Starfox5
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Stargate Etheria (Stargate SG-1/She-Ra crossover)
- Thread starter Starfox5
- Start date
Chapter 175: Ba’al’s Machinations Part 7
Starfox5
Experienced.
- Joined
- Feb 5, 2015
- Messages
- 4,103
- Likes received
- 31,892
Chapter 175: Ba'al's Machinations Part 7
Ba'al's Glove, Point Velvet, Deep Space, July 4th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"Ba'al is using mind control chips like Horde Prime did?" Samantha Carter hadn't expected this. "This changes everything," she said.
"Yes!" Glimmer hissed. "We can't let him do this to anyone! We have to stop him!"
"We will!" Adora agreed.
"I agree, but that's not what I meant," Sam told them. "This was a part of Horde Prime's technology that he kept from everyone. The Clones didn't have access to that technology - they could use them, but they were built by automated fabbers, which the Clones could operate but not build themselves. Ba'al can't have gotten this technology from the Clones he recruited."
"Yeah." The General nodded. "That means that this ship probably is the real deal, too."
Right. If Ba'al had access to Horde Prime's mind control chips, he probably had access to the Velvet Glove's blueprints. And if he had that… "He must have had significantly more time to build up his production lines for Horde technology than we thought. We have to revise our estimates - and probably adjust our worst-case projections." Worst case until now had meant that Ba'al would have gained access to Horde technology shortly after Horde Prime's defeat three years ago. Now, it should be an even earlier access. "Although there is some good news as well," she said.
"Yes?" The General looked at her. "Don't tease us like that, Carter. Out with it - we really could use a bit of good news right now."
Sam nodded. "If Ba'al has had access to this technology for years and still hasn't been able to finish this ship - or finish upgrading his older ships - then he can't have too many factories and resources, sir."
"Right." Glimmer grinned.
"Or he's been so stuck in keeping all his underlings isolated, he's been building up some of his fleets and neglected the rest entirely," the General pointed out.
Sam pressed her lips together. That was an alternative explanation that also made sense.
"And you say you're not a pessimist, Jack!" Daniel shook his head.
"Let's focus on getting off this ship - or station - now," the General said. "We can think about how to spoil Ba'al's plans once we're done here. And once we know them, of course. Which we hopefully will once all that data we just got is analysed." He grinned at Daniel. "See? I'm an optimist!"
Sam smiled almost against her will as she focused on her scanner. Catra, Entrapta and Melog were on their way back to them, but currently hiding in another room from a patrol. Which, Sam noted, would be crossing the corridor in front of their hideout as well.
"Now, let's be very quiet!" the General whispered before she could point it out. "We don't want to tip off Ba'al's Jaffa that we're here."
The automated data transfer from her sensor to the team's HUDs was working as intended, then. This should improve the performance of the Alliance forces in the field. If they could tap into an entire network, together with sensor fusion… Another reason to push the new armoured suits into production as soon as possible.
But she could write a memo about that later. The patrol was passing… no, they had stopped. Sam held her breath as the door was opened and then watched the Jaffa on her sensor enter and look around. If they discovered them… She glanced at the others. The General had drawn a zat'nik'tel, as had Teal'c - of course, those were almost silent. Still, even if they could take out the entire patrol without alerting anyone else, a squad going missing would be noticed sooner or later, and Ba'al would know that someone had infiltrated his ship-building project.
She heard them coming closer - Ba'al evidently didn't alter the usual Jaffa armour, so their steps were quite noticeable - and drew her own zat'nik'tel. There were only four, so…
But shortly before they reached the crates behind which the team was hiding, they stopped, then turned and quickly left. Why would…? The others!
Sam checked her sensors. The three were clear but moving quickly.
"Catra! What happened?" Adora asked through their communicator.
"That's my line! We saw that you were about to be discovered, and Melog created a quick distraction."
Ah. Sam checked the sensor data again. "An accident at the production module?"
"Yes."
That would have been easy to arrange with Melog's illusions. Sam hoped that none of the workers had been hurt as a result.
But she knew that even if the affected workers avoided injuries, they would likely be punished by their superiors. That was how the Goa'uld worked.
But they had no choice in the matter - sometimes, innocents got hurt in war. They could only do their best to minimise collateral damage like that and to shorten the war.
And for that, they needed to get off this spaceship and check the other targets - but only after they ensured that those chips were not being produced in this ship.
And for that, she needed more data about the chips so she could set the scanner for a deep sweep.
She focused on one of the workers in the computer room and set the details to the highest level. That should get more data about those chips.
Catra suppressed another shudder when she approached Adora and the others. She was better than this. She had survived this. She could handle it. She didn't have a chip in her neck. She was free. Not under anyone's control. Not forced to fight her love at a madman's command. She was…
…rubbing the back of her neck to check. And Adora had noticed!
Catra whipped her hand down. She didn't need pity. She had gone through that already. "So, did you get more data on the chips? We need to hack them and free everyone!" she hissed when she reached the group.
"We've just finished a detailed scan and are still analysing the results," Sam replied.
Catra clenched her teeth. That was too slow! This shouldn't take any time! But she nodded. Rushing wouldn't help. Probably.
Adora moved over to her. She didn't say anything, just took her hand. Catra took a deep, shuddering breath and squeezed her fingers. "We can't let Ba'al use those chips."
"We've got protocols to keep him from turning our people," Jack said. "We already check for Goa'uld possession; chips are just one more check. He won't be able to infiltrate our troops like he did on Etheria."
"That's not the point!" Catra retorted. "With those chips, he can control anyone as if he were possessing them."
"There will be no surrenders - no honest surrenders - with those chips controlling Ba'al's slaves and warriors," Teal'c said. "He can force anyone to fight us until death."
That was a more pragmatic argument, and a quite obvious one, but Catra could tell the others just didn't understand the sheer evilness of it.
She saw Sam stiffen. She would get it - she had been possessed once before. Sha're would understand as well.
"We can't let people suffer like this," Adora said. "This is the worst form of slavery. It's evil! We need to stop this!"
"We're working on it," Sam said in a clipped tone.
"Let's talk on the shuttle," Jack said. "Not in the middle of the enemy ship."
"Right."
They made their way to the airlock, where Sha're was waiting with the shuttle. Catra couldn't help feeling guilty when she entered the shuttle. Leaving felt like fleeing. Like leaving the others to their fate.
"So, what do we know?" she asked as soon as everyone was gathered in the main area of the shuttle.
"They use FTL-communications," Entrapta said. "Same as Horde Prime's."
"They are built exactly like the ones we have on file. Direct copies," Sam added.
Catra clenched her teeth again.
"Tha's a good thing, though - we know how to deal with them!" Entrapta announced with a wide smile. "We can hack the network with some effort. Although Ba'al will likely make changes after the first time."
"Then we better get the whole network at once," Adora said.
"That only works if he keeps it permanently connected. I somehow doubt he's doing that," Catra pointed out. Not when he was too paranoid to let his commanders know what the others of their rank were doing and how many others served Ba'al. So, waiting, and letting others suffer for longer, would be pointless.
"Yeah, can't see him letting all his chipped slaves connect to each other," Jack agreed.
"Yes." Sam nodded. "We haven't found any nodes outside this area - the network is limited to this task force."
"And it is either something that Baal reserves for the most important locations or it's very new. Otherwise, we'd have encountered the chips before," Catra said. The shipyards they had taken had been very important, after all. "So, let's crash the network here - no, take it over and use it to communicate with the slaves so we can get them out when we attack!" They would probably sabotage Ba'al's fleet as well once they were free.
"That's dangerous. Not the hacking, but letting them know about us? Some might be true believers and inform their god," Jack said.
Catra shook her head. "Even if they were true believers, after being reduced to… after being chipped, they won't be any more."
Sha're nodded. "Unless Ba'al would not have activated the chips yet, or has used a very light touch - which would be out of character for him - those people will have gone through hell, trapped in their bodies."
Catra nodded. Sha're got it.
"Ba'al's been using a light touch with the Clones. We can't assume he's abusing everyone," Jack disagreed. "And it won't change much anyway if we just crash the network and then broadcast how to surrender, those who are freed will be able to act as they want."
Catra didn't like it, but he had a point. Underestimating Ba'al would be a mistake - this snake was very smart. "Any sign where those chips are made?"
"They aren't manufactured here," Sam said. "We could track the shipments using the sealed data we acquired."
"Ba'al probably has a research base somewhere where he had his best workers develop and probably build the chips and other tools," Catra said. "We need to find it and destroy it."
She looked at Sam and Entrapta, but both were focused on working. They didn't have a trace so far, then.
Damn.
Point Velvet, Deep Space, July 4th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"So, we have two more targets to infiltrate," Jack O'Neill said. He had to get the team back on track - they were here to gather intel and hit targets of opportunity, and, so far, they hadn't found any of the latter. As bad as the mind-control chips were, they couldn't just drop the mission. "Next stop: Factory ship."
He could see that Catra was about to argue - the catwoman had taken their find quite badly, which was understandable but not helpful right now - but Adora nodded. "Yes. Let's go. We have to keep searching for more intel."
Jack nodded and went to the cockpit. Sha're was a decent pilot, but he would take the con to approach the enemy ship. "Do we have any intel on which we should pick?" he asked as he checked the passive sensors.
"There's no formal command ship for the factory units," Carter replied. "At least not based on their communication pattern. But I've marked the one producing the most advanced components. They will also require the most diverse resources, so we should have a decent chance to uncover more hints of the enemy supply routes. I've marked it."
"Sounds good," Jack agreed. Carter knew what she was doing.
He plotted a course toward the marked ship and started his approach. It wouldn't take long - all factory ships were very close to the Glove. He would have spread them out further in Ba'al's place. Harder to defend, but it would not concentrate all targets in a single spot. On the other hand, maybe the factory ships could serve as a sort of armour for the Glove, shielding it with their hulls - Ba'al's forces had used that tactic in their last-ditch attack on Base Portsmouth.
Still a bad idea; factory ships were primary targets. But Jack wouldn't complain. At this distance, they could probably crash a factory ship into the Glove before anyone could react and intercept it.
Not that they would do that, he reminded himself, since that would kill a whole boatload of people who were forced to work on either ship - some of them by mind control chips. Adora would never condone that.
And there was the target. Jack avoided the main hangars and docking ports - there was too much traffic there - and headed for another maintenance hatch, bringing the shuttle to a gentle stop just a yard off the factory ship's hull. "Alright, Sha're, you've got the shuttle."
"I've got the shuttle."
A last glance at the radar display - fed by passive sensors - to check there was no Death Glider patrol headed their way and then Jack was headed to the back of the craft, where the others were already lining up.
Carter and Entrapta were focused on their scanners, and Bow hacked the airlock easily enough, letting them enter.
The inside looked… Jack wouldn't say dirty or dingy, but compared to the Glove, the ship looked and felt older. Slightly worn. Like one of the older Navy ships back on Earth - he had been dropped off by the Navy on some missions, before Stargate Command. "Well, at least this ship's not new," he commented as he looked around. "Too worn for that."
"We'll have to verify that, sir." Of course, Carter would say that. She always did. And she was correct.
But Jack would trust his gut feelings here. This ship wasn't new but had seen a lot of use, and even good maintenance couldn't hide that. "So… is the backup we need to hit where it's supposed to be?" The main computer was on the ship's bridge, and Jack didn't think reaching it and stealing the data without anyone noticing would be easy, but the backup system was another thing.
"Yes, sir. This is a standard Horde design, same as we use."
"Old Ba'al might have upgraded his ships," Jack pointed out. He didn't really think so - why change what was working? The factory ship already used advanced technology - but you couldn't be sure until you had checked. Which they did.
The ship was actually busier than the Glove - at least the main corridors that the bots ferrying around material and components used; they looked like an anthill or termite nest on the model on Jack's HUD. But there were plenty of smaller, out-of-the-way corridors that were only used for maintenance, so it wasn't too difficult to reach the backup storage room. They had only to dodge one single patrol of Jaffa, which Melog easily handled, and then they reached their goal.
"Looks like they didn't need the backup yet," Jack said as he looked around. "No empty pizza boxes around."
Carter snorted and rolled her eyes at his joke, then explained it to Entrapta while they linked their computers to the main databanks here.
Jack checked the HUD while they worked. Nothing weird was going on. Just workers busy turning out components for Ba'al's Death Star, and minimal guards to keep them working.
That could mean Ba'al's forces were stretched thin - or that he trusted his mind-control chips to keep the crews in check. Though they hadn't been rolled out to everyone, yet - their scanner was marking the chipped workers, and those were only a handful in this ship, unlike on the Glove.
So, old Ba'al had only a limited number of the chips available - or a limited number of bots and surgeons to implant them. Either limit wouldn't last forever, though.
But Jack was sure they'd do something about the whole thing before that.
"Download complete, sir."
"Then let's head back," Adora said. "And then to the enemy flagship."
Jack nodded. The sooner they were done, the sooner they could start preparing to wreck this entire operation.
"There's the flagship of the task force guarding the site."
Adora nodded at Sam and studied the display. It was a regular Horde frigate. As with all the other frigates they had encountered in Ba'al's service, there were no signs of any modifications - externally. Internally, they couldn't be certain, but the analysis of the wrecks and intel from prisoners and deserters had not shown any hints of modifications, either. It seemed Ba'al was more focused on upgrading his old designs to Horde specs than experimenting with his new ships. Unless that was done somewhere else with a wholly different force. Trying to guess what Ba'al was doing had quickly become a very frustrating activity.
Still, they knew very well how a Horde frigate was laid out internally, so they should know what to expect when docking at this ship. "Alright," she said, "take us in."
The frigate shouldn't have better sensors than the factory ships, either, so this should be pretty safe. A bit more challenging to find a hatch to hack and use, a frigate was significantly smaller than a factory ship, but not impossible either.
Jack was already closing with the flagship, using a sweeping approach that would see them docking to the underside of it, where an escape hatch was installed. Horde Prime hadn't been big on his clones abandoning ships while they could still fight but he had liked the idea of wasting them even less. Probably because he considered them parts of him or something similarly narcissistic, Adora thought.
Whatever the reason, they had a way in that led to a supposedly - and now that they were in range of their scanners, confirmed - deserted storage room. Once again, the stealth generator worked - they were parked right between the aft part of the underside beam cannon batteries - and Bow could easily hack the airlock's door and security system.
Adjusting to the fact that the direction of the artificial gravity generator of the ship and the shuttle were not aligned so that they had to sort of walk-climb into the frigate was actually the biggest challenge here - Adora carried Daniel inside to speed things up.
But the storage room was full of rather un-Horde things.
"Looks like we got lost in some snake's attic," Jack commented.
And indeed, the room had a few very ornate crates inside, and jars and bags, all in the Goa'uld style. They looked very weird inside a Horde-style room.
Daniel checked the hieroglyphs on the crates. "Not a Goa'uld, Jack. These seem to be the personal belongings of Mal'ak - First Prime of Ba'al." He pointed at a plaque on the largest chest.
"Really?" Jack peered at them. "And he stores them here, way out of the way?"
"A Jaffa serving their false god is not supposed to revel in luxury," Teal'c said. "He might pretend to live frugally, or as Earth would say, in spartan quarters, as a show of loyalty."
"While hiding his loot and ill-gotten gains here? That doesn't sound very honourable." Jack grinned.
"There is no honour in serving the false gods," Teal'c replied. "And once a Jaffa realises that, they have to consider how to react. Some decide to retain their honour despite the price they have to pay. Others decide to let go of their honour altogether and imitate their oppressors' desire for power and wealth."
"It's too bad that we're on a covert mission - I'd love to rob this guy," Jack said.
"Well, let's see what we're missing at least," Catra said, flashing her fangs in a wide grin as she approached the largest chest.
"Catra!" Adora snapped.
"It's intel!" her lover replied - though she kept grinning. "We might find out which planet he fought and served on by analysing his loot."
"Sounds legit to me." Of course, Jack agreed.
Adora shook her head. "Check for traps."
"Of course." Catra looked at Bow.
Bow sighed. "Let's see…"
"The scanners don't detect any traps," Entrapta said. "At least no traps we could detect."
Adora could have done without hearing that qualifier.
"Good enough for me!" Catra fiddled with the lock and then popped it open and raised the lid. "Oh!"
"A lot of different pots and jugs," Entrapta said.
"Which you saw on the scanner already," Catra told her.
"I didn't want to ruin the surprise!"
Sam was focused on the rest of the ship, Adora saw. To warn them of any guards approaching.
"Those are very diverse designs and styles!" Daniel sounded very excited and almost pushed Jack and Catra away from the chest. No, not almost - he did elbow Jack out of the way without noticing when he reached into the chest and pulled out a pot. "Minoean! But I don't recognise the patterns! And Phoenician, though that was to be expected given Ba'al's history on Earth. But confirmation is always good."
"Forget the pots. Look at that!" Catra reached inside and pulled out another object.
Adora blinked. It looked like it was broken. And it wasn't a pot or jug, but a cube - maybe a cubic pot? Those existed. And she had seen this before…
"It's the same design as the alien data cube!" Entrapta sounded even more excited than Daniel now.
Adora wasn't sure if that was a good thing.
Flagship of the Guard Force, Point Velvet, Deep Space, July 4th, 2000 (Earth Time)
That was an alien data cube - the remains of an alien data cube, Samantha Carter corrected herself. Why was this amongst what looked like the loot from one of Ba'al's more trusted commanders? It was just part of the cube's shell, so maybe it was a curiosity in a collection, looted from one of Ba'al's enemies - or victims. But if Ba'al had found a base or a planet settled by this civilisation, maybe gained access to their technology… "We need to find out where the owner of this chest acquired this," she said.
"Yes!" Entrapta agreed enthusiastically. "If we find out where they got it, we could find more clues to decrypt our own cube!"
Which, Sam reminded herself, they should have done long ago. Obviously, they should have treated the artefact not as some curiosity but as a priority. More important than, say, dealing with the design faults of the latest abomination from procurement.
"Well, for that, we'll need to find the owner of the chest." the General said.
"That would probably be the commander of this site," Daniel said. "As we mentioned before."
"'Probably'." The General shook his head. "But we've been a bit unlucky lately by making guesses. Wouldn't want to nab the wrong guy."
"Then let's take the entire ship!" Catra bared her fangs in a grin. "That way, we got everyone on board - as long as we can keep them from suiciding."
"Taking the ship kind of ruins the secrecy part of our plans," the General pointed out - but Sam could see that he liked the idea. It was his kind of plan, daring and decisive if it worked. And a spur-of-the-moment decision.
"And if we take out their command ship, the rest of the guard fleet will be easier to deal with by our task force," Glimmer said.
"But we can't attack before we have a plan to save the workers," Adora said. "If Ba'al is willing to sacrifice them rather than let us rescue them…"
Sam pressed her lips together. With the mind-control chips, no one would refuse Ba'al's orders, and he only needed a few key people chipped to ensure the factory ship and the Glove would be destroyed. With the size of this operation, the death toll would be horrible.
"If we take over the ship before the rest of the guard fleet realise it, we can fake orders to split up - or claim we were called away," Catra said. "Have the guards rally in an ambush location, or just send them on a trip to attack a system at the other end of the galaxy."
The last suggestion was probably not meant seriously, but if they could take over the flagship of this force, then taking the entire site over with minimal casualties would be a realistic objective for this mission. Ba'al was fond of compartmentalising his forces, but the individual forces' command structures were very hierarchical, as expected from a tyrant.
"Can we take over the ship without alerting the rest of the guard ships?" Daniel asked. "We could head back to our task force and gather more people."
Sam pondered the challenge. If they managed to manipulate the life support system… They had no gas with them to render the crew unconscious, but if they changed the settings, they could alter the ship's atmosphere gradually and reduce the oxygen until the crew was out. But the risk of killing anyone with this was great. Maybe…
"We need the bridge, engineering and the hangar," Catra said. "To control the ship and ensure that they can't alert anyone else or sabotage it." She looked around. "If we leverage the element of surprise and She-Ra, that's doable, but we need to be quick to get everything and everyone moving afterwards before things start going wrong. "If we take over the bridge and then have the rest of the crew gather in the hangar for an inspection, we could take them out all at once."
That was… Sam looked at the General.
He was grinning broadly. "Good idea! But we need to make sure they aren't locked up with anything they can use to get free - or shoot a hole in the hull to alert the rest of Ba'al's guards.
"We can lock them in with She-Ra," Catra said. "That will keep them from ruining the plan."
Adora nodded. "Yes. I can deal with the frigate's crew. But we need to secure the bridge and then imitate the commander."
"We can do that by taking records of their voice and then using our computer to turn the samples into orders," Entrapta suggested. "Though that might take a while."
"Let's hope he isn't the silent type," the General joked.
"We should be able to get voice samples from the ship's databanks," Sam said. "Communication is generally recorded."
"Yes!" Entrapta nodded. "And we need access to the central computer anyway, for the rest of the data!"
"And the bridge offers access to the computers," the General added. "So, let's go and take it over."
"After we check that the commander is on the bridge," Bow said. "We can't imitate his orders if he can countermand them."
"Right." Adora looked at Sam and Entrapta. "And we need to find out who the commander is. Scan the entire ship and look for anyone who could be it. And scan for mind-control chips. If you don't find anyone who could be it, we need to get access to the backup databanks so we can identify the commander."
"Yes!" Entrapta nodded with a smile, and she and Sam started working.
"We've detected six mind-control chips currently active on this ship. One of them is a Jaffa, the others are Clones."
Catra felt relieved at Sam's report. If the flagship of Ba'al's guard force didn't have more mind-controlled crew members, then that probably meant that he didn't have too many chips available. That was… reassuring.
"So… Those could be three shifts of two people, like the captain and the first officer, the chief engineer and his number two, and the Commander of the entire force and his second-in-command," Jack said. "The commander would be Mal'ak."
"Mal'ak might here as an envoy or to inspect the site, not as its commander," Glimmer said.
"Not nominally, but as Ba'al's First Prime, he'd be in charge anyway," Sha're said.
"We don't know if Ba'al would use those chips on his commanders," Daniel said. "That could drive them to rebel or even desert, as long as they realise what is happening in time to react. He might use them on guards to keep an eye on his commanders."
"His commanders are likely the most faithful of his followers," Glimmer objected. "They would probably agree to the chips to show their loyalty."
"But would he trust them even if that were the case?" Adora asked. "The Jaffa is probably Mal'ak - we know that two of Apophis's First Prime defected, and Ba'al likely knows that as well."
"With how shoddy Apophis's counter-intel work is, half the Galaxy knows this," Catra said with a snort. "But for a mind-controlled guy, that's a lot of loot." She gestured at the chests. "Why would Ba'al let him keep it after mind-controlling him?" She wouldn't call it 'chipping'. That would make light of its horror. She also wanted to tell the others that, but she didn't want their pity. And this wasn't the time for that, anyway. They had to focus on the mission.
She saw Melog glow a little and hoped that the others missed it - she didn't want anyone to know how she felt.
Okay.
She felt Melog's confidence and trust and relaxed a little.
"Ba'al might use the chips as a fail-safe in case his followers betray him," Teal'c said. "His First Prime might not even be aware of what the chips actually do - the false gods always lie to their followers. Further, Ba'al has a reputation for being untrustworthy even for a Goa'uld."
"Yeah," Jack said. "Not telling even his Prime what the chips are and do seems a thing Ba'al would do. The guy seems too paranoid to tell even his highest-ranking followers more than the absolute minimum. Anyway, those are our main targets. Take them out, and their command structure should be in shambles."
"Let's hope so," Adora said, then looked at Catra.
Catra nodded. "Our priorities are the bridge and engineering, but we cannot let anyone with a mind-control chip walk around - they would sacrifice themselves without hesitation to get us or just to deny the ship to Ba'al's enemies - and we absolutely need to control all communications."
"We can hit the scuttling charges first and disable them so they can't just blow the ship - and us - up," Entrapta said. "And we can hack the communication systems."
"That would still leave individual FTL-communicators," Catra said. "We need to jam those as well."
"That would affect our communication with the other ships," Sam pointed out. "They might realise something is wrong."
"Better they suspect than have someone alert them - we can't fight the guard force in this ship," Catra said. "So… Where are the mind-controlled people?"
"We're tracking them. Two, including the Jaffa, are on the bridge, one in engineering, one in the main hangar and two in the crew quarters," Sam replied.
"Are they in the officer's quarters?" Daniel asked. "I mean, I know the Horde frigates didn't have special quarters for their officers since all Clones were replaceable for Horde Prime, but if Ba'al is integrating the Clones into his forces, this might have changed."
That was a good point, but probably not relevant.
"The quarters look the same as on a regular frigate, except for the commander's. That was remodelled. Potentially to better serve as a flagship and accommodate a Jaffa commander," Sam said.
Catra nodded and studied the holoprojection for a moment, checking the targets. "So… Adora and Entrapta to the bridge. Bow and Glimmer to Engineering. "Melog and I take out the one in the hangar. Jack, Sam and Teal'c take out the two in their quarters. And Daniel and Sha're stay in the shuttle and act as our network hub." She looked at the others.
Yes, Melog thought.
"Yes," Adora said. "Keep the maps updated. We have to travel carefully without Melog covering all of us."
Sorry.
"Don't be," Catra told him. "We need you in the hangar since that's a wide space, and we can't take out everyone there before they raise the alert, so we need to be sneaky there."
Yes.
Good. Catra checked her HUD and saw the tracked figures multiply, covering all crew. A moment late, routes appeared on the display, most of them going through air ducts and vents. Entrapta was adapting the data, then.
Catra grinned. "Let's go!"
"Yes." Adora nodded with a firm expression. "Let's go."
They split up. Without Melog's power, the other groups would have to carefully pick their way to their targets, as often through the vents as not. Catra didn't have to bother with that. Melog could hide them from plain sight - in the middle of a corridor, if needed. They didn't go quite that far - that would have been an unnecessary risk; one slip and a Clone might stumble into them in the narrower corridors - but the temptation was there. Especially when they were waiting in an alcove for a group to walk past. At least Goa'uld ships were crewed by Jaffa, and they usually marched at a brisk pace; the Clones walked more leisurely. Horde Prime probably thought having his 'brothers' walking faster would have made it seem as if they were rushed and that might make him look as if he weren't on top of things at every moment.
Still, even with those delays and despite the larger distance, they reached the main hangar before everyone else reached their targets. And their target was obvious - even if the HUD feed from Sam and Entrapta's scanners wouldn't have marked him for Catra, he would have stood out; the Clone stood on a small pedestal in the back of the hangar, watching everything, and Clones regularly came to him for something or the other while maintaining the Horde fighters and their bot pilots lined up in the hangar.
That was a new setup compared to the Horde standard layouts, she noted. The pedestal, not the fighters; those were standard issue. But in the Horde, all the Clones had been supposedly equal before Horde Prime (and beneath him), and such overt signs of their higher positions had been absent. That had changed in the Alliance, but mostly for functionality - they had a dedicated control room for the hangar master, not some platform to look down on the rest.
But it made taking the man out without alerting everyone a bit tricky. Not too much, though. She looked the situation over, studying the patterns of the Clones at work - fewer than in an Alliance frigate for the same tasks; had Ba'al some manpower problem? - and the doors leading out from the hangar.
A quick check with the ship's layout on her HUD later, she had her plan."Can you copy him walking out of the hangar?"
Positive.
Good. "Then cover us as we head over behind the guy."
Yes.
They moved carefully along the walls, quickly passing in front of the two doors on the way so they wouldn't run into some Clones coming and going, until they were standing behind the hangar master's pedestal.
"Hangar group ready," she reported over the communicator.
"Copy. Bridge group still en route."
"Crew Quarters en route."
"Engineering en route."
More waiting, then. She suppressed a sigh - Melog couldn't hide sound - and watched their target.
He was rather brusque with his underlings, Catra noted in the next few minutes. Quite different from what she was used to from the other Clones she knew. Even Horde Prime had played the affable, gentle leader towards his 'brothers'. She pressed her lips together when she looked at the Clone's neck where the mind control chip would be located, hidden by his clothes. How much of his attitude was his own and how much resulted from being mind-controlled by a Goa'uld? Well, if things went according to plan, they would find out.
"Bridge group in position."
Adora and Entrapta were ready. Good.
"Engineering group in position."
So were Glimmer and Bow.
About a minute later, Jack reported as well.
"Crew Quarters group ready."
"Go!"
At Adora's command, Catra nodded at Melog. A moment later, she caught the faintest flicker as their illusion settled over the hangar master.
Go.
She dashed forward, drawing her zat, and shot the Clone from the back, catching him as he collapsed and dragged him back to the wall.
There, she quickly checked his clothes for weapons, relieved him of a zat, slung him over her shoulders and then made her way out of the hangar while Melog made it look as if the Clone had received a call on his communicator and then left by himself.
A minute later, they were outside, hidden in a side corridor.
"Hangar group, done."
Ba'al's Glove, Point Velvet, Deep Space, July 4th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"Ba'al is using mind control chips like Horde Prime did?" Samantha Carter hadn't expected this. "This changes everything," she said.
"Yes!" Glimmer hissed. "We can't let him do this to anyone! We have to stop him!"
"We will!" Adora agreed.
"I agree, but that's not what I meant," Sam told them. "This was a part of Horde Prime's technology that he kept from everyone. The Clones didn't have access to that technology - they could use them, but they were built by automated fabbers, which the Clones could operate but not build themselves. Ba'al can't have gotten this technology from the Clones he recruited."
"Yeah." The General nodded. "That means that this ship probably is the real deal, too."
Right. If Ba'al had access to Horde Prime's mind control chips, he probably had access to the Velvet Glove's blueprints. And if he had that… "He must have had significantly more time to build up his production lines for Horde technology than we thought. We have to revise our estimates - and probably adjust our worst-case projections." Worst case until now had meant that Ba'al would have gained access to Horde technology shortly after Horde Prime's defeat three years ago. Now, it should be an even earlier access. "Although there is some good news as well," she said.
"Yes?" The General looked at her. "Don't tease us like that, Carter. Out with it - we really could use a bit of good news right now."
Sam nodded. "If Ba'al has had access to this technology for years and still hasn't been able to finish this ship - or finish upgrading his older ships - then he can't have too many factories and resources, sir."
"Right." Glimmer grinned.
"Or he's been so stuck in keeping all his underlings isolated, he's been building up some of his fleets and neglected the rest entirely," the General pointed out.
Sam pressed her lips together. That was an alternative explanation that also made sense.
"And you say you're not a pessimist, Jack!" Daniel shook his head.
"Let's focus on getting off this ship - or station - now," the General said. "We can think about how to spoil Ba'al's plans once we're done here. And once we know them, of course. Which we hopefully will once all that data we just got is analysed." He grinned at Daniel. "See? I'm an optimist!"
Sam smiled almost against her will as she focused on her scanner. Catra, Entrapta and Melog were on their way back to them, but currently hiding in another room from a patrol. Which, Sam noted, would be crossing the corridor in front of their hideout as well.
"Now, let's be very quiet!" the General whispered before she could point it out. "We don't want to tip off Ba'al's Jaffa that we're here."
The automated data transfer from her sensor to the team's HUDs was working as intended, then. This should improve the performance of the Alliance forces in the field. If they could tap into an entire network, together with sensor fusion… Another reason to push the new armoured suits into production as soon as possible.
But she could write a memo about that later. The patrol was passing… no, they had stopped. Sam held her breath as the door was opened and then watched the Jaffa on her sensor enter and look around. If they discovered them… She glanced at the others. The General had drawn a zat'nik'tel, as had Teal'c - of course, those were almost silent. Still, even if they could take out the entire patrol without alerting anyone else, a squad going missing would be noticed sooner or later, and Ba'al would know that someone had infiltrated his ship-building project.
She heard them coming closer - Ba'al evidently didn't alter the usual Jaffa armour, so their steps were quite noticeable - and drew her own zat'nik'tel. There were only four, so…
But shortly before they reached the crates behind which the team was hiding, they stopped, then turned and quickly left. Why would…? The others!
Sam checked her sensors. The three were clear but moving quickly.
"Catra! What happened?" Adora asked through their communicator.
"That's my line! We saw that you were about to be discovered, and Melog created a quick distraction."
Ah. Sam checked the sensor data again. "An accident at the production module?"
"Yes."
That would have been easy to arrange with Melog's illusions. Sam hoped that none of the workers had been hurt as a result.
But she knew that even if the affected workers avoided injuries, they would likely be punished by their superiors. That was how the Goa'uld worked.
But they had no choice in the matter - sometimes, innocents got hurt in war. They could only do their best to minimise collateral damage like that and to shorten the war.
And for that, they needed to get off this spaceship and check the other targets - but only after they ensured that those chips were not being produced in this ship.
And for that, she needed more data about the chips so she could set the scanner for a deep sweep.
She focused on one of the workers in the computer room and set the details to the highest level. That should get more data about those chips.
*****
Catra suppressed another shudder when she approached Adora and the others. She was better than this. She had survived this. She could handle it. She didn't have a chip in her neck. She was free. Not under anyone's control. Not forced to fight her love at a madman's command. She was…
…rubbing the back of her neck to check. And Adora had noticed!
Catra whipped her hand down. She didn't need pity. She had gone through that already. "So, did you get more data on the chips? We need to hack them and free everyone!" she hissed when she reached the group.
"We've just finished a detailed scan and are still analysing the results," Sam replied.
Catra clenched her teeth. That was too slow! This shouldn't take any time! But she nodded. Rushing wouldn't help. Probably.
Adora moved over to her. She didn't say anything, just took her hand. Catra took a deep, shuddering breath and squeezed her fingers. "We can't let Ba'al use those chips."
"We've got protocols to keep him from turning our people," Jack said. "We already check for Goa'uld possession; chips are just one more check. He won't be able to infiltrate our troops like he did on Etheria."
"That's not the point!" Catra retorted. "With those chips, he can control anyone as if he were possessing them."
"There will be no surrenders - no honest surrenders - with those chips controlling Ba'al's slaves and warriors," Teal'c said. "He can force anyone to fight us until death."
That was a more pragmatic argument, and a quite obvious one, but Catra could tell the others just didn't understand the sheer evilness of it.
She saw Sam stiffen. She would get it - she had been possessed once before. Sha're would understand as well.
"We can't let people suffer like this," Adora said. "This is the worst form of slavery. It's evil! We need to stop this!"
"We're working on it," Sam said in a clipped tone.
"Let's talk on the shuttle," Jack said. "Not in the middle of the enemy ship."
"Right."
They made their way to the airlock, where Sha're was waiting with the shuttle. Catra couldn't help feeling guilty when she entered the shuttle. Leaving felt like fleeing. Like leaving the others to their fate.
"So, what do we know?" she asked as soon as everyone was gathered in the main area of the shuttle.
"They use FTL-communications," Entrapta said. "Same as Horde Prime's."
"They are built exactly like the ones we have on file. Direct copies," Sam added.
Catra clenched her teeth again.
"Tha's a good thing, though - we know how to deal with them!" Entrapta announced with a wide smile. "We can hack the network with some effort. Although Ba'al will likely make changes after the first time."
"Then we better get the whole network at once," Adora said.
"That only works if he keeps it permanently connected. I somehow doubt he's doing that," Catra pointed out. Not when he was too paranoid to let his commanders know what the others of their rank were doing and how many others served Ba'al. So, waiting, and letting others suffer for longer, would be pointless.
"Yeah, can't see him letting all his chipped slaves connect to each other," Jack agreed.
"Yes." Sam nodded. "We haven't found any nodes outside this area - the network is limited to this task force."
"And it is either something that Baal reserves for the most important locations or it's very new. Otherwise, we'd have encountered the chips before," Catra said. The shipyards they had taken had been very important, after all. "So, let's crash the network here - no, take it over and use it to communicate with the slaves so we can get them out when we attack!" They would probably sabotage Ba'al's fleet as well once they were free.
"That's dangerous. Not the hacking, but letting them know about us? Some might be true believers and inform their god," Jack said.
Catra shook her head. "Even if they were true believers, after being reduced to… after being chipped, they won't be any more."
Sha're nodded. "Unless Ba'al would not have activated the chips yet, or has used a very light touch - which would be out of character for him - those people will have gone through hell, trapped in their bodies."
Catra nodded. Sha're got it.
"Ba'al's been using a light touch with the Clones. We can't assume he's abusing everyone," Jack disagreed. "And it won't change much anyway if we just crash the network and then broadcast how to surrender, those who are freed will be able to act as they want."
Catra didn't like it, but he had a point. Underestimating Ba'al would be a mistake - this snake was very smart. "Any sign where those chips are made?"
"They aren't manufactured here," Sam said. "We could track the shipments using the sealed data we acquired."
"Ba'al probably has a research base somewhere where he had his best workers develop and probably build the chips and other tools," Catra said. "We need to find it and destroy it."
She looked at Sam and Entrapta, but both were focused on working. They didn't have a trace so far, then.
Damn.
*****
Point Velvet, Deep Space, July 4th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"So, we have two more targets to infiltrate," Jack O'Neill said. He had to get the team back on track - they were here to gather intel and hit targets of opportunity, and, so far, they hadn't found any of the latter. As bad as the mind-control chips were, they couldn't just drop the mission. "Next stop: Factory ship."
He could see that Catra was about to argue - the catwoman had taken their find quite badly, which was understandable but not helpful right now - but Adora nodded. "Yes. Let's go. We have to keep searching for more intel."
Jack nodded and went to the cockpit. Sha're was a decent pilot, but he would take the con to approach the enemy ship. "Do we have any intel on which we should pick?" he asked as he checked the passive sensors.
"There's no formal command ship for the factory units," Carter replied. "At least not based on their communication pattern. But I've marked the one producing the most advanced components. They will also require the most diverse resources, so we should have a decent chance to uncover more hints of the enemy supply routes. I've marked it."
"Sounds good," Jack agreed. Carter knew what she was doing.
He plotted a course toward the marked ship and started his approach. It wouldn't take long - all factory ships were very close to the Glove. He would have spread them out further in Ba'al's place. Harder to defend, but it would not concentrate all targets in a single spot. On the other hand, maybe the factory ships could serve as a sort of armour for the Glove, shielding it with their hulls - Ba'al's forces had used that tactic in their last-ditch attack on Base Portsmouth.
Still a bad idea; factory ships were primary targets. But Jack wouldn't complain. At this distance, they could probably crash a factory ship into the Glove before anyone could react and intercept it.
Not that they would do that, he reminded himself, since that would kill a whole boatload of people who were forced to work on either ship - some of them by mind control chips. Adora would never condone that.
And there was the target. Jack avoided the main hangars and docking ports - there was too much traffic there - and headed for another maintenance hatch, bringing the shuttle to a gentle stop just a yard off the factory ship's hull. "Alright, Sha're, you've got the shuttle."
"I've got the shuttle."
A last glance at the radar display - fed by passive sensors - to check there was no Death Glider patrol headed their way and then Jack was headed to the back of the craft, where the others were already lining up.
Carter and Entrapta were focused on their scanners, and Bow hacked the airlock easily enough, letting them enter.
The inside looked… Jack wouldn't say dirty or dingy, but compared to the Glove, the ship looked and felt older. Slightly worn. Like one of the older Navy ships back on Earth - he had been dropped off by the Navy on some missions, before Stargate Command. "Well, at least this ship's not new," he commented as he looked around. "Too worn for that."
"We'll have to verify that, sir." Of course, Carter would say that. She always did. And she was correct.
But Jack would trust his gut feelings here. This ship wasn't new but had seen a lot of use, and even good maintenance couldn't hide that. "So… is the backup we need to hit where it's supposed to be?" The main computer was on the ship's bridge, and Jack didn't think reaching it and stealing the data without anyone noticing would be easy, but the backup system was another thing.
"Yes, sir. This is a standard Horde design, same as we use."
"Old Ba'al might have upgraded his ships," Jack pointed out. He didn't really think so - why change what was working? The factory ship already used advanced technology - but you couldn't be sure until you had checked. Which they did.
The ship was actually busier than the Glove - at least the main corridors that the bots ferrying around material and components used; they looked like an anthill or termite nest on the model on Jack's HUD. But there were plenty of smaller, out-of-the-way corridors that were only used for maintenance, so it wasn't too difficult to reach the backup storage room. They had only to dodge one single patrol of Jaffa, which Melog easily handled, and then they reached their goal.
"Looks like they didn't need the backup yet," Jack said as he looked around. "No empty pizza boxes around."
Carter snorted and rolled her eyes at his joke, then explained it to Entrapta while they linked their computers to the main databanks here.
Jack checked the HUD while they worked. Nothing weird was going on. Just workers busy turning out components for Ba'al's Death Star, and minimal guards to keep them working.
That could mean Ba'al's forces were stretched thin - or that he trusted his mind-control chips to keep the crews in check. Though they hadn't been rolled out to everyone, yet - their scanner was marking the chipped workers, and those were only a handful in this ship, unlike on the Glove.
So, old Ba'al had only a limited number of the chips available - or a limited number of bots and surgeons to implant them. Either limit wouldn't last forever, though.
But Jack was sure they'd do something about the whole thing before that.
"Download complete, sir."
"Then let's head back," Adora said. "And then to the enemy flagship."
Jack nodded. The sooner they were done, the sooner they could start preparing to wreck this entire operation.
*****
"There's the flagship of the task force guarding the site."
Adora nodded at Sam and studied the display. It was a regular Horde frigate. As with all the other frigates they had encountered in Ba'al's service, there were no signs of any modifications - externally. Internally, they couldn't be certain, but the analysis of the wrecks and intel from prisoners and deserters had not shown any hints of modifications, either. It seemed Ba'al was more focused on upgrading his old designs to Horde specs than experimenting with his new ships. Unless that was done somewhere else with a wholly different force. Trying to guess what Ba'al was doing had quickly become a very frustrating activity.
Still, they knew very well how a Horde frigate was laid out internally, so they should know what to expect when docking at this ship. "Alright," she said, "take us in."
The frigate shouldn't have better sensors than the factory ships, either, so this should be pretty safe. A bit more challenging to find a hatch to hack and use, a frigate was significantly smaller than a factory ship, but not impossible either.
Jack was already closing with the flagship, using a sweeping approach that would see them docking to the underside of it, where an escape hatch was installed. Horde Prime hadn't been big on his clones abandoning ships while they could still fight but he had liked the idea of wasting them even less. Probably because he considered them parts of him or something similarly narcissistic, Adora thought.
Whatever the reason, they had a way in that led to a supposedly - and now that they were in range of their scanners, confirmed - deserted storage room. Once again, the stealth generator worked - they were parked right between the aft part of the underside beam cannon batteries - and Bow could easily hack the airlock's door and security system.
Adjusting to the fact that the direction of the artificial gravity generator of the ship and the shuttle were not aligned so that they had to sort of walk-climb into the frigate was actually the biggest challenge here - Adora carried Daniel inside to speed things up.
But the storage room was full of rather un-Horde things.
"Looks like we got lost in some snake's attic," Jack commented.
And indeed, the room had a few very ornate crates inside, and jars and bags, all in the Goa'uld style. They looked very weird inside a Horde-style room.
Daniel checked the hieroglyphs on the crates. "Not a Goa'uld, Jack. These seem to be the personal belongings of Mal'ak - First Prime of Ba'al." He pointed at a plaque on the largest chest.
"Really?" Jack peered at them. "And he stores them here, way out of the way?"
"A Jaffa serving their false god is not supposed to revel in luxury," Teal'c said. "He might pretend to live frugally, or as Earth would say, in spartan quarters, as a show of loyalty."
"While hiding his loot and ill-gotten gains here? That doesn't sound very honourable." Jack grinned.
"There is no honour in serving the false gods," Teal'c replied. "And once a Jaffa realises that, they have to consider how to react. Some decide to retain their honour despite the price they have to pay. Others decide to let go of their honour altogether and imitate their oppressors' desire for power and wealth."
"It's too bad that we're on a covert mission - I'd love to rob this guy," Jack said.
"Well, let's see what we're missing at least," Catra said, flashing her fangs in a wide grin as she approached the largest chest.
"Catra!" Adora snapped.
"It's intel!" her lover replied - though she kept grinning. "We might find out which planet he fought and served on by analysing his loot."
"Sounds legit to me." Of course, Jack agreed.
Adora shook her head. "Check for traps."
"Of course." Catra looked at Bow.
Bow sighed. "Let's see…"
"The scanners don't detect any traps," Entrapta said. "At least no traps we could detect."
Adora could have done without hearing that qualifier.
"Good enough for me!" Catra fiddled with the lock and then popped it open and raised the lid. "Oh!"
"A lot of different pots and jugs," Entrapta said.
"Which you saw on the scanner already," Catra told her.
"I didn't want to ruin the surprise!"
Sam was focused on the rest of the ship, Adora saw. To warn them of any guards approaching.
"Those are very diverse designs and styles!" Daniel sounded very excited and almost pushed Jack and Catra away from the chest. No, not almost - he did elbow Jack out of the way without noticing when he reached into the chest and pulled out a pot. "Minoean! But I don't recognise the patterns! And Phoenician, though that was to be expected given Ba'al's history on Earth. But confirmation is always good."
"Forget the pots. Look at that!" Catra reached inside and pulled out another object.
Adora blinked. It looked like it was broken. And it wasn't a pot or jug, but a cube - maybe a cubic pot? Those existed. And she had seen this before…
"It's the same design as the alien data cube!" Entrapta sounded even more excited than Daniel now.
Adora wasn't sure if that was a good thing.
*****
Flagship of the Guard Force, Point Velvet, Deep Space, July 4th, 2000 (Earth Time)
That was an alien data cube - the remains of an alien data cube, Samantha Carter corrected herself. Why was this amongst what looked like the loot from one of Ba'al's more trusted commanders? It was just part of the cube's shell, so maybe it was a curiosity in a collection, looted from one of Ba'al's enemies - or victims. But if Ba'al had found a base or a planet settled by this civilisation, maybe gained access to their technology… "We need to find out where the owner of this chest acquired this," she said.
"Yes!" Entrapta agreed enthusiastically. "If we find out where they got it, we could find more clues to decrypt our own cube!"
Which, Sam reminded herself, they should have done long ago. Obviously, they should have treated the artefact not as some curiosity but as a priority. More important than, say, dealing with the design faults of the latest abomination from procurement.
"Well, for that, we'll need to find the owner of the chest." the General said.
"That would probably be the commander of this site," Daniel said. "As we mentioned before."
"'Probably'." The General shook his head. "But we've been a bit unlucky lately by making guesses. Wouldn't want to nab the wrong guy."
"Then let's take the entire ship!" Catra bared her fangs in a grin. "That way, we got everyone on board - as long as we can keep them from suiciding."
"Taking the ship kind of ruins the secrecy part of our plans," the General pointed out - but Sam could see that he liked the idea. It was his kind of plan, daring and decisive if it worked. And a spur-of-the-moment decision.
"And if we take out their command ship, the rest of the guard fleet will be easier to deal with by our task force," Glimmer said.
"But we can't attack before we have a plan to save the workers," Adora said. "If Ba'al is willing to sacrifice them rather than let us rescue them…"
Sam pressed her lips together. With the mind-control chips, no one would refuse Ba'al's orders, and he only needed a few key people chipped to ensure the factory ship and the Glove would be destroyed. With the size of this operation, the death toll would be horrible.
"If we take over the ship before the rest of the guard fleet realise it, we can fake orders to split up - or claim we were called away," Catra said. "Have the guards rally in an ambush location, or just send them on a trip to attack a system at the other end of the galaxy."
The last suggestion was probably not meant seriously, but if they could take over the flagship of this force, then taking the entire site over with minimal casualties would be a realistic objective for this mission. Ba'al was fond of compartmentalising his forces, but the individual forces' command structures were very hierarchical, as expected from a tyrant.
"Can we take over the ship without alerting the rest of the guard ships?" Daniel asked. "We could head back to our task force and gather more people."
Sam pondered the challenge. If they managed to manipulate the life support system… They had no gas with them to render the crew unconscious, but if they changed the settings, they could alter the ship's atmosphere gradually and reduce the oxygen until the crew was out. But the risk of killing anyone with this was great. Maybe…
"We need the bridge, engineering and the hangar," Catra said. "To control the ship and ensure that they can't alert anyone else or sabotage it." She looked around. "If we leverage the element of surprise and She-Ra, that's doable, but we need to be quick to get everything and everyone moving afterwards before things start going wrong. "If we take over the bridge and then have the rest of the crew gather in the hangar for an inspection, we could take them out all at once."
That was… Sam looked at the General.
He was grinning broadly. "Good idea! But we need to make sure they aren't locked up with anything they can use to get free - or shoot a hole in the hull to alert the rest of Ba'al's guards.
"We can lock them in with She-Ra," Catra said. "That will keep them from ruining the plan."
Adora nodded. "Yes. I can deal with the frigate's crew. But we need to secure the bridge and then imitate the commander."
"We can do that by taking records of their voice and then using our computer to turn the samples into orders," Entrapta suggested. "Though that might take a while."
"Let's hope he isn't the silent type," the General joked.
"We should be able to get voice samples from the ship's databanks," Sam said. "Communication is generally recorded."
"Yes!" Entrapta nodded. "And we need access to the central computer anyway, for the rest of the data!"
"And the bridge offers access to the computers," the General added. "So, let's go and take it over."
"After we check that the commander is on the bridge," Bow said. "We can't imitate his orders if he can countermand them."
"Right." Adora looked at Sam and Entrapta. "And we need to find out who the commander is. Scan the entire ship and look for anyone who could be it. And scan for mind-control chips. If you don't find anyone who could be it, we need to get access to the backup databanks so we can identify the commander."
"Yes!" Entrapta nodded with a smile, and she and Sam started working.
*****
"We've detected six mind-control chips currently active on this ship. One of them is a Jaffa, the others are Clones."
Catra felt relieved at Sam's report. If the flagship of Ba'al's guard force didn't have more mind-controlled crew members, then that probably meant that he didn't have too many chips available. That was… reassuring.
"So… Those could be three shifts of two people, like the captain and the first officer, the chief engineer and his number two, and the Commander of the entire force and his second-in-command," Jack said. "The commander would be Mal'ak."
"Mal'ak might here as an envoy or to inspect the site, not as its commander," Glimmer said.
"Not nominally, but as Ba'al's First Prime, he'd be in charge anyway," Sha're said.
"We don't know if Ba'al would use those chips on his commanders," Daniel said. "That could drive them to rebel or even desert, as long as they realise what is happening in time to react. He might use them on guards to keep an eye on his commanders."
"His commanders are likely the most faithful of his followers," Glimmer objected. "They would probably agree to the chips to show their loyalty."
"But would he trust them even if that were the case?" Adora asked. "The Jaffa is probably Mal'ak - we know that two of Apophis's First Prime defected, and Ba'al likely knows that as well."
"With how shoddy Apophis's counter-intel work is, half the Galaxy knows this," Catra said with a snort. "But for a mind-controlled guy, that's a lot of loot." She gestured at the chests. "Why would Ba'al let him keep it after mind-controlling him?" She wouldn't call it 'chipping'. That would make light of its horror. She also wanted to tell the others that, but she didn't want their pity. And this wasn't the time for that, anyway. They had to focus on the mission.
She saw Melog glow a little and hoped that the others missed it - she didn't want anyone to know how she felt.
Okay.
She felt Melog's confidence and trust and relaxed a little.
"Ba'al might use the chips as a fail-safe in case his followers betray him," Teal'c said. "His First Prime might not even be aware of what the chips actually do - the false gods always lie to their followers. Further, Ba'al has a reputation for being untrustworthy even for a Goa'uld."
"Yeah," Jack said. "Not telling even his Prime what the chips are and do seems a thing Ba'al would do. The guy seems too paranoid to tell even his highest-ranking followers more than the absolute minimum. Anyway, those are our main targets. Take them out, and their command structure should be in shambles."
"Let's hope so," Adora said, then looked at Catra.
Catra nodded. "Our priorities are the bridge and engineering, but we cannot let anyone with a mind-control chip walk around - they would sacrifice themselves without hesitation to get us or just to deny the ship to Ba'al's enemies - and we absolutely need to control all communications."
"We can hit the scuttling charges first and disable them so they can't just blow the ship - and us - up," Entrapta said. "And we can hack the communication systems."
"That would still leave individual FTL-communicators," Catra said. "We need to jam those as well."
"That would affect our communication with the other ships," Sam pointed out. "They might realise something is wrong."
"Better they suspect than have someone alert them - we can't fight the guard force in this ship," Catra said. "So… Where are the mind-controlled people?"
"We're tracking them. Two, including the Jaffa, are on the bridge, one in engineering, one in the main hangar and two in the crew quarters," Sam replied.
"Are they in the officer's quarters?" Daniel asked. "I mean, I know the Horde frigates didn't have special quarters for their officers since all Clones were replaceable for Horde Prime, but if Ba'al is integrating the Clones into his forces, this might have changed."
That was a good point, but probably not relevant.
"The quarters look the same as on a regular frigate, except for the commander's. That was remodelled. Potentially to better serve as a flagship and accommodate a Jaffa commander," Sam said.
Catra nodded and studied the holoprojection for a moment, checking the targets. "So… Adora and Entrapta to the bridge. Bow and Glimmer to Engineering. "Melog and I take out the one in the hangar. Jack, Sam and Teal'c take out the two in their quarters. And Daniel and Sha're stay in the shuttle and act as our network hub." She looked at the others.
Yes, Melog thought.
"Yes," Adora said. "Keep the maps updated. We have to travel carefully without Melog covering all of us."
Sorry.
"Don't be," Catra told him. "We need you in the hangar since that's a wide space, and we can't take out everyone there before they raise the alert, so we need to be sneaky there."
Yes.
Good. Catra checked her HUD and saw the tracked figures multiply, covering all crew. A moment late, routes appeared on the display, most of them going through air ducts and vents. Entrapta was adapting the data, then.
Catra grinned. "Let's go!"
"Yes." Adora nodded with a firm expression. "Let's go."
They split up. Without Melog's power, the other groups would have to carefully pick their way to their targets, as often through the vents as not. Catra didn't have to bother with that. Melog could hide them from plain sight - in the middle of a corridor, if needed. They didn't go quite that far - that would have been an unnecessary risk; one slip and a Clone might stumble into them in the narrower corridors - but the temptation was there. Especially when they were waiting in an alcove for a group to walk past. At least Goa'uld ships were crewed by Jaffa, and they usually marched at a brisk pace; the Clones walked more leisurely. Horde Prime probably thought having his 'brothers' walking faster would have made it seem as if they were rushed and that might make him look as if he weren't on top of things at every moment.
Still, even with those delays and despite the larger distance, they reached the main hangar before everyone else reached their targets. And their target was obvious - even if the HUD feed from Sam and Entrapta's scanners wouldn't have marked him for Catra, he would have stood out; the Clone stood on a small pedestal in the back of the hangar, watching everything, and Clones regularly came to him for something or the other while maintaining the Horde fighters and their bot pilots lined up in the hangar.
That was a new setup compared to the Horde standard layouts, she noted. The pedestal, not the fighters; those were standard issue. But in the Horde, all the Clones had been supposedly equal before Horde Prime (and beneath him), and such overt signs of their higher positions had been absent. That had changed in the Alliance, but mostly for functionality - they had a dedicated control room for the hangar master, not some platform to look down on the rest.
But it made taking the man out without alerting everyone a bit tricky. Not too much, though. She looked the situation over, studying the patterns of the Clones at work - fewer than in an Alliance frigate for the same tasks; had Ba'al some manpower problem? - and the doors leading out from the hangar.
A quick check with the ship's layout on her HUD later, she had her plan."Can you copy him walking out of the hangar?"
Positive.
Good. "Then cover us as we head over behind the guy."
Yes.
They moved carefully along the walls, quickly passing in front of the two doors on the way so they wouldn't run into some Clones coming and going, until they were standing behind the hangar master's pedestal.
"Hangar group ready," she reported over the communicator.
"Copy. Bridge group still en route."
"Crew Quarters en route."
"Engineering en route."
More waiting, then. She suppressed a sigh - Melog couldn't hide sound - and watched their target.
He was rather brusque with his underlings, Catra noted in the next few minutes. Quite different from what she was used to from the other Clones she knew. Even Horde Prime had played the affable, gentle leader towards his 'brothers'. She pressed her lips together when she looked at the Clone's neck where the mind control chip would be located, hidden by his clothes. How much of his attitude was his own and how much resulted from being mind-controlled by a Goa'uld? Well, if things went according to plan, they would find out.
"Bridge group in position."
Adora and Entrapta were ready. Good.
"Engineering group in position."
So were Glimmer and Bow.
About a minute later, Jack reported as well.
"Crew Quarters group ready."
"Go!"
At Adora's command, Catra nodded at Melog. A moment later, she caught the faintest flicker as their illusion settled over the hangar master.
Go.
She dashed forward, drawing her zat, and shot the Clone from the back, catching him as he collapsed and dragged him back to the wall.
There, she quickly checked his clothes for weapons, relieved him of a zat, slung him over her shoulders and then made her way out of the hangar while Melog made it look as if the Clone had received a call on his communicator and then left by himself.
A minute later, they were outside, hidden in a side corridor.
"Hangar group, done."
*****
Chapter 176: Ba’al’s Machinations Part 8
Starfox5
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Chapter 176: Ba'al's Machinations Part 8
Flagship of the Guard Force, Point Velvet, Deep Space, July 4th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"Go!"
As soon as Adora's order came over the communicator, Jack O'Neill rose, zat in hand, aimed at the door in front of him. A moment later, it slid open - Carter had hacked the controls. He rushed inside, already turning to aim at the figure he had marked on his HUD.
The Clone was sitting up on his bed. "Oh, what…"
Jack shot him. Once.
The Clone collapsed, stunned, and Jack rushed to secure him with zip ties - advanced restraining devices with much higher tensile strength than steel, according to Carter, but he knew zip ties when he saw them. He searched the Clone for any weapons and devices, tossing out a Horde-style gun, then flipped him over and secured his hands and feet. Better safe than sorry.
Then he lifted the guy on his shoulder and moved to the door.
"Hangar Group done." Catra sounded smug. Well, anyone could kidnap a guy quickly if they had an illusion-casting cat with them.
The corridor was clear according to the HUD, but Jack O'Neill still peeked around the corner to check before moving out of the room. He trusted Carter with his life, but even she or her technology weren't perfect. And this would be a hell of a time to discover that the magic sensor glitched and overlooked a patrolling squad of Jaffa or Clones because they were wearing funny hats or something.
Carter and Teal'c were ahead of him, in the second target's quarters. He closed the door behind him - no clones moving nearby, according to the HUD - and quickly made his way to them. "Carter? Teal'c?" he asked as he entered. "You've got two?"
"This is the target." Teal'c pointed at a Clone who had a chip port in the back of his neck. "We have not yet identified the other."
"Well, they look alike. Maybe his twin?"
Carter rolled her eyes. Teal'c didn't react at all, and Jack sighed. "So… any chance he's someone important?"
"I would need access to the ship's system to identify him. Or check a restricted door's controls for access privileges, sir," Carter replied.
"Let's leave him here, then, and lock the door behind us. We're on a tight schedule," Jack said.
"Indeed." Teal'c grabbed both their guy and Jack's.
"Let's go!" Jack turned to the door to check the corridor and used his communicator. "Crew Quarters group, done."
"Engine Room group, done."
Good. That only left the bridge. Where Adora and Entrapta were.
"Crew Quarters group, done."
"Engine Group, done!"
Adora took a deep breath as the last Clone on the bridge slid down the wall into which she had kicked him. Maybe a bit too hard - he didn't move. But she had knocked him down earlier, yet he had recovered and had been about to shoot at Entrapta. So… his own fault.
She looked around. Half a dozen bridge crew, four guards, the captain and Mal'ak - probably; he had a mind-control chip and was the only Jaffa on the bridge - were knocked out.
"Bridge group, done," she said into her communicator.
"Not yet!" Entrapta called out. "I'm still trying to hack into the system here. Well, systems - we need the data banks, backups and the security system, but also communications. And weapons, or they could shoot at someone to alert them. Or trigger them to fire back. So…"
Well, they had control of the bridge, at least. The rest would come in time. Adora touched the button on the earring Entrapta had made for her, and a HUD appeared in front of her eyes. She could see the others. Glimmer and Bow were holding the engineering section, and Catra's group was moving toward Jack's group so they could merge and join Adora on the bridge. Good. By the time they reached the bridge, Entrapta would have…
Something moved to her right! Adora spun around. Mal'ak was getting up - and he was aiming a zat'nik'tel! At Entrapta! Adora threw herself between the two, but Mal'ak was faster - his shot hit Entrapta in the back, and she collapsed. His second shot hit Adora's shield, though.
She bared her teeth as she rolled and rose, facing him. He shot a third time, and she caught it on her shield again as she rushed him.
She hit him, shield first, and he flew several yards back, crashing into and over a console, flipping head over heels, before slamming into the wall.
She drew a sharp breath when she saw the red smear he left on the wall. Had she killed him? She glanced at Entrapta; her friend was breathing. She had only been hit once, so she was simply stunned.
Adora rushed to the downed Jaffa. He, too, was still breathing but bleeding massively from his head. That was…
He suddenly rolled away from her, reaching for his dropped zat.
Adora stepped on the zat, crushing it, and shook her head. "Surrender!"
He looked at her with an empty expression, then grabbed her lower leg and…
…tried to pull her down. As if!
She kicked him again, not too hard, and he flew back into the wall - but got up again and came at her.
A bash with her shield set him flying once again. Adora heard bones break this time.
Yet, he got up - or tried to. Adora grimaced when she saw his leg give in and the broken bone push through his skin. That…
She blinked. He wasn't showing any reaction - his expression looked almost bored!
Oh, no - the chip must be controlling him!
"What the…?"
"They woke up!"
"Watch out!"
All the chips had been activated.
"What the…?"
Samantha Carter whirled to the side as soon as she heard the General, drawing her zat'nik'tel. Both the Clone Catra was carrying, as well as the two Teal'c had slung over his shoulders, were jerking wildly, trying to get free - no, trying to bite them.
Catra slammed her clone into the ground, hard enough, Sam heard bones crack. Yet the Clone didn't stop - didn't even cry out. No reaction at all!
Teal'c had dropped his two, kicked one away and pinned the other with his staff. But they wriggled on the floor - and were pulling against the restraining devices with enough force to make their wrists bleed!
Sam shot one with her zat'nik'tel before he managed to wound himself even worse.
It didn't stop them.
Sam almost shot the prisoner again before she could stop herself. A second shot so close to the first would kill him.
And probably not stop him, either. "The chips are controlling them!"
The general cursed and used his communicator. "Change of plans - we've been made! Signal the task force to attack and get this ship out of here!"
"Entrapta's stunned. I've healed her, but…"
"Oh… what happened?"
"You were stunned."
"Oh."
"Jam the communications! Crash their comms if you can!" Catra snapped.
"Oh, right."
But Entrapta sounded still a bit out of it - Sam could tell. Even though Adora had healed her.
Another crack made her glance at Teal'c. Her friend had just broken more bones of their prisoners. Pragmatic yet brutal.
Sam winced and focused on her computer. She had to link up with Entrapta's tool and, through it, to the main computer. They had to take over the ship! But first, the task force.
It took several seconds for the computers to link up - Entrapta was not quite as quick, yet, as she usually was - but Sam managed to send the signal to the fleet.
"They've alerted the crew!" the General said. "We need to get to the bridge. And hold engineering."
Sam quickly shut down all doors she could access. That would hopefully trap some of the Clones. But not all - and they were cutting through the blast doors in the corridors.
"We've sealed the door, but they're shooting at it."
Glimmer sounded… controlled. Not openly worried. Not yet.
"Working on the hyperspace window!" Entrapta reported. Sam could see that on the screen of her computer.
"And someone needs to reinforce Engineering Group," Catra said. "I'll go - you go with the rest to the Bridge. Yes, go with them. I'll be fine."
She was arguing with Melog, Sam realised, then pushed the stray thought away as she started to adjust the comms.
The enemy fleet had been alerted - the chips must have been tapped into the comm network and registered when their carriers were stunned. Or attacked. Obvious, in hindsight. Sam did what she could to throw them into disarray, sending out conflicting orders and flooding the network with data and requests for more data. Fortunately, they were on the enemy flagship - and their signals and orders were prioritised by default.
But the enemy was adapting - a squadron had just gone off the network. They would move against the flagship.
"The door's glowing."
"I'm almost there!"
Shots rang out around the corner. Carbine, M4. The General. Then blasts - Teal'c.
"We need to move! They're coming!"
"I'm almost done!" Sam protested. "I need to crash their network. If that squadron managed a coordinated attack… She tagged them as hostile and sent orders to the rest of the fleet to destroy them.
A third of the ships started moving to intercept the squadron. A few more started towards the flagship.
Sam modified the orders again. This time, they looked as if they came from the ships that had dropped off the network. The confusion wouldn't last long, but…
"Alright, we're opening the hyperspace window as soon as we're moving!"
"I've cleared the door to the engine room but it's too hot to open. Bow, what's the engine doing?"
"Uh… It's starting up."
"It's supposed to do that! We're about to enter hyperspace!"
And they were about to get shot by half the enemy fleet. Sam's efforts had delayed a coordinated response, but there was only so much you could do if the enemy had a secure network through their chips…
But before the first ship could do more than diminish their shields, they entered hyperspace, and Sam relaxed. They were safe, for the moment. At least the ship was - the General and Teal'c were shooting again. And Sam could see Melog next to her, probably shielding her with illusions.
"I'm coming back to you. Glimmer and Bow are safely sealed up!"
"Hey!"
"She's right, Glimmer - if we can't get out, they can't get in."
But the chipped prisoners were still trying to attack Sam - she saw one of them trying to roll toward her with broken bones sticking out of their limbs. This was horrifying!
A quick check of her display showed that most of the still-moving crew members were trying to storm the bridge.
Sam pressed her lips together. Charging Adora in a corridor? She knew how that would end. And she could also see that Catra was almost back with Sam's group.
Good. They just needed to hold until they reached the end of their trip and the Alliance marines could board the ship.
Catra checked on her HUD one last time as she rushed down the corridor on all fours. All the enemies were facing Jack and Teal'c, holed up with Melog and Sam in a dead end a bit ahead.
Good.
She rounded the last corner and pounced on the Clone at the back of the enemy formation, landing on his shoulders and smashing his forehead into the floor while she jumped at the next one.
Her claws slashed through his weapon and fingers as she rammed him into the wall, leaving him stunned and bleeding as she pivoted and darted forward again.
The others were starting to react, turning around and crying out in alarm, but she was in the middle of them before they could form a line and dropped to the floor between the two closed, slicing their ankles before they could bring their weapons to bear, then finished them off with a quick series of kicks to the head.
That left three more, caught between her and the others. One tried to shoot her, but she darted to the side, making him miss, then rushed forward, dodging under his aim, to grab his arm. A quick twist broke his arm, making him drop the weapon, and she turned, throwing him into the next one before he could shoot, sending both to the floor, sprawling.
Jack moved up and shot the last one, then stunned the two others before they could recover. "We need to get to the bridge."
She checked her HUD. There were still quite a number of the crew moving around, though they didn't seem too organised any more. And yet… if the crowd in the hangar hit engineering, Bow and Glimmer could be in trouble. "Go. I'll run interference to keep them from getting their act together."
He nodded. "We have three prisoners we can't stun."
"They have been rendered unable to attack us," Teal'c said. Behind him, one of the bound and gagged Clones on the floor tried to hit his ankle with his forehead, and he moved to the side. "Mostly."
They had all limbs broken but didn't stop trying to fight, Catra noticed with a wince. If Horde Prime had used his chips like that… "We need to hack the chips to free them."
"We need to get out of hyperspace and have the ship secured first," Jack said. "We're still trying to take over a ship with just us against the entire crew."
Catra clenched her teeth. "As long as those chips are working, the enemy ships won't stop fighting."
He nodded and glanced over at Sam. "Carter?"
"Entrapta is handling the ship's controls and keeping us on course. Sir, I am blocking communications and weapon systems so they cannot fire on our allies or call for help. But if they track the mind-control chips, they will locate us anyway."
"Right. Hack the chips first."
"Yes, sir."
Good. Catra nodded and left them. She had a ship to roam and crew to take out. At least the regular Clones were easy to disable and not some mind-controlled zombie warriors. But she really didn't want to face a horde of Jaffa controlled by such chips. You'd have to kill them all to stop them, and she wouldn't put it past those evil things to keep a dead body fighting for a while.
Up ahead, three Clones were trying to bypass the locks Sam had put on the beam cannon battery there. She tore through them in seconds, leaving them bleeding and knocked out. The hangar was ahead. It looked like the remaining clones there - half of the hangar crew had been attacking engineering, and Catra had dealt with them already - were trying to get a fighter ready.
That wouldn't do. Catra took a shortcut through the air ducts, scrambling through the narrow space with her claws digging into the material, then slashed the grill and dropped into the hangar, right on top of a Clone dismantling the door controls.
She left him with his head stuck in the controls and rushed the next group. They tried to form a firing line as if this were a field battle but were too slow - and too unused to ground battles; two shot each other when Catra dived between them to sweep their feet, and a third seemed caught between moving to a spot from where he wouldn't hit anyone else but Catra and holding his position.
She took him out with a blow to the head when he decided to charge her instead, then used him as a shield to catch the blast from the last one. A quick charge smashed the smoking corpse into the shooter, and both into the console behind them.
Catra jumped over them, landing behind the console, moments before a volley of blasts hit both Clones and the console.
The rest of the hangar crew had noticed and formed up, including a few bots. Those had no trouble with ground combat and were advancing on her, as her HUD showed.
She grinned as she looked at the enemy formation. It was almost perfectly aligned - Horde Prime would have been proud.
But it was also almost perfectly lined up in front of the closest Horde fighter.
She jumped out of cover - it was disintegrating under the blasts anyway - and ran on all fours across the hangar. The Clones were slow to adjust their fire, the bots barely better, and she reached the fighter ahead of their shots.
A slice with her claws cut the forward landing strut, and the fighter tipped forward, nose hitting the floor. While the Clones shot the cockpit to pieces, she dug her claws into the right side, cutting off a part as tall as herself and twice as wide.
Makeshift shield ready, she rushed the line, catching the blasts until she was in the middle of their formation.
Then she cut loose.
Never split the party, Jack O'Neill reminded himself as he rounded the next corner, leading with his carbine. "Clear!" he called out. The HUD had shown him no one was there before he had reached the corner, but old habits died hard.
And you couldn't blindly trust technology, anyway. Certainly not when fighting someone like Ba'al. Those chips… He glanced back to where Teal'c was literally dragging the bound, gagged and mutilated prisoners and grimaced. Technically, it wasn't a war crime to subdue prisoners who were attacking you, and they hadn't killed them, and they could be healed by Adora - would be healed; it was Adora, after all - but he still felt bad about it.
And speaking of Adora, they were close to the bridge section now. On the HUD, He could see a group of Clones gathered at a junction ahead of them, blocking the access corridor to and from the bridge in this part of the frigate.
Or trying to. Jack scoffed and used his communicator. "Bridge Team? We're almost there. But we could use a little help clearing the way.
"Coming, Crew Quarters!"
Adora must have been tracking them on her own HUD - she charged straight out of the bridge, at the blocking force. Jack heard shots from ahead of him and through the communicator, followed by screams and then the sound of people hitting walls.
By the time his team reached the junction, it was already over. Adora stood in the centre, surrounded by the bodies of the Clones she had just laid out.
Two were groaning, and Jack stunned them with his zat. Better safe than sorry. "We've got the prisoners, but they're in bad shape," he told her with a grimace.
She nodded curtly. "They don't stop fighting. Get on the bridge and cover Entrapta. I'll finish the rest."
Meaning, she wanted to head to Catra, who had taken on the entire hangar section according to the HUD feed. But Jack didn't comment - he understood the feeling, and it made sense for Adora to go and finish the take-over of the ship before they dropped out of hyperspace.
"Alright," he replied.
Adora nodded once, then ran off while Jack led his team onto the bridge.
"Hi, Jack!" Entrapta waved from the corner. She was sitting, surrounded - and almost hidden - by panels Adora must have ripped off the walls and slammed into the floor to form a barricade. "We're almost at our destination!"
Carter joined her at once, crouching next to Entrapta, and put her computer down.
Jack glanced at the consoles, half of them broken, one with a Clone still stuck in it. That was a bit more damage than he had expected.
"Oh, don't worry - I'm running the ship through my multitool!"
Now Jack was worrying. But Carter didn't seem to mind the setup, so it probably was safe.
"How much longer do we have?" he asked.
"Two minutes, sir."
Long enough for things to go wrong. He checked the prisoners on the bridge. All but the chipped ones were stunned and wouldn't be a problem. But the chipped ones… the two on the bridge were wrapped in wall panels and still trying to get out - they were tearing themselves bloody in the process. The three Teal'c just set down next to them were worse off, though. "We really need to hack the chips," he muttered. "Keep an eye on them, Teal'c," he added.
His friend nodded, and Jack went to the main door to the bridge to stand guard.
The corridor was clear, and he didn't see any Clones moving towards him on the HUD. Not many were moving at all in the ship - Adora had gone through two gathered groups and was now about to reach the hangar.
"Oh, look - they're trying to manually remove the locks from the main batteries!"
"That won't help them when we cut the power supply."
"But we can't shut down the reactor."
"We can manually mark the power lines as under maintenance, that will make the system cut them off."
"They could bypass it manually. But they would have to move to the engine room for that. Unless they try to siphon power from the life support systems in the section."
"That won't be enough to power even one beam cannon."
"But they could charge it in advance - it would give them one shot, at least."
"We'll be out of hyperspace and being boarded by then."
"Oh, yes - never mind then. So, this should be safe. Let's start on hacking the mind-control network, then!"
Jack felt a bit better. It sounded as if things were on track. At least on the bridge. They might still pull off this - taking an entire ship with just two teams. Jack would have to make sure that the idiots back on Earth wouldn't try to use that to implement boarding as a standard tactic for fleet engagements. The crayon-eaters would jump at the idea, and some of the Navy pukes might support them even though they should know better.
"Leaving hyperspace in five… four… three…"
Jack tensed.
"...two… one…"
The ship lurched.
Near Point Velvet, Deep Space, July 4th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"...one…"
Adora was just about to hit the hangar when the ship dropped out of hyperspace - and not as smoothly as she expected - she did stumble at the unexpected movement. But no alarms were going off, and she didn't hear anything breaking, so she continued, using her sword to cut a way into the hangar, where Catra was…
…apparently just finishing off the last resistance, she realised when she came to a stop. "Catra!"
"Hey, Adora!" Her love turned toward her with that sly smile on her face that never failed to make Adora feel that little bit special. Though the fact that Catra's spacesuit was splattered with blood - and her hands and feet were practically covered with it - was a bit distracting.
Catra must have noticed and shrugged. "Most aren't dead, and they weren't able to send out any fighters - or use them to blow the ship up from inside."
Adora took a look at the bodies around Catra. They looked as bloody as Catra did, though she could see most of them breathing and heard them groaning. They needed first aid as well - they were now prisoners of war, with all that entailed. "Good," she said after a moment, then checked the most urgent-looking wounded to heal them.
Catra flexed her hands, extending and retracting her claws several times. Cleaning them using the sealing mechanism Entrapta had built into her suit.
Adora frowned a little. At least, Catra wasn't trying to lick them.
"We've hailed the task force left behind here. Marines are on the way," Jack reported over the communicator.
"Better late than never," Catra commented.
"We were supposed to go on a recon mission," Adora defended them. "We decided to board and take over the enemy flagship without telling them."
"I'm still going to rub it in if they try to act as if they're saving us," Catra said.
"I doubt anyone will claim they saved us if they see this," Adora replied with a nod and a grimace at the pile of bodies.
Catra shrugged. "Marines will."
"Those are Royal Marines," Adora pointed out. "Not US Marines."
"They probably still eat crayons, just the yellow ones." Catra smirked.
Adora shook her head. Her love and Jack got on a bit too well. "Let's clear the space for their shuttles."
"I can't throw fighters around."
"You can drag the bodies out of the way!"
Catra snorted but didn't complain any further, and Adora started pushing the fighters into a corner. Assault shuttles needed more room to land under combat conditions.
Catra had just set down the last Clone and was tying up some bandages around the still-bleeding wrist she had sliced when the first shuttle arrived.
Adora used her sword to guide them inside, and as soon as the shuttle touched down, the ramp dropped, and the marines poured out.
"We need to secure the engineering section and the bridge and relieve our teams there before you sweep the ship," Adora told the commander. "And our prisoners need to be treated and prepared for transport. But check them for chips implanted at the neck. If you find any, call us - those chips can force them to fight with broken limbs and even unconscious."
"Yes, Supreme Commander!" The captain in charge looked grim as he nodded and started sending out his troops.
"Medics over here!" Catra yelled, and a few soldiers hurried over towards her.
The second assault shuttle touched down as the first soldiers left the hangar, and Adora and Catra left with them to return to the bridge. She tried to ignore the cursing of the medics and other soldiers attending the wounded and frowned at Catra when she heard her snickering at some of the 'murder-blender' comments.
Sometimes, Catra's sense of humour was a bit too dark.
Point Velvet, Deep Space, July 4th, 2000 (Earth Time)
The battle was still going on when they reached Point Velvet on board the Horde frigate they had commandeered. Adora stared at the holoprojection on the bridge and frowned. Between the jamming fields - although as happened before, the enemy was compensating by using local direct radio transmission to form a comm network - and the numerical superiority, Ba'al's guard force should not be putting up such resistance. They were losing, that much was obvious, but they were fighting much harder than before. And the task force was taking casualties as a result. So far, they hadn't lost many ships, but they could only shift the ships around, replacing damaged ones with ships still fit to fight for only so long before they had to send in damaged ones to relieve even more damaged ones, and then the losses would be mounting quickly.
"We need to crash the chips," Catra said, sounding as grim as Adora felt.
"Yes."
"We're working on it!" Entrapta called out from where Sam and she had put up their computers. "But it's tricky. Ba'al's been meddling with the software."
"And he's using non-standard encryption," Sam added. "It's not based on any known Goa'uld systems."
That was not good. If Ba'al was using unknown technology… "Is it related to the datacube's technology?" Adora asked.
"Possibly. We can't tell yet. There are similarities, but we need more data to tell if those are just the result of using the same base principles or actual derivative technology," Sam replied.
"Just do your best," Adora told them while she watched another frigate from the task force fall out of formation, the icon lighting up with red alert messages. They were pushing the enemy back - the first factory ships had been disabled - but the Glove was still holding in the centre of the enemy formation.
They needed those chips disabled.
Samantha Carter tried to ignore the space battle raging nearby and focus on the chip network - which must be piggy-backing on the short-range radio network the enemy was using to counter the subspace-jamming attack of the Alliance forces - but each time a chip went offline, she was reminded that that meant, most likely, a destroyed enemy ship. Worse, though, was the effect it had on Entrapta and her efforts to hack the chips.
"The network adapted again!" Entrapta commented. "The distribution changed - and the codes changed."
The network wasn't using the same architecture as the Alliance networks, based on the Internet. When a member dropped out, data traffic didn't automatically reroute through existing lines and connections to compensate, such as the enemy fleet did - the whole chip network was reorganised, with key nodes changing and even protocols switching.
"This is completely different from the way Horde Prime used them!" her friend went on. "The hardware is the same, but the software… it's totally unlike the software used in the Horde. But! It's not… it's like…" Entrapta shook her head while her hair tendrils kept using two keyboards at once. "The mind-control chips didn't network like that - couldn't network like that."
"Yes," Sam agreed. "The way the protocols change, data traffic spikes. Whole new sets of protocols must be transferred each time. We need to decrypt them so we can hack into that." Once they were inside, they would get the new protocols each time the network shifted.
But the encryption was proving to be frustratingly hard to crack. Sam had no hard proof, but she was certain that it was based on that alien cube's encryption. If only they had cracked that cube earlier…
"Oh, look at that!" Entrapta highlighted a change in data traffic on the holoprojection between them.
Sam narrowed her eyes. The way the shift happened… She couldn't read the data, but the volume… "It's not just temporary spikes when the network shifts - it's forming a new central node each time they shift and they shift all the time."
"Yes. Even though distributing data through direct connections would be more efficient, that's how the normal communication of the fleet works; they send everything through that node - which keeps shifting around even without a chip dropping off the network. But why does it do that?" Entrapta asked. "It's inefficient. It's putting a strain on the network in the middle of all this!"
Sam agreed. It made no sense. It was taking over a lot of the capacity of the enemy fleet's local communication network, and that impacted their performance. She blinked. Performance! "Can the chips actually handle that sort of strain?"
Entrapta gasped and several holographic screens popped up, data scrolling over all of them. Construction materials, internal architecture, everything about the chips. "A regular mind-control chip can't handle that much data - not for long! Not without burning out!"
"They have to keep shifting the central node around to avoid burning out the chips it controls!" Sam shook her head. "If we can stop the transfer…"
"Or if we overload it!" Entrapta nodded. "But how?"
"We can't jam the radio network," Sam said. The enemy ships were too close and putting out too much power; Alliance ships would have to be far too close to stop that. And jamming drones or bots lacked the sheer power needed for that.
"And we're already jamming the subspace communications," Entrapta added. "Too bad we can't lure the node into our captured chips and…" She blinked.
Sam drew a sharp breath. They had the chips - and they were set up to receive such data. If they tapped the captured chips into the radio network, waited until a node formed in one of them - the data traffic pattern would show it - and then cut the network before the node could move on… "If the chips don't have backup control nodes, that might do it."
"If they had such nodes, they wouldn't need to shift around like that and probably could use external cores to run the nodes!" Entrapta nodded eagerly.
But the prisoners with the chips were not here - they had stayed with the captured flagship.
"We need a stealth shuttle and the chipped prisoners!" Sam yelled. "Hurry!"
Their plan had an unexpected drawback, Samantha Carter realised a bit later, in the hangar, waiting for the prisoner transport to arrive. In order to tap into the enemy radio network, they had to get into the enemy formation in a stealth shuttle.
And that required a pilot. Or a crew.
"I'm going, and you're not, and that's final."
"Jack!"
"Sha're! Listen to him!"
"Why, Daniel? You never do it if you think you're right! He needs a copilot!"
"No, I don't. I can handle a short flight alone. I just need someone to keep an eye on the prisoners. No one else."
Sam cleared her throat. "I'll have to come as well," she told the General. "We can't risk the lag from remote operations. Not with subspace still jammed. And if we stop the jamming, the plan will fail."
He glared at her but had no answer to that and finally, reluctantly and with ill grace nodded.
Good. Sam knew the risk this plan entailed, and she wouldn't send anyone off if she wasn't going as well.
"I should come as well!"
Of course, just because Sam was going didn't mean Entrapta had to go as well. Quite the contrary. It might be hypocritical of her, but she wouldn't let her friend risk her life when it wasn't necessary for both of them to go.
No matter how much Entrapta pouted.
It had been hard enough to keep Adora from coming along. Sam suspected that she was still trying to find a good argument to go on the mission.
That prisoner transport couldn't come fast enough!
"Pearl Jam en route."
Samantha Carter ran a last check on the computers she'd set up inside the shuttle, next to the hastily placed prisoner pods - a fancy designation for coffins with life support and medical sensors. But it was necessary to keep the prisoners from trying to attack everyone else - and harming themselves in the process. Even now, with the shuttle's engines accelerating at max power, she could hear some of the chipped Clones bang against the inside of their prisons, and she thought she heard Mal'ak trying to chew through his gag.
It made her feel sick. They needed a quick way to remove such chips, and they needed it yesterday - they couldn't hold enemies with such chips as prisoners without violating the laws of war and every civilised country.
She glanced at the holoprojection to her left, which showed an overview of the battle. The numbers of engaged ships on both sides had shrunk, but not decisively. The task force didn't have the numerical superiority to force a close-quarters engagement, not without taking crippling losses, so they were forced to attempt the now familiar high-speed attacks to create and exploit any weaknesses in the enemy's formation. But since that tactic relied on crippling the enemy's ability to react to sudden changes to be most effective, and the best they could manage now was to slow Ba'al's fleet down, it was going slowly, and while each individual exchange left the enemy more damaged than the Alliance ships, it still took a steady toll.
But the enemy was hanging by a thread, and Sam and her friends were about to cut that thread - if their plan succeeded.
She pressed her lips together as she watched the shuttle's course on the holoprojection, swinging around the most recent attack by an ad-hoc squadron on the enemy formation to avoid stray beam cannon volleys. A single hit would destroy the shuttle at once.
She forced the thought away and checked her setup again. The radio connections were ready, the routines to cut the connection the moment the data had spiked as well, and the power supply was holding steady.
"How are the prisoners doing?" the General asked.
"Their status remains unchanged, O'Neill," Teal'c replied in the same tone he used when talking about the weather. Unflappable and dependable - and deadly, as usual.
"And the tech stuff, Carter?"
"Everything's ready, sir." She sounded a bit clipped, she realised, but he didn't comment on it.
"Alright, we're going in. I've picked out a nice frigate in the back. Keep those radio receivers peeled so we don't have to bump into the enemy hull to get a reception!"
She snorted at the weak joke as she checked the holoprojection again - they were headed straight for a frigate in the rear part - but since the enemy was surrounded, that meant they had to pass through the enemy line.
"Starting evasive flying," the General announced a moment later, and the shuttle began to juke and weave - on the holoprojection; Sam didn't feel any movement through the ship's inertial compensator.
To their side, another ad-hoc squadron was launching a fly-by attack, and a few seconds later, the enemy shifted in response. That opened a hole for the shuttle - and the enemy fire would be aimed away from them.
But now they were in radio range, and Sam connected the setup to the receivers. "Trap active," she reported.
They passed so close to an enemy frigate, badly damaged but still flying, that Sam could see it through the cockpit's windows - and its guns firing - but there was no data spike. The control side might not want to switch to a frontline ship, she thought.
Then they were through the enemy line and headed to the enemy rear - or centre, depending on your view. The radio traffic was heavier here, and she saw another data spike on the chip network - yet not to the trap. Could they locate the chips through the radio network? If they could, they would be able to find the shuttle despite the stealth field, but it should be impossible in such a dense formation while using high-powered short-range radio signals in the middle of massive jamming. And the chips were not connected to the regular communications, as far as they knew, so they couldn't use that to feed targeting data to the beam cannons. But Ba'al had surprised them before…
But no ship turned their weapons on them even as the prisoners' chips connected to the network. Maybe Entrapta's theory was correct and the chips could only enforce loyalty and a berserker mode and lacked the capacity to take over a body like a Goa'uld could? Or was that what the control node could do?
They wouldn't be able to tell until they had the time to analyse them properly.
"We're flying around their flagship. Anyone biting?"
"Not yet, sir. There are many chips for the control node to switch to, and if it's random then this could take a bit," Sam told the General. He knew that already - she had briefed everyone on the risks. But flying so closely to the enemy - the shuttle's icon almost disappeared under the enemy icon on the holoprojection - would stress anyone.
She glanced at the prisoner pods again, No change. What if she had miscalculated? What if the chips were blocked from rejoining the network if they went offline? No, that would have crashed the entire network when the jammers started, but there could be security protocols that delayed…
The computer alert went off - data spike! A moment later, the second alert went off. "Data spike! Trap offline!" she reported. "Checking reaction!"
The logs showed the data spike - into Mal'ak. And the connection was cut before any other data spike could be registered. The control node had been severed!
She smiled, showing her teeth, as she sent the confirmation to Entrapta and started hacking the chips' network. Without the control node refreshing and changing the protocols every few seconds, they could finally finish this!
Then Mal'ak's medical sensors started to scream alerts - his chip was literally burning out!
Flagship of the Guard Force, Point Velvet, Deep Space, July 4th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"Go!"
As soon as Adora's order came over the communicator, Jack O'Neill rose, zat in hand, aimed at the door in front of him. A moment later, it slid open - Carter had hacked the controls. He rushed inside, already turning to aim at the figure he had marked on his HUD.
The Clone was sitting up on his bed. "Oh, what…"
Jack shot him. Once.
The Clone collapsed, stunned, and Jack rushed to secure him with zip ties - advanced restraining devices with much higher tensile strength than steel, according to Carter, but he knew zip ties when he saw them. He searched the Clone for any weapons and devices, tossing out a Horde-style gun, then flipped him over and secured his hands and feet. Better safe than sorry.
Then he lifted the guy on his shoulder and moved to the door.
"Hangar Group done." Catra sounded smug. Well, anyone could kidnap a guy quickly if they had an illusion-casting cat with them.
The corridor was clear according to the HUD, but Jack O'Neill still peeked around the corner to check before moving out of the room. He trusted Carter with his life, but even she or her technology weren't perfect. And this would be a hell of a time to discover that the magic sensor glitched and overlooked a patrolling squad of Jaffa or Clones because they were wearing funny hats or something.
Carter and Teal'c were ahead of him, in the second target's quarters. He closed the door behind him - no clones moving nearby, according to the HUD - and quickly made his way to them. "Carter? Teal'c?" he asked as he entered. "You've got two?"
"This is the target." Teal'c pointed at a Clone who had a chip port in the back of his neck. "We have not yet identified the other."
"Well, they look alike. Maybe his twin?"
Carter rolled her eyes. Teal'c didn't react at all, and Jack sighed. "So… any chance he's someone important?"
"I would need access to the ship's system to identify him. Or check a restricted door's controls for access privileges, sir," Carter replied.
"Let's leave him here, then, and lock the door behind us. We're on a tight schedule," Jack said.
"Indeed." Teal'c grabbed both their guy and Jack's.
"Let's go!" Jack turned to the door to check the corridor and used his communicator. "Crew Quarters group, done."
"Engine Room group, done."
Good. That only left the bridge. Where Adora and Entrapta were.
*****
"Crew Quarters group, done."
"Engine Group, done!"
Adora took a deep breath as the last Clone on the bridge slid down the wall into which she had kicked him. Maybe a bit too hard - he didn't move. But she had knocked him down earlier, yet he had recovered and had been about to shoot at Entrapta. So… his own fault.
She looked around. Half a dozen bridge crew, four guards, the captain and Mal'ak - probably; he had a mind-control chip and was the only Jaffa on the bridge - were knocked out.
"Bridge group, done," she said into her communicator.
"Not yet!" Entrapta called out. "I'm still trying to hack into the system here. Well, systems - we need the data banks, backups and the security system, but also communications. And weapons, or they could shoot at someone to alert them. Or trigger them to fire back. So…"
Well, they had control of the bridge, at least. The rest would come in time. Adora touched the button on the earring Entrapta had made for her, and a HUD appeared in front of her eyes. She could see the others. Glimmer and Bow were holding the engineering section, and Catra's group was moving toward Jack's group so they could merge and join Adora on the bridge. Good. By the time they reached the bridge, Entrapta would have…
Something moved to her right! Adora spun around. Mal'ak was getting up - and he was aiming a zat'nik'tel! At Entrapta! Adora threw herself between the two, but Mal'ak was faster - his shot hit Entrapta in the back, and she collapsed. His second shot hit Adora's shield, though.
She bared her teeth as she rolled and rose, facing him. He shot a third time, and she caught it on her shield again as she rushed him.
She hit him, shield first, and he flew several yards back, crashing into and over a console, flipping head over heels, before slamming into the wall.
She drew a sharp breath when she saw the red smear he left on the wall. Had she killed him? She glanced at Entrapta; her friend was breathing. She had only been hit once, so she was simply stunned.
Adora rushed to the downed Jaffa. He, too, was still breathing but bleeding massively from his head. That was…
He suddenly rolled away from her, reaching for his dropped zat.
Adora stepped on the zat, crushing it, and shook her head. "Surrender!"
He looked at her with an empty expression, then grabbed her lower leg and…
…tried to pull her down. As if!
She kicked him again, not too hard, and he flew back into the wall - but got up again and came at her.
A bash with her shield set him flying once again. Adora heard bones break this time.
Yet, he got up - or tried to. Adora grimaced when she saw his leg give in and the broken bone push through his skin. That…
She blinked. He wasn't showing any reaction - his expression looked almost bored!
Oh, no - the chip must be controlling him!
"What the…?"
"They woke up!"
"Watch out!"
All the chips had been activated.
*****
"What the…?"
Samantha Carter whirled to the side as soon as she heard the General, drawing her zat'nik'tel. Both the Clone Catra was carrying, as well as the two Teal'c had slung over his shoulders, were jerking wildly, trying to get free - no, trying to bite them.
Catra slammed her clone into the ground, hard enough, Sam heard bones crack. Yet the Clone didn't stop - didn't even cry out. No reaction at all!
Teal'c had dropped his two, kicked one away and pinned the other with his staff. But they wriggled on the floor - and were pulling against the restraining devices with enough force to make their wrists bleed!
Sam shot one with her zat'nik'tel before he managed to wound himself even worse.
It didn't stop them.
Sam almost shot the prisoner again before she could stop herself. A second shot so close to the first would kill him.
And probably not stop him, either. "The chips are controlling them!"
The general cursed and used his communicator. "Change of plans - we've been made! Signal the task force to attack and get this ship out of here!"
"Entrapta's stunned. I've healed her, but…"
"Oh… what happened?"
"You were stunned."
"Oh."
"Jam the communications! Crash their comms if you can!" Catra snapped.
"Oh, right."
But Entrapta sounded still a bit out of it - Sam could tell. Even though Adora had healed her.
Another crack made her glance at Teal'c. Her friend had just broken more bones of their prisoners. Pragmatic yet brutal.
Sam winced and focused on her computer. She had to link up with Entrapta's tool and, through it, to the main computer. They had to take over the ship! But first, the task force.
It took several seconds for the computers to link up - Entrapta was not quite as quick, yet, as she usually was - but Sam managed to send the signal to the fleet.
"They've alerted the crew!" the General said. "We need to get to the bridge. And hold engineering."
Sam quickly shut down all doors she could access. That would hopefully trap some of the Clones. But not all - and they were cutting through the blast doors in the corridors.
"We've sealed the door, but they're shooting at it."
Glimmer sounded… controlled. Not openly worried. Not yet.
"Working on the hyperspace window!" Entrapta reported. Sam could see that on the screen of her computer.
"And someone needs to reinforce Engineering Group," Catra said. "I'll go - you go with the rest to the Bridge. Yes, go with them. I'll be fine."
She was arguing with Melog, Sam realised, then pushed the stray thought away as she started to adjust the comms.
The enemy fleet had been alerted - the chips must have been tapped into the comm network and registered when their carriers were stunned. Or attacked. Obvious, in hindsight. Sam did what she could to throw them into disarray, sending out conflicting orders and flooding the network with data and requests for more data. Fortunately, they were on the enemy flagship - and their signals and orders were prioritised by default.
But the enemy was adapting - a squadron had just gone off the network. They would move against the flagship.
"The door's glowing."
"I'm almost there!"
Shots rang out around the corner. Carbine, M4. The General. Then blasts - Teal'c.
"We need to move! They're coming!"
"I'm almost done!" Sam protested. "I need to crash their network. If that squadron managed a coordinated attack… She tagged them as hostile and sent orders to the rest of the fleet to destroy them.
A third of the ships started moving to intercept the squadron. A few more started towards the flagship.
Sam modified the orders again. This time, they looked as if they came from the ships that had dropped off the network. The confusion wouldn't last long, but…
"Alright, we're opening the hyperspace window as soon as we're moving!"
"I've cleared the door to the engine room but it's too hot to open. Bow, what's the engine doing?"
"Uh… It's starting up."
"It's supposed to do that! We're about to enter hyperspace!"
And they were about to get shot by half the enemy fleet. Sam's efforts had delayed a coordinated response, but there was only so much you could do if the enemy had a secure network through their chips…
But before the first ship could do more than diminish their shields, they entered hyperspace, and Sam relaxed. They were safe, for the moment. At least the ship was - the General and Teal'c were shooting again. And Sam could see Melog next to her, probably shielding her with illusions.
"I'm coming back to you. Glimmer and Bow are safely sealed up!"
"Hey!"
"She's right, Glimmer - if we can't get out, they can't get in."
But the chipped prisoners were still trying to attack Sam - she saw one of them trying to roll toward her with broken bones sticking out of their limbs. This was horrifying!
A quick check of her display showed that most of the still-moving crew members were trying to storm the bridge.
Sam pressed her lips together. Charging Adora in a corridor? She knew how that would end. And she could also see that Catra was almost back with Sam's group.
Good. They just needed to hold until they reached the end of their trip and the Alliance marines could board the ship.
*****
Catra checked on her HUD one last time as she rushed down the corridor on all fours. All the enemies were facing Jack and Teal'c, holed up with Melog and Sam in a dead end a bit ahead.
Good.
She rounded the last corner and pounced on the Clone at the back of the enemy formation, landing on his shoulders and smashing his forehead into the floor while she jumped at the next one.
Her claws slashed through his weapon and fingers as she rammed him into the wall, leaving him stunned and bleeding as she pivoted and darted forward again.
The others were starting to react, turning around and crying out in alarm, but she was in the middle of them before they could form a line and dropped to the floor between the two closed, slicing their ankles before they could bring their weapons to bear, then finished them off with a quick series of kicks to the head.
That left three more, caught between her and the others. One tried to shoot her, but she darted to the side, making him miss, then rushed forward, dodging under his aim, to grab his arm. A quick twist broke his arm, making him drop the weapon, and she turned, throwing him into the next one before he could shoot, sending both to the floor, sprawling.
Jack moved up and shot the last one, then stunned the two others before they could recover. "We need to get to the bridge."
She checked her HUD. There were still quite a number of the crew moving around, though they didn't seem too organised any more. And yet… if the crowd in the hangar hit engineering, Bow and Glimmer could be in trouble. "Go. I'll run interference to keep them from getting their act together."
He nodded. "We have three prisoners we can't stun."
"They have been rendered unable to attack us," Teal'c said. Behind him, one of the bound and gagged Clones on the floor tried to hit his ankle with his forehead, and he moved to the side. "Mostly."
They had all limbs broken but didn't stop trying to fight, Catra noticed with a wince. If Horde Prime had used his chips like that… "We need to hack the chips to free them."
"We need to get out of hyperspace and have the ship secured first," Jack said. "We're still trying to take over a ship with just us against the entire crew."
Catra clenched her teeth. "As long as those chips are working, the enemy ships won't stop fighting."
He nodded and glanced over at Sam. "Carter?"
"Entrapta is handling the ship's controls and keeping us on course. Sir, I am blocking communications and weapon systems so they cannot fire on our allies or call for help. But if they track the mind-control chips, they will locate us anyway."
"Right. Hack the chips first."
"Yes, sir."
Good. Catra nodded and left them. She had a ship to roam and crew to take out. At least the regular Clones were easy to disable and not some mind-controlled zombie warriors. But she really didn't want to face a horde of Jaffa controlled by such chips. You'd have to kill them all to stop them, and she wouldn't put it past those evil things to keep a dead body fighting for a while.
Up ahead, three Clones were trying to bypass the locks Sam had put on the beam cannon battery there. She tore through them in seconds, leaving them bleeding and knocked out. The hangar was ahead. It looked like the remaining clones there - half of the hangar crew had been attacking engineering, and Catra had dealt with them already - were trying to get a fighter ready.
That wouldn't do. Catra took a shortcut through the air ducts, scrambling through the narrow space with her claws digging into the material, then slashed the grill and dropped into the hangar, right on top of a Clone dismantling the door controls.
She left him with his head stuck in the controls and rushed the next group. They tried to form a firing line as if this were a field battle but were too slow - and too unused to ground battles; two shot each other when Catra dived between them to sweep their feet, and a third seemed caught between moving to a spot from where he wouldn't hit anyone else but Catra and holding his position.
She took him out with a blow to the head when he decided to charge her instead, then used him as a shield to catch the blast from the last one. A quick charge smashed the smoking corpse into the shooter, and both into the console behind them.
Catra jumped over them, landing behind the console, moments before a volley of blasts hit both Clones and the console.
The rest of the hangar crew had noticed and formed up, including a few bots. Those had no trouble with ground combat and were advancing on her, as her HUD showed.
She grinned as she looked at the enemy formation. It was almost perfectly aligned - Horde Prime would have been proud.
But it was also almost perfectly lined up in front of the closest Horde fighter.
She jumped out of cover - it was disintegrating under the blasts anyway - and ran on all fours across the hangar. The Clones were slow to adjust their fire, the bots barely better, and she reached the fighter ahead of their shots.
A slice with her claws cut the forward landing strut, and the fighter tipped forward, nose hitting the floor. While the Clones shot the cockpit to pieces, she dug her claws into the right side, cutting off a part as tall as herself and twice as wide.
Makeshift shield ready, she rushed the line, catching the blasts until she was in the middle of their formation.
Then she cut loose.
*****
Never split the party, Jack O'Neill reminded himself as he rounded the next corner, leading with his carbine. "Clear!" he called out. The HUD had shown him no one was there before he had reached the corner, but old habits died hard.
And you couldn't blindly trust technology, anyway. Certainly not when fighting someone like Ba'al. Those chips… He glanced back to where Teal'c was literally dragging the bound, gagged and mutilated prisoners and grimaced. Technically, it wasn't a war crime to subdue prisoners who were attacking you, and they hadn't killed them, and they could be healed by Adora - would be healed; it was Adora, after all - but he still felt bad about it.
And speaking of Adora, they were close to the bridge section now. On the HUD, He could see a group of Clones gathered at a junction ahead of them, blocking the access corridor to and from the bridge in this part of the frigate.
Or trying to. Jack scoffed and used his communicator. "Bridge Team? We're almost there. But we could use a little help clearing the way.
"Coming, Crew Quarters!"
Adora must have been tracking them on her own HUD - she charged straight out of the bridge, at the blocking force. Jack heard shots from ahead of him and through the communicator, followed by screams and then the sound of people hitting walls.
By the time his team reached the junction, it was already over. Adora stood in the centre, surrounded by the bodies of the Clones she had just laid out.
Two were groaning, and Jack stunned them with his zat. Better safe than sorry. "We've got the prisoners, but they're in bad shape," he told her with a grimace.
She nodded curtly. "They don't stop fighting. Get on the bridge and cover Entrapta. I'll finish the rest."
Meaning, she wanted to head to Catra, who had taken on the entire hangar section according to the HUD feed. But Jack didn't comment - he understood the feeling, and it made sense for Adora to go and finish the take-over of the ship before they dropped out of hyperspace.
"Alright," he replied.
Adora nodded once, then ran off while Jack led his team onto the bridge.
"Hi, Jack!" Entrapta waved from the corner. She was sitting, surrounded - and almost hidden - by panels Adora must have ripped off the walls and slammed into the floor to form a barricade. "We're almost at our destination!"
Carter joined her at once, crouching next to Entrapta, and put her computer down.
Jack glanced at the consoles, half of them broken, one with a Clone still stuck in it. That was a bit more damage than he had expected.
"Oh, don't worry - I'm running the ship through my multitool!"
Now Jack was worrying. But Carter didn't seem to mind the setup, so it probably was safe.
"How much longer do we have?" he asked.
"Two minutes, sir."
Long enough for things to go wrong. He checked the prisoners on the bridge. All but the chipped ones were stunned and wouldn't be a problem. But the chipped ones… the two on the bridge were wrapped in wall panels and still trying to get out - they were tearing themselves bloody in the process. The three Teal'c just set down next to them were worse off, though. "We really need to hack the chips," he muttered. "Keep an eye on them, Teal'c," he added.
His friend nodded, and Jack went to the main door to the bridge to stand guard.
The corridor was clear, and he didn't see any Clones moving towards him on the HUD. Not many were moving at all in the ship - Adora had gone through two gathered groups and was now about to reach the hangar.
"Oh, look - they're trying to manually remove the locks from the main batteries!"
"That won't help them when we cut the power supply."
"But we can't shut down the reactor."
"We can manually mark the power lines as under maintenance, that will make the system cut them off."
"They could bypass it manually. But they would have to move to the engine room for that. Unless they try to siphon power from the life support systems in the section."
"That won't be enough to power even one beam cannon."
"But they could charge it in advance - it would give them one shot, at least."
"We'll be out of hyperspace and being boarded by then."
"Oh, yes - never mind then. So, this should be safe. Let's start on hacking the mind-control network, then!"
Jack felt a bit better. It sounded as if things were on track. At least on the bridge. They might still pull off this - taking an entire ship with just two teams. Jack would have to make sure that the idiots back on Earth wouldn't try to use that to implement boarding as a standard tactic for fleet engagements. The crayon-eaters would jump at the idea, and some of the Navy pukes might support them even though they should know better.
"Leaving hyperspace in five… four… three…"
Jack tensed.
"...two… one…"
The ship lurched.
*****
Near Point Velvet, Deep Space, July 4th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"...one…"
Adora was just about to hit the hangar when the ship dropped out of hyperspace - and not as smoothly as she expected - she did stumble at the unexpected movement. But no alarms were going off, and she didn't hear anything breaking, so she continued, using her sword to cut a way into the hangar, where Catra was…
…apparently just finishing off the last resistance, she realised when she came to a stop. "Catra!"
"Hey, Adora!" Her love turned toward her with that sly smile on her face that never failed to make Adora feel that little bit special. Though the fact that Catra's spacesuit was splattered with blood - and her hands and feet were practically covered with it - was a bit distracting.
Catra must have noticed and shrugged. "Most aren't dead, and they weren't able to send out any fighters - or use them to blow the ship up from inside."
Adora took a look at the bodies around Catra. They looked as bloody as Catra did, though she could see most of them breathing and heard them groaning. They needed first aid as well - they were now prisoners of war, with all that entailed. "Good," she said after a moment, then checked the most urgent-looking wounded to heal them.
Catra flexed her hands, extending and retracting her claws several times. Cleaning them using the sealing mechanism Entrapta had built into her suit.
Adora frowned a little. At least, Catra wasn't trying to lick them.
"We've hailed the task force left behind here. Marines are on the way," Jack reported over the communicator.
"Better late than never," Catra commented.
"We were supposed to go on a recon mission," Adora defended them. "We decided to board and take over the enemy flagship without telling them."
"I'm still going to rub it in if they try to act as if they're saving us," Catra said.
"I doubt anyone will claim they saved us if they see this," Adora replied with a nod and a grimace at the pile of bodies.
Catra shrugged. "Marines will."
"Those are Royal Marines," Adora pointed out. "Not US Marines."
"They probably still eat crayons, just the yellow ones." Catra smirked.
Adora shook her head. Her love and Jack got on a bit too well. "Let's clear the space for their shuttles."
"I can't throw fighters around."
"You can drag the bodies out of the way!"
Catra snorted but didn't complain any further, and Adora started pushing the fighters into a corner. Assault shuttles needed more room to land under combat conditions.
Catra had just set down the last Clone and was tying up some bandages around the still-bleeding wrist she had sliced when the first shuttle arrived.
Adora used her sword to guide them inside, and as soon as the shuttle touched down, the ramp dropped, and the marines poured out.
"We need to secure the engineering section and the bridge and relieve our teams there before you sweep the ship," Adora told the commander. "And our prisoners need to be treated and prepared for transport. But check them for chips implanted at the neck. If you find any, call us - those chips can force them to fight with broken limbs and even unconscious."
"Yes, Supreme Commander!" The captain in charge looked grim as he nodded and started sending out his troops.
"Medics over here!" Catra yelled, and a few soldiers hurried over towards her.
The second assault shuttle touched down as the first soldiers left the hangar, and Adora and Catra left with them to return to the bridge. She tried to ignore the cursing of the medics and other soldiers attending the wounded and frowned at Catra when she heard her snickering at some of the 'murder-blender' comments.
Sometimes, Catra's sense of humour was a bit too dark.
*****
Point Velvet, Deep Space, July 4th, 2000 (Earth Time)
The battle was still going on when they reached Point Velvet on board the Horde frigate they had commandeered. Adora stared at the holoprojection on the bridge and frowned. Between the jamming fields - although as happened before, the enemy was compensating by using local direct radio transmission to form a comm network - and the numerical superiority, Ba'al's guard force should not be putting up such resistance. They were losing, that much was obvious, but they were fighting much harder than before. And the task force was taking casualties as a result. So far, they hadn't lost many ships, but they could only shift the ships around, replacing damaged ones with ships still fit to fight for only so long before they had to send in damaged ones to relieve even more damaged ones, and then the losses would be mounting quickly.
"We need to crash the chips," Catra said, sounding as grim as Adora felt.
"Yes."
"We're working on it!" Entrapta called out from where Sam and she had put up their computers. "But it's tricky. Ba'al's been meddling with the software."
"And he's using non-standard encryption," Sam added. "It's not based on any known Goa'uld systems."
That was not good. If Ba'al was using unknown technology… "Is it related to the datacube's technology?" Adora asked.
"Possibly. We can't tell yet. There are similarities, but we need more data to tell if those are just the result of using the same base principles or actual derivative technology," Sam replied.
"Just do your best," Adora told them while she watched another frigate from the task force fall out of formation, the icon lighting up with red alert messages. They were pushing the enemy back - the first factory ships had been disabled - but the Glove was still holding in the centre of the enemy formation.
They needed those chips disabled.
*****
Samantha Carter tried to ignore the space battle raging nearby and focus on the chip network - which must be piggy-backing on the short-range radio network the enemy was using to counter the subspace-jamming attack of the Alliance forces - but each time a chip went offline, she was reminded that that meant, most likely, a destroyed enemy ship. Worse, though, was the effect it had on Entrapta and her efforts to hack the chips.
"The network adapted again!" Entrapta commented. "The distribution changed - and the codes changed."
The network wasn't using the same architecture as the Alliance networks, based on the Internet. When a member dropped out, data traffic didn't automatically reroute through existing lines and connections to compensate, such as the enemy fleet did - the whole chip network was reorganised, with key nodes changing and even protocols switching.
"This is completely different from the way Horde Prime used them!" her friend went on. "The hardware is the same, but the software… it's totally unlike the software used in the Horde. But! It's not… it's like…" Entrapta shook her head while her hair tendrils kept using two keyboards at once. "The mind-control chips didn't network like that - couldn't network like that."
"Yes," Sam agreed. "The way the protocols change, data traffic spikes. Whole new sets of protocols must be transferred each time. We need to decrypt them so we can hack into that." Once they were inside, they would get the new protocols each time the network shifted.
But the encryption was proving to be frustratingly hard to crack. Sam had no hard proof, but she was certain that it was based on that alien cube's encryption. If only they had cracked that cube earlier…
"Oh, look at that!" Entrapta highlighted a change in data traffic on the holoprojection between them.
Sam narrowed her eyes. The way the shift happened… She couldn't read the data, but the volume… "It's not just temporary spikes when the network shifts - it's forming a new central node each time they shift and they shift all the time."
"Yes. Even though distributing data through direct connections would be more efficient, that's how the normal communication of the fleet works; they send everything through that node - which keeps shifting around even without a chip dropping off the network. But why does it do that?" Entrapta asked. "It's inefficient. It's putting a strain on the network in the middle of all this!"
Sam agreed. It made no sense. It was taking over a lot of the capacity of the enemy fleet's local communication network, and that impacted their performance. She blinked. Performance! "Can the chips actually handle that sort of strain?"
Entrapta gasped and several holographic screens popped up, data scrolling over all of them. Construction materials, internal architecture, everything about the chips. "A regular mind-control chip can't handle that much data - not for long! Not without burning out!"
"They have to keep shifting the central node around to avoid burning out the chips it controls!" Sam shook her head. "If we can stop the transfer…"
"Or if we overload it!" Entrapta nodded. "But how?"
"We can't jam the radio network," Sam said. The enemy ships were too close and putting out too much power; Alliance ships would have to be far too close to stop that. And jamming drones or bots lacked the sheer power needed for that.
"And we're already jamming the subspace communications," Entrapta added. "Too bad we can't lure the node into our captured chips and…" She blinked.
Sam drew a sharp breath. They had the chips - and they were set up to receive such data. If they tapped the captured chips into the radio network, waited until a node formed in one of them - the data traffic pattern would show it - and then cut the network before the node could move on… "If the chips don't have backup control nodes, that might do it."
"If they had such nodes, they wouldn't need to shift around like that and probably could use external cores to run the nodes!" Entrapta nodded eagerly.
But the prisoners with the chips were not here - they had stayed with the captured flagship.
"We need a stealth shuttle and the chipped prisoners!" Sam yelled. "Hurry!"
*****
Their plan had an unexpected drawback, Samantha Carter realised a bit later, in the hangar, waiting for the prisoner transport to arrive. In order to tap into the enemy radio network, they had to get into the enemy formation in a stealth shuttle.
And that required a pilot. Or a crew.
"I'm going, and you're not, and that's final."
"Jack!"
"Sha're! Listen to him!"
"Why, Daniel? You never do it if you think you're right! He needs a copilot!"
"No, I don't. I can handle a short flight alone. I just need someone to keep an eye on the prisoners. No one else."
Sam cleared her throat. "I'll have to come as well," she told the General. "We can't risk the lag from remote operations. Not with subspace still jammed. And if we stop the jamming, the plan will fail."
He glared at her but had no answer to that and finally, reluctantly and with ill grace nodded.
Good. Sam knew the risk this plan entailed, and she wouldn't send anyone off if she wasn't going as well.
"I should come as well!"
Of course, just because Sam was going didn't mean Entrapta had to go as well. Quite the contrary. It might be hypocritical of her, but she wouldn't let her friend risk her life when it wasn't necessary for both of them to go.
No matter how much Entrapta pouted.
It had been hard enough to keep Adora from coming along. Sam suspected that she was still trying to find a good argument to go on the mission.
That prisoner transport couldn't come fast enough!
*****
"Pearl Jam en route."
Samantha Carter ran a last check on the computers she'd set up inside the shuttle, next to the hastily placed prisoner pods - a fancy designation for coffins with life support and medical sensors. But it was necessary to keep the prisoners from trying to attack everyone else - and harming themselves in the process. Even now, with the shuttle's engines accelerating at max power, she could hear some of the chipped Clones bang against the inside of their prisons, and she thought she heard Mal'ak trying to chew through his gag.
It made her feel sick. They needed a quick way to remove such chips, and they needed it yesterday - they couldn't hold enemies with such chips as prisoners without violating the laws of war and every civilised country.
She glanced at the holoprojection to her left, which showed an overview of the battle. The numbers of engaged ships on both sides had shrunk, but not decisively. The task force didn't have the numerical superiority to force a close-quarters engagement, not without taking crippling losses, so they were forced to attempt the now familiar high-speed attacks to create and exploit any weaknesses in the enemy's formation. But since that tactic relied on crippling the enemy's ability to react to sudden changes to be most effective, and the best they could manage now was to slow Ba'al's fleet down, it was going slowly, and while each individual exchange left the enemy more damaged than the Alliance ships, it still took a steady toll.
But the enemy was hanging by a thread, and Sam and her friends were about to cut that thread - if their plan succeeded.
She pressed her lips together as she watched the shuttle's course on the holoprojection, swinging around the most recent attack by an ad-hoc squadron on the enemy formation to avoid stray beam cannon volleys. A single hit would destroy the shuttle at once.
She forced the thought away and checked her setup again. The radio connections were ready, the routines to cut the connection the moment the data had spiked as well, and the power supply was holding steady.
"How are the prisoners doing?" the General asked.
"Their status remains unchanged, O'Neill," Teal'c replied in the same tone he used when talking about the weather. Unflappable and dependable - and deadly, as usual.
"And the tech stuff, Carter?"
"Everything's ready, sir." She sounded a bit clipped, she realised, but he didn't comment on it.
"Alright, we're going in. I've picked out a nice frigate in the back. Keep those radio receivers peeled so we don't have to bump into the enemy hull to get a reception!"
She snorted at the weak joke as she checked the holoprojection again - they were headed straight for a frigate in the rear part - but since the enemy was surrounded, that meant they had to pass through the enemy line.
"Starting evasive flying," the General announced a moment later, and the shuttle began to juke and weave - on the holoprojection; Sam didn't feel any movement through the ship's inertial compensator.
To their side, another ad-hoc squadron was launching a fly-by attack, and a few seconds later, the enemy shifted in response. That opened a hole for the shuttle - and the enemy fire would be aimed away from them.
But now they were in radio range, and Sam connected the setup to the receivers. "Trap active," she reported.
They passed so close to an enemy frigate, badly damaged but still flying, that Sam could see it through the cockpit's windows - and its guns firing - but there was no data spike. The control side might not want to switch to a frontline ship, she thought.
Then they were through the enemy line and headed to the enemy rear - or centre, depending on your view. The radio traffic was heavier here, and she saw another data spike on the chip network - yet not to the trap. Could they locate the chips through the radio network? If they could, they would be able to find the shuttle despite the stealth field, but it should be impossible in such a dense formation while using high-powered short-range radio signals in the middle of massive jamming. And the chips were not connected to the regular communications, as far as they knew, so they couldn't use that to feed targeting data to the beam cannons. But Ba'al had surprised them before…
But no ship turned their weapons on them even as the prisoners' chips connected to the network. Maybe Entrapta's theory was correct and the chips could only enforce loyalty and a berserker mode and lacked the capacity to take over a body like a Goa'uld could? Or was that what the control node could do?
They wouldn't be able to tell until they had the time to analyse them properly.
"We're flying around their flagship. Anyone biting?"
"Not yet, sir. There are many chips for the control node to switch to, and if it's random then this could take a bit," Sam told the General. He knew that already - she had briefed everyone on the risks. But flying so closely to the enemy - the shuttle's icon almost disappeared under the enemy icon on the holoprojection - would stress anyone.
She glanced at the prisoner pods again, No change. What if she had miscalculated? What if the chips were blocked from rejoining the network if they went offline? No, that would have crashed the entire network when the jammers started, but there could be security protocols that delayed…
The computer alert went off - data spike! A moment later, the second alert went off. "Data spike! Trap offline!" she reported. "Checking reaction!"
The logs showed the data spike - into Mal'ak. And the connection was cut before any other data spike could be registered. The control node had been severed!
She smiled, showing her teeth, as she sent the confirmation to Entrapta and started hacking the chips' network. Without the control node refreshing and changing the protocols every few seconds, they could finally finish this!
Then Mal'ak's medical sensors started to scream alerts - his chip was literally burning out!
*****
Faber_The_Builder
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That´s a big weakness. Should the Alliance research this a bit more, they might more or less be able to just burn out any chipped Ba´al forces.
htgriffin
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Unless and until the "dangerous feedback from disabled chips" feature is worked around, I think the Supreme Commander would insist on it being an absolute last resort.
Chapter 177: Ba’al’s Machinations Part 9
Starfox5
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Chapter 177: Ba'al's Machinations Part 9
Point Velvet, Deep Space, July 4th, 2000 (Earth Time)
Mal'ak's chip's burning out. It's affecting his brain.
Catra drew a sharp breath when she received Sam's report - passed as a message through the Alliance network to bypass the area-jamming focused on the enemy fleet. Her own chip had burnt out as well, but she hadn't been hurt like that. What was going on? What had Ba'al done with the chips? The hardware was supposed to be the same as Horde Prime's chips!
"Oh, no!" Adora exclaimed.
Catra checked the shuttle's position. It was still inside the enemy formation, close to the centre. If they made a run for it without another attack by Alliance forces opening a hole to slip through, they'd risk getting caught by a stray volley - from either side. "They can't escape until they've hacked the chips."
"Almost done!" Entrapta yelled from her corner of the bridge. "Without the control node switching things around every few seconds, it's just a modified version of Horde Prime's programs, and I know those, well, I knew them - they've adapted some, but they're not really adaptive, so it's not a mutating system, but… Here we go! Crashing the chips!"
For the first few seconds, nothing happened. Part of that was signal lag - they had to go through the enemy radio network - but part of that was that even if you took out the captain of an enemy ship, the crew would keep going.
But as Catra watched, she saw the first signs of the enemy formation falling apart - slowly but surely, the coordination that had kept the ships together faded, and the formation became frayed, tattered at the edges. Replacing captains in the middle of a fight was never a smooth operation, and if the replacements lacked the mind control chips, they wouldn't really be able to keep up as before.
Here, a ship was a bit too slow to react to an Alliance squadron's fly-by attack, getting caught outside the cover provided by the rest of the ships nearby. There, a frigate retreated a bit too far from another probing attack, escaping any harm but opening a hole in the defence that exposed two more to withering fire from another squadron. And two ships suddenly turned and tried to flee.
Tried. One was shot down by another frigate as it passed, and the other veered off course, weaving back and forth and alternating speed - directly into the Alliance right wing. "Must have been mutineers," she whispered as the ship was disabled - almost broken in two - when their engines were destroyed by massed fire.
And Jack must have seen an opportunity - or just grown desperate - since the shuttle was hightailing it out of the enemy formation now. Catra held her breath as it flew straight at a defensive formation of enemy frigates, but it took a sharp turn before entering their area and flew underneath them, transponder flaring, towards the Alliance line.
She released her breath when the shuttle was safely behind their frontline and turned to Adora. "We have to push now. When they are at their most vulnerable. Before they restore the chain of command. If we can break them now, the battle's over." But if they didn't, they'd take losses they wouldn't take if they just kept whittling down the enemy numbers.
Adora knew that as well. She pressed her lips together for a moment, then nodded. "Captain, signal the task force to press the attack."
"Yes, Supreme Commander!"
On the holographic projection, the Alliance forces shifted, more reserves called forth as the more damaged ships were left behind, and the lightly damaged ones took point. Catra could see the enemy's formation trying to adapt to the attack they knew was coming, but their chain of command would still be dealing with losing all commanders at the same time, and even for the Clones, that was a huge blow.
