Stellar Reich (AU Stargate TL)

[Patupi]

January 1989

With a flash the Stargate stabilized to leave a steady ripple, a scintillating blue glow lighting the dawn scenery. Shortly afterwards figures began to emerge, some in black, some in green. When Twelve men had emerged the leader, a Jaffa in jet black armor, talked into a stick like device clipped to the back of his wrist.

“This is Colonel Il'kar SES Zero One. We have arrived safely. As the probes indicated there is no sign of a Jaffa presence around the gate. Myself, Captain Fischer and two teams will proceed to the crash site. Lieutenant Koenig's team will defend the gate.”

For a moment there was no response, then a tinny voice echoed in the morning air.

“Acknowledged SES Zero One.” Came the serious tones of Al'dar. “We will link to you again in two hours for a status report. Good hunting.”

“Thank you General.” Il'kar said, then cut the transmission, the gate disconnecting shortly after.

“Ah, wonderful climate. So, a little sport, some bird shooting perhaps?” The cheerful man in the black uniform said, slapping Il'kar on the back.

“Next time perhaps Captain. Get your men ready, we head out in two minutes.” He said, but did smile slightly as he said it. Fischer was an oddity in an SS man, personable and friendly while extremely competent. Il'kar had asked for him to be head of the SchutzStaffel in SES-01 personally.

“Zu Befehl Colonel. We will be ready. I think Grupter could manage a few pot shots on the way home?”

Il'kar just gave him his patented stare as an answer and Fischer held his hands up in resignation and headed off to his men chuckling. Shaking his head Il'kar headed over to the more serious Lieutenant Koenig.

“Do not take any chances Lieutenant.” Il'kar said as Koenig saluted. “We know the Goa'uld have been here in the past so be certain your covering positions are well hidden. If any Jaffa come through the gate warn us immediately. Silent signal first, we may well be in an awkward position.”

“Understood Colonel. We will be ready. Heil Himmler!” He said, stiffly saluting

“Heil Himmler Lieutenant. We will be back in a few hours.”

As Il'kar and Fischer lead the mixed group of six Jaffa and Waffen-SS off into the jungle, leaving Koenig and his three Wehrmacht troops to dig their camouflaged trenches and guard the gate.

***

“Do you see any obvious damage?” Fischer whispered, serious for once as he and Il'kar lay on the rise, over looking the 'crash' site.

“No, I do not.” Il'kar replied quietly, still gazing through his field glasses, flicking them to thermal imaging to see if there were non-visual clues to why the transport craft had buried itself nose first in the ground. “Nothing un-obvious either.”

“Unusual Il'kar, not 'un-obvious'. I swear, you've been learning German for, what, forty years? You still have the damnedest gaps in y...”

Fischer stopped in mid word as Il'kar held his hand up, staring across the valley. In the area beyond the 'crash' two Jaffa had just emerged, staffs at the ready, heading towards the ship.

“Just two?” Fischer whispered, very quietly.

Il'kar didn't respond, just thumbed the zoom on his field glasses. They seemed to be Cronos Jaffa by their emblem. The two approached the ship, obviously wary, using typical Jaffa covering tactics for each other. When they rounded the side of the transport one knelt down and aimed back across the valley floor, covering while the other approached the hatch. As soon as he touched the control for the hatch though a sizzling sound bit the air, and bright red beams snapped from the base of the cliff the Reich troops were atop of, burning holes rapidly in both Jaffa.

“Or none.” Il'kar finished as both Jaffa dropped to the floor dead.

“Some kind of Goa'uld homing weapon?” Fischer asked, peering down to try to see the weapon in question, unsuccessfully.

“Yes, the Tacluchnatagmuntoron. It fires at hot targets when triggered.”

“Thermal targeting? Looked like a particle beam or heat-ray weapon. Do Goa'uld use heat-rays?” Il'kar shrugged slightly as he stared down, but the waited for aggressor did not reveal himself to dispose of the bodies. Looked like the setter of this trap was not around, or just waiting for more Jaffa to turn up.

“The Jaffa were of Cronos, the ship... I cannot tell. The sigil is partially buried. Perhaps Sokar.”

“Ungh, not a good mix. I've parried with Sokar's Jaffa before. Total zealots!” Il'kar nodded. “Cronos, not dealt with, but heard enough that I don't want to. He's one of the big four at the moment isn't he? Ra's hench Goa'uld?”

Il'kar managed a weak chuckle.

“The System Lords do you mean? There are more than four, usually between six and twelve in my experience, though there is no set limit. Ra prefers ten. He usually gets what he wants.” Il'kar lifted a hand to halt the conversation and tapped his comm-stick, querying if Koenig could safely respond.

“Yes Colonel?” Koenig's voice came through the stick.

“We have identified two forces present. One two Jaffa, dead just now from a Goa'uld trap, once belonging to Cronos. The ship appears to be Sokar, but it is not certain. I have not identified who set the trap. Be aware Tacluchnatagmuntoron energy weapon traps could be laid out. They target heat sources if tripped.”

“Understood. When base contacts I'll forward the information Colonel. Anything else?”

“My team is heading down to investigate, Fischer's covering me. If we do not contact you in ten minutes dial the gate and warn base this area may be compromised.”

“Understood Colonel. Koenig out.”

***

One of Il'kar's Jaffa's remained behind covering, while Fischer's Specialist technology squad leader Grupter (a relatively new rank in the Waffen SS, often just called Tech leader) Joined Il'kar as he investigated the trap. A flare isolated the three weapons, and Il'kar shot two further devices with his MR-11 Death-ray carbine. His Beamer Rifle would have been a little too loud. Grupter then got to work shutting down the remaining device without destroying it.

“Fascinating, some kind of Crystronic Lens guiding circuits, using a Hoffman-Reese deflection system. Definitely a particle beam, but unlike anything I've seen before.” said the Tech leader as he finished his examination of the ball like weapon and finally closed it up, shutting it down. “shouldn't be hard to figure out how to trick these in future, though likely we'd need more flares.”

“Yes, please be quiet Grupter.” Il'kar said, eyes slitted as he stared around the clearing. Something was wrong.

He raised his wrist and tapped for Fischer, talking immediately.

“Can you see anyone in the area Captain?”

“Negative.” Fischer said in a quiet monotone from the hill above them. “Jaffa vibe again?”

“Possibly. Something is amiss here certainly.”

He peered around the area, but could tell nothing.

“We should leave, now. Captain, ready your men, we're heading back to the gate.”

Carefully Il'kar, his two Jaffa and Grupter headed back up the hill, weapon's at the ready, but they reached Fischer and the others without incident and the group gathered together for the trip back to the gate.

Then Loo'tesh ran into an energy barrier, his black armor mostly cushioning the blow as he staggered back.

“Drop your weapons!” Came a voice from outside the barrier, echoing almost like a Goa'uld.

All the troops swung their guns around, looking for targets, two of the Waffen SS stormtroopers dropping the the ground with their MR-12's, covering front and rear.

“I said, drop your weapons!” The voice said again, and to punctuate it the familiar shrill crackle of a Zat'Nik'Tel blast came, the blast striking Loo'tesh, stunning him, his body tumbling to the brush covered ground. “I won't ask again. As you can see, I can shoot you, but you cannot shoot me.”

A figure stepped out from the shadows ahead, a rifle and Zat'Nik'Tel both pointed at them. Fischer pulled a grenade from his belt with a grin but Il'kar grasped his wrist before the Captain could throw it. When Fischer turned to him he shook his head 'No'. He nodded to Grupter who held up a scanner.

“Level 7 shield, full coverage dome, non-velocity limited. Sorry, no grenades sir.” Grupter said sadly. “And I don't think we have the firepower to batter it down.”

“So....” the voice said again.

Reluctantly Il'kar motioned his men to put their guns down.

“Stand away from them.” The voice said, and the Reich troops stepped back, Grupter helping the stunned Loo'tesh stagger with them, seeing the shield shrink, visibly rippling as it skipped over the dropped weapons, still surrounding Il'kar's men.

The man stepped forwards, wearing an unfamiliar suit of armor, though definitely looking Goa'uld in origin, with a face mask.

“Well well, seems I've finally caught the famous first strike group of the Reich.” The man said as he tucked the weapons in a sack and threw it over his shoulder, then waved at them as the shield dropped. “Don't do anything foolish. This is a rapid fire Phase pulse eradication rod, easily capable of dropping all of you in one salvo. Don't test me.”

“And who is it we are not testing?” Il'kar said, frowning fiercely at the intruder.

“My name is Aris Boch, bounty hunter. Perhaps you've heard of me?”

Il'kar and Fischer glanced at each other, shrugging.

“No.” They said in unison.

“Really, well, it hardly matters. Walk, that way!” Aris said, waving his weapon. Sullenly the two teams of troops were escorted by Aris back towards the ship.

Grupter raised an eyebrow and nodded very faintly to Aris, but Il'kar shook his head imperceptibly. Now was not the time. They had holdout weapons, but it was doubtful they could draw, come to bear on Aris and fire before he killed most, if not all of them. For now they would have to do as Aris wanted.

 

[Patupi]

January 1989

Unsurpringly the two Reich teams found themselves escorted back to the crashed transport, Aris motioning them towards the hatch which opened obligingly for him to a spoken command.

"Huh, reroute controls to verbal, then rig anyone who uses the normal control panel to trip defenses. Nice trick." Fischer said grudgingly.

"I am so glad you approve," Aris said, "now get in."

They did as bid, and unfortunately Aris refused to get close enough that Il'kar could hope to wrest his gun away from him. Inside the forward cabin of the transport Aris opened the door to the rear compartment and waved them in. However, after four had entered he said sharply "Stop.", then tapped a wall panel again closing the door firmly.

"OK, now I have four of the superios Reich forces trapped, and the other four will do what I tell them. Won't you?" he said, backing away.

Fischer, Il'kar, Grupter and Loo'kesh turned to the bounty hunter who curiously removed his visor and smiled at them. Reaching behind him he took three Zat'Nik'Tels from a belt bag and tossed them to the floor in front of the group.

"Now, how about we trade? In return for your freedom you capture a Goa'uld for me. Easily within the powers of the famous SES-01!"

The group slowly, warily, knelt down and picked up the pistols as Aris lowered his weapon, still smiling.

"Over the hill are three Jaffa and a Goa'uld I'm tracking. If you do me the favor of hunt..."

While Aris spoke Il'kar and Loo'kesh dropped the Zat'Nik'Tels (obviously a trick), whipped out their holdout pistols and fired simultaneously, the harsh crack of gunfire echoing in the room, sparks flying from Boch's armor, though he moved surprisingly quickly, darting out of the hatch and into cover. Grunts showed the bullets must have done something to him however.

"Now that wasn't very nice!" Came the response, and a series of beeps came from their left. Grupter ran across to the console and sighed.

"Looks like an energy build up in the ship!"

"Very good!" Aris said cheerily from outside. "A very nasty energy build up, and I have the control crystal while your men are still trapped on the ship. Long before you can break them out this ship will be vaporized. Now, as I was saying, if you do me the favor of hunting this Goa'uld down, stunning him, then leaving him in this ship for me, I'll release your men, be on my way and you can go home."

"And how do we know we can trust you?" Il'kar said frostily.

"You don't. As I see it you don't have a choice."

The beeps were getting louder and Grupter grimaced at the display.

"Times a wasting!" Aris said. "What's your answer?"

Symbols shifted on the panel and Il'kar sighed.

"We will do as you ask. Betray us and I will personally hang your skin on the wall of my bunk room Aris Boch."

Fischer wrinkled his nose.

"I hope you'll cure this one Il'kar." The SS man said with a sigh. "You stank the barracks up for weeks last time!"

"Ahh, Reich humor, very amusing." Aris said, while Il'kar merely raised an eyebrow. "Now, you. Goa'uld hunting. Just over the hill to the east, about ten minutes walk. Couldn't be easier. Best hurry or I won't reset the timer on the ship."

Il'kar and Loo'kesh picked up the dropped Zat'Nik'Tels and headed out, staring at Aris as he leaned against the ship's exterior, smiling at them and waving them on with his gun. Il'kar at least had the pleasure of seeing a couple of wounds on the bounty hunter from their brief skirmish. He hoped he'd hit something vital.

The four troopers headed up over the rise, seeing Boch heading in the ship and presumably turn the bomb off.

"Do we really take out this Goa'uld for him?" Fischer said frostily when they had passed over the hill. "I know, it is an Eel, but I do not like bowing to these kinds of demands Colonel!"

"I neither Captain, but I also do not like to lose men under my command. We will see if he can be trusted, and if so I will allow him to live. This time."

"And if he turns on us?" Fischer said, with a scowl.

"Then I imagine you will learn to deal with the smell in the barracks my friend."

Fischer chuckled as he followed Il'kar down the hill. The team spread out, attempting to stay in cover as they approached the supposed position of the Goa'uld. Sure enough two Jaffa were standing there in full sight, with a tent behind them, presumably with the target inside.

"Do the Goa'uld ever consider actually not standing in plain sight?" Fischer whispered "I mean, their Jaffa don't use trenches, they barely seem to cover themselves during combat. This just seems so... unfair to them."

Il'kar just smiled back and raised his Zat'Nik'Tel.

"I am willing to accept 'unfair' if it is in my favor Fischer. Now, let us do this properly shall we?"

Zat'Nik'Tel and pistol fire rang out moments later when the Reich troops were sure they had good positions, and both Jaffa fell to the ground, unmoving. The Goa'uld did not emerge from the tent however, and the team held back, waiting, Grupter scanning for energy signitures or shields.

"I'm reading nothing in there," The Tech Leader reported, "but there is a faint signal to the left, on the move."

Il'kar glanced into the woods in that direction and smiled.

"Hah, a smart Goa'uld. This was a decoy."

With a wave of his hand the team ran in pursuit, spreading out into two groups as they dodged trees and attempted to see the target ahead. It was not long before they burst into the open, but had to dive into cover, blasts of gravitational energy from a hand device shattering trees by Fischer and causing him and Grupter to dive for cover. Il'kar and Loo'kesh on the far left managed to get in sight of the Goa'uld as he hid behind a boulder and a Zat'Nik'Tel blast took him down quickly, the 'god' crumpling to the ground.

"Good shot Colonel." Fischer said brushing splinters from his uniform as he came out from the trees. "I'll take point, you revive the Eel and see if he has any intel on the bounty hunter."

Il'kar smiled. Now they would find out what they could about this Aris Boch and why he wanted this Goa'uld so badly.

 

[Patupi]

January 1989

"It is time for you to waken False God."

The splash of water from a stormtrooper helmet woke the Goa'uld with a splutter, while Grupter retrieved his headgear, worrying about the water on the targeting visor.

"Wha..?" The Goa'uld said, his eyes darting around. Seeing Il'kar staring down at him he instinctively raised his hand, to find no hand device on it any more.

"Looking for this?" Fischer said from behind Il'kar, holding the hand device idly. "I wonder if it's possible to overload the Naquadah in one of these? Hey Grupter!" the Captain said, wandering off with a smile.

"Now, False God, you will answer my questions. Give an answer I do not like and you will find you have one less finger." Il'kar said, holding a pair of wire-cutters up before him, snipping them menacingly.

"You're Reich aren't you?" He said, switching to the Goa'uld standard 'echoy' voice as he stared at Il'kar's silver forehead Sigil. "Pitifully weak torture techniques."

Fischer chuckled and turned to talk over his shoulder at him

"Oh, this isn't torture my friend. We just like to keep mementos of the Goa'uld we've killed. You're up to, what, four now Il'kar?"

"Five," Il'kar said calmly, not breaking eye contact with the Goa'uld, his swastika gleaming in the sunlight on his forehead. "Soon to be six. Now, as I was saying. You will answer my questions accurately False God. Who do you serve?"

Bitterness crossed the Goa'uld's face for a moment and he glared back at Il'kar.

"I serve no Lord!"

Raising an eyebrow Il'kar stared back.

"I see. So Cronos' sigils on your Jaffa is merely a coincidence?"

"I do NOT serve that swill of a god! I am Peliar, and you WILL release me!" He said, his eyes glowing.

"Hmm, did you like that answer Captain?" Il'kar said still staring at Peliar.

"I don't think so. How about you Colonel?"

"I think.... no." and he brought the clippers down.

"WAIT!" Peliar said, and Il'kar stopped, smiling slightly. "I can aid you, help your people. Perhaps share Goa'uld technology?"

"Reich science is already nearly as advanced as the Goa'uld." Il'kar said, but though he didn't show it he was surprised. No Goa'uld had ever cracked this easily or ever offered technology to the Reich before. "Perhaps I could show you? If I remove a few of your fingers we could return home and show you the medical regenerator... Of course I don't think giving anesthetic during it would be fair."

"Definitely not!" Fischer said as he dug into the hand device with a screwdriver. "I mean that stuff is expensive!"

Peliar glanced back and forth between the two, desperation obvious in his eyes. Il'kar merely stared impassively back.

"What do you want?" He said, resignation in his eyes.

"Information." Il'kar said quietly with menace in his voice. "From the Jaffa you travel with I assume you once worked for Cronos. You will share gate codes, planetary data, fleet positions and troop strengths with us. Also any other information on the Goa'uld System Lords you are aware of."

"I will not! If it were discovered I had shared such information I..." Peliar stopped, glanced towards the hill behind which Aris Boch's ship lay and snarled. "I... will do so ONLY if you grant me asylum. That is in your law is it not?"

OK, now THIS was new!

"Asylum." Il'kar stated calmly. "From the System Lords? You wish to join the Forth Reich do you?"

"If you will get me off this planet safely and away from that madman, yes. Gladly." He spat.

Il'kar was tempted to refute the offer and simply continue to push until he told them what they wanted to know, however the possibility of a Goa'uld willingly joining them, even if it was some kind of trickery, was very tempting. He wondered what Peliar had done to Cronos to warrant such fear, or perhaps given the sigil on Aris Boch's ship it was Sokar he feared? Or both?

"I will take you back with us, and if you do share this information with us I will ensure you will be well cared for and never encounter Sokar again." Il'kar said, and was rewarded with a look of relief on Peliar's face, however brief. It looks like he had guessed correctly. "However, first share your knowledge of this Aris Boch with us now or I will not take you anywhere."

Peliar looked resentful for a moment and anger flashed across his face, then he took a breath and calmed.

"Very well. Aris Boch is scum, pure and simple. He hunts anyone and any thing his master demands. He works for any Goa'uld that is willing to pay, though of late he has worked mostly for Sokar. Perhaps the god has tamed him?" Peliar said, then laughed out loud at the thought.

Fischer, finished with his inexperienced examination of the hand device, sat down by Il'kar.

"You know, I got the impression that Aris doesn't like Goa'uld very much. Certainly not you at any rate. Why does he serve them?"

Peliar glanced between them again and grimmaced.

"Roshna." Peliar said simply, when Il'kar and Fischer did not respond he continued. "It is a drug the System Lords made and then forced on Boch's people, the Ilempiri. All that remain of them are addicted to it and would die without it now. He serves or he dies. It's that simple."

"Sounds like a Goa'uld technique all right." Fischer said sadly. "Rather sad. All that technology and that is the best they can come up with."

"Yes. False Gods talk large but think rather small." Il'kar said, still staring at Peliar who grated his teeth in response.

Now Il'kar had a problem. He had originally intended to simply return this Goa'uld to Aris in return for his people, but the chance at getting a willing (apparently at least) Goa'uld to join the Reich was a serious boon. However, if he wanted to make use of it he'd need to find another way to get his people back.

"Captain? Gather the men, we're heading back. I think it is time we explained the situation to Herr Boch."

****

Peliar had not liked the idea of heading back to 'that madman' in the valley, but Fischer had persuaded him to be quiet and they now were nearing the ship.

