Chapter 9
New York City, Earth, United States of America
Universe Designate SRC-19
As a major economic center of the entire planet, New York City had plenty of lavishly-furnished boardrooms, but none with occupants quite like Lewis & Henley. The "consultant firm" was a low-key corporate outing, the kind that people with business to discuss and secrets to hide create as a hollow shell to fill with cash and hide more critical assets.
The kind of company owned completely and totally by the Trust.
The Trust had begun as a collection of primarily American defense industrialists and financiers who had been made privy to the extraordinary finds of the Stargate Project. But they had not agreed with the methods of the US military in acquiring the technology to be found in the wider galaxy, wishing for a more cutthroat approach. Something that got more immediate results. They had spent years co-opting the NID - National Intelligence Directorate - with sleeper agents of all kinds, as well as other branches of the government, even Stargate Command itself.
But their arrogance had been their undoing. Their attempt to take war to the Goa'uld had backfired with the Goa'uld seizing their operatives and slowly taking over the Trust for themselves. Now, even though many of the rank and file still thought themselves as working for Earth in some way, the leadership had been throughly subordinated by the Goa'uld. And with their empires crumbling, Earth - once a planet they'd thought of conquering - had taken on an entirely new and ironic meaning: a final refuge, a place to hide from the rebelling Jaffa and to live out their days in material comfort.
In charge of the operation for the moment was the Goa'uld Athena, but now her seniority was surpassed by the arrival of the new leader of the Goa'uld on Earth. With all the look and appearance of a Wall Street corporate raider - itself the perfect mold for him - Ba'al had entered the board room and overseen the meeting. The Trust's efforts were ongoing on all fronts, with new hosts for dispossessed Goa'uld to be found among the business elite of the world. Where the Goa'uld had never gotten around to conquest by force, they may yet achieve some success through subterfuge.
Their meeting was interrupted by a signal from the fleet. Ba'al dismissed himself from their presence, inviting Athena to continue the meeting, and moved into a nearby office with conveniently sound-proofed walls and doors. The somewhat spartanly-furnished office was meant for mid-level management, the last place someone would look for the devices that Ba'al now removed from the desk.
Seconds later he was facing.... himself. Or rather, one of his three clones, the clone placed in direct charge of the fleet meeting at Castor. "What's happened at the meeting? Has that weasel Poseidon refused to accept the terms?"
"Poseidon is dead, along with the negotiator," the Fleet-Ba'al answered, referring to one of the other clones. "We've had a surprising development..." In broad strokes Ba'al's counterpart filled him in on the meeting with Maedhv.
"Not even one of Nirrti's hok'taurs could do such a thing. She must be Ascended," Ba'al remarked at the completion of the report. "There's no other way to explain her generating a storm capable of disrupting an Asgard transporter supported by beacons. Why an Ascended being would do all this, though... Hmm." A sardonic smile crossed his face. "Well, at least this mad Ancient has saved us from having to put up with Poseidon. Athena will be very pleased to hear she's all that's left of Zeus' progeny. Maintain your pursuit and report back on any new developments."
With that done Ba'al returned to the meeting room. "Tell our contacts in the SGC that we need data on a being called 'Maedhv'. Anything reported so far, no matter how obscure," Ba'al said to them. "I wish to be informed immediately."
Gray Star, Alliance Space
Universe Designate AR-12
The Gray Star infirmary was at a level of "organized chaos" when Serlann opened her eyes and looked around. The Minbari engineer began sitting up from her bed, feeling a great deal of pain in her head and chest as well as numbness in her left leg.
A Taloran nurse was at her side a moment later, speaking in heavily-accented Minbari to ask how she was feeling. "I will be fine," Serlann remarked stoically, intentionally vague without being explicitly dishonest in that way the Minbari were so good at.
He nodded at her and gave her a small cup of water. As the nurse did so Serlann watched Dr. Constantine finish tending to a crewmember. The doctor noticed Serlann was sitting up and walked up to her. "Serlann, good to see you're awake."
"Thank you, Doctor. I... cannot remember what happened...."
"The ship was hit while still unshielded," Meredith answered. "You were critically wounded."
"Then our mission is a failure?"
"Not yet," Meredith replied, trying to give a confident smile to the Minbari woman. "Apparently they got a few good hits in but are running now."
"Then I will be needed," Serlann remarked. As she tried to sit up, she found Meredith pressing her back down upon the bed.
"The only thing needed from you is cooperation," Meredith said. "You've had a severe concussion, cracked ribs, and you almost lost your leg. You'll be staying here."
Serlann nodded stiffly. "As I am conscious, might I at least be allowed to provide advice to the Engineering crew if needed?"
"As long as you don't strain yourself."
"We're still about half an hour from sublight intercept, Captain," Hsiao reported on the bridge of the Gray Star. "I am picking up the Replicator ship at long-range, but at this distance I can't confirm its mass or status."
"Understood, Subcommander," Data answered. He looked to Ziva. "Lieutenant David..."
"Long-range comms are still out. I can't reach Commander Nagase."
"Weapons systems, Glin?"
"Regained function in forward batteries. We still have three dozen Mark IVs along with standard missile complement. Deflectors are at most capable of sixty-six percent efficiency."
"We will have to make do."
At that moment Data and Kharaste received the notification simultaneously through their DNIs, the casualty list updating Serlann's condition to "stable" and "conscious", though her status was changed only to "conditional" instead of "cleared". It also showed she was again reachable on the comms. "Bridge to Serlann," Data said aloud.
"Yes, Captain?"
"I am pleased to see you have awoken. Doctor Constantine is not letting you return to active duty?"
"No, she has refused to permit it. But I am permitted to provide verbal direction to the engineering crew."
"We will inform Colonel Carter immediately. Bridge out." Data terminated the call.
"It would appear that the Lord Justice has granted us an additional boon," Kharaste remarked from his seat.
"I believe Commander Nagase is likely in need of one as well," Data replied.
Alliance Space
Universe Designate AR-12
So far all seven fighters had survived, dodging the Replicator ship's shots as they weaved around it trying to batter it down. It was an exhausting battle for Kei and her pilots, their shots unable to damage the Replicator ship while their maneuvers allowed them to evade the return fire. Every sense was alive and strong, her head hurting as she kept the image in her head of her orientation, speed, acceleration, and relative position to the Replicator vessel. Her HUD displayed a similar thing, but part of training was not relying overly on instruments, not in close-quarters circumstances like this.
The Replicator ship fired a furious series of blasts toward Kei and Mueller. The Lyran pilot fired maneuvering thrusters at the last second, turning a fatal blow into a grazing strike that damaged the fighter surface but nothing deeper. Kei maneuvered herself, shifting "downward" and changing her orientation at the last second to avoid a hit.
She was maneuvering to attempt another annoyance strafing run on the Replicator vessel when it claimed another victim, an F/A-48 piloted by a fellow Stellar Navy pilot Lt. Diollo. The hit was clean and an instant kill for Diollo and his SIO.
Kei adjusted her run and directed her particle cannons toward the debris of Diollo's fighter. She pulled the trigger and lashed out as the Replicator ship approached, looking to collect the remains for conversion into nanites and additional mass. The particle blasts from her fighter and two of the others converged, vaporizing bits of material from it and causing it to spin about in the void.
It looked like they were about to fail, that the Replicator ship would manage to snag the hulk, when another burst of fire from Kei's cannons struck home. The hits struck the anti-matter tank in the fuselage, knocking out the battery-powered emergency containment field and freeing the remaining anti-matter fuel to interact with nearby matter. Even if the tanks were built to minimize the efficiency of reaction in such a containment failure, the blast was still sufficient to vaporize most of the hulk of the destroyed fighter while sending the rest careening away and out of reach for the Replicator ship.
The Replicator ship stopped for a moment. Sensors indicated it was reprocessing the anti-fighter weapons it had been using and it had Kei wondering just what was going on.
She was about to give an order to back away when projectiles erupted from the ship. Six in all and one aimed at each of her fighters. "Evasive!", she shouted into the comm before firing her engines to high acceleration. She twisted and pulled at the flight stick, maneuvering sharply to try and evade the oncoming projectile.
It was gaining fast. Realizing she couldn't beat it, Kei resolved to at least save one of the other fighters if she could. She twisted hard, firing maneuvering engines to rapidly move "downward" while hitting retro-engines to suspend forward motion, effectively "braking" in space that caused the enemy missile to overshoot. As it came back around she re-orientated her fighter toward another missile - this one chasing Mueller - and put her engines to full again. A tone told her that her cannons were on target and prompted her to fire. Particle blasts struck out and began hitting the Replicator missile, smashing up the missile into component parts.
The missile pursuing her caught up as she broke off from the successful attack run. It was too late to eject, and in a brief instant Kei expected to die in a flash of light.... but there was no explosion. The missile got close and suddenly erupted in a pulse of intense energy that only served to briefly penetrate her remaining deflectors.
Her fighter sensors began blaring a warning. "Kylie?"
Her SIO, Ensign Kylie Landers, was quick to answer. "The missile wasn't a real warhead, the payload seems to have been small Replicator nanite constructs. They're beginning to consume the ship, sir!"
"Computer, this is Commander Nagase. Set ten second timer to drop anti-matter containment field, emergency override Nagase Bravo Echo Zulu Three!"
"Code verified. Ten seconds to containment release..
Kei reached over and pulled the eject panel. The physical lever resisted her, as it was made to do, but only for a fraction of a second before the full strength of Kei's arm and shoulder pulled it loose. The act triggered the release of latches built into the cockpit housing, turning the cockpit into a life support pod housing Kei and Kylie. A short-burn thruster built into the bottom of the pod fired, throwing the pod away from their fighter at about thirty-eight Gs without the benefit of inertial-dampening before the initial burst gave way to a survivable 10 Gs. It fired for about nine seconds before the fuel was exhausted, a time span survivable because of their specially-designed suits.
About a quarter of a second after the Gs stopped pulling against the pod, the remaining body of Kei's fighter disappeared in a blinding flash of energy, eradicating the Replicator nanites that had been busily converting it. A wave of radiation from the blast struck the pod, though the exposure was not lethal thanks to the special shielding built into the cockpit pod structure.
The G-force had knocked Kylie unconscious. Kei was barely conscious, her vision mostly blacked out. She recovered to see the Replicator ship flying by, moving to intercept one of her other fighters that was already being eaten by the Replicators. The Replicators immediately adapted to Kei's tactic, intentionally eating their way into the control computers to physically maintain the containment on anti-matter in other taken fighters. Only the fighter of Mueller, which avoided being hit, was still intact, with Lieutenant Molders' Scorpion being successfully destroyed by him despite the Replicator adaption. That meant that three fighters' mass was being added to the Replicator ship; not a tremendous amount all things told, but more than Kei would've liked.
She stared at the ship, expecting the creatures to fire a beam and annihilate her pod completely, making peace again with the prospect of imminent death. But, again, they didn't kill her. The Replicator ship finished attaching itself to the last clump of claimed spaceship mass and its engines fired. It quickly disappeared into the void.
I hope that was enough, Kei thought. She'd done the best she could to delay them; it was up to Captain Data and the crew of the Gray Star to finish the job.
USS Prometheus, Goa'uld Territory
Universe Designate SRC-19
"This is still a bad idea."
After saying that Nate immediately began grunting with effort, trying to pry own the doors to the access room for one of the physical control lines binding the bridge of the Prometheus to its actual physical systems. This was further away from the actual main access to the bridge controls which Maedhv had seen fit to place within her field, and instead of dedicated controls for cutting the controls off this would require more destructive efforts.
"Shut up and keep pulling," Jack grunted, working along the other side of the door. Together the two men managed to open the unpowered door - Maedhv's work to keep any efforts like this from being too easy - and were able to access the room. Jack reached into his pocket and activated the personal forcefield generator, Nate doing the same, and the two began to enter and look for the physical lines they'd come to cut.
"I hope Teal'c is having better luck," Nate remarked, moving his flashlight around. His other hand went to the portable plasma torch that would cut the lines linking both the direct computer lines and the power lines, plunging the bridge into darkness and preventing any access to the main ship systems from there.
"Let's get this over with before Her Mightyness can find us here." Jack moved around the room until he found the electronic wiring that connected the bridge to the engineering spaces and the systems within. He began cutting that while Nate cut at the power lines. Each second the two men expected to have Maedhv pop in and try to stop them. Each line piece cut seemed to likely be the last.
But then they were done. Still no sign of Maedhv.
"See, what'd I tell you? She's not that good," Jack said flippantly, putting his torch back. "Let's get back to Pendergast and see if Teal'c had any problems."
Shrugging - and feeling very strange at having succeeded - Nate followed Jack back through the ship. They met Teal'c entering Engineering at the same time as they were. "I was successful without incident, General O'Neill."
"So were we," Jack said before turning his attention to Pendergast. "Okay Colonel, change our course for Jaffa territory. Just in case the Goa'uld are following."
Pendergast nodded and gave the order to one of his subordinates. Commands were entered into the auxiliary controls in the engineering station. Jack was grinning as the commands were entered, just to hear a very ominous and negative-sounding beep in reply. "Colonel, the ship isn't responding."
"What?" Jack said. "Try something else?"
"I'm not able to access subspace communications either," another officer reported. "Weapons.... engines... nothing's working. We don't have any control."
"Jack," a voice scratched through the coms with harsh feedback, though there was no guess about who it was, but the coms remained dead while she spoke, unlike before when they'd been activated. "If you don't want me getting to my final destination, you're going to have to blow up the hyperdrive. Incidentally, we are being pursued by the Goa'uld... And we're almost there, anyway. That's all."
And with that, the scratching feedback seized and silence again returned.
Nate had been about to say something when Jack raised a hand. "Ah ah ah, I don't want to hear it. Not a word. Not. One. Word."
On the bridge, Daniel waited for Maedhv to finish her mocking remark to Jack before asking, "You allowed Jack and everyone to go through all that just for the satisfaction of that moment, didn't you?"
"Actually, I just was too lazy to bother with a confrontation," Maedhv answered a tad sarcastically. "I am trying to avoid unnecessary deaths here. I mean, wouldn't it be awesome if I got to my destination and left, and you got your ship back, and nobody at all died?" She laughed. "Daniel, let it slide. We're only a few minutes away from our final destination, anyway, and then I will have ample ability to prove to you that you're all going to be able to leave unharmed."
"Well, I hope Jack doesn't take you up on the bit about blowing up the hyperdrive," Daniel mused.
"I doubt he will; we've got minutes at most now, anyway. It would probably take them longer to set up the explosives," Maedhv answered confidently, and even brought up the long-range sensor charts, homing in on a dead desert planet, more like Venus than anything else. "Now, I just need to find the right spot... Hmm. Let's see if the sensors have a spectro.. Ah, yes." the plot shifted to a more geographic readout of the planet, and she started hunting for something intently.
"You can leave the bridge now if you want," She added a moment later, standing up and delicately walking over to the chart table. "Since the controls here are all useless now, anyway, I've dropped the shielding around the bridge."
"How kind of you," Daniel said dryly. He looked over the dead planet that had Maedhv's interest. "Any reason all the really good treasures are found in deserts, arctic wastes, or otherwise unlivable planets?"
"So that the ship didn't exterminate an entire biosphere when Alarita was bringing her under the crust," Maedhv answered simply. "Now I need... Ah-hah! There it is. Look at that massive old magma sea. That's where she did it. Only one on the planet, and it matches the date to the millions of years rather perfectly, without the usual subsurface indications of it being similar to, hmm, examples from modern earth.. What you'd call the Siberian and Deccan Traps. Now I need to make my presence known."
"Sure." Daniel took out a radio he'd been carrying. "Hey Jack, we're about to come out of hyperspace. I'm sure you can come up if you promise to behave."
There was silence for a few moments. "We're coming," was the decidedly grumpy reply.
The Prometheus now was easing out of hyperspace, presenting itself over the planet.... And then a few bridge monitors started to sound. The ones concerning weapons activation. "This is about the only trick Nirrti taught me, but it's by far the most useful," Maedhv muttered to Daniel under her breath as she abruptly fired a salvo of heavy nuclear-and-naquadah tipped missiles down toward the lava traps.
Daniel watched the Prometheus' missile launchers unleash the ship's full power onto the planet below. Explosions began to sprout up along the surface, breaching the crust of the planet with the intensity of the naquadah/nuclear combination. It was a terrifying sight, thankfully limited in devastation as the planet was already a barren old rock.
The bridge door slid open, Jack and Nate entering with Teal'c behind them after he'd finished opening the way. They came just in time to see the punishment Maedhv was inflicting on the planet below. "I hope nobody's living down there," Nate muttered.
"Just what did that innocent planet do to piss off Her Mightyness?", Jack asked Daniel.
"I'm waking something up," Maedhv answered rather ominously, and clipped and professional compared to her usual rambling.
"That's one hell of a wakeup call," Nate joked. "Hope you don't vaporize it by mistake."
Maedhv coolly, and somehow using only her mind, fired another salvo of missiles into the planet, simply ignoring Nate as she leaned against a console and bored her eyes down toward the projection of the planet, looking almost worried. Clearly it was very, very important to her.
The bridge intercom, attached as it was to a different power grid, came active suddenly. "General O'Neill, this is Pendergast. We've managed to get access to the sensor systems.... sir, I'm picking up a dozen Goa'uld motherships coming out of hyperspace. And we can't get access to the weapons systems or helm."
"I only need a few more minutes, and we'll have more firepower at our fingertips than you can imagine," Maedhv answered with a mutter under her breath as she relentlessly shot another salvo of missiles into the surface; she was rapidly expending the Prometheus' entire compliment, and in the process turning the dried lava sea back into an actual lava sea, an immense boiling sore on the planet.
"Oh, you only need a few minutes," Jack remarked with the height of sarcasm. "And here I thought you were going to ask for something only nearly impossible. Listen, unless you want to stop shooting at that planet and start shooting at them we're not going to last that long!"
"If I stop shooting at the planet....." Maedhv trailed off and then growled in visceral frustration. "Fine." Her voice dripped in malice as she continued, "I'll deal with the Goa'uld for you. I'm setting up one of the energy weapons to tap a signal message into that lava lake--if you switch it off I will kill you. You have control over the weapons and shields. I manoeuvre the ship to keep you from running--and only because I need more attention for killing the Goa'uld. We'll fight and we'll win. Understood?"
"Crystal clear," Jack replied with as much irritation as Maedhv had malice.
Alliance Space
Universe Designate AR-12
"Commander, are you there?"
Kei heard Mueller's voice and gave an instinctive nod, even if it wasn't something he could see. "I'm here, Mueller."
"The Gray Star will be here momentarily. They cannot decelerate to permit you to be picked up, but they are confident in performing a full-speed snatch maneuver."
Of course, it needn't be said that the stress of sudden acceleration could, if not absorbed by the ship's IDF, turn them into thin streaks of organic paste in their cockpits. Even if that didn't happened, impact with the atmosphere containment field and the actual landing bay would bang their pod up and might simply result in them being crushed. If they didn't go for this, though, the consequences were just as grim: without the external life support tanks attached to the main fuselage of the fighter their pods would be without life support in a matter of a couple hours. I guess being crushed is quickler than suffocating when the air runs out went through Kei's head. "We have limited maneuvering, just give me a location Mueller."
The main screen plot on the bridge showed the handful of pods and Mueller's fighter ahead. The Lyran officer had volunteered to go last since his fighter would take up the most space, permitting a window of time for internal bay tractors to move the recovered pods out of the way.
As they moved closer to intercept eyes were completely on the helm, where Di'not was as calm as could be. The Zohan pilot had no emotion on her face save a slight indication of the well of confidence inside of her.
To the rear the door opened to permit entrance to Data and Samantha. "Report, Commander?"
Kharaste shifted in his chair. "We are attempting to recover Commander Nagase and her surviving flight crews. Lieutenant Di'not believes she can make a direct pickup through the launch bay without reducing acceleration and with minimal course change."
Sam looked from Kharaste to Di'not, who was intent at her work, while the screen showed them drawing near to the start of the operation. "At our speed and acceleration, it'll be almost impossible to make sure they come into range long enough for inertial dampening to take effect, and that's not counting the possibility of a miss where a pod slams into the ship."
"Under normal circumstances I would agree, Colonel Carter," Data remarked. "However, Lieutenant Di'not is highly skilled and capable and I will trust her to successfully recover the crews."
Sam gave a nod while Data found his seat, returning to the bridge engineering station herself now that the ship's crew had the damage control situation under control. She began the casual work of monitoring ship systems while the counter ticked down to contact with the first pod.
Still accelerating in her chase for the Replicator ship, Gray Star was like a blur to the pod occupants in front of them. Di'not's job was the equivalent of threading a needle in one go while holding the needle and trying to catch pieces of yarn zipping by it without catching the yarn along the eye. With quiet determination she went about this task, calculating the relative speeds and accelerations and making the most minute course corrections as the calculations racing through her mind laid them out to her.
One by one the pods were retrieved, Di'not's maneuvers completely perfect in a way that astonished Sam but drew as close to a pleased reaction as Data could manage. "Reports from the flight deck confirm all pods recovered with occupants surviving," Kharaste said. "Excellent work, Lieutenant."
"Indeed, Lieutenant Di'not, your performance has been far beyond expectations," Data added.
"Thank you, sirs," Di'not remarked cheerfully from the helm. Already she was setting the ship on a direct intercept, the computers showing their intercept time becoming increasingly short.
"Glinn Torcet, perform final weapons checks," Kharaste ordered. "We're going to have one good shot when we get it and I don't want it fouled up because of an unnoticed glitch from damage."
"Yes Commander," the Cardassian said briskly.
One moment Kei was looking on at a growing light ahead of her. The next the pod jerked violently, snagged by the tractors and then entering the Gray Star's IDF field. The field served to absorb the sudden acceleration of the pod via the tractors, saving Kei and Kylie from a swift but very messy death.
The pod rocked hard again, throwing the two around and against their harness and even causing them bruising despite their protective suits. Going through the atmospheric containment forcefield, the pod hit the landing bay floor hard, sparks flying as it skidded across the surface of the landing bay. Tractor beams reached out and caught the pod, stopping the skid and pulling it into an open space where a fighter had once been kept, adjacent to another pod just like their's. A couple launch crew in vac-suits ran over and scrambled upon the pod, opening the cockpit for Kei and Kylie. Ahead of them another pod came skidding in. Finally the shape of Mueller's F/A-48 appeared through the field. His fighter slid violently across the bay and nearly disintegrated due to the prior battle damage, though the pod seemed alright. Kei was watching from the partial safety of the pod's opposite end, figuring that if Mueller hadn't ejected his anti-matter fuel tanks they would surely have gone up.
Launch and medical crew immediately ran for the demolished fighter, but from the looks of things the operation had gone off without a snap.
Looks could be deceiving, though. Horribly deceiving in this case. Everyone was so busy helping Mueller and the other pilots get out and get to the available medics that nobody noticed the bottom of two of the pods, including Kei's, where the material began to sink inward a bit... and the form of the basic blocks of Replicator units began to take shape.
USS Prometheus, In Orbit over Kuahuatl, Goa'uld Territory
Universe Designate SRC-19
Fire had descended from the depths and touched everyone. The ship moved with perfect divinity; the engines were firing at the very same instant that Maedhv envisioned them to, it seemed, manoeuvring them so perfectly. It was like she knew where the enemy's weapons would be targeted and almost no shots had fallen on their shields, and the whole while she had kept the one beam centred on the planet, tapping out her remorseless message to the unknown entity below the surface, hoping for a response, and yet none had come. But then, as their remaining missiles were expended taking out the first two Goa'uld ships, their energy weapons proved very much inferior to the cause of giving further hurt to the enemy. They could scarcely be touched, but they could scarcely shoot back, too.
On the bridge the battle was being closely observed by Jack and the others. "Didn't Dax and Zaria give you guys technical data five years ago?" Nate remarked given that their weapons other than missiles were clearly not up to the challenge of fighting the Goa'uld. "I mean, if you could reverse engineer Goa'uld engines why couldn't you rig up a particle cannon?"
"Prometheus was built as an experimental prototype ship," Jack remarked. "And by the time Sam and the folks at Area 51 finished looking over that drive and testing their work with it the ship was already fully designed and under construction. Besides, we never figured we'd need more than our missile load." With that he glared straight at Maedhv.
Maedhv ignored them, closing her eyes... And then her body started to shudder..... And on the bridge itself, her body in turn began to quaver, and quake, and vibrate in her seat as her eyes opened again with a deathless look, and a blue halo of energy formed around her stomach, as though something was protecting her womb--perhaps herself--as the rest of her body seemed to phase in and out of existence. Ahead, on the viewscreen, an area of space seemed to turn to glass. Half of it caught a Goa'uld ship, and that half of the Goa'uld ship seemed to literally expand to five times its normal size while the other half remained the same. Then the effect stopped, Maedhv returned to normal.... then half of the ship seemed to shatter in a poof of dust into nonexistence, leaving the other half tumbling off, out of control for a brief second before it exploded.
The other Goa'uld ships became rattled at that sight, seeming to back off though they kept their fire up, their commanders undoubtedly bewildered by the strange and sudden annihilation of a fully-shielded Goa'uld Ha'tak that had the technological upgrades provided by Anubis to Ba'al's fleet.
Silence reigned on the bridge of the Prometheus, prompted by the shock of the assembled who all knew, with varying degrees of experience, how hard it was to deal with a Goa'uld mothership. To see one so rapidly distorted and then annihilated....
"Ah, now everyone begins to understand," Maedhv crowed triumphantly, and then concentrated again. This time there was only the faintest of wavers, and one of the Goa'uld ships simply began to head off in a random direction, to the further consternation of the other ships, for they had completely lost contact with that vessel. "The crew's all dead," she murmured, and her body began to phase again as she selected another target....
There was a sudden flash of energy that enveloped Maedhv. She briefly struggled in the chair before expanding her field to cover her entire body even as the energy, seemingly coming out of nowhere, assaulted her incessantly. As it did so the ship stopped maneuvering and Goa'uld weapons fire once again began to lash out on the ship.
"What the hell is going on?" Nate remarked upon seeing that sight. He could see Jack and Teal'c were looking at each other. Moreover, he felt a tingle through his senses, the inkling of something incredible strange but yet very... invigorating. "Jack?"
"Daniel, is this..."
Daniel looked toward them and nodded slowly. He could feel the presence more keenly than the others, particularly Nate, could.
"The Ancients are here," Daniel remarked, the ship shuddering under them from the Goa'uld weapons fire. "And I don't think they're very happy to see Maedhv."
"The Last Woman Standing" - SG1/TGG Multiverse
Moderator: LadyTevar
Re: "The Last Woman Standing" - SG1/TGG Multiverse
”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt
"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia
American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.
DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia
American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.
DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
Re: "The Last Woman Standing" - SG1/TGG Multiverse
This chapter.... is really freakin' big. I wanted to do something good with the Gray Star plot and some exposition was planned for the Prometheus one given plans for some revelations. And, of course, a good biting point to end the chapter on in both plots.
If Marina has her way, the story could be done by sometime next week. Assuming I don't crash and burn first.
Chapter 10
USS Prometheus, In Orbit over Kuahuatl, Goa'uld Territory
Universe Designate SRC-19
Maedhv seemed to writhe and twist for a moment behind the energy shield as the ship continued to be pounded so heavily by the Goa'uld, and then, a wave of cold swept over the bridge, terrible cold. It continued, it spread, and it seemed instantaneously that the temperature was diving well below freezing, and then further, and further. Within the space of five seconds they might as well have been in the Antarctic as all of the ship's systems started to fail, and warning lights were going off about the status of the reactor.
Meanwhile, on the outside of the hull, the shields had collapsed and a salvo of Goa'uld weaponry struck them with terrible force, spinning the hull, lurching from damage as more warning lights appeared on the bridge..... And then the firing ceased, the damage ceased, and with an abrupt snap, like stepping to a blast furnace, the heat rushed back into the bridge, and the systems, except those damaged by the strike, went back to greenlight. But now, instead of a coherent view outside of the bridge there was only a strange, wavering, distorted one, showing the Goa'uld ships firing at them, but the field seemed to stop the shots and do so with barely even a shudder.
The engines fired, and in the chair, which was singed and melted despite being steel, the cushions having been stripped off of it, Maedhv sat, stomach still glowing with some sort of comfortable protection as the rest of her body wavered and folded through reality, face grit in pain. "Those cowardly fucks," she growled.
"Daniel, do you have any idea what's going on?" Jack asked in a highly concerned tone, stepping up beside Daniel where he was standing near Maedhv.
"I'm not entirely sure, Jack," Daniel said. "I..." His head went up as a voice touched his mind, a voice so very familiar. "Kasuf."
At once Daniel was in two places at once. He could see the bridge of the Prometheus, the others gathered around and watching Maedhv and him. At the same moment, however, he was also back on Abydos. The sandy dunes stretched as far as the eye could see with his SG-1 BDUs replaced with the long Abydonian robes that protected people from the whipping sand and wind.
Kasuf - his father-in-law - was standing before him. "Daniel." His voice was insistant, almost desperate in tone. "We will need your help. Please... rejoin us."
"What?" Daniel walked closer to Kasuf, at least in this dream that his mind had been pulled into.
"Rejoin us, Daniel, you must," Kasuf repeated. "We need all of the help we can if we are to stop this cruel monster."
Realization came upon him. "You want me to Ascend again and help you fight Maedhv."
"Yes. Please, Daniel, the others, they are not sure we can do this without more, and no more would come. If you can Ascend and..."
"...and what? Join you in fighting Maedhv? Why did you attack her like that?" Daniel kept his eyes to Kasuf as he walked around before looking off, imagining the others might be able to overhear them. "She wasn't doing anything to attack the other Ancients. There was no reason..."
"We don't have the time for this, good son," Kasuf pleaded. "Maedhv is the most malevolent entity we have ever known. If she is permitted to go free then she will bring untold misery."
"Malevolent?" Daniel blinked. "Yes, she can be violent and she's certainly prideful, but what has she done to..."
He stopped the sentence as he became aware of the surroundings outside of him, punctuated by a cry of pain. Nate fell back from the command chair, nearly hitting Daniel where he stood, his lower arms and hands blistered with severe burns from where he had tried to grip Maedhv. Teal'c came to Nate's support while Jack stared out the window.
The Goa'uld fire had stopped. Outside the Goa'uld ships were drifting powerless, as if every erg of energy had been siphoned away. Beyond them, the distant green orb of the solar system began to dim.
"General O'Neill," Pendergast's voice said over their radios, his tone hinting of part wonder and part fear, "according to our sensors the solar system's star is literally starting to come apart. We can't tell why..."
"Daniel, we're running out of time," Kasuf said, jolting Daniel back to the faux-Abydos in his mind. "Maedhv is drawing power from the very essence of space about her. If she completes this before we can end her then she can destroy us all. You must join us, now. It is our only hope of..."
"Hope of what? Destroying Maedhv? And what about her child?" Daniel swept an arm toward Maedhv, though in the Abydos illusion he seemed to be pointing toward nothing. "Whatever she's done to you, you're talking about killing an innocent being. And why? What has Maedhv done that would cause you to behave like this. You wouldn't fight the Goa'uld, you wouldn't deal with Anubis, why is she so special? Anubis was going to wipe out all life in the galaxy and none of you did anything, you forced Oma to sacrifice herself for the rest of eternity to keep him in check! How does Maedhv warrant an unprovoked attack when Anubis was given free reign to endanger the galaxy?"
"There's no time to explain!"
Daniel's mind took in more information about what was going on around him. Teal'c was applying bandages to Nate's burned hands. The green sun of Kuahuatl was even dimmer, the nuclear processes within slowing as the tremendous energies within were siphoned off. Kuahuatl itself had started to show an effect. The planet's atmosphere was beginning to contract as it was cooled by some unseen force. The same effect was now visible in the corona of the Star; it seemed as though it might be collapsing inward--which could only form a black hole, except there was no energy left. The process must have started six minutes ago or more: right around the time the ship's power failures had begun.
Now the star was dimming with incredible rapidity with each passing second as, even below them, the planet's volatile cloud formations now definitely seemed to slow down. And Maedhv's coherency was starting to return again as she seemed to get a handle on the energy and stabilize it, eyes opening with deathly furious malice. "The next time you enslave someone, don't let them escape," she muttered as though spitting nails. Except her lips hadn't moved at all; the words had been broadcast with such mental clarity through her powers that even the mind-blind in the crew of the Prometheus could clearly hear it.
"Enslave?" Daniel's tone dripped with accusation as he faced Kasuf again. On this facsimilie of a destroyed world the winds were becoming violent, the sands whipped up by the wind biting at their faces. "Kasuf, what is she talking about? What is going on between Maedhv and the Ancients?"
"It was not enslavement," Kasuf insisted. "At least it was not intended to be. She was a threat, Daniel. A malevolent being responsible for death on a scale we cannot comprehend and which the Ancients refused to permit again. She had to be stopped!"
"And now? Is there a reason to stop her from waking up whatever's down there? Is it a threat like Anubis'? The one none of you bothered to stop?!" Daniel looked around angrily, certain he had the attention of the others. "The one you forced Oma to stop at the cost of her own freedom?"
"If Oma were here she would be supporting us, Daniel," Kasuf said, almost apologetic and apparently not envying being put in the position the others had insisted upon him.
"What harm is she doing, Kasuf? Answer me!"
"You don't understand what she is. I barely understood it. But if she's free this entire universe is in danger. You don't know the things she's done, good son, and we've about run out of time to defeat her once and for all. If you don't help us, she's going to destroy us, Daniel."
"Destroy you?" Daniel asked, incredulous. It was stupifying to think of it; destroying an Ascended being?
"They're lying slavers, who are only ascended as the ironic punishment for their efforts to become exactly like me," Maedhv suddenly broke in across the bridge, looking furiously toward Daniel. "Don't make the mistake of trusting them again. If you go to help them, you will only be killing the innocent and aiding these sanctimonious bastards who think that their 'guiding' lesser races can somehow atone for their guilt. Now stand aside, Daniel, and like I promised, everyone will go home breathing." A pause. "Well. They don't breath, anyway."
Daniel looked back at Kasuf. "That's it, isn't it? The Ancients are afraid of Maedhv for whatever it was they did to her in the past. And so you're just lashing out at her without any regard for who might get hurt in the way."
"I'm sorry, good son," Kasuf answered solemnly. "They insisted it was the only way."
"So this is it then? You, the most powerful and most enlightened beings in the universe, are just going to slug it out and it's just too bad for anyone who gets killed because they're in the crossfire? Is that it?!" His voice raised and his patience spent, Daniel barked, "Well, let's do it then! Take me first!"
And on the bridge of the Prometheus, Daniel suddenly lunged toward the intensely-bright Maedhv, prompting Jack to shout "Daniel!" as he watched from the front of the bridge.
The sheer energy coursing through Maedhv's body as she completed the last preparations, transforming the Prometheus into a Ship of Light, preparing a shockwave that would simultaneously rip apart the Ascended in the higher realm and demolish the Goa'uld in realspace, was, though almost fully contained, still like a live wire, a conduit between two dimensions laden with the energy of an entire star. There was a hidden vibration in existence there and from the way it had burned Nate while still newly-formed it seemed sure that Daniel must die.
Maedhv's eyes snapped to the movement, though, with only a moment to spare. There was so much at hand, so much to consider, and Daniel's act, that of a soulless being as she'd claimed, shocked her to the core, evident in her eyes for a fraction of a second. And she acted; she bodily flung herself out of the chair. Daniel flew into it, hard, but untouched by her energy, as a bright blue field engulfed her whole body, protecting her womb and the fragile child in her both from the Ancients and from the tumbling fall. It dissipated as she settled on the floor, her eyes closed, the energy gone, her body solid.
The ship's field abruptly collapsed; the energy surrounding the Prometheus vanished, while the sensors read an abrupt surge of energy in the star, a Nova that would be heading their way soon, though the shields of the ship would protect it; the energy coursing back in had made the newly revivified star 'choke' as the storm-clouds on the surface began chaotic patterns, huge sections of liquified atmosphere falling to the surface before, and the Goa'uld found they could now begin restoring power to their ships. And Maedhv simply laid there.
The steel of the main chair made a hard impact on Daniel's chest and stomach, making him gasp as it knocked the air out of him. He slumped against it, his chest hurt from the collision, but other than that fine.
Forms began to coalesce upon the bridge. All save Nate recognized the forms of Kasuf and Skaara, while a third seemed very familiar as well.
Daniel, noticing none of the others moving toward Maedhv, regained his breath and went over to her. She was unconscious but the faint movement of her chest showed she was at least alive. "She's out," he noted.
Jack took out his radio. "Status on the Goa'uld ships, Pendergast?"
After several moments a reply game. "They seem to be trying to bring their systems back online."
"Fire up the hyperdrive, we need to get out of here."
"Sorry, General, the hyperdrive was damaged in those hits we took while unshielded. Our repair crews figure it'll take at least four hours to bring them back up."
"Dammit," Jack grumbled. "Keep us posted, Pendergast. O'Neill out."
"Well, she's unconscious," Daniel said to the other Ancients, including the lead one who was stepped forward and whom he also recognized. "Now we can talk, Orlin."
Orlin gave a nod in reply. "We... are not quite sure what to think, Daniel. That Maedhv opened herself to attack to save your life does not meet any memories we have of her."
"Why are you so afraid of her, Orlin?", Daniel asked, or rather demanded. "Why did you break that non-interference vow that you kept even regarding Anubis? How can she be that evil?"
"You don't know her like we do, Daniel. You don't know the evil she's capable of." Orlin gestured to her. "She is Maedhv Curoi'larijh, the last Golden Condor. And I know you don't know what that means, not exactly. She is an Asvin, Daniel Jackson. A civilization ruled by beings of the High Caste, more devious, more cruel, than that of the worst of the Goa'uld. And she is the last of their kind."
At that revelation, Jack muttered, "Boy, Daniel, you sure know how to pick them."
Daniel shot an irritated glare at Jack before looking back to Orlin. "She also told me that you are Asvins too, their 'middling castes' I believe it was. And apparently you enslaved her. How much of that was true?"
Orlin looked back at the others. A woman there spoke up, saying, "It is the past, Orlin, do not dignify the monster's ravings with a reply."
"I'm sorry, Ganos," Orlin answered before he looked back to Daniel. And then he gave his answer.
"Yes. It's all true."
And all eyes of the room focused on Orlin.
Gray Star, Alliance Space
Universe Designate AR-12
The first Replicator bugs were smart. They only devoured enough on the pods they'd grown on to make their numbers decent, meaning that on cursory inspection the pods were cleared, the dents from lost material chalked up on the spot to damage from impacting the launch deck. A further examination would have located them through the use of scans, of course, but the flight crew was getting ready re-loading the surviving fighters and fixing what damage they could so that the squadron could, if needed, launch another strike on the Replicator ship.
Soon they would be ready...
"Five minutes to weapons range," Tarak said aloud. "All weapons show full readiness."
"We will use all remaining Mark IVs to penetrate their shields and attempt to reduce their mass sufficiently to prevent them from further shield generation. Afterwards engagement with the main battery should be sufficient." Data looked to Samantha. "Colonel Carter, can you estimate how powerful their shields are based upon their mass?"
"Not very well, the Replicators seem to shift their use of mass to accomodate the situation, from shields to engines and probably back again. We might be able to hit them before they can make the change, but if not..."
"If our firepower is insufficient to break their shields, we will only have one recourse. Mr. Di'not, please calculate proper course for initiating a ramming maneuver."
"Doing so now, Captain," Di'not answered stoically, not showing the slightest reaction to that probability.
"I would hate for it to come to that," Kharaste remarked. "Though we will sell our lives dearly if necessary, suicide is not an acceptable way to come into Valera's Army."
There was a period of silence after that remark. It ended when Tarak confirmed the missiles had been successfully armed. "I have a lock on the target, information transmitted to missile targeting computers. As soon as we enter optimum range..."
Hsiao interrupted with a loud report. "Replicator ship has stopped accelerating! They are beginning to reconfigure!"
Data's response was immediate. "Fire!"
Tarak's fingers pressed down on the firing key. Missiles erupted from their launch cells and accelerated, crossing the distance quickly to the Replicator ship. They caught up to it just as its shields began to come back online and a series of blinding detonations temporarily obscured the view of the Replicator vessel.
The Replicators emerged from the blast area intact, but only just. Their shield generators had not finished converting and were not able to protect the ship from the immense power of the naquadah-boosted anti-matter warheads. What was left of the ship turned away and began to wildly maneuver.
"Their shields seem to be much weaker," Hsiao stated. "Primary weapons will be capable of breaching the shield."
"Mister Di'not, keep pace with the enemy vessel. Mister Torcet, engage with primary weapons." Data's orders were answered by a pair of confirmations.
The battle became a true cat-and-mouse engagement, a delicate dance in the interstellar void. Streaks of orange pulse phaser fire joined the emerald lances of the bow-mounted Minbari neutron cannons that were striking out at the enemy vessel, retorting with its own white beams of energy that played over Gray Star's deflectors with little direct effect. The Replicator ship's maneuverings were wild and desperate, as well as clearly more concerned with survival than getting to ZKH-4983.
And that was what made Sam worried. "Something's not right," she murmured to herself, using her station to bring up the ship's internal sensors.
The concentration of the bridge personnel on the continuing battle left her remarks mostly unheard, save by two. Data and Kharaste had both heard her, and it was the Taloran who asked, "Colonel, what is the matter?"
"Why have they given up?", Sam asked. "They're not even trying to get to ZKH anymore, they're just...." Realization came. "They're stalling. Subcommander Hsiao!"
Hsiao reacted by turning his attention to Sam. "Colonel?"
"Run a detailed analysis of all subspace emissions in our area, I'm going to run the same through the internal sensors..."
Another slight hit struck the Gray Star. Their reduced deflectors finally gave a little despite the relative weakness of the Replicator beam weapon, causing the ship to rumble a bit beneath their feet. Tarak was quick to report on the result. "Shields holding at sixty percent. I have managed several hits, but the slighter mass and the engine size on the Replicator vessel is making this quite a challenge."
"But a fun one," Di'not noted almost cheerfully from the helm, prompting a stern disapproving look from Kharaste. "Hold on, Glinn, I'm going to get you a good shot."
Under Di'not's careful control, the Gray Star did a half spin on its bow-aft axis as the Replicator ship passed "overhead", thus bringing the ship to portside. Tarak let loose with the Gray Stars broadside weapons, in this case short-range anti-ship missiles and 200mm PPACs. The bursts of particle fire slammed into the Replicator ship first before it began to maneuver, the short-range missiles providing hot pursuit.
Tarak's broadside attack imposed evasives upon the Replicator ship, just as Di'not had been hoping and asking for. She undid the spin and allocated power to the Gray Star's maneuvering drive. A sharp turn to starboard permitted Tarak to fire first from the aft torpedo launcher, sending a spread of Mark XIX-G torpedoes at the Replicators. The Replicator ship, already taking damage from the missiles as they made proximity detonations, suddenly had to endure the hits of the torpedoes as well, at least those it didn't manage to shoot down with its solitary beam weapon.
This series of sharp maneuvering had set up Tarak to take good shots with missiles and torpedoes, but the coup d'grace was still to come. Di'not brought the Gray Star about as the Replicator vessel attempted to further reconfigure itself to accomodate the lost mass. It still continued to maneuver but now had less energy and engine capacity to do it with while Di'not was providing Tarak with an excellent angle of attack.
Tarak quickly confirmed his target and fired. The forward firepower of the Gray Star struck hard at the trunucated Replicator cylinder, subjecting the nanites first to the nuclear-disruption of the pulse phasers before the powerful neutron cannons on the prow of the Gray Star sliced into the remnants. They completed the pass with the Replicator ship reduced to barely three percent of its original mass.
"Replicator vessel is allocating all available mass to engines," Hsiao reported.
"They're probably going to try and ram us to get nanites aboard." Sam's attention remained focused upon the internal sensors and the blips of subspace activity she was noticing.... and not liking at all.
"Lieutenant, evasive maneuvers," Kharaste ordered immediately.
The Replicator ship burned all engines at max and maneuvered straight for the Gray Star. Di'not turned the Gray Star away, then quickly shifted the ship upward and rolled, presenting the ship's starboard to the Replicator ship for Tarak to hammer at it with full PPACs. The Replicator ship endured the blows and lost another third of its mass without flinching.
Di'not reacted by turning the Gray Star again... and presenting the bow to the Replicator ship. The Gray Stars engines accelerated and a bewildered Kharaste was prompted to demand, "Lieutenant, what are you..."
Before he finished the sentence Di'not's maneuver had given Tarak all the time he needed. Another furious outburst of pulse phaser and neutron cannon fire slammed into the remnant Replicator ship. It lacked the engine placement or power to dodge the head-on assault and succumbed to the onslaught, losing mass incredibly until a normal Mark XIX torpedo from the bow launcher utterly vaporized the remnant, leaving nothing but fatally damaged and inert bits of nanite mass drifting here and there.
"Replicator vessel destroyed," Tarak reported briskly.
Kharaste leveled a gaze at Di'not, speaking sternly when he remarked, "I suppose we shall overlook the danger you put the ship in given your success, Lieutenant."
