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Chapter 26: This is the Way


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Interlude: Perun's Way and its consequences

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What is Lord Perun's way? Reports from his Throne World, Slavna Zemq (Glorious Land), point at a dedicated social engineering campaign going hand-in-hand with uplift efforts that began before Lord Perun contacted Earth.

The core of the New Way is the Resol'nare, which translates into six sacred actions preached about by Lord Perun's priests. It immediately becomes clear that this aims to bind the Jaffa in ways that go beyond the religious methods used by the Goa'uld. However, a closer examination clarifies that these efforts can and are being used to change the societal dynamics within Lord Perun's realm and apply to all his subjects, though differently.

First, we have the requirement for everyone to wear their armor when practical. That makes sense for the Jaffa, the warrior class of the Goa'uld. Being armored always offers protection and resilience, ensuring they are always ready to face an uprising or surprise attack. This principle also applies to Goa'uld functionaries and human subjects, who are expected to be in "uniform," so to speak, corresponding to that of their office when feasible. We believe the purpose is to create solidarity while observing societal divides and norms. At the same time, the Resol'nare would be slowly undermining them to create a more united society in the long term.

The second principle is the introduction of a "sacred" language. Everyone is supposed to learn to speak and write. A curious requirement is that people should also teach that language to their children. The benefits of introducing a new language instead of utilizing the common Goa'uld and the drawbacks are obvious. Until enemy forces commonly speak the language, its secrecy will be significant.

Further, as we've seen on Abydos, Goa'uld dialects can vary significantly across the galaxy. A new language can be used as another tool to create unity and as a vector of cultural and societal engineering. This is especially true if Lord Perun doesn't attempt to erase existing local dialects, which has often been one of the primary focal points of resistance when introducing a new language to a population.

The third tenet of the Resol'nare is simple and to the point: Jaffa are supposed to protect their Liege Lord, Perun in this case, their realm, their families, and themselves, in that order. In concept, that is not so different than the vows most soldiers on Earth armies swear. This is obviously an essential formality, carefully chosen to foster unity under one leader and to make Jaffa invested in protecting their realm as a whole by bundling it all in with ensuring the safety of their families and themselves.

The fourth principle is fascinating and essential. It requires that Jaffa raise their children in the Resol'nare, outright stating that they should follow Lord Perun's example in how he is raising and uplifting his people since before introducing his new way. The purpose here is clear – it is meant to create a self-sustaining wave of societal change by making it a sacred duty to raise your children in Lord Perun's Resol'nare. If it works, this is an ingenious way to mitigate one key issue Lord Perun obviously has – a lack of sufficient trained personnel to run various parts of his realm, which includes teachers, engineers, etc.… By making his Priests' teachers and the Resol'nare a core part of his religion, Lord Perun utilizes existing control systems and indoctrination to steer his society on his desired path.

The fifth principle is that everyone should contribute to the welfare of their people. This aims to strengthen society's fabric within Lord Perun's realm and give everyone more reasons to be invested in its overall success. This principle also binds people in all ways to contribute to society with honor and religion. By doing this, Lord Perun ensures that in the long run, his people would see even usually undesirable yet needed jobs as vital and honorable, potentially providing an organic way to steer his workforce where it is necessary at any given time.

The sixth principle is telling. It is simple and to the point. When Lord Perun calls, his people are required to answer and contribute with everything they have. This is the culmination of the Resol'nare; it is the end goal and the core of Lord Perun's new societal contract for his realm.

In conclusion, the Resol'nare, combined with the ongoing uplift efforts, is aimed at ensuring the loyalty of the population at large, the creation of a single nation, and the investment of its citizens into its welfare in the long run. We believe that Lord Perun is fully aware that his efforts to uplift his people will eventually create a highly educated society where mere religious forms of control won't be enough in the long run.

From NID briefing on the Resol'nare, based on data gathered by Earth's representatives in Lord Perun's court


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DEW (Dr. Elizabeth Weir): The Resol'nare is not directly relevant to Earth. Lord Perun clarified that he is not interested in changing how we live and run our affairs as long as we deliver what he requires. However, we must keep in mind its implications. Lord Perun's actions are changing an alien culture, making it hard to predict how his Jaffa or Human subjects might act. Models we have here on Earth would require radical updates to be relevant in any way.

SAI (Senator Alex Ingram): Dr. Weir, do you believe that Lord Perun will attempt to introduce his religion a new way or both to Earth?

DEW: I am not sure, Senator. Right now, he lacks the personnel to even attempt something like that. In the long run? Everything is possible. If I have to make an educated guess, I would say that he would try to introduce his Resol'nare, and perhaps religion, to the people who will work on the worlds he is giving us access to. Those colonists must live and work alongside Lord Perun's highly religious and devoted people. They will likely be expected to observe the Resol'nare in the long run, if not Lord Perun's religion. If religion was a sticking point, he would have demanded that we allow and facilitate the work of his Warrior Priests on Earth. He hasn't even mentioned such a possibility.

