- - -
POV: Arthur Sinclair.
Thor was silent for a moment. I gestured for him to continue his previous thought. "A fleet was dispatched to retrieve the Dakara Device immediately upon identifying its location. It took five hours to reach Dakara and retrieve the facility… Ra was not pleased."
I stared blankly at Thor. He refused to elaborate further and instead changed the subject. "We have also chosen to share several other pieces of information. We have recreated the SGC Coordinate Algorithm that was created by Samantha Carter."
He was silent for a moment. "We have also recreated all the… games that you showed in your memories."
I blinked. That was a piece of pleasant news. We would have a lot of fresh entertainment for people to relax with at least. It wasn't particularly useful, but it was a nice gesture. I nodded. "Thank you."
Arriston smiled and nodded. "That is most gracious of you, though I am sorry to say we were hoping for more than that."
Thor answered immediately this time. "We do not have the ships to spare, and we would be breaking the word of the Protected Planets Treaty."
The president raised an eyebrow. "Then what about aid in moving our remaining population from my homeworld?"
Thor lightly shook his head. "The World of Dendred is not in immediate danger."
He was silent for several moments. "I must leave. I am needed to lead our forces against the Replicators."
Arriston nodded. "Well, thank you for your help. You've provided us with a lot."
With a bright flash, Thor was gone. In orbit, the three Asgard Bilskirnir-class vessels all departed.
The Asgard had provided copies of all the meta-knowledge we could ever need. Everyone agreed it was imperative that the information be spread among the higher-ups. Naturally, for the next several months at least, there would be a movie night.
Of course, there would be people looking over every piece of information with a fine-toothed comb as well, but knowing the original material was rather important.
From there, everything returned to normal. I got back to work on the reactor, and now that I could show people the actual blueprints I was basing my own designs on, work moved a lot faster.
Altogether, the project was coming to a close. It looked like it would be a little less than three weeks before we finished the complete design.
First Perk Activated. Complete Blueprint Acquired: Asgard Data Stone.
Storage Matrix, Addressing System, External Interface
First Perk Activated. Partial Blueprint Acquired: Asgard Long Range Communication Stone.
Subspace Transmitter
- - -
POV: Egeria, 13 Days Later.
I once more stepped through the Stargate and stood before Per'sus. With me this time were Michael Dresden and the rest of the ST01 team. They were considered to be the best of the RoK search teams, and considering the fact that they had contacted the Asgard, I didn't doubt it.
I smiled as we all moved ourselves out of the way of the Stargate as the dialing sequence began once more. "Per'sus. This is Michael Dresden. He is the representative of the Republic of Kaelastrum. He and his team will be my guards for this meeting."
Pre'sus nodded to Michael. "A pleasure." Before he turned back to me. "The Council members are waiting for us. Among them, the only one who is not one of your children is Garshaw of Belote. They do not know who you are."
I nodded to him, and the final chevron engaged. With a whoosh, the gate engaged, and I stepped through the Stargate. I could immediately feel the six Tok'ra standing before me. Just as Per'sus had stated, only one of them was not my child.
I looked at Per'sus and nodded. He seemed to smile lightly, and he spoke as the Stargate disconnected behind us. "It is my honor to introduce Egeria."
For several seconds, the Tok'ra just stared up at me blankly. An older lady with white hair stepped forward. She was hesitant, but she spoke. "My Queen?"
I smiled. "Yes, Selmak. It has been far too long for both of us."
The older woman nearly stumbled at my words. She seemed entirely too shocked even to speak. I turned my attention to the one among them who was not my child. Garshaw of Belote, perhaps the single most hunted Goa'uld – former Goa'uld – of all time.
I smiled and reached forward with my hand. "It is an honor to meet someone who has turned away from the Goa'uld of their own accord."
She gently took my hand and shook it in return. "I must say, I am rather surprised to find one such as yourself among the living."
I nodded. "Yes. I doubt you believe I am who I say I am; all will be answered soon, though perhaps it is best if we go somewhere private?" I turned to Per'sus, who nodded.
Per'sus quickly guided me to a room that had been prepared for our meeting, and I began explaining what had happened to me. From discovering Ra's little secret, to being thrown into a stasis jar, and then reawakened.
