant the the Tok'ra now had their queen back, sort of, and they were very happy about this. Egeria may have been in the sarcophagus for thousands of years, but she seemed to be sane, and wasn't even aware that a lot of time had passed.
I could only conclude that the sarcophagus could be modified to act a stasis chamber as well as to heal. Possibly the Goa'uld who'd invented the sarcophagus had used more than just an Ancient healing device as a bases for his invention. He may have used an Ancient stasis booth as well.
The Tok'ra were so grateful for me bringing them both Martouf and their queen, again sort of, that they'd gifted me with some of their tech, their tunnel growing crystals, which I was sure I would find a use for in the future. The tech was less important to the Tok'ra these days as they no longer felt the need to hide underground.
"So happy to have your queen back?" I asked Martouf.
Currently Martouf was giving me a tour of the Tok'ra city, which was a settlement made out of crystal towers, and it was out in the open, and that made it very different from how they'd use to live.
"It is good news" said Martouf "But her return is not the solution to all our problems".
I wasn't sure what he meant so I asked for more information.
"While our queen is still capable of spawning more Tok'ra, we would require hosts for them in the future" Martouf told me "And without Jaffa to incubate the immature symbiotes then there is a good chance that any attempt to blend with a host will be fatal".
I gave the matter some thought.
"Sounds like you need some Jaffa" I said.
Martouf frowned.
"I haven't been in this dimension for long, but I know of no universe were the Tok'ra and the Jaffa have ever been friends" he said "Too many Tok'ra have died because of the Jaffa, and they see no difference between the Tok'ra and the Goa'uld".
Well he wasn't wrong about that.
"I am in contact with some Jaffa who belong a progressive group" I told Martouf "and they must be having trouble acquiring new symbiotes. Perhaps some sort of deal could be made".
Martouf was now looking very thoughtful.
"If you can find even a few dozen Jaffa who be willing to carry an immature Tok'ra then we take this idea to Council" he said.
It would be many years before the new Tok'ra required host. I wouldn't be around to see any of them mature, but I could help the Tok'ra gain a growing population before I left, saving yet another race from its end. I was pleased by this as I'd always worried that I'd done more harm to people than good. Granted most of the people I'd shot had been bad guys, but sometimes I worried about the state of my soul.
"I'll talk to Bra'tac as soon as I can" I promised Martouf.
With that in mind I headed towards the Stargate. Things were progressing quickly for my growing Confederation, and I had much to do.
(Line Break)
Pangar. Milky Way Galaxy.
This world was once ruled over by the Goa'uld Shak'ran before the planet was abandoned by that Goa'uld. Before Shak'ran the world had been ruled by the Ra, the supreme system lord, but not before his former Queen Egeria, the mother of the Tok'ra was imprisoned on the planet.
After the Goa'uld left the planet, the Pangarans developed into a fairly advanced industrial civilization. The Pangarans later found Ra's former outpost and unearthed a symbiote queen in an archaeological dig. They discovered that her offspring could be used to create a drug that had amazing healing powers which they experimented on.
The drug was called Tretonin, and it was vital to the Jaffa, as those that used it instead of carrying a serpent creature in their guts, had to keep taking it, or they had no immune system, and you don't need to be a doctor to understand how bad that is for a person.
By the time they were visited by SG-1, quite a large portion of the planets population was already using Tretonin, but the Queen was dying and unable to produce healthy offspring, which were used to make Tretonin, which was the only thing keeping most of the Pangaran's healthy.
The Pangarans offered Earth their Tretonin in return for gate addresses to Goa'uld-occupied worlds, which they planned to visit in the hopes of retrieving a queen, which they could use to make more Tretonin. A dangerous idea to say the least.
Before long SG-1 discovered that the Queen the Pangarans had been using is in fact the mother of the Tok'ra. The Tok'ra were unable to save her, and she soon died, but not before she told them that she is proud of them. The Tok'ra were later able to produce a viable means of restoring the immune systems of those taking Tretonin, thus saving many Pangaran lives.