"That's far enough." Came Aris' voice, though no sign of him could be seen. "Where are the other two?"

"Loo'kesh and Grupter did not make it, thanks to your shoddy weapons!" Fischer bit out with anger. "If we had our own weapons those Jaffa would have been easy pickings!"

Il'kar made a show of holding his compatriot back.

"He is not worth it Captain. We will sing of their memory when we return home."

"I'm broken up, the horrible loss you must have suffered." Aris' voice said, echoing out from somewhere. "Now, if you've finished your sob story why don't you bring the Goa'uld down to the ship, hmm?"

Lugging the 'unconscious' Goa'uld between them Fischer and Il'kar headed down to the ship, but stopped a hundred yards away.

"We come no further until you prove you have not harmed my men. Bring one out now to show they are safe or we leave with the False God and you get nothing."

"Oh, I wouldn't say I'd have nothing. Four Reich soldiers to trade? Not quite as good as Peliar there, but they'd do."

"But you would rather have this one, correct?" Il'kar said stonily. "So, show us one of my men or we leave."

There was a pause, then a grunt of agreement came from somewhere ahead. After a few seconds the hatch of the ship opened and one of Il'kar's Jaffa staggered out, followed by Aris, who failed to notice a figure roll from under the canted vessel and dart into the hatch behind him.

"There you go, one Stormtrooper, good as new. Now hand over the..."

Zat'Nik'Tel blasts shot through the air from the opposite side of the clearing, three striking Aris and he growled.

"A trick hmm? Should have guessed you wouldn't keep your word. I'd thought you were honorable? Did you really think I would give you weapons that could hurt me?"

As he grabbed the Jaffa and began to haul him back into the ship the barrel of an MR-12 deathray rifle leveled itself at Aris Boch's head from within hatch.

"No actually." Il'kar said, as Grupter forced Aris to release his hostage and relieved him of his weapons.

Striding down to the group he found the others that Grupter had freed from captivity while Aris had been focused on them."How did you get the code to the lock?" Aris said calmly as Il'kar came up to him.

"Ah, this would be where I am supposed to reveal how I did this so you can learn for next time, yes?" Il'kar said staring impassively at Aris. "I believe I will forgo that pleasure. Also, I doubt there will be a next time Aris Boch."

A slightly musical beep from inside the Tel'tak transport dragged the Trooper's attention, and annoyingly made Aris smile.

"I wouldn't be so fast to judge." Aris said. "When I saw you heading back with Peliar I signaled Sokar that he could come and pick me up. That'll be him now. Care to take it up with him?"

Fischer snarled, grabbed the bounty hunter by the top of his armor and shoved him into the ship, following on.

"Grupter!" He yelled as he pinned Aris against the rear wall. A moment later the Tech Leader dashed up to the ship's console and plugged his scanner in. "Hatak in high orbit. Sorry Captain, looks like he was telling the truth."

"Gaaah!" Fischer yelled in frustration and shoved him into the rear compartment, and pointed at the door, Grupter dashing up and quickly punching in the lock codes, then something else to make sure Aris couldn't get out. "I can't believe it, after all that he still has an ace up his sleeve!"

Il'kar strode in and glanced around.

"Captain, where is Aris?"

Fischer sighed and pointed to the door.

"He was telling the truth, Sokar's ship in orbit. I had Grupter lock him in the cargo bay till we figure out what to do with him."

Fischer did not expect Il'Kar's fierce expression, not him cursing then pushing past, only to find the door code locked out.

"Open it, now Grupter!"

As Grupter went to the door a familiar 'Voom voom voom WHOOOSH' sound came from behind the door, and Il'kar sighed.

"Ahhh. There's a ring system in there." Fischer said belatedly. "I'll try to remember that for next time."

"If there is a next time!" Il'kar said, tucking Aris' weapon into his backpack, grabbing his own weapon as Grupter handed it to him. "We are leaving now! Sokar will soon know about our presence here and I'm sure Aris is bartering for his life with information about us. MOVE SOLDIERS!"

All ran off up the hill towards the gate.

***

The slamming blasts as the deathgliders strafed the team deafened them as they neared the gate, Loo'kesh again turning and bringing his bulky Beamer Rifle up to send a stream of starhot plasma against the enemy ships. This time he found his mark and the pursuing craft gave a lurch as the shot penetrated armor and caused something to explode. The ship spun wildly off course, crashing violently into a nearby field, but the two others continued their attack runs as the Reich soldiers ran towards the gate. Then, from up ahead two contrails irrupted from the treeline, twin Rapier-5 missiles slamming into the remaining ships with a resounding explosion.

"Jamming?" Came the yell through the trees as Koenig came into view, his troopers dropping the disposable launchers they had used and behind them the gate wooshed as the dial was completed.

Il'kar nodded as he ran, waving his troops onward.

"No time, Hatak in orbit. More Deathgliders will soon be here." He yelled back as they ran at full tilt for the gate, dragging the tired Peliar with him.

The well trained Lieutenant merely looked askance at him, but didn't question Il'kar's choice in companions as they all charged through the gate as the sounds of more gliders grew in the distance.

Landing on the receiving platform he paused, waving the rest of his force through, then pumped his fist in the air as he nodded to the slitted overwatch bunker ahead. Immediately a shield flickered into existence over the gate, and shortly afterwards the gate closed. The twelve man team relaxed somewhat, gathering together near their Colonel. Al'dar stomped into the wide gate room, dodging around a weapons blister against the wall and came up to Il'kar.

"I take it things did not go well?"

Il'kar turned to Peliar and smiled.

"I would not go that far, but we have made an enemy, and perhaps irritated Sokar. I hope this will not affect the Treaty."

"We will sort it out. I am please you returned with all your men at least this time. Debriefing in one hour, standard medical scan, including our... guest."

"I never did get to do any hunting." Fischer complained, but merely got a punch in his shoulder from Koenig.

Yet another day at Stargate Exploration HQ.

 

[Patupi]

February 1989

The recovery of Peliar proved a boon to Reich intelligence. With the (somewhat) willing cooperation of Peliar they began to map planets in the vicinity, especially regarding zones of control of various Goa'uld. Yu's territory was approximately three hundred lightyears coreward (north) of Reich space, Horus was, naturally enough, practically on top of Reich territory, and Baal's planets spread to the spinward (east) and rimward (south) regions, just bordering on Reich territory. Bastet was mostly core and counterspinward (west), though she was having some issues with Camulus of late, limited by Ra's edicts, but still eating up some of her resources with minor disputes. This may also be why Camulus was somewhat lax on culling or wiping out Hemriar before the Reich got there. He was busy elsewhere.

Peliar knows a great deal of technical information, but has difficulty explaining it. He is not a scientist or technician, but with the Goa'uld's genetic memory he has recollections of those of his ancestors who were. Reich were not even aware at this point of the Goa'uld genetic memory, or that they had specific Goa'uld scientists. At first most of Peliar's information is assumed to be some kind of trick, but test ventures through the gate for SES-01 prove his gate codes at least are accurate and go to the right part of space, and to worlds governed by those he said they were governed by. Time will tell if he is telling the whole truth.

In return for this information he first demands that he be allowed to leave, to travel far away apparently, to an area where the System Lords have little coverage. This is of course denied. After a month though his tune slowly changes. It seems he wishes to stay. He still doesn't like the Reich, but is beginning to see he may be able to trust them, at least more than a Goa'uld. He gives promises that he will not attempt escape or to contact anyone off planet (and is watched carefully in this regard. They hardly trust his word after all!) and then afterward is given 'normal' accommodation on base. Of course Peliar feels it is unsatisfactory for him, but is willing to put up with it.

Some initial, surreptitious medical scans prove none of the deterioration present in Yu are within Peliar. Preliminary work is started on some treatments that might be a starter for the regeneration needed for Yu. Perhaps Peliar could try some of these out to see how they affect Goa'uld tissue? At present he is not asked this, but is asked of any Sarcophagi that he knows of in the vicinity of a gate that the Reich may be able to capture? When Peliar resists such talks he is shown existing Reich medical technology, stating that they are close to perfecting something similar to a sarcophagus and need to work out the details. If he would assist with this then Peliar will be given access to the device in future.

Reluctantly Peliar agrees to this and tells them of a single scouting party of Cronos he knows of that comprises of a small settlement, two Al'kesh and a flight of gliders. It is seems Cronos was checking out the area as a strategic outpost. This was however two months ago and things may have changed.

Would it be worth such a venture? It would be a risk, and if it were merely for a possible chance to 'heal' Yu the answer would be no. No matter how much Yu might be willing to trade for an extended life (or how saner he would be after treatment, thus maybe dealing better with the Reich) it is not seen as certain enough to risk breaking the treaty over, and risk so many Reich lives for. However having a working sarcophagus would boost general Reich medical technology. They already have the disassembled one (most of it anyway), and can test theories learned from operating the new one on components from the old one. This may bring a significant boost to Reich healing tech, and they actually might be able to build one themselves later.

This is deemed sufficient reason to attempt the operation, and plans go into effect for a scouting mission, to be followed immediately (if the details are confirmed) by an assault on the planet. Several, special heavy rockets are built, each with multiple Naquadah fusion warhead designed to detonate simultaneously, with combined yield of over two gigatons per rocket. When fired through the gate they should remove all trace of who was there and bury the gate (if not destroy it). This assumes that both hyper capable Al'kesh are taken out by the fighter force planned to head through before the troops, and that no communications tell of this event. Since so far it is not believed that any Goa'uld at large (other than those that died at Hemriar) has seen a Raubvogel a large group of them is prepared for battle, all painted with a bright green and purple finish (rather garish at that) and the craft armed with extra plasma pulse pods instead of missiles. This will reduce short term firepower, but hopefully mean this will not be seen as a Reich assault. The fact that Goa'uld have only seen Reich fighters with plasma rockets means it's unlikely they will think these grav powered ships are Reich vessels.

Troops for the invasion will be solely Nazi Jaffa, but wearing captured Horus Guard armor, complete with headgear. This should cover the Swastika sigil and mean it is unlikely they will be identified either.

If they can recover a working Sarcophagus from this mission (and perhaps other tech) and cover their tracks this should be a huge boon for the Reich.

April 1989

The assault goes ahead on Cronos' outpost. Initial scouts by the SEHQ indicate that there are three Al'kesh, not two, but otherwise it seems good. A lot of Jaffa (most of which chased the Jaffa-dressed SES-01 out through the gate) are present and quite a few gliders, but nothing that can't be dealt with. The assault goes ahead as planned and 100 repainted Raubvogel-150 fighters scream through the gate. The forces present are taken completely by surprise, the gliders completely overwhelmed in less than a minute, the outpost structure hit (hopefully disabling comms), but the Al'kesh are trickier to deal with. However the heavier firepower of the plasma weapons pods enable the fighters to deal with the Al'kesh... shortly before they come under fire from an Hatak lifting from near the outpost!

The ground assault is put on hold as the fighters engage the unexpected Hatak. Without missiles (which would give away who was attacking them quite likely) it proves difficult for the light weapons to damage the Hatak, though after short, fierce fight it's shields are dropped. It then attempts to escape the planet, soaring high, but a daring Reich pilot set's his reactor and the energy cells in the plasma pods to overload and rams the ship. His efforts cause the ship to spiral out of control and crash nearby, believed to have killed all those aboard. Unable to spare time to investigate it the troops pour through the gate in IFVs and race to the outpost, fight their way inside, and secure the sarcophagus. Subspace comms the stormtroopers carry seem to indicate that no messages left the planet so hopefully they have succeeded in their mission. The sarcophagus is loaded on a truck and raced back to the gate.

Flooding back through the gate the troops hurry to be ahead of the eradication strike. One of the 2gton rockets is targeted on the crashed Hatak to make sure, the rest saturating the area, and after the surviving 87 fighters return the rockets are fired through and the gate shut down. Four hours later, after it is suspected the fires should have died down, the gate is dialed again, and thankfully no connection is made. It seems the gate is either buried or destroyed.

The operation was a success, and though the Luftwaffe took some casualties in the skies on that world, troop casualties were light. They now had their sarcophagus. Work began immediately on attempting to duplicate components within it to build their own 'upgraded' version (or possibly just upgrading the Goa'uld sarcophagus itself, whichever is easier). The first model would simply attempt to do away with the deleterious effects of the existing Sarcophagus technology on the brain. This might limit it's healing effects somewhat, and it might require existing Reich healing fields to function while the sarcophagus is operating, attempting to reduce the effects on the brain. At present it is not known how effective such things would be.

The research might well take some time.

Meanwhile the fifty year celebrations outdo all previous efforts in Volksburg, the Deutschland making a pass overhead, it's fifteen hundred meter diameter dwarfing even the Reichstar. The Fuhrer makes a speech about the dawn of a new age for the Reich, when they will no longer fear the Goa'uld. This was completely unscripted and several in the NSDAP wonder what the Fuhrer is planning. He has made no mention of this previously.

It turns out to be nothing sinister, merely the full resumption of military construction, increasing fleet capabilities, but the Fuhrer demands that plans begin on a proposed assault of Horus and Baal, their nearest neighbors, and estimates of the force necessary to both conduct the attacks and defend Reich space simultaneously.

July 1989

Final work on the Sturmvogel-250VT interceptor is complete and limited production begins in early July. Jaeger designs to come are expanding on the 1200, being a larger, possibly shielded (if that research finally bears fruit), heavy fighter/bomber, with the Raubvogel seen as the new 'mid range' fighter. As such Raubvogel-160 (the model of the Raubvogel with inertial dampers, but otherwise identical) is put into high production to form the backbone of the Luftwaffe.

New 4th gens destroyers and cruisers (the newer battleships coming off the orbital space docks over Teutonia are effectively 4th gen) are prototyped to go into production as the industrial output focused on military. The 4th gen cruisers will likely be similar to the 3rd gen, though with artificial gravity, inertial dampers, Naquadah Fusion plants and double shield generators as standard. They will also mount twin, much smaller versions of the Uberbeamer as forward weapons and use the new, shield mirror turrets for the deathray and heat ray systems. These employ small shields within a turret that act like a mirror, reflecting the beam from the Deathray buried inside the ship in any direction. This means turrets can be smaller for the same damage weapon, and the weapon themselves are more protected by ship armor.

The 4th gen Destroyers also employ most of the upgrades that the cruiser has, but not the Naquadah fusion plants. Those plants are too large to fit. Instead the newer Naquadah reactors are fitted allowing the ship much more power than with the older fusion reactors, though it costs considerable Naquadah to build it, the internal fuel supply lasts decades. This allows the ship to engage both gravrider drives and ion at the same time, and now that 2nd gen gravrider drives can deliver thrust sideways the acceleration from both drive types can be cumulative. This gives the ship the capability to make a rapid, high acceleration strike, just as the destroyers were initially designed for, making best use of their strafing ability. They also have a double shield system, though weaker proportionately compared to the cruisers, and also mount a single, minimum size 4cm Uberbeamer as a spinal weapon between the disks, and two accelerator cannons to fire fusion shells on either side of the main beam weapon. They also use the shield mirror turrets for their deathray anti-ship weapons and heatray anti-fighter weapons. They employ more anti-fighter turrets for their size than Cruisers or Battleships, also being nimble enough to catch and strike back at such small targets.

4th gen carriers have tougher, double shields, fast drives and tough armor. They don't generally have much in the way of ion drives or anti-captialship weapons. They usually just carry heatray turrets and missile racks for long range punch. They are slightly smaller than a Cruiser, not quite as well armored or shielded, but actually slightly faster close to a planet. These ships can carry about 150 Jaeger or Raubvogel fighters, or 300 of the smaller Sturmvogel interceptors, or just 75 of the Jaeger-1200 fighter-bombers. With such a large back stock of the older Jaeger-950 fighters the carriers are still equipped to tend those alongside the newer models, though this is getting harder. These carriers could have fielded 170 fighters if they focused just on the more modern Raubvogel, Jaeger-1200 and Sturmvogel craft. There is constant call for the older models to 'stay at home' or just be fielded on older carriers. The new ships could easily be retrofitted with more specific and compact equipment if that is decided later on.

Civilian ships stick with conventional fusion plants though they do upgrade to the newer 2nd gen gravrider systems, though usually smaller drives than on military ships. Ion drives are often minimal on civilian vessels, there just in case they get stranded beyond a gravity field for the gravrider system to work with.

So far the Teutonia orbital Space Dock is only building Battleships and Cruisers, all other work is done on the ground slips, while Spelk still has one Cruiser slip as well as four Destroyer slips and one civilian/carrier slip.

 

[Patupi]

September 1989

Some talk is being made about mothballing the Zephr destroyers and the Jaeger-950 fighters, or perhaps even recycling them entirely. They are well over twenty year old technology and starting to be difficult to maintain, especially the fighters, even with multiple upgrades performed. So far the maintenance equipment is there, but awkward to integrate. The difficulties on the carriers being the most obvious. At present these, along with 1st gen carriers, are still deployed with 2nd gen Cruiser escort along the borders, but already there is a move to deploy more 2nd gen equipment on border patrols.

The SES officially goes back onto using Goa'uld equipment, with more Jaffa personnel all wearing Goa'uld Jaffa armor. The few non-Jaffa personnel (mostly commanders) are either given the new FFG (False False God) Implants to handle the heavier equipment or have special light weight armored suits made to resemble Goa'uld Jaffa armor. A dermaplast patch is made to cover the swastika sigil on Nazi Jaffa, enabling them to imitate Jaffa of any Goa'uld, and even fake pouch openings for non-Jaffa (though of course they wouldn't stand up to scrutiny. No internal space). Although the Stormtroopers are already proficient in Ma'Tok staff use, Jaffa standard tactics are trickier. Sometimes they will have to be seen to behave as Jaffa and it proves problematic in training. However things do progress and soon SE Squads are journeying to worlds, pretending to be Jaffa and continuing the scouting missions.

January 1990

Two recent meetings with Yu seem to indicate he is not happy with some of the inter-Goa'uld structures of late. Ra has cracked down on several instances of in-fighting, and has just sanctioned Camulus and Bastet for a protracted battle that 'wasted' several hundred Jaffa. Although Ra is keeping a lid on things it's obvious this is a 'flare up' time as Yu terms it for such matters. He warns that this would not be a good time for Reich ships to be caught outside their boundaries. During one of the meetings Schmidt manages to introduce talk of medical technology into the conversation, wondering if healthier slaves would work better. Yu is dubious, considering they would just be more likely to revolt, but Schmidt proposes a trial use of some simple Reich healing devices (Goa'uld healing devices mostly require Goa'uld control, which they have recently learned from Peliar means Naquadah in the blood) among one of his worker populations.

While on the subject Schmidt ponders that the Goa'uld have little need to develop healing technology, with the sarcophagus and their natural ability, and wonders if Reich tech might assist the Goa'uld themselves someday? There after all must be some ailments that the sarcophagus cannot cure? With this seed planted the subject is left. Hopefully Yu will think on this and later, perhaps, will be more open to the idea of Reich tech 'helping' him.

Food shipments to Ventus seem no longer necessary beyond what the Reich can supply readily, and the trade deal for that is terminated, switching back to the normal deal. Ventus farming is now supplies almost all food it required. Soon it is hoped they will produce a surplus.

The first 4th gen Destroyers are completed, the class named 'Zyklon' are very popular among the Raumflotte personnel. Long term usage and self repair is heavily touted, with the armor repair systems doing double duty to fix other external problems. They also have the first, small scale, plate manufacturer on board. Till now these were only available on Cruisers, though this model is very slow at producing new plates, it can also produce some of the simpler components (also very slowly) from raw materials using Mumachine systems. This means they can stay away from home for long periods without fear of breaking down from lack of maintenance.

