Aberrant: Stargate Universe - Finding purpose

Mr Fox · August 27, 2010

Cam strode down the passageway of the ship purposefully. He did everything purposefully these days; he had no choice. For a week or more after Vinny's murder he sat and tried to come up with ways he could go back. He had thought up and discarded dozens of scenarios, from claiming he'd escaped in and F302 before the explosion to being rescued by and Ancient. No matter what he claimed or even if his friends believed him, he would still know the truth. And the truth was that no matter what, he could never face his friends again.

So for the last few weeks he had thrown himself into his work. Perhaps if he succeeded and his work saved a million lives he might someday forgive himself for what he'd had done. Perhaps.

He had used the device on himself twice more in the time since his self imposed exile began, but no one would know by looking at him. Physically his appearance hadn't changed a bit, except that he'd taken to wearing the solid black BDU's instead of the regular Stargate green. Black combat boots, black baggy pants tucked into the boots and a black t-shirt and no name, rank or unit insignia to be seen. The one accessory to his outfit was the pistol holster attached to his right hip and strapped to his thigh. He was on his own out here and even though he was pretty sure he was well hidden he wanted to be ready instantly if someone found him.

Where the real changes lay were mentally. He had pushed his intellect as high as the device would allow. After the second treatment he discovered that it had a failsafe preventing him from going too far. He thought he could override, but assumed the ancients knew what they were doing and didn't want to end up the Lawnmower man.

Despite the limitations he found that he was picking up Asgard language and science at an accelerated rate, and he had an idea of how to learn it even faster, but that would involve some risk. The risk of something going wrong was small, but if it did, it would be catastrophic. He'd been reviewing the records of SG1's interactions with the Asgard when he came across the first encounter directly with them, when O'Neill had had the Ancient database downloaded into his brain. He had subconsciously built the tools necessary to reach the Asgard because without their help he would have died. Well, he had an Asgard core installed in the Prometheus containing all of their recorded history and knowledge, current up to the moment the team had left Orilla. Unlike O'Neill he wasn't limited by a regular human brain, his had been upgraded 4 times in total, he was Cam 4.0, maybe he could survive where O'Neill hadn't....

Just one problem, going to the planet with the Ancient Database mean either taking the ship there, a small risk, or leaving the ship and going by gate. Either way he would have to leave the Prometheus unguarded for a short time. He had access to all of the SGC's records and was reasonably sure the device was still there. No one from the SGC had returned for fear of what might happen to anyone else exposed to the device and that had been in the early days of the SGC. Since then they had learned a great deal about alien tech, but no one had thought to make another trip, and no Goa'uld had discovered it. "If they had, they'd be ruling the galaxy by now."

He reached the bridge as the words left his mouth. He grumbled under his breath, Now I'm talking to myself... that's not a good sign.

He sat in the captain's chair and keyed in the coordinates to Abydos. It was the one place he could think of that had a Stargate and no reason at all for anyone to be there since the planet itself had been destroyed. He just had to find the gate among the debris.

Mr Fox · August 28, 2010

Cam sat brooding in the Captain's chair staring at the streaming lights through the view screen as the ship moved through it's faster than light velocities hurtling toward it's destination, a Stargate floating in the debris field that once was the desert world of Abydos.

"Ok Cam, let's review the facts..." He sat straighter in his chair talking to himself as if having a real conversation, a bad habit he'd started to develop in the time since the murder.

"At the rate things are going it'll take years to master the Ancient tech to the point of making healing devices to cure all disease, and that's unacceptable... I'm pretty sure I'd go insane from the sitting out here not taking any action for that long." The fact that he was already talking to himself was not lost on him.

"So what can be done? Is there a shortcut?"

"Yes." He smiled to himself, his intellect had been expanded by the ascension device to the point where this external conversation could have been held and concluded in the the time it took for this first exchange, but he was bored and had no one to talk to.

"General O'Neill had the sum-total of all the Ancient knowledge downloaded into his brain accidentally." He put the idea forward as if making a suggestion.

He rebutted his own suggestion, "But his brain wasn't evolved enough to handle it. He would have died if not for the Asgard's help."

"True, but my brain has been rewritten by the Ascension device, it isn't a standard human brain, it's much more like the Ancients themselves, maybe even more advanced in some ways. I have used the device 4 times after all."

"So you 'might' be capable of handling the download." He made the comment snide as if someone else were saying it. "Great plan, you are alone out here in the middle of nowhere, and no one even knows you are alive, what happens if it turns your brain into pudding?"

He snorted, "O'Neill had a couple days before he lost the ability to communicate, and if I kick this bucket into high gear we can be back to the Asgard long before then. Yeah, so I'd have to answer some unfortunate questions... the SGC would find out I was alive and declare me a traitor and awol. That would only mean the truth would come out now instead of later."

He raised an eyebrow and answered, "And that doesn't matter to you?" He paused, then added, "But you are changing the subject. We were talking about immediate consequences."

"Right, so worst case scenario, I get turned into a vegetable or killed outright, so I'll set the ship on autopilot for Earth if I don't return within 48 hours and I'll record a message explaining that I survived." Thought for moment what he would say and how it might be received and shuddered. He couldn't imagine Olivia's reaction, that was the worst thing imaginable. He continued, "Best case scenario is that my brain can handle it and in less than a week I have all the knowledge of the race that built the ascension device and the Stargates and who knows what else completely at my disposal."

Contrary Cam responded, "And what if it's somewhere in between?"

He nodded to himself, "That's the most likely scenario, and all I can say is that I hope it will be a positive thing. If it gives me a leg up on their technology then it will be worth the risk."

"So what else do we know? Teal'c wasn't able to use the device... it might have been because of his Goa'uld larva in his system, but more likely it was because only O'Neill had the ancient gene. SG1 didn't know that at the time."

"What else? The SGC has not returned to the world because no one has thought to review the idea since the process was potentially deadly to anyone who used it. So there's no reason to believe it won't be exactly as they left it."

"You're dithering now. Stop wasting time and record the message that will damn you in the eyes of the SGC and your friends... former friends."

******

He sat in the seat at the console of the Asgard Core and took a deep breath before turning the white teardrop that acted as a control crystal for the device. He had set this recording to audio only, it was bad enough they would be hearing him, he didn't think he could stand it if they were looking at his face when he confessed.

"General O'Neill, let me first apologize for not returning immediately or at least contacting you. I am sure that my fellow Specialist must have reported the explosion that they presumed was the Prometheus. It was not. I take all responsibility on myself. I decided that with the knowledge of how to control the use of the Ascension device that it was simply too great of a temptation and would be abused by those in the IOA." He left unsaid that he was sure the US Government would also fail the temptation.
"Sir, I deserve a court marshal and worse for what I have done, but if you are receiving this message it means that I am dead. Apologies that you can't kick my butt personally Sir. I'm under no illusion that I don't deserve it. I wish there was some way that you could keep the ship's return secret from my fellow specialists, but I know that would be impossible. I know they must have gone through a very difficult time at the loss of Vinny and myself and I hate to dredge up the emotions all over again. As to that Sir. I was directly responsible for his death. I had planned to launch the device into space attached to a Mark V nuclear warhead but as I was launching the Major entered the hanger deck. I didn't expect him to follow me to the Prometheus and since he didn't know what I had planned... Let's just say it was a tragic moment that should never have happened. I had already activated the nuke so there was no turning back. There was an issue with the launch gear. While I tried to make a quick repair, Vinny did the heroic thing and moved the nuke to the edge of the bay and shoved it outside. His action cost him his life, but it saved the ship. I made an emergency jump just as the nuke went off." He paused a moment, he knew they would investigate and find nothing wrong with the launch device. They would know something in his story was not a true, but this way at least Vinny and the other specialists would not be implicated in the conspiracy to destroy the device. No reason to drag them down.
"After this tragedy of my own making that cost the life of my fellow officer and friend, I could not return and face you and my friends. I should have sent the ship back immediately, but I had hoped to do some good for Earth. If you are hearing this message, it means that I have failed in that hope also and have returned the ship to you as my final act."
There was more that he wanted to say and less, but that message accomplished his goal. It explained why, and cast the blame completely on his own shoulders so that the other Specialists wouldn't take the blame. It was done. He gave the computer a mental command and then sat back in the chair and slumped. If he failed to return to the ship from the Ancient repository within 48 hours of departing it would return to Earth and broadcast a tight beam message to SGC command notifying them of the ship's arrival.

