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.
Cheyenne Mountain – Earth – August 2003
‘He bought down the entire Stargate network?’ Elizabeth Weir asked incredulously, looking across the briefing room table at the distressed looking scientist who was shuffling nervously in his seat trying to force a weak smile he hoped looked endearing enough that it might stop General Hammond firing him... or maybe Commander Sharp firing him from a cannon.
‘The computer virus spread throughout the system because of correlative updates between the gates’ Carter explained to the IOA Representative.
‘Correlative updates?’ Weir queried.
Carter turned to Felger. ‘You can explain’ she told him, he really needed to wipe that stupid smile off his face, the situation was extremely grave she thought.
Felger cleared his throat. ‘We’ve long surmised that every couple of centuries the gates are programmed to automatically dial each other so that the DHD’s can relay their exact new positions in the galaxy’ he began, ‘stellar drift you understand?’ he asked Weir.
‘The drift that meant only the Abydos and Heliopolis stargates were still close enough to be dialled from Earth without a DHD to compensate’ Weir responded, ‘until we obtained the list of gate address from Abydos and calculated the drift adjustment required ourselves that is’ she said.
‘Right’ Felger confirmed.
‘I’ve read an awful lot of the files’ Weir told Hammond, who judging from his expression seemed mildly surprised that she was so well informed.
‘We think that somehow, though I honestly can’t see how, the DHD virus we sent to P5S-117 also triggered the correlative update command and then it started to spread exponentially through the entire Milky Way network disabling them all in a matter of hours’ Felger explained.
‘Stranding SG Teams on planets throughout the galaxy’ Hammond noted, glaring at Felger.
‘It was an accident Sir, I didn’t foresee this eventuality either’ Carter spoke up in Felger’s defence.
‘Regardless of the allocation of blame, which can come later, I’m sure the IOA will be most interested in finding out what you’re doing to fix it’ Weir told them.
‘We’re working on that’ Felger told her awkwardly, forcing another “winning” smile.
Carter fought back the urge to kick him under the table. ‘Fortunately our own gate is still operational because we don’t use a DHD’ she told Weir. ‘In addition the Tollan built stargates are also still working, because they use a different programming language, so we still have full access to Tollana, Optrica, Aschen Prime and a few other worlds including Terra Nova, the Omega Site’ she said.
‘Have we talked to the Tollan?’ Weir queried.
‘Yes we’ve been in contact’ Hammond confirmed, ‘they weren’t very complementary about the whole thing’ he said, understating the tone of the transmission the Curia sent the SGC quite a bit. ‘A Tollan expert in Stargate DHD coding will be arriving soon to try and assist us in finding a solution.’
‘Perhaps we should have run this by them first?’ Weir suggested. ‘Easy to say in hindsight I’m sure but I guarantee it will be what any investigation into this affair will comment’ she told them.
Felger swallowed. ‘Investigation?’ he asked her.
‘Face it, you took down the stargate network’ Weir responded, ‘something which had run reliably for millions of years as far as we know’ she said. ‘Even if we get it fixed people in high places are going to want details.’
‘And someone’s head on a block’ Felger groaned. It had been far too rushed a project, implemented long before it was properly tested. The problem was that he had been facing getting transferred out of the program completely after that unfortunate mishap with the Phase Cannon and he had needed to produce results fast. If only the thing hadn’t fritzed out and knocked the SGC breakers off-line with an EMP pulse when he was demonstrating it to Colonel O’Neill and Major Carter, he thought sadly. Everyone back at Area 51 had told him they still didn’t understand enough of the principles behind the weapon but he was sure he knew best, it couldn’t be all that different from the earlier Plasma Pulse Cannon Loki had used before it surely? He had been certain right up to the moment it all went horribly wrong.
His assistant Chloe was right, Felger knew in his heart. Like she had told him several times he always overreached himself trying to impress others and just ended up making them disappointed in him instead. If he had gotten the Phase Cannon to work months before anyone had thought possible he would have been a hero, largely unsung of course like most X-COM or SGC scientists, but he would have known that when the F-302X pilots took to the skies they’d be packing the most effective Directed-Energy-Weapon ever mounted on a fighter and it would have been him that got it done for them. Moreover Sam Carter would know too and he was desperate to impress her, even if he knew it was just a stupid crush. Why would a beautiful and intelligent woman like her that lived such an action-packed lifestyle look twice at him really, he realised dejectedly.
‘We might be able to introduce an anti-virus that will fix the problem and then spread the same way through the network’ Carter told them. ‘The problem is we’ll have to do so from the original DHD that was infected’ she noted.