"Thank you kindly, Commander Triulajha," was Di'not's answer.
"Don't celebrate yet," Sam remarked, a concerned look on her face. "We've got a problem."
Data turned. "Yes, Colonel?"
"Internal sensors have been picking up slight subspace signals, Captain Data." Sam had her station put the readings up on the main viewer. "They match the subspace bands the Replicator nanites use to communicate with each other. I think we may have some on board, Sir."
Kharaste reacted immediately, using his DNI to put the ship on a full intruder alert. "This is Commander Triulajha to all hands. We have a suspected Replicator infestation on board, initiate Intruder Alert protocol."
The finished bugs had waited patiently, eating out the insides of their pods and the deck beneath them, while the ship had delayed and occupied the ship's crew. They immediately knew when their time had come with the end of contact with the ship.
While some burrowed their way around the launch deck with the intention of ascending the ship from the lower deck, a majority made a direct assault as the launch deck responded to Kharaste's order for intruder alert. They'd been going to arm themselves when the Replicators surged out of cockpit pods and the floor below. The closest crew never had a chance, being overrun within seconds.
The launch deck crew chief gave an immediate order to evacuate the launch deck and raise anti-intruder forcefields behind them so they could vent the deck and hopefully use depressurization to clear the launch deck out. The spidery metallic forms followed them swiftly, being stopped only by the forcefields as those crew who could got to the exit hatches before the fields went up, the rest seeking refuge in fighter cockpits as possible.
The launch bay was violently depressurized, venting the bodies of those killed by the Replicators out into space as well as lighter equipment and materials in the bay. But not the Replicators. They had been ready for that tactic, grounding themselves to the launch bay until the depressurization was complete, when they advanced once more.
They went straight through the forcefields like they weren't there, prompting further retreat from the mostly unarmed launch crew, while above them those Replicators that had not revealed themselves began to crawl through conduit accessways, ventilation ducts, and corridors to get to the rest of the ship.
The Gray Star had defeated the Replicator ship, but the Replicators themselves weren't giving up the fight.
USS Prometheus, In Orbit over Kuahuatl, Goa'uld Territory
Universe Designate SRC-19
"Orlin, an explaination please," Daniel said, breaking the silence that had settled over the bridge. He still stood beside where Maedhv was lying and directed his attention at the Ancients assembled on Prometheus' bridge. "This... doesn't make much sense to me. Everything Maedhv's said about the Asvin doesn't fit..."
"You have to understand that for many of us, this is an ancient history that few had direct part in," Orlin said. "We were not immortal. But yes, we are the descendants of the Asvin, or rather their so-called 'middle castes'. Our ancestors had no rights in the Asvin society, only our freedom to seperate us from slaves."
"I sense Maedhv has told you much, if from her own perspective. I will tell you, briefly, how such things happened from our point of view. The Humanity of the Two Empires was so cruel, so vicious, yet so powerful, that they earned the wrath of higher races. These higher races feared the Asvin and Sarasavsati for their potential, for the Two Empires had developed the Devastraas. Beings who existed as both Ascended and Mortal and who proved nearly impossible to actually destroy. The Asvin called their Devastraas 'Golden Condors'."
"So Maedhv is one of these.... 'Devistraas'," Jack said.
"Devastraa, Jack," Daniel corrected.
"Whatever. Can you tell me just what that means? 'Ascended and Mortal'?"
"It is more than that," the Ancient female called Ganos said, breaking her silence despite her irritation. "A Devastraa exists on the higher planes and in the lower. Nanite devices present in her body enable the near instantaneous healing of any injury while access to the higher planes permits a Devastraa to draw power from surrounding space, as you saw Maedhv doing with that star. To destroy a Devastraa requires the annihilation of her presence in both planes. Even the slightest remnant will regrow completely. That is what we were trying to do."
"That's all well and good, but Maedhv's already told me about this whole thing with Vorlons and Q and Shadows attacking the Empires, so can we move on? I don't think Maedhv will be very happy to see you all still here when she wakes up."
"She is already awake, Daniel," Orlin said calmly. "But the efforts she took to save you have left her too weak to move."
To that, Daniel's only reply was a simple, "Oh."
"The higher races, the First Ones, destroyed the Two Empires through subterfuge, manipulation, and outright attack. Finally they sought to finish the job by attacking Earth directly, where they were confronted with the last of the Devastraas, including Maedhv. But it was the Devastraa of the Sarasavsati, a non-human named Nirrti, who stopped them. They called out to her as a non-human to stand with them in the extermination of what was left of Earth."
"I think I know where this is going," Daniel said. "She refused."
"Yes, for reasons we never knew," Orlin answered. "But whatever her refusal, it seemed to have convinced some of the Old Ones. A small part of humanity was allowed to escape to other universes; the Sarasavsati under Nirrti, the Asvins, some under one known as Kshartia, some under Maedhv. She founded a civilization with them which grew to be great and prosperous again. So great that its home was said by our ancestors, who remembered it only distantly from their ancestors in turn, to be an artificial sphere engulfing an entire star. But Maedhv had permitted the Asvin practice of slavery to continue; the slaves revolted and destroyed this civilization in turn. They killed all of the High Caste except, of course, Maedhv. Maedhv, in her desperation to lead those still loyal to her to safety, led her fleet to blindly jump. They ended up back in time and in a different galaxy, over a world Maedhv named Alteras."
"Maedhv, in her arrogance, announced herself as High Queen again, but this time decided that slavery could not be permitted and banned the creation of geneforms." Orlin looked down at her. "Maybe it was the influence of her remaining loyal slave and lover or a desire to not go through another revolt. Whatever the reason, many among the Alterans were dissatisfied with her. By eliminating slaves she effectively made them into the lowest class of society and forced them to perform routine labor. She also continued to rule much as she ever had, capriciously and at whim."
"There were those of our ancestors who initially supported her. They were philosophers and scientists who rose up from the middling castes and sought to change how Asvin society was run. They were the first to stop using the 'Asvin' name, opting for Alteran. They were, you might say, the progenitors of our ways, looking to rediscover lost ways and expand our knowledge of the universe through the application of scientific methods, of reason, and an end to the ideas of conquest and control. And Maedhv initially supported them." Orlin frowned down at Maedhv. "That is, until they sought the way to make Devastraa."
"Why would these Alterans desire to make more like Maedhv?" Teal'c frowned at them. "Making such beings does not seem in line with peaceful science."
"Because of the peaceful potentials of their powers," Daniel reasoned. "It's like Ascension, but it permits the being to remain grounded in reality. You'd be effectively immortal and Ascended while still fully flesh-and-blood."
"That was just the start," Orlin said. "We sought a way to use the process for allowing ourselves to become one with creation, to understand the Multiverse as it was, without becoming living weapons. But the others were not interested in that aspect, simply the power. Not that it mattered, because Maedhv strictly forbade it."
Jack chimed in then. "And I bet that didn't make your people too happy, did it?"
"Oh, we complained. We insisted we wanted to improve the process, to make it where someone could access the higher planes of existance but without being capable of destruction in the ways of the Devastraa. But she was unyielding."
"Orlin, we need not tell them everything, the fact is that Maedhv is too powerful for any of us to be safe while she exists," Ganos protested. "For their own good they need to get as far away from her as soon as possible."
"Ganos, please." Orlin turned back to the dark-haired female Ancient. "They deserve to know."
"The prana-bindhu bindings," Daniel said.
"She told you about them?"
"Fail safe codes that the Asvin installed in her to control her," Daniel said, mostly for the benefit of the others. "You helped the other Alterans, the ones who wouldn't reform, find them."
"We didn't want to. Our immediate ancestors just wanted to perform their experiments and tests in peace. But when Maedhv found out they were accessing the ancient databases for information on the process of making Devastraa she became enraged and began imprisoning us, even killing a few of our leaders as warnings to the rest. We became frightened, and the others took advantage of that. They convinced us to find the bindings and to provide them with the knowledge of using them. And like fools we did."
"The others enslaved Maedhv and a new government was established for Alteras. We were scientists, philosophers. We knew nothing of ruling, so we let those who knew how to run things do so. We concentrated on our research and examined every aspect of Maedhv's being in an attempt to copy the process. But over the centuries and then millennia, we kept failing. Meanwhile the others became more distant. While we maintained the path of free will and scientific reason, they became devoted to themselves. The basic human forms we'd seeded on nearby worlds to expand our civilization were regarded much as slaves had once been. As fodder to provide us with labor and to worship us as the bringers of enlightenment and life. Finally it got to the point that we left Alteras and returned to this galaxy. And the rest, I believe you know."
"Not entirely. Though I do know Maedhv escaped from the remaining Alterans," Daniel said. "And she claims responsibility for the plague that wiped out your civilization here in the Milky Way."
"Yes, that was her vengeance upon us," Ganos said bitterly. "And it was not enough. She pursued us further."
"You mean to Pegasus?", asked Jack.
"Yes." Ganos' expression turned dark. "She may pretend to be kinder now, but you have no idea of the widespread death she caused there."
"What do you mean?"
"Daniel Jackson..." Ganos looked plainly at him. "Do your people really believe that a parasitic bug could have evolved into a sentient species simply by feeding on Humans? Don't you think they needed a little help?"
Daniel didn't have an immediate answer to that, but Jack did. "Wait, wait wait. Are you saying that Her Mightyness here created the Wraith?"
"Yes, I did," came an abrupt and slightly monotone, exhausted voice from the far side of the bridge. "They're my children, more or less, created out of my own DNA mixed with that of the Iratus Bug; thus why they are effectively immortal. But in the end, they stopped listening to me, and rather than start yet another slave empire, I let them go their own way, and came back here to hibernate until Alarita awoke."
"You just left them to feed on the humans of that galaxy!", Jack barked.
"And now you know the depths of the hideous monster you've taken into your midst," Ganos Lol remarked sullenly. She looked to Daniel. "Do you see now, Daniel, why we wanted you to rejoin us and help us destroy her?"
"I think so," Daniel sighed. "But what about her daughter? Were you going to let her die too?"
"You could have saved the daughter," Ganos insisted.
"Could, maybe. On a ship surrounded by Goa'uld looking to kill us and with medical facilities not really meant for dealing with premature babies," Daniel shot back.
"No, you couldn't have. First of all, if there's even one single cell of my body left or nanite from it, I'll regenerate." Maedhv slowly pushed herself up into a sitting position, slightly dazed. "Second--the reason I've not been moving is because every bit of energy I've been draining has been going into protective shields while I start to recover. I wasn't defenceless. Oh, and while we're at it, Ganos," she laughed softly, at that point, hands still bracing on the floor, though.
"The reason I forbade your ancestors from creating more like me is because I had made an agreement with Nirrti to never create more than one additional Golden Condor, and she, to never create more than one Devaastra. Your ancestors wanted me to break my word because they insisted she'd understand the difference, and anyway, who had seen her in thousands of years? But that one agreement is the only thing which has kept my kind from proliferating again. Now, you either help them, or get out of the way and let me do it, because trouble is coming down on their heads."
Jack was mouthing the word "trouble" sarcastically toward Teal'c, imaging how much trouble they were already going through, when Pendergast's voice came back over his radio. "General, sensors have picked up Goa'uld ships on approach. They look like they're hooking up with the remaining ships out there, over twenty motherships in all."
"Oh swell," Jack muttered.
"Getting a communication. We're patching it through to the ship intercom, we've gotten it partially functioning up there for you."
After a few moments, a familar voice came over the radio. "Hello, Tau'ri," they could hear Ba'al say. "Or the being called Maedhv. Whoever is in control of the Tau'ri vessel, you have one minute to surrender or you will be destroyed."
If Marina has her way, the story could be done by sometime next week. Assuming I don't crash and burn first.
Chapter 10
USS Prometheus, In Orbit over Kuahuatl, Goa'uld Territory
Universe Designate SRC-19
Maedhv seemed to writhe and twist for a moment behind the energy shield as the ship continued to be pounded so heavily by the Goa'uld, and then, a wave of cold swept over the bridge, terrible cold. It continued, it spread, and it seemed instantaneously that the temperature was diving well below freezing, and then further, and further. Within the space of five seconds they might as well have been in the Antarctic as all of the ship's systems started to fail, and warning lights were going off about the status of the reactor.
Meanwhile, on the outside of the hull, the shields had collapsed and a salvo of Goa'uld weaponry struck them with terrible force, spinning the hull, lurching from damage as more warning lights appeared on the bridge..... And then the firing ceased, the damage ceased, and with an abrupt snap, like stepping to a blast furnace, the heat rushed back into the bridge, and the systems, except those damaged by the strike, went back to greenlight. But now, instead of a coherent view outside of the bridge there was only a strange, wavering, distorted one, showing the Goa'uld ships firing at them, but the field seemed to stop the shots and do so with barely even a shudder.
The engines fired, and in the chair, which was singed and melted despite being steel, the cushions having been stripped off of it, Maedhv sat, stomach still glowing with some sort of comfortable protection as the rest of her body wavered and folded through reality, face grit in pain. "Those cowardly fucks," she growled.
"Daniel, do you have any idea what's going on?" Jack asked in a highly concerned tone, stepping up beside Daniel where he was standing near Maedhv.
"I'm not entirely sure, Jack," Daniel said. "I..." His head went up as a voice touched his mind, a voice so very familiar. "Kasuf."
At once Daniel was in two places at once. He could see the bridge of the Prometheus, the others gathered around and watching Maedhv and him. At the same moment, however, he was also back on Abydos. The sandy dunes stretched as far as the eye could see with his SG-1 BDUs replaced with the long Abydonian robes that protected people from the whipping sand and wind.
Kasuf - his father-in-law - was standing before him. "Daniel." His voice was insistant, almost desperate in tone. "We will need your help. Please... rejoin us."
"What?" Daniel walked closer to Kasuf, at least in this dream that his mind had been pulled into.
"Rejoin us, Daniel, you must," Kasuf repeated. "We need all of the help we can if we are to stop this cruel monster."
Realization came upon him. "You want me to Ascend again and help you fight Maedhv."
"Yes. Please, Daniel, the others, they are not sure we can do this without more, and no more would come. If you can Ascend and..."
"...and what? Join you in fighting Maedhv? Why did you attack her like that?" Daniel kept his eyes to Kasuf as he walked around before looking off, imagining the others might be able to overhear them. "She wasn't doing anything to attack the other Ancients. There was no reason..."
"We don't have the time for this, good son," Kasuf pleaded. "Maedhv is the most malevolent entity we have ever known. If she is permitted to go free then she will bring untold misery."
"Malevolent?" Daniel blinked. "Yes, she can be violent and she's certainly prideful, but what has she done to..."
He stopped the sentence as he became aware of the surroundings outside of him, punctuated by a cry of pain. Nate fell back from the command chair, nearly hitting Daniel where he stood, his lower arms and hands blistered with severe burns from where he had tried to grip Maedhv. Teal'c came to Nate's support while Jack stared out the window.
The Goa'uld fire had stopped. Outside the Goa'uld ships were drifting powerless, as if every erg of energy had been siphoned away. Beyond them, the distant green orb of the solar system began to dim.
"General O'Neill," Pendergast's voice said over their radios, his tone hinting of part wonder and part fear, "according to our sensors the solar system's star is literally starting to come apart. We can't tell why..."
"Daniel, we're running out of time," Kasuf said, jolting Daniel back to the faux-Abydos in his mind. "Maedhv is drawing power from the very essence of space about her. If she completes this before we can end her then she can destroy us all. You must join us, now. It is our only hope of..."
"Hope of what? Destroying Maedhv? And what about her child?" Daniel swept an arm toward Maedhv, though in the Abydos illusion he seemed to be pointing toward nothing. "Whatever she's done to you, you're talking about killing an innocent being. And why? What has Maedhv done that would cause you to behave like this. You wouldn't fight the Goa'uld, you wouldn't deal with Anubis, why is she so special? Anubis was going to wipe out all life in the galaxy and none of you did anything, you forced Oma to sacrifice herself for the rest of eternity to keep him in check! How does Maedhv warrant an unprovoked attack when Anubis was given free reign to endanger the galaxy?"
"There's no time to explain!"
Daniel's mind took in more information about what was going on around him. Teal'c was applying bandages to Nate's burned hands. The green sun of Kuahuatl was even dimmer, the nuclear processes within slowing as the tremendous energies within were siphoned off. Kuahuatl itself had started to show an effect. The planet's atmosphere was beginning to contract as it was cooled by some unseen force. The same effect was now visible in the corona of the Star; it seemed as though it might be collapsing inward--which could only form a black hole, except there was no energy left. The process must have started six minutes ago or more: right around the time the ship's power failures had begun.
Now the star was dimming with incredible rapidity with each passing second as, even below them, the planet's volatile cloud formations now definitely seemed to slow down. And Maedhv's coherency was starting to return again as she seemed to get a handle on the energy and stabilize it, eyes opening with deathly furious malice. "The next time you enslave someone, don't let them escape," she muttered as though spitting nails. Except her lips hadn't moved at all; the words had been broadcast with such mental clarity through her powers that even the mind-blind in the crew of the Prometheus could clearly hear it.
"Enslave?" Daniel's tone dripped with accusation as he faced Kasuf again. On this facsimilie of a destroyed world the winds were becoming violent, the sands whipped up by the wind biting at their faces. "Kasuf, what is she talking about? What is going on between Maedhv and the Ancients?"
"It was not enslavement," Kasuf insisted. "At least it was not intended to be. She was a threat, Daniel. A malevolent being responsible for death on a scale we cannot comprehend and which the Ancients refused to permit again. She had to be stopped!"
"And now? Is there a reason to stop her from waking up whatever's down there? Is it a threat like Anubis'? The one none of you bothered to stop?!" Daniel looked around angrily, certain he had the attention of the others. "The one you forced Oma to stop at the cost of her own freedom?"
"If Oma were here she would be supporting us, Daniel," Kasuf said, almost apologetic and apparently not envying being put in the position the others had insisted upon him.
"What harm is she doing, Kasuf? Answer me!"
"You don't understand what she is. I barely understood it. But if she's free this entire universe is in danger. You don't know the things she's done, good son, and we've about run out of time to defeat her once and for all. If you don't help us, she's going to destroy us, Daniel."
"Destroy you?" Daniel asked, incredulous. It was stupifying to think of it; destroying an Ascended being?
"They're lying slavers, who are only ascended as the ironic punishment for their efforts to become exactly like me," Maedhv suddenly broke in across the bridge, looking furiously toward Daniel. "Don't make the mistake of trusting them again. If you go to help them, you will only be killing the innocent and aiding these sanctimonious bastards who think that their 'guiding' lesser races can somehow atone for their guilt. Now stand aside, Daniel, and like I promised, everyone will go home breathing." A pause. "Well. They don't breath, anyway."
Daniel looked back at Kasuf. "That's it, isn't it? The Ancients are afraid of Maedhv for whatever it was they did to her in the past. And so you're just lashing out at her without any regard for who might get hurt in the way."
"I'm sorry, good son," Kasuf answered solemnly. "They insisted it was the only way."
"So this is it then? You, the most powerful and most enlightened beings in the universe, are just going to slug it out and it's just too bad for anyone who gets killed because they're in the crossfire? Is that it?!" His voice raised and his patience spent, Daniel barked, "Well, let's do it then! Take me first!"
And on the bridge of the Prometheus, Daniel suddenly lunged toward the intensely-bright Maedhv, prompting Jack to shout "Daniel!" as he watched from the front of the bridge.
The sheer energy coursing through Maedhv's body as she completed the last preparations, transforming the Prometheus into a Ship of Light, preparing a shockwave that would simultaneously rip apart the Ascended in the higher realm and demolish the Goa'uld in realspace, was, though almost fully contained, still like a live wire, a conduit between two dimensions laden with the energy of an entire star. There was a hidden vibration in existence there and from the way it had burned Nate while still newly-formed it seemed sure that Daniel must die.
Maedhv's eyes snapped to the movement, though, with only a moment to spare. There was so much at hand, so much to consider, and Daniel's act, that of a soulless being as she'd claimed, shocked her to the core, evident in her eyes for a fraction of a second. And she acted; she bodily flung herself out of the chair. Daniel flew into it, hard, but untouched by her energy, as a bright blue field engulfed her whole body, protecting her womb and the fragile child in her both from the Ancients and from the tumbling fall. It dissipated as she settled on the floor, her eyes closed, the energy gone, her body solid.
The ship's field abruptly collapsed; the energy surrounding the Prometheus vanished, while the sensors read an abrupt surge of energy in the star, a Nova that would be heading their way soon, though the shields of the ship would protect it; the energy coursing back in had made the newly revivified star 'choke' as the storm-clouds on the surface began chaotic patterns, huge sections of liquified atmosphere falling to the surface before, and the Goa'uld found they could now begin restoring power to their ships. And Maedhv simply laid there.
The steel of the main chair made a hard impact on Daniel's chest and stomach, making him gasp as it knocked the air out of him. He slumped against it, his chest hurt from the collision, but other than that fine.
Forms began to coalesce upon the bridge. All save Nate recognized the forms of Kasuf and Skaara, while a third seemed very familiar as well.
Daniel, noticing none of the others moving toward Maedhv, regained his breath and went over to her. She was unconscious but the faint movement of her chest showed she was at least alive. "She's out," he noted.
Jack took out his radio. "Status on the Goa'uld ships, Pendergast?"
After several moments a reply game. "They seem to be trying to bring their systems back online."
"Fire up the hyperdrive, we need to get out of here."
"Sorry, General, the hyperdrive was damaged in those hits we took while unshielded. Our repair crews figure it'll take at least four hours to bring them back up."
"Dammit," Jack grumbled. "Keep us posted, Pendergast. O'Neill out."
"Well, she's unconscious," Daniel said to the other Ancients, including the lead one who was stepped forward and whom he also recognized. "Now we can talk, Orlin."
Orlin gave a nod in reply. "We... are not quite sure what to think, Daniel. That Maedhv opened herself to attack to save your life does not meet any memories we have of her."
"Why are you so afraid of her, Orlin?", Daniel asked, or rather demanded. "Why did you break that non-interference vow that you kept even regarding Anubis? How can she be that evil?"
"You don't know her like we do, Daniel. You don't know the evil she's capable of." Orlin gestured to her. "She is Maedhv Curoi'larijh, the last Golden Condor. And I know you don't know what that means, not exactly. She is an Asvin, Daniel Jackson. A civilization ruled by beings of the High Caste, more devious, more cruel, than that of the worst of the Goa'uld. And she is the last of their kind."
At that revelation, Jack muttered, "Boy, Daniel, you sure know how to pick them."
Daniel shot an irritated glare at Jack before looking back to Orlin. "She also told me that you are Asvins too, their 'middling castes' I believe it was. And apparently you enslaved her. How much of that was true?"
Orlin looked back at the others. A woman there spoke up, saying, "It is the past, Orlin, do not dignify the monster's ravings with a reply."
"I'm sorry, Ganos," Orlin answered before he looked back to Daniel. And then he gave his answer.
"Yes. It's all true."
And all eyes of the room focused on Orlin.
Gray Star, Alliance Space
Universe Designate AR-12
The first Replicator bugs were smart. They only devoured enough on the pods they'd grown on to make their numbers decent, meaning that on cursory inspection the pods were cleared, the dents from lost material chalked up on the spot to damage from impacting the launch deck. A further examination would have located them through the use of scans, of course, but the flight crew was getting ready re-loading the surviving fighters and fixing what damage they could so that the squadron could, if needed, launch another strike on the Replicator ship.
Soon they would be ready...
"Five minutes to weapons range," Tarak said aloud. "All weapons show full readiness."
"We will use all remaining Mark IVs to penetrate their shields and attempt to reduce their mass sufficiently to prevent them from further shield generation. Afterwards engagement with the main battery should be sufficient." Data looked to Samantha. "Colonel Carter, can you estimate how powerful their shields are based upon their mass?"
"Not very well, the Replicators seem to shift their use of mass to accomodate the situation, from shields to engines and probably back again. We might be able to hit them before they can make the change, but if not..."
"If our firepower is insufficient to break their shields, we will only have one recourse. Mr. Di'not, please calculate proper course for initiating a ramming maneuver."
"Doing so now, Captain," Di'not answered stoically, not showing the slightest reaction to that probability.
"I would hate for it to come to that," Kharaste remarked. "Though we will sell our lives dearly if necessary, suicide is not an acceptable way to come into Valera's Army."
There was a period of silence after that remark. It ended when Tarak confirmed the missiles had been successfully armed. "I have a lock on the target, information transmitted to missile targeting computers. As soon as we enter optimum range..."
Hsiao interrupted with a loud report. "Replicator ship has stopped accelerating! They are beginning to reconfigure!"
Data's response was immediate. "Fire!"
Tarak's fingers pressed down on the firing key. Missiles erupted from their launch cells and accelerated, crossing the distance quickly to the Replicator ship. They caught up to it just as its shields began to come back online and a series of blinding detonations temporarily obscured the view of the Replicator vessel.
The Replicators emerged from the blast area intact, but only just. Their shield generators had not finished converting and were not able to protect the ship from the immense power of the naquadah-boosted anti-matter warheads. What was left of the ship turned away and began to wildly maneuver.
"Their shields seem to be much weaker," Hsiao stated. "Primary weapons will be capable of breaching the shield."
"Mister Di'not, keep pace with the enemy vessel. Mister Torcet, engage with primary weapons." Data's orders were answered by a pair of confirmations.
The battle became a true cat-and-mouse engagement, a delicate dance in the interstellar void. Streaks of orange pulse phaser fire joined the emerald lances of the bow-mounted Minbari neutron cannons that were striking out at the enemy vessel, retorting with its own white beams of energy that played over Gray Star's deflectors with little direct effect. The Replicator ship's maneuverings were wild and desperate, as well as clearly more concerned with survival than getting to ZKH-4983.
And that was what made Sam worried. "Something's not right," she murmured to herself, using her station to bring up the ship's internal sensors.
The concentration of the bridge personnel on the continuing battle left her remarks mostly unheard, save by two. Data and Kharaste had both heard her, and it was the Taloran who asked, "Colonel, what is the matter?"
"Why have they given up?", Sam asked. "They're not even trying to get to ZKH anymore, they're just...." Realization came. "They're stalling. Subcommander Hsiao!"
Hsiao reacted by turning his attention to Sam. "Colonel?"
"Run a detailed analysis of all subspace emissions in our area, I'm going to run the same through the internal sensors..."
Another slight hit struck the Gray Star. Their reduced deflectors finally gave a little despite the relative weakness of the Replicator beam weapon, causing the ship to rumble a bit beneath their feet. Tarak was quick to report on the result. "Shields holding at sixty percent. I have managed several hits, but the slighter mass and the engine size on the Replicator vessel is making this quite a challenge."
"But a fun one," Di'not noted almost cheerfully from the helm, prompting a stern disapproving look from Kharaste. "Hold on, Glinn, I'm going to get you a good shot."
Under Di'not's careful control, the Gray Star did a half spin on its bow-aft axis as the Replicator ship passed "overhead", thus bringing the ship to portside. Tarak let loose with the Gray Stars broadside weapons, in this case short-range anti-ship missiles and 200mm PPACs. The bursts of particle fire slammed into the Replicator ship first before it began to maneuver, the short-range missiles providing hot pursuit.
Tarak's broadside attack imposed evasives upon the Replicator ship, just as Di'not had been hoping and asking for. She undid the spin and allocated power to the Gray Star's maneuvering drive. A sharp turn to starboard permitted Tarak to fire first from the aft torpedo launcher, sending a spread of Mark XIX-G torpedoes at the Replicators. The Replicator ship, already taking damage from the missiles as they made proximity detonations, suddenly had to endure the hits of the torpedoes as well, at least those it didn't manage to shoot down with its solitary beam weapon.
This series of sharp maneuvering had set up Tarak to take good shots with missiles and torpedoes, but the coup d'grace was still to come. Di'not brought the Gray Star about as the Replicator vessel attempted to further reconfigure itself to accomodate the lost mass. It still continued to maneuver but now had less energy and engine capacity to do it with while Di'not was providing Tarak with an excellent angle of attack.
Tarak quickly confirmed his target and fired. The forward firepower of the Gray Star struck hard at the trunucated Replicator cylinder, subjecting the nanites first to the nuclear-disruption of the pulse phasers before the powerful neutron cannons on the prow of the Gray Star sliced into the remnants. They completed the pass with the Replicator ship reduced to barely three percent of its original mass.
"Replicator vessel is allocating all available mass to engines," Hsiao reported.
"They're probably going to try and ram us to get nanites aboard." Sam's attention remained focused upon the internal sensors and the blips of subspace activity she was noticing.... and not liking at all.
"Lieutenant, evasive maneuvers," Kharaste ordered immediately.
The Replicator ship burned all engines at max and maneuvered straight for the Gray Star. Di'not turned the Gray Star away, then quickly shifted the ship upward and rolled, presenting the ship's starboard to the Replicator ship for Tarak to hammer at it with full PPACs. The Replicator ship endured the blows and lost another third of its mass without flinching.
Di'not reacted by turning the Gray Star again... and presenting the bow to the Replicator ship. The Gray Stars engines accelerated and a bewildered Kharaste was prompted to demand, "Lieutenant, what are you..."
Before he finished the sentence Di'not's maneuver had given Tarak all the time he needed. Another furious outburst of pulse phaser and neutron cannon fire slammed into the remnant Replicator ship. It lacked the engine placement or power to dodge the head-on assault and succumbed to the onslaught, losing mass incredibly until a normal Mark XIX torpedo from the bow launcher utterly vaporized the remnant, leaving nothing but fatally damaged and inert bits of nanite mass drifting here and there.
"Replicator vessel destroyed," Tarak reported briskly.
Kharaste leveled a gaze at Di'not, speaking sternly when he remarked, "I suppose we shall overlook the danger you put the ship in given your success, Lieutenant."
"Thank you kindly, Commander Triulajha," was Di'not's answer.
"Don't celebrate yet," Sam remarked, a concerned look on her face. "We've got a problem."
Data turned. "Yes, Colonel?"
"Internal sensors have been picking up slight subspace signals, Captain Data." Sam had her station put the readings up on the main viewer. "They match the subspace bands the Replicator nanites use to communicate with each other. I think we may have some on board, Sir."
Kharaste reacted immediately, using his DNI to put the ship on a full intruder alert. "This is Commander Triulajha to all hands. We have a suspected Replicator infestation on board, initiate Intruder Alert protocol."
The finished bugs had waited patiently, eating out the insides of their pods and the deck beneath them, while the ship had delayed and occupied the ship's crew. They immediately knew when their time had come with the end of contact with the ship.
While some burrowed their way around the launch deck with the intention of ascending the ship from the lower deck, a majority made a direct assault as the launch deck responded to Kharaste's order for intruder alert. They'd been going to arm themselves when the Replicators surged out of cockpit pods and the floor below. The closest crew never had a chance, being overrun within seconds.
The launch deck crew chief gave an immediate order to evacuate the launch deck and raise anti-intruder forcefields behind them so they could vent the deck and hopefully use depressurization to clear the launch deck out. The spidery metallic forms followed them swiftly, being stopped only by the forcefields as those crew who could got to the exit hatches before the fields went up, the rest seeking refuge in fighter cockpits as possible.
The launch bay was violently depressurized, venting the bodies of those killed by the Replicators out into space as well as lighter equipment and materials in the bay. But not the Replicators. They had been ready for that tactic, grounding themselves to the launch bay until the depressurization was complete, when they advanced once more.
They went straight through the forcefields like they weren't there, prompting further retreat from the mostly unarmed launch crew, while above them those Replicators that had not revealed themselves began to crawl through conduit accessways, ventilation ducts, and corridors to get to the rest of the ship.
The Gray Star had defeated the Replicator ship, but the Replicators themselves weren't giving up the fight.
USS Prometheus, In Orbit over Kuahuatl, Goa'uld Territory
Universe Designate SRC-19
"Orlin, an explaination please," Daniel said, breaking the silence that had settled over the bridge. He still stood beside where Maedhv was lying and directed his attention at the Ancients assembled on Prometheus' bridge. "This... doesn't make much sense to me. Everything Maedhv's said about the Asvin doesn't fit..."
"You have to understand that for many of us, this is an ancient history that few had direct part in," Orlin said. "We were not immortal. But yes, we are the descendants of the Asvin, or rather their so-called 'middle castes'. Our ancestors had no rights in the Asvin society, only our freedom to seperate us from slaves."
"I sense Maedhv has told you much, if from her own perspective. I will tell you, briefly, how such things happened from our point of view. The Humanity of the Two Empires was so cruel, so vicious, yet so powerful, that they earned the wrath of higher races. These higher races feared the Asvin and Sarasavsati for their potential, for the Two Empires had developed the Devastraas. Beings who existed as both Ascended and Mortal and who proved nearly impossible to actually destroy. The Asvin called their Devastraas 'Golden Condors'."
"So Maedhv is one of these.... 'Devistraas'," Jack said.
"Devastraa, Jack," Daniel corrected.
"Whatever. Can you tell me just what that means? 'Ascended and Mortal'?"
"It is more than that," the Ancient female called Ganos said, breaking her silence despite her irritation. "A Devastraa exists on the higher planes and in the lower. Nanite devices present in her body enable the near instantaneous healing of any injury while access to the higher planes permits a Devastraa to draw power from surrounding space, as you saw Maedhv doing with that star. To destroy a Devastraa requires the annihilation of her presence in both planes. Even the slightest remnant will regrow completely. That is what we were trying to do."
"That's all well and good, but Maedhv's already told me about this whole thing with Vorlons and Q and Shadows attacking the Empires, so can we move on? I don't think Maedhv will be very happy to see you all still here when she wakes up."
"She is already awake, Daniel," Orlin said calmly. "But the efforts she took to save you have left her too weak to move."
To that, Daniel's only reply was a simple, "Oh."
"The higher races, the First Ones, destroyed the Two Empires through subterfuge, manipulation, and outright attack. Finally they sought to finish the job by attacking Earth directly, where they were confronted with the last of the Devastraas, including Maedhv. But it was the Devastraa of the Sarasavsati, a non-human named Nirrti, who stopped them. They called out to her as a non-human to stand with them in the extermination of what was left of Earth."
"I think I know where this is going," Daniel said. "She refused."
"Yes, for reasons we never knew," Orlin answered. "But whatever her refusal, it seemed to have convinced some of the Old Ones. A small part of humanity was allowed to escape to other universes; the Sarasavsati under Nirrti, the Asvins, some under one known as Kshartia, some under Maedhv. She founded a civilization with them which grew to be great and prosperous again. So great that its home was said by our ancestors, who remembered it only distantly from their ancestors in turn, to be an artificial sphere engulfing an entire star. But Maedhv had permitted the Asvin practice of slavery to continue; the slaves revolted and destroyed this civilization in turn. They killed all of the High Caste except, of course, Maedhv. Maedhv, in her desperation to lead those still loyal to her to safety, led her fleet to blindly jump. They ended up back in time and in a different galaxy, over a world Maedhv named Alteras."
"Maedhv, in her arrogance, announced herself as High Queen again, but this time decided that slavery could not be permitted and banned the creation of geneforms." Orlin looked down at her. "Maybe it was the influence of her remaining loyal slave and lover or a desire to not go through another revolt. Whatever the reason, many among the Alterans were dissatisfied with her. By eliminating slaves she effectively made them into the lowest class of society and forced them to perform routine labor. She also continued to rule much as she ever had, capriciously and at whim."
"There were those of our ancestors who initially supported her. They were philosophers and scientists who rose up from the middling castes and sought to change how Asvin society was run. They were the first to stop using the 'Asvin' name, opting for Alteran. They were, you might say, the progenitors of our ways, looking to rediscover lost ways and expand our knowledge of the universe through the application of scientific methods, of reason, and an end to the ideas of conquest and control. And Maedhv initially supported them." Orlin frowned down at Maedhv. "That is, until they sought the way to make Devastraa."
"Why would these Alterans desire to make more like Maedhv?" Teal'c frowned at them. "Making such beings does not seem in line with peaceful science."
"Because of the peaceful potentials of their powers," Daniel reasoned. "It's like Ascension, but it permits the being to remain grounded in reality. You'd be effectively immortal and Ascended while still fully flesh-and-blood."
"That was just the start," Orlin said. "We sought a way to use the process for allowing ourselves to become one with creation, to understand the Multiverse as it was, without becoming living weapons. But the others were not interested in that aspect, simply the power. Not that it mattered, because Maedhv strictly forbade it."
Jack chimed in then. "And I bet that didn't make your people too happy, did it?"
"Oh, we complained. We insisted we wanted to improve the process, to make it where someone could access the higher planes of existance but without being capable of destruction in the ways of the Devastraa. But she was unyielding."
"Orlin, we need not tell them everything, the fact is that Maedhv is too powerful for any of us to be safe while she exists," Ganos protested. "For their own good they need to get as far away from her as soon as possible."
"Ganos, please." Orlin turned back to the dark-haired female Ancient. "They deserve to know."
"The prana-bindhu bindings," Daniel said.
"She told you about them?"
"Fail safe codes that the Asvin installed in her to control her," Daniel said, mostly for the benefit of the others. "You helped the other Alterans, the ones who wouldn't reform, find them."
"We didn't want to. Our immediate ancestors just wanted to perform their experiments and tests in peace. But when Maedhv found out they were accessing the ancient databases for information on the process of making Devastraa she became enraged and began imprisoning us, even killing a few of our leaders as warnings to the rest. We became frightened, and the others took advantage of that. They convinced us to find the bindings and to provide them with the knowledge of using them. And like fools we did."
"The others enslaved Maedhv and a new government was established for Alteras. We were scientists, philosophers. We knew nothing of ruling, so we let those who knew how to run things do so. We concentrated on our research and examined every aspect of Maedhv's being in an attempt to copy the process. But over the centuries and then millennia, we kept failing. Meanwhile the others became more distant. While we maintained the path of free will and scientific reason, they became devoted to themselves. The basic human forms we'd seeded on nearby worlds to expand our civilization were regarded much as slaves had once been. As fodder to provide us with labor and to worship us as the bringers of enlightenment and life. Finally it got to the point that we left Alteras and returned to this galaxy. And the rest, I believe you know."
"Not entirely. Though I do know Maedhv escaped from the remaining Alterans," Daniel said. "And she claims responsibility for the plague that wiped out your civilization here in the Milky Way."
"Yes, that was her vengeance upon us," Ganos said bitterly. "And it was not enough. She pursued us further."
"You mean to Pegasus?", asked Jack.
"Yes." Ganos' expression turned dark. "She may pretend to be kinder now, but you have no idea of the widespread death she caused there."
"What do you mean?"
"Daniel Jackson..." Ganos looked plainly at him. "Do your people really believe that a parasitic bug could have evolved into a sentient species simply by feeding on Humans? Don't you think they needed a little help?"
Daniel didn't have an immediate answer to that, but Jack did. "Wait, wait wait. Are you saying that Her Mightyness here created the Wraith?"
"Yes, I did," came an abrupt and slightly monotone, exhausted voice from the far side of the bridge. "They're my children, more or less, created out of my own DNA mixed with that of the Iratus Bug; thus why they are effectively immortal. But in the end, they stopped listening to me, and rather than start yet another slave empire, I let them go their own way, and came back here to hibernate until Alarita awoke."
"You just left them to feed on the humans of that galaxy!", Jack barked.
"And now you know the depths of the hideous monster you've taken into your midst," Ganos Lol remarked sullenly. She looked to Daniel. "Do you see now, Daniel, why we wanted you to rejoin us and help us destroy her?"
"I think so," Daniel sighed. "But what about her daughter? Were you going to let her die too?"
"You could have saved the daughter," Ganos insisted.
"Could, maybe. On a ship surrounded by Goa'uld looking to kill us and with medical facilities not really meant for dealing with premature babies," Daniel shot back.
"No, you couldn't have. First of all, if there's even one single cell of my body left or nanite from it, I'll regenerate." Maedhv slowly pushed herself up into a sitting position, slightly dazed. "Second--the reason I've not been moving is because every bit of energy I've been draining has been going into protective shields while I start to recover. I wasn't defenceless. Oh, and while we're at it, Ganos," she laughed softly, at that point, hands still bracing on the floor, though.
"The reason I forbade your ancestors from creating more like me is because I had made an agreement with Nirrti to never create more than one additional Golden Condor, and she, to never create more than one Devaastra. Your ancestors wanted me to break my word because they insisted she'd understand the difference, and anyway, who had seen her in thousands of years? But that one agreement is the only thing which has kept my kind from proliferating again. Now, you either help them, or get out of the way and let me do it, because trouble is coming down on their heads."
Jack was mouthing the word "trouble" sarcastically toward Teal'c, imaging how much trouble they were already going through, when Pendergast's voice came back over his radio. "General, sensors have picked up Goa'uld ships on approach. They look like they're hooking up with the remaining ships out there, over twenty motherships in all."
"Oh swell," Jack muttered.
"Getting a communication. We're patching it through to the ship intercom, we've gotten it partially functioning up there for you."
After a few moments, a familar voice came over the radio. "Hello, Tau'ri," they could hear Ba'al say. "Or the being called Maedhv. Whoever is in control of the Tau'ri vessel, you have one minute to surrender or you will be destroyed."
”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt
"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia
American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.
DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia
American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.
DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
-
Chris OFarrell
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Re: "The Last Woman Standing" - SG1/TGG Multiverse
If this chapter is supposed to make me feel sympathy for Maedhv, its not working
If anything, it makes me shout at the screen 'KILL HER NOW, DON'T LET THE PSYCHOPATH ESCAPE!!'
But that's not going to happen I'm sure
Great chapter, looking forward to more.
If anything, it makes me shout at the screen 'KILL HER NOW, DON'T LET THE PSYCHOPATH ESCAPE!!'
But that's not going to happen I'm sure
Great chapter, looking forward to more.
Re: "The Last Woman Standing" - SG1/TGG Multiverse
Chapter 11
Gray Star, Alliance Space
Universe Designate AR-12
It was a deck up from the launch bay where the first group of Replicators faced real sustained resistance. They emerged from one of the cargo holds supporting the hanger (complete with lift leading directly to the launch deck) and into a barrage of coilgun-accelerated slugs. The mixed-nationality Marine complement assigned to the ship, combined with armed crewmen dragooned by NCOs and a couple junior officers, put up similar "fire zones" in other points from which the Replicators could advance.
The bridge was bereft of Sam and Kharaste, whom Data had sent to deal with the infestation. Data was using his own direct interface into the ship's computer to monitor the engineering situation and perform other duties that the engineering station normally performed. He had considered trying to beam the Replicators into space but they were as prepared for that as they had proved for the particle weaponry used in self-defense by the retreating launch deck crew, forcing the prospect of a hard fight to keep them from taking over the ship.
Seeing little other alternative, Data began the procedures for activating the vessel's scuttling charges, or "self destruct" as his Starfleet experience made him think of it as. A last resort to be used if the infestation became terminal.
Sam shouldered her customized M4 and motioned to the three crewmen Kharaste had assigned to her to move around the corner. The three, a Regulan of Nepalese ancestry from the Free Worlds League and an American woman and Romanian man from the ADN, nodded in reply before slipping around the corner, their MRCL-3As. They were one deck up from the main fighting with Sam leading the effort to cut off any Replicators that made it further up the ship. She had put on a combat helmet offered in the armory that permitted her a great deal of control over the situation, displaying mini-displays in the helmet plate that showed the progress of the battle in lower decks, readings from her personal sensors and the ship internal sensors, and direct communication with Kharaste and other groups on the ship. "Section 3 is clear," she said into the radio. "No sign of Replicator infestation."
"Move to Section 4, Colonel," Kharaste answered. "A squad reported Replicators slipping away from the fight and moving to one of the deck ladders."
"Roger that."
Using the ship schematics installed into the helmet, Sam navigated her way through the quiet halls to the aforementioned section. As they approached it the corridor lights suddenly went out, prompting blue emergency lights to come on. "They must have gotten to the power grid," she remarked into the radio before seeing activity on the sensor area of her HUD. "Wait..."
A distant clattering became louder and a number of Replicators rounded the corridor. Sam opened fire first and the team with her followed suit. The sharp cracking of her weapon contrasted with the louder buzzing and thumping of the MRCL-3As, the coilgun weapons spraying powerful slug projectiles at faster velocities that broke up the Replicator bugs, criticially damaging their block components. Sam found herself grateful that the Replicators weren't yet trying to engineer Human-form bodies.
The Replicators not critically damaged tried reforming, but under the intense firepower they were unable to. After about ten seconds firing the surge finishing, the hallway scarred with the effects of the weapons fire and covered with inert Replicator segments. "We've got them," Sam said into the radio, "but with the power down I'm not willing to say they're gone from this area. I'm going to continue on."
"Roger that, Colonel," Kharaste answered. "I'm going to send Chief Arkuliye and a team to join you along the bow side of the section."
"Good. Carter out." Sam motioned to the others to continue on.
USS Prometheus, In Orbit over Kuahuatl, Goa'uld Territory
Universe Designate SRC-19
Jack's immediate reaction to Ba'al's ultimatum was, "Oh come on, a minute? Why not five? I'd even settle for two."
The normally-witty Ba'al wasn't about to play along, unfortunately, indicated by his dull reply of "Fifty seconds".
