May you all have wonderful time on these blessed holidays!
Sithspawn: Greetings. I sent you a PM. Did you ever get it? Skeet
Roads Paved In Shadows
Chapter Fifty-six
Sol System
Thousands of missiles, exuded from the expanded Shadow planet killer, reminding Colonel Jon O'Neill, more than anything else, like a swarm of locusts coming to devour everything in its path. "How many?" he demanded.
"Still counting," the operations specialist said. "All heavy nukes. ETA, three minutes."
Alarms inside Lemuria were screaming warnings as the missiles headed their way. Earth was the primary target, but the enemy had targeted Lemuria as well. Twenty of those missiles were specifically vectoring towards the city ship. Apparently, the enemy, whose name they still hadn't uncovered yet, was taking no chances. The shield around Lemuria was not to be taken lightly, and the enemy knew it. Therefore, they were throwing a few gigatons at it just to make sure they destroyed it. The cruiser fire and missiles from the Drakh failed to make a dent in the shields and now it was a matter of honor to obliterate the obstacle that had so callously destroyed so many of their ships and killed their crews.
Earth's global defensive sats were pouring energy weapons, fire, and anti-missile missiles of their own into the incoming swarms. Bright blue beams connected to their targets, and the targets disappeared. Dozens were being destroyed per second, but it wouldn't be enough to stop the flood. Enhanced naquada nuclear missiles followed and to the charging of Earth's defenders, had little impact. The hardened missiles of the Shadow planet killer, designed to bore into and penetrate planetary cores, for the most part, resisted the tremendous amounts of nuclear firepower thrown against it.
The Shadows anticipated the use of nuclear weapons against their PK. Many of their victims used counter missiles or some variation of that defense as their primary, most destructive weapons. And they were not concerned. Most races doomed to this weapon, though explosives could slow it down. They were all proven wrong. Only First Ones had a chance of stopping the Shadow's ultimate terror weapon.
Shadow policy dictated that their victim saw their deaths coming, and would discover that nothing they had could prevent it. Lasers and primitive particle weapons would not stop a missile from slamming into the planet. But the humans of this world had significant firepower and both Drakh and Shadow were surprised that large numbers of their missiles were destroyed, not only by their powerful energy weapons, but by their nuclear missiles, which they originally dismissed as an effective deterrent, as well. Their counter missiles were powerful, powerful enough to kill a Shadow penetrator weapon. It was worrying.
Their power galvanized the enemy to make sure that President Clark and EarthForce would never get their hands on any of this technology. And if they did, the Shadows would personally exterminate Earth Alliance to make sure the balance of power wasn't tilted too far. The Shadows wanted chaos to strengthen the home primitives, not exterminate everything as Clark surely would try to do in his madness. Under the current circumstances, life would ultimately be decimated in that portion of the galaxy. Clark didn't know when to stop and with such power, Clark would run riot. The Centauri were there to counter Clark's power. The Shadows made sure they would be a counterweight. With the mad man having Tau'ri technology and weapons, the balance would be altered and the Great Experiment invalidated.
The Shadows understood Clark all too well. He was on a pathway to total destruction. Eventually, he would destroy everything, just because he could. His shriveled soul was totally corrupted, and that kind of corruption not only caused chaos, but planetary level death, something the Shadows didn't want. The Shadows would one day head to the Rim, and didn't want to explain to the elders who placed them in charge, why those under their care were all dead.
The Shadows desire was to watch this Earth burn, but they were too busy now, fighting for their lives against an enemy once thought dead.
Inside the sleek, black glistening armored shells of the Shadow motherships, also called battle crabs by some, activated targeting organelles, locked onto the Asgard vessels already starting their attack runs against them and prepared to destroy them. In their universe, the mere sight of one of the Dancers of the Dark's vessels inspired fear from their enemies. Here, their presence inspired loathing and the need to destroy them, and the aliens didn't like it. these young races hadn't been modified through telepathic and genetic procedures. That would change as soon as they gained control. And that meant killing this Earth and the Asgard before they grew too strong.
If it were possible.
What few examinations performed on the Humans here so far, indicated that the humans were already modified. They were resistant to telepathy at different levels. The Colonials and some of the other Humans had various degrees of resistance. Their genome was different from their home universe counterparts. Thousands of genes present in this Humanity were not present in the modified Humans at home and shadow geneticists were hard at work, trying to understand what their purpose meant for Humans and what they were used for. The Shadows were experts in genetic manipulation, however, whoever experimented on these Humans was at First One levels.
