Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Star Wars, or Stargate movies, TV shows, games, books, or comics. This story features elements inspired by Warhammer 40K. They all belong to their respective copyright owners. This story is not for sale or rent.
Chapter 29
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Part 3
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Earth is at war!
Associated Press
Lord Perun's Envoy, Lady Lyda, officially announced that the long-anticipated Goa'uld civil war is not in progress. Earth's forces are expected to soon engage hostile Goa'uld forces off world!
BBC World News
More protesters against the war are gathering in many cities worldwide. Multiple SAT signatory nations just declared emergency measures and, in select cases, martial law.
Euronews
The President declared a nationwide state of emergency. The Governors of twelve states have called in the National Guard to help maintain order, with more likely to follow soon. State Senators and mayors of fifteen cities have filed lawsuits against what they claim to be unconstitutional and unlawful overreach from the federal government.
CNN
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Sword Base, Beta Site
Milky Way Galaxy
"No one expects the Goa'uld Inquisition…" O'Neill quipped.
One of said Inquisitors, who unfortunately didn't wear a red cloak, looked strangely at Jack. Everybody's a critic, the Colonel thought.
Their snake Overlord wasn't sending them alone, which was nice. Either that or his snakiness believed that Earth's forces needed babysitting, which was fair. They didn't exactly cover themselves in glory when engaging Goa'uld forces. Jack decided to view the current state of affairs as a hint that they weren't wholly disposable.
That said, why the hell did Perun make his own Inquisition? And who told him about the Inquisition in the first place? Whoever it was was liable to end either in northern Alaska or the most God-forsaken place in Siberia the Russians could find.
It came as a complete surprise that Earth's marching orders arrived with a small group of self-proclaimed Inquisitors in tow, along with presumably some nice equipment. They had these neat hovering sleds stacked up with supply crates many on Earth would want a crack at… and Jack found that he was trying very hard not to think about what was about to happen soon or that Earth was now officially involved in the largest, likely nastiest war, the whole galaxy had seen in thousands of years. That might have something to do with Jack being one of the survivors from Abydos, where the whole mess began.
The only outward sign that the Jaffa who arrived at Sword Base were Perun's Inquisitors was a small insignia on their shoulders—a stylized "I" severed by Perun's sigil. Prime Vladyzlav led the small group clad in the standard Jaffa armor Perun provided his troops. Appearance-wise, their commander was the oldest by far, with the rest looking painfully young.
Jack carefully observed how the Inquisitors quickly set up shop near the Stargate, unloading and unpacking crates. A few of them contained the pieces of a console of some kind, where one of the young Jaffa sat as soon as it was set up. Two of his companions opened a pair of crates revealed by now familiar Goa'uld reconnaissance drones. They came to life one after another, with a camera feed from them appearing on the console's large screen. It was clear that the Jaffa were testing their equipment before deployment.
"Who is going to be conducting the first assault?" Prime Vladyzlav demanded after making sure his people had things well underway.
"I'll be leading the incursion," Jack admitted. As a veteran from Abydoss and the right rank, it was a natural fit as far as command was concerned. Besides, if things went south, he would make a great scapegoat, O'Neill thought. "I have my people ready to get into the armors you provided. We've been training with them as a unit for the past week or so, but there are obvious issues. Some of my soldiers were at it for longer using our few examples of older ceremonial armor."
The tall Jaffa looked Jack up and down. "You aren't particularly small for a human, but that doesn't really matter," the man sighed philosophically.
"Your armors are bulky and heavy. I was at Abydoss and know why they need to be that way, though that doesn't change our problems."
"You are slow in them and easy to exhaust," Vladyzlav concluded. "We have the same issues with the human defense forces Lord Perun bid us to train. They can be somewhat effective fighting from fixed positions but become exhausted too fast trying to maneuver or advance in armor. They're also painfully slow. However, they are not warriors, so that was to be expected even without armor."
"A miss can incapacitate or kill you without armor. I would be dead without access to one of your sarcophagi," Jack noted.
"I'll see your warriors so I can determine if there is something we can do before we must attack," Vladyzlav appeared to be surprisingly reasonable. Jack was beginning to see why Perun sent this particular bunch of Inquisitors to oversee and advise.
They walked past defenses, where combat engineers were still busy fortifying the area. Two dug-in tanks and Bradleys obscured the Stargate, with pill boxes and trenches taking shape. Sword Base spread out not too far behind, mostly consisting of field tents and light pre-prefabricated buildings that were to be moved and assembled. Most of the latter were meant to hold ammo and other critical supplies out of the element.
