Chapter 52: Chapter 52: Stargate 6
Jack collapsed on the ground where he had just finished the run. He was still tied at the waist to the tire with a robot wielding a whip sitting on said tire to encourage Jack to run. He had been forced to drag said tire for over 10 kilometers at a near sprint.
He looked over at Teal'c, who had been dragging an even bigger tire than Jack and was also collapsed on the ground, gasping for breath. Sam and Daniel then dragged themselves and their own tires that carried robots into the yard, before collapsing to the ground. There were various other Earthlings and Jaffa scattered around the yard or trickling in. Every single one of them dragging a tire with a robot wielding a whip to encourage them to run faster.
"I can't imagine why Harlan didn't want to join in on these fun and games." Jack finally gasped out.
"Indeed." Teal'c replied stoically.
"I'd imagine it had to do with just how long he'd been stuck in that facility. After 11,000 years he must not feel comfortable away from that facility anymore. He's made it his entire world." Daniel gasped, still out of breath.
"I was being sarcastic!" Jack exasperatedly interrupted, not wanting to listen to long and boring theories or explanations.
Daniel propped himself up on one arm and looked over at the look on Jack's face. "Oh, you were trying to make a joke." He commented wryly before dropping down on his back again. "It's hard to tell when you're joking when I'm so tired."
"Don't worry, I've got more fun and games planned." Carl interrupted with a chuckle from where he was distributing water bottles with recovery water, as well as adding a few pokes with Ki energy on the pressure points of his collapsed students to help speed up their recovery. He continued to drift through the gathering of heroes. "In my considered opinion, they just get better and better." He smirked at the groans he was getting, even from Teal'c as he moved on to helping Ishta, Mala, and Neith who were collapsed nearby.
"Yeah, this is a must visit place. A real resort." Jack sarcastically complained.
"You've got to admit though, sir, the things we've already been learning and doing are amazing." Sam tried her best to be upbeat and divert Jack's focus away from complaining. "The overview Alice gave us on what we'll be learning is so great, I can't wait!" Evidently her attempt to divert Jack's attention didn't work if the sour look on Jack's face was any indication.
Carl chuckled some more at the plight of the duplicate SG-1 team he'd brought to time dilation training. Duplicating people was a complicated process. Simply copying a person's memories over wouldn't gain them their own soul. But the process that Harlan's people had come up with had been more like splitting a bit of consciousness off. Splitting off a little piece of soul from the original to grow into its own individual.
It wasn't anything disgustingly unnatural like making a horcrux. It was more like making a baby and nurturing the budding soul so it could grow into an individual. In the case of Harlan, the little bit of soul from the original had been stuck doing the same thing for so long that he had lost all desire to continue to grow and experience anything new or unusual. Harlan found comfort in his shell, so he returned there.
In the case of the duplicate SG1 team, Carl was making sure to supply plenty of energy and experiences to the team so their itty bitty souls would grow strong. It was also fun to "torture" them. Carl really realized just how much control Akisame Sensei had to have had not to bust out laughing at him and Kenichi back in the day when he was torture training the two of them.
After handing out specially enhanced water, Carl used a few Ki enhanced pokes and prods on the exhausted group, and they were set to recover nicely. He then moved on to Ishta, Mara, and Neith.
Neith's attitude had changed greatly ever since Carl offered his support and training to her. She had previously been very bitter against any male, because of what she saw as the male Jaffa's cowardice and unwillingness to more openly oppose the killing of Jaffa daughters by Moloc's orders. But with Carl's willingness to give her what she needed to save those she so desperately wanted to protect, her bitterness was redirected into action as she threw herself into training with a single minded intensity that not many could understand.
His first six disciples were moving among the large crowd a bit further away, assisting each of the new disciples in their recovery. There were 36 new members being inducted into their group and going through the 10 years of training. Carl had each of his original 6 disciples in charge of a group of 6 themselves, while Carl floated around and provided an extra hand here and there.
Carl was using the opportunity to have Alice, Dan, Duncan, Maria, Suan, and Tera learn how to teach what they had already learned, while Carl supported them and filled in the gaps.
Carl would spend evenings while the new recruits were asleep helping his first 6 disciples figure out how to go about training their recruits the next day, as well as making sure they got some advanced training of their own so they would continue to grow.
