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Chapter 25: Adjustments

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Part 3

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Slavna Zemq

Perun's Throne World

Milky Way Galaxy

Perun's capital wasn't what Jack expected. He didn't get to see it from space either because the cunning bastard brought them there through a Stargate he picked up somewhere, stashed in the cargo ship of his pimpmobile. Or perhaps Ra put the damn thing inside, and Perun took advantage of it. The most unpleasant part was that Earth remained under the guns of that ship. It would have been great if Perun had flown it to a different part of the galaxy; the farther from Earth, the better.

The defences were nothing to sneeze at, which wasn't a surprise. Bunkers, vehicles, and dug-in redoubts for them... There were also positions behind the Stargate, placed in such locations that the defenders in front of the device wouldn't hit them when engaging an incursion.

Perun just pointed at a hover vehicle while he went to speak with a Jaffa waiting for him. The Goa'uld boarded an IFV with presumably one of his commanders, followed by his cat and her cub. They didn't leave until Earth's party stashed their luggage and got on their own transport. With Perun being the king here, Jack expected there would be some kind of ceremony or at least a significant security detail to welcome them.

Instead, there was just a Jaffa driver who paid them no attention and followed the vehicle in front. At least that way, they could see more of Perun's world.

There were defenses in depth all around the road leading away from the Stargate, including at every junction that split from it. The road was made of paved stones and appeared ancient, though well-kept. With hover vehicles and aircraft of various types that could land without needing an airfield, Jack decided that there was simply no incentive to develop and invest in better roads.

They eventually reached a bustling metropolis with a weird blend of architectural styles. A ring of ongoing construction, which relied on manual labor, surrounded the capital. That wasn't a big surprise – if Perun could produce enough vehicles of all stripes to meet his demands, he wouldn't have had to trade with the US.

It was clear that whatever advanced industry the Goa'uld had was dedicated to the military. From what Jack kept learning about the other snakes, he couldn't even blame the bastard. Even if they were like Perun, and not worse, Jack would be focusing on building as many weapons as feasible if stuck in his shoes.

What was particularly notable was that all the buildings Jack could see appeared new. It looked like Perun had rebuilt his whole capital recently and was in the process of expanding it. That was more evidence pointing out that the alien might not have been bullshiting them as much as people might have liked.

The ongoing bustle on the streets made it clear this was early morning. The sun was just over the horizon, and Jack noted where East was on this planet for later reference.

"Carter, now that we are on another world, does the sun still rise from the East? Does your astrophysics degree say anything about that?" Jack asked.

"That's a good question…" Weir agreed, though she didn't look at either of them and kept observing the awakening city.

"It should be East, at least in theory, sir. How the locals call it is another question."

Jack asked the Jaffa driver the same question in Goa'uld.

"It's east," the younger-looking man told them. "On every planet with a Chapa'ai, with one sun, the sun rises from the East."

"Ah," Jack nodded. That made sense. How directions worked on worlds orbiting more than one star was another question.

"It shouldn't matter if we are talking about a binary star, though there might be odd systems out there in the galaxy," Carter concluded. "How we believe things should work and how they might work out here remains to be seen!" Her eyes glinted in excitement.

At least someone was happy.

The mix of building styles might have been odd, though not necessarily something you couldn't find somewhere on Earth. Jack hasn't traveled to every country, much less visited most of the older cities worldwide. The most notable thing he noted as they kept driving through the place was the lack of personal vehicles and advertisements. Here and there, Jack could see banners with Perun's Eagle and, more rarely, that symbol Charley spoke of, which was so similar to the Galactic Empire one. They even drove past what was likely a hospital if the banners with a staff surrounded by snakes were anything to go by.

However, no billboards were announcing what was popular right now, much less neon signs advertising businesses. There were no regular cops or anything like that either. Instead, here and there, Jack saw pairs of whole squads of Jaffa in combat gear either patrolling or just hanging out near intersections, looking bored.

Eventually, they reached a large plaza surrounded by fluttering banners. A large palace rose on its far end. The morning sun reflected off golden and silver ornaments shaped like Perun's various 'holy" symbols. Formations of Jaffa were exercising to the right, while smaller ones were marching in from side streets – an apparent changing of the guard.

As they drove closer to the stairs leading up to the palace, Jack could see prominent figures in golden armor standing in the shade, obscured by tall marble columns. An armored giant, followed by a tall, blonde woman with long braided hair, raced down the steps and arrived just in time for Perun's vehicle to park before them. The woman bowed deeply while the man saluted in the typical alien fashion.

