Chapter 186: The Election Campaign Part 8
Secret Communication Site, PB-1763, Ba'al's Realm, August 13th, 2000 (Earth Time)
Catra didn't shudder when she entered the bunker Jack and the others had cleared, but she felt her fur bristle. Horde Prime's aesthetics usually weren't a problem - she was used to staying in Horde frigates, after all - but knowing that this site had been built to transfer Ba'al's consciousness into another body like Horde Prime used to made this site look particularly ominous.
At least, Sam and Entrapta were sure that the site hadn't been used so far. And now that they knew about this, they would be able to look for other such installations - they had already sent orders to check the systems and planets that they had liberated again. They couldn't afford to overlook one of them.
On the other hand, the fact that the Ba'al they had captured in his flagship hadn't used this to escape when they had blocked his Stargate probably meant he was, as Catra suspected, just another disposable clone. He certainly had had the attitude for one. Or not - most of the Clones acted as if they were the real Ba'al.
"It's a mystery," she muttered.
"What did you say, Catra?" Adora turned to look at her, slowing down her quick march towards the command centre of this bunker.
"I'm just wondering how this fits in with the Ba'als we captured." And wasn't talking about multiple Ba'al prisoners weird as hell!
"Ah. I'm sure Sam and Entrapta will be able to explain," Adora replied.
Catra hoped so as well. But when they entered the command centre, they looked a bit frustrated - well, Sam did. Entrapta looked intrigued, but that didn't mean one could expect good news.
"Welcome to Ba'al's ace up his sleeve," Jack greeted them. "We're still trying to find out what exactly is going on."
"Yes!" Entrapta nodded enthusiastically. "This must be technology we thought lost with the Velvet Glove. We should have realised that Ba'al had access to it since he was building a copy, but since we didn't know what exactly was lost, we couldn't keep an eye out for it. Anyway! We don't have full access to Asgard technology, so we can't tell for sure, but it looks like this is a way to transfer your consciousness into another body - well, to transfer your consciousness, the body is optional since if you can transfer the data, you can also store it, or should - some of the hyperspace mechanics might cause unexpected problems, and there are quantum mechanics to consider as well, so… It's fascinating!"
Sam looked like she had swallowed a fish snack that had gone bad. Or that Icelandic speciality, which was basically the same thing. Catra shuddered at the memory. "We have mapped the intended process pretty far, but while the transmission parts heading out from here are clear - it's not quite standard FTL communication, but it uses the same general principles, although with higher dimensions involved than our own communications - and the receiver is also obvious, both are connected to a device that we have yet to understand." She pressed her lips together. "As distasteful as it is, I suggest that we ask Loki for help."
Catra didn't stifle her groan. They already had to deal with Double Trouble, and now they'd have watch another pain in the butt?
"He's our best source for Asgard technology," Sam said, but Catra could tell that she didn't like the idea either, even if it was hers.
"Yes!" Entrapta nodded. "We could ask the other Asgard, but they kinda don't like us because we are helping him save their species. Which doesn't make any sense from a logical point of view - we aren't going to force anyone to take whatever cure we come up with - but people aren't always logical. They're actually rarely logical, which is why science is often hard for people."
"He's already involved with analysing the DNA samples we took from Ba'al," Sam added.
Adora nodded. "We need to know how it works so we can counter it. Call him in."
"Just make sure he doesn't start any experiments here," Jack said. "One Loki is enough."
That thought made everyone shudder, Cata noticed. And with good cause. If Loki cloned himself like Ba'al, the Asgard would probably declare war on the Alliance.
Though if that were possible, Loki probably would have done so already - he had never hid the fact that he thought he was the best scientist in the galaxy, and the only one who truly had what it took to save his species, so having more of his around would be a logical step for him.
Of course, that kind of ego usually tended to defeat such plans, as Ba'al probably found out already.
