12 A New Threat
Shortly before, Earth, Europe, British Isles
Three thousand five hundred years after leaving Shank'anon, the immortals had finally decided to settle down once again. Their numbers had almost doubled since their defeat of Chronos, so instead of moving into an existing town, where they would have to hide their powers and their knowledge, the about thirty immortals had searched the whole planet for a place that caught their fancy.
Deciding to move onto an island was easy. With the ships they had captured, getting to and from would not be a problem, and, as long as the island was small enough, there would be no risk of passing humans to accidentally stumble in on them.
Finding an island that suited their needs, on the other hand, had been a lot harder. For nearly a century, every immortal had inspected islands all over the world, checking them for climate, distance to the mainland, visibility from the mainland, and various other aspects.
In the end, a small island near the Welsh shore proofed to be perfect, or at least as close as it got. It's steep hills ment nobody ever went there, and the ocean's mist prevented anybody from actually getting a clear view of the proceedings most of the day. At the same time, Europe, which quickly developed to be a hotspot of cultural development, was within easy reach. While a little colder and more rainy then many of the immortals would have liked, the gulf stream at least brought relatively mild winters.
Using their two cargo ships, the immortals quickly began shipping building materials from all over the world to their small island, while also digging into the hard stone ground to produce completely hidden rooms for everything they did not want seen.
In one such room, Zeus and various others were currently holding on to a strong rope as they slowly lowered the heavy flywheel for their central engine underground. It was, Zeus mused, ironic, that even with all their powers, the technology they had captured, and the understanding they had of nature, there was no better way to do this then get a couple of guys together, find a good rope and an edge to tie it around, and slowly lower it down. They could have, of course, build a small crane, and they would, eventually, but doing so would simply take to long for now.
The immortals had, after many discussions, decided to save their captured naquada power cells from the various weapons and ships for emergencies. Instead, they had to rely on their own understanding of the laws of nature to build their lives and home.
Even more restricting, though, was the lack of resources the group had available. Finding stone and wood was easy enough, but even iron proofed to be quiet difficult to acquire in larger quantities. In recent centuries, free enterprise had developed at least far enough that made it possible to buy such resources, even if it meant wasting the immortals meagre possessions for bartering. The materials they could buy would normally then require extensive purification or at least postprocessing until they were usable for their more complicated needs.
Other materials, especially those rich in energy such as coal or oil, or more rare such as Titan and Wolfram, were almost impossible to come by. It was one of the reasons they had developed the engine they used. The design that the human Stirling would redevelop a thousand three hundred years later could run with any kind of fuel, including the simple firewood they could get on the mainland in masses.
Eventually, the immortals planned to build up a small windmill and maybe even a tidal power plant to produce electric energy. That will require a lot more rare resources, though, to store the power for example, and was simply not practical at the moment.
As Hades finally fitted the main axes through the heavy wheel, Zeus let go of the rope and gave a sign of relief. Two thirds of the immortals, mostly the younger ones still in training, were currently living on their as of yet unnamed island, while the others travelled the lands and helped the people. Fortunately for them, aside from a few minor border disputes, no wars were currently fought that would require their attention.
"Zeus! Get up here and look at that." Naturally, the moment everybody heard Hermes' voice echoing over their small island, every immortal dived towards the windows and doors to see what the immortal elder was pointing at.
In the sky, two fireballs, one extremely large, the other simply large, slowly descended over Northern Europe. As Zeus reached the surface from the cellar he had been in, Hermes turned to him expectantly.
"So, what do you think?"
Zeus inspected the two objects above Earth for a moment before he answered.
"The angle is pretty shallow for a meteoroid. And, is that first thing slowing down?"
Hermes nodded. "I thought so, too. And it seems to be trying to pull up as well."
"Not natural, then, unfortunately. The smaller one mighty be a new Ha'tak, a much larger one then the ones we know, but the System Lord always had a thing for size. The other one, though, is way out of the Goa'ulds expertise. To get that much mass of the ground seems almost impossible."
As Hermes nodded in consent, Zeus turned towards the other immortals watching.
"No matter what it is, we have to make sure it is safe. Inform everybody, we are leaving immediately. Sent messages to all those away on missions to meet us as soon as possible."
As soon as he had finished, the twenty or so others hurried to get word out and man their fighters, while the elder most immortals stayed back. Suddenly, Zeus found himself glad that he and Hades, as well as Persephone had become a team and rarely operated independently. It meant that he had both of his closest friends available in this crisis, while most others of those who had experience fighting the Goa'uld were spread out throughout the world.
"Our first order of business is to find out whether or not the landed crafts are Goa'uld. If not, find out what they want and whether or not they are friendly and offer help if wished. Hades, take your wife and check out the larger ships. Hermes, you'll provide air support with three others while I lead three to attempt to get close to the smaller one. Objections?"
Hearing non, Zeus nodded and made his way to their small alien armoury. No matter what they would find, he wanted to be prepared for combat. Somehow, their experience with aliens so far did nothing to encourage the 'father of gods and men'. Minutes later, every immortal on the island was stowed away in one of their crafts and airborn, heading north-east.
Locating the two ships had been easy enough. Besides the obviously alien, mountain-size thing lying on the ground, clearly visible from dozens of kilometres away, the smaller of the two ships had crashed through a small mountain peak in central Norway, whirling stones and dust from the destroyed rock up into the air and loosing quiet a big part of his flank. The larger ship, meanwhile, had been luckier and had watered in a small lake in northern Sweden, thereby bleeding of a lot of excess energy. While the craft looked to be far from spaceworthy, it was at least roughly in one piece.
