Chapter 35

Lightning Fervor

Helltanz's Notes:

-Chapter begin-

The situation amongst the Goa'uld was tenuous. It was true that Yu Huang Shang Ti had taken this moment of weakness amongst the empire to send his less valuable fleets into the wastes to consolidate the chaotic territories. Then of course it was true that others were scrambling to also make quick gains from the chaos of this abruptly ended war between the system lords. It was true that Sokar, and Cronus were both pursuing their own ends, and Heru'ur was very busy with some development or another.

Of course the Asgard had their own concerns as well. Loki was once more free to run amok, and the fleets were still in the process of being rebuilt after the long and terrible war against the Replicators.

If anyone were to ask Wotan was uninterested in any of these things. The goa'uld had been fighting amongst themselves for tens of thousands of years, and the demonstration at the battle for Earth had proven the Asgard resolve. There would not be any violation of Asgard protected planets any time soon.

What Wotan was interested in was his agreement with Utgard-Loki. The humans were interesting enough, meddling with one of the Jotun's little systems, but there were other humans who had caught his eye. Utgard could fiddle all he liked amongst the wizards if and when he came, but the other humans on this world were of interest all of their own, in particular of course were certain markers yes Thor had made his declaration clear.

Colonel Fury of SHIELD found he did not like suddenly being teleported away from his meeting. It was just the latest in a series of meetings related to his organization's expansion, or their observations of certain major non government powers. That wasn't to say listening to logistics prattle on about suspicious material movements, and research by OsCorp was interesting, but it was still important to piecing together what OsCorp wanted Doctor Connor's to do with that formula, which was their current priority one goal. The colonel stood up and looked around, he recognized the after effects of the asgard transporters.

It shouldn't have been possible to beam him up from SHIELD headquarters, so hypothetically that ruled out the Goa'uld, but perhaps not rogue elements within the US government... the fixtures though definitely added credence to the idea that this was someone else. The fixtures were asgardian.

"I am Wotan of Asgard good man," The asgard declared through his hologram, "my ship presently sits above your world."

Fury had a good idea how Jack O'neill felt now, "So I see, why am I here?" Wotan was simply a variation of Woden the more common German spelling of Odin, the King of the Aesir. "Your people generally grab air force officers,"

"Yes, Thor's fondness is legendary," Wotan rumbled in reply, "you though are still of interest to Asgard. O'neill's state is a result of interbreeding somewhere down the line with one of our ancient allies, but you are science wrought, and skill perfected."

...translator then Fury guessed no doubt that would have sounded even more poetic in whatever language Wotan was used to speaking. "So what does that have to do with anything, you could have just asked?"

"Asked? I think not Nicolas Fury, for I have nothing to ask. I come with tidings of ill news indeed. Yu and Cronus, Sokar and Heru'ur are all frightfully quick in their consolidation. They flit about currying influence"
Fury shook his head, "The SGC's business, why bring it up to me?"

"Why because they are not the concern, you're concern should be the goa'uld who are free to act on your world. Hades, and Raiden, and beyond them the other powers that are stirring." The affairs of the galaxy at large were dull, but Earth was a thousand things happening on one little world. "How many times has your world been invaded only for you to narrowly throw it back. I come with tidings of another invasion."

Fury blinked, "What do you mean another?"

"The Goa'uld do not dare attack, even Raiden for all his arrogance dares not muster his spears to strike, not with his ships in such disarray. Asgard cannot but pass simple things, but if some else attacks and their technology remains well then just a blood price for the offense is it not?"

Fury stared, "You're telling me to get ready for another invasion. We can take the technology and turn it against our enemies." That was what they'd been doing anyway, sure the attack from some of the aliens hadn't been that useful, but they were learning. It was the Thanagarian Invasion, and Anubis that had helped the most to be sure when it came to building an understanding of alien technology.

"Of course, your Justice League, and all your heroes should make it simple enough. The strike will come fast, but will have no staying power. No stamina to hold, and the foe is week, but still enough to help you to break out into space."

