Isara, Egeria, McVey and Omok gathered in my office.
"As a precaution, I need to talk to or attack someone normal, someone who doesn't have a biological weapon in every basement," I cursed, examining the report I'd written myself. "Omok, tell Kuria that I'm ready to share information on these nanites and am willing to conduct joint research within the framework of medical programs. There will be two directions: miniaturizing a wearable computer so that a person can control their nanites, and secondly, simplifying the nanites so that they perform a single function. For example, a nanite pill that works against cancer, typhoid fever, plague, and all the other crap Pelops has in his collection."
"We could build a research center in a remote part of our state; there are no Jaffa there. We could designate a center for research. Or we could requisition several floors of the Geopolis fortress."
"Geopolis is considered a priority," Omok said. "In all our contacts, the Curia honors its agreements to keep your name secret. Tollana voted not to know your name, and all official documents refer to you as Creature X."
– Did you hold a vote on classifying me? A general planetary vote?
"Yes," Omok nodded.
- Cool, honor and praise to your democracy.
- To maintain secrecy, fewer secret bearers are required, that you are a lord of the Goa'uld Empire.
"Junior Lord," I clarified, as if I were Thor and Kinsey had mispronounced my title. Everyone rolled their eyes. "Okay, the general idea is that Pelops has several planets. The first is the familiar Argos, a nanite experiment from Ancient Greece. The second is the Land of Light, a unique planet whose axial rotation is synchronized with its orbital rotation. Divided into a light side and a dark side. A special strain of virus was being tested on the planet, one that turned people into primitive savages by blocking higher brain function.
"It's not that they're any different from earthlings," Isara said dryly.
"We managed to solve that problem quickly; they found a lab there, too. Pelops may have visited periodically and tested the virus's virulence. Tiryns is Argos's twin, but the people there are subjected to hostile conditions: a toxic atmosphere, meager space for growing food, and there's also equipment that increases the atmosphere's toxicity. Basically, I think Pelops trained the nanite program to adapt to different environments. And it looks like the Jaffa do visit this complex, even though it takes hundreds of years for them, but there are cycles of a couple of years. There are signs of equipment repairs, as well as a program to increase toxicity."
"Bastard," Omok was categorical.
"We evacuated everyone beforehand, deactivating all equipment and retrieving data. The next planet is Tripoli. From a distance, we were able to determine that the planet is populated by a much larger number of people and is controlled by the Jaffa. After interrogating and wiping their memories, we were able to determine the approximate strength—up to five thousand Jaffa of both sexes; they are the ruling force of the local region. Sparta—possibly one of Pelops' core worlds. I left the cameras, but it seems that's where the main Jaffa forces are located. It's a military base with a huge number of people. Pylos is another planet for 'breeding.' Aegis is the last planet; the Jaffa also rule there, there are many of them. The capital of Pelops is either Sparta or Aegis. And it's unclear which one is the main one. Logically, it's Sparta. A fortress with anti-aircraft guns visible even from a short distance from the gate, huge hangars for alkeshi, and other crap. But there's no way to be mistaken."
– Send reconnaissance, like on Prakitia?
"The population is so loyal to Pelops, it's practically impossible. And Sparta is inhabited only by Jaffa. At least, that's what I understand."
– Are you using SAS? That's their job.
"It's dangerous. This is a Jaffa habitat; they're trained from childhood, they know every path, and it's entirely possible that children will discover them. It's too risky. I can use the stealth system to break through to the alkeshis myself and retrieve the control crystals. At the same time, I can plant beacons for the main attack force. Remember, we mustn't kill them all; on the contrary, we must keep as many alive as possible."
"Could Pelops have used nanites on his Jaffa?" Egeria asked. I looked at her carefully. "In that case, the intars won't work. We need a short strike to test it, either an ambush on Tiryns or an attack on Tripoli. We need to learn his abilities."
"They can warn him," I point out reasonably. "Is jamming communications across the entire planet possible?"
"Yes," Egeria nodded. "I'll give you the blueprints. We can assemble them secretly on the planet and activate them before the attack."
Here Evgenia intervened, taking control.
"What if they have regular communications, and Pelops learns of the attack on his planet too early? And what if the Intars don't work for these Jaffa?"
"Zetas," I said. "They stun people, though perhaps the nanites will make them resistant to that weapon, as well as stun grenades."
"Then that's a problem. You can't fight that many troops without killing them," Omok replied.
"Actually, it's possible," I noted. "I have energy shields. They can penetrate them infinitely. The main thing is to make enough handcuffs. One and a half to two times stronger than those needed to restrain standard Jaffa."
