"The siege of Blackstone was… serious business. I mean there were bullets and bolts flying everywhere! Makes me wish I had an awesome battle mix.

At least I got to see the look on the Tlak'khan faces when that dragon showed up. Wish I got a picture..."

-Excerpt from the journal of Vinyl Scratch

Chapter 12

Act on Instinct

Tlak'khan Sector Headquarters

Blackstone Fortress

Blackstone

"You have failed Lord Thok Mok."

The statement hung in the air as Thok Mok glared at the holographic projection of the ruler of the Tlak'khan Empire.

"A minor setback only my lord..."

"These equines have managed to launch a full out rebellion against the Empire. Not only that, you have so utterly failed to contain this insurgency!"

"Grant me the forces to assault their world. I will end them immediately and claim their world's resources for the Empire!"

"You will NOT pull resources from other sectors to make up for your blunder Thok Mok. You will use the forces under your command and those forces alone. It is your mess to clean up."

"You charge me with a task and refuse to..."

"My sources tell me that the equines have managed to reach out to the Tau'ri! If the humans get involved before we are ready..."

Thok Mok growled. He knew that one day the Empire would come into conflict with the Tau'ri. The vaunted "heroes" who not only vanquished the Goa'uld System Lords, but the Replicators and the Ori as well. And if reports were to be believed, had a presence in the distant Pegasus Galaxy as well. Before Thok Mok could say anything, the Emperor once again blasted him for his failure before the communication channel cut, leaving him alone with his frustrations, which he took out on anyone who questioned him.

High Orbit

Blackstone

The patrol ships near the orbital platform continued their route as they had ever since the planet was selected as a Sector Headquarters. Their crews were not expecting any trouble, as anyone who even tried would be annihilated.

Several Hyperspace Windows opened up, and multiple vessels emerged from Hyperspace. Most were old Goa'uld Ha'tak class vessels common in the galaxy, mostly used by the Lucian Alliance and Free Jaffa. But it was what was leading them that caught the patrols by surprise as beams lanced out from the two Daedalus class battlecruisers.

General Samantha Carter watched from the Bridge of the USS Odyssey as the patrols scattered in disarray as the Jaffa followed up the Tau'ri blitz attack.

"Jam all transmissions," she ordered. "Lets keep things chaotic on their end. Contact Apollo and have them focus on the orbital station."

As the patrol cruisers were attacked, another Hyperspace Window opened. The battlecruiser USS Apollo emerged, followed by two Hebridan warships. Before the platform could respond, a single missile launched from the Apollo. The warhead slammed into the center of the platform, unleashing a devastating Nuclear blast that tore into the station. Shortly after, secondary explosions started to tear the platform apart as critical systems were ravaged by the sudden assault.

All in all, the battle was actually very short lived as the Tau'ri and their allies caught the Tlak'khan completely by surprise.

"Secure orbit," Carter ordered. "Prep 302s for launch. Do we have an active Stargate down there?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Sierra Gulf India, this is Odyssey. Skies are clear."

"Thanks for the heads up Sam. We're on the move now. Stand by to receive Sparks as soon as we secure the Gate."

"Roger that Cam," Carter replied. "Give 'em hell."

Stargate Clearing

Blackstone

The Tlak'khan warriors trained their staff weapons on the Stargate, waiting for anyone foolish enough to step through.

For several minutes… nothing emerged.

It seemed odd. The only reason to hold a gate open would be to block access. But why?

Three small cylinders came flying through and landed near the warriors before erupting in a blinding flash and deafening bang. Disoriented, the warriors reeled back as figures poured through the Event Horizon. The Tau'ri opened fire as soon as they were clear, spraying the larger Tlak'khan with bullets. While a few warriors were able to recover and retaliate, most were cut down in the initial assault.

Colonel Cameron Mitchell surveyed the aftermath, as well as the rocky terrain before bringing a hand up to his radio.

"Sierra Gulf India, this is Sierra Gulf One-Niner. Gate secure. Deploy the Cavalry."

Ponies started to come through the gate, some carrying supplies they would need for the upcoming siege. Sunset Shimmer looked around as if taking stock of her surroundings. One other mare was with her, looking around with wide eyed amazement.

"That… was amazing!" Twilight Sparkle exclaimed. "Nothing at all like going through the portal to the Human World."

