Cruiser Dublin Flotilla
Earlier
"Five minutes till arrival", the ensign at the sensor station called out, everyone glanced to the screen where the Tel'tak's position was estimated, the blue dot was now nearly in the Volia system.
Baltar nodded and turned to Commander Sheridan, "Signal the fleet, we're jumping in five, full combat readiness"
"Aye sir", Sheridan saluted and turned to the comms, Baltar checked over his clothes one last time, his emergency underlay and helmet were good, a glance around showed the rest of the crew similarly attired, he watched as a crewman put on his anti flash mask, apart from decompression the greatest danger was a fire in the cramped compartment.
Lights flashed and a single alarm sounded as the ship went to combat alert, he felt the reactor hum through the hull as it went to full power, capacitors were charged and missiles loaded into launchers, similar scenes played out across the fleet.
"Sir, the ship is ready for combat", Sheridan spoke as he came back over, "The fleet also reports readiness"
Baltar nodded, "Good", he manipulated the controls on his station bringing up a map of the system, "We'll stick with our plan, last intel had the larger Aschen ship guarding the solar installation, we'll jump in fifty thousand kicks from it's last know position"
They had used the Tel'tak's earlier excursion to the system to map out the locations of the enemy ships, but that information was now days old, it was likely that the ships had moved since but Baltar was betting the larger ship would be staying near the solar installation, he was betting it was too valuable to leave undefended.
Marcus felt his nerves run wild, this would be the first proper combat situation he had taken part of and he was the commander too, a clenched fist kept his hand steady, he would not show fear to the crew.
"T minus one minute", Sheridan spoke aloud to the crew, "All hands to jump stations"
Baltar looked at the radar feed on his screen, the two Colonial freighters and the jumpship Pathfinder would be remaining here, the Colonial viper commander had told him earlier that the fighters could attach to his ship for the jump using their magnetic clamps but Baltar had declined to bring them along, if things went pear shaped they'd be a bitch to recover in the heat of a battle.
No, it would only be the seven warships that would jump in for now, his cruiser, two destroyers and four frigates, he hope it would be enough.
"T minus ten", Baltar gripped the armrests of his chair as Sheridan counted down, as he reached one Baltar felt the gut wrenching feeling of a jump, they had arrived.
….
"Commander, I am detecting a radiation surge, eighty mega meters past the solar condenser"
Commander Tirron of the class three patrol vessel Starlight, (Known as a cruiser among members of the armed forces), stood from his chair and moved forward to the console of crewman third rank Lubon, "Is it similar to the signature you detected in system 1132-A4?", a nearby star system.
"Yes sir", came the almost monotone response, "One moment, I am now detecting several vessels at the location"
"On screen", Tirron turned to the front of the bridge where the large transparent trinium window looked out over the ship, the bridge was located near the rear of the ship on a small tower protruding from the hull, he could see all the way to the front turret from his position, the window darkened as it changed to a display, the form of several large grey ships appeared.
"Analysis", Tirron ordered as he moved back to his seat, this was a moment he had been concerned about for some time, he knew several months ago another race of humans had initiated contact through the stargate on the planet, the governing council had sent their representative Mollem to conduct negotiations, but something had gone wrong, what exactly Tirron did not know, but Mollem had done something beyond foolish, he had launched a bio weapon back through the gate.
In one stroke he had created an enemy, Tirron suspected Mollem was to blame for the issue, he was very arrogant when they had met, Tirron's position as senior commander of the Aschen security forces in the system had allowed him access to some information though, he knew they had captured a prisoner during the incident but nothing more, the prisoner had been sent to Aschen prime and Tirron had heard nothing further, he suspected the governing council was trying to bury the whole thing.
Lack of information was going to be a problem he knew, before now he didn't even know if the so called Union, his clearance had given him that much at least, had vessels capable of interstellar travel, based on what information he did know he knew their world was far away from here, it would take years for his ship to get there, but the Union was already here, they had an advantage in speed or were so bing they were already close, both scenarios were worrisome.
His eyes took in the opposing ships, grey and blocky was the only description that fit, utilitarian and ugly was another, one might think the Aschen would design ships like that, he knew compared to the Volians and the people of the past that the modern Aschen was lacking in humour and only valued efficiency but their own ships were more artistic than the squarish grey blocks he was looking at.
"Analysis complete", Lubon's voice broke him out of his thoughts, "There are three distinct types of vessel, the largest is five hundred meters long, the next two are three hundred and the final four are two hundred", diagrams of the ships appeared on the screen, the subspace scanners easily mapping out the interiors, "All alien ships exceed the mass of this vessel"
A light frown creased Tirron's forehead, the Aschen's largest ship, a class five combat ship, or a battleship to everyone else outside the bureaucracy, was only three hundred and fifty meters long and a lot less massive than the huge ship he was stating at.
Lubon continued, "Scanners detected fusion power generation and multiple weapon mounts of lasers and particle weapons, no hyperdrive, the ships are also emitting waves in the ultra high frequency range and low power laser pulses"
"Shields?", Tirron asked, he felt himself relaxing as Lubon spoke, the ships sounded primitive, poor technology would explain the size he assumed.
"No shield generator or emitters detected by scanners", Lubon paused while glancing at his controls, "Sir, the vessels have begun to accelerate on an intercept vector, ships top acceleration is ten gravities"
Really primitive then, at that velocity they would have some time and he imagined their weapons were equally disadvantaged, he'd try diplomacy first, "Contact our two corvettes, tell them to move to our position, hyperdrive is authorised", he nodded to the comms officer then turned to Lubon, "Lubon, those ships are using primitive radio communications, try and send a signal, perhaps we can resolve this without destroying them", but after a bio weapon attack he doubted he would be successful.
"Yes sir"
Tirron watched as plumes of exhaust sprayed from the distant ships, the comms officer, Lieutenant Buron finished speaking and turned to him, "Sir, both corvettes acknowledge their orders and estimate one minute thirty seconds to arrival but I am receiving a transmission from the planet, the communications hub is under attack"
Tirron looked at him, his mouth unable to form words, how did they slip passed, they should have detected any ship entering the atmosphere, they also needed that building to keep in contact with Aschen prime, their shipboard comms sets didn't have the range, his shock barely had time to form before an alarmed Lubon called out, "Power surge from the enemy ships"
At this range was all he could think before his training took over, "Shields up, full emergency thrust", he shouted out, his hands gripped the armrest tightly as the ship violently shook.
The ship leapt forward but not before the reaching beams of lasers came in, furrows were carved into the hull leaving molten trails of metal behind as the ship sped away, the glancing hits unable to penetrate the trinium alloy hull, Tirron felt his hands relax up as the shield popped into existence.
"Report", his eyes glanced out the front window, he could see the gouges carved into the ship from the weapons fire, "What hit us?"
"High energy gamma ray laser, it out ranges all our weapons", Lubon was glued to his screens as he reported, "Minimal damage to armour, the beams did not have enough time to penetrate, our shields should withstand additional fire"
Tirron nodded, the range was surprising but it seemed these people would be unable to hurt them further, he would end the fight, "Sound combat alert, about ninety degrees, take us towards the enemy, once in range reduce to combat speed and rotate the ship", Tirron pulled up the plot on the main screen, "We'll keep the range and finish them off with our ion cannons"
"Yes sir", Lubon went to work, the ship turning and accelerating to nearly one thousand gravities, the crew barely feeling the acceleration due to the advanced inertial compensators that Aschen technology could produce.