One other system installed in the new ships from Destroyer to Battleship is a new type of hyperdrive. The drive is not terribly impressive, merely making 9lytrs/day, but the new design will hopefully be upgraded later, whereas the older models are likely stuck with 8ltyrs/day as their top speed without Goa'uld components added. Heisenberg claims that matching the 25ltyrs/day of the current Goa'uld tech is easily within their limits if they refine this tech, but this may take some time.

March 1990

The day finally comes when the last Goa'uld symbiote is removed from Nazi Jaffa and replaced with modern FFG tech. Current replacements are still somewhat limited, but the Jaffa have accepted them as they almost replace all that the symbiotes did. A supply of symbiotes is still in keeping by Reich scientists for study, and ironically they have recently been able to clone them to produce more, just when the Jaffa no longer need them. With Reich regenerative medicine proceeding well, a good sample of the symbiotes to test, and the new sarcophagus to study, they have all they need to really get their teeth into the work on the hybrid sarcophagus. They even start to get some assistance from Peliar who has shown some interest in the project. True, he is no scientist, but his occasional inputs do seem useful with his knowledge of how the sarcophagus works (often triggered by seeing some of the internal hardware and only then 'remembering' about it)

May 1990

The last known nation on Heschel is formally inducted into the Reich and interest in improving the planet's technology does perk up a little. With a population of over 1,500,000 and a tech base already in the early 1920s, and in the Center States somewhat higher than that, they may well be useful to the Reich. However compared to Spelk the place still has a higher numbers of riots and dissent among the populace. Recently one of the Center State's kings stepped down and a big fuss was made when a NSDAP Aryan was made governor in his place. It had been thought that people had progressed beyond such matters here, but apparently not. In future local people will be recruited and trained to be leaders to replace nobles when they come. So far the Reich is making no moves to take Kings down by force at all. It however is being considered as a last resort in intransigent cases.

December 1990

Peliar reveals the location of a world that many Jaffa have been to before, where apparently an invisible creature resides. The possibility of improving Reich stealth destroyers (there are plans for a 4th gen model of this, but so far none have been built) with something making them actually invisible is intriguing. SES-01 heads through, still impersonating Jaffa, and scout out the area. Some traces of Jaffa having been here are sighted, but they look to be a few years old and a team of technicians are sent through to study the environment to see if such creatures can be spotted.

On a nearby mountain a sensor cluster is established and drones fly, always making sure they are out of sight of the gate in case any Goa'uld come through. A few sightings of the creatures are made and sensor readings are inconclusive, though it is promising. The invisibility is not perfect, but the mechanism by which it is achieved is not clearly understood. When drones fitted with electrical stunning devices attempt to get close the creatures seem to disappear more thoroughly, and an increase in vehicle problems (non mission failures, just electrical issues) increase. There is some suspicion that these creatures are somehow affecting electrical devices. Increased use of Crystal junctions and optical pathways in drones does not seem to stop the issue however and after two weeks of study they still have yet to get close enough to stun one of these creatures. More equipment is brought through, hoping to catch one of them near the ground and use longer ranged, more lethal weaponry. They want to capture it alive but given alien biology they have no clue what kind of drug would only incapacitate them, and so attempt a low damage heatray sniper rifle. It is hoped that this will cause minimal damage to the creature, allowing it to be studied, and the weapon should cauterize any wound.

However when they prepare to put the device into the field a small group of aliens materialize among the scientists. Troops nearby are very twitchy, but find their weapons vanishing before they can bring them to bear.

Keeping a calm head Il'kar talks to these 'Nox' as they call themselves, who claim they do not wish the creatures to be harmed. Il'kar states that was never their intention. They merely wished to investigate the creatures for science, but every effort to harmlessly stun them had been rebuffed. The Nox then admit they were causing the problems. They had hoped the Nazis would simply leave, as the Jaffa usually did when they failed to retrieve the creature, but it has become obvious this won't happen. The 'disappearance' of weapons is a heated issue but Il'kar manages to calm his troops and continue conversing with the Nox.

Since it's obvious the creature possesses no natural invisibility they agree to leave, but Il'kar wishes (mostly at the scientist's behest) to keep in communication. This planet is a long way off, but if a dedicated subspace transceiver were built here they could stay in communication. The Nox say there is no need. They can communicate if they wish to. Questions about other tech the Nox might have bring up weapons, and the Nazis are surprised to find the Nox are complete pacifists.

"How have you been able to resist the predations of the Goa'uld then?" Il'kar asks.

"We do not worry ourselves about them. It is not important. If they come they come. We will be fine."

After offers of protection by the Reich are politely rebuffed Il'kar asks why, if they are able to resist the Goa'uld, do they not help out in the galaxy? There are many billions of people enslaved, tortured or killed by the Goa'uld every day.

"Do you harm nothing as you go about your day? You had considered harming the Fenri to study it. How many others to you harm or kill?"

"We do so only because we are forced to, the galaxy is a dangerous place. Perhaps you are able to survive without such measure, but few others can. To be complete pacifists would be suicide for most."

"True, you have much to learn, but we cannot teach you. You would not listen to us. The very young rarely do. To do so would risk both ourselves and you. Sometimes ignorance can be a boon. Please, will you depart this place?"

It is obvious these Nox are very powerful, despite their primitive looks, and the Reich realize forcing the issue would be idiotic. If they can simply 'disappear' any equipment they bring (and Reich sensors completely unable to detect the method used) there is little hope of resisting such techniques. When they get a promise that their equipment will be returned, and 'perhaps' they will listen if the Reich communicates in future, the Reich leave. Another alien race met, and this time at least on slightly more friendly terms than the Asgard, though likely far less benefit to the Reich.

 

[Patupi]

February 1991

Some efforts to make a smaller version of the Mu Constructor bear some fruit, but the results are deemed too risky at present, as the smaller mechanisms are more susceptible to radiation and EM fields, making their control systems prone to random changes. They do not want a repeat of Mumaker! The new machines are only about 10um big (0.01mm) and seem to work well in testing, but so far are not even vetted for use in controlled environments. More work is required.

Attempts to more intensively use Crystronics and optical engineering hopefully will solve the issues.

March 1991

During an mission off world by one of the many SE Squads they come under attack by enemy Jaffa and are cornered, unable to break free. Reinforcements are sent to attempt to retrieve them, but things get progressively worse. Oddly, the enemy seem to increase in number by just enough to keep the larger forces pinned down and the Reich suspect a trap. A light flight of ten of the disguised Raubvogel fighters swoop in to reconnoiter the area, and four Hataks hyperspace in, first destroying several fighters with very effective particle beam systems (only seen on Baals ships so far), but also launching Al'kesh, and one of these disabling a fighter and using some kind of gravity beam to hold onto it. Readied swarms of missiles and huge numbers of fighters (mostly Jaegers-1120VTs as it was all they had to hand) are shot through the gate, managing to destroy the Al'kesh stopping whoever it is from capturing the fighter. One Hatak is severely damaged, but manages to depart with the others into hyperspace, though not before inflicting severe damage against the fighter group.

The SES force on the ground had been hit hard, first by Jaffa, then by bombardment, and is cut in half at least. The Luftwaffe, though successful in driving the enemy off, took heavy casualties too. Of the two hundred fighters they rushed through the gate, only ninety five return, those mostly the newer Raubvogel designs. From the orbital remains of the one Hatak it's obvious it is Baal responsible, and that he knew who he was baiting. It seems he wanted to capture examples of Reich technology. He failed in that, and showed his hand, but caused significant damage to Reich troops. Schmidt calls it a draw, Baal fleeing, but taking comparatively little damage to one ship, compared to large troop and fighter losses for the Reich.

Baal has built a means to counter fighter tactics and is testing it, as well as making efforts to capture more Reich tech. This does not bode well.

Consideration of engaging Ra in further talks is given, claiming Baal has broken the treaty, but technically he hasn't. It wasn't within Reich borders and there are no restrictions on combat via gate troops (fighters were never mentioned specifically). In the end the Reich decide against calling Baal on his efforts, but attempt to upgrade systems to counter these new weapons.

October 1991

Increased funding to the Lesser Shield project finally brings a working prototype. The Jaeger-1250 fighter bomber with a working shield system, able to withstand a single hit from a Goa'uld plasma cannon. To get the shield that strong on such a small system a lot of reductions were needed. Mostly these were in reduced shield recharge, however they also went the route the Goa'uld did with their personal shields. Velocity limited shielding is much stronger, though slow moving objects pass unheeded through the barrier. Given the maneuverability of the fighters (still not a patch on Raubvogel maneuverability, but good none-the-less) this shouldn't be an issue. Slow shots like the energy charges the Al'kesh drop should be far too inaccurate to hit a Jaeger.

Some thought is given to having a dual shield system, one velocity limited, and one standard, but the systems do not go well together. The existing double shield system cannot have both shields operating and the same time, the second comes on automatically when the first one fails. If this were tried with a velocity limited shield as the first defense it would be little use. Shots slow enough to be unaffected would not drop the shield, they would pass through unhindered, thus the second layer would not activate. A project is given over to studying the problem, but it is the opinion of the team that it is unlikely to be solvable.

February 1992

Contact with Thor occurs again as he checks up on the two populations on Urwald and Angenehmland transferred from PPT worlds. It seems Thor at least seems to be thawing in relations to the Reich as it is obvious the Reich is upholding it's end of the bargain. The two populations are still early medieval in level and still independent, though some influence from Reich personnel is obvious and there is some trade between the two, ending with them using Reich goods on occasion. Given that such trade has purposely been held back to avoid them becoming dependent on the Reich. Thor approves of the methods, even if he still dislikes that the Reich 'tricked' him in this manner to begin with.

Again, the possibility of trade between the Reich and Asgard is brought up, and though Thor does still dismiss such matters it is not so dramatic. There is hope that trade will come eventually.

April 1992

Fleet maneuvers begin in Teutonia system, testing the new ships and attempting to develop better tactics against Goa'uld ships, and especially fighter tactics against the new beam weapons Baal has developed. Destroyers mostly are still seen as a strike vessel, swooping in and performing strafing runs while the Cruisers, battlecruisers and Battleships (and hybrid Hataks) slug it out at longer range. However some fleet tactics to use destroyers in formation with battlecruisers are tested out, mostly revisions of the older 'disk' shaped wall of battle that had been implemented before on occasion. However, since significant numbers of Cruisers and battlecruisers now exist formations of those also are tested, sometimes mingling eight cruisers/battlecruisers with destroyers in support and anti-fighter duty.

With the Fuhrer pushing to get to the point they can realistically strike at the Goa'uld a lot of pressure is on the Raumflotte to build such tactics and test them. One of the captured Hataks is converted back to almost identical capability to a Goa'uld vessel and used to test small engagements. The other fleet of hybrid Hataks also join in with such maneuvers, software limiting their abilities (and sometimes simulating faster movement that the original Hataks were capable of) to make other exercises possible. Experience in such techniques begins to accrue.

July 1992

"Aaaaaaand there!"

The large, transparent display panel suddenly lit up and a cross-hairs shifted and aligned itself with a small dot on the screen marked 0,0,0 Sol (Earth). Rubbing her hands the fair haired woman drug herself out from under the console she'd been working on and stood up grinning.

"I think that'll do it." She said to the technician on duty. "The cross couplings weren't reading correctly. Voltage irregularities between the main bus and the superconductive assembly I think. Might be a surface effect problem for the electron flux. See if you can get a vector track on the electron flow during a power-up sequence and we should be able to iron that out."

"Captain Samantha Carter?" Major General West said, coming into the main area, smiling as she spun around and saluted.

"Yes sir!"

"At ease Captain. I see they've broken you in OK then?"

Samantha looked around a bit flustered, then smiled and nodded.

"Things appear to be working well sir."

"Uh huh. I see you've fixed the correlation problem Miss Langford was talking about. What was the issue?"

"Well, more of a miss-communication between our hardware and the doorway's systems. There is something varying the potential of the signals we're trying to translate. Right now I think we have an accurate read on the data signal from the default condition the doorway outputs. We can trigger a fail-safe system and read off the current location of the 'signal' this thing is supposed to link. Thus the coordinate system. We'll need to run some simulation tests to get an accurate read from the data coming from the doorway, but so far it looks like we can track any connection the system sets up."

"Damn good job for two weeks work Captain. Now we just have to figure out how to turn the darned thing on!"

He turned and looked out the window to the bay area, now with most of the scanning equipment removed as they hooked up the power systems to the huge 'doorway' sitting on the grid-work plinth. It was quite a sight.

"Don't worry sir, we'll figure it out."

"I hope you will Captain. The government has poured a lot of money into this project and it'd be nice if we could tell them exactly what the thing does at least!"

 

[Patupi]

November 1992

Work on two prototype destroyers on Leere is completed, both revamps of older special destroyer designs. One is the Zyklon B Stealth Destroyer, using advanced hull materials and active electromagnetic systems to stop Goa'uld sensors from detecting the ship. Informally nicknamed the 'Insektenbrutzler' (Bug zapper) for some reason the vessel has finally had it's hyperdrives tuned to open and close windows slowly, reducing the signature they make on sensors. Overall the systems mean the ship is virtually invisible to Goa'uld ships up to about 20,000km or more away, though they would have to be more than 150,000km away to not detect arrival from, or departure into hyperspace.

The Zyklon C or 'Uberantrieb' (Overdrive) goes back to the overdriven hyperdrive concept, boosting speed to approximately 55ltyrs/day, but only for about two days of use before the drive would burn out permanently. If shut down prior to overload it can 'rest' for about five days, dissipating internal stresses and be ready to fly once more. Normal non-overdriven speeds are lower than standard Reich drives at about 6ltyrs/day, but these can be held indefinitely as long as fuel lasts.

The Zyklon B favors long range missile ordinance, a few heavy deathray cannons, but has no shorter ranged plasma weaponry and few anti-fighter heatrays and looses the coil cannons. The Zyklon C has slightly reduced weapons capability to house the enhanced hyperdrive systems, but only sacrifices a few anti-fighter heatrays. Otherwise the ships have more or less standard fittings to the Zyklon A model.

Production of these special ships will be limited, likely kept to the two construction slips on Leere.

January 1993

After many talks (and much shouting) agreement is finally met between the Reich and Yu on the proposed trial of healing equipment on a small mining outpost of Yu's. In return Yu demanded the Reich supply ground troops to defend the colony, freeing up Yu's Jaffa for other duties elsewhere. Suitably kitted out in Jaffa costume and weapons several SE Squads head out alongside a few scientists (dressed in the ornate Chinese fashion as Yu's priests) to test the healing equipment.

The planet only has about two hundred humans here as slaves mining Trinium (At least less toxic than Naquadah) and the crew begin the regular treatments. No attempt to 'contact' the slaves is made, not wanting to give them the wrong idea of why the Reich is here. Yes they want to improve the slaves' lot, but they aren't here to free them. Ultimately perhaps helping Yu can make these people's lot a happier one. Maybe.

Initial tests go well, and injuries and accidents cause fewer long term problems for the slaves, as well as less problems with disease. All treatments are arranged with significant ceremony, as prescribed by Yu, but there seems little in the way of 'God Worship' here. Though Yu still insists he is a god, he doesn't seem to press the issue quite as much with his servants and Jaffa as other Goa'uld do. However, even though he imposes less restrictions on his people, the repercussions for transgressions are still just as severe, death penalties very common. Quite often the Reich medical staff have to bite their tongue and hold themselves back as the Jaffa mete out 'Justice' for what the healers consider minor infractions.

Overall the test works well, the slaves being healthier and working harder. Curiously Yu does not order them pushed even harder (much) as they become healthier and more able, but these are early days yet.

March 1993

Spelk is formally recognized as having caught up technologically with the Reich. In fact some areas of the planet had already caught up, even outside the joint manufacturing centers, but now it is recognized publicly with some pageantry. With the Nordic heritage, and them actually formally joining the Reich, Spelk is often focused on more than Ventus in the news, despite Ventus advancing more quickly. Even given the short time since founding the planet's population they are already quite close to current Reich level technology.

May 1993

After numerous examinations of the many scans that have been made of Yu over the years the scientists come to a worrying discovery. The degeneration due to age is beginning to affect, not only the connection between host and symbiote, but also Yu's own mind. If this continues on for too long he may become senile! The repercussions to any deals between Yu and the Reich could be disastrous.

This is brought to the Fuhrer's attention and he is not pleased. His first instinct is to begin to diminish any contact with the Goa'uld, eventually severing ties completely. He even suggests eventually killing the System Lord. However cooler heads among his council manage to persuade him to continue the deal, and the talk of the enhanced sarcophagus project stresses that it may heal this degeneration in Yu, not only indebting him to the Reich, but making him a better ally.

In the end the Fuhrer agrees and increases funding for the sarcophagus project, stressing that all haste be made to fix the mental side of the problem. He does not want dealings with a mad Goa'uld!

June 1993

Contact is established via subspace with the Nox, though little is gained. After the many many attempts to call them perhaps they grew tired of ignoring the Reich? Whatever the reason they acknowledge politely, but suggest no personal contact be made. The Reich offer information on the Galaxy at large (what they know anyway), access to Reich medical science and a cultural exchange. All these are politely rebuffed and the Reich (wisely) do not stress the issue. Contact is left cordial, but unfulfilled.

October 1993

Use of the Jaeger-950 fighter is finally restricted only to planetary garrisons and all Carriers are switched out to service only the more modern craft. Construction of components for the older fighter are cut back, but still continued to keep the garrisons going. The old 1st gen Zephyr destroyers are kept on patrol duty at present. With their upgrades they are at least slightly more effective than they were when they were introduced and it is hoped again that this will lull any Goa'uld that scans them into falsely underestimating Reich capital ships. Given his experience with the Reich neither Baal nor Yu (or to a lesser extent Horus) would be fooled by such tactic, but they hope this will benefit even vs these players by simply not allowing their more modern systems to be examined by the enemy.

4th gen Carriers now hold 170 Raubvogel fighters, 85 Sturmvogel interceptors or 340 Jaeger-1200 fighter/bombers.

December 1993

On the planet where an unknown subspace signal was detected a few years ago, a second signal is found... and answered by the listening post. They claim to be a cargo transporter heading for Hebridan, a planet quite a few lightyears distant. With the Treaty stopping ships beyond their borders and the Reich's subspace comms not quite up to talking over such long ranges, contact is not viable with the planet as yet, but the ship apparently has not heard of 'stargates' and is intrigued. They also have not felt the depredations of the Goa'uld and it seems this particular area of space is free of them. The transport cannot stick around (they have a schedule to keep to) but say they will forward all this information to their government along with the Reich's wishes to make contact.

After this the Reich begin to expand the base on this world, making a lot of it underground and incorporating anti-sensor technology to avoid detection by the Goa'uld in case any should pass by. The possibility of building a light construction slip to build ships out here is considered. Right now it is turned down as it would be too visible. It's possible the Goa'uld are in this region but have decided not to attack and enslave the Hebridians for some reason. Further contact will be made before such a Treaty breaking decision is made, though simple fabrication plants are begun underground in the growing base to supply the base's needs. These could form the basis of some of the required construction for such a slip in future.

February 1994

A revolt, with outside armed assistance from a neighboring nation, occurs in Ivanri on Thent. Initially they use the experience they've had with minor scuffles with Reich troops and police to good advantage, a surprise attack on the main barracks doing very well, slaughtering over a hundred stormtroopers with bombs in crude transports they snuck around the base. Immediately enemy troops cross the border and revolutionaries spring up in various city centers, storming the government buildings. Most of these fail as the revolutionaries are hardly soldiers and most government buildings have Reich troops on staff. However the attack on the gate complex gets surprisingly far, only rebuffed as the thousand or so troops armed with crude machine guns attempt to storm the base. They are stopped as the anti-Goa'uld defenses spring up, shielding the base from further assault and fighters launch strafing the streets of enemies.

