Ullr and Thor both subconsciously flinched slightly at the grinning monstrosity in front of them. Red Eyes smile, with his glinting, razor sharp teeth, would make a shark proud. Actually he would most likely make a shark strongly consider swimming backwards.

Ullr and Thor were both highly experienced warriors and quickly got over their initial shock, taking in the tactical situation. Asgard technology coming into play allowed them to communicate at speeds incomprehensible to even their former organic minds.

"Your thoughts, Ullr?" Thor asked.

"We're surrounded," Ullr stated.

Asgard can not roll their eyes so Thor couldn't, though he would have if he could. "A little more detail please."

"We are surrounded by four, no make that five, behemoths and what appears to be a more cyborg than usual hulk," Ullr added. "As a tactical summary I'd say we're in trouble."

Thor agreed, silently. "What's your ammo count?"

"Same as yours, next to nothing. No rockets, but I have plasma bolts as long as I have power and that should last for a while. Shield capacitors are at full by the way."

"If those things get close our shields won't stop them, they weren't designed for close combat," Thor warned.

"A fact I am well aware of ever since you quite spectacularly demonstrated it earlier by allowing that behemoth to jump you," Ullr pointed out and with no hint of sarcasm.

Thor had nothing to say to that so decided to move on. "What do you make of that hulk?"

"Intelligent," Ullr replied seriously. "He's attempting to use psychological warfare to gain an advantage over us. He clearly doesn't know much about us."

"But he is dangerous. Are you detecting any civilians in the vicinity?"

"None."

The two shared a look before switching to a more regular speed to interface with their suits combat functions. Plasma beam cannons mounted on their shoulders whirred into life as vast amounts of power surged through conduits and into the deceptively complex and powerful weapons. The air crackled around the emitters as the twin beams lanced towards their intended target, Red Eyes and the two behemoths flanking him.

Red Eyes superior reflexes and mental acuity allowed him to determine what was about to happen the moment the plasma beam cannons started to glow. The moment the cannons came online he was already moving, avoiding the shot before it was even fired. Nevertheless as he dived to the side he narrowly avoided a glancing hit to his side. The behemoths escorting him weren't so lucky. The twin beams of destruction cut through them with only a token of resistance. Their massive forms crumpled over with gaping holes in their sides. They were dead before they hit the ground.

Red Eyes had been expecting this level of resistance and had taken steps to counter such a move. As the two Asgard had been firing on the threat directly in front of them another three behemoths had charged ahead from the other three compass points.

As the Asgard turned to face the immediate threat to their flanks Red Eyes, along with the third behemoth, charged forwards. Thor and Ullr found themselves dodging swipes from the flanking behemoths, engaged in a viscous hand to hand battle for which they were ill equipped. Gauntlets with heated claw tips scrapped at their armour as they attempted to fend them off.

A devastating right hook from Ullr sent his opponent sprawling to the ground. He followed up by unleashing a hailstorm of plasma bolts from his arm mounted storm cannons. The behemoth roared, writhing on the ground in pain from the self cauterising wounds. The beast could heal itself quite quickly but in order to do so it needed to feed, to gain the raw materials needed to replace its damaged flesh, and Ullr wasn't giving it that opportunity. With a whoosh plasma flame throwers enveloped the wounded beast head in a torrent of plasma flames. Plasma flames burn at a temperature in the range of tens of thousands of degrees, the behemoth was roasted alive. Its cybernetic optical components melted as its flesh was seared from its bones. As the spray of flames cut out there wasn't an exposed part of the behemoth that wasn't scorched beyond recognition.

He turned just in time to see Thor, who was still engaged in close combat with his own behemoth opponent, get tackled to the ground by the one that had circled around them and attacked from behind.

"Thor!" The shout escaped his lips before he knew it.

His arm came up, the plasma storm cannons already spinning. He was so focused on saving from his friend from the beast that was mauling him that he didn't even register Red Eyes approach until the glowing hot blade arced through the air in front of him. The blade sliced through his dual weapons multiple barrels, beheading them in one clean stroke. He quickly stepped back, narrowly avoiding the thrust of Red Eyes second blade. He tried to line up a shot with his other twin storm cannons. Red Eyes destroyed them with the same brutal efficiency as he had with the other two.

"Shall we dance, Asgardian?" Red Eyes asked, as he let loose a flurry of attacks.

The fighting was spread all across the city. Small skirmishes. Small victories and small losses, all contributing to the end result of the battle. Small, but all an important factor in the grand scheme of things. Sometimes the winners of these small skirmishes, who were on the same side, would come together before moving on to the next battle. They would move through the city, overwhelming smaller enemy groups and aiding their own against a stronger opponent. This side was, of course, formed solely of Titan armoured units. Titan's being the units of choice for moving in small groups, sometimes even individually, through the city. They had learned from Red Eyes earlier trick and were no longer falling prey to it.

The behemoths were equipped with short range jamming devices that interfered with the equally short range inbuilt sensors of the Titans. As a result they had been able to approach the Titans almost entirely unnoticed, allowing them to get into close combat with ease, and in close combat they were deadly. Some Titans survived the ambushes, or saw their enemy coming, and noticed how their enemy was invisible to their sensors. Thus the behemoth secret was out.

With the shield disabled, and their main source of sensor interference along with it, accurate sensor telemetry was now able to be received from the orbiting vessels. The limited sensors on the Titans were susceptible to the behemoth jamming signal. The exceedingly more powerful ship based sensors were not. With the element of surprise gone, and the surrounding buildings cleared of people, the Titans had free use of their more powerful weapons in order to neutralise the enemy before they even got close. In close quarters a behemoth had a definitive edge, but at a distance they were entirely outclassed.

The human foot soldiers knew that they weren't a match for the behemoths in close quarters, or guarantee a kill before they even got close. So if the odds were against them, and there were combatants with every chance of success close at hand, why bother?

No, there were much better uses for foot soldiers armed with long range assault rifles that could move through buildings without literally going through them. Human foot soldiers also have the advantage of being less intimidating than a suit of armour that is roughly the same height of your average one storey building. On average, civilians are more likely to listen to the sound advice before offered to them the less scared out of their wits they are. And when the advice happens to be 'come with us and we'll get you out of this city and somewhere safe', which in this case was in the best interest of both the listener and the speaker, since it meant they can both get out of dodge that much sooner.

The soldiers worked methodically and efficiently, combing through buildings, street by street, finding civilians and directing them to one of the multiple transport pillars, located in strategic positions around the city, which would ferry them to safety. Needless to say, any Reaper foot soldiers encountered were swiftly cut down on site. By the time that the engagement at the docks was over, and the behemoths entered the city, the majority of the population had already been evacuated. They were simply waiting for the rest of the civilian population to be beamed out off the floating island. Transport pillars are a wonderful fusion of two distinct types of transport technologies, but they do have their limits. The smaller versions being employed here had a very limited sensor range, which meant only a small group of people could be transported at a time, and even with multiple pillars it was still a large city with a large population.

Large numbers of soldiers being deployed would simply make things more difficult for the allies. Large groups, after all, could be easily targeted and were far less manoeuvrable than smaller squads, and smaller squads were what the SGC and Homeworld Command specialised in. Two years ago just having a total military ground force of this size acting as a part of their off world interests would be considered a miracle and now it was just a fraction of their forces. They had the manpower and they were making use of it. While their smaller, more mobile, forces were scouring the city for the remaining populace large concentrations of troops were guarding the precious transport pillars.

The initial flood of Calium citizens had now dropped to a steady trickle, with the occasional surge as large pockets were found. Several soldiers were supervising the incoming citizens, directing them to where they could wait to be transported to safety, while others stood on sentry duty. One such sentry was Lt Jacob Reynolds.

Lt Reynolds, like many of the newer recruits, had been recruited fresh from the academy to the SGC. During his time there he had enjoyed many missions as part of an SGC team but ever since the Ori had been defeated he found exploration missions to be unfulfilling. He wanted to be out there, making a difference, so when the chance came along to join the newly minted brigade being formed to fight the war in Pegasus he jumped at the opportunity.

He had been here, on this world, when the Zarasians first conquered it. It filled his heart with pride to be here now, to liberate these people from their captors.

The brief flash of several electric blue lances of plasma searing their way through the atmosphere, from orbit to the planets surface, caught his attention. A few moments later he heard a thunderous explosion emanating from below, but realised that since he didn't feel a tremor in the ground beneath his feet that the source of the explosion must be on the planets surface, followed by a large plume of smoke rising in the distance. There was only one thing that he could think of that could create such a spectacular explosion, the hydrogen production facility.

He smirked. After the battle to defend that facility the Zarasians had deployed their surviving forces, what very few there had been, along with a sizeable number of reinforcements. They had turned that facility into a veritable stronghold and assaulting it would have a tall order. It was much easier to simply target the algae culturing domes from orbit, set the hydrogen gas alight and rebuild the entire facility from scratch later on, with the end result being sizeable losses for the Zarasians, none for the allies and a rather impressive fireball. The Calium citizens wouldn't be too happy, when they found out, but given the circumstances they certainly wouldn't complain, at least not while they were still being rescued and hopefully not even for at least a while after that.

A large group of civilians had just arrived, one of the last according to reports, and had been directed to wait with some others. Theirs was one of the more central, forefront pillars, which meant that they got the majority of the traffic, and as such there was guaranteed to be a certain amount of back log, which meant a mob of people waiting for evac.

An urgent shout was what first caught his attention that there was trouble. One of the soldiers directing the new arrivals had apparently spotted something, calling for one of the civilians to stop. That was the moment Reynolds would never forget, a moment of hope that became one of horror, the moment everything went to hell.

A civilian, the same civilian that the soldier had called to stop, drew a weapon, the weapon the soldier had spotted, along with every other man, woman and child in that group of arrivals. Like wolves amongst sheep they started firing, green bolts of energy flying through the air, hitting both civilians and soldiers alike. Pandemonium erupted. Civilians screamed as they tried to flee but were gunned down without mercy, without hesitation. Soldiers shouted for reinforcements and yelled out warnings for the civilians to get down. The air was suddenly filled with the repugnant aroma of roasted flesh as energy bolts hit their marks. In moments the soldiers on guard returned fire, cutting down the attackers. It was almost impossible for them to miss such a large mass of people, there weren't even any unarmed civilians left alive to block their line of sight. Railgun rifle rounds tore through the air. The armed assailants were blasted backwards from the force of the slugs' impact, red stains appearing on their fronts and large chunks of flesh erupted from their backs, a result of the sheer power of the weapons being employed here. The fighting continued. There was no time to think about why this was happening, to assess the situation. All the Tau'ri soldiers knew was that they were under attack from an armed mob and that innocent civilians, along with themselves, were in danger, and would surely die if they didn't act. So they did what they were trained to do, take out the enemy.

Lt Reynolds didn't hesitate. He opened fire.

Ullr couldn't dodge the sword swings, each one was perfectly scripted to leave him no room to dodge, no room to avoid what would be a crippling wound to his armour should it strike where it was intended. He was forced to use his now useless plasma cannons as shields to intercept each sword swing.

Red Eyes swung his right arm in an arc, aiming for the armours head piece. Naturally Ullr brought up his left arm to block the blade, but what he didn't expect was the blade to suddenly retract back into the gauntlet housing. Ullr's arm was up and blocking nothing but air. Red Eyes clenched and armoured fist kept moving, connecting with the head piece at speed. The force of the impact sent him reeling, leaving him unable to block the sword on the other arm that pierced his side up to the hilt. Red Eyes attempted to pull it free, but Ullr's arm came down to hold the blade in place, refusing to let Red Eyes simply walk away. Red Eyes punched him with his free hand and the blade snapped as Ullr's grip tightened. The second punch knocked him to the ground. He didn't get up.

Red Eyes turned to Thor, who was being pinned to the ground by the final two behemoths. "And now there is only you Supreme Commander."

Red Eyes remotely accessed the communication system the Zarasians had installed for presidential broadcasts. This conversation would be broadcast to the entire city.

"It is pointless trying to intimidate or scare me," Thor replied defiantly.

"You didn't answer my earlier question, Asgardian. Do you fear death?"

"Even if you destroy this body my mind will survive. I will not die."

"Is that so? Then tell me, why do you struggle so? Why do you long to exist in this body for a few seconds more? Is it because you are just a copy? Maybe it is because you do not wish to die. Because although a copy of you will survive this copy longs to continue living for a little longer. So I ask again, do you fear death?"

Did he? Did Thor fear dying?

"I think you do," Red Eyes continued. "That is why you struggle instead of simply accepting your fate. Tell me, do you hate yourself for being afraid. Do you hate that your fear makes you weak? Do you fear dying?"

"Do you?" asked a voice coming from behind him.

Red Eyes reacted immediately to the question. He spun around, a glowing blade scything through the air. A blade that was intercepted and cleaved in two by a glowing clawed hand. Before Red Eyes could react to this however Ullr swiped at him with his other hand, the glowing claws gouging deep wounds in Red Eyes torso and sending him staggering backwards. It was the combination of the open palmed thrust and the shockwave from the palm emitter that knocked him off his feet. His torso smashed inwards and oozing bodily fluids of various dark colours.

Even with his enemy on the ground Ullr didn't pause for a moment. His cracked an broken suit of armour lumbered forwards, his now gauntleted hands latching onto the heads of the behemoths and squeezing with all the power the mechanical armour could provide. The behemoths roared in agony and the glowing hot claws seared through their flesh and destroyed their optical implants, blinding them. Then Ullr went to work on them. Claws, fists, shockwaves and plasma bolts pummelled them in a relentless storm of righteous anger until they were reduced to nothing more than lumps of bloodied and lifeless flesh, and then he kept pounding them.

"Ullr."

Ullr looked up at the sound the voice, the sound of his friend.

"That's enough, Ullr," Thor said.

"Not yet," Ullr muttered. He knew this was far from finished. There was still so much more to do, starting with finishing off Red Eyes. The cyborg hybrid was still breathing and, most likely, healing. "Are you alright, Thor?"

Thor looked up at his friend, noting the dented helmet, broken weapons and the glowing blade running through his side. "Are you?"