"Ishta, we have new additions to the court," Perun announced after disembarking and jabbed a thumb their way. "They are your responsibility now. Make sure they keep a low profile," With those words, the alien monarch walked up the steps, followed by the large Jaffa. His cats jumped out and followed him, bouncing up the stairs.

The woman walked to their vehicle and looked critically at them.

"I am Ishta, High Priestess of our Lord Perun. Welcome to Slavna Zemq, humans."

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After grabbing Hathor, Seth became surplus to requirements for the time being. My first job once I was back to my palace was to get a Canopic Jar, extract Sethesh from the human he had possessed for decades, and stick him in it. Usually, doing so would require a lot of persuasion courtesy of a pain stick or other torture devices or a machine to extract the symbiote. The third option a few Goa'uld were particularly fond of when dealing with an unruly underling was to get Jaffa to hold the host, then use a knife to cut out the symbiote before stuffing it into the Canopic Jar.

In Seth's case, it was more straightforward. I slammed his host into the wall with my mind before hammering Seth with orders to jump out while I was still playing nice. For all his displays of defiance, Sethesh wasn't a complete fool. He burst out of his host's mouth. I caught him with the Force, leaving the human to collapse bonelessly on the floor. Seth hissed at me right before I shoved him into the jar and sealed it. Eventually, I might have the time to finish subverting him, at which point I would have another loyal minion.

"Dispose of the host and put this into the treasure room," I handled the Canopic Jar to my Custodes Commander. I left the cell, heading for the deepest part of the dungeon.

Hathor was there, kept unconscious by my people. Her only attendants were a handful of female Jaffa who were reasonably trustworthy. The deepest section of the dungeons was under constant guard by Custodes in sealed armor, who had explicit orders of what to do to ensure Hathor wouldn't be walking out of her own volition.

I dismissed everyone and used the Force to jolt the Queen awake. It took her some time to shake off being repeatedly knocked off. Her eyes finally focused, and she glared at me.

"You!" Hathor spat. Judging by the sheer fury radiating from her, she was about to say something she might have regretted. Instead, the Queen narrowed her eyes and looked around. Clearly, she was doing her best to keep her boiling rage under a semblance of control. "Who are you, and what do you want?"

"I am the one who recently killed Ra. You are welcome, by the way."

Hathor laughed at that declaration. Incredulity and disbelief briefly overcame her rage at being treated like a common underling and chained to a wall. The air inside the cell became heavy with pheromones and Nish'ta. It was a potent mix, but nothing that could have overwhelmed me even decades ago.

"Heru'ur is dead as well. The Tok'ra blew him up a few months ago," I continued.

"You lie!" Hathor hissed at me.

Well, she did at least like her most famous and successful son. The outrage and disbelief that briefly overwhelmed all her other emotions were telling.

"I was right there when they tried to kill us both. You will help me deal with them for their treachery. And you will take credit for Ra's death because of what he did to you."

"Why would I do that?" Hathor demanded. "What is in form me?"

"Beyond not being tortured into submission? You will do it because I told you to," I drew on the Force and brushed the surface of her mind before slowly pushing against it.

"What are you doing!?" Hathor demanded. She struggled against her bounds, barely rattling them.

"I am about to demonstrate how proper brainwashing is done, my dear Queen," I whispered into her mind. "You are grateful beyond measure that I killed Ra for you. I am the one who saved you, Hathor. I am the one who will help you avenge your son," I hammered each concept into her mind repeatedly, ignoring the Queen's struggle and graphic promises of ruinous vengeance.

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Part 4

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The first recruitment stations for specialists and tradesmen required by Lord Perun opened across the United States, Canada, and the EU. Japan, South Korea, and China will follow suit next week. National Guard, Gendarmerie, or regular military units secure whole districts around each recruiting station in their respective countries, expecting trouble.

CNN

Interview with Elder Kasuf, the leader of the Abydos people, sheds more light on how Ra's and, presumably, most Goa'uld human subjects live!

Associated Press

Sergeant Nicholas Gates, from the US Air Force, will give an interview after returning from Prolet, one of Lord Perun's agricultural worlds. Sergeant Gates is one of a handful of people from Earth who have seen one of the alien monarch's developed worlds; his insight would be invaluable.

USA Today

Dr. Svetlana Markova and Dr. Hiroshi Ryo will soon leave for Lord Perun's Throne World, Slavna Zemq, to join the other Earth representatives there. Dr. Ryo is a construction engineer working for the Japanese Government...

