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Devastation Comes In Big Packages [Planetary Annihilation/Multicross SI]

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55 – Back Again
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    • 55 – Back Again
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    Major General George S. Hammond had long learned that things had a tendency for going pear-shaped whenever SG-1 was involved. Despite SGC being in operation for a short period of time things had already gotten quite chaotic. Not a month after Major Kawalsky had been possessed by a space alien and then be killed by another alien had SG-1 disappeared into the big blue ring at the heart of his mountain. Now they were back a week behind schedule, their destination being blocked off on the other end somehow in a manner that ended in the total destruction of the probes they had tried to send through. But still, they were back, and that meant it was time for a debriefing. Or at least it would normally. There was just one problem.

    A five foot tall, sour-faced, vaguely Asiatic looking problem dressed in some kind of shiny golden armor with an honest to God sword at her waist.

    "Colonel O'Neill, did the President somehow slip you a secret order to keep bringing back people from the stars or is that just something you've decided to take up as a personal hobby," George frowned at the Colonel in question who in return leaned back slightly in his chair, the still active Stargate in the background finally shutting off.

    "What can I say, George, she followed me home," Jack shrugged.

    "I did not follow you, earthling," the woman sneered, "I was ordered to accompany you back to your world in order to lay the foundations of further diplomatic work with your leader, the one called Hammond."

    At that, she turned slightly, her eyes glancing at the Texan and then narrowing.

    "Are you the one known as George S. Hammond, Major General of the nation known as the United States, and of Texas?"

    "I am," George gave a curt nod, "And you are?"

    "In my military capacity, I am Guard Captain Sun Qui, of the Simarkan Imperial Guard, of the Third Provincial Segmentum, of the Empire of Wu," Sun replied flatly, before bowing her head a fair amount towards George. "In my diplomatic capacity, I am just Sun Qui, Lady of Simarka, and great granddaughter to the Governor of Simarka Cao Cao."

    "Woah, what, his grand-," Jack sputtered before Sun Qui spoke up again, her gaze still upon the Major General.

    "Great granddaughter. Do not worry, Colonel, I have long grown used to the effects of aging upon one's ears, I do not take offense," she said without a single change to her expression.

    Jack's expression darkened slightly, only to do so further when a small snort escaped the lips of Carter.

    "Well then, Miss Sun Qui," George shook his head slightly, vague disbelief still present, before gesturing to one of the seats at the table, "Welcome to Earth, I suppose."

    "Thank you, I suppose," the armored woman tilted her head towards him before doing…something to her armor.

    To the surprise of everyone in SG Command save for SG-1 the golden armor began to for lack of a better word disappear. The previously almost entirely seamless armor began to slide in upon itself in segmented plates, until the full body suit had somehow been replaced with something much…less. Large heavy golden bracers and a smoothed set of shoulder pads showed where the upper body had gone to, while a now extremely thick looking belt and anklet set marked where the lower body armor had folded off to. Beneath it all Sun Qui wore a dress with obviously Asiatic origins that for some inexplicable reason was not soaked with sweat and crinkled up.

    Then she sat in the chair offered, her posture prim and her hands folded in her lap.

    "I…," George opened his mouth, and the turned to the one person that he could always point at for having caused him trouble. "Colonel O'Neill?"

    "It's uh, power armor," Jack shrugged.

    "Actually, sir," Carter spoke up, "It's incredible, see, the reason it's so thin is that it's made out of something called a quantum-crystalline alloy, I think."

    "Quantum what now," George raised an eyebrow as he too heavily sat in his chair.

    "A creation granted to me by the Governor, granted to our line by the Emperor himself for being among the first for accepting the succor that the He offered us. It is rare outside of the Mulani."

    "The Mulani," Daniel spoke up for the first time since they'd arrived, "They're a, uh, form of Royal Guard, essentially, which guard the capital world of the Empire of Wu. It's actually quite incredible how the ancient legend of Mulan has transferred across the stars, with someone subverting-,"

    "All right, now hold on here," George raised his hands to prevent another anthropological speech. "I think we need to go back and start from the beginning. Empire of Wu? Capital world? SG-1 was a week overdue and you bring back…her…sorry ma'am-,"

    "I am female, why would I be offended?"

    "Right," George slumped slightly before straightening. "But I feel like we should probably – hell I don't know I'm not a diplomat."

