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: The ground battle will be where the allies learn just what they are up against. Like when battling the Goa'uld the ability to either demolish or fight on an even footing with the reapers will determine the way the rest of the war is fought. In many ways this is a first for both sides, with both of them learning things from what will happen.
Oddliver: The fighters can be dealt with easily enough, and you'll see how shortly. You have raised a very important point though, and you'll see the Zarasian response to Titans in the coming chapters.
BIG Z1776: The numbers are possible if you take a relatively small number of personnel from a number of countries and their numerous armed forces. However i am at my limit at the moment, as i mention in the coming chapters. The majority of the hundred thousand recruited went toward the fleet, with only a portion consisting of the ground forces. It also helps that the Asgard and Vanir contribute their own people.
Cdoctor: They won't be that easy to defeat i'm afraid, for multiple reasons. I wouldn't be doing them justice if i simply swept them aside. However if there are some things you would like to see more of i'm always open to suggestions.
romanhellhound: I really couldn't resist that title.
: I told you. Thank you for all your voluntary help.
Seraphin2011: With no Ori behind them and limited support from their brothers the Priors were never going to be godlike. But like you saw in the last chapter they are still capable of some pretty impressive feats. I know what you mean about the length and no one is more surprised than me, believe me. I suppose because i focused more on the individuals it just turned out that way. This is regretably a learning experience for both sides which means they are near constantly being surprised. The idea that they could land such a large force in such a small amount of time caught them off guard. The one thing they have done successfully though is keep their atttention off the Calium people. You're right about the Cyber Lord appearing more often but he is more the mad scientist who only wants to continue his work and doesn't have Zarin's meglomania. Vejovis will also be appearing more as well.
Calium
The locals had not been idle in preparing defences for the planet. The hydrogen production facility was their most valuable industrial asset and such had merited a sizeable defensive force and a strong defensive line. Of course if a space capable enemy wanted to destroy the facility outright then all these defences quickly became moot since an orbital strike would be able to turn it into a smoking crater with ease. However the Zarasians no longer had any ships, but what they did have was a very large army. Twenty thousand well equipped soldiers with armour support was not something the Calium people were capable of handling on their own. Never mind the near nine hundred fighters flying around. Thankfully though the fighters wouldn't be a problem for much longer and they would soon find they had problems of their own to deal with. The Tau'ri vessels quickly launched their UAV F-302's to hunt down their Zarasian counterparts. Over three thousand birds took to the sky in a hunt for the enemy and eventually the kill count began to rise. Under the direction of twenty five networked ISIS AI programs the reaper fighters soon found themselves being hunted down and eventually destroyed. Some still remained intact though, working together in groups or hiding in crevices of the floating rocks they continued to survive despite the forces stacked against them. Eventually they would be found and hunted down but for now they survived. However the skies were now controlled by the allies.
The Sagittarius launched her own birds into space but these ones stuck close to their carrier, their role being escort duty. As the carrier descended through the atmosphere they circled around her, protecting her from any attempt to attack her as she delivered her precious cargo.
As she came to a rest and hovered over the facility the natives looked up in awe at the massive and powerful alien vessel, it seemed to radiate raw power and instil a sense of strength with its very presence. With this vessel watching over them they might just have a chance against the army that was even now marching towards them. From the two larger hangers a steady stream of ships started to emerge. In total eighty modified transport shuttles flew towards the surface landing between the facility and the approaching army. Hatches on the side opened and began deploying a six hundred and forty strong armoured force that was composed primarily of Titans but also included upgraded Abram tanks. Joining them were a full brigade of tempest armour clad foot soldiers deployed from the Tactical Assault Transports carried by the other ships of the fleet. With the transporter jammer still operational this was the only way to get them on the ground.
Men and women from multiple countries on Earth gathered alongside members of the Calium military to defend this world from invaders. They faced an enemy that knew no fear, no mercy and no remorse, an enemy that would not stop until they had completed their objective or they lay dead on the ground. They couldn't be negotiated with or convinced to surrender. They were reapers, killers without a conscience or fear to stay their hand. The soldiers who lined the trenches and fortifications and crewed the vehicles of war knew this and yet they stood here and against this force anyway.
