Aberrant: Stargate Universe - Who Wants to be Teacher's Pet? [Complete]

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

Olivia had never been fond of public speaking. But over time, she'd managed to clamp down on the fear and learn to deal with it, at least when she was lecturing. She'd gotten comfortable with her team, and speaking in front of three people was more a complex conversation, even if you were lecturing to them. But opening up her lessons to other people left her shaking and nervous, again.

You're smart, she told her reflection. You're knowledgeable, good at your job of supplying information to people and smart. One of the smartest people in the world. You're going to do great. She squared her shoulders, lifted her chin and took one last look to be sure she was professional and presentable. Her blouse was clean and wrinkle-free; her sweater lint-free, and her long skirt hung nicely.

She almost lost her nerve when she got to the briefing room. Caine had said he'd had to move it to a bigger room, but she hadn't been aware of what that had meant, exactly; more than just specialists were here. She hadn't been ready for so many people to be interested in her briefings. Now she was doubly glad she had elected to dress professionally instead of slacking off.

"Good afternoon," she said, moving to the clear front of the room. They'd even given her a whiteboard, and her TA days reasserted themselves as she picked up the marker. "I know many of us need the basics, so I beg indulgence from those who know. Or better," she added with a grin, "you can help me instruct the others. Teaching others offers insights we wouldn't have otherwise. And I always welcome insights from the more experienced SG personnel, especially information on how to defeat or otherwise circumvent our enemies."

She turned to the board and split it in thirds with two drawn lines. On one section, she wrote 'Enemies', on another 'Allies' and on the last 'Neutral/Unknown'. "Alright, we'll start with Goa'uld." She wrote the name under the enemies section. "They are the first enemy that we encountered. Dr. Daniel Jackson and the now-General O'Neill encountered Ra in 1994 on the planet Abydos. They defeated him, and we didn't learn much more until the reactivation of the StarGate program three years later. Dr. Jackson's wife and brother-in-law were the first people we knew personally who were taken by the Goa'uld. They were not the last.

"The Goa'uld are a race of sentient parasitic beings that take over hosts. There are two key features which both shape their morality and our relationship with them. They have a genetic memory, passing down the knowledge of the parent, or queen, to the offspring. They also use us as hosts. Actually several species can serve as hosts, including humans and Unas. They originated on the planet designated P3X-888. They are extremely egomaniacal due to their genetic memory and their ability to use the sarcophagus to keep their human hosts alive for centuries. As an important insight into how this has all gone to their head, Goa'uld means "God" in the Goa'uld language. Races which will not serve them are completely destroyed without compromise. And they are utterly ruthless.

"Although the majority of them are one-dimensionally genocidal, megalomaniacal, and in some cases apparently barely self-aware, living out the patterns of their behavior as they existed thousands of years ago, there are a few exceptions. Apophis at times showed an unusual amount of insight, lucidity, and tenacity for a Goa'uld, escaping from Sokar's imprisonment, and to a small extent, rebuilding his forces. Heru'ur was seen on the battlefield with his Jaffa as an active general, risking his own life alongside them rather than hiding behind them as is the normal for Goa'uld. Ba'al survived thus far by through being infinitely more flexible and adaptable than any of the others had been, even at times allying with SG-1 when he felt the situation warranted it. I don't need to mention that makes him incredibly dangerous.

"A bit about the symbiotes; they invade their hosts through the neck, either the back or the front, or entering through the mouth and breaching the throat wall. Once they have burrowed into body, the parasite begins to wrap itself around the Human spine. The symbiote then weaves itself around the nervous system where thin filaments are extended that go up into the brain itself." Olivia paused and grabbed her file folder. Sighing, she admitted, "I don't have enough for all, so you'll have to share. But these are picture of Goa'uld at all stages of life, as well as a Queen - more on that later - and the last is an x-ray image of a symbiote in the host. As you can see, both were murdered.

Mature Goa'uld

Goa'uld Queen

[OOC: Sadly, I couldn't get an image of the x-ray. I'll try to secure it myself, later - it is a really neat image. You can clearly see the spine of both the host and the Goa'uld were severed.]

