Three months later
I was in no hurry, immersed in studying Merlin's scrolls with the help of an Asgardian translator, absorbing the wisdom of the ages. Meanwhile, I played with my new toy, strengthening my alliance with Tollana. However, Isara handled most of the diplomacy, while my task was to keep the Jaffa in check. I even trained with them personally, which became such an event that my soldiers completely stopped paying attention to my wife. Meanwhile, the Tollans had launched massive production on Heliopolis and Icarus. I warned them about naquadria, with the note: "Experiment with it, but only in grams and somewhere in orbit." The flow of technology to Pangar allowed them to integrate it into my state's production chain: they had the capacity, I had the knowledge. So, instead of tretonin, I gave them penicillin. Although it wasn't as effective, it had already been tested. Production began immediately, with the government generously distributing grants. Simultaneously, workers began being hired on a rotational basis on both planets. The Tollans proved remarkably efficient at extracting naquadah, but the Pangarans, barely a twentieth-century civilization, also had their own mines and were willing to begin production in exchange for currency.
Building the economy of the interstellar Empire became a particular headache for Isara. She often consulted with Egeria, for whom they were still unable to find a host. His wife considered the idea of a sick girl addicted to manipulation foolish. Someone strong enough to agree to such a thing was needed.
"How are you?" I asked, smiling.
Isara nodded sheepishly, but quickly added that she didn't want to do that, because the Tok'ra would become her children. She had no desire to bear children, knowing that each one would go off to war, from which many would never return. She would either have to become callous or go mad from the death of every Tok'ra. I didn't blame her for such thoughts.
For three months, to the rhythmic hum of sabatons, we standardized and adapted the current political structure. Why to the hum of carcinomas sabatons? To keep the Jaffa out of the way, they had to train hard. So, my newly formed state now has three inhabited planets. Pragia is a complicated matter: Indra's garrison is currently based there, so that issue was removed from the agenda. The other two planets—Heliopolis and Icarus—were used exclusively for mining operations. There was also Cimmeria, but complete standardization and interconnection of all planets through unified systems was required. The Tollans proposed a unified monorail design for moving freight cars through the gate. Together, we built it, and now transporting cargo through the gate is no longer a problem. Thor truly did gift them with planet-stabilizing technology, which sparked their interest in restoring biodiversity. Urvashi became their major trading partner in this matter, as the planet boasted four continents with a diverse array of flora and fauna. Naquadah served as the currency for mutual settlements. During this time, I rarely traveled through the gate, understanding that I couldn't overburden a bureaucracy unprepared for such explosive expansion. Instead, I spent time with Egeria, working on biology and the creation of tretonin. I often left most of the work to her: she possessed the memory of an entire team of scientists and vast experience in Goa'uld biology, while my knowledge in the field was far more limited. Explaining the rationale for creating tretonin didn't require much persuasion—recruiting a Jaffa into service. She quickly grasped the essence and got to work. Not to mention forming my own regular units from Jaffa born on Urvashi, who had never seen Ra and knew only me.
The treaty with the Tollans increased my naquadah production by 300%. This demonstrated the power of their technology, considering I only got 30% of it from two planets. My storage facilities were full of naquadah; with such reserves, I could be considered a wealthy "burgher." We actively traded technology. After some time, the Tollans entrusted me with their ambassador, Omok. After the Asgard gave him a protective artifact, getting him past the Jaffa proved no easy task. Officially, he was listed as one of Isara's servants, and Jaffa servants, as is well known, did not pay much attention to administrative work.
"Why not naquadah?" Egeria wrote. "We never found a host for it, even though Isara interviewed ten women from Earth. They all refused. I had to erase the memory. She asked me more about the uranium-powered nuclear reactor."
Omok also had access to the Ancients' computer and rolled his eyes. It was a long-standing argument between us: I believed nuclear power plants should be built across my holdings to save naquadah and stimulate science, while they proposed other options. Egeria insisted on the versatility of the fuel, arguing that naquadah losses would be minimal, while Omok favored cold fusion. Although I was salivating at the Tollan's proposal, I restrained myself. The simplicity of the naquadah reactor had its downside: it wasn't conducive to the development of a whole class of energy specialists. I already had a design for a thorium nuclear reactor built using Goa'uld technology. In particular, direct energy transfer without heating the water increased power output and allowed for a smaller reactor. My calculations indicated 1400 MW. I generated additional energy using molten salt reactor elements. I may not have been a nuclear scientist in my past life, but damn, the Goa'uld are useful. They know how hyperdrives work, and this one's got some kind of nuclear reactor. True, they were so stupid that they couldn't come up with a proper weapon.
