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Chapter 4: A taste of war
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Part 1
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Slavna Zemq
Perun's throne world
Milky Way galaxy
All things considered, my audience with Kali went better than anticipated. I didn't have to fight my way out and go on the run, which was always a good thing. If Kali lived up to her side of the deal, a lot of my short to medium-term issues would go away. On the downside, I would have to hasten my military's overhaul programs. Now I had to assume that the Goa'uld and the Jaffa would either learn to soldier the hard way or through spies in Kali's court. I would need to keep pushing the envelope forward and hope that I would gain enough industry, manpower, and resources to be competitive by the time everyone left had a competent military.
Keeping Kali happy would be a double-edged sword. If was too successful too often, she might just decide that I was too dangerous to allow to live. Yet, with her being a Goa'uld, a single perfectly understandable failure could be fatal as well. On the other hand, Kali could offer me a way to greatly increase the rate of expansion and improvement of my domain, which came with obvious strings attached…
One of the first things I did after coming back, was to order my Jaffa to send examples of what we had developed so far to Kali's throne world. My next act was to summon my Primes so we could prepare more contingency plans and overhaul those for striking at Ba'al's forward base.
Stephan, my First Prime was the first to arrive for the meeting. Gorski and my Ha'tak, and thus fleet Commander, Prime Iasen came next.
I explained the situation at hand and outlined the primary contingencies I wanted ready to execute. First, all captured material would go to our Omega Site, when deemed safe. That was to be our ultimate fallback position. It was currently in the process of being set up in a harsh, unremarkable world three hundred light-years away from my domain. That piece of rock was obscure. I only knew about it because a few centuries ago my Jaffa had to chase a particularly ambitious underling on the run there. The cheeky bastard stole one of Perun's Al'kesh. Unfortunately for him, Perun had been just paranoid enough to have a beacon set up in every one of his few precious FTL capable craft.
Another boon was the fact that the planet was of the Stargate network. That was why I had one of my Al'kesh en route to grab a gate and DHD from an abandoned world and bring them there. With that done, much of my CC personnel would be busy setting up a large base of operations there.
Second, considering our closer working relationship with Kali, no captured equipment, personnel or resources will be coming back to my domain. Instead, we would be expanding the Beta Site into a proper industrial center, among other things, using captured equipment. Unless the situation demanded it, anything produced there would be exclusively used by my Chappa'ai Command, instead of making its way back to my regular forces. I would be outfitting them with boons gained through my closer ties with Kali.
"Thoughts and suggestions?" I asked my Primes.
"Unrelated to the issue at hand, I simply don't have the time to properly oversee the Custodes, your Herald, and be your First Prime, Divinity!" Stephan raised a good point.
"Which one, if not two of those jobs you can continue to do for the foreseeable future? I'll need you to raise and train a replacement for the other."
"First Prime and leader of your Heralds, my Lord! I'll get you names for approval to be raised as a Custodes Prime!" Stephan's relief came at me in sparkling waves.
"See to it. Anything else?"
"I recommend we concentrate on preparing fallback positions in case Lady Kali proves jealous of you, my Lord. Between the coming operation against Ba'al, and everything else, I suggest we curtail other offensive operations for now." Surprisingly that came from Gorski. "I am sure if he was able to attend, Prime Orel would agree. "
"Continue the ongoing scouting missions, along with planning two raids, however, we won't be executing the latter before the Omega Site is fully operational. Prime Iasen, I want a contingency plan to salvage as much of the navy as possible if Kali turns on us. Standing against her in space will be suicide. I want options that preserve our single Ha'tak and as many of the Al'kesh as possible."
The youthful-looking Jaffa, courtesy of Sarcophagus usage after proving his loyalty, frowned at me. He didn't look happy that I was all but ordering his Black Legion to run. His emotions were more interesting to experience – I was almost sure he saw things my way, yet avoiding glorious battle went against his notions of honor.
"Prime Iasen, there is no honor in dying when you can achieve nothing of use to me, or our realm by offering battle. I want that plan ready in no more than two standard days. Next, taking Ba'al's base. We're going to assume, that between now, and our go date, his Jaffa will fortify the approaches to the Chappa'ai. It won't matter if they'll do it shortly before their ships arrive in orbit, when they'll be all ready committed, or because a spy in Kali's court warns them. While Kali did promise to ensure at least neutral skies, I will want our strike teams to train for a quick pullback to the gate, potentially under limited bombardment."
"The primary plan already has a subsection about assaulting a fortified Chappa'ai. The only question is if you'll be leading the charge, using your magic to aid us, my Lord?" Gorski asked.
"I will lead the charge right beside you, my Prime. However, for obvious reasons, I would keep my Divine abilities hidden. If revealed, the other Goa'uld would consider them too much of a prize and are certain to attack us for them. I'm not all-powerful yet, and we are not ready to face in combat even single System Lord without the backing of the likes of Kali."
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Part 1
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11 Jun 1996
Logistics department
Project Giza complex
Cheyenne Mountain
United States
Milky Way galaxy
"Did no one think about the logistics and security issues before agreeing to that deal?" A tired voice grumbled to widespread acceptance.
"Not to the best of my knowledge, Major Riley, sir." Sergeant Harriman promptly answered.
"That figures. First, its a good thing the alien wants small tractors. I don't even want to think about how we would try to push through larger machines. Second, doing it while the Stargate is under the mountain is out of the question. That might work as a choke-point, or trading small volume precious goods, but not for what we're looking for. The aliens sending a ship for the tractors and other assorted equipment is out, right?"
"The logistics apparently doesn't work. Perun's holdings are apparently too far away, he has too few ships, and they aren't fast enough to be practical." Harriman calmly explained. That was supposed to be in the briefing for the new personnel, wasn't it?
"The galaxy is damn big, something we have to take into account now…" Major Riley made a note on the large white board behind him. 'Big galaxy – think about implications!' "The way I see it, we either build tracks and use a tram system to push wagons through, or something in that vein, using pallets that can fit through the gate. Just driving a few thousand tractors through, and then back to their ultimate destination is going to be a pain in the ass at the best of times. Even doing it in batches of a few hundred won't help, considering the need to move the Stargate for transport." Riley trailed off. His youthful face scrunched in though and his dark eyes lit up. He flashed a grin, to Walter. "Has someone thought about moving the Stargate permanently to a dedicated facility that would both ensure security and make it practical to move large volumes of goods through?"
"Not as far as I know, sir. I'll ask around." Walter perked up at that question. Moving the Stargate regularly to facilitate trade might turn out to be less than ideal. Now, how to convince the brass that such an idea had merit?
"By the way, Sergeant, do you have any idea when the rest of the people meant to be in my department will get briefed and allowed to work? I can't run this whole operation's logistics by myself."
"I'll check and get right back to you, sir."
"Good man. You're dismissed."
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Richard Woolsey sat in his brand new cramped office, and massaged his temples. Buying the necessary agricultural equipment either off the shelf, or arranging government contracts for the rest was relatively simple. When the government actually wanted and needed to move quickly, it could, in spite of popular belief.
However, nothing was ever that simple. Both figuring out a practical electric motor, and convincing the relevant manufacturers to build a sufficient number of them, was proving to be a headache and a half for everyone involved. It didn't help that no one had thought of a plausible explanation for said need, and people from surprising places were busy asking uncomfortable questions.
Another bottleneck was finding the relatively small in number personnel needed to train people in how to use the agricultural and mining equipment, not to mention, ensure its maintenance. The original idea there was to use military engineers who had the relevant experience. Then someone thought about what kinds of important information such people might have in their heads, and suddenly, the idea of sending them off world for what might be months, ceased to be such a great idea.
The other option, wasn't much more acceptable to the powers that be in Washington. The suggestion to read in a sufficient number of civilian specialists had people from all branches of the government howling. It didn't help that the prospect of future trade agreements with either Perun, or other neutral alien entities would all but require at least brief exchange of personnel to facilitate the exchange of goods, know how, etc… Richard wasn't sure how he was supposed to coordinate and advise, like his new job required, when there were precious few people willing to face realty in the first place!
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5. Testing of Code Name: Antares against unarmored vehicles… Conclusion: The Antares device is extremely effective against unarmored vehicles within its effective range. A single hit in the are of the engine compartment can disable on the spot anything but the largest trucks. Taking them out for sure requires either a well placed shot, or a two to three hits to the engine block. In practice, this is a moot point, because a single hit to the passenger compartment creates a heat and over-pressure zone that will either kill or incapacitate everyone within.
6. Testing of Code Name: Antares against lightly armored vehicles… Conclusion: Due to effective range constrains, LAVs are virtually invulnerable against Antares in open terrain. In broken terrain, or city fighting, LAVs fare much better against Antares, than unarmored vehicles. This is primary in case of LAVs with ERA addons, which are able to apparently disrupt and diffuse a projectile shot by Antares. However, LAVs remain highly vulnerable under sustained Antares fire. Anything less armored than the newest Bradley variant simply lacks the armor to survive more than a few direct hits in any given area. A penetrating shot from Antares has devastating effects to the vehicle's interior. Recommendation: Use LAVs to engage Antares equipped infantry in the open, and rely on infantry to protect the vehicles in broken terrain, or during city fighting.
7. Testing of Code Name: Antares against armored vehicles… Conclusion: Due to effective range constrains, engaging armor with Antares in open terrain makes tanks virtually invulnerable to Antares fire. In broken terrain, or city fighting, the heavy frontal armor of modern tanks and ERA addons prove significant protection against sustained Antares fire. However, under sustained Antares fire, tanks remain vulnerable, especially to mobile kills. Recommendation: Use armor to engage Antares equipped infantry in the open, and rely on infantry to protect the vehicles in broken terrain, or during city fighting.
Extract from: Comprehensive testing report on the Antares weapon system
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Pirin
Perun's domain
Milky Way galaxy
Sometimes, the oldest tricks work well-enough. I didn't have the technology to outfit my Jaffa with energy shields. However, I did have blacksmiths able to shape naquadah, trinium, and steel alloy into armors. They were impractical for human use – those slabs of alloy were simply too heavy and bulky. The shields weighted enough to slow down my Jaffa, and for the best use required modified assault armor to allow strapping them in and better redistribution of weight.
The results spoke for themselves. One of my shielded wolves could sustain multiple staff weapon blasts while advancing under fire. As an added bonus, the weight helped keep my Jaffa on their feet, when shot.
"Again. The lead element's primary job is to focus the enemy's attention on them, allowing for the following elements to exploit the breach." I spoke aloud.
Gorski nodded idly at me. His full attention was on the training ground below us, where a specialist unit of his assault infantry slowly advanced under live staff fire, absorbing more than enough punishment to kill or incapacitate at least five times their numbers.
"Ideally, once a Chappa'ai is breached, we will use the heavy assault infantry to breach strong-points, or into buildings where we need something intact. Considering the sheer weight of the armor and shield combination, aside of boarding actions, Chappa'ai assault, we will have vehicles available to transport the heavy assault infantry. Barring that, they will move wearing lighter armor, and armor up only as needed."
"Vehicles, my Lord?" Gorski inquired.
"What you've seen so far is merely the tip of the iceberg, my friend. We've only began to change the face of warfare. Imagine armored vehicles allowing your Wolves to close with the enemy in safety, while providing heavy fire support…"
Gorski's eyes lit up with possibilities.
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