AN: The action last chapter seems to have gone over well. Let's continue:
-x-
As one the Stargate Company drove off, and for five hundred metres they raced, bouncing along over the rough ground and the corpses of their enemies. The armoured cars, each holding two SG teams were the spearhead, and the occasional impact against the vehicle was the only resistance they met. Behind them in convoy came another fifty men in trucks, with the specialised equipment such as mobile anti-aircraft guns and explosives for blasting away any obstacle they might face. Another impact on side had Durov firing a few shots out the window, and a shout came from the soldier in the turret and he retreated back into the car, clasping a bloody hand to his neck. Dimitri jumped up, pistol first and fired at a Beastman who had climbed aboard, the big man lashing out with his fist and knocking the creature from the roof.
"He just grazed me sir, it's not bad, he just surprised me." Said the soldier as Durov roughly bandaged his wound.
Petrov spoke up, turning away from his radio equipment in the front. "Sir, Colonel Chapeyev reports the enemy in full retreat, no hope of them reforming. He has ordered pursuit, and is rearming and refuelling the assault guns and a company of his men to reinforce us. Generel Thurius congratulates you, and says he'll send any reinforcements he can as soon as they're available."
"Here, Igor, take over here," Durov said, nodding toward the bandage he was putting pressure on, and after the scholar came and replace him he turned to Petrov, "Give him my regards, recover the real and fake Minotaurs' bodies and have them sent back for study. Make sure they're dead this time." He said with a small smile at Ilya, who did not see it as he was looking out of a viewport.
They drove on, as quickly as they could while still maintaining a formation.
"Where is Mikhailov? Get him ahead of us and over the pass." Durov ordered, frowning at his map. Previously the officer in his Po-2 had been overseeing the battle and spotting for the artillery, but the Colonel thought it more important that they get a better view of what was ahead of them.
Petrov relayed the orders and soon the drone of the aircraft was audible even inside the car. Durov ordered Dimitri down from the turret and replaced him, bringing up his binoculars again. They had taken the ancient Roman road, such that it was, rather than going cross-country as Ivanovich had during his own mission. The site of that skirmish was somewhere off to the east of them, Durov thought, but now they were rapidly approaching the same pass the Roman's had only taken once in two thousand years. They relied entirely upon their own speed and the assumption that Vulcan's weapons were limited.
The mountains were dark, but not as tall as he'd expected. They were also attitudinally low, meaning Mikhailov could fly right over them without exceeding the performance of his plane. They were no hills to note, and a large valley stretched from the flat scrubland into moors, then straight up to the snowy peaks. All around them beside the road were the abandoned remains of forts and settlements, with several clear walls where the Romans had attempted to defend themselves, evidently unsuccessfully.
Petrov spoke up, "Captain Mikhailov reports no enemy presence in pass, forested hills beyond, and a pyramid about sixty kilometres away. Several branching valleys on either side, with one river running up the middle."
"What is the material composition of the pyramid, and are there any ruins?" asked Igor.
Petrov relayed the question and listened to the answer, "Black metal or stone, green tint in the sun. Carved lines and letters on the sides."
"Sounds like the staff." Durov said.
"And the Naquadah from Abydos." Replied Igor.
"You think they build with it and make weapons with it as well?" asked Durov.
Igor shrugged, "Could be. Why do you think Ra wants it so much?"
"Sir we're approaching the pass. Lots of craters around." Said the driver ahead.
Durov stood and looked out the turret again. As the soldier had said, there were craters everywhere, clearly from Vulcan's artillery weapon. They were rather shallow, and strange black rocks littered the ground everywhere, collecting at the bottom of the craters.
He called down into the car for his radio and took it, eyes still peeled for any movement in the pass.
"You all know what to do." He said to the rest of the Company, "Keep going, no matter what. If you're hit wait for reinforcements, but keep going! Now all of you, start the smoke!"
Almost before he'd finished speaking he heard the dull thumps of the smoke grenades, fired from specially fitted projectors on the sides of most of the vehicles. They had decided that even if Vulcan had some means of seeing through smoke, or an advanced technology that would otherwise be able to detect them, it was still better to be obscured than not. As such with each vehicle billowing smoke their column almost appeared as a dragon, slithering along the floor of the pass.
Of course if Vulcan could fire at the pass he could probably fire at the valley beyond it, but once they were through they could break off in any number of directions, which would hopefully increase their chances. In any case, there hadn't been time for anything better thought out, they had to get to Vulcan's pyramid, which Durov estimated from the Roman reports was about sixty kilometres away, and seize the god before he could either escape or rally additional forces.
Durov examined his Kalashnikov, he had cleaned it several times in the last few days, but he'd found the maintenance of a weapon had always been a useful distraction whenever there was nothing more he could do. He idly remembered something about the Program getting new receivers. These ones were stamped but apparently there were to get milled replacements, yes there'd been a message about it.
Petrov was anxiously listening at the radio and suddenly spoke up on the Company-wide channel, "Incoming! Brace yourselves!"
There was little they could do, hemmed in on both sides of the path, likely just what Vulcan wanted.
A dull whine shot overhead, several projectiles, Durov though, as the sound changed as they flew past.
