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: One thing to remember about the Zarasians is that being a little known about race they can unleash plenty of surprises on their oponents. Believe me the weapons are just the start.
Oddliver: We'll see.
Just A Crazy-Man: Thank you.
stormwolf3710: Thank you.
BIG Z1776: I'll probably just end up calling it a flamethrower from now on. Priors make things a lot more fun. So many possibilities.
EPetrelli: The Zarasians capabilties were expected to be higher than seen, but that doesn't mean surprises aren't in store.
Cdoctor: If you mean the Hellstorm, well that would be telling wouldn't it.
Monsterjeffbuk: Reinforcements would be problamatic since that would just mean extra ships and not troops. The Weir would also mean the ruse would be discovered. But i won't spoil it for you.
StargateFFWriter: Yes they are.
abhinavatlantis: We have our ideas for it and there seems to be some interest, so we'll see.
Calium – Liberum Base
The reaper casually stepped over the charred remains of a Liberum soldier that had been burnt to a crisp by the plasma flamethrower he held in his hands. It was hard to tell because of the helmet but he seemed indifferent to the horrific smell of scorched flesh and the cries of the wounded and the dying.
Dazed and bewildered Caius looked up from the floor at the reaper before him. When the reaper pointed the flamethrower at him and squeezed the trigger, sending a torrent of bright blue flame at him. Caius reacted instinctively, raising his hands and stopping the wall of flames in its tracks, creating a barrier that directed the flames into the ceiling. In the back of his mind he found himself thanking the Ori for imbuing all priors with complete mastery over fire. Slowly he leaned his body forwards so that he was now crouched down on his knees, then he gently rose onto to his feet while keeping his hands raised outwards so as to keep control of the flames. The reaper was still squeezing the trigger intent on burning Caius to a crisp but it was a futile gesture. Fire was his element and he would not allow himself or others to be harmed by it while he still drew breath, not if he could strike the enemy down with it.
He could feel the sweat on his brow and not from the effort of redirecting the plasma flames. The ceiling of the tunnel hissed as the rocks melted from the sheer heat of the flames before solidifying again. If this kept up the entire tunnel would soon be liquefied. Now standing firmly on his feet he saw half a dozen other reapers come marching around the corner to join the one with the flamethrower. His temper flared as he saw them casually fire into the surviving soldiers, ending any chance of him getting to them and healing them. Let his rage consume him he focused his will and forced the flames backwards even further until they were licking at the patch of ceiling above the reapers. The rocks began to melt from the instance heat and poured down on top of the reapers, who hesitantly moved back. Drawing on more of his strength he forced the flame back even further. He moved his hands further apart and pulled them back as he redirected the flame to curve around the lone reaper, then pushed his hands forward, urging the flame forwards to engulf the half dozen others. When the lone reaper realised what was happening he hastily stopped firing but it was already too late, the others were writhing around on the ground, attempting to put the flames out but eventually they stilled as the spark of their life was extinguished, although the flames continued to burn on.
The remaining lone reaper charged at Caius, raising the flamethrower like a club but Caius was ready for him. He moved his hands together and pulled the flames from the burning corpses lining the corridors, gathering them together into two flaming balls he sent them flying into the reapers legs. The reaper stumbled as his legs were consumed by the flames, reduced to useless, burnt stumps that couldn't support him, and he landed face down on the ground. Concentrating Caius gathered his power for a telekinetic strike. Balling up his hand into a fist he punched downwards, coming just short of connecting, but the telekinetic punch did. There was a sickening crunch as the reapers skull was caved in by the blow.
Caius tiredly rose to his feet, his anger having died along with his energy.
"Be careful they have flamethrowers," he warned the others.
"We know," they all replied.
"All priors onto the front lines now," Tomin ordered, having just arrived back on the base from the Liberatus. "Let's show them that fire can be used against them too."
"Yes sir."
"Commander," a voice behind him yelled.
Caius turned and saw a group of soldiers pounding their way down the corridor towards him.
"I'm fine," he said. "Get back on the line and stop these bastards."
"Yes sir."
Breathing a deep sigh of exhaustion as the soldiers pounded past him to the sound of the drop pods rings activating Caius turned and grabbed the flame thrower. He figured he would have use for it later.
Tomin marched through the corridors of the base.
"Give me a status report," he ordered.
"I have the situation under control with minimal losses," Caius reported. "I've found their flamethrowers compliment our pyrokinesis well. I recommend everyone grab one for use until we get our own equivalent."
"I also have the situation under control," Andose reported. "Minimal casualties."