‘Why?’ Weir wanted to know. ‘Surely if all the DHD’s are connected through the network we can do so from any of them, perhaps even the one we have ourselves in the X-COM base in Poland.’
Felger sighed. ‘Well the truth is we don't know how the virus was transmitted exactly’ he admitted. ‘If it piggybacked with the automatic correlative update, that means it's buried somewhere within the dialing program itself. We're talking thousands of lines of code you know, it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack’ he told her.
‘But we do know that the virus exists within a very specific sub-routine of the original target DHD on P5S-117’ Carter added. ‘The catch is, in order to make this work we have to reboot the system which means removing the control crystal physically, we can’t just transmit the new code to the DHD there and overwrite the existing program like we did for the original virus.’
Weir frowned. ‘Should I assume that travelling to P5S-117 is a problem?’ she asked.
‘Yes, it’s one of the principle naquadah mining planets belong to Baal’ Hammond told her. ‘That was the reason we decided to target it’ he said.
‘Ironically in our attempt to damage Baal we’ve actually managed to strengthen his hand’ Carter said regretfully.
‘How so?’ Weir asked.
‘Baal has the largest fleet of any of the System Lords at present’ Carter replied. ‘Once you add in the fleets of Bastet, Kali and Amaterasu to his available forces he has a massive advantage in star-lift capability’ she said. ‘With the stargates not working he’s the only one that is able to move large numbers of troops around and he’s already using that advantage to attack his neighbours, starting with Camulus.’
‘Marvellous’ Weir said sardonically, shaking her head. ‘I can only imagine what the Tok’ra and Free Jaffa are going to say about this’ she said. ‘They hit Baal where it hurts by stealing a Ha’tak out from under his nose and then we give him a massive strategic advantage.’
‘Time is of the essence’ Hammond told her, ‘the sooner we can get the network running again the sooner the balance of power is going to be restored’ he said.
‘But if we send personnel to P5S-117 and they can’t fix the problem doesn’t that mean they’ll be stranded there in enemy territory?’ Weir queried. ‘Presumably the planet has a large garrison?’ she checked.
‘Our intel supported by Tok’ra sources indicates at least a full battalion of Jaffa although most are deployed to guard the mines not the gate itself’ Hammond confirmed.
‘I’ll volunteer to go’ Felger said, raising his hand.
‘I wasn’t thinking that you going to sort out your own mess was going to be all that voluntary’ Hammond told him.
‘I’ll go with him’ Carter said, ‘it’ll likely take two of us to do the job anyway’ she noted.
‘Will the rest of SG-1 be going with you?’ Weir asked.
‘Unfortunately they’re all stranded off-planet which is why I’m so motivated to get this dealt with’ Carter told her.
‘You and me both Major’ Hammond told her. ‘Colonel O’Neill and Teal’c were meeting with a Free Jaffa group on P3C-249 delivering Staff-Rifles and other supplies and Doctor Jackson is on P3L-997 assisting a UNHCR Team with a relocation project’ he told Weir. ‘Jonas Quinn is back home on Langara giving lectures and demonstrations on psionics’ he continued. ‘We’re hoping he returns to the SGC after helping to get their training program operational.’
‘It might be worth noting that several of our top experts in psionics are also on Langara and the world doesn’t have a Tollan gate’ Carter added. ‘I’m just glad we didn’t let Cassie go because if we had Janet would probably be in here right now beating up Doctor Felger’ she said.
Felger laughed briefly before Weir looked at him knowingly. ‘She’s hit me before because of her daughter, don’t think that was necessarily a joke on the Major’s part’ the diplomat advised him. ‘You say we still have full access to the Omega Site?’ she asked Hammond.
‘Yes Ma’am’ Hammond replied.
‘Then might I suggest Major Carter and Doctor Felger first travel there to pick up reinforcements before heading on to P5S-117’ she said. She wasn’t a huge fan of some of X-COM’s methods or attitudes generally but it was clear that in a combat situation they were extremely capable.
‘That would be running the risk of stranding even more personnel, if that wasn’t an issue I would just assign a combat team myself’ Hammond replied. ‘I was going to send our available armed MALP’s along with the Major as support’ he said. ‘Hardware is easier to replace than good people’ he said, maybe not Felger he thought to himself guiltily afterwards.
‘The Hovertanks kept at the Omega Site could be useful though’ Carter said. The SGC didn’t have any itself, they were all kept at either the Omega Site or the base in Poland for simple reasons of storage space.
‘I’ll have the Omega Site dialled and request they be deployed’ Hammond agreed. A trio of those things shouldn’t have much trouble holding off a few hundred Jaffa, especially with a few Mighty-MALP’s along for good measure.