Selmak let out a deep sigh. "You should not have returned, my queen… It is not safe for you to be here."
I smiled and nodded. "I am aware, and I will aid you in removing the moles who have infiltrated the Tok'ra."
Per'sus smiled and took over for me. "What I tell you now does not leave this room. This is likely the greatest secret of the Goa'uld Queens. When Tawaret was named the Queen of the First Goa'uld Empire, she wished for a way to distinguish her own kin from those of other Queens. She could not modify herself, but she altered her heirs so that they would be capable of distinguishing their own children."
I continued from him. "Nearly all queens alive can sense the presence of their own young."
Per'sus nodded. "Egeria will be confirming that all of her children are who they say they are."
Garshaw raised an eyebrow. "And how do we know you are indeed Egeria?"
Per'sus turned to her with a blank look. "She is who she claims to be."
Garshaw looked back with a raised eyebrow. They stared at each other for a few long moments before she finally just nodded. "I understand."
From there, I began. There were several hundred Tok'ra on base, though apparently this was barely 5% of the Tok'ra still active. There were several thousand more Tok'ra still alive and working in the courts of the various System Lords, and in various other hidden facilities.
It was decided that Garshaw would be the one to show me around, so, for three hours, I walked around the facility. I would spend that time examining each of the Tok'ra in the facility, and I would inform Garshaw of whether one of them was my child. I was surprised by how many I recognized, and how many I didn't.
I was quite impressed with how much they had advanced the crystal tunnel boring technology. It allowed the Tok'ra to build a fortress within days. The structure itself wasn't particularly sturdy, but it could be deconstructed in the same time it took to construct.
As I completed checking the last of the Tok'ra, I spoke to Garshaw. "How many infiltrators were there?"
She smiled bitterly. "Of those who were supposed to be your children, four were not."
I winced. That was far fewer than I had been expecting, but far more than I had been hoping for. Garshaw continued. "We will interrogate them."
I smiled bitterly and nodded. "Tell me, Garshaw, how many of my children do you think have turned against the Tok'ra?"
She raised an eyebrow. "I doubt that any of them would. Ra orders all Tok'ra to be killed on sight. Even those who turn against us. It has been rather… effective at preventing traitors from appearing within our own ranks. I believe only four ever truly chose to truly abandon the Tok'ra."
I let out a hollow smile. "Yes, I suppose that is one piece of good news."
The four suspected infiltrators were all taken aside. A Goa'uld can access the memories of a host, and a host can often recall the memories of a previous symbiote, but for a Goa'uld to access the memories of a previous symbiote through the host is an incredibly arduous task. Copying the mannerisms and speech patterns of a former Goa'uld is easy, but old memories get scrambled and difficult to access.
This is in stark contrast to the original symbiote who, because of its genetic memory, should be capable of perfectly accessing all of its memories.
This led to a relatively simple way of identifying infiltrators. Begin asking them about old missions – when they were in another host – and see how much of it they can remember. Generally, one or two mistakes are understandable, but more than that and the likelihood of an infiltration becomes non-zero. Of course, this sort of process is not quick, and it requires detailed information about prior missions.
The entire questioning process would take at least three days. Of course, since the obvious infiltrators had been identified, it was time to explain what was actually going on. So, as all the Tok'ra on base were gathered, Per'sus introduced me. To say that all hell broke loose would be an understatement.
- - -
POV: Arthur Sinclair. Five days after Egeria left.
Egeria had just sent word. Several infiltrators had been discovered among the Tok'ra. It was mostly the youngest among them, those who hadn't gone on many missions and could be more easily replaced.
Of course, once their status as infiltrators had been confirmed, the Tok'ra immediately began packing up and preparing to leave. It would take them under a week to fully remove their extensive network of tunnels and rooms. I really wanted access to that technology. It would make construction so much easier.
In other news, the expedition team finally reached Baol space. It was expected that finding anything would likely take weeks, if not months, but that was the price of archeology. Just a few Baol relics would be a massive boon in advancing our technology.
All of that was great, but the most pressing thing for me was the imminent first test flight of the JFX program. We had worked for months to get the thing completed. Seeing it now was a sight for sore eyes.
