Record keeping: Fan fiction is acting up again after a week or two of working. Apparently, it is crippled again. Anyway. Here is the next chapter for you. And the last before it begins…

For Arekanderu.

Roads Paved in Shadows

Chapter 52

New Tollania: Tollanian frigate Guardian

Three Tollian heavy frigates scanning the area had so far found nothing. Several anomalous readings caught their attention, but there was nothing found that could be confirmed. What was confirmed was the deaths of several people in the immediate area. Those people had been camping in the forests.

Camping was a relatively new concept for the Tollanian people. they preferred city life and their weather controllers. Being one with nature was not something that the majority of their people enjoyed until recently, after they colonized this rich and fertile world. With the protection of energy shielding, there was little danger of outside invasion. The Lucian Alliance couldn't touch them. Neither could the Goa'uld.

Many of the original survivors of the first world were essentially trapped within their protective buildings as their old world was rocked with environmental; catastrophes which slowly but relentlessly tore the planet apart, making it unlivable and soon after uninhabitable. Volcanos and earthquakes rocked their once garden world while the continents underwent radical shifts. The air was filled with sulfur dioxide and volcanic dust. The Tollan people were forced to flee to what would become their second home. The survivors didn't have much time to enjoy their second home as the Goa'uld Tanneth attacked them, bypassing their ion cannon defense system and all but wiped out the majority of the population.

This third home seemed a paradise and to some, nature called, and those people made the first inquisitive steps towards reconnecting with nature. The two families slaughtered by the Soldier of Darkness were among those to go camping for the first time in their lives.

Captain Burin and his squadron were not sure what they were looking for. Initially, there wasn't any solid evidence that there were any survivors from the Ha'tak. The Curia was satisfied that the danger was past and cleanup operations could begin.

Narim was opposed as was Captain Burin. Narim insisted they continue the search until they were satisfied, redirecting the satellite system to assist in screening the area and it was the satellite imaging that discovered the deaths of the second family in real-time. The people in the control center watched, horrified, as four life signs faded away on screen. A wary Narim wasted no time in directing the frigates to the area. And he ordered a squad of ground troops to the spot, not wanting to take any chances. The threat against Earth spurred him on with an urgency the Curia still had trouble grasping.

Earth was about to be attacked. New Tollania had been attacked. It was a given. When the fleet was done with earth, they would be sure to come here to finish what was begun a day earlier at New Tollania. If the Curia hadn't understood that by now, and obviously a few hadn't quite grasped that little fact yet, they needed to be replaced. Times had changed, and the leadership needed to adapt and change with it if they were to survive. They had lost so much, and enough was enough. But change was frightening, and it was difficult to adjust to the new reality.

The attitudes of some of the members of the leadership, specifically Counselor Kajmian, made him want to run for office, something he had never considered before, but recently, was on his heart more and more.

High Chancellor Travell had suggested that he apply for office years ago, and he dismissed it, content to remain in his current position. In the past couple of years, due to actions by the current administration of late, he was seriously reassessing his decision. The Tollanian people were not responding to the dangers as they should have. They were a fraction of the people they once were. They needed to grow in numbers and even actively associate with less advanced worlds.

There were still those in government who still clung to the old ways and chose to resist connecting and associating with what they considered less advanced civilizations, which meant just about everyone. That attitude resulted in complete isolation from the Tollan, and now some of the Tollanian leaders were heading down that same road.

Those were their own decisions/ However, they were ignoring the current situations as they had before the Goa'uld Tanneth had butchered their population. That was a wake up call that should have been heeded. But the lesson was forgotten by the time their small refugee fleet was attacked by the Lucian Alliance pirates. The Curia tried to reason with them.

Reasoning with pirates was a wasted effort, and it showed the weakness of the refugee fleet to them that they could ill afford. The Lucians went after them with a vengeance. The Tollanians had lost so many people and ships that Narim still burned with white-hot anger just thinking about the leaders stubborn attitudes while trying to reason with those pirates and drug runners, delays that cause so much death and kidnappings during their long journey to safety.

Their condition only changed when an Earth ship discovered them and offered refuge. Initially, some of the Curia were still wary about associating with the Tau'ri primitives. Even with their people in desperate need, the old prejudices, traditions, and fears retained too much control over their souls.

Nevertheless, the Tollanians didn't have a choice but to accept. No one else was coming to help them, not even the Asgard, who were still angry about the phase-shift weapons that everyone knew the System Lords planned to use on Earth, and against the Asgard, and dozens of other worlds, making their grip on the galaxy that much tighter.

