Next chapter coming up soon gents.
Horus and Herc throw down with some rangers!
Horus and Herc throw down with some rangers!
Stargate Through the Looking Glass and into Heaven.
- Thread starter The Immortal Watch Dog
- Start date
Knowledgeispower
Ah I love the smell of missile spam in the morning
As related to the Nox.....you may fire the SunCrusher when ready commander. They'll inevitably made a Slanesh equivalent at some point down the line if we don't get them all. Never trust space elfs/fae
It's an interesting dilemma.
Who is the bigger threat, the psychic serpent men or the fair folk in spaaccee.
Knowledgeispower
Ah I love the smell of missile spam in the morning
Can we exterminatus both?
Carter will likely happily try and find a way
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Umm...let's not piss off BOTH of them at once...just a thought.
Knowledgeispower
Ah I love the smell of missile spam in the morning
fund a way? Well I guess its expensive
Find a way, stupid typo
Unless she like seizes Ba'als wealth or something.
They won't, they will have Apophis and his fun loving family to deal with though!
Klorel getting into a psychic duel with a Hathor or Ba'al might be amusing though.
Or Laenan.
Two crazies in a mind fight! That would be a challenge to write.
Knowledgeispower
Ah I love the smell of missile spam in the morning
my response to people wanting to make nice with the Nox(or Goa'uld)
VicSage
Carpenter, Cobbler, Chirugeon, Dataminer.
"Kill Them All, Take Their Stuff". Standard procedure for Aliens who do not submit to Humanity.
Holy crap. I had missed a couple of updates and handt realized it. Good thing I corrected that. And Rodney comes off amusing, eccentric and....oddly charming.
That's what he was in the show, at least to me. I couldnt see him not ending up in a crazy house without the Stargate program go give him a vent for his ideas and eccentricities.
A lot of events conspired to cockblock me from posting anything right when the shit hit the fan story wise...
I'll be back soon gents.
I'll be back soon gents.
Rangers Lead the way
Rangers Lead the Way
“I’m never gonna get used to that.” Colonel Shepherd muttered, as he stepped onto grass on another world. Above them the two drones began their descent towards the group of twenty Abydonian Militia members and five of Captain Lorne’s men and the four members the Stellar Rangers Stargate Recon group. -They have me out here rescuing people who might not need rescuing- Shepherd thought, not that he minded it. Training a bunch of kids to makeup the first generation of a new incarnation of the Army Rangers was a lot more boring than it was prestigious and Shepherd didn’t care much for the accolades this would net him down the line. He never wanted to be a Colonel and the Generalship that was probably waiting for him in a couple years meant he’d be riding a damn desk supervising the new division within Space Force and he had very little interest in that.
In his group was a kid about nineteen, Alexis Osorio, named after an aunt who had ironically been part of the first Abydos Mission. There were a bunch of them on base, Alex had an enormous family and it had been one of those weird idiosyncrasies of the Space Force that the SGC was crawling with either Colombian Tomboys or Great Lakes Irish trash talkers. Shepherd was the only member of his family since the American Civil War who had served in the military. The Shepherds were always too busy amassing fortunes or playing politics to get their hands dirty to do something selfless he supposed. Prior to that, though? There had been a Shepherd in every incarnation of the Rangers since the French and Indian war.
Already some of his rangers were telling jokes about gnomes and moth men and other weird creatures supposedly seen in woods as deep as the one that loomed on the horizon like a mountain range. Lorne’s men, who were older, combat veterans were rolling their eyes and giving Shepherd a look that suggested they wanted to do things to him his rank prevented them from doing for the sin of saddling them with a bunch of children. Shepherd glared back, they might have been kids, but they were his kids. “Let’s set up basecamp away from that forest, or at its edge. I don’t like the look of those trees.”
One of the Abydonians, their second in command muttered “Shama” which was their version of the Ja’ma! That doubled as a “holy crap” for Teal’c. “Are the forests of your home world like this as well Colonel Sheperd?” he asked. Aref was a youth of twenty who’d been part of Skara’s rebels as a boy and had risen through the ranks of Ferretti’s militia. “Mostly, Commander. Though those weird copper and silver colored trees don’t exist on Earth, err Tau’Ri. I grew up in the Appalachians, there are huge ancient forests all along that mountain range. But the trees here remind me more of the Redwoods and sequoias in California, a state on our western coast. Trees there grow as tall as Nagada’s inner walls.”
“Remarkable.” The Captain of the Militia unit, an older man named Saresh muttered. He was the brother of one of the timber masters, who cultivated the forests some hundred miles from Nagada and logged them. As it was in the US at the dawn of the American revolution, the Abydonian militias were filled with wealthy and poor alike. All willing to fight to defend their home as brothers and sisters, irrespective of class. “The largest trees I’ve ever seen seldom top fifty of your feet, I could build entire villages with just two of those great moss riddled towers I see on the western hills.”
“Right, which is why I want us in the shadow of the woods, but not inside them, forests this dense back home tend to have predators that hunt at night. Not that we can ignore them, Colonel O’Neill and his boys are in there somewhere…Still want an eight-man rotation for the watch.”
