Disclosure
by
Chaoseternus
The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?
Thirty-nineThe Tau'ri had demon in their blood, they had to have.
His bases was surrounded, his shield was about to fail and the last reports before his communications vanished into a haze of noise and jamming was that the Tau'ri had abandoned what rearguard positions they had.
They were throwing everything into this assault, literally.
Its was a fools move, even the most simple System Lord knew not to leave their rear uncovered… yet the Tau'ri had, deliberately.
Iblis hated to admit it, but he was impressed, it was bold, it was risky and it could win them the battle. He still had the Tau'ri forces outnumbered and better yet, it appeared they were having some communications and language difficulties but still, he knew as well as any other Goa'uld that when Jaffa met solider, you assumed a five to one kill ratio minimum.
His forces outnumbered the Tau'ri four to one. It wouldn't be enough. His supersoldiers were the Tau'ri weakness of course but he had few and besides, he certainly wouldn't put it past the Tau'ri to have brought weapons capable of killing them to the battlefield. They certainly seemed to have such weapons but they at least seemed to be rare.
Of course, they could also not have such available… in which case, Iblis had little doubt they would have a plan for his supersoldiers. If not, then they would adapt on the fly and innovate and damn them but they could maliciously devious when they were of a mind to be.
He was screwed.
Oh, yes he had figured that much out ages ago.
Too many warships for him to have any chance of escaping in the one space-capable craft he had left at his disposal and he couldn't… no, he wouldn't cast aside the cloak that allowed him to effect the physical world, not on a hellmouth.
He knew better then that, there were… things that waited on the edge of such disturbances just waiting for an opportunity to move into the real world and a massive energy being such as he just being on the hellmouth uncontained would weaken the barrier… he wanted that of course, but the important words were controlled and predictable.
Oh yes, and no risk of something deciding to make a meal or worse, a host of him. There were demons that could do that, that much he knew. They were high level of course, they would have to be but it was doable and that was scary.
It was the divine right of the Goa'uld to take whatever they wanted as a host, the thought of beings that could take a Goa'uld as host was abominable.
If everything had gone to plan, there wouldn't be the risk.
He should have known better then to expect everything to go to plan where the Tau'ri were concerned. He had no choice, the die was cast now.
He would flee but only when the mouth was open. The supersoldiers would act as his bodyguard whilst he got away from the hellmouth, as soon as he was clear he would flee this place in his incorporeal form.
And if it looked like the Tau'ri were going to win, well, he would have to flee anyway, before they found someone who could contain him. They could, and he had little doubt if they had the opportunity, they would.
People should know their place, the Tau'ri didn't and worse, they resisted anyone who tried to put them where they belonged. That was dangerous enough, but they had the will to make their decisions stick and that was a problem.
A problem this mission was supposed to have sorted out.
Damn the Tau'ri.
"Confirm shields down, all units advance"
Six simple words, too few and too simple for the massacre they were setting off Stárshiy leytenánt Dm i triy thought to himself, and a massacre it would be. There was littloe time for strategy and tactics, today it would all be push, advance, win.
No other choice really.
Hundreds, if not thousands would die, but he knew that if all of them died yet succeeded it would still be considered a victory.
Sometimes life was harsh like that.
"No-one watching the rear, everyone just running into the fight, running under the guns of their forts," Mládshiy leytenánt Georgiy shook his head, "this is madness Dm i triy"
"Perhaps," he replied, "but it is a madness we must all share. Today is not the day to question why, today is the day to do or die"
"Madness aye," Georgiy shook his head, "on our right, two tanks and a reinforced platoon of the SAS. On our left, a scratch squad. Reservists… reservists at the point of an assault! They have police in their company, police!"
"Needs must," Dm i triy replied, "besides they are led by an SAS officer and rumour has it, he is responsible for the destruction of at least ten of the enemy anti-air positions"
"Perhaps," Georgiy shook his head, then dived forwards, rifle raised but not firing as he moved, apparently unnoticed into the next sliver of cover, "but all this… our left flank has more units then the centre and our right… too much haste, too much rush"
"There wasn't a lot of choice," Dm i triy grimly commented, diving into cover besides his friend, cursing as the rock shivered with the weight of staff weapon fire suddenly being aimed at it.
To their left, screams suddenly sounded and instinctively they glanced across as several metres away a figure dived out of cover, his clothes alight as the bush he had been hiding behind burned. In the fatal instant he was out of cover, he was gone, his body twisting then breaking as staff bolts rendered the ground around him into blackened mud.
They were silent for a moment; the exchanging a grim glance, each poked his head and weapon just out of cover, taking careful aim towards the enemy position.
The cracks of the rifles were lost amongst the loud, angry and fearful sounds of the battle. Neither looked long enough to see if there targets fell, both ducking back into cover as soon as they had fired, they knew if they had been spotted, some retribution would be coming their way.
Best wait a mere second for another target to grab the enemy's attention.
A quick, simultaneous glance out of cover, then as one, they dived forward, sprinting a mere three minutes forward into the next small sliver of cover, a dip in the ground. Lying on the wet morass, they rested their weapons of the rise of the gully, their eyes the only part of their body they hoped was appearing above the rise as they slowly carefully fired. There was no point diving back into full cover after each shot, there wasn't enough cover to hide behind so they took there time, carefully lining each shot up, ensuring a kill before they moved straight to the next.
Five Jaffa fell before the next body joined them in the dip. Within seconds, the dip was filled and staff weapon fire was claiming his share of the soldiers grimly pinned there.
This wouldn't do.
Dm i triy tapped his friends shoulder once, then as soon as Georgiy looked at hism, he reached down, pulling a small green egg of his belt.
"Cover fire!" Georgiy shouted, a grenade almost seeming to fall into his hand.
Around them, the sound of rifle and automatic weapons fire intensified, those who didn't know Russian quickly catching on as their comrades around them increased their rate of fire.
Nodding at each just once, Dm i triy and Georgiy stood swiftly up, using the momentum of their sudden rise to throw the grenades further towards the Jaffa positions. Neither waited to see if there aim was true, both diving swiftly back into cover with a curse as their actions drew far too much attention for their liking onto their position.
Two cracks sounded, and the fire from the Jaffa slackened.
Grimly, they raised their heads above the rise and opened fire as around them, their comrades surged to their feet, charging across the deadly no-mans land towards the Jaffa position.
"Charge!"
A demon had to be shouting that for it to be so loud Lucien thought to himself, and then realized with a start it was him who was making that call.
Not important, he told himself, not now, as, apparently on autopilot, his feet took his forwards, his eyes tracking across the battlefield, his hand seeming to clench his looted SAW spastically, sending bullets flying with deadly accuracy into the ranks of the enemy.
This was it, the final position before the complex itself. That was unfortunately fortified but those positions at least were not supporting their comrades. Too much smoke rising from the ground, smouldering and on fire from the shattering energies released by the collapse of the Goa'uld shield, it was blocking their view.
That, he noted to himself sardonically, was a good thing. An enemy position that was supported by covering fire was not a good place to assault. One that was cut off from support on the other hand…
Of course, there was always the counter to that, the one about cornered rats but the Jaffa didn't seem to go much for that philosophy, thankfully.
Too much thinking, not enough fight he tried to tell himself, but it wasn't true, he had been doing this too many years; it was far too ingrained for his liking. Watch, guard, move, fire…
Always move, always guard, actually firing came a close second to staying alive.
With a start, he realized he was at the Jaffa position and that I was empty save for the shattered bodies of the warriors who had made their stand here.
Grimly, he dived into its blood-daubed cover, waiting for more soldiers to join him. Soon, they would have to cross that final line into the base perimeter itself.
But not yet, not on his own.