The best weapons they had available were lined up here against the Zarasian threat and in the hands of these people. The Calium people may not possess advanced technology but they did have weaponry capable of doing the job that was required of them, namely killing reapers. Long ago they had acquired weapons from the Genii and had been using them ever since. Twenty thousand Calium foot soldiers now stood against the reapers along side five thousand five hundred Tau'ri foot soldiers, with another four hundred manning upgraded Abrams and five hundred and forty Asgard and Vanir manning upgraded Titans.
"They are getting closer," Sheppard noted.
"Yes but we are ready for them," Thor replied.
Sheppard gave him a look.
"Ready as we can be," Thor corrected.
"Are your Titans ready to go?" Sheppard asked.
"I believe the new weapon packages will be able to provide us with the edge we require to win this battle," Thor stated.
"I'll admit they certainly give our forces a certain amount of versatility that the military generally favours," Sheppard admitted. "But I'm still worried about what the enemy have to use against us. Until a little while ago we didn't even know they had vehicles and yet those drop ships somehow brought thirty each to the fight."
"Yes that fact has me concerned as well," Thor admitted. "Those ships should not have been able to carry so many and yet here they are. They also appear to have a versatility of their own."
"I recommend priority targeting on those vehicles," Sheppard said.
"I agree," Thor said.
"And whatever the hell is generating that shield," Sheppard added. "We take that out we can at least use air strikes against them."
"The problem is that they are moving everything they have towards the production facility, including their ships and those large cylinders," Thor said.
"Is your artillery ready?" Sheppard asked.
"It is," Thor said.
"Power readings suggest that those drop ships are the ones generating the shield," Sheppard explained. "We take them out then the shield should go down."
"Hopefully," Thor said.
"Hopefully," Sheppard agreed.
"We'll send in the Titans first," Thor said. "Your tanks do not have the same ability to pull out of the engagement zone as easily."
"Agreed," Sheppard said. "And good luck."
"I have led many battles Colonel Sheppard," Thor said. "This one will not be my last."
"We generally don't advise our generals to fight on the front lines," Sheppard commented. "It usually prolongs their life span."
"If I die I get a new body," Thor stated. "Besides I have no intention of dying. I am known as a god of storms after all. I think it's time the Zarasians experienced one."
On the ground Thor stood tall in his Titan suit. His close combat weapons package meant he had two plasma storm cannons and a plasma flamethrower on each arm in addition to his standard suit weapons.
Severing his comm. link with Sheppard he immediately started issuing orders into the battle net. "Foot soldiers hold the line. You will be needed later but not just yet. Titans we will be making a pre-emptive strike on the enemy forces. Close quarters units will engage their infantry while heavy weapons units target vehicles. Long range units, you will stay behind the main group and target their drop ships. Tank and artillery units will hold position but be prepared to give us supporting fire if the shield goes down. If all goes well and the shield goes down I will order a general retreat."
"Yes sir."
"Titans forward," Thor ordered.
The mass of Titans made the ground tremble as they advanced towards the enemy. Thor knew that even if they took down the shield the enemy would eventually get close that their artillery could no longer used. Orbital bombardment would certainly be out of the question is it would engulf their own forces as well the enemies.
This was going to be the first real battle they would face against the Zarasians on the ground, one that would determine how the rest played out. For the first time both sides were putting the full capabilities of their forces against one another. If the allies couldn't win here then they would have no chance of beating the rest of the Zarasian forces.
Elsewhere on the planet UAVs chased after Zarasian fighters. A flight of five working together patrolled the skies. One of many assigned to guard the area around the largest settlement on the planet. Home to several hundred thousand people this floating island was the pinnacle of civilisation on Calium. Several Zarasian fighters had already approached the planet only to be shot down by one of the many defence emplacements situated around the cities perimeter. As more fighters swarmed to the city, drawn like moths to a flame, the air became filled with flak fire as more and more weapons added their voices to the fight. UAVs were quick to follow as their limited, but still capable sensors thanks to support from the ships above, detected the flocking enemy craft and moved to intercept them before they could muster sufficient numbers to overwhelm the capitals defences. Nearby the main Calium military base, which the Weir had visited a short time ago, found itself similarly under siege. However, in this case, its defences were strong enough and its civilian population small enough to not warrant the assistance of the UAV flights in any significant number. Guns of varying sizes opened fire in a bid to take down the heavily armoured fighter craft and were mostly successful. Say what you will about the primitive nature of Calium technology they knew what they were doing when it came to projectile weaponry. They felt they were ready for anything that could be thrown at them.
