Jump Chain Gothic 4 - Atlantis

Part 27

Annwn. Milky Way Galaxy.

While no worlds had yet joined the Confederation, aside from this one as the natives of this planet were more than happy to accept my protection as long as I let them live in peace and gave them free stuff, we were already having to deal with a lot of foreign powers.

Somehow news about my city-ship had spread throughout this galaxy very quickly, and ships from several factions were even now in orbit of this planet. While Thor was needed elsewhere another Asgard, Tyr who had worked on the Delta Flyer, had a vessel parked in orbit and he was able to keep the peace.

"We've received confirmation that the Free Jaffa Nation, the Tok'ra and the Tauri, all letting us know that they will be sending representatives" Miranda told me as I looked out of my office, over the Ancients who worked in what passed for Stargate Operations within this city-ship "And we know who those attendees will be. Also we've received confirmation from three of the many worlds that we contacted, the Langarans, Hebridans and Galarans will be sending delegates as well so even if none of them join we'll have a lot of allies".

The Langarans were humans native to the planet Langara. They were divided into three superpowers: Kelowna, Tirania, and the Andari Federation. The three superpowers had undergone a long period of mistrust, until a military alliance between Tirania and the Andari Federation forced Kelowna to design a naquadria bomb.

Thankfully for everyone involved the detonation of the naquadria bomb actually de-escalated tensions between the superpowers, by getting the three nations to come to the negotiating table, eventually agreeing to the creation of a world ruling body.

Having Anubis invade their world helped with this as the Langarans realised that they needed to work together in order to survive, and unless their tech had advanced extremely rapidly over the last couple of years they were doubt eager to acquire the means to defend themselves from future attacks.

I was quite willing to offer that if they joined the Confederation, however if they just wanted an alliance then all they were going to get out of me was knowledge that wouldn't advance them too rapidly. I might offer them better guns as they had the tech to produce such things on mass for their population, but I'd only be giving them better examples of what the already had.

As for the Hebridians, they were humans of ancient Earth origin and were long enslaved by the Goa'uld until the Serrakins came to liberate them, driving the Goa'uld out. The Serrakins shared their technology with the humans and together they built a magnificent civilization, with both races living in harmony on the planet Hebridan.

Or at least that was what they claimed. In truth there was some racial tension, but this came from a minority who were ignored for the most part by the rational people who saw the Serrakins were not like the Goa'uld.

The people of that world were highly technologically advanced civilization with a cosmopolitan society, largely directed by the Tech Con Group. Which reminded me of OCP (omni-consumer products) a fictional company in Robocop's world, or Weyland-Yutani of the Alien universe, in that they seemed to produce everything and were more or less running everything. Hopefully they weren't as corrupt.

Over time the two cultures merged with many Hebridians beginning to marry Serrakins and have children with them. Which made no sense as unlike many of the races out there in this galaxy the Serrakins were not descended from the Tauri, like the populations of many other worlds were, they were in fact a totally different race.

Also it was important to note that the Hebridian were a space faring civilization that has extended its influence across many solar systems. Together with the Serrakin they have established many colonies, spaceports and space stations.

Which meant they could be a powerful ally and that they must have some advanced tech. My stuff was better, but they may have invented tech I'd never even seen before, and I had plenty to offer them in return, such as super fast hyperdrive.

Since the Hebridians were so advanced and because they were a capitalist society that didn't think feel the need to enforce their beliefs on others, I intended to make great use of their resources.

I could afford to pay them to run schools of all kinds here in Annwn, and to manufacture goods for me, which I could pay for all that and more easily since I could get pure naquadah from the Matter Furnace. Plus I could patent some Trek tech and sell the patent to Tech Con Group. But those deals would have to wait until after they agreed to set up an embassy.

There was however a minor issue, while the Serrakins were sophonts, they weren't human and the Confederation was meant to be a human group that existed to uplift and organise human worlds. I hadn't planned on what do if some aliens wanted to join, which could confuse matters, but it was unlikely that any would want to join so perhaps I had nothing to worry about.

As for the Galarans, they had entered the galactic scene very recently, and even earlier in the timeline than expected, and they had already made an alliance with the Tauri, but somehow they'd learned about my group and they also wanted an alliance with us.

From what I'd learned the Galar were advanced, but limited to the Stargates when it came to visiting other planets, according to my source, which was actually my ability to easily hack Tauri computers using Cortana, they had offered some sort of memory device to the Tau'ri in exchange for hyperdrive technology.

