Chapter 22 Against a Thunderstorm
Night had fallen over the capital city of the Tau'ri and most people were heading to bed or already there however around the stadium and the park which surrounded it there was more activity then normal. Surplus Puma recon vehicles and Conger APC sat around the stadium. The normal camo paint which would cover the vehicles had been replaced with black and white paint with words Police written in English, Spanish, German, Chinese and Russian clearly visible on it. They also had flashing red and blue lights attached to each of the vehicles. Since they this was the capital the police also severed as a reserved defense force if they had to as such they had a special defense group within the police force which had more of a military feel. It was this force which had been assigned protection duty for the Opochti refugees inside the stadium.
Officers within the protection force stood outside their vehicles wearing power armor which like their vehicles was painted black and white. They carried SIR-15 assault rifles and Vector V carbines along with the standard modernized 1911. While the normal officers carried almost nothing but stun rounds the officers in this squad carried about half stun half live rounds.
"I can't wait for this to be over." Said one of the officers as he and his patterner moved down a walkway in the park. The walkway was lite but with the sensors built into their armor they could see through the darkness which gripped the area outside of the lighted area.
"Your wife is driving you crazy again isn't she?" inquired his partner with a laugh.
"Yes, I mean our little girl is turning 2 she isn't going to remember her birthday party." Said the first officer all while shaking his head. "Why drop so much money on the party and the price for a clown is mind blowing?"
"It will make your wife happy." answered the second officer as a young couple moved past them the woman laughing at some unheard joke. For a while neither of them spoke but then one of them grabbed the other on the shoulder.
"What is it?" inquired the officer.
"Movement by that tree." said the second officer as they looked through the darkness to see one of the Opochti refuges by one of the trees. The Opochti had semi free reign, they had assigned areas which they were suppose to stay but they had freedom within that area. The Opochti was within that area but it was strange given the information the officers had on the Opochti people for one to be out after sunset and it was closer to midnight then sundown. The guards watched as the refugee picked up multiple branches which had fallen from the tree. The Opochti gathered up the branches and headed back toward the stadium area.
"What are they doing?" inquired the first officer as the two of them left the path and followed the refugee as they moved through the darkness they could see more of them carrying sticks and brush. Finally the officers stopped at the edge of a small clearing which was semi surrounded by trees to see what had to be a couple dozen Opochti all gathered around a large pile of brush and branches. They watched as one of them raised his or her hands toward the sky before another one started the pile of branches and brush on fire. As the flames began to glow casting shadows over the entire area the other Opochti lifted their hands toward the sky while bowing their heads. Then they started to sing but due to the added complication of singing the translation program inside the Tau'ri onboard computers couldn't make out the words.
"I have no idea what they are doing." Said the second officer both of them still alert as they watched the ceremony before them.
"Kind of reminds me of a religious ceremony of some kind." said the first as he opened a visual link to headquarters, his suits onboard helmet camera broadcasting the image back to command. With that he and his partner broke cover and headed toward the Opochti. With their heads down, eyes closed and singing filling the air none of them notice the pair of Tau'ri police officers who now stood on the edge of their gather. Both officers said nothing and while they didn't raised their weapons they both tensed up ready to bring their guns to a ready position if the worse should happen. Only when the singing stopped and the gathering lifted their heads back up did they notice the two Tau'ri. All of them jumped back in fear and two of them actually turned and ran into the darkness.
"Sorry, we don't intend to interrupt but what are you doing?" inquired the first officer
"We saw on your picture news box that your warriors and ours are going into battle." Said the one who seamed to be their leader. "We are calling on the ancestors of both our people and yours to join them in battle to lend strength to their arms and to aid them in any way possible. We are using the flame to call them from the wonderful afterlife to help."
"I see, do you need any more wood or brush?" inquired the second officer "I think the park department has a stored around here somewhere."
"You aren't going to stop us?" inquired one of the children in what the officers guessed to be amazement. "You aren't going to belittle or religion and call it fake?"
"No." said the first officer "I wish you would have had told us your plans, we would have set up some things but it is just a camp fire."