‘I’d better get the anti-virus ready and grab a uniform from storage’ Felger said, standing up. ‘I should probably requisition a weapon, I’m checked out on the L2-A2’ he told them.
‘Just don’t accidentally shoot Major Carter or the DHD’ Hammond requested.
‘I won’t let you down Sir’ Felger declared, offering a sloppy salute.
‘Again’ Hammond corrected him, ‘you won’t let me down again’ he said meaningfully.
‘Yeah, all going to run smooth from now on’ Felger vowed, hoping he was going to be able to keep the promise for once and not just because if he couldn’t he’d be stuck on the other side of the galaxy on a goa’uld controlled planet.
Jaffa Village - Hak’tyl - August 2003
‘So you’re pretty sure the mating thing isn’t on the cards?’ Colonel O’Neill asked Daniel, looking around. According to Ishta the leader of the group some of the girls hadn’t even seen a man before which at least explained the stares that he, Daniel and Teal’c were getting.
‘No’ Daniel replied, rifling through his pockets looking for a ration bar. ‘Just because these women remind me of the Amazon mythos doesn’t mean there’s either any truth to the legend, or that they’d have any other cultural similarities anyway’ he said. ‘It’s just not likely they’ve bought us here for breeding stock’ he said apologetically.
O’Neill sighed. ‘We’ll have to luck out one day’ he said in hope.
Teal’c had been inspecting his laser rifle and now looked up. ‘My wife would kill me’ he stated with certainty.
‘How would she know?’ O’Neill asked. ‘We’d be on another planet’ he pointed out.
‘Were you not married once O’Neill?’ Teal’c asked him rhetorically. ‘Did you not once tell me that she could “read you like a book”?’
‘Large print, with notes in the margin’ O’Neill admitted. ‘Okay so if we ever visit the planet of the nymphomaniacs Danny and I will do the right thing and take care of your share’ he offered.
‘That is very magnanimous of you O’Neill’ Teal’c replied, deadpan sarcasm at its best.
O’Neill smiled. ‘Well what are friends for?’ he asked.
‘You know if Sam and Lyudmila were listening we’d be in trouble’ Daniel pointed out. ‘Well you would at least’ he told O’Neill, ‘I’m just the innocent bystander in this fantasy scenario you’ve clearly put some though into.’
‘They’re out of ear-shot’ O’Neill replied. ‘Anyway the Sergeant is in a good mood because she got to shoot up those Jaffa belonging to Moloc that tried to ambush us earlier and Carter is still on a high because she sorted out that problem on P5S-117 so fast’ he said.
‘With Felger’s help’ Daniel noted. ‘He was the one that figured out Baal had screwed with the virus so that it infected all the other gates and put on a patch to the DHD programs to stop anyone else doing it again once he fixed it right?’
O’Neill frowned. ‘Okay the guy’s smart’ he admitted, ‘he just needs to be kept on a tight leash and he’s not nearly lucky enough’ the Colonel opined.
‘You can’t quantify luck Jack or expect people to have it’ Daniel responded.
‘Napoleon did and he did okay’ O’Neill countered. ‘He used to ask how lucky an officer was before promoting him’ he said then paused. ‘I’d have been a Field Marshall’ he said confidently.
‘You don’t speak French’ Daniel reminded him.
‘But I am very lucky’ O’Neill countered. Or to be more accurate he had rather come to find over the years that other peoples luck seemed to fail in his presence, this typically either led to Daniel getting hurt or embarrassed to the point of mortification, or else the enemy of the day ending up in deep trouble.
Inside the tent belonging to Ishta, the leader of the Hak’tyl resistance, Major Carter and Sergeant Andianov were sat on rugs as the Jaffa women explained the situation and why they were seeking an alliance. O’Neill had been quite annoyed that Ishta and her lieutenants would only deal with the female members of the team but if that was how it had to be he eventually agreed to wait outside, albeit whilst still making comments regarding reverse-sexism.
Neith was by far the most hostile to their presence both in the tent and on the planet generally and her body language and general attitude expressed that clearly. After a couple of icy minutes Andianov had fixed her with a piercing glare which Neith saw as a challenge and returned. They were now engaged in a battle of wills, staring daggers at each other whilst Ishta and her other deputy Mala made more civilised conversation with Major Carter.
‘Your troops are well trained’ Carter told Ishta, they had demonstrated good skills when the counter-ambushed the Jaffa of Moloc trying to capture SG-1 so it was true as well as being diplomatic.
‘All Jaffa women are trained to fight so that they can defend their homes when the men are off fighting wars’ Ishta replied. ‘Few get to practice their skills as we do however’ she added. ‘Few have little choice as we do’ she said.