The asgard might have been saying all of this but Fury really doubted whether Congress was really going to like getting told hey another alien invasion, nothing we can do but kick their ass after they land, and take their stuff. "So what-"

Fury found himself abruptly back in his chair. Wotan certainly seemed confident that they could beat the threat, and Fury understood why he doubted they could prevent the invasion. Earth's fleet was constantly occupied with the dozens of tasks, and projects the government had set forth for the fledgling space fleet. Oh sure congress, and this was both parties, wanted Earth to be defended but they also wanted a dozen other projects and that meant the ships had to be constantly going form place to place.

"Sir?"

Fury made a noise in the back of his throat, and pinched the bridge of his nose, "As of now we have credible intel of a near future threat extraterrestrial invasion by an alien power,"

-scene break-

Cronus's gift was just the latest in a string of headache inducers. The Goa'uld System lord had presented the SGC was a kind of Rosetta Stone or would have been if Earth didn't have translations already. It was just one more additional headache since it upped the attention the SGC was getting. It seemed like every ancient alien nut, and even legitimate archeologist was descending on Colorado.

If all this wasn't bad enough it was the FBI getting a hold of a copy of a security camera from Anubis's invasion. The whole thing reeked of internal politics to be honest. Still here they were having to deal with it.

"It looks like some kind of ancient technology,"

The Marine officer nodded, "Some kind of ancient power, in built shields, energy weapons," It was just a little too similar to what Sokar was fielded, even if Sokar's version didn't have shields, and for that matter the energy weapons were definitely similar to the kull plasma weapon. It wasn't all that surprising allegedly those Gamma ray beam satellites were based off of Susano's back engineering of a system Ra had had back engineered from an ancient design... which meant the going theory was Raiden had stolen them from Susanoo who had gotten them from Ra, who had picked them out of some ancient ruin somewhere a long time ago.

"Whats special about this particular issue of tech, besides the FBI getting nosy," The bureau didn't have a jurisdictional leg to stand on, but it wasn't stopping them from being nosy. "It can't be that bad can it?" It was a pity Daniel was still tied up dealing with diplomatic stuff... again. Still it didn't make a lot of sense why now of all times this was becoming an issue. The videos had been around, or rather footage like it had been around. They'd been so prevalent after the invasion the NID hadn't even tried to keep them off youtube, and sites like it. The lucky thing was most people were focusing on all the superheroes who were running around during the invasion to focus on strange people with energy weapons when there were aliens with energy weapons running around.

One of the doctors from Area 51 shrugged, "Well it kinda can general, even the old goa'uld staff weapons," which had pretty much been phased out, amongst the System Lords,over the last year as a result of the increasingly violent clashes amongst the System Lords, "Were mature plasma technology it was the ergonomic issue that was the problem, but even Ra's staff design was better from a power perspective... well this is..."

A handful of the surviving early officers present remembered reading the paper work after they'd reopened the stargate program after Apophis came through and reestablished contact with Abydos. Ra's Guard's staffs were modified, and it turned out that Bra'tac's staff, and the other Jaffa Guard had similar tweaking, which had probably been based off of Ra's elite's modifications. A few years later Heru'ur had introduced and improve 'plasma jacket technique' as it was termed improving accuracy substantially, but it still hadn't changed the issue of the staff's ergonomics. Now though well the System Lords had finally adopted their own variations of a more rifled form.

"Not good news," Jack finished. "Its ancient technology isn't it, one of there designs." There was a nod, and really he shouldn't have been surprised well he'd have to ask the asgard to look through the videos may they could figure it out.

The man shook his head, "Yes sir, we know the ancients have caches on the planet so its entirely possible this group just found them, but that doesn't mean we should discount the other possibility." Which meant keeping them away from the FBI.

Jack understood why Congress was doing this. The Protected Planet's treaty distinctly favored the air force, that much was obvious. It was also a convenient excuse to tell other nations that they couldn't share. The SGC though also had its share of getting shafted by congress. Exploration was no longer their mandate, but rather expansion of offworld facilities, and research. It did keep them from having to deal annoying civilian oversight boards.

