Commissioned by Aikion
Seth.
Part 14.
Project Giza. The Cheyenne Mountain Complex. 1994.
General W. O. West sighed as he put down the phone. He'd spent much of the last forty-eight hours on the phone, talking to his superiors, high-ranking officers of the navy and the army, as well as, quite a few important people at the White House.
Mostly he had been talking to the President and a few others who needed to gain approval to bring about the next stage of Project Giza. General West couldn't help feeling excited about what came next.
Now that they knew for certain the Stargate was a transportation device to other parts of the galaxy Project Giza had proven its worth and with the right support their work so far could be expanded upon.
It wouldn't be Project Giza anymore. It would be something new and bigger because if there was a way to explore the galaxy it was worth doing so. Not just because of what they could gain, but also because of what they could learn.
The new project would need a lot of support. More than the Air Force could provide alone. He would need support from the White House and the Senate to get things moving.
After sending more teams through the Stargate, they could now use the Stargate to send people to Abydos and bring them back safely, men and women under his command had made contact with a local human population.
That there were humans out there in the galaxy had been rather shocking to discover, and the General deemed them to be no threat to the United States of America or the planet.
What had General West, and many others worried, was the evidence of a much more advanced alien civilization than the humans his people had discovered.
The team sent through the Stargate had found proof of their existence and even examples of their weapon's technology. Most of what they knew about these aliens came from the human natives.
By the looks of things humanity wasn't alone in the universe and that was as terrifying as it was amazing. More needed to be learned.
The native human population had told them enough to be fairly sure that the alien staff weapons had belonged to a faction which was pretending to be in service of Ra, an Egyptian deity that no one on that planet had seen in a long time.
Doctor Jackson believed that this Ra had either taken the title when visiting Earth or had created it to more easily rule over the more primitive people of this world.
Jackson also theorised that the Stargate had been used to transport people from Earth to Abydos many generations ago to be used as slave labour.
If this was correct then the people of Abydos were humans and since they had a Bronze Age level of civilization they were of little interest to anyone other than Doctor Jackson once they had finished sharing what little information they had.
Efforts were being made to study the technology brought back from Abybos and what the General had seen so far was more than enough to worry him.
These beings who served Ra had access to energy weapons and while the weapons didn't seem very practical when compared to human-made firearms, they were deadly.
More worrying than these individuals who served Ra were the beings who had driven them off the planet as they might be even more advanced than Ra's people.
The natives reported that during a great sandstorm, they had seen lights in the sky and heard strange noises. That was not much to go on, but it did support the idea that some sort of conflict had taken place.
This second faction did not stick around to bother the human population by demanding tribute, which was what Ra did during his visits, and there was speculation by Doctor Jackson and Doctor Langford as to why.
The humans of Abydos had to mine the mineral the Stargate was made from and if this second faction made use of the mineral, then either they had deemed the amount gathered by the people of Abydos not to be worth collecting, or they had more than enough of their own.
The idea that there could be two alien factions out there fighting with each other was worrying, to say the least.
It looked as if the second faction had driven Ra's people off the planet with little effort given that there were no signs of battle damage within the pyramid the Stargate on Abydos was housed in.
It seemed clear that Ra's people had left in a hurry, sometimes abandoning their weapons, and yet there was no sign that they had been attacked by any hostile force.
It was almost as if they had simply vanished into thin air. General West wondered what kind of technology could pull off something like that.
Colonel O'Neill's report suggested that the second faction had been able to drive off Ra's people with such overwhelming force that Ra's people hadn't even tried to fight, they had simply fled before being destroyed or taken somewhere.
Speculation as to the events would only aid them so much and already the alien technology was being taken apart so they could learn more about one of the faction's capabilities.
Until they found out more there was much they could do here other than to prepare for future missions should they be approved.
West knew that gathering more of the special element that made up the Stargates, what the people of Abydos called Naquadah, would be very important in future missions through the Stargate. If there ever were any.
The military would want a lot of Naquadah as it greatly amplifies energy, making it extremely potent if paired with explosives, and that alone could give the USA a huge advantage over its enemies.
According to one of the many reports on his desk Naquadah in liquid form is what was used to power the alien staff weapons that the first team to visit Abydos had found.
So it must have uses beyond being used to build Stargate and to enhance explosions. Perhaps it could be used to fuel energy weapons built by humans.
It was a shame that the people of Abydos weren't simply willing to trade the Naquadah they were digging up for Ra, they were too scared of Ra's wrath should he return to find his tribute not ready.
The fact that Ra might be dead didn't reassure the people of Abydos as they saw Ra as an evil god. This might change one day, but for now, it seemed best to look for sources of the mineral elsewhere.
West considered having mining operations set up using labourers from Earth. However, the desert conditions could be a problem and it would mean exposing the existence of the Stargate to a lot more people.
It might also cause trouble with the local population and the General would rather avoid that if at all possible.
Maybe they could try to find some of this mineral on other planets. It was hoped that they would be able to access many other Stargates in the future.
"General West, Doctor Fargough is here to see you" reported his assistant.
The high-ranking Air Force officer didn't have much time to see to civilian concerns, but Seth Fargough had so far been a big asset to Project Giza.
Without him, the team the General had sent to Abydos could have been trapped there, as such West felt that he should give the man some of his limited time.
"Send him in," the General ordered.
The successful businessman came and took a seat when offered.
"What do you need Doctor Fargough?" asked the General "I'm afraid I don't have much time to talk".
The man smiled slightly upon hearing that as if he'd been expecting those words.
"It's more of a case of what I can do for you, or rather what we can do for each other," he said "I'm assuming that Project Giza isn't going to be buried".
After all the time, money and effort put into the project that was unlikely to happen. Not unless a clear danger to this country was found, and what they'd discovered so far wasn't conclusive enough.
The White House wanted to see something in return for all the funding and now that they had the chance to obtain that, many of West's superiors were giving the new project their support.
A few were concerned about the dangers and others wanted to know more about the possible threats that were out there.