"The Race always belittled our ancestors and refused to let us worship." stated the priest "They turned our temples into their own and made us worship their Emperors. They arrested our priests and put out our holy fires, we had to carry out our religion in secret so we did so here."
"We understand, that has happened in our history as well." Said the second cop as he recalled stories from his native England of Roman Catholics Priests having to hide during some king's rule. He couldn't remember.
"We aren't going to do that, freedom of and from religion is a right here." added his partner as he got onto the radio and explained everything to command. "We will have some more firewood and the like brought up in a couple of minutes."
"Thank you for your kindness." Said the priest as the Opochti people went back to their worship while the two Tau'ri police officers stayed back a respectful distance and watched.
Fleet Lord Straha awoken hours before sunrise in the old drafty stone castle which had served as a home for the Vantic family which once ruled the surrounding area. He moved down the stone staircase past multiple metal posts attached to the wall designed to hold lamps, the fire light lamps having been replaced with electrical power even so it was only a temporary job. With any luck in the next few days he will be able to ceremonial destroy this building as a sign of the full and final conquest of this world and build a proper place to govern the planet.
Males came to attention as he passed but none approached him and he showed them no mind. If one of them hadn't shown him the respect, he earned from his rank then he would have noticed and remembered. Instead he moved outside and into the darkness of the early morning. In the distance he could see the large stone slab which had the names of the males who had died in the conquest of Vantic 5. He scanned the area left on the wall before letting out a resigned hiss.
"Yes, there is enough room left for the males who died yesterday." Stated Straha to himself as he looked at the wall. Beside the wall stood a captured and disabled Vantic cannon, the weapon had to be loaded from the front and had to have gun powdered put in before a large metal ball was put it. It was a privative weapon that however did manage to kill a few males when the cannonball bounced on the ground after being fired. The weapon even managed to destroy a few armored vehicles by knocking out tracks and hitting the engine, however the crew lived when that happened. "Now they are somehow shooting down killer crafts and helicopters. Well…it will not matter come noonday the terrorist in Likna will die and the uprising will end and we can finally finish bringing this world fully into the Empire."
It started just before midnight on Ovea or as the Race called it Vantic 5 and was still going on even as dawn came ever closer, the infantry males which had been attacking the city of Likna began to pull back. Since they still believed that the Opechti where the only forces they were facing they believed darkness was still on their side. They believed that using the cover of darkness and the natural Vantic habit to avoid the dark at all cost that they could pull back safety. When no shots rang out from the defenders the infantry males believed that they had been proven correct. They didn't realize that they Tau'ri had them in their sights and could have opened fire at any moment but instead they were letting them go. Underground in the Tok'ra tunnels which had become the bunkers and supply area for the defenders also sat the command and control.
"They almost totally out of the city." stated one of the drone operators as Colonel Drugov looked at the Race pull back to the starting positions of their assault.
"They are preparing to carry out their nuclear strike at midday today." Stated Prince Unia as the local freedom fighter looked at the Tau'ri local commander. On paper, he as Prince of the only Opochti kingdom not to surrender was technically in command, in true that was far from the case.
"That is the thing, they are pulling back but they don't seam to be pulling back far enough to avoid the effects of a nuclear strike." Stated Drogov as he studied the intel. "They are also bringing in more artillery, why would they put more of their forces inside the fall out zone of a nuclear strike."
"What does that mean?" inquired Prince Unia
"Nuclear weapons release radiation which is invisible but kills a person through radiation sickness. It may take years but you are just as dead." Explained Drugov as simply as he could as he thought about it. "We don't know how resistant the Race is to radiation, what may be a deadly amount of radiation to us may be ok levels to them or they could be using smaller tactical nuke."
Drogov turned his attention back to the map of the city, it was by Tau'ri standards a small city and compact. Everything had been built behind thick walls to defend the people who lived here from attack and the closer they were together the less space the wall had to cover.
"Yes, a single cruise missile level nuclear strike would whip us out." Stated Drogov as he wished he knew move about the nuclear warfare doctrine of the Race. He looked up at the clock and shook his head, it wasn't going to matter. He tapped his radio and was instantly linked to all commands with the city. "Move forward and make sure the Race is out of the city, take down the ones trapped within the city."