We'd contacted them once before, but they'd not wanted to be bothered by us. Now something had changed, they were not only eager to send an ambassador, they were already talking about membership. Clearly something had changed on this world.
I was now meeting with two men, a civilian leader called Dollen, and a military commander called Tegar. They weren't in charge of the Panagaran government, which I soon learned had been reorganised recently due to internal problems caused by lack of Tretonin, but they did have the authority to make deals with us.
While the Tok'ra had reversed the damage done to the immune systems of these people, it didn't change the fact Tretonin extended lives and granted immunity from disease. Illness was a big issue for industrialised peoples as you tended to have a lot of people living together in cramped cities. Because of this the people of this wanted to go back on Tretonin.
"We have a few off-world contacts" Dollen was currently saying "And they have informed us that this Confederation has access to very advanced technology. The kind of technology that may allow you to produce Tretonin".
In fact I could do that. The substance could even be replicated, but simply giving it to them wouldn't benefit myself or the Confederation.
"We could do that, but you'd become dependant on us for the drug" I said.
Which would give me a lot of power over them, which they wouldn't want.
"Our hope was that you would give us the means to produce the Tretonin" Dollen said.
I nodded as I'd been expecting this.
"The Confederation doesn't share its most advanced technology with other societies" I told the two men "We can offer you membership, and that would include everything you need to mass produce the Tretonin, as well as advancements in many scientific fields. We can even improve your weapons technology, and help you find ways to improve life for your citizens in ways you can't yet imagine".
Dollen folded his hands together and placed them on the table the three of us were sitting at. I'd brought Cameron along, but he was over by the door, keeping on eye on everything.
"We are considering membership" Dollen informed me "But we have little to offer the Confederation in return".
He was wrong about that.
"With my help your world could produce enough Tretonin for millions" I said to Dollen "A method that while safe and mostly automated, can still provide jobs for many. We wouldn't be sending people here to run it in the long run".
The whole point of the Confederation was to raise the quality of life for humans across the galaxy, but there was little sense doing that for just for the rest of this Jump. I had to help people in ways that would led to them being able to look after themselves once my group and I were gone. They'd still have the Confederation, and most of its resources, which should make things easier for them in the long run. Assuming that they didn't screw things up.
"People who I send here would teach your people how to set up, build and run the facilities" I was now saying "And we could get them up and running very quickly. Then once you have more Tretonin than you need, you can supply a certain amount to the Confederation, which we can use for trade, or to help others, and of course we'd introduce to the other Confederation worlds in case you want to trade in other goods".
I was offering them much more than just Tretonin I was offering this world so much more, technological advancement, and a place in the galaxy.
"What sort of weapons can you supply us with?" Tegar wished to know.
He was the military officer so his question was to be expected.
"You're weapons technology is at a similar level to other worlds that have joined the Confederation, or who have allied with us" I was now saying "We're already in the process of advancing their weapons technology by decades. I'd have to see what kind of weapons your using now, but we should be able to not only give you designs for superior weapons, but also help re-tool your existing factories to produce superior weapons and ammo. We can even supply your troops with some of these weapons, and someone to train your men in their use while your factories are getting retooled".
At least the weapons training would be easy. I was already making a deal with the IOA to supply experts in different fields to the Confederation so that their knowledge could be shared with the worlds I now sort of ruled. Of course the IOA were dragging their heels on the issue, trying to get more out of me, but Miranda could handle it. I would save my diplomacy for worlds like this one, who had leaders who could be brought into the Confederation with the promise of protection and advancement.
"So in exchange for our world producing as much Tretonin as we can you'll advance our technology and protect us" Dollen summarized.
I nodded in agreement.
"Oh there is one more thing I would like" I said, addressing both of the men "While the Confederation has very advanced technology, and we're on our way towards having a space force, we're lacking in troops. I'd like you to lend us say one hundred soldiers, a company, they will receive the best training, and have access to superior equipment. We'll rotate men back home and bring in new trainees so that your own army will benefit from this deal. Once they've been trained to use the better equipment they'll be allowed to keep it when they return home".
