Chapter One Hundred And Seventy-Five

Lab. Stargate Command.

Over the years that they'd served together, Jack O'Neill got used to finding out that Samantha Carter had spent what should have been a long weekend off the base, working away in a lab while tinkering with some new alien gizmo. This was to be expected, what he hadn't been expecting was to find a whole group of the eggheads working with her.

Colonel Samantha Carter normally worked alone when she was trying to get grips with some strange new device that came through the gate, as such Jack figured that she must be doing something very important, something that even she couldn't handle on her own.

Since he was supposed to be in charge around he figured he best find out from the Colonel what was going on. Oh sure he would likely find reports on his desk, it was just that he'd rather avoid having to go to his office for as long as possible. He was much happier walking around the base and talking to people than he was sitting behind his desk, besides it wasn't as if the paperwork was going anywhere.

"Hard at work I see" Jack remarked.

He was no expert in matters of technology, but you didn't need to be an engineer or a physicist to see what the science types had been working on all weekend. The first of the Imperial made laser rifles had not only been delivered they were being taken apart. All of them were still here because the SGC wanted to figure out how they worked, they also needed to make sure that there were no surprises hidden in the tech. Such as tracking devices or chips that would disable the weapons that could be triggered by the Imperials at a time which suited them.

"Yes, Sir" Samantha Carter replied "We've gotten most of this technology figured out. A lot of it we can make ourselves, just not as cheaply as the Imperials must be able to".

The Imperials hadn't asked for much at all in return for their weapons, or at least they'd not asked for much that Home World Security and the UN Council weren't willing to give up. They'd traded information for enough laser weapons to equip an army and they had more stuff to trade in the future. The SGC now had access to laser pistols, laser rifles, and some laser cannons, the largest of which would be used to defend the entire planet.

"I got the impression that they'd had this stuff for a while" said Jack "Makes sense they'd know how to mass produce it on their own".

That wasn't what Carter was so concerned about.

"And these aren't the same models their troops use" she told her superior officer "The troops guarding the gate when we met the Imperials had laser weapons, but they were different types, and I'm sure they'd got much more powerful weapons".

This news didn't shock O'Neill at all.

"It's not like we'd arm them with our best stuff if we'd been the people doing the selling," he pointed out "And at least the Imperials are sharing some of their weapons technology with us".

That was a valid point Carter knew and she did recall Thrax mentioning in the meeting something about the AER9s being the model he'd sold to some civilian colonies. She'd have to check the transcripts again to be sure.

"The only part we're having problems with is their power cells" she said "We can't replicate them or even figure out how they work, so we'll have to keep buying them from the Imperials until we do".

She was certain that they would suss out the tech, it just might take a couple of years, maybe less if more people could be brought in on the project.

"I guess that's good since it does mean that if anyone steals the technology from us they won't be able to replace the power cells either" pointed out the General "But the Imperials can cut us off if we do something to piss them off".

O'Neill was uncomfortably reminded of the time a leader of the rebel Jaffa had made that point about the SGC being able to cut off the rebellion's supply of ammo if they didn't play ball with the SGC. Granted that guy had turned out to be a Goa'uld, yet the concern had been a good one.

"If you and your team here can figure out how to make our version of these laser weapons I'll talk to the bosses and explain to them that we need to buy as many power cells as possible before Thrax ups the price" said Jack "It might be a good idea to stockpile them".

At least having the Imperials around gave O'Neill an excuse to keep Daniel from going off to Pegasus, even if the appearance of a new faction had led to Teal'c leaving so that he could inform his fellow Jaffa of the Imperials. As such as it would pain Jack to admit it Daniel was good at figuring people out, if these Imperials were bad news he'd find some proof.

As soon as the leader of the SGC said his goodbyes and headed for Jackson's office he got the feeling that he was going to get some bad news. When he entered Daniel's workspace he was met with the sight of the geek surrounded by books. Not an odd sight, but the books were not what O'Neill had been expecting.

"What the heck is Warhammer 40,000?" he asked.

Daniel looked up and judging by his appearance he'd not slept much over the weekend either.

"Jack, I think we're in trouble," said the geek.

Here came that bad news he'd been expecting.