As the small fleet of fighters finally dove through the clouds they had so far used to cover their flight from the humans and got their first look at the two wreckages, Zeus slowed his ship slightly and leaned forward to activate the communication system.
"This is Zeus. All units slow down. Split up into your assigned teams."
Just as Zeus began to get worried by the lack of response, Hades' mind touched his own.
"Zeus! Are you all right? Why are you not answering."
Instead of replying mentally, Zeus reached out to communicate with all immortals simultaneously.
"Com system is down. Remember, our priority is to identify those crafts. Hades' group procedes to the second ship. My group, follow me."
As he got confirmation from the others, Zeus pushed his own fighter downwards towards the plume of dust that clearly marked their destination.
The moment the alien ship came into clear view, it was obvious that they were not dealing with Goa'uld. The dark blue ship was a lot sleeker then the Goa'ulds favourite designs, and seemed to be constructed without any thoughts on status. There were neither any grand ornaments decorating the ship, nor were any signs of affiliation visible. Whoever build this wanted it to do what it was designed to do, and did not care how it looked doing it.
"Ok. Hermes, take your team and circle around once before you meet up with us. Take care to look for any details that might help us to identify whoever flies that thing, or anything that might allow us to infiltrate it. Once you are done, come back to help us out should we need you."
As Hermes confirmed the order, Zeus' and a second fighter set down on the ground not far from the ship. Both had been manned with two immortals, thus freeing up the other planes for those actually on airborn missions. Briefly, the group had considered using one of their cargo ships to deliver the ground group, but had discarded that again quickly. The larger ship was unarmed, slow and fragile. Should they actually be attacked on the way, they would be sitting ducks.
The four immortals agilely slid out of their cockpits and dropped the few feet to the ground, before fanning out to cover the two ships.
"OK. Iris, Hypnos, guard the ships. Zelos, you are with me. Let's go."
Before the duo had even reached the edge of the small clearing they had landed in, light blue, almost white energy balls zipped through the treeline, targeting the four immortals within. Zelos, a young immortal barely a hundred and fifty years old, with dark skin and hair, went down immediately.
"Damn it! Take cover. Return fire." "Do not show them your powers unless you have to."
Zeus did not hesitate to grab his companions back and uncaringly throw him between the two ships as he uncoiled the zat'ni'katel hidden within the folds of his clothes and ducked between the ships for cover as well. At the same time, ten pale, lean figures emerged from the trees, most of their faces covered with grey, metallic masks and holding strange-looking, almost man high rodes like weapons before them. Three of the aliens showed their faces. They appeared humanoid, but their long teeth, dark eyes and the slits in their cheeks cave an animalic apparence, as well.
As Zeus couched down to check on his companion, thankfully finding a strong pulse, he reached out with his mind once again. "Hermes. Get back here. We are under attack."
Loosening another few shots into their attackers, Zeus annalized the situation. From the looks of it, the strangers had been attacked in space, and lost. Moments after they crashed, he and his team had landed, the other ships circling their downed craft. Of course, they would have to assume they were, or at least were allied with, the ones that had shot them down.
Sending a quick "Cease firing!" to his companions, Zeus took a deep breath and began to shout.
"We are not your enemy, but simply here to see who you are and to offer help. My friends and I have nothing to do with those who attacked you."
When no reply came, even if the aliens had stopped firing as well, Zeus risked taking a peak over his cover. The aliens had steadily advanced and were surrounding their position, keeping their weapons pointed towards them at all times. One of the unmasked ones was, meanwhile, looking back in Zeus' direction and smiled ferally.
"You do not matter. You are prey."
Then, with an impossibly high and long jump, especially since he was standing still before, he crossed the remaining distance to the immortal and thrust his right hand forward. Only now did the immortal register the strange slit on the aliens' palm as it opened up slightly similar to a small mouth before eating.
Zeus had spent countless years training to fight, though, and was high on adrenalin. Dancing out of the hands he thrust the arm aside before swiping with his foot along the ground. Instinctively, he became aware of the other unmasked aliens attacking his own companions, while Zelos still remained motionless on the ground. As the alien jumped over his kick, he felt Hades connect to his mind.
"Be careful, Zeus! Those are monsters! We found them feeding on a small village, they literally drained the poor souls dry with their hands, and they appeared unbelievably strong."
As a result, Zeus became more aggressive and thrust his fist forward hard and fast and finally managed to navigate through his opponent's guard, punching the aliens gut with all his strength. Instead of the alien doubling over in pain, though, as Zeus had expected, it simply gave an annoyed hiss, before thrusting his arms together. Zeus just managed to jank his arm back before the odd angle would have most likely broken several bones in his arm.
Moments later, Hermes' squad finally returned, sending several bolts of yellow plasma into the treeline as they passed by Zeus' position. Directly behind them, though, six blueish sleeker ships passed the tree line, their engines giving off a high pitched sound as they fired blue weapons after the Goa'uld glider. Apparently, Hermes was in trouble as well.
Zeus managed to use the distraction, though, and vaulted over his cover, firing his zat'ni'katel to down one of the masked fighters around him, as well as catching his opponent's face with his heavy boot. With satisfaction, the immortal heard several bones crack in the aliens face.
No matter what you are, breaking bones, especially those in your head, hurt. Deciding that the alien was, for the moment, sufficiently occupied, Zeus ducked under the volley of enemy fire the masked opponents sent his way and fired back another shot, before crossing the distance to the last group of masked fighters on his side of the crafts.
