Harry watched the horror show that was supposedly the final moments of the Svoriin civilisation. It was one of the last video feeds recorded in the artificial satellite that his jumper crew recovered near the planet.
'Of all the things to start an apocalypse, I never thought bugs would be at the forefront.' Harry mused as the video played out on his datapad, bringing chills to his spine.
It was terrifying to watch an annoying swarm of bugs burrow into the flesh through their venom and create a nest within, feeding on the flesh and blood of every living creature to reproduce. It was a dark creature straight out of old horror stories told to scare children into obedience.
The discovery of what happened to the people of Svoriin made the Spitfire crew realise how close to danger they were. If Harry had allowed a ground team to move in without proper protection, he suspected some bodily harm might have befallen his crew.
After thinking it over, Harry made a decision regarding the planet Svoriin.
"Now that we know what caused the planet's population to die out, we must proceed with the mission, but with extreme caution." Harry began, but his decision was contested immediately.
"Forgive me, Marshall. I must protest your decision to continue the mission. We should leave this planet rather than take any risk." Commander Henri said.
"Oh, but we must take the risk and brave those infernal bugs because we must destroy them and trace them to their origin. We must ensure these bugs are wiped out from the galaxy itself." Harry said adamantly.
"But why?" Commander Henri asked, taken aback by Harry's decision. "We will take unnecessary risks if we proceed with the mission. We can surely find better colonies in the future."
"It's not about finding new colonies." Harry shook his head. "Have you not considered the implications of this planet, Commander Henri?"
"All I see is a danger to our crew and our planet."
"Yes, and think what might happen should someone enter this world through the stargate without knowing the danger that lurks here. If these bugs get out to other worlds, it will devastate whole new worlds and spread throughout the galaxy like an unending apocalyptic plague."
A light of understanding shone in the eyes of the sceptics among his crew.
"We cannot leave these bugs to survive and plague worlds. Ignoring a problem exists is not a solution." Harry added, and his crew was now on board with his decision.
Now, the only problem that lay ahead was how to deal with the bugs infesting the planet. It was not as if they could wipe out the entire population of bugs. They didn't have that capability.
So, Harry called his officers for a brainstorming session.
"We can start orbital bombing the enclaves where these bugs are hiding. We have the weaponry onboard the Spitfire." Commander Henri suggested.
"True, but we can't be sure whether we will decimate all bugs. We will also be destroying some of the valuable resources on the planet if we go for indiscriminating bombing campaigns." Harry pointed out. "But it is a viable option if we have no other solutions."
With that said, he looked expectantly at the others.
"Sir, these bugs have hibernated for decades. If we leave things as they are, they might die out naturally." Officer Lisa Carmen suggested. "If we take away the stargate, we can ensure no one will accidentally step onto the planet."
"Possible, but we still need the planet's resources, and we don't know for sure about the limits of these bugs." said Harry.
"Sir, I think we need to capture some of the bugs and study them in isolation. Maybe our researchers can develop a pathogen capable of killing this species en masse." Officer Parks suggested.
Harry fell silent as he mulled over the suggestion.
Gaining confidence from the thoughtful looks around him, Officer Parks further suggested,
"We can also try to develop an antidote to the venom of these bugs. It might come in handy if we encounter these creatures in any other worlds. We might even find a diplomatic use for such an antidote with other civilisations."
"Officer Parks' idea has many merits." Harry said, nodding at the former RAF officer.
Harry was immediately on board with the idea Officer Parks suggested, as it covered all bases.
"Sir, our scanners picked up on some settlements on the planet's moon." One of the officers suddenly said, gaining everyone's attention.
"Is it intact? Have we reached out with our communication channels?" Harry immediately asked.
"They're dark, sir. Based on preliminary scanning, our sensors cannot pick up any energy signature from the settlements. Either they're abandoned or…"
"…they fell dead, cut off from the planet." Harry finished with a thoughtful look as he stared at the imagery of Svorrin's moon.