What they were not ready for was the Zarasian transport ship that exited hyperspace over the planet. It would later on be decided that the ship must have made a short jump from a nearby system to reach the planet without sensors picking it up. The allied vessels in orbit quickly swooped in on the ship and started pounding it with weapons fire, bringing its shields down quickly with the rest of the ship shattering moments later. However the brief moments that it remained unharmed were enough for drop pods to be prepped and launched in short order.
A dozen spiked cylinders sped towards the surface of the planet, scattering the moment they had hit vacuum. Meanwhile the ring platforms of the drop pods on the ground activated, deploying more troops into the fight. Recon drones immediately turned their electronic eyes towards these creatures. They were big, in fact they were huge. At nearly three meters tall, heavily muscled, with cybernetic eye pieces and armour plating these were some of the biggest reapers that had ever been seen before. From each of the eight drop pods eight of these lumbering creatures emerged, wielding what looked to be the mother of all mini-guns with power cables leading to a pack on their backs. The sight of these things emerging from the pods was enough to make the operators of the recon drones gulp.
While these pods had made it to ground unscathed the twelve plummeting through the atmosphere were not as fortunate since they had different intended destinations. Six of them were heading straight for the capital city of Calium while the other six were heading for the major military base, presumably because these targets had been marked by the reapers manning the surviving fighters. These twelve pods were subjected to intense flak fire from whatever gun could turn to face them before they touched down. More than one stream of weapons fire found their mark as the pods got closer and closer to the ground, along with several missile strikes from the UAVs circling above. Before any of them touched the ground they exploded showering large chunks of debris onto their targets. No one wanted to see what would have happened if those behemoths had been unleashed throughout the military base, let alone in the middle of a civilian population.
Inside his suit Thor stared at the sensor generated image of the large reapers. His forces were about to penetrate and engage the enemy forces for the first time but these reapers presented a problem. While they were few their capabilities were unknown which made them an unknown variable in his plans for assaulting the front line of reapers. Pushing hesitation to one side he reasoned that a mere forty eight of these monsters would not be able to present much difficulty for the five hundred strong Titan group that was even now advancing on the enemy.
"All units continue forward," he ordered.
Forty eight or four thousand eight hundred, it made no difference. No matter how many of those things there were they were still only flesh and blood and thus fragile. His Titans were pure metal constructs that would render them limb from limb if necessary. Finally they were approaching the perimeter of the shield that protected the reaper army from orbital bombardment. Like those on the Titans and tanks it was not a solid shield, being designed to allow slow moving or non-moving objects to pass through it so that it would work even while its location was shifting. A single stride and his battle line of Titans would be inside the shield and from there it was a simple matter to jet boost right next to the front lines of the reapers.
The reapers had yet to fire a shot at them but that was probably because the shield appeared to be designed to block energy blasts, meaning that so long as they were inside it they were safe. It was also meant the shield matrix was much stronger as a result, making it that much harder to penetrate. Firing at the Titans would only serve to weaken the shield so the reapers did not bother, instead they waited. Vehicles were brought to the front of the line, acting as an armoured shield for the more vulnerable infantry while the lumbering hulk reapers caught up with the main group. Thor would have adopted a similar strategy himself. Allowing the enemy to come at you piece meal just made them easier to defeat since you could make them die a death of a thousand cuts. Of course Thor had no intention of playing into the enemies hands like that. He had his own strategy and he did not intend to waver from it.
"Attack!" he ordered.
As one two hundred close combat variants stepped through the shield, followed shortly by two hundred heavy weapon variants who wielded a pair of triple plasma blasters on each arm and a pair of firefly rocket pods. The air was filled with green plasma bolts as the reaper army unleashed hell on those that had dared to enter their domain. Reapers fired bolt after bolt from their rifles while the line of half tracks fired massive bolts from the cannons on their backs. The shields of the Titans took the damage but they wouldn't hold forever. The Titans quickly sent their response in the form of large numbers of orange plasma bolts sent at the reaper army. As the heavy weapon Titans, crossed the threshold of the shield and the vehicles moved to encircle the Titans the close combat variants saw their chance. Activating the boosters in their feet they jumped high into the air, clearing the way for the heavy weapons titans to begin their own assault. From the shoulders of the two hundred Titans two green beams of plasma shot across the gap between the two fighting forces and impacted the line of Zarasian tanks. Their heavy trinium armour held momentarily before succumbing to the raw destructive energy and the tanks exploded just as the close combat variants touched back down in front of them. With no more tanks to stop them the CC Titans ripped through the reaper lines like tissue paper while the HW Titans split in two and spread out, allowing the one hundred long range weapons Titans came up behind them. As the CCTs either cooked reapers alive or riddled them with holes the HWTs pounded the tanks with large plasma bolts and sent hundreds of firefly rockets careening through the sky.
