Now we return back into the story, the battle continues between the Terran vs Apophis
...
Onboard Apophis flagship
"This is very fascinating" spoke Lisa Mackay with awe as she examined a small crystal in her hand. She had extracted it from one of consoles inside the computer room.
The sound of plasma blast hitting the walls was heard
"Take your time!" grumbles Sheppard sarcastically as he unleashed several blue bursts of the alien gun in his hand from the doorway. A few minutes ago they had managed to reach the hallway of the computer terminal room Sheppard had spotted long ago, only to stumble into a patrol. Before the Jaffa could threaten or blast the two Terrans a massive shock was felt across the ship, giving the duo time enough to enter the room and take cover. Sheppard had then used the grenades or rather the stun grenades he had acquired earlier to disable the patrol or most of it because one managed to run and call reinforcements. Now while the Terran pilot was busy holding them off, Lisa was trying to access the ship's computers. She was partially successful in pulling schematics but accessing sensitive parts of ship was impossible because the whole thing was compartmentalized or concentrated to the bridge. Not to be rebuffed Lisa decided to hack into the ship's power grid to make it lose power and cause panic. Imagine her surprise when she discovered that the ship's hyperdrive was offline. It wasn't due to battle damage but some kind of diagnostic run on a loop and a very subtle one. Could there be ally forces inside this vessel already?
Her thoughts were interrupted by a crackling explosion of sparks and debris coming from the door. She saw Sheppard's body sprawl on the floor and cursed her shortsightedness. Immediately she ran to him to pull him away but just as she reached to grab him, a dozen weapon staffs were aimed at her.
"Surrender humans!" sneers the Jaffa, his eyes burning with hate.
"Kree Jaffa!" shouted Ryac, Apophis First Prime. Following the hyperdrive's failure and the Terrans stopping their attack, the System Lord had ordered his ship to be taken at the edge of the system at sublight speed while they fix the hyperdrive, unaware of his First Prime scheming. Meanwhile Ryac was tasked to deal with the intruders who were decimating his fellow Jaffa as well as the prisoners that had escaped. Ryac sensing his window of opportunity gladly obeyed and after exiting the bridge ordered his lieutenants to reinforce the soldiers fighting the Terran boarders, knowing he was sending them to their death, unfortunately he had no choice and their beliefs in the false god was too strong to sway their minds. Ancients know he did everything as subtly as he could.
"First Prime!" calls one of the Jaffa in joy "We have re-captured the prisoners"
Ryac nodded "I can see that" His right hand went behind his cape to grab something causing his subordinates eyes to widen as they saw him branding a humped back shape cylinder with the same forward protrusion as a weapon staff. All Jaffa knew what it was and their shock was even bigger when they realized that their leader, the arm of their god was carrying Plasma Blaster, such dangerous weapon that had been banned by Apophis himself, especially since it had been created by the Free Jaffa Rebel.
"First Pr..." the Jaffa never finished his words as he was flailed by a burst of dozens of plasma pellets exploding on his chest and catapulting him across the hallway, his companions sharing the same fate or had their bodies carbonized. Ryac upholstered his Zatnikatel with his left hand and shot the remaining Jaffa close to Lisa. Still in shock of being betrayed they reacted too late as twin burst of blue lightning paralyzed their nervous systems then shut down their body functions forever.
Ryac fired several more blue bursts to finish his subordinates off for sure then turned toward Lisa. Before he could do or say something, Sheppard lunged at him with speed and reflexes the former First Prime never thought he would possess. The Terran hit him in the jaw, paralyzing him momentarily, and then he felt the ground leave his feet as Sheppard crouched and made a swipe kick, and then held his left foot on his throat while holding a Zat on his right hand. To his surprise Ryac found he would not be able to dislodge the human easily from him. Never had he suspected him to have such strength.
"Why did you help us?" asks Sheppard coldly, granted the human alien had saved their lives, Sheppard had to wonder if it wasn't some kind of ploy. His time fighting the Sethists had made him pretty paranoid like many Terrans.
"Because I am much a prisoner as you are, human" responded Ryac stiffly "I am Jaffa like those men I have slay. We serve the Goaulds such as Apophis but it is not willingly."
"And yet you have killed your own men?" spoke Lisa, her tone neutral. She was a bit conflicted by what she saw. A part of her was wondering if they should kill him or trust him. Then an idea popped in her head.
"You are the one who disabled the force field in our prison cell and also the hyperdrive" Ryac nodded at her words
"Which begs to question as to why you are doing it?" asks Sheppard, Ryac sighed. He knew the humans would not trust him at first but he hadn't expected them to be that paranoid, then again who wouldn't.
"I am not doing this out of generosity or pity, but I have seen from the bridge how your people fight. Despite being slightly inferior in terms of technology, you have proven to be worthy adversaries, something that has never been seen before from your kind. "
"So...you freed us because you like us?" asks Sheppard visibly disturbed by the comment, Ryac shot him a glare then glanced at Lisa "Is he always like this?"
"I think it is genetic" sighs the female scientist "would explain his family military history of insubordinations" she added, making Sheppard glare at her with a mix of shock and anger that the woman had actually read his file. Before he could say something, Ryac cut in "I believe your people may be the key to help my own. In exchange for helping you escape I will tell you everything you need to know about your enemies."
Sheppard looked into his eyes, his military mind told him to kill him and be done with it but his guts said otherwise. With a sigh he released his hold from the Jaffa, allowing him to rise up.