"Oh, for cryin' out loud..."
"Orlin...?" Daniel looked to the Ancients and, as he figured, they were fading away. "Well, that's just swell."
"Do they always do that?" Nate asked from the chair where he'd settled, bandages wrapped around his lower arms and hands.
"They have a thing about 'interfering' with lower races," Daniel noted somberly. As he said that he felt a thought go through his head, a very brief whisper in a voice not really his but Kasuf's. The most his father-in-law could do to help him without risking the retribution of the others.
"So what about you?" Jack looked over at Maedhv. "Got enough juice back to do more of that fancy hocus-pocus, Your Mightyness?"
"Kill the com feed," Maedhv breathed softly. "Let him eat static."
Smirking, Jack picked up his radio. "For once I agree with Her Mightyness. Cut the feed, Pendergast."
"Alarita could be easily awakened," Maedhv continued. "But I'm not strong enough right now to stand up, let alone send a signal or command this ship's systems, unless I drop my defences.. And then the Ancients will try to kill me, and probably destroy this ship in the process, if they haven't given up yet--and they didn't bother to tell us. So you're going to have to contact the ship for me. Repeat the signal I was sending; that will be enough, a stutter beam on the exact same pattern into the lava sea at the same spot. Alarita has plenty of firepower available, sleeping just below the surface."
Jack gave a look toward Teal'c and motioned him to the side of the bridge. "We either trust her or we let Ba'al blow us up. Thoughts?"
"I am strangely conflicted, O'Neill. As much as I would love nothing more than to see the Goa'uld destroyed, Maedhv's untrustworthiness do not make me confident in permitting her ship to awaken."
"Me too," Jack murmured in agreement. "Okay Daniel..." He looked back toward the bridge as a whole and immediately noticed that they were short one. "Where did Daniel go?'
"Well, at least someone is mature enough here to see what the only logical course of action is," Maedhv muttered softly, finally finding it in herself to drag her body back against the wall for support.
Hearing that, Jack headed off with Teal'c to find Daniel, leaving Maedhv with Nate. Silence passed between them, at least until the ship slightly rocked as the first Goa'uld ships began to open fire on it. The Asgard shields were holding and, thankfully, most of the Ha'taks seemed to be those not upgraded with Anubis' advancements, meaning they had some time before the shields would begin to fail.
"Well, action is joined," Maedhv remarked in a surprisingly laconic fashion as the first hits began to strike home.
Nate didn't make a remark in reply, looking out the cockpit window as energy blasts struck against the energy shield protecting Prometheus.
"I suppose it's gotten to be as much of a familiar occurrence for you as for me," Maedhv continued idly, not even looking out the windows on the Prometheus' bridge.
"Never liked space combat," Nate muttered in reply. "Ground-pounders like me are helpless out here."
"Alarita says the same thing. Me? Planets are dangerous. They're targets, after all. I will be much happier when I'm again aboard my ship."
Nate made a "hmph" at that. "A ship's no place to live."
"Well, I'm inclined to disagree. A solid enough home for my family, and more resilient than any planet in existence."
"No open spaces to teach your kids how to throw a baseball or a football. No forests to take your kids camping in, no mountains to go up so they can see the far-off horizon, a patchwork of green and blue hills, yellow patches of farmland, and distant gray towers in the cities..." The thoughts brought him back to his children, all of them. Camping with George when he was eight years old while on leave, taking Lorva, Ivliya, and Furel up Mount Townsend to see the Henson Valley...
"The planet around Castor that we stopped at, General? Do you know the significance of the spot where Alarita laid out that set of coordinates to me, the spot that I knew I must look? It's my family home. Was; in another universe, the first universe. Once, it rose up proud and splendid in the midst of the high desert plateau, with splendid sunsets of purple, blue and orange, and a river winding through it, and the sleet-gray high mountains in the distance. Then the Sarasavsati breached the planetary defensive shields in one of the innumerable battles in the war. And so perished my entire family; the entire planet with them, turned into a seething mass of lava. No, General, all that remains of my bloodline is the progeny in my womb, the rest perished on the surface. At least back on my ship, I know she'll have a fighting chance at her full life..."
"Yeah..." Nate looked distantly at the Goa'uld ships hammering them, but it wasn't what he was thinking about at all. "Guess that's all a parent can want. Makes it hurt that much worse when it doesn't happen."
"The fates are cruel and whimsical," Maedhv replied softly. "I am sorry for the death of your son. There is no quenching that sort of grief. Never. In some respects, I envy you in that regard. You must only live with it for a few centuries. My regrets, General, and whatever you think of me I do have many, have been replayed over a span of millions of years."
Chuckling slightly, Nate added, "Yes, I can imagine regrets would pile up like that. It seems like I've already got too many."
"Well, as long as you're still here, General, you've still got manoeuvring room for making right what you can. It is a fundamental and worthy goal of life."
"A bit late when my ex-wife is already re-married to a guy who gets antsy whenever I'm around," Nate laughed.
Jack and Teal'c had just left the bridge when Jack put the call through to Pendergast: "Colonel, has Daniel come down there?"
"Haven't seen him."
"If he shows up, tell me and wait for me to get there before you do anything." The ship rumbled lightly as Jack and Teal'c continued their way through Prometheus. "Just what can he be up to?"
"Daniel Jackson must be planning to use a backup control to activate the ship's energy weapons," Teal'c noted. "He will awaken Maedhv's ship."
"Knowing Daniel, yeah," Jack said. He was still undecided on that himself. Trusting Maedhv was not something he was inclined to do, even if the alternative was getting blown up by the Goa'uld. "Let's see, do we take a right or a left?"
"I believe it is this way." Teal'c took the left, Jack following wordlessly. "Do you intend to stop Daniel Jackson?"
"Maybe," Jack answered, a little hesitant given his own uncertainty over what he should do.
The ship kept shaking from occasional strong hits and it was clear they didn't have long either way. Fortunately they found the necessary auxiliary control room that had been set up to control the bolted-on particle pulse weapons Prometheus had been equipped with. They found Daniel tinkering with one of the controls. "Daniel. Hey Daniel!" Jack walked up to him. "What are you doing?"
"Oh, not much, just saving our lives," Daniel replied sarcastically.
"So even after everything the Ancients just told us about Maedhv, you're still going to trust her enough to let her have some big honking space ship?", Jack asked incredulously. "Without even thinking about it?"
"Jack, I have thought about it. I've thought about it a lot... well, okay, as much as I've had the time to." Daniel turned his head. "I think Maedhv is ready to move on with her life. She's not going to be a threat. I mean, she's lived on Earth for nearly three years and remained quiet the entire time."
"Or maybe she was just laying low until she had an opportunity," Jack remarked.
"Then explain why she didn't slip into the SGC and gate to another world, or try to mind control world leaders," Daniel pointed out. "She could have done any number of things to take power on Earth, but instead she settled in rural Washington..."
"And gathered a cult," Jack pointed out.
The ship rocked hard. "Pendergast to O'Neill! We're trying to dodge their fire and fight back but I'm afraid we're not having much luck, there's just too many of them!"
"Dammit, Daniel!" Jack grabbed Daniel and forced him to turn. "She's little better than a Goa'uld, Daniel. Let's not forget she left me for dead back when she was pretending to be a nice good ol' Ancient girl, founded her own little cult of worshippers, and, oh, stole our ship out from under us."
"Listen, Jack, I know she has trust issues. But I've talked with her. I've gotten to understand her a bit." Daniel pulled free, having to brace himself when another hit struck the ship. "I believe she doesn't mean us any harm and that she'll live up to her end of the bargain. And I'm willing to stake my life on that."
There was another violent shaking. Pendergast's voice had a hint of desperation to it when he gave his report over the ship intercom: "Shields are failing! We'll be defenseless if we take any more direct hits!"
The two stared at each other for a moment, mostly ignoring Pendergast's news. Seeing he hadn't convinced Daniel, Jack looked to Teal'c. "Teal'c, buddy, what do you think? Trust the crazy psychopath not to conquer the galaxy or let Ba'al blow us all up?"
"I do not trust Maedhv any more than you do, General O'Neill," Teal'c answered succinctly. Turning his head enough to focus his eyes on Daniel, he added, "But I am willing to trust Daniel Jackson."
Hearing that, Jack drew in a sigh. "Go ahead then, Daniel. Let's hope we don't all regret this."
Nodding, Daniel looked back to the console he'd been using. A couple button presses later and one of the ventral particle cannons fired a series of pulses into the lava sea.
The message had been sent. Now they only had to see if it really worked.
Gray Star, Alliance Space
Universe Designate AR-12
The first warning Sam got of something wrong was the sensors on her helmet and fixed to her BDUs detecting the telltale emissions of the Replicator collective. The chittering of the bugs scurrying about got louder as they approached one of the compartments on this deck, a machine shop for supporting the ship's fighter complement.
She motioned to her team to be ready to enter. "Carter to Arkuliye. Replicators in the machine shop, bow-port quarter."
"Copy that, Sir, we're near," the Taloran woman answered with her thick accent. "There are two doors to that machine shop, we will enter from the bow."
"We're entering from the port," Carter answered. With a nod, she had the crew activate the door's non-computerized backup controls to open it.
Her helmet illuminated the room inside. Replicator bugs were crawling everywhere and seemed to be putting the shop's matter-replication machinery to good use. Ordinarily used to help form completed parts and tools out of raw material, the Replicators had taken it over and were using it to make more Replicator units. They almost immediately noticed Sam and the others and began moving toward them.
Without waiting Sam opened up on them with her team. The narrow chokepoint forced them to back away from the door, but Sam had already set up her team in an excellent position to create a fire zone. "Petty Officer Lewin, hold the line here," Sam ordered, her attention on the other woman in the team.
"Yes Colonel," Lewin answered.
With the Replicators' attention taken, Sam moved around the corners to join up with Arkuliye. She found the pale-complexioned Taloran woman with a male of her species and two other Humans, nationalities unidentifiable due to how they were standing, at the bow entrance to the machine shop. "Colonel?" Arkuliye said upon seeing her.
"Lewin and the others are holding the other door and drawing the Replicators' attention," Sam explained. "We've got to get in there and take out the machinery, otherwise the Replicators will flood this deck."
"Then I suggest these." Arkuliye pulled a grenade launcher attachment off her belt and fixed it to her coilgun assault rifle. "Alliance Army's design, wide-range explosive. They should disable the machinery and destroy most of the Replicators in the room."
"Then let's do it." Sam brought her customized M4 up to firing position and moved toward the door.
"Colonel, there are too many, we're going to get overrun if you don't do something soon," Lewin said, a hint of panic in the young lady's voice.
"Standby, Lewin," Sam ordered. At her motion, the male Taloran triggered the door. Sam and one of the other members of Arkuliye's team stepped in and laid down a barrage of fire to clear their area, giving Arkuliye time to finish loading her attached grenade launcher and buying Lewin and the others a little space. Replicator bugs fell apart as the bullets hit them, some reforming just to be mowed down again.
"Move now!" Arkuliye shouted. At that Sam and the other crewman with her fell back to the door and let Arkuliye fire a single grenade in, after which the Taloran man quickly closed the door again. A thunderous boom made the deck and bulkheads vibrate.
But when they opened the doors, the Replicators kept coming and the matter-replicator machinery was still going. "They must have erected a forceshield of some kind," Arkuliye thought aloud, falling back from the door and firing at the Replicator swarm now rushing toward them.
"Lewin, fall back to the access corridor to Section 3!" Sam's eye movements keyed the comm to patch her in to Kharaste. "Commander, the Replicators have taken over the Section 4 machine shop and are using the machinery to quicken the pace of their copying."
"Abandon Deck 23," Kharaste ordered. "I'm already pulling the Marines on Deck 24 up to Deck 21, that's where we'll make our main stand."
"We need to find their Queen," Sam urged. "Otherwise we're fighting a losing battle."
"We'll see what we can do, Colonel, but be warned." Kharaste's voice went a bit deeper now. "If we can't control this infestation, the Captain is going to blow the ship."
Sam nodded briskly. "It'll be the right thing to do, Commander. We can't let the Replicators take over the ship."
Meredith was tending to the burns of one of the engineering crew when she first heard the chittering sound echo through a bulkhead. Wondering what it was, she motioned to a nurse to check it out, looking warily toward the two armed crewman standing guard with MRCL-3As due to the Replicator infestation.
From the corner of her eye Meredith noticed Serlann starting to stand up. She bolted over immediately to stop her, saying, "I told you, you're not leaving."
"Colonel Carter is helping lead the suppression effort, I am needed," Serlann insisted.
"Not without my say-so," Meredith responded, forcing Serlann back onto the bed. "You're going to sit here and..."
An anguished cry echoed through the infirmary. Meredith looked up to see the nurse she'd sent to investigate the chittering fall back from the stockroom for the infirmary, his face and chest horribly burned.
Then the Replicators surged through the door.
USS Prometheus, In Orbit over Kuahuatl, Goa'uld Territory
Universe Designate SRC-19
The sensors on the Prometheus started to trill warnings within thirty seconds. Abruptly they had detected what previously seemed to be another part of the rock, and instead it was a huge mass under the now solidifying lava. A huge mass with a power spike so severe that the system now had something hotter burning than its primary--whatever was under the rock of the planet. The energy levels climbed, and climbed still more, and then the surface of the planet glowed a brilliant white-blue around the lava traps and then completely engulfed them. As it faded, the lava was gone, vapourized, even more of the surface having been turned to lava and rushing in with a great cataclysmic force which shattered the crust in the area, the atmosphere of the entire planet aglow from the scorching heat.
This attracted the attention of th Goa'uld immediately, who broke off hostility with the Prometheus, even now reporting shield failures, and began to pull back to a defensive position. They would not get enough time, however, for as the glare from the energy in the sensors disappeared, the first visual was discerned, a black cigar-shaped object rising rapidly from the surface of the planet and radiating the requisite amounts of energy to very nearly overwhelm their sensors, blue flickers along its sides. It had a ruthlessly pointed, high-raised bow and a simple cuneiform tail structure right aft that swelled unevenly to respond to the weight distribution, a raked, razor-knife-edged lower section to the distorted cigar of the hull, and it was rising fast. Impossibly fast; for the maximum acceleration of any known warship in the universe was slightly under 3,000g's. The ship was pulling 6,000g's as it blasted clear of the planet like an angry hornet.
But none of these facts mattered in comparison with the one thing that genuinely had the power to terrify. The ship was 20,507 meters long in total, the sensors finally decided, as that huge bulk rose out of the planet's surface with the same acceleration as the quickest accelerating vehicles which had ever been built in the entire Cosmos. A ship the size of a hab platform; a ship with hundreds of times the mass of the largest superdreadnoughts in existence. It might well have simply been the biggest thing to have ever been called a ship, with the sole exception of the Shadow Planet Killer, for it was more or less the same size as the Vorlon version thereof, which had essentially been a mobile gun installation. This craft was no such thing; with that speed, it was impossible, rising up into orbit and approaching them in a space of seconds. And then the power surged once again.
The Goa'uld didn't bother to wait any longer. They shifted their fire immediately and twenty-two Ha'taks, fourteen of them upgraded by Anubis, opened fire simultaneously on the rising ship. Where there had been previously nothing a few hundred meters out from the hull a shield of wavery translucent orange distortion flashed with the connecting energy in a great ripple down the ship's port side.... And not a shot penetrated. The ship didn't slow down or shuddered, and simply continued to accelerate. The response was not long in coming and would be viewed in its entirety by Jack, Daniel, Teal'c, and Zaria - all of which had arrived on the Bridge by that point.
The Goa'uld ships had started to move clear--Ba'al was no idiot--the moment he saw the ship harmlessly shrugging off the full directed firepower of twenty-two of the best ships the Goa'uld had ever fielded. But as the tried to accelerate clear, the ships suddenly reacted like they'd slammed into a brick wall, and the huge ship itself shuddered and abruptly its acceleration dropped, but at the same time, it started dragging the entire Goa'uld fleet with it. The ship, quite simply, was able to generate a powerful enough tractor beam to lock onto twenty-two Ha'taks simultaneously and wrench them into a high-velocity, high-acceleration course far beyond what they were designed for. And the vast ship had barely shuddered in executing the manoeuvre.
As the Goa'uld and their servants and warriors were flung about their ships with enough violence to kill many, the first of the shots came out of the hull. Big, fat blue-white teardrop-shaped bolts of energy flashed out the ship in two long rippled and staggered ranks, hundreds of them. They converged on the fully shielded Ha'taks and of those that hit, the shields of countless vessels were snapped, overwhelmed in the first salvo. Others collapsed on the next, and several of the bolts cleared through to melt and torch the hulls of the unmodified Ha'taks. The Goa'uld fleet was firing back furiously, their weapons not distorted by the tractor beams which locked them into a perfect kill pattern, but the fire reflected harmlessly, doing nothing more effective than causing the shields of the great ship to glow that translucent orange.
Then the second in the two staggered banks of weapons activated. Zaria, at least, would recognize these instantly from the history recordings she had seen, viciously evil dark purple beams which stabbed out and found the unshielded ships, as those fat blue bolts sought out the still-shielded targets now, methodically. The beams sweeped, tracked perfectly through space, and like energy whips, sliced neatly into the hulls of the Ha'taks.
The effect was exactly identical, as was the appearance, to a Shadow cutting beam, a term used by Zaria as she breathed in awe for the benefit of the others.
What followed was as methodical of a slaughter as might be imagined. The blue energy bolts continue to demolish the shields and then the cutting beams waved and darted across the hulls, chopping off sections and repetitively cutting through the main pyramids until one after another the reactor cores were reached and the remaining main sections exploded, leaving cauterized bits of chopped off sections of the Ha'taks drifting everywhere. The fire slacked from the heavily damaged survivors, but they could not escape, and they could not last. Within another ten seconds it was over, and indeed, the entire battle had taken a little more than four minutes. The only reaction this elicited on the awestruck viewers on the Prometheus Bridge was O'Neill's stunned, "Woh".
Then, with grace for a ship the size of an asteroid, what could only be Maedhv's No-Ship swung around to face the comparatively insignficant, tiny Prometheus, and the tractor beam snapped onto them, grabbing them like the hand of a God. Without hesitation, it began, though much more gently than it had snatched the Goa'uld ships, to reel the Prometheus straight toward the immense, overwhelming bulk of the No-Ship, and straight toward an immense set of hangar doors that were now opening, and seemed like they could very much swallow the Terran ship like a single breadcrumb. Then a voice flicked over the comms, and it spoke Ancient in a lilting, throaty alto:
"Maedhv, my love--you have come for me! You have escaped and... Well, I knew you'd do it! I am bringing your ship aboard at once, and reconfiguring the bay to hold it. Please reply, and let me hear your voice for the first time in this countless span of aeons."
"Alarita, I presume," Daniel remarked in a subdued tone.
"Alarita," Maedhv answered, smiling and starting to cry at the same time with a delirious look on her face as she slipped into Ancient. "My love, my love, I am aboard and well, if weakened. You can see the evidence of the battle, and we are still under threat by beings of great power--the ghosts of the descendants of my enemies. But if you keep the blocking shields up, they won't present a problem. We have work to do, but after that we're free., and... I shall bring people with me, from Earth. I promise, this time I'm not going anywhere."
"It was I who fled, even if at your order, Maedhv," the voice answered. "Don't worry about it. I preserve the Xihuatlatl for you, and you have come through safe and sound, and I will never have to dream of that strangled cry in my mind again. I love you, and I've kept your ship well for you. Robotic and nanite repair and maintenance systems are all nominal and she's slave-rigged for a single person to run, as you can see. Our home forever."
"Forever," Maedhv agreed, and laughed in delirious release as the Prometheus was drawn into the hull of the great No-Ship.
Gray Star, Alliance Space
Universe Designate AR-12
Gunfire erupted in the infirmary of the ship as a surge of Replicators came from a stockroom. Calls for help were immediately sent by the two armed crew watching the medical bay while Meredith rallied her staff. "Move everyone to the starboard compartment!" she shouted to the nurses and junior doctors aboard, reaching for Serlann herself as the short Minbari woman was about the only person present that Meredith's own slender and small frame could support.
"It appears that I'm no safer here than if I were working," Serlann pointed out with a hint of humor. "I can walk, Doctor."
"That explains all the weight you're putting on me, alright," Meredith responded in amused sarcastic matter, even if her mind was racing on just what to do with her patients of the Replicators got past the two armed men.
"Doctor, behind you!"
The nurse's cry caused Meredith to turn in time to find a few Replicators coming toward her. She grabbed a nearby tray of medical utensils and tossed it at them, delaying them momentarily. One began to fly using its metallic wings and was torn apart a moment later by a burst of slugs from one of the armed men in the room.
Just as the Bugs seemed on the verge of breaking loose and swarming them all, the door opened and another team of armed crew entered. With their extra firepower and a chance for the initial guards to reload, the Replicators were being held back enough for Meredith to oversee the evacuation of the infirmary.
Then the other reports began coming in.
"Replicators reported on all decks below 16," Ziva remarked cooly on the bridge. "Doctor Constantine is evacuating the infirmary."
Data opened a commlink to Kharaste and Sam. Kharaste was in slightly calmer conditions, using a wardroom on Deck 14 to oversee the defense of the ship. Sam, however, had arms fire going off in the background from her place on Deck 21. "The Replicators are quite resourceful," Data mused calmly. "They committed enough forces to take the machine shops supporting our fighter group and occupy our forces while others split off to move further up the ship."
"We're not going to be able to hold here," Sam said. "Not if they're as high as Deck 16."
"They're going to be everywhere shortly enough," Kharaste muttered. "blasted things aren't slowing down, that's for sure."
"Likely so," Data agreed. "Colonel Carter, if we could manage to hold Main Engineering and the Bridge, do you think we could hold the ship until help arrives?"
"No, Captain, the Replicators will just take over systems directly and use them," Sam answered. "We'd need to keep them away from all engine systems as well as engineering."
"That seems highly unlikely to happen." Data looked to Hsiao. "Subcommander, status on the incoming carrier group?"
"The Nicolas Mamatmas and her escorts are still over eight hours away," Hsiao answered.
"Very well then. I am afraid there is only one recourse left." Data keyed a third commline. "Doctor Constantine, send your medical teams and all wounded to escape pods on the upper decks, none lower than Deck 8."
"Yes Captain."
"Commander Kharaste, enable those you can spare from the firing line to evacuate to escape pods on Deck 8 and above," Data ordered, standing up. "I will be down shortly to join you in overseeing the defense of Main Engineering and all free sections containing scuttling charges."
"I will be expecting you, Captain," was the Taloran's terse reply.
Data looked to those remaining on the bridge. "Report to the escape pods immediately." Seeing a hint of intention to object, Data added, "This is a direct order. Glinn Torcet, I place you in charge of overseeing the evacuation of Decks 1 and 2. And you are to join it if at all possible."
The Cardassian nodded sternly. "Yes Captain."
With that done, Data keyed the ship's main computer. "Computer, this is Captain Data, Identification Code Data Charlie Oscar Tango Tango Zulu Sierra Zulu. Set automated scuttling charges on all decks."
Data looked to Tarak, who spoke up next. "Computer, this is 2nd Rank Glinn Tarak Torcet, Identification Code Torcet Whiskey Oscar November Victor Victor Charlie Lima. Set automated scuttling charges on all decks."
"Computer, this is Lieutenant Ziva David-Oded, Identification Code David Charlie Oscar Lima Victor Sierra India Foxtrot. Set automated scuttling charges on all decks."
The slightly feminine voice of the computer system spoke aloud. "Scuttling charges activated. Awaiting time input."
"Set for ten minutes, Authorization Code Data Sierra Tango Victor."
The main screen lit up with a red countdown of ten minutes. "Ship destruct code initiated. Ten minute countdown." The announcement filled the ship, along with telltale red lights at various displays to warn the crew that the scuttling charges were set.
With that, Data and his command crew evacuated the Bridge.
Gray Star, Alliance Space
Universe Designate AR-12
It was a deck up from the launch bay where the first group of Replicators faced real sustained resistance. They emerged from one of the cargo holds supporting the hanger (complete with lift leading directly to the launch deck) and into a barrage of coilgun-accelerated slugs. The mixed-nationality Marine complement assigned to the ship, combined with armed crewmen dragooned by NCOs and a couple junior officers, put up similar "fire zones" in other points from which the Replicators could advance.
The bridge was bereft of Sam and Kharaste, whom Data had sent to deal with the infestation. Data was using his own direct interface into the ship's computer to monitor the engineering situation and perform other duties that the engineering station normally performed. He had considered trying to beam the Replicators into space but they were as prepared for that as they had proved for the particle weaponry used in self-defense by the retreating launch deck crew, forcing the prospect of a hard fight to keep them from taking over the ship.
Seeing little other alternative, Data began the procedures for activating the vessel's scuttling charges, or "self destruct" as his Starfleet experience made him think of it as. A last resort to be used if the infestation became terminal.
Sam shouldered her customized M4 and motioned to the three crewmen Kharaste had assigned to her to move around the corner. The three, a Regulan of Nepalese ancestry from the Free Worlds League and an American woman and Romanian man from the ADN, nodded in reply before slipping around the corner, their MRCL-3As. They were one deck up from the main fighting with Sam leading the effort to cut off any Replicators that made it further up the ship. She had put on a combat helmet offered in the armory that permitted her a great deal of control over the situation, displaying mini-displays in the helmet plate that showed the progress of the battle in lower decks, readings from her personal sensors and the ship internal sensors, and direct communication with Kharaste and other groups on the ship. "Section 3 is clear," she said into the radio. "No sign of Replicator infestation."
"Move to Section 4, Colonel," Kharaste answered. "A squad reported Replicators slipping away from the fight and moving to one of the deck ladders."
"Roger that."
Using the ship schematics installed into the helmet, Sam navigated her way through the quiet halls to the aforementioned section. As they approached it the corridor lights suddenly went out, prompting blue emergency lights to come on. "They must have gotten to the power grid," she remarked into the radio before seeing activity on the sensor area of her HUD. "Wait..."
A distant clattering became louder and a number of Replicators rounded the corridor. Sam opened fire first and the team with her followed suit. The sharp cracking of her weapon contrasted with the louder buzzing and thumping of the MRCL-3As, the coilgun weapons spraying powerful slug projectiles at faster velocities that broke up the Replicator bugs, criticially damaging their block components. Sam found herself grateful that the Replicators weren't yet trying to engineer Human-form bodies.
The Replicators not critically damaged tried reforming, but under the intense firepower they were unable to. After about ten seconds firing the surge finishing, the hallway scarred with the effects of the weapons fire and covered with inert Replicator segments. "We've got them," Sam said into the radio, "but with the power down I'm not willing to say they're gone from this area. I'm going to continue on."
"Roger that, Colonel," Kharaste answered. "I'm going to send Chief Arkuliye and a team to join you along the bow side of the section."
"Good. Carter out." Sam motioned to the others to continue on.
USS Prometheus, In Orbit over Kuahuatl, Goa'uld Territory
Universe Designate SRC-19
Jack's immediate reaction to Ba'al's ultimatum was, "Oh come on, a minute? Why not five? I'd even settle for two."
The normally-witty Ba'al wasn't about to play along, unfortunately, indicated by his dull reply of "Fifty seconds".
"Oh, for cryin' out loud..."
"Orlin...?" Daniel looked to the Ancients and, as he figured, they were fading away. "Well, that's just swell."
"Do they always do that?" Nate asked from the chair where he'd settled, bandages wrapped around his lower arms and hands.
"They have a thing about 'interfering' with lower races," Daniel noted somberly. As he said that he felt a thought go through his head, a very brief whisper in a voice not really his but Kasuf's. The most his father-in-law could do to help him without risking the retribution of the others.
"So what about you?" Jack looked over at Maedhv. "Got enough juice back to do more of that fancy hocus-pocus, Your Mightyness?"
"Kill the com feed," Maedhv breathed softly. "Let him eat static."
Smirking, Jack picked up his radio. "For once I agree with Her Mightyness. Cut the feed, Pendergast."
"Alarita could be easily awakened," Maedhv continued. "But I'm not strong enough right now to stand up, let alone send a signal or command this ship's systems, unless I drop my defences.. And then the Ancients will try to kill me, and probably destroy this ship in the process, if they haven't given up yet--and they didn't bother to tell us. So you're going to have to contact the ship for me. Repeat the signal I was sending; that will be enough, a stutter beam on the exact same pattern into the lava sea at the same spot. Alarita has plenty of firepower available, sleeping just below the surface."
Jack gave a look toward Teal'c and motioned him to the side of the bridge. "We either trust her or we let Ba'al blow us up. Thoughts?"
"I am strangely conflicted, O'Neill. As much as I would love nothing more than to see the Goa'uld destroyed, Maedhv's untrustworthiness do not make me confident in permitting her ship to awaken."
"Me too," Jack murmured in agreement. "Okay Daniel..." He looked back toward the bridge as a whole and immediately noticed that they were short one. "Where did Daniel go?'
"Well, at least someone is mature enough here to see what the only logical course of action is," Maedhv muttered softly, finally finding it in herself to drag her body back against the wall for support.
Hearing that, Jack headed off with Teal'c to find Daniel, leaving Maedhv with Nate. Silence passed between them, at least until the ship slightly rocked as the first Goa'uld ships began to open fire on it. The Asgard shields were holding and, thankfully, most of the Ha'taks seemed to be those not upgraded with Anubis' advancements, meaning they had some time before the shields would begin to fail.
"Well, action is joined," Maedhv remarked in a surprisingly laconic fashion as the first hits began to strike home.
Nate didn't make a remark in reply, looking out the cockpit window as energy blasts struck against the energy shield protecting Prometheus.
"I suppose it's gotten to be as much of a familiar occurrence for you as for me," Maedhv continued idly, not even looking out the windows on the Prometheus' bridge.
"Never liked space combat," Nate muttered in reply. "Ground-pounders like me are helpless out here."
"Alarita says the same thing. Me? Planets are dangerous. They're targets, after all. I will be much happier when I'm again aboard my ship."
Nate made a "hmph" at that. "A ship's no place to live."
"Well, I'm inclined to disagree. A solid enough home for my family, and more resilient than any planet in existence."
"No open spaces to teach your kids how to throw a baseball or a football. No forests to take your kids camping in, no mountains to go up so they can see the far-off horizon, a patchwork of green and blue hills, yellow patches of farmland, and distant gray towers in the cities..." The thoughts brought him back to his children, all of them. Camping with George when he was eight years old while on leave, taking Lorva, Ivliya, and Furel up Mount Townsend to see the Henson Valley...
"The planet around Castor that we stopped at, General? Do you know the significance of the spot where Alarita laid out that set of coordinates to me, the spot that I knew I must look? It's my family home. Was; in another universe, the first universe. Once, it rose up proud and splendid in the midst of the high desert plateau, with splendid sunsets of purple, blue and orange, and a river winding through it, and the sleet-gray high mountains in the distance. Then the Sarasavsati breached the planetary defensive shields in one of the innumerable battles in the war. And so perished my entire family; the entire planet with them, turned into a seething mass of lava. No, General, all that remains of my bloodline is the progeny in my womb, the rest perished on the surface. At least back on my ship, I know she'll have a fighting chance at her full life..."
"Yeah..." Nate looked distantly at the Goa'uld ships hammering them, but it wasn't what he was thinking about at all. "Guess that's all a parent can want. Makes it hurt that much worse when it doesn't happen."
"The fates are cruel and whimsical," Maedhv replied softly. "I am sorry for the death of your son. There is no quenching that sort of grief. Never. In some respects, I envy you in that regard. You must only live with it for a few centuries. My regrets, General, and whatever you think of me I do have many, have been replayed over a span of millions of years."
Chuckling slightly, Nate added, "Yes, I can imagine regrets would pile up like that. It seems like I've already got too many."
"Well, as long as you're still here, General, you've still got manoeuvring room for making right what you can. It is a fundamental and worthy goal of life."
"A bit late when my ex-wife is already re-married to a guy who gets antsy whenever I'm around," Nate laughed.
Jack and Teal'c had just left the bridge when Jack put the call through to Pendergast: "Colonel, has Daniel come down there?"
"Haven't seen him."
"If he shows up, tell me and wait for me to get there before you do anything." The ship rumbled lightly as Jack and Teal'c continued their way through Prometheus. "Just what can he be up to?"
"Daniel Jackson must be planning to use a backup control to activate the ship's energy weapons," Teal'c noted. "He will awaken Maedhv's ship."
"Knowing Daniel, yeah," Jack said. He was still undecided on that himself. Trusting Maedhv was not something he was inclined to do, even if the alternative was getting blown up by the Goa'uld. "Let's see, do we take a right or a left?"
"I believe it is this way." Teal'c took the left, Jack following wordlessly. "Do you intend to stop Daniel Jackson?"
"Maybe," Jack answered, a little hesitant given his own uncertainty over what he should do.
The ship kept shaking from occasional strong hits and it was clear they didn't have long either way. Fortunately they found the necessary auxiliary control room that had been set up to control the bolted-on particle pulse weapons Prometheus had been equipped with. They found Daniel tinkering with one of the controls. "Daniel. Hey Daniel!" Jack walked up to him. "What are you doing?"
"Oh, not much, just saving our lives," Daniel replied sarcastically.
"So even after everything the Ancients just told us about Maedhv, you're still going to trust her enough to let her have some big honking space ship?", Jack asked incredulously. "Without even thinking about it?"
"Jack, I have thought about it. I've thought about it a lot... well, okay, as much as I've had the time to." Daniel turned his head. "I think Maedhv is ready to move on with her life. She's not going to be a threat. I mean, she's lived on Earth for nearly three years and remained quiet the entire time."
"Or maybe she was just laying low until she had an opportunity," Jack remarked.
"Then explain why she didn't slip into the SGC and gate to another world, or try to mind control world leaders," Daniel pointed out. "She could have done any number of things to take power on Earth, but instead she settled in rural Washington..."
"And gathered a cult," Jack pointed out.
The ship rocked hard. "Pendergast to O'Neill! We're trying to dodge their fire and fight back but I'm afraid we're not having much luck, there's just too many of them!"
"Dammit, Daniel!" Jack grabbed Daniel and forced him to turn. "She's little better than a Goa'uld, Daniel. Let's not forget she left me for dead back when she was pretending to be a nice good ol' Ancient girl, founded her own little cult of worshippers, and, oh, stole our ship out from under us."
"Listen, Jack, I know she has trust issues. But I've talked with her. I've gotten to understand her a bit." Daniel pulled free, having to brace himself when another hit struck the ship. "I believe she doesn't mean us any harm and that she'll live up to her end of the bargain. And I'm willing to stake my life on that."
There was another violent shaking. Pendergast's voice had a hint of desperation to it when he gave his report over the ship intercom: "Shields are failing! We'll be defenseless if we take any more direct hits!"
The two stared at each other for a moment, mostly ignoring Pendergast's news. Seeing he hadn't convinced Daniel, Jack looked to Teal'c. "Teal'c, buddy, what do you think? Trust the crazy psychopath not to conquer the galaxy or let Ba'al blow us all up?"
"I do not trust Maedhv any more than you do, General O'Neill," Teal'c answered succinctly. Turning his head enough to focus his eyes on Daniel, he added, "But I am willing to trust Daniel Jackson."
Hearing that, Jack drew in a sigh. "Go ahead then, Daniel. Let's hope we don't all regret this."
Nodding, Daniel looked back to the console he'd been using. A couple button presses later and one of the ventral particle cannons fired a series of pulses into the lava sea.
The message had been sent. Now they only had to see if it really worked.
Gray Star, Alliance Space
Universe Designate AR-12
The first warning Sam got of something wrong was the sensors on her helmet and fixed to her BDUs detecting the telltale emissions of the Replicator collective. The chittering of the bugs scurrying about got louder as they approached one of the compartments on this deck, a machine shop for supporting the ship's fighter complement.
She motioned to her team to be ready to enter. "Carter to Arkuliye. Replicators in the machine shop, bow-port quarter."
"Copy that, Sir, we're near," the Taloran woman answered with her thick accent. "There are two doors to that machine shop, we will enter from the bow."
"We're entering from the port," Carter answered. With a nod, she had the crew activate the door's non-computerized backup controls to open it.
Her helmet illuminated the room inside. Replicator bugs were crawling everywhere and seemed to be putting the shop's matter-replication machinery to good use. Ordinarily used to help form completed parts and tools out of raw material, the Replicators had taken it over and were using it to make more Replicator units. They almost immediately noticed Sam and the others and began moving toward them.
Without waiting Sam opened up on them with her team. The narrow chokepoint forced them to back away from the door, but Sam had already set up her team in an excellent position to create a fire zone. "Petty Officer Lewin, hold the line here," Sam ordered, her attention on the other woman in the team.
"Yes Colonel," Lewin answered.
With the Replicators' attention taken, Sam moved around the corners to join up with Arkuliye. She found the pale-complexioned Taloran woman with a male of her species and two other Humans, nationalities unidentifiable due to how they were standing, at the bow entrance to the machine shop. "Colonel?" Arkuliye said upon seeing her.
"Lewin and the others are holding the other door and drawing the Replicators' attention," Sam explained. "We've got to get in there and take out the machinery, otherwise the Replicators will flood this deck."
"Then I suggest these." Arkuliye pulled a grenade launcher attachment off her belt and fixed it to her coilgun assault rifle. "Alliance Army's design, wide-range explosive. They should disable the machinery and destroy most of the Replicators in the room."
"Then let's do it." Sam brought her customized M4 up to firing position and moved toward the door.
"Colonel, there are too many, we're going to get overrun if you don't do something soon," Lewin said, a hint of panic in the young lady's voice.
"Standby, Lewin," Sam ordered. At her motion, the male Taloran triggered the door. Sam and one of the other members of Arkuliye's team stepped in and laid down a barrage of fire to clear their area, giving Arkuliye time to finish loading her attached grenade launcher and buying Lewin and the others a little space. Replicator bugs fell apart as the bullets hit them, some reforming just to be mowed down again.
"Move now!" Arkuliye shouted. At that Sam and the other crewman with her fell back to the door and let Arkuliye fire a single grenade in, after which the Taloran man quickly closed the door again. A thunderous boom made the deck and bulkheads vibrate.
But when they opened the doors, the Replicators kept coming and the matter-replicator machinery was still going. "They must have erected a forceshield of some kind," Arkuliye thought aloud, falling back from the door and firing at the Replicator swarm now rushing toward them.
"Lewin, fall back to the access corridor to Section 3!" Sam's eye movements keyed the comm to patch her in to Kharaste. "Commander, the Replicators have taken over the Section 4 machine shop and are using the machinery to quicken the pace of their copying."
"Abandon Deck 23," Kharaste ordered. "I'm already pulling the Marines on Deck 24 up to Deck 21, that's where we'll make our main stand."
"We need to find their Queen," Sam urged. "Otherwise we're fighting a losing battle."
"We'll see what we can do, Colonel, but be warned." Kharaste's voice went a bit deeper now. "If we can't control this infestation, the Captain is going to blow the ship."
Sam nodded briskly. "It'll be the right thing to do, Commander. We can't let the Replicators take over the ship."
Meredith was tending to the burns of one of the engineering crew when she first heard the chittering sound echo through a bulkhead. Wondering what it was, she motioned to a nurse to check it out, looking warily toward the two armed crewman standing guard with MRCL-3As due to the Replicator infestation.
From the corner of her eye Meredith noticed Serlann starting to stand up. She bolted over immediately to stop her, saying, "I told you, you're not leaving."
"Colonel Carter is helping lead the suppression effort, I am needed," Serlann insisted.
"Not without my say-so," Meredith responded, forcing Serlann back onto the bed. "You're going to sit here and..."
An anguished cry echoed through the infirmary. Meredith looked up to see the nurse she'd sent to investigate the chittering fall back from the stockroom for the infirmary, his face and chest horribly burned.
Then the Replicators surged through the door.
USS Prometheus, In Orbit over Kuahuatl, Goa'uld Territory
Universe Designate SRC-19
The sensors on the Prometheus started to trill warnings within thirty seconds. Abruptly they had detected what previously seemed to be another part of the rock, and instead it was a huge mass under the now solidifying lava. A huge mass with a power spike so severe that the system now had something hotter burning than its primary--whatever was under the rock of the planet. The energy levels climbed, and climbed still more, and then the surface of the planet glowed a brilliant white-blue around the lava traps and then completely engulfed them. As it faded, the lava was gone, vapourized, even more of the surface having been turned to lava and rushing in with a great cataclysmic force which shattered the crust in the area, the atmosphere of the entire planet aglow from the scorching heat.
This attracted the attention of th Goa'uld immediately, who broke off hostility with the Prometheus, even now reporting shield failures, and began to pull back to a defensive position. They would not get enough time, however, for as the glare from the energy in the sensors disappeared, the first visual was discerned, a black cigar-shaped object rising rapidly from the surface of the planet and radiating the requisite amounts of energy to very nearly overwhelm their sensors, blue flickers along its sides. It had a ruthlessly pointed, high-raised bow and a simple cuneiform tail structure right aft that swelled unevenly to respond to the weight distribution, a raked, razor-knife-edged lower section to the distorted cigar of the hull, and it was rising fast. Impossibly fast; for the maximum acceleration of any known warship in the universe was slightly under 3,000g's. The ship was pulling 6,000g's as it blasted clear of the planet like an angry hornet.
But none of these facts mattered in comparison with the one thing that genuinely had the power to terrify. The ship was 20,507 meters long in total, the sensors finally decided, as that huge bulk rose out of the planet's surface with the same acceleration as the quickest accelerating vehicles which had ever been built in the entire Cosmos. A ship the size of a hab platform; a ship with hundreds of times the mass of the largest superdreadnoughts in existence. It might well have simply been the biggest thing to have ever been called a ship, with the sole exception of the Shadow Planet Killer, for it was more or less the same size as the Vorlon version thereof, which had essentially been a mobile gun installation. This craft was no such thing; with that speed, it was impossible, rising up into orbit and approaching them in a space of seconds. And then the power surged once again.
The Goa'uld didn't bother to wait any longer. They shifted their fire immediately and twenty-two Ha'taks, fourteen of them upgraded by Anubis, opened fire simultaneously on the rising ship. Where there had been previously nothing a few hundred meters out from the hull a shield of wavery translucent orange distortion flashed with the connecting energy in a great ripple down the ship's port side.... And not a shot penetrated. The ship didn't slow down or shuddered, and simply continued to accelerate. The response was not long in coming and would be viewed in its entirety by Jack, Daniel, Teal'c, and Zaria - all of which had arrived on the Bridge by that point.
The Goa'uld ships had started to move clear--Ba'al was no idiot--the moment he saw the ship harmlessly shrugging off the full directed firepower of twenty-two of the best ships the Goa'uld had ever fielded. But as the tried to accelerate clear, the ships suddenly reacted like they'd slammed into a brick wall, and the huge ship itself shuddered and abruptly its acceleration dropped, but at the same time, it started dragging the entire Goa'uld fleet with it. The ship, quite simply, was able to generate a powerful enough tractor beam to lock onto twenty-two Ha'taks simultaneously and wrench them into a high-velocity, high-acceleration course far beyond what they were designed for. And the vast ship had barely shuddered in executing the manoeuvre.
As the Goa'uld and their servants and warriors were flung about their ships with enough violence to kill many, the first of the shots came out of the hull. Big, fat blue-white teardrop-shaped bolts of energy flashed out the ship in two long rippled and staggered ranks, hundreds of them. They converged on the fully shielded Ha'taks and of those that hit, the shields of countless vessels were snapped, overwhelmed in the first salvo. Others collapsed on the next, and several of the bolts cleared through to melt and torch the hulls of the unmodified Ha'taks. The Goa'uld fleet was firing back furiously, their weapons not distorted by the tractor beams which locked them into a perfect kill pattern, but the fire reflected harmlessly, doing nothing more effective than causing the shields of the great ship to glow that translucent orange.
Then the second in the two staggered banks of weapons activated. Zaria, at least, would recognize these instantly from the history recordings she had seen, viciously evil dark purple beams which stabbed out and found the unshielded ships, as those fat blue bolts sought out the still-shielded targets now, methodically. The beams sweeped, tracked perfectly through space, and like energy whips, sliced neatly into the hulls of the Ha'taks.
The effect was exactly identical, as was the appearance, to a Shadow cutting beam, a term used by Zaria as she breathed in awe for the benefit of the others.
What followed was as methodical of a slaughter as might be imagined. The blue energy bolts continue to demolish the shields and then the cutting beams waved and darted across the hulls, chopping off sections and repetitively cutting through the main pyramids until one after another the reactor cores were reached and the remaining main sections exploded, leaving cauterized bits of chopped off sections of the Ha'taks drifting everywhere. The fire slacked from the heavily damaged survivors, but they could not escape, and they could not last. Within another ten seconds it was over, and indeed, the entire battle had taken a little more than four minutes. The only reaction this elicited on the awestruck viewers on the Prometheus Bridge was O'Neill's stunned, "Woh".