"If there is a threat to this world from one of these two alien factions then we need to know about it," West stated "While Doctor Jackson's report about the people of Abydos makes it seem that this Ra or anyone working with him, are unlikely to become allies with us, we don't know who they are fighting or why".
Hopefully, they could find out more by sending teams through the Stargate.
"They ignored the human population of Abydos, so perhaps they do not wish to quarrel with mankind for some reason. Perhaps they simply don't see us as any kind of threat" West said.
Some might consider that to be overly optimistic, and West certainly wasn't going to pin his hopes on obtaining a powerful ally who could help protect them. This other faction might just be more of whatever Ra was.
"The President and much of the Pentagon don't think we can merely bury the gate and then forget about this like the Ancient Egyptians must have done, not with us sending satellites and radio signals into the depths of space," General West was now saying "So we need to find out more".
"Assuming that the funding and resources can be found we'll be sending out teams to any gate address we can dial" West added "They will be tasked with gathering information, making peaceful contact with anyone willing to talk to us, gathering the Stargate mineral, and we need to obtain any advanced technology that we can".
Doctor Fargough didn't seem surprised to hear this and that was not odd in West's view as he knew by now that rumours of further operations would have spread about the base.
"General West, this expansion of Project Giza is why I am here," said the brilliant inventor "I want to be part of what will happen here, and aside from my expertise, which I've already proven is valuable, I can offer some off-the-books funding, materials and even people from my company who can lend their expertise".
The Air Force officer was no fool. He knew that Doctor Fargough would be an asset to the program that his superiors wanted to create.
Sure the funding from one company, even one as successful as Fargough Industries, wouldn't amount to much, but it would be worth it as long as Seth Fargough didn't ask much in return.
"What do you want for this aid?" West asked.
Doctor Fargough was a businessman, any off-the-books funding he offered would be an investment he would expect to have returned to him.
"I've been working with some of the engineers and scientists you already have on staff," Doctor Fargough answered "Captain Carter believes that with the information I helped to gather she can come up with valid Stargate addresses for the project. Once you start sending people out there you'll bring back alien technology and I want a chance to find uses for that technology to find civilian applications".
As long as that was handled correctly West knew that such an arrangement could benefit both this project, the USA and Doctor Fargough's company.
"If I'm successful then it would mean more profit for my company and then more money I can invest into the project in the future," Seth Fargough was now saying "In time there will be others who can work with us".
"The existence of the Stargate can't stay buried forever, so it would be best to share it with the right people over time to prepare for the day it will become common knowledge" Seth was now saying "I'm aware that it could take years to see any returns on this work, but I'm willing to invest the money and resources".
General West knew he'd be a fool to pass up on this offer. Doctor Fargough was well-liked by many in the military for the technology he produced for the United States Armed Forces and he could use that to help gain support for whatever it was they named the successor to Project Giza.
"I think we can have you as part of my staff, as a special consultant" West decided "But this command will decide what information is shared with you and you'll have to bring staff to this complex if you want them to study the alien technology".
It would all have to be handled very carefully to ensure that the public didn't figure out that any advancements came from alien technology.
"As long as I am kept informed of what is going around here, and have some input, I will help to fund the project," promised Doctor Fargough.
The two men shook hands and soon went their separate ways as they both had a lot of work to be getting on with.
General West had a lot more people he needed to talk to and many reports to send off if this new project was going to get started any time soon.
As for Fargough, he would have to ensure that his company could keep running while he was away so often, and he would need to find people who could be moved to this mountain without drawing too much attention.
Everyone was going to be busy for quite some time, but should they be able to send teams out into the galaxy it would all be worth it.
Commissioned by Aikion
Lemon scene ahead.
Seth.
Part 15.
Project Giza. The Cheyenne Mountain
Complex. 1994.
There was a lot to do here to prepare for whatever it was they would call the Stargate Program in this timeline. Would it be Stargate Command? Stargate Administration? Or maybe something else. I wanted to stay here and find out.
I wondered who would be in this version of SG-1 and if such a team could perform so well without Teal'c. I also wondered if Colonel O'Neill would even want to work with Doctor Jackson, given that the two of them hadn't bonded as they did when taking down Ra in the Stargate movie.
Another factor to consider was that General West was not General Hammond, although he seemed competent enough for me to work with, he might not allow civilians to go through the Stargate as part of teams.
Then he might not let Doctor Jackson or I go off-world, at least not regularly, but as long as I kept briefed on the missions it should be okay.
If he did send civilians on missions, then I'd have to worry about what sort of security measures they'd put in place for those who travelled off-world.
The last thing I wanted was to take a blood test or get any kind of invasive scan. I'd need to find dependable ways to fool any security systems that were set up.
Before the new SGC came into existence there were many other things to take care of that required my attention, and I would have a chance to find ways to circumvent their security if I was clever about it.
By working closely with Samantha Carter I was able to learn about the security features they were putting in place, I was already helping to design some of them, but those were centred around the gate itself.
I'd decided to claim the idea of an iris as my own. Since the protective barrier was installed very quickly during the pilot of the SG-1 show it was safe to assume that the idea had been on the drawing board since sometime after the original Abydos mission.
There was about a year between the movie and the pilot for the series so there would have been plenty of time for the inventor or inventors to pitch the idea. All I'd done was gotten there sooner and offered to manufacture it for the Air Force at cost to earn myself some more goodwill from the higher-ups
The iris was important because even if Apophis and the other System Lords who'd tried to attack Earth via the Stargate, were no longer alive there would be other Goa'uld around they might still have the resources to send a bomb to the planet I called home.
A galaxy is a big place and I doubted that the Asgard had the means to hunt down every Goa'uld even if they were willing to commit genocide, so I had no doubt that teams from Earth would encounter a few minor Goa'uld ruling over some backwater.
I'd suggested that teams have some means of transmitting a code that would let the operators know that it is okay to open the iris. I also suggested that teams have fake codes to let the operators know that they were in danger. My measures were taken under consideration as I went to get some rest.