"Are you planning on stunning nanite-enhanced Jaffa with batons?" Egeria asked.
"My soldiers have thermal imaging cameras in their helmets. I'll simply bombard everything with smoke grenades, making it so no one can see even a meter away. Any defensive structure should be obscured by smoke, and then I'll surround and stun all forces using whatever means are at hand."
"It looks too smooth on paper," Egeria disagrees.
"Of course, it's too smooth, considering the plan is to engage the Goa'uld's most powerful shock troops, reinforced beyond all measure, who clearly have no intention of surrendering. And the goal isn't to destroy these heavy shock troops, but to capture them."
"I'm glad you're sensible," Isara said. "Considering your enemy's forces outnumber you locally by three to ten to one. I'm sure if you were on Earth, they'd erect monuments to you."
"Or you'd become a joke character," Evgenia replied. "A dead joke character."
"Guys and ladies, I'm quite reasonable and understand all the risks. Therefore, I'll launch the first preemptive strike against the weapons depots and the air force. And I might also use tear gas. It's a good thing I didn't sign the Geneva Convention. Moreover, with a small enemy force, we'll be able to test the effectiveness of tear gas, as the Jaffa are generally immune to a wide range of toxic substances."
– The use of chemical weapons among the Goa'uld is prohibited by a couple of treaties.
- But they don't work on the Jaffa, do they?
"It works on slaves. Long-term contamination of the area, resulting in mass human slaughter, is not encouraged," Egeria explained. "However, there are no provisions for non-lethal chemicals. However, that's a slippery slope. The Jaffa, the Jaffa of Ra, will be witnesses to its use. And they know the general provisions of the treaties."
- Sabotage?
"If a lord does this, then it's a noble act. Ashraks exist, and no one has the right to judge a lord for using them."
"There are few troops on Tripoli, no gliders, so it's possible to launch a satellite into orbit for a more detailed scan. And also launch drones to altitude. I'll also place bricks with cameras. We'll conduct detailed preparations, we'll have images of the main settlement, the Spartan base, after which I'll pass all the reconnaissance on to my soldiers to plan the attack. With a warning that I need them alive."
Destroying the weapons caches (I'll let you in on a secret: Jaffa don't carry weapons all the time) will make it impossible for humans to arm themselves in the short term, and it's quite possible they'll end up with one staff between three. Women aren't supposed to have staffs by definition; they'll only have Z-types.
But this is still just an analysis. Maybe something is working on them after all. It's better to expect that Pelops created supersoldiers two or three times better than the Jaffa. Why am I so arrogantly preparing to attack him? Because Pelops is a Goa'uld. Despite building the "Dorn's Dream Fortress" on Sparta, he failed to do the most important thing—he failed to protect the gates. A technological advantage is always an advantage in technology and a different approach. Take an example: a knight is a damned medieval killing machine, capable, on horseback or on foot, of slaughtering more people than live in some villages. Firearms appeared, and Napoleon's infantry, recruited from former peasants, would destroy armies of knights. When, in absolute terms, a knight is more expensively equipped, better trained, and even smarter. So I'm counting on my technology and a different approach. For example, I use a permanent, unguarded gate, which allows me to conduct reconnaissance operations using orbital satellites. Orbital satellites, Karl! Of course, I wouldn't even consider behaving so brazenly on Sparta; it would have alerted Pelops. So I limited myself to cautious reconnaissance.
What should I do if nothing else helps? I need a strategic attack. I must eliminate Pelops. After his death, all Jaffa must bow before me. The main thing is to rip his head off and display it to all my domains.
But someone as smart as Pelops is unlikely to be stupid. He probably anticipated attacks from invisible enemies. I miscalculated; I shouldn't have assumed Pelops was dumber than myself. The only people who could be dumber than myself are the SGC, because it feels like they're all living on the same can of stew. Nirrti walked around their base like she belonged there, and they couldn't do anything about it. If it weren't for Kassandra...
Just think, she had options to escape, but she was too eager to get the data from her experiment. Greed got in the way. On the other hand, if you've been doing this for a couple of thousand years, it really would be a shame.
We could then find this planet and perhaps ambush Nirrti. She's a System Lord. However, given her inclinations, either the First Warrior rules all her holdings, or she has few holdings beyond the crownworld, with everything else given over to vassals.
On the other hand, killing the Lord of Systems while Ra is alive is a foolish idea. After his death, all my antics will be overlooked because of my power. So it's best not to touch Nirrti at all.