Here's the next chapter for you all, questions will be answered and others will be asked. Note: I only own what characters i create, the names and places i invent and the ships and vehicles i seem to be designing in droves for this single story.
I would like to thank AlexanderD for all his help and i strongly recomend reading his story New Dawn. I hope he likes the character named after him Admiral Alec Xander.
For those of you interested in what some of the ships featured in this story look like here are a few sketches on photobucket: albums/ae166/Senrab_Nomis/
Please review and i will respond. Or alternatively post in the thread for this story in my forum. topic/84023/35075481/1/
Review Responses
AlexanderD: Thor is one of my favourite characters as well. Given what we've seen this guy do in a degrading clone body i'm worried about not doing the guy justice with a powerful android body, the guy was already bad ass to begin with. Its rather ironic because now Zarin is going to be asking the same question they were, how did they get on this station?
BIG Z1776: They haven't had to fight large scale ground battles before so the option has never really occured to them. They might have considered something like the Titans later down the road but the Asgard beat them to it.
AerchAngel: Don't mention it. It was an issue that needed clarifying so thanks for pointing it out.
Shadows of Realm: Expect the unexpected and i bet they didn't expect that.
Cdoctor: Vala had her work cut out for her with Daniel, since they met when she was hijacking the Prometheus. Besides it worked eventually.
Andriabow: Todays lesson, don't mess with the Asgard or the machines they build.
Oddliver: Well if you do feel like writing a very long review i would very much enjoy reading it.
SkywalkerT-65: If you like this then you will love New Dawn and its sequel Aphelion, both of which i highly recomend. The Furlings i have ideas for and i may get round to including them at some point.
s-david-m: The Asgard didn't go for physical combat when we saw them because their bodies had massive degraded over the years, as shown by the fact that they were much shorter than their ancestors. Also having been at the mercy of replicator boarding actions i imagine they would want something that would allow them to defend themselves, and remember these are the pure combat body versions which are meant to get stuck in. Finally those disintegration beams were in fact offensive beam transporters, which aren't mountable on android bodies, so plasma weapons and claws are rather all they have available.
Celestia – Gate Room
Powering up its twin energy beam cannons the Titan fired straight forward, burning through several reapers before impacting the iris. The naquadah/trinium alloy held briefly against the continuous onslaught before liquefying under the intense heat of the beam. By the time the beams capacitors ran out of power the entire iris had been completely obliterated.
Before the reapers could fire on the Titan though the pilot fired its boosters and leaped back, landing against the far wall. The pilot quickly raised the battlesuits bubble shield to defend against the oncoming onslaught from the angered reapers. The foot soldiers had remained facing the stargate, waiting for the oncoming charge to emerge while the plasma cannons turned to fire at the Titan, and one enterprising individual had shot the transport pillar emitter. Knowing what was coming its way the Titan had deployed its new barrier shield design and hunkered down to weather the storm. As the plasma blasts struck the shield, causing it to flare white, the pilot inside monitored the power levels and noted that continuous fire would eventually cause the shield to fail even with the strength of the field having automatically adjusted. It didn't matter though since help would soon be coming through the stargate.
The reapers had been expecting a tide of enemy soldiers to emerge through the stargate and yet no such threat emerged. Instead the event horizon didn't even flicker and no incoming traveller emerged. Then it happened. From the open stargate came a never ending hail storm of light blue energy bolts, emerging like individual pellets fired from a shotgun and spreading out to engulf the amassed reapers. As the hell storm continued to rain down on them the front rank of reapers quickly fell and the back ranks scattered in an attempt to get out of the way of fire that would soon reach them. Then suddenly the wave of bolts ceased.
Warily the surviving reapers moved around the stargate, callously leaving the wounded and dying where they lay on the floor and making no move to help them. They were tasked with guarding the stargate and preventing any enemy that emerged from surviving long enough to threaten them. It was a mission they would attempt to complete with every fibre of their being. There was no camaraderie between them, only the mission was what mattered. If others had to die for that mission to be completed then so be it, it did not matter to them. So to complete this mission they positioned themselves so that they were outside of the arc of the stargate if any more energy blasts were to emerge. What the reapers did not know though was that the Titan, which was still taking fire from the plasma cannons, was watching the moves they made and reporting them.
