Chapter 127: Spy Games Part 3
Mystacor, Etheria, December 10th, 1999 (Earth Time)
Adora's idea had been a bad idea. Or had had bad timing, at the least. They just found out that the Russians and Chinese were in contact with unknown aliens - or alien humans; Jack had said that according to Lenkova, they looked and acted human - and Adora and her friends were still going to Mystacore with Asgard.
But Adora knew that even if they had rescheduled the visit - which would have required them to explain to the Asgard why, though that wouldn't have been too bad since they already knew that the computers of Earth's Stargate had been hacked - it wouldn't change that Adora was stuck on Etheria and couldn't travel to Earth. Couldn't do anything about the problem there. Couldn't be with Catra…
"And we've arrived!" Bow announced from the front of their shuttle.
"We have? I don't see anything," Penegal said, peering through the cockpit's windows. "Just an empty cliffside."
"Mystacore is magically hidden. If we want to enter it, we have to do it here," Glimmer said and opened the ramp in the back.
"Ah." Freyr nodded.
Adora had half-expected them to challenge this - ask why they couldn't land directly in the city. Like most humans would have. But the Asgard just accepted it. Or, she couldn't help thinking, they were too polite to voice such questions.
Once everyone was outside, Bow used his tablet to lock up the shuttle, then had it enter stealth mode.
"Mystacore doesn't use the same method to hide, does it?" Penegal asked.
"No. Mystacore is using magical means," Glimmer told him. "The shuttles use magitech."
"Technically, all magitech is a sort of 'magical means'," Bow added. "But traditionally, if it doesn't use any physical tool - like spellcasting - or only glyphs, runes and similar tools, it's called magic. Anything more complicated is called magitech."
Glimmer rolled her eyes, probably annoyed at the interruption, but the Asgard nodded. "So, it's merely a case of traditional yet arbitrary definitions for the same thing?"
"Well, you could say that, yes," Bow said. "But you'd have to ask a sorceress about it - I'm a tech-master."
"Who also can build and use magitech," Thor pointed out.
"Anyone can build magitech if they have access to the right magical resources and know what they are doing," Bow replied with a smile.
Glimmer snorted, and Adora agreed with her friend's sentiment - Bow was too modest; it took a lot of talent and effort to learn how to build magitech, even more to develop it.
"And how would one get access to such resources?" Freyr asked.
"That would be a question best asked to Castaspella," Glimmer replied before Bow could say anything. "And we should hurry - the flying mountain has arrived."
Adora blinked - she had missed that. The sky and the air in front of them, and below the ledge, looked as empty as always, with just a few clouds obscuring part of the view of the ground. Then again, she wasn't a trained sorceress, unlike Glimmer. "Let's go, then," she said.
"Yes. Just follow me." Glimmer stepped to the edge, then jumped off.
The Asgard didn't react to that either - they walked up to the edge themselves just in time to see Glimmer rise, standing on a floating mini-island.
"It's perfectly safe," Bow told them, then stepped on it himself.
"I would say that I assume you wouldn't use it if it weren't safe," Freyr said rather dryly, "but your culture's safety standards have been demonstrated not to match Asgard's."
But despite his words, all three Asgard followed Bow and Glimmer on the island.
Adora smiled at that as she jumped on it as well. Maybe this wasn't going to be a waste of time.
The floating island - it looked far more like an island than a mountain, in her opinion - didn't take long to take them to Mystacor.
Still, it was long enough for Penegal to cock his head at Glimmer and ask: "How are you controlling it?"
"Magic," she replied.
"Yes, I assume that is the case, but are you controlling it with mental commands? Or are you using magic on it to steer it?"
"Both." Glimmer's smile looked a little toothy. But before anyone could answer, the island trembled a little, and then Mystacor appeared before them - they had passed through the barrier hiding the kingdom.
And that sight seemed to shut up the Asgard. At least until they had made landfall where Castaspella and the other leaders of the kingdom were waiting for them.
"Welcome to Mystacor," Castaspella greeted them, slightly bowing her head. "Be welcome and at peace while you are here."
