AN: Another update. Mainly about how the SGC handles the new knowledge and access to technology. Not a Filler.

Meanwhile at the SGC

After Xander's departure Jack started making a list of targets and goals.

There were caches where Apophis had hidden technology and goods in case he was overthrown by his subordinates and he had to make a hasty retreat. The SGC would have to get to these quickly before any other Goa'uld found them by accident, how unlikely that may be or the more likely possibility of going through Apophis' personal tablets and finding references to their locations.

Then there were the more personal loose ends that needed taking care of. Several encampments filled with teenagers that were being trained to infiltrate the SGC on a backwater planet far removed from the major Goa'uld territories. Jack had no idea how they were going to handle that. There was also Skaara someone Jack almost saw as a second son who was still under the control of Klorel. Sadly Jack didn't know where he was and even if he did he would still not have the means to mount a rescue. And finally there was Sha're, Jack was genuinely happy for Daniel that they had found her even if she was pregnant with Apophis' spawn. The problem would be in suppressing the child's genetic memory. No matter how good a kid is raised, having the memories and associated feelings of a thousand Hitlers would in the least turn the kid insane.

Getting Sha're back also brought him to the next point on his mental list. Resources. Some of the more interesting technologies to which he now mentally had access to relied heavily on naquadah and a few other minerals not found on earth. From what he remembered from his first trip through the gate Abydos had large deposits of several of these minerals on the surface of the planet. Being the son in law of the leader of the planet Daniel could probably negotiate with Kasuf for mutually beneficial mining rights.

When they had completed those goals there would be the daunting task of getting all the important information in his head down on paper or at least some kind of database. Although he had some ideas of how to speed up the process.

In-between all of this he would also have to upgrade the SGC against some of the dangers in the universe that it was currently unprotected against.

The Abydos mission started out like most. SG-1 along with SG-9, the more diplomatic oriented team that would help with the negotiations, suited up with the only new thing being Apophis' hand device and the healing device from Cimmeria both of which Jack could now use.

They easily found Sha're in the village which resulted in the reunion of her and Daniel. After giving the two lovers a moment SG-1 along with the pregnant Sha're being carried by Jack made their way back to the gate while SG-9 stayed behind to start negotiations with Kasuf.

For safety's sake Jack first sent Sha're unconscious using a tranquilizer he had prepared with a chemical that both Goa'uld and host were very susceptible to. Then they took her back to the SGC where Janet easily removed the unconscious and hibernating Goa'uld that had never even been aware of the danger it had been in. The Goa'uld Ammonet was put into a preprepared fish tank and Jack used the healing device to heal Sha're's incisions. Jack realized from the look he was getting from Janet that she was going to call him down to the infirmary even more than usual in the future.

Once SG-1 and Sha're were back on Abydos Jack carried the pregnant woman back to her village.

[Xander Harris the Other Prototype]

The following week was filled with trips to Apophis' caches. It wasn't uncommon to see FREDs (Field Remote Expeditionary Devices) which were normally used to carry supplies loaded with everything from gold jewelry to cases of weapons.

There was even a sarcophagus and several ring transporter platforms. While the platforms weighed 12,5 metric tons as a whole and could not be moved in that way they could be broken down into five 1,9 ton rings and a 3,4 ton platform which were all individually carried/dragged by Jack thanks to his newfound strength. The sarcophagus was actually lighter than it's bulky appearance made it look and the heavy cover stones were removable cutting down on the weight even further.

Meanwhile back at the SGC there was a paperwork nightmare going on. While General George Hammond was ecstatic about the influx of Goa'uld technology and materials, an amount greater than brought back on all previous missions combined even counting the two Death Gliders from the attempted invasion. What was ruining this moment was a combination of unusual requisition orders coming from his second-in-command and demands/requests coming from area 51 to immediately send them the recovered technology. A complete contradiction from the earlier procedure of first letting the SGC personnel and experts properly catalogue and examine the new items.

[Xander Harris the Other Prototype]

Samantha Carter was getting annoyed. Jack had upon returning back to the SGC started taking several pieces of Goa'uld technology that she really wanted to examine. Even worse he was deflecting her questions by simply saying, "I'll explain later. Just give me three days." So she simply worked on her own projects and went to look for him three days later. Determined to finally get her answers

Jack was working in what he called his workshop. He simply refused to call it a lab or say he had one, geeks and scientists have labs. Completely ignoring the fact that he was working and making the most advanced pieces of technology in the world. It looked like a bizarre mix of a plumbers' and a electrician's workshop sprinkled with items from a pet shop. It was a rather large room across the hall from the storage room where they serviced and kept the MALPs and UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle). There was a long workbench along one wall, twenty-five bathtubs in five rows of five in the middle, large plastic tubs/drums of chemicals across the room from the workbench and shelves all along the other two walls.