Saresh nodded. “It shall be done Colonel Sheperd.” He knew enough about the type of ambush predators that plagued the Abydonian sands and his own meager forests not to make any assumptions out here.
Especially when the Drones landed and the one belonging to SG-1 was heavily scuffed up and missing one of its blades.
The Hunt
Aannndddd it's time for some action
@Spartan303 @Harlock @bullethead
The difference in fight doctrine between the different System Lords is getting a little love here.
To everyone else, I hope I didn't cock up the fight scene.
..........
The Hunt.
John Shepherd had to admit having an alien lumberjack and a crew of eager kids willing to please worked out remarkably well. They’d managed to create a makeshift wooden fence, nothing too spectacular but enough to give them some protection and enough space for him to set up claymores and tripwires. The Abydonians had worked some of their rustic traps as well. Two somewhat shallow spiked pits and several snare traps that would hopefully slow down anything that came after them.
The Earth Drone was returned, and Shepherd briefed Hammond over radio on the situation, that SG-1 had likely wandered off into the woods and that there was no guarantee that they would be able to pick up their tracks given how much time had passed. He’d also explained the weird sensation the forest was producing and how his men reported seeing images of trees taller than the empire state building looming in the distance only for them to vanish just a fraction of a second later. There was something off here, powerful, and ancient and he knew that in his bones.
The Admiral wanted to mobilize and deploy another hundred troops and Kasuf offered to send a thousand men through the gate, such was their commitment to O’Neill and Jackson, but Shepherd shot that down. Whatever was out here, he had a feeling it was better to fight that on their own and not risk anyone else. While the Admiral reluctantly agreed, Kasuf still said he was going to send two hundred militia with enough cold war era ammo and weaponry that they’d be able to overthrow a third world country back home. Arming the Abydonian militia with a surplus of older stuff that had been stockpiled by the Space force but never used over the decades was probably one of Hammond’s better ideas and the Admiral had a lot of those.
The Abydonians learned fast too, what little experience Shepherd had with them was reinforced by Captain Lorne’s glowing reports. “Edwards.” Shepherd remarked causing the younger ranger to curse and step out of the shadows. “How do you do that sir?”
“Ya kinda develop eyes on the back of your head when in command.”
“Yes, you do.” Laughed Saresh who returned from his journey to the latrine and was coming through their makeshift gate. “Or when dealing with trees.” He added pulling the linen cloak he had about his shoulders tighter. The temperature was lower than they were used too, and he muttered a silent prayer to the stars that the two hundred should bring with them heaters. “I know wilderness, I believe you were right, there is something intelligent stirring these woods.” The question of what that something was, had been why he cautioned against Kasuf trying to send anymore men. If it was a false God, or something similar then Saresh was the first Abydonian to get the full measure of just how powerful such beings were.
“I can see why my forefathers worshipped the System Lords, this place is filled with power, competing power.”
Shepherd nodded, he’d wanted to fall back through the gate and ask for instructions, but the thought of leaving the Colonel and his men (And dread over having to explain why he abandoned a planet because he got the willies to the Admiral.) prevented it. “From what I read and what I’ve heard, Ra didn’t really show up except to smack you guys around though.”
Saresh nodded. “Precisely, a God has a duty to its worshippers as much as we do to it, that was one of Ra’s original commandments in the holy stories. “Bound in duty, spirit and tradition.” They said, perhaps Ra believed that once upon a time but I’ve no use for a God who exploits me. I’ve spoken to some of the aliens you rescued. Many of them share our view yet retain worship of other God’s in the old religion. I’ve often wondered if there are System Lords out there that are honorable.”
Shepherd raised an eyebrow; this had been a rather uncomfortable conversation for its implications about how faith worked for so many but also the possibility of burning an alliance that was so pivotal to their long-term survival. “Uhh…what would you?”
Saresh laughed. “No, rest assured, we know what they are now friend. It would less be worship and more an alliance with a greater power, any such alliance would necessitate that we honor our commitments to our greatest allies. After all, any of these other Gods are starting from the position of their supreme Godhead having broken his duties with us.”
Shepherd nodded, somewhat relieved. “I was worried for a second we’d have to leave Abydos..I.” His words were interrupted by a rustling in the trees that caused both men to divert their attention forward. Something was moving ahead of them, something large. The tree line seemed to rustle, and the smaller brush and ferns swayed against the wind. “Colonel, I believe we’ve company.”
“Might just be a local predator.” Sheperd responded raising his gun -These Nextgen toys better work.- “All the same.” A gesture was enough to get everyone awake into a battle-ready position as the night grew eerily quiet, the only sound being the breathing of his men and clicking noises of the few blaster staffs carried by Abydonians who preferred energy weapons to American led.
Again, there was rustling, then an odd wheeze, followed by a hiss and then a series of whistle like calls that almost sounded like an unholy cross between an elk and a peacock. “Hold…” Shepherd ordered.