"Thank you," Freyr said.
Adora blinked. That was… "She didn't greet us like that when we visited," she whispered to Glimmer while the Asgard mirrored Castaspella's bow.
"You were there to relax, not as part of a state visit," Glimmer whispered back.
"Ah." That made sense. It still felt weird, especially since Castaspella had met the Agsard before. But no one else seemed to feel like that. Adora blamed her Horde upbringing. If Catra were here, she would at least joke about it.
Castaspella introduced the other sorceresses with her, then led the Asgard on a tour through Mystacor - and, since they were with their visitors, that meant Adora and her friends received the tour as well.
"And here's the Library of the Elements - a relic from an early attempt to categorise magic powers. The theory behind it was disproven after royal lines developed powers that could not be linked to one of the elements, but the library was kept out of tradition." Castaspella gestured at an old-looking building connected by a path lined with pillars to the main entrance.
"And even expanded," Glimmer added.
Bow smiled. "If you don't find anything in the central library, this is your next stop."
"I don't understand… you do not have centralised access to your databanks?" Penegal asked.
"No," Castaspella said. "It's a matter of security. If anyone would gain access to such a centralised databank, they would have access to all our knowledge. As it is, an intruder would have to physically remove a memory crystal to steal the knowledge contained in it, which would take time and a lot more effort than copying a databank."
"But… that means your research will be slowed down as well. If you have to physically search through your data…" Pegenal sounded as if he couldn't believe anyone would have such a system.
"Yes. But while that may seem like a drawback, and often is, sometimes, slowing down a research project can be beneficial."
"Not every research project should have been started," one of the older sorceresses stated. "And none should be rushed. Often, a pause can grant someone insight that would have been missed if they had been able to work without rest."
"Whether that's the researcher - or those who take care of the library, and of Mystacor as a whole," a man with few strands of white hair left on his head added.
Adora winced. They meant Shadow Weaver. Or Light Spinner, as she had been known here before her… last experiment. She wondered what the sorceresses here thought of her. But this wasn't the time to ask such questions - they were here for the Asgard, she told herself with guilty relief.
"It sounds inefficient."
"It's also traditional," Glimmer added with a smile too wide to be honest.
Judging by the way Freyr frowned briefly, the Asgard hadn't missed that.
And neither had Castaspella, who narrowed her eyes at Glimmer before tilting her head and smiling at their guests. "You also have to understand that research here is a personal affair. Our people decide which idea to research without answering to anyone."
"Magic shouldn't be treated as a resource," the older sorceress, whose name Adora still couldn't remember, added. "Nor should magic be treated as if it were a machine."
"And if one were to do that, what would be the consequences?" Freyr asked.
"If you do not respect magic, if you reach too far, or be too greedy or too ambitious, and you might suffer a fate worse than death," the man said. "Magic… is like a dangerous but beautiful, immensely powerful creature."
That sounded… well, like Sea Hawk talked about the sea. Or Mermista, when he had drunk a bit too much. At least, Scorpia claimed that.
And Adora didn't miss the soft snort from Glimmer at hearing this.
But the Asgard nodded. "I see," Penegal said. "So, it's more akin to taming a beast than building a tool - or growing a plant?"
"A not entirely incorrect comparison," Castaspella agreed.
"Is that the case for all magic, or is this a particular aspect of Etheria's magic?" Freyr asked.
"As far as we know - although our knowledge of other planets' magic is still very limited - it's the same for everyone," Castaspella told him. "At least, Earth's magical traditions, or the myths based on them, often contain similar warnings of hubris and its consequences."
Once more, the Asgard exchanged a glance. "And yet, you use magitech," Penegal pointed out.
"Magitech is not magic as we do here," Castaspella said.
"Magitech's magic is… very limited. Constrained," the man said.
"Dead," the older woman added.
"Not dead, I wouldn't say that. But… so limited and bound, it cannot adapt and grow anymore. Cannot live," he retorted.
"If you cannot live, you die," the woman said with a smirk.
"Eventually. I would say that magitech keeps the magic in the moment between life and death. Symbolically, at least."
