Stargate And Then I Was A God (Stargate SI)

[ThatTabiFromSB]

Breath in.

Four seconds.

Breath out.

Four Seconds.

Breath in.

Warmth suffused his entire body, from head to toe. Khe’jan let his breath out slowly as his meditative exercise began to end.

The Jaffa felt the warmth begin to lessen, and the light that surrounded him begin to fade.

“Khe’jan?” Came the voice of his God, from afar. His voice remarkable human. “Are you in pain?”

“No, my lord. I am well,” he replied softly, smiling. “There is no pain.”

“No headaches? Sore joints?”

The light faded, allowing him to open his eyes. Khe’jan got to his feet and stretched, shaking away the slight tingle from sitting still for so long. “The pain is gone, my lord.”

His God’s voice took on a pleasing note. “Excellent, come on out, please.”

The chamber opened and the feeling of warmth on his skin faded, replaced with the cold manufactured filtered air of his God’s laboratories. Stepping forward towards the stairs, the Jaffa could not help but marvel how much clearer his mind was, how no pain nor ache pounded away at his body and mind.

Standing at the foot of the steps was his God, in loose robes of white, kara’kesh glowing as it showed him his body. Numerous markers floated about his colorful represenation, all marked green, a hopeful sign.

As Khe’jan reached the last of the steps, he knelt, head bowed low; but his God stopped him, his tiny hand pushing his immense frame back up.

“None of that now, my Jaffa,” said his God with a smile. He gestured with his kara’kesh, showing him the internals of his own head. The gray matter was highlighted with multiple words, meanings of which Khe’jan couldn’t decipher.

“The last three showed a lot of promise. Today, I believe may have perfected the cure. This is your last treatment, Khe’jan,” said the Goa’uld, touching the image in his hand. It flickered and died. “Congratulations, my Jaffa. You will never have to suffer the pain you were born with ever again.”

Relief flooded his body and to his shame, tears began to fall from his eyes. Kah’jen did the unspeakable.

He hugged his God.

Iah cried out softly in surprise, but relaxed and wrapped his own arms around his chest; or at least attempted to. He was like a child compared to the size of the Jaffa. The God could not wrap his arms around the giant entirely, but it was a gesture accepted that only further amplified the gratitude the gigantic Jaffa felt towards his God.

He let go and gently set Iah down. “I apologize, my lord. My emotions-!”

“Think nothing of it, Khe’jan!” Iah waved away his apologies, instead reaching up to pat him on the shoulder. “I would do the same for any of my Jaffa. There is no shame in such things.”

Wiping away his tears, Kah’jen stood tall as he took a deep fortifying breath. “I…I would ask of one more boon, my lord.”

The Goa’uld stilled, and looked up at him with curiosity on his face. “What is it?”

“I wish to be your First Prime, my Lord.”

Surprise flickered across the goa’uld’s face, before tapering off into bemusement. “You must pass the trials.”

The jaffa nodded gravely. “I know.”

Iah smiled and nodded, slowly. “Very well, should you pass the tests set by the Marshalls, then you shall indeed become First Prime.”

No, thought Khe'jan, his determination resolute, I will become your First Prime. I will protect you.

-

Ra reclined in his throne, idly listening to his son’s report on Iah’s progress. Heru’ur brought glad tidings and only praise of Iah’s genius. Anubis, being his typically paranoid self, brought only vague warnings of Iah’s inevitable betrayal.

In truth, he did not expect results so quickly from Iah. It took him well over six hundred years to decipher the Asgard programming language, and even then, little could be gained from his prized ancient relics from the Goa’uld-Reenlokia War.

But when Iah was shown the old craft used by the little grey creatures, ideas formed quickly and his prized scientist proved his worth once more.

Increased hyperdrive speed, improved power generation, ever more powerful capital ship weapons.

All derived from the ancient Asgard ships, all successfully tapped into by Iah.

There was much Iah had yet to show for the trust Ra had given him; but that was fine by the Goa’uld Emperor.

He could trust Iah. Iah was his, and the young goa’uld’s loyalty would never be in question.

Heru’ur was finishing his report, the goa’uld idly noted, casting an amused glance at Anubis, who was grimacing.

The Jaffa had not found the trip to Iah’s domain enjoyable; he had many concerns of Iah’s management of his domain, but could not deny that it was a productive and critical asset to Ra’s holdings.

Dismissing his son and First Prime, Ra turned back to his brooding.

The System Lords were becoming desperate now, their own technology now falling away as his own grew by leaps and bounds. One more powerful demonstration of his power, and his rule over the Goa’uld in it’s entirety would be secure for the next ten thousand years; or at least whenever someone got it in their mind to try to topple him.

It was about time for his usual rounds of tribute collection, wasn’t it? Ra mused, smiling to himself as he thought of his brother grinding his teeth, of Cronus looking humiliated as ever, and Yu pursing his lips in jealousy.

Yes, a celebration within Hasara Station, where he could reward Iah in front of the System Lords.

To show the Goa’uld that Ra’s power had not waned.

That it had grown stronger, and that he would always forever be Supreme System Lord.

Always.

Nodding to himself, Ra allowed himself to let out a pleased laugh that echoed throughout the vast hall of his throneroom.

Yes, mused the Goa’uld happily, he would never fall. Never.

 

[ThatTabiFromSB]

Diary Entry: I continue to explore just how far I can push goa’uld technology using their most commonly used technologies. For example, today, I have come across a very unusual Jaffa who had been born with an unusual defect that has caused him to grow into a frighteningly giant of a Jaffa.

I had spotted him training with other Jaffa in the barracks along my usual walks around the palace; odd that I never spotted him before till now. One would expect to have seen a giant Jaffa his size in no time.

His name is Kha’jen, named so by his village elders for having been born a tiny sickly-looking baby. The name stuck, especially when he had grown as tall as a young teenager before hitting puberty.

Kha’jen suffers from some sort of congenital defect that is related to his gigantism. He has numerous aches and pains around his joints and within his bones; his organs are stressed out, and he suffers from painful headaches. The symbiote within his pouch helps, but it can only do so much.

Concerned for the state of one of my Jaffa, I had offered to help him.

In truth, the Goa’uld do not have a concept of surgery or internal medicines. They rely on the Kela’kesh, the circular device for minor injuries, and the Sarcophagus for healing. Jaffa are exempt from most diseases and can survive most wounds save for those dealing catastrophic damage to their bodies.

Jaffa generally do not suffer from genetic defects; those that rarely do, find their defects becoming extraordinarily horrifying or unusual. Fortunately for Kha’jen, his gigantism is merely the latter; extraordinarily unusual.

I did not want to cause the massive Jaffa’s mind to deteriorate under the effects of the Sarcophagus, so I began experimenting with the technology to understand it’s inner workings.

One such experiment yielded me critical data in regards to healing Kah’jen’s condition. I had enclosed an acre of forest, complete with a small pond, within a sealed dome made of naquadah alloy. Fitted above the forest, I had inverted a spare Sarcophagus and rebuilt it so it would resemble a globe. Set on several magnetic rails sealed from the environment by a forcefield, I had the ‘sun’ emit it’s rejuvenating light at full power down to the isolated ecosystem to observe its effects on the local animal and plant life.

The Sarcophagus was based off an Ancient Healing Device, created by a goa’uld by the name of Telchak.

Over the course of several days...nothing really happened. Sure, the local animal life were a little more active than was normal, but nothing unusual was happening.

I hoped I’d get some results soon; I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself for promising to cure Kah’jen and failing to do so.

By the end of the week, I began to have results.

The plant life had begun to grow prolifically. Small trees were suddenly taller, their trunks thicker and stronger. Some low hanging fruits had gotten much bigger and riper. The flowers were lusher and more beautiful.

The next day, the animals began to show improved reflexes. Fish were lightning fast and were able to avoid getting eaten by the birds, which were now faster and stronger.

From what I could tell, constant exposure from the inverted sarcophagus’ light allowed the recipient to obtain the optimum level of healthiness which eventually allowed life to [DATA EXPUNGED]

Thankfully containment wasn't breached by the ████████. All subjects were terminated as soon as the inverted sarcophagus had overloaded and lost all power.

Fortunately I have discovered quite a lot of new things to study and the cure for Kha'jen's gigantism is well underway.

-

The Delinquent Running on the Rooftops

Nikhat panted as he ran as fast as he could, the adrenaline pumping in his veins as shouts behind him bore warning. With a practiced step, the young boy slid underneath a pair of men carrying some boxes on a sled, the tingle of antigravity repulsors ticklings his skin.

Without even looking back, Nikhat could hear the bellows of surprise from the Jaffa chasing him as they ran into the transport.

Smothering a snicker, Nikhat focused on running. And just as well, with six Jaffa appearing from the alleyways to block his way.

Taking a running leap, he grabbed ahold of a handhold within the wall of the squat building on his right. Hauling his body up, the shouts of Jaffa for him to get back down was music to his ears. Clambering onto the roof, Nikhat quickly made his way up the next building, noting the Jaffa running below to chase after him.