They kept running around the perimeter, Shepherd realized, whatever they were. Massive enough that he could hear their footfalls when in a full charge and see them stopping just short of trip wire. -Should have brought “Should have asked them to send with an RWS..” Shepherd grumbled; the Mountain had six but they’d been “borrowed” for one of the other missions. This felt wrong, they kept rushing, whistling, and wheezing in their weird vocalizations but always stopped short of the damned explosives as if.
Suddenly the night erupted in orange and yellow as one of Shepherd’s little welcome mats went off. Fire shot out in a sphere and there were a series of loud whistles and then a growl that sounded like a lion if a lion had been the size of the shire horses his kid sister bred. It was low, deep, filled with outrage and Shepherd felt it in his bones. One of the Abydonians fired an old M16 and the muzzle flash broke like a sequence of mini sunrises in the dark. Something was hit in the dark, he could see the spark as led bounced off armor and he could hear grunts of annoyance and what sounded like “fuck.” In space Egyptian filtered through some kind of electronics. “Confirmed hostiles!”
There was a flash of red and purple as an energy bolt tore through the air from the tree line and hit another trip wire. Shepherd turned to fire, only for Saresh to grab him and throw him to the ground just in time for a massive figure to appear in view. It was huge, golden and blood red feathers, a wingspan that had to be at least thirty feet and talons as long as bayonets tore into the Abydonian’s back and pulled.
Shepherd heard a sick ripping sound as if wet cloth had been torn from a great amount of stress and he realized that the giant bird, an eagle larger than anything he thought possible had ripped out the lower half of Saresh’s spine and his hips. Before it took off into the air again, fleeing from a battery of fire from blood mad Abydonians and hardened army rangers. The bird was not at all happy, seeing as it dropped its prize directly onto the head of Corporal Billy Sanchez who was stunned by the impact and briefly knocked onto the ground. He heard a scream and realized that Billy was covered in a golden mass and Shepherd pushed the remains of the Abydonian commander off and rose, taking in the full measure of the enormous bird who he noted, had feathers which seemed to be, almost partially metallic. -What kind of weird genetic engineering? - He didn’t stop to think, instead opening fire into the back of the creature who was busy ripping Billy in half. Again, the bird didn’t seem to like it because it ripped Billy’s chest open and whirled around its head spitting out a heart that landed on Sheperd’s boot.
No, fuck this.
He pulled his rifle, calmly aimed at the bird, which was glaring at him, daring him to shoot.
And by some miracle blew its eye out and must have taken a chunk of its pea brain with it because the beast screeched in agony and tried to take off only to collapse violently, falling on top of Billy and pinning a private named Rogers with its massive head, its beak digging into his thigh. Sheperd and several of his remaining rangers circled the corpse, Rogers’ screams providing a ghoulish soundtrack to the gathering of the militia and the Rangers. Between the groups, there’d been twenty-eight of them and in what felt like a minute they were down to twenty-two.
Edwards was next to him lining up a Jaffa with a lion helmet in his sights. Two quick shots and it fell back into the tree line and took a shot, returning fire and incinerating a post near them causing wooden splinters to rip into shepherd’s shoulder and launch into Edward’s face. To his credit the kid only cursed and muttered something about damn splinters even though one clearly penetrated his cheek. “How many of them?!”
“I count three.” Responded an Abydonian “They slaughtered our men like animals!” the youth cursed. -prey, like prey-Shepherd thought. These guys were good, even by the standards Teal’c had set out. -Only three, so we can take ‘em and take ‘em easy so why are they attacking us?- The animals, he thought but they’d just killed one of their big birds. The wheezing and hooting seemed to pick up again and it rose slowly, steadily growing in pitch until it became so loud that he felt dizzy.
An Abydonian threw down his weapon and screamed, his compatriot forcing it back into his hands and telling him to hold firm and show no fear. “These things, these animals, they’re cyborgs.” Shepherd roared over the auditory assault. Doing his best to stay conscious by staying focused. “That bird’s feathers looked semi metallic and whatever is out there probably has some kind of enhancement.” O’Neill was right about their civilization being like something out of an old sword and planet book. It reminded him of the John Carter art famed artist and cover illustrator Frank Frazetta did. “Fire for the eyes, the mouth, any ear holes you can find…Hit the damn Jaffa until they stop coming. There’s only three of them!”
All went quiet, then and the silence was deafening.
Deafening to the point where it disoriented and blurred his vision.
They came in that moment between stupification and alarm that they came. Six in total, each one roughly fifteen feet long and six feet high, charging in a gallop in a way no lizard should. Or at least that’s what they looked like to shepherd, six Komodo Dragons the size of a saltwater crocodile that ran like the hunting hounds the Ellis family bred that could keep pace with horses when they felt so inclined. He’d never seen anything like them either, they were a deep black and marbled with scales that alternated between a dark burgundy and an onyx that almost made them look like living stone. If one hadn’t just bit into the leg of one of Lorne’s men and hurled him teen feet across the wooden fort and into a pile of firewood John Shepherd would have found them beautiful. To everyone’s credit they fired, even though most were so affected by the sonic attack that they could barely function. Bullets and energy bolts raced through the air, smashing into the scales (and armor! Damn things had armor!), seemingly little damage was done at first but it had been enough to cause the group of wyrms to back the hell off.