The DoD had made it expressly clear. Stargate Command's primary function was now the expansion of those offworld facilities just in case earth fell. That this just happened to give the air force an excuse to have Stargate Command supervise shipyard construction was completely coincidental. The other SGC mandate was preparing earth for any alien threats.

–scene break-

Thau was ancient by human standards. His genetic memory had made him wise beyond his years before he'd even hit puberty though, and now he was a true force to be reckoned, but he was still only a demigod... never mind he could have snapped Baal's neck with a thought. The system lord had been his father... Anubis's chief lieutenant but he knew next to nothing about the threats that existed beyond known space, which was odd given Baal had once served Sokar as well.

Sokar who gleefully served the Daedra. Sokar who had waged a bloody genocidal war against the Goa'uld and depopulated scores upon scores of worlds in massive rampages. Of course Baal had been independent of Sokar long before that. Thau though had remembered Ancient Egypt on Earth, and Sokar's brief reign on the world. Sokar meddled with things he shouldn't have, and trying to warn Baal was only meeting with minimal success.

The Daedric Lord Hircine, and others, had taken their time after Hircine had hunted the Furlings to extinction. He and one of his fellows had found a face similar to the Unas who had reached the industrial age. The Daedra had carefully molded them equipping them with technology, and scattering the various tribes across far space worlds.

Tens of thousands of years later Sokar had come across one of these worlds, and then a bad moon had rose over the galaxy. Sokar went and found religion. He studied the Daedra based particle weaponry particularly plasma weapons and found that they were similar to the ancient weapons that the goa'uld Ma'tok's were based off of except intended for war.

This had been long ago, even for Thau or Baal. It was a distant painful memory. Before Ra had cemented his rule the Goa'uld had been even more fractious. Constantly fighting amongst one another. In those days minor goa'uld had been a much more potent assest, but then Ra rose to power and consolidated the galactic regime. A consolidation that had cost the lives of hundreds of millions of Jaffa in violent conflict.

A price in blood that would be a drop in the bucket if Sokar rose again. A new age of war was dawning yes, but if the Daedra were stirring too then truly there were few options. If they were, well Thau knew because Anubis had known that the quality of the ancients technology.

Nothing short of an Alteran Ramius class, a seven thousand eight hundred meter long battleship, could hope to face a warship of the Aedra or Daedra. A Ramius which itself was a ship of immense and highly focused destructive power, as well as exceptional defensible ability, was the minimum needed to posed a significant face to face threat to even a Daedric, or Aedric Light Fleet Combatant, what the Tauri would call a Light cruiser.

To even command a Ramius would change the face of the galaxy. Thau knew that to possess such a ship would allow him to wipe away one of Raiden's vaunted Shinku Rai Tatsu class battleships with ease. It was wishful thinking though unless he could find one, and the last time they had really been seen by the goa'uld was long ago.

With Ra either dead, or simply in hiding, and doing a very good job staying in the shadows, it meant Ptah was the only real lead that Thau had. It was true that there were rumors that Cronus was scrambling after some Ancient cache of technology all of a sudden, but Thau couldn't imagine the old titan finding anything of note, not that deep in goa'uld space. Baal agreed, which meant Osiris was the long voice of concern.

-scene break-

The Autumn Midnight, the center piece of the fleet, its flagship. It was but one testament to the power of the Dread Father, but it was a great one. The warship was the center piece of this fleet.

Beyond the vastness of the fleet present, or even the majesty that the Autumn Midnight in all its grim and terrible power conveyed were the the world's orbital defenses. There were of course the mobile suits as well. In more than a million years not much had changed in many ways for all the numerous defenses they were much like the garrison that had defended the world during the War in Heaven.

The idea of the very first mobile suits, of course, had been pioneered during the last years of the Ancient's dominance. Only just before the War of Heaven, the conflict which brought about the end of the Age of Dreams.

