Robotech: The Stargate Saga
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters and universes that I am about to mangle around and mash together for my own demented author amusement – sadly all Robotech and Stargate characters and concepts remain the property of Harmony Gold and MGM respectively – I am merely borrowing them and make absolutely no profit from their use. As a result, please keep the legal attack dogs – also known as lawyers – firmly muzzled and on a leash as I have no money to give to anyone.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Tharos Flagship
Orisa Orbit
That Same Time
Sitting on the command throne on the - currently somewhat unfinished as the walls were bare metal without even the usual hieroglyphics for decoration – pel'tac of his new flagship Tharos watched as the fleet sent by Sokar to retake Orisa emerged from hyperspace. The first ships to emerge was their vanguard of eighteen Nar'kesh frigates, followed by all twelve of their Ha'tak motherships, then the previously unknown type of mothership which looked to be roughly twice the size of a Ha'tak accompanied by the remaining six Nar'kesh.
For a few moments nothing more happened and Tharos got the distinct impression that the enemy commander, whoever it was, was expecting him to panic at the sight of the mighty fleet that had come to confront him. Something he frankly had no intention of doing as while he was outnumbered it wasn't by a large margin and almost all his ships – with the exception of this ship as there had not been time – had had their standard weapons replaced with the plasma beam weapons he'd created for Ba'al. Which going on past performance gave them a significant advantage in firepower over Sokar and his minions.
Though he knew from both his own ancestral memories, and the memories of his host, not to rely on that one advantage alone. Thus, he had already put in place a plan, something that he would spring upon whoever his opponent was whenever the time was right. A move that was practically out of the Terran playbook and certainly take his opponent by surprise. A crystalline sounding chime from the main console brought him out of his thoughts.
"The enemy flagship is hailing us my lord," Marnor reported from the main console.
"No doubt they want us to surrender," Tharos answered, "something I have no intention of doing. Still, I will hear what they have to say. Put the transmission on screen."
"Yes, my lord."
The viewport at the front of the pel'tac shimmered as it switched from viewport to holographic display mode. In a vapour-like shimmer the image on his opposite number on the Sokar vessel appeared. The other Goa'uld was wearing leather armour with reinforced grieves and a chest piece that from its colour was made of trinium. It looked practical and impressive, unlike the other Goa'uld's host which was the definition of bland and uninteresting. Certainly nothing like the attractive host, he had been given by Doctor Hamilton, right before he killed the AUL fool for daring to threaten one he should worship as a god.
For a few moments the other Goa'uld looked him over and Tharos got the distinct impression that his counterpart was trying to intimidate him in some fashion. He met his gaze defiantly, not giving even the slightest bit of ground in this silent battle of wills. It seemed to continue for an eternity then eventually the other Goa'uld smiled slightly, seemingly impressed.
"Well, you have determination young one I will give you that," the other said, "I am Jofin, Fleet Lord in service of the Great Sokar. And you are?"
"I am Tharos. I have claimed this planet in the name of my master Lord Ba'al."
"And you did well to capture Orisa so quickly," Jofin complemented, "but for you that triumph is short lived now you will surrender this planet and your ships to me – including the stolen vessel on whose pel'tac you currently sit – or I will destroy you."
Tharos raised an eyebrow. "For someone yet to fire a shot you seem very confident of victory Lord Jofin."
"It is not confidence it is certainty. Now surrender and I will let you live, fight and you will certainly die."
"I don't think so. If you want to retake this system for Sokar then take it if you can."
Jofin raised an eyebrow. "You are both brave and foolish I can respect that. May you die with honour Lord Tharos."
"And you Lord Jofin."
Jofin gave a slight nod, the acknowledgment of one warrior to another, before making a hand gesture singling one of the Jaffa on his pel'tac to close the communications link down. The comm screen disappeared with a tactical display appearing in its place showing the opposing fleet deploying into battle formation facing them.
"My lord the enemy ships have raised shields and are powering up their weapons. They are launching fighters," Marnor reported from the main console.
"Then let us get this over with. Have all ships raise shields and bring weapons online, launch all primary glider and Al'kesh squadrons. Advise our surprise to prepare to jump in on my command only."
"Understood my lord. Should we open fire as soon as we are ready?"
"No let Lord Jofin take the first shots," Tharos answered calmly even as he observed the power levels on the largest mothership rising rapidly as its weapons systems – which according to the computer were mostly heavy and standard plasma cannons though there were three cannons of unfamiliar design present as well – came fully online. "Once he has done so instruct all our plasma beam armed ships to open fire. All gunners targeting Jofin's ship are to focus fire on shields, engines and weapons only. I don't want that battleship of his destroyed."