I had more to say, and I needed to say it now, so that the request for troops didn't become a deal breaker.
"We are recruiting from other worlds" I told the two men "But if your world can supply us with a company, it would be men from Panagar who be the first company of Confederation troops".
Dollen and Tegar exchanged looks.
"We'll discuss your offer with our leadership" Dollen said.
I took that as my que to leave.
(Line Break)
Annwn. Milky Way Galaxy.
For a change I had sought out Bra'tac rather than have him come to my office. His place of work was done in Jaffa style. Which meant plenty of candles, pillows and blankets on the floor, and a lot of smelly incense.
"I've made arrangements with a world called Pangar" I informed the old Jaffa Master "They've joined the Confederation agreed to produce last amounts of Tretonin, some of which will taken as a form of tax by the Confederation and it will be freely given to the Jaffa who need it".
It was now clear to me that the leaders of the Pangaran people had decided to join the Confederation because they really needed the Tretonin. And I could understand that, as while a good percentage of their population had been on the drug they wouldn't have needed as many hospitals and doctors. Then suddenly they would have needed them, and they'd have not had them. This must have caused much suffering and death.
"This is good news" he said, and Bra'tac smiled.
Indeed it was.
"Yes" I agreed "But setting up the infrastructure could take some time".
I could hire engineers from more advanced worlds and give them the information they needed to set up the factories that would produce the Tretonin, and they could do so quickly since I could supply the required equipment and building materials. However the work would be slowed down because the engineers from more advanced worlds needed to teach others to maintain the existing factories and to build new ones. That level of education took years. Sure I could speed things up by transferring memories, but not everyone would want a strangers memories and that would only help things along,
"There's also another option" I was now telling the elderly Jaffa "The Tok'ra queen has been recovered. How that happened I can't tell you".
I could just claimed that I was able to clone her. I didn't want everyone knowing I had the ability to access other realities. Sure the Asgard knew, but if they figured out the tech from working with Seven on her science vessel they should be able to handle it.
If nothing else their war with the replicators had taught them to be careful when messing with the unknown. The Tauri and the Jaffa might not be so cautious with the technology. As for the Tok'ra, they had no means to use the tech even if they got their hands on it as they didn't have any ships powerful enough to supply enough energy to the drive.
"But what matters is that the queen will spawn and that means the Jaffa have a potential new source of symbiotes" I went on to say "This could help the progressive party strengthen their ties with the Tok'ra, and save lives since I doubt the Goa'uld queens will supply you with their young, at least not willingly".
Bra'tac was already thinking things over, and he didn't need long to organise some of his thoughts into words.
"I can see the value of such an alliance" he said "But I am ensure how many Jaffa I could get to agree to carry a Tok'ra symbiote".
The two races had never really gotten along. Too much bad blood, and it would take a very long time for any real trust to develop between them.
"A few dozen Jaffa would do to start with" I said to Bra'tac "The Tok'ra aren't looking to set themselves up as the dominant species in the galaxy, but in order to become a true civilization rather just a resistance movement they need to increase their population".
I could see that Bra'tac would need some time to think things through so I figured that now was a good time to leave. I was sure that if anyone could find the required Jaffa volunteers it would be him.
(Line Break)
Annwn. Milky Way Galaxy.
Shen Xiaoyi had just finished speaking to her superiors via a Chinese built version of the Goa'uld communication device, and she was not happy about what she'd heard.
Her government's attempt to gain control over the Stargate with the aid of the Russians had utterly failed sometime ago and the new battlecruiser still wasn't complete while the Americans were having more success in building new ship. Even the Russians and the British had at least one battlecruiser.
It was clear that her nation was falling behind the others that were part of the Stargate Alliance, and not just in terms of military power, access to advanced technology and new worlds should be allowing China to develop quickly. They should have off-world bases, maybe even colonies that were set on resource rich worlds, but they didn't have their own SG team.