"Oh, no - they won't stop now," Glimmer muttered.
"Symbolically? We've heard that Earth's magic is centred on symbols," Penegal said. "And that it affects magic."
"Oh, yes!"
"Not at all!"
The others glared at each other.
"So, this is in dispute?" Thor asked.
"Amongst some," Castaspella said. "But some of us do not believe that either excludes the other."
"And there we go," Glimmer whispered. She glanced to Adora, then her eyes widened. "Oh, no!"
Adora turned to the side and saw Bow frowning deeply. Her friend took a step forward. "As a user and creator of magitech, I have to disagree with the claim that magitech abuses magic. That is a very narrow and biased view, based on concepts that are still mere hypotheses, not facts as some claim."
"They might as well be facts!"
"That's not how it works!"
Adora's smile felt frozen on her face as everyone but Glimmer and herself started to debate. Or dispute - it was hard to tell, given how passionate most were. Even the Asgard.
Stargate Command, CFB Goose Bay, Newfoundland, Canada, December 10th, 1999
"So, according to Lieutenant Lenkova, she has met the Eurondans twice so far under cover of doing routine exploration missions, both times escorting diplomats from Russia and China?" Samantha Carter repeated the General's statement out of ingrained habit - and tried not to feel grimly satisfied, or even vindicated, about the fact that Lenkova had been revealed to have betrayed Stargate Command. Or Earth, depending on your definition.
"Yep." The General nodded.
"Diplomats?" Daniel frowned. "They cannot have been high-ranking diplomats; the Russians and the Chinese might have fooled the electronic system and tampered with the records to make them appear as common soldiers or scientists, but I think we would have recognised anyone with influence in either government on sight."
"I think you might overestimate the intel we have on Russia and China, Daniel," the General told him with a slightly rueful grin. "We kind of cut back on the spying we did in the Cold War when Russia collapsed, and with the chaotic mess Russia was left in after the soviet union collapsed, it's a bit hard to keep track of who's actually in power."
"But… their president…" Daniel frowned.
"...will be replaced at the end of the year, in three weeks, by his elected successor - at least that's the official party line," the General interrupted him. "And from what we know, he's been a figurehead ever since the Etherians arrived, maybe even longer. We don't know yet how much actual power his successor has or will have." He shrugged. "Judging from his background, he could have been the power behind the throne for a while or just a puppet for others."
"Gotta love spies," Catra muttered.
"So much for the CIA," Wilkinson commented. "Can't even find out who rules Russia." The FBI agent looked a bit lost but trying to hide it, in Sam's impression.
Paris, on the other hand, didn't even try to hide that she thought this was above her head.
"I'm not sure the Russians know who rules them at the moment." The General snorted. "Anyway, what is clear is that whoever is running things has control over the faction of their military and spy services that run the Russian side here at Stargate Command. Enough to insert trusted agents into their teams here to do some diplomacy for them under the table. And if what Lenkova said about a resource trade being set up is true, they have the backing of at least some of the rich guys currently controlling the Russian economy."
"What about the Chinese?" Daniel asked.
"Their current leader seems to be entrenched, but that could be a facade so that the Chinese people won't worry about instability - or question their leaders. They are good at concealing power struggles from us either way," the General replied. "Last I heard, the CIA analysts are hit and miss with them."
"For someone who doesn't like politics, you know quite a lot about it," Daniel commented with a grin.
The General scowled at him for the little dig.
"You can't run a war without politics," Catra said. "So, basically, the Russians want to trade resources for technology? Do we know what kind of technology we're talking about?"
"Advanced military and medical technology," the General told her. "But Lenkova claimed not to know how advanced."
Either the Russian 'diplomats' were playing it close to their chest, or Lenkova was lying. Sam pressed her lips together. She couldn't let her… emotions about the Russian officer influence her thoughts about the matter at hand. Lenkova had come clean about the Russian - and Chinese - plans; lying about this wouldn't really serve a purpose.
"Advanced enough to take over our - I mean, Stargate Command's - computers," Daniel said.