"Those are interesting designs," Vladyzlav nodded at one of the up-armored Abrams tanks. The steel beast looked even more impressive from up close, with armor layers added to protect it from plasma weaponry.
"They're the best in our world, or so the Army grunts tell me. I hope they'll be good enough against what the other Goa'uld are fielding."
"We should hope not to find out anytime soon," Vladyzlav interjected. "If we face that kind of resistance, the mission will fail, and we will have to die for Lord Perun. It is better to live to serve our God instead of die for him."
"That's a sentiment I can get behind," Jack happily agreed while cursing the report on this conversation he would have to write, not to mention the inevitable debriefing.
They soon reached the area where the assault teams had their alien gear stashed in. Most of the soldiers stayed in the heavy Jaffa armor for as long as possible, as of late, to better adjust to operating in it. Squads were jogging around; others did exercises in place, trying to increase their endurance in the bulky suits and get accustomed to the restrictions on mobility and reactions that came with them. Not too far away, two squads were at a makeshift firing range, shooting their brand-new plasma guns. Getting the hang of it took some practice. While they packed a respectable punch, the plasma bolts were significantly slower than bullets, requiring adjustment to reliably hit targets at an effective range. If not for the ridiculous alien armor, bullets would be more effective if you could engage the enemy in the open, ideally from dug-in positions.
The few advantages Earth's firearms had mattered far less in close-quarters engagements, forests, and cities. Jack knew that there were plans to try and get infantry-scale prototypes of railguns and coilguns for testing, as well as advanced armor-piercing ammo. Unfortunately, even if those ideas panned out, it wouldn't help him. These opening engagements were meant to be false-flag operations. Earth's assault units couldn't be seen using gear that was so radically different from what the Goa'uld deployed. This meant there would be no armor support, even if a company of tanks and IFVs were deployed to defend Sword Base and theoretically available for assault operations through the Stargate.
"Gather around folks and look alive! It's inspection time!" Jack hollered.
The officers and NCOs around took notice of O'Neill's arrival, and the Jaffa beside him quickly issued orders of their own. The training members of Delta Force, SAS squaddies, and a few token French from the Foreign Legion jogged to form up for inspection. It was painfully slow and awkward. The last time Jack saw something like this was in basic training with greenhorns, who understandably had no idea what they were doing while Drill Sergeants screamed at them. These were professional soldiers – all of them were combat veterans, too, which only highlighted the kind of shit show Jack had to preside over.
"If you were Jaffa, this would be the most pathetic showing I've seen in decades!" Prime Vladyzlav belowed. "Now I see why Lord Perun sent us here," he continued in a lower tone but still loud enough that everyone gathered could clearly hear him. "We are fortunate that we shouldn't engage experienced Jaffa with modern combat equipment."
Jack winced at that. This was outright taunting Murphy. Wasn't the Jaffa familiar with the concept? Now, they might run into a patrol or major troop deployment no one saw coming.
"What is your plan, Colonel O'Neill?" Vladyzlav asked.
"We secure the Stargate, then take defensive positions and bait the garrison to come to us. As you can see, conducting a proper infantry assault at a distance will be a disaster. We must take out as many enemies as possible at favorable tactical terms. Securing the facilities in the area might be impossible otherwise without giving the charade up."
It wasn't a great plan. It wasn't even just a good plan, though Jack had little to work with. One day, they would have better weapons and armor, and, more importantly, they wouldn't have to pretend to be Jaffa. Then, they could play to their strengths instead of playing the enemy's game.
"I can see that," Vladyzlav glowered at some of Earth's best soldiers. "After securing the Chapa'ai, my unit will take a point, and you'll support us with accurate fire. After seeing this, I see we have much to do. I know there are plans for light armor that can offer adequate protection to humans from close misses and make glancing hits survivable. You should speak with Lord Perun's local overseer. I know you're building some useful equipment for us. You might be able to make adequate armor for humans with the blessing of Lord Perun."
"That would have been nice to have on Abydos," Jack groaned.
"Ah, that place," Vladyzlav's glower intensified and focused on O'Neill. "You should not have been there, human. Now we are all going to be doing the dying because of it."