While contact is made to the few orbital ships present (Just two destroyers and some service ships) the staff dial Teutonia and send word of the revolt. Immediately four battalions of troops, two of armor, one special SS Blitz battalion (using light, high speed vehicles and a combination of anti-personnel weapons and mortars), and over two hundred Raubvogel fighters storm the city. Loudspeakers tell all loyal citizens to stay in their homes while this 'minor inconvenience' is dealt with, and the troops go to work.

It is far more difficult than they thought to deal with such insurgents within their own cities, though from the history of the Third Reich's invasion of France they should have known. However they manage, getting quite a bit of experience of such close in fighting techniques in the process. In contrast the strike (mostly by air) against the forces invading from the neighboring nation is rapid and deadly. Over a hundred thousand rifle armed troops are slaughtered on the plains on the border of Ivanri, and the fighters then go on to swoop over the enemy nation and bomb any military base (even when it is inside a City), reducing that nation's military strength to effectively militia only. Loud hailers from fighters overflying the cities proclaim this incident to be over. If any more troops cross the border to Ivanri enemy cities will be destroyed in retaliation.

The cross border problem cools down fairly rapidly, though problems in the cities takes longer, almost a week to route the final insurgents.

Unfortunately they do not seem to have understood, and the orbiting destroyers (one Taifun 3rd gen destroyer and one of the new Zyklon A destroyers on shakedown) spot tens of thousands of troops massing near the border, troops the Reich missed in the attack, or on loan from an allied power. They hardly care. Consideration is given to using atomic fusion missiles, but even with fusion's relatively light radiation it would mean some fallout in the region, and the area at impact will likely not grow crops any time soon. It is hardly needed however as the Zyklon's Uberbeamer is up to the task.

Swinging into low orbit it begins a precision bombardment, swathes of death coming from the sky with no warning. To say the enemy was surprised when a pillar of fire hit them from the skies and cut a rain of death across their number would be putting it mildly. It killed 90% of the troops, the remaining 4000 or so left to tell the other's fate as they returned home.

However, there was the promise the Reich made.

On February 19th, 10am local time, a pillar of fire descended on the capital of the attacking nation, swerving and tracking, burning a scythe of death across the center of the city. After fifteen minutes (interrupted frequently for weapon cool downs) there wasn't much left of the city center, all of the government buildings and the central castle having been obliterated by the precision beams. People from the surrounding city fled en-mass, partly from fear of attack, but also due to the numerous fires that were raging in the heart of the capital. Unfortunately for them they missed the dramatic effect that an overzealous gunnery officer put to the bombardment. Despite the swathe of destruction, the majority of the fire was in eight, deeply etched lines, at right angles to each other and forming a clearly visible Swastika centered on the Castle. The gunnery officer's commander asked him what he thought he was doing? After all it wasn't if these savages had any aircraft to see the thing from the sky!

Not only did the bombardment solve the problem of the leaders who orchestrated the invasion, it also served as a very graphic warning of what striking at the Reich would bring in response.

 

[Patupi]

March 1994

During a meeting with Yu for the continued trade discussions, the Fuhrer makes an impromptu arrival. The staff at the base are thoroughly flustered, attempting to make things ready in the scarce five minutes of warning they get, but he seems not really interested, instead demanding to speak with Yu, his first such meeting.

The discussion is rather tense among the other members, both Jaffa and Reich troops, with Schmidt being particularly wary of anything occurring that may harm the Fuhrer. However the talk goes well. Very little of any purpose is said, the Fuhrer mainly asking how the mighty Yu empire fares, flattery and curiosity of the Goa'uld's extant without asking anything he thinks would be taken as 'secret' information. Slowly tensions diminish on both sides as it seems the two get on fairly well with each other, if still formal.

That is when the Fuhrer drops his bombshell.

"I understand you have a medical issue?"

Things go downhill from there, Yu shunning any mention that he may not be an 'all perfect god', and the Fuhrer attempting to bite back any hasty retorts. There is quite a lot of shouting involved. However the Fuhrer does manage to state before Yu leaves that they have a cure and are willing to trade for it. Yu leaves in a huff, and Schmidt takes the Fuhrer aside and (carefully) asks what he thought he was doing? They don't HAVE a cure yet!

The Fuhrer said it would take Yu a while before he could even accept such medical attention, especially from such inferiors as themselves. Give him time, oh, and please hurry the research! When asked why the Fuhrer rushed this he responds he knew that Yu would take time to agree to this, and it was time they did not have. His mental health seemed good now, but for how long? The Fuhrer really did not want to deal with an insane Goa'uld... well, more insane than normal.

May 1994

Work accelerates, with a growing help from Peliar, on the 'Bio-Repair' project (as it has been dubbed, attempting to differentiate it from the Goa'uld made sarcophagi). After some considerable effort, and a lot of increased funding, they manage to produce a device, entirely Reich built, that does a similar job to the sarcophagus. It's expensive, it takes hours to do it's job, and takes a team of four specialist medical technicians to keep watch, but it works. Technically it can heal any living being within it, but usually requires a base body plan to work with. Without one it would take days of cellular scanning and interpretation to determine what condition the body should be healed to. Estimates in trials put the reliability of the device at way higher than any other Reich medical technique, Over 99% success rate. Even on failures since dead bodies can be healed with the device it is possible to make a second attempt and fix the body. Some caution is given as brain death can deteriorate mental pathways beyond what the machine can recover after a couple of hours. If the target is put in the machine soon enough it can maintain the systems while it scans then heals.

The repercussions of the device are huge. Death is no longer as final as it was. Since the Goa'uld sarcophagi can apparently heal people many hours after their death the brain deterioration limit probably has some kind of solution as well. The device is very difficult to build and the training to use it is intense, but the few that will be made will revolutionize Reich medical science.

Peliar, and the scientists responsible for the development, are heaped with rewards for their efforts. Luxury accommodation, public awards (surprising given Peliar's nature as a Goa'uld!), as well as significant sums of money flow to the group, and Peliar seems pleased. However the system as it stands is very similar to the sarcophagi in nature and still has their inherent problems with affecting mental processes over repeated use. The team gets to work on fixing this and the 'Yu problem'. This is the first Peliar has known about the specifics of the problem the Reich hoped this device would cure in Goa'uld in general and at first is not happy. He knew there was some specific detail with the Goa'uld it was supposed to 'fix' but assumed it was a variant of what was happening with Yu. Reluctantly he continues with the work and the group begin to make progress, mainly focusing on helping with regeneration on Yu rather than the mental aspect.

July 1994

Another raid by an un-named Goa'uld occurs on the border, this time with a squadron of fifteen Al'kesh with one Hatak. It's unknown who is responsible but they get a severe bloody nose. Over three quarters of the Al'kesh are destroyed, the Hatak lightly damaged for only two of the five Sturmreiter and Zephyr destroyers present damaged, and both repairable. Indications are that this is not Baal, but it might still be him testing them via a proxy. Study of the destroyed Al'kesh and the imagery of the battle is ongoing to determine if they have a new enemy to fear or if it is Baal, Horus or Bastet.

August 1994

Conditions on Thent are much better, the terror tactics in reprisal, in conjunction with offers take in the wounded to Ivanri (if they become Reich citizens) and give medical aid, make people listen far closer to the Reich's point of view. They are feared, certainly, but given traditional politics of the time on Thent what the Reich did isn't considered unusual, except perhaps in scale. Plus the Reich has not assaulted any other nations on the planet that did not strike at it first. A lot of them actually see this as a plus point, realizing that as long as they do not strike at the Reich or it's allies they are likely safe. Also a gradual bleed through of tech is slowly lifting the rest of the planet's technology. Eventually they might catch up. The Western Accord certainly will, and likely soon.

October 1994

Some tests on the Bio-Repair pod indicate it can actually read the brain functions of an individual it is healing. Some work as a side project (so as to not hinder the main project) is done on attempting to interpret this data, and literally read the minds of those that are inside it. When the Fuhrer gets wind of this he sets up a more orchestrated project for this, with the funding to build a second Bio-Repair pod to test on, to develop this further. He does not state the reason, but states that he specifically wants the machine to read skills of a person, ability, cognitive capabilities and loyalty. Memories are not required, and in fact he wants a version that CANNOT read memories of any kind from a person.

The team is somewhat perplexed at the specific purpose for this, but begin the side project immediately.

December 1994

Work on fixing Yu's age related degeneration appears to be going slowly. Despite Peliar's attempts at assistance, the team now know more about the system than he does, and he is not a doctor or scientist. Reluctantly he withdraws from the project and starts again with various SS agents itemizing details of Goa'uld territory and personality.

With Peliar out of the way the team try again to push for altering the mental aspects of the project, and in three weeks have solved the issue! They suspect that Peliar was hindering their work, or perhaps his ineptitude with scientific projects was slowing them down. In their report they indicate the latter, out of respect for the help he gave them getting the Bio-Repair pod to work in the first place.

January 1995

After strenuous testing the team call Peliar back in to 'do a scan' to improve the lead in to healing Yu's condition. He submits and is the first Goa'uld to be 'De-Evilified' by the Enhanced Bio-Repair pod. Unfortunately the results make little to no perceived difference in Peliar's behavior and the team secretly wonder if it worked at all. They thank him for his help and promise they will inform him if they ever get the device able to heal aged Goa'uld in the future.

May 1995

The secondary team on the Bio-Repair project report back to the Fuhrer that they have succeeded. It's not certain how accurate the various readings of individuals will be at first, it will need extensive tests with willing subjects who can verify if the readings are accurate, but the system as it stands works. One hour in the machine can scan a person's personality and loyalty to a fairly high level of detail.

The Fuhrer is pleased and instructs them to begin the testing immediately.

June 1995

Confirmation is made that the attack on the Reich's border was by Horus. Again the Fuhrer pushes for an assault on the Goa'uld in reprisal, but the council manage to cool his temper. In general he has been a fair and exemplary leader, but does have a fixation with the Goa'uld's destruction. However, even if they still fear breaking the treaty right now they do work on plans to invade and conquer Horus' remaining worlds. They know the Fuhrer will keep pushing and eventually will insist on the attack, no matter what they say.

He is, after all, the Fuhrer.

September 1995

Testing of the 'Character Scanner' fine tunes the machine a lot. One lost test subject early on almost killed the project, but it seemed it was a random fluctuation in the scanning fields causing a brain hemorrhage. After regeneration he seems OK and returns to work not knowing that the project actually killed him... temporarily. Hopefully the brain damage hasn't affected his personality too severely.

However, by now it is considered over 90% accurate in reading character traits and this is again put before the Fuhrer. He insists that the machine be raised to 99.9% accuracy at least. It needs to be VERY accurate. They go back to work and continue testing, still at a loss over what the machine is for. Testing candidates for the SS? Who knows?

January 1996

The machine is at 99.2% estimated accuracy, and for the moment the Fuhrer accepts it, though stresses it must be made more accurate! He organizes a group meeting of high up NSDAP members and the ruling council and orders them to undergo the process, which he does first. He does not explain what it is for.

After this he brings up the list of the personnel and (carefully not viewing the complete list) brings up a short list of those that have inherent loyalty to the Reich above all else, have good governmental and organizational skills and good oration skills... going on to other aspects of what a good Fuhrer needs. The council is stunned that the Fuhrer has had a machine made to chose his successor! Or at least to determine who would be valid choices for a successor. Interestingly the Fuhrer is on the list, which few here are surprised over, but there are some questions on the accuracy of the system. Measuring ones ability to govern is tricky at best to determine (and is one of the ones that took the longest to perfect during the testing... and forms a large part of the 0.8% failure of the machine) given the wide ranging aspects involved but they accept that this may well prove a method of picking candidates. Then the party chooses who of these will be Fuhrer.

Slowly the legislature proposals are laid out for the new method of changing leadership for the state, with a lot of effort being pushed for this to go through before March, when the Fuhrer's 50 year time comes around.

March 1996

The machine is currently rated at 99.4% and they still are having difficulty with determining abstract character traits and the combination of elements that go into 'ability to govern', but overall this is proceeding well, and it is considered enough. Surprisingly the Fuhrer goes public about it, loudly hailing the benefits to the state of a stable, scientific way of determining new rulers. A vote in private is made... and finds the Fuhrer still favored. The party has given him another 50 years... if he lives that long. Given current Reich medical science he easily could!

The Fuhrer makes an impassioned speech about the process and opens up the 'Character Scanner' for other aspects. It's an expensive piece of hardware (and unlikely to come down in price any time soon!), but it could determine if a person is suitable for a job placement scientifically. He loudly proclaims the benefits of science for all, the glory days of the Reich waiting before them.

Their future looks bright! And as far as the Fuhrer is concerned the future of the Goa'uld looks grim.

***

The familiar 'Voom voom' noise made Ra turn, he grimaced as he saw the bomb he had so painstakingly enhanced, boosted the primitive technology of these humans... now on his ship! No, it could not be! It....

*BOOOOM*

Although the System Lords had no idea yet, the Galaxy had been thrown into turmoil. The Goa'uld leader for thousands of years had been killed and the System Lords no longer had the restrictions they once did.

Chaos awaits.

 

[Patupi]

May 1996

With the push to militarize once more considerable effort had been spent on the ground forces as well as the Luftwaffe and Raumflotte. So far the MR-12 and MR-11 were working out well, though some research was helping make mass production easier. Armor however was something of an issue. While focus was more on scouting and defense the existing suits worked fine, but now that consideration was being given to assault other aspects had to be considered. What was wanted was a full suit like the Jaffa wore, but they couldn't get one light enough for an unimproved human (the implants were still not that common, and still somewhat risky) and still fend off Staff weapon fire. The inserts on a standard battledress were effective, but had too many weak points.

Many years ago a powered system had been considered, but there were a lot of problems with a suit of power armor. Firstly it is very difficult to design such so there are no weak points. With the Jaffa armor the Goa'uld had mixed flexible Trinium/Naquadah chain mail as a base, with heavier plate armor. It was effective, but the chain mail section, though tough, let through a lot of the plasma wash if struck, and was also not as tough intrinsically. When armored exoskeletons were being designed back in the 60's the mix of flexible and solid plate to cover was considered, but the chain mail setup wasn't going to work. Thus a new material was needed. The project however lost funding to the more dramatic Luftwaffe and Raumflotte projects at the time and had stalled. Some work had continued at reduced funding and when it restarted they had the material they needed.

A carbon fiber lattice, laced with Trinium and steel wires, created a bulky, but fairly lightweight material that could be used to cover joints and weak-points in the armor fairly well. With careful plates to provide overlap for most situations, the 'armor fabric' would make sure no stray shots would instantly take out joints, access ports and seals.

The design had undergone a lot of changes over the years, some ending towards massive, eighteen foot tall structures. However large robotic systems were not considered viable. Even with the protection on the joints these systems were inherently less armored than a tank of the same size. Their advantages were agility and all terrain capability, and on the small scale the ability to use any man-portable weapon system... even squad support weapons. Thus the eventual project aimed at two versions. One was a very light suit with basic armor and improved servos to enhance endurance, encumbrance limit, and overall strength of the soldier. A small Naquadah reactor would power the system for decades so that wasn't a problem. This 'Scout Suit' was considered for standard deployment to major forces, but at present production was tied up with large numbers of missiles and fighters, catching up after switching to new models. In a few years they could begin mass production and use these for stormtroopers. Right now a small number of them were built for SS elite forces, but most of the power armor production went to the second suit.

The 'Armored Suit' was a heavier system, completely encasing a man in heavy Trinium plate with Ablative layers on the chest, front and back, with two integral Deathrays in the arms. It left the wearer a nine foot tall, jet black solider, with glowing red eyes from the various vision enhancement systems, and completely sealed against the environment. The thing would work in space or in toxic atmosphere. The seals had some issues with acids, but they were working on fighting that so it could function on hostile planets with acidic atmospheres. Strength enhancements were extreme, far in excess of Jaffa strengths, and a battalion of Powertroopers was formed around the first run of the suit. Making that many suits took some time, but it was hoped the Battalion would be ready by the end of the year.

Special over sized weapons for Powertroopers were built, an over the shoulder, Beamer rifle weighing 120lbs by itself was one option. Twin 15mm autocannon 'SMGs' was another, though ammo for those was limited in the field. One popular version was a scaled up version of the MR-12, unoriginally named the MR-15, using a Deathray main weapon, but using a variant of the normal Jaffa Beamer rifle under the barrel instead of a plasma bolt. This was light enough for a second weapon to be carried, and the standard load out was a rather large sonic 'knife' about 18" long. This weapon used a special ceramic/Trinium base that would withstand considerable vibration, and then was exposed to very high frequency sound waves, echoing through the blade and out into a target. The blade also vibrated in tune with the sound waves and could cut through most armor with ease. Shields it still had a problem with (except the personal velocity limited shields)

These Powertroopers began training with the first company in late May, and already a few Nazi Jaffa were signing up to join the Battalion.

June 1996

As a continuation of the shield built for the Jaeger-1250 a tank version was considered, however the velocity limited approach that worked for a nimble fighter would hardly be effective for a slow moving tank. It would be child's play to simply lob a grenade through to hit the armor beneath. Thus some considerable effort was made on making a double shield, using normal shield systems, small enough to fit on a tank that could go through the gate. This was not a simple task and though started at the same time as the Jaeger-1250 shield project, it only came to fruition in early June.

The new tank, named the Drachen by the test crew, used conventional track systems, but with much better under and side armor to limit mine effectiveness (the shield was a dome type, so wouldn't protect against underground assault). It had a single, heavy turret atop with a main 1.5cm plasma beam cannon, and a secondary deathray underneath it for better shield penetration capabilities (and longer range). Four secondary ball turrets, controlled by computer from a central weapons station, could field heatray fire to any location around the tank to hit troops or aircraft (or missiles if anyone employed them). One things that was added in was a small gravrider system, not to make the vehicle fly, but to increase it's effective weight and keep it secure on the ground. It could even assist going up and down high sloped ground, pulling directly to the ground rather than downwards. In theory you could reverse it to float the vehicle, but at first this was not considered worth while as it barely had enough power to lift from the ground, let alone spare any for sideways movement. It was often modified in the field (and later versions upgraded to make this possible from the factory) so this function could free the tank from traps, quicksand or other problem terrain.

Again, production issues were a problem, but a limited scale manufacturing run began on the new tank and soon a armored company was equipped.

August 1996

With the advent of the Character Scanner quite a few (curiously those who had scanned 'positive' by the scanner) were putting forwards a plan to make all prospective members of the upper echelons of the NSDAP be tested before joining. Some were even mandating periodic tests, to ensure loyalty was maintained. There were mixed feelings about this. This implied that people did not trust those already in power! Tempers flared at times, and the plans were shelved for the moment, but there were too many in the Fuhrer's 'favorites' in the council who had fallen in love with the Character Scanner as the Way Forward for the Reich government for the idea to be lost completely.

Whether anything would come of it was anyone's guess at the moment.

At the same time the organization on Ventus had continued quite well. Original though had been to allow some autonomy, or keep them as a separate polity. Basically a very close ally. However too many in the upper council thought that against the Goa'uld threat solidarity and singularity of purpose and design was paramount. This, combined with the integration of so many Reich personnel into Ventus population had pushed the planet closer and closer to beginning a Fascist state themselves. At present the population of Aryans on the planet was actually small, but given that they were in the key governmental, industrial and teaching positions they had a very strong influence on how the nascent society was forming.

