Chapter 23
Lightning Fervor
Helltanz's notes:
– Chapter begin-
Located at the very heart of Raiden's territory's inner rim, Vis Uban was a magneficent world. He brought his underlords here frequently to remind them of that, or to bring independents to his side.
Raiden looked over the data that lay in front of the system lord, obvious it was impractical to upgrade or replace every single unit, more to the point it was impractical to implement such things for mass produced units. He'd begun to realize this, simply put his logistics were lagging behind those of Yu Huang Shang Ti, and Anubis, slowing his war machine.
This particular piece of technology was too valuable to ignore. Equipped to Ace, commander, Elite, whatever one wished to call them on the other hand it was another story. Some units were replaced in completely by units of the same design and designated improvements, an example of this the Gat X series Command units all were receiving successors baring their names. As it was if he kept implementing these changes he would merely be worsening his logistics issues, but at the same time he was still considering.
There were other Mobile Suits, developed from the same programs, receiving more drastic updates saw more significant changes to their names and fields. Amongst the names presented by the data screen were the 3-ZGMF- X09a Justice, 3-ZGMF- X10a Freedom, 3-ZGMF- X13a Providence, would be replaced by the 4- ZGMF- X19a Infinite Justice, 4-ZGMF- X20a Strike Freedom, and 4-ZGMF- X23a Providence Legend respectively.
Other machines had also underwent changes, Raiden had once used a type Zero, which was replaced by the unit's successor which was a first version upgrade, as such the models only had their name changed with the added designation of R and change in Identification Code to the end, these units both the original Zero, and the R, were the only units capable of matching the higher grade units, this was at a price no normal person could handle the strain, the Zero R was to be succeeded by the Fervor. Though that machine's IDC was yet to be chosen, pending its completion, the Fervor was schedule to be the first phase 6 command unit.
This was not to say certain older unit had successors baring their name, 1-AMF-101 DINN and 3-AMA-953 BABI, both were being improved and would be succeeded by the 4-AMF-102 DINN II and 4-AMA-954 BABI II. Similar redesigns were also being done for Taurus, though the Taurus could in some sense like the CGUE and GuAIZ could be considered the midway between Ace and mass production, and the Virgo mobile suit series among other mass produced units.
Raiden read over the file again confirming that things were going ahead as scheduled. In the air some eighteen thousand ninety meters in the air a prototype phase five Mobile Suit easily evaded the fire of its tester units. This was progress, but at the same time it would also complicate his logistics further, delaying or straining any plans to assault Anubis's position.
It was expected Anubis was doing the same for his mobile armor and would field better units, quantity wouldn't win if the quality of the enemy unit was so much more advanced if a single unit could eliminate an entire wing of squadrons in a matter of seconds.
So far the only main battle type phase fours were the Muramasas and the DOM, the Gat division had yet to come up with a mass production unit for Raiden's forces. Only Artemis had actually gotten anywhere with standarization. She had tasked the GAT design bureau to build a replacement for the older Leo, which had also seen upgrades into the 3-MFBMS-01 Leo II, the 4-Gat-07 Hyperion was leap from the old Leo design, the Hyperion was more in line with the principle of the CGUE, a half way between ace and mass production unit. Personally Raiden suspected the design was more a matter of pride the Hyperion was armed with a mobile suit version of the umbrella of Artemis.
He watched the latest report from the Hinotama facility on Mars, as it was things were going to come to a head eventually likely in dealing with the Tauri. Raiden actually expected Anubis to try and access Atlantis. Prior to the war with Ra and well before Anubis's split with the System lords it had been a mutual research project. It had been after the war and aforementioned schism information had revealed the city could only be accessed by an earth Stargate.
Unfortunately with his limited sustainable power projection capacity it was at a rather bad time so as of yet Raiden had yet to acquire the time to deal with the problem. None the less Atlantis was something Raiden fully intended to rub the in Anubis's face. It was a small matter of pride. Atlantis though could be accessed via ship if one wanted to take an extragalactic excursion but it wasn't really worth it.
