Calium

The capital city was in uproar at the sudden upsets. First the presidents building had been demolished moments after a glowing object had swooped down and entered the building through the roof. It was largely suspected that the entirety of the Zarasian human officers had been inside the building at the time, and now they were buried under several tons of rubble. So the question was what were the cyborg soldiers going to do now that their masters were dead? Then the most unexpected thing of all had happened, their president had started talking to them.

Oh he had been talking to them before, delivering his speech over the Zarasian installed speakers. However that speech had lacked the spark they had come to associate with Hakim, and a lot of people strongly suspected that it had something to do with his sudden inexplicable love for the Zarasians. But now his voice contained that same spark that made you want to listen to what he was saying, that energy that had won him every election by a landslide, and he certainly wasn't trying to sell the same crap they had been forced to listen to every day for what seemed like eternity. Instead he was denouncing their presence on their world and assuring people that their liberation was at hand, at the hands of the races that just five minutes ago he had been insulting at length.

Now he was urging to people to get off the streets, bar their doors and confine themselves in their basements with their families. Whatever they did they needed to get away from the reapers, to flee away from the reapers if they saw one. Because wherever there was a reaper now then sooner or later there would be a soldier of their liberators, and when those two forces met there would undoubtedly be fighting, which could result in collateral damage. Lives could be lost in the crossfire that ensued, civilian lives. These brave men and women coming to free them from their oppressors could certainly overcome the reapers even while protecting the civilians, but it would honestly be much easier if people would just get out of their way and let them get on with it.

It actually wasn't that hard for people to follow this particular presidential order as the majority of them were already in their homes, hiding from the very creatures they had been told to avoid. Many were afraid of the creatures, and by now the rumours had started to circulate about the abductions. The Smiths had been busy, very busy. It's amazing how a dozen people splitting up and going to separate pubs and inns and then just not talking quietly can spread a rumour. What people who work in intelligence know is that is just by listening in a crowded room to the various conversations you can gain an impressive amount of information. Now that been said not all of this information is going to be accurate and the majority, if not all, is going to be either speculation or opinion, which is the polite way of saying completely unfounded and just plain wrong. However the golden nuggets amongst all this concentrated manure are there if you are willing to sift through it all but that wasn't the real gem. No, the real gem was the knowledge of why this manure isn't immediately discarded by people upon hearing it. A lie, a truly good lie, survives so long because it is laced with truth. Just a small amount of truth for a mind to grasp onto is all it takes to make a lie believable.

So what did the Smiths do? They created a lie sprinkled with the truth. Then they took their public knowledge gathering technique and flipped it so that it became a dispersion technique. The method of delivery was actually quite simple. Working in two person cells they would enter an establishment and take a table close to a corner. A little while later a member of another cell would enter and take a seat in the corner. Then some time later the other half of that cell would take a seat and the two would begin a conversation not too loud so that the entire room could hear but loud enough so that people nearby could hear.

"Is this place safe?"

"No reapers or Zarasians here, I guarantee it. Now talk."

"It's happened."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes I'm sure. I got the request to the meeting and it was just what you said it would be like."

"You know what you have to do then."

"Of course I know but what where will we go?"

"Anywhere you can. It's better than them coming to look for you and the alternative doesn't bear thinking about."

"Can't you do something?"

"No I can't! You know I can't and you know why. If I help you I can't keep doing what I'm doing and that will put a lot more people at risk than just your family."

"But they are my family! You know what that means, what I'll do to protect them if necessary."

"Then do what you have to because I've done all I can. I've given you a chance, which is more than you would get if our so called saviours find you or you went to that meeting."

"I know, thank you."

"Don't mention it. Really, don't mention it. To anyone."

"I won't."

And with that the mysterious pair would disappear and people would begin to talk about what they had overheard. Sometimes though the conversation wouldn't be picked up to an acceptable level so the second cell would provide a booster to get the ball rolling and this conversation would not be as quiet.

"Did you hear what he said?"

"I'm not having this conversation."

"You remember what I've been saying to you about people disappearing all this time? Well it looks like I was right."

"You don't know that. They could have been talking about anything."