“There he is!” Shouted a voice several rooftops away.

He whipped his head around and found two jaffa in light armor standing atop a tall building adjecent to him. Shouts of “Get him!” were cried out as he ran, his sandaled feet clacking on the rooftop tiles.

Behind him, the Jaffa were chasing after him, but Nikhat knew that even with their light armor, they were far too slow,. Swinging himself up onto the next building, the shouts of jaffa alerted to him that they were trying to herd him to the edge of the district where the local parks were. Fine! Let’s play that game!

Nikhat spotted two more pairs of Jaffa on the roofs with him down, trying to flank and corner him at the edge of the small temple they were running on.

A smirk formed on his lips as he rapidly calculated the distance and guessed how much force he needed to make the jump.

The Jaffa were drawing closer, but Nikhat found the strength and threw himself off the top of the temple, breaking his fall with a roll that simply propelled him forwards back onto his feet.

With a grin, he chanced a glance back at his pursuers, who were looking down at him with expressions of amazement.

“Hold it, you!” Shouted a bunch of guards as they spotted him. Nikhat gave them a quick wave before vaulting over a whole set of steps and onto a small wall that surrounded the park.

Peasants looked up in curiosity as the boy ran along the wall at breakneck speeds, being chased by a dozen City Guards and Jaffa. They watched as he performed amazing feats to dodge the grasping hands of those chasing him.

As he slid out of reach by climbing up a tree and running and jumping along it’s branches to other trees.

“Don’t let him get away!” Bellowed an ancient looking Jaffa, leaning on his wooden staff. “Block off his escape routes!”

Nikhat stuck his tongue out at the old Jaffa Marshal, as he clambered up the tallest branch of the tree to walk onto the roof of a smith’s store. Once again, he was running, adrenaline still pumping, his heart beating like a drum, and never once did he feel fear; only joy as he evaded and weaved his way to freedom.

More guards were moving to intercept him, all along the rooftops. Nikhat frowned.

They must have predicted my movements, he thought as he slid under a Jaffa and resumed his running. How sloppy of me.

By now a small army of guards had him cornered on the edge of the roof, his back towards a large boulevard. No way he could jump that. Not to mention the small army of Jaffa waiting below him.

With a sigh, Nikhat surrendered.

At least long enough to let his pursuers to le their guard down so he could bolt at the earliest opportunity.

His chance came when they were about to put manacles on his wrists; he had grabbed the manacles and manacled two of his guards in an instant before running at another two and jumping onto the wall and bouncing off the side to avoid them.

At least before a dozen or two piled onto him, wheels of rope in hand.

After a humiliating ride on horseback, Nikhat found himself back in his prison.

The scholar stared at him with a bemused expression, hands clasped behind his back. “Welcome back, Nikhat. I trust you’ve had your exercise, yes? You’re back in time to begin your favorite subject; maths.”

Bound in ropes and groaning in horror, the Jaffa sat him down into a seat with his snickering classmates before giving the old scholar a salute and leaving.

“Now, to begin. Last week we were discussing angles and their geometrical properties...”

 

[Karmic Acumen]

Lots of fanfics about being antagonists and anti-heroes these days. I can't say I'm a fan. It's never good to see how prevalent and effective the anti-good social movements and politics of the real world are, if they cause villainy to qualify as escapism on such a large scale.

Abstracting that, though, this seems to be shaping up into something actually decent, as long as I suspend my disbelief about the contrived nature of Daniel Jackson, of all people, being party to whatever diabolus ex machina is driving this continuity.

Kind of strange that nobody has cottoned on to the "no more slaves" thing though. So far you can get away with it by having Heru'ur and the rest be too snobbish to actually ask, but I'd have expected some jaffa or other from their retinue to have made idle inquiries into the matter.

 

[ThatTabiFromSB]

Before the Ha’tak, the Cheops and the Chel’tak were the premier warships of choice for the Goa’uld. The Cheops, long obsolete by most standards of the Goa’uld, was a simple four-sided pyramid armed with multiple batteries of staff cannons, and simple energy shield to bolster it’s defenses.

The Cheops was the mainstay of the Goa’uld military might for thousands of years. Assisting them in conquests and battles throughout their history.

Then they met the Asgard. The Cheops, even in vast numbers counting by the hundreds, failed in the face of the might of a single Asgardian vessel. Goa’uld victories were few and far in between.

Thus, to crack the mighty shields and armor of the Asgard, the Chel’tak was developed.

A simple ring of wrought metal was placed around a Cheop’s superstructure, adorned with unwieldy cannons that focused and directed immense barrages of raw plasma.

This earned a few more victories for the Goa’uld, turning what would have been defeats into decisive victories, for whatever was worth the word.

Carefully development over the centuries would turn the Chel’tak into the Ha’tak of the modern Goa’uld. Though the Cheops and Chel’tak were still common, they were regulated mostly as support vessels for System Lords; though many discarded them in favor of fielding only Ha’taks, which became known as Motherships. Lesser Goa’uld would often take these scraps and use them as makeshift fleets.

The Ha’tak was both palace and warship. It carried Jaffa by the legion, multiple wings of Gliders and at least a dozen Al’kesh in it’s immense hangar bays. The Mothership boasted a dozen heavy staff cannons, immense weapon arrays on the dark superstructure around the main pyramid, with secondary batteries along the edge and around the pyramid.

Such was its might that an equal number of Ha’tak on two sides would not be able to defeat one and another. When combined with new tactics to emphasize the defensive wall of Ha'tak, space battles became more careful, cautious affairs, as numerical superiority carried the day, and minor alliances between Goa'uld became more common.

System Lords fielded hundreds of these vessels, each a massive investment of resources, Jaffa, and precious naquadah.

I was going to blow all that progress away with one single project. Admittedly, I cribbed most of the actual designs from Sokar, but no one needed to know that.

It was my most ambitious project yet - to add a theorized ablative armor to a brand new superstructure. I had prototypes of a new rapid-fire heavy staff cannon shown to Ra, thirty-six of which would be placed in batteries of three around the ship, with numerous secondary and tertiary weapon systems to supplement them.

Powering the massive vessel were a set of experimental reactors that were streamlined versions of those within the center of every Ha'tak. Built large and fed enormous quantities of fuel-grade liquid naquadah, I had designed a better and more fuel efficient version to power the ship.

It had three such reactors, each dedicated to powering the ship's engines, weapons, and shields. And of course, lastly, were the shields; a set of multilayer shields that would allow increased defensibility for the massive dreadnought.

Over six times the size of the increasingly standard Ha’tak class of Goa’uid fleet, carrying more than eight times the number of troops and fighter support, and capable of laying waste of entire fleets by itself, the Aaru’Ra was a class of it’s own.

The name, I think, was the reason for the sheer speed at which the design was approved. After Ra had finished gawking at the hologram I showed him, he immediately ordered me to begin work upon his new flagship at once.

But, of course, there was a snag.

“I can begin work immediately, my liege,” I said with a bow. “But my simple shipyard will not be able to handle such an enormous task without a great deal of resources, workers, or-”

“You will have everything you need to build this vessel,” said Ra, waving away my concerns dismissively. “Slaves, naquadah, as much as needed to build my new flagship. Jaffa to oversee and protect it. With the Aaru’Ra, none shall deny my dominion!”

I bowed, hiding my smile, “Of course, my liege.”

Turning to me, the Goa’uld smiled. “You have served me well, Iah. A task as important as this will no doubt rouse those that oppose me. They will seek to slow your progress or deny it all together. Remain vigilant and ensure that this vessel is built.”

Again, I bow in supplication, a wry smirk on my face. “Your will be done, my liege. If all goes well, your mighty vessel will become a symbol of your power across the empire.”

The edges of Ra’s lips curled into a sinister smile, as he regarded my proclamation. “As it should. ”

 

[ThatTabiFromSB]

It had been only a day since Iah imprisoned me deep beneath his palace, bound by chains of light and left to quietly despair. Confusion reigned in my thoughts as I pondered over what I had done wrong.

I had done as my God had asked; to watch over his favored Iah and protect him from any and all threats. I know that Iah is the most valued of Ra’s court and that he had many enemies. Most knew their lives would be forfeit if they touched him and did not dare do so. But others were more than willing to throw lives away to either destroy Iah or subvert him.

The one known as Seshat was once a former assistant archivist in Ra’s vast libraries on Ah’Ra. In truth, she was probably the actual archivist, as her superior was later executed for an awe inspiring bout of laziness lasting centuries after leaving the Archives untended to after his assistant left.

The archivist turned scribe had become something like Iah’s administrator, quietly taking care of his assets and delegating where he did not. Of Iah’s, admittedly small, court, Seshat was the only other Goa’uld present.

The Gods fought amongst each other, this was known, and betrayal often came in many forms.