If he did provoke Anubis to attacking Earth well Anubis's assault on Earth would give him the necessary situation to put a large fleet in orbit and run detailed scans to detect any ancient outpost on the planet with out looking suspicious to the Asgard.
Ra's demise while beneficial had also been troublesome to say the least; it had completely thrown the system lords into disarray, each member swiftly moved and minor Goa'uld attempted to make a name for themselves. It'd derailed his plans entirely for a build up, and to be truthful part of that had been the decision to invade Susanoo as soon as the opportunity presented itself.
Raiden's incursion to Abydos had been for treasure hunting, quite frankly Ra was an idiot, albeit and idiot who had top notch survival skills. After all not many could claim to be a member of the system lords continuously for as long as he had, but an idiot the amount of technological artifacts left over that he had for no other reason but for aesthetic purposes was aggravating.
Raiden took the time to activate the projectors. Yu's assault was keeping Anubis focused, and Yu's underlords, particularly Guan Yu could hold the rear lines for some time. Now was the ideal time to go ahead and commit to a restructuring before they were too extended. Anubis was also consolidating, so neither side was suited to a full scale invasion just yet. Baal though, he could afford to commit to a full assault, and then there was the issue of the Kull warriors to deal with. The tauri solution was one option.
-scene break-
On Earth Bruce Wayne was amongst the richest men on the planet, and right now he was about to go completely off the wall. Organizing the expanded league had been a massive undertaking. Taking steps to make the league as international as possible had been the main thing, but the truth was the first world contribution was significantly larger, yes, but it also brought a substantial technological expertise to the group. Right now though there were serious discussions to creating smaller teams comprised of sidekicks, and form sidekicks to deal with smaller threats. That was what they were talking about signing Galatea up for, even though Supergirl was also, if technically a junior, member of the league. Sithis seemed pleased to turn Wayne manor into some kind of orphanage for the handful super powered kids. Diana had taken the opportunity to move in, he'd been against it at first, and while it had caused some problems there were benefits to it as well.
Luthor was out of prison again, which was bound to be an issue. They even had information that he was busy discussing things with Cadmus. The US Government's new homeworld defense program that all the politicians were pushing for was moving forward calling in plenty of the major corporations, LexCorp, as well as OsCorp included amongst the already signed on Stark and Wayne Industies. Stark Industries had offered Steel a job recently, as had SHIELD.
SHIELD had been added to the organizations under the new program's leadership, they and the Navy were working on a new heavy air vehicle apparently a flying carrier. It was possible the new ships would be using Thanagarian technology, but most evidence seemed to hold it was largely earth built. The carrier was one thing, the way the government was recruiting people was something else entirely.
"So whats the plan now?" Galatea demanded taking a seat in one of the free chairs of the batcave, "Still searching for tall dark and evil's minions." She meant Sithis, "Thought you were going to give that up after he showed up and dropped the runt off?"
Sithis was legitimately a concern, but all things considered, "Right now no," He was looking back at the latest Cadmus facility, front for Cadmus in Metropolis. They and Luthor were up to something, and as it was there was no available Intel, no available Intel wasn't good news.
The InterGang attack on a local SHIELD office also had his attention. The attack had been a failure. It'd taken SHIELD six hours for them to get a warrant to bust into Kord Industries. InterGang's operations in Gotham were dead in the water because of six hours of SHIELD getting a warrant. It was a take down that had considerably upset the FBI's organized crime taskforce. InterGang had been after something at the SHIELD Headquarters, they had known something was there, and SHIELD had not liked them knowing that. Whatever InterGang had been after had warranted a government agency to respond to resistance with heavy weapons. Batman didn't like this at all.
"I could always go in there,"
"Not happening."
