As the light from the star formed from nuclear fire died and sensors cleared up the remains of the Doom Bringer were revealed. The once mighty warship was blackened, twisted and broken, and yet amazingly had remained intact. Her armour was scratched from the nose onwards, the place where the hellstorm round had struck, but despite all belief and intention the ship was largely operational. Her hull had been effectively scoured but she was still very much alive.

Zarin growled as his cybernetic interface fed him damage reports from over the ship. They had been crippled! One shot from that strange weapon and they had been crippled! Somehow it had gone through the Doom Bringer's shields like they weren't even there and detonated against the hull. Worst still that thing had been travelling so fast it almost burrowed through the hull before it had detonated. As a result the primary beam weapon had been wrecked. Unlike the rest of the beam weapons and shield emitters which had simply been burned out. The only weapons still functioning were the plasma cannons, being the only ones kept beneath the hull during hyperspace transit. The significantly more powerful, and much longer range, beam weapons on the other hand were now useless.

"Well that was surprising," Vejovis commented. "I really thought you were gone for a moment then. Lucky for you though your armour was just as tough as your shields or I would be looking for a new Etere."

"Shut up," Zarin said as he rubbed his eyes to clear his vision, while the bridge crew did the same. "Helm, take us for towards them. Deploy plasma cannons and point defence guns. Ready all fighters for immediate deployment."

The Doom Bringer had eighteen thousand plasma cannons and seventy seven thousand point defence guns, more than enough to handle these two ships in short order. They would pay for what they had done to his precious flagship.

"Rodney, what the hell happened?" Sheppard asked.

"The hellstorm round couldn't get through the armour," Rodney replied. "It detonated before it was inside the hull of the ship."

"Damn that thing must have some thick armour," Sheppard growled. "What its status?"

"Weapons and shields appear to be disabled," Rodney replied. "She's completely defenceless."

"Correction plasma cannons are being deployed from beneath the hull," Thor added. "Sublight engines are coming online."

"Smart bastard," Johnny commented. "He kept something beneath the hull for situations like this."

"The cannons are short range however so if we keep our distance we should be able to deal with the ship easily enough," Thor reported.

"You mean we hit it with our biggest gun and that thing is still kicking?" Sheppard asked in disbelief.

"We took out well over two thousand beam weapons of varying calibres, including the main weapon," Rodney argued. "Her shields are gone."

"Okay, so what are our options? Hellstorm?" Sheppard asked.

Rodney shook his head. "That armour is too thick and appears to be energy dispersive considering the first round barely scratched it. Beams weapons are our only option if we want to stay out of range."

"Beam weapons it is then," Sheppard said as his activated fleet wide comm. "ISIS, activate the targeting network. All ships are to de-cloak, and remain at maximum weapons range. Set Grodin's to sustained beam mode and fire at will on critical sections. Destroyers are to perform attack runs only. Take that ship apart!"

There was no reply over the comm. link, but the sight of the entire allied offensive fleet appearing out of thin air as white beams lanced through space towards the Doom Bringer. Destroyers moved forwards in packs, descending upon a wounded prey like predators sensing an easy kill. At her best the Doom Bringer was a fearsome ship, capable for dispatching even an armada like this one easily enough, but wounded as she was she was easy prey for any nimble ship with a long range beam weapon. Set to sustained beam mode the Grodin was a truly fearsome weapon, capable of punching through even the thick armour of the Doom Bringer given enough time. The destroyers weren't having a small impact either, barrages of plasma beams repeatedly striking the same patch of hull armour were starting to take their toll, especially on the already damaged sections. The pride of the Zarasian fleet was for all intents and purposes being put through the bruiser ring as ships swarmed around her. In a desperate bid to stave off the inevitable space was filled with bright green plasma rounds as the Doom Bringer opened fire on the attacking ships, but to no avail. Each shot fired lost the battle against the cold vacuum of space long before it could strike an enemy ship. As the ship was rocked by the constant hammering of plasma beams it seemed the ships remaining life expectancy could be measured in minutes.