What they were surprised about was that the Humans of both universes were fundamentally the same. The relationship between both sub-variants was too similar to be ascribed to random evolution. There were unknown factors, and the Shadows were wary. The Vorlons wanted to wipe out the Human species here everywhere, and the Shadows were beginning to agree. The Humans here were too advanced and continued to advance far too quickly. The Shadow's had zero interests in battling for what they already considered theirs. And that required them to do what the Vorlons, in their incompetence, failed to do, wipe out the Humans protectors, the Asgard, starting with this group.
A battlecrab screamed as its LASED-particle beam erupted, slashing at the closest Asgard warship challenging her. The beams slammed into the Asgard shields at full strength, the energy splashing across the target's shields. The ship resisted the first strike. That was to be expected.
But the small UCW warships had done the same. Shadow science struggled hard to counter those shields. Their own stingers were more powerful now, upgraded in response. Months earlier, a small UCW young one ship had hurt Shadow mother ships, and the Shadows resolved to do something about that. No young race was allowed to possess that kind of power and live.
The Shadow ship repeated its attack before it went evasive, attempting to avoid the retaliatory response. It failed, and it screamed in anger and defiance.
The Asgard weapon was a variation, a more powerful one of the UCw warships, and it scorched and burned the updated armor designed to resist said weapons. Inside the one point two-kilometer-long living ship, the arachnid-like creatures closest to the weapon's impact, were knocked away from their monitoring stations, with two of them dying, as a result of the damage. The deaths enraged them all the more.
The telepathic brain center, a Human given to them by Psi-corps, was in physical and emotional turmoil as the ship she was connected to, writhe in agony. Every mother had an organic telepathic core, a living being of one species or another, used as the computer interface. The Human teep was resilient and the bond between her and the mother was strong. What the ship felt, she felt and right now, both wanted revenge for the hurt the lesser race's ship had done to them.
Dodging once more, it fired back and the Asgard ship shuddered violently, much to the Shadow's satisfaction, A second mother added her power to the attack. The Shadows used a two-to-one prong attack. Scores of small shadow fighters were disgorged to aid in the battle.
One battlecrab, neatly avoiding one of the deadly Asgard beam weapons, turned directly into the sights of another Asgard ship and was cut into two sections. The psychic scream was heard throughout the system.
The scream of rage from its relatives turned into one of joy as the first Asgard ship's shields failed, and the Shadow beam sliced deep into the vessel, trying its best to cut through the incredible armor the ship was constructed from. It failed, but the damage was catastrophic. The vessel exploded several seconds later. The Shadows were ecstatic.
Long months of research to find a way through the Tau'ri shields had born unexpected fruit. Goa'uld shields were effective, but the Shadows and Drakh scientists had developed offensive counter measures against them. The modifications worked and once they found the Asgard colony world, they would swarm it by the hundreds, killing every last Asgard they could find.
The Asgard destroyers could not be allowed to survive, just as the Tau'ri couldn't be allowed to survive. The Shadow commander ignored future promises and concentrated on the immediate battle. The large Tau'ri warships had just entered the battle. They were large and dangers, proving just how dangerous they were when no less than six of their main weapons targeted another mother and tried to remove it from the universe. That mother dodged violently as it struggled to live. Its LASED cutting beam struck the offending vessel in retaliation, managing to lower those hated shields by thirty percent. But the human ship barely slowed down, and the mother was screaming as a glancing blow tore into upgraded bio-armor. It was wounded and bleeding, but still in the fight.
The commander's multiple eyes glowed brightly when a heavy squadron of Drakh cruisers and two of their precious battleships joined the fight. The Drakh went after the Borealis-class Auroras with their upgraded quantum weapons. Those ships returned fire and discovered they were battling against shielded Drakh ships, intended to fight and destroy Goa'uld.
Supreme Commander Thor was shocked that the enemy had vessels that had shielding. But he wasn't surprised. A quick scan indicated that those shields were based on Goa'uld technology. It was adequate, but when compared to Asgard and Ancient technology, they were, as the humans would say, 'not good enough', as he promised they would soon find out.
Atlantis Command Center
Thousands of missiles, each one five times the size of the old C5 Galaxies, headed towards Earth and at speeds approaching Mach thirty, were accelerating. Those missiles nosecones glowed with an ugly blue-green light. The cones contained a specialized version of the LASED-particle cannons. The cannon in the nose cones would ignite and use their power to burrow into the very core of a planet. The missiles would then explode, and thousands upon thousands of megatons from tens of thousands of missiles destabilized the planet's core. The results would be immediate. The stricken planet would suffer convulsions, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, massive tidal waves, and other national disasters, all occurring at the same time. It would take days, but the planet would literally break up, becoming tens of millions of small asteroids, the remnants of a dead world circling its sun.