-scene break-
Sithis had been supplying the technology, and armaments for thousands of years as it was he had far more pressing matters than the squabbles of the goa'uld on his mind. There were vastly more pressing issues, "Tepes step forward."
"So what is the plan kill the mongrels, as usual," The vampire inquired smiling, displaying the long canines, "oh fearless god of death."
The dark god was not pleased, but another member of the brotherhood spoke, "You really do need to act more appropriately you are a Listener." the old woman chided, "Could you for once act like it?"
He frowned eying the vampire as he stepped directly into the light. The vampire flipped his air annoyingly. He was dressed in Victorian era fashion, blood red and white dominated his clothes color.
Where Raiden would normally have hit someone for that kind of insolent answer, Sithis, his other half knew unfortunately the vampire had a thing for pain. He leaned back comfortably. Tepes's work was flawless.
Tepes was a listener. The highest of the ranks in the Dark Brotherhood, whose authority came directly from the dark god himself. He was also responsible for a large portion of the Crimson Scar's activies on earth and more precisely to the Executioners attached to the sect, "So what is the plan oh exalted one?" He inquired.
"You are to go to England." The Dark God remarked, hopefully this wouldn't end up like the last time he had dispatched Tepes to the country that had just been a real bother. "You will find what I seek there."
"Righto."
The Dark God eyes narrowed, "And you will not go about randomly impaling people who annoy you," He ordered, "nor are you to go about wasting time finish any fight as quickly as possible do not and I emphasize this," He stated, "do not draw unnecessary attention to your self or the brotherhood."
"Yes dread father." Droned the vampire.
Sithis was used to this flippancy from his vassal, though he had to admit he found it most amusing when Raiden's, Goa'uld, Lieutenants, simply flipped out and tried to blast the General of Blood. "Your information on your mission will be supplied, as per standard procedure, and try to act your age for once, and you are on a mission do not get side tracked I do not want to you to be planet side any longer than than is necessary."
The vampire flashed a cheeky grin.
Sithis frowned, "That means no senseless killing of Muslims," He reminded the vampire, some of the brotherhood found it difficult to let old grudges die, "either."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know and no crucifying Catholics, and no-"
The Daedric lord stood, "I do not need you to parrot my words back." He interjected green eyes focusing in, "Though let me make myself perfectly and utterly clear, I do not want, under any circumstances want a repeat of the incident two centuries ago, am I understood."
"Yep."
"Good." Sithis waved him away, "Now then begone I have other matters to which I must attend," He ordered.
The Listener of the Crimson Scar smirked, "Yay." He declared before he disappeared sinking into the floor
Sithis turned his attention back to his work, gesturing for the Justicar to approach. It was true most internal judicial matters simply required an Executioner to mediate, or deal with things, some disputes however required more refined touches. The Justicar though were still members of the Fraternal Order of the Dark, with all the skill and efficiency befitting their rank within the Dark Brotherhood. There were times when they were needed to fulfill Judicial affairs, fulfill their roles as judges.
"Shall I follow him honored father?" The old woman inquired, all things considered Tepes should have been reassigned to another world his ties on Earth lingered on, and his acting out brought unneeded attention to the Brotherhood.
Sithis waved the question, "No," He responded, "Your task is far more pressing, you will go to the Americas, go and speak with Elijah. There is much that needs to be done."
"As you will."
-scene break-
This was a meeting of the System lords; all of them .This was the only place where the system lords could meet at any time and not want to kill one another. Everyone, the collection of system lords assembled, exchanged the usual 'proper' friendliness and associated polite façade as was necessary for these gatherings. The meeting was impromptu, something which annoyed Raiden. They were forgoing tradition in the wake of ongoing things. There was no time for the traditional methods when war was building into a raging wildfire. Moloc had called this meeting, and no one was pleased by being summoned by a junior system lord.
