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Chapter 13: Reaping whirlwind

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Part 5

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Ha'tak

high orbit above Rajgir

Perun's domain

Milky Way galaxy

Coaching Lyda so Earthlings wouldn't necessarily run circles around her took much longer than anticipated. I would need at least a few more extended conversation sessions with her before dispatching her to Earth.

Ideally, I would need a few CEOs and financiers either brainwashed or taken over by a loyal Goa'uld to begin achieving most of my political goals. Once I had him loyal, Seth might do as long as he kept his real identity secret anyway.

The delay ensured I wasn't there for the arrival of my new Ha'tak. Instead, I had to arrange a meeting with the senior Jaffa from Heru'ur's Navy, now serving me, before they headed out to rest and meet their families. In order to save time, I dragged Che'Nub along as well.

The meeting happened in Ha'tak's cargo compartment, quickly set up as a banquet hall. That way, I would be able to speak with my new Jaffa under the guise of a less formal and relaxed atmosphere.

I recognized V'rak, as well as the faces of several other Jaffa I spoke with after Heru'ur's unfortunate death. It was really tragic! Now I had to manage a much larger navy and army. That was why I had to remind myself to act with the proper respect the event required instead of how I really felt...

"Lord Perun!" V'rak bowed deeply, and the Jaffa behind him followed suit. "We're ready to serve and hunt down all traitors to the ends of the galaxy and beyond!"

Their faith and determination were tasty. The undercurrent of focused anger was just a threat. There was no misdirected passion here. These Jaffa knew their enemy and hoped I would lead them against the Tok'ra and anyone who dared work with them.

I could work with this.

"That's the spirit!" I nodded graciously. "Our long-term goal is the utter destruction of the treacherous Tok'ra and anyone who supports them in a bid for power. Sadly, at this time, we lack credible leads to pursue. Supreme Lord Ra and his armies are acting on all the information we recovered from Moloc's Throne World. The Supreme Lord has Ashraks on the hunt."

As expected, my words didn't make the Jaffa happy.

"However," I raised a hand and smiled, "there are ways we can contribute both to the hunt and in ensuring we safeguard our realm and people against further treachery. The part that directly impacts my Black Legion you're now part of is straightforward. We know that the Tok'ra love to use cloaked ships to spy and insert spies and saboteurs. This is going to be your target. My Black Legion will be testing new equipment and tactics to make any such attempts by the Tok'ra suicide at worst." I smiled viciously. "At best, we might get prisoners to stick in front of my interrogators."

V'rak and his people perked up. Now I had their undivided attention.

"Take a seat, my friends, and let's discuss how to best deal with our enemies." I waved at the tables behind me and headed for the place of honor. "This," I pointed at the Goa'uld who wanted to be anywhere but in my presence, "is Che'Nub, one of Supreme Lord Ra's scientists. His job is to improve the potency of Lord Ra's fleets and figure out better ways to smite his enemies. Do enlightens us on your progress." I smiled pleasantly at Che'Nub, who promptly flinched.

I had to discipline him again after putting him as an overseer of the world below us. He didn't like the idea of training dirty Humans to do a Goa'uld's job and expressed his views in a less than polite fashion.

The Jaffa waited for me to sit down before spreading around the tables and finding chairs. The most senior sat closest to me, with V'rak and a Jaffa with a face disfigured by plasma fire, finding themselves to my right and left, respectively.

"My Lord," Che'Nub grudgingly bowed. I could sense his fear and hate. He struggled to keep those emotions down and be suitably polite. "After Lord Heru'ur's vile murder, I began exploring new tasks as ordered. Soon we will have a sensor satellite design ready for testing. As ordered, the system should be powerful yet cheap enough to produce in large numbers. If effective, you should have enough satellites within months to cover your domain."

"The purpose of those satellites will be to detect cloaked ships. It will be the Black Fleet's job to deploy and monitor the satellite networks. Until then, I want plans for Death Glider patrols to minimize the odds of cloaked insertion into my domain. If you detect such an attempt, I would want the offenders caught alive if feasible, dead if not."

