Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate or Mass Effect.
Stargate: Mass Effect
Chapter8: Fall of the Gods
February 3rd 2005
Sol System
In orbit above Earth
Asgard Science Vessel / Daniel Jackson
Main Bridge
Dozens of cloud-like anomalies tore open the fabric of space above the planet and started depositing Asgard ships of various classes into the area. Immediately upon their arrival, they moved into formation alongside the combined Terran and Jaffa fleets already in orbit. After assuming their positions, the Asgard ships scanned the area and detected—much to their surprise—a massive space station in orbit of the fourth planet.
Thor stared at the station and ran a comparison, identifying it as the Citadel of the Alterans. This was most worrying, especially considering the Citadel's purpose and what its function was. He would have to talk to the Terrans about this after the battle was over...they needed to know the dangers the Citadel possessed and the enemy that slumbered just beyond it.
The enemy that the Four Great Races had exiled into Darkspace...
"This is Thor, Supreme Commander of the Asgard Fleet," Thor spoke after opening a channel. "We have come to render assistance," he stated. He immediately received a reply from one of the smaller ships, the Prometheus if he wasn't mistaken.
"This is General Hammond of the Terran Systems Alliance, thank you for coming Thor," Hammond responded. "You're just in time, according to the Tok'ra, the Goa'uld will be here within the hour."
"Understood...we stand ready to assist where needed," Thor nodded.
"...Thor...thank you for this," Hammond said finally as the channel closed.
"...It's the least I could do for helping my people to defeat the Replicators," Thor said to no one.
February 3rd 2005
Sol System
In orbit above Earth
TSAS Normandy
Cockpit
"The Citadel is sealing its arms and moving behind Mars," Sam reported as Jack stepped into the cockpit of the fully repaired Normandy.
"This is going to be bad," Daniel commented.
"Maybe," Jack shrugged.
"The Jaffa brought fourteen motherships, the Asgard brought another thirty-two and we have sixteen. That still leaves us outnumbered six to one," Sam quickly deduced.
"Well if worse comes to worse we'll just hit them with the Antarctic weapon," Cam said. "Why doesn't the Citadel have any weapons? Seriously, I mean the Ancients built the thing and they didn't give it any weapons at all."
"I'm not really sure," Daniel admitted. "According to the records from the Citadel's database, it was originally designed as a Mass Relay and then turned into a space colony."
"I am detecting hyperspace windows opening directly above Luna's northern pole," EDI spoke up. "It's them...I'm reading two-hundred and ninety-four Ha'tak-class motherships dropping out of hyperspace."
"Here we go," Jack said as he sank back in his chair. "Raise shield and ready weapons."
"A line in the sand," Daniel mused as he stared out of the viewport.
"Message from the flagship, all ships are to hold position and execute plan epsilon. I am reading multiple fighters launches from our cruisers and the Iwo Jima. They are preparing for intra-system hyperspace jump," EDI reported.
"Let's get this started," Jack nodded in understanding. "Colonel Mitchell...I remember seeing a squadron of F302s down in the hangar as a part of the refit. I seem to recall Carter telling me they were refitted with nukes and Hyperdrives."
"...I'll go check if that's the case General," Cam quickly left with a grin on his face.
February 3rd 2005
Sol System
In orbit above Earth
Eagle-1
Cockpit
The four F302 fighter/interceptors shot out of the lower hangar bay of the prototype frigate and accelerated towards the Goa'uld fleet in orbit of Luna, Earth's sole moon. These fighters were heavily modified compared to the old pre-Mass-Effect version and were upgraded with small-scale Mass Effect cores allowing increased manoeuvrability.
They only had one seat and were equipped with limited energy shields powered by their Mass Effect cores along with laser cannons and disruptor torpedoes. The Iwo Jima carried more than a hundred of these things for use during combat, both in space and in the atmosphere of a planet. It was a fact that even though Terran ships were arguably more powerful than Goa'uld motherships, Ha'taks carried a far larger compliment of fighters for domination on the battlefield.
"This is Gold-1 to all fighters, execute jump on my mark," came the voice of the squadron leader through the comm. She sounded French if he wasn't mistaken, "mark."
Cam hit the controls and engaged the drive core. The space in front of his fighter suddenly tore open and allowed him to pass through it vortex. A split second later he was deposited back into normal space, inside the shield of a Ha'tak mothership causing him too narrowly pull up away slightly to avoid a collision.
