I am so freaking tired I have no idea how the hell I was able to write this. If you're wondering why I'm tired read at the bottom. Also the reason that I haven't named the Aurora Class Ship is because I'd intended to have you guys request a name. I don't want to name a new ship and I figure I might as well make the Democrostory as democratic as possible. So, you guys name the ship and I'll put up the coolest name I get. No, it can't be Janus. That's one thing I don't want it to be, plain and simple.
August 15, 1999
Harry and Thor stared at the human boy in front of them. It was inside the Ancient Machine that had created it, almost like a corpse in a coffin. The Machine resembled a coffin with a glass roof as well. The body was tall, taller than Harry, and had a clean-shaven face alongside bright brown eyes and hair. The tone muscles stood out against the clothing they had provided for it. Harry smiled as he admired the new body. Thor had immediately volunteered to be the first test to transfer the consciousness from one body to the next. "You know dad, you don't have to be the first test subject," Harry said.
"I see it as an opportunity," Thor corrected. "I will finally be taller than my son." Harry stared at him for a moment before breaking out into voracious laughter.
"Alright Dad, are you ready to try this?" Harry asked as soon as his laughter died. Thor nodded and moved over to another 'coffin' and climbed inside. The door closed and Harry started the machine, praying to whatever god there was that this would work. The glass on both coffins tinted opaque and started to glow slightly as the machine started. Harry pressed several buttons on the Ancient Keypad in front of him and started the consciousness transfer. Now it was just a process of waiting and praying, not necessarily in that order.
After waiting for almost ten minutes the machine stopped glowing. The glass slowly became visible. Harry moved to watch and glanced into them. Only one was occupied, the human form. Only dust occupied the Asgard chamber. The process completed and both chambers opened yet again. Harry rushed over to his father's new body and manually opened his eyelids. The brown eyes stared back lifelessly. Harry began to panic for a moment before the eyes slowly gained life. They blinked and then Thor spoke.
"Did the process work?" the new body's deep bass voice asked.
"Oh, yeah, it worked," Harry nodded, tears in his eyes. He was seriously afraid that he'd killed his father. "Now we'll just have to convince the other Asgard to take the operation." Harry pulled his father's body into a hug. Thor slowly returned the embrace, uncertain of his body's strength.
August 20, 1999
Harry stood in front of the Asgard High Council feeling rather insignificant, despite having known them all most of his life. Perhaps it was the height. They were almost all as tall as him now. That in itself was freaky. However as payment for solving two of their greatest problems they'd agreed to his request. His Aurora Class was being outfitted with all of the Asgard's most powerful weapons and technology. By their own morals if anyone could handle the technology it was him. The toughest part was making room for it all. The Power Core that was being added had to be linked up to the ship's normal one. The problem was the Asgard Core was easily just as large.
Eh, he'd leave that to the techno geeks. At the moment no less than fifty advancements were being made to the ship including Beaming Technology, Asgard Design Sensors to supplement the normal ones, Pulse Energy weapons slated for the next O'Neill Class, Second Stage shielding (which creates a secondary shield bubble within the first using a different shield projector (this was originally an idea of Harry's but only just came into production)), a Seventh Stage Inter-Galactic Hyper drive (which is a drive that can transport an O'Neill Class from Earth to Othala within an hour, three times as fast as the Sixth Stage) along with a myriad of other features ranging from food synthesizers to a small-scale weapons factory.
Something else surprised him even more than the technology. Within several days of the technology becoming publicly known almost two million Asgard had become Asgard-Ancients, the term for Human Form Asgard. Along with the change approximately two hundred Asgard-Ancients had requested to join his crew. Those that did wished to escape a life of constant fear of death at the hands of the Replicators. With their new forms the Asgard-Ancients could live like normal humans and, being much more durable, they could even fight others on their own terms. A fight with the Goa'uld was a fight they could win. Originally his ship had a quarter of its rooms filled with around five hundred soldiers. Now, though, that number could jump dramatically.
