Robotech: The Stargate Saga

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters and universes that I am about to mangle around and mash together for my own demented author amusement – sadly all Robotech and Stargate characters and concepts remain the property of Harmony Gold and MGM respectively – I am merely borrowing them and make absolutely no profit from their use. As a result, please keep the legal attack dogs – also known as lawyers – firmly muzzled and on a leash as I have no money to give to anyone.

Authors Note: A quick word of warning there is a scene in the last section of this particular chapter that might upset some people as it involves a certain Goa'uld getting some major comeuppance – in an extremely painful way – for his actions in a previous chapter. You have been warned.

Chapter Forty-One

Robotech Factory Satellite

Earth Orbit, Next Day

Captain Rick Hunter kept his face calm and collected as he followed Major Ford through one of the most secure areas of the factory satellite. They were heading towards the part of the detention levels where the Jaffa prisoner Jar'un, captured weeks earlier on Linkotis, had been kept. Jar'un had been very helpful and honest with those officers sent to debrief/interrogate him, providing them with a lot of information on the Jaffa and the general structure and nature of the Goa'uld Empire. The latter of which had been confirmed both by Sergeant Reed – who thanks to having been briefly Charon's host had gained a great deal of knowledge on the Goa'uld power structure – and the Tok'ra.

Though one thing that he had revealed that had been a major surprise, well not to the Tok'ra apparently as they'd already known about it, was the fact that there was a small but growing resistance against the Goa'uld among the Jaffa. These rebel Jaffa had come to understand and accept that the Goa'uld we're not the gods that they claimed to be, but sentient parasites who used and abused other sentient beings – from dozens of different species though humans were by far the most common - as they saw fit. Jar'un was apparently a member of this underground fifth column.

Which had given Rick an idea once he had been informed about it. It had been quite prominent in an information packet that Admiral Gloval had emailed to him after the other man had given him the mission to take the Aurelius to the planet Orisa. And if possible, recover Claudia's younger brother from the planet and bring him back here so medical technicians on the Tok'ra-controlled Nar'kesh frigate that had brought their diplomatic delegation here could remove the Goa'uld, apparently named Tharos, controlling him from his body. When he had contacted the admiral with the idea Gloval had been all for it and given him authorisation to proceed, as well as advising Admiral Chase that he would be coming up.

Which meant that the first thing this morning he had transported straight to the externally docked Aurelius and come aboard the station. Major Ford had met him at the airlock, and they had been on their way to see the prisoner since then. There had been little talk between them which Rick was somewhat grateful for as he was still working on a plan for when the Aurelius travelled to Orisa. Which they would hopefully be ready to do soon once enough gene-positive crew had been rustled up and transferred to the Lantean vessel that was his new command.

Pops would never believe that if he was still alive, Rick thought with a slight wistful smile as he could just picture how Mitchell 'Pops' Hunter would have reacted to the younger, and only biological, of his two sons commanding an interstellar starship. Let alone one that had been built by an ancient impossibly advanced and powerful human-like race ten thousand years ago in a different galaxy and being able to operate said ship due to a genetic connection that they had to said ancient race. There would no doubt have been a lot of gaping and initial disbelief, then Pops – being a Hunter through and through and thus had there near genetic love of flying, even Nathan loved to fly though he had never become a pilot – would have been itching to take the Aurelius out for a spin himself.

"Are you alright," Major Ford asked him glancing back and seeing the wistful smile that appeared on Rick's face.

"I'm fine," Rick answered with a smile, "I was just thinking about what my father – god rest his soul – would have thought about this whole thing with the Aurelius."

"Was he a pilot as well?"

"Yes. My families been pilots since the beginning of powered flight, I guess flying is just in our blood."

"And now you can fly an ancient impossibly advanced warship across the universe," Ford commented having heard all the scuttlebutt about the Aurelius and how devastatingly powerful her weapons systems were. "Incredible when you think about it."

"Tell me about it," Rick agreed even as he inwardly smirked. Ford may have heard all the scuttlebutt about the Lantean destroyer, but they had only seen part of her arsenal. They had yet to see what the main quantum slicer beam cannon could do after all, "how much farther?"

"There's just one more checkpoint to get through. The Jaffa prisoner should be in the room waiting for you when we arrive."

"Understood."