Luckily, the masked aliens appeared to be henchmen, who were just as sturdy, but a lot less skilled then the unmasked fighters holding his two companions at bay. Just as Zeus thrust the knife he carried on his hip into his last opponent's throat, a flash illuminated the darkening sky, as a pillar of light descended from the sky and cut into where Zeus knew the second alien ship to be.
"Is anybody still airborn and free? There is something still in space."
Charon, Hades' son of almost a thousand five hundred, was the first one to answer. He had left their new island several decades ago with his elder mentor, intending on patrolling through Southern America.
"Zeus. We are pulling up above the clouds to check, but we have only one fighter. We are not going to be able to fight anything up there, even if they are close enough to Earth."
Startled by the sudden light spectacle, most of the fighting had stopped in the clearing as immortals and aliens alike watched the beam strike into the ground. A scream of pain finally brought Zeus' attention back to the battle raging between the two Goa'uld gliders, though.
His own opponent, moments ago almost incapacitated and disfigured from his broken jaw, was now standing over Zelos, who was screaming in pain as the aliens sharp fingernails dug into his chest. The alien, though, contrary to what Zeus would have expected, appeared just as stunned.
"What are you? He is not ageing." The aliens voice once again carried a threatening, hissing sound with it that made Zeus skin crawl. At the same time, he suddenly understood that Zelos power somehow influenced what the alien was trying to do to him. Just as Zeus prepared to throw his knife, having lost his zat'ni'katel in the scuffle earlier, Iris beat him to it.
At just over a thousand four hundred years, she had been reborn shortly after their defeat of Chronos and was therefore the teams second eldest member, as well as the only one to really be considered completely trained by the elders admittedly harsh standards. Unhesitantly, the relatively young woman thrust both her hands out, one towards her own opponent, one towards the alien standing over Zelos. While her own opponent anticipated an attack and crossed his arm over his chest, the second one seemed obvious to his impending death.
Neither action nor inaction mattered, though, as moments later twin bolts of white light left the woman's hands and violently exploded against the ribcages of both aliens, sending both of them flying and leaving dark blue burn marks and a the foul stench of burnt flesh hanging in the air.
As Zeus hurried back to help Zelos sit up and check on the poor man, the other aliens slowly backed away from the strange creatures with the even stranger powers before they completely broke and ran.
"Don't let them get away to report back," Zeus snapped immediately, sending the two standing immortals flying into the woods and after their fleeing opponents.
"He...He accessed my powers." Zelos' voice was shaky, either from shock or exhaustion, Zeus did not know. Immediately, though, the immoral warrior snapped towards what he thought to be an alien carcass, which suddenly sat back up again and immediately jumped to his feet..
"You're ok?" Seeing Zelos nod and slowly sitting back up on his own, Zeus stood as well.
Zeus thought he knew what to expect from his opponent as he engaged him again, opening the battle with a low punch followed by a kick to the feet. The alien was faster, though, then anything the immortal had ever faced before. Almost carelessly, it stepped and danced out of the way of his punches, never attacking as if to play with him or to bait him.
Zeus took the bait. Reaching into his powers, he allowed the calming infinity to flow through him as he filled his hands with bolts of lightning. Previously, he had killed Jaffa and even Goa'uld instantly with the amount of energy he now unleashed on the strange blue parasite. The alien, though, simply walked through Zeus' attack, completely ignoring his flesh burning away and recovering at the same rate.
Somehow, Zeus knew, the alien had made use of the energy Zelos had available to him and was now converging it to supplement his own body. Strangely enough, though, the abilities seemed almost stronger, or at least more focused then what Zeus had learnt to expect from his own powers. While the alien had, so far, not chaneled any energy outward, its body was clearly strongly enhanced.
Then, without a warning, the alien began to attack. Faster then the immortal could react, even after years of training close combat with Hades, blows rained down on his body from all sides. Desperately, Zeus tried to ward of the right hand carrying the strange slit at least, rightfully deducing it to be of significance to the power transfer.
Zeus quickly was forced to tap heavily as the alien broke through his defence again and again. Every time the alien's strange right hand came close to his body, a shield or a small blast would allow the immortal to gain some temporary distance again. Never, though, did he get the chance to really leash out, as the alien was too fast and too restless in its attacks.
Suddenly, faster then he could fully comprehend, Zeus found himself face down in the mud as the alien's knee pierced into his back. As two hands lowered themselves to Zeus' neck intending on snapping it, a torrent of white unleashed from the edge of the clearing.
Zelos was panting hard as he tapped into his powers. While he could feel his connection to them slowly returning, the former ease with which he had accessed them was still gone, as if he had completely exhausted that which he could access. Now, though, for the first time in his life, the young immortal reached for everything he had still available, and thrust it all out towards the alien. He had seen the ease with which it had shrugged of Zeus' attack, who had a lot better control over his powers then he had.
As the energy crashed into the alien from behind, it was once again sent flying, as his arms, legs and back were disintegrated almost instantly. Sliding over the the forest soil, the alien gave a his of pain as the dirt entered his wounds.
Zelos tumbled on the spot as he tried to regain his breath. Exerting this much energy had tired him out more then he had expected, as if he himself had provided part of the energy he unleashed. Meanwhile, Zeus groaned and sat up groggily, shooting a thankful look to his younger colleague, before rushing over to steady the younger man, completely disregarding his own exhaustion and wounds.
Before he got there, though, a blur passed Zeus and violently picked Zelos up. The alien, already completely recovered from his ordeal, easily held his attacker by the neck as he squeezed, before smiling ferally.