The President, Vice-President, Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Jack O'Neill, and several hundred others watched breathlessly as the monitor showed the incoming swarm hurdling towards their world. Those not looking at the monitor, but outside towards the sky, could see what looked like a black cloud, increasing, heading towards them.
"Our G.O. Ds are doing an excellent job," the French President whispered to one of the military officers next to her. "But they weren't designed to defend us against those numbers." The woman was sweating as she struggled not to panic. Her concerned increase as a secondary monitor focused on another one of the world-enders slowly moving into position. "They really mean to kill us all."
"Yes, ma'am," the German officer answered. "We do not die easily."
O'Neill, glared at the incoming missiles. He was angry and when this was over, he would make sure none of those aliens survived to try this again. He didn't know if Earth Alliance was a part of this, but he'd find out.
Everyone's eyes were transfixed on the monitor, and one of the Sensor officers counted it down. There was nothing else to do but wait for now.
The first missiles hit something and detonated, followed by several hundred more, less than a second later. It and the others bounced off and exploded an invisible shield, seven thousand miles above the planet's surface, went opaque as soon as the first missile hit it. Hundreds, thousands, and then tens of thousands of explosions brightened space above the shield, causing the spectacle to look like the birth of a new sun to those who dared to look at the deadly spectacle. People who hadn't known about the defensive shield protecting the planet, looked on in awe and terror. Some believed it was some type of solar storm. Others who knew the truth were ecstatic that they were protected and that the Earth wasn't doomed to die in nuclear fire.
The supreme Drakh commander could do nothing but stare as the missile, in numbers large enough to blanket a planet, bounced off a planetary defensive shield large enough to encompass a world. He wouldn't have been surprised in the least if those shields had covered major population centers and military asset, but the entire world? No, he hadn't anticipated that. If the missile's couldn't penetrate the shield, then the backup plague pods couldn't get close enough to infect the planet. Already the ships transporting the pods were moving away to keep out of the line of fire. A dozen were destroyed, and the others were at risk. Commander Ulyis ordered those survivors to retreat to the safety of the second planet killer. The biomechanical disease would be used elsewhere if needed.
Already he had ordered the reserves to attack and destroy the Human ships. But arrogance was replaced with concern, even fear. His proud forces were being cut to pieces by ships the size of his raiders. The bigger ships were worse, and his assault destroyers and precious heavy cruisers were not living up to expectations. The larger defense ships were a nightmare to fight, and his forces were going against them, four cruisers, to one. He saw one of his destroyers gutted by the enemy plasma beam. It had fought back with everything it had and even with assistance, the ship was torn apart as its engines were hit. The cascades of detonations of fuel, quantium-40, and weapons proved beyond doubt that his daughter was dead. Thet was no hope that she could have survived. The male tried to hide his anger and bitterness.
He had a war to win now, and a child to avenge. He ordered the last of his reserves to support his masters. It was frightening to see three, no four of the battlecrabs die from the weapon of a young race. The sight tore at him and the only thing he could do was to support them with what he had. Cold and calculating now, he ordered the second planet killer to enter the conflict. The planet's shields may have held off the first strike, a true miracle. But those shields had taken the hit and had to have been weakened enough so that the second planet-killer could perform its duty. Not wanting to do so, he ordered all ships to empty their stores of the Q-nukes against the UCW defenders. It was a waste, but desperate times required extreme measures and inwardly he hoped the gamble worked.
Sol system
Battlestar Radiance
Admiral Frankus Kunningham couldn't decide whether the monitor or DRADIS was more important at this moment. Earth was being attacked by an alien armada using weapons that he could barely accept as being real in one of the sci-fi vids he enjoyed looking at home. They always captured his imagination, pulling him away from his duties as an admiral for a time. But this was real, and he needed to see this.
"Their planet is protected. Literally," Lieutenant Ria said to no one in particular, in what sounded like awe and admiration.
Kunningham didn't so much as twitch at the comment. It was another astounding feat of technology, he should have suspected. And he did, but he didn't quite believe. Now, seeing it was to believe it. Gigatons of nuclear ordinance exploded overhead, and earth and everything underneath the shield was protected. It was stunning, but he was concerned at the strength of the shield and how long it would last under such bombardment. That other monstrosity was slowly moving in, and he worried that the shields wouldn't survive a second strike.
There were other things that occupied his almost overtaxed mind. The ship battle was almost incomprehensible. Colonial tactics had capital ships moving in slowly, supported by faster moving support ships and fighters. Here, the Earth ships and their allies moved with the speed and grace of small fighters. The enemy capital ships were comparatively slow and at a disadvantage, just like Colonial battlestars would be. The enemy armor was extraordinarily strong, thick, and multilayered. His Mercury's weaponry, part of the most powerful of the Colonial fleet, would have a difficult time, defending herself against one of the larger battleships.