Whatever - the sooner they had solved this mystery, the better. If it worked like Horde Prime's did, then Adora should be able to obliterate Ba'al as she had done with Horde Prime, but Catra would prefer to know in advance if it would work instead of finding out in the middle of a battle.
Ba'al's Palace, PB-1763, Ba'al's Realm, August 14th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"...and we're here, at the location of the former palace of Ba'al, where a daring commando raid led by General Jack O'Neill, commander of the Alliance Special Forces, took out the enemy leader before boarding Ba'al's flagship and capturing the commander of Ba'al's fleet!"
"It's Alliance Special Operations Command, not Alliance Special Forces," Jack O'Neill muttered under his breath, his smile straining a little. Just a little. This was a damn dog and pony show for the National Convention, nothing more. At least, the government had finally accepted that they couldn't have a live connection back to Earth to open their convention. The security risks that would have caused… Adora had almost lost her temper over it. Glimmer had lost hers, which probably had been the reason the President had finally seen reason.
"Behind us, you can see the ruins of the palace from the bombardment it suffered during the battle and from the fierce fighting when our brave troops - the First Marine Division - stormed the place, securing it and freeing the countless slaves who were toiling here for their cruel overlord." Bayley sounded as if he were standing in the middle of a battle. The journalist was trying too hard for that Gulf War vibe, in Jack's opinion.
"And here is the hero of the hour, General Jack O'Neill, the soldier in the Alliance with the most experience fighting the Goa'uld! General, how does it feel to stand here, on the ruins of Ba'al's palace, after fighting your way in through his soldiers?"
Jack couldn't honestly answer that question - they would censor his words, couldn't say 'like shit' on TV - so he gave them the pre-approved answer: "I'm relieved that the fighting's over. We did our best to end the battle quickly, and we took out their commanders, but even so, the Alliance suffered casualties in this battle, both in space and on the ground. Light casualties, fortunately, and all the wounded were healed by She-Ra, but good people died to win this victory."
Bayley nodded with what looked like a practised sombre expression. "Indeed. We cannot forget that this is a war against the oldest galactic Empire. The Goa'uld may dress like old Egyptians, but they fight with advanced technology. You would know best, General, since you've been giving them bloody noses even before America joined the Alliance. How does it feel to finally fight them on equal ground?"
"That does feel good." Jack grinned. No need to lie about that. "Though even back when Stargate Command started, we held our own on the ground - staff weapons look fancy, but our own weapons were just as effective." More, actually, in most cases. Except for the zats, of course.
"So we've heard, and so we've seen here. The tanks of the Marines certainly proved effective in smashing through the enemy lines!"
Mostly LAVs, actually, not Main Battle Tanks, but Jack had been instructed not to correct the journalist. The first wave had used assault shuttles from the Clones, most of them crewed by Clones, anyway - and mentioning that would not go over well at all with the intended audience back home.
"Yeah, but in the end, it came down to urban combat. The Jaffa had dug in inside the rubble and the bunkers left, and the Marines had had to dig them out in close-quarter fighting," he said instead. Or buried them in place on some occasions - veterans from the Gulf War knew how effective that was.
"Oh, yes!" Bayley nodded emphatically. "Experts say that the US Marine Corps is exactly what is needed in this war - they're perfect for landing operations and boarding enemy ships. Would you agree with that, General?"
And now Jack had to hype the crayon-eaters. "They trained hard for this, like every soldier with us, and that showed in the battle." Not that they had boarded any ships; that had been left to Jack's troops. The Marines didn't have the fancy vacuum armour yet and lacked actual experience with boarding actions in space. Not that those were actually common, anyway - most boarding actions were either command missions or mopping up survivors in crippled ships after a space engagement. But again, that wasn't a topic for the public.
"And you're also in charge of training, General, aren't you?"
"I'm not actually in charge of training the entire Alliance," Jack corrected the journalist, "but the way we train at Alliance Special Forces Command serves as an example for the rest of the Alliance, and…"
"I need to take a shower," Jack muttered when the journalist had finally finished and gone to send the recording back to Earth in time to be played at the National Convention. "I feel like I bathed in mud."