The cameras on the Spitfire zoomed in on the settlement, and Harry appreciatively looked at the site.
"That site must be investigated, and we need to capture enough bugs to develop an antidote and a means of wiping them out." Harry ordered.
Harry decided to lead a ground expedition into Svoriin while Commander Henri led a team to explore the moon base.
Harry led a four-man team onto the planet in a jumper.
"I want us near the stargate and have it secured." Harry ordered once the jumper entered Svariin's atmosphere.
"Shall we unearth it and keep it in storage, sir?"
"No. Have it warded to trap any new incoming travellers. It's possible someone attacked this world. If the perpetrators arrive, I need them captured." Harry ordered.
"Is that really what you think happened to Svoriin?" Fleur questioned.
"It's a possibility we cannot ignore." Harry said with a sigh. "It's also possible someone out there might know about these bugs, and they might use them as a weapon against enemy worlds."
"That is a terrifying thought." Fleur gulped audibly with a shiver of fear.
Harry rubbed his cheeks and let out a sigh.
"There are many military applications to these infernal creatures. That's why we need to find their origins and destroy them root and stem. If we don't do it now, we might have to do it sometime in the future, and these bugs might spread across the galaxy like a plague by that point."
With the picture of horror instilled in his team, they sat full alert as their pilot, Captain Giles, landed the jumper near the stargate. Harry and Fleur led the team out, dressed in their tactical gear and their magic at the ready to lash out at the sight of anything that moved in the abandoned city.
"No matter what, we keep together. No one strays from the formation, and we watch each other's backs."
"Yes, sir."
They formed a tight-knit formation as they explored the ghost city. The city was intact and appeared to have been abandoned for some time. There were no signs of a large-scale conflict. It was as if the population of Svoriin collapsed overnight without a single shot fired.
They immediately secured the stargate and installed safeguards to monitor its activity. They synced the dialling device with a crystal transmitter that would enable them to take control of the stargate remotely. Fleur was in charge of erecting wards and barriers to ensure they had control over the area surrounding the stargate.
"We have the gate secured." Fleur declared.
With the stargate under their hold, Harry gave the go-ahead to explore the city.
Most of the city remained intact, save for the overgrown weeds, creepers and trees that managed to invade the city's interior. But, to the builders of this city's credit, the city's construction was still intact. The same could be said of the civilian technology on display. Sure, most of them were gathering dust and probably were damaged after being exposed to the elements and years of inactivity. But they were still salvageable and worthy of study.
"Marshall, we're detecting life signs. There is a marked increase in thermal readings from the plaza to 60 meters west of your position."
Harry listened to the warning from the Starfire crew and immediately warned the team to stand ready. A pair of bugs shot out of an abandoned store and tried to attack them.
"Stupify."
A pair of stunners hit the bugs, and they fell on the ground as if their strings were cut.
"Well, that was easy." Harry muttered.
Not long after he said that, a swarm of bugs rushed out of a mall like a swarm of bees out to sting their enemies to death. Fleur muttered something under her breath, and from the tip of her wand, a small red sphere of energy shot out. It exploded into a sizeable globe of fire in the midst of the swarm, burning the bugs alive. The few that managed to escape the fire tried to surround them and put their long stingers to use, but the shield enchanted into their tactical gear blew them away.
Harry expertly aimed and felled more bugs with stunners. Officer Miles was quick to collect the fallen bugs into an enchanted wooden box and keep them under an energy barrier.
More bugs began to emerge from all over the city, like a massive wave.
"Do we have enough live samples?" Harry asked, keeping his eyes on the growing swarm of bugs.
"Yes, we do." Officer Miles yelled over the buzzing sound filling the city.
"Alright then." Harry drew a circle above his head with the tip of his wand.
A massive wave of fire spewed out of his wand's tip, consuming the bugs in an instant. The flames swirled around, creating a narrow pathway towards the jumper, which was already primed and ready to leave the planet.