The Dread Father Sithis sat here amongst the dark of Space his fleet resting above a shadowy world's covered primarily by three colors. Green which were typically the massive forest or prairie reserves or the massive farms. The blue of the oceans and seas. Finally the black which were the huge shadowy structures. This latter well some massive urban locations, others simply sheer cathedrals and temples which would make the average megalomaniac Goa'uld green with envy.

Where once one the Ayeleid Star Empire's worlds rested now rested one of the dark jewels of Sithis's own empire. The Ayeleid's greatest rising star and the cause for its downfall and destruction sat. He had had his reasons long ago, but those were lost to the rest of the galaxy in the ever flowing sands of history, and those that might still have known would have called them petty. It would not have been an unfounded criticism considering he'd launched a rebellion that had brought the Ayelied Empire crashing down to the ground, but all that was long ago.

Sithis smiled, fondly remembering the age of dreams. They had been a beloved time, before all of this, before the War in Heaven. It was not to say he was not fond of this age, it had its pleasant moments, but the nostalgia memories of the old times were so fond to him as to be painful.

One of the Judiciaries of the Brotherhood, an Executioner ranked member in other words, rushed forward before bowing before the Daedric Lord. "Dread Father, the Night Mother has arrived." He announced stirring him briefly from his reminiscing.

The Dark Father rose from the cathedra like chair though the chair in question predated modern humans of earth. He eyes caught site of the massive construct. Yes not much had changed in significant ways.

The Bairn, this colossal facility in question was easily Raiden's greatest asset, but even then the massive Alteran ship was nothing in comparison to the Alter of the Patriarch which floated over this world which under the control of Sithis. The Alter served much the same purpose though, and he had had the Alter built during the war in Heaven... of course it hadn't been dedicated to him originally. That re dedication had come later after the Ayelied had fallen.

Long ago the Ayelieds had been the most militaristic of the 'Ancients' but even they were arrogant. In the end the Ayelied had fallen in battle, but not against an outside foe, now rather they'd died because of a force from within. The ancients in their arrogance had slowly advanced in most cases, but still lorded their power over their lesser subjects and even lower ranked members of their own race.

His smile didn't fade, he remembered figuring out what was necessary. Then conveniently insuring his brother would get access to his arcane research... Stenddarr had taken the bait rushing off to form the Aedra. The war though... he was less than fond of remembering.

Not even all the Goa'uld combined could stop one of the Daedric Fleets. This was important to remember... This era was dying. To not prepare for the inevitable bloodshed was foolish. Even so it would be nice to set Nocturnal's concerns at ease, it was true Sanguine's fleets were flitting about a bit more than normal, but given the circumstances it was understandable.

Sitihis could not particularly say he liked Sanguine, but he was certainly pleased at Nocturnal's choice to visit. Certainly she come to him after all, than go to her sister about the issue... in truth he'd be glad just to set her at ease.

It was nostalgia now that was effectively all that could touch him. The memories of the old days before all of this, but things would change. It would probably not be this cycle of course, or even the next, but one day... one day... truly a future to work towards.

-scene break-

Heatherfield was it usual fare, and the guardians were for the most part more concerned with their own lives. It was just now turning to night on the little blue world, the sky still tinged a little pink, and the moon was just now reaching the lower houses. It would be hours before the moon reached its full height

Will scowled a facial expression emulated by her fellow Gaurdians of Earth. After the invasion they hadn't even had managed to be rid of Phobos and Cedric. It was unfortunate but they ended up working well.

Even so it was a mess. The whole thing was a mess. It was bad enough having to work with Cedric, but Phobos was even worse, and he complained about the idea as much as they did. Most of the time it wasn't even Nerissa they were having to deal with.

It was certainly true that the Justice League, and various other superheroes helped keep their work load fairly easy, but just last week they'd had had to deal with some super freaky death cult. That bunch of blood thirsty nihilistic psycho priests had been a real pain to deal with... pun not intended. Of course Sithis had had nothing to do with them, either dealing with the priests or helping deal with them.

