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Chapter 23: The Emperor cometh
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Part 1
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Earth's governments race to prepare for the imminent arrival of alien monarch Lord Perun!
His representative, Lady Lyda, informed the UN that Perun would leave for Earth shortly and is expected to arrive within days!
Associated Press
Protests against consorting with alien Warlord Perun further paralyze many Western nations, compounding the issues caused by ongoing martial law and curfew in many cities.
BBC World News
A new narrative emerged about the alien Lord Perun and his actions and motivations in the past few days! Various opposition leaders and experts worldwide suggest that Perun is potentially lying about the state of the galaxy. They postulate that an interstellar empire with capabilities to manufacture equipment Earth forces have encountered simply can not be sustained by the widespread use of slavery. A handful of experts outright accuse Lord Perun of carrying a false-flag operation on Abydos, claiming his forces slaughtered the expedition's personnel, not Ra's.
Those experts and politicians suggest Earth governments do their best to contact
Perun's superiors and expose the truth about his warmongering nature!
Many governments condemn this narrative, claiming it is unfounded speculation that does not align with known facts about the Goa'uld.
CNN
St. Petersburg is on the cusp of liberation!
Hundreds of mercenaries have surrendered to government forces! Spetsnaz and airborne units are engaged in heavy combat, clearing up the last oligarch strongholds in the city. At the same time, rifle-motor divisions moved behind them, securing liberated territory and ensuring no infiltrators were left behind by the League.
Military experts suggest that the key to the rapid success in St. Petersburg compared to the deficiencies of Russian forces observed in the recently concluded Chechen war is due to a confluence of a few key factors.
First, the morale of the loyalist forces is consistently higher. The Russian volunteers and conscripts know precisely why and who they are fighting. They are invested in victory, while in the Chechen War, most didn't want to be there and didn't care about victory, only survival.
Second, the local population is supporting the Russian forces. We have reports of civilians guiding Spetsnaz units around mercenaries and pointing out oligarch positions to government forces, significantly mitigating some of the advantages a defender usually has in city fighting.
Third, the Russian VVS effectively deployed smart weapons to neutralize critical defensive positions and command posts right before the assault on St. Petersburg began. That early success ensured the Russian loyalists had the initiative, and they have been using it ruthlessly to locate and destroy oligarch forces.
Associated Press
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18 January 1997
NORAD, Colorado
The United States, Earth
Milky Way Galaxy
After his promotion to the one in charge of the newly formed US Space Command, General West spent his time in equal measure at NORAD and the Pentagon, busy with the administrative duties of creating a military branch from the ground up. He was drawing administrators and specialists from all US military branches, and their primary job for now was to brainstorm.
They needed better ways to detect incoming spacecraft. Realistically, that was the first useful purpose of Space Command. It would remain that way until the United States could reverse engineer sufficient alien technology to allow them to begin laying the foundations of a space navy. Until then, it was West's job to plan for it, gather the necessary people, and be ready to hit the ground running as soon as the required technology was available.
For months now, the specialists at NORAD were far less concerned with continental defense from attacks originating on Earth. Instead, their eyes and proverbial ears all pointed at the sky, looking for any hint of an alien spacecraft entering the solar system. It was a thankless and, for most intents and purposes, useless task. Lightspeed lag and NORAD's relatively limited assets' ability to clearly see in space meant that anyone possessing faster-than-light capabilities could be in the system and in orbit before they could sound the alarm.
That was precisely what happened.
The first warning came from a probe near Mars that detected a radiation burst, which nearly fried its systems. It was a warning from it, relayed through NASA, that made General West exercise his authority. Satellites and telescopes aimed at the red planet. He warned the president that if they were lucky, Perun might have arrived. If not, they were likely all about to die, no matter what some politicians and fools in front of a camera babbled about.
West knew as much as anyone on Earth about the capabilities of the Death Gliders Perun sold the US. He knew those were ancient designs without stand-off weaponry. They were still incredibly capable aerospace fighters. What could someone build now if they could design and produce those things thousands of years ago? That was the stuff nightmares were made of.
The Hubble telescope managed to locate a distorted image that needed clearing up and refining. West glared at the irregular shape displayed on one of the largest screens in the operation's center when automated systems sounded the alarm.
