Continuing Stargate

[s09119]

When will the Der'kel make an incursion into Sol space, to gather intelligence of their defenses and offensive capability?

Wait for it... wait for it... (see below)

We're still not that big a threat to them. We're actually the weakest power in the galaxy. (barring the Reol).

Eh, I wouldn't say weakest. Earth is definitely a major power, but we can't match the resources of the Jaffa Nation or the Nox, and we lack the intelligence-capabilities of the Tok'ra. That said, Mcoy otherwise got it right; Earth's a pain in the butt to the Der'kal, but the Jaffa are a much bigger threat thanks to their massive fleet and large territory.

And besides, no space battles doesn't necessarily we don't still thrash 'em. Big space battles do not the whole war make.

Precisely.

[Apollo214]

Hey I've been gone for a while, but these last few were good.


So when you say that only a few of the Nox choice to show themselves, does that mean that they are still largely unaffected by the Der'kal, like they were with the Gould?


Also why is it that the 303s are in mass production the 304s are where the money is at....or maybe thats just my opinion.

and finally are we going to have a Tok'ra heavy ep soon?

[Jeffala]

Also why is it that the 303s are in mass production the 304s are where the money is at....or maybe thats just my opinion.

303's are cheaper. Also, isn't the 303 design the only one that's been released for other countries to produce? (Or did I just make that up?)

303s are also possibly more maneuverable than 304s since they're smaller.

[s09119]

So when you say that only a few of the Nox choice to show themselves, does that mean that they are still largely unaffected by the Der'kal, like they were with the Gould?

When I say only a few of the Nox choose to show themselves... what do you mean, exactly? But yes, the Nox people are largely unaffected by the Der'kal, mostly because their homeworld lies so far from the invasion corridor.

Also why is it that the 303s are in mass production the 304s are where the money is at....or maybe thats just my opinion.

See below...

and finally are we going to have a Tok'ra heavy ep soon?

"The Time Traveler" will reveal what happens to the Tok'ra in the Dark Future, and Season 14's "Traitors" will be a very Tok'ra-heavy episode.

By the way, for those fans of Stargate: Horizon, if Alex gives me the okay, I may take a page from his Tok'ra storyline...

303's are cheaper. Also, isn't the 303 design the only one that's been released for other countries to produce? (Or did I just make that up?)

303s are also possibly more maneuverable than 304s since they're smaller.

There we go The only nations currently producing DSC-304s are the United States, Great Britain, China, France, and Russia (the former IOA nations). The primary production of BC-303s (a cheaper, smaller, and more transport-oriented craft) has fallen to Spain, India, Japan, and other such countries.

[Apollo214]

What i meant to say with the Nox is that during the war with the Gould, they really didn't care. All of their people just went on. But even with the Nox involved now, you said that only a small number show themselves to the young ones. Does that mean that as a whole the Nox just don't care?

[s09119]

What i meant to say with the Nox is that during the war with the Gould, they really didn't care. All of their people just went on. But even with the Nox involved now, you said that only a small number show themselves to the young ones. Does that mean that as a whole the Nox just don't care?

Yes and no. When they fought the Goa'uld, they weren't actually in the war. But now the Nox are fighting and dying alongside the rest of us, and, as you saw, even their homeworld has become a sort of mass refugee camp for displaced persons.

So they do care, but many Nox not fighting on the frontlines don't quite grasp (as Lya now does) that they are just as vulnerable to the galaxy as anyone else. Maybe now that one of their cities is destroyed, thousands are dead, and one of their greatest leaders has been assassinated... maybe now they'll wake up.

[cuttingedgex23]

I think the real question is whether or not you;re gonna make the Nox wake up;;;you coudl possibly make the Nox as a whole more participant in the efforts to help the jaffa and human refugees by building them safe harbors that could serve as their home for an indefinate amount of time;;;or you could just have them turn their backs and be the not-so-good allies the tokra were to the tauri in early sg-1

[s09119]

I think the real question is whether or not you;re gonna make the Nox wake up;;;you coudl possibly make the Nox as a whole more participant in the efforts to help the jaffa and human refugees by building them safe harbors that could serve as their home for an indefinate amount of time;;;or you could just have them turn their backs and be the not-so-good allies the tokra were to the tauri in early sg-1

The Nox are already playing host to several thousand refugees on Velieres, and that number will only be increasing as more worlds fall to the Der'kal. And remember, they're not the only ones offering safe harbor to those displaced by the war... Chulak and Dakara (as well as other major Jaffa worlds) are trying to care for almost a hundred-thousand extra people right now.

((By the way, "It Takes a Thief" should be out late tonight or tomorrow afternoon. Just doing some late minute editing.))