It took a handful of seconds to close the distance, the enemy ships firing their long range lasers again causing the ship to vibrate and the shield to become visible to the naked eye, the red tinged barrier absorbing the hits, Tirron glanced at the status readout on the screen, the enemy fire drained nearly five percent, he felt his confidence rise, they could take many hits before things became a problem.
"Range twenty five mega meters, beginning deceleration", Lubon called out as his hands danced over the controls, the ship rotated to bring the most guns into the line of fire, on the screen he watched as the enemy ships began to move erratically, an evasion attempt?
"Large power surge from the enemy battleship", Lubon spoke out calmly, Tirron frowned as large unstable looking blue bolts flew from the ship, the near light speed projectiles slamming into his ship and causing a violent shaking, the shields dropping to eighty eight percent.
"Enemy particle weapons have an output of one third of our own", Lubon informed, his voice as calm as ever.
"Return fire", Tirron commanded, those particle weapons could be a problem he thought, outside the ships turrets rotated and aligned towards the enemy, red bolts flew in retaliation to impact the largest ship, he watched as it shuddered under Aschen firepower but his face hardened as he saw the damage was less than anticipated, large scorch marks lined the ship but the armour still stood, Tirron worked to keep his jaw from dropping.
"Sir, the enemy ships appear to be covered in an ablative armour layer, it will take several directs hits to penetrate", Lubon spoke, out in space Tirron watched as the enemy formation changed, the smaller ships being left behind and the larger ones moved to cover them.
Two vortex's appeared behind the enemy fleet, two small shapes racing out of hyperspace, the small corvettes joining the fight, red bolts flew from their small ion cannons, the rapid fire particle weapons targeting one of the enemies small vessels.
The dense particle bolts tore into the thinner armour, multiple shots targeting the same location and tearing a hole in the surprisingly thick hull, explosions tore back out of the entry point and the ships thrusters went dead, the ship was left drifting.
Turrets on the enemy ships turned back, the next volley from the enemy fleet tore into one of the racing corvettes, its weak shields popping like a soap bubble under the strain, laser beams bored holes through the ship, leaving a molten and deformed hulk drifting along its original vector.
Tirron's own ship had been pounding away at the larger ship which had begun to rotate on its axis, presenting undamaged armour to his weapons, his earlier confidence was beginning to wane, clouds of vaporised metal trailed behind the ship as it kept thrusting towards them.
He watched as trails of smoke rose from the enemy fleet, he knew what missiles where even if the Aschen had long moved past such technology, "Lubon, analysis of those missiles"
"Enemy weapons appear to be naquadah enhanced atomics and fusion explosives, delivery vehicle also exceeds our own top acceleration"
"Launch drones, have them intercept those weapons", he spoke as the enemy fired again, they were targeting the other corvette now which had been harassing the enemy fleet to little avail, just some minor damage to the three other small ships, it suffered the same fate as its sister, cored by laser beams after its shield had collapsed, only three large pieces remained.
Another volley launched from his ship towards the enemy battleship, this time a bolt tore through the reduced armour, tearing right through the front of the ship, he saw the hull ripple and tear as the front of the ship collapsed, the engines flickered before dying completely leaving the ship drifting on its course.
He gave a small smile that quickly fell as he took in the sheer amount of missiles heading his way, the twelve drones had launched but were barely causing a dent in their numbers, "All weapons target the missiles", the ships ion cannons turned to target the small missiles, each shot taking its toll on the swarm but it would not be enough.
Tirron turned to Lubon, "Activate the hyper drive, we are retreating", he spoke as the ship shook again, just lasers now, the shields remained strong but those missiles would push it to the limit.
"Sir", Lubon set to work as the missiles screamed in, he was nearly shook out of his seat as the first one hit, dropping the shields another five percent, more started to hit, his eyes glued to the shield strength status as it began to rapidly drop.
Explosions of light and heat had the ship lit up like a star, the drones struggled to intercept but drifted too close as the missiles detonated incinerating them, the red tinged shield struggling to repel the forces against it, a vortex opened in front of the ship, a window of escape that she readily took, rocketing forward and into the safety of hyperspace.
Tirron felt a drop of sweat form on his forehead, the shields had dropped to seven percent before they escape, he released the breath he had been holding, "Damage report", he eventually called out once the shock had worn off.
"Minor damage from the vibrations and light scoring on the hull from shield bleed through, otherwise the ship is one hundred percent operational", Lubon spoke as his fingers danced over the console.
Tirron nodded, "Set course for Aschen prime", he glared at the memory of the Union ships, "We'll be back to show those barbarians their place soon"
…..
A racking cough threw a blood clotted bit of phlegm out of his mouth, Baltar reached up a hand and gingerly rubbed his shoulder where the straps had dug in when he had been thrown forward, his neck hurt when he tried to move his head, whiplash probably.
Acrid smoke hung in the command centre, the smell of burnt plastic and electronics burning in his nostrils, beside him at his own console Commander Sheridan wiped a streak of blood from his head, it had impacted his console leaving a dent in the housing and a large bleeding purple bruise on his face.
"Enemy vessel has retreated", Sheridan coughed out.
"Damage report", Baltar unbuckled his harness and pulled off his anti flash face mask, red stained the white material around the mouth area, he wiped his mouth off with the back of his hand, a streak of blood was flowing from a split lip.
"Forward sections one through twenty are currently decompressed, armour damage throughout most of the ship and main power is offline, crews are currently fighting fires in sections 21 through twenty five, all weapons and jump drive are still operational but unpowered"
Sheridan brought up more reports in the dim lighting, the casualties, "Twenty seven dead and forty three with serious wounds as of current count, we'll know more when the damaged sections are explored"
"And the fleet?"
"Minor damage to most ships except the frigate Antwerp, she's dead in the water and venting atmosphere from midships, last report indicated they were hit in the main reactor compartment"
Baltar nodded, the battle had actually went better than he had hoped, they were still outclassed by what he thought was an enemy frigate equivalent but in the end they had driven it away, all that remained to determine was the cost.
The dim red emergency light faded as main power came back online, "Main power restored, the chief engineer says that the reactor underwent an emergency shutdown from a power surge caused by the enemy weapons fire", Sheridan read off the message on his screen, "We have limited output until he fully checks the systems"
"Comms, get the fleet into a defensive formation, that ship could be back at any time, and see if they can send repair crews to the Antwerp, if the reactor's gone we'll need to tow it"
Baltar turned to Sheridan, "Do we have enough juice for the HPG?"
Sheridan nodded, "That shouldn't strain us too much"
"Contact the Shoebox and our support ships, the invasion is a go"
….
A flash of light heralded the arrival of three ships over Volia, two of them were massive kilometre long ex-Colonial freighters with attached flight decks for convoy duty, they were ferrying the fleets supplies, a company and change of marines and their equipment and two squadrons of Colonial mk2 vipers, they were the Amathus and the Limassol.
Vipers streamed from the Limassol, taking up escort position as the third ship undocked its parasite craft, the Scout class jumpship Shoebox was a far cry from what it used to be, now equipped with a modern jump drive and extra cargo space thanks to the removal of its old one, its holds were now full of supplies for the mission.
