Chapter 8
Lightning Fervor
Helltanz's notes: Cronus (the Goa'uld) does not die, he does lose a Ha'tak on Juna but doesn't die, the Ha'tak is not destroyed as in what would have been the season four episode known as Exodus.
Chapter begin
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The Sun Tzu was all flurry with activity. More so than it had really seen in the past year. It'd been wonderful news this whole last few weeks. Not much had occurred in the past two years. Apophis's loss of two Ha'tak had been the big deal, up until Sokar had decided to smash Apophis's domain. Then they'd all negotiated peace, and then it'd been boring in the intervening bit.
Raiden was impressed the Tauri had recently procured a Ha'tak, a fairly new type two produced by Cronus, said Ha'tak's existence was confirmed when Raiden had participated in a joint attack on a major Tok'ra base along with a group of the rest of the system lords. The attack on Vorash had been boring, they'd been unable to make an real headway against the Tok'ra, who had withdraw ahead of time.
SG-1 had withdrawn back to earth after one of Raiden's Daitenchi, the Powers, had destroyed the 'Sun bomb' at the System lord command. The Ha'tak survived, and under the control of the SGC much to the disapproval of Tok'ra or so Raiden had been informed. Even though the Tauri had gained such a ship it was nothing truly important in the grand scheme of things. Cronus, and Heru-ur were strengthening their alliance, and exchanging technology. Heru-ur and Cronus weren't the types to stab each other in the back unfortunately.
Raiden watched his fleet with pride, in the past two years his fleet had grown in size though most of his fleet still comprised of Ha'tak somewhere around fifty percent, about seventy percent of those Ha'tak where type twos. The rest of the Ha'tak which were apart of his fleet were the latest type threes.
His older models were entrusted to his underlords for defense of the fringe worlds, bolstering his defense forces. The rough half of his fleet were ships of the new models. Mostly escort vessels, though a number of new capitalships had been added. A Daitenchi, the Throne, soared past escorted by new Gat-04 Aozora Mobile suits. The introduction of mobile suits, just as Heru-ur and Cronus had a new model of fighter in the years.
That attack on the Tok'ra had been only memorable for one purpose Raiden had deployed Mobile suits, it was likely the type two under Tauri control would have been destroyed had they not jumped to hyperspace. Heru-ur had used his new fighters as well, they'd been... quite effective. He'd gotten the chance to see them perform in space some weeks after.
All in all not much had changed other than the use of mobile suits was now common practice in Raiden's attacks. Even the Ginn and Leo's were vastly superior to the outdated Death Gliders and even Alkesh. On average eight to ten Death gliders were needed to destroy a single Ginn. Fighting Heru-ur was a little closer to being even, his new fighters were better armed, but suffered the same problem with turning Death Gliders, but it was still an improvement. He imagined it was also because Heru-ur drilled his jaffa on fighter combat more strenuosly.
Oh well such was the price the others paid for not keeping up with technology. Numerous ships stood in orbit around Bairn floating in space Mobile suits either on patrol or completing exercises.
On Earth however things had been different. It'd actually been interesting. Talpa had launched his attack on Japan, which was unfortunately repelled by the wielder of the magical armors. There had been other factors, whose intervention could not have been predicted, but it'd been mainly the armors and their wielders.
The only thing that had saved Talpa from possible death was Raiden's presence the five armor bearers were quickly dispatched by Kenshin's 'Ruroni' side and sent back to earth, and the other factors had likewise been forced to retreat from the battle. As it stood at the moment launching another attack didn't look feasible without additional support, support which was at the moment better used elsewhere.
The year ahead looked interesting, what with Earth being so recently attacked..
– scene break-
Raiden liked to keep a network of vassals on the Tauri homeworld in order to keep track of certain things, and in the event that a task needed to be accomplished on the planet.
Talpa was one such vassal, though one who was involved in Raiden's greater dominion as well. As far as vassals went Talpa had a great deal of influence within the system lord's empire because Raiden could depend on him. It was hence why Raiden was so very much annoyed when the plan falling through, even if it had been due to events that could not have been foreseen.
The plan had gone well enough to start out with in any case with the other armors, and their owners, being successfully provoked into coming out into the open, after that things had started to fall apart.
It had been shortly into the plan and the 'attack' on Japan that Talpa's forces had been assaulted by other groups namely a coalition of heroes who had decided to intervene. It'd forced Raiden's hand to send Talpa some much needed 'back up' in the form of one of Raiden's other vassals.
It hadn't been the Justice League, which really would have annoyed the system lord considering that Sithis had made it abundantly clear that he had plans for them, but the temporary group had proven to be a nuisance.
Currently there was no real need to reattempt the plan, yes it was a nuisance, but for the time being it was simply more prudent to just wait for a better opportunity. Now that he knew who the other five armors were in the possession of they could wait until additional resources could be brought in so as to prevent another screw up.