"I can handle them for now," Darrius said. "Minimal casualties."
"Markus, Garen, Jacob and I have them on the run," Korvin reported. He had been able to link up with three other priors and their task forces since their targets were close to each other. "We're going to attempt to destroy some of the ring platforms."
"How?" Tomin asked.
"Caius was right, those flamethrowers are very handy," Korvin reported, and Tomin could almost imagine him grinning.
"We're holding them back for now but I may have to pull back soon," Corwin reported. "Minimal losses so far."
"I need help over here," Coeven reported. "My targets are spread too far apart for me to cover both by myself. I'm taking heavy casualties."
"I'm on my way," Tomin replied, breaking into a run.
"Please hurry!"
"We'll have this lot dealt with soon enough," Korvin added. "We'll join you when we're finished."
In another part of the base Korvin and his brothers were slaughtering their way through the reapers. Working as a team they had forced their way through the initial incursion forces until they reached the tightly grouped together drop pods. By this point the initial incursion forces had been wiped out, having been unable to stand up against an attack consisting of two thousand very determined soldiers and spearheaded by four priors.
Now whenever the rings activated the reapers that landed were met by a torrent of staff blasts. Most of them never made it outside of the confines of the ring platforms before being brought down.
"How's it coming?" Korvin asked.
"I'm nearly there but the constant appearance of reapers isn't speeding things up," Markus replied.
"Same here," Garen added.
"And here," Jacob added.
"Good work," Korvin replied.
"Keep the stream constant," he told the soldier beside him.
Under the advice of Caius four Liberum soldiers had taken flamethrowers from the reapers second incursion attempt, an attempt which had failed spectacularly after the priors blocked the blasts and turned them back on the reapers that followed. Korvin and the others had realised they could use them to attempt to neutralise the ring platforms and halt the assault.
Kovin was using his pyrokinesis to focus the stream of plasma fire into the outer hull of the drop pod and the surrounding rocks. His aim was to melt the superstructure of the drop pod to prevent the rings from being able to deploy. So far he had yet to heat the hull enough to warp the trinium armour plating but he was getting there.
The ring platform activated and deposited another half dozen reapers. In response Kovin casually redirected a burst of plasma flame at them. He may not have the innate control that Caius possessed but he was still capable of flash frying the six of them with a flick of his wrist and within seconds the reapers were burnt to a crisp. When the rings activated again the corpses would be whisked to where they had come from, and would certainly give the Zarasians quite a shock. Redirecting the plasma stream he focused on the ring deployment area, hoping to liquefy and eventually fuse the hull.
In the back of the mind he was worrying about how long this was taking, since he knew Coeven needed help. Tomin was on his way and the raw power that he would bring to the battle would allow them to hold out for a little while longer. Having two priors would at least solve the issue of having only one prior to deal with any flamethrower wielding reapers. He just hoped they could survive long enough for him to reinforce them. Just as soon as these first four ring platforms were neutralised he could redirect his soldiers to support them.
Tomin ran through the tunnels as fast as his legs could carry him. Along the way he passed a column of wounded soldiers fleeing from the battle before the reapers could finish them. Each of them possessed injuries to a varying degree, from plasma burns to scorched stumps in place of limbs.
What really worried him though was the number of bodies he passed lying unmoving on the ground as he got closer and closer to the drop pods.
"Coeven," Tomin said. "I'm at one of the drop pods, focus on the other and let them have it."
"On it," Coeven replied.
Tomin skidded to a halt as he rounded a corner, meeting a hail of plasma bolts that pounded into his hastily erected barrier. Lining the edges of the corridor, tucked into any nook and cranny that they could use for cover, were a number of Liberum soldiers. Some of them were badly wounded but were unable to move back from the engagement area. There were over a dozen reapers firing on them, just firing on them and not advancing, while in the distance he could hear the ring platform activating almost continuously. He suddenly realised the reapers were simply planning on holding the Liberum soldiers down while even more were pouring into the base. They didn't want the Liberum soldiers to get lucky and change the status quo, while the Liberum were present it would appear that they were holding the reapers back. When they were ready the reapers would advance in force and slaughter them. He had to admit they were sneaky buggers. Any time a Liberum soldier stuck his head round the corner to take a shot they would be forced to take cover again or be flash fried by a stream of plasma fire from a pair of reapers with flamethrowers.
Tomin sent a return volley of his own consisting of telekinetic strikes that gave the reapers pause. Taking a moment to gather his power he sent a large strike that would cover the entire width of the corridor.
"Down," Tomin yelled.