On the other hand, Earth ships and their allies were literally frightening in their power. Their shields, their speed, their weapons, their overall capability, made him thank the gods. His people hadn't come here to try to bend Earth to the Quorum's will. Such foolishness was unthinkable now. His attention was pulled towards the Lemuria as it began to move forward at surprising speed. It vectored directly after the first planet-killer.
The structure wasn't finished. Scans indicated that the device was constructing more missiles at a most unnatural rate, fast enough to make the crew's skin crawl.. Obviously, it couldn't be allowed under any circumstances to rearm itself. He was morbidly curious what that beautifully fragile looking station could do.
Probably everything, he suspected. Being honest with himself. The massive city in space looked too beautiful and fragile to do anything but look pretty. But like everything else concerning the Apellai-Tau'ri, it was an illusion.
The city ship, escorted by four of the large Earther ships, began firing at a range that astounded him once more. The distance was calculated to be a little over a light second. Everywhere the beams touched, the structure broke apart. But the planet-killer wasn't defenseless. The Drakh destroyers and cruisers assigned to escort that monster were already trying to intercept and destroy the Earthers who dared try to destroy their master's creation. They were cut apart by the Aurora Borealis class battleships. Kunningham's practiced eyes took it in. without shields and relying only on their armor, those enemy ships didn't have a chance. The Earthers were now firing missiles.
And the City type ship. …!
"What are those?" Frankus yelled, demanding answers.
"Unknown, sir," Ria quickly responded. "Look like some kind of missiles, but the way they move is unlike anything I've ever seen. They are about to hit!"
The brightly colored missiles, complete with tentacles, struck the planet killer, tearing through everything. The Shadow weapon had fought back, using its own quantum and cutting beam weapons, trying to intercept and kill those Earth missiles before they could hit. The effort failed and to the horror of the aliens controlling and to the outright awe of the Colonials, some the missiles phased through the armor instead of blowing up against the same armor. While the Drakh were struggling against the glowing projectiles, they had to defend against a dozen high yield naquadria-potassium nukes–gate busters. Drakh destroyers, cruisers and one battleship inside the PK disappeared as they flashed into molecular mist.
Kunningham's legs wavered slightly, although none of the crew witnessed it. Those projectiles either blew up, the explosions, almost too big to measure, or to phased into metal and then blew up. Some of them simply tore into everything and kept going without exploding. Whatever they did, it was devastating. The, what his XO was calling a super nuclear strike package, was more powerful than any explosive known to Colonial science.
The first planet killer was huge enough to encompass a planet. But those strange, almost organic looking objects were dismantling the entire structure.
Those UCW missiles, or the projectiles hit something critical.
The first planet-killer suddenly closed in upon itself and its remaining missiles fired and destroyed the entire structure. It appeared to be a self-destruct, probably an attempt to keep the enemy from having intact technology to examine.
"They just killed a ship the size of a planet!" Colonel Clifton Ramsies, the XO muttered. He was overjoyed. The diplomatic fleet was located two jumps away, deep in secured UCW territory. The CD assets remaining behind were witness to the whole spectacle, and it was worrying. "The UCW never needed our help. How can we convince the Colonies Earth needs us when we're witnessing this?"
Halima Cain agreed. Here the Colonial warships were, the third line of defense as it were. They were silent witnesses to a battle they longed to participate in. There wasn't a single tribal member that didn't want to be there, side-by-side with their family, holding the line against enemies trying to destroy Earth, Thirteenth Tribe, or not. There was, however, a problem keeping them from entering the battle. The admiral promised not to intervene unless needed. Earth and the UCW were protecting them as if they were little children and it was vaguely insulting, although the Colonies would do the exact same thing for any diplomatic liaisons.
The Colonial military was also first, and foremost, responsible for the protection the diplomatic fleet. The military would be needed if the Earth failed. It was one of the reasons why the admiral had decided not to stand in the center line, protecting the planet.
The energy shield was another factor. The Colonial ships were located under the planetary shield. They couldn't get through, and that was a good thing because the lingering radiation from the multiple gigaton detonations would fry everyone on the ship. The radiation and energy were dissipating quickly, and in a few minutes, it would be safe for them to get into the fight, if needed.
A million things passed through Kunningham's mind, none of them good. His mission, trying to convince the Tau'ri to join their elder brethren. That mission was in shambles. Earth did not need them, not really. Plus, the galaxy was supremely dangerous, and his people were going to have to play catchup. He felt the urge to contribute something to the battle, but he was effectively stymied, and it made him feel useless. The tech of the Earth and allies were beyond unbelievable, and he strongly suspected that they wouldn't share easily. The 'come back in a hundred years or so' insult by Daniel Jackson and others on Earth, had taken on an entirely new meaning.