While I felt sure that the military types who were meant to be running security here would go with my idea, because it was practical and cheap to implement, they wouldn't want me getting all the credit, so they might waste some time looking into options before accepting my proposed security measures.
Rather than leave the mountain when I wanted to take some time off, I went to my VIP guest quarters, which weren't at all worthy of the label, but they were comfortable enough considering that this was a military base that the designers used as an example of function over form.
While taking this chance to sit down I did some more thinking and found that I didn't envy General West despite my complete lack of empathy towards most people.
He could not have known what figuring out the Stargate could lead to I wondered if he would replaced with someone his superiors felt was more suited to the role or if he would be expected to rise to this new challenge.
I would prefer General Hammond to take command both due to my fondness for the character and because my knowledge of him would make him easier to manipulate if I ever needed to.
There was a knocking at my door and I smiled when I opened it to see that Sam had come to visit me.
"I needed a break too" she explained.
We didn't waste any time on small talk. I knew exactly why she'd come to visit me and it wasn't so we could discuss work. We'd not had any time alone for what felt like weeks and so we got right to the kissing.
Always a fun activity with Samatha.
"Hold on," she said "What about the cameras?".
As if I would have missed those when planning ways to subvert the security of this base.
"They are all down because of the upgrades" I reminded her.
She wasn't acting shy due to modesty, she just knew that it would be very hard for her to be taken seriously on this base if anyone saw what we were about to get up to in here.
"You need to relax for a while," I told her.
I pushed her on the bed with some gentleness. She didn't resist and soon I began to take off the unflattering green thing she wore as general attire when on the base. This set was too big on her and it hid her body from my eyes. This displeased me.
She closed her eyes and muted a moan of anticipation as best she could as I opened up her top and pulled down her trousers. Her underwear was far more practical than flattering.
The vest she swore under her top needed to be pulled up so that I could see her bra-covered breasts. Like her knickers, they didn't do anything to make her seem attractive, but she didn't need the help.
"Much better" I commented.
She had a bit of a grin on her face.
"Are you just going to lie there and let me play with you?" I questioned.
She normally wasn't the kind to simply lie back and think of England, or the USA in this case.
"Yes," she replied "You get to ravage my helpless body".
Meaning she couldn't be bothered to do anything other than lie there, and I was no fool, she was far from helpless. I'd seen too much of her on-screen self to make that mistake.
"And you didn't even have to buy me dinner" she joked.
It wasn't as if the canteen here charged and we couldn't go off base at this time.
"I'll take you somewhere nice the next time we're both free," I promised.
After saying that I began to play with her body by planting kisses on her exposed flesh and I removed her underwear so that I could touch her already wet pussy.
Sam didn't need to speak to let me know that she was enjoying the attention as I began to touch her exposed cunt. Carter shifted her hips a little I gently touched her most private of parts.
"Oh, yes," she said with a moan.
"You are very beautiful," I told her.
The captain liked hearing that, and she liked it more as I began to lay kisses down her throat before I moved on to her breasts. Her bra ended up getting pushed out of the way and that didn't look comfortable, yet she didn't care.
Sam squirmed as I suckled one nipple and then the other as her nipples were sensitive, and I took my time to enjoy her boobs. I might have been there for some time and to be fair they were very nice breasts.
"Seth," she whispered "Please".
This wasn't enough for her.
"Please what?" I asked.
Rather than reply verbally she tried to push my head down so that my mouth would end up somewhere further south, or was she interested in something else? Either way, I wanted to hear her say it.
"I want you inside me" she insisted "Fuck me".
Before replying, I kissed my way down her very flat stomach, both to tease her and because I liked hearing her making lewd noises. I'd gotten to know her body well enough to have memorized what parts she liked me to touch and what bits of her needed the attention of my mouth.
"All you had to do was ask" I gently ridiculed "Although a little begging is nice".
She didn't mind playing along.
"Please," she said, "I need it".
She got what we both wanted before long and then I was inside her her pussy. Her soft insides felt as if they were clamping around my cock as I pushed further inside her eager cunt.
There was no further teasing or any need to speak. We both just wanted to fuck as so we did. I started slowly, filling up her pussy, before I began to pick up the pace.
The cheap bed, which was lacking in comfort when compared to the beds I normally slept in, made a squeaking noise that I didn't let distract me other than to make a mental note to have something better to sleep on be brought here.
The pace got faster and despite her earlier words the Air Force officer who had become my lover did not simply lie there and let me use her. I could feel her arms around me and I was glad that she kept her nails short.
Before long, she was using her nimble legs to do her best to keep me as deep inside her as possible, so it was a good thing she was taking birth control as when I reached my orgasm there was no way I could have pulled out without taking us both off the bed.
Sam much preferred that I climax inside her than pullout. As I did she squeezed me even more with her limbs, as if trying to keep us connected for as long as possible before finally, she went limp.
"Oh, I needed that," she said.
It had taken her a little while to speak as she was so relaxed.
"They've been keeping you busy" I stated.
It hadn't been a question, but she responded as it was.
"We've been going over every detail of the mission and the technology we brought back," she said to me as she turned to look at my face "Those staff weapons are worrying even if they don't seem very practical".
Conflict between the Goa'uld had become bound by tradition over thousands of years with little changing.
"We've been taking them apart and one of the teams I've been working with have been speculating about what other kinds of weapons they might have" Sam said.
The Jaffa wouldn't be a concern in the long run. Without fresh symbionts provided to them by the Goa'uld, the Jaffa would grow sick and die. It would take years, but unless they found a replacement or captured some Goa'uld queens, their days were numbered.
Which might be for the best. The Free Jaffa Nation would be a threat to any human coalition of worlds and the Jaffa wouldn't see any difference between myself and one of their oppressors.
In the long term a human coalition of worlds, perhaps allied with some of the alien powers, would suit me well as I could set up a business empire across many worlds.
