Another chapter done, and we come a step closer to the end of the season. Also, due to popular demand, I will include Space Marines in this fic. I will make a poll to allow you to choose which Chapter you want to see. I will only include the original Chapters, the ones with a direct link to their Primarch, so I apologize in advance if anyone is disappointed about that. So, with that, please read and enjoy.
Chapter 30
The results of the battle in the Tollan system greatly encouraged the gathered human worlds present to witness it, and the representatives left back to their homeworlds in high spirits. In the wake of this bout of good news, Buffy decided it was time to press on and build even more momentum.
"Just what exactly are you planning to do with them? These people are animals." A tall man in a suit turned to Buffy as she stood before a steel door.
"I know. Don't worry, my organization knows how to handle scum like them." Buffy smirked and walked out the door to a catwalk above a prison mess hall where over five hundred men of various ages and ethnicities sat. Her walk was accompanied by a great deal of cat calls and rather lewd comments.
"Gentlemen, and I use the term very loosely, thank you for accepting to be here this day. Considering you are all doing twenty to life, I am sure the promise of a reduced sentence was most enticing." Buffy began to speak as soon as the crowd settled down.
"We weren't told what exactly are we supposed to do to earn this cut in our time." One man pointed out.
"That is simple. The US government is currently involved in a minor conflict and wishes to see it resolved quickly and quietly, but we cannot send soldiers in for a number of reasons. That's where you come in. You serve five years as unofficial soldiers, and you get to walk away as free men." Buffy surprised more than just the convicts.
"Let me get this straight. You actually intend to give us weapons and let us go out there unattended?" The same prisoner asked in surprise, and Buffy presumed he was the king of the hill here.
"You won't be unattended, but yes, you will be given weapons and expected to fight who we tell you to." Buffy nodded.
"And what's stopping us from turning those weapons on your men and running away?" The man asked.
"You won't. That is my offer gentlemen. When I walk out that door, it goes with me. If you won't take my offer, there are plenty of others who will." Buffy shrugged.
"We'll be allowed to walk around?" The prisoner leader asked after a few moments.
"You will be confined to a compound when not deployed, but you will not be locked in cells. Oh, and I almost forgot. This will be a mixed gender fighting force." Buffy suppressed a grin as nearly every man below her looked up.
"Women? There will be actual women there?" A man whispered.
"And no rules against fraternization." Buffy laughed as the men cheered. Considering their crimes, most of them hadn't even touched a woman in years.
A similar event took place the next day at a woman's prison, and Buffy left to coordinate the transfer of the convicts to New Cadia.
"We're tracking the bus ma'am. They will be at the designated coordinates in one minutes." Buffy nodded, watching the dot move on the floating map before her.
"We're here. Alright you maggots, everyone stand up." The bus guards were loaned from military groups in the know, so they weren't surprised when the group of shackled men vanished in a flash of light.
"What the hell?" One convict gasped.
"Form a line. Walk forward." One man barked and the disoriented convicts responded nearly automatically and in moments stood facing a glowing gateway.
"Proceed through. Your new homes are on the other side." Considering they were surrounded by heavily armed soldiers, the men decided they had no choice but to obey and proceeded to file through the Stargate.
It took a while, but several hours later, Harry now had over a thousand convicts from Earth on his planet.
"Shall we address the new troops?" Harry turned to his officers, who nodded and followed him.
"Everyone, welcome to New Cadia, primary base of the New Imperium of Man in the Milky Way galaxy. I am Inquisitor Harry Maybourne, and I am in charge of all Imperial operations in the galaxy. You are now a part of the First Imperial Penal Legion, the first to go into battle against our enemies, and the last to leave the field. This is Colonel-Commissar Enol, your commanding officer." Harry introduced the strict looking Optrisian woman. She was highly recommended by General Orim himself, and Harry personally agreed with his assessment. She would handle her assignment well. "I will let her continue from here."
"The first thing you need to know is, we don't trust you. After all, you are all criminals. You are expected to obey orders without questions. If you do not, you will be punished harshly. The common punishment for minor infractions is public flogging, but anything more severe than that will result in immediate execution. You will be provided a list of rules and I will expect each and everyone of you to memorize them." Enol paused for a moment to let that sink in. "I have three months to whip you useless worms into at least a semi-competent fighting force, and I don't intend to fail. And one last thing. All Imperial forces are required to attend the daily sermons if not engaged in combat. You have one hour to settle in your bunkhouses if you haven't already and assemble in the compound chapel. Move out."