Mr Fox · August 29, 2010

By the time the Prometheus computer signaled arrival in the Abydos system Cam had finished his preparations. He had erased all logs of the ships movements since it entered the Milky Way after going to the Asgard's homeworld. He still was amazed by how fast this ship was thanks to the Asgard upgrades. A normal ship would take days to travel from where he had been hiding to his destination, Prometheus only took a few hours.

He had also locked up his trusty pistol in the weapons locker and strapped a Zat onto his hip instead. His clothes were distinctive, but less so than an Earth made weapon. Returning to the bridge he was in time for the results of the scan of the asteroid belt. There was a lot of naqaudah in the floating around out there. That made it difficult to find the Stargate among all the shards of broken planet. "Hmm... if the Goa'uld have asteroid mining technology this would be a great place and time to do it. Hell, who am I kidding, it's easier just to have slaves spend their lives in ceaseless labor than to build something useful that would require workers with some technical skill."

Several hours past before he found the gate floating silently against the blackness of space. He had been afraid it might have been caught up in the center of larger fragments of the world that were already starting to feel the mutual tug of gravity toward each other. Luck was with him as it did seem to be more often than not since his becoming a specialist. He was able to pilot the ship right up to it and scoop it into one of the fighter bays. Several more hours went by as he set the massive gate upright and hooked it up to a portable naquadah generator.

Now came the part of the mission that he was most uncomfortable with. He had to leave the Prometheus in orbit around Abydos' star unattended. There were three ways he could lose everything here. If anything approached the ship was programmed to return to Earth. If he didn't return within 48 hours it would jump home. Or he might not return at all. The first option was the one he was most afraid of. Anubis had destroyed the planet, he could have left probes to warn him if anyone approached the remains of the planet. Unlikely, but then Anubis was not like other Goa'uld.

Finally he had wasted enough time and manually dialed the gate. The DHD might still survive out here somewhere, but it was much smaller and more fragile than the gate so it wasn't likely that he could find it or that it would still work. He put the stray thoughts aside and moved out of the way quickly as the event horizon formed with it's liquid silver rush. Taking a deep breath and hoping for the best he stepped through into a large rectangular black stone room. It was just as the pictures in the file had shown. Lights emanated from the ceiling having switched on at his arrival. Other than the Stargate and DHD the only feature of the room was a white circle inset in the floor.

Now was the moment of truth. When SG1 had been here, no one caused the circle to light up with glowing symbols until Jack O'Neill himself has crossed the line. None of the others had the ATA gene. Cam had it, but it was artificially given. It should work however, he wouldn't know until he tried.

He stepped into the circle. There was a brief moment of increased light as the symbols glowed. Nu Ani Anquas, etc... Just as Jackson and O'Neill had translated. He could read them having had the benefit of several years of discoveries that SG1 had not had when they came to this world. Briefly he wondered what this world was like, what else might lie on it's surface undiscovered. SG1 had never tried to find out. They had never found a way out of the chamber besides the stargate. It could be miles underground for all he knew.

It was only a passing thought for at the same time, out of the wall in front of him a large black metallic flower looking device had appeared. It was as if it was pushing it's way through the stone, phasing through it in fact. "Nice trick that."

He stepped forward and the metal telescoped out and a pair of hands gripped his head preventing him from moving. There was a claustrophobic moment of panic before the lights and information slammed into his eyes and mind sending him down into blackness...

Mr Fox · September 1, 2010

Cameron Mitchell woke slowly and by degree. The first thing he noticed was that whatever he was lying on was very hard and uncomfortable. The second thing was that he didn't remember where he was or why he was lying there. He opened his eyes and squinted against the harsh overhead lights. They hadn't seemed that harsh before, but then he hadn't been looking directly into them, he supposed they had to be pretty bright to illuminate the black walled room. Then it all came back, hiding the Ascension Device and his heavily modified Goa'uld computer in hiding on the moon of a large gas giant before taking the Prometheus to come in search of the Ancient repository of knowledge.

He wondered at the fact that he had no headache, given the need to write massive amounts of data into his brain and nervous system he had expected to be in severe pain after the download. Lying on the ground feeling out of sorts and not yet wanting to move more than necessary he lifted his wrist to face to see how long he had been unconscious. "What the hell? 73 hours!?!" O'Neill was only out seconds and had already built a naquadah generator, draw up the internal schematics for the DHD, and rewritten the entire dialing program for the gate computer back in the SGC, not to mention entering a couple hundred new addresses into their database and finally gone to the Asgard and back in less time than Cam had been out. "Why the difference?"

Before he could even speculate the answer came to him like a memory, Lucean had designed the Repository to interact with Ancient physiology, O'Neill had been close but not evolved enough, so his own subconscious had acted to save him using the knowledge he'd gained. Part of that mean staying conscious. Cam corresponded more perfectly to the design specifications. Lucean had been forward thinking and had anticipated that any decedents might be far enough removed from his own generation that there might be slight variances. What had happened to Cam had been what was supposed to happen, the knowledge had been assimilated into his own mind and would be accessible as memories. It was all very orderly however, unlike normal human memory that was sequenced chronologically. Cam knew from the 'memory' that the Repository was organized much like a library or a database. He had merely to think about a subject and the appropriate information would be available. The one thing he didn't know was whether or not the transfer had been total or partial.

That was when the time registered, "72 hours, fuck!" He certainly hoped it had been complete, he'd just paid a big price for it. The Prometheus was gone by now, already back at Earth with his message delivered. That meant that his fellow specialists would know of his survival and be hurt by it. He had really hoped to avoid that. It also mean he was stranded. He could travel by gate of course, but only to places where he wouldn't be recognized. He sat up abruptly, then got to his feet.

He fell back into the habit he'd developed in the last couple months of solitude... "Well Cam now you are deep in it. No ship, no Asgard core to synthesize parts for whatever nifty stuff the Ancient repository taught you how to build. What are you going to do now? You can't just build a healing device out of thin air. You don't have the tools, or even the tools necessary to build the tools necessary to build the tools you'd need to build the tools." He could be years away from a healing device now.

He thought a moment then answered himself, "Maybe not. O'Neill entered a couple hundred addresses, 223 to be precise, that had never been part of the Goa'uld network of dominated worlds. The SGC hasn't explored more than a third of them yet and they have no idea what was on them." He thought about Ancient gate addresses that were not part of the Goa'uld sphere of influence. A flood of information rocked him almost making him stagger. It was a torrent of data, physical locations in space, Names of the worlds, notes of what the Ancients knew about them, and most importantly what they had done on those worlds. Of course the Repository was nearly ten thousand years out of date. A great deal could have changed on those worlds in that time. His mind sidetracked onto the fascinating subject of history. He suddenly knew that the repository was created in the last days of the Ancients in the Milky Way, after their return from the Pegasus galaxy and the disastrous war with the Wraith. Many, in fact most of the information on the worlds in the list were out of date by millions of years even when the list was compiled and made.

Cam wrenched his mind back to the present. "Holy crap, that's dangerous. I could lose myself in for days in Repo memories." He slapped himself lightly on the face as if trying to wake up. "Come on Cam, get it into gear, you've got a problem, you need a solution, you don't have the tools. You can't even make the tools, but what if you don't have to..."

He focused his thoughts on trying to remember where an ancient lab or outpost might have been that would have had the tools to build things. It was difficult, his mind kept wanting to go off on tangents and examine all the myriad things to which he now had access. There was a facility to make ZPMs on Jimin... and he realized he knew how that was done as well. He tracked his mind back to the task, ZPMs might be needed, but that place was old even before Atlantis left for the Pegasus. It would be worth checking out but for now he needed a workshop.

In the end he spent hours going through the list of planets and what they contained that might be useful. He finally settled on P3X-912, the planet where SG1 had found the human form replicator named Reese. There had been a workshop there and given that Reese's creator had made her in ignorance of what she could become, it was likely that he had used the Ancient facility to create her. That would be perfect for Cam's needs. He needed a workshop, tools, and, "And most of all someone to talk to."

Mr Fox · September 2, 2010

Reese's planet was a dead world, it had atmosphere, plants and animals, but every evidence of human civilization had been utterly removed. Not just destroyed, but cannibalized by the replicators, all except for a single structure in which Reese had been found dormant where she had lain for untold centuries. Anyone else would have said Cam was nuts for looking here of all places for an Ancient facility. He would agree except for one thing. If the replicators had found the ancient technology and cannibalized it, they would have become utterly unstoppable. He could not be sure that the their facility would still be there. It could have been destroyed by asteroid strike, volcanic eruption, tectonic shifts, or any number of other disasters, but he was betting it was there. How else could Reese's maker have created something so advanced and yet have so little concept of the harm it could do. Granted, they had never heard of Asimov and his three laws, but any sufficiently advanced civilization capable of understanding technology even to the point of making use of the ancient devices left behind would have to be smart enough to realize you did not make artificial intelligence and not program in some failsafes.

