In the Colosseum, where over twenty thousand voices roared, most of them Jaffa, my stage rose like an altar in the very heart of this seething ocean. Additional columns, like guardians, were meant to amplify my voice, and holograms hovering in the air were meant to reveal the grandeur of my design in all its fullness, for every eye to behold.
"Jaffa, word has already reached you. The fleet and space station, heralding my power, have arrived in orbit around the planet. You may have wondered: why this daily, grueling training? For this moment! The fleet and the station are a gift from Ra, a reward from me. My warriors will become the sharpest arrows in my master's quiver, crushing the worthless—be it Apophis or any other god. You will grow stronger so that at the hour Ra commands us to march, we can fall upon our enemies and overthrow them. Planets will blaze, stars will fade under the onslaught of the power summoned by Ra. Long live Ra! Long live Szarekh!"
In response, the Jaffa roared, chanting the names of Ra and me with a force that could shake the heavens.
"Your training must be intensified. Each of you must devote yourselves entirely to your preparation. While your brothers, and my brothers, bind the forces of Apophis, we must be ready. The traitorous serpent Apophis, the bloodthirsty Kronos, the deceitful Baal, the terrible Sokar—all will fall before Ra. Our lord Ra will reign supreme over the universe."
My voice, amplified by the symbiont, rang out, and at crucial moments my eyes sparkled, heightening the impact. My hands, like a conductor, directed this chorus of passion.
"Weakness will be eradicated—weakness of body, weakness of mind! We will give everything to become the strongest warriors of Ra! Redouble your efforts, for Ra values you—so value him! I value you, that is why this fleet exists. Not one of my warriors has the right to die before slaying a thousand enemies. One warrior will strike down thousands, tens of thousands. The sound of your boots will shake the Serpent Guard."
They say the Jaffa are stoic warriors like the Teal? No, they can rage like football fans at the World Cup final. I basked in their cries of adoration, knowing full well that I would one day kill Pelops and gain my own Jaffa—those loyal only to me. Now they would train for battles they could dominate. But I would have to find enemies to feed to this brutal war machine forged in their training. They already have antigravity bikes, they will have armored personnel carriers, and a host of other equipment, and their training surpasses that of any other Jaffa. Imagine when I have hundreds of thousands of such warriors… I fear the galaxy will tremble. However, there is another complication: without a fleet, they will be destroyed by orbital strikes.
"Now we will hold a feast—a feast in the name of Ra and his favors. Three days of feasting will be the reward for your accomplishments, O bravest warriors of the Empire!"
Finally, it's all over.
"I've never seen such a fanatical desire for suicide in training as you have among your men," said Lieutenant Colonel Paddy Mayne, a well-known figure on Earth, second in command of the SAS. I managed to recruit him when he left the army and returned to his native Ireland. His connections were invaluable, as was his experience.
"It's done to keep them out of the way. The Jaffa are wired to notice any misbehavior among the children of their 'gods.' If you're a god yourself, you have more autonomy and can order the Jaffa to shut up. They all once belonged to Ra, and were simply bought."
"Bought?" Paddy asked, surprised.
"We don't tell them about it. But yes, in addition to natural growth, you can buy troops. Although you can, like Indra, turn ordinary people into Jaffa, but I don't like that method. There are three ways to get more Jaffa: buy, grow, and create. But that immediately creates an oral economy—an economy of Goa'uld larvae."
"Space is very interesting," Maine was intrigued. "The eye of a professional saboteur could spot many vulnerabilities. After all, this man led the SAS and personally participated in many combat operations. Montgomery, by the way, did not award him the Victoria Cross, although he deserved it. There was an introduction, but on the Field Marshal's orders, the award was downgraded. After the war, he became a lawyer, but then I came along. He suffered from back pain after numerous combat operations; treatment, of course, was included in the contract. Our agreement was quite simple: he serves me as a consultant and expert, and I provide him with information so that, in the event of a Goa'uld invasion of Earth, it would have all the resources to defend itself. And I also 'overlook' his trophy-hunting tendencies. He was truly a top-notch expert, the author of two books recommending training for the Jaffa, which they enthusiastically took up. Naturally, I didn't tell anyone in my army that Isara had a new servant. The Jaffa did not have time to delve into administrative management."