Which turned out to be a faint because the Jaffa darted in, firing with their Zat guns and downing several Abydonians before one took a nasty blast to the thigh and was sent sprawling. The next Gen weaponry was acquitting itself well however as the RM-277-R’s were doing a much better job penetrating the enemy’s armor and hides than the weapons the Abydonians used. It wasn’t always enough against the damn lizards, who killed one of his men and pulverized an Abydonian with a tale whip, but it had been enough to drive them back yet again and add injury to an already wounded Jaffa.
“Hold your fire on the Jaffa, I want him al-“A shrill caw broke the night and both Jaffa and Lizard fell back as yet another giant ass bird swept down and raked its legs through a group of Abydonians before flying off again. In the ten seconds it took them to regather, dust themselves off and climb back up again (while returning fire) one of the lizards made a go at them, grabbing one and stomping on a second, causing bones to crunch in such a fashion that shepherd heard it. “Bastards know they’re outnumbered, so they’re trying to mindscrew us and body us in the chaos.”
“We will not allow it!” An Abydonian who Shepherd didn’t recognize opened fire a pair of lizards that were barreling towards them. He fired and Shepherd and his men rounded, joining in on the fire with a battle cry of their own to match the howling, wheezing fury of the lizards. To their credit the armor and their scales held up to the combined fire of his next gen rifle, a bunch of older weapons and a staff gun before the head of one finally exploded and the shoulder’s of the second sagged as the corpse crumbled into the dirt before them causing the remaining one to stumble, its throat and chest tearing open as it crashed into the group of allies, sending people flying and a collage of claws and teeth Shepherd’s way. The world went black and when he came to, he spat out dirt and blood and jerked only to feel something press against his shoulder. His breath was ragged, fabric had been torn but thankfully nothing was punctured as far as tissue went. A clawed hand imbedded into the soil held one of his arms in place above his head and the lifeless jaws of one of the lizards rested around his chest. -Damn, damn, need to be careful, it could bite down on me on reflex-.
Oddly the battle had died down, he couldn’t hear the sucking slash hissing noise that their energy weapons loosed, nor the sound of automatic weapon fire. Only the wheezing of the remaining lizards and screeching of birds overhead and the chatter of three annoyed Jaffa. -How long was I out?- Shepherd wanted to move but he remained silent and motionless now, looking up at the birds circling overhead. Other voices joined in, he could hear the profanity laced tirade of Osorio and someone who might have been Montez mutter something about a freaky lion guy. There were slight moans accompanied by a piercing noise and it took Shepherd a second to realize they were performing a medieval version of triage, walking the battlefield and killing anyone too injured to be saved immediately. His blood boiled, more so when he saw the figure doing the mercy killing. She spoke something that might have sounded like a cross between Space Egyptian and something that sounded like Greek to him, or perhaps it was just what Teal’c said was the local dialects and offshoot languages spoken by citizens and subjects of the different domains of the Empire (or Imperial Standard in a really bad accent, Shepherd couldn’t be sure.), she was tall about six nine and had long silky platinum blond hair and pale skin that had an odd natural gloss to it that looked almost purple and shiny copper colored eyes and looked as if she couldn’t have been more than sixteen. -They’re using kids to do their disposal work-Shepherd thought disgusted. -Don’t find me, I don’t want to have to shoot you kid-. He held his pistol close, the girl crumbled and moved over to his location grumbling as she set aside her staff (which ended on a blade point that she was using to kill the dying.) Gripping the snout of the dead lizard she wrenched it aside with a grunt of effort and began to curse as it partially spilled over onto her and hit her thigh hard enough that it would have broken a normal human’s leg. She kicked it in frustration which seemed to make the other’s laugh, including the one who’d been shot who was leaning on his own staff and looked to be healing rather well. Damn snake boosters…The Goa’uld so easily enslaved their own kind yet enforced rigid social norms on their Jaffa while venerating them as trusted warriors, it was such an oddly contradictory society, yet he was starting to see why it worked.
At least, in terms of the “military crop” it yielded.
The girl seemed to notice that he was alive and sighed and reached down to slap his cheek gripping his jaw like a vice “Eart..mon…TAU’RI…you..lie?”
“Live” Shepherd muttered.
The girl shrugged “No..care..learn your..lanwaj..because..Shaun’ac make me, Yinglez stupid…lanwaj”
Shaun’ac? Was this one a possible ally? Or just a student and why the hell was a Jaffa priestess on a combat detail? What the hell had they stumbled into? He reached for his gun and pulled it but she slapped it away and wrenched him up “Hassak Tau’Ri!” she sneered and Shepherd grinned and mouthed “Get bent little girl.” Armed with his best no damns given smirk he launched a blow to her face and managed to get to his feet and stumble away from her while she was reeling more from the surprise than the force of the blow.
She laughed and pulled a knife.