"I am sure you understand that that this meeting is of the utmost importance." Stated Moloch who suddenly took several steps backward upon noting Raiden and Anubis looked aggravated. Truth be told even calm, compassionate old man Yu looked ready to murder someone. Sokar was considering far worse at being summoned by the likes of Moloc so abrubtly. "Ra is alive." Moloch managed to squeak out under the collective angry looks of his fellow system lords. Had he given some notice he hardly would have been in such a predicament.
One of the neutral faction managed to beat them all to the vocalizing of what they were all thinking, "Excuse me?" She asked, "Would you repeat that Moloch?" inquired Kali dangerously. The neutral factions comprised the bulk of the system lords, amongst this number officially Heru'ur, Cronus, Sokar, Kali, Bastet, and Olokun. Moloc did officially count amongst their number, and that was precisely the problem he was embarrassing the lot of them in a very public fashion.
"Ra lives," He repeated, "his last known host was spotted."
That disgusting bastard was alive. If anything could make Raiden, Sokar and Anubis even more murderous it was this. "You mean to say Ra lives and we were just now made aware of this?" question Anubis an edge in his voice promising horrible pain.
"I have to agree Ra was never very intelligent," He remarked, "he could not have escaped our attention without help." Stated Raiden
Moloch began to stammer. It was Yu Haung Shang Ti who had spoken rising from his chair to address the room, "Moloch your incompetence is appalling," The first emperor boomed chastising the quaking system lord, "you shame us all with your weakness." Yu proclaimed.
The lesser goa'uld was becoming increasingly nervous by this point. "It's the Tauri's fault." He managed to get out before anyone else could chastise him.
"How is it the human's of earth's fault," Cronus remarked derisively, "I don't think they were hiding the person that they themselves tried to kill." Never mind he had spent a fair amount of time on earth as of late.
By this point Moloch was grasping at straws, which did him no good in the face of his steadily irate fellow system lords. "The Tok'ra-"
"Against Ra why would they hide him." Kali remarked translating the hated terrorist group, and rogue goa'uld faction's name. As it happened they were in fact helping Ra, but they didn't know that, and as it was truthfully the kind of thing that even with evidence would likely be dismissed out of hand.
Cronus sneered openly glaring at the lesser system lord with open contempt. "Moloch you are a stain on the glory of the system lords." It was by this point general insults against Moloch started flying, from everything to his eating habits to his methods of ruling. The gathering broke, with declaring, and Cronus seconding, a recess of several hours.
-scene break-
"Whats our status exactly?" The director of SHIELD inquired, as it was there had been a large expansion of shield.
His aide de camp looked up, "Approximately seventeen hours ago we completed operation Cleansweep 7. Our elements indicate that at the moment we've thrown InterGang into disarray, however this report indicates that our sanitizing of the situation may have caused a fracture in the organization's leadership." She dropped two report on his desk.
Fury snapped open the security line, and started reading. The first report started on the issue of an attack on an InterGang warehouse suspected of storing alien weapons. There were no particular details about the weapons, it'd been a mess of dead bodies and a bad arson job to cover up the deed. There was still no detail on how InterGang had known about Lab 21 in Gotham's ongoing project, much less how to get passed the security gate, and the initial locks. They'd gotten up to the third lock, before the guards had realized something was wrong, it'd been then that the shooting had started.
Without that information there was no way of telling if they'd try to attack the lab again, and InterGang was a large organization, and there was talk they'd had succeeded from one of the Nazi's splinters after the second world war. So far though there had been confirmation, and all the InterGang lieutenants hadn't been particularly talkative about history, maybe they hadn't known anything, maybe the rumors bullshit. There wasn't really a way to tell one way or another.
They'd been trying to talk the SGC into joining into Project Peagsus, and Phase 2. What did matter was the potential issues of a compromised lab though, Gotham might have had its dangers, but the closeness to Wayne Industries had its long term benefits.
The second report was also far from good news, they'd gotten new reports about Vandal Savage, and a number of others, but mainly Savage. The old bastard was looking for something in the Africa, specifically the cradle of mankind and the Caucuas mountains in Europe as well. Three in depth expeditions were ongoing and he was looking for something.
