The Elders spent the rest of the day getting every little bit of information that they could out of me. By the time they were done every little detail about the Stargate and Battletech Franchises had been transcribed and heavily encrypted.
Then it was time for weapons training. The Elders spent the next seven days training the villagers with laser weapons. We simply didn't have the time for me to replicate the THOS source code or any of the Goa'uld blueprints. The THOS source code alone was 8 million lines. At a hundred words a minute, it would take me nearly 60 days of constant typing. We simply didn't have the time.
As for the Goa'uld blueprints, not only did I not have the time to transcribe the intricate detail of the naquadah crystals used in all the devices, we also didn't have any way to manufacture the technology. After a little bit of arguing, the Elders agreed that it would be better to move onto more immediately relevant information.
When the interrogation was completed and the Elders had gotten everything they could out of me, I joined the others. Everyone over the age of 16 was training with Mauser laser rifles. The Elder's training made sure all the kids were in excellent physical shape, and the regularly scheduled "war games" had heavily reinforced all aspects of tactical combat in everyone who had grown up in the village.
The only thing that the Elders had to do now was teach us how to shoot; easier said than done, but a much simpler task than training an infantryman from scratch.
First Perk Activated. Complete Blueprint Acquired: Mauser 960 Assault System
Gain Medium, Pump Source, Optical Resonator, Light Cell
First Perk Activated. Complete Blueprint Acquired: Laser Pistol (Mauser A1)
Gain Medium, Pump Source, Optical Resonator, Light Cell
It was a week of hell as the Elders all seared the use of the Mauser 960 into my brain. When they weren't teaching me how to use the Mauser, they were dissecting how to use a Zat. This was much more of a mutual effort as we worked together to discover the weapons maximum range, firing characteristics, and effective distance. Most important amongst those was how far you had to be before you could hear it firing.
Other than weapons training, the Elders and I had spent a significant period of time working out how the cloaking devices actually worked. The most important discovery was that not everyone could use the devices and we just didn't know why. Of the 220 people who hadn't been taken by Ares, 15 of us could actually activate the cloaking devices. The people who could use the cloak were all descended from servants of Nirrti who were captured during one of Athena's raids.
Then, I could use the cloaking devices as well – though I had absolutely no idea why that was. Eventually, I just chalked it up to being part of the Celestial Forge and moved on.
It was a week before the Elders felt my training was sufficient, if only barely. Finally the day came. Elder James and I stood before the Stargate. The Elders had given me what training they could and I was about as ready as I could be given the short turn over time. It would be my job to do reconnaissance; to discover the nature of Ares' forces. When that was done, I would begin making contact with the villagers.
After significant prodding from the Elders, I had remembered that Dendred, a slave world under Ares, was home to a resistance that he had been incapable of destroying. There was also a non-zero chance of Tok'ra infiltrators amongst Ares' subordinates. My final job was to watch for signs of either of these parties and report back to the Elders.
At the gate, I took a Compad from Elder James and reactivated the DHD, then I returned it to the Elder.
He took the Compad from me and spoke, "Arthur. Make sure to come back in one piece."
"I will, Elder."
Then I began dialing the gate. As the seventh coordinate was entered, the blue whirlpool of the event horizon formed within the Stargate. Not wasting any time, I jogged to the gate. I looked back at Elder James; he gave me a slight nod. Then, before I had any second thoughts, I was through the gate. For a brief moment I felt myself passing through an opaque blue tunnel – stars twinkling in the distance – then I found myself in an empty clearing.
First Perk Activated. Partial Blueprint Acquired: Astria Porta (Stargate)
Wireless Systems
My perk activated as I passed through The Stargate. I let it pass then turned my attention to my surroundings; the device sat on a large stone altar. The ground around the altar was covered in gravel; it was very similar to the stargate on Chulak. I immediately ordered the cloaking device to activate and heard the sound of the energy field coming into position.
I looked down at my hands that had turned greyscale; a rather unique effect of the Ashrak cloaks and a rather convenient way to confirm the effectiveness of the device.
I slowly examined the clearing for signs of people; there was a massive collection of tracks walking off in the same direction. Other than that, I saw no signs of habitation. I had been expecting it from what was shown in SG-1, but it raised several questions about why the Goa'uld didn't fortify their Stargates.
First things first, I walked up to the DHD and opened it up. My perk activated again.
First Perk Activated. Partial Blueprint Acquired: Clavis (DHD)
Wireless Systems
Ancient technology is truly ridiculous. The DHD had more than twenty separate methods for wireless communications, most of which I simply could not understand. In fact, 90% of the device's internal systems are purely devoted to wireless connections. It even contains a small-scale subspace communicator with a range of two light years.
Moving on, I extracted a complete list of dialed addresses; this Stargate had significantly higher traffic than the one at home; the total number of extracted files was nearly 10 times greater. I finally removed the record of my arrival and closed up the DHD.
I began making my way down the well travelled road. The gravel that was used for pathing was heavily compacted, and the areas at the side of the road were heavily worn. With all that together, I was pretty sure that I was in the correct area.
It was a half hour before I made my way out of the valley that contained the Stargate. What greeted me was a vast empty plain, stretching beyond the horizon, but the view wasn't what really caught my eye. No, the first thing I noticed were the seven Ha'tak.
I felt my jaw drop for a brief moment at the massive collection of vessels. When I got a hold of my senses, I began to notice the housing. One typically might struggle to notice one or two buildings from this far off – I must have been at least a dozen miles away – but when there were hundreds of such buildings layed out chaotically over what must have been an area of several square miles, it would have been more impressive if I had missed them.