Harry and his team ran straight for the jumper. He expelled the flames outward, and Fleur put up a wall of massive gales of wind that blew the bugs and flames away. The transport rings immediately surrounded them and safely transported them into the jumper.
"Take us out of here, Captain Giles." Harry said in a hurry, watching a swarm of bugs coming at them with the intent of taking them all down.
The jumper's engines powered up, and they punched through Svoriin's atmosphere back to the Spitfire in quick order. They all let out a relieved sigh when the blue sky of the planet gave way to the darkness of space.
"Those bugs need to be destroyed as fast as possible." Fleur said, echoing the sentiments of everyone in the jumper.
"I couldn't agree more." Harry agreed, already thinking of expediting the research into these infernal bugs.
*******
Harry swiped through the Alteran files in the jumper shipyard research facility. The Alterans were not as stagnant as he had feared. They were acutely trying to explore ways to improve their military technology, even though they were pretty much at the pinnacle of civilisation.
The various weapons projects and even designs of various automated defence grids were extremely appealing to Harry's eyes.
Unfortunately, all the latest project designs were planned with a Potentia module powering them. Since Elysian researchers had yet to successfully replicate the production of Potentia modules, he was forced to abandon such new modifications.
But that didn't mean there weren't ways to improvise and adjust the designs to fit a Nadudariah-fueled engine core.
The Alterans preferred to use drone torpedoes as their primary weapon for their planetary defence grid. Harry was not that into that particular weapon, though he was suitably impressed by it. There was simplicity in the Alteran orbital defence system, which made it appealing, but Harry wanted something far more practical as a first layer of space weaponry.
The plan was simple. He planned a multi-functional military satellite with orbital defence capabilities to be added to support Elysium.
He came to this idea after he witnessed the horror that was Svoriin. He came to realise that the threats out in the galaxy were not just confined to enemy space fleets and self-replicating artificial intelligence. Therefore, he required a hybrid defence system capable of addressing various challenges with a reasonable success margin and coordinating with military installations, such as the orbital defence platforms mounted on the planet.
This idea was not something alien to the Alterans as well. They had constructed such an integrated defence platform in the Pegasus galaxy to defend Lantean-aligned planets from the massive Wraith fleets. They had the added benefit of being powered by a Naquadah power source, rather than a Potentia module. This made the technology attractive since Elysium was currently dependent on Naquadah-powered systems.
It also solved his dilemma on installing defence installations in Elysium's colonies. The current defence grid requires manual maintenance and activation. Elysium had the personnel to accomplish those tasks, but the colonies did not.
Therefore, the need for an advanced defence satellite array to protect Elysium and its colonies became a pressing necessity.
The Alterans, in their collective pursuit of ascension, had taken care to dismantle most of the advanced weaponry they could reach in the Milky Way galaxy. The Alterans dismantled most of their movable assets by dumping them into distant stars. Therefore, no military satellite survived in the Milky Way galaxy, but Harry knew a couple of military satellites were abandoned in the Pegasus galaxy. At least, he hoped some of it was intact as the Lanteans had abandoned the satellite upon their retreat from the galaxy 10,000 years ago.
The research facility had the designs for the satellite, but Harry hoped to scavenge the real thing from the Pegasus galaxy once the Potentia was fully functional.
An alert came on his interface, gaining Harry's attention.
"Finally, some good news." Harry murmured with a grin.
He immediately left the research facility and made himself present at the lab where the best scientists in Elysium were studying the bugs of Svoriin.
"So, what is the verdict, doctor?" Harry asked upon arrival.
Doctor Cross was the muggle scientist in charge of the team studying the bugs and their venom.
"I can say conclusively that these bugs are designed to serve a purpose. They're not naturally evolved creatures. There are clear genetic markers in their DNA indicating artificial enhancements."
"Well, that's not good news, but now we know there is someone out there willing to commit genocide and has the means to do so." Harry said.
He was thankful he had the foresight to place traps around the stargate in Svoriin instead of placing the gate in the orbit of the planet or just outright blocking the portal formation.
