Flist, you're my only hope!

[lizardbeth]

SG-1 Question.

Let's say you're a Goa'uld system lord, like Baal, for random example. You have a Stargate on your homeworld, near your palace, that you keep a coded forcefield on (like the SGC's iris), but with the access code fairly well spread among your upper level minions (who may betray you at any moment, so it's not super secure). However, you have not EVER been attacked at home. Presuming you're a bit smarter than the average Goa'uld, would you keep your Stargate inside your palace under guard, for convenience? Or would you put it outside the walls and rely on your ships if escape should ever be necessary?

I have, for example, always thought Apophis was pretty stupid for having his gate so far away from his palace on Chulak. It gave his enemies far too many opportunities for mischief unobserved.

And yet, OTOH, SG-1 also teaches us that having your Stargate too close to something you want to keep is a recipe for disaster, since gates malfunction, higher-level enemies find ways to attack it, etc.

Not that this is important, even in the fic, I just CAN'T DECIDE!

ETA: It occurs to me that there's canon that it can't be TOO far away, since Baal notices the gate's behaving strangely in Avenger and takes advantage of it, within minutes of it starting.

*back to writing*

Comments

[sabaceanbabe.livejournal.com]

Presumably your Goa'uld System Lord is also arrogant, so I'd think s/he would want it close by for ease of use/speed of escape, believing that if anyone does try to attack it, if it's close by, s/he can defend it.

[newroticgirl.livejournal.com]

Hmmmmm. I can see good reasons for both. Maybe your stargate is in a different wing of your palace, so it's relatively close BUT an attacking force can be caught before they reach the main area? If you've never been attacked, no matter how smart you are, it's easy to get a little lax/overconfident.

Maybe your stargate is in a walled courtyard, inside the main palace but there's only one door in/out so you've got a choke point if an invasion comes?

[justmyb0nes.livejournal.com]

I would put the gate out of the palace but very close of it with a direct secured access (like those special "elevators" I have no idea how you call them in english) in case I have to run fast. And Ill be the only one to know the code for the secured access.
I have no idea if it makes sense sorry

[mymatedave.livejournal.com]

It depends if your Goa'uld is a smart snake like, for instance, Ba'al. If he is than he'll have the gate in an underground bunker near with surveilance cameras which can only be accessed by those transporter elevators.

That way, you can hold potential enemies down there, while also avoiding having your whole palace blow up if those sneaky tau'ri send a bomb through.

[lizardbeth-j.livejournal.com]

well, it IS Baal, so yes. :)

Though it was probably set up to deal with enemies like Ra and Sokar from the bad old days, rather than the pesky Tau'ri, since the palace has been there a long time. So he probably doesn't have to be TOO clever about the defenses...

[lizardbeth-j.livejournal.com]

yes, it does make sense! transport rings, I think are what you mean. And yes, something with a secret access is very Goa'uld-like.

[lizardbeth-j.livejournal.com]

and yes, it's the never been attacked part that makes me think he can't be TOO perfectly strategic and maybe a little overconfident.

And uh, how's your summer shaping up? *smiles brightly* Cuz boy do I have stuff for you to look at... :)

[lizardbeth-j.livejournal.com]

Baal? Arrogant? Nah. *snicker*

But he's also not an idiot like Apophis. So on the one hand, overconfident because he's never been attacked at home, and yet smart enough to realize that he could be and prepare for it.

[ivanolix.livejournal.com]

Since the palace was presumably built to defend against Goa'uld attackers, I'd think it'd be smarter to keep it away from the palace. Their MO of attack is either a) disabling the gate, or b) sending something through the gate. It won't matter where the gate is in the former case, but it matters a lot in the latter...

I also have a feeling that, despite how well they use a lot of the technology, the Stargates freak out the Goa'uld a little. Not consciously, maybe, but I think they're not all ready to clasp them to their bosoms unless it's way obviously strategic.

[lizardbeth-j.livejournal.com]

yeah, it makes a pretty poor escape route, actually, since any attacker with two brain cells is going to start by dialing in and making sure you have 38 minutes in which you can't use it. So, like the SGC, if you've got a shield over it, you block them, but they also block you from leaving. But then, most Goa'uld (and not even Baal sometimes, though he does at least do it occasionally) don't shield the gate.

The Goa'uld seem pretty averse to technological change/advancement in general, with a few exceptions. So yeah, I don't know if it's intimidation or disinterest, or a combo, maybe. But heh, 'clasping the stargate" to their bosom... no.

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

Ba'al tends to keep his closer, and on more than one occasion has housed them inside ships (Apophis did that first iirc). So.. ymmv?

[justmyb0nes.livejournal.com]

Yep transport rings! it's the name. Aww thanks. I take that as a compliment :p

[sg-betty.livejournal.com]

I would put it close to the palace, but not in it. Outside the palace itself (and perhapa a first set of walls), and inside the exterior walls. I would have it under resonably heavy guard at all times.

[lizardbeth-j.livejournal.com]

*sigh* this has made me realize that it's not as easy being a Goa'uld as you might think. :P

[lizardbeth-j.livejournal.com]

yeah. I even considered having no gate on the ground at all, and just having him haul one with him wherever he goes. But that doesn't seem very likely. So I think I'm gonna compromise with a separate building for it.

[lizardbeth-j.livejournal.com]

yeah, I've basically decided on a compromise of housing it in a separate building within the complex. And DEFINITELY under guard. Luckily I can guard it as heavily as it should be, since I don't need anyone to sneak through it.