The head of the Council, Freya (now a beautiful tall female with long wavy black hair), began speaking. Harry summarized it rather well. They thanked him for his efforts and, as patient as always, listed the things that he was receiving. Harry nodded and thanked them where it was necessary but generally drowned it out. He had other matters on his mind. With an army of seven hundred, perhaps more depending on when they left, he could take the fight the Goa'uld much more efficiently than before. Perhaps twelve System Lords remained. That meant that millions of Jaffas were in their service. The question was what tactic he should use. The obvious tactic would be to simply assault their fleets and garrisons with his vastly superior ship. This would, however, slaughter millions of Jaffa who's only real crime was being forced to serve an over-the-top, over-dressed megalomaniac with big glowing eyes and a few magic tricks. Hell, he could do that much.
When Freya finished speaking Harry thanked her for her time and Beamed up to his ship, war on his mind.
(End Chapter)
Alright, I know that this is a short chapter but it's a filler episode. There was nothing else I could write in. I thought about having Larry and Harry fighting each other in the Silhouette and an Ester respectfully but how I could start the battle just wouldn't come to me so I had to let it drop. Sorry; maybe I'll do it in a one-shot later on. Instead I've got a couple of polls and other random stuff that I'd like for you to check out.
The first thing is the Aurora Class Battleship. I've been calling it that for your benefit since when reading Fighting the Gods I myself had trouble translating the Constellation Class to actually being Aurora Class. So, I need a name for the ship since I can't just keep calling it that. I want you guys to pick it out. Send me your suggestions and I'll pick the one that sounds the coolest. The prize will be a virtual cookie and a chapter dedication. I ask that as many of you participate as possible.
The second thing is the
war. What should I do? Should I have Harry wage war directly with the
System Lords and practically wipe out their Jaffa or should I play it
(cough Sith Cough) Tokra with Harry and his forces fighting
small scale ground battles, infiltrating ground installations and
assassinating Goa'ulds? It doesn't matter either way to me. The
only real difference is that option two will lead to a political
aspect in later chapters and option one will eliminate Anubis's and
Baal's power bases when I decide to bring them into the story,
making it much less exciting. So, I'm leaning towards option two
but it's up to you, just like the election.
Second to last thing is a statement. My Uncle is an old marine who served out a term just after the Vietnam War. He recently corrected me that 'Hoorah!' is not a United States Marine Corps slogan. That US Navy Seals adopted it and added the H because they didn't know how to spell it. No, the Marine Corps slogan is 'Ooorah!' I will be having Silas, a former Marine, teach Harry's recruits the difference and it will become their slogan. I just wanted to clear everything up before someone decided to call me on it.
Now, the last thing is something completely different that has nothing whatsoever to do with the story. I've said over the last year that I've been working on a mysterious project that has been taking up a bulk of my time. I have not, however, released any of that to the general public. That is until now, of course. Let's begin…
Atrum's Mysterious Project: 's Inside First Look
As he left the crate Jonas closed his eyes in concentration. Two engines on the Enigma's back and two behind each ankle activated. Jonas rose into the air in a hover. Concentrating harder the engine output increased and the Enigma shot out of the hangar.
Jonas held his arms together for extra speed and put some distance between him and the Tanager, giving the ship some room. The speed indicator on Jonas's HUD increased to 345 and held steady. Jonas rolled over onto his back and stared up into the sky. Two large triangular objects hovered a thousand feet above him. Small humanoid machines flew around, clashing with Garret's fighters. The Terran Mobile Armors were slaughtering the fighters, just as he expected. Jonas rolled back over and arched his back, shooting high up into the battle.
Tracers shot by his head and into his line of sight. Jonas throttled back his engines and drifted to a stop in midair. The maneuver threw off his pursuer. He reactivated his engines and fumbled around with the controls, trying to manage the movements of his legs and back with the output of his four engines. The process was extremely hard and it left him a sitting duck in a hornet's nest.
"Damn it!" Jonas cursed as several bullets barely missed him. Curses flew out of his mouth as he adjusted and throttled his engines up again. "How the hell do I fly this thing?"
"My Neural Link system controls your limbs and engines," Enigma pointed out monotonously. "Your generic thoughts of where you want to move and how fast you want to move will adjust your limbs' positioning to match the order."