Working in concert with one another the Titans hammered the enemy force into submission. In own suit Thor casually fired off a burst from his plasma storm cannons and mowing down a line of reapers while keeping one eye on the status readings for the other Titans. He mentally willed the slower long range Titans to get into position that much sooner. The HW Titans were giving more than they took but they were outnumbered five to one and their beam cannons needed a while to recharge with the shields getting priority for power. None had lost shields yet but they were getting worryingly close. Luckily the LRTs were about to enter the shield perimeter and the HWTs had manoeuvred out of the way. Nodding to himself he fired out a shockwave from the emitter in his palm.
Stepping inside the shield the one hundred LRTs braced themselves, setting their legs further apart to lower their centre of gravity. From the mountings on their backs a single massive plasma beam cannon rose and rotated before settling into place above their heads. Simultaneously a dozen NPDs in the pods on their shoulders armed themselves. Sharing targeting data with one another they systematically locked on to the first ten of forty targets. One hundred beams of green plasma, four times more potent than the shoulder mounts, shot over the intense land battle to impact the hulls of ten of the landing craft that had deployed the vehicles. The mobile deployment platforms were giving off significant power readings but when the beams hit those readings dropped significantly. Ten beams struck the same five centimetre radius of space, burning through the armoured hull of the vessel to strike at the much more fragile interior. It wasn't long before the beams burned all the way through to the ships reactors, causing the vessels to detonate violently, showering the area with chunks of debris.
Inside his suit Thor noted with satisfaction that his sensors were registering a twenty five percent drop in the strength of the shield dome. However his forces were still taking a pounding.
"LRTs continue firing but hold on the NPDs," he ordered. "All units are to prepare for immediate withdrawal from the combat zone on my signal."
A mere second after he given the order and another ten of the MDPs were destroyed by the second volley of fire. The loss of another ten of the craft only seemed to spur the Zarasians on. The return fire seemed to have increased in magnitude. If the HWTs were overwhelmed then his detachment would be surrounded and would quickly meet the same fate. For the sake of the course of this battle it was time to take a risk.
"Split your fire," he ordered.
The LRTs quickly adjusted their targeting parameters so that each of the remaining twenty MDPs were struck in one go. The plasma beams were so powerful that even half their number was sufficient to cut through the hull armour like a hot knife through butter. With the last of the vessels generating it gone the dome shield faded.
"All units retreat!" Thor ordered.
As one the five hundred Titans engaged the boosters in their feet and took to the skies, jumping backwards away from the enemy army and towards their own lines.
"Artillery units open fire!" Thor ordered once they were far enough away.
The forty Titans that had remained behind the defence line finally hunkered down and directed power to the massive weapons they carried on their backs. The plasma bomb launchers had been designed to be the equivalent of the Earth howitzer, a fearsome weapon in its own right, and were capable of dealing devastating amounts of damage across a wide area. When used in groups like this the potential destruction that could be unleashed by these weapons was horrific and the order to unleash them had just been given.
The reapers looked up as glowing yellow balls of plasma rained down from the sky. The moment the orbs hit the ground the containment fields shattered and an expanding orb of burning plasma consumed them. Across the length and breadth of the Zarasian army explosions bloomed, blocking them from both sight and sensors. In moments the entire army was consumed by plasma fire.
"Keep firing," Thor ordered.
He was not taking any chances.
Calium Capital
In an old and darkened warehouse a young boy wondered around, searching for his treasure. Like the other Calium citizens he had watched as the strange alien flying machines had battled with one another but now they were all gone. The last of the Zarasian fighters in the area had been dispatched and the UAV's were off hunting down more.