"Golden lights sir." Said Petrov, slightly hunched up as if to shield himself, "Two bursts, like the staff."
No doubt some sort of staff canon, or some other form of artillery, though Durov.
Another set of whines passed overhead, and then a muffled crash from behind them.
"Report." Order Durov, looking at the radio operator.
"Captain Mikhailov thought they landed long sir."
Durov raised his own radio, "Rear elements, report in order."
All their troop carriers reported in, with some near misses but no damage, one of the trucks for the artillery said it had almost been hit but had swerved and taken slight damage, but they had taken casualties.
"One… round of whatever they were landed right on a truck in front of us sir," reported Captain Ivanovich, who was in command of their rearguard, "Whatever road there was is gone, and there's a crater twice as wide as the road was. One truck is completely gone, I think one with half the 76s, and another one with some Regimentals crashed into the crater afterwards. There's fire all over from the ammunition, and I am preparing to push the truck off the road so the reinforcements can get through."
Unfortunate. They had lost half their long ranger artillery. But, Durov allowed, not fatal in the least, especially as artillery wouldn't be nearly as effective in the forested hills they were coming into as they managed to get out of the pass.
"How many can still fight?" Durov asked through the radio.
"About 50% sir," replied Ivanovich after a small pause of static, "The rest can't move far, three are dead."
"Leave them a medic and bring as many as you can forward desant." Durov ordered. The armoured cars didn't have many handholds, and he knew Ivanovich wouldn't be able to bring all of those who were slightly injured, but even the additional eight men might make a difference in the coming battle.
Ivanovich asked for confirmation of his orders and then accepted them, perhaps concerned over leaving the wounded alone without the armoured car's canon to protect them. Hopefully Chapayev would get to them before anyone else did.
They came under no more fire after they left the pass. In truth, there wasn't anything really to see on the other side. As Mikhailov had said, forested hills were all there was, and the road they were going down was barely more than a large track. Durov was standing in the turret again, and noticed that the ground had been churned up, could this track have been the same the army of Beastmen had gone down? He hadn't considered the logistics of the horde, but it was possible Vulcan had them assembled in front of his palace and then sent them off to attack the Romans.
He waved at the aircraft, about 1500m above him, "Mikhailov, how much further?"
Mikhailov wiggled his wings, and his voice came back, distorted by the trees and mountains interfering with the radio waves, "Sir, pull right in a few minutes and you'll have a hill to shield your advance, I've seen no movement on the ground, but something was moving on the side of the structure, looked like a turret or a barrel."
Durov did as Mikhailov suggested and they turned off the track, steadily making their way up the hill. The trucks began to have trouble with low branches, and Durov was concerned that the turrets of the armoured cars wouldn't be able to turn properly in the woodland, there was space to drive, but less to properly manoeuvre.
They dismounted a good distance away, and Durov ordered Suslov to begin preparations for the attack, unloading the artillery and anti-aircraft guns and putting the men in order. While the Major was doing this Durov led SGs 1 and 2 up the hill, stepping in and out of the tree's shadows to hide their advance, though the crest of the hill did some of that for them. They crawled on the bellies up the last stretch Igor on his left and Captain Ivanovich on his right.
For another hundred metres the trees the trees continued down the gentle slope of the reverse side of the hill. They thinned out by degrees and gave way to a flat plain, like the road churned up, but in places having clear patches of grass. Slightly offset from the centre of the field there was a small stone dais, surrounded by several columns leading up to it. Likely that was where the Stargate had stood before the Romans had taken it.
Through his binoculars he saw the pyramid, rather low and blunt compared to what he'd imagined. There was a small segment on top with a line around it cut away, perhaps the crest with some symbolic purpose, but Durov didn't know what. However, the pyramid itself rose out of a larger, oval shaped body, darker stone or metal making up two bulging wings, sweeping forward, of what Durov assumed was Vulcan's palace. The false god's suite was clearly visible though, at the head of the structure, and the only place with an opening or a window. The whole think sat with sunlight glinting on the decorative lines and hieroglyphs, and on sole window. It was elegant, but utterly alien.
"We're definitely in the right place." Muttered Ivanovich.
Igor hadn't heard him, and rolled onto his side to face Durov, "Well," he remarked, "There's Vulcan, what do we do now?"
Durov considered the situation. "The Minotaur, the real one I mean, had to get out of that structure… Therefore, there must be a door. Nor do I see any of the human abductees, so they're probably in there." He said, nodding forward. "We move all the heavy equipment up here, then they supress that turret Mikhailov saw while we advance under cover of smoke."
"And how do we get in?" asked Igor.
"Explosives." Durov said simply, "We find anything that looks like a door, which is where you come in, if we don't find it we blast our way in. Find out way to what's behind that window, take Vulcan, alive if possible, as well as any of his servants."
"And if they have more of those staff weapons sir?" asked Ivanovich.
"We'll be fighting in corridors and inside small rooms I imagine," the Colonel replied, "Grenades will do, though I wish we could have gotten some flamethrowers." He regarded the pyramid coolly, and then looked back at Dimitri and Ilya. "Alright, let's move. We've still got a battle to fight."