"And it's primitive, with a high-tech tint. Plasma weapons don't have a very long range, but they solve the problem of ammunition, which is usually in short supply, but you can't carry more. Artillery as a class is nonexistent due to the dominance of air power. Air defense is nonexistent due to the presence of energy shields that can be raised over important cities, and any invading forces can be destroyed by your own air power. Armored forces are nonexistent… I don't know about that. And any tank with armor that isn't made of naquadah or trinium will become a match when faced with plasma. Ultimately, everything has come to a fairly cost-effective system with minimal investment, with the bulk of the resources being directed toward the navy."
"But the navy cannot capture economically important regions without damaging them."
I managed to carry out military reform, reassigning everyone to their duties. So, women serve on the space station—this completely fit into the Jaffa mindset that women protect the home. The station isn't going anywhere, so they essentially operate the weapons that protect their home. The other force became the fleet: five Hattaks and thirty Alkesh. Crews were assembled, roles were assigned, and then exercises began. Two aviation units were formed: the space unit, which carries out orders exclusively from the fleet and trains exclusively for space combat, and the infantry support unit. The infantry itself became the last. To manage resources, ministries responsible for supply were formed from the Urvashi government staff. Isara began a long-term intrigue to get the Jaffa to come to me with a request to train the local Urvashi army, so that it would become an internal force. It is important that the initiative comes from the Jaffa masters themselves. I'll make a number of counterarguments, but then I'll agree, appointing the initiator responsible. Then the ministries will be responsible for the entire army. Isara's key argument will be that the station reduces the risk of rebellion to zero, so there's no need to worry about the infantry units. Although I've lost the ability to communicate with Asgard when they simply fly to my planet, the troops will be trained under different programs and in different locations. Those who became naval officers probably thanked Ra for being so smart, thus securing their place in the navy. In Jaffa rank, being a member of a starship crew is a colossal honor. And now I'll have to devise training methods to improve the fleet's effectiveness. I've been struggling with space fleet tactics so far.
"That's the general idea. Battles are fought solely to capture infrastructure. If the infrastructure is destroyed, the investment in the war was wasted. Because the Goa'uld dislike bestowing technology upon slaves, recovery after each war is extremely slow. Take the Huttaks, for example. During World War II, the US reached the point of producing a Liberty ship every 14 days, a 64-meter ship. Compare that to an Alkesh: a single shipyard churned out an Alkesh every two weeks. Of course, it's unfair to compare them; the Goa'uld can't provide such a level of replacement. Not to mention that their troops are Jaffa, who have a long reproduction cycle. Some Goa'uld conscript ordinary humans, elevating them to Jaffa status with brief training. But such recruits are stigmatized by the troops themselves. The Vritra garrisons I destroyed comprised 40% of its forces." It will take 20 years to recover. Therefore, wars, though regular, are extremely rational. Victory must yield something, something substantial, otherwise the entire war is useless. For example, killing a Lord gives you all his territories and his Jaffa."
"But why can't you kill Ra and become the ruler?" asked Maine.
"Killing him is extremely difficult by conventional means. Over 20,000 years, he's learned to keep an eye on himself. No one knows the details of his palace's defenses, so even throwing a bomb through the gates wouldn't pose a significant obstacle. The use of doubles is also possible. But even if I kill Ra, that won't make me the master of his forces, because Ankh or Heruur would quickly seize control, killing me. Absorption can occur under equal conditions."
"Logical."
"Yes, I'm currently searching for the planets of Pelops, the Goa'uld scientist, to demonstrate how it works. He's a minor ruler who thrived as a scientist, not as a ruler, so I assume he doesn't have many resources. I'll conduct reconnaissance, discover the locations of his planets, and launch a series of preemptive strikes."
An attack on Pelops should have been relatively safe. He, logically, belongs to the line of Greek deities that goes back to Kronos. And then there's Zeus, Athena, and the rest. He clearly hasn't served anyone for a long time, as he harbors a huge grudge against the System Lords.
But first, we need to get to Wagonbray. I know there's some kind of microflora there that most likely wiped out all life on the planet. Come to think of it, it's a perfect bioweapon for idiots. I can convince the Asgard to cleanse the planet, as there's a risk that a crazy Goa'uld will get their hands on such a powerful weapon.