Ori Killer Satellite
Summary
The Ori Killer Satellite was created by the people of the Rand Protectorate on the planet Tegalus using their current level of technology and the plans given to them by a Prior of the Ori. The Prior activated the weapon with the aid of his orbed staff, but from that moment on, the weapon was commanded via radio signals from a bunker system under the control of the Rand government. The weapon was used by Rand to destroy Earth's starship Prometheus. (9.15 "Ethon")
Stargate References
Technical Background
A Prior of the Ori visited the Rand Protectorate of the planet Tegalus during a most vulnerable time: they were still reeling from a world war that devastated both Rand and their enemy, the Caledonian Federation (8.05 "Icon"). The hatred between the two countries had been alive for several generations, and the Prior took advantage of this by giving Rand the plans to a satellite weapon that could be used against their enemies with total superiority. It took only five months for Rand, a country that was at a technological equivalent of Earth from about 1940-1950, to complete the weapon. The Prior brought the satellite to life with the touch of his orbed staff and it was successfully launched into space. Caledonia had no means of destroying the weapon that far out from the planet's surface. (9.15 "Ethon")
Rand was given favor by the Prior because they were the ones who possessed the Stargate. With the bunker control system in place, they operated the satellite through radio signals controlled by a system equipped with buttons and toggle switches and a primitive CRT-like display. The weapon communicated its status and provided graphic telemetry data of the its perimeter. (9.15 "Ethon")
Jared Kane of the Rand Protectorate went to Daniel Jackson to ask for help in destroying the weapon after it was used against a Caledonian military installation. After this attack, Rand issued an ultimatum to Caledonia to surrender or be destroyed in five days. Kane brought early-stage drawings with him to help SG-1 devise a plan for the weapon's destruction. While Daniel tried to approach the situation diplomatically, the rest of the team examined the plans and Carter determined that the weapon was no match for the Prometheus and could be easily destroyed. (9.15 "Ethon")
Carter's assessment was in error because she was using early-stage drawings and wasn't aware that the satellite had been equipped with a strong defense shield that was only powered up when the weapon's sensors detected possible threats. The weapon also took time to power up because Rand's technology was not as powerful as the Ori's. Even so, once fully charged, the weapon emitted an energy beam that easily penetrated the Asgard shields on the Prometheus. Its defense shields were also strong enough to resist direct missile fire from both the Prometheus and its F-302 squadron. (9.15 "Ethon")
The weapon was controlled via radio signals from the bunker system in the Rand capital city. An electro-magnetic pulse, however, could cause the control systems to be taken offline long enough for the weapon to become vulnerable to attack. (9.15 "Ethon")
The Weapon in Use
When the Prometheus first encountered the weapon, it appeared to be defenseless. Prometheus sensors were able to detect when the weapon was charging up its capacitors in order to fire. Because Daniel had been taken into Rand's custody, Carter and Mitchell hesitated to fire on the weapon when they first arrived, but after they sensed the weapon charging up, they decided to lock onto the target. Unfortunately, this gave the weapon time to raise its own defense shield, something that Carter didn't see in the early-stage drawings that Jared Kane had provided, and the Prometheus was badly damaged by the intense energy beam emitted by the satellite. This beam penetrated the ship's Asgard-designed shields, much to everyone's surprise. (9.15 "Ethon")
The Prometheus fired on the satellite with missiles, but these could not penetrate the weapon's defense shield. Even a squadron of F-302s at close range could not inflict damage with their missiles. The Prometheus was destroyed by the satellite in short order. (9.15 "Ethon")
After studying the more detailed drawings of the weapon that the Caledonians had, Carter determined that the weapon's weakness was the command link from Rand's bunker system. If the transmissions to the satellite could be disabled, the weapon would be defenseless since Rand only powered up the weapon when necessary, an indication of the limitations of Rand's technology. Caledonia launched a missile protected by radar-jamming technology and inertial dampeners from an F-302, and it detonated above the bunker control system that housed the weapon's control systems. For a brief moment, the electro-magnetic pulse emitted by the missile's detonation caused the communications and power systems in the vicinity of the command bunker to go down, making the satellite defenseless and inoperable for a brief while. Caledonia used this advantage to negotiate access to the Stargate so that they could leave the planet rather than die or live under the rule of Rand and the Ori. (9.15 "Ethon")
After the agreement was seen through, the survivors of the Prometheus who had beamed to safety or who were in F-302s before the ship's destruction returned to Earth via the Stargate as negotiations continued between Rand and Caledonia. Unfortunately, these talks broke down and apparently, the two countries ended up destroying each other, burying the Stargate in the rubble. General Landry sent the Daedalus to check on why contact was lost, and they reported the planet's complete destruction, but didn't mention the disposition of the satellite weapon. (9.15 "Ethon")
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--DeeKayP 19:27, 14 February 2007 (PST)