AN: Hapy New Year! Stay healthy, and if at all possible avoid getting stuck into quarantine for the holliday.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Star Wars, or Stargate movies, TV shows, games, books, or comics. They belong to their respective copyright owners. This story is not for sale or rent.
Chapter 4: A taste of war
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Part 3
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Slavna Zemq
Perun's throne world
Milky Way galaxy
Surprisingly enough, Kali held up her side of the deal, though with a Goa'uld you could never be too sure how long such a pleasant state of affairs would persist. Then again, it could be also a message. No matter what new toys I thought of, or how much I improved my military, it wouldn't matter. Kali's forces and industry outmatched everything I had available by a ridiculous margin.
Case in point, precisely one week after I had my fateful meeting with the System Lord, the Stargate on my throne world lit up, and one of Kali's underlings arrived bringing gifts. A long procession of slaves escorted by a handful of Jaffa brought in anti-gravity pallets holding enough dual staff cannons to outfit thrice the Death glider fleet I had available. That was just the tip of the iceberg.
Kali's agent, a Goa'uld wearing a middle-aged female human host, was eager to meet me.
"I am Lady Vahlen, Chief Scientist of System Lord Kali!" The Goa'uld declared grandly. "I come bringing gifts and demanding ideas!" She pulled an ornate wooden box from the hands of her Jaffa escort and handed it to me. "That's data on how to integrate various weapon systems into a Death glider's electronics, and information on how your sorry excuse for scientists can do it themselves in the future."
I looked at the box through the Force, seeing nothing but rows of crystals within, and carefully handled it to one of my Custodes, acting as an honor guard.
"I appreciate this generous gift, Lady Vahlen!" I said, using my number five Sith smile – don't let the crazy see you aren't particularly happy to be in their company. Why did her name sound kind of familiar, I wondered idly, before continuing. "What can I do for you, my Lady?"
"I said I want new ideas to work with! Do you have any idea how bored I've been these past few centuries?! With Ra's proscriptions, nothing was interesting to do but learn about boring things!" The odd Goa'uld bounced in place, and her Jaffa guard wisely took a step away from her.
"Well, I do have the odd idea about further improving our ancient Death gliders and Al'kesh…" I trailed off. "Ra doesn't care about those, does he?"
"Nope! Now gimme ideas!" Vahlen pouted like a little kid.
What is the name of the Force did I get myself in? I stowed that thought for later and kept the crazy scientist entertained. At least she felt nothing like Zash…
"Have you thought about giving Death gliders the ability to engage targets beyond visual range?" I innocently asked.
Vahlen's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree and the light show didn't go away.
"Why no one thought about that before?! Perhaps a modified naquadah bomb with engine and targeting system…"
"Yes, I had a few ideas in that vein. I provisionally call those weapons missiles. A warhead – explosive to do the killing job, a targeting system to find a target and guide the weapon to it, and a powerful engine to get the missile there. Doing anything with the concept is beyond what passes for scientists in my employ…"
"Yes! I can see it! I can see it all!" Vahlen kept bouncing in place. "I need a terminal with good design software."
"I'm sadly missing that too…"
"Just get me a decent computer! I go nowhere without my design programs!" Vahlen patted the sash of her green dress. At a closer inspection, I noticed a small velvet pouch hiding there.
"Jaffa, Kree! Escort Lady Vahlen to the palace and make sure she has what she needs."
The good news was that I might get missiles way ahead of schedule. Bad news, that was now true for everyone else. I would also need to further overhaul and expand my pilots' training, and look into active and passive countermeasures.
The best news was that once I had viable missile designs to play with, I could look into some good old-fashioned WMDs. Those would be a great power equalizer, not to mention a final fuck you to whoever might overrun my domain before I was ready.
But first, I needed to see what other "gifts" Kali sent my way.
A quick overview of the goods convinced me that either Perun had been even more of an imbecile than I believed possible... Either that or I was seeing one of the ways how the System Lords kept their positions for as long as they did. Now I was ready to bet that most Goa'uld ruling domains for Kali weren't in any better state as far as R&D went. Instead, if my hunch was right, virtually all Goa'uld with important skills worked either for the System Lords themselves, or their most important, and closely monitored underlings.
Either that or Kali was the odd bird out, keeping all kinds of scientists in her employ. They just hadn't experienced or thought about a real war. Because, once they got the basic ideas, what I got back was a significant improvement.
Kali's slaves brought hundreds of crates. Dozens of them contained sleek staff rifles, upgrades with a basic optical targeting system. Other crates contained a few hundred sets of basic plate armor – front and backplate, along with pieces to protect the arms and legs. That way, the pieces could be fit onto mundane armor with little trouble, greatly increasing my Jaffa's protection.
I couldn't wait to see what the dual-staff cannons for the gliders could do.
Kali's people weren't merely copying my ideas, they were improving on them. That was the benefit of having enough qualified people to throw at a problem, I guess, it was just something I didn't expect.
Ba'al would adapt sooner than most. The same might be true for Anubis, and Sokar if I didn't manage to kill him early. What I hadn't taken as a serious threat was the average System Lord doing the same. I had to re-evaluate my long-term plans, and pursue a closer relationship with both Kali and Earth, playing their R&D, and industrial capacity against each other.
Anything less could prove fatal. Furthermore, I needed to look at increasing my domain and industry as much as practical if I wanted to have a chance in the long term.
Why in the name of the Force did I end up in a timeline where the Goa'uld are showing glimpses of competence?!
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Part 4
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Slavna Zemq
Perun's throne world
Milky Way galaxy
The communication device in my palace lit up, splitting a large hologram in an unusual conference link. To the left, in all her veiled glory stood the face and shoulders of Kali. To the right, Bastet's dusk-skinned host looked down at me like a cat with a new favorite toy.