"How did they manage to get you to do that, Jack?"
Daniel sounded far too amused. Sha're was giggling. And even Teal'c twisted his lips in that way that meant he found the whole scene terribly funny.
"They agreed to my latest demands for a bigger procurement budget and less calling on Carter to fix the Navy's mistakes," Jack replied. "I didn't expect them to agree to so much, to be honest." And so he had lost the excuse that he couldn't spare the time for PR.
Daniel chuckled at that as well. "They gave you everything you wanted. How perfidious!"
"Ha ha ha."
His traitorous friend shrugged. "I remember someone throwing me to the wolves. Seeing it done to them in return feels like poetic justice."
Well, he wasn't wrong, but that didn't mean Jack had to admit it. At least he got new gear for his troops out of this farce. And it wasn't as if this was the last such show - he had seen the journalist's schedules.
He was almost grateful for Ba'al's latest stunt, which had created another crisis for Jack to deal with instead of doing PR events full time. Only almost, though. Dealing with Bayley and his ilk was frustrating, but not nearly as dangerous as dealing with Ba'al.
PB-1763-System, Ba'al's Realm, August 14th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"So, you have realised that you need my services and have come to make restitution?"
"No, we're here to talk about your attempt to steal a shuttle," Adora said with a polite smile as she entered Double Trouble's quarters - or cell, as Catra liked to call it, since the door was guarded and they were under constant surveillance.
"I didn't attempt to steal anything," Double Trouble, in what might be their natural form - no one actually knew if it was true or another con by them - shot back. They were lying in a seemingly lazy manner across the bed. "Darling, if I had wanted to steal that shuttle, the first time you'd have realised it would have been after I was already long gone. I was merely having a bit of fun. Stretching my legs. They can get cramped if you're all locked up all the time."
Adora raised her eyebrows at the bravado. "You were not locked up. Not until you tried to steal the shuttle."
"I'm speaking metaphorically, Darling. An artist like me needs the freedom to express myself! Performing is as necessary as breathing!" They spread their arms. "The stage calls to me, like the sea calls to that idiot smuggler."
"The hangar is not a stage," Adora pointed out.
"Life itself is a stage! We all perform a play!"
"We're at war, Double Trouble. It's not a play."
"On the contrary, Darling! War's the greatest play there is!" Double Trouble revealed their gleaming white teeth. "It's where people perform their biggest roles, where all the drama is, the tension, the action and the cathartic release! It's where people are the most alive! Where their boring little lives matter! It's the greatest play there is, and it's being written as it plays out!"
Adora blinked. That was… She frowned. "War or not, everyone's lives matter!" she snapped.
Double Trouble scoffed. "Not everyone has a life to start with. They go through their days without any passion, without any drama! They don't live - they exist, wallowing in drudgery and mediocrity, with petty concerns instead of dreams!"
"You can't just dismiss people's lives because they don't conform to your ideals," Adora told them.
"Of course, I can! Everyone does it! It's what a war is about - you're dismissing the other's dreams and ideals in a violent manner." Double Trouble grinned widely again. "You can hate it, but that doesn't make it any less correct."
Adora took a deep breath, then shook her head. "You're wrong." She wasn't sure if Double Trouble actually believed what they were saying, or if this was just an act. But they were wrong. "And none of this changes that you did violate our deal."
"First, we had a deal for impersonating Ba'al, which I did - for this mission. Which is now over. And I didn't actually steal anything! You can't judge me for what you assume I wanted to do without any proof!" They sounded smug as they sat up and crossed their legs. "Besides, you need little old me to save all those poor saps from sacrificing their lives for Ba'al - and yourself from having to kill them."
"We would prefer to save as many of the Jaffa and humans fighting for Ba'al out of fear and misguided and abused loyalty, yes," Adora said, nodding. "But not at any price."
