I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to be made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant.
Stargate – P8X-987 – September 2002
‘I swear to God, if you don’t all lower your weapons I am going to order my troops to zat each and every damn one of you and send you back to Earth for a week in an X-COM Alien Containment Cell’ Commander Sharp vowed as the parallel lines of Tok’ra and Jaffa faced off against each other. ‘And you will have electrodes stuck up your ass’ he added with a growl. A Tok’ra Officer Malek had struck the Jaffa Rak’nor after heated words and Rak’nor grabbing his arm and then everyone had reached for their weapon, it was a Mexican standoff that could become a vicious firefight any second.
‘You are heavily outnumbered here Commander’ Bra’tac pointed out, ignoring the threat he wrongly assumed was idle ‘as are the Tok’ra’ he noted. This was the de-facto capital world of the Free Jaffa with a population of thousands, although most were in the camp some distance from the few prefabricated buildings that had been put up near the gate. Conversely there were but a handful of Tok’ra and Tau’ri present, the latter including SG-1. The first few UNHCR relief workers to come through the gate were at the main camp with SG-12 trying to get the locals to accept their help.
‘We are used to being outnumbered’ Malek retorted aiming a Tau’ri supplied elerium-powered Plasma Pistol at Bra’tac. The dozen or so other Tok’ra with him were armed with either the same weapon, a zat’nik’tel or an X-COM L2-A2 Laser Rifle and on a one-to-one basis largely outgunned the Staff-Rifle equipped Jaffa opposite, the problem they had was purely numerical but it was more than enough.
‘Does the name Custer mean anything to you’ Colonel O’Neill asked him sarcastically, looking around at the increasing number of armed Jaffa heading their way from the tent city nearby. ‘No I guess it wouldn’t’ he realised after a pause. ‘Well get Jacob to explain it to you later assuming you’re still alive’ he told him. ‘That's not looking too likely’ he added as a piece of friendly advice as more and more weapons were aimed at him.
‘Teal’c lower your weapon’ Sharp ordered the only Jaffa wearing Tau’ri military uniform. Teal’c was pointing his own L2-A2 at Malek, instinctively siding with his Jaffa brothers.
‘I cannot’ Teal’c replied.
‘Sergeant Andianov count down from ten and if Teal’c has not lowered his weapon by the time you reach zero zat him’ Sharp ordered, he was not one to accept insubordination from those under his command with good grace, especially given the current situation where he thought Teal’c should be setting a better example.
Andianov inwardly grimaced but her face revealed little of her conflicting thoughts on the matter as she aimed her own rifle at her team-mate. ‘Ten, Nine, Eight...’ she began slowly, Jonas looking on in dismay as Carter threw a look of appeal to O’Neill to intervene if necessary.
‘That’s enough of this bullshit’ Jacob Carter declared, stepping between the lines facing the Tok’ra. ‘We’re on the same side fighting the Goa’uld’ he said before Selmak took over. ‘Jacob is right’ the symbiote agreed, ‘the System Lord’s wish us to kill each other, why do them such a service?’ the Tok’ra asked rhetorically.
Teal’c lowered his rifle much to Andianov’s relief. ‘Indeed’ he concurred, the other Jaffa and the Tok’ra following suit with their weapons including a visibly reluctant Malek.
‘Okay now that’s progress’ Sharp stated. ‘Now we know someone has been killing people’ he said. ‘We’ve already lost one Tok’ra and one Jaffa’ he continued, ‘but for all we know any faction here could have been compromised by the Goa’uld so we’re all equally suspect’ he said.
‘What do you propose Commander?’ Bra’tac asked.
‘Everyone gets screened and I mean everyone’ Sharp replied. ‘Jacob you Tok’ra have a zatarc detector with you?’ he queried.
‘We do’ Jacob replied.
‘We do not trust that Tok’ra device’ a Jaffa spoke up. ‘They are no better than the Goa’uld’ he said with a sneer that nearly had the Tok’ra riled up enough again to start shooting.
‘Fine, I don’t trust any of you’ Sharp retorted. ‘Bra’tac your people have the Mind Probes we gave you? he said. ‘Do you trust them to work?’ he asked.