"Radiation burst detected in orbit! We just lost two recon satellites!"
"Give me a location and camera view if at all possible!" West barked.
"It is about the North Pole, right above Kamchatka. We lost two of the satellites keeping an eye on the Russians. They were too close to the event point…"
"Contact is on radar, it's a big one too… that thing is roughly the size of an aircraft carrier, perhaps a bit larger… It's moving like a bat out of hell! This has to be an instrument error…"
"Inform the President that Perun has arrived," West ordered, praying he wasn't wrong.
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"Admiral Perry", Cheops class 'yacht.'
high orbit above Earth
Milky Way Galaxy
Seeing Earth from orbit once again after so long brought back memories. There was a time I would have died to protect this blue jewel. In another life, I did precisely that when I was a different person. At least twice that I could recall.
Here and now, the only reason to protect Earth was because of how useful it could be. If it ever became a strategic threat, I would see it burn. The same might be true if it became too much trouble to be worthwhile. Lyda's latest reports on the situation down there weren't exactly encouraging. I had forgotten how much of an idiotic mess democracy could be at the best of times. As if that wasn't enough of a nightmare, Earth was divided in a way that wasn't even funny, just sad and potentially infuriating.
At least this trip already paid off in a fashion I didn't expect. A scan of the system with this ship's advanced sensors revealed an anomaly on Mars, so I first went there after arriving at Sol's outskirts. A deeper scan revealed there was some kind of a ship hidden within what appeared to be an ancient volcanic cavern concealed within the edge of the planet's great rifts. It was something to eventually explore and a factor to keep an eye on all the time while in this system. While my Jaffa had environmentally sealed armor that would allow them to survive brief vacuum exposure, their gear wasn't meant for exploration on places like Mars.
I certainly didn't intend or plan for such adventures on my visit to Earth. At any rate, I had other concerns now. My mind guided the Cheops towards the North American continent. The antigravity engines came alive, accelerating the ship to a fraction of the speed of light within mere moments. Yet, there wasn't even a bare hint of it I could feel from the command throne.
An abrupt deceleration later, I parked above the eastern seaboard of the United States. A thought brought up a program controlling good old-fashioned radio equipment, the Goa'uld version, built so Ra could declare his superiority to primitives before announcing they were about to burn for being too advanced. It was a common enough feature on modern Ha'tak and a reliable way to communicate at short range for damaged ships.
"Greetings, humans of Earth. I am your Lord Perun, and I arrive burdened with a glorious purpose!"
My words overwhelmed local radio waves and echoed all over the world.
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Part 2
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An alien warship just arrived in orbit! Lord Perun's hijacking of the airwaves is causing worldwide fear. We are seeing an exodus from many larger cities.
Associated Press
Despite the arrival of Lord Perun, the Russian Civil War continues!
St. Petersburg is projected to fall within the next two days despite fierce resistance by oligarch forces. Two members of the League of Oligarchs are confirmed dead in the fighting, leading to the collapse of their private armies.
BBC World News
The vote of no confidence against the German Government was canceled after the news Lord Perun would arrive within days at most.
Euronews
We face elections at the worst possible time, after a successful vote of no-confidence against Prime Minister Hargreaves and his Government. After several MPs had defected to the opposition or had chosen to become independent, neither party could boast sufficient seats to form a working government.
A caretaker government would have to deal with Lord Perun's arrival and its consequences for Britain!
BBC
News of Lord Perun's imminent arrival forced the formation of a government of National Unity in Italy for the duration of the crisis. New elections have been scheduled for the second half of February.
Euronews
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18 January 1997
The United Nations building, New York City
The United States, Earth
Milky Way Galaxy
"There are no pyramids for that thing to land on…" Jack muttered to himself. The President and multiple heads of state were racing to New York again, and it was clear they would arrive late.
Perun didn't deign to wait and was bringing his whole damn ship down from orbit. Jack could clearly see the fireball engulfing the rapidly descending vessel. Shockwaves from its supersonic approach could be heard. Within moments, the ship decelerated sharply, causing a thunderclap rattling windows across the city.
Nearby, UN officials and part of the building's security were laying down a red carpet. At the same time, the Army Colonel in charge of the perimeter security was shouting orders, assembling an honor guard detail from his troops.
A parade unit and a band were available in the city for this occasion. However, Perun's rapid arrival and impatience ensured they would also be late. Whose idea was to station them so far from the UN building? Jack had no idea. He knew that said unlucky bastard would be in a world of hurt over that decision. They would probably end up in Alaska if they were lucky.
"That's a lot of gold…" Nearby, Jackson was squinting at the pyramid that kept growing larger and larger by the second. The morning sun gleamed off the hull, making it seem that the thing was made of solid gold.
"Is that writing all over the hull?!" Jack exclaimed. The alien vessel was a few kilometers above them, coming at an angle that clearly showed one of its triangular sides.
"Hey!" Someone exclaimed in indignation.
Jack glanced that way and saw that Danial had grabbed someone's binoculars and was fiddling with them to get a better look.
"Yes, Jack. It's like on Heliopolis! That whole wall is covered with writing proclaiming Ra's glory, greatness, and victories.
"Perun is arriving in Ra's ship he captured on Abydos," Jack chuckled."That's one way to make a statement."
The alien ship came to a halt above them, obscuring the sun. They could all see a pyramidal hole in the center that went up within the super-structure. That made sense, considering these things were meant to land on pyramids.
A beam of light came from the ship's belly, illuminating where the red carpet ended. Jack recognized a familiar sound, and a moment later, a set of thick metal rings fell off the sky, only to end up suspended a foot or so above the ground. They contained nearly blinding light, dissipating in a flash-like lightning strike. The rinks jumped up, flying back into the ship to reveal five figures left behind.
Four were obviously guards in ornate golden armor and billowing purple capes. In between them stood Perun, presumably. The man was the right height, accounting for the armor, though his face was hidden by an eagle-head-shaped helmet, just like the guards around him and the Jaffa who escorted Lady Lyda a few days ago.
"Colonel O'Neill, it is good to see you are less cooked now," That was Perun's amused voice, all right. It was loud and clear, carrying everything around.
The alien walked forward, and his helmet unfolded as if it was alive until it vanished into the armor as if it had never been there.
Perun looked around, and his eyes flashed dangerously. "I find your people's lack of faith in me disturbing, Colonel," There was no trace of amusement or levity in the alien's voice now. "I was hoping that Lady Lyda misinterpreted your people's attitudes in her overzealous desire to serve." He glanced around at the obviously hastily assembled greetings committee.
Hell, Jack was sure Perun watched them assemble during his approach.
"Bring me to your leaders, Colonel. It is time we discussed how your world will make up for their indiscretions and how you will serve in the wars to come."
"Me in particular or Earth in general, my Lord?" Jack asked.
"Yes," Perun's lips twitched briefly, offering a hint of a smirk.
Jack relaxed a bit. Despite the performance he was making, Perun didn't appear to be too furious to be reasoned with. That was good. Now, if the politicians managed to keep it that way…
"This way, Lord Perun. The Security Council is ready to meet you. I am afraid it will take some time for our world's leaders to arrive here in person to meet with you. We can't move around as fast as you can with your new ride."
"The Admiral Perry is a nice yacht," this time, Perun didn't bother to hide his smirk, the cheeky bastard. "She is swift and has the weapons and shields of a proper capital ship."
"The Admiral Perry? Really? Why not the Enterprise?"
"Right now, I don't have a bald Prime who owns vineyards to put in command, Colonel. Unless you are volunteering? Of course, then the hair will have to go."
Now Perun was fucking with him, Jack decided. Did it feel this way when he spoke to people?
"This way, my Lord. Let us get that meeting underway. I am afraid I will have to decline your kind offer."
"We will see about that. There is still a price to pay for fixing you up. While I do like you, Jack, I didn't do it of the goodness of my heart."
"Perish the thought. You are a Sith after all…" Jack quipped back.
"You noticed. Good. Then you should have impressed upon your people who fucking with me is a terrible idea," Perun's eyes flashed again, though this time it wasn't in the way Lyda's did. For long seconds, they were burning pools of molten metal that stared straight into Jack's soul as if judging his worth.