Now though well it was a completely different situation, he'd been standing around before he'd gotten attacked. It was true he was narrowly skirting the rules twisting them narrowly to his will so he could get away with this bit of meddling. On the plus side he was helping now, as opposed to just standing around.

The blow had originally been meant for Phobos, but Sithis's hand had reached out and snatched the arm pulling it, and it's owner off balance. There was the sickening crack of the bone and it roused them back to attention. Sithis had already let the arm go. The daedric lord was unconcerned as he allowed the mind controlled puppet to escape, after all it didn't serve his interests to kill just yet. Killing the 'guard' would do nothing in this case to serve his plans.

The Dark God was clothed in much the same fashion as he had been in the gaurdians first enounter. His entire being expunging his otherworldly nature. It was however the very taint of his magic though that pressed on their senses. The cold feeling of the void manifest was like the tide coming in while you stood on the beach.

Caleb charged swinging a sword. a courtesy the god of death did not even bother to return. Sithis cassually cast the rebel leader aside and out of his way in to a pile of rubbish... the guardians always seemed to be fighting in these back alleys... actually for that matter it seemed the detective was as well. "I do seem to recall mentioning something," he remarked ignoring the rebel leader who was busy trying to claw his way out of the refuse pile.

"We are not handing over Ellyon!" the gaurdian of earth shouted thrusting her hand out, while making sure she was in front of the aforementioned princess. Cornelia didn't care at the moment whether or not he'd been helping them, or if Phobos and Cedric had been helping them against Nerissa; she was tired of hearing this. She was tired of him tossing Caleb around like that too.

Sithis's eyes glimmered and the incoming projectiles of stone were disentegrated by a sudden surge in gravity.

"Sithis maybe we can talk about this," The keeper of the heart stepped in front of the Daedric lord. It was really the only way to keep this from escalating, that and Phobos was already diverting magic into specific pools. She could feel the shift, they'd all been more sensitive to the flow of magic after whatever it had been months ago.

His hand interlinked, "Little one," he began in an unconcerned manner, "What is there to discuss," he querried, "Nerrisa has gained possession of the Heart of Zambala something you could not prevent," There was a narrorwing Daedric lord's serpentine and death colored eyes swept across the guardian of the heart, she shivered.

She didn't know what to make of the situation."Guys whats going on?" Ellyon asked , it was bad enough that her friend had apparently developed magic or superpowers or whatever, but this turn seemed for the worse.

His breath tickled her neck despite being over a foot away as he spoke. This was his key opportunity, "Earth has many dedicated to its well being, but you are not of this world little child. You were spirited away from another world."

"Who… who are you?" she queired he voice a bit shaky.

"I am the Dread Father Sithis. The Lord of the Void, The Serpent god of Death, I am the eternal, immutable, god of chaos and patron of assassins." He stated, his voice brushed softly like an autumn wind.

Then all the serenity was gone in an instant. A blast of lightning split the air, and Will, and the others instantly knew Nerrissa had come to crash the party. It was bad enough she'd mind controlled some of the rebels, and they had had no idea how she'd done that, which was bad, but now she was here to.

Phobos cursed straightening to full height, "the fallen Guardian," He snarled rounding to face the new foe magic burning in his veins.

Sithis snorted,. The last generation of guardians had had potential so much sympathetic magic, and its members had plenty of individual potential... enough to have been dangerous even.

"Gaurdians unite," Will shouted as the quintet took flight soaring in to the dark sky. She might not have liked it but she was hoping Phobos and Cedric would jump into the fight on their side they could have used the help. Nerissa and ... the others were all as powerful as they were, and had better control of their powers.

The ten had immediately went into an element melee, it might have had the potential to have been interesting if the current generation had more experience, but they didn't. As it was the battle distinctly favored Nerissa... not that it mattered. Will had already foolishly invited him to conflict, a single angrily demanded call for help as he'd stood around. They had gotten so used to it, even though he supported Phobos, and they knew it. The Daedric god allowed himself an amused smirk, if nothing else it would be amusing.