So he looked, and looked and kept on looking for three days. He would have found it sooner except that he used his one sure fire method of searching, his Special ability to connect directly with machines, and that took lots of energy which in turn required much more rest than he would have otherwise taken. Even so it was luck as much as skill that found the entrance. It was only a mile or so from Reese's resting chamber, but the facility was completely hidden. The door system had just a tiny amount of residual power, but nothing else in the entire placy did. It was that tiny spark of energy that Cam detected and homed in on. Without that he never would have located it. The entrance was completely covered by a small landslide from the hill above.

An hour of hard work and sweat later and he had cleared the debris. Just inside the door was a non-ancient device, most likely a generator of some kind. This place had probably run on a ZPM, but that had been longer ago than the human race had been walking upright. No doubt it had been depleted before the facility had been buried under sediment. Assuming that it hadn't been carved out of a mountain in the first place....

Cam sighed, this was going to be a lot more work than he expected. The place was bone dry of power and there was no way to even see if the systems could be activated. That meant making a naquadah generator, which meant going to some world where he could steal the parts to do that. Making one wasn't the trouble, he could do it in a day with off the shelf parts from an average hardware store on earth. Well, plus a little naquadah, but he could always cannibalize his Zat for that. No, the trouble was getting those parts. And that was back to the big problem he had in the first place. Most anywhere he went he would be recognized.

"Unless..." Cam began, his mind already churning with possibilities.

Contrary Cam voiced the objection, "You can't be serious! You stole one ship from that world already, don't you think they'll have your face recorded?"

"Nah. It'll be fine. I just gate to one of Yiu's worlds and steal some clothes then gate his captial and waltz into the shipyard again and steal another ship. How hard can it be?"

"Last time you had a full team, one of which was a telepath that saved your bacon."

"True, but this time there will only be me, which is a lot less noticeable than a big troupe like that. Plus I know more about Goa'uld tech now and speak their language fluently. Not to mention, I am better at interfacing with computers and I've modified Ra's old laptop to have some serious power and capabilities. And if that wasn't enough, I've got all the knowledge of the ancients."

Contrary Cam retorted, "A million to one odds, at least."

Cam just smirked and quipped, "What, do you think I should handicap myself to even things out?" He knew even as the words left his lips that a comment like that was just begging the Universe to measure out a little karmic retribution.

Mr Fox · September 3, 2010

Cam hadn't taken the time to practice enough yet, but he had just enough control of his synthetic eufiber to mimic the clothes of one of Yiu's officials. He was very pleased with the Asgard gift, now that he had lost the ship and all of the spare clothes and supplies in it he would have been smelling very ripe by now. It's ability to shed dirt and even sweat was a godsend, but of all the things he missed from the ship, it was soap and a shower that were at the top of the list. "Taking a dip in the river just isn't the same."

It took little to get ready, he simply slipped his computer into an inner pocket of his jacket and placed the zat in it's holster on his hip. The Jaffa would question his right to wear it, but he hoped he could bluff his way through that. And with that he was done. He gated first to an uninhabited world and from there to Yiu's captial. He didn't want the jaffa to take note of his home base from the lighted symbols on the dhd.

He stepped through the gate and was challenged immediately. "State your name and business here! Kree!"

Cam bowed respectfully, but not with too much deference to the leader of the Jaffa. He was relieved to note that it was a different man than had been in charge last time. "Joran of Malkshieu, here to meet with the Light of Heavan's construction foreman, Bao Anming." He had seen the man's name in the computer on the last trip to this world.

The man nodded as if this was expected, "Pass through." The other Jaffa lowered their weapons and took up less threatening poses as they went back to waiting for hostile arrivals.

Cam knew this was too easy. The people of the city were under constant scrutiny by the secret police and each other. He suspected that his name would be circulating through some system by the time he walked under the gate and exited the entry fortress. He would be watched from the moment he entered the city proper.

An hour later he stood before the main city gates repeating his reason for wishing to enter the city. Unlike the Jaffa at the stargate, the City Guard were required to record and question all who arrived. For the fourth time Cam repeated his story. He was here to meet with Bao Anming, no he didn't say that he was expected, yes he did have information for Anming, no he would not share that information with the guards, it was for Anming only. The crowd of others behind him were growing impatient waiting their turns to enter the city.

He was about to repeat himself for the fifth time when the grumbling crowd parted for a large ornate palanquin with it's sheer curtains down to conceal it's passenger. Cam fell silent as the guards bowed and the crowd went to their knees. Cam bowed low trying to glimpse the passenger covertly. The captain of the guard stepped forward and bowed respectfully next to the palanquin and inquired who it was that would enter the city.

One of the burly guards escorting the important stepped forward and announced Chun consort to Kung Jao-long. The guard captain bowed lower then stepped aside and the procession made it's way through the gate. As they passed a maid stepped over to one of the guards and whispered something into his ear. The man looked at Cam and his brows drew down in consternation momentarily but then bowed slightly to the young woman. He in turn walked over to the guard captain and gestured to Cam and announced. "This one is clear to proceed sir."

The captain was about to strike the junior officer for making such an announcement until he noticed the man's subtle gesture toward the girl servant then nodded sagely then gruffly called to Cam, "Move along before we arrest you for loitering!"

Cam had followed the entire flow of events closely and had a bad feeling about this. He warily moved through the gate and within a block of the entrance he found himself walking next to the young serving girl. "You will please to accompany me." The girl spoke quietly and without ever looking at Cam even for an instant. The average person on the street would never suspect that the girl had said a word or that she was walking next to Cam intentionally, the entire scene had been deftly handled.

If this was what Cam thought, he was worried. Getting involved with the wife of one of Yiu's sons would not be at all wise, but what could he do? If he refused to go with the girl he'd very quickly find the entire city guard looking for him. Hell, the girl might even decry him as a thief or something right there in the street. He simply nodded. Best to go with her and try to avoid getting into trouble... if that was possible.

It took two hours to follow the girl on round about paths through the city to a large ornately decorated estate. He was relieved to see that it wasn't Yiu's personal palace. At least he wouldn't run into the head snake, that would have been awkward. Cam knew his Specialist enhanced appearance and personality would make a Goa'uld take instant notice. Most of the peasants would probably believe him to be one, but the snake-heads would know better and be both curious and threatened. Most likely they would want to take him as a host.

He was led into a back door of the estate and through the servants entrance. Cam carefully memorized the way in case he might need to exit quickly. He was surprised but they did not run into a single person as they moved through the palace. Sure enough, he found himself lead into an opulently decorated bedroom occupied by the princess, or whatever she was. He hoped to hell she wasn't a snake-head.

The servant girl made no move to leave but instead announced quietly, "Stand before the lady so that she can look upon you."

So it's going to be like that is it? He moved in front of where the woman sat on the edge of her bed artfully posed. He bowed respectfully and then just stood waiting for her next move. He was pretty sure he was about to be the main course in the princesses evening entertainment.

She raised her eyebrow at the impertinence he showed in looking at her with confidence rather than the servility that she saw in the men of the city. She stood and walked around, examining him and running her hands over his bare biceps. "What world are you from that the men stand so boldly?"

"Malkshieu." He said it neither with defiance nor with any deference, but he did raise one eyebrow at her challengingly.

She frowned at his challenge, but said with a strong note of command in her voice, "I will test you, man of Malkshieu and see if your boldness is justified. If you do not pass my test you will be turned over to the city guards and tortured to death. If you ever speak of this you will be killed slowly over many days. Do you understand?"

Cam chuckled. "I will pass your test and I have no wish to speak of this. I think just being in this chamber would mean my death would it not?"

She smiled maliciously. "Yes."

Cam passed the test, but as he lay beside the lithe naked figure of the Yiu's daughter-in-law he was glad of his Specialist stamina, a man not so gifted might not have passed her test. Chun lay still panting as he rose from the bed and began to dress. "I will go now before someone arrives to complicate things. I have been here longer than you expected I think." It was true, several hours had passed and it was now early evening.

He was just getting his eufiber formed boots back on when the door slammed open and a huge man stood framed in the door. "I am hom..." Jao-long's voiced trailed off as he saw Cam standing beside the bed where his naked and exhausted wife lay. He stood dumbfounded for a moment then his eyes glowed with the intensity of a Goa'uld enraged at betrayal.