Shen had hoped that becoming the IOA's ambassador to the Confederation would allow her to help her people, Alas the sad truth was that Confederation had everything her country needed, but they had nothing to offer in exchange aside from manpower, but they couldn't offer that with ships or a Stargate of their own. Assuming of course that the leaders of the Confederation would even accept manpower from nations that weren't part of their Confederation.
There had to be something they had that the Confederation wanted. Shen decided to go through all the information she had access to via the computer on her desk, she was convinced that she would find some piece of technology, or resource to offer that Lord Gothic would accept in trade. She would keep at for as long as necessary.
(Line Break)
Annwn. Milky Way Galaxy.
I rubbed my chin, and noticed that I was growing a beard again, as Miranda ended the recording. She'd just shown me a conversation between Shen Xiaoyi and her superiors, who I assumed were somewhere on Earth. Most likely she'd been speaking to a man who'd been in an office in the Ministry of National Defense compound judging by his uniform.
They were using a communications technology that wasn't secure, at least not here. My city-ship could interspect that form of communication with ease. Which made me glad that we used Quantum Entanglement technology when we needed secure means of talking to people who were far away.
As for the conversation we'd just listened to, it had been very interesting. The Chinese government had big ideas, they wanted to set up a number of off-world bases and even colonies so that they could exploit other worlds for their resources.
Which seemed smart to me as Earth had too many humans to support, and the Stargate program could fix that, but the American military would never allow the Stargate to go public. They were far too concerned with keeping the USA as the world's, and perhaps galaxy's, only superpower.
Maybe I could use that to my advantage, if the Americans thought I was going to support the Chinese they might force the IOA to make more reasonable deals with me. They might also become hostile, however I wasn't too worried about that as I still had Asgard support, and no one on Earth wanted to antgoise such a powerful alien race.
"I was thinking about asking for virtual reality pods, the kind the SGC use for training, they should have fixed all the bugs by now" I said to Miranda "Talk to ambassador, and see if she can get us this technology, and find out what she wants in return, but don't commit to anything yet".
Those virtual reality pods could be useful in the future for training Confederation troops and my future clone army which I was going to need for the 40k universe for sure.
"Okay" said Miranda "If I had to guess I'd say that they'll want a fleet of cargo ships for their colony idea".
Goa'uld cargo ships could run for years on very little naquadah, and while they were small as well as slow, they were dependable. With just a few of them the Chinese could send a lot of workers and supplies out to somewhere there was naquadah, and using Earth's superior mining efforts they could exploit the resources of worlds the Goa'uld had long since abandoned.
"We could build our version of the Goa'uld cargo ship" I said to Miranda "And sell them for the aid of experts in different fields as well as the pod tech".
I knew we could build small transports very easily because we'd built the Delta Flyer very quickly, and that was much more complex than a mere transport vessel. As for the experts, I was sure they'd all be spies so I'd have to be careful not to take to many and to not put them anywhere important.
"So I'll talk to Shen, and Pangar when they've made up their mind about joining or not" Miranda said to me "You need to finish raiding those other universes for the stuff we need".
(Line Break)
Aurora-class Warship. Milky Way Galaxy.
"What's this?" I asked as Cameron handed me a data padd.
"Shopping list" she answered.
As I sat down in my control chair I went over the list, which had been put together by Seven of Nine, Miranda Lawson and Tali'Zorah. The file on the padd was in fact a load of requests for different things that members of my group required. There was a reminder to try to recruit a Samantha Carter and Jennifer Keller from an alternate universe, but I'd not forgotten about that idea, it just hadn't been important. I barely had any time for my current companions.
The Eye of Ra.
The Eye of Ra, which was near the job of the list, was an ancient Egyptian symbol and also a power source hidden on Abydos by Ra. Anubis powered his superweapon by gathering the Eye of Ra and other Eyes belonging to Goa'uld. The Eye was destroyed when the Tau'ri managed to destroy the weapon's power core when Anubis attempted to destroy Vis Uban.
However in the reality with no SGC it might possibly still be on Abydos. It was also possible that Ra was on that planet, and if he was I might kill him, or maybe not. Doing so could cause more problems than it solved. Sure the people of Abydos might be happy about Ra not bothering them anymore, but it might just led to another Goa'uld taking over their planet. Still if I wanted the Eye and he got in my way I'd just have to deal with him.