Then, with grace for a ship the size of an asteroid, what could only be Maedhv's No-Ship swung around to face the comparatively insignficant, tiny Prometheus, and the tractor beam snapped onto them, grabbing them like the hand of a God. Without hesitation, it began, though much more gently than it had snatched the Goa'uld ships, to reel the Prometheus straight toward the immense, overwhelming bulk of the No-Ship, and straight toward an immense set of hangar doors that were now opening, and seemed like they could very much swallow the Terran ship like a single breadcrumb. Then a voice flicked over the comms, and it spoke Ancient in a lilting, throaty alto:
"Maedhv, my love--you have come for me! You have escaped and... Well, I knew you'd do it! I am bringing your ship aboard at once, and reconfiguring the bay to hold it. Please reply, and let me hear your voice for the first time in this countless span of aeons."
"Alarita, I presume," Daniel remarked in a subdued tone.
"Alarita," Maedhv answered, smiling and starting to cry at the same time with a delirious look on her face as she slipped into Ancient. "My love, my love, I am aboard and well, if weakened. You can see the evidence of the battle, and we are still under threat by beings of great power--the ghosts of the descendants of my enemies. But if you keep the blocking shields up, they won't present a problem. We have work to do, but after that we're free., and... I shall bring people with me, from Earth. I promise, this time I'm not going anywhere."
"It was I who fled, even if at your order, Maedhv," the voice answered. "Don't worry about it. I preserve the Xihuatlatl for you, and you have come through safe and sound, and I will never have to dream of that strangled cry in my mind again. I love you, and I've kept your ship well for you. Robotic and nanite repair and maintenance systems are all nominal and she's slave-rigged for a single person to run, as you can see. Our home forever."
"Forever," Maedhv agreed, and laughed in delirious release as the Prometheus was drawn into the hull of the great No-Ship.
Gray Star, Alliance Space
Universe Designate AR-12
Gunfire erupted in the infirmary of the ship as a surge of Replicators came from a stockroom. Calls for help were immediately sent by the two armed crew watching the medical bay while Meredith rallied her staff. "Move everyone to the starboard compartment!" she shouted to the nurses and junior doctors aboard, reaching for Serlann herself as the short Minbari woman was about the only person present that Meredith's own slender and small frame could support.
"It appears that I'm no safer here than if I were working," Serlann pointed out with a hint of humor. "I can walk, Doctor."
"That explains all the weight you're putting on me, alright," Meredith responded in amused sarcastic matter, even if her mind was racing on just what to do with her patients of the Replicators got past the two armed men.
"Doctor, behind you!"
The nurse's cry caused Meredith to turn in time to find a few Replicators coming toward her. She grabbed a nearby tray of medical utensils and tossed it at them, delaying them momentarily. One began to fly using its metallic wings and was torn apart a moment later by a burst of slugs from one of the armed men in the room.
Just as the Bugs seemed on the verge of breaking loose and swarming them all, the door opened and another team of armed crew entered. With their extra firepower and a chance for the initial guards to reload, the Replicators were being held back enough for Meredith to oversee the evacuation of the infirmary.
Then the other reports began coming in.
"Replicators reported on all decks below 16," Ziva remarked cooly on the bridge. "Doctor Constantine is evacuating the infirmary."
Data opened a commlink to Kharaste and Sam. Kharaste was in slightly calmer conditions, using a wardroom on Deck 14 to oversee the defense of the ship. Sam, however, had arms fire going off in the background from her place on Deck 21. "The Replicators are quite resourceful," Data mused calmly. "They committed enough forces to take the machine shops supporting our fighter group and occupy our forces while others split off to move further up the ship."
"We're not going to be able to hold here," Sam said. "Not if they're as high as Deck 16."
"They're going to be everywhere shortly enough," Kharaste muttered. "blasted things aren't slowing down, that's for sure."
"Likely so," Data agreed. "Colonel Carter, if we could manage to hold Main Engineering and the Bridge, do you think we could hold the ship until help arrives?"
"No, Captain, the Replicators will just take over systems directly and use them," Sam answered. "We'd need to keep them away from all engine systems as well as engineering."
"That seems highly unlikely to happen." Data looked to Hsiao. "Subcommander, status on the incoming carrier group?"
"The Nicolas Mamatmas and her escorts are still over eight hours away," Hsiao answered.
"Very well then. I am afraid there is only one recourse left." Data keyed a third commline. "Doctor Constantine, send your medical teams and all wounded to escape pods on the upper decks, none lower than Deck 8."
"Yes Captain."
"Commander Kharaste, enable those you can spare from the firing line to evacuate to escape pods on Deck 8 and above," Data ordered, standing up. "I will be down shortly to join you in overseeing the defense of Main Engineering and all free sections containing scuttling charges."
"I will be expecting you, Captain," was the Taloran's terse reply.
Data looked to those remaining on the bridge. "Report to the escape pods immediately." Seeing a hint of intention to object, Data added, "This is a direct order. Glinn Torcet, I place you in charge of overseeing the evacuation of Decks 1 and 2. And you are to join it if at all possible."
The Cardassian nodded sternly. "Yes Captain."
With that done, Data keyed the ship's main computer. "Computer, this is Captain Data, Identification Code Data Charlie Oscar Tango Tango Zulu Sierra Zulu. Set automated scuttling charges on all decks."
Data looked to Tarak, who spoke up next. "Computer, this is 2nd Rank Glinn Tarak Torcet, Identification Code Torcet Whiskey Oscar November Victor Victor Charlie Lima. Set automated scuttling charges on all decks."
"Computer, this is Lieutenant Ziva David-Oded, Identification Code David Charlie Oscar Lima Victor Sierra India Foxtrot. Set automated scuttling charges on all decks."
The slightly feminine voice of the computer system spoke aloud. "Scuttling charges activated. Awaiting time input."
"Set for ten minutes, Authorization Code Data Sierra Tango Victor."
The main screen lit up with a red countdown of ten minutes. "Ship destruct code initiated. Ten minute countdown." The announcement filled the ship, along with telltale red lights at various displays to warn the crew that the scuttling charges were set.
With that, Data and his command crew evacuated the Bridge.
”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt
"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia
American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.
DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia
American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.
DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
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The Duchess of Zeon
- Gözde
- Posts: 14566
- Joined: 2002-09-18 01:06am
- Location: Exiled in the Pale of Settlement.
Re: "The Last Woman Standing" - SG1/TGG Multiverse
A picture of Maedhv's No-Ship the Xihuatlatl with an ISD by it for scaling purposes. The ship was Maedhv's flagship at the Battle of Terra in Golden Lanka and is somewhat showing her age despite constant repair efforts by the nanite maintenance and repair systems and swarms of maintenance bots, due to the lack of certain parts they can't easily manufacture new aboard the vessel. Broadly it has about one-third of the firepower of Nirrti's flagship the Lord Krishna in Golden Lanka, and was the largest Asvin design, but the Asvins favoured more, smaller ships and so built rather more of them than the Sarasavsati did of their Great Ships.
The threshold for inclusion in Wikipedia is verifiability, not truth. -- Wikipedia's No Original Research policy page.
In 1966 the Soviets find something on the dark side of the Moon. In 2104 they come back. -- Red Banner / White Star, a nBSG continuation story. Updated to Chapter 4.0 -- 14 January 2013.
In 1966 the Soviets find something on the dark side of the Moon. In 2104 they come back. -- Red Banner / White Star, a nBSG continuation story. Updated to Chapter 4.0 -- 14 January 2013.
Re: "The Last Woman Standing" - SG1/TGG Multiverse
Isn't that the Aether/Warp Nacelle from the HMS Enterprize, from the steampunk ST site?
And I'm noticing quite a number of technologies listed onboard the No-ship from multiple universes. That and the name 'No-Ship' itself just screams a certain novel series as well. I wonder if anyone that's a telepath that goes aboard it suddenly goes blind/deaf/mute in their ESP senses?
And I'm noticing quite a number of technologies listed onboard the No-ship from multiple universes. That and the name 'No-Ship' itself just screams a certain novel series as well. I wonder if anyone that's a telepath that goes aboard it suddenly goes blind/deaf/mute in their ESP senses?
Macross Daedalus Attack: Because nothing says "Frak You" like punching them in the face with an aircraft carrier.
Macross Frontier Version: Unless you use 2 aircraft carriers.
☟ Named after a g/f! Sheesh, stop asking. ☟
Macross Frontier Version: Unless you use 2 aircraft carriers.
☟ Named after a g/f! Sheesh, stop asking. ☟
-
The Duchess of Zeon
- Gözde
- Posts: 14566
- Joined: 2002-09-18 01:06am
- Location: Exiled in the Pale of Settlement.
Re: "The Last Woman Standing" - SG1/TGG Multiverse
barricade wrote:Isn't that the Aether/Warp Nacelle from the HMS Enterprize, from the steampunk ST site?
And I'm noticing quite a number of technologies listed onboard the No-ship from multiple universes. That and the name 'No-Ship' itself just screams a certain novel series as well. I wonder if anyone that's a telepath that goes aboard it suddenly goes blind/deaf/mute in their ESP senses?
The Asvins were the originators of many of those technologies. Whether or not Herbert had access to Secret Knowledge of the Past will be addressed later, but the comparison was explicitly made earlier in the story by Maedhv:
"In your language, I will call them a No-Ship, a term you will be familiar with from your science fiction, yes?"
But no, it's not from the HMS Enterprize in the steampunk ST site--it was actually based off someone's rendering of what they thought Nemo's Nautilus looked like in Verne's 20,000 Leagues under the Sea. I considered that to be a suitable aesthetic, and some minor editing produced the shape I wanted.
The threshold for inclusion in Wikipedia is verifiability, not truth. -- Wikipedia's No Original Research policy page.
In 1966 the Soviets find something on the dark side of the Moon. In 2104 they come back. -- Red Banner / White Star, a nBSG continuation story. Updated to Chapter 4.0 -- 14 January 2013.
In 1966 the Soviets find something on the dark side of the Moon. In 2104 they come back. -- Red Banner / White Star, a nBSG continuation story. Updated to Chapter 4.0 -- 14 January 2013.
Re: "The Last Woman Standing" - SG1/TGG Multiverse
Ah, hmm, I missed that line.
So at least Herbert was a 'real' author in the universes that have been connected so far correct? Although, from a certain POV (gah, I'm turning into Obi-Wan), you could be saying that Herbert knew that the Dunverse actually existed, as Maedhv is likely not pulling that term out of a hat.
As for the reference, I meant from here:
http://www.steam-trek.com/ship_overview.php
So at least Herbert was a 'real' author in the universes that have been connected so far correct? Although, from a certain POV (gah, I'm turning into Obi-Wan), you could be saying that Herbert knew that the Dunverse actually existed, as Maedhv is likely not pulling that term out of a hat.
As for the reference, I meant from here:
http://www.steam-trek.com/ship_overview.php
Macross Daedalus Attack: Because nothing says "Frak You" like punching them in the face with an aircraft carrier.
Macross Frontier Version: Unless you use 2 aircraft carriers.
☟ Named after a g/f! Sheesh, stop asking. ☟
Macross Frontier Version: Unless you use 2 aircraft carriers.
☟ Named after a g/f! Sheesh, stop asking. ☟
-
The Duchess of Zeon
- Gözde
- Posts: 14566
- Joined: 2002-09-18 01:06am
- Location: Exiled in the Pale of Settlement.
Re: "The Last Woman Standing" - SG1/TGG Multiverse
None of the details of the story of Dune existed here, barricade. It's just that thematic elements are echoing through the details of this story, and Dune is some kind of.... Psychospiritual history of the past with no connection to the details but a lot of connection to the enitre universal myth, or universal plan, of the human species via collective unconsciousness.
The threshold for inclusion in Wikipedia is verifiability, not truth. -- Wikipedia's No Original Research policy page.
In 1966 the Soviets find something on the dark side of the Moon. In 2104 they come back. -- Red Banner / White Star, a nBSG continuation story. Updated to Chapter 4.0 -- 14 January 2013.
In 1966 the Soviets find something on the dark side of the Moon. In 2104 they come back. -- Red Banner / White Star, a nBSG continuation story. Updated to Chapter 4.0 -- 14 January 2013.
Re: "The Last Woman Standing" - SG1/TGG Multiverse
So in other words, what Herbert 'envisioned' is likely a somewhat flawed understanding of one of the universes, or one of the overriding 'themes', for lack of a better term, of the multiverse itself? And as by himself he couldn't fully/completely understand the truths being showed him, he stumbled through as best as possible, and tried to write down what parts he could understand, or at least put to words so that others could understand.
Macross Daedalus Attack: Because nothing says "Frak You" like punching them in the face with an aircraft carrier.
Macross Frontier Version: Unless you use 2 aircraft carriers.
☟ Named after a g/f! Sheesh, stop asking. ☟
Macross Frontier Version: Unless you use 2 aircraft carriers.
☟ Named after a g/f! Sheesh, stop asking. ☟
-
The Duchess of Zeon
- Gözde
- Posts: 14566
- Joined: 2002-09-18 01:06am
- Location: Exiled in the Pale of Settlement.
Re: "The Last Woman Standing" - SG1/TGG Multiverse
barricade wrote:So in other words, what Herbert 'envisioned' is likely a somewhat flawed understanding of one of the universes, or one of the overriding 'themes', for lack of a better term, of the multiverse itself? And as by himself he couldn't fully/completely understand the truths being showed him, he stumbled through as best as possible, and tried to write down what parts he could understand, or at least put to words so that others could understand.
Correct.
The threshold for inclusion in Wikipedia is verifiability, not truth. -- Wikipedia's No Original Research policy page.
In 1966 the Soviets find something on the dark side of the Moon. In 2104 they come back. -- Red Banner / White Star, a nBSG continuation story. Updated to Chapter 4.0 -- 14 January 2013.
In 1966 the Soviets find something on the dark side of the Moon. In 2104 they come back. -- Red Banner / White Star, a nBSG continuation story. Updated to Chapter 4.0 -- 14 January 2013.
Re: "The Last Woman Standing" - SG1/TGG Multiverse
Chapter 12
USS Prometheus, In Orbit over Kuahuatl, Goa'uld Territory
Universe Designate SRC-19
The Prometheus and crew were drawn steadily into the bay, and behind them, the doors to the huge cavern were closed; the ship continued into one of the large, nearby docking bays. There were others that continued deep, deep back into the ship, but they were smaller. There, huge modular segments were being rapidly connected by some sort of liquid metal-masses of nanites, in fact--to form a perfect docking cradle for the Prometheus which shortly engulfed her and locked her into place with heavy thuds along the hull. The process had only taken another five minutes at most, and, ironically, had lasted longer than the battle. It was clear that they would not leaving without the permission of the ship's commanding officer, however, that much was clear.
"Okay. The ship's secured. What do you want me to do now, my love?"
"Locate my signal on the bridge and 'subfold everyone in this room to wherever you are in the ship," Maedhv answered eagerly, and then somewhat responsibly glanced up and around. "Ladies and gentlemen, we're going to fold again, just to warn you."
Sadly, 'warning' in Maedhv's case was a split-second, but at least they were given some kind of advance notice, and were used to it by now to boot. That left only slight looks of disorientation as Zaria, Nate, Jack, Daniel, and Teal'c found themselves with the still sitting Maedhv, folded in lotus posture, in a bridge that was truly extravagant.
And waiting for them, at last, was Alarita: The creature was as tall as Maedhv, with sharp shock white alabaster skin oddly trending toward gray; alert, attentive yellow wolf's eyes, and wolf's ears ascending out of gray-white hair that ran down the back of the body. Dressed in a leather vest pulled lightly over an ornate and rufled blouse, the creature certainly had enough of a bosom to be considered female.... But, disregarding the wolf's tail out of the back, waving happily as a faintly alien face looked with desperate eagerness, and the creature moved swiftly to Maedhv's side, falling to its knees... Well, the pants were more chaps, and modesty in this case included a codpiece; all covered in turn by a microskirt which seemed there more for ornamentation. Nothing was shown, but it was clear something was Not Quite Right as Shi dived in, faintly furred and wolflike hands, noticeable claws, still quite dextrous as shi asked Maedhv in a bit of strangled surprise: "Pregnant!?"
But the word, of course, was in Ancient; it was only as Maedhv reached up and gently put a hand to Alarita's body and the hermaphrodite wolf-creature stopped in mid-sentence, as though choking with an abrupt pain, and then glanced about. "Well, urgh, hello there, companions," the voice came out now in English--it was clear that with the briefest of touches, Maedhv had simply dumped the language into her lover's brain like a quick upload.
The next question, directed toward everyone--there was a rather noticeable look in Zaria's direction, which meant shi was taking nothing for granted--was accompanied by a soft growl. "Who's the sire?"
The question, however, only made Maedhv break down into peals of laughter. "Oh by all dark gods and vengeful spirits, Alarita, we meet for the first time in aeons and your first thought is to go beat up my other partners and establish yourself as the Alpha? He's not here; I stole these kindly peoples' ship to get back to you."
Alarita sniffed, snorted, and then rose and delicately bowed toward the humans. "Then, strangers, I apologize for Maedhv's behaviour. She is the last of her kind as much as I am of mine; Alarita Curoi'larijh, at your service, ghoula-Vizier of the Queen of Alteras... And more importantly, she's my mate." A delicate glance was directed toward Maedhv, as though fishing for information.
"They know everything," Maedhv said simply.
The others, speechless until this point, finally broke their silence through Daniel, who in Ancient said, "Ah, Alarita. I've heard so much about you."
"This is Alarita," Jack said, showing a lot of bewilderment. "I was expecting someone a bit more... annoying."
"Oh good, someone who can speak the old language. Direct neural uploads to backup memory storage still.... Hurt like hell to process, basically." Nonetheless, with a hand to hir head, the hermaphrodite continued coolly in English for Jack's benefit: "I bet she saved the part about me being a freed fetish slave for a surprise, though. Maedhv gets like that."
Jack's mouth hung open as he nearly spoke, then suddenly found himself uncertain of how to respond. Zaria made a half-giggle and said, "I guess I shouldn't be surprised" while smirking at an equally surprised Nate.
"I am only recently familiar with the concept of 'fetish' among the Tau'ri," Teal'c remarked stoically. "But I am not familiar with how it applies to a being like you, Alarita. Nor can I fathom why you would still be loyal to your slave master."
"Love is a powerful thing," Daniel pointed out, a bit of a blush on his face. "I am Doctor Daniel Jackson, Alarita, and I'm about the only one here who understands Ancient."
"Hey, Teal'c and I spent a long time studying it with you," Jack responded defensively. "We were even better at it than you for a while."
"That was during that whole time-loop thing four years ago that only you and Teal'c remember, Jack," Daniel retorted. "And I haven't seen either of you use it that much since."
"Well, we figured that'd be horning in on your job."
"So your lover is a hermaphrodite?" Nate asked, still seeming a bit stunned. "And a human-wolf hybrid at that?"
"Why is this odd? Shi is one of the milder fetish-slave options available in Asvin society... I had a reputation among my peers as a prude, as a matter of fact, Nate," Maedhv laughed softly, and then turned serious. "In no small part due to the disgusting practice of the intense pleasure they'd receive from enjoying the feedback loops we can develop with highly empathic telepaths who naturally respond to the emotions of others. Their pain is our pleasure is their pleasure is our's, in a cycle of compounding enjoyment. And I never partook. But what do you think we engineered Betazeds for?" With Alarita's help, Maedhv unsteadily rose to her feet in the midst of the brilliant blue and green and red-coloured bridge, festooned with cushions and with a bit of a splendid, crazed Mesoamerican or Peruvian appearance to it, full of grand display readouts and vast holoprojects which were constantly updating the system information.
"Betazeds?" Zaria looked directly at Maedhv. "You're saying Asvins created the Betazoids?"
"Yes. And your species as well, as a baseline for parasitic fusion experiments."
Maedhv, however, was in no mood to stop, continuing with a growing hint of fury: "It's true, what the Ancients said about Asvin society. We were some of the most evil people imaginable. I custom ordered Alarita from a network catalogue, more or less. Took a basic planetary tracking model which had canine sensory capabilities and spiced it up a bit to give me someone who would be more liable to resist. Shi's a ghoula; I could kill hir right now, shi'd wake up, and be back on the bridge in an hour, seeing as how a copy of hir genetic material is held in the ship in combination with a backup of hir mind. That lets the discerning slavemaster keep a slave alive through thousands of incidences of torturing to death or whatever without losing the distinct personality. That. Is the society I came from."
"Well, now I can see why the Ancients feel the way they do," Jack remarked. "Are you sure the Goa'uld didn't find any old Asvin history books? Sounds like they could've learned a lot from your people. In a bad way, I mean."
"Ah, yes, declare how their own enslavement of me was justified, and how I need to be killed, doubtless, Jack. Go ahead and boast about your moral superiourity. But you know what? When my people were gleefully butchering the totalitarians of the Sarasavsati, and they us, and gods we both were evil, I'm not denying it--But! I was the one who sat down with our mortal enemies of a thousand year war , drank the cup of poison, and made peace. I am the one who ended the practice of slavery! I am the one who made Alarita not merely a free citizen but my Vizier and formal mate when I founded Alteras. I ended the caste system!"
"You were killing them for doing their jobs, y'know, scientific stuff?", Jack shot back. "You didn't think of any better way to stop them and you blame them for wanting to bring you down?"
"Yes, I do, Jack, because they were threatening the resumption of an intergalactic war that had killed my entire family, and which I destroyed my own prestige and honour to make and fought until all I cared about was dead to defend," Maedhv replied, shaking her head. "They were violating my direct ordres and researching technology which would have brought the full strength of Nirrti's Golden Horde down on our heads. She still lurks now, in the uncharted outer reaches of the various universes. She knows I am awake again. She would have known if I had broken our second pact, too, or if the Alternas had done it for me. I was saving their lives... And they tried to kill themselves anyway. Then their entire society betrayed me when I took necessary actions to protect us all. Nothing good's come out of trying to protect people from their own idiotic errors in my life, unfortunately, but I've tried anyway."
She turned to Zaria, then. "Do you start to see, now? Could any peaceful process of ending war or oppression have taken place successfully without someone on the inside of the power structure willing to compromise? You are an educated scientist; you surely realize that's the truth." She looked back to the entirety of the assembled, then, and continued quietly. "To reference your recent world history--could Gandhi have succeeded without Atlee? Could Mandela have succeeded without De Klerk? Would the serfs of Russia have been liberated without Tsar Alexander the Second? It was Nixon who made peace with communist China, a reviled figure who committed crimes, and yet don't they pale before that accomplishment of bringing about detente with the most populous nation on your branch of Earth? It is not like I even hold true to the customs of my people any longer personally, either."
As the object of Maedhv's remarks, Zaria was forced to nod. As horrible as the Asvin seemed to have been - and as stunned as she was by the idea that her entire race was a creation of their's, an idea she wasn't entirely convinced of - her own judgement and the grudging agreement of a mortified Cadmilis said that Maedhv was not a part of that, not anymore. "I see your point. Otherwise I imagine you wouldn't have made that offer to me earlier, you just would have compelled me to agree."
"And what of the misguided Tau'ri you have taken in as followers back on Earth?", Teal'c asked. "I have seen such individuals before. They are in truth little more than slaves without chains, held in thrall to you. I am not convinced you have fully ended your desire to keep slaves."
"Do they want for anything, even freedom? You have my word, Teal'c, I didn't compel them. I just wanted companionship in my travels through life, and they provide it to me. And for an immortal being that is a hard thing to come by--I find companionship necessarily in lineal families where I am friends with many generations, instead of just a few people. I nurtured those people and gave them purpose in their lives--I am their sage, not their mistress. I will go back to Earth, take them with me, and they will live here as they did there. Didn't I let one become the father of my child, after all? Though she will be born with a genetic code entirely of the High Caste, that was an unforgivable blood crime in my old society, for us to reproduce with the lower castes, even when the genes were corrected to our norm. Surely my daughter will not make a slave of her father; surely, you might acknowledge, that I have drunk a surfeit of violence in my life, and they I will not do violence against their freedom now."
Alarita's expression changed to one of obvious shock as shi heard that, and hir expression grew to a bright grin, and she leaned up, and kissed hir lover on the cheek before looking to Teal'c. "Does that answer your question, good Sir? Though it has taken me a hundred thousand years, I set her on the course where, now, on being reunited, I find she has willingly committed the greatest crime a High Caste could commit--bearing offspring of her own body with a member of the lowered polluted races. It is that path of development which made me stay my hand when I once had the chance to kill her, I still maintain it was quite worthwhile to work to reform this woman, as you can see. I do believe that individuals can change, and especially so over the length of time in which we have been together. I am her ward and her lover at once; and if nothing else, you may be assured that I will not visit enslavement upon anyone, and nor shall see, whilst I remain here, and am beloved to her."
"I have heard many Goa'uld lords insist that they held my people as willing servants and not slaves, far too many to easily trust your assurances," Teal'c responded.
"It's a fair point," Alarita answered, hir look severe. "I can't say I can precisely prove my defence; you have, after all, not been around her for nearly so long as I. But you saw the power I have over this ship. This, she abandoned in my favour. That is not the act of a tyrant."
"Goa'uld have given snippets of power over their First Primes or Jaffa Councilors before because they trusted that they could reclaim it when they wished," Teal'c pointed out. "And she seemed to have little choice in the matter when she sent you away from the ship."
"How many, Teal'c, have given that power to someone clasp to their breast, with a disintegrator bomb in hir hand?" Alarita replied softly. "She is worn out, exhausted of the killing. This I promise you, though I do not ask you to believe it. Trust, though, that if you treat her honourably she will return the favour; I'm aware of what she promised you. It will be delivered."
Teal'c gave a stern gaze toward the two ancient lovers. "It is not my way to trust people such as your's." He glanced his eyes toward Daniel. "However, I do trust Daniel Jackson's judgement, and he seems convinced that your sentiments are genuine. That will have to do."
"It will have to do," Alarita agreed softly.
"Thank you, dear," Maedhv answered with a shake of her head as she looked to Zaria. "The offer was sincere. Can you not imagine the prospects for science that a million years spent with the sensors aboard this ship to play with her, her underutilized computer banks to fill, could have for your knowledge of the cosmos? It's still open. No restrictions."
"Kill her?", Daniel asked quizzingly, interrupting the conversation with his urgent curiousity. "I was under the impression that it would be virtually impossible to kill a being like Maedhv."
"Mmmm-hmm, a suicide disintegrator bomb," Alarita answered, "While a telepath was brought about under a No-field with orders to activate one of the high realm wave dysfunction devices. It's about the only way for mortals to kill a Golden Condor, and it requires you catch them in the right mental state, too. Though, I hope you'll forgive me if I don't provide you further details on how to kill the only person I have to spend eternity with." Shi glanced to Zaria. "And she is being honest, though..." Shi dropped to Maedhv's side and growled softly. "Consult me."
"Oh, of course." Nate shrugged. "Wouldn't want any of us to get ideas, and 'suicide disintegrator bomb' isn't really my kind of thing." He rather pointedly ignored the gestures of affection between the two, which left him distinctly uncomfortable in some way where homosexuality would not.
"Shi didn't even bother to tell me until afterwards about the plan and her decision, too, though it was, I admit, suitably dramatic," Maedhv muttered as she finally relented to the rather insistent stare of Alarita, having had to first provide a suitable riposte to the accusation of her slightly philandering nature, and then through some sort of silent exchange let Alarita lead her to one of the cushioned acceleration couches. "That was during the revolts at our system-sphere which led to the collapse of the Silver Age, the Second Empire if you will, whereas Alteras was the Third, or the Bronze Age," Maedhv then continued.
Nate stepped beside Zaria and remarked, in a soft and low voice, "Are you really thinking about it?"
"Cadmilis is not very pleased with the idea," Zaria replied just as softly, "but I am tempted. Though Alarita seems a bit too territorial for some of what Maedhv may have had in mind. Besides, I'm not harem girl material."
In a louder voice, Daniel asked, "So you're going to offer your followers a chance to live with you on this ship, to leave Earth behind?"
"I promised them that someday a great starship would be coming to take them off of Earth," Maedhv replied. "Should I intentionally have lied to them and promised on something I wouldn't deliver on? Of course I'm going to offer it, and you had better not try to stop me. They have their own free will to choose to accompany me."
"Well, that's their choice," Daniel answered.
"Indeed it is," Maedhv agreed, and then: "Anyway!" Her voice picked up and she snapped, now that she was relaxing more comfortably, into a rather decisive mode. "Gentlemen, Zaria, do forgive me for being so mistrusting of you. I will repay you the theft of your ship by going off to save the Gray Star from the Replicators now, and finish off the same. Would you like some refreshments as we head out?"
Alarita, then, shifted toward one of the other large display consoles and settled there, grabbing a cord from the chair which shi slotted into a part of hir neck with casual and practiced ease.. And was typing on top of it. Clearly the rate of data transfer required was very prodiguous, Maedhv had brought down a similar console while a silver-gray tendril of nanites moved to connect with her neck, rather more seamlessly. "Mmm, almost the entire ship is engulfed?" Shi asked.
"As best as I can see," Maedhv answered.
To that Jack said, "Then let's go finish the job we started. It's about time we got rid of those damned things."
"Then I'm going to need the help of your personnel and the crew on the Prometheus," Maedhv answered. "Because replicators are based off of Alteran, or Asvin technology--though I didn't create them! I have been honest about the Wraith so you can count that I really didn't, I think--I can't just disperse them easily. They're shielded to an extent against my abilities. We will need to use nanite field-disruptor grenades to take them out, corridor by corridor and room by room. The fields will disrupt and shut them down even through walls on a ship like your's, but we will need a lot of armed personnel. I can provide powered combat armour which is resistant to their attacks, at least to an extent, and which is very friendly to use--it just reads off your neural impulses and moves with you. You can literally drop an educated savage in it and turn them into a much better warrior, let alone the members of your crew. Fitted with a mixture of hand grenades and automatic grenade launchers, you should be able to sweep the ship fairly quickly, and I'll directly aide you where I can, since I can overwhelm their defences if I focus my abilities. I'll even let you keep the power armour and the grenade launchers when the battle is over."
"Yeah, that's a good offer," Jack answered, before continuing, "or you could just use your space-folding-thingy to move the Gray Star to Dakara and we'll have the Device wipe the bugs out."
"Ah, right. That is something I hadn't thought about. Well, I'm too weak to fold personally, but fortunately for you that isn't an issue." She glanced forward. "Alarita, is the No-field online and functioning within norms?"
"It is, Maedhv. We can activate on your command."
"Well, let me send a short message back to Earth, and then we'll be begin the probability calculation sequence," Maedhv answered.
A moment of pinging later, and an image opened with a black haired, tall, pregnant woman with green eyes answering. She looked shocked to the point of religious awe, and bowed... She had also clearly been topless, just pulling it on as it occurred to her modesty might be important before the image of the gods before her. Or so it seemed. Instead...
"Guru?" She nervously asked. "We have been so surprised! But you are well?"
"Quite. Henceforth it is merely necessary to call me Maedhv, Erin," Maedhv answered, accentuating slightly from her nominal legal name. "I am coming with the No-Ship I promised, on the 'morrow, to lead you all to the stars. Begin to pack--everything of value we may take with us."
"Ahh... Tomorrow!?" The eyes widened with shock and then hope as the woman bowed. "Of couse, Maedhv... I, though that seems so..."
"Terribly informal? Well, I have come into my own, and now you don't need titles to see that," Maedhv answered. "My second is here, the keeper of the ship, my mate Alarita, and together we shall all travel beyond the bounds of the galaxy. Make the necessary preparations, I ask you; I don't want to tarry long over Earth on the 'morrow. It would be impolite."
"Of course, ..Maedhv. And thank you. Thank you because.." She took a breath, Erin did, and nearly looked to be crying. "I dreamed but..."
"Some dreams really do come true," Maedhv smiled indulgently. "See you tomorrow--though I'll activate this channel again in a few hours to check on how preparations are going."
"Don't strain yourself when with child," Maedhv reminded gently. She cut the message, apparently quite satisfied.
Near Forks, Washington
Earth, United States of America
Former NID agent Sid Sattler was one of the top operatives in the Trust who was still unaware of his bosses having been taken over by Goa'uld hosts. The thin, unassuming man of brown hair and blue eyes was sitting in the back of a dark van, gun in hand, as the group of operatives and hired guns made their way into the Washington countryside.
"Remember, we don't want anyone dead. Not yet," Sattler remarked. "These people are poor brainwashed saps being held against their will by a Snakehead, and we're here to get the Snakehead's goodies first and foremost. Kill only if we need to." He was answered by a series of nods.
"Also, remember your fake IDs," Sattler added, holding up his own to identify himself as an entirely different NID operative. The others showed the same. "We're going in as NID with the authority to take over the operation. Once we're established we'll quietly get everyone else out of the way so we can get to looking for the alien technology." Another series of nods answered him.
They arrived at the Temple of the Wheel of Dharma with it already having been secured. Adults and children looked on nervously at the armed men milling about while the van came to a stop at the central building of the compound. Sattler led everyone in getting out, pulling his own fake ID badge out to identify himself. "I'm Agent Louis Callahan," he informed the first man who came up as introduction. "NID. We're here to take over."
"Okay, Agent Callahan, I'm Agent Joe Sacklin," the youngish-looking FBI agent replied. "I'm kinda surprised they sent you all the way from Washington for this raid, we were ordered out here with the Border Patrol on suspicion that they were harboring illegals, but we've found no signs of them. No guns, either."
"We've been keeping an eye on this cult and their leader for some time," Sattler answered. "We believe that they may pose a threat to national security and possess classified information. Because of you and your men not having the right clearance level, we need you to keep away from the central building while we search it. Just keep the peace out here."
"Yes sir, Agent Callahan," Sacklin answered, leaving Sattler and his men to enter the central compound unmolested.
Erin Fitzgerald stood as the leader of the group, the most trusted of Maedhv's humans, watching darkly as the other men arrived. She rather suspected they were powerful ones, having a hint of the communication that was going on from the high ways that she had been taught. But they would keep the faith; only just before - hours before! - had Maedhv promised to be coming soon with her great ship, the Guru from the sky, and this was merely a moment of tribulation. She gathered her coat around her, and approached the nearest of the regular FBI personnel milling around. "Forgive me, Sir, but if my knowledge of the law is correct, only officers of the law can execute a warrant. Are the men who've just arrived sworn officers of the law? They're not marked like the rest of your personnel."
"They're special personnel," was the laconic answer; the FBI, like other agencies, was under standing order to not freely discuss the NID.
"Very well," Erin sighed softly, and turned back to walk over to Markus in the group, the sire of the Guru's unborn child. "Markus, take note of those men in case it becomes legally important, if you would," she whispered softly, the man having excellent memory.
"Alright, Erin," he answered rather tautly, watching them finishing going inside while Erin joined most of the other women in setting down with their skirts folded on the grass, waiting patiently.
Sattler and his people were using the scanning devices they'd been provided to look over the central structure with a fine-tooth comb, seeking any signs of Goa'uld or other advanced tech to be recovered. So far they'd found nothing but some unknown power sources, clearly not from a grid. This led them to what was clearly the room of "the Guru", the suspected Snakehead. "Definitely something here," he remarked to the others, reading the low-level power source. But there was nothing to be found. "Have them bring us some cultists, maybe they've seen something."
Erin had frowned when she was separated from the others, clearly being the leader, and led downstairs into the great temple, and the sacred room. She was not surprised to see the unmarked agents there, and folded her arms as she entered. "Is there something I can help you gentlemen with? These rooms are the private sanctum of the Guru, you know..." She added a trace testily, but then shrugged, "Though I admit your legal right to search them."
"Thank you for that, Miss. Speaking of your Guru... what can you tell me about her? Ever see her up to... interesting stuff in this room?"
"Ah, well, she makes the golden door appear, and sometimes she talks to the walls in the old language," Erin answered simply, and then smiled very faintly. "I'm not sure whether or not the golden door could actually be found, but it's in the middle of the far wall. I have never seen it except when she is present, and wished for it to be seen."
"And that's it?" Sattler nodded to one of his men. "Okay, get everyone out of here. Set the charges."
Erin sucked in her breath, but then bowed slightly in respect to the room, her eyes closing. There was nothing more to be said; the government would destroy it at will, but the Guru was returning swiftly, and she allowed herself to be led out.
Within seconds of everyone being out of the room an explosion rocked the structure. It was a focused charge and didn't make the building unsound, but it would knock down any hidden door. They re-entered the room to find that despite the explosion the wall still remained completely intact.
"God dammit, something's not right here," Sattler remarked, walking toward the unchanged wall. He reached for the wall to feel it.
And his hand passed right through.
"What the Hell?" He looked to the others. "Some kind of hologram, then. Okay, Robbins, Lewis, you're with me, Horace, you stay here." With that order given Sattler swallowed and stepped into the wall and the chamber beyond.
Erin, listening outside, from where she had been escorted by the FBI agents when ordered to depart, could only bow her head and softly weep, as did many of the others, at the desecration of a sacred place, and hope that the Guru would swiftly return. There was nothing else left to be done.
Gray Star, Alliance Space
Universe Designate AR-12
The counter was getting to eight minutes with a number of life pods full enough that they were being launched. Data observed the first launch via instruments from Main Engineering, while another display showed the advance of the Replicators through the ship. "I calculate that we must buy five more minutes before we can safely evacuate without giving the Replicators time to disable enough charges to prevent the destruction of the ship," he remarked to Kharaste and Sam, who was busy readying the naquadah reactor to overload as a backup to the self-destruct. "Colonel, you should join the evacuation as soon as your preparations are done."
"That's not necessary, Captain," Sam answered.
"Your expertise with this technology is of great value to your people," Data pointed out to her. "Your presence is not necessary and would be a waste."
Sam looked over and up at him from where she was operating the reactor controls. "I'm not in the habit of abandoning people to be blown up."
"Nor am I, but... I have been blown up before, and I calculate a point zero zero six percent chance I would survive this occasion in some salvagable condition. Your chance of survival is as impossible as mathematics permits," Data said. "Therefore..."
"Captain, our remaining sensors are detecting a massive space distortion," Kharaste reported from across Main Engineering. "Whatever it is, it's... big."
"On screen." A Minbari-style holographic display came down above them from the ceiling, showing a massive vessel, at least eighteen kilometers in length by Data's preliminary estimate given a nearby life pod on the screen, coming alongside them.
"By the Lord Justice, what is that?" Kharaste gasped.
"Colonel Carter, do you recognize this vessel or its configuration?", Data asked.
"No, no I don't," was her astonished response. "But if I had to guess..."
Moments later Nate appeared nearby, "phased" might be the best term, with Jack, Zaria, and Teal'c alongside. Seeing the self-destruct counter on, Nate said, "Captain, cancel the scuttling!"
Slightly widening his eyes and making subtle shifts in facial expression to show bewilderment, Data remarked, "General, it is imperative that we prevent the Replicators..."
"Don't worry about the Replibugs, Her Mightyness has her big honking spaceship back," Jack answered, "and we have a plan."
USS Prometheus, In Orbit over Kuahuatl, Goa'uld Territory
Universe Designate SRC-19
The Prometheus and crew were drawn steadily into the bay, and behind them, the doors to the huge cavern were closed; the ship continued into one of the large, nearby docking bays. There were others that continued deep, deep back into the ship, but they were smaller. There, huge modular segments were being rapidly connected by some sort of liquid metal-masses of nanites, in fact--to form a perfect docking cradle for the Prometheus which shortly engulfed her and locked her into place with heavy thuds along the hull. The process had only taken another five minutes at most, and, ironically, had lasted longer than the battle. It was clear that they would not leaving without the permission of the ship's commanding officer, however, that much was clear.
"Okay. The ship's secured. What do you want me to do now, my love?"
"Locate my signal on the bridge and 'subfold everyone in this room to wherever you are in the ship," Maedhv answered eagerly, and then somewhat responsibly glanced up and around. "Ladies and gentlemen, we're going to fold again, just to warn you."
Sadly, 'warning' in Maedhv's case was a split-second, but at least they were given some kind of advance notice, and were used to it by now to boot. That left only slight looks of disorientation as Zaria, Nate, Jack, Daniel, and Teal'c found themselves with the still sitting Maedhv, folded in lotus posture, in a bridge that was truly extravagant.
And waiting for them, at last, was Alarita: The creature was as tall as Maedhv, with sharp shock white alabaster skin oddly trending toward gray; alert, attentive yellow wolf's eyes, and wolf's ears ascending out of gray-white hair that ran down the back of the body. Dressed in a leather vest pulled lightly over an ornate and rufled blouse, the creature certainly had enough of a bosom to be considered female.... But, disregarding the wolf's tail out of the back, waving happily as a faintly alien face looked with desperate eagerness, and the creature moved swiftly to Maedhv's side, falling to its knees... Well, the pants were more chaps, and modesty in this case included a codpiece; all covered in turn by a microskirt which seemed there more for ornamentation. Nothing was shown, but it was clear something was Not Quite Right as Shi dived in, faintly furred and wolflike hands, noticeable claws, still quite dextrous as shi asked Maedhv in a bit of strangled surprise: "Pregnant!?"
But the word, of course, was in Ancient; it was only as Maedhv reached up and gently put a hand to Alarita's body and the hermaphrodite wolf-creature stopped in mid-sentence, as though choking with an abrupt pain, and then glanced about. "Well, urgh, hello there, companions," the voice came out now in English--it was clear that with the briefest of touches, Maedhv had simply dumped the language into her lover's brain like a quick upload.
The next question, directed toward everyone--there was a rather noticeable look in Zaria's direction, which meant shi was taking nothing for granted--was accompanied by a soft growl. "Who's the sire?"
The question, however, only made Maedhv break down into peals of laughter. "Oh by all dark gods and vengeful spirits, Alarita, we meet for the first time in aeons and your first thought is to go beat up my other partners and establish yourself as the Alpha? He's not here; I stole these kindly peoples' ship to get back to you."
Alarita sniffed, snorted, and then rose and delicately bowed toward the humans. "Then, strangers, I apologize for Maedhv's behaviour. She is the last of her kind as much as I am of mine; Alarita Curoi'larijh, at your service, ghoula-Vizier of the Queen of Alteras... And more importantly, she's my mate." A delicate glance was directed toward Maedhv, as though fishing for information.
"They know everything," Maedhv said simply.
The others, speechless until this point, finally broke their silence through Daniel, who in Ancient said, "Ah, Alarita. I've heard so much about you."
"This is Alarita," Jack said, showing a lot of bewilderment. "I was expecting someone a bit more... annoying."
"Oh good, someone who can speak the old language. Direct neural uploads to backup memory storage still.... Hurt like hell to process, basically." Nonetheless, with a hand to hir head, the hermaphrodite continued coolly in English for Jack's benefit: "I bet she saved the part about me being a freed fetish slave for a surprise, though. Maedhv gets like that."
Jack's mouth hung open as he nearly spoke, then suddenly found himself uncertain of how to respond. Zaria made a half-giggle and said, "I guess I shouldn't be surprised" while smirking at an equally surprised Nate.
"I am only recently familiar with the concept of 'fetish' among the Tau'ri," Teal'c remarked stoically. "But I am not familiar with how it applies to a being like you, Alarita. Nor can I fathom why you would still be loyal to your slave master."
"Love is a powerful thing," Daniel pointed out, a bit of a blush on his face. "I am Doctor Daniel Jackson, Alarita, and I'm about the only one here who understands Ancient."
"Hey, Teal'c and I spent a long time studying it with you," Jack responded defensively. "We were even better at it than you for a while."
"That was during that whole time-loop thing four years ago that only you and Teal'c remember, Jack," Daniel retorted. "And I haven't seen either of you use it that much since."
"Well, we figured that'd be horning in on your job."
"So your lover is a hermaphrodite?" Nate asked, still seeming a bit stunned. "And a human-wolf hybrid at that?"
"Why is this odd? Shi is one of the milder fetish-slave options available in Asvin society... I had a reputation among my peers as a prude, as a matter of fact, Nate," Maedhv laughed softly, and then turned serious. "In no small part due to the disgusting practice of the intense pleasure they'd receive from enjoying the feedback loops we can develop with highly empathic telepaths who naturally respond to the emotions of others. Their pain is our pleasure is their pleasure is our's, in a cycle of compounding enjoyment. And I never partook. But what do you think we engineered Betazeds for?" With Alarita's help, Maedhv unsteadily rose to her feet in the midst of the brilliant blue and green and red-coloured bridge, festooned with cushions and with a bit of a splendid, crazed Mesoamerican or Peruvian appearance to it, full of grand display readouts and vast holoprojects which were constantly updating the system information.
"Betazeds?" Zaria looked directly at Maedhv. "You're saying Asvins created the Betazoids?"
"Yes. And your species as well, as a baseline for parasitic fusion experiments."
Maedhv, however, was in no mood to stop, continuing with a growing hint of fury: "It's true, what the Ancients said about Asvin society. We were some of the most evil people imaginable. I custom ordered Alarita from a network catalogue, more or less. Took a basic planetary tracking model which had canine sensory capabilities and spiced it up a bit to give me someone who would be more liable to resist. Shi's a ghoula; I could kill hir right now, shi'd wake up, and be back on the bridge in an hour, seeing as how a copy of hir genetic material is held in the ship in combination with a backup of hir mind. That lets the discerning slavemaster keep a slave alive through thousands of incidences of torturing to death or whatever without losing the distinct personality. That. Is the society I came from."