Right now Talpa was busy occupied with his other duties, though no doubt he was plotting and sulking over his recent failure. Talpa was hardly Raiden's only high ranking member on earth, there were others the master of the Foot, Oroku Saki, was also available. Aoshi was otherwise occupied elsewhere in the galaxy
That was another avenue that Raiden had considered having the two reinforce the other if the need arose, it would certainly be of use since it would keep him from having to dispatch reinforcements.
Kenshin's more benign incarnation's deployment was also another issue. He was there keeping Talpaoccupied on Earth. It meant the system lord had a direct tie to making sure Talpa didn't go flying off the handle, which was possible given his recent embarrassment. It was a legitimate concern all things concerned.
Raiden sighed matters regarding Earth were becoming complicated especially with a number of issues which remained unresolved and new issues cropping up all the time, which was not good considering his plans were nearing their next stage. Sithis had become quite busy poking around with the wizards as it was. Then there was that big bang thing one of the Daedra had instigated in America for whatever reason.
– scene break-
A light flickered something, meaning a ship, had violated Tauri space and crashed. The sensor readout suddenly changed. A fleet had also just arrived and just shot down the ship. Raiden groggily played through the data again. Stupid Tauri, and their habit of attracting aliens, could they not go a year without an invasion, or attack at least. It was all he was asking. By their calendar in 1998, it'd been Apophis, a year later they hadn't even had the decency to get invaded by a major power no they had been invaded by a miserable cluster of roaches unworthy of the System Lords notice. It'd been several invasions, it'd been so many it'd been ridiculous. Sokar had not been happy, and an unhappy Sokar was a vindictive Sokar. The next year though they'd been nearly invaded by replicators, and after that it'd been Sokar's little white shape shifting freaks... Raiden hadn't actually know he'd been shooting what were his nominal allies, it wasn't like Sokar had told him. It would have been a nice fact to know.
This fleet though fleet were not matching any Goa'uld instead identified as a species the inhabited another portion of the galaxy. The goa'uld hadn't bothered with the rest up until Sokar's terrors well hyperdrive hadn't been fast enough, and then Ra had enforced his limitted expansion policy. So all the information they did have was that one side were called Thanagarians the other vessel was Gordaninan in origin.
"My lord."
Raiden shook his head it was a nuisance and a possible problem, but not likely to be worth the trouble. "Negative we do nothing the Thanagarians are likely not doing anything dangerous to the planet. It can wait." Raiden was fairly displeased the searches on earth had failed to locate either Oroku's designated target or any real progress regarding the Shinso. He didn't have time to redirect forces to kick an upstart bunch of aliens off Earth, if the Asgard couldn't deal with it immediately then he shouldnt' have to.
For the time being it seemed much more prudent to simply wait given that at the moment there were other matters which needed to be addressed.
That was about as far as Raiden got before his head split, metaphorically speaking. For a Jaffa there is no greater terror in knowing your god to whom you are loyal to above all has a grim and terrible otherside.
Saito was nearly 300, positively ancient by Jaffa standards. He'd had seen Sithis in his service to Raiden only four times in those years, and he had counted himself lucky every day for such small mercies. Sithis was, radiated something other than the storm. Sithis never reared save when there were grim and terrible tidings to be had, and Saito that itself was a bad omen.
Raiden was normally immune to such things. When some summoned Sithis, itself a rare occurrence, but normally Raiden didn't even notice it. This this was different, he could feel the magic as it pulsed at him calling the Daedra in all terrible glory, and it hurt.
-scene break-
Wayne Manor had also been a key fixture for Gotham, for Gotham culture especially. The Wayne family had always played an important role in Gotham city, and their home was an iconic symbol of the city. That Wayne industries completely dominated Gotham, probably did not help that image. Wayne Industries, and its subsidaries did good work, but they were still a monopoly..
Earth had been all but conquered by the Thanagarians, well it was true there were scattered bits of resistance but not sufficient to push the invasion off yet. The Thanagarians had positioned above most major cities. "I have a way to save earth?" the Batman stated to his fellow members of the Justice League.
"Ok." The team's resident speedster declared circling the billionare crime fighter, "come on what's the plan Bats? Know you have one, share with the rest of us." Asked Flash zipping about around the bat cave.
"Stand back." Ordered the Dark Knight of Gotham. Batman, also known as Bruce Wayne, lit candle and began chanting in what was effectively a dead language to be specific a variation of the language of the Ancients.
"What's he doing?"