Euronews

By the time we could run proper intelligence operations across the galaxy, we already had much to catch up to, information-wise. We needed to be clear on the current strategic situation, how things were recently, and how they changed due to the Goa'uld Civil War. We must gain comprehensive cultural and historical context to properly evaluate the information we are receiving and have any idea of how any System Lord might act.

From a NID briefing to the IOA and UN Security Council

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Slavna Zemq
Perun's Throne World
Milky Way Galaxy

Ishta arrived too damn early in the morning, unceremoniously invading the corner of the palace Jack and the others set up shop yesterday. The briefing they got from Perun's High Priestess didn't fill O'Neill with joy. They were expected to keep a low profile while in the palace and do their damned best not to tell anyone not already in the know they were from Earth, an advanced human world. If a spy, Perun's people had missed learned about it, that might sign their collective death sentence, Earth's included.

As far as most people in Perun's realm were concerned, they were favored human servants, brought to help make the human subjects more productive. As it turned out, they wouldn't spend much time in the palace, enjoying what passed for luxuries here.

By the look of it, neither Carter nor Weir were fully awake yet. While Jack was accustomed to getting up early after decades in the military, this was a bit much, especially without a warning. Though it might be jet, or well, Stargate lag messing up with their internal clocks.

"Good morning. I have your marching orders ready. First, Colonel O'Neill. You will join Lord Perun's training cadres, observe ongoing training, and prepare a briefing for your people about the kinds of trainers they should send first," Ishta decreed, reading from one of those Goa'uld weird stone tablets. "These two will escort you and make sure the Jaffa don't give you a hard time," Ishta nodded at the group of Perun's personal guards waiting in the corridor behind her.

"I see…" Jack muttered. He needed a coffee to be fully operational. Did these people have coffee? The nightmare scenario was that they might not have it, get him fully awake in a hurry.

"Captain Carter, until the rest of your party arrives, you will coordinate the uplift efforts on our fringe worlds. You will be visiting the worlds already benefiting from trade with Earth, talk with your personnel operating there and our Lord Perun's people, and begin working on preliminary plans for expansion," Ishta ordered. "You will have an appropriate escort as well."

Carter perked up at that. If she did well enough in such a task, it might get her on a short list for promotion by itself.

"Finally, Dr. Weir, you will be with me. You need comprehensive education on the current state of the galaxy."

=SBS=

I slotted a data crystal in a reader on my desk. Prime Zlatan brought a case of those, containing raw data, the best briefing my Inquisitors could make in the time available, as well as information on targets gathered from drone footage and locals receptive to my social engineering efforts.

That was a lot of data, especially considering how few teams of trained drone operators I had up and running.

The list of traitors was unsurprising yet irritating. It contained elders from the majority of important Jaffa clans on the planet. For most intents and purposes, those were the people who ran the place. Kali's Goa'uld overseer, whom I inherited and kept under wraps since then, remained hands-off unless deployment orders were issued. That status quo worked great for everyone, or so the recent trouble tried to tell me. That Varanasi was a damn primitive waste of potential didn't occur to most people. Of course, it wouldn't! Doing so meant my new Jaffa would be relatively less powerful and wealthy than the humans they were used to lording over. From where many stood, their current exalted societal positions relied on not learning any new lessons. After all, the sheer disparity in wealth, position, and physical ability justified the existing caste system. Anything that made things fairer would undermine the status quo and a central pillar supporting the Jaffa's exalted position on my new worlds.

If I had more time, there would be various ways I could approach the issue. The best approach would be to constantly rub it in the Jaffa's faces, what the changes would mean for them, and how they would benefit. However, with my current industrial capacity and scarcity of trained, trustworthy personnel to get things done, uplifting the human population was a low-hanging fruit that could be done on the cheap. Even in its infancy, those efforts showed promise, earning me the loyalty of my new human subjects.

The Jaffa, on the other hand… Well, right now, it was a good thing that they were yet to receive new equipment and training. Kali's petty games helped because she returned everyone deployed away from my new worlds stripped of their equipment. In that regard, her spite would make what needed to happen easier.

"We will place Varanasi under lockdown. I will give you a timetable before you return," I told my Prime. "We will deploy from orbit a few hours after sunset, hitting the locations of the key elders in succession. I want them in custody, alongside family members, to use as hostages. The Jaffa recorded carrying out attacks against my people and infrastructure are traitors. It is time I made a proper example of why crossing me is not a good idea. You are to await further orders, Prime Zlatan."

I had to plan and oversee a massive smash-and-grab operation with my principal commanders now that we had more than enough targets to go after.