One of the lizards moved.
“KREEE!”
Everything stopped and Shepherd found himself looking at the silhouette of what could only be described as a hairless ape that walked upright like a man. It’s eyes; a dark orange, a pug nose and an almost baboon like “snout” short but with pronounced canines. Sloping brows and overlong arms and relatively short legs, each bulging with muscles that were barely contained in the orange armor he wore. Shepherd strained in the dark, thinking at first that it was one of those fancy shape shifting helmets but no that was his actual face! Those eyes as well, unnatural in color didn’t seem to harbor any malice (Which Shepherd didn’t expect given how they attacked his men.) merely a sense of outrage mixed with curiosity and concern. Concern for what? What the hell could this beast man be nervous about? His shoulders looked like mountains and the neck that weird ape like head rested on might as well have been a tree trunk. His head was covered in a hood made from the head of a gigantic blood red lion whose pelt fell about those immense shoulders and back like a cape. The rest covered his armor, and it made Shepherd remember an old cartoon he watched as a kid, Fire and Ice or something. The man before him looked like a caricature of a caveman out of that movie and Shepherd laughed. ‘The anthropology boys were wrong about Neanderthals looking like us.”
Assuming the thing this snake had taken as a host was from earth at all any way.
The teenaged assassin backed off and sheathed her blade and bowed her head muttering something Shepherd assumed was an apology only for the creature to laugh it off and reach down to pat something.
That was when Shepherd realized the mount this thing was sitting on (How the hell did he not notice a damn giant alien mount before?!) wasn’t some genetically engineered descendant of a horse or one of those weird cyborg lizards but some kind of big cat. Maybe a lion, given how it was currently licking one of the Jaffa in recognition and seemed to be rather social. But was huge, twice the size of the lizards who cowered at its presence, its fangs were some sixteen inches long and its broad chest might be covered in a plate of what may as well have been starship armor pulled off what Teal’c called a death glider for how heavy it looked (Not that the cat was struggling.) The beast looked at him, sniffed the air and its eyes glowed Great, it’s got one of those “lesser” snakes Teal’c was talking about during the briefing as its pilot- damn that thing was huge.
This was ridiculous.
The battle lion growled softly at him and Sheperd laughed. “Oh for God sakes…Agree to Admiral Hammond’s terms, go see other planets, you probably won’t even have to fight serpent men…it’ll be a once in a life time experience..Yeah good job John, now you’re a character in an old hair metal album.”
@Spartan303 @Harlock @bullethead
The difference in fight doctrine between the different System Lords is getting a little love here.
To everyone else, I hope I didn't cock up the fight scene.
..........
The Hunt.
John Shepherd had to admit having an alien lumberjack and a crew of eager kids willing to please worked out remarkably well. They’d managed to create a makeshift wooden fence, nothing too spectacular but enough to give them some protection and enough space for him to set up claymores and tripwires. The Abydonians had worked some of their rustic traps as well. Two somewhat shallow spiked pits and several snare traps that would hopefully slow down anything that came after them.
The Earth Drone was returned, and Shepherd briefed Hammond over radio on the situation, that SG-1 had likely wandered off into the woods and that there was no guarantee that they would be able to pick up their tracks given how much time had passed. He’d also explained the weird sensation the forest was producing and how his men reported seeing images of trees taller than the empire state building looming in the distance only for them to vanish just a fraction of a second later. There was something off here, powerful, and ancient and he knew that in his bones.
The Admiral wanted to mobilize and deploy another hundred troops and Kasuf offered to send a thousand men through the gate, such was their commitment to O’Neill and Jackson, but Shepherd shot that down. Whatever was out here, he had a feeling it was better to fight that on their own and not risk anyone else. While the Admiral reluctantly agreed, Kasuf still said he was going to send two hundred militia with enough cold war era ammo and weaponry that they’d be able to overthrow a third world country back home. Arming the Abydonian militia with a surplus of older stuff that had been stockpiled by the Space force but never used over the decades was probably one of Hammond’s better ideas and the Admiral had a lot of those.
The Abydonians learned fast too, what little experience Shepherd had with them was reinforced by Captain Lorne’s glowing reports. “Edwards.” Shepherd remarked causing the younger ranger to curse and step out of the shadows. “How do you do that sir?”
“Ya kinda develop eyes on the back of your head when in command.”
“Yes, you do.” Laughed Saresh who returned from his journey to the latrine and was coming through their makeshift gate. “Or when dealing with trees.” He added pulling the linen cloak he had about his shoulders tighter. The temperature was lower than they were used too, and he muttered a silent prayer to the stars that the two hundred should bring with them heaters. “I know wilderness, I believe you were right, there is something intelligent stirring these woods.” The question of what that something was, had been why he cautioned against Kasuf trying to send anymore men. If it was a false God, or something similar then Saresh was the first Abydonian to get the full measure of just how powerful such beings were.
“I can see why my forefathers worshipped the System Lords, this place is filled with power, competing power.”