With his Dragon's God bloodline's ability to keep Carl's powers growing even without actively cultivating. He didn't have any worries about his people growing stronger than he was and supplanting him, since he knew the quality of the characters of the people he recruited. Add in magical contracts and perks that ensured his people would remain loyal, and he could focus on teaching all his martial disciples without worrying about extraneous things.
After the current batch of 36 students passed through the training, Carl would have them search out 6 students each for the next round of training in a few months time. The next batch of 252 students that passed through would be the last for at least a year while they recruit more people into his budding Empire, and consolidate their hold on everything.
Carl's plan was to have each of these students that he trained in time dilation be the administrators of sections of his empire's forces, whether military, police, science, logistics, or whatever. He would have personally trained forces, that were loyal to him, that were in charge of his empire's forces, making sure that everything ran smoothly and no one started causing a ruckus just because they got a big head and wanted to be in charge. And his personally trained people would have the power and knowledge needed to keep everyone in line.
It was the beginning of the third year of training, and the spectators seats were filled in the dojo. Teal'c was poised in front of a younger Carl simulacrum that had the same amount of Ki training as Teal'c did. It was something Carl had created from his memories and magic so that his students could test themselves against how Carl did at the same point in his training.
Carl moved first, sending some low kicks that Teal'c effortlessly dodged aside from, lashing out to block the follow punches that Carl sent his way. Teal'c stayed on the defensive, blocking and dodging the flurry of attacks.
Teal'c adjusted minutely, sending the signal that he was preparing a counter strike. Carl instantly reacted, preparing to counter Teal'c counter. But the expected attack from Teal'c didn't materialize from where Carl expected. The feint had worked, and Teal'c took advantage of it.
A series of blows came from the unexpected side, and Teal'c managed to break through Carl's hasty block, slightly stunning Carl and allowing Teal'c the opportunity to close in and strike a series of devastating blows that knocked the Carl simulacrum out of the ring.
Cheers arose from the spectators at Teal'c's win. Teal'c had evened up the win-loss record he had with Carl's simulacrum.
The real Carl sitting in the stands also cheered for Teal'c's win. He wasn't too bothered at all by Teal'c's win against his simulacrum. He was instead pleased at his student's progress.
At the time period Carl had made the memory, he only had three years of training and practice in martial arts. To have an even record with Teal'c, who at the current time had been training his whole life plus an additional three years of training from Carl, meant that even back then, when Carl only had three years of training, he was already gifted in his skills in combat.
"Nice one Teal'c!" Daniel congratulated the large Jaffa.
"That was impressive, Teal'c." Ishta said while handing a bottle of water to Teal'c.
Teal'c gave a nod at the group's praise, while still keeping an impassive face. Despite being one of the few students that could win half the time against Carl's simulacrum, Teal'c didn't let that go to his head. He realized that the Carl from back then was a far cry from the current Carl's skills, and knew he had a long way to go.
Carl wandered up to the group, smiling at Teal'c. "Good job, there Teal'c. I would have loved to have you as an opponent back then. You would have pushed me to greater achievements, and then I could push you even higher too." Carl genuinely congratulated the larger man.
"Indeed, Carl. You are a formidable opponent." Teal'c said with the equivalent of a smile for him.
"Yeah, but it would be more impressive if it wasn't a 15 year old that you can only win half the time against, there, buddy." Jack sarcastically added.
"You still haven't won against that 15 year old yourself, there Jack." Sam poked at Jack's waist. Jack simply gave a look back at her, with a hint of a smile. Ever since they had left their previous military structured superior/subordinate relationship, Sam had been getting more and more casual with the man, and willing to really deflate the man's ego, whenever she had the chance. And from what Carl could see, the man actually enjoyed the way that Sam dealt with his sarcastic comments.
Carl still wasn't sure if it was sexual tension between the two, or if they were more like siblings squabbling. In any case, it was up to them to solve their issues themselves. He wasn't going to get involved.
"So, who is up next?" Carl asked.
"Let me go, my lord." Neith asked/demanded. She was determined to win this time. She was one of the few who had also scored some wins against Carl's simulacrum, although not nearly as many as Teal'c. But her drive to succeed gave her plenty of motivation to improve.
"Okay, then. You're up Neith." Carl nodded in agreement. "So, bets on who will come out ahead?" Carl commented to the rest of the group while Neith faced off against the memory of Carl who served as the high standard among the group of disciples. The fact that some of them could defeat Carl's past self gave them encouragement to train even harder, which is what Carl had been hoping for.
