Author Note
Only two chapters this time as I'm working on my Merlin story. I need the change of pace. But you shouldn't have to wait too long for more chapters of this story as I still have plenty of ideas.
Reviews
Joe Lawyer
You may have a point about Adria, about her being brainwashed, but if it's genetic as well as something mental, then the only way to undo the brainwashing would be alter her DNA to the point she'd just be a normal human. Which would make it rather pointless to recruit her as a companion.
The Jaffa discipline of Kel-No-Reem is what allows the symbiote they carry to repair their bodies, it wouldn't help Jumper Gothic organise his mind. Anyway he doesn't really need to organise his mind better as his has the information he needs when he needs it.
john777
He already has weapons that can bypass shields. Unless you're thinking about something like the Galaxy Gun from the Star Wars Dark Empire comics. That superweapon fired projectiles through hyperspace to strike at somewhat stationary targets, he could build something like that, but a super weapon would antagonise the other factions, so it might not be worth it.
I suppose he could arm his fighters with naquadah enhanced missiles that can bypass shields, those be handy for taking out ships such as Al'kesh.
doug89
Well that is a very creative idea. I just worry that it is needlessly complex and he doesn't actually know how to build Stargates so obtaining enough for this idea to work could be problematic.
OscarDragon
I'm not doing the adult Hogwarts story any time soon. I have another idea for the next Jump.
Jump Chain Gothic 4 - Confederation
Part 11
Hak'tyl Planet. Milky Way.
Ishta waited patiently inside her tent, her legs crossed before her as she sat in a meditative pose on the carpets that were all there was between her and the dirt floor. It was a simple dwelling that she called home, but a true warrior didn't need much, and it wouldn't do to surround herself with comforts while her people had so little.
The Hak'tyl sentries had very recently reported that she would soon be receiving a visitor, one that Ishta was very eager to see. Not that she would in anyway show this interest. She would continue her meditation uninterrupted and wait for him to come to her, but inside she was pleased that he had returned to this world.
It had been a long time since he had graced her presence. Ishta did not exactly know why he had come here, although she could guess, and she greatly doubted it was to simply see her, but she held hopes that that was still part of his purpose for coming here.
Her guest pulled aside the curtain that was the entrance way to the tent and stepped inside, for a moment the small dwelling was filled with light, only to become dark again. Still Ishta could see Teal'c bow in greeting, rather formally given how close they had been.
"Why have you come here?" Ishta asked
While her tone had been neutral, it still seemed to have offend the male Jaffa in some way, or at least it concerned him.
"Is my presence here unwelcome?" he asked.
To be fair it had been some time he'd visited.
"That was not my question," she said stoically.
Teal'c nodded slightly, conceding the point.
"I have come to speak with you of the future of the Jaffa Nation" he informed.
"What of it?" she asked.
Ishta stood up so that she could be face to face with him.
"Though I am here on business, I would be remiss if I did not mention how good it is to see you once again" Teal'c mentioned, going off topic.
Ishta's expression softened slightly.
"I am not hard to find, Teal'c" she pointed out.
"Perhaps not," he agreed, "but recent events have drawn my attention elsewhere".
To be fair he was a busy man, not only did he have a seat on the Jaffa Council, he was also the ambassador the Tauri. These two jobs left with him little in the way of free time.
"I have indeed come to speak to you about the Hak'tyl's withdrawal from the council" Teal'c admitted.
This was no surprise.
"You wish us to return?" she asked skeptically.
That was not a request she could grant him.
"I wish to know why," Teal'c was now saying "The Jaffa Nation is crumbling, and your absence has only hastened that fall"
It took the Jaffa woman a few moments to find a way to phrase what she desired to explain.
"Long ago, when the Hak'tyl first banded together, we all swore an oath, stating that if we ever gained freedom, we would never again submit to another's rule. We have withdrawn from the council in order to honour that oath," Ishta said.
"You compare the council to the oppression of the Goa'uld?" Teal'c asked.
He was upset by even the hint of a comparison.
"Never," she said quickly. "But the original purpose of the Jaffa Nation has been forgotten. We have not found the freedom we craved for so long".
Teal'c glared at her, which for him was a great expression of emotion.