"You realise you're getting mugged right?" Vejovis asked almost conversationally. He knew Zarin wasn't stupid enough or probably even willing to commit suicide in this battle but it was damn funny to watch it happen given how overconfident he had been not too long ago. The ship was rocked by an explosion as a section of armour gave way and something explosive was hit. "Was that important?"

What Zarin had failed to realise was that the enemy had sensors of such precision that they the Doom Bringer was practically blind in comparison. Combined with over two dozen networked AI's processing through the data and you had a targeting system that was nothing short of terrifying in its ability to determine weak points and the location of critical systems. Grodins relentlessly drilled into hull sections, channelling such power that the armour simply couldn't disperse the energy before it was burnt away. Destroyers swooped in, blasting away with plasma beams at any weakened or exposed areas they could find, before moving away at high speed. Piece by piece the Doom Bringer was coming apart at the seams. The ship was literally being taken apart, dying the death of a thousand cuts. Each plasma beam, be it large or small, that struck was yet another cut to the skin exposing the soft insides, another vein or more vital severed or even a precious organ ripped out. This wasn't a battlefield, it was an operating table, and there were one hundred and forty three surgeons working on the Doom Bringer in a co-ordinated effort.

Zarin gritted his teeth and focused on the battle that he saw as rapidly going downhill, when in reality though it had been going down hill since it started. "Launch fighters."

"Bad idea," Vejovis said. "Your ship's going to be destroyed before you can recall them so you'll have to flee, and then you will down nearly two hundred thousand reapers and your only real defence at the moment. Besides they have fighters too, along with other ways of dealing with them."

"Then what do you suggest?" Zarin snapped.

"Retreat," Vejovis replied seriously. "While you still can."

Zarin slammed his fist into the arm of his chair as his anger momentarily took over. Much as he hated to admit it the ancestor was right. If he wanted to survive he needed to retreat, and quickly.

"Cancel fighter deployment," he ordered, albeit reluctantly. "Set a course for home and take us into hyperspace."

Unfortunately two out of the sixty thousand fighters the Doom Bringer held had already been launched and suddenly found themselves stranded as their mother ship forced its way into a hyperspace window. In response the allied fleet saturated space with energy bolts and NPD's, as well as launching their own fighters, to overwhelm the enemy. In some cases the larger ships of the fleet, like the Tria, simply opted to ram any fighters that got in their way. In a matter of minutes the last of the Zarasian presence had been dealt with and the system was undisputedly in control of the allies. The only thing left to do was reclaim the Liberatus from the robotic bugs that had infested it.

In a flash of light teams of Tau'ri soldiers appeared across the ship. The majority were concentrated around the engine room to prevent the bugs from making a last ditch attempt to destroy the ship. Setting their side arm particle magnums to their lowest effective setting as a precaution the men and women of the first Tau'ri brigade went to work scouring the ship clean. The carnage wrought by the Priors and Liberum soldiers had been so great that this small skirmish was over in just a scant few minutes.

Weir – Bridge

"I'm sorry Colonel but it is simply not possible," Tomin stated.

Sheppard sighed in frustration. "Look we need the damn thing. If we don't have it then our only alternative is to rely on the other ascended, and since I personally saw Vejovis bitch slap two of them with a gesture I would really rather not do that."

"Just hand it over and we'll give it back when your done," McKay added. "I promise we won't desecrate your precious instrument of freedom alright."

Tomin remained impassive. "I have complete faith in your ability to not damage the device but it is not
possible. Doctor McKay let me ask you something, if the device was sent through the supergate with Adria why didn't she simply come back to your galaxy, use it and then ascend to become the only Ori in existence?"

Rodney opened his mouth to reply and then closed it again in puzzlement. "Okay fine I don't know," he admitted.

"Colonel?" Tomin asked.

"Don't look at me Tomin I don't have a clue either," Sheppard replied.

"Hey," Rodney protested. "Just give me a minute and I'll figure it out."

"We don't have a minute," Sheppard shot back. "Just tell us Tomin."

"Because she couldn't," Johnny said as he and Thor strode onto the bridge, having been standing in the doorway listening to the conversation.