It was a humbling sight. I may have been a tiny bit optimistic when I believed we could take on Ares, but I wasn't going to stop here; if I could activate the recall order for Ares' ships, then all of those forces would be less than useless.
Off to my right, what would have been two or three miles away from the Ha'tak landing area was a gargantuan quarry. It was easily several hundred meters in diameter. As I watched closely, I could make out groups of what could only be hundreds of people, all mining away at the rock. That certainly explained why Ares was in such a hurry to acquire more manpower.
I took out my compad and began imaging the entire settlement, converting it into a map for future reference. Then, I began the long and arduous job of counting. By the end, I had confirmed a total of 7 Ha'tak motherships, 22 Cheops landing craft, 84 Al'kesh, and over 400 Death Gliders. It was a frankly overwhelming force.
There was one particular Ha'tak that stood out; it was both physically distant from the others and covered in a unique golden iconography. If there was one thing that the System Lords were known for, then it was their excessively gaudy designs; that was likely to be Ares' flagship.
With this knowledge in mind, I had the beginnings of a plan. The best way to confirm the composition of Ares forces would be from the horse's mouth, as they say. While I can't capture a Jaffa and ask them for assistance, what I can do is infiltrate the computer systems.
With my decision made, I began what would be a several hour trek. I walked in the forest just beside the road to avoid any unnecessary contact with Jaffa.
After three hours of walking, I finally approached the edge of what I could only describe as a small city. I examined several of the outlying buildings, but it became obvious that these buildings at the edge of the city were purely for housing and feeding Ares' workforce. There was nothing here but beds, though I did also find a large cafeteria.
Instead, I made my way to Ares' flagship. Something that wasn't quite so obvious from a distance was that this ship was also slightly larger than the other vessels of Ares' fleet; The central pyramid was extended downwards and parts of the outer shell had been filled in at points that were generally left open on other Ha'taks.
I circled the ship once, checking the various entrances on the ship. All the entrances were covered by energy shields that made them impossible to pass through. Luckily, bypassing them was rather simple; I just waited for a group of Jaffa to enter and followed them inside. It was of particular note that my perk did not activate as I entered.
Next, I turned on my compad's mapping function and began wandering around the ship. I walked for hours – seven hours to be exact – as I mapped out the vessel's major hallways, and significant internal spaces.
The top of the central pyramid was especially busy; Jaffa were running from place to place, though I also noticed the occasional servant. Then, as I was wandering around, I found myself at the entrance of what could only be the Bridge.
There, right at the center of the room was a man sat upon a throne. His right hand was covered in a strange golden ribbon-like device, something I instantly recognized as a Goa'uld Kara'kesh; the sign of a System Lord. This could only be Ares; he was in the middle of making out with a woman who wore some particularly revealing clothing.
I quickly diverted my attention and examined the rest of the room. There were two other entrances, each on opposite sides of the throne; only one of them was currently open.
Softening my steps, I made my way to the open entrance. There, I found a small armory. Staff weapons, Zats, and numerous other weapons. As I took inventory of everything in the room, there was one thing that I took immediate notice of. A second Kara'kesh.
The Kara'kesh is the original version of the Hara'kesh that is used by the Ashrak. They are much bulkier than Hara'kesh, but they offer much greater power. They also act as a sign of status for System Lords – though a silver version of the device is offered for important underlords.
They are an all-purpose multi-tools, capable of acting as a weapon, a cutting instrument, an energy shield generator, a neural interface, and – most importantly – as a control device for other Goa'uld technology. If Ares had a recall order for his vessels, then there was a significant chance that the Kara'kesh was either the main method for activating it, or was of vital importance in the process.
Without any thought, I activated the hand device and waited. Nothing happened; I had hoped that Dr. Shen, I Presume, would activate and give me knowledge of the device. Up to this point, when the perk had activated, it had always given me the part of the blueprint that I wanted, even if I didn't know what that was.
As I stood there, holding what was likely to be a key part of any future plan, my heart started to beat faster and faster. I waited. One second passed. Two seconds passed. Three seconds passed. Nothing happened.
I grit my teeth. I needed this device. If I took it, I had no doubt that the repercussions would be immense. Ares would be on full alert. He might not know who took the Kara'kesh, hell, he might even blame one of the other nearby system lords.
Or he might start blaming parts of his workforce and mass executing people? No that's not all that likely. If the rebellion is real then he'll probably blame them; that could cause some significant issues with any future diplomatic talks.
I screamed internally. The risks were great… but I needed this device. Screw it; I'll take it.
First Perk Activated. Partial Blueprint Acquired: Kara'kesh (Goa'uld Hand Device)
Ra-Kesh Crystal
For a moment, I froze. Then I instantly changed my mind and placed the device back into its place. There it was, as if nothing had happened. I carefully made my way out of the room. My head was spinning and I felt exhausted, but the knowledge I had gained had been exactly what I needed. That would be an understatement, it was even better than that.
The Ra-Kesh Crystal was a specialized computational device within the Kara'Kesh; it handled a not insignificant amount of information, and it was both designed and manufactured by Ra for distribution amongst his subordinate System Lords.
Ra, being the Supreme System Lord, likely hadn't trusted his subordinate System Lords, so he built a reset into each Kara'kesh. Anyone could use this reset, all they'd have to do is put on the device and think of a particular set of symbols. This would give the new wearer complete access to the device – including its internal memory, though you would need an external device to access that memory.
That code was unique to each Kara'kesh and was literally carved into the device when it was created, meaning that by acquiring the blueprint for the sub-device, I could get access to the code for any particular Kara'kesh I stole.
All I had to do now was defeat Ares and take his Kara'kesh from him… well, I suppose that's better than the previous plan.