The term Tok'ra tunnel refers to the underground bases and the networked crystalline tunnels by which the Tok'ra conceal themselves from the Goa'uld.
Overview[]
When the Tok'ra arrive at a new planet, they immediately move beneath the surface and grow special crystals which bore through the ground, forming tunnels hidden from the Goa'uld. These tunnels do not typically have an entrance or exit shaft to the surface, but instead use Transportation rings. There may or may not be more than one transport ring system in a Tok'ra base. Life support is required but not immediately because as the crystals tunnel through certain materials, oxygen is produced as a by-product. This gives the Tok'ra time to set up air-scrubbers and other life support systems.
Different shapes and sizes of crystals produce different kinds of tunnels; some long and straight, some leading upward or downward, some creating open rooms. (SG1: "Last Stand")
The tunnels are also capable of deconstructing themselves by command. The deconstruction process is particularly hazardous. (SG1: "The Tok'ra, Part 1", "The Tok'ra, Part 2")
History[]
The Tok'ra have used several underground crystalline tunnels to hide from the System Lords. Within these bases, they plotted sabotage and subterfuge for thousands of years. Tok'ra spies within the ranks of the armies of the System Lords would report back to these bases, and were able to retreat to them as a safe-haven should they suspect their true identities had been discovered. The Tok'ra resistance is heavily dependent on the fact that the locations of these bases remain a secret, and for this reason, the Tok'ra are especially distrusting of outsiders. Every so often, if the secrecy of a base is called into question, the Tok'ra immediately relocate to a secondary location and the tunnels are destroyed, removing any usable evidence that could damn the Tok'ra.
As the number of Goa'uld System Lords began to decrease, due to their capture or death, the need for Tok'ra tunnels became less and less. Eventually, the Tok'ra built their own homeworld above ground, where the extraction ceremony was held for the last System Lord, Ba'al. (Stargate: Continuum)
Known Tok'ra bases[]
- Melia, a base at which Jolinar of Malkshur and Lantash pursued a relationship. (SG1: "The Tok'ra, Part 1")
- P34-353J, the first base to be visited by the Tau'ri and members of SG-1. (SG1: "The Tok'ra, Part 1")
- Ghanaz, the planet the Tok'ra escaped to after abandoning P34-353J. (RPG: "Friends and Foes: Stargate Season Two")
- The base on Vorash. (SG1: "Exodus")
- The base on Revanna, which served as the main Tok'ra base immediately following the destruction of Vorash. (SG1: "Summit", "Last Stand")
[]
- Tok'ra Tunnels in Kathleen Ritter's Lexicon.
- GateWorld's article on Crystal tunnels in The Stargate Omnipedia