Chapter 104: Nine Months Later
Above Brussels Spaceport, Zaventem, Belgium, October 25th, 1999
"Alliance-One, this is Brussels Space Traffic Control. Please stay at your assigned position while we clear a route to your destination."
"Brussels Space Traffic Control, copy. Holding." Adora checked their position and that the autopilot was running with the new instructions, then leaned back.
"We should have taken a stealth shuttle directly to Headquarters. We wouldn't have to deal with all the traffic here."
Adora sighed at Catra's complaint. "We can't just interrupt the air and space traffic over Belgium for our convenience."
"Of course, we could! We have the override codes."
"They're meant for an emergency. Not to avoid a bit of a delay." Usually, it took less than ten minutes of waiting before they could continue to the Alliance Headquarters.
"It's a pointless delay. Why are they making us wait? You're the Supreme Commander of the Alliance; you take priority." Catra twisted on the seat next to Adora and put her feet up on the armrest while her tail sneaked around to brush over Adora's arm.
"Brussels is a key part of the shuttle network," Adora replied, grabbing the tip of the tail and pushing it back. She was piloting! "We would disrupt their schedule, causing delays in many, many different flights." Catra knew that - she had been involved in the logistics of the Alliance. But Adora's lover loved to complain over minor things.
Catra perked up with a grin. "That would teach them how to handle delays from battles and attacks! Let's do it and call it training!"
"We're already training for such interruptions in our exercises," Adora reminded her. "We don't need to disrupt actual supply flights for that."
"Most of the flights are just people getting shuttled around," Catra retorted. "I bet our meeting would be much less of a pain if half of the officers didn't make it to it!"
That would be… No! Adora pressed her lips together. It would be irresponsible! "This is an important meeting about the state of readiness of the Alliance forces."
"You've read the same reports I read," Catra retorted. "We already know how ready they are. Hell, we've always known."
Of course, they knew. But this was about doing something to improve the state of readiness of their forces. And it was better to give the necessary orders in person and directly to the people responsible.
She looked at the sensor screen. Dozens of shuttles were launching and landing, with more on the way. Brussels Spaceport - renamed from Brussels Airport months ago; Adora had been at the ceremony - was one of the busiest spaceports. Well, one of the busiest civilian spaceports, even if most of the traffic was Alliance business. The major Alliance bases were far busier.
An alert popped up on the screen. Catra frowned and reached over. "Oh. It's the Fighting Flower."
"HMS Gladiolus," Adora corrected her. The first Earth-built spaceship was currently flying at medium altitude over the Channel. Probably one of the last test flights before her official shakedown cruise.
"That's a stupid name," Catra retorted. "Everyone's calling her the Fighting Flower."
'Everyone' mostly being the British media.
"The Royal Navy named the ship," Adora said. As the lead ship of the Flower II-class of corvettes, she had been named after the first ship of the original Flower-class, or so Adora had been told by Admiral Hood, who had overseen the design from start to finish.
"Should have picked a better name. But I guess they want to save those for bigger ships." Catra shrugged. "Can't really name a ship that's barely bigger than a large transport shuttle 'Warspite' or 'Victory', can you?"
Adora frowned. The class was quite a bit bigger than a shuttle. But it was also much smaller than a Horde frigate. About as large as Darla, actually. It wouldn't do well against a Ha'Tak, but according to their tests, it would do well fighting Al'Keshs and would be able to deal with squadrons of Death Gliders. And that was its intended purpose - escorting larger ships, especially the fleet transports that were being built, and screening capital ships in battles from bombers and fighters.
Before she could say anything, though, the main screen lit up - Brussels space traffic control had sent them their route.
"Finally! Let's go!" Catra grinned and leaned forward.
Adora nodded and took the controls. A moment later, they were on the way to the Alliance Headquarters.
Their usual landing pad, protected by a separate shield generator so landing shuttles wouldn't render the main building defenceless, was free, and Adora put the shuttle down easily. "Don't let them know you flew the shuttle," Catra said as she got up from her seat. "You know how they are about that."