If they were interested in space ships then that was something I could help them with. I could even produce small ships, like those cruisers the Asurans used, but with only basic hyperdrives and so on, and then sell them to the Galarans.

"Any word from the Optricans?" I asked.

The Optricans were a race of Humans who like the others in this galaxy were descended from the Tau'ri of Earth, living in the continent of Optrica on the same planet as the Bedrosians.

Because they believed, correctly, that they were taken from another planet, rather than having been created on their homeworld, the Optricans were in a state of war with the Bedrosians.

I'd aided them in that war in exchange for a few bits of minor technology, really it had been an excuse to test some upgrades to my ship while potential making a new ally.

"They're kind of busy at the moment" Miranda told me "We helped them win the war, but now they're stuck with peacekeeping duties".

If it was anything like the peacekeeping duties in Iraq, or whatever oil rich country it was the Americans invaded, that I'd often heard about during my life before starting Jump Chain, then the Optricans must really have their hands full and I couldn't fault them for not getting involved with my Confederation.

As for the Pangarans, a race of human from the planet Pangar that have been free of the Goa'uld for many generations, they simple weren't interested and they didn't even give a reason as to why.

I'd also tried to contact the world called Altair, alas at some point, the android Harlan provided a group of NID operatives with more information on the android technology, believing that they intended to help him, but this was a deception to allow the NID to create their own versions of SG-1 to do what they felt needed to be done.

The complex on Altair was subsequently destroyed by the theta team, a version of SG-1 created to be so ruthless that they turned against their NID controllers, the theta team destroyed the complex after Harlan confirmed that the power source for the androids couldn't be extracted.

"So who's sending who?" I asked.

I'd be attending very long and very dull meetings with these people so it was best to know who they were in advance so that I could prepare.

"The Jaffa will be represented by Masters Bra'tac" I was told "Someone called Gerak, whose taking control of the Jaffa Nation, wants both Bra'tac and Teal'c out of the way so he's sending Bra'tac to use as an ambassador, while Teal'c is now ambassador to the Tauri, and his son is on SG1 from what we know, but from your files it's pretty clear that this Gerak doesn't really care for non-Jaffa".

Gerak, if I recalled correctly, hadn't exactly been a bad guy, but he became a follower of Origin and subsequently a Prior of the Ori. Although in the end he did sacrifice his own life to help the Tauri, so he had to be a good person underneath.

I was sure he wanted what was best for the Jaffa, and this could be bad for me as a strong human government that united many human worlds would be a rival to the Free Jaffa Nation. Gerak must be concerned about that because I knew that I would be and Gerak was no fool.

"According to our intel he rose to power quickly because of what he brought with him when he joined the rebels" Miranda needlessly told me "As former First Prime of a Goa'uld called Montu, he had almost complete authority over Montu's military and Gerak used that to his advantage, placing those loyal to him in key positions".

Which is what you did when planning a coup.

"When he killed Montu, he brought all of Montu's armed forces into the Free Jaffa Nation and that represents a significant portion of their space navy strength" Miranda told me next "Other Jaffa brought in military resources too, but compared to Gerak's they weren't in good shape".

This I knew my group had spent some time and energy fixing up a Ha'tak for the Free Jaffa, they didn't have the knowledge or the resources to keep their space navy up and running.

"He also represents what we can nicely call the more conservative Jaffa" Miranda said "In fact judging by what we can tell from the reports we stole from Stargate Command most of the Jaffa don't seem to care much for humans at all".

Which was odd since it really should be the humans of the galaxy who disliked the Jaffa given they'd been the soldiers in the armies of the System Lords for thousands of years. Over the centuries thousands of humans must have had their lived ended for them by a Jaffa holding a staff weapon.

Another issue was that the more conservative Jaffa were very bound by Jaffa traditions which didn't allow for females and males to be equal. I wasn't sure on the details, but aside from that one group of female Jaffa warriors all the rest had been male.

Which made me wonder if the female Jaffa were going to put up with it should Garak more traditional views become totally dominate.

"The likes of Bra'tac and Teal'c are more liberal" Miranda mentioned "But they seem to be a minority".

This wasn't surprising if you thought about it, it might be the replicators that actually brought the Goa'uld Empire to its knees, but the Tauri had been knocking off System Lords before the Jaffa Rebellion was even a dream.