"No she couldn't," Tomin agreed. "The Priors believe that in order to affect an entire galaxy the device was required to activate at the point where the energy stored inside was in the verge of overloading the device. This had the side effect of frying the device upon activation, damaging it to the point that it was completely inoperable and beyond repair. It was so badly damaged that Adria couldn't even reproduce the burnt out components."

"That must have pissed her off," Johnny surmised.

"More than that, I think it scared her. She was without support and the enemy she had been created to fight had practically won and she had no way to destroy them without ascending herself."

"Adria scared, now that must have been something to see. The old man told me she was a real battle axe."

"She was fearsome," Tomin agreed.

"So we're out of options," Sheppard said flatly. "We're relying on the ascended to take care of Vejovis for us while we take care of Zarin."

"Well the last part shouldn't be too hard," Johnny noted. "Zarin must be scared shitless by what just happened to him."

"That is a good point," McKay admitted. "And it gives me an idea."

"What?" Sheppard asked.

"Well this battle must be pretty embarrassing for Zarin right? I mean it's one thing to have your ship destroyed and quite another for it go down like this. One shot from Hellstorm was all it took to cripple it. So Zarin wouldn't want his people to know."

"I sure wouldn't," Johnny admitted. "That would put moral on the floor."

"So why don't we do that?" McKay suggested. "We have recordings of the battle from our sensors, why don't we flood subspace with those recordings?"

Everyone was silent as they processed the implications of this. Logistics, intelligence and straight up firepower were all types of warfare that they had tried to exploit against the Zarasians but psychological warfare wasn't one of them. That had been solely Zarin's territory and had been achieved solely using the Doom Bringer. Now though they had a chance to fight back. Just showing the footage to their own people would change the way people thought about this war, but now they had a chance to strike fear into the hearts of the enemy. After everything that had happened it actually felt pretty good.

"Okay let's do it," Sheppard said. "If we're lucky we only need one person to see it, believe it and then people will start talking about it. Eventually the rumours will start to spread and if we're really lucky Zarin could even have an uprising on his hands."

"You really think that could happen?" McKay asked.

"It might," Johnny said. "However with the reapers Zarin could theoretically just leave his people off the front lines or from any military installations."

"Reapers possess limited intelligence however," Thor pointed out. "If Zarin were forced to recall all his people from the front lines then the reapers would only be able to carry out rudimentary instructions and would have no real initiative."

"Good point," Johnny admitted. "Although we still don't know what all those instructions are."

"So what do we do now?" Tomin asked.

"You head back to Concordia," Sheppard replied. "You need to get your ship repaired and your people need time to rest. You look like you could do with a few hours of sleep yourself."

Tomin did feel tired and he knew he probably looked a lot worse.

"The rest of us are going to Calium," Sheppard finished.

"Not all of us," Thor added. "I have another appointment to keep."

"With who?" Sheppard asked.

Thor just simply smiled as a mass of glowing energy, which could only be an ascended being, appeared out of nowhere and snatched him away.

"I think the answer was friends in high places," Johnny said with a grin.

Higher Plain

This small part of the realm inhabited solely by non-corporeal beings was like a maelstrom. Countless ascended beings had gathered in this one place, the entire ascended collective, and at the eye of the storm stood the only one still in humanoid form, Oma.

"We need to take a stand against Vejovis," she shouted.

"No!"

"We cannot!"

"You know the rules!"

"You know where we stand!"

"What will be, will be. Interference is not our way."

The mass of voices was deafening.

"You know what he will do," Oma said.

"He will restore our race."

"The Alteran civilisation will live again."

This time though the roar of voices was noticeably quieter than before. The ascended were apparently divided on this subject. Worryingly though those against were silent.

"If this continues then our name will be turned into a word of fear," she retorted. "The name of the oppressor."

No reply came to this.

"Yes," Oma said triumphantly, having finally found her leverage. "You fear that don't you. The Ancients, one of the oldest and greatest races. A people that are revered throughout galaxies. The race that set the bar for what it means for a civilisation to be great. That legacy, shattered in one stroke. An entire race condemned because of the actions of one individual."

"At first they will fear, but in time they will love us. Our name will live on, our people will live on."

"At what cost?" Oma asked angrily. "You don't know for sure what will come of this but I can tell you that the price of this continued war is death. Countless dead, and for what? A dream that might never come true."