Now he was searching for what he had seen fall from the sky when those metallic cylinders had plummeted towards the city before exploding. Numerous pieces of debris had come down when the drop pods exploded but one piece had touched down nearby. He had watched as it hit the roof of this warehouse and now he was going to find it.
It had been easy to get inside, with everyone's attention on the ground battle occurring not very far from here and the possibility of more enemy fighters appearing no one had noticed him slip inside. He knew he was right, that it had landed in the warehouse, when he looked up at the roof and saw the hole. In the blackened warehouse the hole in the roof allowed the light to shine through and create a spotlight, marking the location of his treasure.
His eyes widened when he saw that it had hit the ground so hard it had created an impact crater deep enough to leave it partially buried. But he could still see the gleam of the metal as it glinted in the light. Inching closer he eventually came to the hole. Reaching into it he gently brushed away the stones that covered it, revealing its shape. He stared in fascination as he noticed that it was oddly spherical, with lightly etched curving lines leading to a small circle.
Just as he was about to reach out to grab it a monotone voice from the shadows interrupted him. "Leave it boy."
He jumped back as though he had been stung just as his fingers had been about to touch the metal. His head spun round as a male figure, clad in a Calium military uniform and wearing a sidearm, emerged from the shadows.
"Get out of here," he said emotionlessly.
The young boy hesitantly retreated when confronted by this gruff, stone faced giant as another soldier appeared alongside him. This one seemed friendlier than the first, more human. The first gave him the creeps.
"Go on boy, go home," the second said, offering him a brief friendly smile.
The boy scampered away, disappearing into the darkness.
The second man chuckled. "Little scamp. Remember when you were like that?"
"No," the first said in his monotone voice, walking forwards to the crater.
"Right…anyway what's in that hole?" the second man asked.
"This," the first man said. He knelt down and plucked out the sphere before rolling it towards the feet of the other man and walking back towards him.
"Strange," the first man said, looking down at it. "You'd think it would be more damaged wouldn't you?"
"No," the first man said, before hitting his partner on the back of the head with the butt of his pistol.
The other man slumped to the ground, unconscious.
A little while later he awoke with a groan and a throbbing pain in the back of his head. As he came to his senses he realised that he was lying face down on the floor and that his shirt was missing. The feeling of the cold stone against his bare chest gave him a chill, and something, was poking him in the back in several places.
"What…" he began to say before he screamed as he felt a sharp pain in the back of neck, and then he screamed no more.
A few moments later he pushed himself to his feet and put his shirt back on while the first man watched as still as a statue. He flexed his muscles and opened and closed his jaw repeatedly, like he was getting used to his body. As he did up the buttons on hi shirt he began to speak, his voice now monotone.
"Motor control check complete," he said. "Vocal check complete."
He calmly drew his sidearm from its holster, studying it for a moment. Then without warning he spun around and pointed it at a cowering figure hidden in the shadows.
"Come out or I will shoot you," he said.
The boy from earlier slowly came forwards, visibly fighting the urge to bolt with every step he took. He was absolutely terrified by what he had just seen and was wishing he had never hung around, no, that he had never set foot in this warehouse just to find that…that thing.
"We have directives that state we are to prevent unnecessary casualties so we will tie you up," the second man said as the first moved over to the boy. "However if you attempt to escape you will be shot. Do you understand?"
The boy nodded fervently as the first man reached him and rendered him unconscious with a blow to the head. As the first man proceeded to bound and gag the child with torn strips of his own clothing the second fixed his clothes. He adjusted his collar to cover up the shining metal up with the glowing red light and the metallic tendrils leading into the back of his neck from it.
As the artillery Titans signalled that they needed to cease fire for weapons cool down the bombardment of the Zarasian army ceased. As the smoke and dust thrown up by the countless explosions settled the remains of the reaper host was uncovered. Hundreds, probably thousands, of reapers lay dead on the ground while hundreds of vehicles had been reduced the burning wrecks. However the majority of the army was still alive thanks to the small overlapping dome shields being projected by dozens of half track variants, built solely for the purpose, that were scattered amongst the force. Thor had wondered what purpose the different vehicle variants served, and now he knew. Despite the continual bombardment that had blanketed the area the reapers continued to march forwards and were now that much closer to their lines. Soon they would be on top of them and inside the grounds of the hydrogen production facility, at which point it would be solely down to the infantry force to win this battle. This battle had just gotten more complicated.
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