Seeing the comparison from how skilled and powerful Carl was then to how strong he currently was gave them all encouragement that they too could get even more powerful.
*munch* *munch*
Carl was enjoying some popcorn as he watched the nearly daily drama play out. A female hand reached across and grabbed a handful of popcorn from his tub as she settled in a seat next to him.
"Why do they even talk to each other if they can't get along?" Alice asked Carl as she watched the shouting match between Samantha Carter and Rodney McKay.
"As far as I can tell, Rodney is convinced that Sam likes him. He thinks they have an unresolved sexual attraction." Carl shrugged. "So he keeps seeking her out, despite her efforts to avoid him."
"Like a peacock that wants to strut his stuff, he tries to impress her with his understanding of the science he understands. But she has just as good of an understanding of the science, and she has a slightly different approach to it. So, she can't stand his smug mistakes in what she knows is her best field. Thus, daily drama." Carl finished.
"Well, as long as she doesn't eventually kill him." Alice chuckled.
"Yeah. Remind me to keep an eye on McKay when we get out of the training though." Carl told Alice. "He's bound to find out at some point that this Carter is a clone, and the original won't be anywhere as advanced in science. He'll probably think he can get in that Carter's pants by impressing her, which really will drive this Sam to kill him to protect her sister. So we should prevent that from happening."
"Yeah, that would be a shame." Alice snorted. "What?" She replied to Carl's stern look. "I'm just saying that Rodney has quite a few rough edges, and being temporarily killed might smooth some of those edges out."
Carl couldn't hold his look anymore and started laughing, causing Alice to join in as the two continued watching the drama. Jack finally made his appearance and caused Rodney to back down and depart the area. Carl was amused to see that Jack and Sam seemed to be getting even better, if the shared looks and shoulder touches were anything to go by.
There was a betting pool among the group, minus Rodney, as to when the two would finally get together.
By the fifth year all of Carl's students reached the Master Class. He threw a big celebratory feast and party with everyone to celebrate their graduation of the basic Ki part of training.
The next morning he had each student join him in the medical facility as he channeled his profound energy through them, inducing the growth of their profound veins. He made sure each student started out with 30 profound entrances open to get them started.
Carl also inspected their physiques and elemental affinities to give them appropriate cultivation techniques.
With all the pills and advanced medical help he had available, they would all reach the Sky Profound Realm by the time the 10 years was up. His original six disciples would probably be somewhere close to the Tyrant Profound realm by then.
Carl knew that some of his students would never properly focus on their Ki practices or cultivation of their Profound Energy after the basic training he had them go through. Their whole personalities were based around their intellect and studies. They would continue to be caught up in the science and technology database that they now had available to them.
But Carl saw no reason his science, medical, and admin people should not be inducted into the Ki and Profound Energy practices, even if they never focused on it. Through the energies that upgraded their bodies, their brains would also benefit and improve. They would also have the ability to protect themselves from threats while carrying out their duties.
And if they did want to advance their combat abilities, Carl already had one of the world partitions in his Virtual Reality World Seed set up and running to imitate the Against the Gods world of the Blue Pole Star. They could go and experience what a cultivation world was like, if they so desired.
Then when they compared the power, battle hunger, and danger of a world of cultivation, they would realize how pitiful the Goa'uld were in comparison with their new abilities and tech.
And so they would have better battle skills and supreme confidence that the snakes wouldn't win in the end.
The next five years of training went pretty smoothly, with Carl's students taking to their training well. Now that many of the scientists finally had access to profound energy, Carl had to ensure they didn't get lost in studying the database but continued to train.
They would have plenty of time in the future to study and learn and do science. But for now, they needed to train.
A particular drama finally had its conclusion in the seventh year of training, when Jack and Samantha finally got together officially. Teal'c won the betting pool with a faint smile of victory on his face.
Rodney finally got the message that Sam wasn't interested in him and backed off from annoying her with his clumsy attempts to pursuit her. The two brilliant scientists finally settled into a competitive cooperation in working on the sciences. Which meant they did their own thing and sent emails and memos to each other about what they learned, and rarely worked together.
It was progress.
"And to commemorate passing your basic training." Carl paused to smile at the groans and good natured joking of the 36 disciples. "I've got a final gift for you. Your very own space ship!"