The thing looked very similar to a Fifth generation fighter from Earth. Like the F-22 or the F-35. It had the same sort of bulbous shape, though it was noticeably bigger. The total wingspan of the craft was just under 13 meters, but the wings could fold into the main body using the same general mechanism as the Jaffa helmets. When retracted, the total wingspan was just under 4.5 meters.
The maneuvering thrusters could produce 6 Gs of acceleration on their own, so the ship was also VTOL capable.
Running the length of the vessel was a set of jump spinners ripped almost directly from a Colonial Raptor. We had made some minor modifications, but not all that many. In the ship's rear, stuffed in between the three main gravitic pushers, were a cloak and a hyperdrive taken from one of the disassembled Tel'tak.
This version of the craft didn't have any weapons, though there were several large internal compartments that had room for various self-propelled munitions. There were also plans to replace the hyperdrive or cloak with an internal missile rack, though it was only a possibility for the future, since the ship was still primarily meant as a test bed for integrating the Goa'uld tech.
So, with the final ground tests complete, all the internal systems sealed up, I asked for a test pilot. I was rather unsurprised to get Lieutenant Ruth Mitchell. She entered the hangar and looked straight past me at the fighter. I coughed once, and the lieutenant turned and saluted. "Sir!"
I almost doubled over. The first time the woman had met me, she had totally ignored me. I quickly got over myself and nodded back. "Lieutenant Mitchell."
She nodded, and I continued. "Let me walk you through the vehicle." I gestured towards the pilot's seat. She nodded once, and I walked her over. The inside was modeled similarly to that of the SB-27b Sabre Light Aerospace Fighter that the Lieutenant normally flew. She had no issues understanding how to use the controls.
It was also unfortunately true that Lieutenant Mitchell was as good a pilot as she thought she was, and ¾ of that excellence was preparation. She had already studied and memorized all the internal systems that had been designed months earlier.
Without another word, the Lieutenant powered the vehicle up and slowly, gently rolled the thing out into the midday sun. As soon as confirmation came from Air Traffic Control, the vehicle was floating several feet above the ground. Then, with a final confirmation, the thing shot off, almost faster than my eye could see.
In the back of my mind, a notification popped up.
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Special Achievement: Complete your First Original Vehicle
Choose a perk:
1: Huragok Ally (Halo - UNSC, 200 Points)
- Description:
Something of a surprise and most definitely an attention-grabber, a Huragok is supposed to be one of the members of the Covenant Homogeny and has normally been seen only in their presence. Yet Huragok, also known by those in the UNSC as 'Engineers', are primarily pacifistic and dedicate themselves purely to repairing and working on any technology around them. This particular one seems to have gotten lost and ended up deciding to follow you for the sake of making sure your technology was functioning. Aside from melodic whistling sounds that sound slightly similar to Earth whales, Huragoks communicate using either sign language with their tendrils or through text messaging thanks to their penchant of being biological supercomputers. Huragok are highly prized for being able to fix almost anything they touch, and you should expect a lot of questioning if someone spots you with one.
2: Ding! (Girl Genius SB, 200 Points)
- Description:
Well, this is different. A certain gentleman called Von Neumann would be delighted, at least. You are now the proud master of a full set of Dingbots of your own, or similar clanks or drones, at least. They're all minor sparks in their own rights, and can themselves build more of their kind, even though those don't have the spark. Led by a Prime, they are connected with you on an intrinsic, mental level, being fully capable of building any and all devices or works you can. They get everywhere, performing construction upkeep, salvage and everything else you might need them to. Not even needing blueprints, they seem to draw upon your knowledge directly, using their in-built tools to perform all the things you normally would need to do yourself, making everything you'd like them to... and a lot of them you wouldn't. Don't leave them unsupervised.
3: Soul of the Forge (World of Warcraft, 200 Points)
- Description:
This spirit that manifests as a small, cyclopean golem made of molten metal and shards, the Soul of the Forge dwells within the workshops and smithies of metalworkers. So long as it is content, all who work within that forge's walls will find their creations blessed: The individual pieces, parts, and techniques required coming together that much easier, and the end result being that much more splendid.' In order for the Soul of the Forge to dwell, one also requires a small kiln to house the spirit.
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