"Surely letting me indulge in a bit of harmless pranking is not asking too much in exchange for all those lives saved, is it? It's not as if I'm hurting anyone."
It was a very good thing Catra wasn't here - she would have taken offence at that claim. And with good reason, of course. Adora scoffed. "You've been hurting people for your entire 'career'. Impersonating them, setting them against each other, sabotaging others, scamming your victims…" She shook her head.
They smirked. "I see you've closely followed my career."
"We did, yes." As if the Princess Alliance would have ignored the threat posed by them.
"I'm flattered. So, you know you need me."
"We could use you," Adora corrected them.
They snorted. "Whatever you want to call it! We both know you won't let all those poor slaves and warriors die just to make a point." They leaned back, fingers steepled behind their head. "So, if you want me to help you save your enemies, we'll have to renegotiate our deal. Not much - I'm not asking for more money - but I need a few perks. I can't live like this, I feel like a prisoner."
"You are a prisoner," Adora corrected them.
"Details, details. The thing is, I can't perform like this. I need my freedom to express myself. To have fun. To be me!"
Was the hint of concern Adora thought she detected behind the confident smirk real or an act? She couldn't tell. But it didn't matter. They wouldn't let Double Trouble hurt innocent people just to save others. "We're not going to let you play with people's lives," she told them.
Double Trouble narrowed their eyes at them, the smirk gone and replaced by a frown.
Adora smiled. "But if you help us here with Ba'al, we will arrange a visit to Hollywood."
Double Trouble gasped, staring at her in obvious surprise for a moment before she started smirking again.
"As long as you toe the line now and don't even attempt to cause any problems," Adora went on with narrowed eyes. "We'll arrange meetings with the most famous actors and directors in Hollywood."
Under close supervision by Melog, of course. And with all the scanners and sensors helping that Sam and Entrapta could think of.
"Alright, we have a new deal!"
Secret Communication Site, PB-1763, Ba'al's Realm, August 15th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"At its core, that's just a standard Asgard device to transfer your consciousness into your next clone body."
Loki's dismissive tone as he pointed at the floating holoprojection of the site they were currently examining indicated that it had been obvious. It would have sounded a bit more convincing to Samantha Carter if he hadn't spent a few hours examining said device. She nodded anyway; antagonising the Asgard scientist wouldn't serve any purpose. And it was useful information - they now had a confirmed sample of that technology.
"The communication equipment connected to it also is not unique or very advanced - the design uses increased power to compensate for the lack of efficiency, which, in turn, results in its size. A communication network using smaller relay stations would have been far more efficient in covering the same range," Loki went on.
Sam inclined her head. "Such a network would be more vulnerable to ECM interference, though." Of which Ba'al would be aware since the Alliance had used them against his forces multiple times by now.
"Yes, but a network would be harder to destroy. If used to overwhelm such interference, the station's location would be revealed, and the likely consequences would be its immediate destruction by a directed attack." Loki shrugged.
"If this is meant to transfer Ba'al's consciousness, then that might have been intended," Sam pointed out.
"Horde Prime had similarly powerful communicators in his flagship," Entrapta added. "But those were better protected since they were in his flagship."
That might have been another reason why Ba'al had been constructing his own copy of the Velvet Glove. But they could speculate about that later. Sam used her laptop to higölight parts of the central core in the projection. "What about the additions to both the transfer device and the communication gear?" Those had stymied Sam and her friends.
"Those were a surprise, actually," Loki said. He seemed to be frowning slightly. "Those replace the quantum consciousness scanner that the Asgard use to ensure no individuum is copied instead of transferred."
Sam winced at the reminder that the Asgard used destructive brain scans to upload their consciousnesses for the transfer into a new body. They could copy minds, though, as Loki had mentioned once, the metaphysical implications of copying what were seen as souls were considered unsettling by his people. Since he seemed to share them - he didn't admit it, but he hadn't copied himself so far - there might be something to it. Of course, he had also said that the copies were never complete, and as the perfectionist he was, he might simply be unable to stomach the idea of making an inferior copy of himself. But that was speculation.