‘We do’ Bra’tac replied. The silver spheres had proven highly effective in discovering traitors, the Sectoid designed devices enabled you to scan the surface thoughts of the subject most effectively.
‘Excellent so here’s the deal’ Sharp said. ‘Everyone gets put through the zatarc detector by the Tok’ra, then the Jaffa scan them with the mind probe’ he announced. ‘Before that Jonas over there will use his Psionic Amplifier on everyone here’ he said. ‘That way we’re all happy’ he said.
‘Or at least equally miserable’ O’Neill commented.
‘The Tok’ra first’ one of the other Jaffa insisted. ‘We were fine here until they came through the chappa’ai, fleeing from attack like cowards’ he said.
Malek took serious exception to that slur and scowled at the Jaffa. ‘We came under assault from the forces of Anubis’ he replied. ‘If so many Jaffa did not follow the Goa’uld like sheep we would still be in our forward base on Risa’ he declared. Forced to retreat they had been unable to dial into the gates of either the new Tok’ra homeworld, Earth or Tollana, presumably because they were all already in use, and so they had chosen the Jaffa base instead as a bolt hole.
‘I guess Anubis decided that he didn’t think the information you were feeding the System Lords about Apophis was worth it any more and decided to stamp you out?’ O’Neill observed.
‘Looks like it Jack’ Jacob agreed. ‘He’s been cocky since he started adding Asgard Technology to his inventory, he’ll soon have enough of an edge on Apophis to beat him down once and for all’ he suggested. ‘Then he’ll probably move against the others, get himself re-established as the Supreme System Lord like he was before Ra ousted him.’
‘Okay there’s nothing to see here, all of you go back to what you were doing until you’re told to report for screening’ Sharp ordered. ‘Selmak, Bra’tac please keep your people in line until we can sort this crap out’ he requested. ‘Colonel, watch the gate and don’t let anyone through until we find the bad guy’ he told O’Neill. ‘And Teal’c don’t make me make a habit of threatening to have you shot’ he advised.
‘You are not in charge here’ Bra’tac told Sharp. ‘This world belongs to the Free Jaffa.’
‘This world belongs to Cassandra Frasier, she’s just letting you borrow it, and I’m in charge anywhere I want to be’ Sharp replied flatly. ‘I’ll go through the screening first just to show how magnanimous I can be but don’t let my friendly gesture fool you, this potential cluster-fuck is not going to be allowed to happen even if I have to call in a full company in Powered Armour to keep order.’
‘The Tok’ra do not accept that the Tau’ri have any authority over us’ Malek responded indignantly. ‘We are allies nothing more’ he said.
‘The Jaffa likewise are the friends of the Tau’ri not their vassals’ Bra’tac declared. ‘We did not throw off the yoke of Goa’uld oppression to fall under the sway of another’ he stated forcefully.
Sharp looked from one to the other. ‘When you assholes have the resources to back up your claims to be anything but a junior partner in the fight against the Goa’uld let me know’ he said. ‘Until then just remember your place’ he told them. ‘I see Tok’ra with plasma and laser weapons we gave them and Jaffa with staff-rifles we gave them’ he continued. ‘What I don’t see is any damn gratitude.’
‘Gratitude?’ Malek exclaimed. ‘We Tok’ra have been fighting the Goa’uld for millennia’ he declared. ‘What have we to be grateful for?’ he asked dismissively.
‘There have been Jaffa in opposition to the Goa’uld since the days of the first Jaffa Rebellion five thousand years ago when the Sodan rose against Ishkur’ Bra’tac added angrily.
‘The sheer arrogance of these upstarts’ Malek complained.
Bra’tac nodded. ‘The Tau’ri arrive late to the battle and think themselves better than those who have fought it for generations’ he agreed.
‘Hey we weren’t the idiots prepared to kill each other five minutes ago’ Sharp told them. ‘Carry on Colonel’ he told O’Neill. ‘After I’m given the all-clear I’d better hold the hands of those UNHCR weenies.’
Bra’tac looked to Teal’c. ‘Sharp of Canada does not like these people offering unwanted charity?’ he asked in confusion. The Free Jaffa had been very displeased at their uninvited arrival, it made them seem like beggars and honour to a Jaffa was all-important.