"The Jaffa Nation offers freedom to all Jafa" he insisted "And we must have a central government in order to maintain some type of order. Without it we will become scattered and divided".
Which seemed to be happening anyway.
"The council was suppose to be the means the Jaffa worked cooperate with each other for the good of us all" Ishta was now saying "But it has become clear that Gerak, and his followers rule the Jaffa Nation, and their traditional mindsets do not suit my sisters".
Which was a nice way of her saying that too many Jaffa leaders were old sexist idiots who couldn't change their ways despite all that had happened.
"We will not be oppressed by anyone" Ishta stated "Certainly not by Garek, who rules through military might rather than the support of the majority of the Jaffa".
Teal'c felt that the argument had ended before it even really began.
"I to have concerns over the direction our people are taking" Teal'c admitted "I had hoped to secure your return to council, but that will not be possible I think".
The former First Prime took in a deep breath.
"In truth I fear that our people will soon be at war" Teal'c admitted "Master Bra'tac and I have done what we can to prepare without openly defying the Council. Soon we must decide if the future we desire for all Jaffa is worth fighting for when it requires that we shed more of the blood of our brothers and sisters".
Ishta could tell that Teal'c was great burdened.
"If the Progressive Party does go to war with Traditionalist then the Hak'tyl will fight by your side" the leader of the female warriors promised.
While the male Jaffa in the tent did not wish to go to war with anyone, he was still pleased by the gesture of support.
"Thank you, Ishta" he said.
There was was silence for a few moments.
"Perhaps you would care to spend the night" Ishta offered.
Her tone was again neutral, but Teal'c once again understood what was really being said. And of course he took Ishta up on the offer.
(Line Break)
Annwn. Milky Way Galaxy.
Rather than set up our army training facilities within the city-ship I'd decided to take advantage of the fact I had an entire planet that was almost completely empty. The locals simply wanted to be left alone, and I respected that so I made sure the growing Confederation kept its distance. The planet had plenty of islands to use as bases that the natives didn't even know about.
Not that I needed much room as right now the Confederation army was made up two army companies, which each contained a hundred fighting men, including officers, and some support staff as well. Both companies were based on the same island as I wanted them to get used to working with each other before ever going into battle.
The first company was from Panagar, and despite the recent turmoil on that world they had quickly been able to supply troops. The second company used to be part of the Tagrean security force. I'd been told that their former commanding officer had supported the recent coup, and while the men themselves hadn't done anything wrong, the restored civilian government had wanted rid of them. Rather than disband the company they'd been sent to me.
Right now things were still getting organised. New uniforms were easy to provide, and the instructors from Earth had arrived, so soon training would begin. I was loathed to keep depending on Earth for support, but Tauri methods of warfare had proved supreme in this and other galaxies so it worth the annoyance.
The men that were now my army were used to handling bolt action rifles and their tactics were at the level of WWI at best. So while it would take them time to catch up, and start using Tauri methods, that would be easier than giving them energy weapons and power armour.
At least armour and weapons would easy to provide. I'd chosen the L85 Rifle, which was used by the British Army in my time as the standard rifle for the Confederation Defence Force. I'd already come up with a type of body armour that was able to somewhat protect against both staff weapon blasts and bullets without needing a replicator to produce it.
I'd have to set up factories and such that could produce these arms and armour, as well other things needed for my army as it needed to be to carry on once I was gone. Thankfully we had a few industrial worlds within the Confederation now so I could outsource that sort of thing.
Since I'd been trained as a riflemen as part of the Alliance Navy, or at least I was able to remember it, I could have trained the men myself, but I didn't have the time for that. It would be much smarter for me to focus my efforts on training small teams and to turn them into elite units that could function like a SG team. Assuming I couldn't outsource that as well.
Most of the people suited to such a role already worked for the Alliance, but there were bound to be some experienced soldiers out there who didn't want to work for the Alliance, whom I could recruit. With my Perks I would have an easy time making them loyal to me, and I'd be able to train them well. I could even equip with System Alliance arms and armour to make them the most advanced fighting force in this galaxy.