Shepherd nodded, he’d wanted to fall back through the gate and ask for instructions, but the thought of leaving the Colonel and his men (And dread over having to explain why he abandoned a planet because he got the willies to the Admiral.) prevented it. “From what I read and what I’ve heard, Ra didn’t really show up except to smack you guys around though.”
Saresh nodded. “Precisely, a God has a duty to its worshippers as much as we do to it, that was one of Ra’s original commandments in the holy stories. “Bound in duty, spirit and tradition.” They said, perhaps Ra believed that once upon a time but I’ve no use for a God who exploits me. I’ve spoken to some of the aliens you rescued. Many of them share our view yet retain worship of other God’s in the old religion. I’ve often wondered if there are System Lords out there that are honorable.”
Shepherd raised an eyebrow; this had been a rather uncomfortable conversation for its implications about how faith worked for so many but also the possibility of burning an alliance that was so pivotal to their long-term survival. “Uhh…what would you?”
Saresh laughed. “No, rest assured, we know what they are now friend. It would less be worship and more an alliance with a greater power, any such alliance would necessitate that we honor our commitments to our greatest allies. After all, any of these other Gods are starting from the position of their supreme Godhead having broken his duties with us.”
Shepherd nodded, somewhat relieved. “I was worried for a second we’d have to leave Abydos..I.” His words were interrupted by a rustling in the trees that caused both men to divert their attention forward. Something was moving ahead of them, something large. The tree line seemed to rustle, and the smaller brush and ferns swayed against the wind. “Colonel, I believe we’ve company.”
“Might just be a local predator.” Sheperd responded raising his gun -These Nextgen toys better work.- “All the same.” A gesture was enough to get everyone awake into a battle-ready position as the night grew eerily quiet, the only sound being the breathing of his men and clicking noises of the few blaster staffs carried by Abydonians who preferred energy weapons to American led.
Again, there was rustling, then an odd wheeze, followed by a hiss and then a series of whistle like calls that almost sounded like an unholy cross between an elk and a peacock. “Hold…” Shepherd ordered.
They kept running around the perimeter, Shepherd realized, whatever they were. Massive enough that he could hear their footfalls when in a full charge and see them stopping just short of trip wire. -Should have brought “Should have asked them to send with an RWS..” Shepherd grumbled; the Mountain had six but they’d been “borrowed” for one of the other missions. This felt wrong, they kept rushing, whistling, and wheezing in their weird vocalizations but always stopped short of the damned explosives as if.
Suddenly the night erupted in orange and yellow as one of Shepherd’s little welcome mats went off. Fire shot out in a sphere and there were a series of loud whistles and then a growl that sounded like a lion if a lion had been the size of the shire horses his kid sister bred. It was low, deep, filled with outrage and Shepherd felt it in his bones. One of the Abydonians fired an old M16 and the muzzle flash broke like a sequence of mini sunrises in the dark. Something was hit in the dark, he could see the spark as led bounced off armor and he could hear grunts of annoyance and what sounded like “fuck.” In space Egyptian filtered through some kind of electronics. “Confirmed hostiles!”
There was a flash of red and purple as an energy bolt tore through the air from the tree line and hit another trip wire. Shepherd turned to fire, only for Saresh to grab him and throw him to the ground just in time for a massive figure to appear in view. It was huge, golden and blood red feathers, a wingspan that had to be at least thirty feet and talons as long as bayonets tore into the Abydonian’s back and pulled.
Shepherd heard a sick ripping sound as if wet cloth had been torn from a great amount of stress and he realized that the giant bird, an eagle larger than anything he thought possible had ripped out the lower half of Saresh’s spine and his hips. Before it took off into the air again, fleeing from a battery of fire from blood mad Abydonians and hardened army rangers. The bird was not at all happy, seeing as it dropped its prize directly onto the head of Corporal Billy Sanchez who was stunned by the impact and briefly knocked onto the ground. He heard a scream and realized that Billy was covered in a golden mass and Shepherd pushed the remains of the Abydonian commander off and rose, taking in the full measure of the enormous bird who he noted, had feathers which seemed to be, almost partially metallic. -What kind of weird genetic engineering? - He didn’t stop to think, instead opening fire into the back of the creature who was busy ripping Billy in half. Again, the bird didn’t seem to like it because it ripped Billy’s chest open and whirled around its head spitting out a heart that landed on Sheperd’s boot.
No, fuck this.
He pulled his rifle, calmly aimed at the bird, which was glaring at him, daring him to shoot.
And by some miracle blew its eye out and must have taken a chunk of its pea brain with it because the beast screeched in agony and tried to take off only to collapse violently, falling on top of Billy and pinning a private named Rogers with its massive head, its beak digging into his thigh. Sheperd and several of his remaining rangers circled the corpse, Rogers’ screams providing a ghoulish soundtrack to the gathering of the militia and the Rangers. Between the groups, there’d been twenty-eight of them and in what felt like a minute they were down to twenty-two.
