Day 9
Harry sat there at his work area, thinking about what new information the past few days had brought about the Astria network.
Next to him, Steven sat there fidgeting in his chair, very nervous about being included in this morning's council meeting.
His nervousness increased to the point all he wanted to do was run from the room as the rest of the council filtered in and gave him curious looks as they took their seats.
"Relax." Harry said out of the corner of his mouth trying to calm him down. "No one here is going to bite."
Steven tried to do several different calming techniques before he finally started to calm down enough he felt he would not make a fool of himself.
Noticing that everyone was present Harry placed the Holo of the Pegasus galaxy above the table. "Before we start with this week's trivia and updates, some startling information has come to the surface."
"Steven if you would." Harry suggested.
Swallowing one more time Steven started his explanation of the Astria network, a repeat of what he had shown Harry three days earlier.
Fifteen minutes later once everyone around the table had a firm grasp on the problem Steven started on the newest information.
"Two days ago I sent out a firmware upgrade through the Astria network, that should have identified any unknown gates as they responded with the acceptance code or failure codes." Steven changed one of the parameters marking three of the systems in black.
"As you can see we actually lost three systems, which means there are no longer any functional Astria in those systems." Steven finished his report with a long deep breath.
There was absolute quiet around the table as everyone just stared at the Holo in the center of the table and digested what they had been told.
Lantera was the first to break the silence by standing up and moving down so she could be nearer to one part of the Holo. Placing her finger next to blinking blue dot, with great sadness in her voice. "This was Tylene."
They sat there briefly sharing her pain of the loss she felt for comrades long gone, but in her mind it was only a few months ago.
"Now I don't even begin to understand the Astria and how they work, but could the fact the Tylene nexus was open when the system went nova, have caused feedback and overloaded the rest of the nexus Astria points." Kevin asked thinking about power feedback loops.
Steven placed his hand on the link panel and closed his eyes as he thought what could cause a chain reaction down the network. Scenario after scenario flashed through his mind as he looked at and discarded each possibility in turn.
Not finding the answer he asked himself what would be needed to cause a chain reaction through the nexus network and the system flashed immediately to a scenario of a super nova exploding while two nexus where connected.
Taking a deep indrawn breath as he stiffened, Steven opened his eyes and ignored the inquiring looks he was receiving from around the table and asked. "What Astria did you connect too during the evacuation?"
Thinking back to that chaotic moment of her life Lantera looked around the Holo display before she remembered.
"Terease Nine, it had the largest shipping and construction docks in the next sector." Lantera pointed to one of the other blinking blue dots.
"What are you thinking Steven?" Harry asked him, watching Steven work things through in his mind.
"A Nova would not be able to take the network down.But a Supernova could." Steven threw up the simulation on front of Harry so he could see how it would happen.
Tanaka activated his display as he to linked into the system and brought up everything they had on the Tylene system and its sun. "The sun is the wrong type to go Supernova, not enough mass. I am surprised it went Nova actually, it was a relatively young system still."
"And if it had help?" Jack threw out the suggestion, from a military back ground, he thought of outside influences first.
"Look what the Tyaes did to that hive planet several months back. The explosion carried for two light years past the edge of the system." Jack made his point.
"But we used an anti matter weapon which the ancients of the time did not have." Tanaka said trying to convince himself mostly.
Harry went cold, not so much fear, but in the dread of knowing deep down that somewhere in the universe was someone or something that was bound and determined to wipe out every Alteran they could.
Ignoring the discussion before him Harry was thinking long and hard with the help of Aloria and the bond link.
'If what you are thinking is true, and I admit you are most likely right, what do we do?' Aloria sent down the link. 'More important we need to find out who.'
'Are you still tinkering around with weapons and ship development?' Harry asked.
'Not really, oh I still play around with ship design still but it is more on the line of trading and civilian types.' Aloria slowly told him as she followed his thoughts.
'Priority one, from now on weapons and warships, we are going to need a lot of them.' Harry thought at her.
'It might be easier to find some of the old shipyards and upgrade and convert any partially built hulls instead of starting from scratch.' Aloria considered.
Steven who had felt the waves of energy roiling off of Harry, ignored the questions directed his way as he turned sideways in his chair and stared at the faintly glowing form of his Lord Commander.
Soon the others one by one noticed the conversations had stopped and turned to follow everyone else's gaze as they watched Harry wondering what was going on.