Goa’uld who pretended to be loyal vassals, clawing their way into the confidence of their masters, into their beds if need be.

Right before murdering them and then taking their place in as the power behind the throne.

It was obvious that Seshat was one such Goa’uld, she was bedding Iah, playing the close confidant to him, and he had just prevented her assassinating him. Perhaps she was an agent of Apophis? Apophis seemed like an obvious choice, his hatred for his brother Ra, the rightful ruler of the Gods, was legendary.

Surely, Iah would become calm in time and then see that-?

All thoughts in his mind halted when the doors opened and the familiar face of the goa’uld Iah walked into his cell.

Behind Iah, was the giant of a jaffa, his face hidden in shadows.

“My Lord Iah,” I said, bowing as best as I could.

“I have spoken to Ra,” Iah said, softly, his face passive. “He vouches for you.”

Relief coursed through me.

“Unfortunately, you have murdered someone very close to me. Fortunately for you, I have the means to resurrect her and repair the damage you have inflicted upon her host and her symbiote,” Iah continued, his voice emotionless. “Ra and I spoke at length of this and we both agree that is best to put this in the past.”

The chains faded and I fell to my knees.

I bowed deeply, “Thank you, my lord.”

“Do not think this means I trust you, Assassin,” said Iah coldly. “Ra may have sent you to safeguard me, but cause harm or death to those I love and hold dear, you will find no second chances.”

I remained bowed, prostrated before him. “I understand, Lord Iah.”

Though I could not see it, I felt Iah’s eyes burn into my neck. “Very well. Follow me.”

I stood and followed the Goa’uld, whose safety I had been entrusted with. The massive Jaffa took the rear and I found myself immediately considering ways to dispatch him if he too proved a threat to Iah...but quickly reassured myself that it would not come to it. During my time as posing as a servant to Iah, his First Prime displayed great zealotry in his duty to his god. I could tell by his eyes. He loved Iah as much as a mortal could love his god.

If anything the Jaffa known as ‘Tiny’ would never betray Iah. Of the Jaffa sworn to Iah, he was perhaps the most loyal of them all.

From the dungeons we walked, into great halls of stone and gilded metal decor. I recognize the passageway as the one leading to the great hall, where Iah would dine with his inner circle.

Iah turned to me and frowned. “I had forgotten to ask, what was your name?"

I did not have one, I would not have a name until Ra deemed that I was fit to be his new Hand. So, I did not have a reply for Iah.

Iah sighed softly and pursed his lips as he stared at me. He nods to himself said, “When you have decided what to call yourself, tell me.”

I blinked in surprise, and perhaps no small amount of trepidation. Name myself? It was...almost heretical. I had no time to think on the matter, when Tiny stepped forwards to the doors.

The gilded doors opened and I found only a handful present, sitting down to what appeared to be a light lunch.

Three were Jaffa, ancient and venerable. Each wore robes, with symbols emblazoned on their shoulders, whose meaning I did not understand. They were all old, their hair white or gray, skin spotted or sagging with age; but their eyes and posture straight and proud with strength.

They all stood, as the doors opened, in response to the presence of their god. The long table of wood and polished metal sat, plates empty and goblets unfilled. Chairs with strong backs stood by their sides.

“Marshals, good afternoon,” Iah greeted them, his voice with genuine warmth. “Please, sit.”

They greeted him in turn with shallow bows and nods, sitting.

Iah took a seat at the head of the table, then gestured for me to do the same, opposite of the Marshals. I fulfill the silent order and take a seat, feeling slightly uncomfortable. The Jaffa in front of me acknowledge my presence and return their gaze to Iah.

I too turned my gaze, a touch more reverently as expected of my station, to Iah as he smiled.

 

[ThatTabiFromSB]

As the light faded and the throne room came into view, Loki reflected that at that it would have been far easier to have harvested the pure bred humans himself. Unfortunately, doing so would have been far too time consuming, he reminded himself. Searching through Earth's gene-stocks had gotten much more irritating recently, no matter if he took from their primitive laboratories or harvested research subjects..

“Reenlokia Loki,” Ra says in greeting, standing by the panoramic view of the bustling city below, a goblet of wine in hand.

“Goa’uld Ra,” returned Loki evenly. “You’ve exceeded your usual batch of purebreeds.”

“Is that a problem?”

“Not at all; merely surprising.” Loki was genuine in his surprise; the deal was a thousand purebred humans of varying ages, gender, and race per twenty cycles. This time around, Ra had a little over two thousand humans ready for transport. Ra seemed pleased, this time. Perhaps he approved of the Prototype's relative levels of success, or perhaps he had finally learned how to convincingly lie.

“You do good work,” Ra said, turning to face him. “Iah has proven his worth to me many times over.”

‘Ah, yes, so he is pleased with the prototype.’

Loki had seen his little prototype’s work. Nothing terribly amazing. Mostly a focus on improving Goa’uld engineering and the creation of actual infrastructure. Impressive, yes, but not something to get too overly excited over.

But then again, these were goa’uld. Change and efficiency did not come to these creatures easily; another nail in their proverbial coffin as to why they remain ineffectual even after ten thousand years of research and development. Conflict spurred it on, as always for primitives, but the goa'uld failed in even that regard. When was their last major ship upgrade? Their weapon design? Even their base technology had changed little in the course of the last five thousand years! In that span of time, the Asgard had developed even newer and powerful craft to face their enemies.

The tendency for Goa’uld to hoard knowledge and technology, constant betrayals, and the total lack of cooperation probably had something to do with it.

“When will the next prototype be finished?” Ra was asking, voice demure, hiding away his greed and excitement.

Ra was always poor at hiding his feelings. Oh, the Goa’uld might think himself clever, but by now Loki considered himself well practiced in identifying the various tics of human expression; that the unaware Goa’uld would take even that for themselves was nothing short of ironic, perhaps even comical!

“Perhaps in a few days, a week at most.” Loki replied blandly. “Your Queen will be ready when she is ready, Ra.”

In truth, the Queen was already complete. The genetic reprogramming was perfect compared to the previous iteration and the problems that plagued the previous generations of symbiotes had been carefully ironed out. The mortality rate had evened out to a mere fifty percent, a sign of progress.

Truly, the Ancients did not wish for their creations to be so easy to alter.

But then again, it was a challenge that was almost as difficult as finding the cure for his people’s wasting disease.

Almost.

"And her mind?" Ra inquired.

Loki smiled internally. Of course, Ra would not wish for his Queen to be more intelligent than him, for her to clearly be superior...

"Her mind will be as specified," Loki said. Docile, loyal to a fault, and easily educated.

It was a wonder his own Court of Goa’uld vassals and subjects had not caught onto Ra’s little ruse. Were it any Asgard, they would have seen through the deception immediately.

After all, it was child’s play to beam down a single symbiote to the pool directly in front of the throne, where the brood of symbiotes matured. The same brood that could claim a direct lineage to Ra’s bloodline. The same brood that Ra could proclaim held the same brilliance that Iah was capable of. The so-called Emperor of the Goa’uld had marked precedent of effective scientists and commanders in his lineage.

Those like the ancient Ashrak Bastet, whose feats of assassination led to her rise as System Lord in her own right. Tefnut, daughter of Ra, worked alongside her brother, Nut, to revolutionize and set the standard of terraformation of inhospitable worlds. Heru’ur, the second youngest ‘son’ of Ra, was only second to his father’s Warmaster Anhur. He led his forces into battle personally and performed innumerable feats that made him so truly feared by other Goa’uld.

In short, Ra had set a precedence within his bloodline. A precedence that would let him effectively leverage his political power to control what his Court and the System Lords would see.

Ra may be a foolish creature, but he knew how best to manipulate his subjects through the ancient traditions and social rituals his species had developed over the millennia. Primitive, but highly effective for a slow-changing, complacent, violent people.

“I will return in two local cycles, with your new Queen, Ra.” Loki inclined his head ever so slightly. The Goa’uld acknowledged the show of deference with one of his own.

The chime of Asgard transmat activating filled Loki’s mind before the opulent and outwardly primitive rooms of Ra’s palace was replaced with that of his laboratory.

It comforted the old Asgard to see his test subjects still alive after the experiments. A human, skin gray and ashen, moaned softly towards as he passed.

“Kill me…” Begged the human in his restraints. “Kill me, please…”

‘Later,’ Loki thought as he passed. Experiment six two five was the first successful gene modification of Asgard to human DNA. The data compiled had proved most promising. Perhaps a mild sedative would cure the creature of it’s mewling for a little while until he extracted as much data as he could from it before it finally expired.

Finally, he reached the globe of frothing water that hung in the air. The snake-like form of the Goa’uld symbiote peered down at him and pressed its face against the clear material. Loki peered up at the creature and noted its… cheerful disposition.

It chirped and tilted its head, coiling down at the bottom on the globe to stare at him.