But that would have to wait. I had many other things to do. Given that the Jaffa seemed to be facturing I needed to go and disable to the superweapon at Dakara before some idiot used it. And I had to do in a way that didn't look like sabotage. Assuming that the Asgard hadn't already handled that for me like they had so many other things.
Ah well no rest for the wicked.
(Line Break)
Stargate Command. Earth.
General Landry was not a happy man, then again, given that he was in a meeting with the people from the IOA that would be no surprise to anyone.
"I fail to see what this has to do with the Stargate Program" the high ranking officer said.
The IOA had been 'expressing their concerns' which was a polite way of making demands, and it wasn't that polite truth be told.
"Our intelligence tells us that yet another world has joined the Confederation" said the French repensative.
Landry shrugged. As far as he was concern the Confederation was a good thing. It was an organization devoted improving the quality of life for humans across the galaxy, and it seemed to doing exactly what it was supposed to be doing. Although it was still early days, and too soon to tell.
"The Confederation has technology that surpasses our own" said the British man at the table "And a very powerful warship".
Again Landry didn't see the problem.
"The Asgard have technology that surpasses ours" he pointed out "And so the Ancients".
"But they are in different galaxies" another politician argued "The Confederation is much closer, and has a lot of fire power to call upon. One of our agents also reported that the leader of the Confederation is recruiting troops from the worlds that have joined this government".
Landry sighed.
"The Jaffa have armies and ships" the general reminded everyone "And according to my sources they're starting to facture. They are far more of a concern than a few humans worlds who have banded together to share resources. The Confederation isn't hostile towards Earth, while the Jaffa leader, Gerak, has been working on building a stronger powerbase, alienating the Jaffa who are friendly towards us, and he's been attacking worlds under Baal's control in order to seize more military assets".
This didn't seem to matter to the IOA.
"A few Ha'tak aren't a threat" an American man debated "Anubis's fleet was more powerful than the fleet Gerak controls and that was destroy just by the Ancient outposts, which has a fraction of the fire power our city-ship can muster, but this Gothic we've been hearing about has an Ancient warship, and its been upgraded with Asgard technology".
Landry smiled.
"Yes, and so have our ships" he said after taking a drink of water "Our ships have Asgard systems, and weapons supplied to use by Gothic. He wouldn't have shared that technology if he had any hostile intentions towards Earth. You don't arm someone you intend to attack".
The new laser cannons that were now installed on all Earth made starships were a technology that had been gifted to them by Gothic.
"What about the technology we hears he's been gathering from..."
Landry didn't let the man finish.
"Which is what we've been doing with the Stargate program for the last decade" he said "Now if the IOA is so concerned with threats why don't we discuss the Lucian Alliance, which also has a fleet and armies. Unlike the Jaffa and the Confederation they've actually made aggressive moves towards us and are a growing problem we need to deal with".
While the general managed to take control of the meeting, it turned out to be a waste of time as he'd expected. No commitments were made, and the IOA tried to credit for things others had done while passing on the blame. All in all it was a typical IOA meeting.
(Line Break)
Sol System. Parallel Universe.
This planet was once the birthplace of a technologically advanced civilization that had just begun exploring the galaxy via the Stargate, and yet most of their people hadn't been aware of this. All they'd been able to do was to look up at the night's sky and wonder: are we alone?
The answer to this old question came in the form of two Goa'uld Ha'tak's. Virtually unopposed, the Goa'uld vessels leveled the plant's cities and larger towns from space, as well as military bases, from orbit, before capturing the Stargate and enslaving the people of the planet Earth.
They'd been enslaved years ago, and since then, those that had not done their best to vanish into the wilderness, or otherwise escape notice, had toiled in the name of false gods while under the watchful eyes of the warriors who served their hated masters.
Earth had no Naquadah or trinium, which was mostly why the Goa'uld had left, and not just because of the rebellion, but it did have people, even after the massive bombardments, and all the suffering that followed, there were still millions of humans on this planet and therefore ample slaves. Lacking a local source materials were brought to this world to be processed by the slaves.
Those that didn't work on building weapons and ships for the planet's ruler, the Supreme System Lord Ra, mined other metals, such as gold, or worked in the quarries that provided stone for the ever growing number of pyramids that were being used for landing pads for Goa'uld ships.