'Do you have any leads on the best and biggest ones we can send off ships to get a closer look at, to see if they facilities are still there after all this time?' Harry asked thinking about the need for people. How in the world was he going to lead a war machine if all he had was ships and not enough people to staff them with?
Calming his mind with a reminder that he needed to secure his borders and then move outwards from there, he took notice of the glowing orange dots in the Holo display.
So few he thought, well he certainly had enough ships to send one to each system to check them out.
'What will you do if you find Alteran's still alive in those systems? More than likely they will have regressed to some point, otherwise they would have rebuilt a nexus in the attempt to find out what had happened.' Aloria wondered.
'Hopefully they can be brought into the fold so to speak. If we really are facing an ongoing intergalactic extermination attempt, we need every warm body we can get our hands on' Harry decided.
Hearing silence Harry looked around the table to see every one watching him, most with concern on their faces, though several also looked pensive.
"Like the plague, you think this was deliberate like the plague." Jack stated it as a fact.
Nodding his head. "That is what I am afraid has happened, and I wonder if they are still out there waiting for some sign we are still alive." Harry dropped the bombshell on them.
"Couldn't it have been an accident?" Remus held out hope as dread started to caress him making him shiver.
Harry told him. "We can't afford to take the chance."
Powaqa asked the question that was on every one's mind. "What do we do?"
Causing a small part of the Holo to glow in a faint green Harry replied. "We secure this sector hard and fast."
"These fifty systems need to be brought under our complete control. And as soon as possible secured with every weapons station at our disposal.
Which means that Vlad you need to ramp up your construction crews when you get back to the docks. You will find new plans have been released into your database and you need to retool your command for their production." Harry stood up and started pacing as he started to lay the frame work for his plan.
"This system is three light years away." Harry placed a new system into the Holo display while pacing. "Not one of the eight worlds in that system hold any sort of life. So plan to relocate your command there as soon as possible."
"That system will provide the raw materials for the construction of the new stations and war ships that will be built." Harry made it to the end of the table before stopping behind Jack.
"Aloria right now is producing weapons platforms at the rate of one every two hours. So we will be able to secure the systems in orange if they still have functional ship yards." Harry placed a hand on Jacks shoulder and gave it a squeeze.
"Most of our people will be secure and be able to live happy carefree lives down on Lantea. What we are doing now is to make sure that it stays that way." Harry told the frightened faces.
"Jack I want you to plan the total eradication of the Wraith as soon as possible. Come up with plans that use our armed scouts as the back bone calling in the Tyaes as needed to eradicate any system that has the wraith firmly entrenched, like the hive world we rescued the crew of the Cyrorar off of." Harry started to move around the table again.
"For now we restrict this knowledge to the four original Great Races, as they were also targeted, either on purpose or as collateral damage." Harry stopped behind Kevin.
"How long will it take to get Atlantis fully operational, that includes installing singularity generators?" Harry asked the man sitting in front of him.
"Two weeks if I go all out, the problem is not enough remotes to do the work." Kevin mentioned.
"Aloria how quickly can we increase the number of Astromechs and Fabricators, we are going to need massive amounts of remotes to do the work I am envisioning?" Harry asked as he started to walk again.
"There are one hundred and fifty Astromechs currently, by your direct command we could expand that number to close to one thousand in one day. But that would leave you magically exhausted and more than likely unconscious for a week if not more." Aloria was worried she knew what Harry was like when he placed everyone else before his basic needs.
"Not a good idea." Agatha stated sternly from her position near the middle of the table.
Feeling no great sense of needing them as soon as possible Harry asked it a different way. "What is the best way, taking in consideration that I might need to expend large amounts of energy in between this process if an emergency pops up?"
"The safest number of Astromechs you can directly control would be four hundred. So if you spread the growth cycle out over two days we will end up with almost eighteen hundred at the end of four, four-hour shifts. I would be happier if you spread it out over three days." Aloria pleaded with him.
"Why does it take so much out of you to order the Astromechs to reproduce themselves?" Kevin asked confused, being the one most familiar with their use.
"They are bonded to me, Mind, Body and Magic. To build anything other than a simple remote I need to be with them Mind, Body and Magic so the newly built Astromechs are imprinted and bonded to me as they are built." Harry gave a brief explanation. "This way what happened with the Astromechs being perverted into replicators can never happen again."
"Vlad how soon can you and the docking station be ready to shift to its new location?" Harry asked stopping behind Powaqa.
Scratching his chin Vlad thought about it for a moment. "We of course have our own Astria on board, so if I could borrow some of the command staff from Toria Ai Shas, we should be able to get under way within the hour."