    "I can give a primer," Sun Qui said as she did something that no one in SG-1 could frankly believe.

    She smiled as she spoke.

    "That…would be helpful," George nodded. "I'd also like to know why Doctor Jackson is wearing all that silk, and where in the sam hell Carter got that dress she's wearing!"

    Only one of them had the decency to look abashed, while Samantha Carter merely luxuriated in the feeling of the dress she'd been gifted.

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    "Well," Daniel said as the rest of the team relaxed long after the meeting had come to an end, "That was…something. I didn't know that Sun Qui could talk in anything other than…well, how she normally talks."

    "She is dedicated to her duty and the protection of her people," Teal'c responded.

    "Oh, no, I get that. It was just…a bit of a jump to see her go from…her…to…that other woman who was in the briefing room."

    "Hey, Teal'c," Jack lolled his head to look at the Jaffa who was carefully working upon his staff. "The uh, the Eyes. They're always invisible or in those weird suits, right?"

    "I believe so, O'Neill. There is little need to appear without them when they can be entirely invisible."

    "Well, historically, secret police can be entirely hidden or entirely open. They seem to have done both," Daniel said as he read through a large scroll, one of his spoils from the world they'd just spent a week on.

    "Yeah well," Jack sighed as he sank into the rec room couch…before bolting upright slightly, drawing the attention of the rest of his team.

    "Sir?"

    "Carter," he said, drawing out the r, "How likely is it that some of the Eyes might have come through the Gate with us?"

    "Ah, uh…" Daniel, blinked rapidly before putting the scroll down with the rest of his pile of Wu literature.

    Carter looked up from her cup of coffee and locked eyes with her commanding officer, while Teal'c slowly put his staff down.

    "We don't…have any way to detect their presence, sir. As near as I can tell, after a week of seeing them pop up at least once a day…their tech beats sound, thermals, regular sight…anything we might have."

    "So there could be one in the room with us, right now," Jack said as he stood fully from the couch, "Or a dozen running around the base right now."

    "That is a disturbing thought," Teal'c said with a nod while he began glancing around the room. "But not one that could be easily disproven."

    "They'd tell us, right Daniel? Daniel?"

    "Uh," Daniel murmured as he began to tilt his head back and forth as he looked around the room as well. "Well, I don't…I don't know. I mean, I don't have nearly enough information to make a judgement on that kind of thing, yet, the – the sociological history of Wu is…is staggering in its complexity. I mean, to manage all of this you'd have to be either the smartest person on the planet or have a lot of help or…I don't know. On the other hand-,"

    A snap in front of his face brought Daniel out of his fugue, Jack standing in front of him with an expectant look on his face.

    "The Eyes, Daniel. Could there be Eyes around us right now?"

    "Right, sorry," Daniel puffed out a breath as he ran his hand through his hair. "Um…maybe."

    "Oh, well, great," Jack let his arms fall against his sides, "A good, strong, concrete maybe."

    "Well it's uncertain whether or not they'll be respecting our boundaries which as we've seen Wu is extremely serious about or if they might have come through to protect the apparent youngest descendant of Governor Cao Cao."

    Silence reigned for a moment in the room.

    "Uh…," Jack said loudly, slowly turning in the room, "Hello? You…you guys in here? Eyes?"

    "I do not believe they will respond, Colonel O'Neill," Teal'c rumbled.

    "So," Carter said as she sipped from her mug, "Either they're here, and not saying anything, or they're not here. Or they're here, and are saying things but only to each other. They likely have incredibly sophisticated communication technology."

    "How would we tell the difference?"

    "…how does anyone in Wu deal with this?"

    "Well, the psychological development of a people who have-,"

    "I wasn't actually asking you, Daniel!"
     
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    • It was good before, but ever since you started the Stargate arc, this has honestly become one of the best stories I'm following. It's certainly the best PA-styled story.

    I'm always looking forward to your updates. Glad to see it continuing. :)
     
    ah, as to why the story fell off for a month or so there....well, I enjoy writing this story but the majority of my writing attention goes to my quests, which I would apologize for except there is no reason to as that is just the way I allot my attentions.

    Also, I was struggling on where to go with this arc >.>

    Anyhow, I wrote this even though Finals start on Monday. Yaaay >.>
     
    torroar said:
    ah, as to why the story fell off for a month or so there....well, I enjoy writing this story but the majority of my writing attention goes to my quests, which I would apologize for except there is no reason to as that is just the way I allot my attentions.