‘No he did not wish them to be added to his command’ Teal’c replied. ‘He considers them a waste of resources, preferring to use all he has for battling the enemies of the Tau’ri.’
‘I am not surprised that such a man would hold healers of the sick and feeders of the hungry in low esteem’ Bra’tac muttered.
‘Commander can I have a word?’ O’Neill requested, himself and Sharp moving away from the others. ‘You can’t talk to the Jaffa like that Sir’ he advised. ‘Bra’tac might challenge you to a fight to the death if you piss him off any more’ he said. ‘And the Tok’ra aren’t exactly known for humility.’
Sharp smiled. ‘Colonel, I just managed to get two groups that were on the verge of shooting each other just now to the point where they agree wholeheartedly on something, that being that I’m an arrogant jerk but it’s a start’ he said. ‘And as a bonus I’ll bet the UNHCR people will be welcomed with open arms now they think I don’t want them here’ he added.
O’Neill’s eyes widened. ‘That was an act?’ he asked.
‘Method acting maybe, I’ve been practising the role my whole life’ Sharp replied. ‘And for the record the UNHCR people are weenies’ he opined. ‘There’s something going on here and we are going to stop it’ he told O’Neill. ‘I don’t trust the OpSec of either the Jaffa or the Tok’ra, there’s either a Goa’uld or a Goa’uld sympathiser around here who might know the gate address not only of this base but the Tok’ra Homeworld too’ he continued. ‘You shoot anyone trying to leave, that’s an order.’
‘Anyone?’ O’Neill asked.
‘Anyone’ Sharp confirmed.
‘Even you Sir?’ O’Neill checked.
‘Yes but don’t expect one hole to stop me and try not to look so happy at the prospect’ Sharp told him.
‘I’ll try’ O’Neill agreed.
It was readily apparent why the Tok’ra and Free Jaffa, although ostensibly allied in joint cause against the Goa’uld, did not get along smoothly. The difference between a Goa’uld parasite and a Tok’ra symbiote were far more philosophical than biological so it was unsurprising that the hatred of the Free Jaffa for the first leaked over to the second. Conversely Tok’ra hosts tended to come from worlds kept enslaved by Jaffa armies and almost every Tok’ra who had ever fallen had done so to a Jaffa weapon, this tended to colour the view each had of the other. All in all the friction between them was not conducive to unity and it didn’t take much to spark age-old negative feelings to the foreground. The death of a Tok’ra followed by the demise of the Jaffa many Tok’ra thought the most likely suspect given they had argued earlier was the trigger needed to bring the whole simmering mess to the boil and unfortunately it was left to the Tau’ri to act as a buffer between them. The victims had been killed with a regular knife thrust but then a follow-up wound was inflicted in each case so as to cause severe trauma to the brain, if not then they could have sent the corpse back to the SGC bought them back to life in a sarcophagus and ask who did it.
Jonas unclipped his psionic amplifier from his belt and such was his way he smiled at everyone. ‘Don’t worry I won’t look too deep into your minds’ he promised the Tok’ra and Jaffa. ‘Just deep enough to know if you’re lying when I ask you if you killed Ocker or Artok’ he told them. ‘It’s not as likely to give a false reading as a zatarc detector.’
‘You can read people’s thoughts with that device as I have heard?’ Rak’nor asked intrigued.
Jonas nodded. ‘I can sense brainwaves from anyone nearby’ he said. ‘If I concentrate on an individual I can read them’ he explained. ‘I’m a lot better at it than most’ he noted. His people had drifted genetically from Earth stock over the last few thousand years, that was why Loki had now taken an interest in his homeworld and why Kelowna and her neighbours were now embroiled in a wave of secret negotiations in an effort to persuade him with military might that their planet was not going to be a low-threat source of valuable genetic samples.
Jonas switched on his Psi-Amp. ‘What the...’ he began before an invisible force pulled his head back and an unseen blade sliced open his throat spraying blood in all directions. Released by his assailant he slumped to the floor trying desperately to hold his hand over the gaping wound as his life drained away.