The smaller shape that detached was a Union class dropship, it turned its nose towards the planet and ignited it's main drive while two small craft flew out of its small craft bay, the two SB-27b royal Sabres formed up with the dropship and began to escort it to the planet.
The ASF had received upgrades of their own, new heat recycler systems led to a reduction in needed heat sinks, inertial compensators to enable more extreme manoeuvrability and new hard points mounted under the wings to enable the craft to carry external ordinance, right now they were carrying some iron bombs, surplus that the Union had plenty of.
Major Takeuchi could see none of that, he could only feel the rumble of the dropship as it powered through the thin atmosphere in the upper reaches of the planet, even that was muted thanks to the new gravity control systems now installed on the reliable dropship.
The voice of the ships commander came through his radio, Lieutenant Commander Louise Rochelle, "Your target is the spaceport we identified near the town, once you secure it the marines will land and take the town, we don't expect much resistance but watch out for the harvesters, it's possible they might be armed"
"Roger", he replied as he ran through the final checks on his mech, everything was returning green.
He glanced out of the cockpit to take in the rest of his mech command, 3rd company, 1st battalion of the 272nd battle mech regiment, they were the only ones to make it to this new strange reality, they had been given the most logistics friendly mechs for this mission, every one a laser boat, four Flashman 8k heavy mechs, his included, four Crab 27b's and four Mercury MCY-99's.
He brought up the maps that the Tok'ra Jalrow had provided, they had been converted into a format compatible with his mechs computers, he made his plans while the ship descended into the atmosphere, a shooting star to the locals below, they wouldn't know what hit them.
"Lieutenant Guvyer, take the light lance and provide support to the marines at the communications building, myself and Captain Reynolds will secure the space port, once the rest of the infantry arrive my lance will move out of the town and take up position in case of enemy counter attack, Captain Reynolds will remain and secure the port"
A chorus of yes sirs came back through his radio, "This should be a milk run but don't take that for granted, these Aschen could pull something out of their ass we don't expect"
Done talking he picked up his neuro helmet, a new design that shaved the weight by two thirds over the standard star league one, affixing the straps he turned on the main reactor, listening as the female voice of the computer ran through the status checks.
He felt the pull of reverse engine thrust as the ship ignited its main thruster, slowing the ship as it came in for a landing, there was no AA fire at all, the two sabres flew in behind strafing the space port, laser beams stitched a trail of destruction through the machinery as the fighters sped past at super sonic speeds, releasing their bombs as they pulled away, the five hundred pound explosives landing on and around the landed harvester, it went up in a massive fireball, the shockwave throwing debris hundreds of meters away and shattering every window in the area.
The fusion plume from the dropship burned a hole in the metallic substance the Aschen used for the landing pad, the Union slowing to a crawl as the powerful thruster kept it aloft as it slowly touched down on its extended landing struts, ramps dropped open when the engine died, Takeuchi's mech stomping down onto the firm ground.
The light mechs followed along and sped off towards the distant communications building, while the rest of his lance stomped their own heavy mechs down the boarding ramp.
He turned the mechs torso towards the flaming ruins of the harvester as it lumbered into a jog, his lance forming up around him as they moved up the runway towards the warehouse looking buildings, his sensors picking out the scurrying forms of people running around in a panic below.
Behind him the medium lance started to sprint towards the buildings, so far there was no resistance, but that changed as they neared, four floating man sized objects came out of the control building for the space port, some king of robot, they spewed rapid fire red blots towards the approaching mechs, the anti personal weapons only burning off the paint, large laser beams erased them from existence and the first floor of the building from which they came, flames soon spread upwards as the building turned into an inferno.
"Major, sensors are picking up one of those harvesters on approach to the space port from the south west, distance fifty klicks", Came the voice of the Pathfinders radio operator through the radio.
"Confirmed Pathfinder, eta on the marines?"
"They're launching now, eta five mikes"
"Roger, out", Takeuchi flicked transmit and selected his company frequency.
"Captain, take split your mechs up and secure the space port, I'll take the heavy lance out of the city towards the forested area in zone fifty six, command reports a harvester approaching from that direction"
"Sure thing Major, doesn't look like there's much fight in these Aschen anyway"
Takeuchi nodded and ended the transmission, he turned his mech to the south and spotted some sporadic light arms fire that came out of a nearby window and scorched some of the paint on his mech, a burst of medium laser fire bored a hole through the metal walls of the building, the whole room was erased and flames began to lick at the still standing walls.
He brought up his tac map as the lance walked out of the space port, increasing the speed to the full eighty six kph once they were clear of the town, he saw as the light lance approached the comm building, it seemed that the Aschen were mounting an assault on the marines there.
….
Chad dived aside as the red particle fire tore through the window, rising to a crouch he crept to the side and pulled out a mirror on a stick, extending it he used it to have a look outside, at least fifty Aschen soldiers, wearing brown uniforms with an armoured chest piece and helmets, the armour they wore took a few shots to penetrate but they weren't the main problem, the ten hovering robots were.
A constant stream of fire poured from the robots into the marines holding the front door, everyone was keeping their heads down to avoid the non-stop suppressing fire from the machines, the occasional grenade would fly out a window to explode harmlessly against the energy shields the machines sported.
Craters and the smouldering remains of destroyed robots littered the street outside, the burning remains casting dancing shadows on the walls behind him, while blood streaked the area before the entryway where Aschen soldiers had run afoul of the machine gun team, "Looks like their forming up for another assault!", Chad shouted across to Flint and Williams.
"You should surrender, you are clearly outmatched", a melodious feminine voice spoke out from the far corner, the Aschen prisoner.
Chad snorted, his eyes never leaving the mirror, he watched the brown clad men outside creep closer, moving from cover to cover while the floating robots kept up their fusillade, "Fat chance lady, I'd rather not end up in one of your death camps"
He glanced up to see her shocked and disgusted expression, "We do not operate death camps"
Chad chuckled as he slid down the wall into a sitting position, "Your government tried to use a bio weapon on our planet, I'll be assuming every bad thing imaginable until proven otherwise"
The woman harrumphed and looked away, Chad shook his head with a smirk, some people just couldn't handle the truth he supposed.
"Eyes out front Thompson", Williams called over from his own position at another window, "Sarge says reinforcements are on the way"
"Bout time", Chad groused as he stood back up, he lamented the lack of heavy weapons like the rocket launcher he had earlier, the platoon had used everything up repelling the first assault.
Mirror in hand he watched as the assault began, "Here they come!", ducking down he raised his rifle and shot of a few laser bursts towards the Aschen, catching one coming out of cover in the shoulder and sending him into the ground hard, return fire had him ducking back into cover.
Dust rained down on his head as stray shots impacted the ceiling, Chad spat it out of his mouth, "This better not be asbestos", he muttered as he pulled out his last grenade, while raising the mirror again, he waited, his eyes tracking as the Aschen crept closer, waiting for the right time, smirking when an Aschen soldier dived behind the remains of one of their vehicles, he pulled the pin and hurled the explosive out the window, it sailed down to land behind the Aschen, he watched as the man jumped out of cover only to be caught in the cross fire of the machine gunners, his body shuddering as 556 rounds tore through his body.