"Oh come on, you can't seriously think this is just a coincidence. You know as well as I do that people have been disappearing and now we know why. Our so called saviours have been kidnapping them."

"I told you that I'm not having this conversation!"

"What next, they just start taking us off the streets? Well not me! There is no way I'm letting my family wonder the streets now."

"Shut up!"

"Fine!"

With that the two would leave the inn and leave the civilians to talk amongst themselves, and talk they had. Rumours about their imminent demise and what the Zarasians had planned for them spread like wildfire amongst the civilian population. Fear and paranoia ran rampant, causing most people to barricade their doors and stay inside. Exactly what the allies needed them to do. With the civilians tucked away behind brick walls they wouldn't be hurt as their forces purged the capital of reapers, and a few hulks and behemoths. Even the civilians who had stuck around to listen first hand to the presidents latest speech were being slowly but steadily removed from the engagement zone.

When the agents had established a defensive formation around the Calium president they had also activated a transport pillar. The devices were essentially a fusion of Asgard transporter beams and Ancient transport rings, combining the best of both technologies. Rings allowed you to bypass shields but required the target to be completely encircled, while transport beams allowed you to move tons of material in a single instance but couldn't bypass shields. Transport pillars could lock onto and transport anything within their, admittedly limited, sensor range. A single pillar couldn't move an entire army but sometimes just the arrival of a tank, or a titan, was enough to make a difference. It certainly was in this case. Surrounded by highly trained soldiers clad in tempest armour and wielding railgun rifles the president was better protected than in the hands of his own security. Even a few squads of reapers would weigh the tactical options of taking on this force and determine they had slim to none odds of survival. The two close combat titans flanking the podium were just icing on the cake, and their shields enveloped each other and the podium.

In the dockyards of Calium life had continued as normal at the start of the day. Workers had arrived to unload crates as they were brought in by cargo ships, under the watchful eyes of reapers. Apparently no one had told them that they were in danger of being snatched away at a moments notice by the monsters the Zarasians called foot soldiers because they went about their duties without complaint. Crate after crate was unloaded with precision and efficiency, with the ship hands even lending a hand to make sure their cargo holds were emptied in short order. If the onlookers however had not been the simple drones incapable of independent thought that went by the name reapers then they might have noticed something odd about the situation. Each of the crates being unloaded was massive, ten feet tall at least, and they were being laid out in a line, with no crate stacked on another and no second row of crates.

When the background music that had been President Hakim's speech suddenly took on a more rebellious note however the dock workers suddenly started to move with a purpose. The resistance had not been able to actively infiltrate the city because no one was allowed to leave or enter unless they were manning the cargo ships, and once their business was done they would be identified and required to leave with the ship they came on. However the return of the allies to this world had changed that fact. Though they couldn't replace the people working on the docks, who underwent similar checks to the ship crews, they could meet with them and convince them to help.

The cargo ship crews had been a different matter however. In this regard the allies faced the same problem as the Zarasians had, someone needed to crew the ships. More importantly it had to be people who knew how to completely operate them. Calium airships were delicate things when it came to their inner workings. In order for them to be kept running the engines needed to be constantly monitored or there was a danger they might fail or even explode. There are no monitoring programs that kick in automatically to prevent human error on a steam powered airship. Because of this the Zarasians had been forced to only attach the commanding officers with strings. They gave orders and the ships crews obeyed, although for good measure they were assigned randomly amongst the ships so that the crews didn't get too suspicious.

However the ships were vulnerable when they weren't inside the protective cover of the transport inhibitor field generated on each floating island the Zarasians had gained a foothold on. It had been a simple matter for the allies to beam down soldiers armed with particle magnums to neutralise any hostile forces aboard. Then the crews were replaced with members of the resistance who knew exactly how to operate the airships and knew the plan for saving their people. All of this happened without the slightest change in the airships headings and the Zarasians were none the wiser.

The contents of the cargo holds had been replaced as well. Instead of food and other essential supplies the ten foot tall crates had been put in their place, and when the rebellion speech began the contents inside began to stir. As the humans ran for cover and the safety of the cargo ships the crates burst open as the massive bulk of dozens of ten foot tall titans forced their way out. Upon emerging the pilots of these battlesuits immediately began engaging the reaper guards, using their close combat load outs to great effect. Reapers fell in droves while hulks, their stronger cousins, managed to put up a meagre defence before they too collapsed as their bodies were pot marked with plasma burns.