Instead of another volley what emerged from the stargate were three discs, which landed on the floor with a resounding clunk. As soon as they hit the ground a hissing sound was heard and a type of visible gas sprayed out of them, quickly spreading over the gathered reapers. It mattered not to the reapers since their helmets would prevent the presumably poisonous gas from affecting them. Of course what they did not realise was that the gas was not in fact poisonous but highly flammable, but before they had the chance to figure that out two small pillars had emerged from the discs, a spark had leapt between them and it was already far too late. The gas ignited and the surviving reapers were engulfed in fire, the heat burning them alive where they stood but not killing them all alright. Some ran around while others rolled on the ground, howling at the pain, the liquid vapour having seeped into their clothing before being set alight. Then from the stargate emerged the enemy they had been waiting for, with a group of four ten foot tall Titans making up the first wave. The metallic warrior's mercilessly poured plasma bolts into the surviving reapers as they moved away from the stargate to make way for the next wave of troops. The Titans would be followed by three hundred tempest armour clad soldiers of the Tau'ri who in turn would be followed by a thousand Wraith warriors. The Wraith warriors were not armed with stunners alone, their weapons having long ago been modified to better suit their needs. Their pistols now had the option of stun or kill, while their spear rifles and cannons now only had a kill option, with the latter being much more powerful than the former. It was the Wraith who had fired the opening volley through the stargate and they had used these weapons to fell so many reapers.
As these allied forces began to pour out of the open stargate the Titans advanced into the large room slaughtering the charred, but still alive, reapers. As they continued deeper into the room they turned their attention to their comrade who was still taking fire from the six plasma cannons. His shield was still holding but it wouldn't last for much longer as plasma bolt after plasma bolt continued to pound into the shield. Luckily though help was at hand and it came in the form of four Titans launching themselves bodily at the cannons, leaving the Tau'ri to mop up the remaining reapers. The plasma cannons were large turret like objects, and even featured a seat for the single operator meaning that said operator was insulated from fire from behind. The Titans though merely saw this as a reason to get up close and personal with the enemy for a change and they had no qualms with that. Rushing forward with speed that seemed greater than their massive bulk would allow the four Titans spread out and each targeted a turret towards the walls of the room, leaving the two in the middle alone for the moment. Subtly wasn't something these suits were designed for and their pilots didn't certainly didn't feel the need for it. There was an enemy in front of them and a comrade under attack so they knew exactly what they had to do. Appearing like metallic demons behind the cannons they wrapped both arms around the operators chairs, grabbed said operators in their large metallic hands and simply squeezed for a few seconds before dropping the leaking remains to the ground. Noting what had happened to their doppelgangers the remaining two cannon operators relentlessly continued to fire on their target in the hoping of killing it before they succumbed to the same fate. As the Titans approached them it was interesting to note that if they were capable of such an emotion then would have certainly felt fear. Instead they only felt a hint of disappointment as they suffered a similar fate to their doppelgangers and failed to complete their task of defending the gate room.
As the Titans secured the entrance and established a foothold the Tau'ri soldiers dealt with the reaper survivors that were simply refusing to die despite being literally burned alive. There wasn't any resistance though, the reapers having been cooked to the point where the only thing keeping them alive was the resilience granted to them by the Wraith part of their hybrid DNA. It was arguably a mercy killing, putting them out of their misery rather than taking them as captives and forcing them to live on in this state. A part of the Tau'ri warriors actually felt pity for the creatures. They had been created as mindless slaves to fight and die as their masters commanded. And yet they were not really mindless at all, they were simply individuals that had their individuality suppressed and had been turned into living puppets. Their world had many faults but even still they could see that such things were just plain wrong. They knew that it was pointless to hate the reapers. No, they turned their anger on the ones that deserved their hatred, the puppet masters, the deceivers and the betrayers, the Zarasians. They had invaded their station, taken their people captive and killed their comrades. Revenge would be swift and they would personally deal it out to the enemy.