"Nice throw Chad", Flint shouted out, Chad gave a jaunty wave as he returned to firing his laser, the robots began to float closer providing cover to the Aschen, Chad ducking down again as one turned its guns on him.
"Wont mean much with those robots, our guns wont pierce the shields without mass fire", Williams spoke, "Hold on", he ducked down too, "Did you feel that?"
Chad put his hand on the ground, a rhythmic thumping could be faintly felt through the floor, it was growing stronger, "Yep, what is it?"
"Hell if I know", Flint shouted over from his window while blindly firing his gun at the Aschen outside, "But it sure ain't shooting these fuckers for us, get your asses back here"
"Right", the two men moved back over to the window, adding their shots to the defences, soon they started to feel the rumbling grow stronger then they heard it, a loud metallic stomping growing closer, like giant footsteps running towards them.
"Look alive marines!" Sergeant Browns voice came through the radio, his excited voice surging through the men, "Reinforcements are here!"
Four large silhouettes became visible through the darkness and smoke, they raced up the street pounding towards the Aschen, shaking the buildings with their passage, the nine meter tall bipedal machines let loose with their weapons, laser beams streaked out towards the Aschen ahead of them, incinerating men and machines, blowing through the shields on the robots which were turning to engage them, blowing them to pieces and leaving only molten pools and flaming debris in their wake, the explosions resonated like a shock wave, disrupting the coordinated assault and channelling chaos into the enemy ranks
Chad stood up and whooped, "Yeah!, see that lady, you Aschen ain't got nothing on mechs", he smirked at the restrained woman in the corner, a tinge of fear coloured her expression, a change from her previous affronted indifference.
The Aschen soldiers outside scrambled into cover, diving into the building that lined the street as the mechs fired again, finishing off the robots and anyone foolish enough to remain in sight, the marines down below on the ground floor rushing out and chasing the fleeing Aschen down, many simply surrendering after seeing they were beaten, their lack of emotions and logical thinking telling them it was the only option.
The three men let out sighs of relief, a grumbling came from Chad's stomach, "Man, all that fighting sure makes me hungry", his comment garnering an aggrieved sigh from Corporal Williams.
Outside more streaks flew down from orbit, Skymarshall transports illuminating the sky as they flew in the rest of the company, vectoring towards the space port, soon the town would be captured, the Aschen beaten.
….
Takeuchi dove his mech behind a tree, throwing up layers of muck and detritus, a large cannon shot had flown out from under the harvester slowly making its way closer to the town, the return laser fire bouncing harmlessly off the energy barrier around the craft.
"Fredericks is down", a shout came over the comms channel, "Bastard shot him right in the torso, I think he ejected"
Takeuchi stood his mech up and started sprinting at full speed, trying to stay ahead of anything aiming his way, he twisted the torso and looked back, Fredericks' mech was blown in half, its legs still standing over the smoking hole that had been the torso, fortunately the cockpit was intact and he could see the pod floating down on its parachute.
A twist to the right and he unleashed the full power of his mech, large and medium laser beams burning through the canopy and impacting on the shield around the ship, it strained red under the barrage but held, Takeuchi had no idea if they were even damaging the thing.
"I thought shields were weaker in atmo", Vanga's frustration was clear in her voice, her mech alternating fire from each weapon while she jinked through the forest.
"We're getting hammered out here command, we need reinforcements", Takeuchi's angrily spoke into the mic, he watched as energy built up again under the ship, the red glow visible in the darkness, a large bolt flew out again, Takeuchi's breath stopping as he saw the target.
The slowly falling ejection pod was erased from existence, the Aschen weapon reducing Fredericks to atoms, Takeuchi cursed, "The fucking bastards", he fired off his weapons again, watching as the heat steadily rose, wishing they had installed one of the new heat systems before they had left.
"Airstrike inbound, eta thirty seconds", the tactical officer on the Shoebox spoke through the radio, Takeuchi spat, the Sabre's had tried already, the medium lasers on the ASF were equally useless, he watched as they turned tail and ran, their strafing fire had been useless anyway.
"Nuclear ordinance was authorised, take cover Major"
"Shit", he hit transmit on the lance channel, "Everyone get to cover, their going to nuke the thing"
He dove his mech behind the biggest tree he could see, crouching it down, in the skies above four red and while ASF raced down towards the harvester, its main and only weapon was located underneath the ship, there to suppress any ideas the locals might get, the flight of vipers raced closer, releasing their anti ship nuclear missiles before turning to the sky and hitting the throttle, a sonic boom echoing out.
The eight missiles streaked in unopposed, slamming into the shield around the ship, the kiloton warheads tore through the weakened shield, a flash of light blinding the mechs as their instruments turned off to protect themselves, Takeuchi squeezed his eyes shut, still seeing the flash through the skin of his eye lid, the shock wave came next, blowing the trees over and flinging his mech several meters away.
Shaking his head he checked himself over, just some scrapes he thought, he restarted the mech as a huge thump caused him to shake in his harness, standing up he saw the burning remains of the forest and past it the flaming wreck of the harvester, the ship had been torn in half, the crumpled remains had tore a furrow meters long into the ground, smoke and flames rose from the remains.
Ash rained down as he stomped his mech over to the two surviving lance mates, "Fuck me", Vanga's astonished voice came over the channel.
Takeuchi could only agree as he started out at the new wasteland, his expression grim, the Aschen had dozens of the things on this planet alone and they needed to nuke this one to win, and it was farm equipment.
…
A flash brought the wounded fleet into orbit, sans two ships, the Antwerp's reactor was beyond repair so Marcus had another frigate run a cable over to charge its drive, they would jump the ship back to PC8-3Z1 using that method, so both ships would be out of the fight for now.
"Colonel Méndez is on channel one sir", the comms officer announced.
"Put him through"
The grizzled veteran appeared on Baltar's console, "Captain Baltar", he spoke, "We secured the town but ran into a problem with one of the enemy harvesters, our heavy mech lance was mauled and we needed to break out he nukes to kill it"
"That bad, are there many wounded?"
Méndez shook his head, "Four dead and seven wounded, including the lost mech", Méndez brought up a map on the screen, red lines pointing towards the town littered it, "The problem is the rest of them heading towards us, I wont be able to hold the town against them, or move out to secure the gate"
Baltar nodded, "You want orbital strikes then?"
"Yes, it's far safer that way and there's little civilian infrastructure to ruin on this world"
"Alright, I'll commence bombardment soon, better to stay put for now"
Méndez nodded, "Captain", the transmission ended.
Baltar looked to Sheridan, "Warm up the weapons, lasers only for now, we'll keep this to the precision weapons"
"Aye sir", Sheridan hit the battle stations alarm, lights strobed for a second and a siren went out over the speakers.
Baltar turned to the comms officer, "Inform the rest of the flotilla that we are about to engage targets on the ground", he rotated his chair towards the tactical officer, "Find the closest harvester to the town, we'll start with that"
The screen in front of him changed, a view from one of the ships many cameras, it zoomed in on the harvester below, "Target locked and weapons charged", the tactical officer announced, the display flickering with vital statistics and trajectory paths, "Ready to commence firing sequence on your mark"
"Mark"
The three laser turrets on the ventral side of the ship spoke as one, the beams burning a glowing path through the atmosphere, down below the harvester kept its course towards the town, moving in to destroy the barbarians that had dared to invade the Aschen confederation.
