Jump Chain Gothic 4 - Confederation.

Part 1

Annwn. Milky Way Galaxy.

"This is a historic day" I said to Miranda Lawson.

The former Cerberus operative, who was pretty much the governor of Annwn since she ran the city-ships day to day affairs, had put on her best jumpsuit, one that showed the Confederation colours, which were red, black and silver. She'd done this because we would soon be receiving some very important visitors.

They were Nodal and Layale, two people from the planet Vyus, a planet designated P2Q-463 by the Tau'ri, it was a world within the Milky Way galaxy which contained a Stargate and was home to the Vyan people. The Vyans were a civilization of Humans who'd suffered a horrifying cataclysm which they would later come to know as the Vorlix. Which wiped everyone's memories.

The cause of the Vorlix was The Destroyer of Worlds, a woman called Linea, who arrived on Vyus, via the Stargate, and began studying ways to reduce, or even reverse, her own aging process. Using two test subjects, she released a substance called Dargol into their bodies. Which did in fact reverse aging.

Unfortunately, the Dargol spread into the entire population (including Linea), making the elderly revert to their twenties and thirties- while simultaneously completely losing their personal memories, although they retained any prior skills and knowledge required to sustain themselves. Which to me was the sort of thing that only ever happen in poorly written TV shows.

Eventually SG-1 arrived on the scene to investigate the situation, and they discovered that one of the locals, Ke'ra, to have previously been the dreaded Linea. With her aid in genetics and a forgotten understanding of the substance, the Vyan people were able to regain their original memories, which allowed them to live out their lives once more. Ke'ra (Linea) chose to take the Dargol again which allowed her to forget once more and hopefully leave Linea behind forever.

However this wasn't the end of the story. According to the information I'd gotten from the people of Vyus, Ke'ra had actually gotten her memories back in the end and she'd killed herself rather than let Linea be unleashed upon the galaxy.

Also worthy of not was that the Vyans were sterile, and not just because of the event known as the Vorlix, but also because of the chemical agent called Dargol which had been around before the Vorlix, as it was used in Vyan industry and agriculture.

Even before the Vorlix the Dargol had slowed the aging process of the Vyans at the expense of their fertility, and while the memory loss effects of the Vorlix had been undone the Vyans were left nearly completely sterile. With no way to restore their already diminished population it looked as if the Vyans were a doomed people.

Stargate Command had been helping the Vyans, but a series of budget cuts (the money was getting funneled into ship building, the golden city-ship and the moon base) had caused them to scale back a lot of operations. This included the efforts being made to find a solution to Vyan infertility.

So I'd made contact with the Vyans, and had offered them a solution in exchange for all the information they had on his Dargol chemical. The solution was simple, I got the Vyan people to adopt some of the orphans of other worlds.

The idea was the Vyans, who were all young and had long lives ahead of them, didn't need a cure for their infertility right now, they had time, but in order to ensure a future what they had needed in the short term were children to pass on their knowledge to and help rebuilding their society.

I'd shared all the information I could get on the Dargol with the Asgard who could solve the infertility problem within the next few years, of that I was sure. So far they hadn't been able to sort of the memory loss side effect of using the Dargol in great amounts, but with the Galaran memory device this wasn't an issue.

A person wanting to become young once again could simply download all their personal memories into a storage device, get a dose of the chemical and then upload the memories back into their minds.

Which made the whole thing sound much simpler than it actually was. The danger of the Dargol when used in a high dose was that it reversed aging quite a bit, decades in mere hours, so you had to be at old to use it, as the Dargol did not reverse puberty, we weren't sure what happened to people who regressed to becoming a teenager or younger, because none of the Vyans who could have aged back that far had ever been found, not even their bodies. It was possibly that the chemical caused their bodies to rapidly breakdown.

Then there was the fact that it caused infertility. Which would be an issue it was used on mass. Much like it could have been if the Aschen had been allowed to use unleash their infertility causing vaccines upon the galaxy.

Until the chemical could be better understood and refined, it would only be used sparingly, on the elderly, who'd already had all the children they were going to have.

We hadn't tested it much yet, but there were health risks in allowing elderly to use the chemical substance, so it wasn't a ticket to immortality, but I imagined that most old people across the galaxy would use the chemical even it might kill them since they didn't have a lot of left left to lose.

The Stargate, which was a Pegasus model and kept in secure chamber that had many security features, soon brought the married couple Nodal and Layale to Annwn. They were the Vyan ambassadors to the Confederation, at least for now, and one of them would soon be someone even more important.

"We just spoke with our leaders" Nodal said, after we'd exchanged greetings "From this point on the Vyan people are citizens of the Confederation".

While my original plan had been to get some primitive worlds to join the Confederation, and then uplift them, I'd ended up holding back on that plan because I'd wanted to have some infrastructure in place first. Safely uplifting worlds involved not only being very careful when it came to sharing tech, but also ensuring that the less advanced peoples got the right amount of education and support in other areas.

Now that an industrialized world had joined the Confederation then matters would progress much more quickly. I could afford to bring in skilled labourers and engineers from other worlds to augment what industry and agriculture the Vyan people had.

Also this would attract other worlds to join as now Annwn wasn't just a world with a lot of allies it was the capital of the Confederation.

"This is great news" I said.

It wasn't a surprise, we'd know this was going to happen. Which is why Miranda and I had dressed up special.

"With your entry into the Confederation comes a lot of benefits" I told the two Vyan people "You'll have access to more technology and support, also whoever you chose to join the assembly will have a say in how the Confederation is run".

The married couple exchanged looks.

"We prefer to keep working together" Nodal said.

I gave this matter some thought.

"Well I guess you can take turns sitting in the assembly" I said.

Since the assembly didn't really exist yet there no real protocol on the matter so I saw no issue in having the seat filled by a different member of the Vyan race every time it met.

"We still have a few matters to tend to back home" Nodel was now saying "So we'll return in few days and met with you again to decide where we go from here".

I used the comm system to order the Stargate dialed so that they could return to the Vyan world. The dialing device was kept separate from the gate for security reasons.

"Well that was easy" I said to Miranda once the married couple were gone "So how about some lunch?".

While I highly doubted any future meetings that led to worlds joining the Confederation would be so simple that wasn't going to stop me from enjoying the peace while it lasted.

"Lunch sounds good" said Miranda.

With that we headed off to my office which had its own replicator. We often tooks meals there while discussing matters of importance and today would be no different.

(Line Break)

Annwn. Milky Way Galaxy.

Compared to when dealing with the leaders of other governments it was rather simple to get an audience with Gothic, the leader of the Confederation, so Master Bra'tac knew that he would not be left waiting for long. Not that he minded having some time to wait as he needed a few moments to finish putting his thoughts in order.

Until now his appointment as the Free Jaffa Nation's ambassador the Confederation had simply been the method chosen by a Jaffa leader called Gerak to lessen Bra'tac's influence over the High Council by lessening the amount of time the old warrior could spend on Dakara. Since Teal'c spent also much of his time away from Dakara, due to his commitments at Stargate Command the more liberal faction of Jaffa was losing ground fast.

Gerak had emerged as a new leader when his proposed system of government based on military assets found favour among many Jaffa. Upon gaining a leadership position among the Jaffa, Gerak accepted an invitation to the SGC to discuss a treaty with Earth, however he dismissed the claims of both Teal'c, and Bra'tac when they stated that the Tau'ri and the Tok'ra had been instrumental in securing the freedom of the Jaffa and should be considered as allies. Rather foolishly Gerak resisted any attempt at an alliance, and instead he began distrusting Teal'c, and by extension Bra'tac, due to his loyalty to the Tau'ri.

To make matters worse Ba'al, or at least one of his clones, had been hiding out on Earth, and Gerak secretly sent a contingent of warriors to Earth to search for him. By capturing and executing Ba'al's clone, he won the hearts of many important Jaffa, claiming a big moral victory and reaping the huge political gain which had guaranteed him the support of the undecided Jaffa and assure him undisputed influence over the Council for many years to come.

Now Bra'tac had an idea that might once again put his faction in ascendance. However he would need help pulling off his plan, and while his first thought had been to go the people of Earth he'd decided to use his position here at Annwn to his advantage.

"Lord Gothic will see you", one of the Ancients who ran the city-ship, told the Jaffa Master "Just head into his office".

The ruler of the Confederation had a small office which overlook the city-ship's control centre, and Bra'tac quickly made his way up to this room.

(Line Break)

Annwn. Milky Way Galaxy.

"So you know where Amaterasu is?" I asked Bra'tac.

Amaterasu had been part of a Goa'uld delegation, which included Lord Yu and Camulus that had sought an alliance with the Tau'ri against Ba'al, who at that time had seized control of Anubis' main base and remaining Kull Warriors following Anubis' defeat.

Desiring the weapon used to defeat Anubis for themselves, the Goa'uld tried to bluff and threaten their way into securing Dr. Elizabeth Weir and Stargate Command's cooperation. However, thanks to Dr. Daniel Jackson's counsel, there was not much Amaterasu or her companions could have done to persuade the Tau'ri to ally themselves with the Goa'uld.

At one point in the meeting Amaterasu even threatened letting information slip to Ba'al that the weapon the Tau'ri used to destroy Anubis was out of commission, if true this would have led Ba'al to quickly conquer the Earth so that he could take control of the Ancient outpost.

While Camulus asked for, and was granted asylum with the Tau'ri, Amaterasu and Lord Yu left empty-handed, but not before she denounced Camulus as a traitor and a coward, which had to be a major burn for Camulus as he was suppose to be war god. Although he was most likely dead at this point so it hardly mattered.

Bereft of power, and a fugitive of the Free Jaffa Nation, Ba'al, or at least one of his clones, fled to Earth, and took control of the Trust. That clone was later captured and killed by Gerak, who won a lot of support for doing so despite the existence of the Ba'al clones being common knowledge by now.

Bra'tac, who was leader of the Progressive Party, a faction of Jaffa who wanted closer ties with the Tau'ri and the Tok'ra, as well equal rights for Jaffa women, had come up with a way to equal the score as it were. Because of his contacts with the Tok'ra, which were apparently better than mine, he'd learned the gata address of the world that Amaterasu, who was now former system lord, was hiding out on.

"Indeed" said Bra'tac "it is a world near the edge of the galaxy, with a Stargate that is well guarded, and since until recent years the Goa'uld hyperdrives were much slower than they are now reaching this world by ship would have taken years, even now it would take a week to reach it from Dakara with our fastest ships".

For my ship that trip was a matter of a few hours, less if I tapped into the ZPM and pushed the engines, but I preferred not to do that. The Free Jaffa Nations fastest ships were likely either the Anubis upgraded Ha'tak's or one of Sokar's fleet which had possessed superior hyperdrives.

Bra'tac placed a device on my desk, and then pressed a button so that a golden coloured hologram was displayed. I was impressed, not because of the device, I could display holographic images with my omni-tool, rather it was the image itself that had my attention.

"While capturing Amaterasu is our main objective there is another prize" the Jaffa Master was now saying.

The Cheops class warship, also known as the Pyramid ship, was a type of spaceship used by the Goa'uld. Ra and Heru'ur were both known to each own at least one of these ships, as did Amaterasu as it turned out.

"The Free Jaffa Progressive Party need to claim both the warship and Amaterasu" Bra'tac let me know

I figured that the Progressive Party was doing much worse than I'd thought if they were willing to risk what military assets they had left on this attack.

"However the planet she using a hideout has few Jaffa, and all of them will be on the small fleet Amaterasu still commands. So we Jaffa take what ships we can capture and any Jaffa who surrender to us, while the Confederation takes the world and anything on it".

A while back I'd considered conquering planets to add them to the Confederation and I'd quickly dismissed the idea as that would make me seem like just another power mad tyrant. However in this case I'd liberating the people of a world from tyranny, and once their goddess had been removed from power I wasn't just going to abandon those people.

"The world is called Takama-ga-hara" Bra'tac told me "I have the gate address".

After taking the address down I did quick search of the data banks and found that it was also a place in Japanese mythology. In Shinto, Takama-ga-hara (or Takama no Hara) was the dwelling place of the heavenly gods. It was believed to be connected to the Earth by the bridge Ama-no-uki-hashi (the "Floating Bridge of Heaven") Which in this universe might be some sort of reference to the Stargate.

Assuming that the gate address for this world was correct then PX7-455 was the designation given to this world by the Tauri, and at the time I'd download the database at Stargate Command, no SG team had visited that world. Although things could have changed since then.

"My Tok'ra informant tells me that Amaterasu has thirty Gliders" the Jaffa Master informed me "she keeps a squadron on standby at all time and she has three Al'kesh bombers".

No threat to my ship. I could simply beam the pilots out of their gliders, and while the Al'kesh might be too nimble for my Asgard Plasma Beam weapon my pulse cannons or drones could easily handle them.

"I want a chance to study the Cheapos" I told Bra'tac "A few hours should do. I also want at least one of the Death Gliders so that I can take it apart and replicate the design".

Bra'tac raised an eyebrow upon hearing this.

"You can build new gliders?" he asked.

I nodded.

"The city-ship has some industrial capacity" I admitted "Not enough to build Hat'aks, but we could build a few ships, say some Al'kesh, if you could pay for them".

Which wasn't just a problem for the Free Jaffa, even the Chinese government, which was the nation the Tauri ambassador came from, had requested that I supply them with ships as their battlecruiser wasn't ready yet. However they had nothing to offer me for this service as Tauri technology and money was all worthless to me, and as far as I knew the Jaffa had nothing left to offer either.

"What would you consider fair payment for Al'kesh and Gliders?" Bra'tac asked.

I didn't need to give this question much thought.

"Any rare bits of technology you have" I said "Or intelligence that could led to rare tech. Or if you have a type of Goa'uld vessel I haven't been able to study I could duplicate it in exchange for the original".

Bra'tac seemed pleased.

"Jaffa who I count as friends have vessels used by Anubis, a sort of troop transport, hidden away. I will have one brought here" said Bra'tac "As well as a rare type of ship known as a needle threader".

Needle Threaders were the closest thing the Goa'uld had to Puddle Jumpers in the sense that they were meant to be flown through Stargates.

"Bring me those and I'll be happy to supply you with squadrons of gliders and few Al'kesh, I'll even throw a couple of cargo ships in as a bonus" I said to Bra'tac "The gliders shouldn't take long to build".

All Ancient city-ships had the ability to create small vessels, that was there puddle jumpers came from, it was just a matter of powering the machines, which did require a lot of energy, putting the designs into the correct computers, and having enough raw materials, but those were easy enough to get when you had a Matter Furnace.

"We can discuss the details once the battle is over" the Jaffa Master said as he stood up "We must move quickly least Gerak discover our plans. I will contact you when our ships are ready".

Given the relative slowness of Jaffa controlled ships that gave me plenty of time to plan the battle.

(Line Break)

Aurora-class Warship. Hyperspace.

I stood on the bridge of my ship and smiled. I felt good, and I was sure I looked good as well. Currently I was wearing the suit of armour we'd found in one of Merlin's vaults. It wasn't actually magical, but it might as well be given how durable it was. Also I carried the power sword we'd found in the same vault, the point of which was meeting the deck beneath my feet. Hopefully I looked like a warlord rather than a total twit.

"What's made you so happy?" Tali asked me.

I smiled again.

"When I started this Jump Chain I was basically tech support for a battalion of Alliance Marines" I said to the quarian "Now I'm the commander of a very powerful spaceship, ruler of a planet, and I'm about to conquer another world".

I really had come a long way.

"Exiting hyperspace" one of the robots declared.

As we reentered normally space I took control of the ship via the neural interface built into the captain's seat. It didn't allow the fine control I could obtain using a control chair, which was in another part of this vessel, but with the aid of Seven and Tali (Miranda had stayed behind to oversee Annwn while I was gone) the ship could operate at almost peak efficiency. I'd need a full of crew of Ancients to make this ship run at peak efficiency, but there weren't enough of them around for that.

"The Free Jaffa are arriving now" Seven reported.

This was good news it meant that we'd timed the hyperspace jump just right. This ship was much faster than any Ha'tak, so even though they'd had a shorter journey, having come here from Chulak, we still would have arrived hours before they did if we'd left Anwwn at the same time they'd left Chulak.

"Both Master Bra'tac and Master Teal'c signal that they are ready to attack" I was soon told.

If I hadn't already know how important this attack was to the Progressive Party I would know as the Party wouldn't want to risk its leaders unless this was a vital mission.

"Our scanners detect fifty Death Gliders moving into weapon's range" Seven of Nine reported.

That was a lot of gliders. Twenty more than she was suppose to have. Tok'ra intelligence seemed like a contradiction in terms at times.

"As planned I'll beam the pilots out of their fighters and into the brig level" I said.

A while back the part of ship that contain the brig had been sealed off because for a time we'd kept a very powerful Wraith in there. Now the only way in or out of that part of the ship was by teleporting. That part of the ship even had its own life support systems.

"Bit of a squeeze" Tali commented.

Indeed it would be.

"As soon as the battle is over I'll transport them to the Free Jaffa Ships and let their own look after them" I said "And one of you needs to tractor beam a Death Glider on board, we'll leave the rest for the Free Jaffa to salvage, if they can".

I then ordered a robot to send a text message to the allied vessels reminding them not to engage the enemy gliders as they could be recovered after the battle. After than I focused my will on the gilders and plucked the pilots out of their seats. Sometimes Death Gliders had a co-pilot, but each fighter only had one life sign on board, clearly there were more gliders than there were Jaffa to fly them. Hardly surprising given how few Jaffa remained in service to their former gods these days.

The Al'kesh proved to be even less of a problem, since they had hyperdrive and since the Jaffa were all shaky about who they served these days the Al'kesh fled into hyperspace leaving the gliders to their fate. So much for Jaffa courage in battle.

"Scans show the Cheapos is still on the ground" I heard Tali saying.

Yes I could sense it thanks to my connection with the ship.

"I am detecting several life signs in and around what appears to be a palace" Seven reported "One life sign is rapidly approaching a cargo ship which is just outside the palace".

Like the Asgard scanners our sensors could detect the presence of a Goa'uld, however we didn't know if it was in a Jaffa's pouch or wrapped some unfortunate human's spine. However I deemed it likely that Amaterasu was making a run for it.

It was smart of her to take the small ship that had a cloak rather than the Cheapos as that would never get past the two Ha'tak which were currently entering orbit of the planet. Even if it somehow managed to take off I could batter down its shields and just beam Free Jaffa warriors to on what passed for a bridge on that ship.

"I'll beam that life sign into one of the crew quarters" I said "a locked door should hold her, at least for a short time".

Even if it didn't this was a three kilometer long ship so it would take Amaterasu awhile to find anyone to bother or something worth damaging, and by then I'd be ready to beam her over to one of the Ha'taks. Assuming the robots guards didn't simply stun her.

"Master Bra'tac says his warriors are ready to beam down into the palace" Tali told me.

Bra'tac wanted the Jaffa to handle the Jaffa while we handled the humans, it was sensible way of handling the people of this world.

"Give me a moment" I said.

I closed my eyes and took control of the teleporters once again. Already I knew that the mission would be a total success. Amaterasu would soon be in the 'care' of the Jaffa, and her remaining military assets would belong to the Progressive Party, while this world and everything the Free Jaffa didn't take was now mine. Most of the stuff would be given over to Amaterasu's former slaves, but I would take the tech.

We'd spend a little time on this world, handling the natives, making sure that they could cope with Amaterasu, and that they understood that they were free. I'd bring them into the Confederation just to make sure they were looked after, but I would leave them alone as much as possible.

But that was the future, right now I needed to focus on transporting the Free Jaffa warriors down into the place so that could seize the ships and deal with their fellow Jaffa. All that took was a little mental effort from me.