Chun for her part pulled the sheets over her and called quickly, "My lord, thank the Light of Heaven you are here, this man sneaked into my chamber and forced himself upon me as I lay waiting for you. I am disgraced."

Cam didn't bother trying to reach for his Zat, there were half a dozen guards in the hallway witnessing the scene some of which already had staff weapons pointed at him. He could deal with one or two, but they would burn him down before he could escape.

Mr Fox · September 4, 2010

The Tok'ra sat in the chair in the briefing room. General O'Neill sat back but glanced out the big picture window down into the gateroom. There was a slight nostalgic look in his eyes as he did. When he turned back to the visitor he was all business. "You asked to see me and SG1?"

Kornan sat forward in his chair, clasping his hands on the table before him, "We had heard that Colonel Mitchell had died, is this true?"

General O'Neill had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, "Yes, we believe it to be true, the ship he was in returned to Earth on autopilot and it had a recorded message that he was dead." He did not ask the obvious, 'why'.

Kornan nodded as if this had confirmed something he had believed. "General, I have news of your missing Colonel." He paused a moment as he saw the indecipherable look on O'Neill's face. "It seems that one of our agents in Yiu's capital noticed Colonel Mitchell enter the city, or rather when reviewing the records he noticed this image of the Colonel entering."

The Tok'ra passed over a photo of Mitchell dressed in clothing reminiscent of one of Yiu's people, but clearly recognizable.

"It took our agent two days to track where Mitchell had gone within the city. I am sorry to say that it took another day and a half for another of our agents to gain entry. It seems that the Colonel entered the estate of Yiu's eldest son and then dishonored him. Sadly, Mitchell was discovered and captured before he could make his escape."

General O'Neill raised an eyebrow, "Dishonored how?" He dreaded the answer to that question, but had to ask.

"Chun, Jao-long's wife seems to have 'invited' Mitchell to her bed, though she claims to have been dishonored. Jao-long naturally accepts her claim since doing otherwise would make him look a fool. Our agents have known about Chun's infidelities for some time and had thought to use them in some way, but alas, that is no longer an option. If she was true to form, she most likely threatened the Colonel to get what she wanted."

O'Neill looked grim. "So my dead Specialist is making one of Yiu's son's into a cuckold?"

Kornan shrugged, "Whether or not he did, doesn't matter, only the consequences. Jao-long discovered him and swore to make his death long and painful. Mitchell was tortured severely for three days before our agent could get to him. It was amazing that he still lived, but Jao-long's people were being very careful to prolong his suffering."

He pushed another image of Mitchell across the table. He looked like a complete wreck, cuts and blood and bruises everywhere.

"Our agent offered to help Mitchell escape, but all he asked for was to be told when Jao-long would return. He wanted to walk out of the dungeon as the Goa'uld returned. It seemed he wanted to confront Jao-long in front of his men."

"We don't understand how he did what he did, but when he was ready he somehow released his bonds and walked out of the room and into the guards barracks just as Jao-long returned. The Jaffa were so amazed that Mitchell was able to walk they did not immediately fire on him. He called out a challenge to Jao-long's godhood, one that he couldn't deny before his assembled men."

Kornan gave an intense look at General O'Neill, "The Tok'ra would like to know of the technology he used to perform his tricks. They seemed to be more advanced than Goa'uld technology... but I am getting ahead of myself. Mitchell called Jao-long a false god and claimed that he himself was more powerful. His first act was to make his clothing reform and repair itself and even reshape into more elegant attire. I assume this was nano-technology of some kind, but it is of a kind that our agent had never seen and from his descriptions it sounds quite beyond anything that we possess. As he did he straightened and stood proud although still covered in blood. It was a move gesture that resonated with the Jaffa who honor that kind of strength to stand in the face of impossible odds even at the last extremity of physical endurance. Yes, a very strong cultural significance to them, it put them immediately into a receptive mood."

"Jao-long could see the mood and though he was angered and shamed into accepting the challenge he was no fool. But what Mitchell did next was completely outside anyone's comprehension. He commanded one of the Jaffa to fire his staff weapon at one wall of the chamber. The man did, and then Mitchell commanded that the man fire that same weapon at him." Kornan looked around at the people assembled at the table, "Understand that this is all directly from our agent who was present at the challenge. Jao-long laughed and thought he understood the ploy and spoke, 'I see, you are seeking to end your suffering for the dishonor you did me.' He was about to order the man not to shoot but he saw that his Jaffa were very much of a mood to honor the Colonel's noble request thinking that their master was correct and that their prisoner was seeking an honorable way to end his life. So the solder was allowed to proceed. He brought his weapon up in a sharp salute to Mitchell's courage and wisdom in outsmarting their lord, then he lowered the weapon to fire. Mitchell made a gesture with his hand and the man's staff weapon powered down. The Jaffa stood confused for a moment and tried again to power up his weapon but to no avail."

Kornan had a quizzical look as he continued, "Then comes the part that baffled our agent. Mitchell exclaimed, 'I have done this. I have the power to make your devices dead. Now turn the staff on Jao-long and fire at him. If he is truly a god then he will not be effected by it.' I tell you now, that I do not know how he did this, but you must share the technology with us. It could be invaluable to the cause... but I digress, The false god stood confident and though he did not understand how his prisoner had managed the trick he acquiesced. He simply pressed the shield button on his Hara-kesh, hand ribbon device, and waited for the staff blast to ricochet off his defenses."

The Tok'ra had just the hint of awe in his voice as he continued, "Just as the Jaffa fired Mitchell made his hand gesture again and Jao-long's shield disappeared. The staff blast caught him square in the neck killing the Goa'uld and host instantly." He shook his head at the audacity of Mitchell's victory. "The assembled Jaffa went to one knee and saluted the man who until a few moments before they looked on as a dead man. They declared Mitchell a true god and more powerful than Lord Yiu and swore to serve him to the death. To his credit the Colonel immediately denied godhood saying, 'I do not say there are no gods, but the Goa'uld are all false gods who rely on devices to trick the Jaffa into following them. I am no god either, I am simply more powerful and have better tricks than the Goa'uld. If you still wish to follow me, I accept you, but you must go now and gather your wives and children for I am leaving this world and they would be treated harshly by Yiu for your betrayal.' He then walked to Jao-long's headless corpse and took from it his Hara-kesh and other items of power. 'Ten of you will accompany me to the shipyards, the rest will meet there at dark. We will take the best Ha'tak, Alkesh and cargo ship available. In these three ships we will go to another planet where I will establish my home. Do not bring anything more than your wife and children can carry in their arms. We may need to take the ships by force and you must not be burdened with possessions. Do not allow anyone you do not trust with your lives to know of this or your families will suffer. Anyone not with me would betray you.'"

"So Mitchell survived and acquired a small following of Jaffa to apparently create his own little kingdom." Again he gave O'Neill the intense calculating look, "What are you playing at General? Does Earth seek to replace the Goa'uld in lordship of an empire of slaves?"

It was perhaps not the best thing to say to a man who was getting progressively redder and redder in the face as the story went on. He burst out in a near yell, "Mitchell is supposed to be dead! When I get my hands on him he will wish he had died at the hands of Jo-ling!!!"

O'Neill's next words to Colonel Carter were the thing that Cam, had he known of them, been dreading since he first stole the Prometheus. "Colonel Mitchell is hereby declared to be a renegade and awol. Make sure that all SG teams keep an ear open for any word of his wear-abouts. When he surfaces I want him taken. He has a great deal to answer for." He turned to Kornan and shook a finger at the man, "The same goes for you, got it? If any of your spys hear anything I want to know about it immediately!"

Mr Fox · September 4, 2010

One of the Jaffa stood and saluted Cam. "My Lord, I will lead escort you. What are your other orders? Would you have Chun brought to you?"

Cam nearly laughed, but it hurt too much and he coughed up a little blood. "No, leave her locked up where ever Jao-long put her and see that she does not learn of our departure. The last thing I want is a viper like that attached to me."

The Jaffa did laugh long and loud. "My lord is much wiser than Jao-long. It will be a pleasure to serve one who is not blind."

"Please have a servant that can be trusted, if there are any, bring me water to wash the blood off." The man saluted and ordered one of the younger soldiers to carry out the errand.

Cam was surprised at the group that assembled at the ship yards that evening. Instead of the hundred or so guards that were present at the challenge and their wives and children, there was now a crowd of over a thousand, 350 guards, and all of their families. Cam spoke to Lorak the senior most guard, "Where did all of these come from?"

"You said to bring only those we trusted with our lives. These are the ones."