Next to Jack was an amalgamation of computer components, Goa'uld crystal technology all held together with what Sam assumed were Jack's cells and wiring.

Sam watched fascinated as Jack dismantled several Goa'uld tablets and devices with as much ease as she would have with her own computer.
Seeing that Sam was there Jack turned to her. "Fine, I'll answer your questions. But, Carter I swear what I'm working on will help answer them way faster."

"My other questions can wait Sir. I'm more interested in what you're making," she said indicating all the parts, crystals and the amalgamation on the workbench.

"Believe it or not I'm building a mainframe and an interface. I abhor paperwork, Carter and I'll be damned if I spend the next six months typing nonstop so all the valuable intell I got from Apophis would be available to the rest of the SGC. So my plan is to modify a memory recall device and hook it up to a very powerful computer so the information will go directly from my memory into the mainframe, thus saving us all valuable time and help me keep my sanity.

"What's a memory recall device and how does it work?" Sam asked puzzled.

"Basically it's what it's name suggests. While the Goa'uld themselves don't need any help in remembering anything thanks to their genetic memory. They usually use this device when torturing or interrogating. It stimulates the brain to make it easier to remember even the smallest detail. Depending on the setting it can also make you relive your worst memories which would come in handy as a torture device."

Sam shivered at the idea. "Is this like the neural interface in the hand device?"

"No, that one's way less sensitive than the memory recall device. The recall device is made up of the main part," Jack said indicating a dime sized metal disc attached behind his ear, "which stimulates the brain and helps you to remember. While the other part," indicating an open metal case of Goa'uld design connected to various crystals and computer components, "can translate the brain's signals into an audio and visual signal which is then shown as a holographic image."

"That's amazing. So you can directly record the relevant memories and data?" Sam asked.

"I could but that wouldn't solve my problem. I or someone else would still have to go over all the video files and collect all the information into useful files. So the first thing I did was write a rather large program from Xander's memories..."

"You, Sir. Write a computer program," Sam remarked being reminded of all of Jack's whining when forced to work with computers.

"Well Carter its more of a monkey see, monkey do kind of thing. Xander learned a lot of computer stuff from a friend of his. She might even give you a run for your money." Seeing Carter's look he had to suppress a smile. "Anyway the Goa'uld have been programming things for over 12000 years but they're not known for creativity. So I used advanced Goa'uld programming skills to improve on it and speed up the programming." Turning to the computer/recall device (computer from here on out) Jack said, "say hi to Carter, Guardian.

"Greetings Captain Carter. It is good to meet you," a voice said coming from the computer.

Staring in amazement Sam stared at both the computer and Jack. "Are you saying you created an artificial intelligence? Is that even safe?" Sam said thinking back on all the scifi stories where AIs went rogue.

"Well it's programmed with a loyalty circuit which supersedes the four laws of robotics with robot being replaced by AI."

"I know the three laws, Sir and I can guess what the loyalty circuit does. But, what's the fourth law?" Sam asked while looking puzzled.

"It's basically a law that says when in doubt or in the event of an illogical event use common sense. It's a law that tries to help a logical being to understand an illogical universe. For instance when a human smokes a cigarette they are harming themselves and to some degree it can be seen as suicide. An AI that exclusively follows the three laws would take away the cigarette to save and protect the human from harm, in accordance with the first law. The forth law allows the AI to understand and reason that the human is aware of this damage and that it is the human's choice. Now if we take this to a larger scale of humanity forming a danger to itself through damaging the planet or making war a logical conclusion to an AI governed by only the three laws would be to take away the choice to do anything harmful from humanity so that humanity as a whole would be safe. The fourth law would direct them to help solve the problems in a different way that doesn't take away free will from the populace," Guardian explained in a matter-of-fact tone before Jack could answer.

"That actually makes sense," Carter said after thinking through the AI's words. "But, how did you teach it to use something as complex as common sense?" Sam asked Jack.

"It's Xander and his friend Willow's design. Mainly by showing it memories as examples and explaining my thought processes. One of the basics to this lies in making it clear to the AI that it can always ask questions when it doesn't understand something. I'm currently working on the second part of the interface and then I'll work on increasing the processing speed," Jack said with a grumpy tone.

"What's wrong with the current one? This is amazing, it's the kind of thing scientists have been dreaming of and working on for decades," Sam said with childlike glee as she stared at the open computer with a new understanding of the capabilities.