We had disagreements on energy security. Omok and its nuclear power plant were right, in the long term. But I needed to develop the state, and do everything gradually.
"Because I'm a Goa'uld tyrant," I answered Egeria. "My job description requires me to be a little out of my mind."
"In Goa'uld terms, you're a madman on the level of Sokar."
"Well, I'll have to create my own personal Hell. Seriously, it's better to be a madman, like Anubis—who, with the help of some cosmic magic, deceived the Ascended Being."
"No," Egeria replied shortly, typing with her tail on the holographic display.
"Anyone want coffee?" I changed the subject. Egeria tilted her head, or rather, the part where her mouth and eyes were. "That's what the Asgard do. Annoying. Will you have some, Omok?"
— Probably not. Coffee is addictive.
"I'm a Goa'uld, I can ignore even hard drugs. Actually, yes, indeed. I need to rest."
"You don't work. Isara works."
"Egeria, I'm trying to rule the galaxy without the Jaffa noticing. It's almost as strange as ruling the galaxy without the mental hospital orderlies noticing. It's a huge undertaking. From the hostile Jaffa, who would kill me without a twinge of conscience."
"Kill the Goa'uld and take his troops. These troops will be yours by right of conquest," the Tok'ra queen wrote.
"Kill? As if it'd be easy to kill a Goa'uld in my position. The only independent Goa'uld I attacked had five thousand troops, and even then, they weren't particularly loyal to him—they were bought from Vritra. I need some old lord with the established loyalty of his Jaffa, whose people believe the "god" has access to their afterlife. A Goa'uld's death at my hand means I now hold the contract for their afterlife. And old lords usually have a khattak hanging over their heads. And if my forces get too close to his palace, bypassing all defenses, he'll launch an orbital bombardment to save himself. I need to kill someone of lord standing. While I was on the backwater worlds, I was only able to destroy 40% of Vritra's forces, and I couldn't do anything about her fleet. Although... I think there's one bastard I could scout out. Pelops."
"The creator of the Jaffa's human biomodification technology," Egeria replied. "The technology was voluntarily shared with all the System Lords, and he reaped little profit from it."
"We need to somehow highlight the sarcasm in the text," I told her, since the "voluntary" part was obvious.
"This work is truly significant," Omok confirmed. "While I'm no expert in biology, creating an additional organ in the human body, linking it to the biology of another species... Ingenious work! At the same time, the Jaffa, while carrying the embryos, enhance the Goa'uld's ability to take over bodies."
"I found one of his planets with an experiment: he created nanites that accelerate human development. He reduced the human lifespan by 250 times. They live only 100 days. I put off exploring it for now, as I was in a rush to find Egeria, and then I had other things to do. I wanted to study it later. But logically, these nanites should implant information in the human brain."
"What is the purpose?" Omak asked.
— To see the final evolution of man.
"Genetics don't work that way," the Tollan said dryly.
- My words.
"He wants to create a hoctar—an enhanced human," Egeria replied. "But Pelops despised the idea of a hoctar as a host, though he saw it as a promising soldier."
"We can form a group, without my Jaffa, and go take a look. There might be clues on this planet as to where his main bases are. And the nanites need to be deactivated, after taking enough samples. The technology is promising, after all."
- I will inform the Curia.
- Great.
The big advantage of hiding my activities from the Jaffa was that they became an extremely effective assault force. I set a condition for the Jaffa Masters: if my forces couldn't capture a planet within 24 hours, the entire operation would be useless. They were very impressed with this demand. However, I had already demonstrated how this was possible with fast-moving teams on motorcycles.
Essentially, this is the tactic of Rommel, the SAS, and other units, and eventually the Mongols. Rapid approach, attack, and break away. Bypass defensive lines and attack the most vulnerable points. Any other tactic would be unavailable to me; there are no soldiers to fight. Tactics are strictly tied to resources; if you're the British Empire at its peak, you don't need to count every coin, and you can lose regiments. But if you're a poor Goa'uld, no way.
Here the stone of communication with the Asgards lit up.
- Junior Lord Sareh, this is Captain Brunhilda, I have brought Khasar Station and your fleet.
- Oh, now I'm a Goa'uld with a fleet.
Egeria went into her standard blue screen mode when she heard the Asgard would give me a fleet. Her reaction let me know that none of the Goa'uld would even suspect the little grays.
***