For his time, Zelos was not a small man. Still, the alien easily towered over his one meter sixty frame, and held his body in the air one handed as if he was weightless. At the same time, it drew his other arm back to deliver a devastating punch to its capture's chest. Even from the few steps he was still away, Zeus could hear the ribs break as his companion accelerated rapidly, flying through the clearing. Zelos barely had time to scream before his flight was stopped just as violently against the trunk of a mighty Norweyan Oak. Unmoving, the young immortal's body slid down the trunk and crumbled on the forest ground.
Zeus stopped running immediately, instead brining his hands up in a classical guard position. He knew the alien was going to target him now, and with all his companions engaged in equally important tasks, he was going to have to rely on his own strength to defeat it.
Even prepared, Zeus could not react as the alien lunged forward once more, burying it's fist in his own guts, before spinning around and delivering a kick to his back as he doubled over. Seconds after the third round of their scuttle had started, Zeus was on the ground once again as the alien stalked towards him.
Desperately, Zeus unleashed dozens of bolts of energy to slow his enemy down and gain time to think of a strategy, even as he got back to his feet. His foe, though, simply sidestepped them and rushed forward the moment he was back up.
Instinctively, Zeus brought his arm up, successfully blocking the first strike, before the aliens left hand once more broke through his defence. Briefly, Zeus thought about simply giving up or retreating, but discarded it just as quickly. For once, he still did not know whether or not the alien fully possessed Zelos' powers, and could not allow a foe this dangerous to get away. Additionally, he hoped Iris and Hypnos would return soon to aid him, once they manged to clean up the last of their prey in the forest – if their fight was more successful then his own, at least.
Once again, Zeus pushed himself to his feet, this time holding a shield before himself the moment he did so. With a satisfying clunk, the alien smashed into his protection, even as the immortal strained to hold his protection against the onslaught of pure kinetic energy.
Moments later, the pressure was gone as the alien retreated a step, dancing around the protection Zeus held against it. Before the immortal could relocate his shield, the alien's foot crashed against his knee, violently popping the knee cap out of its socket.
From the ground, Zeus watched helplessly and in pain as his adversary lunged at him, helpless to to anything else.
For the second time that evening, light shone down onto Earth from outer space. This time, though, instead of a single thick and powerful beam, dozens of smaller beams blinked into existence all over the area, lighting up the small forest.
This time, Zeus did not relax and stare until the alien he was fighting was caught in one such beam just as it prepared to lunge forward. The immortal then watched in fascination as the alien was first lifted a few feet of the ground and then slowly disintegrated into his elements top down before he dropped down to the ground, lying flat and panting as he enjoyed the feel of his various scrapes and bruises slowly fading away, the danger passed.
"Zeus! Are you all right?" Iris and Hypnos had broken out of the underwood, clearly having sprinted for a while as they returned to the clearing.
"It was insane," Hypnos panted, although clearly exited, "these lights simply picked up all the aliens and sent them away. We even saw them take a whole ship, just like that."
Iris, meanwhile, had kneeled down next to the downed immortal and tried to help him sit up.
"I'm fine, thanks. Go check on Zelos."
Iris seemed conflicted, but relented once she realized that not only was Zeus her senior by many thousand years and still breathing, he was also already sitting back up on his own already. While Hypnos still babbled through his report, she rushed to her other companion and checked on his pulse, before giving Zeus a shake of her head. Zelos' neck had broken.
Zeus closed his eyes for a moment, sending a prayer to the ancestors. Although he suspected Zelos would return, they had no experience with the strange powers of the aliens and therefore could not know for sure.
"Zeus? The good news is, who ever is up there is not Goa'uld. The bad news is, there are three ships, and, judging by the debris up there, all three are quiet strong. We found the remains of a small fleet of ships from the other aliens, but non that looked like it once belonged to one of the winner's ships." Charon reported once he had brought his ship close to the surface again, and Zeus was within range of his mental reach once more.
Nodding, even though the younger man would not be able to see him, Zeus reached out with his own mind. Unable to contact Hermes directly, he finally broadened his reach to all remaining immortals in his reach. "Can anybody airborn report, please? I can not find Hermes."
The reply was almost instantaneous, but not from Hermes but from one of the younger immortals in his team. "Hermes is dead, and so is his wingman. They tried to launch an attack on the ship, but they had energy shields. Hermes' fighter was shredded by the crafts point defence weapons. His wingman managed to pull up in time, but was immediately assaulted by enemy fighters. We had no chance to get to him in time."
Before Zeus had a chance to more then acknowledge the message, an unknown voice spoke up in the clearing.
"Greetings, friends."
All three remaining immortals were on a hair trigger as they swirled towards the source of the voice. A few steps away, a large, strong, blond man with bright blue eyes, packed in furs, suddenly found three weapons pointed at him. Calmly, the man smiled before lifting his hands, showing them to be empty.
"I am Thor of the Asgard. Might I enquire as to who you are?"
Internally, Zeus cursed as he heard the strangers name. While they had talked about the Goa'uld's more ancient history and wars with Egeria during their years in Shank'anon, the focus of their talks had always been the more recent situation. As a result, Zeus desperately wished for one of the other elders, those who had been reborn before the rebellion in Egypt, to confer with as he mustered the man standing before him. As it was, he was unsure if his memory did not betray him and he doubted any of the youngsters in his group had ever even heard of the Asgard he thought he was remembering.
"I am unfamiliar with the Asgard tribe. Did we intrude in your hunting grounds? If so, I apologize."
The momentary look of surprise and amusement flickering across the man's face confirmed Zeus' intuition. Stepping forward slightly, he slowly, as not to appear threatening, moved his hand towards the mans stomach, and was unsurprised to see it glide through unopposed, leaving behind a quickly restabilizing disturbance.