Sam frowned a little. That had been her responsibility, and she had let them down.
"Yeah."
"But not too advanced," Sha're pointed out. "If they had technology equal to ours, or even the Goa'uld, they wouldn't need anything that Russia or China could provide that they couldn't get themselves. If it were a Goa'uld, they might need Naquadah, but we know that Earth has no deposits."
"The Russians and Chinese might be trying to swindle them. Wouldn't put it past either," the General said.
"That would be extremely short-sighted," Sha're said. "Like an inexperienced Goauld. Although they might count on any retaliation for such a deception dragging the Alliance into the conflict."
"Wouldn't put that past either country either."
"It's also possible that their technology requires resources that are scarce on their planet but not on Earth," Sam said. "Although I can't think of anything that wouldn't be found on other planets either."
"Well, whatever the answer turns out to be, we're going to find out," the General said. "We can't let the Russians and Chinese jeopardise Earth's safety by making shady secret deals with unknown aliens."
"You said that according to Lenkova, the Eurondans were humans." Wilkinson frowned.
The General grinned. "They looked human. That doesn't mean anything."
"And, as the Etherians and others prove, merely sharing human genes and origins does not mean we are culturally close enough not to count as aliens," Daniel added. "We cannot reduce this to a biological question, or we might be working from faulty assumptions that lead to potentially catastrophically wrong conclusions."
That was correct, but not the General's point. Sam didn't say that, though. Instead, she brought up a few files on her computer. "I've prepared an overview of the planets where Lenkova met with the Eurondans, sir. We might find more clues at those locations."
"Once we can use the Stargate again," the General said. "Until then, this will have to be a local investigation."
Wilkinson straightened at that, Sam noted.
The General bared his teeth. "It's time to show our 'trusted partners' from Russia and China that they're not the only ones able to play spy games."
Clear.
Catra smiled at Melog's notice and quickly slid around the corner, then dashed forward to the closest door on the right side of the hallway. It was locked, but the override Sam had put together took care of that with the push of a button, and a second later, she was inside the quarters of the Russian's latest 'scientist', Piotr Novikov - an assumed name, of course.
He was asleep, as expected at this time of the night, snoring slightly. She studied him for a few seconds, watching his chest rise and fall and listening to his breathing. If he was faking it, he would be a great actor. Of course, he was probably a spook, or a former spook… Whatever, she could take him.
She looked around. The room was very neat, very organised - almost sterile. The only personal item she could see was a family picture on the side table. She pulled out her camera and took a few images for analysis, then started going through the man's belongings. According to Jack, it was unlikely that a spook would have incriminating data on them - unless they had reached an agreement to be ratified by whoever was in charge in Russia. Or it was data stolen from the aliens. But that would likely have been moved to Russia already - the last suspicious mission had been a few days before this whole mess had started and Stargate Command had been locked down.
And she found nothing. No scraps hidden in the man's gear. No electronic data, according to Sam's scanner. No…
She narrowed her eyes at a suspiciously scratched corner in the locker. Sure, that could have been from boots thrown into the locker without cleaning them beforehand; she had seen that happen back in her cadet days. But she had also learned how to hide stuff in your locker.
It was easy to slip the tip of a claw under the panel's corner there and work it loose. And behind it was a small cylinder. She didn't recognise it, but it looked quite advanced. And it hadn't shown up on the scanner.
As the humans said: Paydirt!
Five minutes later, she was back in the lab Sam had appropriated, watching her friend study the device.
"It's a sort of data storage. I'm working on how to access it."
"Good." Jack nodded. "He grinned. "Either the Russians aren't as efficient as they used to be, or our spy here kept a copy of the alien data for himself, or for someone else pulling his strings. Anyway, if you can copy the data before our Russian spook wakes up, we can slip it back in, and he'll have no idea we found it."
"I'll try my best, sir. But I can't promise success. This is an alien device with unknown protocols. Though we have samples of their programs, so that should provide us with an advantage."
"Oh, a data storage device!" Entrapta piped up from the screen in the corner. "Neat!" A moment later, she added: "I'll help!" And another moment later: "Yes, that will help us!"