Passing them out, Olivia continued, "If the Goa'uld has taken control of the host body and become one with it, it possesses the capacity of exerting a remarkable level of control over it. This allows them the capacity to kill it at will if need be or if they are threatened by others. Standard surgical techniques were proven to be ineffective in removing the symbiote. Even advanced Humans can be susceptible to this as the symbiote can release a deadly poison that can kill the host upon removal. However, the Tok'ra have the capcity to safely remove a symbiote from its host.

"Infant Goa'uld that have not reached maturity are not capable of fully taking over a host. They only retained control of them for short periods of time which are experienced as black outs by the host. This results in a struggle being fought over the host body between the symbiote and the host itself. In its young state, a symbiote is capable of shedding a dead husk of skin that resembles its body and can make surgeons believe they removed the Goa'uld."

Olivia paused and cleared her throat. "A special type of Goa'uld is the Queen who is responsible for producing new young larval Goa'uld for implantation into Jaffa. When encountering a new tribe of Humans or a different race, the Queen has to first sample the code of life, known as DNA, from the species intended to be a host. This is to ensure that there is no rejection during the process between host and larva."

She glanced out into the room and nearly had a heart attack. Hatchins sat in the back row, a notepad on his knee and a pen in his hand. When he saw her looking at him, he winked quickly and covertly. Olivia turned to the board and acted like she was going to write something, but couldn't think for a second. Ignore him.

Suddenly, she turned back and stated, "Before I get too far ahead... I should take questions. Questions, anyone? Please, don't be shy." She added a warm smile, guaranteed to put anyone at ease. Her eyes stayed firmly away from that portion of the room.

[Rorx]

Gwyn raised a hand at the request for questions, "Looking at those photos it appears that the Queen is vastly larger than the standard symbiote, does it attempt to connect with the host in the same way and if so how does it manage to accomodate the rest of it's bulk?"

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

"Good question," Olivia said, stepping forward and taking one of the images of the Queen from someone in the front row. Holding it up, she outlined the red mass and explained, "This 'sack' holds the symbiotes until they are ready for birth. A queen can detach from the sack to blend normally with a host." Handing the picture back, she asked, "Anyone else?"

[Yseult Sierra]

Seeing no one to ask a question, the pretty, young-seeming blonde raised her hand. Let's see how much she has learned. "Other than their respective behaviours, is there any differences, physiological or otherwise, between the Goa'uld and the Tok'ra?"

Yseult had spent a great amount of time trying to analyze the deadly compound the Goa'uld released. She had been looking to make a counter-agent the would nullify it, thus allowing the safe removal of the symbiote. So far, the Tok'ra had been less than helpful in this regard.

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

"Now you're getting ahead of me," Olivia said with a smile. "First, let me explain the Tok'ra." Moving back to the board, she wrote the name under 'Allies', ignoring the snort from someone in the room who disagreed with that assessment. “The Tok'ra have had one queen; her name was Egeria, and she was a Goa'uld Queen and former mate of Ra.” Olivia paused to let the thought sink into their head. “Egeria believed that the Goa'uld Empire was too evil to continue, and sired the Tok'ra with her mental imprint of compassion, and a belief that they should only take willing hosts. Remember the genetic history I mentioned? She selected what feelings and knowledge her offspring would have, and in doing so, she created the Tok’ra. She sired several broods of Tok'ra to before her death. Her children called themselves the ‘Tok'ra’ which means ‘against Ra’ in Goa'uld.

“Eventually, Ra caught up with her and imprisoned her in a statis jar, stopping the creation of the Tok’ra. By the time her children found her again, she was unable to create more children. They exist today with limited numbers. Goa’uld – and Tok’ra – only live about two thousand years without a sarcophagus’ intervention, so in time, they will all be lost, and with them, whatever knowledge they have.

“The Tok’ra are active participants in the war on the Goa’uld,” Olivia continued. “They oppose the Goa’uld indirectly, using subterfuge to destroy key targets in the Goa’uld’s government, which is a ruling council of the System Lords, the most powerful of the Goa’uld. They don’t have the numbers to attack the System Lords directly, and barring some strange change in the universe, never will. They fight as best they can. They are theoretically our allies, but tensions recently have resulted in colder relations. They are still allies, but terms are less friendly than they used to be between SGC and the Tok’ra High Council, their ruling body.