What affected him the most was the war happening in front of his eyes. The Lemuria was awe-inspiring. Its beam weapons and those freakish missiles were beyond impressive. It was nothing less than a glorified battleship, a fact it proved as it ripped through a Drakh squadron without pausing on its way to attack the second planet destroying device. A third of the fleet was supporting it and the Drakh were running out of ships.
His eyes went wide, as another monitor showed the Tau'ri heavies and those other alien ships fighting the spider like monster ships and even those nightmares were having problems. DRADIS scanners couldn't identify the type of energy beam they were using, but it did identify the strength of the beam is high enough to cut a battlestar in half.
"What are those things?"
"I don't know," Kunningham answered softly. He was suddenly glad his people weren't engaging them. It was just another form of acknowledgement that the Terrans were stronger than anyone in the Colonies imagined. They were proving it right here and now. Their alien support was significant, and he worried that the Quorum wouldn't listen to him or the ambassador. All he and his warships could do was to stare and record what they could as the UCW got serious and started tearing the enemy ships apart with increasing ferocity. They hadn't taken kindly to tens of thousands of multi-megaton missile trying to turn their planet into a radioactive graveyard.
The Colonials were so intent on watching the battle that they almost didn't notice the Atlantis city ship rising up to join the Lemuria in attacking the monster planet killer. The larger city ship passed through the energy shield without a hint of difficulty and seconds later, both stations were firing beam weapons and those strange glowing missiles at the enemies' missile-carrying behemoth.
Atlantis
Minutes earlier, the President and leaders were very concerned about the second planet killer. Lemuria was a powerhouse, and the defensive forces were holding their own. But Atlantis was here, and it was needed.
A general evacuation of the leaders of the UCW was ordered. They were immediately transported to the Pacifica city ship located four hundred miles off the coast of England. The Pacifica was another abandoned derelict found in a world in the Pegasus galaxy. The ship was towed to Earth.
The engines, and much of its equipment, were damaged or destroyed by Wraith strikes. In spite of the damage, it gave Earth, the Asgard and the Tollanian scientists the unprecedented opportunity to study an ancient city ship. Pacifica was bigger than Atlantis. It was there that the zero point module production facility was discovered. With that known, they were able to find the facilities in Atlantis and Lemuria.
Pacifica couldn't fly, but its production facilities were unsurpassed. It was an industrial city ship built by the Ancients. With its industrial capabilities, Earth and the UCw were able to develop and significantly increase their space forces. It was a boon to Earth and its allies.
General O'Neill took the command chair and Atlantis's engine sprang to life. The ship quickly achieved orbit, joining the Lemuria in its assault on the planet killer. Their attack would be part of history. General Jack O'Neill, in command of Atlantis, and his son Colonel Jon O'Neill on Lemuria. Together, the Drakh had better take notice.
Despite their sizes, they were tiny compared to something that could surround and obliterate a planet. But, they weren't to be underestimated.
Kunningham was actively worried now. The enemy had noticed as well, increasing their firepower not only to protect their planet killer but also to defend themselves. The UCW had gotten serious, and the enemy knew it, because they were trying to disengage even as another series of fights erupted, indicating more of those jump points appeared filled with more Drakh raiders and destroyers. The enemy reserves had arrived and were immediately engaged by the Jaffa heavy Ha'taks waiting in reserve. Their firepower was frightening, much worse than he initially believed, and for the first time, he began worrying about the Colonies being exposed to the wider universe. Religious differences were going to be a secondary consideration.
The battle stations, and that's what Kunningham believed them to be, were tearing into the planet killer, ripping huge chunks from the structure. The admiral had to admire those very impressive shields. It was little wonder that the CDF wanted them so badly.
The PK wasn't defenseless and was throwing out enough firepower to destroy a couple of battlestar fleets. He'd have nightmares dreaming of one of those devices showing up in Colonial territory.
The other monitor caught his attention and one of the Terran heavy capitals lost its shielding and was immediately cut into pieces by no less than three of those black spider ships. His entire mood darkened at that moment. The enemy ships had managed to burn through those shields, and he couldn't imagine what amount of firepower was required to do something like that. Their victory hadn't lasted long, however. One of the hammerheads, like alien ships, tagged a spider with its main beam. It couldn't get away, and he heard screaming. That was impossible, but the scream of anger and despair reverberated throughout the Colonial ship. It was their first experience with a psychic scream, and none of them liked it.
The spider's armor resisted for a moment before it failed, and the Asgard beam burned through the entire ship. Most of the Colonials didn't know the name of the owners of that intimidating ship, but its capabilities was beyond dispute.