Why rule some backwater as a king when I could spread my influence in a way that people would welcome?
"I need to get some sleep?" mentioned Sam.
Her words brought me out of my thoughts of the future and back to the present.
"And you can't be caught sleeping with the civilian consultant?" I asked.
I didn't know enough about military protocol to understand if there were rules against such things.
"There's no rule against it" she told me "I just don't want people knowing about my social life".
This amused me. She had to pretend to be so proper.
"Do I embarrass you?" I joked.
She began to get dressed and smiled at me. Knowing I was just kidding. While things between us weren't that serious, as neither of us could commit to a full-time relationship, things were easy between us and we had fun teasing each other.
"We just need to remain professional when at work," she reminded me, having mentioned this before, "I'm sure people know we're together we just have to behave ourselves".
She kissed me rather passionately, and then slipped out of the room. Leaving me to get some rest. Some sleep before getting back to work would be welcome and I could spend a little time feeling smug about how things were progressing.
Commissioned by Aikion
Seth.
Part 16.
Fargough Tower. New York. 1994.
Setting up the Stargate Program, as it was now officially called, was a big undertaking even for those of us who didn't need to worry much about what would happen outside the departments we would work in. At least until teams start going off-world.
General West had his hands full organising the entire thing, a task I did not envy as he would need to form SG teams, ensure that they were properly equipped and that the base had enough support personnel.
That was just to get teams out there. West would need to have access to diplomats in case any formal alliances with alien powers were ever on the table. There were nations out there advanced enough to be worth allying with.
Also, he would require a lot of smart people for R&D work, but at least he had me helping him out when it came to funding and staffing the R&D department of the program.
Then there were matters of funding, and making sure that the program not only had enough support from people in Washington but he had backing as well so he would remain in charge of the project.
I'd prefer General West to remain in charge as the man was willing to work with me and give me access to alien tech. His successor might not be so open to letting a civilian operate so freely within the program.
I had some experience with such matters, as I'd spent years of my life working to set up a business that was mostly focused on supplying the military with the base hardware.
While at the same time making sure that I had enough invested elsewhere to ensure my influence kept growing to ensure that my profits were high. Without that, my influence would weaken and I could lose control over my dominion. Something General West must be fearful of happening.
My influence was indeed growing. I was working towards the introduction of renewable energy sources because I knew that climate change was going to be an issue and people had begun to take notice of this.
Such things had to be handled carefully as I didn't want to clash with the oil companies at this time. Best to weaken their hold over the next few decades rather than have to handle them with violence.
Since I would soon need to divert a great deal of my attention to keeping the SGC, or whatever it was they called it, somewhat under my control, I would not be able to devote as much attention to my business interests as I used to. So it was good that I had such loyal underlings.
It was also important to have powerful allies, such as the clone of myself who had become the Shadow Broker.
While he'd set himself up away from Earth, and therefore out of range of any counter-intelligence operations, I knew that he had many agents on this planet to feed him information, and he had plans to use that information to benefit himself, Typhon and myself.
As something of a test of my clone's skills, and because I didn't want to be caught poking my nose into the business of a US Senator, I'd requested he dig up dirt on the man.
It was too risky for me to do this when I was due to meet with the man and because as was one of the few people who could do serious harm to my business empire.
Robert Kinsey was a Senator who had a seat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, and perhaps one day soon he would be its chairman, among other things. He might even one day be working in the Oval Office.
What mattered in the short term was that the Senate Appropriations Committee was the group that would control the Stargate Program's budget, and he could affect the funding spent on purchasing equipment from me for the armed forces.
Despite not yet being the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Kinsey already had a lot of influence and could if he wanted to harm my business by preventing the renewal of the contracts that kept me supplying the armed forces of this nation. Something he'd hinted at doing in a recent letter.
I had reasons to be concerned because in the show he successfully argued that the Stargate program should be shut down, citing the colossal waste of money and the threat to Earth it represented. If he could get the SGC shut down then he could certainly ruin me.
Upon meeting SG-1 and learning of their actions out in the galaxy, Kinsey refused to change his mind. He ordered that the Stargate Program be shut down for good while insisting that the U.S. military could defeat the Goa'uld.
As someone who knew about the might of the Goa'uld, I found this idea to be amusing. There wouldn't even be a fight if one of the Goa'uld turned up in this system with even a single Ha'tak.
A lone Ha'tak had than enough firepower to bomb the people of this world back into the Stone Age or to wipe out all life if the Goa'uld in control of the Ha'tak so desired.
Something that could happen if the Goa'uld were running from the Asgard and decided to hide out in this part of the galaxy. It was one of the reasons why I had my Stargate in the basement.
In the course of the show, the Stargate Progam was restarted after the plan to defeat Apophis's two motherships, which had been threatening Earth, completely failed and the world was about to be attacked.
Thankfully, SG-1, who had disobeyed orders and left Earth to check a Gate address that Dr. Daniel Jackson had acquired during a brief visit to an alternate reality, successfully destroyed both of the motherships.
With this proof of the program's importance, the President overruled the Senator's decision, something the President had previously considered to be political suicide.
In this reality, the Goa'uld might never threaten Earth so if Kinsey decided to have the Stargate Progam shutdown then it could remain closed.
Perhaps I should let this happen and allow my off-world program under Typhon to explore the galaxy without any risk of interference by the SGC, but the Goa'uld could still threaten Earth, and I might not be able to handle that alone.
Plus, I didn't want to run the risk of the Stargate Program becoming active again in a few decades when I wasn't in a position to influence it. Best to keep things going as I'd planned for so many years.
So I needed to control Kinsey and hitting him with the Nis'ta didn't seem like a good idea given how much of a public figure he was. Sudden changes in behaviour would be noted, and his health might be monitored very closely.
There were reasons why I remained in the business world and stayed out of the political arena. I did not want people looking too closely into my activities despite all of the precautions I took. So I needed to outsource some of my work.