"So, is this a Ba'al-copy-machine?" the General asked.
Loki slowly shook his head. "No. It's a very advanced scanner using exotic Ancients technology mated with Asgard technology, though the latter seems limited mostly to a data-interpreting role. Although the spectrum that the scanner covers is very unusual - it covers higher dimensions. It's not Asgard technology."
So, Loki didn't know what it did either. Sam had hoped he had seen it before.
"So! If you don't know, then we have no choice - we have to test it then to find out what it does. We know it's related to higher dimensions," Entrapta said, "but we don't know what it's scanning for. It does show some similarities to Beta's technology, but only some - most of the technology is a complete mystery!" She sounded a bit too cheerful, in Sam's opinion.
"Will testing the thing pose a risk for our troops or our operations?" the General asked. "Like, say, dumping all our secrets into a Ba'al data bank a few systems away?"
"That's unlikely, sir," Sam told him. "We might not know exactly what data it gathers, but we can safely say that it's a scanner, not a projector - it gathers data but doesn't send it. And we can decouple it from the actual projectors."
"Ah, go ahead then and test it." He nodded.
"Yes, sir."
Secret Communication Site, PB-1763, Ba'al's Realm, August 16th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"Anything?" Samantha Carter asked, staring at her screen. They had been at this for hours!
"No," Loki replied in a flat tone. She was pretty sure that he would have stopped taking part in the tests if not for his ego and pride vastly outweighing his frustration.
"No data received - well, it scanned, it analysed, but nothing was saved," Entrapta added. "Like before."
It was frustrating. The system was working; it was constantly scanning multiple dimensions as far as they could tell - they lacked Beta's extensive sensors to check - and it drew enormous energy, but there were no results. Every piece of data was checked against the data in the system and then discarded. The scanner was looking for a distinct, unique pattern, and they had no idea what kind of pattern it was. The rest of the setup was straightforward - it was meant to upload and transfer a consciousness. From one body to another, though across long distances in this case.
But the devil - or Ba'al, as the General would say - was in the details. Why was there a transdimensional scanner tied into the entire system? It served as a check, Sam knew that, and would block a transfer unless there was a match, but it didn't scan the data in the system.
"It won't transfer Ba'al's mind unless it also detects something else…" Sam muttered. "It replaces the destructive mind scanner that the Asgard use. So…"
"Yes," Loki interrupted her. "It replaces it. It serves the same function - preventing copies from being made." He sounded agitated - excited. "It scans to check if the original Ba'al has died."
"Oh!" Entrapta perked up. "That's why it's using similar technology to the one the First Ones used to research the Ascension process! It scans for Ba'al's soul!"
PB-1763-System, Ba'al's Realm, August 16th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"You can scan for someone's soul?" Catra asked Entrapta. She was surprised - she hadn't heard about that before. Most of the religious stuff from Earth sounded too weird to her to bother with. "Souls exist?"
"The scanner is looking for the metadimensional micropatterns caused by someone's consciousness," Sam said. "Basically, the - presumably, although we haven't actually tested that, of course - unique imprint a specific individual consciousness leaves on certain dimensions."
"Dimensions like the one I and Angella got stuck in?" Catra asked, feeling her fur bristle slightly at the memory of being stuck in a universe where your mind defined reality.
"The imprints the scanner is looking for are orders of magnitude weaker than the effects observed in that particular dimension," Sam told her. "An effect of the physical separation and different laws of nature, according to our preliminary hypotheses. Although the principle is the same - your mind, your thoughts, any brain activity, actually, will cause a minuscule reaction in such dimensions, which can be measured with sufficiently advanced scanners and enough power. And it's distinct enough that even if you cloned a body and copied someone's mind into it, their metadimensional imprint patterns would immediately diverge in increasingly distinct ways."
