Golden Dawn
Chapter 12: Unlikely Allies
A fleet of Alesian ships entered hyperspace from Alterra space station. A mighty fleet of 10 Vengeance class heavy battleships, 14 Aurora class light battleships, and 40 cruisers made its way to the System Lords domain.
Near Irush…
Ba'al contacted the System Lords. All System Lords had joined the conference.
"Fellow System Lords. We now face an imminent threat from Anubis. We must rally together against him or we shall all be destroyed."
The others nodded.
"Good. Let us show Anubis of our consolidated alliance by destroying his fleet that is about to attack Irush, a planet under Kali's dominion."
Kali bowed her head.
"Assign about three to five ships each. That will be enough to form a formidable fleet. There are nine of us left, and we have the combined might of the Goa'uld System Lords. Who can dare challenge us?"
The System Lords all agreed to send five Ha'taks each. Forty five Ha'taks began to head toward Irush.
Meanwhile, Anubis was heading to Irush slowly, waiting for the System Lords' combined fleet to assemble. He was riding his Ha'nutak flagship, and was escorted by two Apophis class ships with full upgrade, and fifteen Ha'taks with shield and weapons upgrade, but no Protoss weapons.
The System Lords gathered behind Irush, hiding themselves and a reserve fleet of Ha'tak motherships and Alkesh in the shadows of the planet's second moon. The main fleet consisting of 45 Ha'taks and 26 Alkesh, positioned themselves around the planet, preparing for defence. Irush was one of the frontier worlds for Kali, and she had prepared a great number of anti-Ha'tak defences on the ground and a significant number of ground forces.
While the System Lords had numerical superiority, Anubis had the technology, the firepower and the Kull Warriors. His aquisition of ChiYou's Protoss disruptor cannon and the Alesian beam weapon greatly increased his power. Anubis opened a channel to the defending fleet.
"I am Anubis. Surrender now and save yourselves."
Ba'al relayed his transmission through the defending fleet.
"Anubis, this is Ba'al. I now command the combined might of the System Lords. Your deliberate attempt to disrupt the balance of power will not go unpunished."
Anubis chuckled.
"You think too highly of yourself, Ba'al. You are nothing but a mewling infant. I will crush this fleet you have assembled and then I shall proceed as I have proclaimed. It will show everyone in the galaxy that my powers are supreme!"
Ba'al narrowed his eyes.
"It is you who think too much of yourself, Anubis. Even now, the fleets of the System Lords are gathering and our ships will destroy everything you have until you surrender yourself before the council of the System Lords."
Anubis stood up.
"Then we are in disagreement. Enjoy seeing your fleet destroyed."
Anubis cut communications and began to move his fleet forward. A fleet of 20 ha'taks moved exited hyperspace behind Anubis. Ba'al smiled at the new reinforcements that came from his homeworld and ordered the attack. The 45 Ha'taks and 26 Alkesh moved forward, with the plasma cannons on the planet surface firing at Anubis. The 20 Ha'taks boxed in the small fleet Anubis had brought with him. The meagre 4:1 ratio did not help the combined fleet of System Lords. The upgraded Ha'taks easily shot down the Ha'taks. It only took about half a dozen shots for the upgraded Ha'taks to take down the shields. Unorganized, the combined fleet began to crumble. Within minutes of engaging, seven ships were destroyed with only one upgraded Ha'taks crippled. The Apophis Ha'taks were faring better, destroying three of the Ha'taks. The additional 14 Hataks did not change the odds much for the System Lords. The massive Ha'nutak easily destroyed six Ha'taks, and the two Apophis Ha'taks destroyed four each, and the upgraded Ha'taks crushed the combined fleet. This did not mean that the forces of Anubis took no casualties. The combined firepower allowed the Ha'taks to take down several Ha'taks including three upgraded ships. Unfortunately, the Alesian beam weapon and the Protoss weapons stolen by Anubis was too much for the allied fleet.
Suddenly, a hyperspace window opened, and four ships came out. They were Ba'al new ships. The pyramid ship and the three wing ships moved in formation and the wing ships fired on the pyramid ship. Anubis' ships unwittingly fired at the pyramid ships. The pyramid ship channeled the attacks and fired three massive plasma balls, destroying an upgraded Ha'tak. A flash was seen as the Alesian fleet arrived, reinforced by a detachment of 9 more battleships from the border fleet. On the AES Starfire, General Ataris hailed General Ayen on the AES Galadriel.
"Greetings, General Ayen."
"Greetings. You know the mission. Deploy your fleets in an attack pattern. Bracket the enemy ships and kill them all in the name of the Alesian Empire. The Ha'taks marked are enemies, the ones not marked are allies and cannot be fired upon. AES Galadriel out."