As everyone else raised weapons again, delayed by the shock of the event, Andianov was already firing at where Jonas had been standing. ‘Personal cloak’ she yelled, almost everyone else joining in, firing laser, plasma and zat blasts in a wide arc though apparently hitting nothing.
‘Son of a bitch’ O’Neill swore as he ran to Jonas who clawed for him with the hand not across his throat, a look of terror in his eyes. ‘Jonas, it’s okay we’ll bring you back’ he promised as the diminishing spay of blood forcing it’s way between fingers showered him. ‘We’ll bring you back’ he repeated himself as the light seemed to fade from Jonas eyes.
‘Motion Scanners’ Sharp bellowed, reaching for his own. The enemy might be invisible but it was still mobile and that was enough to detect it. ‘Cease fire we’re hitting nothing’ he ordered.
Teal’c ran to join O’Neill. ‘He is gone’ he told the Colonel, looking down at Jonas.
‘Not for long, we’ll put him in a sarcophagus after we waste this prick’ O’Neill said through gritted teeth.
‘Got him’ Sharp called out, looking at his motion detector pointing with his rifle ‘He’s heading for the forest, weaving and making up ground fast’ he said. ‘Major Carter, dial Earth and tell them to send through a couple of crates of TER’s a dozen motion scanners and two dozen sets of night-vision goggles in case we’re still out there come sun-down’ he told her.
‘We can track this enemy without such devices’ Bra’tac announced. ‘Jaffa are well skilled in such pursuits.’
‘I don’t know about you but I don’t want to lose anyone else’ Jacob responded. ‘We wait for the gear to arrive then we hunt it down like an animal.’
‘That which strikes without honour deserves no better’ Rak’nor agreed with a nod.
‘Joint teams, one of my people with a motion scanner, one Tok’ra with a TER and half a dozen Jaffa as backup per team, agreed?’ Sharp asked Jacob and Bra’tac.
Bra’tac considered the suggestion. ‘Agreed’ he said.
‘SG-12 will have a couple of motion scanners with them already’ O’Neill spoke up, ‘we’ll need to gather the people in the camp together for protection and get SG-12 to watch out for uninvited guests heading towards them.’
‘Rak’nor go join the Tau’ri soldiers there and arm all our warriors to defend our women and children’ Bra’tac ordered. ‘Select only the very best trackers and send them back here to join the hunt.’
‘Yes Master Bra’tac’ Rak’nor replied, turning to run to the camp.
‘This assassin clearly sought to divide us because the Goa’uld fear us coming together’ Bra’tac reasoned. ‘Why else bother with such subterfuge?’
‘Divide and conquer’ O’Neill agreed, behind him Teal’c was carefully picking up the body of Jonas Quinn, he was determined to have the knife of his assassin ready as a gift to him once he was back among the living.
‘And we nearly fell for it’ Malek responded. ‘We are fools’ he stated. ‘It must have been an Ashrak dispatched by Anubis.’
‘He does have plenty of high-tech at his disposal these days, I guess he caught up with the work Nirrti was doing in cloaking technology’ Sharp reasoned, periodically checking his motion scanner in case the enemy had decided to loop back on himself. Andianov was doing likewise with hers as Carter dialled Earth.
‘We will have to take extra precautions from now on’ Bra’tac observed.
‘The Tok’ra have a reserve stockpile of Transphase Eradication Rods which we can provide our Free Jaffa allies’ Malek offered. ‘I do not like being manipulated’ he said ardently. ‘The Goa’uld will pay for their mistake in trying to do so.’
Bra’tac looked in the direction of the forest. ‘You can run coward, and you can hide’ he said. ‘But we will find you and you will pay’ he vowed. ‘The hunter is now the hunted.’
Something occurred to Sharp. ‘Major while you’re ordering the gear we need tell them to send through a flamethrower too’ he told Carter. ‘How do you feel about flushing the bastard out that way if we get the chance Colonel?’ he asked O’Neill.
O’Neill looked at Jonas again, laying lifeless in Teal’c arms covered in blood. He was only new to the team but nobody killed a member of SG-1 and got off light, not whilst Colonel Jack O’Neill commanded them. ‘Sir, sometimes I like the way you think’ he said, with a look of vengeance and determination in his eyes.