Adora rolled her eyes. Some people thought she was setting a bad example for others - a surprisingly high number of flag officers wanted to qualify for shuttles, they had found out - but she liked flying. And you never knew when you had to pilot a shuttle or ship in battle.
To Adora's happy surprise, they were greeted at the ramp by Jack.
He sketched a salute that had the German officer in charge of the guards at the pad frowning. "Welcome to Brussels, Supreme Commander."
Adora returned the salute. "General."
"Don't remind me!"
Catra snickered at his comment. "If you really want to return to being a lowly Colonel, we can surely find a reason to demote you. I bet a lot of people would be happy, too."
"Yeah, especially the Navy pukes," Jack muttered with a scowl. "How they got to take over our space program after messing up our building program so the limeys beat us…"
As far as Adora knew, confirmed by Sam, the struggle between the Air Force and the Navy had been the main reason for the delays in the American shipbuilding program that saw their project, the Constitution II-class of frigates, fall behind schedule. But mentioning that would only annoy Jack almost as much as...
"Well, we could promote you to Admiral," Catra suggested.
...reminding him that the United States Navy was responsible for their space fleet would.
Adora sighed at her lover while Jack scowled even more. She could only hope the upcoming meeting would go more smoothly.
Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, October 26th, 1999
"I've sent you the revised blueprints for the turrets a week ago, sir."
"Yes, yes, but there have been a few issues at the yard, resulting in changes to the turret layouts. We need modified blueprints, Major." The officer on her screen smiled apologetically. Or faked it well enough so Samantha Carter couldn't tell if he actually felt sorry or not.
Another change of the specifications! For a ship that was already being built! She clenched her teeth for a moment, swallowing a rather inappropriate comment - at least for a freshly promoted Major addressing a flag-rank officer. As one of the leading scientists of the Alliance, she probably would get away with voicing her frustration with the entire design process, but it would still be unprofessional. "I see," she said in a flat tone.
"Yes. You can get the details from the report I'm mailing you, but it's basically the power lines again."
"That design point was finalised a month ago, sir." After two months of bickering about the specs while the hull had already been laid down and was being built!
"Yes, but the yard noticed a problem with the torpedo launchers."
Sam narrowed her eyes. That shouldn't affect the design of the gun turrets.
"Anyway, you can check the report. It's all in there. We need the revised blueprints as soon as possible." The admiral grimaced. "The Royal Navy launching their spaceship before we do hasn't gone over well with Congress. Or the public. We need to catch up - or beat them with commissioning the first ship."
"The Flower II-class are corvettes, sir," Sam reminded him. "Not frigates." Or a 'heavy frigate', or an 'armed escort carrier' or whatever else the committee responsible for the specifications for the first American spaceship had come up with for a design that was trying to have both the firepower of a Horde frigate and the ability to carry a squadron of starfighters without the necessary size for both. "They are much smaller and, therefore, quicker to build." And to fit out, and to commission.
And the corvette's design hadn't been hindered by the struggle between the Air Force and the Navy over which branch would control the space fleet. Sam still felt angry about all the bickering she had seen. And the petty power plays. How General Naird could have thought that calling in favours in Congress to have the design named 'Constitution II-class' would somehow help to keep the whole thing an Air Force project was still a mystery to her. All it ensured was that the Constitution II-class wouldn't actually include a ship named 'Constitution' since the Navy still had the original sailing frigate named so commissioned.
Not for the first time, she wondered if she should have been more involved with the design. But between her crucial work with Entrapta and her involvement in the joint starfighter project, there simply hadn't been any time for that.
And, a small voice in the back of her head that sounded suspiciously like the Colonel's - the Generals', she reminded herself - she couldn't have let the Air Force down. Not after the Air Force had lost the struggle for control over the fleet and was left with handling all starfighters that weren't based on carriers or space stations.
But perhaps she could have made the ship designers understand that they should have focused on a gun and missile frigate or a light carrier, not a combination of both. The Horde frigates carried fighters, but only a flight of three, and they were crewed by bots, which also did most of the maintenance. Which cut down on crew requirements.
"Anyway, just send us the revised blueprints tomorrow at the latest, alright?"