Carter nodded. ‘Mala told us you were seeking an alliance with the Tau’ri’ she said.
Ishta nodded. ‘We have need of weapons and supplies’ she said. ‘We are short of both and weak as we are we cannot save but a fraction of our sisters that we would wish to’ she said sadly.
‘I’m sorry but I don't really know much about your situation’ Carter admitted. ‘We haven’t had much dealing with Moloc because his territory isn’t near Earth or any of our allies’ she explained apologetically.
‘Thirty years ago, Moloc decreed that only male children would be allowed to live’ Ishta told them. ‘Only they could strengthen his armies and lead him to victory in the war of the gods’ she added.
Carter raised her eyebrows. ‘Well, aside from the obvious immorality, that doesn't make sense’ she replied. ‘How do you sustain a population of any gender without women?’ she asked rhetorically.
‘The Jaffa lifespan is longer than humans’ Ishta reminded her. ‘This could go on for a hundred years’ she continued. ‘Any female child is to be sacrificed in the ceremony of fire, immediately after they're born’ she told her.
‘They’re burned to death?’ Carter responded in horror, Andianov breaking off her staring contest with Neith and directing an appalled expression at Ishta instead.
‘Yes’ Ishta confirmed flatly. ‘We have been rescuing those we could’ she said.
‘Too few’ Mala interrupted glumly.
‘So how did you start bringing them here?’ Carter queried.
‘As a temple high priestess, part of my duty is to keep record of births’ Ishta told her. ‘And to preside over the ceremony of fire itself’ she continued, her voice becoming more angered. ‘I could not sit back and watch my sisters being murdered and do nothing’ she declared forcefully.
‘Who could?’ Mala said quietly.
‘As high priestess I, along with my seconds Mala and Neith, are allowed relatively free access to the Chappa'ai of the worlds under Moloc's rule’ Ishta told the Tau’ri women.
‘No one outside this camp knows you're doing this?’ Carter checked.
‘No’ Ishta replied. ‘Our duties require us to attend to many missionary matters on various planets’ she said.
‘So you offer the parents of these children a chance for their daughters to live’ Carter reasoned.
‘All but a few Jaffa under Moloc worship him religiously. Not even the parents can be trusted’ Ishta responded. ‘The children have to be spiritied away, secretly, for fear of being reported to the Imperial Guard’ she said.
‘It is punishable by death to even question the rules of the god’ Male noted.
Ishta nodded. ‘Over the moons we have succeeded in saving many from their birthright of death’ she told them.
‘So you want our help to overthrow Moloc?’ Carter asked.
The Hak’tyl Jaffa looked at each other in surprise. ‘We may have underestimated you’ Ishta said.
‘Everyone does at first’ Andianov spoke up. Imaging this evil goa’uld prick in her gunsights was extremely satisfying, although perhaps turning a flame-thrower on him would be more fitting justice, she thought to herself.
‘We’ve gone after goa’ulds before’ Carter noted.
‘Moloc is very powerful. His armies are vast’ Ishta replied doubtfully.
‘Perhaps the stories of what we did to the armies of Apophis in the field have yet to spread this far’ Andianov said, extremely unimpressed by the threat he represented. He wasn't even a System Lord on the level of Bastet let alone a major player.
‘We also have powerful allies’ Carter added. ‘The Free Jaffa led by Bra’tac for example.’
‘It is said that Bra’tac and his Jaffa are nothing but pawns of the Tok’ra’ Neith said dismissively.
‘If you’d met him you’d know just how funny that is’ Carter replied with a smile. ‘It’s just a rumour spread by the System Lords to try and stop other Jaffa joining’ she told them. ‘The Tok’ra aren’t anything like the goa’uld anyway’ she continued. ‘They can help you too, I’ll bet that have operatives in Moloc’s inner circle that can provide valuable intelligence to your cause.’
‘We already have spies throughout Moloc’s domain’ Neith announced, not all in his empire believed he was a god by any means.
‘Jaffa spies maybe, not Tok’ra pretending to be minor goa’uld in Moloc’s service’ Carter responded. ‘You don’t think Moloc tells even his First Prime everything do you?’ she asked knowingly.
‘Perhaps’ Ishta conceded, ‘but forgive us, but our immediate goals are somewhat less ambitious than overthrowing Moloc’ she said.
‘It is an ongoing struggle to procure the symbiotes needed for our young to survive’ Neith said, SG-1 had watched her take one from an enemy Jaffa in order to give it to a girl who had reached puberty and now required one to act as her immune system, the goa’uld had genetically engineered the Jaffa to be dependent on them once they matured. ‘We lost many of our warriors in these raids’ Neith continued. ‘It is said your weapons are formidable’ she said.