The Liberum soldiers stopped attempting to get a bead on the reapers and pressed themselves flat against the wall of their personal hiding places moments before Tomin unleashed his strike. The reapers were sent flying backwards at least ten feet like they had been hit by a high speed truck. The soldiers looked at him in awe at the raw power he had just displayed and even Tomin was slightly surprised at how much his strength had increased. It was amazing what he could if he didn't focus on fine control and instead switched to wide area effect attacks. But he didn't have time to think about that now as the reapers were already getting back on to their feet, although the two with flamethrowers were having some difficulty.
"Single volley," he ordered.
The soldier's movements stammered as they attempted to hastily comply with the order and fired off a single volley that brought down several reapers that had made it onto their feet.
In the distance Tomin could hear the gentle pounding of footsteps of people moving on mass and he knew it was reinforcements coming. Since they were coming from in front of him he knew they were not his forces but reapers come to aid their brethren. He was not disappointed as several dozen reapers poured into the long corridor from the many side passages. Clearly they had been waiting for the moment to strike and had decided to seize it with his arrival. No doubt they intended to overwhelm him while he lacked the necessary forces to support him.
He strode down the corridor unperturbed by their numbers or the blasts impacting the barrier he had created.
"Fall back and support the others," Tomin ordered. "I'll take care of these."
The soldiers stalled in their retreat and he couldn't blame them, they were after all very loyal. It seemed an impossible thing for him alone, even with his powers, to take on all these reapers and live. Nevertheless he continued to march forwards until the last of his men were behind him and he was only a few feet away from the front line of reapers.
The two reapers with flamethrowers were now back on their feet and let loose long streams of burning blue plasma flames at him, which was exactly what he was waiting for. With a flick of his wrists he redirected the flames so that they turned a full ninety degrees, striking the two reapers. The two of them were quickly enveloped in burning blue fire and they staggered backwards as their armour began to fuse into their flesh. Pushing his hands outwards he sent them hurtling down the corridor just before the inevitable happened and the gas cylinders on their backs detonated. The corridor was filled with blue plasma flames, stopped only by Tomin using pyrokinesis to divert them away from him and his soldiers. The reapers on the other hand were not as lucky as they were hit by the full power of the blast and killed in an instant.
The Liberum soldiers behind him were left with open mouths by the spectacle they had just witnessed.
"I said go," Tomin repeated, not turning round.
He smirked as he heard the soldiers slowly backed away before running down the corridor. At this rate he was going to get a reputation. He turned his attention back to the fight and strode deeper into the base, and as a result closer to the reaper menace. All he needed to do was hold them back until reinforcements could arrive, he just hoped that Coeven could do the same.
Young Coeven was, for a lack of a better phrase, a border line nervous wreck. Since the fight had begun he had been running back and forth between the two incursion points.
He was exhausted, both physically and mentally, from having to constantly use his powers against hordes of enemies. Then the death knell for his mental state had sounded when the reapers second incursion teams had arrived, headed by reapers with flamethrowers and air burst explosives. His forces had already been taking casualties, a result of him not being able to support them constantly and heal the wounded, and with him only being able to focus on one area at a time the group he hadn't been supporting had been all but annihilated. He didn't know how many people had died thus far, but the worst thing was that was because he had lost count and there were countless more who were wounded and out of the fight.
The timely reappearance of Tomin had greatly improved his mood however and he now felt much more like his old self. With the other area in the process of being secured he could now focus on pushing back the enemy around him. His previous sense of fear at his forces being overwhelmed was now replaced by anger at the casualties that had been inflicted. He fought like a mad dog that had been kicked once too often and began to carve his way through the enemy. His soldiers, those few that remained by his side, did the best they could and stayed the hell out of his way.
It wasn't long before he dismissed them to support the other elements of his task force, who were busy attempting to coral the reapers in order to prevent them from gaining a greater foothold. So unsurprisingly Coeven eventually found himself smack dab in the middle of several dozen reapers intent of riddling him with holes. By this point Coeven was running solely on adrenaline and the slightly maniacal urge to kill just one more reaper, which resulted in him sending anyone that attempted to get into close combat flying back several feet. The reapers, or whoever was in charge of them, had by now realised the pointlessness in this strategy. They had instead settled for firing at him from all sides, which was proving to be extremely effective at wearing him down in a hurry. Coeven didn't really seem to notice though at a conscious level and he just kept firing off telekinetic strikes indiscriminately at anything within range.
Eventually his fatigued state started to overcome his blind rage as his strikes got progressively weaker and weaker and his barrier started to deteriorate under the relentless bombardment of plasma bolts.