There was also friction between Earth and his people, when several Goa'uld were captured and the parasites removed. The Curia, in their wisdom, wanted to return the snake-like creatures back to their empire. Earth seriously objected, but the Curia's decision was final. His people ignored the danger and returned the aliens back to their Goa'uld brethren. It made the situation worse. Narim thought it was a lesson learned. They were in a war with the Goa'uld, not just a dispute between neighbors.

Now, the Curia was about to repeat the same thing with this being that had killed people on their planet, and were likely responsible for the near-genocide of the Tok'ra, and the inhabitants of several Protective Planets and had tried to detonate one of the dirtiest nuclear devices he'd ever seen on top of their most populated cities. He wasn't having it.

In the Guardian, sensors confirmed the deaths of several people, some fifteen kilometers away from the crash. The cause was unknown, but all three frigates were dispatched to investigate. It was the second set of deaths that revealed the probable location of the culprit. The death of the family of four was recorded live as it happened. The Guardian vectored towards the family, calling for assistance of ground forces who converged on the area of the deaths.

Burin, already in contact with the others, started issuing orders. "Captain Tyne, extend your shields to encompass fifteen kilometers from the center of the victim's location. Nothing in or out. Our ground troops will arrive momentarily. Inform them of the shields and take appropriate precautions once they enter the quarantine zone. They will be transported in."

"Ten seconds. We will transport the troops as soon as their ship arrives."

Burin nodded. He turned to the other commander. "Do you have a scan of all of the people within the quarantine area?"

"I have all Human life signs targeted. Transporting seventy-two to my ship."

Surprised individuals and families. Including three surveyors, found themselves onboard a Tollanian warship. Many hadn't experienced the transporters and were a little anxious, but they also recognized that something serious had occurred and their government had done this to protect them.

"All personnel are evacuated. You can begin heavy scans now."

Burin acknowledged the commander. "Begin heavy scans, all bandwidth in the quarantine area. Infrared, UV, scans, motion tracking heat signature, and Reetou detectors. Tachyon scanners set to a minimum. I do not want the targeted area contaminated with those particles."

Third Officer Toranic acknowledged as her hands flew over the controls at her station on the bridge. Burin and his crew carefully watched as the grid search began. The other two frigates repeated the actions in their own grid spaces.

The She hadn't panicked, instead, She was defiant. The enemy always tried to find her people to kill them. But this was one of the few times they had sensors advanced enough to detect her. She couldn't escape. There was an energy field blocking the path to freedom, and even from a distance, she could feel the power behind it. Phasing through it was impossible, and she didn't have any weapons with her strong enough to neutralize those enemy vessels. As long as the shield remained active, her mission was unachievable. She wanted to survive, however, escape was unlikely. Therefore, she resolved to kill as many as possible before she was ended.

Many of the younger race weapons were relatively ineffective against one such as her. It took dozens of shots from multiple weapons to kill. But the Tollanians were different, and she had little doubt they had weapons that were more powerful and deadly to her. Minutes later, she tried to phase into one of the huge plants infesting this planet. She intended to stay inside the trunk and remain there until the immediate danger passed. But within minutes, the tree lost its luster, and began dying, branches breaking off, the leaves falling off as it crumbled. Her physiology was incompatible with this living organism. Irritated, it did the only thing it could do. It ran as one of the alien ships homed in onto her life signs that it shouldn't have been able to do.

Sol System

Hyperspace: Twenty million kilometers distant from Pluto

Drakh Command carrier K'myn'tye

Supreme Commander Ulyis stared at the main screen, observing the probe that his masters, the Shadows, had placed near the only moon of the third planet, their final target. The target suspected they were coming, a fact confirmed with the destruction of the previous beacon. Rebel Earthforce ships were there, and they were the ones who alerted this world to the danger. They had to be the ones who opened a jump point, allowing the Earth ships to destroy the beacon. Those Earthforce ships were designated for destruction. The Drack raiders would accomplish that mission before they could flee to some perceived place of safety.

A mere hundred kilometers from his ship, a one point three-kilometer-long Shadow battlecrab drifted lazily, keeping pace with the fleet designated to destroy the world called Earth, in this universe. Accumulated data on this world indicated it to be a major threat to his masters' plans. It needed to be destroyed, and he understood the reasons why.