Before the projection had a chance to react, Zeus continued, "Most impressive. As far as I am aware, the Goa'uld have only just begun experimenting with holographic technology, and have been so far unable to project it any further then a few feet. The ability to alter an image fast enough to create the illusion of a real person is just as impressive, though. I do, however, prefer to speak face to face. Can I assume the three ships in orbit are yours?"
The man seemed to stare at a just over Zeus' left shoulder for a moment before nodding. Moments later, a Iris and Hypnos jumped as a white flash of light filled the clearing and took their leader away.
.
Zeus reappeared in spartan, grey room, surrounded by a dozen or so tall, grey aliens. With his second glance, Zeus took in the rest of the room, the bridge of one of the ships, he realized, and the various stations the aliens were manning, before his eyes fell on the large forward view screen showing the stars above Earth.
Thor watched closely as the human took in the bridge of his ship. While non of the information he could currently obtain held any tactical importance, his first reaction could provide vital clues as to the identity and technological proficiency of the man, as well as his knowledge about Asgard culture. From his comments on the planet, Thor knew the man to be knowledgeable of space, so the Supreme Commander was surprised when the stranger suddenly jumped and became clearly agitated.
"Are we within the confines of lunar orbit?" Zeus was aware his voice was harsher then it should be, but right now, the treaty they had with the Goa'uld was the most important thought on his mind. Briefly, he wondered whether or not his abduction from the planet would be enough to break the treaty, before deciding it probably would not, if he returned swiftly and especially not if the Goa'uld did not find out.
Thor glanced at his officer manning navigational controls for confirmation before he nodded at the man, puzzled as to his behaviour. "We are currently in low orbit above Terra, at about one fifth of the distance to the moon."
Zeus breathed a sign of relieve, before mentally restarting his thoughts and addressing the alien clearly waiting for him, standing in the centre of the bridge.
"I apologize for my lack of manners just now, but there is an important treaty me people hold with the Goa'uld that forbids me from leaving Earth's surface further then the orbit of our moon. May I assume you are Thor?" At the aliens nod, Zeus continued, "I admit, I was a bit startled to suddenly find myself on your ship. I am Zeus."
Thor seemed puzzled as he replied. "Greetings, Zeus. In that case, allow me to apologize for taking you, but it appeared to me to be your wish. Additionally, I wish to apologize for not coming to your aid sooner, but in order to prevent the Wraith from transmitting the location of this planet to their kind, we had to disable our own sensors. It took a moment to initialize secondary systems that were precise enough to target our anti-infantry weaponry."
Zeus blinked once, slowly, as he took in the various pieces of information the alien had just provided for him. "We did not know the aliens were called that. In any case, no apology is necessary. The aid you have provided in our fight is most welcome, and, in fact, saved my live, for my opponent vastly outclassed me. I am in your debt."
Thor blinked once, slowly, the first time since he came on board, as far as Zeus could tell, before he replied.
"If you are unfamiliar with the Wraith, why did you seek them out and fight them?"
Zeus hesitated for a moment, before deciding to place some trust into the alien. The Asgard were, after all, a sworn enemy of the Goa'uld and seemed to be not only technologically advanced, but also highly civilized.
"We have seen the ships go down and went to check whether they were Goa'uld, and whether we could help anybody. The Wraith, however, attacked us immediately up on arrival. At first, we assumed they thought we were the ones who had shot them down, but they ignored our explanations.
Once we had discovered them murdering dozens of innocents in the villages surrounding their ship, though, we began fighting to dispel them. The protection of humanity is the most important point of our existence."
Zeus hesitated for a moment, clearly in doubt whether or not to ask a question, before finally deciding that he had nothing to loose.
"How did you come to Earth? We are very thankful for your assistance, but as far as I am aware, the Asgard live in another galaxy entirely, and even their outposts here in the Milky Way galaxy are quiet far away from Earth."
Thor blinked again, making Zeus think the movement was a sign of emotion from the otherwise perfectly expressionless alien, before answering.
"The Asgard have waited for an invasion by the Wraith for over seven thousand years. Our allies had lost a war against them and fled here, and, before leaving this existence behind, warned us to protect both ourselves and their legacy, the humans."
Zeus started at both the time and the mandate of the Asgard. It seemed eerily familiar to him, even though he quickly discarded the thought as most unlikely, even if they had never found any more indication of the strange old traveller who had visited him and his wife in Shank'anon shortly before Egeria invaded.
"It would seem, then, that our goals are the same, Thor of the Asgard."
.
Iris and Hypnos leaned against a tree, the dead body of Zelos already stacked into one of the fighters, when Zeus reappeared in the clearing a few hours later.
Immediately, both immortals jumped to their feet and rushed over to their leader, where Iris began to question him.
"Where have you been? Hades said not to worry too much when we reported to him, but did not explain why. The area here has been silent, and so has the larger ship. Hades lost four of his people in the first engagement, as well, though. We still have no communications, though."
As the woman finally stopped to take a breath, Zeus held up a hand to gently stop her, before answering.
"Saddle up and return to the island at once. I will follow you as soon as I have alerted the others."
Both immortals knew better then to question the elders orders, so they climbed on board of one of the gliders, even as Zeus closed his mind to reach out. A few minutes later, Zeus' own glider rose up as well as he joined the second group of immortals, those coming from the Hive ship, in their return home.
The moment the second group cleared the airspace above the cruiser, the Ragnarok opened fire in orbit, easily tearing through the smaller Wraith ships's armour and into the power core. In a wave of secondary explosions, the second Wraith ship exploded in a ball of heat and sound.
"You knew this was going to happen, " Hades accused his friend as they watched the spectacle behind them.