"Well, now I can see why the Ancients feel the way they do," Jack remarked. "Are you sure the Goa'uld didn't find any old Asvin history books? Sounds like they could've learned a lot from your people. In a bad way, I mean."
"Ah, yes, declare how their own enslavement of me was justified, and how I need to be killed, doubtless, Jack. Go ahead and boast about your moral superiourity. But you know what? When my people were gleefully butchering the totalitarians of the Sarasavsati, and they us, and gods we both were evil, I'm not denying it--But! I was the one who sat down with our mortal enemies of a thousand year war , drank the cup of poison, and made peace. I am the one who ended the practice of slavery! I am the one who made Alarita not merely a free citizen but my Vizier and formal mate when I founded Alteras. I ended the caste system!"
"You were killing them for doing their jobs, y'know, scientific stuff?", Jack shot back. "You didn't think of any better way to stop them and you blame them for wanting to bring you down?"
"Yes, I do, Jack, because they were threatening the resumption of an intergalactic war that had killed my entire family, and which I destroyed my own prestige and honour to make and fought until all I cared about was dead to defend," Maedhv replied, shaking her head. "They were violating my direct ordres and researching technology which would have brought the full strength of Nirrti's Golden Horde down on our heads. She still lurks now, in the uncharted outer reaches of the various universes. She knows I am awake again. She would have known if I had broken our second pact, too, or if the Alternas had done it for me. I was saving their lives... And they tried to kill themselves anyway. Then their entire society betrayed me when I took necessary actions to protect us all. Nothing good's come out of trying to protect people from their own idiotic errors in my life, unfortunately, but I've tried anyway."
She turned to Zaria, then. "Do you start to see, now? Could any peaceful process of ending war or oppression have taken place successfully without someone on the inside of the power structure willing to compromise? You are an educated scientist; you surely realize that's the truth." She looked back to the entirety of the assembled, then, and continued quietly. "To reference your recent world history--could Gandhi have succeeded without Atlee? Could Mandela have succeeded without De Klerk? Would the serfs of Russia have been liberated without Tsar Alexander the Second? It was Nixon who made peace with communist China, a reviled figure who committed crimes, and yet don't they pale before that accomplishment of bringing about detente with the most populous nation on your branch of Earth? It is not like I even hold true to the customs of my people any longer personally, either."
As the object of Maedhv's remarks, Zaria was forced to nod. As horrible as the Asvin seemed to have been - and as stunned as she was by the idea that her entire race was a creation of their's, an idea she wasn't entirely convinced of - her own judgement and the grudging agreement of a mortified Cadmilis said that Maedhv was not a part of that, not anymore. "I see your point. Otherwise I imagine you wouldn't have made that offer to me earlier, you just would have compelled me to agree."
"And what of the misguided Tau'ri you have taken in as followers back on Earth?", Teal'c asked. "I have seen such individuals before. They are in truth little more than slaves without chains, held in thrall to you. I am not convinced you have fully ended your desire to keep slaves."
"Do they want for anything, even freedom? You have my word, Teal'c, I didn't compel them. I just wanted companionship in my travels through life, and they provide it to me. And for an immortal being that is a hard thing to come by--I find companionship necessarily in lineal families where I am friends with many generations, instead of just a few people. I nurtured those people and gave them purpose in their lives--I am their sage, not their mistress. I will go back to Earth, take them with me, and they will live here as they did there. Didn't I let one become the father of my child, after all? Though she will be born with a genetic code entirely of the High Caste, that was an unforgivable blood crime in my old society, for us to reproduce with the lower castes, even when the genes were corrected to our norm. Surely my daughter will not make a slave of her father; surely, you might acknowledge, that I have drunk a surfeit of violence in my life, and they I will not do violence against their freedom now."
Alarita's expression changed to one of obvious shock as shi heard that, and hir expression grew to a bright grin, and she leaned up, and kissed hir lover on the cheek before looking to Teal'c. "Does that answer your question, good Sir? Though it has taken me a hundred thousand years, I set her on the course where, now, on being reunited, I find she has willingly committed the greatest crime a High Caste could commit--bearing offspring of her own body with a member of the lowered polluted races. It is that path of development which made me stay my hand when I once had the chance to kill her, I still maintain it was quite worthwhile to work to reform this woman, as you can see. I do believe that individuals can change, and especially so over the length of time in which we have been together. I am her ward and her lover at once; and if nothing else, you may be assured that I will not visit enslavement upon anyone, and nor shall see, whilst I remain here, and am beloved to her."
"I have heard many Goa'uld lords insist that they held my people as willing servants and not slaves, far too many to easily trust your assurances," Teal'c responded.
"It's a fair point," Alarita answered, hir look severe. "I can't say I can precisely prove my defence; you have, after all, not been around her for nearly so long as I. But you saw the power I have over this ship. This, she abandoned in my favour. That is not the act of a tyrant."
"Goa'uld have given snippets of power over their First Primes or Jaffa Councilors before because they trusted that they could reclaim it when they wished," Teal'c pointed out. "And she seemed to have little choice in the matter when she sent you away from the ship."
"How many, Teal'c, have given that power to someone clasp to their breast, with a disintegrator bomb in hir hand?" Alarita replied softly. "She is worn out, exhausted of the killing. This I promise you, though I do not ask you to believe it. Trust, though, that if you treat her honourably she will return the favour; I'm aware of what she promised you. It will be delivered."
Teal'c gave a stern gaze toward the two ancient lovers. "It is not my way to trust people such as your's." He glanced his eyes toward Daniel. "However, I do trust Daniel Jackson's judgement, and he seems convinced that your sentiments are genuine. That will have to do."
"It will have to do," Alarita agreed softly.
"Thank you, dear," Maedhv answered with a shake of her head as she looked to Zaria. "The offer was sincere. Can you not imagine the prospects for science that a million years spent with the sensors aboard this ship to play with her, her underutilized computer banks to fill, could have for your knowledge of the cosmos? It's still open. No restrictions."
"Kill her?", Daniel asked quizzingly, interrupting the conversation with his urgent curiousity. "I was under the impression that it would be virtually impossible to kill a being like Maedhv."
"Mmmm-hmm, a suicide disintegrator bomb," Alarita answered, "While a telepath was brought about under a No-field with orders to activate one of the high realm wave dysfunction devices. It's about the only way for mortals to kill a Golden Condor, and it requires you catch them in the right mental state, too. Though, I hope you'll forgive me if I don't provide you further details on how to kill the only person I have to spend eternity with." Shi glanced to Zaria. "And she is being honest, though..." Shi dropped to Maedhv's side and growled softly. "Consult me."
"Oh, of course." Nate shrugged. "Wouldn't want any of us to get ideas, and 'suicide disintegrator bomb' isn't really my kind of thing." He rather pointedly ignored the gestures of affection between the two, which left him distinctly uncomfortable in some way where homosexuality would not.
"Shi didn't even bother to tell me until afterwards about the plan and her decision, too, though it was, I admit, suitably dramatic," Maedhv muttered as she finally relented to the rather insistent stare of Alarita, having had to first provide a suitable riposte to the accusation of her slightly philandering nature, and then through some sort of silent exchange let Alarita lead her to one of the cushioned acceleration couches. "That was during the revolts at our system-sphere which led to the collapse of the Silver Age, the Second Empire if you will, whereas Alteras was the Third, or the Bronze Age," Maedhv then continued.
Nate stepped beside Zaria and remarked, in a soft and low voice, "Are you really thinking about it?"
"Cadmilis is not very pleased with the idea," Zaria replied just as softly, "but I am tempted. Though Alarita seems a bit too territorial for some of what Maedhv may have had in mind. Besides, I'm not harem girl material."
In a louder voice, Daniel asked, "So you're going to offer your followers a chance to live with you on this ship, to leave Earth behind?"
"I promised them that someday a great starship would be coming to take them off of Earth," Maedhv replied. "Should I intentionally have lied to them and promised on something I wouldn't deliver on? Of course I'm going to offer it, and you had better not try to stop me. They have their own free will to choose to accompany me."
"Well, that's their choice," Daniel answered.
"Indeed it is," Maedhv agreed, and then: "Anyway!" Her voice picked up and she snapped, now that she was relaxing more comfortably, into a rather decisive mode. "Gentlemen, Zaria, do forgive me for being so mistrusting of you. I will repay you the theft of your ship by going off to save the Gray Star from the Replicators now, and finish off the same. Would you like some refreshments as we head out?"
Alarita, then, shifted toward one of the other large display consoles and settled there, grabbing a cord from the chair which shi slotted into a part of hir neck with casual and practiced ease.. And was typing on top of it. Clearly the rate of data transfer required was very prodiguous, Maedhv had brought down a similar console while a silver-gray tendril of nanites moved to connect with her neck, rather more seamlessly. "Mmm, almost the entire ship is engulfed?" Shi asked.
"As best as I can see," Maedhv answered.
To that Jack said, "Then let's go finish the job we started. It's about time we got rid of those damned things."
"Then I'm going to need the help of your personnel and the crew on the Prometheus," Maedhv answered. "Because replicators are based off of Alteran, or Asvin technology--though I didn't create them! I have been honest about the Wraith so you can count that I really didn't, I think--I can't just disperse them easily. They're shielded to an extent against my abilities. We will need to use nanite field-disruptor grenades to take them out, corridor by corridor and room by room. The fields will disrupt and shut them down even through walls on a ship like your's, but we will need a lot of armed personnel. I can provide powered combat armour which is resistant to their attacks, at least to an extent, and which is very friendly to use--it just reads off your neural impulses and moves with you. You can literally drop an educated savage in it and turn them into a much better warrior, let alone the members of your crew. Fitted with a mixture of hand grenades and automatic grenade launchers, you should be able to sweep the ship fairly quickly, and I'll directly aide you where I can, since I can overwhelm their defences if I focus my abilities. I'll even let you keep the power armour and the grenade launchers when the battle is over."
"Yeah, that's a good offer," Jack answered, before continuing, "or you could just use your space-folding-thingy to move the Gray Star to Dakara and we'll have the Device wipe the bugs out."
"Ah, right. That is something I hadn't thought about. Well, I'm too weak to fold personally, but fortunately for you that isn't an issue." She glanced forward. "Alarita, is the No-field online and functioning within norms?"
"It is, Maedhv. We can activate on your command."
"Well, let me send a short message back to Earth, and then we'll be begin the probability calculation sequence," Maedhv answered.
A moment of pinging later, and an image opened with a black haired, tall, pregnant woman with green eyes answering. She looked shocked to the point of religious awe, and bowed... She had also clearly been topless, just pulling it on as it occurred to her modesty might be important before the image of the gods before her. Or so it seemed. Instead...
"Guru?" She nervously asked. "We have been so surprised! But you are well?"
"Quite. Henceforth it is merely necessary to call me Maedhv, Erin," Maedhv answered, accentuating slightly from her nominal legal name. "I am coming with the No-Ship I promised, on the 'morrow, to lead you all to the stars. Begin to pack--everything of value we may take with us."
"Ahh... Tomorrow!?" The eyes widened with shock and then hope as the woman bowed. "Of couse, Maedhv... I, though that seems so..."
"Terribly informal? Well, I have come into my own, and now you don't need titles to see that," Maedhv answered. "My second is here, the keeper of the ship, my mate Alarita, and together we shall all travel beyond the bounds of the galaxy. Make the necessary preparations, I ask you; I don't want to tarry long over Earth on the 'morrow. It would be impolite."
"Of course, ..Maedhv. And thank you. Thank you because.." She took a breath, Erin did, and nearly looked to be crying. "I dreamed but..."
"Some dreams really do come true," Maedhv smiled indulgently. "See you tomorrow--though I'll activate this channel again in a few hours to check on how preparations are going."
"Don't strain yourself when with child," Maedhv reminded gently. She cut the message, apparently quite satisfied.
Near Forks, Washington
Earth, United States of America
Former NID agent Sid Sattler was one of the top operatives in the Trust who was still unaware of his bosses having been taken over by Goa'uld hosts. The thin, unassuming man of brown hair and blue eyes was sitting in the back of a dark van, gun in hand, as the group of operatives and hired guns made their way into the Washington countryside.
"Remember, we don't want anyone dead. Not yet," Sattler remarked. "These people are poor brainwashed saps being held against their will by a Snakehead, and we're here to get the Snakehead's goodies first and foremost. Kill only if we need to." He was answered by a series of nods.
"Also, remember your fake IDs," Sattler added, holding up his own to identify himself as an entirely different NID operative. The others showed the same. "We're going in as NID with the authority to take over the operation. Once we're established we'll quietly get everyone else out of the way so we can get to looking for the alien technology." Another series of nods answered him.
They arrived at the Temple of the Wheel of Dharma with it already having been secured. Adults and children looked on nervously at the armed men milling about while the van came to a stop at the central building of the compound. Sattler led everyone in getting out, pulling his own fake ID badge out to identify himself. "I'm Agent Louis Callahan," he informed the first man who came up as introduction. "NID. We're here to take over."
"Okay, Agent Callahan, I'm Agent Joe Sacklin," the youngish-looking FBI agent replied. "I'm kinda surprised they sent you all the way from Washington for this raid, we were ordered out here with the Border Patrol on suspicion that they were harboring illegals, but we've found no signs of them. No guns, either."
"We've been keeping an eye on this cult and their leader for some time," Sattler answered. "We believe that they may pose a threat to national security and possess classified information. Because of you and your men not having the right clearance level, we need you to keep away from the central building while we search it. Just keep the peace out here."
"Yes sir, Agent Callahan," Sacklin answered, leaving Sattler and his men to enter the central compound unmolested.
Erin Fitzgerald stood as the leader of the group, the most trusted of Maedhv's humans, watching darkly as the other men arrived. She rather suspected they were powerful ones, having a hint of the communication that was going on from the high ways that she had been taught. But they would keep the faith; only just before - hours before! - had Maedhv promised to be coming soon with her great ship, the Guru from the sky, and this was merely a moment of tribulation. She gathered her coat around her, and approached the nearest of the regular FBI personnel milling around. "Forgive me, Sir, but if my knowledge of the law is correct, only officers of the law can execute a warrant. Are the men who've just arrived sworn officers of the law? They're not marked like the rest of your personnel."
"They're special personnel," was the laconic answer; the FBI, like other agencies, was under standing order to not freely discuss the NID.
"Very well," Erin sighed softly, and turned back to walk over to Markus in the group, the sire of the Guru's unborn child. "Markus, take note of those men in case it becomes legally important, if you would," she whispered softly, the man having excellent memory.
"Alright, Erin," he answered rather tautly, watching them finishing going inside while Erin joined most of the other women in setting down with their skirts folded on the grass, waiting patiently.
Sattler and his people were using the scanning devices they'd been provided to look over the central structure with a fine-tooth comb, seeking any signs of Goa'uld or other advanced tech to be recovered. So far they'd found nothing but some unknown power sources, clearly not from a grid. This led them to what was clearly the room of "the Guru", the suspected Snakehead. "Definitely something here," he remarked to the others, reading the low-level power source. But there was nothing to be found. "Have them bring us some cultists, maybe they've seen something."
Erin had frowned when she was separated from the others, clearly being the leader, and led downstairs into the great temple, and the sacred room. She was not surprised to see the unmarked agents there, and folded her arms as she entered. "Is there something I can help you gentlemen with? These rooms are the private sanctum of the Guru, you know..." She added a trace testily, but then shrugged, "Though I admit your legal right to search them."
"Thank you for that, Miss. Speaking of your Guru... what can you tell me about her? Ever see her up to... interesting stuff in this room?"
"Ah, well, she makes the golden door appear, and sometimes she talks to the walls in the old language," Erin answered simply, and then smiled very faintly. "I'm not sure whether or not the golden door could actually be found, but it's in the middle of the far wall. I have never seen it except when she is present, and wished for it to be seen."
"And that's it?" Sattler nodded to one of his men. "Okay, get everyone out of here. Set the charges."
Erin sucked in her breath, but then bowed slightly in respect to the room, her eyes closing. There was nothing more to be said; the government would destroy it at will, but the Guru was returning swiftly, and she allowed herself to be led out.
Within seconds of everyone being out of the room an explosion rocked the structure. It was a focused charge and didn't make the building unsound, but it would knock down any hidden door. They re-entered the room to find that despite the explosion the wall still remained completely intact.
"God dammit, something's not right here," Sattler remarked, walking toward the unchanged wall. He reached for the wall to feel it.
And his hand passed right through.
"What the Hell?" He looked to the others. "Some kind of hologram, then. Okay, Robbins, Lewis, you're with me, Horace, you stay here." With that order given Sattler swallowed and stepped into the wall and the chamber beyond.
Erin, listening outside, from where she had been escorted by the FBI agents when ordered to depart, could only bow her head and softly weep, as did many of the others, at the desecration of a sacred place, and hope that the Guru would swiftly return. There was nothing else left to be done.
Gray Star, Alliance Space
Universe Designate AR-12
The counter was getting to eight minutes with a number of life pods full enough that they were being launched. Data observed the first launch via instruments from Main Engineering, while another display showed the advance of the Replicators through the ship. "I calculate that we must buy five more minutes before we can safely evacuate without giving the Replicators time to disable enough charges to prevent the destruction of the ship," he remarked to Kharaste and Sam, who was busy readying the naquadah reactor to overload as a backup to the self-destruct. "Colonel, you should join the evacuation as soon as your preparations are done."
"That's not necessary, Captain," Sam answered.
"Your expertise with this technology is of great value to your people," Data pointed out to her. "Your presence is not necessary and would be a waste."
Sam looked over and up at him from where she was operating the reactor controls. "I'm not in the habit of abandoning people to be blown up."
"Nor am I, but... I have been blown up before, and I calculate a point zero zero six percent chance I would survive this occasion in some salvagable condition. Your chance of survival is as impossible as mathematics permits," Data said. "Therefore..."
"Captain, our remaining sensors are detecting a massive space distortion," Kharaste reported from across Main Engineering. "Whatever it is, it's... big."
"On screen." A Minbari-style holographic display came down above them from the ceiling, showing a massive vessel, at least eighteen kilometers in length by Data's preliminary estimate given a nearby life pod on the screen, coming alongside them.
"By the Lord Justice, what is that?" Kharaste gasped.
"Colonel Carter, do you recognize this vessel or its configuration?", Data asked.
"No, no I don't," was her astonished response. "But if I had to guess..."
Moments later Nate appeared nearby, "phased" might be the best term, with Jack, Zaria, and Teal'c alongside. Seeing the self-destruct counter on, Nate said, "Captain, cancel the scuttling!"
Slightly widening his eyes and making subtle shifts in facial expression to show bewilderment, Data remarked, "General, it is imperative that we prevent the Replicators..."
"Don't worry about the Replibugs, Her Mightyness has her big honking spaceship back," Jack answered, "and we have a plan."
”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt
"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia
American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.
DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia
American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.
DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
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Themightytom
- Sith Devotee
- Posts: 2818
- Joined: 2007-12-22 11:11am
- Location: United States
Re: "The Last Woman Standing" - SG1/TGG Multiverse
Awesome story, I am a huge fan, er the wolfie sex slave thing is a little odd and doesn't appear story-crucial but eh, its a fanfic and you're the author :-p
Steve you write classic Stargate, well done!"Then I'm going to need the help of your personnel and the crew on the Prometheus," Maedhv answered. "Because replicators are based off of Alteran, or Asvin technology--though I didn't create them! I have been honest about the Wraith so you can count that I really didn't, I think--I can't just disperse them easily. They're shielded to an extent against my abilities. We will need to use nanite field-disruptor grenades to take them out, corridor by corridor and room by room. The fields will disrupt and shut them down even through walls on a ship like your's, but we will need a lot of armed personnel. I can provide powered combat armour which is resistant to their attacks, at least to an extent, and which is very friendly to use--it just reads off your neural impulses and moves with you. You can literally drop an educated savage in it and turn them into a much better warrior, let alone the members of your crew. Fitted with a mixture of hand grenades and automatic grenade launchers, you should be able to sweep the ship fairly quickly, and I'll directly aide you where I can, since I can overwhelm their defences if I focus my abilities. I'll even let you keep the power armour and the grenade launchers when the battle is over."
"Yeah, that's a good offer," Jack answered, before continuing, "or you could just use your space-folding-thingy to move the Gray Star to Dakara and we'll have the Device wipe the bugs out."
- The Serpent's LairBra'tac: "The shield generators are far below. There, in the very bowels of the ship. We must climb down several decks, through the length of the ship, then taking our weapons we must...." He stops as O'Neill drops two grenades and the shield generators go boom.
O'Neill: "Grenades."
"Since when is "the west" a nation?"-Styphon
"ACORN= Cobra obviously." AMT
This topic is... oh Village Idiot. Carry on then.--Havok
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The Duchess of Zeon
- Gözde
- Posts: 14566
- Joined: 2002-09-18 01:06am
- Location: Exiled in the Pale of Settlement.
Re: "The Last Woman Standing" - SG1/TGG Multiverse
To explain Alarita: Shi's there because the Asvin High Caste took "Sick sexual deviance" to new and unique levels. As denizens of an Asvin High Caste-member's harem go, Alarita is tame. You've got to imagine people as depraved as Eubian Aristos with the ability to take their depravity to even further levels by being able to literally order custom-made sex slaves on their equivalent of kohl's.com. That said shi does play an important role in several future stories, and was massively important in the backstory to the development of current events, the "Secret History" which is now being revealed.
The threshold for inclusion in Wikipedia is verifiability, not truth. -- Wikipedia's No Original Research policy page.
In 1966 the Soviets find something on the dark side of the Moon. In 2104 they come back. -- Red Banner / White Star, a nBSG continuation story. Updated to Chapter 4.0 -- 14 January 2013.
In 1966 the Soviets find something on the dark side of the Moon. In 2104 they come back. -- Red Banner / White Star, a nBSG continuation story. Updated to Chapter 4.0 -- 14 January 2013.
Re: "The Last Woman Standing" - SG1/TGG Multiverse
Chapter 13
Gray Star, Alliance Space
Universe Designate AR-12
"Alright, Ladies and Gentlemen, Officers of the Treaty Organization," a polite alto sounded over the comm--not Maedhv, for a change, in echo to Jack's words. "The Xihuatlatl will be taking you under our nullification field for the fold into Dakara orbit where the Gray Star may be cleansed of replicator infestation."
A normal officer might have hesitated for several moments, taking the time to process the situation and decide whether to trust in the sudden change of fortune. Data was by no means normal, however, and he mentally processed the risk and benefits well within the confines of a second. "Very well," was his reply. "Computer, this is Captain Data, Identification Code Data Charlie Oscar Tango Tango Zulu Sierra Zulu. Cancel automatic scuttling charges."
Kharaste looked at Data for a moment before confirming the order with his own code. The two senior-most officers' orders sufficed to shut down the scuttling.
"We are ready for you to begin, Xihuatlatl," Data said over the comms, repeating the No-Ship's name perfectly as Alarita had done.
"Confirmed. Stand by for tractor field lock..." A few moments later, the hull of the mangled Gray Star shuddered bodily, and the ship began to be slowly reeled inwards toward the steadily filling bulk of the Xihuatlatl. "We recommend that the personnel aboard be evacuated to the Xihuatlatl while the fold and cleansing operations take place," the voice continued rather conversationally. "General O'Neill can, I think, confirm our intentions."
"If Her Mightyness was going to screw us over I think she would've done so by now," Jack confirmed.
Nate gave Jack a bemused look. "Captain, General O'Neill's sarcasm aside, she's sincere," he added. "The crew will be safe."
Kharaste gave Data a look that belied some skepticism. Data, however, had already thought it over quite well. "This is Captain Data to all hands, cancel evacuation and prepare for transport."
"I won't let her screw you over, General, promise," the voice answered. "We read about four hundred and fifty-eight life forms aboard presently, bringing them all over."
With no further ado, the transfer effect was repeated. The huge command-and-control bridge of the Xihuatlatl was such that they could be easily accommodated in it, though only the immediate personnel within engineering were in fact brought over to the vast bridge, with the central dais where two figures sat locked into banks of machinery in acceleration couches, standing off distantly. The whole of the bridge was as sumptuous as the main portion, more like a luxury hotel than a command center for all that the reports scrolled across the screens in deadly earnest.
Alarita turned to look with hir animalistic red eyes over the arrivals, while, on the sides, a few hideous beasts appeared. They looked like wolves but were the size of Kodiak Max grizzly bears, and had bony protrusions growing out all over their bodies so that few patches of fur were visible, with mounted guns and several cybernetic plates matched onto them. Daniel was where he had been left, by Maedhv's side.
"Should I dispatch medical robots to the barracks we transported the crew to?" Alarita asked politely.
"That would be welcomed, yes," Data answered. He took in the entirety of the spacious bridge in the span of an instant, slowed more by the need to turn his head and look around than his ability to process and store what he saw. "Your vessel is quite impressive."
"Oh, not a problem," Alarita answered, turning back to hir console. "And thank you. She's quite impressive--sorry about the Dire Wolves, but they're really our equivalent of your security personnel." Shi tapped in another few commands, and the cyborg beasts bounded out of the bridge, while Maedhv turned her command chair on the dais to face them.
"My mate speaks very true words, Captain Data. The Xihuatlatl is worth an entire starfleet's worth of dreadnoughts, I would say without boasting, though she is the last No-Ship of the Asvin Empire."
"Judging by the size and relative age I would believe your non-boast more truth than exaggeration. However, at the moment I am more concerned by the continued Replicator infestation on the Gray Star. With the crew transported off and no longer able to inflict attrition on their growing numbers and impede their advancement, they will undoubtedly overrun the ship's critical systems within five minutes."
"Understood," Maedhv turned back. The Gray Star was brought close to the huge ship until the tractor beam held it steady a few hundred meters distant, and from the inside, the external views on the holograph flicked off and black.
"It's to protect the crew," Alarita explained softly.
The black dropped a minute or two later, and they were floating serenely over Dakara. "Maedhv?"
"I'll take care of it," Maedhv answered, concentrating for a moment.
“She’s establishing the telemetry interface with the systems disruption cannon on the surface,” Alarita explained. “Though I understand you have a different name for it.”
"Take your time," Jack remarked with some sarcasm.
"Drop the tractors and manoeuvre the ship to a safe distance, darling," Maedhv commented while ignoring Jack.
"I don't know about you guys, but I'm starting to feel rather unneeded." Nate looked over to Data, ignoring for the moment Maedhv and Alarita's progress. "Captain, how many did we lose?"
"Although we do not have a full count yet, at last check we had an estimated ninety-one fatalities and seventy wounded," Data replied.
"Right, widening parabolic orbit by five arc seconds," Alarita replied coolly, the image of the GrayStar growing more distant on the screen very rapidly as the ship moved without the slightest quiver or indication of acceleration despite the utterly tremendous bulk of the hull.
"Standing off at four hundred thousand prasan."
"Initiating..." Maedhv activated the Dakara device with a further command from the telemetry uplink, and watched as the shot washed over the hull of the Gray Star, then hit it with a systematic high-end scanning pulse. "All nanite functions in the target are null. You've got your ship back, General."
"Excellent news," Nate said. "You can transport us back over now so we can start fixing her up."
"Nanite infection around tractor node 946," Alarita abruptly glanced up, an eyebrow raised and hir ears perked. "I've activated the automatic security systems. They must have fed themselves into the beam while we were holding the ship--they've been able to disable the tractor node, Maedhv."
"Isolate it and authorize the defense systems to interface and conduct data retrieval sweeps as they destroy the contaminants."
"On it."
"Just how hard is it to kill these things?!" Nate gave a look to SG-1.
"Hey, don't look at us, we had our's killed, it was your people who gave a few an escape route," Jack shot back.
"Why don't you just fire the Dakara Device again?" Sam asked Maedhv.
"Can't," Alarita answered with a prompt and rather affectionately amused look. "It's a Systems Disruptor. It's designed to kill the automatic repairing nanite systems on cruisers of this rate and scale, so, shooting it at the Xihuatlatl would disable our ability to repair the ship, unless Maedhv managed to hide a Class Four repair yard somewhere."
"I... well, that's not important," Maedhv muttered softly, and then, louder: "It's not an issue. We used to launch nanite attacks loaded with computer viruses and so on at each other all the time back in the Good Old Days, so to speak. The nanites on these ships function essentially like their immune systems, and our's is learning how to beat Replicators in times best measured in nanoseconds."
At that revelation Jack and Nate shared cursory glances, joined a moment later by Teal'c. Each tried not to think what they were thinking given Maedhv's telepathy but it was the kind of thought they couldn't help: that it was a weakness in the Xihuatlatl if things turned south.
"And...." Maedhv gestured with a flourish, and a few blue lights in the ceiling activated.... And a second Samantha Carter was standing there, looking furious.
"...Well, I didn't expect these Replicators to consist of Samantha," Maedhv muttered in some evident surprise.
"Fifth made a copy of me," Sam responded, staring at her Replicator clone. "She must have been embedded herself in the programming of each individual nanite."
"Quite interesting. Did not think you the sort to make a gamble at being a conquering Queen," Maedhv observed with some jovialty, and then focused her attention on RepliCarter. "So, I am the High Queen of Alteras and this is my ship, the Xihuatlatl. You are welcome to defend yourself from the various charges that these fine people..." Maedhv gestured over toward SG1.. "Have made against you."
"I am like any human. I desire power. And unlike my other self, I have... had the means and the will to take it," was the blue-tinged copy's defiant retort.
"You didn't just betray us, you betrayed Fifth, your own creator," Samantha pointed out. "You used us both to get what you wanted."
"I would do it again. I am the ultimate in human development, Samantha, don't you see? I can do the things you could never bring yourself to." Directing her attention to Maedhv, RepliCarter said, "What about you? You're clearly not one of them. You're just like me. I've seen it. You've done a good job isolating me from your ship's control systems but I have found access to your archives, 'High Queen of Alteras'." RepliCarter smiled with a wicked kind of mirth. "You're just like me, Maedhv Curoi'larijh. I actually hope you spare my life just so I can see you succeed where I failed."
"You know, once upon a time I would have, as a simple professional task--you understand this very well--killed you as a security threat. Now," Maedhv shrugged. "We've both tried our own gambles at success in this universe, and we've both failed, repeatedly now. I grant you I could try again, if I wanted, but unfortunately, you're slightly wrong--I'm the pinnacle of hominid evolution--And Nirrti still can beat me with one hand tied behind her back, probably. I suppose you can claim Homo Sapiens for yourself, but that isn't really much to write home about. Nor are you in any position to do much, one way or another. You are, I trust, completely unrepetent?"
"Why should I be? I have no real existance as long as she," RepliCarter indicated her fresh-and-blood counterpart standing nearby, "still lives. I'm just the copy made by a pathetic lovesick excuse for a being. But I got him out of the way with Samantha's help and suddenly I wasn't just a copy anymore. I had the power to conquer a galaxy. I would have held it all. Every world, every speck of dust a part of my being."
"You would have never known the Hidden World, though. And for that, I pity you. But. If that is what you want--have it." Maedhv gestured subtly to Alarita, and abruptly the hologram vanished.
"And... that's it?" Jack stared where the hologram had been for a moment. "She's gone?"
"No, we just transferred her to part of the ship's computer--she's just a computer programme now, all the nanites are removed. In the segment of the computer we've isolated, she is, right now, finding herself on the bridge of this ship, alone, with the entire galaxy programmed for her to conquer. Like I said, she wanted it, so she can have it." Maedhv laughed softly. "Of course, it's my galaxy at the height of the Golden Age. We'll see how long she lasts with just one No-Ship at her command."
"Suitable, I suppose," Daniel remarked. "But I am more curious about this 'Hidden World'."
"Oh, well, that's the proper term for what the Ancients reside in," Maedhv answered. "It's much more useful than they realize, though, because they can't see beyond it, and in doing so, they can't really understand it, either." Maedhv unstrapped herself from her chair, disconnected the computer interface linkages, and stood up. "If you'll excuse me for a moment, though, Daniel, I made a promise to Jack--and I should probably be sending Data, and Nate, and the rest of the GrayStar's crew back to the ship shortly, too."
She stepped over one of the walls of the bridge, marked by a recessed handle, which she grabbed and flung open with some decision, pulling open a second door to the other side. There was a variety of unidentifiable equipment--and some of it very obvious, like an axe--there, but most importantly along the top were fourteen ZPMs. "I believe I promised you a sundry collection of portable emergency generators, yes?"
All four members of SG-1 betrayed a great sense of surprise at the quantity of ZPMs present. Finally Jack seemed to find his voice. "Uh... yeah. I think you did."
Sam was busy counting them. "...twelve... fourteen ZPMs? That's incredible, we had to scour the galaxy just to find one nearly-empty ZPM! And you have fourteen in what looks like an emergency stores closet!"
"That's exactly what it is. Come, let me show you!" Maedhv was laughing, as she walked in her boots to the other side of the bridge with a swaying gate, and Alarita rose up, laughing in merry delight at hir lover's merriment. Maedhv reached the other side of the cavernous bridge, and threw open another storage closet. There were also fourteen ZPMs in it. "Zero-point modules are relatively low power, but source-independent systems which draw from nearby energy fields in the same way I can, as you may realize. The reactors of this ship rely on forcing larger versions of them--supercharging them, if you will--with a Naquadriah reaction process to overgenerate. This is, indeed, where all of what you call Naquadah comes from; it is the waste matter from the reactors of ships which use this two stage process, and which we can take and refine back into Naquadriah, like nuclear fuel reprocessing, to refuel our ships with. That sort of manipulation is well above your capabilities, but for the moment, these portable energy generators are therefore useful to you, and like I promised, you shall have them."
"Wow. I'm actually starting to like this whole mess now." With a chuckle Jack proclaimed, "We'll take fifty!" This brought him a concerned look from Daniel.
"Done," Maedhv answered without a trace of hesitation. "Collect these, and perhaps have Captain Data assign some of his men to carry the rest from the corridor bays I'll open right up for you down to the Prometheus so that you can get them stored away. I can also have Alarita send the rest of his crew back to the GrayStar, and his person, if he wishes."
"We thank you for your assistance," Data stated. "I will arrange for crew to transfer some of these ZPM devices to the Gray Star." Around him other members of the Gray Star engineering crew were still taking in the sights a bit, though they had been paying attention to the drama involving RepliCarter and the revelation of the ZPMs. They all disappeared as Maedhv sent them back to the Gray Star.
To the side Jack had picked up his radio. "Pendergast, can you hear me?"
A moment passed before a voice came over. "We hear you Colonel."
"How are the repairs going?"
"We managed to shave a bit off of the repair time for the hyperdrive, it should be ready in a couple hours or so."
"That's good, that's good. We're going to be transferring some sensitive cargo to you momentarily, put it in high security storage."
"And, furthermore, since I have treated you so roughly this long while, let me give you a further gift," Maedhv turned back from the entrance to the bridge with a smiling flourish. "How would you like the command codes to the Node Five-Eighty Defensive battery, the location of which the Ancient base you discovered used to be a secondary support facility of? It's almost drained of power, but you have plenty of ZPMs now to run it with."
"Sure, why not? Granted, the Goa'uld are going down now and the Replicators are finally history, but you never know what's out there."
Maedhv rather coyly laughed at Jack's answer as she turned back to the corridor to keep rifling through her own damage control bins. "No, you don't."
Maedhv returned to the bridge a while later, having secured the transfer of the requested 50 ZPMs down to the Prometheus and overseen the shifting of the crew; along the way she'd made sure that the medical assistance robots had done their best, and surprised Dr. Constantine by healing a couple of the worst-off cases personally, a grimacing, horrifying-looking process of melting one of her hands into an amorphous gray-green ooze of nanites which reconstructed flesh more or less instantaneously before reforming. It was definitely a further indication of her capabilities, and she'd done it without complaint, or hesitation that it would reveal things.
With the ship once again emptied of all save three souls--Daniel Jackson, herself, and Alarita, who was lounging on the bridge watching the Jaffa fleet which was pacing them , with a rather idle expression on hir face--Maedhv found it more than a little lonely. But there was, of course, a way to permanently solve all of that. "So, Daniel Jackson, are you starting to believe the sincerity of my words and my intentions? Maybe even to the point of realizing that I really am not harming the people who came to me for wisdom and support?"
It was a moment before Daniel replied. After everything that had happened he realized that he'd been right about Maedhv, something he could now say openly. "I do," he said to her directly. "I do believe you are sincere and do not wish harm to the people now following you."
"Thank you. I hope you realize just how it was for me to trust all of you, as it was for you to trust me," she answered. "That was a trivial expenditure to me, but those ZPM's are a hell of a change in the balance of power here, and more to the point, I know what they're going to be used for. You mentioned you had a base in Pegasus, as the reason why you wanted them."
"Yes. To aid and re-power the city of Atlantis so it can withstand the Wraith. I guess you're not happy with that?"
"It has to be done," Maedhv answered. "I fucked up big time by leaving the Wraith to their own devices, and you've got as much right to defend yourselves as anyone else." She delicately settled into her command chair and gestured to one of the empty consoles nearby. "Have a seat, Daniel. I'm going to contact the people in the commune, tell them to get ready. Go in, fold them into the ship with their possessions, and send you down. Nobody'll notice the ship."
"You know, it's not too late with the Wraith. Maybe you could talk them into finding an alternative to feeding on Humans in the Pegasus Galaxy," Daniel said somewhat hopefully as he found a seat.
"I am their mommy," Maedhv agreed with some undisguised affection as she gently rubbed her own stomach, so strange to hear from someone about the Wraith. "Well, let's call home." She reached to one of the consoles at her side and ran her fingers across the surface in an artful dance of commands, so that a hologram formed, misty, of a room in what was presumably the commune, empty at the moment, and, curiously, with the green curtain in front of the door having been torn down. "Hmm. That's odd. I guess they took it down--rather literal 'pack everything up'. Erin! Erin! You there!? " She might be able to instantaneously connection, but the problem of actually summoning someone was obvious, and Maedhv spent the next few minutes waiting patiently and occasionally shouting through the feed for someone to show up.
Finally someone did. And the figure who arrived didn't strike Daniel as a hippy commune dweller, given it was a balding tan-skinned man in sunglasses and a dark suit. Oh no was the thought that went through his head, remembering that Jack had returned to the SGC to inform them of their information on Maedhv's whereabouts in Washington State.
The figure looked at them through the display and specifically at Maedhv. His eyes widened for a moment and he turned to run.
Maedhv raised her hand, and as she did, the man staggered and started to choke violently, falling to the floor. "Don't run away like that. You're first going to tell me what you did to my people. As long as this channel is open--and you can't turn it off--I can kill you fairly easily over it. But I won't. Yet." She released him, and glanced to Daniel with a frown, but didn't speak, waiting for an answer.
Gurgling, trying to get some breath, the man began rasping. "If I die... they'll... shoot...."
"Oh, isn't this a gigantic fucking mess." She glanced to Daniel, for that matter Alarita was staring with evident consternation as well. "Is he serious?"
"I think he is..." Daniel looked to Maedhv before walking into the field of vision of the holographic comm device. "Listen, pal, I don't know what you and your people think you're doing there, but if you know what's good for you you'll clear out now."
"Snakehead..."
"No, she's not a Goa'uld," Daniel said insistantly. "Who are you, what are you doing there?"
Instead the figure had begun turning away from the monitor. A raspy "Help!" came from his throat. "Help!"
Maedhv raised her hand slightly, again, and again, then, the man was choking, though once again Maedhv released him before he died, though she certainly let him black out, for a moment, as the release of her power let him fall to the floor, and she glanced to Daniel with an unpleasant expression. "It appears that you have betrayed me."
Daniel saw the look on Maedhv's face and realized that everything had completely turned south. "No. No we haven't. Listen, Maedhv, whoever they are, they're not with the SGC."
Maedhv shrugged. "I'm not an idiot. Stargate Command is just a component of the Federal Government of the United States of America. Hell, I voted in the recent elections. The fact that I believe you when you say Stargate Command didn't do it is immaterial--that just makes it worse, because it means someone at an even higher level of your government sanctioned it. Now let's see what this bastard's calls for help brings into my looking-glass."
With nothing appearing, Daniel continued. "Maedhv... I don't think this is the government either," he protested.
Near Forks, Washington
Earth, United States of America
The door to the central building flew open. One of Sattler's men came out, wide-eyed and clearly frightened. "It's Horace! Something's wrong with Horace!"
"What? Woh, calm down...." Sattler got close and noticed that FBI Agent Sacklin and his two compatriots were paying far too much attention to them now.
Still frantic, the Trust man - one of the hired guns - blurted out, "Sattler, something's choking him, but I can't see..."
Sattler blanched, and for good reason. The use of his real name and not his cover - "Agent Callahan" - immediately brought attemption from Sacklin. "Hey, wait," Sacklin began. "What's going on...."
Seeing little choice, Sattler pulled out his gun and spun around. His first round hit Sacklin between the eyes, killing him instantly. The other two FBI men still in the compound area acted on instinct, going for their sidearms. Unfortunately for them, Sattler's team was faster and more on the ball. Before either could pull the trigger on their weapons they were gunned down.
"You idiot!" Sattler punched the man who'd come out of the compound. He didn't wait to see the man sprawl out on the ground before turning to the cultists. He was always one to plan ahead, and now that this had happened.... He grabbed Erin by the arm and forced her to her feet. As she began to protest he thrust the gun into her hand briefly, holding it by the barrel, just long enough for her to touch it before he wrenched it out of her grasp in case she got any ideas. "There. Your prints are on a gun used in the slaying of federal agents," he informed her. "Now we can shoot you all and it looks like you're a bunch of crackpots who resisted arrest."
"It's okay," Erin answered, finally not caring enough. "Someone's choking in there? You do realize what that means, don't you? She's coming back for us, like she promised. We won't resist you with violence, though you might try to make it seem like we have. We'll wait--I bet she didn't even kill the man. Maedhv is very compassionate like that. She's brought her starship, and she's coming to take us to the stars, and you won't be able to stop her."
"Shut up!" Sattler grabbed Erin around the neck. "Keep an eye on the rest of them. Somebody moves, you shoot!" He dragged Erin into the central compound building and toward the secret room, his mind racing. Whatever Snakehead trap Horace had set off he was still worried that the Goa'uld would actually be coming back, which meant he wouldn't be able to get any examples of their technology as he was ordered to.
Erin just focused her mind on breathing, and offered no resistance, nor did anyone else; they just sat down, and quietly waited as Erin was dragged away, not even complaining.
Sattler dragged her into the secret room. He found Horace on the floor, his hands at his throat and his breathing very restricted. He brought his gun closer to Erin's head and walked into the room. "Okay, Snakehead, I know you're here somewhere!", he shouted. "You've got ten seconds to let him go and give us what we want or we start shooting hippies!"
Maedhv had been waiting for Sattler, and now she let the holographic projector in the room reveal the full panoply of the Bridge of the Xihuatlatl, including Daniel and Alarita. "So I see I finally have someone responsible. Fine." She abruptly, and completely, released Horace and settled back in the hologram. "What, exactly, do you want?"
Sattler was taken aback immediately. He'd seen images of Goa'uld ships and what was inside and the vessel was clearly nothing like a Goa'uld ship. "Listen, we know you've got technology hidden here, we want it."
"Who do you work for?", Daniel asked.
"None of your damned business! Now let go of my man or the shooting starts!"
"You don't want to do that," Daniel said in a warning tone. "You harm a hair on their heads and all bets are off."
"He's been released, you stupid dolt, he's just unconscious," Maedhv sighed in exasperation and looked to her wolfen lover. "Alarita! Battle condition--stand by to Fold--target destination Sacred Terra." She turned back, very levelly, to Sattler. "You want my technology? Okay, I'll bring it to you."
"No funny business!"
No-Ship Xihuatlatl, In Orbit over Dakara
Universe Designate SRC-19
Maedhv slumped back as she looked at the empty space where the projector had been. "The Ancients will be back to attack us again on top of everything else. Alarita, prepare to raise the phase disruption shields."
"Right, Maedhv," Alarita leaned over and unlocked a section of the panel, triggering a series of commands. Several status fields went blue. "Phase disruption operating normally. This is the first time we've done this in combat since the Battle of the Sphere, isn't it?"
"Maybe earlier. Never had a need for them since then, anyway. If you'd please, my love?"
"Activating fold drive." Alarita growled softly in anticipation as shi selected the necessary keys and settled back into hir seat as the external displays turned black for unknown 'safety' reasons. A few seconds later, the external displays snapped back into view, and with them was revealed the shining orb of Earth.
Daniel watched with a great deal of apprehension as the Xihuatlatl finished it's Fold and emerged into space not far from Earth. Perhaps too close to Earth at that. "Using your capabilities, couldn't you just transport your people up here and leave whomever those men were with an empty compound?"
"That's exactly what I'm going to do. In fact, the ship can do it." Maedhv started jacking herself into all the ship systems, establishing connections which let her briefly lower the phase disruption shields. Transport was effected simultaneously, with Erin appearing on the bridge and the others in the habitation modules which had secured the Gray Star's crew.
Erin pushed herself up in shock from where before she'd been kneeling, with a gun pointed at her, to see the sumptuous bridge that the Guru--that Maedhv--had been on before, and the curious creature and man both with her. She rose, and looked levelly at Maedhv, reminded of the admonition not to show her obesience ever again. "...Maedhv?"