"Perhaps you’ll get a chance to met a Tok’ra; the most common one around SGC is Jacob Carter/Selmak. Jacob Carter is the host, and is also Colonel Carter’s father. Selmak is the Tok’ra symbiote, of course.”

She looked back at Yseult, nodding. “To return to your question, aside from their behavior, there is no known difference physically. However, clearly, something makes them at odds with the Goa’uld. This is the compassion for other living creatures learned from their Queen, and that’s not something I can point to on a cadaver, or find on an x-ray. It is a matter of the soul, which some would say the Goa’uld don’t possess. I don’t know about that myself… And I’m rambling.” Olivia grinned sheepishly. “I do that. My doctorate is in History, and to get it, I had to talk a lot. So if I start getting too far off-topic, just point it out. Next?”

[Rorx]

Gwyn raises his hand again, grinning at his team mate, "I'm trying to learn about there technology, and found that we can't operate some of it as it relies upon having Naquadah in there blood, but Naquadah is toxic. So how do they do it and should we be able to use a simlar process to better use their technology in the future."

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

"Omph, hang on a second," Olivia said, bowing her head and pressing her fingers to her forehead. To the audience, she was still and silent for a long moment. Internally, her mind raced, buzzing through files and linked associations, crawling through her data like a spider. "Ah," she said, lifting her head as the data was pulled from the recesses of her mind.

"Small amounts of naquadah are not lethal," Olivia said, "though naquadah is a rare, super-heavy metal so I'd be cautious about injecting it into your system. It's used by a wide number of different races. Its most basic use is as a weapon: naquadah greatly amplifies energy, making it extremely potent if paired with explosives. Due to its unique properties, naquadah forms the basis for many advanced technologies; the Stargates themselves are composed almost entirely of naquadah. Naquadah is also present in the bloodstream of the Goa'uld, which allows them to control their technologies and sense the presence of other symbiotes. The Goa'uld have naquadah mining operations on many planets; its refined form, weapons-grade naquadah, is extremely valuable and often used as currency. Weapons-grade naquadah is at least as dense as gold. Alternate forms of naquadah include liquid naquadah, used to power Goa'uld staff weapons, and heavy liquid naquadah, used to power Goa'uld AG-3 weapons satellites.

"Now, we know that primitive Goa'uld from P3X-888 have no naquadah in their system. With those Goa'uld not on P3X-888, those who are even temporarily host to a Goa'uld or a Tok'ra will have trace amounts of naquadah infused into their systems."

She looked at Gwyn and said, "The best answer we have right now is, get a Tok'ra symbiote. Not that I recommend that. I have no doubt that you'll end up removed from SGC and sent out to become a foot soldier in a shadow war."

[Yseult Sierra]

"If I may add a few points, Olivie?" Yseult said, standing up. After waiting for Olivia's nod of assent, she continued.

"Only certain lifeforms possess the necessary quality or qualities to absorb Naquadah into their bloodstreams without ill effect, such as the Goa'uld/Tok'ra symbiotes. The unique protein marker that symbiotes leave in their hosts must pass this ability to their hosts as well. That is why Lt. Col. Carter is able to utilize certain Goa'uld devices."

Yseult's eyes brightened with the possiblities. "If we can isolate the proper sequence in this protein marker, we may be able to create a therapy similar to the ATA gene-therapy, enabling us to use Goa'uld technology."

"There could also be other benefits. The Naquadah in the Goa'uld's system does not technically allow them to sense other symbiotes. They actually sense sources of Naquadah, such as other symbiotes, and, yes, the Stargate, as the Goa'uld Hathor had done. Thus, in theor--"

Becoming acutely aware of how everyone was looking at her, Yseult became flustered, a faint blush rising in her cheeks, and she sat back down, awkwardly. "Yes, well, that is all I wanted to say. Please, Olivie, continue."

[Mr Fox]

Cam sat in one of the seats listening intently committing everything to memory. After Dr. Yseult spoke and trailed off in embarrassment, "Doctor, I would like to discuss that with you after this meeting if you don't mind. I think I have a few ideas on how to do that. The artifact downloaded a good deal of info into me during my transformation and I might be able to use it to help you."

