Chapter One Hundred And Seventy-Six

Fortress Palace. Thrax III.

As I sat behind a fancy desk and enjoyed a cup of recaff (or coffee as it would be called on Earth) I listened to Miranda go on about important news. The newly constructed fortress palace was my new seat of power here on Thrax III and the well defended building sat alone on some land I'd taken for my noble house. The whole planet only had a population in the thousands so there was plenty of room for everyone.

Even lowly serfs could buy land here, trading in some of their pay so that they could become farmers on land they actually owned as long as they paid their taxes. Of course they'd have to buy their farming equipment from me as well, and unlike on Thrax II the native plants were not toxic to humans and the land was easy enough to clear. Since I could produce equipment so cheaply and because there was so such empty land anyone who'd been in my service for more than just a few years could look forward to settling down with a family.

It was a good thing that I'd crammed far more people on to my battlecruiser than I needed to run it as it meant that I more workers than I knew what to do with. This made it possible to send out prospectors to look for mineral deposits on this world and on others. This investment would pay off later when the minerals mined started to fill the holds of the fleet.

This fortress palace would one day be owned by a child of mine, most likely a bastard one, as would the estate around it, which included plenty of farmland, ranches, mines and even some minor industry. It also served as a place to store the tributes and tithes to House Thrax and the Imperium. A child of mine could live very well on the profits he or she made when they moved into this fortress place. Until then I would use it as a base of operations.

"As for the Ad-Mech they are setting up their new base on Eskal, a world designated P4Z-326 by the Tau'ri" Miranda let me know "It was used a few years ago as a base of operations by someone called Hathor. She built an underground base, and some of the internal sections were a mock-up of Stargate Command, that she had made to deceive members of SG-1 into believing that they had been frozen in stasis".

I recalled a little of that part of the early show. I'd rather liked Hathor as a female villain.

"According the data the SGC sent us about that world, The Tok'ra managed to send information to Earth, and a rescue mission succeeded in rescuing SG-1, with some help from Teal'c and General George S. Hammond" Miranda was now saying "What matters to the cyborgs is that not only is there an underground base on that world near the gate, the Tok'ra added their own tunnels, so it should be easy for the Ad-Mech to set up their research base there".

I approved of this because if the machine lovers wanted to mess about with naquadah to see how it could be used to enhance Imperial technology it was best that they do it far away from here in case they made some big explosions.

"We've also scouted a couple of worlds that no longer have human populations on them due to the Goa'uld either wiping them out or resettling them" my third wife was now saying as she did her best to assist my efforts "As planned one of those worlds will be the home for our own Stargate Operations so that nothing comes to Thrax III without being fully examined and cleared. The other world will have a trading outpost set up near the gate. Our teams will spread the gate address for that world to anyone who looks like they have something worth trading".

The SGC had foolishly allowed people and technologies access to their home world, people such as myself and even System Lords, rather than use off-world bases for important meetings and as places to examine unknown technologies. I would not be so unwise.

While the trading post would make a great place for meetings and making deals, our Alpha Site would house off-world teams and any recovered technology. This would allow me some control over the movements of my allies while keeping Thrax III safer.

"Tomorrow you'll be meeting with The Orbanians," Miranda reminded "They helped the Tau'ri to create their first Naquadah reactors and so they must know a lot about how to use Naquadah for power generation. The cogboys want that tech so that we can incorporate it into Imperial technology".

My battlecruiser was a power hog as such demands on its plasma drives were high even when not in battle. If we could use naquadah to generate some extra juice and to enhance our weapons then we'd become much more deadly in space combat. It might even be able to help power our planet based weaponry that we had built into so many forts.

"And now you have a meeting with Canoness Superior Brigica" said Miranda as he headed out the door of the office "Something about the Sisters scouting out a world called Erebus".

I knew that Erebus was a planet in the Milky Way galaxy used for the construction of Goa'uld Ha'tak vessels, and it was the location of a Jaffa labour camp, where POW were forced to aid in their construction. Erebus also included facilities for the purification of the Naquadah required to build the ships. Only Jaffa labour is used, as only they can withstand the temperatures and toxic gasses emitted by the blast furnaces fed by underground volcanic systems for any meaningful length of time. When slaves become too weak to make their work quotas, they are taken out in front of the encampment and publicly executed.

The planet in the had been in hands of Ba'al until the SGC and Free Jaffa overran it, and I wanted to know if Ba'al had retaken the world or if it belonged to the Free Jaffa. Servo-skulls hadn't found anything conclusive so I'd sent some Sisters of Battle on a scouting mission because the more rational Sisterhood of Steel were all busy doing recon on other worlds as we had a lot of planets to check out.