‘We also require sustenance’ Mala added. ‘Food and supplies among our growing population are scarce’ she told them.
‘We are proud warriors. We offer you our services and our knowledge in return’ Ishta offered. ‘We have an extensive intelligence network among the Jaffa under Moloc as I said.’
Carter smiled. ‘What if I were to offer you an alternative?’ she asked.
‘An alternative to what?’ Mala asked quizzically.
‘To your reliance on the Goa'uld’ Carter explained. ‘An ally of ours developed a drug called tretonin which can be used to keep a Jaffa healthy instead of a goa’uld symbiote’ she explained, ‘in the majority of cases anyway’ she said. ‘Some react badly to the drug, if only a minority, but in those cases we also have a source of symbiotes for you’ she told them.
‘Taken from dead Jaffa?’ Neith asked suspiciously, she did it herself but it still bothered her deep down. The Jaffa of Moloc were only obeying the orders of one they believed was truly a god.
‘No’ Carter denied, ‘Tok’ra symbiotes’ she said. ‘There aren’t very many of you and if most of the girls took tretonin you wouldn’t need many symbiotes for the others’ she said. ‘We could introduce you to Free Jaffa who already carry one’ she offered.
‘I still do not believe that the Tok’ra are any different than the goa’uld’ Neith declared. ‘Involvement with them could simply mean exchanging one master for another’ she said.
Carter chuckled. ‘Well Egeria the Tok’ra leader is female as is her host so “Mistress” would be closer but they really aren’t like the goa’uld’ she told them.
‘You seem convinced of this how are you so certain?’ Ishta asked.
‘Well for one thing I was a host to a Tok’ra for a short while myself which gives me a good insight into them’ Carter replied, ‘and for another my father is host to a Tok’ra right now’ she continued. ‘I could introduce you to them’ she said.
‘We cannot bring the Tok’ra here’ Neith told Ishta sternly.
‘If they can truly help I am willing to go see them on your behalf’ Mala said to her leader.
‘You might want to find a couple of volunteers to try tretonin too, prove to yourselves it works’ Carter suggested.
‘This sounds like a trap’ Neith declared.
‘If I go with Mala and any volunteers you can keep Daniel and the Colonel outside as hostages’ Carter told them. ‘I’ll take Teal’c with us, he can talk to the Free Jaffa too’ she said.
‘And what of this one?’ Neith asked, indicating Andianov.
‘Perhaps you might also like to see a demonstration of just how good our weapons are?’ Carter replied, ‘she can show you’ she said. ‘Just shoot up some targets for them’ she told Andianov.
‘The Tau’ri use many women as warriors?’ Ishta asked.
‘Not as many as they do men’ Carter admitted. ‘As a soldier Sergeant Andianov is considered exceptional however, one of the best our world has.’
‘In that case I might like to test how valuable an ally the Tau’ri really are’ Neith announced, getting up.
‘Guns, knives or bare fists?’ Andianov responded, getting up herself.
‘I would not wish to kill you?’ Neith responded with a smirk.
‘You have a sense of humour’ Andianov noted, ‘good, that will serve you well in keeping up your morale during a long recovery’ she said.
Neith was skilled in hand-to-hand combat, and thanks to her symbiote and Jaffa physiology stronger than the Russian but she had underestimated the Tau’ri woman badly and it showed from the very start of the fight.
Daniel had looked concerned when the Hak’tyl formed a circle for the contest, with a rifle in her hands Andianov was dangerous beyond belief but without a firearm he wasn’t sure how she would stand up to a woman so much stronger.
O’Neill had been far more relaxed and only wished someone was running a book because he’d have been wiling to bet the Hak’tyl would give long odds on the Tau’ri winning. ‘Danny boy just remember two things’ he said, ‘the first if that nobody ever expects the Sergeant to be that fast and second she’s Spetsnaz trained’ he reminded him. ‘Those guys train hard and they fight nasty and dirty’ he said, Russian Special Forces were hard-core.
In a longer fight Neith would have won thanks to greater strength, endurance and a higher pain threshold, if she had taken it more seriously at first she might have too for that matter, but instead Andianov made it a short vicious display. The Sergeant delivered a rapid series of kicks and punches that left the Jaffa moaning and bleeding on the ground in less than a minute, avoiding almost all counter-blows herself. It would have been over even sooner but Andianov had to kick her in the ribs hard several times to knock the fight out of her at the end. ‘I suggest you all seek training in the Jaffa martial art known as mastaba’ the Sergeant advised the Hak’tyl who were staring at her wide-eyed. ‘An alliance with the Free Jaffa would serve you well’ she said.