Carl basked in the oohs and aahs, enjoying the reactions of his students. Giving out space ships to his disciples might seem somewhat reckless, but he had good relationships and trust with everyone there. If he didn't trust them, he shouldn't have trained them in the first place. And he trusted that after so much time with the group, they would stay true and not be reckless.
The next couple weeks were spent with everyone getting used to their ships and customizing it for their personal use, and assigning their place and duties in the organization. The former SG-1 members were very grateful for the new identities they had so they could still enjoy their lives on Earth, even if they couldn't go back to their previous lives.
Carl went back to his previous work of traveling around the various planets and dropping off satellites to keep track of what was going on in the Galaxy. Carl decided he would let the 42 disciples that he'd trained up till now decide who they would pick for their 6 disciples in the next training session.
He continued to monitor and guide everyone's overall actions, but Carl believed that if he was going to have subordinates take care of things, then he would trust them to know how to get things done. He was not a micromanager, so he wasn't constantly hovering over everyone.
One of the amusements that Carl had was spending time with Jack, Sam, Daniel, and Teal'c as they went over SG-1's past missions. There were plenty of things that the group would have loved to have changed if they had the power to do so. One example was the Argosian people, who the Goa'uld Pelops had been experimenting on.
Pelops had used nanites to artificially shorten the growth cycle so the Argosians only lived 100 days. The former SG-1 team had hated that they hadn't been able to follow up to provide more support for the people after they had broken the nanites hold on them and returned their normal lifespan to them.
But they had been beholden to the U.S. Military, who were beholden to politicians that really wanted more technology. They cared more for the technology than they did about helping a group of people, despite being responsible for wrecking those people's society.
So Carl traveled with Sam, Jack, Daniel, and Teal'c to set up a decent support system for the Argosian people. They set up planetary defenses, a security building to protect them from Stargate travel, and helped set up a food distribution and education system.
After the basic infrastructure was built, Carl put the responsibility of guiding and educating the Argosian people in Jack's hands. He was a leader, after all, and he had a kid by one of the women there, so he had the most investment there. Carl knew that the Argosian people would be part of his Empire going forward, even if it took them some time before they would be ready to take an active role in the Empire.
Meanwhile Sam had joined the science division so she could continue working on her first love: science. Carter and McKay had finally figured out their relationship after Carter beat the ever living snot out of Mckay and finally impressed on him that she wasn't interested in him, and that his big brain didn't impress her either.
After Rodney had healed up, he'd taken on a much more professional attitude when talking science with her, and they finally started getting along like colleagues, even if they would never exactly be friends.
Daniel, with Carl's blessing, worked on forming a diplomatic corps. He loved learning about cultures and meeting new people. So he was perfect for contacting different groups as he roamed the galaxy too. Carl gave him some heads up and warnings about some of the dangerous groups out there, like the Aschen.
The Aschen were a despicable group of humans who conquered other worlds by "gentle" means. They convinced the people of the world they were there to help with their advanced technology and health care. Then they sneakily sterilized over 90% of the population and let the natives die out, turning their worlds into farms and production bases for themselves.
Now that Carl reminded himself of those people, he decided to do something about them. He took the Yamato out and sought out the Aschen. They had a total of 8 worlds that they had taken over.
Carl didn't feel like messing about with politics and talking with the lying bastards, so he simply took away their Stargates. He set up satellites and ships in orbit of their worlds. The VIs would hack every record they kept and keep track of the people who made decisions, and catalogue who was guilty of what, while the ships kept them from making space ships to escape.
After Carl's empire took care of the Goa'uld and stabilized everything, his people would come back and sift through the accumulated evidence to decide what to do with the Aschen people.
He certainly didn't want to bring a two faced backstabbing peoples into his empire if there was no chance of them reforming and eventually biting the hand that fed it. But if they could be redeemed, then he also didn't want to casually kill off so many people.
After temporarily taking care of the Aschen, making sure they wouldn't be bigger nuisances later, Carl grabbed the former SGC members and made their way over to Cimmeria to fix what they had broken there: the Asgard defenses against the Goa'uld.
When SG-1 had previously visited the planet Cimmeria, they had discovered a defense put in place by the Asgard called the Hammer of Thor. The item would scan all incoming visitors to determine if they had a Goa'uld in them. If a Goa'uld or Jaffa with larva in his gut was detected, they would be teleported to a maze to keep them from harming the people of Cimmeria.