A quick scan revealed that it was quickly approaching maturity. The symbiote was well on it’s way to developing a sexually active birthing apparatus. A deeper scan showed that his alterations to the genome were still not being rejected.

Limited acceleration of time dilation on specimens showed that any alteration to the separation of genetic memory caused the symbiote to go insane, as they were unable to develop their own personality, nor were they able to differentiate between the conflicting histories behind the memories of each successive generation of goa’uld.

His alterations allowed the symbiote to develop without the burden of their genetic memory, effectively creating room for...imagination, if one were to find a word for it. It was a pity the Ancients were so diligent in hardcoding against modification to the species.

It always puzzled Loki, why the Ancients had created the Goa’uld. What purpose did they originally serve, before being abandoned by their masters? There were clues within their body structure and the manner in how their genetic code had been engineered. Their basic instincts and earliest social cues. It made for a fascinating study in his spare time..

The Asgard had his suspicions, of course, but they didn’t matter in the slightest.

This was just a simple little experiment to pass the time, nothing more. If it benefited him, all the better.

It was... dare he say, a hobby.

Behind him, subject six two five moaned piteously as his organs began to reject their host at last. Loki turned from the symbiote instantly, thoughts on the Goa’uld forgotten in favor of witnessing the eventual demise of another successful experiment.

 

[Urabrask Revealed]

snip

Out of curiosity, the historical part of this chpater, is that canon or did you infer what happened by analyzing the given information on the show?

 

[ThatTabiFromSB]

Early in my acquisition of what had been Osiris’ throneworld, I had called on Seshat’s experience in record-keeping.

She had been the Assistant Archivist in Ra’s palace; a high position that she had kept before becoming my own assistant/nanny/administrator.

In truth, she was more of the actual boss, only active employee, of the archives. But her records of the Master Jaffa were what I sought.

Of the perhaps two hundred and fifty odd that were still alive and in good health, only three had the sort of qualities I liked and wanted. I had named them ‘Marshals’ rather than Masters to give them proper authority within my Jaffa’s ranks. They shared distinct responsibilities pertaining to their respective skills and were as such, highly respected by Jaffa and citizenry alike. They were all respected by their troops and had took many measures against causing collateral death of slaves, friendly or foe. They had treated with enemies with honor and respect. And they were very, very, good at their job.

Marshal Ra’nor of Mar’Sara, a desert planet of poor soil and extreme weather conditions. His lineage initially served Osiris, but ever since that Goa'uld's fall from power, the Jaffa of Mar'Sara changed their sigil to that of Ra.

Ra’nor was the fifth son of a farming family, the predominantly agricultural-based communities living on the planet were hardened peasants who were ideal for Jaffa trained in fighting in extreme conditions.

He became the first Prime serving an Underlord of Ra’s for at least half a century, participating in numerous battles with and against other Underlords, before being released from service as he grew too old to ‘properly lead’. Ra’nor returned to his people on Mar'Sara and took up the mantle of being a magistrate to lead his people and continue the worship of Ra and the training of jaffa.

Ra’nor was the first Jaffa Master I had ever met and he certainly looked the part. Clad in a clearly nonstandard set of Jaffa armor, bleached by the extreme temperatures of his planet and built to withstand the sudden shifts of blistering heat and biting cold. Wrinkled and gray, with broad shoulders of nothing but pure muscle. A thinning hairline, a flat gray beard, and sharp eyes that seemed to look right through me. For a man of a hundred and fifty, he was still quite spry, even if he leaned on his staff weapon more than most.

When the two of us met, he did not say much. I explained to him what I sought. Why I had called for him. He listened to what I had to say and then swore an oath to serve me as the first of my Marshals.

The second of my Marshals was Targon of Varia, a temperate world with many oceans and volcanic islands near the core of Ra’s holdings. His people were known for their fair skin and martial ability, often holding tournaments to prove their worthiness to serve Ra. Unlike most Jaffa, he was purely human and thus had no pouch to hold prim’ta. Like those born on Varia, he was of fair skin, his strength shown in his slight but sturdy frame.

As one of Varia’s Jaffa, he fought his way through the competition to join the ranks of tribute to be given to Ra. Ra took the tribute and formed an army with it, before giving it to Heru’ur to strike down an upstart Goa’uld who thought she could poach his Jaffa. He served Heru’ur as First Prime for almost a century before retiring to Ah’Ra as a captain of the city guard.

Now, Targon served me, leading a legion of guardsmen who patrolled the city’s streets and kept it safe. He made weekly reports to Nishka, who would deliver any news of note to Seshat or myself. Thus far, I have had no complaint of his service to me and I am unlikely to find fault in his leadership for years to come.

Ka’tarn, former First Prime to an Underlord of Apophis. Unlike the other Master Jaffa, he sought me out, in hopes of serving me. The Shol'va was once a very loyal servant to his Underlord, until Apophis gave that Underlord orders to leave his throneworld open to attack in order to bait in the approach of Cronus’ raider forces.

Reportedly, Al’kesh bombing runs reduced the village of his birth to ruins, killing all he had known and loved; including that of his entire family.

This act left him with a burning hatred for Apophis, enough for the former First Prime to rebel against his Underlord and denounced Apophis as a ‘hateful god’. Ka’tarn took the Jaffa who felt betrayed by Apophis and defected to me in a Ha’tak. Through the words of Jaffa of Heru’ur who had visited my world, Ka’tarn felt I was the best Goa’uld to serve by the way I treated my Jaffa.

Apophis demanded his head. I gave him a small fleet of skiffs as payment for the blood price.

The System Lords deemed it a fair exchange and I had my Marshal while Apophis had a fleet of brand new skiffs to adorn and use as he wished.

Though the youngest of the Jaffa Masters in my service, he was just as experienced in war, leadership, and administration as any of them. However, for Ka'tarn's act of betraying the oaths he has sworn to Apophis, this has left a mark of 'Shol'va' to his repute. Despite this, I have taken him into my service with the honor and privileges that come with it.

They were possibly the best and most experienced Jaffa in this corner of the galaxy, individually boasting more scars and battles under their belt than most would ever see in a century of life.

Now they served as my Marshals, physical extensions of my authority, second to only Nishka or Seshat. They say you can't teach old dogs new trick; but I think I have the right dogs for the next trick I intend to pull.

 

[ThatTabiFromSB]

Out of curiosity, the historical part of this chpater, is that canon or did you infer what happened by analyzing the given information on the show?

It is not in fact canon, no. I did infer what probably happened from both information on the show and from the RPG sourcebooks.

 

[Urabrask Revealed]

It is not in fact canon, no. I did infer what probably happened from both information on the show and from the RPG sourcebooks.

Fair enough. Stargate can get annoyingly sparse with lore.

 

[Karmic Acumen]

Fair enough. Stargate can get annoyingly sparse with lore.

The Stargate Worlds sourcebooks/wiki say the Great races pulled a Legacy of Aldenata on the universe and fucked up their "great solutions." This led to the dissolution of the Alliance of Four Races because each of the races had constructed a potential "caretaker" species to carry on existence in the Milky Way after it had gone.

• The Ancients created humanity.
• The Furling supposedly created the Goa'uld as their caretaker species.
• The Asgard created the "Solacris" which spectacularly backfired, resulting in the crippling of their race and the creation of the plague which killed all the unascended Ancients, sparking the dissolution of the Alliance. The "Solacris" was to be a key player in the post-Ra content of the game.
• The Nox were the only ones who wanted there to be no such caretaker.

Needless to say, I'm glad the game never happened. Especially since it would have brought Ra back from the dead as a super goa-uld and you'd have had to destroy a super-advanced planet with all the Ancient technology and culture ever because Ra would get it otherwise.

There was a lot of "but thou must turn your back on and destroy every legacy you could ever reclaim" in that game. Obviously the moral of the story was that power and success are evil and you must destroy all the good left behind because contemporary society is just a bunch of barbarians who don't deserve better. Not even the heretofore benevolent ancestors you could at least aspire to.

 

[Urabrask Revealed]

Needless to say, I'm glad the game never happened. Especially since it would have brought Ra back from the dead as a super goa-uld and you'd have had to destroy a super-advanced planet with all the Ancient technology and culture ever because Ra would get it otherwise.

There was a lot of "but thou must turn your back on and destroy every legacy you could ever reclaim" in that game. Obviously the moral of the story was that power and success are evil and you must destroy all the good left behind because contemporary society is just a bunch of barbarians who don't deserve better. Not even the heretofore benevolent ancestors you could at least aspire to.

Wow, that's awful. Civilization is build on the success of previous generations and even species. To burn all that down because the current generation is "unworthy", whatever that is supposed to mean, is a nihilistic and pointless worldview I don't want to ascribe to.

 

[Karmic Acumen]

Wow, that's awful. Civilization is build on the success of previous generations and even species. To burn all that down because the current generation is "unworthy", whatever that is supposed to mean, is a nihilistic and pointless worldview I don't want to ascribe to.

