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.

Chapter Thirteen

Robotech Factory Satellite

Earth Orbit

Martouf wore a slightly puzzled frown as he, and Freya, followed Doctor Grant out of the secure medical section of what he guessed to be a space station. A supposition that would fit with the fact that everything around them from the floors to the walls to the doors was all made from metal. Albeit a metal that he didn't immediately recognise, nor did Lantash and he was willing to bet that neither Freya nor Anise could identify it either as there was just something in the way it looked and sounded that said it wasn't a metal that was common in the galaxy. Certainly not in the way that trinium and naquada based alloys were.

"Excuse me Doctor Grant but do you mind telling me where we are going," he asked as the dark-skinned human woman hadn't said where she was taking them, only asked them to follow her. A command backed up by the heavily armed soldier in tough, powerful looking body armour that had stood in their room – standing so still that he could almost have been a statue or a robot, only the breathing movement of his chest indicating that there was a man inside a man displaying a discipline that would have done any Jaffa warrior in the galaxy proud – the whole time.

"Admiral Chase has asked me to bring you to central control," Jean replied, "we have an unexpected visitor – which is what tripped the battle alert earlier as they came out of hyperspace too close to us – and we are hoping you might tell us a bit more about them if you know anything."

"We will certainly assist if we can," Freya replied, even as she continued to scan around with her eyes. The scientific minds possessed by both herself, and her symbiote Anise learning quite a bit from the simple act of carefully observing their surroundings. It was obvious to both that the people here were very technologically advanced, but that their technology was – much like the technology of the Tollan – distinctly non-standard as neither of them could sense the presence of naquada anywhere. Well beyond sensing Lantash inside Martouf. Plus, unknowingly like their companion, they both suspected that this facility was a space station of some kind.

Idly she wondered just who it was that had arrived. Given that there had been none of the normal signs of a battle – no thundering rumble and faint shivers of weapons fire impacting an energy shield, no thrum of return fire – she doubted that the newcomer was a Goa'uld mothership. Meaning it was someone else the question was who as there were few civilizations capable of hyperspace travel in this galaxy outside of the Goa'uld Empire – the System Lords tended to wipe out without mercy any society that developed even basic spaceflight let alone discovered hyperspace and developed the ability to travel through it – really there were only three or four of them that she could think of off the top of her head. So, which one was it.

"We will know soon enough, Freya," Anise told her calmly.

"That we will," Freya agreed as Doctor Grant led them through a set of doors and the came to what looked like some form of station. She could see on the other side of the smallish room which formed a platform, tracks leading into a tunnel that led elsewhere in whatever this place was. "What is this place?"

"One of many internal maglev stations," Doctor Grant replied, "this place is far too big to get around on foot alone." And isn't that the truth, Jean thought knowing that the factory satellite was simply so enormous that it would take weeks to walk from one side of the station to the other – and that was both assuming you stayed in the main core module and didn't have to venture to one of the side modules where they current were and were able to walk in a straight line. Thankfully installing internal maglevs had not been difficult, in fact something similar – just naturally scaled for full size Zentraedi – had been there already.

"Just how big is this place and where exactly are we assuming you can tell us," Martouf asked as with a soft electromagnetic humming an oval-shaped pod of some kind appeared and opened a pair of doors, revealing a plane but comfortable looking interior.

"Well, you'll find out soon enough so I don't see why I shouldn't tell you at least some of it," Jean replied as she led them into the pod where four seats facing each other were located. She gestured for Martouf and Freya to sit down in two of them – which they did – while she touched something on a small wall mounted control panel before she and the guard took the other chairs.

"You're aboard a Robotech Factory Satellite anchored at one of the Lagranian Points over my home planet," she continued as with the humming of magnets, and the faintest of shivers, their maglev pod began moving accelerating rapidly to a hundred and twenty miles per hour though they felt little to no acceleration.

"A factory satellite what is that?" Freya asked curious, "and what's robotech?"

"You don't know?"

"I am afraid we don't," Martouf answered honestly bemused at what the meaning of robotech could be, it was obviously something to do with these people's technology that was obvious but what it otherwise was he had no idea. Nor did Lantash and from the look on her face neither did Freya nor Anise.

"Oh! I am sorry the only other spacefaring race we've encountered does know," Jean admitted, "robotech, or specifically robotechnology, is a catch all term for quite a number of very advanced biological, biomechanical and mechanical technologies and sciences. As for the factory satellite bit well, it is what it sounds like an artificial satellite where you can manufacture anything you want from small everyday items to the biggest starships. In fact, there is more industrial capacity here on the station than in many entire industrialised systems."