After that, taking the ships was almost anti-climatic. Jao-long as eldest son of Yiu was in charge of maintaining order in the city. It was these very jaffa who were the men who patrolled the streets, no one dared challenge them especially in such numbers. If the son of the Light of Heaven decreed that his jaffa were to board certain ships, then who could deny them?

Cam chose out one Ha'tak, three Alkesh and two cargo ships. They were all the ships near enough completion to fly and be safe. It took several hours to get everyone aboard the ships and run basic diagnostics and upload the programs necessary to prevent the ships from transmitting their locations back to the shipyards. Even then, Cam headed off on a tangent away from his actual destination. Like the last theft, he would make several jumps through hyperspace in different directions to confuse any possible pursuit. He doubted there would be any. As far as anyone knew, it was Jao-long leading these ships, only the Tok'ra agent knew otherwise and he wouldn't tell any of the Goa'uld.

Once his little fleet was safely away from the planet and he was confident they couldn't be followed, Cam took control of the nav systems of the ships and programmed in a course for Reese's world. It would take a several days to get there since he was intentionally jumping in random directions and avoiding going near any inhabited world. Then he had to see to 'his people' and make sure they were all settled and adjusting to their new situation. He made a point of meeting every person aboard each ship and learning their names and a little about them. It was an interesting group, and he could see that he had some work to do with them. Many of these Jaffa had been among the meanest enforcers of Yiu's brutal regime. Of course they would do as Cam said, he was their new Lord, but that didn't change them into cuddly bunnies, they were still the same men who had brutalized the populace. On the other hand most of them were husbands and fathers and were no different with their own families than any other husbands and fathers, it was a contrast that was hard to reconcile in his mind.

After a day and a half Cam was healing nicely thanks to his Specialist constitution and called a meeting of his new warriors in one of the cargo bays of the Ha'tak. As big as the cargo bay was 350 warriors seemed to make it rather packed. Cam stood on a platform of boxes and addressed his men. "You have chosen to follow me and I tell you that I am no god. I am man, but if you will follow me you must obey my laws just as you would have those of Yiu. The difference is you follow me as free men. Anyone that would leave may do so, I do not keep slaves." He was pretty sure that his Specialist abilities were swaying this crowd, he was a trained soldier with the bearing of a natural warrior and that was added to the commanding presence that came with his enhanced state. He put a little juice into it to help carry the effect to it's best. The men seemed impressed.

Lorak stepped forward, "Free Jaffa!"

The warriors echoed in a cheer, "Free Jaffa! Free Jaffa! Free Jaffa!" Cam smiled pleased with their enthusiasm.

Lorak raised his hand and all fell silent. "My Lord, tell us your laws that we might choose and obey."

"My laws are simple. All are free, Jaffa and servant alike, all are equal under the law. I will not tolerate the mistreatment of any who follow me, not even the lowest servant. I charge you with protecting all of my people, both those with us now and any who swear to follow later. You will be my strong right arm, but you will need patience. I am no conqueror out to take worlds, but I do oppose the Goa'uld and any who oppress their people or enslave others. We will fight as necessary, and we will live in peace when we can, but I will establish an empire that offers safety and peace for it's people. You are the first of the Empire's citizens."

There was no eruption of cheering, the men looked thoughtful, this was not what they had expected of a man who killed a god. He wasn't promising them glorious battle, but he was promising them something else, something they had never dreamed of or dared hope.

Cam continued, "That's right, I am not promising you glorious deaths in battle against impossible odds, I would rather have you as live friends than dead heroes. However, the odds are very much against us and we will be standing against the combined might of the System Lords and others. But I don't fight to lose, I fight to win, because the lives and freedom of billions depend on it. It may take years or decades or centuries, but I give you this promise, the Jaffa will be a free people as will any one now enslaved."

That was more like it as far as the warriors were concerned, that was a promise they could dedicate their lives to, even it it wasn't their traditional lives of warfare. Freedom for their people was worth the cost.

"I am a warrior from a different tradition from the Jaffa, I will teach you other ways of fighting, and new weapons to use, more accurate but just as powerful as your staff weapons. I will not take away your Jaffa traditions, but I will expect you to learn and respect the traditions of others in my Empire. These are my will. Do you accept?" Cam finished. He had tried to be honest with them and let them know that things would change, but that their ways would not be totally eliminated. He was asking a great deal of a proud and strong people and he knew it.

The men stood considering quietly for a time and one by one they struck fists to chests in salute. When all had done so Lorak turned back to Cam and struck his own chest with his fist. "We stand ready and we will learn what you teach." It was as good as Cam could hope for, the men didn't look happy, but the did look determined and had agreed.

Mr Fox · September 4, 2010

Nearly a week later the fleet landed on Reese's world in the empty land where a city had once stood. During the flight Cam had managed to build a pair of strong naquadah generators and some other basic tools he would need to get the Ancient facility operational again. Assuming it could be done. Cam commanded his people to begin scouting out the land around the area for good building sites, although in truth the entire area was excellent for building. The main thing was that it kept them busy and gave them something to do while he did his own thing. He made no secret of where he was going, but he would not allow any to enter the underground buildings.

He did see respect in the eyes of his warriors as he hoisted the pair of 300 pound generators, one in each hand with little effort, and began walking towards the door. It was just one more little sign that they were following a strong leader; in their culture the strongest was often the leader and despite his smaller size they were already learning that he was the equal or better of any among them for sheer muscle power.

Cam for his part considered the men to be like a big dog chained from a young age. Now grown they could easily snap the chain, but it never occurred to them that it was even possible. Not that he didn't trust them, they were Jaffa after all and they would die rather than break their oath. Still, all it would take would be for one of the men to aim a weapon at his back when he was distracted and he would be dead. It was a sobering thought and why he was going out of his way to present himself as a strong leader. So far the people seemed to be happy.

When he arrived at the Ancient base he set about installing the two generators to the power module that the depleted ZPM had once been in. It wasn't enough power to get everything online, but it was plenty for now. Lights came up almost immediately and consoles all over the chamber came alive. Cam was like a kid in a candy store going from station to station checking the readings. Knowing the secrets of how the Ancients built their cities and devices he wasn't surprised all of this still worked, but in a way it made it all the more impressive. Over a million years had passed since the Ancients had died out because of a devastating plague and except for it's discovery only a few hundred years ago by Reese's creator, it had lain dormant all this time, and judging by the generator they had hooked up only the most basic systems would have been accessible. Cam on the other hand, had enough power to run any system he chose, but not all of them at once. This place was not Atlantis, only a scientific outpost and factory for making dangerous or difficult items. In size it might equal a modern air craft carrier or large oil tanker, but it was entirely buried.

His next question answered... the facility was designed and carved out of the rock, it was not buried in a natural disaster. Good. Some damage, but not enough to prevent him from getting the most important aspect of the place online. He could make a ZPM, or actually as many as he had the materials to make. He ran to another console and checked and breathed a sigh of relief. There was enough raw material still remaining to make at least one ZPM, maybe two if he supplemented the stores with some new supplies. The Ancients who had lived here had died from the plague their work abandoned and unfinished. He wasn't sure what they had been researching, but he could tell it wasn't biological from the equipment listed in the systems. He would have time later to go through the computer to learn what he could. For now he had two tasks to accomplish. Get this place going and that ZPM under construction and get a synthesizer online. He knew that would be easy, Reese's maker had done it, he was sure of that now. It was many hour later that he emerged from the underground complex covered in the dust of eons, but he was on cloud 9. He had been more successful than he'd ever expected with the old systems. They were churning away making the things he had directed them to make. It was just a matter of time before they completed.

Half a dozen Jaffa waited outside including Lorak. "My Lord."

Cam looked questioningly. "Yes?"

"We discovered this among the belongings of one of our people." He held up a small sphere, a subspace communicator. Lorak gestured and one of the warriors stepped forward and went to his knees.

"Lord Cam, my wife's younger brother was allowed to come with us. He was orphaned and too young to leave behind so I brought him. I offer my life in payment for this failure."

Cam sighed but spoke grimly, "Sorin, find your nephew and bring him to me. You will not be punished for the actions of another." He reached out and took the communicator in the palm of his hand and concentrated. It had been used since they landed. Someone knew where they were, where his base was. Damn! They didn't know the gate address so they would come in ships. Worst case scenario someone might arrive within two days, best case it might be weeks. Well, he would have to work on the assumption that he only had two or three days.

Mr Fox · September 12, 2010

Three and a half days passed in feverish activity. Cam could go without sleep but his people could not. To make it easier to hide what they had been up to, he ordered the Jaffa to fill up all the ship's tanks with water and whatever other supplies could be found. After that he had them fly the ships out five hyperspace jumps with orders to not return until he gave the all clear. Like the trip to the planet he made sure the hyperspace jumps would be random enough to shake any pursuit. Hyperspace jumps could be roughly tracked in a general direction but only if directly witnessed. Making 5 jumps would put them beyond any possibility of discovery.