"So, I hear you can fly that ancient warship through a neural interface of some kind. What's that like?" Ford asked honestly curious as the few things he had heard about the interface made it sound incredibly, impossibly cool even by robotech standards. It really made him wish he could try it himself, but they had already determined that he, sadly, didn't have the gene necessary to link with the ship. Though there was hope in that regard as he had heard rumours that those robotechnologists who specialised in the biological applications of the incredible sciences covered by that catch-all term were working on a gene therapy to give everyone the ability to connect with the Ancients technology.

He wished them good luck in that endeavour as it would be beyond cool if they got it to work.

"Incredible," Rick admitted bringing him out of his thoughts, "you think things at the ship, and it just does it. It's way faster than pushing buttons or manipulating a joystick."

"Sounds awesome."

"It is," Rick agreed.

Their conversation was ended by the fact that the final security checkpoint before their destination came into view. As with all the others on the station it had seen some serious upgrades and changes since the whole thing with Doctor Hamilton being an AUL infiltrator – who had done the unthinkable to Vince Grant by deliberately sticking a Goa'uld in him – went down. Not to mention the whole situation that they had had with Vosegus and the attempted attack upon Fort Minotaur. Where there would have once been a table and a folding door, with data card readers for access, there was now a far more elaborate set up. There was still a console table but now to pass through the checkpoint you had to be scanned inside a booth-like structure that would not only measure all manner of biometric data, right down to your DNA coding, but check for the presence of something that shouldn't be there like a Goa'uld or that bioengineered mind control organism that they used.

It took Rick and Ford only a few minutes to pass through the checkpoint, both submitting to the scan without argument, and getting on their way again. In no time at all they were standing outside the room where the Jaffa warrior was waiting for him. A fully armed and armoured STORM Commando – looking as intimidating as hell in his matte black Tristan powered armour – stood on guard outside the door and Rick didn't doubt that there would be another one inside.

"Here you are sir," Ford said turning to look back at Rick. "Jar'un is waiting inside, another guard will be there if he tries anything. I doubt it as he's been a model prisoner so far but better not risk it, I will also be in the observation room should you need anything."

"I understand," Rick replied before squaring his shoulders, opening the door, and stepping into the interrogation room.

Interrogation Room 12C

Robotech Factory Satellite

A Few Moments Earlier

Jar'un was nervous as he sat at the desk in the interrogation room that he had been brought to. He had been told by his jailers that a Captain Hunter wanted to speak with him and that he had some kind of proposition though he didn't know what that proposition was. As a result, he was quite uneasy as while he didn't know much about Captain Hunter – no more than what he had overheard other Terrans, and the odd Zentraedi, talking about – he knew that he was a very formidable warrior, being one of the most lethal enemies that several Zentraedi had been heard to say that they'd ever met.

Which if he was right, as from what he had seen of them the Zentraedi were a warrior race much like the Jaffa, was very high praise indeed. Thus, the prospect of meeting such a warrior made him anxious especially as he didn't know what the Terran would want with him. Somehow, he doubted that it would be to challenge him to a duel or anything like that, from what he had seen of them so far, the Terrans didn't do that kind of thing. Even among the Jaffa such challenges were extremely rare and could only be issued in very specific circumstances. It was one of the more sensible traditions and behaviours that the false gods had forced upon them.

The sound of the door opening brought an end to his worries. He straightened up in the chair as much as he could and watched as Captain Hunter was let into the room by Major Ford. He wasn't like anything that Jar'un was expecting him to be. From the reputation he had he would be a tall powerful looking warrior, much like he was himself, not the average height, somewhat slender man with the unruliest mop of blackish-brown hair who came into the room. But it was his eyes that, for Jar'un at least, confirmed his identity.

Those cool blue eyes swept the entire room in an instant. He could practically see the Terran's mind taking in everything and assessing threats or potential threats in mere seconds, something that any experienced warrior learned how to do. Awareness of threats and potential threats after all kept you alive on the battlefield, especially when the battles were on the scale of the conflict that had been raging in the Goa'uld Empire for the last several years now.

"You are Jar'un," Rick said as he came over, the very way he was walking communicating to the Jaffa that despite his lithe frame he was both quick and strong. Which reminded Jar'un of something his old teacher, who had also opened his mind to the truth of the Goa'uld, had said that it wasn't always the biggest or obvious strongest who would win a battle.

"I am," Jar'un confirmed, meeting the other man's eyes in a silent unspoken challenge, the kind all warriors engaged in. Rick met his gaze unflinchingly and, in those eyes, got a glimpse of a will of solid neutronium and determination that would do any Jaffa proud. Satisfied that this was indeed someone he could respect, that his reputation was well earned, he looked down conceding victory in the silent challenge. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Captain Hunter."