Freya and Martouf exchanged a glace symbiotes and hosts alike wondering if that was a boast or a fact. Somehow, they all got the impression that it was the latter more than the former. Which meant that these people were even more advanced than they had first appeared to be, the Goa'uld would see them as a threat to be eliminated as soon as possible. Especially if the warship that had destroyed Lord Solec's mothership over Linkotis did indeed belong to this race. Though one thing that would certainly help these people – for now at least – when dealing with the Goa'uld was the ongoing civil war, which continued to rage now several years since Sokar first began his latest bid to dethrone Ra and the High Council of the System Lords. Thus, the System Lords would likely struggle to assemble sufficient military forces to take down a world as advanced as this one seemed to be.

Both were brought out of their thoughts as the tunnel came to an end and the pod began crossing a bridge over a vast open space. But it was what occupied that space that caught the attention of both Tok'ra as standing, operating massive consoles, were several literal giants. They looked like humans, but each was at least fifty feet tall, and some appeared to be wearing enough armour to build an Al'kesh.

"What, what are they," Anise spluttered taking over from her shell-shocked host. She would be lying if she said that she wasn't shocked herself, she had lived for millennia and she had never seen a lifeform so large assuming that they were indeed alive and not some kind of giant android. After a few seconds she realized that they were some of the beings that they had detected earlier on the cargo ships sensors. Still she, somewhat stupidly which she would later put down to shock as it wasn't every day that you encountered a lifeform so massive, found herself asking. "Are they alive?"

Jean repressed the impulse to smirk slightly at the gobsmacked expressions on the faces of their two 'guests' as they beheld full sized Zentraedi – these ones operating the systems in this annex of the factory satellite – for the first time. She understood what they were feeling indeed she still remembered the mixture of shock, awe and mortal terror she'd felt the first time she'd beheld a full size Zentraedi.

"Yes, they are alive," she replied. "They're called the Zentraedi a race of giant bioengineered humanoid warriors from a distant galaxy. In their natural form they're literal giants, with some individuals being up to sixty-feet tall, but through a process called micronization they can be reduced to normal size. The process can later be reversed if needed."

Anise was stunned. The sheer knowledge of biology and bioengineering needed to accomplish something like that was advanced beyond her comprehension and even her imagination. No race known to the Tok'ra – not even the Asgard – had the knowledge and technology to do that, not to their knowledge anyway as there was still a great deal that they did not know about the diminutive grey-skinned aliens.

"I see," she said as they left the open area behind and began travelling along another tunnel. After a few seconds the walls of the tunnel turned transparent and both Tok'ra were shocked once again to see they were travelling along a connecting tunnel heading towards what initially appeared to be a massive asteroid. Well, that was until they saw that the surface was far too regular to be rock but was in fact metal and was covered with various gantries, cranes and other projections whose purposes could only be guessed at. The entire thing was artificial, and both were stunned as the sheer power and majesty of the technology its size implied was virtually unbelievable.

They exchanged another look before wondering just what the hell it was, they had stumbled into.

Central Core Transit Hub

A Few Minutes Later

Freya, Martouf and their symbiotes were all quiet as the maglev pod finally came to a stop. The journey through the interior of this station had been an awe inspiring, and somewhat frightening, experience. It was now obvious to both just how advanced the people here were – the effortless power that seemed to be at their command – and that Doctor Grant had not been wrong about the station's industrial capacity. It certainly put the highly industrialised systems of the Serrakin Commonwealth to shame, something that they had both thought impossible – the various worlds liberated and now inhabited by the reptiloid Serrakin, and their client species were known to be highly industrialised and commercialised with Hebridan being one of their biggest centres outside of Serrakin Prime itself – but now was as clear as day.

The doors to the maglev pod opened revealing another platform beyond this one far busier than the one they had left behind. Through the open doors they could see dozens of humans in uniform moving this way and that as they went to various destinations on the station. Doctor Grant and their guard/escort choose that moment to sit up.

"This way please," Jean said, prompting the two Tok'ra to stand up themselves. "Please stay close you don't want to get separated here."

Both Tok'ra nodded in understanding though they were both aware that they would not be allowed to get separated from their escort here. The armed soldier behind them would ensure of that, plus the clothing they were wearing would kind of stick out like a pair of sore thumbs amidst the sea of uniforms. Still, they said nothing as they followed the doctor out of the maglev pod – which was immediately taken by a trio of humans off somewhere else on this giant space station – and followed her through the thronging crowds with the armoured soldier following closely behind.

It didn't take long for them to get past the busy platform – which appeared to be one of dozens all of whom were quite busy indicating that this was probably the central transit hub of the station - to where a bank of lifts was located against one wall. Doctor Grant entered an access code into one panel causing the doors of one lift to open and permit them access, as soon as they were all aboard the lift began ascending.

"Doctor Grant, might I ask just how big this station is," Anise asked even as she watched level indicators fly past. Coupled with the time it had taken the maglev pod to reach here it implied that this station was even more enormous in scale than they'd thought. "I assume that the answer is not classified."