Western Kansas – Earth – September 2002
A flash to his left witnessed another alien fighter exploding as Major John Sheppard piloted his Avenger right through the middle of the dogfight. ‘Bugs must be out of their fucking minds to try and land here’ he opined as he chased his target, a nice big Sectoid Battleship all full of elerium and aliens which was trying to flee from the fight under the cover of its fighter escort.
With Cheyenne Mountain only in the next state and the X-COM North American base only a few more minutes further away at the hypersonic velocities human craft could reach these days it was utter lunacy for the opposition to attempt a mission in the heart of the United States. The F-302 Reaper squadrons flying out of the two facilities were all over them practically as soon as they entered the atmosphere, and the full wing based at Area 51 could be vectored in insanely fast if required.
‘After I knock this thing down I’m going to follow it all the way to the ground and land you right next to it Colonel’ Sheppard told the commanding officer of the twenty X-COM Soldiers in the hold behind the cockpit. Half were wearing the new Powered Armour suits but the rest, including the Colonel himself were still in the lighter more conventional body armour the troopers had been using for a couple of years now. ‘I’ll be right on his ass so you should be deployed before any of them can get out of the ship’ he told him.
‘Just get us down in one piece Major and we’ll do the rest’ the Colonel replied, his accent a mixture of the Mexican you might expect from his appearance and a Texas drawl that said which side of the border he came from. Colonel Gomez Rodrigues, the man with the most alien kills in X-COM, a legend who had been on the very first UFO Retrieval Mission in January 1999 and was still going strong. He hadn’t even been killed in action once yet, the man was clearly either blessed by the almighty above or had sold his soul to the man downstairs Sheppard thought to himself as Rodrigues began giving his troopers a final pep talk.
The eyepiece fitted to his flight helmet was based on Goa’uld technology although the text and numbers it displayed were now a great deal more comprehensible and it helpfully flashed up the message “Fire” once the Alien Saucer was targeted.
Sheppard fired his twin Plasma Beam Cannon and the ship told him he had hit his target, the bright green discharges of energised plasma slicing through the air at relativistic speeds and cutting into the enemy hull.
Unfortunately the opposition had a plasma weapon of their own and an even more powerful beam came straight back, impacting the Avenger’s shields which became visible as they absorbed kilotons of energy directed at one small point. The ship shuddered with the impact and Sheppard grinned. ‘Okay lets see how you like this’ he said accelerating towards the saucer with his finger held down on the firing button his plasma cannon firing and recharging every six seconds as he jinked to avoid the return enemy fire. The Avenger was faster and more manoeuvrable than the Battleship and thanks to greater power generation it had a stronger shield than the F-302X making it a good choice to take up against the largest saucers.
‘I thought this thing had inertial dampeners’ a trooper in the back complained as they were thrown about, those not wearing power-armour trying to keep as much distance between them and the hulking suits as possible for fear of getting crushed.
‘It does, this guy flies like a lunatic’ another replied, holding onto a strap for dear life.
‘We are encountering some turbulence, please fasten your seatbelts and return your trays to the upright position’ Sheppard called out. Anyone that wouldn’t want to do this for a living was insane he thought to himself happily as his plasma beams scored another hit.
Another beam struck the Avenger’s shields, it would likely collapse with another hit though the ships cydonium armour was probably tough enough to take any spillover the Major knew. ‘Got him!’ he yelled in triumph as the Battleship finally succumbed to the punishment it was taking and began heading towards the ground. The troopers in the back whooped enthusiastically not just because of the shoot-down but because it meant their pilot would now hopefully stop jinking.
‘I want that ramp down and the first troopers through the doors before the landing gear bounces back’ Colonel Rodrigues ordered. ‘If we’re fast enough we’ll be killing the things before they’ve recovered from the crash’ he said confidently. The alien ship was going to be landing a darn sight harder than the Avenger even if Sheppard did have a reputation of coming into an LZ faster and lower than most X-COM pilots would countenance.
‘I just wish we had enough Powered Armour for everyone Sir’ a Captain observed, he himself wearing a set, his voice distorted by the microphone and speaker he was talking through.