"We have a lot of work to do." She turned to her officers, which consisted of a hundred Optrisian soldiers all dressed in the uniform of an Imperial Commissar.
"I had thought your government already agreed to negotiate with us?" Borren was the Aschen ambassador that was assigned to lead the negotiations with Earth. The Aschen were a technologically advanced race that was recently encountered by SG-1, and the US government hoped to gain a lot from them while at the same time gain a source of advanced technology independent of the Imperium.
"The United States has agreed to discuss a potential alliance, but our allies are also interested in meeting with you. The Imperium of Man actually unites most of the human worlds we've discovered over the years." Daniel explained.
"They will arrive via the Stargate?" Borren asked.
"Actually, they said they would arrive by ship. It should arrive within the hour." Carter replied.
There was only one Aschen ship in orbit of the planet Volia which was the designated meeting place, and the captain's eyes widened to comical proportions when a massive hyperspace window opened and a gargantuan ship emerged from it.
"Aschen ship, this is the Imperial frigate Wings of Liberty. We request permission to enter orbit." A communication snapped them out of their stupor.
'A frigate?' The captain mouthed to his first mate in shock before he opened a comm channel. "Wings of Liberty, you have permission to enter orbit."
"That thing could probably blow every ship we have to dust. We need to send a report to Aschen Prime immediately." The captain mused and began to compile a report for his superiors with great haste.
A flash of light deposited the Imperial delegation near the Stargate, and Borren had to suppress s shiver as he looked over them. The obvious leader was a man wearing a suit of very ornate armor, but even with its decorations, it was obviously made for combat. Four women wearing similar, but less decorated armor flanked him, while twenty soldiers wearing much simpler armor stood behind them. Completing the entourage was a woman in a red robe, and Borren actually gasped when he took a better look at her. There were four robotic arms growing from her back, and half her face was covered in metal. Her left eye was replaced with a bright red artificial one, and as she moved, he noticed that her right hand was also cybernetic.
"Ambassador Borren, this is Inquisitor Harry Maybourne of the Ordo Xenos and Magos Biologis Lindsey Novak of the Adeptus Mechanicus." Daniel introduced the two parties.
"Welcome to Volia. I hope that this day will mark the beginning of a long friendship between our people." Borren greeted them.
"The New Imperium of Man is always happy to forge relationships with the various human worlds scattered throughout the galaxy." Harry smiled.
"I have news for you, Inquisitor." Lindsey approached Harry. After several days, it seemed that an alliance with the Aschen Confederation was inevitable, but there was just something about the whole thing that felt off to Harry. "Bad news?"
"I have examined a number of the natives of this world. Nine out of ten are sterile, and it is not by accident. I have detected a rather sophisticated genetic alteration that sterilizes the target. You were wise to bring me along." Lindsey informed him.
"They're taking the long-term approach it seems. Return to the ship and begin working on a method to reverse this. I need to discuss the issue with Buffy." Harry sighed. On his way, he also told the soldiers that were part of his escort to keep an eye on SG-1 and their hosts.
"This is not good news. With these revelations, we cannot allow them to join the Imperium. Still, the biggest problem is that they are aware of us, and that could spell big trouble in the future." Buffy released a weary sigh. "You have it on board?"
"You're not considering…" Harry exclaimed.
"The Aschen are a threat to the New Imperium, and unlike the Goa'uld, they can be neutralized quickly. You can determine where each of their worlds is located?" Buffy asked.
"Yes. There are only several gate addresses they can access without a DHD." Harry replied.
"Then, by my authority as an Inquisitor, I hereby order Exterminatus Extremis on the Aschen Confederation. Use the cyclonic torpedo to destroy their homeworld, then track down every world they control and eliminate them to the last. If any native population still exists, determine if they can be brought into the Imperium. If not, grant them His mercy." Buffy's tone was frigid, but Harry saw the look in her eyes. She didn't want this, but they both realized that they had no choice. They could not allow such a society to rise to become a threat to the New Imperium.
"Lock onto our men on the surface as well as the Stargate. Transport our men on board and put the Stargate into orbit. Target the Aschen ship and blow it to bits." Harry ordered, and the bridge crew rushed to obey.
"Harry, care to explain why you decided to drag us away from a very important diplomatic event?" O'Neill asked one of his least favorite people. In reply, Harry explained about Lindsey's discoveries and the conclusions he made from it.