"It isn't so to answer your question, Anise, was it?" the other woman nodded, "the station is in total two hundred and eighteen kilometres long, sixty-eight kilometres tall and a hundred and twenty-eight kilometres across."

"That's as big as some small moons," Lantash exclaimed in shock, a shock shared by his host and – from the look on her face – Anise and Freya too. They had known that the station was big from what they had already seen, but this was quite frankly ridiculous, he would accuse Doctor Grant of lying but he knew she wasn't. This space station really was that enormous, how it was possible to build on such a monumental scale he had absolutely no idea. Never in his experience – and not in the experience of the memories he had been given by Queen Egeria – could he recall there ever being a station this massive in the galaxy in modern times. It was something of a mystery if such a thing existed during the time of the Ancients as beyond their greatest legacy – the Stargates – they knew very little about that ancient but incredible race. The gulf of time from when their civilization abruptly vanished from the galaxy and the first time the Goa'uld opened the Stargate on their long lost homeworld was simply too vast being on the order of millions of years for much of their cultural legacy to have survived.

"How can you build on this kind of scale," Anise demanded, shaking off her shock the scientist and engineer in her demanding answers to how all this was possible.

"That's a complicated answer and unfortunately not one I can share with you at this time. I'm sorry."

"We understand Doctor Grant," Freya replied instead of her symbiote. While they both knew and appreciated the reason why the question couldn't be answered at this time Anise still hated not knowing. As such she would no doubt sulk for a bit.

"I am not sulking," Anise protested, "I am just disappointed that they don't trust us enough yet to answer our questions."

"In other word's you're sulking."

"Am not."

"You are."

"Children," Martouf said sternly guessing from the look in Freya's eyes what was going on and the last thing they needed right now was for Freya and Anise to enter one of their quiet bickering sessions. Those could go on for hours and were quite infamous among the ranks of Egeria's children.

"Sorry."

"Sorry."

Jean chuckled and exchanged an amused look – well she thought his face hidden behind the opaque silver visor was amused – with their STORM commando guard. However, before she could say anything the lift slowed to a stop and the doors opened onto the main command level. Thus, she led the way out of the lift and down a corridor to a security checkpoint manned by a pair of marines who quickly let them through to continue their journey.

A journey that ended in the antechamber of an office. The yeoman on duty at the reception desk looked up at the sound of their arrival and smiled. "He's waiting for you inside," the yeoman said pressing a button to inform the admiral that his guests had arrived.

"Thank you, yeoman," Jean acknowledged, before leading the way into the office where one of the few members of the old UEDF High Command to survive the Rain – mostly due to having been in command of the L5 shipyard at the time - was waiting for them.

Sitting behind a high-tech desk – which had numerous holograms floating in projector fields above its mirrored surface – was one Vice Admiral Christopher Chase. Much like Admiral Gloval he was a wily old seadog, having worked his way up the ranks of the British Royal Navy during the pre-unification days, though with more of an administrator air than the somewhat gruff Russian. Which was understandable when you factored in that he had spent the better part of the last decade overseeing the construction of UEG space navy forces and now was overseeing the replacement of those first-generation ships – the few that had survived the war - with new ones. Ones that were better able to fight a robotechnology fuelled war, something that she had heard from Vince was going well as the station had some absolutely amazing computer aided design tools available to help with starship design.

At the sound of their arrival the admiral looked up, smiled and dismissed the holograms before standing up. "These are our two alien visitors doctor," Chase asked.

"Yes, sir they are," Jean confirmed, "allow me to introduce Martouf and his symbiote Lantash and Freya and her symbiote Anise. Martouf, Lantash, Freya and Anise this is Vice Admiral Christopher Chase the commanding officer of this station."

"A pleasure," Martouf replied with a nod and a smile, taking the lead in this issue as of the two of them himself and Lantash were the more diplomatically minded in comparison to Freya and Anise who could be blunt to say the least. Which was why the Tok'ra High Council never sent them on missions where diplomacy might be called for, well not unless there was no other choice or if – like in this case – they'd been on another mission altogether and fate decided to throw them through a loop.

"The pleasure is mine," Chase answered, "please be seated. Doctor would you be kind enough to excuse us?"

"Of course, sir. But before I go, I will tell you I have your appointment booked for two days from now and the yeoman who keeps your schedule has been informed," Jean said at the quizzical look Chase shot her, "sir do you forget your due for your annual physical – again."

Chase winced and cringed slightly. He had hoped to get out of having to do the physical, he hated those things, as he had the last two. Which is probably why she went behind my back and booked the appointment and then told my yeoman when it is, he thought. "I had forgotten," he replied, lying through his teeth. The slight smirk that the doctor wore told him that she wasn't fooled one bit. "Thank you for that doctor."