Out in the city Tau'ri special forces moved to take down the Race airborne troopers which where still trapped within the private homes that their helicopters had dropped them off above hours earlier. The soldiers of the Race had been kept down by railgun sniper fire which was capable of shooting through the walls of the Opochti houses. Believing that any threat would come from the street the living soldiers of the Race which averaged around 10 in each position guarded the ground level doors. They didn't even notice the darkened shapes moving on the rooftops. Using power armor a small group of Tau'ri jumped the distance between buildings to land on the roof and stormed the building starting from the top down. It was over within minutes as the forces of the Race within the walls where killed or captured. The new prisoners could only look at the Tau'ri with confusion before having their clawed tipped hands restrained and brought down into the tunnels.
"You ready to take back your world." stated Drogov as Prince Unia nodded his head in agreement.
The magical night was coming to an end as Acacia couldn't help but smile as her boyfriend Robert had his arm across her shoulders while her arm was on his side as they moved down the crowed Worlds Main Street at Disney World Vahalla. They along with her best friend Medea and Robert's family were in the process of escaping the park after a firework/protection show which caped the night. The show also had these flying items which danced across the sky and formed patterns and even came together to make images. They changed colors from a bright bold red to a glowing gold and finally a rainbow color within seconds. It was unlike anything in the colonies.
"How did they do that?" whispered Acacia as Robert looked at her as they passed by an Mexican themed restaurant.
"Are you talking about the drones?" inquired Robert
"Drones, those didn't move like any drones I have ever seen and the color changing and how they moved." Countered Medea as she was pressed in behind the couple as they moved down the road toward the transport hub at the entrees.
"I am sure you have, they are the same drones that the navy uses on the warships." Said Robert as Medea and Acacia blinked as they remembered the images of swarms of blue glowing drones flying out of Tau'ri warships to destroy whole colonial taskforces. "They got them on surplus and they don't have a warhead and are not weaponized. Also Disney added the color changing ability but aside from those three things they are the same."
"So Disney could crush the colonial fleet." Said Acacia with a sigh, she wanted to be joking but as she passed by a shop which had something about the size of a dinner plate but projected a hologram of a Disney Character in this case a Fox and Rabbit both in police uniform that looked lifelike and moved every so often. That item sitting in a gift shop window was more advanced then anything in the colonial military had.
"Probably could and they aren't the only ones with modified military equipment." Admitted Robert as he paused for a moment. "The wildlife tour we are taking in two days uses modified Owls and already they have civilian versions of Pelican transports, Condor airliners and Hadrian class cargo ships and I read they are constructing luxury cruise ships at the Mars shipyards. That is only the ships, medical equipment and everything else has changed since I was a kid and things will only keep changing."
The ride back to their hotel was uneventful and neither Acacia nor Robert even to attempted to hid that they where sharing a room from Robert's family, after quickly getting ready for bed both of them where sound asleep.
For General Jager on Ovea he had long forgotten what sleep was and the pushed up time table wasn't helping him in that regards. His time table had to be pushed up and he only had about 3/4th of the forces he wanted on the ground. If he had another day like planned he would have had all that he would have needed plus more but he didn't have time.
After doing one last check of the maps he moved down the line toward a large group of Opechti freedom fighters. They were of all things mounted one what looked to be giant rhinoceros beetles, the Opochti where mounted like a human would be on horse back and that is how Jager thought of them. He looked at the strange image of a Opochti freedom fighter who looked like a mantis sitting on top of a rhinoceros beetle both of them covered with colorful fabric and chainmail armor like European knights. They even had long spears and shields to finish the image.
"General Jager." Said the head of the mounted unit as he brought one of the beasts forward.
"You all ready?" inquired Jager
"We are ready to reclaim our home." said the warrior as of all things a group of ten Tau'ri soldiers moved up on horseback. One of them held a large standard with the Blue and Silver flag of the Tau'ri on it while the others held rifles and radios. It was another strange image seeing a soldier in power armor sitting on horseback. Jager's eyes moved toward where more Opocthi freedom fighter flew the bright orange and brown banner of the House of Unia.