"What are you going to do now?" Daniel asked.
"We are currently on route to Aschen Prime, where by Inquisitorial edict we will perform Exterminatus Extremis. The Aschen people will be wiped clean from this galaxy." Harry replied in an official tone.
"That's a bit harsh, don't you think?" O'Neill whistled.
"The Aschen are not the only ones that think long-term, Jack. Personally, I'd rather not wake up a century from now to hear that half our worlds have been destroyed by biological weapons." Harry replied.
"We will arrive in fifteen seconds, sir." An officer informed them.
"Arm all weapons. Hit them hard and fast. Don't give them a chance to organize a counterattack or try to flee." Harry snapped.
The frigate was powerful enough to match several of the newest Asgard ships, so it is understandable that the few Aschen ships lasted only several minutes. As the ship moved towards the planet, SG-1 could only stand silently as the bridge crew did its work.
"Optimal firing target located. Will take twenty minutes to achieve geostationary orbit." The nav officer reported.
"Move us into low orbit and begin bombardment. Focus on large population centers. Order the gunnery crew to load the cyclonic torpedo." Colonel Ronson ordered.
"That should be easy, this place is practically a hive world. I think I can clear half the continent by the time we reach the primary target." The weapons officer grinned. Unlike his Terran colleagues, the Optrisian man was a true believer and saw nothing wrong in exterminating heretics.
"Focus on the task at hand. We may need to mop up after the primary blast, and we still have to deploy troops to the other Confederacy planets. Give the ground pounders something to do as well." Ronson's face remained impassive as he watched the first shots strike the surface, blowing countless structures to bits.
"Primary target reached. Firing torpedo." The weapons officer reported.
"Move us to minimal safety range." Ronson ordered as they all watched the countdown. When the clock reached zero, the whole planet just burst with light. The impact site was a gigantic ball of light, and from it, they could see a wave of fire spreading quickly and engulfing the world.
"Make an orbit. Make sure there are no survivors. Plot a course to take us to the other Confederacy planets. We'll leave Volia for last." Harry ordered. "That was pretty impressive considering that was the prototype."
"Why did you have it in the first place?" Carter asked. They were still digesting the rather impressive act of indiscriminate slaughter.
"We were moving it to New Cadia, one of the reasons I came via ship rather than the Stargate. We didn't expect to use it so quickly, though the team that built it will probably be happy to know it worked perfectly." Harry shrugged.
"Tell me Harry, doesn't this bother you?" O'Neill asked.
"I just executed several billion people Jack. Of course it bothers me. Still, however regrettable this act was, it was necessary. This wasn't a decision made lightly, and I hope that it is something you can understand, but I won't lose any sleep if you don't." Harry replied in a calm tone.
A few hours later, the frigate departed the system, having cleansed it completely of life. It would take several weeks before the Aschen were completely eradicated, and months before the New Imperium took possession of the Aschen agri-worlds. With a little work to replace the Aschen technology used on these worlds, the New Imperium now had a vast source of food for its subjects and troops.
The US government was shocked that the Imperium took such actions, but they were a small minority. A full report was provided to the other members of the New Imperium, and they all agreed that the act was unfortunately necessary, and the only ones to blame were the Aschen themselves.
Things quieted down after that, and Buffy was keeping herself busy with her work and the training of her two students. Both Dawn and Cassandra had made great progress in their training, and Buffy fully expected them to complete their training with perfect marks. On the other hand, her thoughts took a darker turn as she thought about the presence of Glory in her town.
The Hell Goddess had been remarkably quiet, keeping a very low profile and hiding whatever moves she had made. Buffy only had rumors and second-hand sightings to work with. It seemed Glory was actively avoiding her forces for the moment, but she knew that it was only a matter of time before she tried to claim the Key. On that topic, her sister took the news about her nature rather well considering the situation, but Buffy knew that without her presence and support, her sister might not have handled it so well.
"I fail to see why Dr. Jackson should risk his life when we already have someone who not only can attend, but was actually invited to the event." Buffy gave Jacob Carter an annoyed glare.
"We were hoping to use the situation to eliminate all the System Lords in a single strike." Jacob explained.
"And Dr. Gardner is simply collateral damage? I will not reward her efforts and loyalty with such callousness." Buffy remained obstinate. "Besides, you're forgetting Sokar and whoever was behind the attack on Tollana. Even with our combined efforts we've been unable to discover who was backing Zipacna, and Harry had reported that a number of Goa'uld have either gone missing or have suffered unexpected attacks by varied enemies."