"Yes, my lord."
And so it begins, Tharos thought leaning back on his throne as he watched the enemy force, as well as his own, finish their preparations for battle. Squadrons of gliders moved to engage one another between their fleets as the capital ships prepared to begin trading blows like tanks at twenty paces, both knowing that what happens next, who won this engagement would depend on who was able to disable or destroy the enemy first. For a few more moments nothing happened then the massive Drakka'tak-class battleship – one of only a handful so far built by Sokar's minions – opened fire…
…sending a coruscating blue bolt of energy right towards Tharos.
The blast of energy – that definitely wasn't a plasma blast – slammed into the shields with searing force making the ship shake fiercely but otherwise doing no damage. A second of the blue bolts followed, then a third and a forth each making the shields around Tharos flagship flare with Cherenkov radiation and shaking the deck but otherwise not seeming to hurt them.
"Report."
"My lord sensors indicate that the battleships primary weapon is some type of ion pulse cannon similar to Tollan weapons though considerably less advanced and powerful. Shields are holding, the ship remains undamaged," Marnor reported as their own guns began firing back. Simultaneously all their ships equipped with his lord's new plasma beam weapons opened fire upon their foe. Immediately three enemy Nar'kesh disintegrated into plumes of energized flotsam as the golden energy beams ripped right through their shields and hulls to rip the ships apart.
Tharos smirked slightly at the sight. His weapons were once again showing their worth and he had a lot more planned where those came from as his hosts knowledge and experience with the sciences known as robotechnology offered so many new paths to power and glory. He watched as their superheavy and heavy plasma cannons sent bolt into the shields around the battleship making them flare with Cherenkov radiation but otherwise failing to penetrate them. There two ships were too evenly matched.
It was time to change that.
"Marnor instruct our first surprise to jump in behind the enemy command ship. Targeting as per my earlier orders."
"Yes, my lord."
Jofin's Mothership
That Same Time
Impossible, Jofin thought watching in shock as the ion bolts from one of their four primary cannons sleeted ineffectively off the shields surrounding the enemy flagship. In the handful of instances so far where he had used the weapons, which had been reverse engineered by scientists loyal to Sokar from a long forgotten crashed Tollan ship, against the enemy they had always easily penetrated the shields and destroyed the target leaving no survivors. Yet for some reason, against this young upstart who he could tell in the way an experienced Goa'uld could was in his first host, they were proving virtually ineffective.
His shock was only compounded when the enemy ships began firing back. However, instead of firing the familiar gold bolts of plasmatic energy the ships unleashed a hail of golden coloured energy beams. Three of his vanguard of frigates dissolved into oblivion as the beams ripped right through their shields and naquada alloy hulls to turn each ship into an instant fireball. What in Sokar's name, he thought incredulous before snapping at the Necropolis Guard manning the main console.
"Report," he ordered even as all there ships began firing upon one another, beams and bolts crossing impacting and in some cases punching through energy shields to slice into hulls. Gliders engage one another in furious, ferocious dogfights while Al'kesh began lining up from bombing runs.
"My lord sensors indicate that the enemy weapons are a focused plasma beam of some type," the guard answered, "it is proving far more damaging to our shields than conventional weapons fire."
Hmm seems like Ba'al has come up with some new tricks and weapons, Jofin thought mentally shaking his head. He knew he shouldn't be that surprised as Ba'al was known to be one of the smartest Goa'uld in his generation. Much like his own master Ba'al was constantly searching for and reverse engineering any and all new technologies he came across. He was also known to be considerably more pragmatic than most other Goa'uld with the notable exceptions of Lord's Yu and Ra.
Which made these new developments even more concerning.
The deck suddenly shuddering under his feet brought him out of his thoughts. A glanced at the holographic tactical feed showed that the enemy flagship had begun firing upon his with bolt superheavy and heavy plasma cannons. Unlike the discharges from the other ships, they were still firing distinct bolts as opposed to beams and thus the shields were holding against the assault.
"Keep firing the ion cannon add in as many conventional cannons as possible that can target the Sha'ha'tak."
"Yes, my lord."
Jofin smirked slightly as the Drakka'tak began firing her conventional and heavy plasma batteries alongside the ion cannon at Tharos ship. The barrage making its shields flare with Cherenkov radiation and ripple revealing the quasi-crystalline structure of the force field. That will teach you young upstart, he thought his smirk widening slightly as the glow of his opponents shields glow increased as did the ripples of optical distortion indicating that the shield was under serious strain beneath the battleships powerful guns and would soon begin failing.