Six laser beams put paid to that mission, impacting the middle of the ship, the red shield coming alive to protect against the immense energy being thrown at it, it gave a valiant effort but ultimately failed, the beams burning through it and the ship below, carving it in half and boring through the ground underneath, leaving a gouge in the earth meters deep and throwing up clouds of dirt and dust.
The remains of the harvester fell to the ground carving their own trenches as the two separate pieces crumpled as they hit, fire and smoke soon appeared as the two halves caught on fire, the still glowing hot cut dropping molten metal onto the ground.
As the dust settled the remains became visible to Baltar, he could see the glassififed dirt in the trench and the smouldering remains of the harvester, plumes of smoke rose into the sky soon obscuring his view, "One down", he muttered.
It became drudgery as time passed, the ship firing at a harvester below, the rest of the fleet joining in and scouring the planet of their presence, Baltar stood from his console, turning to Sheridan, "Take over, I need to report in to command"
Baltar made his way out of the CIC, sparing one last look as another harvester was obliterated from the surface of Volia.
Luna Shipyards
Sol System
Tucker Thompson shook out his newspaper to get rid of the crease and opened it up in his hands, call him old fashioned but he like the feeling of paper in his hands and a few men on the station had gotten together to get a printer up and running, they consolidated the news feeds from the internet and printed out a broadsheet for the distinguished gentlemen like himself to peruse.
His eyes ran over the headline with some sadness, "Heavy losses at Abydos", stood out in bold, a picture of the Venus in two pieces being towed out of its degrading orbit, it was off straight to the scrapyard, a sigh escaped his lips, the ship had only departed the dockyard a few days ago and the ship was now scrap.
He turned the page and ignored the chatter from junior and his new wife who were sitting nearby in the cafeteria, the smell of cheap coffee and greasy food filled the air as the morning shift had breakfast, "Colonial travel company to offer trips starting next week", an article about the new tourism trade to the Colonies, his wife had started nagging him recently about going there, he'd consider it once the prices became reasonable.
A giggle caused him to drop his paper slightly, Tucker junior and the new Ms Thompson, the former Star League tech Hana Mae-Lee, were cuddling up, Tucker sighed and shook his head, the youth nowadays, the wedding had been several months ago now, his eldest Chad had even been able to make it but had since been shipped off to fight the Aschen, his wife bemoaning his lack of a stable relationship, he'd get an earful once he went home for the weekend but the recent joyous news of a coming child would help to mollify her.
He raised the paper and began to turn the page when a shadow loomed over him, looking up brought him eye to eye with his boss, the foreman, "Boss, something wrong, the shift doesn't start for another ten minutes"
Hank Torres, sighed and sat down across from him, sparing a glance at the happy couple as he did, leaning forward on his elbows so only Tucker would hear, "Word from on high, we need to pull the weapons from every mount on the unfinished Venus classes"
"What!", Tucker exclaimed earning looks from the others in the cafeteria, speaking quieter he asked again, "What do you mean every weapon?, we just got finished installing them"
Torres tapped the paper that had fallen from Tuckers hands, his finger rapping on the cover story, "That's why, the fleet brass are shitting bricks after that battle, our weapons were nearly useless against one ship, word is we're swapping out every gun in the ships still under construction for the new pulse cannons"
A manic look settled in Torres eyes for a second, "It's not just the weapons Tucker, we need to pull every reactor too"
Tucker nearly spit the coffee he had just sipped out, "You cant be serious", he saw the look Torres was giving him, his shoulders fell, at least the design accounted for the need to upgrade things like that, for what little it was worth.
Tucker let a whistle pass through his teeth, this was like the jump drive fiasco, delay after delay as they rushed to rip out the old suddenly obsolete drive and replace it with one fresh from the factory, it was one of the last things they did on the Venus itself before it sailed away to its doom, then there was the rush job of installing shield generators on every ship they could before the disastrous battle itself.
"We'll need to pull extra shifts if we even hope to achieve the original timetable"
Torres nodded, "I need you to spread the word, double time for the extra shifts we'll be pulling, the company is training up people as fast as it can too, the government splurged for extra hands on this"
Tucker sighed and reached for his cooling coffee, the major shareholder in the yards and every other military one was the Union itself, running them like semi state bodies, along with some minor shareholders who were invested in Earths military manufacturing, money never seemed to be an issue with all the constant revisions and alterations being made, he wondered how they even had a fleet with the amount of time the ships were spending in dock.
"Right", he spoke after having a mouthful of the cheap swill they called coffee on the station, he imagined this conversation was happening across the Unions many shipyards, "Bad time to ask about a vacation then", he said semi jokingly, Torres gave him a shrug in response.
"Sorry Tucker, this place cant function without my best shift manager"
Tucker sighed, the wife wouldn't be happy, "Had to ask, the wife's set on a trip to those Colonials, see what they got there"
"I'll give you extra paid leave to make up for it, I'll pull some strings", Torres had an understanding look in his eyes, his own wife must be making noise too, Torres stood up after and made his way out, Tucker looked down at the congealing remains of his bacon and eggs, no longer feeling hungry.
Tucker leaned back in his chair remembering how he even ended up in space, he used to repair helicopters in the Tennessee Guard, GI bill got him into an engineering degree and the massive explosion of space travel happened soon after, companies and the Union were hunting down anyone who could turn a wrench back then, now years later he was up in space and only saw his wife on the week ends, he contemplated taking one of the jobs in the new ground side shipyards, he'd be home more then.
He sighed and stood up, looking over to the loving couple nearby, "C'mon boy, we got work to do"
Tjaru
31st August 2065
A trio of death gliders sped around the world as they patrolled space in the absence of their lord, murmurings had been occurring amongst the Jaffa on the planet ever since the last contact three days ago when Ptahmose had ordered an assault through the gate, something they were unable to perform as the gate on Abydos was blocked, the more zealous wondered if the silence was punishment for their failure, realists considered the possibility their master had failed.
Such thoughts fled the minds of the three Jaffa on patrol when a bright flash of light illuminated space before them, squinting their eyes and blinking the spots away revealed a massive fleet before them, a mere few thousand kilometres away.
Unfortunately for the Jaffa patrol their ships were in range of the point defences of the fleet, standard and pulse lasers opened up on the stunned Jaffa, erasing their unshielded fighters from existence before they could even raise the alarm.
"Enemy fighters destroyed", the Tactical officer informed Rooks, thanks to the help of the Tok'ra Selmac they had been able to plot their jump right into the path of the fighter patrol, he was realising that having cloak capable ships was a massive advantage, he'd need to get on to high command about getting some for themselves.
Selmac's scouting would further prove it's usefulness, their jump had been timed to place them right where they wanted, over the major population centre on Tjaru, Pathmose's palace lay below and beside it the parked forms of death gliders ans the last remaining Al'kesh belonging to the dead Goa'uld.
"Ground targets locked, we can fire on your mark, sir", Lieutenant Bertini announced, the tactical officer was glued to his screen, the details enough to spot individual Jaffa scurrying about on the landing pads below.
"Fire", Everything had been planned in advance, the massive turrets on the McKenna's were already pointing at the target, Ptahmose's remaining space craft were unaware as the capacitors discharged sending deadly beams into the ships and buildings of the small space port attached to the palace, the Al'kesh received a few, it's unshielded hull melting under the immense energies of the heavy naval laser fire.