Many slaves toiled on the farms that fed the mighty armies of the Jaffa, and some of the food found its way into the hands of the slaves. Never enough of course, to ensure that the workers had little energy left to do anything other than work.
Upon occasion resistance fighters would attempt to sabotage work efforts, hoping to incite mass rebellion. But these attempts rarely last long. Ra's hawk-headed guards, would kill ten times as many slaves as Jaffa were lost so the rebels rarely risked open conflict. Mostly they kept out of sight, gathering what supplies and information they could.
The planet was the crown jewel of Ra's domain, the most advanced manufacturing site in the entire Goa'uld Empire, not only matching the capital of Sokar's domain, but surpassing it in terms of industry if only due to the sheer number of slaves who were working.
Some of the ships that were built on this planet never left the solar system as they were required to defend Ra's most important world. In times past fleets sent by Anubis, Sokar and others, had attempt to take this world for themselves. They'd all failed.
However the age of Ra was now at an end. No one knew it was coming, but even as a single ship exited hyperspace, the salvation of Earth had come. Had more of Ra's ship been present in the system it might have made a difference but the Supreme System Lord was away on some conquest.
A handful of ships in orbit above the planet, which was a constant reminder to the natives below of the power that Ra had over this world, were the first to see the alien vessel come through the rupture that was an exit from hyperspace.
The ship that emerged from the subspace realm was massive, it utterly dwarfed any Ha'tak's. The Jaffa on the ships that guarded Earth could only stare in amazement at the alien ship, feeling for the time doubts about the superiority of their master.
"Jaffa, KREE!"
Now that the order had been given, deadly plasma erupted from the cannons that were the only weapons of the pyramid ships, and streaked towards the ship with megatons worth of explosive energy per bolt. Meters from the hull, the bolts smashed into a barrier and become flares of light, harmlessly splashing against the hull-hugging shields of the Ancient ship. Little did the Jaffa know that the strange ship was powered by a ZPM, and had shields which could withstand far more firepower than even a fleet of Ha'tak could provide.
The powerful vessel returned fire, two deadly white beams lanced out and blasted apart a pair of Ha'taks. The shields of those ships did nothing to offer any protection as they were simply overwhelmed. The smaller, and far more nimble craft, the gliders and Al'kesh, didn't fair much better as the Ancient warship sent out bolts of yellow energy to strike them down.
After that came the drones, which while visually amazing, were in fact nothing short of fast moving death. The craft that tried to run, those that either didn't have hyperdrive, or could not enter that other realm fast enough were chased down by the odd weapons, like they were some sort of seeker missiles, which in a way they were.
Not that it really mattered to the Jaffa who fought bravely, but pointlessly for their lives, or to the Goa'uld rulers trying to flee for their lives. What mattered to them was that the mighty alien ship was killing them all and there wasn't anything they could do with it.
(Line Break)
Sol System. Parallel Universe.
I enjoyed many things, sex, fine foods, sweet drinks, exploring new worlds, and getting to fire awesome energy weapons, and if I ever put a list together then controlling my ship via the special chair would rank very highly. There was no feeling quite like closing your eyes and having your ship become an extension of your own body.
While the experience couldn't truly be described, it was somewhat right to say that I 'saw' through scanners, that the weapons became my fists, and the shields were my armour. That was an oversimplification to be sure, but not exactly wrong.
With the Asgard transporters and beam weapons, I was able to kill or spare lives with just my mind. I plucked pilots from their gliders and sent them to the surface of the planet, while the beam weapons lashed out to blow apart a Ha'tak which tried to fight.
The gliders I spared, not just out of mercy, but also because I planned to recover as many of them as I could so that I could upgrade them somewhat and gift them to my Jaffa allies, while some would form part of my city-ship's defence force.
This was true power, to decided the fates of others from thousands of miles away with your mind, to be able to alter the futures of entire worlds in a just a few short moments. The Goa'uld and Ori thought worship mattered, they were wrong. Why be a god, when you can be an angel of death?
"We should begin dealing with the ground forces" I heard Seven of Nine say.