"Well the interface only goes one-way and is specifically designed for memories which means I have to constantly explain everything by saying it and look at the display or listen to see if Guardian has it right. Because the device isn't intended for receiving data and it can't handle simple thoughts. I wasn't looking forward on designing something that could based on the memory recall device and the neural interface technology known to the Goa'uld. But, that's when I remembered those virtual reality pods from P7J-989. Their interfaces allowed for information to go both ways between brain and machine. So I requisitioned one of the interface tentacles, stripped it apart and I'm currently trying to figure out how it works," Jack said while opening up his arm where Sam could clearly see metal parts of what must be the pod's interface.

Sam found it both fascinating and a bit creepy that Jack had inserted machine parts in his arm to figure out how they work.

[Xander Harris the Other Prototype]

In the end it took Jack with some help from Sam and Janet another three days to fully figure out the interface and get it working right. Three days of him playing guinea pig seeing as he was the only one around that could actually recover from brain damage if something went wrong.

When Sam received her own interface in the form of a small metal headband it became her new favorite thing. No longer did she have to interrupt her experiments to type up reports or to make notes. Even better she could simply ask questions wirelessly and immediately get the answers through the neural interface.

Daniel who came back to work around that time after spending time with Sha're hugged Jack after he learned that Guardian could translate nearly every text, scroll and tablet on Daniel's to-do-list. Giving him more time to devote to new discoveries, his wife and not routine translations.

The really interesting thing happened a few days later when Sam started to have flashes of memories that were not her own.

"Well Carter, the settings might be a little too high or you're accidently seeing things I'm uploading," Jack said after mulling it over.

"No, Sir. I've already asked Guardian to cross-reference the memories with the ones you've uploaded and it said that there was no definitive matches. There were some locations that matched up, which leads me to assume that somehow I'm seeing Jolinar's memories," Sam concluded.

After it became clear that Sam had some of Jolinar's memories it was decided that it would be in her best interests to confront the memories. Jack had set the interface to its highest setting to make it as easily as possible for her to remember. Meanwhile Janet injecting her with a special cocktail of enzymes, proteins and drugs that she and Jack had prepared to suppress the emotional backlash attached to the emotions. Sam was hoping it could lead to a way to help Sha're's child or the location of the Tok'ra who might also be able to help. Guardian would record everything but would not show or share any of the information until Sam gave her permission or if it was of immediate importance. This was done to prevent any of her personal memories becoming public.

She woke up almost three days later with her understanding of Goa'uld and Tok'ra science and politics greatly improved. Of course calling it politics would be giving them way too much credit.

[Xander Harris the Other Prototype]

While Sam was unconscious, Jack and a bunch of engineers started working on the biggest hurdle in mining. While through the hard work of SG-9 and Daniel the SGC had a fair mining agreement, there was still the question of how they were going to mine. In the past SG teams had done small scale mining to take samples, but that wasn't anything close to what they needed now.

"That's it I'm calling an expert," Jack said out loud to the group of engineers. He was getting bored with the squabbling.

Over the next 3 hours Jack and the engineers had a conference call with Gladys Stamper née McCormick, Chris and Xander at the end. Because Gladys and Chris were partially in the know about the project and a third and fourth generation miner respectively they were a lot of help. Any mining equipment had to be able to pass through the 5 meter diameter of the inner ring and be small enough to be hoisted down the silo. Was preferably electric or very fuel efficient.

When it came to compact and electrical mining equipment Gladys had recently done research because of the McCormick mines' recent increase in cash flow. She and Chris had decided to buy new equipment and because of the constant danger of methane in the mines they had opted for electrical equipment, the fact that the mines were subterranean meant that any equipment would also have to be compact.

With the matter of available equipment out of the way the next question was power and purification. Both of these were more in Xander's and now Jack's domain. Through a mixture of orb alien understanding of physics, Goa'uld experience of salvaging/stealing technology and using it for their own purpose and human ingenuity they came up with the simple solution of jury-rigging two liquid naquadah power cells to power each machine individually. As for purification it was decided to simply copy Xander's upgraded method used at the McCormick mines.

The requisition orders went out and the joint chiefs okayed it. While they weren't happy that the SGC would be dismantling staff weapons it was more than worth it if it meant a continues flow of resources heading towards earth.

[Xander Harris the Other Prototype]

Sam was slightly upset that she'd missed the mining meeting. But Jack quickly remedied that by working with her to make the naquadah powercells for the mining machines. While they would powered heavy machines just fine they weren't full-fledged generators.