"Good, head out we will meet you outside of Nysha." stated Jager as the soldiers saluted their general before moving out. The freedom fighters doing the same even if they didn't pull it off correctly. As the mounted warriors left the woods a small group of Tanks, APC and recon vehicles joined them.
Jager watched them go before he got into the copula of his Command Leopard III tank.
"Sir, If I may ask why the mounted soldiers?" inquired his driver.
"Well Spiro it helps us with the locals and this is their world so it is only right that they take front and center in the liberation of their capital city." stated Jager to his long time driver, his entire crew had been together for the most part since the invasion of the 12 colonies of Kobol. Spiro himself was colonial while the rest of the crew was from Germany. "They have a tradition of mounted warriors and part of that is allies must ride together into battle so we will ride with them."
"I see sir." Said Spiro as he looked out of the driver's compartment at the riders. "The PR people will love it at least."
"That is for sure." answered Jager as he looked around him one last time before spinning his hand around, the command was passed down without the use of radios. It was next to impossible that the Race could detect their radio communication, but he didn't want to take the chance. The tanks, armored vehicles and other weapons of war came to life, they didn't have the load roar of the older petroleum based cousins but the sound still caused a smile to cross his face. Then with a lurch the massive treads of the Leopard main battle tank moved forward, his tank was the first to clear cover the woods. Behind his tank came more tanks and APC, the Cougar APC had a sliding armored top which allowed the troops inside to stand up and fight. They could use the fire ports build into the side of the vehicle however in this case the soldiers where standing up to fight. This wasn't just because they wanted to but because in each of the APC was at least two Opechti freedom fighters armed with AK series rifles.
Due to the terrorist threats in Likna the Race shut down the highway separating the woods where the Tau'ri strike force had been building from the farmland around city. This made it only easier for the armor as they moved over the paved roads without being spotted by anyone. It also hid take off of the four hidden Osprey ground attack aircraft which had also been hiding in the woods. They took off and turned to the North before diving low to the deck, flowing them where multiple Adder attack helicopters following the faster Osprey's into battle. More Adders where coming out of the Gate and would follow Jager's armored assault.
The Osprey's flew below tree top level, which was easy considering outside of clusters of trees which grew taller than their Tau'ri counterparts the land was most devoid of plant life higher then shrubbery. They flew low and they flew fast as they neared the canyon the gained some height counting on the radar canceling paint to hide them from the Race's radar for the brief moment they were high enough to appear on it. Then with a roll they dove down into the canyon and began their twisting and turning flight plan which would take them toward their targets. Behind them Adder attack helicopters followed but their max speed was no where near the speed of the Ospreys and their role was to come in after the attack wings. They where on a long path which would lead them above the city of Nysha to the main military base for the area. Their mission was to destroy everything they could there to prevent the Race from reacting to the hammer blow which was coming outside of Likna just before dawn.
Unaware that the forces of the Tau'ri where already on the move Emperor Risson waited in the Imperial communication center. The workers and technicians who normally didn't have a chance to see the Emperor from a distance yet alone so close. None of the technicians dared to approach the Emperor, they could tell from his body stance from his arms where crossed over his golden body paint and how his toe claws clicked on the floor told everyone he was not in a good mode. If that wasn't enough he kept one eye turret on the wall mounted clock.
Finally the elder protocol master entered the room only to stop in his tracks as he spotted his Emperor standing there.
"Your majesty." stated the Protocol Master "What are you doing here?"
"I wanted to see that you carried out my orders and so far you have failed to do so." hissed Emperor Risson.
"Forgive me your majesty but you ordered to contact the Tau'ri by Dawn and by Imperial protocol dawn isn't until the sun is fully over the horizon and that is still a few minutes off." explained the Protocol Master as Risson let out a hiss of anger.