Rooks nodded in satisfaction as the craft and hangars were reduced to rubble and cinders, he would rather destroy everything than risk any of the Jaffa escaping and spreading word of their existence, everything on the planet that could fly would be destroyed before the first Terran foot stepped on its soil.
"Good work Bertini", Rooks clapped a hand on the man's shoulder as the beams faded away, leaving fires and craters where once there had been a small spaceport, the lasers were falling out of favour in the Union, their lack of power against the shields of their foes relegating them to secondary roles, but their utility against stationary ground targets near civilian populations was still great, the city and palace below only being lightly scorched from the concentrated energy.
Rooks returned to his seat and waved a hand to the comms officer, "Tell General Chernikov she may begin landing her troops", he turned to the sensor station, "Can we get a live feed from the gate, the assault should be happening right now"
"Aye sir", A live camera feed appeared on the main screen, it panned around until it zoomed in on the gate below, a few stunned looking Jaffa were gazing off towards where the spaceport had been, the gates defenders.
Rooks pulled out his antique pocket watch, a gift from his wife who was safe on Arcadia, she had bought it on a trip to this reality's Terra, the nineteenth century timepiece was still ticking away, "Any moment now", down below the gate began to spin.
…
"Jaffa kree", the senior Jaffa called out when he noticed the gate begin to spin, the heads of his men turned from the smoke and flames in the distance to see the gate begin to rumble and spin, "Enemies approach"
He split his men, three to each side of the gate, they took cover behind the berm of earth, the senior Jaffa turning to the most junior, "Return to the palace, inform them we are under attack", the young Jaffa nodded vigorously and took off in a sprint, disappearing into the nearby forest.
The Jaffa spat on the ground and raised his staff over the edge, poking his head up after it, the gate was bout to lock in the final chevron, it clunked into place and the blue portal burst into life, throwing out the usual shock wave like a stone dropped into water.
It wasn't long before a large whining machine flew out of the gate, the Jaffa opening up with their staffs, the golden bolts scorching the armour and wearing it down a little, the Zephyr hover tank spun around, unleashing its medium lasers into the offending berms, causing the Jaffa to duck into cover, the hover tank revved its lift fan and rose above the ground before it flew forward and over the right side berm, the senior Jaffa watched shocked as it spun around and unleashed its deadly beams into the backs of his men, leaving only red clouds of mist behind.
More monstrous craft began to pour out of the gate, Maultier hover APC's of the 3163rd Royal Infantry Brigade, rockets began to shoot out of the launchers as the Jaffa turned tail and ran, one srm landed between the three fleeing men, sending them flying several feet, coughing up blood the senior jaffa rolled over as the hover craft landed and armoured figures leapt out, he turned his head painfully to spot his staff several feet away, beyond his reach, his eyes closed tiredly as footsteps approached before he was wrenched to his feet, dazed, he was quickly bound while the men investigated the rest of his men, both dead.
"Have the medic check him then take him to Captain Konev for interrogation", one of them spoke aloud, the Jaffa unable to see their faces behind the glass eyes and face coverings the strange men wore.
They marched him back as more machines poured out, large ones on wheels, Thor self propelled artillery vehicles drove through and set up away from the gate, targets were already being sent down from the ships and the guns spoke with loud booms, nearly deafening the Jaffa, miles away Jaffa towers and squads began to feel first hand just what artillery could do.
The Jaffa glanced up as he was manhandled, shooting stars were visible in the sky, the many dropships of the 316th Royal Battlemech Division were burning their way through the atmosphere.
…..
Rooks watched in grim satisfaction as the gate assault took place, watching as unsuspecting Jaffa came under the barrage of artillery as the dropships of the 316th drew closer to the surface.
The division was actually much reduced from the time of their arrival in this reality, many of the soldiers had retired to civil life on Arcadia, others were on Earth acting as trainers and experts on Star League equipment and the rest had joined the Arcadian national guard, to be closer to their families and loved ones.
The current division was reduced in size to a brigade of mechs and a regiment of infantry, the numbers were being made up with the inclusion of the 1st Union mech regiment with their untested machines and donated soldiers from the still remaining national armies of the Union in the form of the 1st mechanised division of the Union aboard the Diana.
Even the ASF complement had been stripped from the dropships to make up the flight wings of the McKenna's newly expanded flight decks, the unused space being converted to extra storage and additional mechbays, which reminded him.
"Comms, inform General Chernikov that our ASF are available for air support missions"
"Aye sir", a few moments passed while Rooks watched the progress of the dropships, "The General acknowledges, transferring ASF control to her command", the comms officer put the flight controllers on her command channel.
Rooks nodded absently, he manipulated the controls beside him to zoom out and take a good look at the city beside the palace, it seemed big enough, larger than the native city on Abydos, "Sensors, how big is city population wise?"
"Our best estimate is somewhere around one point five to two million for the whole planet, based on scans taken by the Tok'ra, the city is around five hundred thousand, slaves and Jaffa"
Rooks frowned, the numbers where within his expectations but the problem remained of removing them from the planet in a timely fashion, extra transport ships were already on the way in case they were unable to get them all through the gate, they'd need to check everyone over for possible parasites too.
He brushed off his worries for now, turning his attention back to the dropships, they were about to land, outside his own ship the men of the 1st Union mechanised division were launching their own transport craft, old Colonial Hercules heavy lift transports left the spacious hangars of the Diana, each carrying a thousand men and their vehicles down to the planet below.
…..
A ramp thundered into the earth, throwing up layers of dirt into the bright daylight, trees surrounded the clearing where the dropship had burned a hole into the ground as it landed, smoke and the smell of burning grass and wood wafted up into the mechbay as Lieutenant Kieran Slade walked his mech out, the brand new design built by the Union took its first steps onto an alien world, the AW-1 Raptor stood tall, the sixty ton machine leaving massive footprints as it stomped away from it's transport.
Behind him his teammates from the 3rd mech platoon joined him, the four mech team began its march towards the city in the distance, the whizzing sound of shells passing overhead and the occasional explosion from their target accompanied them as they marched on, around them in other fields more dropships were landing, more mechs were walking out, more Raptors from his regiment and other classic Star League designs formed up and moved forward, the lights racing ahead and the thundering forms of assault mechs lumbering behind.
"Charlie one, head to the south side street in grid square fifteen, there are reports of a Jaffa strong point there", his commanders voice came through the radio, "Clear it out so the infantry can move into the city, eta ten mikes"
"Roger, alpha one, moving to position"
Kieran felt his nerves as he sped his machine up to its full sixty four kph, this was his first time in a combat situation, a contrast to the professional veterans of the 316th and his old trainer Elizabeth Hazen, she had put them through their paces but it was still scary to be in real combat.
He grinned as he felt the power of his machine, every stride shaking the nearby trees, his platoon spread out behind him as they thundered through the clearings around the city, the archaic structures looking like something from a medieval movie, they sprouted the occasional golden bolt of a Jaffa staff weapon but he ignored them as his platoon circled around the city.