It was never explicitly stated that way, but when the first mission is destroying a planet / worldmind and the Four Races fucked the future over except the Alterans (but not really because they're the ones who fucked up in the original TV series itself), I am very inclined to assume such mean-spirited motivations. Still, they are my opinion.

Feel free to assume any other reasoning behind the premise described above.

 

[Urabrask Revealed]

It was never explicitly stated that way, but when the first mission is destroying a planet / worldmind and the Four Races fucked the future over except the Alterans (but not really because they're the ones who fucked up in the original TV series itself), I am very inclined to assume such mean-spirited motivations. Still, they are my opinion.

Feel free to assume any other reasoning behind the premise described above.

While the idea itself appears in TLJ again ("Let the Past die! Burn it if you have to!"), I think the idea behind that mission was "We must deny the enemy all possible resources" without considering the long term fallout. The fact they jump straight to "destroy everything!" is troubling in its implication.

 

[Karmic Acumen]

While the idea itself appears in TLJ again ("Let the Past die! Burn it if you have to!"), I think the idea behind that mission was "We must deny the enemy all possible resources" without considering the long term fallout. The fact they jump straight to "destroy everything!" is troubling in its implication.

The game made it sound like that was the climax of the base content - to destroy the Worldmind to deny Ra resources - but the story notes that eventually made it to the net are phrased as "you would, of course, need to destroy the Agnos AI." There was never any thought given to, well, not Plot No Justu the mandatory destruction of the equivalent of the Halo Absolute Record. Of course.

It also had Ra magically possessing an army of Enslaved furlings (because he had apparently enslaved them all at some point). Then the Solacris stuff would have happened and you'd have "discovered" that the Four Races were losers all along, and the Asgard foremost among them.

It was entirely mean-spirited decades before The Last Jedi came around to live out the Diabolus Sue Machina fantasy. Except it wasn't your PC but the antagonist where the Sue traits were all concentrated, including reality warping so that every shred of competence and reliability the original Four Races should have possessed were removed to make the Sue look more awefearsome.

At least here Ra doesn't have an army of enslaved Furlings, though his secret alliance with Loki is certainly convenient. Especially since mythologically it was Odin that would have sought arrangements like this (HE was the one trying to avert Ragnarok while Loki facilitated it, not the reverse from the series). But Odin doesn't come up much (if at all) in the show. And he'd not trust Goa'Uld to hold to an arrangement even if he secured a hostage scheme like with the Vanir, so I guess the author really does just have Loki available for this plot element.

I assume Daniel shoved the SI in the new larva during the beaming. And that we're bound for a painful love triangle between Ra, Yah and Baby Queenie.

 

[ThatTabiFromSB]

As Commander Dol'nac emerged from the Chappa'ai, he drew in a deep breath and savored the moment. It passed and he stepped forwards. Seconds later, Jaffa began to march out of the portal. He watched with pride as some of the best warriors of Ra's armies slowly assembled before him in their respective companies. For every two hundred rank and file jaffa, there was a Horus Guard clad in quality armor and a silver helm in the shape of a falcon's head leading them. Dol'nac himself wore that of a golden helm, to signify his authority as an elite guard of Ra.

As the Jaffa continued to assemble, he surveyed his surroundings.

The chappa'ai was situated upon a island, within a large clearing where a thick forest surrounded them, save for a path that led to a great bridge stood above the ocean. Though there was more than enough space for an army to march across, Iah had provided transportation.

The Moon God's famous skiffs of lore descended from the skies. With hulls gleaming gold and great sails of blue, each vessel was capable of ferrying two companies of Jaffa apiece, perhaps more besides!

"Kree, Jaffa!" Cried out Dol'nac, slamming his staff weapon onto the ground and pointed at the skiffs and their crews extended steps. "Forward, board!"

As soon as the last skiff was filled to the brim with jaffa, the ships rose and took to the skies. The commander could see the bridge connecting several other islands to the main landmass, to which the skiffs were flying towards. Clouds covered all sight for a moment, before they passed and the jaffa were shown the first sight of their new home.

Almost instantly, Dol'nac felt his breath taken away as he gazed down upon the great city that Iah had built on the backs of his slaves. A maze-like spread of stone and metal spread across the lands, meeting resistance only at the small mountain ridge that the bridge met. Even those mountains were not spared; for he spied the reflected light of golden towers scattered across the range.

Obelisks so tall that their points seemed to pierce the heavens, the great pyramids that were embedded into the great mountains that the palace was built into.

Behind the mountains, however, Dol'nac saw where his Jaffa were to be assigned to.

The shipyards were miles long, spidery and alight with half-built ships. He saw a pair of Cheops and a Ha'tak under construction, with three more unfamiliar ships being built. Two were like great massive wings the size of an Al'kesh, still sporting a skeletal appearance as plating was slowly added on.

Dol'nac felt the skiff begin descending, so he turned towards what he presumed was the landing site.

As it neared the ground, the Jaffa Commander could see that there were accommodations for his Jaffa. A large military complex had been built for them; several large barracks for the Jaffa troops, training grounds, a command post, and an armory. Nearby, an even larger complex sat, a gaping maw filled with distant gliders and Al'kesh.

The skiffs slowed and then halted as they hovered over the ground. Step were laid out and his Jaffa began disembarking steadily in disciplined lines. As much as Dol'nac enjoyed the flight, it felt good to be on solid ground again. His bird-helm retracted as three Jaffa approached him.

They were of Iah's guard, none so recognizable as the white moon and it's rays emblazoned on their armor's shoulders and chest. The best way Dol'nac could describe them were that they resembled something like the full plated Personal Guards that Ra kept around him during functions with other Goa'uld. Unlike the heavy armor plating that the Horus Guard Elites were entitled to, Iah's Jaffa wore a much lighter looking design that appeared to emphasize ease of movement and flexibility. They wore fine chainmail with golden plates along their arms, shoulders, legs, and chest. Their helms open faced, but covered almost the entirety of their heads, leaving room only for the eyes, nose, and mouth.

Foremost of the three was a much older Jaffa with livered skin and a slightly sunken appearance. He recognized him instantly, by reputation and from working with his students.

This was Targon of Varia, former First Prime of Heru'ur, Captain of the Jaffa Guard of Ah'Ra. Unlike the Jaffa flanking him, Targon wore no helm. His armor looked far more elaborate with a short cape falling from his armored shoulders.

Dol'nac inclined his head in acknowledgement of Targon's station and experience. The Jaffa Master nodded in return, to which the Commander felt a flicker of pride of such a distinguished jaffa acknowledging his authority.

"Tec'ma-te, Commander Dol'nac," said the old Master in greeting, extending his forearm.

At once, he clasped the other Jaffa's arm and nodded. "Tec'ma-te, Captain Targon. It is an honor to be in your presence."

"None of that now, Commander!" Chuckles Targon as he gestures towards military complex. "I am here to show you your new home for the coming years. In time, this place will be expanded to allow for increased garrisons, but for the moment this is all we can offer you and your Jaffa."

"This is far more than I expected, Captain," admitted the other Jaffa. In truth, he expected far more fortifications, but this small castle was more than enough to house himself and the troops.

Targon glanced at him, bemused. "I am no captain anymore. I am a Marshal under Iah's domain. With two others, we are of equal rank of a First Prime."

Dol'nac was confused by the rank of 'Marshal', but did not voice his thoughts on the matter. Instead, he allowed himself to be led by Targon as he was shown the protocols for various events and emergencies. To his surprise, the quarter provided to the garrison and his command staff were spacious and quite comfortable. Servants maintained the upkeep of the facilities and there were even in-house cooks for the kitchens for a steady supply of cooked meals for the jaffa three times a day.

Which meant the supplies of dry tasteless rations he ordered delivered to his troops were entirely unneeded, and now highly unwanted, in the face of fine food.

As his troops settled in, Dol'nac was told that he was invited to dine with Iah and the Marshals that very evening, to congratulate him for attaining the post of garrison Commander and to discuss his duties in the region.

Targon took his leave shortly after detailing the ground rules for dealing with the 'civilians', as Iah refused to keep slaves in his domain. Instead, many peasants were educated and possessed skills in their respective trade. Despite reservations over this mode of thought, it seemed it worked well enough for Ra to give Iah a permission to continue doing so, so long as research and development of new technologies continued at a steady pace.

Dol'nac was perturbed that he had to request that one of the servants draw up a bath for him, rather than order it. It felt strange and wrong, but the Jaffa Commander ignored it. This was the ruling of Iah, and he would not go against the word of a God, even a lesser one than Ra. If this was the custom of Iah's people, then he would obey.

Dining with Iah was an... experience. Though he was welcome to the table, there was little time spent socializing. The God was focused on bringing the shipyards online as soon as possible, with worries of overtaxing his construction crews with the influx of materials and supplies pouring through the chappa'ai and deliveries via Motherships from his master's mining worlds.