Sam nodded. "Unless more critical issues crop up, sir." She was doing more important work than trying to fix mistakes other people kept making. At least the fleet transports were coming along on schedule. Mostly.
"Good." The call ended, and the picture faded from view.
Sam sighed and leaned back, closing her eyes for a moment. She really didn't need that. She had so much else to do.
She glanced at her notes. She hadn't been able to work on the alien data cube in months. And she was still behind on the latest spy bot version. And…
An alert on her screen interrupted her thoughts. An incoming call from Entrapta? Sam accepted at once, smiling already.
"Hi, Sam!" Her friend's face appeared on the screen, beaming at her. She was in the research station; Sam could tell from the background.
"Hello, Entrapta."
"You need to head to Etheria immediately!" her friend announced.
It couldn't be an emergency - Entrapta was happy. So… "The synthetic Prim'ta is ready for final testing?" Sam asked. That was a game-changer. They would be able to offer freedom from the Goa'uld to the Jaffa.
"Yes! It's ready for the final testing! So, get Haken and bring him over! I've already called Adora, in case something goes wrong."
Not that anything should go wrong - the preliminary tests were successful, and the projections had been correct so far. But you could never be sure. Sam nodded and called up the forms she had prepared. "I'll be there as soon as I can get Haken."
"Great! Loki's getting a tiny bit impatient, but he'll be happy to hear that!"
Of course, the Asgard was impatient - he expected them to drop everything else and focus on fixing the Asgard's genome as soon as the synthetic Prim'ta checked out.
Of course, that would be preferable to being dragged into yet another design folly, Sam thought as she ended the call and got up.
But before she could get to the door, her phone rang.
Half an hour, and another problem later, she had to cancel her visit to Etheria.
Bright Moon, Etheria, October 26th, 1999 (Earth Time)
Luna had grown up so much! Catra couldn't help feeling proud of the little kitten. Or not so little kitten any more. She had managed to not only escape their room in the palace again - which was to be expected, of course; you couldn't cage a cat - but she had also managed to strike a blow against the true enemy: paperwork.
"Don't smile at the little monster!"
And she had annoyed Sparkles, which was always a bonus. Catra ignored the huffing and took Luna from Glimmer's hands. "There you are! Did you have a good hunt?" she asked as she held her up.
Luna started to wriggle in her hands, squirming until she could climb over Catra's arms to her shoulders.
"She destroyed the latest training reports from our forces!" Glimmer said with a frown. "Shredded them all over my office."
"So? You've got them on your tablet. Just print them out again if you don't want to read them on the screen," Catra dismissed the complaint while scratching Luna's head. She would have expected Bow's lover to be more comfortable with technology, anyway. "Besides, it's not going to be anything we don't know already: The units we formed from veterans of the Horde war are ready. And the rest aren't."
Glimmer's frown deepened. "There are still the problems between the former Horde and veteran Princess Alliance soldiers to be addressed."
Catra shrugged, suppressing the slight pang of guilt she felt. "Send them against the Goa'uld. Nothing makes soldiers bond faster than a baptism of fire." As long as they won the battle, of course, or they would blame each other, but since the Goa'uld still hadn't realised that Earth had formed an alliance with Etheria, Catra doubted they would lose the next battle. They had surprise, could pick their target and mass overwhelming forces. If they lost despite those advantages, well… they would have more important problems to deal with than some bad blood within the Princess Alliance.
"That would require us to actually go on the offensive," Glimmer retorted. "And stop dithering around."
Ah, Sparkles was still a firebrand. Catra shrugged. "Tell it to the Tok'ra." Their spies were working on finding the most vulnerable target. Or so they claimed. They had been working on that for months now. They probably had some trouble adjusting to the fact that they weren't limited to operating in the shadows any more.
Glimmer scoffed. "If they shared their data, we could have our own analysts working on that."
But that would put the Tok'ra's spies at risk if anything leaked. It wasn't a concern right now, but once the war picked up steam… Catra shrugged again, wincing a little when Luna's claws dug into her upper arm as the kitten reacted to the movement. "Careful! My fur's not as tough as my uniform!"