Even with the signal routed through the closest Stargate to Earth in reach of the spy bot network - and only as long that one was open to Etheria - the signal lag to Etheria was still a few seconds long. But that shouldn't be an issue when it came to decrypting. Unlike remote construction or lab work. Or so Entrapta had explained.
Entrapta beamed. "Let's hope this will be easier than the alien cube!"
Right. The thing they had found on their trip to Earth. Which they hadn't managed to decrypt yet. Of course, as far as Catra heard, it wasn't a priority for either Sam or Entrapta, but still - not the most encouraging remark. Then again, Entrapta didn't mean it like that.
"And what do we do if you can't encrypt it until the suspect wakes up?" Paris asked. "Put it back?"
"We don't want to tip them off that we're onto them," Jack said. "We can get the thing tomorrow night again."
Sam tensed at that, Catra saw. She would be working all night to decrypt the device. Well, that was her decision. And the sooner they got more intel about those Eurondans, the better.
She pushed off the table she had been leaning against. "So, let's hit our next target." She looked at Wilkinson.
"We could make a copy, I think," Entrapta chimed in late, interrupting Wilkinson before he could say anything. "A duplicate of the device that looks exactly like it."
"Let's focus on cracking the device," Jack said before looking at Wilkinson.
"Wang Zhen," Wilkinson said with a slight frown. "Which is like a Chinese John Smith. According to the official documentation, he's got a doctorate in anthropology, but his publishing history is rather suspect and not available online."
"Probably majored in propaganda at their spy academy," Jack commented.
"Ok!" Entrapta cut in.
"I don't think they call it…" Daniel trailed off and pouted at the grinning man.
Wilkinson cleared his throat. "He's sharing his room with Captain Li Wei, a legitimate veteran soldier of the People's Liberation Army, so infiltrating his quarters will be more difficult."
Catra snorted. More difficult didn't mean actually difficult. She glanced at Melog. In a pinch, their illusions could probably let her search the room while both were awake.
Ready.
She smiled. "We'll be right back."
Jack nodded. "Don't stay out too late."
She snorted at that as she vanished under Melog's illusion. As if!
Stargate Command, CFB Goose Bay, Newfoundland, Canada, December 11th, 1999
"We've done it, sir. Copied the data on the device in a readable form."
Carter had worked through the night. Just as Jack O'Neill had known she would. But as he had also known, she had managed to crack the alien data thing they had taken from the Russians. He still felt guilty for not stopping her and making her get some sleep, but that was the price an officer had to pay for doing what was necessary. Like he had done when he had talked to Lenkova, playing on her obvious guilt to make her crack.
Forcing the guilt away, he downed the last of his latest cup of coffee and got up from the seat where he had not quite been napping for half the night. "Yes?"
"We've done it!" Entrapta chimed in, late due to communication lag.
"Good." Catra stretched, yawning and looking rested as if she had slept in a bed and not curled up with Melog on a blanket on the ground. She probably felt the same either way, Jack suspected with a bit of envy; the woman was more cat than you'd suspect upon first meeting her. "Can I take it back then?" Cocking her head, she added: "Novikov is still asleep. Won't take long. Unless you want to tamper with the data on it beforehand."
Jack shook his head. "Take it back. We've got him under surveillance now and can replace it later if we want to." When they were more rested. Trying to be clever and do stunts like this wasn't a good idea when you were operating on a few hours of sleep and a lot of coffee. Unless you absolutely had to, which wasn't the case here.
She nodded, grabbed the thing and vanished from view. Melog was showing off his illusion power again.
Jack waited, cocking his head and trying to hear the door opening and closing. He missed it, though, when Entrapta exclaimed behind him: "Oh, did you see this? It's a neural interface! Non-invasive! And it probably won't fry the brain if you use it too much, either!"
They were going through the data already? He snorted. Of course they were! Carter would claim that it was a necessary check to ensure they had cracked the encryption, but he knew she wouldn't be able to resist the lure of new technology.
"Yes," Carter said. "Used to remote control drones, as far as I can tell." She looked up from her laptop - or what had been her laptop; Jack wasn't sure what she had turned it into with her tinkering - and nodded at him. "It's more advanced than our own drone technology. The data compression for the sensor feeds surpasses anything we have."
That wasn't good news. "More advanced than Ancient technology?"
Carter frowned. "Not across the band, at least, from what I can tell, sir. They are using radio, not faster than light communication, to transmit data, for example."
That was some good news, at least.
"Oh, did you see the way they do data compression?" Entrapta asked. "That's so clever! But we would have to restructure our entire computer core and crystal matrices to take advantage of it, I think… Oh, you did see it! We really need to do something about the lag."
"We'll have a meeting later today, when we're all rested, so don't geek out too much over this and get some sleep," Jack said with a grin, then made a point of yawning.
"Yes, sir." Carter had the grace to blush a little, which made her look cute, not that Jack would ever say so.
He blinked. He shouldn't be thinking that, either - he must be more tired than he had thought. "Anyway, get some sleep. It's just data, not some bomb. Is it?" Better safe than sorry.
"No, sir, it's not a bomb or a carrier for biological or chemical weapons."
He nodded. "Then we don't have a reason to wake up the others for a meeting right now. Let's get some real sleep."
"Yes, sir."
"Oh! That's a nice drone - it's a fighter drone! And it has energy weapons of a new design! Bulkier than bot blaster cannons, though. And it's not space capable…" Entrapta trailed off, and Carter's eyes darted back to her laptop.
Shaking his head, Jack turned away. What he didn't see, he didn't have to do anything about.
He left the room just in time to spot Catra and Melog fading into view before him. "Done?" he asked.
Catra nodded, flashing her fangs in a grin. "Of course. He slept through it."
Melog was looking smug like a cat that got the canary.
"Good." Jack nodded and stifled a yawn. "Meeting at… eleven," he added. That would give Carter six hours of sleep or so.
Catra eyed the lab door. "I'll send them to bed in a while."
That worked as well. Jack nodded again. "Good work."
"Of course." She grinned and walked into the lab, and Jack headed to his temporary quarters. It was past time to get some sleep. Even with his magically healed body, he wasn't twenty any more.
Mystacor, Etheria, December 11th, 1999 (Earth Time)
Adora should be happy. Her plan was working out nicely. Everyone - almost everyone - was talking with each other. Connecting. Freely discussing important matters.
"Magic can actually heal genetic conditions. She-Ra proved that when she healed people in India," an older sorceress said.
"That was a special occasion - she had to channel Earth's magic as it returned to the planet."
But the way they were talking about her as if she wasn't present… Even Castaspella seemed to be too caught up in the discussion to realise that Adora was right here while they were discussing what she had done.
"I still say that we should call it undoing a blockade. It's not as if she had to actually send the magic back; she just had to free it." The older man shook his head, the thin remains of his hair moving back and forth.
"That works out the same," the woman retorted.
"Not quite. The general result might be very similar, but how it is achieved is distinctly different. Blowing a dam isn't the same task as carrying water up a slope to fill a river."
"Of course, you'd use water metaphors to make a point!"
"Just because I am from Salineas originally doesn't mean using this metaphor is wrong - water is a great metaphor for magic."
"Can we get back to magic healing genetic conditions?" Penegal asked.
"Oh, sure. Anyway, the healing won't turn you back into an older form of your species. Even if your older form was, ah, healthier," the sorceress went on.
But the older man - Adora really needed to learn his name, but asking at this point would be embarrassing - disagreed. "We don't exactly know that."
"Humans evolved from far sturdier species."
"But magic might not consider them healthier."
"I think it's a question of whether the recipient of the healing would consider an older form healthier."
"That's not how healing works. Magic knows." Castaspella cut in.
"Etherian magic, maybe. But Earth magic works differently," a fourth sorceress added.
Castaspella frowned. "The only differences that have been proven so far is how magic is used, not that magic works differently on Earth."
"But you can't exclude the possibility, can you?" Penegal leaned forward a little.