Mentally he added another two items to his To Do list.

1) Download everything about the ATA gene therapy.

2) Reconfigure a computer system for running the medical simulations.

3) Check with Olivia and Carter about alien computers.

There were too many things on his list already and it would be weeks before he got completely caught up. He badly needed some way to speed up the mundane tasks...

[Adrian Moss]

Hatchins was here, but that should have been expected. In fact, it helped play into their plan of operation. Enemies Closer and all that jive.

On the lecture, Damien had developed a fews of his own questions, but ran them through his own memory banks before deciding how to act.

"Will other Goa'uld make an effort to defend their queens, or is the relationship more adversarial? Are we any closer to establishing a primary queen line, as well as the relationships between the main systme Lord lines? Were in time do we think they deviated?

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

"That is a hard question, or rather part of it is," Olivia said. "One assumes that a queen taken as a 'mate' by a powerful System Lord would be very well guarded, and we've seen evidence that solitary queens, such as Hathor, will gather loyal Jaffa and defend themselves. It depends on the queen and her circumstance. Queens are rarer though, and that should count for something.

"As for line of lineage... we do know that Ra and Apophis both have children, meaning that they both claim to have sons. However, as the queens reproduce asexually, this may mean that Ra and Apophis' hosts both provided genetic material to the queens that bore Heru'ur and Klorel."

Olivia leaned on the back of the chair set up for her, shrugging a little. "To be honest, we just don't know that much about how the Goa'uld and Tok'ra go about the business of reproducing. It might be a matter of claiming all children from their queen as theirs, and those that do well get the honor of being singled out by Dad. Or they might have an unknown way of reproducing in a more 'conventional' way. One of the things we're still working on."

[Yseult Sierra]

Yseult was about to respond to Cam, when something Olivia said sparked another remembered report from several years ago.

"The Goa'uld can reproduce in a 'conventional' way, but it is forbidden," Yseult said, standing up again, her blush still visible. "The child of two Goa'uld hosts, called a Harcesis, possesses the genetic memory of the Goa'uld, which to their way of thinking, is a grave threat. Therefore, they prefer asexual methods of reproduction, with the option of limiting any threat, by limiting what information they pass on, from potential offspring."

Yseult sat back down again, her head buried in her hands. She looked sideways at Cam, peering through the screen of her honey-blonde hair, speaking quietly. "I would very much like to hear what you learned from the Artifact, Cameron. I shudder at the thought of all the information we lost when Generel O'Neill had accessed the Ancient's Repository of Knowledge, but was unable to communicate it. And if there is anything I can help you with, please let me know."

[Noah Weston]

Noah sat in the back of the room listening quitely. He noted the unspoken communication between Dr. Olivia and the man next to him; clearly there was some sort of tension there, but he kept his observation to himself.

As the lecture went on and the topics become more complex and laden with scientific tangents Noah's intrest rapidly waned. Finally getting fed up when they hit the topic of Guo'uld mating rituals and habits, Noah raised his hand and spoke up.

"Can we please kep this on topic? While you science types might be interested in what the guo'uld do between the sheets, most of us just need to know what to shoot and what not to shoot," There was slight annoyance in his voice but he said it with a smile. "Guo'uld; Bad. To'kri; Good. No practical way to tell them apart. Naquawhatsit needed to make their tech go. Did I miss anything practical?"

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

"Yes, Leuitenant, but let me draw this back on point after one note," Olivia said softly, shoving down a spark of irritation at the other woman. She was trying to help, and Olivia wouldn't fault her for sharing information, even extraneous information. "I skipped that because it wasn't precisely Goa'uld reproduction; it is a forbidden creation of what is essentially a human with Goa'uld knowledge, not the creation of another Goa'uld. The process by which a Queen gathers genetic material to determine that her children has compatibility with a given race is described as 'sexual' in nature, and is a type of deviation from the asexual reproduction of the Goa'uld. In our system of reproduction, the male genetic donor changes the female donor's genetic offering. Because the male host-donor's DNA does have an impact on the changes the queen will make to her offspring, you could in that way claim they have a conventional means of breeding.