"Don't be so sure about that," a chillingly familiar voice said.

Oma spun around on the spot. "Vejovis, what are you doing here?"

Vejovis shrugged. "This is the higher plain and I am an ascended being. Where did you expect me to be?"

Oma scowled at him. The overconfident bastard wasn't even trying to hide his abnormal power anymore.

"Helping Zarin," she retorted. "Or perhaps working on the plans to bring down the Milky Way galaxy after your pawn has finished with Pegasus."

"Funny," he replied sarcastically. "Actually I was just checking in on Zarin as your own pawns took him down a peg. His flagship has certainly seen better days."

"They are not our pawns," Oma spat back, outraged at the implication.

"The smouldering remains of my outpost indicate otherwise," Vejovis pointed out Caretaker was quite distraught at what they did to it, and it was all thanks to you."

Oma scowled in response.

"And now you are trying to rally the other ascended against me," Vejovis continued. "Have you finished by the way? It doesn't seem to be working out for you so you may be better off giving up. Why don't you go look for Janus and Ganos? You should find them a few million light years from here, completely spent I meant add. Face it, you're out of options."

"She is," another familiar voice said. "But I am not."

"Well down Skaara," Oma whispered as the ascended dropped the Asgard Supreme Commander in the eye of the storm. In a louder voice she said, "Welcome Supreme Commander."

"It is good to finally meet you in person Oma Desala," Thor replied warmly. "And to the rest of my old allies, hello."

"Greetings Supreme Commander Thor of the Asgard," the ascended masses intoned.

Vejovis however looked amused. "And what do you think you can do Asgardian?"

Thor turned and spoke in a tone that had humbled even the Goa'uld. "Destroy you."

Vejovis froze. A death threat spoken with absolute conviction can do that.

"Impossible," he spat. "There is no way."

"On the contrary there is a way," Thor replied. "Many weapons can be built Vejovis, as the Tau'ri demonstrated when they destroyed your facility. Even one that can destroy an ascended being."

"No one has such a weapon."

"Have you forgotten why the Ori are all dead?"

Vejovis face became a mixture of shock and horror, before his mouth twisted into a smirk. "That weapon was lost, rendered useless with its one use."

"Damaged certainly, but not lost," Thor corrected. "The Liberum have it in their possession, and soon it will be in the hands of the Asgard."

"Adria could not repair it though, or she would have used it."

"Adria was a being created by the Ori and knew only what they deemed it necessary to tell her. She was not a scientist, but the Asgard possess thousands who are. Do you really believe that we cannot do it?"

Vejovis narrowed his gaze at the Asgard, as if trying to see through him, and frowned. "You're bluffing."

"No I'm not."

"Your mind says otherwise."

Thor almost laughed. "You're bluffing. You and I both know that even a being as powerful as you can't read the mind of an android."

Oma chuckled quietly, causing Vejovis to glare at her.

"Don't be so cocky Oma," he chided. "Do you really think the others will allow such a weapon to exist?"

"You mean will they interfere?" Oma asked, completely unfazed. "What do you think?"

The glaring silence from the others as they circled around them was the answer needed.

Vejovis scowled. "Why do you have to all be so short sighted? Can't you see what I am trying to accomplish? This is for the best. Our people will be restored, galaxies united together, knowledge shared and countless saved as a result. Peace! And yet you only prolong the inevitable. The Zarasian military grows stronger every day. Eventually Pegasus will be claimed and, even if you complete that weapon, what will you do, use it out of spite?"

"We will not lose," Thor stated adamantly. "Zarin is already on the defensive, he just doesn't realise it yet. Next time his flagship won't be so lucky. We'll destroy it and we'll retake every world he has dared to set foot on and then…then we'll come for him. And when Zarin falls, so will you. Even with your help Zarin will perish."

"Do what you will," Vejovis scoffed. "I have no interest in continuing this pointless debate."

Turning into a mass pure energy that was so thick and concentrated it was almost blinding to look at he soared away to parts unknown.

"So you're taking a page out of Moros' book then," Oma said when she was sure Vejovis was gone.