"Do so." Harry told him, watching him quickly jot down some names as he rose and handed it to Powaqa and started for the TS terminal in the arrival area.
Back by his chair Harry looked at Steven and asked him. "Steven how soon will the new firm-ware, I think you called it, be ready to be sent out?"
Surprised at how quickly things moved and how fast Harry was to hand out assignments Steven stammered out. "It's ready now. I can start sending it out right now. It even works on the first generation Astria still in use."
"And this will give us complete override control of the Astria?" Harry wanted to be sure.
"Sure." Steven then thought he should give a longer answer. "You will be able to know when each Astria is activated, which one it connects to and for the most part what was sent through." Steven was pleased with himself over that last bit.
Smiling Harry then asked him. "Excellent, how soon can you send it out?"
Placing his hand on the link pad Steven touched a few holographic controls in front of him while giving the order to activate the program that was on the last step to completing the sequence to send it out over the Astria network.
Turning his head Steven smiled at the thought of, if the other Hackers could see him now. "Done, by this time tomorrow it should have spread to half of the active Astria, even the first generation models will be upgraded with the new firmware revision."
Leaning over the table Harry pointed to the system nearest to the largest orange dot and asked. "Can you tell if this Astria is still functional?"
"If we take in account that we are on the order of a super nexus." Steven started to mutter as his hands flew across the holographic controls that appeared around him. "I should be able at least get a ready feedback loop over the chip, maybe even a diagnostic RF modulated Crystal wave."
Shaking his head Harry sat down and noticed he was not the only one completely clueless. "I have no idea what you just said, and am not about to ask Aloria to translate."
"YES." Steven cried out when he made the connection to the Astria he was querying and to his surprise a connection formed.
"Sending remote through." Aloria told them. She had made it a habit to keep some of the small visual rescue remotes on top of the Astria just in case they needed to take a quick look around.
Jack tapped a few commands opening the ceiling above the arrival area and opened the com. "Ready scout prepare for Astria travel."
"It looks deserted." Molly observed.
"According to the Cyrorar data base this was a research outpost with one hundred scientists cataloging plant species for possible use." Lantera read from her data pad, being the one most familiar with the old style database.
"Unicorn Three prepped and ready for launch." Came a voice from the speaker near Jack.
"Well this answers the question of whether it was the whole network that went down or only the nexus part." Agatha spoke up for the first time.
"Unicorn Three, mission download complete." The voice came from the speaker, as the shimmering silver ship descended slowly and made its way to in front of Astria number four.
Jack looked up to the end of the table to see what Harry wanted to do and was not surprised to see Harry staring back and for him to nod his head giving him the go ahead as soon as their eyes met.
"Unicorn Three you have ago.I repeat you have a go. Prepare to act as Dimensional beacon." Jack ordered as the scout shot through the gate.
Now that they had someone in the system Harry ordered Steven too. "Close it down."
"Aloria open fold space communication with Unicorn Three." Harry ordered out loud as he looked down the table to see Bill getting up and heading for the TS while talking over his belt communicator.
Seeing that everyone was anticipating his orders Harry sat back in the chair and waited for the information to flow their way.
"I need to get back to my station, the SGC people should be asking for a connection shortly." Steven said to Harry's gaining a nod of permission as he stood and moved towards the steps.
"The only thing I was going to mention was that the re-introduction of magical species seems to be going smoothly, though some of the dragon handlers are griping that they have to wait on unloading their babies." Charlie reported while they waited, before laughing. "They are starting to remind me of Hagrid."
That broke some of the tension that had been growing for the past forty minutes or so, as those that remembered back to how enthusiastic the half giant was and his love of dangerous creatures that wouldn't hurt a fly, as he used to say. Laughed at the comment.
"I was going to mention that the Russians wanted to start sending some of their recruits through as early as tomorrow. I have a feeling they are planning to try to develop the three worlds they are looking at all in one go, so we could expect the start of upwards of six thousand personal to start arriving shortly." Molly informed them of her news.
"Unicorn Three, no signs of life though the outpost looks recently deserted." The voice came over the communicator.
"Which does not mean much with the way the ancients built things." Remus offered his opinion with a smile.
'Harry, Earth is requesting a connection be established.' Aloria warned him quietly over the link.
'Let Steven know, and tell him to go ahead and establish the connection.' Harry told her.
Turning off the center Holo emitters Harry warned the rest. "Our guests should be arriving shortly, Steven is making the connection now."