‘They’re cranking it out as fast as they can Captain’ Rodrigues replied. At least his men who would be going into the UFO first were wearing the things. The thick cydonium/trinium/ceramic laminate would stop even a Heavy Plasma Rifle bolt, albeit not likely two in the same place, and if the trooper was fast enough the alien would never get the second chance he needed. The new suits had drastically cut the injury and mortality rates of the troopers and finally meant that even facing Muton’s X-COM had the toughest most resilient soldiers on the field.
This mission was only Sectoids though with maybe a couple of Cyberdisc Hovertanks in tow. Earth had been routinely listening in on, and decrypting, the enemies Hyperwave signals for some time now and knew the destination, mission and species of each UFO.
‘LZ in ten seconds’ Sheppard reported. ‘It’s a farm, watch out for civilians’ he said.
‘Zat the civies’ Rodrigues ordered, it didn’t cause any serious harm and got them out of the way. A peasant in Romania had once tried to stab him with a pitchfork and here in Kansas the farmer was probably armed with something a lot more dangerous than that.
‘Ramp going down’ the trooper by the rear doors reported.
‘X-COM!’ a relatively new trooper exclaimed enthusiastically.
The Avenger hit the ground, the springs and hydraulics landing gear absorbing some of the kinetic energy as it landed. As the Colonel had ordered the first two Troopers were already through the rear doors and moving fast before the ship settled.
‘Thank you for flying Avenger Airways, I hope to see you all on my return flight’ Sheppard called out to the troops as they deployed. It was a joke but wasn’t entirely in jest, he had flown too many teams into action alive where he flew them back to base in a body-bag.
The hulking three-story tall saucer dominated the farm, it straddled two fields crushing the fence between them and was probably visible for miles thanks to the flat terrain. The fact it was partially on fire with smoke pouring out of several holes he had shot through it probably didn’t help it remain inconspicuous either.
Sheppard reached behind his pilot seat and unclipped the L2-A2 Laser rifle that was fitted there. It wasn’t his job to go into the UFO, he was a pilot not a pharmaceutically-enhanced Special Forces veteran, but if any alien happened to appear in view of the rear hatch he was going to blow it’s head off. ‘Good girl’ he told the Avenger. It had come through all its testing with flying colours, the hyperdrive worked like a dream and now it was being used in anger, doing the job a Skyranger used to only better.
The sound of firing started, Sheppard could listen in to the troopers on the radio and they were all over the alien bastards from the sound of it, forcing their way inside and gunning down anything not human. A huge explosion inside probably meant either an elerium reactor going up or else a Cyberdisc getting tagged, Sheppard hoped it was the latter, elerium was valuable, but either way he hoped none of the troopers were caught in the blast. ‘Come on guys, kill them all fast and the beer and pizza is on me’ Sheppard said to himself.
True to form Gomez Rodrigues took out three aliens himself including their leader at the very end of the fighting and as helicopters and Skyrangers flew in to retrieve the spoils of war Sheppard realised that not a single Trooper was down, though a couple were wounded. He quickly got onto the radio to contact Interceptor Control and after talking to them he ran to the X-COM Soldiers milling about after the heat of battle, a grin plastered across his face. ‘We didn’t lose anyone’ he announced. ‘Not one pilot, not one trooper’ he told them. ‘It could be the first time’ he told them. There had been missions where all those killed in action were bought back in a sarcophagus but not to have any KIA at all was unheard of. ‘We scored half a dozen Foo-Fighters, three Spectres, this thing and its whole crew for no losses’ John Sheppard told them.
‘And the beer and pizza are on you for everyone’ Colonel Rodrigues replied with a grin of his own. ‘I’ll make sure the fighter jocks based at Cheyenne know where to send the bill’ he said. ‘Just for the record, don’t make promises like that out loud when your microphone is still switched on’ he advised.
‘No anchovies on mine’ a Sergeant requested.
Sheppard sighed. ‘Well it’s still a good day’ he said grinning again.
Medical Facility – Pangar – September 2002
‘Jonas for the last time stop touching your neck’ O’Neill told him. ‘You’re not going to suddenly spring a leak again, there’s not even a mark there’ he said.
‘I’m sorry, it’s just difficult to accept’ Jonas apologised, taking his hand away. It had not been a pleasant death and the subsequent resurrection, waking up alive again inside a box, was hard to adjust to.
‘You’ll get over it’ O’Neill told him. ‘And so will Egeria if her kids let us fix her’ he added, looking to the Tok’ra Malek whilst pointing at the Tok’ra Queen. The bloated pregnant symbiote still residing in the fish-tank like container the Pangarans had been keeping her in.
‘We do not use the sarcophagus’ Malek replied forcefully. ‘It is the use of that device which is responsible for much of the evil that resides in the Goa’uld soul’ he declared.
‘Aw, for crying out loud Malek, a few hours in the box is not going to turn her evil’ O'Neill retorted.
Kelmaa the other Tok’ra present shook her head. ‘My scans indicate severe cellular degeneration in our queen’ she said. ‘Even if she were still able to be saved it would takes many days in a sarcophagus to do so given her age and condition.’
‘We wish to take her away to die with her people if that is her fate’ Malek said.
Dollen the Pangaran Premier nodded his assent. ‘We are sorry to have inadvertently mistreated your queen Egeria’ he said. ‘Our friends from Earth have already agreed to help us obtain a goa’uld queen from their original homeworld P3X-888 to replace her which will allow us to continued to produce tretonin until a synthetic version is developed with your help’ he told Malek. ‘I hope relations between our peoples will not be coloured by this tragedy?’ he asked. In the long term Pangar would need a more reliable and safer source of the drug than they could obtain through goa'uld larvae. Fully a fifth of the planets population was now reliant on tretonin, it gave perfect immunity from disease but destroyed your own immune system as it did so, if they ever lost their supply the loss of life would be horrific.
Malek shook his head. ‘When we thought the queen you had found and experimented upon was simply a goa’uld we were unbothered by it’ he said. ‘You could not have known her identity, the Tok’ra High Council will not hold it against the people of Pangara and we will continue our work to develop the synthetic as before’ he promised.
‘Thank you’ Dollen replied with a slight bow which Malek returned.
Carter looked at Egeria again. ‘I think I have a radical solution’ she spoke up.
‘I knew that was coming’ O’Neill said happily. ‘Spill it Major’ he told her.
‘Well Sir, the problem for the Tok’ra is that Egeria is too far gone to save, except with a sarcophagus, but even if that worked it would probably warp her personality because of the length of time she would have to be in there’ Carter began.
‘Right’ O’Neill replied. ‘I am right aren’t I?’ he asked Malek who nodded. ‘Go on Carter’ he said.
‘Well we don’t need to leave her in the sarcophagus long enough to save her, only long enough to stabilise her’ Carter told the group. ‘Maybe only a couple of hours’ she said.
‘She is too old and weak to regenerate herself even if made slightly less frail’ Kelmaa responded.
Carter smiled. ‘Her mind is probably still okay, we just need to give her a new body’ she said.
‘How will a new host help?’ Malek queried.
‘Not a host, a new symbiote body’ Carter told him. ‘We deal with the problem of aging the way the Asgard do’ she said. ‘Clone a brand new body from her own DNA and transfer her consciousness to it’ she said triumphantly.
‘Way to go Carter!’ O’Neill declared, clapping his hands.
Kelmaa looked at her in astonishment. ‘We do what?’ she said.
‘We’ve got one of the leading Asgard Geneticists living back on Earth, Heimdall should be able to figure it out’ Carter reasoned. ‘Egeria will be exactly the same only two thousand years younger’ she said. ‘The fact you rely on genetic memory anyway might even make it easier’ she continued, ‘from what Heimdall has told me Asgard clones are a blank slate until the mind is downloaded into them’ she told the Tok’ra. ‘The new body for your queen will already come genetically pre-programmed.’
‘This is possible?’ Dollen asked.
‘We can rebuild her, we have the technology’ O’Neill told him, earning a short laugh from Teal’c who liked his Sci-Fi.
‘We know consciousness transfer with your race is possible’ Carter told Kelmaa. ‘When someone once made a copy of Teal’c it caused a problem because both his mind and the one of the prim’tah inside him were copied over and partially merged’ she said. ‘I don’t see a reason why this can’t work’ she said. ‘Loki made great strides in cloning and genetic engineering many different species and we’ve captured plenty of his work too which should help’ she noted.