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Part 4
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Sword Base
Beta Site, Milky Way Galaxy
Jack wished they had a few more days of training supervised by people who intimately knew how to use the new armor. Unfortunately, in the time available, Vladyzlav could only give them some pointers, many of which were common sense, though others not so much.
Time was the most crucial point – they needed it to get accustomed to the armors and condition themselves to use them for prolonged periods of time. Spending as much time in the armors every day would help in that regard. There were some exercises that differed from what Earth's militaries did for physical conditioning, which allegedly helped get accustomed to the motion range and weight of the armor. That was nice to know, but it was utterly useless in the short term.
Late in the evening, after the Jaffa arrived, it was a go time. While Jack would have loved far more time to train and prepare up-to-date recon information to plan an assault, those were luxuries they couldn't afford. At least they wouldn't be going in totally blind, so that was a small mercy.
O'Neill, his senior officers, and NCOs gathered around the Jaffa control station, where one of the Inquisitors sat. A pair of spherical drones silently floated around.
"Dialing up the Stargate!" one of the specialists responsible for the dialing setup announced over the constant rumble of large generators.
At the same time, two of Vladyzlav's Jaffa set up a crate near the gate and opened it up. Jack cranked his neck that way as much as his armor allowed, but unfortunately, a dug-in tank obscured his line of sight.
"They're deploying an edge if the defenses are stronger than anticipated," Vladyzlav explained.
A corner of the terminal's screen lit up with more alien scrawl. Despite Jack's best efforts, while he could speak Goa'uld passably, actually reading the language was beyond him for the time being.
"Missiles are live and ready for deployment," the young Jaffa controlling the drones announced.
So they were going to have fire support. Neat! Earth really needed such a setup of its own, though making it so would require some development, Jack knew.
As soon as the gate activated and the vortex of unstable energy returned to the rippling surface of the wormhole, the two drones flew forward, entering the event horizon. For a few seconds, the terminal's screen was mostly blank before the feed from the drones resumed. It showed a first-person view of a stone platform, with wide stairs leading down towards a lush grass-covered field. A dirt road cut through it, leading into the distance towards a nearby forest.
More importantly, a handful of Jaffa milled near the Stargate. Beyond them, more of the local soldiers were busy overseeing a bunch of poor wretches digging an earth berm. Part of the basic fortification was complete, and had Jaffa setting shop on top of it. There was a staff cannon on some emplacement there, along with something resembling the bastard child of a civil-war-era Gatling gun and staff weapons.
"Focus on those weapons!" Vladyzlav barked.
One of the drones shot forward, looking better at the top of the berm and what lay beyond it. A closer look revealed they were indeed looking at a bastardized hand-cranked Gatling gun using staff weapons.
"That contraption will be a problem," Jack noted. He didn't expect the Jaffa over there to have a machine-gun variant. That was not something he had seen the Goa'uld use. They preferred harder hitting, if slower firing weapons, to better deal with the Jaffa's ridiculous armor.
"Mih'ail, destroy those weapons right before the attack starts. Colonel O'Neill, take the Chapa'ai!" Vladyzlav ordered. "You have the forces to do it," the Prime added while the drones swept around, revealing a few tents spread out behind the berms. "We will join you after the Chapa'ai is secure and lead the assault on the local facilities. Jaffa Kree!"
The other Inquisitors slapped a salute to their Prime and marched towards the Stargate.
"You heard him. Form up and deploy smoke. We're going in!" Jack tried to sound as excited at the prospect of an infantry assault through a single chokepoint as possible. This was going to be a bloodbath, no matter what.
Earth's assault teams stacked up before the Stargate in a way that would be utterly suicidal under most circumstances. However, considering that the wormhole before them was one-way for most things that mattered, this was actually safe enough. A pair of troopers with grenade launchers stood to the side, waiting for a word from Jack.
"Everyone ready?" O'Neill hollered. Unfortunately, they couldn't attack with complete surprise; however, having even a vague idea of what lay on the other side was worth it, giving the defending Jaffa a bit of time to rally.
"Ready and eager!" many throats roared as one.
Jack knew that most of them were even truthful. The bloody fools were happy to go out into the galaxy to fight alien super-soldiers, and they weren't even marines!
"Deploy smoke!" Jack ordered and put on his helmet. It clicked in place, sealing his armor so hot plasma or scorching air couldn't bake his head again. The crystalline substance before his eyes required a moment for Jack's eyes to adjust. Then he was looking around almost as if not wearing a helmet due to a clever design.