Nerrisa's generation of mind controlled gaurdians attacked, more skill and power than the current generation. They were mature guardians, at their prime, and with their experience made them all the more dangerous. Of course that had been precisely why he'd been loitering until asked, until demanded.

Ellyon was a matter for another time now.

Taking a step he joined the ten, the two generations of gaurdians, in the air. There was no point to growing wing, "You are as I have stated at a rather obvious disadvantage," the Death god commented. "Help? You demanded it," He remarked 'stepping' around teh guardian of the Heart of Kandrakhar.

"YOU!" hissed Nerrisa recoilling sharply. The Daedric and Aedric lords despised Kandrakar, a feeling that was all too mutual. How could it not being forged from the deaths of one of each. Still this was wrong all kinds of wrong creatures the like of the Lords were forbidden from appearing like this... it was wrong oh so wrong.

He ignored the exclamation for in the clawed fingers of the daedric lord's other arm a Lapus Lazuli gem formed, "Help? Yes this will, I cannot unduly grant the skill to beat them, but power, power instantly granted yes." he whispered in to her, Will's, ear. The divine patron of assassins did not wait for a response his hand went into the gaurdian's leader's chest, as his other arm grasped a shoulder.

Will's body spasmed for a moment in the dark god's arms as the second heart 'supplemented' Kandrakar's, the Faerie like attire was replaced with a more daedric style apparel, her irises turned a luminous shade of blood red. Her faerie like wings also changed in to an almost angeline pair her hair and indeed her body as well gained several inches in length and height respectively. Along with a few other physical changes came a more clear magical change... the void's power surge.

The Dark god's arm slipped away and Will attacked, barrelling through the former generation of gaurdians with clear and obvious ease. There was however a problem Will clearly had no control over the sheer unrelenting power. That much was evident to anyone who watched this, even Caleb on the ground who had no training in the magical arts.

"What the hell did you do to her?" demanded Irma rounding to face the ancient with a fury. He said nothing, and in the mere span breaths it was over and done with.

The raw power at her command let smash through the gaurdians defending Nerrisa and even seize her by the throat. The Guardians self control though, he'd discounted it, Will wouldn't bring herself to do it. The sudden change allowed Nerrisa to escape. A defiant focus of willpower over came raw instinct.

It hardly mattered in the end, it was done. Nerrissa might have been alive, but another heart was now in play. Phobos clearly didn't understand, evident by the looks of disbelief the boy was giving him. No doubt he expected to be bestowed such a power, and could not fathom the cause to give it to an enemy.

"Will are you okay?" inquired Tarranee as the Gaurdians of Earth flew their beleagured leader to the solid ground beneath their feeet. The Gaurdians channelled magic, their natural powers supplemented in their transformed state by the Heart of Kandrakhar. Will though was now supplemented by a second.

Will's expression was one of shock, "I can't, we can't become like her," She was back to human form now, but as she blustered it was evident she was still quelling the raw instinct of the other world. She'd conquer it, it was simply a matter of willpower. In human form it would only be a minimal issue, and she'd have to being drawing on the power for it to even matter in any real capacity.

"What's wrong with her?" Cornellia demanded sternly crossing her arms and trying to look imposing. Try being the critical word. As a guardian she was powerful, yes, and a threat to Cedric in single combat, also true, but against a god... a laughable matter.

"I am the end of the cycle, and the birth of the next. I am eternity." He declared, "What is the power of a single world beneath the black wings of death to me," The dark god boasted, "You cannot comprehend infinity."

Corneilla scowled, a faint growl could be heard in the air around her. The earth cracked under her feet.

"Are you coming?" he asked ever amused by the situation.

"Guys whats going on?" Ellyon inquired again in much the same manner as a child left out of the loop. This had to be some kind of superhero something or another, and she was really tired of being out of the loop.

The gaurdian of the element of earth turned to the other blonde, "Don't worry Ellyon I'll explain everything." she promised, in the proccess scooping her up seeing as she couldn't fly under her own power... not yet, but one day soon maybe she would.

-Chapter Conclusion-

Helltanz's Notes: Definitely needs some work, but for now I'll leave it like this.