Chapter 55 (1/2)

Cheyenne Mountain SGC

Heading down the corridor on level 26 was General Hank Landry. After a brief conversation over the phone with the IOA his marching orders were delivered. Knowing he was about to send people under his command into a potentially dangerous situation the General thought it best to find out more about what they were to deliver. Turning into the lab of Doctor Lindsey Novak all the General could do was hope the good doctor didn't pick this moment to let her hiccup problem make a return.

”General, what can I do for you” asked Novak upon seeing Hank enter.

”Doctor, I've been given a green light to deploy your project, but I would appreciate it if you would explain just what it is before I do so” said Landry.

”Your people are deploying a program I developed called Hermiod. It's an advanced persistent threat program. I named it Hermiod after the Asgard we had aboard Daedalus. It looks benign and helpful but is silently cursing at you under its breath” laughed Novak.

”I doubt the Asgard would appreciate that doctor. Now, what does it do exactly and how does it work” asked Landry trying to contain his annoyance.

”Hermiod is loaded onto this crystal, which is also loaded with standard software found on all Goa'uld origin craft. Since other software is contained on the crystal the presence of Hermiod is masked. Upon uploading the program creates a microsecond long subspace burst that transmits coordinates and past navigational data. Once implanted on a single vessel in a large fleet Hermiod can transmit itself to all other vessels that have communicated in the past with the infected ship. In simulations Hermiod displayed he ability to infect a fleet of thousands of sh.i.p.s in a matter of days” proudly stated Novak.

”So you're telling me this will tag and track any vessel it comes into contact with? We'll have the ability to track the Lucian Alliance fleet” asked Landry.

”Yes General. The one concern I have is Lucian Alliance fleets like Jaffa fleets are all captured Goa'uld vessels. If the two nations vessels have communicated with each other at anytime since their construction Hermiod will jump to the other nations vessels and spread quickly. That was the one weakness I outlined in my report to the IOA” answered Novak.

”After what the Jaffa have done the need to track their vessels also is probably what the IOA found so attractive” stated Landry.

”I heard about that. Scary people” agreed Novak.

”You're absolutely certain this program can't be detected and traced back to us right” asked Landry.

”Hermiod is undetectable since it is a base engineering directive program. In tests even with knowledge of the program and where it was still resulted in a zero detection threshold” confidently stated Novak.

”I really hope you're right” said Landry while walking out of the scientist's office.

With answers in hand Landry quickly made his way to the control room. Walking in to the nerve center of the SGC Landry quickly approached the Sergeant manning the dialing computer.

”Sergeant, dial the alpha site and tell them Vala has a go” ordered Landry.

”Right away Sir” responded the Sergeant.

Destiny

In the several days that past after seating in the interface chair Eli had taken to wandering the hallways aboard Destiny. His only company during these frequent and often long walks was his Ipad. Furiously the young man jotted down notes. With a growing sense of alarm Scott had decided to finally intervene thinking that the solitary wanderings were doing more harm than good to his friend. Finding him in a corridor near the front of the ship Scott approached him.

”Eli, can I talk to you” asked Scott.

”Did you need help with something” asked Eli in response.

”Are you ok? Look Eli, when you lost Ginn you were like this and we gave you space and time to come to terms with it. Since you sat in that chair you've kind of withdrawn from all of us. All we see you do is wander the ship alone with your Ipad. Something is wrong and you can talk to me” said Scott.

”Nothing is wrong at all. When I'm running something over in my mind I walk around. It's my process” conceded Eli.