Ra'nor, the gray bearded master Jaffa who looked like he could still snap Dol'nac in two despite his advanced age, called it a 'working lunch'.

It was there he discovered the roles the other 'Marshals' played in Iah's designs.

Targon served as Iah's primary enforcer of laws and justice within the cities, directing Jaffa in keeping the peace and maintaining he law amongst the... civilians. The former Captain apparently worked closely with Iah's lo'taur, even taking orders from her. When Dol'nac first saw the woman, she was detailing a set of orders for Targon carry out!

The gall of her demeanor was almost enough for him to jump forwards defense of the Jaffa and put the human in her rightful place. He had not, for the simple reason of feeling such an action would cause great distress from Iah (and thus making his own life forfeit), for she was purported to be very close to her god.

Marshal Ra'nor of Shi'loh, he was something of an enigma. Lowborn of a Jaffa family of no repute, from an agricultural planet of all places. What could he possibly have to offer?

Insofar as Dol'nac could tell, he was no leader of armies or of any military position. Instead the old Jaffa served something of an advisory position for Iah, but for what the Commander could not begin to understand. What did Ra'nor have that Targon the Great did not? What could he possibly know to be of use to Iah? It seemed redundant when Iah had the lesser Goa'uld Seshat to assist him.

Privately, Commander Dol'nac was surprised Iah would restrict himself to just two. Nishka and Seshat were both very worthy indeed, but most Goa'uld would have harems to worship them. Perhaps Iah felt his time was better served in pleasing Ra? And if he was neglecting his mistresses in favor of more work; then he wasn't resting. It was concerning, but also somewhat touching, that Iah would go to such lengths for Ra...

"Are you done daydreaming, Commander?" Asked Kar'tan sarcastically, brushing crumbs from his beard with one hand as he perused a datapad. His eyes glittered as Dol'nac's cheeks grew warm. "Or is our God's words not worth your attention?"

And of course, there was the Shol'va.

Why Kar'tan was made Iah's Warmaster was beyond his comprehension. There was something intrinsic of a Jaffa's oath of loyalty to their God. When they pledged themselves to their Gods, they pledged their very body and soul to their lords and served them with all that they were. To break that oath, to raise rebellion against their oathsworn god and the System Lord, was heresy of the highest order.

For such a Shol'va to have the gall to ask for Iah's trust was outrageous! Were Iah not surrounded by better Jaffa than the Shol'va Kar'tan, Dol'nac suspected the false jaffa would work openly to raise rebellion against his new god. Why even the lowborn Ra'nor would be a better Warmaster than that traitorous filth!

"My apologies, Lord Iah," he said deferentially. Dol'nac glared at Kar'tan as the shol'va sipped his wine, hoping that it was poison. "My lapse of attention is unforgivable."

"It is of no consequence," replied Iah in his benevolence. The lo'taur beside him caught his eye and he nodded towards her. Nishka smiled slightly and took her leave, almost gliding out. Dol'nac almost misses it, but as the doors closed, there was an odd haze just behind her. He dismisses it as a trick of the light and return to listening to Iah's decrees, resolving to keep a closer eye on Kar'tan.

Despite his reservations, Commander Dol'nac felt he was going to enjoy his new post as garrison commander for the growing shipyards...

 

[ThatTabiFromSB]

Data Entry 1: Construction of Ra's flagship isn't due to be underway for some time. Additional resources are needed to complete other projects that will be included within the ship itself. New heavy capital ship weaponry, improved reactor designs; a whole host of technology waiting to be incoporated. So far, the various modifications to the Ha'tak motherships proved successful. Each one had been equipped with the experimental reactor designs to replace the ancient traditional mass-injection type.

The original cooling systems had been improved on substantially. Before the upgrades, excess heat had been directed towards a chemical agent, collected into trash compartments before being vented into space. Now I used the well known particular acceleration technology that Goa'uld primarily created for the usage of weapons for the usage of cooling down the incredible heat of the reactors. With numerous particle accelerators built around the reactor, excess heat was injected into the accelerators, where intersecting cooling rings would 'slow' the highly charged particles; much like the way a refrigerator or an air conditioner would cool it's contents.

This resulted in a very efficient reactor that was self-regulating and effectively self-cooling, further increasing it's output by a hundred and fifty per cent. Far in excess than what a Ha'tak ordinarily would require, but sufficient for the different upgrades each Ha'tak had been outfitted with.

In particular was the sole heavy capital scale plasma pulse cannon in existence.

Goa'uld capital scale weapons were effectively scaled up versions of the Ma'tok staff weapon, acting as secondary and even tertiary weapon systems that were less power intensive than their main weapons. The primary weapons were massive plasma arrays that essentially acted like an immense focusing dish for highly charged particles, accelerating them to near lightspeed and then launching them in one gigantic messy glob of superheated superheavy plasma.

And they had to go through all this hassle every time they wanted to fire the damn things.

Crude. Inefficient. Incredibly draining. Terribly wasteful. Ladies and gentlebeings, the Goa'uld hallmark of weapons engineering in the last four thousand years.

They were built with slaves as the workforce in mind, of course. That meant oversimplifying the technology and that resulted in the engineering itself becoming incredibly massive.

I simply did the opposite. It's as straightforward as feasibly possible, downsized, streamlined, and as a result it was probably the most powerful thing in the Goa'uld arsenal to date. The domed array itself visually appears the same, but it was a third it's original size and I had taken advantage of the focusing architecture of the emitter. The emitters themselves were capable of focusing an enormous amount of plasma across the dome, but they had a hard limit of how much they could fire off at once. Optimally, the array itself could charge and fire an immediate barrage of nine shots.

Multiple particle accelerators spun the charged energy to near lightspeed and accumulated at the very 'edges' of the dome. When it ready to fire, the accumulated energy would strike the massive emitter and fire as several incredibly dense spheres of superheated plasma. There would be some bleed off, as much as two percent, but the overall firepower was an incredible five hundred percent more effective in comparison to the original.

Tests on an unfortunate mothership with the improved armor plating and shield generators proved that only four shots were needed to utterly gut it and another shot to destroy it completely.

Further testing will be continued when the modified asteroid is ready.

Data Entry 2: Goa'uld starship hull armor was a little more than a lattice of trinium-laced steel with refined naqudah plating. That was it. Honestly, however, it suffices for most things the armor is responsible for. It's incredibly dense and the naquadah can withstand an enormous amount of energy before breaking from the stress. Plasma fire would splash across the hull, energizing several armor platings and causing them to explode; but most of the energy would scatter across the superconductive metal.

That said, however, it could be so much more.

I had made a great deal of progress in the creation of increasingly complex carbon nanotube lattices. Indeed, lacing them with naquadah and trace trinium only improves the superconducting properties of naquadah and enables it to absorb as much as twenty to twenty-seven per cent of the energy from hostile enemy fire.

When scaled up properly, they've proven to be far better at resisting the stresses of combat and soaking up damage. I have begun educating my Corps of Artificers on the intricacies of carbon nanotubes and their myriad uses and effects on naquadah. Thus far, I believe they have a sufficient grasp on the processes to handle bringing the concepts I've given them into reality.

The armor plating I've devised from this formula is derived from the ancient remains of the Asgard science vessel Ra gave me access to some time ago. It is not quite as effective, but it is very nearly. The lack of trinium is a probable cause.

Even so, the armor proves surprisingly useful. When applied in consecutive layers, it can also act as an ablative layer of armor for the superstructure underneath. Interesting.

Still, the properties of the carbon nanotubes and the naquadah are both capable of absorbing and mitigating the effects of consecutive plasma weapons. I hesitate to use it as hull plating, due to the lack of other examples of weapons technology for data on their effects on the armor. But needs, must and all my ships are to henceforth be built with this alloy.

Data Entry 3: The prototype model of the shield generator was powered by several dozen small naquadah reactors, scaled for use by Al'kesh and redesigned by yours truly. There were enough generators for an equivalent of my new reactor design. Roughly speaking of course.

The data gathered from the destruction of the scrapped mothership gave me a clear upper limit how much damage goa'uld shields can take from a high powered, super dense, superheated ball of plasma.

Goa'uld shields were...well, they were terrible.

But I won't be leaving it at that. On an personal level, they were remarkably effective. They absorbed high energy impacts very well and could withstand a great deal of stress before burning out. However, they worked on the oscillation frequency principle; equal amounts of kinetic force results an equal amount of force repelled. While on a personal level, this works well against high energy impacts like a bullet or a plasma bolt, the shield is porous enough to allow air (and thus other gasses) in. Unfortunately, this allows extremely low velocity projectiles to cut right through the shield.

A throwing knife would be able to penetrate the shield, but perhaps not a thrown rock. Mass and velocity are factors that the Goa'uld didn't take into account, either.

For the standard capital scale energy shielding, most of the weaknesses of low velocity impacts are largely mitigated. When exposed to vacuum, the shield becomes airtight, leaving no porous weakness for energy bleedthrough. Shields on that scale, however, was very underpowered. Goa'uld technology when scaled up, was almost always incredibly inefficient. From weapons, to shield, engines, and power generation.