Ahead loomed a low hanging arch and gateway, discarded carts littered the dirt track that led deeper into the city and two metallic towers gazed over the approaches, large golden bolts flew from the towers causing Kieran to flinch and throw his mech out of the way, "Enemy contact"
Return fire leapt from his platoon while he opened up himself, their large lasers burning through the atmosphere to impact a golden barrier around the towers, "Shit, they have shields", Sergeant Chase exclaimed through the radio, the towers concentrated fire on Kieran's mech, he was the closest, the staff cannons shots blowing noticeable chunks of armour off his mech.
He picked up speed and tried to dodge their fire, "Shoot everything", he ordered as he opened up with the medium lasers and LRM launchers on his machine, his platoon following suit spraying the shield in explosions and coherent light, the shields began to fizzle before finally failing completely allowing the missiles to finish off the towers.
Keiran let a sigh of relief escape his mouth, the staff cannons had done a number on his mech, large chunks of armour were missing and the paint job had been scorched to all hell and back, "Alright, we'll set up here and wait for the infantry"
"Roger", came Chases voice through the speaker, the other two members of his platoon following suit moments later, a few Jaffa tried to sally forth from the gateway while they waited but their lasers soon ended that plan as the Jaffa were reduced to red smears on the dirt.
In the distance he could see flames and smoke rise from the city, flashes of light and missiles streaked through the sky as the forces of the Union engaged the Jaffa defenders, he listened in on the radio as orders were barked, it seemed there was some trouble near the palace.
He turned his head as he heard the heavy engines of the approaching wheeled APC's, a Star League design they sported a mean looking auto cannon on top and looked like rejects from an eighties sci-fi film, the infantry had arrived.
"You boys getting bored without us?", a jovial voice came over the air, "Mind giving us some backup as we clear the streets?"
Kieran nodded before he realised it was a radio transmission, "Lieutenant Slade here, sure, we can follow along"
"Good chap, Captain Archer of the 3163rd, I'm sure we'll get along just fine, we'll start clearing the buildings on the way to the plaza in grid zone three, we expect the Jaffa to give stiff resistance in the city, out"
Keiran watched the troop doors open and men disgorge from the APC's, all heavily armed and armoured, they formed up and began to march into the city, the APC's moving in ahead, the sound of a heavy machine gun opening up soon followed as the Jaffa emerged from the rubble, a few laser blasts from his mech soon solved that problem.
His eyes turned to the darkening skies, more transports could be seen coming in to land, and on the other side of the city flashes could be seen as the battle for the palace intensified.
…..
Sergeant Graves ducked behind the sandstone pillar as a burst of golden bolts cut through the spot he had just been standing in, over head a sonic boom shook the building, casting dust on his head, a massive explosion was audible in the distance as a bomb exploded.
He pulled a smoke grenade from his belt and threw it around the pillar, taking the change to dodged further back as the red clad Jaffa carved a path through his men, strobing red flashed were illuminated in the dust as the remains of his squad poured all their fire into one of the Jaffa, a golden barrier deflecting the shots.
Graves spat out a curse and combat rolled into better cover, peeking up over the top of a collapsed pillar he opened up with his own weapon, a Federated-Barrett M61A Laser Rifle, something most troops preferred over the heavy Mauser that the mech loving SLDF command had foisted on the infantry, he aimed the sights a little higher and launched his last under barrel grenade down range.
He watched satisfied as one of the Jaffa was sent down, rolling on the floor, the enemy spat blood and rolled behind a pillar still alive, his shield having taken the brunt of the explosive, Graves spat out a "Shit" and levelled his gun to the still standing Jaffa, his staff spitting out a rapid staccato of fire, much more volume than the bare metal looking other Jaffa, his laser bolts simply causing the shield to glow.
The Jaffa kept his fire up, dodging behind pillars as he pushed forward towards the infidels, flushing out a marine from behind a pillar he rounded, private Smith barely had time to look surprised before three golden bolts tore first through his armour then his torso, he fell to the ground dead.
"Fall back", Graves ordered over the radio, "Regroup at the courtyard", He kept up his fire, watching as the shots kept being poured on before the shield finally flickered, a laser beam from his rifle intersecting the weakening shield and punched through to the Jaffas head, it exploded like an over ripe melon, the corpse falling backward as blood and brains splattered against the pillar, Graves' grim satisfaction written on his face.
A stomping of feet could be heard approaching from further away, two more of the shiny red armoured Jaffa appearing from the corridor at the far end of the room, they ducked behind pillars as they entered, sending a barrage of golden bolts towards the fleeing soldiers, the Jaffa he knocked down earlier joining in, his face covered in blood but undeterred as he added his fire to the other Jaffas barrage.
"Delta squad to command, we've been pushed out of the west wing of the palace, some red clad Jaffa with shields and rapid fire staff weapons, we need heavy support over"
Graves turned and followed the rest of his men, jumping behind the door to the open room with the pillars, grabbing a private who was still firing by the back of his uniform and dragging him into cover, he watched as his men took up positions around the door, poking their guns and firing to keep the Jaffa back, he watched as one caught a bolt in the leg, the limb being blown right off, a hand grabbed the man and dragged him back, leaving a smeared trail of blood.
"Medic!", a voice shouted as Graves listened for a reply, his eyes looking to the doorway as the soldiers started to fall back down the sandstone corridor, scorched frescos and golden inlaid artwork lined the walls while the corpses of the non elite Jaffa lay dead on the ground, blood splatter and broken limbs were trod on as the men ran down the corridor towards the open courtyard beyond, the screaming of the injured soldier echoing around them.
"Alpha 1-1 to Delta 1, heavy assets have been retasked, eta 3 mikes"
"Copy, tell them to hurry, were getting slaughtered here, out", Graves spat on the ground, his eyes on the distant doorway, a shout had him turning, one of the Jaffa was poking a head around from where they had come, half a squad of laser fire had him ducking back, Graves angrily wishing they had kept their explosives instead of using them on the weaker Jaffa, he gave a corpse a boot to the head as he ran past one.
Daylight loomed ahead, his men pushing back out into the courtyard they had cleared earlier, "Quick, behind that wall", Graves pointed to a low wall around the water feature that dominated the enclosed space, a large gateway on the far wall led to the main road but the gate was still barred, they had arrived through a smaller corridor that led back to the central buildings, where the other squads were at work.
"Rivera, get Marlow into the far corridor, were holding here", he nodded to the medic as he was wrapping a bandage around the missing leg, the man nodded and help him stand and hobble away, Graves turned back to the dark doorway, a stomping of metallic boots could be heard echoing down, coming closer to them.
Graves threw himself behind the low wall, joining his men, finding a gap between two bricks he pointed his gun and waited as the stomping grew ever closer, "Eyes on the prize men", he shouted out, "We just need to hold here for a minute or two, the big guns are on the way"
A silhouette began to become visible in the corridor, two more beside it, a torrent of golden fire leapt from the dark corridor and began to impact the wall, bricks shattered under the barrage as the infantrymen returned fire, a veritable storm of laser beams reaching back and dancing in the corridor as they bounced off the shields, "Focus fire on the left bastard", Graves shouted out, watching as the beams began to converge on the Jaffa.
Bolt after bolt exploded around them, their fire causing a light show on the Jaffa, before his shield finally had enough, failing and allowing the storm of light to pierce through, melting rents in the red armour underneath, which resisted more than the standard Jaffa armour, but it wasn't enough, he watched as the torso of the Jaffa was turned to red mist, spraying over his companions as the body collapsed to the earth,
A scream came from his right, a brick exploded in the face of private Nguyen, sending red hot shards of ceramic into his face and eyes, blood ran in streaks as the man beside him pulled him down, Graves cursed again and turned his fire onto the next Jaffa, both of them had taken up position at the doorway, using the frame for cover, only their long staff weapons poking out to return fire.