Our primary purpose here wasn't actually to liberate the planet, and end the enslavement of millions, although that was part of the reason as to why I'd brought my ship to an occupied version of Earth that Seven had discovered. Mostly we were here to test some of the ship's upgraded systems, to make sure it all worked. And to pick someone up.
The Asgard had done more than add some technology and improve the armour, they'd gone as far as to update the transporter system so that it could handle an increased load. Meaning that I could move stuff about more quickly. I planned to destroy the Jaffa army, by taking away their weapons, as this would result in me gaining much in the way of war materials with minimal effort.
On this Earth there was a resistance movement, and Seven had been in contact with them. Once the Jaffa had been defeated I would beam members of the resistance to the golden city-ship, and they could use that to defend themselves. I'd just need to unlock its systems and ensure that someone with the gene could use the chair. Which shouldn't take very long, and I could take a few ZPMs in payment without compromising their ability to use the city-ship for defence.
"I'm moving us into a low orbit" I said to anyone who was listening.
My intention wasn't to kill the Jaffa, rather I would disarm them by beaming away their weapons, which were easy to detect as they had a naquadah power source and that material didn't exist naturally on Earth. Once stripped of their weapons, and upon finding that the stockpiles had vanished to, these warriors of Ra would have to keep oppressing the humans slaves while unarmed. Which wouldn't go well.
"This shouldn't take too long" I muttered.
Ra had limited his exploitation of this planet to certain areas, and kept things close to where he'd moved the Gate, for the ease of transportation of resources. This made it easy for me to dismantle the occupation forces. With my mind I targeted Jaffa barracks and refineries, taking them apart while limiting the harm to organic life.
I also beamed down some crates of supplies to the resistance bases that Seven of Nine had made contact with when she'd scouted out this alternate version of Earth. She offered the resistance aid, while asking for only one thing. Which I was about to collect.
With a flash of white light the Samantha Carter of this reality, who was a leader of the resistance appeared before me, and while her presence was somewhat distracting I didn't need to worry about that as my robot crew would prevent the ship from crashing, or anything like that.
I'd been able to locate her easily as Seven of Nine had left the a subspace tracking device with this alternate Carter that was based on Wraith tech and therefore different enough the Goa'uld shouldn't be able to detect the signal it gave off.
"Still not use to that" the brilliant woman muttered.
This version of the SG1 team member had never joined the Stargate program because in this reality the program hadn't last for very long. Rather than send a naquadah enhanced bomb through the gate to Earth, in this reality, Ra came here by ship and conquered the planet.
The Samantha Carter of this world survived the invasion and formed a resistance cell, which was a group that had been doing its best to annoy the Goa'uld conquerors.
"It will be over soon" I said to former air force officer.
With a thought I made a hologram of the Earth appear which showed the enemy strongholds that I was already taking apart.
"We've been fighting the Goa'uld for a decade" I heard Carter say "And you've ended it in seconds".
I was pretty awesome like that.
"Once I'm done disabling the occupation force I'll beam you and your friends to the city-ship Seven told you about. I'll give you a few hours to make your goodbyes before we leave".
Seven had made a deal, I liberate this world and show them the city-ship, minus a few ZPMs, and in return I get this version of Samantha Carter for my harem. Which must have been part of an interesting conversation between the two women.
"I'm surprised you agreed to leave" I was now saying "I would have thought you'd want to stay and help rebuild".
Not that this deal was really costing me anything other than time and small amount of power from a single ZPM. Ra's ships might have outnumbered me, but even for Goa'uld vessels they were out of date. I could only assume that the ships I'd destroyed were only a very small part of Ra's fleet.
"I've been fighting and hiding for so long, that I don't know what I'd do without someone to fight" Carter admitted to me "And the woman I spoke to before made a generous offer. Whole knew realites to explore, advanced technologies and I can live on a world were I don't have to fear the Jaffa kicking down my door".
Well yeah that made sense.
"I need to stop off at Abydos before we return to my reality" I told Carter "There's something I need to pick up and if Ra is shipping naquadah here some of it might be coming from there, and he might be there. If he is I'll kill him so he can't organise another invasion of Earth before you get the city-ship up and running".
Then my involvement in this universe would end as I more than enough going on back home to deal with.