"I believe it is a summoning ritual." The Amazonian princess remarked as she studied carefully the dark knight's work, "Though I am not sure as to whom he is calling." Diana responded. "Even the gods of Olympus-"
Sithis cleared his throat, "Hello detective. There are easier methods of summoning me you realize." The sclera of his eyes were black and it was indeed Sithis's body. The daedric lord had surveyed the Thanagarians, and was unimpressed. The Gordannians worshipped a pantheon of Daedra, not all the Daedra but a number of them. He was also unimpressed by their forces. The goa'uld might have been pleased by their engineering of such reasonably sized ships, and if by pleased one meant an opportunist wanted to seize it all to repurpose it for his own shipbuilding. The Daedra wouldn't care, one side worshipped them the other didn't the choice was easy.
"Sithis." The dark night lightly inclining his head in a bow of respect. Bruce was not exactly keen on doing this, but at the moment there really wasn't that much of a choice considering the Thanagarians had a stranglehold on Earth.
The Green Lantern all but flipped his wig and he had a good reason, at least in his opinion, "Batman you can't be serious summoning him." John Stewart exclaimed in a mix of shock and anger. "Do you know who you just pulled out of Oblivion? Out of the void into the mortal realm?"
Even as batman nodded, Sithis nodded, "Ah Green Lantern. You keep interesting company Detective, a Martian, I remember your people well, once upon a time," Raiden turns to Wonder Woman and chuckles much to the Amazonian's ire. "I apologize child it is not you I laugh at merely the circumstances of our meeting like this for the first time," He murmured amused, the Goa'uld Hades was by Goa'uld standards an Abomination, with a capital A. His magic had been strong, and Hades had delved into sorcery lending it to his brother Zeus. Oddly many of Cronus's spawn who had betrayed him had been magical, a curious bit of trivia. "you father is a colleague of mine that and the Detective was once dealing with a certain deranged mortal," the god of death paused "a conversation for another time for alas this is hardly a social summoning I take it," He commented turning back to Bruce, "who do you wish I kill. Oh yes you don't like that term. Who would you like to remove from this realm?" he asked. Truthfully he had a good idea, but it was possible the great Batman would try to minimize casualties.
"I want you to free earth from the Thanagarians." Bruce didn't intend to leave the matter as it was of course, after all he was dealing with an extremely powerful being. He didn't let Sithis take a step, "Your price?" called the Dark Knight of Gotham, "what is it going to be to settle this?"
"I have nothing at the moment I would waste asking of you. I will think of a task and you can take you pick. I'm sure there is something I can come up with that you can handle without compromising your no kill policy. However don't expect me to get back to you soon on the matter there is a lot going on at the moment so I will just deal with the Thanagarians and get back to my work." Sithis responded disappearing.
"Do gods take checks?"
"No," It was Diana that answered. Batman didn't say anything, even when prodded on the matter.
-scene break-
Raiden's head was throbbing he was within his own dominion. He gritted his teeth he was furious. He'd all but demanded that he be allowed to deal with the Thanagarians."Prepare the fleet we going to go bird hunting." The system lord remarked irritably.
"My lord?" Saito questioned, "Do we go to war against Heru'ur this day?"
'Human idioms are lost on Jaffa.' Raiden sighed in disappointment. "We are removing the Thanagarians from Earth. Prepare the fleet," Raiden vanished again going off to attend to other matters. Raiden smacked the downward key on the lift leaving the old jaffa to managing the jaffa.
Back on earth at Stargate command things were relatively running normal, at least in a sense. Daniel's lab was as it always was despite the fact that Earth had been invaded by the Thanagarians. As it stood life at Stargate Command, as the Thanagarian's did not know of the stargate program, was normal for the flagship team for the moment anyway. Right now everyone at the base was awaiting the return of Earth's Ha'tak which had been outfitted with a cloaking device supplied by Sokar.
Not that anybody could explain why the mysterious exiled goa'uld system lord, whose fleet was enormous and his industrial might extensive, was helping the Tauri, well no one but Raiden anyway. So naturally when the system lord had dialed in.
Raiden didn't particularly feel like sharing that. The system lord's hologram had manifested in front of the gate, and all but demanded a meeting.
So naturally Hammond had briefing room B set aside, and called for a meeting of the SGC's officers. "So Raiden popped in again?" O'neill asked, "How many times is this now?"
The aging texan didn't look pleased by this announcment, "Major Carter have we determined how he manages this, yet?" asked General Hammond
"No sir, we're not sure how Raiden is projecting the hologram, or how he manifests physcially." Carter looked over the compiled report, "As it is it doesn't seem that he's leaving anything behind either not with the increase of base security and the base checks every four hours. Chances were that any device remaining undetected would slim especially with Thor giving us an Asgard scanner."
The Asgard sensor was a relative new addition to the SGC and another one had been installed at Area 51. It was designed to hopefully prevent any unwanted occurences at the SGC's two primary bases. Area 51 was presently was presently preparing for what was called Operation Starcross, aka the lets nuke the Thanagarians, with naquadah if we have to.
"What about the Thanagarians, have we confirmed what that facility is."