Luna ignored her and started to climb down her back before jumping off and dashing towards her favourite nap spot. Well, her third-favourite nap spot after Catra and Adora's laps.
Girl had good taste.
"When will Adora be back?" Glimmer asked, changing the topic.
"When we know if the synthetic snake works and Adora can stop travelling to Earth every day to heal Jaffa," Catra replied. "I don't know how long that will take." It also was another obstacle to going on the offensive. Adora couldn't really lead a campaign on another planet across the sector if she had to heal Jaffa prisoners every day. Well, she could, but that would mean letting prisoners die, and Adora would never do that. And letting someone else lead the offensive… well, who else could do it? Glimmer, maybe, but she wasn't as good at it as Adora. Hordak would be able to, but that would cause problems with the Etherians. And his personality wouldn't go over well with the Tau'ri. Netossa was smart enough, but she lacked the experience. And the same went for the Earth officers.
And, she couldn't help thinking, I could do it. If I hadn't been responsible for the Horde almost conquering Etheria and causing so much pain and misery to everyone…
"Anyway, what's new from our favourite thorn in our side?" she asked to change the subject.
"Queen Bee or her visitors?" Glimmer shot back.
"Both," Catra replied.
"We don't know the exact details. But the talks seem to have hit an obstacle," Glimmer said. "At least according to our sources."
Which were rather limited. If only they could trust Double-Trouble… But you couldn't trust that drama queen, as the Americans would call them. "So, still no Chinese or Russian invasion. Pity - that would be a good training exercise." Catra grinned.
"Don't joke about invasions," Glimmer objected.
"Why not?" Catra doubted that anything would come of the talks, anyway. Queen Bee wouldn't risk upsetting most of her fickle allies by allowing the 'princess murderers' into her kingdom. Even though the Russian princesses hadn't had any magic powers and hadn't protected their people, it struck a chord with Etherians. Especially after the Horde War. Releasing the information about the Russian Revolution had been a good idea.
Glimmer scoffed instead of answering. "They're still going to open trade relations; we're sure of that. And the rest of Earth is pushing for tourism."
"They should worry about fixing their economy," Catra retorted. She wasn't an expert, far from it, but she had read about the situation, and while none of the experts agreed with each other about everything, especially whether or not the 'bubble', as they called it, from the build-up for the war was a good thing in the long run, all were agreeing that Earth's economy was facing trouble.
Glimmer shrugged. "I don't think that the people who want to visit Etheria from Earth in the middle of a war have the right priorities."
"Yeah."
Alliance Base Lübtheen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, October 26th, 1999
"...and that's the typical community formed by the human slaves of the Goa'uld. However, as I said before, this is just a general model; actual societies will vary greatly depending on the individual Goa'uld and even on individual planets. Any concrete interaction with them will have to be based on detailed information gathered on location. Although there are similarities, especially with regard to religion. Are there any questions?"
It was a good thing, Jack O'Neill thought as he watched Daniel's lesson from the back of the classroom, that the Hollywood cliches were wrong about special forces. His friend's lecture would have been fit for a university course. At least in his opinion. But, as with Stargate Command, the Alliance got the cream of the crop for their special forces, so the soldiers present, all of them officers, would have been able to follow the lesson. Or should have.
One, a British officer, Lieutenant Clarke, raised his hand. "So, we are supposed to observe any community covertly before making contact?"
"Ideally, yes." Daniel smiled. "Although sometimes, that isn't possible. Or there's an emergency that forces us to make contact. We've had a few of those in the past."
Clarke didn't seem to be convinced. "You stressed that honesty and trust were crucial for opening good relations with such societies. Observing them from hiding doesn't seem to be conducive to either."
Daniel sighed. "Yes. But some of those societies are, well, thoroughly indoctrinated, and they might react violently to us contacting them. It is essential to spot such dangers beforehand. Fortunately, just knowing which god they worship usually provides us with enough information to recognise such dangers."
Usually.
"And your lecture will teach us how to spot such dangers?" The slight French accent of the next officer, Capitain Colbert, didn't hide his scepticism.
"That's the goal, yes." Daniel nodded. "Of course, we can't cover everything a university course would, but we'll cover all known Goa'uld gods."