It took two days for the ships to leave and by the Jaffa's tracks over the ground were confused, but their purpose was obvious. Meanwhile Cam had the facility working on producing the first new ZPM in the Milky Way galaxy in 10,000 years. It had all the raw materials needed to make one, but assembly took time. It was the manufacture process that Cam found fascinating and now knew was the reason why Ancient construction could last for so long undamaged. There was no melting of metals and pouring and forging and grinding like Earth's methods. Instead each piece was assembled one atom at a time and precisely placed. It meant that the computers had to have extremely detailed and exact specifications and the equipment had to be calibrated to a degree impossible by current Earth standards. And that was why Cam had needed a facility like this. Even though it was over a million years old it had the tools.

He spent time tuning the assembly device. Like the Asgard core it appeared to 'materialize' the requested item out of thin air, but in fact the creation was done by beaming component atoms into the specific space. The result was items whose surfaces were so uniform and perfect that rust or corrosion could gain no purchase, so they appeared to be untouched by time and entropy. It wasn't entirely true, any breach of the surface would mean the item's destruction from the ravages of time and the elements, but even then it would survive many times longer than the human race had been civilized.

The physical creation of the new ZPM didn't take more than an afternoon once Cam had tuned the equipment, but then it had to be initialized and that took nearly 48 hours. Once it was begun, he moved around the base inspecting the shield generators and other systems. Any ordinary person would have taken weeks to get everything back online, but Cam's Specialist abilities allowed him to perform basic tasks at a greatly accelerated pace. Even so he was on a deadline that he had no control over. By his estimate Yiu would send 5 Ha'tak, and they would arrive between 1.5 days and 3 days depending on how fast his secret police discovered the transmission and on how fast he could break away from the battles with Anubis. It took 2.5 days to get the ZPM online and therefore activate the shields to cloak the facility. Cam's one fallback was that he could always gate away and destroy the base if the enemy arrived early, but that would be a last resort.

*******

10,000 light years distant...

Halarin sat at the console of the Al'kesh. He didn't like being here in the middle of a warzone, but he was the only Tok'ra who had been in a position to accompany the combined fleet of the System Lords when they had assembled. His ship was not standard despite it's outward appearance, it had fewer weapons, but more surveillance equipment. The big thing he had going was a cloak. So far it had kept him alive and his ship intact during battle. Yiu as the oldest and most experienced of the System Lords was in charge and he had not yet noticed that Halarin was holding back. He believed that was due to the man's growing senility. What really worried him was the communique that he'd just received. Yiu's son was dead and 350 of his Jaffa had betrayed him stealing several ships. Once word got out Yiu would be disgraced and Ba'al would take command of the fleet. Halarin had no illusions that he would be able to maintain his charade of fighting then. He would be ordered into the front lines and shortly after that he would be dead. His one hope was to get out of this fleet. He could leave at any time thanks to his ship's cloak, but then he would be branded a traitor and never allowed back among the system lords. It was a difficult dilemma.

He was about to cloak his ship and make a strategic withdrawal to live and oppose the Goa'uld in other ways when his comm chimed. The face that appeared was Yiu's First Prime. The man gave a respectful bow, but not too deep. "My lord has commanded that you join a scout force to track down a traitor. As one of our master's underlords you will take command of the force of three Ha'tak's and ten Al'kesh. That should give you more than enough strength to destroy the Shol'va." The Jaffa's eyes narrowed, "My Lord believes that your ship should be most suited to find them."

Halarin grunted, then spoke, "Tell my lord Yiu that it will be done." He didn't like it, but what could he do? This was the chance he hoped for to get away from the fighting. He sympathized with the Jaffa who had betrayed the senile old System Lord, but he would hunt them down and destroy them. It would secure his position and make him seem more valuable to the System Lords and put him in even better position to spy on them. Of course if he could find some way to allow them to escape then all the better.

Five minutes later the designated vessels split from the grand fleet of the System Lords, and jumped heading for the coordinates where a subspace message had originated from. Two days later he was already nearing the coordinates when the message reached him from the Tok'ra council that the Shol'va were being lead by one of the Tauri and that Yiu had been replaced as Commander of the fleet. That changed things. Now Halarin had no desire to find the stolen ships. Finding and destroying them might mean Yiu the Senile taking command back. Besides the Tauri were their allies. Time for a diversion...

He hit some keys and caused one of his drive units to overload and explode. It looked much more impressive than it really was. He had rigged it as a last resort to avoid going into battle if the odds looked like certain death. His ship could function perfectly well without that drive, but it would be slower. He signaled the other ships that his engine had given out as a result of some damage taken in a previous battle.

The Jaffa on the bridge of the lead Ha'tak, one of Yiu's men, asked, "My lord, we can pick you up and proceed. We have overwhelming force and can continue without the Al'kesh."

Halarin replied calmly, "We will proceed as we are now. The damaged engine will be repaired in a matter of hours and we will resume full speed then. The slight delay will not effect our mission."

"But my lord..." The Jaffa looked as if he wished to speak more strongly but knew better. "Lord Yiu specifically instructed that we make best speed. He instructed me to brook no delays."

This was it, the challenge that Halarin expected and the moment that hopefully would mean the escape of the Tauri who had made such a bold attack against Yiu.

He glared at the Jaffa over the communicator, "This ship has far better sensors than any ship in the fleet. It is the reason Yiu chose me to lead this mission rather than another of his lords. We will proceed according to my order. Do not question me again!"

To his credit the man was loyal to his master, he clearly wished to disagree and looked to be on the very verge of doing so, but an order from a Goa'uld was an order and Yiu had put Halarin in charge even if the decision were clearly wrong. "Yes my lord, it will be as you will it." His voice was grudging and angry, but the words were spoken.

********

The fleet of Goa'uld ships came out of hyperspace at the edge of the system and began scanning. Halarin knew immediately that the ships had gone but also detected a slight energy signature, too faint for the other's to notice. Fifteen minutes later as the Goa'uld fleet passed the outer most planets of the system he noticed the energy emission wink out. It was a very curious thing, but it was on the very outer range of what the Ha'tak might have been able to detect. It might have been a sensor signaling the ships that were no longer here that someone had come. Maybe. An hour later the Al'kesh and the others landed on the planet while the Ha'tak scanned from orbit.

Three hours after that the Jaffa delivered a conclusive report to Halarin, "My lord, it appears the Shol'va stopped here to stock their ships with supplies. Since they stole them from the shipyards before their completion they must have had no food or water. It appears they hunted game for a day or two then departed."

Halarin came very near smirking, "Yes, I know. If your ship sensors are not completely blind they will have noticed the basic direction of their departure. I, of course, have it much more accurately, we will follow at maximum speed now that my ship is repaired."

The Jaffa leader nodded obviously seeing the logic in Halarin's insistence in keeping his ship. "My lord is wise."

Halarin was fairly certain they would find nothing but a cold trail now. The Tauri leader had had time to flee and if he were not a fool. He would have made random jumps and the trail would be impossible to follow now. Halarin relaxed for the first time in weeks. Yiu would remain disgraced, Ba'al would be a much more effective leader and most importantly, Halarin was out of the danger of battle for several more days as they searched.

**************

Mr Fox · September 16, 2010

Cameron Mitchell also relaxed for the first time in days as the Goa'uld fleet departed. He had managed to get the shield working just before the ships had come into sensor range and detected him. It was a relief, he would not have to abandon the base after all. At least not yet.

"So now what Cam?" He fell back into the habit of talking to himself.

"Now it's time to figure out priorities. Need to get back to work on the healing device. Need a personal weapon and shield for defense. Need to create an AI to automate some construction projects I'd like the facility to do. Need to create a new portable computer. Need to start construction of an Aurora class warship. Need to make a deal with the SGC. Oh and build an empire combined of Jaffa, humans and possibly aliens that can be an example to other worlds and a refuge for those fleeing tyranny."

"So, nothing you can't accomplish by lunch time eh?" He chuckled. "So much for the simple idea that I could just create a healing device based on the Ascension machine then return to Earth." He became serious and a little depressed, "That went out the window the minute Vinny showed up on the Prometheus. The only thing that remains to be seen is if I can make his death mean something."

"Like my Grandma used to say, 'Take it one step at a time.' So start with the quick things that you can get done fast."