"Maedhv Curoi'larijh," Maedhv agreed simply, and gestured to Alarita. "Alarita Curoi'larijh, my mate who's been in hibernation for the past few aeons. Hir primacy is a gentle one, fear not, and shi teases me about my other lovers..."
"...But I don't hurt them," Alarita agreed with a welcoming smile. "You've done wonders for Maedhv, anyway. Welcome aboard the Xihuatlatl."
"I, uh," Erin took in a deep breath. "Thank you so much. I don't understand at all why they were repressing us like that, Maedhv, we'd done nothing wrong...."
"Because homo sapiens and Responsible Government are contradictions by definition," Maedhv answered a bit acerbically. "Don't worry about it, though. I'll arrange flash training and nanite courses for everyone, shortly, but if you'd folllow one of the maintenance robots below, I need you to explain the situation to everyone, and just encourage them to relax and celebrate. I have some business to take care of."
"Of course." She paused, and stared at Daniel. "Though, who's he?"
"I'm not sure myself," Maedhv answered cryptically, and watched as the somewhat confused Erin left the bridge.
"I suppose this is more about me being a... 'not-Daniel'?", Daniel asked as Erin left.
"No, it's about admitting that I'm not sure, which is an improvement over what I said before," Maedhv answered. "I don't know if you're the real Daniel or not, honestly. So I've decided to withhold judgement. Fair enough?"
"Sure, that's fair enough," he agreed.
"Good, because you're not going to like what I'm going to do next." Maedhv finished speaking at the same time that Sattler appeared on the bridge via the fold process. "You asked for my technology, and here it is. Now, Mister Sattler," Maedhv was laughing in an almost droll way, "I'm going to find out every little detail of your existence, from the moment your dad slipped GHB into your mom's beer."
Gray Star, Alliance Space
Universe Designate AR-12
"Alright, Ladies and Gentlemen, Officers of the Treaty Organization," a polite alto sounded over the comm--not Maedhv, for a change, in echo to Jack's words. "The Xihuatlatl will be taking you under our nullification field for the fold into Dakara orbit where the Gray Star may be cleansed of replicator infestation."
A normal officer might have hesitated for several moments, taking the time to process the situation and decide whether to trust in the sudden change of fortune. Data was by no means normal, however, and he mentally processed the risk and benefits well within the confines of a second. "Very well," was his reply. "Computer, this is Captain Data, Identification Code Data Charlie Oscar Tango Tango Zulu Sierra Zulu. Cancel automatic scuttling charges."
Kharaste looked at Data for a moment before confirming the order with his own code. The two senior-most officers' orders sufficed to shut down the scuttling.
"We are ready for you to begin, Xihuatlatl," Data said over the comms, repeating the No-Ship's name perfectly as Alarita had done.
"Confirmed. Stand by for tractor field lock..." A few moments later, the hull of the mangled Gray Star shuddered bodily, and the ship began to be slowly reeled inwards toward the steadily filling bulk of the Xihuatlatl. "We recommend that the personnel aboard be evacuated to the Xihuatlatl while the fold and cleansing operations take place," the voice continued rather conversationally. "General O'Neill can, I think, confirm our intentions."
"If Her Mightyness was going to screw us over I think she would've done so by now," Jack confirmed.
Nate gave Jack a bemused look. "Captain, General O'Neill's sarcasm aside, she's sincere," he added. "The crew will be safe."
Kharaste gave Data a look that belied some skepticism. Data, however, had already thought it over quite well. "This is Captain Data to all hands, cancel evacuation and prepare for transport."
"I won't let her screw you over, General, promise," the voice answered. "We read about four hundred and fifty-eight life forms aboard presently, bringing them all over."
With no further ado, the transfer effect was repeated. The huge command-and-control bridge of the Xihuatlatl was such that they could be easily accommodated in it, though only the immediate personnel within engineering were in fact brought over to the vast bridge, with the central dais where two figures sat locked into banks of machinery in acceleration couches, standing off distantly. The whole of the bridge was as sumptuous as the main portion, more like a luxury hotel than a command center for all that the reports scrolled across the screens in deadly earnest.
Alarita turned to look with hir animalistic red eyes over the arrivals, while, on the sides, a few hideous beasts appeared. They looked like wolves but were the size of Kodiak Max grizzly bears, and had bony protrusions growing out all over their bodies so that few patches of fur were visible, with mounted guns and several cybernetic plates matched onto them. Daniel was where he had been left, by Maedhv's side.
"Should I dispatch medical robots to the barracks we transported the crew to?" Alarita asked politely.
"That would be welcomed, yes," Data answered. He took in the entirety of the spacious bridge in the span of an instant, slowed more by the need to turn his head and look around than his ability to process and store what he saw. "Your vessel is quite impressive."
"Oh, not a problem," Alarita answered, turning back to hir console. "And thank you. She's quite impressive--sorry about the Dire Wolves, but they're really our equivalent of your security personnel." Shi tapped in another few commands, and the cyborg beasts bounded out of the bridge, while Maedhv turned her command chair on the dais to face them.
"My mate speaks very true words, Captain Data. The Xihuatlatl is worth an entire starfleet's worth of dreadnoughts, I would say without boasting, though she is the last No-Ship of the Asvin Empire."
"Judging by the size and relative age I would believe your non-boast more truth than exaggeration. However, at the moment I am more concerned by the continued Replicator infestation on the Gray Star. With the crew transported off and no longer able to inflict attrition on their growing numbers and impede their advancement, they will undoubtedly overrun the ship's critical systems within five minutes."
"Understood," Maedhv turned back. The Gray Star was brought close to the huge ship until the tractor beam held it steady a few hundred meters distant, and from the inside, the external views on the holograph flicked off and black.
"It's to protect the crew," Alarita explained softly.
The black dropped a minute or two later, and they were floating serenely over Dakara. "Maedhv?"
"I'll take care of it," Maedhv answered, concentrating for a moment.
“She’s establishing the telemetry interface with the systems disruption cannon on the surface,” Alarita explained. “Though I understand you have a different name for it.”
"Take your time," Jack remarked with some sarcasm.
"Drop the tractors and manoeuvre the ship to a safe distance, darling," Maedhv commented while ignoring Jack.
"I don't know about you guys, but I'm starting to feel rather unneeded." Nate looked over to Data, ignoring for the moment Maedhv and Alarita's progress. "Captain, how many did we lose?"
"Although we do not have a full count yet, at last check we had an estimated ninety-one fatalities and seventy wounded," Data replied.
"Right, widening parabolic orbit by five arc seconds," Alarita replied coolly, the image of the GrayStar growing more distant on the screen very rapidly as the ship moved without the slightest quiver or indication of acceleration despite the utterly tremendous bulk of the hull.
"Standing off at four hundred thousand prasan."
"Initiating..." Maedhv activated the Dakara device with a further command from the telemetry uplink, and watched as the shot washed over the hull of the Gray Star, then hit it with a systematic high-end scanning pulse. "All nanite functions in the target are null. You've got your ship back, General."
"Excellent news," Nate said. "You can transport us back over now so we can start fixing her up."
"Nanite infection around tractor node 946," Alarita abruptly glanced up, an eyebrow raised and hir ears perked. "I've activated the automatic security systems. They must have fed themselves into the beam while we were holding the ship--they've been able to disable the tractor node, Maedhv."
"Isolate it and authorize the defense systems to interface and conduct data retrieval sweeps as they destroy the contaminants."
"On it."
"Just how hard is it to kill these things?!" Nate gave a look to SG-1.
"Hey, don't look at us, we had our's killed, it was your people who gave a few an escape route," Jack shot back.
"Why don't you just fire the Dakara Device again?" Sam asked Maedhv.
"Can't," Alarita answered with a prompt and rather affectionately amused look. "It's a Systems Disruptor. It's designed to kill the automatic repairing nanite systems on cruisers of this rate and scale, so, shooting it at the Xihuatlatl would disable our ability to repair the ship, unless Maedhv managed to hide a Class Four repair yard somewhere."
"I... well, that's not important," Maedhv muttered softly, and then, louder: "It's not an issue. We used to launch nanite attacks loaded with computer viruses and so on at each other all the time back in the Good Old Days, so to speak. The nanites on these ships function essentially like their immune systems, and our's is learning how to beat Replicators in times best measured in nanoseconds."
At that revelation Jack and Nate shared cursory glances, joined a moment later by Teal'c. Each tried not to think what they were thinking given Maedhv's telepathy but it was the kind of thought they couldn't help: that it was a weakness in the Xihuatlatl if things turned south.
"And...." Maedhv gestured with a flourish, and a few blue lights in the ceiling activated.... And a second Samantha Carter was standing there, looking furious.
"...Well, I didn't expect these Replicators to consist of Samantha," Maedhv muttered in some evident surprise.
"Fifth made a copy of me," Sam responded, staring at her Replicator clone. "She must have been embedded herself in the programming of each individual nanite."
"Quite interesting. Did not think you the sort to make a gamble at being a conquering Queen," Maedhv observed with some jovialty, and then focused her attention on RepliCarter. "So, I am the High Queen of Alteras and this is my ship, the Xihuatlatl. You are welcome to defend yourself from the various charges that these fine people..." Maedhv gestured over toward SG1.. "Have made against you."
"I am like any human. I desire power. And unlike my other self, I have... had the means and the will to take it," was the blue-tinged copy's defiant retort.
"You didn't just betray us, you betrayed Fifth, your own creator," Samantha pointed out. "You used us both to get what you wanted."
"I would do it again. I am the ultimate in human development, Samantha, don't you see? I can do the things you could never bring yourself to." Directing her attention to Maedhv, RepliCarter said, "What about you? You're clearly not one of them. You're just like me. I've seen it. You've done a good job isolating me from your ship's control systems but I have found access to your archives, 'High Queen of Alteras'." RepliCarter smiled with a wicked kind of mirth. "You're just like me, Maedhv Curoi'larijh. I actually hope you spare my life just so I can see you succeed where I failed."
"You know, once upon a time I would have, as a simple professional task--you understand this very well--killed you as a security threat. Now," Maedhv shrugged. "We've both tried our own gambles at success in this universe, and we've both failed, repeatedly now. I grant you I could try again, if I wanted, but unfortunately, you're slightly wrong--I'm the pinnacle of hominid evolution--And Nirrti still can beat me with one hand tied behind her back, probably. I suppose you can claim Homo Sapiens for yourself, but that isn't really much to write home about. Nor are you in any position to do much, one way or another. You are, I trust, completely unrepetent?"
"Why should I be? I have no real existance as long as she," RepliCarter indicated her fresh-and-blood counterpart standing nearby, "still lives. I'm just the copy made by a pathetic lovesick excuse for a being. But I got him out of the way with Samantha's help and suddenly I wasn't just a copy anymore. I had the power to conquer a galaxy. I would have held it all. Every world, every speck of dust a part of my being."
"You would have never known the Hidden World, though. And for that, I pity you. But. If that is what you want--have it." Maedhv gestured subtly to Alarita, and abruptly the hologram vanished.
"And... that's it?" Jack stared where the hologram had been for a moment. "She's gone?"
"No, we just transferred her to part of the ship's computer--she's just a computer programme now, all the nanites are removed. In the segment of the computer we've isolated, she is, right now, finding herself on the bridge of this ship, alone, with the entire galaxy programmed for her to conquer. Like I said, she wanted it, so she can have it." Maedhv laughed softly. "Of course, it's my galaxy at the height of the Golden Age. We'll see how long she lasts with just one No-Ship at her command."
"Suitable, I suppose," Daniel remarked. "But I am more curious about this 'Hidden World'."
"Oh, well, that's the proper term for what the Ancients reside in," Maedhv answered. "It's much more useful than they realize, though, because they can't see beyond it, and in doing so, they can't really understand it, either." Maedhv unstrapped herself from her chair, disconnected the computer interface linkages, and stood up. "If you'll excuse me for a moment, though, Daniel, I made a promise to Jack--and I should probably be sending Data, and Nate, and the rest of the GrayStar's crew back to the ship shortly, too."
She stepped over one of the walls of the bridge, marked by a recessed handle, which she grabbed and flung open with some decision, pulling open a second door to the other side. There was a variety of unidentifiable equipment--and some of it very obvious, like an axe--there, but most importantly along the top were fourteen ZPMs. "I believe I promised you a sundry collection of portable emergency generators, yes?"
All four members of SG-1 betrayed a great sense of surprise at the quantity of ZPMs present. Finally Jack seemed to find his voice. "Uh... yeah. I think you did."
Sam was busy counting them. "...twelve... fourteen ZPMs? That's incredible, we had to scour the galaxy just to find one nearly-empty ZPM! And you have fourteen in what looks like an emergency stores closet!"
"That's exactly what it is. Come, let me show you!" Maedhv was laughing, as she walked in her boots to the other side of the bridge with a swaying gate, and Alarita rose up, laughing in merry delight at hir lover's merriment. Maedhv reached the other side of the cavernous bridge, and threw open another storage closet. There were also fourteen ZPMs in it. "Zero-point modules are relatively low power, but source-independent systems which draw from nearby energy fields in the same way I can, as you may realize. The reactors of this ship rely on forcing larger versions of them--supercharging them, if you will--with a Naquadriah reaction process to overgenerate. This is, indeed, where all of what you call Naquadah comes from; it is the waste matter from the reactors of ships which use this two stage process, and which we can take and refine back into Naquadriah, like nuclear fuel reprocessing, to refuel our ships with. That sort of manipulation is well above your capabilities, but for the moment, these portable energy generators are therefore useful to you, and like I promised, you shall have them."
"Wow. I'm actually starting to like this whole mess now." With a chuckle Jack proclaimed, "We'll take fifty!" This brought him a concerned look from Daniel.
"Done," Maedhv answered without a trace of hesitation. "Collect these, and perhaps have Captain Data assign some of his men to carry the rest from the corridor bays I'll open right up for you down to the Prometheus so that you can get them stored away. I can also have Alarita send the rest of his crew back to the GrayStar, and his person, if he wishes."
"We thank you for your assistance," Data stated. "I will arrange for crew to transfer some of these ZPM devices to the Gray Star." Around him other members of the Gray Star engineering crew were still taking in the sights a bit, though they had been paying attention to the drama involving RepliCarter and the revelation of the ZPMs. They all disappeared as Maedhv sent them back to the Gray Star.
To the side Jack had picked up his radio. "Pendergast, can you hear me?"
A moment passed before a voice came over. "We hear you Colonel."
"How are the repairs going?"
"We managed to shave a bit off of the repair time for the hyperdrive, it should be ready in a couple hours or so."
"That's good, that's good. We're going to be transferring some sensitive cargo to you momentarily, put it in high security storage."
"And, furthermore, since I have treated you so roughly this long while, let me give you a further gift," Maedhv turned back from the entrance to the bridge with a smiling flourish. "How would you like the command codes to the Node Five-Eighty Defensive battery, the location of which the Ancient base you discovered used to be a secondary support facility of? It's almost drained of power, but you have plenty of ZPMs now to run it with."
"Sure, why not? Granted, the Goa'uld are going down now and the Replicators are finally history, but you never know what's out there."
Maedhv rather coyly laughed at Jack's answer as she turned back to the corridor to keep rifling through her own damage control bins. "No, you don't."
Maedhv returned to the bridge a while later, having secured the transfer of the requested 50 ZPMs down to the Prometheus and overseen the shifting of the crew; along the way she'd made sure that the medical assistance robots had done their best, and surprised Dr. Constantine by healing a couple of the worst-off cases personally, a grimacing, horrifying-looking process of melting one of her hands into an amorphous gray-green ooze of nanites which reconstructed flesh more or less instantaneously before reforming. It was definitely a further indication of her capabilities, and she'd done it without complaint, or hesitation that it would reveal things.
With the ship once again emptied of all save three souls--Daniel Jackson, herself, and Alarita, who was lounging on the bridge watching the Jaffa fleet which was pacing them , with a rather idle expression on hir face--Maedhv found it more than a little lonely. But there was, of course, a way to permanently solve all of that. "So, Daniel Jackson, are you starting to believe the sincerity of my words and my intentions? Maybe even to the point of realizing that I really am not harming the people who came to me for wisdom and support?"
It was a moment before Daniel replied. After everything that had happened he realized that he'd been right about Maedhv, something he could now say openly. "I do," he said to her directly. "I do believe you are sincere and do not wish harm to the people now following you."
"Thank you. I hope you realize just how it was for me to trust all of you, as it was for you to trust me," she answered. "That was a trivial expenditure to me, but those ZPM's are a hell of a change in the balance of power here, and more to the point, I know what they're going to be used for. You mentioned you had a base in Pegasus, as the reason why you wanted them."
"Yes. To aid and re-power the city of Atlantis so it can withstand the Wraith. I guess you're not happy with that?"
"It has to be done," Maedhv answered. "I fucked up big time by leaving the Wraith to their own devices, and you've got as much right to defend yourselves as anyone else." She delicately settled into her command chair and gestured to one of the empty consoles nearby. "Have a seat, Daniel. I'm going to contact the people in the commune, tell them to get ready. Go in, fold them into the ship with their possessions, and send you down. Nobody'll notice the ship."
"You know, it's not too late with the Wraith. Maybe you could talk them into finding an alternative to feeding on Humans in the Pegasus Galaxy," Daniel said somewhat hopefully as he found a seat.
"I am their mommy," Maedhv agreed with some undisguised affection as she gently rubbed her own stomach, so strange to hear from someone about the Wraith. "Well, let's call home." She reached to one of the consoles at her side and ran her fingers across the surface in an artful dance of commands, so that a hologram formed, misty, of a room in what was presumably the commune, empty at the moment, and, curiously, with the green curtain in front of the door having been torn down. "Hmm. That's odd. I guess they took it down--rather literal 'pack everything up'. Erin! Erin! You there!? " She might be able to instantaneously connection, but the problem of actually summoning someone was obvious, and Maedhv spent the next few minutes waiting patiently and occasionally shouting through the feed for someone to show up.
Finally someone did. And the figure who arrived didn't strike Daniel as a hippy commune dweller, given it was a balding tan-skinned man in sunglasses and a dark suit. Oh no was the thought that went through his head, remembering that Jack had returned to the SGC to inform them of their information on Maedhv's whereabouts in Washington State.
The figure looked at them through the display and specifically at Maedhv. His eyes widened for a moment and he turned to run.
Maedhv raised her hand, and as she did, the man staggered and started to choke violently, falling to the floor. "Don't run away like that. You're first going to tell me what you did to my people. As long as this channel is open--and you can't turn it off--I can kill you fairly easily over it. But I won't. Yet." She released him, and glanced to Daniel with a frown, but didn't speak, waiting for an answer.
Gurgling, trying to get some breath, the man began rasping. "If I die... they'll... shoot...."
"Oh, isn't this a gigantic fucking mess." She glanced to Daniel, for that matter Alarita was staring with evident consternation as well. "Is he serious?"
"I think he is..." Daniel looked to Maedhv before walking into the field of vision of the holographic comm device. "Listen, pal, I don't know what you and your people think you're doing there, but if you know what's good for you you'll clear out now."
"Snakehead..."
"No, she's not a Goa'uld," Daniel said insistantly. "Who are you, what are you doing there?"
Instead the figure had begun turning away from the monitor. A raspy "Help!" came from his throat. "Help!"
Maedhv raised her hand slightly, again, and again, then, the man was choking, though once again Maedhv released him before he died, though she certainly let him black out, for a moment, as the release of her power let him fall to the floor, and she glanced to Daniel with an unpleasant expression. "It appears that you have betrayed me."
Daniel saw the look on Maedhv's face and realized that everything had completely turned south. "No. No we haven't. Listen, Maedhv, whoever they are, they're not with the SGC."
Maedhv shrugged. "I'm not an idiot. Stargate Command is just a component of the Federal Government of the United States of America. Hell, I voted in the recent elections. The fact that I believe you when you say Stargate Command didn't do it is immaterial--that just makes it worse, because it means someone at an even higher level of your government sanctioned it. Now let's see what this bastard's calls for help brings into my looking-glass."
With nothing appearing, Daniel continued. "Maedhv... I don't think this is the government either," he protested.
Near Forks, Washington
Earth, United States of America
The door to the central building flew open. One of Sattler's men came out, wide-eyed and clearly frightened. "It's Horace! Something's wrong with Horace!"
"What? Woh, calm down...." Sattler got close and noticed that FBI Agent Sacklin and his two compatriots were paying far too much attention to them now.
Still frantic, the Trust man - one of the hired guns - blurted out, "Sattler, something's choking him, but I can't see..."
Sattler blanched, and for good reason. The use of his real name and not his cover - "Agent Callahan" - immediately brought attemption from Sacklin. "Hey, wait," Sacklin began. "What's going on...."
Seeing little choice, Sattler pulled out his gun and spun around. His first round hit Sacklin between the eyes, killing him instantly. The other two FBI men still in the compound area acted on instinct, going for their sidearms. Unfortunately for them, Sattler's team was faster and more on the ball. Before either could pull the trigger on their weapons they were gunned down.
"You idiot!" Sattler punched the man who'd come out of the compound. He didn't wait to see the man sprawl out on the ground before turning to the cultists. He was always one to plan ahead, and now that this had happened.... He grabbed Erin by the arm and forced her to her feet. As she began to protest he thrust the gun into her hand briefly, holding it by the barrel, just long enough for her to touch it before he wrenched it out of her grasp in case she got any ideas. "There. Your prints are on a gun used in the slaying of federal agents," he informed her. "Now we can shoot you all and it looks like you're a bunch of crackpots who resisted arrest."
"It's okay," Erin answered, finally not caring enough. "Someone's choking in there? You do realize what that means, don't you? She's coming back for us, like she promised. We won't resist you with violence, though you might try to make it seem like we have. We'll wait--I bet she didn't even kill the man. Maedhv is very compassionate like that. She's brought her starship, and she's coming to take us to the stars, and you won't be able to stop her."
"Shut up!" Sattler grabbed Erin around the neck. "Keep an eye on the rest of them. Somebody moves, you shoot!" He dragged Erin into the central compound building and toward the secret room, his mind racing. Whatever Snakehead trap Horace had set off he was still worried that the Goa'uld would actually be coming back, which meant he wouldn't be able to get any examples of their technology as he was ordered to.
Erin just focused her mind on breathing, and offered no resistance, nor did anyone else; they just sat down, and quietly waited as Erin was dragged away, not even complaining.
Sattler dragged her into the secret room. He found Horace on the floor, his hands at his throat and his breathing very restricted. He brought his gun closer to Erin's head and walked into the room. "Okay, Snakehead, I know you're here somewhere!", he shouted. "You've got ten seconds to let him go and give us what we want or we start shooting hippies!"
Maedhv had been waiting for Sattler, and now she let the holographic projector in the room reveal the full panoply of the Bridge of the Xihuatlatl, including Daniel and Alarita. "So I see I finally have someone responsible. Fine." She abruptly, and completely, released Horace and settled back in the hologram. "What, exactly, do you want?"
Sattler was taken aback immediately. He'd seen images of Goa'uld ships and what was inside and the vessel was clearly nothing like a Goa'uld ship. "Listen, we know you've got technology hidden here, we want it."
"Who do you work for?", Daniel asked.
"None of your damned business! Now let go of my man or the shooting starts!"
"You don't want to do that," Daniel said in a warning tone. "You harm a hair on their heads and all bets are off."
"He's been released, you stupid dolt, he's just unconscious," Maedhv sighed in exasperation and looked to her wolfen lover. "Alarita! Battle condition--stand by to Fold--target destination Sacred Terra." She turned back, very levelly, to Sattler. "You want my technology? Okay, I'll bring it to you."
"No funny business!"
No-Ship Xihuatlatl, In Orbit over Dakara
Universe Designate SRC-19
Maedhv slumped back as she looked at the empty space where the projector had been. "The Ancients will be back to attack us again on top of everything else. Alarita, prepare to raise the phase disruption shields."
"Right, Maedhv," Alarita leaned over and unlocked a section of the panel, triggering a series of commands. Several status fields went blue. "Phase disruption operating normally. This is the first time we've done this in combat since the Battle of the Sphere, isn't it?"
"Maybe earlier. Never had a need for them since then, anyway. If you'd please, my love?"
"Activating fold drive." Alarita growled softly in anticipation as shi selected the necessary keys and settled back into hir seat as the external displays turned black for unknown 'safety' reasons. A few seconds later, the external displays snapped back into view, and with them was revealed the shining orb of Earth.
Daniel watched with a great deal of apprehension as the Xihuatlatl finished it's Fold and emerged into space not far from Earth. Perhaps too close to Earth at that. "Using your capabilities, couldn't you just transport your people up here and leave whomever those men were with an empty compound?"
"That's exactly what I'm going to do. In fact, the ship can do it." Maedhv started jacking herself into all the ship systems, establishing connections which let her briefly lower the phase disruption shields. Transport was effected simultaneously, with Erin appearing on the bridge and the others in the habitation modules which had secured the Gray Star's crew.
Erin pushed herself up in shock from where before she'd been kneeling, with a gun pointed at her, to see the sumptuous bridge that the Guru--that Maedhv--had been on before, and the curious creature and man both with her. She rose, and looked levelly at Maedhv, reminded of the admonition not to show her obesience ever again. "...Maedhv?"
"Maedhv Curoi'larijh," Maedhv agreed simply, and gestured to Alarita. "Alarita Curoi'larijh, my mate who's been in hibernation for the past few aeons. Hir primacy is a gentle one, fear not, and shi teases me about my other lovers..."
"...But I don't hurt them," Alarita agreed with a welcoming smile. "You've done wonders for Maedhv, anyway. Welcome aboard the Xihuatlatl."
"I, uh," Erin took in a deep breath. "Thank you so much. I don't understand at all why they were repressing us like that, Maedhv, we'd done nothing wrong...."
"Because homo sapiens and Responsible Government are contradictions by definition," Maedhv answered a bit acerbically. "Don't worry about it, though. I'll arrange flash training and nanite courses for everyone, shortly, but if you'd folllow one of the maintenance robots below, I need you to explain the situation to everyone, and just encourage them to relax and celebrate. I have some business to take care of."
"Of course." She paused, and stared at Daniel. "Though, who's he?"
"I'm not sure myself," Maedhv answered cryptically, and watched as the somewhat confused Erin left the bridge.
"I suppose this is more about me being a... 'not-Daniel'?", Daniel asked as Erin left.
"No, it's about admitting that I'm not sure, which is an improvement over what I said before," Maedhv answered. "I don't know if you're the real Daniel or not, honestly. So I've decided to withhold judgement. Fair enough?"
"Sure, that's fair enough," he agreed.
"Good, because you're not going to like what I'm going to do next." Maedhv finished speaking at the same time that Sattler appeared on the bridge via the fold process. "You asked for my technology, and here it is. Now, Mister Sattler," Maedhv was laughing in an almost droll way, "I'm going to find out every little detail of your existence, from the moment your dad slipped GHB into your mom's beer."
”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt
"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia
American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.
DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia
American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.
DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
Re: "The Last Woman Standing" - SG1/TGG Multiverse
Chapter 14
Stargate Command, Cheyenne Mountain
Earth, United States of America
Universe Designate SRC-19
Colonel Davis was in O'Neill's office doing administrative paperwork - and grumbling mightily about O'Neill's paperwork habits - when he got called to the Gate Control Room. He went straight there and was met by Harriman. "Sergeant?"
"We just picked up a new contact within the lunar orbit of Earth, Colonel." Harriman brought Davis over to a computer screen. With a few key presses it brought up a view of a ship. A big ship. "It's like nothing we've seen before."
Davis' jaw clenched a little. "Thanks, Sergeant," he said before picking up a red phone in the Control Room. "Get me President Hayes immediately," he said upon an answer coming from the other end.
No-Ship Xihuatlatl, Near Earth
Universe Designate SRC-19
Rather than even bother to let Sattler answer the comment, Maedhv just stared at him. And as she stared, his body started to quiver, and shake, and he began to whimper uncontrollably, his eyes also blinking uncontrollably as he sank down to his knees. She was quiet, and Alarita, for hir part, simply continued to monitor the systems as though nothing was happening.
But it was happening, as Sattler's eyes rolled back in his head, and blood started to trickle out of his nose and ears. "A bit to much for you, isn't it?" Maedhv commented nastily, though she knew Sattler couldn't even communicate at that moment. "Traitor. A traitor to your own people, disobeying your lawful chain of command to work for this Trust. Well, that explains it."
With a last disgusted expression of fury, Maedhv turned away from Sattler, and he dropped to the floor with a strangled scream, body convulsing uncontrollably though not dead--yet, anyway. "Alarita, if you'd locate the main communications node on the planet's continent contiguous with the trace signal from my comms network?"
Walking over to where Sattler was laying on the floor of the bridge, Daniel looked down at him and then back up at Maedhv. "What did you do to him?"
"I downloaded all the stored contents of his brain into my own," Maedhv answered casually. "Don't worry, I just copied it. He might recover."
"Oh."
"I have the central node up," Alarita reported.
"Override it, black out all their communications channels and replace them with a direct feed to the bridge--audio only."
"Got it." Alarita turned back expectantly. "You're on, Maedhv."
It was probably the oldest piece of equipment on the bridge, a wired handset which let the Captain communicate privately with someone on an audio channel which could prevent hacking attempts or data transmissions. Maedhv pulled it up, and started talking. It was simple, and pretty blunt. "Someone connect this line to the Oval Office, please. I'm the commander of the alien warship in orbit."
There was a short pause on the other end before a voice asked, "Wait, who is this? How did you get into a secured line?"
"Transfer the connection; this isn't a joke. If we can override your security protocols we're obviously not some collection of random idiots. You have five minutes."
Hearing the impatient tone in Maedhv's voice and just what it entailed, Daniel stepped forward. "Um, may I?" Daniel indicated the handset.
Maedhv frowned for a moment, then shrugged, and offered the handset over to Daniel.
Daniel took it. "Whoever is there, authorization code Sierra Golf Charlie Seven Two Seven One Nine Nine Seven. Please connect me to the President immediately."
After several moments a reply came from the other end. "The President will be with you shortly."
"Thank you." Daniel handed the handset back to Maedhv.
"Well, you're unusually well connected for a ground-pounding research scientist on a front-line team."
"Yeah, um, I overheard Jack use that code once when trying to reach the President," Daniel confessed. Wanting to keep a peaceful rapport with Maedhv given how the situation was developing, he added, "Let's keep that between us?"
"I think that's going to get blown wide open, but you can always say it was under duress," Maedhv answered laconically before bringing the handset back up to her ear and settling back in the chair to which she was connected by sundry wires and interfaces.
After another minute the voice of an older man came on the line. "This is Hayes."
"Ah, hello, Your Excellency. This is commander Xihuatlatl to the President of the United States. You'll forgive me for using subterfuge in obtaining the authorization code but random transmissions weren't being taken seriously and I have a member of SG-1 aboard; I am the alien vessel in orbit. Please understand that we conducted an interrogation of one of your National Intelligence Directorate personnel who was involved in an act of terrorism against some of our subjects who indicates that there's a large false-flag operation called The Trust which has subordinated your NID and placed agents inside of your so-called Stargate Command. I'm here to insure that The Trust is completely dismantled and all of its personnel are handed over to my people for trial on terrorism charges. The terms we'd use for this are very different, but I'm phrasing it in ways that you're expected to be understand, and I hope that's sufficient." Maedhv settled back afterwards, and waited, expecting that it would take quite some time for an answer to get back to her.
"Wait, your subjects? What is this about?" Hayes' voice betrayed his confusion. "Just what the hell is going on?"
"I think it's straightforward, Your Excellency. I'm sending a data burst accompanying this transmission, specifying all known Trust operations within your territory. If I don't receive permission to conduct precision strikes against those facilities within the next twenty-four hours, you'll be at war with the Asvin Empire. Reactivate this channel when you're ready to authorize my operations." Maedhv set the handset down.
"Alarita, I'm putting up a country map next. We'll be contacting the present government of the Greater Ayruatl next, since they have some facilities in their territory, too." A map flashed up onto the holographic projector, from Maedhv's memory, and Great Britain was highlighted.
Daniel's expression soured. No no no, not now, not when everything turned out well went through his mind as he got close to Maedhv. "Maedhv, you don't have to do this. You've got your people back. Let us deal with the Trust."
"I'm not going to destroy your planet, though I could," Maedhv answered coolly. "Nor do I intend to do more than provide an abject demonstration to your people of the real consequences of the dysfunctional governments you allow to exist. Nonetheless, if your rulers are so abjectly stupid that they cannot allow me to do this deed, in the same way you go ahead and bomb other peoples' countries with your remote-controlled attack vehicles in the air of your world, then I will just take over all of your backwards nations, and run them just like I ran my commune. And obliterate illness and disease while I'm at it, and protect you from threats you have not yet learned about. I trusted you, Daniel, and you repaid it with treachery. Someone told them about the location of my commune, and I have a pretty good idea who that was."
Thank you Jack went through Daniel's mind in very sarcastic manner. He regretted it a moment later of course given that Maedhv was a telepath. "You trusted us up until you thought we might say no to taking you to Castor and to Kuahuatl, then you stole our ship from us," he pointed out. "Listen, the Trust... they're not just corrupt officials from our government anymore. Sattler must not have known if you don't, but we learned some time ago that their senior leadership is under Goa'uld control. They're probably the ones who instigated this, hell, maybe because of what happened at Castor."
"Well, if you cannot govern yourselves to the point where you let your mortal enemies run organizations happily within your territory, does that not beg the question of why you are not begging me to intervene, instead of trying to talk me out of it? Nothing escapes my eye, and I'm quite capable of reordering your civilization on improved lines. I had wanted to avoid this, but this ridiculous situation leaves me feeling like there is very little choice, particularly if you do not merely allow this to happen, but then refuse to let me deal with it."
"But we don't just let them do what they want!", Daniel protested. "We're trying to deal with them. We've actually stopped them a few times. But we don't have telepathy to rip the information out of someone's mind and they're very good at hiding, Maedhv. Listen, if you know where their facilities are, we can take care of them ourselves."
Alarita turned hir chair around, unruffled by Daniel's shouting, and primly announced: "The British Prime Minister, your line."
USS Prometheus, In Orbit over Dakara
Universe Designate SRC-19
The Prometheus and Gray Star remained in orbit over Dakara with flanking Jaffa Ha'taks providing the two wounded ships with cover in the unlikely instance of an attack. On board Prometheus the remaining three members of SG-1 were helping with the final repairs to the hyperdrive, O'Neill sitting on the bridge in Pendergast's place so the ship's skipper could help direct the repair efforts. "So how are the repairs going?", he said aloud and into an open comm link to the Gray Star.
Nate's voice gave an immediate reply. "Oh, just peachy. With Serlann back on her feet they've been able to get a lot of systems back up. We think we'll have hyperdrive soon. Serlann and Zaria are arguing about whether hooking a ZPM up to it would make the drive explode or let us match your drive speeds."
"How cute," Jack answered. "So, um, you have to return home soon? If you can come back to Earth I've got some beers in the fridge."
That brought a laugh from Nate. "Frankly I don't know. I might have to go patch things up with Ivvie since the IUCEC yanked me out of her wedding reception."
Jack's face contorted into a grimace. "Oh yeah. They always have such bad timing don't they? Well, I guess I can drink the beer by myself..."
"General, we're receiving a message from the SGC," one of the bridge officers said.
"Talk to you in a minute, Nate, let me take this call." Jack moved forward in the chair. "Colonel Davis, good to hear from you."
"General, we have a big problem."
"You don't say."
"The President just got contacted by someone who identified herself as the commander of the Xihuatalatal..."
Jack got a sinking feeling in his stomach and let out a groan. "Oh no, what has Her Mightyness been up to?", he muttered.
"She's demanded that the President permit her to destroy several facilities that she claims are being operated by the Trust. She's given him 24 hours to comply or 'the Asvin Empire' will declare war on America."
"Dammit, i knew it was too good to be true," Jack grumbled. "We should have let Ba'al nuke us back at that planet." He stood up from the chair. "Davis, I'll be back in the SGC in a little bit, let me go talk to some friends."
Ten minutes later the three members of SG-1 were gathered together in a meeting room on Prometheus. The door opened as they settled in and admitted Nate and Data. "So, something happened to get Her Mightyness riled up," Jack stated to them. "And, well... it might be my fault."
"Daniel did warn you about provoking her," was Nate's sarcastic reply. "What's happened?"
"Oh, she has a mad-on now for an outfit we know as the Trust," Jack answered. "They used to be a group of industrialists and officials who thought the SGC should be looting the galaxy instead of exploring it, tended to threaten or even kill people who got in their way. But in the past year they made a few mistakes and their leadership all have snakes in their heads now."
"You refer to the Goa'uld," Data said.
"Yes."
"A most disturbing development. I take it your efforts at breaking up the Trust have been unsuccessful?"
Teal'c answered with a nod. "That they have, Captain Data. They have proven most resourceful."
Nate took a seat. "So, Jack, what did this Trust do to piss off Maedhv and what does it have to do with you?"
"If I had to guess, they found out about her little cult," Jack answered. "Probably from the report I made at the SGC before returning to Dakara. They went to them and rounded them up or something and Maedhv's found out so now she's pissed."
Data gave Jack a quizzical look. "Curious, General, why did you do such a thing if you suspected such information might be leaked into the wrong hands?"
Rolling his eyes, Jack let out an angry groan. "Because I didn't think the Trust would have any interest in a bunch of hippies out in rain-soaked Washington State! I don't know why they got so interested..."
"Maedhv did betray the Goa'uld at Castor," Nate pointed out. "And they were mightily pissed off at her. Maybe they send word back to their people running the Trust to look for any reference to Maedhv in your records?"
Jack stared at Nate for a moment. "I hate it when Daniel's right," he finally mumbled.
"Well, what are we going to do now?", Sam asked the assembled.
"I don't know about you, but I'm tempted to go find that Ancient time-jump ship so I can go back and warn myself to let Ba'al blow us up," Jack answered.
"An understandable but inadvisable choice," Data replied. "Such an action would have prevented us from removing the Replicator infestation from the Gray Star and even with our self-destruction there was a mathematically-unacceptable chance of the Replicators surviving."
"Swell," Jack said with a lot of irritation. "So we save the Multiverse from the Replicators but doom our Earth, at the very least, to getting worked over by that psychopath."
"Well, let's think about this for a moment," Sam said. "Maedhv gave us the codes to those defense batteries in the Ancient outpost in Antarctica and we now have more than enough ZPMs to power them all. Also, remember Alarita saying that the Dakara Device would also disrupt the Xihuatlatl's repair nanites. If we trigger the Device's energy through the Stargate back on Earth we could disable her ship's auto-repair systems."
"And you think that even these big honking space guns she says are buried beneath the Antarctic Outpost could take out her ship without its repair mechanism?"
"It's worth a shot General," Sam answered. "We call in Colonel Caldwell to bring the Daedalus back from its shakedown run and meet him at Earth, that gives us two ships. Maybe three." Sam looked to Data.
"Our hyperdrive systems have been restored," Data said, "but at our present position it would take thirty hours to arrive at Earth. We would not be present before Maedhv's deadline."
"Wait, Data," Samantha held a hand up. "If we power your drive with a ZPM it could permit your Goa'uld drive to meet the speed of our Asgard engines."
"Officer Serlann is concerned that the Gray Star's drive would not be capable of channeling that amount of power."
"It shouldn't be a problem."
"I do not know if we can spare any ships from the defense of Dakara," Teal'c said, "but I will ask."
"We do have a lot of ZPMs to go around now," Sam said. "If you can get more ships to guard Dakara we can take the ones already here, plus any others close enough to Earth to meet us on time."
"Sounds like a plan." Nate clapped his hands together. "But I'd feel more comfortable with a bit more firepower. So while you're getting ready for all of this, I have some calls to make."
Jack stood from the table. "We both do."
No-Ship Xihuatlatl, Near Earth
Universe Designate SRC-19
Maedhv had finished her conversation with the British Prime Minister and was running diagnostics. "Alarita, if you could switch the No-field from standby?"
"We won't be able to tell if they manoeuvre assets to attack us."
"You also need rest, and really, so do I. I haven't slept in quite some time, and for all I can suppress it.."
"Your brain needs to defragment as much as mine does," Alarita agreed with a chipper grin. "Alright, then. I'm just mildly concerned that they'll have a fleet waiting for us when we go back to standby."
"They've never seen a No-Ship before, and I don't think they really understood what it meant. You had the No-field engaged under the surface of the planet, but they didn't have access to the sensors and didn't realize what it meant. They may well think that we've departed."
Alarita bit hir lip. "A reasonable enough supposition, and we'll go to standby with battle shields at full power?"
"Naturally. I will treat this like a serious military operation, promise, especially since the ship's slave-rigged to hell and back."
"Alright. Engaging." Abruptly all of the screens and displays showing outside information snapped blank, leaving just the internal status reports, and in orbit over Earth, the immense Xihuatlatl turned ghostly for a moment, and then vanished entirely.
"Setting the ship systems to automatic," Alarita reviewed as shi finished up a few interface commands, and then jacked out, rising and stretching with a flagrant displace of hir cod-piece poking out from the outrageous skort.
"Excellent then," Maedhv followed suit in removing herself from the systems, and looked to Daniel. "Would you kindly join us for dinner? After that we'll see to providing you a cabin, and Alarita and I shall take our leave for the night, for... some much deserved relaxation." Maedhv had a vaguely amused look as she said that and it was probably pretty clear what she actually meant.
Looking rather uncomfortable with everything going on while trying to figure arguments to get Maedhv to back down, Daniel gave a stiff nod. "Sure."
Alarita wandered hir way over to Maedhv and gently slipped hir arms around the pregnant woman, drawing her close, so that they walked together in a slow and ambling fashion toward the transfer lifts, Daniel easily keeping up while they setted together up against the wall, with gentle affection of the sort familiar to, and to rival, any married couple of consideration duration. Other than their initial embraces, they had not really touched before that evening, and the gentle intensity seemed perfectly sincere.
Maedhv closed her eyes, and smiled softly for a moment, before they arrived at their destination, the nearby officer's country, bustling with various robotic servitors apparently doing restorative maintenance, and in the case of the grand banquet room--strangely only laid out for three, and with a broad settee like a love seat at the head, for both Alarita and Maedhv, instead of a chair--it seemed very lonely, indeed. The blatantly Mesoamerican style of the decor left little doubt, though, of where the ship had come from, and as the two settled down together into the plush settee, entwined even to eat, the dishes laid out seemed in a sort of Mayan-Peruvian fusion style, suggesting the elderly customs of a people who had had as their own, all the plants of the new world to form their customs, but not those of the Old.
Daniel took in the sights as they found their seats. "You've had stocks of food aboard for all these eons?"
"Well, we do have hydroponics facilities aboard for some of it, but those are still being replanted currently. Instead we kept a lot in time-dialation based stasis, and some of the rest was admittedly frozen," Alarita explained. "For the rest, it's synthetically generated through a variety of methods, like cloning vats for the meat. It's nice to have the tastes of a home that no longer exists, though Earth..."
"...Pretty much still has everything we had," Maedhv agreed. "It is one advantage of taking it over, and I apologize for the fact that the food is not yet fresh. Of course, it is a reminder that a third of the population of your planet is starving, and another third doesn't have enough food."
Alarita stared blankly at hir lover. "What? Nobody even starved their slaves during the Asvin Empire! I .." Shi started blankly at Daniel.
"Exactly, my love, exactly. We could torture people for amusement, and did habitually, but at least our maliciousness was not accompanied by such incompetence as to also let us starve our people at the same time. Yet this, Earth manages to do, and primarily through distribution problems at that. Governments which seize food aide from the starving, and a failure of infrastructure to get it into the right place. Even when they have the ring transporters which could and should be used for food transportation, or anti-gravity systems from Goa'uld heavy ships, or simply the vastly greater energy resources of Naquadah reactors for producing more power for their agricultural and transportation services. And they haven't even attempted to implement it--nobody except for the military even knows it exists."
"Really, Daniel," Maedhv turned to face him. "I was going to leave you alone, for all the hideous suffering that incompetence causes to people. But once it was extended to being unable to prevent the Trust from harming my people? I am going to fix your world whether or not you like it."
"And you're going to kill thousands, maybe millions, of people to do it," Daniel countered. "People are going to fight you every step of the way. And even if you win... what then? You become the ruling Queen of Earth, in a position you've been in twice before and have admitted you never really liked or did well in." Ignoring the food for a moment despite his own slight hunger, he added, "You say you never starved your slaves in the Asvin Empire. That everyone had plenty to eat. Maybe in your era, but what about when you were only as advanced as we are today? Are you telling me that when the Asvin were at our level everyone was perfectly fed? That you didn't have any hunger? Finally, if you're so concerned about the failure of our food distribution, why not simply help us with that? You just said you had technology to clone meat and synthesize food, provide us with that technology and the means to distribute the food surplus."