"False gods," Lieutenant Mills, former Green Beret, muttered.
Daniel frowned at the comment. "Yes, we call them false gods. But remember: These people have been raised to worship their Goa'uld overlords as gods. This is a core part of their identity. If you think you'll be able to convince them that their religion is built on lies and that they are exploited by false gods with a few speeches, you would be mistaken."
Colbert snorted. "If that worked, the Vatican would be a museum."
Half the room snickered, though several of the officers present looked annoyed or even offended. Jack frowned and memorised their names. If they took offence at such comments, they might not have the right mindset to deal with people who honestly worshipped pagan gods. Or, he added with a silent snort, work with clones who worshipped She-Ra.
Daniel, though, nodded. "That's a very good example, actually. Don't think of those people as the victims of a scam who only need to be told the truth to accept it. Think of them as deeply devout Christians or Muslims. They will not convert easily - or at all - no matter how good you think your arguments are."
"But they're worshipping snakes! Parasites!" Mills protested. "We can prove that - we can show them their gods are fake!"
Jack added his name to his list.
"Are they?" Daniel cocked his head and looked at Mills. "What's your definition of a god, Lieutenant?"
Mills opened his mouth, then closed it. "I know what's not a god," he said. "And a Goa'uld isn't a god."
Daniel nodded. "Those people have a different view. Yes, they are slaves, toiling in often cruel conditions for their overlords, but many, if not most of them, have seen their gods, and seen them demonstrate what they consider divine powers. If they worship a smart Goa'uld, they have even seen people getting healed by their 'gods' or receiving 'blessings' and gifts. And they haven't heard of any alternatives - sometimes, they don't even know there are other Goa'uld, though that's rarer. In order to subvert them, you will have to move very carefully and find those of them open to turn against their gods. Those willing to blame their gods for their suffering. Those who have lost family or lovers to the whims of their overlords, those who won't simply accept the gods' words as true but question them." He sighed. "And for that, the Goa'uld's cruelty works for us. There are many people ruled by them who will accept an alternative to living under a cruel god."
Most of the officers nodded, Jack noted.
"But there are also many who will cling to their faith no matter how much they suffer under the Goa'uld. They think they will be rewarded in the afterlife for it. Those people will attack you in order to prove their loyalty and faith - or they'll try to trick and betray you. Never forget that you are trying to turn people against who they think is their god and has power over their very souls."
"Well, no one ever said our mission would be easy," Burke commented with a shrug.
Most of the room nodded along.
Jack recognised the bravado. He'd say the same in Burke's place. And had done so, back when he was doing similar missions behind the enemy lines, sometimes literally. Burke was a veteran. And he had fought zombies. He could back that attitude up. Few of the others had experience with aliens or magic. But they were veterans as well, Jack reminded himself.
And they were his responsibility. He was in charge of the entire Alliance Special Operations Command. As a brigadier-general. If not for Adora and Glimmer making it absolutely clear to the brass that this wouldn't bar Jack from the field, he would have refused. Probably - the thought of the same people who sent him on missions back in the Cold War now being in charge of those soldiers here made him ill.
Which was why he had called on Daniel to give this lecture instead of wasting his time with academics. He wouldn't send his people out into the galaxy unless they had the best gear and training for their job. It wasn't Stargate Command, but that was no reason to have laxer standards.
"This felt like my first time in front of students as an assistant back at university," Daniel said once the soldiers had filed out and Jack O'Neill had joined him at the front - after making another note of who had been startled by his presence; soldiers in this business needed to be aware of their surroundings at all times.
"Oh?" Jack tilted his head to the side. "I would have thought this bunch was more disciplined."
"What? Yes, they were, but what I meant was having you watching from the back, like my professor then."
"Ah." Jack grinned. "Well, I had to ensure you wouldn't scare them off."
Daniel snorted. "Every anecdote from our missions I told them just made them more eager."
"That's because they thought you were exaggerating."
His friend blinked. "What?"
Jack shrugged. "You're an academic. A civilian." Technically - Daniel had more combat experience than most of the soldiers in the Alliance. "They're the big bad special forces. The best of the best of the best," he added in a fake imitation of a gung-ho drill sergeant. "Of course, what you think is scary couldn't be really scary."