At which point he would give the younger Goa'uld one last chance to surrender and submit or he would wipe him from existence.
The grin fell from his lips when the tactical array came alive with urgent warnings as several hyperspace windows opened, opened directly behind him, and another group of Nar'kesh frigates – these accompanied by Nal'kesh heavy bombers – bearing the markings of Ba'al came back into normal space. A moment later the Nar'kesh opened fire with a massive barrage of plasma beams.
The ship quaked violently under the assault. Jofin was thrown out of his throne to the deck as the ship groaned and shook under a relentless barrage. Almost immediately he heard the crackling snap of overloading and burning out optical relays and the acrid stink of overheating control crystals began to fill the air. A second massed barrage slammed into the ship, this time accompanied by the shriek of tearing metal and the deep concussive rumbling of internal explosions as damaged systems blew out. For a moment artificial gravity failed and he found himself rising into the air, before the back up system kicked in and yanked him to a bruising impact with the deck again.
After what seemed like an eternity – but was really only a few seconds – the shaking and explosions stopped. Groaning he picked himself up, noting around the pel'tac that the handful of Jaffa that were all that were needed to man it were also picking themselves up, and looked around. It was immediately obvious that main power had failed as the main lights were off, with the only illumination coming from both pale emergency lights and the flickering flames from normally mostly ornamental oil-fuelled braziers. The holographic HUD had also shut down and there was a thin but very noxious and acrid smelling haze of smoke filling the air – indicative of the heavy damage the ship had to have sustained.
"Damage report," he ordered staggering back to the pel'tac throne on legs that felt like they were made of jelly and sitting down.
"My lord our shields are down, and main power is offline," the Necropolis Guard reported his voice grim, "weapons and propulsion offline. There is a hull breach in the engineering level, the whole area has been depressurised. Heavy damage on all decks, auxiliary power is active and stable at seventy percent capacity."
Jofin winced slightly at that. They had been really pounded by that perfectly executed surprise attack. If he survived this, he would have to complement young Tharos on executing it so well, it was very rare after all for him to be so surprised by an opponent. "Fleet status?"
"My lord most of our Nar'kesh have been destroyed as have all but three of our Ha'tak," the Necropolis guard reported, "the enemy beam weapons are overwhelming our shields with only a handful of direct hits. All remaining ships are continuing to fight."
"Then there is still time. Is long range communication still online?"
"Yes my lord."
"Then let us show young Tharos that he is not the only one who can spring surprise reinforcements. Order our reinforcements to jump in and engage immediately."
"Yes, my lord," the Necropolis Guard acknowledged before giving the order. A second before the system came alive with warnings. "My lord we are detecting numerous ring transports onto the ship. We are being boarded by enemy Jaffa. Our forces are moving to combat them."
"Understood and keep me appraised," Jofin ordered a little surprised that they were being boarded even before the space battle that would determine the fate of Orisa – as he was well aware that due to pressures elsewhere on the front lines, especially with the likes of Heru'ur not to mention Ra himself Sokar would not be able to spare the forces for a second attack on this planet for quite some time – was concluded. It was unorthodox to say the least, normally such actions took place after the space battle, and yet more evidence that Ba'al's newest underlord – if not directly Ba'al himself – was thinking far outside the normal box that had for thousands of years defined the Goa'uld way of warfare.
"Yes, my lord. My lord our reinforcements are jumping in now."
Good that should keep Tharos occupied while we get the ship back online, Jofin thought even as the holographic tactical display flickered, initially somewhat fitfully, back to life over the main viewport. What it showed was horrifying as in the time it had been down, literally just a minute or two, while the computer automatically rerouted around a few damaged crystals, almost all of his initial attack force which should have been enough to deal with the invasion had been destroyed or disabled. The new beam weapons being used by Ba'al and whatever one of that pests minions – likely Nerus now that he thought about it as for all of his disgusting traits Nerus was quite a gifted scientist – had done to improve their shields giving them two distinct and devastating advantages. Though the enemy had not had it all their own way as four of the Nar'kesh and one of the Ha'tak had been destroyed, spreading clouds of debris and cooling plasma marking where they had once been, and another Ha'tak was drifting disabled and burning behind the fleet.
As he watched fresh icons appeared on the hologram as his reinforcements – consisting of four Ha'tak and eight Nar'kesh emerged from hyperspace and moved to engage the enemy despite being outnumbered two to one. Within seconds weapons fire began flashing between the fleets as Tharos turned his attention, and his powerful new guns, upon the newcomers. The advantage possessed by the other Goa'uld began playing dividends immediately as a Nar'kesh blinked out of existence and one of the Ha'tak icons began flashing indicating its shields were under strain.