Alas for the Free Jaffa they needed Tauri help because without them there wasn't going to be a Free Jaffa Nation in the long run.

One of their problems was Tretonin. If Garak totally broke of ties with Earth then who would supply the Jaffa Nation with the Tretonin? The Jaffa needed some industrialized world to supply it to them, and the Jaffa themselves didn't do industry. Hopefully they had a supplier somewhere else in the galaxy.

While there were some Jaffa mercents, I'd met a few when out buying Goa'uld tech at a massive outdoor market, it had been human labours who'd done most of the work when the System Lords ruled. Now the liberated human slaves didn't have their gods telling them to grow food for the Jaffa armies, so where were they going to get food from?

"Garshaw of Belote will be the Tok'ra ambassador" I was now being informed,

The symbiote known as Garshaw was unusual in that she was not a child of Egeria, the mother of the Tok'ra symbiote, but a rebel Goa'uld who grew past her genetic memory and developed a disgust for her kind's reckless wars, as well as the destruction they brought on other species.

At the time of her rebellion, she was an underling of Heru'ur who was leading a battle against Apophis at a world called Belote. She falsified orders which resulted in the destruction of three of Heru'ur's motherships before it was realized that Garshaw had gone rogue. She managed to escape Heru'ur's court before she could be captured.

Later she encountered a Tok'ra cell which recruited her, cautiously of course as they suspected the possibility of betrayal. Garshaw, however, proved her loyalty and grew among their ranks. She also became the most hated of the Tok'ra among the Goa'uld System Lords with both Cronus and Yu placing a price on her head.

"I'm surprised we're getting members this high up in the Tok'ra hierarchy as an ambassador" Miranda commented "They're aren't many Tok'ra left, but if we can ally with them we'll find their intelligence network to be very useful".

There was no need to discuss the Ancients, as they were already here, and while they were helping to fix up the city-ship, which still needed some work, they had a military officer from one of their remaining warships here to act as ambassador.

Not that it really mattered as the last of the Ancients were a different galaxy and had no way of influencing events in this galaxy. I was only letting them have an embassy because they knew how to run the city-ship.

"A few of the Asgard will be here for meeting" Miranda was now telling me "They come and go as they please, but I was assured by Thor that will always have a presence here as they support the idea of the Confederation and I'm sure they've let their allies know that".

I was pleased by this.

"They're our only real allies out there" I said "Aside from Earth, but now that I'm not spending my time helping them, and I'm setting my own political faction things might sour between us and the Tauri".

Since the Ori weren't invading there wasn't much for the Tauri to worry about. The Free Jaffa Nation wasn't going to attack the people who killed so many System Lords, and the Lucian Alliance wasn't a real threat at this time.

We were also allied with the Ancients, however they had the Pegasus galaxy to worry about.

"Langara will be represented by Jonas Quinn. He's gotten a position high in the Kelownan government, but he is respected by all three governments despite his nationality and we can be sure that any agreements he makes will be given great weight by the governments he represents" it was told to me.

I was looking forward to meeting Mr Quinn, and I was sure that the Langara would be friendly, in only because I had so much to offer.

"Hebridan will be represented by a man called Miles Hagan. He recently retired from his position at Tech Con Group" Miranda said "Apparently becoming an ambassador is his idea of retirement".

This was good news for me as I wanted a good business relationship with Tech Con Group. They had massive resources, advanced technology, and as a company they'd be willing to sell me what I wanted at an agreed upon price rather than annoy me with diplomates until I gave in.

"Given their choice I think Tech Con Group see the Confederation as a chance to open up new markets" Miranda was now saying "That or they have an idea of what kind of tech we have and want to buy it".

Which I was fine with.

"Something we were more or less prepared for," I replied "But please keep an eye on them, we can't have them getting too powerful.. I don't fancy leaving a mega corporation in charge of the galaxy when we leave".

Which would be better than letting the Alliance run things.

"I suggest we take part in a race called the Loop of Kon Garat," said Miranda "They use the event to prove new and upcoming technologies. It's put on every year by Tech Con, and the winner gets a contract with Tech Con, if we enter and win, it will look good for the Confederation and let them know we've got the kind of technology they want to buy".

Which would give us some control over Tech Con,

"They once let Colonel Carter participate" I said "That sets a precedent that we can exploit to get say the Delta Flyer into the race, and even if we don't win it should draw some interest".

Hopefully the trade kind rather the kind that led to tech getting stolen.