"Shall I tell the twins to start inventing then?" Neville asked as he stood up needing to go meet with Pomona about scheduling the move of starts for the kitchen garden they had been growing in the greenhouse pylon.
"Absolutely not." Harry answered firmly. "We just got them back from the bloody brink of madness and I am not about to let them get that close ever again."
"If they have a problem with that they can take it up with me. I will promptly put their bare arse's over my knee and they won't soon sit down, I can promise you that. They should get the message after that." Harry laughed, knowing those two they would push the issue just to see if he would follow through with his threat.
"Sounds kinky." Jack drawled out causing Neville to blush as bright as a Weasley.
"They'd probably like it to." Neville muttered as he walked towards the steps.
Molly didn't say anything but grinned like a Cheshire cat, knowing her two boys, they would more than likely take Harry up on his threat just to see if he would do it.
Those that had other things to do that morning gathered up their data pads and programmed them so that they could monitor further developments while they took care of their commitments.
The group from Earth started to exit the Astria and mill around the arrival area as they took in the marvel of the facility and the new world seen through the windows below them.
A new Hologram appeared in the middle of the table as Bill activated his fold space communication gear and contacted Harry.
"The Tyaes is at full power and ready for dimensional shift. We have cleared all moorings and are in the clear." Bill's image told them.
Another image, this time of Vlad appeared next to Bills. "Docking station also secured, all external moorings and weapons platforms ready, the gravitational bubble is powering up. We should be ready to go in two minutes."
Nodding his head Harry let a smile cross his face as he merged with his magic and glowed as the energy swirled around him.
"Tyaes prepare for dimensional shift." Harry's voice boomed across the command deck startling the people still coming through the Astria.
"Docking station, confirm all mooring lines cleared and all vessels and platforms secured for dimensional shift." Harry voice echoed with power.
"Unicorn Three, Confirm station keeping maneuvers and beacon activation." Harry told the far away scout.
"Whoa, what's going on with that guy up there?" One of the Earth visitors called out.
"Unicorn Three, Beacon active and homing.I repeat beacon active and homing." The scout pilot sounded excited about to see in reality only what had been done in a simulator so far.
"Tyaes you are cleared for shift." Harry placed his hand on the link panel and placed an image of near space, and the space of Laynie system where the scout ship was in stationary orbit side by side.
"Tyaes shift in Five.Four.Three.Two.One.SHIFT." Harry ordered, and watched in satisfaction as the war ship appeared in the Laynie system.
"Shift complete.Bring aboard that scout and prepare for departure.Jettison dimensional anchor." The Holo image of Bill ordered.
"Tyaes.Bill, use whatever means to secure Terease Nine.Good hunting." Harry told him before closing the transmission.
"Docking station report." Harry switched his attention to the next outgoing vessel, if you could call that huge monstrosity that made Toria Ai Shas look like a pleasure craft, a vessel.
"Gravitational bubble fully engaged, dimensional drive at full power. By your leave Lord Commander." Vlad bowed his head slightly knowing that they had off world guests by now, and wanting to put on a show. Not that he was a closet old series Battlestar Galactica fan having anything to do with it.
Harry narrowed his eyes at the salutation, there was something there he was sure of it. As much as Vlad was a science fiction junky like Jack, he was sure the man made a reference to some telly show or other just now. Must make a mental note to punish Jack for bringing up all those Sci Fi shows and sharing them with techno mad Wizards who went overboard to embrace the new.
"Docking Station your are clear to shift. Shift in Five.Four.Three.Two.One. Commence Shift." Harry ordered.
"Verify if we arrived on target." Vlad yelled out. "Scan the entire system for any anomaly."
Voices could be heard calling out information towards the station commander.
"Lord Commander we have indeed arrived at system 348." Vlad informed him before ordering his crew too. "Power down dimensional drive, cycle down gravitational bubble."
"Sir long range sensors are picking up what looks like a damaged Wraith Hive Ship near the outer edge of the asteroid belt." CragTooth growled out, blood lust racing through him, from his station while sending the Bridge Holo emitter the information.
"Hmm looks like it has lost all power." Vlad mumbled as he turned his attention back to Harry.
"Destroy it Commander.Take Vengeance on that ship and any others like it in that system." Harry ordered as his glow intensified at the thought of Wraith that close to their new home.
Vlad never thought he would be in a situation where the advanced weapons displays would ever light up while he was in command. Glancing around the bridge, stations that normally sat dead and lifeless powered up at Harry's orders.