"Canoness what do you have to report?" I asked as she and three younger sisters, all of whom were unarmed and wearing black bodysuits rather than armour "How did thing progress on Erebus?".

Judging by the looks on the faces of the young women they'd not gone well.

"I entrusted Sisters Victoria, Ariel and Jessica, along with two other sisters to perform a simple scouting mission" the Canoness Superior let me know "They were ordered to gather information on enemy movements and fortifications, and to avoid battle if it at all possible".

Sensible since we didn't want to anger the Free Jaffa Nation and be seen as the aggressors. If conflict was required in order to ensure mankind's dominance in this galaxy. and to fill my coffers, then I'd have to come up with a plan to make the Jaffa seem like the bad guys.

"Sister Victoria here failed to keep her squad in line when they came across a Jaffa patrol, as for Sisters Ariel and Jessica, they took part in an skirmish that never should have happen" said the Canoness Superior "Normally I would respect their zeal in bringing death to the mutants who served or still serve the false gods, however it went against their orders and two Sisters were badly injured in the battle. With the Emperor's blessing they will recover and since they have been injured, and been shown the foolishness of their actions, only these three will be punished".

This was a seroius matter because if those Jaffa had been members of their nation then the Sisters might have just started a war. Even if they left no living witnesses it would clear that they weren't killed with Tau'ri or Jaffa weapons as Bolters make a lot of mess. If they had been Ba'al's slaves then he would learn about us sooner than expected, although conflict between us was only a matter of time.

"Since their service until now has been of a high level and because no one was killed, and the Sisters at least had the sense to hide the bodies, which will at least keep our presence there secret for a time, I have decided that corporal punishment will be administered" said Brigica "I brought them here so that they can be punished in front of our patron saint in person".

The Canoness Superior turned to her followers.

"This is an official disciplinary for all of you, a punishment for poor conduct in the field" she said formally

I didn't understand fully what they meant despite having gone over with the highest ranking Sister about how her Lesser Order Militant would function. I'd decided much about how the Sisters lived their lives, such as the clothes they wore when not in battle, what hobbies they were allowed to have when they weren't always training or praying, even their DNA had been changed to suit my needs.

"Clothes off, now!" the Canoness Superior roared.

Her voice made the sisters jump in fright and within two minutes all three Sisters were standing before me totally nude. They'd been gene-enhanced using Miranda DNA as sort of guide and they'd undergone physically changes as result of mixing Dark Age techno-sorcery with Systems Alliance medical science. They all had large breasts, ample behinds, hairless bodies and as far as I could tell flawless skin. It was a good thing that I was sitting down behind my desk.

"Turn around" their superior ordered.

Once they were facing away from me I could see that all three of the young sisters had plenty of junk in the trunk and that their backsides made tempting targets for the paddle that the Canoness Superior had been carrying on her person. She started with Victoria who was the oldest and had dark hair.

*SMACK*

"Ow!"

Ariel the blonde was next, and soon I saw her bottom rippling as the paddle was struck against the soft flesh.

*SMACK*

Then attention was directed at the red headed Jessica.

"Ohhh!"

Her voice sounded positively like a moan of pleasure than a cry of pain and the oldest Sister in the room picked up on that, using it as an excuse to strike harder.

*SMACK*

"Pray for forgiveness, sisters, let our patron hear you" the Canoness instructed.

Which of course they did.

"May the Emperor forgive me for my sins against Him, and allow this beating to purify me and make me innocent in His eyes once more"

*SMACK*

"The chain of command is always to be obeyed" said the older woman.

She began to assault their poor backsides which resulted in noises such as "OWWW! OWWIE! OUCH!" coming from their mouths, and they only got louder as the Canoness delivered the final blows which resulted in a sort of *WHACK* noise as their poor backsides were struck.

"The punishment is over" Brigica declared "Go back to the ground car as you are, you will not dress until we return the convent".

Modesty was not a virtue in their order and their new convent was far enough away from my estate that it would take a good half an hour to get their. Plenty of time for them to reflect on what happened here. As for me I waited until they left and then decided to go find one of my wives as right now I really wanted to have sex with someone.

It was a shame that I couldn't punish any of the Sisters myself as matters of disapline were handled internally, but still it had been a good show and the Canoness could not be naïve enough to fail to have realised what kind of effect it would have on me. She'd brought them here and punished them in front of me because she'd know I'd enjoy it. She wasn't as pure of heart as she might like people to think.