Instead of an all-out attack, the Alliance fleet attacked by sections. One section, composed of all the ships in the best state, smashed straight into the enemy formation. And when the enemy centre fell back, the outer parts found themselves enveloping the section but also exposed to the next attacks, which cut through them before they could decimate the first wave.
Four, five enemy ships - half of them not even engaged - turned at that moment. One was shot down by their own group, the others ended up charging straight at another Alliance formation.
Three were wrecked in short order, the last one turned so hard, it flew through another squadron of Ba'al's frigates, almost ramming one as it thoroughly dissolved their formation.
The Alliance forces pounced on the ships left in disarray, and as they quickly died, isolated and without coordination and cover, a hole opened in the enemy formation through which two, three Alliance squadrons pushed.
"It's over," Catra said. The enemy formation was falling apart in front of her eyes. Ships fought by themselves, all coordination lost, as the Alliance frigates quickly focused their fire on one enemy after the other. And with every enemy frigate destroyed, the Alliance's advantage in numbers grew.
A few minutes later, the last handful of enemy frigates were drifting in space trailed by debris or turned into expanding clouds of plasma.
And Jack's shuttle landed on their ship.
Jack O'Neill was very grateful that the life support system of the stealth shuttle was rated for heavy duty; thanks to the filters in the ventilation system, he had barely caught a whiff of the stench of burning skin and flesh from the shuttle's cargo area.
He had heard the noise Ba'al's First Prime had made, even through his gag, when the chip had started burning. It was a good thing that the Alliance navy wasn't a dry navy - at least not the Clone ships - since Jack really needed a drink right now. Unfortunately, he would have to wait until he had landed the shuttle and dealt with the entire mess.
At least, they were ready for them; he saw a medical team waiting with a floating gurney as he guided the shuttle into the frigate's hangar, and as soon as he touched down, the four Clones were rushing to the back of the shuttle.
Jack lowered the ramp and got up. "We've arrived, folks." He almost added: 'Thank you for flying O'Neill Air', but Carter looked too grim to appreciate the joke. "How's the prisoner doing?"
"He's alive," Carter replied as she got up and let the medics grab Mal'ak. "But I can't tell yet what neural damage he suffered."
Jack winced. "I didn't think the chips were supposed to do that - didn't Catra mention that her own had burnt out as well?"
"They aren't supposed to do that," Carter replied in a clipped tone. "And the hardware is the same. Ba'al must have managed to alter the software in a way that allows it to overheat the chip to the point of burning the flesh it's attached to."
"The pain from burning skin should not have caused such a reaction," Teal'c spoke up. "If he could not take molten gold poured into Ba'al's symbol carved into his forehead without flinching, he would not have become Ba'al's First Prime."
Yeah, Jack wasn't about to comment on that. Or glance at the golden symbol on Teal'c's forehead.
"Yes," Carter said. "That's why I suspect that the chip did something to his brain."
"Something more painful than burning." Jack pressed his lips together. "Cooking the brain?"
Carter frowned. "That is not physically possible with the chip, sir."
Learned a new thing.
The Clones had finished loading the trembling - and bound - Jaffa on the gurney and were taking him out of the shuttle. He was no longer Jack's responsibility. Not officially, at least. But Jack had been in charge of the mission - he had carried a prisoner of war into battle to use them against the enemy. Even if Mal'ak hadn't been hurt, that would've been sketchy. Now? Jack was sure there would be an investigation. And 'I was following orders' wouldn't cut it. Not that he'd use that excuse - he had known what he was doing when he had taken command.
"What? A war crime?"
Jack nodded. "Yes. Prisoners of war aren't supposed to be sent into danger like that."
"But…" Adora blinked. "Oh, no! I didn't think of that!"
"It was my plan, sir," Carter spoke up. "My responsibility."
"I was in charge of the mission, Major" Jack retorted. If anyone had to take the fall for this, it would be him.
"I'm the Supreme Commander of the Alliance, and I approved of this. If anyone is to blame, it's me." Adora glared at both of them.
"Who's going to prosecute you? You're She-Ra, Princess of Power," Glimmer said. "And the Supreme Commander of the Alliance."
Adora's glare switched targets. "I'm not going to hide behind that!"
Ah… Jack winced. That wasn't going how he thought it would be going.
"You're a Princess; you have diplomatic immunity," Glimmer shot back. "Besides, what do you think will happen if some idiot tries to punish you for this? Priest will nod along?"
"I'll tell him that I was wrong."
"You weren't wrong," Catra spoke up. "The chips were already hurting the prisoners - they almost killed themselves. This was the only way we saw to hack them and stop them." She flashed her fangs. "Call it emergency medical aid."
That was… certainly creative. Jack didn't think too many prosecutors would agree, though that would likely not matter - it might be a good enough excuse to sweep this under the rug.
"But…" Adora tried to defend herself - or the opposite.
Catra shook her head. "We had no choice. If we wanted to save the chipped people, we had to hack those chips. And Mal'ak was Ba'al's First Prime - hardly an innocent victim."
Jack glanced at Teal'c. His friend had been Apophis's First Prime and had deserted. But Teal'c didn't say anything nor showed any expression.
And Carter looked torn.
"Still, we're not supposed to treat prisoners like that!" Adora said.
Catra shrugged. "Not even to save them?" She scoffed. "Those chips had to be hacked. We couldn't let them be mind-controlled. And that was the only way."
At least, they hadn't been able to think of a better way at the moment, Jack amended the statement in his head. But it was better to get on with the program. "So… we tried to save them, and the only way that seemed to offer any hope was dangerous but worked - in the end." Well, he had done worse in the past, and it had been buried.
But as everyone nodded, more or less reluctantly, Jack couldn't help feeling as if he were a spook. Or a politician.
Ba'al's Glove, Point Velvet, Deep Space, July 4th, 2000 (Earth Time)
Adora watched on the HUD as the royal marines went through another section of the ship. They had already scanned for ambushes and bombs - Adora herself had taken down a squad of Jaffa trying to hold a chokepoint - but the soldiers still proceeded cautiously through the corridors.
"They're fine," Catra commented behind her.
Adora knew that. But she still worried. They were acting on her orders - and as she had just been pointed out to her, she wasn't perfect. To think she had broken the laws of war!
"We've collected all the chipped people already," Catra went on. "This is just standard procedure."
Adora glanced at her. "What about the prisoners?"
"None of them show any symptoms like Mal'ak does," Catra replied. "Sam and Entrapta are removing the chips as fast as they can."
That was good. Adora felt guilty already for subjecting Mal'ak to this ordeal. They should have considered the risk and taken the chip out before heading in. But the chip wouldn't have linked up with the network if it hadn't been implanted, and… She clenched her teeth. It wasn't an excuse.
"We did what we could and had to," Catra said. "We couldn't let this go on."
Adora pressed her lips together. The excuse rang hollow. They shouldn't have used a prisoner like that. But they shouldn't have let the chipped people suffer longer either… There was no good answer. They just had to do better - much better - next time. "What are their reactions?"
Catra made a scoffing noise. "What do you think? They are traumatised by the experience."
Like Catra had been. Like any host of a Goa'uld had been.
Adora still had to ask. No two people were alike, not even Clones. Some might fool themselves into thinking they deserved to be controlled like that. And some might even consider it an honour. They didn't know what Mal'ak thought about it - the former First Prime of Ba'al still wasn't able to be interrogated.
"They're getting treatment," Catra went on. "We're doing what we can. But we need to find the chip factory and destroy it."
Adora nodded. That, at least, was clear and obvious. "We need to decide what we do about this site," she said. "Ba'al could already be massing ships to attack us."
"He can't just keep counter-attacking - we've defeated every force of his we've met so far," Catra said. "At some point, he has to start worrying about his remaining assets."
"We don't know how many forces he has left," Adora pointed out. It was unlikely that Ba'al could have enough Horde forces to match the Alliance, but not technically impossible.
Catra scoffed again. "If he had enough advanced forces to match us, he'd have done so straight away. He wouldn't have sent half a dozen frigates with a fleet of barely-upgraded Ha'taks after us. And he would have reinforced this site with more ships."
Adora nodded. It was likely that they had destroyed the bulk of the Horde forces that had joined Ba'al. But they couldn't be sure until they knew what forces Ba'al had left. "We need more intel."
"No shit!" Catra growled under her breath. "But the only one who seems to know everything is Ba'al himself. Either we take him out, or we have to wait until our spy bot network is covering the entire sector."
And even then, they couldn't be sure Ba'al wouldn't have some hidden base or yard in another part of the galaxy. This site wasn't in a system, after all - they would have missed it if they had simply mapped all systems in the area. "We still have half the spy bots tracking their ships," Adora said. "But we need to decide whether we hold this site or move everything back to the Alliance."
"Whether we abandon the Glove or not, you mean," Catra replied.
"Yes." They could evacuate everything else, but the unfinished flagship didn't have any engines yet. And while it was far from being finished, it was already too big to be moved by anything the task force had access to.
"We don't need it," Catra said. "It would take far too long to finish it, and even if we did finish it, we don't need a ship that big. Not to mention that it would send a pretty bad message to half of Etheria and any survivors of Horde Prime's campaigns."
She was correct, of course - Adora didn't think anyone who had fought Horde Prime would want to see his flagship again. The Velvet Glove had been responsible for so much destruction in the galaxy. "Some people will be angry," she said. Some people would love to have the biggest ship in the sector. And access to the factories planned to be built into it.
"Let them." Cara shrugged. "It would be a bad idea to focus so much into one ship, anyway. As Ba'al just found out."
Adora agreed with that. Not just because they couldn't afford to lose such a ship but also because whoever controlled the ship would control a lot of the Alliance's fleet strength. And that would influence Alliance politics. Still… "Let's discuss it with the others."
Catra shrugged. "I don't think Glimmer will disagree."
Adora didn't think so either. Jack was a wild card, though.
Point Velvet, Deep Space, July 5th, 2000 (Earth Time)
Samantha Carter suppressed a yawn as she stared at the latest data points from the analysis. The central control node code had to have protocols to link up with a higher authority - anything else wouldn't let Ba'al update the standing orders. And there would have to be checks and tests to validate such orders - data the Alliance could use against Ba'al, even if it wouldn't deliver them the coordinates of another of Ba'al's bases.
Unfortunately, after trapping the control node in Mal'ak's chip - Sam's lips formed a thin line when she remembered the consequences of that decision - it had started to burn out, and so they had barely managed to recover fragments of the code before the chip had died and almost taken Mal'ak with it. All that crucial data lost…
"Alright. I think I've finished restoring that piece of code," Entrapta said. "The advanced control routines would work according to the simulation, though we haven't tested that yet so it's not yet confirmed by empirical data."
"Uh, which won't happen because the Alliance doesn't mind-control people," Bow pointed out.
"Right! Of course!" Entrapta nodded.
Sam focused on the new data. The subroutines to control the carriers were the same as Horde Prime's - they had confirmed that with data from all the chips that they had captured - but anything about the actual advanced control node's directives and decision trees were assumptions. Assumptions based on the data from those chips which had hosted the control node during the battle detailing the orders and changes in behaviour it had left.
And wasn't that a nice, clinical way to talk and think about a chip warping a person's innermost thoughts and desires?
"At least we've managed to streamline the removal of the chips," Bow said after a few moments.
That hadn't taken much beyond Entrapta and Bow remembering how they had dealt with Horde Prime's chips and checking if the basic methods worked. Sam still nodded since it meant all of the chips' victims were now free. Traumatised and in need of help but no longer trapped in their own bodies - or, worse, mentally manipulated to become fanatical followers of Ba'al.
But it had netted them a lot of chips to analyse, which they had been doing for hours. Every little detail, every data point, could add up and allow them to crack Ba'al's defences.
Sam would be more optimistic if she couldn't think of half a dozen ways to avoid any potential weakness she came up with. No one is perfect, certainly not someone as egoistical as Ba'al, she told herself. He has to have made a mistake; we just need to find it.
The key was the floating control node's code. All of Ba'al's orders had run through that; updating the network chip after chip as it jumped around. All the protocols and data would have been concentrated there - and gone when the last host chip had burnt out. Something Ba'al had likely intended.
But it was also an obvious failure point and a weakness. Take out the control node, as Sam and her friends had done, and the whole network collapsed. Any chip that survived wouldn't have any way to safely link up with another network. No protocols to validate sources and update orders.
Ba'al did like to compartmentalise his forces. Maybe he preferred to write off a network if it lost the central node? Fighting to the death was certainly standard operation procedure for his followers.
But Sam didn't think that Ba'al would go as far as to permanently split up his forces from the start. And even so, he couldn't expect to keep all chips in a network together forever - ships were sent out on scouting missions all the time, task forces split up according to the needs of any given mission, courier work was fairly common and would require the kind of loyalty mind-control chips enforced. So, every chip had to have a way to rejoin a network. Anything else wouldn't make any sense, not even for a paranoid Goa'uld. Protocols to establish contact. Validate signals. Accept new directives. Everything you needed to become part of the network - or infiltrate it.
Sam and her friends just had to find those protocols in the core software of the chips. But they had been sifting the entire code for any trace of such protocols and had only found the routines that handled the technical parts. Not the ones that actually authorised such link-ups. Where had Ba'al hidden them?
Even simulating a network connection didn't reveal them - the chips linked up, but nothing past signal testing data was exchanged. No actual data; it was like the higher functions were missing…
Sam blinked. "Oh, of course!"
Ba'al was a Goa'uld. Goa'uld were parasites, sapient, but they depended on the brains of their hosts to achieve their full intellectual potential. And what use would a chip without a carrier be for any network? It would feel natural for him to link - to outsource - core network functions to a chip carrier's brain, wouldn't it?
"Can we fool a chip into believing that they are hooked up to a brain?" she asked, then groaned at the realisation that she was starting to anthropomise chips.
"We could, I think, but why?" Bow said.
Sam explained.
"...and so we confirmed that the chips use part of the carrier's brain to store data, presumably crucial parts such as network protocols and valuation codes."
Catra felt the fur at the back of her neck bristle at Sam's briefing. Those damned chips not only took over your body - forcing it to keep fighting even when you were unconscious or dead - but they used your brain for data storage? She'd personally kill whoever came up with this.
"That's…" Even Jack didn't seem to have a joke ready.
"That's horrible!" Glimmer spat.
"Can we fix that?" Adora's expression sent a cold shiver down Catra's spine. She hadn't seen her love looking grim like that very often. "Give people back their… brains?"
Sam winced. "We're still examining the victims. So far, we have not yet been able to access the data stored in their brains, though we're working on identifying and duplicating the protocols in the chips. Once we can assess the scope of the changes to the brain, it should be possible to ascertain what was done to them."
In other words, they didn't know and were not optimistic. "So… We can't exclude the possibility that those parts of their brain contain some ways to mind-control the victims?" Catra asked.
"Shit!" Jack cursed. "Sleeper agent protocols?"
"We can't exclude that possibility at this point," Sam confirmed.
"I can try healing them," Adora said. "This… I should be able to restore someone's brain to their control."
Catra wasn't so certain, but she didn't think it would hurt to try. Though if it took She-Ra to deal with this, that would be another burden on her love.
"We'll have to examine the victims more thoroughly first, to establish a baseline," Sam said.
"Yeah! Or we might not be able to tell what your magic is doing to people's brains," Entrapta added. "We don't know yet what the chip did to brains - not in detail."
"It's a very complicated interface," Bow cut in. "We first thought it was merely an, ah, alternate way to safely store data, protect it from access through conventional means, but the chips' protocols are too complex for that. It doesn't help that we can't use the chips directly to access the data."
Catra glanced around, half-expecting someone to ask why they couldn't put a mind-control chip back into a victim to check their brain, but to her relief, no one was that stupid.
"Alright." Adora nodded. "Keep working on that - it takes priority. We need all the information about those chips we can get to stop Ba'al. Now, next item: The state of this site and our task force."
That was her cue. Sort of. Catra sat straighter and pulled her tablet out. "We're still recovering from the battle, but we've used the captured facilities here to repair our ships. A third of the task force's frigates have been restored to full combat readiness, and another third, while still showing damaged secondary systems, have had their shields, engines and main batteries repaired. The last third, though, will require lengthier stays in docks, either here or in facilities behind our lines."
"We lost a third of our task force, then." Jack didn't sound happy.
"Temporarily," Glimmer said. "They will be repaired."
"That still will cost us resources that could go into building new ships," Catra pointed out. Glimmer frowned at her, but she shrugged. "Opportunity costs are still costs. At least the casualties were light." Trained and especially experienced crew was much harder to replace than ships, after all.
"We were lucky there," Adora said. "If the battle had continued a bit longer, we would have been forced to field even more damaged ships, and losses and casualties would have rapidly grown."
Yeah. As long as you could shift ships around to spread the damage taken by the enemy, you could avoid heavy losses, but once you ran out of undamaged ships to rotate into the frontlines, damage would accumulate fast. Catra had seen it happen in the Horde war with ground units. Once a unit had taken so many casualties that it started to break, you could write it off.
"So… we're basically at half effectiveness," Jack summed up.
"Yes. Which means we cannot repel a counter-attack by a force the same size as the force we took down," Adora said. "We need to evacuate the site."
"That would mean leaving the unfinished Glove," Glimmer said.
"No big loss," Catra said. "It's just a chunk of hull at this point. No engine, reactor, shield or weapons of any note. Not even the factories have been completed yet." She shrugged. "Less than a quarter of the entire ship, too."
"What a waste of resources," Jack commented.
"We didn't spend it," Glimmer said. "Ba'al did."
"And finishing the ship would require too much time, too many resources, and too many forces to guard this site," Adora said. "We can't afford it."
"So, we'll loot it of everything we can take and blow up the rest. Or Have Adora turn it into a space plant," Catra said, flashing her fangs.
"I can't actually use magic on that scale out here," Adora said. "I would need a world's restored magic to do that."
"So, we can't leave a message for Ba'al using flower language. Too bad." Jack grinned. "I guess some explosives will have to do."
"And we'll have to pack up the factory ships - and the ships forming their supply lines," Catra said. "They're slower than frigates, so we better get a move on." Digesting everything back home would also require an effort. But overall, this should help with Alliance war production capacities.
Once they figured out who got what, of course. Catra had a feeling that this would cause some issues with Earth.
Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, July 15th, 2000
"...and surely, General, you agree that moving the, ah, liberated production assets of Ba'al to Etheria is a blatant attempt to present the Alliance with a fait accompli that flies in the face of the treaty that formed the Alliance."
Jack O'Neill resisted the urge to roll his eyes; the Secretary of Defense was, after all, his superior. Sort of - Jack was part of the forces the United States had assigned to the Alliance, and he answered to Adora, but he had not left the Air Force. "Etheria was the closest system under secure Alliance control," he said. "Moving the captured factory and mining ships anywhere else would have both required significant forces to guard them and taken far longer. That would have significantly reduced the Alliance's offensive and defensive capabilities in the war." Something the man should have been aware of!
"Yes, yes, I've read the reports." The other man shook his head almost dismissively. "But we can't just look at this from a military point of view, General - we have to take the bigger picture into account. Those factory and yard ships are the most advanced we have; they are geared to produce Horde-style frigates and supporting craft. To place them under the direct control of the Princess Alliance in Etheria when Etheria already controls the factory ships of the Horde fleets in the Alliance seems like an obvious attempt to cement their monopoly on advanced ship production."
Oh for…! Jack shook his head. "The different Clone fleets control their own fleet trains, sir. The Princess Alliance doesn't have control over them."
"Two of the fleets worship She-Ra as their goddess, and the other two are commanded by Princess Entrapta's consort and a very close friend, respectively; I think we can dispense with the polite fiction that the Princess Alliance doesn't control the Horde ships, General."
Jack stared. "Have you met Princess Entrapta?" Did the man honestly believe that Entrapta was some… seductress controlling the Clones through Hordak and WrongHordak?
The man frowned. "Despite her eccentricities, Princess Entrapta is a ruling princess - and one of the oldest members of the Princess Alliance's leadership council, General."
"Entrapta doesn't care about politics; she just cares about technology and her friends," Jack shot back.
"That might be so, but that means she will listen to her friends - and the majority of her friends are members of the Princess Alliance, General. How often did the Horde leaders oppose any proposal from them?" Before Jack could answer, the man went on: "And even if we would assume that your view was correct, you have to consider the optics, General."
"The optics?" Jack frowned again.
"It's an election year, General. How do you think the American people think about the fact that we still seem to be playing second fiddle to the rest of the Alliance?"
Oh. "I think they're more concerned about the body-snatching evil alien parasites trying to enslave us all, sir."
"You would think so, but that's not what the polls say. People are concerned about being beholden to aliens, period. They haven't forgotten how America was forced to bend to the demands of the Princess Alliance. The American people expect us to be the leading nation of Earth, not the junior partner of an Alliance led by aliens." The Secretary of Defense shook his head. "We're lucky that they arrived two years ago, and the reports from the invasions we launched did help, but the public isn't stupid - they see all those alien ships in the news, they see the British ships in combat - and they don't care that those were glorified feighters - and they ask where the American ships are in this war."
"Well, if they want a strong fleet, maybe the Navy shouldn't be building lemons," Jack retorted. The US frigates were still not rated for combat outside the solar system.
That earned him a glare. "All new designs have teething issues. I am sure those will be soon ironed out - Major Carter is supposed to work hard on them, isn't she? - but we need more production capacity under American control if we want to regain our position."
"And win the election," Jack said in the flattest tone he could manage.
"You don't change the team in the middle of the game, General. Besides, how do you think the Etherians will react if the US Government is replaced by people who think the gay should go back in the closet?"
Jack hadn't exactly paid a lot of attention to the election campaigns, but he would have noticed any such demand - hell, the Etherians would have asked him about it! "I don't believe that the next president, whoever it will be, will change those policies, sir."
"Of course not! It's in the constitution now! But the press, especially the foreign press, will dig up everything they said about gays and lesbians in the past in an attempt to cut us off at the knees. We can't afford that kind of trouble." The man narrowed his eyes again. "We need to get control of those factory ships before the election, General, so we can show the public that America isn't weak any more and on the way to regain our place as the leader of the free world."
"That seems to be a political challenge, sir," Jack said with all the diplomatic restraint he could muster. "Not a military problem."
"On this level, that's the same thing, General."
"But I'm a military officer, sir." Not a politician.
"And you're an American - the highest American officer in the Alliance. A close friend of the core leaders of the Princess Alliance. Your country needs you, General."
It sounded more as if Jack's government needed him. "And you want me to… talk to the princesses?"
"I want you to give them your honest appraisal of the danger for the Alliance if the production capacities remain as unbalanced as they currently are, General."
Fuck.
Royal Palace, Bright Moon, Etheria, Etheria System, July 16th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"What? They want us to move the entire production line to the Solar System?" Adora shook her head. "That makes no sense - that would take months, not including setting up the mining operations to supply the factory ships and yard ships! We've just finished setting up in the Etheria system, and we already had mining infrastructure here!" Moving an entire space-based shipyard complex took a lot of time and effort!
"Against opposition from our resident isolationists," Glimmer added with a scowl. "They claimed to be worried about the effects asteroid mining had on Etheria's magic!"
Jack shrugged with a slight grimace. "The US government is concerned about the upcoming election."
"They're worried that the opposition party might be exploiting the lingering resentment amongst part of the American population that the United States isn't the uncontested superpower on Earth any more," Daniel said. "At least, the polls I've looked into seem to show that this is a view shared by a not insignificant part of the population."
Glimmer muttered something brief and not very complimentary about democracy that Adora chose to ignore. America, and pretty much every Earth country in the Alliance, was a democracy. That wouldn't change. But… "I thought that blatantly using your power as the government to ensure you stayed in power was considered an abuse of power in a democracy."
"Ah…" Daniel grimaced as well. "It's complicated."
"I sense some hypocrisy coming," Catra commented.
"Well, a democratic government is supposed to implement policies to improve the lives of their people, which, in turn, will, if they are successful, and seen as being successful, gain the voter's support in the next election," Daniel said. "That includes caring about the concerns of the population."
"Appearing to care about them, you mean," Catra cut in.
Adora frowned at her. Catra's cynical views of democracy weren't really helpful right now.
Daniel, though, nodded. "Yes. In politics, perception often is more important than reality."
Glimmer muttered something about democracy again.
Adora focused on the actual issue. "And the US government doesn't want to look weak to their voters, which is why they want us to move the Horde fleet train we captured to Earth and hand it over to them."
Jack shrugged again. "More or less. They were a bit cagey about the whole thing."
"We already could tell because they went through you, Jack, and not through official channels," Daniel said.
"The other countries would protest about such a blatant power grab." Glimmer shook her head. "How do they think this would work, anyway? Those yard ships produce Horde frigates. The Americans chose to build their own designs. Do they want to retool the entire line?"
Catra scoffed. "For their crappy designs? Might as well blow the entire line up and save us the waste of resources and crews!"
"That's a bit harsh, I think," Bow said.
"No, it's not. Just listen to Sam rant about them," Catra shot back.
Adora nodded. The many, many problems with the American ships were well-known. "Leaving that aside, would a change of government really be that bad?"
"Well, if they campaign on more nationalist rhetoric and win, then the new government would likely push for more influence in the Alliance," Daniel said.
"You mean, they'd ask for the same things the current government does?" Catra snorted again.
"Well…" Daniel spread his hands. "In a way, yes."
"I don't think we should get involved in that," Glimmer said. "That feels like meddling in a succession issue in another kingdom."
"Historically, most succession issues on Etheria involved other kingdoms as well," Bow pointed out.
"That doesn't mean meddling is a good idea," Glimmer shot back.
Adora agreed. "Yes. We shouldn't let the internal policies of one country shape the way we conduct this war. Our focus has to be on winning the war against the Goa'uld, not elections." She was sure the rest of the Council would agree - none of the other NATO countries had struck her as particularly happy with the American leadership.
Spacelab, Earth Orbit, Solar System, July 17th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"OK! That should work! Now let's test it!"
Samantha Carter nodded at Entrapta's comment. The latest version of their brain scanner looked promising. Well, it was more of a brain interface, to be precise. Their scanners were already able to scan brains, but they hadn't been able yet to connect them to Ba'al's chips. Whoever had written the software for those abominations must have been both a genius and utterly deranged.
"Connecting the interface," she said as she checked once more that the outside connections were cut before powering up the link between the air-gapped scanner and the isolated chip.
"Protocols… engaging," Entrapta said. "Oh, look - data exchange started."
That was promising, but they had such successes before. If the chip's protocols were not satisfied, it would… The indicators changed. "Successful connection."
"It's looking into the data from the scans!"
Yes, the chip was treating the data as if it were live readings from a brain. Or so Sam hoped. If they could fool the chip, they could get at the reading/writing routines, and then they could access the altered parts of the brains of the chipped victims and find out what data was stored there.
That could be the key to cracking the entire network.
Sam leaned forward as the chip's routines started exchanging great amounts of data with their simulated brain.
"Oh, look at that, Sam! It's trying to alter the brain chemistry! As we theorised!"
Sam nodded. Another piece of the puzzle had been solved. Sooner or later, the whole thing would be open to them.
And then, they could start on tracking down such networks.
Point Velvet, Deep Space, July 4th, 2000 (Earth Time)
Mal'ak's chip's burning out. It's affecting his brain.
Catra drew a sharp breath when she received Sam's report - passed as a message through the Alliance network to bypass the area-jamming focused on the enemy fleet. Her own chip had burnt out as well, but she hadn't been hurt like that. What was going on? What had Ba'al done with the chips? The hardware was supposed to be the same as Horde Prime's chips!
"Oh, no!" Adora exclaimed.
Catra checked the shuttle's position. It was still inside the enemy formation, close to the centre. If they made a run for it without another attack by Alliance forces opening a hole to slip through, they'd risk getting caught by a stray volley - from either side. "They can't escape until they've hacked the chips."
"Almost done!" Entrapta yelled from her corner of the bridge. "Without the control node switching things around every few seconds, it's just a modified version of Horde Prime's programs, and I know those, well, I knew them - they've adapted some, but they're not really adaptive, so it's not a mutating system, but… Here we go! Crashing the chips!"
For the first few seconds, nothing happened. Part of that was signal lag - they had to go through the enemy radio network - but part of that was that even if you took out the captain of an enemy ship, the crew would keep going.
But as Catra watched, she saw the first signs of the enemy formation falling apart - slowly but surely, the coordination that had kept the ships together faded, and the formation became frayed, tattered at the edges. Replacing captains in the middle of a fight was never a smooth operation, and if the replacements lacked the mind control chips, they wouldn't really be able to keep up as before.
Here, a ship was a bit too slow to react to an Alliance squadron's fly-by attack, getting caught outside the cover provided by the rest of the ships nearby. There, a frigate retreated a bit too far from another probing attack, escaping any harm but opening a hole in the defence that exposed two more to withering fire from another squadron. And two ships suddenly turned and tried to flee.
Tried. One was shot down by another frigate as it passed, and the other veered off course, weaving back and forth and alternating speed - directly into the Alliance right wing. "Must have been mutineers," she whispered as the ship was disabled - almost broken in two - when their engines were destroyed by massed fire.
And Jack must have seen an opportunity - or just grown desperate - since the shuttle was hightailing it out of the enemy formation now. Catra held her breath as it flew straight at a defensive formation of enemy frigates, but it took a sharp turn before entering their area and flew underneath them, transponder flaring, towards the Alliance line.
She released her breath when the shuttle was safely behind their frontline and turned to Adora. "We have to push now. When they are at their most vulnerable. Before they restore the chain of command. If we can break them now, the battle's over." But if they didn't, they'd take losses they wouldn't take if they just kept whittling down the enemy numbers.
Adora knew that as well. She pressed her lips together for a moment, then nodded. "Captain, signal the task force to press the attack."
"Yes, Supreme Commander!"
On the holographic projection, the Alliance forces shifted, more reserves called forth as the more damaged ships were left behind, and the lightly damaged ones took point. Catra could see the enemy's formation trying to adapt to the attack they knew was coming, but their chain of command would still be dealing with losing all commanders at the same time, and even for the Clones, that was a huge blow.
Instead of an all-out attack, the Alliance fleet attacked by sections. One section, composed of all the ships in the best state, smashed straight into the enemy formation. And when the enemy centre fell back, the outer parts found themselves enveloping the section but also exposed to the next attacks, which cut through them before they could decimate the first wave.
Four, five enemy ships - half of them not even engaged - turned at that moment. One was shot down by their own group, the others ended up charging straight at another Alliance formation.
Three were wrecked in short order, the last one turned so hard, it flew through another squadron of Ba'al's frigates, almost ramming one as it thoroughly dissolved their formation.
The Alliance forces pounced on the ships left in disarray, and as they quickly died, isolated and without coordination and cover, a hole opened in the enemy formation through which two, three Alliance squadrons pushed.
"It's over," Catra said. The enemy formation was falling apart in front of her eyes. Ships fought by themselves, all coordination lost, as the Alliance frigates quickly focused their fire on one enemy after the other. And with every enemy frigate destroyed, the Alliance's advantage in numbers grew.
A few minutes later, the last handful of enemy frigates were drifting in space trailed by debris or turned into expanding clouds of plasma.
And Jack's shuttle landed on their ship.
*****
Jack O'Neill was very grateful that the life support system of the stealth shuttle was rated for heavy duty; thanks to the filters in the ventilation system, he had barely caught a whiff of the stench of burning skin and flesh from the shuttle's cargo area.
He had heard the noise Ba'al's First Prime had made, even through his gag, when the chip had started burning. It was a good thing that the Alliance navy wasn't a dry navy - at least not the Clone ships - since Jack really needed a drink right now. Unfortunately, he would have to wait until he had landed the shuttle and dealt with the entire mess.
At least, they were ready for them; he saw a medical team waiting with a floating gurney as he guided the shuttle into the frigate's hangar, and as soon as he touched down, the four Clones were rushing to the back of the shuttle.
Jack lowered the ramp and got up. "We've arrived, folks." He almost added: 'Thank you for flying O'Neill Air', but Carter looked too grim to appreciate the joke. "How's the prisoner doing?"
"He's alive," Carter replied as she got up and let the medics grab Mal'ak. "But I can't tell yet what neural damage he suffered."
Jack winced. "I didn't think the chips were supposed to do that - didn't Catra mention that her own had burnt out as well?"
"They aren't supposed to do that," Carter replied in a clipped tone. "And the hardware is the same. Ba'al must have managed to alter the software in a way that allows it to overheat the chip to the point of burning the flesh it's attached to."
"The pain from burning skin should not have caused such a reaction," Teal'c spoke up. "If he could not take molten gold poured into Ba'al's symbol carved into his forehead without flinching, he would not have become Ba'al's First Prime."
Yeah, Jack wasn't about to comment on that. Or glance at the golden symbol on Teal'c's forehead.
"Yes," Carter said. "That's why I suspect that the chip did something to his brain."
"Something more painful than burning." Jack pressed his lips together. "Cooking the brain?"
Carter frowned. "That is not physically possible with the chip, sir."
Learned a new thing.
The Clones had finished loading the trembling - and bound - Jaffa on the gurney and were taking him out of the shuttle. He was no longer Jack's responsibility. Not officially, at least. But Jack had been in charge of the mission - he had carried a prisoner of war into battle to use them against the enemy. Even if Mal'ak hadn't been hurt, that would've been sketchy. Now? Jack was sure there would be an investigation. And 'I was following orders' wouldn't cut it. Not that he'd use that excuse - he had known what he was doing when he had taken command.
*****
"What? A war crime?"
Jack nodded. "Yes. Prisoners of war aren't supposed to be sent into danger like that."
"But…" Adora blinked. "Oh, no! I didn't think of that!"
"It was my plan, sir," Carter spoke up. "My responsibility."
"I was in charge of the mission, Major" Jack retorted. If anyone had to take the fall for this, it would be him.
"I'm the Supreme Commander of the Alliance, and I approved of this. If anyone is to blame, it's me." Adora glared at both of them.
"Who's going to prosecute you? You're She-Ra, Princess of Power," Glimmer said. "And the Supreme Commander of the Alliance."
Adora's glare switched targets. "I'm not going to hide behind that!"
Ah… Jack winced. That wasn't going how he thought it would be going.
"You're a Princess; you have diplomatic immunity," Glimmer shot back. "Besides, what do you think will happen if some idiot tries to punish you for this? Priest will nod along?"
"I'll tell him that I was wrong."
"You weren't wrong," Catra spoke up. "The chips were already hurting the prisoners - they almost killed themselves. This was the only way we saw to hack them and stop them." She flashed her fangs. "Call it emergency medical aid."
That was… certainly creative. Jack didn't think too many prosecutors would agree, though that would likely not matter - it might be a good enough excuse to sweep this under the rug.
"But…" Adora tried to defend herself - or the opposite.
Catra shook her head. "We had no choice. If we wanted to save the chipped people, we had to hack those chips. And Mal'ak was Ba'al's First Prime - hardly an innocent victim."
Jack glanced at Teal'c. His friend had been Apophis's First Prime and had deserted. But Teal'c didn't say anything nor showed any expression.
And Carter looked torn.
"Still, we're not supposed to treat prisoners like that!" Adora said.
Catra shrugged. "Not even to save them?" She scoffed. "Those chips had to be hacked. We couldn't let them be mind-controlled. And that was the only way."
At least, they hadn't been able to think of a better way at the moment, Jack amended the statement in his head. But it was better to get on with the program. "So… we tried to save them, and the only way that seemed to offer any hope was dangerous but worked - in the end." Well, he had done worse in the past, and it had been buried.
But as everyone nodded, more or less reluctantly, Jack couldn't help feeling as if he were a spook. Or a politician.
*****
Ba'al's Glove, Point Velvet, Deep Space, July 4th, 2000 (Earth Time)
Adora watched on the HUD as the royal marines went through another section of the ship. They had already scanned for ambushes and bombs - Adora herself had taken down a squad of Jaffa trying to hold a chokepoint - but the soldiers still proceeded cautiously through the corridors.
"They're fine," Catra commented behind her.
Adora knew that. But she still worried. They were acting on her orders - and as she had just been pointed out to her, she wasn't perfect. To think she had broken the laws of war!
"We've collected all the chipped people already," Catra went on. "This is just standard procedure."
Adora glanced at her. "What about the prisoners?"
"None of them show any symptoms like Mal'ak does," Catra replied. "Sam and Entrapta are removing the chips as fast as they can."
That was good. Adora felt guilty already for subjecting Mal'ak to this ordeal. They should have considered the risk and taken the chip out before heading in. But the chip wouldn't have linked up with the network if it hadn't been implanted, and… She clenched her teeth. It wasn't an excuse.
"We did what we could and had to," Catra said. "We couldn't let this go on."
Adora pressed her lips together. The excuse rang hollow. They shouldn't have used a prisoner like that. But they shouldn't have let the chipped people suffer longer either… There was no good answer. They just had to do better - much better - next time. "What are their reactions?"
Catra made a scoffing noise. "What do you think? They are traumatised by the experience."
Like Catra had been. Like any host of a Goa'uld had been.
Adora still had to ask. No two people were alike, not even Clones. Some might fool themselves into thinking they deserved to be controlled like that. And some might even consider it an honour. They didn't know what Mal'ak thought about it - the former First Prime of Ba'al still wasn't able to be interrogated.
"They're getting treatment," Catra went on. "We're doing what we can. But we need to find the chip factory and destroy it."
Adora nodded. That, at least, was clear and obvious. "We need to decide what we do about this site," she said. "Ba'al could already be massing ships to attack us."
"He can't just keep counter-attacking - we've defeated every force of his we've met so far," Catra said. "At some point, he has to start worrying about his remaining assets."
"We don't know how many forces he has left," Adora pointed out. It was unlikely that Ba'al could have enough Horde forces to match the Alliance, but not technically impossible.
Catra scoffed again. "If he had enough advanced forces to match us, he'd have done so straight away. He wouldn't have sent half a dozen frigates with a fleet of barely-upgraded Ha'taks after us. And he would have reinforced this site with more ships."
Adora nodded. It was likely that they had destroyed the bulk of the Horde forces that had joined Ba'al. But they couldn't be sure until they knew what forces Ba'al had left. "We need more intel."
"No shit!" Catra growled under her breath. "But the only one who seems to know everything is Ba'al himself. Either we take him out, or we have to wait until our spy bot network is covering the entire sector."
And even then, they couldn't be sure Ba'al wouldn't have some hidden base or yard in another part of the galaxy. This site wasn't in a system, after all - they would have missed it if they had simply mapped all systems in the area. "We still have half the spy bots tracking their ships," Adora said. "But we need to decide whether we hold this site or move everything back to the Alliance."
"Whether we abandon the Glove or not, you mean," Catra replied.
"Yes." They could evacuate everything else, but the unfinished flagship didn't have any engines yet. And while it was far from being finished, it was already too big to be moved by anything the task force had access to.
"We don't need it," Catra said. "It would take far too long to finish it, and even if we did finish it, we don't need a ship that big. Not to mention that it would send a pretty bad message to half of Etheria and any survivors of Horde Prime's campaigns."
She was correct, of course - Adora didn't think anyone who had fought Horde Prime would want to see his flagship again. The Velvet Glove had been responsible for so much destruction in the galaxy. "Some people will be angry," she said. Some people would love to have the biggest ship in the sector. And access to the factories planned to be built into it.
"Let them." Cara shrugged. "It would be a bad idea to focus so much into one ship, anyway. As Ba'al just found out."
Adora agreed with that. Not just because they couldn't afford to lose such a ship but also because whoever controlled the ship would control a lot of the Alliance's fleet strength. And that would influence Alliance politics. Still… "Let's discuss it with the others."
Catra shrugged. "I don't think Glimmer will disagree."
Adora didn't think so either. Jack was a wild card, though.
*****
Point Velvet, Deep Space, July 5th, 2000 (Earth Time)
Samantha Carter suppressed a yawn as she stared at the latest data points from the analysis. The central control node code had to have protocols to link up with a higher authority - anything else wouldn't let Ba'al update the standing orders. And there would have to be checks and tests to validate such orders - data the Alliance could use against Ba'al, even if it wouldn't deliver them the coordinates of another of Ba'al's bases.
Unfortunately, after trapping the control node in Mal'ak's chip - Sam's lips formed a thin line when she remembered the consequences of that decision - it had started to burn out, and so they had barely managed to recover fragments of the code before the chip had died and almost taken Mal'ak with it. All that crucial data lost…
"Alright. I think I've finished restoring that piece of code," Entrapta said. "The advanced control routines would work according to the simulation, though we haven't tested that yet so it's not yet confirmed by empirical data."
"Uh, which won't happen because the Alliance doesn't mind-control people," Bow pointed out.
"Right! Of course!" Entrapta nodded.
Sam focused on the new data. The subroutines to control the carriers were the same as Horde Prime's - they had confirmed that with data from all the chips that they had captured - but anything about the actual advanced control node's directives and decision trees were assumptions. Assumptions based on the data from those chips which had hosted the control node during the battle detailing the orders and changes in behaviour it had left.
And wasn't that a nice, clinical way to talk and think about a chip warping a person's innermost thoughts and desires?
"At least we've managed to streamline the removal of the chips," Bow said after a few moments.
That hadn't taken much beyond Entrapta and Bow remembering how they had dealt with Horde Prime's chips and checking if the basic methods worked. Sam still nodded since it meant all of the chips' victims were now free. Traumatised and in need of help but no longer trapped in their own bodies - or, worse, mentally manipulated to become fanatical followers of Ba'al.
But it had netted them a lot of chips to analyse, which they had been doing for hours. Every little detail, every data point, could add up and allow them to crack Ba'al's defences.
Sam would be more optimistic if she couldn't think of half a dozen ways to avoid any potential weakness she came up with. No one is perfect, certainly not someone as egoistical as Ba'al, she told herself. He has to have made a mistake; we just need to find it.
The key was the floating control node's code. All of Ba'al's orders had run through that; updating the network chip after chip as it jumped around. All the protocols and data would have been concentrated there - and gone when the last host chip had burnt out. Something Ba'al had likely intended.
But it was also an obvious failure point and a weakness. Take out the control node, as Sam and her friends had done, and the whole network collapsed. Any chip that survived wouldn't have any way to safely link up with another network. No protocols to validate sources and update orders.
Ba'al did like to compartmentalise his forces. Maybe he preferred to write off a network if it lost the central node? Fighting to the death was certainly standard operation procedure for his followers.
But Sam didn't think that Ba'al would go as far as to permanently split up his forces from the start. And even so, he couldn't expect to keep all chips in a network together forever - ships were sent out on scouting missions all the time, task forces split up according to the needs of any given mission, courier work was fairly common and would require the kind of loyalty mind-control chips enforced. So, every chip had to have a way to rejoin a network. Anything else wouldn't make any sense, not even for a paranoid Goa'uld. Protocols to establish contact. Validate signals. Accept new directives. Everything you needed to become part of the network - or infiltrate it.
Sam and her friends just had to find those protocols in the core software of the chips. But they had been sifting the entire code for any trace of such protocols and had only found the routines that handled the technical parts. Not the ones that actually authorised such link-ups. Where had Ba'al hidden them?
Even simulating a network connection didn't reveal them - the chips linked up, but nothing past signal testing data was exchanged. No actual data; it was like the higher functions were missing…
Sam blinked. "Oh, of course!"
Ba'al was a Goa'uld. Goa'uld were parasites, sapient, but they depended on the brains of their hosts to achieve their full intellectual potential. And what use would a chip without a carrier be for any network? It would feel natural for him to link - to outsource - core network functions to a chip carrier's brain, wouldn't it?
"Can we fool a chip into believing that they are hooked up to a brain?" she asked, then groaned at the realisation that she was starting to anthropomise chips.
"We could, I think, but why?" Bow said.
Sam explained.
*****
"...and so we confirmed that the chips use part of the carrier's brain to store data, presumably crucial parts such as network protocols and valuation codes."
Catra felt the fur at the back of her neck bristle at Sam's briefing. Those damned chips not only took over your body - forcing it to keep fighting even when you were unconscious or dead - but they used your brain for data storage? She'd personally kill whoever came up with this.
"That's…" Even Jack didn't seem to have a joke ready.
"That's horrible!" Glimmer spat.
"Can we fix that?" Adora's expression sent a cold shiver down Catra's spine. She hadn't seen her love looking grim like that very often. "Give people back their… brains?"
Sam winced. "We're still examining the victims. So far, we have not yet been able to access the data stored in their brains, though we're working on identifying and duplicating the protocols in the chips. Once we can assess the scope of the changes to the brain, it should be possible to ascertain what was done to them."
In other words, they didn't know and were not optimistic. "So… We can't exclude the possibility that those parts of their brain contain some ways to mind-control the victims?" Catra asked.
"Shit!" Jack cursed. "Sleeper agent protocols?"
"We can't exclude that possibility at this point," Sam confirmed.
"I can try healing them," Adora said. "This… I should be able to restore someone's brain to their control."
Catra wasn't so certain, but she didn't think it would hurt to try. Though if it took She-Ra to deal with this, that would be another burden on her love.
"We'll have to examine the victims more thoroughly first, to establish a baseline," Sam said.
"Yeah! Or we might not be able to tell what your magic is doing to people's brains," Entrapta added. "We don't know yet what the chip did to brains - not in detail."
"It's a very complicated interface," Bow cut in. "We first thought it was merely an, ah, alternate way to safely store data, protect it from access through conventional means, but the chips' protocols are too complex for that. It doesn't help that we can't use the chips directly to access the data."
Catra glanced around, half-expecting someone to ask why they couldn't put a mind-control chip back into a victim to check their brain, but to her relief, no one was that stupid.
"Alright." Adora nodded. "Keep working on that - it takes priority. We need all the information about those chips we can get to stop Ba'al. Now, next item: The state of this site and our task force."
That was her cue. Sort of. Catra sat straighter and pulled her tablet out. "We're still recovering from the battle, but we've used the captured facilities here to repair our ships. A third of the task force's frigates have been restored to full combat readiness, and another third, while still showing damaged secondary systems, have had their shields, engines and main batteries repaired. The last third, though, will require lengthier stays in docks, either here or in facilities behind our lines."
"We lost a third of our task force, then." Jack didn't sound happy.
"Temporarily," Glimmer said. "They will be repaired."
"That still will cost us resources that could go into building new ships," Catra pointed out. Glimmer frowned at her, but she shrugged. "Opportunity costs are still costs. At least the casualties were light." Trained and especially experienced crew was much harder to replace than ships, after all.
"We were lucky there," Adora said. "If the battle had continued a bit longer, we would have been forced to field even more damaged ships, and losses and casualties would have rapidly grown."
Yeah. As long as you could shift ships around to spread the damage taken by the enemy, you could avoid heavy losses, but once you ran out of undamaged ships to rotate into the frontlines, damage would accumulate fast. Catra had seen it happen in the Horde war with ground units. Once a unit had taken so many casualties that it started to break, you could write it off.
"So… we're basically at half effectiveness," Jack summed up.
"Yes. Which means we cannot repel a counter-attack by a force the same size as the force we took down," Adora said. "We need to evacuate the site."
"That would mean leaving the unfinished Glove," Glimmer said.
"No big loss," Catra said. "It's just a chunk of hull at this point. No engine, reactor, shield or weapons of any note. Not even the factories have been completed yet." She shrugged. "Less than a quarter of the entire ship, too."
"What a waste of resources," Jack commented.
"We didn't spend it," Glimmer said. "Ba'al did."
"And finishing the ship would require too much time, too many resources, and too many forces to guard this site," Adora said. "We can't afford it."
"So, we'll loot it of everything we can take and blow up the rest. Or Have Adora turn it into a space plant," Catra said, flashing her fangs.
"I can't actually use magic on that scale out here," Adora said. "I would need a world's restored magic to do that."
"So, we can't leave a message for Ba'al using flower language. Too bad." Jack grinned. "I guess some explosives will have to do."
"And we'll have to pack up the factory ships - and the ships forming their supply lines," Catra said. "They're slower than frigates, so we better get a move on." Digesting everything back home would also require an effort. But overall, this should help with Alliance war production capacities.
Once they figured out who got what, of course. Catra had a feeling that this would cause some issues with Earth.
*****
Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, July 15th, 2000
"...and surely, General, you agree that moving the, ah, liberated production assets of Ba'al to Etheria is a blatant attempt to present the Alliance with a fait accompli that flies in the face of the treaty that formed the Alliance."
Jack O'Neill resisted the urge to roll his eyes; the Secretary of Defense was, after all, his superior. Sort of - Jack was part of the forces the United States had assigned to the Alliance, and he answered to Adora, but he had not left the Air Force. "Etheria was the closest system under secure Alliance control," he said. "Moving the captured factory and mining ships anywhere else would have both required significant forces to guard them and taken far longer. That would have significantly reduced the Alliance's offensive and defensive capabilities in the war." Something the man should have been aware of!
"Yes, yes, I've read the reports." The other man shook his head almost dismissively. "But we can't just look at this from a military point of view, General - we have to take the bigger picture into account. Those factory and yard ships are the most advanced we have; they are geared to produce Horde-style frigates and supporting craft. To place them under the direct control of the Princess Alliance in Etheria when Etheria already controls the factory ships of the Horde fleets in the Alliance seems like an obvious attempt to cement their monopoly on advanced ship production."
Oh for…! Jack shook his head. "The different Clone fleets control their own fleet trains, sir. The Princess Alliance doesn't have control over them."
"Two of the fleets worship She-Ra as their goddess, and the other two are commanded by Princess Entrapta's consort and a very close friend, respectively; I think we can dispense with the polite fiction that the Princess Alliance doesn't control the Horde ships, General."
Jack stared. "Have you met Princess Entrapta?" Did the man honestly believe that Entrapta was some… seductress controlling the Clones through Hordak and WrongHordak?
The man frowned. "Despite her eccentricities, Princess Entrapta is a ruling princess - and one of the oldest members of the Princess Alliance's leadership council, General."
"Entrapta doesn't care about politics; she just cares about technology and her friends," Jack shot back.
"That might be so, but that means she will listen to her friends - and the majority of her friends are members of the Princess Alliance, General. How often did the Horde leaders oppose any proposal from them?" Before Jack could answer, the man went on: "And even if we would assume that your view was correct, you have to consider the optics, General."
"The optics?" Jack frowned again.
"It's an election year, General. How do you think the American people think about the fact that we still seem to be playing second fiddle to the rest of the Alliance?"
Oh. "I think they're more concerned about the body-snatching evil alien parasites trying to enslave us all, sir."
"You would think so, but that's not what the polls say. People are concerned about being beholden to aliens, period. They haven't forgotten how America was forced to bend to the demands of the Princess Alliance. The American people expect us to be the leading nation of Earth, not the junior partner of an Alliance led by aliens." The Secretary of Defense shook his head. "We're lucky that they arrived two years ago, and the reports from the invasions we launched did help, but the public isn't stupid - they see all those alien ships in the news, they see the British ships in combat - and they don't care that those were glorified feighters - and they ask where the American ships are in this war."
"Well, if they want a strong fleet, maybe the Navy shouldn't be building lemons," Jack retorted. The US frigates were still not rated for combat outside the solar system.
That earned him a glare. "All new designs have teething issues. I am sure those will be soon ironed out - Major Carter is supposed to work hard on them, isn't she? - but we need more production capacity under American control if we want to regain our position."
"And win the election," Jack said in the flattest tone he could manage.
"You don't change the team in the middle of the game, General. Besides, how do you think the Etherians will react if the US Government is replaced by people who think the gay should go back in the closet?"
Jack hadn't exactly paid a lot of attention to the election campaigns, but he would have noticed any such demand - hell, the Etherians would have asked him about it! "I don't believe that the next president, whoever it will be, will change those policies, sir."
"Of course not! It's in the constitution now! But the press, especially the foreign press, will dig up everything they said about gays and lesbians in the past in an attempt to cut us off at the knees. We can't afford that kind of trouble." The man narrowed his eyes again. "We need to get control of those factory ships before the election, General, so we can show the public that America isn't weak any more and on the way to regain our place as the leader of the free world."
"That seems to be a political challenge, sir," Jack said with all the diplomatic restraint he could muster. "Not a military problem."
"On this level, that's the same thing, General."
"But I'm a military officer, sir." Not a politician.
"And you're an American - the highest American officer in the Alliance. A close friend of the core leaders of the Princess Alliance. Your country needs you, General."
It sounded more as if Jack's government needed him. "And you want me to… talk to the princesses?"
"I want you to give them your honest appraisal of the danger for the Alliance if the production capacities remain as unbalanced as they currently are, General."
Fuck.
*****
Royal Palace, Bright Moon, Etheria, Etheria System, July 16th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"What? They want us to move the entire production line to the Solar System?" Adora shook her head. "That makes no sense - that would take months, not including setting up the mining operations to supply the factory ships and yard ships! We've just finished setting up in the Etheria system, and we already had mining infrastructure here!" Moving an entire space-based shipyard complex took a lot of time and effort!
"Against opposition from our resident isolationists," Glimmer added with a scowl. "They claimed to be worried about the effects asteroid mining had on Etheria's magic!"
Jack shrugged with a slight grimace. "The US government is concerned about the upcoming election."
"They're worried that the opposition party might be exploiting the lingering resentment amongst part of the American population that the United States isn't the uncontested superpower on Earth any more," Daniel said. "At least, the polls I've looked into seem to show that this is a view shared by a not insignificant part of the population."
Glimmer muttered something brief and not very complimentary about democracy that Adora chose to ignore. America, and pretty much every Earth country in the Alliance, was a democracy. That wouldn't change. But… "I thought that blatantly using your power as the government to ensure you stayed in power was considered an abuse of power in a democracy."
"Ah…" Daniel grimaced as well. "It's complicated."
"I sense some hypocrisy coming," Catra commented.
"Well, a democratic government is supposed to implement policies to improve the lives of their people, which, in turn, will, if they are successful, and seen as being successful, gain the voter's support in the next election," Daniel said. "That includes caring about the concerns of the population."
"Appearing to care about them, you mean," Catra cut in.
Adora frowned at her. Catra's cynical views of democracy weren't really helpful right now.
Daniel, though, nodded. "Yes. In politics, perception often is more important than reality."
Glimmer muttered something about democracy again.
Adora focused on the actual issue. "And the US government doesn't want to look weak to their voters, which is why they want us to move the Horde fleet train we captured to Earth and hand it over to them."
Jack shrugged again. "More or less. They were a bit cagey about the whole thing."
"We already could tell because they went through you, Jack, and not through official channels," Daniel said.
"The other countries would protest about such a blatant power grab." Glimmer shook her head. "How do they think this would work, anyway? Those yard ships produce Horde frigates. The Americans chose to build their own designs. Do they want to retool the entire line?"
Catra scoffed. "For their crappy designs? Might as well blow the entire line up and save us the waste of resources and crews!"
"That's a bit harsh, I think," Bow said.
"No, it's not. Just listen to Sam rant about them," Catra shot back.
Adora nodded. The many, many problems with the American ships were well-known. "Leaving that aside, would a change of government really be that bad?"
"Well, if they campaign on more nationalist rhetoric and win, then the new government would likely push for more influence in the Alliance," Daniel said.
"You mean, they'd ask for the same things the current government does?" Catra snorted again.
"Well…" Daniel spread his hands. "In a way, yes."
"I don't think we should get involved in that," Glimmer said. "That feels like meddling in a succession issue in another kingdom."
"Historically, most succession issues on Etheria involved other kingdoms as well," Bow pointed out.
"That doesn't mean meddling is a good idea," Glimmer shot back.
Adora agreed. "Yes. We shouldn't let the internal policies of one country shape the way we conduct this war. Our focus has to be on winning the war against the Goa'uld, not elections." She was sure the rest of the Council would agree - none of the other NATO countries had struck her as particularly happy with the American leadership.
*****
Spacelab, Earth Orbit, Solar System, July 17th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"OK! That should work! Now let's test it!"
Samantha Carter nodded at Entrapta's comment. The latest version of their brain scanner looked promising. Well, it was more of a brain interface, to be precise. Their scanners were already able to scan brains, but they hadn't been able yet to connect them to Ba'al's chips. Whoever had written the software for those abominations must have been both a genius and utterly deranged.
"Connecting the interface," she said as she checked once more that the outside connections were cut before powering up the link between the air-gapped scanner and the isolated chip.
"Protocols… engaging," Entrapta said. "Oh, look - data exchange started."
That was promising, but they had such successes before. If the chip's protocols were not satisfied, it would… The indicators changed. "Successful connection."
"It's looking into the data from the scans!"
Yes, the chip was treating the data as if it were live readings from a brain. Or so Sam hoped. If they could fool the chip, they could get at the reading/writing routines, and then they could access the altered parts of the brains of the chipped victims and find out what data was stored there.
That could be the key to cracking the entire network.
Sam leaned forward as the chip's routines started exchanging great amounts of data with their simulated brain.
"Oh, look at that, Sam! It's trying to alter the brain chemistry! As we theorised!"
Sam nodded. Another piece of the puzzle had been solved. Sooner or later, the whole thing would be open to them.
And then, they could start on tracking down such networks.
*****
Starfox5
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That's the plan - well, without burning out people's brains as well.
Indeed.
Faber_The_Builder
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Well I kinda expected them to burn out the Blank/programmed clones
Chapter 178: Ba’al’s Machinations Part 10
Starfox5
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Chapter 178: Ba'al's Machinations Part 10
Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, July 18th, 2000
"...and we cannot close our eyes to the fact that we've been at this war for years - almost during the entire time the current administration was in power - and yet, America's position hasn't improved. We depend on alien protection and alien technology for everything! Should the Alliance break apart, America would be left helpless. This has to change! We cannot depend on others any more!"
"Those were very strong statements. And it's still two weeks until the national convention - can we expect even stronger statements then, James?"
"I believe so, Julia! The war against the Goa'uld is dominating this election, and the polls all agree that it is a very divisive issue for America. And while Americans are generally loath to change governments in the middle of a war, with the term limits applied, the effect of that sentiment is naturally not as strong as it could be, and many of us remember how quickly the last war was won under President Bush, so…"
Sitting in the meeting room that she usually occupied in the Alliance HQ, Catra rolled her eyes and switched channels. The Gulf War had been fought with tanks and planes, not spaceships, and with overwhelming material superiority. If anyone thought you could wage war the same way in space, they needed a reality check.
"...and this is not merely a question about how to conduct the war against those aliens, but a question that touches the very soul of our nation: Should America become one nation amongst many, or should we continue to be the shining city on the hill, the ideal other nations aspire to become? After the fall of the Soviet Union, America has been the world's uncontested leader. Where we went, others followed. We were the first to step on the moon - and we were the first to reach out to the stars and strike a blow against the Goa'uld! This is a proud history and a responsibility we cannot discharge as easily as the current government wants us to! America is not one country amongst many, but a promise! So…"
"...and I can only repeat what our government already stated: America cannot stand alone and it should not stand alone. From the beginning, we have been looking for allies against the Goa'uls. We will not reject our friends - we will stand by their side, united against the Goa'uld. America is a strong part of the Alliance, and we will only grow stronger as we adapt the advanced technology shared with us and develop our own. It would be the height of foolishness to…"
Catra turned the TV off.
"That's why democracy is such a stupid system: It's not even been two years since we made the Alliance treaty, and yet, those people want to change it!" Glimmer complained. "How can you trust such a country? Even the worst princesses back home know that you can't just dissolve a treaty like that!"
"Ah, I don't think they want to dissolve the treaty," Bow said. "They just want to, ah, change how Alliance procurement works."
"They want to take control of the shipyards because they can't stand that they aren't the most powerful member of the Alliance!" Glimmer shot back. "Jack told us that - and they're saying it in public!"
Catra nodded in agreement.
"Well, they are going to become the most powerful member of the Alliance once they adapt to advanced technology - they are the biggest country with the strongest economy," Bow pointed out.
"Yes! But that makes this even worse - they don't even have the patience to wait a few years!" Glimmer scoffed. "Don't they know about long-term planning?"
"That won't win them the next election," Catra said.
"Short-sighted fools!" Glimmer bared her teeth and crossed her arms with a huff.
"At least the other countries aren't like that," Bow tried to smile encouragingly. "And they're democracies as well."
Glimmer huffed again. "They would probably act the same if they were as big as the United States."
"Probably. Except for the Germans," Catra said.
"Well, yes. But they're weird about it." Glimmer shrugged, then sighed. "I just wish they'd focus on beating the snakes instead of each other."
"It's not that bad," Bow objected. "They just… are still adjusting."
"Then they should adjust more quickly!"
Catra snorted.
"Well, as long as we can keep them from messing up Alliance strategy and production, it won't matter much who's in charge of the United States, right?" Bow asked.
"They both want the same anyway," Glimmer grumbled.
"That's consistent, at least," Catra said with a grin. "It's almost as if America had a princess."
Glimmer scowled at her, and Bow chuckled politely.
"How much longer until Adora's back from her meeting?" Glimmer asked after a moment.
Catra shrugged. "It depends on what Priest's been doing while we were fighting Ba'al. If he's been good, it shouldn't take too long."
"Great. We'll be here all day then."
She might not be wrong, in Catra's opinion. Priest should have been busy handling the new Clones and the new Prisoners of War, but the wily Clone was perfectly able to do that and meddle in other things. In fact… She used the remote again. "Let's see if there's anything in the news about him."
"There better not be!"
"...and if we modify the spy bot's search pattern to take the range of the chip's FTL comms into account, we can cover the suspected area under Ba'al's control much faster than anticipated, although at the price of potentially missing forces and bases without any chipped victims."
Jack O'Neill nodded at Carter's report. She - and Entrapta - had come through again. "Will that allow us to find his chip factory and shut it down?" It was best to get confirmation before he made any assumptions that turned out to be wrong.
"If Ba'al is using those chips on staff working there and if that facility is within the area we're searching, yes, sir."
Those were two significant 'ifs'. So, if Ba'al was even more paranoid and kept the chipped slaves from the chip factory, they wouldn't find it like that - unless they stumbled on it. On the other hand, would Ba'al really trust such a key part of his realm to people without mind-control chips? "So, we have to hope he hasn't used a clone of his there - or if he does, he still uses chips."
"If he's chipping his First Prime, I don't think he's shying away from doing it to a clone," Catra said. "The question is: Can he control another Goa'uld with the chips? If they can take over a stunned victim to make the body keep fighting…"
Carter nodded. "While we could not test it, based on the experiments we could run, we believe that the chips could override even a Goa'uld's control of their host."
Jack whistled. "Now, if the other snakes knew about that…"
"You think we should leak that intel to the enemy?" Catra looked at him. "Ba'al's already fighting a couple of snakes and us; if more get involved, they'll discover us sooner rather than later."
She was right, but Jack didn't think they would be able to hide for much longer. Between the deception with Apophis and now the campaign against Ba'al, when Adora had revealed herself, he had a feeling that the Goa'uld would discover the extent of the Alliance soon anyway. "We shouldn't underestimate the snakes. They will add two and two together as soon as they can compare information from Apophis and Ba'al."
"Ba'al has organised his forces in a way that makes it exceedingly difficult for spies to infiltrate his court," Teal'c said. "And the more mind-control chips he uses, the harder it becomes for a spy to remain effective."
That was true as well. And frustrating since it also meant the Tok'ra were not nearly as effective as they should be. But… "Yeah, but everything adds up."
"And you think that we should turn the other Goa'uld against Ba'al before they realise how powerful the Alliance is," Adora said.
"Yep." Jack nodded.
"And hope Ba'al doesn't spill the secret to avoid getting ganged up on," Catra said.
"That's a danger," Jack said. "But can you see Ba'al doing that? He keeps everything compartmentalised."
"We shouldn't underestimate him," Glimmer replied. "We know he is one of the smartest Goa'uld we've been fighting."
"And one of the most cruel," Adora added. She shook her head. "I think it's a bit too dangerous to leak the information - it would also show Ba'al how much we know. And I think the Goa'uld already fighting Ba'al are enough; I don't think we want the other System Lords to move more forces into the theatre - it would make defeating them in detail harder."
Jack slowly nodded. That made sense. And they were right that Ba'al was already one of the System Lords most hated by the rest of the snakes. "So, could those chips protect against being taken over by a snake?" Everyone stared at him, and he shrugged. "Just thinking out loud."
"The chips work by taking control of the central nervous system, sir. I don't think this would result in the victim retaining control of their body, sir," Carter said. "It would just be a puppet for the chip."
And that wouldn't be any better than being a host for a snake. Even if you were fighting for your own side. Jack shuddered.
"Well, unless the chip was programmed to just… reinforce the brain. Kinda," Entrapta said. "But you'd have to have all the brain data for that, and the chip can't really hold that much data. So… not really. But in theory, with much more advanced chips, it could be done - but we'd be copying a brain onto a chip for that, which I think we could if we used the Asgard's transfer technology, but we'd still need better chips."
Everyone was staring at her. Jack included. Had she just proposed a way to copy people's brains into chips and then have the copy take over the original body?
"Uh…" Adora grimaced. "Let's not try to copy people."
Everyone agreed with that.
North of Las Vegas, Nevada, United States of America, Earth, July 19th, 2000
"...and this, Your Divine Highness, is the latest congregation of your faithful!"
Standing next to the shuttle they had taken here, Adora stared. She had seen the pictures, of course - any officer knew how to check the maps before deploying, and while this trip wasn't an actual mission, it sure felt like one - but pictures didn't quite capture the real thing. "It's a giant sword."
"We considered building it in the shape of a shield, to symbolise Your Divine Protection of those in need, but we felt that emphasising the fight to defeat evil was more appropriate. Also, the building permits were easier to acquire for this design." Priest beamed.
"You mean, you found a giant cross that was permitted, and so they couldn't deny your sword," Catra commented.
"The authorities could not deny us what they granted to others already."
"That explains the giant sword," Adora said. A tall building in the shape of a sword, point buried in the earth. "But what about the fortress around it?" Those were Horde-style - Hordak's Horde, not Horde Prime's Horde - prefab walls complete with turrets and weapon emplacements - though they looked empty, fortunately.
"We received threats from various extremist elements, and the building permits included fences around the property, Your Divine Highness."
Adora didn't think anyone would consider walls thick enough to stop a charging hovertank 'fences', but she wasn't a building inspector. It wasn't as concerning as the first part of the statement, anyway. "Someone threatened you?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.
"Religious extremists, Your Divine Highness. They take exception to our faith spreading amongst the people of Earth and resort to threats of violence when their propaganda cannot stop Your Word from reaching those in need." Priest shook his head. "But do not be concerned - their pitiful attempts to scare us will not shake our devotion to Your Divine Truth! As You show us every day by example, we will persevere in the face of any adversity!"
Catra clapped, and Adora glared at her, which only made her lover grin, before she turned to address Priest again: "So, were there any attacks?"
"None so far, no doubt owing to our faithful guards, Your Divine Highness. Although the local fanatics have taken to, ah, 'picket' the building on the days of our celebrations and harass our faithful. Unfortunately, the authorities emphasised that they are allowed to do that by the laws of the land."
"Freedom of speech and blah blah," Catra said, peering through binoculars. "I think I can see them setting up - there's a sign denouncing you as a satanic temptress. And one calling you the whore of Babylon. And a few about 'Hell' awaiting those who follow you."
"We told them that the local satanic temple denied any connection between Your Divine Highness and their own faith, but it did not deter the protesters," Priest added. "Also, unlike Your Divine Name, 'satanic' is not a protected trademark, so the temple could not use legal means to stop this, either."
"My name is a trademark?" Adora hadn't known that.
"We took the steps to prevent people abusing your name and likeness to hurt others, in accordance with your values, Your Divine Highness."
She narrowed her eyes slightly - Priest sounded too smug - and ignored Catra's chuckling. "And to prevent others from selling merchandise, right?"
"Indeed, Your Divine Highness!" Priest nodded. "Your faithful will not be exploited for profit as long as we stand watchful!" He smiled. "Of course, we will limit ourselves to legal means, as Your Divine Example commands us, and not use the magic You graciously restored to Earth to put curses on those who would attempt to defraud Your faithful."
That was an oddly specific claim. Adora made a mental note to check with the sorceresses amongst her faithful - those using Earth's magic, at least - to ensure that they were not abusing magic.
"Or your ships to blow up enemies of the faith from orbit," Catra added.
"Of course not! Orbital bombardment is only allowed on Your Divine Highness's direct order!"
"Oh, look! There's another group protesting!" Catra peered through her binoculars again. "They demand… to 'Liberate Gaia's Chosen Vessel from Alien Bondage'?"
"It's a very small group of people who labour under the mistaken assumption that Her Divine Highness is actually their native goddess and has been coopted by us like the Goa'uld took over other religious figures," Priest explained.
"They think I'm a Goa'uld?" Adora clenched her teeth.
"They have not made that claim yet, but given how they seem to grow more radical every time they show up, it might merely be a question of time until they do, Your Divine Highness."
That… This was slander! "Is that covered by religious freedom?" she asked.
"We are looking forward to the ruling in that case, once we file a suit, Your Divine Highness." Priest nodded.
"Good." Adora nodded. "Then let's go visit the congregation."
Priest bowed deeply at her, and Catra smirked, but Adora ignored both. She hadn't really wanted to visit this church, temple, whatever, but if such hateful people were gathering outside, spreading such lies, and harassing visitors, then she wouldn't let that stand without making it clear what she thought about them.
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Maine, United States of America, Earth, July 20th, 2000
"...and the religious riots that broke out in Nevada following a visit by Princess She-Ra have finally ended according to the state police. While the governor has not yet commented on the incident, stating that the police were still investigating how exactly the riots started, several local politicians have already protested what they consider a 'blatant infringement of religious freedom' and demand the release of anyone arrested during the riot. Meanwhile, sources in Washington D.C. have confirmed that while the US government declined to comment on the incident, there are growing concerns about the involvement of Princess She-Ra in what is considered an internal matter for the American people."
"Thank you, Julie. This incident happening less than two weeks before the first national convention may also influence the election. Amongst growing concerns about America's role in the Alliance, fears of foreign influence are spreading in key demographics. Matthew, you've been talking to people on the ground, so to speak?"
"Yes, Keith. I have been talking to several local residents, and they all agree that the riot was the result of provocative actions taken by the Church of She-Ra."
Samantha Carter frowned at the screen in the corner of the waiting room - sorry, meeting room - in the Navy shipyards, where she was supposed to work on the latest issue that the Constitution II-Class frigate had managed to develop. Why were they interviewing Texans about an incident in Nevada? The two states didn't even share a border!
"...and just ask yourself: What would Jesus do? Why, he would chase them out just as he drove out the money-lenders from the temple!"
"They built a mockery of a church there, to make fun of our faith!"
"I don't have anything against aliens, but they shouldn't force their religion in our face like that."
"It's not a real religion, it's just a scam to get money. Why would they build such a huge building, anyway?"
"Las Vegas is a den of sin."
She didn't see any remote around, so she stood and went over to manually change channels. That particular station didn't deserve to be called news; it was blatant propaganda.
She had to switch channels three more times before she found a news source that was covering the riot in Nevada without engaging in sensationalist rhetoric or speculating whether or not the Church of She-Ra was at fault.
Of course, Sam wouldn't put it past Priest to engineer such an incident, but she didn't think he'd bother; as the news showed, there was considerable support for the attack on the church in the more radical circles of the religious conservatives. Various political and religious leaders might condemn the violence but they also more or less openly blamed the Church of She-Ra for it.
"...and this wouldn't have happened if America were still strong! Our Founding Fathers stood up to the most powerful Empires of their time! They would be ashamed to see how far their country has fallen. These people are lashing out because they don't feel safe anymore. When they look up, they see alien ships in the sky above their heads, not American ones! When they listen to the news about the war against the Goa'uld, they hear about foreign armies and fleets, not American ones! And they wonder where our soldiers and sailors are - and why they can't protect America! This needs to change!"
And that was a leading member of the electoral campaign of the future presidential candidate? Sam shook her head and turned the TV off. It seemed that American politics were taking a turn for the worse. She could only hope that saner heads would prevail.
She turned when she heard the door open behind her and saluted when she saw Admiral Baker enter. "Sir."
He returned the salute. "At ease, Major Carter. Please excuse the delay; our meeting ran a bit longer than expected; you know how it goes."
"I am familiar with meetings, sir." Sam smiled politely and added 'such as this one' in her head.
"Good, good. Now, we've called you because we've made a few more changes to the next block of the Constitution II-class, and we need you to figure out how to upgrade the existing ships." He pushed a button, and a holographic display appeared over the table showing the blueprints of the frigate.
"Yes, sir." Sam managed not to scowl. More changes?
She looked at the display, quickly going over the highlighted changes. "Expanded magazines?"
"The recent deployments have shown that a frigate needs to be able to operate independently for longer than we have previously anticipated."
There had been talk about long-range exploration and recon ships, to expand and complement the Spy bot network and conduct exploration, but the Alliance had not yet decided whether it was worth the effort. "The Constitution II-class frigates were designed as ships of the line, sir," she told him. Badly designed, and arguably useless at that role, but those had been the design parameters. "They're meant to operate in task forces supplied by a fleet train."
"Yes, but as hybrid ships that offer both carrier and gunship capability, they are perfect for long-range missions where sending an entire task force would not be economical. With just a few changes, we can extend their operational range for that."
A few changes that would see crew compartments reduced to a point, even submarine crews would consider the ship too cramped. And this was supposed to be a long-range exploration vessel? Not that the extended magazines would actually add enough supplies to handle such missions. And the whole plan ignored that the entire class was still not rated for interstellar deployment outside an emergency!
Sam wanted to scream. This would have never happened if the Air Force had taken the lead for the US space forces!
Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, July 21st, 2000
"Well, as you are already aware, the actions of a tiny minority do not reflect the attitude of the vast majority of the American people."
Catra cocked her head and raised her eyebrows at Daniel's comment, then pointedly looked at the TV in the background showing burning cars in a parking lot in the desert.
He cleared his throat and pushed his glasses up with a finger. "I know how it looks, with every media covering the riots, and how several seem to carefully select the, ah, most sensational statements, but if you look at the actual data, the vast majority of Americans condemn the attack on your church. Religious freedom is one of the basic rights in the country."
"They claim that we violate their religious freedom," Adora said.
"Which is obviously false," Daniel said. "The law is clear about that."
Catra scoffed. "The law might be clear, but the media aren't." She knew the difference between how they covered the actions of the Goa'uld and those of those fanatics who had tried to storm the church.
"The media do seem to show a lot more understanding for the motives behind this attack than one would expect if this were a tiny extremist minority," Priest added.
"It's an election year, and the religious conservatives are an important voting block," Daniel said. "But all the important churches have condemned the attack as well."
"They also condemned Her Divine Highness's intervention to save her church," Priest said. "Even though no one died or was seriously hurt. By any measure, making the ground shake so people fall down is a rather restrained reaction to an attack on the faithful for a divine intervention. Their holy books have much more brutal examples for much less serious offences."
Catra snorted. "They hate that Adora showed up their own god."
"I didn't show up anyone!" Adora protested. "I just stopped the attack before they could hurt anyone. Anyone in my position would have done that!"
Catra wasn't so certain. Sure, the police had arrested all the rioters, but they had been noticeably slow to arrive.
"Indeed, Your Divine Highness." Priest beamed at Adora. "It is not your fault that the absence of such interventions by other gods might cause some of their faithful to develop doubts about them."
On the other hand, Catra also had some doubts that Priest was as surprised about the attack as he had claimed. Sure, the protesters had been gathering for days without attacking anyone, but it was pretty convenient that the day they actually attacked was the day Adora was visiting. You'd have to be a complete idiot to try anything with her present. Of course, those people were complete idiots…
"That is an important point, actually," Daniel said. "While the Church of She-Ra is amongst the smallest religious organisations in the United States, it is growing much faster than any other church. This has been a source of concern for some congregations."
Catra snorted again. "As I said, they fear the competition."
"It's not a competition!" Adora objected.
"Indeed, Your Divine Highness!" Priest nodded slowly. "Faith is a personal choice for every individual, not a competition, much less a business. Everyone has to decide for themselves what faith suits them. Anything else would violate their religious freedom. That some religious leaders seem to have a problem with that should raise concerns about them and their faith."
"Of course," Daniel agreed. "I'm just pointing out why some religious leaders have concerns."
"Well, they should take their concerns up with their gods," Priest replied. "If they were more present in their followers' lives, I am sure they wouldn't have a reason to be concerned about Her Divine Highness's flock of faithful."
"I think if their god were present in their lives, they would have a lot more and more serious problems than the competition from Adora," Catra said with a smirk.
"Well, religious practices and doctrines are a delicate subject," Daniel said. "Opinions about which rules of a religion should be followed, and how, vary a lot within most faiths."
Priest shrugged. "That is between the faithful and their gods. If a god decides to remain silent about such disagreements, then they obviously don't care enough about the matter to intervene."
Adora frowned at him for that. "Or they might not be listening."
Priest nodded as if he had not noticed the implied criticism. "That is possible, though I think the deities being worshipped on Earth would be able to make themselves heard by their faithful. The stories about them certainly imply such."
"If they exist in the first place," Sha're said. "It's hard to believe a real god would have tolerated the Goa'uld usurping their name and faith."
Priest tilted his head slightly. "That so many people do not doubt their religion despite the lack of a divine presence in their lives is a testament to the power of their faith."
Despite the honest tone of his statement, Catra was sure that Priest didn't intend it to be a compliment. And she didn't think anyone else thought so.
Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, July 22nd, 2000
"The Etherians have refused to share the factory ships, General." The Secretary of Defense was back, and he wasn't happy. Both about that fact and about Jack O'Neill.
Jack wasn't happy either. He wasn't a politician. "I mentioned the 'optics', but the Command Council decided that military reasons took priority."
"You mean the Supreme Commander decided to keep the shipyards for her personal cult, General!"
Jack really shouldn't have come to Brussels today. Or shouldn't have decloaked his stealth shuttle. "I think it's a bit problematic to call an established religion a 'cult', sir."
"It's a cult!" the Secretary snapped. "Or do you think Princess She-Ra is an actual goddess?"
Jack forced himself to smile widely. "I don't judge other religions. You never know which might turn out to be the right one." Alright, that was a bit too snarky, but really - the idiot shouldn't be blaming Jack for his own failures. He was the politician; Jack was just a soldier.
"This is no joking matter, General! We're in the middle of an election, and the polls show that this is a key issue for a significant part of the voters!"
"Are you talking about the failed designs being built in our shipyards or the failed religious oppression?" Jack asked. "Just so there's no misunderstanding."
"There is no religious oppression in the United States!"
"But 'key segments of the voters' seem to think there should be, according to the news," Jack pointed out.
"There are concerns about new religions aggressively recruiting members, especially amongst teenagers who lack enough life experience to make an informed decision. A valid concern, based on past experiences."
"I'd be more concerned about religious fanatics trying to burn down churches." Jack shrugged. "Or our ships being flying coffins." The Secretary of Defense was responsible for that fiasco; it was his job to ensure that such screwups didn't happen, especially not in the middle of a war.
"The problems with the Constitution II-class are vastly overblown. None of the ships have suffered a serious accident."
"None of them have been in a real battle either," Jack pointed out. "But they haven't exactly covered themselves with glory in exercises either."
"Teething problems that will work themselves out. And it ties into the reason I am here, General. I am here because we need those factory ships! Have you seen the latest opinion pieces? They call us weak! Have you seen the cartoons? They show the United States as a little child hiding behind the skirts of the aliens!"
Jack chuckled. Catra had shown him the cartoon, and Adora had complained that she had never worn such a long skirt.
"It's not funny, General. We can't appear weak. What do you think will happen if we lose the election?"
"We get another government?" Jack shrugged again. That was how democracy worked.
"A government made of people who campaigned on the promise to take a tougher stance against aliens! Do you think that pissing off our allies will help win the war?" The Secretary shook his head. "They'll ruin whatever goodwill we've recovered in the time since First Contact. Do you think the other members of NATO have forgotten that we kept the Stargate a secret from them?"
That hadn't been his fault. Jack hadn't made that decision. "Sir, I've passed on your concerns. But the Etherians - and the other members of the Alliance - don't think that we should hand over the factory ships to the United States. The Europeans also mentioned concerns about crippling their shipbuilding industry by relying on alien factories that would outcompete them."
The Secretary sighed. "I've pointed this out as well, but the public doesn't care about long-term economic policies. They want a fleet of spaceships flying the Star-spangled Banner. The fact that the British ships were seen in action, saving a base, has people asking where our ships are."
"Those transports are altered copies of Horde designs. The British-designed corvettes haven't seen action either so far," Jack pointed out. Though they had performed very well in exercises.
"I know. But the public doesn't care! And the other party is making a big deal about this. We need something to show the American people that we're still a key part of the Alliance - that we're not hiding behind anyone! We need a victory from you, General."
Jack had a sinking feeling in his stomach. "I command the Alliance Special Forces - a mixed unit, sir."
"Yes, but you are the face of our special forces. You and the others from SG-1. Everyone knows that you lead from the front, so we need to use that. It works for princesses, after all."
That was… Jack wanted to protest that he wasn't a princess, but that would make him sound like a whiner. And he couldn't actually argue against leading from the front, could he?
Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, July 28th, 2000
"...and I can only say it again: America deserves better! We have fought the Goa'uld alone for years! Stargate Command killed Ra, the Goa'uld's supreme leader, without any help from anyone! We struggled and fought and saved the entire Earth! And yet, the current administration has squandered all that. Instead of leading the Alliance with our experience, Stargate Command has been put under the command of the United Nations and turned into a travel agency! Our best soldiers are doing gatekeeper duty! What has gone wrong here?"
"That's a very biased take on our past, Jim. Stargate Command has fought the Goa'uld and eliminated Ra, but there was a lot of luck involved. You can't compare those missions with the war we're waging now. Stargate Command never had any spaceships, much less fleets of them. And I believe that most Americans would agree that fighting aliens without telling anyone, not even our closest allies, was a mistake."
"A mistake the current administration has made, Heith! Another reason why it should be replaced!"
"A mistake from which the current administration has learned. Unlike your party, which seems determined to repeat the same mistake of making unilateral decisions about the war - and ignoring the reality of the situation."
"We're not talking about taking over the Alliance…"
"Yes, you are. Your candidate spoke at length about the need for 'American leadership' in this war!"
"...we are talking about not letting two dozen foreign countries and aliens decide American policies."
"You have been very vague about which policies you want to change, Jim. Would you care to be more specific? Which policies do you feel were forced on the American people? And how was that done? Did someone bypass Congress?"
"That's sophistry! You are well aware that we didn't have any choice but to change our laws - and the constitution! - with a fleet of spaceships flying above our heads! Do you think gunboat diplomacy is acceptable?"
"Are you insinuating that the Alliance fleet would have attacked the United States if we had chosen not to join the Alliance?"
"They certainly intervened in Iran, didn't they?"
"They intervened to stop crimes against humanity - something the United States has done as well, with your support, as I recall."
"You cannot compare the United States to Iran!"
"I didn't have to - you did it! And do I really have to remind you that the Etherians did not force any country to change their policies even when they disagreed with them? The changes to our laws and the amendment to the constitution were the decisions of the American people and their representatives on the federal and state levels. As it should be."
"What would have been the alternative? To be relegated to a third-world country stuck on Earth while everyone else built spaceships to colonise the stars? That was no choice at all! America deserves better!"
Adora shut off the TV. "That's going to be their motto, right? 'America deserves better'?"
"It seems so. It's a catchy slogan," Daniel said. "And it's hard to disagree with the idea that America should improve. It's just that people differ on how exactly America should improve."
That was a bit of an understatement, in Adora's opinion. She wasn't an expert on Earth politics, but some things were very hard to miss. "It seems to me that at least one party feels that in order to improve America, they need to beat others."
"And they don't mean the Goa'uld," Glimmer added. "They mean the rest of the Alliance. And all those complaints about being forced to change their policies? They want to be able to discriminate against people like us again!"
"I don't believe anyone seriously expects to be able to turn back the clock. Changing the constitution is very difficult - by design - and the latest amendment has far too much support from key states to be repelled again," Daniel pointed out.
"But they're playing up the fact that this was a condition to join the Alliance to create and build up fear that the Alliance will force more changes on the United States," Glimmer retorted. "And they are targeting the same people who opposed the changes in the first place because they want their support. That's not a good sign."
"Not at all," Adora agreed. What could you expect from a government that came into power through such means? Nothing good.
"And they can do a lot without changing the constitution," Catra added. "Just picking what laws they enforce will cause changes." It was the same in the Horde - if you didn't crack down on corruption, every quartermaster stole as much as possible from their magazines.
"I think that's a bit too harsh. A new government is still bound by the constitution and the treaties we've made," Daniel said. "The President isn't a monarch. They do not have absolute power - there are checks and balances for a reason." He smiled. "The current administration might be playing up the amount of changes that could be enacted in order to gain concessions from the Alliance."
Adora sighed. "I've noticed that. Now that they couldn't get the factory ships we captured, they want some great victory so they can show the American public that they're strong."
"Well…" Daniel shrugged. "A great victory over the Goa'uld wouldn't be a bad thing, would it?"
He was right, of course, but…
"If you need a victory to keep your position and power, you tend to take risks and gambles that you normally wouldn't," Catra voiced Adora's thoughts. "And that tends to end badly."
Adora nodded. "We won't rush into a battle just to save the American government." They wouldn't sacrifice soldiers for political gains. Not on her watch.
Glimmer nodded. "If they don't want to be voted out they shouldn't have made their country a democracy."
Daniel frowned at her. "On Earth, the less democratic nations are generally far more conservative. All the members of the Alliance are democracies."
"Well, Earth is weird," Glimmer shot back, flushing a little. "That wouldn't happen if you had proper princesses."
Bow cleared his throat. "Etheria has numerous examples of similarly unfit leaders, both in the past and in the present."
That earned him a frown from Glimmer, but he wasn't wrong, in Adora's opinion. Politics were far too often far too frustrating. War was worse, of course, but at least you could hit your enemy on the battlefield. And…
Her tablet beeped. Priority message? She checked it. And then she smiled. "It's from Entrapta and Sam. The bots have found a mind-control network!"
Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, July 18th, 2000
"...and we cannot close our eyes to the fact that we've been at this war for years - almost during the entire time the current administration was in power - and yet, America's position hasn't improved. We depend on alien protection and alien technology for everything! Should the Alliance break apart, America would be left helpless. This has to change! We cannot depend on others any more!"
"Those were very strong statements. And it's still two weeks until the national convention - can we expect even stronger statements then, James?"
"I believe so, Julia! The war against the Goa'uld is dominating this election, and the polls all agree that it is a very divisive issue for America. And while Americans are generally loath to change governments in the middle of a war, with the term limits applied, the effect of that sentiment is naturally not as strong as it could be, and many of us remember how quickly the last war was won under President Bush, so…"
Sitting in the meeting room that she usually occupied in the Alliance HQ, Catra rolled her eyes and switched channels. The Gulf War had been fought with tanks and planes, not spaceships, and with overwhelming material superiority. If anyone thought you could wage war the same way in space, they needed a reality check.
"...and this is not merely a question about how to conduct the war against those aliens, but a question that touches the very soul of our nation: Should America become one nation amongst many, or should we continue to be the shining city on the hill, the ideal other nations aspire to become? After the fall of the Soviet Union, America has been the world's uncontested leader. Where we went, others followed. We were the first to step on the moon - and we were the first to reach out to the stars and strike a blow against the Goa'uld! This is a proud history and a responsibility we cannot discharge as easily as the current government wants us to! America is not one country amongst many, but a promise! So…"
"...and I can only repeat what our government already stated: America cannot stand alone and it should not stand alone. From the beginning, we have been looking for allies against the Goa'uls. We will not reject our friends - we will stand by their side, united against the Goa'uld. America is a strong part of the Alliance, and we will only grow stronger as we adapt the advanced technology shared with us and develop our own. It would be the height of foolishness to…"
Catra turned the TV off.
"That's why democracy is such a stupid system: It's not even been two years since we made the Alliance treaty, and yet, those people want to change it!" Glimmer complained. "How can you trust such a country? Even the worst princesses back home know that you can't just dissolve a treaty like that!"
"Ah, I don't think they want to dissolve the treaty," Bow said. "They just want to, ah, change how Alliance procurement works."
"They want to take control of the shipyards because they can't stand that they aren't the most powerful member of the Alliance!" Glimmer shot back. "Jack told us that - and they're saying it in public!"
Catra nodded in agreement.
"Well, they are going to become the most powerful member of the Alliance once they adapt to advanced technology - they are the biggest country with the strongest economy," Bow pointed out.
"Yes! But that makes this even worse - they don't even have the patience to wait a few years!" Glimmer scoffed. "Don't they know about long-term planning?"
"That won't win them the next election," Catra said.
"Short-sighted fools!" Glimmer bared her teeth and crossed her arms with a huff.
"At least the other countries aren't like that," Bow tried to smile encouragingly. "And they're democracies as well."
Glimmer huffed again. "They would probably act the same if they were as big as the United States."
"Probably. Except for the Germans," Catra said.
"Well, yes. But they're weird about it." Glimmer shrugged, then sighed. "I just wish they'd focus on beating the snakes instead of each other."
"It's not that bad," Bow objected. "They just… are still adjusting."
"Then they should adjust more quickly!"
Catra snorted.
"Well, as long as we can keep them from messing up Alliance strategy and production, it won't matter much who's in charge of the United States, right?" Bow asked.
"They both want the same anyway," Glimmer grumbled.
"That's consistent, at least," Catra said with a grin. "It's almost as if America had a princess."
Glimmer scowled at her, and Bow chuckled politely.
"How much longer until Adora's back from her meeting?" Glimmer asked after a moment.
Catra shrugged. "It depends on what Priest's been doing while we were fighting Ba'al. If he's been good, it shouldn't take too long."
"Great. We'll be here all day then."
She might not be wrong, in Catra's opinion. Priest should have been busy handling the new Clones and the new Prisoners of War, but the wily Clone was perfectly able to do that and meddle in other things. In fact… She used the remote again. "Let's see if there's anything in the news about him."
"There better not be!"
*****
"...and if we modify the spy bot's search pattern to take the range of the chip's FTL comms into account, we can cover the suspected area under Ba'al's control much faster than anticipated, although at the price of potentially missing forces and bases without any chipped victims."
Jack O'Neill nodded at Carter's report. She - and Entrapta - had come through again. "Will that allow us to find his chip factory and shut it down?" It was best to get confirmation before he made any assumptions that turned out to be wrong.
"If Ba'al is using those chips on staff working there and if that facility is within the area we're searching, yes, sir."
Those were two significant 'ifs'. So, if Ba'al was even more paranoid and kept the chipped slaves from the chip factory, they wouldn't find it like that - unless they stumbled on it. On the other hand, would Ba'al really trust such a key part of his realm to people without mind-control chips? "So, we have to hope he hasn't used a clone of his there - or if he does, he still uses chips."
"If he's chipping his First Prime, I don't think he's shying away from doing it to a clone," Catra said. "The question is: Can he control another Goa'uld with the chips? If they can take over a stunned victim to make the body keep fighting…"
Carter nodded. "While we could not test it, based on the experiments we could run, we believe that the chips could override even a Goa'uld's control of their host."
Jack whistled. "Now, if the other snakes knew about that…"
"You think we should leak that intel to the enemy?" Catra looked at him. "Ba'al's already fighting a couple of snakes and us; if more get involved, they'll discover us sooner rather than later."
She was right, but Jack didn't think they would be able to hide for much longer. Between the deception with Apophis and now the campaign against Ba'al, when Adora had revealed herself, he had a feeling that the Goa'uld would discover the extent of the Alliance soon anyway. "We shouldn't underestimate the snakes. They will add two and two together as soon as they can compare information from Apophis and Ba'al."
"Ba'al has organised his forces in a way that makes it exceedingly difficult for spies to infiltrate his court," Teal'c said. "And the more mind-control chips he uses, the harder it becomes for a spy to remain effective."
That was true as well. And frustrating since it also meant the Tok'ra were not nearly as effective as they should be. But… "Yeah, but everything adds up."
"And you think that we should turn the other Goa'uld against Ba'al before they realise how powerful the Alliance is," Adora said.
"Yep." Jack nodded.
"And hope Ba'al doesn't spill the secret to avoid getting ganged up on," Catra said.
"That's a danger," Jack said. "But can you see Ba'al doing that? He keeps everything compartmentalised."
"We shouldn't underestimate him," Glimmer replied. "We know he is one of the smartest Goa'uld we've been fighting."
"And one of the most cruel," Adora added. She shook her head. "I think it's a bit too dangerous to leak the information - it would also show Ba'al how much we know. And I think the Goa'uld already fighting Ba'al are enough; I don't think we want the other System Lords to move more forces into the theatre - it would make defeating them in detail harder."
Jack slowly nodded. That made sense. And they were right that Ba'al was already one of the System Lords most hated by the rest of the snakes. "So, could those chips protect against being taken over by a snake?" Everyone stared at him, and he shrugged. "Just thinking out loud."
"The chips work by taking control of the central nervous system, sir. I don't think this would result in the victim retaining control of their body, sir," Carter said. "It would just be a puppet for the chip."
And that wouldn't be any better than being a host for a snake. Even if you were fighting for your own side. Jack shuddered.
"Well, unless the chip was programmed to just… reinforce the brain. Kinda," Entrapta said. "But you'd have to have all the brain data for that, and the chip can't really hold that much data. So… not really. But in theory, with much more advanced chips, it could be done - but we'd be copying a brain onto a chip for that, which I think we could if we used the Asgard's transfer technology, but we'd still need better chips."
Everyone was staring at her. Jack included. Had she just proposed a way to copy people's brains into chips and then have the copy take over the original body?
"Uh…" Adora grimaced. "Let's not try to copy people."
Everyone agreed with that.
*****
North of Las Vegas, Nevada, United States of America, Earth, July 19th, 2000
"...and this, Your Divine Highness, is the latest congregation of your faithful!"
Standing next to the shuttle they had taken here, Adora stared. She had seen the pictures, of course - any officer knew how to check the maps before deploying, and while this trip wasn't an actual mission, it sure felt like one - but pictures didn't quite capture the real thing. "It's a giant sword."
"We considered building it in the shape of a shield, to symbolise Your Divine Protection of those in need, but we felt that emphasising the fight to defeat evil was more appropriate. Also, the building permits were easier to acquire for this design." Priest beamed.
"You mean, you found a giant cross that was permitted, and so they couldn't deny your sword," Catra commented.
"The authorities could not deny us what they granted to others already."
"That explains the giant sword," Adora said. A tall building in the shape of a sword, point buried in the earth. "But what about the fortress around it?" Those were Horde-style - Hordak's Horde, not Horde Prime's Horde - prefab walls complete with turrets and weapon emplacements - though they looked empty, fortunately.
"We received threats from various extremist elements, and the building permits included fences around the property, Your Divine Highness."
Adora didn't think anyone would consider walls thick enough to stop a charging hovertank 'fences', but she wasn't a building inspector. It wasn't as concerning as the first part of the statement, anyway. "Someone threatened you?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.
"Religious extremists, Your Divine Highness. They take exception to our faith spreading amongst the people of Earth and resort to threats of violence when their propaganda cannot stop Your Word from reaching those in need." Priest shook his head. "But do not be concerned - their pitiful attempts to scare us will not shake our devotion to Your Divine Truth! As You show us every day by example, we will persevere in the face of any adversity!"
Catra clapped, and Adora glared at her, which only made her lover grin, before she turned to address Priest again: "So, were there any attacks?"
"None so far, no doubt owing to our faithful guards, Your Divine Highness. Although the local fanatics have taken to, ah, 'picket' the building on the days of our celebrations and harass our faithful. Unfortunately, the authorities emphasised that they are allowed to do that by the laws of the land."
"Freedom of speech and blah blah," Catra said, peering through binoculars. "I think I can see them setting up - there's a sign denouncing you as a satanic temptress. And one calling you the whore of Babylon. And a few about 'Hell' awaiting those who follow you."
"We told them that the local satanic temple denied any connection between Your Divine Highness and their own faith, but it did not deter the protesters," Priest added. "Also, unlike Your Divine Name, 'satanic' is not a protected trademark, so the temple could not use legal means to stop this, either."
"My name is a trademark?" Adora hadn't known that.
"We took the steps to prevent people abusing your name and likeness to hurt others, in accordance with your values, Your Divine Highness."
She narrowed her eyes slightly - Priest sounded too smug - and ignored Catra's chuckling. "And to prevent others from selling merchandise, right?"
"Indeed, Your Divine Highness!" Priest nodded. "Your faithful will not be exploited for profit as long as we stand watchful!" He smiled. "Of course, we will limit ourselves to legal means, as Your Divine Example commands us, and not use the magic You graciously restored to Earth to put curses on those who would attempt to defraud Your faithful."
That was an oddly specific claim. Adora made a mental note to check with the sorceresses amongst her faithful - those using Earth's magic, at least - to ensure that they were not abusing magic.
"Or your ships to blow up enemies of the faith from orbit," Catra added.
"Of course not! Orbital bombardment is only allowed on Your Divine Highness's direct order!"
"Oh, look! There's another group protesting!" Catra peered through her binoculars again. "They demand… to 'Liberate Gaia's Chosen Vessel from Alien Bondage'?"
"It's a very small group of people who labour under the mistaken assumption that Her Divine Highness is actually their native goddess and has been coopted by us like the Goa'uld took over other religious figures," Priest explained.
"They think I'm a Goa'uld?" Adora clenched her teeth.
"They have not made that claim yet, but given how they seem to grow more radical every time they show up, it might merely be a question of time until they do, Your Divine Highness."
That… This was slander! "Is that covered by religious freedom?" she asked.
"We are looking forward to the ruling in that case, once we file a suit, Your Divine Highness." Priest nodded.
"Good." Adora nodded. "Then let's go visit the congregation."
Priest bowed deeply at her, and Catra smirked, but Adora ignored both. She hadn't really wanted to visit this church, temple, whatever, but if such hateful people were gathering outside, spreading such lies, and harassing visitors, then she wouldn't let that stand without making it clear what she thought about them.
*****
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Maine, United States of America, Earth, July 20th, 2000
"...and the religious riots that broke out in Nevada following a visit by Princess She-Ra have finally ended according to the state police. While the governor has not yet commented on the incident, stating that the police were still investigating how exactly the riots started, several local politicians have already protested what they consider a 'blatant infringement of religious freedom' and demand the release of anyone arrested during the riot. Meanwhile, sources in Washington D.C. have confirmed that while the US government declined to comment on the incident, there are growing concerns about the involvement of Princess She-Ra in what is considered an internal matter for the American people."
"Thank you, Julie. This incident happening less than two weeks before the first national convention may also influence the election. Amongst growing concerns about America's role in the Alliance, fears of foreign influence are spreading in key demographics. Matthew, you've been talking to people on the ground, so to speak?"
"Yes, Keith. I have been talking to several local residents, and they all agree that the riot was the result of provocative actions taken by the Church of She-Ra."
Samantha Carter frowned at the screen in the corner of the waiting room - sorry, meeting room - in the Navy shipyards, where she was supposed to work on the latest issue that the Constitution II-Class frigate had managed to develop. Why were they interviewing Texans about an incident in Nevada? The two states didn't even share a border!
"...and just ask yourself: What would Jesus do? Why, he would chase them out just as he drove out the money-lenders from the temple!"
"They built a mockery of a church there, to make fun of our faith!"
"I don't have anything against aliens, but they shouldn't force their religion in our face like that."
"It's not a real religion, it's just a scam to get money. Why would they build such a huge building, anyway?"
"Las Vegas is a den of sin."
She didn't see any remote around, so she stood and went over to manually change channels. That particular station didn't deserve to be called news; it was blatant propaganda.
She had to switch channels three more times before she found a news source that was covering the riot in Nevada without engaging in sensationalist rhetoric or speculating whether or not the Church of She-Ra was at fault.
Of course, Sam wouldn't put it past Priest to engineer such an incident, but she didn't think he'd bother; as the news showed, there was considerable support for the attack on the church in the more radical circles of the religious conservatives. Various political and religious leaders might condemn the violence but they also more or less openly blamed the Church of She-Ra for it.
"...and this wouldn't have happened if America were still strong! Our Founding Fathers stood up to the most powerful Empires of their time! They would be ashamed to see how far their country has fallen. These people are lashing out because they don't feel safe anymore. When they look up, they see alien ships in the sky above their heads, not American ones! When they listen to the news about the war against the Goa'uld, they hear about foreign armies and fleets, not American ones! And they wonder where our soldiers and sailors are - and why they can't protect America! This needs to change!"
And that was a leading member of the electoral campaign of the future presidential candidate? Sam shook her head and turned the TV off. It seemed that American politics were taking a turn for the worse. She could only hope that saner heads would prevail.
She turned when she heard the door open behind her and saluted when she saw Admiral Baker enter. "Sir."
He returned the salute. "At ease, Major Carter. Please excuse the delay; our meeting ran a bit longer than expected; you know how it goes."
"I am familiar with meetings, sir." Sam smiled politely and added 'such as this one' in her head.
"Good, good. Now, we've called you because we've made a few more changes to the next block of the Constitution II-class, and we need you to figure out how to upgrade the existing ships." He pushed a button, and a holographic display appeared over the table showing the blueprints of the frigate.
"Yes, sir." Sam managed not to scowl. More changes?
She looked at the display, quickly going over the highlighted changes. "Expanded magazines?"
"The recent deployments have shown that a frigate needs to be able to operate independently for longer than we have previously anticipated."
There had been talk about long-range exploration and recon ships, to expand and complement the Spy bot network and conduct exploration, but the Alliance had not yet decided whether it was worth the effort. "The Constitution II-class frigates were designed as ships of the line, sir," she told him. Badly designed, and arguably useless at that role, but those had been the design parameters. "They're meant to operate in task forces supplied by a fleet train."
"Yes, but as hybrid ships that offer both carrier and gunship capability, they are perfect for long-range missions where sending an entire task force would not be economical. With just a few changes, we can extend their operational range for that."
A few changes that would see crew compartments reduced to a point, even submarine crews would consider the ship too cramped. And this was supposed to be a long-range exploration vessel? Not that the extended magazines would actually add enough supplies to handle such missions. And the whole plan ignored that the entire class was still not rated for interstellar deployment outside an emergency!
Sam wanted to scream. This would have never happened if the Air Force had taken the lead for the US space forces!
*****
Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, July 21st, 2000
"Well, as you are already aware, the actions of a tiny minority do not reflect the attitude of the vast majority of the American people."
Catra cocked her head and raised her eyebrows at Daniel's comment, then pointedly looked at the TV in the background showing burning cars in a parking lot in the desert.
He cleared his throat and pushed his glasses up with a finger. "I know how it looks, with every media covering the riots, and how several seem to carefully select the, ah, most sensational statements, but if you look at the actual data, the vast majority of Americans condemn the attack on your church. Religious freedom is one of the basic rights in the country."
"They claim that we violate their religious freedom," Adora said.
"Which is obviously false," Daniel said. "The law is clear about that."
Catra scoffed. "The law might be clear, but the media aren't." She knew the difference between how they covered the actions of the Goa'uld and those of those fanatics who had tried to storm the church.
"The media do seem to show a lot more understanding for the motives behind this attack than one would expect if this were a tiny extremist minority," Priest added.
"It's an election year, and the religious conservatives are an important voting block," Daniel said. "But all the important churches have condemned the attack as well."
"They also condemned Her Divine Highness's intervention to save her church," Priest said. "Even though no one died or was seriously hurt. By any measure, making the ground shake so people fall down is a rather restrained reaction to an attack on the faithful for a divine intervention. Their holy books have much more brutal examples for much less serious offences."
Catra snorted. "They hate that Adora showed up their own god."
"I didn't show up anyone!" Adora protested. "I just stopped the attack before they could hurt anyone. Anyone in my position would have done that!"
Catra wasn't so certain. Sure, the police had arrested all the rioters, but they had been noticeably slow to arrive.
"Indeed, Your Divine Highness." Priest beamed at Adora. "It is not your fault that the absence of such interventions by other gods might cause some of their faithful to develop doubts about them."
On the other hand, Catra also had some doubts that Priest was as surprised about the attack as he had claimed. Sure, the protesters had been gathering for days without attacking anyone, but it was pretty convenient that the day they actually attacked was the day Adora was visiting. You'd have to be a complete idiot to try anything with her present. Of course, those people were complete idiots…
"That is an important point, actually," Daniel said. "While the Church of She-Ra is amongst the smallest religious organisations in the United States, it is growing much faster than any other church. This has been a source of concern for some congregations."
Catra snorted again. "As I said, they fear the competition."
"It's not a competition!" Adora objected.
"Indeed, Your Divine Highness!" Priest nodded slowly. "Faith is a personal choice for every individual, not a competition, much less a business. Everyone has to decide for themselves what faith suits them. Anything else would violate their religious freedom. That some religious leaders seem to have a problem with that should raise concerns about them and their faith."
"Of course," Daniel agreed. "I'm just pointing out why some religious leaders have concerns."
"Well, they should take their concerns up with their gods," Priest replied. "If they were more present in their followers' lives, I am sure they wouldn't have a reason to be concerned about Her Divine Highness's flock of faithful."
"I think if their god were present in their lives, they would have a lot more and more serious problems than the competition from Adora," Catra said with a smirk.
"Well, religious practices and doctrines are a delicate subject," Daniel said. "Opinions about which rules of a religion should be followed, and how, vary a lot within most faiths."
Priest shrugged. "That is between the faithful and their gods. If a god decides to remain silent about such disagreements, then they obviously don't care enough about the matter to intervene."
Adora frowned at him for that. "Or they might not be listening."
Priest nodded as if he had not noticed the implied criticism. "That is possible, though I think the deities being worshipped on Earth would be able to make themselves heard by their faithful. The stories about them certainly imply such."
"If they exist in the first place," Sha're said. "It's hard to believe a real god would have tolerated the Goa'uld usurping their name and faith."
Priest tilted his head slightly. "That so many people do not doubt their religion despite the lack of a divine presence in their lives is a testament to the power of their faith."
Despite the honest tone of his statement, Catra was sure that Priest didn't intend it to be a compliment. And she didn't think anyone else thought so.
*****
Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, July 22nd, 2000
"The Etherians have refused to share the factory ships, General." The Secretary of Defense was back, and he wasn't happy. Both about that fact and about Jack O'Neill.
Jack wasn't happy either. He wasn't a politician. "I mentioned the 'optics', but the Command Council decided that military reasons took priority."
"You mean the Supreme Commander decided to keep the shipyards for her personal cult, General!"
Jack really shouldn't have come to Brussels today. Or shouldn't have decloaked his stealth shuttle. "I think it's a bit problematic to call an established religion a 'cult', sir."
"It's a cult!" the Secretary snapped. "Or do you think Princess She-Ra is an actual goddess?"
Jack forced himself to smile widely. "I don't judge other religions. You never know which might turn out to be the right one." Alright, that was a bit too snarky, but really - the idiot shouldn't be blaming Jack for his own failures. He was the politician; Jack was just a soldier.
"This is no joking matter, General! We're in the middle of an election, and the polls show that this is a key issue for a significant part of the voters!"
"Are you talking about the failed designs being built in our shipyards or the failed religious oppression?" Jack asked. "Just so there's no misunderstanding."
"There is no religious oppression in the United States!"
"But 'key segments of the voters' seem to think there should be, according to the news," Jack pointed out.
"There are concerns about new religions aggressively recruiting members, especially amongst teenagers who lack enough life experience to make an informed decision. A valid concern, based on past experiences."
"I'd be more concerned about religious fanatics trying to burn down churches." Jack shrugged. "Or our ships being flying coffins." The Secretary of Defense was responsible for that fiasco; it was his job to ensure that such screwups didn't happen, especially not in the middle of a war.
"The problems with the Constitution II-class are vastly overblown. None of the ships have suffered a serious accident."
"None of them have been in a real battle either," Jack pointed out. "But they haven't exactly covered themselves with glory in exercises either."
"Teething problems that will work themselves out. And it ties into the reason I am here, General. I am here because we need those factory ships! Have you seen the latest opinion pieces? They call us weak! Have you seen the cartoons? They show the United States as a little child hiding behind the skirts of the aliens!"
Jack chuckled. Catra had shown him the cartoon, and Adora had complained that she had never worn such a long skirt.
"It's not funny, General. We can't appear weak. What do you think will happen if we lose the election?"
"We get another government?" Jack shrugged again. That was how democracy worked.
"A government made of people who campaigned on the promise to take a tougher stance against aliens! Do you think that pissing off our allies will help win the war?" The Secretary shook his head. "They'll ruin whatever goodwill we've recovered in the time since First Contact. Do you think the other members of NATO have forgotten that we kept the Stargate a secret from them?"
That hadn't been his fault. Jack hadn't made that decision. "Sir, I've passed on your concerns. But the Etherians - and the other members of the Alliance - don't think that we should hand over the factory ships to the United States. The Europeans also mentioned concerns about crippling their shipbuilding industry by relying on alien factories that would outcompete them."
The Secretary sighed. "I've pointed this out as well, but the public doesn't care about long-term economic policies. They want a fleet of spaceships flying the Star-spangled Banner. The fact that the British ships were seen in action, saving a base, has people asking where our ships are."
"Those transports are altered copies of Horde designs. The British-designed corvettes haven't seen action either so far," Jack pointed out. Though they had performed very well in exercises.
"I know. But the public doesn't care! And the other party is making a big deal about this. We need something to show the American people that we're still a key part of the Alliance - that we're not hiding behind anyone! We need a victory from you, General."
Jack had a sinking feeling in his stomach. "I command the Alliance Special Forces - a mixed unit, sir."
"Yes, but you are the face of our special forces. You and the others from SG-1. Everyone knows that you lead from the front, so we need to use that. It works for princesses, after all."
That was… Jack wanted to protest that he wasn't a princess, but that would make him sound like a whiner. And he couldn't actually argue against leading from the front, could he?
*****
Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, July 28th, 2000
"...and I can only say it again: America deserves better! We have fought the Goa'uld alone for years! Stargate Command killed Ra, the Goa'uld's supreme leader, without any help from anyone! We struggled and fought and saved the entire Earth! And yet, the current administration has squandered all that. Instead of leading the Alliance with our experience, Stargate Command has been put under the command of the United Nations and turned into a travel agency! Our best soldiers are doing gatekeeper duty! What has gone wrong here?"
"That's a very biased take on our past, Jim. Stargate Command has fought the Goa'uld and eliminated Ra, but there was a lot of luck involved. You can't compare those missions with the war we're waging now. Stargate Command never had any spaceships, much less fleets of them. And I believe that most Americans would agree that fighting aliens without telling anyone, not even our closest allies, was a mistake."
"A mistake the current administration has made, Heith! Another reason why it should be replaced!"
"A mistake from which the current administration has learned. Unlike your party, which seems determined to repeat the same mistake of making unilateral decisions about the war - and ignoring the reality of the situation."
"We're not talking about taking over the Alliance…"
"Yes, you are. Your candidate spoke at length about the need for 'American leadership' in this war!"
"...we are talking about not letting two dozen foreign countries and aliens decide American policies."
"You have been very vague about which policies you want to change, Jim. Would you care to be more specific? Which policies do you feel were forced on the American people? And how was that done? Did someone bypass Congress?"
"That's sophistry! You are well aware that we didn't have any choice but to change our laws - and the constitution! - with a fleet of spaceships flying above our heads! Do you think gunboat diplomacy is acceptable?"
"Are you insinuating that the Alliance fleet would have attacked the United States if we had chosen not to join the Alliance?"
"They certainly intervened in Iran, didn't they?"
"They intervened to stop crimes against humanity - something the United States has done as well, with your support, as I recall."
"You cannot compare the United States to Iran!"
"I didn't have to - you did it! And do I really have to remind you that the Etherians did not force any country to change their policies even when they disagreed with them? The changes to our laws and the amendment to the constitution were the decisions of the American people and their representatives on the federal and state levels. As it should be."
"What would have been the alternative? To be relegated to a third-world country stuck on Earth while everyone else built spaceships to colonise the stars? That was no choice at all! America deserves better!"
Adora shut off the TV. "That's going to be their motto, right? 'America deserves better'?"
"It seems so. It's a catchy slogan," Daniel said. "And it's hard to disagree with the idea that America should improve. It's just that people differ on how exactly America should improve."
That was a bit of an understatement, in Adora's opinion. She wasn't an expert on Earth politics, but some things were very hard to miss. "It seems to me that at least one party feels that in order to improve America, they need to beat others."
"And they don't mean the Goa'uld," Glimmer added. "They mean the rest of the Alliance. And all those complaints about being forced to change their policies? They want to be able to discriminate against people like us again!"
"I don't believe anyone seriously expects to be able to turn back the clock. Changing the constitution is very difficult - by design - and the latest amendment has far too much support from key states to be repelled again," Daniel pointed out.
"But they're playing up the fact that this was a condition to join the Alliance to create and build up fear that the Alliance will force more changes on the United States," Glimmer retorted. "And they are targeting the same people who opposed the changes in the first place because they want their support. That's not a good sign."
"Not at all," Adora agreed. What could you expect from a government that came into power through such means? Nothing good.
"And they can do a lot without changing the constitution," Catra added. "Just picking what laws they enforce will cause changes." It was the same in the Horde - if you didn't crack down on corruption, every quartermaster stole as much as possible from their magazines.
"I think that's a bit too harsh. A new government is still bound by the constitution and the treaties we've made," Daniel said. "The President isn't a monarch. They do not have absolute power - there are checks and balances for a reason." He smiled. "The current administration might be playing up the amount of changes that could be enacted in order to gain concessions from the Alliance."
Adora sighed. "I've noticed that. Now that they couldn't get the factory ships we captured, they want some great victory so they can show the American public that they're strong."
"Well…" Daniel shrugged. "A great victory over the Goa'uld wouldn't be a bad thing, would it?"
He was right, of course, but…
"If you need a victory to keep your position and power, you tend to take risks and gambles that you normally wouldn't," Catra voiced Adora's thoughts. "And that tends to end badly."
Adora nodded. "We won't rush into a battle just to save the American government." They wouldn't sacrifice soldiers for political gains. Not on her watch.
Glimmer nodded. "If they don't want to be voted out they shouldn't have made their country a democracy."
Daniel frowned at her. "On Earth, the less democratic nations are generally far more conservative. All the members of the Alliance are democracies."
"Well, Earth is weird," Glimmer shot back, flushing a little. "That wouldn't happen if you had proper princesses."
Bow cleared his throat. "Etheria has numerous examples of similarly unfit leaders, both in the past and in the present."
That earned him a frown from Glimmer, but he wasn't wrong, in Adora's opinion. Politics were far too often far too frustrating. War was worse, of course, but at least you could hit your enemy on the battlefield. And…
Her tablet beeped. Priority message? She checked it. And then she smiled. "It's from Entrapta and Sam. The bots have found a mind-control network!"
*****
Starfox5
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They consider Clones people as well.
Chapter 179: The Election Campaign Part 1
Starfox5
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Chapter 179: The Election Campaign Part 1
Deep Space, Ba'al's Realm, July 31st, 2000 (Earth Time)
"We should have worked on improving the stealth generator design so it can hide a frigate," Samantha Carter said as she stared at the screen displaying the data from the spy bot network in the area. It could barely be called a network, actually - it was more like a thin cloud of bots spread out to cover as much space as possible and check for mind-control chip signals.
Although she had already changed the deployment order for the spy bots to create a real network - if they wanted to operate in the area, they would need as close a coverage of the space as possible. Unfortunately, with the way the bots were spreading out, even with priorities altered, it would take some time for the next wave of spy bots to fill in the gaps - the spy bots could only move so fast and so far in the time allotted, and too many were already set to push the general search pattern forward.
"Why?" Entrapta asked from Sam's side. "I mean, it would have a huge advantage in combat, although the Goa'uld will realise how good our stealth technology is if we start fielding it openly in battles, but it would require a lot of effort to manage that, and the costs involved would mean we couldn't really build that many frigates."
"It would be safer for recon missions than a stealth shuttle," Sam said.
"If we can scale up the generator to cover a frigate, we would likely also be able to improve the field, so a shuttle would still be better hidden," Entrapta pointed out.
"That's likely but not certain," Sam said. "But we have a better chance to escape an enemy if we use a frigate since the shields would be much stronger, and it would also be faster."
"But we would be easier to detect and to hit." Entrapta shrugged. "But we can work on it and see if we can find a solution to the threshold problem."
"Yes." Although that would likely require an entirely new approach - the current technology's drain on power grew exponentially the more space it needed to cover and the more emissions it had to hide. They could likely cover a frigate, but it would end up having to fly at a snail's pace and have almost no power left for propulsion, shields and weapons - although the weapons could be compensated for by using missiles, those didn't require a lot of power to launch. It would have to operate like a submarine, though, relying on ambushes and then stealth to get away - and that would likely be easier to achieve by using stealth shuttles to deliver missiles or bombs, operating from a carrier…
She snorted softly at herself getting lost on a tangent. Her good humour vanished, though, when she realised that the US Navy would likely jump on either design and treat them as space versions of submarines and carriers. And they had already proven that they couldn't be trusted with adapting warships to space.
"Alright! I've filtered more data in our analysis!" Entrapta's cheerful voice interrupted Sam's thoughts. "We should now be able to pinpoint the sources of the chip signals."
That would be a breakthrough - and the reason they were out here, in a stealth shuttle, a bit too far from the Alliance task force covering the area for Sam's taste. "Let me check," Sam said, already switching the feeds on her screen.
Yes, the signals had been filtered - and with the adjusted and increased coverage of the area, at the expense of other parts of this sector, they now had identified multiple individual chips. "They're using the same base codes," Sam said.
"Yes! But they also use a floating control node," Entrapta said. "So, we can't hack it before we isolate that node."
And that would alert the Goa'uld forces that someone was attacking them. "We can scout the area and gather information without hacking the network," Sam said. "But we'll need more spy bots for that before we send in stealth shuttles." They needed to know how extensive - and how powerful - the enemy sensor coverage was before risking people.
"Yes!" Entrapta nodded. "We can close the gaps and check the entire area around the signals."
Unlike Point Velvet, this site was set in a star system. That lowered the chances that this was the chip production site they were seeking since systems tended to draw more attention and visitors than empty spots in deep space. On the other hand, trying to second-guess the enemy without sufficient information was a fool's errand, so Sam didn't say that out loud.
Instead, she sifted through the growing amounts of data that they received from the spy bots. They couldn't hack the chips, and the ever-changing patterns from the floating control node also made breaking the encryption even harder than it already was, but they could analyse the traffic - and soon, they would be able to compare it to regular data from other sources in the area.
Whatever Ba'al's forces were up to here, the Alliance would soon know.
Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, July 31st, 2000
"...and we have gathered here not just to choose the next President of the United States, but to choose the path for America and the world! The current administration has shown what future they want for our beloved country: A future where we will be beholden, dependent on others - other countries, aliens. Following their rules, their customs, even their gods! A future where America is weak! Too weak to protect itself. Too weak to stand for ourselves. Too weak to chart our own course. Is this the future you want?"
Catra rolled her eyes, her ears twitching at the TV's speaker as the assembled crowd visible on the screen loudly yelled: "No!"
"No, we don't want that future! America deserves better! We want a future where America is strong! Strong enough not to need anyone's help! Strong enough to protect our people and our culture! Strong enough to lead the rest of the world as we did before - to once again be the shining city on the hill everyone else aspires to!"
"America deserves better!"
"They say the world changed, and we need to adapt! We say: We need to take a stand and tell the world that we won't bend! America deserves better!"
"America deserves better!"
"Turn it off, Catra! We have an important meeting!" Glimmer complained.
Catra scoffed. "It's not starting yet."
"I don't want to see this."
"Tough. We need to keep an eye on this." If the people gathered at this 'National Convention' managed to win the next election, things would get difficult in the Alliance. The United States weren't the most agreeable member of the alliance to begin with, but at least the current president realised that they couldn't just act as if they were the most powerful member of the Alliance. Those people on the screen yelling about deserving better? Catra wasn't sure she had been more out of touch with reality in her worst moment in the Horde.
"Why? Mr Brown and Julie have already explained that we can't really do anything without starting complaints about election interference and making things worse since that would push more people to support those idiots." Glimmer frowned.
"It's still better to know what's coming instead of remaining ignorant," Catra said. "We need to be ready to adapt."
"We are. If the Americans choose to be stupid, we'll rely on the rest of NATO." Glimmer shrugged again. "It'll make things a bit more difficult, but they have more ground forces than the United States, and Earth still hasn't much of a fleet."
Catra knew that. Though she also knew that that would change. "Worst case, the Americans leave the Alliance and build up their forces while we fight the war."
"They won't do that," Glimmer said. She nodded at the screen. "Those people are too hyped up about fighting the Goa'uld. They probably charge straight at the next System Lord with their deathtraps."
"Yeah," Catra agreed. "That's why I said worst case. If they were smart, they'd let us bleed while they build up their forces, and then take over when we're all weak. They already did that after their last World War." Which was probably why some of the other Alliance members from Earth seemed to hope the Americans would change governments. Earth people kept their grudges forever. If the Horde had tried to conquer Earth, Catra would be in prison for life - if she was lucky.
And maybe I would deserve it.
She pushed the thought away. "So, Adora's still stuck in the procurement meeting." Which was also known as the pork piggy bank session, according to Jack, but she knew better than to trust him even though the few times she had taken part in it, it had been exactly that.
"Yes." Glimmer frowned, staring at her tablet. "Entrapta and Sam are still gathering data from the spy bots."
Catra knew that. They didn't have the intel they needed to plan the next operation yet. "And we're going to discuss how to bring journalists along on a mission without getting them killed or leaking classified information so the United States government can show their voters that they are an important member of the Alliance."