More stomping could be heard coming over the din, Graves saying a quick prayer in his mind, this could be his end, his eyes narrowed at the half exposed Jaffa, laser beams impacted his shield to little effect as his men gave their all, that was when he started to feel the ground shake and the loud roar of an ICE engine coming closer.
"Thank fuck", he rolled over and looked to the still locked wooden gate, it felt like slow motion as it exploded outward, a massive tan machine pushing through, its turbine whining as the tracks crunched their way across the knick-knacks of the courtyard, Graves was glad for the ear protection as his men rolled out of the way and moved behind the machine, one that he had only seen before in pictures.
A massive boom removed the Jaffa, the ones at the door and those in the corridor beyond, the APDSFS shot turning the Jaffa into red smears, the tank commander electing to use it in the tight confines rather than HE, behind the Abrams tank came the men of the Unions first division, they rushed in while medics dealt with the wounded, Graves stood and sat on the wall as an army captain approached.
"Sergeant Graves?", he asked, Graves nodded, wiping the dirt and sweat from his face.
"Yes sir, I'm damn glad you arrived when you did, those Jaffa nearly got us"
"No problem Sergeant, my men will handle the palace, you can head back to rest up", the Captain looked to the dust shrouded corridor, "Those were the Elite Jaffa?, I hope that was all of them"
"Me too", Graves sighed out, fatigue catching up to him.
…
The grizzled face of General Cherinkov stared out of the projection in front of Rooks, a scar ran right across her face from her eye right up to her hairline, a deep gouge from a knife to the face she received during the fighting to reclaim the Hegemony from Amaris.
"I expect to have the city cleared by tomorrow, we are running into a bit of trouble with what we are calling the Jaffa civilians though, the women have a tendency to attack our troops with melee weapons when we clear their buildings", Cherinkov was explaining.
"If they fight they're enemy combatants and should be treated as such", Rooks sighed, "What about the Rhososians?"
Cherinkov motioned off camera, the hologram mimicking her motions, it changed to show a tactical map of the city and nearby mines, "The first division is handling that, General Bucock is telling me they have taken the slave quarters but some Jaffa have retreated into the mines, they are currently being flushed out, the Rhososians themselves are still contained in the slave barracks"
Rooks nodded, "I'll send someone down to talk to them, we'll need to start shipping people out soon, moving a million plus will take some time"
They'd be taking those Jaffa noncombatants too, they'd probably be dumped on a planet without a gate until the Union decided what to do with them, there were far too many for the normal prison camp.
Perhaps the SGC could talk to Bra'tac and arrange something, he might be able to convince some to abandon their gods, but that was a matter for other people, right now Rooks had a war to conclude.
General Cherinkov nodded to Rooks and ended the transmission soon after, he turned to his comms officer, "Contact the corvette Thunderstrike, I need to talk to Commander Tan'ar"
Moments later a familiar face was projected by hologram, the former Rhososian captain Tan'ar, he had been assisting the Union with Rhososian technology and he and his crew had been granted citizenship and a command of his own, a corvette, Rooks had mixed feeling about that but he seemed competent enough, right now he would be useful in calming down the Rhososian slaves for transport.
"Admiral Rooks, how may I assist?"
Rooks pressed a few buttons and sent the map to Tan'ar, "We found the Rhososian slaves that Ptahmose took, we need you to head planet side and help evacuate them"
A faint triumphant yes could be heard from Tan'ar's feed, Ensign Mar'teen cheering in the background, a wisp of a smile formed on Tan'ar's face, "Right away Admiral, I'm sure they will be happy to see familiar faces"
Rooks nodded, "Rooks out", he leaned back in his chair, things had been going well but he was keeping the fleet on alert, those red Jaffa had been a concern though, if the Goa'uld had more like that it would make ground assaults all the more painful, it was also a harsh reminder that for all seemingly poor tactics they had technology to more than even that deficiency.
His eyes found the screen across from him, a live feed from the cameras on the hull, the city below filling it up, smoke billowed from burning buildings as he watched men storm the homes of the Jaffa, flashes of light streaking back and forth as men fought and died in the waning daylight, he watched as teams secured the warehouses near the wrecked star port, if not for the slaves he would have just bombarded the planet from the safety of his ship, there were no ares conventions signed with the snakes, a yawn split his face as tiredness encroached on him.
He turned to his XO, Commander LeMarque, "Take over until the next shift, I need to get some paperwork done", Rooks slid out of his chair, stretching his sore limbs, a stack of paper was waiting before he could even think of resting.
Phobos Research Station
Mars Orbit
Several sets of eyes watched as a robotic arm lifted the lid from the canopic jar, an audible hissing was soon heard from within, the parasite burst forth looking for a host.
Nearby on a table was the still form of a blonde woman, blank eyes stared at the ceiling as nutrition was delivered by tubes placed into her arms, the parasite sensed the potential host and slithered closer.
"Is this wise?", a distorted voice asked in the room behind the one way mirror, distinctly female, it belonged to the Tok'ra queen Egeria, she sounded far stronger than the last time she had been in Union space.
"It cant escape if that's what you're worried about, we can eject the whole room if it things go wrong", a spectacled man wearing a white lab coat responded, Doctor Voss was the leader of this project.
"If Osiris there is able to use the body it will we quite useful to the Tok'ra, I understand that hosts are somewhat hard to come by?"
"We are not Goa'uld", Egeria sighed out, "Finding willing hosts is a challenge, but I fail to see how this helps"
Voss smirked, "Ever hear of a Cylon", he pointed through the window where the snake was forcing its way past the still bodies lips, "Artificially grown humans, we need to know if a Goa'uld can inhabit one", he turned to a screen and brought up a brain scan, "She has no mind of her own, there's no moral issue to using these bodies"
"I see", the tail of the parasite disappeared past the lips, "Where did you acquire these Cylons"
"Our allies defeated them a few weeks ago and captured several of their resurrection ships, there are thousands of bodies on life support on them, we got a few for study from them"
Egeria nodded as the body started to move, sitting up and flashing its eyes, "You do know that Osiris identifies as a male?"
Voss laughed, "We did actually obtain some male models but those were sent to be dissected, and the last one is earmarked for someone called Ma'chello?, anyway we only had the females left for this"
A pounding began on the glass, an irate Osiris was banging on the wall, her mouth uttering curses that they were unable to hear, "I must admit doctor, I am intrigued by this, thousands of bodies you say?"
Voss nodded excitedly, "The Colonials have no use for them and it's a way of introducing you both to each other, the ships can even grow more if we want"
"I would like to meet these Colonials", Egeria stared at the unknowing Osiris' face, "What about her?"
Voss shrugged, "Interrogation, after that who knows, probably executed"
Egeria smiled, "A deserved fate", she turned to one of her two attendants, "Inform the High council I need to speak with them once we return", She felt a sense of hope blooming in her heart, although the Pangarans had been apologetic actual hosts had been few, this could be the start of a renewal of the Tok'ra, one free from a dependency on humans giving up half of their freedom.