"You know who I am?"

"Indeed. I must say that your reputation as a warrior proceeds you."

"I see," Rick replied even as he inwardly frowned at the mention of his reputation as a warrior. He had never wanted to be a soldier, there was no real honour in war just pain and death and had only become so because it had been necessary. And still was given all the threats that were out there like the Goa'uld, the Wraith, the Robotech Masters and who knew what else. Thus, there was a part of him that disliked being thought of as a great warrior worthy of adoration and respect by other warriors. "Well, that does save some time with the little niceties."

"Yes, let us get to the heart of the matter. What is it you wished to see me about? I have already told your people all I can about the Goa'uld."

"Two things actually," Rick answered as he sat in the seat opposite. "I want some information and I have an opportunity for you and the resistance you and the Tok'ra both inform us exists among the ranks of the Jaffa armies."

"Go on."

"First the information. What do you know about a world called Orisa?"

Jar'un blinked at that then frowned thoughtfully as he dug through his memory for the world in question. "Not as much as I would like," he admitted after a moment, "as I recall it was a minor agricultural world nominally ruled by an underlord of Camulus. It was conquered by Sokar early in his advance into Goa'uld space before his advance was halted at the Battle of Ke'takna by the combined fleets of Ra, Heru'ur, Apophis and Cronus. I believe that Sokar has converted the planet into a manufacturing centre for his forces and those of his allies."

"Not too different to what the Tok'ra have told us," Rick commented, "do you know if your resistance has people on the planet?"

"I would think so though I cannot be certain," Jar'un answered, "we do like to slip sympathisers onto such worlds. Why do you ask?"

"Because there is something, or rather someone, on Orisa that we want back. Due to your captivity here, you will not be aware that Orisa you will not be aware that it was recently conquered by a Goa'uld named Tharos in the name of the System Lord Ba'al. Sokar has already tried to retake the planet and failed with his forces being defeated."

"Surprising but what is it you want on Orisa?" Jar'un asked, "and if I do help you speak with them how would it help the Jaffa resistance movement?"

"Tharos or rather his host."

"He is one of your people?"

"Yes."

Jar'un grimaced slightly at that. There was something in the way Hunter had answered him that said that there was a personal element to this as well. Maybe the person Tharos was controlling had been a friend or member of an extended family. "You have my sympathies," he answered after a moment knowing that it was never easy for the relatives of someone who suffered the terrible fate of being taken as a host by a Goa'uld. "Even if you do succeed in capturing Tharos removing him from his host will not be easy or straightforward. Spiteful beings that they are the false gods will kill their host rather than surrender him or her."

"The Tok'ra have assured us that they can remove the symbiote and if for some reason they are not able to the Asgard will do it."

"Your allied with the Asgard?"

"Yes."

Jar'un staired in shock for a moment reassessing everything he had learned so far about these people and their Zentraedi allies. If they were indeed allied with the Asgard – a race that even the vilest of Goa'uld feared – then they were even more powerful and dangerous than he had thought. The Jaffa resistance would do well to establish relations with such a power and through them with the diminutive grey skinned aliens whose very name could make the false gods break out into a cold sweat.

"I see," he said at last. "If I can speak to the others in the resistance and convince them to help, would you be willing to help us in return?"

"One good turn deserves another so yes we would," Rick answered having already been told by both Admiral Gloval and Dr Wier that they would be willing to help the Jaffa resistance against the Goa'uld. How they would not be his concern though, others in the United Earth Government and the Defence Council would make those decisions.

"Very well," Jar'un said at last, "I will need access to a subspace comm unit with the proper encryption."

"The Tok'ra have that on their frigate. I will arrange for you to be taken there."

"I thank you."

Rick nodded back, stood, then left the room leaving Jar'un alone with the STORM Commando guard who had stood, as still as any statue, watching the whole conversation. Jar'un watched him go, even as he got the sudden feeling that while doing this would be a risk – and some of the more hidebound among the Jaffa wouldn't like it – it would in the long term be a good thing for the Jaffa. A thing that would bring their long-term goal of freedom from the oppression of the Goa'uld that much closer that much closer to coming true.

Ba'al's Escape Shuttle

In Hyperspace

That Same Time

The crystalline bleeping of the navigational computer drew Ba'al out of the light meditation he had allowed himself to sink into to pass the time while he was in hyperspace. While these personal escape shuttles were handy things to have, certainly they were much better than the standard escape pods, there was nothing to do on them during a hyperspace flight. A flight that due to the compact, and thus very basic, nature of their hyperdrives was also quite slow.