"Things would be so much easier if they had a proper princess," Glimmer muttered.
Catra wasn't quite sure - an American princess would probably be as difficult to work with as Princess Sweet Bee. At least if you looked at their news.
"...and we should… what's that?"
"Oh my God!"
"Security!"
Catra whipped her head around and stared at the screen. The speaker had collapsed on the podium and was… vomiting blood? Yes, blood was coming out of his mouth, nose, ears and eyes. And he was thrashing around as if he were being tased. But there was no attacker visible.
Magic. Had to be magic. Probably one of those Earth magic curses.
Shit.
Alliance Base Lübtheen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, August 1st, 2000
"...and while the investigation has just started - the FBI's specialists have taken over only hours before - the party's leadership has already released a statement blaming 'witches' and 'eco terrorists' for the magical attack on Mr James Delan in the middle of his speech at the first day of the National Convention, and…"
"...Mr Delan remains in critical condition at the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. His family refused magical healing from Princess She-Ra on the grounds of not wishing to endanger his immortal soul and asked people to pray for him, but…"
Jack O'Neill scoffed. "Fat load of good prayers will do for him." If that worked, Jack would have a few more friends left. "Wanna bet that his family's already dividing up his estate?" he asked, turning to the two people in his office.
"No bet," Special Agent Wilkinson (on detached duty) said. "In any murder, you look first to the relatives of the victim."
"It's not yet a murder, Wilkinson," Special Agent Paris said. She shook her head. "We can't tell yet if he will succumb to whatever curse has been placed on him or not."
"Are we even sure that it is a curse?" Jack said.
Paris nodded. "I've checked with a colleague - they've identified magic influence. The current theory is sympathetic magic."
"Doesn't look very sympathetic to me," Wilkinson commented.
"It means magic cast on the target using a sympathetic link," Paris explained. After a moment, she added: "Voodoo."
Ah! Jack nodded. "So, did they already check his hairdresser?" he joked.
"Matter of fact, yes," Paris, serious as ever, replied.
"Well, will the FBI ask for you back?" Jack asked. "Looks like they'll need all the sorceresses they can get for this case."
"Thaumaturgists, General." Paris pressed her lips together for a moment. "I was told I shouldn't expect such a request. Officially since I am needed in the war. Unofficially, the bureau doesn't want to deal with accusations of biased investigators."
Wilkinson snorted. "Good luck with that. Did you hear the statements? I'll bet they'll call to replace all Thaumaturgists with witch hunters next."
Jack chuckled even though he was pretty sure that this would actually happen.
Paris, though, looked even more pissed-off. "You cannot solve such a case without magic."
"Maybe they'll find a priest who has a talent for magic but thinks it comes from God?" Wilkinson shrugged. "Could be a profitable niche. Exorcist, witch hunter… I bet a lot of states would hire them."
And Jack lost all humor at that thought. The absolute last thing America needed was another Salem. "Let's hope it doesn't come to that. We really don't need an intervention by the Alliance on US soil."
That seemed to shock both (nominal) special agents. "Would the Alliance really intervene in the US?" Wilkinson asked. "Of course, they would," he answered his own question a moment later. "Shit."
"Yeah." Jack nodded. "That's one of the lines the Etherians won't let anyone cross." It was one thing for a mob to gather in a country in the Middle East and murder a few poor victims, it was another for a state to not only condone that but officially engage in such witch hunts. Even the Saudis had stopped that stuff by now - no one wanted another intervention like in Iran.
"If the number of criminal magic users grows, and I believe it will, more police forces with magical talents will be needed," Paris said. "I don't think the Alliance will oppose that. None of the Etherian mages have ever had a problem with me."
"It's the witch hunter part," Jack explained. "That has certain implications that trigger our friends. Especially after those fanatics tried to burn down that church of She-Ra in Nevada."
"They'll think we're no better than Iran. Shit," Wilkinson cursed again.
Jack looked at the TV again.
"...and this wouldn't have happened if we hadn't lost our way. America deserves better! It's one Nation under God - or it should be! Not one nation under alien heathens and their witch friends! It's only by the grace of God my dear friend and colleague is still alive, and it's with God's help that we will save our nation's soul!"
"Well, it is kinda hard to see the difference right now," Jack said.
"If they don't put a lid on that, we'll have witch hunts in America," Wilkinson said.
"We already had several murders where the culprits thought the victim was a witch," Paris pointed out.
"Murders, yes. But if things get worse, we'll see lynchings," Wilkinson said.
And if they went after followers of the Church of She-Ra… Jack winced. Priest might hold back from intervening, the Clone seemed to prefer a soft approach, but if the police in certain states followed their old playbooks and politicians encouraged them to look away if a mob gathered, that would change.
He looked at the TV again.
"...and following this heinous attack on a good, god-fearing man, father and husband, it's clear that we need to regulate and control magic. We cannot let terrorists and witches attack innocent people with curses - the government needs to stop this! Once we retake our nation's helm, we will implement strict measures to ensure that magic will be brought under control and our people will be safe! Magic is too dangerous to let just anyone practice it!"
"I wonder if he'd say the same about gun control," Paris said.
Jack tensed at the familiar pain and guilt that brought up. If he hadn't kept a loaded gun at home… He forced the thought away. He had a lot of problems to focus on and couldn't dwell on that. Not if he wanted to prevent more tragedies.
Even though he doubted he could do much about that.
Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, August 2nd, 2000
Adora knew she couldn't go to the national convention. She was needed here in the Alliance Headquarters to prepare the next operation - as soon as Entrapta and Sam finished their recon of whatever Ba'al was hiding in that system and they had enough intel to properly plan the mission. They were already moving a task force into position, but without definite intel, they had to prepare for the reinforcements as well, and even with fleet trains, supply lines had to be prepared, just in case they had to occupy the system on a permanent basis. Ground forces, especially Earth forces, also had a much larger logistical footprint than Clones who were primarily spaceship crew and used bots for far more roles.
And she also knew that if she went to Philadelphia, it wouldn't help anyone. The family of the victim had refused her help already, and all the speakers were blaming the attack on her for releasing Earth's magic in the first place. Some even went further and implied that she had ordered the attack. With the number of worked-up people attending the convention, she'd cause another riot if she went there.
But she wanted to go anyway. Being unable to do anything while everything went wrong was torture! She could heal a dying man, show that magic wasn't the problem, show those people that she wasn't their enemy, if they would only let them!
But they wouldn't. As Glimmer had said, they were 'milking this' for all that it was worth. If she turned the TV on, she would see snippet after snippet of people blaming magic, Etheria and herself for everything that went wrong in their lives. And, as Catra had said, probably for stuff that they only imagined going wrong.
She shook her head and focused on the holoprojection in front of her. The latest troop movements on the Goa'uld front - well, the intel from the realms of Apophis, Sokar and Heru'ur, in this case. They were still in a three-way conflict, but it had slowed down compared to last year. Apophis was trying to consolidate and rebuild his forces and was mostly sticking to counter-attacks - according to the Tok'ra, he was concerned with showing weakness or he'd limit his operations even more. Heru'ur had been distracted from attacking Apophis on a broad front by Sokar's flanking attack and had moved the bulk of his forces to face them. And Sokar was both maintaining a credible defence against Apophis to deter serious attacks and trying to overwhelm Heru'ur's forces with numerical superiority, but - so the intel claimed - was finding out that terrorising your own troops into loyalty unto death wasn't as effective as inspiring your forces by fighting at their side on the frontlines and sharing the danger. Heru'ur's Jaffa genuinely loved their master, and even the Tok'ra agreed that the sentiment was returned by the System Lord. They were holding back Sokar's forces but were not yet able to go on the offensive.
Still, as stable as it seemed for now, sooner or later, Apophis would try to take back what he had lost to the Alliance, and then things would get even more complicated. They had to defeat Ba'al as soon as possible, not just to end the threat his advanced technology and machinations posed, but also to free up more troops.
And for that, they needed more intel. She changed the projection to show the suspected space of Ba'al's realm, with the spreading spy bot network overlaid. Their coverage was growing, but it wasn't as dense as it should be for dependable surveillance. The holes in coverage were just too great, and the increased focus on the latest target area meant the holes would stay - even the rate at which the spy bots were spreading had gone down with more diverted to the system Entrapta and Sam were investigating. They needed that - if they wanted to operate a task force there, they had to have the best advance warning possible in case there were reinforcements coming - but Adora didn't like it anyway. Those gaps in the network worried her. Ba'al was a cunning enemy, and he had surprised the Alliance too often already.
"Brooding over the spy bot network?" Catra asked from where she was going over logistics reports. Adora frowned at her - she wasn't brooding! - and her love snorted. "Ba'al isn't aware of our bots. He'd need a lot of luck to send a fleet through the gaps of our network without being detected."
"We think he doesn't know about our network," Adora corrected her.
"Even if he were aware of them, he'd still need a way to detect them."
"He could be hacking them - and taking over our own network to use against us."
Catra shrugged. "He'd have to beat Entrapta and Sam for that. I know on whom I'd bet. If Ba'al were a better hacker, his chips and his command networks would be much better."
That was correct - and Adora had told herself that before - but she couldn't help worrying. It was her duty to worry about things like that, after all, as Supreme Commander of the Alliance. She was supposed to think of potential threats before they manifested. Or, at least, have people anticipate and prepare for such threats.
She glanced at the holoprojection again. If they placed recon units in the worst gaps, they would have additional coverage - and have units ready to reinforce the task force for the next operation, if they were needed. Or to penetrate deeper into Ba'al's realm. That would reduce the operational reserve in the theatre, but… Adora nodded. The reserve wouldn't be as useful as it should be if they were too late to react because they missed an attack.
She started writing the orders.
Deep Space, Ba'al's Realm, August 2nd, 2000 (Earth Time)
The data analysis was done, and Samantha Carter was looking at the results. "This isn't an isolated system containing his chip factory. This system has more forces than Point Velvet had."
Even adjusting for the discrepancy in power between a Ha'tak and a Horde frigate, the system had double the protection of the other site. The relative power was even greater if those Ha'taks had been upgraded with Horde technology - and Sam was sure they had been; she merely didn't know how many ships and, more importantly, by how much. The upgraded Ha'taks they had encountered so far had been outfitted with beam cannons but otherwise been kept to Goa'uld standards. If those ships had Horde-level shield generators and engines, they would be the equal of a Horde frigate - not quite as fast and agile, but better protected. Alliance tactics would have to be adjusted to fight them.
"Yes! And they patrol the outskirts much more heavily than expected, too!" Entrapta agreed. "The number of Death Gliders is huge - if those are all stationed on Ha'taks, that would mean our preliminary estimate has to be adjusted again. But I don't think they would operate so many fighters without a matching increase in communication traffic."
That would mean the majority of the Death Gliders were stationed on one of the worlds - or one of their moons. "That would have to be the main world, then," Sam said. "None of the other worlds have enough communication traffic to handle so many Death Gliders."
"And it's the only world where you don't need protective gear to operate outside sealed environments," Entrapta added.
"On the other hand, those ships here show significantly increased communication traffic compared to the other ships." Sam pointed at the data detailing the intercepted traffic.
"Those are too numerous for communication hubs," Entrapta said. "They don't need that many for that number of ships. Did Ba'al change his policy of keeping his forces divided and has switched to centralised detailed controls?"
That was a possibility, but Sam didn't think so - none of the intel from other areas within Ba'al's suspected realm showed a matching increase in communications. And the communication traffic seemed more… contained might not be the correct term. It was… What was that? She quickly ran a few comparisons and a detailed, if limited analysis. Yes. "I think they are coordinating the Death Gliders," she said. "There are pattern shifts that line up with communication traffic."
"Oh, yes!" Entrapta nodded, her hair weaving and bopping. "That does match. So, are those ships carriers? Ha'taks can't carry as many Death Gliders as the signals indicate they control. Or did they subordinate the fighters to those ships?"
That seemed contrary to the general dogma of Ba'al's forces, which was based on compartmentalisation. "Until we can identify the different ships, we can't tell." The spy bots were keeping their distance so far; they didn't know how good the sensors were in those ships. And the Alliance wanted to wait until they had a task force able to take on their worst estimates before finding out, to give the enemy no warning before an attack.
Sam didn't fully agree with that plan; they would have to rely on estimates based on potentially insufficient data to judge the necessary size of the task force. If they were too wrong, they would have to abort the entire operation and leave Ba'al aware that they had discovered what Sam was increasingly confident was the heart of his realm.
But the orders were clear, and Sam didn't think even the General would exceed or ignore them at this point, were he in her place. They didn't have enough data and intel for such a decision. They hadn't observed the system long enough for solid deductions in key areas, either. They were reasonably certain that the system contained repair facilities based on the signals from ships that appeared for the first time without matching hyperspace windows, but they couldn't determine if those were repaired ships or freshly built - and they hadn't been able to observe the system long enough to tell any production rates for the latter.
"Hm. That is odd."
"What is odd?" Sam looked at her friend.
"Check the differences in their patrol patterns on the micro-level," Entrapta said.
Sam frowned and did so. Her friend was correct - she could see a noticeable difference in the performance curves of the Death Gliders. The vast majority of the fighters all performed very similarly in all parameters - holding formation, matching speed, course changes - while about a tenth of them diverged more or less significantly, although all were within the margins expected of competent Jaffa pilots.
Her eyes widened. No, the vast majority of the Death Gliders were performing manoeuvres with almost perfect precision. Quite superior to the average Jaffa pilot based on past observations. Either Ba'al had an elite training academy for pilots here - no, even such academies wouldn't produce such a homogenous corps of pilots. "There are only two possible explanations for this," she said.
"Bots or mind-copied clones." Entrapta nodded.
Sam wasn't sure what would be worse for the Alliance.
Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, August 3rd, 2000
"...and while the police have yet to release a statement, anonymous sources claim that there has been an arrest in the investigation of the magical attack on James Delan at the national convention in Philadelphia that has shocked the nation. People have gathered outside the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital to show their support for the politician who is still in critical condition, with Minister Smith from Mr Delan's church leading them in prayer. Meanwhile, the demands for strict regulation of magic are growing despite several voices decrying this as hasty. Mr Delan's family hasn't declined to comment on the issue."
Catra frowned, muted the TV and turned to Jack. "Do we know who they arrested?"
"I'm Air Force, not police," he replied.
Catra raised her eyebrows.
He snorted. "The FBI is playing this very close to their chest. Neither Wilkinson nor Paris have found out anything."
"Ah. Too bad." Catra shook her head. The whole affair was extremely annoying. Delan wasn't the first victim of Earth magic, not by far, but he was the first to have been attacked on live TV in the USA - and the first American politician to be attacked like this. Of course, that would spook all his colleagues. "We'll have to consider the effect on our recruitment of sorceresses," she said.
"If they crack down on magic, many American sorceresses might join the Alliance - or ask for asylum in Etheria," Glimmer said. "We already had several such requests from other countries where sorceresses are persecuted."
"Americans fleeing to other countries?" Jack muttered a curse under his breath. "It feels like Vietnam all over again."
"Well, many Americans, especially in subcultures or members of minorities, know what 'strictly regulating magic' means," Daniel said. "Especially if it's coming from the same people who opposed the civil rights movement. You can't blame them for not wanting to end up burned at the stake by a lynch mob or 'shot while resisting arrest'."
"Joy. We might lose the 101st from our forces because they need to revisit Arkansas," Jack muttered.
"What do you mean?" Glimmer asked.
"In 1957, the 101st division was ordered to move to Little Rock in Arkansas to protect the first nine students of colour attending the formerly all-white high school there," Daniel explained.
"You had to use the army to protect students?" Adora sounded shocked.
"It was almost fifty years ago," Jack replied. "But yes."
"Living memory, Jack," Daniel said. "And history might repeat itself."
"Unless, of course, those bigots win the election," Catra commented.
"We should release a statement," Adora said.
"That would be seen as foreign interference," Daniel said. "It might have the opposite effect and push more people to support such policies out of spite."
"Idiots," Catra muttered - but she could understand that kind of thinking. She'd been such an idiot herself, if not a bigot.
"Then we should step up the PR efforts of the Alliance," Glimmer said. "Emphasise that magic is not evil but can help a lot of people."
"I could heal people," Adora said.
Catra rolled her eyes. "Then they will expect you to do that all the time and grow angry if you don't spend all your time healing people. We already settled that." She glared at her lover - she wouldn't let Adora do that to herself.
"Yes. Besides, we should show what good things Earth sorceresses do," Glimmer said. "This is about Earth's magical traditions, not Etheria's."
"I don't think the zealots blaming magic are making that distinction," Jack snorted. "Some are blaming Dungeons and Dragons for this."
"Seriously?" Catra leaned forward. That was the miniature game Bow had mentioned before. "They think that game can teach you magic?"
Daniel nodded. "Yes."
Catra shook her head. "Anyway, so you want to send our few Earth sorceresses on a PR tour?"
"No." Glimmer shook her head. "But since we are about to let journalists tag along with our soldiers thanks to the demands from the American government, we can let them see Earth sorceresses fight the Goa'uld."
Catra wasn't sure if seeing sorceresses using magic against their enemies would help a lot. But it was probably better than nothing.
"And we need to ensure that our sorceresses don't get poached," Jack said.
"Poached?" Adora asked.
"A lot of rich and powerful people just saw one of their own get cursed on TV. They'll want to hire sorceresses as bodyguards," Jack said.
Right. Catra could see that. "And some of them will be the same people who want to crack down on magic, I guess."
"Exactly," Jack said with a wry grin.
"Hypocrites." Catra was about to add something else when she caught the banner scrolling over the TV screen at the wall. Breaking news? She unmuted the TV.
"...and according to the FBI, the suspect, a family member of the victim, has confessed to cursing Mr Delan with magic but claims that she was sexually abused by him since her childhood. The FBI has stated that they are investigating the accusations based on material found in Mr Delan's home. His family has refused to comment."
"Shit."
Catra nodded. That was… well, if it was true it would change things.
Child abuse? Jack O'Neill clenched his teeth. That put a different spin on things.
"Isn't it unusual for the FBI to release such information at such an early stage of the investigation?" Daniel asked.
"Either they release it or it gets leaked," Jack said. "That way, they might have a bit more control over what is released." Might. The way the media was focusing on this story, the way it was plastered all over the country - and the world - there would be countless reporters and journalists trying to dig up anything even tangentially related to the case. And, of course, spooks, both foreign and domestic.
Hell! Jack tensed at the thought - what if that was NID's doing? Kinsey and his pals would not blink at manufacturing and planting evidence of child abuse to deal with a 'problem'; he was pretty sure not all of the conservative politicians and church leaders who had been exposed and arrested in the lead-up to the constitutional amendment had been as guilty of the various crimes as the evidence found might have proven.
On the other hand, thanks to his past, Jack knew better than most that a cover-up on that scale, faced with a priority investigation by the FBI and the eyes of the entire country on them, needed more preparation time than a few days to hold up under that kind of scrutiny. And the FBI wouldn't risk revealing such information if they weren't dead sure that the evidence was legit - they knew how the game was played as well.
No, the whole thing was probably legit. Damn. What a mess.
"Well, that should discredit the whole thing," Glimmer said. "It's now self-defence." She sounded a bit too smug for Jack's taste.
"I doubt that cursing someone from afar would actually qualify as self-defence," Daniel said. "You would need an imminent threat to life and limb for that. It would have been expected of you to call the police instead."
Jack had mixed feelings about that. Delan came from a rural district. The local police were quite a bit 'understanding' when it came to bigwigs like him in such areas. Especially if it involved accusations of rape. And from Delan's own family? "That might not have worked out too well, Daniel," he said.
"I am aware of that, Jack." Daniel grimaced. "And I don't approve, of course, of the attitude. But my point about this not counting as self-defence still stands. I'm afraid, but while this will put off some of the people who were calling for strict regulation of magic, more will still press on."
Some of them might be even more motivated now, Jack thought, because they're afraid their own victims might use magic to strike back.
"That's stupid!" Glimmer blurted out.
"I don't disagree about that either," Daniel said with a rueful smile. "But a significant part of the American people oppose magic on religious grounds. They will support any attempt to control magic."
Catra scoffed. "And a huge part of them also hate people like us."
Jack wasn't about to disagree with her - he had seen the clips from the convention himself. Sure, the politicians were too smart to say it out loud and limited themselves to veiled references about concerns, especially for children - and wasn't that painfully ironic right now? - but their base had less self-control.
"Well, yes." Daniel nodded. "They were used to being the most powerful country on Earth. Losing that position shook them up."
"Those people oppose change," Sha're said with a scowl. "Especially if it means granting others more rights or power. In that, they are very much like the Goa'uld."
Daniel would call that an 'inflammatory statement'. Jack would call it fighting words. But they were true nonetheless. He had met enough of his so-called peers in the officer corps to know that. It was one of the reasons Stargate Command had had to screen their recruits so thoroughly; you really didn't want such people to step through a gate and meet alien cultures. Earth had enough enemies already.
"Well, at least this will be a setback for the opposition party." Adora smiled, though it looked a bit forced. "That should take some pressure off the American government."
"Hopefully, they will stop their demands as well," Glimmer muttered.
Jack shook his head. "I doubt that. They don't want to sling mud at the opposing party. That never ends well. They want good news that they can tout as their work."
"They have factories producing advanced technology opening up at a steady pace," Daniel said. "Some analysts have said that this might reverse the trend to de-industrialise America. And the war is going well."
That was true - though Jack was a bit sceptical about the latter; money talked as always - but it wouldn't be enough. More factories were old news. And the people needed more and bigger victories. "Well, let's work on delivering the next victory, then," he said. "Carter and Entrapta's latest intel looks quite promising." And also dangerous. He didn't like the thought of having them venture so close to so many enemy forces. Especially with him on Earth, unable to do anything should something go wrong.
"Yes, we should…" Adora started to say.
"Shh! Look at that!" Catra interrupted her, pointing at the screen and reaching for the remote.
"...and in a sudden, almost stunning twist, Minister Smith, the leader of the church Mr Delan and his family attend, has been arrested as well. While the police have not released any information about the charges levelled against him, rumours claim that he was involved in the sexual abuse allegedly committed by Mr Delan. Stay tuned for more information as the situation unfolds!"
Well, Jack couldn't claim he was surprised by this.
I can't wait to get back to the front.
Deep Space, Ba'al's Realm, July 31st, 2000 (Earth Time)
"We should have worked on improving the stealth generator design so it can hide a frigate," Samantha Carter said as she stared at the screen displaying the data from the spy bot network in the area. It could barely be called a network, actually - it was more like a thin cloud of bots spread out to cover as much space as possible and check for mind-control chip signals.
Although she had already changed the deployment order for the spy bots to create a real network - if they wanted to operate in the area, they would need as close a coverage of the space as possible. Unfortunately, with the way the bots were spreading out, even with priorities altered, it would take some time for the next wave of spy bots to fill in the gaps - the spy bots could only move so fast and so far in the time allotted, and too many were already set to push the general search pattern forward.
"Why?" Entrapta asked from Sam's side. "I mean, it would have a huge advantage in combat, although the Goa'uld will realise how good our stealth technology is if we start fielding it openly in battles, but it would require a lot of effort to manage that, and the costs involved would mean we couldn't really build that many frigates."
"It would be safer for recon missions than a stealth shuttle," Sam said.
"If we can scale up the generator to cover a frigate, we would likely also be able to improve the field, so a shuttle would still be better hidden," Entrapta pointed out.
"That's likely but not certain," Sam said. "But we have a better chance to escape an enemy if we use a frigate since the shields would be much stronger, and it would also be faster."
"But we would be easier to detect and to hit." Entrapta shrugged. "But we can work on it and see if we can find a solution to the threshold problem."
"Yes." Although that would likely require an entirely new approach - the current technology's drain on power grew exponentially the more space it needed to cover and the more emissions it had to hide. They could likely cover a frigate, but it would end up having to fly at a snail's pace and have almost no power left for propulsion, shields and weapons - although the weapons could be compensated for by using missiles, those didn't require a lot of power to launch. It would have to operate like a submarine, though, relying on ambushes and then stealth to get away - and that would likely be easier to achieve by using stealth shuttles to deliver missiles or bombs, operating from a carrier…
She snorted softly at herself getting lost on a tangent. Her good humour vanished, though, when she realised that the US Navy would likely jump on either design and treat them as space versions of submarines and carriers. And they had already proven that they couldn't be trusted with adapting warships to space.
"Alright! I've filtered more data in our analysis!" Entrapta's cheerful voice interrupted Sam's thoughts. "We should now be able to pinpoint the sources of the chip signals."
That would be a breakthrough - and the reason they were out here, in a stealth shuttle, a bit too far from the Alliance task force covering the area for Sam's taste. "Let me check," Sam said, already switching the feeds on her screen.
Yes, the signals had been filtered - and with the adjusted and increased coverage of the area, at the expense of other parts of this sector, they now had identified multiple individual chips. "They're using the same base codes," Sam said.
"Yes! But they also use a floating control node," Entrapta said. "So, we can't hack it before we isolate that node."
And that would alert the Goa'uld forces that someone was attacking them. "We can scout the area and gather information without hacking the network," Sam said. "But we'll need more spy bots for that before we send in stealth shuttles." They needed to know how extensive - and how powerful - the enemy sensor coverage was before risking people.
"Yes!" Entrapta nodded. "We can close the gaps and check the entire area around the signals."
Unlike Point Velvet, this site was set in a star system. That lowered the chances that this was the chip production site they were seeking since systems tended to draw more attention and visitors than empty spots in deep space. On the other hand, trying to second-guess the enemy without sufficient information was a fool's errand, so Sam didn't say that out loud.
Instead, she sifted through the growing amounts of data that they received from the spy bots. They couldn't hack the chips, and the ever-changing patterns from the floating control node also made breaking the encryption even harder than it already was, but they could analyse the traffic - and soon, they would be able to compare it to regular data from other sources in the area.
Whatever Ba'al's forces were up to here, the Alliance would soon know.
*****
Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, July 31st, 2000
"...and we have gathered here not just to choose the next President of the United States, but to choose the path for America and the world! The current administration has shown what future they want for our beloved country: A future where we will be beholden, dependent on others - other countries, aliens. Following their rules, their customs, even their gods! A future where America is weak! Too weak to protect itself. Too weak to stand for ourselves. Too weak to chart our own course. Is this the future you want?"
Catra rolled her eyes, her ears twitching at the TV's speaker as the assembled crowd visible on the screen loudly yelled: "No!"
"No, we don't want that future! America deserves better! We want a future where America is strong! Strong enough not to need anyone's help! Strong enough to protect our people and our culture! Strong enough to lead the rest of the world as we did before - to once again be the shining city on the hill everyone else aspires to!"
"America deserves better!"
"They say the world changed, and we need to adapt! We say: We need to take a stand and tell the world that we won't bend! America deserves better!"
"America deserves better!"
"Turn it off, Catra! We have an important meeting!" Glimmer complained.
Catra scoffed. "It's not starting yet."
"I don't want to see this."
"Tough. We need to keep an eye on this." If the people gathered at this 'National Convention' managed to win the next election, things would get difficult in the Alliance. The United States weren't the most agreeable member of the alliance to begin with, but at least the current president realised that they couldn't just act as if they were the most powerful member of the Alliance. Those people on the screen yelling about deserving better? Catra wasn't sure she had been more out of touch with reality in her worst moment in the Horde.
"Why? Mr Brown and Julie have already explained that we can't really do anything without starting complaints about election interference and making things worse since that would push more people to support those idiots." Glimmer frowned.
"It's still better to know what's coming instead of remaining ignorant," Catra said. "We need to be ready to adapt."
"We are. If the Americans choose to be stupid, we'll rely on the rest of NATO." Glimmer shrugged again. "It'll make things a bit more difficult, but they have more ground forces than the United States, and Earth still hasn't much of a fleet."
Catra knew that. Though she also knew that that would change. "Worst case, the Americans leave the Alliance and build up their forces while we fight the war."
"They won't do that," Glimmer said. She nodded at the screen. "Those people are too hyped up about fighting the Goa'uld. They probably charge straight at the next System Lord with their deathtraps."
"Yeah," Catra agreed. "That's why I said worst case. If they were smart, they'd let us bleed while they build up their forces, and then take over when we're all weak. They already did that after their last World War." Which was probably why some of the other Alliance members from Earth seemed to hope the Americans would change governments. Earth people kept their grudges forever. If the Horde had tried to conquer Earth, Catra would be in prison for life - if she was lucky.
And maybe I would deserve it.
She pushed the thought away. "So, Adora's still stuck in the procurement meeting." Which was also known as the pork piggy bank session, according to Jack, but she knew better than to trust him even though the few times she had taken part in it, it had been exactly that.
"Yes." Glimmer frowned, staring at her tablet. "Entrapta and Sam are still gathering data from the spy bots."
Catra knew that. They didn't have the intel they needed to plan the next operation yet. "And we're going to discuss how to bring journalists along on a mission without getting them killed or leaking classified information so the United States government can show their voters that they are an important member of the Alliance."
"Things would be so much easier if they had a proper princess," Glimmer muttered.
Catra wasn't quite sure - an American princess would probably be as difficult to work with as Princess Sweet Bee. At least if you looked at their news.
"...and we should… what's that?"
"Oh my God!"
"Security!"
Catra whipped her head around and stared at the screen. The speaker had collapsed on the podium and was… vomiting blood? Yes, blood was coming out of his mouth, nose, ears and eyes. And he was thrashing around as if he were being tased. But there was no attacker visible.
Magic. Had to be magic. Probably one of those Earth magic curses.
Shit.
*****
Alliance Base Lübtheen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, August 1st, 2000
"...and while the investigation has just started - the FBI's specialists have taken over only hours before - the party's leadership has already released a statement blaming 'witches' and 'eco terrorists' for the magical attack on Mr James Delan in the middle of his speech at the first day of the National Convention, and…"
"...Mr Delan remains in critical condition at the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. His family refused magical healing from Princess She-Ra on the grounds of not wishing to endanger his immortal soul and asked people to pray for him, but…"
Jack O'Neill scoffed. "Fat load of good prayers will do for him." If that worked, Jack would have a few more friends left. "Wanna bet that his family's already dividing up his estate?" he asked, turning to the two people in his office.
"No bet," Special Agent Wilkinson (on detached duty) said. "In any murder, you look first to the relatives of the victim."
"It's not yet a murder, Wilkinson," Special Agent Paris said. She shook her head. "We can't tell yet if he will succumb to whatever curse has been placed on him or not."
"Are we even sure that it is a curse?" Jack said.
Paris nodded. "I've checked with a colleague - they've identified magic influence. The current theory is sympathetic magic."
"Doesn't look very sympathetic to me," Wilkinson commented.
"It means magic cast on the target using a sympathetic link," Paris explained. After a moment, she added: "Voodoo."
Ah! Jack nodded. "So, did they already check his hairdresser?" he joked.
"Matter of fact, yes," Paris, serious as ever, replied.
"Well, will the FBI ask for you back?" Jack asked. "Looks like they'll need all the sorceresses they can get for this case."
"Thaumaturgists, General." Paris pressed her lips together for a moment. "I was told I shouldn't expect such a request. Officially since I am needed in the war. Unofficially, the bureau doesn't want to deal with accusations of biased investigators."
Wilkinson snorted. "Good luck with that. Did you hear the statements? I'll bet they'll call to replace all Thaumaturgists with witch hunters next."
Jack chuckled even though he was pretty sure that this would actually happen.
Paris, though, looked even more pissed-off. "You cannot solve such a case without magic."
"Maybe they'll find a priest who has a talent for magic but thinks it comes from God?" Wilkinson shrugged. "Could be a profitable niche. Exorcist, witch hunter… I bet a lot of states would hire them."
And Jack lost all humor at that thought. The absolute last thing America needed was another Salem. "Let's hope it doesn't come to that. We really don't need an intervention by the Alliance on US soil."
That seemed to shock both (nominal) special agents. "Would the Alliance really intervene in the US?" Wilkinson asked. "Of course, they would," he answered his own question a moment later. "Shit."
"Yeah." Jack nodded. "That's one of the lines the Etherians won't let anyone cross." It was one thing for a mob to gather in a country in the Middle East and murder a few poor victims, it was another for a state to not only condone that but officially engage in such witch hunts. Even the Saudis had stopped that stuff by now - no one wanted another intervention like in Iran.
"If the number of criminal magic users grows, and I believe it will, more police forces with magical talents will be needed," Paris said. "I don't think the Alliance will oppose that. None of the Etherian mages have ever had a problem with me."
"It's the witch hunter part," Jack explained. "That has certain implications that trigger our friends. Especially after those fanatics tried to burn down that church of She-Ra in Nevada."
"They'll think we're no better than Iran. Shit," Wilkinson cursed again.
Jack looked at the TV again.
"...and this wouldn't have happened if we hadn't lost our way. America deserves better! It's one Nation under God - or it should be! Not one nation under alien heathens and their witch friends! It's only by the grace of God my dear friend and colleague is still alive, and it's with God's help that we will save our nation's soul!"
"Well, it is kinda hard to see the difference right now," Jack said.
"If they don't put a lid on that, we'll have witch hunts in America," Wilkinson said.
"We already had several murders where the culprits thought the victim was a witch," Paris pointed out.
"Murders, yes. But if things get worse, we'll see lynchings," Wilkinson said.
And if they went after followers of the Church of She-Ra… Jack winced. Priest might hold back from intervening, the Clone seemed to prefer a soft approach, but if the police in certain states followed their old playbooks and politicians encouraged them to look away if a mob gathered, that would change.
He looked at the TV again.
"...and following this heinous attack on a good, god-fearing man, father and husband, it's clear that we need to regulate and control magic. We cannot let terrorists and witches attack innocent people with curses - the government needs to stop this! Once we retake our nation's helm, we will implement strict measures to ensure that magic will be brought under control and our people will be safe! Magic is too dangerous to let just anyone practice it!"
"I wonder if he'd say the same about gun control," Paris said.
Jack tensed at the familiar pain and guilt that brought up. If he hadn't kept a loaded gun at home… He forced the thought away. He had a lot of problems to focus on and couldn't dwell on that. Not if he wanted to prevent more tragedies.
Even though he doubted he could do much about that.
*****
Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, August 2nd, 2000
Adora knew she couldn't go to the national convention. She was needed here in the Alliance Headquarters to prepare the next operation - as soon as Entrapta and Sam finished their recon of whatever Ba'al was hiding in that system and they had enough intel to properly plan the mission. They were already moving a task force into position, but without definite intel, they had to prepare for the reinforcements as well, and even with fleet trains, supply lines had to be prepared, just in case they had to occupy the system on a permanent basis. Ground forces, especially Earth forces, also had a much larger logistical footprint than Clones who were primarily spaceship crew and used bots for far more roles.
And she also knew that if she went to Philadelphia, it wouldn't help anyone. The family of the victim had refused her help already, and all the speakers were blaming the attack on her for releasing Earth's magic in the first place. Some even went further and implied that she had ordered the attack. With the number of worked-up people attending the convention, she'd cause another riot if she went there.
But she wanted to go anyway. Being unable to do anything while everything went wrong was torture! She could heal a dying man, show that magic wasn't the problem, show those people that she wasn't their enemy, if they would only let them!
But they wouldn't. As Glimmer had said, they were 'milking this' for all that it was worth. If she turned the TV on, she would see snippet after snippet of people blaming magic, Etheria and herself for everything that went wrong in their lives. And, as Catra had said, probably for stuff that they only imagined going wrong.
She shook her head and focused on the holoprojection in front of her. The latest troop movements on the Goa'uld front - well, the intel from the realms of Apophis, Sokar and Heru'ur, in this case. They were still in a three-way conflict, but it had slowed down compared to last year. Apophis was trying to consolidate and rebuild his forces and was mostly sticking to counter-attacks - according to the Tok'ra, he was concerned with showing weakness or he'd limit his operations even more. Heru'ur had been distracted from attacking Apophis on a broad front by Sokar's flanking attack and had moved the bulk of his forces to face them. And Sokar was both maintaining a credible defence against Apophis to deter serious attacks and trying to overwhelm Heru'ur's forces with numerical superiority, but - so the intel claimed - was finding out that terrorising your own troops into loyalty unto death wasn't as effective as inspiring your forces by fighting at their side on the frontlines and sharing the danger. Heru'ur's Jaffa genuinely loved their master, and even the Tok'ra agreed that the sentiment was returned by the System Lord. They were holding back Sokar's forces but were not yet able to go on the offensive.
Still, as stable as it seemed for now, sooner or later, Apophis would try to take back what he had lost to the Alliance, and then things would get even more complicated. They had to defeat Ba'al as soon as possible, not just to end the threat his advanced technology and machinations posed, but also to free up more troops.
And for that, they needed more intel. She changed the projection to show the suspected space of Ba'al's realm, with the spreading spy bot network overlaid. Their coverage was growing, but it wasn't as dense as it should be for dependable surveillance. The holes in coverage were just too great, and the increased focus on the latest target area meant the holes would stay - even the rate at which the spy bots were spreading had gone down with more diverted to the system Entrapta and Sam were investigating. They needed that - if they wanted to operate a task force there, they had to have the best advance warning possible in case there were reinforcements coming - but Adora didn't like it anyway. Those gaps in the network worried her. Ba'al was a cunning enemy, and he had surprised the Alliance too often already.
"Brooding over the spy bot network?" Catra asked from where she was going over logistics reports. Adora frowned at her - she wasn't brooding! - and her love snorted. "Ba'al isn't aware of our bots. He'd need a lot of luck to send a fleet through the gaps of our network without being detected."
"We think he doesn't know about our network," Adora corrected her.
"Even if he were aware of them, he'd still need a way to detect them."
"He could be hacking them - and taking over our own network to use against us."
Catra shrugged. "He'd have to beat Entrapta and Sam for that. I know on whom I'd bet. If Ba'al were a better hacker, his chips and his command networks would be much better."
That was correct - and Adora had told herself that before - but she couldn't help worrying. It was her duty to worry about things like that, after all, as Supreme Commander of the Alliance. She was supposed to think of potential threats before they manifested. Or, at least, have people anticipate and prepare for such threats.
She glanced at the holoprojection again. If they placed recon units in the worst gaps, they would have additional coverage - and have units ready to reinforce the task force for the next operation, if they were needed. Or to penetrate deeper into Ba'al's realm. That would reduce the operational reserve in the theatre, but… Adora nodded. The reserve wouldn't be as useful as it should be if they were too late to react because they missed an attack.
She started writing the orders.
*****
Deep Space, Ba'al's Realm, August 2nd, 2000 (Earth Time)
The data analysis was done, and Samantha Carter was looking at the results. "This isn't an isolated system containing his chip factory. This system has more forces than Point Velvet had."
Even adjusting for the discrepancy in power between a Ha'tak and a Horde frigate, the system had double the protection of the other site. The relative power was even greater if those Ha'taks had been upgraded with Horde technology - and Sam was sure they had been; she merely didn't know how many ships and, more importantly, by how much. The upgraded Ha'taks they had encountered so far had been outfitted with beam cannons but otherwise been kept to Goa'uld standards. If those ships had Horde-level shield generators and engines, they would be the equal of a Horde frigate - not quite as fast and agile, but better protected. Alliance tactics would have to be adjusted to fight them.
"Yes! And they patrol the outskirts much more heavily than expected, too!" Entrapta agreed. "The number of Death Gliders is huge - if those are all stationed on Ha'taks, that would mean our preliminary estimate has to be adjusted again. But I don't think they would operate so many fighters without a matching increase in communication traffic."
That would mean the majority of the Death Gliders were stationed on one of the worlds - or one of their moons. "That would have to be the main world, then," Sam said. "None of the other worlds have enough communication traffic to handle so many Death Gliders."
"And it's the only world where you don't need protective gear to operate outside sealed environments," Entrapta added.
"On the other hand, those ships here show significantly increased communication traffic compared to the other ships." Sam pointed at the data detailing the intercepted traffic.
"Those are too numerous for communication hubs," Entrapta said. "They don't need that many for that number of ships. Did Ba'al change his policy of keeping his forces divided and has switched to centralised detailed controls?"
That was a possibility, but Sam didn't think so - none of the intel from other areas within Ba'al's suspected realm showed a matching increase in communications. And the communication traffic seemed more… contained might not be the correct term. It was… What was that? She quickly ran a few comparisons and a detailed, if limited analysis. Yes. "I think they are coordinating the Death Gliders," she said. "There are pattern shifts that line up with communication traffic."
"Oh, yes!" Entrapta nodded, her hair weaving and bopping. "That does match. So, are those ships carriers? Ha'taks can't carry as many Death Gliders as the signals indicate they control. Or did they subordinate the fighters to those ships?"
That seemed contrary to the general dogma of Ba'al's forces, which was based on compartmentalisation. "Until we can identify the different ships, we can't tell." The spy bots were keeping their distance so far; they didn't know how good the sensors were in those ships. And the Alliance wanted to wait until they had a task force able to take on their worst estimates before finding out, to give the enemy no warning before an attack.
Sam didn't fully agree with that plan; they would have to rely on estimates based on potentially insufficient data to judge the necessary size of the task force. If they were too wrong, they would have to abort the entire operation and leave Ba'al aware that they had discovered what Sam was increasingly confident was the heart of his realm.
But the orders were clear, and Sam didn't think even the General would exceed or ignore them at this point, were he in her place. They didn't have enough data and intel for such a decision. They hadn't observed the system long enough for solid deductions in key areas, either. They were reasonably certain that the system contained repair facilities based on the signals from ships that appeared for the first time without matching hyperspace windows, but they couldn't determine if those were repaired ships or freshly built - and they hadn't been able to observe the system long enough to tell any production rates for the latter.
"Hm. That is odd."
"What is odd?" Sam looked at her friend.
"Check the differences in their patrol patterns on the micro-level," Entrapta said.
Sam frowned and did so. Her friend was correct - she could see a noticeable difference in the performance curves of the Death Gliders. The vast majority of the fighters all performed very similarly in all parameters - holding formation, matching speed, course changes - while about a tenth of them diverged more or less significantly, although all were within the margins expected of competent Jaffa pilots.
Her eyes widened. No, the vast majority of the Death Gliders were performing manoeuvres with almost perfect precision. Quite superior to the average Jaffa pilot based on past observations. Either Ba'al had an elite training academy for pilots here - no, even such academies wouldn't produce such a homogenous corps of pilots. "There are only two possible explanations for this," she said.
"Bots or mind-copied clones." Entrapta nodded.
Sam wasn't sure what would be worse for the Alliance.
*****
Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, August 3rd, 2000
"...and while the police have yet to release a statement, anonymous sources claim that there has been an arrest in the investigation of the magical attack on James Delan at the national convention in Philadelphia that has shocked the nation. People have gathered outside the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital to show their support for the politician who is still in critical condition, with Minister Smith from Mr Delan's church leading them in prayer. Meanwhile, the demands for strict regulation of magic are growing despite several voices decrying this as hasty. Mr Delan's family hasn't declined to comment on the issue."
Catra frowned, muted the TV and turned to Jack. "Do we know who they arrested?"
"I'm Air Force, not police," he replied.
Catra raised her eyebrows.
He snorted. "The FBI is playing this very close to their chest. Neither Wilkinson nor Paris have found out anything."
"Ah. Too bad." Catra shook her head. The whole affair was extremely annoying. Delan wasn't the first victim of Earth magic, not by far, but he was the first to have been attacked on live TV in the USA - and the first American politician to be attacked like this. Of course, that would spook all his colleagues. "We'll have to consider the effect on our recruitment of sorceresses," she said.
"If they crack down on magic, many American sorceresses might join the Alliance - or ask for asylum in Etheria," Glimmer said. "We already had several such requests from other countries where sorceresses are persecuted."
"Americans fleeing to other countries?" Jack muttered a curse under his breath. "It feels like Vietnam all over again."
"Well, many Americans, especially in subcultures or members of minorities, know what 'strictly regulating magic' means," Daniel said. "Especially if it's coming from the same people who opposed the civil rights movement. You can't blame them for not wanting to end up burned at the stake by a lynch mob or 'shot while resisting arrest'."
"Joy. We might lose the 101st from our forces because they need to revisit Arkansas," Jack muttered.
"What do you mean?" Glimmer asked.
"In 1957, the 101st division was ordered to move to Little Rock in Arkansas to protect the first nine students of colour attending the formerly all-white high school there," Daniel explained.
"You had to use the army to protect students?" Adora sounded shocked.
"It was almost fifty years ago," Jack replied. "But yes."
"Living memory, Jack," Daniel said. "And history might repeat itself."
"Unless, of course, those bigots win the election," Catra commented.
"We should release a statement," Adora said.
"That would be seen as foreign interference," Daniel said. "It might have the opposite effect and push more people to support such policies out of spite."
"Idiots," Catra muttered - but she could understand that kind of thinking. She'd been such an idiot herself, if not a bigot.
"Then we should step up the PR efforts of the Alliance," Glimmer said. "Emphasise that magic is not evil but can help a lot of people."
"I could heal people," Adora said.
Catra rolled her eyes. "Then they will expect you to do that all the time and grow angry if you don't spend all your time healing people. We already settled that." She glared at her lover - she wouldn't let Adora do that to herself.
"Yes. Besides, we should show what good things Earth sorceresses do," Glimmer said. "This is about Earth's magical traditions, not Etheria's."
"I don't think the zealots blaming magic are making that distinction," Jack snorted. "Some are blaming Dungeons and Dragons for this."
"Seriously?" Catra leaned forward. That was the miniature game Bow had mentioned before. "They think that game can teach you magic?"
Daniel nodded. "Yes."
Catra shook her head. "Anyway, so you want to send our few Earth sorceresses on a PR tour?"
"No." Glimmer shook her head. "But since we are about to let journalists tag along with our soldiers thanks to the demands from the American government, we can let them see Earth sorceresses fight the Goa'uld."
Catra wasn't sure if seeing sorceresses using magic against their enemies would help a lot. But it was probably better than nothing.
"And we need to ensure that our sorceresses don't get poached," Jack said.
"Poached?" Adora asked.
"A lot of rich and powerful people just saw one of their own get cursed on TV. They'll want to hire sorceresses as bodyguards," Jack said.
Right. Catra could see that. "And some of them will be the same people who want to crack down on magic, I guess."
"Exactly," Jack said with a wry grin.
"Hypocrites." Catra was about to add something else when she caught the banner scrolling over the TV screen at the wall. Breaking news? She unmuted the TV.
"...and according to the FBI, the suspect, a family member of the victim, has confessed to cursing Mr Delan with magic but claims that she was sexually abused by him since her childhood. The FBI has stated that they are investigating the accusations based on material found in Mr Delan's home. His family has refused to comment."
"Shit."
Catra nodded. That was… well, if it was true it would change things.
*****
Child abuse? Jack O'Neill clenched his teeth. That put a different spin on things.
"Isn't it unusual for the FBI to release such information at such an early stage of the investigation?" Daniel asked.
"Either they release it or it gets leaked," Jack said. "That way, they might have a bit more control over what is released." Might. The way the media was focusing on this story, the way it was plastered all over the country - and the world - there would be countless reporters and journalists trying to dig up anything even tangentially related to the case. And, of course, spooks, both foreign and domestic.
Hell! Jack tensed at the thought - what if that was NID's doing? Kinsey and his pals would not blink at manufacturing and planting evidence of child abuse to deal with a 'problem'; he was pretty sure not all of the conservative politicians and church leaders who had been exposed and arrested in the lead-up to the constitutional amendment had been as guilty of the various crimes as the evidence found might have proven.
On the other hand, thanks to his past, Jack knew better than most that a cover-up on that scale, faced with a priority investigation by the FBI and the eyes of the entire country on them, needed more preparation time than a few days to hold up under that kind of scrutiny. And the FBI wouldn't risk revealing such information if they weren't dead sure that the evidence was legit - they knew how the game was played as well.
No, the whole thing was probably legit. Damn. What a mess.
"Well, that should discredit the whole thing," Glimmer said. "It's now self-defence." She sounded a bit too smug for Jack's taste.
"I doubt that cursing someone from afar would actually qualify as self-defence," Daniel said. "You would need an imminent threat to life and limb for that. It would have been expected of you to call the police instead."
Jack had mixed feelings about that. Delan came from a rural district. The local police were quite a bit 'understanding' when it came to bigwigs like him in such areas. Especially if it involved accusations of rape. And from Delan's own family? "That might not have worked out too well, Daniel," he said.
"I am aware of that, Jack." Daniel grimaced. "And I don't approve, of course, of the attitude. But my point about this not counting as self-defence still stands. I'm afraid, but while this will put off some of the people who were calling for strict regulation of magic, more will still press on."
Some of them might be even more motivated now, Jack thought, because they're afraid their own victims might use magic to strike back.
"That's stupid!" Glimmer blurted out.
"I don't disagree about that either," Daniel said with a rueful smile. "But a significant part of the American people oppose magic on religious grounds. They will support any attempt to control magic."
Catra scoffed. "And a huge part of them also hate people like us."
Jack wasn't about to disagree with her - he had seen the clips from the convention himself. Sure, the politicians were too smart to say it out loud and limited themselves to veiled references about concerns, especially for children - and wasn't that painfully ironic right now? - but their base had less self-control.
"Well, yes." Daniel nodded. "They were used to being the most powerful country on Earth. Losing that position shook them up."
"Those people oppose change," Sha're said with a scowl. "Especially if it means granting others more rights or power. In that, they are very much like the Goa'uld."
Daniel would call that an 'inflammatory statement'. Jack would call it fighting words. But they were true nonetheless. He had met enough of his so-called peers in the officer corps to know that. It was one of the reasons Stargate Command had had to screen their recruits so thoroughly; you really didn't want such people to step through a gate and meet alien cultures. Earth had enough enemies already.
"Well, at least this will be a setback for the opposition party." Adora smiled, though it looked a bit forced. "That should take some pressure off the American government."
"Hopefully, they will stop their demands as well," Glimmer muttered.
Jack shook his head. "I doubt that. They don't want to sling mud at the opposing party. That never ends well. They want good news that they can tout as their work."
"They have factories producing advanced technology opening up at a steady pace," Daniel said. "Some analysts have said that this might reverse the trend to de-industrialise America. And the war is going well."
That was true - though Jack was a bit sceptical about the latter; money talked as always - but it wouldn't be enough. More factories were old news. And the people needed more and bigger victories. "Well, let's work on delivering the next victory, then," he said. "Carter and Entrapta's latest intel looks quite promising." And also dangerous. He didn't like the thought of having them venture so close to so many enemy forces. Especially with him on Earth, unable to do anything should something go wrong.
"Yes, we should…" Adora started to say.
"Shh! Look at that!" Catra interrupted her, pointing at the screen and reaching for the remote.
"...and in a sudden, almost stunning twist, Minister Smith, the leader of the church Mr Delan and his family attend, has been arrested as well. While the police have not released any information about the charges levelled against him, rumours claim that he was involved in the sexual abuse allegedly committed by Mr Delan. Stay tuned for more information as the situation unfolds!"
Well, Jack couldn't claim he was surprised by this.
I can't wait to get back to the front.
*****
Faber_The_Builder
Muchkin of Megastructures
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Yea, fully expected this. No way a nutcase like Delan would not be a kiddy diddler with the shit that was coming out of his mouth. Hope her burns in whatever hell he believes in the least for extra irony.
I_S
Know what you're doing yet?
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I am compelled to note many of the most severe critics of the gay community are closeted individuals engaging in masking behaviors.
The worst part on this, is that the abuses these individuals inflict within the bubble of privilege their prestige creates, when exposed become the rallying cry for the next round of hatred.
Sometimes the result of revealing hypocrisy is a push for greater hypocrisy.
Chapter 180: The Election Campaign Part 2
Starfox5
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Chapter 180: The Election Campaign Part 2
Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, August 3rd, 2000
"Alright. This is what we know about the target system."
Adora pushed a button, and the holoprojector built into the table lit up, showing a star system with several planets and all the spaceships the spy bots had observed so far.
"That's a massive fleet," Jack commented with a whistle. "Even if you discount the Death Gliders, we'll need more ships to take them on. Especially if they're upgraded Ha'taks."
Adora nodded. "Worst estimate is that all the Ha'taks have been upgraded with Horde weapons, shields and engines. That would mean they are on par or even a bit more powerful than our own upgraded Horde frigates. They would be slower because they are much larger, but they would be tougher even if we take the improved beam cannons we use into account." And while you could leverage better speed and manoeuvrability into winning against a slower but tougher foe, all other things equal, you couldn't do so without taking a considerable risk - at least, unless you were so much faster and more agile, they couldn't hit you at all without blind luck - and you were likely getting hurt in the process. That went for close quarters combat as well as for space battles.
"Then we need numerical superiority," Admiral Brown-Emerson said. "Otherwise, the risk of taking unsustainable losses is too great - especially if we have to deal with Death Gliders making suicide attacks. That number would quickly overwhelm our defences."
Adora nodded and was about to agree when Admiral Biggs scoffed: "When the Japanese tried their Kamikaze bombers, we dealt with them easily enough. We've beaten Ba'al's fleets whenever we faced them. This will be a little tougher, but we'll take them."
"That's easy to say since if it won't be your ships doing the fighting, Admiral," Jack said with a scowl.
"That should be 'our ships', General. Or do you not consider yourself a member of the United States Armed Forces any more?" Biggs retorted with a sneer before turning to look at Adora. "Even if we take the worst estimates of the enemy forces' power, all projections agree that the ships assembled for this operation are sufficient to take the objective."
"As Admiral Brown-Emerson said, with our current task force, we'll risk taking heavy losses," Glimmer interjected.
"We can replace those losses. This must be Ba'al's core system and the heart of his Empire. Take it out, and he's done for. Then we can rebuild. But the longer we wait, the tougher this will be - he's building ships as we speak," Biggs countered.
"We don't know yet if the 'new' ships we've detected joining the force in the system are new builds or repaired or upgraded ships," Adora pointed out. "Nor do we know if that's the last significant production site he has left - in fact, our analysts are sure that he has more production facilities hidden in his sphere of influence since he is so fond of compartmentalised force structures."
Biggs shook his head. "But they also agree that if Ba'al has such hidden facilities, they must be much smaller ones or we would have already faced much larger forces."
"Or they are in the process of being built up," Catra cut in. "Either way, we can't afford to lose the majority of our task force - it would cripple our offensive capability in the entire area."
"Only temporarily," Biggs disagreed. "I've seen the numbers; you'll have more ships built at the end of the year than all the ships of this task force put together, and you're also raising the crews for them."
"That doesn't mean we'll risk the task force to save time. People aren't replaceable!" Adora snapped. The Admiral seemed awfully eager to risk huge numbers of Clones.
"We need to keep our optempo up," Biggs said with a glare. "You can't wage war if you want to keep our soldiers safe from any danger! That's a sure way to lose the war! Soldiers die in war; that's a fact."
"We know better than you that soldiers die in war!" Glimmer scowled at him. "We've been fighting a war for decades."
"We won't sacrifice soldiers so some people can score points in politics," Catra added.
"What are you insinuating?" Biggs snapped. "This is a purely military decision! We need to take out Ba'al as fast as possible, no matter the cost, or he'll build up an even stronger force! Delaying our attack will only make the fight even harder once we launch the operation!"
That was a danger, Adora knew. She had written part of that analysis, after all. But that had been before Entrapta and Sam had discovered this system. "That would only be true if Ba'al's could build up more forces in the time we need to reinforce the task force. And, so far, the data doesn't show that." She pointed at the system. "The output of those yards is not large enough to change the equations. And we haven't discovered any hidden reinforcements in the vicinity either."
"They could easily be hiding outside your sensor range!"
"Yes, but he doesn't know our sensor range," Adora said. "And he's usually keeping his forces split up."
"If this is his core system, he'll call in everything once we attack," Biggs argued.
"Which is why we need more ships for this," Jack said. "I don't want to see my people cut off on the ground because the fleet got driven off."
"We can't wait and let him build up more ships."
"That's your opinion, and it's noted," Adora said. "But my decision is that we'll wait until the assigned reinforcements have arrived before we strike. We will need numerical superiority to overwhelm the defenders without sustaining too many losses. And we need a bit more time to prepare for their Death Glider swarms as well."
From the way Biggs blinked, he probably hadn't considered that.
Adora couldn't help thinking that maybe the Admiral should study the intel they had more than he should talk to his government - or their election managers.
Deep Space, Ba'al's Realm, August 4th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"...and those unsettling - and unconfirmed - accusations, as tragic as they might be, do not change the fact that witchcraft was used against an American politician. If we do not take steps against this menace, every elected politician will be faced with the threat of being cursed like that. How can you trust a representative to follow his conscience when he has to fear for his very life anytime his decision might displease a terrorist? A democracy cannot work if we cannot trust our government to act without being influenced by outside powers like that!"
"So, Senator, does that mean you will vote for the proposed anti-corruption bill?"
"You cannot compare those two things! Witchcraft presents a clear and deadly danger to everyone, especially to public figures! This bill is far too radical - we don't need more laws and regulations; the existing ones are more than enough to keep corruption at bay!"
"What about guns? Guns are a lethal danger for everyone in the United States - especially for public figures. Do you support stricter regulations for guns as well?"
"Again, stop comparing apples and oranges! Guns are not the problem, people misusing them are the problem! We have millions of responsible, law-abiding gun owners. Compared to that number, the numbers of gun crimes are negligible! Witchcraft, on the other hand, is not nearly as common, yet has produced hundreds of victims already - and that only in this year!"
"Where do you get those numbers, Senator?
"I am privy to the latest FBI report about magical crimes."
"Oh? As it happens, I have received the same report. The vast majority of the incidents you mention have not been confirmed. In fact, the FBI's preliminary investigations in some of the cases strongly hint that most of those were attempts to hide a mundane crime or accident - or delusions by people caught in a second satanic panic. So I don't…"
"How dare you dismiss the pain and fear of the victims of witchcraft as delusions! Would you do the same if they were victims of sexual abuse?"
"Sexual abuse like the charges levelled against Mr Delan and Minister Smith, Senator?"
"None of those accusations have been proven in a court of law!"
"That's because the investigation has just been started. But I agree, maybe we shouldn't use accusations that were not proven in a court of law to persecute sorceresses in the USA."
"That's not the same! The danger to our country - our immortal souls - is far too great to hesitate here! We need to…"
Samantha Carter stopped the recording. To think she had been looking forward to catch up on the news from Earth after their last foray into the heart of Ba'al's territory!
"I don't get it. This senator makes no sense," Entrapta said, shaking her head.
"He's a politician who was very invested in using the attack on Mr Delan to push his anti-magic policy and now has trouble adjusting to the revelations about the first victim's own crimes," Sam explained.
"No, no, I understand that. I think. We've had situations like that at the Princess Prom - I've read the paper George, Bow's dad, wrote about that even though I didn't see anything like it myself, though I only attended one prom so far." Entrapta shook her head. "Well, they weren't about such tragedies, but the ruler of the Scorpion Kingdom at the time was accusing the Princess of Plumeria of cheating while trading, and then the Princess of Salineas revealed that it was a corrupt sailor who was responsible, and everyone was too embarrassed to admit their mistakes. But, no, I meant the comment about the danger to their souls."
Sam grimaced for a moment. "That's a religious view, and religion is a very touchy and very personal subject for many people. It has been the cause of a lot of death and violence in the past, so we prefer not to argue over religion when we can avoid it." And she was very tired of trying to explain some of the more questionable arguments people had come up with in defence of their religion.
"Oh." Sam half-expected Entrapta to push on anyway and ask about another logical fallacy or hypocritical practice related to religion, but her friend nodded. "Alright. I'll ask Daniel when he arrives. He likes talking about that stuff."
Sam knew that already.
"And Sha're has a lot of insight into how similar your religions are to the ones controlled by the Goa'uld when you get past cosmetic differences. It's fascinating, actually, if you compare your churches and theirs. The parallels are so surprising!"
Sam hadn't known that. And she was sure that a very high number of people on Earth would take exception to that. Possibly violently in some cases.
"Maybe we should ask Priest as well. He has studied Earth religions extensively so he can avoid their mistakes."
And Sam knew that involving Priest in any such debate was not a good idea at all. Not if you wanted to avoid a conflict.
At least with the upcoming operation, they wouldn't have time for such discussions for the next few weeks.
Stargate Command, CFB Goose Bay, Newfoundland, Canada, August 5th, 2000
"...and we are here, in front of the Stargate, about to step through a wormhole to travel from Earth to a location thousands of lightyears away - a distance so long, human imagination cannot comprehend it. There, we will embark upon an Alliance warship and travel to the frontlines of the war against the Goa'uld. For the first time, journalists will not be reporting from planets that have been pacified, but directly from the front as it is being established. Stay tuned for a close-up view of how war is being conducted in space! This is Mark Bayley for CNN!"
Catra rolled her eyes at the reporter's fake excitement as he finished his recording and stepped away from the Stargate's ramp to make room for the next reporter. At least this one was from BBC - one of the non-American news companies that had sent reporters as well - and wasn't as sensationalist.
Of course, for civilians, stepping through a Stargate was a big deal, and they hadn't been told the actual distance or where they were going since that was classified information, but still, journalists had been covering the war before, and it wasn't as if they'd let the the reporter drop on planets with the first wave. Jack had put his foot down when the Americans had wanted his people to 'play babysitter for the newshounds', as he put it. And it wasn't as if the Stargate was currently active.
Oh, here came Bayley walking over. "Commander Catra? Do you mind a question?"
"Just Catra. I have no military rank," she corrected him. His cameraman wasn't covering them, and he wasn't holding his microphone, so he wasn't trying to break the rules against recording without explicit permission and limitations.
"Ah." He nodded, though she was sure he had known that in advance. At least he should have if he had properly prepared for this. "But you're effectively an officer in the Alliance, aren't you?"
She shrugged. "I help my friends when needed."
"Both in staff positions and at the frontline, or so I've heard."
She rolled her eyes. "As I said, I help my friends where and when needed."
"Then, as someone not formally a member of the Alliance Command Council, what are your thoughts about this operation? According to our briefing, we'll be striking directly at the capital of Ba'al and the heart of his military-industrial complex."
So, Bayley had paid attention to the briefing. Well, he'd be a bad journalist if he weren't able to listen to others, and the Alliance had screened the reporters allowed on this trip quite thoroughly - Catra would know since she had vetoed two of them herself; they didn't need people spreading lies from bigots at the frontlines. Or anywhere else, in her opinion. "We're attacking one of Ba'al's bases," she replied. "Anything further is classified information." Technically, that they were attacking Ba'al was classified as well, but the reporters had been read in so they knew what kind of Goa'uld they were facing and what kind of conditions they could expect in his territory.
"Yes, that's the official line and I am not going to use this in my reports. But is it true that we're invading the capital of his realm? The first time Alliance forces will be hitting a core planet of the enemy?"
So, that was the US government's angle here to get as much good PR out of this: Hype up the target as much as possible. As if this was a race to Berlin. Well, it was a race, but that was even more classified. "We don't have a map of Ba'al's territory with all his bases," she replied and flashed her fangs.
"Ah." Bayley nodded with a smile as if she had actually revealed anything. He probably thought she had confirmed his question without doing so overtly. Well, his fault. "So, have you already decided how you will be 'helping your friends' on this operation?
By talking to annoying reporters so they didn't annoy Adora or Glimmer, she thought. That's why she was keeping an eye on this. "Wherever I am needed."
"But will you be fighting with SG-1 again, as you've had in the past?"
"SG-1 was dissolved when the team members left Stargate Command," she corrected him.
"Of course. But 'the team formerly known as SG-1' is a bit of a mouthful, isn't it?" The way he smiled was probably the reason he had been chosen for this - naive girls and boys would likely fall for it.
Catra wasn't naive or interested in men. She sighed. "Mr Bayley, you cannot predict anything like that in war. It's far too fluid for that. I might stay back on a frigate and simply watch the battles munching some fish sticks," she lied. She'd only do that if Adora stayed back on the flagship as well, and everyone knew Adora wouldn't do that. Certainly not when there was a chance that Ba'al himself was present in the system.
"But do you expect to fight with the Alliance Special Forces led by General O'Neill on the ground?"
She rolled her eyes. "As I said, I don't expect anything. We can't predict anything yet. And if we could, I couldn't tell you. Not without having you locked up afterwards to maintain operational security." She flashed her fangs again.
This time, he seemed to get the message and nodded as his smile slipped slightly. "I see. Thank you for the talk, Catra."
Of course, the other reporters - an even dozen - hadn't missed this and were now descending on her.
Great. Catra fixed her smile and prepared to repeat her lines until the idiots got the message as well.
Deep Space, Ba'al's Realm, August 6th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"General O'Neill! Mark Bayley, CNN. A word?"
Jack O'Neill almost made an about face and headed back into his cabin when he heard the reporter call out - reporters, he corrected himself when he saw that Bayley was followed by two more of them. But he had been told by the President himself to be nice to the journalists - to go out of his way, in fact, to 'accommodate' them as long as it didn't hinder the operation.
Of course, being late for breakfast could hinder the operation if that meant Jack might be missing a critical problem in planning… Naw. That would be too obvious. Even the dumbest reporter amongst the bunch would see through it, and Jack didn't doubt that at least some would take offence and develop a grudge against him and his friends.
And his friends didn't deserve that. Daniel had suffered through a smear campaign already, back when his - ultimately proven - theory had been laughed at, and Jack knew that some Navy pukes were just waiting for the chance to use Carter as a scapegoat for their own failures in the Constitution II-class mess. And Teal'c was an obvious target as the former First Prime of Apophis.
So he smiled - if a bit toothily- and nodded. "Sure. I'm heading to the mess, so feel free to tag along." If he could field their questions during breakfast, he wouldn't lose too much time. And if he needed to think about a question, taking a bite or a sip would help.
"Great!" Bayley beamed at him. "So, how does it feel to be the highest-ranking ground commander in the operation? Some experts have criticised your habit of leading from the front."
Jack grinned. He had expected that question. "Well, they're used to a different war than we're fighting here. I can't make the big decisions if I don't have the necessary information. Sometimes, that means I can't stay back on a ship in orbit but need to be on the spot."
"One would expect that with modern, advanced technology, you didn't need to be on the spot," another reporter - he had a southern drawl - commented. "Chris Evans, NBC."
"Even then, there'll be delays and limited information," Jack replied. And jamming, though that was classified information. "You never get the full picture unless you're there."
"But as the general in charge, don't you need to see the full picture of the entire front, not just a single part of it? There have been concerns that you're in the habit of acting like a squad leader instead of a general, a habit carried over from your time at Stargate Command," Bayley asked.
Jack kept smiling despite his growing annoyance - he really needed his coffee and breakfast. Weren't those journalists supposed to produce a puff piece for the election campaign? "At Stargate Command, we were not fighting nearly as often as people think. Most of the time, we were exploring. If you're making First Contact with an alien civilisation, you really don't want that to be handled by a second lieutenant fresh out of West Point and a bunch of privates."
"But you're fighting a war now," the third journalist pointed out. "Cyril Foster, ABC."
"Yes, but as I said, it depends on the situation. Sometimes, you can handle everything from your command centre back in orbit," Jack replied. "The British-built fleet transports have great command and control facilities, by the way." Take that, Navy pukes! "But sometimes, you need to be in front to do your job."
"Like the princesses?" Southern Drawl Evans looked at him.
"The princesses are on the frontlines because that's usually where they can use their powers to best effect," Jack said. Ah, there was the door to the mess! Coffee, here we come!
Two Clones stepped to the side when he entered, the journalists in tow. He spotted Daniel, Sha're, Teal'c and Carter at a table - they had left a spot free for him! Unfortunately, there wasn't enough room for the reporters. Damn.
"But what about the criticism that they are neglecting their other duties as commanders?" Bayley asked.
That was aimed at him, Jack knew. He grinned widely at the man. "They do their duty while fighting at the front. That's how it works in the Princess Alliance. That's how they beat the Horde and Horde Prime. You could say their way has been tested in combat."
The smell of coffee hit his nose and Jack barely resisted the urge to get a cup, down it, and refill it before grabbing food. But he managed to limit himself to a sip before loading up on bacon, eggs and hash browns.
Fortunately for them, none of the reporters criticised his food choices by citing some nutritional experts or whatever. That would have been too much for his temper. He needed his calories to stomach those questions.
Besides, after being zapped by She-Ra's magic healing beam, Jack was as healthy as a twenty-year-old, he could handle all the cholesterol.
Not that he'd tell the journalists that - if it got out that She-Ra could do that, things would get even more complicated back on Earth.
Adora double-checked if there were any journalists in the room before starting the planning meeting. There shouldn't be any, of course - this was the flag room of the frigate, a restricted area - but with the way some reporters had been following people around, it was better to be sure. If only to avoid giving Catra - or Glimmer - an excuse to mistake a journalist for a spy.
Seeing no one - Catra wasn't looking as if she was about to pounce someone either - she nodded and addressed the room: "Alright! We've got the latest intel and we now have a comprehensive picture of the target system's defenses. Though we still don't know the exact composition and technology the enemies use."
She pointed at the holoprojection above the centre of the table. "Even if the Ha'taks had only been upgraded with beam cannons, like the ones we've fought before, they would present a formidable force against a frontal assault when working with the lighter ships and the swarm of Death Gliders with clone or bot pilots. Depending on the tactics they use, they could inflict significant losses." And if they had learnt anything from their past battles against Ba'al, it was that Ba'al was a cunning foe whose forces adapted various tactics.
"And if they have upgraded the Ha'taks further? Or the lighter ships?" Captain Baker asked.
"Heavy casualties. We don't have sufficient defences against suicide attacks by Death Gliders carrying enhanced ordnance," Adora told him. "Adapting our ship's anti-fighter defences to compensate would take too long for this operation." And would strain their fleet train. "So, we're working on an alternative solution that can be done with our current supplies and in time." She looked at Entrapta and Sam.
Entrapta nodded. "Yes! We've got some ideas, but we need a bit more data - or, rather, we need more contingencies in case we're wrong. We've been probing their networks, but we didn't crash or hack anyone yet so we don't alert the enemy to our presence."
"We are confident that we have a decisive advantage in the field of electronic warfare," Sam added. "But as past experiences prove, we can only leverage that for a limited time before the enemy adapts. And we have to assume that they expect us to jam their communications as we did before."
"Which is why we will have to maximise the impact when we crash their networks," Adora said. They would have to use jamming tactics anyway, but they couldn't depend on it. "We did manage to confirm that they have ship yards producing ships in the system, though most of them seemed to be working on Death Gliders and a new type."
The system was replaced by a projection of a Death Glider and a Ha'tak.
Sam stood and started explaining. "Observation revealed that the Ha'taks being built here are what we have dubbed 'carrier variants', sacrificing most of their firepower for the capacity to carry significantly higher numbers of Death Gliders."
"That means they plan to use Death Gliders as their main force in the battle," Jack commented.
Sam nodded. "Yes, sir. Analysis came to the same conclusion. The fleet being gathered here will rely on swarm attacks by massed Death Gliders. That means the threat of suicide attacks is high, given Ba'al's willingness to sacrifice his own forces."
Adora clenched her teeth. Ba'al was a monster! But he was a skilled enemy.
"Does that mean he's using bots in his fighters? Even with clones, he would have a hard time replacing losses, wouldn't he?" Baker asked.
"We haven't been able to confirm either hypothesis yet," Sam replied.
"Bots would need less supplies, but they are more vulnerable to jamming," Entrapta said. "They rely on sensors. Clones would be able to pick their targets even without any working sensors, as long as they are close enough for visual contact. But! Whether Ba'al uses bots or clones, setting up a pipeline for either would have taken more time than he should have had since we first used the hyperspace jammer on his forces. So, even if he picked clones, it doesn't have to be a reaction to our jamming technology - he just could have been lucky."
"Since he has heavily invested in cloning technology for a variety of reasons, we are leaning toward him using clones as pilots," Sam added with a slight grimace.
Adora nodded. No matter how they dealt with the swarm, they would probably be killing a lot of people - people who didn't know any better since they were made and raised to serve Ba'al as pilots. Looking at the others and their grim expressions, she knew they shared her feelings. It was a horrible situation, but they didn't have any alternative - they had to defeat Ba'al to put a stop to this or even more people would suffer and die for the Goa'uld.
The holoprojection changed back to the system and zoomed in on a world.
"The space-based defences are centred on this planet. The ships are augmented by a few orbital satellites, but those are a negligible force compared to Ba'al's fleet," Sam went on. "However, the surface of the planet itself - the main world of the system - has also been fortified, with ample anti-orbital and anti-air defences. And they are centred on this:"
The holoprojection changed again.
"That looks like a palace," Jack said.
"Yes." Daniel pushed his glasses up. "It's not a classic Goa'uld style, but the basic concepts and layout are still the same. It might be a recent construction incorporating Horde technology from the ground up. Coupled with the symbols, we think there's a high probability that this is Ba'al's main palace - his headquarters."
"I doubt he would waste so many defences on a palace if it weren't to protect him," Jack said. "He seems more pragmatic and would probably protect his shipyards instead."
"Unless this is a double-bluff and this is a distraction to protect the shipyards," Sha're suggested.
"That would still leave the shipyards' defences weaker than they could be - and open to attacks by equally pragmatic enemies," Jack said.
"And sacrificing what looks to be his main palace would still cause a loss of face if it was known by his rivals," Daniel said.
"If it was known," Sha're repeated. "Ba'al has been able to keep a lot of secrets from everyone, even us."
Adora nodded. "We'll be ready for a trap or any other surprise. But we won't let that stop us." They couldn't. "Now, for the ground assault…"
Deep Space, Ba'al's Realm, August 7th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"Major Carter! Mark Bayley, CNN. A word, if you please?"
Samantha Carter stopped and rolled her eyes, grimacing, before she pasted a polite smile on her face and turned to the journalist - Mark Bayley. "I am sorry, but I am in the middle of a crucial project."
"For this operation? Or for procurement? According to my sources, you've been crucial for the much-maligned Constitution II-class design."
Sam tensed. Sam didn't see any recording device, but that didn't preclude a hidden microphone. And she knew she should just tell the journalist that she was busy and leave him standing, but… She wasn't about to get portrayed as responsible for that abomination of a ship design! "I've been called in to deal with some of its flaws, but I have not been involved in its design otherwise." And it wouldn't be some unholy attempt to mate a carrier and a gunship.
"Oh? I was told that you were working on all its key systems - engines, shields and weapons."
"I was called in to work on some of the flaws that were detected in the ships during testing," Sam told him. She had already said that.
"There were flaws in all three key systems?" Bayley seemed surprised. So, he didn't have internal sources - he would be aware of how bad the design was otherwise.
"No new design is perfect," Sam replied. As much as she wanted, she couldn't reveal just how many flaws the Constitution II-class had - or how bad the design had been from the start.
"But the problems of this class are much more serious - and numerous - than others. The British Flower II-class, for example, is already in active service. I've been on one during a patrol in the Solar System."
Between Third Fleet and the spy bot network, there was no need for the corvettes to patrol the system. But it was a good way to train up the crews. "Yes, but that's a corvette, a smaller and simpler design than a frigate."
"Yes, so I've heard - though one of the criticisms aimed at the frigate is that the design is too complicated to be practical and that it would better serve as a testbed for future projects instead of a ship of the line."
"I cannot comment on that decision; I am a physicist and scientist, I am not responsible for procuring our ships," Sam said.
"But you build them - or you fix them. You've been spotted several times in the Norfolk yards."
Sam really shouldn't have stopped to talk to the press, orders to cooperate within reason be damned! On the other hand, if the Navy was trying to use her as a scapegoat for their own failures, this was her chance to set the public record straight. "Yes, I have been called in to deal with problems, and as long as my work for the Alliance is not affected too much, I have lent a hand." That was the third time she had told him the same thing!
"Your work for the Alliance… you've been working for Stargate Command as one of their most capable scientists. Yet you regularly saw combat. Do you feel that sending our best scientists out to fight in the field, so to speak, is a good policy?"
Not that again! "Sometimes - quite often, actually - you need a scientist in the field to deal with problems you encounter," she replied. "Without Princess Entrapta's personal contribution, Horde Prime might not have been defeated."
"Does that mean you expect Ba'al to be as dangerous as Horde Prime?"
"It is never a good idea to underestimate your enemy." She tilted her head slightly to the side. "Anything else is classified."
"But…"
"Good day!"
She turned and walked away, her strides just a bit longer than normal. Entrapta was waiting for her.
They had to figure out how to deal with Ba'al's Death Glider swarm, and the longer they took, the more dangerous it would become.
Fortunately, they had a few ideas already.
Unfortunately, they still had to figure out if they were practical - and if so, how to implement them.
Deep Space, Ba'al's Realm, August 8th, 2000 (Earth Time)
Catra rotated the holoprojection above the table and looked at the units on the other side of the target planet again. It wasn't a real-time feed, but it was close enough. The capital ships stuck close to the planet while the lighter units formed a screen around them, not around the planet. Standard formations, too, with the Tel'tak's forming the outer perimeter and the Al'keshs the inner, ready to form attack squadrons to pounce on enemy capital ships.
The Death Gliders, on the other hand, were split. Part of them - the smaller part - were circling the formations on regular combat air patrol routes. The vast majority of them, though, were basically covering the entire system like a Goa'uld miniature version of the spy bot network. Dense patterns in the inner system, where the planet with Ba'al's palace was located, and thinner patterns in the outer system, past a gas giant. But still dense enough that slipping any force through some gaps without getting pounced by a swarm of them was impossible.
Sure, you could feint with part of your forces, draw them in, but that would be hard on the probing force - and they had a lot of fighters so it wouldn't actually strip the rest of the system bare. Not if Ba'al's commanders were semi-competent - and Catra knew better than to assume the enemy was incompetent.
The sheer numbers of fighters also made a surprise attack by dropping out of hyperspace right next to the capital ships of the enemy too dangerous. With the sensor data from the spy bot network, the Alliance forces had managed to pull off such manoeuvres successfully, but against upgraded Ha'taks and possibly upgraded Tel'taks and Al'keshs? Supported by swarms of Death Gliders on suicide attacks? Entrapta and Sam had already confirmed with a few scans when patrols came too close to a spy bot that the Death Gliders were carrying bombs - inside the crafts, not on pylons, and they hadn't been modified with bomb bays.
They had replaced the weapon officer's seat with the bomb.
It would be a brutal brawl straight out of the gate, so to speak, and the Alliance task force would take heavy losses even if they arrived in perfect formations ready to repel waves of suicide attackers. Which they wouldn't. Travelling through hyperspace would disrupt their formations - not too much, but it would tell in such a situation - and they would have to launch fighters under fire, unlike the enemy. They could still win if they managed to fend off the Death Gliders, but Catra was sure the task force would need to be rebuilt afterwards.
"No matter how you look at it, it doesn't look good," Adora commented next to her.
"No, it doesn't," Catra agreed. In the Horde, she would have ordered a frontal assault anyway. The Horde had outnumbered the Princess Alliance and could replace their losses more easily. Especially if she used bots to breach the enemy lines and bear the brunt of their fire. And then use the rest of the bots to blunt the enemy counterattack.
But she wasn't in the Horde any more. She wasn't like that any more. She wouldn't send people to their death like that.
"They still cycle the Death Gliders through," she stated the obvious to help herself focus on the situation at hand instead of her past. "None of them stay in space so long, only bots could pilot them." Entrapta and Sam had observed that straight away.
"Yes."
That didn't mean that the fighter pilots were cloned people. Ba'al could simply want to keep the Death Gliders refueled so they were always ready for combat and wouldn't be caught with their tanks half-empty. Or he wanted any spies to assume the Death Gliders had cloned pilots - the bastard was tricky like that.
But Catra was betting that Ba'al used cloned pilots. They would be able to handle extensive jamming better than bots - even indoctrinated clones were better at adapting to changing circumstances in a battle than bots, if they were cut off from orders. And, she added with clenched teeth, Ba'al probably preferred living pilots for suicide attacks. It would impress his enemies more than bots blowing themselves up. His Goa'uld rivals would see how devoted his followers were, and the Alliance would be horrified by it. Catra didn't think it would keep any Alliance crew from doing their best to shoot the Death Gliders down in the middle of combat, but the knowledge that you were killing brainwashed people who hadn't been alive longer than a few months wouldn't be good for long-term morale.
Not that the plans Sam and Entrapta had come up with would be any better. They suggested infiltrating the enemy system and inserting a virus into the carrier-Ha'taks and letting it spread to the Death Gliders so they could disable the fighters when they attacked. That would prevent suicide attacks. But the bombs would have a manual trigger - Ba'al was the type to insist on that - and they already knew he didn't want his followers to let themselves get captured, and so the pilots would still blow themselves up. Probably when the Alliance was trying to recover them. Alternatively, they could hijack the Death Glider command and control network to send the swarms against Ba'al's own ships - like every Goa'uld System Lord, he would have plans to deal with rebels and traitors in his own ranks, so that wouldn't be questioned - but sending so many brainwashed people to their deaths… Adora would blame herself for it, and Catra couldn't let her do that.
"I don't see any alternative," Adora said. "Everything I think of leads to more deaths on our side and still kills all of them." She sounded resigned.
Catra knew that. But she wasn't about to let Adora give such an order. She couldn't - it would hurt her love too much. If only she could just snap her fingers and… Her eyes widened.
"I've got an idea!" A stupid, dangerous idea, but one that might not see Adora ordering the death of thousands of brainwashed followers of Ba'al.
Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, August 3rd, 2000
"Alright. This is what we know about the target system."
Adora pushed a button, and the holoprojector built into the table lit up, showing a star system with several planets and all the spaceships the spy bots had observed so far.
"That's a massive fleet," Jack commented with a whistle. "Even if you discount the Death Gliders, we'll need more ships to take them on. Especially if they're upgraded Ha'taks."
Adora nodded. "Worst estimate is that all the Ha'taks have been upgraded with Horde weapons, shields and engines. That would mean they are on par or even a bit more powerful than our own upgraded Horde frigates. They would be slower because they are much larger, but they would be tougher even if we take the improved beam cannons we use into account." And while you could leverage better speed and manoeuvrability into winning against a slower but tougher foe, all other things equal, you couldn't do so without taking a considerable risk - at least, unless you were so much faster and more agile, they couldn't hit you at all without blind luck - and you were likely getting hurt in the process. That went for close quarters combat as well as for space battles.
"Then we need numerical superiority," Admiral Brown-Emerson said. "Otherwise, the risk of taking unsustainable losses is too great - especially if we have to deal with Death Gliders making suicide attacks. That number would quickly overwhelm our defences."
Adora nodded and was about to agree when Admiral Biggs scoffed: "When the Japanese tried their Kamikaze bombers, we dealt with them easily enough. We've beaten Ba'al's fleets whenever we faced them. This will be a little tougher, but we'll take them."
"That's easy to say since if it won't be your ships doing the fighting, Admiral," Jack said with a scowl.
"That should be 'our ships', General. Or do you not consider yourself a member of the United States Armed Forces any more?" Biggs retorted with a sneer before turning to look at Adora. "Even if we take the worst estimates of the enemy forces' power, all projections agree that the ships assembled for this operation are sufficient to take the objective."
"As Admiral Brown-Emerson said, with our current task force, we'll risk taking heavy losses," Glimmer interjected.
"We can replace those losses. This must be Ba'al's core system and the heart of his Empire. Take it out, and he's done for. Then we can rebuild. But the longer we wait, the tougher this will be - he's building ships as we speak," Biggs countered.
"We don't know yet if the 'new' ships we've detected joining the force in the system are new builds or repaired or upgraded ships," Adora pointed out. "Nor do we know if that's the last significant production site he has left - in fact, our analysts are sure that he has more production facilities hidden in his sphere of influence since he is so fond of compartmentalised force structures."
Biggs shook his head. "But they also agree that if Ba'al has such hidden facilities, they must be much smaller ones or we would have already faced much larger forces."
"Or they are in the process of being built up," Catra cut in. "Either way, we can't afford to lose the majority of our task force - it would cripple our offensive capability in the entire area."
"Only temporarily," Biggs disagreed. "I've seen the numbers; you'll have more ships built at the end of the year than all the ships of this task force put together, and you're also raising the crews for them."
"That doesn't mean we'll risk the task force to save time. People aren't replaceable!" Adora snapped. The Admiral seemed awfully eager to risk huge numbers of Clones.
"We need to keep our optempo up," Biggs said with a glare. "You can't wage war if you want to keep our soldiers safe from any danger! That's a sure way to lose the war! Soldiers die in war; that's a fact."
"We know better than you that soldiers die in war!" Glimmer scowled at him. "We've been fighting a war for decades."
"We won't sacrifice soldiers so some people can score points in politics," Catra added.
"What are you insinuating?" Biggs snapped. "This is a purely military decision! We need to take out Ba'al as fast as possible, no matter the cost, or he'll build up an even stronger force! Delaying our attack will only make the fight even harder once we launch the operation!"
That was a danger, Adora knew. She had written part of that analysis, after all. But that had been before Entrapta and Sam had discovered this system. "That would only be true if Ba'al's could build up more forces in the time we need to reinforce the task force. And, so far, the data doesn't show that." She pointed at the system. "The output of those yards is not large enough to change the equations. And we haven't discovered any hidden reinforcements in the vicinity either."
"They could easily be hiding outside your sensor range!"
"Yes, but he doesn't know our sensor range," Adora said. "And he's usually keeping his forces split up."
"If this is his core system, he'll call in everything once we attack," Biggs argued.
"Which is why we need more ships for this," Jack said. "I don't want to see my people cut off on the ground because the fleet got driven off."
"We can't wait and let him build up more ships."
"That's your opinion, and it's noted," Adora said. "But my decision is that we'll wait until the assigned reinforcements have arrived before we strike. We will need numerical superiority to overwhelm the defenders without sustaining too many losses. And we need a bit more time to prepare for their Death Glider swarms as well."
From the way Biggs blinked, he probably hadn't considered that.
Adora couldn't help thinking that maybe the Admiral should study the intel they had more than he should talk to his government - or their election managers.
*****
Deep Space, Ba'al's Realm, August 4th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"...and those unsettling - and unconfirmed - accusations, as tragic as they might be, do not change the fact that witchcraft was used against an American politician. If we do not take steps against this menace, every elected politician will be faced with the threat of being cursed like that. How can you trust a representative to follow his conscience when he has to fear for his very life anytime his decision might displease a terrorist? A democracy cannot work if we cannot trust our government to act without being influenced by outside powers like that!"
"So, Senator, does that mean you will vote for the proposed anti-corruption bill?"
"You cannot compare those two things! Witchcraft presents a clear and deadly danger to everyone, especially to public figures! This bill is far too radical - we don't need more laws and regulations; the existing ones are more than enough to keep corruption at bay!"
"What about guns? Guns are a lethal danger for everyone in the United States - especially for public figures. Do you support stricter regulations for guns as well?"
"Again, stop comparing apples and oranges! Guns are not the problem, people misusing them are the problem! We have millions of responsible, law-abiding gun owners. Compared to that number, the numbers of gun crimes are negligible! Witchcraft, on the other hand, is not nearly as common, yet has produced hundreds of victims already - and that only in this year!"
"Where do you get those numbers, Senator?
"I am privy to the latest FBI report about magical crimes."
"Oh? As it happens, I have received the same report. The vast majority of the incidents you mention have not been confirmed. In fact, the FBI's preliminary investigations in some of the cases strongly hint that most of those were attempts to hide a mundane crime or accident - or delusions by people caught in a second satanic panic. So I don't…"
"How dare you dismiss the pain and fear of the victims of witchcraft as delusions! Would you do the same if they were victims of sexual abuse?"
"Sexual abuse like the charges levelled against Mr Delan and Minister Smith, Senator?"
"None of those accusations have been proven in a court of law!"
"That's because the investigation has just been started. But I agree, maybe we shouldn't use accusations that were not proven in a court of law to persecute sorceresses in the USA."
"That's not the same! The danger to our country - our immortal souls - is far too great to hesitate here! We need to…"
Samantha Carter stopped the recording. To think she had been looking forward to catch up on the news from Earth after their last foray into the heart of Ba'al's territory!
"I don't get it. This senator makes no sense," Entrapta said, shaking her head.
"He's a politician who was very invested in using the attack on Mr Delan to push his anti-magic policy and now has trouble adjusting to the revelations about the first victim's own crimes," Sam explained.
"No, no, I understand that. I think. We've had situations like that at the Princess Prom - I've read the paper George, Bow's dad, wrote about that even though I didn't see anything like it myself, though I only attended one prom so far." Entrapta shook her head. "Well, they weren't about such tragedies, but the ruler of the Scorpion Kingdom at the time was accusing the Princess of Plumeria of cheating while trading, and then the Princess of Salineas revealed that it was a corrupt sailor who was responsible, and everyone was too embarrassed to admit their mistakes. But, no, I meant the comment about the danger to their souls."
Sam grimaced for a moment. "That's a religious view, and religion is a very touchy and very personal subject for many people. It has been the cause of a lot of death and violence in the past, so we prefer not to argue over religion when we can avoid it." And she was very tired of trying to explain some of the more questionable arguments people had come up with in defence of their religion.
"Oh." Sam half-expected Entrapta to push on anyway and ask about another logical fallacy or hypocritical practice related to religion, but her friend nodded. "Alright. I'll ask Daniel when he arrives. He likes talking about that stuff."
Sam knew that already.
"And Sha're has a lot of insight into how similar your religions are to the ones controlled by the Goa'uld when you get past cosmetic differences. It's fascinating, actually, if you compare your churches and theirs. The parallels are so surprising!"
Sam hadn't known that. And she was sure that a very high number of people on Earth would take exception to that. Possibly violently in some cases.
"Maybe we should ask Priest as well. He has studied Earth religions extensively so he can avoid their mistakes."
And Sam knew that involving Priest in any such debate was not a good idea at all. Not if you wanted to avoid a conflict.
At least with the upcoming operation, they wouldn't have time for such discussions for the next few weeks.
*****
Stargate Command, CFB Goose Bay, Newfoundland, Canada, August 5th, 2000
"...and we are here, in front of the Stargate, about to step through a wormhole to travel from Earth to a location thousands of lightyears away - a distance so long, human imagination cannot comprehend it. There, we will embark upon an Alliance warship and travel to the frontlines of the war against the Goa'uld. For the first time, journalists will not be reporting from planets that have been pacified, but directly from the front as it is being established. Stay tuned for a close-up view of how war is being conducted in space! This is Mark Bayley for CNN!"
Catra rolled her eyes at the reporter's fake excitement as he finished his recording and stepped away from the Stargate's ramp to make room for the next reporter. At least this one was from BBC - one of the non-American news companies that had sent reporters as well - and wasn't as sensationalist.
Of course, for civilians, stepping through a Stargate was a big deal, and they hadn't been told the actual distance or where they were going since that was classified information, but still, journalists had been covering the war before, and it wasn't as if they'd let the the reporter drop on planets with the first wave. Jack had put his foot down when the Americans had wanted his people to 'play babysitter for the newshounds', as he put it. And it wasn't as if the Stargate was currently active.
Oh, here came Bayley walking over. "Commander Catra? Do you mind a question?"
"Just Catra. I have no military rank," she corrected him. His cameraman wasn't covering them, and he wasn't holding his microphone, so he wasn't trying to break the rules against recording without explicit permission and limitations.
"Ah." He nodded, though she was sure he had known that in advance. At least he should have if he had properly prepared for this. "But you're effectively an officer in the Alliance, aren't you?"
She shrugged. "I help my friends when needed."
"Both in staff positions and at the frontline, or so I've heard."
She rolled her eyes. "As I said, I help my friends where and when needed."
"Then, as someone not formally a member of the Alliance Command Council, what are your thoughts about this operation? According to our briefing, we'll be striking directly at the capital of Ba'al and the heart of his military-industrial complex."
So, Bayley had paid attention to the briefing. Well, he'd be a bad journalist if he weren't able to listen to others, and the Alliance had screened the reporters allowed on this trip quite thoroughly - Catra would know since she had vetoed two of them herself; they didn't need people spreading lies from bigots at the frontlines. Or anywhere else, in her opinion. "We're attacking one of Ba'al's bases," she replied. "Anything further is classified information." Technically, that they were attacking Ba'al was classified as well, but the reporters had been read in so they knew what kind of Goa'uld they were facing and what kind of conditions they could expect in his territory.
"Yes, that's the official line and I am not going to use this in my reports. But is it true that we're invading the capital of his realm? The first time Alliance forces will be hitting a core planet of the enemy?"
So, that was the US government's angle here to get as much good PR out of this: Hype up the target as much as possible. As if this was a race to Berlin. Well, it was a race, but that was even more classified. "We don't have a map of Ba'al's territory with all his bases," she replied and flashed her fangs.
"Ah." Bayley nodded with a smile as if she had actually revealed anything. He probably thought she had confirmed his question without doing so overtly. Well, his fault. "So, have you already decided how you will be 'helping your friends' on this operation?
By talking to annoying reporters so they didn't annoy Adora or Glimmer, she thought. That's why she was keeping an eye on this. "Wherever I am needed."
"But will you be fighting with SG-1 again, as you've had in the past?"
"SG-1 was dissolved when the team members left Stargate Command," she corrected him.
"Of course. But 'the team formerly known as SG-1' is a bit of a mouthful, isn't it?" The way he smiled was probably the reason he had been chosen for this - naive girls and boys would likely fall for it.
Catra wasn't naive or interested in men. She sighed. "Mr Bayley, you cannot predict anything like that in war. It's far too fluid for that. I might stay back on a frigate and simply watch the battles munching some fish sticks," she lied. She'd only do that if Adora stayed back on the flagship as well, and everyone knew Adora wouldn't do that. Certainly not when there was a chance that Ba'al himself was present in the system.
"But do you expect to fight with the Alliance Special Forces led by General O'Neill on the ground?"
She rolled her eyes. "As I said, I don't expect anything. We can't predict anything yet. And if we could, I couldn't tell you. Not without having you locked up afterwards to maintain operational security." She flashed her fangs again.
This time, he seemed to get the message and nodded as his smile slipped slightly. "I see. Thank you for the talk, Catra."
Of course, the other reporters - an even dozen - hadn't missed this and were now descending on her.
Great. Catra fixed her smile and prepared to repeat her lines until the idiots got the message as well.
*****
Deep Space, Ba'al's Realm, August 6th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"General O'Neill! Mark Bayley, CNN. A word?"
Jack O'Neill almost made an about face and headed back into his cabin when he heard the reporter call out - reporters, he corrected himself when he saw that Bayley was followed by two more of them. But he had been told by the President himself to be nice to the journalists - to go out of his way, in fact, to 'accommodate' them as long as it didn't hinder the operation.
Of course, being late for breakfast could hinder the operation if that meant Jack might be missing a critical problem in planning… Naw. That would be too obvious. Even the dumbest reporter amongst the bunch would see through it, and Jack didn't doubt that at least some would take offence and develop a grudge against him and his friends.
And his friends didn't deserve that. Daniel had suffered through a smear campaign already, back when his - ultimately proven - theory had been laughed at, and Jack knew that some Navy pukes were just waiting for the chance to use Carter as a scapegoat for their own failures in the Constitution II-class mess. And Teal'c was an obvious target as the former First Prime of Apophis.
So he smiled - if a bit toothily- and nodded. "Sure. I'm heading to the mess, so feel free to tag along." If he could field their questions during breakfast, he wouldn't lose too much time. And if he needed to think about a question, taking a bite or a sip would help.
"Great!" Bayley beamed at him. "So, how does it feel to be the highest-ranking ground commander in the operation? Some experts have criticised your habit of leading from the front."
Jack grinned. He had expected that question. "Well, they're used to a different war than we're fighting here. I can't make the big decisions if I don't have the necessary information. Sometimes, that means I can't stay back on a ship in orbit but need to be on the spot."
"One would expect that with modern, advanced technology, you didn't need to be on the spot," another reporter - he had a southern drawl - commented. "Chris Evans, NBC."
"Even then, there'll be delays and limited information," Jack replied. And jamming, though that was classified information. "You never get the full picture unless you're there."
"But as the general in charge, don't you need to see the full picture of the entire front, not just a single part of it? There have been concerns that you're in the habit of acting like a squad leader instead of a general, a habit carried over from your time at Stargate Command," Bayley asked.
Jack kept smiling despite his growing annoyance - he really needed his coffee and breakfast. Weren't those journalists supposed to produce a puff piece for the election campaign? "At Stargate Command, we were not fighting nearly as often as people think. Most of the time, we were exploring. If you're making First Contact with an alien civilisation, you really don't want that to be handled by a second lieutenant fresh out of West Point and a bunch of privates."
"But you're fighting a war now," the third journalist pointed out. "Cyril Foster, ABC."
"Yes, but as I said, it depends on the situation. Sometimes, you can handle everything from your command centre back in orbit," Jack replied. "The British-built fleet transports have great command and control facilities, by the way." Take that, Navy pukes! "But sometimes, you need to be in front to do your job."
"Like the princesses?" Southern Drawl Evans looked at him.
"The princesses are on the frontlines because that's usually where they can use their powers to best effect," Jack said. Ah, there was the door to the mess! Coffee, here we come!
Two Clones stepped to the side when he entered, the journalists in tow. He spotted Daniel, Sha're, Teal'c and Carter at a table - they had left a spot free for him! Unfortunately, there wasn't enough room for the reporters. Damn.
"But what about the criticism that they are neglecting their other duties as commanders?" Bayley asked.
That was aimed at him, Jack knew. He grinned widely at the man. "They do their duty while fighting at the front. That's how it works in the Princess Alliance. That's how they beat the Horde and Horde Prime. You could say their way has been tested in combat."
The smell of coffee hit his nose and Jack barely resisted the urge to get a cup, down it, and refill it before grabbing food. But he managed to limit himself to a sip before loading up on bacon, eggs and hash browns.
Fortunately for them, none of the reporters criticised his food choices by citing some nutritional experts or whatever. That would have been too much for his temper. He needed his calories to stomach those questions.
Besides, after being zapped by She-Ra's magic healing beam, Jack was as healthy as a twenty-year-old, he could handle all the cholesterol.
Not that he'd tell the journalists that - if it got out that She-Ra could do that, things would get even more complicated back on Earth.
*****
Adora double-checked if there were any journalists in the room before starting the planning meeting. There shouldn't be any, of course - this was the flag room of the frigate, a restricted area - but with the way some reporters had been following people around, it was better to be sure. If only to avoid giving Catra - or Glimmer - an excuse to mistake a journalist for a spy.
Seeing no one - Catra wasn't looking as if she was about to pounce someone either - she nodded and addressed the room: "Alright! We've got the latest intel and we now have a comprehensive picture of the target system's defenses. Though we still don't know the exact composition and technology the enemies use."
She pointed at the holoprojection above the centre of the table. "Even if the Ha'taks had only been upgraded with beam cannons, like the ones we've fought before, they would present a formidable force against a frontal assault when working with the lighter ships and the swarm of Death Gliders with clone or bot pilots. Depending on the tactics they use, they could inflict significant losses." And if they had learnt anything from their past battles against Ba'al, it was that Ba'al was a cunning foe whose forces adapted various tactics.
"And if they have upgraded the Ha'taks further? Or the lighter ships?" Captain Baker asked.
"Heavy casualties. We don't have sufficient defences against suicide attacks by Death Gliders carrying enhanced ordnance," Adora told him. "Adapting our ship's anti-fighter defences to compensate would take too long for this operation." And would strain their fleet train. "So, we're working on an alternative solution that can be done with our current supplies and in time." She looked at Entrapta and Sam.
Entrapta nodded. "Yes! We've got some ideas, but we need a bit more data - or, rather, we need more contingencies in case we're wrong. We've been probing their networks, but we didn't crash or hack anyone yet so we don't alert the enemy to our presence."
"We are confident that we have a decisive advantage in the field of electronic warfare," Sam added. "But as past experiences prove, we can only leverage that for a limited time before the enemy adapts. And we have to assume that they expect us to jam their communications as we did before."
"Which is why we will have to maximise the impact when we crash their networks," Adora said. They would have to use jamming tactics anyway, but they couldn't depend on it. "We did manage to confirm that they have ship yards producing ships in the system, though most of them seemed to be working on Death Gliders and a new type."
The system was replaced by a projection of a Death Glider and a Ha'tak.
Sam stood and started explaining. "Observation revealed that the Ha'taks being built here are what we have dubbed 'carrier variants', sacrificing most of their firepower for the capacity to carry significantly higher numbers of Death Gliders."
"That means they plan to use Death Gliders as their main force in the battle," Jack commented.
Sam nodded. "Yes, sir. Analysis came to the same conclusion. The fleet being gathered here will rely on swarm attacks by massed Death Gliders. That means the threat of suicide attacks is high, given Ba'al's willingness to sacrifice his own forces."
Adora clenched her teeth. Ba'al was a monster! But he was a skilled enemy.
"Does that mean he's using bots in his fighters? Even with clones, he would have a hard time replacing losses, wouldn't he?" Baker asked.
"We haven't been able to confirm either hypothesis yet," Sam replied.
"Bots would need less supplies, but they are more vulnerable to jamming," Entrapta said. "They rely on sensors. Clones would be able to pick their targets even without any working sensors, as long as they are close enough for visual contact. But! Whether Ba'al uses bots or clones, setting up a pipeline for either would have taken more time than he should have had since we first used the hyperspace jammer on his forces. So, even if he picked clones, it doesn't have to be a reaction to our jamming technology - he just could have been lucky."
"Since he has heavily invested in cloning technology for a variety of reasons, we are leaning toward him using clones as pilots," Sam added with a slight grimace.
Adora nodded. No matter how they dealt with the swarm, they would probably be killing a lot of people - people who didn't know any better since they were made and raised to serve Ba'al as pilots. Looking at the others and their grim expressions, she knew they shared her feelings. It was a horrible situation, but they didn't have any alternative - they had to defeat Ba'al to put a stop to this or even more people would suffer and die for the Goa'uld.
The holoprojection changed back to the system and zoomed in on a world.
"The space-based defences are centred on this planet. The ships are augmented by a few orbital satellites, but those are a negligible force compared to Ba'al's fleet," Sam went on. "However, the surface of the planet itself - the main world of the system - has also been fortified, with ample anti-orbital and anti-air defences. And they are centred on this:"
The holoprojection changed again.
"That looks like a palace," Jack said.
"Yes." Daniel pushed his glasses up. "It's not a classic Goa'uld style, but the basic concepts and layout are still the same. It might be a recent construction incorporating Horde technology from the ground up. Coupled with the symbols, we think there's a high probability that this is Ba'al's main palace - his headquarters."
"I doubt he would waste so many defences on a palace if it weren't to protect him," Jack said. "He seems more pragmatic and would probably protect his shipyards instead."
"Unless this is a double-bluff and this is a distraction to protect the shipyards," Sha're suggested.
"That would still leave the shipyards' defences weaker than they could be - and open to attacks by equally pragmatic enemies," Jack said.
"And sacrificing what looks to be his main palace would still cause a loss of face if it was known by his rivals," Daniel said.
"If it was known," Sha're repeated. "Ba'al has been able to keep a lot of secrets from everyone, even us."
Adora nodded. "We'll be ready for a trap or any other surprise. But we won't let that stop us." They couldn't. "Now, for the ground assault…"
*****
Deep Space, Ba'al's Realm, August 7th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"Major Carter! Mark Bayley, CNN. A word, if you please?"
Samantha Carter stopped and rolled her eyes, grimacing, before she pasted a polite smile on her face and turned to the journalist - Mark Bayley. "I am sorry, but I am in the middle of a crucial project."
"For this operation? Or for procurement? According to my sources, you've been crucial for the much-maligned Constitution II-class design."
Sam tensed. Sam didn't see any recording device, but that didn't preclude a hidden microphone. And she knew she should just tell the journalist that she was busy and leave him standing, but… She wasn't about to get portrayed as responsible for that abomination of a ship design! "I've been called in to deal with some of its flaws, but I have not been involved in its design otherwise." And it wouldn't be some unholy attempt to mate a carrier and a gunship.
"Oh? I was told that you were working on all its key systems - engines, shields and weapons."
"I was called in to work on some of the flaws that were detected in the ships during testing," Sam told him. She had already said that.
"There were flaws in all three key systems?" Bayley seemed surprised. So, he didn't have internal sources - he would be aware of how bad the design was otherwise.
"No new design is perfect," Sam replied. As much as she wanted, she couldn't reveal just how many flaws the Constitution II-class had - or how bad the design had been from the start.
"But the problems of this class are much more serious - and numerous - than others. The British Flower II-class, for example, is already in active service. I've been on one during a patrol in the Solar System."
Between Third Fleet and the spy bot network, there was no need for the corvettes to patrol the system. But it was a good way to train up the crews. "Yes, but that's a corvette, a smaller and simpler design than a frigate."
"Yes, so I've heard - though one of the criticisms aimed at the frigate is that the design is too complicated to be practical and that it would better serve as a testbed for future projects instead of a ship of the line."
"I cannot comment on that decision; I am a physicist and scientist, I am not responsible for procuring our ships," Sam said.
"But you build them - or you fix them. You've been spotted several times in the Norfolk yards."
Sam really shouldn't have stopped to talk to the press, orders to cooperate within reason be damned! On the other hand, if the Navy was trying to use her as a scapegoat for their own failures, this was her chance to set the public record straight. "Yes, I have been called in to deal with problems, and as long as my work for the Alliance is not affected too much, I have lent a hand." That was the third time she had told him the same thing!
"Your work for the Alliance… you've been working for Stargate Command as one of their most capable scientists. Yet you regularly saw combat. Do you feel that sending our best scientists out to fight in the field, so to speak, is a good policy?"
Not that again! "Sometimes - quite often, actually - you need a scientist in the field to deal with problems you encounter," she replied. "Without Princess Entrapta's personal contribution, Horde Prime might not have been defeated."
"Does that mean you expect Ba'al to be as dangerous as Horde Prime?"
"It is never a good idea to underestimate your enemy." She tilted her head slightly to the side. "Anything else is classified."
"But…"
"Good day!"
She turned and walked away, her strides just a bit longer than normal. Entrapta was waiting for her.
They had to figure out how to deal with Ba'al's Death Glider swarm, and the longer they took, the more dangerous it would become.
Fortunately, they had a few ideas already.
Unfortunately, they still had to figure out if they were practical - and if so, how to implement them.
*****
Deep Space, Ba'al's Realm, August 8th, 2000 (Earth Time)
Catra rotated the holoprojection above the table and looked at the units on the other side of the target planet again. It wasn't a real-time feed, but it was close enough. The capital ships stuck close to the planet while the lighter units formed a screen around them, not around the planet. Standard formations, too, with the Tel'tak's forming the outer perimeter and the Al'keshs the inner, ready to form attack squadrons to pounce on enemy capital ships.
The Death Gliders, on the other hand, were split. Part of them - the smaller part - were circling the formations on regular combat air patrol routes. The vast majority of them, though, were basically covering the entire system like a Goa'uld miniature version of the spy bot network. Dense patterns in the inner system, where the planet with Ba'al's palace was located, and thinner patterns in the outer system, past a gas giant. But still dense enough that slipping any force through some gaps without getting pounced by a swarm of them was impossible.
Sure, you could feint with part of your forces, draw them in, but that would be hard on the probing force - and they had a lot of fighters so it wouldn't actually strip the rest of the system bare. Not if Ba'al's commanders were semi-competent - and Catra knew better than to assume the enemy was incompetent.
The sheer numbers of fighters also made a surprise attack by dropping out of hyperspace right next to the capital ships of the enemy too dangerous. With the sensor data from the spy bot network, the Alliance forces had managed to pull off such manoeuvres successfully, but against upgraded Ha'taks and possibly upgraded Tel'taks and Al'keshs? Supported by swarms of Death Gliders on suicide attacks? Entrapta and Sam had already confirmed with a few scans when patrols came too close to a spy bot that the Death Gliders were carrying bombs - inside the crafts, not on pylons, and they hadn't been modified with bomb bays.
They had replaced the weapon officer's seat with the bomb.
It would be a brutal brawl straight out of the gate, so to speak, and the Alliance task force would take heavy losses even if they arrived in perfect formations ready to repel waves of suicide attackers. Which they wouldn't. Travelling through hyperspace would disrupt their formations - not too much, but it would tell in such a situation - and they would have to launch fighters under fire, unlike the enemy. They could still win if they managed to fend off the Death Gliders, but Catra was sure the task force would need to be rebuilt afterwards.
"No matter how you look at it, it doesn't look good," Adora commented next to her.
"No, it doesn't," Catra agreed. In the Horde, she would have ordered a frontal assault anyway. The Horde had outnumbered the Princess Alliance and could replace their losses more easily. Especially if she used bots to breach the enemy lines and bear the brunt of their fire. And then use the rest of the bots to blunt the enemy counterattack.
But she wasn't in the Horde any more. She wasn't like that any more. She wouldn't send people to their death like that.
"They still cycle the Death Gliders through," she stated the obvious to help herself focus on the situation at hand instead of her past. "None of them stay in space so long, only bots could pilot them." Entrapta and Sam had observed that straight away.
"Yes."
That didn't mean that the fighter pilots were cloned people. Ba'al could simply want to keep the Death Gliders refueled so they were always ready for combat and wouldn't be caught with their tanks half-empty. Or he wanted any spies to assume the Death Gliders had cloned pilots - the bastard was tricky like that.
But Catra was betting that Ba'al used cloned pilots. They would be able to handle extensive jamming better than bots - even indoctrinated clones were better at adapting to changing circumstances in a battle than bots, if they were cut off from orders. And, she added with clenched teeth, Ba'al probably preferred living pilots for suicide attacks. It would impress his enemies more than bots blowing themselves up. His Goa'uld rivals would see how devoted his followers were, and the Alliance would be horrified by it. Catra didn't think it would keep any Alliance crew from doing their best to shoot the Death Gliders down in the middle of combat, but the knowledge that you were killing brainwashed people who hadn't been alive longer than a few months wouldn't be good for long-term morale.
Not that the plans Sam and Entrapta had come up with would be any better. They suggested infiltrating the enemy system and inserting a virus into the carrier-Ha'taks and letting it spread to the Death Gliders so they could disable the fighters when they attacked. That would prevent suicide attacks. But the bombs would have a manual trigger - Ba'al was the type to insist on that - and they already knew he didn't want his followers to let themselves get captured, and so the pilots would still blow themselves up. Probably when the Alliance was trying to recover them. Alternatively, they could hijack the Death Glider command and control network to send the swarms against Ba'al's own ships - like every Goa'uld System Lord, he would have plans to deal with rebels and traitors in his own ranks, so that wouldn't be questioned - but sending so many brainwashed people to their deaths… Adora would blame herself for it, and Catra couldn't let her do that.
"I don't see any alternative," Adora said. "Everything I think of leads to more deaths on our side and still kills all of them." She sounded resigned.
Catra knew that. But she wasn't about to let Adora give such an order. She couldn't - it would hurt her love too much. If only she could just snap her fingers and… Her eyes widened.
"I've got an idea!" A stupid, dangerous idea, but one that might not see Adora ordering the death of thousands of brainwashed followers of Ba'al.
*****
Chapter 181: The Election Campaign Part 3
Starfox5
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Chapter 181: The Election Campaign Part 3
Deep Space, Ba'al's Realm, August 8th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"...and as the authorities confirmed that James Delan has succumbed to what has been identified as a magical curse, the recently confirmed presidential candidate of Mr Delan's party has called on everyone to pray for Mr Delan's family and to abstain from trying to weaponise the tragedy for political purposes. Darryl Miller, NBC."
"Thank you Darryl! Now, of course, a presidential candidate would say that when one of his most important supporters has been implicated in such a scandal. But it feels more than a bit hypocritical when his own party has been weaponising the magical attack on Mr Delan for their own goals practically from the point when he was loaded into an ambulance, wouldn't you agree?"
"I certainly would, Keith. I think we all remember how much certain circles tried to use this tragedy to get magic regulated in the US. In fact, Mr Delan's family is apparently considering a lawsuit because they claim if not for being influenced by the constant calls against magic, they would have consented to letting a sorceress treat Mr Delan since the doctors in charge of his treatment recommended that course of action."
"That's very surprising if we consider their own statements following the attack, Darryl."
"Indeed, Keith. In other news from Philadelphia, the suspect for the magical attack is still being detained and her lawyers have filed a complaint that her treatment is inhumane - apparently, she has been kept sedated for the whole time she has been detained so far, out of fear she might be using magic against the guards to escape. The ACLU has already stated that they are supporting a lawsuit to end this policy."
"As you can see, folks, the attack on Mr Delan is still causing consequences that reach far beyond Pennsylvania. We're looking forward to seeing when the Supreme Court will weigh in on this matter, and…"
Jack O'Neill pushed a button and closed the window on his computer. "I just wanted to catch up on the sports results," he muttered. "And all I get is this affair."
"Well, Jack, it's only expected. One of the most important supporters of a presidential candidate was not only attacked - fatally, now - with magic but also revealed to be a child abuser, and that just when the election campaign is ramping up. Every news organisation will focus on this." Daniel shrugged. "And as we just heard, the ramifications of this event keep growing in importance. This could be a leading case for handling magical murder and detaining suspects with magic power - and that, of course, would influence the political consequences of the attack."
"I thought lawsuits took a long time to be decided," Bow said. "Wouldn't the political consequences manifest before that?"
"Unless the religious fanatics somehow get a majority in congress to support their bills, it'll be a long time before any bill aimed at regulating magic will be voted on. There are many steps bills have to pass before a vote happens," Daniel explained. "And yes, the delay is the point - it's generally not a good idea to enact laws in the heat of the moment," he added when Glimmer opened her mouth.
The princess closed her mouth with a scowl, and Jack sniggered. One rant against democracy cut down before it could get going. Nice work, Daniel!
"Sometimes you can't wait for months or years, though - you have to act immediately to fix something," Adora cut in.
"That's generally the purview of the executive - the President, in America," Daniel told her.
Glimmer snorted. "Your elected princess, you mean."
"It's not quite the same. There are a lot of checks and balances that prevent the President from becoming a monarch," Daniel said.
"I know," Glimmer replied. "But effectively, you still need someone to take charge in a crisis. And if you trust them to do so in a crisis, why not trust them when things are going well? If you didn't trust them, you wouldn't have voted for them, right?"
"The idea is that no single person or faction can have too much power," Daniel explained.
"Yes, we know that. But what do you do if you can't get anything done because everyone keeps blocking everyone else?" Glimmer shook her head again.
"What do you do if you get a bad princess?" Jack shot back. "A bad president can be voted out of office. How do you get rid of a bad monarch without launching a coup?"
"Sooner or later, a bad ruler is ousted because their neighbours get involved," Glimmer said.
"So, it's not a bloody revolution but a bloody invasion?" Jack asked.
"Yes, like you did in Germany and Japan," Glimmer smiled far too sweetly.
"Which weren't democracies at the time," Daniel pointed out.
But at least Germany had been a democracy for a decade or so before, Jack knew. Not that he would mention that. Glimmer and the other princesses already had a bad opinion of democracy, and the latest events back home hadn't done anything to improve them. "So," he spoke up instead. "What's that new and possible stupid plan you've mentioned?"
Glimmer exchanged glances with Adora and Catra.
"It's not a stupid plan," Adora said.
"It is," Catra cut in.
"It's your idea!" Glimmer blurted out.
"So I'd know. It's stupid. And dangerous. But I don't see anyone with a better idea." Catra shrugged. "Anyway, the idea is to send a covert strike team down to the planet, infiltrate the palace, nab Ba'al…"
"I'm liking this plan already!" Jack said with a grin.
"...and replace him with a body double - or a doppelgänger," Catra finished.
Jack frowned. "Are you planning to let a Tok'ra take over the clone we captured?" That would run counter to pretty much every Alliance principle. The princesses had insisted that clones were people and had to be treated as such. "Or… doppelgänger?" Hadn't they mentioned some shapeshifter everyone was afraid would escape Etheria if the gate weren't strictly controlled? What was their name again? Something with 'double'...
"Double Trouble," Glimmer confirmed his suspicion.
The Enchanted Grotto, Etheria, August 10th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"Ah! The Enchanted Grotto! The place for every successful and famous rogue to mingle with their peers! You'll never find a greater collection of the most cunning scoundrels in all of Etheria!"
"Ugh. You sound as if you're proud of being a regular here!"
"My love! Such fame and prestige is merely the result of my love for ADVENTURE! But what kind of man would I be, what kind of sailor, if I did not accept the fame my deeds earned me?"
"The humble and honest kind?"
"Ack! You wound me, my love!"
"Don't tempt me!"
While Sea Hawk and Mermista either flirted or quarrelled - maybe a bit of both - Adora looked around. The underwater club did look impressive with its huge windows granting everyone an excellent view of the underwater landscape? Seascape? Though the guests didn't look as impressive as Sea Hawk had made them sound - most were eyeing Adora and her friends warily.
"Guess they haven't forgotten that you trashed the place last time you visited," Catra said. She sounded nonchalant, but Adora could see how being underwater made her nervous - her tail was swishing back and forth much faster than usual, and she was flexing her claws unconsciously. And her fur was bristling a little, as Adora felt on the arm she had hooked into her love's elbow.
"That was an unfortunate accident," Sea Hawk said as he walked straight towards the bar. "If we had intended to wreck the place, we would have set it on fire! Bartender! My good woman, an ale for me, and a pina colada for my love, Princess Mermista, the Mistress of the sea!"
The bartender didn't smile and seemed to pay more attention to Adora and Mermista than to Sea Hawk for a few seconds before she gruffly asked: "What's a pina colada?"
Sea Hawk beamed at her. "Oh, you don't know? It's one of the most famous drinks from Earth! It's easy to make, you just need…"
Adora tuned the recipe out as she looked around again. "I don't see them," she whispered. Double rouble could be anyone amongst the gathered smugglers and pirates. Maybe they should have asked Prince Peekablue to come with them instead of merely pointing out where they could find he shapeshifter…
Catra smirked. "They can change their form but they can't change their mind." She looked around for a moment, scanning the room. Then she cocked her head, staring at a goatman in a very flashy suit.
"And there they are!" Catra beamed and walked up to the man, Melog - the one who had actually spotted the shapeshifter - trailing behind her. "Hey, Double Trouble! Just the criminal we're looking for!"
"You brought the princesses here?" the woman Double Trouble had been talking to spat. "Are you daft?"
The man gasped and laid a hand on his heart. "Why, I have no idea why they are here - or why they mistake me for someone else!"
"Save it, Double Trouble, we know it's you. Really? Returning to the Grotto? Where's your creativity?" Catra reached out and grabbed the man at the scruff of their neck. Adora saw that her claws were peaking out again - and pricking the throat's skin. "Let's have a private talk!"
The goatman froze for a moment, looking frightened, then suddenly relaxed and pouted. "Must you ruin my performance? I had them eating out of my hand!"
"Why you!" The woman raised her hand to slap or hit them, but Adora stepped between the two.
"Please don't hit them."
The woman paled and took a quick step back. "I'm sorry, Princess! Please excuse me." She hurried away - towards the exit.
And she wasn't the only one, Adora noted - the Grotto was emptying. Half the guests had already left, or so it seemed.
Her friends must have left a really bad impression the last time they had visited.
"...and then you decorate it with a slice of pineapple!"
And they weren't making a good impression today either - the bartender was glaring at Sea Hawk. "I don't have a 'malibu' either - no, don't tell me the recipe!"
"It's coconut flavoured rum!"
"I said don't tell me!"
"But how can you mix the drink for my love if you don't know the recipe?"
"We don't serve princesses!"
"But… that's discrimination!"
"Sea Hawk! Mermista!" Adora called out. "We're leaving!"
"Finally!"
"But we didn't get our drinks yet!" Sea Hawk complained.
Mermista scoffed. "We can have drinks when we have our private talk with Double Trouble, Sea Hawk. We'll probably need them."
"I didn't agree to a private talk!" Double Trouble protested.
"No one asked you to." Catra flashed her fangs but didn't release her grip on their neck.
"I'm not saying anything without a lawyer!"
Catra snorted. "We're not on Earth. And it's not that kind of talk."
"I think you're enjoying this far too much, Kitty!"
Adora thought so too. Especially looking at Melog's colour. Not that she would say that, of course.
And, if she was honest, she also enjoyed unnerving Double Trouble. At least a little. They had caused a lot of trouble, after all, and she didn't think playing nice would send the right message to them.
Adora and her friends wanted their help, but they wouldn't let them run wild in exchange.
Royal Palace, Bright Moon, Etheria, August 10th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"You went to all that trouble just to have me sit through a presentation in the palace? You could have just asked! Or… did you call me in because you need some advice about style and panache? Because those are truly dreadful clothes, girlfriend!"
Samantha Carter was a career officer and scientist. How she looked, especially in uniform, did not define her. And Double Trouble may have acted confidently, but it was clear that they were here against their will - Catra had dragged them into the room at clawpoint, and the door was not only guarded but locked.
And yet, the blatant disparaging of her uniform annoyed her. It was a slight against every member of the Alliance forces. Against everyone was willing to risk their lives to defeat the Goa'uld.
So, she didn't ignore the barb. "Clearly, our standards differ."
"You have standards? Could have fooled me! How can you wear such drab clothes? Even Kitty Cat and Princess Sword, who still wear their old uniforms, have more style than that - at least their uniforms don't look like the good old 'one size doesn't fit anyone' style. No wonder you guard the gate so tightly, Earth's people must be desperate to visit our tailors!" Double Trouble shook her head and flashed her a very toothy grin.
"Yeah, as if we believe you haven't devoured every last scrap of information about Earth's culture you could get." Glimmer scoffed.
"You've been following me? A royal fan! I am honoured, Queen Glimmer!" Double Trouble bowed, then sat down in a pointedly casual manner on her seat. "So, what kind of presentation is this?"