SAI: Then that's a concern, though not an immediate problem we must focus on right now.

From a Senate hearing pertaining the nature of Lord Perun's realm


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Part 5

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Chapa'ai Command

Krepost

Lord Perun's domain

Milky Way Galaxy

First, Prime Stephan was more than a little irritated that he wasn't with his Lord, smiting traitors and dispensing justice. That was especially true when the traitors were fellow Jaffa, the stupid bastards!

Nevertheless, he had orders and a job to do.

A probe floated before the Chapa'ai, just out of range of its activation surge. Exploration units with the finest gear Lord Perun's forges could supply waited nearby, ready to deploy if something was interesting on the other side.

Stephan stood within the armored command center quite far from the Chapa'ai, observing what was happening through cameras. Holographic screens displayed the heavily fortified area holding the device and the corridors leading out of it, which were kill zones in their own right.

"Proceed," Stephan ordered.

Prime Andrei, from the Lighting Legion, was in what Lord Perun called the tactical command of the operation. The experienced and level-headed Jaffa saluted, then dialed up the next world to explore. So far, nothing particularly useful was found by Chapa'ai Command upon the worlds recovered from Abydos. That is not to say that all those addresses were useless. However, checking their rough location in the galaxy and comparing it with the areas claimed by the System Lords, or forbidden worlds, meant many of them were not to be used. From the rest, Capa'ai Command only found abandoned worlds and, at best, had primitive human populations. Due to their locations, some of those worlds were too exposed to even explore for resources, provided there was nothing precious near the Chapa'ai. Others would require an extensive survey and eventually be developed, though likely in the distant future. With the coming war, Lord Perun would gain access to many already settled and built-up or partially developed worlds anyway. Spending most available resources there would be a better investment than starting from scratch.

The Chapa'ai came to life with an explosion of divine power, and Andrei sent the probe through.

"We have a hit, First Prime!" Andrei's voice rang with excitement.

Good, they had wasted more than enough time without finding anything that would be of use in a relevant timeframe! Andrei transmitted pictures from the other side of the Chapa'ai to the command center. A new holographic window opened, showing unfamiliar machinery and some kind of metal structure lit up by the rippling surface within the Chapa'ai's inner ring.

No one was in sight, and more importantly, there was no sign of defenses. Information streamed down the screen. According to the probe, there were energy readings throughout the area. The atmosphere and gravity were safe.

"Prime Andrei, you are clear to deploy," Stephan ordered. "Reinforcements will be on standby," An area denial weapon was also ready, just in case.


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Altair
Milky Way Galaxy

Andrei's Jaffa fanned out of the Chapa'ai, taking defensive positions around the machinery in the area. His second in command arrived last with the rear guard. They would remain at the Chapa'ai and hold it. Meanwhile, Andrei would lead his Lightning Legionaries deeper into whatever facility they found themselves in.

"Jaffa, Kree!" Andrei ordered. A detachment flower forward. Half of the Jaffa took whatever cover they could find and looked for threats. In contrast, the second half bounced ahead until they were in position, providing overwatch so their brothers could move in relative safety.

A few probes buzzed around, providing light and information about any threats they might detect. The Jaffa operating them were back at the Chapa'ai, in a relative safely. They guided the explorers at least as much as Andrei did until they ran into something exciting or dangerous.

That was a very different way to lead that took a long time to accept. Even after months of training and exploring five primitive worlds, Andrei couldn't say he was accustomed to this part of Lord Perun's new ways. However, the results achieved in training didn't lie. Doing things this way saved Jaffa lives so they could serve Lord Perun and their families for much longer than otherwise.

Lord Perun told them that death in battle was an occupational hazard that all warriors should expect. However, stupid death was to be avoided at all costs. While it was still a great honor to die in battle for your God and family, winning and getting back alive was the greater honor a warrior had to strive for.

That was somewhat harder to accept after being taught all your life that laying down your life for your God was the greatest honor a Jaffa could achieve. Victory was everything, while lives were cheap in comparison.

Lord Perun disagreed. Victory might be vital, and often everything. However, he no longer saw the lives of his subjects as cheap and easy to spend unless it was absolutely necessary. That was a big part of the Resol'nare. After all, you could not serve your God or contribute to your people if you were dead. Put that way, it made sense too…

Soon after leaving the Chapa'ai chamber, the exploration units reached a maze of corridors.

"Halt!" Andrei ordered. "We are sending the probes ahead to map us a way to anything of value," He decided. Otherwise, they would waste too much time and endanger themselves needlessly. "Set up defensive positions."

