I won't be hiring anyone for a while. I have enough money. At the same time, I can now buy some goods from Vritra, the Chinese, and Kronos.
"You didn't even remember his name?" Egeria asks.
"Useless information," I said, standing up and walking to the edge of the balcony. My entire army stood on the training ground before me. A row of skull-topped helmets stared back at me through their lenses.
"You fought bravely, tearing through your enemies as if they were children. It was worthy. But a warrior weakens when he believes he has succeeded," a hologram of the battle with the ashrak unfolded behind me. "Twenty brave men fell trying to stop the ashrak, and failed. To all of them, I posthumously bestow my name—Sarekhan. But I have no need of dead heroes, only living ones, capable of continuing to crush my enemies. Therefore, you will train until you become the equal of the ashrak."
"Did I imagine it, or did the Jaffa's perfect formation shudder?"
"But now we will celebrate and honor the heroes, the mightiest warriors who have served me. The celebration will be worthy of you, my immortal legions. Those who have crushed tens of thousands in my name."
"YES!!!!" the Jaffa activated their helmet speakers, turning them up to maximum volume, it seemed. I wish they were as excited about the training grounds! And I still have to award the names of the most distinguished and install new ones on the memorial.
"Training until they become equal to the Ashraks... I don't even know what level that is on the punishment scale," Egeria said when I returned to my seat.
"This isn't a punishment. Their training will give me time to do some things."
Large-scale combat allowed them to exploit the advantages of Goa'uld weaponry. I even understand why they call human weapons primitive, despite their effectiveness—supply. I wouldn't be as effective commanding Earth units. Logistics is everything there. It's much easier when logistics don't constrain you as much as others. Essentially, this turns battles into RPGs rather than a true campaign, where a commander must plan his actions not based on the power of available weapons, but on logistics.
"I need some help, of an engineering nature."
"I'm all ears. You're very inspired by people. I'll be curious what you come up with."
"Eventually, the smartest ones will start fortifying their Stargates. I'm developing a countermeasure against this. My countermeasure is a detachable hyperdrive. My idea is for the hyperdrive to have its own power generator and dock with the rear of a glider or threadcutter, after which a hyperspace jump occurs. At the edge of the system, a hyperspace exit occurs, and the squadron attacks the planet's vital points. Of course, this won't work if there are ha'ttaks or orbital defense systems in orbit. But attacking low-priority planets becomes possible. I was inspired by Raiden, who removed the Stargates from most of his planets, eliminating my tactic as a possibility."
"I'm very curious how your brain functions, offering such unconventional approaches to the problem."
"I was just watching Star Wars: The Clone Wars," I wanted to reply, but I didn't. Generally speaking, it's not a good idea to tell people about reincarnation, especially when the Ascended are listening and could store it in some Higher Archive that could be hacked by, say, the Ori.
"My brain is functioning normally."
"Are you sure?" Egeria asked. "Loyal to Isara, you place no value on gold or wealth, you constantly develop deadly weapons, and you fight alongside the Jaffa."
"Joke counts. I'll need to calculate a lot of variables. One of them is coming up with something about weapons. Even if I send 12 fighters into battle, that'll only give me room to deploy 2-3 bombs or a few missiles. That'll bring the total to a maximum of 36 bombs. Enough to clear the area around the gate."
"Or deploy saboteurs," Evgenia said, regaining control of her body. "Twenty-four people in stasis pods. The fighter attack will serve as a distraction, allowing them to use their cannons and then retreat. The saboteurs will complete their mission."
"That's also true. We shouldn't forget about good old-fashioned sabotage before an invasion."
"Indeed, I haven't used good old-fashioned sabotage in a long time. You're right about that."
"I used sabotage before you were even born."
"I was born in '45. I'm even younger than Evgenia. And how old are you, Egeria? 5,000 or 10,000?"
A woman who shouldn't have been told her age looked at me.
"By the way, I finally received something interesting—the device Telchak used to create the sarcophagus. It's in your lab, but I recommend shielding it to level 5 or even 6."
"We only have 5 levels of protection."
"Yes, it's not enough. We need more layers of protection. Listen, I'd like to give people more time. With nanites, they could live up to 300 years. Persus lived 700 years using a sarcophagus. But there are side effects. If necessary, let's create a project with the Tollans. It's a civilian project, and they can provide their specialists. They're already thrilled with nanites; the possibility of such an effect on human physiology should be appreciated."
We moved from the stands to my office via the ring system. Let the Jaffa celebrate. They'll have a truly grand feast. If the dead had families, they'll get help. I may have a low opinion of the Jaffa, but I'm not some kind of bastard.
"By the way, were there any breakthroughs in armor production?"
"No. However, even the level of what already exists is quite good."