[Jaffa Teal'c]

kool cant wait

[s09119]

13x18 "It Takes a Thief"
Synopsis: When a precious alien artifact is stolen from Daniel Jackson's lab, Vala Mal Doran may be the only one capable of tracking it down.

Spoiler:

Dr. Jackson is in his lab pouring another cup of coffee for himself as he looks over a file folder full of reports from offworld teams. The clock on the wall reveals it's half-past midnight, and a janitor can be seen cleaning the floors outside. It's obvious that Daniel needs to get some sleep, and he yawns continually as he tries to take down some notes on whatever it is he's researching.

A knock on the door jolts him out of his daze, and Dr. Jackson looks up to see Vala standing there with a plate of disgusting-looking food from the mess hall. She sits down on her teammates' desk and forces him to eat something, all the while glancing through his notes and journals, finding all of it boring. Then she stops on a picture of a device clearly of alien origin, but not looking at all like anything familiar. The device is oblong and slightly egg-shaped, and bears no resemblance to Ancient, Asgard, Furling, nox, or Goa'uld tech. Interested, Vala asks Daniel what it is, but he says he has no idea; SG-4 found it on an uninhabited planet two weeks ago and he's just started studying it.

So far, all Daniel knows is that it is capable of emitting a small, localized gravity manipulation field. Col. Carter has already expressed great interest in taking a look at it after Daniel has had a chance to analyze the symbols on it, and even Area 51 has asked for a peek. He admits that while he'd love to spend a few months working on his own overview, realistically he'll probably only have a few days before Sam snatches it away to her lab. Vala, her curiosity piqued, asks if she can take a look at the artifact, and Daniel rolls his chair to the opposite side of the room to hand it over... then suddenly stands up and leaps to the shelves, throwing papers from side to side.

Vala, now concerned, asks what's wrong, but Daniel ignores her. He tears apart two more of his shelves, startling the janitor outside, before finally admitting his fear; the alien artifact is missing.

Roughly an hour later, armed guards patrol the hallways of the ISGC, and a vid uplink in the conference room shows United States Senator Gregory Haskins delivering orders directly from the Pentagon to Dr. Talbot. The base commander has now been joined by Col. Mitchell and Major Davis, both of whom were onbase at the time Daniel noticed his artifact was missing (Mitchell was about to head home for the night and Davis was en route to Heliopolis to enter negotiations with the Tok'ra). The Pentagon wants Talbot to secure the missing device as soon as possible in the interest of national defense, and Haskins notes its incredible value in terms of strategic applications (gravity modification). Until the artifact is found, the Pentagon is also ordering Talbot to suspend all outbound gate travel, landing Davis at the base for the time being.

Cutting the link, Talbot turns to Mitchell and asks him to see if he can help out with Dr. Lee's attempts to use the scanning equiptment in the ISGC's puddle jumpers (brought in three years ago from Atlantis ("The Return, Part 1")) to check the base for the artifact's tell-tale gravity field. Although Cameron detests having to spend yet another day helping hte often-blumbling doctor, he agrees, but not before asking where Sam is. Danielle explains that Col. Carter was in Colorado Springs getting some rest before the alarm was sounded, and with the base about to go into lockdown, she can't be allowed back inside. They'll have to do this without their resident genius. Resigning himself to this task, Mitchell heads downstairs to meet Dr. Lee, followed by Major Davis (who decides he has nothing better to do).

In his lab, Daniel is pouring over security footage from the camera in the hallway outside, trying to see who might've broken into his lab and taken the device. Vala is just saying good-bye to the janitor working nearby, having questioned him and found him innocent, and comes over to see how Jackson is doing. So far, though, it looks like no one but he and her came in between that morning (when Daniel last saw the artifact) and the evening (when it went missing). That gives Daniel an idea, and he quickly radios Walter to see if any beam-outs were detected on-based. In the control room, Walter checks the logs but reports that the only beam-out was by a UN diplomat to a BC-303 bound for Cimmeria (the planet's stargate is apparently undergoing a move). Besides, as Vala adds, after the Trust attempted to steal the gate five years ago ("Endgame"), the ISGC has jamming technology designed to prevent unauthorized beamings.

Frustrated, Jackson tries another tactic; he brings up the ISGC visitor database and checks the backgrounds of all recent visitors, scanning any with possible connections to archaeology, xenology, and offworld affairs. When that also comes up blank, he tries for any government officials with connections to Area 51... but the only registered visitor matching that description is Major Davis. Despite his long friendship with the Pentagon liason, Daniel suspects that maybe Davis was behind the theft... but is silenced when Vala smacks him across the head to make him come to his senses. Accusing an old friend and ally will do nothing but hurt SG-1 in the long run, after all.