This planet's defenses were weak, almost non-existent when compared to the defenses and fleets of the home universe. But the few ships they had were formidable. One of those small warships destroyed a Mother with their weapons. That alone condemned this world to death.

Intense analysis and research over the last few months were dedicated to countering the shields and weapons used in this universe. The Goa'uld shields were impressive, but not by any means invincible. Drakh quantum discharge cannons were reconfigured to burn through those shields. It took a continuous exposure of five seconds to break through those shields using a cannon, but with multiple strikes, quick victory would be achieved.

His Shadow masters had reconfigured their LASED quantum-based particle beams to rip apart any shielded ship they encountered, a response to the loss of their sistership and crew. Their armored shells could now better resist those deadly beam weapons, the Goa'uld's primary weapons. With those improvements, Earth weapons would be resisted with efficiency. The heavy nuclear weapons used by that empire were a problem, but those missiles had to get to his ships first and Drakh anti-missile defenses were more than adequate to protect his fleet.

Drakh armor was strong, but it didn't offer as much protection as the Supreme commander wished for but, developing new armor, and deploying it among the migrant fleet would take time. Energy shielding would also take time to deploy in the fleet, but it had already begun. Earth shields were the same as the Goa'uld technology, so that would not be a serious problem. It was estimated that this world didn't have any more than forty ships to defend it. With four hundred capital ships and almost a thousand raiders, he estimated that no more than twenty percent of his capital ships would be lost in this battle. The Earth ships would be swept aside, and the planet killer deployed soon after.

Then they had the support of the Shadow Mothers in case any unforeseen problems occurred.

After the UCW worlds were removed, the Astaroth would be next and once they were culled, this galaxy would be perfect for his masters. And they would keep their promise to the Drakh, no longer would they be fated to remain a migrant people, but they could settle on a world and make it their own. That thought pleased the leader. They would settle there until needed by their master's once more.

His people rejoiced in the chaos that the masters created, but they also needed a secure place to rest. This universe offered that, while they waited for their masters' call once again.

One of the larger Earth battlecruisers was patrolling the region near the ninth planet and that would be the first targeted for elimination. Either it would flee, call for reinforcements, or be destroyed. His expectation was that the ship would attempt to flee once the raiders attacked. Their retreat was part of the plan. At two hundred twenty-five meters, it was only as large as his raiders. The raiders were two hundred fifteen meters, as large as the puny warship they would destroy. He wanted the Earth ships to congregate in a last stance near their planet, where all of them could be destroyed at one time, as they tried to defend their home world.

He ordered ten of his raiders to attack the patrol ship, even as he ordered one of the cruisers to open a jump point. There were twenty-seven ships on patrol in the system, and he designated ten raiders per vessel to attack simultaneously. The pressure on them would force them to retreat or stand and die.

The Humans were aware of the coming attack.

What the Humans didn't know was that his masters knew where every patrol ship was located. Using their superior sensors, the need to waste time and resources hunting them down was kept to a minimum. The Earth ships on patrol would retreat to their home world and the main fleet would crush all resistance and then devastate the surface before implementing the Shadow planet killer to obliterate that world as per standard procedure. They had done it before and planned to do it again.

Planet Shang-La

Seat of power of the Ashtorath Empire

Lords Ashtoreth and Atargatis, the Goa'uld System Lords, known as the gods of the slain, were in attendance at this rare and almost unprecedented meeting. Of the four Ashtorath System Lords, the children of Ba'al, they were the most aggressive and most dangerous of the family of Goa'uld overlords. They were the ones who brought down the majority of the Lucian Alliance worlds and incorporated them into the grip of the System Lords. The war was so brutal that the Lucians were frightened enough to turn to Earth, a world and people they feared, envied, and hated, to ask for assistance. The representatives of the Alliance found it difficult attempting to treat with the UCW, in which Tollania was a member. The Terrans didn't trust them and the Tollanians absolutely hated them. The talks were still ongoing.

The members of the UCW considered them little more than pirates, but Earth considered negotiation on the condition that all of the Tollanians kidnapped by the various families of the LA be returned. The Tollanians were delighted, the Lucian leadership enraged. However, they acquiesced to the demand. That, all of them agreed, was an indication of how desperate they really were. Earth and the UCW had them by the throat and the Lucians knew it.

The new System Lords and their not so veiled threats to the Free Jafa nation were the reasons why many of the larger independent clans were worried. The Ashtorath were growing in influence and power. That fear was pushing those clans towards the UCW in spite of their desire for complete independence after thousands of years of slavery to the Goa'uld.