Several days later a shipment of superconducting wire had arrived along with a catalog listing materials and chemicals the McCormick mines were producing and were offering to sell to the SGC at a serious discount as a little thank you for their role in helping Gladys and as their small contribution to protecting the planet. General Hammond readily agreed having seen the expense reports being generated by Jack. While their mining operation on Abydos would produce large amounts of materials they most likely wouldn't produce every element of the periodic table in the needed quantities.

While the machines were fitted with their new power sources in the motor pool on the ground level of the base, the base itself was getting a makeover as well with all nonessential gate activity suspended. Sergeant Siler was heading the team that was rewiring the base starting with the gate room and working their way up from there. Each room and hallway that was finished got installed with new technology. No room more so than the gate room. A shield generator similar to the ones used on Goa'uld ships for windows was installed on the gate between the titanium iris and less than 1 nanometer from the event horizon. Similarly the control room would also get shield generators installed to work in conjunction or separately from the blast shield that was already installed.

Then there was also the changes to the two exits from the gate room. Instead of a simple blast door it was now two force shield covered doors in a similar configuration to an airlock with scanners identical to the scanners used by ring transporters between them. These were extremely accurate. With the only drawbacks being that it takes some considerable computing power to process the results and they only work at close range.

The first problem was easily handled and the second was of no consequence as one had to pass by them to get out of the gate room.

The last major upgrade to the gate room was more offensive in nature. From the two side walls and the sealing now hung a combination of a zat, a staff weapon and a .50 cal machine gun next to each other. With the energy weapons having been removed from their original casings and given new ones with much faster trigger mechanisms. These three platforms could be controlled from the control room. Finally making it unnecessary for soldiers to stand at the bottom of the ramp and around the gate room whenever there were unscheduled offworld activations, or if SG teams were coming in hot.

The next two places to get major upgrades apart from the hallways between these places and the ZPM were the control room and the infirmary.

As was planned for the entire base the control room was connected to the computer mainframe that Jack made. Guardian could if needed control the entire system though there was a manual override in the form of a palm scanner. All the screens were replaced with holograms and the bulky computers were replaced with smaller, faster and more damage resistant versions.

The four stations at the window overlooking the gate room also got reorganized.

From left to right there was the terminal that was responsible for communications, both subspace and radio. It was also responsible for MALP control and telemetry. This one was also excessively shielded and isolated from the rest of the computer system to prevent any electronic attacks. Any communication with the network had to be manually initiated.

The next was the terminal which controlled dialing, the shield and the iris along with relevant readings coming from the gate. Unlike the previous dialing computer that ignored 220 feedback signals of 400 the new one was more closely based on a DHD, only with more control and faster dialing as there was no manual dialing involved, only a computer command.

The terminal to the right from that was a security terminal for controlling the airlock scanners and doors.

The final terminal was the weapons' control terminal.

All of them could be operated manually or through the mental interface.

The last major addition to the control room was a large holo tank that could be used to show any information and images coming back from the MALP or UAV.

The infirmary received the recovered sarcophagus. It was stripped of the nonessential rock cover stones that were replaced with clear polycarbonate to make it seem less like a coffin. While using it very occasionally produces no ill effects. However, when using regularly, especially when unneeded, the psychological side effects can include megalomania and intense notions of superiority. For these reasons it would only be used in extreme circumstances. Janet Frasier and Samantha Carter were already running further tests comparing it to the handheld version in the hope of better understanding the technology.

The same scanning equipment used in the airlocks was also added, connected to the base's mainframe. Should anything dangerous be detected the computer would immediately search for any information on the threat.

[Xander Harris the Other Prototype]

It was a month since the completion of the computer and Jack was on his way to the gate room. The SGC was looking great, almost new even.

While they were still rewiring the base they'd finished rewiring the lower levels. Afterwards they put in internal sensor and shield generators in every hallway next to the blast doors. They had started with the gate room, the control room and the infirmary and were working their way up. They'd already reached the twenty-fifth floor with the sensors and shield generators, but were waiting for more resources before installing any on the higher levels. Jack's favorite upgrade was one of the most visible and yet easiest to ignore, a red stripe on the newly painted white walls. Anyone seeing it would simply see it as an aesthetic choice to give the walls some color. In actuality they were his cells and were almost the definition of multitasking. They performed tasks ranging from recycling air to being backup organic sensors incase the others get turned off. But, more importantly they would also act as the base's immune system should another Orb-alien situation occur.

Meanwhile Sam was also thinking of the events of the past month. While confronting the memories left behind by Jolinar had gotten them some very interesting and valuable information, it had also confronted her with a lot of bad memories. While it had been bearable when she was unconscious thanks to the emotion suppressing drugs seeing them more as a third party than actually reliving them. The real heartache came afterwards when she and Guardian had to go over most of it to separate what were her memories and Jolinar's.