At the Free Jaffa Camp on Hanka where Carter took her and the other volunteers Mala rejected tretonin and reacted so badly to the drug she nearly died. A tok’ra saved her with a healing device and she later returned home carrying a Tok’ra symbiote to sustain her.
Egeria and Bra’tac decided that the removal of Moloc and the saving of countless Jaffa girls from death was both a moral imperative and helpfully represented another potentially useful test of the effectiveness of their joint operations. Free Jaffa and Tok’ra forces guided by the Hak’tyl were hitting Moloc hard before the week was out, it would be a long campaign but to the alliance Moloc made a wonderful enemy any right-thinking Jaffa or Tok’ra could easily get behind fighting. When you were both up against someone that had baby girls burned alive you put your reservations about your ally behind you, private opinions about Tok’ra arrogance or Jaffa obstinacy just didn’t matter a damn, Moloc had to go.
A few people back on Earth were starting to express quiet reservations of their own however. The Free Jaffa and Tok’ra were collectively far more powerful together than they ever were alone and they were becoming more of a growing independent power in their own right rather than a couple of minor irritants to the System Lords. The doom mongers in X-COM and the IOA were generally ignored by the majority of decision-makers however, the goa’uld still ruled the galaxy and it was in Earth’s interest to support and assist any group that opposed them.
Ishta found herself one of the inner circle of the Alliance, much to the chagrin of some of the more traditional male Jaffa. She found she disliked politics immensely but was willing to make any sacrifice to help her people so she ignored the snide comments about a woman’s place being at home and represented the Hak’tyl to the best of her ability.
Neith became a mastaba master and ended up teaching it to others. She particularly liked beating up new male recruits to the Free Jaffa ranks who regarded the idea of being taught anything of combat by a woman with derision. They always underestimated her at first and paid the price, this was something she never did to an opponent herself again.
Sectoid Starbase – Frontier Star Cluster - September 2003
Colonel Gomez Rodrigues looked at the printed image of the space station they were heading towards laid out over the table. He was already wearing his suit of powered armour, albeit minus the helmet, and looked extremely imposing next to the others in the room.
The Tollan Cruiser, or “Ghostrider” as the Tau’ri called them, had dropped out of hyperspace hundreds of thousands of kilometres from the station. With its phasing cloak engaged but the inertial dampeners turned off it had run up to a good speed on sub-light engines then switched them off, powering down all non-essential systems and heading towards the station as stealthily as possible. With the fifty-plus tonne Mind-Shield in the cargo bay hopefully preventing them being detected by less tangible means it was believed they could run right up to the target and be on top of it and boarding before Loki’s forces knew what the hell was going on. Like all plans it relied on an element of luck and some guesswork on enemy capabilities but it seemed like the best way to capture the thing intact with any defenders aboard caught off-guard.
The station was larger than a Ha’tak and must have been constructed out here between star systems because according to the Tollan it lacked any kind of drive system. ‘Looks kinda organic’ Rodrigues observed, looking at the picture which had been taken by a high-resolution camera mounted on a Tollan reconnaissance drone. The surface looked almost like the skin of an aquatic animal in some ways and it had three tendril-like protuberances that seem to hang off it adding to the perception that it was more animal than mechanism.
‘We think it was partially grown, not just put together from sections Loki had dragged out here’ Trevoc the Tollan Officer acting as liaison between the crew and their Tau’ri guests replied. ‘One of the two other stations is still being built’ he said. ‘Our drones recorded a new type of ship we’ve called a Harbinger arriving there with a large piece of hull material it had towed through hyperspace with tractor beams’ he told them, ‘once it was slotted into place you could see the rest of the structure start to merge into it.’
‘That doesn’t sound much like Asgard technology, other than the tractor beams’ Major Carter observed. She had been invited along as an observer, just in case her scientific skills were needed by the boarding party, and was hoping Rodigues the mission commander would let her leave the protection of the mind-shielded Tollan vessel and enter the fray once any hostile telepaths had been dealt with. It was a little annoying that Lieutenant Hailey would be going in before her though, Carter thought ruefully. Hailey had scored considerably higher in psionic strength than her mentor when tested and was considered less of a potential liability for that reason. Add in her proven ability to figure out alien technology in a hurry, sometimes under fire, and the fact she was experienced in wearing Powered Armour and the diminutive Hailey had been snapped up for this particular mission.
‘We believe the organic component is of Nox origin, or at least derived from it’ Trevoc replied.
‘Nox?’ Carter queried in surprise.
