I sighed. The Asgard were sometimes difficult to work with—they seemed so unwarlike it bordered on absurd.
— Brun, I don't understand, aren't two whole Asgardian civilizations enough to come up with at least some kind of fun weapon against the replicators?
"Nineteen," Brunnhilde clarified. "Nineteen universes where the Asgard encountered the replicators are already thanking you for your efforts."
"Nineteen, and you still can't figure out how to fit tungsten-shrapnel missiles into a teleportation buffer? It's basically a giant shotgun. How big is your buffer? A ton? Even if the replicators use signals that block teleportation, you could constantly bombard them with these bombs! Or, I don't know, play cat and mouse with them: like, send them data in the form of codes that they'll intercept, so they'll fall into a trap." "I should find Reese and shoot her, though that'll be a bit difficult ," I thought.
"Why can't you invent something peaceful? Even Pelops invented nanites that rid the Jaffa of symbiotes, extending their lives," Brunhilde pointed out.
"Don't let that confuse you. Nanotechnology can be used to kill, too. The key is to program the nanites to damage the brain. Or, in a really moronic fantasy, to drain the blood from a person."
Isara and Brunhilde looked at me strangely. And anyway, I didn't come up with this! It was the people in Warhammer who invented it during the Dark Age of Technology. True, my nanites didn't work unless there were computers nearby to control them. But in general, it's theoretically possible. For example, if you use satellites as signal emitters and disperse masses of nanites over large settlements.
BAM!
I rubbed the top of my head. Isara had just hit me.
- You didn't think about what I'm thinking about, did you?
- Woman, I know how to blow up stars, but I don't do it.
— You could do something peaceful. Like an aquarium. Watching the fish swim in the pool is so calming.
"I have a huge aquarium on Urvash with an income of two hundred million credits a year," I replied, then, still clutching my head, added, "The replicators are Neumann machines. They need to be beaten! Beaten with everything we have. They don't even deserve to live. Create hacker squads that can penetrate their code."
"We'll definitely do that," Brunnhilde said sarcastically. "So that's why I'm here? We asked alternative Asgardian civilizations to verify the existence of Urvashi and you."
- AND?
"Urvashi exists, but not under Szarekh's rule, but under Isara's. You don't exist in any alternate universe."
"That means I'm unique," I stated. It was obvious, considering I was a time traveler. "And I can develop more different types of weapons."
- So it doesn't bother you at all?
"The chances of survival for a Goa'uld are very slim. My life is an accident. So I shouldn't worry about it too much? Or do you think I should contact other Isaras and start a harem?"
BAM!
Again on the long-suffering head.
— I agree. Nineteen Urvashis is too much.
"It's good that you mentioned the planet," Isara remarked.
"Brun, why don't you use time traps as a strategic weapon? Launch an offensive and trap the Replicator planets and ships in a time trap. Time traps also affect energy. You could bombard a region of space with a time trap for hours. When the trap is deactivated, all that accumulated energy would immediately flood the target. This could destroy entire Replicator fleet units and the planets where they've located their most valuable assets. Of course, there's a risk they might start using similar tactics, and that's something we need to carefully consider. But just imagine that possibility!"
"Using time as a weapon?" Brunhilde asked, surprised.
"How is time worse than any other force in the universe?" I asked her, glad the conversation had moved away from the topic of my possible harem.
"This is… very… unusual," I felt that Brun wanted to say something else.
"Listen, the Replicators are the enemy of all life and must be destroyed at all costs. In fact, I can even do something for you, specifically for planetary destruction. But this should only be used against the most heavily fortified Replicator planets. Basically, you can use a gate and fire a super-powerful laser through it, which will simply vaporize the planet. The Replicators will be forced to adapt, dispersing their assets to avoid such a blow. By the way, here's an idea for you. So, the Replicators somehow improve your technology, but they can't withstand too much firepower. You place neutron generators on planets with powerful weapons. You focus all your power on the gates, and then a small, and most importantly, cheap satellite with a gate tracks down and destroys the Replicator ships with a super-powerful salvo."