Eventually, while wandering the maze, they would come across a device that would separate the host from the Goa'uld. The former host would be free to leave, while the Goa'uld would be dealt with.
The problem was that if a Jaffa lost his Goa'uld larva, he would soon begin to weaken and die, since Jaffa couldn't survive without a larva in their pouches. In order to save Teal'c, whose health relied on the Goa'ul larva, the team had broken Thor's Hammer, which left the population of the planet unprotected from future Goa'uld attacks.
When the group arrived on Cimmeria, they found some Jaffa poking around the Stargate area, having discovered that Thor's Hammer wasn't working. The former SG1 members weren't sure if that was the first group of Jaffa to discover the planet defenseless, so they had to get to work.
Carl let the four former SG-1 team deal with disabling the squad of Jaffa while he fixed up the Hammer of Thor, which was overkill, really. But they had fun with it.
Carl had plans to meet up with the Asgard soon and help the little greys with their problems. They had always been good people in the show, and he didn't want them to go extinct. But that would be taken care of in the future, after his Empire was more established.
After making sure that the former SGC member had taken care of their previous mess on the planet Cimmeria, Daniel was left behind to talk with the Cimmerians about recruitment for Carl's budding empire.
Sam and Jack returned to Earth, while Carl took Teal'c on a trip to Chulak for Teal'c's benefit.
"So, one of the things that I think would give you peace of mind, Teal'c, is to reconnect you with your family. What do you think about bringing your wife Drey'auc and son Rya'c to Earth, getting rid of their Goa'uld larva, and including them on the next training session? Maybe even get old Bra'tac involved. I'm sure a warrior of his renown could do a lot with a rejuvenation of health and the skills he would acquire."
"I find myself in agreement with your proposal, Carl Edwards. But what about the original Teal'c?"
"Well, I've been thinking about it, and wondering about what your reaction would be if we simply kidnapped him one night and offered him the same basic deal as you? You could both spend time with your family on Earth. He could stay on with SG-1 if he wants to act in cases of great danger and keep the team alive, which I know you're still worried about. As long as he agrees not to share any advanced tech with the team. Think he would go for it?"
Teal'c paused to think over the question seriously. "I would have agreed to the deal, so I believe he would as well. Considering that you're currently building up forces and enacting plans to depose the Goa'uld, I believe he would be content for the time being to continue working with the SGC. At least until the Goa'uld are cast down. Then he would likely wish to move on to helping the Jaffa, likely as part of your organization."
"Good to know." Carl replied. "I'm also considering offering the same service to the other members of SG-1, because I do like them, and some of them are taking it a bit harder than others of their loss of their former lives. If I let the originals in on the information they could maybe be a peripheral part of their old lives. I'd just need to get them to agree not to leak any of my technology to the military that they didn't genuinely acquire in the field. Do you think it would help or hurt them?"
Teal'c paused in thought for some time. "I don't know that the original Jack O'Neill could handle the dual role. His allegiance right now would always be to the United States Military. Samantha Carter would have a hard time holding back information and technology when she knows how to solve a problem. Daniel Jackson too would have problems holding back. He is very moral and helpful, and if he knew he had the answers, but couldn't share them, he too would be frustrated. The only reason I can see that you could recruit Jack O'Neill and Samantha Carter as easily as you did, is that their lives were already over, being mechanical non-humans. I don't think the original Jack O'Neill and Samantha Carter would agree to be loyal to you first. Daniel Jackson would likely have trouble splitting his loyalty."
"Hmm, you bring up a good point. But you feel that you could play that kind of dual role?" Carl asked the stoic Jaffa warrior.
"Indeed, Carl Edwards. My first allegiance was to free the Jaffa from Goa'uld rule. Jack O'Neill and the United States military offered me the best hope I had seen in a long time. And I was heart sick at the idea of continuing to play my role as the First Prime of Apophis. I jumped at the chance to escape that life. But now, I owe you my allegiance for what you have given me, what you have accomplished, and all you plan to do for the Jaffa in the future. I would have no problems filling the role if I could keep my friends safe while they are on their missions. And I believe my counterpart would have a similar reaction."
"Hmm, that sounds good, then. Let's plan on making your counterparts life a bit better within the next couple of months, once we've got a goodly number of recruits for a basic training. For now, let's go pick up your wife and son."
And Carl was blessed with a sight not too many people have seen, that of Teal'c grinning in anticipation.