"Enemies?" asks Lisa "You mean there are more like that Apophis guy" Ryac nodded, then he proceeded to remove his cape, chest armor and lift his chain mail shirt, revealing a slit opening on his lower abdomen, obviously man made, from it emerged a snake like creature.
"Oh my god!" yells Sheppard, pushing Lisa slightly behind him, Ryac retreated the creature in his body and proceeded to dress back into his armor. "This is a Goauld, every Jaffa at puberty receives one of them, and it grants us longevity, strength and prevents disease from touching our bodies. However it comes at a price."
Lisa got the answer by looking at his eyes "You will die if you remove it, right?" Ryac raised an eyebrow surprised by her insight, he nodded grimly.
"Apophis got one of those too?" asks Sheppard
"No" Ryac shook his head "Apophis is a fully mature Goauld that has taken a human as host against his will. We Jaffa were created by his race to act as their soldiers to enforce their so call divine might. However others like me are aware of their lies and have been fighting a secret war against them for centuries now. Perhaps with your help we can succeed."
"First we need to get out of here, which way is the hangar bay" asks the Terran pilot as he handed Ryac his plasma blaster.
Instead of answering, Ryac grabbed Sheppard and dragged both of their bodies away from the hallway, as a rain of plasma hit where they stood earlier. Ryac leaned on sidewall and opened fire on his former subordinates. Five Jaffas fell under his fire, three more as Sheppard and Lisa as well added their Zat fire into the mix.
Ryac moved his head sideway as he avoided a plasma burst but this time from the other direction. He repressed a curse and fired at the new offenders, flaying several of them in a shower of sparks and blood.
"There is a hangar shuttle two decks above us" explain Ryac as he continues to fire "We can reach it by using a ring transport at the end of that hallway." He took down two more Jaffa that foolishly tried to run him over.
"I don't think your friends want us to leave the party" replies Sheppard as he fired another blue lightning at the Jaffas. His enhanced eyes suddenly spotted movement behind the Jaffas, at first he thought they were reinforcements but when he saw one of the offending Jaffa being lifted from the ground then tossed toward his companions, he knew that the cavalry had arrived.
A titanic one
Six Terran Shocktrooper Titans turned off their chameleonic cloaking devices, revealing their dark red and black armor as they opened fire on the unsuspecting Jaffa who hadn't sense nor seen their approach.
The Jaffas at both end of the hallway were drowned in a lethal storm of precise plasma pulse energies spitted by the Titans rifles.
After two minutes, it was over and over fifty dead Jaffa lay on the ground.
Sheppard, Lisa and Ryac got out of their cover and gaped at the carnage. However the sight of the of tall Terran soldiers distracted them from the spectacle.
"Lieutenant Sheppard, Doctor McKay?" asked one of them, his armor was similar but his helmet had a curved horn at the center of the headpiece.
"Yes" replied Sheppard
"Colonel Steven O'Neil, Terran Shocktrooper Titan Division, heard you guys wanted a pizza"
His words caused Sheppard to chuckle, easing the tension "I heard you guys delivered but not on time"
"That's why we don't give discounts, just full body counts" replied the Titan super soldier. His implants linked to the Battle net had already given him a full profile on his quarry before he stepped inside the enemy ship. Sheppard may have been classified as a maverick, an insubordinate and disgrace for the navy but from what he had seen earlier before intervening, the man was a soldier and solid even under pressure.
"Who's your friend?" asks O'Neil, the only reason he hadn't shot the alien in sight was because he had seen him fire at his own comrades, thus he would reserve his judgment. Judging by his armor which was more decorated, O'Neil had to guess he was a high ranking officer.
"A defector" replies Sheppard "He saved our lives Colonel and he also disabled the ship's hyperdrive."
O'Neil's surprise was hidden by his helmet but now he knew why Apophis hadn't high tail out of here.
"Reaper eight to Reaper six" said a voice in O'Neil comm.
"Go ahead Reaper eight", the voice was one of the men he had tasked guarding the Gungnir.
"Enemy forces are overwhelming our position and they are bringing heavy weapons, we can't hold for long."
Damn it
O'Neil hadn't expected this so quickly. "Alright regroup to our position pronto. Will try to steal one of their ships in the hangar bay"
"Roger"
"Alright we need to double time out of here boys and girl. Kowalski, Lorne, you guys on point." orders O'Neil
"Sir, yes sir"
The two Titans opened the way, their rifles at the ready. The group had quickly figured the use of the ring transport, thanks to their onboard VI, thus they were able to cover ground quickly. As they neared the ring transport, a loud boom echoed across the ship.
"This is Reaper eight. Shuttle has been destroyed, the pilot didn't make it. We will proceed to your direction."
"Acknowledge Reaper eight."
The Titan turned to the Jaffa defector "Our ride back home is gone which means we will have to steal one of the ships in the hangar bay, can we count on you to pilot one?" he asks grimly
Ryac nodded when suddenly they all felt a slight but familiar vibration rippling across the ship.
"We are back into hyperspace" remarks Lisa, she looked at Ryac who was cursing loudly in his language and banged a fist into the wall.
"It seems I underestimated my subordinates ability to fix the hyperdrive quickly enough." replied the former First Prime grimly.
The Terrans looked at each other, the same thought running through their minds
Things had now gotten for the worse
...
This chapter was shorter than the previous one but rest assured the next one will be bigger.
Ryac's plasma blaster is basically the Jaffa version of a plasma shotgun but with a bit more range and accuracy.
The next chapter will reveal a bit more about the Jaffa Rebel.