"We haven't conducted enough experiments to determine the truth of the matter," Castaspeall told him.
"That's because we don't have enough examples to investigate. Magic hasn't been returned to enough different planets yet."
That sounded like they blamed Adora for that. But you couldn't just restore magic to a planet at a whim; that was dangerous. And some people might react badly to that - though, so far, the only example was Earth. She cleared her throat.
But Glimmer was quicker: "Restoring magic to a planet has to be carefully planned. We don't want our enemies to profit from it."
"Even if their oppressed slaves could benefit from magic returning?" the older sorceress asked.
"They could use magic to fight for their freedom!"
"Or they would be fooled into thinking magic was a gift from the Goa'uld." Glimmer scoffed.
That was a good point.
"So…" Bow smiled. "Back to magic healing?"
"Yes. Your magic wouldn't recognise our genome's degradation as a defect to be cured?" Penegal sounded as if he couldn't believe it.
"Yes." Bow nodded. "We've checked Alpha's archives - you can't use magic to 'heal' a genetically engineered person from the genetic engineering."
"That seems like an odd limit," Freyr commented.
Glimmer shrugged. "Well, it's not technically impossible. You could, in theory, create a spell to do that by not relying on magic guiding its power but by doing it yourself. But that would require immense research and experimenting, and the complexities of trying to alter someone genetically…" She winced.
"So, in theory, someone could create a spell that halts our genetic degradation?" Thor spoke up.
"In theory, yes," Castaspella said. "But I don't know anyone who could even come close to achieving such a task. And to make it work on any Asgad, and not just on a specific individual… That's even more challenging."
Which was apparently sorceress-speak for 'impossible'.
"If the task is too difficult, can it be broken down into smaller tasks?" Freyr asked.
"That is also theoretically possible. But in practice, trying to combine two different spells is more complex than creating such a spell from the ground up since every spell is created individually and personally," Castaspella said.
"On Etheria," Penegal said.
"Yes." Castaspella nodded at him. "It might be different on another planet."
The Asgard exchanged glances. Adora wasn't quite sure what they were thinking - they couldn't cast spells themselves, after all.
"So, magitech can reproduce healing magic. And spells can be created for specific tasks. Combine both…" Penegal trailed off.
"...and we might be able to construct a magitech device that halts and even reverse our genetic degradation," Freyr finished for him.
"Oh!" The older sorceress perked up. "That's even more daring!"
"And even if you found trained sorceresses and magitech crafters willing to work with you on this, it would still take you a long, long time. Decades would be my guess - without a guarantee of success to begin with."
The Asgard didn't seem to consider this a problem, Adora noticed.
They are so weird, she couldn't help thinking. But the sorceresses were weird as well. So, was it really surprising that they had finally found people on Etheria that the Asgard seemed to understand and got along with?
Stargate Command, CFB Goose Bay, Newfoundland, Canada, December 11th, 1999
Samantha Carter had slept for five hours. It could have been six, but that would have required ignoring the data Entrapta and Sam had decrypted. And that would have meant she couldn't present a proper report.
At least, that was what she told herself when she hid a yawn as she set up her laptop in the briefing room the General had commandeered at Stargate Command for their team. And guarded by the special forces team he had taken with him. A sensible precaution given the scope of this… affair. Even more so after what Entrapta and Sam had discovered. Some prizes were worth a nigh-unthinkable escalation, and this prize was…
She took a deep breath as she straightened and faced the others in the room - the General, Daniel, Sha're, Catra, and Melog, all of them looking attentive. And Wilkinson and Paris, both looking as if they were not sure if they really should be here. Or wanted to be here. Well, they were here. Unlike Teal'c, who was dealing with some of the Jaffa prisoners, now that Adora couldn't visit them on short notice.
Sam nodded. "We've fully decrypted the data storage cylinder we recovered. Entrapta is currently briefing the Alliance leadership on Etheria." If Hordak had let her, at least - the former warlord had been quite firm about the need to sleep when he had cut short their data analysis this morning.
Wilkinson looked around. "And…" He cleared his throat. "What about the Alliance leadership on Earth?"