Above the planet Caladan, a ship exited hyperspace and swiftly moved into orbit. Carl looked over his sensors readings, satisfied that everything was in its proper place, the planetary defenses were up and running properly.
There were a few of his disciples from the last batch on the planet, working on designing the homes they would build on their land, adding to the city, or doing research. Carl approved of how the city was shaping up, it was beginning to look good.
Carl teleported down to his palace before making his way to where a number of Petes had finished building a dozen of the asteroid mining ships that Carl had added to their build queue. He wrapped the Petes and the ships up in his profound energy and dropped them into his pocket dimension, and then teleported back up to the Yamato.
He set course for the asteroid belt on the outskirts of the solar system using his sublight engines. Several minutes later, he arrived at the location he'd determined had a good amount of metal deposits needed to continue building.
Carl first released the small space station that would be the basis that the Petes would build up into a large hub of mining. The onboard computer immediately made scans, determined where it was, and operated its engine to keep it in place.
He then released the Petes and their ships into space and watched as they first connected with the space station, then scanned for the nearest deposits of metals among the asteroids, before flying off to begin work.
As they mined the asteroid, they would continue to enlarge the space station and build more Petes and mining ships until they had built up their quota of worker Petes. Then the operation would start in earnest. This mining operation would be the backbone of his Empire's long term advancement.
Carl had made sure that certain defenses for the solar system would take priority in the build queue. In the show that this world was based on, Carl remembered that the SG-1 team had planned out and set up a trap for Apophis, and with the help of the Tok'ra, they had blown up a sun in order to destroy Apophis' fleet.
Carl had no desire to allow anyone to blow up Caladan's sun, so active defenses would have to be built to protect against such an attack.
He was also in the midst of designing a ward system that he could set up to keep those ascended snot balls out of an entire solar system. If the upgraded ward system worked properly, without being an energy hog or destabilizing anything, then he would have a method to truly start protecting his empire from their manipulations and spying.
He still hadn't forgotten how the council blew him off. They obviously didn't want to cooperate, so Carl couldn't trust them to mind their own business. It was only right that he work on ways to thwart them before they could set up any schemes against him.
One of the ways he was protecting his people and interests was that every ship and space station would have the anti-ascended wards to keep them from interfering. The Ascended Council claimed they weren't allowed to interfere with the lower life forms, but Carl knew that was a load of bollocks. They interfered whenever it suited their purposes. His wards would just keep them honest, at least in regards to his people and territory.
Satisfied that the Petes were working fine, and that his expanded supply line was being built to support future expansion, Carl set course back for Earth. He had just gotten word that the original Daniel Jackson had made a trip to a parallel Earth through a Quantum Mirror, and had come back with news that Apophis was likely planning an attack on Earth.
And with the Earth having no defenses (that they knew about), the SGC was scrambling to come up with some way to stop the invasion before it began.
Carl arrived back at the SGC in his janitor persona. It really amused him that he barely needed to use notice me not spells when he wandered the halls of the SGC. The personnel there didn't even remember the fact that they didn't employ any janitors. Since it was a military operation, they had lower level enlisted doing all the cleaning like on any other base.
But something about seeing a janitor already on base and cleaning up made them assume he'd been checked through security. There were enough civilian scientists involved in the program that it wasn't necessarily a bad assumption, and it did benefit Carl, if only by being amused at how easily accepted his disguise was.
Carl took his time as he wandered around, cleaning the occasional dusty spot, as he listened to the various conversations going on around base.
He paid special attention to Senator Kinsey, a paid politician of the Committee. The Committee was a cabal of rich businessmen who saw the Stargate as a means to vast wealth from appropriating, ie stealing, alien tech.
The Committee was currently worming their way into the National Intelligence Department, or NID's ranks. They were determined to gain control of the Stargate and work on raiding planets for tech, with no concern for how many problems they would bring back to Earth with their short sighted policies that would make them enemies of everyone.
Carl was currently having his satellites track Colonel Maybourne in order to learn just who he had contact with, and learn just who was accepting the pay of the Committee.
Wheeling his cleaning cart along outside the conference room where Senator Kinsey was being briefed about the various aspects of the Stargate program, Carl reached out with his mental powers and riffled through Kinsey's mind for some answers.