The proposed party system, leading to a democratic state, was not being resisted by these key Aryan people, or the Reich state itself, as long as there was a Nazi party allowed. However, already there was popular support to go to a formal linking with the Reich and to become a true Fascist controlled government, subject to Reich laws as a subject state. No-one knew quite how it would come out, but already council members, with the assistance of the SS, were quietly funding rallies for the budding Fascist party, making sure that it was lead and almost entirely run by Hemriari. It was hoped a local Nazi party would have more credence among the populace.

Now Heschel had fully joined the Reich there had been some effort to build more installations there. Heschel's industry wasn't up to scratch quite, but a lot of the Center States had come a long way and when their output and some budding Mumachine fabrication plants were combined a single cruiser slip was built on the planet. The trip from Spelk to Heschel was between one to two months and so even with the allowance of unarmed vessels to travel back and forth to this world in the Treaty it had been difficult to do much other than build up satellites to defend the planet. Now there was the intention of beginning construction of warships. It seemed odd to start with a Cruiser slip rather than a destroyer one, but the military wanted something that could stand up to an Hatak on it's own with minimal casualties. Local conditions and resources were not ideal, but with some shipping of materials through to build a small stockpile it was thought that, even if the gate were cut off, they could build one Cruiser every year and a half. Back home it took about a year for the advanced 4th gen models, and destroyers took about eight months.

November 1996

As to military production, since 1989 the Reich had been pushing full bore with it's expanded industry and had produced a huge number of vessels. Starting with the third generation ships, then onto fourth generation. Including older models the Reich now had 4 battleships, 14 Cruisers (8 4th gen), 9 Battlecruisers (5 4th gen), 12 Carriers (3 4th gen) (Older models were more converted civilian craft than true military ships), and 105 destroyers (50 4th gen). Output on this scale, even with more modern mumachines, was telling, and production had to slow just to keep maintaining what was in use. The 12 1st generation Zephyr destroyers and the two 2nd gen cruisers were mothballed during the last half of the 1996 to alleviate the costs, and the slightly newer Sturmreiter 2nd gen destroyers and 3rd gen battle cruisers went on patrol instead.

Given what they had and what they estimated Ra had if he pooled all immediate reserves, they thought that even the worst he could throw at them they could best, though casualties would be high. Given that the Reich thought Ra would underestimate the Reich and would likely not field the maximum number of ships in a first assault things should be much easier.

Right now, even with all the advances, the 4th gen destroyers were no match, one on one, for an Hatak. The uberbeam was powerful, but the small model on the destroyer had limited range. They had to sweep in fast and get a strafing run, and Hataks were nimble ships. Destroyers, with both disk drives and ion drives going, could out pace an Hatak, but still it would likely take three to be sure to take out an Hatak in straight combat.

4th gen Cruisers were thought to be more than a match for Goa'uld motherships, though likely one on one they'd take damage before destroying the enemy. Battlecruisers were a little weaker, more on a par, but with their small fighter squadrons they were actually thought to be more capable against the enemy, except perhaps Baal with his anti fighter tech he was fielding. They had tactics to minimize those weapons effects, but they were still nasty against fighters.

4th gen Battleships (there had been no lower generation battleships, though the first was probably on the line between 3rd and 4th gen in tech) were impressive to say the least. Larger than an Hatak, far more firepower. It was estimated that two Battleships, with their large scale Uberbeams striking on target, could take down an Hatak's shields with one barrage. The necessity of the Uberbeamer to cool between shots was annoying, leading to short bursts of fire, but the advantages in shield absorption were immense over conventional plasma beams. They took far more power to run, but against a shielded target were far more effective. All in all it was expected that one battleship could easily take down two Hataks without loosing it's shields.

All of this was not accounting for tactics and formations. The Reich definitely expected to field a significant advantage against the Goa'uld.

Ra was in for a surprise... though the Reich were blissfully unaware that it was not Ra they would face at all.

 

[Patupi]

December 1996

Work on the Bio-Repair module to heal Yu has not been going well. Cellular tests on tissue samples from Goa'uld that have been forcibly aged do not seem to respond well to the systems in the Bio-Repair pod or Sarcophagus. Some work with other bio-fields used in medicine has brought out some possibilities but it is proving very difficult to get anywhere. In late January they do get some results, but it is mixed. Individual cell samples can be restored to full health, but there is a high chance of cancer like growths in some cell clusters. With the few samples of live symbiotes they have (a lot of them cloned) they begin forcibly aging entire symbiotes to begin testing the procedures on these.

It does not look hopeful.

Some disquiet spreads on Teutonia as an independent archaeologist talks on a radio show and claims that the planet is not the home to the Aryan people, but an ancient Goa'uld farming world. The government is not pleased this came about without the SS realizing and stopping the broadcast first. However the reaction in the public is not as severe as suspected. There is some controversy, and currently due to lack of proof not all people believe it anyway, but even of those that believe it only about twenty percent are shocked and/or angry at the revelation. It seems time has softened the blow as the Reich had hoped. However at present it is just a rumor. They are still unclear what would happen if it became known fact.

January 1997

On Jan 11th an assault comes at a border with the Reich, and it's a big one. Five Hataks hyper in to a border system, and a single patrol squadron makes a single, high speed pass, slightly damaging one Hatak before the group of six destroyers and a battlecruiser jump to hyperspace. Sensors left in the system show the enemy is not following but moving to the planet. The fleet drops out to normal space nearby and wait for reinforcements while two of the Hataks land on the planet. It's a barren world, little vegetation, but just barely habitable. No gate was present, but as the ships land one drops an odd arrangement of pods, floating a stargate down to the planet. Satellite sensors are unable to get a good image of it, but from the energy readings it has engaged and is bringing in troops and slaves to set up shop on the world.

Nine hours later a strike fleet of ten Sturmreiters, two 2nd gen carriers (carrying Jaeger-1120VT fighters unfortunately, still not fully switched out for Raubvogel yet) and three 2nd gen Cruisers arrives, rendezvous with the patrol fleet, and head to the planet. When they arrive swarms of over two thousand death gliders rise from the planet to them, presumably shipped in via the gate. With the basic, old model carriers and the battlecruiser capacity their slightly over 200 fighters are badly outnumbered, but with a fleet of destroyers and the fighters they plot an intercept to hold them away from the capital ships and wait. The battle is fierce, but surprisingly one sided. Death gliders are no match for even these older destroyers and fighters, and though they lose a destroyer and over twenty fighters, the enemy loses over half it's number before withdrawing. They seemed to attempt to ram the destroyers, and one or two succeeded, even against the agile light capital ships. The Cruisers would have fared less well against such tactics. The remaining thousand death gliders still pose a significant threat, but know they know of the danger a number of destroyers escort the cruisers to act as anti-fighter patrols.

The fleet moves in and strikes hard against the enemy. Before they can reach weapons range the two Hataks on the surface launch and join the fray, though they are hammered by long range missile strikes launched by fighters dodging around the orbital ships before returning. In atmosphere this pulverizes the weakened shields and they collapse. When the fleets get into range of each other heavy Death ray fire and coil gun shells batter the two rising Hataks into wreckage, before turning on the other three... who vanish into hyperspace. It was so fast few shots had landed on the Reich fleet, mostly targeting the cruisers and their shields held well. The planet seems to be evacuating as well through the stargate, but orbital bombardment dissuade them from this, and troops are dropped to control the area.

One aging destroyer and 20 old model fighters for two Hataks? Not a bad rate of exchange. They assume good tactics on the Reich side countered the older equipment they were using and allowed the victory. Scouting the wreckage in orbit and scans of the Jaffa still on planet reveal this was orchestrated by Bastet. How she expected to do this so openly without Ra stopping her is unknown. The Jaffa (those that surrender) don't seem to be aware of her reasons or plans other than this attack. A few of the gliders remain in the system, but most were loaded on to the Hataks. Those remaining make hit and run raids on the fleet for a while, but to little purpose. It is disorganized and in small groups, easily defeated by fighter/destroyer defenses. Jaeger-950 fighters are brought in through the gate to defend the new world. It seems to have little resources or fertile soil. The only advantage for it would be as a staging post within the Reich's territory. In fact the Reich is not sure why Bastet even bothered with that. The only thing they can think of is that other treaties with neighboring Goa'uld stopped her from seizing a planet just outside Reich territory and as her space was some ways off she felt this was necessary.

The two Hatak wrecks were unfortunately in untenable low orbits, and soon degraded and fell back to the planet. Given their severe damage the effort to push them to higher orbit and repair them was not considered worthwhile and they were left to burn up in the atmosphere a few hours later.

On January the 27th another strike occurs, this one four Hataks, seemingly from Horus it's later found. The ships sweep into an unpatrolled area and attempt to collect the scan satellites to examine. When they explode before capture (damaging one Hatak quite badly) the ships are more cautious, but before they've managed to take a second satellite a patrol fleet of a battlecruiser and six destroyers sweep in system. Even though the Hataks clearly outgun the Reich fleet they leave immediately, long before the Reich fleet can get within weapons range.

For some reason the Goa'uld seem antsy, and are openly flaunting the treaty!

Over the last year many signs in Peliar seem to indicate the Enhanced Bio-Repair treatment has had an affect on him. He is still the same person, but slowly he seems to be becoming more empathic, more willing to see the points of views of others and to consider something beyond his own self interest. What ever the effect is it is light and the change takes a good deal of time. Perhaps this is a good thing? Such change would be less noticed.

February 1997

Yu asks for a meeting and arrives on Teutonia on the 17th Feb. After much preamble he states that Ra has not been seen for most of the year and several Goa'uld are breaking old treaties, testing the limits and waiting to see if Ra will return. Yu has had to defend his border twice recently from Cronos, though he claims to have defeated the 'pitifully small raids' with ease. The Reich recite their experience with Bastet and Horus, they also go into some detail on Baal's new anti fighter weapons. This had been delayed while the Fuhrer had wondered whether to give this valuable information up to Yu, but with the recent depredations he thinks sharing this information is more useful to the Reich.

When the Reich ask if Ra might be dead at first Yu's response is to merely laugh, the idea ridiculous. Ra has existed for eons, almost as long as Yu himself. The idea that he is dead is... well, after Yu considers it more it makes him rather intense and wary.

"If this is so, then fear for all. For no force restrains the System Lords now, Aryans." He states ominously.

Then Yu, reluctantly, asks what the 'healing procedure' mentioned before entails. He is curious about such technology. Yu certainly does not state he wishes the procedure, which is a good thing as it hasn't been perfected yet, but the fact that he is willing to talk about it is a step forwards.

Al'dar informs him that as of yet this procedure has not been tested on a live Goa'uld. But in essence is a process involving their Bio-Repair pods, similar in nature to Goa'uld Sarcophagi. In theory it should work, but they are unsure.

This is fudging it a good deal. Currently no system developed can do very much to the aging damage Yu has. However some treatments in a current Pod would perhaps lengthen the time before mental decay sets in, and also could subject Yu to the 'De-Evilifying' effects of the Enhanced Bio-Repair Pod. With someone so aged it is unsure how long the character altering affects would take, possibly years before it is even noticed, but it should help.

As it stands Yu does not ask for such treatment now, nor do the Reich offer it. Best not to tempt fate. Leave it to Yu to decide what he wants. On the matter of border raids and Ra's departure Yu promises to relay any information about Ra that he comes across, while the Reich offers to aid through the stargate tactically if Yu needs it. This is what had already been agreed on before, but a more open agreement in numbers of troops and fighters. Yu seems wary of this, but agrees, but only if he calls for aid.

The meeting ends cordially and Yu leaves. Further scans show his condition will likely take several years at the current rate to get severe, but it is progressing.

***

O'NEILL: All right that did it. Open the blast doors.

With an electrical whine the blast doors slid upwards, revealing the gate room, wormhole rippling with light, Teal'c and Kawalsky struggling close to it. As Jack watched Kawalsky's head slipped in and out of the event horizon as he fought to get through the gate.

O'NEILL: Teal'c! Hold him there!

Without comment Teal'c strengthened his grip, making sure the Goa'uld could not get through the gate, his head still slightly within the shimmering energy field.

O'NEILL: Shut it down! Now!

With a flash the wormhole vanished, taking a piece of Kawalsky's head with it. He twitched and Teal'c let him go as Jack ran up the ramp, Kawalsky falling to the floor with a thump. A small section of the Goa'uld fell from the open wound and shriveled up on the floor. Jack and Teal'c bend down to see the remains.

TEAL'C: He was your friend.

O'NEILL: My friend died on the table.

The SGC had had their first taste of the horrors of Goa'uld possession and the newly crafted SG teams knew what they were up against now. This would not be the cake walk some had hoped after their success on Chulak.

 

[Patupi]

March 1997

During a planning meeting of the Raumflotte admirals plans are slowly built for an assault on Horus and/or Bastet. Baal is considered too dangerous to attempt at present, especially as he appears more aware of the Reich's technological capabilities. However both what targets to plan for and the method of the attack are hotly debated. Bastet is seen as a more beneficial target, with far more territory, plus it is closer to Yu's space and they may be able to get assistance from there when they break the treaty. Getting Yu to assist them if Ra is still around might be hard, but not impossible if it is not something that could be traced back to him directly. That would mean no ships, unless they could be stolen from other Goa'uld, but Jaffa could be easily faked to have sigils of other System Lords for the battle using Reich medical tech.. Horus would be easier and much closer. They would not need any assistance. But the rewards are far less. Horus, despite his deal with Ra, does not hold much territory, though from what Yu has said it has expanded a little since the Reich last faced him in battle.

The other matter is what forces to use, and that is even more hotly debated. Quite a few in the admiralty suggest that, since the Goa'uld are not present in large numbers and they really do not suspect a threat from the Reich yet, that the 2nd and 3rd gen ships and older fighters should be employed. That would lull the enemy into a false impression of Reich capabilities and save the better ships for defense if someone should hit them while the fleets are away. However some see this as dangerous. It is possible the less capable ships may fall foul of some trick or defense of the Goa'uld they are not aware of. Losing that many vessels, no matter their technological level, would be a blow.

In general the concensus is to attack Horus for now, and use the older ships in the offensive, but the call is too close at present to make a final decision. It's possible the Fuhrer could get tired of their bickering and decide for them if this stretches out much longer.



Near the gate several villagers and SG-1 stand, chatting idly as a golden glow shimmers far above, a Goa'uld designed shield to protect against radiation. SG-1 is hovering near the gate, preparing to leave.

CARTER: Uh, I think were ready.

O'NEILL: Think we should tell them to bury the gate after were gone?

CARTER: Teal'c seems to think the Goa'uld won't be back.

Daniel Jackson joins the group, glancing up at Jack.

JACKSON: Maybe we should come back and check on these guys?

CARTER: I think we've done enough, don't you?

Reluctantly, Daniel nods and walks off. Jack sees Samantha attempts to catch Jack's eye.

O'NEILL: Something else on your mind?

CARTER: I had the chance to end this Colonel. He literally asked me to do it.

O'NEILL: Killing a man is no badge of honor, captain.

CARTER: I know.

O'NEILL: Look, I'm no expert on this thing.

He waves the Bible Hanson had.

O'NEILL: I generally read one commandment, and I think it's the first.

CARTER: "I am the Lord your God, and you shall take no other God's before me?"

O'NEILL: Okay, so it's not the first one. I'm talking about the No Killing one. No matter what the reason, every time you break it, you take one step closer to Hanson.

Sam nods.

CARTER: Thanks.

Jack hands her the Bible, then goes to where the rest of SG-1 and the villagers are talking.

O'NEILL: So, you going to be alright?

JAMALA: Yes.

Jack and Jamala shake hands.

JAMALA: The world outside the caves...it's very big, yes?

JACKSON: Yeah, it's bigger then you can imagine.

Danny and Jamala shake hands. Danny walks away and to the Stargate, he dials home. Sam transmits the code, and SG-1 plus Conner walks. up to the gate, heading back to Earth.

 

[Patupi]

April 1997

On the 9th of April, shortly before the founding day celebrations, Yu comes through the gate with little to no warning, just a short identifying radio transmission. His entourage is small, an assistant Jaffa and one guard only. As soon as he arrives he demands to see the Fuhrer on matters of dire importance.

It takes some time for Himmler to arrive, but he basically drops what he was doing and heads to the gate complex. Talks begin, but are completely missing any of the normal formalities Yu usually seems to need. Instead he comes right to the point.

"Ra is dead."

It turns out that various Goa'uld have begun to seize Ra held armies and territory, and Ra has not stopped them. There are even conflicting rumors that it was an alien that killed Ra, not another Goa'uld. Although a lot of Ra held worlds are unknown, those that are have been fought over and the System Lords were somewhat disrupted. Order was restored, with ten Lords present on the council (including Yu still), but with four pre-eminent at present. Cronos, Apothis, Baal and Horus.

At this last the Fuhrer is surprised. Last they heard Horus was not a primary system lord and did not have much territory. Well it seems now he does. There are rumors that his increase in favor is due to his alliance with Ra and him taking significant territory that the other System Lords are unaware of, but this isn't confirmed. What is confirmed is his significant armies and fleets. He is not the top System Lord by a long shot, but to be in the top four after being in such a lowly position is a shocker.

Chaos has ruled for about a month, but with the council more or less organised things have quietened down, but not to the levels before Ra's departure. The Goa'uld now have very little to hold them in check, and already Yu has seen increases in construction, raids, and under the table deals between System Lords and minor Goa'ulds. Yu himself feels wary, with more raids and attacks than before his territories are no longer safe.

Himmler asks whether the Treaty is still valid in the current climate. Yu is uncertain. Given the Asgard's power the PPT has already been ratified by the new council, but very little talk has been made over other treaties, including that of the Reich. He doubts the System Lords will feel any need to uphold it at all.

To the surprise of the negotiating team the Fuhrer suggests a mutual defense treaty with Yu. Surprised himself Yu does not agree now, but also does not dismiss the idea (normal delaying tactics for Yu basically) and suggests a further meeting later this month. He does promise to keep the Reich informed about the status of the System Lords, and in return the Reich promises to inform Yu of any troop or fleet movements they witness.

After the meeting is over the Fuhrer declares the Treaty null and void himself.

"Ra was who we dealt with, if he is dead the Treaty holds no water here. Especially as we are ready now. I want scouting fleets sent to neighboring systems immediately. We need to determine the the power of our neighbors, especially Horus!"

At present only five of the new Zyklon B stealth destroyers have been built, and Leere is now ordered to refit an existing Battlecruiser with the same systems as the Zyklon B as a command ship for a special stealth strike fleet. The battlecruiser will not be ready for a while, probably by the end of the year, but right now the five stealth destroyers head out to perform scouting runs of nearby systems. Although 2nd gen ships are still used for patrol, more 3rd gen ships are stationed at key points around the border as fast response teams, hoping to sweep in to hit enemy vessels after they've been detected by the scouts and detection satellites.

On 28th of April Yu returns and agrees to a mutual defense pact, 'The Pact of Teutonia', with the Reich. If either is considered 'at war' with another polity the other will come to it's aid. Raids and individual attacks are not considered part of this, but Yu is willing to send aid where needed. What constitutes 'at war' is a little tricky to define. If Yu just arbitrarily declares war on someone the Reich do not particularly want to get involved... and Yu feels the same way about the Reich's problems. In the end a consensus is achieved that a meeting must take place between the two leaders to agree on specific actions to be taken. The meeting will either be here on Teutonia or on Yu's Throne world.

The NSDAP party council is uncertain about this. The Fuhrer has always been vehemently anti-Goa'uld, but now seems to treat Yu differently. True, they have a trade treaty with him and the whole 'Heal Yu' program might bear fruit, but now? Can they really trust him? The Fuhrer claims he still isn't certain they can trust him, but this is the best choice they have right now. If Yu can assist them they shouldn't ignore it.