"It's like a radar for brains," Jack summed it up.
Sam looked like she wanted to frown at him and nodded a little reluctantly. "Ba'al is using this scanner to ensure that none of his clones can use this transfer system, and that he doesn't accidentally create a copy of his original self."
"So, since he could do that by simply ensuring that it's himself when he walks into the installation, that means he has a way to remotely scan his brain?" Catra asked. She was tempted to say 'soul' instead, if only to see if her impression that Sam and Jack wanted to avoid using that word was correct, but this wasn't the time for such games.
"That was my first thought, but the scanner can't actually map a consciousness - it would need magnitudes more detail and sensitivity for that," Entrapta replied. "So, he must have had a brain scanner set up to scan his brain - maybe continuously, if he can spare the power, which he should, and as long as he stays in range - ready to send the data. We think he had one such installation on his flagship, but it was destroyed, so we cannot check now. The debris left behind did not net us any clues."
"Too bad for him that we had his entire fleet jammed," Jack said.
"Actually, while very inefficient - this installation requires almost as much power as a Ha'tak in combat - it would be possible to build a transmitter using a metadimensional medium to bypass our current jamming devices," Sam said. "We don't know if he had such a transmitter built and installed, though."
Because the flagship had been destroyed. "The last Ba'al we captured certainly acted like he had such a way out, though," Catra said. "Though that might have just been a delusion implanted into a clone to make him commit suicide more easily."
"What we do know is that, according to the computer logs, the installation we secured did not transmit any data to another system," Sam said. "We have found no sign of tampering with the logs, either."
"In any case, it looks like Ba'al can only jump into another body if his original body is dead," Adora said.
"With the way this installation was set up, yes," Sam said. "And in light of the immense effort and the massive amount of resources this must have cost, I doubt he has any plans to change that policy."
"More importantly, it means that the Ba'al we captured might have been the original," Catra pointed out.
"Alpha should be done with the analysis soon enough," Sam said. "Then we'll know. If Loki hadn't come to help us here, they would be done already. As it is, they're running a few more advanced tests with the data we acquired here."
Catra nodded. Good. If the captive was the real Ba'al, that would greatly simplify things.
"And!" Entrapta beamed. "Even if it's not the real Ba'al, the way he set up those installations - the way they work and connect to each other - we should be able to track the other installations down as soon as we figure out how to fake a transmission!"
Oh! "And since Ba'al is unlikely to move out of range of his life insurance machine, if we know where all such installations are, we can narrow down his location to those systems," Catra said. They could finally nail the bastard!
Adora nodded.
"And if we install this scanner in a ship with enough power, we can scan for his brain," Entrapta said.
Jack grinned widely. "Hoisted by his own petard!"
"Transferring such a huge installation into a ship seems like a challenge," Adora pointed out.
"Yes!" Entrapta nodded happily. Sam, while more reserved, nodded with a faint smile as well.
Yeah, Catra thought, Ba'al's time is running out.
Special Communication Site, PB-1763, Ba'al's Realm, August 16th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"So, how long until you've got Ba'al's location, Carter?" Jack O'Neill asked with a grin as he sat down - well, leaned against - the console in the control centre of the snake life insurance station. He'd wanted to make the designation official, but he had been outvoted.
"I cannot make any estimates that would be more precise than wild guesses, sir," Carter replied without looking up from her screen. "We're still analysing the communication protocols for hidden checks and traps. Ba'al's tendency to add self-destruct devices - often quite intricate ones instead of simple but effective methods - to all his bases and ships means we cannot be too cautious here."
Jack was tempted to disagree. It was quite possible they were too cautious. Ba'al was the kind of enemy who would delight in laying obscure traps just so people would expect traps behind every corner and proceed more slowly than they would - that could be crucial in an assault if you wanted to escape. But Carter knew her stuff, and if she said they couldn't rush things, then Jack would trust her decision. "It's also poetic justice that Ba'al didn't finish his secondary security systems while he had this completed. All that effort wasted!"