"Any indication what he's looking for?" The man responded looking up from the report he thumbed down further, "Any chance this is another one of those alien artifact expeditions that were launched?" As it was while Vandal Savage was rumored to be old it wouldn't have been likely for him to have left stuff like that lying around, unless he hadn't been able to move it. That meant if it was big, well there was the possibility of that.
His lieutenant tapped through the tablet computer. "No sir, all the records we have at present are extremely sketchy. All evidence we have is exceptionally limitted, and the SGC has located only a series of ruins, none particularly near either search site."
"Contact stargate command, just supply them with the general regions, see if they have anything." Fury tapped the control on his desk activating the hologram, "We're going to need their help with the carrier if we're to have it operational as quickly as possible."
-scene break-
"This new development changes nothing Raiden." Anubis remarked, while the half ascended system hated Ra he had no intention of diverting resources from the war effort to tracking down especially not with Yu pushing forward like an angry dragon towards his domain. Both sides were trouncing through space claimed by small lords. It made things an interesting three way smashing together. It made for a good testing. There just was no since trying a long hyperspace journey through hostile territory. Both sides needed to build an invasion corridor to supply troops, and fleets, and both sides knew it.
Raiden smirked "Of course not it simply means I have the opportunity to kill Ra with my own hand before I crush your pathetic mobile armors."
"I will not fall so easily Raiden." Anubis hissed, "You've not the supplies to carve a pathway, Yu's ships have set into an assault the little lords, you've taken six worlds, and I've taken nearly four times that number."
His face set in an annoyed scowl, "I know where Atlantis is." Raiden taunted. "I know that fact, I know it can only be reached from Earth's gate. I know that as it is you can't take earth, and I know you don't have the address."
Anubis's temper flared, and he snarled and the partially ascended being, began vehemently to swear in ancient at the state of affairs. Quite satisfied with his rebuttal Raiden allowed himself smirk openly and walked off, leaving a fuming Anubis in wake. This was a problem of severe nature. "Problem?" Baal inquired, Anubis snarled violently in his principal ally's direction. "That bad?" Baal inquired, well today was just full of bad news.
"Worse." was all he responded.
"Ooh dear," Baal stroked his goatee, "so is the plan off then?"
"Do not speak of any sensitive information."
"Ooh come on," Baal protested in exasperation, "its neutral ground you know how Raiden is honorable matters like that."
"That changes nothing." Anubis snapped.
Raiden smirked the scanners prevented the transport of weapon's onto the station. Now Raiden could not read Anubis's mind, as it was heavily shielded. Nor did he care to know what was in there. Anubis silence still was a welcome sign, though it took some effort to block out all the noise as he called it from other beings. He welcomed that little shard of quiet from the other god's shielded mind.
Poor Anubis, his arrogance, that'd been his undoing last time. Raiden attention perked.
"Something devious?" Pressed a voice from behind him.
He smiled turning to face the red headed Goa'uld queen, "Atium Morrigan." This was one of his bad traits they said, Yu especially thought it would be a problem. He stepped inwards.
"You are speaking that language again." She snapped
"Euge Nou Incursis." Morrigan growled. "Does it annoy you?"
She glowered at him, "Mikta." Was her response to his inquiry, which really only amused him.
"Take Ashrak." Raiden blurred past Morrigan smirking his hand taking a grip on her arm, they weren't allies he remembered that. "Tol Kek Cra Ra-k" He remarked pressing against the while he lips brushing against her ear, in Goa'uld it meant, My hunter go kill the vile one Ra. His hand loosened and swept down her arm.
Chapter Conclusion
Helltanz's Notes: Tepes, if you can figure out who is good job, will be showing up a bit more, I had originally intended for him not to show up until the Ori conflict. And Politics at their finest. Ra is another minor sub plot.