Daniel meanwhile was already at the gate and he was slightly grumpy, happy and exhausted. He was grumpy because he was exhausted and he was exhausted because he'd been burning the candle at both ends recently. First he'd been busy with Sha're back on Abydos. He went there now along with Teal'c on their days off. Ever since mining got fully started 3 days ago there was constant contact with Abydos over subspace. Since Daniel got back he and Guardian had gone through Daniel's to do list translating much faster than ever before. Daniel of course became obsessed which led to his current exhausted condition.

Next to Daniel Teal'c stood, being his usual stoic self, while on the inside Teal'c was extremely happy. First O'Neill killed their mortal enemy Appophis in an appropriately gruesome way. His only regret was that it wasn't him that killed the false god. Since that most joyous day his son's brainwashing was cured, the people of the Tau'ri gained a giant leap forward in numerous fields and more importantly he could visit his wife and son anytime he wanted as they were now living on Abydos next to Sha're in the native city Nagada on Abydos. In the past month he'd shared his knowledge with Guardian, trained and spent a great deal of time with his family.

[Xander Harris the Other Prototype]

SG-1's first mission after more than a month of working on other projects was one that would take care of the last loose end. They were going to a planet Apophis used to train human teenage boys to infiltrate the SGC, a task the teenagers would have failed even before the SGC's recent upgrades

They'd sent a UAV through to check if the kids were even still on the planet and apparently they were and from the video footage sent back they were still training.

After walking directly to the nearest camp they requested to see the leader.

It was decided that Teal'c would take the lead in the conversation, seeing as of the four of them Teal'c was the one who could project the most authority and was most aware of the teaching methods employed by the Goa'uld and Jaffa to teach soldiers.

When they were lead into a tent with a teenager not much older than Xander Teal'c spoke, "Kal vak Jaffa!"

The teenager quickly came to attention, "greetings master Jaffa."

"I am master Teal'c, give your full rank and name. Where are your teachers?" Teal'c ordered.

"Earth name Kyle Rogers, commander quadrant-A. Our previous master Jaffa received orders from Apophis and returned through the Chappa'ai... I mean Stargate, Sir," Kyle said while he apparently looked apologetic for saying Chappa'ai, because he removed his side arm.
"We have been so long without challenges. I am sorry, master Jaffa. I have revealed myself and failed. You must execute me for the remainder of the day," Kyle said while handing over his weapon.

Jack recognized it as an intar made to look like a standard issue handgun. Reminding him to add them to the weapons platforms in the gate room because unlike a zat they were not deadly if one received multiple hits from them.

Seeing as these kids were not aware of Apophis' demise. SG-1 would follow their original plan.

"That will be unnecessary commander Rogers, I will require your vo'cume. We will use it to relay new instructions from Apophis. While we prepare it you will gather all the troops of both this quadrant and the other three in the center of the camp," Teal'c commanded.

"Yes, Sir." Kyle acknowledged.

In advance to this mission SG-1 had know the capabilities these kids would have and what they would have access to. The UAV had shown they were still on the planet and were still training. The only question left was what orders had they been given after the death of Apophis and if they were aware of his death. Now that these questions were answered they could proceed.

After Kyle brought them the Vo'cume a portable hologram projector used as a training tool. Jack replaced the crystal with the current message with one that contained a compilation of SG-1's memories of Apophis' death.

An hour later several hundred recruits had assembled in the middle of the camp, eager for their new commands. Jack placed the vo'cume on the ground and activated it. The compilation played showing Apophis' death from several viewpoints. At the end there was outrage. Mainly there were screams of denial of Apophis' death based on the instilled notion that gods cannot die.

Jack hated brainwashing but decided to stop it right here. "Of course gods can die. Especially the Goa'uld. How many times have you heard about one Goa'uld being defeated and killed by another."

"But, that was by other gods," said a young boy to the side.

"You just saw those images of me killing Apophis, I promise you I am no god and neither was Apophis," Jack declared vehemently.

This shut up nearly all the young men. Some because they saw reason in Jack's words and others because according to the brainwashed belief that only a god could kill another they believed they were standing before a god.

In the following days the teenagers were sent home and in the following week several SG teams would recover all equipment from the planet.

[Xander Harris the Other Prototype]

While SG-11 and SG-7 were recovering equipment from the training planet SG-1 was taking a couple of days down time.