"I didn't say it was scary!" Daniel protested.
"That's even worse. What doesn't scare the bookworm polishing his glasses while lecturing them can't possibly scare them, can it? It's the same with Jaffa; until Teal'c personally demonstrates just what he can do, the soldiers still think this is going to be a reenactment of Zulu, with them as the British soldiers."
"That should make them more cautious. The British forces were defeated decisively at the Battle of Isandlwana," Daniel said with a slight pout.
Jack laughed. "They're thinking of Rorke's Drift and the movie. Anyway. Thank you for doing this. And not, you know, holing up in an ivory tower and rewriting every book about ancient history. Or taking over Harward or something." He wasn't a scientist, but he had been keeping an eye on the various attempts to poach Daniel. Some deans were playing downright dirty. Of course, Jack knew that as long as Sha're was still in the hands of the Goa'uld, his friend wouldn't even think of leaving for the university circuit, but still…
Daniel chuckled. "I've already sent the papers I wrote during our time at Stargate Command to get published. If I want to write a book, I can base it on that. Though I guess some of my esteemed colleagues will try to beat me to the punch, probably using my material. But none of them have my first-hand experience. They might still spot something I've missed, of course, as they go over all the exhibits and samples in their collections and reexamine them in light of their new knowledge. We've been focusing on Egypt, but the Babylonian connection seems promising as well, given what we know about the Goa'uld."
Once they hit Babylonia, it was high time to change the subject. Jack nodded. "Yeah, sure. And speaking of Babylonia, did you have time to go over the list of linguists I've mailed you?"
"I did, but I am not really the best person to judge their ability to go on field missions," Daniel said. "All of them should be skilled enough to handle the linguist work, though."
"And that's all I need. I've got people sorting out the rest," Jack said. As a general, he had a lot of people for everything, but some things Jack couldn't leave to anyone but those he'd trust with his life. "And what's your impression of your temporary students here?"
"Do you mean academically?" Daniel asked.
"I mean whatever comes to mind."
"Ah. Well, they grasped the core concept, but I can't tell yet if they'll apply it."
Jack nodded. They'd better, or they'd be sorry. Or dead. If they were lucky.
"They understood what I was telling them, but…" Daniel winced a little.
"Yes?" Jack tilted his head at him.
"Some might not have the attitude to work with people who have been worshipping the Goa'uld for all their lives," Daniel said. "I mean, they aren't nearly as bad as the missionaries we had to deal with, of course. Just..." He shrugged. "A bit too sure of their own beliefs."
"I noticed," Jack said. "I'll look into it." Fortunately, he only had to deal with special forces. He didn't envy the poor bastards in Alliance High Command who had to deal with the whole mess. Proselytising wasn't allowed, but as Priest had pointed out, they couldn't prohibit soldiers from talking about their beliefs if asked. Not if they wanted to deal honestly with the liberated slaves and aliens.
He checked his watch. "So, we've got twenty minutes before your course on alien cultures. Want to get some coffee? We can call Teal'c as well."
Daniel nodded. "As long as we go to the canteen and not to your office."
"My coffee maker is great," Jack protested. He had gone to some lengths to have the coffee maker from Stargate Command get officially 'lost in transit' during the move to the new gate location. "You never complained back in the Mountain."
"Jack! We're in Europe! They've got real coffee here!"
"We're in Germany. That's beer country, not coffee country."
"We've got French and Italian forces training here," Daniel shot back. "And they'd mutiny if they had to deal with your coffee."
"Hey! At least my coffee doesn't cost more than a Happy Meal," Jack shot back.
"And that's how it tastes." Daniel grinned and turned to leave the room before Jack could think of a good comeback.
Well, he'd get even later.
Research Station Alpha, The First Moon of Enchantment, October 26th, 1999 (Earth Time)
"...and now we'll see if it works or not!"
"It will work - our projections are flawless and have been verified through testing. We are merely awaiting confirmation of our results."
"That's what I said, Loki! You can't be sure until you test it!"