"Do it now." ordered Risson
"Yes, your Majesty." said the Protocol Master as he went to the radio. He had to wait a moment while a technician switched it to the proper channel. "Attention Tau'ri Fleet Lord Hackett this is the Protocol Master of the his Majesty Emperor Risson, we wish to commutate with you the protocol for an audience with his Majesty Emperor Risson."
With that simple phrase everyone expected the Tau'ri to start talking at once but no response came. For the longest time nothing happened then the phone began to hiss as one of the technicians lifted up the phone and listened for a moment.
"It shall be done." said the technician, his tail stump actually started shaking which told Risson something was wrong. "Your majesty forgive me but the Tau'ri are gone."
"What do you mean?" inquired Risson as the technician backed away in fear, this was the Emperor who would play a part in judging his soul so having him angery at him was the last thing any member of the Empire wanted.
"Your majesty orbital tracking radar reports that a couple of minutes ago the Tau'ri warships broke orbit and are gone." reported the radio technician as Risson turned both eye turrets on the elderly Protocol Master.
"It would appear your majesty that the Tosevites have finally come to their sense and left the Empire alone." stated the Protocol Master
"You are a fool." Stated Risson as the technicians in the room all looked at their emperor stunned.
"Your majesty." started the Protocol Master only to be stopped by a raised hand from Risson.
"I expect your letter of resignation by sun down." stated Risson as the Protocol Master looked at him. "If you don't I will order you stripped of all rank and expelled palace and from the Race."
"Your Majesty." Started the Protocol Master, among the Race to have the rank stripped from any citizen was among the worse punishment one could get. To have it done by a director superior was bad enough but to have the Emperor himself do so was not only dooming the rest of your living life to shame but your afterlife was sure to be lost as well.
"You can claim age if you want that it will spare you the shame of being fired." Stated Risson "But you will be out of this palace and out of my sight by sunrise tomorrow."
Just outside of the Ovea system or as the Race called it the Vantic system six Hadrian class transports exited hyperspace. They where too far off for the radar systems of the Race to notice them but they where well within position. Among the group of six Hadrian transports where two Galahad class destroyers. The Galahad where assigned to protect the convoy of unarmed transports which was standard orders for all shipping done within Tau'ri space. All civilian and military cargo shipping that left their solar systems had to be escorted in convoys so that they could help each other incase something went wrong and to protect themselves from any pirates.
The six Hadrian's opened up both of their large cargo rooms to reveal that the decks where covered not with shipping containers but instead row after row of Owl transports each one carrying a 15 men strong platoon of marines or army rangers. Eagle fighters and Condor bombers along with larger Pelican transports came out of hyperspace as well as the task force from Mars formed up. Due to the range the Eagle fighters where nearing the outer limit of their fuel range but this had been prepared for as two of the Pelicans extended large arms, two under each wing and a center one for a total of 5. The Eagles moved in an began to refuel as they moved ever closer to the attack time. Once the refueling process was done the strike force entered hyperspace with the expectation of the Hadrian class transports, the Galahad class destroyers and the refueling Pelicans.
A minute after heading into hyperspace the strike force exited hyperspace inside of the Opechti system. The system was a mess, with three large asteroid belts with the thickest of the asteroid belts just outside of the Ovea home world. The Race had cleared out large corridors for their ships to move through safely without the risk of running into an asteroid. The small Tau'ri attack force moved into the asteroid belt and began to move into a striking position. The closer the strike force got the better view of the world and the targets over the planet. The ships of the Race where on the average massive in size about the size of a battleship or a colonial Battlestar. Unlike the Tau'ri battleship or the Colonial Battlestar few of this massive ships had ship to ship or anti-air weapons, they only had space to ground missiles systems which would be useless against the Tau'ri attacking force. The ships of the Race where large siting ducks waiting to be destroyed and each duck was assigned to the Condors as they waited to carry out their attack.
Down on the planet the Ospreys roared down the canyon in the early morning light.
"Watch the edges, I don't want anyone slamming into the ground we are coming up toward the narrowest part so tighten up." Said the flight leader as the flight of Ospreys tightened up as they prepared to make the final turn which would bring them into view of the Race built bridge over the canyon. As they headed down the canyon, the distant sun was starting to illuminate the side of the canyons which glowed a deep rich reddish brown mixed with darker browns, blacks and even so white marble. It was a beautiful mix of colors which anyone could enjoy.