May 1997

Mobilization of Reich forces is prepared, troops formed, the ships prepared for shipping out. Not all vessels can be maintained at full readiness at all times, but at present the 4th gen Home Fleet is on rotation, half of it patrolling the system, half undergoing low level maintenance and drills.

With some effort a manufacturing complex on Ventus has been established to built MR-12s and the new Scout Suit powered armor for the standard soldier. Production of that is starting to increase, between the plant here and limited production on Teutonia. Spelk is currently housing the production for the Armored Suit for the new Powertroopers. As of May two battalions of stormtroopers have been equipped with the Scout Suits. The Scout Suit, when it finally went into full production, had been modified to have rudimentary sealing and vacuum protection. It is not as good as a full space suit or Armored Suit, but it will do in a pinch, and acts as NBC protection otherwise.

Powertroopers are in lower production numbers. From the initial push a company in the Powertroopers is by now fully equipped, with both suits and weapon systems. Some consideration is being given for a large grenade launcher support weapon within the Powertroopers. If it gets approval it would likely be a low velocity coil gun with 40mm grenades, capable of indirect fire with the HUD systems in the Armored Suit's helmet, and fully automatic fire. Such a load out would likely keep one of the AG-120 (the high caliber coil gun autocannon 'SMGs') as a sidearm for when ammo in the grenade launcher ran out or for close combat duty.

With all preparations aside the Admirals now concentrate on plans to attack Horus, who is now seen as the current threat, especially given his proximity. It is decided to use forces from the Home Fleet's 4th gen ships against him. Given the shift in the playing field they can't afford to mess around right now.

***

With exasperation the team comes to a halt on top the hill where they arrived on the world.

TEAL'C: This is where the Stargate should be.

With a flicker Anteaus appears before the team, making them jerk a little.

ANTEAUS: We sent your enemy through the doorway.

O'NEILL: They'll be back.

ANTEAUS: When you are gone we will bury it.

Jack licked his lips. This was getting exasperating.

O'NEILL: They'll come in ships next time; they'll bring an army.

ANTEAUS: Perhaps.

Nefrayu materialized before the team and smiled at them, the child looking up at Jack.

ANTEAUS: He wanted to wish you farewell.

O'NEILL: I'm glad you're okay.

NAFRAYU: And you. We sent your weapons back through the doorway.

O'NEILL: Yeah, speaking of the Stargate...

ANTEAUS: You fear for us, yes?

O'NEILL: Yes.

ANTEAUS: Why?

TEAL'C: It is our way that the strong defend the weak.

O'NEILL: We're afraid for you.

ANTEAUS: Before you go, O'Neill, there is something we would have you see.

With a wave of his hand Anteaus motions at the sky, and a huge city fades into sight, suspended in mid air in the distance.

O'NEILL: Oh my God.

ANTEAUS: Fear not.

Another wave of his hand and the gate appears, the event horizon already rippling.

ANTEAUS: Maybe one day you will learn, that your way is not the only way.

With a faint smile Aneaus and Nefrayu vanish, leaving the team alone with the gate. Jack turns to look back up at the hovering city and shakes his head.

O'NEILL: Why didn't he tell us about this before?

DANIEL: I think, in their way, they did.

Daniel stares too, and shortly after the City fades from view again, leaving the green of forrest behind unstained by civilization.

TEAL'C: It appears they possess a form of technology far greater than that of the Goa'uld.

CARTER: They looked so helpless...

DANIEL: And now they're going to bury the Stargate and we can never come back. We should've listened.

O'NEILL: "The very young do not always do as they're told."

All the team turns to look at Jack, Teal'c raising an eyebrow.

O'NEILL: Just a little something the Nox told me one time. Something worth taking home.

The team turns back to the gate and start walking towards it, heading home.

 

[Patupi]

May 1997

The Seventh Fleet, or Stealth Fleet as it was nicknamed, left Reich space on the 8th of May in a Coreward direction, right towards known Horus territory. Reich sensor satellites had improved quite a lot over the years, easily able to detect hyperwindows across two lightyears of distance and having quite a good range of subspace comms. More recently a pulsed hyper distortion detector had been installed. Heisenberg had been working on that for many years, especially as the captured Hataks were no help in developing the technology. However recently he had shifted from attempting to continually detect the passage of hyperspace vessels (rather than the easier to detect hyperwindows), to a slow, active system. Generators created a micro, unstable hyperspace window. The energy costs to build a stable window, even so small, were far too large for a scan satellite, but cutting back all safeguards and protective matters meant the window needed far less energy and collapsed almost instantly. The resultant collapse sent a burst of energy into subspace and this was shifted when it hit the corridor of a ship in hyperspace, causing multiple reflections. In a later pulse some of those reflections would leak back through the unstable window. Currently the detection gear was very fiddly, and had a rather poor range. Plus it ONLY detected range, with no bearing to target. That meant at least three satellites were needed that were in communication with each other to pin point a target position in space.

The system had been tested on dedicated hyper pulse satellites, but now was installed on a slightly larger version of the standard scan sat. This satellite had the latest hyperwindow detector, a variation of the hyper pulse scanner (pulse interval of 14 seconds currently), conventional passive wideband EM sensors, as well as active EM scanners (a combination of Radar and Lidar), and a mass detector. The EM Scanner was not switched on in normal usage as it made the satellites position glaringly obvious and was a purely short range system. It was intended to confirm positions of enemies nearby or to give a detailed profile of a vessel.

The hyper pulse system was tied in, linking 3 satellites in a small constellation permanently, so their pulses were timed appropriately. Other constellations could be connected to the link and computer systems interpreted the date to get a more refined position for the target at a range somewhere between 1 and 2 lightyears, depending on target size and thus the size of the hyper conduit they made. Overall the system worked and while the Seventh Fleet checked out planets on the edge of Horus' space the Sixth Patrol Fleet began to deposit these sensor systems just inside the existing satellite system.

The Fifth Patrol Fleet was stationed at a planet nearby for ready response, using a single converted Hatak with original Goa'uld hyperdrive as a command ship so the fleet had the fastest speed. This would intercept any ships in the cover area of the new sensor systems. Of course they couldn't intercept in hyperspace, though Heisenberg insisted that it should, theoretically, be possible to either kick a ship out of hyperspace, or perhaps stop it from forming a window to enter hyperspace. If such technology could be developed it would be a huge boon to the Reich, but currently it was pure theory.

While the Sixth fleet continued to deploy sensor satellites slowly, the Seventh expanded it's search pattern. On May 21st it encountered a lone Hatak cruising above a planet. The planet was known to be one of those in the original list of twelve the Reich was going to attack decades ago before it was scaled back to merely four planets. It should have a gate present and obviously had something worth guarding. With six Zyklon B stealth destroyers at his disposal (no command ship as yet, until the Reich builds a stealth Battlecruiser) the Commander in charge considered it a worthwhile target of opportunity.

Normally destroyers sweep in fast to get close to use the plasma beams, or on 4th generation ships, their Uberbeams. The Zyklon Bs don't have this option. They do however have a large number of launchers for both Rapier 8 and 9 missiles (the Rapier 9 for anti-fighter work mainly), along with their standard deathray turrets. The scientists insist Goa'uld sensors will not detect them unless they get within 20,000km of the target, but to play it safe the commander slows and launches from 30,000km, then changes position and accelerates towards the target while the missile barrage arcs around to the target. 24 Rapier-8 fusion warhead missiles strike the Hatak, just as it has noticed a weak signature approaching from another direction. the missiles (grav based now, less visible without a large plume of exhaust) strike the target hard. The enemy does spot them before impact and plasma bolts race out and intercept four of the projectiles before they close, and two miss their target as the Hatak begins to accelerate. However the other 19 missiles strike hard, shattering shields then hull in a blaze of fire. The Hatak is still functional when the destroyers get in range, but they scarcely need to do much to stop it. A few precision strikes with deathrays disable the engines and bleed the wreck further.

The destroyers board the ship, few Jaffa left alive aboard the ship, about three quarters of the ship exposed to vacuum, and proceed to see it if is salvageable. surprisingly the hyperspace systems are functional... just, with some work, but most other systems were destroyed in the attack. The Commander gives the team one hour to get the hyperdrive running otherwise he is pulling them out and de-orbiting it.

Scans are made of the planet, but there is little here. It seems to still only be a Trinium mine, no military presence beyond Jaffa on the planet, not even any death gliders. The Commander forwards this information home and while the destroyers are still in orbit the gate is dialed and 'Jaffa warriors' invade. SE squads made to look like Baal's troops storm the place and kill most of the Jaffa guarding it, and make off with stocks of Trinium that were ready to ship, then leave quickly. Hopefully enough of the Jaffa survived to tell of Baal's trickery.

The engineers do manage to get the hyperdrive working, though one destroyer has to dock itself to the mothership to power the drive as it's Naquadah generator is down. Making barely 5ltyrs/day the fleet heads back to Teutonia, escorting the Hatak back before restocking and heading out once more a week later. The Mobile space yard goes to work on the ship and starts to get it functional as an original Hatak where possible, hoping to make it look like it is still one of Horus'

June 1997

Unfortunately Seventh Fleet's luck does not hold and at a planet in the third system it scans, the fleet stopping in orbit as it swept through the planets of Horus, launches a flight of twenty Al'kesh at them. The Jaffa pilots appeared far more fanatical than usual, keeping up a withering barrage despite taking horrendous losses, and some suiciding against the Reich ships. All the Al'kesh were destroyed, but two destroyers were lost in the process, and another two took significant damage. The lack of light weight heatray firepower, the more agile Al'kesh's ability to dodge the heavier missiles, and shield verses the lighter missiles, made them a particularly nasty foe for the Stealth destroyers, though normal destroyers would likely have done far better.

They make sure to de-orbit all wreckage, and do manage to pull some survivors from the wreckage of their fallen ships, and leave no trace they were here... as far as they can tell anyway. The planet seemed to have no stargate, no base, nothing but those Al'kesh. Why they were here was a mystery. The remainder of the fleet heads home, the scouting mission cut short while they undergo repairs. Another two Stealth destroyers will be finished late in the year they hope, and by then perhaps a new stealth battlecruiser too. The fighters and anti-fighter weapons of the battlecruiser would have helped a lot.

For now the plan to attack Horus directly is pushed forwards, since the stealth ships can't be used on their own. Thus the two fully operational Zyklon B ships are attached to the Fourth Fleet, already comprising of 20 Zyklon As, 4 4th gen Cruisers, 6 3rd gen carriers loaded with 680 Raubvogel-160s and 170 Jaeger-1250VTs, and 1 Battleship, The 'Teutonia'.

On June 25th Fourth Fleet sets out with the aim to target Horus' fleet, cripple his defenses and allow Reich ground forces to invade via gate, or via transport vessels. No transports are taken with Fourth Fleet, though the Cruisers and Battleship together have light sublight transports that can land the Battalion of troops aboard them, equipped with the new Scout Armor and MR-12s. They proceed directly to his nearest known outpost, unaware that Horus has already launched his own strike on the Reich.


***

The gate spins noisily, making the usual clunking sound.

DAVIS: Chevron 6 encoded.

Daniel Jack, Catherine and Earnest all watch the gate spin up the last chevron.

DAVIS: Chevron seven...will not engage.

O'NEILL: Well, I think it is safe to say that, the place is gone.

Easnest turns to Jack.

EARNEST: You still have my book.

CATHERINE: Captain Carter is working on a computer model right now.

O'NEILL: And here's the bright side; you're alive.

Daniel smiles as he looks first at Jack, then Earnest.

DANIEL: Yes. Thanks to you.

EARNEST: Look at it this way, if you ever run into those aliens, that made up the language, you can ask them what it means.

CATHERINE: You better let us know this time.

DANIEL: I will, I promise.

Ernest suddenly gives Daniel a massive hug. Making Daniel smile.

O'NEILL: Catherine, hug me.

Catherine laughs as Jack hugs her.

CATHERINE: Oh, Jack.

Catherine and Earnest finally turn to each other and hug tightly Jack and Daniel smiling to themselves.

 

[Patupi]

July 1997

Isseum had a significant defense system. A full satellite defense network, four heavy defense stations, a fleet comprising of six Taifun 3rd gen destroyers, 2 Light carriers and 1 3rd gen carrier (310 Jaeger-1120VT fighters), 300 Jaeger-950 fighters planet side, and 2 3rd Gen cruisers. It was thought to be able to resist a fleet of over ten Hataks if they used standard 'barge in and attack' Goa'uld tactics, maybe six if they were smarter. The alerts from the satellites went off as Horus' fleet dropped out of hyperspace, comprising no Hataks at all. Instead over three hundred Al'kesh and twenty Tel'tak transports flashed into existence and turned towards the planet. The sensor net had proved useless as they had known where to go and the only time they left hyperspace was in Isseum orbit. If the Reich had managed to establish the new Hyperspace Pulse scanners wider they would have seen the fleet coming, but Horus unfortunately did not come from the one direction where they had been established. The reason why no ships came from that direction would only be determined later.

SS General Lukas Drescher ran into the command room to see the dots of light representing the fleet screaming down on him. They could have dropped out of hyperspace right into orbit, but didn't. It was soon obvious why. The ships were building up to very fast speeds as they approached, taking time to roar in. As the Reich ships, satellites and stations prepared it was obvious this wasn't a conventional strike by Horus. He ordered full mobilization and for reinforcements as soon as possible.

The Tel'taks accelerated far faster than they were believed to be able to, and some considerable effort was focused on them as they entered range. They turned out also to be shielded, which had not been seen up to now, and before the main force of enemy Al'kesh entered range the transports had flashed deep into the defense envelope, aiming for the stations and the lighter command and control stations for the satellites. Of the twenty, seven were destroyed by Deathray and missile fire, but the rest struck hard. They had no explosives aboard, relying on speed, crashing into Reich stations at a small fraction of lightspeed. Two of the heavy defense stations were destroyed, one damaged when only one transport struck it, but over 40% of the C&C stations for the satellites were destroyed and the Reich furiously attempted to re-route the control systems to get the net back up and running.

Then the Al'kesh swooped by. These too came by fast, firing as they screamed by, again targeting the defense systems. The damaged station fell, hit by forty energy bombs, and other satellites vanished in similar gouts of energy. The entire network fell dead as all the C&C satellites were destroyed and now only the ships and fighters (rapidly launching now) were left to stop them as the Al'kesh shot out of range before beginning to slow and circle back.

Then seven Hataks jumped in at high orbit.

Drescher's men furiously attempted to re-route controls and jury rig systems to guide the defense satellites, over 90% of which were still active. The one remaining heavy defense station couldn't handle anywhere near the full load, but got about 10% operational before the ships, Hatak and Al'kesh, slid into range. This was a more conventional battle, and the fighters shot out first, met by over 300 death gliders as well as the 280 Al'kesh remaining after attrition during the flyby. Deathrays and plasma bolts shot past each other, flashes in the night as the fighters met first, then mixing with the Al'kesh. The death gliders seemed more wanting to dodge than engage, but were not terribly successful. Only 50 got past the fighters to sweep in to the ships in orbit. They attempted to suicide, but this was expected and destroyers and a few fighters formed a cordon around the cruisers, picking the gliders off before they could impact. Only two successfully rammed the cruisers, only lightly damaging shields.

The Al'kesh were a different problem however. Shielded and fairly agile with an accurate turret they fought hard with the fighters sent against them. Only the Jaeger 1120VTs had reached rendezvous as yet, the 950s still rising from the planet, and the slightly more advanced craft were doing fairly well against the enemy, until the Hataks drew into range. It seemed Baal was not the only one to consider anti-fighter technology. Energy bombs spit from the mothership, larger and faster than those from the Al'kesh, but easily dodged. However they detonated in proximity, releasing gouts of radiation that the unshielded fighters couldn't resist. Pilots began to die from horrendous radiation burns and the shielded Al'kesh soon picked them off.

By now the battle had closed to within range of the limited defense sat network, and jury rigged C&C had enabled another 5% by routing through the cruiser's control systems and scanners. After the fighter battle there were a little under 150 Al'kesh left and they turned on the fleet as the defense net began to fire. The depleted net was accurate, and only 120 reached the ships, and was still being reduced as they battled the cruisers and destroyers. The Reich carriers, older ships with no weapons, immediately vanished into hyperspace, having already off loaded their fighters... and lost them, earlier. The fighters from the planet rose up and engaged the Al'kesh and the destroyers readied their weapons to attempt to intercept the expected energy bomb attack. Damage from the numerous Al'kesh was heavy, and one destroyer lost shields early on. It's armor however proved a surprise to the enemy, resisting several direct strikes from the bombers.

That was when the Al'kesh began their suicide strikes. They screamed in to the fleet, seemingly picking targets at random, and fired fiercely right up to the point they rammed, their Naquadah reactors seemingly built to overload and explode powerfully when they struck. Another Destroyer was stripped of shields almost instantly, both Shield and backup dying as multiple ships rammed at once, though with others the backup shields seemed to work well, holding fire off as the Al'kesh immolated themselves. One cruiser suffered damage in the fraction of a second between shield collapse and the backup rising, and the first damaged destroyer vanished in a fireball of energy as the Hataks entered firing range during the strike, concentrating their fire on the weakened ship.

Then the missiles poured out of the Reich ships and satellites. There were only a hand full of Al'kesh left at this time, but the Reich fleet had been bloodied. Despite this the missiles, deathray and plasma beam fire back finished the last of the Al'kesh and slammed into the Hataks, focusing fire on one ship, vaporizing it. Destroyers attempted to use their shields to block shots against the cruisers, the heavy firepower needed to take down the motherships. They dove in and out, timing their cover of the cruisers with pauses in the cruiser's fire pattern. It was fairly effective, but ruined the destroyers. Shields flickered and died, backups sprang up and these too succumbed. By the time one Hatak fell all but one destroyer was a burning wreck, and the cruisers were left bare.

Then the Jaeger-950s tore into the Hataks. They spread wide, hoping to minimize the effects of the radiation energy bombs, but took heavy casualties. In the process quite a few of the pilots decided to emulate their Jaffa enemies and rammed the enemy, detonating their missiles just before impact, guns and engines on full. The fighter force died fairly quickly, Horus' anti-fighter weapon more effective than Baal's had been, but it extracted a bitter price. Another Hatak fell, leaving only four against the two cruisers and the defense satellites left active. One cruiser's shields began to flicker and the other covered it as best it could while fire still rained on the Hataks. Another Hatak was damaged, but vanished into hyperspace before the cruisers could finish it off. The remaining fighters dove back to the planet as the gate below activated and more fighters began to stream through. This time Raubvogels.

Seeing more enemies entering the system and starting to rise from the planet the Hataks closed the distance, pounding the cruisers from close range. Plasma beams from the cruisers became more effective at this range, and another Hatak stumbled from the battle, scored and battered as beams raked it's hull. But then the covering cruiser's own shields both failed and fire slammed into it's armor. At that range, against two fully operational Hataks, the armor didn't last very long, especially as Horus seemed to target one spot on the cruisers hull. It was a random spot, but it bore through the armor, and then slammed into the internal, tearing through the delicate systems in the disk drive, and the ship tore itself apart in a fiery pirouette of death. Shortly after the other, damaged cruiser followed suit, blown apart from concentrated fire. Before the new fighters could reach them the Hataks jumped into hyperspace, leaving drifting wreckage behind.

It was thought that was the end of the battle, but about two hours later the Hatak's returned. Their hyperspace windows detected in the outer system. Again they built speed and flew past the planet at extreme speeds, bombarding (somewhat inaccurately) the gate as they shot past. With a firestorm of plasma fire the ground around the gate was liquefied and the gate sank into the molten rock, blocking gate access to Isseum for quite some time. The Hataks then vanished more permanently into hyperspace, Horus having successfully denied the Reich use of his old Throne world. It was noted that no attacks had targeted the Citadel, though ground infrastructure was damaged elsewhere, and during the battle the satellite defense net had taken a pounding. With the loss of the stations and of over 35% of the satellites and no gate to quickly restore the satellites to operational ability it would be days before defense of Isseum could be restored, even with the 200 Raubvogel-160 fighters that had managed to get through before the gate was sealed.