Two cigar-shaped missiles two-thirds the size of an attack helicopter's rocket pods flew above the heads of the gathered soldiers and plunged into the event horizon. Jack waited for a few more seconds to give time for the smoke to spread out and provide concealment.
"Go!" O'Neill barked.
A Delta Force sergeant led his troop into the wormhole, followed by the next section. They were meant to clear the way quickly so the following assault groups could arrive without stumbling over their comrades. Under different circumstances, it might have made sense for Jack to lead the way. However, considering the danger involved in breaching this kind of chokepoint, the point men were expected to be in extreme danger. Risking the field commander of the operation that way was simply idiotic, no matter how officers leading from the front could be good for the morale if they were of low enough rank.
After four teams ran through, Jack finally stepped forward and jogged before the fifth – a SAS detachment. The French were right behind them, followed by the rest of the Delta boys.
The short trip through the Stargate never got old. Jack felt like endlessly flying through a rollercoaster made of speeding stars – something that MALPs or even the Goa'uld recon drones didn't shop when traveling. Then he was through, landing hard on a cratered stone platform. Jack didn't even bother shouldering his weapon and taking aim. Instead, he bounced forward through billowing clouds of phosphorous smoke, illuminated by orange plasma blasts. He needed to get out of the way.
Jack jogged down the stairs, nearly stumbling over a couple of bodies obscured by the smoke. At least two belonged to Earth soldiers, clumped together in a tangle of armored limbs with a Jaffa protecting this world.
Distinct plasma shots, cries of pain, and bellowed orders made the obscured battlefield as chaotic as Jack expected. At least this time, they weren't stuck in a pyramid with no space to maneuver. They also had a vague idea of what they were doing and facing, which was a plus.
"Move on the left flank!" Jack shouted when he heard armored boots scrape over the shattered stone behind him.
The berm to the left was incomplete and easier to get through. From there, they could more easily flank the Jaffa on the complete earth fortification. While incomplete, that berm could offer some protection once they reach it.
The downside of all the smoke was that Jack had no damned idea what was happening. The leading units would also be deploying more smoke because otherwise, trying to cross the distance between the Stargate and the fortifications on foot without fire support was a great way to get killed.
Light tremors went through the ground when plasma bolts tore smoking craters into it, throwing clumps of smoking dirt and burned grass in all directions. Jack finally got through most of the smoke and grabbed for one of the smoke grenades attached to his belt. Those and flashbangs were the only grenades they bothered bringing – the damn Jaffa armor made frags practically useless.
Jack went to one knee and briefly surveyed the battlefield beyond the thick smoke while pulling off the pin of the grenade in his hand. There was nearly no wind, allowing the smoke to persist longer than otherwise, which was a blessing. O'Neill could see Jaffa taking positions near the incomplete berm while a small group of them were on top of the other, laying fire into the smoke. There was no sight of the weapon emplacements, which Jack had to thank the Prime for. Return fire attempted to suppress the Jaffa on top of the berm, but it wasn't working properly yet. The volume of fire wasn't enough, and with this armor, anything but a direct hit could be shrugged off.
Right about now, Jack knew his people could use a few mortars or even an air strike or two. He threw the grenade forward, then prepared a second one. The British squad stacked up behind him, taking potshots at the distant enemy or throwing more smoke grenades.
"What's the plan, Colonel?" A Sergeant asked with a thick Scottish accent.
"More smoke, then we flank them. There's no time or space for anything fancy," Jack pointed at the incomplete fortification.
The enemy finally got a glimpse of O'Neill's unit and sent plasma their way. Jack returned fire, though even with these staff rifles, the distance was too much to reliably hit people who knelt or lay prone. Attacking in their teeth was going to be ugly.
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Part 5
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Eluru
Kali's domain, Milky Way Galaxy
Plasma hurled through clouds of billowing smoke that clung close to the ground. Blobs of fiery death illuminated the man-made fog, giving it a hellish hue.
For a moment, Jack was back on Abydos, pressing his back to a column while plasma blew up chunks of sizzling stone in all directions. He felt scorching heat wash over him while phantom pain burned his skin. Then, he was back on the battlefield, shooting at distant targets. Smoke billowed out with nasty hiss from spinning grenades, creating more concealment. Plasma flew in all directions while shadows jogged through clouds of white phosphorus. Jack shook his head and dragged himself up, feeling every pound of the armor pressing down on him. Plasma flew just above his head, washing him with scorching air. For a moment, Jack cringed, expecting a wave of fiery agony. Still, instead, he didn't even feel the temperature in the armor rise. The damn thing might be heavy, but it was the good stuff.