"Of course. The main ship is too heavily protected. Destroying it from orbit would mean serious damage to this planet, but the small ship only took another small nudge. This way, we only have to deal with one ship, and a few hundred of these aliens less."
Persephone, who had quietly listened to her two partners' banter suddenly broke in, shocked.
"Zeus, did you just say a few hundred? We had problems dealing with just a few dozen of these guys."
"I'll explain more as we land, but yes, there are countless of these aliens on board of this ship. According to the Asgard, this ship is a Hive ship, carrying a whole tribe of Wraith."
As the group set their ships down on the centre of their little island, Zeus raised his hand and let louse a loud thriller, causing the others to turn and look at him.
"Everybody, stay for a moment, please." Once he was sure he had the attention of the whole group, Zeus continued.
"Today, we have made a new enemy. In our first engagement, we have sustained more losses then during the whole fight against Chronos. In fact, the only time we ever lost more of our friends was during the rebellion of Egypt.
The enemy calls themselves the Wraith. They are from the Pegasus nebula, which is a dwarf galaxy in our local cluster, where they have ruled absolutely for over seven thousand years."
Slowly, Zeus could hear murmurs spread through the group as the others began to discuss and question his information.
"The enemy is rich in numbers, and physically stronger then even the Goa'uld. They rely on humans, who have been seeded in their home galaxy millions of years ago, as energy source, normally using a slit like organ on their right hand to introduce a toxin into their victim's body that rapidly breaks up the body's cells as they feed, making their prey age rapidly. Zelos was one such victim, but his powers prevented the alien from actually ageing him. Instead, the alien accessed his powers directly, and grew overproportionately strong. Even together, Zelos and I failed to keep him at bay, and I would have died as well had it not been for the Asgard's intervention.
I am telling you this, because as of right now, the Wraith are our main priority. The danger they pose to the humans of Earth is greater then that of the Goa'uld, since they aim to kill, not to enslave their victims. I do not know how we will fight them, yet, or even if we can.
There are good news, today, as well, though. The smaller of the two ships has already been destroyed. More importantly, however, we have gained a powerful new ally today."
Here, Zeus stopped his speech and reached into the folds of his tunic, pulling out a small crystal.
The moment his fist fully curled around it, a white flash blended the immortals momentarily, leaving Thor standing on the small rise Zeus had chosen to speak from.
"Welcome, Thor, to our island. These are my friends and family. Friends, this is Thor, Supreme Commander of the Asgard Fleet. I wanted you to see an Asgard, once, so you are able to recognize our new friends."
.
After a, to Thor, at least, surprisingly short service to the fallen members of the strange group, in which the recoverable bodies had been burned, Zeus, Hades and Poseidon settled down with Thor to discuss future tactics against the Wraith.
Despite being used to the hygienic and grey environment of an Asgard battle ship, Thor seemed at ease in the small hut, Zeus' home, which the four elder beings had chosen for their conference. Sitting on one of the chairs Zeus had provided for him, the alien inspected the various trinkets the immortal had collected and created throughout his live.
Prominent in the room, on the mantel piece above a small, so far unused fireplace, an eagle in flight and a brown wolf flanked a pale white sphere and an equally pale white wolf. Curiously, Thor turned to his companion.
"Do these have a special meaning? Are they of religious nature, perhaps?"
Zeus smiled sadly as he came to a stop next to the larger alien, his eyes never leaving the two figures in the centre.
"No. Most of us do not believe in any graspable entity you could classify as god or gods, but merely in a power much larger then we are, an infinite energy, that permeates the universe and provides life with energy and safeguards it. These figures are merely personal memoria of the people I lost in my life – my mentor, wife and son, as well as a memento of the past and where I came from."
As Thor continued to study both the figures, seemingly even more intrigued then before, Zeus reached out to his two companions.
"We have a choice to make. How much do we actually tell him? I have not said anything directly, but he might suspect quiet a bit. Possibly, the Asgard can even help us to understand what we are, exactly."
The moment both Hades and Poseidon agreed to reveal their nature to their new ally, Thor spoke up as well.
"That is a curious believe, but it is also one I have heard before. Do you know how your forefathers came to believe so?"
Poseidon stepped up to the group as well, talking quietly. "They did not. We are the first to believe so here on Earth, which has a very specific reason. However, for now, we have more pressing things to attend to. Afterwards, if you are interested, we will gladly tell you our story and hear your opinion on it. We do not yet understand it completely ourselves."
Thor nodded slightly, before retaking his seat. "Very well, then. I trust Zeus has already informed you as to the nature of our new enemy, so let me get to our current situation straight away.
My flagship, the Ragnarok, as well as her two escorts, have successfully waylaid the Wraith as they came out of hyperspace. Unfortunately, their Hive ship has been, contrary to our information, equipped with an energy shielding to supplement the already sturdy hull, which prevented us from completely destroying the thing in space, or here on Earth.
We did, however, manage to critically damage their propulsion system. Scans we made during their entry into the planet's atmosphere indicate that the system is too damaged to properly regenerate. This Hive is not going to go anywhere. During their descend, they launched all three of their cruisers, as well as a majority of the fighters they had available, all of which have since been destroyed.
To prevent them from communicating with the rest of their kind in the Pegasus galaxy, the Sigyn is currently projecting a subspace interdiction field. Theoretically, it should prevent them from using their scanners as well, but we have no way to confirm this, currently. On the other hand, our own long-range communications are equally inhibited. As a short term solution, we have launched a repeater drone to the edge of the field, which enables me to communicate with the rest of the High Council. Ideally, though, I would like to reenable communications as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, the Wraith Hive ship is heavily protected by its shield and hull. Our attempt to destroy is has not only failed, but also damaged this planets ecosystem. Another attempt would be discouraged."