"Lt. Weston, to answer your question - you have the practical details down. A symbiote will provide some toughness and regeneration to its host, so keep that in mind. The Unas, when hosted, become much harder to stop. Fortunately for our military, humans are the preferred hosts, despite the obvious downside for us as a race.

"When fighting a Goa'uld in a human host, you're more likely to fighting his Jaffa." Olivia turned and put Jaffa both in the enemy and ally columns. "Yes, the Jaffa are both friend and enemy; no one here would say that Teal'c is the enemy, but there are millions of Jaffa who want nothing more than to shoot you in the name of their god.

"The Jaffa are an offshoot of humanity, genetically engineered by the Goa'uld. They have an abdominal pouch which serves to incubate larval Goa'uld. The infant Goa'uld provides strength, longevity, and good health, at the cost of supplanting the Jaffa's natural immune system, making them dependant on the Goa'uld for more symbiotes.

"When fighting them, I've been told that you need to put down both enemies - the Jaffa itself and the symbiote in its pouch. When a symbiote is killed, its Jaffa incubator will follow within a few hours. A larva must be implanted when a Jaffa reaches puberty; the Jaffa's immune system begins to fail and he or she needs a symbiote to survive.

"Thankfully for the Jaffa, humans on the planet Pangar developed a drug made from goa'uld symbiotes known as Tretonin that grants an immune system response, and the Tok'ra altered it for the Jaffa. While the Jaffa loses some of the benefits of the larva, they also gain freedom from their dependence on the Goa'uld. This is why they are our allies, too. There are now free Jaffa, leading a rebellion against their oppressors."

She looked around the room. "Does anyone have any specific questions about the Jaffa? I'm not a military mind, so direct me to the data you want to access." That was an oddly computer-like thing to say, but Olivia didn't seem catch the strangeness of it.

[Adrian Moss]

Damien looks over his shoulder to Noah.

"Lieutanent, imagine you are in a situation were you have the opportunity to capture a System Lord's Son, but it may imperil your mission. Wouldn't knowing the relationship the Goa'uld has toward's his offspring be of value? Grabbing a bargaining chip that turns out to be valueless can ruin your hole day."

"Likewise, they may not appreciate our relationships among SGC team members, so not appreciate how valuable you are to the SGC and to what lenghts we will go to for one another."

"It's not about sex, but about getting inside the mind of the enemy. Okay ... it's about that and sex, but reproduction is a powerful force."

[Noah Weston]

Self important jackass. This briefing isn't gonna do any good if no one can understand the nerds. Noah thought as he sat stonefaced. If someone doesn't reign them in, no one here is gonna be able to keep up with the science gobbledygook.

[Omar]

Omar sat in silence and waited for an opportune moment to ask his question. The lession was interesting, if a little high brow. He figured Andrew would have found the entire breadth of discussion...illuminating and fascinating. Drawing upon his knowledge and familiarity with Nova physiology, he asked his question.

"As Nova. we have enhanced immune systems and are thus immune to all diseases and resistant to toxins." Omar had to pose his queries right. "If we were to synthesise a vaccine made of our DNA, might we be able to part some sort of resistance in others?

"Also, if we were to be infected with a Goa'uld, would we be able to remove it without dying?"

Omar had other questions, but he wanted to see what Olivia had to say about these.

[Courier]

(Investigation Prodigy On)

Steve says, "Only live about two thousand years without a sarcophagus, which of course most of them have anyway. OK, question, problem, and/or puzzle."

"If I remember biology right, there are some real long term problems with asexual reproduction but in the short run it produces a lot more."

"So why aren't there a lot more of them? Give us effective immortality and I'd expect a huge population boom."

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

"Ok, Omar first," Olivia grinned to see people getting interested. "At this point, no poison testing has been done to 'novas' yet, so I'm not sure that we can offer any data about whether you'd survive the symbiote toxin. And since none of us can know that, we don't know if a symbiote can kill you when you remove it. In short, we're a wild card, and no one know how we'll interact with the paradigm. Sorry I don't have a solid answer."