The Ashtorath's army was growing as new worlds willingly joined the empire, not out of fear, but because of the power and strength being projected by the snakes. Not all things were threats and death. The empire was prosperous and getting richer, and for smaller, less advanced world, that aspect was very appealing.

The Ashtorath feared few things, but they did fear the Tau'ri, the inheritors of the Asgard legacy. They also feared the UCW and their growing strength and power. The dreams of the Ashtorath was to crush the UCW and take their power and technology for themselves. But they weren't fools, and the UCW, namely the Tau'ri, possessed power and secrets the Goa'uld feared. It was more than just the Asgard technology and knowledge. They had the power of the Ancients. The knowledge was vast, and the Tau'ri and their minions were learning more every day.

So, when the Tau'ri warship arrived at the edge of the Ashtorath Empire's territorial borders. Requesting a diplomatic meeting with one of the lead System Lords, the imperial leadership was alarmed. The Tau'ri never requested such a meeting before and some suspected it was a prelude to war.

Their greatest fear was that their blood enemies, the Tau'ri, blamed them for the slaughter of the Tok'ra. The UCW could be preparing to use that excuse as a pretext to declare of war, which the Ashtorath were not prepared for.

When the announcement that the Tau'ri wanted to speak to those in power, the Ashtorath made the representatives wait seven hours before they were allowed to proceed into Goa'uld territory. The ship was escorted by four heavily armed Ha'tak heavy warship variants. The UCW ship was ordered not to deviate from the given coordinates in any way, or they would be immediately fired upon and destroyed. The UCW ship Katagi complied. It would be another three hours before the ship and its escorts reached the imperial world of Shang-La.

New Tollania

In a clearing, twenty Tollanian regulars were transported down less than a kilometer from their suspected foe. The Tollanians soldiers were essentially a variation of the National Guard, a relatively new military unit. The Tollanian people never had a use for a ground force military as they relied on their ion cannons and their small military space force to protect them. Mostly, they relied on isolation to keep them protected from enemies. But that was no longer possible. Experience aptly proved that ground troops were a requirement. They could not continue to rely on the defenses they used to have. Those weapons were still effective, but tactics were lagging. But there was still a lot of resistance to it.

For hundreds of years, the Tollanian people were concerned about a possible invasion by the Goa'uld, but it never materialized because of Tollanian superior technology. The Goa'uld feared them and envied their science. Their threat was constant, but the Tollan predecessors never considered the Goa'uld as a ground threat.

That was then.

Nevertheless, the old ways still influenced their culture. Some surviving members of the Curia were still adamant that ground forces should not be prioritized, not only because they were not need it, but because it gave the wrong impression to the people. The people had suffered enough, and many leaders were trying to bury the past.

Narim and others vocally insisted that the past was barely a decade ago and to try to forget and ignore what happened to the people was the road to disaster. Some of the Curia agreed. Others resisted, still clinging to the old ways. No one disagreed that the old ways were bad, but they were living in a new age and the testament of the loss of millions of Tollanians from the Goa'uld and Lucians was testament to that. They weren't safe.

When the government joined the UCW, a lot of those attitudes changed. But the old guard still had lingering problems adjusting to the new reality. Those same leaders didn't like the Tau'ri, considering them barely civilized, too barbaric, and too willing to interfere in the affairs of other worlds without considering the consequences. That was in direct opposition to the Tollanian way of thinking, in which non-interference was the de facto rule. Non-interference and isolationism caused them to keep the space force at a minimum. This extended to the development of ground forces. Those politicians did not want to lower themselves to the level of what they believed the Tau'ri to be.

People like Narim and Burin strongly disagreed with that attitude. Fortunately, they had powerful allies on their side. High Chancellor Travell had the same attitude, and she went out of her way to promote and protect their fledgling military to the best of her ability. Initially, she had the old attitudes, but after the Goa'uld destruction of their world, she had a change of opinion. Travell was opposed, but she was a dynamic and respected leader and her voice held sway. This was apparent when a few of the counselors advocated for Tollania to separate from the UCW a mere three years after they joined.

They were in a minority but now that Travell was ill, and was still recovering, one member of the opposition had taken over the duties of leadership and he was pushing this insane idea of trying to capture this alien creature unharmed, and to bring it to trial, without considering the consequences of his decision would do to those trying to follow his orders.