I'm simply trying to replace naquadah as armor. Who wouldn't? Wasting scarce materials on armor, something that can be used as a power source. Growing nanotubes using vacuum electrochemical vapor deposition technology and then compressing them under pressure with force fields—that's not much of an achievement. Even though I studied materials science (two semesters), I'm clearly not cut out to be a luminary. So I'm actively experimenting. Then there were experiments with titanium coated with tungsten—an alloy of tungsten and titanium with added nanotubes for reinforcement. Hafnium carbonitride is also interesting—its melting point is 4200 degrees Celsius, making it perfectly suitable for withstanding atmospheric re-entries and taking a beating from Goa'uld plasma weapons. I'd rather use something like that than waste scarce materials. But I'm still interested in an alloy of naquadah, trinium, and carbon. When Thor explained the O'Neill superalloy to Carter, he most likely meant the carbon nanotubes, but I doubt I'll be able to decipher that secret. But I have a materials science lab. The good thing about being a boss: you don't have to be an expert in everything. And it's also important to have allies. The Tollans have no problem producing reinforced space alloys, but they'll complain about it being used for military purposes. However, I can request certain alloys for the mining ships.
Incidentally, to my surprise, I became a major computer supplier to three developed planets. The Tollans were buying my computers on a limited basis, but we were collaborating on the development of an omni-tool—essentially a smartphone replacement. It was based on the technology of a tape device, retaining only the computer and a large data storage capacity. Functionally, the omni-tool would be similar to a watch, with a weight limit of 50-100 grams and a small naquadah battery. The key technology worth developing was the integration of a holo-emitter with a computer system, as well as speakers and an audiovisual communication system—essentially cameras. The same was true for adapting the operating system to allow for interoperability between different programs. This wasn't particularly surprising; they had smartphones, for example.
Making something better was simply another achievement. The Tollans hadn't invested heavily in hologram systems or mental technology control. Perhaps this will become another export commodity. It's rather ironic that he exports computers, while the Tollans sell software. I'm not sure what their economy is like there or how it works—Isara is figuring that out. But it seems the Tollans have been hired again to create an internet for two planets. It would be ironic if they became galactic administrators. Thanks to Asgard communications technology, it's entirely possible to establish a galactic internet. But for now, let's give people time to get used to it. In 5-10 years, perhaps we should start connecting the galaxy, and at the same time test antivirus software on local systems. Otherwise, I'm sure that where there are computers, there are hackers. Those bastards are scarier than Cool Warriors—they could be blown up with a good bomb.
"It's a shame. Without naquadah, I could increase the production of gliders, teltaks, and alkesh. According to the analysis provided, in five years I'll have 300 alkesh. 60 ships per year."
"You won't get much in the first year. It will take a year to fine-tune the production technology. So, after five years, you'll really only have 300 alkesh. But once the technology is fine-tuned, you can achieve production in the thousands."
"Alkesh aren't Liberty ships, and most of them won't be combat-ready. I'll repurpose them as system defense units, removing their hyperdrives, as explorers, and as miners. Perhaps I should hire some Tollans to repurpose the Alkesh as miners."
"The big savings will be that you don't like the gold trim."
"A good joke, Egeria, a truly good one. But the green symbols of the tetrarchy should still remain. We need to give people a way to express themselves."
"Painting everything with green, incomprehensible writing is not self-expression."
Isara entered the office with a radiant smile.
— I brought you a present.
"Are you inviting Szareh to an orgy?" Egeria couldn't resist a taunt.
- Your tongue is too long, Egeria.
"For the Goa'uld court, that's a perfectly innocent remark. And when the queen gathered and trained girls for the Lord of the Systems's orgy, it could even be considered a gift. I'd already thought Isara might have found her way into the Goa'uld protocols." Egeria shrugged.
"Albert Einstein is waiting for you in the reception area," Isara decided to ignore the caustic Tok'ra.
- What?
"He's already old, and they're starting to hunt him down because of his communist and socialist ideals. I talked to him, presented my arguments, and here he is in your waiting room. A very pleasant old man, charming and quite cheerful."
- This is just wonderful, thank you, Isara.
"Is there a trace of Goa'uld in you? Between an Earth physicist and an orgy, you'd choose the physicist," Egeria grumbled, but there was a hint of humor in her voice.
"I will overthrow all the Goa'uld and destroy them, after which I will absorb their territories and rule the galaxy alone, and then I will go to other galaxies, capturing everything in my path.
- Oh, forgive me for doubting you, my lord.
"So, I'll rule this galaxy while you're busy conquering another?" Isara asked, raising an eyebrow.
— Everyone dreams of ruling the entire galaxy, ask any Goa'uld.
— They have no idea how much paperwork there is.