Hades nodded along with the alien's explanation. "OK, so we can not attack him from space. Unless your fighters are vastly superior to ours, an assault that way would be suicide. Do you have any alternative means of attacking? Explosive devices, for example, that might be powerful enough to penetrate their shields?"
Thor tilted his head slightly. "An interesting proposition. We have several devices on anti-matter and on fusion basis that have a high enough yield to cause significant damage to their system. Unfortunately, their energy shield prevents us from beaming the devices directly inside. From the outside, most of the damage would be deflected. Enough devices in quick succession might still penetrate the shield and even destroy the vessel, but the reflected energy would be impossible to calculate with a sufficient precision. In any case, the devices would devastate the area in a large radius. To achieve a sufficient damage, we would have to be prepared to either relocate or annihilate all live on that continent. Of course, uncontrolled secondary explosions within the ship might cause further damage."
Collectively, all three immortals gulped, before Hades summed their thought up quiet nicely. "Well, let's keep that one as plan N, shall we?"
Thor fixed the man with a curious look. "I do not understand, Hades. What does N stand for."
The former infiltrator grinned at the alien. "Plan Never, of course, as in never, ever will we attempt that one."
Zeus rolled his eyes at his friends lame attempt to heighten the mood, while at the same time leaning forward slightly. "So, gentleman, the only other thing I could come up with would be a ground assault. How would we do this?"
While Hades and Poseidon tried to recall the landscape around the ship to identify possible entrance points, Thor immediately shook his head.
"The enemy possesses significant numbers. The Asgard have not had any ground troops for many thousand years, and any form of enlistment would be met with heavy opposition. Additionally, the Wraith are physically superior to the Asgard in almost any way. We have no way to match them in ground combat."
Although both Zeus and Poseidon frowned as well, it was Hades who actually spoke up.
"We can more then hold our own, as well, you know. This is our fight as much, or even more so then yours."
Thor stared at Hades unblinkingly, his black eyes seemingly inspecting every inch of the human's face.
"The human physic is just as inferior as the Asgard's. That you managed to hold out against the patrol today is most impressive, but if I recall, you took quiet heavy losses in both locations. Also, you have nowhere near the numbers to actually threaten the Wraith."
Hades opened his mouth to protest, but a quick look from Zeus, as well as a mental nudge, shut him up, although he sent a questioning look back.
"Do you have a better idea, then? Just allowing the Wraith to have their way on Earth is out of the question." The eldest immortal asked instead of answering Hades' look.
Nodding curtly, Thor laid a small stone on the table, before gliding his hand along the surface. Immediately, a three dimensional representation of the Wraith ship and its surroundings filled the surface.
"Currently, three ships of the Asgard's presence in this galaxy are in position above Earth, while the rest are on alert should we register any more ships or should we need help here. The Wraith's shield prevents us from attacking their hive ship, but the moment they leave their ship, we can easily pick them of and destroy them.
Our scans before their crash show that their engines are completely destroyed. Additionally to the damage the Geirölul did to their subspace engines, their flight here completely burned out the hyperdrive coils.
The shield they are using is not of their own design. As a result of the makeshift build-in, the drain of the shield on their reactor is great. Therefore, my scientists presume that their energy supply should last them a finite amount of time, while the Asgard ships can easily refuel over time. Since the ship has crashed in a remote area, the danger of detection is slim, especially so once we set up additional protections, such as holographic projectors.
I propose we set up a more localized black-out field using relay stations on these four mountains to enable our sensors and communications."
Here, the alien indicated to four mountain tops in equal distance around the Wraith ship on his map, well out of their shields.
"Afterwards, we simply wait out until the Wraith either starve to death, destroy themselves in their fight for the remaining food supplies, or loose their main energy. Then, we can easily pick them up with our space-to-ground weaponry."
Zeus, Hades and Poseidon shared a glance, before Poseidon grinned. "Well, no fight means no danger, and I like that. What time frame are we talking about here, until we starve them out? Also, why did you even need us?"
"My scientists estimate the reactor will last another four to six hundred years. We do not know their technology, though, so it might be longer. I am here because, as you pointed out before, this is more your fight then it is mine, so I wished to include the humans in any plan we initiate. As you were the only ones who had noticed the Wraith, or appeared advanced enough to understand them, I came to you."
While both Hades and Zeus thought about the aliens reason, and tried to guess which consequences their real nature would have on his decision, Poseidon concentrated on the first point discussed.
"That is a long time. Are you sure you will be available this long? This plan relies on the continuos presence of Asgard ships in the atmosphere. What will happen when you need the ships elsewhere, or when a new administration decides to give our situation less priority."
Thor actually seemed confused by the question for a moment, before his eyes sparkled in realization and amusement.
"The Asgard High Council, our highest executive organ, consists of the leading experts in their various fields. As such, the same members have held power for seven thousand years, when we had sufficiently developed our cloning technology. Even should we ever be replaced, either due to death or through popular vote, both are theoretically possible, but highly unlikely giving current developments, as Supreme Commander of the Fleet, and thereby highest ranking member of our military, I can leave standing orders my successor has to follow.
So do not fear, even if the ships in orbit were needed, I can guarantee you enough time for us to implement any of the discussed alternatives, or anything else we might come up with, at least."
"What is cloning?" Poseidon's question cut of Zeus, who had just opened his mouth as well.
"It is a form of artificial reproduction. We grow new bodies on the base of our current ones, to transfer our consciousnesses into."