Kelmaa looked to Malek. ‘This could be that which saves the Tok’ra race’ she said. ‘Our numbers drop every year but if Egeria was to return, healthy and able to birth new young...’
‘We would no longer be a dying species’ Malek finished for her. ‘And our queen would be with us once again’ he added, trying not to let the hope that filled him out for risk he might jinx it. ‘I would wish to discuss this with the Asgard Heimdall to make sure this is feasible’ he told Colonel O’Neill.
‘I can take you back through the gate and then onto Area 51 right now’ Carter offered. ‘With your permission Sir?’ she asked O’Neill.
‘Granted and get into high gear, Her Majesty there isn’t getting any younger’ O’Neill replied. ‘Yet’ he added.
‘If this works Egeria will require a host who already has knowledge of the Tok’ra today, I will volunteer to leave mine, hopefully I would be able to find another, if not the sacrifice for my queen is worth my life’ Kelmaa said.
Dollen looked at the Tok’ra. ‘I will see if any of my own people would be willing to volunteer’ he said. ‘I’m sure we can find someone that would’ he said. Perhaps that do-gooding archaeologist Zenna Valk? He thought, turning to leave the aliens to their discussion.
Malek took a breath. ‘I will have to contact the High council for approval and advice before we attempt to proceed but there is still another issue even if this works’ he said.
‘Yeah?’ O’Neill queried.
‘If the Tok’ra start producing young then you will need Jaffa’ Teal’c stated looking at Malek before turning to O’Neill. ‘Prior to the process of incubating Goa'uld symbiotes using Jaffa, the blending between Goa'uld and host had only a one in two chance of success. Jaffa were created for the very reason of improving the ability of the symbiotes to take human hosts’ he explained.
‘Correct’ Malek said.
Teal’c looked thoughtful. ‘I currently carry a goa’uld larvae within me’ he said. ‘It is evil and the spawn of evil’ he said. ‘I must carry it in order to survive but if an alternative existed I would happily wrench it from my body and tear it apart’ he said. ‘If I must carry another creature within me I would be happier if it were Tok’ra rather than Goa’uld and I believe many Free Jaffa would feel likewise’ he said.
Malek frowned. ‘Then both Tok’ra and Free Jaffa as peoples would become dependent upon each other as both races and as individuals’ he said.
‘Mutually dependent but free of the Goa’uld’ Jonas observed. ‘Teal’c the Tok’ra have a much better understanding of Goa’uld Technology than the Jaffa because the System Lords always kept you ignorant, pretending their science was magic right?’ he asked.
‘That is correct’ Teal’c agreed.
‘And the Tok’ra always had the technology but not the numbers to fight the Goa’uld properly because you had no queen and only took hosts that volunteered’ Jonas said to Malek. ‘So am I the only one that can see where you could be heading?’ he asked rhetorically.
‘Symbiosis as societies not merely within individuals’ Malek responded.
Teal’c nodded. ‘The Free Jaffa would not accept anything but equality in such an arrangement’ he said flatly. ‘Many would fear being cannon-fodder for the Tok’ra instead of the Goa’uld’ he said.
‘Given how outnumbered we would be the Tok’ra are not stupid enough to try, especially given that you have already risen against the Goa’uld who pretended to be gods to keep you in line’ Malek told him. ‘Oh and talking of being outnumbered Colonel, Selmak and Jacob explained the reference you made to Custer, very amusing’ he told O’Neill.
‘I have my moments’ O’Neill replied. ‘Jonas, you’re touching your throat again’ he said sharply.
Jonas pulled his hand away. ‘I’ve got to ask’ he said. ‘Do I seem any different to you?’ he asked.
‘It takes more than one time in the sarcophagus to make you go all System Lord’ O’Neill told him.
‘No, I mean, does my voice sound different since my throat was cut?’ Jonas asked. ‘Deeper?’
‘Well maybe a little’ O’Neill told him.
Jonas breathed a sigh of relief. ‘Phew, for a while there I thought there was something wrong with my hearing’ he said with a smile.