I streamlined the emitter layout to better encompass the mothership, evened out the oversimplification of the design and pulled it back to something a little less gaudy.

When supplied with the proper amount of energy, Goa'uld shielding were many times more effective than the original designs. The emitters themselves were surprisingly capable of channeling large amounts of energy to maintain shield integrity. Additionally, Goa'uld shields guarded far too much empty space around the ship, and so I've tightened down how much space the shield actually protects, and reinforced it further; lessening the wasted energy.

I took it a step further and implemented multilayered shielding.

Multiple and redundant shield generators hooked up to additional redundant emitters. Three layers of redundant shielding and an emergency forcefield that hugged the hull.

In this case of my retrofitted asteroid, the shields on it wrapped around it like a tight little parcel.

Time to test out the main guns.

Data Entry 4: Multiple barrages were required to penetrate the first layer of shielding. A total of sixteen salvos that nearly well burnt out the prototype heavy plasma cannon. From the data gathered, I suspect the improved shielding could withstand fire from quite a lot of enemy fire before cracking completely. After all, they'll need to get past the next layer of shielding before the previous layer is restored.

Now that I've successfully improved the shields, I can turn my attention to other projects. Far smaller in size and scale, but no less essential.

My Artificers have been working on the idea of a large defensive emplacement to protect the city and the research and development facilities from attack. Thus far, four proposals have reached me for approval.

One of the Artificers had built a small working model of the emplacement, resembling a tall thin tower with a light staff cannon mounted on top. It was to be built with steel, incoporating a naquadah lattice laced with carbon nanotubing for stability and durability. I saw immediate flaws with this idea; just because there was a major stabilizer in the naquadah lattice did not mean it didn't need to be thicker. It was strong; but was too frail in the face of direct fire. A thicker body would allow it to take more damage and remain functional.

A simple enough design, but not quite what I had in mind. Not a bad idea, but I'd shelve it.

Several Artificers had gathered for another proposal and joined their mind to think of an impressive contraption. A wide circular platform with multiple shield emitters and electromagnetic stabilizers. Upon activation, a pillar would rise upwards from the center, protected by multiple armor layers and from there their genius shined.

A heavily modified heavy staff cannon, it's prongs widened and the naquadah charge flattened. Energy would gather and be compressed into a dense sphere of superheated plasma before being launched and directed by the machine's targeting systems at any ground or air target in range.

Huh.

Not a bad idea, but it would be difficult to implement for widespread use for all my facilities. Still, it was a good idea. That one goes in the approved side.

One of the Artificers decided to simply propose a straightforward design. Simply put, it was a staff cannon turret. But he was thoughtful enough to protect it with a forward facing shield of thick armor plating and provide protection for the Jaffa manning it. It was mounted on a rather sophisticated rotating platform that allowed it to traverse horizontally a full three hundred and sixty degrees and a hundred degrees vertically very quickly indeed! She proposed that it would be capable of firing rapid low powered shots for anti-infantry and air purposes, while retaining a charge up mode for forcing enemy soldiers out of entrenched positions.

Simple, effective, affordable. This one was promising.

Lastly, something even simpler. A brick and mortar emplacement reinforced with simple steel plating, a forward facing shield, and six service carbines modified to fire automatically within a pair of barrels. It was to be crewed by a single Jaffa and could be used for defending against both infantry and air attack.

All these were all very viable, but I was not spoiled for choice. For the moment, they will have to do.

At least, until the repeaters stop melting during testing.

I approved two of the designs, though the other two were promising; as such I would be speaking to the Artificers personally to improve on them. In the meantime, I think I should check on the Jaffa. They were due for a surprise inspection, after all.

 

[ThatTabiFromSB]

'You should talk to him more.'

'That's always your advice, Melia.' Seshat tried not think about the various useless advice her host would give her whenever she spent time recreationally. In their shared mind, Seshat felt Melia smile and chuckle in amusement. Apart from the odd massage and drinking chilled sammaro juice together, she didn't really spend all that much time in a casual setting with Iah; keeping him focused on projects deemed a priority was more of a 'work' setting than a casual one.

'It's always work, work, and more work with you Seshat.' Her voice was disapproving and so patronizing that the Tok'ra could not help but feel defensive as she tried to fight back with the reasonable argument of internally pouting. 'You need time to relax, Seshat. I've been watching you push yourself ever since that night...'

Seshat paused in her walking, only vaguely aware that she was standing by one of the many windows looking out over the inner city wards pushing up at the base of the mountain. Sheets of gold from a picturesque morning snaked up across the landscape of stone and steel of shapes, a pleasing sight of beauty for sore eyes. She let herself bask in that beauty, and tried to wash away the goosebumps of the memory which her host spoke of.

When Iah had revived them, it was Melia who had awoken first.

Melia had woken to the confusion of sudden awareness, with her symbiote still unconscious, in a sarcophagus. She'd been confronted by a weeping, horrified Iah the moment the layers of the sarcophagus had peeled away, and had absolutely no idea what had happened. In her own words, Melia would say that she did rather well despite the surprise.

Seshat would call it a disaster, if only because she was unsconscious for the vast majority of whatever the two of them got up to without her and getting only secondhand details after the fact.

'You're so easy to rile up, you know that?' Her host's voice was teasing, but the undercurrent of tension that Seshat had been nursing had faded as memories of that embrace from Melia's memories came to the fore. Of the sweet nothings spoken between Lord and and his... woman? Mistress? Dare she say... lover?

'I'd say just platonic partners, seeing as the deed hasn't been done.' Melia remarked pointedly.

Seshat closed her eyes and tried to fight down the heat growing in her cheeks. The two of them had done nothing untowards that night, merely holding each other close and talking the evening away. They slept together later, if only to share each other's warmth and company.

Waking up to an embrace of her still sleeping lord, Seshat couldn't help but feel a measure of contentment, a feeling that bothered her more than she thought possible. But with her well and whole once more, Iah's mood turned from dour to bright and happy. He smiled more and eagerness to make more happiness endeared him even more to those around him.

'I don't know, Melia. He is someone that I cannot help but feel drawn to. It is a feeling that I am... unaccustomed to.' Seshat turned from the city below and resumed her walk. A squad of Jaffa walking down the corridor whispered their greetings to her, their armor barely making a sound as they continued their patrol.

'I admire him, I think. Perhaps even grow to love him as you do,' murmured her host, their eyes watching the Jaffa carefully as they turned the corner. 'But I fear Iah all the same, for what he may bring the Goa'uld. He builds such fearsome and terrible things for Ra, after all. Despite your feelings for Iah, remember what he is.'

Seshat did not reply, but inside, the words rang with a horrible truth.

Though Iah did not act like a tyrant, there were moments where he emulated the ancient Goa'uld warlords of old.

Just last week, Iah had gone to inspect the hull laid down for the beginnings of what would be one of the largest construction projects ever envisioned. Ra's flagship, designed by his hand, to be the lynchpin behind all of Ra's military forces. Though only the barest skeleton of the immense craft had been raised, the first layer was well over three kilometers long. Iah was more than happy to boast of the ship's radical new designs and powerful weapons to Commander Dol'nac, the Jaffa Commander that Ra had sent to help guard his flagship, lovingly describing just how far above it was compared to the Ha'tak.

The scale of the ship was incredible, but with the projected timetable of at least a decade of construction, Seshat was sure that she could prolong it. Ra had sunk incredible sums into this vessel of his ego, after all, chances were a good amount of that sum can find it's way into the coffers of more those more deserving of that wealth.

'If it ever finishes, Ra's hold over the galaxy will solidify.' Seshat had seen the collected data of the new systems to be built into the warship and believed what Iah predicted of it's rise as the herald of a new era of Goa'uld supremecy. 'But the Tok'ra will be in a position to prevent that from happening.'

But worse still were what Iah had done to the Jaffa.

For every Tok'ra death, the Jaffa were often the executioners. With Iah's weapons, those executioners would have even more powerful tools to destroy her people.

Case in point, during that very morning, Iah had gone to inspect the testing of new weapons that he had built for the Jaffa to use.

On the grassy plains far away from the city, Seshat accompanied Iah and Marshals Ra'nor and Kar'tan as they watched Iah oversee the placement of targets. What had been mistaken for Jaffa with exceptionally pale skin turned out to be the targets themselves.

Their true form were simple skeleton-like automatons, encased in a thick pasty goop that Iah claimed to have a similar consistency to human flesh when dried. The targets were capable of simple movements such as taking cover, laying down prone, and running; though little else beyond that.

"I didn't have much time to do more with them, maybe I'll install some voices for them later," he had said.

Several Jaffa held his new weapons, what he called a 'repeater'. It looked like a larger staff weapon with a thicker shaft. A large stock had replaced the collection fans at the bottom of the staff. Several such weapons were placed on a variety of stands, one with two feet and another thicker one on three segmented feet; Iah had explained that it was to ensure stability.

