4 years later
Baal closely monitored the development of new technologies, particularly their production. It took his scientists some time, about four years, to replicate some of Szarekh's achievements, but they eventually succeeded. The System Lord, however, was dismayed by the incompetence of his subordinates. He considered them "slightly" idiots if they couldn't create even a basic antigravity infantry fighting vehicle in such a short time. As a result, Baal was forced to personally intervene and even purchase samples of Szarekh's damaged vehicles. Baal valued one trait from his opponents, as he did from all Goa'uld: ubiquitous mining. Szarekh mined his Jaffa, his vehicles, and everything else. This simultaneously irritated and delighted Baal.
Elder Lord Szarekh, a new and ambitious Goa'uld, was rapidly rising through the ranks. He managed his domains in an unconventional manner. Szarekh's only known territory was Urvasha, a remote and heavily fortified planet. He offered the services of his Jaffa as mercenaries, ready to assist in any situation. His competence was unquestionable, especially considering that Kronos still resented him for the loss of Tartarus. The most fortified prison in the galaxy had been stormed, all the prisoners had escaped, and were now wreaking havoc across Kronos's domain. Szarekh also killed Elder Lord Apophis, avenging the attack on him. Due to his popularity, he was often sought for hire, betrayed, and more. However, Szarekh was wise and trusted no one. If betrayed, he would immediately offer his services to Goa'uld hostile to his employer.
Szarekh's involvement in the war was a guarantee of victory. He typically agreed only to short-term operations, capturing a planet and then leaving. Wisely avoiding contact with other Jaffa forces, he relied solely on himself. His elite Jaffa, known as the "Immortals," wearing skull-shaped helmets, gained a fearsome reputation. The same applied to their equipment: physical shields with energy field generators, unusual rocket-propelled weapons, and extensive use of needle threaders. Over four years, hundreds of operations were conducted across the galaxy. As Baal noted, even protected gates were no obstacle to this brilliant strategist.
Szarekh simply dispatched ships with gates, and they landed on the planet. Unlike defending gates, defending entire planets was a more costly undertaking, so the young Goa'uld suffered from the constant change of ownership of their holdings. Szarekh could retake the same planet twice a week. Baal found this amusing, and he found amusement in the reports. The new Elder Lord was interested solely in money, preferring short-term contracts that allowed him to immediately take on the next task. Considering that a force of a thousand Jaffa was sufficient to conquer planets with enemy garrisons numbering 10,000-20,000, situations arose where rival
Goa'uld hired Szarekh to seize planets from each other. Baal sincerely admired this "bastard" and his business acumen. In all his career, he never once kept a planet for himself, never took a single slave. This earned him a certain level of trust. Furthermore, he never attacked the System Lords (except for the case of Kronos, when he was apparently paid very heavily), which meant they did not seek to destroy him. Moreover, they used his services to punish rebellious vassals, without resorting to force themselves and maintaining the image of a benevolent ruler. For example, Yu often resorted to this trick when punishing overly arrogant vassals.
Baal found this amusing, and he found amusement in the reports. The new Elder Lord was interested solely in money, preferring short-term contracts that allowed him to immediately take on the next task. Considering that a force of a thousand Jaffa was sufficient to conquer planets with enemy garrisons numbering 10,000-20,000, situations arose where rival Goa'uld hired Szarekh to seize planets from each other. Baal sincerely admired this "bastard" and his business acumen. In all his career, he never once kept a planet for himself, never took a single slave. This earned him a certain level of trust. Furthermore, he never attacked the System Lords (except for the case of Kronos, when he was apparently paid very heavily), which meant they did not seek to destroy him. Moreover, they used his services to punish rebellious vassals, without resorting to force themselves and maintaining the image of a benevolent ruler. For example, Yu often resorted to this trick when punishing overly arrogant vassals.
Baal once tried to calculate how much Szarekh was earning and came to some depressing conclusions. While some Goa'uld were developing planets, guarding slaves, and mining naquadah, Szarekh was earning a huge income simply by renting out his army. Other Goa'uld tried to imitate his success, but they lacked competence, the speed of conquest, the right pricing, and so on.