Ba'al opened his eyes and checked the readout for the navigational system. Finally, after nearly forty-two hours in hyperspace he was coming up on his destination a relatively minor planet in his domain called Nalorit, which was incidentally the site of a former Caloran colony that he had conquered and enslaved early in his campaign against them. The alarm having sounded as soon as he crossed the Oort Cloud that separated interplanetary from interstellar space.

Finally, he thought looking forward to having a good stretch once he landed on the planet as another problem with these escape shuttles was there was no room to actually move around. That combined with very basic amenities and having to eat dried food like a Jaffa on campaign not a divine being, meant it had been a very long flight. He had already determined what he would do when he got back to Hadad – assuming his throneworld was still there of course as he didn't doubt that the Asgard had unleashed their wrath on his domain by now – to salvage the situation he had found himself in. It wouldn't be easy, it would depend on just how much of his domain the Asgard left intact and how much would be reduced to molecular dust by their disintegration rays, but he would bounce back.

He always did.

A change in the readings caught his attention, they were coming up on Nalorit orbit. Which prompted him to give the command to disengage the hyperdrive. A jolt of extreme deceleration – another problem with these escape shuttles was the very basic inertial dampening system – pressed him forward and then back into the chair as the hyperspace conduit outside flash, dissolved into a slipstream blur of colours and shapes before the sublight engine overcame the effect of hyperspace inertia. Nalorit – which was not in much better shape than Calora itself being covered with glaciers and icefields from massed orbital bombardment – came into view.

As did what was sitting in orbit.

The moment he saw the ship sitting in orbit of Nalorit – clearly waiting for him – Ba'al felt the blood leave his face indeed he felt like his hosts blood had suddenly turned to ice water in fear and dread. The ship sitting in orbit was a ship he knew well, though it was not an Asgard ship was just as terrifying. Three times the size of even a Sha'ha'tak-class mothership, larger than any other ship possessed by the Goa'uld in fact, was the Ra'tak. The personal flagship and command ship of Ra and there was only one reason why it, and certainly by extension, the Supreme System Lord himself was here waiting for him.

For a few seconds he entertained thoughts of trying to jump back into hyperspace escape the fate that he knew was certain to be waiting for him. The galaxy was a very big place after all and there were plenty of places – not to mention plenty of species – he could hide out in. But ultimately decided against it the life of an interstellar fugitive didn't exactly appeal to him plus he would be hunted as Ra would certainly contact Selket and have her dispatch her best Ashrak after him assuming she didn't decide to – as a favour and a sign of her devotion to Ra – hunt him herself. Escape swiftly became a moot point anyway as the computer terminal in front of him, and the control globe he was holding, went dead as Ra used a master override code to shut down all systems on the escape shuttle bar life support and artificial gravity.

A moment later a jolt shook the small craft as the Ra'tak engaged a tractor beam and began to pull him in. Ba'al swallowed nervously as the shuttle moved closer to the gigantic mothership. Mind desperately working to figure out a way that would cool Ra's wrath that wouldn't involve him being ripped out of his host and stuck in a stasis jar for a millennium or two, if he was lucky, or tortured to death repeatedly – in increasingly creative ways – until Ra granted him the mercy of final death if he wasn't. Try as he might, he couldn't think of anything, any way to stop what was going to be inevitable.

The Ra'tak now filled the space outside the viewport, a hangar bay door opening ahead revealing dozens of gliders waiting to be launched into space at their god's command. In moments he was passing through an atmospheric containment field and being set down on the deck of the bay.

Rather than endure the indignity of being dragged out of his shuttle by some of Ra's elite Anubis Guards, the genetically enhanced to beyond even Jaffa-level humans would take far too much glee in it, Ba'al stood up. A few seconds later he was stepping out onto the deck of the ship to find three Anubis Guards waiting for him. Without a word two of them approached and searched him, one removing his kara'kesh while the other removed the small laser ring and dagger he kept in various pouches in his robes, before grabbing his arms and bodily lifting him off the floor.

Then the three of them began marching him through the ship towards where their master was waiting.

The journey did not take long as the Jaffa crew had deliberately brought him into the bay closest to the throne room. Before Ba'al even knew it he was thrown onto the floor in front of a dais on which sat a relatively plain throne aside from the fact that it was made of pure trinium, Ba'al landing with a painful thump. He glared up at the Anubis Guards who didn't seem at all disturbed by his ire.