Dozens of mechanised warriors pressed deeper into the city, fighting off the petty resistance the Zarasians were mustering. But they knew that this was just the opening act of the battle, the initial moves where the other side would lash out while the other reacted to their presence. So far the Zarasian forces had not been able to respond to the presence of enemy forces in their midst, and the Tau'ri didn't expect them to with any co-ordination. However something like a behemoth lashing out reflexively is not something that can be simply overlooked, or easily dealt with all the potential civilian casualties present, and until the shield was brought down they wouldn't be either.

Zarasian Homeworld

The world the Zarasian people had eventually taken to calling home could be found far from other inhabited systems. Located along the outer rim of the galaxy, in an area where star systems were few and far in between and life sustainable worlds were even rarer it had never been visited by the Wraith. When Zarin and his followers had been exiled from Averia they had not simply walked through the stargate and set up camp on the other side of the gate. Instead they had done the smart thing and gone through several gates, using co-ordinates liberated from the database in the Ark. It had time and study of the database to find this world but it had been worth it. As suspected they hadn't been bothered by the Wraith since they had settled here, and the abundant resources present provided them with the materials necessary to establish an industrial machine after many years.

Ironically if it wasn't for the generosity of their former people in providing them with all the base resources required to establish a colony the Zarasians might not have emerged as a galactic power for centuries at best or millennia at worst. But they hadn't accounted for the Zarasians tenacity or their plunder of the Ark. Acquiring Eurielle had allowed them to beat the issue of population growth and a labour force by lab growing workers. Reapers were stronger than humans, so they could work harder, longer and even go for days without rest on very little food. A small reaper work force quickly expanded the number of facilities producing reapers and worked larger fields of farmland than the Zarasians could have hoped to in a century of population growth. Without the need for basic labour the Zarasian humans had been able to dedicate their time to educating their people on the sciences, preserving their knowledge and even expanding on it as the secrets of the Ark database were unlocked.

In under a millennium the Zarasians went from a small colony of a few thousand people to a thriving metropolis containing millions of people, and that was just the capital city where the humans lived. By the present day the Zarasians had spread their tendrils to many colony worlds, each of which further strengthened their infrastructure and military might. Inside hatcheries millions of reapers were growing and upon emergence would go on to become vital cogs in the machine that was the Zarasian Empire.

Separate from the vast cityscape were the industrial zones where the real growth of the Zarasian Empire took place. Every new ship built, rifle made, combat vehicle that trundled off the assembly line and cybernetic component completed meant the Zarasian Empire grew that much larger, that much stronger, that much more dangerous.

Surrounded by smaller berths that held the skeletal frames of dozens of smaller vessels in various states of completion was a ship that had become infamous throughout the galaxy. The Doom Bringer had returned to the place where she had spent years being built. Battered, bloodied and bruised she had limped home to receive vital treatment that she needed if she was ever going to fight another battle and win.

Vast amounts of resources had been diverted to this shipyard to restore the ship to full working order, with ant like figures crawling over her superstructure replacing burnt out shield emitters and weapon emplacements. The damage would take quite some time to repair but Zarin was determined to see his flagship back amongst the stars once again.

From the observation tower in the shipyard Zarin lounged in his chair, watching the progress being made, with a near permanent frown upon his otherwise handsome features. Around him were some of his most trusted people, key members of the Zarasian Empire.

"How long?" he asked.

"Work is progressing on schedule sir," Malek, his chief engineer replied calmly. "It will not be long."

Zarin grunted. He couldn't fault Malek for his work, especially since the man was the best engineer in the entire empire. In actual fact the work was progressing faster than originally expected, with the repair schedule having been brought forward twice already thanks to his efforts. Zarin counted himself lucky that the man had not been present on his old flagship before it had been destroyed by his own hand, something he was still annoyed about. He had hoped to turn his former flagship into a monument, something for his citizens to look at in pride for generations to come. Alas that was not to be the case. Still, there was no point dwelling on what could not happen. It was best to focus on his current flagship.