Kinsey was incredibly bored, even if he hid it well behind his acting. He didn't really care about how good the program was being run, or what they'd already learned. He was here with a job to do. He was tasked by the Committee with shutting down the program so the Committee could gain control of the Stargate and start running the program the way they wanted
Carl snorted in disgust at the greed of the man that masqueraded his intentions behind the idea of "Earth First". Kinsey and the Committee were a bunch of short sighted morons.
The idea that the politicians would look after their own country and people's interests first wasn't bad, in and of itself. It was what they were hired for. The idea that politicians or business men should be considerate about anything other than their assigned duties was silly. It would be like hiring a lawyer, only to find out later that the lawyer hired was working for the other side as much as for the person who hired him. That kind of treachery was despicable.
But the short sighted, illegal, and rapacious way that the Committee wanted to go about reaving and stealing tech would eventually bring many enemies to their doorsteps. Ignore for a moment the fact that the galaxy was a freaking huge place, and they would be better off making allies than enemies everywhere. There were peoples and races that were much more technologically advanced out there, and getting on their bad side would spell doom for their world if they gained the wrong sort of attention.
Carl soon learned the identities of the businessmen who were members of the Committee from Kinsey's mind, and what they had been up to with Kinsey. He was sure they had many more skeletons in the closet. He connected with his satellites and added the identities of the businessmen to the list of people to gather information on.
Meanwhile, Carl was mopping the floor outside the conference room. Several minutes later, Kinsey arrogantly strode out of the room after berating the SGC personnel and threatening to shut them down.
"Ahhh!" Kinsey yelled as he stepped on the soap slippery floor and his feet slipped out from in front of him, causing him to fall on his ass.
"Whoa, you okay there?" Carl "solicitously" asked as he reached out to "help" the Senator to his feet, but ended up destabilizing Kinsey's attempts to get to his feet. Unbalanced, Kinsey ended up on his face this time.
"Whoa, man. Take it slow. Here, let me help you up." Carl said in "concern".
Once more Kinsey was almost to his feet when his feet slipped out in front of him and he fell once more on his ass.
"Stop helping me!" Kinsey shouted out in frustration, glaring daggers at the janitor that was making the situation worse.
Carl backed off with both hands held up on a calm down gesture. "Okay, man. If you say so."
Kinsey finally, laboriously got to his feet, glaring at Carl and the SGC personnel that were snickering behind their hands.
"I'll make sure you're fired and can never find work again." Kinsey hissed in anger at Carl as he gingerly walked away, wary of slipping again.
It was really petty of Carl to have so much fun at Kinsey's expense, but he was thoroughly enjoying himself, as was the SGC personnel. It was a public service, really. Kinsey's final threat of having Carl's job did nothing more than add to Carl's mirth. As Kinsey finally strode off, Carl activated his notice me not charm and faded into the background once more.
A single figure in blue janitor coveralls was standing in a large room many floors beneath the ground, staring at a nearly 7 meter tall ring while lost in thought.
Carl was rubbing his chin absently while staring at the Stargate. He was currently debating with himself just how he should proceed. After riffling through Kinsey's mind, Carl had come to the realization that solving the issue of the Committee could be simple or complicated, depending on his decision.
He had the identities of all the Committee members. He already knew a lot of the corruption, bribes, murder, and blackmailing that they were getting up to. And he could easily find all the rest of the skeletons in their closet with his technology and magic to aide him.
The simplest method was to have them killed. Assassination. They would be dead and unable to continue their evil ways. It was a method he'd used in the past, when he was desperately outgunned against some of the big enemies in the BtVS world that posed a threat to his people. Or in the Pokemon world when that Lysandre villain had threatened everyone he cared about. Or when he was taking out an unrepentant murderer like Voldemort with a ritual.
But in this instance, the aftermath would be messy. The men represented many economic concerns, and so many assassinations at once was sure to cause a furor, unless he disguised them as accidents.
'Hmm, not necessarily a bad idea.' Carl thought about arranging "accidents".
But simply killing the men at the top wouldn't change much. Their organizations were made up of similarly villainous people. The next set of leaders that stepped up to take the place of the targets would probably not have learned the proper lesson when they stepped into the power vacuum. They would most likely continue in the same vein that the current leaders of the Committee were acting.
Carl wanted to make sure that things actually changed, and that he wouldn't have to come along every six months to do some cleaning up.