"Oh, but there is some good news, sir." Doctor Cross said with a grin, leading Harry into another workstation and pulling a slew of digital files on a holographic display.
"While we've yet to synthesise an antidote to the venom of Svoriin bugs, the potioneers have created a tonic capable of suspending the venom formation within the bugs."
"Is that so?"
Harry looked on with interest as he rummaged through the data file, tracing each step taken in the creation of the potion.
"This will need to be tested on a larger number of bugs." Harry commented.
"We're trying to synthesise the potion in a gaseous form with its properties intact. If we succeed, we'll be capable of using gas pellets on the bugs and effectively sterilise them."
Harry was mightily impressed with the alleged capability of the potion.
"Is it possible to turn this potion into an airborne agent and maintain the potion's effect on the bugs?"
"We're endeavouring as we speak, Marshall. I'm confident my team can synthesise the gas and adjust its potency."
"Will there be any side effects to the plant life or any other organisms once we deploy the gas?" Harry asked curiously.
"We'll put the gas through rigorous testing before deployment. But I'm confident in its effectiveness. We've already outlined a method for its synthesis."
Harry was satisfied with the response. After all, he had some of Britain's best scientists and the best lab facilities running day and night in pursuit of the bug problem. It was only a matter of time before a solution was reached, considering the Alteran technology available and the increased pool of high-skilled labourers in Elysium. His decision to stack Elysium with some of the best talent from Europe's STEM-based industries was paying its dividends.
So, Harry wasn't that surprised when he was notified that the scientists running the lab contacted him on the weekend with the good news. They had synthesised the gas and perfected it. They conducted rigorous testing to determine whether other life forms respond to the gas. When they found the sterilisation gas showed some harmful effects, the scientists took a leaf out of the Alteran playbook and added nanoparticles to control the gas's properties.
This way, the sterilisation gas remained under the control of Elysium, and the nanoparticles also offered a way to study the bugs in their natural environment.
In the pursuit of studying the bugs, Harry had to sacrifice some of the fanatically loyal Jaffa of the Goa'uld Isa. Not a great loss to the galaxy in his books, and their sacrifice was for a good cause. It also conveniently freed up his resources used to keep the fanatical Jaffa soldiers as prisoners.
With the sterilisation gas synthesised in large quantities, Harry approved missions to attack the cities of Svoriin systematically. Miniature drones were used to track and identify a large cluster of hibernating bugs, and the gas pellets were deployed immediately afterwards.
Harry watched the bug-sterilised zones on the map of Svoriin expanding steadily. A wide perimeter of sterilisation zone was created around the stargate, ever expanding to reduce the chances of the bug infestation spreading to other worlds. There was now a fifty-mile radius of sterilised zone around the stargate's position, which was expanding every hour.
"'Arry, I 'ave an idea." Fleur suddenly spoke up, making Harry look away from the projected display.
"Go on." Harry nodded.
"'ow about we repurpose the Alteran drone weapons to deliver 'ze gas instead of sending teams. We should be capable of covering more ground this way." Fleur suggested.
"That's doable." Harry said after a moment of thought. "It's rather a good idea."
"Yeah, we'll do that." Harry nodded thoughtfully before immediately forwarding the suggestion to the weapons lab to check the viability of refitting the drone weapons in their armoury with gas pellets.
Anything to cover the ground faster was welcome in his eyes. He hoped to sterilise the entire continent by the end of the month and the whole world within a year. Hopefully, a gas or pathogen capable of wiping out the Svoriin bugs would be discovered sooner. Already, the haul of tech recovered from Svoriin's moon base was proving to be quite the treasure and compatible with their tech base. Once they cleaned the bugs on the planet, Harry hoped to use the surviving infrastructure on the planet to outbuild the Goa'uld empire and its many slave worlds. The automation for accomplishing that task was already being prepared.
Svoriin was going to propel Elysium to the farthest corners of the galaxy and knock down the tyrannical grip of the Goa'uld empire on the galaxy.
AN:
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