Sam and Jack were going to Washington, where they were being honored with the Air Medal for destroying Apophis' ha'taks. Meanwhile the next day after their departure Daniel and Teal'c were catching a ride to Abydos on one of the weekly supply runs. From the Abydos pyramid they would ride with one of the utility ATVs that ferried refined metals from the Abydos mining base back to the pyramid where they were stored in one of the underground chamber before being sent back to earth every two days .

The reason for the trip apart from it being their down time, was that Sha're was days away from giving birth and Daniel wanted the birth to happen in the clean infirmary back at SGC and not the smaller temporary one they had set up on Abydos while the permanent one was being built in Nagada. Which was one of the things the Abydonians were getting in return for letting earth mine their naquadah.

[Xander Harris the Other Prototype]

Jack wasn't a big fan of DC. The incredibly uncomfortable conversation he'd just had with Sam's dad was only adding to his discomfort. The cherry on top of this cake of discomfort was the fact that he could see that Jacob Carter was literally a very sick man. A fact that he couldn't tell Sam while her father was standing there. His only option had been to take a walk and some fresh air. Maybe get a drink.

He'd barely finished his beer when he was approached by what he learned was a reporter named Armin Selig that had found out about the Stargate program. Even worse the reporter had recorded part of Jack and Sam's conversation.

After a quick conversation with General Hammond and Sam he was given the order to find out what Armin knew, while they did a background check on the guy.

They barely spoke for a minute, during which it became clear that Armin was extremely well informed although it was clear he wasn't aware of recent events. When Armin left and started to cross the road a car sped towards him. Just before it would hit him Jack pushed him out of the way getting hit himself.

Armin got up from the road staring as Jack got up himself apparently unharmed. "How did you do that? You were all the way over there."

Jack picked up his sunglasses and gave him a slight smile. "Just lucky I guess," he answered with a shrug.

This whole incident caused quite a ruckus and the ceremony was scrapped because the president would need to be made aware of the fact that there was a leak. General Hammond, Sam and Jack returned to the SGC where the General would presented them with their medals. On the plane ride back Jack talked to Sam about how he'd seen her father's bad health. She confirmed that he had lymphoma.

At the base the ceremony was about to start, sadly this was interrupted by a subspace message from Abydos, a Cheops class ship had landed. Which meant Heru'ur as the only one except for Ra to use this type of ship had landed on Abydos.

Abydos was important both personally and strategically as currently earth's only source of naquadah. As a result SG teams 1 through 5 would go to confront Heru'ur, along with the medically oriented SG-8 which would follow after the all clear was given in case of wounded.

Jack and Sam would go first with the protection of personal shields. Jack using the ribbon device he'd recovered from Apophis. While Sam would use the one recovered from Cimmeria. Jack had been teaching her in its uses. That combined with memories from Jolinar made it reasonably safe for her to at least use the device's shield without the chance of accidental misfires.

[Xander Harris the Other Prototype]

Earlier on Abydos.

Daniel and Sha're were driving across the Abydonian desert on a utility ATV along with a marine that was doing the actual driving when they saw a ship identical to the one used by Ra land on the pyramid. They quickly changed direction and headed for the Caves of Kaleemah, the marine notifying his superior with his radio. The caves was where the SGC had set up the mining base because it was roughly halfway between the pyramid and the mining site along with one of the few places where the bedrock reached the surface.

At the mining base Colonel Martin Edwards received the radio message and used the subspace communication system to notify earth of the current situation.

Martin was a recent addition to the Stargate Program and got this command thanks to his past as a combat engineer.

[Xander Harris the Other Prototype]

Jack and Sam stepped through the gate and were confronted by the rings coming down from the ceiling on the other side. When they retracted four Horus guards were standing in their place. Jack decided that he wouldn't let them start shooting especially with all the SGC personnel that would be coming through the gate any second now.

Jack jumped the ten meters from the gate and landed in their midst, changing his hands to claws and taking advantage of the advantage that they couldn't fire this close but he could easily stab them even with their attempts to use their staff weapons as clubs.

Sam quickly turned off her shield and started firing while going for cover. By the time SG-2 walked through the gate they saw Jack surrounded by three wounded jaffa and one dead one lying in a rather large puddle of blood.

"Ferreti shoot them. I've still got the shield up," Jack quickly ordered.

SG-2 quickly complied and opened fire on the jaffa. With the firepower from the troops that followed them being added as soon as they stepped through the gate. In less than ten seconds the last jaffa fell.

After the last one fell the SG teams spread out and took cover behind the columns while pointing their weapons at the area where the rings came down.