With the reapers present neutralised the first priority was securing their position against external threats, though with five Titans standing in front of the door they felt pretty secure. Taking control of the gate control room wasn't deemed a priority at the moment since they still had an incoming wormhole established and with the power still cut the control room was useless anyway. With three hundred soldiers in tempest battle armour taking up position to push further into the station and a thousand Wraith warriors currently marching through the stargate to support them they felt relatively safe. Corridor fighting inside a space station though meant they were somewhat limited in what weapons they could use against the enemy. There was always the risk of an explosion breaching the hull and opening them out into space, and while the Tau'ri could survive that in their armour their allies and any civilians they encountered could not. Arguably the energy cannons that the Wraith had brought with them was pushing it as far as some were concerned, those things seemed powerful and while a single shot wasn't going to make it through the hull a number of them theoretically might. Not that anyone was actually willing to test that theory at the moment but maybe later in the firing range they would get to put those weapons to the test, after all this was over.
As it stood they outmatched the enemy in terms of numbers and firepower, although the latter was a rough estimate. As Colonel Sheppard looked around at the gathered troops he shared a look with Todd. Despite the time and energy it had taken to pull it off clearing the gate room had actually been the easy part of the operation. The hard part would be clearing this infestation out of every other part of the station.
Hope
The station had been on high alert since the news of the summit with the Zarasians had reached them. But now they had been informed that the perpetrators behind the kidnapping of the Minister and his bodyguard were in fact the Zarasians themselves. Needless to say Admiral Xander did not take that particular piece of news very well, however he did have an idea of how to find them.
Walking into the control room he immediately started issuing orders.
"Push our deep space sensors to their maximum range and then further," he ordered. "Forget searching for any physical objects and focus entirely on subspace signals, then narrow the bandwidth to the frequency of our emergency beacons and focus that even further to Sovaer's frequency."
"Sir," said one of the sensor operators. "That'll really tax the sensors and leave us effectively blind to anything else."
"It doesn't matter," Xander replied. "The ships we have here can monitor the surrounding area for us and it's very unlikely for a hostile to suddenly appear anyway."
"Besides," he continued. "Even with the Tau'ri and the Asgard out their searching and I am not going to just sit here and do nothing. Their own sensors may have a far greater sensitivity than ours do but this is something we can do to help that can might just make a real difference."
"Yes sir."
"I want you to make use of all the available power we have," Xander ordered. "The sensors have priority over everything, and I mean everything. Life support is the only other thing I want still running, as of now all other operations on this station are on hold."
"Yes sir."
Throughout the station alarms sounded, warning the crew the personnel that the station was about to go into low power mode. Only one system would be operating at above minimal levels, and in most cases at all, the sensors. Drawing on every last volt of power they could the sensors recalibrated and began scanning deep space for the weakest of signals from Sovaer's emergency beacon. They couldn't know for sure if it was even active but they were sure as hell going to try to find it if it was.
With that order of business out of the way Xander gave one final order.
"Have my ship made ready to leave at a moments notice," he ordered.
If they were able to track down that signal then he was personally going to make sure that the Minister and bodyguard got home safely.
Celestia
The plan had been sound. Not without risk of failure certainly but sound nonetheless. But like the best laid schemes of mice and men things don't always turn out the way you want to. Arguably the plan had worked. The ninety eight members of the still standing station security force had executed a precision counter attack on the reaper lines and lured away the defence force around the secondary control room. That much was obvious after several hundred reapers had come bearing down on them and they had, as was the plan, been forced to retreat. The reapers had then followed in an attempt to wipe out the pests that had been assailing them since the incursion had begun and the SF's had slowed their retreat so they would keep following. What they hadn't been expecting, but in hindsight probably should have, was the additional forces that moved in on either side of them in an attempt to encircle them in a pincer move. Unfortunately it had managed to work. Instead of moving across to meet their attack head on the two smaller reaper forces had left that to the larger while they moved forwards and then across to pincer them. Sneaky tactics are a wonderful thing to use but it's really annoying when the enemy start using them as well.