Major Carter brought up a projection of the facility that was under construction, "Yes sir," She remarked some kind of hyperspace generator we estimate its used to bypass somekind of space defense at the cost of destroying the planet."
"So it's a safe bet Raiden is attacking to protect his interest in the world."
"Probably." O'neill agreed, "More than likely though he'll claim the Asgard treaty as the reason since it means he doesn't have to explain anything, just like always. The other option is Sokar's going to show up." O'neill shrugged, neither particularly appealed to him.
The Texan frowned, obviously the system lord wasn't acting out of the goodness of his heart, "Have we any idea what this interest is?" asked Hammond
"No sir," Carter responded, "though we may believe it may concern the event in Japan shortly after the Beliskner was destroyed."
Jack frowned, "You mean that massive cloud of shadows and the army of Samurai armor that didn't have anything in them and knocked F 15s out of the sky," The colonel commented, "Look I'll admit Raiden's got to be up to something, but I'm not saying blame the guy for something happening because Japan is involved."
The irony was Raiden had had a hand in Talpa's little disturbance in Japan. "Well this is a nice conversation," The system lord remarked through his hologram, "The Thanagarian force will be destroyed shortly. I realize you have summoned back your ha'tak, though I do not believe it or Sokar will arrive in time. I must advise you that assaulting the Thagarians is unnecessary, and that another power may also arrive to intervene in your defense though I cannot assure it. That is largely all. I am sure your Justice League has its own plan, I assure however I will settle this, that is all." The Hologram folded and vanished, and the gate shut down.
Raiden settled into his throne aboard the Shinku Rai Tatsu, before he nodded to one of his warriors, "Attack Fleet status." Raiden inquired idly as he looked over his station's own date panel.
"Ready milord." Responded the Jaffa. "As you have ordered we will drive the enemy from the world of the Tauri for the honor of word. In noble fidelity to your compact with the Asgard."
He nodded in response, "Power engines," Raiden commanded, "Proceed to activate FTL drives. Launch." Hyperspace windows opened up in front of the Bairn as the fleet moved, lots of Hyperspace windows. The Goa'uld so rarely went to war, and with good reason. To control the bulk of the galaxy required a fleet. The Systems Lords, the High Council System Lords, not pathetic excuses for one like Moloc, commanded thousands of capital ships. That number would only blossom with Sokar's reappearance.
- scene break-
To defy the System Lords was foolish, all of the Jaffa knew this fact. These 'Thanagarians' would feel the lightning of an angered go. For the Jaffa aboard Raiden's fleet this was no different than any other war. Ra's death had seen other changes. New technology was being adapted everyday. At first it had been merely the Jaffa Guard, now new armors were filtering down to Elite Jaffa Battalions, and weapons would be following soon, as their god commanded. Now though was the time for war.
When the invasion had begun the Thanagarians had quickly moved to capture the Justice League's orbiting headquarters and had transferred a significant force to man the facility, this was for amongst other reasons in that the Watchtower had extremely advanced sensors. "Sir we are detecting a massive hyperspace anomaly." Stated a thanagarian soldier from one of the Watchtower's sensor stations to his superior. In the years to come Wayne Industries like several other US based corporations would be tasked to join in projects tied to the advancements of the Stargate program.
The winged humanoid in charge of the station looked up in surprise. "What?" At this point it was to late the windows had seperated into near countless ships arriving just beyond Earth's orbit.
Raiden brought the channel open, he had no way of knowing how long he had before Sithis struck. "Attention Thanagarians your prescence is in violation of the Asgard-System lords treaty you are ordered to withdraw from the sector," Raiden's voice boomed over the subspace communications arrays, "failure to comply with the treaty will result in your destruction."
A jaffa bowed, "My lord we are receiving a transmission." He announced bringing up a forward projection of the invasion force's leader.
"This is commander Hro Talak of the Thanagarian armada." Stated the winged humanoid, "Whom am I adressing." Came the message from the Thanagarian
He raised an eyebrow, "I am Raiden in the name of the System lords collective, I order you to withdraw in compliance with Asgard protected planets treaty if you fail to comply you will suffer destruction." Raiden turned off the communicator's open channel from his own station. "Ready mobile suits for sortie." He ordered, he had no patience for this, he had to be running out of time until the Daedric fleet arrived.
"I am afraid I cannot my orders insist I stay until we have completed our building project."
"I am afraid that I cannot allow the planet to be destroyed. You have numbers we superior skill and technology." As far as things actually went Raiden's vessels capital ships actually outnumbered the Thanagrian fleet though not by much. What the system lord was actually referring to was fighters. "I should it is time to clip your wings." Raiden ended the transmission "All ships weapons release. Launch mobile suits. All ships launch initial salvo, order Peacemillions to deploy gravity wells." After all he didn't want them to escape.
Chapter conclusion
Helltanz's notes: