The War
by chaos_eternus
Continuation of Live Free! And First Strike.
This Ba'al was perhaps a greater threat then Anubis or Maktenos. Anubis was cruel and his advanced technologies lent him a great advantage, Maktenos trained his people better and perhaps had the best grasp of logistics of all the Free Jaffa's foes.
But Ba'al…
Ba'al was inventive, Ba'al knew when to fold and he knew when to strike. He was not above presenting a false face to us, and whilst he could be cruel and unforgiving, he was not needlessly so.
The last true System Lord was perhaps the greatest threat of them all. In him, perhaps the Tau'ri's Darwin had his proof. Survival of the fittest… and this man was certainly fit. It would not matter, he may be a fox but he is a wounded one and we are the hounds. He may wound us, in fact he almost certainly will but in the end, we shall prevail.
That I shall see it personally.
It seems strange to think that it was almost two years ago now that the search for Ba'al began. Two years of fighting, of dying, of mourning and of rebuilding.
Of expanding.
Ba'al stripped this space just to delay us, six worlds drained of all their refined metals, their people, their resources, all taken to one world. A world he fortified in the space of a year, created a computer into which he copied his own mind and then left.
No doubt he felt we would batter ourselves uselessly against the forts, be so weakened as to have to flee once more back to Free Jaffa space to regroup before returning here once more.
It was a simple desperate move for time.
It both succeeded and failed.
We have patrolled the local area, we know he is not close, but we have held ourselves here. With the help of the Tau'ri, the mind of Anubis has been purged from the defence grid and one of our most loyal has replaced it.
This system, its forts, its peoples are our now.
This is our base for the continuing war against Ba'al and a fallback position against the bulk of our space being overrun. It took some time to persuade the peoples that we are not their enemy, to turn this system to our needs, to be reinforced but we are ready now.
Ba'al, we come for thee.
I expected the search to take its time, I expected Ba'al to move as far away from known space as possible, the better to hide, to reduce the risk of discovery. Perhaps, I should have considered that more closely.
I had ordered for reinforcements a legion of Al-kesh to scout out the stars in this quadrant of space and now, for six months they have been searching and finding nothing.
A doubt has struck me, what if Ba'al had not fled but had instead turned back, headed towards the known worlds, cloaked himself in the chaos that gripped what was once the unchallenged domain of the System Lords?
What if we had killed him and not even known?
What if, even know he hid unknown amongst the denizens of this world we know called ours?
What if…
I have lost many Jaffa and ships since that day so long ago when I was told to leave all that I knew behind to seek out and destroy this man, this parasite. In that time I have had almost no contact with the one I call family, a fact I regret even as her brashness sometimes makes me worry.
I know the council are watching closer now, becoming wary of my lack of news and wonder if perhaps my ships, my thousands of troops would be better employed against Maktenos and Anubis. I do not blame them but in this at least the time it takes for news to travel from them to here acts in my favour, a two month delay is both bane and blessing but it ensures at least that any such decisions will not be made quickly.
One of our Al-kesh patrols spotted another Al-kesh on patrol yesterday. The second Al-kesh was not one of ours but was not identified. It could have been Ba'als but it could equally have been another remnant of the System Lords or even a Tau'ri long range patrol though I doubt the latter.
I must know.
I have ordered twenty Al-kesh and a pair of Ha'taks into the area.
It appears the Al-kesh that was sighted five days ago was a diversion. A raid was carried out on a secondary base of ours in which fifty of my warriors were killed, three Al-kesh and a scattering of Udajeet were destroyed. More are missing, presumed captured.
The attackers used Goa'uld weaponry, it would be easy perhaps even reasonable to assume it was Ba'al but there is no evidence for that.
The Al-kesh may not have been a diversion at all though think about it, the amount of forces a single Al-kesh diverted was relatively insignificant and none were diverted from the world that was struck.
What is certainly true is that somebody has taken a dislike to our presence and that we will need to find out who it was.
These attackers, whoever they are continue to annoy. Raids, feints, bombs… these are guerrillas in the classic and nastiest sense. They drain my resources but actually appear to have few of their own, nothing larger then a Tel'tac or Al-kesh has yet been seen.
Ba'al it appears intends to keep us occupied and worse, I suspect he is trying to keep us here. I think he himself has left this area completely… yet the attacks cant be ignored.
But the question still remains, for all we believe these forces relate to Ba'al, do they truly answer to him?
That is a question we have yet to find the answer for and I doubt the answer will be coming soon.
Two of my Al-kesh reported having successfully disabled one of the raiders Al-kesh three hours ago and now one of my Ha'tak's lies in ruins. I sent the ship to capture the Al-kesh hoping the information we could draw from its computers and crew would start to answer the question of who are attackers really are.
The two Al-kesh that disabled the craft in the first place reported a massive explosion aboard the Ha'tak in the hanger bays mere moments after the captured ship had been drawn aboard.
The ship is lost along with much of its crew and from the sensor records; it appears a Potassium-Naquadah device was used. A powerful weapon indeed…
My heart says this is all perfectly in line with what Ba'al is capable of, my head says prove it. I can not and by now I had expected far more in the way of results then I actually have.
If I do not find answers soon, I may find myself being relieved of my duty.
Two of the enemy Jaffa were captured today. It should have been a major coup, we should have been able to obtain much intelligence form them, willingly or not.
We did not, they had none to give, not in their minds anyway, for their minds were not their own. Their bodies told us much though, for they were clones.
Imperfect, they would have a limited lifespan, perhaps a year at most before they would be destroyed by their own bodies but much can be done in a year. This enemy is intelligent, technologically advanced and ruthless. He also has access to many resources…
It could be Ba'al, it could be another threat.
This is a question I must have an answer to.
A major attack was launched against us today, seven Ha'taks, a Rel'tec and five Ha'tens.
Ba'al has no Ha'tens , of that I am sure.
He certainly doesn't have Ha'tens of Maktenos manufacture.
He was not believed to be active in this area, but perhaps he had the same thought we did when we settled ourselves in this region, to create a hidden place from which to develop, to build to grow and to prepare. No matter, this base, wherever it is must be dealt with.
But with it comes a question, Ba'al headed almost directly here, did he intend to take, the base for his own needs? did he know of this base? Did he intend to distract us with its presence?
More questions, fewer answers.
It is certainly not fitting Maktenos public image that cloned and mindless troops are being used and yet, ships were used that could positively be identified as his.
I do not understand this, nor do I understand how we have missed a facility of the scale that would be needed to support so many ships and clone warriors.
The attack was repulsed at least, though not without loss.
A riot was quelled earlier today and when the survivors were interrogated, it was revealed that they had been subjected to Nish'ta. Nearly one-hundred and fifty humans died in the riot before it was stopped and it appears few if any of them had any choice over what they were doing.
A brutal move, but an effective one. A gulf remains between the humans and my Jaffa and this has only helped to widen it. Already there are areas within the cities that Jaffa dare not go alone but I can not blame the humans for this.
It was Jaffa who subjugated them, who destroyed their homes and then dumped them on this world once they were longer of any use. I doubt I would find it easy to now see Jaffa as friends and allies under those circumstances as well.
Still, it has revealed one truth to us.
There is at least one Goa'uld hiding on my world and that I can not; will not stand for.
They must be found.
There was a massed assault on this world earlier, an assault that was beaten off but barely. From what I saw in the battle I believe the enemy was well aware of our mobile capabilities but seemed surprised by the strength of the mobile weapons platforms we inherited from Ba'al.
The ships and the equipment used was all Maktenos standard
This could be a deliberate ploy to think it is Maktenos we face but I doubt it, for all I hate Maktenos I would not accuse him of using cloned and mindless troops. Anubis I would, damn the hasshak! Whilst I would gladly feast on his entrails it is not him we seek!
If he has a hidden base here it must be eliminated but it will slow down our search for Ba'al even more, give the mikta more time to rebuild and regroup. I have little doubt now that Ba'al knew what he was leading us into, little doubt he knew of the fight that was to come.
To weaken us, delay us against Maktenos… to weaken Maktenos or whoever this is by using us to destroy one of his hidden enclaves… this is Ba'als work. I'll need more warriors, more ships for this now. That base will need to be swiftly cleared out and then Ba'al chased and I have little doubt he will have more surprises for us.
Luckily, not all the enemy escaped the system when the fall-back signal came. We have prisoners to interrogate and ships computers to analyse. Soon, we shall know where our enemy hides and then we shall have them.
We know where our enemy hides now, the ships computers we captured told us that much even as the cloned Jaffa failed to tell us anything. The nature of that enemy still eludes us however… there is no doubt that whoever this is has been combining technologies not just of Maktenos and Anubis but of the Tau'ri and others as well.
Not only that, but this base has been operational for at least seven years. Whoever created this base knew enough to know the System Lords were going to fail and prepare accordingly including the slipping of agents into every group possible.
It reeks of Ba'al but I doubt Ba'al would lead us straight to what has to be one of his most important surviving facilities just to delay us. The loss in equipment, personnel, technology… it doesn't ring true. It has to be somebody else's but whose?
And yet, another disturbing thought hides in the back of my mind.
As major a facility as this is what if it was Ba'als and he felt he could afford to lose it? What possible other surprises are there out there for us?
I do not know… in fact I am almost scared to contemplate it but we do what we must. As soon as repairs are completed, I will organise a raid on that base. In the meantime I must think.
It was a base of Ba'als and he was waiting for us.
The Mikta was waiting for us.
I do now know how I escaped, I do remember seeing six of my Ha'taks destroyed in almost as many seconds, the sky being swiftly swept clear of my Al-kesh… the largest, most intricate planetary defense array I have even seen smash my fleet to shards in seconds.
I remember ordering a retreat… remember cursing as my last Cheops died… remember calling back to our base and receiving no reply.
Remember arriving back at the world we had seized to see the planetary defence grid I was so sure had been suborned firing on the world below, surrounded by the shattered remnants of those few ships I had left behind as a picket.
I know now we were meant to capture some of the attacking ships, meant to attack, meant to break our backs against fortress Ba'al.
And that we are not meant to survive.
As I write this a squadron of twenty Al-kesh are sweeping the system. Not fifteen minutes ago our sensors running on passive only picked up the death of my last Ha'tak, the last of my larger warships died almost twelve hours ago.
A surrender was heard from the world I once called mine about the same time, it wasn't acknowledged. Ba'al doesn't want anyone to know he is here and now, he is covering his tracks, making sure no-one survives to tell of his hideaway.
That shall not be.
A single Al-kesh may be all I have left with which to fight but in this moment it isn't about fighting. This is about ensuring the Free Jaffa, the Tau'ri, the Colonials, all those who would call themselves free peoples know where this enemy hides.
If Ba'al wants to hide, I say we disappoint him.
Its time we showed him a war.
I do not own nor do I claim ownerhsip of characters and or concepts from Stargate SG-1, Battlestar Galactica or any other non-original works contained within.