Inside his armour Ullr looked down at his android body. It was a good thing he couldn't feel pain. Red Eyes sword thrust had run him through, driving completely through the side of his lower torso. Fluids oozed onto the still glowing blade, vaporizing on contact with the hot metal. Severed wires and tubes spewed from the gaps widened by his earlier activities. His legs hung limp in the cockpit seat, his control of them having been completely severed. He had been lucky. Just a few precious inches higher and the blade would have clipped his power core and it would have been game over for him. It was possible that this body would fail eventually, since he was effectively slowly bleeding out. But it would last long enough.

He reached down to help his friend up. "For now."

Thor knocked the clawed hand away before pushing himself to his feet. Given his friend's condition, and the dangerous looking nature of the gauntlet, he didn't want to take any chances.

"Nice gauntlets."

"Thank you. I borrowed them off our friend over there," he said, indicating the behemoth he had killed earlier. "They aren't a bad fit actually. I'll have to see about having them made standard for the Titan units, with a little refinement and improvement of course."

"The Titan units seem to getting a lot of upgrades recently," Thor noted.

"Such is war my friend. Such is war."

The two turned to Red Eyes, who was by now labouring for breath. The combination of a mechanized palm strike and a point blank high powered shockwave to the gut had taken a severe toll on the cyborg.

"Care to try to get up?" Ullr asked.

Red Eyes response was to roll on his side and spat a clump of blood at the pair's feet. He knew his time was long since past. His forces had been defeated but they had fought well, inflicting massive material damage to the enemy before they finally went down. And then there were his special forces, his forced recruits. They had fought very well, killing many before they too fell, but leaving some soldiers and civilians alive. All exactly as he had planned for them to do. They had completed their mission with absolute precision. His link to broadcasting network was all but gone. He could send one more sentence, just a few short wins. "You cannot win."

The link was gone, but he knew that it was done. He had won the battle he fought.

"Your current condition suggests otherwise," Thor replied.

"You may have beaten me, here and now, but how long will that last? How long until you die for the last time? You throw away your own lives, safe in the knowledge that you will be reborn, but what about the others, those whose lives are both fleeting and singular. How can expect them to lay down their lives for against us when you will not do the same? How many innocents will you sacrifice?" He coughed up another clump of blood. The damage to his insides was too severe, too widespread to heal with his limited strength. His internal organs had been reduced to mush. All of his remaining strength had been used up trying to restore them but it wasn't enough, they were failing. "You think have won? You've lost already. You just don't know it yet. With my actions here I have beaten you Asgardian, you and your allies." The lights in his optical implants began to flicker and fade. Red eyes were becoming black. "Fear Asgardian, fear and guilt are more potent weapons than any other. Guilt for what they have done and fear for what they may do. That is what destroys creatures such as you and with those weapons I have struck at the core of your alliance." He smirked. "Of course that is assuming you make it off this world alive, since my friends are coming to kill you. Even if you survive you're still finished." He coughed and retched one final time and with blood trickling from between his lips he uttered his last words, "You lose and I win."

His now lifeless body slumped to the ground, leaving the two Asgardians in a haunting silence.

Lt Reynolds, after what seemed like an eternity, finally lowered his rifle, fighting the urge to drop it on the ground given the sight before his eyes. It had been a massacre. Men, women and children lay dead in front of them, slaughtered by the return fire from trained soldiers. His fellow soldiers stood around him, ashen faced at what they had done. Killing Reapers, hell killing enemy soldiers, was one thing but this…This was something else.

They knew. The moment one of those damn strings leapt off a dead body and latched onto someone else they realised the truth of what had happened here. These weren't enemy soldiers. These weren't Zarasian soldiers or infiltrators or even sympathisers. These were people. Innocent men, women and children that had been manipulated, controlled and turned into mindless puppets, living weapons at Red Eyes beck and call.

He felt sick. They all did. They knew that they could have saved these people. All they had to do was draw the standard issue particle magnum, the one that every soldier carried, and simply stunned these people, but they didn't. They could moralise, and say that that it wasn't their fault, that it was Red Eyes fault these people were dead but they were the ones that pulled the trigger. They made the conscious decision to kill these people, and they knew it. They all knew it.

Word had come through. The battle here was just about over. They were collecting the last of their forces and then they were pulling out. Now one of two things would happen. The first was that word would spread through the alliance forces like wildfire about what had happened here, in which case there would be outrage amongst the civilians and the other Pegasus races and their soldiers would begin to question themselves, wondering if they were doing the right thing, asking if the enemy really was the enemy.

Or there was the second option. That they would not survive, because while Red Eyes actions had been crippling to morale they had also served a dual purpose in delaying the allied fleet long enough so that they were still in orbit when twenty Zarasian battle groups and ten battlecruiser groups exited hyperspace.