The General didn't quite smirk, but his smile was far too open to be genuine. "We'll brief High Command once we know what exactly we are facing. And Adora or Glimmer can brief the politicians."
Wilkinson and Paris exchanged a glance at that, and Sam once more had the impression that they would rather be elsewhere right now, having just realised what kind of clearance they had. They were likely imagining how harsh the punishment, should they leak any of this, would be.
But that wasn't any of her concern. She straightened. "First, the data contains descriptions and documentation of Eurondan technology and its uses, but not the schematics and documentation necessary to build or reverse-engineer any of it." The data had given both Sam and Entrapta some ideas of possible research avenues to pursue, but so had, at least in Entrapta's case, watching some Earth SciFi shows.
"Specs, not plans." The General nodded. "Advertisement."
"Bait," Catra added with a snort. "For the Russians and the Chinese."
Sam agreed with the assessment. The cylinder's content was structured like a presentation, even including combat footage, though likely carefully edited.
"So, what kind of technology are we talking about here?" the General asked. "How does it compare to ours?"
"It's generally more advanced than Earth's native technology," Sam replied. "Provided the information is factual, the weapon technology significantly surpasses whatever the Russian and Chinese can produce on every level. Advanced aircraft with energy-based weapons, neural interfaces that allow remote control of said aircraft, communication efficient and secure enough to handle combat, and energy shields that can withstand extensive bombardment. Medical technologies, including cloning and stasis pods. Drugs that rapidly accelerate healing."
The General whistled. "But no spaceships with big honking guns?"
"We've found nothing of the sort in the data available to us," Sam replied. "Generally, the data didn't contain any description or presentation of advanced technology necessary for faster-than-light travel or communication, nor space travel in general. And no magitech as far as we can tell," she added. "Though that is based on our experience with Etherian and Ancient magitech, so it's possible that some of the technology presented uses magitech based on a different magical tradition."
"Would magitech be possible in the first place without Adora restoring magic to their planets?" Daniel asked.
"They could have had relics from the time before the First Ones stole magic," Catra said. "But it's not really likely. Probably."
"And it doesn't really matter," the General said. "As long as it works for them, it would work for the Russians."
That might not be completely correct, but Sam wasn't an expert, and this wasn't the place to discuss magitech. "Compared to Horde technology, the Eurondans have advanced communication protocols. Their neural interfaces are also beyond current Horde technology." Horde Prime had been able to take control of any clone at a moment's notice, beating even what Sam had seen from the Eurondans, but that knowledge had died with him, and the Clones seemed happy to let it stay dead. Sam could understand the feeling - she wouldn't want to pursue a technology that was designed to take over her body and replace her own consciousness with someone else, either. Though she would if she had to develop a defence against it.
But that was neither here nor there right now. "The medical technology seems at least comparable, maybe superior, whereas the cloning technology and stasis pod are harder to judge; the documentation is a little scant there. All in all, Eurondan technology is generally not as advanced as Horde technology except for the aforementioned areas."
"But current NATO technology is left in the dust by this stuff." The General shook his head. "And having it would make the Russians and the Chinese a lot more powerful on Earth. They'd still lose in a standup fight, but if they started passing out such goodies to insurgents and other patsies, as they used to in the Cold War, things could turn ugly. Just the threat of that would give them a lot more influence in politics."
"And it would greatly boost their own research. Even more so if combined with access to technology recovered by Stargate Command," Sam added.
The General nodded. "Yep. They'll do anything to get this. The question is: What are the Eurondans asking for in exchange? Just raw materials, as Lenkova said was being talked about?"
"There was nothing about that in the data, sir," Sam told him. She would have included that in her briefing otherwise.
"Yeah."
Catra suddenly tensed, cocking her head at the door. "There's another question," she said, showing her teeth. "What will the Russians and Chinese do if they suspect we know or might find out about their dealings? Because Lenkova is telling the guards out there that she needs to talk to Jack at once. And Melog says she's feeling both scared and guilty. Very much so."
The General muttered a curse under his breath.
Sam wanted to as well.