Captain Burin could not understand, considering what had nearly happened. It's a nuclear weapon had not been neutralized, the Tollanian colony would have been wiped out. And still, these people want to pretend like everything was over and that their version of civilization could reassert itself. Never mind that the Ashtorath were just waiting to exploit any weakness that the UCW, Earth, or New Tollania presented.

Earth had the knowledge and experience the Tollanians needed to develop an effective ground force. The Empire of the Race knew this and had eagerly sought training and development of its own ground forces, knowing that what they had was inadequate. As a result, they became a very effective force now, both in ground and space combat tactics, and they were still learning.

The Race, just because they developed these new capabilities and sciences, didn't mean that the Lizardians became aggressive once more. No, the opposite happened. They chose not to interfere with other species or Human populated worlds. They actually supported and upheld the Protected Planets treaty. They became a valuable part of the UCW. It was a point, in fact, that the other nations were doing the same thing, including the free Jaffa, while his people sat back and watched. Burin was embarrassed. He also resolved that he would do what was necessary to keep his people safe.

"Captain Ferin, be on your guard," Burin ordered once more. "The suspect is considered extremely dangerous. Do not jeopardize your people. If it comes willingly, except it's surrender. If not, use all available means to make sure that your people are safe and that the threat is neutralized."

"Yes, sir," the ground force commander answered.

Tollanian frigate Guardian

"We have something," Toranic announced loudly. Her scans were humming, indicating that it was tracking a possible target. "EM scans have locked onto a moving target. The wavelength is the same as those alien corpses we found on the Ha'tak that were in-phase mode. It's moving fast. Two kilometers, grid one-seven- nine. Height, three point two meters. Bipedal. Exact configuration undefined."

"Confirm, please."

"It's confirmed, sir."

"Background animal life forms removed. We are clear and tracking. It is moving in and through rocks and trees. It's phasing, trying to evade or hide. It knows we're tracking."

"Captain, Counselor Kajmian is online. He wants us to attempt communication first. If it fails, our orders are to capture it using non-lethal protocols. We're being ordered to hold our fire."

Burin's fist slammed into his lap. He was about to retort when Narim broke in, countermanding those orders. He listened as the two began their arguments on an open channel for all to hear.

"Senior Controller, my orders are to capture the alien for interrogation. The ground troops will contain the situation. I will not be responsible for the unnecessary death of a sentient creature. It will be adjudicated in a court of law…"

Narim shot back. "This alien is one of the ones responsible for attempting to destroy our largest city. This is war. You want to send our soldiers to capture a monster using non-lethal means? We will lose people because of your decision. Where is Travell?"

"She's unavailable, as you know. I am the one in charge now. My orders stand. Captain Burin, I order you to bring in the alien alive and unharmed. It will stand trial for its crimes. We are not barbarians."

"Say that to the Lucian Alliance," Narim shot back. "You were the one who wanted to euthanize the prisoners because they were considered too dangerous to imprison!" His eyes on screen shifted towards the frigate commander. "Captain Burin, do not jeopardize your men. Do what you have to to apprehend your target. Do not endanger your ship or the people under your command. Lethal force is authorized, as necessary," Narim demanded. "My responsibility."

"Yes, Narim," Burin responded a little too quickly and defiantly for Counselor Kajmian's tastes. "We will attempt to capture. If it resists, lethal force is authorized."

On the screen, Kajmian had turned an interesting shade of purple as he began screaming. "Narim, your career is over! You are countermanding direct orders from the Curia! Captain Burin. You have your orders. If you defy them, your career is over, and you will be brought up on charges!"

"If that is your decision, Counselor." Burin cut the channel. At that moment, his decision was made. The lives of his people were more important than his career. Narim was correct and in the back of his mind, that horrible Earth movie was screaming at him not to repeat the character's mistakes.

"I want groups of four," the captain ordered. "Reetou trackers on maximum. Weapons to full power."

The troops began slowly separating, searching for the alien creature. The Reetou detectors were active but weren't picking up anything on the scanners.

Some three hundred meters above them, the Guardian hovered at their six, acting as backup. The Guardian's sensors were powerful enough to detect the moving target and directed the soldiers towards the alien.

Running was an unviable tactic. No matter what she did, the Human animals followed her, moving as she moved, and getting closer. Evasion was no longer an option.

Turning with a fluidity that belied her size, she spun and engaged. Her personal weapon, a quantum-based particle beam emitter, was small and effective against Humans. The She had wanted her heavy rifle, but it was damaged, and she didn't have the time to find another one and escape the Humans after the crash.