"Fox two," he breathed and let loose a single naquadah-enhanced nuclear missile from the craft's starboard missile pod.
Again he engaged the drive and was gone from within the shield and reappeared a few kilometres away as the warhead detonated. The explosion, along with others throughout the Goa'uld fleet consumed the motherships in nuclear fire, momentarily bouncing off of their orange shields as they strained to keep the blast inside the barrier.
Cam angled around slightly a moment later and accelerated towards another Ha'tak just as a squadron of gliders descended on him. Two bolts grazed his shields as he escaped into hyperspace momentarily before reappearing within shield of the targeted mothership. This time he didn't have time to pull up and scraped along the starboard wing.
"Fox three," he breathed again and fire his second and last missile into the hull of the mothership.
He quickly jumped out again as the missile detonated and reappeared near the fleet. The mothership he attacked was destroyed moments later along with others though this time it didn't seem like it was going to be as easy as before. Behind the fleet, a massive hyperspace window tore open and deposited another eight Ha'taks and one undeniably large mothership.
"Oh crap," Cam cursed as he eyed the monstrosity.
"This is Gold-1 to all fighters, break off and regroup with the fleet. We're pulling out," the leader ordered over the comm.
'Yeah, I'd rather not tango with that thing either,' Cam thought wryly.
February 3rd 2005
Sol System
In orbit above Earth
TSAS Normandy
Cockpit
"That's Anubis' dreadnought," Daniel said in surprise.
"It looks like Baal's been busy," Jack quipped.
"The design matches Anubis' dreadnought...this won't be easy," Sam commented. "They're charging head-on now," she continued.
"I don't suppose they'd be willing to talk?" Daniel suggested.
"I doubt it," Jack muttered.
"Message from the flagship, we are to move into range and engage the enemy while the 302s resupply at the Iwo Jima. The Columbia and the Intrepid have formed up behind us. Engaging Mass Effect core now," EDI spoke as the Normandy jolted forward.
Unlike the larger Daedalus-class battlecruisers, the Normandy and the other five frigates that moved to intercept the hundred Goa'uld motherships were designed for speed and power. Boasting a significant amount of firepower for such a small warship and being as manoeuvrable as an aerospace fighter meant that it could deal more damage than it would take. Sadly there weren't enough of them in service at the moment to really make much of difference other than soften the attacking force up for the main battle to come.
"Goa'uld motherships have a larger weapons' range then we do," EDI stated. "They are firing, attempting evasive manoeuvres."
The Normandy banked sharply as did the other frigates just as several of the approaching Ha'taks opened fire, spewing bolts of superheated plasma at the Terran warships. The six frigates of the Terran fleet disappeared in a burst of zero mass and reappeared inside a formation of motherships.
"Fire Thanix cannons," Jack ordered. "Follow up with a spread of nukes."
The six frigates weaved between the formations of Ha'taks and fired their main guns. Blue beams of energy lanced out from the gun-ports and struck the shields of several motherships, shattering them under the sustained barrage. This was soon followed a pair of naquadah-enhanced nuclear missiles launching from the warships' linier tubes. The missiles hit their mark and shattered the unshielded Ha'taks with nuclear fire.
The other motherships in the area opened fire on the fast moving frigates, not caring about those still alive on their damaged ships in the middle of that floating mess as they blasted everything in the debris cluster. Several plasma bolts slammed into the Asgard-designed shields of the Normandy¸ knocking her into a small spin before she re-orientated herself and broke free of the warzone. Three Al'kesh quickly descended on the frigate and pounded its shields with their staff-cannons.
"Shields are holding," EDI reported. "The new ZPM installed on the Normandy has increased the shields charge significantly; their weapons will take approximately eight minutes of sustained bombardment to penetrate our shields."
"I guess it's a good thing we got that ZPM off of the Citadel construction line then," Jack nodded as the Normandy veered towards another Ha'tak.
"The rest of the fleet is moving into range now," Sam informed.
The mighty ships of the Asgard Fleet were the first to enter the fray, firing on the Goa'uld armada with the most powerful weapons currently in use. They literally smashed through anything that stood in their way, their ships taking on two or even three Ha'taks at a time and continuing to press their assault. The Terran Fleet was next, having induced a Mass Effect FTL intra-system jump directly into the center of the Goa'uld lines and reeking havoc on everything around them.