Catra rolled her eyes and stood behind her, lightly touching her back with one claw. "The kind you pay attention to."
"Oh, stuff it. You want me bad enough to personally travel underwater, you won't hurt me for being me, Kitty Cat." Double Trouble grinned again, and Sam was reminded of the Unas they had met.
"Oh, we have alternatives," she told them. Loki actually had had a proposal ready to clone a body double and use a synthetic symbiote and the right amount of Naquadah traces to pass for a Ba'al. Sam hadn't liked to tell him that the Alliance didn't create people for a task that needed doing. And that was before she had realised that he had planned to use Asgard technology to move a trained infiltrator's consciousness into it. Clearly, he needed more oversight again. And the Alliance needed better operational security - Loki hadn't been cleared for that knowledge in the first place.
"None as good as the original, girlfriend!"
Sam smiled. She was familiar with that kind of act - she had met her share of blenders in the force and, of course, in academics. "That remains to be seen."
"Yeah," Glimmer said. "Don't kid yourself - it would be nice if you helped us, but we don't need you."
"But you want me so badly, you go to all this trouble for little old Double Trouble!" They leaned forward, and suddenly, they were no longer looking like a humanoid lizard, but like Sam. "Because I'm the best," Sam heard herself say as the double's body language shifted as well - it was like looking at a recording of herself.
"Your help could save thousands of people," Adora told them.
"Wow, you are desperate then!"
Sam never grinned like that, though.
"Thousands of enemies," Catra corrected them.
Double Trouble shrugged - did Sam really look like that when she did it, or had the shapeshifter added a bit more to it? She would have to check that with a mirror. "That's the same thing for you folks. You want to save everyone."
"You say that like it's a bad thing," Glimmer shot back. Then she bared her teeth, "It's not. Imagine if we didn't."
"Well, you would…" Catra's claws closed lightly around their neck - Sam couldn't help wondering if the shapeshifter could counter an attempt to strangle them by changing shape - and Double Trouble grimaced. "You consider little old me an enemy?"
"That remains to be seen. We know you've been trying to get through the gate," Glimmer said.
"Everyone on Etheria has. It's the one big thing - the gateway to the stars! Can you blame me for wanting to see new worlds? Imagine the performances they could inspire!"
Glimmer snorted. "That's what we're afraid of."
Adora cleared her throat. "Listen to the presentation. Then you can decide if you want to help us or not."
Double Trouble made a point of looking around while rubbing their neck - Sam wished they would change back and stop using her appearance - and coughed. "The same way I could decide whether I'd attend this meeting or not?"
"That was just to show that we can find you wherever you are and whatever form you use."
Sam also didn't pout like that. It made her look far too… unprofessional. "I shouldn't have used Peekablue's form. No sense of humour, that guy. He should be flattered that I helped his reputation," Double Trouble said.
"Prince Peakblue wasn't very amused to hear that he's supposedly singing in a bar catering to pirates and other criminals," Glimmer said. "Or so I heard."
"You'd be surprised how many princesses frequent the place, Sparkles. Why, I alone have met half a dozen of them when I was there!"
"Ha ha." Glimmer snorted again, but Sam wasn't quite sure Double Trouble was kidding - royalty going slumming wasn't unheard of on earth. "Let's get on with the briefing."
"Oh, now it's a briefing? That takes me back to the war! Did you work for the Horde before?"
Sam didn't roll her eyes. She was an officer, and above that. But she really wished Double Trouble would stop copying her - it was unnerving. At least the General wasn't here; the twin jokes he'd make…
"...and that's the situation."
Catra had watched Double Trouble during Sam's briefing. They had kept Sam's form and exaggerated their reactions as expected, and she was sure that they had faked a number of their tells - Double Trouble wasn't so dangerous because they could shapeshift, but because they were the best actor she had seen, at least in person. But Catra also knew Double Trouble better than most who had the bad luck of meeting them. And she thought they were intrigued. Though that might be her being biased - it was Catra's plan, after a..
"So…" Double Trouble leaned back, stretching and pushing their chest out in a way that Sam would never do. "...you want me to sneak into an alien warlord's palace, on another world, and impersonate them so I can order their army to surrender?" Their grin also was far too toothy for Sam.
"Yes." Adora nodded.
Catra was sure that the offer to impersonate an alien ruler was almost irresistible to Double Trouble. They craved drama and attention, but most of all, they had an ego that rivaled Horde Prime. The only questions were what they would demand in return. Because no matter what Double Trouble might claim, they were as much a mercenary - or a fraud - as they were a performer.
"And you think I can imitate them convincingly based on the few recordings you have, and the clone you captured a while ago." Double Trouble cocked their head to the side.
"You're the best, aren't you?" Glimmer said.
"Of course, Sparkles!" Double Trouble snorted. "You won't find anyone else who's even near my league. That's why you went to all that trouble to grab little Double Trouble." She flashed her teeth again. "You are desperate."
"You are the most convenient solution," Catra spoke up behind them and grinned when she saw them twitch. "We have alternatives."
But they remained as smug as ever. "None as good as I am, or you'd not be talking to me."
"None as convenient as you - as long as you play ball," Catra corrected them.
"Sure, sure. You only need to convince his clone to help you. His clone who thinks he's the real Ba'al and hates you. And you would have to provide them with the cloned host to pull this off." Double Trouble scoffed. "Next, you'll be telling me you're planning to blow up the planet."
They sounded far too smug. It didn't take that much to come to that conclusion - Sam's briefing had been thorough, and with soldiers going on home leave after missions, people knew what the Goa'uld were like. And Double Trouble was familiar with the Princess Alliance.
"We don't think that the situation requires the deployment of weapons of mass destruction on a planetary scale," Sam said, in a tone as if she were talking about the weather.
Once more, Double Trouble twitched just a tiny bit.
"We don't need you to win this battle," Glimmer said. "We need you to win this battle without killing thousands of brainwashed clones and indoctrinated Jaffa."
"How considerate of you," Double Trouble shrugged. "Whatever your reasons, you need me. So, let's talk about compensation!" They leaned forward again, putting their hands on the table. "You cost me a nice payout when you wrecked my performance. And you want me to risk my life against a sadist alien prince who will take over my body if he catches me."
"He won't catch you. You're the best, aren't you?" Glimmer retorted.
"Anyone can get lucky. Even you guys managed to find me. Who knows what those aliens can do?"
"We'll take out Ba'al first," Adora said. "You just have to come along and then impersonate him when we have him."
"We've got experience with that kind of mission," Catra added. "No matter where he is, we can find him and take him out."
Double Trouble scowled. "Peekablue didn't rat me out because I used his appearance, huh? He threw in with you for good, but you're keeping it a secret so people won't expect him. I'd say you're smarter than I thought, princess. But that's your doing, Kitty Cat, hm?" They looked over her shoulder at Catra.
Catra flashed her fangs in response. They weren't as smart as they thought they were. Peekablue hadn't joined them - and if he had, the Alliance would never let him get close to any planet under a Goa'uld's control, much less one ruled by Ba'al; the guy wouldn't be able to handle the horrors he would see.
Double Trouble scoffed and turned back to Adora. "I want a spaceship and the promise that you won't track me down again."
"Forget it!" "Not in your dreams!" Glimmer and Catra spoke in unison.
"We won't let you lose on the galaxy," Adora said.
"Come on! What's a bit of fun down the line compared to all those poor people being killed?"
"Playing with people's lives isn't fun," Glimmer told her.
"Oh, but it is. Have you ever tried it?" Double Trouble grinned. "Princesses do it all the time but call it ruling!"
Glimmer scowled. "That's not the same! We do the best we can for our people and kingdoms! We don't abuse our power for our amusement!"
"Perhaps not you - you're far too straight-laced - but others?" Double Trouble snorted. "I've travelled a lot and I know better."
"Are you really trying to give us a 'you and I are the same' speech?" Catra snorted.
Double Trouble narrowed their eyes - still Sam's eyes - at her for a moment, then grinned. "Worth a try. So, that's a no on the spaceship? I'm not working for free. I've got bills to pay."
"More like bribes and fines, I bet," Glimmer muttered.
"It's all the same. So… You want me to risk my life - my freedom, my body - for the Alliance. And if I do it, I'll be saving countless lives. That should be worth a pretty penny, in my opinion! Just think of all the money you'll be saving for repairs!"
Glimmer snorted. "You'll be impersonating an infamous System Lord. Don't tell me you wouldn't pay for that chance."
"I never pay for things I can get for free, darling! It's bad business!"
And didn't that sum up Double Trouble perfectly? Catra shook her head as the negotiations continued. It was all just a matter of money now.
Not that Double Trouble had fooled her, of course - Catra knew they would try to slip away on a ship or through the gate as soon as they saw their chance.
But Catra and Melog would not allow that.
Deep Space, Ba'al's Realm, August 10th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"The code checks out - it's the Supreme Commander," the Clone at the terminal reported. "Opening the Iris."
A moment later, the Iris retracted, and Jack O'Neill looked at the stabilised wormhole in the flagship's gate room.
"Sending the all-clear. Sent."
"Hi, Jack!" Adora was the first through, followed by Glimmer and Bow. Adora's smile looked a bit forced, and Glimmer wasn't even hiding her scowl while Bow looked a bit concerned.
Then Carter arrived with a wide grin on her face, and Jack's eyes narrowed. He had never seen that expression on her face. It looked off - almost deranged.
And then another Carter arrived, with a familiar expression - lips pressed together, a slight front on her face as she tried to look professional and polite, yeah, that was Carter pissed off.
"Jack, this is Double Trouble. Double Trouble, General Jack O'Neill," Adora confirmed Jack's suspicion.
"Ohh! You're the famous Jack!" The Doppelgänger gasped and clasped her hands over her - their - chest. "I've heard so much about you!"
Jack swallowed his reflexive 'Only good things, I hope?' response and looked at Carter.
"They've insisted on staying in this form for reasons unknown, sir," Carter replied to his unsaid question.
"They like needling people," Catra, who had brought up the rear with Melog, added.
"What? Little old me? Perish the thought!" Double Trouble's laugh was much too loud for Carter and filled the entire room. "I just want to look my best when making a first impression, and Major Carter was the most attractive!"
"The only one who won't hurt you for copying them, you mean," Catra said, flashing her fangs.
Judging by Carter's expression, she was reconsidering that stance. Well, Jack had told her before that there were times and places where professionalism was overrated - not lately, though.
Double Trouble laughed again. "As I said, she is the most attractive among you bunch - but she's also new; I've met the rest of you before. Consider this a demonstration of my skill."
Jack snorted. "Consider me unimpressed, then. Looks aren't everything."
Suddenly, the Doppelgänger's entire stance and expression changed, all the exuberance vanishing in an instant as they straightened. "I concur, sir. For a perfect imitation, one has to copy not just the target's appearance, but everything about them - but most importantly, one has to understand them on a fundamental level. That requires thorough observation, preferably at different occasions so one can study how they react to various situations and stressors."
Jack suppressed a shudder. That was… Carter. He couldn't help but glance at the real Carter, just to check that she hadn't been switched with the copy. Nope, still there - and looking as unnerved as he felt.
He was almost glad when the fake Carter dropped the act again and looked around with open curiosity. "So… nice digs you have here. Or they would be if they didn't give me flashbacks to the war."
Catra snorted again. "Spare us the theatrics. You never were on a Horde ship before."
"How would you know?" Double Trouble shot back.
"You were hiding in the Enchanted Grotto until we exposed you," Glimmer replied. "And we weren't missing a frigate after the war."
Double Trouble laughed again in that un-Carter-like way of theirs. "Good point! But I did fight the very Clones who crew the ship. No hard feelings, I hope?"
"So did we," Glimmer muttered.
The Clone in charge of the gateroom looked at them with a neutral expression. "The Supreme Commander has cleared you."
"And that's all you need, right? Wow, you really haven't changed, have you?" Double Trouble giggled - Carter never giggled - and then clapped her hands together. "So, let me take a look at the material you have on that 'Ba'al'. If you don't let me visit the clone, I'll need every scrap of data you have on the target. Chop chop!"
Jack was reconsidering his stance on not allowing them access to the Fishtank. If they were sent to the Goa'uld holding area, they would be out of his hair for a while. Carter looked as if she was planning an accident for the Doppelgänger. Not that he couldn't understand her - if someone were wearing his face and body like that, he'd probably feel similarly.
Adora nodded. "Catra will lead you to the briefing room we prepared."
"Oh, just give me directions! I'm sure I can find my w…ack!"
Catra had grabbed them by the neck, and Jack could see the tips of her claws just touching her skin. "You're not going anywhere alone."
"It's as if you don't trust me! Aren't we supposed to work together?"
"We trust you - to be as annoying as possible," Glimmer said.
"Now, let's go! Chop chop!" Catra all but marched Double Trouble out of the room, and the last Jack heard was a faint Wow! Are we really in space?" right before the doors closed.
He turned to look at Carter, who sighed. "Everything OK, Carter?"
She straightened at once. "Yes, sir. They're annoying, but I've worked with worse."
Jack nodded. "Well, they're out of your hair for now. You can go back to dealing with Goa'uld networks," he told her with a smile. "We'll handle them."
"Yes, sir." She nodded, but she didn't seem to be as relieved as he expected if the frown she aimed at the door was anything to go by.
Adora had to admit that for all their very annoying attitude - she had no doubt that if anything happened to Double Trouble, almost everyone who had met them would cheer, even, or especially, Sam, and Jack might already be planning something - they were very good at what they did, and professional about it. Double Trouble had spent the last several hours reviewing every recording they had of Ba'al or his clones. And they had, finally, stopped using Sam's form and had started using Ba'al's preferred host's form.
Unfortunately, that hadn't helped with making them less annoying.
"Bow before your god! It is I, Ba'al, who has come to rule you! You shall rue the day you dared defy me! Resistance is useless! You cannot defeat a god! You may have defeated some of my supposed rivals, but they were weak - now you are facing Ba'al!"
They were obviously enjoying this, too.
"Looks like someone's read a few too many Fantastic Four comics. If this were public, Marvel would sue," Jack commented.
"Oh, all those dictators sound somewhat alike. It's the common language of overblown egos," Double Trouble said - with a smirk aimed at Catra.
"Then you don't even have to make any effort, just being yourself will be enough," Catra shot back with a toothy, too toothy, smile.
"Oh, Kitty's got claws now!" Double Trouble chuckled, and, for a moment, Adora feared that they would push the issue and remind Catra of their shared past. And that wouldn't do anyone any good. But they shrugged and went on: "So, I've gotten through all you have on the man, snake, whatever."
"Reptile would be an alternative." Apparently, Sam could be a bit catty as well.
Adora was starting to wonder if hiring Double Trouble had been a good idea. Even Catra had said it was a stupid idea. But the alternatives were all… so bloody. Ba'al's organisation all but ensured that his forces wouldn't simply surrender should he be taken out. According to the analysts, even records of his defeat would not be enough to convince everyone of his commanders that he was genuinely defeated.
To be fair, the Alliance would have to do extensive scanning and testing to check if they caught the real Ba'al as well - and even so, one of his clones might be able to take over, perhaps without realising they were a clone.
Double Trouble grinned - and shifted into Sam's form. "Oh, are you mad I changed forms? Don't worry, your form is still my favourite. You're the most attractive person among your bunch, after all. Right, General sir?" Their pose had changed as well; they were no longer sitting straight but draped over their chair in an almost lazy - or sensual - manner that more than a bit reminded Adora of Catra at her best - or worst, depending on the occasion.
If glares could kill, Double Trouble would be dead twice over. Maybe more.
Of course, that only encouraged them. "Oh, do you disagree, General? Or should I say Jack?"
Enough. "Stop it!" Adora spoke up. "We're here to prepare to deal with Ba'al. Riling up people doesn't help with that."
"If you can't handle little old me, how do you think you can handle Ba'al? The guy's not dumb; he'll do much worse to rile you up so you will make mistakes." Double Trouble shook their head with a wide grin. "Consider it training."
"Ba'al wouldn't be so petty," Catra cut in. "He would start killing or torturing prisoners to make us angry, not trying to start some relationship drama. This is no cheap soap opera."
Double Trouble scowled in return. "There's nothing cheap about interpersonal drama! The tension! The emotions! You should know best how that can influence wars."
Adora drew a sharp breath. They had gone there. She glanced at Catra.
Catra scoffed. "And if we were trying to work with Ba'al or trusted him, and he were like you, you might have a point. But we aren't and he isn't." She leaned forward. "You should know best how devastating it can be when you suddenly discover in the middle of a battle that your allies don't have your back."
Double Trouble recoiled but recovered. "You're the Princess Alliance! We have a deal!"
"Yes, we do. So stop trying to make us break it or we will," Glimmer said.
"Would you really be so petty as to abandon the best hope of saving all those people over some teasing?" Double Trouble looked around with a tight smile.
Catra shrugged pointedly. "If you can't control yourself you can't be trusted to pull this off anyway."
Adora caught Double Trouble glancing at her and nodded.
Double Trouble's scowl deepened, but they slouched in their chair and crossed their arms over their chest. "You all need to loosen up!"
Adora took that as agreement to stop the petty needling and started the briefing.
Deep Space, Ba'al's Realm, August 11th, 2000 (Earth Time)
As she had expected, Samantha Carter found the General doing the pre-flight check of the stealth shuttle the team would be taking for the infiltration mission. "Sir."
"Carter!" He straightened from where he had been bent down to inspect the undercarriage. "You're early."
She was aware of that - she had planned on it. "Just making sure everything is ready," she lied. "This is an important mission."
"Yes." He nodded, then looked towards the hangar entrance. "I hope our latest volunteer won't be too difficult."
Sam nodded. That they would be difficult was clear as day; the only question was how much trouble they would cause.
"And I hope they will pick another form. Having two of you around gets confusing," he added after a moment, cocking his head to look at her.
She nodded a bit too firmly. "The last thing we need on a mission is confusion."
"Right." He nodded curtly.
For a moment, it looked like he was about to say something else, but he didn't.
Sam wasn't quite sure if she was relieved or disappointed. But they had an understanding. "I'll go set up, sir," she said, and entered the shuttle. She needed to be prepared for their insertion - the target system had a lot more potential threats than any system they had infiltrated before. Sure, none of the Death Gliders' sensors could detect an Alliance stealth shuttle - they had not detected the spy bots surrounding them either - but there was always blind luck.
And Sam wasn't in the habit of leaving things to luck. Not when she could help it.
"So, that's the stealth shuttle!" Double Trouble had not changed forms, Sam noticed while she tried not to scowl. "Able to fly up right to an enemy flagship and dock with them being none the wiser! A ship after my taste!"
Sam pressed her lips together to avoid blurting out her first thought.
"You won't get one," Glimmer said it out loud. "They are reserved for Alliance special operations."
Sam expected the General to add: "And for my commute!", but he merely nodded with a tight-lipped expression.
"Aw! But they are made for me! Can they change shape as well? Or just transponders?" Double Trouble mock-whined in a way that Sam would never.
"We're going onto a dangerous mission," the General spoke up. "The danger of friendly fire is always present in such situations, and we can't afford any potential confusion. So, pick another shape to wear, Double Trouble. One we can't mistake for one of our own:"
"Really? You of all people think you would confuse me and Sam-Darling here?" Double Trouble laughed and stepped next to Sam before she could react. They tried to wrap an arm around Sam's shoulders, but she blocked them.
"See?" Double Trouble grinned and stepped in front of the General. "She's the grumpy, unapproachable one. I'm the friendly one!"
Sam imagined a little friendly fire right now. Using a taser. The General looked like he was imagining a little friendly fire with a flamethrower.
"Double Trouble!" Adora snapped. "Stop it!"
"Change into your usual form," Catra said. "We wouldn't want to mistake you for someone else that Ba'al cloned. After all, his forces have met all of us before, and we don't know what he's been up to."
Double Trouble narrowed her eyes and scowled - Sam made a note to check if she ever looked like that - before snorting. "And you'd shoot first and ask questions later, huh?"
Catra shrugged and bared her teeth in a wide grin. "With a zat, we can just stun people and wake them up later."
"It might be less trouble for the team if we would stun the shapeshifter before departure and wake them up once we have secured Ba'al, Supreme Commander. I could carry them without much trouble," Teal'c commented with such a perfectly bland expression, Sam would not have realised he wasn't serious, at least not entirely so, if she hadn't known him as well as she did.
"What?" Double Trouble gasped at him, then looked at the others.
Adora blinked, Catra's grin grew even wider - Sam didn't have to look at Melog to confirm she was amused - and Glimmer looked smug. Even Bow seemed to struggle not to smile.
Sam caught herself grinning as well.
Double Trouble muttered a curse under their breath and shifted into their lizard-like form. "I wonder how you think you can win this war when you can't even handle a little chaos in your schedule."
"Wouldn't you like to know?" the General asked with a satisfied grin as everyone boarded the shuttle.
Deep Space, Ba'al's Realm, August 8th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"...and as the authorities confirmed that James Delan has succumbed to what has been identified as a magical curse, the recently confirmed presidential candidate of Mr Delan's party has called on everyone to pray for Mr Delan's family and to abstain from trying to weaponise the tragedy for political purposes. Darryl Miller, NBC."
"Thank you Darryl! Now, of course, a presidential candidate would say that when one of his most important supporters has been implicated in such a scandal. But it feels more than a bit hypocritical when his own party has been weaponising the magical attack on Mr Delan for their own goals practically from the point when he was loaded into an ambulance, wouldn't you agree?"
"I certainly would, Keith. I think we all remember how much certain circles tried to use this tragedy to get magic regulated in the US. In fact, Mr Delan's family is apparently considering a lawsuit because they claim if not for being influenced by the constant calls against magic, they would have consented to letting a sorceress treat Mr Delan since the doctors in charge of his treatment recommended that course of action."
"That's very surprising if we consider their own statements following the attack, Darryl."
"Indeed, Keith. In other news from Philadelphia, the suspect for the magical attack is still being detained and her lawyers have filed a complaint that her treatment is inhumane - apparently, she has been kept sedated for the whole time she has been detained so far, out of fear she might be using magic against the guards to escape. The ACLU has already stated that they are supporting a lawsuit to end this policy."
"As you can see, folks, the attack on Mr Delan is still causing consequences that reach far beyond Pennsylvania. We're looking forward to seeing when the Supreme Court will weigh in on this matter, and…"
Jack O'Neill pushed a button and closed the window on his computer. "I just wanted to catch up on the sports results," he muttered. "And all I get is this affair."
"Well, Jack, it's only expected. One of the most important supporters of a presidential candidate was not only attacked - fatally, now - with magic but also revealed to be a child abuser, and that just when the election campaign is ramping up. Every news organisation will focus on this." Daniel shrugged. "And as we just heard, the ramifications of this event keep growing in importance. This could be a leading case for handling magical murder and detaining suspects with magic power - and that, of course, would influence the political consequences of the attack."
"I thought lawsuits took a long time to be decided," Bow said. "Wouldn't the political consequences manifest before that?"
"Unless the religious fanatics somehow get a majority in congress to support their bills, it'll be a long time before any bill aimed at regulating magic will be voted on. There are many steps bills have to pass before a vote happens," Daniel explained. "And yes, the delay is the point - it's generally not a good idea to enact laws in the heat of the moment," he added when Glimmer opened her mouth.
The princess closed her mouth with a scowl, and Jack sniggered. One rant against democracy cut down before it could get going. Nice work, Daniel!
"Sometimes you can't wait for months or years, though - you have to act immediately to fix something," Adora cut in.
"That's generally the purview of the executive - the President, in America," Daniel told her.
Glimmer snorted. "Your elected princess, you mean."
"It's not quite the same. There are a lot of checks and balances that prevent the President from becoming a monarch," Daniel said.
"I know," Glimmer replied. "But effectively, you still need someone to take charge in a crisis. And if you trust them to do so in a crisis, why not trust them when things are going well? If you didn't trust them, you wouldn't have voted for them, right?"
"The idea is that no single person or faction can have too much power," Daniel explained.
"Yes, we know that. But what do you do if you can't get anything done because everyone keeps blocking everyone else?" Glimmer shook her head again.
"What do you do if you get a bad princess?" Jack shot back. "A bad president can be voted out of office. How do you get rid of a bad monarch without launching a coup?"
"Sooner or later, a bad ruler is ousted because their neighbours get involved," Glimmer said.
"So, it's not a bloody revolution but a bloody invasion?" Jack asked.
"Yes, like you did in Germany and Japan," Glimmer smiled far too sweetly.
"Which weren't democracies at the time," Daniel pointed out.
But at least Germany had been a democracy for a decade or so before, Jack knew. Not that he would mention that. Glimmer and the other princesses already had a bad opinion of democracy, and the latest events back home hadn't done anything to improve them. "So," he spoke up instead. "What's that new and possible stupid plan you've mentioned?"
Glimmer exchanged glances with Adora and Catra.
"It's not a stupid plan," Adora said.
"It is," Catra cut in.
"It's your idea!" Glimmer blurted out.
"So I'd know. It's stupid. And dangerous. But I don't see anyone with a better idea." Catra shrugged. "Anyway, the idea is to send a covert strike team down to the planet, infiltrate the palace, nab Ba'al…"
"I'm liking this plan already!" Jack said with a grin.
"...and replace him with a body double - or a doppelgänger," Catra finished.
Jack frowned. "Are you planning to let a Tok'ra take over the clone we captured?" That would run counter to pretty much every Alliance principle. The princesses had insisted that clones were people and had to be treated as such. "Or… doppelgänger?" Hadn't they mentioned some shapeshifter everyone was afraid would escape Etheria if the gate weren't strictly controlled? What was their name again? Something with 'double'...
"Double Trouble," Glimmer confirmed his suspicion.
*****
The Enchanted Grotto, Etheria, August 10th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"Ah! The Enchanted Grotto! The place for every successful and famous rogue to mingle with their peers! You'll never find a greater collection of the most cunning scoundrels in all of Etheria!"
"Ugh. You sound as if you're proud of being a regular here!"
"My love! Such fame and prestige is merely the result of my love for ADVENTURE! But what kind of man would I be, what kind of sailor, if I did not accept the fame my deeds earned me?"
"The humble and honest kind?"
"Ack! You wound me, my love!"
"Don't tempt me!"
While Sea Hawk and Mermista either flirted or quarrelled - maybe a bit of both - Adora looked around. The underwater club did look impressive with its huge windows granting everyone an excellent view of the underwater landscape? Seascape? Though the guests didn't look as impressive as Sea Hawk had made them sound - most were eyeing Adora and her friends warily.
"Guess they haven't forgotten that you trashed the place last time you visited," Catra said. She sounded nonchalant, but Adora could see how being underwater made her nervous - her tail was swishing back and forth much faster than usual, and she was flexing her claws unconsciously. And her fur was bristling a little, as Adora felt on the arm she had hooked into her love's elbow.
"That was an unfortunate accident," Sea Hawk said as he walked straight towards the bar. "If we had intended to wreck the place, we would have set it on fire! Bartender! My good woman, an ale for me, and a pina colada for my love, Princess Mermista, the Mistress of the sea!"
The bartender didn't smile and seemed to pay more attention to Adora and Mermista than to Sea Hawk for a few seconds before she gruffly asked: "What's a pina colada?"
Sea Hawk beamed at her. "Oh, you don't know? It's one of the most famous drinks from Earth! It's easy to make, you just need…"
Adora tuned the recipe out as she looked around again. "I don't see them," she whispered. Double rouble could be anyone amongst the gathered smugglers and pirates. Maybe they should have asked Prince Peekablue to come with them instead of merely pointing out where they could find he shapeshifter…
Catra smirked. "They can change their form but they can't change their mind." She looked around for a moment, scanning the room. Then she cocked her head, staring at a goatman in a very flashy suit.
"And there they are!" Catra beamed and walked up to the man, Melog - the one who had actually spotted the shapeshifter - trailing behind her. "Hey, Double Trouble! Just the criminal we're looking for!"
"You brought the princesses here?" the woman Double Trouble had been talking to spat. "Are you daft?"
The man gasped and laid a hand on his heart. "Why, I have no idea why they are here - or why they mistake me for someone else!"
"Save it, Double Trouble, we know it's you. Really? Returning to the Grotto? Where's your creativity?" Catra reached out and grabbed the man at the scruff of their neck. Adora saw that her claws were peaking out again - and pricking the throat's skin. "Let's have a private talk!"
The goatman froze for a moment, looking frightened, then suddenly relaxed and pouted. "Must you ruin my performance? I had them eating out of my hand!"
"Why you!" The woman raised her hand to slap or hit them, but Adora stepped between the two.
"Please don't hit them."
The woman paled and took a quick step back. "I'm sorry, Princess! Please excuse me." She hurried away - towards the exit.
And she wasn't the only one, Adora noted - the Grotto was emptying. Half the guests had already left, or so it seemed.
Her friends must have left a really bad impression the last time they had visited.
"...and then you decorate it with a slice of pineapple!"
And they weren't making a good impression today either - the bartender was glaring at Sea Hawk. "I don't have a 'malibu' either - no, don't tell me the recipe!"
"It's coconut flavoured rum!"
"I said don't tell me!"
"But how can you mix the drink for my love if you don't know the recipe?"
"We don't serve princesses!"
"But… that's discrimination!"
"Sea Hawk! Mermista!" Adora called out. "We're leaving!"
"Finally!"
"But we didn't get our drinks yet!" Sea Hawk complained.
Mermista scoffed. "We can have drinks when we have our private talk with Double Trouble, Sea Hawk. We'll probably need them."
"I didn't agree to a private talk!" Double Trouble protested.
"No one asked you to." Catra flashed her fangs but didn't release her grip on their neck.
"I'm not saying anything without a lawyer!"
Catra snorted. "We're not on Earth. And it's not that kind of talk."
"I think you're enjoying this far too much, Kitty!"
Adora thought so too. Especially looking at Melog's colour. Not that she would say that, of course.
And, if she was honest, she also enjoyed unnerving Double Trouble. At least a little. They had caused a lot of trouble, after all, and she didn't think playing nice would send the right message to them.
Adora and her friends wanted their help, but they wouldn't let them run wild in exchange.
*****
Royal Palace, Bright Moon, Etheria, August 10th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"You went to all that trouble just to have me sit through a presentation in the palace? You could have just asked! Or… did you call me in because you need some advice about style and panache? Because those are truly dreadful clothes, girlfriend!"
Samantha Carter was a career officer and scientist. How she looked, especially in uniform, did not define her. And Double Trouble may have acted confidently, but it was clear that they were here against their will - Catra had dragged them into the room at clawpoint, and the door was not only guarded but locked.
And yet, the blatant disparaging of her uniform annoyed her. It was a slight against every member of the Alliance forces. Against everyone was willing to risk their lives to defeat the Goa'uld.
So, she didn't ignore the barb. "Clearly, our standards differ."
"You have standards? Could have fooled me! How can you wear such drab clothes? Even Kitty Cat and Princess Sword, who still wear their old uniforms, have more style than that - at least their uniforms don't look like the good old 'one size doesn't fit anyone' style. No wonder you guard the gate so tightly, Earth's people must be desperate to visit our tailors!" Double Trouble shook her head and flashed her a very toothy grin.
"Yeah, as if we believe you haven't devoured every last scrap of information about Earth's culture you could get." Glimmer scoffed.
"You've been following me? A royal fan! I am honoured, Queen Glimmer!" Double Trouble bowed, then sat down in a pointedly casual manner on her seat. "So, what kind of presentation is this?"
Catra rolled her eyes and stood behind her, lightly touching her back with one claw. "The kind you pay attention to."
"Oh, stuff it. You want me bad enough to personally travel underwater, you won't hurt me for being me, Kitty Cat." Double Trouble grinned again, and Sam was reminded of the Unas they had met.
"Oh, we have alternatives," she told them. Loki actually had had a proposal ready to clone a body double and use a synthetic symbiote and the right amount of Naquadah traces to pass for a Ba'al. Sam hadn't liked to tell him that the Alliance didn't create people for a task that needed doing. And that was before she had realised that he had planned to use Asgard technology to move a trained infiltrator's consciousness into it. Clearly, he needed more oversight again. And the Alliance needed better operational security - Loki hadn't been cleared for that knowledge in the first place.
"None as good as the original, girlfriend!"
Sam smiled. She was familiar with that kind of act - she had met her share of blenders in the force and, of course, in academics. "That remains to be seen."
"Yeah," Glimmer said. "Don't kid yourself - it would be nice if you helped us, but we don't need you."
"But you want me so badly, you go to all this trouble for little old Double Trouble!" They leaned forward, and suddenly, they were no longer looking like a humanoid lizard, but like Sam. "Because I'm the best," Sam heard herself say as the double's body language shifted as well - it was like looking at a recording of herself.
"Your help could save thousands of people," Adora told them.
"Wow, you are desperate then!"
Sam never grinned like that, though.
"Thousands of enemies," Catra corrected them.
Double Trouble shrugged - did Sam really look like that when she did it, or had the shapeshifter added a bit more to it? She would have to check that with a mirror. "That's the same thing for you folks. You want to save everyone."
"You say that like it's a bad thing," Glimmer shot back. Then she bared her teeth, "It's not. Imagine if we didn't."
"Well, you would…" Catra's claws closed lightly around their neck - Sam couldn't help wondering if the shapeshifter could counter an attempt to strangle them by changing shape - and Double Trouble grimaced. "You consider little old me an enemy?"
"That remains to be seen. We know you've been trying to get through the gate," Glimmer said.
"Everyone on Etheria has. It's the one big thing - the gateway to the stars! Can you blame me for wanting to see new worlds? Imagine the performances they could inspire!"
Glimmer snorted. "That's what we're afraid of."
Adora cleared her throat. "Listen to the presentation. Then you can decide if you want to help us or not."
Double Trouble made a point of looking around while rubbing their neck - Sam wished they would change back and stop using her appearance - and coughed. "The same way I could decide whether I'd attend this meeting or not?"
"That was just to show that we can find you wherever you are and whatever form you use."
Sam also didn't pout like that. It made her look far too… unprofessional. "I shouldn't have used Peekablue's form. No sense of humour, that guy. He should be flattered that I helped his reputation," Double Trouble said.
"Prince Peakblue wasn't very amused to hear that he's supposedly singing in a bar catering to pirates and other criminals," Glimmer said. "Or so I heard."
"You'd be surprised how many princesses frequent the place, Sparkles. Why, I alone have met half a dozen of them when I was there!"
"Ha ha." Glimmer snorted again, but Sam wasn't quite sure Double Trouble was kidding - royalty going slumming wasn't unheard of on earth. "Let's get on with the briefing."
"Oh, now it's a briefing? That takes me back to the war! Did you work for the Horde before?"
Sam didn't roll her eyes. She was an officer, and above that. But she really wished Double Trouble would stop copying her - it was unnerving. At least the General wasn't here; the twin jokes he'd make…
*****
"...and that's the situation."
Catra had watched Double Trouble during Sam's briefing. They had kept Sam's form and exaggerated their reactions as expected, and she was sure that they had faked a number of their tells - Double Trouble wasn't so dangerous because they could shapeshift, but because they were the best actor she had seen, at least in person. But Catra also knew Double Trouble better than most who had the bad luck of meeting them. And she thought they were intrigued. Though that might be her being biased - it was Catra's plan, after a..
"So…" Double Trouble leaned back, stretching and pushing their chest out in a way that Sam would never do. "...you want me to sneak into an alien warlord's palace, on another world, and impersonate them so I can order their army to surrender?" Their grin also was far too toothy for Sam.
"Yes." Adora nodded.
Catra was sure that the offer to impersonate an alien ruler was almost irresistible to Double Trouble. They craved drama and attention, but most of all, they had an ego that rivaled Horde Prime. The only questions were what they would demand in return. Because no matter what Double Trouble might claim, they were as much a mercenary - or a fraud - as they were a performer.
"And you think I can imitate them convincingly based on the few recordings you have, and the clone you captured a while ago." Double Trouble cocked their head to the side.
"You're the best, aren't you?" Glimmer said.
"Of course, Sparkles!" Double Trouble snorted. "You won't find anyone else who's even near my league. That's why you went to all that trouble to grab little Double Trouble." She flashed her teeth again. "You are desperate."
"You are the most convenient solution," Catra spoke up behind them and grinned when she saw them twitch. "We have alternatives."
But they remained as smug as ever. "None as good as I am, or you'd not be talking to me."
"None as convenient as you - as long as you play ball," Catra corrected them.
"Sure, sure. You only need to convince his clone to help you. His clone who thinks he's the real Ba'al and hates you. And you would have to provide them with the cloned host to pull this off." Double Trouble scoffed. "Next, you'll be telling me you're planning to blow up the planet."
They sounded far too smug. It didn't take that much to come to that conclusion - Sam's briefing had been thorough, and with soldiers going on home leave after missions, people knew what the Goa'uld were like. And Double Trouble was familiar with the Princess Alliance.
"We don't think that the situation requires the deployment of weapons of mass destruction on a planetary scale," Sam said, in a tone as if she were talking about the weather.
Once more, Double Trouble twitched just a tiny bit.
"We don't need you to win this battle," Glimmer said. "We need you to win this battle without killing thousands of brainwashed clones and indoctrinated Jaffa."
"How considerate of you," Double Trouble shrugged. "Whatever your reasons, you need me. So, let's talk about compensation!" They leaned forward again, putting their hands on the table. "You cost me a nice payout when you wrecked my performance. And you want me to risk my life against a sadist alien prince who will take over my body if he catches me."
"He won't catch you. You're the best, aren't you?" Glimmer retorted.
"Anyone can get lucky. Even you guys managed to find me. Who knows what those aliens can do?"
"We'll take out Ba'al first," Adora said. "You just have to come along and then impersonate him when we have him."
"We've got experience with that kind of mission," Catra added. "No matter where he is, we can find him and take him out."
Double Trouble scowled. "Peekablue didn't rat me out because I used his appearance, huh? He threw in with you for good, but you're keeping it a secret so people won't expect him. I'd say you're smarter than I thought, princess. But that's your doing, Kitty Cat, hm?" They looked over her shoulder at Catra.
Catra flashed her fangs in response. They weren't as smart as they thought they were. Peekablue hadn't joined them - and if he had, the Alliance would never let him get close to any planet under a Goa'uld's control, much less one ruled by Ba'al; the guy wouldn't be able to handle the horrors he would see.
Double Trouble scoffed and turned back to Adora. "I want a spaceship and the promise that you won't track me down again."
"Forget it!" "Not in your dreams!" Glimmer and Catra spoke in unison.
"We won't let you lose on the galaxy," Adora said.
"Come on! What's a bit of fun down the line compared to all those poor people being killed?"
"Playing with people's lives isn't fun," Glimmer told her.
"Oh, but it is. Have you ever tried it?" Double Trouble grinned. "Princesses do it all the time but call it ruling!"
Glimmer scowled. "That's not the same! We do the best we can for our people and kingdoms! We don't abuse our power for our amusement!"
"Perhaps not you - you're far too straight-laced - but others?" Double Trouble snorted. "I've travelled a lot and I know better."
"Are you really trying to give us a 'you and I are the same' speech?" Catra snorted.
Double Trouble narrowed their eyes - still Sam's eyes - at her for a moment, then grinned. "Worth a try. So, that's a no on the spaceship? I'm not working for free. I've got bills to pay."
"More like bribes and fines, I bet," Glimmer muttered.
"It's all the same. So… You want me to risk my life - my freedom, my body - for the Alliance. And if I do it, I'll be saving countless lives. That should be worth a pretty penny, in my opinion! Just think of all the money you'll be saving for repairs!"
Glimmer snorted. "You'll be impersonating an infamous System Lord. Don't tell me you wouldn't pay for that chance."
"I never pay for things I can get for free, darling! It's bad business!"
And didn't that sum up Double Trouble perfectly? Catra shook her head as the negotiations continued. It was all just a matter of money now.
Not that Double Trouble had fooled her, of course - Catra knew they would try to slip away on a ship or through the gate as soon as they saw their chance.
But Catra and Melog would not allow that.
*****
Deep Space, Ba'al's Realm, August 10th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"The code checks out - it's the Supreme Commander," the Clone at the terminal reported. "Opening the Iris."
A moment later, the Iris retracted, and Jack O'Neill looked at the stabilised wormhole in the flagship's gate room.
"Sending the all-clear. Sent."
"Hi, Jack!" Adora was the first through, followed by Glimmer and Bow. Adora's smile looked a bit forced, and Glimmer wasn't even hiding her scowl while Bow looked a bit concerned.
Then Carter arrived with a wide grin on her face, and Jack's eyes narrowed. He had never seen that expression on her face. It looked off - almost deranged.
And then another Carter arrived, with a familiar expression - lips pressed together, a slight front on her face as she tried to look professional and polite, yeah, that was Carter pissed off.
"Jack, this is Double Trouble. Double Trouble, General Jack O'Neill," Adora confirmed Jack's suspicion.
"Ohh! You're the famous Jack!" The Doppelgänger gasped and clasped her hands over her - their - chest. "I've heard so much about you!"
Jack swallowed his reflexive 'Only good things, I hope?' response and looked at Carter.
"They've insisted on staying in this form for reasons unknown, sir," Carter replied to his unsaid question.
"They like needling people," Catra, who had brought up the rear with Melog, added.
"What? Little old me? Perish the thought!" Double Trouble's laugh was much too loud for Carter and filled the entire room. "I just want to look my best when making a first impression, and Major Carter was the most attractive!"
"The only one who won't hurt you for copying them, you mean," Catra said, flashing her fangs.
Judging by Carter's expression, she was reconsidering that stance. Well, Jack had told her before that there were times and places where professionalism was overrated - not lately, though.
Double Trouble laughed again. "As I said, she is the most attractive among you bunch - but she's also new; I've met the rest of you before. Consider this a demonstration of my skill."
Jack snorted. "Consider me unimpressed, then. Looks aren't everything."
Suddenly, the Doppelgänger's entire stance and expression changed, all the exuberance vanishing in an instant as they straightened. "I concur, sir. For a perfect imitation, one has to copy not just the target's appearance, but everything about them - but most importantly, one has to understand them on a fundamental level. That requires thorough observation, preferably at different occasions so one can study how they react to various situations and stressors."
Jack suppressed a shudder. That was… Carter. He couldn't help but glance at the real Carter, just to check that she hadn't been switched with the copy. Nope, still there - and looking as unnerved as he felt.
He was almost glad when the fake Carter dropped the act again and looked around with open curiosity. "So… nice digs you have here. Or they would be if they didn't give me flashbacks to the war."
Catra snorted again. "Spare us the theatrics. You never were on a Horde ship before."
"How would you know?" Double Trouble shot back.
"You were hiding in the Enchanted Grotto until we exposed you," Glimmer replied. "And we weren't missing a frigate after the war."
Double Trouble laughed again in that un-Carter-like way of theirs. "Good point! But I did fight the very Clones who crew the ship. No hard feelings, I hope?"
"So did we," Glimmer muttered.
The Clone in charge of the gateroom looked at them with a neutral expression. "The Supreme Commander has cleared you."
"And that's all you need, right? Wow, you really haven't changed, have you?" Double Trouble giggled - Carter never giggled - and then clapped her hands together. "So, let me take a look at the material you have on that 'Ba'al'. If you don't let me visit the clone, I'll need every scrap of data you have on the target. Chop chop!"
Jack was reconsidering his stance on not allowing them access to the Fishtank. If they were sent to the Goa'uld holding area, they would be out of his hair for a while. Carter looked as if she was planning an accident for the Doppelgänger. Not that he couldn't understand her - if someone were wearing his face and body like that, he'd probably feel similarly.
Adora nodded. "Catra will lead you to the briefing room we prepared."
"Oh, just give me directions! I'm sure I can find my w…ack!"
Catra had grabbed them by the neck, and Jack could see the tips of her claws just touching her skin. "You're not going anywhere alone."
"It's as if you don't trust me! Aren't we supposed to work together?"
"We trust you - to be as annoying as possible," Glimmer said.
"Now, let's go! Chop chop!" Catra all but marched Double Trouble out of the room, and the last Jack heard was a faint Wow! Are we really in space?" right before the doors closed.
He turned to look at Carter, who sighed. "Everything OK, Carter?"
She straightened at once. "Yes, sir. They're annoying, but I've worked with worse."
Jack nodded. "Well, they're out of your hair for now. You can go back to dealing with Goa'uld networks," he told her with a smile. "We'll handle them."
"Yes, sir." She nodded, but she didn't seem to be as relieved as he expected if the frown she aimed at the door was anything to go by.
*****
Adora had to admit that for all their very annoying attitude - she had no doubt that if anything happened to Double Trouble, almost everyone who had met them would cheer, even, or especially, Sam, and Jack might already be planning something - they were very good at what they did, and professional about it. Double Trouble had spent the last several hours reviewing every recording they had of Ba'al or his clones. And they had, finally, stopped using Sam's form and had started using Ba'al's preferred host's form.
Unfortunately, that hadn't helped with making them less annoying.
"Bow before your god! It is I, Ba'al, who has come to rule you! You shall rue the day you dared defy me! Resistance is useless! You cannot defeat a god! You may have defeated some of my supposed rivals, but they were weak - now you are facing Ba'al!"
They were obviously enjoying this, too.
"Looks like someone's read a few too many Fantastic Four comics. If this were public, Marvel would sue," Jack commented.
"Oh, all those dictators sound somewhat alike. It's the common language of overblown egos," Double Trouble said - with a smirk aimed at Catra.
"Then you don't even have to make any effort, just being yourself will be enough," Catra shot back with a toothy, too toothy, smile.
"Oh, Kitty's got claws now!" Double Trouble chuckled, and, for a moment, Adora feared that they would push the issue and remind Catra of their shared past. And that wouldn't do anyone any good. But they shrugged and went on: "So, I've gotten through all you have on the man, snake, whatever."
"Reptile would be an alternative." Apparently, Sam could be a bit catty as well.
Adora was starting to wonder if hiring Double Trouble had been a good idea. Even Catra had said it was a stupid idea. But the alternatives were all… so bloody. Ba'al's organisation all but ensured that his forces wouldn't simply surrender should he be taken out. According to the analysts, even records of his defeat would not be enough to convince everyone of his commanders that he was genuinely defeated.
To be fair, the Alliance would have to do extensive scanning and testing to check if they caught the real Ba'al as well - and even so, one of his clones might be able to take over, perhaps without realising they were a clone.
Double Trouble grinned - and shifted into Sam's form. "Oh, are you mad I changed forms? Don't worry, your form is still my favourite. You're the most attractive person among your bunch, after all. Right, General sir?" Their pose had changed as well; they were no longer sitting straight but draped over their chair in an almost lazy - or sensual - manner that more than a bit reminded Adora of Catra at her best - or worst, depending on the occasion.
If glares could kill, Double Trouble would be dead twice over. Maybe more.
Of course, that only encouraged them. "Oh, do you disagree, General? Or should I say Jack?"
Enough. "Stop it!" Adora spoke up. "We're here to prepare to deal with Ba'al. Riling up people doesn't help with that."
"If you can't handle little old me, how do you think you can handle Ba'al? The guy's not dumb; he'll do much worse to rile you up so you will make mistakes." Double Trouble shook their head with a wide grin. "Consider it training."
"Ba'al wouldn't be so petty," Catra cut in. "He would start killing or torturing prisoners to make us angry, not trying to start some relationship drama. This is no cheap soap opera."
Double Trouble scowled in return. "There's nothing cheap about interpersonal drama! The tension! The emotions! You should know best how that can influence wars."
Adora drew a sharp breath. They had gone there. She glanced at Catra.
Catra scoffed. "And if we were trying to work with Ba'al or trusted him, and he were like you, you might have a point. But we aren't and he isn't." She leaned forward. "You should know best how devastating it can be when you suddenly discover in the middle of a battle that your allies don't have your back."
Double Trouble recoiled but recovered. "You're the Princess Alliance! We have a deal!"
"Yes, we do. So stop trying to make us break it or we will," Glimmer said.
"Would you really be so petty as to abandon the best hope of saving all those people over some teasing?" Double Trouble looked around with a tight smile.
Catra shrugged pointedly. "If you can't control yourself you can't be trusted to pull this off anyway."
Adora caught Double Trouble glancing at her and nodded.
Double Trouble's scowl deepened, but they slouched in their chair and crossed their arms over their chest. "You all need to loosen up!"
Adora took that as agreement to stop the petty needling and started the briefing.
*****
Deep Space, Ba'al's Realm, August 11th, 2000 (Earth Time)
As she had expected, Samantha Carter found the General doing the pre-flight check of the stealth shuttle the team would be taking for the infiltration mission. "Sir."
"Carter!" He straightened from where he had been bent down to inspect the undercarriage. "You're early."
She was aware of that - she had planned on it. "Just making sure everything is ready," she lied. "This is an important mission."
"Yes." He nodded, then looked towards the hangar entrance. "I hope our latest volunteer won't be too difficult."
Sam nodded. That they would be difficult was clear as day; the only question was how much trouble they would cause.
"And I hope they will pick another form. Having two of you around gets confusing," he added after a moment, cocking his head to look at her.
She nodded a bit too firmly. "The last thing we need on a mission is confusion."
"Right." He nodded curtly.
For a moment, it looked like he was about to say something else, but he didn't.
Sam wasn't quite sure if she was relieved or disappointed. But they had an understanding. "I'll go set up, sir," she said, and entered the shuttle. She needed to be prepared for their insertion - the target system had a lot more potential threats than any system they had infiltrated before. Sure, none of the Death Gliders' sensors could detect an Alliance stealth shuttle - they had not detected the spy bots surrounding them either - but there was always blind luck.
And Sam wasn't in the habit of leaving things to luck. Not when she could help it.
*****
"So, that's the stealth shuttle!" Double Trouble had not changed forms, Sam noticed while she tried not to scowl. "Able to fly up right to an enemy flagship and dock with them being none the wiser! A ship after my taste!"
Sam pressed her lips together to avoid blurting out her first thought.
"You won't get one," Glimmer said it out loud. "They are reserved for Alliance special operations."
Sam expected the General to add: "And for my commute!", but he merely nodded with a tight-lipped expression.
"Aw! But they are made for me! Can they change shape as well? Or just transponders?" Double Trouble mock-whined in a way that Sam would never.
"We're going onto a dangerous mission," the General spoke up. "The danger of friendly fire is always present in such situations, and we can't afford any potential confusion. So, pick another shape to wear, Double Trouble. One we can't mistake for one of our own:"
"Really? You of all people think you would confuse me and Sam-Darling here?" Double Trouble laughed and stepped next to Sam before she could react. They tried to wrap an arm around Sam's shoulders, but she blocked them.
"See?" Double Trouble grinned and stepped in front of the General. "She's the grumpy, unapproachable one. I'm the friendly one!"
Sam imagined a little friendly fire right now. Using a taser. The General looked like he was imagining a little friendly fire with a flamethrower.
"Double Trouble!" Adora snapped. "Stop it!"
"Change into your usual form," Catra said. "We wouldn't want to mistake you for someone else that Ba'al cloned. After all, his forces have met all of us before, and we don't know what he's been up to."
Double Trouble narrowed her eyes and scowled - Sam made a note to check if she ever looked like that - before snorting. "And you'd shoot first and ask questions later, huh?"
Catra shrugged and bared her teeth in a wide grin. "With a zat, we can just stun people and wake them up later."
"It might be less trouble for the team if we would stun the shapeshifter before departure and wake them up once we have secured Ba'al, Supreme Commander. I could carry them without much trouble," Teal'c commented with such a perfectly bland expression, Sam would not have realised he wasn't serious, at least not entirely so, if she hadn't known him as well as she did.
"What?" Double Trouble gasped at him, then looked at the others.
Adora blinked, Catra's grin grew even wider - Sam didn't have to look at Melog to confirm she was amused - and Glimmer looked smug. Even Bow seemed to struggle not to smile.
Sam caught herself grinning as well.
Double Trouble muttered a curse under their breath and shifted into their lizard-like form. "I wonder how you think you can win this war when you can't even handle a little chaos in your schedule."
"Wouldn't you like to know?" the General asked with a satisfied grin as everyone boarded the shuttle.
*****
Chapter 182: The Election Campaign Part 4
Starfox5
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Chapter 182: The Election Campaign Part 4
PB-1763 System, Ba'al's Realm, August 11th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"We've entered the target system and switched to passive sensors."
Catra nodded at Jack's announcement and checked their position on the holoprojection. They were flying on a slightly curved route that would take them around some of the known concentrations of enemy craft and avoid flying too close to the staging points of Ba'al's fleet in the system - at least on the approach; couldn't do anything about having to close in with them when they had to land on the planet.
"Do we have to whisper? Your stealth system is so good, we could hitch a ride on the next enemy ship, couldn't we?"
And Double Trouble was still fishing for information. So, they must have heard something about Alliance stealth ships. Probably some sailor with loose lips - another reason not to let Double Trouble out of their sight on this mission; they already knew far too much about the Alliance.
"It's traditional not to yell when you're sneaking," Jack said.
"Traditional? I thought Earth was all about efficiency!"
"We're traditionally efficient," he shot back.
"I'm suddenly not so confident that this will work," Double Trouble went on - but in a joking tone.
Catra shrugged. "The sensors aren't a problem out here - the real issue is to get down on the planet without the plasma from re-entry marking our position for every ship with a line of sight to us."
"What?" Double Trouble didn't sound amused any more. "I was told this is a routine mission for you!"
"We routinely risk our lives on such missions, yes," Glimmer commented. Catra didn't have to turn her head to know she was grinning.
"We have done this before," Bow, ever the spoilsport, cut in. "Though usually, we didn't have to deal with quite so many ships guarding the planet."
"Really? I'm not an expert - though I could be, in an instant!"
"Don't copy Sam or anyone else here!" Adora interrupted them.
Double Trouble rolled her eyes. "Anyway, how can you avoid being detected when they have ships covering the entire planet?"
"By being very sneaky," Jack replied. "We've got a plan."
"Yes! With a very good chance to work and not kill us all!" Entrapta chimed in, beaming at them. "We got it ready in time for this mission!"
Catra suppressed a wince. Entrapta was as honest as ever, but 'a very good chance to work and not kill us all' were not the kind of odds Catra liked.
That Double Trouble liked them even less helped keep her grin on her face, of course. Anything to rile up them.
"Now be quiet! We're closing in on the first Death Glider network."
"I thought they couldn't hear us in space."
"They can't. But I can, and I need to focus on flying this ship," Jack said.
"Yes," Sha're, the co-pilot added. "This requires our concentration."
Catra could tell how much it cost Double Trouble - their expressions were almost comically clear - but they did fall silent while the Stealth Shuttle continued its approach.
PB-1763 Orbit, PB-1763 System, Ba'al's Realm, August 11th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"That's your plan? Dropping us from orbit? In caskets?"
Catra smirked at Double Trouble's outburst.
"Those aren't caskets." Entrapta shook her head. "Those are drop pods - stealth drop pods. With a bot navigation system. They are small enough and manoeuvrable enough so they can make atmospheric re-entry without creating a bigger thermic trace than a bunch of micrometeorites. So! Unless Ba'al's sensor net is calibrated for tracking micrometeorites, we should be perfectly fine in them! And even if something goes wrong, they wouldn't be caskets!" She frowned. "Mostly because they would be destroyed with the passenger, of course. Although that could be called a sort of cremation if it happens in the higher atmosphere, and they do use caskets for that - even though it's such a waste, burning perfectly fine wood! - so… They could be caskets, I guess."
"You guess?"
"Get into your pod, Double Trouble," Adora spoke up.
"We can always zat them and stuff them into the pod to collect them on the ground," Glimmer added.
"That's… That wasn't the deal!"
"It was. You just didn't care about the details," Catra said.
"Is this your revenge for me teaching you a much-needed lesson?"
Catra shook her head. "This is just for being an asshole."
Double Trouble was about to respond, but Sam stepped in front of her. "We're on a timer. Everyone needs to get in their pods."
Catra checked her helmet seal - not that her suit would help her if the pod malfunctioned during re-entry, but they were going into space - and climbed into her pod. The lid closed with a slight hissing sound, and the inside lit up with a holographic projection that let her see the outside.
"Drop Pod One, ready."
"Drop Pod Three, ready."
"Drop Pod Five, ready."
"Drop Pod Four, ready."
"Drop Pod Seven, ready."
"Drop Pod Six, ready."
Catra listened to the bot voices reporting from the different pods, counting off.
"All pods ready."
"Release!" Sha're, now the pilot in charge, ordered.
Then the bottom seemed to fall out from underneath Catra, and her tail swung wildly as she instinctively tried to stabilise her fall before the pod's inertial compensators kicked in, and she felt gravity again.
Her stomach still protested since, according to her eyes, she was falling forward - head first - toward the planet.
Then she hit the atmosphere, and everything lit up.
Jack O'Neill clenched his teeth as the picture projected on the 'lid' of his drop pod switched to a good attempt at how the sun must look inside, and the entire pod started to shake almost violently. He had gone through many re-entries before, but those had been with his shuttle - protected by armour, shielding and inertial compensators that turned the process into a smooth ride with a nice light show.
Strapped into a small pod, feeling every vibration even with the rudimentary inertial compensators installed, and hoping that Carter, Entrapta and Bow hadn't missed a small but fatal mistake when they had thrown those things together was a very different experience. Of course, he trusted Carter with his life without hesitation, but… it was a bit easier to trust her with his life when he wasn't currently surrounded by plasma and hoping no Death Glider pilot decided to use the apparent micrometeor for a spontaneous target practice session. Damn, he wished this wouldn't take so long - even if the risk of getting detected was higher the faster they were, waiting inside this pod - which the soldiers were going to call 'coffins', Jack knew - was almost torture.
Finally, the picture changed again, now showing the planet below and space above them - they were through the worst part. His holographic display also showed that they hadn't lost any pod on the way - all of them lit up green, and he let out a relieved breath.
Then the turbulences started, and he cursed again. He had flown through turbulences before, and he knew better than most that even modern planes could be wrecked by them. This falling coffin had advanced technology, but just enough to make taking it down to the ground not outright suicide.
His pod started to veer and roll around - he saw it on the display with the artificial horizon, but the way he was pulled into the harness holding him safe would have been clue enough. It was a pilot's worst nightmare - all his instincts were screaming that he was in a flat spin and he was about to crash if he didn't do something.
"Trust Carter; she said that this was normal and planned for," he muttered to himself through clenched teeth as the ground grew closer and closer. "This thing is on autopilot." Had to be - you couldn't really teach ground forces to steer what was a one-way miniature spaceship. Not without turning them into pilots.
But as the pod kept falling, it kept spinning. Was it defective? No! Jack gasped when he realised that the pod was adjusting their course towards the rally spot. And it was slowing down! If only it stopped spinning…
It did stop spinning about a second before it hit the ground, straightening and rightening itself just in time to plant its bottom into the ground - though not deep enough to keep standing; Jack sighed when the pod toppled over, rolling as it fell so it would land on its back.
"Climbing out of a coffin isn't how you're supposed to invade a planet," he muttered as he hit the quick release of his harness and opened the lid. "Then again, you also aren't supposed to jump out of a perfectly working plane, but here we are."
He looked around, rifle ready. Half a dozen pods had landed almost on top of him, all but one - Drop Pod Two - opening. A few were a bit further away.
Catra slid out of hers, crouching on all fours as she looked around, quickly joined by Melog.
Adora all but jumped out, sword out and in full She-Ra regalia.
Glimmer appeared in a cloud of sparkles, grinning wildly. "Hah! This world didn't have a Stargate, so the First Ones couldn't steal its magic!"
Oh. That was good since it meant Glimmer could teleport. But it was also bad since it meant Adora didn't have the 'unleash the world's magic and turn all enemies into turnips' ace up her sleeve. Still, good to have confirmation - with the way some snakes were moving Stargates around, and the data banks being less than reliable, they hadn't been sure.
And there came Carter and Entrapta! Safe and sound! Jack smiled.
"See? The spins served to slow down our fall as planned! And it was a nice ride, too!" Entrapta beamed.
Jack stopped smiling. So, that had been deliberate.
Carter must have caught his mood since she said: "The spinning also serves to throw off an enemy gunner's aim, should they detect the pods, sir."
Yeah, and it probably saved some power, too - but Jack had a feeling they had picked that system because Entrapta thought it was fun.
Well, there would be time enough to talk about briefing your test subjects more thoroughly even if time was precious once they were done here. He looked around. Everyone was accounted for except the still closed pod.
"They're pounding against the lid. I think we need to let them out now," Catra said.
"Oh, yes!" Entrpata nodded and pointed her multitool at it.
A moment later, the lid opened, and they heard Double Trouble's voice: "...open, you piece of crap! I'm not going to end up as a snake egg incubator because of… Oh."
"Seems like your pod had a malfunction," Jack told them. "Carter, make a note to look into that afterwards. We can't have our troops be caught in their coffins."
"Yes, sir!"
"Really?" Double Trouble narrowed their eyes at him. "That's your story?"
Jack nodded. That was his story, and he would be sticking to it. "Alright, grab the gear from the pods, then hit the self-destruct and let's be on our way. We've got a way to hike before we reach our objective."
"We're going to walk?" Double trouble gasped as if they hadn't known that from the briefing.
Jack ignored them and grabbed his rucksack from his pod, then started the process that would turn the pod into dust in a process that Carter said totally wasn't burning it to ashes… He sighed. There really was no way the troops wouldn't be making coffin and ashes to ashes, dust to dust jokes once they got their hands on the production models.
Wilderness, PB-1763, Ba'al's Realm, August 11th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"This is undignified!"
Adora ignored Double Trouble's complaints. If they didn't want to be carried 'like a bag of potatoes', they should have kept walking.
"You're literally carried by a princess, and you think it's undignified?" Glimmer sounded amused.
"It is! This isn't a princess carry - she's slung me over her shoulder!"
Well, Adora needed at least one hand free if they were attacked, and she already had a pack with a spy bot in it on her back, so that left her shoulders.
"Adora could always just drag you." Catra, on the other hand, wasn't amused, as her snidish tone illustrated whenever she wasn't scouting ahead.
But that couldn't be helped - they had to cover quite the distance, and if Double Trouble was being dramatic - their feet were never in danger of 'literally falling off' - then carrying them was the obvious solution. It kept the group on schedule and also made it harder for Double Trouble to run off.
Running off on a planet held by Ba'al, and which would soon be facing a massive attack by the Alliance forces if this mission failed, wouldn't be very smart, but Double Trouble had done more stupid things - they weren't as smart as they claimed to be, in Adora's opinion. Then again, few people who claimed they were smart were that smart, in her experience.
They were moving through a dense forest - they had adapted their planned route as they approached the planet since they had gotten their best scan of the surface - and making decent time. They would be making better time if they were walking through more open terrain, but that would expose them, and Ba'al had too many Death Gliders up in the airspace for that. Even if many of those were test flights and not patrols, the risk was still too high.
"Hey! Watch where you walk - you almost smashed my face into the trunk here!"
Adora rolled her eyes. She hadn't even come close!
"It's a pity she didn't succeed!" Catra mumbled as she passed them.
"Hey!"
"I wish we'd have the time to build a drop pod for Emily," Entrapta said behind her. "And a stealth module for her, or, at least, a better shielding for her engines so she can better hide from sensors. Then she could carry us through this!"
Adora doubted that - the forest was a bit too dense for a bot the size of Emily to walk through without having to literally cut a path for herself; they had seen that often enough in the war against the Horde, where they had used that to track and ambush the bot forces. And unlike in the Whispering Woods, this forest wouldn't grow over such tracks in a day or two.
Well, she hoped they wouldn't.
"I still don't know why I couldn't have waited back in a safe and comfortable spot for you to reach the palace and then have Glimmer fetch me by teleport!" Double Trouble was pouting behind Adora's back; she didn't have to look over her shoulder to know that.
"Because you'd have been gone the moment we were out of sight," Glimmer replied.
"Don't you trust me?"
"No."
"You could have left someone else with me. Like Daniel - he doesn't look that happy to walk all over this planet himself! I'd change into his wife's form so he doesn't have to worry too much about her being left alone in orbit in a single shuttle!"
Adora clenched her teeth. That was a low blow, even if Double Trouble didn't know about Daniel and Sha're's tragic past.
"Jack?"
"Yes, Daniel?"
"Remember what I said about treating our latest ally with more respect?"
"Yes?"
"I take it back!"
"No one here has a sense of humour! Or a taste for the performing arts!"
"We do. That's why we know how bad you are," Glimmer shot back.
"Well, we don't actually know - we've never seen them on stage," Entrapta commented while her hair tendrils wrapped around a tree branch and lifted her over a tangle of thick roots. "I think, at least - it's not as if we'd be able to tell, would we?"
"Oh, I am sure you have seen me perform in one of my many forms. I captured the hearts of audiences all over Etheria! Some of the best actresses can thank me for their fame!"
"You just made that up when Entrapta gave you the idea," Glimmer said with a scoff.
"How would you be able to tell?" Adora heard and felt Double Trouble chuckle. "In the future, you won't ever be sure if that great performance was me or someone else!"
That was… well, a worrying possibility. Or would be if not for Melog, Adora thought.
"Stop it with the inane drivel!" Catra hissed as she dropped to the ground from the tree ahead of them. "I've found traces of an old campsite ahead."
Oh. They shouldn't be near the outer perimeter of Ba'al's palace yet. Did he have patrols range that far? On foot?
"Let's take a look," Jack said in a lower voice than before.
Catra led them through the woods, past a really dense patch of underbrush - a former clearing about to be grown over if Adora remembered Bow's comments about the woods correctly - and to a huge tree.
And she was correct - there were the remains of a fireplace there and other traces of a camp.
Bow knelt down and ran a finger along a dent in the ground, then looked at the ashes scattered over the ground. "About a few days old, I think. Any longer, and it would have been gone already."
"If we're stopping here, then you can let me down now, you know?"
Adora ignored them again and looked around. If it had only been a few days, then whoever had done this might still be in the area…
"What do you make of it?" the General asked. "Some long-range patrol? Or fugitives?"
"Probably fugitives," Bow replied. "The campsite is not ideal - there are better spots nearby - but it's very well hidden from aerial observation. A patrol wouldn't have had any need to hide and would have picked a better spot for a camp."
Samantha Carter agreed with the logic, though she had to take Bow's words for the reasons - she wasn't enough of an expert on such things to tell.
"If there are fugitives, then there will be hunters," Catra said. "The question is, will they use ground forces to hunt down fugitives - or will they stick to Death Gliders?"
"They have a ton of Death Gliders. Ba'al might think bombing fugitives is good training." The General shrugged. "But they seem to know how to hide."
Or they were dead already, Sam thought. The distance to the palace - the closest inhabited area from here - meant they would have managed to reach this spot if they had fled at dusk and walked as quickly as Sam and her friends were going. If this was a few days old, then Ba'al's forces would have had enough time to hunt them down.
Daniel was going through the ashes. "There's nothing here - no trash, no broken tool, no leftovers from anything they might have crafted or repaired. A nomadic culture setting up a camp would likely perform such activities and leave corresponding traces."
"And what does that mean in non-Archaeologist, Daniel?"
"It means I don't think this was a camp set by indigenous travellers. It would fit a group of fugitives who didn't have the opportunity to make or repair tools," Daniel replied.
"You mean they weren't prepared?" Glimmer asked.
"That is difficult to say. They could have no need yet to repair or craft anything since they set out well-prepared," Daniel said. "Or they had to flee in a hurry and couldn't take anything with them that would require repairs."
"Oh! We can give them what they need - or make it for them!" Entrapta chimed in.
Sam glanced at Adora and saw she was wincing.
"We can't spend the time tracking down a group of fugitives trying to hide," Adora said. "The best thing we can do to help them is to take out Ba'al and take over the planet."
"I wouldn't mind a detour," Double Trouble, still slung over Adora's shoulder, spoke up. "This is not very comfortable. Your shoulders are very bony."
Sam couldn't care less about the shapeshifter's discomfort.
"Shift to a more padded form, then," Glimmer told them.
A moment later, Double Trouble had shifted into a double of Glimmer. "You're right; this helps. You must have spoken from experience."
To Sam's surprise, Glimmer didn't seem annoyed but snorted, apparently amused. "Let's go now. The sooner we reach Ba'al's palace, the sooner we can stop whatever suffering the people here endure."
"Yeah," the General agreed.
Adora still looked guilty but nodded as well.
Near Ba'al's Palace, PB-1763, Ba'al's Realm, August 12th, 2000 (Earth Time)
It had taken them several hours, but shortly after midnight, they had reached their target - or, at least, the vicinity of their target. Usually, a Goa'uld base would be in the middle of a flat, wide area, cleared to remove all cover and concealment. Ba'al's palace differed. The forest had been cleared, the trees cut down, in the entire area, but instead of a featureless plain where hiding would be impossible without advanced technology - and difficult even with such technology, given its limitations - it was surrounded by fields and irrigation canals fed from a lake.
Between the lake and a village - a small town, actually - that housed the slaves working the fields lay the palace. Hidden in the underbrush at the tree line at the outward edge of the fields, Samantha Carter studied the buildings through her binoculars, using the night vision mode, although enhanced to show true colours.
"Interesting," Daniel commented in a low voice. "I would have expected less Egyptian architecture given Ba'al's history, more Phoenician, probably Punic, but the palace shows few such influences - a few ornaments, possibly furniture, but the general layout and building style is almost exclusively Egyptian. This may signal Ba'al's intention to take over as Ra's successor, but why would he go that far on a secret world?"
"He probably doesn't intend to keep it secret once he is the new Emperor," the General replied.
"Oh. Right. That would be possible. Still, it could also indicate a true cultural shift on Ba'al's side. Perhaps it's an attempt to improve his reputation and downplay his past actions so the other System Lords will more likely accept his rule?"
Sam doubted that it would work, genuine or not - in her opinion, the only thing that would make the System Lords accept an emperor was naked strength and power. And even then, they would secretly plot to topple them as soon as they thought they could get away with it. Still, it would be like Ba'al to do something like that in order to gain a small advantage. And, of course, the advantage might not be so small when it concerned the slaves and Jaffa, who would have suffered the most from his past crimes.
Sam hoped it wouldn't ultimately matter - they were here to end Ba'al's reign, after all. And those irrigation canals provided a great opportunity to sneak to the palace - and likely into it, since the palace probably drew water from the lake as well.
She looked the palace over again. Several defensive gun emplacements lined the walls. Dual-purpose, able to engage aerial threats as well as ground targets - and three covered the village. Patrols on the walls and at the base of the walls, probably on both sides of them, and in the fields. Those were pretty standard defences. Ba'al almost assuredly had some nastier surprises hidden in the palace and a few escape routes prepared, but Sam was confident they could deal with that; between Entrapta, Bow and herself, and their experience with Ba'al's systems, they should be able to take over the security systems and sensors easily enough.
"Alright. It looks like we've got a window of opportunity to reach the walls through the canal there as soon as that patrol has passed us," Adora said in a low voice over the communicator. "Be ready."
Sam was ready.
Ba'al's Palace, PB-1763, Ba'al's Realm, August 12th, 2000 (Earth Time)
Passing underwater through the irrigation canals to the palace walls had been slightly uncomfortable but easily handled. The new uniforms and their sealed helmet option helped a lot. If her fur had gotten all wet… Catra shuddered at the thought. There had been a lot of gunk in the murky water, and she didn't give a damn whether that stuff would be good fertiliser for the fields or not, and that the wastewater from the palace had to go somewhere, as Daniel and Sam had explained - they didn't have fur all over their body that would take ages to clean if that filth got on it.
But now they had to enter the palace proper, and that meant diving deeper into the lake here - according to Entrapta and Sam's scans, the pipe that led into the palace grounds was pretty far down there. Something about varying levels of water or whatever. But unlike the spot where the palace's wastewater line fed into the main canal, this spot wasn't guarded by a squad of Jaffa.
It still meant that they had to dive a bit too deep for her taste. Fortunately, the uniforms were rated for space, so they didn't have to worry about pressure effects and things. They only had to deal with security systems, sensors and traps.
"Alright, the sensors covering the lake are currently blind to us," Entrapta reported over the communicator.
"Let's dive and rally at the target," Adora ordered.
Catra was first into the water. No 'cats and water' jokes today for her. She didn't jump, of course - that would have caused a splash guards could hear - but slid into the water and then dived down, the HUD in her helmet showing her where she needed to go. If they had had such a thing in the Horde, a number of exercises and operations would have gone differently. Well, some of the officers would have still managed to get lost, she was sure of that.
Forcing the stupid stray thoughts away, she pressed on, quickly reaching the large pipe that took water from the lake into the palace. There was a massive grate on it, but that wouldn't stop her. Once the others caught up - she made sure that Double Trouble hadn't gotten 'lost' on the way - and Sam checked that the sensors were off, Catra quickly sliced through the metal, and Adora pulled the grate away.
Entrapta sent the spy bot they had brought along ahead, and Catra closely followed its track on her HUD as it entered the pipe. Between the data data from the hacked security system and the stealthed bot, she got a decent picture of the pipe's interior as she looked for traps and other obstacles. It would be just like Ba'al to have some undocumented surprises in such places to catch those who thought that they just had to deal with the computers to get in. Though any trap would have to operate under some limitations, what with the need to let water in, so the trigger couldn't be too simple, and that meant sensors as well.
Ah! She grinned inside her helmet when she spotted a sensor on the feed from the bot that wasn't already marked by the HUD. "There's a trap ahead," she said.
"Got it!" Entrapta's voice answered. "Good bot! Now let's see what… Oh! That's a shaped charge, aimed down the pipe - the pressure probably would… no, the pipe's reinforced, so it wouldn't burst but funnel the pressure wave forward. Quite nasty."
Catra kept smiling even though she couldn't help imagining what would happen to anyone inside the pipe if the trap was triggered. They'd be pulped.
But her friends were already working on it, directing the bot to close in, and then started to disarm it - after the group had cleared the pipe entrance. Just in case.
But the charge didn't go off, and the bot moved on. They detected another trap, a stunning device built into the pipe where it bent to head straight up, but that was easily dealt with by hacking its sensor, and after cutting through a few more grates and filters, the bot reached the main water reservoir of the palace and surfaced in it.
"Jackpot," Jack muttered as the feeds showed rails lining the basin and ladders leading up.
"Multiple sensors that track the water quality," Sam reported. "We have to hack them so they won't report the effects of the bot cutting through the filters."
More delays - but necessary ones. Waiting underwater was getting a bit stressful. Fortunately, it didn't take too long until Sam announced that it was safe now, and Catra was the first into the pipe.
She quickly swam forward, resisting the urge to use her claws to pull herself along the pipe even if it would have been a bit faster, then up once she reached the bend.
Then she hit the surface inside the reservoir and looked around. No guards, no obvious traps.
They had it made inside the palace. Now came the fun part.
Sneaking around in a snake palace never got old! Jack O'Neill bared his teeth in a grin while he peered around the corner ahead - he might be covered by Melog's illusion, but better safe than sorry; nothing was perfect. Certainly not magic.
But the corridor ahead was clear. No surprise there - they were just above the cistern, and it was pretty damp here; Ba'al's contractors must have pulled a fast one on him - according to Carter and Entrapta's scans, the entire level here was useless for pretty much anything that couldn't handle lots of humidity. No provisions, delicate electronics or archives would survive here.
Of course, Ba'al being Ba'al, he still found a use for it - the cold humidity was perfect for some good old-fashioned dungeon, as long as you don't mind that your prisoners died from pneumonia or inhaling poisonous mould or whatever. And Jack hadn't yet met a snake who would mind that. In fact, knowing Ba'al, he might have micro-managed construction to ensure he got mouldy cells in his dungeon…
Of course, anyone with a symbiont wouldn't die from a bit of mould and cold. And the prisoner they had detected with their scans had a symbiont inside them. The only question was whether they were a Jaffa or a snake.
As he moved down the corridor, to the cell tracts projected on his HUD, Jack hoped they were a Jaffa; you couldn't trust the snakes.
He reached the door barring the way into the dungeon proper and stepped to the side, letting his carbine drop, caught by the sling, to draw his zat while Carter and Bow dealt with the lock. There shouldn't be any guards inside. Entrapta was monitoring the hacked security system and hadn't spotted anyone behind the door who wasn't in a cell. And the magic scanner hadn't detected any symbionts outside the one in a cell, either.
But it wouldn't hurt to be ready to stun someone before they could raise the alarm.
"Oh! That's interesting…" Entrapta muttered.
He glanced at her, then at Carter. Carter would be able to tell if whatever Entrapta was talking about was important enough to share with the class, right?
"Entrapta?" Carter asked.
Or not.
"Oh, it's just the camera layout. It's quite complex - you know that already - but there are some blind spots that are cleverly hidden!"
Oh? "Maybe Ba'al's IT guy isn't as good as he should be," Jack said.
"No, no, that seems deliberate - there's a subroutine that alters the coverage angle without reporting it to the controls. Hm…"
"So, someone infiltrated this system before us? I guess the Tok'ra will feel even more embarrassed," Jack commented. Would serve them right, actually.
"But who could have done this? A rival? Sokar, maybe? Or a third faction we don't know yet?" Daniel speculated.
"Or someone planning a coup," Catra said.
"Well, I'm looking into this!" Entrapta announced - her face was almost completely hidden behind all the displays in her helmet, Jack noted. It didn't seem like she could see through it.
But before he could say anything, Bow spoke up. "Finally! That was harder than we expected! But we managed it!"
It has taken longer than I expected, Jack thought as he turned around and aimed his zat at the door. A moment later, it slid to the side, revealing an empty room - empty of people, that was. There were lots of torture devices. Some of them wouldn't have looked out of place in a fantasy movie, and some looked like someone misused a dentist's tools.
"Guess our pal Ba'al is a torture connoisseur. No one-size-fits-all torture device for him; he wants variety and all the classics," Jack joked and managed not to wince at what he recognised as a flensing knife thanks to one of Daniel's bloodier lectures.
"Oh. You think that's Ba'al's personal torture chamber?" Double Trouble bent over a rack. "How interesting!"
They sounded far too happy about this.
"This is so inspiring!" they went on.
Jack wasn't the only one narrowing his eyes at them, and Double Trouble looked annoyed when they noticed. "To better play his role, of course! This gives crucial insight into his character! Really, what do you think I meant?"
"That you like to torment people," Catra replied.
"Really! How long will you carry a grudge? It was good for you!"
"I can think of a few things that would be good for you too." Catra flashed her fangs.
"According to the security records, there is currently no cell occupied, sir," Carter interrupted the brewing clash from the closest console. "Our scans confirm that one is occupied, though."
"But the cell's not under surveillance," Bow added.
"And no guards are supposed to be here."
"And there are no guards. So… this is either the planet's most harmless prisoners… or someone no one is supposed to know about," Catra said.
Adora nodded. "Let's find out."
Jack went in first, just in case. Adoa could fix him if anything happened. But he couldn't fix her if Ba'al had cooked up something nasty enough to harm She-Ra.
He reached the cell marked on his HUD easily. There was no window in the door to peer inside either. More sloppy design?
Carter and Bow went to work on the lock of the door while the rest secured the area. Once again, it took them longer than expected - Carter seemed both annoyed and impressed, Jack noted.
But they managed to unlock the cell. Jack aimed his zat with one hand and opened the door with the other, revealing…
… Ba'al?
"Colonel O'Neill… and She-Ra, Princess of Power, Protector of Etheria. I have to say that it is a surprise to see you two together, but I really should have seen this. The clues were all there."
Adora stared at the smirking man. Ba'al? In his own prison cell? That made no…
Catra's laugh interrupted her thoughts. "So, are you the original Ba'al who fell victim to a coup or a clone who failed to coup the original?"
Ah! That would explain it - of course, Catra would think of this, given her past.
Ba'al, who was wearing pretty plain clothes, not a glimpse of jewellery visible, shrugged. "Does it matter? What matters is that I am an enemy of your enemy, as my current circumstances clearly prove." He smiled at them, his eyes seeking out Adora's. "We are natural allies."
"If you say: 'join me, and together we can rule the galaxy', I'll have to shoot you," Jack said.
"Indeed." Teal'c was glaring at the Goa'uld.
Ba'al, still smirking, tilted his head slightly as he looked at Jack. "I would not make such an offer, Colonel O'Neill, since you aren't a fool, and neither am I."
"It's General these days," Jack replied. "Just for the record. Wouldn't want to confuse people."
Right. This Ba'al knew about She-Ra, which meant he had had access to the intel the Commander must have shared with Ba'al back in May this year. So, his imprisonment would have been a relatively recent event.
"General O'Neill." Ba'al nodded with what looked like genuine respect, even if he was still smirking. "Of course, your people would promote you, given your many victories over the Goa'uld."
Jack shrugged. "I just do what is needed. You know, pest control."
Ba'al nodded again and looked at Adora. "But none of those victories were as impressive as defeating Horde Prime and taking his realm for yourself."
That… wasn't exactly what had happened. Not like that. And shouldn't he know that? He had recruited the Commander and his fleet, after all. Adora narrowed her eyes. Was he fishing for information?
"Flattery won't get you anything," Catra spoke up.
"My experience would contradict that," Ba'al said.
"Of course it would - your people always flattered you, didn't they?" Glimmer cut in. "And the only peers you met were other System Lords - or yourself."
"You make a good point, Miss…? Or should that be Princess?"
That was a good guess. But no one had ever called Ba'al stupid.
"It's Queen these days," Glimmer said.
"Ah." Ba'al looked from her to Adora and back before smirking at Jack. "You keep interesting company, General. It seems you've become a bit more tolerant of other forms of government. Unless this is merely a temporary alliance and you intend to settle your ideological differences once you have taken care of your common enemies."
"We're not like you!" Glimer spat.
"So it may seem." Ba'al laughed. "But trust me on this - you won't have the measure of someone until and unless they are in a position to betray you and either do it or don't."
Was that a subtle claim that he was the original? Well, every clone thought they were the real Ba'al, didn't they?
"Well, we found out who's in this cell, and I think you'll keep. We can continue this talk once we've stopped kicking your other version's ass," Jack said.
"I wouldn't be so hasty, General," Ba'al said - a bit too quickly for his confident tone. "You've managed to sneak into my palace, but you are undoubtedly aware of how many forces I have amassed here - and how their weapons have been upgraded. My help would allow you to take this system without suffering huge casualties. Or causing them," he added with a smile while looking straight at Adora. "I think you are familiar with my standing orders for my forces - this will be a bloodbath even if you had overwhelming numbers, and the fact that you are currently here, in a covert and likely desperate attempt to decapitate my forces, tells me that you would prefer to avoid an all-out battle. I can help you there - and all I am asking for is a temporary alliance where you'd be holding all the cards."
He was good, Adora had to admit. Even a bit charming. But he was right - they were holding all the cards. And he was Ba'al.
She turned to Double Trouble. "Do you think that's enough?"
They smiled and nodded - and turned into Ba'al.
The expression on Ba'al's face when he saw this almost made Adora laugh out loud.
Jack and Catra didn't show such restraint.
PB-1763 System, Ba'al's Realm, August 11th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"We've entered the target system and switched to passive sensors."
Catra nodded at Jack's announcement and checked their position on the holoprojection. They were flying on a slightly curved route that would take them around some of the known concentrations of enemy craft and avoid flying too close to the staging points of Ba'al's fleet in the system - at least on the approach; couldn't do anything about having to close in with them when they had to land on the planet.
"Do we have to whisper? Your stealth system is so good, we could hitch a ride on the next enemy ship, couldn't we?"
And Double Trouble was still fishing for information. So, they must have heard something about Alliance stealth ships. Probably some sailor with loose lips - another reason not to let Double Trouble out of their sight on this mission; they already knew far too much about the Alliance.
"It's traditional not to yell when you're sneaking," Jack said.
"Traditional? I thought Earth was all about efficiency!"
"We're traditionally efficient," he shot back.
"I'm suddenly not so confident that this will work," Double Trouble went on - but in a joking tone.
Catra shrugged. "The sensors aren't a problem out here - the real issue is to get down on the planet without the plasma from re-entry marking our position for every ship with a line of sight to us."
"What?" Double Trouble didn't sound amused any more. "I was told this is a routine mission for you!"
"We routinely risk our lives on such missions, yes," Glimmer commented. Catra didn't have to turn her head to know she was grinning.
"We have done this before," Bow, ever the spoilsport, cut in. "Though usually, we didn't have to deal with quite so many ships guarding the planet."
"Really? I'm not an expert - though I could be, in an instant!"
"Don't copy Sam or anyone else here!" Adora interrupted them.
Double Trouble rolled her eyes. "Anyway, how can you avoid being detected when they have ships covering the entire planet?"
"By being very sneaky," Jack replied. "We've got a plan."
"Yes! With a very good chance to work and not kill us all!" Entrapta chimed in, beaming at them. "We got it ready in time for this mission!"
Catra suppressed a wince. Entrapta was as honest as ever, but 'a very good chance to work and not kill us all' were not the kind of odds Catra liked.
That Double Trouble liked them even less helped keep her grin on her face, of course. Anything to rile up them.
"Now be quiet! We're closing in on the first Death Glider network."
"I thought they couldn't hear us in space."
"They can't. But I can, and I need to focus on flying this ship," Jack said.
"Yes," Sha're, the co-pilot added. "This requires our concentration."
Catra could tell how much it cost Double Trouble - their expressions were almost comically clear - but they did fall silent while the Stealth Shuttle continued its approach.
*****
PB-1763 Orbit, PB-1763 System, Ba'al's Realm, August 11th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"That's your plan? Dropping us from orbit? In caskets?"
Catra smirked at Double Trouble's outburst.
"Those aren't caskets." Entrapta shook her head. "Those are drop pods - stealth drop pods. With a bot navigation system. They are small enough and manoeuvrable enough so they can make atmospheric re-entry without creating a bigger thermic trace than a bunch of micrometeorites. So! Unless Ba'al's sensor net is calibrated for tracking micrometeorites, we should be perfectly fine in them! And even if something goes wrong, they wouldn't be caskets!" She frowned. "Mostly because they would be destroyed with the passenger, of course. Although that could be called a sort of cremation if it happens in the higher atmosphere, and they do use caskets for that - even though it's such a waste, burning perfectly fine wood! - so… They could be caskets, I guess."
"You guess?"
"Get into your pod, Double Trouble," Adora spoke up.
"We can always zat them and stuff them into the pod to collect them on the ground," Glimmer added.
"That's… That wasn't the deal!"
"It was. You just didn't care about the details," Catra said.
"Is this your revenge for me teaching you a much-needed lesson?"
Catra shook her head. "This is just for being an asshole."
Double Trouble was about to respond, but Sam stepped in front of her. "We're on a timer. Everyone needs to get in their pods."
Catra checked her helmet seal - not that her suit would help her if the pod malfunctioned during re-entry, but they were going into space - and climbed into her pod. The lid closed with a slight hissing sound, and the inside lit up with a holographic projection that let her see the outside.
"Drop Pod One, ready."
"Drop Pod Three, ready."
"Drop Pod Five, ready."
"Drop Pod Four, ready."
"Drop Pod Seven, ready."
"Drop Pod Six, ready."
Catra listened to the bot voices reporting from the different pods, counting off.
"All pods ready."
"Release!" Sha're, now the pilot in charge, ordered.
Then the bottom seemed to fall out from underneath Catra, and her tail swung wildly as she instinctively tried to stabilise her fall before the pod's inertial compensators kicked in, and she felt gravity again.
Her stomach still protested since, according to her eyes, she was falling forward - head first - toward the planet.
Then she hit the atmosphere, and everything lit up.
*****
Jack O'Neill clenched his teeth as the picture projected on the 'lid' of his drop pod switched to a good attempt at how the sun must look inside, and the entire pod started to shake almost violently. He had gone through many re-entries before, but those had been with his shuttle - protected by armour, shielding and inertial compensators that turned the process into a smooth ride with a nice light show.
Strapped into a small pod, feeling every vibration even with the rudimentary inertial compensators installed, and hoping that Carter, Entrapta and Bow hadn't missed a small but fatal mistake when they had thrown those things together was a very different experience. Of course, he trusted Carter with his life without hesitation, but… it was a bit easier to trust her with his life when he wasn't currently surrounded by plasma and hoping no Death Glider pilot decided to use the apparent micrometeor for a spontaneous target practice session. Damn, he wished this wouldn't take so long - even if the risk of getting detected was higher the faster they were, waiting inside this pod - which the soldiers were going to call 'coffins', Jack knew - was almost torture.
Finally, the picture changed again, now showing the planet below and space above them - they were through the worst part. His holographic display also showed that they hadn't lost any pod on the way - all of them lit up green, and he let out a relieved breath.
Then the turbulences started, and he cursed again. He had flown through turbulences before, and he knew better than most that even modern planes could be wrecked by them. This falling coffin had advanced technology, but just enough to make taking it down to the ground not outright suicide.
His pod started to veer and roll around - he saw it on the display with the artificial horizon, but the way he was pulled into the harness holding him safe would have been clue enough. It was a pilot's worst nightmare - all his instincts were screaming that he was in a flat spin and he was about to crash if he didn't do something.
"Trust Carter; she said that this was normal and planned for," he muttered to himself through clenched teeth as the ground grew closer and closer. "This thing is on autopilot." Had to be - you couldn't really teach ground forces to steer what was a one-way miniature spaceship. Not without turning them into pilots.
But as the pod kept falling, it kept spinning. Was it defective? No! Jack gasped when he realised that the pod was adjusting their course towards the rally spot. And it was slowing down! If only it stopped spinning…
It did stop spinning about a second before it hit the ground, straightening and rightening itself just in time to plant its bottom into the ground - though not deep enough to keep standing; Jack sighed when the pod toppled over, rolling as it fell so it would land on its back.
"Climbing out of a coffin isn't how you're supposed to invade a planet," he muttered as he hit the quick release of his harness and opened the lid. "Then again, you also aren't supposed to jump out of a perfectly working plane, but here we are."
He looked around, rifle ready. Half a dozen pods had landed almost on top of him, all but one - Drop Pod Two - opening. A few were a bit further away.
Catra slid out of hers, crouching on all fours as she looked around, quickly joined by Melog.
Adora all but jumped out, sword out and in full She-Ra regalia.
Glimmer appeared in a cloud of sparkles, grinning wildly. "Hah! This world didn't have a Stargate, so the First Ones couldn't steal its magic!"
Oh. That was good since it meant Glimmer could teleport. But it was also bad since it meant Adora didn't have the 'unleash the world's magic and turn all enemies into turnips' ace up her sleeve. Still, good to have confirmation - with the way some snakes were moving Stargates around, and the data banks being less than reliable, they hadn't been sure.
And there came Carter and Entrapta! Safe and sound! Jack smiled.
"See? The spins served to slow down our fall as planned! And it was a nice ride, too!" Entrapta beamed.
Jack stopped smiling. So, that had been deliberate.
Carter must have caught his mood since she said: "The spinning also serves to throw off an enemy gunner's aim, should they detect the pods, sir."
Yeah, and it probably saved some power, too - but Jack had a feeling they had picked that system because Entrapta thought it was fun.
Well, there would be time enough to talk about briefing your test subjects more thoroughly even if time was precious once they were done here. He looked around. Everyone was accounted for except the still closed pod.
"They're pounding against the lid. I think we need to let them out now," Catra said.
"Oh, yes!" Entrpata nodded and pointed her multitool at it.
A moment later, the lid opened, and they heard Double Trouble's voice: "...open, you piece of crap! I'm not going to end up as a snake egg incubator because of… Oh."
"Seems like your pod had a malfunction," Jack told them. "Carter, make a note to look into that afterwards. We can't have our troops be caught in their coffins."
"Yes, sir!"
"Really?" Double Trouble narrowed their eyes at him. "That's your story?"
Jack nodded. That was his story, and he would be sticking to it. "Alright, grab the gear from the pods, then hit the self-destruct and let's be on our way. We've got a way to hike before we reach our objective."
"We're going to walk?" Double trouble gasped as if they hadn't known that from the briefing.
Jack ignored them and grabbed his rucksack from his pod, then started the process that would turn the pod into dust in a process that Carter said totally wasn't burning it to ashes… He sighed. There really was no way the troops wouldn't be making coffin and ashes to ashes, dust to dust jokes once they got their hands on the production models.
*****
Wilderness, PB-1763, Ba'al's Realm, August 11th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"This is undignified!"
Adora ignored Double Trouble's complaints. If they didn't want to be carried 'like a bag of potatoes', they should have kept walking.
"You're literally carried by a princess, and you think it's undignified?" Glimmer sounded amused.
"It is! This isn't a princess carry - she's slung me over her shoulder!"
Well, Adora needed at least one hand free if they were attacked, and she already had a pack with a spy bot in it on her back, so that left her shoulders.
"Adora could always just drag you." Catra, on the other hand, wasn't amused, as her snidish tone illustrated whenever she wasn't scouting ahead.
But that couldn't be helped - they had to cover quite the distance, and if Double Trouble was being dramatic - their feet were never in danger of 'literally falling off' - then carrying them was the obvious solution. It kept the group on schedule and also made it harder for Double Trouble to run off.
Running off on a planet held by Ba'al, and which would soon be facing a massive attack by the Alliance forces if this mission failed, wouldn't be very smart, but Double Trouble had done more stupid things - they weren't as smart as they claimed to be, in Adora's opinion. Then again, few people who claimed they were smart were that smart, in her experience.
They were moving through a dense forest - they had adapted their planned route as they approached the planet since they had gotten their best scan of the surface - and making decent time. They would be making better time if they were walking through more open terrain, but that would expose them, and Ba'al had too many Death Gliders up in the airspace for that. Even if many of those were test flights and not patrols, the risk was still too high.
"Hey! Watch where you walk - you almost smashed my face into the trunk here!"
Adora rolled her eyes. She hadn't even come close!
"It's a pity she didn't succeed!" Catra mumbled as she passed them.
"Hey!"
"I wish we'd have the time to build a drop pod for Emily," Entrapta said behind her. "And a stealth module for her, or, at least, a better shielding for her engines so she can better hide from sensors. Then she could carry us through this!"
Adora doubted that - the forest was a bit too dense for a bot the size of Emily to walk through without having to literally cut a path for herself; they had seen that often enough in the war against the Horde, where they had used that to track and ambush the bot forces. And unlike in the Whispering Woods, this forest wouldn't grow over such tracks in a day or two.
Well, she hoped they wouldn't.
"I still don't know why I couldn't have waited back in a safe and comfortable spot for you to reach the palace and then have Glimmer fetch me by teleport!" Double Trouble was pouting behind Adora's back; she didn't have to look over her shoulder to know that.
"Because you'd have been gone the moment we were out of sight," Glimmer replied.
"Don't you trust me?"
"No."
"You could have left someone else with me. Like Daniel - he doesn't look that happy to walk all over this planet himself! I'd change into his wife's form so he doesn't have to worry too much about her being left alone in orbit in a single shuttle!"
Adora clenched her teeth. That was a low blow, even if Double Trouble didn't know about Daniel and Sha're's tragic past.
"Jack?"
"Yes, Daniel?"
"Remember what I said about treating our latest ally with more respect?"
"Yes?"
"I take it back!"
"No one here has a sense of humour! Or a taste for the performing arts!"
"We do. That's why we know how bad you are," Glimmer shot back.
"Well, we don't actually know - we've never seen them on stage," Entrapta commented while her hair tendrils wrapped around a tree branch and lifted her over a tangle of thick roots. "I think, at least - it's not as if we'd be able to tell, would we?"
"Oh, I am sure you have seen me perform in one of my many forms. I captured the hearts of audiences all over Etheria! Some of the best actresses can thank me for their fame!"
"You just made that up when Entrapta gave you the idea," Glimmer said with a scoff.
"How would you be able to tell?" Adora heard and felt Double Trouble chuckle. "In the future, you won't ever be sure if that great performance was me or someone else!"
That was… well, a worrying possibility. Or would be if not for Melog, Adora thought.
"Stop it with the inane drivel!" Catra hissed as she dropped to the ground from the tree ahead of them. "I've found traces of an old campsite ahead."
Oh. They shouldn't be near the outer perimeter of Ba'al's palace yet. Did he have patrols range that far? On foot?
"Let's take a look," Jack said in a lower voice than before.
Catra led them through the woods, past a really dense patch of underbrush - a former clearing about to be grown over if Adora remembered Bow's comments about the woods correctly - and to a huge tree.
And she was correct - there were the remains of a fireplace there and other traces of a camp.
Bow knelt down and ran a finger along a dent in the ground, then looked at the ashes scattered over the ground. "About a few days old, I think. Any longer, and it would have been gone already."
"If we're stopping here, then you can let me down now, you know?"
Adora ignored them again and looked around. If it had only been a few days, then whoever had done this might still be in the area…
*****
"What do you make of it?" the General asked. "Some long-range patrol? Or fugitives?"
"Probably fugitives," Bow replied. "The campsite is not ideal - there are better spots nearby - but it's very well hidden from aerial observation. A patrol wouldn't have had any need to hide and would have picked a better spot for a camp."
Samantha Carter agreed with the logic, though she had to take Bow's words for the reasons - she wasn't enough of an expert on such things to tell.
"If there are fugitives, then there will be hunters," Catra said. "The question is, will they use ground forces to hunt down fugitives - or will they stick to Death Gliders?"
"They have a ton of Death Gliders. Ba'al might think bombing fugitives is good training." The General shrugged. "But they seem to know how to hide."
Or they were dead already, Sam thought. The distance to the palace - the closest inhabited area from here - meant they would have managed to reach this spot if they had fled at dusk and walked as quickly as Sam and her friends were going. If this was a few days old, then Ba'al's forces would have had enough time to hunt them down.
Daniel was going through the ashes. "There's nothing here - no trash, no broken tool, no leftovers from anything they might have crafted or repaired. A nomadic culture setting up a camp would likely perform such activities and leave corresponding traces."
"And what does that mean in non-Archaeologist, Daniel?"
"It means I don't think this was a camp set by indigenous travellers. It would fit a group of fugitives who didn't have the opportunity to make or repair tools," Daniel replied.
"You mean they weren't prepared?" Glimmer asked.
"That is difficult to say. They could have no need yet to repair or craft anything since they set out well-prepared," Daniel said. "Or they had to flee in a hurry and couldn't take anything with them that would require repairs."
"Oh! We can give them what they need - or make it for them!" Entrapta chimed in.
Sam glanced at Adora and saw she was wincing.
"We can't spend the time tracking down a group of fugitives trying to hide," Adora said. "The best thing we can do to help them is to take out Ba'al and take over the planet."
"I wouldn't mind a detour," Double Trouble, still slung over Adora's shoulder, spoke up. "This is not very comfortable. Your shoulders are very bony."
Sam couldn't care less about the shapeshifter's discomfort.
"Shift to a more padded form, then," Glimmer told them.
A moment later, Double Trouble had shifted into a double of Glimmer. "You're right; this helps. You must have spoken from experience."
To Sam's surprise, Glimmer didn't seem annoyed but snorted, apparently amused. "Let's go now. The sooner we reach Ba'al's palace, the sooner we can stop whatever suffering the people here endure."
"Yeah," the General agreed.
Adora still looked guilty but nodded as well.
*****
Near Ba'al's Palace, PB-1763, Ba'al's Realm, August 12th, 2000 (Earth Time)
It had taken them several hours, but shortly after midnight, they had reached their target - or, at least, the vicinity of their target. Usually, a Goa'uld base would be in the middle of a flat, wide area, cleared to remove all cover and concealment. Ba'al's palace differed. The forest had been cleared, the trees cut down, in the entire area, but instead of a featureless plain where hiding would be impossible without advanced technology - and difficult even with such technology, given its limitations - it was surrounded by fields and irrigation canals fed from a lake.
Between the lake and a village - a small town, actually - that housed the slaves working the fields lay the palace. Hidden in the underbrush at the tree line at the outward edge of the fields, Samantha Carter studied the buildings through her binoculars, using the night vision mode, although enhanced to show true colours.
"Interesting," Daniel commented in a low voice. "I would have expected less Egyptian architecture given Ba'al's history, more Phoenician, probably Punic, but the palace shows few such influences - a few ornaments, possibly furniture, but the general layout and building style is almost exclusively Egyptian. This may signal Ba'al's intention to take over as Ra's successor, but why would he go that far on a secret world?"
"He probably doesn't intend to keep it secret once he is the new Emperor," the General replied.
"Oh. Right. That would be possible. Still, it could also indicate a true cultural shift on Ba'al's side. Perhaps it's an attempt to improve his reputation and downplay his past actions so the other System Lords will more likely accept his rule?"
Sam doubted that it would work, genuine or not - in her opinion, the only thing that would make the System Lords accept an emperor was naked strength and power. And even then, they would secretly plot to topple them as soon as they thought they could get away with it. Still, it would be like Ba'al to do something like that in order to gain a small advantage. And, of course, the advantage might not be so small when it concerned the slaves and Jaffa, who would have suffered the most from his past crimes.
Sam hoped it wouldn't ultimately matter - they were here to end Ba'al's reign, after all. And those irrigation canals provided a great opportunity to sneak to the palace - and likely into it, since the palace probably drew water from the lake as well.
She looked the palace over again. Several defensive gun emplacements lined the walls. Dual-purpose, able to engage aerial threats as well as ground targets - and three covered the village. Patrols on the walls and at the base of the walls, probably on both sides of them, and in the fields. Those were pretty standard defences. Ba'al almost assuredly had some nastier surprises hidden in the palace and a few escape routes prepared, but Sam was confident they could deal with that; between Entrapta, Bow and herself, and their experience with Ba'al's systems, they should be able to take over the security systems and sensors easily enough.
"Alright. It looks like we've got a window of opportunity to reach the walls through the canal there as soon as that patrol has passed us," Adora said in a low voice over the communicator. "Be ready."
Sam was ready.
*****
Ba'al's Palace, PB-1763, Ba'al's Realm, August 12th, 2000 (Earth Time)
Passing underwater through the irrigation canals to the palace walls had been slightly uncomfortable but easily handled. The new uniforms and their sealed helmet option helped a lot. If her fur had gotten all wet… Catra shuddered at the thought. There had been a lot of gunk in the murky water, and she didn't give a damn whether that stuff would be good fertiliser for the fields or not, and that the wastewater from the palace had to go somewhere, as Daniel and Sam had explained - they didn't have fur all over their body that would take ages to clean if that filth got on it.
But now they had to enter the palace proper, and that meant diving deeper into the lake here - according to Entrapta and Sam's scans, the pipe that led into the palace grounds was pretty far down there. Something about varying levels of water or whatever. But unlike the spot where the palace's wastewater line fed into the main canal, this spot wasn't guarded by a squad of Jaffa.
It still meant that they had to dive a bit too deep for her taste. Fortunately, the uniforms were rated for space, so they didn't have to worry about pressure effects and things. They only had to deal with security systems, sensors and traps.
"Alright, the sensors covering the lake are currently blind to us," Entrapta reported over the communicator.
"Let's dive and rally at the target," Adora ordered.
Catra was first into the water. No 'cats and water' jokes today for her. She didn't jump, of course - that would have caused a splash guards could hear - but slid into the water and then dived down, the HUD in her helmet showing her where she needed to go. If they had had such a thing in the Horde, a number of exercises and operations would have gone differently. Well, some of the officers would have still managed to get lost, she was sure of that.
Forcing the stupid stray thoughts away, she pressed on, quickly reaching the large pipe that took water from the lake into the palace. There was a massive grate on it, but that wouldn't stop her. Once the others caught up - she made sure that Double Trouble hadn't gotten 'lost' on the way - and Sam checked that the sensors were off, Catra quickly sliced through the metal, and Adora pulled the grate away.
Entrapta sent the spy bot they had brought along ahead, and Catra closely followed its track on her HUD as it entered the pipe. Between the data data from the hacked security system and the stealthed bot, she got a decent picture of the pipe's interior as she looked for traps and other obstacles. It would be just like Ba'al to have some undocumented surprises in such places to catch those who thought that they just had to deal with the computers to get in. Though any trap would have to operate under some limitations, what with the need to let water in, so the trigger couldn't be too simple, and that meant sensors as well.
Ah! She grinned inside her helmet when she spotted a sensor on the feed from the bot that wasn't already marked by the HUD. "There's a trap ahead," she said.
"Got it!" Entrapta's voice answered. "Good bot! Now let's see what… Oh! That's a shaped charge, aimed down the pipe - the pressure probably would… no, the pipe's reinforced, so it wouldn't burst but funnel the pressure wave forward. Quite nasty."
Catra kept smiling even though she couldn't help imagining what would happen to anyone inside the pipe if the trap was triggered. They'd be pulped.
But her friends were already working on it, directing the bot to close in, and then started to disarm it - after the group had cleared the pipe entrance. Just in case.
But the charge didn't go off, and the bot moved on. They detected another trap, a stunning device built into the pipe where it bent to head straight up, but that was easily dealt with by hacking its sensor, and after cutting through a few more grates and filters, the bot reached the main water reservoir of the palace and surfaced in it.
"Jackpot," Jack muttered as the feeds showed rails lining the basin and ladders leading up.
"Multiple sensors that track the water quality," Sam reported. "We have to hack them so they won't report the effects of the bot cutting through the filters."
More delays - but necessary ones. Waiting underwater was getting a bit stressful. Fortunately, it didn't take too long until Sam announced that it was safe now, and Catra was the first into the pipe.
She quickly swam forward, resisting the urge to use her claws to pull herself along the pipe even if it would have been a bit faster, then up once she reached the bend.
Then she hit the surface inside the reservoir and looked around. No guards, no obvious traps.
They had it made inside the palace. Now came the fun part.
*****
Sneaking around in a snake palace never got old! Jack O'Neill bared his teeth in a grin while he peered around the corner ahead - he might be covered by Melog's illusion, but better safe than sorry; nothing was perfect. Certainly not magic.
But the corridor ahead was clear. No surprise there - they were just above the cistern, and it was pretty damp here; Ba'al's contractors must have pulled a fast one on him - according to Carter and Entrapta's scans, the entire level here was useless for pretty much anything that couldn't handle lots of humidity. No provisions, delicate electronics or archives would survive here.
Of course, Ba'al being Ba'al, he still found a use for it - the cold humidity was perfect for some good old-fashioned dungeon, as long as you don't mind that your prisoners died from pneumonia or inhaling poisonous mould or whatever. And Jack hadn't yet met a snake who would mind that. In fact, knowing Ba'al, he might have micro-managed construction to ensure he got mouldy cells in his dungeon…
Of course, anyone with a symbiont wouldn't die from a bit of mould and cold. And the prisoner they had detected with their scans had a symbiont inside them. The only question was whether they were a Jaffa or a snake.
As he moved down the corridor, to the cell tracts projected on his HUD, Jack hoped they were a Jaffa; you couldn't trust the snakes.
He reached the door barring the way into the dungeon proper and stepped to the side, letting his carbine drop, caught by the sling, to draw his zat while Carter and Bow dealt with the lock. There shouldn't be any guards inside. Entrapta was monitoring the hacked security system and hadn't spotted anyone behind the door who wasn't in a cell. And the magic scanner hadn't detected any symbionts outside the one in a cell, either.
But it wouldn't hurt to be ready to stun someone before they could raise the alarm.
"Oh! That's interesting…" Entrapta muttered.
He glanced at her, then at Carter. Carter would be able to tell if whatever Entrapta was talking about was important enough to share with the class, right?
"Entrapta?" Carter asked.
Or not.
"Oh, it's just the camera layout. It's quite complex - you know that already - but there are some blind spots that are cleverly hidden!"
Oh? "Maybe Ba'al's IT guy isn't as good as he should be," Jack said.
"No, no, that seems deliberate - there's a subroutine that alters the coverage angle without reporting it to the controls. Hm…"
"So, someone infiltrated this system before us? I guess the Tok'ra will feel even more embarrassed," Jack commented. Would serve them right, actually.
"But who could have done this? A rival? Sokar, maybe? Or a third faction we don't know yet?" Daniel speculated.
"Or someone planning a coup," Catra said.
"Well, I'm looking into this!" Entrapta announced - her face was almost completely hidden behind all the displays in her helmet, Jack noted. It didn't seem like she could see through it.
But before he could say anything, Bow spoke up. "Finally! That was harder than we expected! But we managed it!"
It has taken longer than I expected, Jack thought as he turned around and aimed his zat at the door. A moment later, it slid to the side, revealing an empty room - empty of people, that was. There were lots of torture devices. Some of them wouldn't have looked out of place in a fantasy movie, and some looked like someone misused a dentist's tools.
"Guess our pal Ba'al is a torture connoisseur. No one-size-fits-all torture device for him; he wants variety and all the classics," Jack joked and managed not to wince at what he recognised as a flensing knife thanks to one of Daniel's bloodier lectures.
"Oh. You think that's Ba'al's personal torture chamber?" Double Trouble bent over a rack. "How interesting!"
They sounded far too happy about this.
"This is so inspiring!" they went on.
Jack wasn't the only one narrowing his eyes at them, and Double Trouble looked annoyed when they noticed. "To better play his role, of course! This gives crucial insight into his character! Really, what do you think I meant?"
"That you like to torment people," Catra replied.
"Really! How long will you carry a grudge? It was good for you!"
"I can think of a few things that would be good for you too." Catra flashed her fangs.
"According to the security records, there is currently no cell occupied, sir," Carter interrupted the brewing clash from the closest console. "Our scans confirm that one is occupied, though."
"But the cell's not under surveillance," Bow added.
"And no guards are supposed to be here."
"And there are no guards. So… this is either the planet's most harmless prisoners… or someone no one is supposed to know about," Catra said.
Adora nodded. "Let's find out."
Jack went in first, just in case. Adoa could fix him if anything happened. But he couldn't fix her if Ba'al had cooked up something nasty enough to harm She-Ra.
He reached the cell marked on his HUD easily. There was no window in the door to peer inside either. More sloppy design?
Carter and Bow went to work on the lock of the door while the rest secured the area. Once again, it took them longer than expected - Carter seemed both annoyed and impressed, Jack noted.
But they managed to unlock the cell. Jack aimed his zat with one hand and opened the door with the other, revealing…
… Ba'al?
*****
"Colonel O'Neill… and She-Ra, Princess of Power, Protector of Etheria. I have to say that it is a surprise to see you two together, but I really should have seen this. The clues were all there."
Adora stared at the smirking man. Ba'al? In his own prison cell? That made no…
Catra's laugh interrupted her thoughts. "So, are you the original Ba'al who fell victim to a coup or a clone who failed to coup the original?"
Ah! That would explain it - of course, Catra would think of this, given her past.
Ba'al, who was wearing pretty plain clothes, not a glimpse of jewellery visible, shrugged. "Does it matter? What matters is that I am an enemy of your enemy, as my current circumstances clearly prove." He smiled at them, his eyes seeking out Adora's. "We are natural allies."
"If you say: 'join me, and together we can rule the galaxy', I'll have to shoot you," Jack said.
"Indeed." Teal'c was glaring at the Goa'uld.
Ba'al, still smirking, tilted his head slightly as he looked at Jack. "I would not make such an offer, Colonel O'Neill, since you aren't a fool, and neither am I."
"It's General these days," Jack replied. "Just for the record. Wouldn't want to confuse people."
Right. This Ba'al knew about She-Ra, which meant he had had access to the intel the Commander must have shared with Ba'al back in May this year. So, his imprisonment would have been a relatively recent event.
"General O'Neill." Ba'al nodded with what looked like genuine respect, even if he was still smirking. "Of course, your people would promote you, given your many victories over the Goa'uld."
Jack shrugged. "I just do what is needed. You know, pest control."
Ba'al nodded again and looked at Adora. "But none of those victories were as impressive as defeating Horde Prime and taking his realm for yourself."
That… wasn't exactly what had happened. Not like that. And shouldn't he know that? He had recruited the Commander and his fleet, after all. Adora narrowed her eyes. Was he fishing for information?
"Flattery won't get you anything," Catra spoke up.
"My experience would contradict that," Ba'al said.
"Of course it would - your people always flattered you, didn't they?" Glimmer cut in. "And the only peers you met were other System Lords - or yourself."
"You make a good point, Miss…? Or should that be Princess?"
That was a good guess. But no one had ever called Ba'al stupid.
"It's Queen these days," Glimmer said.
"Ah." Ba'al looked from her to Adora and back before smirking at Jack. "You keep interesting company, General. It seems you've become a bit more tolerant of other forms of government. Unless this is merely a temporary alliance and you intend to settle your ideological differences once you have taken care of your common enemies."
"We're not like you!" Glimer spat.
"So it may seem." Ba'al laughed. "But trust me on this - you won't have the measure of someone until and unless they are in a position to betray you and either do it or don't."
Was that a subtle claim that he was the original? Well, every clone thought they were the real Ba'al, didn't they?
"Well, we found out who's in this cell, and I think you'll keep. We can continue this talk once we've stopped kicking your other version's ass," Jack said.
"I wouldn't be so hasty, General," Ba'al said - a bit too quickly for his confident tone. "You've managed to sneak into my palace, but you are undoubtedly aware of how many forces I have amassed here - and how their weapons have been upgraded. My help would allow you to take this system without suffering huge casualties. Or causing them," he added with a smile while looking straight at Adora. "I think you are familiar with my standing orders for my forces - this will be a bloodbath even if you had overwhelming numbers, and the fact that you are currently here, in a covert and likely desperate attempt to decapitate my forces, tells me that you would prefer to avoid an all-out battle. I can help you there - and all I am asking for is a temporary alliance where you'd be holding all the cards."
He was good, Adora had to admit. Even a bit charming. But he was right - they were holding all the cards. And he was Ba'al.
She turned to Double Trouble. "Do you think that's enough?"
They smiled and nodded - and turned into Ba'al.
The expression on Ba'al's face when he saw this almost made Adora laugh out loud.
Jack and Catra didn't show such restraint.
*****
Faber_The_Builder
Muchkin of Megastructures
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Ba'al: "Haha! I will make myself crucial to their success and then doublecross them! Genius as always, Ba'al!
Double Trouble: "Yoink! As certain God of Mischief would says...YOUR POWERS ARE MINE!"
Ba'al: "Oh poop."
Double Trouble: "Yoink! As certain God of Mischief would says...YOUR POWERS ARE MINE!"
Ba'al: "Oh poop."
Last edited:
Chapter 183: The Election Campaign Part 5
Starfox5
Experienced.
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Chapter 183: The Election Campaign Part 5
Ba'al's Palace, PB-1763, Ba'al's Realm, August 12th, 2000 (Earth Time)
Samantha Carter was professional. Laughing at an enemy's misfortune was unprofessional, so she didn't. She felt like it, though - seeing Ba'al - the clone or original, she was leaning towards a clone - gape at Double Trouble was immensely satisfying.
"That's… How?" Ba'al stammered.
Double Trouble sneered at him. "You want to rule over the galaxy and lose your wits at the smallest surprise? No wonder you were left in this cell; obviously, you are no threat to actually competent rulers and were only kept alive as a source of replacement organs."
"Actually, Goa'uld Healing Devices should handle most cases where a host might need a replacement organ," Sam pointed out.
"Or they just switch hosts," Daniel added.
She nodded - that was, of course, the obvious solution for a System Lord.
"Who are you people?" Ba'al asked.
"We told you," Adora said. "I am She-Ra, Princess of Power. Protector of Etheria."
"I am Queen Glimmer of Bright Moon."
"I am Bow."
"Catra."
"And I'm Princess Entrapta of Dryl! Hi! If you have any more questions, feel free to ask!"
Ba'al blinked before glaring at Sam's friend - he seemed to have mistaken her honest offer for gloating mockery. That was good - it might mean that he distrusted the information the Etherians had just given out.
"And you know us already. By reputation, at least." The General shrugged. "So… as you can see, we don't really need you. We brought our own Ba'al."
"And I am far more suited for this role than you, you worthless worm!" Double Trouble spat.
Ba'al mirrored their expression. "You might be able to fake my host's appearance, but you cannot copy my true self! My Jaffa will quickly expose you fake!"
Sam felt the slight urge to gloat and tell Ba'al that since they could replace a Jaffa's symbiont with a synthetic one, modifying one to mimic a Goa'uld's presence took no more than a bit of Naquadah and an afternoon's work at Alpha. But since she was a professional soldier, she didn't.
She smiled widely, though.
"That's what you think, you poor excuse for a Goa'uld!" Double Trouble chuckled. "Unlike you incapable imitation, I am a true System Lord! I shall rule this system and turn it into a fortress the likes you have never seen!"
"Well, perhaps dial down the megalomania a bit, Chameleon," the General spoke up.
"Chameleon?" Double Trouble frowned. "I am far beyond that mere colour-changing animal! I am an artist! And this is merely me exploring the character so I will be able to portray him so perfectly, he will be doubting his own self if he sees me in action!"
"Well, you certainly have his ego down pat," the General said.
"Not that they had to make any effort for that," Catra added.
"A cheap imitation won't fool my trusted guards!"
Glimmer snorted. "The same trusted guards who threw you in this cell?"
Ba'al ignored her, but Sam caught him clenching his teeth. "This won't work. You lack the knowledge to pass for me. You can't copy me!"
"Watch me and despair!" Double Trouble boasted.
"I think this is getting a bit repetitive. And annoying- We've got all we need from here?" The General looked around.
"There's no need to have this wretch face his own inadequacies any longer."
"I'll take that as a 'yes'."
"Wait! You are making a…"
The General's stun shot cut Ba'al off.
"So, do we leave him here?" Glimmer asked. "If we carry him with us, it might look suspicious, but if he wakes up and calls the guards, they might raise the alert."
"Yep. He would help the other Ba'al just to spite us," the General said.
"The dungeon was isolated and empty," Adora said. "We can leave him here, I think."
"The risk should be minimal," Catra agreed. "But keep an eye on his cell, Entrapta."
"Will do!"
The General nodded.
None mentioned the alternative to ensure Ba'al couldn't hurt them, but Sam was sure many amongst them were thinking about it.
"Let's head upstairs. We've got a snake to replace."
"Indeed."
"Yes! Soon, the entire world shall bow to my greatness! They shall gaze upon the most magnificent performance ever and despair when they realise they will never see its equal again!"
Sam rolled her eyes and clenched her teeth. She wasn't sure whether Double Trouble was deliberately aggravating or method acting, but she was rapidly wishing they would copy Sam again - those boasts in Ba'al's voice were just too annoying.
Catra wasn't quite sure that Double Trouble was a more trustworthy temporary ally than Ba'al - she expected them to try to betray them sooner or later, depending on how they judged the situation - but it was better to go with the devil you knew, as the humans from Earth said.
Prepared.
She nodded at Melog. Yes, they were prepared for Double Trouble. As much as they could - Catra wouldn't put it past Double Trouble to pull one over them in the chaos of whatever awaited them in the upper parts of the palace. She had fought too many battles - and coups - to trust that everything would go according to plan as long as you just prepared hard enough.
Unlike Adora, she added with a fond smile as she glanced at her love. Catra had her work cut out for her to keep Adora from working herself to exhaustion in the war.
"So… which outfit should I pick for meeting my faithful guards upstairs?" Double Trouble asked.
Catra rolled her eyes when she saw them circling through multiple different outfits - several amongst them that hadn't been in the briefing about Ba'al. Well, the prisoner rags technically were worn by one version of Ba'al.
"Not the prisoner's outfit," Glimmer told them. "That would make everyone assume you are a clone."
"Or the loser of a power struggle - the Ba'al there could be the original," Daniel pointed out.
"Oh, but if they think I am the Ba'al from the dungeon - which were quite stylish, just saying if you want to expand the Royal Palace, Queen Glimmer - escaped and now coming to settle the score, that could attract both hidden loyalists and opportunists and throw the enemy into chaos!" Double Trouble smiled so widely, Catra suspected they were stretching Ba'al's face more than what was naturally possible.
"We don't want chaos," Ador reminded them. "We want to replace the current Ba'al with you without anyone noticing so you can order the garrison to surrender."
"I gotcha. Just offering an alternative," Double Trouble said.
Scheming.
Catra knew that already. Sure, if they couldn't achieve the main objective, throwing the enemy forces into disarray by launching what would look like a coup was a decent alternative, but she was sure that Double Trouble had some ulterior motives as well. They loved chaos even if it caused a lot of harm, and if Ba'al lost control and his forces started to fight each other, they would likely have an opportunity to slip away while everyone was busy fighting or trying to save the innocent victims and calling in the task force. They had done the same thing in the past.
But they wouldn't get away this time, Catra vowed. They couldn't risk Double Trouble falling into the hands of the Goa'uld; they knew too much. And no one could afford Double Trouble taking over a System Lord's domain.
Not to mention that Catra still owed them payback for what they pulled in the Horde War.
Angry.
Yes, she was. But with good reason.
"We'll hack the systems and then find out what Ba'al is wearing," Sam said.
"Oh! Just for me? You're too kind, honey! And too pretty, should you just make a tiny effort. But you already know that, right?" Double Trouble chuckled, and Catra felt the fur on her neck bristle at the sound.
Really, Ba'al's voice and looks with Double Trouble's attitude was the worst possible combination.
"So… perhaps that great skirt and bare chest combo? With enough gold to drown a siren?"
"Quiet now!" Catra hissed. They'd reached the stairs leading to the ground floor.
"As quiet as a grave. Oh - too dark? I thought gallows humour was all the rage in the army."
"Double Trouble."
"Yes, yes. Just trying to keep up morale."
Watching.
Catra smiled at Melog and then slipped past Adora to take point. Her ears twitched as she sneaked up the stairs, noting a half-finished security sensor installation on the way.
"Possible access point here," she said through her communicator after marking the location while she climbed the next flight and approached the door there.