They were pinned down across several cross junctions desperately trying to fall back while the enemy kept in step with every move they made while they continued to take fire from the enemy. Having had to move to take on the enemy assaulting them from their flanks they now found themselves spread out in a bow formation. They had started out with ninety eight men and women on their side while the enemy had initially consisted of nearly three hundred. Then an additional twenty five had appeared on their flank and they had desperately tried to react to the threat, only for another twenty five to appear on their opposite flank. To make matters worse the main reaper force had then launched an all out charge against them while they distracted. All in all they were not having a good day. With their forces spread out thinly their co-ordination was effectively shot and the plan was looking more and more unlikely to succeed, from their point of view at least. They didn't know how the Asgard task force was faring but the knowledge that they had to keep the enemy occupied just long enough for the Asgard to retake the secondary control room and then for help to arrive. It wasn't looking good for them in either case. Thanks to that pincer move they had lost nearly half their forces through injuries severe enough to take them out of the fight or in some cases death. To make matters worse they didn't even know how many of the enemy they had managed to eliminate but it was suspected at least a quarter. Even if they managed to hold out long enough for the Asgard to succeed it was starting to look unlikely that they would be able to survive long enough for reinforcements to arrive. In the heat of battle seconds seem like hours and it was very easy to lose track of time. They couldn't say how long they had been fighting or how far away reinforcements were and right now they wouldn't want to know in any case. If they relaxed for even a moment because they thought help would soon be nearby then that brief moment of weakness could cost them their lives, and they had lost so many already.
For now all they could do was hold their position and force back the enemy. The flank attacks may have caught them off guard but they had been dealt with now and they were just about surviving.
The valkyries were currently working hard to earn a reputation, or rather re-earn one that had been forgotten over the years. Moving swiftly through the stations corridors they set about hunting down the remainder of the reapers assigned to guarding the control room. They knew that there were twenty remaining, and that was just the ones nearby since reinforcements would no doubt be bearing down on them sooner rather than later. They would have to take care of these ones first though and then deal with the rest later. These few would be easier to kill while they were scattered than if they managed to gather together and in the long run every enemy they managed to kill now could end up deciding the direction this battle took.
Knowing their individual capabilities were more than enough to neutralise the opposition they faced and that time was of the essence Hrund, Mist, Freyja and Brynhildr hunted their prey alone while Eir stayed with Thor to keep an eye on their prisoner. The Supreme Commanders instructions had been clear on that, humans were to be taken alive for questioning while the reapers were to be killed on sight. The means used to accomplish these instructions however were entirely up to the valkyries to decide upon. Since each valkyrie favoured their own style of combat the results were accomplished but in a varied manner. If anyone were to come across the bodies of the reapers they would certainly not imagine that a single foe had been solely responsible for the carnage unleashed. Mist would weave between her foes before striking them down, Hrund would poke them full of holes, Freyja would charge at her enemies and beat them into the deck plating while Brynhildr would mow the reapers down with plasma blasts and shockwaves. Between them the reapers were cut down in no time at all and once the last one fell they reunited back outside the secondary control room just in time to meet a group of four reapers escorting another human who happened to be wearing a Zarasian uniform.
The moment they stepped round the corner the valkyries leapt on them like cats hunting mice. Mist sprinted forwards and around the escorts to the human, her inhuman speed meant that her momentum as she slammed into him took his feet off the ground before sending him sprawling to the ground. The bodyguards moved to react only to be struck down by the barrage of plasma fire from the others while the human remained unharmed, having been protected by Mist. Grabbing the shaken and slightly bruised human by the collar Mist dragged him to his original destination, the secondary control room.
"You might want to check this one over Eir," she said as she deposited him in a heap against one of the bulkheads.
"Report," ordered Thor.
"All enemy forces in the vicinity have been neutralised Supreme Commander," Mist stated. "We came across a group of four enemy soldiers escorting this one to the control room. As per your orders we killed the soldiers and captured this one alive, although he may have acquired some bruises and a few broken bones at the worst."
Thor nodded. "Good work. Return to the others."
"Yes sir," Mist said before turning and leaving.
"How is he?" Thor asked.
Eir, who was examining the human with her hand healing devices, didn't even bother to look up.
"He has a bruises along his ribcage but nothing life threatening," she said. "He'll live even if I do nothing."
She looked at him. "Do you want me to do nothing?"
"No," said Thor. "Heal him and then leave him where he is. When you are done I will have some questions for him."
Thor walked over to the other prisoner. The scared human shrank back against the bulkhead as he approached.
"What is your name human?" he asked.
"I don't have to tell you anything," he stammered before his voice became more firm. "I'm not going to tell you anything."
"Why not?" Thor asked innocently.