A few floors below, Dr. Lee is in the puddle jumper bay above the gate room attempting to interface a jumpers' scanners with the ISGC's internal sensory systems (installed following so many foothold situations/takeover attempts). Apparently he's having a slight problem getting the jumper to accept gravity-based disturbances as appropriate parameters, as it was never designed to search for such things. He mutters to Mitchell as the Colonel enters that the right person for this would really be Dr. McKay, as he has the most experience with the Ancient transport ships, but for now Lee himself will have to do. Major Davis offers a hand, having some mechanical experience with advanced technology, and Cameron flips open his cell phone to call Sam for assistance.

Miles away in Colorado Springs itself, Col. Carter is busily typing an e-mail to her newphew, Jason ("A Family Affair") discussing complex thermodynamics. Suddenly, her phone rings and she picks it up, giving Mitchell a quick hello and asking why she's been asked to stay off-base. Cameron gives her a brief summary of what's happened, shocking Sam. She was desperately looking forward to taking a crack at that artifact, and if it really is missing, they've just missed out on a major scientific find. That said, she'd be happy to do what she can from her house to help Dr. Lee interface the jumper, and she goes to grab her laptop.

In Sublevel 28, Dr. Talbot is typing away at her own computer terminal when the stargate activates. She quickly makes her way to the control room and asks Walter who's incoming. The question is answered almost at once, as a Tok'ra IDC comes through followed by a request to lower the iris for a visitor. Walter at once does as asked, and after a small pause a Tok'ra representative walks into the base, introducing himself as Tamaas. He was dispatched by the High Council to find out why Major Davis never arrived on Heliopolis, and to open the needed negotiations at the ISGC if need be. Of course, Talbot informs him that the facility is in lockdown, and that he will now be unable to leave, but Tamaas does not seem very worried. He merely asks to see Davis as soon as possible and is escorted to the conference room to wait.

Upstairs, Daniel and Vala are in an archival room in which most of the offworld artifacts are kept after study. Jackson has given up on security feeds, and so he's hoping that maybe he just misplaced the device. As they search, Vala suddenly sucks in a deep breath, and the room blurs. When her vision clears, she sees before her the interior of a very luxurious palace on some other world. Daniel is nowhere to be seen, but an old adversary is; Ba'al. The Goa'uld is chatting amicably with -- amazingly -- Vala herself, though it is clear this is Qetesh, the former occupant of Vala's body. The two System Lords are apparently discussing a possible trade deal that would result in Qetesh's territory being doubled, and bring her posessions within a stone's throw of the much-sought-after Dakara, currently in the hands of Ra.

As Vala watches, Qetesh reveals just what she has to bargain with in exchange for this vast amount of space; the device Daniel is searching for! Of course, this is many years in the past, and Vala mutters that this scene took place approximately 20 years ago, just before the Tok'ra removed the symbiote from her. This makes Vala wonder why she didn't recognize the artifact before, and guesses that perhaps the Goa'uld have the avility to force some memories into recession in their hosts. Either way, in the memory Ba'al asks for a demonstration of what this artifact can do, and Qetesh shows him a holographic replay of a ha'tak over a larger-than-average asteroid. A slight shimmer is seen in the display, and suddenly the asteroid shatters apart into dozens of pieces. Qetesh explains that the artifact as the ability to generate magnetic, gravity-based fields, and with it one has the power to even reflect gravity at other objects, which, as shown, can sometimes destroy them.

But just as Qetesh is about to reveal the other amazing property of the artifact, Vala's vision is cut short, and she staggers into a nearby bookshelf, knocking over half a dozen Goa'uld-designed items. Daniel rushes over and catches her, asking what's wrong, and she tries to explain what she saw. Her former symbiote knew something about that device and then tried to keep Vala from knowing it, and Ba'al knew something, too. Obviously this device is of some importance, and when she tells Jackson about the destruction of an asteroid using it, he's shocked. Carter had speculated that the magnrtic field could be amplified, but not to that extent. Now finding such a dangerous piece of technology is even more important.

In the conference room, Major Davis has managed to pull himself away from Dr. Lee and is meeting with Tamaas, who is very glad to finally get started. He says that the Tok'ra agree to the Pentagon's proposal to begin channeling certain sensitive information to the ISGC instead of the United Nations, provided Earth relinquishes its claims to a particular planet several hundred light-years away from Chulak so a base can be built there. Davis, clearly uncomfortable with this (as it violates the Gate Alliance Treaty signed in "Disclosure"), says that the United States will relinquesh the claim on the behalf of the UN, which, Davis says, is "preoccupied" with on-world affairs and cannot deliberate on the matter at the moment. Tamaas, satisfied, pulls out a data crystal and asks if they can get down to the actual signatory work. Davis, reluctantly, nods.

(Continued in next post due to length.)

[s09119]

(End of "It Takes a Thief," see previous post for beginning.)