"Footsteps outside!" she hissed a moment later. "At least four, marching in step. Probably not much more."
"Patrol on the grounds," Jack replied. "Ba'al would have increased his security after a coup even if he won it."
Of course.
"We can use the ventilation ducts!" Entrapta suggested. "They usually forget to patrol those!"
"Not Ba'al. I bet he has them trapped like he trapped the pipes," Glimmer protested.
"We can deal with traps," Bow said.
"Let's see if Melog can get us through the palace without having to take the Entrapta express," Jack said.
"My express? Oh, you mean the ducts! Yes, they are often the fastest way to get around! And you don't usually get stopped, either, as long as people know you."
"The sensor installation is incomplete and not connected to the main security nodes yet," Sam reported. "But it's clearly meant to be an independent, secondary security system relying mostly on hard lines. And if they started building it, we have to assume that there are already parts of it that are working."
Meaning, they needed a way to hack those as well. If they relied on data lines, they couldn't hack them remotely.
Catra hated it when enemies were competent.
Things were going about par for the course, as far as Jack O'Neill was concerned. One surprise Ba'al appearance in a cell - it was always nice to see a bad guy hoisted by his own petard - and the more-or-less expected minor complication due to the snake being a sneaky bastard.
But Jack trusted his team and allies. Carter and the others would deal with the tech part and hack the secondary system as well. If it was actually working already; it certainly wasn't finished - it looked like Ba'al might have overreached a bit, or miscalculated how many resources he had available. Or he had played his cards too close to his chest - not a bad idea for Ba'al, actually, since he was dealing with clones of himself - and kept the project a bit too secret, so some underling had reassigned workers to tasks that looked more important than whatever excuse Ba'al had come up with for this.
Lots of things could go wrong when you were playing those games.
Just as lots of things could go wrong when you were sneaking into an enemy palace to nab the ruler. Doubly so if you did it with an unreliable and only half-willing shapeshifter in tow who couldn't be left out of sight or they would bail on you - or worse - at the first opportunity.
Still better than trying to make a deal with either Ba'al's clone or Ba'al himself, of course. And three Ba'als were two too many to begin with.
But he had better focus on the problem at hand. He checked the map on his HUD, watching as the scanners updated the known locations of everyone - or so he hoped - inside the place. It was pretty obvious where Ba'al's quarters were - the top floor was laid out like some dictator's dream vacation home. It reminded him of a mansion that Jack almost got to raid to nab a troublesome individual before the local government changed and the problem solved itself, so to speak. Although the manor had lacked a command centre and a ring transporter next to the oversized bedroom. And, of course, a snake in a human body surrounded by Jaffa guards, but they had had the human servants the scanner showed him here.
He nodded. "So, unless Ba'al has gone as far as to use his luxury penthouse as bait with another clone of his inside it while he is staying in a spartan room, the top floor is our target. We need to secure or sabotage the ring transporter so he can't escape."
"Re-route it to transport him into a cell next to his clone," Catra suggested, and he heard her smirking through the communicator.
"We can do that, but it will probably take some time to crack the encryption." Entrapta, of course, took the joke seriously.
"Just disable it - but make it so we can still use it in an emergency," Adora said.
"Well, we need to crack the encryption for that as well, so… OK!"
"Shouldn't we worry about how we get to the top, first, Jack?" Daniel asked. "There's a lot of security on all the floors between us and the top floor."
"Even with Melog's help, we'll have to be very careful about moving around the patrols," Catra said.
"They don't patrol in the ventilation ducts," Entrapta said.
They didn't - but as they had already discussed, Ba'al couldn't have overlooked that weakness and would have trapped the ducts with some nasty stuff. And if they were detected inside the ducts, they would be trapped, barely able to defend themselves against whatever response Ba'al had had his guards prepare.
"I am sure I could convince the patrols that I'm the real Ba'al and they should let us through," Double Trouble said.
That might be possible, but Jack didn't like it. He didn't trust them - and they sounded a bit too smug when they suggested it.
"I could teleport us, two at a time, but without a clear image of the destination, it's a bit… iffy," Glimmer said.
"Like when you visited me for the first time?" Entrapta nodded. "And you were randomly teleporting around my palace?"
"Yes," Glimmer replied in a flat voice.
Yeah, Jack had heard about that. No, the odds of raising an alert by ending up next to a guard by chance were too damn high for his taste.
Adora shook her head. "We're not desperate yet."
"We don't have cameras hacked inside the top floor. But could you teleport us to the floor beneath the top?" Carter asked. "We have a good coverage of that area."
Glimmer nodded. "Yes, I should be able to do that. But I won't be able to do it more than once."
That was… well, less than ideal. Jack had liked having a teleporter as a safety net. But the mission came first, and if things went sideways, well, it wouldn't be the first time they would have had to shoot their way out of a snake's palace.
"Yes, let's do that," Adora said. "And then work on a way to reach the top floor."
Jack looked at the model on his HUD again. Back when he had been preparing the manor raid, they had discussed various entry points. The palace didn't have laundry chutes, but Ba'al had a huge balcony, to properly look down on his slaves. And with Melog's illusions, climbing up one floor shouldn't be too much of a problem, even with Double Trouble…
Hidden by Melog, Adora leaned out of the window - which looked like an unfinished gun emplacement judging by the holes and connections left open on the ground - and watched as Catra scaled the wall to the balcony above them. Her claws left marks in the walls, but that was OK - by the time anyone noticed, they would have finished the mission. And if anyone noticed the marks, they might even think that they were leftovers from construction - Adora had seen a few such spots on their trip through the palace.
Catra reached the top, and Adroa saw her carefully raise her head to peer over the railing, wait a moment, then slide over it in one smooth motion.
"It's clear," she reported over the communicator. "Doors are closed."
A moment later, she reappeared and lowered a line down.
Adora grabbed it and stepped back in, securing the line to the wall with one of Entrapta's 'quick-adhesives' or what Jack called 'magic glue'. She gave it a quick tug to test it - just in case the line was cut above them - then nodded. "Let's go."
Jack climbed up himself, followed by Bow, and Entrapta's hair could reach the edge of the balcony without any help, but Adora quickly carried the others - Double Trouble first so they wouldn't try to sneak away - up. She ignored their complaints. The faster they were all up there, the better.
Once done, she pulled the line off the wall before going up herself. Melog could cover a lot, but there was no need to make them hide more than they really needed.
On the balcony, the others were already checking the doors. They looked plain but massive, more fitting for a bunker than a palace. Then again, given Goa'uld views of loyalty in general and Ba'al's in particular, that made sense. And Ba'al probably planned to decorate the doors with half a ton of gold anyway.
"It feels half-finished as well. Just how old - or new - is this palace?" Jack asked.
"They incorporated Horde tech on a basic level. That would indicate that planning was only finished after they made contact with the lost fleet, sir," Sam told him without looking away from where she was analysing the locks.
"It just feels weird that he hasn't finished the palace before moving in," Jack said. "I'd expected him to rush things by throwing slave workers at it in huge numbers."
"He probably prioritised yards and factories," Catra said.
Adora nodded. "And the way he compartmentalises his forces, he probably couldn't move too many workers here." That would have defeated the point of his policies.
"That's a very sophisticated lock. We've hacked the security on the balcony, but the lock is completely independent," Entrapta said. "I wonder how they update the data banks with permissions - maybe they have to do it by hand and on location? And if they haven't updated recently, maybe the Ba'al from prison could have opened it."
"I think Ba'al - whoever Ba'al - would have adjusted the permissions in this case," Bow said. "I don't think they would risk a rival escaping and then entering their quarters."
"Yeah." Catra nodded. "But they need a way to tell one Ba'al clone from the other."
"Right!" Entrapta nodded. "And if that's in the door's data banks…"
"...then we can secure it!" Sam finished for her,
"Do you always work like that?" Double Trouble asked.
"Pretty much, yep," Jack said with a toothy grin.
Double Trouble made a scoffing noise. "Wonderful. It's like having a stage crew who are doing things for the first time while reading the manual out loud."
"You really think you're the star here?" Catra snorted. "You're the late-comer playing a side-character added at the last minute."
"I'm the one who will make or break this act!" Double Trouble announced as if they were on stage. Since they were looking like Ba'al right now, it didn't seem out of place.
But this wasn't the time to bicker. "Quiet. We're about to sneak inside and need to take control of the ring transporter and the other doors before anyone notices us," Adora told them.
Catra snorted again, and Double Trouble pouted, but they did stop bickering, so Adora counted this as a success.
"Is Ba'al even in there right now?" Double Trouble asked after a moment.
"We're tracking a matching individual through our sensors," Sam told them.
"That's not a yes or no."
"It's Ba'al. We don't know yet if this is the original or another clone," Daniel said.
"We will need to examine both Ba'als very thoroughly to find out who amongst them is the original," Sam added. "Both could be clones."
That would fit the unfinished palace, Adora thought. On the other hand, the original probably wouldn't have left two of his clones at the same place. But he wasn't perfect. And if a clone of his went rogue, they might have attempted to take over another's base… Adora pressed her lips together.
She didn't like such head games.
"Alright! We've got the database copied over! Oh, and we cracked the lock," Entrapta announced.
Adora smiled. "Then let's open it!"
Samantha Carter tensed when she entered the command on her computer to open the doors. Their scanners showed that the room behind it was empty, but the rooms connected to it were occupied, and a corridor led further into the building. Melog could only do so much to hide them - if someone noticed a draft from the open door, or heard them, things could go wrong in an instant. Ba'al would have placed his best and most loyal guards in his quarters.
And as she had feared, when the doors slid to the side, revealing a luxurious lounge behind them, with three closed doors and one open door ahead showing a corridor, she saw decorative plants move in the air streaming inside.
But no alert rang out as the group quickly entered. Still, Sam rushed to close the doors again, overriding the lock once more, and a moment later, the doors closed and the plants stopped moving.
Entrapta and Bow were already at two of the closed doors, hacking the locks - this time, to seal the rooms and keep the people inside contained. Sam hastened to the third to do the same. Fortunately, the locks were not quite as difficult to hack as the one on the blast doors had been, and her computer quickly gave her complete control.
"Rooms are sealed, sir," she reported. "No Jaffa detected inside," she added after a glance at the HUD.
"Alright, you've got your targets! Good luck!" the General announced over the communicator, and the group split up in the corridor.
Sam, Teal'c, Bow and Glimmer headed to the right, towards the ring transporter room. The others continued straight down, to the command centre where the single Goa'uld on this floor was located. Unfortunately, that meant Melog couldn't hide Sam's group. They had the routes to the transporter mapped out, and her HUD showed her that no patrols were in the way, but it still made Sam feel exposed as she did her best to move both quickly and silently down the corridor towards their target. If anyone did cross their path, they would either have to take them down before they could sound the alarm or have Glimmer teleport them to an empty room before they were seen.
Sam wasn't too keen on either option; Glimmer had already teleported the entire group, which meant she was not at her best, and even with zat'nik'tels, which made stunning someone easy, something could go wrong. Catastrophically wrong.
But as they moved down the hallway, then took a turn left and continued past several smaller rooms that seemed to be servant and guards quarters, they managed to avoid the patrol headed in the other direction as well as a servant suddenly leaving their quarters by ducking into an alcove in the corridor - which contained a maintenance terminal, Sam discovered, hidden behind an ornate curtain. A heavily secured maintenance terminal.
She hesitated a moment. If she could hack this… but their objective was clear, and they were on a tight schedule; the General and the others were already in position, just waiting for her go-ahead to deal with Ba'al.
They continued to the transporter room, Teal'c taking the lead. Two guards were stationed inside, as the scanner showed. Teal'c and Sam would take one, Bow and Glimmer the other.
Everyone got ready. Sam met Glimmer's eyes, nodded and received a nod in return. A moment later, she hit the door controls.
Teal'c moved as the door started opening. His shot took the guard on their side by surprise as the Jaffa was just turning to cover the door.
Bow was barely slower, loosening an arrow through the gap before it was wide enough to pass through. Sam heard a muffled cry, then Teal's zat'nik'tel shot again.
One Jaffa stunned, one knocked out by a trick arrow with a charge and then stunned for good measure, Sam noted when she followed Teal'c inside and went straight for the transporter controls. It shouldn't take long, even accounting for Ba'al's heavy security, to take over the console.
"We're inside the room," Sam heard Glimmer report while she was connecting her computer to the console. "Guards down, working on the controls."
Sam focused on her task. The encryption was stronger than normal, but they were expecting that - and the architecture had enough similarities to the other machines she had hacked here to make her task easier. After about a minute, she had installed overrides to bypass the biometric checks, allowing them full control over the transporter. Objective achieved. She was about to report when her HUD flashed, announcing an alert - her scanner had detected an energy buildup in the power unit of the transporter?
She gasped. Was the transporter going active? But there was no transport being initiated! And the readings… The charge was already above the power necessary for a transport and still building up! This wasn't a transport override - this was a trap! The room was turning into a bomb!
She must have missed a secondary scan or security sensors! But she had no time to berate her stupidity - she had to stop this charge from going critical. "The power supply's about to blow up - it's overcharging. I need to stop this and drain or divert the power!" she hissed into the communicator, her fingers flying over the keyboard of her computer.
"What?" Glimmer gasped, echoed by Adora and the General.
Sam repeated herself as she focused on the power lines. If she could connect them to an alternative outlet…
"What's going on?" Bow asked, kneeling down next to her to check the base of the console. "That's… oh!"
"I'm trying to initiate a transport to slow down the buildup," Sam said. "Move out of the ring!"
"Should we evacuate?" Adora asked.
"Give them time," the General answered.
The security circuits had locked, but she managed to override that, sending the rings up as the transport initiated. Maximum range - not that much of a difference, but every little bit helped.
But it had only slowed down the build-up, not even set it back. She keyed up a dozen more transports and focused on the power lines again. As she had suspected - she couldn't use the controls to reroute the power.
Bow had noticed the problem as well. "We need to physically connect a power line," he said. "But what system can take so much power?"
"Weapons or shielding," she stated the obvious solution - but this was Ba'al's personal quarters, not a floor with weapon emplacements. They would have to…
Her eyes widened. "…find the secret backup shield generators he would have undoubtedly installed!" she spoke out loud.
"Right!"
Sam switched her HUD to her scanner. If the scanner had not spotted such systems, then they were inert and not connected to a power source - not yet finished, in other words, and, therefore, not highlighted as a point of interest by the sensors. But they would be there, and with a slight adjustment… "There!" She marked the location.
"On it!" Bow rushed over to the wall. "We'll need to cut through here! And we need a powerline!"
"On it!" Sam replied, opening the console. There were all the backup power lines she needed - she just had to ensure she wouldn't get fried by the primaries while they initiated transport after transport.
And that would require finesse. And caution.
Clenching her teeth, Sam started to disconnect the secondary power line.
"I'm through the wall. I'm splicing a connector into the powerline here!" Bow reported.
Sam barely listened. She had to pull the loosened cable out without triggering a discharge by the already overheating main lines. And the charge was still building! By her rough estimate, they had less than a minute left before it went critical!
She bit her lower lip and pulled. The cable resisted for a moment - had it snagged on something? - but then Sam felt it come free.
She quickly pulled as much as she could - several metres - and then turned. It should be enough to reach Bow's connector. Should.
"Should the lines be glowing like this?" Glimmer asked.
Sam ignored her and rushed to Bow, dragging the line after her. He took it and pulled some more, forcing it into the connector.
Sam was already on her computer, greenlighting the new power line in the system. She could feel the vibrations from the console. "Get clear, everyone!"
"Clear!"
Sam initiated the power rerouting.
And watched, slowly releasing her breath, when the power supply finally started to decrease.
While she waited for Sam and Bow to stop whatever trap had been triggered in the transporter room - and trying not to show how anxious she was, no matter how much she trusted her friends - Catra wondered which Ba'al had installed it - the Ba'al inside the command centre hadn't really moved at all since the charge had started building up, and he surely would have received an alert if the trap had triggered - at the least so he could get clear himself before this section of the palace blew up. So, this hadn't been his doing. It was probably either a coup attempt or some failsafe from the real Ba'al.
Catra hoped it was another coup attempt, if only because then there was still a chance that this was the real Ba'al.
"The ring transporter has been secured."
That was a very restrained way to report that they wouldn't be blown up, in Catra's opinion. Typical for Sam, though.
"Alright! Everyone, ready?" Adora asked. She tried to sound confident, and did, but Catra could hear the relief in her tone.
"Yep."
Ready.
"Yes."
"I'll just wait out here, if that's OK."
"It's not."
"Yes!" Entrapta sounded as cheerful as ever.
"Yes," Catra said, grinning at the thought that her friend was probably disappointed because she hadn't been able to tackle the trap.
"Let's go!" Adora snapped.
"Opening the door!"
The door slid open, and Adora charged inside, Catra on her heels. Inside, half a dozen Jaffa were turning to face them, reacting to the sound of the door opening - Melog could hide them from view, but couldn't suppress the noise. The Ba'al in the centre of the room, staring at a holographic projection of the system, was looking over his shoulder.
Cara saw his eyes widen when Adora slammed into the closest Jaffa, sending the warrior flying through the air. Catra herself jumped over the console in front of her, slashing at the Jaffa manning it with her claws, and his attempt to cry out in alarm ended in a gargling, bloody sound while he gripped his slashed throat with both hands.
A third guard was down, struck by Jack's zat.
But the rest was already firing - two at the walls, though.
Fooled.
Those guards were good indeed. They were calling out alarms as well, but the door had closed again, and Entrapta was handling the electronic alerts.
The last Jaffa, operating another console, was shooting at Adora even though she was still hidden. Adora was even hit - Catra felt her heart skip for a moment - but ignored the shot and tackled Ba'al.
A moment later, Catra pounced on the shooter, her claws shredding his arm and throat, before he could shoot a second time. She landed in a crouch on the dying Jaffa, her foot claws ripping into his chest as she launched herself at the remaining guard - Jack had downed the second already.
That one whirled his staff weapon around him in a decent but doomed attempt to fend off attackers he couldn't see. She came at him from behind, ducked under the spinning staff and slid over the metal floor, feet first, to slash through his ankles with her claws, then ripped through his neck when he twisted and started to fall.
"Room secured," Catra reported over the communicator after a glance around.
"You! Traitor!" Ba'al, held up by Adora gripping his collar as if he were a kitten, ignored everyone to glare at Double Trouble. "I should have killed you right away! You think you can replace me?"
"Oh, honey!" Double Trouble's smile threatened to reach their ears. "I'll do much more than replace you. When I am done, even you will think I was the real Ba'al!"
Ba'al blinked at that. "You know you're but a clone? And you still dare to go against me?"
"Oh, I am much better than a clone of yours." Double Trouble chuckled and stepped closer to him before reaching up and touching his cheek with the tip of one finger.
Ba'al tried to pull back, looking more disturbed than angry now - Catra saw that he had a small scratch where Double Trouble had touched him. "What… Who are you?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?"
Ba'al looked around, staring at Catra as if he noticed her for the first time, then at the others. His eyes widened when he saw Jack and Daniel. "SG-1? But you aren't…" He craned his neck, trying to look at Adora. "She-Ra!"
"Always nice to be recognised," Jack said with a grin.
"Uh, I thought being recognised was bad, especially on infiltration missions?"
"Daniel! Not the time!
Catra snorted and checked with Entrapta. "Any alarms?"
"None got through!" her friend replied, hair tendrils flying over two consoles. "I stopped them before they could ring out."
"So, you have joined forces with Horde Prime's successor, O'Neill?" Ba'al scoffed, sounding as arrogant as if he were talking to a prisoner instead of being one. "And you think they won't turn on you at the earliest opportunity?" He turned to Adora. "And you! Do you know what they did to Ra? You think you can avoid his fate?"
"Well, we dealt with the bomb in your transporter room already," Catra told him.
Ba'al looked honestly surprised for a moment.
Damn. That meant there was another one involved. Granted, that had been a possibility from the start, but it would have been nice if they had been lucky for once. But things had been going a bit too well, it seemed.
Jack O'Neill frowned. The snake hadn't known about the bomb - Carter might call it something technical, but if it was triggered like a bomb and blew you up like a bomb, it was a bomb. That meant someone else had placed it. And he didn't think the Ba'al in the cell was responsible.
"That was merely one of my precautions!" Ba'al boasted. "This is my palace! You will never make it out of here alive!"
Jack waited a moment, then made a point of looking confused. "Isn't that the point where you make your transparently dishonest offer of letting us live if we surrender? Followed by more lies and bribes you never mean to pay?"
He heard Catra snicker at that.
Ba'al sneered and twisted a bit. "Princess She-Ra! Surely, you know better than to trust those traitors! They will betray you as soon as they think you are the bigger threat to their plans!"
Adora scoffed. "I trust my friends!"
"If you trust any clone of mine, then you are a fool!" he spat.
"Uh… that doesn't seem to be a good argument to get us to trust you, I think," Daniel spoke up.
"I am not a clone! I am Ba'al! Lord of my entire domain!"
What was the saying again? If you had to tell people that you were strong, you weren't? Yep, that guy didn't seem to be the real Ba'al. "So… any more surprises left around here?" Jack asked Entrapta.
"I didn't detect any explosives - or sabotaged power supplies or capacitors," Entrapta replied. "No toxins, either. Although there are several unfinished potential delivery systems for such agents. But those could also be some pest control devices. Or if you wanted to flood your bedroom with the perfect scented candle extract for each mood you wanted to set."
That… Jack wasn't going to ask if she was talking from experience.
"So… Do I still replace this clone, or are you going to find the real Ba'al first?" Double Trouble asked.
They didn't sound as disappointed as Jack would have expected, so they were probably planning how to use this development to their advantage.
"No." Adora shook her head - Ba'al was shaken a bit along, Jack noted. "We've planned for such a situation."
"What? I wasn't told that! Why wasn't I told about that plan?"
"Need to know, and you don't need to know," Catra told them.
"They don't trust you!" Ba'al, ever the opportunist, cut in. "They plan to betray you as soon as you are no longer useful, you fool!"
"Of course they do! That's how the game is played!" Double Trouble replied with a wide grin. "That's what makes it exciting!"
"No, we do not betray our allies or break our word," Adora said. "But we aren't fools either. We will keep our deal with you."
Jack heard the unspoken 'and you better do the same' just fine.
And so did Double Trouble, it seemed - they were pouting and scowling.
Adora turned to Entrapta. "Tell me when you've hacked their communication system and the chip network."
"Will do!" Entrapota replied enthusiastically without looking up from whatever she was staring at in her HUD.
"What are you planning? If the real Ba'al is out there somewhere in the system… Oh!" Double Trouble was smiling widely. "You're going to throw everything into chaos!"
Jack glared at them - they knew that this would start the battle they had hoped to avoid altogether, and were happy about it.
Adora turned to Catra. "Contact the task force. We're going with the alternative attack plan."
Timing would be crucial so the task force would arrive at the optimal moment to exploit the mess they were about to start.
"So, what do you want me to do? Order the clone fighters to attack the home fleet?" Double Trouble asked.
"We're trying to save them, not kill them ourselves!" Daniel snapped.
"You will tell all of Baal's forces that reinforcements are coming - another Horde Fleet has joined him," Adora said. "Then you'll act as if there's a coup, and someone's trying to kill you and crash all communication."
"And then you'll crash communication, and my last orders will be to assist your fleet." Double Trouble nodded. "Ruthless. I like it!" Another of those too-wide grins followed. "Hordak would be proud - or is that his idea?"
Adora scowled, and Catra hissed under her breath.
"No, that wasn't Hordak's idea," Entrapta said. "I think it was a collaboration between Sha're and Catra, but we were kinda split between different planning groups, and I was focused on the technological parts, not strategy and tactics."
Both Double Trouble and Ba'al were staring at her.
"Oh, and we've got control of the communication networks - both of them!" Entrapt added with a smile.
"Great!" Adora smiled. "Give the signal to the fleet to launch the attack and tell us their ETA!" she told Catra.
"Melog, please fetch Glimmer and the others."
The cat nodded and dashed out of the room.
"Wait!" Ba'al blurted out. "If you wish to save my servants and warriors, I can help you more than anyone else!"
"Darling, you can't even help yourself!" Double Trouble chuckled.
"How dare you, you insolent…"
Jack stunned the snake with his zat. They had no time to waste listening to his ranting.
"Sha're is ready to pick us up," Daniel reported.
"The fleet's underway," Catra added. "ETA is oh seven thirty-four and fifteen seconds."
Jack checked the time on his HUD. It wasn't too long, but he hated waiting.
Ba'al's Palace, PB-1763, Ba'al's Realm, August 12th, 2000 (Earth Time)
Samantha Carter was professional. Laughing at an enemy's misfortune was unprofessional, so she didn't. She felt like it, though - seeing Ba'al - the clone or original, she was leaning towards a clone - gape at Double Trouble was immensely satisfying.
"That's… How?" Ba'al stammered.
Double Trouble sneered at him. "You want to rule over the galaxy and lose your wits at the smallest surprise? No wonder you were left in this cell; obviously, you are no threat to actually competent rulers and were only kept alive as a source of replacement organs."
"Actually, Goa'uld Healing Devices should handle most cases where a host might need a replacement organ," Sam pointed out.
"Or they just switch hosts," Daniel added.
She nodded - that was, of course, the obvious solution for a System Lord.
"Who are you people?" Ba'al asked.
"We told you," Adora said. "I am She-Ra, Princess of Power. Protector of Etheria."
"I am Queen Glimmer of Bright Moon."
"I am Bow."
"Catra."
"And I'm Princess Entrapta of Dryl! Hi! If you have any more questions, feel free to ask!"
Ba'al blinked before glaring at Sam's friend - he seemed to have mistaken her honest offer for gloating mockery. That was good - it might mean that he distrusted the information the Etherians had just given out.
"And you know us already. By reputation, at least." The General shrugged. "So… as you can see, we don't really need you. We brought our own Ba'al."
"And I am far more suited for this role than you, you worthless worm!" Double Trouble spat.
Ba'al mirrored their expression. "You might be able to fake my host's appearance, but you cannot copy my true self! My Jaffa will quickly expose you fake!"
Sam felt the slight urge to gloat and tell Ba'al that since they could replace a Jaffa's symbiont with a synthetic one, modifying one to mimic a Goa'uld's presence took no more than a bit of Naquadah and an afternoon's work at Alpha. But since she was a professional soldier, she didn't.
She smiled widely, though.
"That's what you think, you poor excuse for a Goa'uld!" Double Trouble chuckled. "Unlike you incapable imitation, I am a true System Lord! I shall rule this system and turn it into a fortress the likes you have never seen!"
"Well, perhaps dial down the megalomania a bit, Chameleon," the General spoke up.
"Chameleon?" Double Trouble frowned. "I am far beyond that mere colour-changing animal! I am an artist! And this is merely me exploring the character so I will be able to portray him so perfectly, he will be doubting his own self if he sees me in action!"
"Well, you certainly have his ego down pat," the General said.
"Not that they had to make any effort for that," Catra added.
"A cheap imitation won't fool my trusted guards!"
Glimmer snorted. "The same trusted guards who threw you in this cell?"
Ba'al ignored her, but Sam caught him clenching his teeth. "This won't work. You lack the knowledge to pass for me. You can't copy me!"
"Watch me and despair!" Double Trouble boasted.
"I think this is getting a bit repetitive. And annoying- We've got all we need from here?" The General looked around.
"There's no need to have this wretch face his own inadequacies any longer."
"I'll take that as a 'yes'."
"Wait! You are making a…"
The General's stun shot cut Ba'al off.
"So, do we leave him here?" Glimmer asked. "If we carry him with us, it might look suspicious, but if he wakes up and calls the guards, they might raise the alert."
"Yep. He would help the other Ba'al just to spite us," the General said.
"The dungeon was isolated and empty," Adora said. "We can leave him here, I think."
"The risk should be minimal," Catra agreed. "But keep an eye on his cell, Entrapta."
"Will do!"
The General nodded.
None mentioned the alternative to ensure Ba'al couldn't hurt them, but Sam was sure many amongst them were thinking about it.
"Let's head upstairs. We've got a snake to replace."
"Indeed."
"Yes! Soon, the entire world shall bow to my greatness! They shall gaze upon the most magnificent performance ever and despair when they realise they will never see its equal again!"
Sam rolled her eyes and clenched her teeth. She wasn't sure whether Double Trouble was deliberately aggravating or method acting, but she was rapidly wishing they would copy Sam again - those boasts in Ba'al's voice were just too annoying.
*****
Catra wasn't quite sure that Double Trouble was a more trustworthy temporary ally than Ba'al - she expected them to try to betray them sooner or later, depending on how they judged the situation - but it was better to go with the devil you knew, as the humans from Earth said.
Prepared.
She nodded at Melog. Yes, they were prepared for Double Trouble. As much as they could - Catra wouldn't put it past Double Trouble to pull one over them in the chaos of whatever awaited them in the upper parts of the palace. She had fought too many battles - and coups - to trust that everything would go according to plan as long as you just prepared hard enough.
Unlike Adora, she added with a fond smile as she glanced at her love. Catra had her work cut out for her to keep Adora from working herself to exhaustion in the war.
"So… which outfit should I pick for meeting my faithful guards upstairs?" Double Trouble asked.
Catra rolled her eyes when she saw them circling through multiple different outfits - several amongst them that hadn't been in the briefing about Ba'al. Well, the prisoner rags technically were worn by one version of Ba'al.
"Not the prisoner's outfit," Glimmer told them. "That would make everyone assume you are a clone."
"Or the loser of a power struggle - the Ba'al there could be the original," Daniel pointed out.
"Oh, but if they think I am the Ba'al from the dungeon - which were quite stylish, just saying if you want to expand the Royal Palace, Queen Glimmer - escaped and now coming to settle the score, that could attract both hidden loyalists and opportunists and throw the enemy into chaos!" Double Trouble smiled so widely, Catra suspected they were stretching Ba'al's face more than what was naturally possible.
"We don't want chaos," Ador reminded them. "We want to replace the current Ba'al with you without anyone noticing so you can order the garrison to surrender."
"I gotcha. Just offering an alternative," Double Trouble said.
Scheming.
Catra knew that already. Sure, if they couldn't achieve the main objective, throwing the enemy forces into disarray by launching what would look like a coup was a decent alternative, but she was sure that Double Trouble had some ulterior motives as well. They loved chaos even if it caused a lot of harm, and if Ba'al lost control and his forces started to fight each other, they would likely have an opportunity to slip away while everyone was busy fighting or trying to save the innocent victims and calling in the task force. They had done the same thing in the past.
But they wouldn't get away this time, Catra vowed. They couldn't risk Double Trouble falling into the hands of the Goa'uld; they knew too much. And no one could afford Double Trouble taking over a System Lord's domain.
Not to mention that Catra still owed them payback for what they pulled in the Horde War.
Angry.
Yes, she was. But with good reason.
"We'll hack the systems and then find out what Ba'al is wearing," Sam said.
"Oh! Just for me? You're too kind, honey! And too pretty, should you just make a tiny effort. But you already know that, right?" Double Trouble chuckled, and Catra felt the fur on her neck bristle at the sound.
Really, Ba'al's voice and looks with Double Trouble's attitude was the worst possible combination.
"So… perhaps that great skirt and bare chest combo? With enough gold to drown a siren?"
"Quiet now!" Catra hissed. They'd reached the stairs leading to the ground floor.
"As quiet as a grave. Oh - too dark? I thought gallows humour was all the rage in the army."
"Double Trouble."
"Yes, yes. Just trying to keep up morale."
Watching.
Catra smiled at Melog and then slipped past Adora to take point. Her ears twitched as she sneaked up the stairs, noting a half-finished security sensor installation on the way.
"Possible access point here," she said through her communicator after marking the location while she climbed the next flight and approached the door there.
"Footsteps outside!" she hissed a moment later. "At least four, marching in step. Probably not much more."
"Patrol on the grounds," Jack replied. "Ba'al would have increased his security after a coup even if he won it."
Of course.
"We can use the ventilation ducts!" Entrapta suggested. "They usually forget to patrol those!"
"Not Ba'al. I bet he has them trapped like he trapped the pipes," Glimmer protested.
"We can deal with traps," Bow said.
"Let's see if Melog can get us through the palace without having to take the Entrapta express," Jack said.
"My express? Oh, you mean the ducts! Yes, they are often the fastest way to get around! And you don't usually get stopped, either, as long as people know you."
"The sensor installation is incomplete and not connected to the main security nodes yet," Sam reported. "But it's clearly meant to be an independent, secondary security system relying mostly on hard lines. And if they started building it, we have to assume that there are already parts of it that are working."
Meaning, they needed a way to hack those as well. If they relied on data lines, they couldn't hack them remotely.
Catra hated it when enemies were competent.
*****
Things were going about par for the course, as far as Jack O'Neill was concerned. One surprise Ba'al appearance in a cell - it was always nice to see a bad guy hoisted by his own petard - and the more-or-less expected minor complication due to the snake being a sneaky bastard.
But Jack trusted his team and allies. Carter and the others would deal with the tech part and hack the secondary system as well. If it was actually working already; it certainly wasn't finished - it looked like Ba'al might have overreached a bit, or miscalculated how many resources he had available. Or he had played his cards too close to his chest - not a bad idea for Ba'al, actually, since he was dealing with clones of himself - and kept the project a bit too secret, so some underling had reassigned workers to tasks that looked more important than whatever excuse Ba'al had come up with for this.
Lots of things could go wrong when you were playing those games.
Just as lots of things could go wrong when you were sneaking into an enemy palace to nab the ruler. Doubly so if you did it with an unreliable and only half-willing shapeshifter in tow who couldn't be left out of sight or they would bail on you - or worse - at the first opportunity.
Still better than trying to make a deal with either Ba'al's clone or Ba'al himself, of course. And three Ba'als were two too many to begin with.
But he had better focus on the problem at hand. He checked the map on his HUD, watching as the scanners updated the known locations of everyone - or so he hoped - inside the place. It was pretty obvious where Ba'al's quarters were - the top floor was laid out like some dictator's dream vacation home. It reminded him of a mansion that Jack almost got to raid to nab a troublesome individual before the local government changed and the problem solved itself, so to speak. Although the manor had lacked a command centre and a ring transporter next to the oversized bedroom. And, of course, a snake in a human body surrounded by Jaffa guards, but they had had the human servants the scanner showed him here.
He nodded. "So, unless Ba'al has gone as far as to use his luxury penthouse as bait with another clone of his inside it while he is staying in a spartan room, the top floor is our target. We need to secure or sabotage the ring transporter so he can't escape."
"Re-route it to transport him into a cell next to his clone," Catra suggested, and he heard her smirking through the communicator.
"We can do that, but it will probably take some time to crack the encryption." Entrapta, of course, took the joke seriously.
"Just disable it - but make it so we can still use it in an emergency," Adora said.
"Well, we need to crack the encryption for that as well, so… OK!"
"Shouldn't we worry about how we get to the top, first, Jack?" Daniel asked. "There's a lot of security on all the floors between us and the top floor."
"Even with Melog's help, we'll have to be very careful about moving around the patrols," Catra said.
"They don't patrol in the ventilation ducts," Entrapta said.
They didn't - but as they had already discussed, Ba'al couldn't have overlooked that weakness and would have trapped the ducts with some nasty stuff. And if they were detected inside the ducts, they would be trapped, barely able to defend themselves against whatever response Ba'al had had his guards prepare.
"I am sure I could convince the patrols that I'm the real Ba'al and they should let us through," Double Trouble said.
That might be possible, but Jack didn't like it. He didn't trust them - and they sounded a bit too smug when they suggested it.
"I could teleport us, two at a time, but without a clear image of the destination, it's a bit… iffy," Glimmer said.
"Like when you visited me for the first time?" Entrapta nodded. "And you were randomly teleporting around my palace?"
"Yes," Glimmer replied in a flat voice.
Yeah, Jack had heard about that. No, the odds of raising an alert by ending up next to a guard by chance were too damn high for his taste.
Adora shook her head. "We're not desperate yet."
"We don't have cameras hacked inside the top floor. But could you teleport us to the floor beneath the top?" Carter asked. "We have a good coverage of that area."
Glimmer nodded. "Yes, I should be able to do that. But I won't be able to do it more than once."
That was… well, less than ideal. Jack had liked having a teleporter as a safety net. But the mission came first, and if things went sideways, well, it wouldn't be the first time they would have had to shoot their way out of a snake's palace.
"Yes, let's do that," Adora said. "And then work on a way to reach the top floor."
Jack looked at the model on his HUD again. Back when he had been preparing the manor raid, they had discussed various entry points. The palace didn't have laundry chutes, but Ba'al had a huge balcony, to properly look down on his slaves. And with Melog's illusions, climbing up one floor shouldn't be too much of a problem, even with Double Trouble…
*****
Hidden by Melog, Adora leaned out of the window - which looked like an unfinished gun emplacement judging by the holes and connections left open on the ground - and watched as Catra scaled the wall to the balcony above them. Her claws left marks in the walls, but that was OK - by the time anyone noticed, they would have finished the mission. And if anyone noticed the marks, they might even think that they were leftovers from construction - Adora had seen a few such spots on their trip through the palace.
Catra reached the top, and Adroa saw her carefully raise her head to peer over the railing, wait a moment, then slide over it in one smooth motion.
"It's clear," she reported over the communicator. "Doors are closed."
A moment later, she reappeared and lowered a line down.
Adora grabbed it and stepped back in, securing the line to the wall with one of Entrapta's 'quick-adhesives' or what Jack called 'magic glue'. She gave it a quick tug to test it - just in case the line was cut above them - then nodded. "Let's go."
Jack climbed up himself, followed by Bow, and Entrapta's hair could reach the edge of the balcony without any help, but Adora quickly carried the others - Double Trouble first so they wouldn't try to sneak away - up. She ignored their complaints. The faster they were all up there, the better.
Once done, she pulled the line off the wall before going up herself. Melog could cover a lot, but there was no need to make them hide more than they really needed.
On the balcony, the others were already checking the doors. They looked plain but massive, more fitting for a bunker than a palace. Then again, given Goa'uld views of loyalty in general and Ba'al's in particular, that made sense. And Ba'al probably planned to decorate the doors with half a ton of gold anyway.
"It feels half-finished as well. Just how old - or new - is this palace?" Jack asked.
"They incorporated Horde tech on a basic level. That would indicate that planning was only finished after they made contact with the lost fleet, sir," Sam told him without looking away from where she was analysing the locks.
"It just feels weird that he hasn't finished the palace before moving in," Jack said. "I'd expected him to rush things by throwing slave workers at it in huge numbers."
"He probably prioritised yards and factories," Catra said.
Adora nodded. "And the way he compartmentalises his forces, he probably couldn't move too many workers here." That would have defeated the point of his policies.
"That's a very sophisticated lock. We've hacked the security on the balcony, but the lock is completely independent," Entrapta said. "I wonder how they update the data banks with permissions - maybe they have to do it by hand and on location? And if they haven't updated recently, maybe the Ba'al from prison could have opened it."
"I think Ba'al - whoever Ba'al - would have adjusted the permissions in this case," Bow said. "I don't think they would risk a rival escaping and then entering their quarters."
"Yeah." Catra nodded. "But they need a way to tell one Ba'al clone from the other."
"Right!" Entrapta nodded. "And if that's in the door's data banks…"
"...then we can secure it!" Sam finished for her,
"Do you always work like that?" Double Trouble asked.
"Pretty much, yep," Jack said with a toothy grin.
Double Trouble made a scoffing noise. "Wonderful. It's like having a stage crew who are doing things for the first time while reading the manual out loud."
"You really think you're the star here?" Catra snorted. "You're the late-comer playing a side-character added at the last minute."
"I'm the one who will make or break this act!" Double Trouble announced as if they were on stage. Since they were looking like Ba'al right now, it didn't seem out of place.
But this wasn't the time to bicker. "Quiet. We're about to sneak inside and need to take control of the ring transporter and the other doors before anyone notices us," Adora told them.
Catra snorted again, and Double Trouble pouted, but they did stop bickering, so Adora counted this as a success.
"Is Ba'al even in there right now?" Double Trouble asked after a moment.
"We're tracking a matching individual through our sensors," Sam told them.
"That's not a yes or no."
"It's Ba'al. We don't know yet if this is the original or another clone," Daniel said.
"We will need to examine both Ba'als very thoroughly to find out who amongst them is the original," Sam added. "Both could be clones."
That would fit the unfinished palace, Adora thought. On the other hand, the original probably wouldn't have left two of his clones at the same place. But he wasn't perfect. And if a clone of his went rogue, they might have attempted to take over another's base… Adora pressed her lips together.
She didn't like such head games.
"Alright! We've got the database copied over! Oh, and we cracked the lock," Entrapta announced.
Adora smiled. "Then let's open it!"
*****
Samantha Carter tensed when she entered the command on her computer to open the doors. Their scanners showed that the room behind it was empty, but the rooms connected to it were occupied, and a corridor led further into the building. Melog could only do so much to hide them - if someone noticed a draft from the open door, or heard them, things could go wrong in an instant. Ba'al would have placed his best and most loyal guards in his quarters.
And as she had feared, when the doors slid to the side, revealing a luxurious lounge behind them, with three closed doors and one open door ahead showing a corridor, she saw decorative plants move in the air streaming inside.
But no alert rang out as the group quickly entered. Still, Sam rushed to close the doors again, overriding the lock once more, and a moment later, the doors closed and the plants stopped moving.
Entrapta and Bow were already at two of the closed doors, hacking the locks - this time, to seal the rooms and keep the people inside contained. Sam hastened to the third to do the same. Fortunately, the locks were not quite as difficult to hack as the one on the blast doors had been, and her computer quickly gave her complete control.
"Rooms are sealed, sir," she reported. "No Jaffa detected inside," she added after a glance at the HUD.
"Alright, you've got your targets! Good luck!" the General announced over the communicator, and the group split up in the corridor.
Sam, Teal'c, Bow and Glimmer headed to the right, towards the ring transporter room. The others continued straight down, to the command centre where the single Goa'uld on this floor was located. Unfortunately, that meant Melog couldn't hide Sam's group. They had the routes to the transporter mapped out, and her HUD showed her that no patrols were in the way, but it still made Sam feel exposed as she did her best to move both quickly and silently down the corridor towards their target. If anyone did cross their path, they would either have to take them down before they could sound the alarm or have Glimmer teleport them to an empty room before they were seen.
Sam wasn't too keen on either option; Glimmer had already teleported the entire group, which meant she was not at her best, and even with zat'nik'tels, which made stunning someone easy, something could go wrong. Catastrophically wrong.
But as they moved down the hallway, then took a turn left and continued past several smaller rooms that seemed to be servant and guards quarters, they managed to avoid the patrol headed in the other direction as well as a servant suddenly leaving their quarters by ducking into an alcove in the corridor - which contained a maintenance terminal, Sam discovered, hidden behind an ornate curtain. A heavily secured maintenance terminal.
She hesitated a moment. If she could hack this… but their objective was clear, and they were on a tight schedule; the General and the others were already in position, just waiting for her go-ahead to deal with Ba'al.
They continued to the transporter room, Teal'c taking the lead. Two guards were stationed inside, as the scanner showed. Teal'c and Sam would take one, Bow and Glimmer the other.
Everyone got ready. Sam met Glimmer's eyes, nodded and received a nod in return. A moment later, she hit the door controls.
Teal'c moved as the door started opening. His shot took the guard on their side by surprise as the Jaffa was just turning to cover the door.
Bow was barely slower, loosening an arrow through the gap before it was wide enough to pass through. Sam heard a muffled cry, then Teal's zat'nik'tel shot again.
One Jaffa stunned, one knocked out by a trick arrow with a charge and then stunned for good measure, Sam noted when she followed Teal'c inside and went straight for the transporter controls. It shouldn't take long, even accounting for Ba'al's heavy security, to take over the console.
"We're inside the room," Sam heard Glimmer report while she was connecting her computer to the console. "Guards down, working on the controls."
Sam focused on her task. The encryption was stronger than normal, but they were expecting that - and the architecture had enough similarities to the other machines she had hacked here to make her task easier. After about a minute, she had installed overrides to bypass the biometric checks, allowing them full control over the transporter. Objective achieved. She was about to report when her HUD flashed, announcing an alert - her scanner had detected an energy buildup in the power unit of the transporter?
She gasped. Was the transporter going active? But there was no transport being initiated! And the readings… The charge was already above the power necessary for a transport and still building up! This wasn't a transport override - this was a trap! The room was turning into a bomb!
She must have missed a secondary scan or security sensors! But she had no time to berate her stupidity - she had to stop this charge from going critical. "The power supply's about to blow up - it's overcharging. I need to stop this and drain or divert the power!" she hissed into the communicator, her fingers flying over the keyboard of her computer.
"What?" Glimmer gasped, echoed by Adora and the General.
Sam repeated herself as she focused on the power lines. If she could connect them to an alternative outlet…
"What's going on?" Bow asked, kneeling down next to her to check the base of the console. "That's… oh!"
"I'm trying to initiate a transport to slow down the buildup," Sam said. "Move out of the ring!"
"Should we evacuate?" Adora asked.
"Give them time," the General answered.
The security circuits had locked, but she managed to override that, sending the rings up as the transport initiated. Maximum range - not that much of a difference, but every little bit helped.
But it had only slowed down the build-up, not even set it back. She keyed up a dozen more transports and focused on the power lines again. As she had suspected - she couldn't use the controls to reroute the power.
Bow had noticed the problem as well. "We need to physically connect a power line," he said. "But what system can take so much power?"
"Weapons or shielding," she stated the obvious solution - but this was Ba'al's personal quarters, not a floor with weapon emplacements. They would have to…
Her eyes widened. "…find the secret backup shield generators he would have undoubtedly installed!" she spoke out loud.
"Right!"
Sam switched her HUD to her scanner. If the scanner had not spotted such systems, then they were inert and not connected to a power source - not yet finished, in other words, and, therefore, not highlighted as a point of interest by the sensors. But they would be there, and with a slight adjustment… "There!" She marked the location.
"On it!" Bow rushed over to the wall. "We'll need to cut through here! And we need a powerline!"
"On it!" Sam replied, opening the console. There were all the backup power lines she needed - she just had to ensure she wouldn't get fried by the primaries while they initiated transport after transport.
And that would require finesse. And caution.
Clenching her teeth, Sam started to disconnect the secondary power line.
"I'm through the wall. I'm splicing a connector into the powerline here!" Bow reported.
Sam barely listened. She had to pull the loosened cable out without triggering a discharge by the already overheating main lines. And the charge was still building! By her rough estimate, they had less than a minute left before it went critical!
She bit her lower lip and pulled. The cable resisted for a moment - had it snagged on something? - but then Sam felt it come free.
She quickly pulled as much as she could - several metres - and then turned. It should be enough to reach Bow's connector. Should.
"Should the lines be glowing like this?" Glimmer asked.
Sam ignored her and rushed to Bow, dragging the line after her. He took it and pulled some more, forcing it into the connector.
Sam was already on her computer, greenlighting the new power line in the system. She could feel the vibrations from the console. "Get clear, everyone!"
"Clear!"
Sam initiated the power rerouting.
And watched, slowly releasing her breath, when the power supply finally started to decrease.
*****
While she waited for Sam and Bow to stop whatever trap had been triggered in the transporter room - and trying not to show how anxious she was, no matter how much she trusted her friends - Catra wondered which Ba'al had installed it - the Ba'al inside the command centre hadn't really moved at all since the charge had started building up, and he surely would have received an alert if the trap had triggered - at the least so he could get clear himself before this section of the palace blew up. So, this hadn't been his doing. It was probably either a coup attempt or some failsafe from the real Ba'al.
Catra hoped it was another coup attempt, if only because then there was still a chance that this was the real Ba'al.
"The ring transporter has been secured."
That was a very restrained way to report that they wouldn't be blown up, in Catra's opinion. Typical for Sam, though.
"Alright! Everyone, ready?" Adora asked. She tried to sound confident, and did, but Catra could hear the relief in her tone.
"Yep."
Ready.
"Yes."
"I'll just wait out here, if that's OK."
"It's not."
"Yes!" Entrapta sounded as cheerful as ever.
"Yes," Catra said, grinning at the thought that her friend was probably disappointed because she hadn't been able to tackle the trap.
"Let's go!" Adora snapped.
"Opening the door!"
The door slid open, and Adora charged inside, Catra on her heels. Inside, half a dozen Jaffa were turning to face them, reacting to the sound of the door opening - Melog could hide them from view, but couldn't suppress the noise. The Ba'al in the centre of the room, staring at a holographic projection of the system, was looking over his shoulder.
Cara saw his eyes widen when Adora slammed into the closest Jaffa, sending the warrior flying through the air. Catra herself jumped over the console in front of her, slashing at the Jaffa manning it with her claws, and his attempt to cry out in alarm ended in a gargling, bloody sound while he gripped his slashed throat with both hands.
A third guard was down, struck by Jack's zat.
But the rest was already firing - two at the walls, though.
Fooled.
Those guards were good indeed. They were calling out alarms as well, but the door had closed again, and Entrapta was handling the electronic alerts.
The last Jaffa, operating another console, was shooting at Adora even though she was still hidden. Adora was even hit - Catra felt her heart skip for a moment - but ignored the shot and tackled Ba'al.
A moment later, Catra pounced on the shooter, her claws shredding his arm and throat, before he could shoot a second time. She landed in a crouch on the dying Jaffa, her foot claws ripping into his chest as she launched herself at the remaining guard - Jack had downed the second already.
That one whirled his staff weapon around him in a decent but doomed attempt to fend off attackers he couldn't see. She came at him from behind, ducked under the spinning staff and slid over the metal floor, feet first, to slash through his ankles with her claws, then ripped through his neck when he twisted and started to fall.
"Room secured," Catra reported over the communicator after a glance around.
"You! Traitor!" Ba'al, held up by Adora gripping his collar as if he were a kitten, ignored everyone to glare at Double Trouble. "I should have killed you right away! You think you can replace me?"
"Oh, honey!" Double Trouble's smile threatened to reach their ears. "I'll do much more than replace you. When I am done, even you will think I was the real Ba'al!"
Ba'al blinked at that. "You know you're but a clone? And you still dare to go against me?"
"Oh, I am much better than a clone of yours." Double Trouble chuckled and stepped closer to him before reaching up and touching his cheek with the tip of one finger.
Ba'al tried to pull back, looking more disturbed than angry now - Catra saw that he had a small scratch where Double Trouble had touched him. "What… Who are you?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?"
Ba'al looked around, staring at Catra as if he noticed her for the first time, then at the others. His eyes widened when he saw Jack and Daniel. "SG-1? But you aren't…" He craned his neck, trying to look at Adora. "She-Ra!"
"Always nice to be recognised," Jack said with a grin.
"Uh, I thought being recognised was bad, especially on infiltration missions?"
"Daniel! Not the time!
Catra snorted and checked with Entrapta. "Any alarms?"
"None got through!" her friend replied, hair tendrils flying over two consoles. "I stopped them before they could ring out."
"So, you have joined forces with Horde Prime's successor, O'Neill?" Ba'al scoffed, sounding as arrogant as if he were talking to a prisoner instead of being one. "And you think they won't turn on you at the earliest opportunity?" He turned to Adora. "And you! Do you know what they did to Ra? You think you can avoid his fate?"
"Well, we dealt with the bomb in your transporter room already," Catra told him.
Ba'al looked honestly surprised for a moment.
Damn. That meant there was another one involved. Granted, that had been a possibility from the start, but it would have been nice if they had been lucky for once. But things had been going a bit too well, it seemed.
*****
Jack O'Neill frowned. The snake hadn't known about the bomb - Carter might call it something technical, but if it was triggered like a bomb and blew you up like a bomb, it was a bomb. That meant someone else had placed it. And he didn't think the Ba'al in the cell was responsible.
"That was merely one of my precautions!" Ba'al boasted. "This is my palace! You will never make it out of here alive!"
Jack waited a moment, then made a point of looking confused. "Isn't that the point where you make your transparently dishonest offer of letting us live if we surrender? Followed by more lies and bribes you never mean to pay?"
He heard Catra snicker at that.
Ba'al sneered and twisted a bit. "Princess She-Ra! Surely, you know better than to trust those traitors! They will betray you as soon as they think you are the bigger threat to their plans!"
Adora scoffed. "I trust my friends!"
"If you trust any clone of mine, then you are a fool!" he spat.
"Uh… that doesn't seem to be a good argument to get us to trust you, I think," Daniel spoke up.
"I am not a clone! I am Ba'al! Lord of my entire domain!"
What was the saying again? If you had to tell people that you were strong, you weren't? Yep, that guy didn't seem to be the real Ba'al. "So… any more surprises left around here?" Jack asked Entrapta.
"I didn't detect any explosives - or sabotaged power supplies or capacitors," Entrapta replied. "No toxins, either. Although there are several unfinished potential delivery systems for such agents. But those could also be some pest control devices. Or if you wanted to flood your bedroom with the perfect scented candle extract for each mood you wanted to set."
That… Jack wasn't going to ask if she was talking from experience.
"So… Do I still replace this clone, or are you going to find the real Ba'al first?" Double Trouble asked.
They didn't sound as disappointed as Jack would have expected, so they were probably planning how to use this development to their advantage.
"No." Adora shook her head - Ba'al was shaken a bit along, Jack noted. "We've planned for such a situation."
"What? I wasn't told that! Why wasn't I told about that plan?"
"Need to know, and you don't need to know," Catra told them.
"They don't trust you!" Ba'al, ever the opportunist, cut in. "They plan to betray you as soon as you are no longer useful, you fool!"
"Of course they do! That's how the game is played!" Double Trouble replied with a wide grin. "That's what makes it exciting!"
"No, we do not betray our allies or break our word," Adora said. "But we aren't fools either. We will keep our deal with you."
Jack heard the unspoken 'and you better do the same' just fine.
And so did Double Trouble, it seemed - they were pouting and scowling.
Adora turned to Entrapta. "Tell me when you've hacked their communication system and the chip network."
"Will do!" Entrapota replied enthusiastically without looking up from whatever she was staring at in her HUD.
"What are you planning? If the real Ba'al is out there somewhere in the system… Oh!" Double Trouble was smiling widely. "You're going to throw everything into chaos!"
Jack glared at them - they knew that this would start the battle they had hoped to avoid altogether, and were happy about it.
Adora turned to Catra. "Contact the task force. We're going with the alternative attack plan."
Timing would be crucial so the task force would arrive at the optimal moment to exploit the mess they were about to start.
"So, what do you want me to do? Order the clone fighters to attack the home fleet?" Double Trouble asked.
"We're trying to save them, not kill them ourselves!" Daniel snapped.
"You will tell all of Baal's forces that reinforcements are coming - another Horde Fleet has joined him," Adora said. "Then you'll act as if there's a coup, and someone's trying to kill you and crash all communication."
"And then you'll crash communication, and my last orders will be to assist your fleet." Double Trouble nodded. "Ruthless. I like it!" Another of those too-wide grins followed. "Hordak would be proud - or is that his idea?"
Adora scowled, and Catra hissed under her breath.
"No, that wasn't Hordak's idea," Entrapta said. "I think it was a collaboration between Sha're and Catra, but we were kinda split between different planning groups, and I was focused on the technological parts, not strategy and tactics."
Both Double Trouble and Ba'al were staring at her.
"Oh, and we've got control of the communication networks - both of them!" Entrapt added with a smile.
"Great!" Adora smiled. "Give the signal to the fleet to launch the attack and tell us their ETA!" she told Catra.
"Melog, please fetch Glimmer and the others."
The cat nodded and dashed out of the room.
"Wait!" Ba'al blurted out. "If you wish to save my servants and warriors, I can help you more than anyone else!"
"Darling, you can't even help yourself!" Double Trouble chuckled.
"How dare you, you insolent…"
Jack stunned the snake with his zat. They had no time to waste listening to his ranting.
"Sha're is ready to pick us up," Daniel reported.
"The fleet's underway," Catra added. "ETA is oh seven thirty-four and fifteen seconds."
Jack checked the time on his HUD. It wasn't too long, but he hated waiting.
*****
Starfox5
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Glad to hear that!
Now if only Double Trouble could be trusted...
Oh, yes. He is sometimes too clever for his own good.
Chapter 184: The Election Campaign Part 6
Starfox5
Experienced.
- Joined
- Feb 5, 2015
- Messages
- 4,103
- Likes received
- 31,892
Chapter 184: The Election Campaign Part 6
Ba'al's Palace, PB-1763, Ba'al's Realm, August 12th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"My loyal warriors! My faithful! I bring joyous news: Another fleet has joined me, their God! Their ships, countless engines of destruction carrying weapons without equal, filled with my followers, will shortly arrive in this system. Together with you, they will form the mightiest force in the galaxy - none shall be able to stand against me!
"Check and double-check that you have the latest IFF codes; if you fire on my new faithful by mistake, your punishment will be legendary!"
Adora, staying out of the angle of the camera Double Trouble was speaking to, winced at the performance. It was so… She shook her head. The real Ba'al had a similar bombastic manner, at least when addressing his followers.
"IFF codes sent," Sam reported through the communicator.
"Ready to crash the communication networks!" Entrapta added.
In the centre of the room, Double Trouble raised their arms. "Soon, all shall bow before your God! My rule will extend to the edge of the entire Galaxy! I shall…"
A staff blast passing close - maybe a bit closer than predicted, but Teal'c wouldn't hit them by mistake - to their head cut them off.
Adora nodded at Entrapta.
Double Trouble screeched: "Treason! Treason! In the moment of my triumph, you turn on me? You shall…"
A loud, buzzing noise blaring from every speaker filled the room for a moment.
"Regular communication network crashed," Entrapta announced.
"Chip network flooded with orders to sleep," Sam followed.
"Couldn't you have waited a minute longer?" Double Trouble complained. "I was about to say my best line!"
"No, we couldn't," Catra told them. "The fleet's arriving… now!"
Indeed, on her HUD, Adora received flash reports - task force had arrived, task force engaged the enemy. And as her HUD updated the projections, she could see the Alliance forces quickly moving to envelop the closest concentration of enemy ships. They hadn't dropped from Hyperspace in the middle of the enemy formation, but they had come in at practically point-blank range.
"Sha're's on the way - entering atmosphere now," Daniel said.
He sounded worried, and with good reason. The stealth generator of the shuttle Sha're was piloting couldn't fully hide the plasma atmospheric reentry created, and if any of the anti-air installations on the planet started firing on the thermal bloom…
But the planet's orbit was already filling with debris from small ships being destroyed by the opening volleys of the task force's perimeter, debris which would burn up in the atmosphere - or so they hoped.
"Move to the balcony!" Jack snapped. "Our ride is coming."
"But… I've got them fooled!" Double Trouble complained. "We can stay here and manage the surrender!"
"We can stay here and end up bombed by any Ha'tak that reaches low orbit," Jack corrected them. "There's still one Ba'al at large here."
"At least one Ba'al," Catra corrected him. "The enemy is forming up too quickly for anything else."
She was right. The enemy fleet was still disrupted, single ships getting destroyed by focused fire from the squadrons of Alliance frigates, but the core of it had recovered and was restoring their formation. At least, the fighters and suicide-fightercraft were still, mostly, staying their course. "Get me an ID on the flagship! We need to stop whoever is rallying them!" Adora snapped as she picked up Double Trouble and started moving towards the lounge.
Teal'c, carrying the Ba'al from this floor, was running after her.
"Hey! I can stay here - I volunteer!"
Adora didn't dignify that with a response. Did Double Trouble think she was stupid? Well, yeah, they probably thought everyone else was stupid.
"Hurry! A formation of bombers is pushing for the orbit, out of range of the task force!" Bow said.
Adora sped up. "Release the locks and give the order to evacuate!" she snapped.
"That will…" Sam started to say, but Jack, Teal'c and Catra simply shot (or cut) the locks they had hacked before.
"Run!" Glimmer yelled. "Seek shelter! Bombs incoming!"
A moment later, alarms sounded.
The servants - and two guards - from the three rooms gasped, and most started fleeing. One turned, though. "Hey! Unhand our God! Stop! Treas…"
A trick arrow hit his face, silencing him with a glop of sticky glue. He started trying to pull off his face, and Adora kept going.
"See? If I had been here, he wouldn't have noticed!"
Adora ignored them and kicked the door to the lounge open, going straight to the blast doors. The bombers were being attacked by a squadron of Horde fighters, but they outnumbered the fighters, and more were on the way - stealthed Tel'taks as well. Whoever was in charge really wanted the palace bombed.
"Sha're's about to enter the airspace above the palace," Daniel said as he entered the lounge.
Bow went to open the blast doors.
"Glimmer!" Adora said. "Go grab the second Ba'al!" They needed him to check if he was the real one. It was a slim chance, but they couldn't risk losing them.
Glimmer disappeared with a pop.
The blast doors slid open. Adora checked the HUD - the bomber formation had been disrupted, but a few were still on course. Anti-aircraft installations were already firing. If they hit Sha're by mistake…
But her shuttle was already inside the envelope and flying so low, most anti-aircraft cannons were above it - it had to gain altitude to reach the balcony!
And there it came - only visible on the HUD. Then it turned, and the ramp went down, and Adora could see the interior as if there was a hole in reality. She put Double Trouble down on the ramp and turned around.
"Hey!"
"Move, Chamaeleon!"
"I'm not…"
"Move!"
A cloud of sparkles formed, and Glimmer with an unconscious Ba'al appeared, panting as she touched the ground. "That was…"
Adora picked both up before Bow could rush to them and carried them inside. Entrapta and Sam were already headed to their stations. Teal'c dropped the other Ba'al off as Jack and Daniel stepped into the shuttle.
Catra and Melog brought up the rear, scrambling up the ramp. "Hurry!" Catra yelled.
Sha're started flying before the ramp fully closed, and through the shrinking gap, Adora saw the first bomb blow up a field in the distance.
Near Ba'al's Palace, PB-1763, Ba'al's Realm, August 12th, 2000 (Earth Time)
Samantha Carter focused on her computer screen while the shuttle sped away from the palace grounds, flying at wave-top height over the lake to avoid the anti-aircraft fire filling the airspace above them with blaster bolts. With all the jamming, even connected to the shuttle comm, her computer could barely keep track of the battle in orbit, much less the wider system - the updates were lagging almost as badly as if they were sending data from Earth to Etheria and back over the comm relays of the spy bot network.
Even so, she could see that the Goa'uld formation was stabilising - and the number of fighters engaging the Alliance task force was increasing. Not at a fast pace, but she could tell that this was just the beginning. As more and more Death Gliders joined Ba'al's main formation, even more of those currently fooled by Double Trouble's act into staying out would be pushed to do so as well.
She checked the jamming fields. Both the regular FTL comms and the chip network were still down. But Ba'al had been prepared for that tactic. In addition to short-range radio transmissions linking the ships in his formation, the enemy ships were also using laser communications - the sensors of the spy bots surrounding the battlespace were picking up stray signals.
They had to stop that.
"Analysis of the enemy transmission complete!" Entrapta announced next to her. "Oh - you were right; it's from another Ba'al."
Sam quickly read the decrypted transmissions - yes, according to that, the orders, both for the capital ships and the clone-piloted Death Gliders, came from Ba'al. Whether that was true, or if it was true, whether that Ba'al was another clone or the original, Sam couldn't say. Though as Daniel had pointed out, it was very unlikely that any of Ba'al's guards and commanders would dare to pretend to be him without explicit orders - and she doubted any such orders had been issued. Their course was clear. "We need to find the enemy commander," she said.
"I'm analysing the data traffic on the chip network, but it's inconclusive," Entrapta replied.
"They're rerouting the radio transmission through all capital ships," Bow added. "No luck there either without a detailed breakdown of every transmission."
"Then let's do this," Sam said, opening the data feed on her computer. "We need to find the enemy flagship." She ran the different datastreams through the analyser, shutting down the regular communication updates to the bare minimum.
Not seeing how close they came to getting shot down as Sha're and the General took the shuttle to orbit was helping her concentrate, anyway. She knew that the odds of getting hit by a stray shot were very, very low - space was just too big - but they were never zero. And the planet's orbitals, and even more so the airspace, were very crowded right now.
There! A sequence in the orders had been identified and matched with time stamps. That reduced the number of potential sources - unfortunately, communication lag affected logs as well, so they still had half a dozen Ha'taks to search.
And time was running out - the jamming field was weakening as the enemy was compensating, and soon, the task force would either have to switch to the hyperspace equivalent of broadband jamming, which would affect their own communication, or accept the restoration of the enemy communication networks. They had to find this Ba'al before that!
They needed more precise data. More timely data - if they could time the transmissions so precisely to overcome the lag problem… "We need to get closer to the heart of the enemy formation," she reported, "or we can't find Ba'al."
"That would take us right into the middle of the fleet battle," Glimmer said.
"Do it," Adora said.
"Are you crazy?" Double Trouble protested - Sam was not sure if Ba'al's vocal chords could hit that high naturally.
"We need to stop Ba'al," Adora said.
"Be happy: You can repeat your performance, maybe even with the original," Catra added.
"I never do the same performance twice! I have artistic integrity!"
"But no other kind of integrity," Glimmer commented.
"Where are the escape pods? I want to get off this shuttle! This wasn't in the original mission briefing! No one said anything about flying into a space battle and boarding a battleship!"
"It actually was," Catra pointed out. "Under 'contingencies'."
"What? No!"
"It was in the appendices," Glimmer explained.
"Those were just about material and data sources!"
"Those were appendices A to L. Appendix M covered the contingencies."
Sam did her best to ignore the bickering, eyes fixed on her screen, as the shuttle slipped past the Allied squadrons and closed - at an angle - with the enemy. Another transmission. More orders for the Death Gliders. Almost - only two Ha'taks were possible sources now.
Could she order the task force to focus on both? That would be very costly; they were defended by almost the entire enemy fleet, and by the time those were dealt with, most of the Death Gliders would have chosen to join if the trend kept up, but… Her computer lit up with another transmission. And the time stamps… "Source of the enemy orders identified!" she announced, highlighting the ship and transmitting the data.
Ba'al had tried to be clever and sent a direct transmission to another ship, which then broadcast it. But they were close enough to catch the original transmission as well, now.
"Take us in. We're going to board them," Adora said. She would have run the same calculations Sam had - trying to take those ships out would be too costly, and take too long.
"What? No!"
"Taking us in," the General acknowledged.
"No!"
Sam focused on the display again. This would be dicey.
PB-1763-System, Ba'al's Realm, August 12th, 2000 (Earth Time)
Catra watched the feed from the sensors as the shuttle flew towards their target. The data from the task force's units was augmented with the shuttle's own passive sensors at close range, so it was pretty complete - complete enough to make this mad dash towards the enemy flagship possible.
Highly dangerous, but possible.
"You are crazy!"
She snorted at Double Trouble's continuing protests and complaints and turned to glance at them. "Really, how could a master performer like you have failed to expect this? Haven't you analysed all of us?"
"I knew you all were too brave to be sensible. I didn't know you were suicidal!" they spat.
Catra shrugged. For all their boasts and obvious talent and experience, Double Trouble still seemed to ignore that knowing people wasn't enough, not nearly enough, to predict them, much less imitate them if that was all you knew. If they had any actual military knowledge and experience, they might have known that. But they were basically trying to predict military decisions without the knowledge and intel required to understand the situation in which such decisions were made.
Catra wasn't about to explain that to them, of course; no need to help Double Trouble become even more of a threat should they manage to copy a System Lord. Instead, she said: "Just hold on to your seat; in a few minutes we're either storming a Ha'tak or dead."
Double Trouble bared their teeth at her, and Catra shrugged. "You get used to it."
"To dying?"
"To risking your life," Catra corrected them.
The expression of horror on their face was great to see.
"At least, we aren't being shot at yet," Double Trouble muttered.
Oh, if they only knew enough to realise that the shuttle was currently weaving through beam cannon fire from a couple of Ha'taks forming the inner perimeter! Granted, the shuttle wasn't being shot at, so they were technically correct, but this was the second-most dangerous part of this mission, after the docking. If they caught a stray shot, it would be over.
But they cleared the defence line and reached the core part of the enemy fleet - the half a dozen Ha'taks serving as reserve - and as decoys for the actual flagship hiding amongst them. Those ships only fired sporadically, whenever an Alliance Squadron darted in to savage a Ha'tak at the outer edge of the formation.
Cara checked the display to see the overall situation. The Alliance fleet was still overwhelming the Goa'uld forces, but they had had to dispatch a few more squadrons to fend off mass attacks by Death Gliders. So far, they hadn't suffered complete losses to the suicide bombers, but the damage was mounting, and several frigates had been rendered combat ineffective. Catra knew - it was a gut feeling, but all the indicators were there - that it wouldn't be long before the losses started to mount.
They had to finish off Ba'al fast. If they boarded his flagship and rigged the reactor, engine or any of the magazines containing bombs to explode… It would disrupt the chain of command for the Goa'uld and hit their morale hard. But it would not stop the retransmissions of his last orders, and Catra knew what kind of contingency orders Ba'al left for his forces. The battle would not end until the last of his fanatics had been killed; few if any would surrender.
If Double Trouble announced the death of the pretender after blowing up the ship, it might be enough to convince the majority of the enemy to stop fighting. Might. But the best option was to take this Ba'al prisoner and have Double Trouble take over. Killing your enemy was one thing, killing your enemy and taking over their flagship? Catra was pretty sure that would convince most of Ba'al's forces that they were the real Ba'al.
But for that, they had to board the ship in the first place. And that was the trickiest part. Catra clenched her teeth when the shuttle closed in with the enemy flagship. They had to align with it so they could dock - well, use magnetic clamps to attach the shuttle to the hull in this case. Docking with a ship performing evasive action in the middle of a fleet battle was too dangerous to risk it. They were all wearing suits rated for vacuum, anyway.
But even so, lining up the shuttle correctly was a challenge. Catra saw how tense Jack and Sha're were - sweat was gathering on their faces - and how frantic Sam, Entrapta and Bow were working on their tools. It made her feel more than a bit queasy.
Not that she would show it, of course. Certainly not in front of Double Trouble. She had a reputation to uphold.
"Alright, folks - here we go! We're on terminal approach!"
"Terminal?" Double Trouble gasped.
"We're about to hit the hull."
"WHAT?"
"Terminal approach, not terminal velocity." Daniel tried to be helpful, but Catra didn't think Double Trouble knew what either was.
But before they could resolve that, the shuttle vibrated, and Catra's ears picked up metallic sounds from the bottom - they had locked onto the enemy flagship's hull.
She unbuckled and stood. "Let's go hunt down a snake!"
Jack O'Neill had tested the new suits in vacuum before - he wouldn't let his troops use a crucial piece of gear he hadn't personally checked - and knew it worked, but a small part of him still was relieved when Carter and Bow opened the airlock on the Ha'tak and he could get inside Ba'al's flagship. There was just something… eerie about being out in empty space in just a thin suit.
Especially if said space was not actually empty but filled with capital ships firing at each other. Jack preferred to keep a solid hull and maybe a charged shield between himself and enemy - or friendly - fire.
"No life signs behind the door, sir," Carter reported.
"Melog agrees," Catra added.
"Open it!" Adora said.
Jack heard the airlock pressing as he focused on the door. Sure, he trusted Carter, but being ready never hurt anyone - a few incidents with trigger-happy or scared soldiers not counting.
The door slid open and he stepped inside the ship proper, covering the hallway to the left while Adora took the right side.
"Sha're, signal the fleet: We're inside, dial the Stargate!" Jack ordered as the rest of the first wave entered the ship and the door closed to get the second batch inside.
"Yes, Jack."
Unless there was another Stargate in the system to which their own connected, Ba'al now couldn't escape for the next thirty-eight minutes. He would also be alerted, of course, that someone was trying to open a wormhole to his ship, which would also serve as a distraction. At least, that was the plan.
"We've located the Stargate on this ship, sir."
The HUD map had updated already.
The airlock cycled again - hidden from the ship's systems thanks to Carter's computer-wizardry - and the second wave of their boarding party entered just when Carter announced that the wormhole had been established.
"Alright, time to nab another Ba'al. We want the full roster!" Jack announced.
"I don't, actually," Double Trouble said, "Seen one, seen them all."
Jack chuckled at that. He still checked that the shapeshifter was covered by the others before turning to Carter. "Any fix on Ba'al's location yet?"
"The scanner shows one Goa'uld in the ship's flag room, sir."
Jack grinned. It was nice of Ba'al to make sure there was no potential confusion. "Well, we got our target then!"
By now, navigating a Haˆtak felt like running the obstacle course back at the base. Sure, the staff changed some parts from time to time to keep the soldiers from getting sloppy, but the basic design didn't really change. And with Melog covering them in their illusion, they didn't have to sneak around as slowly as they usually had to - which meant they could surprise Ba'al.
Jack grinned at the thought.
"They're moving guard squads to the gateroom, sir."
Jack was sure that Ba'al had an iris or other kind of barrier to seal the gate, but the snake was probably afraid of a traitor working for another Ba'al opening the Stargate to let in troops. Well, it only served to reduce the number of guards actually covering Ba'al himself.
"Can you hack the gateroom?" Catra asked as they cleared another intersection and proceeded to the emergency stairs.
"The barrier is manual-only," Carter replied.
"It's really inconvenient," Entrapta added. "For us, at least. But it's also inefficient for Ba'al since he needs more crew that way. However, it does seem to protect against hacking, although you could get that with a bot and still have fewer crew members, I guess. But if Ba'al liked bots, he'd have used Horde bots by now. He should have access to them through the lost fleet."
"Too bad. Opening the gate would have drawn even more guards," Jack said. "Keep an eye out for changes."
"Yes, sir."
Jack would rather not have a discussion about the possible reasons for Ba'al not using bots right now.
They had reached the stairs and he started to go up. They had to be careful here - they were still hidden by Melog's illusions, but the space was cramped here, so trying to avoid literally running into a Jaffa patrol would be a challenge.
But it seemed the Jaffa rushing around in the ship were skipping the emergency stairs and sticking to the elevators. They had to deal with a few traps, though - and ones designed from the ground to be integrated in the ship, it seemed, but still detected by their magic scanner - before they reached the right deck.
It was going a bit too smoothly for Jack's taste, actually, but…
"Ba'al's moving!" Carter's reported.
He just had to tempt Murphy, had he? Jack checked the HUD. Ba'al's marker was moving - he had already left the flag room. If he was headed to the bridge… But why would he? If he didn't trust the captain, he could send guards there. His presence wasn't needed. So… "He's trying to bail!" Jack spat.
"Scanning for escape pods and smaller ships… There's a Tel'tak ready in a hangar!"
Jack checked the location on his HUD and cursed. The hangar was too close to the flag room to intercept Baâl before he could reach it, even if they ran all the way. That was…
"Catra!" Adora yelled.
Catra was already running - on all fours - down the hallway. Faster than Jack could have on his best day.
And Adora chased after her at the same neck-breaking speed.
Jack and the others, still covered by Melog, unlike those two, started running as well, but he had a gut feeling that they would be too late.
"Catra!" Adora ran after her stupid lover.
"We have to stop him from getting away!" Catra yelled back as she took a corner.
Adora knew that, of course, but that didn't mean Catra had to rush in first - Adora was the one who could shrug off staff blasts! But she knew that if she yelled that, Catra would just double down.
She took the corner as well, running along the wall for a moment, over the scratches and gouges left by Catra's claws, and sped up again. A quick glance at the HUD - the hallway was clear - showed that Ba'al was about to reach the hangar. This would be close - too damn close. If Ba'al ran, literally ran, they wouldn't make it. But he was walking. Walking quickly, but not running.
"Lock the doors in front of him!" Catra snapped.
"We did - he has an override hidden in the system!" Entrapta's voice announced over the communicator.
Adora muttered a curse under her breath.
Another corner came ahead, followed by two more - the hallway had to go around a massive shaft containing an auxiliary reactor - and Catra's lead grew. Her claws were just too much of an advantage in such environments.
Ba'al entered the hangar through the main entrance. And Catra had reached the hallway leading straight to the side entrance.
"Open the side doors!" Catra snapped through the communicator.
Adora clenched her teeth and kept running as fast as she could. She turned the last corner just in time to see Catra slide sideways through the tiny gap opening in the door. And as she kept running and the door kept sliding open, she heard yelling and shooting - and saw staff weapon blaster bolts flash through the air behind the door.
Catra had engaged Ba'al's guards.
No, as Adora saw when she charged through the door, Catra had gone for the Tel'tak. Not to cut off Ba'al from reaching it - though that had happened as well - but to render it inoperable. She was slashing at the engine coverings as she dashed around it, deliberately attracting fire so the blaster bolts would hit the ship as they missed her!
Adora would so kill her after this!
But Ba'al first!
"Ba'al!" Roaring with frustration and anger, she charged straight at him. The guards he was hiding behind turned to shoot at her, changing formation, and she swapped the first blast away with her sword and let the second and third bounce off her.
She didn't slow down, crashing into the two guards in the centre and sending them flying, before sliding to a stop right next to Ba'al. "Surrender!" she yelled at him, raising her sword.
Another guard came at her from behind, and a mule kick took him out. Two more tried to move between her and Ba'al, who was stepping back with a shocked expression on his face, and she grabbed one with her free hand and used him to smack the other away.
"Surrender!"
A force field surrounded him, and he pointed his palm at her, torture device glowing.
She bared her teeth in a smile when she shrugged the hit off, then slashed at the field, shattering it. "Last Chance!"
He gasped, stumbling back a step, eyes flicking from her to the side - Catra was finishing off another guard, having abandoned the wrecked Tel'tak, Adora realised - then straightened. "A God doesn't surrender!"
"You are no god!" Adora snarled, darting forward to grab his right arm and crush the torture device.
He hissed with pain as she broke his arm in the process, but quickly smiled at her, showing all his teeth. "Did my clone surrender? Did you turn him? Or did you make a deal with him to replace me? What did he promise you to topple me?"
His clone? Oh, he must be talking about the first Ba'al they had captured. "We don't make deals with prisoners!" she told him. "We're here to end your reign, not to replace you!"
He scoffed. "And take over yourself? Claim my worshippers for yourself? You'll find my followers not as easily swayed as Horde Prime's clones!"
"We've captured Ba'al." Catra joined her, flicking blood off her claws with a sharp gesture before retracting them. Her suit showed several spots of blood as well.
"Copy. We're headed to the command centre," Jack answered over the communicator.
"You brought my traitorous clone with you?" Ba'al was smiling. "How daring."
"Which traitorous clone do you mean?" Catra asked. "We got a bunch of them."
"Even better. Providence is smiling on me, as it should."
For a prisoner with a broken arm, he was far too happy. He wasn't delusional - and he was smart enough to get the implications. Was this just his pride? An attempt to save face?
Catra was frowning - she must be thinking the same, Adora realised. "What's your game?"
"Game? There is no game. I am a god! Immortal! You cannot kill me - I shall return, stronger and more determined than ever!" He laughed. "You think you have won, but you have lost! And through your own actions!"
That was…
"Fuck!" Catra cursed. "Check for a self-destruct!"
"Too late!" Ba'al smirked and looked at the Tel'tak in the hangar. "You destroyed your last chance to escape!" He laughed again. "I will return - but will you?"
"The reactor is about to go critical!" Sam's voice announced over the communicator.
"Carter?"
Samantha Carter ignored the General's question as her hands flew over the keyboard of her laptop - balanced on a console in the command centre.
"The reactor is still charging up!" Entrapta reported. "The failsafes are working, but it's not enough - the self-destruct routine is circumventing them somehow."
That meant they could stop this! Sam checked the programs running the reactor. The Naquada powering it would be regulated… Nothing? The computer controlling the reactor contained no hidden programs! Everything was acting as it should - and failing to stop this! "Ba'al didn't subvert the computer core - he must have placed a separate computer to override the regular controls."
"Can you hack that?" the General asked.
"I don't have a way to access it. We would have to either find the physical device and destroy it - or get the communication link Ba'al used to trigger it. And hope it can be stopped remotely." She could think of a few ways to ensure it wouldn't be possible. She ran a quick calculation. "We wouldn't reach the reactor in time to stop it from going critical, sir."
"We could… no, that would take too long either!" Entrapta agreed.
"Then we need to get out. Sha're - get to the hangar. We need to leave the ship!"
"On my way!"
"To the hangar! Move it! Go! Go!"
Sam grabbed her laptop and started running.
As they left the command centre, the entire ship suddenly shook. Sam glanced at Teal'c - she was directly behind him and he was carrying two Ba'als - and kept running while she checked her HUD. Partial overcharge - the engines were affected. "The ship's out of control, sir!" But that would have slowed down the overloading process. Slowed down, but not stopped - they had a better chance now!
"The ship is accelerating!" Sha're confirmed over the communicator.
"Signal the fleet - don't shoot at this ship!" the General snapped as he reached the hangar doors.
Which didn't open.
"Door controls are fried!" Bow yelled.
"We need to blow them up!" the General stepped up to the door.
"Back off from the door!"
That was Adora! She was running towards the door from the other side! Sam stopped, and the others backed off. A moment later, the door was smashed open as She-Ra broke through it, sword first. "Get in!"
Sam felt the floor vibrate as they entered the hangar. That wasn't a good sign. She flipped through a few menus and clenched her teeth. "The engines are redlining." Probably meant to get the ship out of danger so Ba'al had an easier time fleeing with his cloaked Tel'tak.
"I can't catch up!" Sha're sounded desperate.
"Can we take the Tel'tak?" Bow asked.
"I wrecked the engines," Catra replied.
"We've got space suits - let's just jump out!" the General said.
Sam quickly ran the numbers in her head. "The explosion's radiation would kill us, sir. The suits aren't rated for that level of radiation." It was now a race whether the engines or the reactor would blow up first.
"Will the Tel'tak shield us?" the General shot back.
"If the shield generator still works…" Sam trailed off as everyone ran towards the damaged ship.
"I only wrecked the engines!" Catra yelled.
"How do we get it out?" Glimmer asked.
"I'll push you!"
"Adora!"
"Get inside!" Adora didn't wait for an answer and threw Catra through the open hatch, followed by the Ba'als with them - including Double Trouble.
Sam didn't argue and rushed inside after Teal'c. "Get the shields up!" she yelled.
"On it!" Bow replied.
Sam whirled. If the shields failed, the hatches and armour would still provide some protection - if stacked together with the suits…
"Hrnghh…"
The ship's inertial compensators aren't working, Sam thought, grabbing a strut to steady herself as the entire Tel'tak was suddenly moving.
"Adora! Get inside!" Catra yelled.
"Shoot us a way out, Teal'c!"
A moment later, the ship shook again as the cannons - beam cannons, fortunately, the older staff cannons might not have been enough, Sam realised - opened up.
On her HUD, both the engines and the reactor were glowing red - explosions imminent.
The hangar doors blew open, and Sam was thrown to the ground, then into the wall as explosive decompression helped push the ship into space.
"Shields up!"
"Adora!" Catra screamed as they tumbled through space.
"Coming!"
Sam caught a glimpse of the Ha'tak as it hurled past them, still accelerating.
Then the reactor lost containment, and the entire ship vanished in a fireball.
"Hold ti…!"
The shockwave hit them. Sam tried to brace herself, but she wasn't in a good spot, and pain shot through her arm when she was smashed into the ceiling. The suit held, though the pain was bad.
She tried to reorient herself. The Tel'tak had held together - somewhat. It was a wreck; the only things working were the warning lights and alerts, or so it seemed. No artificial gravity, of course. And the sensors in her suit reported dangerous levels of radiation - not immediately fatal, she sighed with relief, but they would need treatment as soon as possible.
"Adora!" Catra yelled again.
No answer. Sam bit her lower lip. Adora had been outside when the explosion happened. Unshielded. She was She-Ra, but…
Catra cursed, and Sam saw her drag herself along the ceiling with her claws, towards the hatch at the aft.
"Catra!" Glimmer yelled.
"Adora! Answer me!"
"Adora!"
Sam floated back a bit and saw that Catra was slicing through the hatch, which seemed to have fused with the rest of the hull. If they had had an atmosphere inside the ship instead of a vacuum that had insulated them somewhat… Sam shuddered.
"Adora!"
"Don't get out! Sha're is coming!" Bow yelled.
Catra didn't listen and pulled herself through the hole she had created.
"Adora!"
Sam cradled her broken arm, pondering what she could say.
Then she saw golden light shine through the hole in the hatch.
"Adora!"
Adora was alive! Floating in space, shining with golden light, hair spread out like a curtain - or a cape - holding her sword. Alive. Not turned to ash by the exploding Ha'tak. Not gone, vanished in space. Alive.
Catra stared at her. "Adora!"
Adora's mouth was moving, but she couldn't hear any words.
"Adora!"
Her love pointed to her ear and shook her head. Well, duh! Yes, she couldn't communicate - Catra had noticed that, but why would… Her communicator had been fried? But that one had been stuck to her ear and throat. As close to Adora as skin allowed - inside her aura or whatever that glow was! If that was fried by the explosion.. Oh, if Adora claimed that she was fine after this and there had been no danger, Catra would kill her!
Snarling, she grabbed the incredibly stupid idiot and dragged her towards the hatch she had… opened. With her claws. Well, it had been half-melted anyway.
"Sha're, do you see us?"
That was Jack's voice. Oh, right. She should probably inform the rest that her idiot lover was alive. Catra flushed. "Adora is alive, bringing her in."
"What? Is she hurt?" Glimmer blurted out.
Catra flashed her fangs at the smiling Adora and replied: "Not yet."
"What do you mean, 'not yet'?"
"I haven't gotten around to killing her yet."
"What?"
"I'm locked on your position, Jack," Sha're replied. "I see… is that a light?"
"That's Adora shining bright," Catra replied as she dragged her into the Tel'tak's remains.
"There was no choice - someone had to push you out, and I was the only one who could do it. And I did it!" Adora repeated herself in the stealth shuttle's main passenger area.
Sitting in her lap, Catra scoffed. "Your communicator was fried." And Adora only had had to push them out because Catra hadn't thought ahead and had wrecked the Tel'tak's engines.
"Yes. But I am fine."
"Your radiation levels aren't significantly higher than ours." Entrapta's words weren't nearly as comforting as she probably thought they would be.
Adora gasped. "Right! I have to heal you all!"
Before Catra could say anything, Adora had jumped up, put her down on the seat and pointed her glowing sword at her. Then magic energy hit her.
"Me next!" Double Trouble blurted out. "I don't perform well if I am irradiated!"
"No one does," Glimmer muttered.
"I'll cover everyone, don't worry!"
"Heal yourself as well!" Catra snapped as her lover
"I'm fine!"
Catra was going to kill her!
"We've established a communication link with the task force that's routed to a fake signal," Sam reported while Adora kept healing people.
"That means you're up, Double Trouble," Glimmer added.
While Adora healed them - and they were still complaining - Catra checked her HUD for the state of the battle. Taking out Ba'al had ruined the enemy's coordination. Their formations were fraying at the edges, and the Alliance squadrons were taking them apart. But the incredibly high number of clone-piloted Death Gliders was becoming more and more of a problem.
"Alright, you're healed," Adora said.
"Are you sure?" Double Trouble poked their belly.
"Yes," Adora replied.
"According to our scanner, you've got normal radiation levels."
"What? 'Normal radiation levels'?"
"Well, everyone has…" Entrapta began to explain.
"Surrender speech now, medical explanation later!" Glimmer cut them off.
"I work better when I am not dying!"
"Then get to it!" Glimmer snarled.
Double Trouble gasped. "How can you threaten me when I might have just sacrificed my life for the cause?"
"You make it very easy!"
"Well, I am the best, but it's still a bad sign that you succumb to such temptation so easily and quickly. It makes me worry for the people of Bright Moon."
Catra shook her head. Double Trouble definitely was healed.
"...and the usurper has been dealt with and will rue the day he dared to go after your God. His Punishment will be legendary! But you, who have been fooled by him, need to obey your God now and lay down your weapons and return to your formations!"
Catra checked the display in the centre of the shuttle while they were approaching the Alliance flagship, and Double Trouble was broadcast across the system. Their speech was having an effect - most of the surviving Death Gliders were breaking off their attacks. The enemy Ha'taks were slower to react, but she could see one of their remaining formation breaking up, and the others were still in disarray. Even if they kept fighting, they wouldn't be able to put up much resistance any more.
Catra wouldn't relax until the Death Gliders were back at their bases and disarmed, and the Ha'taks secured or destroyed, but it looked like the battle was winding down.
She checked the casualties and winced. Bloodier than they had hoped - though they had been very optimistic for their best estimates - but not nearly as bad as they had feared.
Not a bad outcome for such a mission, all in all.
She leaned back and closed her eyes.
"I'm sorry," Adora whispered behind her.
Catra pressed her lips together. She knew that Adora had just done what had been necessary. But she couldn't help it - when they had lost contact, after the explosion, Catra had felt as if she had died. And what would life be without Adora?
She leaned back into Adora and whispered: "Don't do it again."
"I won't," Adora replied in a low voice as she hugged Catra to her chest.
She was lying. Catra knew it. If Adora thought she'd have to do it again to save everyone, she'd do it without hesitation.
That was who she was - She-Ra, Princess of Power. Protector.
Catra's love.
She closed her eyes and sighed, but she was smiling as she did so.
Ba'al's Palace, PB-1763, Ba'al's Realm, August 12th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"My loyal warriors! My faithful! I bring joyous news: Another fleet has joined me, their God! Their ships, countless engines of destruction carrying weapons without equal, filled with my followers, will shortly arrive in this system. Together with you, they will form the mightiest force in the galaxy - none shall be able to stand against me!
"Check and double-check that you have the latest IFF codes; if you fire on my new faithful by mistake, your punishment will be legendary!"
Adora, staying out of the angle of the camera Double Trouble was speaking to, winced at the performance. It was so… She shook her head. The real Ba'al had a similar bombastic manner, at least when addressing his followers.
"IFF codes sent," Sam reported through the communicator.
"Ready to crash the communication networks!" Entrapta added.
In the centre of the room, Double Trouble raised their arms. "Soon, all shall bow before your God! My rule will extend to the edge of the entire Galaxy! I shall…"
A staff blast passing close - maybe a bit closer than predicted, but Teal'c wouldn't hit them by mistake - to their head cut them off.
Adora nodded at Entrapta.
Double Trouble screeched: "Treason! Treason! In the moment of my triumph, you turn on me? You shall…"
A loud, buzzing noise blaring from every speaker filled the room for a moment.
"Regular communication network crashed," Entrapta announced.
"Chip network flooded with orders to sleep," Sam followed.
"Couldn't you have waited a minute longer?" Double Trouble complained. "I was about to say my best line!"
"No, we couldn't," Catra told them. "The fleet's arriving… now!"
Indeed, on her HUD, Adora received flash reports - task force had arrived, task force engaged the enemy. And as her HUD updated the projections, she could see the Alliance forces quickly moving to envelop the closest concentration of enemy ships. They hadn't dropped from Hyperspace in the middle of the enemy formation, but they had come in at practically point-blank range.
"Sha're's on the way - entering atmosphere now," Daniel said.
He sounded worried, and with good reason. The stealth generator of the shuttle Sha're was piloting couldn't fully hide the plasma atmospheric reentry created, and if any of the anti-air installations on the planet started firing on the thermal bloom…
But the planet's orbit was already filling with debris from small ships being destroyed by the opening volleys of the task force's perimeter, debris which would burn up in the atmosphere - or so they hoped.
"Move to the balcony!" Jack snapped. "Our ride is coming."
"But… I've got them fooled!" Double Trouble complained. "We can stay here and manage the surrender!"
"We can stay here and end up bombed by any Ha'tak that reaches low orbit," Jack corrected them. "There's still one Ba'al at large here."
"At least one Ba'al," Catra corrected him. "The enemy is forming up too quickly for anything else."
She was right. The enemy fleet was still disrupted, single ships getting destroyed by focused fire from the squadrons of Alliance frigates, but the core of it had recovered and was restoring their formation. At least, the fighters and suicide-fightercraft were still, mostly, staying their course. "Get me an ID on the flagship! We need to stop whoever is rallying them!" Adora snapped as she picked up Double Trouble and started moving towards the lounge.
Teal'c, carrying the Ba'al from this floor, was running after her.
"Hey! I can stay here - I volunteer!"
Adora didn't dignify that with a response. Did Double Trouble think she was stupid? Well, yeah, they probably thought everyone else was stupid.
"Hurry! A formation of bombers is pushing for the orbit, out of range of the task force!" Bow said.
Adora sped up. "Release the locks and give the order to evacuate!" she snapped.
"That will…" Sam started to say, but Jack, Teal'c and Catra simply shot (or cut) the locks they had hacked before.
"Run!" Glimmer yelled. "Seek shelter! Bombs incoming!"
A moment later, alarms sounded.
The servants - and two guards - from the three rooms gasped, and most started fleeing. One turned, though. "Hey! Unhand our God! Stop! Treas…"
A trick arrow hit his face, silencing him with a glop of sticky glue. He started trying to pull off his face, and Adora kept going.
"See? If I had been here, he wouldn't have noticed!"
Adora ignored them and kicked the door to the lounge open, going straight to the blast doors. The bombers were being attacked by a squadron of Horde fighters, but they outnumbered the fighters, and more were on the way - stealthed Tel'taks as well. Whoever was in charge really wanted the palace bombed.
"Sha're's about to enter the airspace above the palace," Daniel said as he entered the lounge.
Bow went to open the blast doors.
"Glimmer!" Adora said. "Go grab the second Ba'al!" They needed him to check if he was the real one. It was a slim chance, but they couldn't risk losing them.
Glimmer disappeared with a pop.
The blast doors slid open. Adora checked the HUD - the bomber formation had been disrupted, but a few were still on course. Anti-aircraft installations were already firing. If they hit Sha're by mistake…
But her shuttle was already inside the envelope and flying so low, most anti-aircraft cannons were above it - it had to gain altitude to reach the balcony!
And there it came - only visible on the HUD. Then it turned, and the ramp went down, and Adora could see the interior as if there was a hole in reality. She put Double Trouble down on the ramp and turned around.
"Hey!"
"Move, Chamaeleon!"
"I'm not…"
"Move!"
A cloud of sparkles formed, and Glimmer with an unconscious Ba'al appeared, panting as she touched the ground. "That was…"
Adora picked both up before Bow could rush to them and carried them inside. Entrapta and Sam were already headed to their stations. Teal'c dropped the other Ba'al off as Jack and Daniel stepped into the shuttle.
Catra and Melog brought up the rear, scrambling up the ramp. "Hurry!" Catra yelled.
Sha're started flying before the ramp fully closed, and through the shrinking gap, Adora saw the first bomb blow up a field in the distance.
*****
Near Ba'al's Palace, PB-1763, Ba'al's Realm, August 12th, 2000 (Earth Time)
Samantha Carter focused on her computer screen while the shuttle sped away from the palace grounds, flying at wave-top height over the lake to avoid the anti-aircraft fire filling the airspace above them with blaster bolts. With all the jamming, even connected to the shuttle comm, her computer could barely keep track of the battle in orbit, much less the wider system - the updates were lagging almost as badly as if they were sending data from Earth to Etheria and back over the comm relays of the spy bot network.
Even so, she could see that the Goa'uld formation was stabilising - and the number of fighters engaging the Alliance task force was increasing. Not at a fast pace, but she could tell that this was just the beginning. As more and more Death Gliders joined Ba'al's main formation, even more of those currently fooled by Double Trouble's act into staying out would be pushed to do so as well.
She checked the jamming fields. Both the regular FTL comms and the chip network were still down. But Ba'al had been prepared for that tactic. In addition to short-range radio transmissions linking the ships in his formation, the enemy ships were also using laser communications - the sensors of the spy bots surrounding the battlespace were picking up stray signals.
They had to stop that.
"Analysis of the enemy transmission complete!" Entrapta announced next to her. "Oh - you were right; it's from another Ba'al."
Sam quickly read the decrypted transmissions - yes, according to that, the orders, both for the capital ships and the clone-piloted Death Gliders, came from Ba'al. Whether that was true, or if it was true, whether that Ba'al was another clone or the original, Sam couldn't say. Though as Daniel had pointed out, it was very unlikely that any of Ba'al's guards and commanders would dare to pretend to be him without explicit orders - and she doubted any such orders had been issued. Their course was clear. "We need to find the enemy commander," she said.
"I'm analysing the data traffic on the chip network, but it's inconclusive," Entrapta replied.
"They're rerouting the radio transmission through all capital ships," Bow added. "No luck there either without a detailed breakdown of every transmission."
"Then let's do this," Sam said, opening the data feed on her computer. "We need to find the enemy flagship." She ran the different datastreams through the analyser, shutting down the regular communication updates to the bare minimum.
Not seeing how close they came to getting shot down as Sha're and the General took the shuttle to orbit was helping her concentrate, anyway. She knew that the odds of getting hit by a stray shot were very, very low - space was just too big - but they were never zero. And the planet's orbitals, and even more so the airspace, were very crowded right now.
There! A sequence in the orders had been identified and matched with time stamps. That reduced the number of potential sources - unfortunately, communication lag affected logs as well, so they still had half a dozen Ha'taks to search.
And time was running out - the jamming field was weakening as the enemy was compensating, and soon, the task force would either have to switch to the hyperspace equivalent of broadband jamming, which would affect their own communication, or accept the restoration of the enemy communication networks. They had to find this Ba'al before that!
They needed more precise data. More timely data - if they could time the transmissions so precisely to overcome the lag problem… "We need to get closer to the heart of the enemy formation," she reported, "or we can't find Ba'al."
"That would take us right into the middle of the fleet battle," Glimmer said.
"Do it," Adora said.
"Are you crazy?" Double Trouble protested - Sam was not sure if Ba'al's vocal chords could hit that high naturally.
"We need to stop Ba'al," Adora said.
"Be happy: You can repeat your performance, maybe even with the original," Catra added.
"I never do the same performance twice! I have artistic integrity!"
"But no other kind of integrity," Glimmer commented.
"Where are the escape pods? I want to get off this shuttle! This wasn't in the original mission briefing! No one said anything about flying into a space battle and boarding a battleship!"
"It actually was," Catra pointed out. "Under 'contingencies'."
"What? No!"
"It was in the appendices," Glimmer explained.
"Those were just about material and data sources!"
"Those were appendices A to L. Appendix M covered the contingencies."
Sam did her best to ignore the bickering, eyes fixed on her screen, as the shuttle slipped past the Allied squadrons and closed - at an angle - with the enemy. Another transmission. More orders for the Death Gliders. Almost - only two Ha'taks were possible sources now.
Could she order the task force to focus on both? That would be very costly; they were defended by almost the entire enemy fleet, and by the time those were dealt with, most of the Death Gliders would have chosen to join if the trend kept up, but… Her computer lit up with another transmission. And the time stamps… "Source of the enemy orders identified!" she announced, highlighting the ship and transmitting the data.
Ba'al had tried to be clever and sent a direct transmission to another ship, which then broadcast it. But they were close enough to catch the original transmission as well, now.
"Take us in. We're going to board them," Adora said. She would have run the same calculations Sam had - trying to take those ships out would be too costly, and take too long.
"What? No!"
"Taking us in," the General acknowledged.
"No!"
Sam focused on the display again. This would be dicey.
*****
PB-1763-System, Ba'al's Realm, August 12th, 2000 (Earth Time)
Catra watched the feed from the sensors as the shuttle flew towards their target. The data from the task force's units was augmented with the shuttle's own passive sensors at close range, so it was pretty complete - complete enough to make this mad dash towards the enemy flagship possible.
Highly dangerous, but possible.
"You are crazy!"
She snorted at Double Trouble's continuing protests and complaints and turned to glance at them. "Really, how could a master performer like you have failed to expect this? Haven't you analysed all of us?"
"I knew you all were too brave to be sensible. I didn't know you were suicidal!" they spat.
Catra shrugged. For all their boasts and obvious talent and experience, Double Trouble still seemed to ignore that knowing people wasn't enough, not nearly enough, to predict them, much less imitate them if that was all you knew. If they had any actual military knowledge and experience, they might have known that. But they were basically trying to predict military decisions without the knowledge and intel required to understand the situation in which such decisions were made.
Catra wasn't about to explain that to them, of course; no need to help Double Trouble become even more of a threat should they manage to copy a System Lord. Instead, she said: "Just hold on to your seat; in a few minutes we're either storming a Ha'tak or dead."
Double Trouble bared their teeth at her, and Catra shrugged. "You get used to it."
"To dying?"
"To risking your life," Catra corrected them.
The expression of horror on their face was great to see.
"At least, we aren't being shot at yet," Double Trouble muttered.
Oh, if they only knew enough to realise that the shuttle was currently weaving through beam cannon fire from a couple of Ha'taks forming the inner perimeter! Granted, the shuttle wasn't being shot at, so they were technically correct, but this was the second-most dangerous part of this mission, after the docking. If they caught a stray shot, it would be over.
But they cleared the defence line and reached the core part of the enemy fleet - the half a dozen Ha'taks serving as reserve - and as decoys for the actual flagship hiding amongst them. Those ships only fired sporadically, whenever an Alliance Squadron darted in to savage a Ha'tak at the outer edge of the formation.
Cara checked the display to see the overall situation. The Alliance fleet was still overwhelming the Goa'uld forces, but they had had to dispatch a few more squadrons to fend off mass attacks by Death Gliders. So far, they hadn't suffered complete losses to the suicide bombers, but the damage was mounting, and several frigates had been rendered combat ineffective. Catra knew - it was a gut feeling, but all the indicators were there - that it wouldn't be long before the losses started to mount.
They had to finish off Ba'al fast. If they boarded his flagship and rigged the reactor, engine or any of the magazines containing bombs to explode… It would disrupt the chain of command for the Goa'uld and hit their morale hard. But it would not stop the retransmissions of his last orders, and Catra knew what kind of contingency orders Ba'al left for his forces. The battle would not end until the last of his fanatics had been killed; few if any would surrender.
If Double Trouble announced the death of the pretender after blowing up the ship, it might be enough to convince the majority of the enemy to stop fighting. Might. But the best option was to take this Ba'al prisoner and have Double Trouble take over. Killing your enemy was one thing, killing your enemy and taking over their flagship? Catra was pretty sure that would convince most of Ba'al's forces that they were the real Ba'al.
But for that, they had to board the ship in the first place. And that was the trickiest part. Catra clenched her teeth when the shuttle closed in with the enemy flagship. They had to align with it so they could dock - well, use magnetic clamps to attach the shuttle to the hull in this case. Docking with a ship performing evasive action in the middle of a fleet battle was too dangerous to risk it. They were all wearing suits rated for vacuum, anyway.
But even so, lining up the shuttle correctly was a challenge. Catra saw how tense Jack and Sha're were - sweat was gathering on their faces - and how frantic Sam, Entrapta and Bow were working on their tools. It made her feel more than a bit queasy.
Not that she would show it, of course. Certainly not in front of Double Trouble. She had a reputation to uphold.
"Alright, folks - here we go! We're on terminal approach!"
"Terminal?" Double Trouble gasped.
"We're about to hit the hull."
"WHAT?"
"Terminal approach, not terminal velocity." Daniel tried to be helpful, but Catra didn't think Double Trouble knew what either was.
But before they could resolve that, the shuttle vibrated, and Catra's ears picked up metallic sounds from the bottom - they had locked onto the enemy flagship's hull.
She unbuckled and stood. "Let's go hunt down a snake!"
*****
Jack O'Neill had tested the new suits in vacuum before - he wouldn't let his troops use a crucial piece of gear he hadn't personally checked - and knew it worked, but a small part of him still was relieved when Carter and Bow opened the airlock on the Ha'tak and he could get inside Ba'al's flagship. There was just something… eerie about being out in empty space in just a thin suit.
Especially if said space was not actually empty but filled with capital ships firing at each other. Jack preferred to keep a solid hull and maybe a charged shield between himself and enemy - or friendly - fire.
"No life signs behind the door, sir," Carter reported.
"Melog agrees," Catra added.
"Open it!" Adora said.
Jack heard the airlock pressing as he focused on the door. Sure, he trusted Carter, but being ready never hurt anyone - a few incidents with trigger-happy or scared soldiers not counting.
The door slid open and he stepped inside the ship proper, covering the hallway to the left while Adora took the right side.
"Sha're, signal the fleet: We're inside, dial the Stargate!" Jack ordered as the rest of the first wave entered the ship and the door closed to get the second batch inside.
"Yes, Jack."
Unless there was another Stargate in the system to which their own connected, Ba'al now couldn't escape for the next thirty-eight minutes. He would also be alerted, of course, that someone was trying to open a wormhole to his ship, which would also serve as a distraction. At least, that was the plan.
"We've located the Stargate on this ship, sir."
The HUD map had updated already.
The airlock cycled again - hidden from the ship's systems thanks to Carter's computer-wizardry - and the second wave of their boarding party entered just when Carter announced that the wormhole had been established.
"Alright, time to nab another Ba'al. We want the full roster!" Jack announced.
"I don't, actually," Double Trouble said, "Seen one, seen them all."
Jack chuckled at that. He still checked that the shapeshifter was covered by the others before turning to Carter. "Any fix on Ba'al's location yet?"
"The scanner shows one Goa'uld in the ship's flag room, sir."
Jack grinned. It was nice of Ba'al to make sure there was no potential confusion. "Well, we got our target then!"
By now, navigating a Haˆtak felt like running the obstacle course back at the base. Sure, the staff changed some parts from time to time to keep the soldiers from getting sloppy, but the basic design didn't really change. And with Melog covering them in their illusion, they didn't have to sneak around as slowly as they usually had to - which meant they could surprise Ba'al.
Jack grinned at the thought.
"They're moving guard squads to the gateroom, sir."
Jack was sure that Ba'al had an iris or other kind of barrier to seal the gate, but the snake was probably afraid of a traitor working for another Ba'al opening the Stargate to let in troops. Well, it only served to reduce the number of guards actually covering Ba'al himself.
"Can you hack the gateroom?" Catra asked as they cleared another intersection and proceeded to the emergency stairs.
"The barrier is manual-only," Carter replied.
"It's really inconvenient," Entrapta added. "For us, at least. But it's also inefficient for Ba'al since he needs more crew that way. However, it does seem to protect against hacking, although you could get that with a bot and still have fewer crew members, I guess. But if Ba'al liked bots, he'd have used Horde bots by now. He should have access to them through the lost fleet."
"Too bad. Opening the gate would have drawn even more guards," Jack said. "Keep an eye out for changes."
"Yes, sir."
Jack would rather not have a discussion about the possible reasons for Ba'al not using bots right now.
They had reached the stairs and he started to go up. They had to be careful here - they were still hidden by Melog's illusions, but the space was cramped here, so trying to avoid literally running into a Jaffa patrol would be a challenge.
But it seemed the Jaffa rushing around in the ship were skipping the emergency stairs and sticking to the elevators. They had to deal with a few traps, though - and ones designed from the ground to be integrated in the ship, it seemed, but still detected by their magic scanner - before they reached the right deck.
It was going a bit too smoothly for Jack's taste, actually, but…
"Ba'al's moving!" Carter's reported.
He just had to tempt Murphy, had he? Jack checked the HUD. Ba'al's marker was moving - he had already left the flag room. If he was headed to the bridge… But why would he? If he didn't trust the captain, he could send guards there. His presence wasn't needed. So… "He's trying to bail!" Jack spat.
"Scanning for escape pods and smaller ships… There's a Tel'tak ready in a hangar!"
Jack checked the location on his HUD and cursed. The hangar was too close to the flag room to intercept Baâl before he could reach it, even if they ran all the way. That was…
"Catra!" Adora yelled.
Catra was already running - on all fours - down the hallway. Faster than Jack could have on his best day.
And Adora chased after her at the same neck-breaking speed.
Jack and the others, still covered by Melog, unlike those two, started running as well, but he had a gut feeling that they would be too late.
*****
"Catra!" Adora ran after her stupid lover.
"We have to stop him from getting away!" Catra yelled back as she took a corner.
Adora knew that, of course, but that didn't mean Catra had to rush in first - Adora was the one who could shrug off staff blasts! But she knew that if she yelled that, Catra would just double down.
She took the corner as well, running along the wall for a moment, over the scratches and gouges left by Catra's claws, and sped up again. A quick glance at the HUD - the hallway was clear - showed that Ba'al was about to reach the hangar. This would be close - too damn close. If Ba'al ran, literally ran, they wouldn't make it. But he was walking. Walking quickly, but not running.
"Lock the doors in front of him!" Catra snapped.
"We did - he has an override hidden in the system!" Entrapta's voice announced over the communicator.
Adora muttered a curse under her breath.
Another corner came ahead, followed by two more - the hallway had to go around a massive shaft containing an auxiliary reactor - and Catra's lead grew. Her claws were just too much of an advantage in such environments.
Ba'al entered the hangar through the main entrance. And Catra had reached the hallway leading straight to the side entrance.
"Open the side doors!" Catra snapped through the communicator.
Adora clenched her teeth and kept running as fast as she could. She turned the last corner just in time to see Catra slide sideways through the tiny gap opening in the door. And as she kept running and the door kept sliding open, she heard yelling and shooting - and saw staff weapon blaster bolts flash through the air behind the door.
Catra had engaged Ba'al's guards.
No, as Adora saw when she charged through the door, Catra had gone for the Tel'tak. Not to cut off Ba'al from reaching it - though that had happened as well - but to render it inoperable. She was slashing at the engine coverings as she dashed around it, deliberately attracting fire so the blaster bolts would hit the ship as they missed her!
Adora would so kill her after this!
But Ba'al first!
"Ba'al!" Roaring with frustration and anger, she charged straight at him. The guards he was hiding behind turned to shoot at her, changing formation, and she swapped the first blast away with her sword and let the second and third bounce off her.
She didn't slow down, crashing into the two guards in the centre and sending them flying, before sliding to a stop right next to Ba'al. "Surrender!" she yelled at him, raising her sword.
Another guard came at her from behind, and a mule kick took him out. Two more tried to move between her and Ba'al, who was stepping back with a shocked expression on his face, and she grabbed one with her free hand and used him to smack the other away.
"Surrender!"
A force field surrounded him, and he pointed his palm at her, torture device glowing.
She bared her teeth in a smile when she shrugged the hit off, then slashed at the field, shattering it. "Last Chance!"
He gasped, stumbling back a step, eyes flicking from her to the side - Catra was finishing off another guard, having abandoned the wrecked Tel'tak, Adora realised - then straightened. "A God doesn't surrender!"
"You are no god!" Adora snarled, darting forward to grab his right arm and crush the torture device.
He hissed with pain as she broke his arm in the process, but quickly smiled at her, showing all his teeth. "Did my clone surrender? Did you turn him? Or did you make a deal with him to replace me? What did he promise you to topple me?"
His clone? Oh, he must be talking about the first Ba'al they had captured. "We don't make deals with prisoners!" she told him. "We're here to end your reign, not to replace you!"
He scoffed. "And take over yourself? Claim my worshippers for yourself? You'll find my followers not as easily swayed as Horde Prime's clones!"
"We've captured Ba'al." Catra joined her, flicking blood off her claws with a sharp gesture before retracting them. Her suit showed several spots of blood as well.
"Copy. We're headed to the command centre," Jack answered over the communicator.
"You brought my traitorous clone with you?" Ba'al was smiling. "How daring."
"Which traitorous clone do you mean?" Catra asked. "We got a bunch of them."
"Even better. Providence is smiling on me, as it should."
For a prisoner with a broken arm, he was far too happy. He wasn't delusional - and he was smart enough to get the implications. Was this just his pride? An attempt to save face?
Catra was frowning - she must be thinking the same, Adora realised. "What's your game?"
"Game? There is no game. I am a god! Immortal! You cannot kill me - I shall return, stronger and more determined than ever!" He laughed. "You think you have won, but you have lost! And through your own actions!"
That was…
"Fuck!" Catra cursed. "Check for a self-destruct!"
"Too late!" Ba'al smirked and looked at the Tel'tak in the hangar. "You destroyed your last chance to escape!" He laughed again. "I will return - but will you?"
"The reactor is about to go critical!" Sam's voice announced over the communicator.
*****
"Carter?"
Samantha Carter ignored the General's question as her hands flew over the keyboard of her laptop - balanced on a console in the command centre.
"The reactor is still charging up!" Entrapta reported. "The failsafes are working, but it's not enough - the self-destruct routine is circumventing them somehow."
That meant they could stop this! Sam checked the programs running the reactor. The Naquada powering it would be regulated… Nothing? The computer controlling the reactor contained no hidden programs! Everything was acting as it should - and failing to stop this! "Ba'al didn't subvert the computer core - he must have placed a separate computer to override the regular controls."
"Can you hack that?" the General asked.
"I don't have a way to access it. We would have to either find the physical device and destroy it - or get the communication link Ba'al used to trigger it. And hope it can be stopped remotely." She could think of a few ways to ensure it wouldn't be possible. She ran a quick calculation. "We wouldn't reach the reactor in time to stop it from going critical, sir."
"We could… no, that would take too long either!" Entrapta agreed.
"Then we need to get out. Sha're - get to the hangar. We need to leave the ship!"
"On my way!"
"To the hangar! Move it! Go! Go!"
Sam grabbed her laptop and started running.
As they left the command centre, the entire ship suddenly shook. Sam glanced at Teal'c - she was directly behind him and he was carrying two Ba'als - and kept running while she checked her HUD. Partial overcharge - the engines were affected. "The ship's out of control, sir!" But that would have slowed down the overloading process. Slowed down, but not stopped - they had a better chance now!
"The ship is accelerating!" Sha're confirmed over the communicator.
"Signal the fleet - don't shoot at this ship!" the General snapped as he reached the hangar doors.
Which didn't open.
"Door controls are fried!" Bow yelled.
"We need to blow them up!" the General stepped up to the door.
"Back off from the door!"
That was Adora! She was running towards the door from the other side! Sam stopped, and the others backed off. A moment later, the door was smashed open as She-Ra broke through it, sword first. "Get in!"
Sam felt the floor vibrate as they entered the hangar. That wasn't a good sign. She flipped through a few menus and clenched her teeth. "The engines are redlining." Probably meant to get the ship out of danger so Ba'al had an easier time fleeing with his cloaked Tel'tak.
"I can't catch up!" Sha're sounded desperate.
"Can we take the Tel'tak?" Bow asked.
"I wrecked the engines," Catra replied.
"We've got space suits - let's just jump out!" the General said.
Sam quickly ran the numbers in her head. "The explosion's radiation would kill us, sir. The suits aren't rated for that level of radiation." It was now a race whether the engines or the reactor would blow up first.
"Will the Tel'tak shield us?" the General shot back.
"If the shield generator still works…" Sam trailed off as everyone ran towards the damaged ship.
"I only wrecked the engines!" Catra yelled.
"How do we get it out?" Glimmer asked.
"I'll push you!"
"Adora!"
"Get inside!" Adora didn't wait for an answer and threw Catra through the open hatch, followed by the Ba'als with them - including Double Trouble.
Sam didn't argue and rushed inside after Teal'c. "Get the shields up!" she yelled.
"On it!" Bow replied.
Sam whirled. If the shields failed, the hatches and armour would still provide some protection - if stacked together with the suits…
"Hrnghh…"
The ship's inertial compensators aren't working, Sam thought, grabbing a strut to steady herself as the entire Tel'tak was suddenly moving.
"Adora! Get inside!" Catra yelled.
"Shoot us a way out, Teal'c!"
A moment later, the ship shook again as the cannons - beam cannons, fortunately, the older staff cannons might not have been enough, Sam realised - opened up.
On her HUD, both the engines and the reactor were glowing red - explosions imminent.
The hangar doors blew open, and Sam was thrown to the ground, then into the wall as explosive decompression helped push the ship into space.
"Shields up!"
"Adora!" Catra screamed as they tumbled through space.
"Coming!"
Sam caught a glimpse of the Ha'tak as it hurled past them, still accelerating.
Then the reactor lost containment, and the entire ship vanished in a fireball.
"Hold ti…!"
The shockwave hit them. Sam tried to brace herself, but she wasn't in a good spot, and pain shot through her arm when she was smashed into the ceiling. The suit held, though the pain was bad.
She tried to reorient herself. The Tel'tak had held together - somewhat. It was a wreck; the only things working were the warning lights and alerts, or so it seemed. No artificial gravity, of course. And the sensors in her suit reported dangerous levels of radiation - not immediately fatal, she sighed with relief, but they would need treatment as soon as possible.
"Adora!" Catra yelled again.
No answer. Sam bit her lower lip. Adora had been outside when the explosion happened. Unshielded. She was She-Ra, but…
Catra cursed, and Sam saw her drag herself along the ceiling with her claws, towards the hatch at the aft.
"Catra!" Glimmer yelled.
"Adora! Answer me!"
"Adora!"
Sam floated back a bit and saw that Catra was slicing through the hatch, which seemed to have fused with the rest of the hull. If they had had an atmosphere inside the ship instead of a vacuum that had insulated them somewhat… Sam shuddered.
"Adora!"
"Don't get out! Sha're is coming!" Bow yelled.
Catra didn't listen and pulled herself through the hole she had created.
"Adora!"
Sam cradled her broken arm, pondering what she could say.
Then she saw golden light shine through the hole in the hatch.
"Adora!"
*****
Adora was alive! Floating in space, shining with golden light, hair spread out like a curtain - or a cape - holding her sword. Alive. Not turned to ash by the exploding Ha'tak. Not gone, vanished in space. Alive.
Catra stared at her. "Adora!"
Adora's mouth was moving, but she couldn't hear any words.
"Adora!"
Her love pointed to her ear and shook her head. Well, duh! Yes, she couldn't communicate - Catra had noticed that, but why would… Her communicator had been fried? But that one had been stuck to her ear and throat. As close to Adora as skin allowed - inside her aura or whatever that glow was! If that was fried by the explosion.. Oh, if Adora claimed that she was fine after this and there had been no danger, Catra would kill her!
Snarling, she grabbed the incredibly stupid idiot and dragged her towards the hatch she had… opened. With her claws. Well, it had been half-melted anyway.
"Sha're, do you see us?"
That was Jack's voice. Oh, right. She should probably inform the rest that her idiot lover was alive. Catra flushed. "Adora is alive, bringing her in."
"What? Is she hurt?" Glimmer blurted out.
Catra flashed her fangs at the smiling Adora and replied: "Not yet."
"What do you mean, 'not yet'?"
"I haven't gotten around to killing her yet."
"What?"
"I'm locked on your position, Jack," Sha're replied. "I see… is that a light?"
"That's Adora shining bright," Catra replied as she dragged her into the Tel'tak's remains.
*****
"There was no choice - someone had to push you out, and I was the only one who could do it. And I did it!" Adora repeated herself in the stealth shuttle's main passenger area.
Sitting in her lap, Catra scoffed. "Your communicator was fried." And Adora only had had to push them out because Catra hadn't thought ahead and had wrecked the Tel'tak's engines.
"Yes. But I am fine."
"Your radiation levels aren't significantly higher than ours." Entrapta's words weren't nearly as comforting as she probably thought they would be.
Adora gasped. "Right! I have to heal you all!"
Before Catra could say anything, Adora had jumped up, put her down on the seat and pointed her glowing sword at her. Then magic energy hit her.
"Me next!" Double Trouble blurted out. "I don't perform well if I am irradiated!"
"No one does," Glimmer muttered.
"I'll cover everyone, don't worry!"
"Heal yourself as well!" Catra snapped as her lover
"I'm fine!"
Catra was going to kill her!
"We've established a communication link with the task force that's routed to a fake signal," Sam reported while Adora kept healing people.
"That means you're up, Double Trouble," Glimmer added.
While Adora healed them - and they were still complaining - Catra checked her HUD for the state of the battle. Taking out Ba'al had ruined the enemy's coordination. Their formations were fraying at the edges, and the Alliance squadrons were taking them apart. But the incredibly high number of clone-piloted Death Gliders was becoming more and more of a problem.
"Alright, you're healed," Adora said.
"Are you sure?" Double Trouble poked their belly.
"Yes," Adora replied.
"According to our scanner, you've got normal radiation levels."
"What? 'Normal radiation levels'?"
"Well, everyone has…" Entrapta began to explain.
"Surrender speech now, medical explanation later!" Glimmer cut them off.
"I work better when I am not dying!"
"Then get to it!" Glimmer snarled.
Double Trouble gasped. "How can you threaten me when I might have just sacrificed my life for the cause?"
"You make it very easy!"
"Well, I am the best, but it's still a bad sign that you succumb to such temptation so easily and quickly. It makes me worry for the people of Bright Moon."
Catra shook her head. Double Trouble definitely was healed.
*****
"...and the usurper has been dealt with and will rue the day he dared to go after your God. His Punishment will be legendary! But you, who have been fooled by him, need to obey your God now and lay down your weapons and return to your formations!"
Catra checked the display in the centre of the shuttle while they were approaching the Alliance flagship, and Double Trouble was broadcast across the system. Their speech was having an effect - most of the surviving Death Gliders were breaking off their attacks. The enemy Ha'taks were slower to react, but she could see one of their remaining formation breaking up, and the others were still in disarray. Even if they kept fighting, they wouldn't be able to put up much resistance any more.
Catra wouldn't relax until the Death Gliders were back at their bases and disarmed, and the Ha'taks secured or destroyed, but it looked like the battle was winding down.
She checked the casualties and winced. Bloodier than they had hoped - though they had been very optimistic for their best estimates - but not nearly as bad as they had feared.
Not a bad outcome for such a mission, all in all.
She leaned back and closed her eyes.
"I'm sorry," Adora whispered behind her.