"And the potentia?"

"Fully functional and almost fully charged."

Zarin found himself once again grateful for the Ark and its little treasure trove of ancestral creations. When his followers had acquired the three crystalline constructs and smuggled them off the planet he had never imagined how valuable they would prove to be. It wasn't until much later that the true power they offered him, quite literally as it happened, had become known. And what a wonderful opportunity they allowed him. By utilising the three potentia as the power source of the Doom Bringer he was able to construct a ship with firepower disproportionate to its size, with the space not taken up by massive power generators being used to hold a mechanised army of three million reapers, plus numerous hulks and behemoths now joining them.

"Practically only powering the hyperdrive has meant minimal use," Malek added bitterly.

Zarin resisted the urge to snort in amusement. Engineers seemed to have an interesting attachment to their machines. Perhaps it was all the time they dedicated towards keeping them functioning to perfection. Although it could have something to do with the fact that Malek had personally designed the Doom Bringer from the ground up and overseen its construction since the beginning. The ship was, metaphorically speaking, his baby. Malek's name would go down in Zarasian history for this, which was another source of amusement for Zarin.

"You have a countermeasure to that weapon of theirs I presume?"

"Of course Etere."

"How are your latest projects coming along Azamoth?" Zarin asked.

"All tests have proven successful Etere," Azamoth cackled. "And your ship will be fully stocked with the latest models before it is ready to depart."

"Very good."

"Darian, how are our military operations proceeding?"

Darian was Zarin's trusted right hand man, the man every other officer in the Zarasian forces aspired to be. Zarin's personal favourite. Of course no one had yet clued in as to why he was Zarin's personal favourite. Darian was, simply put, an administrator. He was in fact a superlative administrator, but an administrator none the less. This meant that he was not a tactician or an inspirational leader, unlike Zarin. Darian knew this as well and Zarin knew that despite the respect and authority given to him that Darian would never attempt to usurp his position.

"Our forces are moving as planned, and the population of Calium will shortly be completely relocated to storage."

Storage, such a cold and callous word when used to talk about people and yet, nonetheless, it was accurate about the Calium natives. One by one they had been gathered, stringed and shipped off to a holding facility, where they would remain until they were needed in the new order.

"How long until they are in position?"

"We are still corroborating the last of the locations viability. Until the reports are completely compiled I have ordered our forces to hold position so that they are on hand if needed."

"And the strike force?"

"Ready to deploy at a moments notice, they simply need a target."

Zarin's predatory grin could have made a shark proud. "Very good. Perhaps our enemies will be good enough to provide us with one shortly."

"If necessary Etere they can always be relocated to Calium to provide additional security."

"Yes but it would be such a waste to simply place them around such an insignificant little rock."

"Yes Etere, however…" He paused as the miniaturised computer on his wrist beeped. Studying the small screen his expression turned from puzzlement into a frown. "Etere, we are receiving a distress signal from Calium. They are under attack from a massive enemy force, in excess of a hundred warships."

Zarin looked thoughtful. "Well well well, how very interesting. It seems our enemies have decided to make their move at long last."

He had been surprised that they hadn't acted sooner, in order to capitalise on their temporary victory over him with the crippling of the Doom Bringer. However if they wanted to wait why should he complain, since the longer they left his forces alone the sooner his flagship would be back online.

"And what does Malek have to say about this situation?" Zarin asked.

"We have been unable to contact him Etere," Darian replied. "They could be jamming our communications. However that should also prevent us from receiving the distress signal. This is most puzzling."

Chief engineer Malek merely snorted. "The distress signal and command centre communications operate on two separate systems in case the other is disabled. Most likely he is dead and buried in his own command centre." He would know after all, he had designed the system to include such a redundancy.

Malek had met the bloated buffoon that had the same name as him once before. They hadn't gotten along and it infuriated him no end that his famous name was being associated with such an incompetent individual.

"Along with the rest of the command staff most likely," Zarin mused. "A smash and grab mission perhaps to rescue the Caliumnians? Or perhaps they intend to hold the line? No unlikely, they wouldn't want to risk being pinned down on such a meagre rock when the Doom Bringer could be upon them in moments."

"My lord, if I may?" Darian asked.