As fear started to regain a foothold in his mind he hastily forced his way past several reapers and started to run down the corridor. With the reapers on his tail he ran through the corridors, not paying attention to which way he went which was probably why he found himself cornered. With his back quite literally up against the wall all he could do was create a barrier to try and hold off the inevitable. As the reapers continued to pound his barrier he calmed his mind and accepted his fate. So he was really surprised when a wall of flame engulfed the reapers in front of him but left him unharmed. He could feel the heat from the blue flames but they didn't come close enough to burn him or even affect his barrier.
As the wall died his vision cleared and he saw two figures in the distance. One of them was prior Andose and the other, carrying a gas cylinder on his back and with the gun in his hand, was prior Caius.
"You should not be so eager for death young one," Andose chastised. "You still have much more of a life to live."
"Don't be too hard on him Andose," Caius said. "I think he did rather well considering the situation."
"Hmm, maybe. Get out of here for now and rest brother," Andose advised. "The others will be here soon. We will handle the rest."
"Thank you," Coeven managed as he placed his hands against the rocky wall and used it to support his tired body as he stood up.
Caius patted him comfortingly on the shoulder. "A little rest and you'll be fine in no time. You just over did it."
"Why are you carrying one of those things?" Coeven asked, indicating the flamethrower.
"It's useful," Caius replied. "I'm hoping to get a smaller version made for the initial flame since we can't create flames with our powers but for now I'm just using this since it compliments my pyrokinesis quite nicely."
"Pyromaniac," Coeven muttered, causing Caius to laugh.
"I prefer Pryo Caius," Caius retorted.
"I would prefer if we get a move on," Andose said, already walking down the corridor in search of more reapers.
"What about the rest of my men?" Coeven asked, clearly concerned.
"They're being tended to or reinforced by the other priors and soldiers," Andose assured him. "They'll be fine."
"Your incursion points have been secured?" Coeven asked incredulously.
"The rings on the drop pods have been rendered inoperable," Andose explained. "But if you hadn't held the reapers back here as long as you did the casualty rate would have been much higher. You did well."
"Now what?" Coeven asked.
"We mop up here and then prepare for the next incursion attempt," Caius replied, turning and leaving Coeven behind.
A little while later and Caius and Andose were moping up the last of the reaper rabble. Even with Coeven taking a breather and on healing duty there were still eight prior level beings, not to mention several thousand Liberum soldiers, all focusing their attention on two reaper incursion groups. Needless to say it wasn't looking good for the reapers.
"How's it coming?" Andose asked, casually flinging back a reaper that had attempted to charge him with a mere flick of his wrist while maintaining a strong barrier.
"Nearly there," Caius replied, his attention focused on fusing the deployment panels on the drop pods ring platform. "Just hold them back a little longer."
"No need," Andose replied as the two dozen reapers were engulfed in a torrent of blue flame, marking the timely arrival of Korvin, Markus, Garen and Jacob.
"Have you finished yet?" Korvin asked casually.
"Yes," Caius replied, lowering his outstretched hand and the flamethrower gun.
"Good," Markus replied. "Because we finished ours ages ago."
"There are four of you though," Caius pointed out.
"Ah but you are supposed to be Pryo Caius master of the flame," Garen retorted.
"I see you've been speaking to Coeven," Andose noted.
"Of course," Markus said. "Speaking of Coeven Tomin wants you two to give him a hand on healing duty. We'll search for any strays."
"Very well," Andose said, turning to go.
"Is he always like that?" Jacob asked.
"Yes," Caius replied, turning to follow his friend.
"I should have known he wouldn't just sit down and rest," Caius said when he caught up.
"Of course not," Andose said. "He worries too much about the soldiers he leads. We were not trained as soldiers but that is the role we have taken upon ourselves when we chose to come to this galaxy."
"You know why he does that though right? It's because he knows now that if they are killed the Ori won't ascend them."
"Ah, but in this case we have the chance for ascension," Andose pointed out.
"You also know what the deal is," Caius retorted. "And you also know that given the choice everyone of us, you and me included would descend again to continue the fight."
"That just means we cannot toss away our lives carelessly because we may need the opportunity that this gives us later on."
"Exactly," Caius said. "And Coeven is worried that he has tossed away lives carelessly."
Andose shrugged. "He needs to learn that that is the risk of conflict, you win or you lose and losing means death."
"That lesson sucks," Caius replied.
"The most important ones usually do," Andose said sagely before frowning.
"What's wrong?"
"I'm not sure," Andose said uncertainly. "Something is not…"
He was cut off as the entire base shook from the force of a tremendous explosion, leaving both men struggling to stay on their feet.
"What in the ancestors name was that?" Caius asked.
"I think it was…" Andose started to say before another explosion cut him off.
"What's happening?" Caius asked telepathically.
"The Zarasians are attacking!" Tomin replied.
"I thought their plasma cannons couldn't break through our shield," Caius replied.
"I didn't mention it earlier but they apparently have plasma beam weapons as well," Tomin replied. "I didn't think they would use them because they seemed more interested in capturing the base rather than destroying it but apparently they've changed strategies."
"It must be because we eliminated their incursion teams," Andose said. "They must be getting desperate."
"What are we going to do?" Coeven asked.
"Retreat," Darius said. "It's the only thing we can do."
"We can't use the stargate," Korvin pointed out.
"We don't need to the warship can hold us all," Tomin replied.
"The air will get pretty thin real fast though," Markus pointed out.
"It'll last long enough for us to meet up with the fleet though," Caius said.
"I'm giving the order," Tomin said. "Spread the word, we're retreating. All forces are to head to the warship or the nearest ring platform. Anyone who can't walk is to be carried."
"Yes sir!"
Without a word Caius shrugged off the gas cylinder. By the time it hit the ground with a clink he and Andose were already running.
"You keeping up okay old man," Caius said jokingly. Andose smirked but did not reply.
The two of them ran as fast as their legs could carry them, darting through the rocky corridors like rats running from a sinking ship. Later on they might actually appreciate the irony of just how appropriate that simile was but right now they were more concerned about getting out of dodge. If they had bothered to extend their senses outwards they would have sensed the equally scared minds of their fellow Liberum running for the warship.
The base trembled again as another strike pierced the shields.
"Incoming drop pods!" Someone yelled telepathically.
No less than a second after the warning went out they felt the base shudder as the drop pods impacted. The two priors momentarily hesitated, that last impact had felt very close.
Caius looked around searching for the something that his brain was telling him was out of place with the situation. The gleam of a power conduit caught his eye and suddenly it hit him, he couldn't hear anything. The sound of raw power crackling through the conduits that he had noted at the start of the battle, a time that seemed so long ago, had been diminished to the point that he couldn't hear it unless he concentrated. Power was barely flowing through that conduit to the shield emitter, which meant that area of the shield was weak. His gaze immediately shot up to the ceiling and he finally noticed the dust falling from above his friends head.
"Andose watch out!" he yelled diving forward to knock Andose out of the way just as the ceiling shattered and the rocks began to fall.
The shining metal of a drop pod spear point pierced through the rock like a hot knife through butter, bringing down a cascade of rubble along with it.
Andose let out a low groan as he got back to his feet. Caius had sent him sprawling to the ground with his full body impact and he had dropped like a sack of potatoes. His head hurt from where it had connected with the rocky floor. Turning his aching neck he took in the situation. There was rubble everywhere after a drop pod had come straight through the ceiling, severing a power conduit and…and…burying Caius in rock.
"Caius!"
Andose stumbled forwards towards his friend but he already knew that he was dead. He could not sense a single spark of life from his mind. He collapsed to the ground, his will to go on temporarily gone. He just lay there, seeing but unmoving
The spiked tip of the drop pod split apart, separating outwards until they formed a ring around the circumference. The rings immediately activated and deployed, disgorging group after group of reapers into the corridor. Somewhere in the back of his mind he heard a voice telling him to get up, move, fight or they will kill you!
Forcing his body to move, he shakily pushed himself up and created a barrier before sending out a telekinetic strike that knocked a single reaper down. The other reapers immediately opened fire and sent a hailstorm of plasma bolts at him. As they pounded his barrier it succumbed, shattered and he was sent flying backwards.
Dazed and bewildered, his head on fire, he tried to will his body into moving. His strength was leaving him with every passing second. He blindly reached out and grabbed the nearest thing to him, a sparking power conduit.
Raw power flowed through him and he used all his will power to manipulate the energy, like he had all those times before in training. Flowing through him like a conduit the energy entered through one hand and exited out through the other as lightning. His body cried out in pain but another part of him sensed what was happening and drained his last reserves of strength. The energy flowed and flowed, sending out lightning that reduced countless reapers to cinders and burned out the internal circuitry of the drop pod. His body twitching feverishly until the very last moment Andose breathed his last breath and closed his eyes, finally giving in to death.
Please Review. And in case you haven't noticed i rewrote the first chapter to make it easier to digest without changing any plot points.