Catra pressed her lips together. She knew that Adora had just done what had been necessary. But she couldn't help it - when they had lost contact, after the explosion, Catra had felt as if she had died. And what would life be without Adora?
She leaned back into Adora and whispered: "Don't do it again."
"I won't," Adora replied in a low voice as she hugged Catra to her chest.
She was lying. Catra knew it. If Adora thought she'd have to do it again to save everyone, she'd do it without hesitation.
That was who she was - She-Ra, Princess of Power. Protector.
Catra's love.
She closed her eyes and sighed, but she was smiling as she did so.
*****
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Faber_The_Builder
Muchkin of Megastructures
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Dang, tanking an exploding Warship is crazy
Chapter 185: The Election Campaign Part 7
Starfox5
Experienced.
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Chapter 185: The Election Campaign Part 7
Ba'al's Palace, PB-1763, Ba'al's Realm, August 13th, 2000 (Earth Time)
Jack O'Neill winced as he looked down from the cockpit of his shuttle. Ba'al's palace had seen better days. Much better days. That other Ba'al had really wanted to kill his rival. Or rivals. It wasn't quite a crater, but most of the above-ground parts were rubble. Smoking rubble. Part of him was happy that that particular Ba'al had been as stupid as to waste a sizeable part of his bombers and Tel'taks to destroy his own palace, weakening his forces. But there had been a lot of people in that palace, and Jack didn't think all of them had been able to get out before the defences collapsed.
And judging by the smaller craters spread out around the palace grounds, even evacuating the palace wouldn't have saved everyone - it was hard to hit your target with anti-aircraft-artillery firing at you from below and fighters trying to bounce you from above, and that was without all the ECM in the place trying to fool your sensors. He had seen pictures of better-aimed bombing attacks from World War II.
"At least the reactor didn't blow up when the thing got flattened," he commented as he took the shuttle in a wide turn to set down at the landing site Alliance forces had secured.
"It must have shut down when it was damaged, sir," Carter said. "And it was deep underground."
"You know, Ba'al's smarter than the average snake, but he's not as smart as he thinks he is. That's, what, two times he used a reactor overloading as a trap on the same day?" Jack shook his head.
"That might be his personal preference, Jack," Daniel said from behind him. "He might prefer such traps to more straightforward ones, like using actual bombs."
"It's harder to hide bombs than such sabotage," Sha're said while she ran the checklist for the landing. "Scans wouldn't show a program hidden inside the control node."
"Computer scans would," Carter added. "If they were advanced enough."
Oh - she must be blaming herself for missing the traps. Jack would have rolled his eyes if he weren't busy adjusting the shuttle's final approach. "You dealt with the first trap just fine, Carter. And the second was impossible to defuse in our situation."
"I am aware of that, sir."
Which, in Carter-speak, meant she felt she should have been ready to do the impossible anyway and would probably try to work herself into exhaustion until she was. And Jack knew better than to try to stop her.
He set the shuttle down. "Alright, everyone out. Let's see what's left of old Ba'al's stomping ground."
Alliance soldiers had gone over the area already, looking for dead, wounded and clues, and likely also souvenirs like every soldier ever, while Jack and his friends had been handling the wrap-up of the space battle, followed by a debriefing and some sleep. But Daniel and Carter had a history of spotting things others, even experts in their fields, missed, and Sha're and Teal'c had more experience with Goa'uld and their palaces than anyone else in the task force.
"General!" The guards around the landing site didn't salute - they were in the field - but they still stood straighter when the officer in charge called out his rank. Jack's own soldiers wouldn't have done this, but those were regular infantry.
"General!"
Jack wanted to close his eyes. Who had authorised the press to go down on the planet? The journalists were supposed to stay in the flagship until the planet was safe, and Jack wouldn't have called it safe until he was off it again!
"Mark Bayley, CNN!"
"Chris Evans, NBC!"
"Cyril Foster, ABC!"
Jack already knew them and their affiliation - did they think he had forgotten their breakfast ambush a week ago on the ship? He managed to smile when the three most obnoxious reporters rushed toward him.
"Do you expect more enemies to hide in the ruins, General?"
"Do you think the Alliance is ready for a potential guerrilla war?"
"You are famous for leading your troops from the front - is there a reason you didn't land with the first wave?"
What the…? Jack wanted to set things straight - he had landed with the advance team, and they had infiltrated the palace before boarding Ba'al's flagship! - but that would be revealing military tactics and capabilities that were secret. So he refrained from glaring, put a polite smile on his face and told them: "That's, unfortunately, classified."
"There are rumours that Ba'al has been captured during the battle. Are they true?"
Well, that Jack could answer. "We've captured three Ba'als. The Alliance is busy sorting out if they are all body doubles or if the real Ba'al is amongst them." Hopefully, that would catch their attention.
"Really? Ba'al uses body doubles?" Bayley gasped.
"Yes." Jack nodded. "Quite a lot of them, actually. Like many dictators on Earth."
"Oh! And are you here looking for the real Ba'al?"
"We're here to check the ruins, see if we overlooked something the first time," Jack replied.
"Does that mean you've been here before?"
Shit. Jack shook his head. Time to deflect. "It means we're bringing an expert for such sites in. I am sure you know Dr Daniel Jackson and his wife, Sha're."
Daniel stared at him with a betrayed expression as the journalists turned to him, but Jack grinned in return. Sometimes, you had to make a sacrifice.
PB-1763-System, Ba'al's Realm, August 13th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"We've sent the DNA samples to Beta through the Stargate - well, to Etheria, and a shuttle will take them to the Third Moon of Enchantment. Beta and the others should be able to tell us soon if all captured Ba'als are clones. Or the same clones - we don't know if the real Ba'al is actually an older clone, do we?"
Adora nodded at Entrapta with a smile, though she wanted to wince at the 'all Ba'als' comment. How many clones had Ba'al made? If there were three clones in this important system, and at least two of them fought each other, how many other clones did he have? And how was he planning to keep them from attacking each other?
And how sick did you have to be to willingly kill yourself and live on through a clone? She couldn't understand that. Clones weren't you - they were their own person! Why would Ba'al - or a clone who thought he was Ba'al - sacrifice himself like that for what he thought were clones? It made no sense, not with all they knew about Goa'uld.
Still, they had a briefing to go through. She nodded at Glimmer. "What's the status of the planet?"
"We could take part of the shipyard and other factories intact, but they are likely trapped as the palace was. We lost a bit more than half of the factories and yards to either collateral damage from the infighting or sabotage by Ba'al," Glimmer said in a grim tone. "That also caused casualties amongst our own troops and amongst Ba'al's own forces and his slaves."
Adora pressed her lips together. She knew the number of dead Alliance soldiers already. Fewer than they had feared, but not negligible. If the soldiers had held back a bit, waited for Adora and her friends to arrive to take such strongholds… She knew she couldn't have done everything by herself, but she could have saved a few more soldiers, at least. They might have lost more factories, but you could replace those - and most would need to be retooled anyway, if the Alliance wanted to use them. And that would also require a large force to guard the system, and a very long supply line until the factories on the planet were retooled and could cover the needs of the guard force.
Of course, that was assuming that Ba'al still had significant forces and resources left. If he didn't, the situation would be very different. But they didn't know the state of Ba'al's forces because of his compartmentalised organisation.
They had captured a lot of resources and even ships - more than half of the clone-piloted Death Gliders had surrendered, and even half a dozen Ha'taks had either struck their colours, as Captain Baker had called it, or had been crippled and boarded during the fighting. Even better, proportionate numbers of the smaller ships had surrendered as well, saving their crews from being killed. At least the Tel'taks could be sent to the Tok'ra for their use, maybe some of the Al'keshs and even Ha'taks as well. Adora didn't think their numbers were worth the logistical and training complications they would cause. Better to send them to people who already knew how to fly and maintain them. "What about the ships?"
"As far as our task force is concerned, we have recovered all heavily damaged ships, but with the exception of the ships which were not or only lightly damaged, all damage reports are still preliminary," Captain Baker said. "But we're about 50% combat effective right now, though that will increase to 75% within the week."
Which meant the remaining 25% would take longer - much longer in some cases - to be repaired and replaced. Fortunately, more of the former than the latter. "What about the prisoners?" Adora asked him.
The captain nodded. "We'll need at least two fleet transports for the Jaffa alone. The freed slaves and clones…" He shook his head. "The fastest way to get them off the planet would be to temporarily move the ship's Stargate to the planet, and then rush them through as fast as possible."
Adora had seen the numbers for that as well. They had prepared for large numbers of prisoners, but they were still surprised by the exact numbers. And not all of those prisoners were cooperating, not even after Double Trouble did a repeat performance. To her surprise, the Clones who had been trained to be willing to conduct suicide attacks in the Death Gliders were actually more cooperative - Ba'al probably shot himself in the foot when he had them trained to obey without question. The slaves raised from birth to serve Ba'al as their god, and, of course, his Jaffa on the other hand… "We'll have to move them." If they had switched sides, they might have been left here to work on the factories, but as things were, they were a riot or revolt waiting to happen.
"Good," she said. "I think we've covered everything we have to. We'll have to wait for the final reports and the surveys of the various locations." She nodded as she stood. "Thank you, everyone, for your efforts."
She had more paperwork to finish. And she had to check what Catra was doing.
Ba'al's Palace, PB-1763, Ba'al's Realm, August 13th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"...and since you took part in the operation that took out Ra back in 1996, Dr Jackson, how do you compare that mission to this operation?"
"Well… it was not an operation to 'take out Ra', it was an exploration mission. We didn't even know what would await us when we opened the Stargate for the first time."
"But when the Americans met Ra, they quickly took action and freed us from his reign."
"Sha're! It was a bit more complicated than that!"
"You also were the one who discovered that aliens had visited Earth thousands of years before, and that was before you even knew about the Stargate. What do you think…"
Samantha Carter narrowed her eyes slightly when she glanced at the General as the two walked away from the reporters hounding Daaiel and Sha're. "You threw him to the wolves, sir."
"He is great with people. Granted, reporters might not qualify, but Daniel has dealt with snakes before. He and Sha're will do fine. Besides, he deserves some fame after what they put him through before."
He sounded perfectly honest, and his logic was sound, but that didn't mean he was completely sincere - Sam knew him better than that. "You still used him as a decoy."
He shrugged. "Better him than me."
"Indeed."
Sam shook her head - they were now out of sight of the reporters, shielded by the ruins of a storage house and the remains of the palace walls in this section. Shock wave effects, transmitted through the Earth, she noted - the primary shield must still have been active when the building collapsed. And the number of bombs that took… "We need to check with the logs if this was a deliberate tactic or merely an accident. Either way, we need to adjust our defences to account for such strikes."
"What do you mean, Carter?"
"Bombs used to collapse buildings protected from direct hits by shields by transmitting shockwaves through the ground, sir," she explained.
"Earthquake bombs?"
It wasn't a bad analogy. "Yes, sir. This looks to be an accidental result - if Ba'al's bombers had intended to do this deliberately, they would likely have used bombs that penetrated much further into the ground before exploding to maximise the effect - but it could have been deliberate, just improvised in the spur of the moment. Which would mean we'll face directed attacks next time."
"We already design bunkers with such bombs in mind, Carter."
"Yes, sir. But I believe our projected yields are not as high as some of the ordnance used here." Ba'al was much more progressive than most other Goa'ulds they knew. Sometimes, that meant he was wasting his resources on projects that didn't yield any success - like his attempt to reproduce Horde Prime's Velvet Glove - but it also meant he was far less predictable than the rest of the System Lords.
"We'll put it on the list. Other than building earthquake-proof, I don't know what we could do, but I trust you'll come up with something."
She had been about to correct him about what 'earthquake-proof' meant, but swallowed her comment when he praised her. "I'll do my best, sir."
"I know." He was smiling at her - she caught it in the corner of her eye.
She did her best not to blush and forced herself to focus on her task. They had to analyse the ruins and look for anything crucial that might have survived the bombardment, the collapse of the above-ground structures of the palace and the subsequent looting by the soldiers.
Maybe it would be easier and more effective to scan the pockets and backpacks of the soldiers than the base itself, she thought with a snort.
"Did you discover something, Carter?"
"No, sir. Just an amusing thought."
She took out her scanner and got to work. Most of the basement levels had survived - they had already known that - but a few had collapsed. Amongst them had been a shelter, though. As should have been expected, Ba'al didn't put a lot of effort into protecting his followers. And if he had, he probably would have built a self-destruct into it to turn it into a trap. In fact, he probably had planned to do that - she checked the data on his secondary security system they had taken during their Infiltration. Indeed, the signs were there. "We were lucky to have struck before he finished construction," she said.
"Hm?"
"If we had struck after the palace was finished, we would have had a lot more traps to deal with."
He snorted. "Good old Ba'al - never learned that if you spread yourself too thin trying to do everything at once, you won't finish anything?"
"Probably not, sir." That Ba'al had split up and isolated his forces from each other wouldn't have helped either, of course. But it also meant that those projects of his which could be finished - if only because they remained hidden - would be a big problem. They needed more intel, and for that, they needed more data to analyse. The palace's computer core had survived, and as soon as it was recovered from where it ended up buried, she would get to work on checking for anything they had missed during the infiltration.
Her communicator beeped, and her HUD lit up with a message and updated, and her eyes widened. "Scans have found a secondary communication site, sir. Completely isolated from the palace grounds." Not even inside the area - they would have to take a shuttle to the place.
"I see." The General looked around. "I think we should go take a look there first - this field of rubble isn't going anywhere."
"I concur, sir." And call down Entrapta. She wouldn't want to miss that.
PB-1763-System, Ba'al's Realm, August 13th, 2000 (Earth Time)
Here.
Ah. Catra should have expected that. "Thanks." She nodded at Melog as she entered the main hangar. There weren't many empty spots - as the flagship of the task force, this frigate's fighters had been amongst the last to engage the enemy. Most of them had been used in reserve in case one of the sporadic and unorganised Death Glider attack waves would threaten to overwhelm the fleet's defences.
Which had happened a few times - the threatening, not the actual overwhelming. If Ba'al had managed to send the entire force of suicide sleds, as some of the soldiers had started to call the Death Gliders with bombs built into them, at the Alliance force at once, things would have been much bloodier. Not hopeless - they had prepared for the worst, after all, before going in - but losses would have been staggering.
And potentially ruinous for the current American government. They were not ready to suffer such casualties; everyone (except for some loonies) Catra had checked with agreed on that. The polls Brown had collected left no doubt, and since they had insisted on American forces being the majority of the ground forces in this operation…
She shook her head. Hell, if the enemy had somehow - with a determined poush heedless of the casualties, maybe - to take out the flagship, the task force would have been fine, the chain of command established well in advance who would take over, and Adora hadn't been on the ship anyway, but losing the journalists on the ship would have likely ruined whatever propaganda the Americans wanted out of this.
Catra snorted at the thought. Actually sacrificing a decoy flagship to lure the enemy into a ruinous decapitation attempt would have been a strategy she would have used in a heartbeat when she had been the Horde leader, but the Alliance hadn't operated like that - they would have sent in Adora and the rest of the princesses, and would have managed somehow to win anyway.
Whatever. She passed a bunch of clones and bots doing maintenance on Horde fighters, including minor repair work, and continued to the area where shuttles were being loaded with supplies for the ground forces.
Projections had been off, and the supplies on the fleet transports hadn't been enough for the ground operation. The initial offensives had gone well enough, but with the additional requirements for the occupation and guard duties since Ba'al's troops were a bit more loyal than other Jaffa…
It was another thing they'd have to adjust in future operations. Horde fleet trains were set up for space battles; ground operations on the scale they were facing here required more resources. Not anything like the military factory complex the Horde had needed on Etheria, though. Or the nightmare of the last World War on Earth. Still, they would probably have to produce more transports - both fleet transports and merchantmen, as Mermista called them - to handle future offensives. Heck, if only they could convince the Americans to switch production to transports instead of their abominations of 'frigate-carriers', or what the other Alliance sailors called 'fuck-ups'.
Ah, well. The Europeans would probably handle it.
There.
And there was the reason Catra was in this hangar instead of with Adora, making sure her idiot wasn't overworking herself or feeling guilty for every death in the Alliance. "Mister Bayley! I was looking for you - did you forget that we've got an interview scheduled?"
The reporter blinked. "Ah, of course not, Commander Catra! I just, ah, forgot the time! This operation is fascinating!"
A bit too transparent, she thought as she shrugged. "It's just supplies being shipped down to the planet. Not very exciting."
"Well, it's still essential, and it gives a glimpse into what trade will be like once the war is won, right?"
"You're the expert," Catra said. "I'm just fighting the war. So, let's go somewhere private to do the interview!"
The reporter nodded with fake enthusiasm. "Of course."
Frustrated.
She knew that but nodded anyway.
As soon as they had left the hangar, 'Bayley' dropped the act. "How did you find me?"
Catra shrugged with a toothy grin. "Do you really think I'd tell you?" They probably did; Double Trouble loved exposition.
They pouted in return. "I did what you wanted. I've earned this!"
"You've earned your money. And a trip back to Etheria," Catra corrected them. "You certainly didn't earn a shuttle full of supplies."
"I wouldn't have stolen it! I only needed to borrow it!"
"Sure, sure." Catra shook her head. "Now let's get you to your quarters." Those with the shiny new security.
For a moment, Double Trouble looked like they would make a break for it, their eyes glancing back and forth from Catra to the hangar entrance. Then they sighed. "It's not fair! I risked my life! I deserve a reward for that!"
"And you'll get your promised reward," Catra said.
"What if I buy a ship with it?"
"The sale of spaceships is restricted."
"What about if I buy a permission, too?"
"That would be bribery, which is a crime."
"What about a deep cover mission? I can pass as a fleeing Ba'al! I'd only need a ship to make it look believable!"
Catra rubbed her forehead. Maybe she should just stun them.
Funny.
Laugh it up, she thought.
Secret Communication Site, PB-1763, Ba'al's Realm, August 13th, 2000 (Earth Time)
Daniel was looking around as if he expected another bunch of journalists to ambush him, Jack O'Neill noted as they disembarked from their shuttle and were greeted by the advance team that had found this site.
"General! The entrance is over there." The lieutenant in charge - one of Jack's, though he had to look at the tag to recall his name, Carson - gestured towards what looked like a cave in the small hill next to them.
"We'll only have to deal with fanatic Jaffa and maybe killer bots, Daniel," Jack said as they stopped in front of a bunker-style door hidden in a cave big enough to let Emily, which brought up the rear, pass with room to spare for people. "No journalists here." If there were, heads would roll. More than would roll for letting them down on a planet while combat was still going on. Secret snake sites were off-limits for the press.
"Says the man who couldn't face them himself."
"You got to lecture journalists about history, ancient and contemporary. Your colleagues would have loved it," Jack said with a grin.
"We could set the record straight about your contributions," Sha're added. "You deserve that recognition."
"They interviewed me in front of the ruins of Ba'al's place. People might think I bombed it!"
"Well…" Jack grinned. "You were there when the bombs started to fall, just as you were there when we nuked Ra."
"Everyone helped!" Entrapta chimed in. "So, it counts!"
Daniel looked betrayed, but Sha're nodded in apparent agreement.
Carter, always the professional, spoke up: "We're ready for the detailed scans, sir."
Jack nodded at her. "Alright. Do your thing, Carter."
The advance team had done a few scans already, but Carter and Entrapta had brought their personal, cutting-edge magic scanner - and they knew more about technology than anyone else on the planet.
"Was that like this when you arrived, Lieutenant?" Daniel asked, looking up at the cave ceiling.
"Yes, sir."
"I'm not an officer," Daniel corrected him. "I'm a civilian contractor."
Jack snorted softly. Daniel was technically correct, but few officers, certainly no junior officers, would dare to ignore him.
"That's not a natural cave - and it's pretty obvious. Ba'al messed up here - or he didn't have a good geologist to tell him otherwise."
"Or he had, and the guy didn't dare to tell him anything he didn't like," Jack said.
"That is a possibility. The Goa'uld are prone to generating a culture where their subordinates lie to them in order to avoid punishment. That does tend to result in compounded mistakes at the top, though."
And that was a good thing for the Alliance. The more mistakes the snakes made, the better. Especially Ba'al - that snake had given Jack enough headaches.
"Indeed," Teal'c said. "Many of the false gods punish the messenger who brings them unwelcome news."
"Yeah," Jack nodded. "That kind of policy is a bit hard on your staff."
"And on your relationship with reality," Daniel added. "As many dictatorships on Earth illustrate."
"We've finished the scan, sir," Carter reported.
Good. "So… what's waiting for us down there? Another trap?"
"We haven't found any alterations at the reactor powering the installation or any bombs, sir. There could be subroutines to cause the reactor to overload, but we'll scan the system for that once we penetrate it."
"Yes! Now that we know what to look for, this shouldn't be much trouble!" Entrapta chimed in.
"Don't get too cocky - Ba'al's a slippery bastard and might have varied his traps," Jack cautioned her. "What about defences?" The advance team hadn't encountered anyone outside, but Jack didn't think Ba'al would leave such a large site without any guards.
"No life signs, sir. But we have detected several Horde bots."
"The same models as Horde Prime's bots," Entrapta added. "Not like Emily here."
Jack checked his HUD. Red markers showed bots inside the installation - a lot of them. "Standard Horde bots?" he asked. He had fought those bots in training before. And so had the soldiers from the advance team.
"We haven't detected any changes to the design we know, sir."
That was… not good, but manageable. Jack nodded. "Anything else?"
"It is a sophisticated communication system relying entirely on Horde technology, sir. Although it doesn't seem manned, and we haven't detected any actual data traffic so far. It's unclear if this was merely a backup system - it's more capable than the one in the palace was - or if it has another purpose. It might have been planned to serve a base that wasn't built yet."
Jack didn't think that was the case. Ba'al would likely have built a base or factory before adding more communications. That would have been more efficient. No, this was something else. And they would find out what it was. "Can you hack the system?"
"It's the same system Horde Prime used," Entrapta added. "If Ba'al didn't change the architecture, we should know how to hack it. In principle. We still need to get through the encryption, since I don't think Ba'al copied that as well. And he would have changed the codes anyway like Horde Prime did."
"Do it. Once you're ready, we'll start clearing out the site," Jack said. He turned to face the Lieutenant. "Carson, gather two squads to support us." A bit of additional firepower wouldn't hurt.
"Yes, sir!"
Carter and Entrpata had already started accessing the door's controls when Jack turned back.
PB-1763-System, Ba'al's Realm, August 13th, 2000 (Earth Time)
Who allowed the press to land on the planet? We're still fighting!
Adora frowned when she read Jack's message. That shouldn't have happened - she had only given permission to send the journalists down once the landing forces had secured the planet. She double-checked - yes, the orders were clear. So, how had this happened? She sent a quick order to the ground commander to ensure that the press was kept out of any combat zones - well, the ground commander's second-in-command, since Jack was busy - and a query to the officer liaisoning with the press whose name she couldn't recall right now to get to the bottom of this.
"Trouble?" Catra asked from where she was lounging on their bed in the Admiral's cabin of the ship, checking reports on her tablet.
"The press is already on the planet. Jack wants to know how it happened," Adora explained.
"Really?" Catra scoffed. "Did anyone get shot?"
"I haven't heard anything," Adora replied - and sent another query to inform her immediately if that had happened.
"Shouldn't be a problem, then." Catra shrugged. "We can get them up with the next supply transport, anyway - airspace is now secure; we've scanned for anti-air weapon emplacements and hidden Death Gliders and haven't found either."
Adora had noted that herself but nodded anyway. "Do you think Double Trouble is responsible for this? They were posing as one of the missing journalists. If they reached the ground and posed as an officer, sending the soldiers guarding the transports away…"
"Maybe as a distraction, but I don't think they can actually fly a shuttle, much less navigate a spaceship," Catra said. "Of course, if they overestimate their talents…" She shook her head. "I think they wanted to get through the Stargate."
"Or they planned to pose as a high-ranking officer and fool a pilot," Adora said.
"Would have to be a pretty dumb pilot." Catra snorted. "Of course, someone was dumb enough to greenlight the journalists' trip…"
As if it had heard her lover, Adora's screen lit up with a message from the press liaison. "They said they received the OK from the ground commander."
"Jack wasn't it, so… who?"
"Looks like the commander of the Marines," Adora replied after a quick check. "He reported that his forces had secured the area around the palace and it was cleared for all transports."
"And they mistook that as permission to send the press down?" Adora scowled. Someone would be getting a lesson about double-checking before sending civilians into combat zones! No matter how much they wanted to go into combat zones!
"Or they just wanted an excuse to please their government," Catra said. "I think everyone knows how badly the American government wants to see a glowing report covering a victory of American soldiers - their National Convention starts tomorrow."
Adora narrowed her eyes. If that was true and it hadn't been an honest mistake, then someone would be getting reassigned to some… "Do we have an asteroid base where the crew can count rocks?" She asked.
Catra snorted. "Jack was joking about that."
Adora huffed. "Well, we could use one as the new assignment for certain officers."
"I'd send Biggs there, first," Catra said. "And their cronies."
Adora would too - Kearsy's replacement was a bit more subtle, but he was the same kind of bigot. Probably afraid of magic, too. But after Kearsy, the Americans would complain too much if Adora reassigned Biggs without a reason they couldn't dismiss.
Ah, more answers. "None of the journalists were hurt or in any danger."
"Bet they hated that - I'm sure they would have wanted to look heroically into the camera while behind them, blaster bolts flew across the sky," Catra said.
Adora thought that too, but there was nothing about that in the report. "And the liaison officer says the journalists were insisting and all had signed vouchers absolving the Alliance from any responsibility for their safety."
Catra snorted again. "If anything happens, the Alliance would get the blame anyway."
Adora agreed - she knew how it worked. "Well, we'll sort it out once we have finished taking over the planet and Jack is back from exploring that new site. Now, what do we do about Double Trouble?"
"Freeze them in carbonite and send them back to Etheria, then forget about thawing them out?" Catra flashed her fangs at her.
Adora managed not to chuckle at the suggestion. "We probably still need them for the next Ba'al."
"We'll have to increase security, though. And they'll hate it."
And they would let everyone know how unhappy they were. Adora was aware of that. But they also offered a way to make the enemy forces surrender without having to fight them, and that was too important. "We'll manage," she said.
"They'll realise sooner or later that we rely on Melog to track them," Catra said. "We can program the scanners, but they would have to be scanning our own ship all the time, and Double Trouble could disrupt that simply by changing often enough to gum up our reactions."
That would be terribly annoying. But it was exactly what Double Trouble would do, Catra was right about that. Of course, it also was what Catra would do in their place, but Adora knew better than to mention that. "Well, we'll proceed as planned, then."
"OK."
Adora went back to reading the latest update of the recovery efforts. Things were worse than expected in some areas, but overall, they were still doing better than projected.
Secret Communication Site, PB-1763, Ba'al's Realm, August 13th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"Incoming!"
"They're trying to flank us! Watch your HUD!"
"Cover that door!"
Samantha Carter was used to hacking alien systems under fire. SG-1's missions far too often had her work in the worst conditions. And she also was used to working while others were covering her.
That didn't mean she liked it. The General and her friends were fighting dozens of bots trying to cut them off, and she was being stalled by the system here.
Behind her, Emily released another barrage, blowing up a Horde bot - Sam saw the icon appear and then blink out on her HUD - and stopping another attempt to flank them on this side.
"Oh… adaptive decision matrices! They're evolving!"
Entrapta sounded a bit too cheerful for Sam's taste - the bots, and the defences of their security system, had proven to be a bit harder to hack than she had expected. Worse, they had only discovered this after they had already entered the facility's lower levels, and the second security system - unlike other System Lords, Ba'al had redundancies planned from the start, and this site's one had been finished - had taken over, and the bots had started to fight smarter. And the system's security had improved as well.
"Clear!"
"Move ahead!"
They were still overcoming the defences, both physical and electronic, but it was a struggle. If this had been just SG-1, even with Sha're, Entrapta and Emily with them, Sam doubted that they would have managed to reach this point - the corridor leading to the control centre of the facility. Where the mainframe currently foiling her attempts to access it was located.
"Fire in the hole!"
An explosion sounded from further ahead, followed by shots.
She glared at the latest failure and reconfigured the program while her decryption routines worked on the newest version. There had to be a backdoor - every Horde System had one, courtesy of Horde Prime's controlling urges. And the entire facility was exclusively built with Horde technology - even with Horde aesthetics. Ba'al couldn't have had enough time to rewrite the entire operating system from scratch. If he had, his own systems would have been far harder to penetrate.
"There's one in the air duct!"
"Not any more!"
But she hadn't found it yet. And there were only so many ways to access the system, and not all of them were practical. They had already checked for landlines; if the backdoor was limited to physical connections, it would have to be a console inside this site. But that would mean that if the bots went out of control, like if the adaptive system adapted a bit too well, then Baal wouldn't be able to shut them down without having to physically fight his way through the bots. He wouldn't do that - the secrecy would be ruined, as would be the facility - they had already done damage to the base here during their fight.
Case in point, part of her mind added when the floor trembled from yet another explosion - the General was using C-4 rather freely against the static defences.
"Go! Go! Go!"
"The scan routine adapted again!" Entrpata sounded frustrated. "It's like a virus!"
"Fall back! There are more of them in ambush!"
"Don't get cut off!"
Sam had noticed that. But as the scanners and ID checks adapted, the codes they were checking would stay the same. So, that had to be their weakness - unless they were looking for an adaptive code. But would Ba'al risk his access on a single device like that, which could be stolen? It would protect against his clones getting access, but…
"The wave pattern! Check this!" she blurted out, quickly focusing on the data.
"Oh! That's…" Entrapta breathed. "It's a brain wave pattern!"
"That's how he was going to access the system - by scanning his brain!" Sam bared her teeth in a satisfied smile. "We don't have his brain to scan…"
"Cover the right flank!"
"...but we have scans of his brain!" Entrapta's hair was whipping around over her tools and the consoles in this room as she quickly opened a line to the flagship's database.
Sam, meanwhile, quickly wrote a routine to transmit the scan data - adapted, so it would fake a direct neural interface. Fortunately, she was familiar with that piece of Asgard technology from when she had looked into improved control interfaces for fighters - unfortunately, Project Neurohelmet had been deemed too expensive for the advantages it offered. Especially since she had copies of the code.
But she could easily adapt her part for this. There!
"Here's the data!" Entrapta announced.
Sam entered it, then sent it ahead.
And the system granted her access! Yes!
She quickly - after looking for a hidden second security check - started shutting down the defences, both mobile and static.
"The bots stopped firing!"
"Stay down - it might be a trap!"
"Carter?"
"We've penetrated the core systems, General," she replied. "The defences have been deactivated."
"Good work, Carter. Move it, folks - we need to make sure they can't reactivate!"
Sam wasn't really listening. She was already exploring the core system of this facility. And what she found… No wonder it was nothing but defences and the most powerful FTL communicator in the entire system.
"He copied Horde Prime's mind transfer system," she whispered. No wonder Ba'al had made so many clones - they were literally backup bodies for his original mind to jump into!
Worse, the system was operational. But according to the logs, it hadn't been used yet...
Ba'al's Palace, PB-1763, Ba'al's Realm, August 13th, 2000 (Earth Time)
Jack O'Neill winced as he looked down from the cockpit of his shuttle. Ba'al's palace had seen better days. Much better days. That other Ba'al had really wanted to kill his rival. Or rivals. It wasn't quite a crater, but most of the above-ground parts were rubble. Smoking rubble. Part of him was happy that that particular Ba'al had been as stupid as to waste a sizeable part of his bombers and Tel'taks to destroy his own palace, weakening his forces. But there had been a lot of people in that palace, and Jack didn't think all of them had been able to get out before the defences collapsed.
And judging by the smaller craters spread out around the palace grounds, even evacuating the palace wouldn't have saved everyone - it was hard to hit your target with anti-aircraft-artillery firing at you from below and fighters trying to bounce you from above, and that was without all the ECM in the place trying to fool your sensors. He had seen pictures of better-aimed bombing attacks from World War II.
"At least the reactor didn't blow up when the thing got flattened," he commented as he took the shuttle in a wide turn to set down at the landing site Alliance forces had secured.
"It must have shut down when it was damaged, sir," Carter said. "And it was deep underground."
"You know, Ba'al's smarter than the average snake, but he's not as smart as he thinks he is. That's, what, two times he used a reactor overloading as a trap on the same day?" Jack shook his head.
"That might be his personal preference, Jack," Daniel said from behind him. "He might prefer such traps to more straightforward ones, like using actual bombs."
"It's harder to hide bombs than such sabotage," Sha're said while she ran the checklist for the landing. "Scans wouldn't show a program hidden inside the control node."
"Computer scans would," Carter added. "If they were advanced enough."
Oh - she must be blaming herself for missing the traps. Jack would have rolled his eyes if he weren't busy adjusting the shuttle's final approach. "You dealt with the first trap just fine, Carter. And the second was impossible to defuse in our situation."
"I am aware of that, sir."
Which, in Carter-speak, meant she felt she should have been ready to do the impossible anyway and would probably try to work herself into exhaustion until she was. And Jack knew better than to try to stop her.
He set the shuttle down. "Alright, everyone out. Let's see what's left of old Ba'al's stomping ground."
Alliance soldiers had gone over the area already, looking for dead, wounded and clues, and likely also souvenirs like every soldier ever, while Jack and his friends had been handling the wrap-up of the space battle, followed by a debriefing and some sleep. But Daniel and Carter had a history of spotting things others, even experts in their fields, missed, and Sha're and Teal'c had more experience with Goa'uld and their palaces than anyone else in the task force.
"General!" The guards around the landing site didn't salute - they were in the field - but they still stood straighter when the officer in charge called out his rank. Jack's own soldiers wouldn't have done this, but those were regular infantry.
"General!"
Jack wanted to close his eyes. Who had authorised the press to go down on the planet? The journalists were supposed to stay in the flagship until the planet was safe, and Jack wouldn't have called it safe until he was off it again!
"Mark Bayley, CNN!"
"Chris Evans, NBC!"
"Cyril Foster, ABC!"
Jack already knew them and their affiliation - did they think he had forgotten their breakfast ambush a week ago on the ship? He managed to smile when the three most obnoxious reporters rushed toward him.
"Do you expect more enemies to hide in the ruins, General?"
"Do you think the Alliance is ready for a potential guerrilla war?"
"You are famous for leading your troops from the front - is there a reason you didn't land with the first wave?"
What the…? Jack wanted to set things straight - he had landed with the advance team, and they had infiltrated the palace before boarding Ba'al's flagship! - but that would be revealing military tactics and capabilities that were secret. So he refrained from glaring, put a polite smile on his face and told them: "That's, unfortunately, classified."
"There are rumours that Ba'al has been captured during the battle. Are they true?"
Well, that Jack could answer. "We've captured three Ba'als. The Alliance is busy sorting out if they are all body doubles or if the real Ba'al is amongst them." Hopefully, that would catch their attention.
"Really? Ba'al uses body doubles?" Bayley gasped.
"Yes." Jack nodded. "Quite a lot of them, actually. Like many dictators on Earth."
"Oh! And are you here looking for the real Ba'al?"
"We're here to check the ruins, see if we overlooked something the first time," Jack replied.
"Does that mean you've been here before?"
Shit. Jack shook his head. Time to deflect. "It means we're bringing an expert for such sites in. I am sure you know Dr Daniel Jackson and his wife, Sha're."
Daniel stared at him with a betrayed expression as the journalists turned to him, but Jack grinned in return. Sometimes, you had to make a sacrifice.
*****
PB-1763-System, Ba'al's Realm, August 13th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"We've sent the DNA samples to Beta through the Stargate - well, to Etheria, and a shuttle will take them to the Third Moon of Enchantment. Beta and the others should be able to tell us soon if all captured Ba'als are clones. Or the same clones - we don't know if the real Ba'al is actually an older clone, do we?"
Adora nodded at Entrapta with a smile, though she wanted to wince at the 'all Ba'als' comment. How many clones had Ba'al made? If there were three clones in this important system, and at least two of them fought each other, how many other clones did he have? And how was he planning to keep them from attacking each other?
And how sick did you have to be to willingly kill yourself and live on through a clone? She couldn't understand that. Clones weren't you - they were their own person! Why would Ba'al - or a clone who thought he was Ba'al - sacrifice himself like that for what he thought were clones? It made no sense, not with all they knew about Goa'uld.
Still, they had a briefing to go through. She nodded at Glimmer. "What's the status of the planet?"
"We could take part of the shipyard and other factories intact, but they are likely trapped as the palace was. We lost a bit more than half of the factories and yards to either collateral damage from the infighting or sabotage by Ba'al," Glimmer said in a grim tone. "That also caused casualties amongst our own troops and amongst Ba'al's own forces and his slaves."
Adora pressed her lips together. She knew the number of dead Alliance soldiers already. Fewer than they had feared, but not negligible. If the soldiers had held back a bit, waited for Adora and her friends to arrive to take such strongholds… She knew she couldn't have done everything by herself, but she could have saved a few more soldiers, at least. They might have lost more factories, but you could replace those - and most would need to be retooled anyway, if the Alliance wanted to use them. And that would also require a large force to guard the system, and a very long supply line until the factories on the planet were retooled and could cover the needs of the guard force.
Of course, that was assuming that Ba'al still had significant forces and resources left. If he didn't, the situation would be very different. But they didn't know the state of Ba'al's forces because of his compartmentalised organisation.
They had captured a lot of resources and even ships - more than half of the clone-piloted Death Gliders had surrendered, and even half a dozen Ha'taks had either struck their colours, as Captain Baker had called it, or had been crippled and boarded during the fighting. Even better, proportionate numbers of the smaller ships had surrendered as well, saving their crews from being killed. At least the Tel'taks could be sent to the Tok'ra for their use, maybe some of the Al'keshs and even Ha'taks as well. Adora didn't think their numbers were worth the logistical and training complications they would cause. Better to send them to people who already knew how to fly and maintain them. "What about the ships?"
"As far as our task force is concerned, we have recovered all heavily damaged ships, but with the exception of the ships which were not or only lightly damaged, all damage reports are still preliminary," Captain Baker said. "But we're about 50% combat effective right now, though that will increase to 75% within the week."
Which meant the remaining 25% would take longer - much longer in some cases - to be repaired and replaced. Fortunately, more of the former than the latter. "What about the prisoners?" Adora asked him.
The captain nodded. "We'll need at least two fleet transports for the Jaffa alone. The freed slaves and clones…" He shook his head. "The fastest way to get them off the planet would be to temporarily move the ship's Stargate to the planet, and then rush them through as fast as possible."
Adora had seen the numbers for that as well. They had prepared for large numbers of prisoners, but they were still surprised by the exact numbers. And not all of those prisoners were cooperating, not even after Double Trouble did a repeat performance. To her surprise, the Clones who had been trained to be willing to conduct suicide attacks in the Death Gliders were actually more cooperative - Ba'al probably shot himself in the foot when he had them trained to obey without question. The slaves raised from birth to serve Ba'al as their god, and, of course, his Jaffa on the other hand… "We'll have to move them." If they had switched sides, they might have been left here to work on the factories, but as things were, they were a riot or revolt waiting to happen.
"Good," she said. "I think we've covered everything we have to. We'll have to wait for the final reports and the surveys of the various locations." She nodded as she stood. "Thank you, everyone, for your efforts."
She had more paperwork to finish. And she had to check what Catra was doing.
*****
Ba'al's Palace, PB-1763, Ba'al's Realm, August 13th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"...and since you took part in the operation that took out Ra back in 1996, Dr Jackson, how do you compare that mission to this operation?"
"Well… it was not an operation to 'take out Ra', it was an exploration mission. We didn't even know what would await us when we opened the Stargate for the first time."
"But when the Americans met Ra, they quickly took action and freed us from his reign."
"Sha're! It was a bit more complicated than that!"
"You also were the one who discovered that aliens had visited Earth thousands of years before, and that was before you even knew about the Stargate. What do you think…"
Samantha Carter narrowed her eyes slightly when she glanced at the General as the two walked away from the reporters hounding Daaiel and Sha're. "You threw him to the wolves, sir."
"He is great with people. Granted, reporters might not qualify, but Daniel has dealt with snakes before. He and Sha're will do fine. Besides, he deserves some fame after what they put him through before."
He sounded perfectly honest, and his logic was sound, but that didn't mean he was completely sincere - Sam knew him better than that. "You still used him as a decoy."
He shrugged. "Better him than me."
"Indeed."
Sam shook her head - they were now out of sight of the reporters, shielded by the ruins of a storage house and the remains of the palace walls in this section. Shock wave effects, transmitted through the Earth, she noted - the primary shield must still have been active when the building collapsed. And the number of bombs that took… "We need to check with the logs if this was a deliberate tactic or merely an accident. Either way, we need to adjust our defences to account for such strikes."
"What do you mean, Carter?"
"Bombs used to collapse buildings protected from direct hits by shields by transmitting shockwaves through the ground, sir," she explained.
"Earthquake bombs?"
It wasn't a bad analogy. "Yes, sir. This looks to be an accidental result - if Ba'al's bombers had intended to do this deliberately, they would likely have used bombs that penetrated much further into the ground before exploding to maximise the effect - but it could have been deliberate, just improvised in the spur of the moment. Which would mean we'll face directed attacks next time."
"We already design bunkers with such bombs in mind, Carter."
"Yes, sir. But I believe our projected yields are not as high as some of the ordnance used here." Ba'al was much more progressive than most other Goa'ulds they knew. Sometimes, that meant he was wasting his resources on projects that didn't yield any success - like his attempt to reproduce Horde Prime's Velvet Glove - but it also meant he was far less predictable than the rest of the System Lords.
"We'll put it on the list. Other than building earthquake-proof, I don't know what we could do, but I trust you'll come up with something."
She had been about to correct him about what 'earthquake-proof' meant, but swallowed her comment when he praised her. "I'll do my best, sir."
"I know." He was smiling at her - she caught it in the corner of her eye.
She did her best not to blush and forced herself to focus on her task. They had to analyse the ruins and look for anything crucial that might have survived the bombardment, the collapse of the above-ground structures of the palace and the subsequent looting by the soldiers.
Maybe it would be easier and more effective to scan the pockets and backpacks of the soldiers than the base itself, she thought with a snort.
"Did you discover something, Carter?"
"No, sir. Just an amusing thought."
She took out her scanner and got to work. Most of the basement levels had survived - they had already known that - but a few had collapsed. Amongst them had been a shelter, though. As should have been expected, Ba'al didn't put a lot of effort into protecting his followers. And if he had, he probably would have built a self-destruct into it to turn it into a trap. In fact, he probably had planned to do that - she checked the data on his secondary security system they had taken during their Infiltration. Indeed, the signs were there. "We were lucky to have struck before he finished construction," she said.
"Hm?"
"If we had struck after the palace was finished, we would have had a lot more traps to deal with."
He snorted. "Good old Ba'al - never learned that if you spread yourself too thin trying to do everything at once, you won't finish anything?"
"Probably not, sir." That Ba'al had split up and isolated his forces from each other wouldn't have helped either, of course. But it also meant that those projects of his which could be finished - if only because they remained hidden - would be a big problem. They needed more intel, and for that, they needed more data to analyse. The palace's computer core had survived, and as soon as it was recovered from where it ended up buried, she would get to work on checking for anything they had missed during the infiltration.
Her communicator beeped, and her HUD lit up with a message and updated, and her eyes widened. "Scans have found a secondary communication site, sir. Completely isolated from the palace grounds." Not even inside the area - they would have to take a shuttle to the place.
"I see." The General looked around. "I think we should go take a look there first - this field of rubble isn't going anywhere."
"I concur, sir." And call down Entrapta. She wouldn't want to miss that.
*****
PB-1763-System, Ba'al's Realm, August 13th, 2000 (Earth Time)
Here.
Ah. Catra should have expected that. "Thanks." She nodded at Melog as she entered the main hangar. There weren't many empty spots - as the flagship of the task force, this frigate's fighters had been amongst the last to engage the enemy. Most of them had been used in reserve in case one of the sporadic and unorganised Death Glider attack waves would threaten to overwhelm the fleet's defences.
Which had happened a few times - the threatening, not the actual overwhelming. If Ba'al had managed to send the entire force of suicide sleds, as some of the soldiers had started to call the Death Gliders with bombs built into them, at the Alliance force at once, things would have been much bloodier. Not hopeless - they had prepared for the worst, after all, before going in - but losses would have been staggering.
And potentially ruinous for the current American government. They were not ready to suffer such casualties; everyone (except for some loonies) Catra had checked with agreed on that. The polls Brown had collected left no doubt, and since they had insisted on American forces being the majority of the ground forces in this operation…
She shook her head. Hell, if the enemy had somehow - with a determined poush heedless of the casualties, maybe - to take out the flagship, the task force would have been fine, the chain of command established well in advance who would take over, and Adora hadn't been on the ship anyway, but losing the journalists on the ship would have likely ruined whatever propaganda the Americans wanted out of this.
Catra snorted at the thought. Actually sacrificing a decoy flagship to lure the enemy into a ruinous decapitation attempt would have been a strategy she would have used in a heartbeat when she had been the Horde leader, but the Alliance hadn't operated like that - they would have sent in Adora and the rest of the princesses, and would have managed somehow to win anyway.
Whatever. She passed a bunch of clones and bots doing maintenance on Horde fighters, including minor repair work, and continued to the area where shuttles were being loaded with supplies for the ground forces.
Projections had been off, and the supplies on the fleet transports hadn't been enough for the ground operation. The initial offensives had gone well enough, but with the additional requirements for the occupation and guard duties since Ba'al's troops were a bit more loyal than other Jaffa…
It was another thing they'd have to adjust in future operations. Horde fleet trains were set up for space battles; ground operations on the scale they were facing here required more resources. Not anything like the military factory complex the Horde had needed on Etheria, though. Or the nightmare of the last World War on Earth. Still, they would probably have to produce more transports - both fleet transports and merchantmen, as Mermista called them - to handle future offensives. Heck, if only they could convince the Americans to switch production to transports instead of their abominations of 'frigate-carriers', or what the other Alliance sailors called 'fuck-ups'.
Ah, well. The Europeans would probably handle it.
There.
And there was the reason Catra was in this hangar instead of with Adora, making sure her idiot wasn't overworking herself or feeling guilty for every death in the Alliance. "Mister Bayley! I was looking for you - did you forget that we've got an interview scheduled?"
The reporter blinked. "Ah, of course not, Commander Catra! I just, ah, forgot the time! This operation is fascinating!"
A bit too transparent, she thought as she shrugged. "It's just supplies being shipped down to the planet. Not very exciting."
"Well, it's still essential, and it gives a glimpse into what trade will be like once the war is won, right?"
"You're the expert," Catra said. "I'm just fighting the war. So, let's go somewhere private to do the interview!"
The reporter nodded with fake enthusiasm. "Of course."
Frustrated.
She knew that but nodded anyway.
As soon as they had left the hangar, 'Bayley' dropped the act. "How did you find me?"
Catra shrugged with a toothy grin. "Do you really think I'd tell you?" They probably did; Double Trouble loved exposition.
They pouted in return. "I did what you wanted. I've earned this!"
"You've earned your money. And a trip back to Etheria," Catra corrected them. "You certainly didn't earn a shuttle full of supplies."
"I wouldn't have stolen it! I only needed to borrow it!"
"Sure, sure." Catra shook her head. "Now let's get you to your quarters." Those with the shiny new security.
For a moment, Double Trouble looked like they would make a break for it, their eyes glancing back and forth from Catra to the hangar entrance. Then they sighed. "It's not fair! I risked my life! I deserve a reward for that!"
"And you'll get your promised reward," Catra said.
"What if I buy a ship with it?"
"The sale of spaceships is restricted."
"What about if I buy a permission, too?"
"That would be bribery, which is a crime."
"What about a deep cover mission? I can pass as a fleeing Ba'al! I'd only need a ship to make it look believable!"
Catra rubbed her forehead. Maybe she should just stun them.
Funny.
Laugh it up, she thought.
*****
Secret Communication Site, PB-1763, Ba'al's Realm, August 13th, 2000 (Earth Time)
Daniel was looking around as if he expected another bunch of journalists to ambush him, Jack O'Neill noted as they disembarked from their shuttle and were greeted by the advance team that had found this site.
"General! The entrance is over there." The lieutenant in charge - one of Jack's, though he had to look at the tag to recall his name, Carson - gestured towards what looked like a cave in the small hill next to them.
"We'll only have to deal with fanatic Jaffa and maybe killer bots, Daniel," Jack said as they stopped in front of a bunker-style door hidden in a cave big enough to let Emily, which brought up the rear, pass with room to spare for people. "No journalists here." If there were, heads would roll. More than would roll for letting them down on a planet while combat was still going on. Secret snake sites were off-limits for the press.
"Says the man who couldn't face them himself."
"You got to lecture journalists about history, ancient and contemporary. Your colleagues would have loved it," Jack said with a grin.
"We could set the record straight about your contributions," Sha're added. "You deserve that recognition."
"They interviewed me in front of the ruins of Ba'al's place. People might think I bombed it!"
"Well…" Jack grinned. "You were there when the bombs started to fall, just as you were there when we nuked Ra."
"Everyone helped!" Entrapta chimed in. "So, it counts!"
Daniel looked betrayed, but Sha're nodded in apparent agreement.
Carter, always the professional, spoke up: "We're ready for the detailed scans, sir."
Jack nodded at her. "Alright. Do your thing, Carter."
The advance team had done a few scans already, but Carter and Entrapta had brought their personal, cutting-edge magic scanner - and they knew more about technology than anyone else on the planet.
"Was that like this when you arrived, Lieutenant?" Daniel asked, looking up at the cave ceiling.
"Yes, sir."
"I'm not an officer," Daniel corrected him. "I'm a civilian contractor."
Jack snorted softly. Daniel was technically correct, but few officers, certainly no junior officers, would dare to ignore him.
"That's not a natural cave - and it's pretty obvious. Ba'al messed up here - or he didn't have a good geologist to tell him otherwise."
"Or he had, and the guy didn't dare to tell him anything he didn't like," Jack said.
"That is a possibility. The Goa'uld are prone to generating a culture where their subordinates lie to them in order to avoid punishment. That does tend to result in compounded mistakes at the top, though."
And that was a good thing for the Alliance. The more mistakes the snakes made, the better. Especially Ba'al - that snake had given Jack enough headaches.
"Indeed," Teal'c said. "Many of the false gods punish the messenger who brings them unwelcome news."
"Yeah," Jack nodded. "That kind of policy is a bit hard on your staff."
"And on your relationship with reality," Daniel added. "As many dictatorships on Earth illustrate."
"We've finished the scan, sir," Carter reported.
Good. "So… what's waiting for us down there? Another trap?"
"We haven't found any alterations at the reactor powering the installation or any bombs, sir. There could be subroutines to cause the reactor to overload, but we'll scan the system for that once we penetrate it."
"Yes! Now that we know what to look for, this shouldn't be much trouble!" Entrapta chimed in.
"Don't get too cocky - Ba'al's a slippery bastard and might have varied his traps," Jack cautioned her. "What about defences?" The advance team hadn't encountered anyone outside, but Jack didn't think Ba'al would leave such a large site without any guards.
"No life signs, sir. But we have detected several Horde bots."
"The same models as Horde Prime's bots," Entrapta added. "Not like Emily here."
Jack checked his HUD. Red markers showed bots inside the installation - a lot of them. "Standard Horde bots?" he asked. He had fought those bots in training before. And so had the soldiers from the advance team.
"We haven't detected any changes to the design we know, sir."
That was… not good, but manageable. Jack nodded. "Anything else?"
"It is a sophisticated communication system relying entirely on Horde technology, sir. Although it doesn't seem manned, and we haven't detected any actual data traffic so far. It's unclear if this was merely a backup system - it's more capable than the one in the palace was - or if it has another purpose. It might have been planned to serve a base that wasn't built yet."
Jack didn't think that was the case. Ba'al would likely have built a base or factory before adding more communications. That would have been more efficient. No, this was something else. And they would find out what it was. "Can you hack the system?"
"It's the same system Horde Prime used," Entrapta added. "If Ba'al didn't change the architecture, we should know how to hack it. In principle. We still need to get through the encryption, since I don't think Ba'al copied that as well. And he would have changed the codes anyway like Horde Prime did."
"Do it. Once you're ready, we'll start clearing out the site," Jack said. He turned to face the Lieutenant. "Carson, gather two squads to support us." A bit of additional firepower wouldn't hurt.
"Yes, sir!"
Carter and Entrpata had already started accessing the door's controls when Jack turned back.
*****
PB-1763-System, Ba'al's Realm, August 13th, 2000 (Earth Time)
Who allowed the press to land on the planet? We're still fighting!
Adora frowned when she read Jack's message. That shouldn't have happened - she had only given permission to send the journalists down once the landing forces had secured the planet. She double-checked - yes, the orders were clear. So, how had this happened? She sent a quick order to the ground commander to ensure that the press was kept out of any combat zones - well, the ground commander's second-in-command, since Jack was busy - and a query to the officer liaisoning with the press whose name she couldn't recall right now to get to the bottom of this.
"Trouble?" Catra asked from where she was lounging on their bed in the Admiral's cabin of the ship, checking reports on her tablet.
"The press is already on the planet. Jack wants to know how it happened," Adora explained.
"Really?" Catra scoffed. "Did anyone get shot?"
"I haven't heard anything," Adora replied - and sent another query to inform her immediately if that had happened.
"Shouldn't be a problem, then." Catra shrugged. "We can get them up with the next supply transport, anyway - airspace is now secure; we've scanned for anti-air weapon emplacements and hidden Death Gliders and haven't found either."
Adora had noted that herself but nodded anyway. "Do you think Double Trouble is responsible for this? They were posing as one of the missing journalists. If they reached the ground and posed as an officer, sending the soldiers guarding the transports away…"
"Maybe as a distraction, but I don't think they can actually fly a shuttle, much less navigate a spaceship," Catra said. "Of course, if they overestimate their talents…" She shook her head. "I think they wanted to get through the Stargate."
"Or they planned to pose as a high-ranking officer and fool a pilot," Adora said.
"Would have to be a pretty dumb pilot." Catra snorted. "Of course, someone was dumb enough to greenlight the journalists' trip…"
As if it had heard her lover, Adora's screen lit up with a message from the press liaison. "They said they received the OK from the ground commander."
"Jack wasn't it, so… who?"
"Looks like the commander of the Marines," Adora replied after a quick check. "He reported that his forces had secured the area around the palace and it was cleared for all transports."
"And they mistook that as permission to send the press down?" Adora scowled. Someone would be getting a lesson about double-checking before sending civilians into combat zones! No matter how much they wanted to go into combat zones!
"Or they just wanted an excuse to please their government," Catra said. "I think everyone knows how badly the American government wants to see a glowing report covering a victory of American soldiers - their National Convention starts tomorrow."
Adora narrowed her eyes. If that was true and it hadn't been an honest mistake, then someone would be getting reassigned to some… "Do we have an asteroid base where the crew can count rocks?" She asked.
Catra snorted. "Jack was joking about that."
Adora huffed. "Well, we could use one as the new assignment for certain officers."
"I'd send Biggs there, first," Catra said. "And their cronies."
Adora would too - Kearsy's replacement was a bit more subtle, but he was the same kind of bigot. Probably afraid of magic, too. But after Kearsy, the Americans would complain too much if Adora reassigned Biggs without a reason they couldn't dismiss.
Ah, more answers. "None of the journalists were hurt or in any danger."
"Bet they hated that - I'm sure they would have wanted to look heroically into the camera while behind them, blaster bolts flew across the sky," Catra said.
Adora thought that too, but there was nothing about that in the report. "And the liaison officer says the journalists were insisting and all had signed vouchers absolving the Alliance from any responsibility for their safety."
Catra snorted again. "If anything happens, the Alliance would get the blame anyway."
Adora agreed - she knew how it worked. "Well, we'll sort it out once we have finished taking over the planet and Jack is back from exploring that new site. Now, what do we do about Double Trouble?"
"Freeze them in carbonite and send them back to Etheria, then forget about thawing them out?" Catra flashed her fangs at her.
Adora managed not to chuckle at the suggestion. "We probably still need them for the next Ba'al."
"We'll have to increase security, though. And they'll hate it."
And they would let everyone know how unhappy they were. Adora was aware of that. But they also offered a way to make the enemy forces surrender without having to fight them, and that was too important. "We'll manage," she said.
"They'll realise sooner or later that we rely on Melog to track them," Catra said. "We can program the scanners, but they would have to be scanning our own ship all the time, and Double Trouble could disrupt that simply by changing often enough to gum up our reactions."
That would be terribly annoying. But it was exactly what Double Trouble would do, Catra was right about that. Of course, it also was what Catra would do in their place, but Adora knew better than to mention that. "Well, we'll proceed as planned, then."
"OK."
Adora went back to reading the latest update of the recovery efforts. Things were worse than expected in some areas, but overall, they were still doing better than projected.
*****
Secret Communication Site, PB-1763, Ba'al's Realm, August 13th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"Incoming!"
"They're trying to flank us! Watch your HUD!"
"Cover that door!"
Samantha Carter was used to hacking alien systems under fire. SG-1's missions far too often had her work in the worst conditions. And she also was used to working while others were covering her.
That didn't mean she liked it. The General and her friends were fighting dozens of bots trying to cut them off, and she was being stalled by the system here.
Behind her, Emily released another barrage, blowing up a Horde bot - Sam saw the icon appear and then blink out on her HUD - and stopping another attempt to flank them on this side.
"Oh… adaptive decision matrices! They're evolving!"
Entrapta sounded a bit too cheerful for Sam's taste - the bots, and the defences of their security system, had proven to be a bit harder to hack than she had expected. Worse, they had only discovered this after they had already entered the facility's lower levels, and the second security system - unlike other System Lords, Ba'al had redundancies planned from the start, and this site's one had been finished - had taken over, and the bots had started to fight smarter. And the system's security had improved as well.
"Clear!"
"Move ahead!"
They were still overcoming the defences, both physical and electronic, but it was a struggle. If this had been just SG-1, even with Sha're, Entrapta and Emily with them, Sam doubted that they would have managed to reach this point - the corridor leading to the control centre of the facility. Where the mainframe currently foiling her attempts to access it was located.
"Fire in the hole!"
An explosion sounded from further ahead, followed by shots.
She glared at the latest failure and reconfigured the program while her decryption routines worked on the newest version. There had to be a backdoor - every Horde System had one, courtesy of Horde Prime's controlling urges. And the entire facility was exclusively built with Horde technology - even with Horde aesthetics. Ba'al couldn't have had enough time to rewrite the entire operating system from scratch. If he had, his own systems would have been far harder to penetrate.
"There's one in the air duct!"
"Not any more!"
But she hadn't found it yet. And there were only so many ways to access the system, and not all of them were practical. They had already checked for landlines; if the backdoor was limited to physical connections, it would have to be a console inside this site. But that would mean that if the bots went out of control, like if the adaptive system adapted a bit too well, then Baal wouldn't be able to shut them down without having to physically fight his way through the bots. He wouldn't do that - the secrecy would be ruined, as would be the facility - they had already done damage to the base here during their fight.
Case in point, part of her mind added when the floor trembled from yet another explosion - the General was using C-4 rather freely against the static defences.
"Go! Go! Go!"
"The scan routine adapted again!" Entrpata sounded frustrated. "It's like a virus!"
"Fall back! There are more of them in ambush!"
"Don't get cut off!"
Sam had noticed that. But as the scanners and ID checks adapted, the codes they were checking would stay the same. So, that had to be their weakness - unless they were looking for an adaptive code. But would Ba'al risk his access on a single device like that, which could be stolen? It would protect against his clones getting access, but…
"The wave pattern! Check this!" she blurted out, quickly focusing on the data.
"Oh! That's…" Entrapta breathed. "It's a brain wave pattern!"
"That's how he was going to access the system - by scanning his brain!" Sam bared her teeth in a satisfied smile. "We don't have his brain to scan…"
"Cover the right flank!"
"...but we have scans of his brain!" Entrapta's hair was whipping around over her tools and the consoles in this room as she quickly opened a line to the flagship's database.
Sam, meanwhile, quickly wrote a routine to transmit the scan data - adapted, so it would fake a direct neural interface. Fortunately, she was familiar with that piece of Asgard technology from when she had looked into improved control interfaces for fighters - unfortunately, Project Neurohelmet had been deemed too expensive for the advantages it offered. Especially since she had copies of the code.
But she could easily adapt her part for this. There!
"Here's the data!" Entrapta announced.
Sam entered it, then sent it ahead.
And the system granted her access! Yes!
She quickly - after looking for a hidden second security check - started shutting down the defences, both mobile and static.
"The bots stopped firing!"
"Stay down - it might be a trap!"
"Carter?"
"We've penetrated the core systems, General," she replied. "The defences have been deactivated."
"Good work, Carter. Move it, folks - we need to make sure they can't reactivate!"
Sam wasn't really listening. She was already exploring the core system of this facility. And what she found… No wonder it was nothing but defences and the most powerful FTL communicator in the entire system.
"He copied Horde Prime's mind transfer system," she whispered. No wonder Ba'al had made so many clones - they were literally backup bodies for his original mind to jump into!
Worse, the system was operational. But according to the logs, it hadn't been used yet...
*****
Starfox5
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But Tuesday for She-Ra (at least, Adora will claim that when Catra's angry at her
)
Chapter 186: The Election Campaign Part 8
Starfox5
Experienced.
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Chapter 186: The Election Campaign Part 8
Secret Communication Site, PB-1763, Ba'al's Realm, August 13th, 2000 (Earth Time)
Catra didn't shudder when she entered the bunker Jack and the others had cleared, but she felt her fur bristle. Horde Prime's aesthetics usually weren't a problem - she was used to staying in Horde frigates, after all - but knowing that this site had been built to transfer Ba'al's consciousness into another body like Horde Prime used to made this site look particularly ominous.
At least, Sam and Entrapta were sure that the site hadn't been used so far. And now that they knew about this, they would be able to look for other such installations - they had already sent orders to check the systems and planets that they had liberated again. They couldn't afford to overlook one of them.
On the other hand, the fact that the Ba'al they had captured in his flagship hadn't used this to escape when they had blocked his Stargate probably meant he was, as Catra suspected, just another disposable clone. He certainly had had the attitude for one. Or not - most of the Clones acted as if they were the real Ba'al.
"It's a mystery," she muttered.
"What did you say, Catra?" Adora turned to look at her, slowing down her quick march towards the command centre of this bunker.
"I'm just wondering how this fits in with the Ba'als we captured." And wasn't talking about multiple Ba'al prisoners weird as hell!
"Ah. I'm sure Sam and Entrapta will be able to explain," Adora replied.
Catra hoped so as well. But when they entered the command centre, they looked a bit frustrated - well, Sam did. Entrapta looked intrigued, but that didn't mean one could expect good news.
"Welcome to Ba'al's ace up his sleeve," Jack greeted them. "We're still trying to find out what exactly is going on."
"Yes!" Entrapta nodded enthusiastically. "This must be technology we thought lost with the Velvet Glove. We should have realised that Ba'al had access to it since he was building a copy, but since we didn't know what exactly was lost, we couldn't keep an eye out for it. Anyway! We don't have full access to Asgard technology, so we can't tell for sure, but it looks like this is a way to transfer your consciousness into another body - well, to transfer your consciousness, the body is optional since if you can transfer the data, you can also store it, or should - some of the hyperspace mechanics might cause unexpected problems, and there are quantum mechanics to consider as well, so… It's fascinating!"
Sam looked like she had swallowed a fish snack that had gone bad. Or that Icelandic speciality, which was basically the same thing. Catra shuddered at the memory. "We have mapped the intended process pretty far, but while the transmission parts heading out from here are clear - it's not quite standard FTL communication, but it uses the same general principles, although with higher dimensions involved than our own communications - and the receiver is also obvious, both are connected to a device that we have yet to understand." She pressed her lips together. "As distasteful as it is, I suggest that we ask Loki for help."
Catra didn't stifle her groan. They already had to deal with Double Trouble, and now they'd have watch another pain in the butt?
"He's our best source for Asgard technology," Sam said, but Catra could tell that she didn't like the idea either, even if it was hers.
"Yes!" Entrapta nodded. "We could ask the other Asgard, but they kinda don't like us because we are helping him save their species. Which doesn't make any sense from a logical point of view - we aren't going to force anyone to take whatever cure we come up with - but people aren't always logical. They're actually rarely logical, which is why science is often hard for people."
"He's already involved with analysing the DNA samples we took from Ba'al," Sam added.
Adora nodded. "We need to know how it works so we can counter it. Call him in."
"Just make sure he doesn't start any experiments here," Jack said. "One Loki is enough."
That thought made everyone shudder, Cata noticed. And with good cause. If Loki cloned himself like Ba'al, the Asgard would probably declare war on the Alliance.
Though if that were possible, Loki probably would have done so already - he had never hid the fact that he thought he was the best scientist in the galaxy, and the only one who truly had what it took to save his species, so having more of his around would be a logical step for him.
Of course, that kind of ego usually tended to defeat such plans, as Ba'al probably found out already.
Whatever - the sooner they had solved this mystery, the better. If it worked like Horde Prime's did, then Adora should be able to obliterate Ba'al as she had done with Horde Prime, but Catra would prefer to know in advance if it would work instead of finding out in the middle of a battle.
Ba'al's Palace, PB-1763, Ba'al's Realm, August 14th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"...and we're here, at the location of the former palace of Ba'al, where a daring commando raid led by General Jack O'Neill, commander of the Alliance Special Forces, took out the enemy leader before boarding Ba'al's flagship and capturing the commander of Ba'al's fleet!"
"It's Alliance Special Operations Command, not Alliance Special Forces," Jack O'Neill muttered under his breath, his smile straining a little. Just a little. This was a damn dog and pony show for the National Convention, nothing more. At least, the government had finally accepted that they couldn't have a live connection back to Earth to open their convention. The security risks that would have caused… Adora had almost lost her temper over it. Glimmer had lost hers, which probably had been the reason the President had finally seen reason.
"Behind us, you can see the ruins of the palace from the bombardment it suffered during the battle and from the fierce fighting when our brave troops - the First Marine Division - stormed the place, securing it and freeing the countless slaves who were toiling here for their cruel overlord." Bayley sounded as if he were standing in the middle of a battle. The journalist was trying too hard for that Gulf War vibe, in Jack's opinion.
"And here is the hero of the hour, General Jack O'Neill, the soldier in the Alliance with the most experience fighting the Goa'uld! General, how does it feel to stand here, on the ruins of Ba'al's palace, after fighting your way in through his soldiers?"
Jack couldn't honestly answer that question - they would censor his words, couldn't say 'like shit' on TV - so he gave them the pre-approved answer: "I'm relieved that the fighting's over. We did our best to end the battle quickly, and we took out their commanders, but even so, the Alliance suffered casualties in this battle, both in space and on the ground. Light casualties, fortunately, and all the wounded were healed by She-Ra, but good people died to win this victory."
Bayley nodded with what looked like a practised sombre expression. "Indeed. We cannot forget that this is a war against the oldest galactic Empire. The Goa'uld may dress like old Egyptians, but they fight with advanced technology. You would know best, General, since you've been giving them bloody noses even before America joined the Alliance. How does it feel to finally fight them on equal ground?"
"That does feel good." Jack grinned. No need to lie about that. "Though even back when Stargate Command started, we held our own on the ground - staff weapons look fancy, but our own weapons were just as effective." More, actually, in most cases. Except for the zats, of course.
"So we've heard, and so we've seen here. The tanks of the Marines certainly proved effective in smashing through the enemy lines!"
Mostly LAVs, actually, not Main Battle Tanks, but Jack had been instructed not to correct the journalist. The first wave had used assault shuttles from the Clones, most of them crewed by Clones, anyway - and mentioning that would not go over well at all with the intended audience back home.
"Yeah, but in the end, it came down to urban combat. The Jaffa had dug in inside the rubble and the bunkers left, and the Marines had had to dig them out in close-quarter fighting," he said instead. Or buried them in place on some occasions - veterans from the Gulf War knew how effective that was.
"Oh, yes!" Bayley nodded emphatically. "Experts say that the US Marine Corps is exactly what is needed in this war - they're perfect for landing operations and boarding enemy ships. Would you agree with that, General?"
And now Jack had to hype the crayon-eaters. "They trained hard for this, like every soldier with us, and that showed in the battle." Not that they had boarded any ships; that had been left to Jack's troops. The Marines didn't have the fancy vacuum armour yet and lacked actual experience with boarding actions in space. Not that those were actually common, anyway - most boarding actions were either command missions or mopping up survivors in crippled ships after a space engagement. But again, that wasn't a topic for the public.
"And you're also in charge of training, General, aren't you?"
"I'm not actually in charge of training the entire Alliance," Jack corrected the journalist, "but the way we train at Alliance Special Forces Command serves as an example for the rest of the Alliance, and…"
"I need to take a shower," Jack muttered when the journalist had finally finished and gone to send the recording back to Earth in time to be played at the National Convention. "I feel like I bathed in mud."
"How did they manage to get you to do that, Jack?"
Daniel sounded far too amused. Sha're was giggling. And even Teal'c twisted his lips in that way that meant he found the whole scene terribly funny.
"They agreed to my latest demands for a bigger procurement budget and less calling on Carter to fix the Navy's mistakes," Jack replied. "I didn't expect them to agree to so much, to be honest." And so he had lost the excuse that he couldn't spare the time for PR.
Daniel chuckled at that as well. "They gave you everything you wanted. How perfidious!"
"Ha ha ha."
His traitorous friend shrugged. "I remember someone throwing me to the wolves. Seeing it done to them in return feels like poetic justice."
Well, he wasn't wrong, but that didn't mean Jack had to admit it. At least he got new gear for his troops out of this farce. And it wasn't as if this was the last such show - he had seen the journalist's schedules.
He was almost grateful for Ba'al's latest stunt, which had created another crisis for Jack to deal with instead of doing PR events full time. Only almost, though. Dealing with Bayley and his ilk was frustrating, but not nearly as dangerous as dealing with Ba'al.
PB-1763-System, Ba'al's Realm, August 14th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"So, you have realised that you need my services and have come to make restitution?"
"No, we're here to talk about your attempt to steal a shuttle," Adora said with a polite smile as she entered Double Trouble's quarters - or cell, as Catra liked to call it, since the door was guarded and they were under constant surveillance.
"I didn't attempt to steal anything," Double Trouble, in what might be their natural form - no one actually knew if it was true or another con by them - shot back. They were lying in a seemingly lazy manner across the bed. "Darling, if I had wanted to steal that shuttle, the first time you'd have realised it would have been after I was already long gone. I was merely having a bit of fun. Stretching my legs. They can get cramped if you're all locked up all the time."
Adora raised her eyebrows at the bravado. "You were not locked up. Not until you tried to steal the shuttle."
"I'm speaking metaphorically, Darling. An artist like me needs the freedom to express myself! Performing is as necessary as breathing!" They spread their arms. "The stage calls to me, like the sea calls to that idiot smuggler."
"The hangar is not a stage," Adora pointed out.
"Life itself is a stage! We all perform a play!"
"We're at war, Double Trouble. It's not a play."
"On the contrary, Darling! War's the greatest play there is!" Double Trouble revealed their gleaming white teeth. "It's where people perform their biggest roles, where all the drama is, the tension, the action and the cathartic release! It's where people are the most alive! Where their boring little lives matter! It's the greatest play there is, and it's being written as it plays out!"
Adora blinked. That was… She frowned. "War or not, everyone's lives matter!" she snapped.
Double Trouble scoffed. "Not everyone has a life to start with. They go through their days without any passion, without any drama! They don't live - they exist, wallowing in drudgery and mediocrity, with petty concerns instead of dreams!"
"You can't just dismiss people's lives because they don't conform to your ideals," Adora told them.
"Of course, I can! Everyone does it! It's what a war is about - you're dismissing the other's dreams and ideals in a violent manner." Double Trouble grinned widely again. "You can hate it, but that doesn't make it any less correct."
Adora took a deep breath, then shook her head. "You're wrong." She wasn't sure if Double Trouble actually believed what they were saying, or if this was just an act. But they were wrong. "And none of this changes that you did violate our deal."
"First, we had a deal for impersonating Ba'al, which I did - for this mission. Which is now over. And I didn't actually steal anything! You can't judge me for what you assume I wanted to do without any proof!" They sounded smug as they sat up and crossed their legs. "Besides, you need little old me to save all those poor saps from sacrificing their lives for Ba'al - and yourself from having to kill them."
"We would prefer to save as many of the Jaffa and humans fighting for Ba'al out of fear and misguided and abused loyalty, yes," Adora said, nodding. "But not at any price."
"Surely letting me indulge in a bit of harmless pranking is not asking too much in exchange for all those lives saved, is it? It's not as if I'm hurting anyone."
It was a very good thing Catra wasn't here - she would have taken offence at that claim. And with good reason, of course. Adora scoffed. "You've been hurting people for your entire 'career'. Impersonating them, setting them against each other, sabotaging others, scamming your victims…" She shook her head.
They smirked. "I see you've closely followed my career."
"We did, yes." As if the Princess Alliance would have ignored the threat posed by them.
"I'm flattered. So, you know you need me."
"We could use you," Adora corrected them.
They snorted. "Whatever you want to call it! We both know you won't let all those poor slaves and warriors die just to make a point." They leaned back, fingers steepled behind their head. "So, if you want me to help you save your enemies, we'll have to renegotiate our deal. Not much - I'm not asking for more money - but I need a few perks. I can't live like this, I feel like a prisoner."
"You are a prisoner," Adora corrected them.
"Details, details. The thing is, I can't perform like this. I need my freedom to express myself. To have fun. To be me!"
Was the hint of concern Adora thought she detected behind the confident smirk real or an act? She couldn't tell. But it didn't matter. They wouldn't let Double Trouble hurt innocent people just to save others. "We're not going to let you play with people's lives," she told them.
Double Trouble narrowed their eyes at them, the smirk gone and replaced by a frown.
Adora smiled. "But if you help us here with Ba'al, we will arrange a visit to Hollywood."
Double Trouble gasped, staring at her in obvious surprise for a moment before she started smirking again.
"As long as you toe the line now and don't even attempt to cause any problems," Adora went on with narrowed eyes. "We'll arrange meetings with the most famous actors and directors in Hollywood."
Under close supervision by Melog, of course. And with all the scanners and sensors helping that Sam and Entrapta could think of.
"Alright, we have a new deal!"
Secret Communication Site, PB-1763, Ba'al's Realm, August 15th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"At its core, that's just a standard Asgard device to transfer your consciousness into your next clone body."
Loki's dismissive tone as he pointed at the floating holoprojection of the site they were currently examining indicated that it had been obvious. It would have sounded a bit more convincing to Samantha Carter if he hadn't spent a few hours examining said device. She nodded anyway; antagonising the Asgard scientist wouldn't serve any purpose. And it was useful information - they now had a confirmed sample of that technology.
"The communication equipment connected to it also is not unique or very advanced - the design uses increased power to compensate for the lack of efficiency, which, in turn, results in its size. A communication network using smaller relay stations would have been far more efficient in covering the same range," Loki went on.
Sam inclined her head. "Such a network would be more vulnerable to ECM interference, though." Of which Ba'al would be aware since the Alliance had used them against his forces multiple times by now.
"Yes, but a network would be harder to destroy. If used to overwhelm such interference, the station's location would be revealed, and the likely consequences would be its immediate destruction by a directed attack." Loki shrugged.
"If this is meant to transfer Ba'al's consciousness, then that might have been intended," Sam pointed out.
"Horde Prime had similarly powerful communicators in his flagship," Entrapta added. "But those were better protected since they were in his flagship."
That might have been another reason why Ba'al had been constructing his own copy of the Velvet Glove. But they could speculate about that later. Sam used her laptop to higölight parts of the central core in the projection. "What about the additions to both the transfer device and the communication gear?" Those had stymied Sam and her friends.
"Those were a surprise, actually," Loki said. He seemed to be frowning slightly. "Those replace the quantum consciousness scanner that the Asgard use to ensure no individuum is copied instead of transferred."
Sam winced at the reminder that the Asgard used destructive brain scans to upload their consciousnesses for the transfer into a new body. They could copy minds, though, as Loki had mentioned once, the metaphysical implications of copying what were seen as souls were considered unsettling by his people. Since he seemed to share them - he didn't admit it, but he hadn't copied himself so far - there might be something to it. Of course, he had also said that the copies were never complete, and as the perfectionist he was, he might simply be unable to stomach the idea of making an inferior copy of himself. But that was speculation.
"So, is this a Ba'al-copy-machine?" the General asked.
Loki slowly shook his head. "No. It's a very advanced scanner using exotic Ancients technology mated with Asgard technology, though the latter seems limited mostly to a data-interpreting role. Although the spectrum that the scanner covers is very unusual - it covers higher dimensions. It's not Asgard technology."
So, Loki didn't know what it did either. Sam had hoped he had seen it before.
"So! If you don't know, then we have no choice - we have to test it then to find out what it does. We know it's related to higher dimensions," Entrapta said, "but we don't know what it's scanning for. It does show some similarities to Beta's technology, but only some - most of the technology is a complete mystery!" She sounded a bit too cheerful, in Sam's opinion.
"Will testing the thing pose a risk for our troops or our operations?" the General asked. "Like, say, dumping all our secrets into a Ba'al data bank a few systems away?"
"That's unlikely, sir," Sam told him. "We might not know exactly what data it gathers, but we can safely say that it's a scanner, not a projector - it gathers data but doesn't send it. And we can decouple it from the actual projectors."
"Ah, go ahead then and test it." He nodded.
"Yes, sir."
Secret Communication Site, PB-1763, Ba'al's Realm, August 16th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"Anything?" Samantha Carter asked, staring at her screen. They had been at this for hours!
"No," Loki replied in a flat tone. She was pretty sure that he would have stopped taking part in the tests if not for his ego and pride vastly outweighing his frustration.
"No data received - well, it scanned, it analysed, but nothing was saved," Entrapta added. "Like before."
It was frustrating. The system was working; it was constantly scanning multiple dimensions as far as they could tell - they lacked Beta's extensive sensors to check - and it drew enormous energy, but there were no results. Every piece of data was checked against the data in the system and then discarded. The scanner was looking for a distinct, unique pattern, and they had no idea what kind of pattern it was. The rest of the setup was straightforward - it was meant to upload and transfer a consciousness. From one body to another, though across long distances in this case.
But the devil - or Ba'al, as the General would say - was in the details. Why was there a transdimensional scanner tied into the entire system? It served as a check, Sam knew that, and would block a transfer unless there was a match, but it didn't scan the data in the system.
"It won't transfer Ba'al's mind unless it also detects something else…" Sam muttered. "It replaces the destructive mind scanner that the Asgard use. So…"
"Yes," Loki interrupted her. "It replaces it. It serves the same function - preventing copies from being made." He sounded agitated - excited. "It scans to check if the original Ba'al has died."
"Oh!" Entrapta perked up. "That's why it's using similar technology to the one the First Ones used to research the Ascension process! It scans for Ba'al's soul!"
PB-1763-System, Ba'al's Realm, August 16th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"You can scan for someone's soul?" Catra asked Entrapta. She was surprised - she hadn't heard about that before. Most of the religious stuff from Earth sounded too weird to her to bother with. "Souls exist?"
"The scanner is looking for the metadimensional micropatterns caused by someone's consciousness," Sam said. "Basically, the - presumably, although we haven't actually tested that, of course - unique imprint a specific individual consciousness leaves on certain dimensions."
"Dimensions like the one I and Angella got stuck in?" Catra asked, feeling her fur bristle slightly at the memory of being stuck in a universe where your mind defined reality.
"The imprints the scanner is looking for are orders of magnitude weaker than the effects observed in that particular dimension," Sam told her. "An effect of the physical separation and different laws of nature, according to our preliminary hypotheses. Although the principle is the same - your mind, your thoughts, any brain activity, actually, will cause a minuscule reaction in such dimensions, which can be measured with sufficiently advanced scanners and enough power. And it's distinct enough that even if you cloned a body and copied someone's mind into it, their metadimensional imprint patterns would immediately diverge in increasingly distinct ways."
"It's like a radar for brains," Jack summed it up.
Sam looked like she wanted to frown at him and nodded a little reluctantly. "Ba'al is using this scanner to ensure that none of his clones can use this transfer system, and that he doesn't accidentally create a copy of his original self."
"So, since he could do that by simply ensuring that it's himself when he walks into the installation, that means he has a way to remotely scan his brain?" Catra asked. She was tempted to say 'soul' instead, if only to see if her impression that Sam and Jack wanted to avoid using that word was correct, but this wasn't the time for such games.
"That was my first thought, but the scanner can't actually map a consciousness - it would need magnitudes more detail and sensitivity for that," Entrapta replied. "So, he must have had a brain scanner set up to scan his brain - maybe continuously, if he can spare the power, which he should, and as long as he stays in range - ready to send the data. We think he had one such installation on his flagship, but it was destroyed, so we cannot check now. The debris left behind did not net us any clues."
"Too bad for him that we had his entire fleet jammed," Jack said.
"Actually, while very inefficient - this installation requires almost as much power as a Ha'tak in combat - it would be possible to build a transmitter using a metadimensional medium to bypass our current jamming devices," Sam said. "We don't know if he had such a transmitter built and installed, though."
Because the flagship had been destroyed. "The last Ba'al we captured certainly acted like he had such a way out, though," Catra said. "Though that might have just been a delusion implanted into a clone to make him commit suicide more easily."
"What we do know is that, according to the computer logs, the installation we secured did not transmit any data to another system," Sam said. "We have found no sign of tampering with the logs, either."
"In any case, it looks like Ba'al can only jump into another body if his original body is dead," Adora said.
"With the way this installation was set up, yes," Sam said. "And in light of the immense effort and the massive amount of resources this must have cost, I doubt he has any plans to change that policy."
"More importantly, it means that the Ba'al we captured might have been the original," Catra pointed out.
"Alpha should be done with the analysis soon enough," Sam said. "Then we'll know. If Loki hadn't come to help us here, they would be done already. As it is, they're running a few more advanced tests with the data we acquired here."
Catra nodded. Good. If the captive was the real Ba'al, that would greatly simplify things.
"And!" Entrapta beamed. "Even if it's not the real Ba'al, the way he set up those installations - the way they work and connect to each other - we should be able to track the other installations down as soon as we figure out how to fake a transmission!"
Oh! "And since Ba'al is unlikely to move out of range of his life insurance machine, if we know where all such installations are, we can narrow down his location to those systems," Catra said. They could finally nail the bastard!
Adora nodded.
"And if we install this scanner in a ship with enough power, we can scan for his brain," Entrapta said.
Jack grinned widely. "Hoisted by his own petard!"
"Transferring such a huge installation into a ship seems like a challenge," Adora pointed out.
"Yes!" Entrapta nodded happily. Sam, while more reserved, nodded with a faint smile as well.
Yeah, Catra thought, Ba'al's time is running out.
Special Communication Site, PB-1763, Ba'al's Realm, August 16th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"So, how long until you've got Ba'al's location, Carter?" Jack O'Neill asked with a grin as he sat down - well, leaned against - the console in the control centre of the snake life insurance station. He'd wanted to make the designation official, but he had been outvoted.
"I cannot make any estimates that would be more precise than wild guesses, sir," Carter replied without looking up from her screen. "We're still analysing the communication protocols for hidden checks and traps. Ba'al's tendency to add self-destruct devices - often quite intricate ones instead of simple but effective methods - to all his bases and ships means we cannot be too cautious here."
Jack was tempted to disagree. It was quite possible they were too cautious. Ba'al was the kind of enemy who would delight in laying obscure traps just so people would expect traps behind every corner and proceed more slowly than they would - that could be crucial in an assault if you wanted to escape. But Carter knew her stuff, and if she said they couldn't rush things, then Jack would trust her decision. "It's also poetic justice that Ba'al didn't finish his secondary security systems while he had this completed. All that effort wasted!"
"I wouldn't say the installation has been completed, sir. It's functional, but not finished."
"Oh?" He cocked his head at her even though she still wasn't looking at him.
"The current system is far too limited. He would have to be near a massive scanner and communicator to use it - and since it's meant to save his life from imminent death, if the scan were interrupted, the consequences would almost certainly be fatal. And if he kept a copy in the device's memory, he would have to carefully plan every movement, or a simple step through a Stargate would result in a copy being sent into a new body as the scanner in the system would stop detecting his mind's imprints. If he doesn't store a copy, then even if the scan were near-immediate, it would still be a risk, especially during space battles. Ba'al couldn't count on the scanner not being damaged before the bridge or his quarters suffered a hit. So, he would be forced to use it in advance, and then risk that a copy is made should he successfully retreat, or commit suicide to trigger the copy being sent, which would throw his chain of command into disarray in the middle of a battle."
Yeah, Jack knew how that would end - few forces survived losing their commander in the middle of a fight. Even fewer if their commander hadn't set up a clear chain of command because they were afraid of a coup. "And he wouldn't like that. Can't be shown up by Horde Prime." Even worse for Ba'al, Horde Prime was destroyed anyway despite his one life insurance, and by the same people Ba'al was now fighting. The snake would want a better system.
"Yes, sir. Although if he managed to use cloned Goa'uld bodies possessing cloned hosts as Horde Prime used the Clones, every time he used it, the Clone affected would realise the truth about Ba'al and themselves. So, he would have to either limit himself to emergencies and simply take over his next clone permanently, or otherwise keep the information from spreading. And he would have wanted to reduce the size of the scanner so it was portable."
"If he has to kill his clones every time he uses them, it would get expensive pretty quickly," Jack said.
"We - Entrapta, Bow and I - think he planned to adapt the mind control chips for that. It shows similar routines and protocols, now that we can compare the two, which indicates that it was designed with a future adaptation to this in mind. But he didn't manage it. Although even taking this into account, he has achieved quite an impressive feat. While limited, the system is functional and will make capturing the original Ba'al a challenge."
"Well, we'll be prepared for him thanks to your work. You can jam the soul transmission, right?" That would be great - Ba'al frying his own brain with a smile, thinking he'll get transferred into another body and host, only to vanish into hyperspace like some white noise. Although Ba'al would never know it - he'd die without realising he had screwed up.
Cater flinched at his wording. "It's not a soul transmission, sir. It's a normal data transfer started by the presence of a multidimensional pattern unique to an individual's consciousness."
Sounded like a soul to Jack, but he wasn't a priest or scientist. "Whatever it is, you can jam it, right?"
"We're working on a method. Beta is optimistic that they will manage."
"Bet the bot was ecstatic about getting another project," Jack said.
"Beta was very motivated, yes."
"Our very own computer Mengele." Jack snorted.
"It's not the same, sir," Carter objected. "Beta was programmed with different ethics in mind."
He frowned. That was a bit too diplomatic for his taste. "The kind of ethics we don't want to see return to Earth, Carter."
"Of course not, sir. But we cannot blame Beta for her creation. We can only guide her to change in accordance with our own values."
Jack couldn't help feeling that Carter was hanging around with Entrapta, Hordal and Loki a bit too much. Of course, the Etherians all thought like that, except for some of the grumpier princesses. "So, I'll trust you have things in hand here, Carter."
"Yes, sir. You can leave for your press briefing without worrying about this part of our operation, sir." She smiled sweetly as she looked at him.
He frowned in return. Maybe he had been a bit too annoying, and he might have distracted her from her work, but this was still a low blow.
But she kept smiling, so he nodded with a grimace and left. Never an emergency when you needed one.
PB-1763-System, Ba'al's Realm, August 17th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"...and it is with pride and determination that I accept the presidential nomination. I am honoured by the trust out in me by the convention and by the President of the United States. In these troubled times, faced with a war on a scale we haven't seen in over fifty years, the same is true as was then: 'Don't swap horses in the middle of the stream.' We cannot afford to uppend the Alliance we have forged! We cannot afford to break the trust we've earned from our allies. To do so, to go back on our agreements, and for the profit of a few, no less, would jeopardise everything our brave soldiers have fought and bled for! Will we allow that?"
On the screen in the Admiral's quarters on the flagship, the packed hall erupted into shouts of "No!" and "Never!" as the delegates stood and yelled. Adora saw Catra wince a little at the volume.
"Under my leadership, America will continue to fight, side by side with our allies, until the Goa'uld Empire is defeated and every last person they are holding in bondage freed! The humans out there, descendants of those taken from Earth and shipped to foreign planets to serve as slaves, will be liberated! We will not rest until our beloved country and all of humanity are safe again! You've seen the latest news - the latest victory over the Goa'uld - just today! The Goa'uld are resorting to methods and tactics that those amongst us who have fought Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan so long ago would find familiar, and just as back then, it did not help them now. Our brave soldiers, together with our staunch allies, will overcome whatever they throw at us and win this war!"
"I've heard better speeches from Horde instructors," Catra commented as the hall broke out in applause again.
"It's not aimed at soldiers," Adora said. "It's aimed at his party and the voters. Civilians."
Glimmer huffed, and Adora half-expected her to make a few pointed comments about elections in general and the elections in the United States in particular, but her friend took a swallow from her glass instead.
Good. Adora had heard too many of those already. Of course, it was the fault of the current elections that they had to deal with so many annoying reporters - if she heard 'Supreme Commander! A word!' one more time she'd scream - but that was how they did things on Earth. Well, most of Earth. Still, the US government now had their good press and good news about the war - it had been shown nonstop on Earth, last she heard - so all those ' war correspondents' could now go home.
"Well, he won't try to 'redefine' the Alliance," Bow said. "And there weren't any signs about sins or corruption in the crowd, so that's a good thing."
"Only if he's elected," Catra said. "If he's not elected, they'll blame us."
Adora frowned - that would be unfair. "Our friends won't blame us."
"Yeah, but those people aren't our friends," Catra shot back with a gesture at the screen, where the candidate was now shaking hands on stage. "They're allies, nothing more."
"None of them fight on the frontlines with us," Glimmer said.
"Well, they aren't princesses," Adora said. "And most of them are too old for the frontlines. You can't really expect them to fight like we do."
Glimmer scoffed. "But we can expect them not to try and make us stay back just because we make them look bad by fighting ourselves."
Adora nodded, although after Glimmer's scathing reaction to that proposal, it hadn't come up again in Alliance meetings, so they had stopped that.
"Well, it's logical for Earth culture - their leaders wouldn't add much to any battle if they fought like princesses because they don't have magic powers or know how to deal with advanced technology," Bow said.
"Jack doesn't have either, and he fights at our side," Glimmer shot back with a scowl.
"He's one of their best soldiers, though," Bow replied.
"And one of their best leaders." Glimmer snorted. "Now, if he were running for president…"
"He would rather die than become a politician," Catra said. "He says so all the time."
"Yeah, he says so. Doesn't mean he might not do it. Wouldn't be the first General who became president, either." Glimmer shrugged. "And probably one of the best presidents!"
Adora wasn't so sure. Could you really be a good president if you hated politics? That sounded like trying to be a good general while hating logistics.
"Well, they only became presidents after the war had ended," Bow said.
"Don't tell Jack or he'll try to keep the war going forever," Catra said with a snort.
Everyone laughed at that, but then the screen changed, and two 'talking heads', as Jack called them, started discussing the speech they had just heard.
Adora didn't protest when Catra muted the sound. That was another part of Earth culture she could do without. And she didn't need any distractions now - they had a Goa'uld to catch.
Secret Communication Site, PB-1763, Ba'al's Realm, August 13th, 2000 (Earth Time)
Catra didn't shudder when she entered the bunker Jack and the others had cleared, but she felt her fur bristle. Horde Prime's aesthetics usually weren't a problem - she was used to staying in Horde frigates, after all - but knowing that this site had been built to transfer Ba'al's consciousness into another body like Horde Prime used to made this site look particularly ominous.
At least, Sam and Entrapta were sure that the site hadn't been used so far. And now that they knew about this, they would be able to look for other such installations - they had already sent orders to check the systems and planets that they had liberated again. They couldn't afford to overlook one of them.
On the other hand, the fact that the Ba'al they had captured in his flagship hadn't used this to escape when they had blocked his Stargate probably meant he was, as Catra suspected, just another disposable clone. He certainly had had the attitude for one. Or not - most of the Clones acted as if they were the real Ba'al.
"It's a mystery," she muttered.
"What did you say, Catra?" Adora turned to look at her, slowing down her quick march towards the command centre of this bunker.
"I'm just wondering how this fits in with the Ba'als we captured." And wasn't talking about multiple Ba'al prisoners weird as hell!
"Ah. I'm sure Sam and Entrapta will be able to explain," Adora replied.
Catra hoped so as well. But when they entered the command centre, they looked a bit frustrated - well, Sam did. Entrapta looked intrigued, but that didn't mean one could expect good news.
"Welcome to Ba'al's ace up his sleeve," Jack greeted them. "We're still trying to find out what exactly is going on."
"Yes!" Entrapta nodded enthusiastically. "This must be technology we thought lost with the Velvet Glove. We should have realised that Ba'al had access to it since he was building a copy, but since we didn't know what exactly was lost, we couldn't keep an eye out for it. Anyway! We don't have full access to Asgard technology, so we can't tell for sure, but it looks like this is a way to transfer your consciousness into another body - well, to transfer your consciousness, the body is optional since if you can transfer the data, you can also store it, or should - some of the hyperspace mechanics might cause unexpected problems, and there are quantum mechanics to consider as well, so… It's fascinating!"
Sam looked like she had swallowed a fish snack that had gone bad. Or that Icelandic speciality, which was basically the same thing. Catra shuddered at the memory. "We have mapped the intended process pretty far, but while the transmission parts heading out from here are clear - it's not quite standard FTL communication, but it uses the same general principles, although with higher dimensions involved than our own communications - and the receiver is also obvious, both are connected to a device that we have yet to understand." She pressed her lips together. "As distasteful as it is, I suggest that we ask Loki for help."
Catra didn't stifle her groan. They already had to deal with Double Trouble, and now they'd have watch another pain in the butt?
"He's our best source for Asgard technology," Sam said, but Catra could tell that she didn't like the idea either, even if it was hers.
"Yes!" Entrapta nodded. "We could ask the other Asgard, but they kinda don't like us because we are helping him save their species. Which doesn't make any sense from a logical point of view - we aren't going to force anyone to take whatever cure we come up with - but people aren't always logical. They're actually rarely logical, which is why science is often hard for people."
"He's already involved with analysing the DNA samples we took from Ba'al," Sam added.
Adora nodded. "We need to know how it works so we can counter it. Call him in."
"Just make sure he doesn't start any experiments here," Jack said. "One Loki is enough."
That thought made everyone shudder, Cata noticed. And with good cause. If Loki cloned himself like Ba'al, the Asgard would probably declare war on the Alliance.
Though if that were possible, Loki probably would have done so already - he had never hid the fact that he thought he was the best scientist in the galaxy, and the only one who truly had what it took to save his species, so having more of his around would be a logical step for him.
Of course, that kind of ego usually tended to defeat such plans, as Ba'al probably found out already.
Whatever - the sooner they had solved this mystery, the better. If it worked like Horde Prime's did, then Adora should be able to obliterate Ba'al as she had done with Horde Prime, but Catra would prefer to know in advance if it would work instead of finding out in the middle of a battle.
*****
Ba'al's Palace, PB-1763, Ba'al's Realm, August 14th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"...and we're here, at the location of the former palace of Ba'al, where a daring commando raid led by General Jack O'Neill, commander of the Alliance Special Forces, took out the enemy leader before boarding Ba'al's flagship and capturing the commander of Ba'al's fleet!"
"It's Alliance Special Operations Command, not Alliance Special Forces," Jack O'Neill muttered under his breath, his smile straining a little. Just a little. This was a damn dog and pony show for the National Convention, nothing more. At least, the government had finally accepted that they couldn't have a live connection back to Earth to open their convention. The security risks that would have caused… Adora had almost lost her temper over it. Glimmer had lost hers, which probably had been the reason the President had finally seen reason.
"Behind us, you can see the ruins of the palace from the bombardment it suffered during the battle and from the fierce fighting when our brave troops - the First Marine Division - stormed the place, securing it and freeing the countless slaves who were toiling here for their cruel overlord." Bayley sounded as if he were standing in the middle of a battle. The journalist was trying too hard for that Gulf War vibe, in Jack's opinion.
"And here is the hero of the hour, General Jack O'Neill, the soldier in the Alliance with the most experience fighting the Goa'uld! General, how does it feel to stand here, on the ruins of Ba'al's palace, after fighting your way in through his soldiers?"
Jack couldn't honestly answer that question - they would censor his words, couldn't say 'like shit' on TV - so he gave them the pre-approved answer: "I'm relieved that the fighting's over. We did our best to end the battle quickly, and we took out their commanders, but even so, the Alliance suffered casualties in this battle, both in space and on the ground. Light casualties, fortunately, and all the wounded were healed by She-Ra, but good people died to win this victory."
Bayley nodded with what looked like a practised sombre expression. "Indeed. We cannot forget that this is a war against the oldest galactic Empire. The Goa'uld may dress like old Egyptians, but they fight with advanced technology. You would know best, General, since you've been giving them bloody noses even before America joined the Alliance. How does it feel to finally fight them on equal ground?"
"That does feel good." Jack grinned. No need to lie about that. "Though even back when Stargate Command started, we held our own on the ground - staff weapons look fancy, but our own weapons were just as effective." More, actually, in most cases. Except for the zats, of course.
"So we've heard, and so we've seen here. The tanks of the Marines certainly proved effective in smashing through the enemy lines!"
Mostly LAVs, actually, not Main Battle Tanks, but Jack had been instructed not to correct the journalist. The first wave had used assault shuttles from the Clones, most of them crewed by Clones, anyway - and mentioning that would not go over well at all with the intended audience back home.
"Yeah, but in the end, it came down to urban combat. The Jaffa had dug in inside the rubble and the bunkers left, and the Marines had had to dig them out in close-quarter fighting," he said instead. Or buried them in place on some occasions - veterans from the Gulf War knew how effective that was.
"Oh, yes!" Bayley nodded emphatically. "Experts say that the US Marine Corps is exactly what is needed in this war - they're perfect for landing operations and boarding enemy ships. Would you agree with that, General?"
And now Jack had to hype the crayon-eaters. "They trained hard for this, like every soldier with us, and that showed in the battle." Not that they had boarded any ships; that had been left to Jack's troops. The Marines didn't have the fancy vacuum armour yet and lacked actual experience with boarding actions in space. Not that those were actually common, anyway - most boarding actions were either command missions or mopping up survivors in crippled ships after a space engagement. But again, that wasn't a topic for the public.
"And you're also in charge of training, General, aren't you?"
"I'm not actually in charge of training the entire Alliance," Jack corrected the journalist, "but the way we train at Alliance Special Forces Command serves as an example for the rest of the Alliance, and…"
*****
"I need to take a shower," Jack muttered when the journalist had finally finished and gone to send the recording back to Earth in time to be played at the National Convention. "I feel like I bathed in mud."
"How did they manage to get you to do that, Jack?"
Daniel sounded far too amused. Sha're was giggling. And even Teal'c twisted his lips in that way that meant he found the whole scene terribly funny.
"They agreed to my latest demands for a bigger procurement budget and less calling on Carter to fix the Navy's mistakes," Jack replied. "I didn't expect them to agree to so much, to be honest." And so he had lost the excuse that he couldn't spare the time for PR.
Daniel chuckled at that as well. "They gave you everything you wanted. How perfidious!"
"Ha ha ha."
His traitorous friend shrugged. "I remember someone throwing me to the wolves. Seeing it done to them in return feels like poetic justice."
Well, he wasn't wrong, but that didn't mean Jack had to admit it. At least he got new gear for his troops out of this farce. And it wasn't as if this was the last such show - he had seen the journalist's schedules.
He was almost grateful for Ba'al's latest stunt, which had created another crisis for Jack to deal with instead of doing PR events full time. Only almost, though. Dealing with Bayley and his ilk was frustrating, but not nearly as dangerous as dealing with Ba'al.
*****
PB-1763-System, Ba'al's Realm, August 14th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"So, you have realised that you need my services and have come to make restitution?"
"No, we're here to talk about your attempt to steal a shuttle," Adora said with a polite smile as she entered Double Trouble's quarters - or cell, as Catra liked to call it, since the door was guarded and they were under constant surveillance.
"I didn't attempt to steal anything," Double Trouble, in what might be their natural form - no one actually knew if it was true or another con by them - shot back. They were lying in a seemingly lazy manner across the bed. "Darling, if I had wanted to steal that shuttle, the first time you'd have realised it would have been after I was already long gone. I was merely having a bit of fun. Stretching my legs. They can get cramped if you're all locked up all the time."
Adora raised her eyebrows at the bravado. "You were not locked up. Not until you tried to steal the shuttle."
"I'm speaking metaphorically, Darling. An artist like me needs the freedom to express myself! Performing is as necessary as breathing!" They spread their arms. "The stage calls to me, like the sea calls to that idiot smuggler."
"The hangar is not a stage," Adora pointed out.
"Life itself is a stage! We all perform a play!"
"We're at war, Double Trouble. It's not a play."
"On the contrary, Darling! War's the greatest play there is!" Double Trouble revealed their gleaming white teeth. "It's where people perform their biggest roles, where all the drama is, the tension, the action and the cathartic release! It's where people are the most alive! Where their boring little lives matter! It's the greatest play there is, and it's being written as it plays out!"
Adora blinked. That was… She frowned. "War or not, everyone's lives matter!" she snapped.
Double Trouble scoffed. "Not everyone has a life to start with. They go through their days without any passion, without any drama! They don't live - they exist, wallowing in drudgery and mediocrity, with petty concerns instead of dreams!"
"You can't just dismiss people's lives because they don't conform to your ideals," Adora told them.
"Of course, I can! Everyone does it! It's what a war is about - you're dismissing the other's dreams and ideals in a violent manner." Double Trouble grinned widely again. "You can hate it, but that doesn't make it any less correct."
Adora took a deep breath, then shook her head. "You're wrong." She wasn't sure if Double Trouble actually believed what they were saying, or if this was just an act. But they were wrong. "And none of this changes that you did violate our deal."
"First, we had a deal for impersonating Ba'al, which I did - for this mission. Which is now over. And I didn't actually steal anything! You can't judge me for what you assume I wanted to do without any proof!" They sounded smug as they sat up and crossed their legs. "Besides, you need little old me to save all those poor saps from sacrificing their lives for Ba'al - and yourself from having to kill them."
"We would prefer to save as many of the Jaffa and humans fighting for Ba'al out of fear and misguided and abused loyalty, yes," Adora said, nodding. "But not at any price."
"Surely letting me indulge in a bit of harmless pranking is not asking too much in exchange for all those lives saved, is it? It's not as if I'm hurting anyone."
It was a very good thing Catra wasn't here - she would have taken offence at that claim. And with good reason, of course. Adora scoffed. "You've been hurting people for your entire 'career'. Impersonating them, setting them against each other, sabotaging others, scamming your victims…" She shook her head.
They smirked. "I see you've closely followed my career."
"We did, yes." As if the Princess Alliance would have ignored the threat posed by them.
"I'm flattered. So, you know you need me."
"We could use you," Adora corrected them.
They snorted. "Whatever you want to call it! We both know you won't let all those poor slaves and warriors die just to make a point." They leaned back, fingers steepled behind their head. "So, if you want me to help you save your enemies, we'll have to renegotiate our deal. Not much - I'm not asking for more money - but I need a few perks. I can't live like this, I feel like a prisoner."
"You are a prisoner," Adora corrected them.
"Details, details. The thing is, I can't perform like this. I need my freedom to express myself. To have fun. To be me!"
Was the hint of concern Adora thought she detected behind the confident smirk real or an act? She couldn't tell. But it didn't matter. They wouldn't let Double Trouble hurt innocent people just to save others. "We're not going to let you play with people's lives," she told them.
Double Trouble narrowed their eyes at them, the smirk gone and replaced by a frown.
Adora smiled. "But if you help us here with Ba'al, we will arrange a visit to Hollywood."
Double Trouble gasped, staring at her in obvious surprise for a moment before she started smirking again.
"As long as you toe the line now and don't even attempt to cause any problems," Adora went on with narrowed eyes. "We'll arrange meetings with the most famous actors and directors in Hollywood."
Under close supervision by Melog, of course. And with all the scanners and sensors helping that Sam and Entrapta could think of.
"Alright, we have a new deal!"
*****
Secret Communication Site, PB-1763, Ba'al's Realm, August 15th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"At its core, that's just a standard Asgard device to transfer your consciousness into your next clone body."
Loki's dismissive tone as he pointed at the floating holoprojection of the site they were currently examining indicated that it had been obvious. It would have sounded a bit more convincing to Samantha Carter if he hadn't spent a few hours examining said device. She nodded anyway; antagonising the Asgard scientist wouldn't serve any purpose. And it was useful information - they now had a confirmed sample of that technology.
"The communication equipment connected to it also is not unique or very advanced - the design uses increased power to compensate for the lack of efficiency, which, in turn, results in its size. A communication network using smaller relay stations would have been far more efficient in covering the same range," Loki went on.
Sam inclined her head. "Such a network would be more vulnerable to ECM interference, though." Of which Ba'al would be aware since the Alliance had used them against his forces multiple times by now.
"Yes, but a network would be harder to destroy. If used to overwhelm such interference, the station's location would be revealed, and the likely consequences would be its immediate destruction by a directed attack." Loki shrugged.
"If this is meant to transfer Ba'al's consciousness, then that might have been intended," Sam pointed out.
"Horde Prime had similarly powerful communicators in his flagship," Entrapta added. "But those were better protected since they were in his flagship."
That might have been another reason why Ba'al had been constructing his own copy of the Velvet Glove. But they could speculate about that later. Sam used her laptop to higölight parts of the central core in the projection. "What about the additions to both the transfer device and the communication gear?" Those had stymied Sam and her friends.
"Those were a surprise, actually," Loki said. He seemed to be frowning slightly. "Those replace the quantum consciousness scanner that the Asgard use to ensure no individuum is copied instead of transferred."
Sam winced at the reminder that the Asgard used destructive brain scans to upload their consciousnesses for the transfer into a new body. They could copy minds, though, as Loki had mentioned once, the metaphysical implications of copying what were seen as souls were considered unsettling by his people. Since he seemed to share them - he didn't admit it, but he hadn't copied himself so far - there might be something to it. Of course, he had also said that the copies were never complete, and as the perfectionist he was, he might simply be unable to stomach the idea of making an inferior copy of himself. But that was speculation.
"So, is this a Ba'al-copy-machine?" the General asked.
Loki slowly shook his head. "No. It's a very advanced scanner using exotic Ancients technology mated with Asgard technology, though the latter seems limited mostly to a data-interpreting role. Although the spectrum that the scanner covers is very unusual - it covers higher dimensions. It's not Asgard technology."
So, Loki didn't know what it did either. Sam had hoped he had seen it before.
"So! If you don't know, then we have no choice - we have to test it then to find out what it does. We know it's related to higher dimensions," Entrapta said, "but we don't know what it's scanning for. It does show some similarities to Beta's technology, but only some - most of the technology is a complete mystery!" She sounded a bit too cheerful, in Sam's opinion.
"Will testing the thing pose a risk for our troops or our operations?" the General asked. "Like, say, dumping all our secrets into a Ba'al data bank a few systems away?"
"That's unlikely, sir," Sam told him. "We might not know exactly what data it gathers, but we can safely say that it's a scanner, not a projector - it gathers data but doesn't send it. And we can decouple it from the actual projectors."
"Ah, go ahead then and test it." He nodded.
"Yes, sir."
*****
Secret Communication Site, PB-1763, Ba'al's Realm, August 16th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"Anything?" Samantha Carter asked, staring at her screen. They had been at this for hours!
"No," Loki replied in a flat tone. She was pretty sure that he would have stopped taking part in the tests if not for his ego and pride vastly outweighing his frustration.
"No data received - well, it scanned, it analysed, but nothing was saved," Entrapta added. "Like before."
It was frustrating. The system was working; it was constantly scanning multiple dimensions as far as they could tell - they lacked Beta's extensive sensors to check - and it drew enormous energy, but there were no results. Every piece of data was checked against the data in the system and then discarded. The scanner was looking for a distinct, unique pattern, and they had no idea what kind of pattern it was. The rest of the setup was straightforward - it was meant to upload and transfer a consciousness. From one body to another, though across long distances in this case.
But the devil - or Ba'al, as the General would say - was in the details. Why was there a transdimensional scanner tied into the entire system? It served as a check, Sam knew that, and would block a transfer unless there was a match, but it didn't scan the data in the system.
"It won't transfer Ba'al's mind unless it also detects something else…" Sam muttered. "It replaces the destructive mind scanner that the Asgard use. So…"
"Yes," Loki interrupted her. "It replaces it. It serves the same function - preventing copies from being made." He sounded agitated - excited. "It scans to check if the original Ba'al has died."
"Oh!" Entrapta perked up. "That's why it's using similar technology to the one the First Ones used to research the Ascension process! It scans for Ba'al's soul!"
*****
PB-1763-System, Ba'al's Realm, August 16th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"You can scan for someone's soul?" Catra asked Entrapta. She was surprised - she hadn't heard about that before. Most of the religious stuff from Earth sounded too weird to her to bother with. "Souls exist?"
"The scanner is looking for the metadimensional micropatterns caused by someone's consciousness," Sam said. "Basically, the - presumably, although we haven't actually tested that, of course - unique imprint a specific individual consciousness leaves on certain dimensions."
"Dimensions like the one I and Angella got stuck in?" Catra asked, feeling her fur bristle slightly at the memory of being stuck in a universe where your mind defined reality.
"The imprints the scanner is looking for are orders of magnitude weaker than the effects observed in that particular dimension," Sam told her. "An effect of the physical separation and different laws of nature, according to our preliminary hypotheses. Although the principle is the same - your mind, your thoughts, any brain activity, actually, will cause a minuscule reaction in such dimensions, which can be measured with sufficiently advanced scanners and enough power. And it's distinct enough that even if you cloned a body and copied someone's mind into it, their metadimensional imprint patterns would immediately diverge in increasingly distinct ways."
"It's like a radar for brains," Jack summed it up.
Sam looked like she wanted to frown at him and nodded a little reluctantly. "Ba'al is using this scanner to ensure that none of his clones can use this transfer system, and that he doesn't accidentally create a copy of his original self."
"So, since he could do that by simply ensuring that it's himself when he walks into the installation, that means he has a way to remotely scan his brain?" Catra asked. She was tempted to say 'soul' instead, if only to see if her impression that Sam and Jack wanted to avoid using that word was correct, but this wasn't the time for such games.
"That was my first thought, but the scanner can't actually map a consciousness - it would need magnitudes more detail and sensitivity for that," Entrapta replied. "So, he must have had a brain scanner set up to scan his brain - maybe continuously, if he can spare the power, which he should, and as long as he stays in range - ready to send the data. We think he had one such installation on his flagship, but it was destroyed, so we cannot check now. The debris left behind did not net us any clues."
"Too bad for him that we had his entire fleet jammed," Jack said.
"Actually, while very inefficient - this installation requires almost as much power as a Ha'tak in combat - it would be possible to build a transmitter using a metadimensional medium to bypass our current jamming devices," Sam said. "We don't know if he had such a transmitter built and installed, though."
Because the flagship had been destroyed. "The last Ba'al we captured certainly acted like he had such a way out, though," Catra said. "Though that might have just been a delusion implanted into a clone to make him commit suicide more easily."
"What we do know is that, according to the computer logs, the installation we secured did not transmit any data to another system," Sam said. "We have found no sign of tampering with the logs, either."
"In any case, it looks like Ba'al can only jump into another body if his original body is dead," Adora said.
"With the way this installation was set up, yes," Sam said. "And in light of the immense effort and the massive amount of resources this must have cost, I doubt he has any plans to change that policy."
"More importantly, it means that the Ba'al we captured might have been the original," Catra pointed out.
"Alpha should be done with the analysis soon enough," Sam said. "Then we'll know. If Loki hadn't come to help us here, they would be done already. As it is, they're running a few more advanced tests with the data we acquired here."
Catra nodded. Good. If the captive was the real Ba'al, that would greatly simplify things.
"And!" Entrapta beamed. "Even if it's not the real Ba'al, the way he set up those installations - the way they work and connect to each other - we should be able to track the other installations down as soon as we figure out how to fake a transmission!"
Oh! "And since Ba'al is unlikely to move out of range of his life insurance machine, if we know where all such installations are, we can narrow down his location to those systems," Catra said. They could finally nail the bastard!
Adora nodded.
"And if we install this scanner in a ship with enough power, we can scan for his brain," Entrapta said.
Jack grinned widely. "Hoisted by his own petard!"
"Transferring such a huge installation into a ship seems like a challenge," Adora pointed out.
"Yes!" Entrapta nodded happily. Sam, while more reserved, nodded with a faint smile as well.
Yeah, Catra thought, Ba'al's time is running out.
*****
Special Communication Site, PB-1763, Ba'al's Realm, August 16th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"So, how long until you've got Ba'al's location, Carter?" Jack O'Neill asked with a grin as he sat down - well, leaned against - the console in the control centre of the snake life insurance station. He'd wanted to make the designation official, but he had been outvoted.
"I cannot make any estimates that would be more precise than wild guesses, sir," Carter replied without looking up from her screen. "We're still analysing the communication protocols for hidden checks and traps. Ba'al's tendency to add self-destruct devices - often quite intricate ones instead of simple but effective methods - to all his bases and ships means we cannot be too cautious here."
Jack was tempted to disagree. It was quite possible they were too cautious. Ba'al was the kind of enemy who would delight in laying obscure traps just so people would expect traps behind every corner and proceed more slowly than they would - that could be crucial in an assault if you wanted to escape. But Carter knew her stuff, and if she said they couldn't rush things, then Jack would trust her decision. "It's also poetic justice that Ba'al didn't finish his secondary security systems while he had this completed. All that effort wasted!"
"I wouldn't say the installation has been completed, sir. It's functional, but not finished."
"Oh?" He cocked his head at her even though she still wasn't looking at him.
"The current system is far too limited. He would have to be near a massive scanner and communicator to use it - and since it's meant to save his life from imminent death, if the scan were interrupted, the consequences would almost certainly be fatal. And if he kept a copy in the device's memory, he would have to carefully plan every movement, or a simple step through a Stargate would result in a copy being sent into a new body as the scanner in the system would stop detecting his mind's imprints. If he doesn't store a copy, then even if the scan were near-immediate, it would still be a risk, especially during space battles. Ba'al couldn't count on the scanner not being damaged before the bridge or his quarters suffered a hit. So, he would be forced to use it in advance, and then risk that a copy is made should he successfully retreat, or commit suicide to trigger the copy being sent, which would throw his chain of command into disarray in the middle of a battle."
Yeah, Jack knew how that would end - few forces survived losing their commander in the middle of a fight. Even fewer if their commander hadn't set up a clear chain of command because they were afraid of a coup. "And he wouldn't like that. Can't be shown up by Horde Prime." Even worse for Ba'al, Horde Prime was destroyed anyway despite his one life insurance, and by the same people Ba'al was now fighting. The snake would want a better system.
"Yes, sir. Although if he managed to use cloned Goa'uld bodies possessing cloned hosts as Horde Prime used the Clones, every time he used it, the Clone affected would realise the truth about Ba'al and themselves. So, he would have to either limit himself to emergencies and simply take over his next clone permanently, or otherwise keep the information from spreading. And he would have wanted to reduce the size of the scanner so it was portable."
"If he has to kill his clones every time he uses them, it would get expensive pretty quickly," Jack said.
"We - Entrapta, Bow and I - think he planned to adapt the mind control chips for that. It shows similar routines and protocols, now that we can compare the two, which indicates that it was designed with a future adaptation to this in mind. But he didn't manage it. Although even taking this into account, he has achieved quite an impressive feat. While limited, the system is functional and will make capturing the original Ba'al a challenge."
"Well, we'll be prepared for him thanks to your work. You can jam the soul transmission, right?" That would be great - Ba'al frying his own brain with a smile, thinking he'll get transferred into another body and host, only to vanish into hyperspace like some white noise. Although Ba'al would never know it - he'd die without realising he had screwed up.
Cater flinched at his wording. "It's not a soul transmission, sir. It's a normal data transfer started by the presence of a multidimensional pattern unique to an individual's consciousness."
Sounded like a soul to Jack, but he wasn't a priest or scientist. "Whatever it is, you can jam it, right?"
"We're working on a method. Beta is optimistic that they will manage."
"Bet the bot was ecstatic about getting another project," Jack said.
"Beta was very motivated, yes."
"Our very own computer Mengele." Jack snorted.
"It's not the same, sir," Carter objected. "Beta was programmed with different ethics in mind."
He frowned. That was a bit too diplomatic for his taste. "The kind of ethics we don't want to see return to Earth, Carter."
"Of course not, sir. But we cannot blame Beta for her creation. We can only guide her to change in accordance with our own values."
Jack couldn't help feeling that Carter was hanging around with Entrapta, Hordal and Loki a bit too much. Of course, the Etherians all thought like that, except for some of the grumpier princesses. "So, I'll trust you have things in hand here, Carter."
"Yes, sir. You can leave for your press briefing without worrying about this part of our operation, sir." She smiled sweetly as she looked at him.
He frowned in return. Maybe he had been a bit too annoying, and he might have distracted her from her work, but this was still a low blow.
But she kept smiling, so he nodded with a grimace and left. Never an emergency when you needed one.
*****
PB-1763-System, Ba'al's Realm, August 17th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"...and it is with pride and determination that I accept the presidential nomination. I am honoured by the trust out in me by the convention and by the President of the United States. In these troubled times, faced with a war on a scale we haven't seen in over fifty years, the same is true as was then: 'Don't swap horses in the middle of the stream.' We cannot afford to uppend the Alliance we have forged! We cannot afford to break the trust we've earned from our allies. To do so, to go back on our agreements, and for the profit of a few, no less, would jeopardise everything our brave soldiers have fought and bled for! Will we allow that?"
On the screen in the Admiral's quarters on the flagship, the packed hall erupted into shouts of "No!" and "Never!" as the delegates stood and yelled. Adora saw Catra wince a little at the volume.
"Under my leadership, America will continue to fight, side by side with our allies, until the Goa'uld Empire is defeated and every last person they are holding in bondage freed! The humans out there, descendants of those taken from Earth and shipped to foreign planets to serve as slaves, will be liberated! We will not rest until our beloved country and all of humanity are safe again! You've seen the latest news - the latest victory over the Goa'uld - just today! The Goa'uld are resorting to methods and tactics that those amongst us who have fought Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan so long ago would find familiar, and just as back then, it did not help them now. Our brave soldiers, together with our staunch allies, will overcome whatever they throw at us and win this war!"
"I've heard better speeches from Horde instructors," Catra commented as the hall broke out in applause again.
"It's not aimed at soldiers," Adora said. "It's aimed at his party and the voters. Civilians."
Glimmer huffed, and Adora half-expected her to make a few pointed comments about elections in general and the elections in the United States in particular, but her friend took a swallow from her glass instead.
Good. Adora had heard too many of those already. Of course, it was the fault of the current elections that they had to deal with so many annoying reporters - if she heard 'Supreme Commander! A word!' one more time she'd scream - but that was how they did things on Earth. Well, most of Earth. Still, the US government now had their good press and good news about the war - it had been shown nonstop on Earth, last she heard - so all those ' war correspondents' could now go home.
"Well, he won't try to 'redefine' the Alliance," Bow said. "And there weren't any signs about sins or corruption in the crowd, so that's a good thing."
"Only if he's elected," Catra said. "If he's not elected, they'll blame us."
Adora frowned - that would be unfair. "Our friends won't blame us."
"Yeah, but those people aren't our friends," Catra shot back with a gesture at the screen, where the candidate was now shaking hands on stage. "They're allies, nothing more."
"None of them fight on the frontlines with us," Glimmer said.
"Well, they aren't princesses," Adora said. "And most of them are too old for the frontlines. You can't really expect them to fight like we do."
Glimmer scoffed. "But we can expect them not to try and make us stay back just because we make them look bad by fighting ourselves."
Adora nodded, although after Glimmer's scathing reaction to that proposal, it hadn't come up again in Alliance meetings, so they had stopped that.
"Well, it's logical for Earth culture - their leaders wouldn't add much to any battle if they fought like princesses because they don't have magic powers or know how to deal with advanced technology," Bow said.
"Jack doesn't have either, and he fights at our side," Glimmer shot back with a scowl.
"He's one of their best soldiers, though," Bow replied.
"And one of their best leaders." Glimmer snorted. "Now, if he were running for president…"
"He would rather die than become a politician," Catra said. "He says so all the time."
"Yeah, he says so. Doesn't mean he might not do it. Wouldn't be the first General who became president, either." Glimmer shrugged. "And probably one of the best presidents!"
Adora wasn't so sure. Could you really be a good president if you hated politics? That sounded like trying to be a good general while hating logistics.
"Well, they only became presidents after the war had ended," Bow said.
"Don't tell Jack or he'll try to keep the war going forever," Catra said with a snort.
Everyone laughed at that, but then the screen changed, and two 'talking heads', as Jack called them, started discussing the speech they had just heard.
Adora didn't protest when Catra muted the sound. That was another part of Earth culture she could do without. And she didn't need any distractions now - they had a Goa'uld to catch.
*****
Chapter 187: The Election Campaign Part 9
Starfox5
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Chapter 187: The Election Campaign Part 9
PB-1763-System, Ba'al's Realm, August 17th, 2000 (Earth Time)
Samantha Carter should have stayed on the planet. Not only could she have done some more analyses of the cobbled-together mic of Horde Prime and Goa'uld technology Ba'al had created - for all its limits, it was a very promising proof of concept, perhaps too promising, even - and she wouldn't have to listen to the latest news from home in the flagship's officer's mess.