As such, I'd called upon the Shadow Broker to aid me, and he should be ready for my call. With that in mind, I took out a hand-held version of the Goa'uld Long Distance Communication Device and soon it became active.
"Do you have people in place?" I question.
There was no need for small talk or manners when talking to yourself. Besides, the Senator would be here soon as I needed to ensure he could be controlled.
The meeting we were about to have had nothing to do with the Stargate it had to do with other projects that mattered to my business interests. Such matters need to be carefully handled.
"My people managed to tag one of his guards and apply the Nis'ta," the Broker reported "And the guard got to the Senator's wife. She's far less of a public figure than her husband, and Kinsey prefers the company of his young mistress".
Kinsey had no children nor any siblings, so we could only get to him through his wife, who he might not care much about.
"We'll have the mistress under our control before long" promised the Broker, who kept his face hidden in a hood, "She'll be better placed to spy on him and if we need him killed then the wife will be in place. We just need to plant evidence of his mistress in the house and order to her to react on it".
Even if I held to the insane idea that every human life had value, which most people don't despite their claims or there wouldn't be any homeless and prisons would be much more humane, I still would have ordered Kinsey's death without any remorse given that his foolish actions could doom the planet.
Then there was his hypocrisy. The Senator had publicly spoken against corruption and secrecy, yet I doubted that all of his campaign funding was legitimate and I knew he would support the NID when they tried to run their own Stargate Program.
"What about something we can hold over him?" I asked, "Did you find anything like that?".
I felt sure the Broker would have something for me.
"He's a draft dodger," my clone told me "He's on record as saying 'illness robbed me of the chance ever to serve in this country's military', and he has a note from his doctor, but the doctor is an old family friend and there's no record of any treatment for the illness".
This excuse had been presented by many contemporary politicians to explain how they avoided being drafted during the Vietnam War. In reality, their social status and parentage usually have much more to do with it, though, of course.
This is not always the case. Some important figures refused to be drafted because they objected to the war or because they had real health issues.
"There's no evidence of any serious illnesses or anything hereditary to explain why he was excused from the draft" the Broker told me "That alone could ruin his career if the information is presented at the right time".
It was something to hold over him should I need leverage.
"The fact that he is cheating on his wife, even if she likely knows about it, could deprive him of many supporters," The Broker was now saying "Kinsey enjoys a great deal of support from the Christian Community".
In interviews and such, Kinsey often made references to 'God and Country', and he justified his political actions by claiming to be doing the 'the Lord's work', and he added other phrases that would appeal to Bible nuts even if what the man did often went against the teachings of the Bible.
He might just be saying these things to appeal to his supporters, and if so that was bad enough, but if he believed that God would protect this world then he could be in for a rude awakening.
I'd seen enough of the show to know that Earth does not far well in many timelines.
"Once we have the mistress under our control it shouldn't be hard to discredit the man," said my clone "Remember what happened to Bill Clinton".
That scandal had been known worldwide.
"Good, I want us in a position to ruin the man if I can't use him," I told the intelligence gatherer.
There was a slight nodding of the head before The Shadow Broker ended the conversation and the orb began dormant. I secured it and then unlocked my office.
A human-made device on the desk made a noise to get my attention, it was my assistant letting me know that my attention was needed.
"What is it?" I asked.
A female voice soon spoke.
"Sir, Senator Robert Kinsey is here for his appointment," said my assistant.
He was early so I could make him wait, but insulting a US Senator wouldn't be good for business and with attention needing to be focused on the mountain this was not the time to rock the boat.
When the Senator came into my office and shook hands with me, I took note of how friendly and warm he appeared. It was an act, and one he did very well with, if I didn't know what a complete bastard this man could be, and if I was a mere human, I might have been fooled by the persona he projected.
"Mr Fargough," said the Senator as he took a seat "I'm glad you were able to make time for me today".
As if he would taken it lying down if I'd refused or tried to delay this appointment. Add to that I noted that he called me Mr rather than Doctor, perhaps as a sign of disrespect.
"You might have heard that I've been pushing for some changes in the Senate Appropriations Committee and for an increase in military spending despite the end of the Cold War" he mentioned "The world is in a sorry state right now and it's up to us to bring to some sort of order".
There was a lot of conflict on this planet. Yugoslav, the Republic of the Congo Civil War and then there was the Afghan Civil War. Sad for humanity as a whole and yet good for business.
"So the US of A is going to continue to depend upon you and our other suppliers to ensure that we have the best hardware in the world" said the Senator "In fact, you might be seeing more business".
He'd undoubtedly want something in return for bringing more business my way. That was just how it worked and if he wasn't so subtle in asking for a bribe then it would only give me more leverage over him.
Commissioned by Aikion
More of the setting things up phase in this part of the story. Don't worry I do have something more interesting than meetings planned for the future.
Seth.
Part 17.
Stargate Command. The Cheyenne Mountain
Complex. 1994.
"So you went with my suggestion on the name," I said as I was escorted into the briefing room.
I'd been invited back to the mountain after only having been away for a few weeks, time spent mostly putting my business affairs in New York into order so that I could afford to be away from the city more often.
While the Tau'ri expansion into the galaxy needed to be carefully guided it wouldn't do to ignore the business empire I had built, as it was why General West wanted me involved with his work.
"Yes, Doctor Fargough," answered General West "The President rather likes the name".
This pleased me as it meant my advice was being considered at the highest level and if General West didn't value my words he wouldn't have requested that I attend this meeting.
I had sent the high-ranking Air Force officer some proposals that if employed could save the SGC some trouble in the future. If he had any sense he'd made use of them during his planning.
"I've called you all here to discuss the goals of Stargate Command," said the General as I took a seat by Samantha.
Given how quickly everything had gotten set up it was clear to me that the President and his staff were firmly behind the SGC.
No doubt the lack of any certain threats made the program more inviting, but given that the Tau'ri were now aware that there were organisations out there with access to superior technology they wanted to act carefully. I knew at least this much from the pre-meeting briefing material.