Edwards was next to him lining up a Jaffa with a lion helmet in his sights. Two quick shots and it fell back into the tree line and took a shot, returning fire and incinerating a post near them causing wooden splinters to rip into shepherd’s shoulder and launch into Edward’s face. To his credit the kid only cursed and muttered something about damn splinters even though one clearly penetrated his cheek. “How many of them?!”
“I count three.” Responded an Abydonian “They slaughtered our men like animals!” the youth cursed. -prey, like prey-Shepherd thought. These guys were good, even by the standards Teal’c had set out. -Only three, so we can take ‘em and take ‘em easy so why are they attacking us?- The animals, he thought but they’d just killed one of their big birds. The wheezing and hooting seemed to pick up again and it rose slowly, steadily growing in pitch until it became so loud that he felt dizzy.
An Abydonian threw down his weapon and screamed, his compatriot forcing it back into his hands and telling him to hold firm and show no fear. “These things, these animals, they’re cyborgs.” Shepherd roared over the auditory assault. Doing his best to stay conscious by staying focused. “That bird’s feathers looked semi metallic and whatever is out there probably has some kind of enhancement.” O’Neill was right about their civilization being like something out of an old sword and planet book. It reminded him of the John Carter art famed artist and cover illustrator Frank Frazetta did. “Fire for the eyes, the mouth, any ear holes you can find…Hit the damn Jaffa until they stop coming. There’s only three of them!”
All went quiet, then and the silence was deafening.
Deafening to the point where it disoriented and blurred his vision.
They came in that moment between stupification and alarm that they came. Six in total, each one roughly fifteen feet long and six feet high, charging in a gallop in a way no lizard should. Or at least that’s what they looked like to shepherd, six Komodo Dragons the size of a saltwater crocodile that ran like the hunting hounds the Ellis family bred that could keep pace with horses when they felt so inclined. He’d never seen anything like them either, they were a deep black and marbled with scales that alternated between a dark burgundy and an onyx that almost made them look like living stone. If one hadn’t just bit into the leg of one of Lorne’s men and hurled him teen feet across the wooden fort and into a pile of firewood John Shepherd would have found them beautiful. To everyone’s credit they fired, even though most were so affected by the sonic attack that they could barely function. Bullets and energy bolts raced through the air, smashing into the scales (and armor! Damn things had armor!), seemingly little damage was done at first but it had been enough to cause the group of wyrms to back the hell off.
Which turned out to be a faint because the Jaffa darted in, firing with their Zat guns and downing several Abydonians before one took a nasty blast to the thigh and was sent sprawling. The next Gen weaponry was acquitting itself well however as the RM-277-R’s were doing a much better job penetrating the enemy’s armor and hides than the weapons the Abydonians used. It wasn’t always enough against the damn lizards, who killed one of his men and pulverized an Abydonian with a tale whip, but it had been enough to drive them back yet again and add injury to an already wounded Jaffa.
“Hold your fire on the Jaffa, I want him al-“A shrill caw broke the night and both Jaffa and Lizard fell back as yet another giant ass bird swept down and raked its legs through a group of Abydonians before flying off again. In the ten seconds it took them to regather, dust themselves off and climb back up again (while returning fire) one of the lizards made a go at them, grabbing one and stomping on a second, causing bones to crunch in such a fashion that shepherd heard it. “Bastards know they’re outnumbered, so they’re trying to mindscrew us and body us in the chaos.”
“We will not allow it!” An Abydonian who Shepherd didn’t recognize opened fire a pair of lizards that were barreling towards them. He fired and Shepherd and his men rounded, joining in on the fire with a battle cry of their own to match the howling, wheezing fury of the lizards. To their credit the armor and their scales held up to the combined fire of his next gen rifle, a bunch of older weapons and a staff gun before the head of one finally exploded and the shoulder’s of the second sagged as the corpse crumbled into the dirt before them causing the remaining one to stumble, its throat and chest tearing open as it crashed into the group of allies, sending people flying and a collage of claws and teeth Shepherd’s way. The world went black and when he came to, he spat out dirt and blood and jerked only to feel something press against his shoulder. His breath was ragged, fabric had been torn but thankfully nothing was punctured as far as tissue went. A clawed hand imbedded into the soil held one of his arms in place above his head and the lifeless jaws of one of the lizards rested around his chest. -Damn, damn, need to be careful, it could bite down on me on reflex-.