She looked at Steve, ignoring his pretty looks. It was getting easier to get used to all of them, over time; just showed that everyone could become jaded to anything. "Two things limit their growth. The first is that they incubate their young in their warrior class. I'd be like us having a litter of babies every year, and then using them as fuel cells in a tank until they reach age eighteen. The second is competition. Not only do Goa'uld work to get ahead, to gain power, they're also watching to make sure no one else gets them. They fight and squabble and kill each other all the time. Only a greater threat will cause them to draw together.

"There are long term problems with asexual reproduction, but remember the queens have complete control over their offspring," Olivia said. "They can alter them for maximum compatibility with their hosts, so the reproduction isn't wholly asexual. Just mostly."

[Yseult Sierra]

Yseult turned to the towering 'Specialist'. "I am not sure if a Nova's improved immune system would help, Monsieur Omar. You see, not only does a Goa'uld compromise a host's nervous system, it also takes control of the immune system, to a certain degree. In this case, it tricks the leukocytes of your immune system into not recognizing the antigen generated by the toxin. This means that your immune systems puts up no fight against the toxin, and in fact gives it free reign. Your body succumbs to a threat it does not even see."

"I have done some studies, trying to find a response to the toxin. But it has been difficult, because the goa'uld uses the hosts own genetic material against it, making it very hard to detect a unique antigen to the toxin. Indeed, I believe if we can find a vaccine for it, it would have to be tailored to each individual. A retrovirus delivery for a gene therapy may be a possible solution."

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

"Actually, this is interesting, but probably a topic on its own," Olivia said, sensing the restlessness building in the audience. "A final practical note on the Jaffa - those that serve or have served a Goa'uld are marked on the forehead. Here's a list of the symbols and which Goa'uld uses them. They are good for fast identification of which Goa'uld you're dealing with."

She passed out more papers, adding, "I'll make more copies; just find me later if you don't get one. Are their anymore questions about the basics of the Jaffa or Goa'uld?" Olivia smiled. "We'll cover them all in more detail at another session, or you're free to see me for help with private research. All the resources I've used for this lecture are available to most SG personnel."

[Omar]

Omar wasn't perturbed by their answers. He only wanted to know what sort of threat they could potentially pose to a nova.

"With all due respect, Madam. But Nova are 'new' to this universe. But with what I know from my own, and other universes in which we are more common, even parasites and other foreign bodies cannot survive within us. Our DNA is not like a normal persons...it is different. Also, the quantum energies are hostile to life, especially those who are not attuned to its forces. There really is now way to know what effect the tremendous energies within our bodies will do to an invading Goa'uld."

Omar paused and continued. "Also, there is the matter of taint, which would, I assume, affect a Goa'uld negatively as well. Even possibly changing it's personality. it could also make it stronger and more driven. Of course this is all conjecture, and I will leave it in the more capable hands of the Egg-heads among us." Omar smiled at the two of them to show that he meant no disrespect.

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

"The effects of a Goa'uld symbiote on Specialist physiology and vice versa are a topic for another session," Olivia said, nodding and smiling politely. "I'm sure that Dr. Sierra would love to speak with you further, as you and Kyria are our current experts in that area.

"But for the purposes of this lecture, I'd like to keep it a little more basic. Anyone else have any questions, or anything to add?"

[Adrian Moss]

"What are the benefits of being a Jaffa, pysically, as well as the drawbacks?"

It was a nice solid question, well within field, and needed to be asked. After all, the majority of what they would be fighting would be Jaffa. More importantly, those benefits could be extrapolated over into their status in their society and how they would stand in order up the the First Prime and the Goa' uld as well.

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

Olivia smiled at Caine; as always, her CO gave her exactly what she needed. "The symbiote gives them perfect health. The Jaffa gain increased physical strength, health, and longevity. Their life spans extend to well over a hundred years. They no longer have to sleep but they most perform Kelno'reem, a deep, daily meditation. This time allows the symbiote to repair any injuries to the Jaffa's body and is necessary to the Jaffa for them to maintain good health. When you factor in that the Jaffa train from childhood to be warriors and are already in prime physical condition, they become pretty solid adversaries. The symbiote can breath underwater for the Jaffa. The symbiote also protects the Jaffa from radiation for a time.