"...and this experience that is touted in speeches is questionable indeed! The experience he gained working for and in the same government that started this war in secret? The government that had the leader of the Goa'uld Empire nuked without telling anyone else, not even Congress? That dragged us into a war when we had no allies, no advanced technology, and no plan to defeat the enemy? I say we can do without more of that experience! We need a change of government, a change of plans! We cannot continue like this!
"At the convention, people loved to talk about World War II. The war against the Nazis and Imperial Japan. But none of them mentioned how that war was fought! It wasn't fought by Americans hiding behind their allies, using donated equipment saved from the scrapyard, nor did we fight under foreign command! We led the way and won the war! And it led to the greatest economic boom in our history!
"That's what we need to be doing again! That's the change of policy our country needs, and that's what I am standing for!"
"I believe the British will disagree with those claims," Daniel said with a frown. "Where was the candidate educated again?"
His coffee had grown cold, Sam bet.
"Oh, I'm sure he knows better - he was in the military, after all," the General said, "and he would have studied that war at the Academy. But that's not how you get votes from Americans."
"The truth hurts your electoral chances." Daniel shook his head.
"Don't let Glimmer hear that!" the General said. "She's obnoxious enough about elections already."
Glimmer did have pointed opinions about democracy, American-style, Sam knew. And the current electoral campaign wasn't really doing much to change them, Sam was aware of that as well. And understood it - the US government had been rather heavy-handed in their attempts to use the war for their campaign. Sam wasn't sure why the other members of the Alliance had accepted those demands, but except for the Etherians, the other countries would have extracted their pound of flesh from the US in exchange for support; they hadn't forgotten that the US had kept the Stargate Command secret even from its closest allies. Britain wouldn't have forgotten that the Stargate had been originally in their hands.
"Well, she is concerned about the part of the conservatives that is focused on so-called Christian values, which supposedly are under attack by Etheria," Daniel said. "And I think her concern is at least partially justified. While I haven't yet read any studies - those are still being done - the polls conducted for the election do confirm that the conservatives cannot win this without the Evangelicals, and those have been very vocal about their wish to roll back the rights granted to basically everyone other than people like themselves. And they will demand concessions for their support."
"Good luck with that!" The General scoffed. "The equal rights are enshrined in the constitution. You can't change that."
"No. But as the shameful parts of our history prove, you can do a lot to remove such rights in practice. Local laws, selective enforcement, social pressure…" Daniel shook his head. "If the government is turning a blind eye to such things, they can effectively negate all those protections. The Jim Crow laws certainly proved that."
"Well, doing that would destroy our relationship with the Etherians and get the US kicked out of the Alliance, so everyone making bank right now thanks to the Alliance will oppose them - and those are mainly people with deep pockets and long lists of contacts." The General grinned. "If you can't win without the Evangelicals, you can't win without big business either."
"Let's hope so," Daniel said.
Sam agreed. It wasn't just that they couldn't afford such games in the middle of the war; it would hurt Sam's friends.
"Oh, I'm sure if things start looking a bit close, people will start digging up all the skeletons in the Evangelical closets," the General said. "They have barely recovered from the last wave of investigations and prosecutions."
"Well, we can't count on every Evangelical leader being a hypocrite and criminal," Daniel said.
The General shrugged, seemingly unconcerned. Was he so sure of his view of them - or was he confident that any investigation would find something anyway?
Sam wasn't sure if she wanted to know the answer to this question.
PB-1763-System, Ba'al's Realm, August 18th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"I'm a god! For trying to keep me imprisoned, your punishment will be legendary! People will tremble in fear for a thousand years in memory of your suffering!"
"You're no god. And you aren't the original Ba'al either - you're one of his clones."
In the room next to the two, staring at the camera, Catra was impressed by Adora's restraint when facing their prisoner. Catra wouldn't have stayed so calm - just hearing him threaten her love made her unsheath her claws. Of course, she wouldn't actually attack or hurt the host - he was merely another victim. But she would taunt the bastard and try to rile him up even more.
Which was the reason she wasn't in the cell, trying to explain to the idiot that his whole life was a lie.
"No! Your feeble lies won't work! I know the truth!"
"The truth is that you were cloned and your memories carefully chosen so you'd think you're the original Ba'al. But we had your DNA tested, by the best biologists and geneticists, and they found that you're a clone and less than a year old. Do you want to see the data?" Adora held up a tablet. "The markers are clear if you know what to look for."
"Save your transparent forgeries! I am Ba'al, not one of the decoys!"
"Your brain pattern doesn't match the scanner data. If you had succeeded at killing yourself, nothing would have happened - you wouldn't have woken up in another body. In fact, the facility hadn't even gone active since the original Ba'al had not been in the system."
Adora's calm explanation shocked the clone for a moment - he hadn't expected that. But he quickly clammed up.
"Another lie! I verified it myself!"
"You checked your own DNA? And then checked the station's computer core? Or did you tell someone to check?"
The Clone was silent for a moment before snarling again. "You all shall rue the day you defied a god!"
"I'm rueing the day we captured you," Catra muttered. "If we had killed you, we would have been spared this ranting."
Adora, as expected, ignored the threat. "Anyway, do you have any questions?"
"What is the point of this?"
"As a prisoner, you have rights. This is medical data you should know."
Catra grinned. Adora wasn't lying, but she wasn't telling the whole truth. Of course, she was such a terrible liar, even this was transparent.
"No… You wouldn't tell me that just out of the goodness of your heart. And you wouldn't come personally to speak to me. You want something."
And that was Catra's cue. She left the room and entered the cell. "Yes, we want something from you."
The clone smiled toothily. "As I knew!"
"Well, it's not exactly an impressive deduction," Catra said as she sat down next to Adora. "Adora's the worst liar I know."
"Hey!" Adora pouted at her.
"What? It's true. Even Kyle is a better liar." Catra grinned.
"No, he isn't!"
"Yes, he is."
She glanced at the clone, who was now looking slightly confused. He did recover quickly, though. "You can save the effort of…whatever you are trying to do. Just make your offer."
"You were manipulated by the original Ba'al. Set up as a decoy - and made to believe that you were the original and all the others were decoys," Catra said. "In short, you were used and even set up to commit suicide with another lie." She leaned forward. "Don't tell me you don't want to get revenge for that."
He glared at her. "You offer me revenge against the Ba'al who betrayed me and took my rightful place?"
Catra nodded. "Yes."
"You offer me to become your tool, to be discarded as soon as I lose my usefulness!"
"We aren't like you, Ba'al," Adora protested. "We don't promise what we don't want to keep."
"And what did you promise to the copy working with you?"
As they expected, he thought Double Trouble was another clone. Since he didn't know better, it was a logical conclusion. Catra grinned again. "What do you think we promised them?"
"You would be a fool to promise them to take over my domain. A paltry planet to rule as your vassal? Under constant guard so he cannot plot against you?"
Catra shrugged her shoulders. "It's better than being separated from your host and imprisoned with the other hostless Goa'uld."
His eyes widened for a moment, but he kept his calm. "And is Bastet amongst those? Did you betray her?"
"I'm not a Sekhmet," Catra replied. "I've never met her. I did hear about her, though - you people keep mistaking me for one of hers."
"And what are you then?"
Catra leaned back with all the nonchalance she could fake. "The offspring of an experiment by the Ancients." Adora frowned at her, but Catra ignored it. Everyone on Etheria was the descendant of the First Ones' experiments. It was not shameful and nothing one should care about. "Her people," she added, pointing at Adora.
The clone laughed. "Another transparent lie!"
"It's not a lie," Adora told him. "I know you don't believe me, but it's not important anyway." She steepled her fingers under her chin and leaned forward. Catra had to suppress a chuckle at how serious she looked. "What do you want in exchange for helping us against the other Ba'als?"
PB-1763-System, Ba'al's Realm, August 18th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"So… no deal with Clone-Ba'al?" Jack O'Neill asked when he saw Adora's expression.
Adora frowned at him, and Catra replied: "The only chance for a deal would have been if he valued revenge more than even the slightest chance at power, and, well…" She shrugged. "It's Ba'al. He's very petty and vengeful, but he's even more ambitious."
"I think we could have made a deal if we had offered to let him keep a host," Adora said.
Catra shook her head. "I doubt that."
"He still would have planned on betraying us at the earliest opportunity," Jack said.
"Yes, but it might have been enough for him to bide his time," Adora replied. "But it's not really about Ba'al - it's about all the other Goa'uld. They see giving up a host as the worst fate they can imagine. We won't be able to make them surrender if that doesn't change."
"Well, they might change their opinion if the war gets worse for them." Jack grinned.
"I don't think so, sir." Carter had her 'polite disagreement' face on, so it wasn't a hill she was ready to die on, but she didn't think he was right and wouldn't let it stand out of principle. "The loss of brain capacity they suffer when they don't have a sapient host would be terrifying for everyone. It is perfectly reasonable for any being to choose death rather than significant brain damage."
Jack swallowed a remark about brainiacs thinking so. She was right, anyway - he'd rather die than become an idiot. Or more of an idiot, depending on who you asked. On the other hand… "The snake prisoners we have on Earth are quite articulate," he pointed out.
"Yes," Carter admitted, "but the fact that they haven't lost all higher brain functions doesn't mean they haven't suffered a significant reduction of their mental faculties. It's just less noticeable, especially since they are prisoners. And, suffering such reduced faculties will impede their ability to realise it - they are still aware of it on a conceptual level, but they probably cannot objectively compare their two states, partially, again, since their living conditions are so starkly different. If they were still in a position where they would have to make decisions as a ruler or commander, it would likely be more evident."
There were similar comments in the prisoner's psych profiles, Jack remembered. And the analysts were considering this when using the intel from them. But that wasn't the issue. "We can't let them keep hosts. We can't sacrifice anyone to that hell even if it might get some of them to surrender," he said.
"Of course not, sir!" Carter gasped, and he winced slightly - she knew better than anyone else in the room, except for Sha're, who was scowling, he noted, what it meant to be the host of a snake.
"Yes," Adora said. "But we should look into alternatives to having sapient hosts for Goa'uld."
"The Tok'ra seem to be doing fine," Jack pointed out.
"They rely on volunteers, and the number of volunteers will likely shrink in the future, as more people are liberated from the Goa'uld," Daniel said. "The number of people willing to become a host in exchange for a long life and superhuman abilities might be able to compensate for that since Earth has so many more people than the rest of the planets that there are bound to be a significant number of those who would choose this, especially considering the small numbers of Tok'ra. But that would not work for the Goa'uld. And we would have to consider that someone raised to worship the Goa'uld as gods might not be objective enough to make such a decision in the first place. Of course, that touches also on religious education on Earth, so…" He shrugged. "It's complicated."
"Even those who volunteered regretted it." Sha're was almost hissing the words. "The Goa'uld do not share. You are a prisoner - a disembodied spirit forced to watch as your body serves another." She shuddered, and Daniel wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
Jack wasn't the only one who winced.
"As long as the false gods are able to, they will enslave others," Teal'c commented after a moment.
"That makes it even more important that we find a way so they don't have to get hosts to be as smart as they can be," Adora said.
Jack didn't think that there was a problem with making your enemy dumber. That made them less dangerous. On the other hand, as long as there was no alternative, the Goa'uld would look at any human - or compatible alien - like an addict looked at crack. They wouldn't stop trying to take hosts until they were all dead.
And that kind of solution was unacceptable as well. History proved it. "Well, aren't we working on that?"
"Not as a priority, sir."
Which meant none of the top scientists were working on that. And if it became a priority, other projects would suffer. Jack knew how things worked. Still… He looked at Adora. She knew the trade-offs herself.
"We should form a team for that," she said.
Without Loki, the odds of finding a solution would be slim. And Jack didn't think Loki would focus on the Goa'uld's problems instead of on his own people's main issue.
"Maybe magic can help there," Daniel suggested. "We should check with Mystacor."
"Good idea!" Adora smiled. "They can easily reach Alpha, anyway."
Alpha, Loki and a bunch of sorceresses… Jack winced again.
Royal Palace, Bright Moon, Etheria, August 19th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"...so we hope you - sorceresses from Mystacor - could help us find a solution for the Goa'uld's dependency on sapient hosts," Adora finished her briefing with a smile.
Castaspella wasn't smiling, although she didn't look put off either. "I see. That seems like a challenge some of our researchers might like to tackle. It might also help with the concern voiced by some that Mystacor is not doing enough to support the Alliance," she added with a glance at Angella.
Adora frowned slightly at that - had Angella criticised them? Mystacor's neutrality during the Horde War had been a bit of a sore issue, Adora was aware of that, but she hadn't really taken it seriously, not with the war being over and far more pressing issues, such as the treatment of the former Horde lands and Horde people to deal with. And then the war against the Goa'uld had started, and Adora had restored Earth's magic, and that had caused quite a lot of interest in Mystacor, last she heard. Well, she could address this now. "Who said that?" she asked.
"Mostly the sorceresses who volunteered for the Alliance," Glimmer replied. But she was glancing at Angella as well.
Angella looked annoyed, then made a little snort. "I, as well as a few old friends of mine, merely mentioned that Mystacor could do more."
"That's what you call the demand that we change the curriculum and our research to focus on combat applications of magic?" Castaspella scoffed. "As much as I understand the sentiment, not all of the sorceresses of our kingdom are suited for combat. Those who are already are, for the most part, fighting. Trying to force others to join them against their will won't do any good. They wouldn't be able to stand the conditions of the battlefield."
"There's more to a war than fighting on the frontlines," Glimmer said. "Logistics is a huge, perhaps the most critical part, of it. You do not need to fight to play a crucial role."
"Unlike the magical powers of certain princesses, a sorceress's magic is far more limited as far as its applications for logistics are concerned," Castaspella replied. "The problems the Alliance is facing in that area can't be solved by magic."
"It's also about showing solidarity," Angella retorted.
"We've already sent as many sorceresses to the war as we can spare," Castaspella said. "Trust me on this." She looked at Micah, who had, so far, stayed quiet.
He nodded. "We also need to care about the future. As much as the Alliance needs sorceresses, we can't turn Mystacor into barracks churning out soldiers. Magic is a core part of Etheria's culture, and Mystacor is at the centre of it."
Angella's expression made it clear that she disagreed with that. Which was a bit ironic, in Adora's opinion, since Angella hadn't been as willing to militarise Etheria during the war. Her time in the dream dimension had really changed her. Though the fact that she had returned when Etheria was fighting a new war, on an even larger scale, probably played a role as well.
"In any case, this is something Mystcor's researcher can work on that caters to their strengths. We might even see some of those currently studying Earth's magical traditions help with that," Castaspella said. "And it should quiet the complaints that we're hiding behind the Princess Alliance."
"Provided it works," Catra spoke up for the first time in the meeting.
"No one can guarantee that," Castaspella said. "Not even magic can solve everything. But it can solve a lot of problems if you are creative enough."
Adora surely hoped so. They needed a way to convince Goa'uld to surrender.
"And working on the First Moon of Enchantment will help recruiting researchers as well," Castaspella said. "There have been complaints about the lack of access to what some call the birthplace of our people." She snorted. "None of them have met Alpha, or they would not be quite so eager, but I'll do my best to pick those who can stand working there."
Adora nodded. Alpha was doing better, but it still took some time getting used to her, and Loki was worse.
Catra chuckled. "Don't send the most arrogant ones if you want them to work together."
"Most of our best researchers are, unfortunately, blessed with an ego matching or surpassing their considerable talents," Castaspella replied. "Something not uncommon outside Mystacor, of course."
Adora knew that by heart, of course. Between the various officers in the Command Council and the politicians (and some princesses) leading the members of the Alliance, she was very familiar with those kinds of people. "Alright," she said, "Then that's settled. How are the students from Earth doing, by the way?"
Castaspella tilted her head slightly. "They have more trouble adapting to Etherian magic than expected. We aren't yet sure if that's an effect of being on Earth when its magic returned, leading to them being more attuned to their home's magic, if it's rooted in their ancestry or if they have troubles with the way we teach. The fact that they can learn the spells developed in Mystacor indicates it's not a genetic condition. But the sample size is too low to draw any conclusions. In any case, we have to readjust our expectations when they will be ready to join the Alliance Forces. On the other hand, cooperation between students who already have some magical training or experience, however little, has sometimes proven to be surprisingly fruitful."
Adora smiled. That sounded good.
"Although lately, there have been a few issues between students based on political divisions on Earth," Castaspella went on.
"What?" Adora narrowed her eyes. "Political divisions?"
"We're still looking into the matter, but it seems the students from Earth are divided on the question of whether or not to engage in Earth politics, and how to do so most effectively."
That didn't sound good. Not good at all.
Research Station Alpha, First Moon of Enchantment, August 21st, 2000 (Earth Time)
"We could use spirits to possess a body. Since they control the body directly, the Goa'uld would not be able to control the body themselves - probably. Experimenting would be needed."
"But the body would still have a perfectly functional brain and, therefore, a consciousness."
"We could have a spirit possess the body as it forms in this magical womb."
"It's an artificial womb, and that would not change anything! The brain would still develop naturally."
"I don't think you can call that natural at all!"
"It is a natural development, merely done so in an unnatural womb."
"That means it is unnatural."
"By that definition, all of us are unnatural since our ancestors were created in the same way."
"But we developed naturally!"
"Semantics! Our origin was, according to your definition, unnatural, which means we are unnatural, according to your definition. You cannot just arbitrarily set a point where something unnatural creates something natural - that is impossible by the very definitions you use!"
"Of course I can! That is how definitions work!"
"They need to have at least a semblance of logic behind them!"
"If you think that the difference between natural and unnatural is whether or not you're grown inside a person or a tube, you are excluding and potentially discriminating against a huge number of people who were created that way - and I am not talking about Horde Clones!"
Samantha Carter was impressed. Not even five minutes, and the first meeting of the new project team had turned into an increasingly heated academic dispute over a topic that wasn't relevant to the project at all. "Whether or not a method of procreation is natural is not relevant at all. We're here to find a way to provide the Goa'uld with a replacement for sapient hosts. Any proposed method that still requires a sapient brain is, by definition, a failure, and such a proposal will be dismissed from the very beginning - and there will be no experimenting," she added with a glare at Alpha's projection.
The bot's attempt to appear innocent and not disappointed was as obvious as it was a failure, and Sam shook her head. After a moment - right before the assembled researchers, both from Earth and Mystacor, could gather up steam again, she added: "Focus on alternatives, not semantics. And don't try to use this to get more funding to research your pet project." She narrowed her eyes at the sorceress who had mentioned spirits; Sam wasn't an expert on magic, but she had read the team member's backgrounds, and she knew that the sorceress in question was researching spirits in Earth's magical traditions because those were unknown on Etheria.
After a moment - a quite long moment - of much pouting and grumbling - another sorceress spoke up: "We could create a magical construct that simulates a brain, and pair it with a cloned body without a brain! The interface would be a challenge, but if we take the interfaces from cybernetic prosthetics pioneered by the Horde and the interfaces that allow magitech devices, it should be possible!"
"But if we simulate a brain, wouldn't that mean we simulate a consciousness as well? And if we simulate that so convincingly that it can work for a Goa'uld, wouldn't that mean that we created an artificial consciousness?"
"It would still be a simulation, not a real person. Turn off the power, and it vanishes."
"That seems like an arbitrary difference. Turn off the air, and a person's consciousness vanishes as well, after a short time."
"Also, bots have a consciousness. Technically, theirs is a simulation as well."
"That's only true if you stretch the definition of simulation well beyond the point I made! And the point is to use a simulation in order to avoid creating an actual consciousness."
"We could attempt to only simulate the parts that will complement the Goa'uld consciousness. Not the parts that create a consciousness."
"We don't know if that's even possible - we would need extensive testing to see how the Goa'uld's brains work, first."
"That was obvious from the start."
"But how do you do that without experimenting on sapients? The Goa'uld count as sapients, don't they? Even with reduced brain capacities, right?"
"Of course they do!"
"Is it experimenting if we only examine the process? With volunteers? Maybe we could ask a Tok'ra to help us?"
"They don't consider themselves Goa'uld and might consider this an insult twice over - once for calling them Goa'uld, the second time for threatening the very core of their culture."
"Asking is free."
"No, it isn't!"
"We need their help anyway since they are the foremost experts on Goa'uld biology."
"So, in for a penny, in for a pound?"
"That's not how it works!"
"Worked for me!"
"Until your lab blew up and Castaspella cursed you!"
"She didn't curse me! That's a vile rumour! She cursed at me!"
"So, that's how you look normally? I thought that was why you were researching counter-curses!"
"WHAT?"
"Stop! No fighting in the research station!" Sam snapped, hand on her zat'nik'tel. "How old are you?" she blurted out before she could help herself.
"What does age have to do with this?"
"Nothing in your case, I'm sure."
"Still jealous that I graduated a year before you, huh?"
"By only doing the absolute minimum! I was doing research before graduation!"
"On a pre-graduate level. And it shows."
"Still better than your attempt to replicate a princess's power using spells."
"That was a valid theory!"
"Don't flatter yourself! It wasn't even a hypothesis! I've seen more coherent research statements from people too drunk to remember their own name!"
"Why am I not surprised at the company you keep?"
"What?"
Sam closed her eyes as the bickering continued. If those people were on the frontlines, they would probably end up shot by their own allies. Or by themselves, in the more reckless cases - what fool would volunteer to serve as host to see how it was? As if they would let that happen! Even though a Goa'uld couldn't use a host's magic power, who could know what they would end up talking about in the privacy of their minds?
"We need more minders," she muttered as she made a note to that extent.
To think she had missed the 'academic discourse'!
Royal Palace, Bright Moon, Etheria, August 22nd, 2000 (Earth Time)
"...and so, with Sam and Entrapta having gone to Beta to find a way to trace the metadimensional scanners Ba'al is using for his conscious-transfer devices, we need someone else to supervise Alpha's new research project?" Catra summed up Adora's briefing.
"It's a bit more complicated than that," Adora said with a slight pout, "but, essentially, yes."
Catra looked at Glimmer. Bright Moon claimed the Moons of Enchantment as their territory, and she was a trained sorceress, so this was her business.
Glimmer looked at Micah. "Auntie Castaspella would be the obvious choice. She knows all the new researchers."
"And she won't shoot them, unlike others," Catra added - she was only half-joking. What Adora had told them would have tried anyone's patience.
Adora frowned at her, but Glimmer snorted, and Bow grinned.
"Castaspella said she was too busy running Mystacor and training new sorceresses to relocate to the Third Moon of Enchantment," Micah replied.
Catra shook her head with a grin. "Looks like she dumped her troublemakers on you." She had done similar things when she had led the Horde.
"She totally did," Glimmer confirmed. "But they are Mystacor's best researchers. They're just also some of their worst people."
Which, Catra thought, isn't that unusual. Loki was probably a good example of the kind of personality many of the best scientists often developed. Or was it the other way around, and the kind of people like Loki were best-suited to become the best researchers? It didn't matter; they had to deal with the problem.
"Anyway, we need someone to supervise them before they create some abomination with Alpha or kill each other over who gets the best lab," Glimmer said. "I can't do it - I'm too busy with my duties in the Alliance."
Catra grinned. Glimmer could make the time - she could delegate some of her duties just as she had delegated some of her duties as the Queen of Bright Moon to Micah and now Angella - but with her temper, she wouldn't be a good choice for that kind of position anyway. Which everyone knew but wouldn't say.
Micah glanced at Angella before looking at Glimmer. "I could do it. It's been a while since I was studying in Mystacor, but I am a sorcerer like the researchers."
And a powerful one - and the brother of the current leader of Mystacor. Pretty much the obvious choice, in Catra's opinion.
"In the absence of Glimmer, you're also Bright Moon's regent," Angella pointed out.
"Well…" Micah looked from Angella to Glimmer and back. "You could take over my duties."
Glimmer didn't scowl, but she wasn't happy with the suggestion; Catra could tell from a few signs. And Angella didn't look happy either. She and Glimmer had made up, but their relationship was still a bit strained over the whole queen title. This might add more strain. It made a lot of sense, though. So…
"I think I should do it," Angella said.
"Mom!" Glimmer blurted out.
"I was born in Alpha," she said. "I also have a lot of experience dealing with arrogant but powerful people. Especially in the context of making them work together."
"I guess princesses and sorceresses aren't that different," Catra commented. Angella had run the first Princess Alliance, after all. And, especially after her experiences in the Dream Dimension, she probably could scare most of the prissy sorceresses into behaving.
"The Princess Alliance never behaved as badly as what Aodra told us about those researchers," Glimmer said.
"Oh, you've never read the records of our early years, then, Glimmer." Angella smiled. "We once even came to blows. That's why the windows in the eastern salon are newer than most other windows."
Catra chuckled at Glimmer's expression. Obviously, she had never heard about that. And to think the Alliance still managed to force the Horde into a standstill… Granted, the Horde had had worse infighting…
"Ah!" Bow smiled. "I had wondered about that. I should have looked at the Alliance records; the palace records only mentioned that they were replaced, not the reasons for it."
"We didn't want to undermine the growing trust in the Alliance leadership," Micah said.
Angella nodded, but her expression clearly said that she wasn't about to discuss it further.
Of course, that made it tempting to do exactly that.
"Well, if everyone is OK with that?" Adora spoke up before Catra could decide one way or the other. She looked around. As expected, no one objected. "Then that's settled."
Good. The meeting had been dragging on. Catra sat up in her chair. "Let's get something to eat." Before she could get up and drag Adora to the dining salon, her tablet announced a new message. She read the header and frowned.
What was the 'Magical Movement'?
Alliance Base Lübtheen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, August 22nd 2000
"Travis Cadbery, NBC. We're here in the literal shadow of a giant tree that has sprung up overnight - literally overnight - in the Mojave Desert in California. It reaches the astonishing height of 404 feet, topping even the tallest redwood tree in the world, Hyperion. Unlike Hyperion, this tree has a canopy that's even wider than it is tall, with a diameter of almost 600 feet. Authorities are trying to seal off access to the tree, but are facing resistance from a gathering crowd of protestors. A new group of apparent activists, the so-called 'Magical Movement', has claimed responsibility for the tree's existence. According to their spokesperson, it's the result of a ritual based on 'Gaia's Blessing', and will 'transform the desert into an oasis of magic'."
"...while I would not go as far as some of the - understandably concerned local politicians and call this an 'act of magical terrorism', America is based on the rule of law, and this tree obviously violates several laws and should be removed at once, with all the appropriate measures taken to ensure no harm comes from it. If this had happened in Texas, it would already have been taken care of. Further…"
"...is a symbol of Earth's magic - Gaia spreading her arms to shield us and rejuvenating the planet as magic returns. We pray to Gaia to strengthen her power, and we will…"
Jack O'Neill shook his head as he flipped through channels. What the hell was going on?
"...and authorities are still not commenting on the question whether or not the giant and apparently magical tree that sprang up in the Californian desert can be removed without violating constitutional rights or not. Dr Clark Gonzalez, as an expert for environmental cases, what's your take on this?"
"Well, madam, it's obviously a political question since legally, it's a clear-cut case - this tree is obviously not native to America and, therefore, an invasive species that should be removed at once."
"Thank you, Clark. Several environmental groups have already filed suits to force the state government to remove the tree before it can affect the desert biodome, though various religious groups claim that removing the tree would violate their religious freedom. In addition to that, there are concerns by various churches that the tree will influence the residents with its magical nature. What are your thoughts on that?"
"Well, I am no sorceress, so I could not possibly comment on whether or not the tree is radiating magic energy. Although I think it's safe to say that this tree must be magical in nature - normal trees cannot grow as big and, obviously, not as fast. Whether or not removing the tree would endanger the population or environment through some sort of 'magical backlash', I cannot say either."
Not very useful, Jack decided, switching channels again. So much for his lazy Tuesday afternoon.
"...and the Alliance released a statement that Princess Perfuma of Plumeria was not involved at all in procuring, planting or growing this tree, but said that she was impressed by the feat and proud of how far Earth's sorceresses have come in the short time since the world's magic was returned to them and would love to examine the tree with her power. Asked on whether she would be willing to use her power to safely remove the tree, the Alliance spokesman declined to comment, though anonymous sources stated that the princess was not entertaining such thoughts."
"...after this display of magical might, everyone in the country - and the world - is asking themselves urgent questions: Who are the members of this 'Magical Movement', and what are their goals? We have some answers! According to the press statement released today, the Magical Movement was founded by several representatives of 'major magical traditions of Earth' with the goal of spreading 'awareness and acceptance of magic in the entire world'."
"...and apparently, the members of the Magical Movement have decided that Americans need more magic in their lives - whether they want it or not. Such arrogance bodes ill for the future of the country as more and more people grow concerned about magic and…"
"...analysts are wondering what effect this event will have on the presidential election. Magic has been a controversial topic, especially for the conservative voters, even without such a blatant demonstration of its power, and it's currently unclear how swing voters will be affected by this…"
"...and the crowds of protestors and counter-protestors are growing. Though the mood has been peaceful so far, the police are worried about the growing potential for violence, and state police are supposedly moving in to provide support while the first calls for the National Guard have been raised."
Jack's computer beeped, announcing an unscheduled meeting. He had a feeling that he knew what it was going to be about.
PB-1763-System, Ba'al's Realm, August 17th, 2000 (Earth Time)
Samantha Carter should have stayed on the planet. Not only could she have done some more analyses of the cobbled-together mic of Horde Prime and Goa'uld technology Ba'al had created - for all its limits, it was a very promising proof of concept, perhaps too promising, even - and she wouldn't have to listen to the latest news from home in the flagship's officer's mess.
"...and this experience that is touted in speeches is questionable indeed! The experience he gained working for and in the same government that started this war in secret? The government that had the leader of the Goa'uld Empire nuked without telling anyone else, not even Congress? That dragged us into a war when we had no allies, no advanced technology, and no plan to defeat the enemy? I say we can do without more of that experience! We need a change of government, a change of plans! We cannot continue like this!
"At the convention, people loved to talk about World War II. The war against the Nazis and Imperial Japan. But none of them mentioned how that war was fought! It wasn't fought by Americans hiding behind their allies, using donated equipment saved from the scrapyard, nor did we fight under foreign command! We led the way and won the war! And it led to the greatest economic boom in our history!
"That's what we need to be doing again! That's the change of policy our country needs, and that's what I am standing for!"
"I believe the British will disagree with those claims," Daniel said with a frown. "Where was the candidate educated again?"
His coffee had grown cold, Sam bet.
"Oh, I'm sure he knows better - he was in the military, after all," the General said, "and he would have studied that war at the Academy. But that's not how you get votes from Americans."
"The truth hurts your electoral chances." Daniel shook his head.
"Don't let Glimmer hear that!" the General said. "She's obnoxious enough about elections already."
Glimmer did have pointed opinions about democracy, American-style, Sam knew. And the current electoral campaign wasn't really doing much to change them, Sam was aware of that as well. And understood it - the US government had been rather heavy-handed in their attempts to use the war for their campaign. Sam wasn't sure why the other members of the Alliance had accepted those demands, but except for the Etherians, the other countries would have extracted their pound of flesh from the US in exchange for support; they hadn't forgotten that the US had kept the Stargate Command secret even from its closest allies. Britain wouldn't have forgotten that the Stargate had been originally in their hands.
"Well, she is concerned about the part of the conservatives that is focused on so-called Christian values, which supposedly are under attack by Etheria," Daniel said. "And I think her concern is at least partially justified. While I haven't yet read any studies - those are still being done - the polls conducted for the election do confirm that the conservatives cannot win this without the Evangelicals, and those have been very vocal about their wish to roll back the rights granted to basically everyone other than people like themselves. And they will demand concessions for their support."
"Good luck with that!" The General scoffed. "The equal rights are enshrined in the constitution. You can't change that."
"No. But as the shameful parts of our history prove, you can do a lot to remove such rights in practice. Local laws, selective enforcement, social pressure…" Daniel shook his head. "If the government is turning a blind eye to such things, they can effectively negate all those protections. The Jim Crow laws certainly proved that."
"Well, doing that would destroy our relationship with the Etherians and get the US kicked out of the Alliance, so everyone making bank right now thanks to the Alliance will oppose them - and those are mainly people with deep pockets and long lists of contacts." The General grinned. "If you can't win without the Evangelicals, you can't win without big business either."
"Let's hope so," Daniel said.
Sam agreed. It wasn't just that they couldn't afford such games in the middle of the war; it would hurt Sam's friends.
"Oh, I'm sure if things start looking a bit close, people will start digging up all the skeletons in the Evangelical closets," the General said. "They have barely recovered from the last wave of investigations and prosecutions."
"Well, we can't count on every Evangelical leader being a hypocrite and criminal," Daniel said.
The General shrugged, seemingly unconcerned. Was he so sure of his view of them - or was he confident that any investigation would find something anyway?
Sam wasn't sure if she wanted to know the answer to this question.
*****
PB-1763-System, Ba'al's Realm, August 18th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"I'm a god! For trying to keep me imprisoned, your punishment will be legendary! People will tremble in fear for a thousand years in memory of your suffering!"
"You're no god. And you aren't the original Ba'al either - you're one of his clones."
In the room next to the two, staring at the camera, Catra was impressed by Adora's restraint when facing their prisoner. Catra wouldn't have stayed so calm - just hearing him threaten her love made her unsheath her claws. Of course, she wouldn't actually attack or hurt the host - he was merely another victim. But she would taunt the bastard and try to rile him up even more.
Which was the reason she wasn't in the cell, trying to explain to the idiot that his whole life was a lie.
"No! Your feeble lies won't work! I know the truth!"
"The truth is that you were cloned and your memories carefully chosen so you'd think you're the original Ba'al. But we had your DNA tested, by the best biologists and geneticists, and they found that you're a clone and less than a year old. Do you want to see the data?" Adora held up a tablet. "The markers are clear if you know what to look for."
"Save your transparent forgeries! I am Ba'al, not one of the decoys!"
"Your brain pattern doesn't match the scanner data. If you had succeeded at killing yourself, nothing would have happened - you wouldn't have woken up in another body. In fact, the facility hadn't even gone active since the original Ba'al had not been in the system."
Adora's calm explanation shocked the clone for a moment - he hadn't expected that. But he quickly clammed up.
"Another lie! I verified it myself!"
"You checked your own DNA? And then checked the station's computer core? Or did you tell someone to check?"
The Clone was silent for a moment before snarling again. "You all shall rue the day you defied a god!"
"I'm rueing the day we captured you," Catra muttered. "If we had killed you, we would have been spared this ranting."
Adora, as expected, ignored the threat. "Anyway, do you have any questions?"
"What is the point of this?"
"As a prisoner, you have rights. This is medical data you should know."
Catra grinned. Adora wasn't lying, but she wasn't telling the whole truth. Of course, she was such a terrible liar, even this was transparent.
"No… You wouldn't tell me that just out of the goodness of your heart. And you wouldn't come personally to speak to me. You want something."
And that was Catra's cue. She left the room and entered the cell. "Yes, we want something from you."
The clone smiled toothily. "As I knew!"
"Well, it's not exactly an impressive deduction," Catra said as she sat down next to Adora. "Adora's the worst liar I know."
"Hey!" Adora pouted at her.
"What? It's true. Even Kyle is a better liar." Catra grinned.
"No, he isn't!"
"Yes, he is."
She glanced at the clone, who was now looking slightly confused. He did recover quickly, though. "You can save the effort of…whatever you are trying to do. Just make your offer."
"You were manipulated by the original Ba'al. Set up as a decoy - and made to believe that you were the original and all the others were decoys," Catra said. "In short, you were used and even set up to commit suicide with another lie." She leaned forward. "Don't tell me you don't want to get revenge for that."
He glared at her. "You offer me revenge against the Ba'al who betrayed me and took my rightful place?"
Catra nodded. "Yes."
"You offer me to become your tool, to be discarded as soon as I lose my usefulness!"
"We aren't like you, Ba'al," Adora protested. "We don't promise what we don't want to keep."
"And what did you promise to the copy working with you?"
As they expected, he thought Double Trouble was another clone. Since he didn't know better, it was a logical conclusion. Catra grinned again. "What do you think we promised them?"
"You would be a fool to promise them to take over my domain. A paltry planet to rule as your vassal? Under constant guard so he cannot plot against you?"
Catra shrugged her shoulders. "It's better than being separated from your host and imprisoned with the other hostless Goa'uld."
His eyes widened for a moment, but he kept his calm. "And is Bastet amongst those? Did you betray her?"
"I'm not a Sekhmet," Catra replied. "I've never met her. I did hear about her, though - you people keep mistaking me for one of hers."
"And what are you then?"
Catra leaned back with all the nonchalance she could fake. "The offspring of an experiment by the Ancients." Adora frowned at her, but Catra ignored it. Everyone on Etheria was the descendant of the First Ones' experiments. It was not shameful and nothing one should care about. "Her people," she added, pointing at Adora.
The clone laughed. "Another transparent lie!"
"It's not a lie," Adora told him. "I know you don't believe me, but it's not important anyway." She steepled her fingers under her chin and leaned forward. Catra had to suppress a chuckle at how serious she looked. "What do you want in exchange for helping us against the other Ba'als?"
*****
PB-1763-System, Ba'al's Realm, August 18th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"So… no deal with Clone-Ba'al?" Jack O'Neill asked when he saw Adora's expression.
Adora frowned at him, and Catra replied: "The only chance for a deal would have been if he valued revenge more than even the slightest chance at power, and, well…" She shrugged. "It's Ba'al. He's very petty and vengeful, but he's even more ambitious."
"I think we could have made a deal if we had offered to let him keep a host," Adora said.
Catra shook her head. "I doubt that."
"He still would have planned on betraying us at the earliest opportunity," Jack said.
"Yes, but it might have been enough for him to bide his time," Adora replied. "But it's not really about Ba'al - it's about all the other Goa'uld. They see giving up a host as the worst fate they can imagine. We won't be able to make them surrender if that doesn't change."
"Well, they might change their opinion if the war gets worse for them." Jack grinned.
"I don't think so, sir." Carter had her 'polite disagreement' face on, so it wasn't a hill she was ready to die on, but she didn't think he was right and wouldn't let it stand out of principle. "The loss of brain capacity they suffer when they don't have a sapient host would be terrifying for everyone. It is perfectly reasonable for any being to choose death rather than significant brain damage."
Jack swallowed a remark about brainiacs thinking so. She was right, anyway - he'd rather die than become an idiot. Or more of an idiot, depending on who you asked. On the other hand… "The snake prisoners we have on Earth are quite articulate," he pointed out.
"Yes," Carter admitted, "but the fact that they haven't lost all higher brain functions doesn't mean they haven't suffered a significant reduction of their mental faculties. It's just less noticeable, especially since they are prisoners. And, suffering such reduced faculties will impede their ability to realise it - they are still aware of it on a conceptual level, but they probably cannot objectively compare their two states, partially, again, since their living conditions are so starkly different. If they were still in a position where they would have to make decisions as a ruler or commander, it would likely be more evident."
There were similar comments in the prisoner's psych profiles, Jack remembered. And the analysts were considering this when using the intel from them. But that wasn't the issue. "We can't let them keep hosts. We can't sacrifice anyone to that hell even if it might get some of them to surrender," he said.
"Of course not, sir!" Carter gasped, and he winced slightly - she knew better than anyone else in the room, except for Sha're, who was scowling, he noted, what it meant to be the host of a snake.
"Yes," Adora said. "But we should look into alternatives to having sapient hosts for Goa'uld."
"The Tok'ra seem to be doing fine," Jack pointed out.
"They rely on volunteers, and the number of volunteers will likely shrink in the future, as more people are liberated from the Goa'uld," Daniel said. "The number of people willing to become a host in exchange for a long life and superhuman abilities might be able to compensate for that since Earth has so many more people than the rest of the planets that there are bound to be a significant number of those who would choose this, especially considering the small numbers of Tok'ra. But that would not work for the Goa'uld. And we would have to consider that someone raised to worship the Goa'uld as gods might not be objective enough to make such a decision in the first place. Of course, that touches also on religious education on Earth, so…" He shrugged. "It's complicated."
"Even those who volunteered regretted it." Sha're was almost hissing the words. "The Goa'uld do not share. You are a prisoner - a disembodied spirit forced to watch as your body serves another." She shuddered, and Daniel wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
Jack wasn't the only one who winced.
"As long as the false gods are able to, they will enslave others," Teal'c commented after a moment.
"That makes it even more important that we find a way so they don't have to get hosts to be as smart as they can be," Adora said.
Jack didn't think that there was a problem with making your enemy dumber. That made them less dangerous. On the other hand, as long as there was no alternative, the Goa'uld would look at any human - or compatible alien - like an addict looked at crack. They wouldn't stop trying to take hosts until they were all dead.
And that kind of solution was unacceptable as well. History proved it. "Well, aren't we working on that?"
"Not as a priority, sir."
Which meant none of the top scientists were working on that. And if it became a priority, other projects would suffer. Jack knew how things worked. Still… He looked at Adora. She knew the trade-offs herself.
"We should form a team for that," she said.
Without Loki, the odds of finding a solution would be slim. And Jack didn't think Loki would focus on the Goa'uld's problems instead of on his own people's main issue.
"Maybe magic can help there," Daniel suggested. "We should check with Mystacor."
"Good idea!" Adora smiled. "They can easily reach Alpha, anyway."
Alpha, Loki and a bunch of sorceresses… Jack winced again.
*****
Royal Palace, Bright Moon, Etheria, August 19th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"...so we hope you - sorceresses from Mystacor - could help us find a solution for the Goa'uld's dependency on sapient hosts," Adora finished her briefing with a smile.
Castaspella wasn't smiling, although she didn't look put off either. "I see. That seems like a challenge some of our researchers might like to tackle. It might also help with the concern voiced by some that Mystacor is not doing enough to support the Alliance," she added with a glance at Angella.
Adora frowned slightly at that - had Angella criticised them? Mystacor's neutrality during the Horde War had been a bit of a sore issue, Adora was aware of that, but she hadn't really taken it seriously, not with the war being over and far more pressing issues, such as the treatment of the former Horde lands and Horde people to deal with. And then the war against the Goa'uld had started, and Adora had restored Earth's magic, and that had caused quite a lot of interest in Mystacor, last she heard. Well, she could address this now. "Who said that?" she asked.
"Mostly the sorceresses who volunteered for the Alliance," Glimmer replied. But she was glancing at Angella as well.
Angella looked annoyed, then made a little snort. "I, as well as a few old friends of mine, merely mentioned that Mystacor could do more."
"That's what you call the demand that we change the curriculum and our research to focus on combat applications of magic?" Castaspella scoffed. "As much as I understand the sentiment, not all of the sorceresses of our kingdom are suited for combat. Those who are already are, for the most part, fighting. Trying to force others to join them against their will won't do any good. They wouldn't be able to stand the conditions of the battlefield."
"There's more to a war than fighting on the frontlines," Glimmer said. "Logistics is a huge, perhaps the most critical part, of it. You do not need to fight to play a crucial role."
"Unlike the magical powers of certain princesses, a sorceress's magic is far more limited as far as its applications for logistics are concerned," Castaspella replied. "The problems the Alliance is facing in that area can't be solved by magic."
"It's also about showing solidarity," Angella retorted.
"We've already sent as many sorceresses to the war as we can spare," Castaspella said. "Trust me on this." She looked at Micah, who had, so far, stayed quiet.
He nodded. "We also need to care about the future. As much as the Alliance needs sorceresses, we can't turn Mystacor into barracks churning out soldiers. Magic is a core part of Etheria's culture, and Mystacor is at the centre of it."
Angella's expression made it clear that she disagreed with that. Which was a bit ironic, in Adora's opinion, since Angella hadn't been as willing to militarise Etheria during the war. Her time in the dream dimension had really changed her. Though the fact that she had returned when Etheria was fighting a new war, on an even larger scale, probably played a role as well.
"In any case, this is something Mystcor's researcher can work on that caters to their strengths. We might even see some of those currently studying Earth's magical traditions help with that," Castaspella said. "And it should quiet the complaints that we're hiding behind the Princess Alliance."
"Provided it works," Catra spoke up for the first time in the meeting.
"No one can guarantee that," Castaspella said. "Not even magic can solve everything. But it can solve a lot of problems if you are creative enough."
Adora surely hoped so. They needed a way to convince Goa'uld to surrender.
"And working on the First Moon of Enchantment will help recruiting researchers as well," Castaspella said. "There have been complaints about the lack of access to what some call the birthplace of our people." She snorted. "None of them have met Alpha, or they would not be quite so eager, but I'll do my best to pick those who can stand working there."
Adora nodded. Alpha was doing better, but it still took some time getting used to her, and Loki was worse.
Catra chuckled. "Don't send the most arrogant ones if you want them to work together."
"Most of our best researchers are, unfortunately, blessed with an ego matching or surpassing their considerable talents," Castaspella replied. "Something not uncommon outside Mystacor, of course."
Adora knew that by heart, of course. Between the various officers in the Command Council and the politicians (and some princesses) leading the members of the Alliance, she was very familiar with those kinds of people. "Alright," she said, "Then that's settled. How are the students from Earth doing, by the way?"
Castaspella tilted her head slightly. "They have more trouble adapting to Etherian magic than expected. We aren't yet sure if that's an effect of being on Earth when its magic returned, leading to them being more attuned to their home's magic, if it's rooted in their ancestry or if they have troubles with the way we teach. The fact that they can learn the spells developed in Mystacor indicates it's not a genetic condition. But the sample size is too low to draw any conclusions. In any case, we have to readjust our expectations when they will be ready to join the Alliance Forces. On the other hand, cooperation between students who already have some magical training or experience, however little, has sometimes proven to be surprisingly fruitful."
Adora smiled. That sounded good.
"Although lately, there have been a few issues between students based on political divisions on Earth," Castaspella went on.
"What?" Adora narrowed her eyes. "Political divisions?"
"We're still looking into the matter, but it seems the students from Earth are divided on the question of whether or not to engage in Earth politics, and how to do so most effectively."
That didn't sound good. Not good at all.
*****
Research Station Alpha, First Moon of Enchantment, August 21st, 2000 (Earth Time)
"We could use spirits to possess a body. Since they control the body directly, the Goa'uld would not be able to control the body themselves - probably. Experimenting would be needed."
"But the body would still have a perfectly functional brain and, therefore, a consciousness."
"We could have a spirit possess the body as it forms in this magical womb."
"It's an artificial womb, and that would not change anything! The brain would still develop naturally."
"I don't think you can call that natural at all!"
"It is a natural development, merely done so in an unnatural womb."
"That means it is unnatural."
"By that definition, all of us are unnatural since our ancestors were created in the same way."
"But we developed naturally!"
"Semantics! Our origin was, according to your definition, unnatural, which means we are unnatural, according to your definition. You cannot just arbitrarily set a point where something unnatural creates something natural - that is impossible by the very definitions you use!"
"Of course I can! That is how definitions work!"
"They need to have at least a semblance of logic behind them!"
"If you think that the difference between natural and unnatural is whether or not you're grown inside a person or a tube, you are excluding and potentially discriminating against a huge number of people who were created that way - and I am not talking about Horde Clones!"
Samantha Carter was impressed. Not even five minutes, and the first meeting of the new project team had turned into an increasingly heated academic dispute over a topic that wasn't relevant to the project at all. "Whether or not a method of procreation is natural is not relevant at all. We're here to find a way to provide the Goa'uld with a replacement for sapient hosts. Any proposed method that still requires a sapient brain is, by definition, a failure, and such a proposal will be dismissed from the very beginning - and there will be no experimenting," she added with a glare at Alpha's projection.
The bot's attempt to appear innocent and not disappointed was as obvious as it was a failure, and Sam shook her head. After a moment - right before the assembled researchers, both from Earth and Mystacor, could gather up steam again, she added: "Focus on alternatives, not semantics. And don't try to use this to get more funding to research your pet project." She narrowed her eyes at the sorceress who had mentioned spirits; Sam wasn't an expert on magic, but she had read the team member's backgrounds, and she knew that the sorceress in question was researching spirits in Earth's magical traditions because those were unknown on Etheria.
After a moment - a quite long moment - of much pouting and grumbling - another sorceress spoke up: "We could create a magical construct that simulates a brain, and pair it with a cloned body without a brain! The interface would be a challenge, but if we take the interfaces from cybernetic prosthetics pioneered by the Horde and the interfaces that allow magitech devices, it should be possible!"
"But if we simulate a brain, wouldn't that mean we simulate a consciousness as well? And if we simulate that so convincingly that it can work for a Goa'uld, wouldn't that mean that we created an artificial consciousness?"
"It would still be a simulation, not a real person. Turn off the power, and it vanishes."
"That seems like an arbitrary difference. Turn off the air, and a person's consciousness vanishes as well, after a short time."
"Also, bots have a consciousness. Technically, theirs is a simulation as well."
"That's only true if you stretch the definition of simulation well beyond the point I made! And the point is to use a simulation in order to avoid creating an actual consciousness."
"We could attempt to only simulate the parts that will complement the Goa'uld consciousness. Not the parts that create a consciousness."
"We don't know if that's even possible - we would need extensive testing to see how the Goa'uld's brains work, first."
"That was obvious from the start."
"But how do you do that without experimenting on sapients? The Goa'uld count as sapients, don't they? Even with reduced brain capacities, right?"
"Of course they do!"
"Is it experimenting if we only examine the process? With volunteers? Maybe we could ask a Tok'ra to help us?"
"They don't consider themselves Goa'uld and might consider this an insult twice over - once for calling them Goa'uld, the second time for threatening the very core of their culture."
"Asking is free."
"No, it isn't!"
"We need their help anyway since they are the foremost experts on Goa'uld biology."
"So, in for a penny, in for a pound?"
"That's not how it works!"
"Worked for me!"
"Until your lab blew up and Castaspella cursed you!"
"She didn't curse me! That's a vile rumour! She cursed at me!"
"So, that's how you look normally? I thought that was why you were researching counter-curses!"
"WHAT?"
"Stop! No fighting in the research station!" Sam snapped, hand on her zat'nik'tel. "How old are you?" she blurted out before she could help herself.
"What does age have to do with this?"
"Nothing in your case, I'm sure."
"Still jealous that I graduated a year before you, huh?"
"By only doing the absolute minimum! I was doing research before graduation!"
"On a pre-graduate level. And it shows."
"Still better than your attempt to replicate a princess's power using spells."
"That was a valid theory!"
"Don't flatter yourself! It wasn't even a hypothesis! I've seen more coherent research statements from people too drunk to remember their own name!"
"Why am I not surprised at the company you keep?"
"What?"
Sam closed her eyes as the bickering continued. If those people were on the frontlines, they would probably end up shot by their own allies. Or by themselves, in the more reckless cases - what fool would volunteer to serve as host to see how it was? As if they would let that happen! Even though a Goa'uld couldn't use a host's magic power, who could know what they would end up talking about in the privacy of their minds?
"We need more minders," she muttered as she made a note to that extent.
To think she had missed the 'academic discourse'!
*****
Royal Palace, Bright Moon, Etheria, August 22nd, 2000 (Earth Time)
"...and so, with Sam and Entrapta having gone to Beta to find a way to trace the metadimensional scanners Ba'al is using for his conscious-transfer devices, we need someone else to supervise Alpha's new research project?" Catra summed up Adora's briefing.
"It's a bit more complicated than that," Adora said with a slight pout, "but, essentially, yes."
Catra looked at Glimmer. Bright Moon claimed the Moons of Enchantment as their territory, and she was a trained sorceress, so this was her business.
Glimmer looked at Micah. "Auntie Castaspella would be the obvious choice. She knows all the new researchers."
"And she won't shoot them, unlike others," Catra added - she was only half-joking. What Adora had told them would have tried anyone's patience.
Adora frowned at her, but Glimmer snorted, and Bow grinned.
"Castaspella said she was too busy running Mystacor and training new sorceresses to relocate to the Third Moon of Enchantment," Micah replied.
Catra shook her head with a grin. "Looks like she dumped her troublemakers on you." She had done similar things when she had led the Horde.
"She totally did," Glimmer confirmed. "But they are Mystacor's best researchers. They're just also some of their worst people."
Which, Catra thought, isn't that unusual. Loki was probably a good example of the kind of personality many of the best scientists often developed. Or was it the other way around, and the kind of people like Loki were best-suited to become the best researchers? It didn't matter; they had to deal with the problem.
"Anyway, we need someone to supervise them before they create some abomination with Alpha or kill each other over who gets the best lab," Glimmer said. "I can't do it - I'm too busy with my duties in the Alliance."
Catra grinned. Glimmer could make the time - she could delegate some of her duties just as she had delegated some of her duties as the Queen of Bright Moon to Micah and now Angella - but with her temper, she wouldn't be a good choice for that kind of position anyway. Which everyone knew but wouldn't say.
Micah glanced at Angella before looking at Glimmer. "I could do it. It's been a while since I was studying in Mystacor, but I am a sorcerer like the researchers."
And a powerful one - and the brother of the current leader of Mystacor. Pretty much the obvious choice, in Catra's opinion.
"In the absence of Glimmer, you're also Bright Moon's regent," Angella pointed out.
"Well…" Micah looked from Angella to Glimmer and back. "You could take over my duties."
Glimmer didn't scowl, but she wasn't happy with the suggestion; Catra could tell from a few signs. And Angella didn't look happy either. She and Glimmer had made up, but their relationship was still a bit strained over the whole queen title. This might add more strain. It made a lot of sense, though. So…
"I think I should do it," Angella said.
"Mom!" Glimmer blurted out.
"I was born in Alpha," she said. "I also have a lot of experience dealing with arrogant but powerful people. Especially in the context of making them work together."
"I guess princesses and sorceresses aren't that different," Catra commented. Angella had run the first Princess Alliance, after all. And, especially after her experiences in the Dream Dimension, she probably could scare most of the prissy sorceresses into behaving.
"The Princess Alliance never behaved as badly as what Aodra told us about those researchers," Glimmer said.
"Oh, you've never read the records of our early years, then, Glimmer." Angella smiled. "We once even came to blows. That's why the windows in the eastern salon are newer than most other windows."
Catra chuckled at Glimmer's expression. Obviously, she had never heard about that. And to think the Alliance still managed to force the Horde into a standstill… Granted, the Horde had had worse infighting…
"Ah!" Bow smiled. "I had wondered about that. I should have looked at the Alliance records; the palace records only mentioned that they were replaced, not the reasons for it."
"We didn't want to undermine the growing trust in the Alliance leadership," Micah said.
Angella nodded, but her expression clearly said that she wasn't about to discuss it further.
Of course, that made it tempting to do exactly that.
"Well, if everyone is OK with that?" Adora spoke up before Catra could decide one way or the other. She looked around. As expected, no one objected. "Then that's settled."
Good. The meeting had been dragging on. Catra sat up in her chair. "Let's get something to eat." Before she could get up and drag Adora to the dining salon, her tablet announced a new message. She read the header and frowned.
What was the 'Magical Movement'?
*****
Alliance Base Lübtheen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, August 22nd 2000
"Travis Cadbery, NBC. We're here in the literal shadow of a giant tree that has sprung up overnight - literally overnight - in the Mojave Desert in California. It reaches the astonishing height of 404 feet, topping even the tallest redwood tree in the world, Hyperion. Unlike Hyperion, this tree has a canopy that's even wider than it is tall, with a diameter of almost 600 feet. Authorities are trying to seal off access to the tree, but are facing resistance from a gathering crowd of protestors. A new group of apparent activists, the so-called 'Magical Movement', has claimed responsibility for the tree's existence. According to their spokesperson, it's the result of a ritual based on 'Gaia's Blessing', and will 'transform the desert into an oasis of magic'."
"...while I would not go as far as some of the - understandably concerned local politicians and call this an 'act of magical terrorism', America is based on the rule of law, and this tree obviously violates several laws and should be removed at once, with all the appropriate measures taken to ensure no harm comes from it. If this had happened in Texas, it would already have been taken care of. Further…"
"...is a symbol of Earth's magic - Gaia spreading her arms to shield us and rejuvenating the planet as magic returns. We pray to Gaia to strengthen her power, and we will…"
Jack O'Neill shook his head as he flipped through channels. What the hell was going on?
"...and authorities are still not commenting on the question whether or not the giant and apparently magical tree that sprang up in the Californian desert can be removed without violating constitutional rights or not. Dr Clark Gonzalez, as an expert for environmental cases, what's your take on this?"
"Well, madam, it's obviously a political question since legally, it's a clear-cut case - this tree is obviously not native to America and, therefore, an invasive species that should be removed at once."
"Thank you, Clark. Several environmental groups have already filed suits to force the state government to remove the tree before it can affect the desert biodome, though various religious groups claim that removing the tree would violate their religious freedom. In addition to that, there are concerns by various churches that the tree will influence the residents with its magical nature. What are your thoughts on that?"
"Well, I am no sorceress, so I could not possibly comment on whether or not the tree is radiating magic energy. Although I think it's safe to say that this tree must be magical in nature - normal trees cannot grow as big and, obviously, not as fast. Whether or not removing the tree would endanger the population or environment through some sort of 'magical backlash', I cannot say either."
Not very useful, Jack decided, switching channels again. So much for his lazy Tuesday afternoon.
"...and the Alliance released a statement that Princess Perfuma of Plumeria was not involved at all in procuring, planting or growing this tree, but said that she was impressed by the feat and proud of how far Earth's sorceresses have come in the short time since the world's magic was returned to them and would love to examine the tree with her power. Asked on whether she would be willing to use her power to safely remove the tree, the Alliance spokesman declined to comment, though anonymous sources stated that the princess was not entertaining such thoughts."
"...after this display of magical might, everyone in the country - and the world - is asking themselves urgent questions: Who are the members of this 'Magical Movement', and what are their goals? We have some answers! According to the press statement released today, the Magical Movement was founded by several representatives of 'major magical traditions of Earth' with the goal of spreading 'awareness and acceptance of magic in the entire world'."
"...and apparently, the members of the Magical Movement have decided that Americans need more magic in their lives - whether they want it or not. Such arrogance bodes ill for the future of the country as more and more people grow concerned about magic and…"
"...analysts are wondering what effect this event will have on the presidential election. Magic has been a controversial topic, especially for the conservative voters, even without such a blatant demonstration of its power, and it's currently unclear how swing voters will be affected by this…"
"...and the crowds of protestors and counter-protestors are growing. Though the mood has been peaceful so far, the police are worried about the growing potential for violence, and state police are supposedly moving in to provide support while the first calls for the National Guard have been raised."
Jack's computer beeped, announcing an unscheduled meeting. He had a feeling that he knew what it was going to be about.
*****
Chapter 188: The Election Campaign Part 10
Starfox5
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Chapter 188: The Election Campaign Part 10
Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, August 22nd 2000
"The United States Government formally requests the help of the Alliance against the Goa'uld to remove the giant tree in the Mojave Desert in California?" Adora repeated to check that she had heard correctly.
"The United States Government considers it an invasive species of alien origin," the Secretary of State said.
"You're calling a tree an alien invasion and want to activate the defence clause?" Glimmer blurted out.
"It is the United States' official stance that this incident meets the criteria for the mutual defence and support clause of the Alliance treaty." The Secretary of State sounded stiff, and Adora couldn't tell if she actually believed this.
"It's a tree grown by a bunch of sorceresses - and, according to what we know, mostly American sorceresses," Jack added, looking up from his tablet.
"How did you get access to that data, General?" an aide of the Secretary asked. "The FBI just started its investigation, and the data was not shared with the Alliance!"
"They have a list of their members on their website," Jack replied. "We cross-referenced them with our own data."
Adora nodded. "Many of the members are known to the Alliance since they were vetted before being allowed to travel to Mystacor. The rest seem to be American witches - or Wiccan - and a few European sorceresses, also currently training at Mystacor."
"Evidently, they are not training at your magic school," the Secretary of State said with a frown.
Glimmer nodded. "They wanted a vacation on Earth, visit their families, meet old friends…"
"...report to their handlers," Catra added with a toothy grin.
Adora nodded. They knew several of the students would - knowingly or not - be passing information on to various intelligence organisations.
"...and talk to sorceresses on Earth about magic and politics," Glimmer finished.
"You knew they were planning this?" The Secretary sounded honestly angry.
"We didn't know that they would be doing something like this," Adora told her.
"It might have been a spontaneous decision while meeting fellow sorceresses on Earth, Madam Secretary," Daniel cut in. "The communique mentioned 'Gaia' and 'the Mother Goddess' several times, which would imply a significant influence of native Earth traditions, namely Wicca."
That sounds logical, Adora thought.
"And they spontaneously created a giant magical tree in the middle of the desert?" The Secretary, however, didn't seem to agree.
Glimmer shrugged. "That's not as impressive as you think. Perfuma, you could probably do it as well, right?"
"Well, I could - though I would probably pick a cactus since they are better suited for the desert. Of course, if you're growing plants to that size, you need to change them anyway - most plants couldn't grow that much naturally and wouldn't survive the process. You'd have to strengthen so many things to reach that size, provided you want to keep the tree…" Perfuma cocked her head to the side. "Which is why I want to check the tree - I am curious what they did to it, and whether it's a non-magical plant magically grown, created or altered or magical in nature. This is fascinating!"
"Or if it is a ship turned into a plant," Catra said.
"A ship?" The Secretary, of course, didn't know Catra had been joking.
"Catra's referring to an incident that happened at the end of the Horde War, and which has no bearing on this incident. The circumstances are completely different," Glimmer said. "That required the stored magic of an entire planet."
Actually, far more, but there was no need to go into details.
"You mean they had access to such power?" the Secretary gasped.
"No. We need to examine the tree, but as far as we can tell so far, this is completely different," Glimmer replied.
"But the outcome is the same? We have a group of magic student activists with access to power on the same scale?"
"We don't believe so," Adora told her.
Unfortunately, the woman didn't seem to be reassured.
"Don't you trust your people?" Perfuma asked. "You picked most of them to study with us, and the others are your people."
Adora winced slightly. Her friend was honestly surprised by the Americans' reaction.
"They don't have control over them. That's the issue. They'd love such power if they were in charge," Catra explained.
"Oh."
"But as I said, creating a giant tree doesn't really require that much power," Glimmer was quick to add. "Creating - or finding, depending on your stance on the magic discovery/creation dispute - a spell to do so is a bit more difficult, but once you know how to do it, you can repeat it. Although powering it also should require a ritual, which in this case probably requires a lot of sorceresses, so it's not that easy to repeat."
"We'll ensure it's not repeated!" the Secretary said.
"Why not?" Perfuma asked. "It looks beautiful."
"The chaos and panic that such trees popping up everywhere would create… No, that would be unacceptable!"
"Especially during an election," Jack said. "They're already talking about magic regulation again." He held up his tablet.
Adora had a feeling they had to talk to their PR consultants. And the PR consultants of the Alliance.
But first, they had to examine the tree and talk to the sorceresses who had created it.
Mojave Desert, California, United States of America, August 22nd 2000
If she were honest, Samantha Carter would have told the General that she was a physicist, not a biologist or an expert on magic. But that would have triggered a Star Trek joke from him. And while she wasn't an expert on magic or magical biology, she knew enough about either to be not completely useless when it came to examining. Besides, she also knew, from experience, that sometimes, an outside perspective could be crucial to crack a science challenge, and her knowledge and experience were still applicable when it came to examining a magical tree larger than many skyscrapers. Besides that, she had worked together with the same experts on those fields about to examine the tree - she wasn't going to call it 'Gaia's Blessing' or 'Yggdrasil', or whatever else the press had come up with - and she had the most experience with the magic scanner they were going to use.
The fact that she was very, very curious about the exact manner in which this tree had been created and how it was holding up its own weight was merely a bonus.
She told herself that as she looked out of the window of General's stealth shuttle - still officially used for training special forces pilots but effectively the General's personal commute, not that she was complaining now - and studied the magical tree as they slowly approached it.
It was massive, towering over the landscape, its crown stretching out so far, she was sure a normal tree's branch would have broken off at the first time a stronger wind came up. The crown was shaped like a dome, not a sphere, though that wasn't that unusual; you could shape a tree as it grew by selectively cutting branches. Still… "Those branches must have been reinforced. As the entire trunk must have been."
"Definitely," Perfuma agreed.
"There are no birds in the tree," Catra added, squinting. "None that I can see, at least."
"They would not have had the time to move in, so to speak," Dr Elizabeth Barrow from the EPA said. "The fauna in this region is not adapted to such an environment. The shade generated by the tree alone, as well as the humidity it must be producing, would change the microclimate around it in ways we can't foresee."
"It's just one big tree," Glimmer replied. "Doesn't seem as if it would have a bigger impact than building an entire city in the desert with buildings higher than this tree."
"Oh, yes!" Entrapta nodded. "Settlements cause much more significant ecological changes in the area than single trees. We saw that in the Fright Zone. Until the tree starts procreating, this shouldn't have a huge effect on the ecology. The effects of all the people coming to visit it would be much higher as well."
The doctor pressed her lips together, Sam noted, before answering: "Preventing the tree from producing seeds will be crucial then."
"Why?" Entrapta asked.
"We can't have magical trees spreading through the United States. They might crowd out native trees and render other species extinct, both flora and fauna. And if the tree produces seeds, those cultists will likely use them to plant more of them." The doctor was scowling now.
"We don't know yet if the tree can produce seeds - or if those hypothetical seeds could grow without the help of magic," Glimmer said. "Besides, the people who created this tree might create another one."
"That cannot be allowed! Imagine the panic if such a tree sprang up next to your home!"
"I'd love it!" Perfuma said, tearing her eyes away from the tree. "Imagine living next to such a beautiful tree! I might create one on Etheria if I can. I'm sure people in the Scorpion Kingdom would love one!"
"Yes!" Entrapta beamed at her. "It would be a nice way to filter out more particles at that height - our mechanical filters currently don't reach that high."
"And we could see if we can build homes into the branches!" Perfuma nodded. "If I can manipulate the wood, that should be possible."
Barrow stared at the two princesses. Evidently, she hadn't been fully briefed on the Etherians. "But… The risks! The backlash from the population! The ecological and economic impact!"
"Why would anyone have a problem with it?" Perfuma asked - honestly confused.
"We don't know if the tree presents a danger to the population or the ecology!"
"We'll find out if it does. And do something about it if we need to," Adora said.
"I can't see an outcome where this tree will be allowed to stand!"
A beep announced that the scanner had finished its first scan. Sam looked at the results and winced. "I think you might have to reconsider that, Doctor."
"Why would I?"
"That tree is much tougher than a building of that size. Demolishing it would require a major effort, and this is just from the perspective of the mechanical and static challenges. We have yet to check for magical effects."
"What? It's wood! How hard can it be to remove a tree?"
"'Wood' that's actually denser than some of the armour we use on vehicles," Sam said. "And the roots that support this weight…" They occupied a huge amount of space underground. Some had buried through bedrock.
"Oh, yes! Fascinating!" Entrapta gushed at the results. "That's not quite in the league of spaceship-grade armour, but I think it beats hovertank armour density and resistance!"
"How did a bunch of new age witches create that thing?" the General commented when he started to take them down to the landing zone set up for them.
"That's what we're here to find out," Glimmer said.
Sam nodded. If this could be applied to industrial projects…
"So! The second scan has confirmed that the tree's wood is a reinforced material, but the cellular scan shows no reason for that. It is just regular wood on that level. It's like the structure is reinforced by an energy field, only we can't detect the field, any way it could be projected or how it can infuse the individual cells. Also, the material loses the property if it's separated from the tree trunk - which means Elizabeth doesn't have to worry about macro- or micropolution, well, unless a sufficiently large part retains that quality; we haven't tested that yet, though if it would, we'd only have to deal with a very tough structure that wouldn't be any different than some rock formation."
Catra nodded along with Entrapta's explanations. "So, it's magic keeping the thing from collapsing under its own weight." Which was both reassuring and a bit worrying, seeing as they were currently standing at the tree trunk. If that magic stopped, things would turn dangerous at once.
"Yes. We need to extend the exclusion zone," Adora said.
Perfuma looked disappointed. "I can't duplicate this. I mean, I could duplicate a tree that large, but as soon as I would let go of it and stop using my power on it, it would collapse. There won't be tree skyscraper apartment complexes in Plumeria and the Scorpion Kingdom."
Catra wasn't sure if she should be disappointed or glad about that. "What about the magic?"
"It's not a spell; I'm pretty sure of that," Glimmer replied.
That didn't sound very confident to Catra, but mentioning that would not be very helpful.
"We don't know if a spell or power was used on the tree to make it grow, but Perfuma and I agree that it was magically grown from a seed, not created by magic," Glimmer went on.
The difference sounded academic to Catra. Unless they required a special seed to grow the tree from which they couldn't just alter or create with magic, it wouldn't really matter in the long run.
"The tree is turning the air around it more humid, as you'd expect from a normal tree," Sam spoke up. "But the water vapour it's releasing doesn't conform to the amount of water available to its roots, according to our scans. We cannot pinpoint the source of all the water sustaining the tree."
"I have a suspicion that it's a magical source," Jack said. He was smiling innocently, but everyone - except for Barrow, but the woman was quickly catching up - knew him better than to fall for it. Especially Sam, whose frown would have made others flinch.
"Obviously it's magic." Glimmer scowled at him. "But it's not a kind of magic I know. I'd say it has to be magic from Earth. They have myths of magical trees that grow to giant sizes."
"Or beanstalks," Jack added.
"What does that mean? Can you safely remove the tree or not?" Barrow asked.
"As long as we can't identify the magic keeping it stable, we can't tell if removing it would be safe," Glimmer replied.
Barrow didn't like that at all. Catra grinned; the woman had been fixated on removing the tree from the start - before they knew anything about it. No sense for opportunities.
Her ears twitched - the protestors and counter-protestors, though which crowd was which was a bit murky, had started up their chants again after a break for hydration.
"Cut it down! Cut it down! Cut it down!"
"Protect Gaia! Protect Gaia! Gaia is love! Gaia is love!"
Not the most catchy or original chants, but then, they were in the middle of the desert, and if not for Catra's uniform, she would be suffering from the heat even in the tree's shade - and the protestors were all outside the tree's shadow. Hell, it was hotter than in the Crimson Waste! Those new vacuum-rated uniforms were great!
"So, who can tell us how we can remove this?" Barrow asked. "We were told the Alliance would send experts on this matter."
"We probably need to talk to the people who created this," Adora said. "Castaspella is talking to the students and teachers who know them, but we need first-hand information about this."
Catra nodded.
"But! So far, it doesn't look like there's currently any danger at all! The tree seems completely self-sustaining - or mostly; it's blocking the sun, but the impact of that shouldn't be significant, and it's using that for photosynthesis," Entrapta said.
"And it's not growing fruits right now," Perfuma added.
"It's still magical - you have confirmed that unknown but powerful magic is keeping it standing - and we cannot risk magical contamination of the surrounding area or visitors!" Barrow said.
"We haven't detected any such contamination, either," Entrapta said.
"Unless you mean that," Jack added, pointing at the crowds in the distance, separated by a line of police officers.
"You cannot tell what magic is at work here; how can you assume that it is safe?"
"We don't know if it's safe," Glimmer said. "But for now, it's not affecting the area around it."
"We need more data!" Entrapta said. "Why do you want to remove the tree so badly, anyway? It's fascinating! We can learn so much here!"
Barrow scowled. "It's an illegally created, potentially dangerous magical object. The United States Government won't tolerate this!"
"Not in an election year," Jack said, "People are already frothing at the mouth about it. Well, those who don't worship it."
"That's beside the point, but yes, the effects on society and the tensions its existence creates are also a factor to consider when dealing with this!" Barrow spat.
We really need to talk with our PR consultants, Catra thought. But they hadn't had the time to spare for that so far.
Ah! Jack O'Neill grinned as his suspicion was confirmed. Barrow wasn't an eco-nut trying to preserve the 'natural environment' at all costs. She was a government drone trying to make the government look as if it were in control in the middle of an election year. And having a giant magic tree sprout in the middle of the Mojave Desert threatened that narrative, as Daniel would say. You weren't in control of much if a bunch of students could create magic trees the size of skyscrapers overnight wherever they wanted.
"I think we need to know more about the tree and its magic before making plans about how to remove it," he said. "Don't want to rush and release all the magic holding it up by accident. Half the crowd there would sue us for negligence or something."
Barrow actually paled at that.
"We don't even know if this tree was actually created by someone or naturally sprang up as a result of a local magical phenomenon," Daniel said. "There are so many myths and tales of magic trees in human history, we cannot dismiss the idea that this is a natural, native plant. In that case, this would be an endangered species, I believe."
"It's not on the list of endangered species," Barrow snapped.
"It's not on any list," Danel said in his best diplomatic voice. "I don't think the courts would look kindly at that argument when deciding whether or not the government violated their own laws based on semantics."
Barrow looked like she had just bitten into a Horde ration bar.
Jack snorted. He wasn't Daniel, but he knew enough about myths, and had read up on them after Earth's magic had been released, to know that the last thing anyone needed was some idiot trying to tamper with magic they didn't understand. That way lay curses and plagues.
But before he could add a few more pointed remarks, the communicator in his ear informed him of more trouble. Cursing internally, he told the others: "We've got company incoming. The governor and a few more politicians are coming." Just to the perimeter so far, but… Jack didn't think they could ignore them.
"We need to talk to him!" Barrow said at once.
"We'll continue our examination," Carter predictably added.
Adora nodded. "Alright. Let's talk with the governor." She looked at the two gathering crowds still chanting at each other. "Maybe he can do something to calm them down."
The best way for that would be to use his chopper to hover above the protesters and let the downdraft sandblast them, in Jack's opinion. He didn't say so - people tended to frown on such jokes.
The governor shook their hands. Firm grip, Jack noted. Then again, the man was a vet. Decorated vet. Shouldn't be a problem.
"This is State Senator Bracken," the governor said, introducing the man who had come with him.
"General." The man tried to crush Jack's hand when they shook hands. "Commander."
For a senator, state or not, to greet Jack before Adora had to be a deliberate snub. And his supporters were currently chanting to cut down the tree. Yeah, that guy was going to be a problem. Then again, his party affiliation had already told Jack that.
"So, what is that tree?" the governor asked.
"It is a magically reinforced tree. We're still examining it to find out if it was grown or created, and what kind of magic was used on it," Adora explained.
"The thing's bark is harder than the armour on a tank," Jack added.
"Really?" The governor seemed surprised. "I was told that it couldn't support its weight without magic, but to be so tough…"
"That shouldn't stop your beam cannons," Bracken said. "They can blow up battleships."
"We need to know more before we consider destroying it," Adora said.
"Don't want to accidentally blow a couple hundred tons of magic dust into the air." Jack grinned. "I think not all the neighbours would like that."
Bracken gasped.
"There are no plans to risk that," Barrow quickly cut in. "But we're looking into ways of removing the tree."
"You better be!" Bracken growled. "And whoever did this has to be punished! No one gets to endanger the American people like that!"
"We don't know if anyone is in danger, Keith," the Governor said. "It's just a tree as far as we know so far."
"It's a magical threat! And it's attracting witches!" Bracken glared at one half of the protestors. "You need to get rid of it before things go out of control!"
"I'm sure the Alliance has things under control, Keith."
The tree? Yeah. Jack trusted his friends. The crowds here? Jack didn't trust them to behave.
"The United States government isn't going to let anyone endanger the American people," Barrow said.
"You already did, Doctor!" Bracken snapped. "Uncontrolled magic! Witches praying to trees! You said yourself you don't have any idea what is happening here! People are in danger!"
"Just because we don't understand everything that happened here yet doesn't mean we should assume it's a threat," Daniel said.
"It's magic - it's dangerous!"
Jack wondered if the man was going to quote 'thou shalt not suffer a witch to live' next, but Bracken seemed to have more control than that. But his party would be milking this for whatever it was worth.
Jack wasn't so sure about the tree, and he understood how people were concerned - he was as well - but the last thing the United States in the middle of a war needed was a government supported by nutcases who wanted to burn their strongest allies at the stake. As much as he disliked it, he might have to help out Barrow here.
"Supreme Commander Adora! Queen Glimmer!"
"Miss Cranston. Miss Gomez. Mister Hutchings." Adora smiled at the three members of the 'Magical Movement' greeting her whom she recognised thanks to them being students at Mystacor. That left two more she didn't know.
"These are Cassy Baker and Clark Hong," Cranston went on. "Cassy is a leading member of the Moonlight Coven, and Clark is the founder of the Sequoia Conclave."
Both smiled and bowed their heads. Adora had heard the names of those organisations before - they were on the Movement's website - but they didn't mean anything to her. The three sorceresses were wearing Etherian-made clothes; Adora recognised the style. Baker wore a black dress with many slits that showed pale skin and Clark a green robe with brown patterns on it that she didn't recognise.
"We're so happy to meet you!" Cranston, apparently their spokesperson, went on. "I mean, we met you when we came to Etheria - those of us who did - but that wasn't the same." She nodded, and her ponytail - bright red - bopped with the movement.
Adora suppressed a wince. Yes, she had met the three sorceresses in training before, when they had gone to Etheria, but only briefly, and she hadn't really paid that much attention. Just another part of her duties.
"What do you think of Gaia's Heart?" Cranston was still smiling widely.
"It's impressive," Adora replied. She forced the memory of Etheria's Heart away.
"Nothing less would have done!" Baker said, nodding firmly. "Gaia would not accept anything smaller - it could not contain her power."
"We first thought about using a Sacred Sequoia," Hong added. "But we soon realised that this wouldn't do her justice either."
"And what kind of tree did you choose?" Glimmer asked.
"We chose an apple tree," Cranston replied.
"The forbidden fruit, knowledge," Baker added with a smile. "Christianity stole so much from Paganism, it feels fitting to take something of theirs back."
Adora made an uncommitting noise; she had no idea about those details.
"It grants shade, and its fruits will sustain the people." Hong craned his neck as he looked up. "Though it grew a bit more than we expected, which will make picking the fruits a challenge."
So, they hadn't planned for it to be that big? That was a bad sign - it meant they had either planned badly or lost control over what they did. Maybe both.
"And what exactly did you do?" Glimmer asked.
All five of them looked surprised. "You don't know?" Gomez stared at her.
"We're still examining it," Glimmer replied. "As you know, we don't have such trees on Etheria."
"Ah, yes. We - the Mystacor students from Earth who joined the movement - prepared the seed, and we used spells pioneered by Plumeria to shape plants. They were patterned after their princesses' powers, though not quite as versatile. It was mostly about making the seed more receptive to magic and more durable. Part of it was actually part of the semester's coursework. But the actual ritual was prepared by Cassy and Clark's people," Cranston said. "Though we all took part in it since we all are Gaia's children."
"The Mother cares for us all," Baker said, folding her hands in front of her.
"We're all part of nature and serve her." Hong bowed his head.
That sounded a bit… It sounded like worship. Adora winced. They sounded like Priest.
"And what did you do?" Glimmer sounded a bit impatient. She looked a bit impatient as well - she was still smiling, but her eyes had narrowed a little, like they did when a planning meeting started to run long because people couldn't get to the point.
"We prayed to the Mother, and She deigned to grace us with Her presence in Her vessel, elevating it above us all!" Baker's smile was a bit too wide in Adora's opinion.
"Her blessings fill the void in our souls and rejuvenate nature." Hong's, too.
"It was such a revelation!" Cranston nodded. "I've seen spirits before - we tested that part of the ritual on a smaller scale, for which I hope we'll get extra credit in Mystacor - but summoning Gaia…" She shook her head. "You can't describe it. You have to experience it. To feel it."
Adora frowned. That sounded like…
"You summoned a spirit? That's a possessed plant?" Glimmer looked a bit spooked.
"Gaia, the spirit of Earth herself!" Baker corrected her. "The Mother Goddess."
"We called for Her, begged for a boon, and She answered and graced us with Her presence," Hong added.
"That's not a spell… It's a spirit. The entire tree is held together by a spirit." Glimmer sounded as if she was talking to herself.
"Yes." Cranston nodded again. "Spirit magic. We hope we can learn more and then teach it to our friends in Mystacor."
"We have a theory that you are the vessel of the spirit of Etheria, Princess She-Ra," Gomez said. "Gaia's counterpart, so to speak."
"Yes!" Cranston's ponytail bopped again. "Etheria's magic is an expression of its spirit, and so it manifests as the power of princesses while Gaia - Earth's magic - is focused on nature. But the principle is the same."
"Who thought of this theory?" Glimmer blurted out. "That goes against everything we learnt at Mystacor!"
"Well… we did," Gomez said. "Mystacor's accepted magical theories don't account for many of Earth's magical traditions, so we need a better theory to unify both traditions. We're still working on it, though."
"It's our thesis project," Hutchings spoke up.
Adora shook her head as she stared at the tree. This was supposed to be Earth's She-Ra? That made no sense!
"Well, you're much more beautiful," Catra, who had been uncharacteristically silent so far, commented. "I don't think the tree would look half as good in a dress." Before Adora could say anything to that, she turned to look at the sorceresses. "So, why did you summon Gaia?"
"To show the world Her grace!"
"To give her a vessel to spread Her blessings."
"To show those who fear magic that there's nothing to fear."
"We wanted to counter all the fear-mongering done by the Evangelicals in the election," Cranston said.
Adora looked at the tree, then at the protestors in the distance.
Glimmer closed her eyes and cursed under her breath.
And Catra snorted.
"They summoned a spirit into the tree?" Samantha Carter was rarely surprised, but this, she hadn't expected. Or, rather, she hadn't expected this on such a scale. "We'll need to readjust our projections of the impact magic has on Earth." Well, they'd already known that when they discovered the tree, but if this was the work of a spirit, then that changed things even further. Using magic to enhance plants was one thing - Perfuma had demonstrated that power extensively, and Sam knew its limits - but spirits?
"Yes!" Entrapta nodded. "And we need to find out more about spirit magic!"
"Apparently, Mystacor has a study group about that kind of magic," Glimmer said with a frown. "Although I thought it was a bit more academic."
"We need to check what the researchers from Mystacor who went to Earth are doing here; if students can do this, imagine what trained sorceresses can do if they put their mind to it," Bow added.
"We need to, yes, but I don't think they are more advanced than this." Glimmer gestured at the tree above them. "This is Earth's magic. I don't think the researchers have an easy time summoning spirits - they are trained completely differently, and have been using Etherian magic for decades."
That sounded logical, but it was perhaps a bit too optimistic, in Sam's opinion. She tended to assume the worst in such cases. And with magic, you couldn't be too cautious. "We'll need to investigate every member of this group," she said. "To check if they really are what they claim. That a group of students managed such a feat seems a bit suspicious."
"Students and two groups of local sorceresses," Glimmer said. "And, as far as we can tell, they were following one of Earth's magical traditions - two in this case - before Adora restored Earth's magic, so they already had an idea about magic. That would have granted them an advantage."
"An advantage big enough to create this?" Sam raised her eyebrows.
"Well… I'm no expert on spirit magic, but if the spirits have a will of their own, as the sorceresses here claim, and if they are tied into Earth's magic, then they could have been helping with the ritual - they might have been waiting for such a chance," Glimmer said.
That sounded even more alarming to Sam. A sapient, independent, magical spirit with this power? And now possessing a tree? If the spirit could animate its vessel, like a poltergeist or what those news reports she had seen had described, then that would result in an Ent the size of Godzilla… Not that she would word it like that; the General would make fun of her for using a term from Tolkien.
"Well, then we should test this! Let's make contact with Gaia!" Entrapta beamed.
Sam winced. "I don't think that will be easy."
"As far as we know, we can't just talk to the spirits," Glimmer said. "We'd have to do a ritual. One specific for this spirit."
"We can ask the ones who summoned her to help us, I think. You said they wanted to show that magic is helpful and shouldn't be feared, so they will help us, right?"
They probably would - at least most of them; according to the General, the Magical Movement was composed of idealists. He hadn't meant that as a compliment, Sam knew - his exact words had been 'like the most naive people from the Peace Corps, just with nukes at their disposal'.
If they genuinely thought that creating a four-hundred-feet-tall magical tree would reassure people that magic was harmless, then Sam felt inclined to agree with that assessment. It had had the complete opposite effect. Even with the Alliance releasing several news bulletins to calm people down, it seemed the country was just a few steps away from mass hysteria.
That several conservative politicians and news channels were trying to use this for the election wasn't helping, of course. The police had already had to stop a self-styled exorcist - the Vatican had denied any connection - from trying to reach the tree, and some of the protestors were getting increasingly agitated, as a quick check of the feeds from the surveillance bots had told Sam.
If they couldn't get this under control, things would take a turn for the worse. Barrow was almost constantly on the phone with Washington and was still pushing to remove the tree. Sam wasn't an expert on myths, but she had read enough - and heard about a few more from Daniel - to know that angering the spirits was never a good idea, and she couldn't imagine anything that would anger a spirit faster than destroying - or attempting to do so - its apparent home.
Sam sighed. "Yes, let's talk to them before they try to help us."
Entrapta looked confused, but Glimmer and Bow both nodded with grim expressions.
Mojave Containment Zone, California, United States of America, August 22nd 2000
"...and this witch tree cannot be allowed to keep standing! We cannot allow impressionable children to be led astray by it! I do not hold with transparent excuses about magic protecting it. If the government cannot remove an illegally planted tree, then the government needs to be removed and replaced by one that will protect its people and faith! We shall gather…"
"Mother Gaia has returned! Kept away from Earth for a thousand years, She is finally back amongst us, to guide and protect us in a time of need! Come, bask in Her glory, meditate in Her shade, enjoy the fruits of Her vessel!"
"...latest news, the FDA has released a statement advising the population not to ingest any products from the magic tree in the Mojave desert, citing a lack of testing and studies and concerns about possible side effects. Several religious groups have already filed suits to challenge the decision despite the fact that it was merely an advisory bulletin, the FDA not having the power to prohibit people from eating natural fruits, and…"
"...the Governor announced that, for the time being, the area around the tree will be sealed off by the police while the situation is under examination by experts. Asked about the presence of Alliance soldiers including the Supreme Commander Adora, the spokesperson said that as the leading experts on such phenomena, Alliance personnel were present to study the tree to determine if it presented a threat to the local population but detailed that, so far, there was no evidence that the tree was of alien origin."
"...the statement released by his campaign offices denounced the government for allowing the deployment of foreign soldiers on US soil and the lack of 'decisive action to deal with a clear and present danger to our country and people'. He promised that, should he be elected, he would enact much stricter policies in both areas. Neither he nor his campaign manager reacted to questions regarding state rights and such matters, and…"
"...and so we come to our next topic: Spirits! What are they? Are they actual beings with a will of their own? Are they merely the manifestation of the subconscious beliefs and desires of those who summon them? Magic given form by unconscious intent? Are they divine messengers? How do spirits fit in with modern theology? We'll be discussing these questions with Dr Claire Belafonte from the University of Louisiana, Padre Alonso Garcia, recently appointed by the pope to research such phenomena, Minister Keith Gable from the Southern Baptist Church and Miss Elisa Carlyle, a member of the Minnesota Coven."
So, no real news. Catra checked that the crowds around the freshly named containment zone hadn't started fighting - the police had tried to disperse both protestors and counter-protestors, but hadn't been successful, what with more people arriving by the hour - and switched her tablet off. "We'll need to move in some troops to protect the tree," she said. They couldn't legally support the police directly, but as long as they were examining the tree, they could protect it and themselves. That was a lot of leeway.
Adora, sitting in front of the command console in the shuttle, winced. "The American government wants the Constitution II moved in 'in case it's needed', and I just told them that there's no need for naval assets," Adora replied.
"They want a warship hovering above the tree?" Catra shook her head. Granted, the American frigates weren't much as far as warships were concerned, but it would still be an escalation. And she didn't trust that thing not to suffer a critical failure and crash in the atmosphere. "We need more troops on the ground, not ships in the air."
"The governor is sending in the National Guard as soon as he clears the legal hurdles, or so he said," Adora told her.
"And how soon will that be?" Catra asked. "Those crowds aren't getting any smaller, and the talking heads on the news are getting worse."
"It won't take that long - they're already getting ready, or so I heard."
Catra scoffed. "We need better security than that if you're about to talk to Gaia." She wouldn't let her love risk herself with all those nutcases around talking about burning trees and witches. "We don't want the spirit feel threatened, should things go wrong at the perimeter," she added. Adora might not want more security for herself, but this was another thing.
And as Catra had known, Adora frowned but nodded. "I'll tell Jack to move in more of his people."
"He can call it an exercise as cover," Catra said. "So… shall we go and find out if that tree is your counterpart on Earth? We can ask Gaia if she wants to be called Tree-Ra."
Adora pouted at her, and Catra grinned. She would be milking this for a long time.
Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, August 22nd 2000
"The United States Government formally requests the help of the Alliance against the Goa'uld to remove the giant tree in the Mojave Desert in California?" Adora repeated to check that she had heard correctly.
"The United States Government considers it an invasive species of alien origin," the Secretary of State said.
"You're calling a tree an alien invasion and want to activate the defence clause?" Glimmer blurted out.
"It is the United States' official stance that this incident meets the criteria for the mutual defence and support clause of the Alliance treaty." The Secretary of State sounded stiff, and Adora couldn't tell if she actually believed this.
"It's a tree grown by a bunch of sorceresses - and, according to what we know, mostly American sorceresses," Jack added, looking up from his tablet.
"How did you get access to that data, General?" an aide of the Secretary asked. "The FBI just started its investigation, and the data was not shared with the Alliance!"
"They have a list of their members on their website," Jack replied. "We cross-referenced them with our own data."
Adora nodded. "Many of the members are known to the Alliance since they were vetted before being allowed to travel to Mystacor. The rest seem to be American witches - or Wiccan - and a few European sorceresses, also currently training at Mystacor."
"Evidently, they are not training at your magic school," the Secretary of State said with a frown.
Glimmer nodded. "They wanted a vacation on Earth, visit their families, meet old friends…"
"...report to their handlers," Catra added with a toothy grin.
Adora nodded. They knew several of the students would - knowingly or not - be passing information on to various intelligence organisations.
"...and talk to sorceresses on Earth about magic and politics," Glimmer finished.
"You knew they were planning this?" The Secretary sounded honestly angry.
"We didn't know that they would be doing something like this," Adora told her.
"It might have been a spontaneous decision while meeting fellow sorceresses on Earth, Madam Secretary," Daniel cut in. "The communique mentioned 'Gaia' and 'the Mother Goddess' several times, which would imply a significant influence of native Earth traditions, namely Wicca."
That sounds logical, Adora thought.
"And they spontaneously created a giant magical tree in the middle of the desert?" The Secretary, however, didn't seem to agree.
Glimmer shrugged. "That's not as impressive as you think. Perfuma, you could probably do it as well, right?"
"Well, I could - though I would probably pick a cactus since they are better suited for the desert. Of course, if you're growing plants to that size, you need to change them anyway - most plants couldn't grow that much naturally and wouldn't survive the process. You'd have to strengthen so many things to reach that size, provided you want to keep the tree…" Perfuma cocked her head to the side. "Which is why I want to check the tree - I am curious what they did to it, and whether it's a non-magical plant magically grown, created or altered or magical in nature. This is fascinating!"
"Or if it is a ship turned into a plant," Catra said.
"A ship?" The Secretary, of course, didn't know Catra had been joking.
"Catra's referring to an incident that happened at the end of the Horde War, and which has no bearing on this incident. The circumstances are completely different," Glimmer said. "That required the stored magic of an entire planet."
Actually, far more, but there was no need to go into details.
"You mean they had access to such power?" the Secretary gasped.
"No. We need to examine the tree, but as far as we can tell so far, this is completely different," Glimmer replied.
"But the outcome is the same? We have a group of magic student activists with access to power on the same scale?"
"We don't believe so," Adora told her.
Unfortunately, the woman didn't seem to be reassured.
"Don't you trust your people?" Perfuma asked. "You picked most of them to study with us, and the others are your people."
Adora winced slightly. Her friend was honestly surprised by the Americans' reaction.
"They don't have control over them. That's the issue. They'd love such power if they were in charge," Catra explained.
"Oh."
"But as I said, creating a giant tree doesn't really require that much power," Glimmer was quick to add. "Creating - or finding, depending on your stance on the magic discovery/creation dispute - a spell to do so is a bit more difficult, but once you know how to do it, you can repeat it. Although powering it also should require a ritual, which in this case probably requires a lot of sorceresses, so it's not that easy to repeat."
"We'll ensure it's not repeated!" the Secretary said.
"Why not?" Perfuma asked. "It looks beautiful."
"The chaos and panic that such trees popping up everywhere would create… No, that would be unacceptable!"
"Especially during an election," Jack said. "They're already talking about magic regulation again." He held up his tablet.
Adora had a feeling they had to talk to their PR consultants. And the PR consultants of the Alliance.
But first, they had to examine the tree and talk to the sorceresses who had created it.
*****
Mojave Desert, California, United States of America, August 22nd 2000
If she were honest, Samantha Carter would have told the General that she was a physicist, not a biologist or an expert on magic. But that would have triggered a Star Trek joke from him. And while she wasn't an expert on magic or magical biology, she knew enough about either to be not completely useless when it came to examining. Besides, she also knew, from experience, that sometimes, an outside perspective could be crucial to crack a science challenge, and her knowledge and experience were still applicable when it came to examining a magical tree larger than many skyscrapers. Besides that, she had worked together with the same experts on those fields about to examine the tree - she wasn't going to call it 'Gaia's Blessing' or 'Yggdrasil', or whatever else the press had come up with - and she had the most experience with the magic scanner they were going to use.
The fact that she was very, very curious about the exact manner in which this tree had been created and how it was holding up its own weight was merely a bonus.
She told herself that as she looked out of the window of General's stealth shuttle - still officially used for training special forces pilots but effectively the General's personal commute, not that she was complaining now - and studied the magical tree as they slowly approached it.
It was massive, towering over the landscape, its crown stretching out so far, she was sure a normal tree's branch would have broken off at the first time a stronger wind came up. The crown was shaped like a dome, not a sphere, though that wasn't that unusual; you could shape a tree as it grew by selectively cutting branches. Still… "Those branches must have been reinforced. As the entire trunk must have been."
"Definitely," Perfuma agreed.
"There are no birds in the tree," Catra added, squinting. "None that I can see, at least."
"They would not have had the time to move in, so to speak," Dr Elizabeth Barrow from the EPA said. "The fauna in this region is not adapted to such an environment. The shade generated by the tree alone, as well as the humidity it must be producing, would change the microclimate around it in ways we can't foresee."
"It's just one big tree," Glimmer replied. "Doesn't seem as if it would have a bigger impact than building an entire city in the desert with buildings higher than this tree."
"Oh, yes!" Entrapta nodded. "Settlements cause much more significant ecological changes in the area than single trees. We saw that in the Fright Zone. Until the tree starts procreating, this shouldn't have a huge effect on the ecology. The effects of all the people coming to visit it would be much higher as well."
The doctor pressed her lips together, Sam noted, before answering: "Preventing the tree from producing seeds will be crucial then."
"Why?" Entrapta asked.
"We can't have magical trees spreading through the United States. They might crowd out native trees and render other species extinct, both flora and fauna. And if the tree produces seeds, those cultists will likely use them to plant more of them." The doctor was scowling now.
"We don't know yet if the tree can produce seeds - or if those hypothetical seeds could grow without the help of magic," Glimmer said. "Besides, the people who created this tree might create another one."
"That cannot be allowed! Imagine the panic if such a tree sprang up next to your home!"
"I'd love it!" Perfuma said, tearing her eyes away from the tree. "Imagine living next to such a beautiful tree! I might create one on Etheria if I can. I'm sure people in the Scorpion Kingdom would love one!"
"Yes!" Entrapta beamed at her. "It would be a nice way to filter out more particles at that height - our mechanical filters currently don't reach that high."
"And we could see if we can build homes into the branches!" Perfuma nodded. "If I can manipulate the wood, that should be possible."
Barrow stared at the two princesses. Evidently, she hadn't been fully briefed on the Etherians. "But… The risks! The backlash from the population! The ecological and economic impact!"
"Why would anyone have a problem with it?" Perfuma asked - honestly confused.
"We don't know if the tree presents a danger to the population or the ecology!"
"We'll find out if it does. And do something about it if we need to," Adora said.
"I can't see an outcome where this tree will be allowed to stand!"
A beep announced that the scanner had finished its first scan. Sam looked at the results and winced. "I think you might have to reconsider that, Doctor."
"Why would I?"
"That tree is much tougher than a building of that size. Demolishing it would require a major effort, and this is just from the perspective of the mechanical and static challenges. We have yet to check for magical effects."
"What? It's wood! How hard can it be to remove a tree?"
"'Wood' that's actually denser than some of the armour we use on vehicles," Sam said. "And the roots that support this weight…" They occupied a huge amount of space underground. Some had buried through bedrock.
"Oh, yes! Fascinating!" Entrapta gushed at the results. "That's not quite in the league of spaceship-grade armour, but I think it beats hovertank armour density and resistance!"
"How did a bunch of new age witches create that thing?" the General commented when he started to take them down to the landing zone set up for them.
"That's what we're here to find out," Glimmer said.
Sam nodded. If this could be applied to industrial projects…
*****
"So! The second scan has confirmed that the tree's wood is a reinforced material, but the cellular scan shows no reason for that. It is just regular wood on that level. It's like the structure is reinforced by an energy field, only we can't detect the field, any way it could be projected or how it can infuse the individual cells. Also, the material loses the property if it's separated from the tree trunk - which means Elizabeth doesn't have to worry about macro- or micropolution, well, unless a sufficiently large part retains that quality; we haven't tested that yet, though if it would, we'd only have to deal with a very tough structure that wouldn't be any different than some rock formation."
Catra nodded along with Entrapta's explanations. "So, it's magic keeping the thing from collapsing under its own weight." Which was both reassuring and a bit worrying, seeing as they were currently standing at the tree trunk. If that magic stopped, things would turn dangerous at once.
"Yes. We need to extend the exclusion zone," Adora said.
Perfuma looked disappointed. "I can't duplicate this. I mean, I could duplicate a tree that large, but as soon as I would let go of it and stop using my power on it, it would collapse. There won't be tree skyscraper apartment complexes in Plumeria and the Scorpion Kingdom."
Catra wasn't sure if she should be disappointed or glad about that. "What about the magic?"
"It's not a spell; I'm pretty sure of that," Glimmer replied.
That didn't sound very confident to Catra, but mentioning that would not be very helpful.
"We don't know if a spell or power was used on the tree to make it grow, but Perfuma and I agree that it was magically grown from a seed, not created by magic," Glimmer went on.
The difference sounded academic to Catra. Unless they required a special seed to grow the tree from which they couldn't just alter or create with magic, it wouldn't really matter in the long run.
"The tree is turning the air around it more humid, as you'd expect from a normal tree," Sam spoke up. "But the water vapour it's releasing doesn't conform to the amount of water available to its roots, according to our scans. We cannot pinpoint the source of all the water sustaining the tree."
"I have a suspicion that it's a magical source," Jack said. He was smiling innocently, but everyone - except for Barrow, but the woman was quickly catching up - knew him better than to fall for it. Especially Sam, whose frown would have made others flinch.
"Obviously it's magic." Glimmer scowled at him. "But it's not a kind of magic I know. I'd say it has to be magic from Earth. They have myths of magical trees that grow to giant sizes."
"Or beanstalks," Jack added.
"What does that mean? Can you safely remove the tree or not?" Barrow asked.
"As long as we can't identify the magic keeping it stable, we can't tell if removing it would be safe," Glimmer replied.
Barrow didn't like that at all. Catra grinned; the woman had been fixated on removing the tree from the start - before they knew anything about it. No sense for opportunities.
Her ears twitched - the protestors and counter-protestors, though which crowd was which was a bit murky, had started up their chants again after a break for hydration.
"Cut it down! Cut it down! Cut it down!"
"Protect Gaia! Protect Gaia! Gaia is love! Gaia is love!"
Not the most catchy or original chants, but then, they were in the middle of the desert, and if not for Catra's uniform, she would be suffering from the heat even in the tree's shade - and the protestors were all outside the tree's shadow. Hell, it was hotter than in the Crimson Waste! Those new vacuum-rated uniforms were great!
"So, who can tell us how we can remove this?" Barrow asked. "We were told the Alliance would send experts on this matter."
"We probably need to talk to the people who created this," Adora said. "Castaspella is talking to the students and teachers who know them, but we need first-hand information about this."
Catra nodded.
"But! So far, it doesn't look like there's currently any danger at all! The tree seems completely self-sustaining - or mostly; it's blocking the sun, but the impact of that shouldn't be significant, and it's using that for photosynthesis," Entrapta said.
"And it's not growing fruits right now," Perfuma added.
"It's still magical - you have confirmed that unknown but powerful magic is keeping it standing - and we cannot risk magical contamination of the surrounding area or visitors!" Barrow said.
"We haven't detected any such contamination, either," Entrapta said.
"Unless you mean that," Jack added, pointing at the crowds in the distance, separated by a line of police officers.
"You cannot tell what magic is at work here; how can you assume that it is safe?"
"We don't know if it's safe," Glimmer said. "But for now, it's not affecting the area around it."
"We need more data!" Entrapta said. "Why do you want to remove the tree so badly, anyway? It's fascinating! We can learn so much here!"
Barrow scowled. "It's an illegally created, potentially dangerous magical object. The United States Government won't tolerate this!"
"Not in an election year," Jack said, "People are already frothing at the mouth about it. Well, those who don't worship it."
"That's beside the point, but yes, the effects on society and the tensions its existence creates are also a factor to consider when dealing with this!" Barrow spat.
We really need to talk with our PR consultants, Catra thought. But they hadn't had the time to spare for that so far.
*****
Ah! Jack O'Neill grinned as his suspicion was confirmed. Barrow wasn't an eco-nut trying to preserve the 'natural environment' at all costs. She was a government drone trying to make the government look as if it were in control in the middle of an election year. And having a giant magic tree sprout in the middle of the Mojave Desert threatened that narrative, as Daniel would say. You weren't in control of much if a bunch of students could create magic trees the size of skyscrapers overnight wherever they wanted.
"I think we need to know more about the tree and its magic before making plans about how to remove it," he said. "Don't want to rush and release all the magic holding it up by accident. Half the crowd there would sue us for negligence or something."
Barrow actually paled at that.
"We don't even know if this tree was actually created by someone or naturally sprang up as a result of a local magical phenomenon," Daniel said. "There are so many myths and tales of magic trees in human history, we cannot dismiss the idea that this is a natural, native plant. In that case, this would be an endangered species, I believe."
"It's not on the list of endangered species," Barrow snapped.
"It's not on any list," Danel said in his best diplomatic voice. "I don't think the courts would look kindly at that argument when deciding whether or not the government violated their own laws based on semantics."
Barrow looked like she had just bitten into a Horde ration bar.
Jack snorted. He wasn't Daniel, but he knew enough about myths, and had read up on them after Earth's magic had been released, to know that the last thing anyone needed was some idiot trying to tamper with magic they didn't understand. That way lay curses and plagues.
But before he could add a few more pointed remarks, the communicator in his ear informed him of more trouble. Cursing internally, he told the others: "We've got company incoming. The governor and a few more politicians are coming." Just to the perimeter so far, but… Jack didn't think they could ignore them.
"We need to talk to him!" Barrow said at once.
"We'll continue our examination," Carter predictably added.
Adora nodded. "Alright. Let's talk with the governor." She looked at the two gathering crowds still chanting at each other. "Maybe he can do something to calm them down."
The best way for that would be to use his chopper to hover above the protesters and let the downdraft sandblast them, in Jack's opinion. He didn't say so - people tended to frown on such jokes.
*****
The governor shook their hands. Firm grip, Jack noted. Then again, the man was a vet. Decorated vet. Shouldn't be a problem.
"This is State Senator Bracken," the governor said, introducing the man who had come with him.
"General." The man tried to crush Jack's hand when they shook hands. "Commander."
For a senator, state or not, to greet Jack before Adora had to be a deliberate snub. And his supporters were currently chanting to cut down the tree. Yeah, that guy was going to be a problem. Then again, his party affiliation had already told Jack that.
"So, what is that tree?" the governor asked.
"It is a magically reinforced tree. We're still examining it to find out if it was grown or created, and what kind of magic was used on it," Adora explained.
"The thing's bark is harder than the armour on a tank," Jack added.
"Really?" The governor seemed surprised. "I was told that it couldn't support its weight without magic, but to be so tough…"
"That shouldn't stop your beam cannons," Bracken said. "They can blow up battleships."
"We need to know more before we consider destroying it," Adora said.
"Don't want to accidentally blow a couple hundred tons of magic dust into the air." Jack grinned. "I think not all the neighbours would like that."
Bracken gasped.
"There are no plans to risk that," Barrow quickly cut in. "But we're looking into ways of removing the tree."
"You better be!" Bracken growled. "And whoever did this has to be punished! No one gets to endanger the American people like that!"
"We don't know if anyone is in danger, Keith," the Governor said. "It's just a tree as far as we know so far."
"It's a magical threat! And it's attracting witches!" Bracken glared at one half of the protestors. "You need to get rid of it before things go out of control!"
"I'm sure the Alliance has things under control, Keith."
The tree? Yeah. Jack trusted his friends. The crowds here? Jack didn't trust them to behave.
"The United States government isn't going to let anyone endanger the American people," Barrow said.
"You already did, Doctor!" Bracken snapped. "Uncontrolled magic! Witches praying to trees! You said yourself you don't have any idea what is happening here! People are in danger!"
"Just because we don't understand everything that happened here yet doesn't mean we should assume it's a threat," Daniel said.
"It's magic - it's dangerous!"
Jack wondered if the man was going to quote 'thou shalt not suffer a witch to live' next, but Bracken seemed to have more control than that. But his party would be milking this for whatever it was worth.
Jack wasn't so sure about the tree, and he understood how people were concerned - he was as well - but the last thing the United States in the middle of a war needed was a government supported by nutcases who wanted to burn their strongest allies at the stake. As much as he disliked it, he might have to help out Barrow here.
*****
"Supreme Commander Adora! Queen Glimmer!"
"Miss Cranston. Miss Gomez. Mister Hutchings." Adora smiled at the three members of the 'Magical Movement' greeting her whom she recognised thanks to them being students at Mystacor. That left two more she didn't know.
"These are Cassy Baker and Clark Hong," Cranston went on. "Cassy is a leading member of the Moonlight Coven, and Clark is the founder of the Sequoia Conclave."
Both smiled and bowed their heads. Adora had heard the names of those organisations before - they were on the Movement's website - but they didn't mean anything to her. The three sorceresses were wearing Etherian-made clothes; Adora recognised the style. Baker wore a black dress with many slits that showed pale skin and Clark a green robe with brown patterns on it that she didn't recognise.
"We're so happy to meet you!" Cranston, apparently their spokesperson, went on. "I mean, we met you when we came to Etheria - those of us who did - but that wasn't the same." She nodded, and her ponytail - bright red - bopped with the movement.
Adora suppressed a wince. Yes, she had met the three sorceresses in training before, when they had gone to Etheria, but only briefly, and she hadn't really paid that much attention. Just another part of her duties.
"What do you think of Gaia's Heart?" Cranston was still smiling widely.
"It's impressive," Adora replied. She forced the memory of Etheria's Heart away.
"Nothing less would have done!" Baker said, nodding firmly. "Gaia would not accept anything smaller - it could not contain her power."
"We first thought about using a Sacred Sequoia," Hong added. "But we soon realised that this wouldn't do her justice either."
"And what kind of tree did you choose?" Glimmer asked.
"We chose an apple tree," Cranston replied.
"The forbidden fruit, knowledge," Baker added with a smile. "Christianity stole so much from Paganism, it feels fitting to take something of theirs back."
Adora made an uncommitting noise; she had no idea about those details.
"It grants shade, and its fruits will sustain the people." Hong craned his neck as he looked up. "Though it grew a bit more than we expected, which will make picking the fruits a challenge."
So, they hadn't planned for it to be that big? That was a bad sign - it meant they had either planned badly or lost control over what they did. Maybe both.
"And what exactly did you do?" Glimmer asked.
All five of them looked surprised. "You don't know?" Gomez stared at her.
"We're still examining it," Glimmer replied. "As you know, we don't have such trees on Etheria."
"Ah, yes. We - the Mystacor students from Earth who joined the movement - prepared the seed, and we used spells pioneered by Plumeria to shape plants. They were patterned after their princesses' powers, though not quite as versatile. It was mostly about making the seed more receptive to magic and more durable. Part of it was actually part of the semester's coursework. But the actual ritual was prepared by Cassy and Clark's people," Cranston said. "Though we all took part in it since we all are Gaia's children."
"The Mother cares for us all," Baker said, folding her hands in front of her.
"We're all part of nature and serve her." Hong bowed his head.
That sounded a bit… It sounded like worship. Adora winced. They sounded like Priest.
"And what did you do?" Glimmer sounded a bit impatient. She looked a bit impatient as well - she was still smiling, but her eyes had narrowed a little, like they did when a planning meeting started to run long because people couldn't get to the point.
"We prayed to the Mother, and She deigned to grace us with Her presence in Her vessel, elevating it above us all!" Baker's smile was a bit too wide in Adora's opinion.
"Her blessings fill the void in our souls and rejuvenate nature." Hong's, too.
"It was such a revelation!" Cranston nodded. "I've seen spirits before - we tested that part of the ritual on a smaller scale, for which I hope we'll get extra credit in Mystacor - but summoning Gaia…" She shook her head. "You can't describe it. You have to experience it. To feel it."
Adora frowned. That sounded like…
"You summoned a spirit? That's a possessed plant?" Glimmer looked a bit spooked.
"Gaia, the spirit of Earth herself!" Baker corrected her. "The Mother Goddess."
"We called for Her, begged for a boon, and She answered and graced us with Her presence," Hong added.
"That's not a spell… It's a spirit. The entire tree is held together by a spirit." Glimmer sounded as if she was talking to herself.
"Yes." Cranston nodded again. "Spirit magic. We hope we can learn more and then teach it to our friends in Mystacor."
"We have a theory that you are the vessel of the spirit of Etheria, Princess She-Ra," Gomez said. "Gaia's counterpart, so to speak."
"Yes!" Cranston's ponytail bopped again. "Etheria's magic is an expression of its spirit, and so it manifests as the power of princesses while Gaia - Earth's magic - is focused on nature. But the principle is the same."
"Who thought of this theory?" Glimmer blurted out. "That goes against everything we learnt at Mystacor!"
"Well… we did," Gomez said. "Mystacor's accepted magical theories don't account for many of Earth's magical traditions, so we need a better theory to unify both traditions. We're still working on it, though."
"It's our thesis project," Hutchings spoke up.
Adora shook her head as she stared at the tree. This was supposed to be Earth's She-Ra? That made no sense!
"Well, you're much more beautiful," Catra, who had been uncharacteristically silent so far, commented. "I don't think the tree would look half as good in a dress." Before Adora could say anything to that, she turned to look at the sorceresses. "So, why did you summon Gaia?"
"To show the world Her grace!"
"To give her a vessel to spread Her blessings."
"To show those who fear magic that there's nothing to fear."
"We wanted to counter all the fear-mongering done by the Evangelicals in the election," Cranston said.
Adora looked at the tree, then at the protestors in the distance.
Glimmer closed her eyes and cursed under her breath.
And Catra snorted.
*****
"They summoned a spirit into the tree?" Samantha Carter was rarely surprised, but this, she hadn't expected. Or, rather, she hadn't expected this on such a scale. "We'll need to readjust our projections of the impact magic has on Earth." Well, they'd already known that when they discovered the tree, but if this was the work of a spirit, then that changed things even further. Using magic to enhance plants was one thing - Perfuma had demonstrated that power extensively, and Sam knew its limits - but spirits?
"Yes!" Entrapta nodded. "And we need to find out more about spirit magic!"
"Apparently, Mystacor has a study group about that kind of magic," Glimmer said with a frown. "Although I thought it was a bit more academic."
"We need to check what the researchers from Mystacor who went to Earth are doing here; if students can do this, imagine what trained sorceresses can do if they put their mind to it," Bow added.
"We need to, yes, but I don't think they are more advanced than this." Glimmer gestured at the tree above them. "This is Earth's magic. I don't think the researchers have an easy time summoning spirits - they are trained completely differently, and have been using Etherian magic for decades."
That sounded logical, but it was perhaps a bit too optimistic, in Sam's opinion. She tended to assume the worst in such cases. And with magic, you couldn't be too cautious. "We'll need to investigate every member of this group," she said. "To check if they really are what they claim. That a group of students managed such a feat seems a bit suspicious."
"Students and two groups of local sorceresses," Glimmer said. "And, as far as we can tell, they were following one of Earth's magical traditions - two in this case - before Adora restored Earth's magic, so they already had an idea about magic. That would have granted them an advantage."
"An advantage big enough to create this?" Sam raised her eyebrows.
"Well… I'm no expert on spirit magic, but if the spirits have a will of their own, as the sorceresses here claim, and if they are tied into Earth's magic, then they could have been helping with the ritual - they might have been waiting for such a chance," Glimmer said.
That sounded even more alarming to Sam. A sapient, independent, magical spirit with this power? And now possessing a tree? If the spirit could animate its vessel, like a poltergeist or what those news reports she had seen had described, then that would result in an Ent the size of Godzilla… Not that she would word it like that; the General would make fun of her for using a term from Tolkien.
"Well, then we should test this! Let's make contact with Gaia!" Entrapta beamed.
Sam winced. "I don't think that will be easy."
"As far as we know, we can't just talk to the spirits," Glimmer said. "We'd have to do a ritual. One specific for this spirit."
"We can ask the ones who summoned her to help us, I think. You said they wanted to show that magic is helpful and shouldn't be feared, so they will help us, right?"
They probably would - at least most of them; according to the General, the Magical Movement was composed of idealists. He hadn't meant that as a compliment, Sam knew - his exact words had been 'like the most naive people from the Peace Corps, just with nukes at their disposal'.
If they genuinely thought that creating a four-hundred-feet-tall magical tree would reassure people that magic was harmless, then Sam felt inclined to agree with that assessment. It had had the complete opposite effect. Even with the Alliance releasing several news bulletins to calm people down, it seemed the country was just a few steps away from mass hysteria.
That several conservative politicians and news channels were trying to use this for the election wasn't helping, of course. The police had already had to stop a self-styled exorcist - the Vatican had denied any connection - from trying to reach the tree, and some of the protestors were getting increasingly agitated, as a quick check of the feeds from the surveillance bots had told Sam.
If they couldn't get this under control, things would take a turn for the worse. Barrow was almost constantly on the phone with Washington and was still pushing to remove the tree. Sam wasn't an expert on myths, but she had read enough - and heard about a few more from Daniel - to know that angering the spirits was never a good idea, and she couldn't imagine anything that would anger a spirit faster than destroying - or attempting to do so - its apparent home.
Sam sighed. "Yes, let's talk to them before they try to help us."
Entrapta looked confused, but Glimmer and Bow both nodded with grim expressions.
*****
Mojave Containment Zone, California, United States of America, August 22nd 2000
"...and this witch tree cannot be allowed to keep standing! We cannot allow impressionable children to be led astray by it! I do not hold with transparent excuses about magic protecting it. If the government cannot remove an illegally planted tree, then the government needs to be removed and replaced by one that will protect its people and faith! We shall gather…"
"Mother Gaia has returned! Kept away from Earth for a thousand years, She is finally back amongst us, to guide and protect us in a time of need! Come, bask in Her glory, meditate in Her shade, enjoy the fruits of Her vessel!"
"...latest news, the FDA has released a statement advising the population not to ingest any products from the magic tree in the Mojave desert, citing a lack of testing and studies and concerns about possible side effects. Several religious groups have already filed suits to challenge the decision despite the fact that it was merely an advisory bulletin, the FDA not having the power to prohibit people from eating natural fruits, and…"
"...the Governor announced that, for the time being, the area around the tree will be sealed off by the police while the situation is under examination by experts. Asked about the presence of Alliance soldiers including the Supreme Commander Adora, the spokesperson said that as the leading experts on such phenomena, Alliance personnel were present to study the tree to determine if it presented a threat to the local population but detailed that, so far, there was no evidence that the tree was of alien origin."
"...the statement released by his campaign offices denounced the government for allowing the deployment of foreign soldiers on US soil and the lack of 'decisive action to deal with a clear and present danger to our country and people'. He promised that, should he be elected, he would enact much stricter policies in both areas. Neither he nor his campaign manager reacted to questions regarding state rights and such matters, and…"
"...and so we come to our next topic: Spirits! What are they? Are they actual beings with a will of their own? Are they merely the manifestation of the subconscious beliefs and desires of those who summon them? Magic given form by unconscious intent? Are they divine messengers? How do spirits fit in with modern theology? We'll be discussing these questions with Dr Claire Belafonte from the University of Louisiana, Padre Alonso Garcia, recently appointed by the pope to research such phenomena, Minister Keith Gable from the Southern Baptist Church and Miss Elisa Carlyle, a member of the Minnesota Coven."
So, no real news. Catra checked that the crowds around the freshly named containment zone hadn't started fighting - the police had tried to disperse both protestors and counter-protestors, but hadn't been successful, what with more people arriving by the hour - and switched her tablet off. "We'll need to move in some troops to protect the tree," she said. They couldn't legally support the police directly, but as long as they were examining the tree, they could protect it and themselves. That was a lot of leeway.
Adora, sitting in front of the command console in the shuttle, winced. "The American government wants the Constitution II moved in 'in case it's needed', and I just told them that there's no need for naval assets," Adora replied.
"They want a warship hovering above the tree?" Catra shook her head. Granted, the American frigates weren't much as far as warships were concerned, but it would still be an escalation. And she didn't trust that thing not to suffer a critical failure and crash in the atmosphere. "We need more troops on the ground, not ships in the air."
"The governor is sending in the National Guard as soon as he clears the legal hurdles, or so he said," Adora told her.
"And how soon will that be?" Catra asked. "Those crowds aren't getting any smaller, and the talking heads on the news are getting worse."
"It won't take that long - they're already getting ready, or so I heard."
Catra scoffed. "We need better security than that if you're about to talk to Gaia." She wouldn't let her love risk herself with all those nutcases around talking about burning trees and witches. "We don't want the spirit feel threatened, should things go wrong at the perimeter," she added. Adora might not want more security for herself, but this was another thing.
And as Catra had known, Adora frowned but nodded. "I'll tell Jack to move in more of his people."
"He can call it an exercise as cover," Catra said. "So… shall we go and find out if that tree is your counterpart on Earth? We can ask Gaia if she wants to be called Tree-Ra."
Adora pouted at her, and Catra grinned. She would be milking this for a long time.
*****
Chapter 189: The Election Campaign Part 11
Starfox5
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Chapter 189: The Election Campaign Part 11
Mojave Containment Zone, California, United States of America, August 22nd 2000
"Task Force Tree! Deploy along the perimeter - and check that your HUDs are hooked up to the scanner network. We don't want anyone to slip through and get to the objective! Remember the rules of engagement!"
Standing in the new command post of the containment zone, Jack O'Neill watched as Major Hawking ordered his troops to disembark from their transports and spread out in fire teams to occupy their assigned sectors. Hawking had wanted to use the assignment to conduct a planetary assault landing exercise, but Jack had put his foot down - the last thing anyone needed was Alliance Special Forces arriving as if they were raiding a Goa'uld base, in full view of the press and the protestors. Really, Hawking, a Marine, should have known better.
Jack made a note to add another training course for his officers about diplomacy. Maybe he could get Daniel to give a lecture; the man had the cred to reach some of his more stubborn officers. If not, he would have to make a former Green Beret do it; someone who was trained to work with a local population to minimise friction.
"Will they respect the rules of engagement?" Colonel Brown, the commander of the National Guard forces forming the outer perimeter of the exclusion zone, asked.
Jack raised his eyebrows at him. "They're not a bunch of trigger-happy soldiers," he said.
"Noted, sir." Brown nodded. He didn't look happy.
Well, he would have been even unhappier if Jack had said 'weekend warriors' instead of 'soldiers'. Even though the National Guard soldiers were more likely to shoot a stupid kid trying to sneak through the perimeter than Jack's people. But that would have added more friction to the mess here. Still, a little reminder was a good idea. "What about yours?"
Brown pressed his lips together before answering. "They're not going to massacre civilians, sir."
"Noted," Jack couldn't help commenting.
"Sir!" Hawking had arrived at the command post. "The troops have secured the tree as ordered!" He nodded at Brown. "Colonel."
"Major." Brown narrowed his eyes at the Marine. "We've already secured the perimeter."
"Yes, sir."
Jack suppressed a sigh. "Alright. So, let's hope the police can handle the protestors, and this will just turn out to be a waste of money and time." At the very least, seeing a bunch of transport shuttles touch down should have given the more fanatic protestors pause.
"Sir! There's an incident at the outer perimeter!" a noncom watching the feed from the sensors announced.
"I just had to taunt Murphy," Jack muttered. "Put it on the main screen!"
The picture showing the tree from a flying bot changed, showing a crowd of protestors trying to push through the police lines - they had already tried to go around the road blocks thrown up and had reached the end of the fences that had been thrown up so far.
"Brad! Move a platoon to be ready to support the police if they call for aid!" Brown snapped. "And get ready to stop a breach!"
"Yes, sir!"
Not a bad move, but potentially dangerous if things escalated. None of the National Guard troops had fresh crowd control training last Jack had checked. Few of his troops had completed that training, either - it wasn't a priority - but the Alliance had other means to help there.