Quietly growling, it fired at the nearest group of soldiers. She was rewarded with high-pitched screaming as the beams managed to hit three of four targets. The Humans were burned from the inside out before their bodies caught fire. Then She growled in satisfaction. The foolish creatures hadn't even tried to dodge. They simply stood up, tracking her without considering that she might have some weapon of her own. The last soldier finally had the sense to hide, not that it did much good. her weapons bean penetrated the giant plant and burned both the plant and the Human hiding behind it.

Unfortunately, that tactic would only work once. Her sensory receptors picked up six more of the Humans coming her way. She fired again, missed, and was rewarded with intense counter-fire. Their visual receptors could not see her when in phasing mode, but their approximate counterfire was enough to score a hit. The She roared. Their weapons hurt her, whether in-phase mode or not.

The Humans were using some kind of particle beam of their own. It wasn't the helium-based discharges like those used at home. She was wounded by the weapon. Reflexively, the alien phased through a boulder trying to escape.

She fired as she phased, making the Humans evade once more. But their hesitation lasted only seconds and their return fire destroyed the ugly large vegetation and stones. She was struck once more and roared her defiance. Death was coming, but she intended to take the Humans with her.

Her mission had failed and as much as she hated it, her life would come to an end on this alien planet. Her decision made, she roared in defiance and sprinted towards the nearest Human soldier. They were too far away, but that was unimportant because they weren't her targets. She shifted directions and sprinted towards another group of soldiers to her left. They were less prepared and not shooting at her. They couldn't see her with their portable scanners and were relying on their ship to pinpoint her location.

On all fours now, she was on them before they fully realized the danger they were in. She had no interest in feeding on them, so she began to claw and tear flesh with her natural weapons while firing her gun at two others further away. The shock of seeing their compatriots being torn apart by something they couldn't see caused them to hesitate.

Both those Humans were shot. She was moving before their bodies hit the ground. It was a quick death for those soldier animals. They should have felt honored to receive mercy from one such as her.

Already the She had detected three more prey and headed towards them. They must have sensed something because they were shooting their weapons at her, but they could not see her and at the speed she was moving, she would be on top of them in moments.

Tollanian Frigate Guardian

Senior scanner officer Ophelima, gasped in horror as seven Human life signs faded away in under four minutes. Her commander had seen it too and was screaming into the comms for the remaining ground troops to pull back and prepare for immediate transport.

Captain Burin was stunned and horrified that those men and women had died so quickly. The scans were tracking the fast-moving creature heading for yet another group of soldiers who were retreating as fast as they could, but clearly, they were being run down. The Guardian's sensors tracked the creature as it rushed towards the retreating soldiers, who were unaware of the incoming threat. At the speed it was moving, it would be on them in less than a minute. Kajmian was yelling at him through the comms, insisting that the soldiers retreat, and that Burin should begin broadcasting to see if it was possible to negotiate with the creature.

Burin never felt as cold as he did at that moment. Many of his fears had come to pass. The lack of training for ground troops was so evident, a child could see it. Their weapons weren't powerful enough to stop the enemy and keep themselves safe. They didn't even know how to escape and hide properly. Instead, they clumped together in groups, making them perfect targets. And here that man was, trying to order him to be 'civilized'.

In this, he agreed. He was going to be civilized. "Secondary plasma cannon, lock on to target!"

"Target locked."

The captain stared at the gunnery officer for a moment. The man was already locked on and just waiting for the word to fire.

That pleased him. "Fire."

Four thin blue beams of ionized plasma hit the target less than a second later. Where the alien had been, there was only a crater three meters deep.

"Target eliminated."

"Well done. Have our troops check for remains, if any. Track them and give them any support that they need."

The Counselor, next in line to become the second most powerful leader in New Tollania, after the High Chancellor Trevall and her possible successor, was screaming at him.

He barely heard it. There were too many lessons he needed to go over. The Tollanian people were not ready for ground assault, nor were they effective when being second guessed during operations. Things needed to change., He intended to talk to Narim, Travell when she felt better, and the Security Operations Director. Things needed to change in a hurry.

"Captain Burin," his second in command said, interfering with his musing. "The Tau'ri are being attacked. Our defense network is being activated."

The man felt a chill go down his spine. Tollanian defenses, in his opinion, were inadequate.

"If they come after us, we're not ready," he whispered to himself.

To be continued