Making his way to his command chair he sat down and touched his core while placing his hands on the link pads on the arms of the command chair. In the back of his mind he thought his voice had a strange echoing quality that Harry's had when he gave orders.
"Lord Commander vengeance is mine.And shall be swift." Vlad replied as he gave the order to open fire on the Wraith ship.
Satisfied that the possibility of danger to his people had passed Harry gave the last order needed to secure the system. "Activate automatic defense systems and deploy all weapons platforms."
Harry released his control on his core and reached for the glass of restorative that appeared in front of him, grape this time it looked like.
Looking back to the Holo display as he set his empty glass down on the table Harry noticed that Vlad had a strange expression on his face. "I think it is time to set the automatics and get started." He hoped to prod the man out of his daze.
"Right, the Lord Commander is waiting, we will start with harvesting the eighth planet so place us in orbit were can start up the mining reactors." Vlad ordered before giving a brief nod in thanks towards Harry and closed the connection.
"Well it's started." Said Harry softly.
"Harry dear looks like I was right, we have a few more guests that we originally planned for." Molly broke it to him gently.
"If you call a few hundred a few more." Remus snorted out as he stood and made his way towards the group that the crowd was parting to let through.
"What?" Harry perked up and turned to the arrival area to see the crowd of several hundred. By the looks of them they were either Slavic or Asian.
"This better be good." Harry told them, as he watched the crowd part to let through the SGC people.
Governor Jack O'Neill was one of the last through the gate; he had decided to go last instead of with the first group, just in case Harry was having a bad day.
Exiting the gate O'Neill moved through the crowd so he could take a look up towards Harry's work platform to see what if anything Harry's reaction was.
The first thing he noticed was that green glow that Harry got when he went all mythically powerful.
Distracted by the babbles of excitement from those around him as they caught their first look at one of the Alteran warships as it moved away from the docking station. O'Neill wondered what was going on now as the ship seemed to shimmer and then faded from view.
Looking around the crowd he spotted the Ambassador and Daniel along one side and several others of his delegation and caught their attention and motioned for them to move forward towards the platform.
Just as he met up with the Russian and Chinese representatives the large docking station shimmered as it too faded from sight. Tilting his head up he saw a Hologram of an eight-planet system and saw the docking station re-appear in the center of the system.
Just as he started to walk forward once again he caught the Hologram as it zoomed in on a Wraith hive ship, which suddenly dissolved in a bright explosion.
Wondering what the hell was going on now O'Neill made his way over to the approaching Alteran ambassador.
Remus smiled as he greeted the group. "Greetings Governor O'Neill, and companions."
"Though I am slightly surprised by the sheer number to your entourage." Remus said while still smiling, though his eyes showed he was not amused.
Not giving them a chance to explain Remus turned around and headed back towards the platform.
Following along O'Neill wondered if they should have sent word ahead first before inviting three hundred extra people to the party.
Before starting up the steps to the table Vladimir turned and barked out in Russian. "Fall in."
The Chinese troops seeing their compatriots lining up went to one side and followed suit without being ordered to do so.
Directing his attention to the young man sitting in the chair that could only be described as a throne, Vladimir pulled himself up to attention and spoke up to apologize. "Excuse the presumptuous liberty I have taken by bringing along the first of our volunteers. But my president was most eager that we show our willingness to abide by the terms set forth in the Alliance agreement to provide protection for colony worlds we wish to develop."
"My Premier also wished to show his gratitude for the opportunity to help my people, and we also brought along the first of what we hope will be many candidates that you will find acceptable." Ambassador Lei bowed his head as he told Harry that.
Augusta slid out a galleon from her belt pouch and placed it on the table and slid it over to Molly.
Harry eyed the two women with amusement, now he knew where the twins got their gambling streak from, and it certainly was not from Bill.
Using his link pad Harry sent a message to Augusta asking if they had the facilities ready to house these volunteers, seeing that most of the cities inhabitants had moved down planet and the housing areas had been placed in shut down mode.
'Aloria how long will it take you to check each of these individuals for loyalty and such?' Harry thought.
'I can do it as they are run through medical, about an hour tops.' Aloria replied through the bond.
'Ok alert medical that they are about to receive three hundred people to process and make sure they do full genetic profiles on them.' Harry sighed.
Feeling Gran's reply through the link pad Harry nodded his head to her, giving her permission to get started.
Standing up Augusta looked to the two men sitting near the end of the table and asked. "I assume all the candidates speak basic?"