The SAS squaddies fanned out, jogging half-crouched and firing a shot at the distant enemy every few steps. It looked ridiculous and wasn't something any self-respecting military had been training to do since the Second World War, at the very least. Nowadays, there were better ways to advance and suppress the enemy, ideally with long-range firepower.
Here and now? Jack cursed and jogged after the squad he attached himself to. They had to figure out a better way to attack through the Stargate when pretending to be a Jaffa. This was already a shit-show, with nearly no visibility or an adequate way to communicate. Sure, Jack could call the other squad leaders, but without a way to actually see who was where and what they were doing, that was of little utility. The tactical situation was brutally simple – they had to get to the fortifications overlooking the Stargate and take them. There was no space for anything fancy on this terrain, and under the constraints they operated under.
As they advanced through the smoke, Jack figured out why so little fire was coming their way. One of the squads that went in first was nearby, pinned down on the edge of the smoke cover. While they had thrown grenades to increase the concealment zone, many of the Jaffa had spotted them anyway and kept shooting in their area from three positions. There were dozens of plasma bolts striking all around the Delta troop, ensuring that if they tried to advance, the sheer volume of fire would become lethal. Jack decided the best way to help them was to reach the berms.
"Go!" O'Neill bellowed and rand forward while palming another smoke grenade. There were just a few hundred yards to the incomplete berm, and the enemy there would very soon notice the new threat and redirect their attention. They had to get there before that happened.
Jack awkwardly hurled the grenade to the mid-way point between him and the target, then ran in that direction while keeping himself as low as possible. The SAS commandos did the same and, miraculously, appeared to be intact so far.
Jack knew that plasma rained upon the advancing infantry from the right and above – the complete berm. Someone over there had a better view of the battlefield and noted the danger. O'Neill ignored the incoming fire and kept advancing while sending odd potshots forward.
A plasma bolt came from above at an odd angle, clipping one of the squaddies in the shoulder. Jack saw that happen back on Abydos – a marine lost his arm and a good chunk of the torso from that hit, and the less said how the plasma cooked the side of his head, the better. The poor bastard was dead before he hit the ground.
This time around, Jack watched the shot graze the armor, splashing molten metal behind the Brit, who stumbled on his side before crawling forward and dragging himself to his feet. More shots landed near the soldier, blasting smoking craters around him. Those misses would have cooked the squaddie without the armor. Instead, he managed to stumble through the incoming fire for long enough that a billowing sheet of smoke engulfed them, breaking the line of sight with the enemy.
"Soap, you all right?" Another Brit hollered.
"I'm in one piece, Sarge!" Soap exclaimed, disbelief tingling in his voice.
Like Jack, the members of the SAS A Squadron were back working with the SGC after spending a few months back home following the Abydos fiasco. Thinking about it, many of the soldiers who survived that mess either volunteered or volunteered for these assault operations. O'Neill was no exception.
Jack pulled out the pin of his last smoke grenade and threw it, causing it to land almost at the edge of the berm.
"We're almost there! Up and at them!" Jack shouted encouragement. As a battle cry, it left much to be desired, he thought as he followed his suggestion and sprung forward.
To Jack's utter lack of surprise, the Jaffa at the incomplete berm were aware of the danger and were deployed to meet the new threat.
"Flash them!" the Scottish Sergeant bellowed so his voice carried over the sound of exploding plasma and screaming wounded.
O'Neill noticed something moving through the smoke before him and threw the concussion grenade that way. He slowed down a bit and closed his eyes, waiting for the flash to die out. Jack opened his eyes when he heard the deafening bang carry over him and sprinted forward as fast as he could in the armor. The flashbangs briefly disoriented the Jaffa, who might not have faced this kind of stun grenades before, buying the advancing assault team a few precious seconds to close the distance.
To the bastard's credit, they were already recovering and taking aim when Jack clawed his way up a half-completed berm, aiming his plasma weapon with one hand. He shot a Jaffa on the run before going prone and taking proper aim. Beside him, the squaddies climbed up and opened fire as well. At this range, there was no way for anyone to miss if they had even a moment to take aim. If it wasn't for the flashbangs, Jack was sure the attempt to take the position would have turned out extremely ugly.