"You understand we may not get such an opportunity ever again?" Jacob sighed, but could not refute her words. Something fishy was going in the galaxy.
"The defeat of the Goa'uld is only a matter of time. Soon enough, the New Imperium will come out in the open, and the Jaffa will begin an open uprising." Buffy shrugged.
Far from Earth on the Hasara space station, Sarah was steeling herself for the summit. After a couple of small attacks, it seemed the mysterious attacked decided that her territory was too big of a challenge for the moment and had left her alone. Still, other Goa'uld were not so fortunate, and even some of the System Lords have suffered great losses.
The summit began with the usual grandstanding, threats and accusations typical of such an event, but the meeting was soon interrupted by a request from their shadowy attacker for a meeting.
"Zipacna. So, found a new master to toady up to after Apophis was destroyed?" Sarah smirked at the man's look of annoyance.
"My new master considers me a valuable part of his retinue, which is why I am here." Zipacna managed to compose himself.
"And who is this mysterious master of yours? He has much to answer for." Sarah continued.
"Anubis." Zipacna smirked at the looks of shock that spread through the ranks of the System Lords.
"Anubis is dead." Yu snapped.
"Lord Yu is right. Any Goa'uld claiming that cursed name is only asking for a swift death." Sarah added.
"Just because you tried to kill him all those centuries ago does not mean you succeeded. He has returned and respectfully asks to be given the rank of System Lord." Zipacna's words caused a mixed reaction in the assembly.
"What's in it for us?" Ba'al asked the key question.
"Consider this the first of my master's gifts to the System Lords." Zipacna gestured to his slave who handed him a box. From it, Zipacna removed the severed head of Sokar.
"Interesting. I suppose it's a start but hardly enough." Ba'al smirked.
"My master is aware of this. If accepted into the ranks of the System Lords, before he officially takes his place amongst you, he will destroy the two biggest threats to the Goa'uld. The Tok'ra and the Tau'ri." Zipacna offered.
"Like he destroyed the Tollan?" Sarah smirked as Zipacna flinched at that.
"What do mean, Lord Osiris?" Yu asked.
"Since I've been out of touch for a long time, I have dispatched a number of scouts to monitor threats to myself or the Goa'uld in general. These include several Asgard protected planets, the Tau'ri and of course the Tollan. My scout reported a dozen Ha'tak enter the Tollan system a few weeks ago. Only two badly damaged Ha'tak were reported leaving it." Sarah smirked as the position quickly shifted away from Anubis.
"That attack may have failed, but these will succeed." Zipacna snapped.
"Alright. I propose we grant Anubis the rank of System Lord, IF he succeeds in destroying the Tok'ra and the Tau'ri." Sarah had to suppress a giggling fit at the look on Zipacna's face.
"I second the motion." Ba'al joined in. One by one, the System Lords voted, with only Yu being against any action that benefited Anubis.
"You have our decision. Bring it to your master." Sarah watched Zipacna storm off with great satisfaction. By the end of the summit, she had managed to further cement her position as a competent System Lord and even managed to form a trade agreement with Kali and Bastet, which would make it easy to send missionaries in their armies who would carefully plant the seeds of dissent.
Her report to Harry was quickly passed to Buffy, who decided to deliberate on the situation with Harry.
"So, we finally have a name for our mystery Goa'uld. I've read the data the Tok'ra provided on him, and he sounds positively delightful. Still, the technological gap between Anubis and the other Goa'uld is a cause for concern. How are your assets progressing?" Buffy began.
"We've managed to build a sizable Battle Sister force, as well as a good number of elite troopers. The Vindicare assassins are almost ready for field work, they just need to receive their equipment and train in using it. The penal legion is going slow, but that was to be expected. They weren't happy about the explosive collars we've provided them, though. Some of the smarter ones are starting to suspect we may intend to keep them in service for a bit longer than five years." Harry grinned.
"We never know what the future brings. We may just end up disbanding them five years from now." She shrugged. "Oh, and Magos Novak has informed me that the first shipments of combat stims will arrive within two weeks."
"We'll need them. The officers in charge of them say there's a good chance they will panic or rout the moment they come under enemy fire." Harry nodded.
"A little frenzon will keep their heads in the game. Keep your ear to the ground and try to learn as much as you can about Anubis and his plans, but don't take any unnecessary risks. You are too important to our efforts to be replaced easily." Buffy grinned at the mock hurt look Harry gave her.