The spider ship began to shrivel up, as if it were dying, which is exactly what was happening.
Ramsies, recovering from the mind scream of the alien ship, felt as if his mind had just been dumped with filth. He felt unclean. He was gawking at the shivering spider thing folding in on itself.
"It looks like it's bleeding!" Kunningham was transfixed at the sight, to the exclusion of everything else. "Is that thing bleeding?"
Oh, gods!
Supreme Commander Thor of the Asgard wasn't a being given to outward bursts of anger, but today was an exception. He recognized the Shadow warships and their crews for what they were, an old species like the Vorlons. They were perhaps older than the Asgard. These aliens thought themselves an ancient and, therefore, a superior race. Well, the Asgard was ancient as well. And these aliens suffered from the same misconception as had their Vorlon friends.
Yes, they were an old species, and their intelligence might have spanned the galaxy. But they suffered from the same problem as had the Vorlons. They assumed that age equaled supreme authority. They assumed that, because of their age; they possessed superior knowledge. What they hadn't realized, and the Asgard recognized this immediately, was that they were stagnant. These creatures were as stagnant as the Vorlons. The ships were organic and very powerful. However, from a practical standpoint that technology should have been far in advance to what it appeared to be at this point.
It took Thor only a few minutes to understand why they would create such a monstrous device as the planet killer that was trying to destroy Earth. It was huge, unwieldy, and a waste of valuable resources. Why would an intelligent race create a device of that size simply to kill a planet?
The answer was, it was considered a terrorist weapon, but not a good one. Tens of thousands of nuclear missiles to destroy one world by having said missiles burrow and to the very core of a planet to blow it up? Did they not have better weapons to do the same thing that were smaller and far more efficient?
The answer was obvious. They didn't. To Thor, this suggested complacency and possible incompetence. These aliens were used to battling races that were far less advanced than they were. His theory answered a lot of questions. And they wanted to terrorized younger, less advanced races, using spectacle, such as a weapon large enough to encompass a world.
They hadn't even developed energy shields for the protection of the ships, although, in their universe, energy shields weren't that common. Maybe these aliens had developed it but discarded them, much like the Vorlons. The Vorlons had energy shields, but they were inferior. The ship, with Goa'uld energy shields properly attuned, would have given them difficulty. He almost found it sad that their servant race didn't have proper energy shielding. There were a few, now attacking his Asgard fleet, that had energy shields but they will Goa'uld-derived and wouldn't stand up long against Asgardian and Ancient firepower.
His beliefs were proven moments later, when the Tau'ri Aurora assisting his people in the battle, used primary be to eviscerate a shielded Drakh cruiser. The shields lasted all of the second before they collapsed and another second later; the warship cracked in half. Drakh warships, eager to come to the defense of their masters, were now on the defensive. Three of those defenders had already been destroyed. There was a nearby explosion and in another of the arachnid, enemy vessels succumbed to a naquada-enhanced missile. Surprisingly, the ship didn't explode, but it simply broke apart.
The enemy vessels Thor's ship were engaging, suddenly cloaked. That's what Thor first assumed, but sensors immediately indicated that the ships had phased into their layer of hyperspace. Moments later, both of them reappeared again behind one of the Asgard ships, and his own. Thor ship was evading wildly, avoiding the intense beam weapon that the enemy vessel used. It Was some type of particle beam, very powerful, but not strong enough to break through as guardian shields without been contact for at least eight to twelve seconds.
Both Asgard ships did something that surprised the enemy vessels. They cloaked, and another stage of the battle began. All four ships danced around one another using both cloaking and phasing, using their capabilities to gain the upper hand.
The Shadow leader was surprised when the ship in front of him abruptly disappeared from his ship's targeting organelles. At first, it thought it the ship was using a form of phase-shifting, but this was different. His own battlecrab had locked on and fired on the Asgard ship and as such close range he fully expected his targets defensive shield to collapse in moments, and that the battlecrab's stinger would cut the enemy apart.
But the beam hadn't been in contact long enough for it to do the job. Now the target was going full evasive, trying to avoid an attack it knew was coming. A second later, it did. High-energy beams hit the side of his ship, cutting off one of the appendages and causing internal damage. His ship screamed in defiance, anger, and agony. His ship's armor had been disrupted, ripped apart by the Asgard beam. Wounded, it ordered his vessel to phase into hyperspace, but it was too late. The Human computer screamed as his brain burned out. The hated Asgard ship struck again, this time with an entirely different type of beam weapon. Wherever the beam touched his ship, that portion of the ship simply disappeared. This was something entirely new, and the battlecrab had no counter for it. The ship and its crew died screaming.