There were eight Jaffa in the Colonel's immediate vicinity. Most of them managed to get off a shot or two, but most went off target in no small part because being hit by deadly plasma bolts was not conducive to proper targeting.
Jack shot a Jaffa in the chest, making him stumble back. At this range, the plasma bolt tore a crater into the thick breastplate, sending shards of armor and splashes of molten metal in a semi-circle before the alien soldier. Jack winced at seeing that. Without armor, taking out an enemy this way would have resulted, at best, in mutual kill. The heat, shrapnel, and molten armor would have incapacitated the shooter and the target… and the target would have been in a better condition. Took two or three shots to the chest to put down a Jaffa for good. The first couple of strikes breached the armor and wounded the wearer, while only the third or perhaps even fourth would neutralize them.
More than a few of the Jaffa were still moving, trying to aim or recover their weapons if they lost them along with their footing before the assault team shot them again.
A pained howl erupted from the left, making Jack flinch. He still kept shooting until there were no more Jaffa moving in the immediate vicinity before he dared glance at the source of the screaming.
One of the Brits had rolled down the berm in a smoking pile. The poor bastard was curled in a fetal position, weakly clawing at his scorched armor.
"Medic!" Jack bellowed.
"Soap go check on our medic," the Sergeant ordered, "We've got incoming. Low, right side."
"We're holding here until reinforced," Jack ordered, crawling forward to get a better firing position. This is Sword One to all elements. We've secured a foothold on the left flank. We need reinforcements to begin rolling it. A medic, too. Ours is in bad shape."
"Affirmative, Sword One. We're right behind you," a painfully chipper voice immediately responded. "Thanks for clearing the way. We'll take it from here."
Jack leaned to the side and glanced over his shoulder. A lot of figures were running through the smoke, and they were almost at the incomplete berm.
"Reinforcements will be here immediately! Hold tight and lay down covering fire!" Jack commanded and took aim. A small group of Jaffa was indeed coming from the larger tent camp behind the completed berm. Jack pressed the trigger and sent a plasma bolt downrange, followed by the squaddies. They caught the Jaffa at the front with multiple shots, blasting him back in a shower of molten metal. The other locals tried their best to scatter; however, there wasn't much cover for them to use. Only a little smoke had made its way beyond the berms, offering no concealment to speak of.
While what followed wasn't exactly target practice, it was close enough. By the time the one-sided firefight was over, two more units had made their way to Jack's position, giving him enough manpower to reasonably advance and begin rolling up the enemy's flanks.
"If anyone has smoke left, start deploying it now!" O'Neill ordered. He pointed his gun at the dead Jaffa in the distance. "That's what happens when someone tries to advance in the open without concealment."
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Part 6
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Eluru
Kali's domain, Milky Way Galaxy
Jack sat atop the complete berm, taking stock of the situation. He was also taking a brief breather because after the assault ended and adrenaline drained out of his system, O'Neill felt as if the weight of the armor doubled. Jack wasn't the only one – the surviving members of the lead company were taking a brief rest. In contrast, the second company was busy policing the battlefield and standing overwatch on the road leading to their actual target. Said road was a dirt track sneaking between two clumps of trees, leading to a camp out of sight from the Stargate area.
Smoke still crawled like fog, clinging to the ravaged grass field behind Jack and obscuring most of the battlefield. Medics moved through it like ghosts, providing first aid or confirming that people were dead.
Jack wasn't entirely sure if they got away lightly or if the mission was already a disaster in the making. On one hand, there were a lot of casualties, though most of them were alive and likely to recover because of the armor. On the other hand, they just completed a frontal assault through a single chokepoint with what was, for all intents and purposes, light infantry without proper supporting weapons to speak of. Without the Jaffa armor, the whole exercise would have been a one-sided bloodbath in favor of the Jaffa. As things stood, the local garrison troops almost gave as good as they got. So far, Jack could roughly account for four or five squads of Jaffa who held the area. Most were dead, with a few wounded.
The first assault company had twenty dead or wounded, with half the casualties suffering breaching the Stargate and eliminating the enemy Jaffa closest to it. The smoke did its job; even then, it was a miracle that they lost less than a dozen people dead or wounded crossing the open fields between the portal and the enemy fortifications.
If there were more Jaffa, or if they had more heavy weapons Vladyzlav's people couldn't eliminate, everything would have gone to hell. Speaking of the Prime, he was climbing up the berm followed by five more Jaffa, all clad in much heavier armor than Jack's own.