"I'll give the job to my daughter when she comes of age, and retire with Alarita," Maedhv answered thoughtfully. "Her father is human, of Earth, and that will, in the end, make you more content, I think. The technology will be distributed, but, really, if I gave it out to you right now, you'd just end up making weapons out of it, or hoarding it for your rulers, in the same way you dismissed Third-World countries as doing whenever they got handouts. I have tried to avoid ruling, frozen myself in the ice rather than do it, I did, but yet I just see humanity in the same folly over and over, and I don't think my folly is worse than your's."
"You see, that's where your wrong," Daniel replied. "Yes, I'll admit we have problems with the Third World's governments. But given time and better technology we can help the people there and keep the governments from interfering. But what you're talking about is violently conquering a world that will resist you. You're going to have to impose control over six billion people, most of which won't want to be ruled by an all-powerful overlord. Even when you defeat our standing forces, what are you going to do about the people who will maintain resistance in the countryside in the cities?"
"Most of them, will probably be made to worship me as a Goddess," Maedhv answered. "It's not like there's no precedent for it..."
At that, Alarita frowned very faintly.
Alarita's expression didn't go unnoticed by Daniel. "I'll grant that in some places of the Third World that might happen, but what about those who already have deeply-held religious beliefs? They're not just going to give up what they believe in because you come riding in a massive spaceship and declare yourself ruler of the world, no more than they would've done the same to the Goa'uld."
"You don't quite understand yet the power at my grasp," Maedhv answered with a faint, studious frown, as though she were at least thinking. "I am afraid, Daniel Jackson, that I am going to proceed with the operation--though I certainly intend to keep you around afterwards to protest everything I do. Don't doubt that your words are considered, and found... Useful, if nothing else, for my refining my own understanding."
Daniel rubbed his face with his hands. Maedhv seemed dead set on her course and he couldn't think of anything to do to dissuade her, not with how determined she was. Alarita, though... he hoped that maybe if he persuaded hir enough, then Maedhv might listen... "And when the Ancients come back? They left you alone before because they thought you might have changed, but when they see you conquering Earth they will have every reason to think you're back to business as usual. And then there's the Asgard. They don't have to worry about the Replicators anymore and they won't take you conquering Earth lightly."
"I'm preparing to fight the ancients simultaneously with whatever resistance you cough up," Maedhv answered rather lazily. "This ship wasn't even tested against those Ha'taks. You're soon going to see its true power. And on top of everything else, it's shielded against the Ancients and can severely degrade the effectiveness of their attacks against me, while I'm inside of it--because they're no different than the sort of attacks a Devaastra would have launched against a ship of this class. Same principle, and we've got defences. And I can tell from looking in your mind that the Asgard were hurt hard by the war with the Replicators. Now that I'm in one of my ships I have even less to worry about than I did before--and I would have won before if you hadn't tried to kill yourself, anyway."
Alarita closed hir eyes and sighed. "Maedhv, he does have a point, in the sense we don't have all that much in the way of an actual force to back this up, if nothing else."
Maedhv drummed her fingers on the table for a moment and then hugged Alarita with a faint smile. "Don't worry. I have an idea about that."
A horrified look came across Daniel's face. "The Wraith," he said hoarsely. "You're going to bring the Wraith to the Milky Way?!"
Stargate Command, Cheyenne Mountain
Earth, United States of America
Universe Designate SRC-19
Colonel Davis was in O'Neill's office doing administrative paperwork - and grumbling mightily about O'Neill's paperwork habits - when he got called to the Gate Control Room. He went straight there and was met by Harriman. "Sergeant?"
"We just picked up a new contact within the lunar orbit of Earth, Colonel." Harriman brought Davis over to a computer screen. With a few key presses it brought up a view of a ship. A big ship. "It's like nothing we've seen before."
Davis' jaw clenched a little. "Thanks, Sergeant," he said before picking up a red phone in the Control Room. "Get me President Hayes immediately," he said upon an answer coming from the other end.
No-Ship Xihuatlatl, Near Earth
Universe Designate SRC-19
Rather than even bother to let Sattler answer the comment, Maedhv just stared at him. And as she stared, his body started to quiver, and shake, and he began to whimper uncontrollably, his eyes also blinking uncontrollably as he sank down to his knees. She was quiet, and Alarita, for hir part, simply continued to monitor the systems as though nothing was happening.
But it was happening, as Sattler's eyes rolled back in his head, and blood started to trickle out of his nose and ears. "A bit to much for you, isn't it?" Maedhv commented nastily, though she knew Sattler couldn't even communicate at that moment. "Traitor. A traitor to your own people, disobeying your lawful chain of command to work for this Trust. Well, that explains it."
With a last disgusted expression of fury, Maedhv turned away from Sattler, and he dropped to the floor with a strangled scream, body convulsing uncontrollably though not dead--yet, anyway. "Alarita, if you'd locate the main communications node on the planet's continent contiguous with the trace signal from my comms network?"
Walking over to where Sattler was laying on the floor of the bridge, Daniel looked down at him and then back up at Maedhv. "What did you do to him?"
"I downloaded all the stored contents of his brain into my own," Maedhv answered casually. "Don't worry, I just copied it. He might recover."
"Oh."
"I have the central node up," Alarita reported.
"Override it, black out all their communications channels and replace them with a direct feed to the bridge--audio only."
"Got it." Alarita turned back expectantly. "You're on, Maedhv."
It was probably the oldest piece of equipment on the bridge, a wired handset which let the Captain communicate privately with someone on an audio channel which could prevent hacking attempts or data transmissions. Maedhv pulled it up, and started talking. It was simple, and pretty blunt. "Someone connect this line to the Oval Office, please. I'm the commander of the alien warship in orbit."
There was a short pause on the other end before a voice asked, "Wait, who is this? How did you get into a secured line?"
"Transfer the connection; this isn't a joke. If we can override your security protocols we're obviously not some collection of random idiots. You have five minutes."
Hearing the impatient tone in Maedhv's voice and just what it entailed, Daniel stepped forward. "Um, may I?" Daniel indicated the handset.
Maedhv frowned for a moment, then shrugged, and offered the handset over to Daniel.
Daniel took it. "Whoever is there, authorization code Sierra Golf Charlie Seven Two Seven One Nine Nine Seven. Please connect me to the President immediately."
After several moments a reply came from the other end. "The President will be with you shortly."
"Thank you." Daniel handed the handset back to Maedhv.
"Well, you're unusually well connected for a ground-pounding research scientist on a front-line team."
"Yeah, um, I overheard Jack use that code once when trying to reach the President," Daniel confessed. Wanting to keep a peaceful rapport with Maedhv given how the situation was developing, he added, "Let's keep that between us?"
"I think that's going to get blown wide open, but you can always say it was under duress," Maedhv answered laconically before bringing the handset back up to her ear and settling back in the chair to which she was connected by sundry wires and interfaces.
After another minute the voice of an older man came on the line. "This is Hayes."
"Ah, hello, Your Excellency. This is commander Xihuatlatl to the President of the United States. You'll forgive me for using subterfuge in obtaining the authorization code but random transmissions weren't being taken seriously and I have a member of SG-1 aboard; I am the alien vessel in orbit. Please understand that we conducted an interrogation of one of your National Intelligence Directorate personnel who was involved in an act of terrorism against some of our subjects who indicates that there's a large false-flag operation called The Trust which has subordinated your NID and placed agents inside of your so-called Stargate Command. I'm here to insure that The Trust is completely dismantled and all of its personnel are handed over to my people for trial on terrorism charges. The terms we'd use for this are very different, but I'm phrasing it in ways that you're expected to be understand, and I hope that's sufficient." Maedhv settled back afterwards, and waited, expecting that it would take quite some time for an answer to get back to her.
"Wait, your subjects? What is this about?" Hayes' voice betrayed his confusion. "Just what the hell is going on?"
"I think it's straightforward, Your Excellency. I'm sending a data burst accompanying this transmission, specifying all known Trust operations within your territory. If I don't receive permission to conduct precision strikes against those facilities within the next twenty-four hours, you'll be at war with the Asvin Empire. Reactivate this channel when you're ready to authorize my operations." Maedhv set the handset down.
"Alarita, I'm putting up a country map next. We'll be contacting the present government of the Greater Ayruatl next, since they have some facilities in their territory, too." A map flashed up onto the holographic projector, from Maedhv's memory, and Great Britain was highlighted.
Daniel's expression soured. No no no, not now, not when everything turned out well went through his mind as he got close to Maedhv. "Maedhv, you don't have to do this. You've got your people back. Let us deal with the Trust."
"I'm not going to destroy your planet, though I could," Maedhv answered coolly. "Nor do I intend to do more than provide an abject demonstration to your people of the real consequences of the dysfunctional governments you allow to exist. Nonetheless, if your rulers are so abjectly stupid that they cannot allow me to do this deed, in the same way you go ahead and bomb other peoples' countries with your remote-controlled attack vehicles in the air of your world, then I will just take over all of your backwards nations, and run them just like I ran my commune. And obliterate illness and disease while I'm at it, and protect you from threats you have not yet learned about. I trusted you, Daniel, and you repaid it with treachery. Someone told them about the location of my commune, and I have a pretty good idea who that was."
Thank you Jack went through Daniel's mind in very sarcastic manner. He regretted it a moment later of course given that Maedhv was a telepath. "You trusted us up until you thought we might say no to taking you to Castor and to Kuahuatl, then you stole our ship from us," he pointed out. "Listen, the Trust... they're not just corrupt officials from our government anymore. Sattler must not have known if you don't, but we learned some time ago that their senior leadership is under Goa'uld control. They're probably the ones who instigated this, hell, maybe because of what happened at Castor."
"Well, if you cannot govern yourselves to the point where you let your mortal enemies run organizations happily within your territory, does that not beg the question of why you are not begging me to intervene, instead of trying to talk me out of it? Nothing escapes my eye, and I'm quite capable of reordering your civilization on improved lines. I had wanted to avoid this, but this ridiculous situation leaves me feeling like there is very little choice, particularly if you do not merely allow this to happen, but then refuse to let me deal with it."
"But we don't just let them do what they want!", Daniel protested. "We're trying to deal with them. We've actually stopped them a few times. But we don't have telepathy to rip the information out of someone's mind and they're very good at hiding, Maedhv. Listen, if you know where their facilities are, we can take care of them ourselves."
Alarita turned hir chair around, unruffled by Daniel's shouting, and primly announced: "The British Prime Minister, your line."
USS Prometheus, In Orbit over Dakara
Universe Designate SRC-19
The Prometheus and Gray Star remained in orbit over Dakara with flanking Jaffa Ha'taks providing the two wounded ships with cover in the unlikely instance of an attack. On board Prometheus the remaining three members of SG-1 were helping with the final repairs to the hyperdrive, O'Neill sitting on the bridge in Pendergast's place so the ship's skipper could help direct the repair efforts. "So how are the repairs going?", he said aloud and into an open comm link to the Gray Star.
Nate's voice gave an immediate reply. "Oh, just peachy. With Serlann back on her feet they've been able to get a lot of systems back up. We think we'll have hyperdrive soon. Serlann and Zaria are arguing about whether hooking a ZPM up to it would make the drive explode or let us match your drive speeds."
"How cute," Jack answered. "So, um, you have to return home soon? If you can come back to Earth I've got some beers in the fridge."
That brought a laugh from Nate. "Frankly I don't know. I might have to go patch things up with Ivvie since the IUCEC yanked me out of her wedding reception."
Jack's face contorted into a grimace. "Oh yeah. They always have such bad timing don't they? Well, I guess I can drink the beer by myself..."
"General, we're receiving a message from the SGC," one of the bridge officers said.
"Talk to you in a minute, Nate, let me take this call." Jack moved forward in the chair. "Colonel Davis, good to hear from you."
"General, we have a big problem."
"You don't say."
"The President just got contacted by someone who identified herself as the commander of the Xihuatalatal..."
Jack got a sinking feeling in his stomach and let out a groan. "Oh no, what has Her Mightyness been up to?", he muttered.
"She's demanded that the President permit her to destroy several facilities that she claims are being operated by the Trust. She's given him 24 hours to comply or 'the Asvin Empire' will declare war on America."
"Dammit, i knew it was too good to be true," Jack grumbled. "We should have let Ba'al nuke us back at that planet." He stood up from the chair. "Davis, I'll be back in the SGC in a little bit, let me go talk to some friends."
Ten minutes later the three members of SG-1 were gathered together in a meeting room on Prometheus. The door opened as they settled in and admitted Nate and Data. "So, something happened to get Her Mightyness riled up," Jack stated to them. "And, well... it might be my fault."
"Daniel did warn you about provoking her," was Nate's sarcastic reply. "What's happened?"
"Oh, she has a mad-on now for an outfit we know as the Trust," Jack answered. "They used to be a group of industrialists and officials who thought the SGC should be looting the galaxy instead of exploring it, tended to threaten or even kill people who got in their way. But in the past year they made a few mistakes and their leadership all have snakes in their heads now."
"You refer to the Goa'uld," Data said.
"Yes."
"A most disturbing development. I take it your efforts at breaking up the Trust have been unsuccessful?"
Teal'c answered with a nod. "That they have, Captain Data. They have proven most resourceful."
Nate took a seat. "So, Jack, what did this Trust do to piss off Maedhv and what does it have to do with you?"
"If I had to guess, they found out about her little cult," Jack answered. "Probably from the report I made at the SGC before returning to Dakara. They went to them and rounded them up or something and Maedhv's found out so now she's pissed."
Data gave Jack a quizzical look. "Curious, General, why did you do such a thing if you suspected such information might be leaked into the wrong hands?"
Rolling his eyes, Jack let out an angry groan. "Because I didn't think the Trust would have any interest in a bunch of hippies out in rain-soaked Washington State! I don't know why they got so interested..."
"Maedhv did betray the Goa'uld at Castor," Nate pointed out. "And they were mightily pissed off at her. Maybe they send word back to their people running the Trust to look for any reference to Maedhv in your records?"
Jack stared at Nate for a moment. "I hate it when Daniel's right," he finally mumbled.
"Well, what are we going to do now?", Sam asked the assembled.
"I don't know about you, but I'm tempted to go find that Ancient time-jump ship so I can go back and warn myself to let Ba'al blow us up," Jack answered.
"An understandable but inadvisable choice," Data replied. "Such an action would have prevented us from removing the Replicator infestation from the Gray Star and even with our self-destruction there was a mathematically-unacceptable chance of the Replicators surviving."
"Swell," Jack said with a lot of irritation. "So we save the Multiverse from the Replicators but doom our Earth, at the very least, to getting worked over by that psychopath."
"Well, let's think about this for a moment," Sam said. "Maedhv gave us the codes to those defense batteries in the Ancient outpost in Antarctica and we now have more than enough ZPMs to power them all. Also, remember Alarita saying that the Dakara Device would also disrupt the Xihuatlatl's repair nanites. If we trigger the Device's energy through the Stargate back on Earth we could disable her ship's auto-repair systems."
"And you think that even these big honking space guns she says are buried beneath the Antarctic Outpost could take out her ship without its repair mechanism?"
"It's worth a shot General," Sam answered. "We call in Colonel Caldwell to bring the Daedalus back from its shakedown run and meet him at Earth, that gives us two ships. Maybe three." Sam looked to Data.
"Our hyperdrive systems have been restored," Data said, "but at our present position it would take thirty hours to arrive at Earth. We would not be present before Maedhv's deadline."
"Wait, Data," Samantha held a hand up. "If we power your drive with a ZPM it could permit your Goa'uld drive to meet the speed of our Asgard engines."
"Officer Serlann is concerned that the Gray Star's drive would not be capable of channeling that amount of power."
"It shouldn't be a problem."
"I do not know if we can spare any ships from the defense of Dakara," Teal'c said, "but I will ask."
"We do have a lot of ZPMs to go around now," Sam said. "If you can get more ships to guard Dakara we can take the ones already here, plus any others close enough to Earth to meet us on time."
"Sounds like a plan." Nate clapped his hands together. "But I'd feel more comfortable with a bit more firepower. So while you're getting ready for all of this, I have some calls to make."
Jack stood from the table. "We both do."
No-Ship Xihuatlatl, Near Earth
Universe Designate SRC-19
Maedhv had finished her conversation with the British Prime Minister and was running diagnostics. "Alarita, if you could switch the No-field from standby?"
"We won't be able to tell if they manoeuvre assets to attack us."
"You also need rest, and really, so do I. I haven't slept in quite some time, and for all I can suppress it.."
"Your brain needs to defragment as much as mine does," Alarita agreed with a chipper grin. "Alright, then. I'm just mildly concerned that they'll have a fleet waiting for us when we go back to standby."
"They've never seen a No-Ship before, and I don't think they really understood what it meant. You had the No-field engaged under the surface of the planet, but they didn't have access to the sensors and didn't realize what it meant. They may well think that we've departed."
Alarita bit hir lip. "A reasonable enough supposition, and we'll go to standby with battle shields at full power?"
"Naturally. I will treat this like a serious military operation, promise, especially since the ship's slave-rigged to hell and back."
"Alright. Engaging." Abruptly all of the screens and displays showing outside information snapped blank, leaving just the internal status reports, and in orbit over Earth, the immense Xihuatlatl turned ghostly for a moment, and then vanished entirely.
"Setting the ship systems to automatic," Alarita reviewed as shi finished up a few interface commands, and then jacked out, rising and stretching with a flagrant displace of hir cod-piece poking out from the outrageous skort.
"Excellent then," Maedhv followed suit in removing herself from the systems, and looked to Daniel. "Would you kindly join us for dinner? After that we'll see to providing you a cabin, and Alarita and I shall take our leave for the night, for... some much deserved relaxation." Maedhv had a vaguely amused look as she said that and it was probably pretty clear what she actually meant.
Looking rather uncomfortable with everything going on while trying to figure arguments to get Maedhv to back down, Daniel gave a stiff nod. "Sure."
Alarita wandered hir way over to Maedhv and gently slipped hir arms around the pregnant woman, drawing her close, so that they walked together in a slow and ambling fashion toward the transfer lifts, Daniel easily keeping up while they setted together up against the wall, with gentle affection of the sort familiar to, and to rival, any married couple of consideration duration. Other than their initial embraces, they had not really touched before that evening, and the gentle intensity seemed perfectly sincere.
Maedhv closed her eyes, and smiled softly for a moment, before they arrived at their destination, the nearby officer's country, bustling with various robotic servitors apparently doing restorative maintenance, and in the case of the grand banquet room--strangely only laid out for three, and with a broad settee like a love seat at the head, for both Alarita and Maedhv, instead of a chair--it seemed very lonely, indeed. The blatantly Mesoamerican style of the decor left little doubt, though, of where the ship had come from, and as the two settled down together into the plush settee, entwined even to eat, the dishes laid out seemed in a sort of Mayan-Peruvian fusion style, suggesting the elderly customs of a people who had had as their own, all the plants of the new world to form their customs, but not those of the Old.
Daniel took in the sights as they found their seats. "You've had stocks of food aboard for all these eons?"
"Well, we do have hydroponics facilities aboard for some of it, but those are still being replanted currently. Instead we kept a lot in time-dialation based stasis, and some of the rest was admittedly frozen," Alarita explained. "For the rest, it's synthetically generated through a variety of methods, like cloning vats for the meat. It's nice to have the tastes of a home that no longer exists, though Earth..."
"...Pretty much still has everything we had," Maedhv agreed. "It is one advantage of taking it over, and I apologize for the fact that the food is not yet fresh. Of course, it is a reminder that a third of the population of your planet is starving, and another third doesn't have enough food."
Alarita stared blankly at hir lover. "What? Nobody even starved their slaves during the Asvin Empire! I .." Shi started blankly at Daniel.
"Exactly, my love, exactly. We could torture people for amusement, and did habitually, but at least our maliciousness was not accompanied by such incompetence as to also let us starve our people at the same time. Yet this, Earth manages to do, and primarily through distribution problems at that. Governments which seize food aide from the starving, and a failure of infrastructure to get it into the right place. Even when they have the ring transporters which could and should be used for food transportation, or anti-gravity systems from Goa'uld heavy ships, or simply the vastly greater energy resources of Naquadah reactors for producing more power for their agricultural and transportation services. And they haven't even attempted to implement it--nobody except for the military even knows it exists."
"Really, Daniel," Maedhv turned to face him. "I was going to leave you alone, for all the hideous suffering that incompetence causes to people. But once it was extended to being unable to prevent the Trust from harming my people? I am going to fix your world whether or not you like it."
"And you're going to kill thousands, maybe millions, of people to do it," Daniel countered. "People are going to fight you every step of the way. And even if you win... what then? You become the ruling Queen of Earth, in a position you've been in twice before and have admitted you never really liked or did well in." Ignoring the food for a moment despite his own slight hunger, he added, "You say you never starved your slaves in the Asvin Empire. That everyone had plenty to eat. Maybe in your era, but what about when you were only as advanced as we are today? Are you telling me that when the Asvin were at our level everyone was perfectly fed? That you didn't have any hunger? Finally, if you're so concerned about the failure of our food distribution, why not simply help us with that? You just said you had technology to clone meat and synthesize food, provide us with that technology and the means to distribute the food surplus."
"I'll give the job to my daughter when she comes of age, and retire with Alarita," Maedhv answered thoughtfully. "Her father is human, of Earth, and that will, in the end, make you more content, I think. The technology will be distributed, but, really, if I gave it out to you right now, you'd just end up making weapons out of it, or hoarding it for your rulers, in the same way you dismissed Third-World countries as doing whenever they got handouts. I have tried to avoid ruling, frozen myself in the ice rather than do it, I did, but yet I just see humanity in the same folly over and over, and I don't think my folly is worse than your's."
"You see, that's where your wrong," Daniel replied. "Yes, I'll admit we have problems with the Third World's governments. But given time and better technology we can help the people there and keep the governments from interfering. But what you're talking about is violently conquering a world that will resist you. You're going to have to impose control over six billion people, most of which won't want to be ruled by an all-powerful overlord. Even when you defeat our standing forces, what are you going to do about the people who will maintain resistance in the countryside in the cities?"
"Most of them, will probably be made to worship me as a Goddess," Maedhv answered. "It's not like there's no precedent for it..."
At that, Alarita frowned very faintly.
Alarita's expression didn't go unnoticed by Daniel. "I'll grant that in some places of the Third World that might happen, but what about those who already have deeply-held religious beliefs? They're not just going to give up what they believe in because you come riding in a massive spaceship and declare yourself ruler of the world, no more than they would've done the same to the Goa'uld."
"You don't quite understand yet the power at my grasp," Maedhv answered with a faint, studious frown, as though she were at least thinking. "I am afraid, Daniel Jackson, that I am going to proceed with the operation--though I certainly intend to keep you around afterwards to protest everything I do. Don't doubt that your words are considered, and found... Useful, if nothing else, for my refining my own understanding."
Daniel rubbed his face with his hands. Maedhv seemed dead set on her course and he couldn't think of anything to do to dissuade her, not with how determined she was. Alarita, though... he hoped that maybe if he persuaded hir enough, then Maedhv might listen... "And when the Ancients come back? They left you alone before because they thought you might have changed, but when they see you conquering Earth they will have every reason to think you're back to business as usual. And then there's the Asgard. They don't have to worry about the Replicators anymore and they won't take you conquering Earth lightly."
"I'm preparing to fight the ancients simultaneously with whatever resistance you cough up," Maedhv answered rather lazily. "This ship wasn't even tested against those Ha'taks. You're soon going to see its true power. And on top of everything else, it's shielded against the Ancients and can severely degrade the effectiveness of their attacks against me, while I'm inside of it--because they're no different than the sort of attacks a Devaastra would have launched against a ship of this class. Same principle, and we've got defences. And I can tell from looking in your mind that the Asgard were hurt hard by the war with the Replicators. Now that I'm in one of my ships I have even less to worry about than I did before--and I would have won before if you hadn't tried to kill yourself, anyway."
Alarita closed hir eyes and sighed. "Maedhv, he does have a point, in the sense we don't have all that much in the way of an actual force to back this up, if nothing else."
Maedhv drummed her fingers on the table for a moment and then hugged Alarita with a faint smile. "Don't worry. I have an idea about that."
A horrified look came across Daniel's face. "The Wraith," he said hoarsely. "You're going to bring the Wraith to the Milky Way?!"
”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt
"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia
American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.
DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia
American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.
DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
Re: "The Last Woman Standing" - SG1/TGG Multiverse
Chapter 15
No-Ship Xihuatlatl, Near Earth
Universe Designate SRC-19
"They're my children, after a fashion, certainly my heirs," Maedhv replied softly. "Boots on the ground enough for anyone and they can breed with incredible rapidity, and they have a fleet of enough strength that in its heyday, despite the extremely weak organic hulls, it humbled the rebellious Ancients. I'll be controlling them in person, so they won't be allowed to kill from the population of Earth. If I am back in the business of ruling your planet, after all, why not return to my old post as Primary Queen of the Wraith?"
"Maedhv... What by the black worms are you talking about? What are these Wraith?" Alarita interrupted very intently.
"They're a species that feed on Human beings for sustenance," Daniel said, still glaring intently at Maedhv. "They've been terrorizing the Pegasus Galaxy for the last ten thousand years, ever since the last Ancient survivors of Atlantis were forced to flee back to Earth. According to the reports we got from our expedition to Atlantis they go into alternating cycles of hibernation to permit the human populations of Pegasus to rebuild before waking up and culling various worlds of their inhabitants, killing billions of people across their galaxy."
Alarita visibly paled, and pushed back from Maedhv a bit, staring uncertaintly at her as though shi was thinking through several rather loathesome possibilities.
Maedhv just turned to Daniel with almost a growl upon her face. "Well, then, you should welcome my proposal, if you're so concerned about the humans of Pegasus."
"So what happens when they come here?!", Daniel said, more like shouted, in an angry tone. He had gone from anxious to horrified and now to a very rare full-blown rage. "Are you going to control every single one of them every moment of every day to keep them from feeding on innocent people?! Are you going to be able to keep them from rampaging across our galaxy and feeding on the Humans here?! After all, you're going to be High Queen of Earth, that's going to be a lot of work if you're spending every moment keeping the Wraith under control! How are you even going to feed them?! Oh, I know, maybe you can use that as a threat to keep people in line! 'Bow to me, great glorious Goddess-Queen of Earth, or I'll feed you to my pet Wraith!'"
"I created them out of my own flesh and blood, Daniel Jackson! And if I have to choose between them and you, you Ancient-loving....." Maedhv picked up her knife and threw it furiously into the wall of the dining chamber straight past Daniel's head. "Just get out. Leave me alone with my mate--get out, get away from me. I'll summon you back in time to watch me restore at least one universe's highlands of Nukahoatl again to the reign of their firstborn."
His face red with anger, Daniel actually threw the plate of food in front of him toward the nearby wall and stormed out.
"Prana bindhu witches!?" Alarita abruptly and rather roughly pushed away from Maedhv to stand and stare at her furiously in the wake of Daniel's leaving. "They're Prana bindhu witches, aren't they!? That's how you defeated the rebellion!?"
"Yes. But I can control them. They can't feed off of the High Caste, and I am the originator of all their DNA. They recognize me as their supremacy, for all they have sometimes refused my commands--but I refused to bring violence down on them before. With the Xihuatlatl and examples made of some of the rebellious Queens, we'll have a disciplined army for controlling this world and all of Pegasus for that matter."
"But they eat souls," Alarita answered, clearly not just furious about also mortified. "That's the end. There'd be no reincarnation, and what happens if, well, you know, Nirrti's clause... ...I think she'd destroy this entire universe if that happened."
"That isn't an issue; the Eternal Imprint is what they recognize, not the genetics."
"Well, I guess it's better for someone to control them than to leave them roaming the universe. Why'd you do it?"
"Because I loved them and I couldn't bring myself to injure them even when they disobeyed me," Maedhv answered rather mournfully. "I... We're all part of one family. And I can control them. If I'm going to be Queen in one place, I shall be Queen over all."
Alarita flung hir head to the side with a softly choked sob. "Why, against all the gods of worms, do I love you?" Shi ignored the approach of hir lover from behind, Maedhv wrapping her arms gently about Alarita, and not speaking. "Better for us to just flee to the farthest corner of the universe and leave these humans and these Wraith to each other. But I know you won't. This is the temper of the blood that courses through your veins, so we'll fight." But the words were not pleased ones, nor did shi squeeze back into the hug by which shi was engulfed.
USS Prometheus, en route to Earth
With a few more hours left until they were due to arrive back home Jack had found a room to bunk in for some rest. He'd need it as their plan involved him having to ring down upon arrival and get into the Ancient - or was it Asvin now? - chair in the Antarctic outpost immediately.
There was sound at the door that made Jack open his eyes and look over. Samantha was standing in the doorway looking about as tired as he was. Arguably she'd been through the most of any of SG-1 in this whole thing, having worked with the Gray Star crew to deal with the Replicators. "So far the Gray Star and the Jaffa ships Teal'c is leading haven't had any problems with their hyperdrives with the ZPMs installed," she told Jack. "Teal'c thinks a couple more Jaffa ships might get to Earth within an hour of our arrival but their fleet's still pretty spread out."
"Yeah."
"So... what about Daniel?"
Jack blinked. "He's still with Her Mightyness, I guess. Probably trying to talk her out of whatever it is she's doing. And probably failing."
Sam crossed her arms. "Zaria said that he has gotten Maedhv's attention somehow."
"Oh, you know Daniel, he always has to chat up the super-people," Jack answered. "I know he's still on Maedhv's ship, but he knows the risks involved in this work. He's always known the risks. He'd tell us to go ahead and do what we have to do."
"I just wonder if maybe he can get us a peaceful solution after all. I mean, from what we've seen of Maedhv's abilities, she is the single-most powerful entity in the known universe... multiverse. And even if we get those defensive batteries up, and the Ancient drone weapons, and we get all the help we're trying to call in..." Sam shook her head. "I just don't know if we can do it."
"We always manage to find a way." Jack sat up on the bed. "I still think we should have just let Ba'al blow us up."
Sam cracked a slight grin. "Well, I'm glad you didn't. You did save us from the Replicators by getting Maedhv her ship back."
"Yeah, I know, but now Her Mightyness is going to use that ship against us now. So we have to find a way to blow it up. Any ideas?"
Sitting near Jack, Sam gave a shrug. "I've had a couple thoughts about the ZPMs, but given what happened with that one Cadmulus tried to foist off on us I think using them as bombs or weapons of any kind would just destroy everything."
Jack stared at her for a moment. "That would be a pretty big boom," he finally remarked. "And kind of misses the point of saving Earth, even if we took Her Mightyness out in the process."
"Yes it would," Sam conceded. "Other than that I'm afraid I'm all out of ideas."
Hearing Sam say that wasn't the kind of thing Jack, or anyone else, liked to hear. He gave her a nod of acknowledgement and moved on. "In the meantime, let's get to Earth and do what we can." He paused for a moment before adding, "Or hope Daniel pulls a miracle out of his hat. Then we don't have to try and blow him up too."
No-Ship Xihuatlatl, Near Earth
Universe Designate SRC-19
It wasn't often that Daniel Jackson became angry. Now that he was it would take time to subside, especially given how much of the anger was directed at himself. He replayed the events back at Kuahuatl over and over and how wrong he'd been to decide things that way. At that moment, had he had it all to do over again, he would have re-Ascended to help fight Maedhv and he certainly wouldn't have awakened her ship for her.
Had he read her wrong? Had he listened to her protestations of having changed and taken them as the truth when she was still just as self-serving and ambitious as ever. Talking about upraising Earth was one thing, but to bring the Wraith to the Milky Way because of some old attachment to them...
Daniel was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't notice the slender figure standing at his door until she spoke out to him.
"I brought food for you, ah, it's Daniel, right? Maedhv said she was worried about you because you hadn't eaten at dinner--you were pretty upset about the operation." Erin stepped in gently, carrying a round pail filled with food, and held by a simple handle. "Which, I can understand, because killing a horrible thing, but so, too, is a lot of what already goes on on earth." She shuffled a bit: "Well. I don't want to make you upset again, so I can just leave the food and go...?"
"Why do you follow her?", he asked bluntly. "Because she promises power to you? Makes you feel loved?"
"Because she's ancient, and has seen more of humanity than I'm prepared to believe. Because she's seen... Fire in the stars and death on the planets below, Daniel, because she's been through the same journey as a tremendously evil humanity, until we got to this point.... I don't think she was ready to rule before now and she said she wasn't. But now I think she is because she's been through that same journey herself, and I like to think humanity is ready for that journey, too," Erin answered simply, but then, decided to continue:
"I love her because she loves children, dotes on them, and how many times have you seen a Goddess do that? And I know she isn't one and she doesn't want us to call her one, but she might as well be. I'm not actually all that stupid, you know. If it hadn't been for my mental health problems I'd be a professor by now--she fixed that. She brought us all in and fixed us and soothed us, and treated herself on the same level as us--ate the same food in the same rations, made love to us, picked up trash with us and tilled at the soil with us. I'd say that is in the end what made her willing to conquer again--before she conquered because she was told too, or out of lust for power. I'd say she learned though that there can be more altruistic motives."
"So we'll support her and see where she goes. What else can you do, when you find a slaver who's mated her slave, a warrior who's become a mother, a killer who dotes on children? Isn't that the whole story of the human race, Daniel, bound up in one person? She's trying to find a way and I think, I really do believe, that it's her desire to help others making her do this. That the hostage situation drove home to her, just how little the people of Earth can help each other, and that she knows she can do a better job. We'll keep her honest, and we're certainly not all of one mind, and she promised us nothing except a lot of hard work and the indefinite right for us and our descendants to live aboard this ship."
"She's not going to do a better job and that's something neither of you can see," Daniel answered her. "It doesn't matter how well-intentioned she is, Maedhv is not a good ruler. Not over an entire world. It's one thing if she can oversee you and your friends, you're a small group of people who came to her voluntarily. But as much as she claims otherwise Maedhv doesn't handle dissent very well. Do you even realize what she intends to do? She wants to cement her rule by bringing a race called the Wraith to our galaxy. We've encountered the Wraith already." At this point Daniel didn't see the point in maintaining the "classified information" secrecy given what the cultists had already seen. "They feed on Human beings, Erin. They suck the life right out of them. They've been slaughtering Humans in the Pegasus Galaxy like cattle for the last ten thousand years, leaving only enough people alive between cullings so the population can recover and they can repeat the process a few centuries later. And now Maedhv wants to bring them here."
"Maedhv did mention that do us and said we'd be immunized and that she had ways of controlling them to keep them from feeding on the innocent. Considering she also told us that she created the Wraith, I don't presume to doubt her ability in doing so," Erin answered. "And why don't you think she's matured enough to be a good ruler? If someone with her experience does not make one, does anyone? But I won't argue with you, Daniel, because that's silly--neither one of us can change the course of events here. History will show which one of us is right, as it always does, and we should let history run its course, flow with it and live happily within it--not try to stand against its tide."
Daniel remained silent for a moment. It was clear he wasn't going to make any headway with Erin, nor with any of the others in Maedhv's cult. After all, hadn't their beliefs come true? Maedhv had told them she would call down a great ship to uplift them beyond the Earth and she had. Now she was offering them a place at her side in power over the entire world. None of them had any reason to question Maedhv.
When he finally spoke, he did so firmly, calmly, and with absolute clarity, every word about as lucid as was humanly possible. "In the past eight years I've gone through some incredible things, Erin, enough to tell you that some people don't care whether they can really change the course of events or not, they still try. And there are millions of people below us and around this galaxy, including some very dear friends of mine, who are going to do just that. We've done it before. And we've won before, against odds so long our survival is nothing short of miraculous. Maedhv is going to have to kill them all to win because they're not going to give up." He stared intently at Erin in a way that might have made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. "And then you're not simply going to be waiting for History to prove you right, you're going to be praying that it will. You're going to be spending every day hoping that Maedhv will keep everything all right and terrified at each and every sign that something might be going wrong, that you're not just turning the Milky Way into an all-you-can-eat dinner buffet for the Wraith. Because if you're wrong, and she's wrong, all of those deaths are going to be for nothing." And with that Daniel took the plate of food and took a bite from it, an indication to Erin that the conversation was over.
The two, mistress and slave once, now equals walking side by side, arrived back on the ornate bridge of the Xihuatlatl, Alarita in full vacsuit for a change, helmet flipped back.. and so was Maedhv, presumably out of a concern for her child, and not wanting to waste energy on protecting her body from decompression that might be required in battle.
They took their chairs, captain's and central ops, on the main command dais and the various connectors to their internal cybernetics and movement detectors swung into place as well as shock harnesses, for it was indeed possible for even a twenty-kilometer ship to be torn through space harder than her inertial dampers could compensate for... If you had big enough weapons on the other side. And on top of that, keyboards, for the information transfer requirements for the two of them would be completely insane, as combat displays also lowered around them to augment the direct neural transmissions.
Maedhv and Alarita finished suiting up, and Alarita flashed a gesture to hir mate. "Just remember, love, we're doing this for them."
"I'll let you handle all of the targeting. If you want to be gentle, go ahead. Who knows, President Hayes might yet give in and we'll do this rather less expansively. Alright, we're..."
"T minus 8 minutes to the deadline. I've got battle-screens and our interference generators," shi referred to the defences against Hidden World attacks, "At full power and the disruption generators are too in case they try anything telepathic. Automatic repair systems are operational and the onboard robots have all be given their damage control subroutine activation commands. As well as the Xihuatlatl can be fought by two people, Maedhv, she's our's to command."
"Thank you, Alarita."
"You really shouldn't," Alarita replied, glancing through hir helmet to Maedhv for a moment. "I should be trying harder to talk you out of this, rather than talk myself into it. But we're about to start a war, and I guess that the time for that is already passed."
"It's never very good during a battle. We'll see about how to run things afterward, hmm? And if you didn't want me to be in such a violent mood today, you should have..."
Alarita shook hir head. "Always insufferable. But no, now's not the time, though it never stopped you from cracking jokes before."
"No, it never did--Oh, Hi Daniel. Glad to see you could join us," Maedhv commented offhand as she saw him, per invitation, stepping onto the bridge, and then swung the chair back into place and locked it.
"No-field generator to standby."
The immense bulk of the Xihuatlatl appeared, her engines beginning to power up and brake her into a powered-steady orbit as the two coordinated their actions electronically. They were bringing her to a stop over the United States with five minutes left, and immediately all the displays and readouts on the bridge were flooded with tactical information.
"No power from the Antarctic base?"
"Not even shielding," Alarita confirmed. "Shall I engage it anyway?"
"Negative. Wait for the deadline--I'm going to at least play this one by the book."
"Alright.... There's nothing in orbit to oppose us, Maedhv, though it seems they may be scrambling some starfighters from the surface. No possible threat, we could destroy them with weapons buses."
"I don't see a need to deploy the buses at this time.... Looks like your first scan was a little premature, my darling. We have incoming after all." The two watched as the tactical projector flashed to a series of hyperspace windows opening.
USS Prometheus, arriving at Earth
The hyperspace windows appeared over Earth's south pole region. The Gray Star was the first ship to emerge from one, still sporting her battle damage from the fight with the Replicators, followed by a protective covering of Jaffa-commanded Ha'tak-class motherships under Jaffa command. A small group of F/A-48s came out of Gray Star's hanger bay, barely ten due to how many had been consumed in some part by the Replicators in their rampage, along with a cloud of Jaffa Gliders.
Behind them a window formed and Prometheus emerged. Aboard Sam was with Jack in the Ring Room, holding a laptop. "I have the codes Maedhv gave us in here, give it to our research team down in the outpost and they'll know how to input the codes when you interface with the Ancient outpost."
Jack took the laptop and nodded. "Any word about Daniel?"
Sam lowered her eyes and shook her head. "Yeah, thought so," Jack sighed as he stepped into the rings. "Good look Carter." The rings lifted out of the floor and surrounded him. Jack disappeared in a flash of golden light, to be rematerialized on the planet below.
From there Sam walked to the bridge, where Pendergast was waiting. "The No-Ship is about 30,000 kilometers from Earth," he reported, not bothering to try to pronunce the exotic name of Maedhv's personal vessel. "We're on course for an intercept."
"Hyperspace window opening," one of the personnel reported. "It's Daedalus. Colonel Caldwell is on."
"This is Daedalus to Prometheus, we're moving into place now."
"Roger that, Daedalus, Pendergast answered.
The combined fleet moved toward the Xihuatlatl, putting themselves between it and Earth.
Back in the cockpit of an F/A-48, Kei was leading what was left of her squadron as they formed up with the Jaffa fighters. She did another weapons check to see that her payload of Guyverite-boosted M/AM missiles were ready for arming and launch, though in the end it probably wouldn't matter. Seeing the Xihuatlatl looming ahead on her HUD, Kei swallowed hard and came to the conclusion that this was probably it for her. After all the combat missions she'd survived in her career, this would be the last one, her final sortie.
"My God,", she heard Kylie Landers say behind her. "Why do I suddenly feel like one of those poor Rebel pilots trying to attack the Death Star?"
Despite all the tension and imminent doom of the moment, Kei had to crack a little grin at that.
No-Ship Xihuatlatl, Near Earth
"Activating defensive interceptor batteries on automatic," Alarita reported, leaving their missile defence to the hands of the computers--no way they could direct it on their own.
"Quite. It is their main armament." Maedhv leaned against her chair and looked over the fleet before her. "Barely a dozen Ha'taks, two Earth ships--that Daedalus looks to be worth all the Ha'taks put together, at worst--and the interuniversal ship. I don't think they have anymore firepower than Ba'al's fleet did, do you?"
"It's unlikely. And we don't have any signs of the Antarctic facility powering up."
"Then let's not push our luck, Alarita. The moment the deadline passes, I want you to put a missile onto the base." She paused for a moment, and then added: "Neutron flux warhead, I want it intact."
"Yeah, and I remember the last time an Asvin used those on Earth."
"I'm the one who's supposed to be a snarky bitch; it's just one warhead over the southern pole, the radiation swathe won't even reach the southern tip of Nukahoatl."
"Alright, I'll make sure to detonate it at the geographic south pole to be on the safe side. We've got one minute left, by the way, so I'm powering up the missile batteries."
"Yeah..." Maedhv rubbed her gloved hands together, and then punched a button on the side of her command chair. "Jack," she addressed the Prometheus, assuming he was still aboard. "You saw what Alarita did those Ha'taks. Stand down while you've still got the chance."
"This is Colonel Lionel Pendergast in command of the Earth Ship Prometheus. I ask that you peaceably withdraw or we will be forced to assume you hostile."
"Where's Jack," Maedhv said outloud in some surprise--it would have gotten picked up by the feed before the line went dead, but she didn't care, not as she rapidly thought about--and thus sifted all the knowledge of the universe--to determine just where he'd gone. The probabilities vanished into the certainties of action. "Alarita! Fire!"
One single missile was launched from the port side of the Xihuatlatl, itself a hundred meters long and accelerating at 30,000g's to tear through space and enter the atmosphere like a firey comet toward Antarctic at substantial fraction of light by the time it hit the atmosphere, an arcing pillar through the sky.
"Now what else are they..." Her calculations showed something else, she then knew something else, and was cursing the uncertainty of hiding behind a No-Field even as she tried to trigger the No-Field again to protect the ship. It didn't activate soon enough, however, and lancing straight up, wavering its way through the atmosphere from Cheyenne Mountain, was the certain fury of the Dakara Device, distorting its way through the shields and even attacking Maedhv and her nanites, requiring her to become hazy with a blue energy field, spreading outward, trying to save some components of the ship's nanite repair system and protect herself at the same time.
"That tears that," Alarita muttered as all of the screens went dark. "Maedhv, they knocked out the self-repair mechanisms. Do we have a Class Four repair yard somewhere? Because otherwise, given three thousand years at most, you aren't gonna have a ship anymore."
"The Wraith have access to one that I built up there," Maedhv answered, "In expectation that you'd be rejoining me in Pegasus, back in those days. So, yeah, we can make repairs."
"May I recommend that we transpose into the Pegasus galaxy and effect repairs, then? We have no way of knowing whether or not that missile strike succeeded, and we're now several galaxies away from the nearest repair yard, my love. Better than before, but not good enough to be safe."
Daniel watched this all unfold. He'd realized the instant he heard Pendergast's voice that Jack had gone down to Antarctica. And had probably died there when Maedhv's missile went off. A sick feeling went down to his stomach at that realization, knowing that it had started. "It's not too late, Maedhv," he said aloud. "More people don't have to die, not over this."
The Commune had all be issued vacuum suits, and with some confidence Erin made her way to the bridge in one, arriving to hear Daniel's words. "I don't see anything," she murmured to him softly, wondering, precisely what was going on.
"Well, Daniel, I say in for a penny, in for a pound," Maedhv answered, turning to Alarita. "They're still no match for us, even assuming that Jack got the shields up in time to stop us. And I can't be sure of that--but one single defensive battery isn't going to change the course of this battle. Shift the No-field generator back to Standby and prepare for close engagement."
"....Okay, yeah, I'll concede they can't even bring down the battleshields with the firepower at their disposal," Alarita acknowledged, but sucked in hir breath rather hesitantly as the No-field was again deactivated, and the ship flicked for a ghostly moment in realspace and then appeared in whole form again before the fleet.
Daniel raised a hand. "Maedhv, no! Please, let it go! Just tell us where the Trust are hiding and we'll take care of them!"