Confused Vladimir turned to O'Neill to ask. "Basic?"
"It is what the Ancients call English." O'Neill shrugged, he thought calling it English was perfectly good enough, no need to change the name from cripes sake.
"Ah." Vladimir said in understanding, nodding his head he replied. "Yes all the volunteers speak perfect basic."
"As do our volunteers." Ming added in as he passed over a bound folder to Molly.
"All the changes to our charter as you requested, including the independence clause. We followed suit of our Russian friends with a monetary value after a period of Fifty years." Ming informed her bowing slightly. "You will find that it is very fair to our people."
Skimming through the brief quickly Molly checked over the independence clause before turning and nodding her head to Harry.
"Most satisfactory Ambassador." Molly told him as she smiled.
"Governor O'Neill before we start with your update and plans and any follow up problems/solutions, let me take a moment to ask a few questions on the new projects proposed." Harry asked nicely.
"Of course Lord Commander, since I am going to be tying up most of the meeting we might as well get it out of the way first." O'Neill joked as he sat back in his chair and relaxed.
Smirking at the older O'Neill's antics Harry turned his attention to the Russian. "I take it you plan to develop all three of the listed worlds at the same time?"
"Yes, we feel that we can handle all three without splitting our attention to much, in fact the one world is much like the one the Americans are developing right now." Vladimir answered and expanded on their plans. "Hanka has been cleared as being safe, as the virus Nirrti used was very short lived and genetically specific to the Hankan's and several years later the only surviving Hankan re-visited the planet without falling ill."
"I was informed that your system could read our data drives." Vladimir said as he pulled out a laptop and looked around for a connection he could use.
Daniel spotting a laptop docking station built into the end of the table in front of him stood up. "There is a docking station right here, if we switch."
Standing up and picking up his laptop Vladimir let out. "Thank you," In Russian.
After switching seat Vladimir slid the laptop into the docking station and smiled in surprise when the Holo emitters in the center of the table lit up with what was on his screen.
Highlighting a file folder marked Hanka." If you would download this file you can see everything we have learned and planned for that world." Vladimir pointed out the folder in question.
"The other two worlds are also located in what was once the territory of the Goa'uld Nirrti." Vladimir said as he pointed out the other two folders on the Holo desktop.
Closing his eyes for a moment as Aloria downloaded the information to an Avatar access database, Harry briefly went through the information.
Opening his eyes once again." Commander Smirnov in seven days time we will dispatch four system defense platforms to the Hankan system, expect them to take up station at the end of the seventh day." Harry informed the excited man while telling Aloria to make a note to follow up on his decision, and to expand the facilities that produced the platforms.
Rubbing his hands together in excitement, Vladimir was practically bouncing in the seat. "Good, good.Sooner than we hoped."
"We will have the first of the eight thousand volunteers ready to arrive starting in two days time." Vladimir rushed out as he thought of the hope that his people would soon show on their faces along with the pride that would once again fill his people.
"That soon, you are very eager for this." Harry told him with a smile, watching him closely to see if he would be honest.
Shrugging his shoulders Vladimir simply said." My people need this to bring back hope, and to alleviate much suffering."
Satisfied that he had been told the truth Harry looked to the Chinese Ambassador. "Ambassador have your people chosen any prospective sites yet, or do you plan to research the sites available, before making your decision."
"We would like to start sending our search teams out as early as tomorrow and would need some time before we would be able to provide a list of colony sites for development." Ming said in the most respectful voice he could.
"We also realize that there is a training period that needs to be taken into account for those volunteers that come from our country, and we wish to begin sending our recruits through as soon as possible to maximize their use as patrol officers and support for the galactic security force you are building." Ming told him. "To that extent the first of our volunteers shall be comprised mainly from our own armed services. We wish to ensure that any worlds and trade we develop do not come under attack by hostile forces."
"These one hundred and fifty officer candidates have the highest." Ming started to point towards the arrival area to his recruits, but stopped when he saw they had vanished.
Laughing inwardly at the expression on the Ambassadors face, Harry merely smiled and told him gently. "Gran is most efficient, they have been moved to medical for a thorough check up and then escorted to assigned quarters. Any that do not pass with a truthful answer to the oath to the empire, while they are serving in that capacity shall be ready to go back to Earth with you at the end of the meeting."
"Most efficient." Ming very much impressed bowed his head towards Harry.