The human blinked. The question and the tone it was spoken in having caught him by surprise.
"I answered your questions earlier so why won't you answer mine?" Thor asked.
The human said nothing, still surprised at the casual nature of the conversation he seemed to be having with this terrifying alien.
"Well then if you won't tell me your name why don't we start with something easier? I think it is pretty obvious that you are a Zarasian yes?"
The human nodded slowly.
"And that your purpose here is obviously to take over this station, yes?"
The human nodded.
"And judging by the fact that you were working on the consoles you must be a technician, yes?"
The human nodded.
"And you were sent here by Zarin after he captured the Averian leader, yes?
The human nodded without thinking, before his eyes widened in shock.
Thor smiled down at him. "Thank you for your co-operation."
Thor walked over to the console and accessed internal communications.
"Colonel Sheppard," he said. "It seems our suspicions were correct. Minister Jakose was indeed taken captive by Zarin and it is likely he is with the Zarasian fleet."
"Thanks for the heads up Thor," said Sheppard. "We'll deal with the pests here and then what say we go hunting for that fleet of theirs?"
"It will be a pleasure Colonel," replied Thor.
"You'll never take back this station," said the other Zarasian.
Thor turned to look at him.
"Is that what you really think?" he asked.
The Zarasian stared at him defiantly. "Once reinforcements get here you'll be dealt with and this pathetic attempt of yours will be finished before it has even begun."
Thor cocked his head.
"So you're someone with a little more authority then," he stated. "Well then you should know that we began some time ago."
"Preposterous," the human spat. "You are all alone and when the reapers come for you you'll die."
"I think the reapers will soon be too busy to deal with us," said Thor.
The human narrowed his eyes.
"What have you done?" he demanded.
"Opened the door to your doom," Thor replied cryptically.
Hope
"Sir," said one of the sensor operators. "We have something."
Xander looked up at him, thinking it was about time.
"What is it?" he asked, just managing to keep the urgency out of his voice.
"We detected a brief spike on the sensors, it was faint but there was definitely something there."
"Narrow the sensor sweep to that area," he ordered.
"We've got it sir, definitely one of ours but not as strong as before. It's barely registering on the sensors."
"Must have been a power surge, otherwise we never would have detected it," Xander surmised. "Keep an eye on it and transmit those co-ordinates to our allies. You know where I'll be."
"Aye sir."
With that he walked out of the control room and headed to his ship.
The SF's were starting to get worried, the reapers with their unyielding nature were beginning to get closer and closer to making a hole in their lines. If that were to happen it would divide them and their forces would begin to crumble as they faced attack from multiple angles. The enemy they faced was terrifying in their utter fearlessness at charging right at them and each time they did that they were only just pushed back. Another push and they might even break through. No one wanted to consider that possibility so they just focused on making sure it didn't happen.
At the very edge of the line one small group of six fighters were holding back a tide of reapers from taking the intersection and they knew it was only a matter of time. They were starting to lose hope as another wave of reapers charged right at them, even in the temperature regulated suits the SF's were starting to sweat under the pressure.
"We can't hold this position," one of them yelled over the battle net.
"We don't have a choice," another yelled back.
One of the high ranking SF's decided to join in the conversation.
"Focus on killing the enemy that's right in front of…" he started to yell before the words died in his throat as the wave of reapers charging at them were obliterated in explosions.
"What the hell?" someone whispered.
"Heads up boys and girls," said a voice over the battle net. "Help has arrived."
From a turn off along the corridor a lone figure clad in tempest battle armour emerged from the smoke with a very large rifle being held in its hands and pointed at the reapers still standing. Without hesitating the figure fired the rifle and a solid smoking projectile went whizzing towards the assembled reapers before exploding in the middle of the group. When the smoke from the air burst grenade settled there were a lot of dead enemy soldiers.
Behind the lone ranger came a wave of other soldiers, each of them wearing tempest battle armour, but what really surprised the SF's was the Wraith warriors that followed. The lone figure lowered his XM25 rifle and surveyed the scene around him, nodding to the SF's.
"This is Colonel John Sheppard to the security forces of Celestia," said the same voice over the battle net. "We are taking back this station."
Please Review.
On my profile page is a new poll regarding a potential future project. If people want me to then i will go ahead with it so please check it out after reading this.