    Also, I was struggling on where to go with this arc >.>

    Anyhow, I wrote this even though Finals start on Monday. Yaaay >.>
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    It's alright all your work is great and taking time to figure things out isn't a bad thing so no rush.

    Also you can only study so much for Finals till you need to take a break and if writing helps you relax you should do it. Studying with no downtime is actually a bad thing in my experience and those I know at least.

    Anyway hope Finals go well for you either way.
     
    I have no problem with this. Yes we didn't get any more of this story for a month, but instead we got updates to the Gurubashi and Freddie quests. Now if only we could continue the Mag'har as well...
     
    Am I the only one that clicked on his alert out of habbit, expecting a warhammer update and spent a few moments wondering when did Frederick jump verses?
     
    torroar said:
    "Carter," he said, drawing out the r, "How likely is it that some of the Eyes might have come through the Gate with us?"

    "Ah, uh…" Daniel, blinked rapidly before putting the scroll down with the rest of his pile of Wu literature.

    Carter looked up from her cup of coffee and locked eyes with her commanding officer, while Teal'c slowly put his staff down.

    "We don't…have any way to detect their presence, sir. As near as I can tell, after a week of seeing them pop up at least once a day…their tech beats sound, thermals, regular sight…anything we might have."

    "So there could be one in the room with us, right now," Jack said as he stood fully from the couch, "Or a dozen running around the base right now."

    "That is a disturbing thought," Teal'c said with a nod while he began glancing around the room. "But not one that could be easily disproven."
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    Eyes Agent: "Working as intended." *nods*

    Well, that's one way of putting a righteous fear of their (mechanical) god in their citizens.

    While you plot the Governor's assasination
    The Eyes are watching.
    When you were considering to commit graft
    The Eyes are watching
    You joke about fomenting rebellion.
    The Eyes are watching.
    You grab a knife, intending to murder.
    The Eyes are watching.

    They are always watching. So why be afraid?
     
    torroar said:
    "So," Carter said as she sipped from her mug, "Either they're here, and not saying anything, or they're not here. Or they're here, and are saying things but only to each other. They likely have incredibly sophisticated communication technology."
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    O'Neill: Are you telling me they could in this room right now, laughing at us?

    Teal'c: They did not seem to of the humorous persuasion.

    O'Neill: Oh, well that makes me feel so much better.
     
    They're not that omnipresent guys.

    Or are they?

    Regardless, while I do enjoy this arc, I'm only estimating a few more until we hop skip and jump to the next verse.
     
    torroar said:
    Regardless, while I do enjoy this arc, I'm only estimating a few more until we hop skip and jump to the next verse.
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    That makes sense in this case since the Commander did most of the work he just needs to clean things up.

    Curious to see how the various things of tech are used in everything now.
     
    This will be interesting politically.

    America just encountered a true galactic power. A true galactic power that is very involved with their Galaxy, unlike the Asgard who had barely a presence at all due to their war and decline. This isn't some human society that's stuck in the past either nor is it an advanced human society that has long since stagnated like so many others SG-1 would have encountered. The Empire of Wu is advanced, massive, and still growing.

    If someone views the situation in relative sizes this is the equivalent of a modern continent spanning nation coming into contact with one tribe of a Stone Age society who live on an island of many other tribes.

    Sure the island might be the birth place of their entire species, but what can the one tribe really offer the nation that it doesn't already have (besides access for the nation's archaeologists). And who is to say that the nation won't contact the other tribes as well?

    Surely the American diplomats will realize this and it will probably scare them shitless. In fact I don't think America has actually been in a position like this before. They aren't talking to an inferior power or even one on equal footing, they are very much the ants in this meeting and the Empire of Wu can basicly do anything they want while holding up a middle finger.

    The Empire wants to contact China? Good luck stopping them. The Empire wants to reveal their existence to the world? Not much they can do about it.

    In fact I could see this meeting resulting in the SG program being revealed to the other world powers early.

    I mean from the outside the Empire of Wu is an imperialistic power which conquers worlds they consider primitive and proceeds to uplift them while using secret police so that the new territory can integrate into the Empire better.

    American officials might very well believe that earth needs to present a unified front in order to avoid being swallowed up.
     
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