"You're welcome," Jean replied before leaving the room. The admiral watched her go, mentally wondering how he was going to get out of it this time around. It would not be easy as his new yeoman was a good man, but he was so rigid when it came to keeping to schedules that you could practically set your watch by him – he certainly treated the schedule like it was sacrosanct and not a guideline only. Inwardly he sighed and put it out of his thoughts for now – there would be time to think up a proper excuse or priority engagement to attend to avoid the physical later – and instead focused on his guests.

"Sorry about that but Doctor Grant is something of a stickler when it comes to arranging yearly examinations," he explained to his guests.

"We understand I know a few healers like that," Martouf replied, and he did. After all, while their symbiotes could heal most injuries and cure most diseases that healing/regenerative ability did have its limits and as such some conditions existed that could make both host and symbiote very sick indeed. In such instances healers were needed and were never much fun to deal with. While he had never been in that position himself, he knew Lantash had, indeed it had been an illness that neither symbiote nor healer could cure that had ultimately claimed the life of Korban – Lantash's host before him.

"Huh must be a common factor of medical personnel all over the galaxy then."

"I would say yes," Freya added.

"Before we begin might I offer you both a drink?"

"We're fine thank you," Martouf replied. "Though I should say thank you for pulling us off, Linkotis. If the Vallartan had captured us after our ship was shot down, I shudder to think what would have happened to us. Probably nothing good."

"I still don't understand how simple high explosive shells could have damaged us so badly," Freya commented with a frown. "There was no naquada present in the explosive."

"No there wasn't but there was powdered sekitan in the explosives," Chase explained, "when that burns it releases a type of particle that cannot exist in normal space-time for more than a second. When it breaks down it releases energy and produces small amounts of antimatter. Thankfully what was in the explosives was only a small amount."

"Ah we have heard of a material with those properties before," Freya admitted recalling a handful of worlds that the Tok'ra had been to with human populations on them that used the odd coal-like ore their sources of naquada long since exhausted by the Goa'uld, "though I had no idea that it was called sekitan."

"Well now you do and your welcome," Chase replied. "But let's get to the reason I asked to see you."

"Doctor Grant indicated that you have some questions for us something about a race you have just encountered," Martouf prompted.

"And others especially the Goa'uld as we know very little about them but there will be time for us to discuss them later. What can you tell me about a race called the Asgard."

Martouf and Freya both blinked. "Why do you want to know about the Asgard?" Lantash asked taking over from Martouf. "Are they here?"

"They are," Chase replied, hiding the sudden disquiet he was feeling at hearing a very alien sounding voice coming out of a human mouth. "One of their warships is currently hanging off the station. They will be coming in to dock with us soon. I have been asked to find out as much about them as possible before our own representatives arrive for a meeting with them."

"Logical," Martouf answered taking over again as both himself and Lantash could see that the voice of his symbiote was making the human man uncomfortable. It was understandable as the distorted, inhumanly deep, voice of a symbiote was strange and alien sounding to human ears and was often associated with oppression and terror as the Goa'uld used it as proof of their supposed divinity. Though he suspected that – given what the admiral had said about needing information about the Goa'uld – in this instance it was more that the voice was too different instead of any remembered fear from some Goa'uld's rule long ago.

"While we don't know much about the Asgard we can certainly tell you all that we do know," he continued.

"That's fine," Chase replied knowing it was going to be interesting to see if the information that these two Tok'ra could provide would correlate with what information the Zentraedi had been able to provide on the Asgard. Which really wasn't that much not much more than the fact that they were a very powerful spacefaring civilization, one that was capable of intergalactic travel and was known to be hostile to the Zentraedi and their creators the ever-mysterious Robotech Masters. A quick tap of a control activated the recording devices in the office, which would let the review everything later. Then he nodded at Martouf to indicate for him to begin.

Martouf nodded back in understanding. "Alright then the Asgard," he said. "I suppose that the first thing you should be made aware of is the fact that they are one of the oldest, and most powerful, of the known spacefaring races – older by far than the Goa'uld or any other race that we know of."

Admiral Chase listened intently as the human/alien before him began to outline everything that he – and by extension the Tok'ra – knew about the Asgard. It was certainly far more information than what the Zentraedi had been able to provide though if he knew Exedore – and he did – the currently micronized Zentraedi advisor would already be going through his extensive records for any more information about the Asgard. He would soon however wish that he had asked about the Goa'uld first as far below his feet an event was about to happen...

... that would take three races to the brink of war.

Authors Note: Well, another chapter bites the metaphorical dust I hope you all enjoyed it. I know not a lot happened in this chapter, well beyond the Tok'ra getting introduced to more of the power and scale of robotechnology but it is necessary for the future interaction between the races. Though next time things are going to get hot again between Earth and the Goa'uld, even as preparations continue both for a meeting with the Asgard and Rick's mission to Mars. Until next time.