In fact it was something the Race found beautiful and one of the most popular places to view it was at the Emperor Risson Bridge. The massive 8 lane bridge stretched across the canyon allowing easy travel from one side to another. It had multiple viewing platforms and walking paths as well on the bridge and popular eating spots where located beside it with morning dinning being the most popular time to eat at the locations. With the sunlight bouncing off the rockface it was a sight to turn both eye turrets to as the Race would call it.
"Waiter I want more water." hissed a lawyer as she sat across from her friend.
"At once superior female." Hissed the Vantic who had taken up the job of waiter, he moved away to go get the drink.
"You look troubled Felless." hissed the lawyer "I know you have been through a lot with this attack but you are ok."
"I know and I thank you for bringing me here so that I can relax but I can't get the image of those creatures out of my head." stated the senior researcher.
"I understand, you awoke to find yourself under attack and it is understandable that your mind filled in…." started her lawyer friend
"I am not making this up I saw…." started Felless before a male at a nearby table spoke up.
"What is that?" He hissed as Felless turned an eye turret toward the natural wonder outside of the dinner. She kept one eye locked on her friend and the other looking away for a brief moment and then she snapped both eye turrets and her whole head toward the canyon. Four dark shapes had appeared in the distance around a corner. At first she thought it was a helicopter tour group, however those traveled alone not in groups of four and they were never allowed near the bridge. Then the four crafts leveled out and she was able to see them head on. There was no spinning blades over them and in fact she could see dark shaped of what had to be engine pods above the wings.
"What are those?" inquired the lawyer as they came closer and closer until with a roar of engines the aircraft flew under the bridge at high speed. As they passed Felless was able to see that they were indeed painted black but under their wings where clearly visible missiles.
"Must be some thrill seekers but I have never seen that type of aircraft before." stated the lawyer who clearly hadn't noticed the weapons under the wings. "I hope the police arrest those law breakers, they ruined a perfectly good morning meal."
Before Felless could speak up the TV which was located by the bar turned from showing the morning news to the image of a strange creature sitting behind a desk. It had yellowish brown fur on the top of its head and pink soft skin.
"Is that a Tosevite?" inquired someone who knew a lot more the she did.
"Good day I am President Samantha Carter of the Tau'ri alliance, I am speaking to you now because of the threat made by your Fleet Lord Straha against the Opechti people to use Nuclear weapons on the city of Likna." Said this Carter in a computer translated voice of the Race while subtitles ran under her image. "This is an unacceptable threat and must be dealt with, if your forces on Opechti or as you call it Vantic 5 do not surrender unconditional within the next 10 minutes we will have no choice but to force you out."
With that the image changed back to the news as everyone in the dinner gave a full laugh at the threat.
"I wonder who had the brilliant idea to show us a Tosevite as one of these Tau'ri creatures that the crawlers keep on about." Laughed a male as others went back to their meal. "Whoever it is by the Emperor they should write fiction."
Then to the amazement of the people in the dinner the news broadcasts went out, the head waiter flipped through channels but nothing was coming through.
"Must be a solar storm?" inquired the lawyer going to the only thing that she could think of but there was a sinking feeling inside Felless as she feared what was really happening.
Over Vantic 5 Shuttlecraft pilot of the Race Nesseref double checked to make sure her shuttle craft door was sealed. Then she released the docking control and began to power away from the massive starship which was in orbit over the world she now called home.
"This is shuttlecraft 183 returning to Nysha." Reported Nesseref to the military ships hovering over the capital city of the Race. She scanned an eye turret over the control panel as the computer flight control began to take her down for a landing. With her free eye she looked out toward space and thought for a moment she could see a glow in the distance. She turned both eye turrets toward the glow and notice other glowing engines moving within the asteroid belt at speeds which was impossible. She was about to hit her radio when sudden a voice came over the wireless. She listened for a moment as someone claiming to be a President Carter of the Tau'ri ordered the Race to surrender. She blinked multiple times and looked back to where she had seen the glow of engines only to see…nothing.
"I must be tired." said Nesseref as the shuttle craft moved under one of the large warships of the conquest fleet on a path which would take it back to Nysha to pick up another cargo load. She attempted to radio her flight position only to find no response on coming over her radio. She switched channels only to find that one dead as well. "That should be impossible."
Across the world the Race laughed at the joke threat of the Tau'ri and overall went back to what they had been doing. For the soldiers gathered around Likna it was for the most part preparing to shell the city if they didn't surrender by noon. Males where for the most part up and about having a good meal and enjoying watch the sun rise. None of them noticed the new shapes in the nearby farmer field and those who did paid them no attention. They were clearly vehicles and the crawlers couldn't even drive so there was no way that was anything more then a group of their land cruisers. The fact that they looked different was brushed off as seeing them at a distance and the crops around the vehicles messing up the profile.
"Look a banner!" yelled multiple soldiers as they pointed toward the city of Likna, there a crawler had appeared on the broken remains of the wall. In his hands was a long staff with the banner of the house of Nysha hanging from it.
"Just you wait, any moment now we will see a banner of surrender." laughed a male of the race as suddenly a creature appeared beside the crawler. He stood on two legs not four, he was as tall as a crawler and wore strange wrappings. In his hand was a flapping blue and silver flag.
"What is that?" inquired multiple males as they got their first good look at a Tau'ri. Then another crawler appeared this one holding up a bright red banner, the red banner of war.
On the walls the Tau'ri special forces member held his flag with pride as he stood shoulder to shoulder with the freedom fighters.
"Well we just declared war officially by all the laws and customs of your people." said Drogov as he and Prince Unia waited for the fireworks to begin. They didn't have to wait long.
None of the Race knew they where under attack until it was too late, as one the front line of Leopard main battle tanks fired their main cannon. For those soldiers who had an eye turret facing the Tau'ri attack force when they fired all they saw as a line of flashes as the main weapon on each tank fired. The heavy shell flew out of the barrel and covered the distance to their targets with ease each one getting a direct hit on their targets. This caused a smile to cross General Jager's face as his force decimated the rear guard of the race. Tank turrets flew toward the sky as their crews died within them, artillery pieces disappeared in fireballs along with the crews manning the large guns. The lighter armored APCs stood no chance as the heavy rounds ripped them open like tin cans. The ground soldiers where in a state of shock but to their credit they did hit the ground and began to fire back with small arms. However small arms was just above useless against armor and the Tau'ri responded with heavy machine gun fire as their tanks began to move forward to engage those targets which had been out of range in the opening moments. Then the Adder attack helicopters came rolling in and firing at everything that wasn't Tau'ri or Opochti in nature.
Either way it was a slaughter, the Race hadn't expected an attack most of all from a force outside of the city and from an enemy sitting behind armor. The smaller Tau'ri force began to wrap up the much larger forces of the Race leaving nothing but twisted wrecks behind their armored advance.
Up in space it was even worse since they never expected anything to happen to them. Most of the large warships of the Race, each one taking years to build never saw the ships that fired death at them. The radar operators onboard could hardly believe what they were seeing as suddenly missiles came streaking out of the asteroid belt toward them. They had no idea that each of the massive clusters of missiles came from a single Tau'ri Condor bomber which fired off their missiles until their bomb bays and wing mounted racks where empty.
Nesseref saw them, saw the glowing streaks of missiles coming toward the ships and couldn't believe it. Like every pilot who had graduated training they knew the protocols for everything that could convincible go wrong in space. Incoming missiles was something not covered in the protocols. The ship lords onboard those warships and their crew had no idea what to do and having no idea what to do they did nothing. That meant that it ranked among the easiest missions for the Condor pilots as their missiles slammed into the side of the warships of the Race. The missiles didn't explode on impact instead similar to a ground penetrator bomb the missiles powered their way into a ship before exploding. This exposed more decks to the vacuum of space, like every ship within the empire the warships of the conquest fleet was built with a honeycomb of seals that could lock out decks if exposed to space. It was designed to save the ship and the bulk of the crew incase of an accident, it failed here. It failed because in the imagination of the designers it was impossible that more than a single accidental explosion could happen. Even so they designed the ships to take six hits, each of the massive ships took dozens of hits and the blows the ships where taking were far deeper then more powerful then anything imagined by the designers. So like ships taking on too much water the decks failed and within moments the Conquest fleet warships above Nysha and Likna were destroyed or disabled.