"We will see it done, Lord Perun!" V'rak vowed. I could see his eyes burning with anticipation.

"Good. Next, I would hear your thoughts on a weapon project Che'Nub has been working on. Between all of you, my new Jaffa, you have at least a few thousand years of experience. That is not something to overlook lightly." I shot Che'Nub a glance. "Continue."

While the scientist spoke, I kept examining the Jaffa through the Force, focusing on the flow and ebb of their emotions.

"For now, we're looking at augmenting the firepower of existing Ha'tak without needing a significant upgrade or even rebuilding the ship in question. This means that simply adding more weapons is pointless. There is only so much energy the power core powering the ship can produce. Said power must be divided between weapons and shields. At this time, making more powerful weapons that don't draw more energy to fire is not practical." Che'Nub couldn't help himself and gave me a dirty look. "That is why, in his infinite wisdom, Lord Perun suggested we work on an old, outdated, and wasteful concept. Instead of relying on tried and tested energy weapons that waste no resources once built, Lord Perun forced us to look at missile weapons." Che'Nub looked at the Jaffa and rolled his eyes. "Think of the plasma bombs used by Al'kesh, but with longer range and striking harder!"

The Jaffa liked the idea and looked at each other in speculation.

"Logistics, you ignorant fools!" Che'Nub spat. "With the current setup, you ignorant simpletons only have to worry about food and water on a campaign! Your staff weapons won't run out of power during a war! The same goes for a Ha'tak unless damaged in combat! It won't run out of energy to fire or fuel for the power core! What Lord Perun suggests can change this, not to mention the immense waste of resources and time his new weapons would be! No matter its effect, you will lose the weapon every time you fire it!"

The Jaffa didn't appreciate being talked down in such a way, yet not a single one of them dared protest. On the bright side, more than a few simmered with delicious anger.

"Yes, the changes would require proper logistics setup beyond delivering food, water, and basic equipment. My armies are already perfecting dealing with such challenges. I see no reason my Black Legion can't do it too." I reasonably pointed out.

"Further, explosions in space don't work like on the ground!" Che'Nub kept venting.

"I am aware of that as well, and that is why you have specific goals for the warheads. Do you have something useful to report, or have you been wasting my time? More importantly, have you been mishandling the weapons projects ordered by Supreme Lord Ra?" I asked mildly.

Che'Nub's anger withered, replaced by terror. He quickly shook his head.

"I do have some positive developments to report! They might be impractical, but you can do what you want, Lord Perun." The Goa'uld actually sounded sincere.

At a glance, I couldn't detect deception. If nothing else, Che'Nub appeared to believe what he said.

"Do go on."

"We're working on a viable design to channel the power of a naquadah bomb into a cone aimed forward. This way, if detonated close enough to a shielded target, most of the weapon yield won't be wasted in space. Such a weapon would still be much less potent than a full-powered ship cannon blast. The plasma bolt delivers too much power in a single hard-hitting package to make anything else practical!" Che'Nub rapidly explained. "Simply using larger warheads is not viable. Doing so would overwhelm the system we're working on to focus the blast. It won't produce better results, despite the waste of a larger amount of naquadah and the need for a bigger delivery system for the warhead!"

"Options for deployment?" I asked.

"Launchers attached to the super-structure of a Ha'tak and linked to its control systems. We can do this without rebuilding or making major changes to a Ha'tak as ordered."

"Thoughts?" I asked the assembled Jaffa.

They shared long looks, and eventually, V'rak was the one to speak.

"If such a weapon can allow one of our Ha'tak to breach an enemy ship's shields and destroy it rapidly, it can be of great utility. In single combat, the ship that loses its shields first is the one to die, potentially without causing more than minor damage. In fleet combat, the ability to rapidly destroy a part of an enemy fleet can be invaluable. All other things being equal, this alone can be a decisive advantage in battle."

I could almost hear the Jaffa asking why no one had thought about this before. Most Goa'uld weren't innovators. When all was said and done, mass deployment of naquadah warheads would waste it in a way that almost all other uses didn't. At least, in theory, you could salvage parts of destroyed ships.