"Galar is an interesting world" Miranda went on to say "The planet is part of the Asgard Protected Planets Treaty. Galar was once a Goa'uld slave world that was liberated by the Asgard and unlike the other worlds they've advanced quite far and unlike some other advance human worlds they've been unified politically, economically and militarily. And now that the Protected Planets Treaty doesn't need to be enforced anymore the Asgard aren't going to be involving themselves much with these worlds".

Maybe they'd join the Confederation if the Asgard put in a good word for me.

"While most of their tech isn't all that remarkable, they have made major leaps forward recently in the field of memory engram research, based on their study of recovered Goa'uld recall devices" Miranda reported "It's allowed them to develop the technology to extract, modify and implant whole memories within a person's mind".

The potential of such technology was staggering. You could place the memories of someone's training into someone's else mind. Or find out if someone was guilty of a crime by witnessing the memories of people who were actually there.

"The question is what do they want in return for this tech?" I wondered.

They could get a lot of tech from the Tauri, I had better stuff sure, but the Tauri had already made an alliance with them. Perhaps the IOA didn't want to trade weapons tech, and they were hoping to get it from me.

Which to be fair I would offer assuming they only wanted phase cannons or lasers for the ships they no doubt planned to build.

"We'll find out soon enough" said Miranda.

Indeed we would.

"So who are they sending?" I asked.

Miranda consulted her padd.

"Galar will be represented by someone called Varta. He recently became Ambassador to the Tauri, and now they want him on this city-ship, guess they must think he hasn't got enough work already" Miranda said Varta is an officer of high reputation in Galaran military".

This made sense to me.

"So these Galarans are presenting their greatest asset up front, no doubt hoping a direct approach will earn our respect" I mused.

If so then they had my thanks as with that mindset they'd be much easier to deal with than some other peoples.

"Earth is sending a woman called Shen Xiaoyi" Miranda let me know "She's a graduate of Beijing Foreign Studies University as well as the London School of Economics and Political Science. Former attachée to the Chinese mission in the United States".

Now this did surprise me, but once I thought about it I made sense of it.

"If I recall correctly the Chinese tried to take control of the Stargate using the Russians" I said to Miranda "The exact details don't matter, but I suspect that sending a Chinese ambassador is some sort of compromise or appeasement".

I could see the Chinese getting more than a little upset about the Americans having a moon base and a city-ship while they only had one space vessel. Sure the Americans were leading international teams for both, but I was sure that the Chinese weren't getting much tech of that deal.

"The Orbanians, those people with the nanite technology and naquadah reactors are sending someone called Kalan for an exchange" I was informed by the former Cerberus operative "I get the impression that they aren't interested in anything long term when it comes to political alliances, but they do seem eager to do business with us".

Well as long as we got a chance to look at their nantie tech I would be happy.

"So negotiations with the Orbanian government have been fruitful?" I asked.

Miranda had been the one to contact all those foreign governments and she got them to agree to meet with me. I was sure it helped that so many governments were full of men and that she wore a tight body suit nearly all the time.

"Very much so" she replied "The Orbanians have already agreed to process our raw naquadah for us in return for keeping a reasonable percentage of the finished product. The stuff that comes out of the Matter Furnace is good for reactors and weapons, but not so good if we want a naquadah based currency, so we'll trade some of the pure stuff for the naquadah of lower quality that they can't use for reactors".

Since naquadah was so highly valued across the galaxy the Confederation would be using the material as currency. Coins of low grade naquadah would be pocket change while coins of higher quality naquadah would be used to buy more expensive things. This way people on different Confederation worlds and visitors to those worlds could trade more easily.

"I thought we could make our own reactors?" I asked.

While even I couldn't keep track of everything I was sure that we'd gotten that technology early on.

"Their reactors are compact, they produce plenty of power, and they're so cheap we'd have to be nuts not to buy them" Miranda said to me "Once we're sure that they can overload by accident we can give them to member worlds. There are lots of planets out there that burn fossil fuels and don't need to".

I found it hard to believe that people still did that on the Earth of this reality when they could power cities with naquadah reactors that the Orbanians were quite willing to sell at a very reasonable price.

At this point I rubbed my eyes as I suddenly realised how tired I had become.

"Let's pick this up later" I said to Miranda "I'm sure you've got work to do setting things up".

As for me I needed some rest. I had a feeling that soon things would become very hectic for me so I'd best get some sleep while I still could.