The people on the planet feared for when Horus would return.

 

[Patupi]

July 1997

Fourth fleet was about seven hours from target when the subspace comm came notifying them of the battle at Isseum. It would take them over four days to reach there at their speed so they could be no immediate help. Other ships were nearby that could bolster defenses sooner than they could, and the decision was made high up in the chain of command to continue the strike. Hopefully they'd draw away any forces attempting to follow up the attack on Isseum.

Seven hours later the fleet left hyperspace, emerging in mid orbit, well within range of the five Hataks present in orbit. It took mere seconds for the targeting systems to track all orbital targets, a few more for the battleship to turn to target, then the first use of the Uberbeam in combat was made. The first shot of the oversized weapon was followed by the smaller siblings on two of the cruisers who were also in range. One Hatak died instantly, pierced by five shimmering beams of energy from three directions, the explosion weakening the shields of another mothership that was unlucky enough to be close by. Deathray fire from many ships stripped that ship's shields away completely before any of the Hataks got their weapons firing on the new enemy, and it too died very quickly. One attempted to jump into hyperspace, but was cut down by Uberbeam fire as the window formed, leaving it a spinning burning wreck.

"Surrender or die." Grunwald curt message to the remaining two Hataks went out, one of the ships already with severely weakened shields. The intact one attempted to engage it's hyperdrive too, and was blasted in a similar fashion by all nine Uberbeams, now all cruisers were in range. There wasn't much left.

The remaining Hatak surrendered and troop ships were sent to board it. They had access to very few ring systems, and most were either installed on planets, taken from captured Hataks, or still on those refitted Hataks. Thus in situations like this transports were the boarding solution of choice. Plus it meant the Jaffa on the ship didn't know until the ships docked where the troops would be coming from.

In this case it hardly mattered, the minor Goa'uld in charge had apparently ordered the Jaffa to stand down and surrender, fearing that if there was any resistance the ship would be destroyed, and thus him with it. With the large number ships present he didn't think he could ring down to the planet and get to the gate before bombardment took him out. The Jaffa on board, and the Goa'uld, were rounded up, sent via the Hatak's ring system down to the planet where destroyers watched from above, guarding against any local Jaffa from interfering. They took the gate, dug up two ring systems on the planet, and dialed Urwald to send the prisoners there. Personnel from Urwald returned on a second dial from the planet, supplying a crew to man the Hatak without stripping the fleet of crew.

The battle had been very brief, no Reich ships were damaged at all, and the planet was effectively taken. There was still a heavy Jaffa presence there, but it was thought it could be dealt with easily enough. Though not now. Right now everything of Horus that was valuable was either sent through the gate or lifted to the Fleet, then a transport landed over gate, sealing the it and Pedestal inside the bay, and lifted back up to the Battleship. When the fleet departed they had gained a gate and left the Jaffa there stranded.

They shot on to the next world, unaware that that force they had destroyed in orbit was the one Horus had planned to be one of the three follow on task groups to assault Isseum if the plan failed, as it sort of had from his point of view. The other two hesitated as no response was heard from that destroyed task group, but when Horus' battered ship and two escorts arrived he immediately ordered the attack to commence. This time without him joining them personally.

Ten Hataks swept back towards Isseum, but the reserve Fifth Fleet had arrived quickly and had brought a small number of the new hyper sensor sats as well. The result was Horus' ships' arrival was not only predicted, but estimated at where he would emerge. Emergency C&C was setup and a number of satellites were re-positioned to strike at the projected line where the ships were most likely to emerge.

Hataks were what the Reich fleet had been designed to strike against, and the Hybrid Reich Hatak, One 3rd gen Cruiser and ten destroyers managed to place themselves so they were in range of the fleet as they emerged. With the satellites opening fire the Hataks were completely surprised.

It was a massacre, and unlike the Seventh Fleet no surrender was asked for. The Reich lost two destroyers and used a lot of missiles from the satellites, but No enemy Hatak survived.

Meanwhile, a week later on the 10th of July, after several contacts with minor worlds with no ships, Seventh Fleet arrived at another world of Horus. This time it had a fleet in orbit. The Reich ships again had attempted to come out in mid orbit, but the course was slightly off. They arrived at about ten thousand kilometers from the enemy, missile range only. It seemed there were six ships here, and this hinted that Horus' fleet was far larger than they had thought. Yu's information that Horus had taken over some of Ra's territory and equipment must be accurate.

The Fleet was unaware how accurate that guess was. Horus had acquired planets and ships from Ra, and something more valuable. A new tactic Ra had been developing to deal with this 'upstart Reich'. It was Ra who came up with the radiation bombs to counter fighters, and his plan to use massed hoards of Al'kesh, much cheaper to build than Hataks, to fight the enemy. Horus had set up production using the new sites and, to avoid any of the other System Lords form detecting what he was doing, had garrisoned the new Al'kesh's near the Reich border, at sixteen planets. These planets had nothing, no gate, no minerals, no exploitable slaves. Nothing to draw the attention of other Goa'uld. There is was hoped he could build his fleet till they could be sent against the hated Reich. It was one of these garrisons that the Stealth destroyers had stumbled across last month, fighting twenty of his new Al'kesh. Those were the only ones that would have triggered the new sensor systems unfortunately, the other worlds being spread out along the border with the Reich at different spots. If the Seventh Stealth Fleet hadn't hit them, their passage would have been noted en-route to Isseum, though it would have underestimated the numbers involved by a large margin.

These Hataks at this next world were not part of the strike against the Reich in any way. Horus needed to maintain control of his territory while his Al'kesh and Hatak fought the Reich. These were one of four fleets of six Hataks kept back to guard his space against interlopers. With the tensions high a System Lord needed such large fleets to hold his borders.

The six Hataks launched over 200 gliders and 10 Al'kesh, but the Sixth Fleet had details of the battle at Isseum and only launched it's smaller number of Jaeger-1250VT fighter/bombers, not it's Raubvogel fighters. The fighter side of the battle was a push over. The radiation bombs did little actual damage as they moved too slow to hit directly, and proximity strikes were not enough to lower the Jaeger's shields, and those shields amply protected the pilots from radiation. Though the 1250 was not the Reich's premier fighter, they still way outclassed the death glider, and even the small number of more capable Al'kesh couldn't tip the balance. Of the 170 Jaegers launched 140 left the battle. No gliders or Al'kesh survived. Missiles from the capital ships and fighters struck the Hataks, bringing the shields down on one ship. The Jaegers intercepted and destroyed that one craft, but the other five left into hyperspace before any further damage could be done.

As they had done with all worlds they had hit so far the Reich seized the gate, and if there was resistance from the Jaffa on planet they were bombed by Uberbeam fire from destroyers at high altitudes. They had removed Horus' presence from five worlds now, and stolen the gates and Pedestals from all of them. With risk to Isseum from further attacks and this assault being considered a success, the Reich fell back, retreating towards Teutonia.

Unfortunately on July 29th, before the Fleet returned, the gate on Teutonia engaged and a radio transmission received.

"This is Thor, Supreme Commander of the Asgard Fleet. I demand an audience with the Fuhrer!"

From the tone of his voice it was obvious this was not going to go well.

 

[Patupi]

July 1997

Thor was not pleased.

The meeting between him and the Fuhrer was heated, the Fuhrer claiming that the Treaty was a deal between himself and Ra, mediated by the Asgard. Given that one party was dead it could no longer be relied on.

"Do you believe this to be fact?" Thor asked coldly. "This treaty was between the Reich and the System Lords, not between individuals."

"Perhaps so, but do you seriously believe the Goa'uld would not have taken this view? Horus was preparing his invasion of us at the same time as us, and I am sure he would have used the same reasons. We knew the Goa'uld would use this as a pretense to invade. Honestly, we expected it to come via proxy, a System Lord getting a group of 'rogue' minor Goa'uld to band together and attack us, not Horus directly like this, but it was expected. Are you saying you would have intervened on our side if we had stayed here and Horus had attacked?"

"The Asgard would have honored the Treaty" He replied hotly, but evasively.

"You'd really have been willing to attack Horus in retaliation?"

"Of course we would. It is in the Treaty that we would enter if either side broke the stipulations there-in. Which you have done! If we held to our aspect of the Treaty now we should attack both you and Horus!"

"And would you?" Himmler asked quietly, and was surprised by the pause. "You can't can you? You said you would be willing to, but pause at any actual... you're not as powerful as you claim, are you?"

Thor squinted back, his jet black eyes giving little away, but his tone showed a nerve had been hit.

"You can trust me that our technology is every bit as capable as we claim. One ship is all it would take for us to..."

"But you don't have it do you?" The Fuhrer interrupted. "Why aren't your ships available Thor? Please tell me that we aren't going to have to patrol the worlds of the PPT for you."

Again Thor paused, obviously angry, but he seemed to calm himself and sighed.

"You will not. Unfortunately, you are correct in your estimation of the forces we can apply. Our fleet is heavily engaged in other matters. We can spare individual vessels to aid in the Milky way occasionally, but most of our efforts are required at home. There is an enemy we face that far outstrips the Goa'uld."

This time it was the Fuhrer's turn to pause, shocked by what Thor had just admitted.

"Is there any way we can help you with this enemy?"

Not just Thor, but the Reich negotiating team were stunned at this. That was a big commitment!

"I do not believe so, however the offer is well appreciated. This still does not mitigate what you have done here."

"What we have done was ensure we survived. You know full well that with Ra gone it was only a matter of time before one of them broke the Treaty one way or another. Now we know you might not have been able to enforce it either. Even if you could, would you have arrived in time to prevent the strike on Isseum?" A silence answered that. "I didn't think so. We saw our only chance was to strike at them. We even suspected our defenses may not have been up to scratch against newer vessels, though we hardly expected what transpired. Baal has already fielded new weapons designed to strike against fighters. We think these particle beams of his could be equally effective against missiles with some tuning. I'm sure he's aware of the possibility."

"I had not heard of this. Will you share your details of this new weapon with us?"

"Of course, and Horus has fielded another weapon, some kind of energy bomb that irradiates targets. Anything unshielded, such as our lighter fighters, is no match for it."

"Ether of these weapons could equally be used against other Goa'uld's death gliders, though they do not normally use them significantly in fleet engagements. It may however shift the balance of power somewhat."

The Fuhrer chuckled.

"That depends on how many ships Horus had. We have stripped quite a few away from him and his five of his worlds as well. He may have difficulty defending his position as a System Lord. I think that would be more likely to shift the balance of power. If he falls the radiation weapon at least is out of the picture."

"Goa'uld often steal one another's weapons and have much experience in adjust their systems to build such acquired technology. I doubt it will be long before other System Lords field such devices."

The talks continued fairly amiably after that, if tense, and it was still obvious Thor did not approve of the Reich's tactics, even if he saw why they had done as they had. He instructed them to call him via gate or subspace before any further effort.

"That won't be necessary. We intend to strike Horus again as soon as we ready a fleet for the task. We aim to keep him off balance and hurt him as much as possible, weakening his position as a System Lord."

Thor sighed at that, and shook his head.

"Nothing will dissuade you from striking at Horus will it?" The Fuhrer simply shook his head. "So be it. We cannot aid you, but if asked we will state that Horus actions and yours have made the treaty null and void. We will not question it. I hope for your sake you can stand up to the System Lords."

So did Himmler!

August 1997

While the fleet was mobilized, and more ships added to it, the supply of equipment scavenged from Horus was examined. Five Stargates with Pedestals, twelves ring systems, numerous smaller devices of Goa'uld origin, and a new Hatak which had a sarcophagus aboard. The rings were of particular value as the Reich had had few to examine till now, and had made good use of those it had. Now it had some to spare on research some effort was made to examine the structure of the system.

Some of it seemed similar to what the Stargate seemed to do. Convert matter into energy, then translate it to another location where it is converted back into matter. The rings did this via a simple particle beam which carried a so called 'matter stream' which comprised the energy coding of what was being transmitted. They disassembled one entirely and attempted to determine how it did this, but were not too successful. It was obvious this was a slightly cruder technology that the gate, but not by too much. The Goa'uld obviously could build them, and the Reich began attempting to fabricate components for them, even if they didn't understand some of the physics behind the device. At present they could not build a complete unit, but could probably repair the more vulnerable pieces at least. Copies of the software were stored for use, methods of getting the correct crystals for the system were established, and ways to program them in-situ were arranged.

Some aspects did spring from this. It was obvious these could not be very effective as a weapon in normal combat. A shield would block the particle beam of a ring quite easily. However other ideas for uses came up. After they had analyzed the systems they believed that they could filter for simple identifying codes. Something complex like a weapon was out, but raw elements they could filter, and since almost all of Goa'uld weapons required Naquadah...

However early attempts to do this were not too successful. Filtering out Naquadah (or any element) tended to cause the rings to explode. The first attempts simply tried to exclude those parts of the signal, and this meant huge build ups of energy. They had hoped the storage systems of the rings would manage this, but after loosing two rings to 'tests' it was obvious this was not the case. After some fiddling it was found that some areas within the ring system could 'store' energy from the transit, but it was the area where everything was kept just before re-materialization. The only way they could get some material to be missed from the signal was to take two ring systems and connect them, filtering the Naquadah from one into the system of the other. The Naquadah would materialize in one, everything else in the other. In theory the ring could be made to store it's content rather than materialize it, but the Reich's experience with such things was limited at present and they didn't want to loose any more rings.

This system made several things possible. One was what it was intended for. Causing any Goa'uld or Jaffa who use the ring to arrive without Naquadah. This would mean the Goa'uld wouldn't be able to control their systems, the Naquadah in thier blood gone they used to communicate with a lot of their devices, and the power for much of the Goa'uld tech would be gone, such as for Ma'Tok Staffs or Zat'Nik'Tel pistols.

Another option was for mining. A pulverizing mechanism send chunks of rock up into the ring, this fed the stream to another two rings. Useful minerals arrived in one ring, everything else in the other. Then send the residue back, and then when it returns filter out another useful material. It was time consuming but very useful.

There was talk of attempting to assemble materials with a reverse of this procedure. Mixing various metals via the rings to produce an alloy, however early trials were not successful (and required quite a lot of repairs on the test rings).

For now this was enough and work continued. It would likely be quite a few months before practical systems were built that were reliable enough to use on ring systems in the field.

 

[Patupi]

July 1997

At Teutonia a large fleet was being assembled, at the same time the defenses of Teutonia, Spelk and even Ventus were being bolstered. Right now this was with the same satellites they already had, though some quick fixes to arrange C&C if needed were being arranged. More permanent solutions to the control issue would take some time to perfect.

More of the Hyper Pulse sensors were built, for the moment being positioned around the main three systems to warn of attacks. Isseum defense was increased, with a lot of shielded Jaeger-1250VT fighters, but for the moment this defense mostly consisted of a fleet of 3rd and 2nd gen ships. This guard force reduced patrols in the region a little and was a little risky, but they needed to hold Isseum, if only to draw Horus in once more. He seemed adamant to reclaim his throne world.

As the Fourth and Eighth fleets were organized there were other matters to deal with.

“Why was I called to this place?” Yu said haughtily, obviously annoyed.

“A couple of reasons Lord Yu.” Schmidt said as he escorted the Goa'uld and his guards to the meeting room. “But the main reason is to plan further courses of action.”

Once they arrived and sat down the got down to business. Schmidt detailed what had occurred recently, and Yu was surprisingly calm about it. It seemed he already knew that the Reich had attacked Horus and seemed quite sanguine about it.

“You wish a joint venture against Horus?” Yu said, with a dangerous tone in his voice.

“That is not the Fuhrer's wish, no. If you wished to join the battle we would be grateful, but we are not seeking to activate the alliance on this issue, no.” Yu seems satisfied with this at least, while Schmidt continues. “We would like continued support and information however. Can our fleets safely organize on your spinward borders if we head to the furthest reaches of Horus Coreward borders? A safe haven would be useful.”

This gives Yu pause.

“Perhaps, though this would need something equally valuable in return. I have been having problems with Sengu on the trailing border.” Schmidt presumed that 'Trailing' was their equivalent to counterspinward. Basically galactic 'West'. “I have two other annoyances, despite Sengu's raids, and would welcome if you dealt with this insignificant pest for me. In return for this you may have your safe harbor.”

“How many ships and planets are we talking about?” Schmidt said cautiously.

“He has many worlds, but they are spread out, mostly accessed by gate alone. His core worlds that are close together are only five in number, and he has eight Hataks to his name that I know of. He may have one or two more at most he could recall.”

“Distance from our coreward border?”

“Two hundred lightyears.” he stated simply.

22 days via Reich built drives, 8 days if they used a Captured Hatak with a fully intact drive to lead the Fleet in. Schmidt considers this for a few seconds.

“I believe we can manage that.” He said, nodding sagely. “There are at least three targets in Horus' empire on the... Trailing, border that we can go up. That should lead us to Sengu as an aside. Incidentally we may be able to divert things a little. We have one Hatak captured from Horus, and I think we can convert other Hataks in our inventory to seem to be from Horus.” He chuckled. Some were from Horus, just some time ago. “Implicating Horus in an attack on Sengu would seem a valid ploy. Though it would hardly be cut and dried. Simply changing characteristics on Hataks will not be enough to make it certain it was Horus attacking.”

Yu smiled in response.

“I may be able to help there.”

They did talk again after this of the medical status, though Yu was far more reticent talking about such matters. Schmidt didn't push it (especially as they didn't have the cure yet!) but he was under orders from the Fuhrer to keep pushing the party line on this. Yu must be made aware that his condition is serious and the Fourth Reich is willing to help with it.

After the meeting Yu arranged information to be sent through the gate on a number of issues, mostly to do with the assault on Horus and Sengu. Along with information on current border zones in the region (and elsewhere in Horus' space), and location of three planets on Yu's rimward border where Reich ships would be allowed safe harbor, Yu shared data on some captured code transmissions from Horus. Using these in system where they would be 'overheard' would make Sengu strongly suspect Horus was behind the attack. That, along with subtle exterior markings on the Hataks should convince him that Horus was to blame. However an assault with only three Hataks (all they could field that were mostly Goa'uld components) against a force of at least eight Hataks, even if spread out, was not ideal.

There was no way this trickery could be certain, as Goa'uld used similar ploys all the time. Sengu would at least consider the possibility it was some kind of a trick, even if a direct assault by Horus seemed more likely given the 'evidence'. Schmidt considered just making identifying who was responsible difficult as worth the extra effort of arranging the Hataks for the battle.

It wasn't as if the main Fleet wouldn't be nearby to aid if needed.

On the 12th July Fourth fleet was completely re-organized, now comprising 2 Battleships (The Teutonia and the Spelk), 4 cruisers (The Ullr, one 3rd gen cruiser and two 4th gen cruisers), all 5 4th gen battlecruisers loaded with 160 Jaeger-1250VTs exclusively, 2 4th gen carriers loaded with 340 Raubvogels (primarily to be used for planetary assault), 28 4th gen Zyklon A destroyers, and all four Zyklon B stealth destroyers (the two damaged Insektenbrutzler Stealth destroyers had been repaired).

The remaining 4th gen ships and quite a few 3rd gen ships were in Eighth Fleet to defend Teutonia and nearby systems. A single Hybrid Hatak with full Goa'uld hyperdrive was attached to Eighth fleet to allow it to move at max speed, just as the three Fully Goa'uld Hataks were attached to Fourth Fleet.