"The drawbacks are more subtle, but more crippling," Olivia said. "First is the matter of the symbiote. It cannot control them, but it lives in their abdomen, and must be replaced every seven years. It supplements their immune system, and death occurs within hours of it being removed. So they have a inbuilt dependence on the Goa'uld. Is that what you're looking for, Major?"

[Adrian Moss]

"Precisely," he said with a nod. You couldn't see many Jaffa surrendering when their lives were on the line. Understanding the nature of this fanatiscm of your enemy helped you understand how to face them. In this case, you could see how expecting to bribe, or appeal to most Jaffa would get you nowhere.

He smiled at Olivia, but didn't want to monopolize her time. Better for someone from another team ask her a question.

[Yseult Sierra]

As Yseult followed along with what Olivia said about the Jaffa, she counted off each point with a finger. Well, she certainly doesn't miss much. Miss is the wrong word, she just hasn't learned it yet. I should probably find out what each lecture is about before deciding to attend. This is all basic information that I have already learned. It is the social sciences aspect that I lack a greater understanding of.

[Ryan Hawke]

Ryan nodded as everyone spoke, not saying anything at all. He was here to learn, and in his experience one let the lecturer finish without questions.

He found the discussion ver enlightening, much better than just reading all of this on hardcopy.

[Mr Fox]

Cam considered all that was said. These Jaffa were sounding like a serious adversary, the lowest of them beyond the average or even above average US soldier. They sounded like an entire army of special forces equivalent guys. That was bad. He was really going to have to find Livy's source of information and start digging in, he was way behind what the others here knew and he hated that. Not that he enjoyed hitting the books, but all his life he'd put in whatever focus was necessary to reach his goals.

From his position at the bottom of the hill it was looking like a long climb.

[Aradia McConnell]

Aradia had never been the best student, at least not when it came to textbook type stuff. She had been thrilled to hear that Olivia was doing a presentation on it, and seeing how well the woman handled herself in front of the rest of them made her smile a little.

Way different from that girl who was afraid to get up in front of fifty people, just to introduce me and Wakiki's acts.

For the most part though, her knowledge was so limited that she scribbled furiously along in a notebook, trying to take down all the important stuff so she could go back through it later. She had complained to Vinny about not knowing any of this shit, she had a good feeling that he'd give her a lot of crap if she didn't know it after this lecture. Tentatively, she raised her hand and waited to be called on.

"Um.. are there any other drawbacks we should be aware of when fighting them? Are they smarter than us? Are they vulnerable when they're meditating like we are when we're sleeping, as far as.. I dunno, being groggy or not knowing what's going on? You know.. stuff like that?"

I sound like an idiot.

[Omar]

Omar silently chuckled at Specialist Aradia's question. They go down nice and easy if you hit them. He could understand the other's nervousness towards Jaffa because they tended towards the larger size.

"Just shoot 'em with a Zatt and your worries are over." Omar sniggered and then grinned at Major Hawke as he said it. There was obviously some sort of inside jest involved.

[Ryan Hawke]

Ryan nodded when Omar made his comment. "Turning their own weapons on them or weapons we've adapted from their tech has proven the most effective method to put them down quickly, as they seem tougher than most humans. The last mission I went on I shot several dead-on in vital areas and it only seemed to slow them down and agitate them."

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

Olivia let the blooded warrior speak to their experiences, even as part of shuddered internally at the sure realization that Ryan and Omar had killed those Jaffa. And she was giving them the forum to teach others to kill them. This is war, she reminded herself, crossing her arms and trying not to think about the Jaffa having families and loved ones. This is how war works.

No wonder she hated it so much.

"Aradia, they're human in all other regards, though they tend to be less well-educated," Olivia said, the expression on her face making it clear she didn't approve of that situation. "They're ruled by powerful beings who are like gods to them. It's in the 'gods' best interest to keep them undereducated. Now, the Goa'uld keep slaves, and some of them are trained and educated, to fulfill specific tasks. They are almost always human; the Jaffa are too useful as soldiers and breeders. I imagine only Lo'taur, the most trusted of a Goa'uld's slave have anything approaching a decent education, and that will still be twisted by their Master's point of view on the universe."