"So I've been fighting my own mind the whole time?" Jonas asked incredulously. Sighed and tried the new system. The Enigma flipped forward and twisted around so that it was facing the battle that he had just tried to escape. His movements were controlled and quick without needing to adjust several body parts at once. Jonas lifted his rifle and noticed a reticule appear where the rifle was aimed. Slowing to a stop, Jonas shot back towards the battlefield and fired his rifle. Bullets streamed out towards one of the Terran Mobile Armors and missed completely. Jonas aimed again, giving the moving target a bit of lead before letting off another burst.
This time the bullets flew true and the Mobile Armor exploded in a shower of metal shrapnel as the fuel cell ignited. "I can't believe that with all of this sophistication this damn Armor still uses Optic Sights," Jonas muttered to himself. Jonas glanced sideways at his radar. Red dots flew around him constantly, the result of a negative IFF (Identification Friend or Foe). Apparently all of the obsolete fighters had been destroyed. Jonas increased his speed and shot upwards. After a moment he deactivated his engines, flipped over and allowed himself to fall back towards the ground face first.
A small counter just above the radar read 37, numbering the radar contacts in range. Three of those were ships. The other 34 were Terran Mobile Armors, all of which had decided to target him. This struck him as odd, seeing as how a competent commander would have realized that the ship was the bigger threat and would have split his forces to accommodate that threat. With a though Jonas switched his vision to thermal. The thermal patterns of the Terran fighters showed nothing more than standard heat from friction. The Mobile Armors were unmanned.
"Damn it all," Jonas muttered as he fell towards the formations. His rifle came up and fired streams of bullets down at the enemy. The Terran machines simply hovered in place, firing their own weapons inaccurately up at him. Jonas's well placed shots destroyed seven of the pilotless craft before he fell past them and out of sight. The teenage pilot reactivated his engines and shot towards the Tanager which was in heavy combat with the two Terran Destroyers.
The Enigma shot down towards a Destroyer on the right flank of the Tanager. The Destroyer's main gun could be heard powering up. Azure flashed as the Enigma shot by, slicing the barrel of the weapon off in the progress. When the energy discharged the rest of the weapon exploded. Jonas landed hard on the deck of the Tanager hard, a beam saber in his hand, and bounced a few meters before he righted himself again. Jonas sheathed his melee weapon in its holster near his shoulder. The engines whirred loudly before he shot back up into the sky, dodging small streams of bullets from both the ship and its Mobile Armors.
As Jonas peaked in the air and started to fall backwards the damaged Destroyer broke off from its engagement with the Tanager and targeted him directly, as did the Mobile Armors. Jonas shifted in every direction in an attempt to dodge. With each burst of power the Enigma moved closer to the Destroyer. Jonas took the rifle in his right hand and latched it magnetically to his waist and grabbed one of the two beam sabers by his shoulders. Azure flashed again as two energy blades elongated to four feet.
Enigma shot away in a blur headed directly for the enemy ship. With the intense difference in speed the Terrans couldn't follow him in time. The bridge crew on board the Destroyer screamed in terror as the Enigma broke through the glass in a massive explosion. With the bridge destroyed and chain reaction expanded throughout the ship as ammunition and fuel exploded.
The smoke and debris cleared somewhat to show the Enigma bathed in darkness as light couldn't penetrate the thick smoke. Shadows hid the helmet and the visor glowed, releasing a demonic air. Inside the suit Jonas breathed deeply, calming himself. Several new radar contacts appeared on his screen, missiles. He grabbed his rifle, the Beam Sabers sheathed. His eyes shifted to each missile, radar boxes surrounding them. The gun reticule followed automatically a second later.
Bullets arched across the sky, slamming into the missiles before they could reach their target, him. Jonas dodged over a stray missile he'd missed and destroyed it as well a moment later. He turned back towards the Tanager and watched as its laser artillery charged up and fired. The obsolete Destroyer never stood a chance. Its armor melted almost instantly and its ammunition exploded. Like its sister the Terran ship exploded and fell to Earth. No one survived.
(End AFIFL)
Well guys, there you have it. I won't release any more of it… ever… for a very long time so you're privileged in being the very first outside of my own family to see it. Please, more than anything else, tell me what you thought of that last bit. It is my pride and joy, the fruits of my labor and all of that good jazz so please, any input is graciously appreciated. On that note, please review! I need a good buzz right about now.
Later,
Atrum