"The recruits have all volunteered and are the top winners in their fields. The competition for placement surprised me with the sheer volume of people applying." Ming sat back as he waited for a response.
"Yes, I have found out that the eagerness of some to experience new and exciting things can be surprising." Harry told him, at the same time directing a subtle dig towards the Sci Fi fans at the end of the table.
"That brings us back to the topic of this meeting. " Harry told them. "Molly if you would."
Waiting until Molly had handed a small crystal pyramid to now Governor O'Neill and several small rectangular crystal boxes Harry started by saying. "Governor O'Neill the pyramid shaped crystal is a permanent access beacon to the colonization island. It must be installed in such a way that it is in contact with the frame of the ship to allow passage through the wards."
"The rectangular shaped ones are one time use access beacons that will allow you to bring through supplies and people in a group more geared towards the move itself. They of course will de-atomize once they have gone through the wards." Harry told him as he pointed to the crystals in question.
"Cool, this will make it a lot easier to move the colonists through, not having to go through the mountain facility should make it much faster." O'Neil said as he pocketed the crystals.
"We are ahead of schedule and have close to six thousand people moved already, This," O'Neill said patting his jacket pocket, "Will go a long way to getting the people to the gate quickly."
"We have purchased a cruise ship and modified it to hold five thousand passengers comfortably, we will place the permanent beacon on it, while using cargo ships to carry supplies and livestock to the island gate."
"The only problem I see is that it is a three day journey from the closest port, so that it will slow us down in the beginning but once the first rush is over it should be doable." O'Neill hinted before asking his big question.
"You wouldn't happen to be willing to hire out some of your ships to ferry supplies back and forth would you?" O'Neill asked hopeful.
Harry thought for a moment before shaking his head no. "I am afraid we have other commitments and our ships are truly not suited to carrying."
"I might have an idea." Harry said as he raised his hand to forestall any disappointment.
Placing his hand on the link pad Harry opened up a connection to the fold space transceiver on Draynor.
As the image formed in the center of the table from the Holo emitters Harry was not surprised to see the Elders busy at work in their chambers.
"Greeting elders." Harry had waited for a break in the conversation before butting in.
"Greeting Lord Commander." Granthorn rose and walked around the table to better be seen.
"I was wondering how far along you are on manning your merchant fleet?" Harry asked while sending a separate data stream of the details of what was needed.
"We can man three of the larger merchant carriers within the hour." Granthorn replied.
"The Lord Commander has sent us your needs Governor O'Neill, and we will send the information of costs on to Griphook. He will be able to negotiate fair terms for our service and we shall dispatch the merchant ships to Earth in the meantime, expect them to arrive in." Granthorn trailed off as he consulted a data pad. "In twenty nine hours, if that is acceptable."
"Excellent." O'Neill smiled as the connection closed.
Smiling happily to himself he thought a large amount of their supplies could go by merchant ship and that would solve.Stopping he thought just how would they pay for this.
"Um not to sound stupid here or anything. Because I am telling Ya it is kinda stupid, but do you folks even use money?" O'Neill asked quizzically.
The expression on O'Neill's face was too much for Jack and he broke down laughing.
The laughter was infectious and after getting it under control Jack pulled three coins out of his belt pouch and placed them on the table so they could readily be seen.
"Yes we do, even though we can make practically anything we want just with a thought we do have a currency that both the Furlings and we use." Jack informed him still amused.
"The large gold one is called a Galleon, The Silver one is called a Sickle and the Bronze a Knut." Jack pointed out each coin in turn. "One Galleon is equal to four dollars and eighty two cents in American currency at this time."
"Now the Galleon is the largest denomination with seventeen Sickles equaling one Galleon. And twenty nine Knut's make up one Sickle." Jack explained, as he took it upon himself to write it down and pass it over to O'Neill.
"Ok we have money, the question is where do we go to exchange dollars for this." O'Neill pointed at the coins on the table.
"Our bank is called Gringotts, and is run by the Furlings arrangements will be made to open branches around Earth." Harry let out that little white lie.
"Ok, so we have a way to the fancy new gate, money that we can pay to hire merchant shippers, and a place to convert our dollars into these coins. The first initial rush will happen next week now that we don't have to use our gate." O'Neill pointed out items on his mental checklist.
"So the only thing left on my end is to tell you about the President's Announcement this morning as he let the world know about the Stargate's existence." O'Neill fiddled with the laptop Daniel brought with them.
O'Neill Slid the laptop into the docking station at the edge of the table. Hearing it click he opened the lid and powered it up. "The only thing on this thing, is a copy of the President's speech to the world and the follow up questions. I will let you download it to watch later."