‘The Asgard have known the Nox for tens of thousands of years, they probably know an awful lot about their technology and Loki likely just took the data with him where he decided to go it alone’ Trevoc told her. ‘Nox organic technology isn’t as hardy or resilient as Asgard materials which is probably why our grey friends prefer trinium and naquadah alloys for their hulls’ he said, ‘based on our own research we concluded that the organic hull wouldn’t stand up well to prolonged periods in hyperspace for example due to the effects of ionising radiation, but for a space station that’s not going anywhere it’s perfectly viable and it grows itself so you can build fast.’
‘How do we know that this is the station which has the most elerium manufacturing capacity?’ Rodrigues asked curiously.
‘Deductive reasoning’ Trevoc replied, ‘we’ve tracked considerably more transports coming here from the systems where Loki’s naquadah mines are based’ he said. ‘This may simply be the oldest and most established station hence the industry inside is more developed’ he said.
‘But no Loki?’ Carter asked.
‘The intercepted transmissions we decoded indicates he isn’t in the Frontier and perhaps hasn’t been for some time’ Trevoc replied regretfully, they had been hoping desparately to catch him. ‘The stations are seemingly controlled by an AI copy of his mind like the one you found on Mars.’
Carter smiled. ‘The Frontier?’ she asked.
‘This area of space is unclaimed and largely unexploited’ Trevoc replied. ‘Once we’ve cleared out Loki’s forces the Curia plans to set up mines of our own’ he said. ‘Now that the Asgard have agreed to provide us with their hyperdrive designs this star cluster is close enough for us to set up viable mining and ore-processing operations.’
‘We’re a lot nearer to Langara than Tollana’ Carter noted, ‘Earth is closer for that matter’ she pointed out.
‘There are over a hundred stars in this cluster, most of them with planetary systems and many with highly extensive asteroid belts’ Trevoc replied, ‘we aren’t going to annex the whole thing, just start exploiting a few of them’ he said.
‘You’re right, it is the Frontier’ Carter realised. ‘I can see Earth and Hebridan wanting to establish a presence here too’ she decided.
‘Of course that would be easier if you had someone that could provide stargates to facilitate transporting the materials back to your homeworlds’ Trevoc responded with a smile.
‘That’ll earn you guys a few bucks’ Rodrigues observed knowingly.
‘You should see what we’re charging the Aschen for setting up stargates in a few systems bordering their Confederation’ Trevoc said. ‘Given our monopoly of supply, with the Nox not selling themselves, we could ask for a lot more than we do’ he noted. ‘Of course Earth gets a sizeable discount’ he added.
‘Because we supply the naquadah you make them from’ Carter responded before checking her watch. ‘I make it five minutes before we’re due to arrive’ she said.
Rodrigues grinned. ‘I’ll go join my troopers’ he said, ‘when I left them they were singing pirate songs’ he told them. ‘With a few words changed on occasion’ he told them.
‘Pirate songs?’ Carter asked, wondering if she should.
‘We’re talking stuff like “Fifteen goa’uld in a sarcophagus, Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum” and worse’ Colonel Rodrigues replied.
‘Sarcophagus doesn’t rhyme very well’ Carter told him.
‘None of them can sing very well to start with so that’s not the major reason I left them to it’ Rodrigues replied. ‘Your girl Hailey was pretty good though’ he said. ‘Her “What do you do with a drugged-up trooper” was a hit’ he told her.
‘Ever the wunderkind’ Carter responded.
‘She probably shouldn’t have been grinning at Captain Gaston when she did the verse that went “Put him in a bed with the Commander’s Daughter” though’ Rodrigues suggested. ‘The Boss might not approve’ he said, laughing.
Carter looked momentarily confused. ‘Commander’s daughter?’ she queried.
‘Cassandra Fraiser, Gaston supposedly took her out on a date’ the X-COM Colonel explained. ‘The Commander is dating her Mom so...’ he continued. ‘Well general opinion that that Gaston is either insanely brave by our standards or he cheated on the intelligence tests that got him into the team’ he said.
‘How do you know about this and I don’t?’ Carter asked incredulously. ‘Cassie and some X-COM psycho?’ she said before remembering who she was talking to. ‘No offence meant’ she added awkwardly.
‘None taken, I wouldn’t let anyone on the COM near any daughter I had’ Rodrigues replied honestly. ‘Now if you’ll excuse me I’ve got to lead some maniacs storming a fortress’ he said brightly.
Trevoc watched the Colonel leave, the man having to duck to squeeze through the doorway in his armour. ‘There’s something very wrong with those people’ he opined. ‘Even by Earth standards’ he told Carter.