What the Shadow leader would never know was that the feared beam was a weaponized form of transporter beam. Whatever the beam touched, turned into energy… And then dissipated into nothingness. It was a devastating weapon, one that the Asgard developed thousands of years earlier.
The other Shadow vessels nearly froze in shock at the death of their command ship. Every crew in every ship immediately understood why the Vorlons had lost against this middle race they assumed them to be. Frightened and wary, the survivors began to phase into hyperspace. They knew this battle was unwinnable, and they were cutting their losses.
The first planet killer, one that had served them well for countless centuries, was proven ineffective against the powerful shields of the Tau'ri Earth planetary shields.
The two massive space stations were cutting into the heart of the second planet killer! That was unprecedented. Not even the Vorlons could perform such an act with such impunity. The powerful shadow technology was found to be less than optimal when it came to battling the UCW and Asgard. Drakh defenses were being shattered far too easily, and their terror weapon was in danger of being captured by a young race, who by all rights shouldn't have even been worthy to kiss the bottom of their appendages.
The Masters had radically underestimated the power of this Human race, and paid the price. What should have been a minor inconvenience was now full on war. They wouldn't take this line down. Thousands of battlecrabs occupied the newly built colony. Forces would be gathered to wipe out the UCW, but not before they reevaluated their tactics. Tau'ri and UCW shield technology were far more advanced than the Ashtorath. this had to be taken into consideration before any additional engagements were begun.
The Drakh were found to be incapable of performing their duties as they had done for so many hundreds of years. The UCW was chaotic, and the shadows appreciated that more so than those young races would ever know, however chaos was directed against them and they would not stand for it. There would be other times, and the Shadows promised to stamp out this blight and do what the Vorlons could never do.
Succeed.
A death cloud.
That was the name a handful of races who survived to see it, called the Shadow planet killer. The terror weapon was designed and built a mere eight thousand years ago. It was their latest and greatest weapon, a counter to the powerful and feared Vorlon planet killers. The Shadows were older than the Vorlons, but their traditional adversary was slightly more advanced than they. And it showed. Any direct conflicts, and those were surprisingly few, the Shadows usually lost. The situation was bad enough that the famed phrase used by the Shadows, 'anything Shadow, touched by Vorlon would die' was used to frighten all but the most ancient of their race.
The death cloud was nothing less than a massive missile carrier. Its structure was able to expand and surround an M-class planet with its megastructure and use its payload to obliterate a world. The PK used forty thousand thermonuclear missiles which burrowed into the core of a world, terrified every young race of their old universe. The death cloud had enough missiles to kill two worlds before industrial units inside the device began to manufacture replacements. It was a monster. And it was feared by everyone who lived long enough to see it used.
Two city ships and a half dozen Aurora Borealis-class battleships going against it were like a few bees attacking an enemy the size of Chicago and its suburbs. The very idea was laughable, But the UCW assets weren't bees. Those ships could be better compared to Vespa Manderinia, Asian giant (murder) hornets–with Ancient defensive shields. The UCW went in into the heart of the terrorists device. Eight thousand kilometers of control center, the very heart of the machine, was laid waste by naquadria nuclear fire and Ancient drones. Drakh warships, guarding the heart of the cloud, died in fire.
With the command center eviscerated, the self destruct was automatically activated. The planet killer closed in upon itself quickly. Then all of the missiles activated and detonated in one titanic blast. Everything within was obliterated, a final act of defiance and revenge. But the UCW weren't there. The city ships and escorts jumped into hyperspace inside the megastructure. The Shadows would have been terrified, if they had seen it. but they were already gone. The remains of the Drakh attack force were doing the same. Fleeing into jump space, followed by a score of UCW, enhanced nuclear missiles following them into the jump points. The perceived safety of jump space was an illusion. In reality, it turned into a maelstrom.
CDF Radiance
They're not taking any chances," the Radiance's XO muttered in approval.
For the Colonials, it was a battle for the ages. The Earth's First Fleet had made their presence known and were assisting in the cleanup. There were two thousand Drakh vessels of various configurations aimlessly floating between Earths moon and the planet. Most were little more than radioactive debris, but some still had survivors. From a tactical point of view, this was a massive win. Only seven UCW units were officially lost in the fight. Others were heavily damaged, but still functional.
Kunningham was still observing the Tollanian warship. Their weapons were completely different from the rest of the Terran ships. Their missiles were seen several times to phase into Drakh vessels, which is what they discovered the enemy's name was. The unidentified UCW alien ships, who were identified as the Asgard, had supplied the data. They were also the ones who were first attacked by those ugly spider ships. It was two against one, and still they held their own.