"To start with the beta site will be set up as per Doctor Fargough's suggestion" said the General "No team going off-world will be allowed to return directly to Earth, nor will any off-world technology or biological material be allowed on Earth without being properly screened".
I could think of a few incidents when the world as a whole was endangered because someone brought something dangerous back through the Stargate. Not just diseases, but some technology could be a threat even if it wasn't some sort of weapon.
"There'll be a quarantine on both sides of the gate" explained General West "Once we are fairly certain that a world's isn't a threat to humanity we can lower the amount of time spent in quarantine".
In the show, they couldn't do this due to a limit on how much they could spend on sets and they needed to keep the action going, but this was reality and people needed to be more careful.
"Now as you can see from your briefing material we have short-term plans, and mid-term plans, as well as long ones, which the folks at the Pentagon have put together," General West was now saying "In the short term we'll be focusing on exploration, making peaceful first contact with any races out there, along with acquiring any advanced technology we can without making any enemies".
Pretty much what SG1 did in the show, or at least what they were supposed to do.
"Mid-term plans include setting up additional bases, assuming our short-term goals are met, and establishing mines to acquire a supply of naquadah, otherwise known as the Gate Element," said West.
Samatha spoke up at this point.
"Due to its unique properties, we think that Naquadah forms the basis for the advanced technologies used by at least one of the factions we have some knowledge about," she informed the other people in the room, a mixture of science types and military officers "The Stargates themselves are composed almost entirely of Naquadah, and the staff weapons we found on Abydos are powered by a liquid form of the material, which suggests that it has great potential in energy generation. It can also be used to enhance the potency of explosives".
I cleared my throat to get people's attention.
"Speaking as a weapon developer and supplier to the US armed forces, I can tell you now that a dependable supply of this element is the key to not only ensuring that the US remains Earth's only superpower for the foreseeable future, but it is also the key to ensuring us a place in the galaxy," I told them "If we want to compete with what is out there then we need the Gate Element and lots of it".
Samthana could not doubt give them a very detailed scientific explanation as to why this was the case, however, I knew what appealed to the military types, they wanted simple explanations, to know why investing in off-world mining was important.
"You talking about big honking space guns?" enquired Colonel O'Neill.
The production of such things was within my capabilities if I had access to the right resources.
"Yes, if we're ever going to get weapons that can blast alien spaceships, or energy shields, or any of that stuff we see in science fiction then we need Naquadah" I insisted "We'll require lots of it, as it's the only material that can produce the kind of energy we'll need. And even if you don't care about the environmental aspects of using fossil fuels we all know that they are finite, one day the oil will run out, and if we don't have an alternative that will be it for Western civilization. Naquadah can be that alternative and the US can control its use here on Earth as long as we hold onto the Stargate".
I could tell that the men in uniforms liked that idea. The switchover would have to be handled carefully and if done so I figured it would be Naquadah reactors that powered civilization, not oil or anything nuclear.
"We have detailed reports on the Gate Element" said West "What's important to know for now is that we need to mine this material or find people who are willing to trade for it. Doctor Jackson has attempted that with the people of Abydos to no success and the environment there is not suited to sending out mining teams without a great deal of support".
"Given that the Gate has been positioned in more temperate regions on other plants I plan to have survey teams looking for mining sites of our own, or if we encounter other native people we might be able to negotiate for a supply" the General told us.
There was much more to discuss.
"Then we have our long-term goals which include the creation of colonies on other worlds rather than just small military bases" West let us know.
Doctor Jackson drew attention to himself.
"I noticed that you have me as part of the teams that will be surveying worlds for possible colony sites" he mentioned "But it doesn't say why".
The long-term goals were rather vague since they were focused on what would be happening ten to twenty years from now.
"Because, Doctor Jackson, the last thing we want is to when colonising new worlds is to end up repeating what happened with the Native American population" explained General West "So we'll need proper surveys done and that includes inspecting any ruins we find to ensure that they have been abandoned. You've also proven that you know how to talk to the people of Abydos so we might need your help in talks with people like them".
While Doctor Jackson had no wife out there to try to save from the Goa'uld there would still be plenty for him to do even if he wasn't part of SGC-1. Ruins to explore, people to talk to, relics to study and so on.
"I fully intend for everyone under my command to have chances to go off-world, when and why will depend on their talents, and should we be successful in our goals, I do not doubt that Stargate Command will expand" West stated.
He paused for a moment before carrying on with the meeting.
"Part of our mid-term to long-term goals will be to expose people to the existence of the Stargate and to share knowledge of the galaxy" the General was now saying "We must be careful as there are those that won't accept the fact that we are not alone in the universe and they certainly won't like the idea that there are advanced civilizations out there who could be hostile towards us".
I could well see how knowledge of such things could destabilise society by causing panic and that was just from concern about attacking aliens. Knowing of the Stargate would bring into question what people believed about the universe and their place in it.
Then there was the fighting that could take place if the other nations found out that the USA had the only means to reach into space and they decided that they should have the Stargate.
"To that end, we plan to disclose the existence of the Stargate slowly," said West "Starting with the leaders of the military and the civilian government, then with important figures in business such as Doctor Fargough. This should ensure increased funding over time".
And since such funding gave me influence over the SGC it was important to maintain it.
"Later our allies will be informed. Nations like Canada, and the United Kingdom, as well as others, will be invited to aid us. They will wish to have a voice in how the future of this world is decided" stated the General "We'll need them because sooner or later more hostile nations will discover the existence of the Stargate and when they do it will be important to us to stand with our allies to keep the Stargate in the hands of the US of A".
This all fell neatly in line with my plans for a future where humanity dominated this galaxy and a business empire could span the stars.
"So how long until we get out there?" asked an Air Force officer.
He'd been on Abydos with us and seemed to have developed a taste for going off-world.
"With the information we've gathered from Abydos, we've been able to come up with several gate addresses," said Samatha "Even with the safety procedures we should be able to explore a few worlds every month and we'll need to send out multiple teams to have any hope of learning about these worlds. Unless they like Abydos and everything interesting happened to be very close to the Stargate".
