Disclosure
by Chaoseternus
The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?
Twenty-nine"Commodore, we've intercepted an urgent request for air support from the African Exclusion Zone, they have no birds in the air, no anti-air missiles left and are being mauled by Cobra gunships"
Peters raised an eyebrow, "demons and fanatics working together I get, but fanatics bright enough to use Cobra's? Send a half-squadron, I want those birds downed"
"Aye Commodore, London is also screaming for assistance, they state that they have lost control of the hellmouth"
"Send a full squadron, and keep the other half-squadron on Cap"
"Commodore," Lieutenant Brown carefully continued, very aware of the large and painful bandage covering much of his face, "if I might suggest, the Lancers have refitted hard points which can take ground support ops, the F-302's don't, yet. There are eight F-302s available from the 6 th Starfighter Wing, send four to Africa, keep four on Cap. Send the remaining Lnacers to London, but rigged for ground support, the skies are already under control, even if nothing else is"
Peters glanced up at the Canadian, surprised,"that's good, do it. Thinking on taking over the tactical position? It has," she continued bitterly, "just opened up"
Brown just shook his head and perhaps wisely, didn't say anything as he walked back to his station.
"Right," Lucien said, carefully pointing at the tall, golden structure through the thick hedge that's one of their anti-air guns. "As long as those are active, our boys won't get air support, they're just too blasted good"
"So, we kill the batteries?"
"Yes," Lucien replied calmly, "on the plus side, the more will kill, the safer the environment will become for any birds on ground support. Also on the plus side, we kill enough and the enemy will start to pay attention. On the negative side, they will be paying attention to us"
Paxton glanced across at his hidden men, catching their short, abrupt nods, "well, they're talking nukes and I'm afraid I don't like the thought of more nukes being dropped on my home country, especially not this close to the capital. If we have to die to make a difference, reduce the chances of those nukes getting used, so be it"
Lucien grimaced, unfortunately, "I have to agree, I don't like nukes, but hey, my kids have to live with whatever happens here today"
"We're reservists," Paxton commented, "most of us work most of the week, then go home to our families, and spend the weekend training. Most of us have families to go home to"
"Well, "Lucien smiled, "we know who we are doing this for then"
Paxton nodded, and turned back to observing the weapon in front of them, "might I suggest we kill the crewman with sniper fire first, that thing looks like there is nothing to stop it attacking ground targets and that would not be fun"
"Ten Jaffa guards " Lucien mused, "we have them outnumbered but we've still got a lot of targets to kill, we would certainly want to make sure that they didn't get another gunner in there, we also want to avoid casualties"
"Fire from cover" Paxton shrugged.
Lucien grimaced, "those blasted weapons are good at setting things on fire, the only cover round here is hedges and trees which will burn"
"Trees " Paxton mused, "Can we draw off a few into that thicket to your left, kill them silent then attack the tower?"
Lucien nodded, "divide and conquer, that tower would swing to cover the thicket if they heard gunfire from there as would the guards, so we could hit from behind"
"So," Paxton grinned, "no need to be silent then. You would have to snipe though, my boys aren't so good at that"
Lucien nodded, "I suggest you take the trees, take twenty bodies with you. The rest of us will swing around; get the trees and tower inline and attack as soon as we hear your party kick off"
"Agreed," Paxton replied, "and carefully signalled his twenty, before moving out, making as much use of the cover as they could."
Lucien watched, waiting as the Jaffa held their positions around the tower, Paxton would make his move soon, then they would have this tower gone, and a mere four move in the immediate vicinity to take care of.
They would unfortunately be alerted by this ones loss, but you couldn't have everything.
A single gunshot sounded from the woods and Lucien jerked in surprise, thinking way to grab their attention Paxton!
Worked though, he had to admit, as six of the ten guards charged off into the woods, the tower as expected swinging across to face the small thicket.
Carefully, he brought his rifle to bear, any second now
The thicket erupted into a full firefight, and Lucien gently squeezed the trigger.
The gunner slumped, the nose of the weapons battery slumping silent to the ground before it had a chance to fire. Besides Lucien, his soldiers opened fire, quickly cutting down the remaining four Jaffa guards.
Within seconds, all gunfire ceased, the countryside going quiet once more, except for the sounds of a battle in the distance.
Ducking, Lucien ran for the battery, it would make a good high point to see the surrounding weapons before he had to destroy it.
The gateroom was theirs, at last, Reeman noted, they were at the very gate of the stargate itself. Okay, metaphor usage could use it a little work but it was accurate.
Unfortunately, they still had to take the gateroom itself and that was where the enemy was reading their final stand, just waiting for them to open the blast doors and charge through.
They came in through one entrance they would be mown down, they attacked from multiple directions and the field of fire the enemy would have would mean many of theirs would fall, but they would have a shot at killing the last of the gate defenders.
Naturally, Reeman noted, there were complications
According to the few radio transmissions from the surface they had been able to receive as they filtered down through the old silo, the top of the silo, the guards exit route was now under friendly control, they would not be able to escape that way and the enemy already knew this. Translation, they would fight like cornered rats and as there were terakens and demons in the mix the fight would most likely be bloody and could quite easily not go the attackers, his way.
Complication two, as far as they knew the loathsome ex-reporter Pierce was still in the gateroom and he had control of the nukes, if he decided to detonate prematurely, that was Colorado off the map at the very least.
Complication two, the gate was active and the status of the Iris was unknown, if word got out that the assault by warship had failed and the iris proved to be open, they could be overwhelmed by hostile Jaffa and possibly supersoldiers before they could react, at which point it was game over as the battered defenders above the mountain would not hold out for long at all, not in their current state.
Complication three, their big gun was definitely running a little low on ammo. He couldn't blame her, she had been raising shields, pulling telekinetic tricks and reading minds all over the place to support the advance but now, at the most crucial point, she was reaching the end of her stamina. He had all the spare water and high energy bars they could trust given to the witch, and it had helped a bit, but he knew that she would not last much longer.
And somehow, with the meagre personnel available, he had to retake the Stargate and ensure the security of the planet.
He checked his watch, once more daylight should be caressing the mountain above, but down here, in this shattered hulk of a mountain, you really couldn't tell what time of day it was. Pity, he could do with a little something to brighten up the day for him.
He knew that before the hour was up, it would all be over and that being true, he might regret not getting one last look at the sun.