"I wouldn't say the installation has been completed, sir. It's functional, but not finished."
"Oh?" He cocked his head at her even though she still wasn't looking at him.
"The current system is far too limited. He would have to be near a massive scanner and communicator to use it - and since it's meant to save his life from imminent death, if the scan were interrupted, the consequences would almost certainly be fatal. And if he kept a copy in the device's memory, he would have to carefully plan every movement, or a simple step through a Stargate would result in a copy being sent into a new body as the scanner in the system would stop detecting his mind's imprints. If he doesn't store a copy, then even if the scan were near-immediate, it would still be a risk, especially during space battles. Ba'al couldn't count on the scanner not being damaged before the bridge or his quarters suffered a hit. So, he would be forced to use it in advance, and then risk that a copy is made should he successfully retreat, or commit suicide to trigger the copy being sent, which would throw his chain of command into disarray in the middle of a battle."
Yeah, Jack knew how that would end - few forces survived losing their commander in the middle of a fight. Even fewer if their commander hadn't set up a clear chain of command because they were afraid of a coup. "And he wouldn't like that. Can't be shown up by Horde Prime." Even worse for Ba'al, Horde Prime was destroyed anyway despite his one life insurance, and by the same people Ba'al was now fighting. The snake would want a better system.
"Yes, sir. Although if he managed to use cloned Goa'uld bodies possessing cloned hosts as Horde Prime used the Clones, every time he used it, the Clone affected would realise the truth about Ba'al and themselves. So, he would have to either limit himself to emergencies and simply take over his next clone permanently, or otherwise keep the information from spreading. And he would have wanted to reduce the size of the scanner so it was portable."
"If he has to kill his clones every time he uses them, it would get expensive pretty quickly," Jack said.
"We - Entrapta, Bow and I - think he planned to adapt the mind control chips for that. It shows similar routines and protocols, now that we can compare the two, which indicates that it was designed with a future adaptation to this in mind. But he didn't manage it. Although even taking this into account, he has achieved quite an impressive feat. While limited, the system is functional and will make capturing the original Ba'al a challenge."
"Well, we'll be prepared for him thanks to your work. You can jam the soul transmission, right?" That would be great - Ba'al frying his own brain with a smile, thinking he'll get transferred into another body and host, only to vanish into hyperspace like some white noise. Although Ba'al would never know it - he'd die without realising he had screwed up.
Cater flinched at his wording. "It's not a soul transmission, sir. It's a normal data transfer started by the presence of a multidimensional pattern unique to an individual's consciousness."
Sounded like a soul to Jack, but he wasn't a priest or scientist. "Whatever it is, you can jam it, right?"
"We're working on a method. Beta is optimistic that they will manage."
"Bet the bot was ecstatic about getting another project," Jack said.
"Beta was very motivated, yes."
"Our very own computer Mengele." Jack snorted.
"It's not the same, sir," Carter objected. "Beta was programmed with different ethics in mind."
He frowned. That was a bit too diplomatic for his taste. "The kind of ethics we don't want to see return to Earth, Carter."
"Of course not, sir. But we cannot blame Beta for her creation. We can only guide her to change in accordance with our own values."
Jack couldn't help feeling that Carter was hanging around with Entrapta, Hordal and Loki a bit too much. Of course, the Etherians all thought like that, except for some of the grumpier princesses. "So, I'll trust you have things in hand here, Carter."
"Yes, sir. You can leave for your press briefing without worrying about this part of our operation, sir." She smiled sweetly as she looked at him.
He frowned in return. Maybe he had been a bit too annoying, and he might have distracted her from her work, but this was still a low blow.
But she kept smiling, so he nodded with a grimace and left. Never an emergency when you needed one.