— You... you just figured out how to destroy the replicator ships without losses?
"I came up with it when I was bargaining for the gate technology. I even literally mentioned in the argument how I'd use it. Didn't she tell the High Council?"
Brunhilde facepalmed. Have you ever seen a little gray man facepalm? I have.
- And how much do you want for it?
"So, for devising a way to destroy your enemy's ships while saving the lives of your space pilots? I don't know... A single time bomb that slows down time within a ten-thousand-kilometer radius."
- Why do you need her?
"As a trump card. If the Goa'uld come to kill me, I'll have a trump card. I'll catch them all in slow motion and, during the warhead's duration, fire so much plasma into each ship that their shields will explode twenty times over."
- I will talk to the High Council.
"A temporary weapon?" Isara asked. I shrugged.
"It's essentially a tactical weapon. But if a hundred or two hundred Hattaks show up on my territory, it would be a shame not to take advantage of the situation."
— Even after twelve years, I don't know how your brain works.
"That's good. I read somewhere that predictability has a negative correlation with health, especially when you're a military commander."
I currently employ over thirty thousand symbiote scientists, and that's in addition to all the scientists already trained on Urvash. Yes, they do some work in the government sector, but ten years is enough for them, and then they're free. They're implementing my ideas: for example, they're creating a heavy fighter with a hyperdrive, missiles, railguns, and plasma cannons. It will be slightly cheaper than a Teltak, but essentially it will be an elite fighter for terrorizing the Goa'uld—"Long live the Star Wars!" Many other departments also work on the fleet, then on ground vehicles, armor, and other interesting things. In particular, the cybersecurity department: they write all sorts of viruses there, and then immediately adapt them to antiviruses.
A shield and a sword—that's the foundation of my future resistance to the Empire. Having enough viruses for every occasion... I really want to create something similar to the Wraith virus, which could have literally destroyed the Daedalus if not for luck. However, I also want to have protection against this: improving the software, writing various programs for civilian use. I'm not some kind of demon! They could very well have used the resources I provided for their own private projects, but only within the allotted time. The materials science departments were a joy, conducting thousands of experiments in various fields. In general, it had a dual use. In general, any technology has a dual use. Any technology can both create and kill. So, by advancing military science, they simultaneously advanced civilian science.
Another thing is that the Goa'uld didn't care about this, for which they were punished. The technologies given to humans increased productivity. With armies of slaves, it's hard for them to keep up with me. I also had nuclear mortars and nuclear artillery—they had a yield of 20 and 100 tons of TNT, respectively. So they're not subject to the 1-kiloton limit. This is still a new update, so the Goa'uld will soon be in for a surprise. I can actually put this on the missiles the thread-dividers will carry. That's truly cruel. The Goa'uld need to adapt quickly, but they likely won't have enough time. Science rules the galaxy, and if I can fire nukes at all enemy troops with impunity as long as they're under 1 kt, then so be it. Incidentally, this will allow me to break my forces into even smaller tactical units. One cohort to capture a planet is perfectly acceptable. I have a feeling the gates will soon be cursed. And you can't get rid of them—they're an important transport hub.
You need to be unpredictable and have plenty of aces up your sleeve. And propaganda is also important—all in the spirit of that bastard Goebbels. True, it was aimed at the Goa'uld and presented as advertising. But it was, in essence, propaganda. It portrayed my warriors as Angels of Death, capable of solving any problem. Wipe out any enemy if I was paid. And this was important for internal propaganda. More than once, minor lords, realizing who was attacking them, immediately surrendered, agreeing to become vassals of my client. This already earned me a reputation—a reputation as a military leader.
"Tetrarchy forever," I muttered, surprising Brunhilde and Isara. "After all, we will crush the entire Goa'uld Empire!"