Oddly the battle had died down, he couldn’t hear the sucking slash hissing noise that their energy weapons loosed, nor the sound of automatic weapon fire. Only the wheezing of the remaining lizards and screeching of birds overhead and the chatter of three annoyed Jaffa. -How long was I out?- Shepherd wanted to move but he remained silent and motionless now, looking up at the birds circling overhead. Other voices joined in, he could hear the profanity laced tirade of Osorio and someone who might have been Montez mutter something about a freaky lion guy. There were slight moans accompanied by a piercing noise and it took Shepherd a second to realize they were performing a medieval version of triage, walking the battlefield and killing anyone too injured to be saved immediately. His blood boiled, more so when he saw the figure doing the mercy killing. She spoke something that might have sounded like a cross between Space Egyptian and something that sounded like Greek to him, or perhaps it was just what Teal’c said was the local dialects and offshoot languages spoken by citizens and subjects of the different domains of the Empire (or Imperial Standard in a really bad accent, Shepherd couldn’t be sure.), she was tall about six nine and had long silky platinum blond hair and pale skin that had an odd natural gloss to it that looked almost purple and shiny copper colored eyes and looked as if she couldn’t have been more than sixteen. -They’re using kids to do their disposal work-Shepherd thought disgusted. -Don’t find me, I don’t want to have to shoot you kid-. He held his pistol close, the girl crumbled and moved over to his location grumbling as she set aside her staff (which ended on a blade point that she was using to kill the dying.) Gripping the snout of the dead lizard she wrenched it aside with a grunt of effort and began to curse as it partially spilled over onto her and hit her thigh hard enough that it would have broken a normal human’s leg. She kicked it in frustration which seemed to make the other’s laugh, including the one who’d been shot who was leaning on his own staff and looked to be healing rather well. Damn snake boosters…The Goa’uld so easily enslaved their own kind yet enforced rigid social norms on their Jaffa while venerating them as trusted warriors, it was such an oddly contradictory society, yet he was starting to see why it worked.
At least, in terms of the “military crop” it yielded.
The girl seemed to notice that he was alive and sighed and reached down to slap his cheek gripping his jaw like a vice “Eart..mon…TAU’RI…you..lie?”
“Live” Shepherd muttered.
The girl shrugged “No..care..learn your..lanwaj..because..Shaun’ac make me, Yinglez stupid…lanwaj”
Shaun’ac? Was this one a possible ally? Or just a student and why the hell was a Jaffa priestess on a combat detail? What the hell had they stumbled into? He reached for his gun and pulled it but she slapped it away and wrenched him up “Hassak Tau’Ri!” she sneered and Shepherd grinned and mouthed “Get bent little girl.” Armed with his best no damns given smirk he launched a blow to her face and managed to get to his feet and stumble away from her while she was reeling more from the surprise than the force of the blow.
She laughed and pulled a knife.
One of the lizards moved.
“KREEE!”
Everything stopped and Shepherd found himself looking at the silhouette of what could only be described as a hairless ape that walked upright like a man. It’s eyes; a dark orange, a pug nose and an almost baboon like “snout” short but with pronounced canines. Sloping brows and overlong arms and relatively short legs, each bulging with muscles that were barely contained in the orange armor he wore. Shepherd strained in the dark, thinking at first that it was one of those fancy shape shifting helmets but no that was his actual face! Those eyes as well, unnatural in color didn’t seem to harbor any malice (Which Shepherd didn’t expect given how they attacked his men.) merely a sense of outrage mixed with curiosity and concern. Concern for what? What the hell could this beast man be nervous about? His shoulders looked like mountains and the neck that weird ape like head rested on might as well have been a tree trunk. His head was covered in a hood made from the head of a gigantic blood red lion whose pelt fell about those immense shoulders and back like a cape. The rest covered his armor, and it made Shepherd remember an old cartoon he watched as a kid, Fire and Ice or something. The man before him looked like a caricature of a caveman out of that movie and Shepherd laughed. ‘The anthropology boys were wrong about Neanderthals looking like us.”
Assuming the thing this snake had taken as a host was from earth at all any way.
The teenaged assassin backed off and sheathed her blade and bowed her head muttering something Shepherd assumed was an apology only for the creature to laugh it off and reach down to pat something.
That was when Shepherd realized the mount this thing was sitting on (How the hell did he not notice a damn giant alien mount before?!) wasn’t some genetically engineered descendant of a horse or one of those weird cyborg lizards but some kind of big cat. Maybe a lion, given how it was currently licking one of the Jaffa in recognition and seemed to be rather social. But was huge, twice the size of the lizards who cowered at its presence, its fangs were some sixteen inches long and its broad chest might be covered in a plate of what may as well have been starship armor pulled off what Teal’c called a death glider for how heavy it looked (Not that the cat was struggling.) The beast looked at him, sniffed the air and its eyes glowed Great, it’s got one of those “lesser” snakes Teal’c was talking about during the briefing as its pilot- damn that thing was huge.
This was ridiculous.
The battle lion growled softly at him and Sheperd laughed. “Oh for God sakes…Agree to Admiral Hammond’s terms, go see other planets, you probably won’t even have to fight serpent men…it’ll be a once in a life time experience..Yeah good job John, now you’re a character in an old hair metal album.”
Windows out there eternally correcting Sheppard to Shepherd.
Fucking useless.
Also, Herakles makes his debut..appropriately inspired by the art of Frank Frazetta and Boris Valejo
Fucking useless.
Also, Herakles makes his debut..appropriately inspired by the art of Frank Frazetta and Boris Valejo
Harlock
I should have expected that really
Glad to see the variety in cultures here, I guess as a reflection of the whims and ideals of the local Goa'uld? Interesting to contrast these chaps with the genetically engineered beasts in the last installment, and then the more conventional armies elsewhere.
Very nice world building
Very nice world building