Spoiler:

Upstairs in the jumper bay, Dr. Lee thinks he's finally got the sensors plugged into the jumper (with the help of Col. Carter). He powers up the gateship and watches as the HUD comes alive with a 3D display of the ISGC... with a small blue blip near the surface on Sublevel 13. Mitchell immediately radios the NORAD soldiers upstairs to keep people away from that area, then thanks Lee and calls for a squad of ISGC marines to get to the elevators ASAP.

Meanwhile, Vala is still trying to understand what she saw. She knows there was more to that scene, but what was it? She ignores Jackson when he says that Mitchell's found the device, and waves him away. Closing her eyes, the room shimmers again and she finds herself back in Ba'al's palace. Qetesh picks up where she left off, saying that the artifact was stolen from a highly advanced race in the galaxy who are experts with gravity manipulation and instant-teleportation technologies. Oddly enough, the artifact itself seems to have the ability to activate its own innate functions, and it has a bad habit of... something. Vala opens her eyes, unable to finish listening, and follows Daniel down the hallway.

In the NORAD levels, shocked workers move back as Mitchell and a team of marines charge out of the elevators and down the hall. Dr. Lee radios in saying that the device is still there, five rooms to the left, and that he's shutting down the sensors now that the crisis is over. Cameron radios back his affirmative and barges through the right door, seeing... nothing. The room is empty, completely empty, with no device in sight nor a culprit. Amazed, he orders Lee to get the sensors back on and scan again, and a moment later Bill gives a surprised update; the artifact is now down in Sublevel 26, just above the control room. Confused, Mitchell asks how the Hell that's possible as he and the marines rush back to the elevator.

Downstairs, Vala shouts for Daniel to wait, closing her eyes again and examining her vision one last time. Although her mind keeps trying to pull her away from this memory, she holds on long enough to hear Qetesh finish, "...it has the oddest ability to actually activate a subspace transport beam, and move itself around my ship. Curious thing, is it not?"

Gasping for breath, Vala tells Jackson that she knows how it works now, as the entire memory comes rushing back to her. A very advanced alien race, possibly on the level of the Asgard, constructed these devices as gifts to other species to show their superiorty and mastery of the technology. But Qetesh stole one after the aliens realized how evil the Goa'uld were and refused to hand one over. She was planning on trading it to Ba'al (then breaking it) in exchange for most of his territory, but the artifact disappeared an hour before their deal was finalized. As such, they were never able to make the trade, and therefore Qetesh fell from grace and was captured by the Tok'ra a few years later. She must have lost it on the planet SG-4 visited, explaining how they found it. Jackson asks how they can make it stay put then, and Vala explains that Qetesh used a modified artifical gravity generator to counteract its ability to manipluate local space-time, but they don't have one of those... or do they?

Upstairs, Mitchell asks what Daniel is thinking after the doctor outlines Vala's plan, and reluctantly agrees to try it. Running to the armory on Sublevel 28, he grabs a Der'kal device captured offworld (the gravity-manipulating one used by Vur'naa in "Friendly Fire"), then rushes to where Dr. Lee thinks the device is now. Just before getting close, Lee yells that the device is starting to move, so Mitchell activates the Der'kal weapon and hurls it forward, watching as all nearby objects fly around wildly as gravity disappears.A tense silence follows, but finally Lee breathes a sigh of relief; the artifact stayed put. They've got it.

The next day, Col. Carter asks a very-tired SG-1 how they're all doing. In reply, Vala grabs the Der'kal gravity-device from Mitchell and the alien artifact from Daniel, shoves them in Sam's hands, and bids her a mock-cheerful good-night. Then, happy to be able to get some sleep, she, Jackson, and Mitchell head to the elevators to go home.

One floor below, in the gate room, Major Davis bids Tamaas farewell, and the Tok'ra representative returns to the nearest Tok'ra base world to report to his superiors. When the gate shuts down, Talbot asks just what he was here to discuss, but Davis won't say. He merely tells Danielle to keep an eye on the Pentagon's dealings and says good-bye to her, already wondering just what shape this international alliance is going to be in soon enough.

[Jaffa Teal'c]

good episode

[s09119]

good episode

That's all I was aiming for This wasn't really an "OMG!!!" ep., just a stand-alone one (well, kind of...). It's meant to feel unended because the storyline will be explored more later.

((Oh noes, I've said too much!))

And a "preview" of "The Time Traveler" should be out later tonight. But its won't be of the normal variety... because anything I say description-wise will kinda give away everything haha.

[Jaffa Teal'c]

cant wait it was nice to have an episode where they didnt have to worry about the war

[s09119]

So here's my teaser for "The Time Traveler." First we have the galaxy in its current state:

Spoiler:

And now we have it in the timeline that our visitor from the future is coming from:

Spoiler:

As you can see, the galaxy is profoundly different. Want to see more? Tune in for the next episode!