While that didn't often seem to be the case there were plenty of interesting things out there in the galaxy that wasn't that close to a Stargate.
"Since acquiring advanced technology will be one of the main goals of the Stargate Program it will be important to have the best R&D teams," said West "I've decided to place Captain Carter in charge of all of the R&D efforts, which will include overseeing any science teams we send world".
I was sure she would prefer to be on the frontlines, but having her going around shooting at people and trying to convince primitive people that there was no such thing as magic, was a waste of her talents.
"Cilivan experts and diplomats can be attached to SG teams as required," said West "So you will have plenty of chances to get off-world Captain Carter".
There were other matters to go through, such as the standards of behaviour for SGC teams when off-world, how first contact situations will be handled, and if we would have any sort of prime directive meant to stop us from interfering with less developed societies.
"Can't we provide aid to these societies?" asked Doctor Jackson.
There wasn't much enthusiasm for this idea.
"We can't even solve our problems here on Earth" an officer pointed out.
He had a point.
"And we don't have the resources for any large-scale humanitarian work," said West "Even if we do end up trading with people like those living on Abydos we'd only make things worse for them if we made them dependant upon us for trade. What would happen if the mines ran dry?".
Since I'd already given this matter some thought I decided to pitch in.
"I think the best thing we could do for struggling societies is to give them the means to use the Stargate to make contact with other groups at similar levels so they can trade with each other while sharing some information with them, stuff like crop rotation and germ theory" I suggested, "We can give them a leg up and let them develop on their own without them having to depend on us".
West considered my words.
"That's not too far off we already had planned with the idea of trading access to the right to mine Naquadah" he said "Rather than trade them goods we can improve their ability to take care of themselves and that could one day lead to us having more developed nations to ally with".
People got behind that idea and the meeting moved on. We could be here a while, but at least we were getting plenty done.
Seth.
Part 18.
In Orbit of Earth. The Biliskner. 1994.
While I'd been beamed up by the Asgard more than once during this strange new life, it still came as a surprise to find myself up in space without any notice or feeling of movement.
When my vision returned I saw that I was within the hull of an Asgard vessel. Only this ship was different from the science vessels I'd become somewhat used to during my interactions with the Asgard race.
"Greetings Seth, I am Thor, the Supreme Commander of the Asgard race," said an alien.
Unlike others who might find themselves in this sort of situation, I had no problem telling Thor apart from the other Asgard whom I'd met in the past. There were subtle differences in the tone of their skin and the positioning of their large eyes.
"This vessel is the Biliskner," said the Supreme Commander
This was Thor's vessel and the flagship of the Asgard fleet. I knew this much from my memories of watching the show even if I didn't know much about the ship beyond that and its ability to kick the butt of the Goa'uld.
"Once again the Asgard require your help," mentioned Thor "Are you familiar with the Goa'uld known as Anubis?".
I betrayed the fact that I did in the way my body responded. Setest and I both knew a lot about Anubis, and I wished that I didn't know as much as I did.
"Yes, I've heard of him," I said.
Long ago, Anubis first arose as a warlord in the service of Apep, who had command over Goa'uld such as Nut, Thoth, Ra and their servants Bastet, Isis, and Osiris.
While Anubis earned a great deal of respect from Apep for his victories that helped forge the Goauld Empire, he also earned the envy of his fellow underlords.
Anubis' ambition ended up causing his downfall, as it so often does, and Anubis set himself on the path to becoming the Supreme System Lord.
After exposing Apep to the unstable effects of the Ancient healing device, Anubis learned of valuable Ancient weapons: the Eyes of the Goa'uld, the six jewels used to power a planet-destroying weapon that I had warned the Asgard about in this timeline.
They had taken the Eye of Tiamat out of this galaxy and I'd hidden the Eye of Ra so that Anubis shouldn't be able to get his hands on it.
When Anubis felt ready to make his move he murdered Apep, removing the symbiote from his host and devouring Apep before the underlords such as Ra, and he declared himself Emperor of the Goa'uld.
Anubis, however, had seriously underestimated the followers of Apep and the power of the rival underlords. Ra was able to rally the others in Apep's name, and they were able to defeat Anubis.
Ra emerged from that mess as the new ruler of the Goa'uld Empire, and Anubis was banished. The superweapon was destroyed, and Ra redistributed the eyes among himself, Apophis, Osiris, Setesh, and Tiamat.
Following his final defeat at the hands of Ra, the System Lords attempted to murder Anubis. During this time, Anubis must have found some Ancient research on ascension.
Wanting to pursue ascension without having to worry about the System Lords, he allowed them to believe that he was finally dead, and it worked as they did think he had died.
At some point in history, Anubis travelled to Kheb and underwent the tests of the rogue Ancient Oma Desala. After Anubis passed the tests and somehow deceived her, Oma concluded that Anubis was worthy of ascension.
Only once she began the ascension process did she realize how truly evil he was. By then, it was too late, as Oma was unable to descend Anubis on her own.
This forced the others of her kind to do so, but they had become frustrated with Oma's repeated violation of the rule of non-interference and chose to punish her by leaving Anubis partially ascended, able to use any knowledge he could have gained as a Goa'uld.
They didn't care at all how this affected the lives of the billions, maybe even trillions, of humans living in this galaxy.
While I was uncertain of exactly what Anubis could do I knew enough to know that he was a threat to all human life in this galaxy and he had some means of enchanting Goa'uld technology to the point it could threaten the Asgard.
"What you may not know is that Anubis has returned and allied himself with Sokar" I was told.
Now that was a match made in the fiery pits of hell. I could not imagine a more unlikely or horrific pair of Goa'uld to partner up.
"Until recently our attempts to remove the Goa'uld have been successful and we have left the human populations free to find their way in the galaxy" mentioned Thor.
Bad news for the Jaffa who won't have a way of replacing their larva without the Goa'uld queens, but it suited my plans for humanity to become the dominant species in this galaxy, so I had no desire to help the Jaffa.