Envy of the successful "bastard" grew. Even without gaining territory, he gained resources. Szarekh never raised his sword against the House of Ra and never accepted orders from House Apophis. This earned him the love of the House of Ra and the hatred of House Apophis, though not everything was so clear-cut. For some ambitious members of the House of Ra, he was simply a successful "bastard" whose wings needed to be clipped. He actively exploited his position, often accepting shipbuilding orders as payment, and also actively spent his resources on Ra's production planets. Many knew this and gnashed their teeth, realizing that his superiority lay in his trained Jaffa and technology. He only needed to replicate them.
Dispersion shields, as Szarekh called his soldiers' physical shields, equipped with energy shield projection technology, weren't all that difficult to invent. Allocating the resources to produce them was another matter. Baal had hundreds of millions of Jaffa of both sexes, but producing shields for them all was physically impossible. For his personal guard and the most elite warriors, yes, but not for everyone. Large armies became his bane, as it was impossible to simultaneously produce weapons for everyone.
Next came the Threaders—fighters capable of passing through the gate. The mere presence of these ships in Szarekh's forces often tipped the scales one way or the other. Even with numerical superiority, air support from these ships could turn the tide. Many Goa'uld dug up this forgotten technology from the dust and began experimenting. It seemed the Threaders killed more Jaffa than Szarekh himself. Rapid passage through the gate was still impossible, unless it was a slow, meter-per-second move. Rapid deployment became impossible. Many believed Szarekh simply had highly experienced pilots. For publicity purposes, he even showed his battle with Apophis's fleet, and his pilots were indeed quite skilled. But Baal didn't buy such nonsense; he clearly sensed that this was technology. Therefore, the remains of Szarekh's threaders fetched a very high price on the black market, but they, too, were rigged with explosives. As always, with his love of blowing things up, Szarekh must be the son of Baal.
It seemed the Threaders killed more Jaffa than Szarekh himself. Rapid passage through the gate was still impossible, unless it was a slow, meter-per-second move. Rapid deployment became impossible. Many believed Szarekh simply had highly experienced pilots. For publicity purposes, he even showed his battle with Apophis's fleet, and his pilots were indeed quite skilled. But Baal didn't buy such nonsense; he clearly sensed that this was technology. Therefore, the remains of Szarekh's threaders fetched a very high price on the black market, but they, too, were rigged with explosives. As always, with his love of blowing things up, Szarekh must be the son of Baal.
The Mercenary Lord's next famous technologies were the vehicles that carried his legions. Small ones—antigravity bikes—and large armored vehicles with additional weapons—BMPs, as well as various other vehicles with specialized functions: shield generators, missile launchers, and anti-aircraft mounts. The basis of all this was antigravity technology, known to the Goa'uld for millennia. Everyone with the resources immediately threw them to their scientists so they could build similar machines "yesterday."
Now Baal looked at the result of these labors.
"Oh, my lord," the chief scientist declared, causing Baal to roll his eyes. "This is an antigravity IFV. It can carry ten armored warriors, pass through gates, is armed with a heavy plasma cannon, and if necessary, the Jaffa inside can shoot at enemies through the viewing slits."
"How can you shoot from the viewing slits in a cramped compartment with a two-meter staff?" thought Baal.
"Okay, fire at it," he ordered. It was widely known that Szarekh's machines could withstand sustained damage from plasma weapons, even plasma cannons. Dispersion shields were mounted on the armor plates, but even if one sector was breached, the others were self-powered. And the armor itself was also capable of withstanding damage. It was an extremely expensive machine, so he abandoned this technology.
- Sir, the machine will not be static during the battle, and speed is its advantage.
"Excuses like that usually come when someone has completely screwed up," the System Lord thought.
– Carry out orders. First, fire single shots.
The Jaffa immediately complied with the order and fired a single shot at the vehicle. Even Baal was surprised when the single plasma shot penetrated the armor.
"Sir, the armor is too heavy, so we decided to make it fast," the scientist immediately began to justify himself. "Let's put a Jaffa in there and let the others try to hit him."
"And what about when we land?" Baal asked. "He'll be motionless."
The scientists couldn't answer. BMPs were designed precisely to break through enemy defenses at high speed and deploy troops for cleanup. There were so many testimonies of how Sareh did this! If necessary, his vehicles withstood heavy damage, protecting the "Immortals."
"Useless bastards," Baal activated the tape device.