Large golden globes with a bright blue circle inlayed into the side were attached to the side of the repeaters and Iah gave the command to begin the test.

There was a distinctive whine as first repeater's globe was connected. The Jaffa manning it pulled the trigger.

Dozens of bright gold bolts shot out, one after another in an unending stream. In less than a second, over a dozen of the false Jaffa were cut down, while the rest managed to get into cover. Two held thick shields, but the metal sheets glowed red and then white with heat. Soon after those too were torn to pieces as the superheated plasma chewed through the targets.

The stream of bolts ended almost ten seconds later, the bulbous prongs glowing white from the heat. There was a smell of ozone in the air and none of the false Jaffa were moving.

Frighteningly enough, Iah did not seem satisfied. Instead, he merely looked critically at the weapon and had to take notes of things to improve as the trials moved onto other targets.

But then, Iah never really seemed satisfied to her, and that was what scared her the most about him. Unlike other Goa'uld, he never seemed content. Oh, other Goa'uld could grow bored of repeated extravagances without new variety, but Iah never sat for long periods anywhere, unless he was designing something... and even then, she could hardly call his frantic scribbling and muttered words 'contentment'.

He always had to push, to change. The new repeaters were but the newest sign of this. The new, lighter armor of segmented plates that he had begun to equip some of the palace guard with was but the most obvious sign. For all the inventions that Iah had allowed out of his workshop, Seshat had seen dozens linger in half-completed state, some never to be completed.

Seshat shivered. What came out of that workshop was always of mixed values. Be it that it was an civic improvement of the lives of his subjects, a new weapon, or even an exotic food concept, it was always a surprise.

Again, she sighed, plodding aimlessly forward until she reached her rooms. Melia nudged her mentally, reminding her of the report due to the High Council. Making sure her door was locked and there were no eyes or ears that may catch her, Seshat took the communication device out of her little hiding place under the bed and made her long overdue report.

Unknown to the Tok'ra, there were hidden eyes and attentive ears, but the blade would not come for her neck tonight...

 

[ThatTabiFromSB]

The only time the Gods would deign to walk among the mortals is when they feel the need to stroke their egos as their worshipers prostrated themselves before them or to make an example of someone...

Most of the time the Goa'uld would simply live in their palace of choice, slaking their appetites on any vice or all of them. What did they care about the common rabble that were their servants, slaves, and cattle? All were expendable, replaceable; simply toys for the Gods to do as they wished. It was their due, after all, they were beyond the ken of mere weak mortals.

Not Iah.

When he took to the streets of his city, he wore nothing but a simple white and gold tunic and pants, his feet in sandals, and a smile on his face. He did not make a spectacle of it, a grand display that the people ought to be grateful that he'd even bestow his attention upon them. No, he simply... walked.

There was no need for an honor guard of Jaffa to escort him. Marshal Targon's city guard were everywhere in the city, keeping the peace and stationed along every block and district. There were more Jaffa off duty besides, spending their hard earned pay in taverns and brothels, alert and ready in at moment's notice.

Still, even with Jaffa keeping a sharp eye out for trouble, they couldn't expect to cover every angle.

Case in point, as the Ashrak silently walked past a pair of patrolling Jaffa on the rooftop, their watch undisturbed by his passing. Iah took his time touring his city, often entering up to two or three districts at a time through the entire afternoon. This let him keep the young Goa'uld in sight at all times and within easy reaching distance.

He would have preferred shadowing Iah, but the assassin was ordered to take the rooftops for whatever reason and simply watch his charge. He dared not protest, so he accepted the order and took to the tops of the buildings. And watched Iah greet the citizens of his domain.

The people recognized their lord and master. How could they not? Iah was known to every man, woman, and child. They owed him their very lives and swore an oath of fealty to their God. Moreover, every time Iah walked among them, they were happy to see him. Overjoyed when they heard him praise them and thank them for their loyal service.

"Acknowledging their hard work costs me nothing." Iah once said to the Ashrak, as though noticing his confusion. "It makes them feel good, to know they are appreciated and needed. They will work harder for that praise."

Some of them were certainly deserving of that praise, however. The third bakery between the fruit stand and the sausage monger in the third district's marketplace had some of the tastiest barley bread in the city.

The Ashrak repressed the reflex to extend his arm and stun a child running toward Iah from behind with his wrist stunner.

The young girl was babbling something to his lord as she held up a garland of preserved flowers of which he allowed to be placed atop his head. It was well known within the city Iah had something of a soft spot for children, whom he called the 'future of the realm'. The children loved their lord and master, as they were taught to by their parents.

And they had all the reason to do so, for their happy childhood where they did not need to toil in sweat and blood, but in classrooms to be taught their craft.

Those children were lucky, thought the assassin. After all, were this any other world, those children would be slaves like their forefathers. Doomed to toil away in the fields and mines with naught but hope and prayers to see them through the seasons.

Iah's tour continued, now replete with a gaggle of children following him. He would enter the Merchant's Guildhall; the representatives of the collective tanners, parchment makers, and other owners or producers of market goods. After staying for watching a session of chaotic decision making his lord would return to the palace.

None of the rooftop Jaffa ever noticed the presence of the Ashrak walking past them. He frowned and resolved to tell Iah as such. The Jaffa needed to be more alert if they didn't notice him at all.

A skiff took Iah to the palace where he was due for a report to Ra. He was hidden behind a curtain as the Goa'uld Lord entered the room and knelt before an altar. The transculcent ghost-like form of Ra appeared in all his glory.

Iah spoke quickly and concisely, informing the Emperor of the wondrous new devices he was working on. About how the keel of his new mothership had been laid and the framework was being formed. Magic and its fundamentals were beyond the Assassin, but he knew just enough to know that Iah was reporting the development of rapid fire weapons for use in crushing the System Lords if they decided to band together to depose of Ra.

Another ghost appeared, this time next to Iah. It was of the heavily armored Jaffa that were now served as Ra's shock troops. The familiar helmet of the Horus Guard's sharp avian beaks flashed dangerously as the Jaffa within it hefted the heavy elongated staff weapon he carried with two gauntlets. The ghost became two dozen, as simpler Jaffa marched forwards, staff weapons firing.

The armored Jaffa stood there, unimpressed and unmoved. Bolts impacted the armor, leaving nothing but spots that were singed. A moment later, the staff weapon's prongs opened and the slaughter began.

It cut down every Jaffa in less than thirty seconds. The ghostly bodies of the dead Jaffa faded, leaving the armored juggernaut to stand as the lone victor.

Ra clapped his hands, looking immensely pleased. Iah bowed again, pleased that his Emperor was happy with the demonstration. The Goa'uld finished their communications and Ra's image faded.

Iah stood still for several minutes before slowly turning and walking away.

Still hidden behind the curtains, the ashrak started to follow, only to realize that he was covered in cold sweat. Had the demonstration truly shaken him? He had seen what the repeater was capable of when it was first unveiled and tested on the simulacrums of false Jaffa. The assassin decided it was not the demonstration itself, but the implications that rattled him.

As he discreetly followed Iah, he realized it was indeed the implications that was frightening. The way the Goa'uld did war would change. It also concentrated a great deal of power in the hands of one warrior; to be given armor to withstand the holy flame of the Ma'tok staff and the ability to cut down so many Jaffa. Yes, only a trusted few would be granted such a powerful blessing.

It did not frighten him in particular, for in the grandest scheme of things Ashrak would always be needed. But this... made things harder.

As the assassin followed his charge to the next appointment, he began compiling what he saw and cataloging all possible weaknesses that could be exploited.

Not many, but there was enough.

Iah was wearing a large a large thick suit and was busily attaching a clear helmet to it with thick gloves and boots. The center of the thick suit was a glowing shield generator that formed a skintight shield that outlined him with a faint sheen of gold. Then he entered a pitch black room.

The familiar sound of shrieks and chittering made the Ashrak's blood run cold.

Why was there an entire room filled with those things? And Iah just walked inside? Was he mad?

A moment later, the doors opened once more and Iah walked out, no worse for the wear. The assassin's goosebumps came in full force as his sharp eyes found a small mountain of the things crawling over each other inside the room, on the walls and ceiling. Yet no wave of the chitinous insects came pouring out to devour the servants as the doors closed upon them.

Iah allowed the servants to remove his protective clothing, acting as though entering a room filled with carnivorous insects was nothing unusual. As he set off, the Ashrak followed.

He cast a heavy frown at the door, wondering it was enough to hold them inside.

 

[Jormungandr]

You know (following up from the more recent SB thread), it makes me wonder if/when Iah becomes a System Lord or Underlord (in Her'ur's service? Looking after his kid brother, and all) in the post-Ra chaos, if people would consider/perceive Seshat to be his queen?
...Also hilarious, since she's a Tok'ra, but yeah.