"Of course Darian, speak your mind."

"If this is indeed a rescue mission as you suspect then their ships will be temporarily held in place as they attempt to evacuate the citizens. We could use this opportunity to hit them with overwhelming force and eliminate the entire fleet."

"Ah, the strike force you have on standby?"

"Yes Etere."

"Not a bad strategy, see to it. I want the planet and surrounding space wiped clean of life. But leave the ground forces at home, orbital bombardment will suffice."

Darian nodded and began entering commands on his wrist computer.

"However your strategy lacks a necessary element," Zarin lectured. "You have no way to guarantee that the enemy remains in place while your fleet arrives. Azamoth, have Red Eyes brought fully online."

"Yes Etere," Azamoth said. "And what of Malek if he lives?"

"The only way for the command centre to have been destroyed but the transmitter on the same island remain intact is for the enemy to have somehow bypassed the shield," Malek offered. "Unlikely in the given time frame, unless they managed to somehow sneak inside."

"In other words he has out lived his usefulness since he had allowed such an outcome to occur," Zarin concluded. "Red Eyes is to assume complete command authority and if Malek resists, assuming he is still alive, he is to be killed."

"And if he does not resist?" Malek asked while trying, and failing, to keep the hope out of his voice.

"He will be executed when the battle is over for his incompetence, as an example to others," Zarin answered coldly.

Calium

In the capital city a Zarasian soldier unlike the others stood idle in a warehouse, far from the fighting that had engulfed the city. Standing at three metres tall the creature could easily have been mistaken for any other hulk but closer examination would have revealed the differences. The obvious difference was that this creature had two cybernetic eyepieces instead of just one, both of which were glowing a deep blood red and which gave it the name Red Eyes. However the key differences were those that could be found beneath the surface. For one this creature's cybernetic enhanced brain possessed components that allowed for independent thought and computation, meaning it was capable of strategic analysis and decision making. This reaper had been designed to be a leader of other reapers, a reaper general. But when Azamoth created this monstrosity he hadn't felt the need, or seen the reason, to simply stop at its brain. It had taken time and a lot of resources to complete but Azamoth had replaced this creature's musculature with artificial ones identical to those possessed by Sovaer, and most recently Zarin.

Malek may have been an incompetent commander but his superiors were not. They had seen the logic in having redundancy, and how crippling it could be to lose a hatchery queen and subsequently the connection to the battle command net. Red Eyes, and the less advanced cybernetic reapers like him, were the solution to this problem. With the ability to analyse the current tactical situation and give commands to every Zarasian foot soldier on this planet upon activation Red Eyes set into motion the Zarasian counterattack. Suddenly the allies found themselves facing organised and frighteningly well coordinated resistance, when moments ago they had been walking all over the enemy.

As his cyborg lieutenants reported the approach of more enemy forces on the capital city island and the hydrogen production facility on the surface Red Eyes began issuing orders over the battle net.

"All forces converge on the capital city. Fighters will escort transport vessels and engage enemy aircraft upon contact. Foot soldiers pull back and regroup. All other units will engage the enemy."

There was a ring platform linking straight to the hydrogen production facility that his forces could use to relocate quickly, however if the threat already present was not dealt with then he would have problems later on. Besides there was no fighting at the facility just yet, but the capital city was engulfed in combat.

Zarasian Outpost

With the order from Darian the twenty battle groups and ten battlecruiser groups in orbit of the planet powered their hyperdrives and opened a single massive hyperspace window. Leaving behind the ten troop transport groups the outpost suddenly seemed a lot more vulnerable than it had a few minutes ago, even taking into account the surface based defence platforms.

On the outer edges of the system the Kalen Aror sat under cloak, along with its one hundred and fifty warship escorts and the base ship Borealis. And if that wasn't enough the Jaffa had twenty five ships of their own surviving fleet stationed under cloak in the vicinity, including their brand new flagship. The sudden disappearance of the defence fleet had not gone unnoticed by any of them and Borealis was even now tracking their progress through hyperspace. As expected the enemy fleet was heading towards Calium. Once the fleet reached the half way point they would attack the outpost with impunity. Just a little while to go now and the Zarasians wouldn't know what hit them.

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