Chapter Two Hundred and Six

Ruins. Martin's World.

While everyone else referred to this world simply by its Tau'ri designation since they worked well enough as labels I knew that this world must once have had a proper name since it had been home to Martin Lloyd a human form this planet who now lived on Earth and while there had created the TV show Wormhole Extreme. Martin Lloyd wasn't important to me or the new Imperial Protectorate. The world he'd left behind did matter somewhat.

What was left of the civilization Martin came from had been reduced to ruin when it was attacked by the Goa'uld. When Martin Lloyd saw what remained of his world he realized that the rest of his people had been wiped out or transported somewhere else as slaves by the Goa'uld when they lost the war. After seeing the condition of his planet he'd decided to remain on Earth since there was no point in him staying here and living in the rubble.

Unlike the Tau'ri I was not content to simply write the world off as a loss, and since I had ships in my fleet whose crews had signed on with me in order to be able loot worlds we came across, or otherwise exploit them for profit, I'd decided to let some of the men and women from those ships dig around in the ruins.

The people who'd lived weren't as advanced as the Tollan, whose remains were being carefully picked through by the Ad-Mech, however there would be some bits of technology left lying around that was somewhat intact that would need be handed over to the cyborg worshippers of the machine god in exchange for a finder's fee.

The raiders would also be on the lookout for bits of jewellery or any artwork that survived that could keep for themselves or sell at the great marketplace back on Thrax III. Since I paid my crews and warriors more than other Imperials did they needed something to spend their money on.

I would get my cut of course, but what really interested me was if this world had any mineral wealth remaining. They'd had spacecraft so that meant they would have needed the industry to support the spacecraft, that meant factories and mines that might still be usable, and warehouses that could have advanced alloys stored within them.

Naquadah wasn't the only mineral the Imperium needed and if I could recycle what was left here I'd have more to send back to the IOM in the transports, which would result in more support being sent to me that I could use to expand my operations.

Also since I had more workers, soldiers, tech-priests, and supplies heading my way from the IOM it was time for me to expand my operations in ways that didn't involve making treaties with other worlds or producing goods for others.

I didn't wish to alarm the rest of the galaxy about the Protectorate and my plans just yet, so taking over worlds that others had simply forgotten about that I could still profit from seemed like a good way of expanding my influence.

"There's a lot of ground here to cover," said Sarah Thrax-Lyons.

The second of my three wives had quite a bit of experience in fighting in ruins as well as looking for items of value in the rubble so I'd ordered to bring a few squads here.

The Sisterhood of Steel was focusing their efforts in the area around the gate while the raiders went further afield looking for plunder. They were less important so I didn't mind them wandering off and maybe getting hurt while treasure hunting.

"There's no rush," I replied.

It would still take some time for the troops from the IOM to reach this galaxy and so the garrison I planned to install here should be ready by the time they arrived and the Stargate would be secured by the Ad-Mech. The gate needed proper security given how simple it was to use one of them as a means of delivering any number of WMDs to a world.

Something I knew well from watching the show and I'd discussed using the gate that way with some of the tech-priests, who if they could do anything right it was building big bombs. However I was loath to start using such weapons as it would only encourage others to do the same and few gates were that well defended. I'd come here to profit from this galaxy not to burn it.

"Are you staying here for a while?" asked Sarah

It would be nice to spend time with her and the other members of the Sisterhood of Steel, who didn't act a lot like other Imperials, they were more relaxed around me while remaining respectful.

"I have another meeting today" I let the warrior know "This isn't the only world we're expanding our operations into".

My omni-tool beeped to let me know that it was time to return to the gate and head off to another world. There was no rest for the wicked.