"Oh, one last thing. I also received a report that the Tok'ra were attacked. Fortunately for them, they were almost finished relocating to a new base when the assault force arrived. Their casualties were minimal." Harry added.
"So, Anubis is true to his word. Pity he failed, but perhaps it is for the best. He may try to attack Terra as well." Buffy frowned. "Perhaps it would be best to station a frigate nearby just in case."
"My thoughts exactly. I'll arrange it at once." Harry nodded and with that, closed the connection.
"So Willow, have you made any progress with the robot the patrol found?" Buffy asked her friend about the unusual case one of the patrols encountered. A strange girl that was wandering around town turned out to be a robot.
"I let the adepts examine it, so it took some time, but we discovered the creator. While talented, Warren Mears is completely unsuitable and on my recommendation has been processed as a combat servitor." Willow replied.
"Well, if you believed it to be necessary." Buffy shrugged. There were plenty of humans that deserved worse.
"Hey Buffy, do you have a moment?" Buffy turned as her sister and Cassandra approached her.
"Sure, Dawn." Buffy smiled.
"Some of the Sisters are going to the mall and I wanted to ask if we could join them." Dawn asked.
"I'm not sure that's the best idea, Dawn." Buffy frowned.
"Please Buffy. I haven't had some time off in months, and I promise to teleport back at the first sign of trouble." Dawn begged.
"Only a couple of hours, and make sure you're armed." Buffy sighed. She didn't expect any big trouble in the middle of the day.
The dozen girls had a fun time, using their allowance to the last cent. Their good cheer evaporated quickly when they walked out of one of he stores and faced a group of mixed demons led by a blonde woman in a red silk dress.
"I think it's time to leave." Dawn said and pressed the beacon on her bracelet only for nothing to happen.
"You're not going anywhere until you tell me where my Key is." The woman grinned, only for the girls to pull out their guns out of their purses.
"We will tell you nothing, and nothing you do to us can change that." Dawn stepped forward with her bolt pistol raised.
"Ooh, pretty light." The group was surprised when a human was revealed in the group, but both Dawn and Glory froze when he pointed at Dawn.
"Fuck." Dawn swore and opened fire.
"Ma'am, we have a problem. We received a teleport request from Sister Summers, but we are unable to teleport them away. The satellite is reporting unknown interference. Even the scanner is unable to see into the mall." Buffy cursed when she heard that.
"Send me as close as you can." Buffy snapped and drew her weapons before she was whisked away from the base.
At the mall, the Sisters quickly barricaded themselves and fired at anything inhuman that tried to reach them.
"We're running out of ammo fast. And even if we do kill the demons, there's nothing we have that can even scratch the bitch leading them." The senior Sister sighed.
"Let me try something." Dawn noticed Glory approach and stood up, her eyes blazing with power. While she didn't have a good grasp on utilizing her power yet, she merely flung a bolt of Warp energy at Glory. The glob of energy struck the Hell God and actually made her stagger back a few steps. To everyone's surprise, a few drops of blood dripped from her nose.
"That hurt." Glory whined. "What the hell was that?"
As a reply, the wall to her right exploded and a blast of hot air washed over the crowd.
"Hey Hell Bitch, stay away from my sister." Buffy growled as she leveled her Inferno pistol at Glory.
"Buffy, the Warp hurt her." Dawn shouted and Buffy gave her a slight nod before her eyes blazed with power. In moments, small arcs of lightning were licking her armor and her force sword looked like she was holding a sparkler.
"She's drawing in too much." Cassandra turned to Dawn as the entire group watched in awe.
"Stop her you fools." Glory began to back away which served as a signal for Buffy as she charged at her. The few demons that tried to stop her were simply flung away from her path. Her charge ended with a mighty war cry and a powerful swing that let her blade strike Glory. There was a massive flash of light that blinded everyone for a while and when they finally got their vision back, they were met with a shocking sight. Next to a badly charred corpse was a slightly smoking but otherwise completely empty suit of armor.
"Buffy." Dawn screamed and rushed forward only to fall in shock as she saw that her sister's armor was completely empty. Only a couple of tears fell from her eyes and evaporated away on the burning hot armor before her hand reached for the force sword which was fortunately cold enough to hold.
"Sisters, suffer not the demon to live." Dawn roared as she charged the few remaining demons. There would be time to mourn later.