Quick was relative concept under the circumstances, but some items on the list like a personal weapon and shield were 'set it and forget it'. Given the fabrication systems in the facility all he needed to do was program in the specs for the weapon and shield and they would be produced almost instantly if the raw materials were available. Same was true for a new personal computer to replace his Goa'uld computer, but it was a little more complicated. It was only a matter of minutes to program in the specs for the first two and they were 'materialized' before he could even walk to the fabricators. The shield was a red crystal about half the size is his palm set in what appeared to be gold. It would molecularly bond to any material and he knew from the repository records that it was generally worn either as a brooch on the left breast or attached to a belt although that was just a social convention, it could be worn concealed just as easily or even placed in a pouch. As long as it was somewhere on your person you could activate it by thought.

The pistol was a bit different. It was an unrelieved metallic black and looked as serious as a heart attack. He had altered the outer form to make it closer to the pistols he was familiar with from Earth, but internally it was pure Atlantean. It could be set to stun like a Zat or kill with a bolt more powerful than a staff weapon, or anywhere in between. Picking up the two items he shifted his Eufiber a bit forming a holster for the pistol which was strapped to his right thigh similar to the way his old military holster fit. The shield he placed inside a small pouch on his belt. No need to make it obvious how he was being shielded.

As for the computer that was a more time consuming and difficult process. He planned to add a neural interface so that he wouldn't need to expend energy using his ability to talk to computers. He also wanted it to have scanning and communication capabilities. He wanted it to have some serious computing power and memory, but he also wanted it in a small light portable package. It was a lot to ask even from Ancient tech. His Goa'uld computer was the size of an Earth laptop, about 15 inches by 10, and half an inch thick and weighed three pounds, which was as good as

What he settled on was a modular unit that could be separated, the scanning and communications went into a small device about the size of a pen. The computing and memory portion made up a solid rectangle about 3 inches by 5 inches and three quarters of an inch thick, or roughly the size of a big smartphone. The pen portion of the computer fit into a slot inside the pc. The third piece was a small square blue crystal set in a gold mounting that would adhere to skin and make contact with the nerves beneath the skin to form the neural link, it was only a quarter inch and could be placed anywhere on the body. The ancients often wore them like jewelry, but Cam really couldn't see himself with a big earring thing stuck on his earlobe or like a jewel on his forehead. In the end he stuck it behind his ear where it wouldn't be noticed. He whistled in surprise as the 'display' appeared in his field of vision floating in the air in front of him. "Now that's HiDef! If I only had some good movies and games to play on this thing!"

"You know Cam old buddy, you're really going to have to get back to Earth sometime soon and use this new toy to do some serious software pirating..." He thought about it and with a separate storage module he could download and store the entire collection of every game, movie, book and song ever recorded assuming it was on the net somewhere. He laughed aloud. He wouldn't even have to go home, he could fabricate a stealth probe and drop it in Earth orbit and in a few days or weeks he'd have everything. Making the probe would take time and resources. The facility here had limited raw materials and that meant he needed to be choosy about what he made right now. Materials would have to be one of his priorities when he had the chance.

He attached the computer to the opposite side of his belt from the holstered pistol along with a couple power sticks that could be used to recharge any of his tech. To an outside observer his belt was starting to look like it had when he was in SGC uniform, but instead of his service pistol and extra clips of ammo, and a walkie-talkie, now he had a blaster and energy sticks filled with liquid naquadah and an alien super-computer. He was starting to feel a little less naked and a little more ready to face the challenges ahead.

Click to reveal..

Mr Fox · September 17, 2010

That night Cam finally signaled his Jaffa to return. He knew it was the right thing, but he still had mixed feelings about becoming the leader of a people. Intellectually he knew that he would do as good a job as anyone could thanks to both his gifts and his military training. His stomach was filled with butterflies over it. It would take them two days to return and that was plenty of time to retrieve the Ascension device from it's hiding place and get his second project started.

As it turned out part one was very quick and would have only taken an hour if he hadn't stopped to take time to erase his tracks from the the gate to the hidden facility. When it was done he was hot and dusty and wanted a shower badly. Unfortunately the ancient sanitary facilities didn't include a water shower and sonic shower wasn't working yet. Some things had broken down over the million odd years since the base was abandoned. Cam didn't 'require' food, or drink or sleep thanks to his condition, and his eufiber could literally shed dirt at will, but just because he didn't require things didn't make him want them any less. A shower and a hot meal especially. It was hard to feel normal when you had to go a week without the basic human necessities. At times like this he really wondered if he were still human.

"No sense in moping about it. Get back to work you slacker!" He smiled ruefully. Maybe having an AI around would break him of the habit of talking to himself all the time. "Talking to a machine has to be a step up from talking to yourself right?" He chuckled and left the ascension device in one of the science labs at the base where he could best study it.

Afterward he moved back to the fabricator and started the process that would earn him yet another court marshal back on Earth if anyone knew of it. This facility had once worked on creating human form replicators, it was an early attempt compared with what was done in Atlantis in the Pegasus galaxy, but it was probably the basis for what they later achieved. No doubt the IOA and even the SGC would freak out over deliberately creating a potential threat, but he knew what they did not. Atlantis had human form replicators for ages and they were never a problem. It wasn't until the Atlanteans forced their creations to go against their programming and engage in war that they rebelled. The replicators would have continued to serve faithfully forever as far as he knew. The problem was that they were forced to go against their most basic programing... not to harm or allow harm to come to sentient beings. Even then the replicators had simply refused to serve and isolated themselves to live peacefully. Or so the records in the Repository told him. They could still be there for all he knew, minding their own business. "Note to self, warn the SGC to tell Weir to stay away from that planet."

Turning back to the task at hand, he found the template for Reese as the last one accessed in the base's computers. He erased that template and programmed in the more advanced model that was in his memory from the ancient repository, but he took extra measures to ensure that it had failsafes in it's base code to prevent it from ever going rogue or creating other replicators. It did have the ability and imperative to control other replicators, but was programmed to create them only at Cam's direct order and in numbers specified for a given task. More over, any replicators it created or discovered it would program them to no longer replicate beyond the parameters for it's specific task. Any rogue replicators it found would be taken control of and commanded to disassemble. He was pleased to note that the Atlanteans had programmed replicators with their own version of Asimov's three laws, they had just failed to realize that as sentient intelligences their creations would rebel if forced to go against their basic nature. Cam was very aware of that and would not make that mistake... He could just imagine his replicator say, "I'm sorry, but I can't do that Dave." He didn't need a Hal 9000 on his hands. To be fair he didn't think they Atlanteans weren't smart enough to realize what might happen, they were just desperate and trying to survive in the face of overwhelming odds.

"Damn shame I didn't get zapped by the Repository before the Atlantis mission departed, I could have warned them to stay away from the Wraith. Hell, I could have sent them there with ZPMs to power the city and they wouldn't have gone exploring and stumbled across the bad guys." He shook his head and tisked, "One galaxy at a time Cam, one galaxy at a time..." He stopped to daydream a moment about what he could do with the resources of Atlantis at his disposal. He shook himself out of the fantasy and got back to work programming Lexine. That was what he had decided to name her, his great aunt had been named Lexine and the name meant 'helper of mankind' which seemed particularly appropriate. Besides he could shorten it to Lex and that had a nice sound and rolled off the tongue.

In the end it took several days to update the system with the final specs and by then the Jaffa were back and he was able to take a real shower and get a few hot meals.

Cam timed the end of the fabrication to coincide with daybreak and brought Lexine up on top of one of the hills that concealed the base and faced her toward the rising sun and then activated her. She opened her eyes for the first time on the red-gold rays of a spectacular sunrise.

"Good Morning Lexine." Cam stood beside his creation and smiled at her. There was no patronizing tone to his voice, she might be an 'artificial' intelligence, but she was intelligent and sentient non-the-less, he had programmed her to have a high level of intelligence, higher than 95% of humans in fact. She wasn't just there to be a helper and a construction foreman watching over a multitude of replicators. She was there to be someone he could talk to, someone who would be straight with him and tell him the things he needed to hear, not just what his people might think he wanted to hear.

He was sure that if anyone in the SGC ever found out about her they would call her a sexbot, but Cam didn't see any reason to make her ugly just to avoid a silly criticism from his former friends. She was on the short side, standing only 5'4" inches, but her figure was slim and had all the right curves. Copper red hair contrasted with piercing blue eyes above a button nose and full lips. Cute was the word that leaped immediately to mind. Seriously cute, he thought to himself as he saw her open her eyes for the first time and take on living expressions. Her face was easy to read, awe at the sight of the sunrise, followed by confusion as she processed her first thoughts.