One of the Apophis Ha'taks fired its awesome weapon at the pyramid ship, and the pyramid ship absorbed the attack. Then it returned fire, sending five massive plasma balls charged with incredibly destructive energy. Upon the fourth shot, the shield of the Apophis Ha'tak was down and the fifth plasma ball exploded upon the hull. The Ha'taks of the System Lords focused their fire upon it, dealing critical damage. The other Apophis Ha'tak was not doing well either. The Alesians beam weapons and drones collided upon the Apophis Ha'tak crippling it instantly.
The Ha'nutak flagship, however, was too powerful for the System Lords or even the Alesians. Armed with twelve beam weapons that can fire three of them at one time in one arc, and sixteen Protoss weapons that can fire six at one time, the massive ship was far too powerful. Upon launching a volley of its weapons fire, it destroyed four Ha'taks instantly before turning toward the Alesians. As powerful as the Alesian ships were they were no match for the sheer firepower and number of weapons on the Ha'nutak. It fired three beams at an Aurora Class battleship then fired another three at a cruiser, all the while spraying the Alesian ships with the rain of Protoss cannon fire. The Alesian fleet fired waves of drones and beam weapon fire into the massive mothership. The beam weapons were absorbed but the thousands of drones hitting the shields at first hit the shield, then hundreds of them bypassed the shielding and hit sections of the ship, wreaking major damage. Anubis's flagship was still able to fight, but with weakened shields and a damaged hull from where the drones struck the ship in numerous places. There was one weakness, the Alesians were out of drone weapons, having fired all of them into the ship. The beam weapons from the Alesians pounded the shields, hoping to score more hits as the Anubis mothership fired more bolts of Protoss weapons. Ha'nutak was no ordinary ship. It was made up of five separate ships able to act independently to each other. Upon the damage to the two sections, the sections of the ships shut down, is bulkheads locked shut. Hundreds of Jaffa died but Anubis did not care. Instead, he rerouted the auxillery power to the shield generators and weapons, leaving only minimal life support throughout the decks. Though four of the beam weapons were down, the Protoss weapons were still quite active, and Anubis began to focus his attack upon the Alesians. He spoke angrily to Thoth.
"Shak Kree, Hre'rak! Focus all weapons on those four ships!"
"Yes, my lord."
"These Alesians are annoying. The beam weapon is powerful, but it is not as powerful as theirs. Explain!"
"I ask for your forgiveness, my Lord. We were able to replicate the weapon, but it is only at half the power of the original weapon. The Zero Point Modules and the Antimatter reactors the Alesians are too far beyond our technologies to replicate that much energy."
Anubis snarled but then composed himself.
"Very well. Destroy them all in my name."
The beam weapons scored hits against the Alesian ships. Three ships of the Alesian fleet were damaged, one drifted powerless in space. And another had lost its sublight engines but was still able to fire its main weapons. 2 more Alesian cruisers were destroyed, but with their superior maneuverability, they were able to destroy 3 of the upgraded Ha'taks with a barrage of pulse cannons and drones.
The System Lords poured more firepower upon the mothership, ignoring the upgraded Ha'taks as a hyperspace window opened and a pair of newly readied Apophis class Ha'taks arrived. Osiris and Tanith had arrived with their flagships as reinforcements. Osiris and Tanith contacted Anubis. Osiris spoke with an almost-sneering smile.
"My lord Anubis, do you require our assistance?"
Anubis chuckled.
"You dare, Osiris? I do not require assistance, but to end this quicker. You may take on the Ha'taks of the System Lords while I deal with these Alesians."
"Understood, my lord."
As the two Apophis Ha'taks that just arrived joined force with the few remaining upgraded Hataks and began destroying the ships of the System Lords, Anubis focused on the Alesians.
Near Irush…
Ba'al contacted the System Lords.
"Even with the help of the Alesians, our forces are losing. It would be better to cut our losses here and reinforce the next planet. We shall gather a greater fleet there and crush him, now that we know that his upgraded ships are still destructible."
The System Lords nodded. Their flagships and the reserve ships opened hyperspace window and exited the system, leaving the ships in combat to be destroyed by Anubis. General Ayen snarled as his ships continued to rain fire down upon the remaining enemy ships. He knew his fleet was outmatched by the sheer firepower of the enemy flagship and ordered a retreat, dragging any disabled ships behind him. Anubis had won the day, but most of his ships were destroyed. Only the 2 flagships of his lieutenants, and 3 of the upgraded Ha'taks survived. Even his own ship was heavily damaged, though it was successful in warding off the Alesians. Anubis watched as his First Prime continued the utter annihilation of Irush.