On the enemy side the barrage of incoming fire from his reinforcements sent another two Nar'kesh to their doom and began putting the shields of the stolen Sha'ha'tak, that Tharos was insultingly using as his flagship, under stress. Though it probably wouldn't be enough to penetrate it as just looking at the sensor reading on the tactical display, which showed the amount of Cherenkov radiation building up around the ship, whatever Ba'al had done to upgrade his shields had already been applied to that ships shield matrix significantly reducing the amount of damage the force field was taking.
Abruptly the hologram vanished.
"My lord the enemy has input a virus into the main computer," the Necropolis Guard reported, "all computer systems just went down."
Meaning I won't be able to destroy this ship to keep it from falling into Tharos, and eventually Ba'al's, hands, Jofin thought feeling a twinge of despair as without access to the computer he would not be able to initiate the self-destruct sequence. Tharos had clearly given orders that the ship was to be taken as intact as possible, hence why he had to have given the boarding Jaffa a crystal loaded with a virus designed to disable the main computer system.
"Try and get the computer core back online," he ordered shaking off the sudden surge of despair. Viruses like the one that had to have been used to disable them so fast were generally fairly simple things. A few taps of the appropriate control crystals in the computer core itself – which would have Jaffa manning it at all times – would be all that was needed to engage counter-viral programs. Programs that would quickly find and erase the foreign program and reboot the computer.
"My lord there is heavy fighting near the computer core," the guard said grimly, "I have sent reinforcements but until they arrive, we won't be able to regain control of the area long enough to restore the system."
Jofin scowled and was about to demand an ETA on the reinforcements when the sound of weapons fire – both the whooshing thump of ma'tok staffs and the sizzling electronic zap of zat'nik'atels – and with it the yells and screams of Jaffa fighting and dying directly outside the pel'tac caught his attention. What a boarding party is here already, he thought incredulous as while the flagships Jaffa had been at the normal stations for a fleet battle there should have still been enough available – especially from the replacement garrison force they were carrying – to stop the boarders from reaching this location this soon.
The fact that they had was worrying, what was even more worrying was when the sound of fighting stopped. Jofin and the Jaffa on the pel'tac, especially the Necropolis Guard, turned to look at the main entrance to the pel'tac – expecting one of their Jaffa to come in momentarily to report that the enemy had been defeated – only for the door to only open slightly. Just enough for an armed shock grenade to be rolled into the room.
"He'shak," Jofin snarled before, knowing he had only seconds before the grenade went off, snapping his eyes closed. A moment later he could see the bright light of the grenade even through his eyelids and heard the high-pitched tone of the detonation. Through it he heard his Jaffa cry out in pain and fall as their nervous systems were painfully, but ultimately harmlessly, overloaded by the grenades effects. The light faded and Jofin opened his eyes – and found himself blinking away a brilliant after image – as the enemy came charging onto the bridge.
He started to stand to both raise his kara'kesh and activate his personal shield both of which would enable him to show these Jaffa why it was not a good idea to anger one of their gods, but before he got even a few centimetres off the throne a zat'nik'atel discharge slammed into him. Jofin cried out in pain and rage before, already weakened by the partially mitigated effects of the shock grenade, succumbing and spiralling into the darkness of unconsciousness.
Tharos Flagship
A Short Time Later
"My lord our forces report that the enemy flagship has been secured," Marnor reported from the main console, "multiple prisoners have been taken including the enemy commander, Lord Jofin."
Steepling his fingers Tharos smiled. "Excellent have all the prisoners transported to holding cells on the surface," he ordered, "inform me when the operation is complete."
"Yes, my lord."
As Marnor began to carry out his instructions Tharos mused on the battle and its outcome. While he had managed to gain victory due to the advantage of his new beam weapons and the new shield design that Nerus had come up with the fight had actually been very costly. At least in Goa'uld terms as from Vince's memories he knew that compared to robotech warfare their casualties were light. Eight ships – including one Ha'tak – had been destroyed with ten more reporting moderate to heavy damage, especially when enemy fire had penetrated weakened shields to punch deep into naquada alloy hulls. It would be some time before his small fleet would be combat capable again.
Still based on the losses he had inflicted upon Sokar in this battle it would certainly be a while before he would be able to attack Orisa again. The planet he was to rule in Ba'al's name was secure, at least for now, as there was no guarantee of how long that would last. Not now that Ba'al had stupidly gone and angered the Asgard, who depending on how miffed they were could end up destroying Ba'al's entire domain – they had done such things before – in a demonstration/reminder to all Goa'uld of the extent of their power and why challenging them was not a good idea for anyone. If that happened, he would be in quite a precarious position indeed and would certainly have to ally with another much more powerful Goa'uld if he and his new, small yes but you had to start somewhere, domain was to remain intact and under his reign.
After a moment of thought he decided that he would prepare to do just that, after all with Orisa's industrial plant and shipyard – which he was already planning to expand – as well as the knowledge of robotechnology he'd gained from his host he would have quite a bit to bargain with. Hopefully things wouldn't go too badly when the Asgard Fleet turned up in his liege's territory to punish Ba'al for his insolence but if it did, and Ba'al and Queen Qetesh fell then it wouldn't hurt to be prepared.
Tok'ra Scout
That Same Time
Sitting in the cockpit of a cloaked Tel'tak cargo ship Kigash scowled as she observed the results of the battle between Jofin – one of Sokar's major fleet commanders – and a previously unknown underlord of Ba'al's called Tharos. She and her host, Rowena, had been scouting out the current borders of Sokar's domain as ordered by the High Council when they'd spotted a fleet of warships – including one of the new Drakka'tak-class battleships that they knew so little about as Sokar had only built five of them so far – leaving the known location of a major fleet base on course for this system.
Knowing this was an unmissable opportunity to acquire more information about the Drakka'tak she had contact the High Council who had instructed her to follow and observe the battle. What she had seen was concerning in any number of ways. The new battleships were much more powerful than they had realized and the fact that they were armed with among other things a very primitive, underpowered copy of a Tollan ion cannon – and where Sokar had gotten that she had no idea as the Tollan were normally very good at keeping the Goa'uld out of their territory and the territory of those worlds under their protection – was very alarming and definitely would not sit well with the High Council. Not to mention that the Tollan were sure to go nuts when they informed them of Sokar having copies, albeit very primitive ones, of one of their main weapons.
Though what was even more worrying was the new weapons possessed by this Tharos – and presumably now by Ba'al as well – weapons that sensors had confirmed to be a focused plasma beam. While the energy levels were not much higher than the norm for Goa'uld plasma weapons their effect was beyond devastating as the shields on Sokar's ships had simply been unable to weather more than a handful of shots before failing allowing the beams to cut deep, burning wounds into the hulls of the motherships and frigates. In many cases ships had literally been sliced apart by the beams which simply melted or burned through anything and everything in their way. The fact that any Goa'uld System Lord possessed such a devastating new weapon would be cause for alarm among the High Council, the fact that it was Ba'al – one of the most intelligent and dangerous of all the System Lords – who had them would make it even worse.
"I have never heard of a Goa'uld named Tharos before," Rowena commented to her.
"Nor have I," Kigash agreed, "he is obviously new and given the power he has been entrusted with by Ba'al – something that is very unusual – obviously extremely dangerous."
"Maybe you should check him against the database. It should have been updated the last time we spoke with the Council."
"Good idea."
Following her hosts suggestion Kigash brought up a holographic image of Tharos, captured when they'd eavesdropped on the pre-battle conversation between Jofin and Tharos, and told the computer to compare it against the list of known Goa'uld that the Tok'ra routinely kept. Within a few moments the computer spat back a response.
The Goa'uld in question was not known, though his host was. The extremely muscular, dark skinned male host was from a human race referred to as Terrans. There was a notification there that if he was spotted and where that the High Council should be informed at once.
"Unusual."
"Indeed. This host, a Vincent Grant according to this, obviously knows something that the Council want to get out of Goa'uld hands as soon as possible."
"Could he be the origin of the plasma beam weapons? Maybe these Terrans use similar weaponry?"
"Possible."
"So, what are you going to do?"
"Well first we will leave this system. Once we're safely in hyperspace we will call the Council and let them know of this development."
"Sounds like a plan."
Smiling slightly at her hosts response Kigash brought the engines of the Tel'tak online and began making her way carefully away from her observation position over the polar region of Orisa's largest moon. When they were far enough away to escape detection, she transferred power to the hyperdrive bringing it online and setting a course for the current Tok'ra main base. Then she dropped the cloak and jumped into hyperspace and sending a message to the High Council requesting an urgent meeting with them when she arrived in a few hours' time.
A meeting that, though she didn't know it yet, would start a sequence of events that would shake the Goa'uld Empire to its core.
Authors Notes: Well, another chapter bites the dust, I hope you all enjoyed it. The battle was quite fun to write, though with Christmas now only three days away this will be my last fanfiction update of this year. Thus let me take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and I hope to see you all again next year.