While all these preparations went on Heisenberg claimed to have made a breakthrough in tuning hyperdrive systems. However, while existing 4th Gen ships could be upgraded to the new 12ltyrs/day system, it would not be simple and likely ships would be in drydock for at least a week. Right now this would take many months for all the ships in Fourth Fleet and was considered too much of a delay. Thus the attack would progress as planned, surging up through Horus' territory, into Sengu's space, then back, curving Spinward to slice through more of Horus' territory. If any problems were found after the attack on Sengu they could retreat to one of the 'safe' worlds of Yu's and repair themselves before heading back.

A secondary fleet designated Ninth fleet consisted of ten heavy transports with four 4th gen destroyers as escort would follow in Fourth Fleets wake and carry troops, engineers, technicians and other personnel designed to analyze tech on worlds without a gate. They would also have room to acquire and store a lot of equipment on the transports, from Gates to ship components from wrecked Hataks. The transports had weak shields and little else and would be very vulnerable in combat. It was intended for them to remain outside of combat, and extra personnel were assigned to these ships to keep the hyperdrives on 'ready' status longer than usual. This held some risk of wear and tear on the drives, but meant they could leap into hyperdrive to escape fairly quickly if needed.

The Fleets were ready to go by 19th July, everything ready. Hopefully this time the Reich would be prepared for any simultaneous assaults on their territory. The Hyper pulse net was not up in any strength yet, but slowly the Second Patrol Fleet was laying the new satellites at the borders, somewhat delayed as construction of the advanced satellites was difficult.

Soon Horus would find out how much trouble he was in.

***

JACKSON: Nem, you have your answer, now let us go.

Jack helped the bedraggled Daniel to stand as they watched the blue alien stare back imposingly from the surf.

NEM: You may go.

JACKSON: I'm sorry I couldn't give you the answer you wanted.

NEM: I am sorry also.

Nem said in his stilted manner.

JACKSON: We could still become friends, your people...and...and mine.

CARTER: That's why we were here, we meant no harm.

NEM: Perhaps...in...time.

JACKSON: Right

NEM: And in time, Daniel, you will find, what fate...Sha're.

Daniel nods, and Nem turns back to the sea, heading back into the deep. SG-1 watches him go, ripples slowly fading till nothing remains. With a smile Sam walks towards Daniel looks at him. Everyone else follows.

JACKSON: Ah, this...this is a long story.

CARTER: Yeah I bet!

O'NEILL: Tell us about it over Sushi?

JACKSON: ...That's funny...Uh I will, after I go get some sleep.

Daniel continues with Sam and they all head on out over the sands towards the gate.

O'NEILL: Ah...home...yeah about that apartment...

JACKSON: Oh you didn't!

CARTER: Uh...the day after the memorial service.

JACKSON: Memorial service?!?

CARTER: The Colonel... said some really nice things!

JACKSON: He-he did. He did?

 

[Patupi]

August 1997

The Fourth and Ninth fleets dispatched on the 23rd of August. Some effort to install the new Hyper Pulse scanners on the ships themselves was made, though there were difficulties. No satellites were available due to the shortages and the need to set them up around the home planets, but beyond that there were problems with resonance with the equipment in the hyperspace generators. The system worked, and was installed on the two battleships and one of the Hataks, but had a limited range as a result. The HP scan sats had a range of between 1 to 2 light years, but the ships with the equipment installed had a range of only 0.2 to 0.4 light years. At best it would give 23 minutes warning of Goa'uld ship's as they approached.

The ships cruised out, heading coreward into the Counterspin territories of Horus at high speed behind the Hataks. Those ships would not be used in combat against Horus but just provide their 'wake' to carry the rest of the fleet. Once in Sengu's territory the situation would reverse and the Hataks would have all the 'fun'.

After crossing the border the fleets took out two known minor worlds of Horus with no issue. The Ninth fleet temporarily held the three Hataks as well for defense while the Fourth dealt with the planets, but these had nothing but a few gliders for orbital defense and weren't an issue. They made sure to move on quickly after destroying the small Jaffa outposts, scavenging the equipment, leaving the gate retrieval till last. The third world was a little better off. A single Hatak was in orbit, but unfortunately fairly far from the arrival point the fleet came in at. Missiles were deployed and as the ship began to maneuver towards them it was struck by forty Rapier-8Ns. It didn't survive and there was very little left to salvage. Best guess was it barely managed to get it's shields up before the missiles struck for whatever reason. The Reich certainly was not complaining.

On August 29th they struck another world with no fleet in orbit, but instead found a flight of over a hundred gliders rising towards them. Shortly afterwards the gliders did an about face and slid around the planet, presumably after they'd identified their attackers. Destroyers went ahead, three swooping down onto the planet to interdict planetary garrisons and any more gliders that may launch. This proved to be a mistake as twenty Al'kesh rose from the base as the destroyers hit atmosphere. While they engaged more gliders and cannon shots from surface facilities raked them. The destroyers in orbit swung around quickly to aid in the fight, but for one destroyer it was too late. Struck by far too many smaller shots, even Ma'Tok shots from the Jaffa troops on the surface adding insult to injury, the shields failed, and an Al'kesh managed to suicide into the upper deck. The bridge was destroyed and computer systems crashed around the ship. In theory the engine room could have taken over control, but in atmosphere there was no time and the ship plummeted down. By the time sensors and control relays were re-routed past damaged systems to the engine room it was obvious they couldn't slow in time. Instead the chief engineer redirected the ship to ram into the fort on the planet. The ship didn't have time to overload it's Naquadah reactors, and the newer ships didn't carry much missile ordinance (and this ship had already expended it), so instead over loaded the energy cells on the ship on impact. The explosion ripped the heart out of the destroyer and demolished the upper levels of the fort, while the ship's crash compacted the rest.

Unfortunately this was not the end. During this engagement, while the Al'kesh were still in battle, the Hyper Pulse sensors picked up a flight of Hataks in bound, at least twenty in number. It was possible to destroy this enemy, but not without severe cost to the fleet, thus the Reich decided to leave as soon as possible. It was estimated they had barely sixteen minutes before the Hataks got there, so there was no time to waste. Cruisers hastily re-positioned to bombard the base, but there was little room for subtlety. Focusing on the remaining cannons turrets on the surface and the Al'kesh they managed to clear the way for the remaining destroyers to get off the planet and the Fleet jumped to hyperspace with less than five minutes to spare. This time they did not salvage the gate or any equipment, but they'd dealt the base here a severe blow.

September 1997

The Fleets swept upwards rapidly, again taking two more undefended worlds with no casualties, then they reached Sengu's border on September 2nd. They crossed the border and aimed for the first of the five target planets of Sengu. On the 3rd they dropped out of hyperspace a lightyear from the planet at a pre-planned rendezvous point and the fleets split. Hataks alone in a temporary Tenth Fleet sped ahead while Ninth and Fourth fleets remained here.

The attack on this world was sudden and severe. The three Reich Hataks swept out of hyperspace in low orbit and began bombardment immediately, while sensors scanned for ships. One Hatak was found in orbit, and almost immediately aim was switched to it. Unfortunately it managed to get it's shields up in time and limited fire. This gave it time to get it's hyperdrives ready and it fled, though not before being severely damaged. The Reich Hataks took no damage this time and continued the bombardment for several minutes before hypering out themselves to the second planet on the list.

Both here and the third no ships were in orbit, and the Reich fleet knew things would likely get bad soon. They were right. The expected ambush occurred on the fourth planet in the series, and seven ships awaited them in orbit. Much to Sengu's surprise, while he was in mid oration about 'Your god demands your surrender' the fleet jumped back into hyperspace. The drives were stressed by this rapid change, but some extra equipment built in by Reich engineers took the stress (and exploded as a result) allowing the rapid change. Somehow the ships managed to pursue however, as the HP scanner on the one Hatak showed the ships in Hyperspace keeping a level distance which meant they knew they're location. Well, it was unknown whether any Goa'uld had the equivalent of HP Scanners so this had been allowed for in the planning. After eight hours of flight the Hataks caused their hyper fields to begin to faintly fluctuate. It wasn't known whether the Goa'uld could read that, but if they could it would make them think the drives had been damaged by the rapid re-engaging of the hyperdrives before and were about to fail.

They they jumped to normal space in a very carefully timed maneuver... right back in the middle of the Forth fleet. Minutes later the Seven ships of Sengu arrived on top of them, point blank range for the fleet. Two Hataks were obliterated instantly, combination Plasma fire from Hataks and Uberbeams from battleships tore them apart. Furious experimental subspace static devices on the Reich ships attempted to jam transmissions and the fleet pounded them hard, the destroyers swooping in to close range to ensure none got away.

They were successful, all seven Hataks destroyed rapidly, but the cost of ensuring none got back into hyperspace was another destroyer lost and two more damaged. One cruiser, the Ullr (rather out of date now, even with upgrades to her Goa'uld systems over the years) also took some damage but it was minor. Ninth fleet jumped in and picked up the remains of the Hataks. One was connected with a couple of tug ships and sent back home intact, the others were stripped, then pounded to rubble with Hatak plasma fire to obliterate any traces that other weapons might have been used.

Again the Hataks swept out, arriving and wiping out both the fourth and fifth planets on the list, eliminating all of Sengu's core worlds. Some survivors would tell the tale, likely that Horus was behind it (they hoped). Even if that wasn't found the fact that nothing but Hataks seemed to have been used in the battle. None of these planets were stripped of technology, though on a few Jaffa had ringed down briefly to seize any Naquadah that was handy. Of course these Jaffa wore dermal patches with Horus' sigil on it. It was unknown if any other Jaffa had seen them or not, but considered worthwhile.

After minor repairs on the fleets they re-organized once more, Tenth fleet being re-absorbed back into Ninth, and headed across the border back into Horus territory. Striking spinward they hit two more unprotected planets, stripping them of tech, before turning Rimward and heading towards Reich territory.

So far things seemed to be going well.

 

[Patupi]

September 1997

Horus was not amused. He'd seen a number of planets go off the stargate net recently, then one of his standing orders had borne fruit. An Hatak had managed to fire a beacon onto one of the enemy ships before it was destroyed. Now he could track the ships in hyperspace whenever he wanted. A few weeks ago he picked up their contact entering the Piliri system and sent his fleet to engage them. Unfortunately he was too late, the enemy pulling out before he could attack, but the Jaffa confirmed it to be those hated humans, the Airans or whatever they called themselves. With Ra gone the treaty was dust, but Horus' last assault had not gone well against them. He had quite a few ships of Ra's on standby, but was wary of showing his hand. However the recent losses he'd taken were severe. If he didn't fight back soon there would be no point in holding such surprises back for a later date.

Then he saw that the intermittent trace of their passage heading into Sengu's territory. Hah! The idiots didn't even know enough about the borders of the System Lords to know who they were attacking! Let them waste themselves against Sengu, and perhaps he could pick up the pieces afterwards, but first, if they strayed back into his territory again he'd have a surprise for them.

***

The Fleets of the Fourth Reich swept down through Horus territory, striking another undefended world. The technicians had been getting curious 'echoes' from the HP Scanners of late and they weren't sure what was causing it, however they managed to compensate for the spurious signal and could still see the odd trace of a Goa'uld transport passing by. They chalked it up to more resonance from the Hyperspace generators and kept on going.

The next world they arrived at had a single Hatak present which immediately powered it's shields and accelerated around the curve of the planet, attempting to dodge the Reich ships. The faster Destroyers and Battlecruisers swept around both sides of the planet to corner the ship... and that was when the HP Scanners and hyper window detectors went off. Something had just entered hyperspace nearby, a lot of somethings! Then a few seconds later they left hyperspace, right on top of the Reich fleets!

Fifteen Hataks and ten ships they hadn't encountered before, purely pyramidal in shape and slightly smaller than an Hatak. The main Battleships, Cruisers and carriers with half the destroyers left to them, launched fighters against the ships and barraged missiles while the rest of their craft were dealing with the lone Hatak on the other side of the planet.

It was a vicious battle, and even though the new class of mothership seemed slightly inferior to an Hatak, the extra numbers were telling. Curiously the Goa'uld ships focused fire purely on the warships, perhaps not recognizing the transports as vulnerable to such heavy firepower. However it seemed Horus had still underestimated the Fourth Reich and his ships dropped like flies. Reich fighters and destroyers fell too, but the shielded Jaegers were not susceptible to the radiation pulse weapons that the Hataks and other ships deployed, and they swept the skies clear of any deathgliders or Al'kesh that were launched. Horus again retreated, seven of the smaller motherships lost and four Hataks, compared to ten destroyers, and fifteen fighters destroyed, with one Cruiser damaged. The Reich were happy with the result, though the losses still stung. They were down to 21 destroyers in the Fleet now, four of those Stealth destroyers. Thankfully the damaged cruiser's hyperdrive was still intact.

They cleared up the planet here, picked up the technology, then swept on. They headed Rimward rather than use the 'safe harbor' of Yu's. It was almost as far to Yu's from here as it was back to Isseum. Best to head home. They cut two planets off the list as being perhaps a bit too ambitious given their situation, then struck the remaining three worlds on the list before diving back into Reich territory by the 14th. The strike had been an unparalleled success on all fronts.

To see the look on Horus' face now!

***

Horus sighed, with a slight smile, as he surveyed on of his new worlds from orbit. Sengu had not been located and was likely dead. It hardly mattered since over 80% of his Jaffa and worlds and the two ships he had left had already given their allegiance to their new God. It had been a costly victory, especially wasting a sizable portion of his fleet persuading those Reich ships to leave. He wouldn't have thought they'd be that powerful! He wouldn't make that mistake again. However, the results were good. Twenty new worlds taken, most pristine and with heavy mining facilities, two new Hataks, thirty Al'kesh and hoards of gliders. This would make up for the twelve worlds he had lost of late to the hated Reich. Especially as those worlds he'd lost had mostly been minor planets.

Soon the Reich would pay.

 

[Patupi]

September 1997

When the fleets arrived back at Teutonia engineers located the Goa'uld beacon latched onto the cruiser it had been fired onto. That was how Sengu had tracked the fleet. Not by a Hyper Pulse Scanner, but by a subspace tracking beacon! (They were unaware that it had been Horus that planted the tracker, and that Sengu had only detected it's signal) The ships' own HP Scanners had even picked up interference from it and they hadn't recognized it for what it was. Frustrating to say the least, but at least they hadn't lost any major capital ships in the conflict. The beacon was removed, but kept working and attached to an old, defunct hyper transport that was automated, then instructed to continue at max speed heading into Baal's territory and then dive into a sun. That should confuse Sengu.

Meanwhile Heisenberg had taken the time to make further tweaks to the drive systems he'd been working on, getting it up to 14ltyrs/day. Now that the fleet was back home the upgrading was begun, arranged in rotation while the fleet was here. The Battleships were done first, and then spread between the major worlds for added defense while the rest were upgraded, one battleship each to Spelk, Isseum, Teutonia and Ventus. Heschel was too far away for such a ship to defend it, but also probably was too far away for Horus to attack. They just had to worry about some other Goa'uld assaulting them. It's orbital defenses were upgraded, and it's slip finally finished it's first Cruiser in late September. They had some considerable defenses now, and trained crews were sent on to man the new vessel.

Given the loss rates of destroyers the Reich was seriously reconsidering it's fleet composition and construction ratios. Destroyers took a lot of crew relative to their size and at present their main advantage was against fighters and missiles, neither of which was heavily used by the Goa'uld.

The one old Cruiser slip that had been on the surface of Teutonia was halted in it's civilian use and brought back to full military duty, and two of the three destroyer slips were turned over to the civilian agencies. With the orbital yard that meant Teutonia alone could build three cruiser sized ships a year, and one battleship every two years. There was serious consideration given to building a second battleship orbital yard (without the cruiser construction bays) over Spelk, but that would be a costly endeavor.

Two more Cruisers would be finished in Teutonia by the end of October, along with one on Spelk. Also by February 1998 another Battleship would be finished at Teutonia and it was seriously considered to allocate all four current battleships and a large number of cruisers to an offensive fleet, counting on defense stations, satellites, fighters, destroyers and battlecruisers to hold the Reich planets while they were gone until the next battleship was completed in February.

Costs of running cruisers with their Naquadah Fusion plants was high. The ships burned through Deuterium and Naquadah at quite a high rate to produce the massive amounts of power they needed. Heisenberg was working on an alternative to that. Enabling the high output plants to run on less Naquadah and Helium-3 instead to produce the same amounts of power. This wasn't ready for testing yet though, and even when it was would require major refits for Carriers, Cruisers, Battlecruisers and Battleships. Facilities in orbit around gas giants in the Spelk and Teutonia system were begun to be constructed specifically to harvest Helium-3 in large quantities.

For now the hyperdrive tuning continued while the Reich waited.

***

A week later Yu called. It seemed it was a courtesy call to let the Reich know their plans had not been entirely successful. From Yu's point of view things worked out well. Horus was not bothering Yu at present, but he was definitely still a threat to the Reich. Yu also informed them that at the last System Lord meeting Horus had expounded the Reich's power, claiming they had destroyed much of his fleet and seized many worlds. Bastet said she had information that Horus' defense was far better than that, with most of his fleet surviving and having absorbed Sengu's empire. He was not taken seriously after than. Horus was mostly assumed to be overblowing the Reich's power so he could demand assistance in demolishing the Reich, which the council had denied. They had no problem with Horus attacking the Reich, but they would not join in officially.

This was a significant shift, and infuriating for the Reich. They had completed a strong assault against Horus, and it had not reduced the Goa'uld's strength much at all. Fleet strength was likely down, but planets and production capacity were likely up! This would not do!

The Fuhrer stepped into the meeting with Yu and demanded a closed council with him. To say the rest of the base staff were surprised was an understatement! But they went along with it with significant reservations. The Fuhrer said that it was hardly a risk. If Yu did somehow plant a Goa'uld symbiote in him modern Reich tech could easily detect it and remove it. It would not be an issue. Schmidt worried about other things the Goa'uld could do to him.

In a closed session Yu and Fuhrer discussed things privately for over an hour. Slowly Himmler pounded out a deal with the Goa'uld. In return for giving him Hyper Pulse scanner technology Yu would vow to not use it widely (they did not want other Goa'ulds getting this tech!) and to join with them in a strike on Horus main systems, dividing territory and the System Lord would guarantee to support them in future conflicts. One more deal to add to the pot was the 'healing' treatment. Himmler said that it hadn't been tested on a living Goa'uld but if Yu could find another old Goa'uld to try on they should be able to prove it works and use it on him. That was added to the deal.

Yu agreed. The temptation of new technology and extra life for himself too tempting.

After Yu had departed Schmidt was furious over what had been agreed. They still hadn't perfected the treatment yet, and the Fuhrer had not received any direct benefits from Yu, only promises of future aid! You could not trust them! The whole point of the deal had been to get something concrete from Yu in exchange for the treatment.

The Fuhrer, calmly ignoring Schmidt's outburst, stated that what Yu gave back hardly mattered. He'd pushed for a significant 'promise' from help form Yu precisely because Yu could back out of it. He'd see it as a win win situation. The point was, whether they had the treatment working or not, if they could get Yu into a Bio-Repair pod they could 'De-Evilify' him (the Fuhrer most definitely did not use that word, but words to the effect.)

Schmidt was not convinced. If they couldn't deliver on the healing side of it he'd likely find out, probably on this 'test' old Goa'uld he would send. That would mean the whole thing would be for nothing and they would sour future deals with Yu!

The Fuhrer insisted that from the reports he'd seen the team on the Enhanced Bio-Repair pod were close to perfecting it. They had this deal, all they had to do was just get the treatment working before Yu could return.

The next day the gate engaged again and an aging Goa'uld was sent through from Yu's Throne world.

The Reich was out of time.