"Move!" yelled one of the Eagle pilots as the Eagles swooped out of their cover and headed toward the planet with the Owls and Pelican transports right behind them. If the sudden attack wasn't enough to amaze the citizens of the Empire in orbit around Vantic 5 it got only worse as suddenly multiple new contacts appeared just outside of the corridors through the asteroid belts. They where about to radio the Conquest fleet forces on the ground when their radios came alive.
"This is Admiral Hackett of the Tau'ri 7th fleet, we are here to liberate the Opechti people if you attempt to stop us we will have no choice but to cause more damage to you surrender now and prepare to be bordered." said a voice over the radio as the contacts outside of the asteroid belt only kept growing in numbers.
Shuttle pilot Nesseref couldn't believe what her eyes where seeing, from her current location she had a perfect up-close view of the destruction of one of the mighty warships of the Conquest fleet and she could see a half dozen more ships that had been destroyed as well. Reacting on instinct as well as protocol to return to the ground when an unexpected event happened she began to descend back to Vantic 5. As her shuttle craft was engulfed in reentry heat she could look out and see multiple other crafts all heading down toward the planet as well. None of them where designed by the Race.
"By the Emperor what is going on?" hissed Nesseref in amazement and in fear.
The Ospreys roared over the lip of the canyon and climbed over a small one story high building before leaving out. In the distance they could see a large military base, it had a set up not much different then what it would have been like on Earth. Three runways with hangers and out buildings spread out, a control tower near the center. The runway was covered with sitting fighter jets and bombers all sitting in perfect rows out in the open.
"This is too easy." said the lead pilot as he switched one his targeting system and locked on to one of four missile AA systems which sat in the open and judging from his view. There weren't even any missiles on the launchers instead they sat waiting to be loaded nearby. He pulled the trigger as his missile flew off his wing and within seconds it slammed into the launcher causing it to go up in a giant fireball. His wing mates launched their own missiles at the other launchers destroying them. With them gone he switched to his gun and the heavy machine cannon came to life as it began to spit out death. Since all these aircrafts where just sitting in a straight row he held the trigger longer then normal as he ran his gun over ten aircraft in a second pass. He and his squadron flew past the base before winning around for another pass as they did he saw just how much destruction their one pass had done and there was more to come.
Prince Unia couldn't believe his very eyes, the forces of the Race where being absolutely slaughtered, the land cruisers which had rolled over the forces of the Opechti kingdoms with ease where being themselves destroyed. The Tau'ri land cruisers called Tanks were like giant monsters destroying smaller monsters. They mowed down the soldiers of the Race and then something he had never seen before happened. Infantry males of the Race threw down their weapons and raised their hands as they surrendered to the rolling death.
"By the ancestors." said Prince Unia as he and his warriors moved out of the city, all around him the forces of the Race, the same force which had conquered his world had brushed aside the mightiest armies that the Opochti people could field where being brushed aside. The Tau'ri had the same type of flying machines which rained death from above with ease. As they looked around one of the massive land cruisers of the Tau'ri rolled up toward them and came to a stop. For a moment nothing happened and then out of the top hatch came a figure he knew, General Jager.
"Looks to be a good day take back your world." stated Jager as a cheer went up among the freedom fighters as a day they thought would never come actually came.
Well I hope you liked this chapter, I am nearing the end of this story and soon the next story the Mass Effect Story will begin. I have already started working on that, my current estimate is that there will be between 3 and 5 more chapters in this story followed by a short break before I start the next one. Now until next time please keep reading. Thanks Wilkins75.