The probes found more machinery, and some of it was obviously working – the sounds it made, along with the heat and energy they detected, made that clear. However, no one was in sight. That, more than anything, worried Andrei. Someone had to keep those things maintained. Once upon a time, the Prime wouldn't have thought in such terms. However, after attending lessons with the Warrior Priests multiple times each week, he had a broad, if shallow, understanding of technology and the basics of Goa'uld magics. To a point, they were one and the same, blending into a divine whole when technology became advanced enough.

A section of a nearby wall slid open, revealing a hidden tunnel.

"Comtrya!" A rotund, balding man wearing expensive clothes walked out. He held some kind of device in one hand like a Zat.

The Jaffa in the area whirled around and aimed at the interloper.

"I greet you in the name of our Lord Perun," Andrei offered.

The man smiled broadly at them before shooting whatever odd weapon he had. Andrei and his Jaffa only noticed it when invisible energy washed over their armor before discharging into the floor with a crackling sound.

Seven Zat'nik'tel blast slammed into the man. Instead of collapsing as an unarmored human, Jaffa or even Goa'uld might, the stranger began to violently trash around before falling into a flailing heap. Andrei's finger twitched near the trigger of his plasma gun. Within moments, it became clear that whatever was happening was unnatural. The limbs of the stranger were hitting the floor with metal clanks, hard enough to shred his clothes and tear off patches of skin. Instead of blood flying around, the wound revealed some mechanism below the skin… or something that imitated human skin.

That thing was no man at all.

Andrei shot him again for good measure, using the Zat built into his weapon. If anything, the twitching and flailing became even more violent. The Prime considered blasting the thing to pieces but thought better of it. Lord Perun's scientists might want to examine it as intact as possible.

"Give it a shot each!" Andrei ordered. Seven more Zat blasts hit the thing. It let out an inhuman screech before twitching once with such power that something under its fake skin audibly broke. Finally, it collapsed on its back and lay still.

"First Prime, Prime Andrei, we have a situation…" The mission leader contacted his commander, thankful for Lord Perun's foresight, requiring that Chapa'ai Command kept the Chapa'ai active for as long as possible while a mission was underway. That way, they would be in contact if they ran into trouble shortly after going through.


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Part 6

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Altair
Milky Way Galaxy

Excitement and frustration filled Vahlen when she walked through the Chapa'ai. The heavy armor she was wearing, no matter how potentially useful, didn't help matter. It felt confining and restricting, even if she could give her host enough strength to move in it as easily as if she were a much larger and stronger Jaffa.

The same couldn't be said about her Jaffa minions. They were excitedly bouncing in their armor at being deployed and out of the laboratory. Watching them so eager to get themselves killed after all Vahlen did to make them valuable assistants was immensely vexing. Jaffa had to be Jaffa, she concluded with a sigh.

There were more than enough expendable warriors around, so hopefully, her assistants would return reasonably intact, Vahlen concluded after looking around the large industrial space holding the Chapa'ai on this world. Nearly a hundred of Perun's warriors were in the area, holding brand-new defense positions with heavy weaponry. Probes floated around, lighting up the space and scanning for unseen threats.

"Lady Vahlen, I am Prime Andrein. I am in command of Lord Perun's operation on this world. My Jaffa are at your disposal," an armored Jaffa Vahlen wasn't familiar with introduced himself. Like everyone else coming to this place, he was in a sealed advanced armor.

"Bring me to the thing that attacked you first. I wish to examine it," Vahlen ordered. "Have you found anything else of interest?"

"My warriors have located many active alien machines. We know not what they do, my Lady. There are many more that appear dormant. They all require examination and evaluation."

Of course, they did. A machine that can mimic people well enough could be dangerous and valuable. There were various hazardous experiments Vahlen would like to do that would almost certainly ensure the death of those doing them beyond recovery. She didn't have the people to sacrifice in such pursuits. Vahlen had to agree with Lord Perun on that point. Competent subordinates were hard to find. They are often more valuable than their weight in highly refined naquadah.

Without Lord Perun's idea to train promising Jaffa as assistants, Vahlen would have had to do much of the simpler, tedious work herself, like before. Now, she could achieve so much more in the same time span. More reasonably trustworthy and competent assistants could only mean more successful science, achieved faster! Who knew, one day, they might reach the point where there were enough trained competent Jaffa that Vahlen could sacrifice some of them to pursue discoveries without increasing her tedious workload!

"We are within a deep underground facility of some sort. Due to the presence of concealed corridors, I am not sure if we have explored the whole thing. So far, there is no sign of people or other machines like the one that attacked us. The way to the surface is sealed and locked down. It would take some time to breach it, and doing so is not something we are focused on at this time."

That made sense, Vahlen decided. It would be best to retrieve and examine anything of value in this place before risking discovery or making it easier for any nearby locals to attack them.