‘Yeah but they’re useful for things like this’ Carter replied. ‘Cassie and Gaston’ she said again to herself. ‘As soon as I get home I’m talking to Janet’ she decided.
The first indication that anyone on the space station had that something was happening was when the Tollan ship put its engines to full reverse-thrust to stop just short of the station, the phase-cloak disengaged and the Ghostrider crashed against it.
The Powered Armour suits were fully self-contained and rated safe for use in a vacuum so rather than messing around with trying to get an airlock seal the boarders simply blew a hole in the side of the station and entered that way.
At first there was little to no resistance, the reason for that becoming apparent later. Loki did not bother to construct quarters on the stations for his pilots and soldiers, they were simply kept efficiently in suspended animation until needed, and it took some time to revive them let alone arm them and send them into battle.
The elite X-COM Troopers rapidly spread out through the station, gunning down any alien they saw. They weren’t expected to take prisoners and they made no effort to, any hostiles which were hit by zat’nik’tel discharges being shot in the head as a coup-de-grace afterwards.
They were however ordered to minimise collateral damage so where possible they avoided indiscriminate use of their Heavy Plasma Rifles and eschewed grenades other than Goa’uld Shock devices.
A number of Spectre and Phantasm fighters and their crews had been kept ready to launch in case of a more conventional assault and these were scrambled immediately, the alien craft attacking the Tollan vessel which was lodged against the station. The Tollan had been ready for this and having no wish to be shot at by the fighters they solved the problem by phasing again, this time bringing the whole station along for the ride.
Trevoc was on the bridge of the Ghostrider when it phased. A Spectre was firing its pulsed plasma weapons at the ship at the time and he enjoyed the disconcerting experience of having a bolt of energy go straight through the bulkhead, and then through him before continuing on its way unimpeded by either. It caused no damage whatsoever of course, other than to his state of mind which was more than enough from his personal perspective.
Because of the size of the station, and the maze of corridors and chambers which had to be negotiated and explored, by the time the boarding party was approaching where they assumed the control centre was they were starting to face determined opposition. Psionic attacks by defrosted Ethereals and plasma fired by the wakening Sectoids and hulking Muton infantry slowed the X-COM advance to the point where Colonel Rodrigues and his self-styled “Roughnecks” resorted to riskier tactics trusting that if they were killed in action they could be resurrected in a sarcophagus.
Gaston and the small team he was commanding blew open a hatch that barred their way and found themselves in a chamber full of stasis tubes, some of which had already opened and others were currently in the process of disgorging their occupants. They killed the occupants of every tube by shooting a bolt of plasma into each one in turn before continuing on their way, Gaston having to drag Lieutenant Hailey away from examining the interesting technology of the tubes.
Tollan and Earth scientists would be studying the technology of the station for years but the prize as expected was the plant which converted regular naquadah into the elerium allotrope not that it wasn’t going to take a while to figure out itself because even the Tollan were left scratching their heads once they took it apart.
An Asgard O’Neill Class vessel destroyed the other two stations as soon as the signal was received that the objective was secure. It then proceeded to destroy all of Loki’s mining operations in the star cluster before heading back to Ida, the renegade was still free but his power-base was considered destroyed so the High Council was satisfied, or at least they were until disquieting news came from the Tollan scientists who examined the records found on the station.
Large amounts of elerium and other raw materials had been dispatched from the cluster to another location within the past few months and the destination was unknown. There were also indications that Loki had achieved a number of recent breakthroughs in new fields and that he was developing and creating new ships, weapons and genetic creations that made his work so far look primitive.
On Tartarus Loki received the news that his mining operations and stations had been destroyed pragmatically. He had plenty of elerium stored and could always build a factory to make more in time if necessary and he didn’t need his old pilots and soldiers any more, he had access to much higher quality replacements these days.
Anubis had wondered if exchanging the Ancient DNA Re-sequencer and a few other pieces of valuable technology for Loki’s assistance in a few projects had been worth it, or he did right up until Thoth conceded that the upgrades the rogue Asgard had made to the Kull Warrior prototype were far beyond anything he could have managed himself. For that matter the creatures that Loki offered to Anubis to replace Jaffa as his deathglider pilots were exceptionally skilled, loyal and effective and the Asgard’s own new fighter-craft which would fly in support of the Kull were advanced beyond measure.
Loki regarded Anubis as a means to an end of course. The Ancient device would enable him to quickly perfect what Thoth had called his “Hok’Asgard” and there were some other benefits to their cooperation, including the opportunity to inquire how Anubis had managed to ascend before.
The galaxy was about to face the real Axis of Evil and it wasn’t ready for it.