Before all of them were in position the rings brought down another group. When the rings retracted back into the ceiling it was shown to be Heru'ur along with another four jaffa. These were quickly mowed down by the large number of bullets fired by the tau'ri. Only Heru'ur remained unharmed thanks to the quick activation of his personal shield.

Of course by now nearly everyone there knew the weakness of the personal shield, that it only stopped fast-moving of high energy projectiles. Even before the last jaffa fell a dozen knives were thrown at the Goa'uld. Most were stopped by his golden tinted Horus guard armor, except for the one hitting and piercing his hand and part of his ribbon device.

Heru'ur's face contracted in obvious pain. He quickly activated the ring transporter with his ribbon device and made his escape.

Jack picked up one of the fallen jaffa's staff weapon. Noticing the looks he was getting from Sam he quickly answered, "the tip extends beyond the shield allowing me to fire back." Raising his voice Jack quickly started to give commands, "okay, people. Carter, SG-2 you're with me in the first wave. Once we've cleared the ring room I'll activate the rings every ten seconds until you're all on the ship. Stay close and keep your eyes open," Jack commanded before turning to Sam and SG-2. "We can't let Heru'ur take off. His sensors might have picked up on our mining activities. We also have no idea why he's here. Abydos is nowhere near his domain. Now as soon as we arrive in the ring room I want you duck down and head for the walls, Carter and will cover the door with our shields while you fire around us."

A bright flash later Jack, Sam and SG-2 rematerialized in an alcove on the Cheops class ship. The single jaffa guarding it opened fire with his staff weapon which would have hit Sam in face if it wasn't for her shield. Jack quickly took him out by firing back with his staff.

A few minutes later the other three teams were onboard with the last team reporting that the ship was starting to take off.

The four SG teams and the two members of SG-1 quickly moved through the gold plated hallways, shooting several Horus guars along the way and only getting stopped in minor firefights where they used their shields to their advantage. While their shields could only take roughly four minutes of constant attack before failing this time limit was never reached thanks to the backup from the four SG teams.

As soon as they reached the pel'tak or bridge of the ship the teams saw the dark image of space through the forcefield that served as the front window and the HUD (heads up display). Jack also noticed blood on the control console. Most likely from Heru'ur's injured hand. In the hallways the sound of boots marching in their direction could be heard. "Ok, everybody inside the bridge," Jack ordered while putting his hand on the console.

"What are you doing Sir?" Sam asked.

There was a whooshing sound after which the sound of boots swiftly stopped. Jack's face took on a sad expression before becoming more neutral. "I just vented the atmosphere from the ship, Carter. Every jaffa and most likely Heru'ur will be dead in about 90 seconds.

As soon as Jack finished his explanation the console made a bleeping sound which drew his attention. "Ok, this isn't good someone just opened the bay doors. A tel'tak or cargo ship became visible through the force field right before it took off and entered hyperspace.

"Dam it. We won't know if that was Heru'ur until I repressurize the compartments, but it's a safe assumption," Jack said in a clearly annoyed tone. A smile suddenly appeared on his face. "I dub thee Enterprise."

"Sir, you can't name this ship the Enterprise," Sam exclaimed while the SG teams laughed behind them.

"Why not. It's a good name for a ship and seeing as we captured it we should be allowed to name it."

[Xander Harris the Other Prototype]

15 minutes later the ship was once again parked on top of Abydos' great pyramid. The first task would be healing the wounded, the few there were while the rest cleared the ship of bodies. Meanwhile Sam with Jack after he finished with using the healing devise would go through the ship's computer and any found tablets to look for the reason of Heru'ur's coming to Abydos.

One SG team member would have to stay on the ship at all times until Jack could copy the remote used by the ribbon devices. The innate problem with the ring platform remote control was that it would activate the nearest ring platform, which would then connect to the platform nearest to it. Meaning that the interface didn't control which ring platform you would get sent to.

[Xander Harris the Other Prototype]

As soon as Jack was back at the SGC he ordered his cells in bathtub one to make the remote ring controller. During which he also started to write up his report through the interface.

10 minutes later he was the after mission debriefing along with Sam and the heads of the other teams involved.

"So colonel if I understand it correctly we now have a Goa'uld mother ship," General Hammond stated.

"Yes, we do, sir. Although I would stress that it's a met'tak or Cheops Class and not a ha'tak class," Jack said with a happy smile.

"Could you give us a rundown Colonel?"

Sure sir. Guardian would you show relevant pictures while I explain," Jack asked the AI.

"Yes Jack," answered Guardian while the lights slightly dimmed and the small holographic projector in the center of the table started showing the Cheops class.