My idea meant the mass deployment of warheads required relatively expensive and rare, highly enriched naquadah. There was no getting the material back after detonating the weapon. And it would require many missile strikes in conjunction with regular plasma fire to quickly collapse a shield.

"Now that more ships are available, I want prototypes ready for testing. We'll first test a singular launcher carried by Al'kesh so that we wouldn't risk a Ha'tak if something goes wrong. When you have that system safe enough, I want it mounted on a Ha'tak and tested in the system's asteroid field."

Che'Nub fearfully nodded.

"As to you, my Jaffa, I want you to think about the best tactics to deploy such weapons as well."

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Part 6

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19 October 1996

Stargate Command

Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, US

Earth, Milky Way Galaxy

"Jack, we all want you to know we blame you for this." Ferretti held a memo printout with two fingers as if poisonous.

Jack poked the Jell-O on his tray and decided that even this wasn't enough to make up for his current situation.

"Mandatory sensitivity and behavior training…." Kawalsky squinted at his copy. "What's this preschool shit?"

"We're apparently not giving all due respect to the snakes," Jack explained and cut into his Jell-O with a spoon. "We shouldn't be calling the snakes, snakes, for example." The very idea tasted terrible, and even the Jell-O couldn't make him feel better.

"That's sensible as far as your buddy Perun's concerned. Have you asked him for a lightsaber yet?" Ferretti asked. He carefully put down the memo and pushed it away as if afraid it might bite.

"After this goes through, I might be unable to do that. It would likely be disrespectful to our god-king of an ally."

"That unpleasant news aside," Kawalsky put down his copy of the memo and dug into his food, "What about off-world deployment? Are we going to go or not?" He asked and examined a bunch of fries he nailed with his fork.

"The last thing I heard is we're to continue training while the Pentagon re-evaluates the danger level of the mission and how feasible it is."

"What the hell is he doing here?" Ferretti exclaimed.

Jack turned around and groaned.

"For Christ's sake! What does it take to get rid of him?!"

"Jack, my dearest friend!" Mayborne exclaimed loudly.

"We're not friends, much less dear ones, you menace! Why aren't you stuck in Washington answering pointed questions?!" Jack grumbled.

"I'm a man among men these days, Jack. Pay attention!" Harry dragged a chair and sat at their table. "You're looking at one of the handfuls of survivors who engaged people with alien equipment. I'm too valuable to throw to the wolves. Instead, I'm here to share my wisdom and try to keep you alive." Mayborne grinned. "You don't have to go out of your way to thank me!"

"Don't worry, Harry. We are not thanking you." Jack viciously stabbed his Jell-O, imagining it was Mayborne's smug face.

"That's too bad, Jack. Here I thought you would like a briefing on what the alien armor is capable of and some ideas on how to deal with Jaffa without extensive air and armor support. Don't worry. I understand completely. That essential sensitivity training can't wait."

"Harry, you're a conniving ass," Jack grumbled.

"That's all part of my charm. Besides, did you think we would let you go running across the galaxy without adult supervision?" Harry asked in a more serious tone.

"I should be asking you that. Remind me again, who fucked up here at home?"

"It was the fucking inter-agency bullshit." Mayborne grimaced. "Don't give me that look, Jack. It was a miracle we went as heavy as we did, and it was far from enough anyway." Mayborne got up. "I want your team leaders and anyone in the facility present for a briefing in an hour."

Mayborne went to get coffee and thankfully left the mess hall.

"We aren't getting rid of the spooks, then?" Kawalsky asked. "I see why you aren't that man's greatest fan, Jack."

"Apparently, we aren't that lucky."

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"Gather around children and pay attention! This might very well keep you alive!" Mayborne declared.

Jack found him in one of the larger briefing rooms in the base, armed with a PowerPoint presentation. Indeed, Harry's evil saw no bounds.

Mayborne waved a small remote and activated a projector. An image of Jaffa armor appeared on the white screen behind him.

"This is armor that is thousands of years old. It's the next best thing to immune against small arms fire and could easily tank sniper rounds. I'll spare you the book-length technical explanation of how precisely it works. All you need to know is the alien alloys it made of absorb and disperse all kinds of energy in a way that's the next best thing to magic."