"It is necessary," Thor said, mindful of the other ascended beings. "Of course I hoped it would not be. I had hoped that my people's old allies would see fit to stop this before it became necessary. It seems I was wrong."

"What would you have us do?" the ascended masses asked.

"What must be done."

"You know our rules Asgardian. You know why we have them."

"I also know that you can do harm by not helping when you can," Thor replied.

"Vejovis obeys the rules."

"Vejovis has planned this out."

"He will not interfere."

"He will let what will happen happen no matter."

"Even if my people build a weapon that can destroy him?" Thor asked. "What if he does interfere when his side is about to lose?"

Silence was the reply. Thor nodded. "Very well then, if you truly believe in the rules then I must trust you to enforce them."

He turned to his ascended companion. "I think it is time to leave."

Oma reached out and took his hand. The two were whisked away under Oma's power.

O'Neill

In a flash of light Oma deposited the Asgard Supreme Commander back in his throne chair.

"Thank you for your assistance in this matter," Thor said.

Oma's expression was far from cheerful however. "I only wish I could have done more." She sighed. "The others can be so stubborn."

"Yes, but they will step in if Vejovis interferes," Thor pointed out.

"What are the chances of that happening though?" Oma scoffed.

"You would be surprised. I doubt he will take the threat on his life lightly, and when Zarin starts to bleed he will feel more inclined to do so."

"Zarin doesn't bleed easily though."

"No, but he will. His flagship was just the start. Make no mistake he will suffer. The tide of this war is turning, if it hasn't already turned."

"Is there anything we, the others and myself, can do to help?"

"Yes, do nothing."

"What?" Oma asked, surprised at the strange request.

"I need you to not interfere in the slightest way. Do not ascend anyone, do not heal anyone. Do nothing in anyway to aid or hinder either side."

"What good will doing nothing do?"

"More good than you know. Have faith Oma Desala and go and find your friends. I suspect they need your help the most right about now."

Oma expression became a mixture of fear and worry. "You don't think he killed them do you?"

"I hope not."

Oma's response was to transform into her energy form and zoom out through the nearest bulkhead, accelerating so fast she was practically a blur. As the sensors on the O'Neill lost track of her Thor adjusted the ships heading and set a new course. He had a mission of his own to complete.

M1M-316

The dinosaur world, as it had become known, had seen very little activity after the SPECTRE's brief visit. The Zarasians hadn't seen fit to abandon it just yet, not with the Doom Bringer on call to protect it. They hadn't had much of a chance in any case. This was a research base only and the required end product, the behemoth, had already been completed. It was still somewhat important and it was a base that the Zarasians could operate out of.

It was for this reason that the O'Neill exited hyperspace in orbit over the planet. A brief scan of the planet, combined with the prior scans made, allowed for the location of the base to be determined despite the active sensor dampening. Without hesitating the Grodin was powered, set to sustained beam mode and fired on the planet. The shield was hit by the force of the beam and each passing second saw more and more energy pummelled into it. The Grodin in sustained fire mode was perfect for use against stationary targets. It wasn't long before the shield capacitors were completely drained and the base was left completely exposed. In the brief time it took for the sensors of the O'Neill to register the shield failure and deactivate the Grodin a hundred foot deep crater had been burned into the ground.

Unfortunately though Thor had far from finished with the Zarasian base and had only shut down the Grodin because it was a waste of energy. Power was diverted from the Grodin to the four massive ion cannons that had been the original main weapon the ship before she was upgraded. Each bolt that was fired carried enough power to level a decent sized building, and there were dozens of them being fired at the planets surface. It took less than a minute of sustained fire to turn the base and the surrounding area into a blackened wasteland and every building into rubble.

Calium

This world that had not so long ago been free and ignorant of galactic politics had suddenly found itself thrust onto the galactic stage, another small spit of land on the map for races to fight over. Of course the allied races had no interest in conquering the planet, as the forty eight ships of the allied forces that exited hyperspace in the system were in fact intending to liberate the planet from the Zarasian aggressors.

The Zarasians and the reapers would be driven from this world, starting today. The tide of the war had finally started to turn.

Please Review. I may be taking a break for a little while because of real life but we shall see.