"The gist of the announcement was that he revealed the Stargate program and explained how we have been using it to explore other worlds.
He also revealed the existence of other life in the galaxy and ran through a short presentation of the new colony world that was opening up.
The leaders of all the countries from the oversight committee were present and lent their aid in proving that this was not a hoax.
For the most part Earth is in chaos right now as the idea sinks in that we are not alone to the general populace." O'Neill shrugged not getting the whole brouhaha.
"Before the announcement the leaders from the six governments, that had a working knowledge of the Stargate sat down and worked out a treaty." Ambassador Lei stated.
"One that has never been contemplated before." Vladimir not to be left out added in.
"We have given power to enforce this treaty to your galactic security force, and the penalties imposed are very harsh to those who break this agreement." Ming told them.
Jack read off a partial list of what was agreed to.
"All armed vessels must stay at least one hundred nautical miles distance from the island housing the Stargate.
That distance is to be considered Alteran territory and any acts of aggression will be seen as an act of war against the Alteran people.
The SGC will be relocated to one end of the island along with the Stargate they currently use, and the area shall be set aside for exploration by trained teams made up from all the signatory nations.
Any colonization project, barring the initial three worlds given to a signatory nation, will pay a set price to the SGC and the funds used shall run the facility from now on.
Any group of people may fund and start a colonization project as long as they meet the criteria, which includes a charter acceptable to you and they set aside sufficient funds in a trust to fully supply the colony for three years. At the end of the three years the funds shall be released back to the colony for their use, while any interests garnered from holding the funds shall be turned over to the SGC.
Alteran's chosen by you shall have oversight of the SGC.
The SGC will be restructured to provide colony support and services and shall be tasked with day-to-day operation of the Stargate's.
A fee schedule shall be set out that shall reimburse the SGC for the services they provide to colony worlds, this will ensure that this new agency has the funds for their new mandate.
I could go on but I think you get the idea, and the entire list is in the laptop." O'Neill finished.
The whole time Harry's eyes just got bigger and bigger with each point made. Never in a million years did he ever think the non-magical people of Earth would ever pull together like this.
Hell he never thought the magical peoples of earth would ever pull together like they did, so he should not be so surprised, Harry told himself.
Remus, who out of all of them knew how impossible the non-magical governments were to working together asked. "Why?"
"Our leaders feel that we have a great opportunity before us. Frankly it is long past time for us to grow up." Ming told him.
"In other words, none of us are the biggest bully on the block anymore, and if we want to fit in with the rest of the races in the universe we have to play by your rules." O'Neill was so nonchalant with his answer.
"I would have never expected the world to unite when the Stargate program was revealed." Mini Jack was shocked with what he heard.
"I also never expected this day to come." Griphook walked up the stair as he said that.
"I don't think any of us were Griphook." Harry finally was able to get out.
Glancing around the table Harry noticed the shocked and impressed looks on most of the faces. "For the moment I think we are done here. I need some time to take in what you have just told me."
"Before we break up and Griphook negotiates for your first born." Harry laughed. "How long before you reach the target population Governor O'Neill?"
Looking down at the laptop as he thought about it, O'Neill answered. "If things go as planned and we come to an agreement on shipping, ten days time."
"In five days time I will be calling a meeting of the Great Races. I wish all the leaders of the signatory nations to be there, while you technically are not a member yet, there will be things discussed that you should be aware of at the same time as the others."
O'Neill was thrilled and if he knew the President, he was more than ready to go off world again. "I will make sure everyone is informed."
Standing up and moving away from his comfortable chair." Good then I will leave you to your negotiations. I am overdue for lunch."
Starting for the steps. "Griphook if you would look me up when you are finished I have a project in mind that you are perfect for." Harry used the same exact phrase that he was known to use when he had come up with yet another wild scheme that ended up bringing him in large amounts of profit.
"Ambassador Lei, Commander Smirnov, I have been informed that two and three members of your volunteers respectively will be returning with you. One is not acceptable due to aspirations of setting up his own planet, and ruling the inhabitants as slaves, like the Samurai of old." Harry looked down the table. "And the others are Xenophobic, though that should not be held against them, as some people just cannot seem to cope when confronted by something too Alien to their worldview."
With that Harry walked off the platform and towards the transport station still in shock at what Earth had just done to his carefully laid plans of hiding out.
Scott lent me his editing skills for this Chapter