"If your research is sound - and ours is - and your calculations are correct - and mine are - then you already know the outcome of an experiment. This is just to reassure those who lack the knowledge and intellect to understand science."
"Models and projections are not a replacement for testing and experiments. Any true scientist would know that."
"That seems a little harsh, Hordak. Dependable models can and should save time and effort, speeding up any research project. We would never have advanced as far as we did if we had tested everything with experiments."
They hadn't tested everything? Adora winced at Morrison's comment. She wasn't an expert - though she wasn't an idiot either! - but when it came to genetic engineering, everything should be tested thoroughly before you experimented on people. You shouldn't experiment on people, period, she corrected herself. "You didn't test everything?" she asked, glancing at Haken, who was in a tube getting scanned. Maybe she should summon her sword in case he required emergency healing…
"We did test every big step, just not every little step or toe-tip," Entrapta replied. "So, this is as safe as it can be before live testing! Which we are doing now!"
"Though I have to point out that not using multiple test subjects, including a control group, is less than ideal." Alpha had appeared next to them.
"We already know what happens if a Jaffa doesn't have a Prim'ta," Hordak said. "They die."
"Was that tested? Or merely modelled?" Loki cocked his head.
That sounded like a snide comment… Yes, everyone else was frowning, pouting, glaring or sighing at Loki, Adora saw.
"Loki! We already have experimental data showing what happens to Jaffa without a Prim'ta!" Entrapta scolded him. "They lose their immune system. Haken is proof of that."
"And we are sure that, unless stopped by outside intervention, this will lead to his death. Just as we know that this synthetic replacement will work." Loki lifted his chin.
"We'll see!" Hordak spat. He seemed annoyed enough to hope it wouldn't work, in Adora's opinion.
She looked at Mermista, who was sitting at a table in the back, either doing paperwork or watching something on her tablet - she was wearing the headphones Bow had designed. Probably an Earth TV show, the way she snickered and didn't pay attention to the discussion in front of her.
Well, one way to find out.
Adora left the scientists bickering and walked over to her friend. Who was, as she could see with a glance, watching an Earth show Adora didn't know. Probably a crime show, based on her friend's tastes. "Mermista?"
"Huh?" Mermista blinked, then quickly paused the show and turned to face Adora. "Yes? Do you need to go to the bathroom and need me to watch the gang again?"
"What? No!" Adora shook her head. "I was just wondering…" She leaned over and lowered her voice. "Are they always like that?"
"Hm?" Mermista glanced at the others, then nodded. "Ugh, yes."
Adora winced. Maybe she should have done some shifts as their supervisor herself, but she had been so busy leading the Alliance…
"Is that all?" Mermista asked.
Adora frowned. "Is something wrong?"
"No, I just want to finish this episode before you finish your tests."
"Ah, OK." Adora nodded.
Mermista was back to watching her show before Adora had turned away.
Maybe we should have been a bit more cautious with importing Earth media, Adora thought. Though that wouldn't have stopped Mermista, of course - as a princess, she had access to Earth media anyway. And Bow wouldn't have kept his 'emulator' that allowed tablets to show Earth shows secret, either. Maybe…
"OK, here comes the data!" Entrapta interrupted her thoughts. "And it looks good! No sign of any diseases taking hold."
That was good! Adora smiled. This was working, then! Haken's life wouldn't depend on her any more!
"Alright. Standing by for stress testing. First sample: Various bacteria," Hordak announced.
Stress testing? Adora blinked.
"Hit him!" Entrapta beamed and turned to Adora. "Oh, better keep ready, in case we overestimated Jaffa resilience. Even with a working immune system, some of the stress tests might overwhelm him."
"What?"
"They won't," Loki snapped. "Our models are correct."
"What are you doing?" Adora asked.
"Exposing him to various pathogens so we can see how his immune system reacts," Entrapta explained. "Basically, all the most common pathogens we know!"
"Ah…"
Adora hastily summoned her sword. Thorough testing also had some drawbacks, it seemed.
Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, October 26th, 1999
"...and all the data checked out, as you'd say: The Synthetic Symbiote is a success!" Entrapta beamed from where she sat on Samantha Carter's desk, hair tendrils rearranging a few files and one sample from an asteroid that might be a good source of rare ore while she kicked the air with her feet. "Haken showed no degradation of his immune response at all. Adora didn't even have to heal him when we used viruses that would overwhelm human immune systems. We didn't test biological weapons, though."
Sam froze for a moment. That was… Priorities, she reminded herself. "Did Alpha suggest that?" It would fit the artificial intelligence.
"Yes." Entrapta nodded. "She argued that with Adora there, they could get data on how the Jaffa would react to various agents without significant risks of an outbreak."
Of course, Alpha would! Sam pressed her lips together. "Did Loki support this?"
"Well… he didn't say so, but he had a lot of questions about which agents should be used. And he didn't press us to go straight to researching the cure for his species, so… yes? Maybe?"
Definitely, Sam mentally corrected her friend. Well, as long as none went along with Alpha's suggestions… "So, the synthetic symbiont does fully replace the Prim'ta."
"Yes! The Jaffa won't need to use Goa'uld children for their immune systems any more!"
That was a very Entrapta take on the way the Goa'uld ensured loyalty from their Jaffa. Or a very Etherian one. "I see."
"So, we've started production on the symbionts. And now that we know it works on Jaffa, we can start testing them on humans."
Sam suppressed a wince. She knew that this would be coming. Morrison had talked about it several times during the research. Goa'uld enhanced the immune system of their hosts - among other improvements. A synthetic symbiont that replaced the immune system of a Jaffa might also enhance a human's immune system. They had focused on replacing the Prim'tas, but with that problem solved, the next step was obvious.
And it was also almost certain that they would succeed. Jaffa were an off-shot of humans, genetically altered to serve the Goa'uld as warriors. But they weren't too far removed - it was questionable if they were a different species or a subspecies. And the Goa'uld themselves were able to adapt to a wide range of hosts.
And that raised a lot of rather difficult ethical questions. "Before we start human testing, I think we need to discuss this with our friends."
"Right. Adora said so as well. Kinda." Entrapta nodded. "We have to be sure it won't harm people."
That was only part of the problem. "There's also the question about the consequences of such symbionts working on humans," Sam said.
"Huh?"
"Enhancing humans is a delicate issue." And that was putting it mildly.
"Why? It's a straight improvement! If the synthetic symbiont can be adapted - and that should be easy according to our projections - then it will make people much healthier! It can defeat most diseases without any magical healing needed. Or any medical treatment. People won't get sick in the first place and with a symbiont, they will heal up much faster after accidents," Entrapta said. "Your healthcare system will be able to save a ton of money!"
Which meant a lot of people would be out of work as well. On the other hand, they would need every doctor and nurse they could get for the war. "The thought of implanting a symbiont into your body might not appeal to everyone." Sam shuddered at the thought herself, remembering Jolinar.
"But why? It's so beneficial! And much cheaper than most of your medical procedures - we checked!" Entrapta shook her head. "That makes no sense."
"People aren't always logical," Sam told her friend. Not even Sam herself.
"Well, they don't have to get a symbiont, then. Although, that means they will require more expensive treatment when they get sick or have an accident. Or they get wounded in the war. That's not really fair either, is it?"
Sam slowly nodded. It wasn't fair. But neither was forcing people to get a symbiont. And she knew the pressure to get one would be great. Especially in the United States with its sham of a public healthcare system. But many people wouldn't want an alien symbiont. Certainly not one based on the Goa'uld.
And almost every medical corporation would fight against this. Not because of the ethical questions, of course, but because most of their research would be obsolete if symbionts were widely accepted and available. They had already made rumblings about magical healing before they had realised that healers required extensive training - more than doctors - to be effective. This would be magnitudes worse and threaten to bankrupt them all. They would fight this tooth and nail. Even though such symbionts would be able to save many people modern medicine couldn't save. So, desperate people would fight to get such symbionts, especially if why couldn't get magical healing.
And as the Alliance's chief scientific officer who had been involved with this research practically from the start, Sam would be in the middle of this mess.
She almost wished for a crisis to give her an excuse to avoid this.