"You've gone from muskets to naquadah bombs in two hundred years, Daniel--all while still letting your people starve. If I give you another two hundred, you'll come after me and mine. Alarita, stand by to engage."
USS Prometheus, Near Earth
Eyes were fixed forward as the enormous Xihuatlatl seemed to fade into full existance. "The Dakara wave did hit them completely," Sam said from where she'd found a seat. "But sensors still can't tell if we knocked out their repair systems."
"What about that missile that hit Antarctica?", Pendergast asked.
"It appears to have had a neutron warhead. It produced a short-lived burst of radiation capable of killing anyone it reached," Sam said. "The flux in the atmosphere is keeping me from determining any lifesigns..." She bit back the fear she felt, the realization that Jack and everyone else down there had died.
"Prometheus, this is General O'Neill. Don't worry anyone, I got the shield up just in time. I'm locking the weapons on Her Mightyness' ship right now and preparing to fire drones."
"All of us versus a ship of that size," Pendergast murmured. "I think we're in a lot of..."
A series of lights appeared on Sam's monitor. "Hyperspace windows opening!"
Outside more exitways from hyperspace formed. Out of them emerged the sleek forms of six Asgard warships of the potent O'Neill class. The vessels moved toward Daedalus.
In front of them, down on the surface near Jack, and on Maedhv's bridge, a holographic form of an Asgard appeared. "I am Thor, Supreme Commander of the Asgard Fleet," he said. "The planet Earth is under our protection."
"You always had the best sense of timing, Thor," Jack said over the comms.
"So noted, Thor. Welcome to the engagement," Maedhv answered back over the open comm line. "Perhaps the Ancients bothered to tell your people of my existence. If not, well, blame them for the surprise--while you've got the chance."
And then, still on the open transmission line: "Alarita, lock main batteries on the Asgard squadron as the primary objective."
"Her Mightyness really has let her head swell," Jack remarked.
"I'm picking up something else," Sam said. "This gravitational pattern, I've seen..."
Nate's voice came over the line. "That would be the cavalry."
Behind the Xihuatlatl, out toward the Moon, massive ripples formed in space and widened into full-blown wormholes of swirling gold, green, and blue color, much like Stargate event horizons to Sam's eye.
Vessels began to emerge from them, of all types and sizes. Some had the familiar saucer-and-hull combinations of Starfleet vessels, others the single-hull and twin-nacelle arrangements of ADN warships. They varied in size from similar to the Prometheus and Daedalus to gigantic vessels nearly the size of the Asgard ships, bristling with weapon emplacements.
From a couple wormholes ships of different appearance came. Single-hulled vessels with attached sublight drives but no warp nacelles emerged, identifiable to the Gray Star crew as MWB-32 indigenious designs bearing the mailed fist of the Lyran Commonwealth, the eagle seal of the Free Worlds League, and the sword and green triangle of the Capellan Confederation.
Another wormhole produced vessels of a unique form, taller than they were long, blue-sheened vessels of powerful grace and very imposing size. In their midst were vessels of similar form but over two kilometers "high", sporting multiple prominent gun ports of great size and power. In their midst were smaller vessels with some similiarities to the Gray Star. That ship's friend-or-foe identification systems soon relayed the information to the two Earth ships and their Jaffa allies, identifying the vessels as Minbari warships of the Sharlin and newer Dukhat-classes, accompanied by White Star-class vessels of the Rangers.
The numbers soon overwhelmed the capacities of the plotters on the Prometheus and Daedalus to keep track of them. Each wornhole was disgorging hundreds of ships, seemingly the very limit of their capacities, with identifiers marking the majority as coming from the Alliance of Democratic Nations and the Federated Worlds. Ships with class identifiers varying from "Defiant-class corvette" to "Vesuvius-class superdreadnought" were popping up on the sensors and even down in the Antarctic outpost, where Jack let out a stunned "Woh" over the transmission.
No-Ship Xihuatlatl, Near Earth
"Charge up the distortion field generator, Alarita, and release the safeties on all the missile tubes and open the cell hatches," Maedhv ordered as she watched the fleet swell in size. "It appears we have a real fight on our hands, after all."
"Beginning chargeup sequence, clearing the main missile tubes, opening the cell hatches. Deploying all of the weapons buses, too," shi added, ignoring Maedhv's brief glance--knowing that it meant Maedhv didn't think it was necessary, and also acknowledged that shi wasn't going to be questioned on deploying them anyway--and first initializing the commands which deployed 700 detached, artificial-intelligence directed missile and interceptor drone combat buses to orbit in clusters around the hull, with their own sublight engines and special tractor receptors so the ship's tractor beams could also rapidly reposition them as required to meet enemy attacks.
Alarita's commands soon showed that the Xihuatlatl intended to stay to fight, because along each side of the ship opened retractable armoured slats in the hull running the length of the ship's broadsides. Each line consisted of a honeycomb of heavy anti-ship missile cells, ten thousand in number. The Xihuatlatl had eighty thousand missile cells in addition to eight thousand reloadable tubes. Against that, the three thousand, seven hundred ships plus small fighters that the enemy had seemed rather less grand. Then shi saw something else. "Maedhv, there's some big ships coming through! "
Maedhv looked up to the tactical plot and watched as an enormous, indeed, utterly enormous vessel began to swell and push through. Then she coolly got back to work. "Mass reading is.... In excess of fifteen billion tonnes. That's thirty times the mass of one of those line ships out there. And the escorts are two and a half billion tons--two of them. They're only moving at thirty gravities of acceleration, though, Alarita. Those aren't ships, they're mobile battlestations equipped with interuniversal drive generators. Clever of them--though there are some more proper ships coming out, I read them as being about eight hundred million tonnes fully laden, confirm?"
"Yeah, about six of them, so they're 40% heavier than the main enemy line ships that have deployed." Alarita fell silent; Maedhv was looking back at the holoplot.
"Maedhv, that fleet more or less matches us in mass now. This isn't a minor pacification effort anymore." Alarita looked back hirself, quiet. "Auto repair systems are down. If we lose the fold drive in this fight..."
"I'm checking, and their mass/power ratios aren't nearly our's. We still have a substantial advantage."
"What if they send another fleet?"
"Given the scope of about sixty settled, civilized corners of the Milky Way, I think that's a fair bet," Daniel chimed in. "Maedhv, you have your followers and you have Alarita back. Let it go before people die."
"People die every day on your planet in far more squalid conditions than this. I am sick of your hypocrisy in trying to talk me out of uplifting your most impoverished. Alarita...?"
"We got a transmission coming in from the latest fleet, Maedhv."
Another image materialized, this of a stern-faced bald man with a graying beard staring at Maedhv intently, dark-skinned, with his hands joined in front of and below his head. "This is Fleet Admiral Benjamin Sisko, Commanding Officer of the Provisional Expeditionary Force of the New Brasilia Treaty Organization. The Earth of Universe SRC-19 is now under our protection. I ask you to stand down or we will open fire."
"Admiral Sisko, welcome to the party." Maedhv answered jovially at first, staring intensely at the man through the visor of her suit, and then she dropped her hand back down to the right armrest of her chair and began to drum it softly, and spoke very midly, now. "Now, I was around the crew of the Gray Star long enough to hear about an interesting anecdote from one of the universes you represent--well, skim it from their minds, if we want to be technical. Admiral Sisko, if your fleet engages this No-Ship, it's going to look like the Battle of the Line."
She paused for another moment, sifting through information, and then smiled wickedly. "Or maybe I should say Wolf Three Five Nine."
Only the slightest glimmer seemed to pass Sisko's intent eyes at the mention of the fateful battle against the Borg, the battle where his first wife was killed and he and his son nearly lost. If Maedhv's remark gave him any pause, however, he didn't show it, as his response came out in an ice-cold tone.
"Then so be it. Mister Worf, lock Guyverite torpedoes."
No-Ship Xihuatlatl, Near Earth
Universe Designate SRC-19
"They're my children, after a fashion, certainly my heirs," Maedhv replied softly. "Boots on the ground enough for anyone and they can breed with incredible rapidity, and they have a fleet of enough strength that in its heyday, despite the extremely weak organic hulls, it humbled the rebellious Ancients. I'll be controlling them in person, so they won't be allowed to kill from the population of Earth. If I am back in the business of ruling your planet, after all, why not return to my old post as Primary Queen of the Wraith?"
"Maedhv... What by the black worms are you talking about? What are these Wraith?" Alarita interrupted very intently.
"They're a species that feed on Human beings for sustenance," Daniel said, still glaring intently at Maedhv. "They've been terrorizing the Pegasus Galaxy for the last ten thousand years, ever since the last Ancient survivors of Atlantis were forced to flee back to Earth. According to the reports we got from our expedition to Atlantis they go into alternating cycles of hibernation to permit the human populations of Pegasus to rebuild before waking up and culling various worlds of their inhabitants, killing billions of people across their galaxy."
Alarita visibly paled, and pushed back from Maedhv a bit, staring uncertaintly at her as though shi was thinking through several rather loathesome possibilities.
Maedhv just turned to Daniel with almost a growl upon her face. "Well, then, you should welcome my proposal, if you're so concerned about the humans of Pegasus."
"So what happens when they come here?!", Daniel said, more like shouted, in an angry tone. He had gone from anxious to horrified and now to a very rare full-blown rage. "Are you going to control every single one of them every moment of every day to keep them from feeding on innocent people?! Are you going to be able to keep them from rampaging across our galaxy and feeding on the Humans here?! After all, you're going to be High Queen of Earth, that's going to be a lot of work if you're spending every moment keeping the Wraith under control! How are you even going to feed them?! Oh, I know, maybe you can use that as a threat to keep people in line! 'Bow to me, great glorious Goddess-Queen of Earth, or I'll feed you to my pet Wraith!'"
"I created them out of my own flesh and blood, Daniel Jackson! And if I have to choose between them and you, you Ancient-loving....." Maedhv picked up her knife and threw it furiously into the wall of the dining chamber straight past Daniel's head. "Just get out. Leave me alone with my mate--get out, get away from me. I'll summon you back in time to watch me restore at least one universe's highlands of Nukahoatl again to the reign of their firstborn."
His face red with anger, Daniel actually threw the plate of food in front of him toward the nearby wall and stormed out.
"Prana bindhu witches!?" Alarita abruptly and rather roughly pushed away from Maedhv to stand and stare at her furiously in the wake of Daniel's leaving. "They're Prana bindhu witches, aren't they!? That's how you defeated the rebellion!?"
"Yes. But I can control them. They can't feed off of the High Caste, and I am the originator of all their DNA. They recognize me as their supremacy, for all they have sometimes refused my commands--but I refused to bring violence down on them before. With the Xihuatlatl and examples made of some of the rebellious Queens, we'll have a disciplined army for controlling this world and all of Pegasus for that matter."
"But they eat souls," Alarita answered, clearly not just furious about also mortified. "That's the end. There'd be no reincarnation, and what happens if, well, you know, Nirrti's clause... ...I think she'd destroy this entire universe if that happened."
"That isn't an issue; the Eternal Imprint is what they recognize, not the genetics."
"Well, I guess it's better for someone to control them than to leave them roaming the universe. Why'd you do it?"
"Because I loved them and I couldn't bring myself to injure them even when they disobeyed me," Maedhv answered rather mournfully. "I... We're all part of one family. And I can control them. If I'm going to be Queen in one place, I shall be Queen over all."
Alarita flung hir head to the side with a softly choked sob. "Why, against all the gods of worms, do I love you?" Shi ignored the approach of hir lover from behind, Maedhv wrapping her arms gently about Alarita, and not speaking. "Better for us to just flee to the farthest corner of the universe and leave these humans and these Wraith to each other. But I know you won't. This is the temper of the blood that courses through your veins, so we'll fight." But the words were not pleased ones, nor did shi squeeze back into the hug by which shi was engulfed.
USS Prometheus, en route to Earth
With a few more hours left until they were due to arrive back home Jack had found a room to bunk in for some rest. He'd need it as their plan involved him having to ring down upon arrival and get into the Ancient - or was it Asvin now? - chair in the Antarctic outpost immediately.
There was sound at the door that made Jack open his eyes and look over. Samantha was standing in the doorway looking about as tired as he was. Arguably she'd been through the most of any of SG-1 in this whole thing, having worked with the Gray Star crew to deal with the Replicators. "So far the Gray Star and the Jaffa ships Teal'c is leading haven't had any problems with their hyperdrives with the ZPMs installed," she told Jack. "Teal'c thinks a couple more Jaffa ships might get to Earth within an hour of our arrival but their fleet's still pretty spread out."
"Yeah."
"So... what about Daniel?"
Jack blinked. "He's still with Her Mightyness, I guess. Probably trying to talk her out of whatever it is she's doing. And probably failing."
Sam crossed her arms. "Zaria said that he has gotten Maedhv's attention somehow."
"Oh, you know Daniel, he always has to chat up the super-people," Jack answered. "I know he's still on Maedhv's ship, but he knows the risks involved in this work. He's always known the risks. He'd tell us to go ahead and do what we have to do."
"I just wonder if maybe he can get us a peaceful solution after all. I mean, from what we've seen of Maedhv's abilities, she is the single-most powerful entity in the known universe... multiverse. And even if we get those defensive batteries up, and the Ancient drone weapons, and we get all the help we're trying to call in..." Sam shook her head. "I just don't know if we can do it."
"We always manage to find a way." Jack sat up on the bed. "I still think we should have just let Ba'al blow us up."
Sam cracked a slight grin. "Well, I'm glad you didn't. You did save us from the Replicators by getting Maedhv her ship back."
"Yeah, I know, but now Her Mightyness is going to use that ship against us now. So we have to find a way to blow it up. Any ideas?"
Sitting near Jack, Sam gave a shrug. "I've had a couple thoughts about the ZPMs, but given what happened with that one Cadmulus tried to foist off on us I think using them as bombs or weapons of any kind would just destroy everything."
Jack stared at her for a moment. "That would be a pretty big boom," he finally remarked. "And kind of misses the point of saving Earth, even if we took Her Mightyness out in the process."
"Yes it would," Sam conceded. "Other than that I'm afraid I'm all out of ideas."
Hearing Sam say that wasn't the kind of thing Jack, or anyone else, liked to hear. He gave her a nod of acknowledgement and moved on. "In the meantime, let's get to Earth and do what we can." He paused for a moment before adding, "Or hope Daniel pulls a miracle out of his hat. Then we don't have to try and blow him up too."
No-Ship Xihuatlatl, Near Earth
Universe Designate SRC-19
It wasn't often that Daniel Jackson became angry. Now that he was it would take time to subside, especially given how much of the anger was directed at himself. He replayed the events back at Kuahuatl over and over and how wrong he'd been to decide things that way. At that moment, had he had it all to do over again, he would have re-Ascended to help fight Maedhv and he certainly wouldn't have awakened her ship for her.
Had he read her wrong? Had he listened to her protestations of having changed and taken them as the truth when she was still just as self-serving and ambitious as ever. Talking about upraising Earth was one thing, but to bring the Wraith to the Milky Way because of some old attachment to them...
Daniel was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't notice the slender figure standing at his door until she spoke out to him.
"I brought food for you, ah, it's Daniel, right? Maedhv said she was worried about you because you hadn't eaten at dinner--you were pretty upset about the operation." Erin stepped in gently, carrying a round pail filled with food, and held by a simple handle. "Which, I can understand, because killing a horrible thing, but so, too, is a lot of what already goes on on earth." She shuffled a bit: "Well. I don't want to make you upset again, so I can just leave the food and go...?"
"Why do you follow her?", he asked bluntly. "Because she promises power to you? Makes you feel loved?"
"Because she's ancient, and has seen more of humanity than I'm prepared to believe. Because she's seen... Fire in the stars and death on the planets below, Daniel, because she's been through the same journey as a tremendously evil humanity, until we got to this point.... I don't think she was ready to rule before now and she said she wasn't. But now I think she is because she's been through that same journey herself, and I like to think humanity is ready for that journey, too," Erin answered simply, but then, decided to continue:
"I love her because she loves children, dotes on them, and how many times have you seen a Goddess do that? And I know she isn't one and she doesn't want us to call her one, but she might as well be. I'm not actually all that stupid, you know. If it hadn't been for my mental health problems I'd be a professor by now--she fixed that. She brought us all in and fixed us and soothed us, and treated herself on the same level as us--ate the same food in the same rations, made love to us, picked up trash with us and tilled at the soil with us. I'd say that is in the end what made her willing to conquer again--before she conquered because she was told too, or out of lust for power. I'd say she learned though that there can be more altruistic motives."
"So we'll support her and see where she goes. What else can you do, when you find a slaver who's mated her slave, a warrior who's become a mother, a killer who dotes on children? Isn't that the whole story of the human race, Daniel, bound up in one person? She's trying to find a way and I think, I really do believe, that it's her desire to help others making her do this. That the hostage situation drove home to her, just how little the people of Earth can help each other, and that she knows she can do a better job. We'll keep her honest, and we're certainly not all of one mind, and she promised us nothing except a lot of hard work and the indefinite right for us and our descendants to live aboard this ship."
"She's not going to do a better job and that's something neither of you can see," Daniel answered her. "It doesn't matter how well-intentioned she is, Maedhv is not a good ruler. Not over an entire world. It's one thing if she can oversee you and your friends, you're a small group of people who came to her voluntarily. But as much as she claims otherwise Maedhv doesn't handle dissent very well. Do you even realize what she intends to do? She wants to cement her rule by bringing a race called the Wraith to our galaxy. We've encountered the Wraith already." At this point Daniel didn't see the point in maintaining the "classified information" secrecy given what the cultists had already seen. "They feed on Human beings, Erin. They suck the life right out of them. They've been slaughtering Humans in the Pegasus Galaxy like cattle for the last ten thousand years, leaving only enough people alive between cullings so the population can recover and they can repeat the process a few centuries later. And now Maedhv wants to bring them here."
"Maedhv did mention that do us and said we'd be immunized and that she had ways of controlling them to keep them from feeding on the innocent. Considering she also told us that she created the Wraith, I don't presume to doubt her ability in doing so," Erin answered. "And why don't you think she's matured enough to be a good ruler? If someone with her experience does not make one, does anyone? But I won't argue with you, Daniel, because that's silly--neither one of us can change the course of events here. History will show which one of us is right, as it always does, and we should let history run its course, flow with it and live happily within it--not try to stand against its tide."
Daniel remained silent for a moment. It was clear he wasn't going to make any headway with Erin, nor with any of the others in Maedhv's cult. After all, hadn't their beliefs come true? Maedhv had told them she would call down a great ship to uplift them beyond the Earth and she had. Now she was offering them a place at her side in power over the entire world. None of them had any reason to question Maedhv.
When he finally spoke, he did so firmly, calmly, and with absolute clarity, every word about as lucid as was humanly possible. "In the past eight years I've gone through some incredible things, Erin, enough to tell you that some people don't care whether they can really change the course of events or not, they still try. And there are millions of people below us and around this galaxy, including some very dear friends of mine, who are going to do just that. We've done it before. And we've won before, against odds so long our survival is nothing short of miraculous. Maedhv is going to have to kill them all to win because they're not going to give up." He stared intently at Erin in a way that might have made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. "And then you're not simply going to be waiting for History to prove you right, you're going to be praying that it will. You're going to be spending every day hoping that Maedhv will keep everything all right and terrified at each and every sign that something might be going wrong, that you're not just turning the Milky Way into an all-you-can-eat dinner buffet for the Wraith. Because if you're wrong, and she's wrong, all of those deaths are going to be for nothing." And with that Daniel took the plate of food and took a bite from it, an indication to Erin that the conversation was over.
The two, mistress and slave once, now equals walking side by side, arrived back on the ornate bridge of the Xihuatlatl, Alarita in full vacsuit for a change, helmet flipped back.. and so was Maedhv, presumably out of a concern for her child, and not wanting to waste energy on protecting her body from decompression that might be required in battle.
They took their chairs, captain's and central ops, on the main command dais and the various connectors to their internal cybernetics and movement detectors swung into place as well as shock harnesses, for it was indeed possible for even a twenty-kilometer ship to be torn through space harder than her inertial dampers could compensate for... If you had big enough weapons on the other side. And on top of that, keyboards, for the information transfer requirements for the two of them would be completely insane, as combat displays also lowered around them to augment the direct neural transmissions.
Maedhv and Alarita finished suiting up, and Alarita flashed a gesture to hir mate. "Just remember, love, we're doing this for them."
"I'll let you handle all of the targeting. If you want to be gentle, go ahead. Who knows, President Hayes might yet give in and we'll do this rather less expansively. Alright, we're..."
"T minus 8 minutes to the deadline. I've got battle-screens and our interference generators," shi referred to the defences against Hidden World attacks, "At full power and the disruption generators are too in case they try anything telepathic. Automatic repair systems are operational and the onboard robots have all be given their damage control subroutine activation commands. As well as the Xihuatlatl can be fought by two people, Maedhv, she's our's to command."
"Thank you, Alarita."
"You really shouldn't," Alarita replied, glancing through hir helmet to Maedhv for a moment. "I should be trying harder to talk you out of this, rather than talk myself into it. But we're about to start a war, and I guess that the time for that is already passed."
"It's never very good during a battle. We'll see about how to run things afterward, hmm? And if you didn't want me to be in such a violent mood today, you should have..."
Alarita shook hir head. "Always insufferable. But no, now's not the time, though it never stopped you from cracking jokes before."
"No, it never did--Oh, Hi Daniel. Glad to see you could join us," Maedhv commented offhand as she saw him, per invitation, stepping onto the bridge, and then swung the chair back into place and locked it.
"No-field generator to standby."
The immense bulk of the Xihuatlatl appeared, her engines beginning to power up and brake her into a powered-steady orbit as the two coordinated their actions electronically. They were bringing her to a stop over the United States with five minutes left, and immediately all the displays and readouts on the bridge were flooded with tactical information.
"No power from the Antarctic base?"
"Not even shielding," Alarita confirmed. "Shall I engage it anyway?"
"Negative. Wait for the deadline--I'm going to at least play this one by the book."
"Alright.... There's nothing in orbit to oppose us, Maedhv, though it seems they may be scrambling some starfighters from the surface. No possible threat, we could destroy them with weapons buses."
"I don't see a need to deploy the buses at this time.... Looks like your first scan was a little premature, my darling. We have incoming after all." The two watched as the tactical projector flashed to a series of hyperspace windows opening.
USS Prometheus, arriving at Earth
The hyperspace windows appeared over Earth's south pole region. The Gray Star was the first ship to emerge from one, still sporting her battle damage from the fight with the Replicators, followed by a protective covering of Jaffa-commanded Ha'tak-class motherships under Jaffa command. A small group of F/A-48s came out of Gray Star's hanger bay, barely ten due to how many had been consumed in some part by the Replicators in their rampage, along with a cloud of Jaffa Gliders.
Behind them a window formed and Prometheus emerged. Aboard Sam was with Jack in the Ring Room, holding a laptop. "I have the codes Maedhv gave us in here, give it to our research team down in the outpost and they'll know how to input the codes when you interface with the Ancient outpost."
Jack took the laptop and nodded. "Any word about Daniel?"
Sam lowered her eyes and shook her head. "Yeah, thought so," Jack sighed as he stepped into the rings. "Good look Carter." The rings lifted out of the floor and surrounded him. Jack disappeared in a flash of golden light, to be rematerialized on the planet below.
From there Sam walked to the bridge, where Pendergast was waiting. "The No-Ship is about 30,000 kilometers from Earth," he reported, not bothering to try to pronunce the exotic name of Maedhv's personal vessel. "We're on course for an intercept."
"Hyperspace window opening," one of the personnel reported. "It's Daedalus. Colonel Caldwell is on."
"This is Daedalus to Prometheus, we're moving into place now."
"Roger that, Daedalus, Pendergast answered.
The combined fleet moved toward the Xihuatlatl, putting themselves between it and Earth.
Back in the cockpit of an F/A-48, Kei was leading what was left of her squadron as they formed up with the Jaffa fighters. She did another weapons check to see that her payload of Guyverite-boosted M/AM missiles were ready for arming and launch, though in the end it probably wouldn't matter. Seeing the Xihuatlatl looming ahead on her HUD, Kei swallowed hard and came to the conclusion that this was probably it for her. After all the combat missions she'd survived in her career, this would be the last one, her final sortie.
"My God,", she heard Kylie Landers say behind her. "Why do I suddenly feel like one of those poor Rebel pilots trying to attack the Death Star?"
Despite all the tension and imminent doom of the moment, Kei had to crack a little grin at that.
No-Ship Xihuatlatl, Near Earth
"Activating defensive interceptor batteries on automatic," Alarita reported, leaving their missile defence to the hands of the computers--no way they could direct it on their own.
"Quite. It is their main armament." Maedhv leaned against her chair and looked over the fleet before her. "Barely a dozen Ha'taks, two Earth ships--that Daedalus looks to be worth all the Ha'taks put together, at worst--and the interuniversal ship. I don't think they have anymore firepower than Ba'al's fleet did, do you?"
"It's unlikely. And we don't have any signs of the Antarctic facility powering up."
"Then let's not push our luck, Alarita. The moment the deadline passes, I want you to put a missile onto the base." She paused for a moment, and then added: "Neutron flux warhead, I want it intact."
"Yeah, and I remember the last time an Asvin used those on Earth."
"I'm the one who's supposed to be a snarky bitch; it's just one warhead over the southern pole, the radiation swathe won't even reach the southern tip of Nukahoatl."
"Alright, I'll make sure to detonate it at the geographic south pole to be on the safe side. We've got one minute left, by the way, so I'm powering up the missile batteries."
"Yeah..." Maedhv rubbed her gloved hands together, and then punched a button on the side of her command chair. "Jack," she addressed the Prometheus, assuming he was still aboard. "You saw what Alarita did those Ha'taks. Stand down while you've still got the chance."
"This is Colonel Lionel Pendergast in command of the Earth Ship Prometheus. I ask that you peaceably withdraw or we will be forced to assume you hostile."
"Where's Jack," Maedhv said outloud in some surprise--it would have gotten picked up by the feed before the line went dead, but she didn't care, not as she rapidly thought about--and thus sifted all the knowledge of the universe--to determine just where he'd gone. The probabilities vanished into the certainties of action. "Alarita! Fire!"
One single missile was launched from the port side of the Xihuatlatl, itself a hundred meters long and accelerating at 30,000g's to tear through space and enter the atmosphere like a firey comet toward Antarctic at substantial fraction of light by the time it hit the atmosphere, an arcing pillar through the sky.
"Now what else are they..." Her calculations showed something else, she then knew something else, and was cursing the uncertainty of hiding behind a No-Field even as she tried to trigger the No-Field again to protect the ship. It didn't activate soon enough, however, and lancing straight up, wavering its way through the atmosphere from Cheyenne Mountain, was the certain fury of the Dakara Device, distorting its way through the shields and even attacking Maedhv and her nanites, requiring her to become hazy with a blue energy field, spreading outward, trying to save some components of the ship's nanite repair system and protect herself at the same time.
"That tears that," Alarita muttered as all of the screens went dark. "Maedhv, they knocked out the self-repair mechanisms. Do we have a Class Four repair yard somewhere? Because otherwise, given three thousand years at most, you aren't gonna have a ship anymore."
"The Wraith have access to one that I built up there," Maedhv answered, "In expectation that you'd be rejoining me in Pegasus, back in those days. So, yeah, we can make repairs."
"May I recommend that we transpose into the Pegasus galaxy and effect repairs, then? We have no way of knowing whether or not that missile strike succeeded, and we're now several galaxies away from the nearest repair yard, my love. Better than before, but not good enough to be safe."
Daniel watched this all unfold. He'd realized the instant he heard Pendergast's voice that Jack had gone down to Antarctica. And had probably died there when Maedhv's missile went off. A sick feeling went down to his stomach at that realization, knowing that it had started. "It's not too late, Maedhv," he said aloud. "More people don't have to die, not over this."
The Commune had all be issued vacuum suits, and with some confidence Erin made her way to the bridge in one, arriving to hear Daniel's words. "I don't see anything," she murmured to him softly, wondering, precisely what was going on.
"Well, Daniel, I say in for a penny, in for a pound," Maedhv answered, turning to Alarita. "They're still no match for us, even assuming that Jack got the shields up in time to stop us. And I can't be sure of that--but one single defensive battery isn't going to change the course of this battle. Shift the No-field generator back to Standby and prepare for close engagement."
"....Okay, yeah, I'll concede they can't even bring down the battleshields with the firepower at their disposal," Alarita acknowledged, but sucked in hir breath rather hesitantly as the No-field was again deactivated, and the ship flicked for a ghostly moment in realspace and then appeared in whole form again before the fleet.
Daniel raised a hand. "Maedhv, no! Please, let it go! Just tell us where the Trust are hiding and we'll take care of them!"
"You've gone from muskets to naquadah bombs in two hundred years, Daniel--all while still letting your people starve. If I give you another two hundred, you'll come after me and mine. Alarita, stand by to engage."
USS Prometheus, Near Earth
Eyes were fixed forward as the enormous Xihuatlatl seemed to fade into full existance. "The Dakara wave did hit them completely," Sam said from where she'd found a seat. "But sensors still can't tell if we knocked out their repair systems."
"What about that missile that hit Antarctica?", Pendergast asked.
"It appears to have had a neutron warhead. It produced a short-lived burst of radiation capable of killing anyone it reached," Sam said. "The flux in the atmosphere is keeping me from determining any lifesigns..." She bit back the fear she felt, the realization that Jack and everyone else down there had died.
"Prometheus, this is General O'Neill. Don't worry anyone, I got the shield up just in time. I'm locking the weapons on Her Mightyness' ship right now and preparing to fire drones."
"All of us versus a ship of that size," Pendergast murmured. "I think we're in a lot of..."
A series of lights appeared on Sam's monitor. "Hyperspace windows opening!"
Outside more exitways from hyperspace formed. Out of them emerged the sleek forms of six Asgard warships of the potent O'Neill class. The vessels moved toward Daedalus.
In front of them, down on the surface near Jack, and on Maedhv's bridge, a holographic form of an Asgard appeared. "I am Thor, Supreme Commander of the Asgard Fleet," he said. "The planet Earth is under our protection."
"You always had the best sense of timing, Thor," Jack said over the comms.
"So noted, Thor. Welcome to the engagement," Maedhv answered back over the open comm line. "Perhaps the Ancients bothered to tell your people of my existence. If not, well, blame them for the surprise--while you've got the chance."
And then, still on the open transmission line: "Alarita, lock main batteries on the Asgard squadron as the primary objective."
"Her Mightyness really has let her head swell," Jack remarked.
"I'm picking up something else," Sam said. "This gravitational pattern, I've seen..."
Nate's voice came over the line. "That would be the cavalry."
Behind the Xihuatlatl, out toward the Moon, massive ripples formed in space and widened into full-blown wormholes of swirling gold, green, and blue color, much like Stargate event horizons to Sam's eye.
Vessels began to emerge from them, of all types and sizes. Some had the familiar saucer-and-hull combinations of Starfleet vessels, others the single-hull and twin-nacelle arrangements of ADN warships. They varied in size from similar to the Prometheus and Daedalus to gigantic vessels nearly the size of the Asgard ships, bristling with weapon emplacements.
From a couple wormholes ships of different appearance came. Single-hulled vessels with attached sublight drives but no warp nacelles emerged, identifiable to the Gray Star crew as MWB-32 indigenious designs bearing the mailed fist of the Lyran Commonwealth, the eagle seal of the Free Worlds League, and the sword and green triangle of the Capellan Confederation.
Another wormhole produced vessels of a unique form, taller than they were long, blue-sheened vessels of powerful grace and very imposing size. In their midst were vessels of similar form but over two kilometers "high", sporting multiple prominent gun ports of great size and power. In their midst were smaller vessels with some similiarities to the Gray Star. That ship's friend-or-foe identification systems soon relayed the information to the two Earth ships and their Jaffa allies, identifying the vessels as Minbari warships of the Sharlin and newer Dukhat-classes, accompanied by White Star-class vessels of the Rangers.
The numbers soon overwhelmed the capacities of the plotters on the Prometheus and Daedalus to keep track of them. Each wornhole was disgorging hundreds of ships, seemingly the very limit of their capacities, with identifiers marking the majority as coming from the Alliance of Democratic Nations and the Federated Worlds. Ships with class identifiers varying from "Defiant-class corvette" to "Vesuvius-class superdreadnought" were popping up on the sensors and even down in the Antarctic outpost, where Jack let out a stunned "Woh" over the transmission.
No-Ship Xihuatlatl, Near Earth
"Charge up the distortion field generator, Alarita, and release the safeties on all the missile tubes and open the cell hatches," Maedhv ordered as she watched the fleet swell in size. "It appears we have a real fight on our hands, after all."
"Beginning chargeup sequence, clearing the main missile tubes, opening the cell hatches. Deploying all of the weapons buses, too," shi added, ignoring Maedhv's brief glance--knowing that it meant Maedhv didn't think it was necessary, and also acknowledged that shi wasn't going to be questioned on deploying them anyway--and first initializing the commands which deployed 700 detached, artificial-intelligence directed missile and interceptor drone combat buses to orbit in clusters around the hull, with their own sublight engines and special tractor receptors so the ship's tractor beams could also rapidly reposition them as required to meet enemy attacks.
Alarita's commands soon showed that the Xihuatlatl intended to stay to fight, because along each side of the ship opened retractable armoured slats in the hull running the length of the ship's broadsides. Each line consisted of a honeycomb of heavy anti-ship missile cells, ten thousand in number. The Xihuatlatl had eighty thousand missile cells in addition to eight thousand reloadable tubes. Against that, the three thousand, seven hundred ships plus small fighters that the enemy had seemed rather less grand. Then shi saw something else. "Maedhv, there's some big ships coming through! "
Maedhv looked up to the tactical plot and watched as an enormous, indeed, utterly enormous vessel began to swell and push through. Then she coolly got back to work. "Mass reading is.... In excess of fifteen billion tonnes. That's thirty times the mass of one of those line ships out there. And the escorts are two and a half billion tons--two of them. They're only moving at thirty gravities of acceleration, though, Alarita. Those aren't ships, they're mobile battlestations equipped with interuniversal drive generators. Clever of them--though there are some more proper ships coming out, I read them as being about eight hundred million tonnes fully laden, confirm?"
"Yeah, about six of them, so they're 40% heavier than the main enemy line ships that have deployed." Alarita fell silent; Maedhv was looking back at the holoplot.
"Maedhv, that fleet more or less matches us in mass now. This isn't a minor pacification effort anymore." Alarita looked back hirself, quiet. "Auto repair systems are down. If we lose the fold drive in this fight..."
"I'm checking, and their mass/power ratios aren't nearly our's. We still have a substantial advantage."
"What if they send another fleet?"
"Given the scope of about sixty settled, civilized corners of the Milky Way, I think that's a fair bet," Daniel chimed in. "Maedhv, you have your followers and you have Alarita back. Let it go before people die."
"People die every day on your planet in far more squalid conditions than this. I am sick of your hypocrisy in trying to talk me out of uplifting your most impoverished. Alarita...?"
"We got a transmission coming in from the latest fleet, Maedhv."
Another image materialized, this of a stern-faced bald man with a graying beard staring at Maedhv intently, dark-skinned, with his hands joined in front of and below his head. "This is Fleet Admiral Benjamin Sisko, Commanding Officer of the Provisional Expeditionary Force of the New Brasilia Treaty Organization. The Earth of Universe SRC-19 is now under our protection. I ask you to stand down or we will open fire."
"Admiral Sisko, welcome to the party." Maedhv answered jovially at first, staring intensely at the man through the visor of her suit, and then she dropped her hand back down to the right armrest of her chair and began to drum it softly, and spoke very midly, now. "Now, I was around the crew of the Gray Star long enough to hear about an interesting anecdote from one of the universes you represent--well, skim it from their minds, if we want to be technical. Admiral Sisko, if your fleet engages this No-Ship, it's going to look like the Battle of the Line."
She paused for another moment, sifting through information, and then smiled wickedly. "Or maybe I should say Wolf Three Five Nine."
Only the slightest glimmer seemed to pass Sisko's intent eyes at the mention of the fateful battle against the Borg, the battle where his first wife was killed and he and his son nearly lost. If Maedhv's remark gave him any pause, however, he didn't show it, as his response came out in an ice-cold tone.
"Then so be it. Mister Worf, lock Guyverite torpedoes."
”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt
"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia
American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.
DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia
American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.
DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
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Richardson
- Youngling
- Posts: 67
- Joined: 2008-10-23 12:31am
Re: "The Last Woman Standing" - SG1/TGG Multiverse
Maedhv needs her ass kicked so hard it pops out inside out in another universe. She's well beyond pissed me off now.
Re: "The Last Woman Standing" - SG1/TGG Multiverse
This might be interesting. 
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Themightytom
- Sith Devotee
- Posts: 2818
- Joined: 2007-12-22 11:11am
- Location: United States
Re: "The Last Woman Standing" - SG1/TGG Multiverse
Wow you really pulled out the stops.
I assume there is at least one jackass with a telescope looking up, and that the Stargate program will at this point become public?
Assuming the ADN fleet and its allies manage to disable the shields, the ancients will be there to throw down as well, leaving Arita as the only able pilot.
Sisko also identified his forces as an "expeditionary force" implying there are probably more ships available, which as Alarita pointed out could be problematic.
This really sounds less and less like a smart move on Maedhv's part, Assuming she can move at least as ffast as the Asgard there's no good reason not to go to the shipyard and come back later.
Spoiler
I assume there is at least one jackass with a telescope looking up, and that the Stargate program will at this point become public?
Assuming the ADN fleet and its allies manage to disable the shields, the ancients will be there to throw down as well, leaving Arita as the only able pilot.
Sisko also identified his forces as an "expeditionary force" implying there are probably more ships available, which as Alarita pointed out could be problematic.
This really sounds less and less like a smart move on Maedhv's part, Assuming she can move at least as ffast as the Asgard there's no good reason not to go to the shipyard and come back later.
Spoiler
"Since when is "the west" a nation?"-Styphon
"ACORN= Cobra obviously." AMT
This topic is... oh Village Idiot. Carry on then.--Havok
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CaptainChewbacca
- Browncoat Wookiee
- Posts: 15746
- Joined: 2003-05-06 02:36am
- Location: Deep beneath Boatmurdered.
Re: "The Last Woman Standing" - SG1/TGG Multiverse
Don't mess with The Sisko.
Just don't.
Just don't.
Stuart: The only problem is, I'm losing track of which universe I'm in.
You kinda look like Jesus. With a lightsaber.- Peregrin Toker
You kinda look like Jesus. With a lightsaber.- Peregrin Toker
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Richardson
- Youngling
- Posts: 67
- Joined: 2008-10-23 12:31am
Re: "The Last Woman Standing" - SG1/TGG Multiverse
Yeaahh, that's the nice part about this. Maedhv has completely and totally earned my hate, forever, and now here comes sisko with enough ships to basically perform a blot out the sun manuver, and I can't help but feel the awesome.
More importantly, she's pissed HIM off as well, especially with that nice snide reference to 349. *Puts on his helmet.... juuuuust in case...* To quote a famous pentagon sign from the first gulf war:
"What you're about to see here is an asskicking of biblical proportions."
The problem is, I'm not sure if sisko is gonna pitch or recive...
More importantly, she's pissed HIM off as well, especially with that nice snide reference to 349. *Puts on his helmet.... juuuuust in case...* To quote a famous pentagon sign from the first gulf war:
"What you're about to see here is an asskicking of biblical proportions."
The problem is, I'm not sure if sisko is gonna pitch or recive...
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The Duchess of Zeon
- Gözde
- Posts: 14566
- Joined: 2002-09-18 01:06am
- Location: Exiled in the Pale of Settlement.
Re: "The Last Woman Standing" - SG1/TGG Multiverse
The Golden Condor intends to break their lines, and put her ship in at point-blank range. But we'll see what happens.
The threshold for inclusion in Wikipedia is verifiability, not truth. -- Wikipedia's No Original Research policy page.
In 1966 the Soviets find something on the dark side of the Moon. In 2104 they come back. -- Red Banner / White Star, a nBSG continuation story. Updated to Chapter 4.0 -- 14 January 2013.
In 1966 the Soviets find something on the dark side of the Moon. In 2104 they come back. -- Red Banner / White Star, a nBSG continuation story. Updated to Chapter 4.0 -- 14 January 2013.
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The Duchess of Zeon
- Gözde
- Posts: 14566
- Joined: 2002-09-18 01:06am
- Location: Exiled in the Pale of Settlement.
Re: "The Last Woman Standing" - SG1/TGG Multiverse
Collectively, for the data-crunchers among you, the allied fleet and the defensive batteries have 45.8% of the Xihuatlatl's firepower, not counting their fighters and gunboats; this does not count the Xihuatlatl's weapons buses. However, the Xihuatlatl is in about the same condition that the Enterprise was in The Search for Spock, with battle damage sustained at the hands of an entire Armada of Ancient Aurora-type ships which was never fully repaired because the repair nanites can't make neutronium and trinium appear out of nothing, and because the ship is jury-rigged to hell and back with computer control systems just like the Enterprise was that are very vulnerable to shock damage and electronics failures. Also her fighter squadrons have nobody to man them and so cannot be launched. On the other hand, Maedhv knows every single maneouvre the allied fleet is going to execute already, an advantage that she'll only lose if the Ancients choose to intervene.
The threshold for inclusion in Wikipedia is verifiability, not truth. -- Wikipedia's No Original Research policy page.
In 1966 the Soviets find something on the dark side of the Moon. In 2104 they come back. -- Red Banner / White Star, a nBSG continuation story. Updated to Chapter 4.0 -- 14 January 2013.
In 1966 the Soviets find something on the dark side of the Moon. In 2104 they come back. -- Red Banner / White Star, a nBSG continuation story. Updated to Chapter 4.0 -- 14 January 2013.
Re: "The Last Woman Standing" - SG1/TGG Multiverse
I'd actually find it rather....enlightening, if Q, of all beings, stepped in and told the Ancients they can't interfere.
The Multiversals need a good swift (if fairly localized only) kick to the pants to again make them realize they really are just small fish in a very large, and dangerous, ocean. Maedhv even behind the 'wheel' of a jury-rigged ship/near fully automated ship (ala: ST3 as you mentioned) playing kick the can with all those ships would be a very good warning to them that they need to wake up and realize that they shouldn't be developing ships/tech to deal with a neighbor who is roughly equal to/lesser/slightly greater then they are, but something on the scale of a cosmic Godzilla/Cthulu. And Maedhv herself is pretty much up there, if not in direct damage she can cause herself, but by what she can -inspire- in others. If, they'll listen.
It looks like I'm one of the few that's actually rooting for Maedhv, as I can see where she's coming from. Most of the viewers are judging her by the ethics of today, not by the ethics that she was raised in and had thousands of years to soak into her. Or even the fact she's actually been playing very very nicely so far and extremely accommodating, in comparison to what she was eons ago. Or that she's gone out of her way to help Earth, and the Grey Star, etc, when she could have just up and left. Frankly its quite sad that Earth didn't/hasn't realized yet she could up and IMMEDIATELY have blasted every Trust agent on the planet away and there wouldn't have been a thing they could have done to stop her, yet instead, she held back and ASKED the official governments to hand over those who are already effectively treasonous personnel as is.
Frankly, Maedhv is dead accurate about how SGC's Earth branch of humanity treats itself.
The Multiversals need a good swift (if fairly localized only) kick to the pants to again make them realize they really are just small fish in a very large, and dangerous, ocean. Maedhv even behind the 'wheel' of a jury-rigged ship/near fully automated ship (ala: ST3 as you mentioned) playing kick the can with all those ships would be a very good warning to them that they need to wake up and realize that they shouldn't be developing ships/tech to deal with a neighbor who is roughly equal to/lesser/slightly greater then they are, but something on the scale of a cosmic Godzilla/Cthulu. And Maedhv herself is pretty much up there, if not in direct damage she can cause herself, but by what she can -inspire- in others. If, they'll listen.
It looks like I'm one of the few that's actually rooting for Maedhv, as I can see where she's coming from. Most of the viewers are judging her by the ethics of today, not by the ethics that she was raised in and had thousands of years to soak into her. Or even the fact she's actually been playing very very nicely so far and extremely accommodating, in comparison to what she was eons ago. Or that she's gone out of her way to help Earth, and the Grey Star, etc, when she could have just up and left. Frankly its quite sad that Earth didn't/hasn't realized yet she could up and IMMEDIATELY have blasted every Trust agent on the planet away and there wouldn't have been a thing they could have done to stop her, yet instead, she held back and ASKED the official governments to hand over those who are already effectively treasonous personnel as is.
Frankly, Maedhv is dead accurate about how SGC's Earth branch of humanity treats itself.
Macross Daedalus Attack: Because nothing says "Frak You" like punching them in the face with an aircraft carrier.
Macross Frontier Version: Unless you use 2 aircraft carriers.
☟ Named after a g/f! Sheesh, stop asking. ☟
Macross Frontier Version: Unless you use 2 aircraft carriers.
☟ Named after a g/f! Sheesh, stop asking. ☟