She glanced around the room. "As far as I know, the Kelno'reem is just like other meditation; it is a state of relaxation, not true withdrawal." She smiled at her friend. "Did that cover it?"

[Aradia McConnell]

Aradia nodded, and scribbled down what had been spoken in her notebook. She sighed slightly, not knowing how she was going to be helpful for any of this. Everyone acted like her power was so great - and it was fun, she had to admit. But she wasn't a fighter, and she wasn't smart like Olivia either. All she was good for was looking like other people, or things. And that was a pretty limited talent, as far as she could tell. Vinny didn't even seem to know what to do with her - she was the one who had come up with the idea for scouting ahead for them last time. Unless they needed spies or something, Aradia didn't know what possible use they could have for someone like her. Maybe once they realized that, she'd be able to go back to the circus and pretend none of this had really happened...

Yeah, right..

[Courier]

Steve said, "So basically they put their children in the front line of combat?... Well, that's 'alien' I guess."

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

"Each queen has hundreds of larve in each birth," Olivia pointed out. "If all of them reach maturity, they'd have problems finding enough hosts. There are species on Earth that have huge litters or bunches of babies to offset the massive infant mortality they suffer. It is a valid evolutionary practice."

[Courier]

Steve frowned. Olivia was 'right'... except that she wasn't.

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

"If there are no more questions," Olivia said, "let's move on." She went to the board and wrote 'Unas' under the neutral column.

"The Unas are a race that evolved on P3X-888, the same homeworld as the Goa'uld, and were the first to be used as hosts," Olivia said, her tone falling back into the lecture cadence. "In fact, 'unas' means 'the first ones' or 'the first race' in Goa'uld. After Ra discovered Taur'i, he found the humans were a much more suitable host-race for the Goa'uld, as human bodies were easier to repair. Human hands and voices offered much greater expressive and tool-using abilities and the Unas as hosts were phased out."

She passed around some more pictures to the assembled personnel.

"The Unas are reptilian in nature, exceptionally tough and hardy, and significantly stronger than human beings. A healthy Unas can keep fighting even after an entire magazine from a P-90 has been emptied into its chest, although it will eventually die from such massive injuries," Olivia explained, giving Noah a smile as she was careful to deliver practical battlefield information to him. "A Goa'uld possessed Unas is even more powerful, with exceptional regeneration abilities that allow them to survive and recover from multiple bullet wounds even without the aid of a sarcophagus. They are able to speak English, and we know of one who hibernated for a thousand years. As an interesting side note, an Unas has green blood.

"The Unas are a primitive tribal society held together in close knit communities. Each tribe is led by a dominant alpha male leader. They speak their own language that varies but is close enough to be understandable even by Unas from other planets. Without a symbiote, the Unas have not been observed to speak any language other than their own."

"On a technological basis, the Unas have not gained the technological advancement that the Goa'uld developed. Instead, the Unas resort to using spears and other primitive forms of equipment." Olivia paused. "Don't take them to be stupid. They are smart, in their own way. The Unas on P3X-888 fear open bodies of water where "wild" Goa'uld live. And they can develop technology; one of their notable developments are necklaces that prevent a Goa'uld from taking an Unas as a host as they have done in the past.

"Questions?"

[Noah Weston]

Noah solwly raied his hand , and when Olivia acknowledged him, he asked. "Can the Unas be educated? If they are that strong and powerful it sounds like they would make great soldiers for fighting the Guo'uld, like the Jaffa. It might be worth the time and effort to get them educated and trained in our military tactics."

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

"If you could convince them to do so," Olivia said. "They are highly territorial, so getting them to defend anything but their own areas would be difficult at best. But Dr. Jackson was able to befriend one Unas, Chaka, who gradually gave up his territory to aid a group of Unas who were enslaved by humans. Later still, Chaka worked with Dr. Jackson on yet another Unas-inhabited planet to open peace negotiations. With Chaka's help, we were able to convince the Unas there to mine naquadah for us in exchange for goods."

Olivia sighed as she realized she'd been rambling and clarified, "So yes, I think you could, with the right Unas. But finding them and teaching them... I'm not sure it would be worth the effort, especially since a human soldier is much easier to 'bring up' so there are a lot more of them. 'Quantity is its own quality' and all that."