"Yea… it is pretty awesome," Sunset replied with a smile before looking out over the world again. "You'd better get up to Odyssey. Its going to get messy down here, and I really don't want to put a Princess of Equestria in danger."

"It was my decision to come here Sunset," Twilight countered. "But… I'm not a battle commander. I'm better with making plans."

Twilight then tapped her radio.

"Odyssey, this is Sparks. Ready for teleport."

"We've got a lock on your radio signal."

Twilight looked over at Mitchell before giving him a nod and turning back to Sunset.

"Good luck Sunset," she said. "Odyssey… Energize."

The green clad purple Alicorn was enveloped in white light before disappearing from the surface of Blackstone.

"Alright," Sunset called out. "Get that gear ready! EG-3! I want you in the air on recon! Find that fortress and report back! Until we know for sure, assume the Tlak'khan know we're coming."

Bridge

USS Odyssey

Carter watched as a pony half her height materialized on the Bridge.

"Welcome aboard General Sparkle. I'm General Samantha Carter. You can just call me Sam," Carter introduced herself with a smile.

"Thank you Gen… er… Sam," Twilight replied nervously. "And you can just call me Twilight. Even after all this time I'm not used to being called General or Commander… um… why are you smiling?"

"Did Cam tell you what to say?"

"Well… yes. Did I make a mistake?"

"No… just amazed that he would actually have you do a Star Trek reference."

Waving off the coming question, Same motioned for Twilight to come over towards the back of the Bridge and started to inform her of what was available. Twilight was amazed at the capabilities of the Odyssey. It wasn't long before the human and Alicorn were looking over a rough map of the area around the Stargate generated by the ship's sensors.

Ridge

Blackstone

Sunset used a pair of binoculars to observe the black Fortress. Snipers were already setting up, and heavy weapons were being prepped for action. Arc Launcher teams were doing final checks while humans and Earth Ponies started unloading some of the supply crates they brought from Equus. Shaking her head, Sunset lowered the binoculars.

"This is going to be harder than I thought," she said. "Those walls look a lot thicker. I don't know if we got the firepower to break through."

"We still have the ships in orbit," Colonel Mitchell replied. "But yea… this is not going to be easy. Then again we don't get paid for easy."

Sunset nodded before saying that she wished she had an Ion Cannon, which caught the human off guard. With a laugh, Sunset explained that she played a game series called Command and Conquer in the human world, and mostly played as GDI.

Again bringing the binoculars up to her eyes, Sunset located what looked like several sentries and some gun turrets. Using her radio, she coordinated both Equestrian and Human snipers to line up on them so that they would be the first to go down when the shooting started. They did have one ace in the hole in the form of a large dragon, but there was still the issue of actually getting inside for the dragon to be of any use.

Sunset sat down and brought a hoof to her hip as she thought about the situation. The scar left behind by the Tlak'khan staff weapon a very real reminder that this was no game. Ponies and people were going to die. There was no avoiding it. What mattered was how many were lost. She hoped it would be as few as possible, but in her gaming experience which seemed to extend to actual combat, no plan survived contact with the enemy.

Someone sat down next to her and put a hand on her shoulder. It was Colonel Mitchell. Sunset gave him a brief smile before looking back out towards the fortress.

"I'm scared," she admitted.

"Takes a lot of guts to admit it just before a battle, especially as a leader," Mitchell replied. "We'll find a way."

"Thanks Cam. Guess we'd better get started and… try and figure out how to breach that wall."

Thok Mok was pacing around the command center as his technicians reported a total loss of communications out of the system. Several times he had struck one of his subordinates and demanded the situation be resolved. There had been no response from the patrol ships. No response from the orbiting Platform. No response from the sentries on the Stargate…

The sound of multiple explosions snapped Thok Mok out of his thoughts. Weapons fire could now be heard from the battlements as he demanded a report. A technician cycled through various camera views until one in particular caught Thok Mok's attention. Staff Turrets were firing along the eastern wall. Topaz bolts lanced out, only for sapphire bolts to reply and splash off defensive barriers. Several longer sapphire bolts actually speared several Tlak'khan warriors, knocking them down. Others were struck seemingly at random by nothing as they just collapsed as something solid blew threw them, leaving corpses in their wake.

Thok Mok narrowed his eyes as several figures swooped through the camera. He recognized the form of the winged equines.

"Are we blind?!" Thok Mok yelled. "Deploy the Garrison! Drive the Equines off the planet!"

"My lord! We've identified two distinct weapon types! One energy, one projectile!"

Thok Mok roared in frustration. Projectile weapons meant only one thing. The Tau'ri.

"BRING ME MY WEAPON!" he demanded.

After probing the walls with Arc Launcher fire, Sunset ordered the Launcher teams to shift their attention to the gate itself. So far it has been holding against the constant punishment. It was looking like they weren't going to break through. At least not by conventional means. She turned to Colonel Mitchell and asked if they had anything bigger. With a smile Cam hit his radio.

Bridge

USS Odyssey

Twilight looked over the data pouring in from Odyssey's sensors in awe. This was the most amazing thing she had ever seen. She could actually tell what was going on down there! Friendly forces… were not making any progress against the fortress, which made the alicorn sigh. General Carter was going over the same data too with a trained eye, looking for anything the ground teams could exploit.

"Odyssey, Sierra Gulf One-Niner. Requesting air strike."

Carter looked up as the call came in.

"What's the situation down there Cam?" she asked in response.

"Literally stonewalled Sam. Pony Bazookas aren't making a dent in the wall, and the lizards are starting to get real angry."

"Right… we'll launch 302s..."

"Sam! We got movement inside the fortress!"

Carter turned to look at Twilight. The alicorn pointed at the screen, showing what looked like Tlak'khan aircraft launching. Cam was right, the Tlak'khan were getting angry. Swearing under her breath, Sam contacted Daedalus and Apollo, requesting that they launch fighters before turning to Twilight.

"Give the order Twilight. I'll see what I can do from here."

With a nod, Twilight hit the PA. She had gone over what to say with Carter earlier.

"All pilots to the flight deck. Scramble."

Soon after the call, the hanger doors on either side of the Odyssey opened up, and Tau-ri F-302s shot out into space, joined by fighters from the other two human ships, and started to scream into Blackstone's atmosphere on a direct course for the Fortress.

Ridge

Blackstone

Sunset took cover as the ground literally exploded around her as Tlak'khan fighters flew overhead. Human and Pony alike ran for cover as the enemy launched a devastating counterattack. Some humans picked up Stinger Missile launchers and managed to shoot down a couple of the attacking aircraft, but it was too little too late to prevent allied forces from being thrown into chaos.

The fire maned mare popped up, and her eyes went wide with horror. There was a Tlak'khan fighter diving right at her for a strafing run, and there was no time to get out of the killzone.

Before the Tlak'khan fighter could open fire, a missile from above slammed into its starboard wing, throwing it into a spiral right over Sunset. Looking up into the sky, Sunset saw several bat winged aircraft diving on the enemy fighters. Bat winged aircraft with SGC markings. Soon, there was a pitched air battle between the Tlak'khan and the Tau'ri, topaz bolts, blue railgun fire, and missiles flying all over the place.

Taking a deep breath, Sunset called for her forces to regroup.

"Sierra Gulf One-Niner, this is Wildcard One. Heard you boys were having some trouble down here."

"Wildcard One, this is Echo Gulf One Lead. Thanks for saving our flanks."

"Anytime Fireball. Just point us at something and we'll make it disappear."

"Good to have you in the sky Diamond," Mitchell spoke up. "We'll lase the target."

"Roger that. Don't worry about the flyboys. We got 'em."

With a smile, Sunset called for EG-1 as SG-1 gathered as well. Shortly after, all the ground teams were rallying for a push. EG-3 had been harassing the battlements before the enemy fighters appeared, and had pulled back to support allied forces. It wasn't long before they moved down from the ridge and into the valley below. As soon as they were in range, Mitchell, Teal'c, Dr. Jackson, and Vala all aimed their P90s at the gate and flicked a switch. Although it looked like nothing happened from where Sunset was standing, there were now four red dots on the gate itself.

"Wildcard One, Sierra Gulf One-Niner. Target lit up like a Christmas Tree. Bring the rain."

From above, one F-302 broke off from the furball and dove at the Fortress. After a moment two missiles launched from under the wings and the 302 pulled up and away. The missiles, guided by the lasers mounted to SG-1's P90s, slammed into the gate, destroying not only the gate itself, but parts of the wall around it as well. The dust kicked up by the twin detonations obscured the view of the gate however.

"Shield wall!" Sunset ordered. "Deploy the Dragon!"