Another option was to do like Caiyi had done and enslave the targets and have them run things the way it should be. Society and the economy would not suffer huge disruptions. They would continue to keep the economy and society running, but they would no longer be practicing their rapacious and traitorous ways. They would be under Carl's direction and a way for him to gain more influence with Earth's affairs.
Another option was to take all the evidence of their many wrongdoings and present it to the President. Go to the top and have him force his police force act to end the criminal ways of the targets.
Carl was pretty sure that some of them would be made an example of, but that others would make plea bargains and escape punishment. And while there would still be social disruption in the wake of the trials, it wouldn't be nearly as much of an issue compared to what would happen if he had them assassinated. Their public trials would have some small deterring effect on the rest of the business world's criminals.
And all of these considerations about what he would do with the Committee situation was getting Carl away from the main point of what he was pondering. He had started building his organization / future empire, but more and more he was focusing on and being too concerned for Earth, rather than his organization.
He was spending too much time focusing on babysitting Earth, and especially the SGC, instead of building up his own organization.
He had only realized that he was doing that recently. He wasn't putting all his efforts into building his empire, he was spending too much time focusing on SG-1 and their doings because of the show. Because he felt connected to the characters, the people from the show, he somewhat wanted to fix all their problems and make it better.
Instead of propping up the institutions of Earth and cleaning up their messes, he should be focusing on building up his organization. And one of his original purposes on Earth was to recruit people into his organization. There were so many people that would jump at the opportunities available from leaving Earth behind in order to work for him. And at this particular time, he needed a workforce.
Carl was also debating about the benefits of only the American Government having access to the Stargate, instead of leaking the information to the world and letting them build a joint task force.
It really was irresponsible of the American government to go out and find a bunch of enemies to fight and not invite everyone else to the rumble. Especially when corrupt businessmen were determined to make way more enemies for the world than they needed to.
And there was the question of who did Carl want to deal with in the future? One single government that didn't really represent the planet, or a coalition of all the governments? What would be best for Carl's own people?
That was really the question Carl needed to start asking himself while making plans, now that he was the leader everyone was looking to for direction. What was best for his people? And how far would he go to ensure that his people were prosperous and a general peace was achieved?
Because some of the future enemies that might be coming their way really required a strong and united front in order to fight effectively. The sooner he could achieve that, the sooner they could be ready to win the upcoming fights.
An alarm sounding in the base jolted Carl from his thoughts. He looked up and saw that the Stargate was activating and dialing. Looking up behind him, Carl saw the four figures of the SG-1 team gathered in the control room. Inside the gate room a M.A.L.P. was wheeled out and guided through the open wormhole.
The Mobile Analytic Laboratory Probe was sent ahead to unknown destinations to send back video and atmospheric readings to determine if it was safe to travel to a location. Carl watched as Carter checked the readings from the M.A.L.P. they had sent through the gate.
A short time later, four armed figures ran into the gate room.
Jack O'Neill, Samantha Carter, Daniel Jackson, and Teal'c were armed and ready for a reconnaissance of the gate address Apophis was staging his invasion from.
Carl had originally been waiting for the four members of SG-1 to show up so he could travel with them to Apophis' ship and watch their adventure in foiling Apophis, while making sure that the group was safe while doing so.
But after the realizations that Carl had just had about what he should be focusing on, he changed his mind about what he was going to do. He decided he had better things to do than go along and babysit the team as they bumbled around the galaxy.
He also had better things to do than go around dropping off satellites on planets that the different SG teams would be visiting in the next few years. And he certainly had better things to do than sitting around waiting for things to happen like they did in the show so he could jump in at the last moment to save the day.
So Carl waved his hand and deactivated the Stargate before SG-1 could enter the wormhole. He sent some orders to his subordinates, and then watched as the Jack O'Neill, Samantha Carter, Daniel Jackson, and Teal'c were taken into custody before he silently apparated away.
Carl arrived floating in the air outside, looking down at a convoy of cars that were headed for the airport. Their passenger's destination was Washington D.C. where a certain Senator would continue his plans to take over the Stargate program for his rich and corrupt corporate conspirators.
"I've got a few people to visit to manage their outlooks on life." Carl grinned to himself as he looked down at the car Senator Kinsey was in, decision made on how he would proceed. "Those who live by the blade should be prepared to die by the blade. Those who practice illegal and immoral acts shouldn't be surprised when such things are turned around and used on them, should they, Senator Kinsey?" Carl muttered before he swooped down to intercept the convoy. He had some work to do.
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