"You use a form of asexual reproduction on the basis of accelerated stem cell groth to constantly regrow new bodies instead of dying? That seems...unwise. Given enough time, I can think of numerous problems here." Poseidon's voice was clearly sceptical.
Thor seemed surprised the human had understood their concept this quickly, even as Zeus and Hades nodded in assent.
"Our scientists have put various safeguards into place. The process has been tested, deemed safe, and successfully in use for many thousand years. I can assure you it is safe. You are a lot more advanced then I would have thought, initially. I did not expect you to know about genetic engineering."
"Well, if you say so." Poseidon finally murmured, before continuing loud. "Biology has been a matter of interest in our research for a while. The question what we are, and why we are what we are, holds a special fascination in all of us."
Before Thor had a chance to process the information, Zeus rerouted the conversation to its inital purpose.
"Anyways, so we can be sure of the Asgard's continuous presence here. That does leave me with only one concern. You said earlier that the Wraith were extremely powerful. What prevents them from sending more ships here, to rescue their comrades and reattack this planet."
"I have thought about that, as well, " Thor replied, "and inspected the database we have been left on the Wraith. In fact, I had wondered why they had not sent more ships, already. Apparently, they are a tribal-like society, without a central from of government, and with a most fragile peace in place between them. It is unlikely that this Hive has shared the location of this galaxy with the rest of its kind, thereby giving up a major advantage. Additionally, the hyperdrive they used to get here is clearly Alteran in origin. It is likely the Hive could only get here because they managed to salvage this ship from their former enemies.
The Alteran were the ones to warn us about the Wraith, and to provide us with information on them, even if they have long since left this existence behind. They had only few ships unaccounted for when they left Pegasus galaxy, so it is unlikely many more ships will come. If they do, though, the Asgard fleet will be ready and answer in force. The Moros network will inform us sufficiently ahead of time."
Both Hades and Zeus had simultaneously leaned forward upon hearing the last sentence.
"The Moros network?" Zeus' question carried both curiosity, as well as a hint of longing.
"Yes. It is a network of satellites the Asgard have installed on the edge of this galaxy, as well as in the empty space beyond, to inform us should the Wraith arrive here. It is named after Moros, the leader of the Alteran people when they returned here from Pegasus, to honour his contribution to the reinstatement of our alliance, as well as the help he has given our people."
"These Alterans, " Hades asked, "they were aliens, right? Would they have the technology to look like humans?"
Thor blinked once, before answering calmly. "They would not need to. The Alterans formed the humans from their image when they left them behind to repopulate this galaxy. From the outside, there is no conceivable difference difference between the average Alteran and a human."
Zeus became completely serious immediately. "So this Moros: A guy about my hight; Caucasians; elderly; silver grey hair; strong shoulders; wise, blue eyes?"
"I uploaded a complete first contact set onto this crystal, including a historical database of the Asgard." Thor explained as he waved his hand over the small stone on the table once again. At once, the landscape disappeared and an the upper body of a man appeared, matching the description Zeus had given. "This is Moros of the Alterans. Why? How can you know him? I was under the impression humans could live for sixty to seventy years at most. Moros has been gone for thousands of years."
Seeing his friend shell-shocked, Hades leaned over and gently laid a hand on the other immortal's shoulder. "Zeus?"
"Yeah, it's him. That is the man who came to Shank'anon, the only one who ever gave us any clue as to what we are."
For the first time, Poseidon could see curiosity on the alien's face as Thor leaned forward in his seat to fix Zeus with his eyes. "I believe it is time you told me exactly what you are."
"Where and when I was born, " Zeus began, "it was custom to rename a man once he showed a defining trait. My birth parents named me Little Bear, but before I reached adulthood, my village was attacked and slaughtered. I had been out hunting, but returned just in time to see the end of it. That day, everything changed. For the first time, I tapped into a power that was far greater then anything I had ever experienced before as I tried to protect a little girl and her mother. I died, and came back, stronger then before, with powers beyond my understanding.
We still burn our dead to free their souls, and allow them to return faster. After the first time, it usually takes a couple of years.
All that was almost seven thousand years ago, even before the Goa'uld extended the reach of their domains on this planet beyond Egypt. Others have appeared since who were just like me – self-sacrificing, powerful, and unable to die. We have banded together and tried to help the innocent ever since.
Near the beginning of my live, when it was just my wife and me, a stranger appeared in our home. He told us his name was Moros, told us about the others who would come eventually, told us about our powers, and disappeared again before we had a chance to process it.
We fought the Goa'uld in secret for a long time, and eventually managed to find an ally in their Queen Egeria. Together, we finally ended the snakes' supremacy over Egypt, and later on beat back their second attempt to invade."
Thor asked plenty of questions, and the trio attempted to answer them to the best of their abilities, until, finally, late that night, Thor leaned back in his chair and relaxed.
"If Moros charged you with your task, and I have no reason to believe otherwise, our tasks are, in fact, the same. Therefore, it will be in the Asgard's best interest to support you in any way we can, and that most especially means teaching you everything we know and supplying you with what you need to grow."
The next morning, dozens of Asgard beamed down onto the planet and began to teach the immortals about Physics, Chemistry and Biology, as well as Galactic History, Philosophy, and everything else that could be useful, or caught their fancy.
.
AN: OK, so I am curious. Is it really that important to write 'Review, Please' under each chapter? The one time I did, I got more reviews (3), then in all other chapters combined (2).
Also, the next chapter might take a while. I want to get a good start on the one after that, just in case I have to go back to make things fit. Don't worry, though, the Wraith are not done yet.