The ZPMs constructed at the Citadel now powering the Asgard-designed shields of the Terran warships making them virtually impenetrable to all but coordinated fire from multiple Ha'taks at once. Not that they could actually get a lock on the fast-moving warships, their Mass Effect cores allowing them to move at manoeuvre faster than any other ship in known existence. Finally the Jaffa entered the battle, trading plasma blasts with Goa'uld Ha'taks and taking them out one by one with coordinated fire.
"Our main problem is that dreadnought and their numbers," Sam said after a moment.
"Colonel Carter is right General," EDI spoke up. "The dreadnought is currently engaged with two O'Neill-class Asgard motherships and is dealing heavy damage to them. The dreadnought appears to be equipped with Anubis' superweapon," she explained.
"The weapon that destroy Abydos?" Daniel asked. "How did Baal ever recreate that thing?"
"Unknown however I am detecting naqaudria in the dreadnought's engine core," EDI stated. "It is likely that they are using it to power the weapon, especially considering that the weapon is built into the original design of the dreadnought."
"It just destroyed two of the Asgard ships and is targeting the Iwo Jima. It's firing," Sam informed.
The ventral section of the giant mothership seemed to charge with static before it lanced out and struck the Terran assault carrier, the Iwo Jima in the side. Its shield—thankfully now powered by a ZPM—was able to withstand the blast but it collapsed after another three discharges and was soon destroyed when the weapon fired for a final time.
"We have to take that thing out now," Jack said.
"Sir...the Prometheus," Sam said in shock as an image of the Terran flagship appeared as a hologram.
The Prometheus charged with the Daedalus and the Apollo right behind it. Its Thanix cannons lanced out and struck the Goa'uld dreadnought but merely splashed against its shields. The dreadnought shifted in position and fired on the three Terran battlecruisers with its superweapon. The Daedalus and the Apollo were able to pull away in time before they were hit by anything more than one shot but the Prometheus wasn't so lucky.
The first true interstellar ship built by the Terrans was struck by two discharges from the weapon, one shattering the battlecruiser's shield grid and the second tearing it apart through the neck. Its two halves split apart and exploded when a third and final blast destroyed the vessel.
"General Hammond," Sam whispered.
"...EDI contact the fleet," Jack ordered. "Tell them I'm taking command of the fleet and to regroup in Earth orbit now."
"Message sent," EDI confirmed.
"How many did we lose?" Jack asked as the Normandy broke away and made a short jump into orbit of Earth.
"Three Asgard vessels, five Ha'taks, the Athena, the Columbia, the Ark Royal, the Intrepid, the Iwo Jima and the Prometheus were lost with all hands," EDI replied. "The rest of the ships have sustained heavy damage and are trying to re-establish their shields."
"Fuck, that's nearly a quarter of the fleet," Jack cursed their luck. "What about enemy casualties?"
"Ninety-three Ha'taks destroyed and twelve more heavily damaged," EDI responded. "Most of those are from the 302s and our attack runs but that dreadnought has suffered no damage at all."
"That still leaves nearly two hundred motherships out there," Sam spoke up. "If even one of them enters orbit they will bombard the surface...if it wasn't for the 302s we'd have lost by now."
"...Bring the defence grid online," Jack ordered. "They should be in position right now and ready to fire."
"Enemy motherships are closing into weapons' range," EDI informed. "They are preparing to fire," she added.
"If they fire now, and we dodge then they will hit the planet. Our back is against the wall," Jack mused.
"The defence grid is de-cloaking and opening fire," Sam reported.
After nearly year since Anubis' attack on Earth, the Terran Systems Alliance had worked day and night to create a workable defence grid around the planet. The result was the Archangel-class defence satellite, an orbital weapon's platform equipped with a single Thanix cannon and four naquadah-enhanced nuclear missiles.
The Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (NTBT) had formally prohibited the deployment of any space-based nuclear weapon or drive but the treaty had been modified with the recent attack by Anubis. No single nation would have control over the satellites; instead they were under the direct control of the Systems Alliance and the Alliance Council.
The satellites were also equipped with reverse engineered Goa'uld cloaking devices, making them effectively invisible to all but the most recent Asgard sensors. There were dozens of these satellites now in orbit and the Goa'uld soon realised just how big a mistake they had made by attacking Earth. They had one major disadvantage though; they had no shields and were thus defenceless from direct attack.
Their purpose was solely to destroy the enemy in one coordinated surprise attack...