The amount of energy backwash threatened to overwhelm DRADIS systems. Immediately after the fight was over, the admiral again ordered communications to contact them and this time the Asgard answered. The image of Thor on the screen and disconcerted some of the crew. Most, however, were getting used to seeing aliens. Thor's voice was cold, but not vicious or cruel. He simply said that the Asgard people would establish formal discussions at a later time. He believed the Colonials to not be ready for a formal contact. Casually, he told them to reach agreements with the UCW and Earth before the Asgard would enter any discussions. Kunningham understood. His people weren't ready to meet them.
Three hours later, the defensive shield around Earth had gone down and the diplomatic and local civilian ships were returning. Kunningham was in his cabin writing an after-action report on the battle while everything was fresh in his mind. A Drakh derelict ship was approached by the Radiance after the planetary shield went down. It was one of the first ships to be disabled. The destroyer sported a huge hole in the center of the vessel. The UCw beam melted through layers of armor and decks. It presented an opportunity for the colonials to find out exactly what they were fighting.
The Radiance and the marinestar had approached the unpowered ship. Kunningham wanted prisoners, if any, before the UCW could get to them. He highly doubted that O'Neill and his government would have allowed free access to the enemy.
What followed next was a nightmare. Halima Cain was injured by alien weapons' fire inside the ship. Armored Drakh soldiers, still alive, were formidable. The armor was resistant to all but the most powerful hand-held colonial weapons. It was a nightmare with the colonial marines pulling out, and the Radiance ended up putting two explosive cannon shells into the open guts of the ship. The ship went up like a nuke. One alien prisoner and one mangled corpse were retrieved by the retreating Colonials.
He was still struggling how to define something that caused the eyes to water, trying t focus on it. The alien was ugly, hostile and looked as though it would fade away as its body shifted or phased in and out of reality. He blew a breath. His government and military were going to love this report, he thought. Sarcasm, it appeared, was becoming his friend. The Earthers had started the process of cleanup, and he didn't envy their job. Using Colonial methods, the cleaning would take months. Here in the Sol system, he wasn't sure.
The Earthers had experienced a mild panic when the Asgard aliens discovered and then neutralized some type of biological agent, encased in several of the Drakh vessels. The remains of those particular ships looked like nothing more than small oil tankers with small engines attached. The agent inside those tankers appeared to be both organic and inorganic, virus-sized particles. It didn't take a genius to know that the contents were lethal to Humans. It had to be some type of plague; a backup, in case the primary attack failed. These aliens weren't taking any chances with Earth.
The ruthlessness of the creatures shocked him at a visceral level. The aliens really wanted Earth dead. And he believed what happened to Earth would happen to the Colonies, if these aliens felt threatened by his people. The Asgard and UCW weren't taking any chances. Their wide-beam weapons were spread to vaporize everything in the area.
The UCW was supremely upset and, with a snort, he knew that to be an understatement. The enemy was pulling away at rapid speed. They felt safe, or so they believed, in that strange hyperspace they used. What they didn't know was that the UCW was tracking them via sensors and two destroyers, using their own version of hyperspace. No matter how they tried to evade, the UCW sensors would track the spider ships as well as the Drakh.
The UCW had an unparalleled view of higher and normal space. Their scans were obviously stronger than they had let on, not that he was surprised. What had surprised him was the information they gave him less than an hour earlier. They had allocated the use of one of their long-range satellites to use its subspace communications to contact the Colonies. Elements of their navy were at the Colonies. That was a given. They obviously had been near the Colonies, spying for years. It was irritating, but he didn't really have a problem with it, considering the circumstances.
Tomorrow, he would contact home, in real time. There would be a one second delay, but he could easily live with that. The report he initially composed was so large it would take a couple of days to detail everything. But the length of his and Isahan's debriefing would depend on the situation at home. He needed to know what was happening there and or how dire the war was going. He surmised it had to be bad, considering what had happened here.
Once they got over the initial shock, he was sure President Goesel would immediately start demanding Earth support them with everything they could. He wasn't sure how bad they would take Earth having alien allies and some of the living on the planet with humans there. The sciences, the religious temperament, the richness of the planet, the alien allies, the power supplies he hadn't gotten access to yet, the mobile city stations, the near humans, the agricultural bounty. The eight and a half billion people on Earth, the non-colony worlds, the Humans on the protected planets… the stargate and aliens having access to it. And the Terrans claiming that they were not the Thirteenth Tribe and having proof of it. Most of all, their tendency to say no, to just about everything. If nothing else, this mission was living proof that everything they believed about their cousins was wrong. With his throbbing vein that threatened to explode, he wondered if the communications sat could be kept from melting when the president and his fellow military officers, and the Quorum, and the religious pontiffs, started screaming at him and the ambassador.