"Okay I'll start with comparing it to the ships more commonly used by the Goa'uld to give you an idea. If a ha'tak was a tank the Cheops class would be an armored personnel carrier or armored command vehicle. The ship is the usual pyramid shape. Its 300 meters by 300 meters and is 292 meters tall, which is lightly smaller than half of a ha'tak. Neither does it have the scaffolding superstructure of a ha'tak. The engines, shields and sensors on the other hand are mostly equal to that of a ha'tak. The only weapons are near the base of the ship and are made up of 40 medium staff cannons, 10 facing each direction. These are usually used against fighters and would take a very long time to damage a ha'tak. As for fighters, the ship carries a single wing of 12 death gliders and can hold 2 tel'taks of which one is gone or 1 al'kesh. Apart from the that landing bay the internal structure consists of various rooms and spaces. Going from bottom to the top we first have the landing clamps at the bottom which clamp onto a Cheops size pyramid in sandy or uneven ground conditions. If one of these aren't available the clamps will also help the ship land on a mountain or hill of acceptable dimensions," as Jack went through the specs of the ship areas of the ship were highlighted and enhanced by Guardian.

"Now above the clamps we have the water tanks, which are crucial for the staff cannons. While it might seem like staff weapons in general have no need for ammo this only applies within an atmosphere. To form plasma you need either a gas or liquid that is heated to levels high enough to create plasma. The Goa'uld usually use water as they need it on their ships anyway. But in theory other gasses or liquids could be used but these come with their own problems and advantages, which I'm not going into right now," Jack paused a moment to make sure there were no questions.

"Colonel I was under the impression the staff weapons only required energy to function," General Hammond asked puzzled.

"Yes they do, sir. When staff weapons are activated in atmosphere yellow sparks move over the tip of the activated weapon. This is actually a small force field that encloses a pocket of air that when the weapons is fired is superheated to the point of forming plasma, which by the way is between 1800 and 2000 degrees Kelvin. In space there is no atmosphere from which to take gas to form plasma there's just not enough material. So the Goa'uld use water instead which is heated to a temperature of 12000 degrees Kelvin to make weapons-grade plasma," Jack explained while everyone started staring at him. 'I should have just let Carter handle that question," Jack thought. Seeing General Hammond's nodding he continued.

"Moving on above the water tanks are the staff weapon batteries along with the shield generator, naquadah power generator and the engines spread over several levels. Above that are the landing bay, small cargo rooms and the quarters for the slaves and jaffa on board. The top level is completely devoted to the Goa'uld in charge. Most of the room is taken up by the main throne, Heru'ur's personal quarters, the sarcophagus room and the pel'tak," Jack finished.

[Xander Harris the Other Prototype]

After the debriefing Jack finished up his work on his latest project. He'd started working on it after they finished with the mining equipment. The production of the sensors and the shield generators was an automated process happening continuously in the bathtubs as long as the required elements were added. So between working on the computers and giving Sam lessons in how to use a ribbon device Jack had been working on the next generation MALP and UAV.

While the MALPs should remain easy and cheap to build the new ones would have better sensors, power and a long range subspace communication transmitter so that the gate would not need to be kept open to receive telemetry.

The UAVs were another matter. Seeing as these were never the first to be sent and their main goal was always to explore greater areas surrounding the gate they could be afforded greater resources to be built. The first step was ditching the airplane design and the rockets and to simply use a sphere shape with a modified inertial/anti-gravity engine normally used to keep long range visual communication devices in the air. After this came extensive sensors and a similar long range subspace communication transmitter as used on the MALPs. All that was left was a heavy liquid naquadah power cell. The first one Jack had made was intended for the prototype UAV.

Eventually there would be two kinds of MALPs the smaller 1 meter diameter ones meant for low altitude reconnaissance of a maximum 10 kilometers.

The second would be a satellite version with a diameter of 3 meters that could be sent into orbit of a planet to take detailed scans and would have long range sensors to detect approaching ships and a larger power cell.

The next day would be the first test of the prototype. They would use it for their mission to the planet who's address they had gotten from Jolinar's memories.

[Xander Harris the Other Prototype]

AN2: I'm still not sure about the name "Guardian" for the SGC base's AI. I originally got the idea from an old B-movie that would have been on the big screen when Jack was 18 years old. There it was the name of a Soviet AI. If you've got better suggestions let them be known or I'll stick with Guardian.

For those of you who hate or dislike the fact that the SGC captured a ship, remember it's not a giant mothership. Its less than half the size of a ha'tak.

And lastly the name Cheops Class is according to canon. The name met'tak comes from the Egyptian word met= pyramid and the Goa'uld tak= ship.