Prime Andrei led them to a nearby storage room that was mostly empty. Vahlen could see various metal containers stacked near one wall, but that was it. In the center of the room stood a hefty metal table holding a body. It appeared to be an old human in sensible, rich clothes which had seen better days. Even with its limbs twisted in unnatural angles, Vahlen had to come closer and look at it under a bright light to be sure that this wasn't merely a corpse that died in an unusual pose before rigor set in.

The torn skin looked real, and only the lack of blood and chunks of flesh gave up the ruse. That by itself could come in useful. One of the many ideas Lord Perun gave Vahlen was that of prosthetics – something no one with access to a sarcophagus would have thought of because a long enough stay in one could regenerate a missing limb. You would be starving afterward and have lost some weight due to the device providing only some of the needed energy for the process. However, that was usually a moot point. For a Goa'uld, it was either a long sleep in a sarcophagus or taking a new host upon being maimed in such a way. For many Jaffa, the time required was a blessing that even the most benevolent of Goa'uld would rarely grant. Creating prosthetics to make maimed Jaffa more valuable, and then building up weapons and such in them, was an ingenious idea and something Vahlen wanted to one day do, if for no other reason but because it was something no one else of their kind has done it before!

Unfortunately, there were many more pressing projects to work on, and if anything, being now under Lord Ra's patronage meant that the demands for results increased. It still beat working for Lady Kali – the sheer number of new ideas Vahlen now had access to and itched to develop would keep her busy for centuries if not millennia to come!

Then, there were unforeseen opportunities like this one.

After critically examining the thing masking as a human, Vahlen decided it was time to see what it was made of.

"Cut off its clothes, then carefully remove the false skin," she ordered her assistants. "I want samples of the cloth and skin for analysis."

This was another boon of having competent minions – now Vahlen didn't have to get her hands dirty with the boring parts of any experiment or other scientific work. She could observe, give pointers, and scold the Jaffa if they made a mistake. As it turned out, teaching and slowly building up her own staff, who wouldn't one day certainly do their best to backstab her like other Goa'uld scientists, was oddly satisfying.

Vahen's Jaffa pulled out experimental monomolecular blades and got busy cutting. Others prepared sample containers and held them at the ready. The Goa'uld scientist nodded happily at the quick and well-done work. She could have barely done it herself and not faster than the group of Jaffa who busied themselves dismantling the machine's camouflage.

Within a few minutes, the outer shell was gone, ending up either in pieces on the floor or in sealed sample containers ready for transport back to an isolated laboratory just in case.

What remained was a metal exoskeleton, which was oddly not smooth like one might expect. Vahlen wasn't sure if it was artifacts from crude production upon pieces of the metal shell she saw or perhaps those odd indentations all over the place served a purpose. Maybe they were some kind of sensors? Depending on how that fake skin worked, the machine might have been able to experience sensations if touched anywhere. Doing so would be a case of needless over-engineering for most purposes Vahlen could think of. However, if this thing was meant to be a long-term infiltrator, then allowing it to mimic being a person as well as possible would be a boon, no matter how much more complicated the machine had to be in that case.

Taking apart the machine's limbs, more or less intact, was easier said than done. The same was true concerning opening its chest to find what made it work. In the end, Vahlen had to use a custom version of Lord Perun's lightsaber she had made to test the viability of various synthetic crystals and their cut. A short azure blade came to life, her favorite color, and she used it to cut slowly and carefully into the side of the metal chest, hoping to avoid any vital components.

After cutting it open, Vahlen decided she had wasted time being careful.

"How many times did you shoot that thing?" The Goa'uld whirled around and pointed her still ignited cutting blade at the Prime.

"Sixteen or seventeen. After it attacked us, eight of us shot it once. It fell and kept convulsing, or so it seemed. When it tore its skin, revealing its nature, I had it shot until it ceased moving," Prime Andrei appeared unapologetic.

Vahlen growled in frustration. Everything of use inside the chest was fused and fried by Zat'nik'tel blasts. Finding anything useful beyond pure mechanical construction and general design would take a long time unless they found a computer containing the machine's schematics and those of its components. There had to be spare parts lying somewhere around here, right?

The Jaffa found many crates with spare parts. Big crude fabricators too, which might be useful in the long run. The same couldn't be said for obvious spare parts for the human-like machine.

On the bright side, there were various alien computers to examine, which would hopefully contain something to make this trip worth it. The same was true for various machines Vahlen had yet to learn the purpose of. She was considering how to approach breaching the computer systems when the lights in the facility dimmed. An unfamiliar alarm echoed through its halls in a deep, resonating bass.

"My Lady, the probe operators just reported that the energy field they detected throughout the facility since we arrived just cut off," Prime Andrei reported. "My warriors are preparing to repel a possible attack. Cutting off the place from external power would be one of the first things to do when detecting alien intruders."

"Gather anything of value and evacuate my aides," Vahlen decided. "We will take that thing with us to study."