PB-1763-System, Ba'al's Realm, August 17th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"...and it is with pride and determination that I accept the presidential nomination. I am honoured by the trust out in me by the convention and by the President of the United States. In these troubled times, faced with a war on a scale we haven't seen in over fifty years, the same is true as was then: 'Don't swap horses in the middle of the stream.' We cannot afford to uppend the Alliance we have forged! We cannot afford to break the trust we've earned from our allies. To do so, to go back on our agreements, and for the profit of a few, no less, would jeopardise everything our brave soldiers have fought and bled for! Will we allow that?"
On the screen in the Admiral's quarters on the flagship, the packed hall erupted into shouts of "No!" and "Never!" as the delegates stood and yelled. Adora saw Catra wince a little at the volume.
"Under my leadership, America will continue to fight, side by side with our allies, until the Goa'uld Empire is defeated and every last person they are holding in bondage freed! The humans out there, descendants of those taken from Earth and shipped to foreign planets to serve as slaves, will be liberated! We will not rest until our beloved country and all of humanity are safe again! You've seen the latest news - the latest victory over the Goa'uld - just today! The Goa'uld are resorting to methods and tactics that those amongst us who have fought Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan so long ago would find familiar, and just as back then, it did not help them now. Our brave soldiers, together with our staunch allies, will overcome whatever they throw at us and win this war!"
"I've heard better speeches from Horde instructors," Catra commented as the hall broke out in applause again.
"It's not aimed at soldiers," Adora said. "It's aimed at his party and the voters. Civilians."
Glimmer huffed, and Adora half-expected her to make a few pointed comments about elections in general and the elections in the United States in particular, but her friend took a swallow from her glass instead.
Good. Adora had heard too many of those already. Of course, it was the fault of the current elections that they had to deal with so many annoying reporters - if she heard 'Supreme Commander! A word!' one more time she'd scream - but that was how they did things on Earth. Well, most of Earth. Still, the US government now had their good press and good news about the war - it had been shown nonstop on Earth, last she heard - so all those ' war correspondents' could now go home.
"Well, he won't try to 'redefine' the Alliance," Bow said. "And there weren't any signs about sins or corruption in the crowd, so that's a good thing."
"Only if he's elected," Catra said. "If he's not elected, they'll blame us."
Adora frowned - that would be unfair. "Our friends won't blame us."
"Yeah, but those people aren't our friends," Catra shot back with a gesture at the screen, where the candidate was now shaking hands on stage. "They're allies, nothing more."
"None of them fight on the frontlines with us," Glimmer said.
"Well, they aren't princesses," Adora said. "And most of them are too old for the frontlines. You can't really expect them to fight like we do."
Glimmer scoffed. "But we can expect them not to try and make us stay back just because we make them look bad by fighting ourselves."
Adora nodded, although after Glimmer's scathing reaction to that proposal, it hadn't come up again in Alliance meetings, so they had stopped that.
"Well, it's logical for Earth culture - their leaders wouldn't add much to any battle if they fought like princesses because they don't have magic powers or know how to deal with advanced technology," Bow said.
"Jack doesn't have either, and he fights at our side," Glimmer shot back with a scowl.
"He's one of their best soldiers, though," Bow replied.
"And one of their best leaders." Glimmer snorted. "Now, if he were running for president…"
"He would rather die than become a politician," Catra said. "He says so all the time."
"Yeah, he says so. Doesn't mean he might not do it. Wouldn't be the first General who became president, either." Glimmer shrugged. "And probably one of the best presidents!"
Adora wasn't so sure. Could you really be a good president if you hated politics? That sounded like trying to be a good general while hating logistics.
"Well, they only became presidents after the war had ended," Bow said.
"Don't tell Jack or he'll try to keep the war going forever," Catra said with a snort.
Everyone laughed at that, but then the screen changed, and two 'talking heads', as Jack called them, started discussing the speech they had just heard.
Adora didn't protest when Catra muted the sound. That was another part of Earth culture she could do without. And she didn't need any distractions now - they had a Goa'uld to catch.