After a few moments of accessing the data in her memory she turned to Cam. "My name is Lexine?" She cocked her head slightly and added, "You are Cam." Again the confused look, "There is very little in my memory. I know that you are my master and that I must obey you, but that you also wish me to question your decisions. I know that this place has been abandoned for a very long time and needs many repairs. I know that I am never to cause lasting harm sentient beings, but that replicators are the one exception to that rule. Replicators are to be disassembled to prevent them from harming biological sentients." She paused as if struggling to understand these things and then added in surprise, "I understand that I am free within the guidelines of these other imperatives."

Cam put his hand on her shoulder gently, "Lexine, you are as free as I can make you given the danger that replicators have posed to human kind. I am sorry that I could not make you completely free. Do you mind if I call you Lex?"

She accessed the records that Cam had made available to her about the previous encounters with replicators both in this and the Asgard's Galaxies. She was surprised that Cam asked her permission to shorten her name to Lex, but found that she was pleased that he would ask. "Yes, call me Lex if you like." She wondered at the fact that he created her despite the problems with the other replicators.

She waited for what would come next. She was intelligent and knew it, but so far completely lacked experience and a frame of reference for interacting with others.

"If you don't mind, let's get to work Lex. There is a great deal that needs to be done in a short time."

She nodded happily at the idea of having something to do.

Mr Fox · September 19, 2010

The more Cam worked with Lexi to plan out the building of the new ship the more he became convinced he didn't like it. It wasn't that there was anything wrong with the design. It had worked well for the Ancients, but the plain truth of it was the ship was just damned ugly and he knew why. It was designed in haste and they were rushed into production at the beginning of the Wraith war. They had everything he would expect from a Lantean ship; massive firepower, incredible shields, lots of room... hell, they were huge. They dwarfed anything Earth had even contemplated making so far. They were bigger even than the biggest Asgard or Goa'uld ships. Well, not bigger than Anubis' mothership that O'Neill had destroyed with the Lantean weapons platform in Antarctica, but bigger than just about anything else. The one thing they lacked was any beauty. There were no sleek lines, no sexy curves; it didn't look like Death prowling through space. As far as he was concerned it looked like nothing so much as a big ol' grey turd. He was sure that if they had had time they would have designed in at least some beauty.

He sorted through every ship design in his memory but none of them really suited his purpose. Sadly the best thing would actually be a City ship like Atlantis itself, but that would take time to make and the resources of more than one planet. To do it fast he would have to unleash the replicators; they could make a new ship in just a few months, but there was no way he would let replicators reproduce in those kind of numbers and go unsupervised. Even without unleashing them they could finish in a couple years and that was more than a little tempting. The hardest bit was the exotic materials for things like the ZPMs and that needed to be sorted out soon anyway. He made a mental note to his computer to initiate the construction as soon as possible, that would solve the long term problem of a homeworld for his new people. Their homeworld would be anywhere they wanted it to be and if they got tired of one world or became threatened, they could just leave and go to another.

That didn't solve the short term problem of a need for military ships to defend themselves with. The possibilities were there. He could modify the ships he already had with Lantean tech. That would only take a few weeks or three months at most, but again, he was back to the problem of needing exotic materials for making the ZPMs to power the upgrades. Plus he could only do so much to the smaller ships because of their size. Lantean shields, of the sort that protected their ships were large. Too large for anything less than a Ha'tak. Even so, he would make that his top priority. "'A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush', as Grandma used to say."

Lexi looked up at him in puzzlement. "I do not understand. In what way will adding a bird to the design help improve the Aurora?"

Cam rolled his eyes, but chuckled and explained that it was just an expression that meant something you had right now was more valuable than something you didn't.

"Ah, yes. But..." Lexi fell silent as Cam waved the question away.

"No, what I meant was that we need to prioritize upgrading the ships we already have over the creation of new ones. It does us no good to start building a ship if we were to be attacked and couldn't defend ourselves."

"I see. Then by that logic we should begin with the Al'kesh and complete those, then move to the Ha'tak, and then start the construction of an Aurora?" Even after several days she was still learning to interact and wasn't sure about her conclusions.

"Yes Lexi, that's exactly what I mean. Start with the ship's shields, then their drives, then finally their weapons. When you finish one, then move to the next. One other thing, be sure to use beam weapons. I don't want to install drones on any ship yet. Only someone with the ATA gene can operate the technology and you and I are the only ones that can use it."

"Not even the Ha'tak? It is currently your flagship." She wasn't curious so much as confirming orders.

Cam shook his head, "That's right. Leave them off all of the ships. If one were to fall into enemy hands I wouldn't want them to get that technology."

Mr Fox · September 19, 2010

They fell silent again then and he went back to considering the next step. There were other ships in his memory from the Repository, but none were suitable and while he did have all the knowledge necessary to design a completely new class of ship, that would take even more time than building an Aurora.

There was a way, he knew it, he just hadn't wanted to think about it. He could make more human form replicators like Lexi to monitor and direct the lesser replicators and keep them unintelligent. That would work and the ships could be completed in a short time, but he didn't want to leave half a dozen highly intelligent replicators running around. It wasn't the safety issue that bothered him. He knew he could make them so that they would be absolutely loyal and faithful to him, but that would effectively make them slaves and that went against everything he stood for.

He looked up at Lexi and stared thoughtfully pondering. Was Lexi a slave? He'd made her intelligent and he had made her free, but he had set limits on her freedom. She could never intentionally harm other sentient life, nor could she ever use her ability to create and control other replicators without his direct permission. That was a breech of free will even if it was necessary.

Lexi eventually noticed Cam staring and looked up at him and stared back. "What? Is there something wrong with my face?"

Cam smiled, it was a joke; not much of one perhaps, but it was a start. "No, I was just wondering if you feel free, or if you feel like a slave because of the conditions I placed in your programming." It was a serious question and he wanted an honest answer.

She cocked her head to the side in thought before speaking, "Yes, I feel free. Why?"

"When I made you I gave you true intelligence, but I made it so that you could never use your abilities to create other replicators without my direct permission. For a sentient being anything is possible within our range of abilities."

Lexi thought for a long time. Cam was beginning to wonder about the long silence when she finally answered, "Could you destroy your homeworld with everyone on it?"

Cam was horrified, "Of course not."

The female replicator grinned, "But with the knowledge you possess you have the ability to do so. Does this make you feel like a slave?"

Cam saw her point, but from his perspective it just didn't feel like the same thing. "But what if you were in a dangerous situation and knew that the right thing to do would be to kill someone to save the lives of those you cared about? Would that make you feel limited by how I programmed you?"

The look he got back was very human, it said, are you kidding me... "Cam, even though I would hate to see you harmed, I could no more desire to harm your attacker than you could desire to destroy your homeworld. Such a thing would be inconceivable for me. You biologicals can run around killing each other and that is fine for you, but I could never desire to harm someone, it's just not in my nature."

Somehow that didn't make Cam feel a whole lot better. It wasn't in her nature... he had made her nature, in effect that made her a slave in a way even if she didn't feel like one.

She could see his thoughts by the look on his face. "I am not a slave!" She was indignant, "You are physically capable of killing the 6 billion people on your world, but you would never dream of doing it. I tell you I'm physically capable of reprogramming myself to kill, but I would never do it, because the idea is just as repugnant to me as committing genocide is to you."

Cam stopped and blinked, that wasn't what he was expecting at all. "You could reprogram yourself? Even your basecode without my permission?" That scared him, deeply. He had sudden visions of Lantean tech replicators going crazy.

She nodded, "Yes. I wouldn't dream of doing it, but it would be possible. I would no more be tempted to do that than you would be to kill your people."

Her words made Cam feel better that she really wasn't a slave but also gave him queazy sick feeling in the pit of his stomach for more than one reason. An image of Vinny's blood running off the knife and coating his hand like a bright red glove swam before his vision. He turned his thoughts from that and back to the discussion at hand.

"So if I made others of your kind, but coded them with different directives so that they would be more bound to me than you are? Would that be slavery?"

Again she paused to consider, "No. So long as they are like me and have the ability to change their basecode then they are not slaves. It's only when there is zero choice that there is slavery, or forcing someone to do that which goes against their nature. If their nature is to serve you then it is not slavery, not if they have the basic choice."

It was a mighty fine line as far as Cam was concerned, and scary to know that they could change their minds and go rogue. He consoled himself with the fact that the replicators in Pegasus had simply gone off to mind their own business and hadn't gone nuts like the replicators Reese created.

Aberrant: Stargate Universe - Finding purpose

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