He tapped his commlink. "Perfuma? We might need you to reinforce the perimeter."
"Alright, Jack!"
He nodded, then turned to Brown. "Keep your soldiers back. We need a bit of free space there."
"What for, General?" Brown stared at him.
Hawking, of course, had realised what would be happening. "Oh. They're not going to like that," he said, though he was grinning.
"Who won't like what?" Brown sounded annoyed.
"A bunch of people, mostly idiots, and that." Jack grinned as he pointed at the screen.
"What is…" Brow trailed off, staring at the feed.
Multiple plants shot out of the ground, forming a dense hedge row-like fence made out of what looked like mutant cactuses right behind the police line.
"But… Are the witches doing this?"
"No. That's Princess Perfuma's work," Jack said. Planned in advance, but Brown should realise that himself.
The crowd was backing off, at least for a moment, faced with an impenetrable wall of thorny plants. Not that the thorns would actually hurt anyone - Perfuma wouldn't risk people getting hurt.
But then, they seemed to grow even more determined. The police were giving ground, moving to the side, and the first rioters reached the plants with axes and saws, but also bottles and Jerry cans.
Jack sighed. "And the police didn't listen when I told them to wear gas masks… Alright." He tapped the communicator again. "Perfuma? Put'em to flight, please."
"Alright, Jack!"
A moment later, the 'thorns' opened and released a yellowish gas that quickly spread along the ground. Everyone inside quickly started running out of the cloud.
"What's happening?" Brown asked.
"That's a plant version of a skunk's spray," Jack said. "We've got a neutraliser, if anyone of yours is too dumb to stay away. Or anyone of the cops," he added when he saw one of the police officers stumbling back, throwing his helmet away and holding his nose.
Brown grimaced as if he had personal experience with skunks. "Yes, I don't think they'll like this."
"You want to contact Mother Gaia, Supreme Commander?" Cranston seemed surprised, Adora noticed.
"Yes," she said. "We wish to contact the spirit you summoned."
"How else can we find out what she wants?" Entrapta chimed in. "We could observe and deduce her goals from her actions, but that's difficult, and we might miss crucial data by not noticing her actions."
"We want to find out if Gaia's She-Ra's counterpart on Earth," Catra added.
Adora was glad that Catra hadn't called Gaia 'Tree-Ra', but she knew Catra would do it sooner or later.
"Ah." Cranston nodded with a smile. "That's a very good idea!"
"I sense a 'but' coming," Catra said.
Right, that smile had looked a bit apologetic. And now Cranston was wincing. "Well… we know how to summon Gaia, obviously. But she's already been summoned, so, it might not be a good idea to try and summon her again. We don't know, but if she would consider such an attempt an insult - or an attack - then the results would be, ah, bad."
Glimmer groaned. "You didn't plan to contact the spirit after summoning?"
"We had a limited window of opportunity, and we focused on summoning her and creating a vessel for her," Gomez replied. "That was our priority."
"And you planned to just… leave the spirit alone?" Glimmer had narrowed her eyes, and Bow looked concerned.
"Yes," Baker, the Wicca, cut in. "We trust in Mother Gaia. We wouldn't have summoned Her if we didn't trust in Her decisions."
"Weren't you supposed to be all about checks and balances?" Glimmer snapped. "Trust, but verify?"
"That's for humans, not for Mother Gaia," Baker said with a deep frown.
Hong, the one from the 'Sequoia Conclave', which was apparently a magic group focused on plant and nature magic, nodded. "To ask Her for services, as if she were a mundane servant…" He shook his head. "That would be almost blasphemous."
"Not almost!" Baker disagreed. "It would be blasphemous!"
"It's not blasphemous to beg Her for help as long as it is done with the proper respect," Hong retorted.
"And with an urgent need," Baker said. "There is no urgent need."
"I think the US government disagrees with that," Catra said.
"And we need that data to decide if the tree's safe," Entrapta added.
"Which is pretty urgent since if it's not safe, we need to evacuate people," Glimmer said. "Before the tree collapses."
"Or the American government decides to remove the tree," Catra added.
"They can't!" Baker gasped.
"That would go against everything we stand for!" Cranston said. "Like… demolishing a church! Or the Vatican!"
"They actually do demolish churches if they're unsafe," Daniel said.
"Mother Gaia isn't unsafe!" Baker snapped.
"Unfortunately, the government won't take your word for it," Glimmer said. "So, we need to talk to Gaia and find out what she wants. And whether that is dangerous for the people here."
Or for Earth, Adora added. If Gaia was Earth's guarding spirit, she probably could affect the entire planet. "We really need to talk to her," she said, smiling at the sorceresses. "It's not about the government, it's about seeing what she wants and how we can help her." If they could or wanted to help them.
Cranston and the others exchanged a few glances. "Well… there are rituals to contact her. But we didn't really use them on Gaia, only on lesser spirits. Nature spirits," Hong said.
"And other spirits bound to places," Baker added. "But we should make sure that the ritual is perfect. We cannot afford mistakes when calling on Gaia. If she feels slighted, he consequences could be fatal."
That didn't sound very reassuring. Nor did it make Gaia sound like a guardian of Earth - Adora would never threaten the people whom she was protecting like that. It sounded more like Gaia was one of the goddesses from the Earth myths Daniel had told them about, those who would kill people on a whim. Well, most of those had been Goa'uld, so maybe that was a bad example.
But they would have to be careful when contacting them. Maybe Adora should do that by herself.
"You're not going to do that alone," Catra whispered next to her.
"What?" Adora looked at her.
"I know that expression. I know what you were thinking." Catra glared at her. "I'm not going to let you do that alone."
"But…"
"We're not going to repeat the Heart thing, got it?"
Adora winced. There was no arguing with Catra when she used that tone. Sighing, she nodded.
"And that goes for us as well," Glimmer said.
"Yes." Bow smiled.
Daniel looked eager as well, even if Sha're looked like she had doubts. But Adora didn't think Sha're would let Daniel meet Gaia without her any more than Catra would let her do it.
"Let's see what we need to do," she said. "We don't want to make a mistake either."
Now the sorceresses looked concerned. That was also a bad sign.
Samantha Carter was really glad that the new uniforms they had designed had integrated filters able to handle biological and chemical weapons. That plant-based skunk spray Perfuma had created was probably a match for either category - she had been tempted to rely on the vacuum seal and internal air supply, including carbon dioxide scrubbers, when she had seen the projected effect, but that had, fortunately, turned out not to be needed. Still, hints of the stench had reached the command post where the General was meeting with the rest of the officers and the government representatives.
"You've used biological weapons against American people on American soil? Are you crazy?"
The uniforms also had ear protection, though Barrow's yelling hadn't yet reached the threshold for their activation - Sam checked.
"It's skunk spray," the General told her. "Perfectly fine. Organic even."
"Plants don't naturally produce skunk spray! You've just violated multiple regulations by releasing untested organisms in the wild! Genetically engineered organisms! And on people!"
"Actually, it was magically created on the spot," the General told her. "On my request as the Alliance commander in charge of security here. Do I have to remind you that the US Government requested our involvement here because they consider the magic tree a potential alien threat?"
Not entirely without reason, Sam had to - silently- admit.
"We want you to remove the tree, not introduce even more alien organisms and gas the American people in front of the media!"
"Technically, it's more of a spray than a gas," the General said.
"That works out the same! Look at the media coverage!" Barrow yelled again, pointing at the TV in the corner of the command post.
Sam winced a little. The Alliance press release had emphasised that the agent was a derivative of skunk spray and organic, but seeing the clouds and the retching protestors - as well as the few police officers who had ignored the warnings and orders - made it look a lot more dangerous.
"Looks like a typical riot to me. The Europeans use tear gas all the time against protestors."
"We're not in Europe! Do you have any idea how this looks to the American public? The conservative pundits are already screaming about weapons of mass destruction used by the Alliance on our soil!"
And, Sam reminded herself, that was what this was all about: the optics. Never mind the actual facts, or the very real threat that tree posed, should some fool try to cut or burn it down.
"Would you have preferred us to gun them down?" The General wasn't grinning any more. "Or to let them attack the giant magical spirit-possessed tree?"
"Of course not! But you could have handled this without resorting to skunk spray!"
"And risk the soldiers' lives?" The General frowned. "The National Guard didn't bring their riot control gear."
The National Guard commander cleared his throat. "My unit was working up for potential combat deployment, not crowd control. We didn't have riot control gear ready. We've requested it, but it hasn't been delivered yet."
"Combat deployment?" Barrow looked confused.
"To replace an army unit in Korea which will be sent off-planet," the officer explained.
"We still have obligations to our allies on Earth," the General said. "Can't just ignore that while we fight the snakes."
"Whatever! What are you going to do about this?"
"We're treating all the affected with the counter-agent. Well, those we arrested - those who fled will stink for a while." The General grinned. "Should make arresting them easier. Well, provided you're packing gas masks. And the car and jail might need some thorough airing out afterwards. And other prisoners might complain."
Barrow stared at him, then closed her eyes. "That's abuse of suspects and prisoners!"
"But it will look nice and funny on the TV," the General said. "Stinky criminals getting arrested should play well with the American public."
Sam glared at him, but - to her surprise - Barrow seemed to grudgingly, very grudgingly, accept his claim. "Let's hope that this works out. If we can tie this mess to the conservative protestors, that should even things out some. The pundits will still try to bury us in gas attack complaints, but as long as you remove the tree post haste, this should be manageable."
"Ah, about that…" The General shrugged. "Before we can decide anything about the tree, we'll have to talk to it."
"Talk to the tree?"
"The spirit possessing it, technically, but as I understand, it's mostly the same thing. They are preparing a ritual to contact it right now."
"Another magic ritual? Without permission? Who authorised that?"
"Supreme Commander Adora did. Requested it, actually," the General told her. "And, as I was told, since magical rituals were declared a sort of prayer, we can't actually stop people from exercising their constitutional rights."
"That was before magic was proven real! There are numerous cases contesting that decision in light of the new information!"
The General was misrepresenting things. Magic used to harm or endanger people was illegal, Sam had checked that herself. But the exact definitions were a bit vague, and talking to a spirit was not exactly the same as planting a curse on someone with a voodoo ritual.
"I need to contact Washington!" Barrow turned away as she pulled out her portable phone.
An Earth-built phone, Sam noted, not the advanced communicators the Alliance used. Was that a sign that Barrow was too low in the hierarchy to deserve the best technology? Or just personal preference? Or was the US government deliberately not using advanced communications for this?
She ignored the stray thoughts and focused on her work again. They needed to calibrate the scanners to cover the tree for the ritual that the others were preparing. Any data would be helpful.
Catra stared at the hut in front of them. It looked a bit unstable and shabby - if that had been the work of a Horde platoon, she would have punished them. And the smoke wafting over… "I thought those 'sky clad rituals' were an urban legend."
"They are," Glimme replied.
"So, why are we stripping down?" Catra asked. The new suit was perfectly fine in this climate.
"Because we need to ritually cleanse ourselves before the ritual."
"I am clean." She had washed.
"It's a ritual. It's about the spirit."
"You just said these rituals were an urban legend." Catra smirked.
"Gah! You know what I mean!" Glimmer glared at her, arms crossed over her chest.
"No, I don't. That's why I asked." Catra smiled as innocently as she could.
"Catra." Adora cut in. "We're on a schedule here."
Catra frowned at her lover - who had already stripped down to her underwear, she noted. "This is going to be hell on my fur," she complained.
"You'll live," Glimmer said next to her. "Probably."
"Glimmer!" Adora turned to frown at Glimmer.
"Hey, I'm not the one holding us up." Glimmer huffed, then addressed Catra: "Isn't this just like all that desert training you bragged about?"
"It's not like that at all," Catra said. "If I have to get hot and sweaty, I'd rather do it by doing something - or someone," she added with a grin at Adora.
Her love blushed as expected. "Ah… Let's get this over with! For the Honour of Grayskull!"
Catra smirked again and pulled her suit off. Time to bite it and enter the stupid 'sweat lodge'.
It was as bad as she expected. Too hot and too… smelly. All those herbs and stuff they were burning stung her nose. And it was packed - all her friends and all the local sorceresses stuffed into a hut barely big enough to hold everyone. "Who came up with this?"
"Sweat baths are a Native American tradition," Daniel told her. "Although while I am not an expert on these cultures, I have looked into the matter and I don't think what we are doing here is following any known tradition."
"We have adapted the tradition to better suit our needs," Baker explained. "While we respect the customs of those who came before us, this is a new era, and we need to chart our own course."
"Indeed. As nature shows us, those who do not grow and adapt will fade," Hong added. "Spirits do not remain static either. They change as the world changes, and our rituals must reflect this."
That sounded like a bunch of hot air to Catra, but she wasn't a sorceress. And the huge tree outside kind of proved that no matter how weird it sounded, it was working.
But, she added as she shuddered and had to suppress a sneezing fit again, if she ever found out that this stupid ritual wasn't actually necessary to contact this spirit, heads would roll! Getting this stench out of her fur would take ages and more shampoo than Entrapta used in a week!
"Now let us call on the spirits to cleanse us!" Baker said, holding up a cup of water. Scented water. With some muttered words that made no sense to Catra, she poured it down on the hot stone in the centre, and steam started filling the small room.
"That's another adaptation, I think," Catra heard Daniel whisper while she struggled with the sudden heat and overpowering scent.
This better be worth it.
When they had finally finished and left the sweat lodge, Catra coughed and snorted, trying to clear her nose and throat. It didn't really work - and would be pointless with her fur reeking like she had bathed in herbal essence.
"Are you coughing up a hairball?" Glimmer asked.
"Ha ha ha." Catra narrowed her eyes at her. "You look as if you lost a fight with Mermista."
"You don't look any better!"
"Catra! Glimmer!" Adora was frowning at them. She looked magnificent, of course. Not even an hour spent sweating could really diminish She-Ra's appearance.
"Now we garb ourselves in the robes prepared for the ritual," Baker said, pointing at a stack of clothes.
"Those are adapted as well, right?" Daniel asked while he held up a piece. "I'm not familiar with this style."
"Yes," Hong confirmed. "The style unites our traditions."
"Most of the native sorceresses on Earth seem to stick to their ancient traditions," Glimmer said.
"At nature's core lie innovation and adaptation."
"As long as it works," Catra said, slipping a robe on - it was getting a bit chilly here. The fabric itched a bit on her fur, but it was tolerable. Almost like wrapped up in a blanket.
And she had, unlike certain others, no problem with walking barefoot in the desert to the ritual place - her feet were used to this.
They passed the guards posted by Jack and reached the circle that had been cleared and drawn in front of the tree's trunk.
"Don't step on the circle's lines," Baker told them.
As if Catra would - the lines were already glowing dimly. She knew better than to tempt fate like that. In fact… Craning her neck to look up at the tree's crown above them, she noticed that the tree itself was dotted by small sparkles, and the trunk seemed to glow a little as well.
She felt her fur stand up as a slight shiver ran through her body. This was the first time the sorceresses here were trying this. If they messed this up…
"The ritual is about to begin, sir. They're finishing the preparations."
Jack O'Neill looked up from his tablet and nodded. "Keep me informed if anything happens, Carter. If that tree starts growing, moving, or anything weird starts happening, I need to know at once."
"Yes, sir. So far, there's been no change."
"Good. Colonel Brown, how far along are your preparations to evacuate the area?"
"We're ready to leave our position at a moment's notice, General."
That was not quite correct - they weren't sitting in their vehicles with the engines running, Jack had checked - but they were all reasonably close to their APCs and trucks.
The soldiers weren't a problem - the civilians and the police were. He frowned at the tablet showing him that there were still civilians in the extended perimeter. "What's the police doing? They should have evacuated the area an hour ago."
"They are faced with passive resistance, sir. The protesters are not willing to vacate the area," his aide-de-camp replied. "They claim they want to remain in the presence of, ah, Mother Gaia."
"You can't start the ritual while civilians are in danger, General!" Barrow snapped.
"As we were briefed, the ritual has to take place now or the stars aren't aligned properly," he told her. Something about having had to rush the whole thing, but Jack wasn't an expert on magic and didn't want to be.
"We cannot risk the lives of American people!"
"We're already doing that every time we launch an offensive," Jack retorted. "Besides, shouldn't you be yelling at the police for not removing those people from the area?"
"They're exercising their First Amendment rights," Mr Hallis, the governor's representative, cut in.
"We've challenged the decision," Barrow told the man with a frown before turning back to Jack. "Can't you stop this ritual?"
"We need to talk to the spirit." Jack frowned. "We need to know what it wants so we can sort things out."
"And what if it turns hostile? We are talking about an utterly alien entity influenced by a cult! Similar cults have used magic to launch terrorist attacks in other countries!" Barrow raised her voice.
Yeah, logging in the rainforest had become quite dangerous, Jack thought. As had dumping industrial waste into rivers.
"That doesn't mean people here will do the same," Hallis retorted. "I expect such fear-mongering from the opposition, not from our own government."
"And who do you think will take the blame if this turns into a massacre?" Barrow snapped.
"General O'Neill doesn't seem very worried," Hallis said. "And you have a reputation for doing what you consider necessary no matter the orders or laws, General," he added with a nod at Jack.
Jack chuckled in return. "My reputation precedes me." Well, he had worked hard for that. "If things turn bad, we'll do our best to contain the danger and gain enough time for the civilians to evacuate." Also known as move everyone away and hope they could talk the spirit down, or have She-Ra handle it before the fleet was called in.
"Can you contain this?" Barrow asked. "Every news agency in the country is covering this!"
"Nothing is certain," he replied. "But we've got She-Ra here." And a squadron of frigates in orbit. Horde frigates, not the Navy's boondoggles.
That didn't reassure Barrow. To be fair, Jack was a lot less confident than he acted. But short of praying, they had done everything they could that wouldn't do more harm than good. And with all the things he had seen, Jack wasn't sure if praying wouldn't make things worse.
He suddenly felt a shiver run down his spine, and his skin felt all tingly. He glanced at the others in the command post - none of them had reacted in any way.
Damn. That meant something magical was happening. Something so powerful, even Jack could feel it. "They started the ritual," he said.
Carter looked up at him, her eyes widening for a moment. "Yes, sir."
"Keep an eye on the tree," he repeated his earlier order.
Was it just him, or did the tree look like it was starting to glow?
"These robes are trash."
Adora wouldn't go as far as that. The robes itched a little - they might be 'homespun' and 'organic', but they weren't nearly the quality Adora was used to from robes back on Etheria - but she didn't think they were as bad as Glimmer claimed. And she wouldn't say so even if they were; that would be rude. Besides, as She-Ra, they didn't itch at all. "They have done their best, I think."
"If that's the best, I don't want to know what their worst is," Glimmer snapped as she scratched her arm under the robe while they waited for the circle to be completed. "How did they manage to summon such a powerful spirit if they can't even get decent robes?"
"I didn't know you needed fancy clothes for magic," Catra cut in. "I guess that explains all the money you spend on silk."
"That's not…" Glimmer scowled. "My clothes have to match a certain standard since I represent my kingdom."
"But you don't need fancy clothes to do magic."
"No," Glimmer spat.
"Well, it's still impressive." Catra craned her neck to look at the tree. "They did this over vacation?"
"No. The local sorceresses have been working on the ritual practically since Adora restored magic to Earth," Glimmer said. "I asked them. The students from Mystacor only helped out a little and mainly provided the power for the ritual."
"So, the locals made all this up from scratch? Without any help from Mystacor?" Catra whistled.
That sounded even more impressive, at least to Adora.
"I'm sure Mystacor's education did help with the finishing touches. And might be the reason why they didn't kill themselves summoning such a powerful spirit into a vessel they prepared using half-understood magic," Glimmer said. "Though even a novice at Mystacor should know better than to try this!"
"Well, it worked," Catra said.
"It could have caused a catastrophe." Glimmer scowled. "Trying unknown magic is far too dangerous to do on such a scale. Dad would know best - he was there when Shadow Weaver tried it and ended up, well, what she became."
Adora winced and glanced at Catra. Her love was scowling and baring her teeth.
"Feh."
"Well, we're just trying to talk to the spirit. Not… anything else," Adora said.
"If they tried anything else, I'd teleport them into the ocean instead," Glimmer muttered. "It's still dangerous, anyway - that's a very powerful spirit, and they are using an adapted ritual."
"Which you checked," Catra said.
"I did, but I am not as experienced as, say, Dad or Castaspella."
"Well, if it goes wrong, I'll blame you." Catra smirked.
"Oh, you!"
Adora sighed.
But before she could tell her friends to stop bickering, Baker and Hong finally finished checking the circle drawn around them, and Cranston clapped her hands. "Alright, everyone on your spots - this time, it's really on!"
Adora hadn't moved away from her assigned spot, and so she straightened as the sorceresses spread out and stepped into the spaces left for them.
Then, after another check of everyone's position - Glimmer must have really impressed them - the ritual finally started. All the sorceresses from Earth and Mystacor chanted together. Glimmer did as well. Only Adora and Catra didn't, though their presence was still required in the circle. Adora didn't know why, exactly, but she suspected it was because she might be the spirit's counterpart from Etheria. Though…
She felt the magic appear. Not just like the tingling feeling Catra had described when they arrived, but as if her body was… not full, more like echoing? What was the word? Resonance? Something like that?
In any case, she could feel the magic slowly growing stronger as it filled the circle, and the lines drawn on the ground started to glow, then shine. She wasn't quite sure, but the tree seemed to be glowing more brightly as well.
And the chanting grew louder. And the circle shone more and more brightly. Not blindingly, but… the darkness around them was completely gone. It was as bright as noon.
And then Cranston raised her hands over her head, called out something in a language Adora didn't know, and the light disappeared.
But the magic didn't. It was growing stronger, even - and the air in the centre of the circle started to shimmer as something formed.
A floating, transparent figure - tall, and… buff. Like Scorpia, without her pincers and tail.
Adora licked her lips and resisted the sudden, stupid urge to whistle.
"Gaia."
"Gaia."
"Mother Gaia."
"Mother Goddess"
"Mother!"
The figure, floating above the ground, slowly turned until it was facing Cranston.
"Great Mother, we called you because visitors wish to ask you a question."
More than one, actually, Adora thought as the spirit turned to face her without any prompting from Cranston.
"Ah… Hello!" She smiled at Gaia. "I am Adora - She-Ra, Princess of Power. Protector of Etheria. These are my friends. We wish to talk to you about your plans."
The spirit cocked her head to the side as if she were confused.
"We would like to talk to you about what you want," Adora repeated herself.
Gaia - it had to be Gaia; she was taller than Adora, and Adora was She-Ra - still looked confused. But she was still smiling, so that was good.
"Uh… People are afraid. Some people are afraid," Adora corrected herself. "Because they don't know you. We would like to change that."
Gaia perked up and spread her arms with a wide smile.
Adora blinked - the spirit wasn't wearing any clothes, and while transparent, she was still…
Then the tree shone bright, and magic flooded the circle - no, the area, and Adora felt warm, safe, reassured, everything would be fine, now that…
She blinked again. That was… She glanced around. Catra had that expression she rarely showed but Adora loved - she was utterly relaxed, smiling gently, softly, without that hint of amusement, just happiness. And Glimmer was… smiling with a silly expression. Bow, too - he had his eyes closed. Entrapta, Daniel and Sha're were the same - everyone was the same. Hong had his mouth open and looked dazed.
She winced. "Uh. That… well, it helped, but… It's not what I meant. I mean…" Gaia obviously had understood her. But instead of answering, she had just used magic to make everyone feel safe. Adora gasped - how far had that magic reached? Just how powerful was Gaia?
Gaia looked confused again and floated closer, peering at Adora.
"Uh… I am She-Ra, Princess of Power. I guess that means I don't, uh, calm down easily," Adora explained.
Though Gaia didn't seem to understand - she started circling Adora, and Adora felt gentle tugs against her robes.
Should she call her sword? Or would that be seen as a threat? If Gaia thought she was about to be attacked… Adora grimaced. "Look, it's nice to be reassured, but it's also… wrong. People don't like to be made to feel things, even happiness."
More confusion. And a frown.
What could Adora do? Gaia didn't seem to understand her words, only her… feelings. Oh. Adora swallowed, then spread her arms, smiling invitingly at Gaia. "Come!" She tried to project the same feelings she had just felt. "Come! Let's hug!"
Gaia looked puzzled for a moment, tilting her head, looking at Adora, then at the others, at the circle. Did she expect Adora to use magic?
Adora waved briefly, then spread her arms again.
And Gaia suddenly smiled and floated over, into Adora's arms.
Or she floated over and gathered Adora in her arms - she was bigger, after all.
It was like being held by a warm breeze. A warm, strong but gentle breeze that smelled like spring flowers and hugged your entire body.
Adora squeezed back - carefully - and felt resistance. Soft, not like Scorpia's hard muscles and harder carapace, but still unyielding. Somehow it didn't give any but still felt soft.
She closed her eyes and tried to think, to feel, a question about Gaia. Project her wondering, questioning. Somehow. Adora wished she had paid more attention when Glimmer had told her about meditating. Not that Glimmer had done a lot of meditation. But all she could do was try to make Gaia understand her concerns. No, not understand - feel it. And that was…
A very bright light interrupted her thoughts and made her close her eyes and gasp.
When she opened her eyes, blinking, she found herself floating as well - and in the air. Or in nothingness. Brightly lit, warm nothingness that smelled like spring flowers. And in front of her was Gaia, only bigger and… different. Somehow.
"Ah… where are we?" Adora asked.
Gaia didn't answer. She smiled, though she seemed sad at the same time. She spread her hands, and a sphere appeared between them - no, a blue globe. Earth, Adora recognised the continents. Gaia spread her arms, and the globe grew. Adora could make out lakes and rivers, forests, clouds moving over the land…
…and black lines covering parts of it, the areas darkening around them, like burning. Smoke rose from the ground, turning the clouds black, and Adora caught a hint of smoke and burning wood - and gas - in her nose.
Gaia frowned as the forests started disappearing and dark clouds covered the globe. She flicked her fingers, and bright light touched the sphere, thinning and removing the smoke and letting the dark lines and darker spots wither and shrink.
She smiled at Adora, then pointed at her. A moment later, a globe appeared in front of Adora. She recognised it at once - Etheria.
Gaia nodded at her, then at the world, and Adora placed her palms around it before she realised what she was doing. Oh.
"You are… You are like me? No, like my power?" she asked.
Gaia nodded with a smile.
Adora swallowed. That was… well, not entirely unexpected. They had suspected that, kinda. But still… "And who is your princess? Whom did you choose? Is it the tree?" If the tree really were Tree-Ra, Catra would be horribly smug about it.
Gaia's smile grew, and she slowly, gently shook her head.
"Are you still looking?" Adora asked.
Gaia kept shaking her head.
"You've found your, ah, Princess of Power?"
Gaia nodded.
They hadn't seen anyone like She-Ra. Not that Adora would remember - and she thought she would have recognised someone with her power. Oh! "It's not me, is it? I am Etheriaŝ protector."
Gaia laughed, then pointed at her globe. Thousands of small lights shone on it, Adora saw.
Oh. She blinked. "You've got… a lot of champions. That's how you grant your power?"
Gaia nodded with a smile, and the light around them started to fade.
Mojave Containment Zone, California, United States of America, August 22nd 2000
"Task Force Tree! Deploy along the perimeter - and check that your HUDs are hooked up to the scanner network. We don't want anyone to slip through and get to the objective! Remember the rules of engagement!"
Standing in the new command post of the containment zone, Jack O'Neill watched as Major Hawking ordered his troops to disembark from their transports and spread out in fire teams to occupy their assigned sectors. Hawking had wanted to use the assignment to conduct a planetary assault landing exercise, but Jack had put his foot down - the last thing anyone needed was Alliance Special Forces arriving as if they were raiding a Goa'uld base, in full view of the press and the protestors. Really, Hawking, a Marine, should have known better.
Jack made a note to add another training course for his officers about diplomacy. Maybe he could get Daniel to give a lecture; the man had the cred to reach some of his more stubborn officers. If not, he would have to make a former Green Beret do it; someone who was trained to work with a local population to minimise friction.
"Will they respect the rules of engagement?" Colonel Brown, the commander of the National Guard forces forming the outer perimeter of the exclusion zone, asked.
Jack raised his eyebrows at him. "They're not a bunch of trigger-happy soldiers," he said.
"Noted, sir." Brown nodded. He didn't look happy.
Well, he would have been even unhappier if Jack had said 'weekend warriors' instead of 'soldiers'. Even though the National Guard soldiers were more likely to shoot a stupid kid trying to sneak through the perimeter than Jack's people. But that would have added more friction to the mess here. Still, a little reminder was a good idea. "What about yours?"
Brown pressed his lips together before answering. "They're not going to massacre civilians, sir."
"Noted," Jack couldn't help commenting.
"Sir!" Hawking had arrived at the command post. "The troops have secured the tree as ordered!" He nodded at Brown. "Colonel."
"Major." Brown narrowed his eyes at the Marine. "We've already secured the perimeter."
"Yes, sir."
Jack suppressed a sigh. "Alright. So, let's hope the police can handle the protestors, and this will just turn out to be a waste of money and time." At the very least, seeing a bunch of transport shuttles touch down should have given the more fanatic protestors pause.
"Sir! There's an incident at the outer perimeter!" a noncom watching the feed from the sensors announced.
"I just had to taunt Murphy," Jack muttered. "Put it on the main screen!"
The picture showing the tree from a flying bot changed, showing a crowd of protestors trying to push through the police lines - they had already tried to go around the road blocks thrown up and had reached the end of the fences that had been thrown up so far.
"Brad! Move a platoon to be ready to support the police if they call for aid!" Brown snapped. "And get ready to stop a breach!"
"Yes, sir!"
Not a bad move, but potentially dangerous if things escalated. None of the National Guard troops had fresh crowd control training last Jack had checked. Few of his troops had completed that training, either - it wasn't a priority - but the Alliance had other means to help there.
He tapped his commlink. "Perfuma? We might need you to reinforce the perimeter."
"Alright, Jack!"
He nodded, then turned to Brown. "Keep your soldiers back. We need a bit of free space there."
"What for, General?" Brown stared at him.
Hawking, of course, had realised what would be happening. "Oh. They're not going to like that," he said, though he was grinning.
"Who won't like what?" Brown sounded annoyed.
"A bunch of people, mostly idiots, and that." Jack grinned as he pointed at the screen.
"What is…" Brow trailed off, staring at the feed.
Multiple plants shot out of the ground, forming a dense hedge row-like fence made out of what looked like mutant cactuses right behind the police line.
"But… Are the witches doing this?"
"No. That's Princess Perfuma's work," Jack said. Planned in advance, but Brown should realise that himself.
The crowd was backing off, at least for a moment, faced with an impenetrable wall of thorny plants. Not that the thorns would actually hurt anyone - Perfuma wouldn't risk people getting hurt.
But then, they seemed to grow even more determined. The police were giving ground, moving to the side, and the first rioters reached the plants with axes and saws, but also bottles and Jerry cans.
Jack sighed. "And the police didn't listen when I told them to wear gas masks… Alright." He tapped the communicator again. "Perfuma? Put'em to flight, please."
"Alright, Jack!"
A moment later, the 'thorns' opened and released a yellowish gas that quickly spread along the ground. Everyone inside quickly started running out of the cloud.
"What's happening?" Brown asked.
"That's a plant version of a skunk's spray," Jack said. "We've got a neutraliser, if anyone of yours is too dumb to stay away. Or anyone of the cops," he added when he saw one of the police officers stumbling back, throwing his helmet away and holding his nose.
Brown grimaced as if he had personal experience with skunks. "Yes, I don't think they'll like this."
*****
"You want to contact Mother Gaia, Supreme Commander?" Cranston seemed surprised, Adora noticed.
"Yes," she said. "We wish to contact the spirit you summoned."
"How else can we find out what she wants?" Entrapta chimed in. "We could observe and deduce her goals from her actions, but that's difficult, and we might miss crucial data by not noticing her actions."
"We want to find out if Gaia's She-Ra's counterpart on Earth," Catra added.
Adora was glad that Catra hadn't called Gaia 'Tree-Ra', but she knew Catra would do it sooner or later.
"Ah." Cranston nodded with a smile. "That's a very good idea!"
"I sense a 'but' coming," Catra said.
Right, that smile had looked a bit apologetic. And now Cranston was wincing. "Well… we know how to summon Gaia, obviously. But she's already been summoned, so, it might not be a good idea to try and summon her again. We don't know, but if she would consider such an attempt an insult - or an attack - then the results would be, ah, bad."
Glimmer groaned. "You didn't plan to contact the spirit after summoning?"
"We had a limited window of opportunity, and we focused on summoning her and creating a vessel for her," Gomez replied. "That was our priority."
"And you planned to just… leave the spirit alone?" Glimmer had narrowed her eyes, and Bow looked concerned.
"Yes," Baker, the Wicca, cut in. "We trust in Mother Gaia. We wouldn't have summoned Her if we didn't trust in Her decisions."
"Weren't you supposed to be all about checks and balances?" Glimmer snapped. "Trust, but verify?"
"That's for humans, not for Mother Gaia," Baker said with a deep frown.
Hong, the one from the 'Sequoia Conclave', which was apparently a magic group focused on plant and nature magic, nodded. "To ask Her for services, as if she were a mundane servant…" He shook his head. "That would be almost blasphemous."
"Not almost!" Baker disagreed. "It would be blasphemous!"
"It's not blasphemous to beg Her for help as long as it is done with the proper respect," Hong retorted.
"And with an urgent need," Baker said. "There is no urgent need."
"I think the US government disagrees with that," Catra said.
"And we need that data to decide if the tree's safe," Entrapta added.
"Which is pretty urgent since if it's not safe, we need to evacuate people," Glimmer said. "Before the tree collapses."
"Or the American government decides to remove the tree," Catra added.
"They can't!" Baker gasped.
"That would go against everything we stand for!" Cranston said. "Like… demolishing a church! Or the Vatican!"
"They actually do demolish churches if they're unsafe," Daniel said.
"Mother Gaia isn't unsafe!" Baker snapped.
"Unfortunately, the government won't take your word for it," Glimmer said. "So, we need to talk to Gaia and find out what she wants. And whether that is dangerous for the people here."
Or for Earth, Adora added. If Gaia was Earth's guarding spirit, she probably could affect the entire planet. "We really need to talk to her," she said, smiling at the sorceresses. "It's not about the government, it's about seeing what she wants and how we can help her." If they could or wanted to help them.
Cranston and the others exchanged a few glances. "Well… there are rituals to contact her. But we didn't really use them on Gaia, only on lesser spirits. Nature spirits," Hong said.
"And other spirits bound to places," Baker added. "But we should make sure that the ritual is perfect. We cannot afford mistakes when calling on Gaia. If she feels slighted, he consequences could be fatal."
That didn't sound very reassuring. Nor did it make Gaia sound like a guardian of Earth - Adora would never threaten the people whom she was protecting like that. It sounded more like Gaia was one of the goddesses from the Earth myths Daniel had told them about, those who would kill people on a whim. Well, most of those had been Goa'uld, so maybe that was a bad example.
But they would have to be careful when contacting them. Maybe Adora should do that by herself.
"You're not going to do that alone," Catra whispered next to her.
"What?" Adora looked at her.
"I know that expression. I know what you were thinking." Catra glared at her. "I'm not going to let you do that alone."
"But…"
"We're not going to repeat the Heart thing, got it?"
Adora winced. There was no arguing with Catra when she used that tone. Sighing, she nodded.
"And that goes for us as well," Glimmer said.
"Yes." Bow smiled.
Daniel looked eager as well, even if Sha're looked like she had doubts. But Adora didn't think Sha're would let Daniel meet Gaia without her any more than Catra would let her do it.
"Let's see what we need to do," she said. "We don't want to make a mistake either."
Now the sorceresses looked concerned. That was also a bad sign.
*****
Samantha Carter was really glad that the new uniforms they had designed had integrated filters able to handle biological and chemical weapons. That plant-based skunk spray Perfuma had created was probably a match for either category - she had been tempted to rely on the vacuum seal and internal air supply, including carbon dioxide scrubbers, when she had seen the projected effect, but that had, fortunately, turned out not to be needed. Still, hints of the stench had reached the command post where the General was meeting with the rest of the officers and the government representatives.
"You've used biological weapons against American people on American soil? Are you crazy?"
The uniforms also had ear protection, though Barrow's yelling hadn't yet reached the threshold for their activation - Sam checked.
"It's skunk spray," the General told her. "Perfectly fine. Organic even."
"Plants don't naturally produce skunk spray! You've just violated multiple regulations by releasing untested organisms in the wild! Genetically engineered organisms! And on people!"
"Actually, it was magically created on the spot," the General told her. "On my request as the Alliance commander in charge of security here. Do I have to remind you that the US Government requested our involvement here because they consider the magic tree a potential alien threat?"
Not entirely without reason, Sam had to - silently- admit.
"We want you to remove the tree, not introduce even more alien organisms and gas the American people in front of the media!"
"Technically, it's more of a spray than a gas," the General said.
"That works out the same! Look at the media coverage!" Barrow yelled again, pointing at the TV in the corner of the command post.
Sam winced a little. The Alliance press release had emphasised that the agent was a derivative of skunk spray and organic, but seeing the clouds and the retching protestors - as well as the few police officers who had ignored the warnings and orders - made it look a lot more dangerous.
"Looks like a typical riot to me. The Europeans use tear gas all the time against protestors."
"We're not in Europe! Do you have any idea how this looks to the American public? The conservative pundits are already screaming about weapons of mass destruction used by the Alliance on our soil!"
And, Sam reminded herself, that was what this was all about: the optics. Never mind the actual facts, or the very real threat that tree posed, should some fool try to cut or burn it down.
"Would you have preferred us to gun them down?" The General wasn't grinning any more. "Or to let them attack the giant magical spirit-possessed tree?"
"Of course not! But you could have handled this without resorting to skunk spray!"
"And risk the soldiers' lives?" The General frowned. "The National Guard didn't bring their riot control gear."
The National Guard commander cleared his throat. "My unit was working up for potential combat deployment, not crowd control. We didn't have riot control gear ready. We've requested it, but it hasn't been delivered yet."
"Combat deployment?" Barrow looked confused.
"To replace an army unit in Korea which will be sent off-planet," the officer explained.
"We still have obligations to our allies on Earth," the General said. "Can't just ignore that while we fight the snakes."
"Whatever! What are you going to do about this?"
"We're treating all the affected with the counter-agent. Well, those we arrested - those who fled will stink for a while." The General grinned. "Should make arresting them easier. Well, provided you're packing gas masks. And the car and jail might need some thorough airing out afterwards. And other prisoners might complain."
Barrow stared at him, then closed her eyes. "That's abuse of suspects and prisoners!"
"But it will look nice and funny on the TV," the General said. "Stinky criminals getting arrested should play well with the American public."
Sam glared at him, but - to her surprise - Barrow seemed to grudgingly, very grudgingly, accept his claim. "Let's hope that this works out. If we can tie this mess to the conservative protestors, that should even things out some. The pundits will still try to bury us in gas attack complaints, but as long as you remove the tree post haste, this should be manageable."
"Ah, about that…" The General shrugged. "Before we can decide anything about the tree, we'll have to talk to it."
"Talk to the tree?"
"The spirit possessing it, technically, but as I understand, it's mostly the same thing. They are preparing a ritual to contact it right now."
"Another magic ritual? Without permission? Who authorised that?"
"Supreme Commander Adora did. Requested it, actually," the General told her. "And, as I was told, since magical rituals were declared a sort of prayer, we can't actually stop people from exercising their constitutional rights."
"That was before magic was proven real! There are numerous cases contesting that decision in light of the new information!"
The General was misrepresenting things. Magic used to harm or endanger people was illegal, Sam had checked that herself. But the exact definitions were a bit vague, and talking to a spirit was not exactly the same as planting a curse on someone with a voodoo ritual.
"I need to contact Washington!" Barrow turned away as she pulled out her portable phone.
An Earth-built phone, Sam noted, not the advanced communicators the Alliance used. Was that a sign that Barrow was too low in the hierarchy to deserve the best technology? Or just personal preference? Or was the US government deliberately not using advanced communications for this?
She ignored the stray thoughts and focused on her work again. They needed to calibrate the scanners to cover the tree for the ritual that the others were preparing. Any data would be helpful.
*****
Catra stared at the hut in front of them. It looked a bit unstable and shabby - if that had been the work of a Horde platoon, she would have punished them. And the smoke wafting over… "I thought those 'sky clad rituals' were an urban legend."
"They are," Glimme replied.
"So, why are we stripping down?" Catra asked. The new suit was perfectly fine in this climate.
"Because we need to ritually cleanse ourselves before the ritual."
"I am clean." She had washed.
"It's a ritual. It's about the spirit."
"You just said these rituals were an urban legend." Catra smirked.
"Gah! You know what I mean!" Glimmer glared at her, arms crossed over her chest.
"No, I don't. That's why I asked." Catra smiled as innocently as she could.
"Catra." Adora cut in. "We're on a schedule here."
Catra frowned at her lover - who had already stripped down to her underwear, she noted. "This is going to be hell on my fur," she complained.
"You'll live," Glimmer said next to her. "Probably."
"Glimmer!" Adora turned to frown at Glimmer.
"Hey, I'm not the one holding us up." Glimmer huffed, then addressed Catra: "Isn't this just like all that desert training you bragged about?"
"It's not like that at all," Catra said. "If I have to get hot and sweaty, I'd rather do it by doing something - or someone," she added with a grin at Adora.
Her love blushed as expected. "Ah… Let's get this over with! For the Honour of Grayskull!"
Catra smirked again and pulled her suit off. Time to bite it and enter the stupid 'sweat lodge'.
It was as bad as she expected. Too hot and too… smelly. All those herbs and stuff they were burning stung her nose. And it was packed - all her friends and all the local sorceresses stuffed into a hut barely big enough to hold everyone. "Who came up with this?"
"Sweat baths are a Native American tradition," Daniel told her. "Although while I am not an expert on these cultures, I have looked into the matter and I don't think what we are doing here is following any known tradition."
"We have adapted the tradition to better suit our needs," Baker explained. "While we respect the customs of those who came before us, this is a new era, and we need to chart our own course."
"Indeed. As nature shows us, those who do not grow and adapt will fade," Hong added. "Spirits do not remain static either. They change as the world changes, and our rituals must reflect this."
That sounded like a bunch of hot air to Catra, but she wasn't a sorceress. And the huge tree outside kind of proved that no matter how weird it sounded, it was working.
But, she added as she shuddered and had to suppress a sneezing fit again, if she ever found out that this stupid ritual wasn't actually necessary to contact this spirit, heads would roll! Getting this stench out of her fur would take ages and more shampoo than Entrapta used in a week!
"Now let us call on the spirits to cleanse us!" Baker said, holding up a cup of water. Scented water. With some muttered words that made no sense to Catra, she poured it down on the hot stone in the centre, and steam started filling the small room.
"That's another adaptation, I think," Catra heard Daniel whisper while she struggled with the sudden heat and overpowering scent.
This better be worth it.
*****
When they had finally finished and left the sweat lodge, Catra coughed and snorted, trying to clear her nose and throat. It didn't really work - and would be pointless with her fur reeking like she had bathed in herbal essence.
"Are you coughing up a hairball?" Glimmer asked.
"Ha ha ha." Catra narrowed her eyes at her. "You look as if you lost a fight with Mermista."
"You don't look any better!"
"Catra! Glimmer!" Adora was frowning at them. She looked magnificent, of course. Not even an hour spent sweating could really diminish She-Ra's appearance.
"Now we garb ourselves in the robes prepared for the ritual," Baker said, pointing at a stack of clothes.
"Those are adapted as well, right?" Daniel asked while he held up a piece. "I'm not familiar with this style."
"Yes," Hong confirmed. "The style unites our traditions."
"Most of the native sorceresses on Earth seem to stick to their ancient traditions," Glimmer said.
"At nature's core lie innovation and adaptation."
"As long as it works," Catra said, slipping a robe on - it was getting a bit chilly here. The fabric itched a bit on her fur, but it was tolerable. Almost like wrapped up in a blanket.
And she had, unlike certain others, no problem with walking barefoot in the desert to the ritual place - her feet were used to this.
They passed the guards posted by Jack and reached the circle that had been cleared and drawn in front of the tree's trunk.
"Don't step on the circle's lines," Baker told them.
As if Catra would - the lines were already glowing dimly. She knew better than to tempt fate like that. In fact… Craning her neck to look up at the tree's crown above them, she noticed that the tree itself was dotted by small sparkles, and the trunk seemed to glow a little as well.
She felt her fur stand up as a slight shiver ran through her body. This was the first time the sorceresses here were trying this. If they messed this up…
*****
"The ritual is about to begin, sir. They're finishing the preparations."
Jack O'Neill looked up from his tablet and nodded. "Keep me informed if anything happens, Carter. If that tree starts growing, moving, or anything weird starts happening, I need to know at once."
"Yes, sir. So far, there's been no change."
"Good. Colonel Brown, how far along are your preparations to evacuate the area?"
"We're ready to leave our position at a moment's notice, General."
That was not quite correct - they weren't sitting in their vehicles with the engines running, Jack had checked - but they were all reasonably close to their APCs and trucks.
The soldiers weren't a problem - the civilians and the police were. He frowned at the tablet showing him that there were still civilians in the extended perimeter. "What's the police doing? They should have evacuated the area an hour ago."
"They are faced with passive resistance, sir. The protesters are not willing to vacate the area," his aide-de-camp replied. "They claim they want to remain in the presence of, ah, Mother Gaia."
"You can't start the ritual while civilians are in danger, General!" Barrow snapped.
"As we were briefed, the ritual has to take place now or the stars aren't aligned properly," he told her. Something about having had to rush the whole thing, but Jack wasn't an expert on magic and didn't want to be.
"We cannot risk the lives of American people!"
"We're already doing that every time we launch an offensive," Jack retorted. "Besides, shouldn't you be yelling at the police for not removing those people from the area?"
"They're exercising their First Amendment rights," Mr Hallis, the governor's representative, cut in.
"We've challenged the decision," Barrow told the man with a frown before turning back to Jack. "Can't you stop this ritual?"
"We need to talk to the spirit." Jack frowned. "We need to know what it wants so we can sort things out."
"And what if it turns hostile? We are talking about an utterly alien entity influenced by a cult! Similar cults have used magic to launch terrorist attacks in other countries!" Barrow raised her voice.
Yeah, logging in the rainforest had become quite dangerous, Jack thought. As had dumping industrial waste into rivers.
"That doesn't mean people here will do the same," Hallis retorted. "I expect such fear-mongering from the opposition, not from our own government."
"And who do you think will take the blame if this turns into a massacre?" Barrow snapped.
"General O'Neill doesn't seem very worried," Hallis said. "And you have a reputation for doing what you consider necessary no matter the orders or laws, General," he added with a nod at Jack.
Jack chuckled in return. "My reputation precedes me." Well, he had worked hard for that. "If things turn bad, we'll do our best to contain the danger and gain enough time for the civilians to evacuate." Also known as move everyone away and hope they could talk the spirit down, or have She-Ra handle it before the fleet was called in.
"Can you contain this?" Barrow asked. "Every news agency in the country is covering this!"
"Nothing is certain," he replied. "But we've got She-Ra here." And a squadron of frigates in orbit. Horde frigates, not the Navy's boondoggles.
That didn't reassure Barrow. To be fair, Jack was a lot less confident than he acted. But short of praying, they had done everything they could that wouldn't do more harm than good. And with all the things he had seen, Jack wasn't sure if praying wouldn't make things worse.
He suddenly felt a shiver run down his spine, and his skin felt all tingly. He glanced at the others in the command post - none of them had reacted in any way.
Damn. That meant something magical was happening. Something so powerful, even Jack could feel it. "They started the ritual," he said.
Carter looked up at him, her eyes widening for a moment. "Yes, sir."
"Keep an eye on the tree," he repeated his earlier order.
Was it just him, or did the tree look like it was starting to glow?
*****
"These robes are trash."
Adora wouldn't go as far as that. The robes itched a little - they might be 'homespun' and 'organic', but they weren't nearly the quality Adora was used to from robes back on Etheria - but she didn't think they were as bad as Glimmer claimed. And she wouldn't say so even if they were; that would be rude. Besides, as She-Ra, they didn't itch at all. "They have done their best, I think."
"If that's the best, I don't want to know what their worst is," Glimmer snapped as she scratched her arm under the robe while they waited for the circle to be completed. "How did they manage to summon such a powerful spirit if they can't even get decent robes?"
"I didn't know you needed fancy clothes for magic," Catra cut in. "I guess that explains all the money you spend on silk."
"That's not…" Glimmer scowled. "My clothes have to match a certain standard since I represent my kingdom."
"But you don't need fancy clothes to do magic."
"No," Glimmer spat.
"Well, it's still impressive." Catra craned her neck to look at the tree. "They did this over vacation?"
"No. The local sorceresses have been working on the ritual practically since Adora restored magic to Earth," Glimmer said. "I asked them. The students from Mystacor only helped out a little and mainly provided the power for the ritual."
"So, the locals made all this up from scratch? Without any help from Mystacor?" Catra whistled.
That sounded even more impressive, at least to Adora.
"I'm sure Mystacor's education did help with the finishing touches. And might be the reason why they didn't kill themselves summoning such a powerful spirit into a vessel they prepared using half-understood magic," Glimmer said. "Though even a novice at Mystacor should know better than to try this!"
"Well, it worked," Catra said.
"It could have caused a catastrophe." Glimmer scowled. "Trying unknown magic is far too dangerous to do on such a scale. Dad would know best - he was there when Shadow Weaver tried it and ended up, well, what she became."
Adora winced and glanced at Catra. Her love was scowling and baring her teeth.
"Feh."
"Well, we're just trying to talk to the spirit. Not… anything else," Adora said.
"If they tried anything else, I'd teleport them into the ocean instead," Glimmer muttered. "It's still dangerous, anyway - that's a very powerful spirit, and they are using an adapted ritual."
"Which you checked," Catra said.
"I did, but I am not as experienced as, say, Dad or Castaspella."
"Well, if it goes wrong, I'll blame you." Catra smirked.
"Oh, you!"
Adora sighed.
But before she could tell her friends to stop bickering, Baker and Hong finally finished checking the circle drawn around them, and Cranston clapped her hands. "Alright, everyone on your spots - this time, it's really on!"
Adora hadn't moved away from her assigned spot, and so she straightened as the sorceresses spread out and stepped into the spaces left for them.
Then, after another check of everyone's position - Glimmer must have really impressed them - the ritual finally started. All the sorceresses from Earth and Mystacor chanted together. Glimmer did as well. Only Adora and Catra didn't, though their presence was still required in the circle. Adora didn't know why, exactly, but she suspected it was because she might be the spirit's counterpart from Etheria. Though…
She felt the magic appear. Not just like the tingling feeling Catra had described when they arrived, but as if her body was… not full, more like echoing? What was the word? Resonance? Something like that?
In any case, she could feel the magic slowly growing stronger as it filled the circle, and the lines drawn on the ground started to glow, then shine. She wasn't quite sure, but the tree seemed to be glowing more brightly as well.
And the chanting grew louder. And the circle shone more and more brightly. Not blindingly, but… the darkness around them was completely gone. It was as bright as noon.
And then Cranston raised her hands over her head, called out something in a language Adora didn't know, and the light disappeared.
But the magic didn't. It was growing stronger, even - and the air in the centre of the circle started to shimmer as something formed.
A floating, transparent figure - tall, and… buff. Like Scorpia, without her pincers and tail.
Adora licked her lips and resisted the sudden, stupid urge to whistle.
"Gaia."
"Gaia."
"Mother Gaia."
"Mother Goddess"
"Mother!"
The figure, floating above the ground, slowly turned until it was facing Cranston.
"Great Mother, we called you because visitors wish to ask you a question."
More than one, actually, Adora thought as the spirit turned to face her without any prompting from Cranston.
"Ah… Hello!" She smiled at Gaia. "I am Adora - She-Ra, Princess of Power. Protector of Etheria. These are my friends. We wish to talk to you about your plans."
The spirit cocked her head to the side as if she were confused.
"We would like to talk to you about what you want," Adora repeated herself.
Gaia - it had to be Gaia; she was taller than Adora, and Adora was She-Ra - still looked confused. But she was still smiling, so that was good.
"Uh… People are afraid. Some people are afraid," Adora corrected herself. "Because they don't know you. We would like to change that."
Gaia perked up and spread her arms with a wide smile.
Adora blinked - the spirit wasn't wearing any clothes, and while transparent, she was still…
Then the tree shone bright, and magic flooded the circle - no, the area, and Adora felt warm, safe, reassured, everything would be fine, now that…
She blinked again. That was… She glanced around. Catra had that expression she rarely showed but Adora loved - she was utterly relaxed, smiling gently, softly, without that hint of amusement, just happiness. And Glimmer was… smiling with a silly expression. Bow, too - he had his eyes closed. Entrapta, Daniel and Sha're were the same - everyone was the same. Hong had his mouth open and looked dazed.
She winced. "Uh. That… well, it helped, but… It's not what I meant. I mean…" Gaia obviously had understood her. But instead of answering, she had just used magic to make everyone feel safe. Adora gasped - how far had that magic reached? Just how powerful was Gaia?
Gaia looked confused again and floated closer, peering at Adora.
"Uh… I am She-Ra, Princess of Power. I guess that means I don't, uh, calm down easily," Adora explained.
Though Gaia didn't seem to understand - she started circling Adora, and Adora felt gentle tugs against her robes.
Should she call her sword? Or would that be seen as a threat? If Gaia thought she was about to be attacked… Adora grimaced. "Look, it's nice to be reassured, but it's also… wrong. People don't like to be made to feel things, even happiness."
More confusion. And a frown.
What could Adora do? Gaia didn't seem to understand her words, only her… feelings. Oh. Adora swallowed, then spread her arms, smiling invitingly at Gaia. "Come!" She tried to project the same feelings she had just felt. "Come! Let's hug!"
Gaia looked puzzled for a moment, tilting her head, looking at Adora, then at the others, at the circle. Did she expect Adora to use magic?
Adora waved briefly, then spread her arms again.
And Gaia suddenly smiled and floated over, into Adora's arms.
Or she floated over and gathered Adora in her arms - she was bigger, after all.
It was like being held by a warm breeze. A warm, strong but gentle breeze that smelled like spring flowers and hugged your entire body.
Adora squeezed back - carefully - and felt resistance. Soft, not like Scorpia's hard muscles and harder carapace, but still unyielding. Somehow it didn't give any but still felt soft.
She closed her eyes and tried to think, to feel, a question about Gaia. Project her wondering, questioning. Somehow. Adora wished she had paid more attention when Glimmer had told her about meditating. Not that Glimmer had done a lot of meditation. But all she could do was try to make Gaia understand her concerns. No, not understand - feel it. And that was…
A very bright light interrupted her thoughts and made her close her eyes and gasp.
When she opened her eyes, blinking, she found herself floating as well - and in the air. Or in nothingness. Brightly lit, warm nothingness that smelled like spring flowers. And in front of her was Gaia, only bigger and… different. Somehow.
"Ah… where are we?" Adora asked.
Gaia didn't answer. She smiled, though she seemed sad at the same time. She spread her hands, and a sphere appeared between them - no, a blue globe. Earth, Adora recognised the continents. Gaia spread her arms, and the globe grew. Adora could make out lakes and rivers, forests, clouds moving over the land…
…and black lines covering parts of it, the areas darkening around them, like burning. Smoke rose from the ground, turning the clouds black, and Adora caught a hint of smoke and burning wood - and gas - in her nose.
Gaia frowned as the forests started disappearing and dark clouds covered the globe. She flicked her fingers, and bright light touched the sphere, thinning and removing the smoke and letting the dark lines and darker spots wither and shrink.
She smiled at Adora, then pointed at her. A moment later, a globe appeared in front of Adora. She recognised it at once - Etheria.
Gaia nodded at her, then at the world, and Adora placed her palms around it before she realised what she was doing. Oh.
"You are… You are like me? No, like my power?" she asked.
Gaia nodded with a smile.
Adora swallowed. That was… well, not entirely unexpected. They had suspected that, kinda. But still… "And who is your princess? Whom did you choose? Is it the tree?" If the tree really were Tree-Ra, Catra would be horribly smug about it.
Gaia's smile grew, and she slowly, gently shook her head.
"Are you still looking?" Adora asked.
Gaia kept shaking her head.
"You've found your, ah, Princess of Power?"
Gaia nodded.
They hadn't seen anyone like She-Ra. Not that Adora would remember - and she thought she would have recognised someone with her power. Oh! "It's not me, is it? I am Etheriaŝ protector."
Gaia laughed, then pointed at her globe. Thousands of small lights shone on it, Adora saw.
Oh. She blinked. "You've got… a lot of champions. That's how you grant your power?"
Gaia nodded with a smile, and the light around them started to fade.
*****
Chapter 190: The Election Campaign Part 12
Starfox5
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Chapter 190: The Election Campaign Part 12
Mojave Containment Zone, California, United States of America, August 22nd 2000
Samantha Carter watched her screen as the giant tree started to glow more brightly. "No radiation except for visible light," she reported. Multiple scanners confirmed that. "No emissions that would indicate advanced technology."
"Well, yeah, I think we can safely deduce it's magic," the General replied.
She narrowed her eyes as she frowned, but didn't look up from her computer. Even if you knew that it was most likely magic because you knew about and were observing the ritual, it paid to check anyway.
"Why is everyone just standing there?" Colonel Brown asked.
"Cause it's magic," the General said. "The wrong move might make the tree explode - or their heads."
Sam pressed her lips together for a moment before she answered: "They are communicating with the spirit. They should…" She blinked and trailed off when she suddenly felt completely at ease. Safe. Protected. Loved.
Manipulated, she realised a moment later.
Colonel Brown gasped. "What… what was that?"
"I hope that was the spirit trying to be friendly and non-threatening," the General said.
But it was very threatening. That kind of emotional influence, used against you… Sam clenched her teeth. What if the spirit could use it in more subtle ways? Make you just a bit more trusting? More daring? The potential was frightening.
"Do not be afraid," Major Hawking muttered.
Colonel Brown glared at him. "That's not an angel, Major!"
"Well, it's close enough for me," Major Hawking retorted.
"It's a spirit! Summoned by witches!"
"Most of them prefer the term 'sorceresses'," the General said. "And whatever it is, we're now talking to it, so we better be on our best behaviour - we don't know if the spirit can hear us here."
"But…" Brown actually paled. "They can hear us?"
"We don't know if they can. But we're pretty close to the tree, so… I wouldn't try to make it mad."
They were just barely not under the canopy, Sam knew - just enough of a distance so that they wouldn't be in danger if the tree should topple. But it was basically ground zero for any magical attack with the kind of power the magical detectors were reporting. The light was merely a side effect compared to all the magic gathered in the tree.
And this was created, or summoned, by a bunch of students at Mystacor and a few self-taught practitioners? It was like first-year cadets at the Air Force Academy building their own nukes! She blinked. Alright, if she had wanted to build a nuke as a cadet, and wouldn't have minded breaking enough laws to get a life sentence, she could have done that. But she hadn't.
And then the glow faded - and so did the spirit. But the magic power didn't diminish. She checked her readings, then checked the feeds. Everyone was standing and moving. None had collapsed.
She didn't know if that was a good or bad sign.
"So… let's see what it told our friends," the General said. "We might not have to break out the big honking guns."
"General! You said not to make it mad!" Brown protested.
The General grinned at him. "That's not making it mad - that's warning it that we're not pushovers."
Sam shook her head as she grabbed her laptop and followed the General out of the command post.
"...so, Adora was kind of frozen for a second, but it was longer for her while they spoke in their minds or something - I don't know yet if it's a magical projection, a sort of telepathy with subjective time, or a multidimensional effect that transproted her consciousness to a higher dimension where time did pass faster. We need more data! But even so, the data we got is fascinating! And we need to see how far that emotional aura reached - it would be a great tool to handle angry crowds, I think!"
Sam nodded at Entrapta's excited explanations. Although she doubted that the government would allow the use of emotion-manipulating magic for crowd control. The potential for abuse was just too great. People would panic if such a policy were implemented - and rightly so. Especially if it couldn't be aimed. On the other hand, imagining how riots would play out if both rioters and police forces suddenly felt safe and calm was a nice mental exercise.
"I don't think we should summon Gaia again for some time." Glimmer said. "Certainly not for experiments. She is not Earth's She-Ra - she's the power behind Earth's She-Ra!"
And that was a disturbing piece of information. Sam - and the leading scholars of Etheria - had assumed that the power behind She-Ra wasn't sapient. It had to be sentient to pick its champion, but none of the planet's records had shown anything like what had happened today.
Then again, Earth's magic was different from Etheria's magic. Some had theorised that it leaned towards 'summons' and 'curses'. Today's ritual seemed to support that.
"So, instead of one tough magical princess-protector like Etheria, Earth gets thousands of tiny ones?" the General said.
"We don't know if those people that Adora saw…"
"I didn't see them - I only saw dots on a globe!" Adora interrupted Glimmer.
"Yes, I know. But we don't know if those Gaia indicated were her chosen champions or just those with the potential to be her champion," Glimmer said.
"I think they were her champions," Adora said. "It felt like that."
"Well, we'll know more as soon as someone summons another giant tree somewhere. It's not something we can miss - we can see the things from space," the General said.
"But… if thousands of people can do this…" Barrow shook her head. "In any case, we cannot let the tree stand! People will think that the government has lost control over our country's security!"
"You want to destroy the vessel of Earth's guardian spirit?" Glimmer shook her head. "Do you want to find out what Earth's She-Ras can do to you in retaliation?"
"But…" Barrow closed her mouth. "That would be an alien attack!"
"What? The guardian spirit of Earth isn't an alien!" Glimmer protested.
"And that would be ignoring the religious aspect of this," Daniel added. "This might become the centre of worship for several religions."
Sam nodded. Religions with access to a spirit as powerful as She-Ra's power. Religious conflicts were bad enough without such power involved.
"I think the tree's here to stay," Catra said.
"At least the government can claim that this goddess is a resident of America," the General joked.
Barrow suddenly blinked, and Sam couldn't help wondering if the General would regret his comment.
Mojave Containment Zone, California, United States of America, August 23rd 2000
"...and the government maintains the claim that the situation with the Mojave Tree is under control despite thousands of concerned citizens reporting suddenly feeling drugged! How much longer do the American people have to suffer magical threats and attacks? How much longer until no one can be sure any more if they still have a will of their own? How much longer until magic controls the entire country? There is still time to stop this! Time to save our country and our soul! Your vote matters - only together can we repel this attack on the core of our country! Vote for…"
Sitting on a seat in the shuttle's main area, Catra rolled her eyes and switched channels.
"...and here in Washington, everyone is waiting with bated breath for the president's press conference about the Magical Mojave Tree. According to anonymous but usually well-informed sources, the government will not remove the tree, though the reasons for such a contentious decision have not yet been specified. Many Americans are concerned about the effects the tree might have on them, and a recent poll shows that concern about magic affecting their daily life has eclipsed the state of the war against the Goa'uld Empire as the main fear among the population."
"So much for all the reporters covering the attack," Catra muttered. "All those annoyances, and nothing to show for it."
"It did help with morale," Daniel said. "If people are less concerned about the war, that means they are less afraid because of it as well. That certainly is positive. Afraid people tend to make rash decisions, and it is an election year."
"If Etheria were a democracy, the Horde probably would have won," Catra said with a shrug. "I would have demoralised the people with a few campaigns and then promised peace."
"Others have tried that in the past. Democracies can be surprisingly tough to defeat." Daniel shook his head. "At least if there's an existential threat. They are easier to convince to end a war if it's not waged for their own survival and if the people don't think the goal is worth the cost. It's the difference between World War Two and the Vietnam War."
That didn't really sound convincing to Catra. "And what if they are wrong about something not being an existential threat? Or about something being an existential threat?" She pointed at the screen.
"...and magic is much more dangerous than aliens. We can fight aliens - we are fighting them. With weapons, ships and soldiers! But magic? We aren't fighting magic. We are letting it poison our children! Lure them away from God! Corrupt the heart and soul of our nation! The current government has utterly failed the American people - it represents the greatest threat to America since our proud country was born!"
"Those are extremists," Daniel replied - though he was wincing. "The law and the constitution are clear about this."
"Did anyone tell them that?" Catra raised her eyebrows. "They are one step from calling for witch hunts."
"Well, their candidate has opposed such demands. Quite clearly," Daniel said,
"Because that would make the Alliance intervene." Catra crossed her arms over her chest. "But he's still counting on their votes and promising to strictly regulate and control magic." That was fear-mongering.
"That's the usual tactics in an election. Should he be elected, I doubt he'll actually do much about that. Some performative initiatives at most - he knows how important the Alliance is for the country and will not risk it," Daniel said. "A lot of what is said in an election campaign will never be implemented."
"So… your candidates lie to their voters." Catra shook her head.
Daniel shrugged. "In a way, yes. But many people, also and often especially autocratic leaders, promise more than they can actually provide."
That was true. Princesses did the same. Still… "And does everyone know that? Witches and other sorceresses as well a the religious nutcases?" Catra asked. "Because if one of the champions of Tree-Ra thinks that this guy is serious…" She pointed at the screen. "...then we could have a problem."
Daniel winced. "That would be a problem. We should intensify our efforts to find those people so we can talk to them."
Catra snorted. Gaia hadn't given them a map or a communicator. And they had no way to track Gaia's magic. They were working on that, but Catra didn't think Castaspella and her people would develop one soon enough to make a difference. "Anyone with magic could be a champion of her. And there are already people worshipping her who have a magical talent but aren't champions." Or didn't admit it. Though she thought that if Hong or Baker had been blessed by Gaia with her power, they would have said so. "Hell, they might genuinely believe that they are her champions."
Daniel winced again. "Yes, that's quite plausible. The Vatican has released a statement that magical talent wasn't a sign of divine favour nor was magic used by a member of the flock divine, and, therefore, healing people was not considered a miracle if it happened after magic was restored to Earth - although their main argument is that claiming that God needed She-Ra to restore magic to work through his faithful was heresy - but other religions do not have a central authority like that."
"So… a lot of people got magic powers - in a time where people in America are using fear of magic for political gains." Catra shook her head again. "That's not going to end well."
Daniel nodded in agreement, but before he could say anything else, the press conference started.
"...and the United States Government has determined that the tree that was grown with magic in the Mojave Desert is not a danger to the American people. The United States Government also has recognised that the tree represents a religious and cultural icon for many Americans and, therefore, will be protected against vandalism and further attempts to destroy it."
"There have been rumours that the tree is the seat of 'Mother Gaia', supposedly a guardian spirit of Earth. What does the government have to say about this?"
"The United States Government can neither confirm nor deny those claims at the moment. What it can confirm is that the tree serves as the vessel for a summoned spirit of considerable power, and that those who summoned it call it Gaia, though we have yet to determine what exactly that means."
"Is the government placing magic under the protections of Freedom of Religion? There are several ongoing lawsuits that have yet to reach the Supreme Court concerning this issue."
"The United States Government recognises that worshipping spirits falls under the Freedom of Religion. That doesn't imply anything in general about the practice of magic. This is a matter for the courts."
"What about the Freedom of Religion of those whose religious feelings are hurt and who feel threatened by the presence of obvious pagan magic in their home?"
"The United States are built on the principle of the separation of Church and State. The United States Government will not favour any religion over another."
"Some people would say that by letting one religion use magic, that one is favoured above others."
"Everyone is free to use magic within the bounds of laws, and those bounds are being determined by the courts."
"What about the threat magic represents? There are numerous reports of people being cursed and otherwise assaulted with magic! Many are demanding that strict regulation and controls be placed over magic."
"Was there a question in this? In any case, the United States Government is paying close attention to this question, but the responsibility of litigation lies with Congress."
Jack O'Neill shook his head. "Regulate magic but not guns? Bunch of hypocrites!"
"They didn't claim that Gaia was American," Sha're commented after a moment's silence.
"That would be a step too much after they downplayed Gaia's existence," Daniel said. "The government probably decided that they donˆt want to antagonise the more extremist Christians by acknowledging Gaia as a religious figure."
Jack scoffed. "They've already antagonised those people by acknowledging the gays and not hunting witches. They should go all-in." The Evangelicals would never vote for them anyway.
"That might be a step too far for the moderate Christians," Daniel objected. "And playing it safe, so to speak, won't antagonise the worshippers of Gaia and the other practitioners of magic - it's not as if they have an alternative to vote for."
"No, but they have magic, and if they feel neglected or threatened, they might lash out. There's always someone who will abuse what power they're given," Jack said. "And we don't want someone cursing people en masse as an October surprise." Hell, some of the Evangelical mouthpieces would probably hire a witch to do that if it won them the elections - Jack was sure that the FBI was already spending quite the resources to prevent that; he'd have to ask Paris and Wilkinson if their former buddies at the Bureau could use some unofficial help. The Alliance wasn't supposed to be active in internal matters of its members, but Jack had a feeling that the government wouldn't make a fuss as long as it remained under the table.
"Well, if Gaia is the counterpart to She-Ra's magic, then she won't grant her power to just anyone but those who would wield it responsibly and to help others. At least the known history of She-Ra would suggest that," Daniel said.
"This is Earth, not Etheria," Jack said. "And She-Ra got a huge sword from her power. Not exactly the most peaceful tool." Of course, sometimes you had to take out someone to save people, but right now, even if one of Gaia's Champions - everyone had glared at him for suggesting the name 'Planeteers' - would use magic to take out literal Satan in front of the Capitol, the conservatives would probably denounce it as a threat to Christianity and the American way of living.
"Still, I don't think the two spirits, or powers, are that difficult. Some values are universal," Daniel said. "Though, speaking of universal values, I wonder how the Church of She-Ra will handle this."
Right. Jack had almost forgotten about Priest and the other Clones. "I guess they'll welcome their sister-church or whatever."
"Likely. But I am wondering if the worship will shift from She-Ra to the power behind her, now that Gaia's existence has been confirmed," Daniel said. "Or if it expands into some duality, like the Holy Trinity, where She-Ra is seen as both the champion and part of the power behind her. It's fascinating to watch a religion evolve from its founding, so to speak. It might even split over such a question."
Jack didn't think Priest would let that happen. The Clone was far too canny for that. And in a pinch, they could just ask Adora about it and go with her take on the question. Or what Priest decided was her take - it wasn't as if he listened to her claims that she wasn't a goddess.
But that was a worry for another day. For now, Jack had to deal with the need to protect a magic tree from extremists trying to worship it or burn it down, and the threat of thousands of people suddenly having magic powers and the will to use them.
"We do not question Mother Gaia. Her decisions are beyond us," Hong said firmly.
"And yet, we can - and probably should - wonder why, amongst the thousands she has chosen, none are in our coven and conclave," Baker retorted.
"It could be that she already blessed us with her power so we could summon her, fulfilling our duty." Cranston shrugged. "Though we also don't know how you'd know if you've been chosen by Gaia as her champion - one of hers."
Adora didn't miss how Cranston, and everyone else at this 'gathering', which looked like a meeting, just in the open under Gaia's Tree, glanced or outright looked at her following that comment. Nor did she miss Catra's snort.
"Adora and I went out for a joyride on a stolen Horde skiff, and she stumbled over a magic sword after we crashed in the woods. Took her a while to find out how to use it, too."
Adora opened her mouth, then closed it again with a pout. That was… exactly how it had happened, but Catra could have worded it better!
She summoned her sword. "Although the sword I found broke later. Then I learned to summon this sword." There was no need to go into details about the First Ones' manipulations and their attempt to use She-Ra to control the stolen magic of the Galaxy through the Heart of Etheria.
"So… Mother Gaia might have placed similar weapons to be found by Her champions?" Hong asked.
"Or She wants us to learn how to summon Her power. Which we already know," Baker said. "We cannot assume that Mother Gaia will do the same as Etheria's spirit.
"That is a good point." Cranston nodded. "Earth's magic traditions are different. On Etheria, She-Ra is acting like a princess since that's how Etheria's magic works - well, the more powerful part of it; sorceresses are different. But princesses are dominant, so to say. Gaia might be working through practitioners like us, lending her power to rituals and other magic." She perked up. "We need to test that and see if the rituals have become more efficient! Although it might only apply if we do Gaia's will, so to speak. But we have to study it and learn more!"
Adora was reminded of Entrapta's attitude for a moment and suppressed a wince. And one more when she saw how other members of the sorceresses who had summoned Gaia's Tree seemed to agree.
"Yes." Hong nodded. "Earth is not Etheria. We do not have chosen princesses. We answer the call when needed, but we do not seek power over others."
"Neither do I," Adora protested. "I protect people, I don't rule them!"
"Yes, Supreme Commander of the Alliance against the Goa'uld," Catra said in a totally sarcastic way.
"Princesses rule their kingdoms because that's their duty, not because they seek power," Glimmer added with a scowl. "Our power comes with an obligation to use it for our people."
"With great power comes great responsibility," one member of Baker's coven said.
Glimmer scowled at her. "I know where that quote comes from!"
Catra snickered, though Adora nodded, remembering that interview one and a half years ago. It may come from a comic book, but it was still correct.
"But how do we test it when we don't know what Gaia's will is?" someone else asked.
Cranston smiled. "We need to work the same magic ritual with different aims and then look at the results each time. If the same effort results in greater effects for certain goals, Gaia is guiding us."
"Or you think so, and your expectations subconsciously guide your magic," Glimmer cut in.
Cranston frowned. "You're right. We would taint our own experiments. We need to do a study with subjects who don't know what we're doing."
That sounded like a recipe for disaster when it involved magic and Gaia's power, at least in Adora's opinion. And in Catra and Glimmer's, if their expressions were any hint.
But the sorceresses from Earth nodded. Their enthusiasm varied, but all seemed to be in favour of such experiments.
"You would set up someone to do magic for reasons Gaia might disagree with - violently - just for an experiment?" Glimmer asked, aghast.
Cranston winced, as did Baker, but Hong shook his head. "We would not set up anyone. We will merely ask to observe others doing magic, for their own goals and reasons, and draw our own conclusions."
"And get caught in the backlash if Gaia makes an example out of someone," Glimmer muttered.
"Mother Gaia wouldn't!" Baker protested. "She watches over us all! She will only punish those who abuse her power or threaten Earth!"
"Better hope she has good aim, then," Catra said. "Collateral damage can be a bitch."
The others glared at her for that, and Adora subtly moved a bit closer to her lover. She wouldn't let anyone attack Catra for sharing her thoughts. Even though she could have done it with a bit more respect.
At least, after her meeting with Gaia, Adora was pretty sure that the spirit wouldn't take offence at Catra's comment. You couldn't love humans like Gaia did - and Adora had felt that love - and not have a sense of humour.
Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, August 25th 2000
"...and while the affected area is still under investigation, research teams are hampered by the growing flora, aerial observation has confirmed that there is no giant tree growing in the forest. So far, no casualties have been reported, although several people have been treated for poison ivy exposure despite the plant not being native to the area. The police are keeping people from entering the area and evacuating the hikers and fishermen, though it's unclear how many remain in the affected area…"
"...the Mexican government declined to comment on the growing reports of suspected cartel members found impaled on trees that grew in their homes, stating that the police are still investigating and that it is too early to tell if this is another war between cartels or related to the so-called "Gaia's Awakening" incident in the Mojave Desert in California, yet…"
"...gruesome murder involved drowning the victim in what the police have determined as a toxic mixture of seawater and oil residue in his own home. While the investigation is still underway, rumours claim this is related to the victim's employer, which is involved in several court cases involving irregular disposal of toxic waste, and…"
"...the recently cleared area, where half a dozen new homes were planned to be built, has been covered with trees forming a new forest overnight in a display of obvious magic akin to the Magical tree in the Mojave Desert, albeit on a much smaller scale, so…"
"...visitors to various shrines in Japan report magical blessings as a result of prayers, and…"
"...Greenpeace's press release stated that they condemn violence and were not involved in the recent sinking of a Japanese whaler…"
"...called 'Gaia's Chosen', a group that has not been known so far, yet claimed that the current outbreak of Ebola was stopped using magic…"
"..the government in Tehran denied the incident despite several reports from eyewitnesses claiming that the barracks of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in the town were completely destroyed by what people described as 'nature itself attacking them', and…"
"...das Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz und Reaktorsicherheit gab keinen Kommentar ab zu den Meldungen, dass sich die Wasserqualität im Rhein und seinen Nebenflüssen massiv verbessert habe, und erklärte…"
"...massive corruption scandal broke yesterday when the police were called to what eyewitnesses described as plants overgrowing a luxury villa and discovered the personal secretary of the Prime Minister locked in his own bedroom with a million dollars in cash, and…"
Samantha Carter shook her head at what the Alliance intelligence had gathered so far.
"Looks like the Planeteers hit the ground running," the General commented as he looked at the screens displaying the news.
"The official term is 'Gaia's Chosen', I believe, sir," she corrected him. "And we have no reports so far of any magical rings being used."
"Right. I guess Tolkien's estate would sue in that case," he said in a serious voice, though she caught his grin at her playing along. "So, what's your take on this?"
"We can't tell yet how many of all the reported incidents are magical in nature, and how many of those are actually related to Gaia and not the work of Earth practitioners who aren't tied to the spirit," she told him. "Multiple groups have used magic to conduct similar attacks in the past, and some have claimed to act in Gaia's name even before the spirit's summoning. We still haven't found a way to discern between magic powered by Gaia and regular magic, though Mystacor's delegation remains optimistic." And they still weren't certain if it was advisable for the researchers to directly contact Gaia or not.
"I guess it doesn't really make much of a difference if Gaia doesn't give out orders. Everyone seems to be doing what they want, anyway."
"I think, based on how She-Ra was chosen on Etheria, that there is a high likelihood that Gaia deliberately chose champions with values she shares," Daniel spoke up.
"So, she wants eco-terrorism?" The General frowned as he pointed at another report of a CEO found dead in his penthouse.
"She's a spirit, Jack," Daniel replied. "And, again taking out cues from She-Ra's power, which manifested as a sword, she likely doesn't have any qualms about killing her enemies or cares about laws and procedures."
"And what are her enemies?"
Daniel winced. "Well… It's hard to say, and we don't know if she picked the enemies, or if she left that to her champions, but…"
"It looks like her enemies are people who exploit others," Sha're said, looking up from her tablet. "Most of the confirmed victims seem to have been people with power and money."
"That kind of covers a lot of people," the General said with a scowl. "Including pretty much every government."
Sam knew that. And she didn't think Gaia would care overly much about the difference between a CEO and a member of the government. Some vocal people certainly didn't.
"Well, let's hope her champions don't decide to go after an Alliance government." The General shook his head. "Hunting magical terrorists will get messy."
Sam was about to comment on that when the news on the main screen changed.
"Breaking News! Mount Rushmore National Memorial Destroyed! Breaking News!"
It took her a few moments to realise that the picture on the screen was Mount Rushmore as it had looked before the monument had been carved into the hill. And it was a live feed.
"Oh, boy," the General muttered. "That won't go over well back home. Not at all."
Mount Rushmore, South Dakota, United States of America, August 26th 2000
So, that was what, according to several consultants, would decide the American elections. Not the still growing number of people attacked with what so-called experts called 'nature magic', not the regrown forests or the clean rivers, but a mountain top that had been restored to its natural state or something.
Catra shook her head. Earth people were weird.
"If this continues, half the US National Guard is going to be deployed internally," Jack commented, glancing back at the line of soldiers holding back - and separating - protestors. Apparently, the state didn't have enough police to handle this. Or the governor didn't want to be seen handling it, as Danuel had speculated.
In any case, it didn't really matter as long as the crowds didn't start getting too violent. "I think it looks better this way," she said.
"So do a lot of people," Daniel said. "But a lot of people also demand that the monument be restored. Several activist groups, religious communities and, of course, the Sioux Nation have already launched suits to prevent this."
"And even if they did restore it, there's the matter of whoever did this just doing it again," Jack added.
"You could place a magical protection on it," Glimmer suggested. "But…"
"Oh, that would go over well with the Evangelicals," Jack muttered.
Glimmer rolled her eyes. "...but I don't know how well it would match up against whatever magic did this. If Gaia is behind this, then you'd probably need a lot of power to counter her."
"Would it even be possible?" Daniel asked. "Just to cover all options," he added.
"Well… We don't know," Glimmer said. "Earth favours certain types of magic. Spirits and curses, according to the current theories. And Etherian protection magic works without either, so it might be at a disadvantage when opposing those on Earth." She shrugged. "It's all theoretical, though - we haven't really done enough experiments on Earth to tell. Earth magic is still being developed and rediscovered, so no one really knows too much about it in the first place."
"So, we're stumbling around blind. And some people are running around blind," Catra said. "And the US government wants this dealt with yesterday."
"They're having fits." Jack scoffed. "Everyone on TV is talking about it - and blaming the government for it. Never mind that we're fighting a war against an Empire spanning half the galaxy with aliens who want to enslave us, this is much more important for national security."
"It's a symbol for the power of magic, Jack," Daniel said. "Gaia's Tree was impressive, but it grew in the middle of the desert and didn't really change much, at least as far as the average person thought. But this? A national monument everyone knew and many had visited was erased. People are afraid of what else will be erased. Or, as those who celebrate this say, will be restored to its natural state."
"If Gaia does this to our farms, people will starve. All over the world," Jack said with a grim expression. "You can't feed the population by hunting bison and gathering wild corn while living in harmony with the land."
"That's a cliche, Jack!" Daniel objected. "Native Americans used sophisticated agriculture whenever possible - and built extended irrigation systems. Humans have shaped and changed the land on which they lived at least since we started to grow crops. Perhaps even before, depending on the latest theories of the effects of organised hunting."
"Someone tell Gaia that."
"I think she already knows," Adora spoke up. "She is the guardian spirit of Earth."
"We think so, at least," Glimmer said.
"Who else could be that powerful?" Daniel asked.
"Well, one theory is that Gaia had her magic blocked for a thousand years before Adora restored it, and so she's still using a lot of that returned power, and this isn't her normal state," Glimmer said. "Though we haven't tested that either."
It sounded as if they needed to do a hell of a lot of testing, to Catra, to get a handle on this. All those theories and assumptions were not a good basis for important decisions.
"All that doesn't change the fact that the government wants this dealt with," Jack said.
"And how exactly? Do they want the monument restored?" Catra asked. That wouldn't be too hard, as long as no spirits interfered. Entrapta, Sam and Bow could, once they were finished with their analysis, probably reprogram some laser cannons to carve the heads back into the mountain.
"Primarily, they want no more such magical incidents," Jack said. "I guess they will wait for the polls to decide whether or not the monument should be restored."
"Well, the conservative pundits all agree that they want the monument restored immediately," Daniel said. "Or so they claim - if that actually happened, it would, at least to some degree, undermine their claim that the current government is helpless in the face of magic." He shrugged. "But I think that's left to the courts, anyway, so nothing will happen for a few years at least."
"Not here, maybe," Jack said. "But no one knows what Gaia will do next. Or her champions."
And that meant everyone was nervous. And nervous people were prone to panic. And the last thing you wanted was panicking people. Catra nodded.
"Gaia wants to protect Earth - all of it," Adora said. "She doesn't want to hurt us."
"But what about her chosen champions?" Daniel asked.
"It's like handing out weapons of mass destruction to activists with a grudge," Jack said. "Collateral damage will be ugly if we cannot stop this."
Adora frowned at him. "You can't just assume that! Gaia chose them!"
Like She-Ra's magic chose her, Catra knew. This was more than a bit personal for her love.
"Fear-mongering won't help anyone," Adora went on.
"And it's not as if we can do much to stop this, anyway," Glimmer said. "We can't hunt down every sorceress on Earth and check if she's empowered by Gaia. And even if we could, we wouldn't."
"So, we do nothing and hope for the best?" Jack asked.
"We do research," Daniel said. "We find out as much as we can about this… new development. And then we can make an informed decision."
Jack didn't look like he thought this would be working.
Neither did Catra. No ruler wanted to be seen as doing nothing in such a situation. Or, worse, as being unable to do anything. And it would be worse for a democratic government.
Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, August 27th 2000
"Good morning, General O'Neill."
"Good morning, Senator." Jack O'Neill resisted the urge to squeeze Kinsey's hand hard enough to leave bruises.
"Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to meet me."
"My door's always open," Jack said with a forced smile. Open for you scumbag to leave, he silently added. If the President hadn't called ahead and arranged this… At least, Jack had managed to schedule the meeting in Brussels, not on his base. The last thing he wanted was Kinsey near his troops, trying to poach people for his NID buddies.
"Good." Kinsey returned his fake smile with one of his own and sat down across Jack's desk. "I assume you know what this is about."
Jack was tempted to say 'money', but he wasn't that petty. And he wanted this to be over with so he could focus on problems he could deal with - preferably by shooting them. "The election."
Kinsey smiled. "Indeed. More precisely, the recent developments." He leaned forward. "I'll come straight to the point: Can the Alliance stop Gaia and its 'champions' from doing whatever they want to do in America?"
Gaia's champions were active in the entire world. Jack had read reports of incidents attributed to them from all corners of the world, and that was without looking at a series of suspicious deaths amongst powerful people with questionable morals. Like Kinsey and what might be his friends if the man were capable of friendship, actually. But this was about America.
Jack shook his head. "No. We can't find them amongst all the practitioners not empowered by Gaia." Not that tracking the normal sorceresses was any easier. "We're working on that, but it might take years to create a way to track magic like that, or so the experts tell me. Best we can do is propping up the magical defences for key assets, and even that's straining our available magical forces."
The American government wasn't the only one screaming for help; almost everyone in the Alliance wanted more magical protection, most just weren't as public about it. Then again, most other members didn't have to deal with as many nutjobs trying to revive witch hunts as the United States.
Kinsey slowly nodded. "That confirms our own analysis. We can't beat them. Not in the short run."
"We're not exactly helpless. There are just too many practitioners to track," Jack said. "And our sorceresses were planning to deal with regular practitioners, not people empowered by Earth's guardian spirit." Adjusting for such a potential threat took time. Time that should be spent on fighting the Goa'uld.
Kinsey made a dismissive gesture. "Yes, yes, I've seen the reports. It boils down to the fact that we can't expect this wave of magical vandalism and assault, and possibly murder, to stop before November." He leaned forward. "And that means, the United States Government might be replaced by a government put in power by extremists who want to return America to the time of the witch hunts and panicking people who will be seeing witches around every corner. I don't have to tell you what that would mean for the Alliance and the prosperity of the United States."
But you'll do it anyway, Jack thought.
And, as expected, Kinsey went on: "We'll see lynch mobs forming in the streets and witches striking back even if the new government cuts all ties to the Evangelicals instead of trying to appease them by 'regulating' magic. Hell, we'll have to deal with that bullshit even if we win the election. A fellow senator wants Dungeons & Dragons banned as if we were still in the Eighties! Either way, the Alliance won't tolerate that."
Jack nodded. The Alliance wouldn't intervene in a country even if there were witch hunts happening as long as the local government made some credible efforts to stop it - the Etherians had accepted that, though with lots of teeth-gnashing. But if such witch hunts happened across the United States, and the government half-assed its response? Or, worse, the witches blamed the government and started attacking it, prompting retaliation? And while Jack could vouch for his own forces, he wouldn't bet that the rest of the Americans serving in the Alliance would sit tight while this went down in their homes. And if the government called back the soldiers…
"In short, unless an angel from the Lord comes down to set things straight, our country is fucked. And the Lord has been very quiet for a very long time."
So much for his faith. Jack shook his head. "You didn't fly over just to tell me that."
Kinsey smiled. "No, I didn't. You agree that this can't be allowed to happen, don't you?"
Of course not - Jack loved his country.
"So, we won't let it happen."
"And you want my help for whatever you're planning."
"I want the Etherians' help. And you're their best friend. Well, you're the one amongst their best friends who understands what we need to do to save the country."
Jack tensed. "What are you suggesting, Senator?"
"I'm not suggesting anything." Kinsey was all smiles again. "What I need from you is good PR from the Etherians. You know, show how nice magic is. Heal the sick, reclaim the desert, let kids ride on that commie flying unicorn, create green gardens in empty city lots - whatever you can think of. If you can't beat them, join them, and all that."
"That won't stop Gaia's champions from working their magic," Jack pointed out.
"But it will counter the anti-magic campaign, at least to some degree. If we can blunt that, we can win the election - everything else is playing well with the public, even the war."
Jack narrowed his eyes. "That doesn't seem like you'd need my help for that - the Etherians would do that even if you asked them."
"I also need you to keep them from looking too closely into other things," Kinsey said.
"Other things?"
Kinsey shrugged with a toothy smile. "Criminal investigations, accidents - internal affairs of the United States. It would be bad if they started to interfere with that."
Jack tensed again. They couldn't track Gaia's champions. Kinsey knew that. So, Kinsey's friends in the NID couldn't do anything about them. But they could do something about the people behind the anti-magic campaign. Jack was sure that they had already done something similar about the most vocal opposition to the newest Amendment granting equal rights to gays. All that drug and child abuse that was revealed had been a bit too convenient.
He stared at the Senator. What the man had hinted at was illegal. Election interference and other crimes. Capital crimes. The things Jack had done to other countries in the past.
Kinsey smiled.
Mojave Containment Zone, California, United States of America, August 22nd 2000
Samantha Carter watched her screen as the giant tree started to glow more brightly. "No radiation except for visible light," she reported. Multiple scanners confirmed that. "No emissions that would indicate advanced technology."
"Well, yeah, I think we can safely deduce it's magic," the General replied.
She narrowed her eyes as she frowned, but didn't look up from her computer. Even if you knew that it was most likely magic because you knew about and were observing the ritual, it paid to check anyway.
"Why is everyone just standing there?" Colonel Brown asked.
"Cause it's magic," the General said. "The wrong move might make the tree explode - or their heads."
Sam pressed her lips together for a moment before she answered: "They are communicating with the spirit. They should…" She blinked and trailed off when she suddenly felt completely at ease. Safe. Protected. Loved.
Manipulated, she realised a moment later.
Colonel Brown gasped. "What… what was that?"
"I hope that was the spirit trying to be friendly and non-threatening," the General said.
But it was very threatening. That kind of emotional influence, used against you… Sam clenched her teeth. What if the spirit could use it in more subtle ways? Make you just a bit more trusting? More daring? The potential was frightening.
"Do not be afraid," Major Hawking muttered.
Colonel Brown glared at him. "That's not an angel, Major!"
"Well, it's close enough for me," Major Hawking retorted.
"It's a spirit! Summoned by witches!"
"Most of them prefer the term 'sorceresses'," the General said. "And whatever it is, we're now talking to it, so we better be on our best behaviour - we don't know if the spirit can hear us here."
"But…" Brown actually paled. "They can hear us?"
"We don't know if they can. But we're pretty close to the tree, so… I wouldn't try to make it mad."
They were just barely not under the canopy, Sam knew - just enough of a distance so that they wouldn't be in danger if the tree should topple. But it was basically ground zero for any magical attack with the kind of power the magical detectors were reporting. The light was merely a side effect compared to all the magic gathered in the tree.
And this was created, or summoned, by a bunch of students at Mystacor and a few self-taught practitioners? It was like first-year cadets at the Air Force Academy building their own nukes! She blinked. Alright, if she had wanted to build a nuke as a cadet, and wouldn't have minded breaking enough laws to get a life sentence, she could have done that. But she hadn't.
And then the glow faded - and so did the spirit. But the magic power didn't diminish. She checked her readings, then checked the feeds. Everyone was standing and moving. None had collapsed.
She didn't know if that was a good or bad sign.
"So… let's see what it told our friends," the General said. "We might not have to break out the big honking guns."
"General! You said not to make it mad!" Brown protested.
The General grinned at him. "That's not making it mad - that's warning it that we're not pushovers."
Sam shook her head as she grabbed her laptop and followed the General out of the command post.
*****
"...so, Adora was kind of frozen for a second, but it was longer for her while they spoke in their minds or something - I don't know yet if it's a magical projection, a sort of telepathy with subjective time, or a multidimensional effect that transproted her consciousness to a higher dimension where time did pass faster. We need more data! But even so, the data we got is fascinating! And we need to see how far that emotional aura reached - it would be a great tool to handle angry crowds, I think!"
Sam nodded at Entrapta's excited explanations. Although she doubted that the government would allow the use of emotion-manipulating magic for crowd control. The potential for abuse was just too great. People would panic if such a policy were implemented - and rightly so. Especially if it couldn't be aimed. On the other hand, imagining how riots would play out if both rioters and police forces suddenly felt safe and calm was a nice mental exercise.
"I don't think we should summon Gaia again for some time." Glimmer said. "Certainly not for experiments. She is not Earth's She-Ra - she's the power behind Earth's She-Ra!"
And that was a disturbing piece of information. Sam - and the leading scholars of Etheria - had assumed that the power behind She-Ra wasn't sapient. It had to be sentient to pick its champion, but none of the planet's records had shown anything like what had happened today.
Then again, Earth's magic was different from Etheria's magic. Some had theorised that it leaned towards 'summons' and 'curses'. Today's ritual seemed to support that.
"So, instead of one tough magical princess-protector like Etheria, Earth gets thousands of tiny ones?" the General said.
"We don't know if those people that Adora saw…"
"I didn't see them - I only saw dots on a globe!" Adora interrupted Glimmer.
"Yes, I know. But we don't know if those Gaia indicated were her chosen champions or just those with the potential to be her champion," Glimmer said.
"I think they were her champions," Adora said. "It felt like that."
"Well, we'll know more as soon as someone summons another giant tree somewhere. It's not something we can miss - we can see the things from space," the General said.
"But… if thousands of people can do this…" Barrow shook her head. "In any case, we cannot let the tree stand! People will think that the government has lost control over our country's security!"
"You want to destroy the vessel of Earth's guardian spirit?" Glimmer shook her head. "Do you want to find out what Earth's She-Ras can do to you in retaliation?"
"But…" Barrow closed her mouth. "That would be an alien attack!"
"What? The guardian spirit of Earth isn't an alien!" Glimmer protested.
"And that would be ignoring the religious aspect of this," Daniel added. "This might become the centre of worship for several religions."
Sam nodded. Religions with access to a spirit as powerful as She-Ra's power. Religious conflicts were bad enough without such power involved.
"I think the tree's here to stay," Catra said.
"At least the government can claim that this goddess is a resident of America," the General joked.
Barrow suddenly blinked, and Sam couldn't help wondering if the General would regret his comment.
*****
Mojave Containment Zone, California, United States of America, August 23rd 2000
"...and the government maintains the claim that the situation with the Mojave Tree is under control despite thousands of concerned citizens reporting suddenly feeling drugged! How much longer do the American people have to suffer magical threats and attacks? How much longer until no one can be sure any more if they still have a will of their own? How much longer until magic controls the entire country? There is still time to stop this! Time to save our country and our soul! Your vote matters - only together can we repel this attack on the core of our country! Vote for…"
Sitting on a seat in the shuttle's main area, Catra rolled her eyes and switched channels.
"...and here in Washington, everyone is waiting with bated breath for the president's press conference about the Magical Mojave Tree. According to anonymous but usually well-informed sources, the government will not remove the tree, though the reasons for such a contentious decision have not yet been specified. Many Americans are concerned about the effects the tree might have on them, and a recent poll shows that concern about magic affecting their daily life has eclipsed the state of the war against the Goa'uld Empire as the main fear among the population."
"So much for all the reporters covering the attack," Catra muttered. "All those annoyances, and nothing to show for it."
"It did help with morale," Daniel said. "If people are less concerned about the war, that means they are less afraid because of it as well. That certainly is positive. Afraid people tend to make rash decisions, and it is an election year."
"If Etheria were a democracy, the Horde probably would have won," Catra said with a shrug. "I would have demoralised the people with a few campaigns and then promised peace."
"Others have tried that in the past. Democracies can be surprisingly tough to defeat." Daniel shook his head. "At least if there's an existential threat. They are easier to convince to end a war if it's not waged for their own survival and if the people don't think the goal is worth the cost. It's the difference between World War Two and the Vietnam War."
That didn't really sound convincing to Catra. "And what if they are wrong about something not being an existential threat? Or about something being an existential threat?" She pointed at the screen.
"...and magic is much more dangerous than aliens. We can fight aliens - we are fighting them. With weapons, ships and soldiers! But magic? We aren't fighting magic. We are letting it poison our children! Lure them away from God! Corrupt the heart and soul of our nation! The current government has utterly failed the American people - it represents the greatest threat to America since our proud country was born!"
"Those are extremists," Daniel replied - though he was wincing. "The law and the constitution are clear about this."
"Did anyone tell them that?" Catra raised her eyebrows. "They are one step from calling for witch hunts."
"Well, their candidate has opposed such demands. Quite clearly," Daniel said,
"Because that would make the Alliance intervene." Catra crossed her arms over her chest. "But he's still counting on their votes and promising to strictly regulate and control magic." That was fear-mongering.
"That's the usual tactics in an election. Should he be elected, I doubt he'll actually do much about that. Some performative initiatives at most - he knows how important the Alliance is for the country and will not risk it," Daniel said. "A lot of what is said in an election campaign will never be implemented."
"So… your candidates lie to their voters." Catra shook her head.
Daniel shrugged. "In a way, yes. But many people, also and often especially autocratic leaders, promise more than they can actually provide."
That was true. Princesses did the same. Still… "And does everyone know that? Witches and other sorceresses as well a the religious nutcases?" Catra asked. "Because if one of the champions of Tree-Ra thinks that this guy is serious…" She pointed at the screen. "...then we could have a problem."
Daniel winced. "That would be a problem. We should intensify our efforts to find those people so we can talk to them."
Catra snorted. Gaia hadn't given them a map or a communicator. And they had no way to track Gaia's magic. They were working on that, but Catra didn't think Castaspella and her people would develop one soon enough to make a difference. "Anyone with magic could be a champion of her. And there are already people worshipping her who have a magical talent but aren't champions." Or didn't admit it. Though she thought that if Hong or Baker had been blessed by Gaia with her power, they would have said so. "Hell, they might genuinely believe that they are her champions."
Daniel winced again. "Yes, that's quite plausible. The Vatican has released a statement that magical talent wasn't a sign of divine favour nor was magic used by a member of the flock divine, and, therefore, healing people was not considered a miracle if it happened after magic was restored to Earth - although their main argument is that claiming that God needed She-Ra to restore magic to work through his faithful was heresy - but other religions do not have a central authority like that."
"So… a lot of people got magic powers - in a time where people in America are using fear of magic for political gains." Catra shook her head again. "That's not going to end well."
Daniel nodded in agreement, but before he could say anything else, the press conference started.
*****
"...and the United States Government has determined that the tree that was grown with magic in the Mojave Desert is not a danger to the American people. The United States Government also has recognised that the tree represents a religious and cultural icon for many Americans and, therefore, will be protected against vandalism and further attempts to destroy it."
"There have been rumours that the tree is the seat of 'Mother Gaia', supposedly a guardian spirit of Earth. What does the government have to say about this?"
"The United States Government can neither confirm nor deny those claims at the moment. What it can confirm is that the tree serves as the vessel for a summoned spirit of considerable power, and that those who summoned it call it Gaia, though we have yet to determine what exactly that means."
"Is the government placing magic under the protections of Freedom of Religion? There are several ongoing lawsuits that have yet to reach the Supreme Court concerning this issue."
"The United States Government recognises that worshipping spirits falls under the Freedom of Religion. That doesn't imply anything in general about the practice of magic. This is a matter for the courts."
"What about the Freedom of Religion of those whose religious feelings are hurt and who feel threatened by the presence of obvious pagan magic in their home?"
"The United States are built on the principle of the separation of Church and State. The United States Government will not favour any religion over another."
"Some people would say that by letting one religion use magic, that one is favoured above others."
"Everyone is free to use magic within the bounds of laws, and those bounds are being determined by the courts."
"What about the threat magic represents? There are numerous reports of people being cursed and otherwise assaulted with magic! Many are demanding that strict regulation and controls be placed over magic."
"Was there a question in this? In any case, the United States Government is paying close attention to this question, but the responsibility of litigation lies with Congress."
Jack O'Neill shook his head. "Regulate magic but not guns? Bunch of hypocrites!"
"They didn't claim that Gaia was American," Sha're commented after a moment's silence.
"That would be a step too much after they downplayed Gaia's existence," Daniel said. "The government probably decided that they donˆt want to antagonise the more extremist Christians by acknowledging Gaia as a religious figure."
Jack scoffed. "They've already antagonised those people by acknowledging the gays and not hunting witches. They should go all-in." The Evangelicals would never vote for them anyway.
"That might be a step too far for the moderate Christians," Daniel objected. "And playing it safe, so to speak, won't antagonise the worshippers of Gaia and the other practitioners of magic - it's not as if they have an alternative to vote for."
"No, but they have magic, and if they feel neglected or threatened, they might lash out. There's always someone who will abuse what power they're given," Jack said. "And we don't want someone cursing people en masse as an October surprise." Hell, some of the Evangelical mouthpieces would probably hire a witch to do that if it won them the elections - Jack was sure that the FBI was already spending quite the resources to prevent that; he'd have to ask Paris and Wilkinson if their former buddies at the Bureau could use some unofficial help. The Alliance wasn't supposed to be active in internal matters of its members, but Jack had a feeling that the government wouldn't make a fuss as long as it remained under the table.
"Well, if Gaia is the counterpart to She-Ra's magic, then she won't grant her power to just anyone but those who would wield it responsibly and to help others. At least the known history of She-Ra would suggest that," Daniel said.
"This is Earth, not Etheria," Jack said. "And She-Ra got a huge sword from her power. Not exactly the most peaceful tool." Of course, sometimes you had to take out someone to save people, but right now, even if one of Gaia's Champions - everyone had glared at him for suggesting the name 'Planeteers' - would use magic to take out literal Satan in front of the Capitol, the conservatives would probably denounce it as a threat to Christianity and the American way of living.
"Still, I don't think the two spirits, or powers, are that difficult. Some values are universal," Daniel said. "Though, speaking of universal values, I wonder how the Church of She-Ra will handle this."
Right. Jack had almost forgotten about Priest and the other Clones. "I guess they'll welcome their sister-church or whatever."
"Likely. But I am wondering if the worship will shift from She-Ra to the power behind her, now that Gaia's existence has been confirmed," Daniel said. "Or if it expands into some duality, like the Holy Trinity, where She-Ra is seen as both the champion and part of the power behind her. It's fascinating to watch a religion evolve from its founding, so to speak. It might even split over such a question."
Jack didn't think Priest would let that happen. The Clone was far too canny for that. And in a pinch, they could just ask Adora about it and go with her take on the question. Or what Priest decided was her take - it wasn't as if he listened to her claims that she wasn't a goddess.
But that was a worry for another day. For now, Jack had to deal with the need to protect a magic tree from extremists trying to worship it or burn it down, and the threat of thousands of people suddenly having magic powers and the will to use them.
*****
"We do not question Mother Gaia. Her decisions are beyond us," Hong said firmly.
"And yet, we can - and probably should - wonder why, amongst the thousands she has chosen, none are in our coven and conclave," Baker retorted.
"It could be that she already blessed us with her power so we could summon her, fulfilling our duty." Cranston shrugged. "Though we also don't know how you'd know if you've been chosen by Gaia as her champion - one of hers."
Adora didn't miss how Cranston, and everyone else at this 'gathering', which looked like a meeting, just in the open under Gaia's Tree, glanced or outright looked at her following that comment. Nor did she miss Catra's snort.
"Adora and I went out for a joyride on a stolen Horde skiff, and she stumbled over a magic sword after we crashed in the woods. Took her a while to find out how to use it, too."
Adora opened her mouth, then closed it again with a pout. That was… exactly how it had happened, but Catra could have worded it better!
She summoned her sword. "Although the sword I found broke later. Then I learned to summon this sword." There was no need to go into details about the First Ones' manipulations and their attempt to use She-Ra to control the stolen magic of the Galaxy through the Heart of Etheria.
"So… Mother Gaia might have placed similar weapons to be found by Her champions?" Hong asked.
"Or She wants us to learn how to summon Her power. Which we already know," Baker said. "We cannot assume that Mother Gaia will do the same as Etheria's spirit.
"That is a good point." Cranston nodded. "Earth's magic traditions are different. On Etheria, She-Ra is acting like a princess since that's how Etheria's magic works - well, the more powerful part of it; sorceresses are different. But princesses are dominant, so to say. Gaia might be working through practitioners like us, lending her power to rituals and other magic." She perked up. "We need to test that and see if the rituals have become more efficient! Although it might only apply if we do Gaia's will, so to speak. But we have to study it and learn more!"
Adora was reminded of Entrapta's attitude for a moment and suppressed a wince. And one more when she saw how other members of the sorceresses who had summoned Gaia's Tree seemed to agree.
"Yes." Hong nodded. "Earth is not Etheria. We do not have chosen princesses. We answer the call when needed, but we do not seek power over others."
"Neither do I," Adora protested. "I protect people, I don't rule them!"
"Yes, Supreme Commander of the Alliance against the Goa'uld," Catra said in a totally sarcastic way.
"Princesses rule their kingdoms because that's their duty, not because they seek power," Glimmer added with a scowl. "Our power comes with an obligation to use it for our people."
"With great power comes great responsibility," one member of Baker's coven said.
Glimmer scowled at her. "I know where that quote comes from!"
Catra snickered, though Adora nodded, remembering that interview one and a half years ago. It may come from a comic book, but it was still correct.
"But how do we test it when we don't know what Gaia's will is?" someone else asked.
Cranston smiled. "We need to work the same magic ritual with different aims and then look at the results each time. If the same effort results in greater effects for certain goals, Gaia is guiding us."
"Or you think so, and your expectations subconsciously guide your magic," Glimmer cut in.
Cranston frowned. "You're right. We would taint our own experiments. We need to do a study with subjects who don't know what we're doing."
That sounded like a recipe for disaster when it involved magic and Gaia's power, at least in Adora's opinion. And in Catra and Glimmer's, if their expressions were any hint.
But the sorceresses from Earth nodded. Their enthusiasm varied, but all seemed to be in favour of such experiments.
"You would set up someone to do magic for reasons Gaia might disagree with - violently - just for an experiment?" Glimmer asked, aghast.
Cranston winced, as did Baker, but Hong shook his head. "We would not set up anyone. We will merely ask to observe others doing magic, for their own goals and reasons, and draw our own conclusions."
"And get caught in the backlash if Gaia makes an example out of someone," Glimmer muttered.
"Mother Gaia wouldn't!" Baker protested. "She watches over us all! She will only punish those who abuse her power or threaten Earth!"
"Better hope she has good aim, then," Catra said. "Collateral damage can be a bitch."
The others glared at her for that, and Adora subtly moved a bit closer to her lover. She wouldn't let anyone attack Catra for sharing her thoughts. Even though she could have done it with a bit more respect.
At least, after her meeting with Gaia, Adora was pretty sure that the spirit wouldn't take offence at Catra's comment. You couldn't love humans like Gaia did - and Adora had felt that love - and not have a sense of humour.
*****
Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, August 25th 2000
"...and while the affected area is still under investigation, research teams are hampered by the growing flora, aerial observation has confirmed that there is no giant tree growing in the forest. So far, no casualties have been reported, although several people have been treated for poison ivy exposure despite the plant not being native to the area. The police are keeping people from entering the area and evacuating the hikers and fishermen, though it's unclear how many remain in the affected area…"
"...the Mexican government declined to comment on the growing reports of suspected cartel members found impaled on trees that grew in their homes, stating that the police are still investigating and that it is too early to tell if this is another war between cartels or related to the so-called "Gaia's Awakening" incident in the Mojave Desert in California, yet…"
"...gruesome murder involved drowning the victim in what the police have determined as a toxic mixture of seawater and oil residue in his own home. While the investigation is still underway, rumours claim this is related to the victim's employer, which is involved in several court cases involving irregular disposal of toxic waste, and…"
"...the recently cleared area, where half a dozen new homes were planned to be built, has been covered with trees forming a new forest overnight in a display of obvious magic akin to the Magical tree in the Mojave Desert, albeit on a much smaller scale, so…"
"...visitors to various shrines in Japan report magical blessings as a result of prayers, and…"
"...Greenpeace's press release stated that they condemn violence and were not involved in the recent sinking of a Japanese whaler…"
"...called 'Gaia's Chosen', a group that has not been known so far, yet claimed that the current outbreak of Ebola was stopped using magic…"
"..the government in Tehran denied the incident despite several reports from eyewitnesses claiming that the barracks of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in the town were completely destroyed by what people described as 'nature itself attacking them', and…"
"...das Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz und Reaktorsicherheit gab keinen Kommentar ab zu den Meldungen, dass sich die Wasserqualität im Rhein und seinen Nebenflüssen massiv verbessert habe, und erklärte…"
"...massive corruption scandal broke yesterday when the police were called to what eyewitnesses described as plants overgrowing a luxury villa and discovered the personal secretary of the Prime Minister locked in his own bedroom with a million dollars in cash, and…"
Samantha Carter shook her head at what the Alliance intelligence had gathered so far.
"Looks like the Planeteers hit the ground running," the General commented as he looked at the screens displaying the news.
"The official term is 'Gaia's Chosen', I believe, sir," she corrected him. "And we have no reports so far of any magical rings being used."
"Right. I guess Tolkien's estate would sue in that case," he said in a serious voice, though she caught his grin at her playing along. "So, what's your take on this?"
"We can't tell yet how many of all the reported incidents are magical in nature, and how many of those are actually related to Gaia and not the work of Earth practitioners who aren't tied to the spirit," she told him. "Multiple groups have used magic to conduct similar attacks in the past, and some have claimed to act in Gaia's name even before the spirit's summoning. We still haven't found a way to discern between magic powered by Gaia and regular magic, though Mystacor's delegation remains optimistic." And they still weren't certain if it was advisable for the researchers to directly contact Gaia or not.
"I guess it doesn't really make much of a difference if Gaia doesn't give out orders. Everyone seems to be doing what they want, anyway."
"I think, based on how She-Ra was chosen on Etheria, that there is a high likelihood that Gaia deliberately chose champions with values she shares," Daniel spoke up.
"So, she wants eco-terrorism?" The General frowned as he pointed at another report of a CEO found dead in his penthouse.
"She's a spirit, Jack," Daniel replied. "And, again taking out cues from She-Ra's power, which manifested as a sword, she likely doesn't have any qualms about killing her enemies or cares about laws and procedures."
"And what are her enemies?"
Daniel winced. "Well… It's hard to say, and we don't know if she picked the enemies, or if she left that to her champions, but…"
"It looks like her enemies are people who exploit others," Sha're said, looking up from her tablet. "Most of the confirmed victims seem to have been people with power and money."
"That kind of covers a lot of people," the General said with a scowl. "Including pretty much every government."
Sam knew that. And she didn't think Gaia would care overly much about the difference between a CEO and a member of the government. Some vocal people certainly didn't.
"Well, let's hope her champions don't decide to go after an Alliance government." The General shook his head. "Hunting magical terrorists will get messy."
Sam was about to comment on that when the news on the main screen changed.
"Breaking News! Mount Rushmore National Memorial Destroyed! Breaking News!"
It took her a few moments to realise that the picture on the screen was Mount Rushmore as it had looked before the monument had been carved into the hill. And it was a live feed.
"Oh, boy," the General muttered. "That won't go over well back home. Not at all."
*****
Mount Rushmore, South Dakota, United States of America, August 26th 2000
So, that was what, according to several consultants, would decide the American elections. Not the still growing number of people attacked with what so-called experts called 'nature magic', not the regrown forests or the clean rivers, but a mountain top that had been restored to its natural state or something.
Catra shook her head. Earth people were weird.
"If this continues, half the US National Guard is going to be deployed internally," Jack commented, glancing back at the line of soldiers holding back - and separating - protestors. Apparently, the state didn't have enough police to handle this. Or the governor didn't want to be seen handling it, as Danuel had speculated.
In any case, it didn't really matter as long as the crowds didn't start getting too violent. "I think it looks better this way," she said.
"So do a lot of people," Daniel said. "But a lot of people also demand that the monument be restored. Several activist groups, religious communities and, of course, the Sioux Nation have already launched suits to prevent this."
"And even if they did restore it, there's the matter of whoever did this just doing it again," Jack added.
"You could place a magical protection on it," Glimmer suggested. "But…"
"Oh, that would go over well with the Evangelicals," Jack muttered.
Glimmer rolled her eyes. "...but I don't know how well it would match up against whatever magic did this. If Gaia is behind this, then you'd probably need a lot of power to counter her."
"Would it even be possible?" Daniel asked. "Just to cover all options," he added.
"Well… We don't know," Glimmer said. "Earth favours certain types of magic. Spirits and curses, according to the current theories. And Etherian protection magic works without either, so it might be at a disadvantage when opposing those on Earth." She shrugged. "It's all theoretical, though - we haven't really done enough experiments on Earth to tell. Earth magic is still being developed and rediscovered, so no one really knows too much about it in the first place."
"So, we're stumbling around blind. And some people are running around blind," Catra said. "And the US government wants this dealt with yesterday."
"They're having fits." Jack scoffed. "Everyone on TV is talking about it - and blaming the government for it. Never mind that we're fighting a war against an Empire spanning half the galaxy with aliens who want to enslave us, this is much more important for national security."
"It's a symbol for the power of magic, Jack," Daniel said. "Gaia's Tree was impressive, but it grew in the middle of the desert and didn't really change much, at least as far as the average person thought. But this? A national monument everyone knew and many had visited was erased. People are afraid of what else will be erased. Or, as those who celebrate this say, will be restored to its natural state."
"If Gaia does this to our farms, people will starve. All over the world," Jack said with a grim expression. "You can't feed the population by hunting bison and gathering wild corn while living in harmony with the land."
"That's a cliche, Jack!" Daniel objected. "Native Americans used sophisticated agriculture whenever possible - and built extended irrigation systems. Humans have shaped and changed the land on which they lived at least since we started to grow crops. Perhaps even before, depending on the latest theories of the effects of organised hunting."
"Someone tell Gaia that."
"I think she already knows," Adora spoke up. "She is the guardian spirit of Earth."
"We think so, at least," Glimmer said.
"Who else could be that powerful?" Daniel asked.
"Well, one theory is that Gaia had her magic blocked for a thousand years before Adora restored it, and so she's still using a lot of that returned power, and this isn't her normal state," Glimmer said. "Though we haven't tested that either."
It sounded as if they needed to do a hell of a lot of testing, to Catra, to get a handle on this. All those theories and assumptions were not a good basis for important decisions.
"All that doesn't change the fact that the government wants this dealt with," Jack said.
"And how exactly? Do they want the monument restored?" Catra asked. That wouldn't be too hard, as long as no spirits interfered. Entrapta, Sam and Bow could, once they were finished with their analysis, probably reprogram some laser cannons to carve the heads back into the mountain.
"Primarily, they want no more such magical incidents," Jack said. "I guess they will wait for the polls to decide whether or not the monument should be restored."
"Well, the conservative pundits all agree that they want the monument restored immediately," Daniel said. "Or so they claim - if that actually happened, it would, at least to some degree, undermine their claim that the current government is helpless in the face of magic." He shrugged. "But I think that's left to the courts, anyway, so nothing will happen for a few years at least."
"Not here, maybe," Jack said. "But no one knows what Gaia will do next. Or her champions."
And that meant everyone was nervous. And nervous people were prone to panic. And the last thing you wanted was panicking people. Catra nodded.
"Gaia wants to protect Earth - all of it," Adora said. "She doesn't want to hurt us."
"But what about her chosen champions?" Daniel asked.
"It's like handing out weapons of mass destruction to activists with a grudge," Jack said. "Collateral damage will be ugly if we cannot stop this."
Adora frowned at him. "You can't just assume that! Gaia chose them!"
Like She-Ra's magic chose her, Catra knew. This was more than a bit personal for her love.
"Fear-mongering won't help anyone," Adora went on.
"And it's not as if we can do much to stop this, anyway," Glimmer said. "We can't hunt down every sorceress on Earth and check if she's empowered by Gaia. And even if we could, we wouldn't."
"So, we do nothing and hope for the best?" Jack asked.
"We do research," Daniel said. "We find out as much as we can about this… new development. And then we can make an informed decision."
Jack didn't look like he thought this would be working.
Neither did Catra. No ruler wanted to be seen as doing nothing in such a situation. Or, worse, as being unable to do anything. And it would be worse for a democratic government.
*****
Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, August 27th 2000
"Good morning, General O'Neill."
"Good morning, Senator." Jack O'Neill resisted the urge to squeeze Kinsey's hand hard enough to leave bruises.
"Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to meet me."
"My door's always open," Jack said with a forced smile. Open for you scumbag to leave, he silently added. If the President hadn't called ahead and arranged this… At least, Jack had managed to schedule the meeting in Brussels, not on his base. The last thing he wanted was Kinsey near his troops, trying to poach people for his NID buddies.
"Good." Kinsey returned his fake smile with one of his own and sat down across Jack's desk. "I assume you know what this is about."
Jack was tempted to say 'money', but he wasn't that petty. And he wanted this to be over with so he could focus on problems he could deal with - preferably by shooting them. "The election."
Kinsey smiled. "Indeed. More precisely, the recent developments." He leaned forward. "I'll come straight to the point: Can the Alliance stop Gaia and its 'champions' from doing whatever they want to do in America?"
Gaia's champions were active in the entire world. Jack had read reports of incidents attributed to them from all corners of the world, and that was without looking at a series of suspicious deaths amongst powerful people with questionable morals. Like Kinsey and what might be his friends if the man were capable of friendship, actually. But this was about America.
Jack shook his head. "No. We can't find them amongst all the practitioners not empowered by Gaia." Not that tracking the normal sorceresses was any easier. "We're working on that, but it might take years to create a way to track magic like that, or so the experts tell me. Best we can do is propping up the magical defences for key assets, and even that's straining our available magical forces."
The American government wasn't the only one screaming for help; almost everyone in the Alliance wanted more magical protection, most just weren't as public about it. Then again, most other members didn't have to deal with as many nutjobs trying to revive witch hunts as the United States.
Kinsey slowly nodded. "That confirms our own analysis. We can't beat them. Not in the short run."
"We're not exactly helpless. There are just too many practitioners to track," Jack said. "And our sorceresses were planning to deal with regular practitioners, not people empowered by Earth's guardian spirit." Adjusting for such a potential threat took time. Time that should be spent on fighting the Goa'uld.
Kinsey made a dismissive gesture. "Yes, yes, I've seen the reports. It boils down to the fact that we can't expect this wave of magical vandalism and assault, and possibly murder, to stop before November." He leaned forward. "And that means, the United States Government might be replaced by a government put in power by extremists who want to return America to the time of the witch hunts and panicking people who will be seeing witches around every corner. I don't have to tell you what that would mean for the Alliance and the prosperity of the United States."
But you'll do it anyway, Jack thought.
And, as expected, Kinsey went on: "We'll see lynch mobs forming in the streets and witches striking back even if the new government cuts all ties to the Evangelicals instead of trying to appease them by 'regulating' magic. Hell, we'll have to deal with that bullshit even if we win the election. A fellow senator wants Dungeons & Dragons banned as if we were still in the Eighties! Either way, the Alliance won't tolerate that."
Jack nodded. The Alliance wouldn't intervene in a country even if there were witch hunts happening as long as the local government made some credible efforts to stop it - the Etherians had accepted that, though with lots of teeth-gnashing. But if such witch hunts happened across the United States, and the government half-assed its response? Or, worse, the witches blamed the government and started attacking it, prompting retaliation? And while Jack could vouch for his own forces, he wouldn't bet that the rest of the Americans serving in the Alliance would sit tight while this went down in their homes. And if the government called back the soldiers…
"In short, unless an angel from the Lord comes down to set things straight, our country is fucked. And the Lord has been very quiet for a very long time."
So much for his faith. Jack shook his head. "You didn't fly over just to tell me that."
Kinsey smiled. "No, I didn't. You agree that this can't be allowed to happen, don't you?"
Of course not - Jack loved his country.
"So, we won't let it happen."
"And you want my help for whatever you're planning."
"I want the Etherians' help. And you're their best friend. Well, you're the one amongst their best friends who understands what we need to do to save the country."
Jack tensed. "What are you suggesting, Senator?"
"I'm not suggesting anything." Kinsey was all smiles again. "What I need from you is good PR from the Etherians. You know, show how nice magic is. Heal the sick, reclaim the desert, let kids ride on that commie flying unicorn, create green gardens in empty city lots - whatever you can think of. If you can't beat them, join them, and all that."
"That won't stop Gaia's champions from working their magic," Jack pointed out.
"But it will counter the anti-magic campaign, at least to some degree. If we can blunt that, we can win the election - everything else is playing well with the public, even the war."
Jack narrowed his eyes. "That doesn't seem like you'd need my help for that - the Etherians would do that even if you asked them."
"I also need you to keep them from looking too closely into other things," Kinsey said.
"Other things?"
Kinsey shrugged with a toothy smile. "Criminal investigations, accidents - internal affairs of the United States. It would be bad if they started to interfere with that."
Jack tensed again. They couldn't track Gaia's champions. Kinsey knew that. So, Kinsey's friends in the NID couldn't do anything about them. But they could do something about the people behind the anti-magic campaign. Jack was sure that they had already done something similar about the most vocal opposition to the newest Amendment granting equal rights to gays. All that drug and child abuse that was revealed had been a bit too convenient.
He stared at the Senator. What the man had hinted at was illegal. Election interference and other crimes. Capital crimes. The things Jack had done to other countries in the past.
Kinsey smiled.
*****