Turning his attention away from them Ba'al watched as, with the usual stone on stone grinding sound, a large pair of doors on the other side of the room opened. Slowly, clad in an elaborate black and gold robe and wearing a mask, Ra came into the room escorted by another pair of Anubis Guard as well as a small posse of children. All of whom would be children of those humans who became Anubis Guard and all of whom would already be fanatically devoted to their master, to the point that they would gladly take a plasma blast for him.

Slowly, with the indifference of someone who knew he had absolute power, Ra moved to his throne and sat down. For several more seconds nothing happened, Ra just looked at him the glowing eyes of his mask fixed on him judgementally. Then slowly the mask retracted into a thin band around Ra's neck leaving his face fully visible. The face was cold and expressionless, which was in many ways more frightening than a look of absolute fury would have been.

"Ba'al, you know why you are here," Ra demanded at last, voice calm and collected which sent a shiver of terror through the other Goa'uld.

"Yes," Ba'al acknowledged head bowed knowing better than to show any defiance. To do so would only make Ra that bit angrier and make his inevitable punishment for violating the treaty that had ended their last war with the Asgard that much worse.

"What did you think you we're doing? Trying to start a war between us and the Asgard? Do we not have enough trouble with Sokar and his traitors right now?"

"My lord they…"

"SILENCE," Ra thundered making all words die on Ba'al's lips and making him begin to shake in fear. Ra showed no reaction but inwardly he smirked. He had been wanting to clamp down on Ba'al for quite a while now, he was not unaware of the plans and schemes of Ba'al and Qetesh to dethrone him it just amused him to let them have their dreams, and now he had an excuse to do just that.

"You do not know how close to another all-out war with the Asgard, and their new allies, we have come due to your actions," Ra continued his voice calm again, "I had to personally assure the Asgard that I would deal with you most harshly to bring their assaults on your domain to an end. AND THAT IS WHAT I WILL DO."

As he finished his last yell an invisible force grabbed Ba'al and lifted him into the air. Two of the Anubis Guards appeared and clamped ring-shaped devices around Ba'al's wrists, ankles, and neck. Devices that Ba'al recognised with a jolt of horror as a means of execution so horrific, so terrible that even Anubis or Sokar would balk at using it.

"My lord please," he sputtered a second before the devices activated and searing pain obliterated every coherent thought in his body as the rings began emitting an energy field that not only stimulated all the pain receptors in his hosts brain but prevented him doing anything to not feel the pain himself. In fact, for him it was even worse as the energy reacted to the naquada in his blood making the pain even worse to the point that it felt like every single cell in both his host body and his natural serpentine form was on fire.

And then the pain got even worse as the energy from the rings began ripping the cells of his host body apart one by one, each feeling like an internal explosion. Ra listened, somewhat indifferently, to Ba'al's screams as the energy from the Death Rings slowly killed him. It was an agonising and slow death to be sure, but it suited Ba'al's foolish crime and it was just the first of his punishments. By the time he was done Ba'al would be begging for the embrace of a final death.

After about half an hour the screams stopped and the rings shut down, with Ba'al's badly burned and mangled corpse dropping to the floor as the anti-gravity field he'd been suspended in shut down. Ra looked at him with cool indifference for a moment before looking up at the head of his guard and nodding. The enhanced human nodded and made a slight gesture to two of the other guards who came up and picked up the slightly smouldering body. They then carried him out of the room towards the sarcophagus chamber where Ba'al would spend the next few hours being brought back from death and his torment would then continue.

Ra smiled slightly despite the circumstances – and the fact that he had had to personally intercede to stop the Asgard from wiping out every Goa'uld and Jaffa in Ba'al soon to be former domain – he was going to enjoy this. It was rare these days that one of the others stepped out of line enough to warrant him taking such actions, which meant he would treasure this time when he got to have some fun.

Oh yes, he would treasure it.

Authors Note: Well, another chapter bites the metaphorical dust, I hope you all enjoyed it. I know the scene with Ra might have been a bit brutal for some but that is on purpose as I really wanted to show the fact that Ra has not ruled the Goa'uld Empire for the last seven thousand years by being a nice guy. No, he has ruled by being the bogeyman so to speak, the one that every other Goa'uld fears to cross – because they know the kind of thing he will do to them if they dare to – even as they admire him for his power and generally far superior technology. Until next time.