"Colonel, I see you are in one piece. Good," Vladyzlav nodded at O'Neill. "I am also glad to see you take good care of your warriors. Most Gods are capricious creatures, and Jaffa lives are cheap for them."
Jack bit his tongue not to snark at the remark with something that Vladyzlav might find offensive, like a suggestion that it might be better to work for Earth instead for a snake with a delusion of godhood. After all, Jack was intimately familiar with how convincing Perun could be. While he wouldn't be converting anytime soon, he could see how people could genuinely believe that his snakiness was a deity of some kind.
"From what I gather, the same is true about Perun," Jack eventually said.
"Our Lord is the God of War," Vladyzlav proudly spoke. "We should be moving soon," the Prime suggested after looking around. "Are your warriors capable of marching to the next objective and offering battle?"
"We'll get there, though we'll be less effective than I would like. Fighting in these armors took more of us than I expected."
"You needed more time to condition yourselves," Vladyzlav concluded. "It can't be helped. War waits for no man or even God."
There was no accusation in the Jaffa's words, though Jack winced at them. This war, in particular, could have waited for years or even decades if it wasn't for Abydos.
O'Neill slowly rose while his muscles and joints protested. And to think he had been feeling better than in a long while since his stint in the sarcophagus on Abydos…
"Give us a couple of minutes to gather the assault force, and we'll be marching forth. I'll be detaching units to cover our flanks in the forest. However, I won't send anyone deeper into it," Jack continued. "Ideally, we would be moving through it for cover, though between the need for secrecy and the weight of the armor, that's out of the question."
"We might want to attack from the forest, using it for concealment before we storm the camp," Vladyzlav suggested.
"I don't like the plan either, though if we march through the forest in these armors, I am not sure if we'll be able to actually assault the damn place instead of just taking pot-shots at it," Jack admitted. "For that matter, without time to rest, I can assure you, we won't be able to hit the next target on the list. While we have more than enough manpower back at the base and on Earth, those soldiers aren't trained to use your armor. Without it, an assault through the Stargate will be a suicide unless we deploy armor."
"Doing so would be counter-productive for the time being," Vladyzlav noted.
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Jack endured many miserable things during his time in the special forces, both in training and the field. However, even if it was just a few miles long, the march to the Goa'uld camp was among the worst in a long while, or so it felt. Soon after they began moving, Jack concluded that the gravity of this world was somewhat higher than Earth's, but not enough to be immediately noticeable, especially when pumped on adrenaline. He shared that thought with Vladyzlav, who tilted his helmet to the side and then made an odd motion that vaguely resembled a shrug.
"It's possible. If so, it's not enough for us to notice. For you, though," Jack was sure that the Prime looked critically at the marching Earth troops. "I can see how a small change can greatly impact humans. Usually, we only notice it immediately if we're feeling at least a third heavier after stepping through the Chapa'ai. Anything less we can ignore in the short term, and we can get more or less accustomed if deployed on such a world long-term."
A commotion across the vanguard got Jack's attention a bit later, and he ponderously jogged ahead from the bulk of the advancing commandos. A couple of squads peeled off into the forest every few hundred yards to provide flank security. Like it or not, by the time they got to the objective, Jack would be down to a single company and the Jaffa to take it. The alternative was for an enterprising enemy to flank or cut them off from the Stargate, which could be disastrous. They needed drones, Goa'uld, or Earth ones for scouting. Unfortunately, the Inquisitors wouldn't risk their drone operator and his equipment on this side of the Stargate. By now, support personnel were busy stripping the area around the portal from anything of use and carting it back to the Beta Site, so they were out of drone reconnaissance.
"Colonel, a platoon worth of Jaffa were marching down the road towards the Stargate. When they got a glimpse of us, they turned around and jogged back," The Sergeant in charge of the vanguard reported.
Jack cursed. It would have been great if most of the local garrison offered them an open battle outside their base. Instead, they would be taking place the hard way, as expected.
"Keep going, and look out for an ambush," Jack told the NCO. He waited for the rest of the column to reach him and then shared the news with Vladyzlav.
"They have someone who had seen battle in charge. Otherwise, a young Jaffa hungry to prove themselves would have offered battle when they saw us approach," the Prime shared his wisdom.
Jack had no reason to doubt the Jaffa's words—he knew better than anyone from Earth how Jaffa operated and what cultural peculiarities pushed their buttons.