I knew about The Eye of Tiamat, which was a jewel that the Goa'uld Marduk possessed. The eye was supposed to grant Marduk "magical powers". It was locked with him in his sarcophagus when his priests rebelled against him. In the show a Colonel Alexi Zukhov located the eye, but it was buried with him when he tossed a grenade at Marduk, who had taken over the body of some creature, The Eye was later recovered by Anubis, who used it to power the superweapon aboard his mothership
Again in the timeline with no SGC that Eye could still be in Marduk's tomb. If so I could easily send Cameron down to recover it. She couldn't be infested by a Goa'uld and could easily deal with some creature.
Personal force shield from Atlantis
That would be a bit of work, but if I went to the reality without a Stargate Program, stole their gate and set it up on the Moon Base, and then hooked up a ZPM I, should be able to dial Atlantis. I'd have to leave a ZPM behind so that I could leave, but I could always harvest more. Even if there wasn't a golden-city ship on every version of Earth there would be others.
There was that Ancient base SG1 went to in order to get a ZPM needed to power the Ancient base at the South Pole. I could grab that ZPM, and while that place was too unstable to study I should be able to take a look around the South Pole base for a time, before anyone discovered me.
Plus there was that DNA altering machine on Atlantis, that machine was too dangerous for humans because it killed the people it was used upon, but if it was like my DNA resequencer then that technology might be able to improve the DNA altering tech I already had.
The anti-Stargate beam weapon Anubis used against the SGC to blow up their stargate.
While I knew what planet the device had been on when it was destroyed, I didn't know if Anubis had simply dug it up on that world, or if he'd gotten it from elsewhere. Still I could check out that world in a few different realities and find out.
Reese
I could see the temptation, but in my view she was dangerous to be brought into this galaxy, not while there was the smallest chance we could end up with new replicators. Those things could break my city-ship, use it materials to make thousands more of themselves, and from there take over the galaxy.
For that same reason Janus's time ship would also be destroyed if I found it rather than recovered. Some things simply shouldn't be messed with no matter how little the rish. I was genre savvy enough to know that time travel was never worth it, and that something will go wrong.
Atanik Armbands
Those armbands worked by releasing a virus into the wearer, allowing them to 'interface' with the wearer's body. However, the effect of the armband was only temporary as the immune system of the wearer would eventually eradicate the virus and create a permanent immunity to it. When this occurred, the armband would simply fall off of the wearer and they would be unable to utilize it again.
This aspect of the device ultimately lead to the downfall of the Atanik civilization; the Atanik warriors developed an immunity to the virus, causing the armbands to become ineffective, thus leaving them vulnerable to attack. Long after the fall of the Antanik civilization, several armbands were discovered by the Tok'ra Anise in an archaeological survey of the Atanik planet.
The armbands are ineffective on the Goa'uld, Tok'ra, and Jaffa, likely a result of their symbiotes. Furthermore, the armbands are incredibly resilient, being virtually irremovable once placed on the wearer's arm.
While they did have a weakness of only being temporary, they did for a few hours make someone a super hero, more or less, and while it might seem like a good idea to do something to the immune system to make the armbands work for longer that wasn't the best idea.
A good idea would be get enough of these armbands for myself and my companions and then keep them stored in the Cosmic warehouse for the day they could come in handy. Assuming of course that the way the band interfaced with the human body couldn't be altered in some way.
Research would be required, and by someone with much greater knowledge of matters biological than I or my companions had. The Asgard might be of aid with this, and even if they weren't a few hours as super heroes could mean a lot somewhere down the line.
There was some other stuff too, but since we had years left in this science fiction setting I saw no reason to rush. Seven had more than enough tech to study.
"Looks like we have a lot of shopping to do" I said to Cameron "We best get going".
I had hoped to be using the Quantum Mirror by now, but that would have to wait. The needs of the group came before my own interests. Still I'd find time to mess about the mirror not matter what.