"Then we met the forces of Sokar" Thor informed me "Not only does he have a fleet much larger than any System Lord his ships are more advanced".
Most Goa'uld technology is based on that of the Ancients. Anubis was somehow able to improve upon the Goa'uld's designs to bring out more of the potential of the technology.
"Because of this Sokar has been able to win a battle against our forces" Thor was now telling me "We do not have the forces for a proper campaign against Sokar so we must win the next battle and find a way to deal with Anubis".
Since he's not a physical being you can't just shoot him or blow him up and even if you strand him somewhere he might find a way back to civilization.
"What does anything of this have to do with me?" I asked.
Thor got up from his throne and used a fancy stone to display a hologram of a world I was familiar with.
"We are aware of your base on Gliese 892," he said.
Of course, they were. I'd suspected that they were keeping tabs on Earth. I also didn't think they would interfere as long as I didn't mess about with the people living on the planets they protected.
"The Asgard could aid you in setting up your outpost on this world as long as it doesn't pose a threat to human worlds under Asgard protection," said Thor.
They didn't need to worry about that. I had no intention of upsetting such a powerful race.
"I intend to set up a union of human worlds that I can guide through politics and business" I explained "I do not need slaves to feed my ego or to conquer worlds for mere riches. Not when I can become the man who guides humanity to its future".
Which is far more impressive than becoming another System Lord which had been the extent of Setest's ambition.
"One day the Asgard will be able to assist with this goal" promised Thor "For now our focus is on rebuilding our civilization and removing the Goa'uld from power. Is there any knowledge you possess that can aid us in defeating Anubis?".
For the Supreme Commander of the Asgard fleet to come here in person they must fear Anubis, and he would be a hindrance to my plans. That Anubis was already active suggested that he was worried about the Asgard and had rushed whatever plans he had.
"The Asgard Council is well aware of your ability to see future events" Thor let me know "You are not the first life form we have encountered with this capability. We have even attempted to replicate this ability in others to no success".
I might as well aid them. Maintaining a good working relationship with this race was worth the effort.
"There is" I mentioned, "In the Lost City of Atlantis".
Which I happened to know how to find since I'd taken the tablet from Ra's vault on Abydos. From that tablet, it was possible to figure out the Gate address, and since it could be dialled from Earth I might have been able to reach the Lost City.
I'd not tried since I lacked a power source great enough to dial another galaxy, nor could I power the city, and it wouldn't rise to the surface unless it was Doctor Weir in charge of such an expedition because of how she goes back in time to meet an Ancient called Janus.
He was the scientist who created the program that would cause the city to lift from the seabed if the shields protecting it from the ocean began to fail. If I sent people there they would all die when the shield failed.
"Please explain," requested Thor.
I did my best to do so.
"Over in the Pegasus galaxy, the Ancients were studying ascension and while doing so they captured a non-corporal creature that feeds on energy, they designed a device to contain it and it should in theory be able to contain other creatures that are not physical" I told the short alien "Getting to the device will be a problem".
I had already thought of a solution.
"Halfway between the Pegasus Galaxy and the Milky Way you can find a ship full of Ancients who are travelling at near the speed of light" I informed Thor.
Rather than question me further on that the ship soon went into motion and a short amount of time later we simply stopped.
"We have arrived at the point exactly halfway between the Pegasus Galaxy and the Milky Way" he reported "I will scan for the ship".
Given that the Tau'ri didn't encounter the Ancient ship at this point in history the vessel might not be close enough to the halfway point to register on sensors.
"Nothing on short-range, I am beginning a long-range scan," said Thor as we worked some controls "We have found the Ancient vessel. It is moving at almost the speed of light so we will need to make use of faster-than-light communications to signal them".
What was this 'we' business I hadn't done anything other than talk.
"Asgard tech is OP please Nerf" I muttered.
If Thor heard that he ignored it.
"They have received our signal" Thor said "They are slowing down".
The short alien didn't speak for a while as he seemed to be going over some data.
"It will take some time for the Ancient vessel to decelerate," said the Supreme Commander "Until then perhaps we can discuss the rest of your plan and how the Asgard race can compensate you for your aid in this matter".
We might as well.
"Getting the city-ship of Atlantis up and running requires a power source known as a ZPM" I said "Although I'm sure between you and the crew of that ship you'll be able to rig something up".
While my understanding of advanced technology was well beyond anyone living on Earth, at least until Samantha Carter got a chance to catch up, I wasn't that skilled when compared to people who could move across galaxies.
At least I knew enough to know that the Asgard could bypass Ancient shields with their ships, or the Asgard living in the Pegasus galaxy could. I didn't think Thor's lot would have trouble figuring it out.
"I suspect that the Ancients will be able to help you deal with Anubis as there will be a lot of information on the process of accession and Anubis is a partly ascended being" I told Thor.
As I spoke the alien looked at me and blinked a few times.
"The sheer amount of information you possess is staggering," said Thor "I can see now why Loki petitioned the council to be allowed to dissect your brain".
Hearing that was a bit alarming and the commander picked up on that.
"Which the council has strictly forbidden" he assured me.
Thor changed the subject to the reward for my efforts about how the Asgard could use their beaming technology to carve out more than enough room in the mountains and while they wouldn't give us their technology they could create suitable technology for our operations.
I brought up the subject of defences and the possibility of obtaining some sort of energy shielding for the base.
"We can not share our technology with your people" insisted Thor.
I'd given this some thought.
"Could you modify a Goa'uld shield to protect the base?" I questioned, "I know how to produce force fields just not on that scale due to the energy requirements, but Gliese 892 has more than enough Naquadah to power such a device".
Thor spent a moment in thought.
"It is possible" he said "We would have to construct a much larger generator, and that would require approval from the council".
I did have some information about goings on in the Pegasus galaxy which I could trade to sweeten the deal if needs be, but for now, I'd keep it to myself.