The moment that the satellites de-cloaked they fired their main weapon, the Thanix cannons of the satellites quickly released beams of blue energy at the Ha'taks and coordinated their fire. Two satellites per targeted Ha'tak then began to shatter the shields of the motherships which were soon followed by the salvo of missiles from their pods.
When the lights died down the Goa'uld motherships quickly retaliated, blasting the unshielded satellites out of the sky before they could fire again and turned their angered gaze on the Allied Fleet holding position in orbit of the planet.
"The defence grid has been destroyed," EDI stated. "I count a total of forty motherships destroyed and another two heavily damaged."
"What about the Antarctic weapon?" Jack asked.
"It will take several minutes to charge up," EDI replied.
"We don't have that kind of time," Daniel shook his head.
"Wait," Sam spoke up. "I'm detecting a hyperspace window opening...something massive just jumped in system," suddenly something huge pasted by the viewport. "Its Atlantis," she said in surprise.
"This is Doctor Weir, sorry if we startled you," Weir spoke over the comm.
"You're late Doctor," Jack told her.
"Well the city's Hyperdrive is over ten thousand years old General," Weir responded amused. "It's bound to have a few bugs that need fixing even with the ZPMs the Daedalus transported to us from the Citadel."
The Goa'uld quickly took note of the massive city-ship and fired upon it. Even the Goa'uld dreadnought fired on it with its super-weapon but the mighty shields of the Ancient city shrugged off the barrage seemingly effortlessly and started launching plasma drones at the Goa'uld fleet. Despite not having a full pay-load of plasma drones, they were able to decimate the Goa'uld Ha'taks in only two shots per ship.
"We've almost expended our number of drones," Weir said over the comm. "We'll try and disable the dreadnought's weapons and engines."
Atlantis quickly launched the last of its drones and they cut through the shields of the Goa'uld dreadnought in moments before striking directly at the hull. The plasma drones burned through various sections of the massive mothership but its size eventually ran out and the dreadnought was left unmoving but still whole.
"Atlantis is falling into the atmosphere, they appear to be making an attempt to land in the Pacific Ocean," EDI reported.
"Tell all ships to break orbit and destroy the remaining motherships. It's our only chance," Jack ordered.
The remains of the Allied Fleet of Terran, Asgard and Jaffa ships quickly charged into the fray again. The remaining hundred or so Ha'taks had now lost most of their numbers and were severely demoralised at seeing their flagship disabled by the Terrans. The Goa'uld motherships tried to defend themselves against the onslaught but any chance of them winning the day died when the Antarctic weapon fired and unleashed a hailstorm of plasma drones at the undamaged motherships, Al'kesh and gliders.
"Weapons fire from the surface," EDI reported. "The remaining Goa'uld motherships have been destroyed...all except the dreadnought and the disabled Ha'taks."
"Lock all weapons on that ship and fire. Destroy it," Jack ordered as he got out of the chair.
February 3rd 2005
Sol System
In orbit above Earth
Goa'uld Dreadnought
Command Bridge
Lord Baal, last of the Goa'uld System Lords stood up from where he had fallen and climbed back onto his throne. His First Prime lay dead at his feet and the Jaffa guards around him were slowly bleeding to death. He saw the numerous Tau'ri, Asgard and shol'va warships closing in on his prized dreadnought through the viewport.
He knew he couldn't win now, not after that massive ship appeared and basically smashed what was left of his fleet. He couldn't escape either, not with the Hyperdrive destroyed so that left only one option. He would deny his enemy victory and escape on the dreadnought's escape shuttle after activating the self-destruct. He was just about to input the order when the room shook and he was suddenly thrown from his seat.
He tried to stand but again the ship shook; no doubt from the Tau'ri projectile weapons and those blasted atom bombs of theirs. He looked up at the viewport just in time to see a single ship fly passed and fire another shot from its primitive secondary cannon and tear through the room. All around him his once powerful dreadnought shook itself to pieces as the remaining Tau'ri ships attacked it from all sides.
His last thought before oblivion took him was of how far the Goa'uld Empire had fallen since the Tau'ri menace arose...
Author's Notes:
This is what Stargate Continuum should have been when Baal attacked Earth with his fleet. I didn't like that film and figured this scenario was better story wise and (though the Replicator invasion was good) would have been a great finale for Stargate SG1 season 8 (or the whole thing considering I never did like the Ori).
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