Harry looked at the assembled team leaders and other SGC personnel able to attend his presentation.

"In some ways, the examination showed us is better and worse than the observed combat results imply." Mayborne pressed a button on the remote, and the image shifted to that of a black bodysuit. "This is amazing, according to the specialists who looked at it. It's a thermal isolation bodysuit that helps further disperse kinetic strikes. Only one of the alien's minions had access to such a suit." Mayborne paused. "Good news first, this thing doesn't have much give and has to be almost tailor-made for a person to be of best use. Neither this suit nor the armors we have in custody to study could protect against the type of energy Perun's Jaffa utilized through their side arms."

Jack perked up at that. If it was too expensive to protect against such weapons, or the drawbacks were too much as far as bulk or weight went, he could see the aliens not bothering. Further, as side-arms, those things would have a limited effective range. The only question was why the aliens didn't use that type of energy with their primary weapons. However, for all Jack knew, scaling the tech up might be a practical issue. It could be practically useless against troops in any cover as well. In contrast, a plasma bolt with the punch of a grenade could demolish said cover in short order.

They needed such weapons to test their capabilities and limitations, Jack decided.

"The next good news is that medical examination of the captured cultists who wore the armor was telling." Mayborne switched to the next slide. This one was divided into four, showing the chests of four men. Three looked like someone had beaten them to the inch of their lives, while the last one was virtually intact.

"The alien armor without an under-suit couldn't fully compensate for the kinetic energy of the bullets it stopped from penetrating. Light arms would have inflicted enough blunt-force trauma in a prolonged engagement to neutralize three of the enemy combatants eventually."

"That's damning for us. We're talking about the capabilities of thousands of years old ceremonial armor. We know that the aliens now have better gear for their combat troops." Jack countered.

"You're correct, Jack. That is why I also have a series of firm recommendations, so you don't get mauled like we did when you encounter hostile aliens. Unless we develop small ballistic arms that hit much harder than anything we have at our disposal right now, shooting at armored aliens will be a waste of time and ammunition. We've tested two of the available armors against standard forty-millimeter grenades. A direct hit would incapacitate, if not outright kill, a human wearing it. Even if much tougher than regular people, these Jaffa should be mission killed by a direct hit. Now, for the bad news – even the old parade armor makes them virtually immune to shrapnel and somewhat mitigates the effects of an overpressure wave. However, it doesn't outright ignore it."

"Frag grenades won't work unless they detonate at a point-blank range, got it." Jack jolted a note on his notepad. "We'll have to go out loaded to hunt Terminators, I gather?"

"From a practical standpoint, I recommend that each team we deploy through the gate carries at least a couple of the ceremonial staff weapons. While not accurate beyond close range, you'll have unlimited ammo, and they can get useful as demolition tools if necessary." Mayborne suggested.

"What about not getting killed by ray guns?" Someone in the back asked.

"In that regard, I've got bad news. Up-armoring vehicles against the known alien plasma weapons are promising. They have the bulk and capacity to utilize spaced and contact armor well to disperse and mitigate the effects of plasma bolts. Tanks, for example, have the sheer mass to absorb the energy of multiple shots." Mayborne grimaced ad advanced the presentation showing the gruesome results of ballistic gel dummies clad in various types of armor.

They were all shot with alien staff weapons and the results weren't promising.

"The same isn't true for infantry." Harry continued. "From what I gather, the way the plasma works makes it tricky to defend against at an infantry scale. It dumps its full charge into the target at contact. Consequently, the armor has to deal with a solid kinetic punch and a stream of scorching gas that can pass through soft armor. That will cause terrible burns even if hard inserts absorb the initial strike. The kind of spaced armor that can work on vehicles is not practical for use by infantry. Area 51 is working on prototypes for assault or defense troops that won't be expected to move much. We're talking about armored suits of similar bulk to those used by the bomb disposal specialists but much heavier due to the type of hard inserts needed. Without access to advanced alien alloys, that's going to be the best we can do for the foreseeable future. So my best recommendation is to avoid being hit."

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