"My Ladies!" I bowed with a flourish, just like I had learned to do so long ago in various Sith courts. "To what do I owe the grand honor of your attention?"
"That's not the proper way to grovel in front of your betters! You're right, Kali, he's an uncultured little thing." Bastet taunted.
"A useful one, or we wouldn't be having this conversation, would we, my Ladies?" I raised an eyebrow while doing my best to keep my growing fury contained.
"Sadly true." Kali sounded too disappointed for comfort. "We've confirmed Ba'al is building up forces in multiple locations around our respective domains."
If I wasn't using the Force, I would have missed Kali's lips twisting in displeasure.
"Your warning was the first one we got, Lord… Peru. Is that the mantle you would like to keep wearing, or would you take up your own?" She stared at me with her dark eyes.
"Let's go with Perun for simplicity's sake, my Lady. What do you require of me?"
"In four days, I'll have a Ha'tak force above the staging ground you found. Their primary job is to intercept Ba'al's approaching ships and destroy them. As soon as they reach the system and jamm communications, I want you to take that world, bring me prisoners, and any viable intelligence. That will be a proper field test for your new way of warfare." Kali decreed.
"Your will shall be done, my Lady Kali." I bowed again, showing the necessary amount of subservience.
"Both of us will send observers. If they're impressed, we will require that you supply us with a training cadre for our own Jaffa." Kali continued.
"My Jaffa's next training cycle will be complete in three weeks. At that time, I will have a reasonable amount of trainers to begin working with a training cadre among your Jaffa. Before that, I can send Jaffa who knows what will be needed to expedite the training, so they can prepare the ground along with your Jaffa, my Ladies. Further, at that time, I'll have available to send as trainers veterans from the coming battle, ready to dispense lessons learned."
Something flickered between Kali and Bastet.
"I see what you mean. You've found either a diamond in the rough, or an armed bomb." Bastet purred. "Perhaps both. Your timetable is acceptable, Lord Perun. At any rate, before retraining my Jaffa at anything but being better shots, I want to see if doing so will have merit. My representatives will arrive at your throne world within the hour." Bastet's image vanished after those parting words.
Well, that was that. From what little I could gather, Kali's ally wasn't actively hostile towards me. I wasn't sure why did I get the feeling that Bastet was an overgrown feline stuffed into a human shape. That in combination with the odd sense that she was looking at me like a toy to play with, wasn't particularly reassuring.
"Do I dare ask what is our strategic situation, my Lady?" I addressed Kali, who kept studying me with dark amusement shining in her eyes.
"From the forward deployments we found, Ba'al is likely to attempt a diversion, followed by a decapitation strike. If successful, he'll be reinforcing his Chappa'ai deployed forces to gain a foothold in our domain. We're going to strike first, hitting worlds where he has no business sending his Jaffa. After we bloody his nose, we'll bring the issue in front of Ra. An all out war against Ba'al isn't in our best interest, especially now, that you have given us ways to significantly increase the power of our armies."
My estimation of Kali, and the danger she represented kept rising every time she opened her mouth and said something.
"Do you require something more of me, my Lady?" I inquired.
"Unless you have other ideas that could be implemented quickly, the no."
"There's nothing significant that I can think of, considering the time frame we're working with, my Lady." I shook my head in mock disappointment. I wasn't sharing any other ideas I had until I got rewarded for winning the coming battle. "With your permission, my Lady, I have plans to overview one last time, and make sure everything is in place for the assault in four days."
"Vahlen's last message told me as much. Keep her entertained, and she will keep proving her worth. Go forth, Lord Perun, and bring us a victory, the likes of which this galaxy hasn't seen in a long, long time." Kali decreed and shut down the communication device.
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Late that evening, I had my staff, as it was, pouring over plans of attack. A handful of Kali's and Bastet's Jaffa joined us. They kept silent by keenly observing the planning session.
"We have confirmation that as of twelve hours ago, Ba'al's forces began to fortify the Chappa'ai in earnest." My First Prime began. "While this might be a coincidence, and something his Jaffa planned to do so, the odds are he is aware we know of that staging ground and are planning on attacking it."
"While coincidences happen every day, I don't trust them." I looked at our guests. Kali's Jaffa was a mixed bag – two tall, muscled women showing scars of combat, and three younger men, who nevertheless moved with the smooth sureness of veterans.
Bastet's group was all women – which reminded me, she was unique in the fact that all the Jaffa she deployed in combat or used as guards were women, while the men were stuck looking over their children and acting as a defensive force if required.
In that regard, she was the polar, and sane, opposite of that maniac Moloch. That particular piece of work had been murdering every female Jaffa born in his domain, to strengthen his armies. In practice, everyone with sense was waiting for the crazy fool to weaken himself sufficiently, before starting a feeding frenzy unseen in thousands of years.
"Under the present circumstances, I would require that our guests inform their respective gods, that they might still have spies at large within their courts. Further, until we launch the assault, your communications and actions will be monitored." I smiled mirthlessly at the observers. "I hope, for your sake, that Ladies Kali and Bastet chose wisely in sending you here."
The two groups of foreign Jaffa exchanged tense looks, before relaxing a fraction, and nodding in acceptance. We would see if they would prove troublesome or not.
"Depending on the state of the enemy fortifications, I might be taking the field, and leading the charge. My shield will help sustain the initial push through, along with the assault infantry." I went back to revisit the plan. "Prime Gorski, we'll likely go through together, right behind the first shield- bearers. As soon as we dial the Chappa'ai, our cloaked Al'kesh should provide air support, dividing the enemy's attention, and increasing our chances. Behind us will come in a heavy weapons unit, and focus on the bunkers."
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